Christian Leroy Duncan Uses Walkout Music to Pay Tribute to Late Friend

Christian Leroy Duncan’s walkout music was made by his late friend, Joel Daniel Westcarr.

Leroy Duncan is scheduled to face veteran Gregory Rodrigues at UFC 304 in front of a home crowd in Manchester, England, on Saturday. In a "UFC Connected" video, Duncan was seen visiting the grave of Westcarr, who he refers to as Zozo.

“Come to visit my friend Zozo. We’re here at his resting place, which is a place that I always come to,” Duncan said. “He was a very talented music artist. And we’d always say no matter which way we go, we’re gonna see each other at the top.”

Tributes flood in for much loved Joel Westcarr, 20, who was killed in a motorbike crash https://t.co/6Sv2wJ4biQ pic.twitter.com/4Nvw4BoihM

— Daniel Chipperfield (@DanChipperfield) April 4, 2016

Westcarr was a musician who passed away in a tragic motorbike accident on April 3, 2016 at the age of 20. Duncan, who had just started his amateur MMA career back then, recalls reading about the accident, although no details were mentioned. It was upon calling Westcarr’s elder brother that Duncan learned that his best friend was dead.

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“I’m waking up in the morning and there was an article saying there was a motorbike accident, somebody had been fairly injured,” Duncan said. “There was no names, nothing in there. I rang his oldest brother — we’re very close til today. He was kind of broked on the phone and he just said, ‘He’s gone.’ I remember this whole feeling come over me. I’ll never forget the words that we said that we’ll see each other at the top and I stand by that every day [takes a moment].”

However, Westcarr’s legacy lives on in Duncan’s usual walkout song, ”Fly Team.” Hearing the music in front of a home crowd at the O2 Arena is his promotional debut at UFC 286 in March 2023 was a huge boost for Duncan.

“For my UFC debut, went to the O2 Arena, heard my friend Zozo’s song over the speakers in front of thousands of people,” he said. “That’s a big motivator. For me, he’s always with us. I’m representing for him and his family. My good friend. That’s what I always got.”

Duncan’s debut ended in a injury TKO win, with his opponent Dusko Todorovic blowing out his knee in the first round. While Duncan suffered his lone career loss against Armen Petrosyan in his sophomore UFC outing, the former Cage Warriors middleweight champ has since bounced back with back-to-back stoppage wins. The only time Duncan didn’t use the “Fly Team” track during his UFC tenure was prior his TKO win over Denis Tiuliulin in November 2023.