Kobe Bryant, LeBron James gave ex-hooper Christian Duncan inspiration to make the move to MMA

LONDON – A UFC newcomer isn’t counting MMA fighters among his biggest inspirations for becoming a fighter.

Sure, as he started training, he looked at fighters like Demetrious Johnson to see how they did things. But more than anything, Christian Duncan drew inspiration from a pair of legendary basketball players: Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

“When I was younger and I first started playing basketball around 14, it was more their style,” Duncan said at Wednesday’s media day for UFC 286 in London. “The flash of Kobe and the dominance of LeBron, I like the creativity – Kobe with the fadeaway shots, the footwork, and LeBron, just the overall dominance, going into the paint, finishing on top of guys.

“But now I’ve kind of evolved and matured. It’s more the mindset of the guys now, as well – so Kobe’s attention to training and the details, and then LeBron’s mindset toward recovery and how important your body is. As I’ve grown, I’ve kind of looked at other aspects of sports in general. It’s going to create something dangerous.”

Duncan (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who fought his way into the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series, gets a promotional debut in front of his home British fans against Dusko Todorovic (12-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) in a middleweight bout on the UFC 286 early prelims Saturday at The O2 in London. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.

Check out Duncan’s full media day interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 286.