Cian Cowley

Cowley's father Dave introduced him to kickboxing at the age of 5 through the family run gym in the Stillorgan suburb of Dublin. Seven years later at age 12, Cowley discovered his love for Muay Thai and began training under Mike Dockery. From his steadfast dedication to training, Cowley fought his first match after only six months. By age 16, Cowley fought 35 amateur bouts before declaring a move into professional fighting. During the course of seven years, Cowley's professional Muay Thai career included 54 fights from which he emerged as ISKA Irish 70 kg Muay Thai, Irish ISKA K1 Champion, the Golden Belt 4 Nations Muay Thai Champion and the Irish Caged Muay Thai Champion at 70 kg.^{[1][non-primary source needed]}

After a successful career in Muay Thai, Cowley declared his transition into mixed martial arts in 2015. Upon this announcement, Pundit Arena named Cowley "The Future of Irish MMA". He began his new training under Irish MMA fighter and coach John Kavanagh.^[3]

Cowley's official debut was made in British Association of Mixed Martial Arts on 27 February 2016 at BAMMA 24 where was he was defeated by Jay Moogan. This was Cowley's only defeat before compiling an amateur MMA record of 4 wins. With a 4–1 win-loss record to his credit, Cowley entered the professional stage of his career.

On 12 May 2017, Cowley returned to BAMMA where he lost his debut match at BAMMA 29 against David Khalsa by unanimous decision.

On 7 April 2018 at UFC 223, Cowley and team leader Conor McGregor were involved in an assault on a bus carrying several fighters to the event. The subsequent injuries to fighters including Artem Lobov, Michael Chiesa and Brandon Moreno led to the cancellation of three scheduled UFC bouts.^[3]

Upon joining the Brave Combat Federation, Cowley avenged his prior loss on 9 June 2018 at Brave CF 13 defeating Oktawian Olejniczak via a technical knockout after a combination of submission and punching offense. Cowley returned on 16 November to Brave CF 18, where he won a second TKO victory upon defeating Hardeep Rai with a series of punches. With only his first three fights lasting a single round, Cowley fought his longest bout on 5 March 2019 at BRAVE CF 22, after three rounds losing a split decision to John Brewin. On 25 July, Cowley fought at Brave CF 24, losing by knockout to Maciej Gierszewski after two rounds. On 27 December at Brave CF 33, Cowley endured his first submission defeat, losing to Sam Patterson via a Guillotine Choke. Cowley returned on 17 September 2020 at Brave CF 41, losing a unanimous decision to Ahmed Amir. His win-loss record in Brave CF reached 2–6.

After a two-year hiatus, Cowley next fought for the Hungarian Fighting League. On 18 March 2022, Cowley debuted at HFL 3, scoring a TKO victory over Aleksandr Balaur in the second round. On 2 July, Cowley fought for Centurion Fight Championship, debuting at CFC Malta 8: New Era where he scored a TKO victory over Joliver Allan Mougang via a knee-strike to the body. Five months later on 2 December, Cowley fought in Eire Fighting Championship during which his debut at Eire FC 1 saw Cowley win a TKO victory over Everton Toniazzo Jr. The following year, Cowley represented Ireland on 17 December 2023 at the Combate Global - Ireland vs. Mexico event, defeating Daniel Sanchez in the first round of the fight that ended in doctor stoppage.

Cowley has been in a relationship with Dublin-based make-up artist Clara Kearney since 2006.^[3] Together they have two children, a son and a daughter.