PFL 2025 Welterweight Tournament Champion Thad Jean

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

PFL 2025 Welterweight Tournament Champion Thad Jean joins the show ahead of his event in Little Haiti!

Transcript

00:00com that gene joining us there pfl welterweight champion he's gonna get celebrated coming out

00:04little haiti tomorrow uh the first haitian champion for a major mma promotion that appreciate

00:11the time man thanks so much how are you how are you guys i'm good thank you for having me on and

00:15i appreciate that tomorrow's gonna be definitely a great time i'm excited for that you've been in

00:20a little haiti can you tell us a little bit how did that come to be like when did you get the word

00:23that was going down um i actually was supposed to be a part of it um last uh they had an event last

00:32week uh for that charlotte you know the charlotte event that they had for the pfl so they had one

00:37uh they had one that weekend but i was going to charlotte to support my boy kinley who's also

00:46another haitian uh representative who fights and well who's who was fighting in the pfl so uh i

00:52couldn't make that one so now i'm making this one it's uh that's going to be happening tomorrow

00:57that's uh that's awesome man so like tell me a little about this tournament like you were uh

01:02thought of as uh you know a bit of an underdog coming into this thing you stormed through this

01:06like i bet i'm sure you didn't surprise yourself but like was there ever a point where you're like

01:11man i even exceeded my own expectations no no no no um you you know i put myself i put myself

01:20pretty high i put my you know what there's two reasons why i do that um it keeps me humble

01:26when i get to the point where i get to but at the same time um there's just no i should say

01:35i just don't have like it's just not surprising to me because i put it into work and i know where

01:40i'm going to be and i know what i say is going to happen because of one i put christ first and

01:46and i follow the steps and the guided path that he puts down for me so no it was it was nice though

01:52it felt good it feels really good to go from underdog to winning the entire thing though

01:57that it definitely felt good there but it wasn't a surprise for me it was more like a i told you so

02:02yeah i imagine that's that's so like what does does it feel any different now that it's done like

02:09do you feel even better about yourself as an athlete to to have this like did it feel different

02:14the next time you went training at the gym like did or did you feel like you had even more stuff

02:18to work on because now the expectations are even higher of yourself no i i would say it's it's always

02:23the same because i take every win as my most important win and that's why i i think this is

02:29why i am undefeated to this day because every single fight that i do i make it uh i make sure that i

02:35mentally prepare myself as this is going to be the most important fight in my career so from the first

02:41fight of my first fight uh as as a debut pro uh professional athlete this was my most important

02:47fight to my third fight to my fifth fight to my seventh fight to now my 11th fight yes they were

02:54all my most important fights but yeah i have a i have the title now and yes there's a bit more

02:59recognition when it comes to that but the process of me becoming the greatest athlete uh greatest martial

03:07artist to ever live is still the same this is just one step in that process what was it uh what was

03:14that night like when you won though because i saw some posts with you your was that your parents on

03:17instagram that you uh you had that with when you were with the with the belt that seemed really cool

03:21that had to be an unbelievable moment yeah yeah it was honestly that was that was the highlight i would

03:27say that was better than winning the belt itself honestly um just uh because i look my parents are

03:32super loving and my family itself they're they're super loving and my dad he couldn't uh really travel

03:39because he was on dialysis for the last couple of years and he just got a kidney last year and then

03:46got cleared to travel uh july of july 18th of this year and the fight was august 1st of this year so

03:54a week after he was cleared to fight well a week after he was cleared to fly i had my fight for the

04:02championship belt where it was the last time he actually saw me really fight for a title was when

04:07i was an amateur so it was it was like a man look at god look at god yeah you know what i mean it was

04:13like a look at god moment man this is great like you gotta you gotta look at the the life when you

04:19come to a moment like that from the outside looking in and just just soak up just surroundings and just

04:23realize hey man it's happening let's just keep going though let's just keep going stay down let's just

04:29keep going yeah glad you got the goosies from the story or what dude like this is incredible

04:33man goosies galore that's awesome did that cry i'm sorry saying that

04:40we got the goosies i'm telling you dude that's what i'm talking about that gene joining us here

04:46just won the pfl what's wait he's the tournament champion so like what was your dad like were they

04:51emotional like what was the uh the reaction when when you show him the belt oh we're not we're not

04:55criers we're not we're not really like tear jerkers or anything like that but not not in the

05:02haitian household not like that um but they were they were ecstatic they were super proud of me they

05:10were they were very they're very proud of uh that you know their son won such a prestigious award for

05:16the country itself and um you know they get they get i think they were on tiktok more than i was

05:24searching up my name and just looking at how how much uh of the h community uh shouted me out and

05:30supported me and they every time they see something they send it to me and i actually uh uh

05:36uninstalled tiktok because of that i was like all right this is annoying i'm uninstalling tiktok i

05:42can't receive any more tiktok so stop sending it to me but again it's it's great to see that they

05:47are super involved in my life they always have been but now they're on a technological side of it

05:54and even see me on you know just news uh channels uh they're seeing me all over

06:00well haitian articles and newspapers and all these things and they're just really just really proud of

06:06me quick question now i'm fellow haitian as well so i had just two things one did your dad give

06:14because you know like you said they're not going to be emotional or anything like that but did you

06:17get the nod of approval from your dad like you know when you shake your hand and then he gives you

06:22that yeah like yeah yeah yeah i did and you know what i noticed that uh that was crazy i noticed that

06:31as soon as i walked out of the cage he's like give me my belt he goes like give me my belt give me my

06:37belt and when he said that i was just like damn right and second and second yeah now they won't

06:47show you the love they love you but they won't show you they love me but i bet you he goes to every

06:52they go to every of their friends and family members and shot you know shout you out and praise you

06:58100 100 now it's like i'm a little celebrity within my family and it's like within my family within the

07:05church community with everything it's like uh i'm like a little celebrity within it and and i have

07:10to yes i played a part but i would say that my parents are like my biggest promotional pushes

07:14within that that whole community of just family and friends they're they're awesome they're amazing

07:20and i'm just i'm just super blessed you know like i said we're not uh i would say my parents aren't

07:28like the super like oh we all lovey-dovey but they show love in their own way and you know growing up

07:33you have to realize that yeah my american friends were their parents were super affectionate on

07:39loving but that i had to realize that my parents were more uh showing affectionate on making sure

07:45that i set myself up the best for the future and uh guiding me and loving me uh in a different way

07:52in comparison to them and realizing man they they did their job they did exactly what they they they

07:58raised me to do you know so it was it was a blessing that before we uh get you out of a

08:04couple things uh goosies goosies galore dude i'm telling you uh before we get you out of so tell

08:10people tomorrow like where can they uh they come meet you in little haiti hey yeah we're we're at

08:15little we're in little haiti at the sounds of little haiti event tomorrow tomorrow evening tomorrow

08:20night and i'm i'm excited i've never been to uh an event like this and i'm excited to see

08:27the haiti community pop out and show their support and i don't know i heard that

08:31they they they like me down there so i'm excited to see uh how much love i get down there and if i

08:38don't get that much love i know it's just the beginning and i'll make sure that everyone down

08:41there loves me eventually but again i'll be down in a little haiti a little haiti for the sounds of

08:47uh little haiti event i'll be there from i think it starts from 6 to 11 and i'll be doing like a

08:54meet and greet from like 7 o'clock to 8 30 or something like that but i will be there in the

08:59around the 7 o'clock general time so i will be i am super excited i'm bringing the belt with me so

09:05if you want to take pictures with me in the belt with the belt what i want you to bring your flags

09:09too that's number one bring the flags okay i mean i have a example iet sudol and let's let's let's just

09:16have a good time together let's just have a good time together that's goosies on top of goosies dude

09:20that that gene pfl welterweight champion thanks for the time man we really appreciate you uh enjoy

09:25you guys i appreciate you guys have a great night and hopefully we'll see you guys tomorrow

09:28all righty take care there you go one of the southflowers on there man go check him out he's uh

09:33he's on the rise right there 26 years old very very talented and we appreciate it give us some

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