When wildlife expert Steve Irwin wanted to fight Vin Diesel in an MMA bout

In a 2019 episode of The Fair One podcast, retired MMA fighter Kyle Noke said that Steve Irwin wanted to have an MMA bout with actor Vin Diesel. Noke stated that Irwin dragged him to a Vin Diesel movie to size up his potential foe:

"He [Steve Irwin] said we are going to watch a movie... The Pacifier with Vin Diesel... 'I wanna fight him so I want to go there and size him up'... Yeah so we went to watch the Pacifier, one of the worst movies ever saw. But the whole idea was for him to size Vin Diesel up for a fight."

Noke explained that Irwin originally wanted to fight Wesley Snipes. The fighter added that Irwin switched his sights to Diesel after realizing Snipes was much smaller than him.

However, the Australian mixed martial artist accepted that he had no idea whether Vin Diesel was aware of Steve Irvin's plans to fight him.

Watch the segment below:

Kyle Noke used to be Steve Irwin's bodyguard. In an interview with Submission Radio, Noke revealed that he used to train Irwin in MMA between shoots. Irwin even had an MMA cage set up at his zoo.

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Kyle Noke on crazy MMA sparring sessions with Steve Irwin

In his 2014 interview with Submission Radio, Kyle Noke stated that Steve Irwin loved the sport of MMA. Noke further explained that he and Irwin had some crazy sparring sessions in the past:

The Australian fighter said that Irwin once tried to fight him with reckless abandon while sparring but chose to tread back to a technical approach after being dropped a couple of times:

"He [Irwin] was a wild man, exactly like he was on TV. I remember one time when we were sparring he was like, 'you know what? I think that if I come at you like a brawler I think I'd win, I'm not feeling this technique.' I'm like 'all right.'"

Noke added:

"So he come at me swinging and swinging, I just sort of dodged and hit him down the middle and he dropped to one knee and be like 'let me do that again'... And afterwards he was like 'OK lets get back to techniques.'"

The former UFC welterweight revealed that he and Irwin used to spar every Wednesday morning. Noke stated that Irwin used to wake up around 2 o’clock every Wednesday to prepare for their sparring sessions.

Steve Irwin passed away on September 4, 2006, after being pierced in the chest by a sting ray.

Watch Kyle Noke's full interview with Submission Radio below: