{"id":481124,"date":"2026-02-15T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/481124\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T07:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:00:11","slug":"belfast-fighter-charts-meteoric-rise-after-swapping-gaa-for-muay-thai-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/481124\/","title":{"rendered":"Belfast fighter charts meteoric rise after swapping GAA for Muay Thai \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Belfast<\/a> born Niall McGreevy never expected to become a two-time World champion when he first entered a Muay Thai<\/a> gym.<\/p>\n

The then 15-year-old was devoted to Gaelic football and hurling, and it was only in the off-season that he decided to give the Thailand-based combat sport a chance. <\/p>\n

Over 10 years later, McGreevy is one of the world\u2019s best at a sport mostly fought on the other side of the world, and largely alien to his home shores.<\/p>\n

Read more: \u2018It\u2019s all about respect\u2019: Belfast MMA gym bringing children together from across the divide<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Republic<\/a>\"Scotland<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought I would be where I am today\u201d, he admitted to The Irish News.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only started Muay Thai to keep fit in the winter months when the Gaelic had stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went to secondary school, I thought I could fight and I found out pretty quickly that I couldn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

\"NiallNiall McGreevy is on the rise in Muay Thai. PICTURE: MAC MEDIA <\/p>\n

\u201cI did boxing when I was 10 years old, but I got the face punched off me. I wasn\u2019t very good with my hands. I had a couple of fights, but didn\u2019t really like it and went back to hurling and Gaelic, which I\u2019d played since I was about four. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I started Muay Thai when I was 15, it was new and it was exciting, and I was good at it, and I just stuck at it. Now I\u2019m here, a world champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muay Thai is a combat sport<\/a> known as the \u2018art of the eight limbs\u2019, with fists, elbows, knees and kicks all included as parts of its striking. <\/p>\n

Originating from Thailand, the sport has seen only a handful number of professional athletes emerge from Ireland, and even fewer to reach world champion level. <\/p>\n

McGreevy climbed that summit in October 2024, claiming his first professional belt in Verona as he won the WBC title. <\/p>\n

He defended it successfully last September, and had a quick turn-around to fight again with Muay Thai\u2019s biggest promoter, RWS, at the beginning of this year. <\/p>\n

\"NiallNiall McGreevy working on the pads. PICTURE: MAC MEDIA <\/p>\n

The fighter won his most recent bout on January 31, picking up his fourth victory in a row through unanimous decision, something he puts down to his intense preparation.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI was very confident heading into the fight. I knew I had to stay strong to beat him, and I also knew he could have chinned me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut because of the training and the work me and my camp put in, I knew I would have the confidence needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew going into the fight I was 100% sure I was going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

With more potential fights coming through the rest of the year, McGreevy is open to whatever comes next.<\/p>\n

\u201cRWS are very good to work with. I can only fight for them exclusively in Thailand, and I can defend the WBC anywhere else in the world, so if someone wants to challenge me for it, they can, and I do intend on defending it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a few real standout fighters from Ireland, but it really is quite a small sport here compared to even England and France. <\/p>\n

\u201cIrish fighters going over to Thailand is really unheard of, there\u2019s been only really one or two that have stuck it out in that circuit. So to be over there, representing Ireland on the big stage, especially in Thailand, is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

With fellow champion fighter and best mate, Garrett Smylie, the two have also created their own clothing brand to represent their home city on the global stage. <\/p>\n

Named BFast after both their native city, and also with the need to \u2018be fast\u2019 in combat sport, the brand has seen fighters Lewis Crocker and Paul Hughes don them in combat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made a career through fighting, but it doesn\u2019t last forever\u201d, said McGreevy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great fun making your own clothes, and having people join the brand and get behind the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representing Belfast as a fighting city was key to both McGreevy and Smylie when creating the image.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to name it after where we\u2019re from, and to put Belfast on the map, on the biggest of stages.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Belfast born Niall McGreevy never expected to become a two-time World champion when he first entered a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,42524],"class_list":["post-481124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-west-belfast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}