Talang från Wales, Jack Shore, reflekterar på karriären

I en exklusiv intervju med en av Kimuras medarbetare, blickar superlöftet Jack Shore från Wales tillbaka på sin fina karriär. Som 29 åring valde fajtern att lägga handskarna på hyllan efter en fartfylld karriär.

Jack ”Tank” Shore var obesegrad i tio år

Som ungt barn började Jack Shore från Abertillery i Wales med kampsporten. Utan att veta att han skulle komma till att bli ett av landets allra största superlöften. ”Tank” började med MMA karriären 2012 och klev in på dominant vis. 12 matcher på amatörnivå blev det och han slutade som obesegrad. Med flera VM guld i ryggsäcken mot äldre, större motståndare, klev den 21 årige fajtern in till den professionella scenen och började sin långa, intressanta resa.

Shore har enbart haft två organisationer som han har fått kalla sitt hem under sin karriär som proffs. Engelska Cage Warriors är en organisation som för många är tuff att ta sig in i, men efter att ha presterat bra i CW under tiden som amatör, fortsattes det spåret i hans nästa kapitel i karriären. Fajtern från Wales kammade hem flertalet vinster i första ronderna. Med starkt arsenal av submissions och grappling tog han sig till nio raka vinster innan han blev belönad att slåss om det vakanta bantamviktsbältet. Shore korades som mästare och fick ha sitt titelförsvar på hemmaplan i Wales. Där han levererade ett fint avslut som öppnade dörrarna till hans nästa kapitel i karriären. Nämligen, UFC. Efter en fyra årig karriär för superorganisationen så valde han som 29 åring att kliva iväg från sporten och fokusera på att vara en hälsosam Pappa.

Detta är historian om Jack ”Tank” Shore. Läs om den övergripande intervjun om hans karriär nedan.

Började med kampsport som 6 åring

Kimuras Vincent Aasa fick en spännande start på dagen med att få ta sig ett snack med en av Wales allra största talanger. Den forne UFC fajtern, nu coach och Pappa, Shore gjorde sin MMA-debut under år 2012 som 17-åring. Nu berättar ”Tank” att han har redan som barn blivit fostrad in till världen av kampsport.

I started off kickboxing as a younger, I think I was six years old when i started kickboxing, BJJ wasn’t a big thing back then. We did a little bit of traditional jiu jitsu, or thaijutsi-kai was the system. It was kind of a mixture of japanese jiu jitsu, judo. We mix in the striking with the Gi’s on aswell. But I didn’t do a great bit of that as a kid to be honest. I just did the kickboxing, my father joined the same gym and did the jiu jitsu side of things. So, I did a little bit of that with him – on the weekends.

Then he (my father) opened up his own gym. That’s where i dove deep into the MMA, deep into the BJJ. Which was still very different from where it is right now . BJJ back then were more like how the Gracie’s tought it. More self-defence. More MMA based. You wanted to be in top position, fighting from the top. You never wanted to be on your back. It’s a lot more different now. It’s a lot more sport orientated now. With the points and the submission attempts and stuff. Which is of course fine, nothing wrong with that, but back then when i started it, it was very different.

Shore fortsätter med att säga att på den tiden fanns det enbart träningar för vuxna.

So that was at twelve years of age and it just naturally progressed, because i was in the gym with a whole lot of adults. It was no kids classes. I was twelve or thirteen. I was just training with the men, and all these men were training for MMA fights which obiously led to me wanting to fight in MMA. So you’re bothering with all of these tough guys from around the town you live in and you are thinking; ”if they’re doing it, i wanna be doing it”. Then it just took off from there really.

Han berättar också att han hade en liten bas i judo.

I was around kickboxing as I said, early on as a kid, the serious training with the MMA, the wrestling and the jiu jitsu, sort of started around 12 or 13. I had a little bit of a base in judo and traditional jiu jitsu, but nothing worth screaming or shouting about. I never competed in it. I only ever competed in a kumite with a kickboxing type setting before tranisitoning to MMA.

Jack Shore började med sin MMA debut, enligt tapology, under år 2012. Det gick väldigt bra för Shore som amatör med 12 obesegrade matcher.

Yeah (that is correct), 17 years old. I remember it well. I was trying to get a fight for ages. Because as I said again, as early as back in the 2012, before obviously the Conor McGregor era. MMA wasn’t nowhere near as big as it is now. To find another seventeen year old that was willing to fight was a big ask. Now we have kids from the age of eight to sexteen fighting every week. Or fighting every other month. Whatever you wanna call it. But back then it was very difficult to find kids to fight. I remember we got two of us matched, funny enough. It was me and my best friend Mike. The truth we call him. Mike ”The Truth”, but Michael Jones. We went through school together and Mike started training with me around 14. When we both started doing the kids program we both managed to get matched up on the same card. It is a nice memory I look back on.

Tidigt i hans karriär gick det väldigt bra för den walesiske fajtern. Många avslut i första ronden. Med mycket vinster via submissions. Han berättar ifall det är på grund av hans starka submission träning före starten med MMA.

I think obviously before I had the MMA fight. I had my debut at seventeen. I had been competing a lot in BJJ.  So from around from like 14 years. So probably the last three-four years. Probably the last fight before that. Basically every bit of competition I did was BJJ, no Gi. Gi, submission grappling. So It was almost that there was where i was the most comfortable. It was second nature. Obviously I come from a bit of a striking background from the start. But I did a good five years up to that point of mainly grappling and ground work,  so again in the fights, you know, I was quite underassuming. I didn’t look very intimidated. A little chubby kid, and I used to fight these big tighted up men who looked tough. So they would try to rush me in and try to intimidate me and think sort of ”aggh let’s get this kid. Obviously they get closer and I take them down. One thing I was, was that I was very quick with learning thinks with jiu jitsu. I was a very good grappler naturally so, my ground game no matter who i fought seemed to always be that level above. Which is why I caught that many first round subs.

And also to add into that. My grappling style was very MMA based. Everything I did, every bit of grappling I did was in the back of my mind for MMA. So I would always consider where I could punch. Where I could strike so that could set up the submission, and where my submission could set up the strikes. I would just kind of get people down and dominate them that badly with the ground and pound and they end up giving me a sub. It’s just a way to get out of there in the end I think.

Han hade åtta vinster i första ronden via submission som amatör.

Dominerade i Europeiska Mästerskapen

Något som Shore har gjort är att tävla om flertalet Europeiska mästerskap under hans tid som amatör.

Yes, so that was the first ever. You got the IMAAF now. Which is a massive massive – well it’s the biggest. It’s almost MMA’s equivalent to the olympics. Or the common wealth games obviously for us. And it was their first ever European throne and I was lucky it was in Birmingham. Because everything with the IMAAF is different. It’s not like the boxing. It’s self-funded. So we had to fund ourselfs. Our own trip. These days they are doing shows in Abu Dhabi, and Russia and Serbia. It cost a lot more to get there. So I was very fortunate that the first Europeans was in Birmingham which is a two hour drive from me. Waited if i should do it and I decided to do it. I had to do it the trail-ing. To try out for the team. At the time it wasn’t even a team wales, it was a team UK. So I had to do the trail to get on the UK squad. Managed to get on there, and again I think the coaches will be the first to tell you, the UK coaches, when I first got on the team I was probably the most underassuming guy out there. I was quiet, didn’t say a lot. Quite introvertet and once we started doing the squad sessions they fast realized that the potenial i had. I remember a UFC legend, John MaGuire, Gypsy jiu jitsu, he was a coach at the time and I remember speaking. We have shared fight cared since and I remember him saying to me ”We never expected you to be the one that would dominate” and as soon as we done that first squad session. He said that he remembered thinking: ”Yeah he was gonna be their gold medal.” 

I ended up doing four fights in three days. So I had two fights in the first day. One semifinal in the second day and one finalist in the third day. You had to make weight every single day. So It was a tough experience physically and mentally. You had the higher one in the fight and then you got to bring yourself down back to the weigh in weight, and think that ”I gotta do this again this afternoon and again tomorrow”. So yeah up until this day one of the toughest thinks I’ve done and one of my proudest achievements to be honest.

Han berättar ifall han tog med sig denna erfarenhet till senare stadier i hans karriär, angående viktminskning för match.

Not so much for weight cutting because I fought at 145-pounds then and I remember that because we had to make weight every single day, I didn’t want to cut much weight. I just dieted down so I was walking around at 155. It was a good and a bad thing. The good thing was that I didn’t have to deplete myself and the bad thing was that everyone else was cutting weight so they were bigger and stronger than me. But it managed to work out for me in the end. What it did do for me was build my confidence. I always knew I was decent, at a decent level. Everyone was saying to me that I was gonna get into the UFC, and that I was gonna do this and that. You know how it is when you hear it and you don’t believe it. I remember thinking that if I win this I am ready to go pro, because this will make me the best. The best fighter at the weight in Europe. I didn’t just win it I cruised it. I managed to have three first round submissions. I dominated a big guy in the final who was undefeated. It just installed a big confidence in me. Also because you don’t get to cherry pick your fights. You get put in a category of you and 30 other fighters. They do a draw and you just fight whoever they say you’re fighting. It wasn’t seated or anything like that so you could have the two best guys fighting in the first round.

What it drilled in me was the mentality that you could just fight anyone, anytime. If they tell you that you’re fighting this guy, don’t think twice about it. Just suck it up and get on with it. That is something I took with me in my career. Win or lose, I always never turned down a challenge. I never said no to a fighter, I never said no to a date or a location. And I think that comes from doing that so early on as a 20 year old or 19 year old or whatever I was at the time.

Det är rätt vanligt för fajters från UK att ha många matcher som amatör.

Var klassad som den mest erfarna amatören från Wales

I Sverige så är det realtivt vanligt att fajters gör deras väg till proffs så kort som möjligt. Däremot så var det inte planen för Shore.

Well to be honest at the time, just before I turned pro, I was the most experienced amateur that had ever been in wales. Back then the scene was hard, it was so small, I remember being like 4 or 5-0 and people were asking me when am I gonna go pro? I remember thinking that I don’t want to rush it. I was young, a little bit of a late bloomer so I wanted to wait until I was physically ready and as skillfully ready. I remember people asking me this and I remember saying to my dad that I am not ready yet. I wanna make sure that I am fighting good tests. It’s a little bit different now, the scenes is so big. We got ultimate IMAAF. We got boys in the gym who’s had 25 amateur fights. My teammate Scott Peterson I think he had 20+ amateur fights. Roan Crocker had 20 amateur fights, Kane D’arcy had over 20 amateur fights. And Kane hasn’t even turned pro yet. We are on the verge of turning him pro now so it’s a little bit different now. But back then It was a lot of fights as an an amateur, twelve fights. I am glad I did it because I remember before the IMAAF I would have been 7 or 8-0 and I remember thinking that I was gonna go pro in October. I had a couple of tough tests but no one at the level that I fought at the IMAAF. So I am so glad that it came out that way. I remember my dad saying ”Should we just do this and then go pro” and I am so glad I did it because it put me in a really good stage. The tests that I had there were a lot lot toughter than the ones I had previously.

I think when I look back at my early parts of my pro career, if I fought the guys I fought fights 1 to 7 as a pro without the IMAAF experience, maybe it wouldn’t have gone so well.

Jack totalt dominerade i hans tidiga matcher i hans professionella karriär. Med 16 vinster som proffs innan första förlusten kom in. Trots alla vinster så berättar han om ifall det fanns någon match som gav han extra lärdomar in till hans träningsläger inför framtida matcher.

I had a couple of tough fights early on. I also had tough fights in the UFC, but early on the toughest fight I had was probably against Vaughan Lee. In my bantamweight debut in Cage Warriors. I had won like 5 fights at featherweight before bantamweight and they put me in there with Vaughan Lee. For those who don’t know who Vaughn Lee is, he is a UFC veteran. At the time when I fought Vaughan he had actually had more fights in the UFC than I had in total. So it was a daunting test. I pretty much blew everyone out of the water up until that fight. I had like first round finishes, second round finishes, third round finishes. I fought some good level boys, don’t get me wrong but no one really pushed me to fight that extra that I had. I remember fighting Vaughn and because he had such an awkward style, and more experience he was tough. He was a lot older than me I remember. After like the first two minutes of the first round I remember: ”Yep, we are in for a fight here, this isn’t gonna be a walkover”. I had to dig my feet in and go for it a little bit. I remember that we exchanged on the feet. We were going shot for shot. Fortunately I got my range towards at the end of the first round, and took over and started to dominate. But even then I would be able to break most guys in the second and third round and get them out of there. He just had that widely veteran experience. He could survive. I could get close to getting a submission and boom next thing you know he is out and he is banging again. I crack him with a shot, I rock him, and think that I got him. He was low on energy and next thing you know he is back and walking at me. So that was a good learning experience. And he was a good guy to fight aswell. A great guy. I’ve seen him at UFC shows. He had been cornering fights real good. He is a really good high level coach now. He is a gentleman aswell. If we ever catch ourselves everytime we meet. When I think about tough fights I’ve fought it’s always Vaughan Lee i think about. It was a pleasure of me to meet him at that stage of my career.

Fun fact aswell about that fight is, the first ever UFC show I went to watch live I was seventeen years old and It was UFC in Birmingham. I think. And Vaughan Lee fought in the prelims of the UFC, so that would have to be like 2012. So I watched him fight in the UFC at 2012 and then six years later in 2018 I was in there sharing a cage with him myself. Which was crazy. Good experience.

Reporten frågar om han berättade detta för honom och Shore gav ett roligt svar tillbaka.

Hahhaha yeah, I didn’t want to tell him the story before the fight just in case he has a mental advantage over me. But I told him afterwards. Ever since that fight and the bell rung we earned each others respect massivly. We had a good tear up and we have been friends ever since. It’s always good to see him and the respect i have for him got repayed.

Den sista matchen Lee gick var mot Jack Shore under 2018. Med sina åtta matcher i UFC har han mött fajters som TJ Dillashaw och Raphael Assancao.

Slogs om vakanta Bantamvikts-titeln på hemmaplan i Wales

Jack Shore fick uppfylla många fajters dröm. Att ta en titel. Han tog inte bara en titel, utan han tog den på hemmaplan i Wales. Där han agerade som huvudmatch med några omtalade namn på underkortet.

I had a funny, little bit of a mad rollercoaster road to the title to be honest. I was a big ticket seller in Wales and I was known for many years, up until last year probably, as the Welsh Poster Boy for MMA. We was fighting at place called the new port centre. Which seated 15-hundred people, and I was almost selling that out just on my own. I remember saying to Cage Warriors, after I beated Vaughan Lee in London, ”look if we are gonna go back to wales, it’s gonna be bigger.” They came through on their end and they locked in a place called the Viola Arena. It’s where the Cardiff Devils play ice hockey. So it was pretty cold in there as you could imagine. So I was meant to fight for the title in september and I remember, like before the fight, cutting weight – going to bed. Get up in the morning and finish the weightcut. Then I had a phone call the morning of the weigh ins, telling me that my opponent that i was gonna fight for the title for was out. He had an issue with a brain scan. So I was like ”What does this mean for the fight? I am gonna fight, I just sold you 4000 tickets.” And I remember them just saying ”Look, just come and weigh in. We are gonna do our best to get you someone.”

So i weighed in 135 pounds. In my head I thought they was gonna get me someone for the title. They ended up getting me Weslley Maia. Who is now doing really well in the Cage Warriors and PFL. But at the time he was relatively unheard of. Because he had to weigh in late, we did it at 145 pounds. I weighed in at 135 pounds and was gonna fight at 145 pounds. Which wasn’t an issue for me. I just wanted to fight. I was just happy to get a fight. I still did the fight, but it wasn’t for the belt. I beat Maia in a round, and we then went to fight Ekundayo (Mike Ekundayo) in the ice arena in december. Which was for the vacated title. Which at the time was probably the biggest fight they could’ve made in UK MMA. I was 9-0. He was 8-0. I was ranked number one in the UK, he was ranked number two. Both undefeated.

Han väljer dessutom att skicka en otrolig hyllning till fansen från Wales.

It was a sweet one for me because it was on the Cage Warriors 100 show, so they landmarked the 100th event. I was the main event and there were guys on the undercard, Nicolas Dalby, Jai Herbert. Who are now fighting in the UFC. Paddy Pimblett was gonna fight, but he ended up getting injured. So to have it in Wales and have my name on the poster was brilliant. It was a sweet sweet victory really, because everyone thought I was gonna lose apart of me and my teammates. For some reason, I don’t know, everyone thought I was gonna get steamrolled. I absolutely blew him out of the water and ended up dominating him and getting a finish. To do that, to win the world title obviously, but to do that in your home country with all your friends and family they watching was crazy. To this day I never felt an athmosphere in the crowd like it. It felt like a rave in there, It felt like a party. It was brilliant. I enjoyed it. I loved it and I always look back at it fundly.

På en följdfråga väljer den forne UFC fajtern att säga att de räknade bort honom i hans titelförsvar också.

Nah, same thing! I fought Scott Malone in the defence. Scott was on a tear at the time. Scott is another good guy. I’ve trained with scott since. We are quite friendly, but same thing. I got a lot of stick from the Scottish fans, because it was Wales vs Scottland. But again I think a lot of people counted me out. He beat my teammate actually on the show before, so in december when I won the belt, Scott submitted my teammate in the first round. So it had a little bit of a sweet victory taste to it. Because I got that one back for my teammate, but same again. That was a tough fight. Managed to break him down and get him out of there but I was always the underdog for some reason. It wasn’t until I went to the UFC that people started to put me as a favorite on the bettinglines.

Shore mötte Nohelin Hernandez i sin UFC debut och avslutade honom i den tredje ronden.

Cage Warriors stunden överträffade UFC

Då Jack Shore skrev kontrakt med UFC så kom det med en otrolig hype. Han var en av de Cage Warriors mästarna som kom till att ta nästa kapitel av karriären till UFC. Utöver den Wales-födde fajtern så har vi stora namn som Paddy Pimblett, Conor McGregor, Ian Garry, Molly McCann, Jack Hermansson, och Michael Bisping som har varit mästare i Cage Warriors.

So literally I beat Scott Malone on a saturday, and the following saturday I had a call saying that the UFC were interested and they wanted to sign me. Honestly it was a bit ”jump around” at the start. They got a date in july. They wanted to put me on international fight week. Luckily my manager at the time managed to move it to Copenhagen in september. So in a week of defending the title, they were in touch and they were like ”We want him, what is it gonna cost?”. We told them what it was gonna cost and just like that, a dream had come through. I was signed to the UFC.

För många är att skriva kontrakt med stora organisationen UFC en dröm. Eller ”den” drömmen. Shore har tidigare svarat på en kommentar från Kimuras skribent att hans favorit minne har varit att knycka titeln på sånt dominant vis framför hemma fansen. Nu berättar han ifall den åsikten står intakt. Eller om kontraktet med just UFC betydde mer.

It’s such an odd one to pick because that’s so monumental to me, winning the belt. Being the Cage Warriors champ and doing it in Wales. But then in the grand scheme of things, there is probably hundreds of thousands of MMA fighters in the world. There has probably only been a hundred, maybe 200 cage warriors champions. But the amount of those champions that then go over to the UFC, and also win six fights and get ranked, is even smaller again so. Personally I love that winning the belt infront of my home crowd, but if you look at the grander scheme I think the bigger achievement is going over to the UFC. And beating the best in the world, and I am one of those guys.

Jack Shore slogs mot många skickliga fajters under hans tid i UFC. Men han har också haft många inställda matcher. Vilket inte fick han att vara så aktiv som han egentligen ville. En av dessa inställda möten var mot Umar Nurmagomedov. Den senaste titel utmanaren för nuvarande mästare Merab Dvalishvili. Han berättar varför den matchen inte blev av.

It’s a bit of a weird one, because they told us that Umar was injured. That was meant to happen in London. He was injured or unavailbable, I can’t remember what it was. They came to us and said ”Look, Umar is out. We are keeping you on the card. You’re gonna fight Valiev (Timur Valiev). And then Khabib and stuff was posting saying that he was not injured. That they don’t understand why he’s been removed from the fight. I don’t know. Truthfully I don’t really know. All I know is that they pulled him out and put someone in and kept me on the same date, on the same card. I don’t know if he was injured or if he wanted a different fight or a different location. I don’t know. But obviously he’s gone on to do very very well and he is a beast so that would’ve been a fun fight aswell.

Shore slutade med nio matcher sammanlagt i UFC. Då han kom in och gjorde debut så belönades han med en ”Performance of the night” bonus. Nu reflekterar 30-åringen om hur stor skillnaden var mellan kvaliteten på motstånd. Mellan Cage Warriors och UFC.

Yeah, it was a massive massive step up. Even from the Cage Warriors title fights to the debut. I fought a guy in my debut who was relatively unknown from America, and you could just feel the difference straight away. In Cage Warriors I fought guys that were good everywhere but they always have a weakness that you could exploit. In the UFC you just got to accept that everybody is good everywhere. You have your gameplan and you just got to try to pick your holes on your jab. Everyone is just so good in every position. In every aspect of the fight.

”Tank” tog sig till ett professionellt match facit på 16-0 innan han drabbades av karriärens allra första förlust. Denna då mot Ricky Simon.

”Fighting in martial arts is all about living and learning”

Shore var under en period en av UFC’s stora löften. Med fem raka segrar under UFC bannern som obesegrad proffs, blev han matchad mot Ricky Simon. En sann UFC veteran som i skrivande stund har 14 matcher i UFC. Han har segrar över den nuvarande bantamvikts mästaren Merab Dvalishvili. Som han avslutade i sin UFC debut. Simon besegrade Shore via en Triangle Choke i andra ronden. Walesiska fajtern blickar tillbaka på hur det kändes att bli träffad av ett sånt stort bakslag. Efter att få smaka på förlust för första gången i karriären. Där en enorm förvirring uppstod.

You know everyone ask me that and It’s funny because I feel like it was almost like a relief to be honest. Because every story line for every fight I had from about 5-0 was ”undefeated, undefeated”, ”is he gonna keep the streak going?”, ”is this the guy to dethrone him?”. I was also devastated to lose. But I am not by any means thinking like ”Oh, thank god”. I was devastated and heartbroken to lose. The coming days after I expected to be depressed but it was just a case of like, I felt like a monkey off my back. I got to a stage where I was fighting not to lose rather than fighting to win. So it was one of those situations. Obviously I lost to a good guy, I think he was ranked 10 at the time. He has picked a couple of losses up but the is back at a winning streak and now doing well so, it was one of them. You live and learn. You don’t look back on the result, you look back at the memories. I don’t look back at that and think ”ooh I lost”. I look back to that and think ”I stepped in there with one of the best in the world”. I told my coaches the other day of some of the funny memories we’ve had over the years. In training, in fight week, in fights. And yeah.. I was gutted at the time but I don’t look back at it with any devastation. Fighting in martial arts is all about living and learning. Wether you win lose or draw, each experience is faith. I am not religious or anything like that but what’s meant to be will be. And if that was what the universe had planned for me there is a reason for it, and then it is what it is.

Han tog förlusten rätt bra. Men däremot så kom det med ett beslut att överge Bantamvikt och sikta på Fjädervikt.

I moved up to featherweight because the weight cuts were killing me. I was on the verge of death a couple of times to be honest. I never missed weight at bantamweight but that was only because that I am a hard headed fucker that should probably listen to his body more than what he does but it was just killing me. The fight camps were no longer about me training for my opponent and gameplan and getting better, it turned to more about focus on cutting weight, running two times a day for six days a week is no good for you. It was taking more effect on my mental health. It was making training unenjoyable. I didn’t want to get up in the morning to go to the gym. Like we said everything happens for a reason. It was kind of like.. if I beat Ricky Simon would I move up a weight? Probably not. Probably would’ve took on the next guy who was ranked a little bit higher. But I will be fighting and I will be alright. I didn’t have to have that weight cut to make it happen. Who knows what could’ve happen. Probably something serious that could’ve happened in the weight cut then. But it was faith and I am glad I did it. It was the best decision I ever made. I know the results didn’t always go my way. But it was the most enjoyable time of my career to be honest. Going back to featherweight and with the training and the development.

Första motståndet som fjäderviktare i UFC stod som finske Makwan Amirkhani. Under UFC 286. Detta var en match där Shore kände sig starkare än tidigare.

When you move up a weightclass you kind of always worry. Are the guys are gonna be bigger? Are they gonna be stronger? I just felt so much better. It wasn’t so much of a strength thing. Because I spent most of the training camp with adapting skills and my gameplan. It was almost like I was back in love with the training again. Back in love with the process of getting ready for a fight. Rather then, when I was at Bantamweight I would just dread the fight week coming around. Because I knew how hard it would be. With this one I just felt like I would gameplan. I would prove my skills. And just go in there and put on a performance. Makwan was a good fight at the time. He had been in there with some of the best guys in the division, so it was a good test and one of my best performances to be honest.

Amirkhani har 14 matcher totalt i UFC och hans sita match för organisationen var mot Shore.

Pappan kämpade för sitt liv mot Cancer

Efter vinsten på UFC 286 mot Amirkhani, valde Jack att ta tillfälle i akt och prata lite om tuffa stunder som hänt bakom kullisserna inför denna match. Där han avslöjade och skickade en hyllning till sin far, som kämpat mot Cancer. Under tiden som Jack förberedde sig för matchen. Han berättade även att han inte ville ta matchen. Men att hans far övertalade honom.

Obviously the camp was tough because he wasn’t in the gym as much as he used to. He was in the gym, but there is periods of chemo where you have to stay away and have no contact with people because of the immune system being so low, and also because he generelly was feeling shit after the treatment. He wasn’t there as much as we are used to but other coaches picked up the slack. It was motivating because I remember him having his treatment on lets say a monday and he was in the gym training himself on the wednesday. So I used to think well if I am feeling tired and aching and don’t want to train today, if he is going through this you got no excuse.

It was a tough camp mentally because I had to kind of be there for my sister, my mother our family and for him, you know. He will have you believe he is tough as nails, as he is, but obviously he was struggling aswell. Going through that. It was mentally a tough camp but again I used it as a bit of motivation and fire because if he is down there what excuse do I got?

Shore valde i november att göra ett tufft beslut som innefattade framtiden av hans karriär. Läs mer om hans tankar på detta inlägg.

Pensionerade sig som 29 åring

Jack Shore blev också pappa kort där efter. Han tog en tid bort från tävlandet och var exalterad att få tävla som pappa. Detta då under UFC 301. Efter den matchen pensionera han sig som 29 åring och berättar nu mer detaljerat om varför han valde att göra det valet så ung.

Not so much in a fighting sense but you know. But being a dad is the best thing that has ever happened to me. We caught a lot of achievements with the fights and stuff like that but none of that compares to watching my little boy be born. Watching him grow up. Seeing him take his first step. See him say a new word. Him making me laugh. Nothing compares to the feeling of having to watch him grow. It just changed my life. If I am honest it changed my life totally and probably part of the reason why I ended up retiring when I did. Cus’ I was missing so much time with him in a fight camp and I just thought that I’ve had a good career and the juice is not worth the squeese no more. I can have all the money in the world, all the money in the bag, all the titles but one thing I can’t get back is time. I felt like I was missing a lot of it. I was coming out of fight camp and realised how much time I was missing with him. And I remember thinking that I gotta make a decision here. I had kind of one foot out of the door because of the baby and I want to be there for the special moments. You know what I mean? I don’t wanna be away when he is going to school. I like to be there in front of the bed at night and be there when he wakes up in the morning. Hopefully everyone who gets to experience it will say the same thing. You don’t know what true love feels like. Until you see that child. When you see him for the first time, it’s an incredible feeling. Changed my life totally and I love him to bits.

Speciellt då han inte vill ta mer stryk på skallen och kroppen. Bevara den långsiktiga hälsan.

Fighting is a dangerous game. I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had too many bad injuries. I haven’t had too many bad knocks. Obviously I’ve been TKO’d once. I’ve only been dropped twice in my entire career. That is inside and outside of the gym. I’ve never been dropped in the gym. I’ve been dropped twice in the cage. That’s not bad going realistically. I always said I would be done by 30 and everyone used to laugh at me and saying ”No chance.” I told them that I was gonna be done by 30 and obviously what we talked about the universe and stars alighning and they aligned and that ended up happening. It’s always in the back of your mind. You don’t want to take too much damage. You see so many guys punch strunk and they go on for too long and get knocked out too many times. I never wanted that to be me you know.

Stor shock från Media och MMA världen.

I think It was a lot of shock. A lot of people don’t expect it because I am so young and even in the fights I lost, like the Brito fight I lost which was b*llshit, and even to lose to Zalal I was in there. Maybe even stole the first round and I got finished, and he is gonna do well. He is ranked number 12 in the world now and I still think a lot of people see a lot of potential in me. I think they were shocked but with also a lot of respect I haven’t gotten any real negative backlash. I don’t really gick a f*ck about trolls online but especially people higher up in the sport whose opinions kind of count. A lot of them sort of tweeted or messaged me saying ”fair play, you are doing it on your own terms. Retiring when you want to.” 90% of fighters are forced to retire because they have too many losses and has been knocked out too many times and I think a lot of people respect the fact that I was openly admitting that I was done with fighting and they were like ”all the respect for you to calling it a day and all. Jumping off the wagon before it’s too late.”

I have a lot of people messing me now which obviously miss me fighting like ”come on come back, you gotta come back. Come back for 1 more.” And I always have support when I say ”Look, I am done.” Any person whose opinions are valid are supporting my decision. And only has nice things to say which is nice.

You’re just gonna have to live through me now cornering the boys in the UFC in a couple of years. (laughter)

Om Shore hade agerat som tränare i UFC så hade det blivit ett ”full circle moment” där han har sett två sidor av myntet. Både som fajter och tränare. Något han gör mycket flitigt nu är att träna upp elever i hans gym i hemstaden Abertillery.

Yeah that is the plan. We have Oban (Elliot) in the UFC now. He is already there doing brilliant things but what I would love to have would be one of the youngsters that I have gone out and coached 16, 17 18 year olds. It would be great to kind of coach them through their pro career and get them to the UFC. Like my dad did with me and how he did with Oban and Marshman, that would be a good moment for me aswell. We will see what happens.

Slutligen avrundas intervjun med att Shore berättar hur hans vardagliga liv ser ut. Sett till hur mycket tid som går åt att träna elever på hans familjs kampsports-gym ”Shore Mixed Martial Arts”.

Yeah, I do a lot of 1 to 1 coaching. My father got such a big team, that we have 20 own fighters on the mat. It’s tough for him to give everyone an equal amount of attention. If Oban or Brett has a big fight coming up, or Scott they all take part as established pro fighters, something the amateurs don’t always get, as much necessary attention as some of the more experience boys would when they got fights. Which they understand because it happens at every gym in the world, so I do a lot one to one training with the amateurs. On the daytime we work at the striking, the grappling, the wrestling and obviously I help my dad out with the sessions so I take some of the wrestling sessions, or some of the grappling sessions when he can’t do it. And also they have their sparring days it’s good to have an extra set of eyes on the mat. As you can imagine him trying to manage 20 guys, I help him manage them out. We do it between us and we also got other coaches that help out aswell.

It’s enjoyable, it’s stressfull aswell because some of these kids don’t realise their potential or realise the opportunity they’ve got, so I try to say to them: ”When I was your age I was going for a run in the morning and training once in the night and we had fight sessions a week once in the gym. Now we got 20 sessions a week, so I know you’re tired and you are aching but get on with it. And make the sacrifice. It can be frustrating at times but also very rewarding and I am new to the journey six months in, I am enjoying it and we will see where it goes.

Om man vill ta del av mer av Jack Shore så kan man följa hans Instagram här.

Vill man ta del av videon på hela intervjun så kan man göra det på länken nedan.