Ola Akande:
What’s happening? We still find fault with show people. We are back with another video. And this time we have one of our very own Radley nightmare. Swanepoel. How are you doing, my brother?
Bradley Swanepoel:
I’m going to see you. Thank you for having me. It’s. It’s always giving me goosebumps when you put out my name. It’s really good to be back.
Ola Akande:
Ma’am, I am. I am. I mean, it’s always on when I sit in front of you, and I’ll talk and talk. The fight game with you. But, you know, we. We spoke. We’re always keeping in touch. You know, I mean, we’re always speaking behind the scenes and there’s been a lot going on in the in the me world.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So you’re breaking up there?
Ola Akande:
Yeah. Sorry. I said, you know, we’re always keeping in touch with you and, you know, we’re always talking behind the scenes. And there’s been a lot that’s been going on in the Miami scene since since we last spoke. But before. Before we before we get into into all of that. Are you there? Can you hear me?
Bradley Swanepoel:
Yes. Here we go. I can hear you.
Ola Akande:
Right. Before we get into all of that. We haven’t really touched base since, obviously. Since since your last your last fight with. With ego Cabeza. How how has everything how has the mindset changed and your your pursuit for for that title is the is it more you more hungry more than ever since the last time I tried to change that several weight belts with Eagle Cabeza Has the mindset changed and your preparations for getting back in there to try and change that title?
Ola Akande:
Because I know how much that title means to you. I know how much you put into camp and I know your dream of carrying that strap. Please tell us.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Thank you so much for this opportunity and this interview about it that yes, this to happen as part of the fight game. One little slip up, one that all the lost concentration and focus and those things do happen. It really sucks that it’s not what I want it to be. And I’ve been very different to smother and do the best fight in my life.
Bradley Swanepoel:
But yeah, it didn’t turn out the way it did. But one thing is for certain, it showed me a different path. It showed me that I’m a different fighter after that, and I’m more hungrier than ever. I really, really want to have another crack at the title, but yeah, it is a change my a changed my mindset big time because of the of the 35 fights and the no losses.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And then the first one came as it was a big move to swallow the difference. And yeah it is now you do two months of us raising it and restructuring my mindset restructuring the fighter who I am. And yeah, it’s a definitely needed change because if you would even ask my teammates I just fought on on Saturday, the 4th of March, on a grappling with jiu jitsu tournament and the folks really amazing destroyed everybody and really, really good.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So I feel also that I got that flip switch again, feel that I am more hungrier now than ever and I can’t wait for the future. The other thing to be thinking about is because my last two fights, I think you did see with the guys Moya before, before the visa, and then I got the visa, the last two fights with Fidel, which was really, really tough, really as from jumping from 70 to 66 was really tough to lose.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So I also took a big Ptolemy as our new mindset. Our new approach will be is my first UFC this year will be in a lightweight division and this will be one of the top, top contenders. And but yeah, because of this, because I’ll be moving to lightweight you’ll see a that’s a really strong fighting in the US.
Bradley Swanepoel:
We’ll see when you division in over the weekend. So if I go to 78 lightweight I will feel much much stronger. Of course of course everybody’s thinking about if the tickets are coming back to you, you will definitely get the both of us. That’s our first approach. Everybody’s been talking about that. But if that if that doesn’t happen and you go straight to UAE or you goes to UFC, then I’ll be jumping in.
Bradley Swanepoel:
But first, I’m going for the title and then I’ll be defending right behind them as soon as he he wins it vacated. It is my turn. I got. Yeah, I really I really want to have it. We’ll see in a future maybe maybe directly after this lightweight featherweight. But for now, in the future, Lightweight is a bit in front of us, and I think it’s much more better that way.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And I don’t have to suffer that much. I can just focus on the fights and be as strong, as strong and intelligent as possible.
Ola Akande:
Yemen, Yemen, because I you know, I saw you, you know, in fight week leading to the Kabasele fight. And I see how yeah I mean how you look right now. So how you look then he’s come You’re completely different. You look so completely different. And that’s what we’ve got, Dusty, you know, because.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Of course.
Ola Akande:
Before you get a chance to rehydrate your body and get your body the right way to go in there, it’s it’s a it’s a lot of pain are suffering. And I can’t I can’t I can’t praise you guys enough for putting your body through that. Yeah. To entertain people, people like myself and people around the world. But you incredible job that you do And that’s why I, you know, I make I make you my soul mission to to get your voices out there to to get your voices out there to the people because of the sacrifices you guys put down and you make.
Ola Akande:
How how is how is T.K. top of work out to cut. How how is he doing after that, after that trip to to to the to UAE? And how how is our favorite coach coach more.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Very good thank you Even that you talking about. I just change it up. You got to. He does money.
Ola Akande:
Yeah it hurts. He can.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Look good. Yes. We just train hard session 3 hours this morning and he’s fighting You get you are is the next weekend on Saturday. So they flying up this Tuesday and Yeah we just said now from 10:00 to now we’ve finished now and how hard fight is training now is very pretty than ever before you all you are scheduled with schedule you.
Ola Akande:
Yeah well I’m good I’m retiring something with T.K. are we got we’re going. Look, we’re going to talk with T.K.. Yeah. Have a good fight. Like we’re going arrange something with Vicente. Also friend of the show.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Yes.
Ola Akande:
Look, there’s so much going on. You know, you are your gym. You know, we’ve. We’ve with your dad, your brother. You know, you got. You guys are really, really doing amazing stuff. You know, we see a lot of the stuff that you guys do on social media. And, you know, I want to implore people, I want to tell I want to tell people to go onto your page, to go on to your you to go to your handbook, Go follow Bradley over there.
Ola Akande:
Go and see what the what they’re doing. Follow coach on. Follow top. You guys. There’s so much that those guys out there, those guys are doing fantastic, fantastic work over there.
Bradley Swanepoel:
I really appreciate it.
Ola Akande:
Thank you, Jim. And I want to I want to bring you back. So a lot of what’s been happening in in May in the Miami world, you know, that there’s a lot that’s happened over the past couple of weeks. We you mentioned I want to start with this one. This is the one I wanted to start with. We thought we just saw the the the fight with, um, with Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso.
Ola Akande:
And everybody knows you know, what Valentina Shevchenko brings to the table a lot.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Yes.
Ola Akande:
And the way that, you know, she lost the she lost the title. She went to have one of our favorite moves, the back spinning kick Grasso move that way. The back is exposed. If we you know, I’ve seen a lot of your feedback. You’ve got to go back and survive.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Exactly right. Exactly.
Ola Akande:
Please tell me what you made of that whole fight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Now that you mentioned it. Just a background of Valentino’s a champ and aggressive is number five in a rankings. And I saw that. And just by that, that’s a lot of like I think Valentino underestimated her because she’s like number five and under chin and she was the huge underdog in the fight and she was the only one available to go in the fight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And you saw some good highlights of the fight. But I can think a lot out of the of the it’s you can you can learn a lot from and this is exactly the same mistake that I did if you remember long time ago in the UFC it was Rick Rocco versus Chris Weidman and it was I think it was in the second or third round.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Weidman also did a spinning back kick. You know, you try to do a spinning back and I look, Rocco, just move back. He had these back ticking down fights over the course of the new champion just like that. And I think that’s that’s exactly what happened with Valentino. As it comes back down to we just we just talked about it in the fight, of course, this morning.
Bradley Swanepoel:
You’d never, ever try and do fancy stuff, even with a spinning back. It’s like a lot of times and it just sort of got away with it. So much. Yeah, yeah. We could be like Anderson Silva or like this. That happened even then. They got, they got knocked out or hits or anything like that. So it all comes back down to being, having a good mindset, keeping to the basics, keeping to the fundamentals, and never, never turn your turn your back of yeah.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And never make these really silly mistakes. I mean so you wanted to probably please the crowd and this but we talked about this morning in the pros was you never want to be you divots once you wow the wow factor for the dynamic duo you’re spinning back kick in like knees and like embers and all this and being allowed back to it.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And at the end of the day, you lost the fight. And the other side of the coin, you want to win the fight. This mirror how you win. You want to grind the person out you on the road and you want to end up in the fights and be the winner. That’s the most important. Everybody will remember your your record and what kind of fight you are and the humbleness you use you also represent in that respect.
Bradley Swanepoel:
But if you’re going to be a fancy, flashy. Conor McGregor Maybe, and this is a flashy, flashy spectacle like this and this and this, people will remember you different because in ten years and some days you’re going to pay the price. Like, look at Conor McGregor. He paid the price this time.
Ola Akande:
Yeah, that is, that is utterly did and Valentina Shevchenko, she paid a very heavy price for that one mistake.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And I mean she, she defended the title like ten times now and then now she lost it. She lost a valuable lesson. Yeah, very valuable. That’s, you.
Ola Akande:
Know, and this this is always the thing I’ve heard from from yourself. I’ve heard from a lot of fighters, you know, that that I’ve been speaking to since. Since I’ve been. Since I’ve been doing this. You guys always say you never, you know, you always learn. Oh, he’s always, always learning from your losses. You know, you do don’t take a loss.
Ola Akande:
You learn from your losses. And and when you learn from your losses, it makes you a better fighter. It makes you change some of the things that you need to change going into the next fight. I want next year. I want to move I want to move on to John Jones. John Jones It was it was the headliner on this card.
Ola Akande:
It had been out for three years and and, you know, nobody had seen him in the heavyweights. He was completely going into the inside of a division where there’ll be so much more power to weight differential. What’s going to be different. And it wasn’t going to be fighting just anybody. It was fighting somebody as accomplished. I see gun that, you know, that won the interim title.
Ola Akande:
I tried to unify with Francis and Gardner. How was you surprised to see how John Jones dispatched of the gun so easily, or was you, especially on the follow up question to that as well, is is John Jones a real goat in your eyes as the enemy? Fight yourself? What was your what’s your style for, John? Just one question for you, please.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Well, as I can say is if if I was so a gun, I probably would like them. I’m fighting the good of the enemy. And you also got to get a shock to it and is in the fight. You basically didn’t do anything and you got as he was it was very stand in the fight. You didn’t either find his rhythm or you find his energy.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And you I think he just got a shock that he’s that he’s fighting John. And then John just took advantage of it and was I was surprised it was actually going to the 2 minutes. And the other side of the Flip Quinn, I would really like to see if if John could hold for like three rounds, 5 minutes, it was the viewers getting so much weight in being a heavyweight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
But I know for three, three years, yeah, you conditioned yourself and getting ready for is having a buddy and a two £50 division and picking up so much weight and you condition yourself into as but so many rounds with with body weight That’s tough. But for me for me certainly I think he just got a he’s you just got to shove that to see was he was fighting John James and also underestimating it because you mean there was like over ten years he is in the lightweight division becomes the heavyweight division and so John also probably underestimated him as a said, that’s going to be an easy fight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
I’m going to take it easy. Or so I’m just going to lie on top of them or just like there should be. And then surprise, surprise, But in my eyes, the others, others as well, to answer your second question is, is yeah, he is the goat. He’s a good for a reason. Yes. 50 title defenses. He won the title more than 15 times.
Bradley Swanepoel:
He’s displayed most most people. I heard that. So Rampage Jackson mentioning that he’s a dirty fighter. I don’t think he’s a he’s a dirty fighter. He’s a very calculated fighter. He knows what he’s doing as nobody can move as fast, as quick and as smart as he can. And with that big, big amount of weight in the end, the length.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So he’s he’s a really good fighter. The only other thing I don’t like with with him doing is the the drugs and getting hooked.
Ola Akande:
On.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Long Jedi too. So yeah that’s the other thing I do like even with McGregor that’s too much juice. Too much. It’s, it gives a, gives a bad influence about what it is all about. And you must, you must carry yourself as a, as a warrior, as a role model, as a grizzled a young athletes in this and young generation is looking up to you.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So you can’t the only other thing I don’t like about him if you are staying active all these years and you probably yeah you could you can take off three years or so and re-energize himself and get into a better mindset or anything. But yeah, I just think you’re on the outside world maybe is causing too much trouble in you’re getting arrested or something I get Yeah.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Is like yeah. Then I don’t think that’s that’s a good idea but it comes back and then he shows everybody, look, I’m back in, I can get the job done. So if you just didn’t do that other part and that’s the key was get that discipline to keep that mindset, keep it humbleness and train hard. And yeah, martial arts is not a lot of street bolo like it was push trouble anything.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And also yeah he’s also one of those guys that took steroids and all these behind the scenes and under the table stuff that’s illegal and everything. So yeah it’s, it’s what you, it’s what you do and you either get lots of money or you get these, this fame and fortune and you get it to be geared or like it is.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And you think too big of yourself, you get these, these kind of reactions. So yeah I would I would think he is he is one of the goods but yeah unfortunately nothing that’s in my list. My list is any good to GSP. They’ve been there. Those are my goats and my dad. That’s my goats. But for Jon Jones, I respect him for I mean the guy stuff 60 title defenses and well that’s that That speaks volumes.
Bradley Swanepoel:
That speaks volumes.
Ola Akande:
Fantastic. Fantastic. Before because I see the time running, I got so excited when I saw when I saw that dad just one. I love that guy, but I mean I, I just saw what he’s doing on the men is incredible and, and you know, to, to, to, to be so consistent in in what he does, you know, one day, you know, I would like to get him on and I talk to him privately and, you know, get his side from his perspective and how he.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Hopefully.
Ola Akande:
It’s even if, you know, I know he’s a very busy guy because he goes into the studio. So once I we’re going to we’re going to try and find, you know, when he’s got 15, 20 minutes where we can try to talk to him. And you know, really I think.
Bradley Swanepoel:
The.
Ola Akande:
Of.
Bradley Swanepoel:
The I think the best time would be is if you can you can message him next week, you will be in Abu Dhabi and you’ll be in some some of his he’s off time will be in the hotel. So I think that will be a good time for you to maybe reach out to my dad. And you can see you can talk to you next week in Abu Dhabi.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Then you can you can have a talk to him there.
Ola Akande:
Yeah, we’ll try. We’re trying to try and line that. We’re trying to find out the other The other thing that I want to talk to you about was your countrymen that that fought on the John Jones Shevchenko card in the place the and Carmelo Simon. Those guys, they’re carrying the flag for South Africa. Are they making South Africa proud on the big, big team?
Ola Akande:
You know, both of them have been on the same card. Now back to back. I’m saying, you know, I love going to them put on impressive performances. How does it make you feel and how proud are you watching these guys, you know, paving the way and really putting putting on the show? And I’m putting South Africa’s name really on the world map and letting people recognize that South Africans aren’t to be mixed with.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And just the sense that’s it’s funny, but it’s about time that everybody knows about South Africa and that we are just a strong country and we can we can do what we can what we can do. And as soon as you put our minds to it and there’s this, the world shouldn’t be underestimating us at all. And I’m super proud of them, even if they they love my team.
Bradley Swanepoel:
But do the country they do as well, you know, as even they were so many other fighters going to as well There’s the recent ones is timber, Green Bow and all these other guys also are also going there but the guys showed that showed a lot of it today. They’re doing really, really well. I hope I hope this is going the way it should be, and I think we can get the first of African jump for four in the UFC.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And yeah, it just it just paves the way big time because fight is like fight is like us. BE It can also they know I can open his eyes and like well I can I can give more give more of an opportunity to South Africans because we have we have big, big talents in the country and it shouldn’t be underestimated at all.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So it’s it paves the way for the future. It’s a bright future for every fighter. As soon as they know they see and they want to take it further. They want to cement their legacy even deeper into the martial arts. So we can we can do that because of the help of them. So it’s yeah, it’s it’s really good.
Bradley Swanepoel:
It’s I wouldn’t say even like any any pressure or anything like that, but it’s it’s a it’s a good it’s a, it’s like a doorway open for any fighter that wants to try and get it. It’s more of a go instead of any push, that kind of thing. So I hope they go very far as they should. They should be.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And these both of them are still young and they can they can reach it can reach rooftops. Yeah. And yeah, I really I really hope pretty soon you can ever if you can ever third and fourth the South African on the fights as a good as a love that.
Ola Akande:
They’ll be fantastic and I saw you know your dad coach Morne and coach one wise up from from city the tour together in Abu Dhabi when Dave went for the UAE because Jaco the place he was over there. Yeah well in the end you know on the on the UAE and you know, I’m from South Africa. The the scene is crazy.
Ola Akande:
The. MASEKELA What you guys are doing over there is fantastic. And that’s why, you know, I’m doing everything I can, at least on my part. And I can only speak for me to shine the light on what you guys got going on over there, because I still feel like the rest of the world is still sleeping on you guys.
Ola Akande:
I really, really just. And I want I want everybody to know that South Africa and you guys, you know, you’re a real fighting country. You’re real, and people need to respect it. People we really need to open the eyes and see what the hell is going on over there. And I’m doing my best to show people what’s going on in South Africa.
Ola Akande:
Thank you. Let’s talk about the South African scene right now if you want to. One is just recently finished. We’ll touch on the main event, on the Co-Main event. Nicholas a one day you know, the flawlessly defending his title and we saw Adeline you know compete with with a friend of the show me guy just wanna me salute to just with you know we’re we’re rock we’re rock we just a lot on this show from your take on your perspective tell us what you made of the card especially the comment on the main event.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Well I take my hat’s off to its fighters. Any fighters that since the ages of 12 and you’ve been like a huge warrior for everyone the voice that you need. They’re on even short notice. You’re supposed to fight for Juba. And then he was like, I think it was a two week notice. The changes fight for the title fight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
So yeah, it’s it takes a toll on your on your, on your mindset as all of a sudden you taking a step and you think of going for the title and you’re out. I think I think personally it would be the same results but if you saw the top it was also in that situation of, yeah, see Nicholas is a really good fighter and that but the mindset mindset of a champion must be there.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And these days they just got a lot to learn. It’s, it’s, it’s one of those things yeah it sucks to use but yeah they try to stick it out for as long as possible and the best fights that even get past the first round. So it’s yeah, it’s tough. It’s also a tough call to do. Same as they really, really good fighters.
Bradley Swanepoel:
At the end of the day, who is more focused, who’s more determined? And you can you can make the least mistakes of of the night. And yeah I just think first of all with the co-main greatness, Nicholas spot one it was an overwhelming factors. One was finally fighting for the title and even with the short notice, I just think he was.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Yeah, you know, he’s kind of a fighter for the first minute or two taken so. And then starts building up, building up and then you can you can get to it, which is in the other hand with Nicholas he’s fun from the start he gets going. So yeah, that’s that that could be good for him. And I think that was the change factor to the fight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Right. Um, but yeah, you just more, you just more. Yeah. Yeah. So younger and hungrier and more, more determined. But Ruben will be back. Been. We’ll be back. The other thing was when we, when we talked about a the main event for the for the ladies one. Yeah, yeah. We got a thing. We got a thing in our gym always is a thing called over Jane you can’t ever change.
Bradley Swanepoel:
There’s overconfidence is everything. Everything too much of it. If anything, Anything too much, it goes to that boundary and then like that. Yeah, I think it is. You get adrenaline, then you get adrenaline rush. And then from that, from too much overconfidence over boosting confidence like that, I think just just went down to a Jordan done and then everything flew out the window that was basically a fight like as the saying of Mike Tyson that your first punch gets to the face from everything, flies out the window and I think that just happened there.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And then everything went haywire with stuff just like that. And I think the whole build up to it was was also too much. Because if you see a reckless on your third fight and the third fight without a fight. So it was just way too much like way too deep in it. Yeah, that’s a virgin. It was a really good fight.
Bradley Swanepoel:
It showed other parts of the fascist determination. Should one of your champion be? And yeah, that’s actually we saw now that she’s from the UK and she’s a teammate of Joe Cummins.
Ola Akande:
Yeah it’s from the one they went out with from where I live.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Oh wow. Look at it. Yeah. And a.k.a. came out. Fight, fight, fight that Jeremy knows. You see pretty soon maybe if Joe Cummins Joe Cummins defend his title against Mexico so and the Joe Cummins Wednesday’s against him if he wants. Yeah but he could take that further.
Ola Akande:
Fantastic.
Bradley Swanepoel:
To say that would be a really good fight.
Ola Akande:
Him and a fantastic. Yeah you know your take your text has been fantastic You’re always generous with your time and please tell us what you’ve got coming up in you know your whole your whole map for 2023. What does 2023 look like for you?
Bradley Swanepoel:
Thank you for that. We do have four now, so we just finished the gutting tournament, but we have next is next weekend is the UAE of UAE Warriors 38. We have to we’re fighting against a French guy. Then there is the Emirates is to fight. Then after that, we have a two weeks after that. So before I forget, my father’s is giving a as well down the coast.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Two hour drive down the coast. Yeah. From us which is vague. Giving a3d workshops, intimate jujitsu and tie boxing workshops. So we have that this weekend. Next weekend is UAE warriors of the that is the 2nd of April. We have three of our boys as they do their debut debut. It’s very strong and these young guys want to use those words to maintain a legacy and also in and also start competing.
Bradley Swanepoel:
And then we have we have June is ours like another Jiu-Jitsu tournament. So there’s a lot coming up and I’m I’m keeping very I’m keeping focused on the same thing I’ve been saying a sustained video with the guys so I’m I’m hoping to as well April May even even June is the sooner the better. I’m just waiting for that EFC pull up and then I’ll also be in the mix as well as we can.
Bradley Swanepoel:
We can do a profile as well, really looking forward to that. But we got a lot a lot coming our way, a lot of workshops, a lot of logistics and guys making their debuts from our gyms. Our gym is buzzing, our gym is buzzing. And is we influencing the community to be very good and is building our team stronger and stronger?
Bradley Swanepoel:
Yeah, said even helps me as motivated to get a good, strong, reliable and committed team. So yeah.
Ola Akande:
That’s.
Bradley Swanepoel:
About again.
Ola Akande:
That’s that’s great to hear man. That’s that’s absolutely great to hear. I mean you, you you’ve got a lot you got a lot going on. You’re going to be busy this year. This year looks like, you know, it is going to come and be, you know, fruitful for you, you know, get a lot of good results in everything that, you know, that you that you put your hands on.
Ola Akande:
And I know you’re a very, very dedicated person and I know you’re a dedicated fighter as well. Not just person, but fighter. You know, I talk to you all the time. We always keep in contact on, you know, you’re always really, really respectful, always, really, really, really a great to us. And, you know, I do take it for granted.
Ola Akande:
I appreciate you every time. And you’ve also committed to doing the watch along with us for the Leon Edwards Usman Card. So hopefully fingers crossed load shedding, but we know load shedding is a nightmare. But yeah if.
Bradley Swanepoel:
I.
Ola Akande:
Had the magic wand. Yeah I will. I’m load loadshedding in South Africa I make sure.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Thank you thank.
Ola Akande:
You every day of Africa but yeah you know we have to we have to deal with it. We have to adapt with it. And you guys are doing fantastically well. So, you know, barring loadshedding, you’re going to be with us for the what I long for the Ousmane.
Bradley Swanepoel:
Thank you.
Ola Akande:
And on the Leon Edwards title fight awesome you know you appreciate it you have a lot going on and I don’t want to take too much more of your time. Thank you so much. And you know, up until the next video, people wear out.
Bradley Swanepoel:
TUCKSON Thanks very much.