FIGHTNEWZ.NET: What happened James?
MCSWEENEY: I don't know. The fight seemed okay at first,
then I just got caught I think.
They said I got caught to the body and then to the head and went down the
first time, I don't remember feeling the pain but I just went down.
The second one I went to throw a leg kick and he caught me off balance and
I went down. It was a good shot but it wasn't a knockout, the two knockdown rule.
I could have continued and I will continue, it's my living and I've got
to fight Saki again in four weeks.
I will get straight back in the gym, I've got no serious injuries and I've
won far more than I've lost so it's just one of those things when it happens.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: How determined are you to come back from it?
MCSWEENEY: I can't wait to get back, I would have gone
straight to the gym after the fight if I could!
It doesn't feel like I've had a fight, two minutes after all of the training
is nothing. No excuse, it's frustrating but it's the name of the game.
It happens, this is what K-1 is designed for. It happens, you lose.
It's my first time I've lost by knockdown like that, the only other
times I've lost on points, I've never had it that way.
It's going to test me personally but I will come back.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Days like this make the man.
MCSWEENEY: We will see. Last time I lost against Chris
Knowles in a thai boxing fight over five rounds on points and then my next fight in Slovenia I knocked the guy out in
17 seconds.
I usually get back in the gym and train twice as hard because if I don't
I won't sleep at night.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: So if Saki looks at the Douwes result and thinks he has
got a walkover at Beast of the East, he has got another thing coming?
MCSWEENEY: Well listen, if he wants to take that he
can take that. But listen, I've had a lot of fights. Just don't take one fight as a bad day.
Shit happens in one fight, it's up to him - we will go from here.
It's going to be a real good fight, it's a good opportunity for me on May
31.
If I beat him it puts me right at the top level in Holland because at the
moment I'm really probably unheard of in Holland.
I need to really up my game in Holland and get more fights here to get more
noticed and start selling tickets. I've also got Mourad Bouzidi in Rotterdam later in the year and my manager is coming up
with a lot of good, high profile fights for me.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Putting the result to one side, how much have you improved
in general by training with Lucien Carbin?
MCSWEENEY: Humungously. The level of improvement in my eyes has gone on
leaps and bounds. From the point of where we got offered the Michael McDonald fight at Cage Rage, there was no way on
paper I should have won that fight with the guy's experience, who he has fought and beat compared to my level at the time.
But we knew if we trained specifically for him and we trained good, the
way we do, we could beat the guy.
And with Lucien behind me and his training techniques and methods I have
come on so far with the level of fighters I have around me: Tyrone Spong, Rodney Faverus, Imro Main.
The guys here, the sparring here and the techniques are so far advanced
in training and I get the dedication that I need.
When I come to Holland I come from Monday to Friday every week and train
twice a day and get the one-to-one that I need and the conditioning that I need.
If you are going to fight among these fighters you need to learn their style
and by training in Holland with them I'm starting to learn that now.
I used to stay with Lucien for the first three years at his house but now
I'm managed by Black Label they supply me with hotels or a house to myself so my facilities are real good now.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Feel part of the Dutch family?
MCSWEENEY: To be truthful for the first year it took a long time to get
accepted into Fighting Factory Carbin, into the team.
Because I was the only white guy, I was from England and everyone there
is a world champion.
So you have got to earn your dues. It took a year of getting beaten up and
not giving up and keep coming back and coming back.
It's a very daunting place. When you walk in, the whole gym stops
and looks, like most gyms do, and the training is so hard.
No matter who you are, it doesn't matter if you are a world champion, you
have to earn the right of the gym - no-one is bigger than the gym.
At the moment now I feel like I'm part of the place and it's nice.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: You obviously want to be at the top level.
MCSWEENEY: Since I had the McDonald fight, I've had a lot of high quality
K-1 fights and had a lot of wins and fought in Slovenia two weeks before the ArenA and knocked the guy out in the second round.
I fought in MMA in my last fight before that and needed a K-1 warm-up fight,
the guy was far from a warm-up, he was like 6ft 8in and 115, 116 kilo.
I'm going to fight in a tournament in Las Vegas in September.
FIGHTNEWZ.NET: Going to relocate to Holland full-time?
MCSWEENEY: In the future you never know. At the moment this is my full-time
profession, I've got good sponsorship and I've got no problem relocating apart from personal ties back in England.
But if the point came where my training was starting to suffer because of
it then I would without a second thought.
This is my living and my new job and something that I want to give my all.
