Yves Edwards did an interview with Bloody Elbow about his beef with Schaub: Interview Part 1: Yves Edwards talks FOX Sports, issues with Brendan Schaub
Stephie Haynes: I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the elephant in the room and ask about Brendan Schaub’s recounting of a conversation with you where he insinuated that you saw some negative things in yourself and got emotional. What are the particulars of that whole incident from your viewpoint?
Yves Edwards: When that came up initially, when he had the things to say about the panel, ‘We get it, FOX, you’re just checking off boxes,’ I was offended, because he was talking about me or the people that I work with. We’re like a family, and while we don’t spend the amount of time that a traditional family does, when we come together, it’s a real thing. He was either talking about me or my brother or my sister—Tyron, myself or Karyn.
I also feel that you shouldn’t say something in public that you wouldn’t say to my face. I just have that type of personality. I’ll tweet things, and if I say something about another fighter, they know who I am, and if I say it, they can find me to discuss it. I don’t have a problem with that. When he said this, I’m thinking, ‘You’re not saying any names, so you’re either talking about one of us, all of us, or a combination of us, so who were you talking about?’ That was my initial reaction, I wanted to know who he was talking about, and then I saw the internet kind of go off.
I don’t listen to Brendan’s podcast, I don’t listen to Fighter and the Kid. I used to listen to a lot of podcasts when I lived in Texas, because I was in a car for much more time than I am here in California, so now I don’t have that kind of time. I’ve never listened to one of his podcasts.
When you make a statement like that, you have to say who you’re talking about. Be a man and say it with your chest.
When you make a statement like that, you have to say who you’re talking about. Be a man and say it with your chest. As I said earlier, when I got on the internet, I saw all these angry responses saying he was a racist, this and that, and I know that race is part of the conversation, but that wasn’t where I was coming from. I have a bit of a different background, and I see where race is a big factor in this country a lot.
I’ve been a bit isolated by way of being a mixed martial artist. Most of my friends are black, white, Brazilian, Hispanic, and my early experience wasn’t one where I grew up in a country where I was a minority. I grew up in a country where most everyone looks like me, and didn’t come to the states until I was 15. Since being here, I have both experiences, so I understand that exists, but I don’t call people a racist, even when they say something that may be racially charged.
I wasn’t saying he was a racist, because I get how that is, that it’s attacking someone’s character when it may not be the case. I’m not going to do that from a distance. When I saw the internet turning it into this race thing, I just wanted to make sure that he understood that I wasn’t coming at him from that standpoint, that I wasn’t saying he was a racist.
What I was saying, was that when you say these things, you’re saying that someone wasn’t good enough to do the job. Yes, race is a part of that issue, but the bigger picture for me was you’re saying someone’s not good enough and are only there because of a quota.
I’ve put in a lot of time into this game—I’ve been fighting since 1997. I’ve taken the shots and become the best in my division at a time when the sport wasn’t even big enough for me to get a title. I’ve had experiences that even people from my era don’t have. I know that I have the background in this sport to do this. I met Tyron when he was an amateur and watched him grow into a champion. I’ve known Karyn for eight or ten years, now. I met her in the fight game and seen her at more fights than almost any woman in the game and most men. She’s extremely dedicated to the sport and to her craft. There’s nobody there that doesn’t have the qualifications to be doing this job. Nobody is up there just because of the color of their skin.
When he apologized, I was like, ‘Good. I get that you were making a point about FOX, but you have to be aware that there’s not a crowd you can hide behind. There’s only those three people, and you should just say who you were talking about.’
Initially, he was talking about a group of people, and now, he’s giving some kind of analysis on my character, when he has zero qualifications and zero reason to say that I’m insecure or that I’m seeing something, a weakness, in myself. That’s offensive to me.
Stephie Haynes: What about the second incident when he was on Luke Thomas’ podcast? What happened there?
Yves Edwards: In that interview with Luke Thomas, he said something like he talked to us and we’re all friends, this and that. I don’t throw that word around freely—we’re acquaintances, we’re not friends. Tyron Woodley and I have a real friendship. We have mutual friends, though. Bryan Callen is a mutual friend.
In my exchange with Brendan, it was a reflex action, and I did address him on Twitter, but if he can say that publicly, then I can ask him to explain himself publicly. Because Bryan Callen being a mutual friend, I reached out to him and told him I was angry because he [Brendan] was talking about me and my partners. When you diminish someone’s ability when it’s something they’ve put effort into, it matters.
Back when I fought Josh Thomson, there was a panel of 12 professionals that made predictions, and everyone except Ryan Bennett picked against me. Frank Trigg picked against me, and when I saw him I said, ‘Frank, you picked against me?’ He says, ‘Yeah, I did, so what,’ and he explained to me his reasoning and it was cool. There was a validity to it. But there’s no validity to saying that the people with these resumes don’t have the ability to do their job. That was kind of a bother to me.
I did message Bryan and was like, ‘What the fuck is this dude talking about?’ I told him that when I wrote the first twitter response when this all started, there was some emotion to that, yes. I said, ‘I just want to make sure that you know, I’m not talking about the race thing. I am not calling him a racist.’
It wasn’t some passion-filled rant, ‘Oh I see you talking about me and I see this in myself…’ there was none of that. What you’re saying is bullshit. There’s nothing that I see in myself that you’re saying. My messages to him were just that. I know that I’m good enough to do the job. I know that the people I work with are good enough to do the job. That’s why we’re there. I’ve never gotten anything just because I’m black. I got onto the desk because of my fight history and my knowledge of the sport and an audition that I had to go through. Other people auditioned, they didn’t get it. It wasn’t because they weren’t black, because there were other black guys auditioning.
Nobody is perfect, but if someone mispronounces a word or doesn’t get a name perfectly, that doesn’t mean they’re not qualified and it certainly doesn’t mean that I see a weakness in myself. Brendan has a huge platform and a big following, so it’s important to me to address what he’s saying. I don’t address random trolls that says that I suck on the internet, but when someone like Brendan says something, his word is gospel to some of those people that might not know who I am.
Initially, he was talking about a group of people, and now, he’s giving some kind of analysis on my character, when he has zero qualifications and zero reason to say that I’m insecure or that I’m seeing something, a weakness, in myself. That’s offensive to me.
You have a responsibility to those massive amounts of people that follow you to be on the level. Denigrating your peers when you’re supposedly trying to address something else leaves behind a lot of collateral damage that can be avoided if you just think first.
Stephie Haynes: Do you feel that Brendan’s short time as an analyst warrants him giving criticism to industry peers?
Yves Edwards: He had a short fight career, and he’s only been an analyst for a short time. I mean, the only person at the desk that he has more fights than is Karyn Bryant. I don’t know much about Brendan Schaub other than Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen made him a star. It seems to me that he says all these hot-button comments as though he’s looking to say relevant things, and like he said himself, they weren’t well thought out. So, no, I don’t think he’s qualified to critique other analysts that have far greater experience and time in the sport than he has.
But, he has that reach, and that’s where it gets dangerous. To quote Spiderman, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ You have a responsibility to those massive amounts of people that follow you to be on the level. Denigrating your peers when you’re supposedly trying to address something else leaves behind a lot of collateral damage that can be avoided if you just think first.
Stephie Haynes: I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the elephant in the room and ask about Brendan Schaub’s recounting of a conversation with you where he insinuated that you saw some negative things in yourself and got emotional. What are the particulars of that whole incident from your viewpoint?
Yves Edwards: When that came up initially, when he had the things to say about the panel, ‘We get it, FOX, you’re just checking off boxes,’ I was offended, because he was talking about me or the people that I work with. We’re like a family, and while we don’t spend the amount of time that a traditional family does, when we come together, it’s a real thing. He was either talking about me or my brother or my sister—Tyron, myself or Karyn.
I also feel that you shouldn’t say something in public that you wouldn’t say to my face. I just have that type of personality. I’ll tweet things, and if I say something about another fighter, they know who I am, and if I say it, they can find me to discuss it. I don’t have a problem with that. When he said this, I’m thinking, ‘You’re not saying any names, so you’re either talking about one of us, all of us, or a combination of us, so who were you talking about?’ That was my initial reaction, I wanted to know who he was talking about, and then I saw the internet kind of go off.
I don’t listen to Brendan’s podcast, I don’t listen to Fighter and the Kid. I used to listen to a lot of podcasts when I lived in Texas, because I was in a car for much more time than I am here in California, so now I don’t have that kind of time. I’ve never listened to one of his podcasts.
When you make a statement like that, you have to say who you’re talking about. Be a man and say it with your chest.
When you make a statement like that, you have to say who you’re talking about. Be a man and say it with your chest. As I said earlier, when I got on the internet, I saw all these angry responses saying he was a racist, this and that, and I know that race is part of the conversation, but that wasn’t where I was coming from. I have a bit of a different background, and I see where race is a big factor in this country a lot.
I’ve been a bit isolated by way of being a mixed martial artist. Most of my friends are black, white, Brazilian, Hispanic, and my early experience wasn’t one where I grew up in a country where I was a minority. I grew up in a country where most everyone looks like me, and didn’t come to the states until I was 15. Since being here, I have both experiences, so I understand that exists, but I don’t call people a racist, even when they say something that may be racially charged.
I wasn’t saying he was a racist, because I get how that is, that it’s attacking someone’s character when it may not be the case. I’m not going to do that from a distance. When I saw the internet turning it into this race thing, I just wanted to make sure that he understood that I wasn’t coming at him from that standpoint, that I wasn’t saying he was a racist.
What I was saying, was that when you say these things, you’re saying that someone wasn’t good enough to do the job. Yes, race is a part of that issue, but the bigger picture for me was you’re saying someone’s not good enough and are only there because of a quota.
I’ve put in a lot of time into this game—I’ve been fighting since 1997. I’ve taken the shots and become the best in my division at a time when the sport wasn’t even big enough for me to get a title. I’ve had experiences that even people from my era don’t have. I know that I have the background in this sport to do this. I met Tyron when he was an amateur and watched him grow into a champion. I’ve known Karyn for eight or ten years, now. I met her in the fight game and seen her at more fights than almost any woman in the game and most men. She’s extremely dedicated to the sport and to her craft. There’s nobody there that doesn’t have the qualifications to be doing this job. Nobody is up there just because of the color of their skin.
When he apologized, I was like, ‘Good. I get that you were making a point about FOX, but you have to be aware that there’s not a crowd you can hide behind. There’s only those three people, and you should just say who you were talking about.’
Initially, he was talking about a group of people, and now, he’s giving some kind of analysis on my character, when he has zero qualifications and zero reason to say that I’m insecure or that I’m seeing something, a weakness, in myself. That’s offensive to me.
Stephie Haynes: What about the second incident when he was on Luke Thomas’ podcast? What happened there?
Yves Edwards: In that interview with Luke Thomas, he said something like he talked to us and we’re all friends, this and that. I don’t throw that word around freely—we’re acquaintances, we’re not friends. Tyron Woodley and I have a real friendship. We have mutual friends, though. Bryan Callen is a mutual friend.
In my exchange with Brendan, it was a reflex action, and I did address him on Twitter, but if he can say that publicly, then I can ask him to explain himself publicly. Because Bryan Callen being a mutual friend, I reached out to him and told him I was angry because he [Brendan] was talking about me and my partners. When you diminish someone’s ability when it’s something they’ve put effort into, it matters.
Back when I fought Josh Thomson, there was a panel of 12 professionals that made predictions, and everyone except Ryan Bennett picked against me. Frank Trigg picked against me, and when I saw him I said, ‘Frank, you picked against me?’ He says, ‘Yeah, I did, so what,’ and he explained to me his reasoning and it was cool. There was a validity to it. But there’s no validity to saying that the people with these resumes don’t have the ability to do their job. That was kind of a bother to me.
I did message Bryan and was like, ‘What the fuck is this dude talking about?’ I told him that when I wrote the first twitter response when this all started, there was some emotion to that, yes. I said, ‘I just want to make sure that you know, I’m not talking about the race thing. I am not calling him a racist.’
It wasn’t some passion-filled rant, ‘Oh I see you talking about me and I see this in myself…’ there was none of that. What you’re saying is bullshit. There’s nothing that I see in myself that you’re saying. My messages to him were just that. I know that I’m good enough to do the job. I know that the people I work with are good enough to do the job. That’s why we’re there. I’ve never gotten anything just because I’m black. I got onto the desk because of my fight history and my knowledge of the sport and an audition that I had to go through. Other people auditioned, they didn’t get it. It wasn’t because they weren’t black, because there were other black guys auditioning.
Nobody is perfect, but if someone mispronounces a word or doesn’t get a name perfectly, that doesn’t mean they’re not qualified and it certainly doesn’t mean that I see a weakness in myself. Brendan has a huge platform and a big following, so it’s important to me to address what he’s saying. I don’t address random trolls that says that I suck on the internet, but when someone like Brendan says something, his word is gospel to some of those people that might not know who I am.
Initially, he was talking about a group of people, and now, he’s giving some kind of analysis on my character, when he has zero qualifications and zero reason to say that I’m insecure or that I’m seeing something, a weakness, in myself. That’s offensive to me.
You have a responsibility to those massive amounts of people that follow you to be on the level. Denigrating your peers when you’re supposedly trying to address something else leaves behind a lot of collateral damage that can be avoided if you just think first.
Stephie Haynes: Do you feel that Brendan’s short time as an analyst warrants him giving criticism to industry peers?
Yves Edwards: He had a short fight career, and he’s only been an analyst for a short time. I mean, the only person at the desk that he has more fights than is Karyn Bryant. I don’t know much about Brendan Schaub other than Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen made him a star. It seems to me that he says all these hot-button comments as though he’s looking to say relevant things, and like he said himself, they weren’t well thought out. So, no, I don’t think he’s qualified to critique other analysts that have far greater experience and time in the sport than he has.
But, he has that reach, and that’s where it gets dangerous. To quote Spiderman, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ You have a responsibility to those massive amounts of people that follow you to be on the level. Denigrating your peers when you’re supposedly trying to address something else leaves behind a lot of collateral damage that can be avoided if you just think first.
