“Now, if I go out there and do that to Sean Brady, someone can have that argument, 'oh, you haven't beat this guy.' And I didn't want any of that. So for me, it actually works out better, I'm not gonna lie...When you knock out a former champion, and he's number one in the world right now, and you smash him in less rounds than JDM could... I know I'm getting a world title fight”

– via Ariel Helwani YT Channel

“I want it to be publicly announced that it was a number one contender fight. If you're, look, me and Sean Brady, that was the fight to make and the winner that goes to the world title. I don't disagree with you at all. I think that makes a lot of sense. However... I wanted no one to be able to jump the ladder because of any excuse. So from my point of view, I thought after a fight with Belal first, because as I said, Belal has knocked out number two in Sean Brady and he has smashed number three in Leon Edwards. So when you, when you smoke Belal, it's obvious what comes next.”

– via Ariel Helwani YT Channel