Some translated bits of
Warrior Talk #24.
This was released last night.
Said El Badaoui was supposed to be there as well, but had to cancel due to 'private circumstances'.
Marinho was there as a co-host.
They talked about Ngannou/Joshua for a bit and whether the Ngannou hype is over or not.
Remco Pardoel (Former UFC fighter/Commentator)
- Started practicing Judo and traditional Jiu Jitsu as a kid due to his dad.
- Explored different styles of Jiu Jitsu and utlimately was introduced to BJJ.
- Started training in Brazil where he got his ass kicked at first.
- Invited Brazilians to come train in the Netherlands, which is more or less how BJJ was introduced in Europe.
- Made it to the semi-finals of UFC2 where he lost to Gracie.
- Thinks BJJ/MMA are inseparable.
- Feels current Dutch BJJ/MMA fighters are competitive until purple belt level and struggle beyond.
- Says there is too little cross-training in the Netherlands, because people have big egos.
Tarik Khbabez
- Says if Rajabzadeh comes to LHW their fight would be a 'problem', because they both move forward aggressively.
- Has no interest in MMA, because grappling makes him uncomfortable.
- Would still fight in MMA if the money is right lol.
- Hopes Glory learned from their mistake and the LHW tournament draw will be fair. Polanen jokingly said "with you being champ we could pick our opponent!". Tarik said doesn't like picking a weak opponent and would choose whoever is strongest.
- Says he respects Rico for his accomplishments.
- Is very happy to finally be the champ.
- Has gotten a bonus for his fight.
- Felt the crowd going nuts during the fight.
- Respects Abena for the way he fought him.
- When asked about the moment when Abena punched him after the ref broke them up, Tarik couldn't exactly recollect how it happened because his back was turned. Remy then told Tarik he should never turn his back during a fight.
- Says as far as he's concerned the beef with Abena is finished.
Mike Polanen
- Feels Jamal should have been in the tournament, but still thinks the tournament was great.
- Jokingly said that Rajabzadeh should stay away from LHW.
- Says while social media may have made it easier to promote fights, it also puts a lot of unwanted attention and pressure on fighters.
- Says Glory is badly organized.
- His team heard about a lot of mandatory media obligations last-minute or just a few days before.
- Says fighters have no clue when their next fight is due to lack of proper planning and communication.
- Picks Levi Rigters as MVP of the tournament, because he went down in each fight, but knocked down all of his opponents as well, including a fresh Rico.
- Tought the tournament draw was weird.
- Says people may not be fans of Rico or his style, but he keeps winning fights.
- Feels like he had to be "Dr.Phil" a lot, preparing Tarik for his fight mentally.
- Says Bławdziewicz tends to only train at his gym shortly before fights.
- Says Kehl still works as a cop in Germany and does not train full-time.
- Most of his attention went to Tarik's fight on the night.
- Feels fighters toes should be checked to see if they cut their nails, referring to Kehl's scratched up body and eye injury from Beztati's kicks.
- Acknowledges it was a dumb move to step into the ring after Tarik got sucker punched, because it could have cost him the fight.
- Says adrenaline and emotions got the better of him. He still isn't sure what he even tried to accomplish.
- Remy wonders if this will have consequences, because apparently Abena posted the rules on social media.
- Tarik says he could've just stayed down after getting sucker punched, if Abena wants to play it like that.
- Is critical of the inconsistency of referees and jurors.
- Thinks the beef between Rico and Jamal is a lot worse than between Tarik and Abena.
- Suspects Rico has been poking at Jamal to trigger a reaction like that.
- Is 100% behind a Rico/Jamal rematch. Remy fears riots would break out in the crowd. Marinho adds that both Rico and Jamal have been hitting each other way below the belt lately and people shouldn't just judge Jamal harshly here. Tarik says they should simply fight outside of the Netherlands to avoid any riots.
- From what he's been told the next tournament will be the LHW one, which they will start preparations for after Tarik has taken a vacation.
Overall opinions seem to be that the tournament and event as a whole were solid.
There were a lot of fun back-and-forth moments between the guests and while it was slightly less structured than usual it was a solid episode. Also cool that they made this happen the day after the fights.
