Meet The Man Behind Conor McGregor’s +$650M Empire

30:02It's like a league. It works differently. But a guy like Conor is essentially as big of a brand as the UFC. Like, you know, let's say it's debatable. They're in the same, like, the same, like, air. And if Conor McGregor was to go do a fight on YouTube, pay-per-view or whatever he wanted to do, he could pull the same numbers as a UFC card without the UFC's promotion. do you think like i guess when you see what floyd did do you think anybody's ever going to do that with the ufc or in mma where they're going to become their own promoter and have their own shows i think the sport is still young and it's still evolving right and while the ufc is to some extent synonymous to league as a promotion it's still structured to some extent you know like price fighting right there's still pay-per-view and even though there's rankings sometimes you'll the rankings are not, it's not true meritocracy because it's still price fighting and entertainment to some extent.

30:56Right. Um, and, and I think that they have come a long way, but there's still a long way to go in terms of how much fighters should, could earn, should earn. Um, but at the end of the day too, from a boxing perspective, I think that's why boxing has been on the decline. It's still fragmented. Right. And there's the end of the day, there's not a true promotion. that's stood the test of time. I know Top Rank's been around forever, right? But who do they really have? Matching seems to be doing more. Obviously, Premier is still around and still, PBC is still competing. But you see it kind of fragmented, right?

31:34Canelo fight for Matching, for a couple of fights, and then he's fighting for PBC for a fight. And the difference is, though, I think in boxing, promotions could fight each other, and so they have to agree on that, right? I think in MMA, it's going to continue to evolve, right? You now have the ability. Can Conor do that? Of course, I think Conor is probably the only person who can carry his own show. It's very difficult to do, right? It's hard to go. How many million pay-per-view sellers are there in either sport? Not a lot. It's not that easy to do. So I think that from a UFC perspective, they've always looked at it as like, look, we're building something that's sustainable.

32:17And they are correct. in that regard, but I think that fighters definitely should have a bigger piece of the revenues as this thing continues to grow, which I think they've come a long way, but they still have a long way to go, right? Yeah, I was going to say, you know, the other group that's trying to do their own shows is the kind of Jake Paul, Logan Paul style thing where they're doing these kind of celebrity matches, high interest fights, and getting people to buy pay-per-views for that. Seems to honestly be working. I don't know what you think about those guys, but I personally used to be like, oh, you know, kind of wrote them off as just like, kind of like they were like in the jackass crowd of like the YouTube generation, the Vine generation.

32:56And then they said they were going to do this boxing thing. Who knows how seriously they'll take it. But honestly, like they've done a good job of actually like building up interest and pulling these events off and being like respectable, showing up very respectably and winning several of these fights. You can't hate on them, man. You can't hate on them. You're putting the time. Actually, our client Dylan Danis is fighting Logan Paul coming up. Dylan Danis is your client? Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. That is so funny. Are you the genius behind his current marketing strategy? Did you sign off on that?

33:29No, no, no. That's all Dylan. I thought you might have been his client. There's a famous video where Nate Diaz and Dylan are getting into it. And, Nate, there was a beer on Dylan. And I saw you in the video trying to be like the father in the whole. Like you're like, Hey, Nate, Dylan, could you guys please walk away? Is that good? Didn't work out. My kids didn't listen, you know, but no, I, you know, you got to give those guys credit. I mean, look, I think they're, they're, they're putting in time in their craft. They're, they're going in there and, and they're not only, you know, taking a shot and risk it, you know, I could argue that they're not really doing it against real boxes.

34:07That's true. You know, I think they're being more strategic and, but, you know, again, credit has to go to Connor, right? Who created that trend? Who started that? It was us versus Mayweather. And then now, I mean, even if Floyd goes and fights someone else, he doesn't get the same result without it being another two A-side guys facing each other. And while I give all of them credit too, I don't think you've seen this blockbuster event that anybody's been hoping for. So at the end of the day, though, there's a market though. There's an appetite from a consumer to go look at me and you, Sean. I think we may only get 100 people that tune in, but nonetheless, there's a market there.

34:45Don't even on YouTube. Sam is going to have to pay. You underestimate how many people want to see me get my ass looked. Sidewise, my friend. I think you're right. You're right. They've been begging to get Conor in that. I think that's the white whale that Jake Paul is chasing. What is the percent chance that a fight between Conor McGregor and Jake Paul ever happens? I mean right now Conor's focused on Michael Chandler I'm saying ever I can tell you Floyd the rematch is there Logan Paul wants to fight him Jake Paul not zero it's not zero it's just not top of mind right now you need to take off your sports jacket you need to have a proper 12 I want the non-politician answer you managers are so good at saying the best of everything It's funny.

35:37It's like, I wonder if I just wore freaking streetwear and, you know, and dyed my hair, bleached my hair like I used to when I was a young folk rock kid. You know, if everybody would really just hear what I'm saying, this is not bullshit. I'm just telling you the truth. Like, if he's going to fight Michael Chandler next. Right. It's not. We're not thinking about that. You know what I mean? But ultimately, of course, we know he wants to fight. Of course, we know it's there. And of course, I think if everybody keeps doing their thing, it's going to be a moment. market for it right so well let's talk about the the biggest of these freak show fights right now is elon versus zuck and it was one of those things that like in our world's like that's that's never happened in the kind of business and tech world and then dana comes out and kind of certifies it he's like no they want it to happen we're talking to them we might make it happen which was yeah but he always does that exactly it's dana white so you never know uh but you know it was interesting that he got a little bit more heat from that.

36:35What's your take on that? And again, same question. He does that, but I don't know if Dana would have gone on a limb if he hadn't really talked to both, right? Well, I'm sure he talked to both, but... I don't think that he would have done that, you know, and even Zuck training with freaking, you know, a bunch of different fighters, Izzy and Volk and Jon Jones and then Elon bringing in GSP and do you believe it'll happen? And if so, I believe Zuck would be down. Catch weight, whatever. It doesn't matter. I agree. Like, I think Zuck is down. Zuck is truly, you know, training. And regardless of this fight or not, he's in there.

37:20Does that mean you think Elon might not be down? Because that's our theory here on this podcast is that Elon wants to talk about it. Look, from the outside looking in and all the information that I have, which is probably less than what you have being in the tech world. You guys have some fricking secret telegram groups and shit. Who told you about that? Dude, knowing you or like knowing what I think of you, you're probably going to be managing them. I mean, I'm like, Hey, I'll, I'll, yeah, I'm definitely going to pursue them, you know, but so long as we get some rights, not just transaction, we got to build something together, you know, but no, but I, I, I think it's up to Elon.

37:56I, I truly think it's up to Elon, you know, And I don't know. Can't tell you what's in his head. Dana came out and said, if it happened. They probably looked at the numbers, though, for both X and threads. They're like, this is great. But Zuck's more serious. Like, no, don't talk about it. I saw those text exchanges and all that kind of stuff that kind of were leaked. And like I said, Zuck's about it. He's not bullshit, you know? Dana has said, if it happens, it would be the biggest fight ever. He thinks it would surpass Floyd Pacquiao. it would surpass Floyd Connor he thinks it would be that because it's just like the freak of all freak shows in that sense it crosses over into so many different fan bases or domains you get all the combat force people but you'd also get the business people to watch I think so it would also be the saddest fight ever yeah it'd also be really lame to watch it was actually kind of fucked up the way Eli was all about it and then all of a sudden it's like it's not going to be the UFC it's going to be charity like wait a second you can't play along all this fucking time and then and then all of a sudden pull the rug.

39:01You know what I mean? Did you see the video of him curling a 40? He had like a 20-pound or 40-pound weight at his office and he did a live Twitter where he's like, I'm curling to prepare. It's like, dude, I swear to God, if you think doing curls at your desk is how you prepare, this is not going to be good. Wrong sport, buddy. Wrong sport, man. You know? I didn't see that. That's funny. That's hilarious. Dude, let me ask you a quote about some other slick guys. So basically, a lot of people who don't watch the UFC they don't know that uh so dana's the front guy you know he's doing a lot of the match setting and uh he does all the talking and he seems like a wonderful businessman but the fertita brothers interest me most because they were uh i think i think dana only owned like four or six percent of it when it sold but the fertita brothers owned most all of it besides some outside outside money because they were already wealthy but they seem like those guys they don't do a lot of interviews and they're a little bit behind the scenes they seem like sharks have you learned anything interesting from the two brothers and Dana about business?

40:02Well, so obviously, look, they sold their business now, right? Endeavor ended up with William Morris at the time. They bought it. But I had the pleasure of being able to deal across from Lorenzo Fetida on a couple of clients, particularly Connor, obviously, at that level. and they're very savvy businessmen, very, very composed. You know, I, it's not, it's the dynamic when I'm on the opposite side, naturally it's adversarial a lot of the time. Right. And so, you know, at the end of the day, I'm advocating for my clients. So it's, it's, I'm not their best friend. Right. And it's not like they're going to invite me over for Christmas and, and, uh, but, but we do have, we did have a respectful relationship and I really, really enjoyed dealing with someone you know that that has been not only stressful in our sport and a pioneer in it but was a super successful businessman in the casino business and other businesses as well so you learn you learn from the interactions and the dealings and the negotiations that you're you're you're doing like for example when when Mayweather McGregor happened and we we basically got what we were achieving or were striving for from a negotiation like Connor and We had that moment when we walked out of Lorenzo's office.

41:20We're like, you fucking did it. You know, it was like a hot moment, right? And so do you guys keep a straight face until you get to the parking lot? Yeah, do you get giddy and start hugging and shit? Well, in the meeting, in the office, you have the smirk. You know, you don't give it away. Right. And then, yeah, when you get in the car, you're like, ah, shit, you celebrate. You know? But yeah, man, I think it's the human shit. I think that's what people don't realize. I mean, it's like it's the same in all sectors, all sports. And even the most composed person that doesn't do any interviews, I'm sure have had those moments in their own journeys as well.

41:56Right. I read on Front Office Sports, I think it's called. It's like a sports publication that the final exit for Proper 12 was six hundred million dollars. And I think that was only four years after you started it. It's six hundred million dollars in the ballpark. Three years. And I can tell you, listen, if it's probably printed, then you got to go with that because I can't necessarily comment on the specific numbers, but we're still involved too. It's not, you know, at the end of the day, it's, it's, we, we're still, you know, part of the team. We're still pushing it to grow the brand. We just came out with a new flavor, our Irish apple flavor, which is amazing.

42:33Um, you know, dangerously amazing too. Cause I, you know, you just, It drinks, it goes down so easy. But yeah, man, I'm super proud of that. Was that like a new level for you wealth-wise? And I mean, or were you able to make money a little bit along the way? You know, I think that was a whole nother level, right? That was a whole nother level where you're able to achieve, you know, your ultimate goals, right? But ultimately too, you're proving your concept. You know what I mean? Ultimately, we're not having to go sell the platform. We're creating liquidity events by creating opportunities left and right, not just for clients.

43:13Now we're creating ventures that are accretive to the platform. We have a smart basketball technology called Hoop. We have some other ventures in the pipeline that are coming out that are very much focused on advocacy for the entire sport and creating something where we're putting our own capital in these things to create opportunities for everybody else. And there's other things that we're creating specifically for our clients. So in lieu of having the opportunity to invest or an athlete maybe not having the brand equity to go start their own venture, how can we bring them along the ride with us for the next proper 12 years, if you will?

43:56right i always like to ask people this um because i remember you know when you start out in business typically you have kind of nothing to your name and you've got this literally nothing credit card debt like exactly nothing so you start at zero or usually you go below zero you dip below zero for a period of way below zero well the funny thing is and this is what people don't appreciate like my wife now she was my girlfriend and she had a job and we were literally maxed out credit cards And for the first seven years of paradigm, I didn't take a paycheck. I was paying team members and staff before I was paying myself.

44:34And I think people lose time to that, you know, it's like, but, but then when you have huge success, you still try to do right, take care of people. But even that's sometimes no good deed goes unpunished. Right. But ultimately the, it's a war of attrition. You have to be able to withstand all of it and really believe in what you're doing. And, you know, eat shit sandwiches daily. Right. You're way there. You know what I mean? You eat these shit sandwiches for, in your case, seven years. In my case, I remember like sort of eight or nine years straight of just like in my case, it was just kind of failure.

45:09But like in your case, at least you were building it up. And then you finally have the moment where it's kind of like validated, realize a payday comes in. You get a windfall along the way. And like financially, sure, that's exciting. And things change. at a logical level but before it hits the logical level there's kind of the emotional level of like what does that feel like um what thoughts go through your head at that time we had a guy come on the pod he's like like dude i used to just every day for the next week i just drove to the bank and i would just go in the atm put my card in and say print receipt because i just wanted to see it and he's like i didn't even have anything james hong he's like i didn't even have anything i wanted to spend it on he's like i was just amazed i was just amazing to look at that because I knew the seven years or whatever, the years that go into not being there, not having that.

45:59And we had other people that were like, you know, oddly numb feeling. I didn't feel anything. And other people are like, you know, I had a conversation with myself. I said, all right, now I'm here. Here's this pivotal conversation I had myself. So I always like to ask people about that moment because I think there's usually something interesting that happens. It's not just like just another day. So it's surreal to me because, you know, on one end, it happened during COVID. So it was a weird fucking time for all of us, right? And you get there, and honestly, it's like you're pinching yourself. And because it's a new age, you don't have to necessarily go to the bank account to print the receipt anywhere.

46:37You can just look at that. I certainly did that a few times. It's like, what? But also, you have to make decisions. We hired more people. We gave people raises. We gave people bonuses that had nothing to do with that part of the business. and we invested back in the business. And so I was, first thing I bought was my mom, a house and a car. And so I was trying to really stay grounded. You know what I mean? And more importantly, try to do right as best as you can for those that are important to you, both family and on your team, right? And ultimately still like just enjoy the moment And because we were kind of everybody locked in at home, it was, you know, every night it was for my wife and I was just surreal.

47:27And it's like, you know, then you start to think about, OK, well, do you tell your kids? Do you not? How do you raise them right away? How do you make sure I'm hungry and you know what I mean? It's not about that. A lot of things change, right? Because it's like you get there and you start to realize you got to start planning, thinking and and acting differently. but then also other unintended issues start to come up you know like you know that was i forgot more money more problems this is true you know at the end of the day uh what problems just a lot of different things i think people want shit people want shit on a pre people think that they deserve shit uh unappreciative people no matter what you give them you know they just unfortunately have a self-inflated view um you know i think there's there's a whole list of issues that come up with it right um that's the reality but it is you got to take the good the bad the ugly and just keep rolling to bunches and level up and level up and evolve that's what it is i thought you were gonna say you had a red panty night i was i was waiting for it that was the

48:34you said it for me i did and you had two bites of the apple right if i remember correctly like i think you guys did you guys sell a portion of the of the business early on and i think you sold half of it and then another, I don't know if it was the half or the rest or another big chunk. Was it a hard decision to sell or did you have 600 million reasons? It was, I mean, look, first of all, it was amazing at the time, but always after the fact, you're like, now we still have, we're still part of the business, so we can still keep making a lot of money into the next decade or longer at the end of the day.

49:12Because it's always difficult to think about, oh, what it should or could have, right? But you got to be able to count, you know, the fortunes of it all, you know, and, and be grounded in, in, in that positive reality. It's not a negative thing. You know, it's very easy to always Monday morning quarterback something like, Oh, we shouldn't have sold because of this, this and that. You have those regrets, which I think is normal, by the way. I think most people who not maybe most, I think who they sell, you all, if you sell it right, you tend to sell early, right i mean that tends to happen i think i think the way we structured the deal allows us to really not only made a ton of money but we just continue to make a ton of money and and you know ultimately have i had those thoughts sure you always think about it and because it's for me it's more so okay it's about execution right so not only do we execute but then how's how the deal how's the How's this?

50:10How's that? And so I'm kind of like constantly watching the film to make sure that I'm learning and growing as an entrepreneur because I'm not resting on my laurels either. I'm not done. Right. And so I'm still playing the game. While you play the game, you got to be able to not only celebrate the victories, but watch the tape back and see where you could have gotten better. Right. That's the only way you're going to be the best at what you do. So I have a partner who a business partner who basically he was he was already successful before, but his second company, he was about to get a$200 million check for the sale.

50:40And it was one of those clickbaity websites on Facebook that showed top 10 lists. And then Facebook changed the algorithm. And the sale dropped from$200 million to$30 million. And it was just a massive issue because of platform risk. And there's a lot of fear of platform risk. Do you view Connor as your platform risk? Because he gets in trouble sometimes. Sometimes he gets accused of a lot of stuff. Sometimes maybe he actually did do it. Sometimes he didn't do it. Do you get nervous about platform risk with Connor of like, shit, if he does something really bad, I'm I'm fucked. Yeah, well, he's been accused of a lot of things and he's never been.

51:21That's that's the facts. Right. But obviously, there's always risk and everything. And I think when you look at, you know, such a, you know, Connor is kind of like an enigma. Right. So there's certainly going to be those that may be averse and not want to do anything. But at the end of the day, whoever gets involved with us understands the McGregor brand and understands inherent risks that potentially come with that. But ultimately, they also look at the track record, and that is always going to win the day, right? Because you could make all these claims, accusations, whatever. But ultimately, the facts are the facts, and the results are the results, and the data is the data.

52:01So I think when you look at all those things, some of all parts is why we have a healthy relationship with all of our business partners and we continue to incubate and launch other exciting businesses in and around the kind of brand. For me, he's the biggest client. He's also the top 1 % pop culture brand in the world. So it's like, unless I go inside the other people in that small bucket, if you will, he's always going to have that, let's call it, proportionate risk value across my platform. Right. But ultimately, we're also, you know, much more than just one client. And we're building something that for me is into the future.

52:47Right. John, did you see what happened with Barstool? So basically Barstool Sports sold to a betting company, a pen pen. Yeah. And I don't remember the final sale. Six hundred million plus. Dave made a killing. I think he got in stock, I think, right? A lot of stock. Yeah, he got a lot of stock. I think he got some. I think he was able to sell some. I know that on Wall Street, you could see that he did sell a little bit. And basically, after three years, Pem was like, Shit, you guys are insane. It's really hard for us to do... Because we're regulated as a casino. It's really hard to let you do what you want to do without hurting us.

53:25And ESPN wants to do this big deal with us, but they won't do it if we're with Barstool. You know what, Dave, here, look, just have the company back. And if you ever sell it again, we get half of the profit. Cool. and in exchange, we're going to do this ESPN deal, which is going to boost our stock. We're good. It was like the greatest coup of all time of like, you know, Dave getting, Dave selling it and then them just saying, here, actually, we don't want this. You know, maybe we have a world where the buyer of Proper 12 is like, hey, this was cool and all, but you know what? You can just have it.

53:55It's yours now. You can have it back. I think that was brilliant. It's a great move for him. And I think he still has Penn stock too. So then the stock goes up and he wins it again. so good for him yeah that then that's a that's an interesting sector we're getting ready to enter into as well so that makes sense that's a I'm interested to see what they do with it now right barstools and see what they end up who they end up you know partnering with to try to get that off the ground you probably I'm guessing you kind of studied other people who had talent like this like I don't know if you're in a group chat like Scooter Braun and like you know John Chahidi or some of these guys that are managing you know the sort of the big stars those same top 1 % kind of like people who can move the needle.

54:36John's a friend. I don't know Scooter, but John's a friend. Who's John? What's his last name? The guy who manages the Nelf Boys now. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. He has a dozen or so of some of the top podcasts and personalities. He's certainly an entrepreneur I respect. And so you kind of studied them a little bit. if somebody was studying you and they see what you're doing with connor and how you built like i'm just going to name them off so you did the whiskey brand proper 12 you have netflix documentaries and like entertainment that way you have roadhouse which is like the new movie coming out you have the august mcgregor the the suit lines you have title which is like the recovery spray you have the fast app which is like fitness like app uh plus and i think like gyms coming or whatever like you know something like that like a fitness brand that obviously fits and we have actually have a event-based uh competition coming with three called 3ko so that's going to be you know think of of spartan race meets meets meets uh crossfit games you know very cool so you have that you have uh i think it's like a mobile game that he's in you do like kind of the the celebrity fight with mayweather there's all these different things you've done around that person that brand and i'm sure some of them worked amazingly and some of them probably were too much work for what they were worth.

55:56You just, you learn as you go, right? You're not, I doubt you were the one entrepreneur who just magically had everything right from day one. No, no way. Right. So if somebody was studying you or somebody had, you know, it was, it was, it was with the next McGregor was with another star creator. Would you, what would be your kind of like advice to that person? How would you advise them based on your learnings of the last 10 years of trying to figure this out? Yeah. I mean, first and foremost, I'm still learning, right? I'm still learning. I'm still growing. What I would say is, you know, you have to be ready to, you know, not only dream, but act on those dreams, right?

56:35And come prepared from a research and preparation perspective, building out a plan and be fluid because it's not always going to go to plan, right? But if you're prepared and you do have a plan, you're likely to execute, even if you have to deviate a little bit because you have to stay fluid with what reality hits you with, right? You have to also have thick skin, man. Like at the end of the day, it's a war of attrition. You're going to eat shit sandwiches daily for a long time. And so you got to be able to withstand that with a smile, but be able to see through all the noise, the pressure, and more importantly, have that ability to communicate with that client, right?

57:15Because you guys got to stay in sync in terms of what you're building. I would say, you know, one of the things I wish I would have done, build a team around you that's more experienced than you, right? Because ultimately, I think that that's what's going to allow you to accelerate your plan as opposed to bringing people and then having to deal with other things like those people turning on you for one reason or another. How big is the paradigm team? It's still boutique. So we're about 15 on the whole co-level, but then every brand co, if you will, has its Don't respect the team, right? And what I would also say is, you know, don't stop innovating, right?

57:55Don't stop trying to create new opportunities that have to align, right, with their client, right, organically. But you got to make sure you're able to clearly define that. What's your criteria? So, like, you've gone into these 10 different categories. How do you pick which category to go into? Well, first of all, it's aligned organically. and they have to have a genuine interest because you can't sell something that's fake. I mean, everybody thought, and it's another thing, everybody thought proper toll was going to be a gimmick until they tried it. Obviously, if you don't drink, you don't drink.

58:28But if you try it, you're going to be, oh my God, this is great. We made sure we created a substantive brand, right? It wasn't going to be just something that we just put his face on it and try to sell. And that's important, I know, to him as well. And that's why he believes in the ventures that he's involved with. He's very passionate, but they're of substance as well. They're of quality. So you have to understand the market. You have to understand the players in the market. You have to understand how you fit in and how you can disrupt the market and grab market share. And you have to put a plan together that allows you to have a higher probability of success with the black belts that are going to help you operate the business.

59:09you know and then having all the other components that making sure that you could actually build a product or service or substance by the way did you ever consider just putting his name on it it's like you have like uh jameson or johnny walker or jack daniels like mcgregor's name is so famous it's an interesting brand decision it's actually take it's taken we did think about that but actually there's a the mcgregor clan i think it's a scotch if i'm not mistaken so that that That was certainly considered. We also considered notorious Irish whiskey at one point. Right. And, you know, again, even earlier days, there were a couple other names that were floated around.

59:48No, Proper 12 is a good name. Proper 12 is good. It's a great name. Again, we'll be. What's it mean? Is it like the 12 districts of Dublin or something? He's from Dublin 12. So each, let's call it borough or city within Dublin is a number. And where he's from is Dublin 12. And so, and proper, I mean, they always say that was a proper night out, you know, like, oh, it was a proper good time. So, you know, proper number 12. That just made sense for the brand. And again, after pivoting several groups and finding the right partners, you know, we came up with the brand together. Sean and I are big fans of words, you know, like we'll hear someone say something and we're like, oh, man, the language they use was beautiful.

1:00:27That was really good language, whether it's writing or just someone talking. the cool thing about Connors he's got a beautiful vocabulary and beautiful timing and beautiful phrasing so he uses wonderful words and so like I remember when he was fighting Jose Aldo he would talk about like he was like if this was another time I would storm your pavilla and then he like talks about like what he would do to them and like he like you know the whole red panty night like he just has like really funny catchy phrases I guess Trump kind of did this too where he just like really catchy stuff are you guys ever just shooting the shit and you're like oh that's a line we're gonna have to use that he's very natural going back to the acumen I mean that is stuff that it's not rehearsed it's very much stuff that he just comes up with but we'd be there and he'd say some stuff like that was hilarious that's another McGregor ism you know what I mean like you're like put that in the bank I have two fan service questions that are around that number one during the Mayweather press tour which was just like that was that was so much fun but it looked like because all ufc press tours are the same you go you sit and they ask you questions and then you react whereas that one was like stand up and give a speech and it almost looked like connor was almost ambushed like oh i just got to give a 20 minute improvised speech in front of millions of people right now and then he kind of did it was that an ambush i always wondered yeah no idea what the format was going to be like and And Sam, yes, it was exhausting at the time.

1:01:55But just thinking back to it, every time it kind of comes up from whether it's the anniversary, whatever it may be, it was such a great experience, man. And it was like once in a lifetime thing because, you know, Sean, there was no formats. It's your point. I don't know if you felt ambushed, but certainly we're like, oh, how is it for this one? How is it for that one? Right. But the energy of all of them was out of this world. And so I think that they fed off that energy, which gave them the ability to deliver these legendary lines and answer back and forth. I remember watching it, and it was clear that he was like, wait, there's no fucking questions.

1:02:29I just have to go. Okay, I'm a comedian now. All right, bet. And he said this line. He goes, you know, they've tried everything. They didn't tell us the format. My microphone doesn't work. They're trying to put me in an uncomfortable situation, but they don't know. I thrive in uncomfortable situations. I almost feel like he was giving himself a pep talk during the speech. I really love that line. That was great. but I also have another kind of fan service question on almost the other side of the coin so as you can tell me and Sam both fans of you of the UFC of Conor like we we really uh it took a lot of inspiration from some of the you know it's just a badass thing to go out there and just fight and and put yourself on the line like that every single time there's something to be admired of that for sure and I think Conor came in with a very uh like at the beginning how could you hate the guy like he was he was bold he came from nowhere he was like you know this guy who was like a you know apprentice plumber and then was like all of a sudden beating everybody exactly this way he said he would his fighting style was electric like there was nothing to dislike about the guy i thought on the on the come up uh i'm sure some people did but like the majority of fans i think were were on the come up were just like this guy's incredible and then there's sort of almost like a heel turn now where um i know a lot of people who i watch fights with they're sort of feel like he's kind of jumped the shark like oh you know now he's this like first of all he's like super jacked now in this huge way he's like more of a boxer he's he hasn't fought in a long time you know he talks maybe he's crossing the line too much or he's getting in trouble like there's all these things honestly like i know he's your client and he's your friend and you're probably never gonna say a bad word about him but i think there are some fair criticisms that like you know it's understandable why somebody who was a super fan might now feel like uh you know i can't really you know get behind everything that i'm that i'm seeing here um do you think about that at all?

1:04:16And do you, I guess, like, what's your reaction to that? I don't really know how to phrase the question, but I feel like you're one of the few people on earth who would have an opinion about this that I would really care to hear. I mean, look, it's just like you are engaged with these conversations. Naturally, I'm going to hear everything, right? From people around me and, you know, whether it's my friends or there's family. And ultimately, what I'll say is this, like, you know, everybody's in touch with their own opinion. I know who the person is. and obviously I do have an intimate relationship.

1:04:47It's something that's more than just transactional. It's more than just a client and business partner. Someone that I'm loyal to has been loyal to me. And so at the end of the day, I know that history, once it's done being written, will be interpreted by everybody differently. He's definitely not perfect. He's definitely made mistakes. But a lot of the criticism too is subjective. It's based on where you stand and what you believe in or what you want to see, et cetera. But A, never been legally, all those accusations have not been legally found to be true, right? B, he was the cleanest and most tested athlete before he got out of the Isada pool.

1:05:30And when he returns to fighting, he's going to do it the right way and everything's going to be legal so everybody can say what they want to say. There's nothing that was done wrong, right? And so he's constantly being vilified because ultimately the stuff that they love them for, he still does. Still outspoken. Still says what's on top of his mind. But maybe because he has the riches now and it's not the rags anymore. Sometimes we try to tear some people down. I don't know why. I can't tell you, right? But ultimately, I do know who's in the pudding. He has to continue to go out there and show that he could continue to evolve, be the best version of himself, not just athletically, but as a human being as well.

1:06:08And ultimately that's on him to do. And I can't do that for him. You can't do that for him. But criticism is going to come. And when you're in the public eye, you got to be ready to take it on. And at the end of the day, heavy's the head that wears the crown. You can't just want the good and not take the bad with it. So ultimately that's something that we constantly talk about. Something that I know he says, I say to him, we talk about, he understands that, but it doesn't make it easy. It doesn't make it easy because ultimately it's like, you know, you know, you talk about that aha moment. I don't know how many entrepreneurs you've had on this podcast, but when they have that big moment, they don't need to be seen by everybody.

1:06:47They're probably enjoying it with nobody watching them. Or if they go somewhere, nobody really recognizing who they are. Right. Myself included. So ultimately, it's very different. And that doesn't, you know, essentially absolve him of the responsibility that he has to take upon himself in certain instances. But more importantly, it makes me understand the pressure is real, not only to win and succeed, but on another level to live your life so visibly for everybody to just critique every little thing. In today's world, man, everybody has an opinion. You know, you guys, before you met me, you thought I was a square suit because of how I appeared visibly or visually to you without ever talking to me before.

1:07:29Right. So it's like very easy and fast judgment based on whatever your belief system is, how you were raised, your experiences with someone that looked like me, whatever it may be, or your opinions of agents just because you watch entourage and parlors. But I can't change that ultimately. Right. And so when you live in today's world like that, for everybody to critique, man, it's going to come with not just the good, but the bad and the ugly as well. And you got to deal with it. I like the fan questions. You know, this is, it's fun. We've had Ariel Hawani on here. You know, we've become friendly.

1:08:01We've been asked, and I think we've talked to Mike, Mike Bisbing. We've talked to a bunch of folks. It's, you know, Sean and I are super fans. So it's always fun to like get like the insider. How many fights have you guys been to in person? I've only been to three or four. I think there's the in-person event is definitely the best in-person sporting event but in my opinion, if you're a nerd and a true fan it's so much better to hear the commentary and to see it on to see the replay of the Sean Malley knockout on Saturday, it was really awesome to be able to see it close up There is one challenge with UFC, which is that the cage and the cameraman on every post of the cage does kind of screw up the viewing experience depending on where you're at like i'm sure if you're right next to right ringside it maybe you don't have that issue but like we went to one event at the the vegas place uh the one where um masvidal need askrin into like you know you know the next realm and uh and you know the guy i saw it but the guy next to me like literally couldn't even see because it was like a split it was like in the first five seconds of the fight and secondly like you know just because of a cage like if you go to a football game or a basketball game it's open field it's you know it's very easy to see what's going on whereas you're almost watching on the Dumbo Tron well it's interesting first of all I think look there are pros and cons to your both your points the energy of big fights is something else it's electric I mean just the walkouts and the crowd and you feel it and then you hear the thuds and you know it's like it's pretty amazing.

1:09:33I was at Jorge and Nate and it was spectacular. It's just nice to be able to you got to go home and watch the replay. Yeah, yeah. But then from a view perspective, to your point, unless you're the first few rows of the floor, it's actually the mid-low riser, which is the perfect view because you're looking into the octagon but you're still really fairly close and I think that's the best view live, right? But nonetheless, no matter where your seats are, I think for big, big, big events, the electricity of that place is something else, you know? So what's going to happen? Like, I'm following this whole circus with Dylan Dennis and Logan.

1:10:15I've never even seen Dylan Dennis train. I went and watched his two Bellator fights, but that was like years ago. What's going to happen? Like, I don't know. I've never even seen him spar or anything on like leading up videos. What's going to happen on that? When's that in August? It's August 14th? Logan obviously has a leg up having boxed before, right? Yeah, but that was years ago. I think he's bigger. No, listen, listen. I get it. The fight's actually scheduled October 14th. Oh, October 14th. Dylan has made all the necessary adjustments to his life, to his preparation. But this is his boxing debut, so he has to go in there and really prove it, right?

1:10:57now I can tell you the banter that's going back and forth I mean you know he's confident in his abilities and he's definitely putting in the work so ultimately you don't you don't make you know you don't take that position with the banter that he's doing if you're not going in there with some level of confidence in yourself right so and and I'm sure it's giving Logan a little bit more training for it right because ultimately it's it's personal now I would imagine right um oh yeah not even connor you know king of trash talk connor wouldn't even he never even went that far uh to talk about family i don't like that he's talking about family but i like it in the sense of like i'm gonna stare at it you know i'm a kid on the internet and i think it's funny too you know yeah like it's too far but at the same time i'm like but it's there you know what i mean i'm watching that i think what's interesting is the you know love it or hate it the engagement for that is through the roof and you know it should help sell the fight and more importantly like it's about now performing right because ultimately you can talk all you want now you got to go in there but he's made all the adjustments to his life personally professionally which which i'm very proud of him for doing that will give him that that that high chance of winning this i think he's gonna press and shock a lot of people people are not giving him enough credit and i think when he gets in there it's his time to shine now he's going to put he's going to basically put his money where his mouth is because the mouth is getting it ready it's going to make people want to watch him you're kind of implying it doesn't matter unless he loses and I kind of disagree I think he's already won whether he loses or not from where he was starting to where he is now he's already gotten it'll be okay even if he gets knocked out right away he'll probably be better off than where he was Oh, this is a great opportunity for him.

1:12:48No doubt. No doubt. Thanks for doing this, man. Where should people follow you if they want to get more? Just my first and last name. At Audiotar. Twitter, Instagram, threads. X. X. Sorry. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. At Audiotar X. At Audiotar threads. At Audiotar Instagram. I think one of three still remain. All right, Audie. Thanks for doing this, man. All right, Jeffs. Sean, Sam, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And that's the pod.

1:13:33Hey, let's take a quick break because there's a quote that I love I want to read you. It's that we shape our tools and thereafter, they shape us. And as an entrepreneur, if you're using a bank that was built in the 90s, you're operating like you're in the 90s. And trust me, I've been there. Clunky portals, random holds on your money,$50 wire fees, and then being told, please visit your local branch. Well, that's why I switched to a different type of banking solution, Mercury. It turns your financial chores into a smooth workflow. You can do wires, invoices, cards, reimbursements, two clicks, and I'm done.

1:14:03If you're already using Mercury, respect. If you're still using one of the old big banks, I got questions for you. So go visit mercury.com and give it a test drive. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided through Choice Financial Group, column N-A, and Evolve Bank and Trust members, FDIC.