During his interview with Z100, Tony Khan spoke on his close friendship with Dan Lambert and how well he feels the angle with American Top Team is going so far. Here’s what he had to say:
His favorite stuff outside of, you know, like we have these common interests because Dan loves wrestling and football so much. He’s a big Miami football guy and also the world’s biggest wrestling fan. He became friends with me and then UFC was doing their bubble in Jacksonville too and we were basically set up almost as peripheral bubbles. That’s how Dana [White] and I really became good friends because he was setup right across the street from me in his bubble. We were in Daily’s Place and they were across the parking lot in the arena, so Dana and I became good friends. I brought him to meet my dad and I just love him.
Dan and I became friends and then he’s such a good talker and he cares so much about wrestling, and that’s where I had the idea, you know, Scorpio Sky’s got the MMA background. The Men of the Year, originally I wanted as foils for Sting and Darby, but they had such great chemistry. I really thought that there’s long-term potential with Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page. Scorpio Sky, an MMA fighter with a good record, and Ethan Page, a double black belt, which a lot of people don’t think of originally when they think of Ethan Page, a guy with two black belts in Karate and Taekwondo. So I thought that would be really cool, training in American Top Team with Dan to build up as badasses. Then Dan, getting to live his dream as a wrestling manager is pretty cool but he’s just great at it.
Then, you know, it got more and more heat, and that’s when I talked to Chris [Jericho] and Chris and Dan, you know, really could play off each other and there’d be something really special here. Now it’s gotten even stronger. Inner Circle’s in a great position. Look how over Chris is as a baby face. Jake Hager is a legit MMA fighter getting to work against other MMA fighters; with Junior dos Santos on Friday night, across the ring with Masvidal being out there, and now Sammy Guevara is a TNT champion. So it’s an exciting time.
Credit: Z100. H/T 411Mania.