Muhammad Ali is regarded as one of the greatest boxers – and athletes – of all time, dominating the heavyweight division during his distinguished career in the ring. And it seems the fighting gene runs in the family with his grandson Biaggio now flying the Ali flag, albeit in the world of MMA.
The sport has since developed following the popular emergence of the UFC, and Biaggio believes would have been avid far, especially of fellow fighter McGregor. Per The Sun, he said: “I definitely think he would have been a fan, for sure.
“Especially around 2015 or 2016 when McGregor was at his peak. Conor brought so many people’s eyes to the sport and he was so entertaining to watch, to see him talk and he was all about bringing the views and that was what my grandfather was about.
“I feel like if he would have tuned in around that time, he would really have become a huge fan.” Biaggo himself is making his presence known in the MMA world, having been signed by the Professional Fighters League. Discussing his path into combat sports, he commented: “It grabbed my attention since high school.
“I enjoyed MMA, I enjoyed that there are multiple martial arts th at can play a part in a fight… Boxing too, I grew up watching boxing, I’ve been around boxing my whole life but there was something about MMA that I just really liked because there was multiple martial arts.
“There are multiple ways to win or lose, there’s an endless amount of possibilities in MMA and that really intrigues me.” Despite only competing as an amateur, carrying the Ali name has already come with a whole host of added pressures.
Addressing this, Biaggo went on: “I’ve had that target on my back since high school. I’m definitely prepared for it. When people found out, regardless of the sport we’re in, we’re always going to have a target on our back.
“If I was playing baseball it would be, ‘I’m going to strike out Muhammad Ali’s grandson.’ Obviously, because both me and my brother are in combat sports, it’s a little bit more pressure because my grandfather fought as well.
But, for me in order to deal with that pressure I just normalise everything, I try to dumb down everything. So if it’s a big stage I try to make the stage small, mentally in my head, I like to think, ‘This is just a fight.’