JRE MMA Show #35 with Israel Adesanya

[0] four, three, two, one.

[1] Style Bender, ladies and gentlemen.

[2] Salute, sir.

[3] Congratulations, man. Thank you, thank you.

[4] Dude, your fight Friday night was, that was what you would call like a coming out party.

[5] Yeah, in America, in America.

[6] Yeah, people got to see.

[7] First fight in Vegas, first main event, first top ten guy.

[8] And I feel like I got to kind of like showed a lot of people up because before that fight, A lot of people were kind of like, shit, it's too much, it's too soon.

[9] The hype.

[10] Yeah, he's like, oh, he's this and that.

[11] And for me, I wouldn't take insult to it because they don't know.

[12] You know, you can't fault them for it.

[13] Well, you did a smart thing in the way you handled your transition to MMA, too.

[14] I mean, you really took your time and did it right.

[15] You and I talked for the first time about this.

[16] How many years ago?

[17] 2015, I think.

[18] Yeah, you hit me up on Instagram and said, you know, when am I going to call one of your fights?

[19] Yeah.

[20] And I was like, yeah, we'll take our time.

[21] Because my coach, he's the mastermind behind all this, Eugene Bearman.

[22] Without him, my career will be in the shitter.

[23] So he kind of let just take our time.

[24] There's no rush.

[25] Smart way to do it.

[26] You see, like, looking for a fight.

[27] Guys, like example, Sage Northcutt.

[28] He's been up and down in the UFC fighting, like his rise and stuff like that.

[29] But you have to, you can't just come in here with like maybe three fights unless maybe like a Mickey Gall who also has extensive background in something else like jujitsu.

[30] But, yeah, I took my time fought around the world, fought different body types, different styles.

[31] And then eventually, I think the UFC were like, okay, what do you want?

[32] Come on.

[33] Like, let's go.

[34] Well, you built up a lot of hype outside.

[35] You built up some hype kickboxing.

[36] You built up some hype in MMA.

[37] But you built up a lot of internet hype.

[38] Yeah.

[39] There was a lot of highlight videos made of you and people like, oh, shit, look at this guy.

[40] And then dudes were breaking down your videos, like breaking down technique.

[41] Like, look how he sets this up.

[42] There was one that, was it Brendan?

[43] Dorman?

[44] Who did it recently?

[45] Was it Lawrence Kenshin?

[46] No, maybe it was Brendan Dorman.

[47] I saw one yesterday.

[48] Yeah, Brendan Dorman.

[49] He did one where you set that dude up and then left high kicked him.

[50] Oh no, that was a Lauren Kension.

[51] Yeah, yeah.

[52] Dude, those guys are so important.

[53] You know, fun fact about that kick, we're drilling it, Eugene taught it to me that set up probably seven days before.

[54] And he said, if this lands at the finisher, he said that.

[55] Wow.

[56] Whatever.

[57] And then in the fight, something happened, and I didn't even think about it, just boom, and it landed.

[58] And I hurt my foot on his head, actually.

[59] I actually hurt my, because that was the third fight of the night.

[60] So it was a tournament, so the final fight.

[61] And I hurt my foot on his head.

[62] And I was like, okay, because you kind of see me limp a little bit.

[63] Then I went in on him and just, yeah, finished it off.

[64] That was a beautiful high kick, man. The way you set it up was so interesting, too, because you forced him into this weird battle of erratic movement.

[65] Like you did a lot of this with them.

[66] You got to take care of this first.

[67] A lot of guys think, like, with Farasa Habi, what he said, take care of this, cramble your brain.

[68] Dude, Farasa Hobby is a treasure.

[69] 100%.

[70] He's a treasure.

[71] I like the way he thinks.

[72] I listen to that podcast.

[73] And, yeah, when he said that, I was like, that's what I, that's what we do.

[74] I like to make these guys second -guess themselves, like, just get stuck.

[75] Like, okay, he's right here.

[76] Like, okay, I got a reset right here.

[77] Okay, cool, cool.

[78] Just got jabbed.

[79] And then they just get flustered.

[80] And they can talk all this stuff, like, oh, we're going to do this and this and that, right?

[81] And it's different when you see it on TV, but when you're in, because I've had it done to me. I've got teammates that do it to me all the time.

[82] If I'm not on my game, they do it to me. I'm like, so this is what it feels like.

[83] I don't want to be on the other side of that.

[84] If you come in, over -trained or just sick or havin my day.

[85] Like, Dan Hooker will catch me on some days.

[86] Dan Hooker's a beast, man. That's my guy, bro.

[87] He's a serious dude.

[88] So it's been like three weeks.

[89] Shane Young in Singapore, myself, Friday night, and Dan Hooker on Saturday.

[90] Dan Hooker's one of them never celebrating the Octagon guys either.

[91] He's all angry, even after he wins.

[92] I call him Vegeta.

[93] Remembering, was it 219?

[94] He looked at you.

[95] He told me it didn't mean to, but he looked at you like, Do you know who I am now?

[96] And threw his mouth guard at the cage.

[97] But he said it went through the cage and hit you in the chest or something.

[98] Is that what he said to me?

[99] Do you know who I am now?

[100] I knew who he was.

[101] Of course you did.

[102] But it's because like the UFC wasn't really like, you know, putting them out there.

[103] They're kind of like just sleeping on him.

[104] So he just felt frustrated.

[105] Yeah.

[106] I get it.

[107] Yeah.

[108] That's just because he's so ambitious.

[109] Yeah, 100%.

[110] But I don't have nothing to do with that.

[111] Yeah.

[112] Of course.

[113] I know.

[114] Yeah.

[115] Third party.

[116] But all I do is sit down and call fights.

[117] Me and him go at it.

[118] me Carlos, me John Vake, B .J. B .J. B. B .J. B. B .J. Blan.

[119] People don't know yet.

[120] I've told them, like, when K -1 was the pinnacle of combat sports, right?

[121] New Zealand, Australasia was on top.

[122] You had Ray Sefer, Mark Hunt, Doug Viny, Jason Vimeor, Jordan, Thai.

[123] Guys from that side of the world, like running it and other sides of the world as well, but I felt like we fell off.

[124] And then New Zealand combat sports kind of took a little a lull for a few years, a long time.

[125] And now we're doing it again, like guys like me, Dan, Shane, Kai, we're about to, like, take it to the next level and then bring NZ sports again all the way up.

[126] Well, you know, what's interesting is that New Zealand in particular, like, you guys, there's something about having you guys come over here and there's not like a long history where people think of, you know, like New Zealand MMA fighters, but New Zealand kickboxers.

[127] I mean, it's one of the most rich environments.

[128] Like, think about all the different high -level kickboxes that came out of New Zealand or Australia for that matter.

[129] Australasia in general.

[130] Yeah, crazy.

[131] Crazy number of like really high -level kickboxers.

[132] Like when I came to help rumble with his camp for John Jones, because Rashad linked it up and said, you should come help us out.

[133] And I said, yeah, sure.

[134] So into Black Zillions when it was still around.

[135] And I was surprised.

[136] I was like, man, the stand -up in America is not even close on our level.

[137] The grappling, the wrestling, because you guys have in schools and all the Brazilians come here and open schools and stuff like that.

[138] But the stand -up was not on our level.

[139] So I told Eugene that and he's like, good, I wanted you to know that because Doug had the same thing when he went to Vegas and then he saw like, man, these guys, their stand -ups not really on our level.

[140] So we've always had that.

[141] I don't know where it comes from.

[142] There's like a whole lineage of it.

[143] Even Ray Sefer, we come from the same school.

[144] Yeah, BLG school.

[145] But, yeah, grappling and stuff, I feel like we were behind at first because of, you know, internet, we get seminars and shit like that.

[146] And I've got obsessive trainers like Adam Johnson.

[147] He's my jiu -jitsu coach in a way.

[148] He's just obsessed, so they're constantly, like, upgrading everything.

[149] And I think it went for him.

[150] I didn't really get to use my jiu -jitsu much a little bit in that fight.

[151] But the takedown defense, that's all Andre as well, my wrestling coach.

[152] He's a Romanian guy.

[153] So we don't need to, like, go anywhere else.

[154] I felt like we've got people where we are.

[155] We're stacked enough to be able to level up and compete with the rest of the world.

[156] Well, if you've got someone like Dan Hooker in your camp, just that alone.

[157] When you have guys like you and him together, that's what forces everybody to the next level.

[158] And everybody around you will rise up, too.

[159] They'll see what you're doing.

[160] They'll see your fight with Tavares.

[161] I'll see some of your fights online.

[162] They'll see you in the gym.

[163] And when you have a guy like that in the gym, I've always experienced this in Jiu -Jitsu and everything else.

[164] Everybody else's level rises up to try to catch up to that guy.

[165] 100%.

[166] Because all they see, like, you guys, what the world sees is just us on TV.

[167] And then they see, like, the highlights, the cool stuff.

[168] But my teammates get to see me fuck up all the time.

[169] They see me get my licks.

[170] Of course.

[171] So when they see all that stuff, then they see me on the world stage kicking ass.

[172] And then, like, man, of course, I can do this.

[173] Like, Brad, Brad Riddell, bad -ass kickboxer, world champion.

[174] One of my teammates, or Angry Panda, but he's, yeah, he's making his move to MMA now right now.

[175] But he's another one of those guys that he, kickboxing doesn't really do it for him.

[176] He's, like, built like a Chad Menace type guy, short, stocky, pretty thick, and he can wrestle, you know, but no one knows it yet.

[177] So whenever he comes into MMA or the UFC, then everyone's going to be like, okay, take him down.

[178] Let's see what can happen.

[179] But, yeah, they find out eventually.

[180] Yeah, there's guys from that section of the world.

[181] I mean, you really stop and think about between New Zealand and Australia.

[182] How many world -class kickboxers?

[183] Holy shit.

[184] A lot.

[185] Yeah, and they've run through, not just from this era, but even back in the day.

[186] Right, but Dennis Alexio, right?

[187] Yeah, right?

[188] I think so.

[189] See, for me, with kickboxing.

[190] Or is he from Hawaii?

[191] I know, I know, like, say, up to Ray Seffold's days like Mark Hunt, But I never really invested in K -1 back in the day.

[192] I think I'm thinking of Stan Langenetus.

[193] I think Stan Langenetus was from Australia.

[194] Well, I know, like, there's a deep, rooted history in kickboxing in Australia and that kind of stuff.

[195] Why?

[196] What happened there?

[197] How'd that get started?

[198] No idea.

[199] That's a thing.

[200] I could sit there.

[201] If you want to speak to someone, Eugene would be the guy or Tojo.

[202] They're the guys that have the history just up here.

[203] But for me, I just came in and I enjoyed it and I jumped in the pool.

[204] Well, from the United States, you have, there are some big kickboxing camps, but also, you get a lot of guys who've come here from Holland and from other kickboxing rich places and try to enter.

[205] Like Harry Hooft.

[206] He's another guy right now.

[207] Sure, sure, sure.

[208] And of course, guys who fought over there and came over here like Alster and guys who entered into MMA.

[209] It's just, it is interesting that, you know, for MMA gyms, there's like a certain level of striking.

[210] And then you see like a Nikki Holtskin will come and start training with those guys.

[211] And you realize, like, oh, Jesus.

[212] I was there when I was there.

[213] I was watching, yeah, a little bit of a sparring.

[214] He's good.

[215] What's happening in him now?

[216] I haven't seen him in a while.

[217] I think he's boxing now.

[218] Real?

[219] Yeah, I think he's decided that there's more money in boxing.

[220] And, you know, he's winning.

[221] He's got a nasty left hook.

[222] Yeah, that body rip.

[223] Yeah, I like a style.

[224] But I think kickboxing, like, if I wanted to take the boxing blueprint, I could have done that because I'm six and one in boxing as well.

[225] So I could have done that and just got built up quite like, you know, the cans, fight some champions, local champions, some national champions, and eventually on the world stage.

[226] but for me it just I never wanted to feel vulnerable I never wanted to feel like another guy could kick my ass and another just like you know Floyd Mayweather they're about to do this fight with McGregor part two and they had all these stupid rules like okay no I think that was all fake yeah I know but like even if the idea of it I'm like if you're gonna do it just jump in right what do we do it's okay you're a man like you're gonna do it man a man but no kickstone no kicks no knees no elbows and I had that like it's just I don't understand I'm like why If you want to prove you're the best fighter, you have to fight people from other codes.

[227] Right.

[228] And at the UFC, that's the highest level, you know?

[229] Have you entered into any wrestling competition or jiu -jitsu competition?

[230] Grappling competitions I have.

[231] I normally place.

[232] Submission grappling?

[233] Yeah, submission.

[234] I've never been first, but I'm like either second, third, or somewhere else.

[235] But, yeah, I've only ever done maybe four or five of my career.

[236] You have a specialty, though.

[237] And I've always felt like guys who have a specialty, if they can get to a certain amount of good at this other thing, without abandoning their skills as a specialty, they're always going to have that giant advantage.

[238] I agree.

[239] It's just the same thing.

[240] Whatever got them to what they're good at and they say boxing, wrestling, they can do the same thing.

[241] Gary Tonin was the fight he had a one FC or one championship and knocked the guy with the one two.

[242] Yeah.

[243] That wasn't a jiu -jitsu style punch.

[244] That wasn't like an amateur, like a guy who was never a strike before.

[245] He actually looked like he was flowing well with a stand -up.

[246] And that's because the same thing happens in jiu -jitsu or whatever made him great at grappling.

[247] can make him great at stand -up as well.

[248] Yeah, for sure.

[249] I mean, obviously, there's the added element of getting hit that some people can't psychologically handle as well.

[250] Yeah, we know those.

[251] Yeah.

[252] Makes a big difference.

[253] I used to be, but then, if I watch my fight after it happened, I look, I keep looking at what's happening.

[254] I'm searching for people.

[255] I'm searching for shots or whatever, but a lot of people kind of like either flare, close up, or they not turn away, but they're just trying to use the wall.

[256] And you can't really use that in, in MMA because the gloves, they don't help.

[257] But in kickboxing, you can just like...

[258] Right.

[259] Like, you saw you were there in L .A. When I fought for the Glory World title.

[260] Yes.

[261] That kind of style.

[262] Like, you can just joggernaut, walk down and beat the legs or whatever.

[263] With those big pads.

[264] Exactly, the big gloves.

[265] You can still find your ways around them.

[266] And they made this...

[267] The ring was probably if you put three of these tables together, that was the ring.

[268] It was a smaller.

[269] They're trying to rope you in?

[270] I cracked the coat.

[271] I was able to get my footwork around them.

[272] Even this cage was big enough.

[273] And people was, like, was the cage smaller?

[274] I was like, yeah, but it was big enough for me. The thing about that palms cage that I really like is I feel like it's the right size.

[275] I like a setup.

[276] I feel like the regular UFC cage is big and I like that it's big, but it might be too big.

[277] Yeah.

[278] Might not need to be that big for me. It was small, but it wasn't like, oh my God, yeah, like in the phone before anything.

[279] No, I mean, it looked like you had massive, a lot better than a kickboxing ring.

[280] Yeah, 100%.

[281] I mean, think about that.

[282] It's very rare you get a boxing ring that has anywhere near the kind of distanced from corner to corner.

[283] Yeah.

[284] But the UFC There's some pros and cons, I think But it's a con when it's a fight Like Inganu versus Derek Woods That's when it's a con I have a video of me before that fight I was yelling, somebody's gonna die I know Everybody thought that Dude coming at that fight When I saw Francis Weight 253 I was like Oh shit He's in shape He's normally He looked jacked He looked jacked He looked like he took it very fucking serious I thought he was going to realize That he got outrestled and out -conditioned he's going to come back, guns, blaze, and try to put a beating on Derek Lewis, but he was so tentative.

[285] Even with a fight, like, Stephen Warner Boy, Thompson, and Darren Till, that fight, people were like, it was boring, and I was like, hell no. Like, I enjoyed that fight.

[286] Right.

[287] It was just small margin for error, two stand -up guys who, you know, you can understand the game where it's, like, the full placement, you know, feints, all that kind of shit.

[288] Yeah.

[289] And then people were like, you know, that sucked.

[290] I was like, well, you don't understand, you know, striking on that level.

[291] But that Derek Lewis fight and Francis, it was like I tried and just can't it was just yeah it was weird it was the number two least amount of strikes land ever in a three round fight yeah and they're both beast they're both you know like motherfuckers I know they're both been in crazy fights like yeah they've both been in nothing but exciting fights yeah oh well except for you know some brief moments so it's just a psychological issue I guess who knows said that he said it was too like if he had like a PTSD from his last fight like shit I don't want to like get hurt again or whatever but and he took a beating in that last fight as well you know it's really he did people don't realize he did he got fucked up in that fight like five rounds what people don't see is how he felt after it's six hours later 10 hours later 24 hours later when his head's pounding and he's got to close all the drapes and yeah no light yeah no light it's life huh yeah i want to be a fighter but the thing is he's only been doing it for five years that's it's really crazy and that's the thing he's just he's look at him i'm the run to my people you go to Nigeria.

[292] There's literally picks of the litter when I went back there I'm like you should not be playing football big money in it but I think like MMA is like you can just grab any of those kids and give them some boxing gloves show them how to sprawl show them how to wrestle and they're a beast like you 10 in gunners 10 John Jones is just walking down the street I'm the I had the same size head and I was just a skinny boy so I looked like a lollipop I was a runt bro honestly like just a runt of the litter but I had to work I had to develop I think maybe like around 15 I started to get taller So every time I come back from school Or from a holiday after school I was like, there you got taller And you got taller And then somehow I just filled it out Realized I got athleticism Then later on like I was never The athletic kid playing basketball Or anything like that I was just the runt When did you get into martial arts I started in Taekwondo when I was a kid Just because after school programs And it was fun Such a good one for kids man Yeah it was fun That's what I liked that All that kind of stuff Yeah it was cool But, yeah, and then I think I almost got my yellow belt.

[293] Then my mom kind of pulled me out because I was just wrecking shop around the house, kicking everything.

[294] I broke my arm doing backflots off the couch.

[295] Oh, Jesus.

[296] And she was just like, nah, no more.

[297] And, yeah, I found, you know, Unbach, the Tony Jha film.

[298] I found that maybe in 2008.

[299] Yeah, 2008, early 2008.

[300] I found that.

[301] And I was about 18.

[302] And I was like, yo, this is cool.

[303] I don't know what this is.

[304] And then I found that was Muay.

[305] I found a moitai gym and then six weeks later I had my first fight Wow Yeah That's crazy Yeah I found a video Of that first fight actually I'll throw it up one day How old were you?

[306] 18 I was 18 Wow Yeah But I'm glad people Like oh isn't that a little bit too late But I'm glad that happened Because I didn't feel like I was worn out Because I've seen some kids Who Proteges Fighting from like the age of 12 or 10 And then you know like In those smoking shows And then like They get to a certain point And they just like I want to do something else Not all of them Some of them Yeah they can write down they come back as well but sometimes they just find i don't i'm sick of this you know i want to do something else you find that a lot with like uh sons of trainers yeah it was actually the son of one of my my first trainer and he's doing something else now but yeah for me i think 18 was a good year like good age to start and i just felt fresh it was something i wanted to do after my first fight i was just chasing that again that feeling because i've always been a dancer as well so i like that raw of the crowd so after my first fight again people like bro that was sick right and i'm like what the fuck did i do i don't remember it you just went to his own yeah bro i was scared The guy looked like David Tua.

[307] You know when David Tua had the air cut?

[308] Yeah.

[309] And he was not 80 KGs.

[310] He was probably like maybe 92.

[311] What is 92 in pounds?

[312] Okay, maybe 2 or 5.

[313] So 80 Ks would have been like, say, 185, 175 or something.

[314] So he was way overweight?

[315] Yeah.

[316] But my trainer kind of just, he was a crazy dude.

[317] So he just let it go.

[318] And when you have to realize, at a certain point, I realize, okay, this is not the guy to get me to that level I want to be.

[319] So I left and I moved to Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland, the main city.

[320] Was your trainer encouraging brawls too much, or what was it?

[321] He wanted me to fight his style.

[322] What was that?

[323] Like, he'd always tell him, like, you need to have your hands up.

[324] And, you know, he was a real purist of Muay.

[325] So he wanted me to have that, you know, like the sway and stuff like that.

[326] And that's a difference between someone that wants you to fight like them and someone like Eugene, my coach.

[327] When he first saw me, he just, like, cool, we can work with that.

[328] Like, he never tried to make me fight any, like him.

[329] He never tried to make me do anything like this guy.

[330] He just said, okay, I want you.

[331] should have jab like this and it would almost be like trying to get someone to write songs like the songs they write exactly it's like this is expression this is art let me do me and it really is yeah and he could never understand it he's like put your hands up and i like my people say y 'all and people still say get your hands up i'm like that's textbook i don't read the text but i had a look at it it it was all right i like i like the balance i feel when i'm over here like my takedowns i was able to stuff them because my hands are already low and i can still shell up when i need to I can still fire hands up when I need to, but I like my hands down.

[332] There's a different consideration when you have to stop takedowns.

[333] Yeah, 100%.

[334] Yeah.

[335] Even in kickboxing, my hands were always down a lot of the times.

[336] Having the ability to get an underhook or double underhooks quickly.

[337] Yeah.

[338] But in kickboxing, the thing is...

[339] I like my jab from there, from the low...

[340] Right, can't see where it's going.

[341] There's definitely pros and cons to everything, but a guy who's got the kind of speed that you have can take advantage many times more of having hands low.

[342] Yeah.

[343] It really...

[344] I mean, look at Roy Jones.

[345] How the fuck can you say...

[346] How can you say...

[347] say hands down's no good.

[348] Roy Jones Jr. Kipped his hands down all the time.

[349] And he had the eyes as well.

[350] I think you can train the eyes because my eyes weren't.

[351] I was always, I had quick reflexes, but I think you can train the eyes in certain ways just through.

[352] Roy could just land that lead left hook like a chap.

[353] He just like his shoulder.

[354] I think it just snapped in there, man. Crazy.

[355] I remember that one with the four right hooks.

[356] He hit that guy with.

[357] Remember he had giant biceps?

[358] Yeah.

[359] But he didn't have big triceps.

[360] Like everything was hooks.

[361] It was all like from throwing punches.

[362] It was lead one as well that's the thing most people were always leading with jabs as well so that would never help him lead left hook that was something different at the time that no one could figure out they couldn't crack the code Roy Jones Jr. in his prime people people it's like his song it's like his song yeah oh they forgot that's what it is y 'all must have forgot that was his song yeah because people did forget like but the first box I ever saw when I was a kid because I never really watched fights I was you know playing with sticks toys whatever making my own shit but I saw prince and I seen him Ahmed and I remember this when I was about four but he was because I I've always seen boxing on TV, but he was the first box that I saw that just made me pause and watch and just smile and laugh.

[363] Like, what is this?

[364] Oh, he was doing crazy shit.

[365] Yeah, just because the way he moved and guys have always, I've always been drawing guys like that, like Ali, even Rashad when he was in his prime doing his thing.

[366] Roy Jones, you know, like Purno Whitaker, Sweet Pee, like just.

[367] Dude, people forgot about Whitaker.

[368] Exactly.

[369] It slept on him.

[370] That shoulder roll.

[371] I mean, he was a master at that.

[372] Before we really saw it from Mayweather.

[373] Mayweather obviously has mastered it better than anybody.

[374] He gets hit less than anybody that's ever lived.

[375] You think about the fact that guy is 50 and O and really, I mean, you think about...

[376] Still talks well, doesn't, it's not slurring, can count.

[377] Yeah, I mean, Conner clipped him with one left hand, like real clean, and that is it.

[378] The uppercut.

[379] Yeah, I mean, he hit him with a couple other punches, but none of them were, like, dangerous.

[380] He rolled with them.

[381] Yeah, I rolled with everything.

[382] I fucked up in my fight because I, I ever...

[383] At one point, after I felt his jab, I was like, you know what?

[384] I can just close the distance a little bit more.

[385] And then that's how I got the Shiner right here.

[386] But the right hands, this right side's fine because I was just rolling with a lot of them.

[387] I was rolling with a lot of them.

[388] So you just underestimated his jab?

[389] I underestimated his head movement at first.

[390] So in the beginning, he was moving away from my jab.

[391] And then you just said, all right, drop it down, drop it down to the chin a little bit.

[392] And I did.

[393] But eventually I could adjust, I think from round two, I figured out the range.

[394] But his jab, it wasn't as powerful as I assumed it would be.

[395] So I thought, oh, I can just take and give.

[396] And that's how I got this shine.

[397] I ran into one of them.

[398] But, yeah, it was a big mistake.

[399] Silly mistake.

[400] So on the same card, Uriah Hall fought Paulo Costa.

[401] A lot of people are thinking that might be the next fight for you.

[402] I told Dana.

[403] Funny story.

[404] So we went to, after my fight, I chilled in my hotel room, just hung out with my boys.

[405] But then after dance fight, we went out.

[406] and someone told me oh Dana's in this club he's the same I was oh cool that's whatever and when I got some money and I was talking to the guy that led me and then because he found out I'm a USC fighter he just led me to the private room and I see McMahon I'm like what the hell and then we just start yarning talking to people and he's like I'm introduced you to Dana and I finally meet Dana properly and we start talking and I dropped this name in there I said yeah I want to fight Paula next and he's like they have other ideas you know fair enough but I can they've done this a long time they're promoters you know so I think what they want is me, you know, being a bigger name, Paul being a bigger name, and we fight like in some super fight.

[407] Mm -hmm.

[408] I mean, and I can see what that, you know, why that?

[409] But for me, I want to, I want to take him out now.

[410] He just knocked out R .R. Hall, who was talking mad shit as well, you know, but, yeah, I want to take him out now before, because he's going to, we'll probably fight again.

[411] We'll probably fight more than once because he's, he's in one of those, well, we'll see what happens.

[412] How long as the UFC career last?

[413] But I think he'll probably fight, me and him will probably fight more than once.

[414] Yeah, I would imagine.

[415] that as well, I was very impressed with him versus Uriah Hall.

[416] It was interesting because the contrast between your fight on Friday night and his fight on Saturday night.

[417] That was just a brawl, like a technical brawl.

[418] He got hit with a lot of jabs, but he is a relentless, marauding motherfucker.

[419] That guy's, he's very aggressive.

[420] Yeah, and this thing is for your footwork.

[421] Uriah Hall, I was watching my, why are you right there?

[422] It's easy to look good against someone who just sits right there like a punching bag, you know?

[423] Uriah had tremendous potential when we saw him in the ultimate fight.

[424] We all saw him.

[425] But it also might be similar to what you were talking about with Sage Northcutt, who I also think still has tremendous potential and still very young.

[426] I think there's an approach to take that you took that I think is really smart.

[427] You know where I got it from?

[428] One of the talk shows, UFC talk shows, Kenny Floren just said it.

[429] He said, get your experience outside the UFC before you go to the UFC.

[430] Wise words.

[431] 10 fights, nine fights and just like fight a lot of good guys, not just like, you know.

[432] Listen to me, man. You don't want to fight you on your second.

[433] fight, right?

[434] Imagine?

[435] Imagine you're a guy.

[436] You can throw a couple good punches.

[437] You think you're a badass.

[438] And then your stupid coach says, okay, you're going to fight this guy.

[439] They call him the style bender.

[440] Like, oh, okay, okay, okay.

[441] Yeah, I'll fuck up and do anybody.

[442] I'll fight anybody.

[443] I'll fight for the title.

[444] It's my mentality.

[445] Yeah.

[446] Those guys, they get lit up and they don't understand.

[447] They really don't understand.

[448] Jump in the pool too quick.

[449] Conversation with a friend of mine who's a jihitsu, he was badass jiu -jitsu.

[450] And he said he was going to go into MMA.

[451] And I'm like, okay, how long you've been training striking and he's like well you know he goes for the last four months pretty regularly I go are you out of your fucking mind I go listen to me man he was a black belt in jujitsu like nasty on the ground I go think about what you could do if I was a white belt and I came in here and I didn't know shit and I was like a strong guy maybe you know played basketball or something like that I was just athletic and I tried to fight you how bad would you fuck me up on the ground right now think of someone doing the exact same thing like that to you with stand up because you don't understand that there are guys who can do that to you.

[452] There's Tyrone Spong.

[453] There's you.

[454] There's these high -level kickboxers that you don't have a chance.

[455] You think you have a chance because you're fast.

[456] You don't have a chance.

[457] You're going to get hit.

[458] You're going to get fucked up and you're going to get hit multiple times.

[459] And they're going to chip away at you until they decide to move in for the kill.

[460] And then they're going to fuck you up.

[461] There's not a damn thing you could do about it.

[462] And it's almost the same as him grabbing a white belt, letting them flail around and then eventually choking him.

[463] It's an inevitable thing.

[464] But the weird thing is some people don't see that.

[465] They don't see that someone could do to them in a certain art that they don't study.

[466] Objectivity, that's the thing.

[467] For me, I'm always thinking, like, in anything, why am I doing this?

[468] Why am I feeling this way?

[469] Right, right, right, right.

[470] And that's why I said I moved to M .M .A., because I just know, I want to be the best, you know, I could have been the best kickboxer ever.

[471] I could be the best boxer as well.

[472] But I just thought in my heart.

[473] No one, there's a guy who could fuck you up in the MMA fight.

[474] No, just on the ground.

[475] I've seen so many street fights.

[476] So many street fights, I'm like, dude, okay, just push your knee down.

[477] You know, like, just holding each other and just hitting, hitting.

[478] can easily just choke the guy right now if you knew what you were doing so that's what a champion 80 % of street fights end up on the ground and people don't know what they're doing so I just felt like I never want to be in a situation where a guy like gets me in an alleyway and tries to like fuck me up and just snap my ankle or some shit but I just feel like I want to be able to be well versed take care of all areas and I'll probably never get there but I'll die trying well how old you now 28 I'll be 29 dude in a few years still literally you're still at least a year or two years away from your supposed physical problem, right?

[479] An athlete, they say that for a professional athlete, obviously they say, what is that?

[480] Everybody's different.

[481] Yeah, variables.

[482] But there's something around age 30 to 32 where your mind and body catch up and you have a window there.

[483] Like Anderson Silva when he was like 30 to 32.

[484] Woo!

[485] She's going.

[486] I remember that.

[487] Longest rain.

[488] You would watch him, you just put your hands to your head and go, geez.

[489] The first one I saw live was UFC 90.

[490] He fought Patrick Cote.

[491] Oh.

[492] That was an interesting.

[493] they won.

[494] Yeah, no, but like, for me, that first round...

[495] Fought very smart.

[496] But that first round, he used, like, probably seven different styles to just hit him.

[497] And then, I keep saying he used telekinesis on his knee.

[498] He just blowed it out, but like...

[499] Patrick had a fucked -up knee going into that fight, I think.

[500] Already.

[501] It's hard to tell, but it just seemed like it gave out.

[502] It was good fight.

[503] It was good fight.

[504] Okay, he just stood on it and just like, ah.

[505] Yeah.

[506] I think he went to, like, throw a front kick, and it just buckled on him and popped out.

[507] Yeah.

[508] No, but, like, that fight, that first round, the way he just handled him, I was like, that.

[509] Yeah.

[510] That's the guy.

[511] You know what?

[512] It really did open up the recipe to giving Anderson trouble, though, because the recipe to giving Anderson's trouble, Talas Laitis opened it up, and so did Patrick Cote.

[513] No, the real key was, don't engage.

[514] Because if you chase after him, he's going to fuck you up.

[515] Counterstriker.

[516] Forrest Griffin, all these different people that came at him, for sure, Chris Lieben.

[517] That was the first one, 90 seconds.

[518] That was the recipe for disaster.

[519] I mean, I knew, when I saw that fight on paper, I was like, oh, this is crazy.

[520] You got a guy who's like the most reckless, I know.

[521] Iron -chinned marauder in the UFC and you're putting up him against a guy who's like a ninja And this is gonna be crazy and this is a perfect fight.

[522] It was a perfect fight in terms of like you want to see like the effectiveness Yeah, of like high level timing speed and perfect technique like woo.

[523] Yeah, the way he did it as well was clean I think he only got hit once that fight.

[524] He landed like 100 % of his shots yeah and that fight Yeah, it was beautiful crazy and that's our style I was a counterstriker at first that's when I started I was always like I'll wait for guys to come in here Here it is right here.

[525] I remember calling this.

[526] I remember telling people, because I was afraid, I was a fan of Andersons from watching him fight in England.

[527] Look at that jab.

[528] I was a fan of watching him fight in England and cage rage and watching him fight in pride.

[529] And I remember saying this, ladies and gentlemen, this is a different kind of striker.

[530] Like this is one of the first times.

[531] You've got a high level.

[532] Look at the looks he's giving him as well.

[533] The shoulder feints.

[534] And the lightness of his feet, man. Bounce.

[535] That bounce.

[536] He's on.

[537] People forget, man. Look how good he is.

[538] He's over.

[539] Yeah, ping, ping, boom, boom.

[540] Look at that.

[541] Come on, son.

[542] Wish for him to get up again.

[543] And that knee.

[544] Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping.

[545] This is perfect.

[546] Let me, come on, man. Almost every shot lands.

[547] He's not getting hit.

[548] It's incredible.

[549] And it's over.

[550] Insane.

[551] And Chris was a beast, man. He could take a shot.

[552] He could take it all the time.

[553] There was one with him, it was not Mike Easton.

[554] It was a guy rocked him.

[555] And he, as he's moving back, as he's hurt.

[556] And he drops the guy, knocks him out.

[557] Cold.

[558] Yeah, no. Chris could take a tremendous shot.

[559] He had unbelievable heart.

[560] But Anderson, I feel like in that, that's my argument for Anderson being the goat.

[561] There's moments that he had.

[562] It's him and Fador, right?

[563] Yeah.

[564] I saw his kid the other day after my fight.

[565] I didn't wreck it.

[566] I was like, in the elevator, I was like, you're Anderson's son.

[567] He's like, yeah, I was like, uh -huh, baby goat.

[568] But the only other person is the current guy is Mighty Mouse.

[569] The only argument against Mighty Mouse is he's cleaned out, division out.

[570] He doesn't have a Chris Wideman, you know, a guy who's trying to fuck him.

[571] up.

[572] He doesn't have like someone who you really give a chance to.

[573] Someone on his level, quote unquote.

[574] Right, right.

[575] I mean, there's never been a situation where like Mighty Mouse.

[576] Mighty Mouse had a Chal Sun and who had him down on points in the fourth round, fucking him up, and then he catches him in a triangle.

[577] No, that flyweight.

[578] No, flyweight and he dominates, man. He just runs through people.

[579] Yeah.

[580] Is he going to fight, um, what's his name?

[581] Sohudo.

[582] He's fighting.

[583] Sehudo on next.

[584] Yeah.

[585] Mighty Mouse is fighting Sohudo in a rematch.

[586] Which he stopped.

[587] He's got better.

[588] Yeah.

[589] Tehudo got better since the first fight.

[590] Yeah.

[591] Sohudo's a Olympic gold medals in wrestling.

[592] That's all you need to know.

[593] And his stand -up as well is clean.

[594] He's kind of improved.

[595] I'll give him credit, yeah.

[596] The Wilson -Hase fight?

[597] Yeah, yeah.

[598] He looked like Machita.

[599] He was crazy.

[600] He was almost like McGregor or Machita.

[601] You know, he had that sideways stance.

[602] Yeah, it was weird.

[603] So you can learn fast.

[604] That's another guy.

[605] Great at wrestling.

[606] Transfer that greatness into learning stand -up.

[607] And now it's just mixing them together.

[608] That's the thing.

[609] If you have to learn, like, GSP did, just learning how to, like, mesh them together without, like, you know, getting stuck or thinking too much, just flowing with it.

[610] Yeah, that's the key, I think.

[611] Particularly the Wilson Hays fight, because it showed that he can adjust his style, like, pretty radically.

[612] Like, when he walked out like this, I remember going, whoa, what is it?

[613] This is karate, man. This is crazy, you know?

[614] Game credit, where credit is due.

[615] Well, again, when you're a gold medalist in the Olympics and wrestling, that's a special kind of human being.

[616] That's next level.

[617] It's just a special kind of human being.

[618] Even the wrestling training I do now, I'm like, fuck, sometimes.

[619] We have on Wednesdays.

[620] On Wednesday, it's V -O -2 Max called a rate wrestle Wednesday just because it's like Airdine and then wrestling.

[621] It's two minutes on the Airdine going hard with the hot rate monitor trying to get to the red zone and then wrestling for two minutes trying to get to the red zone.

[622] And shout out to Kevin Bentley.

[623] He's the guy that shot on me the most this camp.

[624] So you know my hips were on point because every time I'd like stuff for take down and get back up.

[625] Right.

[626] Boom, another one.

[627] And I have to like, Jesus Christ, just leave me alone because he's just on you like a blanket.

[628] Like a blanket.

[629] Yeah.

[630] So that kind of work is hard.

[631] Imagine being a gold medalist, what kind of wrestling training it takes to get to that level.

[632] Well, that's why when you see a real high -level wrestler against almost everybody else, they have such a noted advantage in the clinch, like Daniel Carmier and Steepi Miltchich this weekend.

[633] I mean, Dominic Cruz, we're very fortunate to have a guy that knowledgeable.

[634] Because Dominic's knowledgeable about basically everything.

[635] He started out as a wrestler, but he understands MMA as good as anybody that's ever talked on the mic about MMA.

[636] He's very glued up.

[637] So when he talked about, like, he showed me some stuff that I hadn't caught about Daniel's giving up the underhook so that he could limp arm, and then Stipe would run right into the right hand, and they had it all timed out.

[638] Okay.

[639] I've really broken down the fight.

[640] I was just already litig by that time.

[641] Crazy.

[642] I was yelling off my face, just like, wow.

[643] Dude, when he connected and then he hit him, I don't even know if I said anything, because I remember I was going like, did that out?

[644] I thought it was going to be five rounds.

[645] It was almost like there was a deja vu moment.

[646] Like, the world just changed.

[647] Holy fuck.

[648] Did he just knock them out?

[649] I don't know.

[650] And it was so close.

[651] Like, oh.

[652] And John Anick stands up.

[653] I've seen that picture I put on Instagram.

[654] That is a beautiful picture.

[655] Because they've been working together for so long when John Anick stands up and he D .C. looks at him when they look at each other.

[656] It's beautiful.

[657] Look at that picture.

[658] Come on, man. Because who the fuck else is a two -time world champion in two divisions and also a commentator currently and a great one.

[659] Working two jobs.

[660] God, I love that guy.

[661] And I like the fact that he's chunky as well.

[662] Because he just like.

[663] Chunky is a nice way of putting it.

[664] No, honestly, he's chunky.

[665] If that was a girl, what would you call her?

[666] Thick.

[667] He a thick boy.

[668] Like, he doesn't give a fuck, man. This ain't even fat shame, and that's the goddamn two -division champion.

[669] I was talking to Ian, his nutrition.

[670] He says, like, 246, but he doesn't move like 246.

[671] I was like, yeah, 100%.

[672] So it's deceptive.

[673] You look at him, like, even Mark Hunt, he's another guy like that.

[674] But last on Saturday, the way he was moving.

[675] Well, Javier Mendez was talking about it in camping.

[676] So was Bob Cook.

[677] They were telling me after the fight.

[678] They go, dude, at Heavywood, he's not.

[679] knocking everybody out in training part it's training partners you almost forgot about strike force how about that they forgot about undefeated strike force fucking grand prix heavyweight champion tossing out burnet big foot dropping them all that kind of shit i was like and that was barnet with five rounds and he wasn't even like he was early in that was early in his mommar career yeah so i was like you guys don't understand so i thought it was going to be dc putting them against the fence grinding them out for five rounds and still beating them up like fucking them up and back and forth but knock out in the first round that was just crazy crazy crazy i thought But if D .C. was going to win it, what was going to happen was they were going to get into the second and third, and they were going to start getting tired, and D .C.'s wrestling was going to takeover.

[680] Yeah.

[681] I thought he was going to go five rounds unanimous to D .C. I felt like he had to somehow or another wear Stipey out a little bit before he gets takedowns and get him down.

[682] Push him against the fence.

[683] That would be the smart thing to do.

[684] But I thought it was real dangerous to ending up because Stipe's knocked out Junior Dos Santos, knocked out Alastor Overeem, knocked out Fabrice Overeem with one punch.

[685] I mean, you think all the people Stipe's knocked out.

[686] Damn, and DC's coming up as a light heavyweight.

[687] Only time we ever seen D .C. hurt was a rumble, right?

[688] Yeah.

[689] Well, John Jones, obviously.

[690] John Jones kicked him and knocked them out.

[691] That's what knocked them out.

[692] Yeah.

[693] Can't forget that.

[694] John Jones capitalized brilliantly on a tendency.

[695] You know, he knew that D .C. They talked about it.

[696] Yeah.

[697] Leaning.

[698] Mm -hmm.

[699] And what's interesting is that Dominic Cruz explained this to me as well, is that this is how D .C. prefers to set up the single.

[700] Mm -hmm.

[701] And that he prefers to lean in.

[702] Lean on that side.

[703] Lean in towards his right.

[704] side and then dive in on the single that's his preferred technique he's very strong and dragging you to the ground from that position so he has a tendency everyone does every level even john jones myself when i was watching my fight i've only seen it once i was after the fight rewinding i took about an hour and a half to finish watching it just rewinding playing drinking with my friends whatnot because they understand i just like to be people myself and just chill so they're just doing their own thing and they were just playing games but i watch it to see what i did right and i enjoy i was Like, okay, this is why I did good, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[705] But then I see, if I was fighting me hard, I'd have fucked me up now.

[706] Ooh.

[707] I can see certain things, like, okay, this is, I need to work on tendencies, certain tendency and change it up, confuse people, scramble them.

[708] Some of the things I was doing in that fight, I've never done in training, because, example, elbow pads, we don't, I haven't really worn elbow pads in training, just knee pads.

[709] I was using that, um, onbach elbow to set up how to close a distance.

[710] And I was watching, I was like, where did I learn that from?

[711] I don't know.

[712] like you watch i did it probably three times i'd use the fake on block elbow to close the gap and i'd gallop in and catch him with a right hand or something but i never like certain certain things like that were things like they're good but then i can't really say the kind of thing i did that but do you think that maybe that when you learn it's almost like you're learning words like in these words or techniques and then combinations or sentences and then in having the mastery of all these words you just see a new sentence that you could say.

[713] Yeah, I was like, oh, that's nice.

[714] You already know how to throw those, obviously, even though you don't do it a lot in sparring.

[715] You just see there's something he's doing.

[716] You're like, you know what?

[717] This is what, I'm going to, this and then come in here.

[718] Yeah, like that one was nice, but there was one in my last fight before that in Arizona.

[719] Shona Mali throws this like spin and then the head kick.

[720] And in the fight, I was like, it feels right.

[721] Boom.

[722] First time I ever landed it and it caught him on the back of the head.

[723] I was like, oh, good.

[724] And I just kept them moving with it.

[725] Yeah, Ruan Jaya Rodriguez, 360 roundhouse kicked BJ Penn in the face I was like you gotta be fucking kidding because I was always wondering when are we gonna see this I've done one I knocked down the heavyweight with it like a tornado kick and I learned that about a month and a half before shout out to David Daffa he's the guy he's a taekwendo champion from New Zealand and he told me because I used to throw it with the right roundhouse and then spin with it and he said that's too much telegraphing you're showing the guy I'm gonna kick it because he'll lean back and then you come back so he said go south poor and use your torso so i'll give it away yeah you throw your shoulder your your left shoulder from southpore after a few right hands so you kind of i'm gonna throw a right hand and then spin that spin right there okay taekwana national champion so you know so that spin right there generates the force and i was able to knock down the knock down the guy with it i never hit anybody with that yeah i had the heavy bag with that a lot exactly make sure they can't move so i like to do it when they against the fence or they against the ropes so that way they have nowhere to go or not not as much space to move around.

[726] But if you're in the open, it's hard to land that.

[727] You know what's really remarkably effective is that Raymond Daniels side kick to jump spinning back kick?

[728] I can do it on the bag.

[729] Yeah, I can do it on the fence as well.

[730] I definitely have did it in sparring before, but when I saw Rick Rufus, one of his first fights, it was a really important fight with a tie champion.

[731] Where he was fucking him up in the first round.

[732] We played it back because it was a really interesting moment.

[733] I think on YouTube it's labeled as the most important fight in kickboxing.

[734] And what it was was the first fight where we got to see Rick Rufus in his prime face a tie champion and this dude and Rick was winning in the beginning and one of the things that he hit him with he did that touch side kick, spin back kick in the air this is it the fight that changed history is this Lawrence Kenshin as well yeah Lawrence that guy's a treasure love his work yeah go Google him or check out his videos on YouTube he's got so many awesome breakdowns and I like the way they kind of work off each other as well like a lot of these guys They're not really, there's no competition.

[735] They're all working together for, for the way of good.

[736] And Robin Black as well, like all these guys.

[737] He's crazy.

[738] What I really love about Lawrence, though, is that, you know, he breaks down things and shows him in slow motion as is Brendan Dorman and Jack Slack.

[739] There's a lot of these guys that do this.

[740] What weight was that?

[741] I don't remember.

[742] I don't remember how much Rick weighed.

[743] I know he went up to like 200 pounds, but I think he started out in the 60s or 70s at the most.

[744] This tie guy's pretty thick.

[745] Check out the pants.

[746] Yeah.

[747] Well, he didn't understand how to deal with the leg kicks.

[748] This was what chewed him up.

[749] But early in the fight, I think in the first round, what this is showing is how the tie starts taking over with the leg kicks.

[750] But I think in the first round, he hit him with that side kick, jump spinning back kick to the face and really hurt him.

[751] This is Lawrence's breakdown.

[752] Instead, this is just going to show how he lost.

[753] See how he tried to throw that body kick.

[754] Checked, high checked.

[755] Nice four by two, though.

[756] Hit him with the...

[757] Yeah.

[758] Yeah, oh, he heard him with that left hand.

[759] Yeah, he dropped.

[760] Oh, shit.

[761] Yeah, no, Rick had his moments in this fight for sure.

[762] And it showed just what a dangerous striker he was, but we just really didn't know back then about the leg kicks.

[763] So interesting.

[764] Their ties, they're the ones.

[765] Yeah.

[766] I felt some tie guys, their legs.

[767] Their legs literally feel like just concrete.

[768] Yeah, they're broken down from years.

[769] And mine are all right.

[770] Like, it feels like a stegosaurus's back.

[771] But sometimes when you feel it, it's like steel.

[772] Dude, I felt so.

[773] The first time somebody kicked me in my leg, I felt so vulnerable because I couldn't believe how easy it was 100%.

[774] My first thought was, God damn and I have to recalibrate everything I thought about fighting.

[775] Yeah, I fought a karate guy, Kiyokishin guy on maybe two hours notice because my opponent decided at the winds he's like, I'm not fighting him and just fought up.

[776] What did you do that made him say that?

[777] I'm black.

[778] I was like, and then like this guy, Jamie Eads, who I've fought, I think, four times now.

[779] So he came over to corner one of his teammates And he was a National Kyokishin champion He was like, I'll fight him, cool Jump in the ring and this padded fight everything Yeah, two leg kicks in I was like, whatever, I can keep going And then by the fourth one I remember like Ooh, okay, don't do that again And then from there was too late That was only in the first round He ate my legs He ate my legs And I remember for about three weeks after that fight Walking was just I didn't want to walk every time I'd be like can you pass me this or just like crawling places and I would hate walking but fun fact how long about three weeks maybe two two and a half three weeks after that fight and it's just you know your legs are dead heavy filled with blood bruised and it's just any little movement because your knees are swollen as well sharp pains oh I hated it fucking hate it how long it'd it take before you recovered probably yeah about three weeks four weeks I heal quick like honestly it's weird that crazy yeah I don't know why you know Randy Couture when he fought Pedro Hizzo needed six months of rehab shit six months six months Because he still has a dent in his leg, apparently, from that fight.

[780] Dude, Pedro gave a dent to Kevin Randleman, too.

[781] I never saw anybody kick a bag like Pedro.

[782] Or kick a people.

[783] But I was at Beverly Hills Jiu -Jitsu in, like, the mid -90s.

[784] And Boss Routen was running it back at the time, and Pedro Hizzo was over there.

[785] And Marco Huas.

[786] Dude, they had this big -ass 200 -pound fucking heavyweight, and Pedro Hizzo folded that thing.

[787] It made me so nervous.

[788] Was it hanging off the ground or was it touching me on the ground?

[789] But it was just this It was just a different sound It's a head I don't think maybe it's the bones I think there's just heavy bones as well He's a dense motherfucker He's a thick dude His legs were giant But it was There was a feeling of this very You know sometimes you hear someone Or you see someone kick something or something You go oh I could never No one can take that You can't take that Pedro had that you can't take that He hit Rico Rodriguez once And Rico was like fuck this I'm going down He's like I just You try to bring this guy to my car.

[790] I was like, fuck you, man. I'm not standing up with you.

[791] He hit him so hard that Rico stayed on the outside the whole fight.

[792] He never really, he never really completely committed to trying to win the fight.

[793] It was just too dangerous.

[794] That's a heavy way, right?

[795] Yeah.

[796] Is the guy with the problem, the PED problem?

[797] The wrong guy?

[798] Rico?

[799] Did Rico get popped for PED news?

[800] Maybe.

[801] I don't know.

[802] There's a documentary on them.

[803] No, no, no, no. You're thinking of Mark Kerr.

[804] Oh, yeah.

[805] No, Rico, I don't think Rico got popped ever.

[806] But Rico was a Machado, Brazilian Jiu Jizziu Black Belt.

[807] He was the heavyweight champion.

[808] I think I'm an American wrestler.

[809] I think Tim Sylvia beat him for the title.

[810] Tim Sylvia, when he was at the top of his game, he was a big giant motherfucker.

[811] Is he still fighting?

[812] No. Yeah, retired now.

[813] He's just, uh, bow hunts in Iowa.

[814] He's all giant now.

[815] Shit.

[816] He's 300 plus.

[817] He's like six, six foot nine.

[818] He's a huge, huge person.

[819] I always looked at him.

[820] One thing I was, it was just Gumby, like a big guy, but he could fuck people up.

[821] He could fuck people up.

[822] Yeah, and he was real, for, like a, you know, like, like, we can get a baby giraffe trying to, to figure out its steps, but he just knew how to move and how to use his guminess to his advantage.

[823] Well, if you go to the golden age of Tim Sylvia, pull up Tim Sylvia KOs Rico Rodriguez.

[824] This is the golden age of Tim Sylvia.

[825] Back when Mexican supplements were more easy to come by.

[826] We're going to find none of that.

[827] If you know what I'm saying?

[828] The drug test back then was like, they would like make you fill out a piece of paper.

[829] Tell me what drugs you took.

[830] Hey, I passed the test.

[831] I wrote zero.

[832] Yeah.

[833] It was fucking everybody was on the sauce back then.

[834] With all the sub, PD kind of talk, for me, I kind of, I thought, yeah, some people take steroids, whatever.

[835] But after I've seen Icarus, everyone's on steroids.

[836] Well, everyone in a lot of countries.

[837] How crazy was that documentary?

[838] Holy fuck.

[839] I was just like everyone.

[840] Not, but like these, the cheaters are always going to be ahead of the solution, the guys who are catching them.

[841] So whoever's on the new shit, they can't get caught just yet until they update their testings.

[842] You know what I mean?

[843] So it's like, I watch that and I realize if you have the team behind you and you have people who can fund it, everyone's on steroids.

[844] Don't you think that USADA, they hold their piss for a long time, right?

[845] Don't they hold your piss for like eight years?

[846] I told them just, yeah, use it for research, whatever.

[847] Yeah, but I think they hold on to it just in case new testing comes out.

[848] So they can test it again.

[849] They took gold medals away from two Russian cats in the 2000s because they went back and with new testing.

[850] I think they found EPO in their system.

[851] Yeah, it's an interesting thing.

[852] That documentary was amazing.

[853] It changed my...

[854] It opened my eyes.

[855] And I had a piss test the next day as well.

[856] I came to my gym.

[857] I was like, yeah, I told the guy.

[858] I've seen this.

[859] I saw this on the documentary last night, the little cup they were using.

[860] So, yeah, I was like, who knows who's on steroids now.

[861] And when you started came through, you know the guys that kind of like their bodies changed.

[862] Some of the people dropped off.

[863] Radically.

[864] Radically.

[865] So quick.

[866] Really quick.

[867] It's like, whew.

[868] Damn.

[869] I never thought.

[870] Yeah.

[871] Well, not just changed, but changed to the point where like, you're not even the same person.

[872] person, yeah.

[873] You're like doing an impression.

[874] And the guys in their 20s, doing an impression of who they were just a couple of years ago on the sauce.

[875] Yeah, weird.

[876] Shit's happening, man. Well, they got caught up in a bad.

[877] I'm snitching.

[878] I saw that thing with you in the golden snitch.

[879] He's a man. He sent it to me. He was all excited.

[880] He's laughing.

[881] Novitsky's a good guy, man. He's just like, he's got a bad reputation from a lot of people.

[882] I can be cool with him because I know me. I'm not cheating.

[883] I'm not a guy that.

[884] It's never interested in me. I mean, now he's, what is his official title?

[885] It's like athletes for health and wellness.

[886] But those who are cheating wouldn't be hanging around him like the wide world or wouldn't be as friendly with him because they don't want him sniffing around.

[887] You know what I'm saying?

[888] He's there to make sure that someone doesn't cheat on you too though.

[889] 100%.

[890] I'm like, please.

[891] What's so funny?

[892] I'm not mad at it.

[893] What's that?

[894] What does it say?

[895] The Golden Snitch?

[896] Ah!

[897] Jeffrey John Nivinsky, the Golden Snitch is the vice president of athlete health and performance for the UFC.

[898] Holy shit.

[899] Brendan Shob!

[900] Made it.

[901] Look what you did.

[902] Brendan Shob, look what you did.

[903] Golden Snitch.

[904] God damn, that's funny.

[905] Oh, shit.

[906] I'm glad he's around, man, honestly, because, you know, you won't, I don't mind being an ambassador for the sport if it's, you know, like a clean sport.

[907] Because, yeah, back in the day, even as early as 2010, 2010, 2012.

[908] Hey, find that, Tim Sylvia, Rico was looking at his fight.

[909] only on FightPass and I don't have it.

[910] That's it?

[911] I can't find it anywhere.

[912] Damn.

[913] He sounds just like the voice of my head.

[914] I've been looking for a lot of different places.

[915] It's weird like when you look at him talking.

[916] Oh, right?

[917] Because you heard him so many times.

[918] Yeah.

[919] I know it's weird being here, right?

[920] It's weird being here for me too, man. Believe me. This thing freaks me out.

[921] I quit my job September 4th, 2013.

[922] Before I quit that job, I think you were the first podcast I started listening to.

[923] Now I've got a few others like a whole list.

[924] But I remember having those my headphones.

[925] in my air just one so I could focus on the other things and my boss would just ride me for so long like just take that shit out your ears stop listening to music I'm like I'm not I'm just trying to be entertained so I don't go postal on you niggas honestly because that it was just you can enjoy what you do some people fight when I was living in China I knew a lot of guys that fought but they didn't enjoy it they just did it because it makes good money and they get paid and I'm like do something else but for me doing that job holy shit soul sucking every single day you know you wake up train and then it was just a block away and I'd walk to work and I just knew I was going to get just ridden that day and man but it's kind of crazy now I'm checking in like I'm actually out here like I've listened to this for so long and it's like yeah I belong here now like it's weird everything just seems normal good good that's perfect that means you hit the right time it means you've got a good sense of timing it's like because sometimes like even in my room I had a nice suite for this one shout to the UFC shout out that that main event status so I had like a nice little spot can join the rooms with my teammates and sometimes i'll just overlook the team mobile arena and just be like okay like we're like we've made it we're out here not like we're not done yet but like you're there yeah you're in the hunt okay let's go and they just can't check back in you're in the ufc and now i mean you had to break into the top 10 with that fight i don't think the rankings have come out fuck rankings man honestly like what are they just so stupid you know they fucked up paul felder Paul felder would have got that shot against kabib in that fight what is a welterweight so it should It shouldn't even affect, it shouldn't even affect the lightweight ranking.

[926] No, we shouldn't, but I'm not talking about that fight.

[927] I mean, the reason why Paul Felder didn't get that fight with Kabib, when Tony Ferguson hurt his knee, is because the athletic commission wouldn't recognize him, his wasn't ranked in the top ten.

[928] That wouldn't recognize him to be able to fight.

[929] Great fight.

[930] The fight, our quinta was a fucking dope fight.

[931] He handled that well, but.

[932] Paul Felder is a big fucking lightweight, and Paul Felder has outstanding striking.

[933] That would be a real interesting fight.

[934] 100%.

[935] So just because of rankings, they didn't let that go through.

[936] Just because the rankings.

[937] Who makes the rankings?

[938] That's the one thing I want to know.

[939] Who decides who, what the, like, is it like a group or them?

[940] No, but like, what have they done?

[941] What's their credentials?

[942] Have they trained?

[943] Have they fought?

[944] Are they just, like, analysts?

[945] Are they experts?

[946] Because it feels like if you want to be.

[947] Well, instead of figuring out who did it, let's think about what you would do differently.

[948] Like, who do you think should be, who do you think should be making the rankings?

[949] The rankings?

[950] The rankings?

[951] Maybe ex fighters.

[952] X fighters.

[953] Or like, someone who's been in the sport, someone who's trained.

[954] Same thing, like you say, we're judging.

[955] Someone who's actually, like, involved and under, dude, the judging scares the shit out of me, man. After my second fight in the UFC, I fought in Glendale, right, it was a split decision I got.

[956] In my head, when they said, you know, Israel, 50, whatever, oh, sorry, 39, 38, Adisania.

[957] I was like, oh, fuck, come on, just don't, because it's my win bonus.

[958] I don't give a fuck about my record.

[959] I'm just like, don't fuck me out of my money.

[960] Don't fuck with my money.

[961] Like, one other incompetent judge, and that would have been knit.

[962] Yep, yeah.

[963] Only half my money.

[964] And that would have pissed me off.

[965] Ooh, so crazy.

[966] So I was like, what have you done?

[967] Like, how the fuck did I lose that fight in your eyes?

[968] It is one of the biggest problems the athletic commissions have.

[969] Can't they just like, it seems like it's too much work?

[970] Like, shouldn't it just be like maybe a group chat?

[971] Like, okay, let's change the 12 to 6 elbow.

[972] Who's agreed?

[973] Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yeah, yeah, cool.

[974] Done.

[975] That's a no -brainer.

[976] That one's the dumbest one of all time.

[977] Well, like, it takes so long to try and make any change in the sport.

[978] For years.

[979] Well, how about the weight classes?

[980] Jesus.

[981] You know, Kevin, Kevin Lee tweeted the other day.

[982] that there's something like 150 different fighters in between 155 and 170 or I think he said more than that you hear what Michael Kiesa said what did he say about him almost dying felt like he was going to die when it was cutting weight well definitely don't fight at 155 yeah he probably should be fighting 170 it is scary he should be probably fighting at 170 he wants a 165 class I read on that tweet well it's a good class yeah it should be 55 65 75 75 75 75 85 85 95 25 25 25 25 25 25 I can do 185 and 195.

[983] If that was, I'll take that.

[984] I'll be jumping between those two.

[985] Yeah, why not?

[986] I mean, that's doable.

[987] Yeah.

[988] I think the real problem is you give guys like 85, 20 ,000 5.

[989] That's 20 fucking pounds, man. That's a lot of weight.

[990] Yeah, I walk around 205 if I'm healthy.

[991] Like, if I'm DCed out.

[992] Well, that's good.

[993] That's a good amount of weight to cut.

[994] Like, I bet when you get real lean, you probably lose like 6, 7, then you're only losing really cutting like, what, 10, 10 13?

[995] This camp, I didn't use a sauna.

[996] I didn't use a bath for this fight.

[997] Nice.

[998] Normally, like the last two, I did, and I was underweight.

[999] And I only cut a little bit as well.

[1000] But this one, I woke up on weight.

[1001] Do you use an expert to help you, like a Lockhart or something?

[1002] I'm going to, maybe for the fight week.

[1003] You use Lockhart next time, maybe.

[1004] But, like, normally I just, I've done this for a long time.

[1005] So I know my body.

[1006] And I'm always accurate as well.

[1007] I can feel like me. I'm about 98 -Kage.

[1008] Oh, 93 -Kages today.

[1009] I'm about 85 -Kageys right now.

[1010] And what about rehydration?

[1011] Yep, Lockhart method, the old one.

[1012] There's a whole system with the waxing maize, amino acids.

[1013] eating pineapples with crackers and honey and whatnot so i follow the list and my why pineapples with cracker and honey um i don't know it's on the list it's a lockhart one it's uh yeah so it's like carbohydrates from the crackers and honey talking to the wrong guy i would know all that kind of stuff like for me i just that's the thing i have guys like my coach eugene who knows why you know and he'll just tell me do this and i trust them right yeah but it's uh i know it's a lockhard method and they've updated it because i talked to i and he said that was the old one i sent it to him and he said they've updated it so i said okay next time probably i'll use them to for the fight week weight cut and then the rehydration i'll try the the toughest you've ever cut like how how have you've ever gotten let me go back go back uh this is probably early on in my career no actually there was one in china where i fucked up i was fucking around um at the buffet or something maybe like the fight week you know and then i think i cut four cages in the sauna it was easy on the last one but before that i was just like mentally sitting there like shit never again i'm never doing this again and i start to like visualize the fight like i'm gonna make this guy pay and i start to get delusional and delirious but yeah four kages it's not bad i've heard worse i've heard like yeah six kgs in a sauna and that's a lot on like someone who's not even that fat or that not not not what is that 13 14 pounds i keep using kjs damn it that's okay i don't know pounds what is uh how many pounds is that 14 yeah yeah that's a lot 30 pounds i take 2 .2 so oh god that's right I'm going the wrong way.

[1014] I'm going the wrong way.

[1015] It's the pineapple thing.

[1016] Oh, here it is.

[1017] As you get closer to the actual weigh -ins, we cut back on the fat and start incorporating frozen fruits.

[1018] Interesting.

[1019] Something I use a lot is pineapple.

[1020] The reason is dietary fiber will hold water if I put a bunch of water into a bowl and lettuce.

[1021] Lettis is brown and wilted.

[1022] The next day, we'll absorb the water via osmosis to be good lettuce again.

[1023] Well, I didn't know that.

[1024] When you guys are near the end of your weight cloud, they are cutting back on how much water they take in so they don't have to worry about the body absorbing the water.

[1025] that means we can give them fruit the fruit which is going to help them fuel the brain interesting hmm yeah that interesting huh now what kind of shit do you eat like are you on a very specific diet or i see food and i eat it i like food i'm hungry of course must be the best thing is like for me it's weird when you're not allowed it you want it more course yeah like the like fight week when i get here and i start to like crave just the good stuff and i go on these instagram pages like tasty and i just watch and i save it and i write down where i'm going to get it and i'm going to when I get back home and man it's like food porn for real yeah yeah just thinking by my god and then after the fight once it's time to weigh in I'm good and I'm just all right eat healthy get it done I don't like pig out like even on the the one I got from lock heart it says do not eat pasta until after the fight because apparently that can slow you down no pasta in capital letters do not what about like maybe a quinoa pasta or lentil pasta does that count that's that'd be better I think just like regular yeah I think just like maybe pastry pasta that kind of stuff You ever have that Ezekiel pasta?

[1026] Not yet.

[1027] I like that shit.

[1028] One thing.

[1029] Do you have any elk?

[1030] Yes, sir.

[1031] How long are you here for?

[1032] I got a spot till Thursday.

[1033] Do you have a place where you can cook?

[1034] Oh, dude.

[1035] I got you.

[1036] I got you.

[1037] I got freezes back there.

[1038] Okay.

[1039] The easiest thing I'll give you is I'll give you some elk sausage.

[1040] That's the easiest to cook.

[1041] Easy.

[1042] And I'll give you some directions and I'll give you elk steak and give you a direction.

[1043] Do you have access to like a, like some sort of a grill with a lid on it?

[1044] We can get it.

[1045] Temperature control grill.

[1046] Like a barbecue grill.

[1047] Yeah.

[1048] Yeah, we got one at the spot.

[1049] As long as you get, you just want to make sure, and you've got to get a digital thermometer.

[1050] You want to make sure the meat stays somewhere under.

[1051] Yeah, you don't want to keep it.

[1052] You definitely don't want to cook it past 120 degrees.

[1053] Easy.

[1054] I can follow instructions.

[1055] Okay.

[1056] I'm coachable.

[1057] I know you are.

[1058] You must be.

[1059] But you know you can't learn on your own.

[1060] Yeah.

[1061] You know both.

[1062] The thing about a guy like you that's interesting to me is like, it's very obvious that you had very good technical training, but then you deviated.

[1063] And you figured out your own creative path.

[1064] And something you said earlier, which I think is really important.

[1065] important and it's a good thing to hear for people who don't really understand martial arts is what you do really is an art i mean you're expressing yourself you know there's something i've always been and for a person like me who's a fan of that martial art and i understand what you're doing i watch it and i'm appreciating it's like i'm watching ballet or or a symphony i'm watching art i'm like oh look how he set up there was one time when you trapped his he trapped his wrist and cracked him on the elbow You know what that is, is that's like almost like NLP.

[1066] Because some people are used things coming at them in a certain speed.

[1067] So what I did, like he had his guard up, and I was just like, just give me a hand.

[1068] And I just hit him with it.

[1069] So like he gave, you watch it, he kind of like just.

[1070] Well, he thought you were going on a slow speed.

[1071] Yeah.

[1072] And then he sped up out of nowhere.

[1073] Because I'm used to, you know, he's used to the fast thing coming out of him.

[1074] And I was like, just give me your hand.

[1075] Well, that's the change up in baseball.

[1076] Yeah.

[1077] They throw a slow pitch and you're like, what is this?

[1078] And you whiff it.

[1079] And you like, fuck, how did I miss that?

[1080] Because you're expecting a ball to be so fast.

[1081] I've heard the turn before, but I never, I don't know baseball.

[1082] That's the change -up is.

[1083] So if a guy throws like a 98 -mile -an -hour fastball, but all of a sudden he throws one that's like a fraction of that.

[1084] I don't know what fraction.

[1085] So you know baseball, right?

[1086] It swing too quick or something.

[1087] Yeah, they swing too quick.

[1088] What would be a change -up pitch?

[1089] Like how much slower would it be?

[1090] 20 or 30 miles an hour slower.

[1091] Yeah, yeah.

[1092] So it fucks your head up, man. You're expecting that ball to come.

[1093] You see him throw it.

[1094] You're like, yeah!

[1095] And then you see, fuck, it hasn't even gotten here yet.

[1096] Deception.

[1097] That's what it is, bro.

[1098] My game is just deception.

[1099] Well, the question mark kick is the ultimate deception.

[1100] I got a few more.

[1101] That's just the basic one I use, but I got to, I try one on him.

[1102] You might catch it.

[1103] It was a change -up from left kick to a front tee, but he just went right there.

[1104] Here it is right there.

[1105] There we see the highlight.

[1106] Ooh, that was pretty.

[1107] You know, another one that you see Wonderboy likes to use is that front -leg sidekick, front -leg, front -leg, roundhouse kick combination.

[1108] He comes in, touches you with a front -leg sidekick, and then saw swap.

[1109] Boom.

[1110] Yeah.

[1111] Raymond Daniels, though, has the prettiest version in that.

[1112] Yeah.

[1113] Jumping sidekick, spinning back kick to the face that he did in glory.

[1114] Yeah, that was sick.

[1115] Made that guy do the splits.

[1116] Woo.

[1117] Damn, that was nice.

[1118] When you see a guy who can do that in a kickboxing match at a very high level, that's when you realize, like, whoa, this guy, like, you can't give him any room.

[1119] Yeah, 100%.

[1120] He liked space.

[1121] Joseph Valtolini and Nikki Holtskin when they fought him.

[1122] That was really interesting.

[1123] Constant pressure and leg kicks.

[1124] Chopin that leg, chopping that leg, chopping that leg.

[1125] Yeah.

[1126] You know, but what I like about.

[1127] your style is you basically do both of those things you do the wild crazy shit but you also do technical Muay this is what I mean about I kept on saying about you are all being a button basher like you know when you play tech in and you just kind of like play and hope something cool happens that's what he does and I'm like establish your basics first establish your foundation land your jab he did it in this last fight but like normally establish something first and then the the cool shit comes afterwards you can't just like and he's had success with knocked out gay guard with the spinning jumping spinning back kick you know but like I think you'd have better success at landing those things if you establish your basics first land your jab set the pace well he was landing a lot of jabs in that fight in that last one yeah polo coaster was just constant relentless with his pressure yeah i think i called it two minutes before it happened i was like i told ash um my uh friend of mine was like he's fading he's going to go soon he's going soon you can just see it when he starts to like and maybe because i see it that's what i look for in a guy or they tell me like i'm ready to go I'm like, all right, cool.

[1128] I help you out.

[1129] I just take him out.

[1130] You can just find it.

[1131] Like, you look in their eyes, or you feel them.

[1132] Like, when you see a guy who's starting to crack.

[1133] You feel them.

[1134] You feel them, uh.

[1135] You feel them, it's an energy.

[1136] It's an energy.

[1137] Like, you just see them.

[1138] Yeah.

[1139] And he's, okay, he's ready to go.

[1140] Like example, my first fight, shout to Rob Wilkins.

[1141] I actually brought him in just to help me out.

[1142] Not for this camp, just bought for his wrestling pressure.

[1143] Rob Wilkinson.

[1144] He's a good guy.

[1145] He's my first UFC fight.

[1146] But when I was fighting him, it was in the second round after his last takedown attempt.

[1147] and then I like stuffed his head got my leg out and I skipped back to the middle and I saw him walk back like circle and then and just the body language I was like oh you're ready and I throw my hands up like what's up and then pop me boom and I just kind of like just pick them apart slowly I didn't rush it like I keep telling I don't rush these knockouts like a lot of people like oh he hurt Brad about three times but you know he didn't go for the finish I'm like I'm not trying to bum rush these dudes I just picked them apart they will fall eventually well not only that Here's something to consider for people that don't really totally understand what you're doing.

[1148] You're doing everything correctly.

[1149] You're not really getting hit much.

[1150] You're doing everything correctly.

[1151] And by doing everything correctly, you're kind of ensuring to continue your domination in that fight versus put yourself in danger, which some people like, some people like, I just like the bite down on my mouth, piece, and bang.

[1152] I love me at Justin Gitchie Michael Johnson.

[1153] Yes.

[1154] But I'm not going to be that guy.

[1155] I'm not going to be that guy.

[1156] Exactly.

[1157] I'm not here for a long time.

[1158] I'm here for a good time.

[1159] I just want to keep my wits about me fight.

[1160] Like Mayweather, get in, get out, make your money and fuck off.

[1161] That's what I want to do.

[1162] You're fighting correctly in terms of like if you're trying to teach someone how to hit and not get hit, you're fighting correctly.

[1163] But in order to push further, if you were trying to make it more exciting and engage more, you have to risk getting hit.

[1164] And that's not a wise thing to do.

[1165] I take risks.

[1166] I like to take risks.

[1167] And when I play with my distance, like, okay, am I too close?

[1168] Am I too far?

[1169] And before I take those risks, I calculate.

[1170] I know what he's going to do already.

[1171] I'm like, I can bait them with something like, if I'm like, if I play with my distance, like, if I'm not.

[1172] If I want them to jab, now get closer.

[1173] And when he jabs, I slip and rip.

[1174] You know what I mean?

[1175] So you just, I take risk, but I calculate my risk.

[1176] And sometimes I might do some wild shit like that of a Nari roll.

[1177] Yeah, yeah.

[1178] I fucked up on that one because it was a little bit slippery and I, I landed in training.

[1179] I catch it all the time, but I didn't account for the sweat on his legs.

[1180] And I got back up anyway.

[1181] I was like, come on.

[1182] It was a good one, you know.

[1183] It's a crazy thing to do.

[1184] You're also very honest when things don't go your way.

[1185] Yeah.

[1186] And then things go wrong.

[1187] You had a kickboxing fight.

[1188] Was it in glory?

[1189] Yeah, no, that was the one in Brazil.

[1190] In Brazil.

[1191] What's his name?

[1192] Alex.

[1193] Alex Pereira, right?

[1194] Where you lost and you were talking about what it was like to get knocked out.

[1195] Yeah, for me, that's everyone's worst fear.

[1196] So that for me was two first for the first time.

[1197] My first back -to -back lost because that was just after the glory fight and my first knockout lost.

[1198] But the glory fight, although you lost, a lot of people thought you should have won the decision.

[1199] I won the fight.

[1200] You know, if you look at him, I don't even base it on that, but like, we both knew.

[1201] You were like, I hit you more than you hit me, you know?

[1202] Yeah.

[1203] He were like, well, he had the pressure.

[1204] He walked you down.

[1205] And the commentary, being honest, was bullshit because, I mean, respect to a guy like Valtolini, but he never, he can't fight like me. He can't understand my style.

[1206] His fight, you look at his career.

[1207] He had to take time off because of, you know, trauma because that's how we fight.

[1208] So he appreciates that kind of style.

[1209] But what's his name?

[1210] Wellness walked me down, but he really couldn't do shit.

[1211] Leakicks is supposed to slow you down.

[1212] I didn't slow down.

[1213] I was still dancing around them in the fifth round.

[1214] I was slipping and stuff.

[1215] I was fresh, you know, but yeah, that fight, I felt like I won that fight, but it's all right.

[1216] It's like, you know, it wasn't meant to be.

[1217] Everything happens the way it's supposed to happen.

[1218] I wasn't supposed to get that belt, and I'm okay with it, you know?

[1219] Well, the fight was the fight.

[1220] Exactly.

[1221] It really was just the judges that people have a dispute with.

[1222] The actual fight was a successful fight for you in that you did land more shots than he did.

[1223] But then losing the next fight.

[1224] By K .O. But you talked about it online, like you were real open about it on Instagram.

[1225] Because that's the fair.

[1226] Like, every fighter, like, if it was just me and a. guy fighting and I lost it's like oh whatever but when you put it in front of you know millions of people that's the fair it's like oh shit I don't want to look like shit in front of all these people what did you get hit with um I was Southpore was a left hook from him and before that first round I seen him up second round I rocked him but then from that wellness fight I let some bullshit get to me just online you know like people in your life is not you never online people in your life's oh man you know you should have won that fight blah blah blah okay she shouldn't even in the Dodgers' hands.

[1227] You know, they'll say some shit like that, and it just seeps into you.

[1228] So when I heard him in that second round, I just went berserk what people expect me to do or what people in the UFC do.

[1229] Just like, I decided throwing bombs and just like, I was, no, I was only throwing right hands.

[1230] I just started only right hands at him.

[1231] And I watched that fight back.

[1232] I haven't watched it in a long time, but when I watched it back, I was like, why are you doing this?

[1233] Because that's not me. That's not me. That's not me staying true to myself.

[1234] What I would have done if I was, you know, being true to myself is just, all right, cool.

[1235] Where's a shot?

[1236] Boom, pop -boom.

[1237] Just pick him up.

[1238] He was hurt He was out on his feet already So it's a good story for him You know like he knocked me out at the third round After he got rocked in the second round But I mean yeah It was good for him But hey if we fight again Because even after my first My UFC debut He put like a contract up Like he's coming to the UFC as well I'm like all right Make your way up I'll fuck him up 100 % He's a very good kickboxer too I mean he's not There's no shame He's beat me twice And the first time as well Was another weird You know he's walking forward And you know Not landing shots but I'm moving back and hitting him the whole time and the judges gave it to him so I was like credit to you you got the fight but I'll fight you again so if he makes his way to the UFC you can get it anytime Is he trying to fight MMA now or is he I think he has he's had MMA fights he's had MMA fights but a lot of kickboxes like I said my boy Brad even he realizes like MMA is where it's at you know the UFC they see the way best run company I've ever like come across I fall around the world for glory fought in China no one runs the show like the UFC like everything has a a place and the time and it's just so clean and you get your money quick that's one thing i like about it here's a well -oiled machine definitely i mean they've they've been running it that way since 2002 and now the new organization is basically most of the old organization yeah yeah it's nice to work for man i still enjoy it after all these years like your next one next one's in la right yep next one is next tj versus cody yeah sick fight i can't wait oh fuck that first fight Do you feel like after the last Robert Whitaker, Yowell Romero fight, that your weight class is kind of in this weird state?

[1239] I mean...

[1240] What do you mean?

[1241] Well, it's Whitaker won the fight, but a lot of people thought Romero might have gotten the nod because he knocked him down and heard him, and then he heard him again in the next round.

[1242] A lot of people thought, at the very least, it was a draw.

[1243] Because if you look at it on paper, Whitaker never really hurt Marlero, but Romero did significantly hurt Whitaker twice.

[1244] Yeah.

[1245] And, you know, he came off of knocking out Rockhold.

[1246] But then again, he didn't miss weight.

[1247] So that kind of puts it in turmoil, too.

[1248] That's for me. I don't really care.

[1249] As long as...

[1250] I think he's moving up.

[1251] Is he?

[1252] I think he said he's going to go to light heavyweight.

[1253] Yeah.

[1254] I think that's the most recent state.

[1255] How tall is he?

[1256] How tall is that tall?

[1257] Yeah.

[1258] Dude, that guy is built like a brick shit house.

[1259] It looks like an action figure.

[1260] When he came in here, when he came in here do a podcast, he was immature while I was in camp.

[1261] You know, and him and Joey Diaz translated and shit.

[1262] I was looking.

[1263] I'm like, he's 230 pounds.

[1264] He's fucking huge.

[1265] How was he going to make 185?

[1266] That's how I felt what I first man, Anthony Johnson.

[1267] I was like, how the fuck?

[1268] How the fuck did he make 170?

[1269] I was like, literally, I saw him.

[1270] He's just like a thick burger, like huge.

[1271] And he, you don't want, he hit me once, I think when we were sparring, only once I could clean one.

[1272] And I was like, I'm not getting hit by that again.

[1273] That was it.

[1274] So dangerous.

[1275] Yeah, 100%.

[1276] It was good work.

[1277] I enjoyed the work we got together, but definitely you don't want to get hit.

[1278] Is he a hard spar or will he spar light with you?

[1279] No. He, because I was the guy that brought him for him to mess up.

[1280] Right.

[1281] Yeah.

[1282] I didn't let it happen.

[1283] I was making sure, like, no, stay away from that.

[1284] There was one.

[1285] He teed me, and I went from one side of the cage to the other.

[1286] He hit me. You know that teep he does?

[1287] Like the side teep he just pushes you.

[1288] Right, like an elliptical or oblique kick, yeah.

[1289] And he just did, and I went, hit the fence on the other side.

[1290] I was like, yep, he's a big boy.

[1291] And I was probably maybe 90 cages at the time, so that was about 200 pounds.

[1292] But yeah, he's a motherfucker.

[1293] You don't want to spar him.

[1294] Yeah, to get down to 205 is a bit of a struggle, which is just so crazy.

[1295] Look at me wrong.

[1296] Hey, he got his licks as well.

[1297] It wasn't, it was back and forth.

[1298] Yeah, 100%.

[1299] But it was good work.

[1300] How fuck did he make 170?

[1301] I have no idea.

[1302] I saw him in between fights at 170 and he was 20030 pounds.

[1303] I was like, what are you weigh?

[1304] You see him now?

[1305] You see him on Instagram?

[1306] He's huge.

[1307] Yeah.

[1308] I saw him like a couple weeks or it's just like he's lifting weights.

[1309] Well, he said if he's going to come back, he's going to come back as a heavyweight.

[1310] Perfect.

[1311] Dude.

[1312] And he's a -old being a heavy weight.

[1313] He'd be fucking do the heavy weight.

[1314] He just couldn't answer the puzzle that was D .C. DC is the one who really had him figured out Yeah DC just figured him out man DC just knew how to break him I think it's just the gas tank as well sometimes Like he puts his foot on the gas too quick And also learning how to Not be conservative but manage your gas tank Yeah Yeah Yeah He would just swing for the fucking bleachers And most of the time when he did that He would just put guys in a coma You know And I just think at a certain point in time You know He was on a tear He was that motherfucker Oh, dude, he was that motherfucker for a long time.

[1315] That was the one he had with Gloverick Sherrod.

[1316] That didn't look like much.

[1317] No. The uppercut.

[1318] It didn't look like much.

[1319] And it was in a bit of a scramble.

[1320] Like, they were just working.

[1321] Dude, it was amazing.

[1322] When he hit him with that, I was like, Jesus Christ.

[1323] Yeah.

[1324] He had ridiculous punching power.

[1325] Like some of the most ridiculous punching power.

[1326] Guys like that, Mark Hunt, him.

[1327] Who's another one?

[1328] Rampage had that as well.

[1329] Oh, yeah.

[1330] I don't understand.

[1331] Chop did.

[1332] It's something.

[1333] And Chuck, what I like that he had it was because he was long as well.

[1334] He wasn't really a thick guy, but I think it's his levers, his arms.

[1335] He just knew how to whip that.

[1336] What are they fighting?

[1337] He and Tito.

[1338] I don't know, man, but there's a video of Chuck working out.

[1339] He's working out with race F -O.

[1340] Yeah, I saw that.

[1341] See that?

[1342] Yeah.

[1343] He was like, ooh.

[1344] Shit.

[1345] Maybe I'll give him credit, benefit of the doubt, because I'm like, okay, maybe he hasn't hit pads in a while.

[1346] Let's see maybe three weeks from now.

[1347] When are they fighting?

[1348] I have no idea.

[1349] Young Jamie pulled that up.

[1350] I would think that I would say that, right?

[1351] It feels good.

[1352] Yeah, but yeah, maybe four weeks, let's see if he keeps the training up, he might.

[1353] It's like riding a bike.

[1354] He didn't look like Chuck of Old, obviously, because we have something to compare it to, but he, you know, he just, he's not going to be like that either way, but let's see if he can get better from what that was on Instagram.

[1355] But also, he's a 49 -year -old guy and he's probably warming up.

[1356] Yeah, that's what I mean.

[1357] Hopefully that was just, him just him just throwing feeling out get loose and then make three rounds in he would start really no oh real no no show do you roll I roll but I'm 50 years old I can't get hit in the head yeah fuck off for real I can't get hitting the head anymore I'm uh yeah I'm old enough to not be willing to get hit in the head anymore yeah same when I stopped when I was probably 28 29 when I first moved to LA I still did some kickboxing I went to Benny the jet center in Van Nuys remember Benny Enoch I know Benny the Jet.

[1358] Original OG kickboxers.

[1359] Him and Blinky Rodriguez had the Jet Center in Van Nuys.

[1360] And for me, there was two things that I wanted to do when I came to California.

[1361] One, I wanted to go to Hard Times billiards.

[1362] Because Hard Times in Bellflower, California pool.

[1363] Yeah, it's one of the legendary pool halls in the country.

[1364] And two, I wanted to go to the Jet Center in Van Nuys.

[1365] And I went there, dude, and it was all, like, gang members.

[1366] And Blinky Rodriguez had, like, a program where he would let these gang members in and, you know, have them all take classes.

[1367] So you'd be sparring with, like, hard -core gang bangers.

[1368] They had, like, one dude had this, like, really shitty tattoo on his back with his gang.

[1369] I forget the name.

[1370] And then it said, fuck the rest on his back.

[1371] And we're both putting in our mouthpieces.

[1372] I'm like, Jesus, what am I doing?

[1373] I grew up in the suburbs.

[1374] It kind of happens, though.

[1375] Gang activity kind of, like, just seeps its way into fight.

[1376] They finally went to fight culture somehow.

[1377] Yeah.

[1378] It's always being a part of it.

[1379] I believe Blinky Rodriguez lost his son to gang.

[1380] violence.

[1381] Oh, real?

[1382] Yeah.

[1383] So he had an open -up program where he was letting kids into the gym and trying to help the community and help these kids.

[1384] I apologize if I got that wrong, but I think I got that right.

[1385] Please look that up.

[1386] Blinky Rodriguez's son dies and gang violence.

[1387] I'm pretty sure that's true.

[1388] Blinky Rodriguez was a famous kickboxer, too.

[1389] He knocked out Jean -Eve Terrio when Jean -Eve Terrio was like the PCA champion, one of the most feared guys in the world.

[1390] That's that point karate isn't it?

[1391] No, no, no. It was PKK karate with kickboxing, but it was above the waist like Rick Rufus style.

[1392] And Jean -Evterio, is this?

[1393] Is that true?

[1394] That he did lose his Sunday gang violence?

[1395] Yeah.

[1396] Jean -Eve Therio fought.

[1397] You see if you could find Blinky Rodriguez, K -O -Jon -E -Tereo, and Terio is T -H -E -R.

[1398] I forget all the rest of the way of spell his name, but he was the man in kickboxing in, like, the 80s.

[1399] Because he was...

[1400] I was before my time.

[1401] He had pretty decent kicks, nothing special, but ridiculous knockout power in his punches.

[1402] Was his hands like boxing?

[1403] Boxing, yeah.

[1404] But Blinky Rodriguez caught him with a left hook and starched him.

[1405] And that was always like one of Blinky.

[1406] Here it is right here.

[1407] They're fighting.

[1408] This is like one of Blinky's claims to fame.

[1409] Throwback.

[1410] Yeah, I mean, this is...

[1411] Which was Blinky?

[1412] Blinky is the guy in the blue shorts.

[1413] And Johnny Fterio was the tall Montreal guy.

[1414] He was an interesting guy, man. He was one of the first advocates of stair running, too.

[1415] He was...

[1416] Like sprints.

[1417] Yeah, well, running hills and running stairs because he felt like for kicking power.

[1418] They're good for you, but fuck them.

[1419] Fuck them, right?

[1420] There's something about gravity.

[1421] Oh, nice.

[1422] Well, Blinky was a karate guy.

[1423] He had all kinds of crazy shit, spinning back fist and all that shit, but he had this boom, there it is son.

[1424] Blinky had a ridiculous left hook.

[1425] Oh, yeah.

[1426] The arms.

[1427] Watch that again.

[1428] Boom.

[1429] That's beautiful.

[1430] I like how I set that up as well.

[1431] Yeah.

[1432] From that low kick.

[1433] Boom.

[1434] That's a textbook.

[1435] Beautiful.

[1436] Nothing wrong with textbook.

[1437] So it was an honor just to be there in Blinky's gym.

[1438] You were right there.

[1439] Big classes.

[1440] This is way later.

[1441] I came to L .A. in 93.

[1442] Yeah.

[1443] So it was 93 when I was here.

[1444] Oh, the dream.

[1445] Yeah.

[1446] Yeah.

[1447] From where?

[1448] I came here from Boston to New York, New York to L .A. So I started coming here around 93, and I think I joined.

[1449] I joined the Jets Center, but they had got damage from the earthquake in 93, and the fucking roof, when it would rain, it would just flood the whole gym.

[1450] So they had to wind up moving.

[1451] So, glory days.

[1452] No word on that fight.

[1453] It's booked for later this year.

[1454] Which fight?

[1455] Ortiz, Liddell.

[1456] Oh, later this year.

[1457] Just no word.

[1458] It's terms when?

[1459] I wonder how Tito looks as well.

[1460] Maybe see him hitting pads.

[1461] He looks good.

[1462] Look, Tito has been winning.

[1463] You know, he fought recently.

[1464] He beat Chale Sondon recently.

[1465] Tito is...

[1466] Oh, that's right, in Biltor.

[1467] Yeah, he's still active.

[1468] Oh, yo.

[1469] Yeah, I saw Tito hit pads.

[1470] He still looks good, man. He's still a beast.

[1471] He's got a gang of back surgeries, though.

[1472] Yeah.

[1473] Knee surgeries and back surgeries.

[1474] Tito's...

[1475] His whole back is all surgery, man. He had...

[1476] There's a crazy video of him.

[1477] He's lying unconscious.

[1478] They got him sedated.

[1479] And the doctor has a hammer.

[1480] and a chisel and his neck and his neck and his neck he's going like this clink clink clink clink putting some spacer in his neck like fusing his neck together shit fuck that i'm not about that life dude that headlock life is a different life and wrestling because he was a wrestler by by trade all those wrestlers they all wind up with like some sort of catastrophic back injury it's just a matter of how long can you hold out for me now i'm just i'm trying to be preemptive Because for the longest time, I kind of, like, just neglected all that stuff with, like, Cairo, physio, whatnot.

[1481] So now I'm like, if I want to fight at this level and be healthy, avoid injury, you've got to look after yourself in that sense.

[1482] What kind of strength and conditioning work do you do?

[1483] Strength and conditioning, Suns, is a guy that does my strength and conditioning work.

[1484] And the thing is, I know not much about these things.

[1485] Like, even when he tells me to lift, like, put some template, I never ask what the numbers are.

[1486] Because if I know what the numbers are, I feel like I might get daunted like, well, shit, I might, I can't lift this.

[1487] And then I'll ask afterwards, like, oh, was that deadlift?

[1488] He's like, oh, that was 180.

[1489] I was like, okay, cool.

[1490] That's all right.

[1491] But, yeah, I do shit like deadlift, a little bit of bench, a lot of bandwork, a lot of pliometrics, like, exploding.

[1492] Yeah, learning how to just fire.

[1493] Like, when he says go, he's not just working the muscles.

[1494] He wants to work the mind.

[1495] So when it's time to explode, the mind just knows it's time to move, yeah.

[1496] yeah like quick twitch and how many days a week do you do it two times a week two times a week and when you do it on how do you schedule your does someone schedule all of your workouts or do you do it yourself you have input how does that work i have input but um my main coach eugene bareman he's the one that schedules my workout so he says today we're doing wrestling tomorrow we have we have we have a timetable so for each camp we'll adjust the timetable accordingly so for example um when i go back now i'm not going to do any VO2 max no a lactic capacity all that kind of stuff, no camp stuff.

[1497] I want to go.

[1498] Because it's after the fight.

[1499] After the fight, yeah.

[1500] So it's skill work?

[1501] Yeah, skill work, yeah.

[1502] Just upgrade the software.

[1503] But also because yeah, I think I've done well this year.

[1504] Three fights in six months.

[1505] I'm like, you know what?

[1506] Take my foot off the gas a little bit.

[1507] I'm just going to chill.

[1508] How long will you chill for, you think?

[1509] Probably until September maybe.

[1510] But in that time, I want to go back to yoga, Bickram, because my flexibility is kind of, I felt it in this camp in early.

[1511] It took me a little bit longer to get my kicks going.

[1512] And Eugene was teasing me saying I'm getting old.

[1513] I was like, fuck that.

[1514] I still have it, but I just think I need to get my flexibility back to where it was.

[1515] When you do plios and things along those lines, do you stretch heavily afterwards?

[1516] Afterwards, I should, and I try to, but sometimes I just, I just neglect that.

[1517] I forget, I forget.

[1518] Damn, that's kind of so important because that's the time where you really have some opportunity for stretching or really advancing your range of motion.

[1519] Yeah, well, anytime explosive exercise, you're really tired, your muscles are completely heated up.

[1520] Or, you know, Bickram's great for that too.

[1521] because you get a lot of exhaustion of the muscles, then you have that extreme heat and everything's super pliable.

[1522] When I go to Bickram, I can still do a full split.

[1523] But if I had to do like a full split right now, like, ugh, it'd be a little bit of a struggle.

[1524] I felt the way when after Bickram classes, I was always more loose.

[1525] Yeah, but that heat is something, man. So we can hack it though.

[1526] They need to hack it.

[1527] Cut the shit.

[1528] Of course you can hack it.

[1529] If it was between live or die, never see your family again or wait 10 more minutes in the sauna.

[1530] Shut the fuck up.

[1531] You can hack it.

[1532] Even just for the first, for the first session I ever did ever in Bickram, I sat there.

[1533] I didn't push myself as hard, but I just sat on the mat if maybe that pulls it a little bit too much or if I felt some type of way, but I'm African, I can handle it.

[1534] That ain't bad if you can't, look, the whole thing about it is adaptation.

[1535] If you overrun your body right away, you're not going to recover as well, you're not going to enjoy it as much.

[1536] If you can't get through a 90 -minute Bikram class, but you can do 60 minutes, then you have to sit down for 10 and then jump back in for 10, then just do that.

[1537] Exactly.

[1538] Know your body.

[1539] Have some cold water.

[1540] Just sit down for the first front and just feel the heat.

[1541] Just sit down.

[1542] Try what you can.

[1543] And if you can't do it, just sit down.

[1544] Dude, that shit is so good for you.

[1545] I know Bikram's a crazy asshole.

[1546] I know there's all this thing.

[1547] I know he's crazy.

[1548] They did HBO.

[1549] But here's the thing, man. Just because he's crazy doesn't mean it's effective.

[1550] You can't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

[1551] I know that dude's nuts.

[1552] But also, here's the other thing about Bikram.

[1553] Although he's a great yogi and his system is amazing, I don't even think he came up with that system.

[1554] I think that system existed for a long time.

[1555] Like that from India or something.

[1556] Yeah.

[1557] See, Google this, please.

[1558] I think he lost a lawsuit based on him trying to copyright those sequences of yoga.

[1559] And I think the problem is that the yoga, those moves, all those moves have existed for literally thousands of years.

[1560] Who was trying to claim them?

[1561] Well, he was trying to claim them in succession.

[1562] So, like, say if you opened up the Style Bender yoga class and you used all Beakram's moves.

[1563] Not a bad idea.

[1564] Not bad.

[1565] I like it.

[1566] style bender especially want to meet yoga girls in the back of the class holla me need some help what what he is essentially saying is that he came up with this idea to put them all in that particular order which is a super effective order like his order of yoga poses is an amazing order is the same worldwide yep everywhere you go i've taken classes everywhere it's all the same because i only i only went to one so i thought it's the same thing for that if you do the well there's you know there's like vinyasa there's flow classes, which are also very interesting.

[1567] Yeah.

[1568] And I've taken those too, but there's something really good about the 90 -minute Beekroom program.

[1569] He just has it nailed.

[1570] Yeah.

[1571] He figured it out.

[1572] But I don't even know if that was his idea.

[1573] I think it was other people that.

[1574] He sued people.

[1575] Oh, he did?

[1576] Yeah.

[1577] He's gangster.

[1578] He's so crazy.

[1579] They had this, I mean, I don't even mean in a good way.

[1580] They had this HBO documentary where they're interviewing him and he was talking about girls saying that, you know, he banged him and all this different things.

[1581] He goes, listen to me. He goes, there are people that would pay one million dollars for one drop of my sperm.

[1582] One million dollars.

[1583] He's getting interviewed by HBO.

[1584] And he's like this, like, as if there's a bunch of people like waiting, like an auction house filled with people.

[1585] Who wants three ounces?

[1586] Right here, one million dollars.

[1587] We have one million dollars for one drop of sperm.

[1588] Who's in?

[1589] How old is he?

[1590] What does he even look like?

[1591] I'll take three drops.

[1592] What kind of specimen is he?

[1593] He's like an old type dude?

[1594] Is he in shape?

[1595] he's not holding it together the best you know if you and him if you didn't see if you're both the same skin color and you didn't see your heads and you looked at your torso as you know who's who okay you know what I'm saying let's put it that way yeah let's put it that way I mean he's like a 70 year old guy I mean how long can you hang he still make sperm one drop of my sperm one million dollars one million dollars yeah he's uh there he is Holly at your boy Still looking jacked Is that him?

[1596] Let me see Go large on that picture Not bad Probably eating a few too many carbs Yeah Needs to get some squats Or some hill runs in But when it comes to yoga He's flexible as fuck And knows how to do all that shit Doesn't look 70 Well you know what man Look let's go back to that picture Again real quick There he does Go back to that picture again real quick In his underwear The one on the art Yeah One right above that Right above that yeah Listen man Let me just be real as fuck Gravity's a thing Gravity's a thing And let's be real as fuck If you walk around We're wearing underwear like that In a yoga class You're there to fuck That guy's there Facts Fuck He's there to fuck And if you leave a girl alone with him He's gonna touch her He's gonna pull that Indian dick out He's gonna send it home He's gonna say What's an Indian dick Is it like a French dick Dick Look at that guy.

[1597] Me, he's wearing a little tiny skivis.

[1598] My man, is out here.

[1599] And if you're a dude and you commit.

[1600] You can't be like an amateur yoga guy.

[1601] Holy shit.

[1602] Wow, look at that girl.

[1603] That's from the Kama Sutra.

[1604] Yeah.

[1605] Might be.

[1606] Okay.

[1607] Like, you can't have underwear like that on and not be good at yoga.

[1608] Like, if you're like a beginner and you fall down every time you try to do ego pose, they'll talk to you.

[1609] Hey, man, why you put you more clothes on?

[1610] But if he walks in there with his man by...

[1611] He earns a right to flex.

[1612] Yeah, he's got a right to flex, man. You know what I mean?

[1613] I mean, he's fucking...

[1614] It's like, I don't know.

[1615] If you were a bowler, you had a bowling glove covered with rhinestones.

[1616] Like, you better...

[1617] Michael Jackson glove style thing.

[1618] Oh, that's a thing.

[1619] So I should do it.

[1620] Someone should do it, right?

[1621] Bowling glove with Ryanstones on it.

[1622] What else do you do?

[1623] Do you ever do gymnastics?

[1624] Gymnastics?

[1625] No, I dance.

[1626] What kind of dance?

[1627] You said that earlier.

[1628] I forgot to go back to that.

[1629] So I started off.

[1630] with popping as a kid, now I'm crumped dance.

[1631] That's like, yeah.

[1632] What's a crump dance?

[1633] Crump dance is, um, actually originally in LA.

[1634] It's, uh, really?

[1635] Yeah, South Central L .A. Like, Tide Eyes and Big Miho started it off.

[1636] But I remember I watched this movie as a kid called Rise, and that's kind of what introduced it to the world.

[1637] Kind of like the way Ungbach did with Muay, made it more mainstream.

[1638] Rise.

[1639] It's spelled R -I.

[1640] This is it right here.

[1641] This is popping.

[1642] This is with Popping Pete.

[1643] This guy's called Tide Ice.

[1644] This guy's good.

[1645] Look at him go.

[1646] Hold on, take it.

[1647] Hold on, let that guy go.

[1648] So this guy is from the electric boogalus.

[1649] So this is how I started off.

[1650] Look at him go.

[1651] Back in the day.

[1652] What's with the towel, though?

[1653] Are your hands that's funny?

[1654] He'll probably use it with a move or something.

[1655] Oh, yeah, he's a man. It's so strange, like, that people went thousands of years without these styles.

[1656] And then when electronic music came along, people went, oh, the sounds different.

[1657] Let's move different.

[1658] Yeah.

[1659] But for me, I had this metamorphosis last year, like, around my birthday.

[1660] And then, for whatever reason, I just went back to dance because I felt like I had this dance.

[1661] You know how people get writers' block?

[1662] I had dancers' block for like maybe six years or five years.

[1663] I just couldn't create.

[1664] I could dance.

[1665] I could flow.

[1666] I couldn't create anything.

[1667] Do you know Lomachenko studied four years of Ukrainian dance?

[1668] Yeah, I heard.

[1669] Yeah, classical Ukrainian dance.

[1670] One thing I learned is muscle memory.

[1671] I know dancers who have to do shows and they have to learn like 20 different sequences.

[1672] And that's for the whole show, like 20 different.

[1673] And each sequence might be like anywhere.

[1674] from a minute to three minutes and they have to do it like that so when i started dancing again when i went back to training drilling my i can retain that information so much better like it's muscle memory right so i don't even have to think about certain moves when i do it it just boom because i remember this it's easy and the muscle just does like how do you do that i wasn't thinking so dancing really translates into muscle memory like that in the in the effortless way like dancers i think have the best best muscle memory or maybe one of the best in the world well it makes sense that you're learning to use your body in a choreographed way almost like a kata you know like like like i used to think cadas were stupid when i was a kid i used to think i really did i used to think it was dumb i thought they were cool i think they look cool when someone's doing it but i hate learning i felt like i i only learned them to get the next belt but then once i learned them i forgot them totally but now that i think back i realized like that was a mistake on my part because what that was was i i thought i knew better which is hilarious i thought i knew better than people who learn martial arts for thousands of years.

[1675] And it's not that kind of makes you a better fighter, but it makes you have better control of your body.

[1676] And the thing about, like, holding a sidekick up in the air, there's a lot of people that just can't do that.

[1677] I can't.

[1678] I've seen like Dapheth, he's a, the guy taught me to Ticemino, like, literally his dexterity in his legs, he'll on one leg, pat, pop, pop, pat, while moving forward, and he'll do it the other leg, like, all the way down, all the way back up, Southport, or for dogs.

[1679] I think there's a balance.

[1680] And I think the balance is between that and maybe the tie style yeah that's what i'm trying to find and sometimes you can go one side too much but you have to be objective enough to know okay this is what i need yeah this is how you know you feel your body you kind of and for each each fight as well you know what you want to use right like with him i was gonna i was gonna i was gonna throw some spinning shit at some point but i did i did i do it's changed what spinning shit is by saying that oh we're throwing spinning shit now i met him i met him uh what's his name i was uh it's after i saw dana in them so i was walking around with tony uh shout to tony angelo and then I see Jay Silver who's the guy who used to fight he's a thick boy he fights I think out of Ruka and he just kind of recognized hey what's up and then he got me into the club and then yeah Nick Diaz show I said hey what's up I just shook his hand and now was it and yeah he's a legend he's a great guy cool guy he's still fighting well he's doing whatever the fuck Nick Diaz wants to do right now if he decides to fight I think he's only gonna fight for a I think this is I'm gonna go out of limb here yeah I think the lack of the UFC talking Nick Diaz into a fight I know he's crazy and he knows he's crazy too that is a criminal criminal under use of a valued asset I think if you wanted to have a giant pay -per -view right now big star fuck he's a huge star so is his brother yeah but they haven't fought in forever like Nate hasn't fought since he lost to Connor in the very close rematch the big money fight well probably he made a ton of money and you know he doesn't live a crazy lifestyle and I believe Nate just got a kid real yeah I think I'm nice I I think I read that on Google.

[1681] See if that's true.

[1682] Nate Diaz just had a child.

[1683] Either way, congratulations.

[1684] Yeah, Nate.

[1685] Either congratulations you had a kid or congratulations that you did.

[1686] I love that dude, though.

[1687] I love Nate and I love Nick, too.

[1688] I love the style, the way they fought.

[1689] They're fun.

[1690] I remember that Paul Daly fight.

[1691] I watched it live.

[1692] I think I sat down for that fight.

[1693] You were there live?

[1694] No, no, no. I was on couch, yeah.

[1695] I was standing up on the couch.

[1696] That was crazy fight.

[1697] He got Clipped, too.

[1698] He's one of the rare people that's got clipped by Paul Daly and survived.

[1699] Yeah, come back, and then knock them out.

[1700] See, the way Paul fell back as well, the stanky leg?

[1701] It's almost like his legs just gave out, like he's exhausted.

[1702] Yeah, that's what it is.

[1703] Exhaustion.

[1704] I keep saying, it's easier to knock someone out when they're tired.

[1705] Yeah.

[1706] Like that fight.

[1707] What's the, Brad had good cardio.

[1708] He was able to take it, and I was finding it.

[1709] There was one I hit him with a body shot.

[1710] I think a body kick.

[1711] And, yeah, he went for a takedown straight away.

[1712] I pushed him off, framed them, got him against the fence or something.

[1713] But, yeah, it's easy to get, like, some of these guys, you can see.

[1714] He never gave me that sign, like, I'm ready to go.

[1715] like when they're ready to go like I want out you one of the most overwhelming performances of Nick's career was against Frank Shamrock Franks oh dude that was when I was like whoa just body shot he won't he put his head on his chest and just Bob Bob Bob Bob and that pace Talking shit to him and Frank was like Really you're talking shit to me?

[1716] I saw that interview he was like yeah I couldn't believe it It's like No but honestly like that pace Even like my first fight It's sort of Diaz -esque in the way where it's like I didn't When I knew he was ready to go, I just, all right, put a steady pace.

[1717] Just put your foot on gas a little bit, but not gas it out.

[1718] Just put, put, put, find the shot.

[1719] Find the shot.

[1720] Find the shot.

[1721] There's no need to, like, it's wasted energy.

[1722] Well, you've got a wise approach to your, well, to just your overall MMA game, but in particular to your striking game, is that you're one of those guys that's showing people that you can be very exciting, but take minimal.

[1723] There was a couple moments in that fight where Brad was charging at you, where you're like, hoop, hop, hop, here we go.

[1724] And we're out the other side.

[1725] Yeah, 100%.

[1726] To me, that is...

[1727] People don't take the center, man. Almost as exciting as watching someone get knocked down.

[1728] I like watching someone figure out that, like, the right hand's coming, the left hand's coming behind it?

[1729] I'm not there.

[1730] Here I am.

[1731] It would have been a clean sweep if one judge didn't give one round to him, but I don't know which round he gave, because I thought I had all five rounds after watching it.

[1732] So it was like...

[1733] Just judging, you can't even...

[1734] 50, 45, and then 49, 46.

[1735] And I was like, damn, that would have been cool if it was just like a 50, 45 clean sweep.

[1736] Well, the most important thing was not a judge's interpretation of it.

[1737] It was the actual performance.

[1738] Yeah, and people were enjoyed it.

[1739] Some people were like, you know, people, they get caught up in knockouts a lot.

[1740] Like, oh, he didn't finish bread, though.

[1741] But a lot of people, the response was, I'd rather see that than just a quick finish because he worked the guy.

[1742] He didn't get gassed.

[1743] He didn't, you know, I didn't dip.

[1744] Maybe the third round of mine had dipped a little bit, but I didn't look at, I had my poker face on.

[1745] I was fine.

[1746] I felt fresh.

[1747] And I even said after my last fight before that, like, I was based on the three -round camp, the one I fought in Arizona It was based on a three -round camp And I looked in the camera I was like I can go five rounds I told Eugene my coach I was like I can go another two rounds Easily And this camp was based around five rounds So after this fight Honestly I had the reserve ready I was like maybe three rounds I could have gone if If I needed to But would you ever anticipate a time Where people would have more than five rounds At an MMA fight Most of the time Most of the time it's totally unnecessary Yeah But sometimes I thought it was too long I was like I'm gonna get this guy In like three rounds I thought so I felt so I was like, maybe that's just me bigging up myself, you know, my own ego.

[1748] But, yeah, I just felt like I would have taken him in three, two or three rounds, but five rounds, and I still look good doing it.

[1749] So I was happy with it.

[1750] Now, when you see a guy like Paulo Costa who has like this just, I mean, he's not totally hitable where like everything you throw, you're going to hit him, but he's much more aggressive, much more in your face.

[1751] You see these?

[1752] What?

[1753] Short arms?

[1754] I was still next to him.

[1755] He iced me. He's trying to act like he doesn't know why.

[1756] am and I saw interviews like oh I do not know that guy it was like dude you know who the fuck I am now you know and I said after my first fight because these guys want to pretend and I don't know where it comes from maybe because of years of not getting noticed so I'm like don't try and act like because a lot of guys don't creep on my Instagram and then like see me in real life and act all high and mighty and I'm a nice guy I like to you know be friendly yeah I like to hug people say what's up at least just nod like hey you know what's up I know you are you know I am but Some people flex too much.

[1757] So for him, yeah, he knows why.

[1758] I mean, his manager.

[1759] What's his name?

[1760] The fucking Gremlin camera.

[1761] I don't know.

[1762] No, he looks like, oh, fucking Ariel.

[1763] Was Ariel?

[1764] He looks like, you know.

[1765] Oh, Walid Ishmael.

[1766] You know, Undertakers guy?

[1767] Do you know who he is?

[1768] Walid is a mixed martial arts legend.

[1769] They fights.

[1770] Dude, he fought in UFC 12.

[1771] Really?

[1772] Yeah.

[1773] He fought Takahashi.

[1774] Is that who he fought?

[1775] Maybe it was 13.

[1776] UFC 12 or 13.

[1777] Dude, he choked out Hoyst Gracie in a jujitsu match in Rio.

[1778] When Hoyst Gracie.

[1779] He had just won all the UFC's, and he was a fucking man. And he fought him in real jitza.

[1780] Walid Ishmael, who was a crossing Gracie black belt.

[1781] Watch this.

[1782] He got a hold of hoist, and this was in Brazil and a giant fucking audience.

[1783] It was in a soccer stadium, I think.

[1784] It was a big -ass audience.

[1785] It was crazy.

[1786] They wound up going to the ground, scoot ahead.

[1787] I had no idea.

[1788] And Waleed got him in a clock choke.

[1789] And I remember this because at the time, yeah, at the time, I was like maybe a blue belt.

[1790] and I had tapped a guy with a clock choke and I was like clock chokes of that shit Yeah And he I remember those with the ghee Clock chokes With a ghee I tried it a little bit I can do it when it's not sweaty But I'm with my arms Because I got long arms So I can kind of get it a little bit If I tweak it right And Waleed had that Constant Wallyji They used to call him He had that constant pressure Carlson Gracie top game Crushing You know where you're going to shit out Bone fragments After you roll with them Yeah That was their stock Kyle, man. Scoot ahead a little bit and you see Waleed gets that clock choke.

[1791] So you can tell he's the guy that's like talking for Paul.

[1792] Right here.

[1793] He got it here.

[1794] And he wanted to put in Hoyst asleep.

[1795] Hoise didn't even tap.

[1796] Yo, he's out.

[1797] Went out like a warrior.

[1798] Yep.

[1799] Look at that.

[1800] He's out.

[1801] He's out.

[1802] He's out.

[1803] He's out of the bat.

[1804] You got to let it go.

[1805] Fuck, that was a little bit too long.

[1806] He was on the outside.

[1807] The referee.

[1808] The referee should have known.

[1809] I saw it was out.

[1810] No. You're right.

[1811] Shit.

[1812] But this was back.

[1813] See, there was Carlson back then.

[1814] And this was when there was like a bit of a rivalry between Carlson Gracie and, you know.

[1815] Yeah, I heard about that.

[1816] Yeah, I mean, Hickson and Hoyce and Hoyler and there was a bit of a rivalry.

[1817] He was out.

[1818] He was a beast, man. So that little guy.

[1819] So is he just managing now.

[1820] He's managing now.

[1821] He's taking care of fighters and stuff like that.

[1822] But he's a real legend.

[1823] Well, he's a beast.

[1824] His speck.

[1825] Yeah.

[1826] But like, he's the guy that I think talks for him Paula a lot because he, Paul is, I respect him trying to learn English as well.

[1827] That's one of the reasons I was like, I really want Uriah Hall to win because he was talking all this shit And if he wins I want to see him And I want to, the buildup of that fight would be fun because I will fuck him up You felt like there was holes in Yariah's game Like you were saying It was like In his game as well In his game as well There's holes in his game But what did you see in Paulo?

[1828] Paulo he gets hit Easily And you don't want You know how Uriah was Tapping him with the jab He doesn't want to If I was behind those jabs It'd be different setups It'd be a different setup I can come up with Few other pathways after that jab like uriah was hitting the jab but that's it hit the jab and his chin's up he'll hit the jab and what do you do after the jab after you land seven times you got to do something else with it you can't just keep jabbing him jabbing him if you want to you can't like costa had extreme confidence in his ability to knock out he didn't he didn't respect this jab he will respect my jab like look at my knuckle so this is my moose knuckle this is my regular knuckle i shut moose knuckle so this one's a little that thing's been warren son no that's from um what's It got a little bit more swollen because of Brad Tavares.

[1829] This is my regular knuckle.

[1830] And I was jabbing him at first.

[1831] Is that swollen right now from the fight?

[1832] A little bit, but normally it's just forever.

[1833] That's a rock, son.

[1834] That's like a triple knuckle.

[1835] That ain't even even a double knuckle.

[1836] That's a triple knuckle.

[1837] It's a moose knuckle.

[1838] Ouch, wawa.

[1839] Yeah, but yeah, with Brad in the beginning, my jab, he was slipping it.

[1840] And I was like, all right, and then you said drop it down.

[1841] And at one point, he tried to counter it like Tyron Spong, slipped a jab and counter, but I recognized it.

[1842] I was like, okay, cool.

[1843] Drop it down.

[1844] And I hit him with, I think I went down to the legs, and that took away attention from the top.

[1845] Then I was able to go back to the jab, and I busted him up the jab.

[1846] Now, when you train in, do you spend time to work on traditional moves, like wheel kicks and side kicks and all that shit that you throw occasionally?

[1847] Or do you throw them into your overall padwork game?

[1848] Or how do you...

[1849] The padwork, Eugene, he has his own system.

[1850] And he knows, well, everyone's different.

[1851] So he treats every fighter as an individual.

[1852] you know what i mean so he knows what me what he can do on the pads and what i like to pull and if i have an idea like oh try this out he's open he's not like he's he's very open man he doesn't understand he doesn't know i'm trying to limit you from what you can do or what you can create so all the spinning stuff all the creativity the things that i kind of bring myself i try just 2 a .m just walking around my house shadow walking sometimes you know just at my own free time i might i just think about certain things like how can i do this Even someone like Chad Mendez, it's something he does, like the, he fakes the shot and uppercut.

[1853] I like that.

[1854] We're completely different body types, but I like that.

[1855] And I have my own setups for that, just because I feel like it's a good move, but with different body types.

[1856] And he has his own set up.

[1857] So I like to create on my own.

[1858] And then if I have any ideas or anything that I feel like can work well with the pads or with our flow, I'll let him know.

[1859] And he's open to it.

[1860] Well, you're one of these guys that's coming up right now that's in this new wave of MMA fighters that is every, it seems to me that there's like an incremental increase in the skill level there's always all -time greats like Kane Velazquez and you know, fill in the blank there's like Anderson Silver, there's these guys that burst out and they stand out as extreme performers.

[1861] But there seems to me like right now to be a new with Zabit, Magamette Sharperov, Sharpov, that guy, there's a few of these guys that are coming up where you watch them, you go, whoa, there's some next level.

[1862] You recognize Like a guy like me who's seen it for so many years I go, okay, there's some next level shit going on right now.

[1863] Yeah, 100%.

[1864] It's like, like we're talking about Lomachenko.

[1865] Like Lomachenko's footwork and movement, this is, okay, this is next level shit.

[1866] I've seen a lot.

[1867] I mean, I'm sure there's been some all -time greats when you go to guys like Pernell Whitaker and guys like Floyd Mayweather, you know, artistic geniuses.

[1868] But there's something that Lomachenko is doing that they're not doing.

[1869] Yeah, right?

[1870] 100%.

[1871] Like, even some things, I watch his footwork.

[1872] I watch the way he looks.

[1873] Like, and you know, you see.

[1874] my fight as well I like to look at guys I don't just like close my eyes and hope throwing hope I don't throw in hope I aim and fire that's one of my quotes I say that but he does the same thing yeah he likes to look and he's aware of where he is he's data crunching yeah 100 % chunking he's chunking all that information he's like physically muscle memory mm -hmm like say he's a dancer he'd learn what yeah all that stuff rhythm timing offbeat on beat it all translates well into fighting like easily yeah it really does and it's so fascinating to me and Watching all these, like, new versions of different styles, like, Khabib, in my opinion, is a new version of the ground and pound style.

[1875] Like, I watch his ground and pound.

[1876] I'm like, Jesus fucking Christ.

[1877] Like, he's such a, like, when he fought Michael Johnson, there's no Justin Gagey fight there, son.

[1878] This is a mawling.

[1879] This is a goddamn mauling.

[1880] You're getting mauled by some crazy alien from another planet.

[1881] I like the way he traps the hands.

[1882] And I have one on Brad as well a little bit, but I think he recognized it and he tried to go away.

[1883] This is when I had his back for a brief moment in that fight, probably about.

[1884] a good 30 seconds and I trapped his hand.

[1885] I learned that from BJJ Scout that was on the Ben Ascgram video but Brad wouldn't let me have his right hand but I got it though because I got these fucking monkey fingers like I can grip I can grip really well so I hold it and I peppered him a little bit and then that's when I kind of got to the fence and something happened got to Camaro but I pick from everyone Kabib there's a way he traps the hands and we call it the Kabib everyone I when I get to my training partner I start talking like you'll never get this I want this title shot You know, I just kind of, like, mimic guys like that just because they're good at what they do.

[1886] Yeah.

[1887] And if I can get it and make it work for me, like Bruce Lee, make it my own.

[1888] I'm really intrigued.

[1889] I mean, I was really bummed out that Max Holloway had a pull out of that fight.

[1890] I'm glad Michael Bispen called him out on that, though, man, because I think most other people would have just kind of like, oh, well, good luck.

[1891] But he called him out on TV, like, bro, you look like you just woke up, and you can tell.

[1892] He recognized something.

[1893] When I watched the interview, because I heard about it before I watched the interview, and I was like, oh, obviously, I didn't look at him.

[1894] He's just like, oh, you know, I feel great, blah, blah, blah.

[1895] Something's wrong.

[1896] Yeah, facts, yeah.

[1897] And he would have fought.

[1898] He would have rehydrated and fought, maybe not to the best of his ability, but.

[1899] Well, he might have got knocked out.

[1900] I mean, he might have a hit with a punch and got knocked out.

[1901] Ortega's no joke.

[1902] No joke.

[1903] You know, and you don't want to come against a guy, up against a guy like that and be slack.

[1904] He should go to lightweight, I think.

[1905] Ortega's fascinating to me because his, the way he locks up submissions is so next level.

[1906] Long range.

[1907] I like his chokes.

[1908] Not just that.

[1909] The technique is so short.

[1910] sharp man when he dives on shit when he got cub and that he got him in a dars at the end of the of the first round i was like what the fuck man that is tight like but there was something about the finality to it there's like this is this is not a question of whether i was going to finish it well it was it was not that it was the the solidity of the technique it was like when he locked it in there was no doubt this fight was over and then the bell rang yeah and i was like whoa some guys this wasn't slippery yeah this wasn't like maybe he's going to get out you know a guy gets a guillotine he's like oh it looks like he's getting out he's going to get this wasn't that this was death okay and then he got him with a guillotine he jumped on his guard he jumped and got him in a guillotine looks beautiful that kind of stuff like Ortega I like the way he looks I look at guys like that because similar body types and lately I've been catching that you see in the fifth round give me another maybe seven seconds I would squeeze that but it rang on this well on the belt but every time someone goes for certain things I can snatch the neck But the thing is, I don't have that the way Ortega has, where he knows, like, okay, it's done.

[1911] Like, for me, I'm like, I think it's tight.

[1912] Let me try.

[1913] But you know how it is, right?

[1914] If, like, if you tried to throw a jab hook with one hand and then throw it with the other hand, it just doesn't feel right with the other hand.

[1915] Yeah.

[1916] I can't hold your dog.

[1917] I'm bystandral.

[1918] I bet you are.

[1919] I go both ways.

[1920] But you know some people, like, from my own personal experience, my left hand, I know how to do with my left side, but my right side, it feels like awkward.

[1921] Well, there's a squeeze that you develop with certain guys just get, like, this Marcelo Garcia -style squeeze.

[1922] That's what he has.

[1923] I want that.

[1924] That's the thing.

[1925] You can get it.

[1926] No, I've got this.

[1927] I can catch the neck.

[1928] But then is when I catch it, I'm not dead set, sure.

[1929] Like, okay, it's over now.

[1930] Like, I know.

[1931] If you don't tap, you're going to sleep.

[1932] But if you just tapped a certain amount of black belts with that, you would have that feeling.

[1933] Yeah, he does.

[1934] Yeah.

[1935] He's a beast, man. He's a beast.

[1936] He's so fucking explosive on the ground.

[1937] He throws up triangles and arm bars.

[1938] I like his creativity as well.

[1939] Yeah.

[1940] He thinks outside the box.

[1941] Well, knocking out Frankie was giant and hitting him with an uppercut like that.

[1942] Yeah, whoa.

[1943] Out of nowhere.

[1944] It's just Frankie can take it, too.

[1945] I saw Frankie fighting Atlantic City after that.

[1946] Just, like, yeah, a few weeks after.

[1947] Yeah, like four weeks after, I think it was.

[1948] He fought Cubs Swanson.

[1949] That's a dangerous fight to take it after getting knocked out by Ortega.

[1950] What do you think about that, about guys doing that, like getting stopped?

[1951] I agree.

[1952] No, same.

[1953] Take time off.

[1954] After that, knockout in Brazil, I took about, I fought again in July.

[1955] Were you totally unconscious in that?

[1956] fight yeah i remember okay so i remember this is what happened i woke up i was like oh shit okay let me try and get up fuck my arms just felt like noodles i was all right whatever and then this kid this fucking little shithead like a baby came over and just like i think either yelled in my face or whatever and i was like whatever i don't and then because it's brazil it got crazy like holy shit he knocked this guy out so where was the kid like near you by the k by the ring he came in the ring like and then the referee had to like yo everyone get order again there was chaos And this is while they were doing the count?

[1957] Yeah.

[1958] And then I was trying to get up.

[1959] I was trying to get up.

[1960] And then like, nah, I think it was just over after that.

[1961] Then I had, okay, cool, good fight.

[1962] Give him a, what do you call it, fist pound.

[1963] And then the kid again came over next to me and just laid on the ground.

[1964] Just like, and I thought of myself.

[1965] To mock you?

[1966] Yeah, I was just stomp his face, brother.

[1967] How old was a kid?

[1968] Seven.

[1969] I don't give a fuck.

[1970] If you can crawl, it can brawl.

[1971] Shout to Michael Blackson.

[1972] Oh, shit.

[1973] That's funny.

[1974] If you can crawl, we can brawl.

[1975] That is fucking hilarious.

[1976] Style bed is ruthless.

[1977] No, but then, I guess it's a dick move at the time.

[1978] Well, he's seven.

[1979] Yeah.

[1980] It's probably his kid, right?

[1981] Was that his kid?

[1982] I don't know.

[1983] He could have got it either way.

[1984] If your dad don't spank you, I'll spank you.

[1985] That's hilarious.

[1986] But then I remember like flashes as well, walking out.

[1987] We usually into the statement.

[1988] They walked outside.

[1989] We just sat there.

[1990] And I was like, what happened?

[1991] And he just told me what happened?

[1992] And I was like, all right, okay.

[1993] And then I remember back in the hotel, chilling.

[1994] And then, yeah, I felt like, fuck, I'm okay.

[1995] This is the worst, the worst case scenario.

[1996] I'm okay.

[1997] And that was my first only ever knockout lost, knock on wood.

[1998] And I was just like, fine, that's it.

[1999] And do you think you learned something in that fight about not giving into your emotions?

[2000] I just don't let people, like people, you're the man. You're ain't shit.

[2001] Now I don't give a fuck.

[2002] Like, I only give a fuck about those who I care about.

[2003] like someone like ash or eugene those might my close people if they say something about me that you know hurts me then i'll give a fuck but if it's someone like oh bro you're the man this that boy you got to blah blah blah blah blah blah or be more this i'm like cool i just smile and wave because i don't give a fuck what they think they're no one to me you know understand so yeah after that fight i shouldn't i shouldn't have given into people's opinions of myself i should have stayed true to me and just fucked them up in the second round i would have knocked them out if i just didn't literally just right hands why am i only throwing right hands so you think that's like a like a critical lesson in your career facts i'm glad it happened like in the in the hindsight it's like oh fuck sucks and i hate losing i fucking hate losing one thing i went 40 and oh before i had my first loss and that was the sima marcus batte boy sima marcus like and i beat him in that fight as well but another judge like i all three rounds he's a beast i beat him all three rounds and then okay extra round extra that's a big fight to win right round they made it extra round and that extra round I still beat him but then they gave it to him because he was a super side at the time and I realized oh shit I lost okay I live my life and that was it but I took winning for granted for so long in kickboxing because I was always expecting to win and after that after a fight okay what's next cool I watched the fight maybe twice maybe even once sometimes I won't watch the fight and then that's it what's next but this weekend ever ever since I got to the U .S. yo just before every single fight after I win because my my brain tries to go to that place where it's like Okay, what's next?

[2004] Wait, stop.

[2005] Nigger, you just main evented in Vegas, your first fight, smoke this dude, all five rounds, and you're on top of the world right now.

[2006] Take this in.

[2007] That's all sit down and look at the T -Mobile arena and just like, I might have been a little iry as well, just about myself in my room.

[2008] And then just get, like, you get objective.

[2009] And I sit down, I just like, let it sink in, like, yo, you're out here.

[2010] You're doing the damn thing.

[2011] And really embrace it.

[2012] And eventually, when I go back home and I let things settle down, and I move back into the floor of things.

[2013] I'll start to get over it.

[2014] But one thing I forget, smell the roses.

[2015] Just stop sometimes and smell the roses.

[2016] And it's not cocky.

[2017] It's not, it's just appreciating what you've done because you've put a lot of work into this, you know?

[2018] Yeah.

[2019] That's a good attitude, man. I mean, I think what you're doing in terms of your ability to reflect on yourself and to be real objective about your abilities and where you want to go.

[2020] Your podcast, the one thing he said when I was, because I don't have any big brothers, so I don't really have anyone sunning me, apart from Eugene and like, but sometimes when I, When I first started listening, you used to tell it's like, don't be a bitch.

[2021] You had this, like, big rant one time.

[2022] If you want to do this and do that, follow your dreams and, like, you know, don't be a - Conquer your inner bitch?

[2023] Yeah, conquer your inner bitch, yeah.

[2024] Everybody has an inner bitch.

[2025] I know.

[2026] Tell me about it.

[2027] There's no way around it.

[2028] If you're a human.

[2029] I'm a bitch in the streets, man. You got a little voice in there.

[2030] And I'm like, yeah, like, part of that was part of the fuel that helped me amongst a lot of other things.

[2031] I take inspiration from everything to help me, like, get out of that.

[2032] I remember the day, September 4th, 2013, I remember the day, I remember the day, I was I was just like, yep, I'm out, and I'll never, I'll never look back.

[2033] I never worked the day in my life again.

[2034] Beautiful.

[2035] Never again.

[2036] I couldn't do it.

[2037] There's one time, man. You don't have to anymore.

[2038] You're working, but you're working at something you have a passion towards.

[2039] You still work.

[2040] It doesn't feel like work.

[2041] It doesn't feel like work.

[2042] If you're working, if you're working, that's your thing.

[2043] If you don't feel like you're working and you have a passion for what you're doing, just do that.

[2044] Right.

[2045] But then, like I said, some guys who are fighting and they don't, they just do it because it gets, like Brendan Sharp, he was doing it because he's great at it.

[2046] Pays the bills.

[2047] but now look at him comedian podcast he recognized it though he's a wise guy in that he he he recognized there was this thing that he just you go back to like his fight with crow cop or some of his earlier fights he had a different attitude about fighting and then he realized he didn't have it anymore but he was still getting paid well so he didn't know how to jump out exactly that's what i mean so if you're not enjoying it doesn't matter what it is just offed out and he did you helped him though yeah i listened to that i was cringing the whole time but you had to yeah that's what look i love that guy you got he's like a brother to me and I knew he wasn't all there in terms of like he wasn't all in facts yeah I tell my homies all the time because a lot of people like they don't know how to handle like not the new me but the new lifestyle around me it's weird people get they get like they become like groupies in a way I'm like spooky it's spooky because you I'm still me but you broke through the membrane into the neighboring dimension you know like oh shit like stylebender's on TV I'm still me I get it yeah I get it yeah of course to people that know you and then I'll see you on TV.

[2048] That's a mind fuck, man. I remember seeing my first friends get on TV when I was a comedian.

[2049] And watch them on TV going, whoa, I kid weirded me out.

[2050] I know that guy, and I see him on TV.

[2051] Facts.

[2052] Now, but for me, so the ones that are around me now, they're the ones that can check me. Like, if I fuck up.

[2053] They can handle it.

[2054] They can check me. Like, if I fuck up, like, I'm not perfect.

[2055] I mean, everyone fucks up.

[2056] There's no such thing.

[2057] Yeah.

[2058] So it's like, if I do something and I'm like, I'm in the wrong, they'll tell me, like, hey, you need to pull your head in, you know what I mean?

[2059] So you need people like that.

[2060] Yeah.

[2061] Yeah, I'm glad I have people like that now.

[2062] Well, having people like Dan Hooker in your camp, having people like all the other training partners that you were talking about, having great coaches, all those things have to be together.

[2063] It's like you have to have people that are honest, that are assessing you, you have to have a good trainer who's looking at you, who knows you.

[2064] I was like, you're a little off today, you're a little slow today, or today we're going to ramp it up.

[2065] I think you're hitting the next level.

[2066] We're going to add in some more different things.

[2067] Having someone who's like...

[2068] Be able to adjust and adapt to each.

[2069] Everyone is different individually, even with fighting the style.

[2070] So that's one thing I love about our staff at City Kickboxing is because they can look at someone and be like, cool, he needs to do this.

[2071] He needs to work on this better.

[2072] And it's, it's beautiful.

[2073] Honestly, like 20, 30 years from now, I keep telling my team, it's like they're going to talk about us, the way we talk about them.

[2074] But we don't realize it.

[2075] Like Majiro Jim.

[2076] Like when people talk about Ernesto, who's Jim.

[2077] 100%.

[2078] I met him Manat, Andre Manat as well in China.

[2079] And he's a kickboxing legend as well.

[2080] but yeah one day i'll go out there and get some work done probably at the end of the year yeah man i mean mix it up yeah i like going i love new zealand don't get me wrong when i see the sky tower when i hit ockland i get excited like a little dog when he sees the park you know what i mean i love being home but it's good to get out there get some work and without ego because one thing i realize now is if i go to a different gym it'll be different now because guys oh he's that guy sparring you might try to hurt you exactly and bro yeah we can play we can play but i I don't get paid for that.

[2081] That's a thing.

[2082] You're also in one of the most beautiful countries that's ever existed.

[2083] There's something about New Zealand, man. I've never been personally, but there's a reason why they film The Hobbit there.

[2084] Because, like, you look at some of that shit, and it looks magical.

[2085] Yeah, it is.

[2086] It feels good to be, like, I just love the vibe.

[2087] It's a vibe in New Zealand, I like.

[2088] What is the vibe like?

[2089] It's chill.

[2090] Everyone's real loose.

[2091] Like, not loose like Australia.

[2092] You can't get loose like that, but it's relaxed.

[2093] What's the difference between loose like Australia and loose like New Zealand?

[2094] All Australia's a loose cunts.

[2095] What's the difference?

[2096] Like, bam, bam drinks out of a shoe.

[2097] Oh, yeah, yeah, they don't give a fuck.

[2098] Ozzy is like the attitude.

[2099] And they're cool as well, it can be chill, but you can get some real loose cunts there.

[2100] Like in New Zealand, like in anywhere, like in America.

[2101] Right.

[2102] You know, but generically speaking, like, it's just, yeah, Australians, it depends where you go.

[2103] Melbourne's my city, that's my favorite city in Australia.

[2104] Melbourne, Perth, and then Adelaide.

[2105] Those are my favorite cities in that order.

[2106] But, yeah, I don't know.

[2107] I'll probably hit a few other spots as well.

[2108] See what the vibes like.

[2109] Just keep moving around.

[2110] Now, what about American gyms?

[2111] How many different American gyms have you trained at besides Black Zillions?

[2112] Black Zillions?

[2113] Um, let me think.

[2114] I've trained with a few fighters, but maybe I've trained with...

[2115] Let me think.

[2116] Who else?

[2117] I think that's the only gym.

[2118] I didn't go to ATT.

[2119] I, um...

[2120] In L .A., did I train?

[2121] Most of the times I'm here.

[2122] When I'm on holiday, I don't train.

[2123] I holiday out.

[2124] I fully, yeah.

[2125] Yeah, I show.

[2126] Yeah.

[2127] But, um, yeah.

[2128] You got a good idea.

[2129] about balance man yeah i try once in a while you go too too much this side you have to find it okay go to the other side and it never stays right in the middle for that for a long period of time it's just like okay you lean this way go this way all right and find the balance so just feeling and being honest with yourself objectivity i say always check yourself acy always check yourself no matter what how you're feeling until if something gets me like maybe if i see something makes me feel away like i get jealous i'm like what do i feel that way why am i what am i It has nothing to do with me And I find out where it comes from And then eventually It's like you identify the monster And then you slaughter it, you kill it Good for you man Good for you I learn I'm coming up, I'm learning You're bad motherfucker Listen man You'll wrap this up Thank you brother I'm glad we got a chance to do this Last minute threw it in The first one That's right, it's the first one We're gonna do this some more I get more comfortable the way these go on Dude you were great man It was fun It's fun I appreciate it thank you Stylebender on Twitter Stylebender on Instagram Everywhere Catch me sliding my DMs Everywhere sliding into the deans.

[2130] Oh, man. That was fun.

[2131] I knew that that's all.