What makes you a force to be reckoned with in the Octagon?
I do not quit. Every single fight that I fight, I fight with the intentions that it’s life or death for me. I do not care to lose my life in there and that’s what I told my family and what I told my girlfriend before I pursued this and before I came here. We believe in being good people, humble people. But when I enter the Octagon, it’s life or death for myself. It literally is that I am fighting for my life.
South Africa is not the best country at the moment. We have a lot of struggles inside our country. So I need to take each and every fight as serious as life or death. For me, when I got very ill after my operations, I’m like, you know what, I know how it feels to be very close to death. So I push it to the limit of, oh sh**, I might lose my life right now. That’s why I thrive. I thrive in the deep waters, and that’s where I like to take my opponents, as well. To really see if you are willing to die for this because everybody can live for this, but are you willing to die for this? I absolutely am. So it’s make or break time for myself. So each and every fight I take with the seriousness of my life depends on this.
Why do you think you will be a fan favorite this season?
I would hope by being a good guy and being super humble. We live in a generation where ego and talking out loud is a little bit of a stereotype these days. To become famous and to have attention, you have to almost, excuse my language, be a kind of a d***. I do not believe in that. Like I said, wrestling has humbled me. If I can be anybody, I want to be someone like Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov and show people that, listen, you can be humble, you can be a good guy, you can have a good personality and still see success in your sport. Those are my biggest role models. I would love to be like that, as well. Be helpful, be kind, and be generous. Through those ways, through the values that I’ve been taught from my grandfather, from my father, just prove to the world that you can be a good guy and you can still make it right.
What are your thoughts on Alexa Grasso?
Oh, I’m absolutely astonished by her skills and her fighting style and true grit. Her becoming the champion, shocking the world and going back and doing it again is absolutely a Cinderella story for her to do something like that. Her grit and determination has made her who she is. On top of that, she is absolutely gorgeous, too, which, in my opinion, is amazing because fighting is one thing, but who she is as an individual, regardless of the looks, she’s a gorgeous person on the inside and on the outside. That’s why I’m saying she’s gorgeous. For her to have that success is breathtaking to me. So what an honor for her to be one of the coaches this season.
What are your thoughts on Valentina Shevchenko?
Valentina Shevchenko, I feel like her resume speaks for herself already. I’m absolutely blown away by her, and the time she spent training in Thailand. I’ve spent time in Thailand, so I have a good feeling towards her and her coaching style and her coaches. But, man, I love when they say she’s a spy. They say she looks like a spy because she absolutely does. Awesome style, awesome wrestling and ground game. But the striking, that’s where I feel the most comfortable is with the striking facet. So I absolutely love her, as well. What an honor to be on this show where Valentina is going to be coaching and where Alexa Grasso is going to be coaching. Man, all I can say is that I’m honored to be here.