ADAM CULLEN

MMA RECORD 6-0

Liverpool England

By Darragh Haughian

Adam Cullen is a Professional MMA fighter preparing to extend his unbeaten record of 6-0 as he prepares to fight for Cage Warriors in Manchester on April 15th

Cullen boasts an impressive 100% first round finish rate in his professional record. This stat is impressive across the whole world of the sport as not one person has made it past him in the cage. When asked what motivates his fast and furious fight style he said: “ Going into a fight I don’t aim to take it to the distance,I think of the amount of people you see get robbed from going to the judges so I always aim to finish fights. I think the most important thing is to be devastating like the good thing about being finishers . I could lose 14 minutes 59 seconds of the fight and it takes only one second to knock someone out, submit someone but that’s that’s a real way to win, it’s undeniable.”

Cullen’s last fight saw him move up to welterweight from lightweight just so he could get another fight under his belt. This is a 15 pound jump in weight classes that most athletes prepare to do for months but Cullen couldn’t let the opportunity slip as he said: “I couldn’t find an opponent and I got a call that a welterweight opponent dropped out do I want to step in two weeks before the fight and I was 79KG I was ready to cut to lightweight and I had to go back on the steak and chip dinners to get my weight up. It was a big risk and it paid off but I’m a lightweight but the jump to welterweight is massive.”

When you begin to make a name for yourself in combat sports athletes often find it difficult to get matches and this is a prime example for the members of Next Gen who are often waiting months longer than they’d like to get into the cage. The lack of competition and refusals would put a blow in most people’s confidence but Cullen details how his motivation is key when he said: “ It’s still peaks and troughs like I’ve always been good at motivating myself but with a lot of people turning me down sometimes you can lose motivation and it’s hard to pick yourself back up but when you’ve got a name on the sheet and you’re like me and blah blah, we are fighting on this date like waking up and thinking about them,going to sleep and thinking about them, everything you do you think about this person, I’m staying disciplined.”

This one isn’t it I’m staying disciplined I’ve never struggled staying disciplined but I’m just desperate for the challenge like I like waking up scared while I’m going into a fist fight with this guy who’s training right now to kill me.”

Cullen talked about his lifestyle and passion stay in great shape even without a fight booked. Most fighters find it hard to cut enough weight to reach their division. Some of the greatest fighters in the world are on the verge of death as they take to the scales just 24 hours before putting their life on the line in a grueling battle. Cullen told us how he avoids this, he said: “Outside of camp I walk around at like 90KG and I am a big lightweight, when I’m training I am like 85KG. On fight week I cut around 9.5KG and then I’ll be in the cage around 80KG. I love training, I love conditioning, I like eating healthy and I don’t like going out and partying like I used to. I used to have a good go on the ale but I’m not really into that anymore.”

Cullen has a very unique story of how he started training in the sport as he told us of having to keep his passion from his mother and his teachers as he said: “I used to sell sweets in school and I’ve been obsessed with MMA since I was like 12 but my mum would never let me do it. I started selling sweets and realised I’ve got a bit of money here. I used what I made from sweets and got the train to a basic gym called ‘The Dogpit’ and I’d sneak there after school on a Friday night to train and after a few years of being there we moved up here to Next Gen. My mum caught me eventually and I got grounded.”

Cullen spoke of his early years in the sport talking about the athletes that made him pursue the sport, he said: “The fighter that got me into the sport was Georges St.Pierre but I became more obsessed with Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson. Michael Bisping was a big one for me. I just like anyone who is a hard worker, people who have had the hard route”

Cullen’s passion for the sport shines through as he talks about how he does not let the perks and stardom of fighting get to him as he rises through the ranks as he said: “People enjoy my fights and my style so I have had more attention but I have been doing for years out of pure obsession with the sport. I did not need to be a professional or paid to do it I just love this lifestyle, I’d do it even if I wasn’t fighting.”

Cullen spoke about fellow scouse MMA fighter Darren Till who was Liverpool’s first UFC fighter and brought the promotion to headline his own show in the M&S Bank Arena in 2018. Till has lost four of his last five fights and was recently released from the organisation. Cullen expressed his support as he said: “I never related to Darren Till very much. I feel sorry for him but with his momentum and his draw they couldn’t help but put him in big fight. He is a victim of his own success, he’s a superstar so he can only fight top ten people at middleweight which he didn’t always fight at. I feel bad for him and for him to step away from the UFC to gain his confidence back.”