Rapper Wiz Khalifa had been keeping a low profile after the release of his album Laugh Now, Fly Later in 2017. Turns out that he had fallen off our celebrity radar not only because he was working hard at the studio, but because he was hitting the gym for hardcore MMA training.
Coupled with the release of his new album Rolling Papers 2, Wiz Khalifa unveiled his new ripped bod on Instagram. He has gained 35 pounds of pure muscle because of his newfound hobby of mixed martial arts. For Wiz, 2018 meant new music, new man.
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Compare that with how he looked before at a lean 140 pounds. Needless to say, the iconic ‘skinny boy’ image he always promoted in his songs has been transformed.
MMA is a combination of any martial arts that work well with a given individual’s preferred fighting style. Boxing, Judo, Taekwondo, Wrestling, and Karate are all common disciplines taught when learning mixed martial arts. Instructors incorporate certain martial arts into their teaching style according to their area of expertise as well.
Bleacher Report interviewed Khalifa about his metamorphosis and inquired how he found the training program that worked best for him.
“The first person I went to go see was [Brazilian jiu-jitsu eighth-degree red and black belt] Rigan Machado. I did jiu-jitsu with him for like a month or two, which was cool,” he says
Khalifa told Bleacher Report that he started with Jujitsu because that’s what his cousins do, but it wasn’t quite right for him.
“Then I started going to Unbreakable, which is a gym in L.A. That’s where I became a muay thai [fighter]…that’s when my mind changed to like, “OK, this is what I want to do. [...] I like the conditioning. I like the stand-up aspect of it. I like the footwork. So I was like I’m gonna f--k with this a little more than jiu-jitsu.”
Muay Thai is a martial art that is also referred to as the “Art of Eight Limbs” because it makes use of eight different parts of contact on the body. This is a more comprehensive fighting form than boxing which uses two points of contact (fists) or other combat sports that tend to use four points of contact (hands and feet). In Muay Thai, the fighter harnesses power from elbows and knee attacks as well.
For all those skinny guys out there who saw Wiz as their gangly idol, he has some encouraging words for you— “start fighting so we can form our own army of skinny n****s with sharp elbows and knees that can take over the world”
Jay Glazer, the founder of Unbreakable Performance and Fox NFL Insider, was Wiz Khalifa’s sparring partner for a while and apparently, Wiz really held his own against him. Glazer told TMZ Sports, "This is gonna sound weird, but Wiz is the only dude who has hurt me with body shots.”
On top of the daily munchies, we reckon with those daily training sessions Khalifa works up one heck of an appetite, and he confirmed out suspicions.
“I’m always hungry now; [I eat] like five times a day.” And those are full meals he’s talking about.
Who knows, maybe the next epic fight that this world is going to witness after the Mayweather/McGregor showdown will feature Wiz Khalifa. If Kanye can run for president, then Khalifa can be an MMA champion.