From UFC Connected, light heavyweight Tyson Pedro details the incredible bond with his father and how he has guided him …
when Tyson Pedro told his father he wanted to be a pro fighter his dad had an unexpected response fight me his father John was an MMA promoter and former hard man himself and he wanted to make sure his son was truly ready to embrace the fight lifestyle John has remained in the light heavyweight Corner ever since and the two really embody the father-son bond so in this edition of unbreakable we learn more about their shared love of Combat Sports foreign [Music] to my dad a lot of our Avid fans know the book on Tyson Pedro his father John own King of the cage in Australia so fighting was literally the first thing that Tyson Pedro learned having a father Tyson change everything he was perfect to me I didn’t know something could be so powerful and could become anything he wants to become I definitely wouldn’t be where I am right now if it wasn’t for him my dad is the character that’s lived many lives [Music] but he grew up very hard like in the gang life he’s definitely a hard man because of his um yeah his childhood California I grew up in the gang culture you know I’m not going to kill so far make anything sound pretty but I did what I had to do those days in the games you have to fight my whole background is fighting and being the best martial artist I could done six black belts I was fighting all my life and so I became something I didn’t want to be but I survived I wanted to take Tyson’s mother out of that area we come to Australia and thought we’ll give it a go that’s where we had Tyson he came out he had the same score on his head there Mike Tyson net I was already a massive fan of my cousin and when I looked at him and he came out with a frown and he had his hands like that I went Tyson when I was teaching and I had schools he was always my right hand man you could see already he was learning everything faster quicker he loved being there and he loved being the best that was 10 times tougher on him than I was on anybody else and I’d make him stay back after everyone went home he did 10 times more push-ups 10 times more sit-ups let’s go come on come on one more I think in his mind he was Raising Warriors and Spartans or whatever he was doing but uh it was just a very hard uh um hard on us kids I can’t remember when that kid ever actually complained to me it was ready to follow me into the end of the Earth and if I jumped he was jumping that was massive pressure because I was always jump Pedro’s son everyone always expected me to be good there’s a organization called King of the cage myself in my business park Tony panello we decided to get King of the cage up and roll to expand mixed martial arts in Australia Tyson growing up with King out of cage I thought he was a part of it imagine these guys coming to do training camps Tyson was in there he was on the map so why kids were playing with their dolls or kicking a soccer ball ground Tyson was learning how to do a flying armor or triangle and this is what’s normal for him so he doesn’t know anything different I got into boxing at Blacktown hit squad and my hands started getting pretty good I was thinking I want to try for the Olympic team I started skipping school to go train in box full time at that stage he didn’t want me fighting him being one of the look promoters at the time he knew there was no money in it I knew there was nothing but pain going down this road I thought I messed up he was just a young fella and I know he wanted to leave school and fight and I knew there was going to be tough so I basically wanted to break him so I said you gotta Spar me and if you can Spore me the full five minutes you fight I hit him and knocked out his teeth and he was laying there and he was out it was like over him right and my eyes glossed over and just looked at me and I was just like oh all the boys want to jump in they’re all like bro there’s no deal this is the fight world this is what you want to be you gotta find out now don’t find out in the ring you don’t want to be here so he got up his teeth are out he’s done and I said where are you going you got 10 seconds left I was crying full bowl of my eyes off yeah those bits traumatizing as a kid but afterwards yeah I remember he took me out the back and he was like all right now I’ll let you fight like I see that you made it and I was like that was just felt bad he knocked me out thanks Dad I knew he was gonna be great I’ve been training for 27 years even though I still had lots of holes in my game I knew that I could pull my own [Music] [Applause] I’d only had four fights but they’re all first round finishes very very impressive and then someone called and goes hey man do you want to fight in four weeks I was like yeah sweet and he was like in the UFC and I was like hell yeah the phone starts ringing Tyson’s on there and he goes dead I did it Dad and I said what did he do and he goes I’m in the UFC oh wait you’re kidding me you’re in the largest best fighting organization in the world you’re there did I think he was ready for the UFC yeah 100 percent he’s dangerous Tyson Pedro 4-0 makes the walk to the Octagon for the first time taking on Khalil Roundtree Jr roundtree’s got the UFC experience he’s been here a few times before knocked down this is bad news for Roundtree that’s a terrible position oh and he gets the top wow Tyson Pedro lighting him up here in Melbourne I think that was one of the first times you said like I’m actually proud of you I don’t have that in my corner at all to help with the fights or training he’s there because I want my ride to die in my corner fighting’s part of us like we’re not out there stressed or anything like we’re calm because we’ve been doing this for years [Applause] that’s it that’s it and that is it Tyson Pedro two for two we have moments and sometimes we don’t ever say anything we have like a connection that we sort of understand each other he knows when I’m switching on and then he has to switch on this is bad we might get it by submission this is a credentialed light heavyweight who a lot of people think eventually is going to work his way in the shot at the title the shotgun fight this is easily the most memorable moment for me this is his big opportunity with his dad in his corn and he could get the biggest win of his young career everything just felt right a good knee to the midsection and then my knee had fully ruptured as soon as I heard it snap it’s how loud it was I just knew what was that that’s absolutely a knee injury all I was thinking about was I can’t quit because my dad will give me a hiding out the back if I quit the fight your battery I ended up carrying on I’m not sure exactly what caused that but we saw him collapse so he comes to the corner and I went to your knee sit down good that’s right that’s right don’t worry about it and he’s already shut it off he goes nah let me fight the time flies if you’d be in it yeah I know this could cause more damage but I also know this kid won’t go out like that ain’t either to be the boss and make the call in hindsight maybe I should have called it but as Fighters you go man I can fight with one leg shotgun two seconds to punch his way to Victory unfortunate for Tyson Pedro who is presented with a big opportunity tonight obviously I’ve had a lot of injuries but yeah I knew it was bad I had to make the choice to start from scratch and use the patella for my ACL yeah that was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made because I knew that that was going to be almost four years without Hit me hard fighting is like what gives me peace of mind not having that break your mind just going Non-Stop and then you’re sitting in bed like you can’t walk it was pretty outside family saying hey you’ve got to retire that’s when it started becoming hub there was times where I was like can I do this for sure in my mind I knew I was always going to be back fighting I was flying from New Zealand he opened the door when I stood there and he looked at me he just grabbed me he held me in a hold of me for 20 minutes and just crying I said you ready to do this and he looked me up and said yes and then I knew we’re back that time really given me a lot more purpose to my fighting I’ve gotten so much stronger as a person because I’ve just proved myself that you can do anything you put your mind to if you work hard on doing what you love anything’s possible welcome back Tyson Pedro his last fight three and a half years ago at this point so I asked Tyson about that I said hey how did you feel were you nervous people were asking questioning is what you want to do do you want to fight my answer to all of them was do you even know this kid that’s all he wants to do is fight Tyson Pedro time to knock the rust off after not competing oh heavy shot oh and there’s another one that might end it finished is back in a big way after that fight when I came back I like emotional because I proved everyone wrong that told me to quit he bore all that pain and suffering that he had and it all came out that night then the second fight the Han soccer one was amazing here is Tyson Pedro he’s got a capacity crowd to perform in front of tonight you see his father John Pedro in the corner I could see how proud dad was to show hey this is my son and he’s fighting and these are all coming to watch what is wrong [Music] it’s a punch oh he heard him yeah he did [Applause] [Music] that’s it jumped on me and tackled me a bit it was just in the moment it was pretty cool it was pretty cool that used to teach me about the core of martial arts is to go every day and to try and get better at a move right if that’s the core Thing by definition you’re trying to be better as a person every day I want to be remembered by the people that I love as a good man I got that from my dad I like to think I did something good I didn’t come from a good place but I think I did something good that made him a good man final to a lot of kids and people and I was able to contribute some way father watching your son live his dream and living it with him we got here we got here we started this journey together and I promise you we’re going to end this journey together