Interview with WCG 8 Champion

CHARLIE MCCLOSKEY

JULY 4, 2024

NEW EGYPT NJ (Phone interview)

RR - Rogers Ramirez, Warrior Cage Grappling

CM - Charlie McCloskey, WCG 8 CHAMPION

Now all right it's Rogers Ramirez from Warrior Cage Grappling and I'm here with Mr Charlie McCloskey of

Rising Tide Academy in Baltimore and you are, you from Finksburg or Columbia, you go to both Rising Tide Academies in Baltimore?

I go to Finksburg the majority of my time.

Okay, all right.

Well, you know, like we stated earlier, we're going to do an interview here, and we're going to feature it on WarriorCageGrappling.com for both of your upcoming events with our promotion on July 13th here in New Egypt, New Jersey, and then July 28th in Baltimore County, Maryland. That's going to be the Battle for Baltimore.

It's going to have, as of right now, I think we have five former Warrior Cage Grappling champions.

You're one of them that are going to be in this show.

That's all.

That's awesome. Hopefully I can beat them all and show them the best.

Well, I think your performance at Warrior Cage Grappling 8 was pretty emphatic and pretty dominant.

And you got in there against some big, big boys, and you came out on top.

And to date, you're the lightest overall Warrior champion.

So that's definitely something to be proud of.

And very, very excited to see how you're going to do down there in the big fishbowl that is Baltimore.

So I got some questions for you.

And we're going to start off here talking about the future.

So what do you see yourself accomplishing in 5 to 10 years in MMA?

Well, before I go pro in MMA, a lot of people are calling for me to go pro now, but I've actually only been training like three and a half years.

So I plan to win an open kickboxing belt, then go pro. Hopefully I can be in one championship, the UFC or something like that.

Yep.

Okay.

Way up.

So basically, you want to really, really prove yourself in the amateur ranks before you make that crossover to pro.

100%.

Very nice. Well, that's what amateurs are there for.

You know, a lot of the guys, they worry so much about having a winning record.

You know, one of your counterparts in Warrior, Ivan Lakicevic, who's a former 170+ champion in the promotion.

He's out of Lexington, Virginia from Asylum Fight Team under Phil Dunlap.

He just fought for a title in New York.

He just fought for a title with a Black Belt Level.

He actually did well and dominated the fight but lost the decision. But he got in there and is gonna fight again soon.

And kind of the format of Warrior, that's kind of what we want out of it, too.

We want to give you guys as many reps as possible.

All right.

So do you have any short-term goals that you'd like to accomplish in the next few months?

Like next few months to a year?

Yeah, so we got a new show coming to Virginia. Focused on that.

Thank you.

So I'm excited to do that next. And it's just experience in the cage. Experience with the MMA gloves in the cage. Experience of Warrior Cage Grappling. Grappling in the cage. Like it's a very invaluable experience.

We had one of our guys from our gym, Fight House, that went up to Vermont.

Donny Brook Promotions up there, and they also do that Small Gloves Muay Thai.

We can definitely talk about that, you know, because if that's something you're interested in,

I can definitely see about setting something like that up for you as well.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Okay.

All right.

Okay, listen.

You've got to be honest here.

What do you believe to be one of your weaknesses, and what are you trying to do to improve it?

In what?

In jiu-jitsu?

Or just in training?

In grappling and MMA.

Okay.

Or, you know what?

Yeah, let's take it a little bit further.

I mean, maybe a little bit about life.

I would say about life is, you know, there's such a culture of distraction in this world.

So I feel like sometimes I'm a B student, we're not going to be an A student.

I work out two times a day. I study, but sometimes I'll be on social media for two hours a day.

Sometimes I'll be distracted with the wrong things.

So for me, it's just about zoning in and taking a break.

Taking out all those margins so I can be as great as I can.

It's a big time waster, social media,

but it's also like a necessary tool at the same time.

So it's double-edged sword.

Yeah.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of MMA and grappling?

I love rap music and stuff, like Lupe Fiasco, Mortal Technique, stuff that kind of gets your brain going and thinking, not like the culture rod of Sexy Red and stuff. I'm also a big runner. I love learning track and field and cross country.

I like it.

Okay.

Okay, very cool.

And what sport is your favorite, you know, of different combat sports?

I would say I love striking, but for some reason I just take to jiu-jitsu.

It's a never-ending puzzle.

You can be like you and Eddie, and you guys are black belts,

and you guys could still learn forever, could still learn for another 40 years.

so and what it what where's that passion come from for combat sports

like what's the background that makes it so come alive in your eyes

Well, I forget. There's like a Japanese concept called like a ikate or something like that.

I know I'm saying it wrong, but they say when you're choosing a career, you should choose something that you can make money on and you also have a purpose with.

So I always knew when I was in school, I didn't want to like be a kind of hamster wheel nine to five worker.

Mm.

And it's beautiful that I can get to trace my dreams as an adult.

That's pretty awesome.

Is there a coach or an athlete that you look up to as your role model, and why?

My coach, Mike Stewart.

Yep.

I guess he was like a partier until he was like 28 years old really messing around and not doing

much with his life and then just flipped the switch one day and opened up his own gym back

in 2010 when jiu-jitsu wasn't really as big and now he's about 40 years old he has three schools

and he's killing it on all fronts mentality jiu-jitsu just everything and I really look up to him

I've had a couple conversations with Mike, and yeah, he strikes me as a very honest and down-to-earth kind of guy.

You know, everybody's got a background and a past and a rough, you know, upbringing and so on,

but it's cool that he's so upfront with that about you guys.

Yeah, for sure. It definitely makes me feel like I have a lot of room for growth myself.

And he's always, you know, bringing up his athletes and encouraging them.

Okay. And then you mentioned cross country. Is there other sports or

kind of clubs or teams that you did when you were in high school?

So, yeah, I played rugby in high school.

I played soccer in high school.

I really loved basketball, too.

I'm always down to play with anybody in that.

I just didn't try out for the team because we were always making states,

and I knew I'd be a backup.

I like to be a star.

Yeah, you seem to have that star power about you.

That's wonderful.

Listen, I asked you a couple of general questions to start off with.

I'm going to get a little bit more kind of like little in-depth about sports experience and background.

You mentioned about managing your time and so on.

How do you manage your athletic responsibilities and then other outside recreational, non-recreational activities?

What method do you use?

Well, I try and have a schedule.

Like, when I was younger, I never had any organization or schedule.

So now as an adult, I just make sure that I have my stuff written out.

There's no negotiating with myself whether I'm going to do a workout or not.

The work that has to be done has to be done.

Like, there's no ands, ifs, or buts about it.

Okay. All right. And what, tell me about like some major highlights, achievements that you've

done in sports, you know, in grappling, MMA, and then in sports past.

So in high school, I made states in the 800 meter, which is two laps around the track, half a mile.

Yep.

And I feel like that really helps me with my jiu-jitsu.

the eighty guillotines in jiu-jitsu and uh i've had a five and two kickboxing record

two and one mma record i've had over 150 wins in jiu-jitsu blue belt and up as well as eight

open weight divisions blue belt and up so i think that would probably be my biggest is eight open

weight divisions and that's why i love jiu-jitsu so much i can beat a six foot four 300 pound

professional i'm the main fighter that no one would give me a chance against in real life

So, you know, here's a funny thing.

We had a pretty good conversation.

Actually, we had dinner after you won at Warrior Cage Grappling 8.

And you talked to me a little bit about how the format works for your style.

You want to go into depth in that a little bit right now for the interview?

Yeah well, a lot of these guys in jiu-jitsu,

they have this kind of game that's turning us like karate

where they're just sitting right to their butt immediately

and playing off of their back.

And with Warrior, you have a cage.

You know, nobody wants to pull guard right away.

You want to try and get something stand-up going first.

It's only a two-minute round, so you can't just stall

until an overtime or something like that,

or you can't just get up 2-0 and stall.

So I feel like it pushes the action better than points

and better than sub only.

It's kind of a new, cool rule of thumb.

So do you think that that kind of like evens the playing field between guys with high-level jiu-jitsu and beginner guys?

Yeah, I feel like it gives everybody a chance because if you're an athlete and you're willing to push the pace and dominate the round, then you have a good chance of winning.

And so then taking those things that, you know, what you just said about that, if you take that, if you take Warrior as a base for your competitive base, how well do you think that prepares you for the realities of MMA grappling?

I think it prepares you a lot because, you know, most gyms don't have a cage.

My gym doesn't have a cage.

Like, I'll use the wall, but it's really good to get in there

and get that grappling experience in the cage

because once you're in the cage in MMA fight,

you don't want that to be your first time being in a cage

and dealing with how it bounces

and how to take someone down and stuff off the cage.

Okay, well, I'm going to...

It's a very invaluable experience to work in the cage.

Well, listen, you looked great in there, and, you know, like I said, I didn't know you didn't

have a cage at your gym, but you definitely look like you've been working with it, so

good for you utilizing the wall, and that's why I tell the guys, I tell the guys, use

the wall whenever possible, because that's, the jiu-jitsu guy is kind of like you said

in the beginning, like, it's kind of like drifting towards that karate, like, sportive

mentality, and I want to do everything possible to prevent it from going that way.

I come from combatives, from military martial arts, and the reality of what we're doing

is we're trying to be warriors, so it's, you know, we can't lean too far that way,

or the sport will just stop existing in the manner that it was intended to be.

All right, so I mentioned, you know, you're going to come up here and do July 13th.

That's going to be a good show.

There's going to be some more talent coming down from New York and Pennsylvania.

Actually, while we were talking, I'm having a few registrations come in from a couple

schools out of Delco MMA out there in Pennsylvania, and then up in,

up in New York as well, so definitely, I'm going to put the word out that Charlie McCloskey

is coming to New Egypt, and have some guys come down here and try to smack you around,

but Baltimore is going to be the big thing, so what do you, what do you have to say in

this format that you have come in and you've become champion, and what do you have to say

to all of your, you know, competitive schools in the Baltimore area for July 28th, the Battle

for Baltimore Warrior Cage Grappling 12th?

Oh, man. Baltimore schools. Y'all know what's up, man.

I've been to all the tournaments. You guys see me everywhere.

Come here, Luke's here with me.

I don't know.

as i said that for every uh that's uh lucas and he's the Warrior Cage Grappling Champion um

he defeated

Luis Mosley of Rhino Fight Team uh who actually who you competed against as well

actually both of you guys competed against

Louie Mosley from Rhino Fight Team.

So, again, you're telling all of Baltimore

show up.

And I'm just going to, listen, I'm going to put you there.

I'm going to say, if we're talking

about all Baltimore area,

who do you expect to show up to this thing

who will give you a run for your money?

A couple names.

schools that I expect to show up in particular. I have respect for a lot of schools, but

I expect Monroe Hall to show up with a big squad.

Okay.

Because they have a couple former champions with Pete and Lucas.

And then I expect maybe some Ground Control Academy as well because they have a former champion.

Yep, William Lomax, that's right.

And then also we have a few other good schools in the area, like Crazy 88 and stuff like that, that they could bring some good people to show up.

Okay. All right. All right. Are any of the 10th Planet schools down there you think would show up?

We actually, I don't know if we have any 10th Planet in Maryland that I know of.

Not Maryland, but just over the border there in Pennsylvania.

Because I know that...

Yes.

Yeah.

PA, we have a Hanover Boxing, we have some of the York School, but a lot of the good schools are right over the line in Virginia.

MMA and Big Brother Jiu-Jitsu.

Okay.

Well, I mentioned them earlier, Asylum Fight Team, coached by Phil Dunlap.

They've got Igor Lakicevic, and I think you said you've been wanting a piece of Igor for a little bit.

I got a confirm from his coach.

He is coming to a battle in Baltimore.

Awesome.

So that's a, and he's a, and he's the big boy, you know, he's, he's a big boy.

And he's the big boy.

He's about a hundred pounds bigger than you are.

Oh my goodness.

Thank you.

to go right up on Instagram of them raising my hand and being all big.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I hope he reads this.

It's going to be a good time.

Now, listen, a wonderful interview.

Charlie, is there anything else you'd like to say, especially to your fans?

Because, listen, you're putting yourself out there.

You're showing no fear.

And your fan base is growing.

I mean, these people are seeing you do this.

Is there anything else you want to say to the folks?

Guys, this is what I want to say.

Rising Tide Academy, we have three schools,

and this venue for the Battle of Baltimore

is ten minutes from our Finksburg location,

one minute from our coach's Mike Stewart's house.

So I want our guys to pack this in terms of competing,

and I want our guys to pack this in terms of

showing up and watching and supporting.

Oh, boy. You know, it's so funny. I deal with a lot of the, you know, I got a lot of love for

the fire departments. And I always go out of my way to kind of like find them first as venues

because, you know, I've got a lot of family, you know, fire department and volunteer fire guys,

you know, I was I was in the service. So volunteers kind of have my heart. But this Upper Co location,

big, big venue, I think it's like, you know, four or 500 people or so it can hold. But it's it's

this huge activity center. They do like derby runs and like big carnival fairs, everything. So

we're very excited. You know, we wanted to do it in the city proper. But that parking down there

in Baltimore, my God. Yeah, it's yeah, it's well, any city, it's a mess. So so yeah, we're very

happy. We're still in Baltimore County. But we're kind of more in the country. And everybody can

come and relax. It's gonna be a lot of fun. That's July 28. Upper Co volunteer fire company activity

center at Upper Co.

Maryland. Show starts at 1pm doors open at noon. I'm here with Charlie McCloskey,

Warrior Cage Grappling eight champion, and potentially the champion for Warrior Cage

Grappling 12 battle for Baltimore. All right.

And 11.

All right, Charlie, a pleasure.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Sir.

I know.

God bless.

Interview with WCG 8 Champion

CHARLIE MCCLOSKEY

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