Andy Frye – Andy Frye’s Sports Podcast

Paddy The Baddy talks fighting, fans, and his big persona

He’s known for his big kicks, hard punches and larger-that-life personality.

Earlier in 2023, I got to speak with MMA star Paddy Pimblett about—well—what his deal is.

Perhaps it was for that reason that Pimblett, who called me “fella” and “lad” throughout our Zoom interview, seems like the kind of dude that Guy Ritchie would cast in one of his films. I mention that and ask if he sees “Paddy The Baddy” in future motion pictures.

“Yeah, definitely,” Pimblett said. “I’ll be in movies one day, lad. Don’t worry about that. I’ll be in films, 100%!”

But few athletes are having more fun than Paddy Pimblett, who says it’s not all about social media fame.

As many of his biggest fans know, the 2022 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year has also become a huge advocate of mental health.

He recently established The Baddy Foundation, an organization that aims to uplift communities by helping support people’s most basic needs. Among them are food insecurity and also combatting the stigma around mental health—especially men’s mental health.

Read the full Forbes.com interview story with Paddy Pimblett here.

Andy Frye interviews Tony Hawk

Despite what you think, there is plenty to be “stoked” about when you’re in the fifth decade of your life.

For Tony Hawk, participating once again in the X Games—this time against teenaged in the vert competition—is what gets his board up.

“I am going to be 55 years old next month,” Hawk said earlier this spring when I spoke to him via Zoom. After pausing a moment to laugh, he said “and I am competing in the X Games! There’s not a lot of sports where you have 55-year-olds who get to compete with teenagers.”

In this April 2023 interview, Hawk talks about how much skateboarding as changed and evolved, while sticking to the core ethic that saw it become a worldwide phenomenon.

Read the full Forbes.com interview story with Tony Hawk here.

Andy Frye interviews Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt first took the Olympics by storm in 2008 at the Summer Games in Beijing, China. That year, the Jamaican sprinter won gold medals in both the 100m and 200m sprint.

But the now-retired track phenom says that it wasn’t until a few “disappointing” performances in 2007 that he dug deep to find the motivation to improve.

In this July 2021 interview, Bolt talks about his metamorphosis from a pretty good sprinter to the best in the world.

Read the full Forbes.com interview here.

What’s next for Katie Ledecky?

Just before the New Year I got to speak with super Olympian swimmer Katie Ledecky. She talked about what’s next for her career as a swimmer. Yet, it’s not surprising that she’s gunning for more gold medals when the Tokyo Olympics take place, tentatively later this year.

In an interview with Andy Frye, Ledecky talked about her years of work that led up to two Olympic Games and her five gold medals. She also said that it’s her work regimen over years that puts her at the top level.

“It’s not just showing up every four years on a couple days. It’s literally every day within those four years, and all the years that lead up to that moment.”

But Katie also said that her ability to be coachable and “have a bad practice” and learn from it is what makes her so go.

Read the full Forbes.com interview here.

Anthony Davis talks about Lakers’ NBA Championship

Big man Anthony Davis hasn’t been a Los Angeles Lakers player for too long—just one season to be exact. But it didn’t stop him from forming a close bond with fellow Laker and NBA legend LeBron James.

Oh, and they won a championship together. Their win of the 2020 NBA Finals over the Miami Heat was the Lakers’ first in a decade and the first since the end of the Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant era.

AD says there were a lot of reasons that this last one was special. But he thinks his on-court synergy with LeBron is exactly what Lakers fans wanted to see.

“There were games where he had to pull me along, and ones where I’m pushing him and vice versa,” Davis said, in his interview with Andy Frye and Forbes. “I think it was a great fit for the both of us. He felt like he needed to win another one, and I thought I needed to win one—my first one—this year.”

In December 2020, AD re-signed with the Lakers on a five-year, $190 million contract that included an early termination option prior to the fifth season in 2024–25.

Read the full interview here.