← The Stephen A. Smith Show
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- [00:00]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal, and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday, keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:31]
Julie Swerbinks
What's up, everyone? Julie Swerbinks here, along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.
- [00:36]
Nate Thompson
We're doing a new podcast together.
- [00:37]
Daniel Jeremiah
Here we go.
- [00:38]
Julie Swerbinks
The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.
- [00:42]
Nate Thompson
Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?
- [00:47]
Julie Swerbinks
Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.
- [00:51]
Nate Thompson
Julia's pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.
- [00:55]
Julie Swerbinks
Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:07]
Stephen A. Smith
My next guest is known as one of the best power punchers in MMA history. He returns to the Octagon on October 19th to face the current Professional Fighters League heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira in a match billed as Battle of the Giants. Live from Riyaj, Saudi Arabia, please welcome the one, the only, the predator himself, Mr. Francis Ngannou. What's going on, man? Long time no speak. How you been?
- [01:31]
Nate Thompson
I've been good, Steve. I've been good.
- [01:34]
Stephen A. Smith
Well, it's good. It's good to see you, man. It's good to see you. First of all, this fight will determine who truly reigns as the greatest heavyweight champion in the world. How have you prepared to take on this guy who's 6ft 8, 246 pounds.
- [01:48]
Nate Thompson
You know, I don't think he's a tough opponent. He's very talented. He's very tough. But listen, I've been in a lot of battle, and this is not a battle that is going to take me down.
- [02:02]
Stephen A. Smith
You decide to come back to mma, obviously you've departed from boxing at least momentarily. Why did you make this decision now?
- [02:10]
Nate Thompson
Well, I never leave MMA at all. So just for a reference, even before I. I had a boxing contract, I had an MMA contract already. So this fight was already like, in a conversation. So I never left. I just, like, you know, momentarily go to boxing. And, yeah, I'm here.
- [02:34]
Stephen A. Smith
Last time I Saw you in boxing, I gotta admit, I was sad because I always root for you. I never root against you. I got a lot of love for you. You went up against Anthony Joshua and he took you out in two rounds. I didn't see that coming. Take me back to that experience. What was that like for you? What did you learn from it?
- [02:51]
Nate Thompson
Personally, I, I mean, he was a weird. It was a weird night for me and I, I mean, I recall everything, but that wasn't a good, a good night. That wasn't a good look and it wasn't a way that I was thinking that fight was going to go at all. You know, basically after coming up, like, not only, like, with more confidence from my training, because I trained for that fight, I was way prepared for that fight than a Fury fight. Then all of the sudden, like the fine night wasn't the same anymore, you know, like, not to say he couldn't, he couldn't change the fight. The fight couldn't have been different, but wasn't. It was a bad, very bad experience from the whole fight week to. That wasn't a good feeling. But, you know, it's a sport. I have to learn a lot out of it. First of all, from the Fury fight, which I basically like, have a idea that, okay, this will not go my way either way, doesn't matter what happened. Unless like you say cold knockout, which is, this is not going my way. And then the second one was even worse.
- [04:12]
Stephen A. Smith
Do you believe that when you fought against Tyson Fury because of the success you had in that fight, even though you lost it, a lot of people looked at it and they felt, some people felt you won okay, and you lost that by decision. Do you feel like there were mistakes you made against Anthony Joshua because you were a bit overconfident because of how you feared against Tyson Fury at all?
- [04:35]
Nate Thompson
No, I wasn't overconfident. So that's something that I know for sure.
- [04:40]
Stephen A. Smith
Okay.
- [04:41]
Nate Thompson
What I would say is that, you know, what happened in the Joshua fight was what they were expecting to happen in the Fury fight. And he didn't, it didn't happen quite well. It didn't go their way. And then for some reason, I mean, I can't stop think of this, thinking of this or saying this, but for some reason the hurt decided to get this way because I had to be in that position in that, in the industry. Like, that's my, that's just my feeling might be a wrong feeling, but that's what I, that's what I feel like.
- [05:21]
Stephen A. Smith
So now that it's happened. How do you feel it's helped you as a fighter to have that Anthony Joshua experience, if at all? If it's helped you in any way, how do you believe it's helped you?
- [05:36]
Nate Thompson
No, I think all this process helped me a lot because like all the things that happened, you know, I think a lot of things that were unfair happened. And when I look at it, there's only one thing that I remember that I take out of it is that, you know, I was a threat, they saw me as a potential threat. And if I'm coming to my second boxing fight and then this, they see me, they see me as a threat. That means I have something, you know, so that's what, that's my take out of it. Like I have something that some people out there are afraid of. And this is the reason, this is even the reason why I don't, I don't want to stop boxing now, you know, I want to try it again. I want to go out there and get some boxing match. I'm like, I'm not bad at this, you know, I'm telling you, I can do way better than that. And they know way better than that.
- [06:38]
Stephen A. Smith
You're going up against this guy, six eight, 246 pounds. I want you to talk about what is it going to be like going up against him not just in terms of the fight itself, but the experiences you've had and how you think that's going to help you in this particular match.
- [06:57]
Nate Thompson
Well, I think my experience overall that's going to hurt me in this game is like, I would say it's my life experience overall. You know, the biggest battle in life doesn't always happen in the ring or in the octagon. The biggest battle in life can happen like off stage, far from every size or the eyes, you know, so. And that have always been my strength, that have always been my, my experience, that has always been my motivation, what I lean on to carry on my fight, to wake up every day, you know, so. And I think, I mean the moment of my life, especially this moment, that I have all the reason, you know, I have the biggest purpose to keep fighting, to fight for. And no, a 6 foot 8 or 6 foot 12 or whatever it is is going to stand my way. And you know, because I have a very different approach of this fight, I'm fighting this fight for a way more bigger purpose.
- [08:07]
Stephen A. Smith
And when you say bigger purpose, I gotta tell you, let me make this statement before I ask you my next question. I've seen you before fights, like before you fought Cyril Gane. I've seen you before other fights before you fought Stipe Miocic back in the day as well. I've seen you before fights and you can be very menacing. But you're one of the nicest people on the planet. I mean, I look at you every year, got smiles. For most people you're shaking hands. You're a fun loving guy. I mean, you'll put most people on a planet to sleep, for crying out loud. But you're a really, really, really nice guy. I mean, I've met you a few times. I think you're one of the nicest people in professional sports. I'm wondering, as you continue forward with your career as a fighter, what have you learned works for you? What does it for you? What makes you who you are and ultimately who you want to be?
- [09:02]
Nate Thompson
You know, I think that's a very good question and I really like it because most of the time people always associate us to our job, which is quite different. You know, I love combat sport a lot, but it's still like a part of my life. In fact, it's not me being mean, it's not me hitting people, it's my punch. So I can be nice on my punch. Being mean when you need to. You know, when is the, in the, in the element of like fighting, I have to fight, you know, but that doesn't have to be my character or my attitude or my behavior out of the octaver, I think you can, those things are very separate. And for me, he always worked well. Like I just say fighter. I mean, I'm fighting this guy, I'm gonna go there and do everything to take him out. But personally I really have nothing against him. I wish him all the best. After this fight, even during this fight, I want to win, take him out of my way, continue my life. You know, it's just, it's just a sport. At the end of the day, every any of us, we are just out here trying to make a living for ourselves, trying to make a name, to make a statement of ourselves and maybe provide to, for our family along the way, you know, trying to make a goal, give a sense in our life, but it's not, it's not a war. We are not enemies. And I don't really find a reason to do, to act otherwise, you know, like, yes, when I'm in the fight, I do everything that it takes. But just as if he was like riding like a bike riding or car driving, we were competing. It's just A competition, you know, it's not my life, it's not who I am, it's not what you find me. I decide to do that. It doesn't do me. The job doesn't do me.
- [11:04]
Stephen A. Smith
I understand it's reported that you're going to make about. You're going to make pretty much over $10 million for this fight. Is that true?
- [11:11]
Nate Thompson
Really? That's what they said.
- [11:12]
Stephen A. Smith
That's what they say. That's what they're saying. That's what they're saying. You know, that's what they're saying. And I gotta tell you, if that is true, I hope it, I really hope that it is true. I want you to earn all the money that you can possibly make. Because when you consider your backstory and the challenges that you've had to get to this point in your life, it's truly inspirational. How do you feel and how do you want the world to feel about the path that you've taken and what you've done to get to the point, point where you are today? What is it that you want people to know about you at this point in time in your life, considering all your life entail?
- [11:51]
Nate Thompson
Well, first of all, I want to come back to your statement. Yes, I'm gonna make certainly make a lot of money that I'm not going to disclose the amount, whatever it is, it's good enough for me to be happy with it, to be sure, satisfied and where well paid, you know. But also at the end of the day, I think what I want to. Yeah. What I want people to know about me to understand is that it's not about me winning or not, it's about me fighting, it's about me participating. It's about me taking action for my life to make something out of my life and give everything that I have to make my life better. And if he have always been like that, you know, from the beginning nobody believes, believed that I could have make it here. But not like not that I personally, I knew that I was going to get here. But he was all about like trying and give everything, do my possible, don't back down, you know, don't. Don't have a regret in my life, you know, by not doing it. Just go after it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. It's okay. It's my life, I have a right to fail. And I think that's what mistaken people sometimes because they are so afraid of failure that they really fail by not trying. But I think somebody that have tried, if Even though if it doesn't work, they didn't fail, they learn, you know, and maybe they will just learn that they are not mean for that. Maybe they will just learn that there was a mistake that they did that they shouldn't have done. And the next time they will correct the mistake. I think it's all about the experience, the perseverance, the determination and what you think, what you want for your life. You know, it's all about your own character. That's what, that's what makes you a better. It's not about like just getting in the octagon or in the ring and fight, but it's also like stand in life, do the same thing in your own life. I think that's the most important one. I always tell people like, you know, I always consider myself as a champion, even before having a bed. The bed is not what defined me as a champion, the champ. I'm a champion from my mindset because I strongly believe that that's what make a man a champion. You know, your mindset, who you are, the champion is in you. It's not on you a belt or a mirror that the give you or they run on you, you know, so. And I. I also know, like some on the ground people that I truly respect, that nobody know about them. They are just a single father every day doing their best to provide for their family. But for me, they are champions. You know, they are the greatest champion because they fight how they have the champion mentality. And it's all about the mentality, the mindset.
- [14:50]
Stephen A. Smith
Very last question. Very, very last question. Those are words to live by for all of us, regardless of what profession you're in. Make no mistake about that. What are we going to see from you October 19th against Ferrer? And most importantly, what will we see from you? Assuming you win that fight, what will we see from you thereafter?
- [15:08]
Nate Thompson
Well, what we see from me on October 19th, I think is me more denominated with fighting for something bigger than justified, fighting for life, fighting for some more for the than for just against Renan, for something bigger than Renan Ferrer. Unfortunately, he's the one that is on my path in that position. So I'm gonna look that at him. And then on October 19th, I truly going to be taking this fight for my. For my past son that passed away five months ago, Kobe.
- [15:48]
Stephen A. Smith
Very sorry to hear that, my dad.
- [15:50]
Nate Thompson
Thank you.
- [15:51]
Stephen A. Smith
The one and only Francis Ngannou, right here with Stephen, A man. Thanks to you, my brother. I really, really appreciate it. Wishing you all the best of luck. I'll be rooting for you as always. And I'll see you soon, all right? And I promise you, when you see me, you're going to see me. You're going to be see me throwing better shots. I promise you that. I promise you.
- [16:05]
Nate Thompson
I hope so. I hope so. I'm excited to see that.
- [16:10]
Stephen A. Smith
That's right. That's right. All right, buddy. You take care, all right? I'll see you soon.
- [16:14]
Nate Thompson
Okay. Thank you, Stephen. Bye.
- [16:16]
Stephen A. Smith
All right, the one and only Francis Ngannou the Predator you can catch PFL's Battle of the Giants on DAZN and ESPN on October 19th. Make sure you do not miss it.
- [16:34]
Nate Thompson
Geico's motorcycle expertise gives me the coverage I need. Like 24.
- [16:39]
Greg Rosenthal
Seven claims, I'm on cloud nine.
- [16:42]
Daniel Jeremiah
Clouds are wholly unable to support the weight of an adult human.
- [16:44]
Stephen A. Smith
What's happening?
- [16:44]
Daniel Jeremiah
Furthermore, clouds are not numbered. Even if you procured a jetpack and searched, you'd find no cloud number nine. However, at that altitude, you'd likely befriend a flock of migrating snow geese. Geese who'd encourage you to leave your 24.7geico motorcycle claims insurance behind, as they would take you in and even share their dinner of crickets and clovers with you. GEICO assumes no liability for any indigestion that may occur from a clover cricket dinner. GEICO expertise for your motorcycle.
- [17:05]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal, and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.