After defeating Sean Spencer via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night Boston, Cathal Pendred's UFC record stands at 3-0. Regardless of how it happened or how you feel the fight should have been scored, the fact is that he won the fight. But we don't want to talk about that fight any more, because news has reached us today about a fight that may have happened long ago, between two schoolboys in a playground.
In a recent article on schools rugby for the Irish Times, UFC welterweight Cathal Pendred spoke about his experience of participating in a winning Leinster Senior Cup team at Belvedere, and how that prepared him for life as a professional athlete.
One section of the article peaked our interest in particular, as Pendred's former Belvo team-mate and former Connacht scrum-half Peter O'Donohoe recalled a tale of Cathal's first day in school, which just so happened to involve current Leinster and Ireland prop Cian Healy.
With a name like that, Cathal Pendred, he wouldn’t have been seen as a tough guy, but he always was. To beat him you will have to leave him lame on the floor. He came into the yard that first day and said, ‘Right, my name’s Cazzer not Cathal and I’ll fight the biggest lad here.’
O'Donohoe goes on to reveal that a "baby bull elephant" in the form of Cian Healy accepted the challenge, and we are left to rue the fact that camera phones didn't exist back then, as no further details of what happened next are given.
Did they have a scrap? Did they find a mutual respect and united to terrorise the rest of the school? We don't know, but what an introduction to school that was for Pendred, who clearly wasn't having any nonsense and treated the playground like a prison yard.
We are also fully behind Cathal changing his new fight-nickname to Cathal "Cazzer" Pendred. Actually, it's probably best we leave it as "The Punisher".
via The Irish Times.
