RhyipZ 🇬🇧🇭🇰

This is my favorite picture from last night’s epic Battle of the Baddest between Tyson Fury and Francis Nagannou. Yes I’m a little biased as the founder of Xtreme Couture MMA where Francis does his MMA training with regard to the decision last night. Honestly, not many of you out there gave Francis a snowball’s chance in hell of even getting out of the first round against Tyson and the truth is a split decision loss is still an incredible accomplishment. It could have easily been a split decision victory. I think one judge was definitely watching a different fight and that is a problem in both our sports! MMA and Boxing have no accountability these judges and any of the decisions they put on paper. I’ve seen many bad scores in both sports with no consequences. That in my humble opinion needs to be addressed. That being said this picture captures what these sports are all about. The Pursuit of Excellence. Doing the best we can, to serve our passions and talents with all that we are, is what excellence is all about. Winning is of little concern. There are many times I lost even though I came out ahead on the score card and many times I won even though I came up short. Winning is giving one’s full effort, and facing a challenge with courage and dedication. It is not a statistic on a score card. I have been asked to compare Boxing to MMA since I started my career in ‘97 ( UFC13). This fight had the potential to close the gap between two trifling factions, (Boxing and Mixed Martial arts) that have been poking each other since the early 90’s. I believe it succeeded in doing just that. The internet is on fire today with arm chair warriors, fight analysts and fighters with their opinions. That’s ok, both sports have passionate fans and that’s great. So all of you continue to hash out and argue your positions, observations, and opinions about MMA and Boxing, which is best, who won or lost, and the state of our respective sports. I believe we should all pause the egos and rhetoric, step back and just admire these Warriors and their amazing performances. In many ways these sports are like comparing apples to oranges, but the truth is there are more similarities in Sportsmanship, Work ethic, and Warrior Spirit than the difference in technique and rules of engagement! I was honored and humbled to be included in this event with many of the best fighters from the last 30 years in combative sports. All those champions embraced myself and my fellow MMA Champions like we were brothers, cut from the same cloth and I believe we are. The truth is as a collective group, we are a very small percentage of the population that is able and willing to do what we do and do it well. That is something every fan out there should be celebrating today! Not disparaging and picking everything apart. This is a combative sports brotherhood. I am honored to be a part of it! I’ve seen or been apart of some amazing shows over the years in both the US and Japan. I believe I witnessed the best production of any fight so far last night. From the undercard outdoors in a beautiful setting to the brand new indoor facility with an ascending ring, big screen graphics, light show, music and an amazing main event by two very special Warriors. Hats off to both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Top Rank Boxing for hosting and putting on such and amazing sports spectacle! At the end of the day isn’t there enough division in the world? “It is better to be a Warrior in the Garden, than a Gardener in a War!” @turkialashik @riyadhseason #furyngannu #riyadhseason