Stapleton prepares for next fight

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Photo: Journeaux

Martin Stapleton

Rochdale's professional cage fighter, Martin Stapleton, is about to step up his training in preparation for his next fight. Stapleton will be travelling to the USA in March for his third of a six fight contract with Bellator MMA.

Having surprisingly lost his first two fights in the States, Stapleton knows his professional reputation is on the line more than it has ever been and is determined to rectify the mistakes he feels he made in the two defeats.

Prior to those two defeats, to Saad Awad and Derek Campos, Stapleton had an eight-fight winning streak, including winning the 2012 Cage Contender Fight Stars eight-man tournament defeating Jamie Rogers and Arnold Quero before beating Tommy Maguire in the final.

Stapleton, who lives locally and is joint owner of the Full Contact Performance Centre Gym on Queensway, explained to Rochdale Online that arriving in the States on a Tuesday for a fight on Thursday gave little time to shrug off jet lag and to acclimatise and so in March he will be travelling well in advance of the fight.

In the fight against Awad he admits he was too keen to impress and as a result made technical mistakes that cost him dearly.

Against Campos, he went the full distance but by his own admission did not fight to his usual standard. Whilst not the sort to make excuses, when pressed he explained his pre fight preparation once in America was far from ideal. To make the weight of 70kgs he had to soak in a hot bath, rather than take a sauna as the nearest sauna to the fight arena was over one and a half hours away. He made the weight but felt completely drained and his heart rate was racing "through the roof".

When asked what effect the losses had had on him mentally, the former Royal Marine who served in Afghanistan said: "When you have been shot at as many times as I have your mental attitude changes, you don't worry about things, you just pick yourself up and get on with it."

Concluding the interview, Stapleton said he is still confident that one day he will be the best fighter in the world at his weight and is looking forward to March when he is determined to show that his last two fights were minor setbacks in a long, tough journey.