Nuanced. - 230. Aiemann Zahabi: USA vs. Canada on the UFC White House Card

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

UFC Fighter Aiemann Zahabi returns to the show with Aaron Pete to reflect on his rise in the UFC, what this White House card opportunity means, and how he is preparing for the biggest fight of his career against Sean O’Malley.Send us Fan MailSupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

You have an immense opportunity coming up to fight on the White House card. What would a win on this card mean to you? It would be huge. It would be a dream come true because they said the title eliminator. So to be able to fight for the UFC belt would be a dream come true. And, you know, that's one of the things that's motivating me through this camp. One piece that has been coming up because of the Trump tariffs and the Trump presidency is what does it mean to be Canadian? what are Canadian values

and what are you representing when you step on to that cage? You know, one that's safe for kids and family, kind of that respects the family unit. You versus Sean O'Malley. We're in there to make fireworks. Why? Because it's half the equation to the UFC.

Not only do you have to win, but you have to win impressively. Was there any superstition, any fear afterwards, or is it all just confidence coming in now as you look at this upcoming fight? Did you know then something? big was on the horizon. Aim on. What a privilege it is to have you back on the program. For people who don't know, I'm going to go a little bit longer here in the intro just to say the first time we sat down

was June 5th, 2023, a long time ago now. And I think you were just starting, I think it was a two or a three fight win streak. And to see your rise and all that you've accomplished since coming on the program that first time, you gave me that first opportunity. I was still very much. figuring out a lot of these pieces. And just to see how far you've come and we'll talk more about the White House card in a few minutes. But I have such admiration for the philosophy that you have and how far that's taking you, your family, your community, the roots that you have. Thank you again for being willing to join the program today.

No, thank you, man. I'm happy to see you rise, man. You're starting to interview all these high profile people. It's great to see your success, man. And I wish you even more success. And thanks for having me on again. Thanks for not forgetting about these guys. That's what I'm forgetting about me.

Never. You're rising up. I'm just trying to keep up with you. Would you mind just, can we start by just reflecting? You've come so far. And I remember when you were, I think it was the three-fight win streak. You know, that was starting to get into your head a little bit of like, how do I keep that up? Like, what do I do?

Is it going to fall off now? What's going to happen? How do I? And you're getting a little superstitious. And now to see you have an immense opportunity coming up to fight on the White House card. And I'm just wondering how you're digesting your journey so far. Because no matter what, it's been an incredible thing to watch. You know, it's been great.

You know, actually, the more success that comes my way, the more I believe in God. It's a weird thing. You know, sometimes a lot of people, when they become successful, they start to think it's all because of them. And they start to turn away from things like that. But for me, it pushes me closer. You know, like when I was worried about like, I did three in a row, can I really win four? What a weird thought to have if God is truly all powerful and his bounty is infinite. If he wants me to have something, there's nobody that can stop me from getting it.

You know what I mean? And if there's something he doesn't want me to have, there's nothing I can do to attain it. So I might as well dream the impossible, dream even bigger because he can give me anything and everything. So I just got to keep doing the work. You know, I put all my trust in him, but I have to do all the work, right? I'm trying to make all the right decisions, and I'm trying not to dwell on my decisions.

I decided I move on. And the more decisions I make, the further down the path I go, the more likely I am to be succeeded. The more I feel like you wait to make a decision and you hesitate and you don't take the chance, you're losing the chance on making the next one, right? And the next one might lead you to the right path.

So I just decided and I move on and I live life without looking back. Could you just tell me, could you have ever predicted you'd be in this position right now? I mean, this is going to be one of the biggest cards of UFC history. It's an immense opportunity. Could you have even comprehended where you'd end up today? Because I think there's something beautiful about like the horse with the blinders on where you're just putting in the work every day. And then you look up and you've got this opportunity. And I imagine there's a bit of.

of that taking place. Am I correct? Yeah, of course. You know, listen, I feel like I made it here with substance. I didn't make it here being a clown, social media, or talking too much trash. I'm not a flash in the pan. You know, I older an age, and I feel like I'm bringing a lot of wisdom, and I'm bringing a finished product to the world. And just because I was getting my accolades in the background and not everybody was perceiving it, doesn't mean I wasn't doing it. I've come with a lot of credibility. And on June 14th, the world will know why they chose me. Fascinating.

When you talk about the God piece, I'm just interested. How do you live your life in a way that's aligned with what you're describing? Because I see a lot of people lose that humility once they start to see success or they start to develop that arrogance. And you want to live your life exactly how you're describing, which is in line. You want to keep putting in the work and keep pushing forward. But how do you hold on to that when I imagine the UFC machine, the sponsors are reaching out, the suit opportunities are coming about? There's a lot of opportunity at your doorstep.

How do you balance that? Because we see Francis and Gano, who struggled with that a bit. He got a lot of the fame and glory and he got a little bit distracted, I think. How do you manage that pressure? Well, I learned my lesson in Madison Square Guard when I got chaos. I got killed, I feel like because of my arrogance, not because my lack of skill or lack of knowledge or anything. like that. So it's kind of like when you're a kid and you get, you know, no matter how many people tell you that stove is hot, you got to touch it, you know? So I learned through pain in a way and I feel

like I am not going to ignore life's experiences. When life gives me an experience, I try to dissect it and take the lesson and carry the lesson with me as I'm forward and try not to repeat, you know, the same mistake more than once. But, you know, I suffer from ADHD so I'm sure, you know, I've made the same mistake many at times as before. And, but this one, one with arrogance, it cut me so deep. I'm not going to fall down that trap again. And when it comes with your belief in God, as long as you remember, there's nothing you can have without him. So, who are you? You're nothing. If he doesn't will it, you can't have anything. So I feel like that keeps me humble. And even if I lose on June 14th, as long as I perform spectacularly and I fight

with courage, I think people are going to love me regardless. And that's what I'm prepared to do. I'm not super worried about the outcome. I'm worried about putting on a show. to remind the world how great I am. Fantastic. Can you take me back to your last fight? You fought Cheeto Vera. I got to see it live in Vancouver. What was that experience like?

Much has been made. I think Cheeto is still complaining a lot online. What are your takeaways from that fight? I think it was a great fight. You know, like I landed double the strikes in the first round. His back hit the fence six times in round one. Mine never did. I finished the round much stronger than him.

Like, I can't believe one judge gave him the first. first round. I find it like a little bit absurd. And in round two, I totally understand. You know, he dropped me. I get up. He throws the kick, breaks my forearm. But I finished a round harder than he did, and I finished the third round harder than he did. And I did the whole round three better than him. So I feel like there is no doubt that I won. You know, I mean, people are going to talk trash. And I've come to the conclusion where as long as they're talking about me, I don't really care if they're making fun of me or talking about about me. They ask me, who are you? And you're worthless. You're wasting your time talking about something that's worthless,

impossible. It's because there's value there. And the real, the real, how you know someone is actually worthless is apathy. If no one cares to say anything about you and they're apathetic and no one writes about you or responds to you or critiques you, then they really don't care. But I get a lot of hate so I feel like people care. Absolutely. Was there any superstition, any fear afterwards or was it, is it all just confidence coming in now as you look at at this upcoming fight. Did you know then something big was on the horizon?

Well, you know, I won seven straight and there when Mario Batista lost his fight, I knew that now I have the longest one streak in the Bantamweight Division and I've paid my dues and, you know, I've taken two fights when guys miss weight, one guy missed weight by four and a half pounds, one guy missed weight by seven

or eight pounds, and the UFC can trust me to show up on the night and perform. And I've been taking fights against dangerous strikers and I didn't shoot on them. You know, they shot on me. Jose Aldo shot on me. Marlon Vera shot on me.

And I expect Sean O'Malley to shoot on me. You know, like he took down Peter Yan. Like, this guy shoots. Don't think he doesn't shoot. He takes guys down. So I feel like people are going to be surprised with how the fight's going to go. You know, I'm not saying I won't wrestle him.

Like, if he's not good at wrestling, I might take advantage of it, you know? But I'm not going in there to make a boring fight. I'm going there to make fireworks. Why? Because it's half the equation in the UFC. Not only do you have to win, but you have to win impressively. This is a title eliminator.

If I go out there and I just hug him on the ground and land no strikes, they're not giving me that title shot. They're going to tell me, hey, you're going back in the line. Whereas if I go out there and I put on an exciting fight and I win, yeah, they're going to give me that nudge. What would a win on this card mean to you? It would be huge. you know, it'd be a dream come true because they said the title eliminator.

So to be able to fight for the UFC belt would be a dream come true. And, you know, that's one of the things that's motivating me through this camp. You know, the 18-year-old version of me would be so proud of where I've come all this way to, you know, to make it to the White House and make it to this, you know, title eliminator. So I told my brother before camp started, I want all the pain. All the pain and suffering you could make me. me go through. I want every bit of it. Why? So that when I win, it can taste so good. Everything will be amazing. Because the more you put in, the more you receive. So I'm really excited to have that

feeling. And I don't even know how great it's going to be. I can't comprehend it right now, but I'm definitely putting in the dues. And that motivation of thinking it from my 18-year-old self perspective, everyday feels like paradise, regardless of the pain. And would you be seeking a title shot after this? Oh, yeah, yeah. That's what they told me. So I'm expecting it. I'm expecting it, 2026, you know, we may be fighting for the bell.

And do you expect another fight to take place in the interim between Peter Yon and potentially Marab ahead of that? Yeah, so there should be fighting this summer. That's according to Peter Yon, because he had back surgery. So you can't fight until the summer. summertime. So I'm assuming there's fighting in the summertime and I'm going to be fighting in the summer. So it's like it all lines up for like a fall slash winter fight. And would you who do you have in that potential Peter Jan versus Marab fight?

Listen, I'm going with Peter Yon again. And that's not a knock on Marab. Okay. It's not a knock on Marab. The only reason why I'm doing, I'm saying that actually doesn't really have much to do with skills. but the lifestyle. I'm going based on lifestyle. I feel like Peter Yan, he's got his family. He's in Thailand and he's doing the work. Whereas like, Rob's like, now he's like in social media a lot.

And he's always on doing live streams with Nina. And he's traveling doing live streams. And he's become this mega star. Like listen, he's incredible. He's one of the greatest anthem and champions of all time. The only thing I'm worried about is he's slightly more open to doing these kind of gigs, whereas I don't see, I'm not really seeing Peter Yan doing tons of podcasts.

While I'm doing this podcast, I feel like what I'm saying about Maraba, I'm kind of doing it away. But yeah, I don't see Peter Young traveling the world, doing these live streams and doing all these type of things. And I'm wondering if he's, you know, in the thick of it now getting ready. Whereas, you know, sometimes, you know, people get distracted.

and they like these nice things, you know. So that's the only thing I'm basing it on. I don't know if he's being too distracted. If he's not distracted, Maraba has a great chance. I still think it's a 50-50 fight. I just give a slight edge to Peter Rion for this aspect. It's actually interesting that you say that because that's exactly how I think about these fights heading into them.

And that's exactly how I feel about you versus Sean O'Malley is he gets so lost in other things and trying to be the cool guy and trying to be likable. and so much goes into that. And you do have to put good mind, good energy into trying to do those things. It's not even like with malice that I say you're distracted, but like you're being pulled and you have other media obligations. And like, I don't know if this is true. Would Sean O'Malley likely have more media obligations than you potentially in this fight? Or do you guys get like the exact same amount of media obligations?

That's a very good question. I don't actually know. Okay. I don't really know. I'm glad. I didn't want to be rude by asking. no, because also like, especially with this White House card, we don't know anything about it. We don't know how it's going to run.

So like, I don't know. But I will say, though, in his last two fights, I heard that he's turned down a lot of the media obligations that they put on him. So I think he's trying to limit that distraction. You know, I think he realized that there is a too much. Can I ask, how do you digest that for yourself? because I think that's an issue we all have, right, being on our phones too much or giving time to things that aren't always productive.

But there's also like the leisure and you can't always be working. You can't always be training. And so how do you digest something like that? Yeah, it's tough, man. Listen, we're all going to succumb to it to a certain extent, of course. And me, you know, part of being disciplined

is prioritizing the right things. So like for me, it's like, I have these big, huge important things that I have to decide on and how I have to act on and do and accomplish. And have all these other things that are just less big. They're just minor. So as long as I focus on these big pieces, I can always circle back and take care of the small pieces later on. Even if they go bad, because they're small, they can affect the trajectory. So part of being successful I find is don't sweat the small things.

don't even give them attention. Focus on the main goals, the big pieces. And if you get the big pieces in order, you can always circle back and take care of the other stuff that's not going right in your life. But if you lose the big pieces, it's hard to save the whole pie. It's hard to save the whole piece.

It's hard to save the whole board, you know? So I just focus on the big things. And that's like even with family, like I do less activities with the kids, less activities with the family, less going out, less whatever. I cut a lot of things out,

but everyone respects me, everyone respects my choice because they're all rewarded once the goal is achieved and the task is complete, you know? So I feel like a lot of times when people reach the top of the mountain,

they look left and right, there's nobody there with them, you know? So you, sometimes when you, when you make those sacrifices in camp, You keep those sacrifices going outside of camp and you reward yourself, but you're not making the team or the family feel

the love and the reward, and people start slipping away from you. And the biggest weakness I find of people is they start to think it's all because of them, but people don't understand the value people in your life, your family and your friends bring to you even in the rooms you're not in. how maybe they spoke to somebody

and they said a certain thing about you that led to you getting another opportunity or you know or the way they not only the way they talk about you but the way they view you the way they get out they go out of their way to spend more hours researching tape or whatever

people are spending time and effort to help me get somewhere I'm not going to forget them when it's when the time has come that was beautifully said one piece that has been coming up because of the Trump tariffs and the Trump presidency is, what does it mean to be Canadian?

And I'd be interested to know your thoughts on that as you go in to represent Canada against the U.S. What are Canadian values and what are you representing when you step on to that cage? You know, I grew up in a Canada where we didn't lock our front doors. And I can take my bike and bike, you know, 10, 15, 20 kilometers away from the house, spend all day with my friends at the park. And no cell phone and my parents didn't know where I was, but they told me to be home before dark and I'd make my way home by then.

I feel like, you know, that's the kind of Canada I want to live in, you know, one that's safe for kids and family. Canada respects the family unit. I think we should all be encouraged, you know, to have children and educate them. I feel like a big part of being Canadians is having an education.

I feel like school is so much more formidable here than many parts of the world, especially if you stay within your province to go to university. So education, family education, and I think it should be a place where people can move up the ladder. Like my father moved here, he had no money. And he started working as a mechanic. Then he bought his first gas station. Then he sold his gas station to buy two taxi cabs. Then now he's got three taxi cabs.

Now he's retired, but he worked his way up. He was an entrepreneur and my mom never had to work. And he raised four kids. And now my oldest brother is a successful businessman. He's highly educated. My other brother is a nutrition. My other brother's successful culture around the world. I became a successful athlete.

I feel like Canada should be a place where you have the resources to really break out and be successful in your career as well as with your family. right? I feel like it's a really good place where you can have both. So I think that's what it means to be Canadian. You know, I feel like it's, if to take advantage of all the, the whole system, the whole system can work to really make your life great. And I want us to, our standard of living to continue to go up. You know, right now, our standard of living in the last five to ten years is starting to dip, starting to go down for the next generation. I mean, I come from the generation where we were just, everything was just getting better as we went along until we hit a point or then we started

turned back down so i feel like if we can turn the clock back to 2015 we're kicking butt i couldn't agree more and i hope we move in that direction is there a canadian icon that stands out to you yeah george st pierre jr jr jr jr jane pere wadezky i mean there's so many greats you know so many grades i think kiana reeves a great canadian i know he lives in the states now probably but I think he represents Canada well on the big stage like even like when he when he made millions upon millions and he had this huge hit movie with the matrix and I think he gave like 72 million to divide by the staff like the sound the makeup like all the people like he gave money like I feel like these three guys really embodied what it means to be Canadian like George never became an ego maniac

he's still so humble he became this huge success but at one point he was working as a garbage man you know and I feel like it's nice about Canada like I like that you know even if you fail there's a way to come back up like Canada doesn't kind of like doesn't keep you down there's like a good floor you know there's like a really nice floor in Canada where you can bounce off it if you like if you take a risk you can fall I feel like that's also being part of Canadian whereas you know some other parts of the country if you fail like there's no there's no floor and you can go all the way to rock bottom whereas Canada there's like a decent floor right so if you're Canadian you should be go out there and take a chance. She got there and bet on yourself, man. This country's built for you to take a chance. Is GSP going to be cornering you? Yeah, he's going to be there with me, man. Me, GSP for us and Neil,

and my suit sponsors, the guys from suitably, they're going to have us all suited up for the press conference. We're going to come. We're going to be classy. We're going to represent Canada properly on the world stage. You know, just like the NHL guys do it. You know, we're going to be looking good. We're going to be speaking well.

And, you know, at the end of the day, we love this country. We just want to see the best for this country. And I feel like Georgia, he represented Canada on the main stage very well. And I'm looking to do it. You know, and I feel like some people are not happy with me seeing, you know, some of the, you know, the flaws in the country. But like, there's only one way to make us better is to point out the things that are not necessarily going our way. But I feel like as long as we acknowledge and we label things, we can find solutions and move on. because at the end of the day, whether you're a liberal or you're conservative,

you want Canada to do well, right? So that's why I was telling you. Like the best thing I could think of right now is, why don't we just take the best ideas of the conservatives and the best ideas of the liberals and find a way to make them work? You know, obviously it's not going to be perfect of both, but we've got to start moving in a direction here. I couldn't agree more.

I guess I would just say, Amon, listening to your political philosophy over the past five interviews we've done together. I sincerely am honored that you are the voice representing Canada, that you are the person, because so much of it gets lost in ideology and like you and I are both on X and we just see people grandstanding and taking extreme positions. And like one of the favorite things I see is when people go, oh, I got that wrong. I apologize. And correct themselves. And just it doesn't mean anything. These are just ideas. We're just interacting and trying to see the path forward. To me, that's what's patriotic. And so I'm just, I'm grateful because it's tough to see sometimes when we have people

I don't find admirable or who don't reflect the values I think are core to being a Canadian out there saying they represent Canada and seeing you do this just means a lot to me personally because I think we align on a lot of our kind of policy objectives of where we think Canada should be heading and to see that represented on the stage and to see, I don't know, the U.S. at times and like US companies doing a better job of lifting up Canadians, like they're giving you this opportunity. What is Canada doing to lift up Canadian talent in that way, right? Like the CBC, I don't even think could air the Olympics or there were problems with it or something.

Like there's just such a gap right now in us representing our own culture. And I think you're the best person for that. How can people keep up as you prepare for this fight and prepare for the journey you're about to take? Yeah, guys, you can follow me on Instagram as Amazahabee or on YouTube at Amadzahe be official on YouTube or on X. I'm on X also as Amen Zahabi. Guys, give me a follow. I'm going to be pumping out a lot of content for this, you know, White House card. I'm going to try to make some things that are funny, but I'm going to do it in my way, you know, and I'm going to try to keep you guys up to date on how things are going with training camp. And, you know, we're going to go for that

win. You know, we're coming after those Americans. We're coming after Shano Malley. We're coming for everything they got. I am so happy for you. You really deserve this opportunity. And again, I'm just inspired by your journey and thankful that we've gotten to interact over the years and to see your growth and to see how you've held on to that humility and to see your family dynamics continue to flourish. It's just you've taught me a lot over these past five interviews and seeing you bring that philosophy and bring it into the cage and actually perform and follow through and get the result has been a privilege and I'll be honest. My bank account has approved because I've been betting on you the whole time. I have not been wrong yet.

And I'll just say this quickly. It's so funny watching people who, as I said from the beginning, who said, aim on who, I don't really know. And to see them now going, did you see he's on the White House card? I was like, of course I saw. I've been riding since the beginning of June. So I just honored that we've been able to do this. Awesome.

Thank you for always having me on. And congratulations on your success, man. I'm happy to see it. And I hope you keep getting more higher and higher profile people to get on the show. That's the goal, but nothing higher than the man fighting. in June against Sean O'Malley. Thank you again. Thank you.