Saul Milton of Chase & Status talks MMA fandom, Tyson Fury walking out to ‘Baddadan’ for Francis Ngannou fight

When Tyson Fury walked out to face Francis Ngannou at “Battle of the Baddest” this past October, no one was happier about it than Saul Milton.

Milton is one half of the English electronic music duo Chase & Status and also a massive MMA fan. So when Fury walked out to the Chase & Status single Baddadan for his fight with Ngannou, Milton got to see two of his passions collide on one of the biggest stages possible. Speaking on The MMA Hour, Milton explained how that all came about and what it was like to watch.

“On that track is another great artist called Bou, a young kid from Manchester,” Milton said.

“Bou called us and said, ‘Yo, listen, bruv, Tyson Fury might walk out to Baddadan!’ I was like, what the hell are you talking about? He goes, ‘Listen, we’ve got someone there right now. We’ve got the tune, we’re going to play it for the man, see what happens.’ I said, ‘Bruv, mad! Crazy, crazy.’ Then literally minutes later, I see a clip — and it wasn’t the walkout. It was the day before when they were doing the open workouts and it was playing on a loop. I was like, what the hell is going on here?

“One of his mates is down there and he gave someone on Tyson’s team the song. Then we got a message from another well-known DJ in the U.K. called Majestic. He was like, ‘Bruv, what do you say about Baddadan for Tyson?’ I go, ‘Oh, is it you?’ ‘Yeah, I’m Tyson’s DJ. I play all of his music.’ I go, ‘Amazing! Thank you so much, man!’ ‘No, I loved it. It’s Battle of the Baddest, it makes so much sense!’

“So I said, ‘What do you say to playing it for his walkout?’ He said, ‘Bruv, walkout was sorted ages ago. He’s got a three-tiered [walkout song].’ ‘Ah, say no more. All good.’ Then the same day he said, ‘Change of plans. Can you get me a dub of it?’ I was like, ‘No problem.’ ... It was amazing.”

Chase & Status are a highly successful group, with several albums topping the U.K. Dance charts, including their multi-platinum record No More Idols. They’ve also been nominated for a number of music awards, most recently taking home Producer of the Year in the 2024 Brit Awards.

On top of his music acumen, Milton’s MMA fandom runs deep, stating that he has not missed an English UFC card in years. Moreover, Chase & Status provide walkout songs for a number of fighters, including Brendan Loughnane and Veronica Hardy, among others. Given that, his allegiance was a little bit torn heading into the Fury-Ngannou matchup, but in the end, things couldn’t have worked out better for Milton, as Fury won the fight but Ngannou exceeded expectations and even dropped Fury in the third round.

“Both parts of me were pleased,” Milton said. “Because obviously the conversation away from the fight is how well Francis did, shocked the world regardless when he floored Tyson. I think honestly, I think when Tyson got that first clump from Francis he thought, ‘F*cking hell, I’ve not been hit like this in a while. Or maybe ever.’ The same way when Francis got clumped by Anthony straight away, he was like, ‘Goodbye.’ He was gone. Never felt that before. I think maybe Tyson wasn’t too privy to how hard Francis actually hits.

“So he performed above and beyond expectations. So that was great for an MMA fan. And then the guy who walked out to our track, who we’re also big fans of for many years as well, won. So both my conflicting sides got my appeasement.”