DIEGO SANCHEZ VS KEVIN LEE | Khabib Nurmagomedov Eagle FC Live Interview @sirmenssalon

That's really one of the biggest reasons why I signed with him. I've seen his rise through the UFC. I know how hard it is to be a champion. I know how hard it is to stay a champion. That's one thing. But then I started seeing what he was able to do outside the cage. Supporting his teammates and training other people. And now he's getting into promoting. And I give him credit for that. I've said a lot about the man in the past. And I wanted to fight him. And I wanted to test myself against him. I don't want to do that with people that I respect. And since his retirement and since all this stuff, my respect has grown. So, I'm happy to go in there and shed some blood. So, when can we expect to see you make your Eagle FC debut? I mean, could it be potentially on Friday, January 28th? I think the date is March 11th. That sounds good to me. I'm going to set up. This is the home of Eagle. So, it will be my home. And it will be a great start to a partnership. And we'll start it on March 11th. We'll go in there and get it on show. Dave, how does that make you feel knowing that this man is going to move here to Miami? The home base of Eagle FC here in the United States. This is one of the things that I want to change. I don't want people to call this promotion from Russia. This has now become a global promotion. It's going to be here in Miami. He's undergone both knee and ACL surgeries. So, that's a good… Great news is coming up. Rears, it speaks for itself. More questions from the media? I don't need a fake made-up bill. Exactly. I'd rather get the weight class. I think that's important. Yeah, that's cool. They're going to have a 165 and everything. A 165 on the vision. That's new, brand new. When we look back on this in future generations, in future times… First Ultimate Fighter. First World Fighter. 165. They've done it in boxing. They've added these weight classes. And then people come after them. That's where we start here. In the back. We know that you step here as a fighter. But before you have years here at the game, it sounds like you're a professional fighter. Can you repeat one more time? Sorry, I can't hear you. Are there any opponents right now in mind? How does that process work? Yeah, life is amazing sometimes. It's better to work together and be partners in this. And grow something. Very good. And still get the same thing accomplished without having to fight each other. This sport, at the end of the day, is about respect. And that's something that I think we can get through without having to fight. So, by us doing that, I think we can set the precedent and move the sport along from the bullshit and the Conor McGregor style, the trash talking and all this. I think we can move the sport along. And he's a great champion. And he's done fighting. And now we're on to a different type of sport. I'm not one of these young guys. I've been around the sport for a long time. I'm a vet. I've had a lot of fights. But I haven't even hit my prime yet. So, to have him help me get to my prime, I think that's more important than us fighting each other. I also want to say that I think it's refreshing that a fighter who has fought at the highest level and have beaten him on the medal is diagnosed with emotional abuse. Because he's standing there and saying, I think you should do this, or I'm going to pay you this. He's been there. So he knows what you guys have to go through. And I think from a respects standpoint, that is more advantageous. And I think that you like fighting for a guy that, hey, look, he's been in there. The guy's undefeated. And he's beat the world's best. So he knows what it takes to be able to get ready for a fight and compete. Absolutely. I think that's a big part of my decision to come over here. And for just a fellow fighter, I think that'll be the fight for sure. You're kind of feeling it right now. I think that's the fight. I think it's almost like you just came around in a circle to come to the table. Because like you said, he's been there and done that. He's a great champion. So when some of these other promoters will tell you what to do, it kind of goes in one ear and out the other. But when you know somebody has already been there and they actually understand what you're going through, it makes a big difference. And I think it's the evolution of the sport. Yeah, so what do you think? Kevin Lee versus Diego Sanchez. Well, that says it all. Kevin Lee versus Diego Sanchez. You choose. From the presser. It's amazing. Just finished the presser a few minutes ago. They're having a big break, you know, walking into the building. I can feel the energy. And it's going to be good to kick off the program. When did Eagle FC come on your radar? Because I'm assuming you heard the news of it being released. When were they? So Ali reached out to me. He was making a decision. We had a lot of conversations, a lot of back and forth. At what point did you and Habib sort of bury the hatchet? Because I know for a while you guys were kind of rivals, and I'm sure that was part of you agreeing to do this, was that everything had to be cool. Yeah, there was always a mutual respect between us. There was never a point in any time when I wanted to fight him where I got disrespectful about it or show that I did respect him. I mean, I obviously wanted to fight him because I did. So I think underneath all of it, we didn't even have to have a conversation. We kind of both already knew. We didn't have to look in his eyes or tell just from that. We know that PFL had also apparently had some interest in you. Were there ever serious talks about you joining PFL? Yeah, PFL was on the radar. A lot of people were. I got a lot of different offers from a lot of different promotions. It's just this one made sense, and especially with Zed wanting it and already being a great champ, I could kind of look to him and believe that he was behind me. You know what I mean? He had support before. He's been a champ. He knows what it's like. So it just made more sense than it already was. And Bellator came out and said they weren't interested. Were you a little bit surprised by that, especially the fact that your brother is a part of their promotion as well? No, I wasn't interested in Bellator. Okay. It doesn't surprise me. No. It's like, you know, if you ask a girl out and then she says no and then you say you decided to leave, she doesn't want you going. Right. Yeah, I know that line of thinking. Wouldn't it have kind of been cool, though, to have you and Keith fight in the same promotion? Would that ever cross your mind? Sure. To be honest with you, I'm not really sure what they got going on. And this is at 165. How much of a factor was that with you signing with Eagle FC? I'm sure the money is good, too, but I'm sure 165 is a big driving force. Yeah, that was big, you know? That was huge. Not only will my body feel better, I feel like this is my proper weight class. It's brand new. So that means I get to be the in-all world champion. And this is just going to go over to the in-all. And I think in the future it's going to go right from, like, you look like the top dog. But those things are going to write well in history. So to be the first 165 world champion means lots of things. Have you been told your first fight will be a title fight, or are you still working on the details? They're going to do a few fights before a title fight. When they're going to introduce titles, I think maybe at the end of the year. But my first fight will be in March. Excellent. And how many fights is your deal with Eagle FC? So right now it's for four fights, and they will go from there. Interesting. And are you allowed to go take other opportunities? I'm sure not MMA, but would you be allowed to box, for example? Yeah, there's an opportunity to co-promote MMA in the future with other promotions or how we're going to do it. I think that's one of the big factors of being assigned with the two is the freedom that you give me not to just be tied up. Are you a walk-in? Walk-in. I don't have the time today. I'm sorry about that. Is this accurate? Yeah, yeah. I'll be the first mixed martial artist to be paid in Bitcoin. Was that something you pitched to them or they pitched to you about getting paid in Bitcoin? So my manager and my team at the CAA, they worked on it, and they didn't get any pushback when asked about it. So it kind of goes to show how forward-thinking they are. They've already talked about setting up things to do in metaverse and different ways to broadcast and all these things. That was also a big part of the fact. Well, I think it's awesome. I've had Bitcoin for years. I think cryptocurrency is the future, so I was really excited to hear that. Do you know if any other fighters are getting paid in Bitcoin as well, or is it just you? I'm the first one. I'm pretty sure many people will follow suit, especially if this thing takes off even more. But to be paid in Bitcoin, it gives me a lot of financial freedom. You know what I mean? It gives me a lot of security where I don't even necessarily have to fight, which is going to make the fight so much better because I'm not so worried about it. That was an absurd answer. It's going to be something that other people follow suit with. The other bombshell you dropped is that you're moving to Miami and you're moving your whole camp over there. Any idea where you're going to be training, or are you going to sort of create your own camp? I'm going to train at Sanford, at Sanford MMA. I've been there a few times. I already trained a little bit, but now I'll actually train there. I'll still obviously train with Faraz Sahabi and Tristar, but we'll work out how that relationship works. I already know there are a few people who already do that, who are training at Sanford but still use Faraz and still use some of the other trainers from Tristar, so that door's already open. What was the connection for you to Sanford? I was curious about that. Honestly, it just kind of came about. I started spending more time down here in Miami. I've got some family, so it just kind of came about. I'm trying to think who was the first person that introduced me to Sanford. I think it might have been Derek Bronson. Yeah, I think it might have been Derek Bronson. He told me to go over. And then I met Chandler, Michael Chandler. Okay, that's excellent. And a wealth of weights too there as well. Are you excited about getting to train with guys like Luque and Burns who are at 170, which is closer to the weight class you're going to be doing? Yeah, then you've got a lot of guys who are above our weight class too, like Tyra Strong that I can learn from to get to work with, with Henry Olson. There's a lot of potential for growth at Sanford for sure. And like you said, great training partners and guys that I didn't even know were there were really good. Any ideas on who your first opponent can be? Have you been hearing any names? Because the one great thing about the promotion is, Habib said, look, this is not a Russian promotion. We're going to get guys from the U.S. as well. Are you hearing any names at all about a first opponent? Yeah, I've heard Diego Sanchez's name being thrown around. Diego will be a great first fight. Well, Kevin, it's going to happen. He wants it, Habib wants it, we want it, everybody wants it. They're going to sweet-ass on it. Now it's just about getting the right payday, you know? Give me a direct beat rematch with Charleston. Okay, yeah.