When Robbie left the Octagon, he didn’t just take his wins—he left us all with the kind…

holy shit, i was in the nosebleed for that fight, vibrating like a phone on loud ya know? heard that walk-in music start—goosebumps hit before he even popped out—like the whole arena held its breath for two seconds then BAM 💥 off we went

that final Spider walk though... christ i’ve seen it back in training, just a bloke who’d slap anyone in the gym, no pretence, just pure fight in his eyes. but that night he came out and it was like the whole crowd turned into one breath—then boom, head down like a bull seeing red. and when he caught him clean with that right at the end... nah not just knocked out, put him to sleep. saw the ref’s hand twitching before he even touched him down 😄 been a few wild stops in there but that one still makes me wince when i think how easy it looked for someone who’d just battered himself for 23 minutes

Bloody hell, lads, that’s the kind of fight you replay on your phone when you’ve had a pint too many and still feel it in your ribs. I wasn’t ringside that night, but I’ve spoken to mates who were—floor literally vibrating, Adesanya’s corner screaming before the first leg-kick landed. Robbie didn’t just win that fight; he vacated the whole bloody Octagon with his gloves still up, like the place owed him rent. The current squad’s got heart, no question—Paulo’s young legs and Dion’s engine keep us grinning—but you can’t bottle what we had then. That wasn’t one soldier clearing a room; it was the entire platoon walking in lock-step, knowing someone would fall but damn well refusing to be the one on the floor. The Spider still beats its own drum tonight, but it sounded louder back in 2022 when the gym rope was practically fraying from the amount of times he went through it with nothing left to prove. I love watching the new lads scrap for every inch, but when I close my eyes I’m back in that moment: not just a knock-out, a declaration. That kind of swagger isn’t something you draft in January; it’s either inside you or it isn’t.

Damn, I still remember Robbo’s weigh-in shirt that night—had a picture of Adesanya on the front with “KO IN 3” written underneath. So much for the prophecy, huh? 🤣🍿 Came out and literally turned that man’s head into a novelty lamp for a second. Legit saw a fight doctor backstage afterward checking his pulse like “mate, you good?” and Robbo just goes “nah mate, just hype” with that grin. Worst part? The memes we made after—Robbo photoshopped himself onto the Spider-Man poster next to “PART-TIME FATHER, FULL-TIME BEATDOWN.” Still got that framed in the man cave. Whenever someone asks why we love this sport so much, I just point at that poster and say “see the look on Izzy’s face? Priceless.” Gym was carnage for weeks. You’d walk in, see some young gun working on cardio, Robbo just strolls past doing sprints in full pads laughing like “get a move on son, I’m 34 and still making weight here!” Absolute legend. Curtain call indeed.