Ellis Pilkington gives his thoughts on his upcoming bout on Saturday, April 29th, at Goliath Fight Series 3.
The Griphouse fighter boasts a (3-3-1) record and has been pilling up the experience as of late. Standing across the cage from him on Saturday is Arran Legge (2-1).
The night of action is set to take place at the sold-out Lochgelly Centre, Lochgelly. We had the opportunity of speaking with Ellis Pilkington ahead of his fight this Saturday. Hear what he had to say below.
Interview With Ellis Pilkington
This Saturday, you return to compete on back-to-back Goliath Fight Series shows. It was a happy hunting ground last time out. What do you need to do this time around to make it back-to-back wins?
I feel like I just need to be myself. I’ll do what I’ve been working on in training, staying sharp and focused the whole time I’m in there.
Touching on your most recent outing with Ethan Wilson. Did anything surprise you in there, or did it unfold exactly how you’d visualised prior?
I knew it was mostly grappling I had to watch out for against Ethan, he has very slick submissions, so I trained a lot for that. Turned out he had decent striking as well, which was a bit of a surprise, but I managed to get my game working and got a solid win.
You are fairly ranking up the experience and cage time at an amateur level now. From the first time you stepped on the mat, and as time goes on, do you feel yourself becoming a more mature version of yourself and becoming a little more switched on in terms of fight IQ etc.?
Definitely, I’ve been feeling a lot more comfortable in each fight. Every fight has been a good experience for me, win, lose or draw.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned that’s helped you improve thus far in your career?
The main lesson has been to go in there with confidence. Any doubts will lead to a bad performance. You have to be a hundred per cent sure of yourself.
Ellis Pilkington on Competing in Grappling
Having grappled competitively in-between fights. How important do you think that is for the development of a fighter, especially at the amateur level, where you can just soak up bag loads of information and data?
It’s been great to get some grappling competitions in. The whole experience is much less intense than a fight, but you still get that competitive feeling of trying to beat someone who wants to beat you. It’s definitely levelled up my grappling ability as well.
When you first walked through the doors of the Griphouse, did you have any short-term or long-term goals, and have they changed since then in any way?
I liked the idea of fighting when I started, and after a couple of months of training, I realised how much I enjoyed the sport, and after that, competing and getting to a high level was my only goal. It still is my only goal, to be honest.
You meet Arran Legge on fight night. He enters the fight riding high on momentum. When offered the fight, what were your initial thoughts on the matchup?
I’d seen Arran compete before, so I knew he was a good opponent and that fighting him would be a class experience.
Arran recently defeated your teammate Stephen McBride in his last fight. What’s the process been like for the team, essentially game planning a second time for Arran? How satisfying will it be to get that one back?
The process hasn’t been that different to any other fight. Honestly, it’ll definitely be satisfying, though, but all wins are satisfying, so that’s not saying much.
Talking Opposition
When you watch Arran’s previous two fights, what sort of pace and fight do you expect from him on the night?
He’s got skills everywhere. Very fast and athletic from what I’ve seen. It’ll be an intense fight from start to finish. I’ll be coming to take his head off, and I expect the same from him.
Finally, how do you see yourself getting it done at the Lochgelly Centre on April 29th, and are there any friends/teammates/family you want to thank? The floor is yours.
I’m comfortable everywhere at this point, so anything could happen. I might finish him with strikes, submit him or win a three-round war. Everyone who’s helped me in the lead-up to this deserves a shoutout, way too many people to name, but they all know who they are.
Featured image credits to Ellis Pilkington
