Brendan Locknain has had to adapt and overcome mental hurdles after suffering the first injury time of his career.
In the 2023 regular season, the Englishman was lumped in 94 seconds by Jesus Pinedo, and the loss left Loughnane with five playoff points, but not enough to qualify for the top four featherweight divisions in the playoffs. This kept the 34-year-old off the ice until April, when he returned to compete in the 2024 Professional Fighters League 145-pound tournament. On Friday, Loughnane (27-5) bounced back in style against PFL Chicago, slamming Pedro Carvalho in 86 seconds to get back in the win column.
The first match of 2024 went his way, but Loughnane explained in the post-match press conference that the loss to Pinedo stuck with him. Loughnen said after the crushing loss, he considered quitting the sport.
“That was Brendan Loughnane at his best,” he said in the post-match press conference. “I don’t make excuses for the fight, but this is the first time I’ve been healthy for this long…I did it to make the featherweight division and the world think, ‘Brendan is a serious challenger, right?’ ‘I feel like people forgot about me a little bit after the knockout. ”
The 2022 PFL Champion continued, “’Oh yeah, Brendan, he wasn’t that good anyway, he got knocked out.”’ I was half thinking, “Can I really do this already?” Ta. After that knockout. I suffered from it. I got knocked out, [for] For 15 minutes I had no idea where I was. When he saw the knockout back, he was like, “Wow, that was weird.” Imagine never being dropped in over 50 contests [or] knocked down [or] anything. So I had to seriously think, “Is this me anymore?” Then I started sparring hard and realized my jaw was still working and the rest was history. I just chewed my gums, got some training, and went to Thailand. On Christmas Day, I started training for this Christmas moment. So on April 19th, I stand before you on the other side of the moon. ”
The Manchester, England, native is currently the points leader (six points) in the featherweight division rankings and is confident in his ability to win the 2024 PFL Championship and the coveted $1 million prize money.
“To be honest, I didn’t see much of it this year. I was looking at the screen thinking, “Wow, there’s so much space again.” That’s really true. That’s not rude to others, I’m being brutally honest. So I’m looking forward to June and more wins,” he concluded.
