Bilal Hasan Reveals He Only Discovered Michael Jackson After His Death
Bilal Hasan has revealed that he only discovered Michael Jackson’s music after the pop icon’s death, explaining how he became a fan years after his passing.
Plenty of fighters have brought a character with them into the octagon, from Israel Adesanya using the Undertaker theme to Johnny Walker channeling anime superheroes. Lately, Bilal Hasan has joined that list. Best known for stacking up knockouts, he has also made a name for his Michael Jackson-style celebrations. However, he has now revealed that he didn’t know about MJ until his death, when the news was covering him for days.
Bilal Hasan Discovered the King of Pop in the Most Unexpected Way
As per Hasan, he knew MJ’s music but had never watched him perform. Hasan got hooked on the concerts, drawn in by the passion and the stage presence. Seeing that at such a young age, he thought the man had something special. He couldn't have explained it back then, but he knew he wanted to be like him.
Hasan said, “You know, I’ve said this before, but it was actually the day Michael Jackson passed away. It was all over the news, and I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ So I looked him up on YouTube. I’d heard his music before, but I hadn’t actually seen him perform. I became obsessed with watching his concerts, seeing how passionate he was and how incredible his stage presence was. That’s what people call ‘aura’ now. Seeing that at such a young age, I was like, Oh my God, this guy’s got it.”
Today, every time Hasan walks out to Jackson's music, it takes him back to being eight years old, performing in front of his parents and loving the feeling of putting on a show for people.
Bilal Hasan Reveals How the UFC Forced Him to Abandon His Plan of Taking Things Slow
Hasan planned to take his UFC career slowly, but the UFC kept offering him fights on a quick turnaround. The promotion moved fast with him. First came an offer to open the main card in Shanghai on 18 days' notice, and Hasan said yes. Right after that, the UFC asked if he wanted to fight again before the end of the year, and he agreed to that too.
Hasan stated, “The UFC put me on a rocket ship. They’re like, ‘Hey, in 18 days, do you want to go open up the main card in Shanghai?’ And then I said yes. Right after that, they’re like, “Hey, do you want to fight again before the end of the year?” I said yes.”
Hasan is set to fight Luis Gurule on the UFC 334 card, riding a 10-fight winning streak in which nine wins have come by finish. He believes a win there would put him close to a title shot, especially with the way he has been delivering performance after performance.
