Stephen 'The Playboy' Doran Promoter Of FURY MMA
We finally caught up with Steve Doran, probably the
most stylish man in MMA after running the length and bredth of the
country. Not stictly true but he was hard to pin down. Stephen Doran is
half of the FURY MMA Team which in our opinion is going from strength to
strength at a rate second to none. If you have not been to a FURY show I
would suggest you get yourself down to the O2 on the 8th of September
and see what your missing. Enough from me Dan T asks the questions Steve
Doran gives the answers.
Q/ How long have you been into MMA ?
A/ I think I have been into MMA before I actually knew what MMA was. My
friends and I would always go to the local park and take turns to fight
each other on the grass combining moves we had picked up from various
books and martial arts classes. I read a lot of Bruce Lee’s literature
and became very interested in his hybrid martial arts system, Jeet Kune
Do, ‘the style without style’. I was a big fan of the early UFC and
remember as it changed from different styles being pitted against
eachother to an amalgamation of all styles, which was MMA. I didn’t
start training specifically in MMA till I was around 20 which was when I
met Dan Movahedi who was my personal trainer at the time and over the
years has become a very close friend.
Q/ You are now the proud promoter of FURY MMA. But what did you do before FURY?
A/ I was a firefighter for 7 years, from the age of
19. This job did a lot for me in terms of discipline and maturity as I
was somewhat of a loose cannon growing up. I was still firefighter when
Fury first started but resigned officially last year in order to free
up my time. I always ran a few other separate companies alongside
working which are fairly successful and gave me the financial platform
to invest in Fury but these businesses are all fairly self-sufficient
now allowing me to focus fully on the event. I often say joining the
fire brigade was one of the best things in my life but leaving it was
much better. It’s great to be so closely involved in a sport I enjoy so
much.
Q/ Daniel Movahedi is your matchmaker, good choice may I add. Why did you choose Dan to do this?
A/
Dan is the perfect guy to match fights for a number of reasons, first
off he himself is a seasoned fighter and has a great understanding of
different people’s abilities and styles, he seems to be able to
visualise what combinations will make for an exciting fight. Due to
being so involved with the sport over the years he is well networked and
knows everybody who is anybody in the sport. He has a great eye for
spotting up and comers, as he refs all around the country, well the
world now in fact, I often get late night messages and calls from Dan
when he finishes at a show saying ‘Steve, we have got to have so and so
on the show’ and we generally always make it happen. In credit to Dan
the main feedback I get from spectators at every show is that the fights
were some of the most exciting they’ve seen, I truly believe in terms
of match making we have some of the best matched cards in the UK.
Q/ I notice you are doing a lot of MMA training, could we see the Playboy fighting at the show anytime soon?
A/ Well I wouldn’t say I’m doing a lot compared to
some guys I know but I get down the gym as much as my lifestyle permits.
Mainly just because I love fighting and to help my team mates at SJMMA
with their sparring and help push them, not so much to compete as I’m
not sure I’d have the time to fully commit to training and don’t believe
in doing things in halves. That said I certainly wouldn’t rule it out
as there I times when I get urges to up my game and compete but first
I’d need to shed a lot of weight as I carry a lot of muscle and sit at
93kg, which is Light Heavyweight and not a great weight for my height.
If and when I do fight semi-pro or pro I’m not sure I’d do it on Fury as
I see it as a potential lose lose, reason being if I steamed straight
through someone I’d be accused of matching an easy fight as its my show
and if I lose…well then I lose.
Q/ Fury 6 is fast approaching. Tell us about the card and venue?
A/This card is absolutely, completely, well and truly stacked, we have
great fighters for this show and lots of them. I usually host events
every 2-3 months but Dan and I decided to give it a 4 month gap this
time and really make it spectacular. We have our light heavy weight belt
up for grabs and I’m sure these guys will show you exactly why I don’t
want to compete at that weight! As for the venue it is fantastic for
lots of reasons, the location is prime being within the O2. The layout
of Proud2 works very well for an MMA show. Proud2 is the second biggest
night club in London which should give you an indication of how Fury
has progressed over the past year. With the club boasting the best
sound system in Europe the atmosphere is going to be immense, needless
to say the after party will be rocking! If you’re unlucky you might see
me throwing up a few shapes in there.
Q/ With your knowledge of promotion and the
great cards you have had so early on. How far are you willing to go with
the FURY brand?
A/Fury
will be massive without a shadow of doubt. The fact is as you have
said we have great cards and I promise you they will only get greater.
The shows always run smooth as we put a lot of work in pre-event to
ensure this is the case. MMA is a rapidly growing sport and Fury is a
very marketable brand, we don’t just offer fights we put on a show with
many different performances in between fights from fire swallowers to
magicians to musicians. I anticipate Fury will be an international
fight promotion within the next few years although I plan to walk before
we run and want to concentrate on properly establishing ourselves in
the UK as one of the country’s best shows if not eventually the best UK
show first.
Q/ Please can you tell us who else works on FURY apart from you and Dan?
A/As far as the lead up to event asides from us we
have Danielle who is my PA and worth her weight in gold. She helps take
a lot of workload pressure off of me and Dan when things are getting a
bit much to keep up with which can be often. LSA Management, who sponsor
the event tend to spend the time prior to the event sourcing ring girls
who of course are a very important part of the show and we thank them
greatly for that. Asides from that we have our promo team and the rest
of the guys help mostly on the night, our staffing on the night is
massive. There are so many of these guys I couldn’t name them all
suffice to say we are always extremely grateful for all of the support
we receive on the night.
Q/ The work we done for FURY has had over 4000 views with the videos. How did you like the stuff we did?
A/The stuff you guys done was great, you guys are clearly very
professional and a great credit to the sport. The video interviews came
out well, asides from the one of me trying to get a word in edgeways
with motor mouth Movahedi! I joke of course. Jumping in and filming some
of the fights at the last event was a life saver for us. I’ve also
gone through your site and read a lot of the interviews and always enjoy
hearing every one’s story so to speak.
Q/ Who do you rate as a real up and coming fighter in the UK?
A/I think Max Nunes is definitely one to watch out for
at the moment from what I gather the guy breathes MMA. I haven’t had
the pleasure of meeting him yet but he trains with my close friends and
also my brother at Nick Osipczak’s camp NWA. He is doing well thus far
in his pro career and with his passion for the sport I’m sure will go
far. Max is fighting for our Light Heavyweight Title on 8 September, not
a fight to be missed. Also my good friend and team mate Vitor Silva is
oozing potential and I am certain we will see great things out of him in the near future. He is not adverse
to taking on tough fights and testing his abilities and although he lost
at the last Fury on a decision in the Lightweight Title match he always
comes to fight and I love that quality. He trains hard and as a black
belt in BJJ he knows his stuff, the guy submitted me once whilst
blindfolded what more can I say!!
Q/ Tell us about the FURY title belts and the guys who hold them?
A/ As a fairly new promotion we have only 4 belts out
at the moment as we didn’t want to be one of these shows that just gives
belts out from the start. The first belt belongs to Carl Orriss our
Featherweight Champion who fought an absolute slug fest only for the
judges to call it a draw and then went on to win an additional deciding
round. Carl will be back to defend his belt in the near future and I
believe at the moment he still remains undefeated. Secondly we have
Cliff Meeks who beat opponent Aurelius Kerpe to win the Middleweight
Title. Knowing Cliff had only lost only one fight in his pro career
prior to this title fight we knew we had to make this a tough fight for
him so we matched him against the only guy who had ever beaten him
before. Then we have Nigel Whitear who defeated Vitor Silva at the last
Fury to become Lightweight Champion, Nigel is a great fighter and has
been on the circuit a while and proved his skills by defeating Vitor who
as I said earlier is a superb fighter. Finally we have Tomasz now if
you don’t know what happened with Tomasz then you need to go and check
out the vid, brutal knockout of Paul Saunders in the first round won him
the belt. Tomasz is back fighting on our November show against Ian
Hawkins who is a top Heavyweight fighter and had an absolute slug fest
with Tomasz before, miss it and miss out.
So there you have it from the man himself. Thank you Stephen see you at the O2
Here is an interview with Steve and Dan at FURY MMA 5
12th June 2012
Written Feature First Published Approx 17th August 2012
