‘For a little island we’re doing well’ – Peter Queally kicks off historic month for Irish fighters at Bellator Dublin

Peter Queally fights for a world title on home turf

Peter Queally will make history when he steps out into the cage on Saturday night inside the 3Arena in Dublin.

The Waterford-native will be the first Irish fighter ever to contest a major world title on home soil and will become Bellator's first ever world champion from Ireland if he beats Patricky Pitbull.

It is a monumental occasion for a country that has had a love affair with MMA in the last decade. Conor McGregor's rise to stardom catapulted the sport into the mainstream and John Kavanagh has built a stronghold at SBG Ireland.

However, amateur MMA in Ireland still has no official governing body - the Irish Mixed Martial Arts Association is the de facto governing body but the fight for official recognition from the Irish government continues.

Regardless, Ireland and SBG have produced countless fighters with some going on to compete in the likes of American promotions Bellator and UFC but none since McGregor have reached the pinnacle. Even he never managed to bring a world title to a Dublin fight night.

"I would say this is the most significant fight in Ireland since Conor had his comeback fight against Diego Brandao," Kavanagh, who coaches Queally and McGregor, said.

"I feel this one is right up there if not even bigger, because it's for the world title. I think it's great for Ireland if not only in MMA terms that we get to host our first ever significant world title fight and it's made all the sweeter it's an Irishman doing it."

Irish fight fans and fighters have waited a long time to see one of their own in a title fight and have never experienced the thrill of seeing it happen on home turf. McGregor was the star man when the UFC came to Dublin in 2009.

It was a fight that has gone down in MMA folklore and images of that night are still routinely used by the UFC to promote McGregor and fight nights.

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At the time the belief was McGregor would bring a UFC title home, eventually. That never happened and even Kavanagh admitted he would not have picked Queally to be the man to make history.

However, it will be Queally in the historic fight and Kavanagh thinks it is fitting and a testament to the sport of MMA that the 32-year-old will be challenging for the lightweight title.

"The sport rewards merit and the sport rewards those who put the most in," he said.

"There are very few people who have put in more than Peter down the years. It's great to see him get the fruits of that labour."

"Peter almost doesn't fit in this era," he continued. "He's just a tough throw-back fighter from Ireland who is up for a scrap.

"If you speak with his ex GAA team-mates they'll tell you he was the enforcer. If things were getting heavy, he'd be the one you'd push forward. A bit of a throwback to the warrior days of Ireland past."

As Queally puts it, he can die a happy man if he claims gold in Dublin.

"This has been my dream," he admitted. "I can't describe how it would feel. It would be such a vindication of all the hard work."

Queally will not be the only Irish fighter competing for a world title this month. His gym team-mate and Dubliner Sinead Kavanagh takes on featherweight champion Cris Cyborg next week in Florida.

"It's like waiting on a bus, isn't it?' Kavanagh said when asked how strange it was to wait so long to see an Irish fighter given a title shot and then have two in the space of a week - and both from his gym.

Irish fans can then turn their attention to Jason Quigley facing WBO middleweight boxing champion Demetrius Andrade in America on 19 November. This comes in a year in which Kellie Harrington secured gold for Ireland in the Tokyo Olympics.

Sinead Kavanagh admits that the prospect of emulating her long-time friend Harrington is one that has given her goosebumps.

"It means so much," the 35-year-old said. "That's leaving my own legacy in Ireland. I've been dreaming of this since I was young, to be world champion."

Her coach is confident both his fighters will make history in their respective bouts, starting with Queally in Dublin.

"In an eight-day period two bona fide legends of the Irish MMA scene both get a shot at fighting for the most prestigious title," he said.

"For a little island we're doing pretty well."