MMA ace Philpott claims Lonsdale title in Dublin

The Ballymena fighter won his contest with Englishman Nathaniel Wood after the bout was stopped in the third round due to excessive bleeding to a nose wound for the Londoner.

It meant Philpott - known as ‘The Apprentice’ - claimed the title in an exciting night of MMA action on the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA) promotion at the 3 Arena.

“It means the world to me,” said Philpott.

“I could have screwed my whole career up by missing my weight for a second time.

“I’m young but I’m at the stage now where I have to start taking it seriously and people need to see that I’m taking it seriously.

“If I make those types of mistakes, people aren’t going to take me seriously and I could end up doing more damage to my body and ruining my career before it even starts.

“To be honest, I maybe did under-estimate his strength a bit.

“I thought I was going to go in there, slam him on his head, beat him up and just finish it.

“I rushed it at the start and that maybe took a bit of energy out of me. I felt as if I burned myself out a wee bit early and that’s why it did take me a wee bit longer to get going.

“But when I hit him with that upward elbow and saw his nose I started picking him off and finding my rhythm. It was a great shot.

“I did think I was either going to get a choke or a leg lock. I’ve been pulling those off in training but I rushed it at the start and it set me back a wee bit.

“Even though I was leading the fight, in my head I was playing catch-up to where I wanted to be.

“I would have loved a submission because I worked really hard on the ground - I want to show people I’m not just a striker - but there’s loads to work on.

“I’m not overly, 100 per cent happy with that performance.

“There were things I would have liked to have done better but I got the win fairly and that’s the main thing.”

Philpott has also revealed the new-found maturity which he hopes will help catapult him to the highest levels of the sport.

“I’m thinking about other people now - it’s not just about me.

“On the media when I would have seen other fighters get a bit of attention before I would have thrown in a few smart remarks to just make sure people knew that I was there.

“I don’t need that. People are going to know me for the right reasons and for being myself.

“I want to be known as the professional that I am and for my skill set and for being a dead-on guy.

“When something needs to be said, I’ll say it, that’s not going to change, but there are different ways to do it,” added Alan.

* On the same BAMMA bill, there was a win for Philpott’s IMMA gym club-mate Rhys McKee but in the UFC promotion in London, there was defeat for another member of the Linenhall Street gym, Norman Parke.