‘I want people to look back at this and remember when Catherine Costigan made history’

Based in the UK, the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts is considered one of the biggest promotional instruments for MMA since its inception in 2009.

 

Crucially, BAMMA provides a springboard for emerging fighters to showcase their talents and propel their profile in to the public domain. BAMMA 22 arrives in Dublin this weekend to give the homegrown MMA talent that precious chance.

 

And when Catherine Costigan storms into the cage on Saturday night, she hopes to claim a place in the sporting archives and create her own bit of history.

 

‘People have the memories of when Conor McGregor started out on shows that I used to fight on. And I want people to look back at this show and think remember when Catherine Costigan made history as the first female fighter for BAMMA.’

 

Heavy Duty Fight management put in the leg work to get Catherine Costigan on the BAMMA 22 card, and her response was a resounding yes when she finally got the call.

 

‘It’s always great to get that call when someone wants you to fight on your own home soil in front of your fans. I have so many people from my own kickboxing club, I’ve sold over 90 tickets so far which is a record for me.’

 

Czech fighter Simona Soukupova was originally down to face Costigan in the Three Arena but a change of opponents means the Limerick woman will now take on Celine Haga. But this will have no negative impact on her preparations, because fighters like Costigan are built to adapt to unexpected changes.

 

‘With mixed martial arts you kinda have to train for everything to happen. You’ve got to know how to take anybody down. In terms of game plan, I just look at myself, I look at the last fight and see what I can learn from it to improve myself.’

 

‘The beauty of MMA is that you can never think you’re ahead, there’s always someone in the world training as hard as you.’

 

Her opponent Haga goes into this contest with a series of defeats behind her, but that poor record on paper could be misleading. And under the stewardship of world winning coach Greg Jackson, Costigan is expecting a tough contest against an ambitious fighter.

 

‘Celine had to take those fights in order to train up so they won’t upset her at all. She’s on a winning streak at the moment and she’s with one of the best training academies in America so she’s no fool and she’s not coming over here thinking she can’t beat me.’

 

But aside from the respect she affords the Norwegian fighter, Catherine ‘Alphafemale War’ Costigan aims to go into the cage and dominate.

 

She tasted defeat in her Invicta debut earlier in the year and this bout offers her the chance to regenerate and regain her step on winning soil.

 

‘It’s up to me now to show how I handle defeat. You only remember winners and it can be a really cruel sport so it’s all on you. I’m in a good place now where I don’t have to travel over to Vegas although I intend on returning but the best thing for me to heal right now is to fight.’