Rapper Wiz Khalifa paid a visit to Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas recently, and the gym’s head coach John Wood came away with a clear verdict: the man can fig ht.
Wood explained on a podcast how the session came together. One of his athletes, Patrick Cornett, works as a DJ alongside Khalifa and connected the two. When Khalifa came through Vegas looking for a place to train, Cornett reached out to Wood.
“Pat hit me up one day and said, ‘Hey, do you want to train Wiz tomorrow?’ I was like, ‘Sure,'” Wood recalled. “It’s a typical Vegas day. You just never know what’s going to happen.”
Khalifa arrived with his full squad, and what followed left Wood genuinely impressed. When asked whether the rapper could hold his own in an amateur debut, Wood had no hesitation.
“In an amateur stand-up fight, absolutely. He’s legit. He is honestly like he could whoop some a*s,” Wood said. “A guy like that, he’s like 6’4″, 6’5″, lanky, long, fast, hits pretty good, he’s flexible.”
Wood made clear this is not a celebrity with passing interest in combat sports. Khalifa has logged serious training time, including extended trips to Thailand, and has worked with high-level coaches and fighters over the years.
“You can tell he’s been training for a long time. I’ve seen him in other camps and with really good people over the years and in Thailand. He spends time. He’s actually into it and you can tell,” Wood said.
The session itself stayed away from full sparring, with Khalifa moving around with Cornett and working technique with Wood. The coach noted how quickly Khalifa adapted to everything thrown at him.
“He’s athletic. He picked up everything that we were going and we just start flying there at the end and it was fun. He’s the real deal,” Wood said.
As for whether Khalifa has any ground game, Wood said he simply did not know, but on the feet the skills are clearly there. In a Muay Thai or stand-up kickboxing format, Wood believes Khalifa has what it takes to compete and win.
The session may not be a one-time thing. Wood said Khalifa plans to return to Syndicate whenever he is back in Las Vegas, and the coach is already thinking ahead.
“Supposedly when he’s in Vegas we’re going to do it again and we’ll see where it goes. Maybe I’ll get him into the combat game,” Wood said.
