Athletes
Shane Young Loves His Day Job
UFC Featherweight Shane Young Is Ready To Translate His Training Into A Victory at UFC 284
Shane Young emphasizes the power of having a good support system.
The 13-6 featherweight relies heavily on his family and native Māori heritage to keep him going every day. His wife and son back in Auckland, New Zealand, and his elite gym family at the renowned City Kickboxing are all components to Young’s motivation.
It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen the Kiwi in the Octagon. An unintentional hiatus occurred, but not for lack of trying.
“I tried to get on the Paris card, tried to get on the New York card, but couldn’t get an opponent.”
So, the 29-year-old has been relishing his time off, taking a slower approach to life, working on himself, and loving the time he gets to spend raising his son in the process.
ORDER UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski
During this time, he has really found a second family in City Kickboxing, the same home to former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and part-time home to featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski. He believes that surrounding himself with such an elite group of fighters and coaches day in and day out has given him the ability to excel through adversity.
“Really knowing who to lean on when times are hard and recognizing it’s been eight years since I’ve been [at my gym] and it’s been a family for so long and time has really shown the love that I have, that I am surrounded with, and I am comfortable being there.”
Athletes know that if you want to be great you must surround yourself with greatness. And that is exactly what Young is doing. “I was able to integrate some new stuff…now I’ve been working with an elite strength coach, integrating more tools into my game, City Kickboxing, best MMA gym and coach, Eugene Bareman, three years in a row,” he told UFC.com “Every day in there is like going to the lab.
“Everybody who trains in my gym gets better every day, so as their level increases it makes me push myself that much more.”
Considering the break from competition, we asked how getting back into training camp was. Before we could even get the question out, he didn’t hesitate to say, “It was hard bro, it was the hardest fight camp I’ve ever had in my life.” Reminiscing on how fight camps used to be mentally, physically, and emotionally for the young featherweight, he added, “but my spirits have been the highest they’ve ever felt.”
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When he first got to the UFC, he would get home from a day of training and “basically feel like crying” because his workload was so draining. Since then, he has adjusted his mind and body to be on a more elite level. Even though this camp has been “Three times harder than any of those fight camps in terms of frequency and difficulty level,” he’s never felt better.
“It’s been hectic, but I love it, it’s been amazing,” he said, finding that creating variation and uncertainty within every session was key to such a successful camp.
WATCH: Cold Open | UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski
The confidence in his team has Young adopting a veteran’s mentality. Though younger in age, the 29-year-old doesn’t see his 32-year-old opponent, Blake Bilder, as that much of a threat. With 19 fights under his belt, compared to Bilders eight, Young expects to use this experience as a significant advantage when it comes to his hand being raised on Saturday.
“Experience manifests itself in those tough situations, knowing when to pull the trigger, knowing how to win the fight moment by moment and knowing how to dig deep when you need to.”
He assumes that he will show Bilder a skill set that the UFC newcomer hasn’t seen before, emphasizing that training in the gym is great, but it’s a whole different ball game once “you see it at fight speed and with all the pressure of the moment happening.”
“I just know that I’m on a different level, my gym’s on a different level and my training is on a different level and I am going to express that come Sunday.”
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One of Young’s goals is to increase the popularity of combat sports in New Zealand. We asked how he feels seeing his face all over billboards in his hometown. Not wanting to “toot [his] own horn”, he attempts to stay humble but knows that he can credit a lot of the growth to himself.
He’s hoping the hype around UFC 284 has brought some recognition to the Australian market. Recognizing that the fight sold out in minutes, he’s sure that “the performances on Sunday will reflect that, mine will and I know it’s going to be a big day for ANZACS.”
🇳🇿's Shane Young is returning to the Octagon in February! #UFC284 pic.twitter.com/65UhHcARXj
— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) January 7, 2023
There’s nothing like performing in front of a home crowd. It makes the situation bigger than yourself and turns it into a unifying cause. “So many Māori people here, being able to fight in front of basically a home crowd, in front of 20,000 people in a massive arena, it’s perfect.”
But what’s so different about this crowd?
Young says, “We bring the element of [team sport] supporters into this one-on-one combat situation. I remember fighting in Melbourne and there were flags and chants and singing, and it’s like were bringing that arena-style sporting event into the singular combat sport.” He adds that the Kiwi and Aussie fans are quite respectable and an educated bunch of spectators.
Young is excited to bridge his fast-paced fighting style with his newfound maturity and put on an exciting show.
“The energy of the room, just being pushed into that cage and being able to perform for them is something that’s really close to my heart in terms of why I do this as my day job,” Young says with a smile on his face.
UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski took place live from RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on February 11, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive all the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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