Bellator Dublin: Brian Moore tells how 'horrible' defeat was a turning point

It was during Brian Moore's stay in Russia last year, alone without any distractions, when the suffering reached its peak.

Away from the comfort of his family and friends back home in Ireland, issues bubbled in his mental health that had been simmering below the surface for around 18 years.

As he prepared to face Nikita Mikhailov at Bellator 269, he was instead fighting his own thoughts.

«It felt horrible — it was a bizarre week. I went over 50 hours without sleep,» Moore, 34, told BBC Sport.

«I couldn't listen to music because everything sounded horrible. It was easy to cut weight because I didn't want to eat. Nothing was enjoyable.

»I didn't want to fight and I didn't want to be there. It was a matter of surviving in that fight rather than going in and thriving.

«I was in a hotel room trying to hide it from my team and my family. I did a good job of covering it up — that's probably the only good job I did that week.»

Moore lost to Russian Mikhailov by unanimous decision, ending a three-fight winning streak in Bellator.

Yet he sees the loss as a turning point — as it was the moment he decided to talk to a professional about his mental health for the first time.

«I won't get into it because it's personal, but I brought up a lot of things from when I was younger that I didn't know how to deal with,» said Moore.

«I would recommend it [therapy] to pretty much everyone. You can get a lot of things off your chest that you didn't even know are there.

»I was very scared on the drive in [to see the therapist]. I thought: 'Oh no, what am I doing, what am I going to say?'

«But you see that's what I tell people now when they are worried about what they will talk about. I say: 'Don't worry. That's what they're trained to do. They're trained to