A WEE County mixed martial arts fighter is looking to make an impact as he travels to Dublin for his promotional debut.

Craig McIntosh, who hails from Alloa, has been booked in at the Bellator Dublin tournament and has been drawn to take on Ireland’s own Kenny Mokhonoana in the MMA clash.

This will be the fighter’s ninth professional contest, set to be held in Ireland on Saturday, February 25.

Speaking exclusively to the Advertiser, Craig said the fight is his sole focus and has been training every day to guarantee victory.

Craig said: “I’ve put aside all other responsibilities for this – for the first time in my life, the only thing I’m doing is training day and night.

“I’ve always had to juggle between working a full-time job but for this, I’ve put down everything and my only focus has been my family and training over the last 12 weeks.

“I go through to a gym and do some sessions with a few guys who have made it to the very top and know what they’re doing then I’ll come home and do some more private sessions – striking, grappling, jiu jitsu.”

“Bellator is one of the biggest promotions in the world so to make it onto that show and win, it will be an amazing feeling.

Craig developed an interest in martial arts after training under Josh Gavin, a British judo international who ran a school in Alloa before his passing in 2013.

From there, he branched out to learn as many disciplines as he could, becoming adept at judo, jiu jitsu and Muay Thai.

Craig switched between the types as he fought professionally before taking a hiatus from MMA to focus in jiu jitsu.

After making a return to MMA, Craig founded his own gym called the Submission Factory in Alloa once lockdown had ended.

“I started competing professionally and had a few fights and a few wins over some world champions in the past.

“About two years ago, I decided to go back into MMA and we opened our gym after Covid.

“We got the place open and then I decided to start fighting again – and now I’m going into my ninth professional fight.”

Clacks residents can watch Craig in action at BELLATOR 291: Amosov vs. Storley 2 live on BBC iPlayer on Saturday, February 25, from the 3Arena, Dublin, from 4:30pm GMT.

For those interested in watching the fight live, tickets can be bought from ticketmaster.ie and bellator.com.

The Submission Factory offer memberships and training classes throughout the week. Visit submissionfactorymma.co.uk for more.