David Galbraith: “I Will Be Testing His Chin”

By Dean Parr

This Saturday night, Gladiatorial Combat warhorse David Galbriath (6-5) will partake in his third fight of 2012, when he battles the 5-3 Adam Stevenson at On Top 5 in Glasgow. Ahead of this scrap, the Scot insists preparations have gone to plan, and that he’s feeling good and ready to go.

“Training has been fantastic,” beamed Galbraith. “I have put all my commitments on hold and have been totally dedicated to this fight camp. I’ve been training with Steven Ray and all the guys at Kaobon, so the level of sparring has been really high.”

Moving back up to lightweight for this encounter, David knows his opponent, who’s won his last four, is coming determined to win. He's expecting anything but an easy fight at the Kelvin Hall. He analysed,

“The guy’s got the heart of a lion and has massively improved since training with SMAC. The obvious threat is the arm bar, and he has a good engine. He's very tough.

“I don't want to give anything away but I will be testing his chin. When he fought at Vision, he looked like he was out on his feet, but his opponent didn't follow through. His ground game speaks for itself so I'll be looking to avoid his submission attempts.

“Both of us will be looking to set the pace of the fight so I'm hoping to keep it at a high tempo and keep pushing for the finish.”

Galbraith sees this as a key bout, and has no intention of having another loss added to his record this weekend.

“It's going to be an all out war,” asserted ‘The Gladiator.’ “That's how I want the fight to go anyway. Those are the situations I enjoy and thrive in. The thought of it gets me very excited and that's why I'm so focused for this fight.

“In my mind I have to win this fight. Losing hasn't even crossed my mind. It’s not an option. I'll be fighting like my life depends on it.”

David is entering this bout off the back of a loss to Louis Chapman at Tenth Legion; something he was unhappy about but is looking to move onwards and upwards from. He noted,

“I made no secret that I wasn't happy with what happened and I'm not going to lie, I’m still not happy about it. Training is all about recovery and that's the reason why you’re sparring rounds, conditioning etc. are specifically designed for those recovery periods.

“I wasn't allowed the recovery my opponent got for the second round resulting in me gassing. I have never gassed in a fight. The situation was outside normal circumstances of three, five-minute rounds with a one minute rest period. I don't want to go into this too much but I am still very disappointed by the way the fight ended and it wasn't because of my performance.

“I believe because of the circumstances I could appeal and have done so to the promotion, but don't feel they are totally impartial. That's why we need a governing body for situations like this.”

In spite of this, Galbraith is still looking to progress, albeit after a break due to a hectic start to 2012.

“I'll be going to the TUF trials and then see how things go,” revealed David. “I’ve had a few fights offered, but at the moment I would like to take some time off fighting as I have been in constant fight camp since October 2011.”

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More information on this event is available on the official website of On Top Promotions.