Kildare’s Conor McCarthy plays crucial role in Ireland’s MMA Super Cup run

SBG Naas’ Conor McCarthy was the man to complete Ireland’s semi-final MMA Super Cup comeback against Mexico with a unanimous decision win over Emmanuel Garcia Gonzalez. 

The tournament was held in Bahrain’s Khalifa Sports City Arena. Mexico led 3-1 before Lewis Byrne and Jordan Furey gave Ireland wins that levelled the contest. McCarthy's victory at Middleweight put Ireland ahead and Denis Perry confirmed Ireland’s spot in the final with a first round Americana submission finish over Miguel Angel Serna Castro.

These wins meant Ireland went on to face host nation Bahrain in the Super Cup finals. With $100,000 on the line, all was to play for on the last day of competition but two Irish athletes had to unfortunately withdraw. This meant Ireland began the finals bouts behind Bahrain – a huge hill to climb against the best team in the world. 

Lewis Byrne (Ire) attempted to turn the tide against Kurban Idrisov (Bah). In one of the closest matches of the day, Idrisov managed to edge out the unanimous decision, taking the score to 5-0. This clinched the MMA Supercup for Bahrain, along with the $100,000 prize. 

The Irish team finished second overall and took home $75,000 for their efforts.