Sam Huntley is excited to find out how his style will match up with Kledi Disha at Battle Arena Northampton this Saturday.
In October last year, Huntley walked to the cage for the first time as an amateur, making it a memorable night in Middlesbrough. It took him just one round to latch onto a guillotine choke and submit Peter Jacobs in the first round.
We had the opportunity of speaking with Sam Huntley ahead of his fight. Hear what he had to say below.
Interview With Sam Huntley
You are days away from making your second walk to the Octagon. We last saw you at the back end of last year. How have things been since then? Have you been consistently in the gym training? During the time away, was the plan always to wait this long between your debut and second fight?
Since I fought back in October, I’ve been training in the gym consistently as I had plans to fight back in March for Battle Arena. Unfortunately, just before the bout was supposed to take place, I fell ill and was unable to compete, so I rescheduled for the event in May. Now that I have two separate training camps behind me, I’m confident that I’ll enter the cage better than last time.
Touching on your debut, they don’t come much cleaner than yours did, right? You submitted Peter Jacobs in the opening round. Can you talk me through that feeling and how much that meant to you to get your hand raised?
I couldn’t have asked for a better debut at BFC. I didn’t take many strikes, landed a few of my own, and I managed to get the submission victory in under 2 minutes. The feeling I got when my hand was raised was like none other. It was the gratification of months of hard work flooding in all at once.
Sam Huntley on Debut Win
The fight lasted two minutes, and you got the win very quickly. However, did you take away any negatives from the performance at all? Anything you pinpointed within that two minutes that you had to work on for next time?
The negatives I took away from my debut was that my striking needed a bit of work to fine-tune it as it felt sloppy and left me open at times. I also didn’t get much cage time or experience since it was so quick, so I’m not sure how my cardio will hold up in the later rounds or what my style would be like under pressure. All of these points I’ve identified and have been working on with my coach in order to keep improving, but the main focus has to be my cardio and my striking.
For those who missed your debut, sell it to them. Why should they tune in and watch you scrap this Saturday in Northampton?
If you’re looking for excitement, this is a fight you won’t want to miss. Kledi is a very experienced fighter and can be very pressured-heavy, so I’m ready to take that head-on. The fight could end up anywhere as we both have skills in all areas. You can be assured that there will be some fast-paced action in the cage on Saturday.
Huntley Talks Opponent
You’ll face Kledi Disha on Saturday, who has two first-round finishes on his record. How are you looking at this fight, and overall, how do you think you match up against one another?
This is going to be an interesting matchup as both of us can take the fight anywhere as and when we want. It’ll be his wrestling against my judo in the grappling exchanges, and it will be a contest of our kickboxing in the stand-up. I’m honestly not sure which way it’ll go until I’m in there, but I’m excited to find out.
You go in there, all goes well, you get your hand raised and remain uninjured. Can we expect to see you out there again this year?
If all goes well, you’ll be seeing me again this year. It’ll probably be later on as I’ll take a little break over the summer, but you can be assured I’ll be back.
Finally, do you have any last words for Kledi ahead of battle?
No, we’ll talk in the cage, not before.
Featured image credits to British Fighting Championship
