Dustin Poirier is a UFC lightweight champion and one of the best fighters in the history of the division. He's been in the UFC for 11 years and has a record of 5-2. He talks about how he got to where he is now, what it takes to get to that point, and what he's learned along the way. He also talks about what it's like to be on the losing end of a UFC fight, and how important it is to have confidence in yourself and your ability to bounce back after a loss. He also shares some of the lessons he learned from his losses and how he uses them as fuel to keep pushing forward and keep improving. It was an honor to have Dustin on the show and I hope you enjoy this episode! The Joe Rogan Experience is a series of interviews with professional mixed martial artists from the world of the martial arts industry where they discuss what it means to be a UFC fighter and what it really takes to be successful in the sport of mixed martial arts. This episode is a must-listen and is definitely worth the listen! -Joe Rogan and John Grzegorek Thanks for listening and supporting the show. -Jon Sorrentino and Jonny Bynum Thank you so much for being a part of the podcast and supporting this podcast and making it what it is! Cheers, Jon and John :) - Jon & Jonny - Your support is greatly appreciated! Jon and Jon and we appreciate it greatly. Love ya, Jon & appreciate you. - The Joe and Jon's support is so much more than you can do so much, we really appreciate it. -Jon & Jon's love you, Jonny's support us, appreciate you, you're a lot more than we can do it. Thank you for supporting us, we appreciate you and appreciate you for making this podcast, we're very much appreciate it, we mean it, Jon's appreciation you, much more, you mean a lot, and we really do it, it means a lot. XOXO. -A LOTS OF THANK YOU, JONY & AJ & AJ. -JONY - THE BOY, JOE RYAN & JODY OYO - Thank you, JOSY & JORO & JUICY POOYO, etc. - MALAYA AND KELLY PODCAST
00:00:29.000You know, the guy's such a celebrity, but just another win.
00:00:32.000Well, if you look at your last, like there was a, I think it was an Instagram post or someone put up, your last victories, all the guys that you've beaten.
00:00:40.000Like, dude, I mean, you talk about earning your way to the top.
00:00:44.000I mean, you went through a fucking who's who, a murderer's row of the 155 pound division.
00:01:42.000Even when shit's going to get bad in there, I just trust myself to find a way.
00:01:46.000And I think that comes with fighting at the highest level for as long as I have.
00:01:50.000I've been going on like 11 years in the UFC. It also like being at the brink a couple of times like the Jim Miller fight when your leg was so fucked up.
00:02:01.000You talk about like lessons learned and how they pay off later.
00:02:05.000So interesting because your leg was so fucked up in that fight and then to have you debilitate Connor in the exact same way and then stop him right after that.
00:02:42.000And that's what I'm talking about, finding a way.
00:02:43.000Like, I trust myself to grab that damn foot.
00:02:46.000Yeah but isn't it crazy how those pivotal moments in a fight like it could go this way or it could go that way and it goes your way and then you know you see guys careers teeter in the balance of those pivotal moments.
00:02:58.000Yeah if it goes that way a couple times in a row a lot of guys can't come back from that.
00:03:02.000But we were talking recently about Anderson Silva.
00:03:05.000You think about Anderson Silva's spectacular career, and then Weidman knocks him out, and then he doesn't win another fight for years.
00:03:12.000He wins one fight with a decision over Derek Brunson, and that's it.
00:03:16.000Every fight since then, he's lost, which is crazy.
00:03:20.000I don't want to say that that's because of just his age and decline, but it could be that, or it could be some guys just don't know how to lose.
00:03:27.000Some guys just don't know how to lose.
00:03:29.000He's been on top, so successful for so long, and you start getting...
00:04:42.000Now, my fights are bigger, so before, you know, in the past, I would have a fight six weeks notice, but now the fights are bigger, so there's more buildup, and I usually try to get at least eight weeks.
00:04:52.000And in between fights, how do you schedule your workouts?
00:05:01.000So I have a personal gym in Louisiana, and a bunch of my buddies that I grew up with fighting in Louisiana have gyms as well.
00:05:07.000So I train with their guys, and I train with those guys who will get together at my gym, just throw something together, or I'll go to one of their classes.
00:06:31.000Yeah, it's crazy like the lineages of jujitsu and martial arts and you know where you meet people and train people and learn under their tutelage.
00:06:40.000Yeah, and it's growing so much, but it's still a small circle, even though it's growing as fast as it is.
00:06:46.000Everybody knows somebody that knows somebody.
00:08:03.000Otherwise, I go to their gyms and run classes with them.
00:08:06.000And do you have local boxing coaches or local Muay Thai coaches or jiu-jitsu coaches that you work with?
00:08:13.000Yeah, I have a boxing coach in Louisiana.
00:08:15.000And my kickboxing, I kind of do with the students.
00:08:18.000We just work stuff back and forth, a lot of Holland drills, a lot of Thai pads.
00:08:22.000But I don't have somebody I work with on a regular basis, really, for striking there.
00:08:28.000I just kind of move around and have fun.
00:08:31.000So when you get ready for a camp, like say if you get ready for a Conor fight or a Khabib fight or something like that, when you go down to American Top Team, who formulates the game plans?
00:08:54.000But he puts together my training camp.
00:08:57.000And I've been fighting for long enough.
00:08:58.000I kind of self-regulate throughout camp.
00:08:59.000But Mike Brown puts down the meat and potatoes of what we need to work on and focus on.
00:09:04.000And so, when you get down there, like, say a fight, like a Khabib fight or something like that, you have, like, specific things you want to work on and specific timelines you want to get these things in by.
00:09:16.000Like, how does an eight-week camp get structured?
00:10:04.000So DC says in the detail breakdown, I kick Conor's calf, and Conor steps back and his leg kind of goes, and DC says, well, that's the leg kick that hurt his leg or whatever, but...
00:10:15.000After that leg kick, he kind of reached down to grab the foot and threw an uppercut.
00:10:18.000And I was switch stance, so I threw a cross from my backhand that clipped him good.
00:10:22.000And that's when he took the step back and was hurt.
00:10:25.000I think that's a detail people are missing.
00:10:36.000But the detail, what I was going to get over is the difference between the first fight and the second fight was you were landing hard leg kicks in the first fight, but you were landing them on the thigh.
00:10:45.000And then it switched over to the calf.
00:10:46.000What a crazy difference that calf kick has made in MMA over the last few years.
00:11:08.000It's so wild that this one kick was almost ignored.
00:11:11.000I always give Benson Henderson credit because I think he was the first guy to start using it in the UFC. But for whatever reason, he didn't have the same impact with it.
00:14:46.000Everything that holds water and keeps you hydrated kind of gets flushed out in that process because you're not putting anything back, no potassium, no anything.
00:14:52.000So your body naturally dehydrates itself over the fight week.
00:14:59.000I diet down for eight weeks, get as close as I can, and then the water cut is usually like 12, 10 pounds at 55. So it's a complex process, right?
00:15:32.000You look so much bigger than you looked when you were at 145. One of the things that we were talking about was when you were fighting Conor, your fucking back looks huge.
00:15:53.000And, you know, the reach, the length when I'm twisting my body, I feel like, you know, guys feel like they're out of range, but I can still touch them.
00:16:42.000Even when I fought Dan, he fought me in the pocket a lot.
00:16:44.000Yeah, I feel like Dan was trying to pace himself or something, like he was setting himself up for a long fight, and Chandler just charged forward.
00:19:58.000And then, you know, what had happened before that with him throwing the cart at the bus and, you know, fights got canceled because broken glass.
00:27:51.000I mean, obviously Logan Paul's not a real professional boxer in terms of like, certainly not in the caliber of Floyd Mayweather, but he's a big fucking dude.
00:28:03.000Yeah, huge, because Floyd's not a big guy.
00:28:32.000Floyd didn't even look like he trained a day for that fight.
00:28:35.000He looked like he was a little bit out of shape, like he had a little ring around the midsection, and smiling like he knew what he was going to do.
00:37:43.000Well, I think Adesanya realized, like, early on in the fight, Adesanya, he attacked, and Yoel countered with a big left hand and clipped him, and you could see Izzy realizing, like, this motherfucker is fast, and he's playing this weird game where he just wants to stand there and wait for you,
00:38:00.000and then just explode on you, you know?
00:38:02.000But you look at some of his knockouts, like the knockout of Chris Weidman, you're like, Jesus Christ, look at him!
00:40:49.000You have to randomly get tested to pop these guys.
00:40:52.000Otherwise, if you know when you fight, like on a normal fight, like we're talking about with Bellator or something, you know you're getting tested that night probably.
00:40:58.000So you do your drugs, whatever you're going to do, and just make sure you're clean that night.
00:42:11.000I wasn't at a big gym where that was around, so I've never really been exposed to it.
00:42:15.000Yeah, well, I wonder with some gyms, you know, if they have chemists and scientists and they're trying to figure out workarounds.
00:42:23.000Because one of the weird things about MMA is you've got some very wealthy people who invest in MMA and it's a super positive thing like Dan Lambert.
00:42:37.000And what he did with the American Top Team is literally helped elevate the sport in a gigantic way.
00:42:43.000He spent millions and millions of dollars.
00:42:46.000He took care of the fighters, he created dormitories, he built a state-of-the-art, world-class facility, hired the best instructors, and really elevated what it means to have a world-class MMA gym.
00:43:48.000You know, like, when you hear about that Victor Conte thing with Balco, when they developed the clear that they used for Barry Bonds, they had this undetectable steroid.
00:43:56.000They basically had a steroid that, when they went to look for the steroids in the tests, the standard tests that they used, the steroid wouldn't show up.
00:44:03.000Yeah, the crooks are always out in front trying to figure a new way.
00:44:06.000Then the other side catches up and you've got to figure something else out.
00:44:11.000It's a cat and mouse game of getting jacked.
00:44:14.000Well, I always wonder what's happening right now.
00:44:16.000What's happening right now that we're going to hear about in the future?
00:44:18.000Did you ever see the documentary Icarus?
00:45:34.000Yeah, because they need that endurance.
00:45:37.000But, you know, for a guy like TJ, I guess, I read an interview recently where he's talking about it, that he was anemic because he had starved himself to try to make 125. He's big, man.
00:47:13.000So the stem cells didn't work because, you know, stem cells might help connective tissue and stuff like that, but it was a, the construction, like, of my...
00:48:31.000I was still, like, really focused on becoming a better defensive fighter and trying to make less mistakes, so I watched a lot of Peniel Whitaker and stuff like that.
00:48:38.000I got to really sit back and just watch fights.
00:50:49.000So for that, before the surgery, sprints, if I ran sprints, I would pay for it for a week and a half with my hip.
00:50:55.000So I'd have to pick and choose what I'm going to do.
00:50:57.000Or if I repped a bunch of kicks on my left leg, anything over the body, like if I went high or even the body, too many of them, I would pay for it for a week and a half after.
00:51:05.000It was always usually a week, a week and a half of really bad soreness if I pushed it too far with my hip.
00:51:10.000So the hooker fight was how many months ago?
01:00:08.000So were you concerned that this was kind of a career ender?
01:00:11.000Like, what was the doctor's prognosis when he saw how bad it was in there?
01:00:14.000He kind of gave me some confidence because he told me the spacing in my hip, from my femur to my hip socket, the spacing is healthy.
01:00:21.000So that's what they usually, like hip replacements and stuff, if you're spacing, you have no room in there, that's when they usually have to do something or it's a threat to your career.
01:00:31.000My body pushed more bone on the outside of my femur and wouldn't allow me to...
01:00:35.000So it's basically an injury that you should have taken care of a while ago and you kind of let it go a little too long and it started getting weird.
01:01:19.000But it seems like now if you've got stem cells, since they've re-rounded it and everything, maybe it would help heal up that area a little bit better.
01:01:25.000Yeah, we did PRP when they closed it up after surgery.
01:02:01.000I don't fully understand how stem cells, like, what was arthritis or she had a tear?
01:02:06.000Yeah, arthritis, you know, some cartilage issues and some meniscus issues.
01:02:11.000And, you know, it just, it's soft tissue and it can regenerate tissue and reduces inflammation pretty radically and it can...
01:02:20.000It really should be used much more extensively in the United States, but for whatever reason, whether it's political, whether it's the FDA, who is responsible for regulating it, they're not showing any real significant problems from people using it,
01:02:38.000but they are showing a lot of significant benefits.
01:02:41.000It's crazy how they go into your body and know what to repair and what to do, right?
01:02:47.000Yeah, they've got a lot of people who are going down to Columbia now, and Dr. Neil Reardon, who's been on my show before, he took care of TJ. TJ went down to Panama, and that's where I sent my mom.
01:04:35.000I like to use my training as my conditioning.
01:04:38.000I don't do a whole lot of extra things for conditioning.
01:04:40.000Like I said, erodyne bike here and there, sprints, but we don't do anything crazy or really focused on cardio.
01:04:47.000And I think, naturally, I have a little bit of a gift, and everybody's different.
01:04:51.000My cardio, even off the couch, I'm pretty good.
01:04:54.000So the stuff that you do with Phil Darrow, is that more strength stuff?
01:04:59.000Strength stuff and accessory works, like keep my shoulders healthy, my hips healthy, my flexibility, stuff like that.
01:05:07.000But at the beginning, the first phase is strength.
01:05:09.000We get a base, and then we kind of start branching off every week after that.
01:05:14.000And so when you said that he does stuff to keep your body healthy, like, do you do stuff specifically to work your back muscles to keep from being injured?
01:05:33.000I mean, now and then I have a crick in it, or not a crick, but like I'll jam it in wrestling, you know, shooting a double leg and get my head jammed back and then I'm sore for a few days, but nothing serious.
01:06:27.000I tell guys all the time, like younger fighters that I work with, of course it's punching power.
01:06:32.000Some guys just have natural punching power, but a lot of times in fights you see guys go down, it's their positioning when they receive the shot.
01:06:41.000Feet on the ground, neck in a position ready to receive a blow like that.
01:06:45.000If you're throwing a hook and your neck's disconnected, like Anderson Silva, Chris Weidman.
01:06:49.000Pulling back, your neck disconnected from your body, it's going to take all of that spin and whip.
01:06:54.000Or the opposite side of that, you've got a guy like Justin Gaethje who sits down and just takes, but he's set and ready to receive, like his body's ready for the impact.
01:07:03.000I think that's important, man, on the receiving side of it.
01:12:01.000Nothing overwhelming or that really surprises me.
01:12:05.000It's just his understanding of balance and weight placement was incredible, dude.
01:12:09.000I've been fighting and wrestling a long time as well, but he just knew where my weight was and where it needed to be for me to stay up with his foot trips.
01:12:19.000It's hard to explain, man, but he's good.
01:12:21.000No, that makes a lot of sense, his positioning.
01:12:24.000He's so good at taking guys down and holding them down.
01:14:48.000And also, all these fighters have so much time to study you.
01:14:52.000So much time to look at, like, how many people are gonna look at the Justin Gaethje fight and go, wow, he was in danger with those leg kicks.
01:14:59.000How many people are going to look at that like, hey, that guillotine was fucking tight.
01:15:03.000How many people are going to look at the moments that he's had where maybe he had some vulnerability where someone has a specific skill set that could have capitalized on that?
01:15:14.000I think Gleason Tebow is the closest to ever beating him.
01:17:35.000Cutting all the weight, doing the interviews, the fashion show that Mixed Martial Arts turned into with Instagram and social media and the call-outs and just all that hype stuff.
01:17:47.000You seem very smart about that stuff, particularly with social media.
01:17:51.000You don't seem to get into any weird back and forths with people.
01:17:55.000You don't seem to be paying attention to haters.
01:17:57.000I'll make fun of myself with the guys, you know?
01:18:00.000Because I know that with the social media stuff, when I was younger, man, like around the Conor fight, I used to read everything and thought about every comment and stuff.
01:18:08.000And I don't really care anymore because just over maturity, I realized that they don't know me.
01:18:13.000So the things they're saying, it's meaningless.
01:20:02.000If you gave any hater dork that's never worked out a day in his life and you said, hey man, I'm gonna give you a pill and the pill's gonna turn you into a beast.
01:20:11.000Like, with this pill, you'll be able to fuck people up.
01:22:10.000And I guess he's got those squared away.
01:22:13.000Because if he's healthy, if he doesn't have any back problems, every moment you're standing with that guy is a dangerous, dangerous moment.
01:27:21.000The worst head trauma that I think I've had in my career, and I've been stopped a couple times from strikes, was in Dallas when Eddie Alvarez kneed me.
01:27:43.000And I wasn't out or anything like that, but the symptoms the next day, because my wife drove there, and we drove back to Louisiana right after the fight the next day, and I was sick, car sick, the bumps in the road, the light was messing with me.
01:27:56.000I said, this is for sure, you know, for sure from getting hit in the head.
01:28:11.000I have an idea for a TV show that's kind of getting some traction.
01:28:15.000I want to call it Food Fight and travel to different cities and train at gyms and then explore local restaurants because I like to cook and I'm a foodie.
01:28:36.000Put it on YouTube, let it grow, and then sell it somewhere.
01:28:39.000The thing about these shows is they don't give it a chance to find its place, find what it is.
01:28:44.000And if you're doing a show like that, and you're a slave to the ratings...
01:28:50.000If you put it up on YouTube, first of all, it's going to get an automatic audience because it's free, it's available, and it's you, and you're popular, and it's an interesting idea.
01:28:58.000And it also doesn't have to be as structured.
01:29:00.000When you do something for a network, there's a lot of pressure involved.
01:31:44.000Yeah, like when you cook, are you a guy that, like, do you go to the supermarket and get all your prep in advance and you got like a shopping list and the whole deal?
01:32:07.000Yeah, I get my list together, and then even when I'm cooking stuff that I don't know a whole lot about, like if I'm trying to do something new, I'll get the list, kind of read the instructions or the recipe, then I won't look at it again.
01:32:20.000I kind of got an idea of how, okay, and then I just put my own twist on everything.
01:32:25.000Add a little of this, a little of that.
01:32:27.000Yeah, and I enjoy that, dude, getting all the stuff for the grocery store, going back home, prepping everything.
01:33:16.000He'll tell me, okay, you can have a four-ounce piece of salmon or something like that, and I'll just kind of prep it out for the week and keep it switched up.
01:33:24.000So I'll cook salmon and chicken for the week, and that way I'm not eating salmon every day.
01:33:28.000And when you do something like that, do you have to be careful about sodium content and content of sugar and different things that you put in your...
01:33:58.000Breakfast, a light snack, lunch, a light snack, dinner.
01:34:02.000So you're just constantly keeping food in your body, and how many times are you training a day when you're in camp?
01:34:09.000Usually two times, or one time with a run, or one time with a swim.
01:34:14.000I do active recovery stuff between, and like I said, I self-regulate my camp, so if I'm feeling a little run down or something's hurting, I'll pull back, but usually two times.
01:34:22.000And do you use anything like a whoop strap or a monitor, heart rate monitor, anything like that?
01:34:28.000So I started using a whoop strap, and I used it for a while, and then I was like, let me take this shit off because it's messing with my head.
01:34:52.000Well, not fucking with my head, but making me say, why am I wearing this and paying this membership whenever it's saying you're not ready, but I'm fucking, I'm getting ready.
01:35:05.000Some guys like using it particularly to see what your resting heart rate is and to make sure it's not elevated.
01:35:11.000Steve Maxwell once told me that if you pay attention to your resting heart rate, And if it's 10 beats above what it normally is when you wake up in the morning, he's like, take the day off.
01:35:21.000He goes like, your body's fighting some shit off.
01:35:23.000It's going to be a lot of days off if I do that.
01:38:13.000Well, it'd be interesting because Dana's saying he doesn't want to do it in a stadium or arena unless he can fully sell tickets or whatever.
01:38:19.000We just went to Abu Dhabi, so I'm thinking if me and Connor did have the trilogy, it might be in Abu Dhabi because they're allowed limited ticket sales or whatever.
01:39:21.000They kind of, we've kind of Try to put ourselves in the best position to sit at the table with them and have a legit conversation about getting this fight booked.
01:39:32.000Like I said, we're trying to structure the right deal.
01:39:34.000When it happens, I think the fight will be on.
01:40:00.000Especially now that you don't have the injury anymore and you're healed up from that and you're riding high right now.
01:40:05.000Would you prefer maybe get the Nate Diaz fight in first?
01:40:09.000No, because I think the longer removed from this last fight with me and Conor, the further we remove and it just takes away from the heat behind it.
01:41:46.000I think it's going to be something soon, because we've got to keep it moving.
01:41:48.000They're not going to sit forever chasing Khabib, and the division has to move on.
01:41:53.000It is interesting that in the time where that low calf kick is coming to prominence, and this is also the time when Conor started moving away from the sport, took time off, fought boxing, then came back and had the fight with Khabib,
01:42:08.000and then came back and had the fight with Cowboy.
01:42:10.000The calf kick was never in play in any of his fights.
01:42:13.000But if you look at him stylistically, and this is one of the things, I love DC's detail that he does on ESPN. It's amazing.
01:42:20.000But when he broke down Conor's heavy weight on the right leg, he leans in like this all the time.
01:42:27.000He puts a lot of weight on that right leg.
01:42:29.000When he paused in that southpaw stance, and because you fight southpaw a lot as well, it just opens up that kick so big.
01:43:13.000Yeah, the one time when you caught him several times, but one time when you caught him with that counter right hook and you pointed at him, you're like, ah, got you, bitch.
01:45:57.000Because I'm still, my wife's birthday's coming up, so we're going to go somewhere for a couple days.
01:46:02.000Like, I'm still not, I will if I get the call and it's time to go to work, I will lock myself in training camp.
01:46:09.000But I'm still not right now ready to just go back to Florida a month removed from the last fight and then lock down for another 10 weeks or whatever it is.
01:46:40.000And obviously, I mean, honestly, it's not a lot of time to adjust and work on what he needs to work on for the calf kick or what I want to switch up, you know?
01:46:49.000We're just right back in camp getting ready to fight.
01:47:01.000Like right now when I'm in the gym having fun, rolling and doing light kickboxing drills with my friends where I feel like the big gains are made when I'm having fun.
01:47:10.000Because I'm kind of tunnel vision in training camp.
01:47:13.000I'm showing up, all right, let's wrestle.
01:47:14.000I'm not having fun and exploring different things.
01:47:17.000So in between camps, that's when you're loose and you experiment and learn things?
01:47:22.000Yeah, trying stuff I wouldn't normally do.
01:47:34.000Like in the Dan Hooker fight, against the fence, having fun, messing with my guys, I always chop them with the inside of my hand, like from a clinch position.
01:47:44.000But that's from just having fun and, you know, fighting.
01:47:48.000Now, when you look at your career, you've had this amazing career so far, and you're talking about maybe retiring somewhere around 35. Do you have specific milestones?
01:47:58.000Like, I know you said you want to fight at 170. Do you have specific fighters in mind that you would like to fight both in lightweight and maybe in welterweight?
01:48:41.000Yeah, but like watching Eddie when I was younger, watching Eddie fight him and then being in a place in my career where Eddie was in the UFC in the same division, I'm like, fuck, this could happen.
01:48:51.000You know, because I'm a fan of the sport as well.
01:48:58.000Now there's been a lot of talk about Chandler because of his big opening fight in the UFC. He's got this spectacular knockout of Hooker.
01:49:05.000There's a lot of talk about him fighting for the title soon.
01:49:08.000Do you think that when a guy comes in from another organization like that and just immediately jumps up to the top of the heap, obviously he earned a lot of respect with that Hooker knockout, but do you think it makes sense for him to fight for a title really quickly when there's all these guys like Justin,
01:49:23.000like you, like Charles Olivera in particular, that have had to pay their dues?
01:49:28.000Dude, I'm not in a position to call it, but I just feel like he needs to cut...
01:49:32.000And I respect the guy, and he's a great fighter, but he just needs to cut his teeth in the UFC a little bit more, a little bit longer.
01:49:38.000Do you think that, for a marketing standpoint, to make a big-name fight for you and him, or...
01:49:44.000Let's say they do Conor and you for the title, and you win, you got the title, and then they say, next up for you is Michael Chandler.
01:49:52.000Do you think that makes sense, or do you think Chandler's got a...
01:50:43.000Yeah, those are three fights that in my head I think about, but I'm sure there's a bunch of fights, fun fights that could happen.
01:50:50.000But those three are the ones I think are possibilities of what's next.
01:50:53.000And when you say one day you want to fight at 170, do you think that's when you're 34?
01:50:59.000Do you think you're going to finish your career at 170?
01:51:01.000I think I'll be able to finish my career at 55, but I'm interested in going to 70, see how I feel.
01:51:07.000And Nate's at 170. He said he's not fighting 55, so that's a little bit more motivation to go up there.
01:51:12.000And it'd be cool to say, you know, at the end of my career that I fought in three different weight classes in the UFC. But I can maintain 55 for the rest of my career.
01:51:22.000Now, do you think that you'll maintain a gym when you're gone and when you're out of the sport?
01:52:57.000I think one of the cool things about the UFC is they do take guys like Dominick Cruz, take guys like DC, Paul Felder, and they give them careers as commentators, and I think they're the best commentators.
01:54:35.000I have a lot of buddies who I talk to, and when they lose, I talk to them about my losses and just other things.
01:54:41.000I have a lot to give, and I've learned a lot through fighting.
01:54:44.000And I would love to shed some light on that with people and continue to do that.
01:54:49.000But outside of fighting, I'm doing some awesome things with my foundation I'm very proud of, but I'm not trying to be a role model or anything like that outside of fighting.
01:55:00.000Bouncing back from losses and teaching a fighter how to do that by the example of you bouncing back from losses I think is gigantic because it's one of the most devastating things for a fighter.
01:55:10.000You train for weeks or months and then you have this big moment and then before you know it, it's over and you've lost or maybe you got stopped and then you have to figure out how to rebuild.
01:55:21.000What's been the most difficult fight for you to bounce back from?
01:55:26.000The first Conor McGregor loss was a big one, but my loss to Michael Johnson was painful, man.
01:55:31.000Was that painful because you had already moved up to 55 and you had found the best weight class?
01:55:38.000Yeah, and I started establishing myself.
01:55:39.000I was on a streak, and I was just so confident I was going to win that fight.
01:55:44.000And then to get stopped, that one just hurt because I had just built myself back up in a different weight class.
01:55:51.000The Conor thing, when I lost to Conor at 45, the goal was to stay at 45 and be the world champ, or at least fight for the belt before I moved up.
01:55:58.000But me and my coaches always knew that I had to move up.
01:56:00.000I was just getting too heavy, and it was hurting me too much.
01:56:02.000So when I lost to Conor, I realized I got two or three more fights to put myself back in that title position and we just can't do it.
01:56:08.000So we went up to 55 and I kind of re-established myself and I got a streak going.
01:56:12.000I don't know how many fights it was, but I beat some good guys and I went on a run and then I lost and it just put me back in that down on myself position that I was when I lost to Conor.
01:56:23.000When you go back and look at the Johnson fight, is there anything that stands out that you did wrong?
01:56:28.000Or anything that stands out in camp that you did wrong?
01:56:33.000Like we talked about earlier, being in position when receiving a shot.
01:57:07.000And I just wanted to use my skills because I know I have all the attributes and the knowledge and understanding of breaking guys down and being a smart fighter and putting great performances together.
01:57:17.000It's just to pull back the maniac inside and not step on the gas early.
01:57:22.000And I think that fight really made me start worrying and focusing on defense.
01:57:27.000Do you think in some ways that fight was actually important for your future?