Andy Young sends his opponent a message ahead of their clash at Fightstar Championship 25 on Aug.5.
Young will make his MMA return after undergoing a period of inactivity. He will face Muhidin Abubakar, a dangerous, young, hungry opponent who wants to finish fights. That challenge excites Young, who relishes the opportunity to perform a dominant performance.
FightStar Championship 25 will take place in the Indigo at the O2 Arena in London, England, and it marks the 10th anniversary of the promotion.
Ahead of the fight, we had the chance to catch up with Andy Young to get his thoughts ahead of prior to his return.
Interview With Andy Young
Andy, your return to MMA is just a few weeks out. How are you physically and mentally feeling after a big break in activity?
Fantastic, to put it simply. I’ve been more active than ever before with MMA, running my own MMA gym, teaching, coaching & cornering our own fighters. I always train and stay consistent; now in my 30s, I’ve added more maturity and intelligence to the training, though lol.
On that, it’s been 3 or 4 years since we’ve seen you last. What’s been the reasoning for the long break of inactivity, and how do you feel a reset and recharge will benefit you on Aug.5?
It’s been a mix of reasons, a lot of them very positive. Firstly I got married to my beautiful wife and have the most amazing little baby daughter. I took the time to open and establish HYBRID MMA NI with my good friend Arnaud Dos Santos, who runs a mixed martial arts promotion called FIT2FIGHT.
The other time away has been with the obvious covid pandemic, then an unfortunate injury followed by another injury that resulted in surgery and 1year out of competition.
The main thing is I’m ready, excited & grateful to make that walk again!
Andy Young on Recent Outings
Unfortunately, it was five straight defeats before you took a break. Was the string of defeats a reason for taking a break, and were you and the team able to pinpoint what was going wrong for the results not to go in your favour?
No, not at all. When you break down the losses, I had a world title defence against now ufc fighter Dani Barez, with a back-and-forth decision loss. Then a three-week step up to fight former UFC title challenger Ali Bagautinov with a decision loss. Then I fought a guy who missed weight by 4kg! Immediately followed by a 6-day notice fight in Australia. Then formed world champ Sam Creasey. I’ve been fighting the best and was going in with the wrong attitude for a lot of it, with the fire definitely not being where it needed to be. But now it’s reignited, and I’m fired up and excited to get back to it and return to the top of the 125lb division!
You are jumping straight back into the fire against a dangerous opponent in Muhidin Abubakar. A young fighter with a knack for finishing fights. What was the mindset behind taking this fight?
I am eager to return to fight a top opponent; it will demonstrate my level when I take the win with dominance.
Talking Opposition
What would it mean to you to be able to return, claim the flyweight strap and take out an opponent like Abubakar?
It would represent a lot to me, I’ve been faced with much adversity & it will represent the biggest win to date.
Finally, do you have any last words for your opponent before you go to war?
Everyone is strong when they’re the hammer. Let’s see how strong you are when you’re the nail…
Featured image credits to Andy Young
