Some translated bits of
Warrior Talk #20.
This was released on January 14th (yesterday).
Said el Badaoui
- Said thinks Khachab has a lot of room for growth, but that it'll take time with Nabil still being only 22.
- Said will do a full training camp for the Grand Prix in Thailand. He'll take 5 heavier fighters who all have fights coming up, including Khachab and Abena.
- ONE wanted to extend Illias Ennahachi's contract, but he didn't want to travel to Asia all the time and had trouble with the hydration tests.
- As Said understood, Glory is moving away from the 65-70kg weightclasses. They'll potentially move to RISE under their cooperation banner.
- Since Ennahachi would (probably) end up in Asia again if he went to Glory he's not moving there either.
- With that in mind Ennahachi decided to cross over to MMA.
- Was invited to Harry Hooft to train in the US.
- Says training facilities and the approach to training is much more professional in the US compared to the Netherlands.
- Is confident Tyrone Spong is returning to Glory.
- Thinks Spong could still make a run for the title, because the current heavyweight division doesn't have a lot of standouts.
- Feels Abena took a much bigger risk than Touchassie in that fight, because he had nothing to gain from it.
- Says Touchassie didn't take the fight last-minute, since that implies he wasn't in shape.
Gino van Steenis
- Got involved in the sport through his big brother Costello.
- While he was very much focused on MMA at the time, he jumped at the chance of participating in House of Glory when the offer came along.
- Still wishes he could have competed in the main fights, rather than just fighting a reserve match.
- Sees his Glory loss to Don Sno as a learning experience.
- Very much leans on his brother Costello for advice when it comes to not just fighting, but pretty much anything in life.
- Is fighting in KSW on January 20th, where he has signed for 5 fights.
- Ultimately wants to hold a belt in the UFC.
Rida Eddaraoui (content creator)
- Initially was just a Badr Hari fan who watched his fights together with his dad.
- Gradually became more interested in the sport.
- Started Kickboxing and following the sport more closely.
- Eventually became a content creator and social media presence who does a lot of interviews with fighters, podcasts etc.
- Has been challenging Mark Schaaf for a while on social media, but kinda jokingly. Remy ran with it and is now promoting the fight. he also warned Rida that Mark can really fight lol.
Ray Martin (ring announcer)
- Was always interested in sports and wanted to do work as a presenter.
- Became inspired to become a ring announcer seeing Michael Buffer announce Klitschko vs Fury in 2015.
- The next day he e-mailed the Dutch boxing association about opportunities and they gave him a chance.
- Now he has 50-60 gigs a year as an announcer at Boxing and Kickboxing events.
- Has great respect for fighters and feels it's disrespectful when they aren't treated like stars/entertainers.
- Once did a great announcement for a Georgian boxer with a record of 2-48 who was booked to pad someone's record.
- After getting beaten up he told Ray he loved his announcement and it was the best day of his life.
- Is also a singer.
There was also, again, a bit of discussion surrounding Jamal Ben Saddik and why he isn't part of the GP. Said suggested there should have been a 16 man final elimination including Badr and Jamal.
Fun episode to start the year and a nice, diverse mix of guests.
