JOE talks to Irish Ultimate Fighter contestant Ali ‘Insane’ Maclean

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality series has launched many MMA careers, and indeed the sport itself, in the US. Now an Irish fighter, Ali ‘Insane’ Maclean, has made the show so JOE had a chat with him.

By Fergus Ryan

As MMA has risen in popularity there have been an increasing amount of international fighters making their way to Las Vegas for the TUF try-outs. Northern Ireland’s Ali Maclean was one of those hopefuls. This week the TUF cast was officially announced and Ali has advanced to the final 32 from over 500 fighters who tried to make it. The Belfast lightweight took some time out to chat with us about this exciting news.

The UFC held open tryouts in December last year in Las Vegas. It is open to any fighter, provided they’ve had at least three professional fights. Ali saw his chance.

“I saw the advertisement for the TUF try-outs on a website and e-mailed the link with a ‘?’ to one of my management, Jonny Burrows, and he came back straight away and said ‘definitely, go for it’,” said the 22-year-old.

Ali had aspirations to fight from a very early age. Despite coming a long way in the sport (a pro record of 9-5-1, Cage Wars lightweight titleholder and now TUF 15 cast member) he can modestly look back and poke fun at his humble beginnings.

“I had this image in my head when I was younger, that it would be cool to be real muscular and strong so I started eating lots and took up judo when I was about 9. I did well in the judo and represented Northern Ireland in a tournament but I got real chubby from stuffing myself even though I thought I was training real hard.

“When I was about 15 I wanted to do something closer to real fighting rather than traditional martial arts. I heard about Tom Lamont from a guy in school and I went along to his Chum Sut Academy and started training MMA. I just loved it straight away and really got into it. I lost a load of weight too.”

Having fallen in love with MMA, Ali realised it could be a career option. “When I started training I just wanted to fight and train but the more I got into the philosophy Tom had around training I began to see myself training as a proper adult in a proper sport. It became about more than just fighting. When I was about 17 I’d been training with Chris Stringer for a few years at that stage and I’d seen how well he’d done from a young age and figured I’d give it a go full time.”

Ali in action against Julien Denis at Cage Wars 12

Ali has taken some opportunities to travel and improve his skills, most recently to the US to improve his wrestling game. “Tom Lamont is my main coach at Chum Sut for MMA but I’ve also trained at Langka Muay Thai with Jimmy Crawford and Team Kaobon in Liverpool. I went to the US recently to train at Team Quest with Matt Lindland (MMA vet and Olympic silver medallist in wrestling).

“My manager, Paddy Mooney, set it up before I auditioned for TUF. I went there to improve on my wrestling, it’s hard to get top level wrestling training in Europe. It was a great experience and all the guys at Team Quest were fantastic, especially Matt Lindland and Pat Healy (who fights on the Strikeforce event on Saturday).”

“The actual audition was in three parts. You grappled for about a minute and a half. They’re looking for explosion and style. The guy I was against didn’t want to engage so I jumped guard to get him to the mat. I tried to sweep him by going for a knee-bar. Joe Silva was roaring at me saying ‘there’s no knee-bars’ and I was just smiling back at him saying ‘I know, setting up my sweep.’”

“You hit pads then, doing combinations and they’re looking for good technique. The last bit is the interview in front of a few TV producers. They either slagged you off or tried to ask difficult questions. I made a mistake on the application form and they jumped on that but we had a laugh over it. It all worked out great for me in the end.”

It did, especially when you see some of the other names that failed to make the cut. Some of the fighters that showed up for the tryouts included TUF 11 and UFC veteran Jamie Yager and Bellator veterans Rudy Bears, Zak Cummings, and Jacob McClintock, none of which made it onto the cast.

The man himself, Ali Maclean

Ali will be joined in the final 32 by Mark Glover from Liverpool and Andy Ogle from Sunderland. Coaches for the season will be Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, who will fight for Cruz’ bantamweight title as part of the TUF 15 finale in July.

Since signing their TV deal with FOX, all UFC programming has become bigger in every way – more production, more outlets (FOX, FX and Fuel), more viewers and more auditioning fighters for TUF. Previously, the show was shot in six weeks, edited and aired several months after filming completed. This season the show will be shot over thirteen weeks, edited the week before being broadcast and will feature live fights.

For Ali to be part of the biggest TUF production to date is a fantastic opportunity for the young fighter and a phenomenal achievement. As yet nothing official has been announced about where Irish and UK viewers can see TUF, but we’ve been assured by the UFC we’ll know as soon as they know.

Can’t wait.