Ulysses Diaz: Breaking Norms From Prison to Knockout Power | Adversity & Discipline

31:29I think the past is always important. Absolutely. Right. I think, you know, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Right. I think everybody has. And at the time you deal with so much pain because of those decisions. Those are called consequences. Right. Right. But when you go through that and you land in prison for an extended period of time like you did and go through the bar fights and everything like that, it has built you into this man that has a lot of integrity. You're also an amazing father now. And so now you're able to give that to your kids and be able to help them and then help the disadvantaged youth that are also in jail, in juvenile detention centers.

32:09So hopefully they can break the cycle and not end up in prison. It's important. And that was your path. You know, a lot of times people will reject the past because it was so bad. But like nowadays, you know, if I were to sit here and say, when I started the show, I'm going to sit across the way from probably two dozen convicted felons. I would never even have thought that. Right. Because the perception was different. Now it's like, those are my favorite people to talk to because they've lived a life that I haven't lived. So if you were someone is watching right now as a young kid, you know, young adult that is going through all this, what would you tell them in one breath?

32:59Man, so to me, what I've learned and I learned at a later age is that the most important thing is consistency, to be consistent. Now, what I would tell somebody young that was maybe going through what I went through or, you know, even worse possible is very simply, there's choices to make. Figure out, you know, what the right choice to make because, you know, there was a time in life where I made these choices and I didn't think about consequences. so that's something I would tell them think about the consequences before you make the choice think ahead before you make this choice right here because you're thinking about this here you're not looking at what's going to happen over here and find yourself most importantly to me which I wish I would have done at an early age especially with combat sports is find something that you love to do just stay consistent with it at the beginning everything is rough you start drawing you're not going to be a great artist you start boxing it like myself you're not gonna be a great boxer first day you're gonna suck 10 days later you're gonna be not as good but a little better a year you're gonna be better five ten years down the road you're gonna have a career you're gonna be you're gonna be a lot better than you were from day one and i always tell everybody too at the beginning it's a lot of hard days hard to get up and want to get punched in the face hard to get up and train and run five miles.

34:28It's hard to get up and, you know, do all these things. But it gets to a point that if you stay consistent, there is no more hard days. Everything is just a great day ahead, you know, and everybody has bad days here and there, but they're not nothing compared to how they were back in the day. Now, the days just get greater, especially when you find something you love to do. You know, that monologue right there is so important because you're talking about consistency and you're talking about a process. and I think that a lot of times when people start something because I can remember when I started the show it feels just like yesterday it wasn't that long ago coming up on six years but those early days were so hard and it's still so hard no matter what stage we're in it's hard it's the hardest fucking thing ever because if you want to be great at something and you want to make a true impact through your art or through your gifts there's a big price to be paid what is the biggest price that you've paid biggest price that i've paid man you know uh i gotta say i've lost a lot of people around me and i'm not talking about just you know not death but just like uh you know when you want to be great at something or when you want to make yourself uh into a better person uh it's called growing pains where you're growing and you're gonna have to let a lot of people uh you know leave a lot of people behind these are people i i dealt with every day on an everyday basis for many years uh people that i still wish well and i hope they're great and i hope their families are great but they're just still stuck in something that i don't want to be around anymore so i feel that maybe the hardest thing there was a point as i was coming up that i even stopped talking to my mom for a few months just because i wanted zero i wanted nobody to like to answer to or to to nothing.

36:22I didn't want anybody, I didn't want to answer a phone to a friend like, hey man, we're going to this club, we're going on this boat, we got these chicks, or this and that and the other, and I didn't want to get stuck in none of that. My mom said, come over and eat? No, no, I just wanted to be alone. And I think, you know, the toughest thing to do if you want to be great, I think everybody needs that time alone for a little bit. And it's hard for some people, you know, we have families and we have things we have to answer to, which is fine, you handle that, but still, you still need that alone time.

36:48And yeah, the toughest thing for me would be, you know, I had to let go. It was tough and it wasn't tough because now looking at where I'm at now, it was a great thing for me to do. But I had to let go of a lot of people. That keeps coming up in a lot of conversations I'm having lately, including the internal conversation with myself. There's been a lot of people over the last year that have kind of exited or hopped off my train, so to speak. and when it's happening in real time it hurts so bad because you have a form of relationship with that person and you care about them but then i realize it's like man this old saying people come into your life for a reason season or lifetime man right and you know the reasons are cool the seasons are cool and if it's a lifetime fantastic but in order for you or myself to grow into the professional that we see ourselves as, that we feel that God gave us the gifts to achieve, some people are going to have to fall off the boat.

37:44Absolutely. And we have to start looking at that. And for the person watching right now, you may have to let someone go. That's right. You may have to have some moments of solitude so you can heal, so you can get yourself right in your own mind, so you can push towards that version of yourself that's going to achieve everything that you want. Absolutely. And I think in those moments of solitude, you need to hear yourself. There's too much outside noise. In the life we live today, everything is instant gratification. So, again, you've been working on the show for six years, you know, and it has been hard.

38:18There's kids nowadays, you know, I think the younger generation is more impacted by this, where it's instant gratification. They start a podcast in a week if they don't have 100 ,000 views. They're like, ah, man, this is bullshit. I'm done with it. You know what I mean? Like, no, it's consistency. It's six years down the road. It's getting the gas. It's getting is putting a team together and again, you know this might this is probably not the team you started with no years ago Exactly, that's how it goes. It's growing pains. You know you you had the best intention for these people They probably had the best intentions for you But as you start growing and so you as you want to start doing better for yourself and your family People need to get let go of and they're not understanding Like I said earlier, you know with pit bull and I said with yourself I can't see your vision So if I'm part of your team and we get to a point where like Yuli you're not you're not seeing my vision brother i need you to i need you to get with this you know i mean no no but but but something is like this oh no brother you're not you're not you're not understanding i love you man and you're still my boy but this right here we got to cut this off and that's the way it has to be you know and that hurts sometimes you know but it does because you you go through these moments right or you know you did the right thing professionally but you're getting slammed out there by people right in their mouth he's a sellout right right for me i have a big heart and i and i know you do too right how do you reconcile in those moments where people are you know you know you leave the sellout he don't he don't come around no more man you know what i um it's funny you said because it does this happened recently i want to say like maybe two months ago and you know and they're like no hey they said this about something like yeah i i honestly like now where i'm at like i i'm i've always been very confident in myself now more than ever because i live such a righteous life and i'm with my only my family 24 7 like if my wife is taking my kids got football practice stuff if not my wife would be here if not my kids would be here like i'm with them on a constant basis i and again i live such a righteous life um now i'm human i do i do i mess up here and there yeah but but but my mess ups are very minor compared to what they used to be nothing that's going to hurt anybody nothing that's going to you know damage my marriage or my or my career or anything like that um so when they say these things and you know and it's people that i've hung out with and i've and and again i have a huge heart and that's one thing about me even when i was doing bad i've always had a huge heart i've always i'd always give you the shirt off my back and the roof over my head at any at the drop of a hat uh so when people say this i i honestly just laugh it off you know and yeah and and then i ask them you know i i asked the person who's telling me okay hey, go ask them why they're not around here right now or why they're not in trouble.

41:00Yeah, did I make a change? I did. But they were with me when I was making the change. They couldn't make a change as well. They decided to stay behind. Yeah, man. I can't. Now, when it comes to that as well, if your mortgage is due and tax man's on your ass, are they going to help you pay for these bills? Absolutely not, you know? another huge thing which I'm sure I don't know if you have it in your notes my son he's 13 years old when he was 10 they found a tumor in his fever bone he had osteosarcoma I spent a year in the hospital with my son fighting cancer he beat it thank God he's kicking ass he's as strong as can be he's he's a badass he's my hero um but moments like those you know you figure out who's who's true and who's not, you know?

41:47And not that I need anything from anybody, but a phone call to say, how's your son doing? Some damn support. That's it. Some support or even just a phone call to say, how's your son doing? How are you doing? I'm here for you. You need me to bring you some food or anything? Yeah. Hey, brother, you know what? 99 % of the time, I'll probably tell you no, but I'll remember that phone call. Yeah, exactly. So things have happened throughout my life with no plan, just destiny itself, and God putting these things on the road that have been able, that I've been able to separate these people without really trying in a sense.

42:24You know what I mean? Now, there was some time where I did, hey, look, I'm doing better. I can't be around this. And in situations like those where my son was going through cancer and I didn't want to talk to anybody and I didn't need anybody around and very few people called anyway. So it was very easy just to like X amount in a way. I want to sit with that for a second because one of my biggest fears is something going down with one of my three children. I have two daughters and a boy. My son's almost 13. So when you said 13, I'm like, my ears perked up. Recently, we lost a kid that I coached two years ago.

43:03Fourth of July would have been two years. He got diagnosed with brain cancer, and he died on July 29th. So on a Wednesday when I'm on vacation, I got the news. It was heartbreaking. When you're in that hospital room with your son, man, take me back to that moment. What was going through your mind? Because that is a fear probably bigger than what was going through your mind when you were going to prison. I remember the time I was sitting there watching TV and my son is standing right behind me, looking over me and laughing hysterically. And I'm thinking, what are you laughing at, son? He goes, dad, you're balding.

43:38You have this massive bald spot on the top of your head. Immediately, I was mortified. I'm like, take a picture of this thing. And he did. And come to find out, he wasn't just joking with me. He wasn't just playing around or whatever kids do. He was telling me the truth. So immediately, I took action and got a hold of Lock Lab. And I'm going to tell you what. I've been using this product for four months. And my hair is growing back. It is fuller. and I need haircuts more frequently. So being on camera and taking constant pictures all the time for the Determined Society podcast, I have to not be bald.

44:15I mean, it's just one of those things. I'm not ready for that yet. Lock Lab has given me the opportunity to regrow my hair so it's fuller and I could not be more happy with the results so far. And I know they're just gonna get better. I just take one pill a day. So it's super simple to fit into any routine. Lock Lab was formulated by past president, the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery, and one of the American Hair Loss Association's 2026 best surgeons in the world to give men the most hair back medically possible. You can get Lock Lab 100 % online and delivered direct to your door. Simply click through the questionnaire, and once approved, you'll receive your treatment in days.

44:58If you've been thinking about doing something about your hair loss, now's the time. Go to LockLab.co and take the first step with a free consultation. Absolutely. First off, God bless that child and his family. I know that it's, I can't even imagine. You know, and with that one real quick before you go on it, it's hard to believe that his assignment was 11 years long. but that young man brought more people to jesus than any adult has done in their whole entire life the kid's viral like everybody knows in our community about isaac and it's beautiful and and but it's still hard to stomach man because i mean selfishly i want him here of course he's one of my players like i miss that kid and that's not selfish to want that and he's a child you know yeah and you know i include myself included in this statement there's people who've done a lot worse and I've lived a lot longer you know mm-hmm yeah so to take you back to that moment it's yeah prison was even scary compared to this is like the bottom drops off you know I mean it uh so his birthday is March 3rd he had had this this little pain you know he played he played tackle football since he was nine and he played basketball something he had a charley horse or something you Pain continues.

46:25Now he turns, March 30, turns 10 years old. This is already a few months. I had already taken him to the doctor. The doctor told me he was growing pains. I take him to my guy who's a PT. Poor kid, because my son, he's not letting me even touch his leg. So I take him to my friend who's a PT. Obviously, they got to massage the leg. And he's like, please, that's what's going to touch my leg. But you don't know any better. I'm going after this doctor I know for 20-something years. He's telling me he's growing pains. All right, it's growing pains. One day I dropped my mom off at school. This is right after he turned 10 years old.

46:56At his party, his pool party, he's kind of limping there too. I dropped my mom off at school. When he gets out of the car, he's got his butt back. He's like, limping. I'm like, man, get back in the car. Go in the emergency room. I had to recall the doctor before today. Can I get an MRI? And they give you this run around, an insurance run around. I'm not blaming it on the guy. It was just like nothing could be direct. The bureaucracy about it. Right, exactly. Exactly. Jump in the car, go back, go to the emergency room. We do x-rays. Finish doing x-rays, get back in the car, I'm taking him back to school.

47:28They send the x-rays over to his primary. Doctor calls me, I can take him back. We found a lesion on his femur bone. Take him to oncology. At this moment, I'm 42, 43 years old. I have no idea what oncology is, believe it or not. I'm Googling this thing on the way. Oncology, cancer doctor. Fuck. I'm trying to call the doctor back there. get to Nicholas Children's Hospital, one of the best, not one of the best, the best children's hospital, at least in Florida, Miami. Take them back. They give us a room. This is already like March 8th. My birthday is March 14th, so here's March 3rd. Now we're in the hospital about March 8th.

48:07I think it's like a Thursday or something. We're in the hospital. They're running some tests. We're like, oh, we're going to do biopsies and stuff. Tuesday, March 14th in the morning, they come in the room. I'm still in the hospital and they're like, happy birthday. Kid has a tumor in his femur bone. It's called osteosarcoma. This is the game plan. 18 weeks of chemotherapy, surgery. They're going to, I'll tell you the surgery now, but surgery and then 10 more weeks of chemotherapy. First thing my son says, am I going to lose my hair? Am I going to lose my hair? And he says, yeah, you're going to lose your hair.

48:42So we go through that, 18 weeks. Now in the surgery, shout out to Dr. Thomas Temple. This guy made up the surgery, which is amazing. They get a cadaver bone. They took out his fibula, which is the back of his calf bone, put it inside the femur, the cadaver bone femur, so his DNA would regenerate everything. They shoot some stem cell in there, and he has a rod holding everything together. So he does 18 weeks of chemotherapy. He has to do the surgery. Then nothing for four weeks, no chemo, and then 10 more weeks of chemo. So if anybody knows what chemo is, it does help, but it's poison as well. So it's helping and it's killing you at the same time.

49:25Very tough, man. Very tough moment in life. You know, me and my wife were there. I slept in a hospital every day. I was, this happened to fall at a perfect timing, right when my son had surgery and he had those four weeks off. I was the co-main event for Floyd Mayweather when he fought John Gotti III right here at the Florida Panthers Arena. So I got to do that one fight. I was in the hospital running up the garage and doing push-ups in my son's room. And there wasn't no boxing. I wouldn't leave my son alone. You know, I was there every moment. So, you know, your question was how scary it was.

49:57And it was the most scariest thing in the world. Every, I don't want to say every, but I know so many children that passed away that were with us there. I know all their families. There was one family that came from Costa Rica that I helped the lady move in. I helped the lady move out when her child passed away. um uh there was one little girl that went to school my son that was in there as well that we ran uh shout out to my boy uh stunner we ran four miles every four hours for 48 hours to raise money for this girl and she ended up passing away a lot of kids passed away and my son made it

50:36that's tough man that is a scary thing i can't even imagine watching one of my children go through that for a year i mean you're talking you know 23 weeks of chemotherapy in total that's a half that's damn near half 28 2018 and then so that's more yeah so that's more than a half yeah we were there from march november 11th he rang the bell 11 11 he rang the bell and uh and he's been cancer free ever since again he's playing football kicking ass he does weights for me he does 70 push-ups straight he does 15 pull-ups straight he's cock diesel he's dirt he just Turn 13. Jesus Christ, man. Yeah, man.

51:10You know, but that, you know, those moments, you know, taught him that if I can get through this, I can lift that weight. If I can do this, then I can go through that hell week in football. Like, that is going to build your son. Absolutely. Into this freaking monster, no pun intended. No, no. A little junior monster to a point where nothing can fuck with him. No, and I tell him all the time, like, brother, this is nothing compared to what you beat already. You know what I mean? And, you know, thank God none of these kids on your team have ever done that. You know what I mean? None of these kids on your team have ever done that.

51:45And thank God for that. But you have. You've already dealt with something way bigger than any of these kids have. So push, brother, you know. That fight you had, you know, at the Panthers Arena, did you win that fight? It was an exhibition fight. I fought against Callis Kareem. Shout out to him, man. He's a kid from London. so me and him were the co-win event for Floyd Mayweather when we fought in London at the O2 Arena and then we had such a great fight then and it's a Bishop fight none of us were a winner but I'll tell the truth if it came down to scoring the fight he would have beat me he was a great boxer he is a great boxer and we fought that night and I don't know if you remember that fight but Floyd fought John Gotti III and they got into a huge rumble so I'm in the back getting my eyes stitched up and people are flooding into my room because it was a crazy fight I know John Gotti Jr.

52:37well I met him through Hector Lombard another fighter I consider him a good friend, great people but I was very lucky to have that opportunity and again it landed on the perfect time where my son was able to come see me, he was ringside in his wheelchair he had a big thing on his leg but man, again these are things in life that I look back and I'm like it's hard to believe in coincidences the way things happen man you know i mean like it's just crazy everything just happened to play out at the perfect moment and i got these opportunities and only fight i could ever do that whole entire year was that day and i got to do it you know and hearing this is just i i hear it so differently because i didn't experience it right to me the win is being in the ring and your son being there absolutely that's the biggest one You're right.

53:28How did that moment feel? That was bigger than ever, man. It was huge. So that night was huge. But like I said, we're still in the middle of it. So was there a win to have him there? Absolutely. But I didn't feel like that yet because we still had another 10 weeks of chemo coming up. December of 2020, he beats in November. December of 2023, I signed a three-fight deal with Bare Knuckle Boxing, BKB. Still fighting for them. I fight for them on August 29th. Here in Miami, right? Yes, here in Miami, James Earl Knight Center. Everybody come watch. Excuse me. My first fight for them was January of 2024, right after my son beat cancer.

54:07Now I'm going to tell you a couple things. I put him in the ring the night after I won, carried him. That was like a huge win. I got to announce, you know, obviously I didn't put none of this stuff in social media. My son was going through cancer or anything. Everybody didn't even know what was going on. Finally in January, I announced that, hey, my son just beat cancer. This fight was huge, but this is nothing compared with this kid just beat. So, but I signed this three fight deal after being a year, basically March to November in the hospital, not training. I signed this three fight deal. I love the sport, but I was signing more out of making, it was a great deal.

54:40I needed to make some money. This is what I know how to do. This is what I want to do. But I was scared because I wasn't training. That whole year of 2024, I took three fights. I never really trained. You know, I'd go to the gym maybe three to four times a week. I'd half ass it for 45 minutes to an hour. where now I'm in the gym three hours a day. I'm doing three trainings a day because I'm back. I got that fire back in me. But 2024, I was kind of scared. My last fight was August of 2024. I retired. I laid down my gloves, laid my shoes in a day. Bare Knuckle Boxing retired me, gave me a beautiful montage of all my fights.

55:15And I started working with the company, which I still do. But I knew I still had that fire in me. Just at that moment, I was more worried about my son. and I was I didn't 2024 you know yeah he was out of the hospital but all I wanted to do was I was training just thinking about going back home and hanging out with him you know that's all I wanted to do so I wasn't in it I wasn't mentally in it so did those fights finally I want to say now it's been a little over a year since 2025 I've been training every day but I got that fire back I got that fire back I stepped to these guys at Bare Knuckle Boxing told them you know you're retired you're retired with us and I know I did but I want to come back You know, Paulin Malanaji retired and he came back with you guys.

55:58I want to do the same thing. I still have a lot to show the world. And they gave me this opportunity. So August 29, James All Night Center, the monsters. So this is your first fight back. Yeah. So March of 2025, I did a fight with Dirty Boxing. I fought the first guy I ever fought against in Bare Knuckle. We fought in Dirty Boxing. Beat his ass again. But I just, again, I was still kind of in and out of it. I wasn't like really training. Now I'm like where I'm, I feel like this is back the beginning of my career. I feel like I'm back getting high off training. And, you know, like I feel like this is my drug and I feel amazing.

56:32And I feel bad for the guy who's going to stand in front of me, man, because I'm telling you, I have this crazy fire inside of me and I feel amazing. I feel like I'm back 20 years old, man. You know, that's amazing. And, you know, the time period where you just weren't in it, you wanted to train for 45 minutes, half asses, get back to your kid. That's called priorities, man. I mean, truly, like, you're not healed at that point. You're still going through it. Even when he beat it, you still have to work through the trauma of watching what your son just went through. You know, now, you know he's good.

57:04He's ripped. He's doing pull-ups. He's kicking ass on the football field, all that kind of stuff. Now, Monster can come back out and play. And it's time to execute that. a lot of people would not have the balls to come back and do it again you're different what's the mission the next few years for you the mission is man uh you know i i've honestly been thinking a lot about that about what with what what it is what my mission is and and honestly just to get myself on uh i was thinking on the way over here i want to get myself on the best pound for pound list you know the top of it would be great anywhere on it I'm happy with.

57:45And just, I'm going to, my mission, honestly, to be like really clear even with myself and to be honest, is I'm on a day-to-day mission, you know. I want to get through the day. I trained this morning. I still got training to do this afternoon. Get through it. No slacking, no excuses, no discounting away. Stay on my meals. Get my rest. Take care of my family. Be present. and once I get that through today, tomorrow, again, wake up in the morning, get my training, get my things done and I'm on this day-to-day mission. I don't want to look too far ahead. One thing, like I just told you, I do want to be on the best problem list.

58:25Hopefully, we're working towards that but I'm on this mission where I got to get through today and I have a lot to do today and I'm saying today in general. Of course. I want to knock this out and get through the next day because if I say I'm going to do three workouts in a day and I do two, I'm hard on myself the next day. I'm like, you're a slacker. You're a slacker. And I put myself in the shoes of is this guy working harder than me? You know what I mean? Does this guy want it more than me? There's doubt. There's doubt. And doubt is terrible for you when you're being a fighter. Now, I know I've been putting in the work.

58:59I've been putting in the work. And I know I haven't been slacking whatsoever. And it's like Kobe said, I'm so confident because I know I put in the work. and that's what I'm going in with. I feel so confident. I feel so ready because I know I haven't missed a day of work and there hasn't been no slacking, hasn't been no excuses. The food's been on point. The sleeping's been on point. You know, and again, I'm still present. You know, I'm still present for my family. They need me there. I can't just worry about my fighting because I got a real life to take care of as well. And I've been doing everything perfect, you know, or, you know, as perfect as can be.

59:31I understand what you're saying. Sure, of course. And I feel great about it. I feel great about it. You know, that's maturity though. You know, and what I want the audience to really take from that, and this is so important that you guys do. You're in love with the process right now. Absolutely. So you have a goal, but you're not focused on the destination. You're focused on today. That's right. Like, what do I need to do today? And when my mind shifted to that, you know, for me, it's just getting in the gym and being healthy. I want to live a long time for my kids. I want to walk both my daughters down the hallway.

1:00:01Man, I want to live until I'm 95. You know what I'm saying? I want to be here. 195 yeah hey nowadays you never know if they can figure out the the you know the the whole bone system and well you know like the god what is that the um oh my god why can't i think of it damn it but but i remember the time i was sitting there watching tv and my son is standing right behind me looking over me and laughing hysterically and i'm thinking what are you laughing at son He goes, dad, you're balding. You have this massive bald spot on the top of your head. Immediately, I was mortified. I'm like, take a picture of this thing.

1:00:43And he did. And come to find out, he wasn't just joking with me. He wasn't just playing around or whatever kids do. He was telling me the truth. So immediately, I took action and got a hold of Lock Lab. And I'm going to tell you what. I've been using this product for four months. And my hair is growing back. It is fuller. and I need haircuts more frequently. So being on camera and taking constant pictures all the time for the Determined Society podcast, I have to not be bald. I mean, it's just one of those things. I'm not ready for that yet. Lock Lab has given me the opportunity to regrow my hair so it's fuller and I could not be more happy with the results so far.

1:01:25And I know they're just gonna get better. I just take one pill a day so it's super simple to fit into any routine. Lock Lab was formulated by past president, the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery, and one of the American Hair Loss Association's 2026 best surgeons in the world to give men the most hair back medically possible. You can get Lock Lab 100 % online and delivered direct to your door. Simply click through the questionnaire, and once approved, you'll receive your treatment in days. If you've been thinking about doing something about your hair loss, now's the time. Go to locklab.co and take the first step with a free consultation.

1:02:09But when you look at the body, you want to be able to be mobile, right? You want to be able to, if they can figure out the regenerative tissue, if they can figure out the bones and all that kind of stuff, then you can live a quality life. So, hey man, if I can live till I'm 195, but still move around like, dude, sign me up. You're right, but on the way there where we're at now, as long as you eat right, you sleep right, and you live a clean life, you could make it as far as possible. Hopefully, by the time we make it real far, they figure that out and we just boost it up. Done. But see, that's the perfect thing about it, though, right?

1:02:43And this is what's so important. This is the step that everybody misses. And admittedly, I've missed it a lot, too. I was always focused on what the goal was. And when I hit the goal, I wake up that night, I'd be so excited. The next day I wake up depressed because I wasn't chasing anything more and I had to retool everything. But what if we all, just like you're doing now and I'm doing and the people that I'm involved with do, fall in love with the work every single day because they realize and we realize that's the gift. That's the present. And it's a gift. The goals and the achievements, those are cool.

1:03:19But if you lose all the stuff in between, you won't enjoy that moment. at all so when you do hit that pound for pound and make it to the top you're gonna appreciate it so much more because you did the damn work consistently that's right that's right it's powerful thank you and every day i'm telling you you know it's it's i love what i do but it's never easy you get to the gym and you're you know i'm 45 everything's cracking and moving and you're like but once i get that thing rolling i'm like i can't wait once the machine's greased it's time to go That's it. That's it. You know, so I look forward to it every day.

1:03:56And you made a good point, man. You know, yesterday's history. Tomorrow's a mystery. Today's a gift. That's why they call it the present. Bang. Bang. Like, for me, like, I'm turning 48 in October. You look great. Thank you, man. And I, and I, there's times every day. I'm like, yeah, I don't, I'm, nah. I could lay in bed with my wife. Of course. I could sleep in. That's my thing. I'm like, babe. Sneak one in, you know, before the kids wake up. I was like, but wait a second. I set my alarm for a reason. So I told myself something. And if I don't do it, I'm not making a vote for myself. I'm making a vote for the enemy.

1:04:31And I don't want that old Sean coming back. Lazy Sean, undisciplined Sean. I want the best version of me. And the key to that is always doing what you said you were going to do. Because you can lie to yourself. No one else is going to see it. But you know. And when you step in that ring or in the arena of life, you're going to get your ass knocked out. That's right. Period. You know, you mentioned your wife, Dana. Yeah. You know, congrats to her on being such a badass as well. She is a badass. You guys are two fighters, but entirely different. Yeah. What does she get to see with you that the fight world doesn't get to see?

1:05:09Well, you know, she sees the sweet, you know, husband. I mean, everybody gets to see it, but not the way she does. You know, I am so head over heels about my wife. I tell her every day I'm infatuated with her. I'm obsessed with her. I love my wife, man. She's been such a blessing in not only my life, our family's lives. She's just an amazing person. She's actually taught me so much about just life itself and being disciplined and being a man of my word and being a good husband and being a good son and being a good father. She's just an amazing person. and I married into an amazing family, her father, her mom, her sister, just great people, you know, and that are now my family, you know, and it's just such a blessing.

1:06:00You know, I couldn't, if you asked me to write the most perfect person down, it wouldn't be as good as her, you know? Dude, that's badass. What I'm hearing is she's your rock. She's definitely my rock, 100%. You know, when I met my wife, I don't know what the hell she saw in me. I mean, truly. Same. what's wrong with you you know gorgeous woman Ecuadorian you know I got my Latin princess man and I I just couldn't understand what she saw in me but she saw the potential she saw what was buried beneath all the insecurity everything and being married to her is the reason who I am right now like how we choose our partners and this is important for everybody to to really take in because there's people that are thinking about getting married to somebody like but man it may not be right i don't know but hey it's good enough don't do it right if that man or woman is not making you a better person and not holding your ass to the fire then it's not the right person and it should feel uncomfortable it should feel very uncomfortable when your wife or your husband is just on you like that's not the way that's not who i married that's not who you're going to be, and that's not an example you're going to set for our children.

1:07:20Like, to me, there's so much value in that. And you have to be, you have to have a large amount of humility in order to deal with that. I just think it's super special to hear that, man. Thank you, man. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Yeah, there are moments of uncomfortability because especially the way I grew up, I'm very, and when my son, you know, I have my son, and I have custody of my nephew and my niece, you know. and I'm very soft on them. You know, she's, I don't want to say she's the disciplinary, she's not mean or anything, but she knows how to, you know, set rules and set boundaries where I'm like, I don't know, but, you know.

1:07:58So she's the yin to my yang, and like you said, that's a great word. She is my rock. She has, I don't know why she saw me either, Drew, but I'm glad she saw it, and she brought it out of me, and, you know, I'm the man I am today because of her. Dude, I love to hear that, man. I think wives deserve credit. Absolutely. Because people that are in the public eye, like us, it's a different life. Yeah. It really is. And if they support it, that's a strong-ass woman. No, absolutely. But let me tell you, she's way more of a megastar than I am, though. Dude, she's a badass, right? Yeah, she's a badass.

1:08:30She was at WWE for 12 years. She wrestled with TNA. You know, she's been in the limelight longer and stronger than I ever have, you know? So she's taught me a lot with that, too. Dude, that's wild. She probably knows my friend. Daria Baranato. Daria's my dog, man. Dude, she was just in here, bro. No way. Daria's my homie. That's my homegirl, dude. Daria's in TNA now, too. I know. Yeah. She started that clothing brand, Demon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, dude. Daria's my dog. Bro, she was just in here this morning. Yeah, man. Well, her and my wife, I met her, obviously, because of my wife. They're great friends from WWE.

1:09:04Yes. Now she went to TNA. But, yeah, I know Daria very well. That's wild, bro. What was her wrestling name, though? Sonya Deville Sonya Deville yeah now she's under her own name yeah wow what a small world yeah well it's a small world but then you know when you get into things like this and especially like you know combat world and just behind the scenes of like you know kind of the influence of the world that we're in it becomes a lot smaller you realize that you think it's as as big as a freaking hole in the world but it's a freaking coke can it is it is it is it is that's why you gotta watch what you do you do you you you know you over one person sorry if i can't you can do you can go but you mess over one person you know i mean it'll get right back around quick man that's true man you know it's it's it's funny because like you know your name's monster right and you've even said if you saw yourself at night walking down the street you would even cross over to the other side

1:10:12who wins on your worst day the monster or yuli who wins on my worst day the monster or yuli um i think yuli wins because uh you know the monsters inside yuli um i'm the one who made that that persona. And, you know, Yuli's the one with all the determination, the discipline, the why, the how, and the want. Definitely Yuli will beat his ass. That's good, man. The funny thing is the nickname Monster comes from my first coach, Josh Dempsey. When I first started boxing, again, I was doing weights at the time. I was like 225. I was cocked, Diesel. I'd go everywhere and he'd call me his pet monster. He's like, oh, he's my pet monster.

1:10:57And the name stuck. And the first fight came wrong is Yuli Monster. That's awesome. And here we are today. So the knockout in three seconds. Yeah. From Bell to when Benedetto hit the mat. Walk me through every second of it. So from Bell to when Benedetto hit the mat, it's like one and a half seconds if you watch the fight. It's only one and a half seconds. The bell is still ringing when he's on the mat kicking his feet unconscious. So to walk you through this fight, I was training for this moment. I watch video on anybody I fight. I watch whatever video I could pull up on him. Benedetto was about 6 '4", big guy.

1:11:38And I noticed that whenever anybody fought MMA, he fought kickboxing, when people would put pressure on him, his thing to do would stretch his arms out and put his chin in the air. So I noticed this with a few different fights. So I went back to my coach, and I go, Coach, this is what this guy does. so we started going and in bare knuckle we start three feet apart so i'm coming off the line i'm coming with a jab if i you know the jab was really just to get him to stretch out and then i came with that overhand right landed right on the money and we made history that night gone gone it was an amazing night uh that's what really i think cemented my name in the in the fight world made my name ring bells all over the world i got that was a friday by monday i was getting calls from Korea, Japan, Italy, you know, France.

1:12:26I was getting calls from all over the world. I was in a newspaper. I was in SportsCenter. It was just an amazing moment in my life. And it was a little more gas for me to just know that this is what I needed to do. It just made me just want to keep going and keep training. Like I said, I fought Friday. I was back in the gym on Monday and I was still training and I actually had to fly out of town because I was commentating on some fights in the Dominican Republic. But it was just an amazing moment in life, man. Dude, that's wild. Now, you have said you practiced that punch and you saw it. You've been practicing it for weeks.

1:13:00That's right. Did you really manifest that or is it just that preparation talking? You know what? I think it's a little bit of both. It was a lot of preparation and a little manifestation because, again, I saw his faults and we worked on them and we worked on them and we worked on them and the preparation turned into manifestation. And I believe that 100%. I believe it. I think you need to see things, but you also need to prepare. That's one thing I do. I have a reminder on my phone every day on a daily reminder. I sit down by myself somewhere in my house. It don't matter. And I just visualize.

1:13:34And, you know, I want to visualize. I want to visualize this fight. And I, you know, I always see it the way it goes. Does it go exactly as you see it? 99.9 % of the time, no. But it helps a lot with everything in life, you know what I mean? Sure. and I definitely do that, especially when it comes to these fights. I want to be comfortable in my head so when I get up there, you're not jittery or nervous. I saw this fight 50 ,000 times before I even got up here to see this guy. So let's rock and roll, buddy. That's kind of like the old saying. My baseball coaches used to tell me this. The fight is already won or lost before you enter the ring.

1:14:11That's right. That's correct. That is a big lesson on preparation. Huge. Now the promotion, the last couple of years, gave the record to somebody else. Yes. You dispute it to this day. I do. I do. Make your case. Okay, so shout out to Justin Watson. He's the one that they gave him 2.9 minus 3. So, again, I put it side by side on my Instagram. Me and him are good friends. You know, I've met him in person. I've invited him into fights. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He deserves his credit as well because his is extremely fast as well. If you watch, so from the moment, the referee says fight to the to the moment the referee stops it is is how fast it is if you watch our fight side by side put them simultaneous and watch how it happens mine comes out faster now this is my thing i got it i got that record in bkfc i fought for them five times my second fight which is november 2020 during the pandemic i got the record november 13th 2020 i got the record I fought for them probably three more times I fought two world titles from one against Tiago Alves and one against Francisco Richie I got beat both times great fight against Tiago Alves it was probably fight of the year we lost to a girl fight which is amazing as well but that one's up in the air as well I left a promotion I don't want to say I left under it wasn't like terrible terms but I left pretty abruptly because it got to a point they were fighting me you know i was making decent money but i was fighting once a year and you can't live off that not with sponsors not with fight money not with any of it so uh you know i went over spoke to this promotion they gave me a great deal i fought with them three times just on my on my first contract on three times in one year uh so as soon as that happens i want to say you know in the year of that i'm in there this happens you know and david fellman who who's the CEO, he gets a knockout, and he happens to be holding up a timer that says 2.9 seconds.

1:16:18It looked all very staged to me. And again, I don't want to say nothing from Justin. It was an amazing knockout. It was very fast. He's a great person, and he's a great fighter. I'll just let the crowd, too, from, you know, you guys pick for yourselves. Go look at it for yourselves. Put it side by side. Let me know who's faster, me or Justin Watson. You're going to have to send that to me if it's not pinned, so I don't have to screw it for him. It's pinned, but I'll send it to you anyway. Okay, I'll check it out then. You mentioned the Tiago Alves fight. Yeah. You know, you were doing really well in that fight.

1:16:46It's like you had it. In the third round, it slipped away. When you look back now, what do you see in that fight? So, man, you know, I fought a dude. It was funny. So I used to have a podcast called Don't Blink Podcast. And after we fought, two weeks later, I had him on as a guest after we fought. And I wanted to show him that in November 2005, when he made his debut in UFC, I was in confinement doing 90 days in the hole in prison. I have a picture of me in prison in November 2005 and a picture of him in his UFC fight 2005 and how crazy life is that eventually it brought us together in 2021 for this fight.

1:17:23It was fight of the year. I dieted so well for that fight. I trained so well for that fight. I trained like it was the fight of my lifetime, which it was. It was for a title, the first middleweight title for BKFC. It was an amazing fight. No excuses. He beat me. There's no excuses. But this is factual. I weighed in after dieting for months to make this 175 weight. As soon as I weighed in, I started eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I ate this garbage. And it was, one, because I was starving, and two, because of nerves. So I was kind of nervous, and I was like, I just want to eat. And the next day, warming up for this fight, my stomach was done.

1:18:08I sat on the toilet probably five times. My stomach was grumbling. I was in terrible shape when it comes to that, like, you know, stomach-wise. Got into a fight, started off very well. I dropped him in the second round. It was amazing. My fatigue, fatigue probably from the adrenaline dump and the stomach at the same time. It was kind of two things at once. He's been in these situations many times more than I have. And he shines. you know he's a veteran and uh you know hats off to him he was the first you know middleweight champion for bkfc and you know i i can't give you any excuses i'm telling you factually what really happened and anybody that knows me knows it's the truth i i messed myself up i think i could have done a little better maybe if i wasn't you know but you know my adrenaline dumped and my stomach was banged up uh i lost the fight i lost an amazing fight to an amazing fighter Well, I mean, that's not an excuse.

1:19:05That's a mistake that you made that you're holding yourself accountable. A huge mistake, yeah, yeah. And it won't happen again. No, no, no. So the next time. No, and it hasn't happened since then. Since then, I'm like, all right, now I'm actually scared. I stick to my plan because I know what can happen. I went through it. And it's happened. I mean, anybody out there that's watching, that's a fighter knows because they diet to make this weight. And then after, if you put in something that your body's not used to over the last month or two, if you're not eating your stomach's gonna you know it's gonna get gassy it's gonna get shitty it's gonna get it's gonna get bad but your body doesn't even take that long i've done 72 hour fasts you know and if you eat something hard and and dude like the last one i did recently i broke the fast in a bad way yeah yeah because you're supposed to like soup and water and yeah we're just like you know some fruit and some yogurt the first time and then a little bit of protein then you can go dude I had popcorn at the movies oh yeah so dumb dude I felt like absolute trash for like three days that's another thing too from eating bad that I didn't mention eating bad the next day from being in the bathroom and from eating bad I felt lethargic because food could do that to you too it just made me feel heavy and I felt like shit and I just you know I carried into the fight and he outperformed me Yeah, man.

1:20:25Hey, but again, it's a lesson. And that's why I asked the question, because I wanted to know the real answer. And I want the audience to be able to translate and take your story and internalize it and be like, where are they making the mistakes? Because everything we do here and the conversations that we have with amazing guests like yourself is just to give back to them. Because they may not know you, but something in your journey sparks something in them that they can relate to. And now they can move forward without permission from anybody else to become the best versions of themselves that's right like tupac said i might not change the world but i might spark the mind that i can go on to change the world tupac miss that guy like that yeah that's you know a poet and uh a genius he sure was man but thank you so much for coming on thank you for having it was a pleasure meeting you dude and uh i'm gonna i'm gonna talk to the boys maybe we can make it to the 29th man that would be freaking awesome to see you in action, dude.

1:21:23That would be great, man. That'd be amazing. I think we have a post-fight podcast as well. Get back on there and talk about how it went. That'd be great. Thank you so much for the opportunity, man. I love what you're doing. I love the show. I love the guests you've had on. You've had some very close friends of mine. Great people. Listen, man. Consistency is key. Keep going, baby. Damn right, bro. Thank you, my man. For you guys listening, if you want some updates on amazing guests like Yuli here, go to the determined society.com sign up for the updates and until next time guys stay determined

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