"They Wanted A Bad Guy, So I Became One" - Ryan Garcia - #1097

26:14That's insane. And it's insane that they release it and then take it back. Yep. That's insane too. You said for a good while that you were angry.

26:25Ryan Garcia:Yeah. Does anger help you as a boxer?

26:32Ryan Garcia:Not necessarily, but you do need an edge. You need some type of grit. and I don't know if that could come through anger or just motivation, but you need something that is fueling you. But I wouldn't say like rage is not good. Maybe a little anger can be good. But rage blinds you and then you make mistakes and just, you know, are not focused, but you need some type of like, all right, motherfucker. Sharpness. Yeah, a little bit of like, yeah, a tad bit anger, but more of aggression. That's the word I'm looking for. You need aggression a little bit, yeah. What happens if you turn anger into aggression?

27:14Sorry, if you turn aggression into anger and into rage, what do you lose? Because for most people who don't fight or fight at the level that you do, they might look from the outside and see two people that are trying to hurt each other and think, well, hurt is fueled by rage and anger and aggression. Yeah. But it seems like you must lose something as you move down that line towards sort of greater levels of extreme aggression. Yeah. So what do you lose? Well, what you lose is that consciousness of a punch might come back.

27:49Ryan Garcia:You know what I mean? Like when you're focused and a little bit angry, you could still read a punch, you could still counterreact. When you get angry and it's overtaking you, then you've lost sight of what could come back to you it's like when you get too raged up and you want to push somebody you didn't see that you know there's a car about to pass by you just push them into a car you wouldn't necessarily wanted to kill them but your anger rage pushed you and you didn't even see the car coming so it's kind of like that narrows everything down yeah yeah yeah too much you know and then now you don't see what's coming at you on the other side oh man boom it's interesting because you see I don't know do you know Nicky Rod do you know who he is Nicky Rodriguez is a Brazilian jiu jitsu guy I went to CGI the Craig Jones Invitational a year and a half ago we sponsored it with Nutonic and it was single two way categories and the guys just worked up on a bracket style event all the way up to the final and in between each round most of the fighters were going back to a coach, they're talking tactics, they're getting hydration, they're doing whatever.

28:59Nicky just decided to sit in full lotus, like with his hands like this, like a samurai with his eyes closed. And then they'd ring the bell and he'd stand back up and go again. So you've kind of got this, it was kind of a bit of a lot, but it was fucking sick. It looked sick to see. Nicky Rod's a beast. But...

29:13Ryan Garcia:Did he win? Yeah. And he won a million dollars. In one day. Oh, shit. That's pretty sick. Oh, in one weekend, sorry. That's nice. To see that, on one side, you think, this is the almost like that samurai energy, very, very, very calm. But it seems like you're saying that there is edge, an edge comes with aggression that's still important. And to completely let go of that, you're actually losing something there too, that there's a middle ground that's good for you to set it. Yeah, I think just like if you have a tad bit of that, it just gives you, it keeps you, I guess, in the fight, like into it.

29:51Ryan Garcia:But, you know, I say, like, if you kind of get too, you know, too calm and too, like, too peaceful, then it's just you lost that bit of you that, you know, I'm a killer. I have a killer instinct. So it's kind of you lose a killer instinct in you. You do want to hurt this person. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. You're in a fight. Yeah. Yeah. And he's hitting you. It would be nice to try and hurt him. Yeah, it would be nice. And, yeah, I just, I don't know, for me it helps a little bit. What's happening with Conoban? Talk to me. Oh, yeah, that is being worked on, you know, me and my team. We're trying to, you know, finalize it and make it happen.

30:34Ryan Garcia:It's a fight that I really want. But there's also other options, you know. So if it doesn't get done, you know, we're also looking at Roley Romero and other, you know, opponents that we can fight. but that fight I would love to make happen I want that one bad he's been a little too long he actually came and confronted me at an event while I was with my wife and it was just crazy recently? about a year and a half ago and I still remember that it's like bro we're all in suits calm down what are you doing? like be professional buddy this is like it reminded me of the movie Southpaw you know when he gets confronted and then she ends up getting shot like bro you need to chill So, but yeah, I would love to make that happen.

31:20Ryan Garcia:But it's not done yet. What do you make of him as a fighter? I think he's a good fighter. He's too aggressive. A little too aggressive. How so? He's a little reckless in the ring. But I do think that he has a lot of tenacity and he makes for a good fight, an entertaining fight, every time he steps in the ring. But yeah, I will show him that there's definitely levels to this. and yeah. Is he 1.5? I mean, he's number one, so he's my mandatory. Right. So, but, there's so many fucking politics and so much red tape in boxing that the number one contender and the number one title holder somehow can't make a fight work.

32:01You're right. Easily.

32:02Ryan Garcia:Yeah, I mean, that's how it goes, man. Dude, boxing's so fucking complex. It's so complex, yeah. It is a little strange. Does the politics get frustrating? It does. It gets frustrating for me as a fan. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean. like this guy should fight that guy because it's the coolest fight it's number one and the world champ we should do it like I said I'm all up for it it's just there's some things that need to be figured out but I'm all for it I'm sure he's all for it and I'm sure it's gonna happen I'm pretty positive what'd you make of the Zuffer deal that's it's a little weird how's that I don't know I don't know exactly what kind of changes they're trying to make to the Aliak to benefit Zufa or I don't know what they're trying to do.

32:47Ryan Garcia:And I'm not saying I'm against Zufa at all. I just want to give it time before I even like want to acknowledge it too much. Because I don't know if it's going to make us not get paid as much. I don't know if it's going to make the sport better. So I kind of wanted to sit back and watch what kind of unfolds there. It is a funny sport from the outside to look at boxing. and I think what's particularly interesting is to see it when compared with other organizations, especially the UFC, but also stuff like One Championship, like even BKFC. There seems to be so much... I'll tell you a story. So I did a couple of degrees in the UK and I went to what's called a Russell Group University, which is kind of like Ivy League.

33:32It's similar to the equivalent of an Ivy League in the US. So these are very long, established, old universities. and each time that I graduated, there's a graduation ceremony and everyone's parents come and you wear your silly robes and stuff and you get your little certificate. I remember being there and watching this parade come in and it was five, 10, 15 people who were all the different, the dean of the university and the vice chancellor and one of them had a mace, like a medieval weapon, like a symbolic version of a medieval, but an actual medieval weapon. They all had to doth their caps to different people in different orders.

34:14I remember looking at it and going, this is what happens when you have a country that's not been invaded for a thousand years, right? Like when you have properly invaded, like it's just one culture that's been able to accumulate loads and loads of weird traditions. And then the second time, which was a master's, was even more weird. There was more people, weirder outfits, more stuff going on. It was like a... academic bohemian growth. Right, right, right. Some type of rituals. And when I look at boxing and the world of boxing, I do see some of that. It's such an established sport that there are, I mean, the first five minutes of any press conference or the start of any fight is this weird land acknowledgement.

34:58We must say thank you to the person from this thing and this thing and that other thing and this person's father and I've got a fucking athlete's foot and I could do with a back rub and a ba-ba-ba-ba. You know, it's a... And now we can start to talk. And then you look at something which is newer, which doesn't have quite so much of the baggage that's come along with it. And you look at something like a one championship or you look at a UFC and you think, huh, from an audience standpoint, this is a slicker experience. It's quicker, right? You get from the thing that people don't want, which is the bullshit and the credits to the movie starting.

35:32I just want the movie starting. Right, right. And I kind of feel the same thing when I hear about we couldn't make the fight work. Like how many, I guess Mayweather Pacquiao were getting that to be run back.

35:42Ryan Garcia:So that's kind of hilarious. But that almost didn't happen. That was supposed to happen five, ten times. Should have happened when they were younger. Should have happened when they were in their prime. Should have happened. Should have happened. Couldn't make it work. Couldn't make it work. Couldn't make it work. You think, how, like, why? Why can't there be a way? But it's because there's all of these different territories, basically different countries inside of a single sport who are all competing for dominance and one person's got this and one person's got another. It's the wild, wild west.

36:09You think?

36:10Ryan Garcia:Yeah, it is. Like, yes, like you said, it's very established and it has a rich history and the major players are the major players, but everyone's pretty much a free-for-all. Everybody's out for themselves. And it's like, hopefully the business makes sense that two entities just come together. All right, let's do it. so you know a bit of it is kind of fun because like everybody gets a chance to make something huge happen but you know the sad part is that a lot of the fights don't happen because a lot of these promoters become greedy and they want to get more and then you know Before we continue I wish someone had told me five years ago to stop overthinking nutrition and just find something that works.

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38:06That's drinkag1.com slash modern wisdom. What's the main reason that fights don't happen? Is it money disagreements? I would say splits, money,

38:19Ryan Garcia:and some of these fighters overvalue themselves sometimes or they act like they really want to fight, but they really don't. So they hide behind the promoter and say, oh. We couldn't make the deal work when secretly I just didn't want to step in the ring. I just didn't even want to step in the ring. So a lot of it's that. I do think that boxing could become a little bit more slicker and sleek, like you said with the UFC. We could cut out a lot of the bullshit. There's new ways to promote a fight than the standard.

38:54Ryan Garcia:you know I mean but I feel like boxing like a lot of people were trying to say it was dead and stuff but I mean we've been doing just fine you know what I mean financially wise so I mean it must be making some type of money cause a lot of these boxers are getting paid pretty well but shoot I'm all up for change but as long as it makes sense as long as it's like, all right, we're evolving in the right direction. And not like, I don't want it to become the UFC. That's what I'm saying. Like Zufa's cool, but like it looks too much like the UFC. Then I'm like, not my vibe. And then you can't wear your own shorts.

39:38Ryan Garcia:Like, bro, your - Sponsored money is going to go away. Yeah, you won't get that out of me yet. You know, you don't have to, I don't know what you would have to pay me, but I like the style of boxing. I like your own shorts. I like the walkouts. I like the grand entrances that you could do. You know, UFC is just the guy walking down. I like the whole spectacle. I like the entertainment part of it. You know, it's fun. And if they take that away, I'm just going to be out. There's a difference between getting rid of the bullshit but keeping the heritage and respecting the tradition. You don't need to get rid of everything.

40:17No. But we can all say...

40:19Ryan Garcia:There could be some fat cutoff for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't lose what makes boxing boxing. What is the Ali Act? What are the changes? I don't know this. I don't know exactly what changes, but I know that, I don't know if it's Dana White or, I know Nick Khan spoke at the Congress and Oscar did. Oscar on the side of not changing anything. And then Nick was trying to change things. That's kind of what I got out of it. And then something about how it helps everything be transparent. I know the ALI Act, like they have to show the numbers. It's a financial decision. Exactly. And then I guess, I don't know if they're trying to change it where we don't get to be disclosed the numbers.

41:07Ryan Garcia:I don't want to speak for it because I don't really necessarily know. Interesting. But that was Oscar's point. Oscar's point was this was made to protect the fighters and make sure that everything's just transparent. But who knows? Talking of the money thing, a couple of years ago, you said that Jake Paul's not a real boxer. Yeah. Has that changed after his Joshua fight? No, he's definitely a real boxer for sure. He has balls, man. I mean, the fact that he fought Anthony Joshua is pretty fucking insane. Knowing that he's not even a heavyweight. So, no, he's definitely earned respect. but I think it did humble him just a little bit.

41:51And your jaw shattered will typically humble somebody.

41:53Ryan Garcia:Yeah, I mean, a broken jaw would probably be like, all right, maybe I should shut my mouth because I can't even move it. You know what I mean? But dude, I mean, the people who saw that happen and also saw his response, like say what you want, dude, that was a fucking elite response to having your jaw cracked by a guy who's... What did he say? When he was on the ground. Oh, he's like... He was like, whoa, that was hard. Yeah. I fucking bet it was, dude. That is fucking funny. Nah, Jake's always been that type of dude, man. He doesn't miss a moment for sure. Yeah. You remember when that - He's hyper aware of that too.

42:28Ryan Garcia:Yeah. Yeah, well, it's kind of like the first assassination attempt for Trump where immediately he's like, I mean, I have just been shot a little bit, but this is a great opportunity. The same as Jake's like, I think I might have broken my jaw and I'm definitely knocked down, but this is a great opportunity. Right, right. This is probably, a clip farmer. Yeah, that awareness. But he's got that deal now with Netflix. With his own promotion. Yes. That's pretty sick. As somebody who's not a boxer, to come in and do it. You got to give credit. At the time, obviously people and myself included were just, I was just annoyed how he would always talk shit about me.

43:06Ryan Garcia:So I found my ways to talk shit. But we've always been cool here and there. and I think we're on a better page now. It's interesting, right? Because so many people, especially with boxing, I'm not sure whether, what would be an example of a sport that people could do when they could start as an adult? Maybe something like distance running, endurance racing, triathlons. Most skill-based sport, you're not going to start tennis at 20 and become a legitimate professional tennis player. That would be very hard. I think Deontay Wilder started boxing relatively late. Yeah, he's one of the few. Bernard Hawkins Sergio Martinez those are the ones that come to the top of my head realistically though it's a sport that you start as a baby kid before I'd be able to start at three yeah at Tiger Woods with golf at two two yeah and he actually was hitting the ball good it's better than me yeah combined yeah and I think that there's a there's a kind of appropriate gatekeeping that happens right it's like you don't get to speed run this with clout This is a sport that you have to earn your stripes in.

44:15It's to do with being hurt. And that means that, and everybody knows that there's ways to piece fights together with fuckery and red tape and weight classes and experience that allow you to have a wonderful record without actually having done anything that's that impressive.

44:30Ryan Garcia:For sure. All of that together allows you to create the illusion of being good at it without not. I don't know whether the same thing is true for winning a triathlon. Are you going to get the entire field of other people to not be that good? Even that, your pace is compared with somebody else's. Yeah, there's no way you can do that. As opposed to in boxing, it's just, are you better than that guy? And now, are you better than the next guy? And are you better than the guy after that? And the crazy thing is a lot of the casual people can't tell the difference. They don't know if Jake Paul is not a world champion or is he.

45:01Ryan Garcia:Or is he world champion? They could only see him beating Anderson Silva, who's not a fighter. like he's not a boxer but he's a ufc champ so all they see is jake paul is beating these fighters fighters that are names you know what i mean he beat nadea's so it's like it was a little frustrating because jake was good at writing that and making it seem like he was like muhammad ali and like with tro like that but like you said boxing is one of those things that like you have to be in the game for a long time and that sacrifice is like only boxers truly know like fuck we had you have to go through a lot to even get to that moment you know there's also a level of skill i think that you access from doing it for so long i mean you were saying before that you're doing a couple of hours of pad work a week and the rest of it's just i want to feel good yeah because those rhythm grooves those movement patterns are you know you could get like alzheimer's dementia everything you could get set on fire and the thing that would be left in your brain would be how to dodge your...

46:03Yeah, exactly. That would be the last thing that would go, right? Just because it's been done for so long, you know, more than pretty much anything else. And the question I always had in my mind with Jake was how much can someone speedrun learning skills that usually the time that you need, just like the literal like eras of duration that you need is longer. Yeah, I mean, the thing is, you know, people...

46:31Ryan Garcia:I don't know, because they didn't care that he lost to Tommy Fury. And Tommy Fury's not even good. You know what I mean? I'm sorry for taking a shot, but he's not high level at all. So people ignored the fact. So I don't think, you know, he was speedrunning the fact that he was having these huge events that were like getting paid the number, you know, that people don't even dream of and they, you know, work their whole life. So I think that upset a lot of people. I think that's where it was. Well, people want to sell tickets, right? When you talk about pay-per-view, gate, numbers, rah, rah, rah.

47:06There's two ways to get there. One of them is to be really, really good. So good that people want to watch you. And the other is to just have another way to make people want to watch you. It's like, what's that thing? Like, love me or hate me, you're going to buy it?

47:17Ryan Garcia:Exactly, yeah. And I watched all Jake Paul's fun. I ain't going to lie. You know what I mean? How many people have come to boxing because of that? Yeah, you know, we don't know. But we do know that people like to watch them, you know, and that's just the facts of it. And, you know, if it was making boxing, you know, bigger in a way, I'm all for it. I love boxing. So if good came from it, I'm all for it. What do you make of the Mayweather-Paquille fight? It's ridiculous. It's truly ridiculous. Like, I mean, I don't really want to see that. You know, the first fight was kind of boring. The second fight should be even more boring.

47:55Ryan Garcia:You know, they're not even close to their prime. it's kind of sad. Like, why do they feel like they need to do that? Like, are they broke? You know, there would only be a, like a couple of reasons why they would want to do that. Didn't Pacquiao just buy Mayweather's gym and take a photo outside of the, yeah, the sign. I don't know if that was, I think he bought his franchise. Right. You know, but. And Pacquiao is essentially royalty. Yeah. Oh, Pacquiao. To his people. I mean. So I just don't get the sense that he's broke, but. I don't think Pacquiao's broke. I don't think he can go broke. because people love him in the Philippines.

48:30Ryan Garcia:They'll always take care of him. Correct. He's essentially the king. Yeah, exactly. Mayweather, I've heard things, but I don't know if he's... Dude, I've watched a couple of YouTube videos that break down the burn rate that Mayweather's got. I just, I mean, it's really probably his security. I mean, to have... Because I used to have 24 security for like three months and I seen the check. I'm like, okay, no. Absolutely not. How much is three months of 24-7 security for somebody like you? I mean, in the six figures. Because it's 24-7. And I was like, bro, this is ridiculous. Because I needed security.

49:10Ryan Garcia:I forgot why. Some shit was just going down. And I was like, all right, I'll pay for it. But then I'm like, I look after the three months. I'm like, no. I look after myself, dude. And I'm like, yeah, I'll just never use security. Like, I'm cool. I'll be okay. Like, if people want to hurt me, I guess why. I don't know why they wouldn't. I don't wear jewelry. I don't fucking walk around crazy. You want that young LA top. Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, they want to run up on me. I'm like, bro, you're hitting a little sweetheart. He's like, I don't want no problem. You can take my shoes. But yeah, so yeah, that could be a reasoning.

49:43Ryan Garcia:I mean, he's taking private play. I know those costs a lot. But then again, like he always talked about investment. So who knows? I really don't know if he's. I think in terms of athletes that have generated money, I think that Mayweather must be up there. I mean, I don't know who. They said that he made like maybe a billion in his career. I don't know whether that's gone to him or whether that's money generated across the board. But whatever it is, it's lots, right? The number is lots. And I suppose, yeah, you're right. The worst position to be in is to be somebody who has all of the challenges of fame but not the money to be able to deal with it.

50:22So imagine if you needed security, but whatever it was that you were doing that got you loads of attention didn't really pay that well you'd be like oh fuck like i really could do with being protected from my fame but my fame didn't make me any money so i can't pay for the protection that would really suck that would but the next thing is like well maybe it's just you just get this lifestyle inflation you i've got assistant two assistants three assistants i got a house i got a holiday home aspen jet second jet car car fleet car manager wealth manager where's the fucking money and before you know it you're like jesus christ this is so big and unwieldy and uh how do you think about that how do you think about avoiding getting the the financial thing too messy the team growing too much people who don't have your best interests at heart this aided by the fact it's a family matter i got lucky because i had to learn that lesson

51:16Ryan Garcia:early you know i mean i got paid a lot of money when i was like 20 i started getting paid like i I made like my first million at like 19 and 20. So I learned quick how fast money can go. And you're just like, well, I had a million. No, I don't. I was like, I had a million. They definitely said that in my account, but now it's gone. Yeah, you just realize taxes is a real thing. And you're like, oh, God, like I can't really be buying all that. You know what I mean? I was like about every car I wanted. and then I realized this is stupid and then I went through a little gambling type of thing I like to do and then I was like, this is even more stupid than the car thing.

52:01Yeah, it's all that stupid. Yeah.

52:02Ryan Garcia:And then you kind of just realize like all of it's pretty dumb. Yeah. Yeah. And this is a waste of money and nobody really even cares. And it's just like all just like stupid at the end of the day. It's like all materialistic things that you don't really get anything out of it. You know what I mean? Unless you're trying to impress a girl or whatever. That's maybe it. And most girls, like... The ones that are impressed by that stuff are probably... Are you probably not the ones that you want to be around. But, yeah, I kind of learned all that quick. And then I just have a good squad, good team around me that cares.

52:40Ryan Garcia:And they don't want me to go broke. And I don't want to go broke one day. It's too many stories like that. Mike Tyson ran through 100 mil. And he ran it back in the 90s. So fuck. Yeah, what's that worth today? It's probably$200,$250, something like that. Yeah, so. That's serious money. Yeah. Yeah, I don't want to end up like that. So I just kind of, I just know that I have to be focused and keep my head straight and just try my best to not make any big financial mistakes anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, again, you know, in some ways, I suppose, learning that lesson going from lots to not so much yeah on a million that's a good lesson to learn where you go ow i i'm not broke but i'm like back to basically baseline right after i had a lot that's a good lesson to learn on a million yeah it's a worse lesson to learn on a hundred million exactly so the same way as you said you know there were some lessons that i missed in my teenage years that i had to learn in my 20s well there's some lessons people learn in their 40s that you money still that's why that's why i feel blessed i'm like dude i learned a lot of all this shit like pretty early like everything i wanted in life came pretty quick like i wanted to be a superstar fighter and it became quick and i wanted this and it came quick but then you're like oh shit like i'm actually happy it came quick because if it didn't then like i said you would learn it 30 35 years old 40 and you're just like with more money with bigger problems with less opportunity to make more too.

54:11Ryan Garcia:Correct. I can't fix it in the same way. You can't fix it. So I truly am blessed, but you know, you could always make a mistake. You know what I mean? You could always go back down on that road, you know? Your vices could take you there, your ego, your pride. Why I got this much money now, I could really fuck off. Before we continue, as you're probably aware, I'm not a massive drinker, at least not anymore. But even if you too are not drinking, sometimes you just want something cold, frosty, and tasty. without the fear of a hangover the next day, which is why I'm such a huge fan of Athletic Brewing Co.

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55:25That's athleticbrewing.com slash modernwisdom and modernwisdom at checkout. Near beer, terms and conditions apply. Athletic Brewing Company, fit for all times. I'm friends with a couple of guys at the moment who are really trying to get their lives together but have a very high level of exposure. And a couple of them, in the same way that you are to your 24-7 security, they basically have 24-7 lifestyle watches to ensure that they don't go off the rails. Imagine like a sponsor, kind of, but they're also a coach, assistant, driver, like just, hey, we need to make sure that you don't fuck up. That's how tight the set of train tracks are.

56:07they're on. I mean, it's not bad. You guys do it for a training camp, right? Yeah, yeah. The whole team there. It's an intense thing. There's no moment unless you want to be alone that you are alone. There's always someone to keep. You know, I did a tour around Australia, New Zealand and Bali doing a live show. And I realized that I was trying to think about people that spend time on the road, the ones that are the happiest and have the best mental health and the ones that are the unhappiest. And I think that you have bands who have objectively a pretty shitty lifestyle, tour bus, sleeping in a tiny bunk, even a really, really good band.

56:42If you're on a proper tour, you're going from Dallas to San Antonio to Houston, back to back to back with shows, you're in a bus, dude. And there's only so nice that a bus can be. And if it's a big band, you're in a bus sleeping on top of each other, like even good big bands. So, but they seem to be pretty happy. And then you think next step down might be comedians. And I think that comedians have a little bit more room. They don't need as much crew with them. But the problem is because you don't have as many crew people with you, you're on your own more. Maybe you've got a warm-up. Maybe you've got a tour manager.

57:14But the mid-level, good-quality comedians, most of the ones that I know that are doing gigs around the U.S., they're like, I got on a flight on my own. Maybe I'll fly in business. Maybe not. You're probably in business or whatever. But I'm not flying private. And I'm on my own. And I get there. And I do my gig. And I go back to my hotel. And maybe my warm-up's there and we can hang. and then the worst one DJs the reason that the worst one is to be a DJ I used to run nightclubs for ages DJs have the worst lifestyle I think one of the worst lifestyles because they are always on their own unless they take a tour manager because you don't get to when you get booked at a nightclub you don't get to say I'm bringing my warm-up with me you don't have a sound guy you don't have a director you don't need anyone right a band needs the roadies and the guitar tech and the drum tech and the lighting director and all of this stuff.

58:00And the DJ just has two USB sticks. And it's later at night, loads of drugs around, loads of alcohol around. And there's always an after party and you can fit these gigs together back to back to back to back to back. I was like, right, okay. So I'm going to go and do this tour around Australia, New Zealand, Bali. I did North America last year. I'm doing UK and Ireland later this year. I was like, I don't need really anyone. I probably need one tour manager to make sure the venue's okay. but 10 people came because I want to do what the bands do because they seem to have the best mental health they seem to enjoy it the most they're sharing experiences it goes well they celebrate it goes badly they commiserate exactly

58:40Ryan Garcia:and it's the same as being in a camp yeah I have my whole squad pretty much live with me and yeah honestly that right there it just keeps things you know

58:57Ryan Garcia:it just makes things bearable. To be honest. I mean, there's no other way to put it. You're with your boys. At least you can talk to them about things or anything. Hey, guys, let's play some video. It could be anything, honestly. Being by yourself just sucks. You know, a lot of people say, oh, you can't be by yourself. They always tell me that. And I'm like, I don't really want to be by myself. Like, I don't know. like I'm cool to be by myself but like like why is that a flex you know what I mean it's like I love companionship I love you know my brothers I love talking to people I love conversating I like picking people's brains no matter who they are you know what I mean I just like I just love conversation I love you know I love that it's just because you can do it on your own doesn't mean that you should yeah and uh it's all the intangibles you maybe it would be quicker or you wouldn't need to compromise as much you're certainly be fucking cheaper there's lots of different advantages you can see that are really obvious but all of the the disadvantages that you would miss are like well i'm gonna be lonely and i'm gonna be in my head and that probably means i'm just gonna be scrolling my phone and that's gonna fucking suck and oh dim scrolling is the worst if you wake up start scrolling i swear that is ruined day's ruined.

1:00:14You get it. It's the day is ruined. Before it started.

1:00:17Ryan Garcia:Like I need to play my, my, my, my just like meditation type of sounds before I even get close to the phone because, oh my God, it'll ruin my day. Cause I'm just like this. And I'm like, I catch myself. Like, I already told myself in bed for an hour. What is going on here? What is this phone doing to me? Why do I magnetically want to go and do that? Every time. So weird. Every time. Uh, I'm interested in what you think about conor mcgregor's trajectory because you're both guys who fight you're both guys that have partied and that like to party what's your perspective on his journey uh it's it's a it's it's one of those ones that you know did he learn too late you know you know obviously we were talking about how like i'm happy that i learned you know as you know younger person it seems that you know I want him to be back though I want him to be back but I also know that like how old is he?

1:01:17Ryan Garcia:30 probably 5 now or something like that it's a little tougher to rebound you know but he's one of those people that you know he's an icon to his sport he's a fucking man dude he's just a fucking G you know what I mean and I want him to really be like I want what path he's on to be, like, I want that to be real. Like, if it's, uh, if it's his path with God and if he's found faith and, uh, and that's where, you know, he feel like his, his motivation is driving, hopefully it's real. You know, I want it. I want whatever he's going to do. I want it just to be real. I want him to fight. Keeps on talking about a comeback.

1:01:59Ryan Garcia:Doesn't happen. How long is that been going on for? Three years, four years, right? Or I don't know. Longer. It might, it might be, you could tell me it's been five years since he fought. yeah I wouldn't know yeah I can't remember and it's not as if the last few fights have been exactly drenched in glory either one stoppage like injury stoppage or whatever it was and then Khabib and then I don't know it's just I think Dustin yeah just I don't know it's just it's such a shame dude it's such a fucking shame and the more that I think about it the more it's just sometimes I think about different versions of the universe where one thing happened or didn't happen.

1:02:36And the version of the universe where McGregor kind of didn't get lost in the source. Right. It's like, oh my God, more of those Aldo moments of him just being like a samurai, zen master type thing.

1:02:49Ryan Garcia:Maybe it happened for a reason. What if he did do that and he was that guy? How much crazier would he? Maybe. Yeah, yeah. And he learns a lesson at 50. Right, right. Exactly. Shit. We'll never know. I just wish the best for that guy I hope he I hope he could make I want to see him win one more good fight if he just does that I'm cool legacy saved I think he's got one fight left on his UFC contract and uh yeah man I hope it happens but after a while there's a little bit of all of the bravado it becomes harder and harder to do the longest since you've fought and the older that you get. You're able to do this because you've still got bags of career ahead of you if you want to.

1:03:39And you can back up.

1:03:40Ryan Garcia:Well, I feel like there should have been an evolution in it. You start off this young guy like Conor Bravado, talks a lot of shit. Then you become this legend. Then you become this OG, and the OG has to be more calm, more stoic, more, don't worry, I got this. like I've done this long enough watch what I do you know with a little bit the opposite happened with a little bit of trash but then it just kept on going you know there should be some type of evolution there well I guess what actually happened because like Mayweather stopped kind of being so very true you know that's a good point yeah that is a really really good point as somebody that was one of the biggest shit talkers and then it toward the end of his career was just I'm gonna beat you and you're not gonna beat me you couldn't you couldn't fucking phase the guy which is pretty cool already knows the game too much.

1:04:30Like, when you know the game too much, it's like, alright, talk and

1:04:34Ryan Garcia:whatever. Like, he already knows all the entertainment shit. He's just there to be Floyd Mayweather. I'm gonna come. We're a professional. I'm here to do a job. Yeah. Exactly. So I think he missed the evolution. Yeah, yeah, he did. There was a fucking firmware update. I know, right? The iOS update didn't come. That's something that is kind of scary to see. You know, you were talking about aggression, rage, anger, different components of how a fight is sort of put together. There is something really fucking terrifying about somebody that just sees you as like a job to be dispatched. Like if you were to look, if you were a plumber and you were to look on your day and you said, I need to replace this toilet at 11am.

1:05:12You go, okay, you're just the toilet I'm replacing at 11am. This is just a standard day in the office for me. Thank you very much. I'll see you on the other side. Like I'll see you once the toilet's fitted. That's like, oh my God, I'm just a fucking task. I'm just, I'm just on the to-do list for today. I'm not even an event really I'm just like something that I'm moving through and when you see that with people you go like holy fuck

1:05:35Ryan Garcia:what am I getting myself into are you worried are you conscious around long term health stuff we hear a lot about CTE about TBI about brain health how much does that factor in as somebody that's been doing this since 7 years old this talk I imagine when you were the CTE talk would have only come in in your teens, like to have been really high levels of awareness. Honestly, once it kind of got big with football, I forgot what year that was. That was kind of the year that everybody started questioning. Oh, shit, like we should probably all start thinking about our health. But it's also like, look, man, I've already accepted whatever happens to me.

1:06:21Ryan Garcia:It's okay. I just try my best to not look into that type of future. But if it happens, I hope that the people that love me take care of me. That's it. You're just happy for that to be a side effect of your chosen career? Yeah, because I try to put all my decisions and let it be guided by God. So if that's just the nature of what I've chosen to do and what I felt like was the right thing to do, that's just what it is. and there's really nothing I could do about it. I mean, boxing is... Avoid getting hit would be a good start. Oh, yeah, for sure. And I try my best to, you know what I mean? Obviously, I'm still feeling clean.

1:07:01Ryan Garcia:Never broke my nose, thank God, you know what I mean? So I'm doing pretty good in that aspect. But like I said, if it happens, it happens. But I hope not. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A quick aside, most people think that they're dehydrated because they don't drink enough water. Turns out water alone isn't just the problem. It's also what's missing from it, which is why for the last five years, I've started every single morning with a cold glass of Element in water. Element is an electrolyte drink with a science-backed ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. No sugar, no coloring, no artificial ingredients, just the stuff that your body actually needs to function.

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1:08:23Ryan Garcia:No, I just feel like I've always had mental health problems. I don't know if it comes from boxing, but, you know, a little anxiety sometimes, a little bit of, like, bipolarness, but I've always kind of been that way. Like, I don't know. I don't think you get to the level of obsession and focus that you need without having something in there. You mentioned edge. Yeah. That edge comes from somewhere. My edge is that I am an obsessive thinker of situations, positions. All right, I'm here. I'll study one position and where I'm at for a long period of time because I'm like, all right, I know there's something more here.

1:09:08Ryan Garcia:You know what I mean? I'll get to that. But a lot of it is just boxing and God. Like, I don't really like to obsess over too many things, but like boxing for some reason, I could just like think about that moment so many times. Like, okay, that's where it was. Okay, he'd do that, but that's, like, I could, you know, if I shift here, boom, I could catch him quick and he might not notice. Like, there's just a lot of, you know, with my brain with that, it's just like love it so much that I just want to study that. Can you remember a position, is the one that comes to mind that you spent a long time thinking about that then ended up being an unlock?

1:09:42is there a particular sequence that you spent a good time on?

1:09:45Ryan Garcia:Yeah, even when I was, like, young, I remember this, I was sparring this kid, and he kept catching me, kept catching me, and I was, like, I remember going back home and just thinking about it for, like, two hours, three hours, like, why is he catching me with that? And then I had remembered, I overthought about it so much that I was, like, all right, Dad. Like, I called my dad to the room, I said, call him back. Like, I have something for him. Like let's go and he goes are you sure like he was pretty much whooping your ass like let's just wait a little bit I was like, no call him the next day.

1:10:20Ryan Garcia:I figured something out And it was a when he would step forward He would show his jab So like he would step and then show the jab So I had caught on to it in my brain when I was replaying it So I told my dad every time he makes that move i'm gonna cut to the to the right and hit him with a right hand And I guarantee you he won't stop that because he can't stop doing this so every time he came in a hunt and I would catch him and my dad was like how do you figure that in a day I was like I don't know I just kept thinking about it like he kept on catching me with that shot but there has to be something that like I'm doing wrong or I'm not reading or something and my dad's all he always thinks about that story he's like that's all I knew like you're different because I could come back the next day and I'll be a whole different fight like I don't know how But I just like the next day like the guy if he thinks he got an edge like bro I've been thinking about this all day So I try to tell my little brother like after swan you need just think I go in your room and just think think think Like why did this happen?

1:11:20Ryan Garcia:Why did that happen? Like Like whoa, what was he doing that was throwing me off? There was a couple instances like that in the ring It's like hmm It has to be something here. You know what I mean? So yeah, I've learned so much things in boxing like just the whole aspect of it it's like it's almost like music notes i started learning that like like when you're the ring it's like boom boom boom boom and then when something fills off that means because some note was off you know i mean like some movement okay oh i read that wrong that's where it was okay boom so it's like it really is like a whole level of just like beautifulness like i that's why i said i really love boxing there's so much little things in it that like get me excited it's so fun have you been able to do that during any of your fights as a professional or have there been how often you surprised by that you say most of the time presumably you're studying tape you're thinking you're bringing fighters into the the gym and the camp that replicate the style that you're probably going to face the whole game is to not be surprised yeah when you get in there but presumably that's what the other guy's doing too yeah which means that they're trying to come up with something that you don't yet know which might surprise you which means that you need to go back and you've got forget two hours in a day you've got a minute in the corner to be like yeah why is that thing happening is have you ever had that happen as a pro no honestly i haven't it's been more of so like when i'm on point and like when you know i'm in a good mental space nothing will surprise me because it's like i've already been thinking about like i've been looking at every scenario like the times I've lost um I literally it comes from a place of like self-sabotage and like I wasn't even in the camp I was just kind of letting the day go by and just kind of like not being there and I know it probably sounds like an excuse but that's just what it was um were they the better fighters at night for sure and I always give them credit on that but But, you know, me at my best is when I'm thinking like this, when I'm paying attention to every day, when I'm everything is like intentional.

1:13:34When I wake up, how I woke up was intentional.

1:13:37Ryan Garcia:Not on the phone. Not on the phone. I'm reading things. I'm letting, you know, that inner wisdom just kind of flow me through the day. You know what I mean? I'm on track. When it's like that, it's hard to surprise me because I've been paying attention to everything. But now when I fight somebody, what surprises me is like, oh, wow, they're really talented. They're fast. That's cool. You know what I mean? It won't be like a move or like a shot that will surprise me. It'll just be like, oh, this guy, he's on top of his game. That's cool. You know what I mean? But as far as like a technique or anything, it'd be hard to surprise me.

1:14:20Ryan Garcia:But I feel like I've surprised people because a lot of people, they'll be seeing that move. They're like, where do you even come up with that stupid move? I look stupid, but am I getting hit? So I've been thinking about this. I've been like Mayweather, he does a shoulder rope. But he hides behind it a lot. And people think like they call me off or turning my back. But I'm just giving them the side. And you can't really hit me on it. But everybody makes fun of me on it. But I have not got hit once doing it. so guys come on you called you called the silly show they called the silly show right it's all good you're there to do a job dude yeah and if you dispatch someone yeah it's so funny to think about um obsession obviously it's it is very much a double-edged sword it's the sort of thing that can cause you to be obsessed with politics or porn or your ex or drugs or gambling or partying or status or money or how people see you yeah but it can also if you direct it in the right angle be the thing that causes you to completely change your game in the space of two hours as a professional sports star it's the sort of thing that can cause you to obsess over how well you write or tell stories as a writer that would be cool now that like i would want to learn how to do that like writing for some reason it just seems so like like if you could get a high level where you could make somebody feel something just by a sentence and you know it's going to hit that's pretty sick and what my housemate at the moment is just finished the first draft of his book which is going to be amazing and i'm watching him all he does every single day is in the spare bedroom and the house that we live in every wall is covered in post-it notes everything he's just living and breathing this book you know in uh in ai and chat gpt and stuff like that there's an idea of a context window.

1:16:08And it means how big is the sort of world of information about what you're talking about that the AI has reference to. So if you have a real long chat, the context window is super huge. If you start a new chat, the context window is smaller. His context window for his own book

1:16:24Ryan Garcia:is like three galaxies big, right? He's got all of these different stories and he'll come downstairs and tell me, I just learned this story about Phil Collins and how he wrote like in the air tonight or how he wrote this song. And it's so fucking cool. And I'm watching, like you did, I'm watching somebody who is so obsessed. My point being, most people go through their lives without ever getting an obsession that's worth anything. People can reach the end of their lives having either never been obsessed or only being obsessed about stuff that wasn't worth anything. So if you're the sort of person who has an obsession that's pointing in a positive direction, you really shouldn't waste it.

1:17:04No. It's a fucking wonderful thing. It's free motivation. It's free discipline. It's not that you as a kid had to be forced to train. You couldn't not train all that you wanted to. It wasn't like someone went into your bedroom after you lost that fight to that guy, that kid, and said, you need to think about this for two hours. If you told me to go and play video games, I couldn't. I can't not do this thing.

1:17:26Ryan Garcia:That's very true. Free discipline, free motivation. And that doesn't last forever. and what you need is while the tide, while the current's with you to sort of ride down. Now, okay, I'm going to do what I'm called to. And I think that's what you were talking about up top. I get little whispers sometimes, these fleeting thoughts, these nudges that move my life in different directions. I'm going to follow those because in future they might not be there and you missed them. You missed them. It's like the neon sign. I just went past it. I could have seen it. What was it? What was it? Yeah. It's cool just to see what it was.

1:18:01Ryan Garcia:You know what I mean? Yeah. And just, you know, kind of see where that goes. But yeah, I always told people my biggest fear in life, when they asked me, like, is it death? I was like, no, it's just not reaching my potential and just wasting it. Because I know I have so much. So it's like, that just scares me. Pressure's a privilege, dude. Hey, I appreciate you. I'm fired up to see what the rest of this year has for you. Thank you. You're the man. Sir. Appreciate you. Until next time. Yeah. Goodbye, everybody. I'm going to try this. Get it in you. Yes, sir. When I first started doing personal growth, I really wanted to read the best books, the most impactful ones, the most entertaining ones, the ones that were the easiest to read and the most dense and interesting.

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