Multiple World kickboxing champion and UFC veteran, Blood Diamond is intent on writing the final chapter of his storied combat career by taking his third King in the Ring Crown this weekend at Auckland’s EventFinda stadium.
The 110-fight veteran has built a legendary career that includes multiple world titles, UFC appearances, and two King in the Ring triumphs.
Victory this weekend will etch his name in history as only the third triple champ alongside his lifelong training partner Israel Adesanya, and fellow City Kickboxing stalwart Nikora Lee Kingi.
D'Arcy Waldegrave catches up Blood Diamond ahead of what may be his last bout.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's seven forty six on the All Sport Breakfast. King
in the Ring. It's a fantastic event, great night. It
has revealed some amazing names in mixed martial arts, of
course being the obvious one. Tonight it's a light heavyweight battle.
Eight fighters start and I think one of them can
(00:34):
get through three fights successfully, they will be the King
in the Ring. Talk about that now. As a man
who is competing tonight, his name is Blood Diamond. It'll
probably call him his real name, Mike, but I'm not
going to and he joins us. Now, good morning, Blood
Blinding was good. Do you like to be called mister
(00:54):
Diamond or Blood or go by your real name?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Blood Diamond's all good man.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'll run with Blood. I'll go that way. King in
the Ring. This is a spectacular event. I don't care
if you don't like mixed martial arts or not. The
explosive nature of this is extraordinary. You've been there, done there.
You want a couple of titles? You light heavyweight? Now,
how do you actually prepare for this?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Blood? Same way as anything just got to keep working
hard and when you get into that ring, treat each
fight like it's the final because if you don't, you
never see the final.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Experience in doing that and actually getting through because you've
got to peel off three fights of an evening. What
have you learned from your your previous experiences?
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Man, the first time I've done it, it was it
was quite quick, so I didn't learn too much. But
the second time I wanted that was, Yeah, that was
a big lesson.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
I'm going through all, like the whole fight, like, yeah,
all three fights, going through them. Man, Yeah, just show
me how resilient, how strong, and that it's gonna take
more than puns and kicks to start me.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Just I can keep going. And again, it's fun. I
love this. It's it's as trade as it sound, as
messed up as it is. I really do love it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Now, it's not messed up. Every fighter I talk to
they say the same thing. It's like an addiction. It's
worse than food or drugs.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Blood. Oh yeah, the excitement you get, you know that,
the adrenaline is pumping. It's yeah, it's definitely better than
anything I can imagine, probably better than six.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm not even going to get into that. I've had sex,
but I've never been in a fight like that, so
I couldn't possibly come in. When you look at the
opposition plenty, You're focusing on you and what you bring,
but you look across at the other seven fighters. Is
there clear and isn't danger anywhere? Or is there someone
you think, Okay, I'm gonna end up against him in
(03:10):
the final.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
To be honest with everyone and anyone is dangerous because
whether I fought the person before or it's a new person,
they're always as fighters, we are always evolving. You know.
To be and king of the ring, you must have
evolved somehow, so you're like a top contender. So I
never look past anyone. Anyone is a threat, and they
(03:36):
out here trying to take my head off. So I've
gotta get them before they get me.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
A satisfied and comfortable with the light heavy white? Is
this a white you travel well at?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah? I mean to be honest again, it's another challenge.
I like to challenge myself. So yeah, there's something like
I had a fight at eighty kg. My last fife
was at eighty kg and I felt real good, feel strong,
felt great, So I'm like, I cool, this should be
good too, Like, let's give it a go.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And yeah, I've said in at seventy five, I have
a decent crack going on.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Oh man, Like, this is the thing. At the end
of the day, it's how much work you've put in.
Ezra Will fought in the hundred kg weight class and
he didn't even need to take his clothes off or
cut weight. He stood on the scale with donuts and
he took it out. So yeah, it's not just the way. Yeah,
(04:40):
the way, there's the way, but yo, the skill is
quite important. And how much work you've put in.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Preparation was who you've been sparring with, if you spent
much time with anybody in particular to try and match
fighters up, styles.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Up or to be honest, this camp, I was just
looking for all the high strikers in the gym and yeah,
people who can push me. Oh one of the people
like this sounds crazy, you know about Oh, like I
cannot make this up. Niko Rakini that boys, wow, ah
(05:19):
he is something else. He may be smaller than me
and all by Yo, I really can't wait to see
him in MMA. He's definitely someone I see Will make
into uc and could be a champion. Is his striking
is just next level though, like I think to myself
(05:40):
before the same size, Yeah, I'll be in trouble. I've
got the advantage of being a bit bigger, but he's over.
He gives me a hard time. He's quite skilled.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
What about your career in general, because you hit you
if saved for a while that you didn't have a
great time. You want to go back and re establish
what where is the sit now? And you'll progression the
stuff that night?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Oh Man. To be honest, I'm one of those people.
I focus on what in front of me, so like
I had to give everything to kickboxing. So again once
I finished with this fight and then were reassis and
see what's.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Up king in the ring getting underway. But Diamond, thanks
so much for your time. As always, I get in there,
fight for, fight hard, and protect yourself at all times.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Easy. I couldna tell him, man, that's what I'm about.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
For more from the Old Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to news Talks it be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's seven forty six on the All Sport Breakfast. King
in the Ring. It's a fantastic event, great night. It
has revealed some amazing names in mixed martial arts, of
course being the obvious one. Tonight it's a light heavyweight battle.
Eight fighters start and I think one of them can
(00:34):
get through three fights successfully, they will be the King
in the Ring. Talk about that now. As a man
who is competing tonight, his name is Blood Diamond. It'll
probably call him his real name, Mike, but I'm not
going to and he joins us. Now, good morning, Blood
Blinding was good. Do you like to be called mister
(00:54):
Diamond or Blood or go by your real name?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Blood Diamond's all good man.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'll run with Blood. I'll go that way. King in
the Ring. This is a spectacular event. I don't care
if you don't like mixed martial arts or not. The
explosive nature of this is extraordinary. You've been there, done there.
You want a couple of titles? You light heavyweight? Now,
how do you actually prepare for this?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Blood? Same way as anything just got to keep working
hard and when you get into that ring, treat each
fight like it's the final because if you don't, you
never see the final.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Experience in doing that and actually getting through because you've
got to peel off three fights of an evening. What
have you learned from your your previous experiences?
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Man, the first time I've done it, it was it
was quite quick, so I didn't learn too much. But
the second time I wanted that was, Yeah, that was
a big lesson.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
I'm going through all, like the whole fight, like, yeah,
all three fights, going through them. Man, Yeah, just show
me how resilient, how strong, and that it's gonna take
more than puns and kicks to start me.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Just I can keep going. And again, it's fun. I
love this. It's it's as trade as it sound, as
messed up as it is. I really do love it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Now, it's not messed up. Every fighter I talk to
they say the same thing. It's like an addiction. It's
worse than food or drugs.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Blood. Oh yeah, the excitement you get, you know that,
the adrenaline is pumping. It's yeah, it's definitely better than
anything I can imagine, probably better than six.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm not even going to get into that. I've had sex,
but I've never been in a fight like that, so
I couldn't possibly come in. When you look at the
opposition plenty, You're focusing on you and what you bring,
but you look across at the other seven fighters. Is
there clear and isn't danger anywhere? Or is there someone
you think, Okay, I'm gonna end up against him in
(03:10):
the final.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
To be honest with everyone and anyone is dangerous because
whether I fought the person before or it's a new person,
they're always as fighters, we are always evolving. You know.
To be and king of the ring, you must have
evolved somehow, so you're like a top contender. So I
never look past anyone. Anyone is a threat, and they
(03:36):
out here trying to take my head off. So I've
gotta get them before they get me.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
A satisfied and comfortable with the light heavy white? Is
this a white you travel well at?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah? I mean to be honest again, it's another challenge.
I like to challenge myself. So yeah, there's something like
I had a fight at eighty kg. My last fife
was at eighty kg and I felt real good, feel strong,
felt great, So I'm like, I cool, this should be
good too, Like, let's give it a go.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And yeah, I've said in at seventy five, I have
a decent crack going on.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Oh man, Like, this is the thing. At the end
of the day, it's how much work you've put in.
Ezra Will fought in the hundred kg weight class and
he didn't even need to take his clothes off or
cut weight. He stood on the scale with donuts and
he took it out. So yeah, it's not just the way. Yeah,
(04:40):
the way, there's the way, but yo, the skill is
quite important. And how much work you've put in.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Preparation was who you've been sparring with, if you spent
much time with anybody in particular to try and match
fighters up, styles.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Up or to be honest, this camp, I was just
looking for all the high strikers in the gym and yeah,
people who can push me. Oh one of the people
like this sounds crazy, you know about Oh, like I
cannot make this up. Niko Rakini that boys, wow, ah
(05:19):
he is something else. He may be smaller than me
and all by Yo, I really can't wait to see
him in MMA. He's definitely someone I see Will make
into uc and could be a champion. Is his striking
is just next level though, like I think to myself
(05:40):
before the same size, Yeah, I'll be in trouble. I've
got the advantage of being a bit bigger, but he's over.
He gives me a hard time. He's quite skilled.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
What about your career in general, because you hit you
if saved for a while that you didn't have a
great time. You want to go back and re establish
what where is the sit now? And you'll progression the
stuff that night?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Oh Man. To be honest, I'm one of those people.
I focus on what in front of me, so like
I had to give everything to kickboxing. So again once
I finished with this fight and then were reassis and
see what's.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Up king in the ring getting underway. But Diamond, thanks
so much for your time. As always, I get in there,
fight for, fight hard, and protect yourself at all times.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Easy. I couldna tell him, man, that's what I'm about.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
For more from the Old Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to news Talks it be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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