The sporting world was in splits when Shane Gillis took the stage with an opening monologue at the 2025 ESPY Awards. As the host of this year’s Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, the comedian had to involve the athletes present in the audience in his jokes. And he made some bold ones, too, which ended up sending waves of laughter through the sporting community. Gillis joked about WNBA, the NFL, and, of course, the UFC.
Right at the beginning of his 10-minute-long monologue, Gillis tried to garner applause for some of the well-known athletes from different sports. He gave a shoutout to Freddy Freeman, Diana Taurasi, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander before naming Nate Diaz and Jon Jones. Gillis said, “Jon Jones and Nate Diaz are here. I actually had a couple drinks with those guys last night at the hotel, and it was terrifying.”
Following the ESPY 2025, the Stockton native took to Instagram and confirmed that Gillis’ claims about him having a few drinks with Diaz and Jones were true. The post included a picture with Diaz on the left, Gillis in the middle, and ‘Bones’ on the right. Diaz captioned the post, “Big Tymers.” Soon, the former UFC heavyweight champion took to the comments and wrote, “Epic times my guy .”
It didn’t take long for the post to go viral. More than 45K fight fans liked the post in just one hour. What did they have to say? Let’s take a look.
Fans go into a frenzy as Shane Gillis, Nate Diaz, and Jon Jones deliver a viral moment
With the kind of laughter Gillis garnered at the 2025 ESPYs, one fan claimed, “Shane the MVP last night.” Gillis’ jokes didn’t just stick to sports. He also dived into politics with a few comments on Donald Trump, and even talked about Joe Rogan’s obsession with extraterrestrial life. Yes, he took a jab at Adam Silver, claiming that Rogan wanted to know if he was actually an alien. One fan weighed in on the monologue and wrote, “The Espys weren’t ready for @shanemgillis and the dawgs!” Another fan commented, “No wonder Shane was talking like he was. Look who had his back .”
Meanwhile, some of the fans talked about the multiple-time JRE guest’s claim about sharing drinks with Jones and Diaz. One fan wrote, “Lmao the monologue was true.” Some fans lifted Gillis higher than the MMA stars. A comment read, “The most dangerous man on the planet, with Diaz and Jones.” One more fan added, “Three goats walk into a bar.”
However, many others were still upset about Jones doing everything except competing against Tom Aspinall. His retirement gig further irritated the fighting community. Expressing his emotions, one fan commented, “Two of the best jabbers and Jon Jones.” Refusing to acknowledge the former heavyweight champion, one fan wrote, “Nate and Shane are the best. Dunno about that other dog.” But what do you think of the picture? Did you enjoy Gillis’ 10-minute-long monologue?
The post Fans Are All Saying the Same Thing About Shane Gillis as Photo With Nate Diaz, Jon Jones Goes Viral After ESPYs appeared first on EssentiallySports.