Nightcap YouTube/iHeart Podcasts
Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison appeared on the Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson co-hosted podcast Nightcap earlier this week and the conversation nearly came to blows between Harrison and Johnson. Johnson, a former Cincinnati Bengal, played a majority of his career in the same division as Harrison’s Steelers.
Before we get to the pair’s intense exchange on Nightcap, some context: the former AFC North rivals were scheduled to take part in an exhibition MMA fight that was originally scheduled to go down the same weekend as Super Bowl LIX.
The fight, which was scheduled in October, was ultimately canceled due to James Harrison having to recover from a knee injury, which made him, as he put it, “get fat.”
“I got fat. I was like 308. My knee was messed up. I was there, six weeks, couldn’t move. So I was just sitting there eating. I knew I was real fat because I went to go tie my shoe and my stomach got in the way. And I had to move my leg to the side to get down there. So yeah,” Harrison explained.
Unsurprisingly, once the topic of the fight was broached, the egos of the pair were triggered and the tension escalated from there. To be fair, however, it’s important to remember that this could all be cleverly engineered promotion. You be the judge for yourself.
“It ain’t about no money. Pay me right now and I’ll beat the breaks off his ass,” Harrison said, prompting Johnson to play dumb and ask “Who?”
““You are talking about breaks. This ain’t no car,”Johnson said. “He ain’t conditioned like I am. He gonna be tired in two seconds. He’s gonna try and throw a punch… Stop saying he is gonna grab me. Stop saying that before I hit you in your mouth. Don’t say that no more. Because y’all disrespecting me. I don’t like that. People look at size and they determine wins and losses based off size. You saw David and Goliath right? You remember that story right? You remember what happened?”
After Harrison pointed out that “neither one of us are David and Goliath,” Chad Johnson continued talking smack (although he still maintained a sense of humor, joking about having ‘200 kids’ — he actually have eight with seven different women).
“This ain’t no joke. Y’all take my life for a joke. This ain’t no joke. On my kids I’m gonna f— you up. I put that on my kids. You know I don’t play about my kids. I got 200 of them. I’m gonna show you in the octagon I’m good.”
Ocho & James Harrison were going at it on set 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣@ShannonSharpe @ochocinco @jharrison9292 @ShayShayMedia_ pic.twitter.com/qOmwOT7HTe
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) February 5, 2025
While you certainly have to respect Johnson for, as the kids say, “standing on business,” there’s a fine line between bravery and foolishness, and challenging James Harrison to a physical altercation certainly tows it. If you took a poll of NFL fans over the age of 30 which player from the last 20 years terrifies them the most, James Harrison would almost certainly top that list.