I'm UFC Vet Sean Gannon, the only man to ever defeat Kimbo Slice (RIP) bareknuckle. Ask me anything.

I know these are supposed to mainly be questions from you, but there is something I need to ask you guys. As you see in this link http://www.wbur.org/news/2016/12/13/boston-police-social-media-monitoring-opposition the police are monitoring social media in very scary ways. The ACLU and the other good people in this article actually don't realize how bad it is. It's gone way beyond monitoring, they're actually manipulating and silencing people's ideas and opinions in favor of themselves, in a way the police should never do in a democratic society. They even (especially) do this in cases where they are being sued for misconduct or inappropriate behavior. They are infiltrating "communities of interest" all over the internet (including the ones here). They become Mods and delete threads and ban people for reasons a government agency never should. And worse, they're abusing Federal grant money to do it. Is this the kind of policing this country needs? Thought Policing? I'm doing another document drop at FBI headquarters today around 1:30pm (can live stream it if you like). Anyone local is welcome to swing by and show their support (FBI Headquarters, 201 Maple St, Chelsea, MA). I'm submitting my proof (on this and many other issues) to them, but I lack the techie skills you youngins have for some of this stuff. If you guys can reach out to anon...excuse me, I'm a terrible speller...if you guys could reach out to anyone that might be able to help I would appreciate it. City of Boston corruption is best, but they're a Federal agency, I can hand them anything and they're bound to investigate. Send it to [email protected].

EDIT - We're staging in the Burger King parking lot across the street from the FBI headquarters (because I don't like being placed face down by an FBI anti-terrorist team because I showed up unannounced with a mob). We're all going to buy burgers first (so we're not trespassing). And because we have manners.

Wow! Sean I havent talked to you in ages! How are you and your family!? 10 years ago me and you used to exchange forum posts on the subfighter.com >> UG/OG forums, my s/n was Dcastillo. I dont expect you to remember but its nice to see you are doing well brother. When I trained with Kevin (kimbo) back in 2005 at FFA in Miami he only had good things to say about you. Anyways I hope your well bruh.

What up bro! Good to hear from you again.

What do you think about todays fighters? Are they tough as back in the day?

As Don Frye used to say "Anyone can win one fight in a night, it's winning three that shows who has the steel balls".

The fighters now ARE better (I used to have to drive 2 hours to sniff the ass of a blue belt....and was grateful for it) but the old bareknuckle guys WERE tougher.

Don Frye

That dude is testosterone.

I hear women become spontaneously pregnant in his presence.

That ass was worth the sniff my friend

That is was. Was one of Renzo's guys going to Umass Amherst before there even was a UFC. Shout out to him, lost touch, but really solid guy. One of the great "blue belt instructors" if you know what I mean.

How did the fight with Kimbo come about? Did you contact him?

What is the FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB!?!

But seriously, it was set up by Kirk Jenness on The UnderGround Forum (MixedMartialArts.com - amazing website) and Kimbo's manger Icey Mike (good guy). Additional info from an article Kirik wrote -http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/the-toughest-cop-thats-not-allowed-to-serve-to-protect-us "Author’s Note – The fight Gannon is most often criticized for (vs. Kimbo Slice) was actually a charity fundraiser organized on this very website 12 years ago. All profits from the DVD sales of the Kimbo fight were donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Sean was not allowed to speak to the press, so he was never allowed to tell anybody about it, and was instead portrayed as a barbarian.

Further, Gannon expressed the highest respect for Slice, who passed away far too young in June.

“Kimbo deserves a lot of credit here too, he essentially agreed to fight for free for charity, and never felt the need to brag about it,” explained Gannon. “That’s the kind of guy he was, despite the rough exterior, always doing the right thing and never looking for a pat on the back afterwards. And that’s what this sport is all about.”"

Can you do a backflip?

Only with the support of a large crane.

[deleted]

First off, you can't be forced off twice to begin with :)

I had filed legal action to returned to active street duty and began to release information (legally within the allowed parameters of Rules and Regs). They tried to stop me, so I gave MORE information they didn't want exposed and went to the FBI exposing a dirty cop. Then I was Relieved of Duty.

Regardless of the result of the first case, I was going to have my job afterwards, it was just my actual duties affected. The full medical tribunal from the Retirement board had already unanimously determined I couldn't be forcibly retired because there was nothing wrong with me. Now they're apparently doing a full court press to fire me after the whistleblower thing. It looks a little confusing because a lot happened this week, first one case, then me whistleblowing, them retaliating, me going to the FBI to try to prevent retaliation, them stepping up the retaliation. It's like a UFC fight where they're on their feet, then against the fence, then on the ground. Are they on the ground or on the fence? They're at different places at different times in the fight reacting to different actions.

If you could choose a new walk out song - what would it be?

"I fought the Law...and the Law won."

Is it true...that if you don't use it, you lose it?

What if you didn't have it to begin with?

did you beat him before or after he died?

After I died actually. He beat me "into a living death" Ken Shamrock style before I could make a comeback and get the KO. The guy was tough as nails and had a ton of talent, balls and heart. Could have been a contender if he started training before his 30s.

Just want to say as a long time lurker of mma.tv, I was always impressed with your insights on training. You may have changed my opinion on quite a few "vogue" training methods.

For anyone who doesn't know there was an amazing several part interview with Sean over at mma.tv just recently about his professional life. If you haven't seen it, go check it out!

What can you tell us about the outcome of your recent hearing?

The court will render a decision within 90 days. Someone may try to beat them to the punch by finding an excuse to fire my ass. Have a new hearing today, more of the Internal Affairs variety. Allegedly aimed at the guy I exposed, but pretty obviously aimed at the whistleblower. They've taken highly irregular steps in this and I haven't even had a chance to secure adequate counsel for it yet. So if anyone knows any good Whistleblower attorneys practicing Mass, I would be very happy to see them in front of FBI headquarters at 1:00pm today, 201 Maple St., Chelsea, MA. ACLU lawyers welcome too, I would love to be able to speak more freely on this. Heck, I would even like to see some 2a (2nd amendment) lawyers because they (Illegally IMO) seized my civilian License To Carry and personal firearm after I blew the whistle. Heartbreaking scene when they took my badge, gun, and personal License To Carry permit, but nothing from the dirty cop I exposed. It was all captured on film by reporter Jake Geanous ([email protected]) if anyone want to see the video.

You seem like an awesome dude. Pretty amazing about your activism, most people wouldn't expect that from a fighter. Two questions: how did you feel before your fight with Kimbo? Dude was scary. And also, how does it feel knowing you're tougher than 99.999% of anyone you'll ever talk to on here?

Thanks for the AMA!

I felt very confident going in there. Pro fighters don't really care how intimidating someone looks we just look at the tape and their accomplishments and whether you can beat them or not. How could you even be intimidated by a guy you know you can beat? I had ate, slept and breathed boxing of 7 years (and a lot of other martial arts too), won 6 open class Golden Gloves titles, beat the New Jersey and New York champs enroute to winning the entire Northeast Region of the U.S. at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, and represented the U.S. against the Russian national champ Rocky IV style. The idea that some guy that had never formally competed could even give me a good fight, never mind maybe beat me was absurd. It would be like some kid from the play ground that had never played organized basketball beating up some D1 stud or NBA Europe player in one on one. It turns out I was WAY overconfident, because the guy was freaky talented, tough and had balls of steel.

tl:dr - Didn't have time to be scared till after.

Advice for people becoming cops who consider themselves to be of high moral fiber?

Still do the right thing but ALWAYS COVER YOUR ASS!

How come you haven't defeated Link yet?

He's going DOWN! I promise!

Pizza or burger?

Pizza. Unless it's a cheeseburger.

Cheeseburger pizza, then?

Sounds great! Homer Simpson voice nom nom nom nom

What are your thoughts regarding the UFC fighters wanting to form a union? What do you think of Dana white?

Dana White's been good to me personally, and done some really cool stuff for some friends of mine, and once even paid for a kidney transplant for the daughter of an impoverished coach in Thailand.

American dad or family guy?

Family Guy all day.

All those hits must have caused some brain damage eh?

Yup, it helps me identify with him. He's the smarter, wiser older brother I always wished I had.

How do you think you'd have done against Tank Abbott?

Also thanks for your service, what of it you have been allowed to do for the last 20~ years.

By MMA math, I beat a guy that beat him...but it don't always work out that way in real life and he was one hell of a brawler. The one thing I could guarantee is that it would be a hell of an entertaining fight.

What happened when with the last deadline and dropoff? You seemed pretty certain you'd receive a suspension at the very least

I was Relieved of Duty, badge and gun taken away, have Internal Affairs/Anti-Corruption hearing today at 3:30pm. Allegedly aimed at the guy I exposed but pretty obviously aimed at firing me..

If a fella met a fella in a field of fitches cud a fella tell a fella if his belly itches, how many fs in that?

I don't give an f!

For the Kimbo fight, were the rules agreed to beforehand? Because his crew was disputing so many things.

They were agreed to and signed off on, but they were very inexperienced at the fight game and didn't really understand them that well at first. They asked for "no groundfighting" and probably didn't even know there were standing submissions like the guillotine. Same thing with the knees, they asked for "no kicks" which was defined as "striking with any part of shin or foot". The knees were completely legal. And I don't think they were intentionally trying to cheat, just confused about the rules and trying to protect their fighter.

Although you won the Kimbo fight, you came out looking like a catchers mitt. How long did that take to get you back looking normal?

12 years and counting and I still don't look normal. Although to be completely accurate, it's 40 something years without looking normal total

I hear Rizin is putting on some crazy fights. Maybe you could fight the BPD there. All jokes aside, what is your twitter handle so I can follow you?

I guess I'll have to make one. I wasn't allowed to speak for 10 years, what was the point? Any suggestions? I don't want to have a stupid sounding Twitter handle.

Even though you can lay the smack down with your fists quite well, what's your firearms of choice? (I'm a big gun guy)

I'm issued a weapon I have to use, so I try to stick to it. Carry an identical weapon off duty (or used to) so I don't have to train two different sets of reflexes. But if you're big on the gun forums, could you do me a favor? Could you have them point out how wrong it is to seize the civilian Carry permit and personal firearm from the clean cop but not the dirty one he exposed? I'm glad this is shedding light on just how arbitrary, petty and silly some of these Carry license situations are. They're about to get the perfect test case rammed up their butts!

Can you walk is through you fighting in the UFC?

I would rather not :)

I'd love to hear more about this on Joe Rogans podcast. Any chance you will be doing one soon?

Keep spreading the word and I'm sure I'll be up soon enough. I've been saving up a monster Joe Rogan Podcast for 10 years! People's heads will explode with the shit I'm going to drop. Will be one of the best ever.

Anyway an underemployed MA lawyer can help you?

I know you are represented, maybe you can direct-message me your firm's contact info. Just want to help/volunteer...

My attorney isn't handling my whistleblower stuff. Meet me in front of FBI headquarters today at 1:00pm, 201 Maple St, Chelsea, MA. Read up on whistleblower protections first.

unrelated to other things, how hard did Kimbo hit?

VERY hard, but he lacked the experience to hit the sweet spots that "push the button" that puts you to sleep. That means he can re-arrange your face (and did to many people) without putting you down if you're a determined man with a good chin and a high pain threshold. Being a knockout artist is as much about accuracy as power.

When you had him in the standing choke hold around 1 minute in and they started closing in on you. Was it because they were making sure you stopped when he went unconscious or because they felt it was against their rules?

It was a 100% legal technique, they had requested groundfighting be banned, standing submissions (like the guillotine) were completely legal. And I don't think they were trying to cheat, just confused about the rules and trying to protect their fighter.

You're quite the hitter and you and kimbo really went the distance in your street fight, but when kimbo was in the ring he lost to a part time fighter in under ten seconds.

Why do you think kimbo had such a hard loss there?

"Silverback" Seth Petruzelli is a quality fighter, a striking specialist from K-1, and was dropping guys like that all the time.

I agree it's awful that the Feds and even local police monitor and manipulate communities online and in real space. Where do you think the line is/will be? Will there be cameras in our houses some day? Or is it possible there already are cameras (in our phones and computers) that are in use for monitoring us?

What is the most surprising evidence you have seen?

We're certainly heading in that direction if people don't start standing up for their rights now. And I'm not even so much concerned with the monitoring as I am the manipulating and silencing. WAY bigger issues that must be addressed immediately.

So, when I first heard this story, you were dismissed for underground fighting. Why is this story back and why is it different from the original narrative?

You seemed to be very confused.

So, when I first heard this story, you were dismissed for underground fighting.

Never remotely happened, they couldn't even bring me up on any charges because I did all the paperwork necessary for a charity fight (all profits from the DVD sales were donated to St. Jude's Children's Hosptial). They could however ban me from telling the media it was a charity fight so I was portrayed as a barbarian instead.

Why is this story back and why is it different from the original narrative?

It's probably different from your original narrative because your original narrative has no basis in reality.

If you could have ANY food, for free, for 3 meals a day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I hope I don't get to find out in prison by the end of this.

Any advice in trying to get into the UFC?

Win fights. And strategically, you do a reverse Warren Buffett - he finds the best companies that are undervalued, and buys in. You find the worst fighters that are overvalued, and beat them. Aging champs are a good example. Has a huge name, but as been in too many wars, you can see the cracks in the foundation, but he hasn't lost his rep yet. The fight game is about increasing your rep....by decreasing his. The don't even necessarily need to be MMA fights, but they do need to be exciting and memorable. After 18 years of blood sweat and tears in multiple arts and a regional MMA title, the thing that finally put me over the top wasn't even an MMA fight, it was an old fashioned Dojo challenge/bareknuckle boxing match. In his case, it was his inexperience that made him overvalued, despite his immense talent and grit, so I calculated this fight would be the best risk/reward for getting my fight career ahead. Then I promoted it in such a way that two guys fighting in a basement became the most watched fight of 2004, beating all major Pay Per Views by the big companies. The UFC runs a business, if you can demonstrate you can sell way more tickets than the other guy, that's most of it right there.

On a deeper level, train harder than everyone else. Longer and harder. Train smarter - be the "first guy doing jiujitsu" in every aspect of the game going forward. At the nut and bolts level - be in shape and on weight with your medicals in, every time the UFC is in town. Someone always drops out and they'll be scrambling for a hometown hero to replace him. Look at the two guys at your weight most likely to get injured, and pretend you're in a training camp for their opponent. It just might be true.

And if you're taking a big step up the caliber of your opposition, you're better off doing it against a jiujitsu guy, because you can get tapped and be training the next day, but a concussion from a K-1 fighter could affect the rest of your career. Strategic about everything, and train harder than everybody.