Local duo qualify for MMA World Cup in Prague

Congratulations are in order this week for 28-year old Lynn Johnson from Clara and 21-year old Ronan Deegan from Tullamore who have both qualified for Team Ireland at the Mixed Martial Arts World Cup in Prague this September.

The talented local duo will join Bernie Ward and Jordan Scully at the World Cup as the first four people from Offaly to have achieved the distinction of representing their county at the prestigious event.

Both Lynn and Ronan are members of the SBG Gym in Tullamore and train under Head Coach, Kieran Davern. They travelled to Belfast and Cork over the past few weeks to compete for a place on the Irish team and all their hard work was rewarded this week when they were offered places on Team Ireland.

Ronan Deegan, who comes from a family of nine in Clonminch, Tullamore is a very busy young man as he combines being a College student with full-time MMA training, and he also works a part-time job at weekends! He started MMA training over three and a half years ago and says it has changed his life completely and given him “a sense of structure and goals to work towards.” He says it has also also helped him to grow” physically and mentally as a person” and his goal is to represent his country and also pursue a career in MMA as a professional fighter.

Lynn Johnson, who is from Clara, started training BJJ and MMA over three years ago, and she had her first taste of cage fighting when she completed the W2W programme at SBG Tullamore. She says the opportunity to represent her country and help to gain more recognition for the sport of MMA is “both an honour and a privilege.”

Head Coach at SBG Tullamore, Kieran Davern, says they are “very excited and proud2 of the stream of young people and adults who are achieving great things in sport and MMA. “They are representing not only their country, but their community, family county and gym to the highest level, and we are very proud of them” he said.