Sean Sharaf on 12-Second Gable Steveson KO, Mia Khalifa DM Slide & Manifesting Joe Rogan Interview

Zach Hirsch (0:00)

Who is the craziest person that you never expect to hit you up?

Sean Sharaf (0:02)

Mia Khalifa is definitely the craziest one.

Zach Hirsch (0:04)

Mia Khalifa hit you up?

Sean Sharaf (0:06)

I think we're going to be doing a collab, you know. What kind of collab?

I'm Sean Sharaf, coming off the biggest upset in MMA history, and you're watching Double Coverage.

Zach Hirsch (0:16)

Double Coverage is presented by DraftKings. The Crown is yours. What's up, guys? MysticZach here. Welcome back to season two of Double Coverage. Today, I'm honored to be joined by UFC Heavyweight. Fresh off of a massive n***a on a Joe Rogan podcast appearance, Sean Sharaf. What's going on, man?

Sean Sharaf (0:32)

Life's been crazy. Life's been crazy.

Zach Hirsch (0:34)

I don't know what's bigger than n***a or what this podcast is going to be like.

Sean Sharaf (0:37)

It's just been a back to back to back. It keeps getting better, you know? So I'm just riding the wave right now.

Zach Hirsch (0:42)

How was that filming with Joe? I feel like that's like the ultimate destination when you join the UFC.

Sean Sharaf (0:46)

Yeah, yeah. That was like, it's crazy because I have a video from 2019 with David Goggins where I'm like telling him, I'm like, hey, you're going to see me in the UFC. You're going to see me on the Joe Rogan podcast. So getting on there, making it happen, manifesting that is just so surreal.

Zach Hirsch (0:59)

Wow, that's insane. 2019, you're telling David Goggins, I'm going to be in the UFC, I'm going to be on the Joe Rogan podcast. How long were you training MMA at that point?

Sean Sharaf (1:06)

So I wrestled in high school and then I joined the Marine Corps after high school and I did like some Marine Corps martial arts training. I started boxing when I was in Africa a little bit. I picked up a boxing trainer while I was out there. Yeah, I was just kind of hitting the bag. I had my own little setup wherever I went. And then when I got out in 2018, that's when I fully committed to the service.

Zach Hirsch (1:24)

So you're like a year into fully committing, you're telling David, and then it all comes to fruition seven years later.

Sean Sharaf (1:29)

Yeah, unreal.

Zach Hirsch (1:30)

Wow.

Sean Sharaf (1:31)

Yeah, yeah. Hasn't been much sleep. So still processing it all for sure.

Zach Hirsch (1:35)

Are you still getting your training in? Are you talking to the UFC about upcoming fights?

Sean Sharaf (1:38)

Yeah, so today I had my first training session back here at the Performance Institute. And I haven't had the meeting with the UFC yet. I think that's coming tomorrow. But yeah, we're going to see what's next. But I think there's going to be some negotiations for sure.

Zach Hirsch (1:50)

Yeah, for sure. But the nice thing is you didn't take much damage.

Sean Sharaf (1:53)

Yeah, yeah.

Zach Hirsch (1:54)

You came out pretty clean.

Sean Sharaf (1:55)

Yeah, that was the thing. Everyone was like, jump right into it. Jump right into it. But I'm just like, I just got to take a second to kind of assess everything, figure my life out a little bit, because it's been pretty chaotic just to get to this point.

Zach Hirsch (2:04)

Smart. And you're in an ever moving division. We got Hoke getting gone now, fighting for the title. What do you think about that, MSG?

Sean Sharaf (2:11)

Yeah, they asked me about it, man. I guess Claude will get you a title shot. But you know, he skipped Volkov and a few other guys. So he's doing his thing. But I'm not a big fan.

Zach Hirsch (2:21)

That's the sport, right? Are you going to go to that?

Sean Sharaf (2:23)

I think they actually offered me to go to be one of the guest fighters there, so maybe I'll pop in.

Zach Hirsch (2:28)

Shake some hands, kiss some babies, talk some shit.

Sean Sharaf (2:30)

Yeah, we're doing the media tour, you know, the Victory Lap.

Zach Hirsch (2:33)

The Victory Lap. It's got to happen, bro. Now that you're on, Joe, maybe you can skip the line a little bit later, you know?

Sean Sharaf (2:38)

Yeah, I was like, hey, just put me on the Coliseum for a title, you know, let's go.

Zach Hirsch (2:44)

Okay, baby. Yeah, just skip the line. So you're out here in Vegas, but you're a California product.

You go back and forth?

Sean Sharaf (2:51)

Yeah, yeah. So I'm from Santa Ana originally.

I had moved out here about two years ago strictly to get signed. You know, when I moved out to Vegas, it was just me and my dog. I came out here just to get in the mix. I knew Strickland from when I was an amateur. We started sparring and I knew his extreme. So I kind of jumped in the mix with them. Started sparring with Francis Ngannou, Roy Nelson, some of these, all these big guys. Got another fight booked while I was here. I got him out and then they ended up calling me for the, well, I thought they were calling me for the contenders series, but they called me for a short notice fight once Chris Barnett and Junior Tafel fell through. So I took the fight, three days notice, didn't go my way. I almost had him gassed out and they signed me to a contract and that was it.