Tyron Woodley, the next UFC welterweight champion, joins the MFCEO Project to talk about his life growing up in Ferguson, Missouri, and how he came to be the man he is today.
00:00:00.000What's up, guys? You're listening to the MFCEO Project. I am most emphatically not the MFCEO.
00:00:24.480This is Vaughn Kohler, as Andy likes to say, Vaughn the Impaler, the pastor of Disaster. Thanks for listening to the MFCEO Project. I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that Andy is a little under the weather, so we are going to have to carry on without him. That's the bad news. So think about Andy. Throw up a prayer for him. I'm sure he will feel better soon. That's the bad news.
00:00:50.740The good news is that... But that's because, Vaughn, he's sick as fuck. He's sick as fuck. I said under the weather. I'm going to say fuck more often today. This is Ben Newman, by the way. Because everybody tells me I don't say fuck enough. So yeah, this is Ben Newman here, and he's sick as fuck. We need to be clear on that.
00:01:05.660Yes. Yes. Thank you. And I was getting to the good news, which is that Ben is here, which means that the fire is here. But in addition to fire, we have fists. F-I-S-T-S. Fists. Or fist bumps. Uppercuts. Jabs. You name it. We have all of that because of our special guest today. Would you like to introduce him?
00:01:24.160I would love to. So we have a fellow brother of mine in the studio, Tyron, the chosen one, Woodley, the next welterweight champion of the world in the UFC. So welcome to the MFCEO Project Podcast, Tyron.
00:01:41.560Boom, boom. Glad to be on, a fan of the show. And you can drop the F-moms for me as well.
00:01:48.200You guys will say my own hails, because I love the word hail for some reason.
00:01:51.620Yeah, well, you've gone way back with Tyron, I guess. Well, you didn't grow up with him, but you've known him before. You guys have had at least a professional.
00:02:01.340We did, yeah. We nursed on the boobs together.
00:02:05.200I don't know who's going to do it, whether you're going to give us a little background on Tyron or whether Tyron's just going to share his story, and we're just going to jump right into it. But how do you think the best way to proceed would be?
00:02:15.180I'll mention something briefly, and then I'll turn it over to Tyron. You know, there are individuals that you meet in life, and, you know, we all have relationships.
00:02:21.620Like this, where you meet somebody, and it's like an instant bond, like you have known somebody, you know, since we were nursing together, which is not the case.
00:02:29.160And, you know, that's really what happened with Tyron and I. It was actually, Tyron's manager had reached out to me, and he said, hey, let's get you and Tyron together.
00:02:39.120And I said, absolutely. I mean, I was a fan of Tyron's, and I said, this will be fantastic, both St. Louisans, and many people had said that we should meet each other, kind of like Andy's in my relationship when you introduced us.
00:02:48.560And Tyron and I, I went over, I met him at his gym, ATT Evolution. He'll talk a little bit more about his business. It's amazing. He's not just a great fighter. He's a great businessman.
00:02:57.380And we just absolutely hit it off. I mean, family, passions for life, process, work ethic, getting after it, giving it your best.
00:03:05.840And for me, I can speak for myself, it's been like a fast brotherhood and really a blessing to have Tyron now in my life as a friend.
00:03:13.800And I'm excited for everybody to get the opportunity to hear who he is and how he approaches life and how that can impact you and the fire that you bring to your life.
00:03:24.300So, Tyron, I think what would really be fun for everybody is a little bit of background, you know, where you came from, which is an interesting place in American Headlines today,
00:03:33.140and some of your beliefs in how you've grown into what you're doing today.
00:03:37.020Well, I appreciate the intro, number one. Kind words by my man, Ben Newman.
00:03:41.560I'm just a, you know, a young kid from Ferguson, Missouri, grew up walking up and down the streets.
00:03:48.180We didn't have the video games and the cell phones like the kids of today.
00:03:52.220So what we did was we played football, contact, notepads, sprinted on the street, chased each other, played wrestling.
00:04:00.280You know, we pretty much weren't allowed back in the house until the lights came on.
00:04:04.060So I just grew up in a rough environment, you know.
00:04:07.480I was exposed to a lot of, you know, gang affiliation and things of that nature.
00:04:12.640So those things just kind of built me in a different way.
00:04:15.260So when I compete, those of you that see me in octagon and know me as a chosen one, fighting really doesn't scare me.
00:04:22.420You know, I've been fighting my whole life.
00:04:25.580I fought because I had to, and now I fight for funds.
00:04:27.960So in general, you know, I've just been a driven kid that, from a dysfunctional home, you know, father wasn't involved, but I never use it as an excuse.
00:04:37.180Sometimes our youth gets to use it as an excuse.
00:08:00.080It's one where you've defeated a lot of opponents in your life, both in the octagon, on the octagon, however you say that, in the ring, but also different things that you faced in life.
00:08:11.000And I know for the purpose of this podcast, we always want to give people fire for how to kill it in their lives.
00:08:17.340And so I'd love to have a discussion just about, you know, Ben, as you've worked with Tyron, and Tyron, as you've kind of pursued your dreams of doing what you do, you know, what are the principles that guided you?
00:08:30.680How did you get to where you are mentally, you know, physically?
00:08:34.120What are the key ways that you've done that?
00:08:38.140But before you do that, I have to ask, because I saw this on your bio.
00:08:47.760Agricocia economics and business marketing.
00:08:49.780So I started off in engineering, and my first year in engineering school in Mizzou, I was pumped up to be this big computer engineer that was making, at the time, $60,000 was a lot of money.
00:09:01.960So they were like, they're making $60,000, I'm going into this field.
00:09:08.140Then I started competing, and I started, you know, I started as a freshman in college, and then we started traveling, and we started having to watch film, and we started to have to do these individual workouts.
00:09:19.080And pretty much my timetable to academically, you know, strive and athletically strive started to, you know, compete against each other.
00:09:27.900And then my grades started to drop, and I had one horrible semester, you know, I freaking was on academic probation.
00:10:13.760If I'm a city boy or, you know, North County boy, and I can learn how, you know, how to think ahead and project, you know, I can sell anything.
00:10:23.100You know, the business school kind of taught us to be in a classroom with 400 people, midterm final.
00:11:25.200The first time we ever shared the stage to speak was in Las Vegas for MassMutual, and I got done.
00:11:31.540I warmed up the stage for Tyron, and then all of a sudden, I mean, he pops up, and I mean, he was dropping knowledge from books about investments and insurance.
00:11:40.040You would have thought that he was the one who spent the amount of time that I spent in the insurance and investment business.
00:11:44.860The managing partner of that financial group came up to me, and he's just like, that just blew me away.
00:11:51.360And I think that's what makes Tyron so unique.
00:11:53.440It's the way that he has challenged himself to be the best businessman I can be, but to also go kick the shit out of somebody in the octagon.
00:12:12.900I've always believed that everybody can dig deeper with the talents that they have, and you're going to hear with every answer that he has, it's challenging capacity and giving it your best.
00:13:21.200And I used to maybe get in a fight weekly.
00:13:23.540You know, my sisters, they always try to fight me in neighborhood fights, gang fights.
00:13:29.820So, and I wasn't even a fighter of my family.
00:13:32.380My family is, like, in the past was notorious for fighting.
00:13:35.860My sisters, like, you know, Julia, if you knew her in the past, like, and it's funny that I'm the fighter, even though I fought a lot.
00:13:43.020But my family, you know, we've been fighting for everything for a while.
00:13:46.820So to answer your question, you know, it was a little gang that I thought I was a part of.
00:13:52.560A week after I got suspended for 90 days, those guys came to the same academic center because they got into a fight at McClure High School.
00:14:00.960And I'm like, you know what, I would have been here anyway because if I was in school, I would have been in that fight with these guys.
00:14:07.180And then I would have still been here.
00:14:08.880And I just looked at the path, and I was like, you know what, I'm changing my life.
00:16:11.800And now, I'm still driven because I've yet to be the best in the world in something.
00:16:16.500And I'm so damn close right now that, you know, I want to cap off my athletic career with being the best in the world.
00:16:21.560You just said something that hit me hard.
00:16:24.020And I hope the listeners were hit hard by it, too.
00:16:26.660You said, I don't know how I did it, but I know why I did it.
00:16:30.980And it seems to me that what made the difference between everybody else who might have been in that student detention center and you is that you discovered a purpose.
00:16:41.660You didn't want to be like everybody else.
00:19:36.120Well, I mean, you know, again, treating our listeners like they're idiots.
00:19:40.580We've talked about this before, but, Ben, state your principle of reframing again.
00:19:45.240Yeah, so, I mean, reframing right out of the mental toughness playbook, you know, it's our ability to focus on solutions rather than problems.
00:19:52.260And the most successful individuals, that's what they do.
00:19:55.300It doesn't mean that we live in la-la land and we don't experience adversity.
00:19:58.560It just means when you face adversity, you have the ability to focus on the solution rather than the problem.
00:20:04.540So naturally, from your story, some of the things you're sharing, that has happened.
00:20:08.360You know, let's say there's somebody who's running a business who's in sales, who's listening right now.
00:20:13.840You know, the way reframing would work is you get a phone call.
00:20:16.340You thought you'd made an unbelievable sale.
00:20:18.220You're just waiting on the purchase order to come in, and it's going to be this great opportunity.
00:20:21.720You're generating revenue for your business.
00:20:23.200And then you get a phone call that says, hey, we've decided to go another direction.
00:20:27.160Well, we all have a choice at that period in time for growing a business.
00:20:30.280I can go and I can complain to my friend Tyron and say, man, you won't believe what happened to me.
00:20:34.120And then I go tell Vaughn, and then I go tell Tyler.
00:20:36.060Or you can immediately say, can I pick up the phone and call another open opportunity?
00:20:41.640Can I pick up the phone and take an action step that's a positive action step that will keep me moving the ball down the field?
00:20:48.040That's what the most successful people do.
00:20:50.020So even when you face adversity, you reframe it.
00:20:53.280You know, one of the things after our experience down at the fights this last weekend, you know,
00:20:57.680I wrote a piece that everybody can check out on Instagram and on Facebook about Tyron.
00:21:01.460And how I believe that he reframed, and it was a powerful example for all of us, that, you know, here you show up to this fight.
00:21:43.220It's the uncertainty of how do I respond?
00:21:45.240Well, what blew me away is when we talked the day before I was getting ready to take a red eye from Vancouver to go see him was he was so positive.
00:21:54.240You know, in the media, did he bash Johnny Hendricks?
00:30:03.980Be in good cardiovascular shape and you're going to be victorious.
00:30:07.220I didn't have to do all the seven mile runs three days a week.
00:30:10.700Running up the art museum hill with freaking damn training mask on and, you know, sled and all this other crazy stuff.
00:30:17.980It looks cool, but do I really have to do that?
00:30:21.060Because all those things are really just to mentally get yourself stronger.
00:30:24.700And I'm like, if you're already mentally strong and you're ready to roll, then do it.
00:30:28.340So that's how, you know, I do get, I get fear about stupid stuff now.
00:30:32.260Like this whole fight, I was scared that I wasn't scared.
00:30:35.120You know, the part that scared me about this fight is that at first opening when he said, you ready, you ready, let's get it on.
00:30:42.940And when you close that gap and he walking towards you and you walking towards him, I know he want to punch me because I sure in the hell want to punch him.
00:30:50.600And that awkward motion is the slowest.
00:30:53.540I promise you, it feels like extra slow motion when you walking towards that person at an issue engaged.
00:30:59.480That was the only thing that scared me about this fight.
00:31:26.040Well, okay, so take what you just said and specifically apply it to someone who's starting a business and then trying to navigate through all that stuff.
00:31:35.240Well, specifically applying it to business is, as I talked about a second ago, knowing your opponent.
00:31:39.080In business, you got to know your competition.
00:31:40.920You also got to know if it's a niche market.
00:31:43.660I would call myself a social entrepreneur, which means you're an entrepreneur, you own your business, but you're fulfilling the need.
00:31:49.360If I go down the street and it's a, you know, one, two, three fitness right here, do you need to put a two, three, four fitness right next door to it?
00:31:59.140Also, you got to know your business and you got to have people that are with you that are willing to sprint in their lane, not cross over and get disqualified.
00:32:07.620If someone's a great computer programmer and they're great at designs and websites, I don't need that person in the front desk doing sales.
00:32:13.440If someone's a great salesperson and they can sell a shitload of memberships for me, I don't need you back there teaching Carter a kickboxing class when you're really not qualified to do it.
00:32:22.000I think that same thing applies in sport.
00:32:24.620I don't need my striking coach teaching me jiu-jitsu.
00:32:26.920I don't need my jiu-jitsu coach teaching me mental toughness.
00:32:29.680I don't need my mental toughness coach giving me a game plan for my fight.
00:32:32.740So I think that's the main thing in business that we all fall apart.
00:32:49.700So that's the main advice I would have.
00:32:52.500And when you know your market so well, you know your competition so well, and you know your runners so well, you know, and be willing to, I mean, this sounds shitty, but be willing to fire some people when you have to.
00:33:03.360Because I held on to some people for way too long.
00:33:06.760It cost me way too, I'm talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars into a gym.
00:33:10.900And I'm a UFC fighter, and I don't have no, you know, flashy cars to show for it.
00:33:16.700In the meantime, these employees breaking ground on new homes, got a new car, kids, you know, never, and I haven't made $1 in my gym.
00:33:23.900So I had to change my mindset that I have four kids, I got a wife, I work my ass off, you know, and I'm in a sport where I have a small window where I can receive lump sums of money in this type of manner for a small period of time.
00:33:37.720So I can't be catering to everyone else, especially when the loyalty is not there.
00:33:43.400So get some invested people that if you stepped out, you would be comfortable that they would take on the same passion for your business as you do.
00:33:52.420Now, they might not know the vision, you know, it's hard for you to, you know, get people to understand the vision and the big picture.
00:33:58.100But if you get people invested where they feel like, you know what, this is my living room, you can't put your feet on the table.
00:34:04.480And they treat the gym like that or your business or your, you know, car dealership.
00:34:08.500Those are the takeaways I think martial arts are very parallel with business.
00:34:14.140I think another one that's huge, and I love that you said that you were confident after you had prepared.
00:34:19.180And I think there are a lot of people out there who are just cocky because they're cocky.
00:34:22.000They have really high views of themselves, but they haven't proven anything.
00:34:25.800But you went through this really elaborate process of analyzing your opponent, you know, working on your own strengths, you know, develop yourself mentally.
00:34:34.200And because of that, you were confident.
00:34:36.280And it seems like that is a very easily transferable principle into business that you can be confident that you can beat the competition if you take the time to do the work,
00:34:46.500to prepare, you know, your product or your service and all the ways that you operate your business to do all that.
00:34:51.260You can be confident that you're going to kill it.
00:34:53.100And I also believe you've got to be gifted, you know.
00:34:55.580The bad thing about the era and the world that we live in, we're a very social conscious environment in society right now.
00:35:02.880So we have a lot of access to the way people are living.
00:35:09.960So we get to see the lifestyle of Rich and Famous.
00:35:12.940Every television show, 50% to 60% of them are reality TV shows.
00:35:17.340So then we're not saying, hey, I'm going to be a car mechanic because God gifted me with the knowledge to organize.
00:35:24.960Or I'm going to be a doctor because, you know, I have, you know, I can do things meticulous.
00:35:29.600I can be perfect in this area of medicine.
00:35:32.240We want to do what we see other people do.
00:35:34.520So now what we have is we have somebody who's practicing law who should be a school teacher.
00:35:39.520And we've got a school teacher who hates her job and can't even stand kids that should be a damn judge or, you know, be something different.
00:35:47.420So in life, we don't want to do things because God has given us a gift to do it.
00:35:53.000We don't want to seek out and find what our purpose in life is.
00:35:56.340We don't want to find out why do we have the ability to communicate so well.