Brendan Schaub: From UFC Fighter To Comedian & Podcaster

30:57So, you know, my journeys can be different, man, whatever that looks like. And I just have to accept that, which I try to do. I was reading something yesterday that reminded me of you, Brendan, which was I was reading a blog post. Sam put out this great tweet asking for what's the best blog post you ever read. And one of them was this thing called the physics of passion. And he basically goes, there's this thing called the Kool-Aid point. he draws this graph he's like as you as you do shit and people start to like your work or admire you or love you or become a fan of you you'll it kind of grows steady steady steady and then there's this point uh he calls this the kool-aid point where it kind of takes off it goes then you're going to have two groups of people you're going to have a bunch of people that love you and a few people that hate you and he goes what happens is and he goes here's how you'll know you're there people accuse your fans of just drinking the kool-aid they love everything you do but sight unseen and they're the kool-aid drinkers that's how you know if you have people that can be described as that you've hit the kool-aid point yeah i love that on the other side you're gonna have people who want to tear you down the haters you know quote unquote and um and and you know at first they're they're they're always a small group but they're kind of loud and some people even support them and be like oh you're you're speaking truth to power you're you're calling it like it is you're you're kind of exposing this person or this this brand or whatever it is yeah and you got both and so i was reading that and i knew we had this pod today and i was like oh dude he's he's lived he's lived that point because yeah you know you have for people who don't know you got a big fan base you got a big anti-fan base and uh the anti-fan base i think it's on on reddit i go to this subreddit a bunch but i'm not like like i it's weird i like you but i also find it funny like they're so clever these people are kind of so funny but they're also funny in the same way like it's kind of this this double thing i'm curious like for you obviously that's like you know it's probably funny for me because i'm outside of it i'm not the person that the butt of the joke in some of these cases but you know me and sam got maybe one one hundredth of the like kind of the the passion and hate that you that you have because you've been doing this a long time you've you've made it pretty big but when i read our youtube comments and i see something like that it's things in the moment but also there's a lot of times where i'm like they're not wrong like you know uh there there is some truth to where they're they're being a dick about it but there's some truth to what they're saying i i could see that i'm curious for you when you when you hear about the sort of the stuff on the subreddit or you check it out or whatever do you have any moments where you're like all right they're kind of being mean about it or they're being a dick about it but there's some truth to what they're saying i'm yeah i'm sure You know, I don't, in all honesty, I don't pay attention to it.

33:35I think it's a bad thing whether you pay attention to the negativity or the positivity. Yeah, I think you just got to keep doing your thing. You know, my heroes growing up didn't live this world, you know, so it can't be healthy. I think we'll find over years how it affects the brain, how it affects creatives and businessmen who do pay attention to that stuff and read the comments and stuff like that. So I don't want to be that sample size. I'm not going to be that digital CTE. of comments every day yeah i already have enough ct man i'm about to ride my porsche off the pch but um i think with the reddit group yeah it's interesting because you know the watch everything you do and there's there's some things that i'm on board with and then the only there's a small slight group on there who are just evil so there's difference between hate which i get i give you a lot to hate on.

34:29I do a lot of content. I make a lot of jokes. I offend a lot of people. I get that. You don't get to a certain level without giving a lot of haters. You just don't. If you look at Logan Paul, Drake, LeBron James, name some, the massive celebrities that we have in this world there and you go online, you read their comments or my buddy, Joe Rogan, nobody, you know, I don't know anybody gets more hate than that guy, but he gets more in love. You know, I'm in the business of likability. So if you watch my podcast, you buy a ticket to my standup, you buy the merch, you buy the whiskey, you're a fan.

35:01I make a living off likability. So I don't give the hate energy. As far as the Reddit goes, I get it. And some of them are really funny and I appreciate those guys, whether it's good or bad towards me. It gets a little dicey when they want to, I just, I don't understand when they cross the line, when it gets into my personal life. right it's like i'm not tom cruise dude why the fuck you give us who cares about that stuff you know and thank god my wife she's been with me since i was in the ufc so when you're fighting ufc you get a lot of love you get a lot of hate there's no in between if you're doing it right so she's conditioned to that she doesn't pay attention to it she doesn't care you know at this point so thank god for that but the only time i don't like is when they make it super personal it's about the kids, it's about, you know, certain things, but, you know, nobody's harder on, on, on me than myself.

35:54You know, there's nothing they can say that I don't tell myself usually on a daily basis. And trust me, it's way worse, whatever they're putting out. So although I, you know, I get it, I appreciate it. And, you know, I just don't give it energy. I think one of the things that I have going for me is, you know, I post and goes, I don't pay attention to that stuff. But then I'm also, you know, I'm on the road, whatever it is, 30 weekends a year. You know, if I get done with this interview, I go get coffee. I can't go down the street without somebody saying, hey, Brandon, love you, man. So that's real.

36:25That's what I care about. Social media, it's a factor for sure, but it's not the end all be all. I think when people realize that, that one in, if you're walking down the street, one in 10 people on social media, especially on Twitter, that you can't give your self-value, your self-worth of what social media is. You're going to live a much happier life. So that Reddit group, they're going to do their thing, you know, and that comes with the territory that I was built for. That's why God gave me big shoulders. But, um, you know, I, they're going to love that one. Yeah. I think I was built for it.

37:01And then also you look, you know, if you look at me, I know, you know, I probably look like the guy that bored you in high school. And, you know, they'll use some of that, you know, like, oh, Brendan's a bully or whatever. And I know I look like the guy, but if they actually knew me, none of these people know me. They've never met me. You know, they're not buying tickets to a show. So I don't give it energy because if I did, I wouldn't have a business. I wouldn't have this house that I'm talking to you guys in right now. So, you know, I think it gets the lines get blurred where it's like, oh, he's a big, strong guy.

37:31He's fighting UFC. He can handle this. we there's no limits everything's on off limits he there's nothing off limits we can go as hard as we want it's like it actually hurts my feelings man it's actually not cool you know but i jokes i'm all for i'm all for man professional comic we roast each other we do our thing so if it's funny it's witty fire away but you start going towards the once you start going towards the personal side well then you've crossed the boundary you know and now also if you want to have this conversation person you want to offend me, we can do that. I can do that. We can see how it goes for you.

38:06That's never happened. As long as I've been in entertainment, I've never run into anybody that said something to my face. So I just, I get what they're doing. If it's funny, it's witty, and they're going to do their thing, I actually appreciate it. But when you cross the boundary and you disrespect me a different way, you know, that's where I have an issue with it. When I say issue with it, it means it hurts my feelings. I'm not going to do nothing to you. I'm not going to be, I'm not the bully you expect me to be. Then also, I think that subreddit has crossed the point, not all of them, some of them are actually just funny and they're fans and they just show it in a different way.

38:40And I understand that at my age. But, you know, a lot of them have crossed that boundary where, you know, they hide behind this keyboard and they want to do evil things, which I just, I don't understand. To me, it's like, and for what? For what? Because I do standup? you don't have to buy a ticket because I do free podcasts that triggers you. Right. We don't have to watch, you know, so I just, I'm just cut from a different cloth. I'm just a positive person. Now there's some podcasters that will lean into it. And if there's beef between comics, the lean into that. And they like that, that controversy and that drama all the time, like it's Real Housewives of LA.

39:20And I would probably be much more famous and much further along my career if I entertained that. I just can't do it. Sometimes I think, man, I should try that. It's just not what I do. I don't like being negative. I'm a positive person. I enjoy helping people out. So, you know, it's just heavy lies the crown with that stuff, man. You were saying how when you moved to LA. That was a long rant. I apologize. No, it's good. You know, someone's got to clip that. Some hater will clip that. Hopefully, but somehow, hopefully that hate pushes us forward somehow. But you were talking about moving to LA and how that was like a big change.

39:54You basically like Sean and I both lived in San Francisco when we started internet companies and like having a crew. We were in each other's crew. We had a handful of others where you like succeed together. That's like the greatest thing ever, because it's like it's a it's fun and B, it's actually useful. Like you piggyback off each other and you and you motivate one another and you actually like you invest in each other, whatever. It's like practical. You're in this cool world. It's like you, Bobby Lee, Theo Vaughn, Chris D 'Elia, Andrew Santino. uh andrew schultz is a little bit outside of that but somewhat inside of that joe rogan yeah you got this like crew and like it doesn't like 10 years ago you know there was rogan but there weren't really like a lot of like comedy youtube channels like or podcasts but right now like if i go on my youtube app like it's basically like a theo von or brendan schaub clip like constantly or like the clip of bobby lee telling the story about uh uh the down syndrome viral I wrote a clip in comedy podcast history.

40:51It's hilarious. It's so funny where he talks about getting molested by a Down syndrome guy. It's one of the funniest. I mean, it's like I can't go on without seeing like a funniest bits from whatever. Like, and it's like someone in your crew. What's that like behind the scenes? Like, are you guys, is this like a, like Sean and I, sometimes when we want to get like popular on X, Y, and Z, we're like, hey, can you like this? Can you share this? Or, hey, do you want to come on my thing? you come like it's like it's it's somewhat organized somewhat or just sharing like just sharing be like yo i'm doing this and it's working like uh yes you know what's that like you know what you have like a group text when you're like hey theo like uh i found that like this type of like because you guys and then by the way i don't know if we told you this if you go and look at when we first started mfm my first million we just bought the same fucking red sofa lounge chairs that you had because i love it because i would see those on the i would see those in the thumbnail and I'm like, oh, that red pops.

41:46Like it makes you want to click it. And I noticed that you and Theo, particularly you, I bet you probably started it. You have these like pretty eye-catching studios. They're not like particularly fancy, but they're just like an eye-catching and you're changing them constantly. And I've noticed Theo does the same thing. He's constantly changing the set. Same with Andrew Schultz. Are you guys like sharing all these tactics? Like when we're doing this, it's working. Or like, here's how much we're paying for blank. Or like, you guys, let's pump each other around this thing. Yeah, you know, going back to kind of the whole like kind of it was almost like a team, you know, and, you know, the team captain.

42:22All this starts from Joe Rogan. So before I hit the car, he doesn't give a shit about any of that, does he? He just does whatever the fuck he wants. And sometimes it works. He does whatever he wants. And he's the leader of the pack. But he's also the reason why we embrace each other. And, you know, five, six years ago, seven years ago at the Comedy Store is the comedy rap pack. and we were the Rat Pack and we were the guys and every show was sold out. Our names on the marquee and Rogan, there was kind of, you know, there's structure. Like we don't tear each other down. We support each other. And I heard Isaiah Thomas say this when he went on my boys podcast, All the Slope with Matt Barnes.

43:05And Isaiah Thomas said this and it really resonated with me. He was on there. He's talking about Michael Jordan and he goes, clearly I'm not a black man I don't know if you guys know this or not but I'm not black but it's actually not that clear by the way you could be you could be dude no yeah if you told me you had a little India it wouldn't be surprising it's not that clear actually earlier when you said uh Denver or Buffalo Bills didn't want slow white guys I was like yeah so you're in yeah so you made the team right yeah wait you tell me you're not Aaron Hernandez no but um so uh where was i oh so we're this coming rap pack no no you're saying isaiah thomas said something yeah isaiah thomas yeah so isaiah thomas said this and i saw a clip that matt barnes posted i love those guys i started with them at showtime and they're crushing it but isaiah thomas they brought up michael jordan and isaiah thomas has issues with michael jordan and uh matt barnes go we'd love to have him on and uh isaiah's like that's a tough one he doesn't do interviews.

44:04Then Isaiah said, as alumni from the NBA, as alumni, and you guys are alumni, we're this tight fraternity. And not only are we a tight fraternity that we've reached certain levels of the NBA in this lane that we're in, but we're also black men. And it is our duty to support each other. It is our duty to come on the shows and make sure you guys get views, make sure people get your name out there. That is something that it's our responsibility, being in this small group, in this small club. And back probably seven years ago, you know, Rogan, it was the same thing. It is your duty to come on other shows, to broaden the audience, to bring everybody into these great talents.

44:49You know, whether it's, you know, back in the day, Finding the Kid, outside Joe Rogan, Finding the Kid was the launching pad. If he goes through it, you look at Tim Dillon, Andrew Schultz, Centino, Theo Vaughn, Chris Dillett. You look at all the people that came on there and just exploded. Now, is it because the Finding the Kid audience maybe helped a little? It's because those guys are so goddamn talented. And once people saw who they were, they out succeeded Finding the Kid. They've gone on, they've blown the roof off things now. But if you look back on Finding the Kid, and I take so much pride and joy in that where we had these guys on before they were massive.

45:25And as Isaiah Thomas says, it is our duty to do that. So that resonated with me. Now, this is seven, eight years ago, even 10 years ago. In fact, you first started out, we'd have all these comics on, stuff like that. And then the pandemic hits. The pandemic hits and the leader of the Rat Pack leaves, Joe Rogan leaves. And the Comedy Store shuts down. Comedy LA shuts down. Then Comsigur leaves. Then Joey Diaz leaves. Then Tim Dillon leaves. Then Thiel Vaughn leaves. And then Brian goes through some bullshit Me Too movement. And he has to leave. And Chris D 'Elia goes through some bullshit Me Too movement.

46:06Chris D 'Elia has to leave. And I'm on this island by myself. I'm like, whoa, where is everybody? I thought, let's, all right. The troops, although we're not in LA, we got to rally. Let's rally around each other. And it broke my heart, man. It broke my, that, no, those days are over, dude. You got to figure it out on your own. Those days are over. The days of, you know, being in the hallways at the comedy store and the improv and the ice house and laugh factories where, you know, hey, podcast tomorrow. Yeah, podcast tomorrow. Those days are gone. Everyone's, they made it. Everyone's in their lane.

46:41You got to figure it out on your own now. It's weird because, you know, I was at the comedy store last night and I always have this, it takes me a while. I sit in the parking lot for a while because it just kind of reminds me when I pull up now that I used to pull up and Rogan pull up in his Porsche and we'd park next to each other. We'd talk shop about the cars and what's next. And then Santino would pull up and we talked to him and Chris D 'Elia and then Brian would pull up and Bobby Lee and Theo and we'd be in there. It's like college. It was the best. It was the absolute best. And I wish five, six, seven years ago, somebody would have tapped us on the show.

47:18I'm like, hey, fellas, in two years, this is all gone. I didn't realize at the moment that that was the golden age. And what we were doing was so special. We took it for granted. And I didn't realize at the time how special it was. And in my theater, where my fish tank are, and like my man cave, I have four pictures from those days. I just put them up, right, you know, when they were done, five, six, seven years ago. I didn't realize that in that picture, in that frozen moment, that was the best time ever for me, as far as just being in that symbiotic team. It was such a team, man. There's a special moment.

47:59You know, now we're all, everyone's doing well. We still talk, we have our group chats. But as far as like, you know, seeing each other all the time, like those days are over, man. And it's heartbreaking. Yeah. it's important to have one of those like pay it forward cultures. Cause it's like that. I think Silicon Valley has that too, which is there's not really that much gatekeeping. You can go to the most successful richest guy in Silicon Valley. He'll give you time. It doesn't matter who you are. And if you need a favor, they'll give you a favor with, they'll give you either advice or money or an intro.

48:30And there's no like pay it back. It's all pay it forward. Cause they got helped by the person before them. And correctly that stayed together. Now, like you said, with the pandemic, like a bunch of people moved out of Silicon Valley. So who knows what will happen now? It takes a little longer in our world to sort of see those effects. But I remember when I was in San Francisco, living in San Francisco, kind of on the come up, me and Sam met doing one of these like founder masterminds where we would get dinner for hours and talk like, okay, what are you doing? How's that going? What am I doing?

48:56How's that going? How can we help each other out? And it felt like, you know, in Toy Story, when they go to that arcade and those little minions are in the machine and it's like the claw and the claw selects one and takes it away and that's like you know they made it they they got the fame the fortune they got picked but the other minions weren't pulling them down they were like pushing them up like congrats brother go for it you know like you know you you made it out and because it's like that in silicon valley you'll know somebody and they're broke for the four years you know them and then they're worth 150 million dollars overnight and then you're like oh the claw picked you and you won yeah the call god yeah the claw which is mark zuckerberg buying your company happened uh and like it's same thing in entertainment someone hits a breakout point and now they're famous they're you know they made it and there's a question of like does it do you just get left in the dust do you resent people when they're happening or do you you realize that the rising tide lifts all boats and you really want to be in that rising tide type of yeah and just a side note in san francisco now paying for it yeah that's great yeah worry about getting stabbed out there forget starting to not will your friend watch Watch your back.

50:06Literally, like you got to actually watch his other's back physically. Just survived the day. You know, Dana Ford is carrying a gun so your buddy didn't get stabbed in the neck. Yeah, it's insane. I was going to ask a slightly different question, but I saw a few interviews that were cool. One, it was Donald Cowboy Cerrone and then Chael Sonnen. And I think actually Michael Bisping said the same thing where they were talking about like in the locker room before they fight. And they're like, I think it was Chael. He's like, people think that we're tough guys. And maybe we kind of are. But every single time before a fight, I think my last one should have been my last one.

50:45What am I doing? I hate this. And then Michael Bisbing, who's a cocky dude and is very confident, he was like, this is the worst thing ever. And then I think Cowboy Cerrone was like, I throw up before every fight. I'm so afraid. And then you had a really cool thing where you're like, I just beat up Crow Cop. So if you don't listen, if you don't know anything about UFC, Crow Cop is like one of the goats of MMA and he's scary as shit. Like he's like this Croatian dude, but like you think he's like a scary Russian RoboCop type of guy. And you knocked him out. And I remember, like you said, you're like, I knocked him out.

51:16And backstage, I went and said like, thank you or something or like, you know, like good fight. And he like had ice on his head. And you're like, what the fuck am I doing? I don't want to like do this for my life. I don't want to be 40 or 38 or however old he was when you when you beat him up. but uh what's that like backstage the 15 30 minutes before you're about to go fight to the death in your underwear in front of a million people yeah i think i don't i don't know if i was the i might have been the one of the first fighters to ever say that you know but a lot of guys they want to give off the persona that oh we're these warriors it's like gladiator we can't wait to get out there but i'm telling you and i won't mention names i've seen dudes cry backstage They don't want to go out there.

51:57I've seen their coaches slap them. Like, you have to go out there. It's just, I just don't think it's natural. You know, I think it's a level of intelligence of your body and your mind going, hey, you're about to get hurt. Do not go out there. So the anxiety is through the roof. And every fight, I was like, what am I doing, man? I was like so disappointed in myself. And then once I hit the cage for most of my career, I was okay. I knew it was time to get out when I hit the cage. I'm like, dude, don't get hurt. Get out of here. You got so much more to do in this life. You cannot, you know, suffer a concussion.

52:30We have got to figure this out. So, you know, I think there's truth and honesty for most fighters where it's like, it's terrifying. It's to me, it was the worst gig in the world. There's some, the highs are the highest in the world. The peaks are the best. The valleys are the lowest there can be in professional sports or maybe in life. It's a tough gig, man. You know, so I think the more fighters talk about like, hey, we're human, man. And it is scary going out there. And I think the more fighters talk about it, the more people can relate to it. Because most people, if you ever, man, if tonight or today after this podcast, you go to the coffee shop and you're getting your coffee and some guy goes, you have some altercation.

53:09The guy goes, hey, man, tomorrow at 1 p.m., you and I are fighting. You're like, oh, I guess we got to fight. Imagine the anxiety you're going to have that night, that morning, walk in that coffee shop. And that's fighting Billy, you know, from in San Francisco, who's going to, you know, fight you over coffee. And he probably don't have skills. Now, heighten that times a thousand. Not only do you know exactly when you're going to get in a fist to cuff, but the guy happens to be, I don't know, top 10 in the world at beating people up in your underwear. And everybody's going to see it. You know what I'm saying?

53:40It's human nature to be like, this is not healthy. Dude, we've been, this podcast and just our friends. It's been cool to like see some of our friends become worth hundreds of millions or even billion dollars. And it's cool because we'll talk to them like just hanging out and they'll be like, I have to fire this person and I'm so afraid to do it like I that I haven't done it in like eight months. Like I'm afraid of the confrontation. And what that does is it like normalizes fear. And you're like, oh, therefore I can do it. And I remember like thinking about like Habib and like, dude, this guy is like Terminator.

54:10Like he doesn't show that much fear. and then I saw some of these other tough guys say like, oh no, it's miserable. I've always wanted a Conor or a Habib, some of the most outspoken, confident guys. I want to hear them say, I'm about to piss my pants because whenever I hear that, I'm like, that's fucking gold. I can do anything. If this guy's afraid, which I know they are even if they don't say it. I know they are. I think there are levels to like, it does seem like there are some guys like a Habib or something like that where they're like, they're more stoic than others, but there is like, there's always self-doubt.

54:44And I think it's really cool when I see some of these killers, like actually say that it gives me like, it oddly gives me hope. Yeah. I think it makes them human. I, you know, I think it would do athletes just so much more in the public eye of, you know, before the super bowl or even after the super bowl, Tom Brady, like I'm scared shitless, man. That defense was good. You know, I'm, I'm terrified to get hit and throw interceptions and fail. I just think more people would relate to it. Were there ever any athletes that you know of or hung out with, MMA guys or boxers, where they were built different, where they're like, this person's looking forward to a fight?

55:19Or do you think unilaterally it was? No, there's people where, you know, ignorance is bliss, right? You know, it's like, there's guys I trained with and I'd be two weeks out from a fight, you know, and the camp's tailoring down. I'd be like, oh, man, the fight's in two weeks, man, Saturday. The guy's like, no, exciting, right? I'm like, no, dude, this is terrible. But it's just, there's certain guys where they live for it. You know, there's guys like the Diaz brothers, even though they said that they hate fighting. I think there's some guy like a Cain Velasquez. There's certain guys that just thrive in that, just engage who they just, they just love the violence.

55:56They just, there's nothing. They were just born warriors, you know, and they're not thinking about businesses or, you know, 10 years down the road or 15 years down the road. It's just they were meant to do this. And God bless them. You need people like that. God bless them. Even if you're not into UFC, if you're listening to this, go and look up Justin Gaethje post fight Michael Chandler on YouTube. He said this amazing thing. He goes, I was born in the wrong era. I should have been a gladiator so I could kill this person in front of all of you because that's what I'm built to do. And that's what I love.

56:28I'm here to fight to the death. And I heard that. And I'm like, there's there's two different types of humans. I'm one and he's the other. Yeah, this is crazy. True. And I think, you know, I think for me it came to realization because I've known Justin Gaethje since he was in college. I used to go up to University of Northern Colorado and wrestle to get ready for my UFC fight. So I saw Justin at a young age. He's always been like that. And again, when I'd be in the locker rooms or we'd be in the training camps and those guys would talk like that, you know, don't get me wrong. I'm built like a warrior.

57:00Like you would look at me and I think that's one of the reasons I get hate from these guys and think it's okay to treat me the way that I, that they do. Because, you know, I look like a gladiator. I'm this big dude with tattoos and cauliflower ears, but really push come to shove. I'm the guy behind going, like, I don't want to be in the front fucking lines, man. That's not what I want to do. You know? So I get the treatment of these warriors, but really I'm the guy in the back. playing the trombone holding the flag you know making sure i look good one of our sean and i talked about this after rose now mayunis this uh uh ufc fighter she uh like before the fight you see her saying i'm the best i'm the best i'm the best and it doesn't matter if you like ufc or not it makes you cry because you're just like there's so much like you have to talk yourself up to this and it's just so like motivational inspiring cute i don't know what you want to call it but it's awesome it's like one of my favorite moments of seeing her say that and then afterwards joe goes i saw you saying you're the best what's up with that and she goes because i am the best and you like that's her convincing herself yeah that she's the best like so much self-doubt and it's just like no you're the best and because and i'm assuming she worked with a mental coach which i did too when i was fighting you work with these high-level mental coaches they tell you that you fight the negative thought in your head with a positive you say it out loud so that's just her freaking trying to keep the demons at the door.

58:27Good, I'm the best. I'm the best. You know what I love about this podcast is usually when people bring up fighting, for me, it's a nightmare. It's a nightmare. Like, especially if I'm doing a show outside, like whether it's a Comedy Central, if it's a TV show, they talk fighting. Usually they have no clue about UFC. Like, even you brought up Rose, you brought up Justin Gaethje and the Michael Chandler stuff. Like, thank God you guys have an insight into the UFC, like current UFC world. I'll do some shows and be like, so what's your take on Chuck Liddell and take Abbott? You think that's still going to happen?

59:02Like, dude, they have Alzheimer's, man. They're not in it anymore. How is Conrad McGregor doing? I don't know.

59:11No, man, we're super fans. That's why it's cool to hang out with you. We've had, I've talked to Michael Bisping, Ben Askren. We've had Ariel Hawane on. Your boy. Which I know you guys had a spat. we've had, who else? A bunch of people in that world. It's always fun to talk to you guys because even though the intensity level that you're doing, it's literally life and death, starting a business is a percentage of that, but it's like, I can't do this. I'm freaking out. I don't know how to do this. You constantly feel inferior. There's similarities with all of it. With all of it, whether you're a UFC fighter or you're an entrepreneur, there's similarities where you bake on yourself and it's on you.

59:46And the peaks and valleys are insane. Either way, so there's takeaways from both sides. You know, there's, they definitely overlap. You know, you mentioned Irohawani, right? And I, there's that, and I think it's a fan thing. You know, I've had spats with, over the years, it's just going to happen. I don't really entertain it. But I have no animosity towards Ariel. You know, I'll do interviews, whether, whatever it is, and go, so you and Dana don't like each other. No, I have no, I don't dislike anybody. You know, I think that might be one of the reasons, too, why the haters, they can't stand it.

1:00:19because they want that drama. They want something to feed off of. They call it feeding the trolls. I just don't entertain that. I think that upsets them. It's just not what I do. So when Aaron and I were having our thing, man, I made a mistake. I was on the fight campaign. I said some things I shouldn't have said. He was rightfully so to get upset. So he went on a show and did his thing. All good, man. That's how it goes. I take accountability there. That's on me. But Aaron's the best journalist we have. I listen to his show. you know I have no issues with Ariel with Dana man if anything I probably should be giving Dana 10 % because when he made that deal with Reebok it you know at the time I was a young man at the time I took it personal I thought it was a hit of against me and it put a chip on when I say chip out of entire Pringles and what you're talking about is uh before you could put any logo you want.

1:01:12Then he made a deal with Reebok and it's just, they are the guys. Yeah. I lost, you know, probably a hundred thousand dollars a fight and, you know, and I took it personal, but being a business owner now, Dana wasn't made when the Reebok deal came in, man, how's this going to affect Brendan shop? No, dude, I'm one of the, you know, I'm one of the elephants in the circus. You gotta do what's great for all the elephants, not just me. So I was, you know, a bystander and the casualty of that deal just didn't work out in my favor, but that pushed me faster into what I was supposed to be doing. So Damien actually helped me out.

1:01:44I have zero issues, Dana, huge fan, huge fan. But I think fans, some people, for whatever reason, they can't get over that. It's like, well, no, he screwed you over and look, and you have to retire and he did this. I'm like, no, he did me a favor, guys. That was 12 years ago. It's all good. He's doing great. He's worth more money than God. I'm doing pretty good. I had zero. If he called me today and was like, Hey man, we need you to do this. No doubt. I'll help you out. No problem. Well, dude, you're the man you, um, I said earlier that we had Rob on and he, like I knew Rob growing up as a skater and then he came on and he like just surprised us so much.

1:02:20I think his, his video has hundreds of thousands of views that when we did with him, which is good for us. And, uh, you're kind of in that category where you're, where I'm like, I had good expectations, uh, because I listened to you a lot, but you're a lot more insightful than I thought. and I thought you were pretty insightful and you're just a good guest. Maybe next time you'll have a better setup instead of just being on your iPhone. Yeah, so here's the thing about that. So I don't own a computer. My company, like Thicc Boy Network has whatever, 12, 15 computers. I'm like that anti kind of technology guy.

1:02:59That seems good for an internet company owner. I know, right? mark yeah can you tell i'm gonna fail by next year no um so yeah we did the same with uh there's a guy mark laurie who bought the timberwolves he's a like famous entrepreneur he's a billionaire and he came on he was doing the same thing he's like is this good guys he put his iphone on a chair on top of his dining table and he stood up and he talked and we were like do you can you use your computer i don't i don't own a computer and we were like it hits different when a billionaire says it it's like and you know if somebody else says it you're just like man what a schmuck and then you hear him say you're like this guy knows this guy knows how to live yeah he's not tied down by these fucking computers he says it because like he's got a person you know he's got people you know what i'm saying he's like i don't have computers but i have humans yeah no i i owe you guys next time we do this i'll do it at thick boy studios usually every wednesday i'm in studio but uh today because um yesterday i did three podcasts in a row that a a two-hour meeting for this new project I'm doing.

1:04:01So I started at 7.30 a.m. And then by the time I got done with that meeting, I was home around five, went and bought my kids lizards, fed them dinner, put them to bed, then rushed over to the comedy store. And I got home at 12.30 last night. So today's my first off day and I don't know how long. And then tomorrow I'm on tour in Atlanta, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I'm in Atlanta doing shows. So usually I'm always in studio and I have the team set up so it looks professional so i owe you guys i owe you guys but i hate electric cars i think they're a disaster i don't like electric cars i don't like iphones i'm about to switch to flip phone i just i don't i just don't subscribe to it man i don't think it's healthy let's add a couple zeros to your net worth and then we'll call it cool but until then we're gonna call it like a tool you're a fucking caveman you're a caveman but like maybe maybe maybe just let's add a few zeroes and we'll call you a genius but until then you're you're neanderthal yeah yeah until then i'm just this broke guy doing it on the iphone 7 well dude thank you for doing this you're amazing and we and we we appreciate it thanks for coming on yeah besides my setup this got sad fast at the end um all right that's the episode

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1:06:27For more information, check out mercury.com. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Check show notes for details.