Houston confident of title victory

ROSS Houston is adamant that he has what it takes to bring a mixed martial arts title back to the Highlands tomorrow night.

The Muir of Ord fighter, however, will have to overcome a familiar foe in Scott McCreadie, of the Griphouse Gym in Glasgow, if he wants to land the prize at First Fighting Championship Three: Prepare for Glory, which is taking place at Hamilton Town Hall.

McCreadie has already beaten Houston at Cage Warriors, but the latter is confident he can exact his revenge this weekend in their welterweight contest and become the first person from the area to land an MMA title.

"This is my biggest fight to date against Steven," said the 22-year-old, who overcame Scott Mulgrew in a title eliminator fight to earn this title shot.

"He is the only person to have beaten me in Scotland via a very close split decision on Cage Warriors, so I have trained harder than ever for this fight and will be looking to try and take him out within the time limit.

"However, as long as I get the win and take the FFC welterweight belt back to the Highlands then I’ll be happy.

"I’ve obviously got first hand experience of what McCreadie’s like as a fighter.

"He is very strong and well rounded, but I think I have the edge in the stand up (boxing), so that’s where I will be looking to push for a finish."

Houston has been involved in MMA for three years, firstly training out of Pure MMA Cannock where his coach was Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Paul Taylor.

Now, however, he is with Integrity MMA, while he also competes at amateur level for the city-based Highland Boxing Academy.

"I’ve been training six days a week, twice a day, for this fight, although in the final week I have eased the workload to let my body recover and be ready for the fight," said Houston, who got into fighting after taking inspiration from his father Norman — a six-time Northern District and British Universities champion at boxing.

"Dieting is probably the hardest part of my training. I usually weigh around 86-87kg and have to get down to 77kg.

"It is a right pain and I can get pretty grumpy in the process as I love my food, but it’s all for a good cause.

"However, I couldn’t do this without the help of my sponsors — Duncan Scaffolding, Kevin Campbell Plumbing, GM Leitch Forklift Hire, Texan Swallow Tattoos and Dasrat LTD. Without them, I couldn’t train as much as I do."