ahead of his UFC Saudi Arabia Main Event against nasar de maav Feb first uh Israel we know they like to do it big over there in Saudi right like they treat their Stars amazing you've been there with Francis when they offered you this fight there was that something that excited you definitely because I've been to Saudi Arabia when they started to open the you know the gates to the world I've been there probably five or six times but I haven't fought there and yeah I was excited to get the call that I'm fighting over in
Saudi Arabia and when they mention the opponent right like I think a lot of the guys at middleweight wanted this um they called you out multiple names why ultimately do you think the UFC thought Nassar Nini MAA was the best opponent for you in the spot uh I'm not sure why but he's a game opponent he's climbing the ranks I think in the top five right now so brush so yeah it was um I mean it was the first name that got slid across the desk and I was just like yep let's go and you
know you've always said f the belt and this is your first non-title fight since February 2019 I know you already said in one of your videos that it doesn't feel any different um but for you like what is the difference in motivation and how you push for a fight like this where a belt is not on the line and it's just kind of a different circumstance than what you've been used to for half a decade now for me it's uh just proving to myself that I'm still that dude I know I'm one of the best
if not the best um but I still feel like I'm improving and I'm I see the work that I do I feel the work that I do and I just want to show the world the work that I'm doing yeah and you say you're still one of the best uh you come into the situation though you've never lost three straight Combat Sports fights uh as far as I can tell off your record and your entire combat career is that something you've thought about and used as a driving force at all going into this fight no
not at all um I'm not focused on those kind of numbers for me it's just another fight a new opponent new body to exchange with and he's really good so yeah I look forward to taking care of him yeah I actually spoke with him a few hours ago and dude could not have been any more respectful of you or you know gracious of your skill set and you taking this fight um but this feels like a completely different buildup than we've had in the past two years right like Alex twice in a row Strickland dup
plusy those all had you know a story line and attention to them this seems like it's just a straightforward fight between two Sportsmen do you like that build and kind of the change of pace here uh yeah it's always good to mix things up but again this is just fighting uh it' be pretty boring and it lead up to this fight for the the fans who like that kind of stuff uh but the fight is going to be very exciting that's that's a sauce in this one mhm and I mean this is kicking off a
massive month for middleweight right like there's you versus imav MVP versus Char bullet on this card the week after dricus and sha Strickland fight for the title the week after that there's caner and Gregory Rodriguez headlining the week after that Anthony Hernandez versus Brendan Allen pretty much the only people not booked in the top 10 are chamv and Kyo baralo so do you feel like you know the middleweight division is a good State here and this is a great month for you to kick off really highlighting this division yeah that's I didn't know that uh
all those other fights were in the month of February but um yeah exciting times exciting times for 185 but the to be honest 185 feels boring without me so yeah I want to go in there and just make it interesting uh Izzy I got to ask about this training with Rob Whitaker right this video went viral that looked like this was one of the most wholesome things that inspired me to in 2025 I'm going to keep a track of all wholesome MMA moments we get and that was obviously a big one to kick off the
year just tell me a little bit how you and Rob linked up and you know why you thought now was the time to kind of fill that bond with him a little bit more uh it was just organic um his coach hit up my coach and Eugene you know asked me and I of course he can pull up anytime and uh I didn't know he was pulling up on that Monday so when I saw him I was excited I was hyped um but yeah it's always good to have someone like rob a caliber of him
around the gym definitely can feel his energy in the room even though it's just a CH uh and it was nice to exchange with him and sit down with him you know break bread with him have him come on the breakdown and just uh yeah it was cool uh I respect Rob tremendously and I I like him a a whole lot more he was on Ariel helani show today and he said in 2019 if I could have hit Israel with my car I would have he's like maybe just a light little tap but like that's
how I felt about him now and like now you know I would never fight him again it's all behind us when you hear that I guess do you was the tension for you that high back then too um I mean he just he just being funny but uh yeah the tension was high but again we always knew we would get along we're just too guys um but yeah that's funny yeah he said uh the biggest surprise of training with you was how good your Jiu-Jitsu is and I know you've always kind of teased this behind
the scenes but he's like I'm curious how that could come into play for this fight is he uh is he giving away a little bit of the game plan here is he or I know you always kind of say I'd love to get my first submission yeah that's definitely on on the cards G my first submission and I have had my moments with grappling in the game uh but just take me down and find out you know yeah it's been hard to so far it took me this long to lose by submission but yeah you
know I I keep improving so yeah it and I know you also said on the YouTube channel um a fight with hamzat chamay after seeing what he did with Rob is pretty appealing to you now when you envision that like how do you think it comes together is he gonna win the belts against either strick and D plus e you win a couple fights and it's a title fight you think he loses for the title and it comes together that way how do you ultimately Envision that fight coming together in the future I haven't envisioned
it I've just been focused on this MMO for the last 20 weeks or so that's the only fight I've had in my mind um but yeah seeing how uh what's his name kamza did definitely made me like go okay he's legit but again I've seen him fight over how many years and you know he's game the fight with Gilbert was the one that made me respect his his dog in him so it's like oh yeah this guy's really he's about that life so yeah um whenever it happens it happens but right now I'm focused on
imov absolutely as you should be um what do you think happens I know you're going to do breakdowns for the YouTube channel and stuff but when at 312 uh Strickland and dup plusy fight again for the title can you give us a little preview of how you think that one goes uh oh I say I say that dricus wins that one if it's close maybe or maybe it's more decisive this time it's going to be a hard fight for both men but I think I'll give the edge to dricus in this fight Sean Strickland said
uh I think like today or yesterday he basically said like I challenged him to only stand and strike in this fight no takedowns when you hear a guy say that especially Shawn is that maybe showing like a little mental weakness or something going into this fight where you know he's trying to lure dricus into something I don't know man you got to act yeah Fair Are You Gonna Fly straight to Sydney after this do you want to be there for that fight um I got teammates fighting so most likely will be there but I don't
know yet okay um and just last thing here is Before I Let You Go you told me in Perth after the fight with dras you're like I'm happy with the way I performed I'm just not happy with the results and you said that wasn't the case with Shawn so going into this fight with imav what needs to happen where you're happy with the performance and the result in your mind I have to win I'm going to win so yeah I've done everything in my pal to ensure that and I cannot wait till next weekend awesome
man well uh when are you heading out there Sunday this Sunday all right man well I hope it's a safe flight out there we're so happy to have you back I think this is great for the fans to get you to you know watch you on this platform as well man so I appreciate you as always izy it's great to see your face on one of these as well so I appreciate the time man no worries thanks Mike take care man
