Skip Bayless has opened up about his time with Shannon Sharpe.
The hot-headed pair first co-hosted FS1’s Undisputed in 2016, enjoying several successful years before a fairly acrimonious fall out in 2023.
Sharpe subsequently joined rival ESPN as one of the lead analysts on First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith, while Bayless stayed with Fox an additional year before announcing his own departure.
Skip, the longtime face of FS1 debate, recently appeared on the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson to discuss his version of events.
The outspoken sports columnist and commentator revealed his one regret about the situation — the pair not seeing it through to the end and leaving Fox together.
“We weren’t nearly as close as Stephen A. [Smith] and I were. But I just wanted us to finish together on time,” Bayless revealed.
“I saw his podcast was starting to take hold when he was at Fox. I wanted us to finish together.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened upstairs but it all fell apart and he got pushed out. And I was blindsided and dumbfounded by that, and I don’t like it to this day.
“That was one where it was just wrong. That’s not how I envisioned [the end]. Because our contracts were concurrent, I knew when mine was up, I wanted to go my separate way, and for us to end the way it should have ended [leaving together].”
Sharpe spent seven years debating a number of hot button issues while sat opposite Bayless.
However, their relationship turned tumultuous towards the end, resulting in the former Broncos tight end reaching a buyout agreement with Fox Sports that saw him depart the network.
Many believe the beginning of the end of Skip and Shannon’s relationship was a fiery debate over Tom Brady.
Brady was coming off one of his worst career performances against the 49ers in 2022, but Bayless was hellbent on reminding Sharpe that the quarterback was still better at age 45 than Sharpe was as a 35-year-old tight end.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Sharpe took offense and perceived it to be a personal shot at him.
“You make it seem like I was a bum! I’m in the effing Hall-of-Fame! I got three Super Bowls!” he famously yelled.
“[Brady]’s way better than you were. Way better,” Bayless argued.
Bayless told Barnes and Jackson that was as close as he and Sharpe ever came to ‘erupting’.
“We had some sit-downs where we would sort things out,” he revealed while referencing their infamous Brady argument.
“After a while I started asking if it was personal between him and Tom Brady. He just hated Tom Brady. And it got vitriolic, where it was starting to get nasty and angry on the air.
“I think there was some resentment of, ‘how can he be this great?’ Because he’s [Brady] not athletic. And he can’t run a lick.
“That’s as close as we ever got to eruption, an explosion.”
Skip went on to praise Shannon, saying he was extremely competitive and that they went at it in authentic ways.
He added it never felt personal, despite the intensity of their debates.
“As soon as that red light went off, I let it go. And I never take it home. And he knew I always had his back,” Bayless added.
“Shannon and I produced genuine heat, and I love him for that. Those are magical moments to me when I look back.”
Sharpe has also opened up about his time with Bayless in the year since they parted ways.
He sat down with Stephen A. Smith about why he exited Undisputed, referencing that infamous Brady segment, saying that Bayless ‘had no respect’ for him.
“A lot of that is my fault. Because there were times that led up to that that I felt shots were taken and I let it go. And I should’ve said something then, but I didn’t.
“And I would bring it to people’s attention, and they brushed it up under the rug. So that was my fault that it got to that point and he felt that he could go over the top in that situation. I think in any relationship where there’s host, co-host… once one partner has no respect for the other, the other partner then in turn loses respect for said partner. Then, I think it’s only a matter of time. Because in that moment I had felt he had lost all respect for me. He had no respect for me.
“… I knew in that moment in time, it was only a matter of time. They were going to have to separate that. I knew that. I was willing to play out the contract, but I knew it was going to end because he had started coming with greater, greater regularity, the disrespect.
“You can say I’m loud, you can say I’m obnoxious, you can say I’m arrogant. But to try to poo-poo my career, a seventh-rounder that started out on special teams and played so well that I got into the Hall of Fame. To try to minimize that was disheartening for me… I considered Skip a friend. For you to take that kind of personal shot at me, it really hurt me, Stephen A. It really did.”
In a more recent interview, Sharpe got choked up and revealed his commitment to the Undisputed job cost him his personal life.
Sharpe ultimately had the last laugh, though.
He was able to retain his podcasts, Club Shay Shay and Nightcap, after the Fox Sports buyout, which have both grown in popularity.
Club Shay Shay is now part of Colin Cowherd’s The Volume, which Nightcap, with Chad Johnson, also sits under.
Shannon’s popularity has skyrocketed since the breakup while Bayless’ has waned.
Undisputed continued to lose eyeballs towards the end of Skip’s tenure, and in August he announced his decision to walk away from FS1 to ‘pursue other opportunities’.
