Following his devastating loss to Jesus Pinedo in 2023, Brendan Loughnane considered taking a big step back from MMA and not competing in the PFL regular season.
Brendan Loughnane‘s story in MMA is extremely well documented after being turned away by the UFC after a win on Dana White’s Contender Series.
However, he has excelled in the sport and rightly became known for his incredible fight style inside the PFL Smartcage, and in 2022, he won the featherweight tournament, picking up $1m.
Loughnane looked to make it back-to-back tournament wins in 2023 but he was devastatingly handed his first career knockout loss by Jesus Pinedo and didn’t make it through to the playoffs.
Conor McGregor convinced Brendan Loughnane to get back into fighting
Although he hails from Manchester, England, the pioneer lives in Dubai. Following his first career KO loss, the 34-year-old took a small step back from fighting and began to consider his options moving forward.
During his time off, Loughnane admitted that he struggled mentally with coming to terms that he go KO’d for the first time, and was worried that if he returned, his chin would give out on him again.
“I always used to think to myself, what’s it like to watch on YouTube or watch yourself get knocked out… So after watching it, I thought, oh, that’s not that bad… I’ve knocked 17 people out, stay in the shower long enough and you’ll get wet… And then I was like, right, I’m not doing it (anymore),” Loughnane explained to talkSPORT MMA.
Despite having decided he was going to take a step back, Loughnane recalled receiving a message at 10 pm on a night from former UFC double champion, Conor McGregor.
“I got a 10 pm message from Conor McGregor, ‘Fancy some rounds?’, and I thought, I’m not passing this opportunity up, why would I? Went down there, ended up having it with him, a full-on fight, like pretty much going for it 100%, took about four or five left straights to the chin when he’s about (176lbs).
“And I thought, oh the chin still works and then I got over that hump in my head of every time I get clipped now I’m gonna fall over and it’s almost like I needed to test it and there was no better man to test it,” Loughnane added.
Loughnane set to take on undefeated Russian in $1m championship final
This coming Friday, November 29, the Mancunian is set to compete in his second PFL featherweight tournament final when he takes on Timur Khizriev in Saudi Arabia.
Khizriev is currently undefeated at 17-0 and has picked up wins over Brett Johns, Enrique Barzola, and Gabriel Braga on his way to his first tournament final.
Ahead of the championships on Friday night, the promotion announced that they are bringing back elbows, just for the championships.
“They’ve just brought my favorite thing back, elbows. I’ve had to do five years without one of my main weapons here. To start training them again on the pads for this camp, it’s been amazing and everyone knows they’re a favored weapon against wrestlers that I’ve not been able to use,” Loughnane admitted.
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