{"id":629891,"date":"2026-04-25T11:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/629891\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T11:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:50:13","slug":"west-belfast-mma-club-prepares-for-move-into-new-world-class-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/629891\/","title":{"rendered":"West Belfast MMA club prepares for move into new world class facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

A LEADING West Belfast Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) club is hoping to inspire the next generation of kids in the growing sport as they prepare to move to a bigger and modern premises.<\/p>\n

Fight Academy Ireland have been based in Springbank in Poleglass for 18 years, bringing through well-known fighters such as Paddy McCorry, Paul Hughes and Rhys McKee.<\/p>\n

Due to a growing popularity, the club are preparing to move to new state-of-the-art premises in Kilwee Business Park, off Upper Dunmurry Lane, with an expected opening planned for Saturday, May 2.<\/p>\n

The new facility will boast a full-size 30 ft cage, a 24 ft cage, a caf\u00e9, sauna, weights room and much more.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Andersonstown News in the new premises, Liam Shannon explained: “It is our 18th anniversary next month and basically the move came about because we have grown that much and we are at full capacity in the classes.<\/p>\n

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“We have about 230 kids from five up to 17-years-old. I have to turn kids away which is one of the lowest feelings in the world.<\/p>\n

“Our new facility is about two-and-a-half times the size and we will be able to put extra classes on to ensure no kid gets turned away again. We have two cages, a caf\u00e9, sauna and weights room.<\/p>\n

“I am delighted that the new premises is coming on. It is taking a lot of time, hard work and money. It used to be a tyre place and the transformation in six weeks has been amazing.<\/p>\n

“MMA is hugely popular and still growing particularly in Ireland. I believe Fight Academy Ireland leads the way. We want to push the sport to the next level and having this new facility can help us achieve that. It is world class.”<\/p>\n

Do you have something to say on this issue? If so, submit a letter for publication to Conor McParland at c.mcparland@belfastmedia.com<\/a> or write to Editor Anthony Neeson at Belfast Media Group 43-47 Falls Road, Belfast BT12 4PD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A LEADING West Belfast Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) club is hoping to inspire the next generation of kids…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[19848,19851,64,63,19852,7781,786,785,44,19846,19849,19847,5492,19850,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-629891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-andersonstown-news","9":"tag-andytown-news","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-belfast-media-group","13":"tag-comment","14":"tag-fighting","15":"tag-mma","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-news-belfast","18":"tag-north-belfast-news","19":"tag-north-of-ireland","20":"tag-northern-ireland","21":"tag-south-belfast-news","22":"tag-sport","23":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629891","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=629891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}