‘Haven’t Shown Anywhere Near Full Potential’: Shauna Bannon Hungry To Hunt Pooja Tomar Down At UFC Fight Night London

UFC Women's Strawweight Shauna Bannon will be eager to continue her winning ways and continue to dominate in the division. The Irish MMA fighter will be back inside the octagon after her win over Alice Ardelean in UFC 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2. At the O2 in London, Mama B will be dealing with 'The Cyclone', India's own Pooja Tomar in action. Bannon is the second-only Irish female MMA fighter, and she stands out as a huge influence on Irish women in pursuing combat sports. But Mama B has a big challenge, and we dive deep into her thoughts ahead of the fight. 

The Shauna Bannon Exclusive: Balancing Injuries, MMA Career and Motherhood And Preparing For ‘The Cyclone’

Republic World sat down for an exclusive interaction with UFC women's Strawweight fighter Shauna Bannon, who will be fighting her third-only UFC fight against ‘The Cyclone’ Puja Tomar in UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Brady. ‘Mama B’ opened up about her thoughts on the upcoming opponent and how her admiration for MMA prospered and how she pivoted into it despite having a kickboxing background. The UFC women's Strawweight fighter also spoke about the rise of Irish women in the realm of combat sports and balancing her life as a mother.

Before the conclusion of our chat, we asked Shauna Bannon about Conor McGregor, who has been a huge support system to the women's Strawweight fighter over the years. 

Here are the excerpts from the Interview:

Before your comeback at UFC 304, I learned that you were injured after the fight with Bruna Brasil and that's why it took a long time for your return. Could you explain how you coped with injury and got back into condition to win?

I didn't injure myself in the Bruna fight, that's not correct. I had a slight injury in training but it only took maybe like 6 weeks to recover. I was supposed to fight in March last year but I wasn't, I wouldn't have been ready to fight in time. But that's an old injury, that was like last year and it wasn't from the Brona fight.

Do such things motivate you to push harder? Setbacks often give an adrenaline rush. Was that the same with you?

I think every fighter has setbacks in different ways whether it's the personal life, whether it's injuries and I think every setback makes anyone stronger so yeah 100%.

Your upcoming match is with Puja Tomar, I think she could be extremely unpredictable in the cage since she had one UFC match and came straight out of Matrix Fight Night. What are your thoughts on Tomar as an opponent fighter?

She's a tough opponent, you can tell by her fights, she's a tough girl. I think she likes to throw her sidekicks and overhands and yeah, we've prepared.

We have seen Irish women thriving in the combat sports circuit. You see Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria thriving in the WWE. Valkyria hails from the same place just as you. Will UFC be the spot for Shauna Bannon's rise in the MMA realm?

MMA is definitely the sport that I love. I come from a kickboxing background. I've done kickboxing since I was three years old. I was raised in a gym, my dad was my kickboxing coach, so kickboxing was a huge part of my life and I adored it. But then when I found MMA, I think, like, I didn't think I could love anything more than kickboxing.

Also Read: 'He's A Poodle In A Cage With A Pitbull': Hyder Amil Aims For Total Domination Against William Gomis At UFC Fight Night

When I found MMA and the jiu-jitsu and the wrestling and the judo and like all aspects of it, I just completely fell in love with it. So, yeah, it's been, I think I switched to MMA maybe seven years ago now, and I'll be coming up to seven years this April. And I just absolutely love the sport and I just want to learn more and more every day.

We just spoke about Ireland women's rise in Combat Sports, jo this question struck my mind: Do you think your emergence in the UFC inspires other Irish women to get their hands on the sport?

I think there's a lot of Irish MMA athletes as well that are up and coming. There is a big rise in female MMA in Ireland at the moment and it's super exciting because when I started off there wasn't a lot of females. And now it's just continuing to grow and grow and high-level athletes that could be coming into the UFC as well after me.

I'd like to think so. I think I suppose most athletes that are doing MMA and want to be professional, they aspire to go to the UFC because it's the pinnacle of the sport. So I'm only the second Irish female MMA athlete to be in the UFC, so I think like, and prior to me, it was Aish Daly [Aisling Daly] which was like 10 years ago. I'd like to think I am inspiring the women to push and grow. So I think sometimes people knock people down and they say that's not possible but anything is possible and I think once you kind of have it in your head you'll do whatever it takes to get there.

What is your mindset before heading inside the cage w/ Puja? Given that Both have been strong competitors in their past fights.

I think I need to stay focused on my game plan and go out there and be Shauna Bannon. I think I believe my best is the best in the world and I haven't shown anywhere near my full potential in the UFC yet unfortunately, but I think Saturday I'm going to show that and I'm super excited.

Is juggling between being a mother and having an MMA career difficult?

It is hard, but it's super rewarding. And I think having my son as part of this journey makes it 10 times more special. I think if he wasn't here with me and I was just doing this alone, it wouldn't be a special. So having him there, he gives me that extra motivation, that extra push on the hard days and or when I come home from a hard training session and I have him there smiling and making me laugh. It's just, he really makes the journey worthwhile and I'm so so grateful to have him there for.

Let's talk about Conor McGregor. How big of a support he has been to you over the years?

he has sponsored me a couple of times for previous fights and I think Connor's changed the sport you know like MMA wasn't what it was before Connor and Connor's changed the sport you know like MMA wasn't what it was before Conor and he really grew the sport with what he has done in his prime.

Also Read: 'You Don't Have To Idolize Other People': Javid Basharat Aims To Inspire Young Afghans, Targets A Dominant UFC Comeback

Watch India's very own Puja Tomar, "The Cyclone" in UFC Fight Night Prelims on 22nd March, 2025 at 10:30 PM IST. LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu)