Conriocht MMA and Grappling Team at K-FIT Fitness Dojo based in Athenry, Galway is one of our most recent additions to the IMMAA organisation. The name Conriocht is derived from an old Irish folklore referring to a mythological breed of werewolf which would defend and protect the people of Ireland. Owned and operated by head coach, former professional mixed martial artist and brazilian jiu jitsu brown belt Kevin Moran (pictured far right), Kfit provides a range of martial arts classes including MMA, nogi brazilian jiu jitsu, olympic and folkstyle wrestling and offers classes for children, teens and adults. Kevin’s introduction to martial arts began after he suffered a hamstring injury playing football and his physiotherapist recommended taking up kickboxing in order to improve flexibility for rehabilitation. He began to train Thai boxing under coach Dave Joyce in Galway and continued his Thai boxing and kickboxing training under his mentor, friend and coach John Walsh in Waterford of Waterford Muay Thai. While training in kickboxing he noticed two fighters grappling and upon further inspection was introduced to the sport of Vale Tudo, a precursor sport of mixed martial arts. Being a student at the time studying for his degree in business and sports at Waterford Institute of Technology, Kevin chose to use his J1 student visa to travel to America where he spent a summer training in Renzo Gracie’s gym in New York. During this time he was incredibly fortunate to train under and be mentored by the one and only famous Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert Kiwi John Danaher who’s advice, encouragement and guidance would prove to be invaluable to Kevins fighting career as he transitioned to the professional MMA circuit after 4 years of fighting on the amateur circuit. Kevin went on to create a successful professional fighting career winning 2 out of three pro fights including a 1st round submission on Ultimate fighting Revolution in 2007 and a 3rd round TKO on Tribal Warfare in 2008 before he was forced to retire from fighting due to injuries. Having fallen in love with the sport Kevin would not allow his injuries to prevent him from continuing to train and contribute to Irish MMA and so he dedicated the next 8 years to coaching classes and passing on his knowledge of the fight game at fellow IMMAA member club Strange Wolves MMA located in Galway City. Having previously established a successful entrepreneurial telecommunications career Kevin decided to take the plunge to open his own MMA gym Kfit Fitness Dojo in May 2019 and rather unsurprisingly this new business venture has flourished prosperously operating at almost full member capacity after only less than one year in business. Kevin humbly dedicates his success to the help and guidance of his mentors Tim Murphy, head coach of IMMAA club Point Blank Submissions and to Vinny Connelly, founder and head coach of IMMAA gym Strange Wolves MMA. Irish MMA fans will be excited to learn that Kevin will be taking his team to debut as fighters of Conriocht MMA on Cage Legacy MMA 13, March 14th in Drogheda where he currently has 4 fighters matched for bouts and will be hoping to add more to the card soon. If Kevin Moran’s previous successes are any indication of what is yet to come from the Conriocht team and Kfit Fitness Dojo then we can expect to see some dominant performances and extraordinary victories from these young athletes in the very near future!
Featured Club: Conriocht MMA and Grappling team at K-Fit Fitness Dojo
