JRE MMA Show #168 with Khalil Rountree Jr.

39:53Maybe, you know, what would it mean? Like, I felt like for a long time, and still to this day, it's still pretty like heavy. But to lose in MMA was almost kind of like the end of the world to the fans. Because it is in boxing. You know, boxing everybody wants to be undefeated. Yeah, like undefeated and like, you know, sometimes like someone can be on a tear and then they, you know, they lose and then like you can just see the direction of the support, like completely shit. Like, ah, I thought I flew. You know, but yeah, I think that it's, you know, when I see things like, you know, Dustin's exit and all that stuff.

40:37Granted, he did a lot in the company and he's done a lot in his career. But to see that kind of gave me hope like, okay, maybe this will, you know, give the fans a little bit of different perspective. And maybe it can start to shift towards like, appreciating people. Appreciating the fighter, man. Yeah. Like appreciating the fighter for what we do. It's not, it's not the easiest job. We don't get paid the most. You know, like, so like, yeah, like a little appreciation goes a long way. When are lose for sure. Yeah, I hope the tide is turning that direction too. Man, I just, people need to, it's like, again, it's casuals.

41:17It's like people love. It's one of the things that I really struggled with in the early days of commentary is that regular sports people were starting to do MMA commentary. Mm -hmm. And they were talking about fighters the same way they would talk about like, a football player drops a pass or a basketball player and misses a shot. Very disrespectfully choked. They were saying, they were saying a lot of shit. I was like, hey, hey, hey, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Like, this is the wrong sport to be coming over here and talking like that. For sure. You know, and the early days in particular, there was a lot of that.

41:54There was a lot of people that they wanted to get credit for their work by just being that arrogant. You know, there's like a bunch of those people in the sports world that are just like insulting. And then, you know, there's a long history of athletes meeting those people and fucking them up and stuff. Yeah. And stuff. It's because it's super disrespectful. And I don't know why. But there's like a culture, particularly in America, that embraces that and that likes that. Because that's the kind of talk that like dumb, dumb's have when they're on the job. Like just see him last night. Fuck it. Loser.

42:29Yeah. Missed that three pointer. You should have passed the ball. Like, you know, shut the fuck up, man. It's, I hate that shit. I hate that shit because I didn't do a lot of team sports. I only was involved mostly in combat sports when I was a kid. And so disrespect like that was like, God, you don't know what you're even talking about. Yeah, it's annoying, man. You don't understand what this is. These guys are risking their fucking life. It's different than everything else you watch. Yeah. You miss a basketball, you miss it going at the hoop. Okay. Yeah. Next day, you know, you get to shoot some more basketballs and practice.

43:06And then you'll be playing in a few days. And you're back at it. Yeah. With fighting, it's your fucking soul. It's everything. Oh, 100%. A broken nose. People call it. People, people, bombs. It's like, shut your mouth. Yeah, dude. Stop. Yeah, it's super annoying. And that also brings to thought like, I went to the SPs. And that was really cool. Like, first time going to the SPs and seeing all these other athletes, you know, that we see on football, you know, just on television. Being in the same room, it was amazing. And I remember seeing just like the opening video. And I think there might have been maybe one clip of an MMA fight.

43:53But I'm listening to all the awards given out. And you know, best play and all this stuff. And I was just thinking, man, like, I know MMA is new. And I'm obviously it's growing because we're here. And, you know, they got John Jones and the crowd and they got Marab here. You know, so it's growing. They're starting to acknowledge us. But like, I can't wait until the day where like, there's more fights on, you know, on in the SPs. Yeah. Where what we're doing great things. You know what I mean? I feel like it's the most exciting sport ever. It's so exciting. And even like I had, you know, pro hockey players, all these guys coming up, like, oh man, watch your foot.

44:32You know, so like even the athletes that are playing the NFL in NHL and MLB, all these things there, they're even watching what we're doing. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. I think it's, you know, I'm excited for the growth of the sport as well. And I, you know, hopefully the next generation or even sooner will be able to know what it's like to be an MMA fighter and still get like an SB award. I wonder what's going to happen if the UFC doesn't renew the ESPN contract because there's this negotiation thing that's going on right now. And I don't know where they're going to land. There's talk of Netflix, there's talk of other networks, there's a bunch of different talks.

45:11And the one of the things that we benefit from is ESPN not just as the host of the fights, but also covering the fights, all the additional coverage, all the sports center talk, all the different shows that they have on ESPN Plus, the post -fight shows. Those are all huge. Yeah. You know, the breakdown, people love that shit. No, they do. They love the pre -fight breakdowns. Pre -fight breakdowns, you know, it's all about the bad care, but yeah. I think, yeah, I think it's great. I would, I mean, for Shot Evans, it's got to stick around, man. I hope so. I love ESPN. And I love the, I like getting it that way off the app.

45:48It's easy, you know. And I think it helps us too. I mean, it definitely helped the sport grow, right? And I think that people who, I think it helped us as fighters gain those fans who are, you know, football fans. Oh, yeah. People who just have ESPN on all day. Yep. You know what I mean? Or in a PT clinic, it's just like, okay. Yep. ESPN's on, you know, and to be able to, yeah, to be shown through that. I think it's been really helpful to us. And the thing is, it's like, you can get converted to a fan with one fight. All you need is one undercard banger. One undercard banger, you're like, oh, shit.

46:24I mean, that was me with the Alex fight. It was honestly, dude, like, these people came out of nowhere. Like one fight changed my life. Wow. Like one fight changed my life, dude. It's, it's, what you dropped him. You had great moments in that fight. Yeah. You know, dude, off topic. What's it like to be Joe Rogan these days? What do you mean? What's it like? I'm here. Welcome to the Kalil Roundtree Experience. Today's guests, we have Joe Rogan joining us. Joe, how are you doing, man? It's pretty much the same for me. Really? Can you sit down and talk to cool people? Yeah. And I live my life pretty insulated.

47:03So I don't deal with all the hoopla and chitter chatter. Yeah. I just keep it moving. Okay. That's the way it stays sane. You gotta just keep it moving. Yeah. My day's basically the same every day. Get up early, write, shoot arrows, get in the cold plunge, lift weights, workout, do what I gotta do. Come here. Okay. It's the same. You gotta go to the club, tell jokes, go home, go to bed, rinse, wash, repeat. That's what I do. Nice. I don't do anything any different. So it's chaotic because it seems it's the same for me. Okay. I think what fucks people up is when they get caught up and other people talking about them and then they get involved in it and then they start reading things and they start thinking, oh, is that who I am?

47:47Or is this who I am? Who's right? Am I a fucking loser? Am I the coolest guy ever? Who am I? You know, keep working. I love that. Yeah, the only way. The only way to not go crazy when you get really famous is to keep doing exactly what you've always been doing and make sure you fucking burn yourself out. You go hard all the time with everything you do. Because if you don't, then you're gonna just wonder, you know, am I slipping? Is this what's happening? Is this all gonna go away? Like that's one thing that people really do freak out about. Like once they start getting some success, what if it goes away?

48:24Yeah. What if it goes away? And then you get imposter syndrome, you don't think you should be there. And then if you read a bunch of comments, you know, most comments are negative. Yeah. People telling you over and over again, you're a fucking loser. You start calling, God damn, a mile loser. They start to freak things. I've seen it happen to fighters. I've seen it happen to many fighters where they get too caught up in reading comments and interacting with people in a negative way online. And it's just not good for you. It's not smart. It's not the way. It's your dealing with the crabs. It's crabs in a bucket, you know?

49:00There's a lot of people out there that don't think the only way for them to succeed is to pull you down. It's a dumb mindset. But of course, there's a lot of people that they're not that aware of how much time they're wasting. They're not aware of how much energy they're wasting. Thinking about other people, constantly dwelling on the, hating and all those stupid shit. And they don't realize that they're stealing from their own life. They don't realize it. They're just caught in this weird trap because we have this undefined new modality of communication, this social media modality. This new thing, this new device that you have that interacts with your brain and oftentimes a very negative way.

49:48And you're wasting hours and hours a day. Like how many people like look at their screen time on their phone? When you do, you go, whoa, six hours. That's crazy. Yeah. Six hours that I could have been doing other shit. Obviously it's like 10 minutes a year or five minutes there. But it fucking adds up. Yeah, it adds up. Yeah. And it's really time. It's really energy. It's focus that's just being robbed from you. And with no reward. That's what they don't understand. It's like you're getting robbed and you're not getting anything back. There's nothing positive coming. You're not growing. You're not getting smarter.

50:28You're not getting, you're not like contemplating. You're not getting wiser. No, you just fucking, you just, you just, yeah, just being like taken out of you. Yeah. Yeah. Wow, dude, that's, no, that's, that's great. And it's a good, it's a good reminder and refreshment for me to hear you say that. Because how do I put it? Let's say if I get asked question, how's Joe Rogan? I'll give you a Joe Rogan podcast. I was like, how is he? And I'm always like, Joe's great. Like, tell me about him. But this is, this is he that. I'm like, dude, I'll say, I say this. I can tell you here, I'll just give you like four things.

51:09Every time we talk, it's fucking good. We hang out. We talk. I feel like he likes me. I like him. It's always a great time. Two, there's a lot of books when I walk in there. There's a bunch of books, all types of different books. I think Joe's a curious guy. I think he's smart guy. Well read, there's a lot of cool things. And it's always just based around like, yeah, when I think of you, I think just genuine dude. Good vibes. I feel the same way. And it's always fun to just come here and just like, chop it up with you. That's why I guess I just needed that own. Like, I just wanted that for myself.

51:46You'd be like, Joe, what's up? How you doing? And you tell me, like, cool. I'm doing the same thing. I wake up, I go to the gym, I shoot my bows. I go to the club, like that to me to know that just personally, without being one of those people that are just like sucked into my phone or whatever, to just hear it come from your mouth face to face. That's what you're up to. That makes me feel. I think it's the only way to live. I think getting, I mean, I've been sucked into my phone before for sure. But now, for the most part, if I spend time on my phone at all, it's watching things. I watch YouTube videos.

52:21But it's always stuff on like, it's either watching MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing, or watching YouTube videos on ancient history, interesting things. So I'm not interacting with opinions and people. Yeah, and all that stuff. Yeah. The stuff that'll piss you off and take from you. Do you ever watch fighters YouTube channels? Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Have you seen mine? I have seen yours. Oh, cool. You like it? Yeah, it's great. Okay. It kind of inspired by you a little bit. I remember you saying in the past, like, oh, you should start podcasts. I was like, maybe not yet. But how about a YouTube channel?

53:01So, um, what people love behind the scene stuff. They really do. They love to see people train, training in particular. Yeah. You know, I spent a lot of time watching Usic training before this last to Boa fight. Yeah. It was crazy. I saw something the other day. It was like Usic swimming. Five hours. I was like, oh my god. He's an animal man. Yeah. I mean, he's so fucking good. He's so good. I mean, think about what that guy has done. He beat AJ twice. He beat Tyson Fury twice. And now he beat Boa twice. Mm -hmm. That's crazy. No, it's incredible. Those are two of the best, like, of this era. I think he's one of the best of all time.

53:40I really do. I think he's one of the best heavyweights of all time. And his movement is so different. One of the things that was interesting, um, uh, whether they were talking about the fight in AJ was, it was Tony Bellos was talking about when he fought him. And AJ was saying that when he fought him, it was the most exhausted he's ever been. Because he's always moving. You never, you're not, there's no rest with him. No rest. There's like constant, there's constant twitching to you. Under fire the whole time. You're constantly thinking, when is this coming? There's no silent agreements. There's no relaxation.

54:17There's no, you know, there's no, there's no rounds off. Everything is he's putting it on you and moving constantly. Like I always say he's like a giant Loma Chenko. Got it. They're both trained by the same guy. Oh, really? Yeah, Loma Chenko's father trained Usek as well. Oh, yeah. So there's something, yeah, there's something. The obviously gravity keeps him from moving the way Loma Chenko does because Loma Chenko is so small. Yeah, he can like dance around you. For sure. In footwork, just majestic footwork. But Usek's footwork is like, there's a bunch of breakdowns of the final combination that he hit Daniel with.

54:53And you know, he steps off to the side and lands that fucking left hook from hell. God, it was good. You could see Daniel was already tired. You could see it. It's like, it's just dealing with something. Like, you know, Loma Chenko's dad, like some type of philosophy or something. You know what I mean? Like these guys just kind of tap into, you know, because like to be a big guy, yeah, there's footwork and all this stuff. But I think, man, shout out to the coach. Like to the guy. Yeah, it's skill, man. It's a skillful type of boxing. It's like, you know, there's, there's guys that are like heavy bangers and they rely on that.

55:30And there's guys that have, you know, good defense and they rely on that. But his thing is like this constant movement and constant faints and jabs. And it's all with a purpose. Everything is like setting you up. Everything is reading what your reaction to this is and anticipating what your reaction is. When's that right hand coming duck under counter? It's like constant. The jab was going in an upward direction sometimes. He was catching Daniel with this like upward jab. Here's the, oh, okay, here's a breakdown. Yeah, but only seeing highlights. I actually just feel. He's fucking movement, man.

56:03It's so good, man. It's so good, the movement. Do you know what? What's his age? Damn. He's 30. Oh my god. Yeah, he's old. He's old for a boxer. You know, and the fact that he was a cruiserweight champion too. And that was the first drop. But here's the big one. The left hook that he knocks him out was extraordinary, man. What are they showing here? Okay, the count is. Oh. And this video is just about as weight transferring. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, he's one of the most skillful heavyweights of all time. I think you have to go back to Cache's clay. Yeah. Like before they took his title away, before they made him sit out for three years.

56:46Look at this. Oh, there's the final left hook. Oh my goodness. Look at this counter. Steps off to the left and then full weight into it. Really long. Like you can tell that way. Yeah. That weight transfer was everything. It's just constant footwork and movement. And a lot of his training is that. Yeah, you can see it. He's never stationary. Exactly. Like his feet are never in one place. They're constantly moving. Well, there's a lot of Russian fighters who fight that way. And obviously he's from Ukraine, but bevolved, bevolved fights that way. There's a lot of these Eastern block fighters that have this movement style.

57:22Like there's a constant movement style. And it's like, there's a lot of value in that, man. Like when you see flat footed guys and you see guys who fight like that, you go, man, there's something in that. Like that. That's extraordinary. Yeah, flat footed guys, I feel like a lot of them, that's where they generate their power, right? Sure. And I like relying on that. Like a deante wild there. You know, like sure. Yeah, if his feet are planted and you're up against the ropes, like, bye bye. Yeah, you know, like George Foreman in his day. Oh, man. Yeah, it's heavy plotting, you know, like moving forward like this, covering up.

57:54Just, but everything has just death on it. Yeah, just looping them. But a guy like Dubois, he can do that. That's the thing. That's how he fucked up AJ. He has that crazy power. But when you're not getting hit and you're just moving away, and this guy's just whiffing these nuclear bombs by a little bit over again. And then after a while, he's like, he's like, headed into the thirties, like, oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. This guy is fucking not there. And I'm exhausted. And then you're dealing with him, like sparks are flying every time he's hitting you. And you don't know when these punches are coming because they're coming from these weird angles.

58:30And every time you throw a punch, he's countering you and you're nervous that which one of these is going to like really rock me? To be in that situation, like during a fight is, ugh, it's the worst. I remember feeling like that in the Alex fight. It just, there was a few like jabs and stuff. I was obviously just dizzy and just dealing with like, okay, this guy's not slowing down. And I'm hurting. You know, like, yeah, around the fourth, he started getting that time. When was the fight stopped? Uh, fourth round. It was the fourth. Fourth round. I think like, probably two and a half minutes in, something like that.

59:14He started getting that rhythm where he was like moving away from stuff and then just coming back in, moving in. Yeah. It was unusual, moving. Obviously deceptive, but like my eye was shut. It was, I thought I was blind in my eye, but I was like, okay, whatever. This is just, I don't know what was going on with me. That's why I was so excited to be there. And so even even in the fight, like not being able to see out of my right eye at all, like not blurred vision. It was just like, oh, it's always white light. Like, wow, that's all I saw. And in that moment, I was like, oh, I'm blind. Fuck it.

59:51Wow. Yeah, like literally. So I don't know what it was. Like maybe all I know is I just saw light coming in. Couldn't see shadows in one day. When did that start happening? That was sometime in the fourth round. So you got hit with something? I hit something, maybe like a jab. Boom. And I just remember like, my eye wasn't closed all the way yet, but like all I could see was just white light. And I was like, oh, shit. I think I went blind, but whatever. Let's go. Like, you know, like internally, like it was such this like light positive voice going on the whole time in that fight. How do you think you developed that?

1:00:33I don't know, man. It could be like a series of just like life experiences and my like, I don't know, books that I read or just like things that I try to practice or some enlightenment thing that I'm trying to get. Or you know what I mean? Like I think that it comes from that because I'm just, I'm kind of always searching for the light in short, you know? So it's got to be so hard though in that situation because generally speaking, there's a moment in fights where you see you guys started to get hit and tuned up in you see hesitation and you see panic and you didn't show any of that. You were getting beat up, but you were firing back.

1:01:17You were fighting at the best that you could. It was very obvious that you're dead. Yeah, well, you know what? So right before we went out or right before we got to the arena, my coach Lorenzo is like, all right, your nose is already cut. So it's going to open up and he's like looking at me in my face. You know, like he's like face to face with me. He's like, your nose is already cut except it. It's going to open up. First time you get hit, it's going to open up. All right, that's out of the way. He's like, now expect that you're going to get the shit beat out of you. You're going to go to bloody fucking war.

1:01:51He's like, you might break a hand, you might break a leg, you might get your job broken, but you don't give up. You keep going. We fucking come out of this fight victorious. And he's like, you hear me? And I'm like, yeah. And he's like, so just fucking soak it in now. You're about to go to fucking full on war. It's going, you're like, you're about to go to hell. Like he's just like in my face, you know, and he's like, we're face to face. And he's like, I need you to accept it now, son, because he kind of looks at me like a son. He treats me that way and I appreciate it. He's like, he's like, but we're fucking, we're fucking winning this fight, son.

1:02:22And you're going to fucking go, you're going to fucking war. And I was just, swallowed that, walked into the arena, just kind of accepting it already. You know what I mean? I wasn't like, I was just like, okay, like Lorenzo said it. All right, this is what it is. This is what it is. And so like in the locker room, you know, my warm -ups and everything, I think subconsciously, I'm just like already programming myself for the worst of the worst. All the way there. But not in a way to where I'm like, oh, I'm going to lose this fight. Right. Like I'm like expanding, you know, wow, just like internally like, okay, fuck, I'm ready for this.

1:03:00All right, boom. All right, my fucking hands are going to get broken. My face is going to give split up. All right. And every fight's not like this. Like not every opponent, we have the same, you know what I mean? The same thing, because the strategy is always different for everybody. But some, he just had a feeling that this is the type of fight I was going to be. So when it got down to that point, I think I had already accepted it. So the only thing I could do was just enjoy it, you know, because I was like, this is crazy. I knew it was going to happen. Like I just knew it. So yeah, if I remember to like, the third round, fourth round, something in there, I'm just like, thank you.

1:03:40Like this is cool. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine for the world, you know, title. To the crowd, I'm like, oh my god, eyes closed, boom, I think I'm blind. I'm like, fuck, oh shit. They're like, oh, he's not going back, you know? And even to the last time, I'm like, swinging. I can't see, boom, body shot hurts. I'm like, oh, backing up a bit. But I just remembered the whole time, this very positive feeling, man. And that's why those shorts are framed. And you know, I got the shorts framed, never washed them blood still on them gloves, never wiped them off. And I just put it in a shadow box. It's on my wall, you know, like that for me is just, it was just a pivotal moment for me.

1:04:30Just in my life as a person, as a human, you know, just, yeah, that's like the beginning. I think that's the beginning of the, well, of the journey now. So that's wild. The world title fight is the beginning of the journey. I thought, yeah, I thought, you know, like, oh, no, this is it, like that was the beginning. Because when I was there, I felt like I belonged. Like it wasn't foreign to me, like, you know, final, or, you know, main event, lights go dark. It's just the spotlight. You know, we, I've only ever watched it. So, yeah, I was like, okay, this is, this feels different. It felt like it was supposed to feel, if that makes sense, like everything, but I felt like that vision that I've had, and it was like being there, and I was just like, yeah, it feels about right.

1:05:25Like, wow. Cool. Like a prayer right in front of me. Hell yeah, this feels right. Like, this feels like, yeah, this is it right here. And then obviously, like, you know, the loss was, it took a little bit of an emotional toll. I mean, because my focus was to win, and that was my, you know, that was my intention.

1:05:48But I think, like, in hindsight, I look at it, and it's like, no, my, I was meant to be there to experience it and to learn from it, because the things that I did learn and experience from that fight have made me a better person, for sure. That's awesome. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, it really showed it in the Jamal Hill fight, because you, you came in that fight, it just looked like you were, you had gone through something and come out of the other end. That's what it looked like. Again, Jamal's world champion. He's a dangerous, dangerous man, you know, and you look supremely confident in that fight.

1:06:23Yeah, a lot of training, man. Like, I, I, I understand that there's a lot, I'm a striker, you know, like, that's just, I love to strike, don't stray away from a striking match. But I think that, like, lately, I've been training a lot with Buccecia, who just got signed to UFC. Incredible guy. Amazing. You just, like, multiple time, Giu Jitsu champion. Rolling with guys like Luke, Rock old, I mean, being able to be like on a team with those guys and us training together has really helped me as well, because it's just given me more confidence in my abilities and my development as like a championship level fighter.

1:07:16So yeah, I mean, like, even to, I, you know, I brought you those shorts today, the Santo studio once, man, we're building an incredible team down there. I think it's like the first time, are you familiar with what we're doing at all? Okay, so like over at Santo studio, Newport Beach, we've got Santo studio with God Jackson. Jackson's like Minjjuri. Yeah, Minjjuri, but there's also like Jackson Media House. And over there, we're trying to include all MMA fighters, extreme sports athletes, like give them like a platform to showcase, you know, their talents and build themselves. But Santo studio, the clothing brand, we have the sickest team.

1:08:01So we've got like Buchecha, we've got Armon, we've got, I mean, Dillashaw's behind it, we got Rockhold. Man, the list goes on Gabriel Silva, Anderson Silva's son, on just like the fighting side. But then it's like Paul Rodriguez, skateboarder, Nigel Houston, Ryan Shekler, and then we got Motocross riders like Jett and Hunter Lawrence. And like, so there's all these kind of like extreme sports athletes under one umbrella, but like in one place in Newport Beach and we all support each other under like the same type of brand. And what is your role in this? Ambassador fucking, I was a part of the vision before there was like the first t -shirt ever printed, like Baron, I had a conversation, he's like, hey, I got this vision and I'm like, dude, I'm behind you.

1:08:50Like, I love how this sounds. It's right up my alley, sounds creative. There's clothes involved, there's training involved. So he's gone to just build this. We got the Santo Performance Studio, huge gym, Gid to mats, weight lifting, but also like shopping. It do it, it's unheard of, but it's so cool. And like, it's put us all in the same place to be able to like train with each other, collaborate with each other. Like if it wasn't for Santo, I would have never been able to train with guys like Buchecha and Bernardo and Leo Vera, you know, the checkmate guys. So like now there's a partnership with checkmate, which makes me like have access to training with these guys.

1:09:34It's, I would have never been able to, you know what I mean, have that same like connection. So we're just doing everything we can to just, you know, like support each other within this like MMA community, help each other grow and just like expand and also include the community within right now, Newport Beach, but I mean, I'm sure that division is bigger than just that. So this is something also that you can do once you retire. I would love to, yeah. I mean, right now like I think the understanding from Bear is that like I'm just focused on becoming a champion, but I'm sure he knows that like, I'm heavily interested in, you know, doing something because I believe in the brand.

1:10:22So yeah, after this, maybe there's something, but right now, you know, I have no distractions. Right. You know what I mean? I have no distractions. You know, I'm just making sure that I'm fighting and that like my money's in the right place and places. Do you have a time set in your head where you wanna exit the game?

1:10:48How about this? I can say that I would like for my current contract to be my last contract. How many fights you have in your current contract?

1:11:03Left, six or seven? And that's it. That's what you'd like. In an ideal world. Or like maybe sometime down in the night, there's like a renegotiation and it's not for as many fights, but like I think six or seven more fights would be nice and be able to like look around and say like, okay, is this enough? You know, like, is this okay for me to step away from and like am I secure? Is my, you know, is my family secure? Okay, then cool. Cause time waits for no man. Yeah, I don't wanna be 41, 42 right now. I'd turn 35 in February. So you're still in your prime? Still in my prime, so they say, especially for a larger athlete.

1:11:55Yeah, and I don't have, I'm a little sick, 38. Yeah, I don't have the wear and tear of a lot of the fighters. I didn't grow up wrestling and all that stuff. So 15 years into, that's a big factor. Yeah, sports or athletics. Football's a big factor, wrestling's a big factor. Knees, back, neck. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, like by the way that things are looking, it'd be nice. Like, October 4th, win over a year. Sets me up for the title fight against, here's an ideal situation. Win over a year in October, Alex beats Uncle I have, rematch for the belt against Alex, sometimes in the, the beginning, like the first half of next year.

1:12:42Right? Beat Alex in the rematch, get the belt on the champion all summer.

1:12:53Then somewhere in between summer and fall. There's a child that comes into play. My wife's not pregnant yet, but it'd be nice. You got this idea. It'd be nice. You know, you've been a vision board man. Yeah, I got to, I got to, that's, that's to, like, everyone says like, all these guys success, you got to have a vision man, like, like you got to have a vision in life, you do. You know, like if you don't have a vision or something to aim at, like what are you doing? You know, so like, yeah, these are like, you know, these are, this is my vision, but there's like goals in between, you know, goal, be eerie, goal, get another shot at the title.

1:13:35Vision, start my family, finish my fight contract, be done with fighting, live in Asia. In Asia? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm moving back to Thailand man. Really? Yeah, 100%. 100 ,000%. Why? That's where I want to be, that's where I belong. Really? Yeah. I belong in, right now, what, like, my heart is telling me, I belong in three places. Either Thailand, Hong Kong, or South Korea. Why those places? Obviously Thailand, you know, you had amazing experiences there. Hong Kong's amazing. I love it there. It's good. I just came back from Hong Kong as well. So in that Thailand trip, I went to Hong Kong. I love how it's set up.

1:14:25I love the structure of the city. I love that there's so much outdoor stuff involved. So like, when I imagine the rest of my life, and how I want to live that after fighting, it's like, let's say I do have my family, and there's a child in play. Okay, cool. If I live in Hong Kong, I can just walk outside and take my child for a hike right outside the house. And it not be like, I don't have to even own a car. I can just, everything's walking. You know what I mean? It's like the way that the city set up. It's set up for people to walk, to interact. It's very beautiful. It's not, you know, I love it.

1:15:07As just, for me when I'm there, I'm like, oh, this makes sense, like especially with the vision of like, who I want to be after fighting. And why South Korea? I like the culture in South Korea, man. I really do. Like when I see that, like when I, when I, when I see just like the, like the culture in South Korea, the people, how I envision just like my family interacting with society and stuff, like to me and other thing that just makes sense. And Thailand for me is, it just, it feels like home. The language is very like easy for me to, you know, to speak and to like learn more of and to where I could be fluent.

1:15:48I love the community there. I love how people live their life there. Amazing, a lot of growth happening in Thailand. It's also a lot less expensive. A lot less expensive for sure. And to be able to like, so like, let's say in Thailand, I'm American, right? We're all kind of born like to live the American dream. I can live the American dream anywhere I want. But for me, if I could live the American dream in Thailand, that would be ideal. If I could live the American dream in Hong Kong, that'd be ideal. But it's a lot more expensive in Hong Kong. It's a lot more expensive. Do you think you say this because you live in Vegas?

1:16:38Because Vegas is kind of a crazy place in America. Not so much. Like I've been to many different places. I mean, I've been almost everywhere in the States when I was on tour. Austin's nice, do I want to live in Austin? No. California? Absolutely not. New York, absolutely not Florida. Don't like it. Shout out to my Florida fans like you. I love you guys. I'm not saying anything against. Don't hate me if I don't give you place, if you, you know, whatever. But there's nowhere else in the world that I feel the way that I feel when I'm there. That's interesting. Has that always been the case? Or is it just like does it represent something to you in terms of like personal growth or a vibe the relaxing vibe of it?

1:17:23Because it's not so much like, it's not so much like when I'm there I'm relaxing. You know what I mean? It's very busy. There's a lot going on. But I just, I can, I realize how I feel inside, and how I'm interacting with people who I don't even know on a daily basis. And when I think about, like, I always, I'm constantly thinking about like, like my future or my vision, you know? And when I think about, and when I think about my future and my vision, there's a child involved. And I try to think about like, okay, as a dad, how do I want to operate with a child? Or like how do I want, you know, our child to experience life?

1:18:19And there's just, you know, a lot of different questions and visions that come. And the way that I've seen it, or like the way that I envision it, it's kind of like, it makes more sense that way. You know? Like, if I could, if I could, let's say, take away some of the like, stress of raising a child from my wife by like, let's say hiring help, or, you know, having, instead of having a car, having a driver to have us get through traffic so that we can still enjoy life. And, you know, going like a family, you know, dinner or take the kid here or whatever, but I don't want to drive the damn car because there's too much traffic.

1:19:06And you know what I mean? Like, it's all relaxed. So I can relax, but we can still have family time. We can still do the things that families and kids do. But it not cost me so much. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, if I wanted to get a live -in helper here in the States to help my wife, it cost a fortune. Yeah. It's almost impossible. But if I wanted to get a live -in helper, let's say in Hong Kong, it cost me a thousand or less, dollars a month to have a full -time live -in helper. And there's nothing wrong with it there. That's just the culture. Like in Hong Kong, you have just groups of women who are live -in helpers that like on their off day in the summer or on their off day, like on Sunday.

1:19:55You'll see them and everybody's just in the streets with tents combing each other's hair, boomboxes out, sharing food. It's just a part of it. Like, that's not like literally tense in the streets everywhere. Jamie, if you want to pull that up, it's crazy, dude. I don't know if you've ever seen it. But it's so cool because they enjoy the life. But like Hong Kong helpers hang out or enjoying day off or something. It's just a way of life. It's a lifestyle. It's just a new perspective that I've never seen. Like that I didn't see here. And I like it. I just think for me and my development and growth as just like a human being, I just kind of wear...

1:20:38It's like a never ending like finding out what's next. You know what I mean? I've constantly got to adapt and evolve. Like I'm American. I have to learn a new language. I've got to adapt to a new culture. I've got to learn new rules and laws and all this stuff. And like cool, sign me up. Like because that's just, I don't want my life to be like, okay, I know it all and I'm done. And I'm just, okay, cool. And I got the kid and I'm just, you know what? Right, right. I want to continue to like grow. To grow as well as, you know, showing someone else how to grow. Yeah, see, like they're not homeless.

1:21:13They're just hanging out on their off day because they can't and they like, they enjoy it. No one's mad to be doing this. Huh. You know what I mean? Like it's a totally safe environment for these people to be out here. They're not interrupting anybody. They're literally just, this is a day off. Like, oh, what are you doing on your day off? I'm going to go hang out with the other helpers around the city and we're just, like, we're just chilling. Interesting. Because the, the, to live there, like the places are really small. You know, like if you have it, a thousand square foot apartment, you're most likely a multi -millionaire.

1:21:50So most of the life, like lifestyle is spent outdoors. So for them to go outside like this and this is like a normal thing on a Sunday. Normal? Yeah. On a Sunday or on a weekend? Yeah, absolutely. And like Hong Kong, the city's supposed to be very safe too, right? Very safe, man. Very, very safe. Very safe, very clean. Like when I think about the stuff that I had to go through as a kid and just like the dangers and, you know, right. I'm like, hmm. How about like, my kid doesn't necessarily have to be worried about certain things. Are you not even being worried about like getting shot at school or like, you're like just different things.

1:22:32It's just kind of like, what can I take off? Like what mental load can I take off my offspring in the beginning? I can take on whatever. I'm a grown adult like whatever. But what do you think you're going to be doing with your time other than that when you're done fighting? Hmm.

1:22:53I have zero business experience. Because I've just been so dedicated to fighting. But I do want to like start to learn, man. Like I want to learn business, how to operate a business. Because I'm creative and I have ideas, but I don't have structure. I don't have, you know, really like the right mentorship. So like, yeah, like I'd like to have multiple business. Businesses. Like what kind of business is what do you want to get into? Something like, obviously something where you can express creativity. Express creativity, but also like something that helps me and people like health, you know, health, health products.

1:23:49Is this one of those things that you can't really think about right now? I can't because it's just like, you know what I mean? Like I'm locked in. I don't want to get too distracted. But like I think that's a giant, one of the signs that someone, when people spread themselves to thin, like there's a bunch of fighters when things start going really well, they start getting movie offers and then you see them on talk shows, you see a lot of this, a lot of that. You're like, oh, you're getting outside of your lane and you're spreading yourself then. And there's just no way to really be locked into training while also doing that stuff.

1:24:24So when you see someone preparing for a major fight and you see a lot of extra quicker alert activities, I'm always like, yeah, like Daniel Dubois had a fucking party the day of his fight before the fight. Yeah. Oh boy. It's a big issue. Now people are talking about it. It's like 90 people at this place. Yeah. Party and the day of the fight. That's absurd. Right? That takes a lot of energy. Just being around those people. Yeah. Yeah. Just being there, like even if you're just sitting in the party, like your energy is being zapped. Right. Yeah. And obviously if it's your fight night, everyone wants to talk to you.

1:24:59Everybody has questions. I just can't imagine why anybody would do that or why there's videos of him hanging out partying with everybody. I mean, not drinking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously like hanging out with a lot of loud people talking, a lot of music, a lot of, you know, yeah. Not communication. It's zaps the nervous system for sure. Like how do you expect to go fight? Oosik after your nervous system has been zapped from a party. I can't understand it. Yeah. When I saw it after the fight was over, I was like, look, he's probably going to lose anyway. Yeah. But what is that? No, it's tough, man.

1:25:32I honestly, you know, I agree with that. I think this fight in Baku really got like it made me realize how important. Like being locked in is because I was, I think that's why I got sick, to be honest, Joe. I think that's why I got sick because I was just exhausted, no exhausted from the things that I had to do from my obligations. Oh. So the weak, the obligation, so the week that I landed, I had to do, I had to do like four or five days of filming with draft kings for this like online. So it's like, I just landed, but then like I didn't get time to adjust because the next day we got to wake up, you know, first filming sessions at 9 a .m.

1:26:17Oh. And then so we're like, eight week? No, the week before fight. The week before fight. Still. You know, exactly. So like I land and they came, they went to my house to a .m. I'm not bitching about this because the guys were great, but this is just like my experience. How much time did you have to spend doing that? Oh, I mean, we spent, you know, we spent a week of filming. How much time each day?

1:26:45Five, six hours. What? Yeah. What? That's crazy. It wasn't every day that we, I don't remember, but that it was like we did a lot of filming that we for this, you know, for this content piece. That's exhausting. And then as soon as they left, then it was fight week and then I had all the media stuff for fight week. Oh my God. You know what I mean? And I think by time, like with jet lag, with training involved, with the filming, with all of that, I think by time fight week came, like my body's like, fuck you. Yeah. That's exactly how it felt. Were you doing that they needed you for five, six hours in a day?

1:27:26Like, you know, I, here's the thing. I'm, I'm grateful because I wouldn't have been able to experience Baku the way that I did had I not done this. So it's like, right. You made some extra money. All town. Yeah. So we go to the old town and then like get a tour through old town for three hours and the ladies like, this is this. So I got information and they're filming me, you know, get information. And then from the old town, then we go somewhere else and, you know, so where ideally you would be resting or doing my own training or resting or adjusting. Yeah. But when you're, when you're forced to interact, like that's, I mean, you're dealing with something where you have this monumental moment that's coming up in 14 days.

1:28:09And then you just, yeah, but I just like, that's what I'm saying. Like my, my main thing was like, embrace it. You know what I mean? Like just embrace it. Take it all in. Yeah. That's fucking hard. But that mentality can only get you so far, right? That's why I like, I really, I feel like I'm going to get fucking eaten alive for this. Not if you don't read it. I really feel like that would like Alex having so many fights last year and obligations and travel and all that. When he, I feel like that probably had a big, played a big factor in why his performance was the way it was against Uncle I was supposedly he went into that fight with Nora virus and he had a fucked up hand.

1:29:01I honestly like, I believe it. It seemed like I believe wasn't hitting the gas as much. You know, it seemed like he was a little bit more was also Uncle I was fucking good man. He's good. That guy's really good. I mean, he's, he's, you're smiling. I can't smile. You can, but you're, you're smiling like, come on man. I'm just smiling. What is your opinion on Uncle I have? I don't have one. You don't have any opinion at all. No, not one. No, because he's the champ. Okay. I get it. Yeah. Let's go back to Alex. Yeah. Nora virus. Are you just not a fan of his?

1:29:54I can say confidently. Am I a fan? Absolutely not. As a human or a fighter? Both. Okay. So if you had bad interactions with him as a human, he just talks shit. And I hate people that talk shit like, dude, I just don't like it. I don't like people who talk shit for no reason. If I didn't say anything to you, if I've never fucking mentioned your name, then why are you talking shit to me or about me or disrespecting me? Well, people talk shit because he gets some attention. And I think, like, there was a long period of his career where he didn't talk shit. And he wasn't getting a lot of attention.

1:30:31Yeah. I mean, look, he had that fight with Jan Bohovic, where it was for the title. He went to a draw. No one gets the title. There was a crazy experience, right? And very good fight. And people were mad at him. And he had to sit on the shelf for a while. It was kind of fucked up. So that makes him talk shit about these. I think he talked shit about everybody because you realize, like, this is what happened to Colby Covington. This is like, there's a thing that happens. Like if you talk shit, you will get more eyes, more attention, more money, and you'll get fights. And if you do not talk shit, there's a possibility you'll be cut.

1:31:13I know. It's not you. It's not you. Yeah. And here I am. I'm pretty sure you're getting good fights and good money. And it's like as his Pereira, right? Pereira just fights. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't even speak English. And he's a beloved over here. Yeah. You know, but you can, you can get by with just your performance. But some people they think like, man, I got to get people to fucking pay attention. There's so many killers out there. There's so many people that are popular. I got to do something. Yeah. So fight better.

1:31:46I hear you. That's the only thing. It's like, it's just a shit talking. I hate it, dude. Like I fucking hate it. Like it really hurts me. You hate it because you're a martial artist and you feel like it doesn't have a place in my life. I just hate it because it's fucking unnecessary. And it's like, and even as an adult, like I had to deal with this shit my whole life. Right. And it's a fucking toxic way of fucking being and it's passing along through social media and kids are fucking getting beat up for it. And we're fucking grown men on a large platform where people are looking up to us for many different things.

1:32:25And they envision us as these fucking gladiators. And this is what you're choosing to do as a, we have a responsibility. I feel like as an athlete, as champion, number of fucking one. As champion, you have a responsibility. You have a belt around your waist and all these eyes and microphone and that's what you're going to choose to say is talk shit and degrade my name. And I'm not even above you. I'm not even challenging you for a fight. And you want to mention me and like that to me is just like, dude, spend your time wisely. So that it's in a way, it's motivation for me because I'm like, I just won't do that.

1:33:04Like I think that there's so many different things that can be done when you have that belt. Like that belt is an honor. You like to have that. There's a responsibility that comes with that. There's things that you can do with that. Like it's not just about you realize the responsibility that you have when you carry that title. And so there's just, I'm getting passionate about it because there's just, I've want to say some of these things, but I'm not going to. I know what you're saying. I feel like there's a couple guys kind of change the game. One of them was Chale Sun and another one is Conor McGregor.

1:33:36Yeah. And part of the way they changed the game was talking to Mad Shit and getting a lot of people to pay attention to them. Yeah. Which cool, you know, like it got them a lot of attention. It got them a lot of money. But like, and if that's what makes them happy, cool, you know, like, I think some people think it's a good business decision. Like I said, I know nothing about business. Maybe that's why I don't have an owner business. And I don't know. It's good that you don't have a business. Yeah. You don't want to own a business while you're in the middle of this journey that you're on. It's just like you wouldn't, it would just drain you.

1:34:15It would take time from you. It's not, you can only do so many things in this life. And especially when you're doing something that's all encompassing physically. It's not like, you know, you have a, you have a business and you have a side business project that's a passion project that you're working on. No, no, no, no, you're fighting. Yeah. Fighting, you have to be all in and feel really, you really do. You are all in. Yeah. Yeah. And while you're all in, look, I admire people that don't talk shit, but I also like a little shit talking. I do. Yeah. Because it's, it's fun. It's, and it gets people excited and it does get a lot of eyes on the sport and it makes for more paper review buys.

1:34:53Yeah. Which is why I think the cup, you know, like the UFC encourages it. Whether they encourage it or not, they use those things. You know, like when Conner fought, could be they, they threw in the video of Conner throwing the fucking, the dolly at the bus. Yeah. Which is crazy. Like, it's kind of almost encouraging that kind of behavior, which is crazy. No, it's, I mean, like UFC is real as it gets, right? So you kind of get everything. Yeah. Yeah. You get everything. They don't say it anymore though. Do they? It's real as it gets. I don't know. But sometimes I don't, it's stuck in my brain.

1:35:32But yeah, there are different things. There are a lot of different, I guess, characters, personalities, you know, yeah, Conner throwing the thing through, you know, the, the dolly through the window. Is it going to make people watch the fight? Absolutely. You know what I mean? Did he do it for that reason? Don't think so. I just think he is who he is, right? He is like, we never know what's next with, with Conner and respect, you know, respect to him for everything. But I just, yeah, I, I, I did not understand your perspective as well. Like a little shit talk, you know, yeah, entertaining, you know, you see two guys like, oh, yeah, this is - But I completely appreciate your perspective as well.

1:36:17And I certainly appreciate your perspective having grown up through all that stuff, like why include it, especially when what you're doing is the ultimate test of who you are as a human. Like what was the ultimate test of who you are as a man? The actual fight itself, which is going to happen to me, I don't know how much shit you talk. Yeah. And whoever, like, whoever talks shit to me, you know, from, not even from now on, but like whoever talks shit to me, like, I back it up. You know what I mean? Like, I don't need to say anything in return. Like, I'm just going to back it up. I'm not. I don't want to give anybody any more attention or, you know, say people's names and stuff.

1:36:55But like Conner and Kabeeb's ultimate example of that, right? Yeah. When Kabeeb's on top, almost like, let's talk now and you get punched in the face. Let's talk now. Yeah. I mean, I love Kabeeb for that. Like I, you know, I, I, I can relate to that, you know, like I can relate to that, to that feeling of how good that felt. He had this really amazing conversation. Someone was interviewing them and they were talking about different addictions that fighters fall to and different things that side track people. And he's like, the best addiction is discipline. And he was talking about his discipline.

1:37:33The best, the best addiction is discipline. You got to become addicted to discipline, addicted to heart training, addicted, completely addicted to that. That makes me feel like a scrub. I mean, like I'm getting fucking good. He was, man. I'm disappointed. But like damn, addicted to it. You know, I mean, when he taught, see if you can find that, Jamie. You got it here. Here, here, listen to this.

1:38:04Every man addicted to something, some smoke, some drinks, some chaseguards, some waste. But real man, he addicted to discipline. To early wakes, to prayer, to training, to silence. Discipline, no need motivation. Discipline, move without feeling. Discipline, say, I go anyway, even when tired, even when lonely. Discipline is best addiction. You want strong life. Discipline, build it. You want peace? Discipline, protected. You want respect? Discipline, earn it. No shortcut, only work. Be man with control. Not man with excuse. No cry, no blame. You want better life? Start with better habits. Discipline, every day.

1:38:46Until discipline become you. I'm going to use that as my morning wake up now. Do you know that? That's what I was just thinking. In my mind, I'm like, dude, where do I include this in my daily routine? Like when you wake up? That should be your alarm. Or is it like, you know, do I just sit and like listen to this before I fall asleep? No, not a fuck with you. You will be able to sleep. Why dreams of, why sleep, brunt? Brunt, pick up your mom. Dreams of Kabim just standing on the river. No, you're not real man. You sleep. It's interesting because Chale Sun and had a video recently. So incredible man, shout out to Kabim for that.

1:39:24Shout out to Kabim. I mean, that's why he is who he is. Chale Sun and I had a really interesting video that we were talking about out. People say that Dagestan is a place where you should take your kids. You know, you want to take them Dagestan two, three years and forget it. There's like a fun line that like Kormier has said. He's taking his son to Dagestan. You know, and that's one of the things that Balamaham had said. If I could do my career over again, I would have went to Dagestan earlier. Yeah. And I would have stayed there for years. And then Chale Sun and had a very interesting point, which I think he's totally accurate.

1:39:59And he's like, they're not doing anything any different. He goes, but they don't have football. They don't have basketball. They don't have baseball. So the best athletes go in MMA. The best athletes go into wrestling. The best athletes go into combat sports in Dagestan. And so he's like, what you get is you have genetics, which is an ultimate requirement of the elite of the elite. At the top of the game, it's like discipline and genetics. Those are the two things that separate the men from the boys. And that he's like, we have all those things in America. It's just when you're dealing with the elite of the elite, it's like, what pool are you drawing from?

1:40:44One thing that I think they do have there, though, is this. This, the fact that they're all very religious, and the fact that there's no drinking, there's no partying, there's no nothing, there's no chasing girls, there's no bullshit. It's just prayer and training. That's a major advantage, but you could do that anywhere. You could do anyone could live that way. Yeah, anyone could live that way. I'd imagine that like being in Dagestan because of, you know, just like the cultural differences. Not to say that it would be easier, but you're dealing with less, right? Like you can do it here, but like you're, you go outside, you're going to find a bar, you're going to find something.

1:41:29Like the, you know, but you have to make conscious decisions not to have that in your life. Yeah, which like doing it here would probably actually make you stronger. Right. Because you have to deal with more resistance. Because you have to deal with more resistance. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like if you go out away where there's nothing, like, yeah, cool, but then come back to the real world and try to do it and this is going to be like, right, but isn't that why most, I mean, from beginning of time, fighters would take their camps away from life. Yeah. Like Marvin Hagler, he would go to the Cape.

1:42:01He would go to Cape Cod and train in the winter. Cash is clay in Muhammad Ali, you know, they would go up into the mountains. You know, there's definitely the cat skills. There's something different about it, right? Like there's something different. Everybody goes to Big Bear and trains up there. Yeah. When I fought Alex, I was in Salt Lake or I was in, what's the mountain up there? What's the? In Utah? Yeah. Wasatch? No. Above Salt Lake, everybody goes skiing up there. Damn it. What's it called, dude? Why can't it? Why am I? No. Park City? Park City. Oh, okay. I was out in Park City for like two or three weeks before the fly.

1:42:46There's a lot of distractions in Park City, son. But not where we were. No? No. Like, I feel like the cabin that I rented out there, it was like, oh nice. There was nothing there. So how much time did you spend up there? Like 17 days, 18 days, something like that. So like the tail end of the camp, we were just like up there. Did you have to acclimate to the altitude? How much time does that usually take? Uh, 17 days doesn't seem like enough. 17 days doesn't seem like enough. We, I don't remember exactly how much time, but we, for two weeks before that, we're regularly going up to Mount Charleston and to running other mountains and stuff like outside of Vegas.

1:43:29Right. Because there is quite a bit of elevation outside of Vegas. I don't think Vegas itself is. Five. I think it's, no, I think it's 2000 feet above sea level. What is something like that? What's Vegas above sea level? 2001. Yeah. So there's a 2000 feet above sea level. There's a road right up by where we train. Like, it's called Mount Potacy. And that's like seven, no, 6000 something like that. Okay. And it's very short, like very short distance drive. And you go train up there. We just drive there and then we just run out there, train out there, come back down home. One of the things that I've heard, it's, there's different philosophies on how to handle training and altitude.

1:44:11But one of the things that I've heard is what you should do is you should train at sea level and then sleep and live at a high altitude. So that way you get more output at sea level because you're getting more oxygen. So you could put in more work. And then when you're at the higher altitude, your body is adapting and developing more red blood cells and all that stuff and more adaptation for oxygen. Makes sense. I've heard that as well. I just haven't tried it. That makes sense to me because it's just the, the, but then it's like there's a mental benefit of being able to put in the work at a higher altitude.

1:44:47And then knowing that like say if you train like I lived for a while outside of Boulder, I lived this place that was 8500 feet above sea level. It was, it was working out there was rough. Yeah. It was crazy that when I would go to Boulder to train, I would go to a mall Easton's Jiu Jitsu gym. It felt easier because it was only 5 ,000 feet. Because that's like Boulder's like 5 ,000 something. And then one time we had to go to Philadelphia for like a UFC event and I was working out in Philadelphia. And I felt like a fucking juggernaut. Yeah. I was like, so much energy. This is crazy. It's because I was at sea level.

1:45:27Yeah. And I'm not used to being at sea level. So when I was working out, I felt so good. I was like, oh my God. It's so much fucking energy. It's because I'm used to being oxygen deprived. Have you, have you seen that thing they have at the PI, the, the ozone machine? No. What is it? They want to take your blood and recycle. No, it's like a, it's a, altitude simulator. So I want to do it, but they're like, you got to commit to like a couple months of training to see like the real benefit of this. Oh, so you have to be there for a few months. You have to like, do you utilize that place? Oh. Because you are a Vegas guy.

1:46:02I love like, they have, you know, amazing physical therapists. Nutrition. Yeah, nutrition. It's very convenient, you know, especially like living there. I just try to stay, I don't try to get too involved because every fighter can go and it's just like you kind of run into other camps and believe that you're talking there. Yeah, a lot of shit. Or just, yeah. Energy. Yeah. And everybody has such a great gym. Yeah, yeah. Syndicate is so good. I love it. John's such a great guy. Yeah, man. Great vibe. So happy for, for everything right now with just like Marab and then him and I and what we're doing.

1:46:38I love the fact that Marab even, like he's still tight with his old crew. You know what I mean? It's like in the same thing, even when AJ was training down there, they're still tight. Yeah. With Ray Longo and Matt Sarah and all those guys that got him to the dance and then you see those guys also in his corner. It's a very collaborative thing where there's no, the egos don't get in the way. No, that's huge. That's a cool thing to respect. So cool. Like everybody around him. Yeah. Training partners too. Like he just, it's all top down. It's all top down. It's a bunch of Georgian guys in it. It's like, yeah, if the guys at the top have a great vibe and they're all like collaborative and work together, you know, really you feel that vibe in the gym.

1:47:27Yeah. It spreads. His energy is definitely like infectious. And one thing that's cool too is like the way that John's organized training in Syndicate now when people have fights coming up and like you're doing your live cage rounds and the whole gym's watching. You know what I mean? Yeah. So everybody's around the cage, you know what I mean? And so you get used to that. It's so cool. It's so cool. And what does it like have in a rob and training? Is there a fucking guy that has a better gas tank than that motherfucker? I haven't seen him. Dude, my week, the fight week. Actually, I had just the day of my fight.

1:48:07Okay. Day of my fight woke up, called John, like, hey man, I want to get a shake out. Just like shake out some nerves, like, you know, just hit some pads. He's like, okay, cool. I'm down in the in the ballroom with, with Marab. He's like, but you got to wait a few minutes. Like he's going some rounds. I'm like rounds. And he's like, yeah, you just got you got to come down here and see it. So I'm like, go downstairs and the elevator. We're going to go to the room. Marab is doing live rounds on carpet, hard floor, and a fucking ballroom with some guy. And they're sparring rounds, bro. The day of the fight of my fight.

1:48:43So he didn't have a fight, but this was a week after his second fight against Somali. So they're doing live rounds on the carpet. Schengar's everything, but like, take downs. Jesus Christ. On hard floor and carpet, and he just doesn't stop. It's like, like, training never ends. That's how you get staff. That's probably why you got stuff. Who knows, you know, but you like, like, they're just, no one can stop the guy. He like, he's just a big ball of energy. He really is. Like, whether it's running up and down mountains and all this stuff, like, John Wood actually has to have some type of like monitor on this guy.

1:49:19He's like, Marab, don't train today. Okay, coach, okay, coach. Next thing, you know, he's on social media, like, out in the mountains, you know, or in some river, like, he just, he's, yeah, having him, having him around is crazy. Yeah, DC went to visit him the day after the O'Malley fight, the first fight, and he went to his house, and he was running. Yeah. The day after he won the world title, and DC goes to his house and he's like, look at Marab's home gym. He goes, you know what this motherfucker is? He's out running. He's out running. He's the discipline that fucking can be spoken about. It's discipline.

1:49:51He's addicted to discipline. Mm -hmm. It never ends. That's it. Like, I think he's just one of those guys, like, it being, I just, there's a lot of people that are analyzing it. The like, it has to be genetic, and that, does it, does it like, is his head, is his head bigger? Is his chest bigger? Like, what's bigger? It's all the same. He's a normal -sized guy. Yeah. There's nothing, there's nothing extraordinary about his physicality, other than the fact that he's very strong, yeah, which is there's a lot of strong guys. But it's not, it's the accumulation of time spent on the path. And he has not deviated.

1:50:26Yeah, at all. And I don't think he's anywhere close to, he's not even in his prime. No. I mean, he's in his prime, clearly, but I don't think he's reached his full potential because I think he was even better in the second home alley fight than he was the first fight. And I think, well, Mally was considerably better. Yeah. But Marab's that much better now. And, you know, this is a thing that happens, and hopefully you'll get to experience this. When you win a title, you get better. There's like DC says it's like 10%. It's like there's something that happens. Some people say 30%. But there's something that happens to what you realize, like, I am the fucking best in the world.

1:51:00And you take that into your heart, in your mind. And then you carry that, like, now you have that title, you see it, it's sitting there on your table, or you have your own wall, whatever, wherever you put your belt. And you're like, I am the fucking man now. And now I will live this way. And then you see them going into the, you know who you see that with? Pantasia. Mm. Yeah. Pff. That dude just not get the love that he deserves. With that guy gets into the octagon, it's like a fucking leper just entered the room. Yeah. It's wild, man. It's wild. He's got this feeling about him that, you know, champions have when they're just fucking feeling it.

1:51:41You know, when that guy steps into the octagon, you see him across the ring from whoever the fuck he's fighting. It's like, that's a, that's a cat, man. Yeah. That's like, you know what I mean? Honestly, yeah, like a, yeah, yeah. Like a fucking jaguar or something. A jaguar mountain. Yeah, it's something like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just some elite killer. You can kind of sense that, like a little instinct in it. Oh, oh, oh, 100 % man. 100 % man. In it, like, he's for sure, and he's locked in. I mean, and you see the, like, I think the perfect fight for him was seeing Kai Kaura France they fought in the ultimate fighter.

1:52:19And it was a good fight. And then you see this new fight, whereas he's the champion. Kai Kaura France is the, the contender. He fucking ran through him, man. Like you see, it's a different human being. Yeah. He's a champion now. And he's a trade. He's ATT. ATT. Okay. I mean, I don't know if he spends his, all his time down there. I don't know if he's there all the time. He just goes there for camps. Yeah, make sure. I don't know if he, how he does it. Okay. I'm not sure if he's a, a, a, a, a Florida resident. Or if he lives in Brazil and just goes there for camps, I'm not sure. Now, but yeah, whatever, I mean, whatever he's doing is definitely.

1:53:00Thomas is the thing about being the flyweight champion. If that motherfucker was the mid -away champion, he'd be super star. Yeah, he'd be the, the baddest fan of the planet. And to me, that drives me nuts. Cause it's like, you just, I like martial arts. I like someone who represents the best of martial arts. Like, in my mind, like, that guy's as good as anybody alive. Like when, when he's running over every fucking contender and, and choking them out or knocking them out or whatever the fuck he's doing, like, damn. Yeah, it's tough, man. It's, like, it's tough in this sport because of the way the weight classes, like a lot of guys don't get.

1:53:35What's crazy is 35 gets so much love. Yeah. This is 10 pounds different. 10 pounds difference. Isn't that nuts? Yeah. That's kind of nuts. Yeah. Because when you see Pantosa next to those guys there's not much difference in size. It's kind of the same. That's what I like, I forgot. Somebody not too long ago asked me like my, what would my MMA like Mount Rushmore be? And I remember saying like Anderson Silva, GSP, Demetrius Johnson and Amanda Nunes. And they were like Demetrius Johnson like, oh, why would you even hesitate? hesitate why why even asking me that question, you know, if you weren't there during his prime, you had to see him during his prime, you know, when he was, how about martial arts?

1:54:24Oh, yeah, and just skill angles and movements speed and intelligence knowing exactly how to engage in his ability to transfer between grappling and striking seamlessly. See, seamlessly. Perfect word, seamlessly. Like, in his prime, in his prime he was unstoppable. Yeah, but imagine Demetrius Johnson at light heavyweight, the statues of this man. Statges. Yeah, I mean like, I'd be like, the Rocky statues of Philadelphia. Yeah, who knows what would be around there, probably multiple statues of this man all over the place. What a great guy too. Oh, he's the best. Yeah. And just again, just underappreciated for whatever reason, you know, and during his reign, it just like his pay -per -view numbers were not what they should have been.

1:55:17But it's because he's small. That's all it is. It's like the casuals. They don't like, who gives a shit how big he is compared to you? Just look at how he's the same size of the guy's fighting. And look what he can do to that guy. We need to just, we need to have, this is a joke. This is a joke. This is a joke. But like, smaller weight classes and a smaller cage. Well, they will make them look bigger on television, and people will get what they will, you know. Now, they don't care. People look, it's interesting because boxing has the same thing. You know, I mean, when you get into the heavier weight, look, look, Usik made somewhere in the neighborhood of $132 million for that fight.

1:55:59That sounds amazing. Doesn't it? Yeah. I know. It was me and Volkanovsky and Izzy were backstage at the UFC. We're at the weigh -ins. And I pulled up the numbers. I go, have you seen the fucking numbers? It's a video of it on Stylebender's website or is a YouTube page. And I go, like, check this out. Like, because I had saved on my phone. It gives a random to any fighters. Like, look at this. Like, how crazy this is. And Dubois made like 71 or 72 million. And Usik made like 132. I mean, like, if I made that type of money, I wouldn't have to. I wouldn't be looking to, like, leave to live. The one that has to change for that to happen.

1:56:37I mean, does the Saudis have to buy the UFC? I don't know. Because I don't understand. That's kind of what they're doing with boxing. They're kind of buying boxing. Yeah. I don't know, man. I don't know, like, I don't know what needs to change.

1:56:53But, I mean, all I'm saying is like, it would be really cool. That's like a dream. Like, to be able to make those kind of numbers. I would really love that for fighters. I mean, I love when I hear fighters are making millions. It's great. It's great because I remember the early days of the UFC where people would make pennies. Yeah. When there was no money to be made, I mean, I started working for them in 1997. The previous owners, you know, when it was before Zufa. And nobody was making any money. There was no money in MMA. You know, it's like everybody was scratching and clawing and they were just doing not a love of the game.

1:57:28Or because they had a career in wrestling. And then that wrestling, amateur wrestling career was over. And they're like, all right, I'm going to be a fighter. Yeah. The money was in Japan, no. There was money in Japan. But even the money in Japan was not boxing money. No, no, 10 grand. Yeah. There was, you know, I'm sure they paid them well. And at the time, it was a lot, but I mean, like, Fado are still fighting. Is he fighting because he wants to? Or is he fighting because he has to? You know, which is crazy. Yeah. If one of the greatest of all time is fighting because he has to, it's not like Fadoor is like, living the craziest, flashiest lifestyle, like, dime, like Floyd Mayweather.

1:58:05Like Floyd Mayweather went broke. He'd be like, look at his Instagram. Yeah. How's he not going to go broke? Meanwhile, he's not. Meanwhile, he's still got tons of money. But, you know, Floyd made hundreds of millions of dollars. He probably made more money than any boxer that's ever lived. Oh, man. I, yeah, it's a dream. Yeah. It's a dream. It'd be nice. But I'm not like, I'm glad that it's improving. It's improving. It's improving. It's definitely improving. It's definitely, it's like, you know, fighters can get rich now. Yeah. You know, yeah, we can actually plan retirement. Yeah. You know what I mean?

1:58:42It's like that, that for now, like I'm saying, like I'm grateful for that. And one of the things that I really like about the UFC too is they give fighters a chance to have a career outside of that. You know, like Paul Felder and DC Duke commentary. Chelsea Sunn does his stuff. Yeah. All those guys in the desk, Alan Joban, they all do their stuff. Like Rashad does his stuff. It's nice. It's like there's an opportunity to work outside of having to fight. You asked me, you know, like before, like, oh, you know, what would you do or have I thought about anything? I honestly, I would love to work with UFC, not as a commentator, because I don't really see myself like commentating or like being you know, someone speaking, but I'd love to work for the UFC.

1:59:24Why wouldn't you want to commentator speak? I don't know. I personally, I think I've mentioned this to you before, like I just don't know if I have so much like input, you know, when it comes to like other fighter skill or whatever, like I'm not the most exciting person on a microphone. You know, like, you guys do well. It's like, oh fuck. Like, you know, you guys have great reactions. I'm kind of more like, hmm, interesting. Like they will grandpa, you know, right, right, right, right. Probably my chin, like, but maybe not as a commentator, then maybe as someone on the desk analyzing things, because you definitely have a very unique viewpoint.

2:00:01Yeah, viewpoint. I mean, that could work, but I think something like, I don't know, I'd rather be like, I guess behind, behind the like on the other side of the camera. What would you want to be doing? I don't know. Something within the bit, they do that. Like the UFC is such a large company. There's so many departments. I am friends with, I try to make friends with everybody in every department, because they're just great people that make that make this all happen. The equipment team, you know, Ember Stephanie, like I've been testing the gloves for the UFC for the past year, making sure we get the right ones.

2:00:38You know, let's go ahead and find out the gloves. Because you and Alex fought with the old, the new old gloves. The new old gloves, yeah. Because they got rid of them. Yeah, they're down. They spent like a fucking year developing them. Yeah, and so I was a part of that entire process. What happened? What was wrong with those gloves? The main thing was that, like because of the leather, the logos weren't sticking. So the logos were peeling off, peeling off, peeling off. That's it. And we tried, Joe, I'm telling you, we tried hundreds of different ways to get the UFC logo printed on the gloves so that they will not come off in the octagon.

2:01:14From me testing it on the canvas, doing live situations, sparring, rubbing it in the cage, blah, blah. And they just won't. Why does the old leather work better? Because with everything in the world, but especially in the industry of leather and suede and all this stuff, if I had a pair of leather shoes from 1970, it's going to be different than a leather that's made today. You get what I mean? Like, it just, it changed. But both of them are made today. The old gloves and the new old gloves. It's a different type of leather. So is it a softer leather? It's just, it's, it's just not the same. Like, it's, it's, it's a little, it was a little softer, but it's, it's treated differently to be able to, you know, to, to, before, like, while it's being processed or whatever that whole, like, process looks like, it's just there's some type of, you know, chemical or something that's just different.

2:02:17Because what I had heard was that there's less knockouts with the new old gloves, the gloves that they developed and then they abandoned recently. There's less knockouts. Because I'm just hearing straight from what, you know, the equipment team's being yelled at. So the equipment team is saying that's the issue. Is that this leather doesn't have to do with their lock at the knockout. It's that every time when the fighters come to return a pair of gloves or whatever or even in the fight, these, it's peeling off or chipping off. And that's, that's a hazard if it gets in your eye. Right. You know what I mean?

2:02:49It's more about like the safety of the fighter, not like, we need more knockouts, change of gloves. Interesting. Because it did the knockout, the knockout thing didn't make any sense. No, no, no, it has nothing to do with the knockouts. It's more that the logo wasn't adhering and it doesn't look professional to have these guys fighting a championship fight. And then here's this guy raising his hand. You don't even know, like, you know, you have see logo on the glove. Like what it all gets worn off. It all gets worn off. So we've tried so many different. One of Magic Marker. Don't want to work?

2:03:18Who can't sell a glove with Magic Marker on it? Yeah, but we have to make an official glove, you know, like, because the training gloves, you know, just have UFC somewhere else. The training gloves. What about the people who want to buy an official UFC glove? Yeah, what are they doing with them? If they're going to work out with them, still going to be official. I get it, you know? The best gloves are Trevor Whippins. He makes the best gloves. The best MMA gloves. They're the best. And the UFC was trying to get those for some... I don't want to speak out of line here or out of turn. I don't know exactly what went on, but apparently Trevor wanted more money than they were willing to give him.

2:03:57But he makes the absolute best MMA gloves. They're the best. And they turn over like this, where it's not like this. So you don't like the thing that people, the problem with the old gloves that are now the gloves that everybody uses is that everybody says that they kind of force your hand into an open position and you have to tighten up to make them close. Do you feel that? I agree with that, but I have found the solution to that. What's the solution? Just size up. Oh, one size up? Yeah. They all weigh the same. Interesting. Yeah, they all weigh the same. This last fight, I use the double X. And you usually use an X?

2:04:40Interesting. And I think it's like, you know, a lot of fighters we don't like to stray from what we do. You know what I mean? Uh -huh. Every little thing can fuck with us. You know what I mean? Some fighters maybe I shouldn't have gone to XXL. Yeah, yeah. That's why I did not come up with it. You know what I mean? But yeah, if like if you're like you just have to think it's like, okay, the glove weighs the same. Whether it's an XL or an extra small, it weighs the same. How do they manage that? I don't know. But it weighs the same. That's how it's suspicious. Oh, get a fucking scale out. It was just a big hit.

2:05:18And next time, yeah, but that doesn't make any sense to me. But we're all fighting and you know, unless they make it with thinner pads, I don't... Would have to be. Maybe. Would have to be. Oh yeah, because then your hand can't fit in the... Yeah. Yeah, like if I tried to get into an extra small, it would work. So yeah, um, but like let's say the size between an XL and a XXL way the same. Okay. And I have to consider, okay, I'm getting my hands wrapped as well. Right. So yes, this XL glove fits like a glove. But what about when I wrap my hands? Now I wrap my hands. It's too tight. And then now my hands are like this and I'm like, I'm not for certain.

2:05:59So, the idea is size up, even if it's two sizes up, you're not going to have an issue. You know, or you go with a thinner wrap or no wrap, you have that option. Well, Joe Piper fights with no wrap. Yeah, which is crazy. I think it's savage. I kind of want to do it. Yeah, I would have fought with no wrap with the other glove. The new glove. The new old glove. The new one that they abandoned. The old new glove. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would have fought those felt so much better to me with no wrap. Man, if I was the UFC and clearly I'm not a good businessman, but if I was, I would say, listen, how about you sell us the gloves, we'll promote your gloves, you sell them on your website, we don't make any profit off of it.

2:06:48Just give us your gloves to use for the fights. And we'll blow your business up. That's what I would do. I would say, look, you want a lot of money for your gloves? Good, sell them. Everybody should buy them anyway. He makes the best bag gloves, best barring gloves. Trevor's a fucking wizard man. Yeah, that's what I've gathered from just like. Very interesting guy. Very smart guy. Great trainer. Just a great person. But his gloves, his MMA gloves, you put them on. You're like, oh, why aren't they all like this? The padding is a much more sophisticated padding. Yeah, in the boxing. I remember, I think one time he sent me a pair of boxing gloves.

2:07:25Like, this was a couple of years ago. And I saw it, like, it came with this paper. And you're supposed to put a blow dryer in it first. And you turn the blow dryer on to warm up the padding in there. Specifically, like, for that. And then once it's heated up, then you put the glove on and the wrap it up. And then you let the padding cool down. And then it molds to your hand. I don't know if people remember that about the glove. But that's how you should wear those gloves. Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know that. That makes sense. But he was explaining to me the different kinds of foam that you can buy.

2:07:58And that people buy cheap foam. And it's not as like high density. And it's not as good. Doesn't protect you as well. And his is like the most expensive, but the best. But when his gloves, the design of his gloves, your hands are curled. Curled. Like this. So it's an effort to do that. But I don't know, man. I feel like we're stagnant in innovation with glove development in the first place. Because I don't think this is necessary. No. I train with the old, like, Ali mittens. Oh, okay. Those are my favorite gloves in the world to do MMA with. Put a wrap on under it, you know, for padding or a pad, whatever.

2:08:40And I can still grapple with it. Yeah. My fingers are just like this. Of course, which is, but this, this is how you grapple anyway. Yeah, exactly. You never do this. No. Never interlace your fingers. So why are the fingers even exposed? I don't know. Because I poke through a giant issue. And if you, let's say you could just eliminate finger pokes and all you have is thumb pokes, you would take away 80, 90 % of all eye pokes. Yeah. And it would be obvious if someone did it on purpose. And then Derek Lewis would be fucked.

2:09:11I'm not going to interview that. I'll poke him in the eye. I kick him in the neck. He's so crazy. Well, what a guy. He was telling the truth about like hitting someone in the nuts because he was tired. Yeah, he's like, I was tired. I needed five more minutes or so. He's like, I'll poke him in the eye. He was like, I cheat. He was like, I cheat. I was like, dude, this is the what the hell. But he's also crazy enough to say that, um, that he's like, oh, yeah, the UFC is scripted. Oh, yeah. That was ridiculous. That's like dude, anybody, I was like, I know you're joking, but like the problem is that I get on the internet.

2:09:41There's so many people that have these. I knew it. Yeah, like there's so many people that believe you now. Like, that's a funny joke, but damn it, dude. Bro, there's no script. When you see the way he knocked out Curtis Blades, there's no script for that, bro. Yeah, you can't. There's no script. Derek has got some phenomenal God -given power. He cannot script what we do. Yeah, no, of course he can't script it. It's super obvious to anybody that watches. That's the dumbest ever casual fan, like comments. This is scripted fake. He was supposed to win. Yeah, like, stop, stop, shut up. And the UFC in a white maiden win that fight.

2:10:18Oh, it's so crazy to say. But that said, like, here's the thing. You know, Aspen Hall is going to fight Cyril Gone. Yeah. I might, if I was running things, I might set up the Derek Lewis fight with Aspen Hall. I might say forget Cyril Gone for now. Like Derek just has his big knockout win. Who's more popular than Derek? Who's more beloved by fans and Derek? Yeah, I mean, that would be a great fight to set up, absolutely. But I think that from, I guess, a business standpoint. It makes sense to you, Cyril, because of everything that he's doing in France. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense, right? Movie star.

2:10:59You know what I mean? Right, right. The entire country behind him now. So like, yeah, with the inner, with the UFC, you know, expanding internationally. It's like, you know, Aspen Hall is a, you know, British icon. Mm -hmm. Cyril's a French icon. The whole Aspen Hall, John Jones thing is so crazy. The whole thing is so crazy. Yeah, absolutely. John doesn't seem to. John Margis is the beat of his own drummer son. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, he's dead set in what he wants and how he views it. And so like, now he wants to fight for the title at the White House. And Dana Shadan. Dana Shadan. No, I can't trust John.

2:11:43Yeah. To not fuck something up. Yeah, which is wild. Yeah. But also, what are you going to say when John just recently gotten more trouble? I mean, it's, it's, it's tough. I mean, for Dana, you know, in his position. Yeah. It's too risky. It is. It's a very risky. Like, oh, yeah. And it sucks because it's like, man, you've got so much talent and the most talent. And such an incredible resume. Yeah. And I like, there's nothing that I can really do about it. The story is old as time, though, isn't it? Yeah. The story is old as time. Well, that's one of the things I appreciate about you. Like, you're a very different kind of dude, you know, who's in the same business.

2:12:25Yeah. Same wild ass chaotic business. But you choose to put your sights on a different prize. Like, you're, you're about growth. Yeah. You know, you're about your own mind and conquering these challenges. And this is what it's about for you. Yeah. I'm, I'm grateful and blessed to be in the position that I'm in. And like, I don't want to, I don't want to waste anything. You know what I mean? Like, I don't want to waste it. I want to be able to look back when I'm older and, and know that I use my time, you know, in a, in a good way. Um, that I continue to grow and to learn and develop until it's over, you know, like, I think John does that too.

2:13:08But also, he just loves to party. He just, he gets crazy. He just loves to get crazy. And I think that like, we've seen that so many times. Like, there's, we've seen so many athletes and celebrities fall victim. Yep. To fame and partying. Oh, yeah. And what that comes with. We're watching them with Connor and we've seen the same people who are addicted to discipline. And you admire. And what they, who are you going to listen to first thing in the morning? You know, it's the compete. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like, if there is anybody as a, as a combat sports, you know, practitioner and fighter.

2:13:51If there's anybody who I would say like, I'd want to be or like model myself after in my career, be Muhammad Ali. Mm.

2:14:03Just because of everything, you know what I mean? Like, humanitarian. Yeah. Like, he was beloved by people from all around the world. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, just different medals from United Nation. And like, you know what I mean? Like, just cultural figure. And like, not that, like, I'm not as outspoken as, you know, as he was. But for just like, the things that he was also remembered for outside of the ring, I just look at that as like so admirable. And he gave young men like me something to kind of like, aim at and like model myself after. You know, like that to me, I feel like is very important, especially in this country.

2:14:44And as a young man who maybe doesn't have a father figure or who doesn't know what to become. And then you read the story of Ali and you're like, oh, that's similar to me. I can become something. I can be an Olympian. I can be a champion. Like, it just takes this. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not different. I'm actually, there's actually people like me out there. And like, you know, it just gives you something to kind of hope to become. And so I try to, I try to just be authentically me so that. Whoever out there does connect with me can see that, you know, yeah, you can go through certain shit.

2:15:20But like, there's so much stuff that's possible for you. Like your life's not over. Yeah, you're in a bad position now, but you can get yourself out of it. There's tons of help out there. You know, mental health is a big thing. You know, it's not the end of the world, you know, and if you feel like it is, their support. You know, and if you actually have a disorder, their support for that too. And there's also outlets like martial arts and, you know, communities and things like that. That will make you feel less alone in life. And like, martial arts is a big one. You know, that's a big one. And people that feel outside, go to a martial arts studio.

2:15:58Go to a gym where you're going to find a whole lot of people just like you. Yeah. That are already on this path. Yeah. And that are cool people to learn from. I mean, that's what changed. That's what I just put myself in a new environment. And then I started learning how to eat and how to think. You know what I mean? And started to get courage and carry myself differently. And then I started coming down and blah, blah, blah. And then there you go. You know, my mental health stuff was a lot less. You know, it's never gone away completely. You know, but it's a lot less than it was when I was 19 years old.

2:16:34But I mean, does it ever go away completely from anybody? No, it's life. You know what I mean? Like it's life. But we don't, a lot of people, we don't have the tools, you know, or we don't have the people to listen to or whatever to be able to be like, okay, it's not just me. It's everyone. So what can I do to deal with this? You know what I mean? Yeah. I think that, yeah, that's kind of my thing. So I think about when I get on a microphone or when I go fight or whatever, like there's a sense of responsibility. It's not just about me in this world, you know? Like, and that's, it's, to be honest, it's a struggle.

2:17:07It's hard to not, it's hard to think that way. It's very easy to be selfish. It's very easy to just think me, me, me, me, me, you know? My problems, my struggles, my this. But like, to consider millions of people and lives and children and youth and teenagers that are watching the sport and not at all, like, I have to be conscious of the things that I do and how I live my life because I don't want to be the guy on the news. You know what I mean? Like, I just don't want to be that terrible. I'm terrified of prison. You know what I mean? I'm fucking, you know, I'm trying to make friends with police officers.

2:17:46You know what I mean? Like, yeah. I'm like, I'm just like, okay, like, trying to do the right thing. Not only for myself, but for my family, for my father, you know? So like, there's just a lot of responsibility that comes with this game. And how we live our lives, man. Well, that's very admirable. And I'm glad there's people like you out there that do present a very positive role model because I know for a lot of young people, they turn towards really successful people in sports and particularly fighters, especially if you are a martial artist yourself and you look at someone who carries themselves a certain way and you admire it and you want to be like that person.

2:18:25Like, I want, I aspire to be my own version of what that means to me, what this person means to me, what they represent to me, which is like a championship mindset. Like someone who's, like, there's a lot of people with championship mindset that never become a champion but they 100 % inspire people to live better lives. Yeah, and that's the journey. That's the path that I'm on for the rest of my life. Beautiful. Yeah. This is the best way to end the podcast. Yeah, absolutely. Lizzy and brother, I appreciate you very much and I wish you all the best of luck and I'm really excited to see this fight with Yuri Pahaska.

2:19:06Thanks, sure. It should be a banger. Thanks for having me. My pleasure. Congratulations on everything. Thanks, son. I look forward to congratulating you again. Hell yeah. All right. All right. Bye everybody. Later.

2:19:26Bye.