Interview Part 1: Yves Edwards talks FOX Sports, issues with Brendan Schaub

Retired UFC lightweight Yves Edwards spent the better part of two decades as a professional fighter before his swan song in late 2014. Less than a year later, he’d moved to sunny California and was working as an analyst for FOX Sports. In the years since, he’s taken on extra duties doing pre and post fight breakdown segments, as well as live commentary for Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. He has received widespread praise and become a fan favorite due to his knowledgeable insight.

With a budding acting career, a steady flow of stunt work in Hollywood and a popular new podcast, Edwards keeps himself very busy outside his work as an analyst, never quite able to rest on his accomplishments for very long before adding a new one to his increasing repertoire. His social media is a mix of razor-sharp wit, political awareness and sports musings, and sees constant traffic from fight fans from around the globe.

Ever the perennial class act and all-around nice guy, Edwards seems unflappable. There are limits, though, and retired heavyweight Brendan Schaub managed to reach them with a hot take that didn’t sit too well with the native Bahamian.

Some Background:

A little over a month ago, Schaub criticized FOX on his Big Brown Breakdown podcast, suggesting that perhaps their broadcast panel of Tyron Woodley, Karyn Bryant and Yves Edwards wasn’t necessarily the best team possible, and further questioning if FOX was “just trying to check off boxes.” He followed with another barb, yet never directly pointed out any one person for being the focal point of his critique:

“I’m gonna ask you again: are those the best brains and speakers for the art to the general audience?” Schaub asked. “Depends. Depends on the night, depends on the panel they have. Typically not.”

Edwards was the first panel member to reply to Schaub, via Twitter, and Brendan was very quick to apologize.

The issue seemed to have been put to bed, but a few days ago, during an interview with Luke Thomas, Schaub commented on the topic again, specifically about his and Edwards’ interaction:

“I think Yves was upset because of something that he sees in himself, so when I made that comment, he thinks it’s about him, in particular, and he lashed out. I woke up like, ‘Yves, come on,’ and then, when we spoke, he was good. He was like, ‘Dude, I was emotional, my bad’ and I was like, ‘Come on, obviously I’m not racist.’”

Yves was not appreciative of this, immediately setting the record straight on Twitter.

To date, Schaub has not offered any further comment.

In an interview with Bloody Elbow, Edwards discussed a variety of current news topics, why he was bothered by Schaub’s statements, and why it’s important that Brendan understands the impact his opinion carries—given the massive audience he has—in this two-part series. Part 1 revolves around Yves’ work at FOX and Brendan Schaub’s comments.

Stephie Haynes: You’ve been working with FOX Sports as an analyst for a couple years now and doing an excellent job. The chemistry between you and all your colleagues is fantastic and you all seem to enjoy yourselves immensely. We recently saw Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz go at each other after UFC Orlando. Have there been other times when opinions flared and things got genuinely heated?

Yves Edwards: I cannot remember a time when there was a lot of heat. I can’t speak for everything behind the scenes when I’m not around. When I’ve been on the desk, I haven’t had a problem with anybody. Michael [Bisping] and I, we like to go back and forth. He’s my favorite guy to go back and forth with. I think it’s a cultural thing—him being from the UK, me being from the Bahamas. It’s like how my family is, like Sundays, we get together and it’s arguing about politics, religion and everything else, but at the end of the day, it’s hugs and kisses and ‘See you guys next weekend.’

We all come from the same background, weight classes be damned. We all do or have done the same thing. Some of those guys have gotten to the level of being a champion. When you know what someone else has done and gone through and you have that resume yourself, there’s a respect there, a bond. It’s a fraternity, or sorority for the women. Everybody puts in the same work.

Stephie Haynes: What’s the best part of working for FOX as an analyst?

Yves Edwards: Being able to sit at home, watch fights all day and say that I’m working [laughs]. That’s my favorite thing. When you first become a fan, you watch fights and you get sucked into it. You get on Youtube, you buy a Fightpass account, you watch the Bellators…you watch everything you can and try to soak it all up, but your parents or your friends or you have to go to work—something is standing in the way. Well now, I get to walk out to my couch, grab a notebook, turn the television on, put on some Fightpass, and I’m working. On the other side of that, I’m not getting hit, so that makes it a lot of fun, you know.

I love studying and learning about the fighters. When you learn a fighter’s tendencies, how they move, their timing, when you start to get a feel for them, it’s almost like you’ve gotten to know them. You can get to know a fighter by training with them or coaching them, but watching tape gives you a third, albeit smaller, option to get to know them.

Stephie Haynes: Are there any aspects of your work that you’re not fond of?

Yves Edwards: Really, there’s nothing I’ve found that bothers me or doesn’t sit well with me. There were some things I had to get used to in the beginning, things that come naturally to me now. When you’re having a conversation with Tyron [Woodley] and Karyn [Bryant] and it’s interesting with good back-and-forth, and you have the earpiece in and the producer is all the sudden in your ear, almost like a parent, telling you to watch the clock, that time is running out or we’ve got to cut this one short. Sometimes that’s coming right in the middle of what you’re saying, so that kind of throws you a little, but you get used to it. It’s almost like a fight with your coach in the corner. Now you know what’s required, so you’ve got to start moving towards that.

Stephie Haynes: What’s the best perk or fringe benefit of working for FOX?

Yves Edwards: One of the best things about this job is having a wardrobe department. I’ve never been the best at coordinating colors and things like that. I bought a bunch of suits and took them into the studio and two ladies, Tracy and Blanca, hook me up. I’m doing the Contender Series and in between episodes, I’m going back to the studio, ‘Hey Blanca, I need another look for the Contender or I’m going to my sister’s wedding, I need my black suit—what can you do with that?’ She just hooks it up to where I end up looking like a model from a big magazine. It’s really awesome.

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. 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.’

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.

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.

*Part II will be available tomorrow at 10 AM EST.

**Check out Yves’ podcast, The Thugjitsu Master and Squid Show on any streaming platform. Here’s a clip to get ya started: