JRE MMA Show #100 with Cody Garbrandt

[0] Joe Rogan podcast, checking out.

[1] The Joe Rogan Experience.

[2] Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day.

[3] Good to see it, brother.

[4] What's happening, man?

[5] Join Austin.

[6] Yeah.

[7] So you're coming here.

[8] Possibly.

[9] Do people know?

[10] Not yet.

[11] Not yet.

[12] They're going to know now.

[13] Did I let people know?

[14] I think so.

[15] I mean, it's probably the move we spoke about earlier.

[16] Yeah.

[17] I've always loved Texas.

[18] Like we spoke earlier, I got signed here to the UFC.

[19] I was on it for so many years.

[20] came out here during fight fight camps for a week and kind of just unplugged but focused on training and had a good time out here it was always always a pleasure yeah it's a beautiful place i'm enjoying the shit out of it dude first of all congratulations on your comeback i that you know you're a great guy and when there's someone i like who loses a bunch of fights in a row and you get into this skid it's hard it's hard to watch i can't imagine what it was like being you you know to have have a young child and to be dealing with all of this going on i mean it's like losing your but then to come back the way you did against a really fucking tough guy and a suns out and get arguably the chaos of the year i mean you got to be feeling pretty fucking good i feel great you know back from the brink back from the brinks i mean that time in my life that time frame period and going through that you know from on top of the world world champion uh to three fight skis kid honestly it feels like a lifetime ago i feel like i'm just a different person um where i was at from there you know removed and the things i'm just doing differently thinking differently you know how i was able to approach the game picking myself back up time and time again i mean it's internet is a horrible place to get get knocked out on you know the internet fuck you got the trolls this and that you know it's but besides that point you know um just coming back to that and having a love for it a lot of the times i got to the the fight and not to make excuse I was just I didn't feel myself I didn't feel like and the training and leading up I felt physically I'm always ready to fight like flip to switch I'm always physically ready to fight I think mentally going into those fights I was just out of body I wasn't I felt like I was going through the motions you know my passion wasn't there I wasn't waking up every day like what's your reason why I was just trying to find that and I think the reason why I was had so many people um infatuated and how I should train or how I should live or what I should do to get back there and really it wasn't nothing that I needed to learn new I didn't have to reinvent the wheel it was just doing the slight edge theory like getting out of your comfort zone like you're doing your sauna sessions like you're pushing yourself to go in there and just be uncomfortable you know so I had to go out there and with that comeback you know I moved to Jersey the training camp out there I split time between you about that I'm a big fan of Henry too Mark Henry's a bad motherfucker he's great I love I enjoy him so much his passion for his love for it he's so interesting too his crazy codes and the fact the dude makes pizza on the side dude i was so nervous going out there because i heard of the codes and and like you know i was with lance a lance kind of give me a little insight on it on everything i'm like damn codes and i just fight dude like i don't have really said things i kind of go off of my instincts and game plans and he was trying to you know brief me on it when i got to the first two weeks holy shit we go down to his basement and he has like pizza scrolls from the pizza where we have off about 50 things that we're working on before camp.

[21] So what is he writing on boxes?

[22] Pizza scrolls?

[23] Pizza scrolls.

[24] Like the, just basically white paper, he rolls down and it tapes it there to the wall.

[25] You have like Corey's fight camp.

[26] You have, you know, Frankie's and all these codes.

[27] You know, he's working with 14 fighters that one time he knows all the codes.

[28] And all different kinds of fights, too.

[29] Like he's got Zabit there.

[30] He's got Frankie.

[31] It's like all these different styles.

[32] Yeah, different styles.

[33] And we'll kind of, you know, What I like about that is he'll try things as Zabit does.

[34] Zibbitt does these crazy double -jump, scissor kicks and spinning.

[35] You know, the Russians are really good at spinning shit.

[36] You know, so we threw that into the game.

[37] And it's, you know, it was nice to get that kind of stuff that Frankie's done and had success over the years.

[38] So we mesh that together.

[39] He got to know me really well.

[40] We worked, you know, extensively with Ricardo Alamedo up there as well.

[41] But, yeah, Coach Henry is just, there's nothing.

[42] He's obsessed with winning.

[43] But what I loved about him, was the first thing that he said to me was that his job is he's competitive he wants to win at all costs but his job is to get us back to our family and I watch your podcast with Andre Ward and he said the same thing about his trainer and I once he said that to me and I have a child now my whole thought process has changed you know a transition and they're like I want to be able to be around for my son's life I want to have you know speak to my grandchildren I'm not drooling you know that's what coach mark I want you drooling when you're you know you're 50 60 years old and I kind of the style of that I fight, I can punch and move, and I don't have to brawl with these guys.

[44] Right.

[45] You know, and just reiterating the defensive part of the technical, offensive part with him is I could go on there and hit a six, seven punch combo.

[46] Dude, he would care less.

[47] He's like, what did you do after?

[48] You moved after, your head was off, your hands was up.

[49] He's all about defense, and, you know, I think he just helped me out a lot with saying that, like, getting me home to my family safe.

[50] That's what I want to do.

[51] It's such an important, to be defensively sound and and yet there's so many fighters who don't think like that at all they just think about offense and if you you know it's it's really like in jujitsu like hicks and gracey had uh i had a conversation with him once about jujitsu and one of the things that he said is that the most important thing is defense he said because i'm always safe this is what he said he said he goes i'm always safe and he goes in every position i'm always safe like he lets guys on his back with a fully locked -in, rear -naked choke, and he'll start rolling like that.

[52] He's always safe, so he never, and that's interesting.

[53] Also, I read that about the Donahir Death Squad, John Donaheher's guys, like, you know, Gordon Ryan and all those guys, they'll start in really bad positions all the time.

[54] They train constantly in bad positions, so they're always defensively sound.

[55] And that makes sense with striking as well.

[56] So many guys are so concerned with offense, and, you know, you've had so many spectacular knockouts like the thomas home made a fight that it's just like you probably just want to blast guys true i get i got to like pull the reins back sometimes i'm like dude i'm so amped up just get in there and get the fight you know like forget the walk out forget the you know yeah i'm i want to i want to get the first blow i want to get that exchange and then that's when the fight unravels sometimes i think i get so amped up that you know taking it back you know doing that kind of having defensively sound sets up your offense yeah and my uncle's training me in my whole entire life and this is what he said your offense sets up your defense and vice versa but okay like my offense was so good and then you get to this point where your people are breaking down your footage and your films and you know your speed and power you know you have to have that you have to be defensively sound if you're so offensive I'm a forward fighter I can fight going back a lot of fighters can't go I can feel like I can fight positional and like you said about Danner's guys Chris Holdsworth has adapted into a phenomenal coach you know he's my right hand guy from martial arts to the and he makes us start in horrible positions like that when we're dog dead tired and then get up and we're shadow sparring each other and then going back to the ground and really fight simulated things to where you're feeling uncomfortable in those positions.

[57] Like, yeah, I can go in there and knee wrestle all day during jiu -jitsu and I didn't get tapped out.

[58] I didn't tap any, but I was safe, but I didn't put myself in those positions when the fight really happens, you have to see how, you know, you're grit.

[59] You've got to be able to fight off the hands, fight off the body, trying to fight out of those bad positions so you're comfortable or whatever the fight goes.

[60] And I feel like that's where I'm, at now.

[61] I've transitioned into that fighter.

[62] I was so green when I got to Alpha Mail and a lot of my speed and power cataported me to the top where I have to kind of draw back a little bit and do the correctional errors, not reinvent things, not do things, but the defensive part of things.

[63] I was up in training in Jersey and I knew I had the good head slips and movements, but some of the slips coach was watching me. I would get caught on the, you know, at the first or second, I usually would get hit with a fourth punch, you know, it's a combo puncher.

[64] So I would slip, slip, and then I would slip down this way and I would get hit with the the jab.

[65] I'm like, every time, he's like, dude, just bring your hand up a little bit when you're slipping to the right and moving to the right.

[66] And I, you know, he's like, how you feel after sport?

[67] I'm like, dude, I feel great.

[68] I don't have a headache.

[69] I'm not getting my ass kick.

[70] Like, I'm not getting hit really.

[71] Like my defense has gotten so solid working with him and just constantly.

[72] And Chris is the same way.

[73] My coaches out in Alphamel are the same with hands up, hands up, hands up.

[74] But I was just, at that point in my life, I was just so aggressive and angry.

[75] And just.

[76] We had so much success attacking.

[77] that way too.

[78] At doing that.

[79] But this last fight, I was, honestly, Joe, when I was, you know, doing those faints on the sunsound, and Coach Henry said, hey, don't feel like these faints aren't going to work.

[80] Like, he's defensively sound.

[81] He's a great fighter at that respect.

[82] Keep doing these faints.

[83] They will work.

[84] I'm fainting this guy, dude.

[85] I'm fainting.

[86] He's not really biting.

[87] He's not really coming in.

[88] But I kept on the faints, and we started catching him with some shots that I saw in his eyes were hurting them.

[89] And then fainted, did the Tyson two his overhand right, dropped them.

[90] And I knew once I had that range and the power and speed and his timing that he would come in with something.

[91] So, the chaos, the way you did it where you dropped your hands and looked to the side and waited for him to move, oh my God.

[92] That was like one of the best walk -off chaos ever.

[93] I felt great because the first round, I kind of had myself to the cage and coach, man, he'd probably kick my ass being on the cage.

[94] Like, get off the cage, get to the movement more.

[95] We're movement fighters, you know, he made me. And I know my back was in the cage, but I saw, and the round was ending, but I saw, a sunset like oh here's my opening i saw that in the first round and i the second round i was staying off i was moving i was switched you know stances um but towards the end of i heard the clapper so i'm like i'm back and so well let him come in i kind of lean towards and he kind of like fading on it and then he chased me down when i level change i kept my eye on him and he threw the hook because he was going south paul and i knew like i had my hand in my cage and know where my distance was the he was coming with a kick after i could lean back i just had my range and my timing and once right through it man i knew when i feel it from the hip it was it was over dude and that that guy is so fucking durable that's the thing i mean this guy is so tough and so so durable if you to catch him and kill him like this yeah that had to feel so good that was good you know back against the wall i mean that was a pivotal point in my life but i knew leading up to that i needed to get an octagon i kept like hey sean dana and then obviously in the beginning getting in the ear, I had the kidney infection, I landed me in the hospital.

[96] I had to remove myself from the flight.

[97] What happened there?

[98] Dude, I had a, I guess a staff or cellulitis that I didn't know.

[99] My shin was so sore for weeks.

[100] I would tape it with a knee pad, put a knee pad and tape it and spar and grapple, but there was no, like, infection, no, nothing, no cut.

[101] So you just thought it was a bruised?

[102] I kicked, kick this dude hell of hard, and I just thought that my leg was just bruised that bad.

[103] Like, you know, sometimes you hit your shins and, you know, kind of elbow made me a knee.

[104] And I was transitioning back I was in Jersey for a month and I was back here in California for two weeks and I was going back to Jersey and just training hard you know and um to where my body's just started shutting down like I remember telling coach mark after training went down like I'm just feeling horrible um and then by that night I kind of just felt really bad and started urinating blood so I went to the hospital and uh they checked everything out and like oh you're good like the doctor came in and it's like here's a surgeon's number like you're going to have to get your lip noids removed because my lymph noids were swollen so much in my groin I couldn't even walk I was like get crawling in there and I'm like everything checked out they did all these tests I was there for like by joy of the day why would they just remove them just that's what he said I'm like all right so I was like drove home to I'm because I drove there the first time and then drove home Chris is actually flying out for the week to help me train and I was like Chris bro I don't feel good um there's something going on like you know but I just had everything checked out so I'm not going to be posting go back to the to the hospital But restfully during the night, it just became like two words of straight blood.

[105] I was urinating.

[106] So this is not good.

[107] I couldn't eat.

[108] I had the cold chills.

[109] Went back, ubered back to the hospital, and they admitted me. And I had a really bad kidney infection from, I guess, cellulitis.

[110] I was in my leg.

[111] So how do they find out they have really bad kidney infection?

[112] Do they did for a blood test?

[113] I did blood cultures.

[114] I was doing, I did probably 26 labs.

[115] I was in the hospital for, they didn't know why I was caused from it.

[116] Um, I had a team full, a team of doctor surgeons, um, you know, uh, infectus disease doctors, like all these, like trying to do these tests and like, we didn't know what was going on.

[117] And then they gave me antibiotic.

[118] I was on hip, took up the penicillin for six days and IV the whole time.

[119] Like it was the first few days in the hospital.

[120] I couldn't eat.

[121] I couldn't even urinate myself.

[122] The lady had to hold the bucket to where I was just, I was just dying.

[123] I think I was training myself.

[124] You know, it wasn't a diet thing.

[125] I was eating right, correct, taking, supplements like just training hard and then I guess I just train my body to well if you get that's the thing about people that get sick while they're training like people that are in like if you're in a fight camp your body is you're you're constantly breaking yourself down that's why guys get sick all the time in training because you're so tired all you train so hard if you get sick bad while that's happening you can get really fucked up and there are so many guys out there running around with staff infections that don't know they have them I've seen guys guys at the gym and they have like this little thing on their arm and then someone's got to say hey dude if you got that checked out right like that thing looks like a big boil like you got staff bro and they're like is that staff do that is that stuff like people don't know but that shit gets systemic and then you can die yeah it was you had to go and do you know how to go to kidney specialist they went to Cleveland Clinic in Ohio uh did all these tests they wanted to do a biopsy um staff is fucking scary man so i texted dana like man like I had to pull out my fight and then he was was saying that he was going to have the fights.

[126] I'm like, well, I need to fight.

[127] Like, I just need, my soul needs to get in there.

[128] I need to turn this around.

[129] I'm on three -fights skid.

[130] Like, I was excited.

[131] I was fighting in Columbus, Ohio, my hometown.

[132] I was going to start to come back there and then, you know, I was back to my visualization, focusing on fighting.

[133] Like, I was so far removed from that.

[134] Not because I was losing.

[135] Like, even when I won the title, I was just, like, so far, like.

[136] You weren't visualizing then?

[137] I wasn't.

[138] I mean, I ended up injuring myself in the fight with crews with my knee, and then I ended up having the back procedure.

[139] in Germany, leading up to the TJ fight, it took me out a whole year.

[140] Did you get that regenerine stuff?

[141] Yep, I did.

[142] And it worked, and there's shelf lives of it.

[143] You know, I still feel, um, I learned a lot, like doing, obviously, yoga, PT, you know, as much as I'm training, I'm still doing five days a week of PT, you know, and mobility work.

[144] For your back?

[145] For my, just overall mobility.

[146] What was the exact extent of the injury?

[147] It was an annual tear, um, in my, of the disc, of the disc, yeah.

[148] So I was kind of just protruded and it was just hitting that sciatic nerve and just locking up.

[149] They're doing stem cells and discs now, and they're having great results from that.

[150] I know a dude who had severe sciatic pain and a drop foot, like his foot was like going numb, and he got it completely fixed with stem cells.

[151] Wow, that's great.

[152] Regenerative medicine is the future, man. It's really fascinating stuff.

[153] Part of it's pulling from your own self to heal you and mix with some other things.

[154] Yeah, some of it, and some of it they're doing from umbilical cords when a young, like of a young woman gives birth.

[155] they take the umbilical cord and they make stem cells out of the umbilical cord yeah that's great i'm all for it too it's it's incredible stuff but so you you you talk to me about the visualization stuff so this was something that you had concentrated on earlier in your career really my whole entire life without knowing what law of attraction was and and having these you know people teach me this kind of stuff i remember writing on my planner and grade school and junior high and high school like i was going to be a state champion you know that's i wanted to be you know our mom always gave us christmas presence the drum shot in steen center to go watch the state wrestling tournament in ohio and everybody knows the ohio state tournament is you know you've been a state champion in ohio you're you're elite in the nation it's a tough state so that's what we were you know our first sport we fell in love with was wrestling we we we traveled all over uh once our mom you know put us in it and travel us around the country packed in our minivans driving all kinds of you know just that's what we did every weekend you know that's what we uh enjoyed to do so i started visualization there was you know i saw the announcer's name you know hearing that so this is just in your like you almost like just daydreaming just daydreaming just thinking about what you want yeah not paying attention in school but not like a not like a form like a formula not like a i didn't really know a formula yeah just i would write down my weight class my name what high school i was representing and i would just read that when I was in school and read it over and over again I would hear the guy the announcer's name at the Jerome Shantz he had a distinguished voice and you know freshman you know Cody Garber went from New York'sville Claymont you know to Matt too like you run out like it's gonna rest in front of 22 ,000 people think about it in your head just yeah manifest it so I was like I'm gonna be a state champion my freshman year and I did it and I think I think like anything that I visualize like that and really put myself in those kind of uncomfortable positions now like I want to be a world champion and to be a world champion you have to put yourself through some misery some some straight pain to get you know your goal is to be the top because everyone's going to everyone's fast everyone's tough everyone's strong it's like that slight edgistery like what are you going to do that they're not going to do right and i think you know you know going back to the three fights kid going to jersey i need to get out of my comfort zone right i've never been away from my son more than a week you know like i had to go and and and reward myself with coming back to my family, coming back to my son after being away and dedicating myself to this, you know, this life that I chose to do, but, you know, rewarding myself with a win coming back and enjoying my son.

[156] So every time I was away from, like, this is my deposit.

[157] This is my deposit to get back to my son to have these good times that make a great future for him, things that I didn't have.

[158] You know, I'm fighting for him, you know, and things for his future, good schooling, you know, things like that.

[159] So getting out of that comfort zone going to Jersey, and the did a winner from California.

[160] Yeah.

[161] It's not, you know what I mean?

[162] New training partners, you know what I mean?

[163] Like, dude, I feel like once you're a champion, like, you have that X on your back.

[164] Like, everyone wants your best and everyone's going to give you their best.

[165] And I'm all for that.

[166] I'm, oh, yeah, let's, you know, let's do it.

[167] And so having those new guys on you, trying to just, you know, earn your respect.

[168] And I had to go out there and have them earn my respect to be, this kid is the real deal.

[169] This guy is the real deal.

[170] He's a world champion.

[171] He's making himself come back.

[172] And I'm going out there, like Frankie Egg, those.

[173] guys are great.

[174] Eddie Alvarez, Ricardo Alamedo, Coach Henry.

[175] The whole time guys in Jersey are kind of we laugh and joke like they're the Team Alpha Mill East Coast basically.

[176] We're such a similar styles, wrestlers that are turning the strikers and just the mentality of the, you know, hard work kind of everyone, it's a co -op.

[177] Everyone's helping everyone out like, oh, I'm going to hold some paths with you.

[178] Like Frankie was great.

[179] He came in and helped me out when there was only four or five people in the gym.

[180] He would give me my sparring rounds and just a great.

[181] Great, dude.

[182] Great camp to be with.

[183] And I needed that.

[184] I think I, I don't need cheerleaders.

[185] You know what I mean?

[186] But I need people that I respect that's going to push me the extra round to the extra, you know.

[187] How did you choose Mark Henry?

[188] Did you guys have a conversation?

[189] I talked to Coach Henry years before this, and anyone that knows Mark is not, he doesn't give out compliments.

[190] Like, you've got to earn his respect.

[191] And I remember him telling me, you know, he's like, do we really love you and enjoy you?

[192] I feel like you're going to be a world champion in a few years.

[193] And I was only one or two in O in the UFC.

[194] And I was like, that's a high praise from a guy that's worked with Frankie and build him up and all these other fighters he's worked with.

[195] I was, I appreciate it.

[196] And we kept in contact, you know, mutual respect, you know, at the fights and seeing him.

[197] But Ali, my manager was like, hey, like, I'm not, you know, he's giving me some of my best life.

[198] advice i know people have this perception of him but he's honestly helping me out so much in my family but he was the one like look i don't want to tell you what to do but i truly believe that mark is something that you need in your life um he's a great mentor um he's just great guy to be around happy go lucky he wants to win you know he shows you a good life and you know just things that he's been through in his life um so he's like i think you should go with coach mark and i'm like for me change i was always I didn't like change, but some change is growth.

[199] I looked at it differently, you know, going out there and battling myself to, you know, get up and be out of your comfort zone, going out with Coach Mark.

[200] So, Ollie's kind of one that kind of set the staple to go out there.

[201] I reach out to Coach Mark and Frankie.

[202] I'm like, hey, I just want to let you guys know.

[203] I want to come check you guys out.

[204] We'll love to work with you.

[205] I'm still going to be here with Team Alpha, my guys that has brought me up.

[206] But I just need a head coach, a guy like Coach Henry that showed me. a lot about breaking fights down, watching more fight tapes.

[207] Like my guy's Chris and my coach out there, they do the same thing.

[208] But coach is just more hands -on on that way, like breaking it down and repeating.

[209] Like, here's what we're doing.

[210] Working 10 rounds today, 10 -5 -minute rounds.

[211] We have 50 combos that we're going over, and then that's outside of camp.

[212] And inside of camp, we're kind of limited to 30.

[213] So that's what we're working on for the whole camp of, you know, getting ready for your adversary, what he's doing and what you need to work with him.

[214] um so breaking that down and just constantly working was just um he's got a mind that's like no other i mean i've never met a coach uh quite like him that that thinks like him you know there's people that on his level for sure i feel like chris is uh because chris is right there on a full spectrum of martial arts with the grappling i mean chris he's a bad motherfucker i mean we do one -on -one private sessions and it's like no chris is a beast they're horrible they're horrible i do's like a wet blanket on you especially you go from pads and takedowns and right now you're grappling he's putting you those bad positions you got to fight out of this guy it's it's bad so let me ask you what was mark's initial uh approach did it was it concentrating on defense was it feints like what what did you want you to do different obviously you're a tremendous offensive fighter correct and that's always been the key to your success but what did he what did he look at he said this is what you're lacking or this is what we can improve upon um just obviously the feints the defense um you know time I mean, sometimes my speed is a blessing and a curse.

[215] Sometimes I'll faint, faint twice, and they're still, you know, off the first faint, and then I'm hitting the combo, so it's like I have to kind of dub it down a little bit, read more feints, do more eye feints, you know, just faints with the feet, movement -wise, you know, because the speed is just unreal, you know, for Mark, you know, he was like, you're fast.

[216] You're probably the fastest guy I've ever seen in the octagon.

[217] No bullshit.

[218] Your hands.

[219] Oh, I try to be in there.

[220] When you hit a sunset, that's one of the things I said.

[221] I said, I don't think there's a faster person in a sport.

[222] like you have crazy fast hand speed but that is true right like power and speed or sometimes people just rely on them so much you know like i always go back to roy jones junior the roy jones junior in his prime was the fastest fucking human being that ever lived he was so fast but because of his incredible athleticism and ability he developed this style that was just so unorthodox that it wasn't fundamentally sound to the point of like like the way Bernard Hopkins fights or the way, you know, some other fighters fight where they didn't have to be as fast, you know, because Roy's thing relied so much on his speed.

[223] Speed and precision, you know, and setting up, beating the quick shots and getting out and they come with other stuff.

[224] So I feel like what coach helped out on a lot, if you look at a lot of my losses, I would load up.

[225] Right.

[226] And then, like, wow, why am I going to give you my eye?

[227] Get back to the T .J. fight, right?

[228] the two fights those you were more emotionally invested in those fights than any fight you've ever had right definitely and that's not me I don't have to Joe I love the fight I can fight in your studio right now you know I mean I'll kick Jamie's ass you know if you know making fun of his pants making fun of his pants earlier you know but oh wait 16 what's in your team same team yeah so I never like for me to go on there and kind of have that you know just an example of right oh that I don't need to do that yeah you know And, you know, it was great.

[229] I was a world champion.

[230] I felt like I had to defend it.

[231] A lot of other stuff, you know, the backstory of it.

[232] And the injury coming off a year, I was just so, like I said, not mentally ready to go in there and fight that I physically was, like, overcompensated for it.

[233] The emotions that go into a fight with someone you don't like, it's always extremely difficult.

[234] But for you to go into a fight with someone you don't like who you used to be tight with and used to train with, that's got to be, like, doubly difficult.

[235] It's not like saying I didn't like to.

[236] I don't agree with a lot of things that happened.

[237] But that's so far in the past that, you know, past that.

[238] But, yeah, definitely taking that in there, it was, my mental state was not what it should have been to go in against a guy like TJ, you know.

[239] And we can fast forward to where, you know, he got popped and this and that.

[240] TJ can be on that stuff.

[241] He can be on that stuff and he still can't beat me. When I'm focused and I'm immensely there, I'm in there and I'm excited, you know, like I'm glad that he's coming back.

[242] got approved himself you know and that's a big fight for me to come back to you know in the future that's going to happen you know i feel like tj caught me at a time where mentally i was not in the best state of mind to go on there and and and be a champion and that's why i was taken from me you know i wasn't doing the right things you know the slight edge things i wasn't doing those and uh you know he capitalized and and i look back on it i i kept going back in those fights and a little bit of insanity you know you got to be insane to repeat the same thing thinking a different outcome and that's what i was doing in there was always trained hard always prepared ready but what was what was it wasn't nothing do that i needed to do it was just the slight slight edge things little work this work that like and looking back on it's it's it's hindsight's 20 20 always in the fight but uh i'm thankful for that i have to feel like if i would have went off and defending the title and i probably wouldn't have been as hungry and motivated as am today and that's going to help me out for the next five years of my career however long i want to fight for You know, I always kind of break my life down to five, five year increments.

[243] But I'm excited for it.

[244] I'm more hungry than ever because I know what it takes to get back to the top.

[245] So when you said that you stopped visualizing for a long time and now you're doing it again, are you doing it now in, do you have like a rigid format?

[246] Do you have like a disciplined format of visualization or do you just spend time alone thinking about things?

[247] Like how do you do it?

[248] Yeah, I do a format, write things out, I write out, goals, three months, six months, a year, five years, what I want to accomplish, why it's financial, where it's, you know, athletic, why it's personal growth, spiritual growth, family growth, things like that.

[249] So I try to prioritize what I'm lacking or what's the lower grade that I get myself and try to focus more on that, so it's all balanced.

[250] I feel like I'm trying to balance my life more as far as being, I grew up in chaos.

[251] You know, I feel like I can, I do well in that, but I'm at a different place in my life and what I want from my son and my future.

[252] I want to have that balance of, you're not so 100 % of.

[253] in this and you know lacking this you know i want to make sure it's kind of balance across of my goals but i feel like you know going back to talking about getting out of your comfort zone like doing things that absolutely suck and you've got to mentally put yourself in that position to be like that were you in your comfort zone when you were champion like when you say getting out of your comfort zone i know you trained hard so like what is different i think that i remove myself after um winning the world title i i didn't feel like it was everything that i thought i was going to be in what way just the whole prolific you're world champion you're the best in the world you know I didn't I never expected a lot of things that were happened I just focused on What did you think it was gonna be like I don't know I don't think I had any expectations when I feel like a lot of things change around Oh man like how's it feel like I'm still the same person I just kind of you know I'm just a number one person in the world What I do you know I don't know it just didn't Did you think that like In achieving such a great goal That you would feel satisfied That you would feel like you made it maybe maybe because that's what at the later than the tunnel since i was a 12 years old and i was man just through the journey of getting to where i was at looking back on it i was like man like what's next i didn't have the what's next isn't it interesting like this is the thing that gets brought up all the time about fighting is that so much of it is mental especially at the elite level like at your level so much of it is how you're approaching all aspects of your life how your relationship is going, how your friendships are going, like what, what's your relationship with your family?

[254] You know, that's so much of how a fighter fight.

[255] And then what is your focus on?

[256] Is your focus on adulation?

[257] Is your focus on doing interviews and letting everybody tell you you're the shit?

[258] Or is your focus on continual improvement and then recognize, like, yeah, you might be a world champion, but there's a bunch of hungry lions climbing up that hill to try to get to the king.

[259] Yeah, you see it.

[260] I have, you know, Chris Holsworth, my coach, my trainer, my good friend, he travels with me. You know, we put through hard workouts, you know, this morning we're going to go after your podcast.

[261] And that's the thing, doing those, balancing that, okay, I might have, you know, come on your show, absolute honor.

[262] I got to train.

[263] I got to, you know, I can't take this week off.

[264] We're here, you know, look at homes and doing other things with P &P, my other business partners.

[265] So just prioritizing what's important, what's your goals, how you're reaching those goals.

[266] What are you working towards?

[267] Are you reading help books, self -help books?

[268] Are you reading, you know, books to help your, you're, you're, you know, books to help your, mental fortitude to strengthen that you know are you doing yoga are you doing other so much and being and staying enthusiastic i think that's the main thing i wasn't enthusiastic i felt like i would just go into the motions and there's a lot of other things there's a lot of fighters there's a lot there's a lot of things that can transpire but i'm solely putting the blame on myself because that's all i can control what i do how i react to things and i wasn't the person that i am during those kinds of you know tribulations or trials in my life you know and i've grown from that i was 24 25 years old i'm 29 years old now you know i've looked at the game um just differently you know i'm still a savage i'm still going to go in there and and try to kill you and dan is going to give us extra money for a knockout bonus sign me the fuck up do you like the extra money the bonus thing i i don't even like win bonuses it drives me crazy i feel like a fighter should get paid yeah like i don't think you are trying to win anymore if you get a bonus you're a professional cage fighter there's there's this it doesn't make any sense there's like one time my professional career that I didn't get my second check and that shit sucked I was man I was because you're banking on I mean we've right we make our money through our fights you know and luckily we have some good sponsors if you know able to be sponsored by that but we fight that's how we make our money and then there's bad decisions which is even crazy so it's not just that a bad decision give you a loss but it could cost you half of your paycheck that's insane and we don't get it run it back next week we got to recover we might be banged up dude that was my first time after the sunsile fight since the km is a gawki fight that i didn't get injured i tore tendons and ligaments and stem cells out for eight weeks to you know and then you know so i was like man i was back in the gym monday hungry to go and then fucking covid get covid get title shot i'm like i'm about to fight figgy at 25 you got covid bad right well you did you get covid in the were you in the middle of training when you got it like were you worn out dead i was doing one training session and actually i started the whoop and i was like man, like my recovery score is 1 % in the morning.

[269] My HRV was like 13.

[270] It was 1 % for like a week.

[271] And I would only do one workout.

[272] And then I'd have to cancel on Chris and I'm a lot.

[273] I'm like, 1 % is dead.

[274] Dude, that's crazy.

[275] But then I was like, you know, I'm just going to go ride the bike.

[276] You know, I was getting on those bikes doing, you know, 50 to 100 mile rides and just suffering because I had vertigo really bad.

[277] So I couldn't get in those uncompromised position that.

[278] When did you start experiencing vertigo?

[279] Vertigo was my first symptom of COVID, not knowing.

[280] And then I had that for them.

[281] Did you think it was head injury related?

[282] But my doctor I went and saw, he's like, that's a concussion.

[283] I'm like, dude, I didn't get hit hard and sparring, my fights.

[284] Like, I worked on defense a lot.

[285] Like, I know, I would know if it was a concussive blow that gave me vertigo.

[286] And what, did you experience it after training?

[287] Did you experience it?

[288] Honestly, it was during grappling.

[289] I was like grappling.

[290] You didn't, like, collide heads or anything?

[291] Nope, nope.

[292] Just went into a scramble and the next thing you know, I was just, like, fighting the hands off.

[293] And the whole room was spinning.

[294] And I was actually training with your Uriya.

[295] And I was like, man, he's like, you're all right?

[296] I'm like, what's going on?

[297] I was, like, kind of, like, didn't want to end the round, so I just kind of, like, close my eyes and, like, held out of his hand so he wouldn't choke me, you know?

[298] He was taking my back, so I was finished around, and I was like, man, I just don't feel good.

[299] That was nauseated for a few days.

[300] So I went to my doctor, he was giving me, like, anti -nazia medicine.

[301] That was making me so much more tired than I was, because I was fatigued from training.

[302] I was just trying to train through it.

[303] I was like, I have a world title coming up in eight weeks.

[304] Like, I have to get down the 25, and my weight was good.

[305] I wasn't restricting any calories or nothing.

[306] But you felt something was off with your body.

[307] body besides the vertigo my body felt like I just was for a three week period when I was training and I didn't feel like myself at all and just mental clarity was was so do you think during that time you had COVID the whole time I think so you know that is crazy and that makes sense that it hit you so hard because you never gave your body a break and you were beating yourself up while you were fighting off COVID well that I think what happened was the kidney infection in the beginning of 2020 I was on all It was antibiotics.

[308] I was on five different antibiotics.

[309] People don't even know it's two weeks before the fight with the sunsau.

[310] The infection came back.

[311] So I had to go to another infectious disease doctor that my doctor Hill found in Sacramento.

[312] This lady was amazing.

[313] Did two blood cultures.

[314] Found out, got all the reports from the hospital in Jersey, the reports from the specialist in Cleveland, studied those all in a day.

[315] I got a blood culture.

[316] I was on the wrong antibiotics.

[317] I didn't kill the infection.

[318] Just basically put a bandaid over it.

[319] So I had to go 10 days to an IV fusion center to get antibiotics.

[320] drip for 10 days while I'm training two weeks before the fight oh my god I didn't let any of the UFC or anybody know I told Ali what kind of was going on because I just needed to get in that octon I was like you just put me in that octagon I know that it'll happen like to get me they're healthy and I'll be good so but that fucks with your endurance in a big way yeah IV antibiotics are ruthless it was tough man it was uh and my strength additioning coach we were having the hardest time I was hovering around you know I was getting my heart rate up 187 and then I couldn't get it below it like hover at 150 which i'm fine at standing 150 and going up and being in that 150 to 180 zone that i can be there for a while but we'll work on the aerobic system so to drop it you know i just couldn't drop it it took about the last week of training before i flew out to the fight week to finally get my heart rate in like 35s like after a hard like a minute 30 push and then drop it down so i noticed something like that was it but immensely i was like it's good So two weeks out, you had to do a 10 -day cycle of IV antibiotics?

[321] And then a 10 -day of oral.

[322] What?

[323] Yeah, I was on antibiotics for literally five months almost from Jersey.

[324] I was on five different antibiotics from the hospital.

[325] So from the Sun -South fight, how many days did you have where you weren't on antibiotics before the fight?

[326] I mean, I declared that I had, I was on antibiotics all the way up to the fight.

[327] Jeez.

[328] Antibiotics.

[329] Yeah, I was tough.

[330] So you were taking probiotics to counteract the effects of antibiotics in your A lot of probiotics, yeah.

[331] What were you taking?

[332] Frankie Eggers' wife sent me, uh, she would, dude, they were, they took care of me when I was in Jersey, like, hooked it up.

[333] Like, coach brought me pizza in the hospital.

[334] He was like, it was during COVID when it happened.

[335] Pizza, but don't you have to cut weight?

[336] I don't cut weight to 35.

[337] Really?

[338] I'm like, right now, probably 144.

[339] Oh, wow.

[340] Like, I don't, and I stay, you know, strong and fast.

[341] And this is why I feel good at, to fight 35.

[342] Yeah.

[343] I'd have to just diet a little bit like everyone else does for 25.

[344] That's what everyone's making this.

[345] big deal going to 25 it's not that was a very interesting fight you you going down at 25 was very interesting i'm so excited for especially watching the marino and figgy fight last fight um great fight you know awesome it was entertaining but a lot of holes a lot of holes a lot of things that i can you know take away from both fight whoever wins this next one but i'm not going to sit idle yeah they're rematching each other that's why i'm not going to wait it'd be eight months so i get a title shot so that's why i'm you know didn't marino fuck up his shoulder in that fight he did something yeah i know we had to do some so what a fight though what a fight great fight yeah i mean i thought marino did great i think that if he had more pop to his punches figgy would have been in some trouble you know the takedowns look great you know i think matching that getting figgy worn out i felt like in that fight davison really put himself on the line in terms of like he threw himself into the fire he didn't he didn't fight like like he was worried at all about marino's firepower he was just trying to smash and merino is a tough motherfucker it's like that dude he's that dude that's been in the gym for so long getting his ass kicked now it's finally like i'm starting to be you know what i mean because i know what you mean he's just he's like a darren elkins yep that guy gets his ass kicked and he'll kick ass too but when it comes down to the fight this dude is he's he's all in you know like the merced becktick fight oh my gosh that was one of the greatest comebacks i've ever seen in my life yes definitely because merced becktick is so technical so fast so so precise i mean the the kid looks like a world champion to hold elkins down to hold elkins down and do that ground and pound to him elkins is a number one fighter in the featherway division with the most top game percentage per fight really and missat you know was on top of him i've grappled with you know elkins is not you know easy to to hold on he's indiana wrestler that just like gritty and just like let's go dude you know isn't that's amazing about the sport though that a guy Like, you got to know how much gas you got.

[346] You got to know when you could hit the gas and when you got to back off a little, when you got to pace yourself.

[347] And if you try to empty out and that guy, like a guy like Elkins, who's so fucking tough.

[348] If he's still there, you got a real problem.

[349] Dude, it's, yeah, it's, you know, when you crack someone with your, you know, some of your best shots and they're just like covering him blood coming forward, you're like, fuck, get me a baseball bat.

[350] Let me hit this guy, you know, Elkins.

[351] He's such a savage.

[352] Such a savage.

[353] Yeah, it's great.

[354] He's a great guy.

[355] I mean, he leaves by example.

[356] He's not, you know, brash and outlandish talking.

[357] He just gets in, blue -collar guy.

[358] He's a pipe fitter, you know, comes in.

[359] And when he first moved out here, he had to go back.

[360] He was still with UFC fighting.

[361] And then part -time he'd have to go back and get his union hours in and then stay for six months and come back and fight.

[362] Wow.

[363] So until he finally, you know, retired from pipe -fitting and moved to his whole family out.

[364] Just a great guy, great family.

[365] Tough as hell.

[366] But, yeah, that is the kind of guy.

[367] know is that just blood and guts gritty guy and i think figurato i mean figurato so good i think he probably thought he was going to get him out of there he did i mean especially with his his win over alex prez that quick and and benavides two knockouts of benivitas which is gigantic he's flying high you know it's good eyes on 125 but mother fuck the bannamate division i can't leave that one yet like this is it's so much going on in both divisions though like i'm staying here like i'll cut the weight for you know if you want me to fight this but God, that division is stacked at 35.

[368] So you basically beat your immune system up while you had COVID, and then because of that, you got COVID really bad.

[369] Yes.

[370] So tell me what it was like.

[371] It was horrible.

[372] I mean, I had the vertigo was the first symptom.

[373] Right.

[374] And then...

[375] When did they test you for COVID?

[376] I didn't get tested until I went down to Mike Tyson's ranch.

[377] We were working with the Smart Cups Company.

[378] We're all sponsored by them doing digital videos, and it was our first kind of getting athletes together because they started doing fighters, boxers, and some Rust, W .W. Kurt Anglo was there.

[379] So I had to do like a rapid test that we just did here and I waited, waited a while and they're like, hey, we want you to do another one.

[380] I'm like, all right, cool.

[381] We just didn't see some things we liked.

[382] I was like, all right, I'm like waiting for an hour, do another one.

[383] I'm like, what did you guys see?

[384] Another test.

[385] Yeah, what did you guys see?

[386] I'm like, oh, you failed the first one.

[387] I'm like, well, that's a subtle way, is you telling it?

[388] Like, I want to stay away from everybody.

[389] Like, you know, anyone's coming up to me. And so I tested there in August.

[390] And then I went, you know, quarantine, went home, did the whole...

[391] Did you do any medication?

[392] What did you do?

[393] I did a Z -Pack.

[394] I got on an inhaler because I had pneumonia.

[395] I got a pneumonia.

[396] Vertigo.

[397] And then I did like a 21 day because I had it so bad.

[398] I kept getting tested like every three weeks.

[399] And you kept having it.

[400] I did molecular tests, which was like night, you know, some of the best ones to do.

[401] Is that the PCR test?

[402] Yes.

[403] And just kept negative, negative.

[404] My doctor was like, hey, we're going to quit testing you, you know, like.

[405] you're being positive you kept testing positive yeah positive for it yeah and I'm like dang this is this is crazy I mean and I had started to have the symptoms going away like pneumonia was fine my lungs were good like I felt it like I was that's when I started cycling a lot um so I was out there just pushing the lungs that's what my doctor said it was the best thing to do is riding that bike that that much is getting those lungs to keep working because you have pneumonia really bad Jesus Christ wow I felt horrible I thought cycling was one of the hardest it to do.

[406] Isn't it funny because you would think, like most people would think that a guy who's a world championship caliber fighter is the type of guy who would get COVID and it would just burn right through a system.

[407] But because you were training while you had it and beating yourself up, it just got deep into you.

[408] Deep.

[409] I mean, it took over my body, but I think honestly from the kidney infection beyond the antibiotic, my immune system was so weak.

[410] How much time was there between the kidney infection, the antibiotics, and then getting COVID?

[411] Dude, I literally got out of the hospital and I texted to Dana like hey I heard you did a press conference about having to fight um my kidney levels are good I'm waiting for maybe you have to do a biopsy um but I want to fight he's like I work on I was like begging Sean so you got COVID right away um so I then I after the fight yeah I had uh so June to August okay but uh so it was from the kidney infection the fight two fight camps you know basically one didn't happen uh recovering I'm building myself back up from where I was at getting ready to fight a stunts out the first time in march you know i literally had to start walking on a treadmill for a couple weeks to get my i was in rough shape rough rough shape and uh started trying out my business partner's house he had a home gym because everything was closed aren't your eyes gym wasn't open he said dude i got a treadmill i got weights kettlebells you know on a kettlebells and uh so i went over there and just started to to train and i'm like i'm getting myself ready and it was brutal brutal brutal training getting them back in there and this is pre -covid this is pre -covid this is That's a kidney infection.

[412] Jesus Christ.

[413] So your body was obviously already compromised.

[414] Oh, yeah, I was, yeah, very compromised.

[415] I still on antibiotics.

[416] It still had me on antibiotics to clean out the infection.

[417] I was on it for, like, a 30 -day antibiotic from the hospital.

[418] So August you get COVID.

[419] How long before it clears your system?

[420] How long before you start feeling good?

[421] Months.

[422] Like, I literally, I went to Miami and worked with this company called amino whales, and they did, like, kind of injections.

[423] We talked about, like, kind of stem cell injections throughout my body, arms.

[424] And I kind of started to feel a lot better at, like, the week after than I did a month on the injections with the three milliliters a week.

[425] And I felt really good.

[426] Body felt good.

[427] Clarity went away.

[428] I actually had to go to Arizona, the Mayo Clinic.

[429] Dana thought I had Meneer's disease.

[430] So I went and saw his doctor that did his surgery.

[431] They gave him shot in his ears.

[432] Did all these testings, hearing test?

[433] Did you have ringing in your ears?

[434] I had ringing back in my left ear.

[435] And I have a loss of hearing in this year, and they don't know why.

[436] I think maybe because this is my lead.

[437] And you get hit in the left ear a lot.

[438] That's how I can say.

[439] I'm like, I don't have a shot a gun without anything like that.

[440] You know, trying to just figure out why it's ringing.

[441] It makes like this popping noise.

[442] Oh.

[443] And I was just getting so, like, dizzy.

[444] I couldn't even do anything.

[445] So that probably contributed to the vertigo for sure, right?

[446] They said it wasn't provision.

[447] Usually it's ear things.

[448] Yeah, they said like crystals.

[449] I had vertigo before.

[450] I worked with a UPMC.

[451] I was out for a whole year.

[452] My pro debut broke my hand and had vertigo from crystals being out of the air.

[453] I went to the UPMC.

[454] Crystals?

[455] Crystals, yeah, was that an irregular tube that was throwing my equilibrium off, which basically is positional vertigo.

[456] A lot of it's, that's the most common one.

[457] You know, a lot of people just, you know, they can steeze wrong or do something, sleep wrong on their neck and they have vertigo.

[458] And there's a maneuver you do to put it back.

[459] But it wasn't positional vertigo.

[460] It was just literally COVID had had me so mess.

[461] So your body was so compromised from the antibiotics to kidney infection, a second kidney infection.

[462] So you were just basically getting your health back, which is crazy that you beat a sunsow in that state.

[463] Yeah.

[464] Because you had to be clearly compromised.

[465] There's no way you could have been 100 % if you were going, if you went through that much antibiotics before that fight.

[466] But I think that goes back to my middle state where I was at, I knew that I needed to get in that octagon and change this around.

[467] I was not living life like this.

[468] I was tired of living on a three -fight skit.

[469] I was ready to just get back in there.

[470] And when you know, like for me, like we talked about earlier with the TJF fights, I don't have to go on there and be angry and upset and want to rip this head, I hate this guy.

[471] I've hatred for this guy.

[472] It's a flip -to -switch.

[473] Like when you know, you have it in you or you don't.

[474] And that's been bred in me. I've had it.

[475] So I just needed to get in there.

[476] I was like not taking no for an answer.

[477] I mean, my coaches and stuff like, oh, I don't know if you're going to make it, you know?

[478] And Coach Mark, I'd call him because we basically did, I would film my padwork.

[479] my sparring rounds and send it to coach on WhatsApp and then he would break everything down do more of this do less of that looking good looking fast on the you know you're left to a counteroff things like that so we did virtually you know camp through there so then when he came out so I kept working the codes to you know keep working your codes keep working you know and make sure you're doing under nine things like that and then when we came to the fight week it was just so talk me through you getting you got COVID tests in August of the Tyson Joe you knew that you had it when when are you free of it like this is the first test that I passed since really today my doctor quit testing February February yeah Jesus so excited I was yeah yeah pump and everyone I'm like dude I'm free I'm free of it it was literally you know a couple months of having it testing it to where my doctor's like I'm not going to send out any more tests because there were 72 hour return ones and every time you did it you had it every time I did it and this is for months um tested my son he didn't have it i mean we were i was your wife didn't get it um she ended up getting it um but it wasn't as severe it was it was a couple months ago that she got it um two months ago her twin got it and it was kind of you know they were sick but not like what i had like i was just yeah well you're a perfect example of you know obviously you're a super healthy guy and an elite athlete but when you put yourself through training camp there's only one way to get in shape you got to beat yourself up there's no there's no other way around it's true and when you are so tough that you push through even though you had COVID and you let that shit get deep in your system there's a lesson in there for people you know because there's tough tough's important you don't get where you get without being tough but there's there's also you you got to be you got to be able to take a step back and go it's not wise to push sometimes and I think honestly if I got tested before having COVID then I mean before I first had the first I've had this you probably never got it you probably would have had it for a couple of weeks or whatever yeah exactly it wouldn't be as it took over my body then I came back and I hit pads the first time like dude I'm in I'm in a great shape because I was cycling 100 miles you know we had a hard pace we were riding four or five times a week you know building the legs up and so I started hitting pads again I was excited like I'm back in the gym I can be around people because on the bike I was just on the bike trail on the road just you know suffering on the like came back hit pads the first time and man i my bicep was so sore uh and that i remember going to sleep that night and waking up an excruciating pain wow and my bicep was just fill it up with blood like this i thought i tore my bicep so i went to my doctor and he ultrasounded it and he thought it was a dissonal bicep tear you know deemed it at that i'm like i got to call dana and tell them like hey i'm just torn my bicep and then get the MRI get the mri nothing's torn it was a uh guy And then I had to go get an urgent ultrasound.

[480] I tore my vein in half.

[481] And it ripped in half.

[482] Oh, wow.

[483] And then I had three blood clots.

[484] So I was immediately, they started injecting me with blood thinners.

[485] I was on, I've been on blood thinners for, you know, since.

[486] This is because of COVID as well.

[487] That's another thing that happens with people that severe cases of COVID.

[488] They get blood clots.

[489] Didn't know.

[490] And my business partner, Jeremy Perkins, he owns P &P Medical, which they work with COVID.

[491] Or they work with blood clots.

[492] They have, you know, some, the devices they sell to doctors and hospitals.

[493] And the whole time is like, dude, I think you have a blood clot.

[494] I'm like, there's no way I have a blood clot.

[495] But that's a number one silent killer in the nation is blood clots because people don't know they have it.

[496] I had three of them in my arm, didn't even know.

[497] That's crazy.

[498] I just had, like, my arm was sore for a while.

[499] So you were on blood thinners now?

[500] I just finished up my last.

[501] I was on blood thinners for almost three months.

[502] So how do they know when to get you off them?

[503] How do they know that you're okay?

[504] So I was going every month after I did a month.

[505] of blood thinners and I was getting ultrasounds re -altresound me they were literally going from because I literally had my my vein was like an electric cord hard like a rope I couldn't even set my arm down it was so sore like driving the console and this only manifested itself when you started hitting pads after after I hit pads like you didn't feel that before that no like it it blew the vein rip the vein in half so your body must have been see that's the thing too right like I'm sure when you came back you tried to rip oh dude I was I was horny I was so horny I wanted to smash those pads I was like feeling good I was in great shape my conditioning was on another level world class always is but I all that cycling yeah and I was not getting tired and I was just you know like oh no and usually my biceps hurt after I hit strikes I'm just just hooking and just for the first few times if I don't hit pads in a while but this was another pain I woke up and my brother just moved in with me and I woke up in the middle of night and it was at 6 and I had Chris's class and I literally hit my arm on the side I don't think I can go to Jitsu I'm like I got hill sprints I'll go do hill sprints in the afternoon texting my doctor I'm like hey can you check my arm out and he was like holy shit man this is not good so how long are you on the blood thinners for it was almost three months I just got off I actually go when I go back from here I go to the hospital and get ultrasound to see if the because the one blood clot reabsorbed but I still had one blood clot since the last one that has a superficial vein so I'm I learned a lot about health and this year from the kidney infection the blood clots and and now I just did a blood panel so every camp before I'm gonna get a blood panel of things checking what I'm low on maybe a vitamin or supplement can help me out not break my body down because we're training two three times a day we're you understand it a lot of people who don't like to just to get to the fight yeah is amazing but to be able to peek on that night it's an form it's an art form yeah it's it's scientific you have to really know your body and i usually do when you train with mark henry does he have any a different approach to strength and conditioning does he leave that to other people does he advise you in that or is he just technique oriented and you know what he he harps on and brags about and it's so funny from a boxer like all boxers like talk shit about wrestlers like oh you're in those singlets and he's like get you wrestle on it he's like because he's fucking smart dude he knows he understands like i mean ruckers is right there so we have the ruckers in the new jersey training center so we go to train with those young hungry college kids are trying to fuck you up and then you have the all -Americans or you have the international wrestlers that have that out there on the training center and it's just a dog fight I mean you get those kids you're hand fighting for 10 minutes with these dudes and we're live wrestling like and we all have wrestling backgrounds and it's funny when we get into and maybe we kind of dip away from wrestling so much because we're focused on striking and jitsu and what got us there was those grinding wrestling matches when you're just, ah, man, it's miserable.

[506] And so he always says, hey, every time I get out to phone with him, we're about to hang up.

[507] He's like, hey, get your wrestling in.

[508] I'm like, all right, cool, yeah, for sure.

[509] So it's great.

[510] So he harps on that.

[511] Obviously, strength and conditioning is big as well.

[512] But, you know, don't, don't see what I do.

[513] I do strengthening outside of camp.

[514] That's when I rebuild my body back, you know, everything that I need to do that's going to get torn down in fight.

[515] So I build this armor in camp.

[516] And then I push the first four.

[517] Outside of camp.

[518] And when I get in camp, the first four weeks are brutal.

[519] You're sore, you're hurt.

[520] And then the last four weeks, you kind of modify your workouts to where you're...

[521] So you don't do much actual strength and conditioning while you're in camp?

[522] I do.

[523] I touch the weight.

[524] I touch the weight.

[525] It's more for aerobic skill, skill work.

[526] I have my coach, Amadeo Novello, has worked with Danny and TJ and Joe.

[527] So these guys see new methods that we're doing.

[528] And Danny always walks in.

[529] I was like, I wish I had this when I was.

[530] I was a guinea pig, you know, over -trained.

[531] So he's learned so much and has us peaking at, you know, a strength weight and aerobic and just using all your different systems to formulate in MMA because you know like anybody, MMA training is so much different.

[532] When you go into an MMA fight, you have to be a conditioned boxer, condition, you throw kicks in with boxing now, you're thinking about a whole different cardio.

[533] Then you've got to wait for, you got a guy like Khabib trying to fucking just take you down and be a wet blanket on you.

[534] And then you have to get back on your feet and fly it.

[535] fight them like it's the cardio and the conditioning i think is uh it scares me dude i get scared before my workouts like i know what i go there an hour before everyone's like oh you're here early i'm like well i have to mentally prepare myself to put my body through that and i think that that's going back to the slight edge there i see a lot of my teammates are walking in there late they have no urgency i'm like i just couldn't do it i have to mentally put myself in there what i'm going to do i might pass out i might i'm probably going to throw up i'm going to push my limits to where i'm going to feel like i'm going to pass out or i'm going to be sick after And I feel like that's a slight edge tier you have to do And just getting to that point Because, dude, how embarrassing would it be That I'm better than this fighter But my conditioning was worse And that's why he beat me Dude, being exhausted Having fatigue will make you a coward In any circumstance Fis Lombardy, right?

[536] Fatigue makes cowards of us all Yeah, yeah, that's my favorite quote We had that in our wrestling room And I didn't even know what fatigue was And as a kid, I'd always see this In our high school wrestling We grew up in it, we're homegrown and from kids tie and shoes on the first time on the mat to, you know, wherever you go to college after and, like, the same wrestling room.

[537] The same coach was there for 30 -some years, Eric Tokenan.

[538] And he was just old school, old school, and had quotes.

[539] And I'm like, fatigue makes cowards.

[540] But that one stuck in me. And then I figured out what fatigue was.

[541] I'm like, well, I'm not going to be a coward.

[542] I knew what a coward was.

[543] I didn't know what a fatigue was, but I'm not going to be tired.

[544] I'm not going to be a coward, so I always stuck with that one.

[545] Talk to me about the cycling, because I think that's really interesting that you developed all this endurance from cycling.

[546] I mean, I go back to when Nick Diaz was in his prime, and one of the things that separated Nick from everybody was his elite cardio, that Nick, Nick has swam from Alcatraz five times.

[547] Maybe more since then, because I remember I said twice once, and he corrected me, he was five times.

[548] I want to do it one time.

[549] Five fucking times.

[550] That's shark -infested, yeah.

[551] Dude, I go to the beach, and I'm all for it.

[552] My son loves the beach always once to go.

[553] I got to see my feet in the water.

[554] I can't be out too far.

[555] I got to see my feet.

[556] The wife, she's out there.

[557] She's Thai, so she's like, oh, I'm out in deep end.

[558] But, yeah, that world -class cardio, that's what I think separates it.

[559] Yeah, there's something about that, right?

[560] The running, the swimming, the riding.

[561] And I think because you're so alone in yourself, you know, you're swimming, you're swimming.

[562] What are you doing?

[563] You're on the bike.

[564] You have to push yourself.

[565] You're running.

[566] You're pushing yourself.

[567] You know, and then you get into that, well, I've done defeat myself.

[568] I've done push myself past this limits where I want to give in.

[569] Now I have another human that might have some will.

[570] that might give a little eye or body language that he doesn't want to be in here, now you start getting that confidence.

[571] And I feel like for me going into a fight is my confidence comes through my hard work, knowing that I left no, you know, stone and turned.

[572] And I feel like that just, but you have to be smart with it.

[573] Are you going to do that in all your future camps now or leading up to it?

[574] It's because it seems like it was very effective for you.

[575] Yeah, I feel like I just did my, V -O -2 testing, you know, as high as it's ever been.

[576] I'm, I feel like I'm, I have world -class cardio, especially when the rounds get deeper.

[577] I feel like I get better in the fight.

[578] As I get tired, I get sharper, I feel when I'm, you know, putting the work in in great shape, of course.

[579] So definitely, I think I have to tailor my cycling.

[580] I'm not going to be, because I have back problems, you know, I've had some back issues.

[581] Being in that bike for seven hours riding 100 -and -some miles in that couch over position, like, it locks you up.

[582] Have you ever talked to Volcanowski?

[583] I haven't, no He had a pretty severe back injury and his back would blow out during every camp but then he got a really good strength of conditioning coach and worked with him on strengthening his back and he's never had a problem since because a lot of what happens with people that have back issues where sometimes it's good and sometimes it's back is the muscles around the back aren't conditioned to maintain posture maintain the training camp and then they give out and when the muscles give out then you hurt your back again then the big muscles lock up yeah yeah yeah So my strength addition and coach, I'm Dale Nevella, my PT, Russ, down in from Kind Performance.

[584] They've worked with a lot of baseball players who throw a lot like fighters.

[585] So I don't do a lot of front loaded squats, back load of squats.

[586] I do split stance, you know.

[587] Okay.

[588] Single leg, a lot of single arm, single leg.

[589] Lunges, that kind of thing.

[590] You know, get the weight evenly distributed so it's not heavy load on one side.

[591] And I feel like that's been a huge advantage as far as strength where I'm not getting my back locked up.

[592] I can still do these dead lifts.

[593] like still touch us heavy weight because you need to build your body in those backs up.

[594] Have you ever seen that harness system that Louis Simmons from West Side Barbell created?

[595] He's in Columbus.

[596] Yeah, Marcus Marinelli, a steep bass coach, has one we used to train on.

[597] That thing is amazing.

[598] I got one in my old gym in...

[599] What do they call that?

[600] It drops down.

[601] Belt squat?

[602] Yeah.

[603] We have one at the old gym in California, and now I have one in my house from Sorenix.

[604] But it puts all the weight on your hips.

[605] Yeah.

[606] So your back doesn't take that load.

[607] Yeah, we have one at the gym.

[608] It's called a pit shark.

[609] And it's, yeah, the same thing, just puts it on the hips and you can just rip it.

[610] So, yeah, we utilize that a lot.

[611] Obviously, the machine that you gave me or told me to get reverse hyper.

[612] That's another Louis Simmons.

[613] That's a fucking wizard.

[614] And then the machine that you just kind of, like, lay there and it kind of elongates the other machine.

[615] Oh, yeah, that's the decks from the company fucking.

[616] Decks 2.

[617] Yeah, Decks 2 from...

[618] God damn it.

[619] It's one of the sponsors.

[620] Yeah, Teeter.

[621] They're the folks that have that...

[622] Well, first of all, they have those boots that you can hang from those gravity boots, which are phenomenal.

[623] And then that thing is the shit.

[624] That decks...

[625] Is that a different one?

[626] It looks a little different.

[627] It looks a little different color, I think.

[628] Oh, okay.

[629] That thing is the shit.

[630] That is my all -time favorite back...

[631] You could do those back...

[632] hyper with that back extensions but in terms of like loosening up your back and and having your back decompress what I like about that over even the the the regular teeter is that this one you're you're hinging from the hips so you're not supporting yourself at all with your ankles or anything else your body weight in terms of your lower body is all supported by your thighs so you can completely relax your back and the decompression is just phenomenal it's I'd love that thing yeah i'm thankful you gave me that or you know help me help me get that because my back you know that was when i was on the show three years when i had the back problems and i literally get on there my back starts getting tight from training or riding i'll lay in there you know five five minutes at a time you know just kind of decompress the reverse hyper to strengthen it and also active decompression from the reverse hyper and then that thing those two together are fucking phenomenal yeah i feel great i mean i'm gonna knock on this wood but uh that's good yeah did you do do any yoga or anything i do i do i mean we spoke about that um on a podcast years ago about doing hot yoga and uh started getting into that um but like i said i do five days a week of pt i do manual um manual work with cupping and and blading and grasping and what is it i've never had cupping done how is that what does that do for you it makes you have weird weird hickies circles all over your body yeah yeah i feel like the the only problem with that leading up to a fight is when guys see it like uh the adasanya fight with paula costa yeah he was covered costa he had them all around his calves calves which is like that ain't good if izzie sees that shit he's gonna know yeah and uh i was getting a lot of work done too uh during one of my fights with tj the first one of madison square i had heather um from the ufc come in and And I was just pretty banged up my neck and just stiff and my hand.

[633] But I've found use with cupping as far as my hips getting hips getting kind of bound up.

[634] So what does it feel like it loosens you up?

[635] I feel like you just like, you know, when you have a physical trainer and you're in these hips and you're hugging your other knee and these open up your, you know, whole exterior line, it just helps get the blood flow, you know, reacted there.

[636] Like kind of just traumatize it.

[637] And then all right, the body's like, oh, shit, something's happening here.

[638] We've got to hurry up and heal, get the blood flow.

[639] blood flowing there um i think that's what happens a lot but i started doing dry needling too and um a lot of athletes like fast twitch athletes it it depletes them like it just do and your muscles are just so fatigued and fried from dry needling from dry needling really just hits that nerve and it just spazes it out and the muscles is like i don't know what it what it does like um my trainer he did some on some obj uh o beck and he said that it would like when he would do it it was um you know he would be kind of unrest for like two days because it was just his body so fast twitch you know but i feel like when i'm that bound up i need to do something like that but going to the pt doing mobile um mobile strength and conditioning together just and just stretching honestly stretching and drinking a ton of water like staying hydrated was uh it's a huge thing stretching is a funny thing because it's so important for fighters but so few fighters really stretch yeah they they train then maybe do a little bit of stretching and then at the end they're done but it doesn't suck any more than strength and conditioning work but for whatever reason people don't like stretching i think it's the the middle like oh man i got to go stretch it's hard but it's like i can go and kill a two hour workout or an hour workout with pads or grappling yeah because you express aggression yeah express aggression like you're like this ain't doing but it's actually going to help you out in a long run the one that sucks the most is when you're um sitting your leg straight out and you touch your toes and you bring your body down because you can't breathe so you're holding on your your feet and you stretch it and it's like your hamstrings and your body's like just stop just stop doing this you can't breathe come on you want to quit oh yeah you want to quit it's that is to me the the most annoying stretch i've done so with my pedro fight i tore all my um my carpace radius um flexor tendon in my wrist and how did you do that's just fucking wide open slang and shit yeah sling it from my yeah my belt waist are you sparring hard or are you sparring hard or are you sparring technically.

[640] I'm not.

[641] I don't really spar.

[642] I mean, I'll go in and spar.

[643] I don't need to, Joe.

[644] I feel like I know how to fight.

[645] I feel like you do need to go in and get like some shit thrown at you, but more technical spar.

[646] You just need to have your, someone throwing fast shit at you like Chris, he'll be throwing kicks and combos in our padwork and, you know, he'll be moving around.

[647] But I'm not taking those hard shots and those blows, but I'm getting comfortable with getting stuff thrown at me and retaliating.

[648] Like, when did you shift?

[649] I started shifting it probably Prior to You know Right after The Pedro fight I would say I started doing that More and more technical Did you decide that you were getting beat up Too much in training I honestly wasn't That's a thing Like I felt like I was What made you to make the shift I just wanted to train tomorrow I don't know if I was like Overtraining, over sparring Because I would get to the fights Joe and I would just be like Fuck I got a fight I felt like I was overtrained is that also why you started getting the whoop strap did the whoop yeah the whoop was was huge i kind of wanted to show you where your recovery is you know like there's some days like you're not going to go over this strain but it's sparring day you know you're going to go over that strain but it's going to have you know okay after that sparring day you're going to maybe take the night off instead of doing a pad session really going to let yourself so i'm pretty much in tune with my body prior to having this it's just a tool to help you know sleep you know um hrv i think that's a heart a variable is great which resting heart rates at and then obviously you know the sleep's a huge thing recovery for us is how much can you recover and go the next day if i love the fact that it gives you real data so you don't have to guess yeah you don't have to say oh i feel pretty good you can actually look at the whoop app and it'll show you exactly where your body's at based on just real pure feedback not intuition not guess work right and you wear it for a while at 30 or 40 days and it acclimates to your body so it has that grace period of like get to know your body, training wise, you know, like, I'll be done with a training session, and it'll really know that it was a kickboxing workout.

[650] Yeah.

[651] It's my heart rate.

[652] Are you putting it on with one of those impacts?

[653] I had the impact slaps when I grapple.

[654] But sometimes when I spar, I think I have a position right on my wrist, I wrap it with my hand wrap, and then tape it and it doesn't mess my wrist up.

[655] Okay.

[656] So the strap's cool.

[657] The strap was good, actually.

[658] And I think closer to your heart, obviously, is going to get a better reading.

[659] Is that real?

[660] You just got it?

[661] Sounded awesome.

[662] It sounded great.

[663] I don't know if that's the case.

[664] You should just wear a chest strap.

[665] I feel like when I wear the chest strap, but then you have it right in your sternum.

[666] When you're sparring, you get front kicked or knee to the stick.

[667] I mean, I got hit there before with that thing on.

[668] That does not feel good.

[669] It's not fun.

[670] I'm like, I'm like, shit.

[671] It goes flying everywhere.

[672] You're trying to catch in between sparring.

[673] But this is nice.

[674] It keeps the, you know, it keeps it right in there with that sleeve.

[675] And then with this covered up, it's, you know, it doesn't.

[676] It doesn't really bother me too much.

[677] But I do do this draft when I do, like, cardio and where I can check my phone.

[678] Like what I'm doing, the strength conditioning and stuff.

[679] But grappling, I want to make sure, like, I want to know what my heart rate's at.

[680] So I know, you know, the UFC just started doing punch, you know, dialysis with, they put, like, the meters in your glove.

[681] They cut it out and put this thing in your gloves.

[682] Yeah.

[683] Have you done that?

[684] So just showing the volume of punches or the impact?

[685] Impact.

[686] I don't know what's in there.

[687] I don't know what they're checking.

[688] They're like, oh, we're taking your gloves and, you know, you pick your gloves and then they give me a fight day.

[689] During the fight, they have, there's a little thing in your gloves.

[690] Yeah, they literally cut your glove where the UFC logo was at and slide this thing in.

[691] They take it out after each fight and put it in.

[692] So he has your data.

[693] I'm like, I want to find out what it says with Francis.

[694] Yeah.

[695] I was smart.

[696] I'd always have a pair of gloves.

[697] Like, dude, you get those gloves fight.

[698] We get they're stiff as hell.

[699] You know what I mean?

[700] Like, oh, this bag they're going to be in this little bag you get out they're going to be work so i used to always bring a pair of gloves i would use the last two weeks of training camp so they'd already be broken into my hands and then i would just switch it out and i got so nervous when they were like i'm like oh shit they got stuff in the gloves like we can't use our old gloves now you feel it any different no not really no i just slight edge thing you know right slight edge thing so uh but yeah they taught us that so i got chicken out last flight i'm like oh no we got to use these ones what do you mean so i'd always bring in a pair of gloves that i had and i was just having my bag and i'm like i'm these are broken in not these ones that are fresh and stiff as hell but do they make you wear those stiff fresh ones or yeah so that's what they give you so you but you couldn't use the ones that you had they wouldn't let you um i don't think they would let you um i just always did yeah you just always would do it yeah yeah yeah the the gloves Oh, that's illegal, but...

[701] They're not the best.

[702] It's tough.

[703] You know, eye poking, my thumbs.

[704] I would always give...

[705] Trevor Whitman has a phenomenal design.

[706] His on -x gloves, his MMA gloves are the...

[707] First of all, his boxing gloves, all of his gear is...

[708] He hooks me up, so shout out to the food chain.

[709] Shout out to Trevor.

[710] Yeah, dude, I love it.

[711] He's the fucking man. Oh, my God.

[712] How many times you've been to a gym and you're like, fuck, I forget my handwraps?

[713] And you can't hit with...

[714] Like, well, if you heat molded your gloves, you don't really need a handwrap that thing.

[715] It's, they're just so good.

[716] They're just so much better design.

[717] What about his headgear?

[718] His head gear, though.

[719] Everything's great.

[720] Everything he makes is great.

[721] Shin pads, everything he makes is great.

[722] But the thing to me is his hand, his gloves, his MMA gloves, they're superior.

[723] They're better design.

[724] And I don't know what the deal is, why they can't make a deal with the UFC to use those onyx gloves.

[725] They should fucking figure out a way to make it happen.

[726] They are the best gloves.

[727] They're so much better.

[728] The hand positioning is better.

[729] First of all, it forces your hands.

[730] hand into this position.

[731] Instead of like this, with MMA gloves with UFC gloves, your hands want to extend.

[732] It wants to open your hand up and you have to force it closed.

[733] Trevor's gloves want your hand closed.

[734] They curve at the end.

[735] It puts you in a natural curve position to be able to strike.

[736] And they're better in terms of like the protection they offer your hands.

[737] Knuckles, I'm all for that.

[738] I mean, my hands bust it up.

[739] I'm sure.

[740] Dude, as hard as you hit.

[741] busted him.

[742] I broke the hand.

[743] I always have you.

[744] I wrap it, tape it.

[745] See if you can get a photo of his onyx glove.

[746] What do you love for that?

[747] Literally one year ago today is when Rashad was on the podcast to premiere them.

[748] Oh, wow.

[749] Really?

[750] Was it?

[751] Those gloves, yeah.

[752] But that one, and then he...

[753] Like officially, I guess.

[754] He measured me and shit and 3D scanned me and he's supposed to send me a bunch of shit.

[755] But those are not...

[756] Those are pride gloves.

[757] Those on the right hand side.

[758] His are...

[759] Yeah, those are the boxing gloves.

[760] Is those his MMA gloves right there?

[761] What is that?

[762] you adjust at will your cursor right there click on that nope those are boxing gloves as well he's got um oh it's right there the white ones that that's them that's them those are the shit they are the shit they are so much better than any i've fucked with the pride gloves i've i've touched a lot of different people's gloves and put them on different and a lot of good ones right but those head and shoulders above everybody else's they they are phenomenal and they have the best protection for your hands too yeah they're fucking Trevor Whitman.

[763] Let's go to you.

[764] Let's get it in there.

[765] Please change the gloves.

[766] It's a new year.

[767] Come on.

[768] Yeah, it's a new year.

[769] I don't know.

[770] I mean, I know they were working on some sort of a deal, but for some reason they couldn't Oh, that'd be great.

[771] They couldn't come to some agreement for whatever reason.

[772] How many people get poked an eye in a fight?

[773] A lot, man. A lot.

[774] A lot.

[775] And it was less in pride.

[776] Did you notice in pride?

[777] Yeah, for sure.

[778] Less people got poked in pride.

[779] The gloves were more curved in pride.

[780] I'm all for it.

[781] Yeah.

[782] Yeah.

[783] There's something needs to change because the eye pokes are, I mean, Nick glints i don't know if it was a poke or what but he lost 40 % of his vision in one of his eyes and he just retired yeah he said his last fight he was seeing double i mean look at uh i don't well bisping i believe it was a kick that fucked his eye up and then subsequent surgeries and you know it's happened to me before i got kicked in the eye and sparring like the toenail like raised my eye and cut my eye and luckily i didn't have anything detached or anything of that that's how mike winklejohn lost his eye holding pads for somebody yeah guy got him with his fucking toenail.

[784] That whole camp I couldn't spar.

[785] My whole eye was bloodshot for like two months.

[786] I guess it was just there.

[787] I had to fight.

[788] The things that people don't know about what fighters go through.

[789] The headaches were crazy man. From that?

[790] Intense like just from the eye pain.

[791] Yeah.

[792] To get drops in my eyes for two weeks.

[793] Jesus Christ.

[794] Yeah.

[795] It's been a journey though, man. It's been fun.

[796] I mean, I would love to do it all over again.

[797] Now where are you at now?

[798] Do they have anything lined up for you you're obviously you're clear COVID now clear COVID I like anna and Sean UFC Brassnow when did you start feeling like you felt 100 % I mean today was the first day you tested negative all right but when did you start feeling 100 % I would say about a month ago Jesus Christ about a month ago a month ago folks is January we're in February now we're talking about a disease that you caught in August that is crazy to where I could feel like I could go and push myself and then the next day be able to that night be able to recover so you were a good four plus months just wrecked horrible yeah and trying to just work through i still work through it you know third of a year like still riding the bike still doing you know my strengthening um individually when i had the when i had to when i had to covid or you still had the symptoms um you know they have all kinds of studies say you're only you know contagious the first 48 hours this and that like i was 48 hours i don't i've read up done so much studies on what it is really that i don't think that's true yeah i don't think that they maybe they just changed their The beginning day, they had all these thoughts in the beginning.

[799] All these data is coming out, right, yeah.

[800] That they thought, you know.

[801] Double mask.

[802] Well, now I're triple mouth.

[803] Triple mouth is safe and better.

[804] Dude, we flew out here.

[805] I saw a lady with a double mask, a shield, and goggles and gloves.

[806] Yeah, I've seen this.

[807] My friend Reggie, Watts, turned me on to this.

[808] Look at this.

[809] Am I upside down?

[810] No. Is the right way?

[811] Yeah, there's like head.

[812] There's a pat up on the, for the forehead.

[813] Come on, son.

[814] How about this?

[815] Dude, I need one.

[816] Where's Reggie?

[817] I may fly home.

[818] I don't want to experience COVID again.

[819] This is the, I don't think you're going to catch it again, right?

[820] You must have mad antibodies.

[821] Maynard Keenan from Tool, he got COVID a second time.

[822] Bad.

[823] He had it bad once, and he got it a second time.

[824] Yeah, I started cycling, so I started following some of the athletes that were top in the world.

[825] The cyclist athlete, he got it twice, you know, back -to -back.

[826] That's one of those things where I wonder it's because they're training, if it's because they're training so hard.

[827] Because when people train so hard, your immune system gets crushed.

[828] Yeah, I think so.

[829] I think it's like everyone said that to me. Like, oh, you're a world elite athlete.

[830] Like, you should be able to get this.

[831] And I thought that too.

[832] Because I remember what Pedro Munoz, me was fighting Frankie, test it posited, had to push it back.

[833] Like, he's getting ready to fight.

[834] Like, he had no symptoms.

[835] Like, he was good.

[836] Like, he was, you know, maybe asymptomatic maybe.

[837] But then he pushes it back, you know, a month or so, and he's still fighting.

[838] Like, I guess.

[839] Gilbert Burns, the same thing.

[840] Yeah, I guess everyone.

[841] Everyone's different, sometimes it attacks you differently, but I truly believe that mine stemmed from, you know, the kidney infection, breaking my body down with the damp antibiotics.

[842] Sure.

[843] But what was I supposed to do?

[844] Do, did other guys in the gym get it?

[845] There's a few, not like a huge outbreak, you know, outspread of anything, a handful here and there where we closed down for, you know, a week.

[846] And how did most guys, what was their cases like?

[847] Not what I had.

[848] Mild.

[849] Mild.

[850] I honestly don't know.

[851] I mean, I could probably just stem to that, you know, being on the.

[852] antibiotic and when you're on antibiotics it's not good it's not good for you it's terrible for you how to do i had to do though the recovery from that is is rough too because your body just does not want all that stuff in the system you know all those antibiotics they kill the good bacteria too i was feeling horrible yeah i was not even drinking coffee i was this stomach was so upset i couldn't even drink coffee i love coffee you know dude i had staff once the first time i got staff um i i i had it and they put me on some heavy heavy antibiotics and boy what did that give me so much respect for people that have fought on antibiotics because i i never realize how bad it wrecks you i never like luke rock hold won the title he beat chris wideman on antibiotics which is fucking insane right when you do antibiotics and you're i felt like my head was filled with cotton i was like oh oh it's horrible i hope my body my body body was weak.

[853] Every punch I got hit in training and just little things, oh, that shit hurt way more than I should have.

[854] You know what I mean?

[855] This was like, it's all fragile.

[856] I was like, man, just give me a tampon.

[857] I'm getting the fuck out of here.

[858] I'm getting a bitch right now.

[859] So now you're clear and now what is like, do you contact the UFC and say, hey, I need three months.

[860] I need, you know, what do you say?

[861] I told Dana that I'm healthy and Sean, Ali.

[862] I keep a good, you know, good communication with them.

[863] I got a relationship with them outside of, you know, business and friendship.

[864] but like when it comes to business that Ali go in there and do that stuff I told me I'm ready I like to fight Jose Otto um you know they told me I had the title shot I'm not going to wait till eight months and see what the flyweight division is going to do I'm healthy I want to get in there and fight I want to fight two or three times this year um Jose auto is phenomenal legend a lot of respect for him coming off a big win he was right there fighting for the title the fight before um you know I think that's a great fight stylistically for me and it gets me up It gets me hungry, motivated.

[865] I'm going to fight a legend.

[866] He's at my weight.

[867] I get to fight Joseo Alto.

[868] I get to stay at 35.

[869] The division's great.

[870] Is that the proposed fight?

[871] Or is that what you're wanting?

[872] That's what I'm wanting.

[873] Ali told me that everyone's for it.

[874] Dana just has to make the fight.

[875] So how many months would you need now, knowing that you're over the illnesses?

[876] I've been saying April.

[877] I've been saying April.

[878] I've been saying April and I just, Ollie talked to me yesterday and said, you know, maybe May. I said if it doesn't happen April, May, like we've got to move with different opponents.

[879] and I'm ready to fight.

[880] But you want him because he's a big name.

[881] Big name for him or champion.

[882] There's a lot at stake.

[883] I like the stylistically fight.

[884] You know, and this is looking not past him.

[885] But if I'm going to fight Aldo and I still have the title shot at 25, which they've told me, but obviously rematch.

[886] And I'm four.

[887] I want to fight for it.

[888] I want to earn my spot like I did in the beginning to be a champion.

[889] What would you prefer?

[890] I mean, what if Marino gets injured and they say Figurato wants to fight you?

[891] Would you prefer that?

[892] Or would you prefer that?

[893] Or would you prefer that?

[894] the aldo fight either either fight i just want to fight you just want to fight any fight to be honest any fight that makes sense to me makes sense to my career where i'm going and if i'm having the title fight after you know whoever is declared winner and say marino's a striker you know figgy's a striker's a striker's not i have to get ready for a different camp i don't have to get ready for this jujitsu savon or well figurino's a jujitsu savant too man that motherfucker's got a guillotine a hundred hundred percent takedown defense i would love for him to try to take me down I'm a box that full up.

[895] Honestly, I'm so, you know, I'm confident.

[896] I'm confident in that, especially after watching that fight, after watching that fight, I'm telling you what, if I hit him as many times as Moreno hits him, he's going to be faced down, ass up.

[897] He fought almost like Marino had no business in there with him.

[898] And Marino does have a bit.

[899] He's tough as tough.

[900] He's tough.

[901] He's the gritty dude like we talked about earlier.

[902] He's going to keep coming.

[903] You're going to have to knock that dude out and stop him.

[904] But what a fight that was.

[905] It was because of the way he fought and, you know, Marino style.

[906] I think he.

[907] Wow.

[908] Void a lot of weaknesses, the takedowns, the punches on the brakes, the kicks were really what was stood out with me. He was blitzing with the hands and, you know, Figgie goes down with his hands and those kicks were coming.

[909] He was catching him and caught with the kicks.

[910] He got hit with a lot of stuff that's, I feel like I'm better, faster, that stronger than it.

[911] And then and vice versa, Viggy, you know, if I'm fighting Moreno, you know, he's.

[912] Well, it'd be interesting to see you at 25 because you'd be really big.

[913] You'd be really big for that weight class.

[914] I feel Figurator has been at our gym He's a big dude He's done two or three camps at our gym Team Alpha male With the Brazilian connections that we have That fool's bigger than me He walks around bigger than I do Well he is fucking Shredded When he gets down to 25 And he's missed it before You know what I mean So Missed for the title When he fought Joe Benavita's the first time Yeah I mean that just shows you where you're at You know You're cutting all that much weight He just honestly Fighting out of his weight class He cuts that much weight And that's why I like 35 because I'm like, I'm not that person.

[915] But if I have opportunity to go and help a division and bring awareness and bring attention to it, I'm all for that.

[916] You know, that's what we spoke about with John and then the UFC and Dana and Mick.

[917] Like, yeah, I would love to be able to bounce back and forth, not just win these titles and be like, I'm going to retire.

[918] What did you think about TJ trying to get down to 25?

[919] I thought that was the scariest I ever saw a fighter look, like leading up to a way in.

[920] I knew he was going to get knocked out.

[921] Did you?

[922] I knew.

[923] Because he was just so depleted.

[924] I think Monsters sent a video of him doing this.

[925] I'm just, his neck was just too frail.

[926] His face.

[927] His face neck.

[928] He had no fat.

[929] Yeah, no fat at all.

[930] And he was clearly like eating his muscle tissue.

[931] For sure.

[932] Like, there was not healthy.

[933] And TJ walks around bigger than I do.

[934] You know what I mean?

[935] About 10 pounds.

[936] And TJ's probably, you know, 55s, you know, when it was cutting down to that.

[937] To 35 and then made it all the way down to 25.

[938] Exactly.

[939] That training lab that he works out with that.

[940] Cavillo?

[941] Yeah.

[942] Yeah, I'm fascinated by that guy.

[943] It's really interesting because they've got it down to a science, like everything, from your nutrition to the cardio, all the different types of workouts that they do.

[944] Yeah.

[945] I mean, and the guy does everything out of his fucking garage.

[946] Out of his garage, that's awesome.

[947] Pretty wild.

[948] Yeah, it seems like his work.

[949] I know my buddy Lance Palmer, he trains with Coach Kavilla and speaks highly of him.

[950] He works out, you know, it's structured for him.

[951] It has his program.

[952] He's in Jersey.

[953] He can do the training at home and do it at his house.

[954] You know, he's in Ohio.

[955] So that's great, you know, and Lance is one of those guys.

[956] He's a workhorse.

[957] You tell him, you know, here's what's on the agenda.

[958] You're going to do it.

[959] Is he with the PFL now?

[960] He's the PFL, back -to -back champ, you know, the first ever in their organization.

[961] He's getting ready, I think, April, the featherweight tournament starts again.

[962] So he's getting ready to ship out to camp, to Coach Henry as well.

[963] PFL's interesting now, right?

[964] Because now they just took on Rory McDonald's, and they got Showtime Pettis.

[965] so they're they're juicing up their roster they got some some new heat it's nice for you know a lot of the the fighters have options fuck yeah dude it's nice to see rumble and yel romero at belator holy fuck they're fighting each that's amazing i'm excited for that it's a big fight it's a big fight for both of them i mean yeah wow that's that's let's put on some great fucking fights recently musasi versus douglas limo was a great fight they've got a lot of heat there now they got that russian champ that just beat bader i mean that dude's a beast he's a Yeah, oh, man, he's huge.

[966] They've got great fighters.

[967] They've got great fighters.

[968] I'm excited for that fight, you know, and...

[969] I just don't like the name Bellator.

[970] I think it's a dumb name.

[971] Bellator, yeah.

[972] It doesn't make any sense.

[973] What's a Bellator?

[974] Yeah, just call it MMA.

[975] I mean, look...

[976] Let's go fight in that still cage.

[977] People want a champion, you know, you have an organization.

[978] You've got to have a name for your organization, but I felt like with boxing with, you know, whether it was the WBO or the WBC or the IBF, here's the lightweight, champion of the world.

[979] Here's the Welterway champion of the world.

[980] This is the WBC Welterway champion.

[981] You know, they need something like that.

[982] Yeah, for sure.

[983] Because, like, a Bellator is like, what is a Bellator?

[984] Unification.

[985] It needs Warrior in Latin.

[986] That's not the worst name, but like, I don't know here.

[987] Who's speaking Latin?

[988] Who knew that?

[989] Who knew that?

[990] I did.

[991] I knew it.

[992] We looked it up before.

[993] But it's goofy.

[994] Yeah, UFC is nice.

[995] It's, you know, short and syllable.

[996] UFC, all their championship.

[997] The UFC, it's like Q -tips.

[998] They got it locked up.

[999] Do you train UFC?

[1000] I train UFC.

[1001] Yeah.

[1002] Everybody wants cotton swabs.

[1003] You got any Q -tips?

[1004] It's a fucking Q -tip.

[1005] That's right.

[1006] No one asked for a cotton swabs.

[1007] Give me a cotton swab.

[1008] Right?

[1009] Do you ask for a tissue or do you ask for a Kleenex?

[1010] He asked for a fucking Kleenex.

[1011] I'm tissue.

[1012] I don't know.

[1013] I don't know.

[1014] My argument did fall apart.

[1015] You were right.

[1016] No, that was great.

[1017] I was doing good for a little while.

[1018] Fucking tissue.

[1019] Kleenex.

[1020] I'm asking for a clean -ins.

[1021] Do you have to, Do you ask for petroleum jelly or you ask for Vaseline?

[1022] Vaseline.

[1023] Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[1024] It's just the name UFC means so much.

[1025] You know, it's like, I don't care how big the XFL.

[1026] NFL.

[1027] Yeah.

[1028] The NFL is the NFL.

[1029] You grew up watching that shit.

[1030] It's like UFC, you know.

[1031] Yeah.

[1032] You yourself there and everybody, it's Liddell's Latitos.

[1033] Like that, they branded that.

[1034] This weekend, I'm flying to Vegas for the fights and I'm fucking pumped.

[1035] Camaro Usma.

[1036] versus Gilbert Burns that is a wild fight I'm pulling that fight I'm really pulled at it I like both dudes I think both great are great assets I just feel I don't and then I it waivers because now you have Usman working with Trevor fucking Whitman like how great is that I know when I went to Coach Henry for that time short time how much I leveled up you know maybe that could have been a difference in who's one striking and open up his game more working with a coach at that much knowledge and and to give into the game I mean And, look, Gilbert's working with Henry Hoof, too.

[1037] Yeah, exactly.

[1038] And there's no weakness there.

[1039] Look, Gilbert is a monster.

[1040] He's a terrifying guy because Gilbert is a guy that was torturing himself to get to 155, moves up to 170, and he's just smashing people.

[1041] And the way he beat Tyron Woodley, boy, that opened up a lot of fucking people's eyes.

[1042] That first combination that he threw at him, and I was like, holy fuck.

[1043] When he dropped him, you're like, oh, Jesus Christ.

[1044] And on top of that, world champion in jiu -tutu.

[1045] I mean, Gilbert's a fucking phenom on the ground.

[1046] And like what Camaro's good at is wrestling.

[1047] You know what I mean?

[1048] Camaro is also good at just mental toughness.

[1049] His mind is as strong as any man that fights in the octagon.

[1050] He's rock solid.

[1051] I mean, you're talking about a guy who's never been taken down, never been dropped.

[1052] I mean, he's a fucking monster, man. Camaro was a monster.

[1053] And then fought in his fight with Mazvedal with a broken nose.

[1054] He shattered his nose before that fight.

[1055] After the fight, they're testing.

[1056] They go, you got a broken nose.

[1057] He's like, yeah, I had that already.

[1058] I've had that.

[1059] Thanks.

[1060] Coming into the fight.

[1061] We get a fixed now.

[1062] Yeah.

[1063] I mean, literally had a shattered nose coming into one of the most high profile fights in his life.

[1064] And that's shit that, you know, general public don't understand what you go through to get to the fight.

[1065] He didn't even talk about it until recently.

[1066] No one even knew about it until recently.

[1067] You knew what he was going to do is winning at all costs.

[1068] He's, I'm a big fan of both of those guys.

[1069] I think that's a wild fight.

[1070] That's great.

[1071] And they've trained together.

[1072] Yeah, and they train together.

[1073] So there's a, you know, I train with T. Jay going into those fights.

[1074] I knew what I did in training.

[1075] And training is training, though.

[1076] But you also know tendencies, you know, where you have an advantage.

[1077] Exactly.

[1078] Training is training, but it's especially fighting because, you know, you're going against DJ.

[1079] He's not your fucking friend on the mat.

[1080] You know, that motherfucker wants to win, you know, at all cost.

[1081] So do I. Like, we're competitive.

[1082] You get us in a room of sharks, you want to be the top shark.

[1083] You want to be the cream rises to the top.

[1084] You know, that's what I think everyone at our team is so good.

[1085] And we just level up with each other because if you're, guy in the room pushing the pace and you want to be that guy that's the man the other guys are going to just the room elevates do you ever run into him since then um tj uh no i haven't actually how do you think you guys would talk do you think you would or do you have any animosity no i don't man you know i mean like that's that like i said i feel like it's a lifetime ago and i was just a different person um with their approach of everything and um you know i feel like we've both probably hopefully grown from there.

[1086] I know he's had his stuff to come over, you know, with the testing positive for the EPO.

[1087] Two -year ban.

[1088] Two -year ban.

[1089] You know a lot of us.

[1090] And all eyes are on him now.

[1091] You can't fuck up now.

[1092] And then if he falls off, like if his performance is off or if people think that he's not the same fighter, then they're going to call into question his legacy.

[1093] Well, same here.

[1094] Same here.

[1095] I was the undefeated world champion, you know.

[1096] Right, but you didn't cheat.

[1097] I didn't cheat, but I fell off.

[1098] Right.

[1099] But there's a difference.

[1100] There's a difference.

[1101] What I'm saying is, like, the real problem with someone getting caught for performance -enhancing drugs is now the public is looking at your next performance.

[1102] And look, if a guy takes two years off and comes back, you're assuming there's going to be a certain amount of octagon rust.

[1103] But maybe.

[1104] It means some guys don't have it.

[1105] Some guys do.

[1106] Yeah.

[1107] But if a guy comes back after a two -year ban and he was banned because of performance -enhancing drugs and then there's a drop -off, then people are going to be pointing to finger at you.

[1108] Yeah.

[1109] Well, that's going to be.

[1110] that that'll just be a case rested with knowing that he was on that the whole time you know and just now got tested for you know you saw it as great you know all for testing but dude we're pissing in a cup yeah you know hard it is a test for EPO like come on I don't I don't know how hard it is because I don't I mean I normally test for it yeah they don't they don't normally actually test for it it's it's extensive testing it's expensive testing it's expensive testing to do so why are we getting tested I remember when you saw it first came in we used to get random drug tests quarterly whereabouts were addressed at 365 like they would come in the morning they'd come in sundays afternoons like just sporadic to try to catch people which i'm all four um they used to bring a phlebotomist would take blood and i was like oh this is awesome you know we're doing urine and blood and then it stopped with the phlebotomist coming and giving the blood it was just urine i'm like how easy is this to just is it because they keep catching people you got to think man if you have a I don't know this is my theory if you have a doctor you're good friends with you give him like here's a hundred thousand dollars to help me get this test and and you know and check my levels and know that I got a peek at this or I have to be off it at this time you don't think a doctor's out there in the world that's going to help well listen there's a guy on YouTube um his name's Derek and he's got a YouTube channel called more plates more dates and he's a chemist and is like involved in bodybuilding and but he talks openly about the benefits of performing performance enhancing drugs whether or not people are natural or not how people are getting caught and he has this thing on paulo costa what he thinks paula costa's on it gets into that and he also gets into john jones and what he thinks was happening and why he thinks that there's there's giant flaws in the usada testing protocol but this guy is super informed the check him out very very intelligent and it like i sent it to shop i go dude watch this video.

[1111] This is fucking crazy because he details all the stuff that you can do to skirt the USADA protocols.

[1112] And it's pretty weird.

[1113] Like I thought it was locked up.

[1114] I thought like, there's no way to cheat now.

[1115] And he's like, no, you're fucking 100 % for sure can still cheat.

[1116] Right.

[1117] And USADA didn't even catch TJ.

[1118] It was a New York Athletic Commission.

[1119] Really?

[1120] Popped him.

[1121] Was it?

[1122] Yes, it was New York Athletic Commission.

[1123] So they tested him for EPO.

[1124] They tested him for EPO.

[1125] No kidding.

[1126] Blood tests.

[1127] I didn't even get tested in my last flight.

[1128] at all dude they said there were usada's coming we're gonna test you the fight of the week never never once i got tested from the athletic commission i'm pretty sure i did blood after and and a urine but i didn't tested from usada so why do we have to do these whereabouts where we're like man i'm sometimes if i didn't log in and say i'm i'm out here and give an address where i'm staying at they show up to my house that's a failed you fail you get three of those and you're out for three years right you know then how are some chad you know and these guys get these sentences are three years TJ took EPO and only got two years.

[1129] Well what did Chad get caught?

[1130] It was like a peptide for his something.

[1131] He because he has, what the fuck is it called?

[1132] The skin.

[1133] A psoriasis.

[1134] Right.

[1135] Wasn't it for serriasis?

[1136] Something tied like that, I'm pretty sure.

[1137] I didn't really, you know.

[1138] I felt like that was what he said.

[1139] He used a peptide cream.

[1140] But if that was the case of why did he get three years who T. TJ willingly knew that he was doing EPO.

[1141] The only way to do peels injected into yourself yeah you know well and it got to your sentence chad didn't you know chad was kind of thinking about moving on anyway right right so i probably just like oh fuck it yeah i mean he's got that guide service finns and feathers doing yeah he's got his meals this what is the name of his company again you go to find out with chad mendes is uh meal company too because he sent me some of it and it's really fucking good and it's real healthy like a lot of those backpacking meals they're not good.

[1142] They don't taste that good and they're not designed for athletes.

[1143] Can't army food from years ago.

[1144] You fart like crazy dude.

[1145] Well, thanks, Chad.

[1146] Thanks for sending me some.

[1147] His stuff is really good but I've had some of the other stuff and like you just your body's like what is this?

[1148] Get this out of me. You know, you're out there hunting and blasts horrible farts and the animals.

[1149] There's no, no, no, no son.

[1150] They're downwinded that.

[1151] They're going to know something's back.

[1152] Joe's trying to storage.

[1153] Oh, you had that fettuccini from that bag.

[1154] because you know you take those things and they're freeze dried and then you know you add water to them they're dehydrated yes that's it peak refuel elk ragu pasta his stuff is phenomenal chad i never seen this chad mendez that's his shit yeah and he's always working on it he posted on his instagram that's in my opinion that's the best out of those um backpacking camping hunting meals that like is he freeze dried is that what he does see what it says like what they whether it's dehydrated or freeze it says freeze dried yeah it says they're awesome it's phenomenal phenomenal yeah that'd be great yeah because he's an athlete he knows the right foods to put in your body you know right he eats he would come off you know i think he fought connor he was in new zealand for like a 16 day yeah exploration with his father hunting and hiking and they're like oh i'm gonna fight connor and comes back and he's and chad's one of those guys has been an athlete this whole entire life i mean just a fucking animal this dude will come out of being out of the gym for two months and just look insane on the mid sparring wrestling he would be giving me some of my hardest rounds because he's just so explosive fast technical and just built like a fucking turtle dude to get in on him like it would be starting those bad positions and you know he just did with uh he did a submission wrestling tournament with jeff glove or choked him out you know he's crazy there he is look at him just an animal great guy too yeah no he's awesome i love that guy yeah i miss i actually we just spoke to him uh prior to coming out here and hit me about doing some kind podcast with his buddy he's like man i miss you i miss you too man he's like i just you know he goes i just don't miss getting hit by him like me neither i don't miss have to go around with you brother like thank you but i did his training with him is he still in that area the sacramento area yeah he's i think he's in the auburn area because he travels so much for his guide service he's always he likes to be out he likes to be in the country yeah well he's always taking people like you know i've seen him he's got on his instagram taking people tuna fishing he's taking people like bird hunting he's like he's always running these guys i actually ran into him in one of those outdoor expos oh wow i was there with uh my buddy cam haines and we're walking and i just run i go chad what are you doing here and he's like oh i've got my my guide service and i'm signing people up for it i'm like yeah it is fucking cool this was while his career was in full bloom yeah he started doing that yeah it was great you know looking for and he always said like he made fighting fun you know what i mean he would come and do six week camp and go on there and give them all and train his ass off and he'd always say that you know he fights to fund his hunting you know that was his goals you know he was happy with what he was able to do and he's selling out like crazy too his his his his camps or his all of his different hunting camps he's got they're selling out like crazy it's awesome and do and then clay guida's doing the thrills with gills the fishing he's always like let's go fishing man thrills with gills i think it's what it's called how fucking good did clay look but beats michael johnson scared me i was always like i watched it with chris and i'm My brother, I'm like, man, I'm nervous.

[1155] I get nervous from my boys to fight, you know, and you see him in the gym.

[1156] And he's just a fucking gamer, dude.

[1157] He'll go on there, like, he had Michael Johnson hurt.

[1158] I'm like, wow, I'm like, you did really well in that fight, you know.

[1159] And Johnson's a slick South Paul.

[1160] Johnson has power.

[1161] Johnson has a power.

[1162] Johnson's a beast.

[1163] Yeah, and he's had 20, some over 20 fights in the UFC.

[1164] Like, that guy's not an easy win.

[1165] No. You know.

[1166] But Clay's there still hammering.

[1167] And then even while he's getting his hand raised, he's bouncing around.

[1168] Like, you can't stop moving.

[1169] yeah I see him in the morning I usually get there in the morning too early and he's like I'm just running I'm like oh cool you go on practice like yeah I usually just run me know probably five miles a day before practice and he just always gone like you know nice and phenomenal shape it's crazy it's absolutely crazy and I mean the guy's still around I mean go back to his fight with Diego Sanchez which was like one of the craziest fucking wars I've ever seen in my life it's just some people can take damage and not it's his mind yeah I mean just like you can take damage and like some people get you know knocked out and they're fucked up forever on it or they're you know sort of their words or the punch drunk like this guy you know he's articulate he speaks well you know um got the good hair i mean that hair is that hair is holding on it's holding on dude it's there but it's like he's got a manned by he's trying to you know throw some shit over here he's a wild dude yeah he's uh he's great he's a great guy so what is he good energies out there does he have like a fishing service is that he's done yeah he's always asked me to go and do it and I'm just like I don't know if I want to be on the cold ocean fishing I got last time I did that I went open sea fishing you know Danny is really big in the fishing is he my wife and she's um loves fishing and I went out the first time ocean open sea at the end of point we caught a black sea bass um dude I was so sick on that I took jamming before I just I just can't do it oh you get sea sick I was like let's get to go back so um you know Clay took a job as uh uh working in a On one of those crab boats Like you see the world's deadliest catch He did that shit Don't surprise me He did it for the adventure Oh yeah Yeah I remember I'm speaking about that Because we had a couple of friends Come from Alaska My buddy's actually stationed up there Deadliest catch is a crazy show Because they lose people on that show People die on that show All the time yeah Yeah I mean that is a I mean crabs delicious But it ain't that delicious It's not worth yeah It's a mess they open that damn thing up It's crazy It's like, those cages and everything, you're constantly wet, but they make a fuck load of money.

[1170] You know, they go out there for a few months and they make a shit ton of money.

[1171] Yeah, it's true.

[1172] I mean, Clay to go out there and just do that for fun.

[1173] That just speaks of the kind of character he is.

[1174] He's always looking for those kind of thrills.

[1175] And he's always, he's the guy, like, when he comes to camp, I love it because he's got a good playlist.

[1176] He puts the phone jack in.

[1177] He got to a little bit.

[1178] What does he got?

[1179] Let me guess.

[1180] Classic rock.

[1181] Yep.

[1182] Yeah.

[1183] And it's like, honestly, when you don't hear that from it.

[1184] why we're all listening to rap and you know when you when clay comes in you know DJ Clay it's like this is some shit man like this is taking me back yeah some red hot chili peppers in there oh there oh there you know in hallin it's it's just yeah it's it's great to have him in there and just learn from him he's been all over and he's been with us for you know quite some time now and to see him adapt and evolve his self later on in his career we just have good energies and like said alpha male and then it seemed like it was a great fit for him coming to you guys Yeah, it's crazy, you know, them guys, you know, fought each other, Chad, and Clay, there's so much alike, you know what I mean?

[1185] Like, remember Chad saying, like, ah, man, I'm only going to have to fight, Clay, you know, we look up to them, you know, like, things like that.

[1186] So, there are fights that you can go into and just be like, all right, you know, a lot of guys join the gyms now.

[1187] Does he still live in the tour bus?

[1188] I don't think, I think he, we just spoke about that because I was talking about doing like a sprinter van and what, me and Chris want to go and start doing seminars at gyms and around, just kind of, you know, showing our martial arts and.

[1189] sharing with people and helping them out and obviously go and see in the world once you know COVID opens up and he was talking about how he had that big RV and he used to drive everywhere and he's like I had I had you know the able to sell it man just uh and downsize to it to like something like that because you fall asleep at the wheel you like you just pull over and things like that so he said it's just safer yeah you know what's best about that you can just pull it over and he started getting tired so right well he was living out of that thing and going from camp to camp in it and you drive it to his fights Florida yeah his family his father and his mother live in Florida so he's always road tripping and fishing and he's living life man like I learn a lot from that like I was so just like I can't do this I can't do that I'm just stuck to this training but you have to break it up you know you have to break it up you have to enjoy I think that you enjoy your wins you enjoy you know that time in between camps because you know the window shuts all the time there's only a certain amount of time and fights that we have left in our career to why you why be so stressed out and you know fighting is anxious you know the whole thing once you get that fight sign you kind of walk on eggshells like i don't want to get sick i don't want to get hurt right you know the worst thing to do is pull out of a fight you know what i'm motivated you're hungry you're training hard you're going to make some money you're going to hopefully um level up in your life and your career with this that's what the opportunity is that is given each fight um do you have hobbies outside of fighting oh man hobbies um obviously not Because it would be like right there Dude I just like the train man I like to train like Do you think you'll be a coach when you're done?

[1190] I think more and more that I'm In the gym And I kind of go and just watch Spine or watch the classes I like to help out like some of the younger guys I don't know if I have the patience This is like man Not every great fighter is a great trainer I don't think I can't like my uncle Is a great trainer but he's a horrible coach Like he's a horrible coach But he'll train the shit out of you Like you'll train you He'll have you hitting the tire And doing little thing Why is you a bad coach?

[1191] I don't think he has a pay He's like if you suck He's like I don't fucking work with you Well it'd be a great trainer For people who don't suck Yeah exactly So he wants to come work with You know like You know we're in a small town So he's trying to get I'm like you gotta build You gotta groom these fighters How many times We used to work I used to get so frustrated I was a kid 14 13 13 to 14 years old He used to make me just work On my job You tape my fucking hand in my head and just work on my jab.

[1192] I got a really good job, a stiff job.

[1193] I have different angles off it.

[1194] And we'll just get worked through the frustration.

[1195] You know what I mean?

[1196] But I was like, dude, we got to this point because we worked through that.

[1197] Like, you got to do the same thing.

[1198] And some people just don't have the grid or the tenacity or the, you know, to go in and work through that.

[1199] So he's just like, if you're not good, like, I just don't want to work with you.

[1200] I don't want to waste some time.

[1201] It's so interesting how many different approaches there are to training and how many different trainers have, like, different philosophies and different styles.

[1202] And you see it sort of accent, you see that the different styles in the camps because you see how different groups of people have sort of, you remember like the old shoot -de -box camp.

[1203] They were just fucking berserkerers, just wild people.

[1204] Come at you like a common cause.

[1205] Oh, my God.

[1206] It was like, that camp was known for being savages.

[1207] To fucking kill you.

[1208] You know, and alpha male, right?

[1209] Alpha male is known for being a wild camp.

[1210] I mean, you guys have, like, some of the best lightweight, lighter weight fighters in the world.

[1211] some of the best guillotine in the fucking sport you know what I mean it's it's interesting how camps and different groups of people sort of take on like a persona and they have they have like a style that comes out of these places yeah the jersey guys you know with the spinning shit jersey guys are like what what Mark Henry's done is really interesting because he's worked with so many different kinds of guys yeah you know I mean he's got a fantastic group for sure but he's worked with so many different kinds of fighters Swab, Usman's been up there.

[1212] Rashad was the first person.

[1213] Rashad pulled me aside and he said, man, the guy's a genius.

[1214] And he said he had all these notes, pages and pages of notes, and they would change with every camp, like all the different codes.

[1215] He knows what I'm doing before I would even throw it or do it.

[1216] It was crazy.

[1217] And I was just new on, I would know.

[1218] I think he would just study my fights and the way I moved.

[1219] And it's funny, I was spawned with Frankie a lot.

[1220] And I feel like me and Frank are similar.

[1221] I think Frankie's a little bit more of a combo striker, you know, regretted, but we had a lot of the same code.

[1222] So we're sparring each other.

[1223] Me and Frankker are just fainting each other, fainting each other.

[1224] I'm like, is that my code or is that Frankie's code?

[1225] Because, you know, coach is calling it out, just crack him, like, you know, and sometimes, you know, coaches.

[1226] Are you going to go with him for your next camp?

[1227] Oh, sure, yeah.

[1228] Yeah, we talked about I just was, like, waiting to go out there.

[1229] Frankie had a big fight coming up, you know, this previous weekend and some of the, some of the, more another was that hard for you to watch that one oh my god i was heartbroken san hagen is a motherfucker man he's good i remember san hagen coming out to alpha mail when tj fought brow the first time and i was yeah this is tough you know uh he brought him in as a training partner uh with dwayne and sean mcfadden those guys uh the colorado connection um so yeah he i knew that that kid was you know tough um i saw a different i saw i think what he went through with the auto fight kind of lit a fire under him like fuck this i'm not going to let that happen again same thing with me. It just took me a little bit longer to get it turned around.

[1230] Well, Al Jermaine is a monster on the ground.

[1231] He's a monster.

[1232] You know what I mean?

[1233] He's Matt Serra trained, Henzo Gracie Blackbell.

[1234] That group of people, like the grappling level out of that team out of New York and, you know, that area, all those Donaher, Henzo Gracie guys, fuck that level so high.

[1235] Yeah, it's great.

[1236] Those guys are so goddamn good on the ground.

[1237] There's so many good guys in the ground.

[1238] And you saw it with Al Jermaine when when Aljo got him on the ground man he just wrapped him up and strangled him I don't think Corey is ready ready for that right not for just as his body like you can you know watching them you know like be a potential fight like the kid a lot could be a potential fight in there so I'm just watching them backstage I just don't think that he was ready for that kind of prime spot like holy shit I win this fight I can be fighting for the title you know and it's you know I think they just made a mistake Al Jamean capitalized on it but if I feel like stylistically that's a bad fight for Al Jermaine if it doesn't get to the ground.

[1239] You know, Corey, you know, throws long kicks, he stays ranging, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, he's the last thing you want to do, look what happened with Marias, you know, like.

[1240] Yeah, me, he got caught.

[1241] He's leveled, he got caught, but he's not taking a lot of way from, excited for the Yon.

[1242] Pure Yon, yeah, that's a really interesting fight.

[1243] That's a really, because Yon is so solid.

[1244] We'll see how good as wrestling is, you know, I think Funkmaster's going to try to, you know, for sure.

[1245] As you should, that's something that was not shown in, and Peter's fights where he does have wrestling just like when i fought crews like could i go five rounds there's these unanswered you know unknown question unanswered questions that we'll get solved in the fight that's a great thing about fighting we're going to figure it out well that division is so hot right now that 135 pound division is on fucking fire it is you know and you're right in the heat with this sunsouth knockout i mean you're you're right top three you know next you know next you know open any of these possibilities you know joe when when you're feeling it and you have this um this drive back and i want to have say motivation because motivation comes and go sometimes you're motivated sometimes you're not just the the the drive you know obviously being driven a driven person right um so that drives back like i'm i'm excited i'm excited to see what i can do i have my camp i have my coach i have you know a lot of shit going on in my career that i'm worked for and used the opportunities and able to travel and be away from the family.

[1246] I know my son's getting taken care of when I'm away.

[1247] So that's a huge mind over matter thing.

[1248] Like he's good.

[1249] Go focus on what you need to do.

[1250] Come back and re -orchestrate camp.

[1251] So I just feel like everything's ready to go.

[1252] I'm ready to flip the switch, get into that fight camp.

[1253] I want to be sharp.

[1254] You know, I think that outside training camp is great.

[1255] You work on a lot of things that you might not work in camp, but in camp, but is where you get sharp your skill level rises you train smarter obviously because you can over train outside of camp you're like oh i'm just going to take tomorrow off or do a recovery day inside of training camp i love what it it's it's it's blinders you're just focused focus focus focus that's what i want to be at right now in my life this the sport is so fascinating to me in that it's constantly evolving different approaches and one of the big things now when the i mean probably one of the biggest techniques ever is the low calf kick it's It is fucking bananas.

[1256] Yeah, I utilize it a lot.

[1257] I do a lot of, like, I kind of modified it with a sand chai.

[1258] Sandtie goes down and kind of kicks up.

[1259] I do a kind of handplant, you know, 360 sweep with the leg.

[1260] I feel like it gets me out of range.

[1261] I'm not countered a lot, you know, with that kick, and it's quick.

[1262] You know, I feel like I'm really quick in the transitions if case they were trying to come, try to take me down.

[1263] And I've utilized it a lot.

[1264] I think what happened in a lot of the fight, the first fight, I came out and kicked a sounsel right in the leg super hard.

[1265] It was in the beginning when you guys were talking.

[1266] And I noticed that hurt him.

[1267] Like, I noticed that his body language and his movement.

[1268] If you get kicked and you don't move right away.

[1269] Like, all right, that, you know.

[1270] You feel that?

[1271] Oh, yeah.

[1272] And just the eyes, a lot of things I hit him with, I could tell.

[1273] But that, that calf kick is.

[1274] It's crazy.

[1275] There's no bone.

[1276] There's nothing to help.

[1277] You can't really check it.

[1278] Isn't it crazy how long it took for that to be a factor?

[1279] Yeah.

[1280] I mean, all the sudden, I mean, I credit Benson Henderson.

[1281] I think Benson Henderson was the first guy to start implementing it and fights in the UFC, but he didn't have the same effectiveness.

[1282] Right.

[1283] You know, I don't think we really saw how effective it was until, I wonder who it was.

[1284] Who started using it where they really started making it?

[1285] I don't know.

[1286] I'd have to go and watch some tape.

[1287] Right.

[1288] Figure out who the guy was.

[1289] But now, Jesus Christ, I mean, it's Justin Gage, he's the master of it.

[1290] You know, Dustin Poirier.

[1291] and him had that crazy war and a lot of that was low leg kicks and now Dustin fucking Connor up with those low leg kicks I mean Connor was done you know in that second round you could see him with that wide stance heavy on that front leg and because they're both south paw to south paw that front leg was exposed and Dustin was just smashing it it took all his power away all his motion away and after a while he just couldn't take it and that's what me and Chris were talking about earlier throughout the training he's kind of taking over my kickboxing and flow into the takedowns as well working from both stances your leg might get chopped up or you're going to fight south pole and I feel like I'm adapting very well speed kicks combos with both sides that's so important I think that's where the fighting is going you're going to have to fight both styles because there's going to be some calf kicks you're a boxing fan Terrence Crawford is the best the world at that shit you like you get used to him facing you in an orthodox stance and all of a sudden, boop, he's a South Park.

[1292] And everything's backwards and he's lighting you up.

[1293] He wakes up.

[1294] He's like, that's my title fight.

[1295] He's like, I'm going to flip a coin.

[1296] I'm going to fight South Pole today.

[1297] That was Marvin Hagler, too.

[1298] When Marvin Hagler was in his prime, he could fight for many stands.

[1299] That was one of the beautiful things about his style.

[1300] It's like he could do whatever the fuck he wanted to.

[1301] And that's such an advantage.

[1302] Especially switch stance when you have on that attack and you have an angle so far deep that they have to really, and that's what's great about in the MA, it's boxing.

[1303] kickboxing angle, it's takedowns, you know, so you get those angles, you get those people running from those certain ones, you switch dance, and you come with the same side of kick, they're out of position.

[1304] It's, it's binding.

[1305] Also, one of the things that they've shown in studies when they've done athletic skill is that practicing with your non -dominant hand makes your dominant hand better.

[1306] Yeah.

[1307] Because you're more aware of like what's off about that side, and as you're drilling and you're really focusing, it's almost like.

[1308] Body mechanics.

[1309] Yeah, if you, if you like, like, I'm sure you.

[1310] see that with holdsworth or with anybody who teaches when people teach there's something about teaching i remember at uh was higher yeah guys who would i would train with these guys and then they would quit their job and start teaching they got better and they would be way better all of a sudden they were fucking me up i was like what are you doing they just because they're constantly focused on it the finer details yeah constantly so you're kind of doing that when you switch stances definitely because you switch stances and you're throwing a straight left you're like oh okay this feels weird weird like this is just automatic but this is like Hit off, you're making sure, and then are you going to the right head or your head?

[1311] Yeah, then you go to the right -hand side where you're not, and now all of a sudden it's just locked in.

[1312] So they say that with everything.

[1313] When you practice with your non -dominant hand, it makes your dominant skill better.

[1314] I should honestly probably be a South Pole fighter.

[1315] Really?

[1316] I wrestle with my right foot forward, but I fight with my left foot.

[1317] So all my shots come from my right side.

[1318] I remember Matt Hughes did that a lot.

[1319] He would, because he was a right -handed forward.

[1320] Which is great.

[1321] Sometimes if I'm, I love my right hand.

[1322] I trust in it.

[1323] I believe in it.

[1324] If I'm throwing a right hand, it's a little out of range.

[1325] I get overcompensated.

[1326] My feet aren't under me. I can roll right in the South Pole.

[1327] Boom, take down.

[1328] That's what happened with Cruz.

[1329] Right.

[1330] Backed up.

[1331] Backed up.

[1332] I was like, oh, shit, I'm South Pole with the right.

[1333] Boom, double leg open.

[1334] He's hard to take down.

[1335] Dustin Poirier is right -handed as well.

[1336] Okay.

[1337] And Dustin will fight with his right hand forward most of the time.

[1338] But, you know, Daniel Carmier has a great series he does on ESPN called Detail.

[1339] And in that he broke down, in this most recent episode, he broke down, Dustin knocking out Connor.

[1340] and it's a phenomenal breakdown.

[1341] Yeah, check that out.

[1342] And he discusses how you can see when he's got a fight or hurt, what's the hand he switches?

[1343] And he switched to Orthodox and blast him with the right hand.

[1344] Orthodox inside shot.

[1345] And that's another thing going back to Coach Mark.

[1346] He watched all my footage of my fights.

[1347] He goes, all your knockouts were inside shots.

[1348] You don't have to wind up.

[1349] You don't have to.

[1350] It was insides catching here inside.

[1351] Right.

[1352] Inside hook, rolling it on Alameda.

[1353] And by the time I rolled off my right hand, it was inside hook, right, inside hook.

[1354] look, I ruled out, he was already falling to the ground, followed up, it was over with.

[1355] Well, the Al -Meda fight was so impressive because Al -Meda was on a tear, and you guys were both, it was like a meeting, a collision course.

[1356] You know, Al -Meda was this guy.

[1357] Yeah, he was this guy that was fucking people up, man. He had a really bright future.

[1358] Knockout bonuses.

[1359] I'm sitting there broke as hell trying to get a fight.

[1360] I'm like, man, 50 bucks going into that fight week.

[1361] And I was like, man, I know I win this fight.

[1362] It's going to change my life.

[1363] And sure shit is it did, you know what I mean?

[1364] Obviously, you know, fights, fights, fights, fights.

[1365] but every fight's your biggest fight you know it's the most money i won i want a knockout bonus got to go see dana and lorenzo in the headquarters like hey what do you guys want you know we want to help you out what your next fight and like i just want to stay busy stay active you know you know what's interesting to me is how fucking good max holloway is and how max holloway is training on hawaii like the the the thought has always been you have to go to this big camp you have to go somewhere else and that's how you get better.

[1366] But meanwhile, Max Holloway puts in one of the performances of the decade.

[1367] Against Calvin.

[1368] Dude, Calvin's a fucking gangster.

[1369] He's a gangster.

[1370] I was so excited for that fight because Calvin and the Boston and Massachusetts and what they got going over there, striking is phenomenal.

[1371] He's got some of the best boxing in the sport.

[1372] For sure, 100%.

[1373] The Ricardo Lama's fight is a perfect example of that.

[1374] Dude, he was popping, hitting his shots, getting out of range, coming back with combos.

[1375] I was like, man, that's hard to hit.

[1376] And then for what happened, what Max was able to do to him, and I think what happened in that first round, he put so much damage on her.

[1377] Like, sometimes it's one shot, and you can be on autopilot.

[1378] You get hit hard, you can be, but you're just not firing, right?

[1379] You're just, you're taking that damage to the brain.

[1380] That was another fight where Max didn't spar at all.

[1381] And he said after the second Volcanovsky fight, he didn't do any sparring after fights, or in camp, rather.

[1382] All of his training is just movement.

[1383] and training for endurance and training for, you know, he's doing drills and he's hitting pads, but he's like, I don't need to take any big shots.

[1384] Similar to what I am doing.

[1385] Like, it's not realistic.

[1386] We're going to get boxing gloves on and chin pads.

[1387] You're going to throw a kick.

[1388] I'm going to be able to block it with these big, ass gloves.

[1389] Small gloves are coming over top hitting you in the head.

[1390] Like, that little placement saves you.

[1391] Well, my friend Kevin Ross had an Instagram post recently about the importance of technical light sparring for tie boxing.

[1392] And one of the things that he said is, like, with the ties, They do a lot of this, like, sort of light tap sparring, and that's where you work on things because you're not worried that someone's going to take your head off, and that's how you get better skills.

[1393] Also, no impact, or no, no shin pads, no knuckle pads, every, so you're, you get a more realistic understanding of placement, of, you know, where are you going to be when you, yeah, and it's like being able to play until you're going to develop that timing.

[1394] You're going to develop, and so many guys think you just have to go to war all the time.

[1395] And that every time you spar, you go to war.

[1396] But that's not wise.

[1397] There is time to do that.

[1398] I think, you know, but smart doing it.

[1399] You're not going to go in there and just working.

[1400] What did you get out of sparring?

[1401] Like, oh, I just went and fought.

[1402] Like, what did you take away from sparring?

[1403] Yeah, you might have won, but what did you work on?

[1404] You went in there and broad.

[1405] Like, that's what we did for so long, like a technical approach.

[1406] I think a lot of these young fighters that are coming from wrestling or not a boxing backgrounds or striking background, they need to get in there to know what a fist fight feels like.

[1407] Some of all these wrestlers, I'm so surprised.

[1408] I'm like, they've never been a fist fight in their life.

[1409] Some of these fighters, I talked to Lance, my buddy's Lance for, since I was a kid.

[1410] And he never really punched someone in the face until he was a professional fighter.

[1411] You know what I mean?

[1412] His first professional fight.

[1413] I'm like, you've never grew up and wanted to fight your brother, got in a fight with your brother.

[1414] He's like, oh, no, never.

[1415] I never, I mean, never in a wrestling room.

[1416] Like, I have fun.

[1417] Well, it didn't hold him back.

[1418] Exactly.

[1419] He's a bad motherfucker.

[1420] But he has that work ethic since he was a kid.

[1421] And, you know, he got in there and thrown, thrown to the, wolves of sparring, you know, and now it's, you know, technical.

[1422] I think there's, there's people that you do that with, so that you have that urgency.

[1423] Like, dude, I'm getting my asking.

[1424] I better formulate something, you know, and work on something where I need to.

[1425] And Lance is great.

[1426] He uses wrestling to take it where he can dominate, and that's where his good, his strong point is.

[1427] You know, he's got great cardio, he's strong as an ox.

[1428] He's a beast.

[1429] Yeah.

[1430] When you look at your career, you were saying that you were thinking about life in five -year increments.

[1431] Is that when, do you think at five years, you'll, you'll, do you think at five years, you'll be 34 is that when you're thinking like you'll assess where you're at your career whether or not you want to keep going or retire hopefully you'll be the champ then like do you do you have these goals set in your head or what you like to accomplish i do i feel like uh my next three fights are kind of lined up obviously that's that's kind of out of my control but in my control with the uc you know works on like auto then either peter yon or whoever wins it whoever's it's kind of optional because it's i can if i i i Fight auto, right there I have a claimant on two -fight, you know, I knock him out, two -fight win knockout streak.

[1432] I can be next in the line for the title shot.

[1433] I know Corey is up there.

[1434] If Corey wants to, you know, get in there for the championship, it's not going to fight until July.

[1435] Who knows, you know, we can fight in the meantime.

[1436] I want to stay busy.

[1437] You know, as long as I'm healthy, I want to stay busy.

[1438] I fought four times in one year.

[1439] I went from unranked to world champion.

[1440] I feel like I can do that better now because I've known what to do, how to pull back, how to train, how to recover.

[1441] Right.

[1442] Um, you know, COVID was just a fluke thing that just took over my body that had me sideline.

[1443] Like if I didn't have COVID, I had, who knows what would happen.

[1444] It's the past.

[1445] But we're focused on this, but, well, you know, it makes you appreciate your health now, though.

[1446] Oh my gosh.

[1447] I, I, I literally, um, thank all the, you know, first responders and the nurses and the people that work through my stuff, you know, in Jersey.

[1448] And they are just so helpful.

[1449] And then all my doctors, like, I'm, okay, I got this.

[1450] I'm, I'm just making sure that I'm healthy because I know what I'm going to do in camp, you know.

[1451] I want to tear my.

[1452] body down I'm going to give myself every opportunity to go in there and fight and level up and better my life better my family's life and I know how to do that and that's through hard work but working smart do you know when you're going to retire do you have it in your head dude I've honestly not even thought about that you know I kind of take one of a fight at a time but obviously you have your next I've learned throughout my life like when I won a state title I didn't I got there I was like man what's my next goals I won the world championship what's my next school so to have these high goals but then also have things that you can balance to next um so i haven't really thought about retirement i still feel like i'm just learning in this sport i feel like i haven't even hit my prime i feel like i'm just getting my um style of fighting together my coaches and my team and i feel like i feel like the next five years are going to be some of my best performances mentally physically emotionally um inside the octagon growing outside of the octagon and uh i'm excited for this ride i'm very very uh very excited to get back in there both divisions are great so I have options you know that's good good thing I'm right I'm sitting in a good spot you're sitting a great spot I'm excited to watch brother I can't wait to call your fights all right me either well thank you very much for being here thank you for having me welcome thank you and I can't wait to see you again brother thank you very much man always a pleasure always a pleasure goodbye everybody