Nuanced. - 197. Aiemann Zahabi: How to Face Adversity with a UFC Fighter

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

UFC Bantamweight fighter Aiemann Zahabi joins Aaron Pete to break down his shocking win over Jose Aldo at UFC 315 in Montreal. They discuss how coach Firas Zahabi and Georges St-Pierre (GSP) guided his mindset, the controversy around Aldo’s weight miss, overcoming superstitions, and building a rock-solid mental game.Send us a textThe "What's Going On?" PodcastThink casual, relatable discussions like you'd overhear in a barbershop....Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

I just beat Jose Al, though. If this chapter of your life had a title, what would you call it? The rise. You know, if you're a great one night, who cares? You've got to keep repeating the greatness where people would be like, oh, wow, how does he keep being great? What did you learn about yourself in this war? I knew I was going to show my heart no matter what in this fight. How did you process all of the emotions that must have come from me?

pressure is a privilege He believes you could be the next champ of the Bantamoy Division When God wanted to make David King He didn't send him a crown He sent him Goliath Amon, it's so good to have you back on Has anything new been going on?

What's new with you these days? I just beat Joseo You just destroyed You just showed out for Canada Congratulations to you I am so happy for you I was on the edge of my seat I was telling everybody that I had you.

I put the money on you. I'm so happy for you. Congratulations, good sir. Thank you, man. I really appreciate it. Thanks for the vote of confidence. You know, a lot of haters after the fight, a lot of doubters before. But, you know, the story continues.

I'm excited now to move on to the next one. Oh, I was so mad when I first saw the reaction to the fight. Some people were like, oh, give Jose Aldo an easier fight. Like, he needs a retirement fight or something. And I was like, this is a tremendous fight. I'm so excited for this. And then you succeed, you overcome so much adversity, which we'll get into in a minute. And then still, still people are like, oh, what about this?

What about that? And it's like, just celebrate the man for the absolute victory and how you showed your heart in that fight. I'm just, I couldn't be more happy for you. Thank you, man. You know, that's exactly how I feel in the end. It's like, the ones who are upset are more like either casuals or people who I ruin their parlays or their bets or something like that. But, you know, all the true fighters are all happy that I ended up getting my hand raised. You know, the story just makes the most sense.

I couldn't agree more. I come to you for sage advice, wisdom. I find you have a really good philosophy on things. I put you and Corey Sanhagen right there with, like, your insights on the game, on how you take fighting and apply it to life. And it's just something I really admire, and I'm always excited to speak with you about. And you talked a lot about working with a mental coach. and some of the superstitions that you had. So I'm wondering if you can talk about choosing to work with a mental coach,

how that decision came about, and how you find somebody who's maybe the right fit to work with you about your mental game. Yeah, well, I hired the mindset, Mike, because my friend suggested it for me, like, listen, I got a coach for everything else, right? So why not I have a coach for the mind? Because in the end, the final piece is the mindset, right?

When you get to the top 15, everyone's well-conditioned. Everyone's got skills. Everyone's got their path to victory. But if I can have someone who can have me run through a system that guarantees that I'm going to be performing my best on the night that counts, why not take that advantage, right? So that's kind of the reasoning behind hiring him. Because, you know, to be great, it's about repeating that greatness over and over again. You know, if you're a great one night, who cares? You've got to keep repeating the greatness for people to be like, oh, wow, how does he keep being?

Being great. That's what really makes people love you, right? So that's kind of like the reasons why I wanted to hire one. And so far, like, the two times we worked together, I had no doubt that I was going to perform well because my mind was so clear. You know, I knew exactly what I needed to do. And especially in this last one where I ran into some trouble near the end and I used some of the techniques to make sure that I end up on top. one piece that you've mentioned in previous interviews was that you hit a streak if things started to go the right way in the previous interview we did we talked about how like you had hit three in a row and you were very nervous on whether or not you could keep that going or not or what that meant or how many people are able to carry that into four or five and what that actually looks like and then the other piece you had mentioned was around having your family come to these that you had found the streak and then and then changing things like you don't know how much that plays a role how What was the process to get over those things? Because I think we all have those in certain moments, right? Where we think we did it one way, so it has to be done that way again. How did you overcome that? Yeah, you're right. I forgot to answer the superstition part.

But yeah, so there was like, you know, obviously all athletes have their like superstitions. You're not supposed to have those, right? Especially like, you know, as a believer, in the end, it's in God's hands who are supposed to say, right? So you shouldn't have these superstitions. But, you know, I still as an athlete, I'm part of the athletic culture, sports culture. you know everyone we end up falling for the trap of uh of these superstitions and my mindset coach really helped me get out of that in the sense that one has nothing to do with the other right like my wife coming to the event how can it really affect my fight you know it's just she doesn't do

anything to affect my fight the only the only way the only thing is because i you know i care about her i want to make sure she has a good time and all that stuff yeah but in the end she doesn't affect the fight and um you know doing things a certain way or winning in a streak each other fight is on its own right each individual fight has nothing to do with the previous or the next it's just now and in the moment right so like i don't need to bring my baggage of the past into this fight and i don't need to bring the worries of the future into the fight right the more i'm present the less stress i'm actually going to have you know so like that's kind of like what helped me break my superstitions and uh you know not having any superstitions it makes you a lot more

go with the flow so that's like in another way to you know, I'm even less stressed now, you know, because I don't need things to be perfect. I just need to be able to adapt. You know, if you really want to be great, you adapt to every situation. There's nothing that can arise that bothers you too much because you're willing to adapt. You know that you're going to be able to, to, to, I have the capability to adapt. So I'm confident in myself. That's how we got to get a shirt that says something like present over perfection or something like that.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Because, you know, adversity is going to find you. No matter what do you do, it'll come in an unsuspected way. And it's just good to have a plan to deal with it instead of hoping it never comes. And there's something about that you're almost fighting yourself in those ways and having to, like, let go of those instincts that it has something to do with something else, right? Because so often we feel like the outcome matters on whether or not you did this or that. And if it doesn't, then your mental game's all messed up, right? that leaves you vulnerable to like, oh, I didn't eat my breakfast at this exact time.

And so now I'm not going to be as successful. Well, now you're going in thinking you're going to be less successful. So it's like the more you're, the less you're tied to those things, the more you're able to just focus on performing and being in that moment, it sounds like. Yeah, 100% true. I don't want to be tied to anything. I want to be independent of everything. So that way I can just move as I need to move, given the circumstances.

the one thing that really blew me away and like even just the response, I watched your interview with Ariel Hawani, it just feels like everybody's glossing over the fact that this guy missed weight by a very, very significant amount that like the day before the fight, like not an insignificant amount of time before the fight. In other circumstances,

I feel like people would be outraged and I have a great deal of admiration and respect for Jose Otto, but like it just seems like this is just like, no, like we're just going to focus on how you respond and you should be figuring, like, what is going on? This is just to surprise me. Usually people are off by a pound. I mean, like, and people react.

And this is, like, more than eight pounds. They're, like, this fight got changed. And the reaction has been very timid in reaction to other fighters. It's much larger. Yeah, I'm surprised that no one is being harsh on Aldo. And I said, like, my brother told me not to be harsh because he's never misweight before, right? So I'm not, I will not attack him for it. but I find it weird like you're saying

that they're attacking me in the sense that you got to just deal with it man you know like but no I don't really have to deal with it actually technically the fights off you know I'm doing UFC favor I'm doing you know the fans of favor I'm doing Montreal favor I'm taking the opportunity I'm risking everything man

you know like I'm risking everything and like Algo can damage me in there and for everybody even before the fight people tell me not to hurt him because they love him so much it's like you see soccer kicked me in the head he's trying to literally kick my head off my shoulders you know so I just feel like he's such a global superstar that people love him that much you know people just love him so much and he's blessed to have that and uh hopefully one day people will love

me that much you know hopefully that's like that's what I want but yeah it is a really big deal in boxing it would never happen no and you mentioned two really important pieces and again I feel like like the response like I do can you walk me through how you came to these two pieces. You've outlined two things on multiple interviews. One, that, uh, what's his name, uh, the boxer, uh, Chris Eubank was off like 0.0.05. Yeah. Like 0.0.05 pounds and had to pay a half a million dollars. That was one example. And then the other piece was that soldiers, when you cut that amount of weight, you lose on the performance piece. And like, I've never heard a fighter respond so thoughtfully to like being questioned on the. Where did you get that information?

and just what was the reaction that you found to those important statistics? Well, the Christian Bank Jr. one was all over Twitter, and I like to watch, like, you know, big boxing fights, you know? So it was a huge fight. It was a very historical fight because they were two fathers fought. So I was interested. It's when they missed the weight, like I saw it. And I was wondering to see what was going to happen, what the penalty would be, you know?

And it was $500,000, a lot of money, man. That is a lot of money for 0.5. And, you know. No, sorry, 0.05. whatever yeah you know what i mean that's like minuscule exactly so if you think about it it's it's crazy i thought with like over six pounds difference right and then the the study is because my brother's always doing research on like what's the best practices for to to make sure that we we get through training camp without getting hurt and to optimize our conditioning so my brother

always tells us to make sure that we show up to practice hydrated because every two percent of dehydration we come to practice, we're going to have a reduction of performance by 6%. And if you do that every day, you're not going to be preparing at your best, to have your best night on fight night. So, like, my brother had done the research just so that we can improve for the team. You know, so we can all come always well prepared for practice so we don't get hurt or we don't underperform in the gym so that we can perform properly. So it's stuff we already know.

So, like, an eight-pound difference, it's huge because I'm a lot of percentage. down in water than he is. So my performance percentage is going to be way worse than his. I'm not going to be performing as good as he is. And I was telling the other journalists that in my

opinion, and I'm not saying this as an insult to him, but that Aalwa at 45 is more robust than Aldo at 35. And I think the reason why he can withstand more damage at 45 and has better cardio and strength and all that stuff at

45 it's because he didn't have to lose nine pounds more of water when he comes to 35 he loses another nine pounds of water it affects his performance that's that's what the whole study explains right so that's why he's not he's not as performative in the 35 free class so when i took the fight you know i thought it would be more likely to break him at 35 so i was like yeah well final though you know he's breakable at 35 at 45 you know he's a beast he's still a beast at 35 but not as much of a beast You know, and I'm not trying to insult it by saying that, but everybody who cuts eight pounds more is more susceptible to breaking than somebody who cuts eight pounds less. If you take the same guy and you cut eight pounds less, he's more robust. That's just, that's just science for me.

It's, you know, I don't, I don't, I wouldn't think it as an insult, basically, is what I'm trying to say. Absolutely. And then I don't know if people realize that when you're cutting to that extent, your body does start to like try and conserve energy. And from what I've heard from other fighters, is that when you try and start to gain that weight back, if you do that too quickly, then you start, your body starts to respond negatively because it can't take in that much nutrients that quickly. And you had to start to gain a ton of weight really quickly. Can you walk us through that process and how you do something like that thoughtfully?

And so you can't just start eating Big Macs. You've got to be very mindful of how you gain that weight back because it can have a negative impact on you. Yeah. So basically what happened was Is that special role in Montreal Or if there's a five pound difference Five pounds or more

The fight's off There's no way we're putting a fight together So I had to start drinking water during the negotiations They wouldn't let me weigh in at 136.8 So I started rehydrating And like I don't know if I've told you, but like On my five, five wood streak

Every one of those fights I've thrown up At the rehydration part Wow Like my stomach I have a hard time With the rehydration But this time I started You know what

We started even slower Because we got even more time So we got that extra hour So I started with eating like a bagel And drinking some water And I got I just made that five pounds I added the five pounds

That we needed So that the fight could be okay So then we went downstairs And Frost wanted to negotiate With Sean Shelby And we ended up making a deal So it was nice Interesting

I'm wondering How does it how did you feel in that moment where you were trying to resolve that because I was brutal I was so mad I can't imagine and you just think when people go in for like a job interview or something like and you want it and you want it to all work out like you couldn't have imagined that these circumstances would come up but you're you're trying to put on for so many people all of the all of the hope and expectation is on you and like as much as I'm sure you were willing to take that on there's also just a piece where it's like

hey you did your job you were doing your job and like yeah it may have been his first time not cutting weight but like i mean come on that's a significant that's not he was a pound away that was a significant amount and he could have alerted people far earlier i'm guessing than he did and so like it's all on you and you have to make these tough decisions and like ultimately when you really think it through the the damage you took like people have to respect the fact that you were kicked in the head you put your body at risk your family sitting in the crowd watching you try and perform and the odds are stacked against you. Like, this was not an insignificant decision to make it. How did you process all of the emotions that must have come from that? Yeah, well, you know, now that you fast it for so long, you know what it is to be dehydrated a little bit, you get irritated. Like, when you lose all that water and you've dieted so hard and, like, you know, from starting on Tuesday, they try to eliminate carbs from my diets.

I'm only eating protein. So, like, when I'm down on 136.8 and I get the news, I'm furious because I can't control my emotions at that point. That point, I'm just so close, I'm so close to my weight that I was very upset and I try not to get emotional at all during fight week. I try to be numb to everything as much as possible. The more I'm detached

emotionally, the better I will perform. So, like, that's normally how I take it. But, you know, when I was starting to be hydrating, I started getting a much clearer head and frost was keeping me calm. And he's like, okay, let's just talk about you know, what's the biggest risk of the whole thing, of that much of a weight difference. And

for me and what I told my team and the guys around me is that look my main concern is because I'm more dehydrated than him will I be able to withstand the same amount of damage he can withstand or is he going to be able to take punches and kicks and knees better than I can because he didn't cut so low because you know when you when you dehydrate yourself you you don't choose where the water comes out. Your body flushes it out, you know, pretty much equally from everywhere. You lose all the water. Like, you have no choice.

And then when you rehydrate, I don't know what gets rehydrated first and to what extent. And like how much of, how much am I really at 100%? You know, science doesn't know that. They don't know, man. They just, they want you to hit these numbers because that means you're hydrated because you weigh this much. But, you know, is my brain going to withstand the same amount of impact as him? Or am I coming in there a little bit more fragile than him?

That's why I was telling you about the, you know, Aldo at 45, he's more durable than he is at 35. Because, you know, he cut eight pounds more to make 35. He's not going to be as durable. So I felt like what's going to happen is, because we have to change the weight cost to 45, you're getting an Amon's a hobby bantam, and you're getting a Jose Aldo featherweight. So I'm fighting him at featherweight, but I'm a bantam weight, and he's a featherweight. So that was kind of like the biggest concern, you know? So that's why we ended up changing the game plan to a much more conservative round one than I expected.

Normally the game plan was to put it on him. But we changed the game plan just to make sure that when he hits me, I don't get flatline right away. So just to feel it out for longer than expected, just to make sure that I don't get anything too surprising. You got hit and kicked multiple times in the face, which I just cannot imagine. Yeah. And I'm wondering, you talked a little bit about how, like, you got to show your heart in this fight. And I'm wondering, what did you learn about yourself in this war? Yeah, well, you know, like, I knew I was going to show my heart no matter what in this fight.

And if it went really well, you know, I was expecting to, you know, to, like, punish him, you know, like get on top and ground pound or whatever it was or K-O-im. And people were going to know that I'm resilient because the game-pun will start strong and fight to the end. But, you know, it was nice to show my heart because, you know, like getting dropped in a weird way and getting soccer kicked and going through that whole ordeal. I'm actually grateful for it, man. I'm actually super grateful that it happened. And I'll tell you the first reason I'm grateful is because when I came out of the hellfire, I stayed calm, cool, and collected. And when he came into the hellfire, he fell apart, man. and he broke physically and mentally he fell apart and i did not man and you know he he was the one

with 41 fights he was the eight-time world champion but uh when it when it but when it when it came down to it i was a much better nail than he was he's only a good hammer you know so like uh i feel like now i get a lot i'm getting a lot of respect from fighters coaches like people in the know people who watch the fight for real not casuals who just you know taking a look here and there at the screen. But people who watch that fight, who pay attention, who know what fighting is,

everyone gives me my respect now. You know, so like I feel really good. I feel blessed that it happened the way it did. I want to thank God for keeping me awake and not making sure I didn't get chaotic in that moment. And, you know,

I'm proud of myself for keeping a clear head, regathering myself, making space, catching my breath and putting it on them and winning the last three minutes. Can you just walk us through really quickly that piece because you've said it a few times and I apologize for asking you to repeat it, but

how you go about, you got knocked down and you talked about how I think it was your mental coach who said first you have to like gather yourself then the first 15 seconds. Can you walk us through that? Because I love that. Yeah, so my mindset coach, you know, we always talk about like also worst case

scenario. One thing I've come to the conclusion is is that if you only think that only positive things can happen for you, you're delusional. Like, at university's coming and it comes when you don't want it to come and uh you need a plan right so you always ask me what's your plan you know he didn't give me the plan but it tells me what's your plan like how would you deal with something that happens you know and i always tell them like for me

it's about making space catching my breath and winning the next exchange and then winning the next 15 seconds and then winning the 15 seconds after that and just like micro gains until i turn the tide back in my favor you know that's basically how i see it so like things are going to happen in the fights that I don't want them to happen because there are so many balls to juggle and there are so many banana peels out there that even though you're juggling all these balls there's something that's going to happen you don't see you're going to slip and all of a sudden they're going to go flying and you're going to catch them all and put them all back in order and I felt like I was able

to do that against alo and he was not able to turn things around for himself when I got going oh it was two times from my perspective that he lost one on the scale and then one in the fight right like there were like just even you pointed out that he would have better cardio and i don't know what was going on in that third round but i didn't see any cardio coming from him on on that side he was laying down and you had him in and you were in a very dominant position and if we were in pride rules uh that would look very very different you know so uh the other piece that i just wanted to like reflect on from my perspective that you showed some of it was circumstance but there was a Canadian spirit there that I just saw from you, how you approached him not meeting the

weight, like how you approached these challenges when the fight was put on. Like, you were incredibly respectful more so than I was to the people within my friend group where I was like, I do not like this. So you were kind and thoughtful and respectful towards him through the process you wanted to put on for Canada. You wanted to show out. You faced adversity and you overcame. And I don't know if you've seen this on, on X and on other social media platforms, but it seems like there's a big question right now. Like, what does it mean to be a Canadian? And the way you performed, the way you showed up, the way you approached conversations, just that gave me that spirit of like, that's what it means to be a Canadian, not running

his name through social media, not complaining, not pulling out of the fight, like taking all of the challenges that you faced, absorbing it, and then still showing out and being respectful and kind to everybody involved. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that, you know. And, you know, I'm blessed to have a strong team and have really good mentors, like Frost's an incredible mentor. And so is George and my mindset coach is incredible, you know, and even my manager has a good mindset. You know, my friend Jordan is, you know, he's with me all the time, you know, good mindset. Everyone has a good mindset. And when we're doing the

negotiations with Sean Shelby, Frost took charge of the negotiations. And, you know, You know, he gave us a number. And, I mean, Frost was talking to terms. And Frost told me, he's like, look, he's like, if you accept the terms, that's it. We're fighting, Aldo. You know what I mean? There's no excuse about the weight. There's no shitting on Aldo.

There's no talking bad about him. He's never missed weight before. We have to give him his respect. He's a legend. We don't know why he missed weight. So if you decide to do it, you're allowed to speak the facts. Say that there's a weight difference, explain your side, explain the gravity of the adversity that we're facing, but he's like, we're not going to throw Aldo under the bus. You know, you're facing this adversity, yes, we explain for what it is, but keep out those, keep, don't, don't muddy Aldo's name, you know, because we didn't know, you know, we really don't know why he missed, you know, so it's hard to, you know, talk bad about a legend like that.

you know he he paved the way for me to make a payday like i just did you know and uh in the end because he missed weight i made more money way more money than i was supposed to make so like i benefited from it in the end too right so it would be you know i benefited from it so now it's all good so it's good i'm happy i'm definitely won't ruin his name now but but you know frost has a good head on shoulders and he told me not to do it before the fight happened or or after, no matter what the outcome was. Even if I lost, he told me we accepted the terms it is what it is. And I was ready to just do what I did now.

I know a lot of people don't have someone to lean on when they have those types of challenges, like when they have challenges come up and they need some sage advice. Again, as you were describing, you're dehydrated. This is unexpected news you're having to take in. how does it feel to be able to have somebody to lean on in those circumstances to give you really good thoughtful advice and kind of support you through that process and and and give you insights that maybe you're tough to hear at first right like immediately when you hear that although didn't make weight and you're dealing with all these problems part of you wants to like let's let's

go let's do a press conference i'll break down how like that would be my initial reaction how does it feel to have somebody support that and then you be able to take that in as sage advice. Yeah, you're right. It is amazing. It's really important to have, I talk to guys all the time about, like, if you really want to make it, you need to surround yourself with a good team, you know, and the people you choose to keep around are really going to shape your future because you're going to

be influenced by the way they think, right? So, like, my brother told me all that, but I could have told them, you know what, yeah, okay, whatever, and I still talk trash about Aldo. I have to also accept what they say. And also, you know, like, I have to respect what they say. I can hear it, but doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to take their advice. I have a million fighters of my team that don't listen to what we tell them. You know, it is what it is.

But I am open to their advice. And even, like, when I called GSP after and I told him, I accepted the terms and we told them what happened. The first thing that he said was, this is the best thing that ever happened to him. He's like, the story is going to be amazing. When you beat Aldo and you beat him when he was overweight. wait and you do this and you do that he's like everyone's going to love you it's like don't worry about it we're going to go out there we're going to beat him so i was like okay man let's go so i was happy you know it's nice like it's nice to have people who believe in me that much and also people

who guide me to do things in a way that you know in the end they're right and i feel like the way i handled it you know even guarded me even more respect you know and i'm happy to be this guy now i couldn't agree more it has been amazing to watch people's response to you and excitement and the respect being put on your name because you deserved it the whole time, but some people are just waking up to it. You mentioned GSP and you mentioned this and I feel like this should be a headline from my perspective. He believes you could be the next champ of the Bantamweight Division.

This is very exciting to me. I'm very happy to hear that he gave that feedback. What did that mean to you and was that just reaffirming? Yeah, it means the world to me. You know, he's been telling me that for a long time. and I always have Frost and Neil in my corner and I always bring in a third that depends on my opponent and I thought this one would be a really important one

to have George in because although such a megastar and people are going to love him so much and I thought, you know, let me have George's aura around me as well and when George speaks to me, I try to listen as much as possible and he's not the kind of guy who sugarcoat anything or to pump your tires for no reason right so when he tells me something i believe him and uh it was it had a really cool moment actually uh backstage where uh were like i had done my warm up everything was done and i was waiting to walk

out but then they did the v tour special so when they did like the v tour like hall of fame announcement and video montage they told us okay look you were supposed to walk out but we're going to give you we have to wait another 10 minutes so it was like 10 minutes of dead time so just pacing back and forth and uh just be standing there And they were showing, like, you know, the Vitor footage and whatever. And I was just going through my head, like, what's going to happen? And I just smiled and just be standing there. And I just start pounding on his chest.

I'm like, George, he's, he's, all those coming out hard. Boom, boom. But we're going to be ready. Boom, boom. And I'm like, I'm not worried about him. Boom. I was just banging on his chest. You know, just talking to him and banging on his chest.

And he was, like, he was feeling that excitement. And I can't wait for this moment, you know? And then I'm pacing back some more. And then they put a highlight reel of the next year. and it's going to be Marab versus Sean O'Malley in George's points at me. He's like, you know, it doesn't stop here.

That's where you're headed. That's where you're going. This is not your biggest fight. That's going to be your biggest fight. You know, and he's just getting me going. It was just really like revving me up, you know, and I couldn't wait for the fight. And I had never been in the blue corner before.

It's the first time I've ever been in the blue corner. I've never been in the octagon or in a fight first. Always come second. I've always been in the red corner. It's worked out that way. I don't know why, but it did. And this is the first time I'm studying there in the arena, and I was looking around, I was ticking it all in.

They were still playing my music, and I was like, you know what, man, this is nowhere else I'd rather be. So I turn around and I see Frost, I walk up to him, and I grab him by the hand, I tell him there's no, I love this shit. I just go, I love this shit. And Frost's face lit up. He was happy that I was just confident. And I went up to GSP, and I grabbed him, I love this. I went up to deal, I grabbed this hand, and said, I love it.

Then I walked over to Bruce Buffer, and shook his hand, I told him, I love it. He's like, brother, he's like, you've got it. That's what Bruce Brotherhood told me. I felt like, yeah, and I grabbed the referee's hand. I told him the same thing. In that moment, I realized that I couldn't freaking wait for Algo to step into this octagon just so we can get started, man. I couldn't wait for it to happen. And then it was good. You know, I didn't get iced out. Actually, I used the moment to zone it even further. I love that. And it somewhat reminds me. I don't know if you've seen Dan Hooker sitting in the chair and he's just in a tough first round i think and then he goes boys i love this shit and like

he's all bloodied up his face is just destroyed and he's like soaking in that moment and it just uh ariel talks about this a lot but it just shows the difference between you and and everybody else in the world right because like in that moment i'd be scared i'd be nervous like i would feel like i couldn't do what you do like i don't have that bone in my body that goes like when all the lights are on when all the pressure's on you when when the moment's building up i imagine i bet a lot of money that i'd fold like a like a ton of brick and and people like yourself soak that in and use that as energy and then are going into the fight even more zoned in than you were before and i think that's really admirable particularly again because your family's sitting right there like there's

always those nerves like as you were describing take the first round slow you don't know how he's going to respond like in those moments i just i don't know how you do it And I just, I find that all so admirable. Pressure is a privilege to have it all on my back. There's nobody else I'd rather count on. You know what I mean? I'd rather, I'd rather be the one taking the shot. I want to be the one in the game.

I want to be the one making the decisions. I want to be the one scoring the goals. I want to be the ones putting my hands on him. You know what I mean? I want that pressure. I want everything. The fact that it was in Montreal, I loved it. The fact that, you know, my family, my friends, you know, everyone gets to know me.

It was crazy. It was a crazy surreal feat. people were asking me how good it felt before it didn't feel that good honestly it felt like nothing man it felt like nothing you know why because i got to go out there and i got to do it i got to go out there and i got to win it i got to make it the best night of my life or else it can also be the worst night of my life you know and i'd rather be the one in control i'd rather be the one going out there and doing it you know i don't want anybody else doing it for me you know and i feel like one day when i retire i could be like i took it from these guys i did

it meant you know i didn't it wasn't by accident my success isn't by accident you know so like it's my hard work it's my discipline my my determination my love for what i do and uh you know i'm happy with the way everything turned out i feel like i couldn't have written a better story you know i couldn't agree more i couldn't have written a better way and that's where for me like the thing that you helped me learn about why i love fighting so much is because you have this philosophy that we talked about in other interviews, how you think about adversity, how you think about your approach, how you process the challenges and adversity and how you prepare and how you plan and how you approach all of those things, build like a pyramid so that there is this moment where

the lights are on you, but you've done so much underneath that build you up where you don't have to worry because the foundation is rock solid. And that's what to me you have is this rock solid foundation. So when adversity comes up, when things are unexpected, you're still able to navigate them, but because you've built that solid foundation in which to operate. Yeah, I totally agree, man. My base is extremely large. And I like to cultivate it at all times.

I make sure that I'm always working on myself. And I try to look inward more than I try to look outward. You know, whatever problems I have, they're probably more likely than not come from within. So if I can solve those problems, is the outside, the external can hurt me. When the internal is so strong, the external does nothing. So I don't know if you want me to change the name of the title to say King of Montreal instead of AIMON, you just let me know.

Yeah, Montreal, I love it. I love it. I think that's a good one. Somebody else said they would like to hear me being announced as the one the only. I said, that's pretty cool to. I'm still working out on nicknames, guys. If anybody has any ideas, throw them in the comment. I would love to brainstorm with the fans, too.

You know, I'm still working on it. I like King of the North. I like King of Montreal. I mean, something that has to do with the cold would be cool. I mean, I don't know. There's so many ways we can go, guys. I mean, we're brainstorming right now. We're brainstorming.

I really like King of Montreal, though. I felt like it came in the moment. Amon, King of Montreal, Zahab. Yeah, I like that works really nicely. I think it works really nice. You know, I beat the King of Rio. And I had told another journalist on, like, before the fight, I think I was on Wednesday or Thursday,

then if Joseo Alto does wear the crown, if I beat him, can he just put it on my head? But he didn't come with it, so I didn't even ask him. Yeah. You called out Cheeto Vera, and I don't know if you heard, but his fight was just canceled.

What are the odds of that? You're manifesting over here. Yeah, it seems like that. I had no idea as flight to get canceled. I didn't care that it was in three weeks anyway. I was waiting to fight it in the fall. So, yeah, I guess now there's even more chance for me to fight him in the fall. I love that fight.

I think you walk through him personally, but whatever. Yeah, it's a great fight. You know, listen, I'm nothing against the guy. I don't love him. I don't hate him. I think it's going to be a good fight. I think half the battle is entertaining the fans, and the other half is winning the fight. Agreed.

You also got to see, I don't know if you were able to zone into this, but Mike Malad and Jasmine Jazz DeVicious were able to win their fights as well and show out. And I did a parlay, and I was very successful in that parlay, because I just believe in the Canadians, and you guys all showed out. How did it feel to watch them perform and succeed as well? Yeah, I was really happy with them. You know, I've seen them around a few times at different events and stuff, and I really like them both. I think they both have a good mindset, and they both come from a really strong team, and they work well with their team and their mindset and their ability to improve every fight. like you know every time mike and jazz go out there i feel like

they're always just that much better you know so i'm really proud of that as canadians uh you know they're not the only ones very successful you know i'm really happy also with uh mark randre barrio who you know he had a two-fight losing his kid and then both them were chaos and now he comes to win by breaking a guy's skull which is crazy i didn't even know how the guy's skull broke it's insane and uh i'm really proud of him too for overcoming the you know, the skid, which is hell. I've been that before. And, you know, Team Canada really turning things around.

You know, Gillian Robertson won the other day. And there was so many guys doing so well. So I'm just like proud of Team Canada. We've got Charles Jordan coming up, it seems. And I'm happy for him too. And I just want to be, when it comes to the international level, I think we should unite. And the Canadians should work together.

That's Canada versus the world, really. That's what I heard George St. Pierre say to, Ariel in his interview is when he was on his come up, that all the groups kind of united and started training together and sharpening their skills together. And that's why they were able to perform so strongly during that

period. And he was like, I haven't seen that in this next generation yet. I saw that clip and I took it to heart and then when I saw the doctors after my fight, Charles Rodin came to congratulate me. And when I saw it, it was the first thing on my mind. I said, thank you.

But I'm like, Liz, we got to make an alliance. bro. I'm like, we've got to get together, man. Like, listen, when it comes to international, I told him, there's a video of it on the UFC, Instagram. You can see it. I was telling him, like, listen, man, we've got to come together. We'll help you in your next fight. Like, we're there for you, man.

You need anything from us? Team Canada, we're on the world stage. We got your back, you know? So if there's anything we can help you with, we'll help you. And, you know, if you want to help us, you know, I would love to have your help, you know, but we're there for you, you know, so, you know, I know it was like, I know you just came to congratulate me,

I kind of put something heavy on him. And obviously, I don't want him to disrespect him. I'm not telling him to leave his team. I'm just saying, would you could just be extra help? That's all I'm trying to say. You know, and I feel like that's how it should be for all the Canadians. If you're Canadian and Tricor can help you, we'll help you. I love that.

I think that's the right philosophy. And I hope they're able to take that to heart because there would also be something so rewarding. You guys get the poster together, but it would be so cool if there was a back story to you guys working together and building each other up and making sure you're all ready. Like, there's just something adds to the story when you hear about those things. Yeah, I love even like for Mike, for Jasmine, for any of the Canadians. Mark Andrebe Barillon, you know, they've all trained with us before, but the door is always open for any of them, any Canadian to come train with us. If this chapter of your life had a title, what would you call it? The Rise.

The Rise, man. I think this is it. I think Beanie Aldo really made my stop. rise you know to the next level i'm getting a lot more respect i feel like now no one could tell me anything about about fighting that i haven't overcome like i overcome i overcome i overcame it all now you know i even be one of the legends i be one of the living hall of famers is still competing you know and uh i did it with being a lower weight class than he was on the night so you know so it's just so funny like now i feel like i have the right to talk about adversity in there and

i feel like i'm a veteran and that my place is cemented in the ufc And I have records now. Like, I was just looking it up before. It's not completely confirmed, but it seems like the only Canadians who've won six in a row in the UFC is me, GSP, and T.J. Grant. That's it. That's a short list. The only guy has to be Al-Wad-Fatherweight, Connor McGregor, Volkanowski, Max Holloway, Eamon's a hobby. That's it.

You know what I mean? So I've done a lot. I've done really well for myself, and the story ain't over. actually just got started man this is just the start i couldn't agree more and i just i really want to personally thank you uh for staying in touch for being willing to share your time it's been it's been an absolute honor to watch you come up uh and go through so much growth and hear about your philosophy and just watch it all come to fruition you deserve it you've earned it and you've worked so hard and i'm so glad to see you starting to get your flowers i think there could be a few

more but um i'm happy to see that we're moving in that direction because you've absolutely earned it yeah thank you man i really appreciate it yeah i think the horizon is going to be nice i know george said you know getting this one over aldo he's like nothing stopping you on the way to the title he's like i know he's he was kind of the boogeyman of the division in his sense you know he was so dangerous to fight and uh i stayed total to toe with him i didn't i didn't clinch him i didn't shoot on him i didn't try to stall him i didn't beat him the way those other guys beat him i beat him and what he does best, you know, so pretty proud of that. And you didn't fold when times got tough.

Or so many people curl up and they wait for the moment to fade away. You chose to keep pushing forward. And I think there's just so much to learn from individuals like yourself. When times do get tough, you have to step up. You have to push forward. You have to find a way to move forward. Think that 15 seconds, then go for the three minute kind of mentality. I just, I love that and I've taken that into my own life.

And I'm just so grateful to be able to speak. with you thanks guys i appreciate it but you know like uh this was a big moment for me and uh you know the the adversity just kept piling on you know it was when i first got the fight uh one of the quotes i had for this training camp to kind of help me get through it was when when god wanted to make david king he didn't send him a crown he sent him Goliath but my Goliath kept getting bigger so first it was alo then it was alo missing weight and then it was getting dropped It's just like the mountain was getting bigger The person was getting bigger

And in the end we still slayed him So it's It was a nice feeling And one of the thing was like I have one of my coaches Conrad When I first got the fight He told me I was going to break him

You know he told me he's like Look at 35 he breaks At 45 he's hard to break But 35 he breaks I was like okay But he told me he's like This is how the fight's gonna go I'm like okay

I'm like how's he going to go He's like the fight's gonna start hard but then it's going to get harder and then all of a sudden it will be easy and that's exactly what happened what happened that's exactly the fight was hard it got harder when I got dropped

and then once I overcame getting dropped he fell apart it was easy the last three minutes were easy which is incredible man because it's it's crazy because you know Conrad has like a whole bunch of fights and you see the million fighters and just for him to you know

to have that team you know, prepare me for so many different scenarios, you know, to have them in my mind, you know, that it's so important. That's why, like, I was telling Ariel, like, I wouldn't be here without my team, you know, like, I fight alone, yes, but I wouldn't be who I am or have the tools I have or the mindset I have or the ability to believe without the guys around me, you know. So it's interesting, it's interesting. It's an interesting sport, man. It's very interesting sport. It's a very introspective, like philosophical sport from my perspective. Tim, is Rebecca back there? Yeah. Yeah.

Amon, just very quickly, I just wanted to introduce you to my partner, Rebecca. Yeah, of course, yeah. We've been following along with all of your stuff. We're engaged. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, and so we've just been, we watched all of your pre-fight interviews with everybody going over. Yeah.

She won't be able to hear you. Give her one of your ears. Yeah. Sure. Hey, Rebecca, how are you? Good. How are you, Amon? Good, good, good, good. How's being engaged to Aaron, man? It's amazing. Long time coming, so.

Good, I'm happy for you guys. Congratulations. You have to be the man to retire Jose Aldo. That's amazing. I hope you feel so proud of yourself. Yeah, thank you. I feel really good. And I want to wish you guys a blessing. I hope you guys get married and everything goes super well. And I hope you guys have plenty of babies as many as you guys want. appreciate that amon again congratulations and i look forward to watching more of your fights like you're a legend and don't listen to ariel he's all of you all right i really appreciate it thank you so much