The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #826 - Justin Wren

00:00:00.000 Two, one...

00:00:02.000 And we're live!

00:00:03.000 Justin Wren, how are you, sir?

00:00:05.000 I'm great.

00:00:05.000 What's going on, brother?

00:00:07.000 Man, I'm excited to be back here. 0.97

00:00:08.000 Out there kicking ass, digging wells, all of the above? 0.98

00:00:11.000 Trying, yeah. 0.99

00:00:12.000 All of the above.

00:00:12.000 How many fights have you had now back in Bellator?

00:00:15.000 Only two, but I haven't been back since the first or second one, so this is fun.

00:00:23.000 You were here before your first one, right?

00:00:26.000 You had a long break.

00:00:29.000 Yeah, it was five years and two months.

00:00:31.000 Wow.

00:00:32.000 And I hadn't even really trained any at that point.

00:00:35.000 I was just doing the wells and going to Congo and then got back into fighting and only had a little bit of time to train, but it was okay.

00:00:45.000 How much time did you have before your first fight?

00:00:47.000 I think, actually, whenever I was here with you, I fibbed a little where I said it was a little longer because I didn't know if my opponent was going to watch or whatever.

00:00:57.000 But my fight camp got cut in half.

00:01:00.000 I was traveling, traveling, traveling.

00:01:03.000 The book was getting ready to come out and other stuff and trying to write the book and prepare and trying to figure all that out where...

00:01:09.000 We were just talking before we got on about just life stuff and scheduling it and everything.

00:01:12.000 And I had the book and then Congo and then telling people about it and then also training for a fight.

00:01:18.000 And I didn't know how to balance those real well.

00:01:20.000 But I planned 12 weeks.

00:01:21.000 All of a sudden, Congo Corruption took me to Congo for three weeks at the beginning.

00:01:26.000 So I cut it down to nine weeks.

00:01:27.000 And then whenever I got back or while I was there, I found out they were moving the fight up on me three weeks.

00:01:31.000 And so it cut my camp down to about six, seven weeks.

00:01:35.000 So six, seven weeks after being off for more than five years.

00:01:38.000 Yeah, and I had trained a few times before that.

00:01:42.000 I mean, like, within the few months before, but I think it was probably tops, two months, nine weeks.

00:01:52.000 Well, plus, weren't you just getting over malaria?

00:01:55.000 Yeah, and I was...

00:01:56.000 That's the tough stuff.

00:01:59.000 That's tougher than you fight, I feel like. 1.00

00:02:02.000 Fuck, man. 1.00

00:02:04.000 We have one of our guys in Congo that's had malaria. 1.00

00:02:06.000 One of our drillers just recently got real sick.

00:02:09.000 It's kind of like constant.

00:02:11.000 It's just part of life there.

00:02:13.000 Jesus.

00:02:14.000 And it doesn't matter what kind of medication you take before you go out there?

00:02:16.000 I was actually taking...

00:02:17.000 Actually, our director at Water4 was taking malarone.

00:02:22.000 It's like the best anti-malaria pill.

00:02:23.000 I think it's something like $7- $8 every pill.

00:02:26.000 So it's the creme de la creme of malaria meds, and it didn't work on him.

00:02:32.000 And then I was actually going into Congo.

00:02:36.000 Actually, I stopped in London, did one of those TED Talks at a university called Warwick University.

00:02:42.000 And the day of the talk, I was at a 103 degree temperature, 103.2.

00:02:48.000 And I thought I was pulling out.

00:02:51.000 They thought I was pulling out.

00:02:51.000 We were at the hospital for four, five, six hours.

00:02:56.000 Oh, and dude, even the opportunity to go speak at that is because their team was all fans of JRE. Wow.

00:03:03.000 That's awesome.

00:03:04.000 Yeah, that was the opportunity I got because of this.

00:03:07.000 It was tough doing the talk, and then whenever I got into Congo, they told me I had the flu in London, and the doctor's there, and that's what I feel like here, too.

00:03:18.000 There can be tropical medicine specialists here, and they're probably really great, but I would trust a doctor that's lived in the climate, the tropical climate around malaria, that's seen it, that's treated it, that knows all the symptoms.

00:03:29.000 One knows to look for it, because no one gets it over here.

00:03:32.000 Yeah, and so whenever I got into Congo, I flew from work to Congo, and whenever I landed, instead of going straight to the forest, they took me to an airstrip at a hospital out in the middle of nowhere.

00:03:45.000 So I landed, went straight to the hospital, and then right there, they're like, you don't have the flu, you have malaria.

00:03:51.000 And I'm like, but I've been in the States, I just fought, and then I've, in Europe, like there's no malaria really there.

00:04:00.000 But it was because it's still living inside me.

00:04:02.000 There's like, I think there's three strands, one to live in your body for three years, five years.

00:04:06.000 I think the other is like 30 to life or something.

00:04:08.000 What?!

00:04:09.000 So it just comes back?

00:04:11.000 Yeah, it can.

00:04:12.000 Like when your body's really run down, when you're really tired, your immune system's low.

00:04:16.000 Like training for a fight?

00:04:18.000 Yeah, like training for a fight, or right after the fight.

00:04:20.000 Right after the fight, I went to London, spoke, then I went to Congo.

00:04:23.000 But right after the fight, so you're recovering from malaria, you go through your six-week fight camp, you have your fight, you run down, and then after the fight you got malaria again?

00:04:33.000 Yes.

00:04:34.000 Now, the sickness...

00:04:36.000 I've had it now three times.

00:04:39.000 Oh my god.

00:04:58.000 That's why I was misdiagnosed four times in the Congo. 1.00

00:05:02.000 What a sneaky fucking disease. 1.00

00:05:04.000 Yeah, it's nuts. 1.00

00:05:05.000 They're crazy because they'll hide in your liver and then they send them out in your bloodstream like a platoon. 0.58

00:05:10.000 They go and wreck havoc and then they retreat right back to the liver. 0.58

00:05:14.000 Really?

00:05:14.000 Yeah.

00:05:14.000 They live in your liver?

00:05:16.000 Yeah, that's where they're hiding away for three or five or 30 years.

00:05:19.000 Oh my god.

00:05:21.000 Is there any solution?

00:05:22.000 Is there anything they could do?

00:05:24.000 I don't think so.

00:05:25.000 And I had a couple things that happened where, you know, I started trying to take the anti-malaria meds, but it's the only medicine I've ever really reacted to.

00:05:35.000 I've heard it's awful.

00:05:56.000 But it's actually really dangerous because I've seen people that are there for aid work and different stuff.

00:06:02.000 And dude, they have to retreat if they're there with kids and stuff.

00:06:05.000 They've moved there to the country.

00:06:07.000 They're taken off because kiddos or even adults have mental breaks that they can't come back from.

00:06:14.000 You can have psychotic episodes for, I think they said if it lasts longer than a week.

00:06:19.000 It's probably gonna last like three months.

00:06:20.000 If it lasts longer than three months, it's probably gonna last forever.

00:06:23.000 What?

00:06:24.000 So this is from the medication?

00:06:26.000 Yeah, it's just the medication and it gives you terrible, terrible nightmares.

00:06:30.000 I almost went to Tanzania this summer.

00:06:32.000 I was gonna go on safari and too many people scared the shit out of me with malaria talk. 0.98

00:06:38.000 I was gonna take my whole family and I'm like, look, I'll take some malaria medication and feel like shit. 0.98

00:06:43.000 I'm not giving it to my six-year-old. 0.97

00:06:44.000 It's not happening.

00:06:46.000 I'm not doing it.

00:06:48.000 Yeah, but that's a real concern, right?

00:06:50.000 Tanzania has malaria as well, right?

00:06:52.000 Yeah, they do.

00:06:53.000 Because it's more of an arid climate, they have less there.

00:06:59.000 It's not so tropical there.

00:07:01.000 I've been to Tanzania a couple times and out in Sanzibar.

00:07:04.000 I mean, it wasn't there, but I saw it and it was...

00:07:09.000 I don't know, man.

00:07:09.000 It's a crazy, crazy place, because you go from Congo, where they have all these tropical diseases, and you go, I don't know, same continent, you just go over a little bit, and there's all these other kinds of parasites.

00:07:20.000 Like, in Congo, they have very little of a...

00:07:23.000 I believe they're called jiggers, with a J. Be very careful when you say that word.

00:07:30.000 Yeah, I will.

00:07:31.000 But jiggers with a J. Sounds wrong. 0.98

00:07:34.000 Sounds like you should stop.

00:07:35.000 Well, yeah. 0.99

00:07:38.000 But they're these crazy parasites that burrow in your feet, and especially kids and elderly. 0.99

00:07:46.000 Why is that? 0.99

00:07:47.000 Why kids and elderly? 0.97

00:07:49.000 Well, honestly, I think one reason with poverty, the kids don't get shoes until they can work and buy them, and the elderly, if they're not able to work and provide for themselves, it's harder for them to get shoes and stuff, but...

00:08:02.000 Also, it's just where they live, because on the sandy, it's either sandy or the clayish or silty soil that's real red in Uganda.

00:08:11.000 Man, it just wreaks havoc on those kids to where they're having to have people come in every week to different villages, sit there with safety pins and all sorts of these little hooks that they dig into the people's feet.

00:08:23.000 Oh, God.

00:08:24.000 Dude, it's painful.

00:08:25.000 Whenever I've seen people getting it done, they're literally putting their, and I've had one in my foot, and it kind of came and gone.

00:08:32.000 It's not that bad when it's just one, but whenever your whole foot or your whole heel or all the, you know, the balls of your feet are just covered in, I mean, I'm talking 20, 30, 40, 50 of these parasites, and they're just brutal.

00:08:45.000 So every step you see them, when they're walking, they're grimacing.

00:08:49.000 When you're taking it out, they're screaming. 1.00

00:08:52.000 God damn, Africa. 1.00

00:08:53.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:08:54.000 Africa, it's such a strange, strange continent. 1.00

00:08:57.000 Strange, but, man, the people are beautiful in their hearts.

00:09:02.000 You know, they're awesome.

00:09:02.000 They're half, or probably more than half.

00:09:06.000 If you're not a good one, you're very terrible.

00:09:08.000 Yeah, that's...

00:09:10.000 Well, obviously, from the outside, that's what it looks like.

00:09:14.000 Someone like me who tries to pay attention as much as I can, but there's only so much you could actually know about it without being there, I think, right?

00:09:22.000 Yeah, I think so.

00:09:23.000 I think whenever you get there, I don't know, fall in love with the people and develop the relationships, that's why you can see past all the garbage, all the discomfort.

00:09:37.000 You said that you were held up with corruption, Congo corruption.

00:09:41.000 What happened?

00:09:42.000 So they called me and said, my team is actually Papa White.

00:09:47.000 I call him Papa White because he's like a father figure to me.

00:09:48.000 He's the one that had this vision.

00:09:50.000 I came alongside him and it's just been, It's been awesome to see what's happened.

00:09:54.000 And whenever I went to him, actually, what was the question you were just asking?

00:10:01.000 I don't remember.

00:10:02.000 What did I say?

00:10:03.000 I said about the corruption.

00:10:05.000 Oh, corruption.

00:10:06.000 There you go.

00:10:06.000 Yeah, he called me and said, Effie, you got to get back here in like three weeks.

00:10:10.000 And I'm like, what?

00:10:11.000 I'm training for the fight.

00:10:12.000 Like, it's coming up.

00:10:14.000 And I can't leave now.

00:10:14.000 He says, if you don't come back now, like, I don't know when you can come back.

00:10:18.000 They're going to revoke your visa.

00:10:21.000 They're going to.

00:10:22.000 And I'm like, what for?

00:10:23.000 And so they said, check your passport.

00:10:25.000 They said your visa is expiring in three weeks.

00:10:28.000 And I'm like, it shouldn't be expiring.

00:10:29.000 I have a five-year visa.

00:10:31.000 But then you have to come in and out of the country every 11 months because if you don't, you lose that five-year visa.

00:10:36.000 And so whenever I left with my wife, literally, just so that they can get money out of us and steal and be able to ask for $1,400, sometimes $2,500 to get a visa like this, they write down on your visa when they stamp it the date they write it in.

00:10:56.000 And so now I know.

00:10:57.000 Look every single time they're writing to make sure they write the right date.

00:11:01.000 Because she backdated it like six months or something like that.

00:11:04.000 Or maybe nine months.

00:11:05.000 And then all of a sudden I had to get back there because they're like, nope, it's going to expire.

00:11:09.000 And they thought they gave them...

00:11:10.000 Actually, it might have been less than three weeks.

00:11:11.000 I think I had to go for three weeks is what happened because I had like a week notice.

00:11:15.000 I just took off, went.

00:11:16.000 It's actually the cheapest trip I've ever got there because it was like the last seat.

00:11:19.000 I was by the toilets in the back the whole time.

00:11:21.000 But it was only like $800 round trip.

00:11:23.000 Which was incredible.

00:11:24.000 That's pretty crazy.

00:11:25.000 Yeah.

00:11:25.000 You can go to Africa for 800 bucks.

00:11:27.000 Yeah.

00:11:27.000 I've never seen it like that, but it was cool.

00:11:31.000 So I went, and it helped because that saved me some money that I was going to have to pay to try to get out of the corruption and stuff.

00:11:38.000 But luckily, when we went there, they didn't think I would just drop and be there in five, six, seven days.

00:11:44.000 I took off, went, and we spent three weeks trying to just negotiate with the courts and everything else and say, look, you guys did this, you set me up, all this other stuff.

00:11:54.000 Trying to prove them wrong, they're never wrong.

00:11:56.000 They're always right.

00:11:57.000 Trying to show them Even receipts and pictures.

00:12:00.000 We were showing him pictures from Ben's wedding.

00:12:02.000 He's like my best friend, like a brother, a translator for me.

00:12:05.000 He's our team leader.

00:12:07.000 Literally, we were showing him pictures of me at his wedding.

00:12:11.000 Luckily, he was dated and everything.

00:12:12.000 I was here in the country when you said I had already left four or five months before.

00:12:18.000 So it's just nuts.

00:12:19.000 But the backdating is intentional?

00:12:22.000 They do it on purpose?

00:12:22.000 Yeah, they do it on purpose so that for me and my wife both, they made it the same date, which was like six months or eight months early.

00:12:30.000 Like we left earlier than what we did.

00:12:33.000 So from the outside, when you're visiting them, do they think somehow or another that you're wealthy and that they can take advantage of you?

00:12:40.000 They know you're on television.

00:12:42.000 Do they know all that?

00:12:43.000 No.

00:12:44.000 No, we keep that really kind of...

00:12:46.000 When I'm there, I am a...

00:12:49.000 Let me see if I can get the right.

00:12:51.000 I am a professor of appropriate technologies.

00:12:53.000 And appropriate technologies are like community development or sustainable solutions.

00:12:58.000 And I go there and I'm teaching the students at the university how to...

00:13:02.000 And I only do like a week or two seminar with them.

00:13:06.000 The rest of the time I'm with my well drilling team.

00:13:08.000 And that's my covering.

00:13:09.000 I go there as a quote-unquote professor.

00:13:11.000 Professor.

00:13:12.000 You probably shouldn't give that up on the internet.

00:13:14.000 Yeah, maybe not.

00:13:14.000 People know.

00:13:15.000 No, it's okay, but I do that because, you know, when I go, and really, it's not because I'm on TV or anything like that, or they think I have money.

00:13:26.000 They just think anyone that's not Congolese has money.

00:13:28.000 And so, because that's what they've seen from people coming in and throwing money around.

00:13:35.000 So they want theirs.

00:13:36.000 Yeah.

00:13:37.000 And a lot of the NGOs are...

00:13:39.000 They have quotas and everything else and they have just a huge budget and they got to spend it and they got to meet those quotas.

00:13:46.000 So sometimes they throw it around and they're not trying to be frugal with the money because it's not theirs.

00:13:51.000 They didn't go out and get it or fundraise it or get a grant for it or anything like that.

00:13:57.000 They got it to spend, so they'll just give it away.

00:14:00.000 Do the people that live in the Congo, like the pygmies, do they still get malaria? 1.00

00:14:05.000 Mm-hmm.

00:14:06.000 Is it really common with them?

00:14:07.000 Yeah, really common.

00:14:10.000 But it's weird because whenever people come, I guess they're more acclimated to it, but it still kills so many.

00:14:21.000 But whenever I get it, they're saying, you know, the doctor here told me because of the malaria meds, it would be better for you to go because you're already getting sick with medicine.

00:14:30.000 Just go, get malaria, and then get it.

00:14:34.000 Diagnosed quick enough get the cure and now your body's actually gonna adapt to it and the next time you get it'll be less and less Wait a minute.

00:14:41.000 So they told you to get malaria?

00:14:42.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:14:42.000 Oh fucking Christ! 1.00

00:14:44.000 It's like one of the worst diseases a person can get, right? 0.99

00:14:46.000 Yeah, but honestly I've seen people even even Ben Ben's nuts like the year that I was there he had malaria and Now, it's almost killed him before, too, but he had malaria like three or four times in a year, and it's just kind of really, really common there.

00:15:02.000 Wow.

00:15:03.000 But once you, if you can survive it the first couple times, then they say after that it gets more bearable because you feel it coming.

00:15:10.000 You feel the heat waves coming over you, and then you feel the shoulder joint pains and elbows, and it just, down your whole spine and Yeah.

00:15:40.000 Jesus Christ, 33 pounds in five days?

00:15:42.000 Yeah, 33 pounds in five days.

00:15:43.000 That's a hell of a diet.

00:15:44.000 Look at that Dr. Oz.

00:15:46.000 Dr. Oz would sell that.

00:15:47.000 I could, yeah, be in here.

00:15:49.000 L.A. I got a new L.A. diet for you guys.

00:15:52.000 Yeah, you really do.

00:15:53.000 It's the Congo diet. 0.68

00:15:54.000 You're getting really hot.

00:15:56.000 Makes you hot.

00:15:58.000 So that's a massive sacrifice you're willing to take to do that.

00:16:02.000 And the fact that it exists inside your body for an undetermined state of time, that's pretty wild, man.

00:16:11.000 It's scary.

00:16:15.000 Yeah, honestly, I feel like I was in a much scarier place personally before...

00:16:22.000 Before I found this, before I found them, before I got given a second family or accepted into a second family.

00:16:30.000 More scarier because you were depressed?

00:16:33.000 Yeah, well, depressed, suicidal thoughts I had for like 10 years.

00:16:37.000 Just battled it from 13 years old, 23 years old.

00:16:40.000 And so, yeah, that was a lot scarier to me.

00:16:45.000 Man, you had suicidal thoughts when you were 13. Yeah, for sure.

00:16:48.000 And, I mean, I was one that, like, you know, the kid in the class that...

00:16:54.000 I mean, I wasn't like...

00:16:56.000 I wouldn't say I was...

00:16:57.000 How do I say it?

00:16:58.000 It was extremely brutal, but it was happening to...

00:17:02.000 I mean, everyone gets bullied for the most part.

00:17:04.000 Somebody's bullying you?

00:17:06.000 Yeah.

00:17:06.000 When I was growing up, from third grade till eighth grade for sure, it was brutal.

00:17:12.000 Seventh and eighth grade was the worst.

00:17:13.000 Were you smaller then?

00:17:14.000 You're a gigantic dude.

00:17:16.000 I was smaller. 1.00

00:17:17.000 It takes a lot of balls to bully you. 0.98

00:17:19.000 That might backfire. 0.93

00:17:21.000 It's actually kind of why I found fighting.

00:17:23.000 Or not why.

00:17:24.000 It is.

00:17:25.000 Or not kind, it is.

00:17:27.000 Because I was 13 years old and I had just gotten...

00:17:31.000 Well, two things.

00:17:32.000 Have you ever seen in Texas for high school homecomings, they have mums? 0.98

00:17:37.000 Have you heard of that?

00:17:38.000 No, it's a mum.

00:17:39.000 The Texas tradition, that's crazy.

00:17:41.000 Now, all the kids love them, everything else, but you get these like corsages or fake flowers that they put real big up top and then they are streamers with literal bells and whistles.

00:17:54.000 Full-size teddy bears.

00:17:55.000 You can have two, three teddy bears.

00:17:56.000 When I was in high school, the girl would wear it on her shoulder and the guy would wear it around his arm.

00:18:00.000 Now, in Texas, they literally have to put a harness around them and hold these things up because they're so big.

00:18:05.000 There you go.

00:18:06.000 Mums. 0.55

00:18:06.000 Texas mums. 0.55

00:18:07.000 What in the fuck is that? 1.00

00:18:08.000 Isn't that nuts? 1.00

00:18:09.000 What is that?

00:18:10.000 That's homecoming in Texas.

00:18:12.000 What?

00:18:12.000 Look at that.

00:18:13.000 I'm telling you, it's nuts.

00:18:14.000 It's the whole state?

00:18:15.000 The whole state.

00:18:17.000 I mean, every homecoming that comes around... 0.52

00:18:20.000 Texans are nuts about this.

00:18:21.000 I mean, I lived in Texas since I was like four months old, so it was... 1.00

00:18:24.000 They're nuts.

00:18:25.000 And they've gotten bigger and bigger and bigger every single year. 1.00

00:18:28.000 How am I just hearing about this?

00:18:30.000 They're real proud of it.

00:18:31.000 It's weird.

00:18:31.000 I mean, I... Are you just hearing about this, Jamie?

00:18:33.000 Yeah, I never...

00:18:34.000 I think those are literally like two and three hundred dollars now.

00:18:37.000 What?

00:18:37.000 Yeah, when I was in high school, they were like 70, 100. Oh my god, look at all those girls.

00:18:41.000 Look at that picture that you had down there.

00:18:42.000 There's a giant group of girls with all this... 1.00

00:18:44.000 This is ridiculous. 0.99

00:18:46.000 Is that not nuts? 1.00

00:18:46.000 How do you go to the dance like that? 1.00

00:18:48.000 How do you go to the game like that?

00:18:49.000 I don't understand that.

00:18:51.000 I mean, literally the boyfriends are walking behind them, holding the stuff up for them because...

00:18:55.000 What?

00:18:56.000 It's getting too heavy, their neck hurts.

00:18:57.000 But they want to wear it.

00:18:58.000 It's a tradition.

00:18:59.000 Yeah.

00:18:59.000 Everybody gets excited.

00:19:00.000 The bigger...

00:19:01.000 The bigger the mum? 1.00

00:19:02.000 The bigger the mum, the better. 0.97

00:19:05.000 The more your date liked you.

00:19:08.000 Is this a mum company that you just clicked on?

00:19:10.000 Oh my god.

00:19:10.000 Dude, they're in every single grocery store in Texas.

00:19:13.000 What?

00:19:13.000 Yeah, whenever it comes to September, October, November, around homecoming time, high school, this is people's jobs.

00:19:21.000 Seasonal jobs, they sit around and they take special orders, they make them for you, or they sell them to where you can make them yourself.

00:19:27.000 That's so strange.

00:19:28.000 Isn't that nuts?

00:19:30.000 It always baffles me when I find out about something for the very first time.

00:19:34.000 I don't know why I'm so confused.

00:19:36.000 I would like to find out where the tradition came from probably, but people are just so ingrained in you if you're a Texan that you have to get mums. 0.86

00:19:46.000 Is there any other states?

00:19:47.000 Find out if other states accept that.

00:19:49.000 Oklahoma doesn't do it. 0.96

00:19:50.000 Louisiana doesn't. 0.79

00:19:51.000 New Mexico.

00:19:52.000 It's just Texas.

00:19:53.000 Twelve things non-Texas need to know about homecoming mums. 1.00

00:20:00.000 What in the fuck? 0.99

00:20:02.000 The mums started as a simple flower. 1.00

00:20:04.000 Hold on, scroll up a little bit.

00:20:05.000 The mums started as a simple flower.

00:20:07.000 Guys give them to their homecoming date.

00:20:10.000 Oh, that's hilarious.

00:20:12.000 Girls also give guys one called a garter. 1.00

00:20:15.000 Like a garter?

00:20:16.000 Oh, they put it on your arm on your garter belt?

00:20:18.000 Oh, God.

00:20:21.000 How bizarre.

00:20:21.000 Like one of those things that tie boxers wear?

00:20:23.000 Yeah.

00:20:24.000 Being able to make mums can make you rich. 0.98

00:20:27.000 Oh, God.

00:20:28.000 See?

00:20:28.000 $60 to $300.

00:20:30.000 What?!

00:20:31.000 $300 for fake flowers.

00:20:33.000 300 bucks?

00:20:35.000 It ain't cheap to electrify a mum. 0.52

00:20:37.000 Oh my god, that chick's got one that lights up. 1.00

00:20:39.000 That's so crazy.

00:20:41.000 You can put LED lighting.

00:20:42.000 Look at that.

00:20:43.000 Scroll up a little bit.

00:20:44.000 You can put LED lighting in mums.

00:20:46.000 I didn't know how many folks are doing this back when I was in high school, but nowadays you really want to impress your date.

00:20:50.000 The latest in mum lighting technology will help you do just that.

00:20:54.000 That is hilarious.

00:20:56.000 You know this isn't even like a joke website, right?

00:20:58.000 No, this is real.

00:20:59.000 They're taking it serious.

00:21:00.000 That's so strange.

00:21:03.000 Mm-hmm.

00:21:04.000 It's really weird.

00:21:05.000 And so when I was in middle school, seventh grade, I, you know...

00:21:10.000 Look at that girl. 1.00

00:21:10.000 She's got a Christmas tree on her tits. 1.00

00:21:12.000 That's... 1.00

00:21:13.000 That's nuts. 0.99

00:21:13.000 That's ridiculous. 0.99

00:21:18.000 I saved it up and my allowance asked one of my crushes to go to the homecoming game with me. 0.73

00:21:24.000 She said yes to my surprise.

00:21:25.000 Went to the game and spent pretty much all my allowance on her mom.

00:21:31.000 Her name's Jessica.

00:21:33.000 And I took her to the game, and I'm up in the stands with her, and halftime comes around.

00:21:40.000 I'm up at the very top left, and all of a sudden everyone looks back up over the right shoulders at us.

00:21:47.000 And this one guy is kind of my bully through...

00:21:52.000 Elementary and middle school for sure and his name was Justin as well and so he walks up and Puts his arm out To her and she puts her arm around his and he grabs the streamer that says Justin and Jessica and the year on it or whatever and he says Thanks for getting her this and I'm like what he goes you didn't think she'd come with you Did you and so he just kind of walks down all the schools look in there all laughing?

00:22:15.000 having fun And that one hurt, but what was worse was the next year, because, you know, people liked that part of, I don't know, I think...

00:22:26.000 For me, when I see bullying now, I just spoke out of middle school and I told one of the teachers asked, what should you tell a kid that's battling with suicidal thoughts or depression, even maybe suicidal thoughts?

00:22:40.000 I'm like, well, if this is 300, 400 kids in here, like, for sure, one person is dealing with these issues right now.

00:22:48.000 And I would say, you know, the thing that probably saved me was my parents didn't own a gun.

00:22:54.000 Probably only Texans that don't own guns.

00:22:56.000 And then, I don't know.

00:22:59.000 I mean, I guess...

00:23:01.000 One of the main things was, well, I don't even know that I've ever said this publicly, but I remember having attempted suicide once and then thinking about it again and then thinking,

00:23:17.000 you know, what would this do to my mom? 0.99

00:23:20.000 And so I love my mom.

00:23:22.000 I'm a mama's boy.

00:23:23.000 Dad's great too, but that's just who I am.

00:23:25.000 She's a tough cookie.

00:23:26.000 She's where I got my competitiveness.

00:23:28.000 She was a national champion and Barrel racing, state champion in tennis.

00:23:32.000 And so she always pushed me.

00:23:33.000 My dad, if he was at a wrestling tournament and it's the finals, even state, I would dislocate my thumb or something.

00:23:39.000 He'd come up, you don't have to wrestle in the next match.

00:23:41.000 I'm like, it's the finals.

00:23:42.000 My mom's like, he's getting out there.

00:23:43.000 So my mom's the one pushing him. 0.99

00:23:45.000 Shut up, Jimmy. 0.98

00:23:46.000 He's going to go out there and he's going to wrestle and he's going to win. 0.99

00:23:49.000 And so my dad was more of the one wanting to protect me, and she's the one wanting to push me out there.

00:23:55.000 So I guess I don't even know why I was saying that except for, oh, that thought was just...

00:24:00.000 I'm ringing in my head.

00:24:01.000 And so whenever I finally verbalize that and start talking to people, that's what really helped.

00:24:06.000 You know, it didn't have to be a bunch of people.

00:24:08.000 I didn't have to go around and be a drama queen or do it for attention or whatever, but just find one person.

00:24:16.000 And for me at that age, it was having a great mom and parents that love me.

00:24:21.000 And I think that's probably absolutely amazing.

00:24:24.000 What saved me at that time.

00:24:26.000 And so I was telling these kids, you know, hey, even if it's just your mom.

00:24:29.000 So I was taking pictures with some of the kids afterwards and stuff, and I walk out to leave.

00:24:32.000 And I'm in the hall, and this mom stops me because she's with her little guy, and he's crying.

00:24:38.000 So a mom had come to school, had heard there was anti-bullying talk.

00:24:42.000 She came up, and I see this little guy.

00:24:44.000 It reminded me a lot of me.

00:24:45.000 The only difference was he had these kind of big glasses on, but he was...

00:24:51.000 A little chubby and just had one of those things that you'd see stereotypical, like, this kid's gonna get picked on.

00:24:57.000 And so, probably a lot like me, he's used to getting his... 0.97

00:25:01.000 Fat pinched and nipples twisted and, you know, all that different stuff. 0.95

00:25:05.000 And so he was out there just bawling with his mom. 0.98

00:25:09.000 His mom asked if I could come talk to him for a little bit.

00:25:11.000 I did.

00:25:12.000 And she was saying that he had never opened up with her in the last two years, but she knew he had been dealing with really bad depression.

00:25:20.000 And right there he told her, I've been dealing with suicidal thoughts for two years.

00:25:24.000 And so I don't know why I even brought that up except for like it's nuts.

00:25:27.000 My parents have a have a photography company and they made a memorial a few years back For a little boy, he was getting bullied, didn't think he had an option out, and he took his life at nine years old.

00:25:40.000 Oh my God.

00:25:41.000 I think it was his swing set out back.

00:25:44.000 How did he take his life?

00:25:45.000 Hung himself?

00:25:45.000 Hung himself, yeah.

00:25:46.000 Oh, Jesus Christ.

00:25:47.000 And so I saw the plaque and everything made up for him, and just gut-wrenching.

00:25:53.000 And so, you know, as I say that, and the first story was kind of one that kind of brought everything to a head.

00:26:00.000 I was in middle 8th grade this time.

00:26:04.000 Got invited to Jennifer's birthday party.

00:26:09.000 Really excited.

00:26:10.000 Got one of the real invitations in my hands.

00:26:14.000 Made the plans.

00:26:15.000 Talked to my mom.

00:26:15.000 Asked if I could go.

00:26:16.000 Talked to some of the people.

00:26:17.000 Who else was going?

00:26:18.000 I was just kind of the dorky kid anyways.

00:26:20.000 But on the invitation, I noticed, man, it says costume contest and the winner gets a prize.

00:26:27.000 I started doing research, all this other stuff.

00:26:29.000 Other people were doing it, too.

00:26:30.000 And I found out that her dad worked at Dr. Pepper and that their house was decorated with it, all this other stuff.

00:26:37.000 And then she loved transformers.

00:26:40.000 And so I thought, what if I combine those two things?

00:26:43.000 What if I could make myself a cardboard transformer from head to toe?

00:26:48.000 I think it was a 24-pack around the head, 12 packs around the arms, legs, boots.

00:26:54.000 I had a Chestplate had a sword out of cardboard a country kid Texas you see those moms we can do pretty much anything with duct tape and so duct tape cardboard just made it up and Walked into the party and her grandma opened the door. 1.00

00:27:08.000 She goes.

00:27:08.000 Oh, Jennifer's gonna love this Walked in they literally had a dr. Pepper machine one of those like old-school ones you don't have to pay just push the button it pops out 13 year old kid you love that so we got dr. Pepper can one hand and Have the Dr. Pepper cardboard sword in the other.

00:27:23.000 Walk to the backyard.

00:27:24.000 And whenever the door opens, I open the door.

00:27:27.000 I'm greeted there with like some flashes of lights and fingers pointing, people laughing.

00:27:32.000 And I remember Jennifer saying, I can't believe you thought you were cool enough to come to my party.

00:27:37.000 And I was the only one that was dressed up.

00:27:39.000 Everybody else had gotten there early, and they'd all been planning it.

00:27:41.000 And even the invitations were fake, just so that I would come there, dress up.

00:27:44.000 Another kid said... 1.00

00:27:46.000 You're worthless. 1.00

00:27:47.000 So in that moment, I felt worthless. 1.00

00:27:49.000 And then the main bully said, you should just kill yourself. 0.79

00:27:54.000 And so whenever he said that, 13 years old, battle with depression, suicidal thoughts, all that different stuff.

00:27:59.000 Man, it took me on a downward spiral, a tailspin. 0.95

00:28:04.000 It really sucked.

00:28:05.000 I didn't know how to cover it up. 0.55

00:28:06.000 And then I guess I'm getting back to the end of May route where...

00:28:09.000 I found that.

00:28:10.000 13 years old at like a flea market in Texas and walking down these aisles.

00:28:15.000 I'm looking for a BB gun.

00:28:16.000 And all of a sudden I get to this like used video shop and it's got UFC VHS. I think it was 2 through 10 or 2 through 11 or something like that.

00:28:24.000 And so I just bought them all.

00:28:26.000 You were on there.

00:28:28.000 Dude, that is a horrible story, man.

00:28:30.000 That is a terrible story. 1.00

00:28:33.000 How the fuck could those kids be so mean? 1.00

00:28:36.000 Honestly, I don't think it's... 1.00

00:28:39.000 I mean, that crazy compared to...

00:28:41.000 I mean, it is.

00:28:42.000 It's very methodical, very planned out.

00:28:47.000 And a lot of people were in on it.

00:28:49.000 I think that probably was one of the things...

00:28:50.000 Honestly, Jennifer was the biggest... 1.00

00:28:54.000 Crush I ever had in elementary middle school growing up.

00:28:57.000 And so she was the one I really wanted to impress.

00:29:00.000 That's why I did that research.

00:29:01.000 And then to know that she was in on it.

00:29:02.000 These other guys planned it, but she went along with it.

00:29:05.000 But to have her say that to you, I can't believe you thought you were cool enough to come to my party.

00:29:12.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:29:12.000 Fuck, man. 1.00

00:29:13.000 Yeah, I ended up leaving. 1.00

00:29:15.000 And this is before cell phones.

00:29:18.000 I didn't have a cell phone until I was like 16, 17. And so I'm 13, run out, found a Dairy Queen.

00:29:29.000 Went in the back, and where the drive-through is, there was like a, I don't know, a dumpster, and they got like the fence around it.

00:29:36.000 And I just was able to open it, sit there, and just cried, basically, until someone came out to throw away the trash.

00:29:43.000 And then they were like, oh, honey, got down, and what do you need?

00:29:46.000 And all this other stuff.

00:29:47.000 Can you call your mom?

00:29:48.000 I'm like...

00:29:49.000 If I have a phone and so I walked inside called her but she wasn't there so it took a little while to get a hold of my mom and then um Yeah, I mean it was just it was nuts because um It's weird how you you'll believe Especially in today's age with social media and all the tweets and things that people just throw away I throw around You know,

00:30:10.000 it's nuts how you can see somebody don't even know them.

00:30:12.000 They might have one follower and But somehow it can still, if you let it, it can still affect you instead of just shrugging it off.

00:30:20.000 That's a totally different thing though.

00:30:22.000 Someone's saying something on Twitter and someone's saying something and looking you in the eyes and planning out this big deception.

00:30:30.000 But you're such a nice guy. 1.00

00:30:32.000 I don't understand what the fuck caused someone to be such a shithead like that. 1.00

00:30:37.000 Well, I don't know, man. 1.00

00:30:38.000 I think I've matured a lot where...

00:30:42.000 I mean, obviously, 29 instead of 13. But I think I just became an easy target.

00:30:50.000 Because you're just a nice guy?

00:30:52.000 Maybe.

00:30:53.000 I wouldn't stand up for myself.

00:30:54.000 Maybe I wasn't the biggest kid, but I was chubby and bigger.

00:31:00.000 Uh, yeah, I think it just was easy to pick on me in the locker rooms, pick on me in the...

00:31:05.000 I don't know, I think the stats I was looking at was something like 87% of bullying doesn't happen in the presence of, um...

00:31:14.000 Adults?

00:31:14.000 Adults.

00:31:15.000 Right.

00:31:16.000 And then, uh...

00:31:17.000 I forget, but, you know, even the people around, like how you're saying, you know, to people, plan it out and everything else, look you in the eyes.

00:31:25.000 I mean, I think that might have been what took me back the most because I was like, man, like this is, if you're sitting by, this is what I try to tell some of the kiddos growing up now.

00:31:34.000 It's like, if you think that by laughing, I mean, if you're there and you're not bullying, but you're giggling, you're laughing, like you're definitely a part of it.

00:31:42.000 You're an encourager.

00:31:43.000 Right.

00:31:44.000 But then if you're, even if you're silent and you're just watching it, And you don't, like, now you're, if you see it, you have a choice.

00:31:50.000 You can do something about it or you cannot.

00:31:52.000 And so I feel like that's a passive, standby kind of encouragement where, and so for me, it was like everyone was there.

00:31:59.000 People were saying it.

00:32:00.000 People were laughing.

00:32:01.000 People were watching.

00:32:03.000 But nobody was standing up for me.

00:32:05.000 So it was, I think that's what hurt the most.

00:32:08.000 Well, see, so there's two giant instances.

00:32:11.000 The one with the other guy named Justin.

00:32:12.000 So they planned that out too?

00:32:14.000 Mm-hmm. 1.00

00:32:15.000 Fuck, man. 1.00

00:32:16.000 You went to school with some evil kids. 1.00

00:32:18.000 Yeah, it was actually part of the same kids. 1.00

00:32:21.000 Goddamn. 0.96

00:32:22.000 Yeah, and then, so from that, yeah, that's definitely been the biggest battle of my life has been depression, suicidal thoughts. 0.98

00:32:34.000 And it was all from that bullying.

00:32:35.000 There was nothing other than that.

00:32:37.000 For the depression?

00:32:38.000 Yeah.

00:32:39.000 Yeah, I mean, it went from...

00:32:41.000 Technically, I would say it went from third grade to tenth grade.

00:32:45.000 And then whenever I started wrestling and my parents transferred me out of school, everything else then...

00:32:49.000 But the bullying is what caused all these suicidal thoughts.

00:32:52.000 There was nothing else that was bumming you out about life. 0.99

00:32:55.000 That is so fucked up that some shitty mean kids can all of a sudden throw this monkey wrench in your life. 0.99

00:33:03.000 And then I've learned, and I mean... 1.00

00:33:05.000 Of course. 0.98

00:33:06.000 You know, obviously looking back, I shouldn't have ever let it get to the point to where, you know, I think I should hurt myself or kill my... 0.96

00:33:16.000 You know what? 0.98

00:33:17.000 Just to real quick put that together with the pygmies in Congo. 1.00

00:33:21.000 Whenever I opened up and shared with some of them around the campfire, just hanging out, talking, sharing life stories...

00:33:27.000 I shared that, and I just remember the looks on several people's faces just so baffled.

00:33:34.000 Like, did he just say he wanted to hurt himself?

00:33:38.000 He was suicidal? 0.93

00:33:39.000 He wanted to kill himself?

00:33:40.000 All that different stuff.

00:33:41.000 And then I started asking him, like, does that not happen here?

00:33:44.000 And they're like, well, some of them are like, well, we've heard of that happening before.

00:33:47.000 And yeah, there's this guy that was that guy and that guy and that guy.

00:33:50.000 And we heard that someone in their village had hurt themselves or killed themselves or something.

00:33:54.000 But most of the people, I think, were like, no, never hurt.

00:33:58.000 Why would anyone?

00:33:59.000 If you hurt yourself, you're only hurt.

00:34:00.000 Like, that's only hurting you.

00:34:02.000 That's not going to help anything.

00:34:04.000 But you just wanted the pain to end.

00:34:06.000 Yeah.

00:34:06.000 Here, I just wanted the pain to end.

00:34:08.000 But there, it's like, it's nuts because they, if I look at it, I was a little kid that got bullied by some stupid kids. 0.99

00:34:17.000 And then, if I look at what they're going through, man, it makes it, it shrinks it. 0.99

00:34:25.000 It makes it microscopic whenever you stop just focusing on your own problems.

00:34:30.000 You start looking at others, other problems that maybe you can be a part of helping solve that problem.

00:34:35.000 Yeah.

00:34:36.000 So this bullying all throughout your childhood led into adulthood, and the only thing that made it better was you going to the Congo and helping out these pygmies and building wells and sort of dedicating and devoting your life to their life. 0.95

00:34:53.000 Yeah, I would say practically that has been, you know, to have a sense of purpose.

00:35:00.000 I mean, I think it's a lot of different things.

00:35:03.000 But that all kind of came together.

00:35:05.000 But for me, yeah, I mean, when you're not living for yourself and you're living for others, you just won't.

00:35:11.000 I mean, I didn't know that...

00:35:13.000 For me, I had a big paradigm shift or change in my life whenever, you know, coming out of the addiction, I felt like, oh man, like I don't have to walk around and hate myself and stay away from people because they're either going to hurt me or I'm going to want to hurt them.

00:35:27.000 Like, I don't have to do that.

00:35:29.000 I can help people.

00:35:30.000 I can want to love them.

00:35:32.000 I can...

00:35:33.000 You know, figure out something.

00:35:34.000 Dude, it first started, what really started helping a lot was I got involved with a lot of different stuff from a juvenile detention center, going in and meeting with some of those kids once a week, to a homeless shelter, to becoming an official volunteer at the Denver Children's Hospital and taking the grudge guys through there.

00:35:52.000 And I think like Rashad and Dwayne and Shane Carwin and Brendan and all these guys, you know, they were going and they actually saw me going through the really tough addictions and getting kicked off grudge fight team.

00:36:06.000 And then a year later, I'm luckily able to organize an event where they wouldn't let us come in just as fighters to visit the kids because they were like, fighters, why would you guys come and visit us?

00:36:18.000 And that's violent.

00:36:20.000 And so I decided I'll become a volunteer here, go through all the processes and the training and all the other stuff.

00:36:26.000 And then I loved volunteering there.

00:36:28.000 And then after they got to know me, I'm like, hey, can we do a team visit?

00:36:32.000 Man, us in there, the best visit they had ever had was the bikers.

00:36:37.000 Like this biker gang guys always brought pizza on Wednesday night or something. 1.00

00:36:42.000 And they literally did look rough and tumble.

00:36:45.000 And then they said ours was the second best.

00:36:47.000 And I'm like, you know what?

00:36:48.000 And they said, well, I won't say the teams, but some of the other big major league sports, they said those have been, and they named some of them, they've been some of our absolute worst.

00:36:58.000 I'm like, man, see, you thought fighters were going to come in here and I don't know if you thought we were going to beat up the kids or something, but no, we're passionate about the sport.

00:37:06.000 I mean, I think passionate means you love something so much that you'll suffer for it.

00:37:12.000 Or even that suffering looks like enjoyment or becomes enjoyment because you love it and you're passionate about it.

00:37:20.000 And so, I mean, whenever you're a fighter, you're getting beat up and all the other stuff.

00:37:24.000 And man, we're passionate people.

00:37:26.000 We We really love each other.

00:37:29.000 It's all team camaraderie.

00:37:31.000 Yeah, there's an intense camaraderie between people that train together because you go through such difficult sessions and difficult sparring and difficult moments and conditioning and all that stuff and you push each other and it's a different kind of bond, right?

00:37:46.000 Yeah, and on that I think I saw someone recently post something that was Pretty cool where it showed like a jujitsu gym and it was showing all the different people.

00:37:57.000 And in it, it said something like, where's the one place you can find these religious people and these different skin colors?

00:38:04.000 And I forget how it was worded, but...

00:38:06.000 All the mats.

00:38:07.000 Yeah, and we all get along and there's all peace.

00:38:09.000 It's like all the mats.

00:38:10.000 I love that.

00:38:11.000 Yeah, I do as well.

00:38:13.000 Do you stay in any way in touch with those kids from back in the day, from the kids that bullied you?

00:38:21.000 It was actually funny.

00:38:22.000 After The Ultimate Fighter, I got invited out by one of the guys.

00:38:28.000 And just because I think a couple of people...

00:38:33.000 Yeah, I saw one of the guys who was one of the main guys and he's like, hey, I just saw him walking around downtown Fort Worth and he's like, why don't we go out here or whatever?

00:38:42.000 I'm like, alright, I'll go.

00:38:43.000 And, well, he had actually brought me into the sushi restaurant and all around the table was most of the people that were, not most, it was probably only like 8 or 10 people.

00:38:53.000 But they were some of the main kids that were at that party when I dressed up and everything. 0.82

00:38:57.000 Man, if we'd have known you were a fighter, you could have kicked our butts, then we wouldn't have done that to you. 0.94

00:39:04.000 So I told him I was going to the bathroom and just left. 0.97

00:39:07.000 I think that's the only time I've ever done anything like that, but I was like, I can't be around these guys.

00:39:12.000 Did you sense any feeling of remorse from them, or did they just want to be friends with you?

00:39:18.000 One or two of them, one guy for sure, he's pretty cool now. 0.54

00:39:25.000 But then one is a knucklehead for sure. 0.95

00:39:29.000 Still. 0.94

00:39:29.000 Yeah, big time. 0.94

00:39:30.000 You know, it's that classic thing of kids ganging up on one kid.

00:39:35.000 That's a weird instinct that sometimes children have.

00:39:38.000 You remember that movie Carrie?

00:39:41.000 She goes to the prom.

00:39:43.000 Did you ever see that Sissy Spacek movie?

00:39:45.000 It's based on a great Stephen King book.

00:39:47.000 You know, I know the cover.

00:39:50.000 The Sissy Spacek movie was really trippy.

00:39:53.000 John Travolta's in it back in the day, young and handsome.

00:39:58.000 But it's, you know, that's the themes that they push her.

00:40:01.000 She has these crazy telekinetic powers and they push her to this point and they do it by mocking her and bullying her. 0.88

00:40:07.000 They take her to the prom and they pour pig's blood on her head. 0.99

00:40:09.000 She winds up killing everybody. 1.00

00:40:11.000 Oh wow. 0.55

00:40:12.000 Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

00:40:13.000 But that thing that happens when kids gang up on a kid that they feel like is vulnerable. 0.99

00:40:20.000 Like, what the fuck is that, man? 1.00

00:40:22.000 What a horrible instinct. 1.00

00:40:23.000 Like, is that...

00:40:26.000 But, I mean, I just, I struggle to understand where that instinct comes from or why people do it.

00:40:34.000 It's, um, especially little kids.

00:40:37.000 Yeah.

00:40:37.000 I mean, I guess I could understand that if the kids have been abused themselves and they want to lash out, they're angry and hurt, but oftentimes it's just they find someone who's vulnerable.

00:40:46.000 Mm-hmm.

00:40:47.000 It's like they find the pecking order, and they find the one person they can get away with, and they all funnel their insecurities and their anger and their aggression on this one person, just because with no regard whatsoever what kind of impact it's going to have on that kid.

00:41:00.000 Yeah, and I think one of the things that makes it so much worse now is, I mean, I don't know, I get to...

00:41:08.000 Here's some of the stuff and they can't escape it because it follows them home.

00:41:11.000 I'm all that cyberbullying and they get the text and all this stuff.

00:41:15.000 So it's constantly...

00:41:16.000 So I could at least escape it from, I don't know, 8 to 3. At 8 to 3, I was at school, but when I came home, I was okay.

00:41:24.000 And maybe that gave me a break, but a little bit of a break from it.

00:41:28.000 But I mean, it's nuts.

00:41:29.000 The world that we live in and the stuff that's happening.

00:41:31.000 I mean, what you said happened in...

00:41:33.000 Germany and other school shootings have happened here.

00:41:35.000 I was in Aurora when the movie theater thing happened.

00:41:40.000 And it's just terrible.

00:41:42.000 But then there's absolutely, without a doubt, zero excuse for, you know, never do anything like that.

00:41:48.000 But then I kind of have looked at it maybe once before. 0.86

00:41:51.000 It might be stupid for me to talk about it now.

00:41:53.000 But I kind of can see where they've been pushed over the edge in a way. 0.92

00:41:59.000 No excuse.

00:42:00.000 They should not ever do anything like that.

00:42:02.000 But for me, it's like, man, it was never a fair fight.

00:42:07.000 They were always cornered, outnumbered, beaten down over and over and over.

00:42:14.000 And they just snapped.

00:42:15.000 And now it's terrible.

00:42:16.000 Don't do...

00:42:17.000 Yeah, I don't know if that's the case with the Aurora shooter. 0.94

00:42:20.000 I think he was completely insane. 0.50

00:42:22.000 Yeah.

00:42:22.000 But I think it certainly can happen to people where they get to this point where not only do they not want to live, they don't want you to live anymore either.

00:42:30.000 Because, I mean, I'm sure if you had been in a situation where you knew someone, you had a friend who was in the same boat as you, you know, like those kids from Columbine.

00:42:40.000 Mm-hmm. 0.90

00:42:40.000 Where the two kids got together and they sort of helped each other do something really fucked up. 0.90

00:42:45.000 If you were involved with the wrong people at that time and someone had a gun and you knew where these kids were and you wanted to do that to yourself, who knows what you would have wanted to do to them as well.

00:42:56.000 Yeah, it's kind of a scary thing to think about.

00:42:58.000 I did have a dark period.

00:43:01.000 I think it was in between 7th and 8th grade where I started hanging out with a lot of the Just the kids that were involved in just darker thoughts, music, stuff like that, where I'm hanging out with them and we're all depressed.

00:43:18.000 We're listening to that Papa Roach song, The Last Resort.

00:43:24.000 I think it's like, cut myself bleeding.

00:43:26.000 I'm never going to...

00:43:28.000 Or I don't want to breathe again or live again or something like that.

00:43:30.000 And then all of a sudden they're bringing out, what are those, the big black cats or those M80s or something like that.

00:43:36.000 And there's a bunch of frogs where we lived in the country.

00:43:38.000 And they go, get the frogs, blow up a frog, get another frog, blow up a frog.

00:43:43.000 And all of a sudden I'm like, this is a little way too dark for me.

00:43:48.000 How do you blow up a frog?

00:43:50.000 You stick it in its mouth?

00:43:50.000 Yeah, stick it in its mouth and just light it right in front.

00:43:53.000 Sorry for anyone.

00:43:54.000 And the frog just keeps it in his mouth for some strange reason?

00:43:57.000 Yeah, they're hopping, hopping, hopping.

00:43:58.000 With it in his mouth?

00:43:59.000 Yeah, with his mouth.

00:44:00.000 Because I think maybe with the M80s, they use those because they're big.

00:44:05.000 So you stick it in there, it kind of sticks in.

00:44:06.000 Oh, they can't get it out.

00:44:07.000 Yeah, they can't get it out.

00:44:08.000 Oh, God.

00:44:09.000 Yeah, so brutal.

00:44:10.000 Anyways, when that happened, I was like, okay, I need to change the...

00:44:13.000 That was a group of like five or six kids that were just in a very, very dark place.

00:44:19.000 And even one's in jail, so... 1.00

00:44:21.000 Fuck, dude. 1.00

00:44:22.000 What a bummer. 1.00

00:44:23.000 You're bumming me out, Justin.

00:44:24.000 Sorry, I don't want to do that.

00:44:25.000 Every time you've been here, it's just been all joyful and loving and all the things.

00:44:30.000 I didn't know your history.

00:44:32.000 Well, hey, man, it's just honest expression.

00:44:34.000 There's nothing wrong with it.

00:44:35.000 It makes me, as an adult, I almost want to go back in time and stop it from happening.

00:44:43.000 It makes me...

00:44:46.000 It makes me very sad.

00:44:47.000 It's just...

00:44:47.000 It's one of the worst aspects of human beings that they could plan something like that and do that and just try to ruin someone's life just for sport, just for fun, for no reason.

00:44:58.000 You didn't do anything to them.

00:44:59.000 It's just... 1.00

00:44:59.000 It's fucked up, man. 1.00

00:45:01.000 I see it as a thing that actually helped... 0.99

00:45:05.000 Shape and mold me now in a way of like, I look at it and it was Loretta while we were writing the book.

00:45:10.000 She's like, do you not see all these kind of parallels?

00:45:13.000 And I'm like, what do you mean?

00:45:13.000 You grew up, you got really, really bullied.

00:45:16.000 Then you're trying to help people that are like maybe the most bullied people on planet Earth.

00:45:20.000 I'm like, oh, I guess I see that now.

00:45:22.000 And what was it last?

00:45:24.000 Not the last trip, but the second to last trip to Congo that I had.

00:45:27.000 I was there and we're having to get a mechanic to help.

00:45:30.000 We're tires and different stuff, and all of a sudden a drunk mechanic comes out, and he's always drunk, and he comes out, he's talking with us, this little boy walks by, he's literally He should be in school, but because his family's so poor, he's out selling eggs.

00:45:45.000 And if he's selling eggs, he'll make, you know, nothing.

00:45:49.000 But he'll never be able to go to school, probably.

00:45:51.000 And he's just trying to make money to feed his family.

00:45:53.000 And he's literally five, six, seven years old.

00:45:55.000 And he's coming around selling the eggs.

00:45:58.000 Normally they sell them hard-boiled, but sometimes they don't.

00:46:01.000 When they're walking around, you want to eat it then.

00:46:03.000 But these kids were all raw, so it's even harder for them to sell them.

00:46:07.000 But the drunk guy picked up the egg.

00:46:10.000 He's looking at it, shakes it a little bit, finds out it's raw, and just smashes him.

00:46:15.000 The kid, this is an adult, 30-something-year-old man, and this is literally a 5, 6, 7, 8-year-old kid, just smashes it over his head, and the kid looks up at him with just fear.

00:46:26.000 I mean, it's not smart for me, because, you know, I'm the outsider to the government's eyes and everything else, but, like, I almost got in a fistfight with him.

00:46:35.000 I remember just pulling my hand straight back and And just almost just backhanded him right across the face.

00:46:41.000 And then Ben's like, whoa, whoa, whoa!

00:46:43.000 Then I grabbed, I think I grabbed his shirt, grabbed his shoulder, And I said, Ben, translate for me real quick.

00:46:48.000 If he ever lays his hands on that kid or any other kid, I'm going to lay my hands on him.

00:46:52.000 And so just make sure he understands that, this kind of thing.

00:46:54.000 And I don't even know what I'm into that except for...

00:46:58.000 I mean, I just don't get...

00:46:59.000 Get people sometimes.

00:47:03.000 We'll get into some positive stuff, but that one just blew me away.

00:47:06.000 I was like, you're an old guy picking on a kindergartner.

00:47:09.000 I just...

00:47:11.000 As a...

00:47:12.000 I mean, as a person...

00:47:15.000 I don't understand it, but I also don't understand it logically.

00:47:18.000 I don't understand where that inclination comes from.

00:47:21.000 What is it about a human being that makes them want to do that?

00:47:26.000 How did that develop?

00:47:28.000 How is it so common?

00:47:31.000 I guess when you...

00:47:34.000 Put someone down, you feel better about yourself.

00:47:37.000 But do you really?

00:47:38.000 I mean, does anybody really?

00:47:39.000 No, I don't.

00:47:39.000 What I've found is the exact opposite.

00:47:41.000 When you help somebody, it actually helps you.

00:47:43.000 Of course.

00:47:44.000 If you love somebody, you feel more loved when you...

00:47:46.000 Yeah.

00:47:46.000 You know, so it's counterintuitive, but that's kind of what people do, right?

00:47:51.000 Do the opposite of what we...

00:47:53.000 But it's so common.

00:47:54.000 I wonder like what is the cause, the root cause of it?

00:47:58.000 Does it play some sort of evolutionary role?

00:48:01.000 Like what is it?

00:48:02.000 Like pecking order with chickens.

00:48:04.000 Like they try to find out who's the weakest one and they'll attack.

00:48:07.000 They'll all attack like the weakest chicken.

00:48:09.000 They'll all peck at it. 1.00

00:48:10.000 It's like what the fuck is that? 0.99

00:48:13.000 Like why? 1.00

00:48:14.000 Are they trying to weed out the weak?

00:48:16.000 Is it an evolutionary thing?

00:48:18.000 Are they terrified of someone doing that to them so they strike first?

00:48:23.000 Well, you know what?

00:48:24.000 There's actually a pretty incredible video.

00:48:26.000 Pull this thing up too.

00:48:27.000 Yeah.

00:48:28.000 There's actually a pretty incredible video that I was absolutely terrible whenever I gave the speech or whatever, but I played part of the video, cut it down to like three minutes.

00:48:37.000 It's had like 12. I think it's called The Battle at Kruger.

00:48:40.000 Have you seen that?

00:48:41.000 No.

00:48:41.000 It's in Africa.

00:48:42.000 Oh, I have seen that.

00:48:44.000 Yeah.

00:48:45.000 It's the water buffaloes and the lions and the crocodile.

00:48:48.000 Yep.

00:48:49.000 The lion takes the...

00:48:50.000 The back of the pack, the smaller, weaker, younger, lions all go after that one, tackle it, splash in the water, they're dragging the baby out of the lake, or river, and all of a sudden a huge crocodile comes and grabs it,

00:49:05.000 and they have a tug-of-war match.

00:49:09.000 With this baby, I think it was...

00:49:11.000 Kate Buffalo?

00:49:12.000 Kate Buffalo, yeah.

00:49:13.000 And so, it wasn't Wildebeest, right?

00:49:15.000 It was Kate Buffalo?

00:49:16.000 I think.

00:49:16.000 Anyway, it was one of those.

00:49:17.000 And yeah, it's nuts.

00:49:19.000 But what I love, almost in that analogy of...

00:49:23.000 I think?

00:49:42.000 90% of the time, it's 80 to 90% of the time it stops within five seconds, the bullying.

00:49:48.000 It just stops.

00:49:49.000 And it doesn't have to be anything aggressive.

00:49:50.000 It can be, hey man, lay off of them.

00:49:52.000 And then if you, after that, it's something like 95% of the time if you invite the bullied victim to come into your group or hang out or sit at your table or whatever, then it stops even better right away when you don't address the bully, you address the person that's getting bullied.

00:50:08.000 Yeah.

00:50:08.000 So it seems like the people that are bullying, they almost need reinforcement.

00:50:11.000 And they're getting reinforcement by people being complicit or being silent.

00:50:15.000 They're joined in like those lions.

00:50:17.000 One lion decides to take out the little guy.

00:50:19.000 That's so different though.

00:50:20.000 That's what they do for food. 1.00

00:50:23.000 That's how they stay alive.

00:50:24.000 That's a natural instinct.

00:50:25.000 This is a weird evilness.

00:50:28.000 The one thing I do like about it, though, is with those two stats, like, say something, don't be passive.

00:50:34.000 Whenever one Cape Buffalo turned around, a couple other ones did too, and then one came in there in the middle of the line.

00:50:41.000 One hit, one line, threw it in the air, and then all of them tucked tail and ran.

00:50:45.000 Yeah, once they realize what a Cape buffalo can actually do to them.

00:50:48.000 Man, that's so terrible.

00:50:50.000 You know, Cape buffaloes apparently are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa, and they will charge you.

00:50:57.000 They're just so used to being around people, or around animals rather, that are trying to kill them.

00:51:04.000 I almost got us arrested, and not just a little bit, a lot of bit, where we accidentally, I believe the Serengeti's in Tanzania, and we're on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, and we're taking a shortcut from some locals, which is always fine if you're from there. 1.00

00:51:20.000 And we saw this awesome, but we didn't know we were going through the Serengeti.

00:51:24.000 We just thought it was a shortcut.

00:51:25.000 We didn't pay for a park pass or anything like that.

00:51:28.000 And all of a sudden I see this just gigantic Cape Buffalo skull just sitting in the middle of nowhere.

00:51:33.000 I'm like, let's get that.

00:51:34.000 Let's take it back.

00:51:35.000 And so we put that in the back of the truck.

00:51:37.000 All of a sudden we're driving and we get pulled over by the park rangers.

00:51:41.000 Then they see the Cape Buffalo skull, they say we're poachers, they say this, that, and just swarmed by all these park rangers, like three or four different vehicles.

00:51:49.000 Oh, wow.

00:51:50.000 Saying they're going to arrest me, all this different stuff, and our crew, and luckily, anyways, that's a random thing, but luckily we just said, hey, can I just put it right back where it was?

00:51:59.000 I didn't mean to, I didn't know we were in a national park. 0.97

00:52:03.000 Yeah, they don't take any bullshit from poachers out there. 0.98

00:52:06.000 It's very dangerous. 1.00

00:52:08.000 They kill poachers on site.

00:52:10.000 Yeah, they can kill them where a lot of times it's literally the life in prison sentence for certain ones.

00:52:18.000 For poaching?

00:52:18.000 Yeah, for endangered species, for sure, with the okapi.

00:52:25.000 One of my last trips, someone tried to I think I maybe said earlier where on one of the past episodes where someone tried to sell me the meat and the fur of an okapie.

00:52:36.000 And then...

00:52:37.000 Okapies are in danger?

00:52:39.000 Yes.

00:52:39.000 And they're only found in the one area that we're kind of working in.

00:52:44.000 And the rebel groups there went to a little...

00:52:48.000 Wildlife Reserve for them, protecting them.

00:52:51.000 And they went and murdered, like, I don't know, 15 or 20 of them.

00:52:56.000 Something like that.

00:52:57.000 They were there trying to help stimulate them, you know, help them come back in the wild and everything else. 0.98

00:53:02.000 They just went and killed them all.

00:53:04.000 Yeah, and then another guy was trying to sell me a rhino horn. 0.85

00:53:10.000 And, yeah, it's just brutal.

00:53:12.000 Now, poaching sucks, but...

00:53:15.000 I love how the Pygmies culture is with hunting. 1.00

00:53:18.000 I even have a quick video.

00:53:22.000 Did you see what they're doing where they're making 3D printed cloned rhino horns and they're going to flood the market with them?

00:53:30.000 That's a great idea.

00:53:32.000 Yeah.

00:53:32.000 See if you can find that.

00:53:33.000 You should do that with shark fins too, right?

00:53:35.000 Yeah.

00:53:36.000 Yeah, they're...

00:53:37.000 I mean, at least people eat shark fins. 0.97

00:53:40.000 I mean, it's fucked up that they're killing them all and making soup out of them, but Jesus, at least they're eating them. 0.98

00:53:46.000 The rhino thing is insane. 0.99

00:53:47.000 Yeah.

00:53:49.000 It's absolutely based on nothing.

00:53:52.000 I mean, the...

00:53:53.000 Medicine.

00:53:54.000 But it's crazy.

00:53:56.000 Yeah.

00:53:56.000 I just can't imagine that here we are in 2016 with Viagra and Cialis and all these different boner pills you buy at the gas station that Red Band takes.

00:54:07.000 When I was pulling this up, I found this on Vice.

00:54:11.000 3D printing rhino horns are not the solution to poaching crisis, experts say.

00:54:16.000 The experts don't agree that that's the best way.

00:54:19.000 Well, I don't know if it's the best way either.

00:54:20.000 I mean, I just can't imagine that the rhinos are literally on the verge of going extinct because people want to kill them and take their horns, which do nothing.

00:54:30.000 Isn't it like the same substance as like a fingernail or toenail or something like that?

00:54:34.000 Yeah, it is.

00:54:34.000 Exactly.

00:54:35.000 That's exactly what it is.

00:54:36.000 It's like hair. 1.00

00:54:37.000 Yeah, but they have this erroneous idea that you eat it and it makes your dick hard. 1.00

00:54:44.000 I just... 1.00

00:54:45.000 I don't know. 0.99

00:54:46.000 What the fuck is going on with Asia? 1.00

00:54:49.000 That's a broad statement, isn't it? 0.99

00:54:51.000 Boy, I generalize.

00:54:53.000 I generalize on a billion people. 0.99

00:54:54.000 What the fuck's going on with Asia, man? 1.00

00:54:56.000 I mean, I wonder... 0.99

00:54:57.000 I think it's also a status symbol I was reading.

00:55:01.000 That even though it might not necessarily be real or really work, but it's such an ancient cultural status symbol thing that these businessmen will get together and they'll have rhino horn tea.

00:55:15.000 But they think it's cool because it's illegal and you can't get it and it's dangerous and it's got to come from Africa. 0.94

00:55:23.000 So it must really work.

00:55:26.000 No, no, I'm just kidding.

00:55:27.000 Maybe it does work.

00:55:28.000 Maybe that's what they think, though.

00:55:29.000 Maybe it does work.

00:55:30.000 It's this expensive.

00:55:31.000 Maybe it does something.

00:55:32.000 Their grandfather said it worked.

00:55:34.000 His grandfather said it worked.

00:55:35.000 Why don't you Google that, Jamie?

00:55:36.000 Does rhino horn actually work?

00:55:38.000 No, it won't.

00:55:39.000 How do you know?

00:55:40.000 I mean, maybe it doesn't work as good as other stuff.

00:55:42.000 If biting your fingernails doesn't...

00:55:43.000 Maybe it does.

00:55:44.000 Then you just gotta eat enough fingernails.

00:55:46.000 Yeah.

00:55:47.000 Imagine?

00:55:51.000 What's an acceptable source to find?

00:55:53.000 If this is true or not.

00:55:55.000 I don't think there would be one.

00:55:57.000 Is it from China's Google?

00:55:58.000 Isn't that funny?

00:55:59.000 You have to find a website that you trust, right?

00:56:01.000 It's got to be like wired.com or something like that.

00:56:03.000 PBS has a story on fact or fiction use on it, but...

00:56:07.000 What does that say?

00:56:08.000 PBS is probably valid.

00:56:10.000 That's a lot of information I'd have to read first, but just a long article about it.

00:56:14.000 Rhino horn use fact or fiction.

00:56:17.000 When I'm exhausted and I look at something like that, I go to the very bottom and say, hmm, how do they wrap this up?

00:56:24.000 Overall, not much evidence to support.

00:56:26.000 Yeah.

00:56:27.000 The pressure of claims about the hearing properties of the horns.

00:56:29.000 There you go.

00:56:29.000 That's a good little tip I just learned from you.

00:56:31.000 Yeah.

00:56:32.000 If you're not really...

00:56:33.000 This isn't life-dependent.

00:56:35.000 This is not something that you're really...

00:56:36.000 It's not really a factor in your life.

00:56:38.000 Yeah.

00:56:39.000 Just go to the bottom line.

00:56:41.000 It is very strange.

00:56:43.000 Oh, okay.

00:56:44.000 Not believed as once believed.

00:56:46.000 It's not as once believed, rather.

00:56:48.000 Made simply from a clump of compressed or modified hair.

00:56:51.000 Recent studies by researchers in Ohio University.

00:56:53.000 Ohio.

00:56:54.000 There you go.

00:56:56.000 Yes.

00:56:57.000 What is that word?

00:56:58.000 Tomography?

00:56:59.000 CT scans have shown that the horns are, in fact, similar in structure to horses' hooves, turtle beaks, and cockatoo bills.

00:57:07.000 The studies also reveal that the centers of the horns have dense mineral deposits of calcium and melanin, a finding that may explain the curve and sharp tip of the horn.

00:57:19.000 The calcium would strengthen the horn, while the melanin would protect some of the core from being degraded by ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

00:57:26.000 Huh.

00:57:28.000 Softer outer portion worn away over time by the sun and typical rhino activities, bashing horns with other animals, rubbing it on the ground.

00:57:36.000 The inner core would be sharpened into a point, much like a wooden pencil.

00:57:40.000 Huh.

00:57:41.000 Yeah, and the horn that this kid was basically trying to sell it.

00:57:46.000 He was like 15, 16 years old.

00:57:47.000 His dad was the poacher, and his dad didn't want to get arrested, so he sends his kid.

00:58:01.000 University of Hong Kong found that large doses of rhino horn extract could slightly lower fever in rats.

00:58:08.000 Imagine if rhino horn was a cure to malaria.

00:58:11.000 Well, then we would start breeding them, right?

00:58:13.000 Like we do with chickens and stuff.

00:58:15.000 Yeah.

00:58:15.000 How strange.

00:58:17.000 It's just...

00:58:19.000 I mean, obviously, it's not happening in the Western world.

00:58:22.000 It's not happening here.

00:58:24.000 But...

00:58:26.000 It could, I guess.

00:58:27.000 Right? 1.00

00:58:28.000 I mean, some people are just fucked up. 1.00

00:58:30.000 Some people, they don't care if something's about to go extinct. 1.00

00:58:33.000 They just want...

00:58:34.000 They want what they want.

00:58:36.000 And if they want that rhino horn, for whatever strange reason.

00:58:39.000 It's just...

00:58:40.000 Well, it's like kind of with the trees.

00:58:45.000 We're getting ready, I think, to replant, I think it's 1,000 more trees, which would take our total up to 4,500 on the land for the pygmies.

00:58:56.000 Around there, the reason that, I mean, China and all these other places are coming in, they're cutting down the rare hardwoods, the mahogany, and the reason King Leopold went there was the rubber boom and the trees there and everything else.

00:59:06.000 But then it just nuts me because I think they're, you know, they want it for greed, money, everything else.

00:59:13.000 But then the people in the country, they're starting to learn and get educated in the fact that, like, hey, if we're cutting down all these trees, we better start replanting some because it takes so long for them to grow back.

00:59:25.000 And so, no, but it's just for charcoal or fire, and they're like, once that's gone, what do you have?

00:59:31.000 Nothing.

00:59:32.000 Yeah.

00:59:32.000 Bunia, actually, the town that all of our well drillers live in at the university, they used to be in a rainforest.

00:59:40.000 Now you have to drive three, four hours to get to the closest forest.

00:59:45.000 Whoa.

00:59:45.000 You have to drive three or four hours away, and it used to be in the center of the, not center of the rainforest, but the edge of the rainforest.

00:59:51.000 Oh, my God.

00:59:52.000 It used to be a forest, and now it's not.

00:59:53.000 Three or four hours drive.

00:59:55.000 Yeah.

00:59:56.000 It's all just because of deforestation, all chopping down for logging. 1.00

01:00:00.000 Fuck, man. 0.99

01:00:01.000 I was in Canada, and they do a pretty good job of regulating it in BC, but it's still disturbing because you come across these big, gigantic fields where the trees are just gone. 1.00

01:00:13.000 All the trees have been cut.

01:00:14.000 Mm-hmm.

01:00:15.000 And, you know, they plant some, and they have...

01:00:18.000 They also have, like, perches.

01:00:20.000 They leave perches for animals, which is probably, like, an awesome spot for, like, a hawk or an eagle or something like that, because everything's cut down.

01:00:30.000 They can see everything.

01:00:31.000 They see straight to the perches.

01:00:32.000 Yeah, but it's these cut...

01:00:35.000 I forget what they call it.

01:00:36.000 These patches where everything's cut down.

01:00:39.000 It's so disturbing.

01:00:40.000 I get that they replant.

01:00:43.000 I get that they have a cycle.

01:00:44.000 But it just bugs me that people could do that. 0.97

01:00:48.000 They just giant swaths of the landscape shaved off and turned into toothpicks or whatever the fuck they do with it. 0.85

01:00:55.000 Yeah, and so I was in a village before my wife's first time to Congo, and it was, I mean, it was almost like, you know, lush, untouched, virgin forest, and then all of a sudden, come back next time with her,

01:01:11.000 come out of the forest, come back in, it was probably a month or so, because we went to a couple other villages, we go back, start going on the same hike, and all of a sudden there's this huge clearing, at least 10 acres, probably 20, 25, and it was just...

01:01:25.000 Nothing there except for a few remaining huge cut-down trees that I could stand in front of and the base or whatever was way taller than I was.

01:01:34.000 Like a midget next to it. 1.00

01:01:36.000 Fuck, man. 1.00

01:01:37.000 So yeah, it's pretty crazy. 1.00

01:01:38.000 And I was telling her, I'm like, babe, like...

01:01:40.000 I was like, take some pictures of this.

01:01:42.000 I think I have some pictures right here of where we are right now on this trail.

01:01:46.000 And there used to be trees here, and it was nuts.

01:01:48.000 Because all of a sudden, for me, the rainforest is great, actually.

01:01:53.000 I mean, it's hot, and I'm all hairy.

01:01:55.000 But she... 1.00

01:01:58.000 But being under the canopy of the rainforest, I mean, I love that because it's shaded and everything else.

01:02:02.000 Right.

01:02:03.000 Still hot, still humid, but I'm not getting burned.

01:02:06.000 Yeah.

01:02:07.000 Especially, yeah, you're really pale, right?

01:02:09.000 On a hike, I was getting burned, and I'm like, man, this is nuts.

01:02:11.000 Especially on that malaria medication, right?

01:02:13.000 Right.

01:02:14.000 They were talking on this documentary I was watching about the deforestation of the Amazon, about how fast it's happening and how terrifying it is.

01:02:23.000 And a big part of it, I guess, is not even, well, there's logging, but there's also, they cut it down to make room for cattle grazing.

01:02:32.000 And when they were showing, there's just a sheer size of the deforestation, of how much they've done and so quickly.

01:02:40.000 And then also the people that live in these areas where if they resist the loggers or they resist, they just get murdered.

01:02:48.000 Yeah, especially the indigenous people that are more out there.

01:02:53.000 And that happens with the pygmies, too, because they're the weaker, more vulnerable ones that you can push around and they can't push back. 1.00

01:02:59.000 Right.

01:03:00.000 When you consider your life and you consider these horrible stories that you're telling us about your upbringing, how disturbing it is, does it feel to you, since you've found this sense of purpose and this real connection with these people in the Congo,

01:03:17.000 that almost like these horrible events in your life were setting you up to be the perfect person to find these folks?

01:03:23.000 Without a doubt.

01:03:24.000 For me, honestly, it's almost like, what's the right word?

01:03:30.000 Maybe sort of my chance at kind of redemption or just not being the kid that I grew up being.

01:03:37.000 Not that I was a bad kid or anything, but just I hated myself.

01:03:41.000 And it's like, you know what?

01:03:41.000 I get to stop hating myself.

01:03:44.000 I get to stop loving it.

01:03:45.000 Loving others and not just that you also have this massive impact on other people You have all these people that love you.

01:03:51.000 You have this amazing wife now You have this amazing pygmy family.

01:03:55.000 You have your regular family.

01:03:56.000 It's amazing Like you have so much positive going on now.

01:03:59.000 It's really kind of incredible.

01:04:01.000 It's almost like you're the horrible Experiences you had as a young kid have sort of made you into this incredible adult I don't know about that.

01:04:17.000 Well, you're very humble.

01:04:19.000 I don't even know how this...

01:04:23.000 Honestly, there's not a good explanation that I could probably explain that it should be working or that it's working like it is because...

01:04:35.000 Well, with me at the front of it because I don't have any community development training or...

01:04:40.000 I have a degree.

01:04:41.000 I actually don't speak the language I'm learning.

01:04:44.000 How much can you speak?

01:04:47.000 How rudimentary?

01:04:48.000 Like, como te llamo Joe?

01:04:51.000 Yeah, I can say, my name is this, where's the bathroom?

01:04:54.000 You doing okay?

01:04:55.000 You sure?

01:04:55.000 You tired?

01:04:57.000 You're like, oh, you lost me.

01:04:59.000 It's tough.

01:05:00.000 The saying is brief.

01:05:03.000 What does it sound like?

01:05:04.000 What do they sound like when they're talking?

01:05:06.000 Jamie, pull some pygmy.

01:05:09.000 That's what they say?

01:05:10.000 That's what they talk?

01:05:12.000 That's what the forest calls.

01:05:13.000 That's kind of like our walkie-talkies.

01:05:14.000 Oh, yeah?

01:05:15.000 You yell that out?

01:05:16.000 Let people know where you are?

01:05:17.000 So what are you saying when you're saying that?

01:05:19.000 That is actually...

01:05:19.000 That's not a word.

01:05:20.000 It's just kind of like your own...

01:05:21.000 It's like yo?

01:05:22.000 Yeah.

01:05:22.000 Or it's actually like, I'm over here.

01:05:24.000 Where are you?

01:05:24.000 Kind of things like that.

01:05:25.000 Or we're just checking.

01:05:26.000 We're even at just excitement, just fun.

01:05:28.000 I mean, whenever we go on hikes, those hikes are long, right?

01:05:31.000 And there's no TV or you can't text or scroll the internet.

01:05:36.000 You, yeah, have each other, which is always great, but then you goof off.

01:05:40.000 I mean...

01:05:41.000 Actually, you know what?

01:05:42.000 I bet in one of those videos it has them speaking, and it's pretty awesome.

01:05:48.000 I remember that.

01:05:49.000 When you're saying hikes, are you talking like recreational hikes?

01:05:53.000 No.

01:05:54.000 You just gotta get around.

01:05:55.000 You hear someone talk about hikes in LA. It's like, oh, I'm gonna take my little dog to Runyon, and we're gonna go hiking.

01:06:01.000 You say hiking.

01:06:02.000 Yeah, that's what people think of.

01:06:03.000 They think of some recreational activity with one of those little camel things, the little water things, camelback, water reservoirs you put on your back and you suck on the straw as you're walking.

01:06:16.000 You know, it's funny.

01:06:16.000 I took a couple of those to Congo the first couple times and I realized just how impractical they are.

01:06:23.000 And in a real...

01:06:25.000 Long-term, not a day hike or a three-day weekend or something.

01:06:29.000 A lot of guys don't like those.

01:06:31.000 Yeah.

01:06:31.000 A lot of guys don't like them.

01:06:32.000 They'd rather have a... 0.98

01:06:34.000 How do you say that word?

01:06:36.000 Nalgene?

01:06:37.000 Nalgene, right?

01:06:37.000 Nalgene.

01:06:38.000 Nalgene.

01:06:38.000 How do you say it?

01:06:39.000 I think it's Nalgene.

01:06:40.000 What is that?

01:06:40.000 Is this like a certain type of plastic?

01:06:42.000 I think it's a really hard, durable plastic that...

01:06:45.000 Yeah, that people use for water jugs.

01:06:47.000 And that's what I would rather use because the other one's too hard to clean and too hard to fill up and leaks and just all sorts of stuff.

01:06:55.000 But some people like it because they don't have to stop.

01:06:58.000 They can just keep walking and just suck on that thing as they're walking. 0.99

01:07:02.000 I've never used one though.

01:07:03.000 Yeah, I used it for the first two times I went, which was like about a month each.

01:07:09.000 You switched to water bottles?

01:07:10.000 Yeah, and then even they have those camelback kind of like, I think they're called like a platypus or something.

01:07:17.000 It's a gravity filter for water where you have a dirty water bag and you have a clean.

01:07:23.000 You scoop the dirty, you hang the dirty and it goes down through a filter and into the clean bag.

01:07:27.000 Yeah, I've seen that.

01:07:28.000 That's interesting.

01:07:29.000 Yeah.

01:07:30.000 See if you can find that.

01:07:31.000 Does that work?

01:07:32.000 Those don't work?

01:07:33.000 I think they work great here in the States where...

01:07:38.000 You're not dealing with much.

01:07:39.000 Right.

01:07:39.000 But whenever the water is dirty, like really dirty, they break pretty quick.

01:07:45.000 So you have to backwash them and other stuff.

01:07:47.000 There's some that are...

01:07:49.000 They're good, but even the maintenance of them, just really, really tough.

01:07:52.000 So they work for like one filtration, but they won't work over and over and over again?

01:07:57.000 My first time I went for about a month, I had it for a week or two, and then all of a sudden it started breaking, because I was even filtering the water in the town that's coming from wells, because I don't know if they...

01:08:11.000 Right.

01:08:11.000 If they did it properly, right?

01:08:13.000 Good call.

01:08:14.000 And I had been sick enough.

01:08:16.000 I'm like, I'm done with this.

01:08:17.000 Yeah, I hear you.

01:08:17.000 So I'm filtering that stuff.

01:08:18.000 And then by the time I get out to the forest, I was able to use it a few days.

01:08:22.000 And then it was out.

01:08:23.000 And then all of a sudden I was stuck with just chlorine tablets the rest of the time.

01:08:26.000 Oh, God.

01:08:27.000 And you can boil it, but it's just impractical where every single time you want to drink, you take a container down to dirty water, which could be 30, 45 minutes away.

01:08:39.000 Bring it back, boil it.

01:08:41.000 Right.

01:08:42.000 Bring it back, boil it.

01:08:43.000 Filter it.

01:08:44.000 Yeah, and then all of a sudden all the ash is getting in it, and then it's the hot, humid rainforest on the equator, and boiling water doesn't cool down basically ever there.

01:08:56.000 Right.

01:08:56.000 So it's impractical to do it that way.

01:08:59.000 Fuck. 1.00

01:09:00.000 But what I love now is, oh, you know what? 1.00

01:09:02.000 I'm pumped.

01:09:04.000 Let's do it.

01:09:05.000 So this girl, first of all, she's way too hot to be in this video. 1.00

01:09:08.000 She's very distracting. 0.99

01:09:09.000 But they're going to take this in what looks like a very clean stream.

01:09:14.000 So this is so much different.

01:09:16.000 But people should also be aware that clean streams, although they may look clean, you can still get giardia from them.

01:09:22.000 Yeah, that's exactly what I learned from his buddy of mine named Matt.

01:09:27.000 He was the director of implementation.

01:09:28.000 Now he's like the chief operating officer.

01:09:31.000 And he came out there and one of the things he really drilled into us for our well drilling team, we're learning from a great guy.

01:09:39.000 He's saying, hey, you can drill 100 wells or 200 wells, but if you didn't do it right and proper...

01:09:48.000 Then I would have rather you done one the right way or none.

01:09:51.000 None.

01:09:53.000 If you do it the right or the wrong way, 100 times, 200 times, and you are giving a village, like you just hit home hard because he's like, look, we're learning every single step.

01:10:03.000 You can't skip one.

01:10:04.000 We've got to Drill us in you where you know it, you know, because we can't skip a step or miss something, and then all of a sudden they are looking at it, drinking it.

01:10:13.000 It tastes good.

01:10:14.000 It's clean.

01:10:15.000 It's cool.

01:10:16.000 It's crisp.

01:10:16.000 It's in a well, but yet it can still be, you know, contaminated, dirty, and still get real sick if you don't properly construct the well.

01:10:23.000 No matter what well it is.

01:10:25.000 The well's here, anywhere.

01:10:26.000 What are the factors?

01:10:28.000 Like when you say properly construct, what are the issues that you have to avoid?

01:10:32.000 Yeah, so we, man, and our team's getting great.

01:10:36.000 By the way, real quick, last time I was on the show, I think we had completed 20 water wells.

01:10:40.000 I went back and looked at that.

01:10:42.000 20 water wells.

01:10:44.000 Today, I got a picture sent to me, and it's our 45th Whoa!

01:10:50.000 That's incredible.

01:10:51.000 Dude, I love it.

01:10:52.000 I absolutely love it.

01:10:53.000 And so what's so great is seeing that they're taking this on as their own thing, flying on their own two wings.

01:11:04.000 I think?

01:11:18.000 Have sick kids, all that different stuff.

01:11:20.000 And so they're going to be able to be a better champion for this cause than I could be.

01:11:26.000 Because, I mean, maybe we have different resources where I get to, you know, you share your platform with me, which has been incredible.

01:11:35.000 And the Kickstarter and the documentary coming out, all the different stuff is really great.

01:11:40.000 But I know that the team there, like, I couldn't do anything without them doing it and how great they've gotten.

01:11:47.000 But Well, that's a beautiful thing that you've helped them help themselves.

01:11:51.000 You taught them how to help themselves.

01:11:53.000 Yeah.

01:11:54.000 There you are right there.

01:11:55.000 Look at that picture.

01:11:56.000 There we go.

01:11:57.000 Yeah.

01:11:57.000 I love it.

01:11:58.000 That, to me, if I could explain it, is...

01:12:03.000 Better than...

01:12:04.000 I've been to the World...

01:12:06.000 I was just at UFC 200. I was at the World Series, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, Pacquiao fights.

01:12:15.000 I mean, I've been to all these things and those huge crowds are 30, 40, 50, 100,000 different stuff.

01:12:23.000 And that little crowd of 100, 120, to me, it drowns out the sound of an entire stadium.

01:12:29.000 It's a different kind of gratitude, thankfulness, when you've suffered your whole life.

01:12:36.000 And then you get to partner with people.

01:12:40.000 And I'm not even talking about me.

01:12:41.000 Our team, our well drillers, they see them coming in, staying with them, living like they're living, eating like they're eating.

01:12:48.000 Sitting around the campfire like they sit around, which nobody else does that with them.

01:12:52.000 And so, sleeping in the huts that they sleep in, which nobody else would do in that area.

01:12:59.000 And then, like, you just develop this bond and really quickly and to where all of a sudden they're jumping in and helping with the construction of the well and everything else.

01:13:08.000 Now, they do the simple day labor stuff, not the technical stuff, but then, yeah, our guys are getting it down, which is pretty cool.

01:13:16.000 That's amazing.

01:13:17.000 Yeah.

01:13:17.000 Now, you're at 45 wells.

01:13:20.000 Yeah.

01:13:20.000 And do you have an ultimate goal, or would you just like to continue?

01:13:24.000 I think my ultimate goal lines up with Water 4's ultimate goal, which I love, and then with our drillers in Congo.

01:13:34.000 Our goal is to end the water crisis, if possible.

01:13:37.000 We think it is possible.

01:13:39.000 And we have the technology.

01:13:40.000 We should be able to do it in our lifetime.

01:13:43.000 Before you or me pass this earth, we should have the technology to get everyone clean water.

01:13:49.000 Isn't it crazy that that's their issue?

01:13:52.000 Over here in America, we have so many trivial things that we're constantly worrying about and fretting.

01:13:57.000 When it gets down to basic human necessities, like water, the ability to get clean water, which is, without that, All the other things that we argue or bicker about, it's all nonsense.

01:14:11.000 Yeah, absolutely.

01:14:12.000 That's something that...

01:14:13.000 Oh, man.

01:14:15.000 That's something that I... I get this crazy culture shock because I feel like I'm in two different worlds.

01:14:23.000 And when I'm there, it's uncomfortable because I'm passionate about it.

01:14:28.000 I enjoy it.

01:14:30.000 But then getting back here, sometimes it's like, man, everything, a lot of times, everything that we're chasing, even me, doesn't really matter in the big, grand scheme of things.

01:14:41.000 How can we...

01:14:43.000 How can we instead of get for ourselves, how can we give to another person?

01:14:47.000 Because, like, I mean, it truly is, like, that's better.

01:14:50.000 And I know you have to take care of yourself so you can take care of someone else.

01:14:53.000 Like, I get that.

01:14:55.000 I just think it's kind of like this.

01:14:59.000 Our culture here...

01:15:00.000 You see kids and even adults.

01:15:04.000 That's mine, right?

01:15:05.000 I mean, that's our culture.

01:15:06.000 We say, that's mine.

01:15:07.000 Give me that.

01:15:07.000 It's mine.

01:15:08.000 In Congo, if that kid that had the eggs, instead of having an egg, if he had a bag of peanuts...

01:15:17.000 And he bought it for himself.

01:15:19.000 And then I walk by, sit down with him.

01:15:21.000 If I'm a friend or not, even just introducing myself, he's going to offer me his food.

01:15:25.000 Like, instead of, it's mine, he's going to say, you want some?

01:15:29.000 And so it's different in that culture where it's nuts.

01:15:32.000 They don't have anything, but they'll give you everything they got.

01:15:35.000 Like, for instance, that knife last time that I was able to, you know, bring back that Chief Leo May made.

01:15:44.000 You know, he made a bow and arrow, and I'm actually bringing that to you.

01:15:48.000 It was under our crawl space, and I lost it, and now I know where it is.

01:15:52.000 But he's pumped to bring that back to you.

01:15:54.000 But, I mean, for them to give that kind of stuff away...

01:15:58.000 Whenever Leo May, he's the chief of his village, and now, because he's got a job, he might have more, but whenever I knew him, he had maybe, he was lucky if he had two changes of clothes, because most of the pygmies have the clothes on their back. 1.00

01:16:12.000 They don't even have a blanket.

01:16:13.000 The fire's their blanket.

01:16:15.000 And so it's just a completely, I don't know, night and day difference.

01:16:20.000 There's a lot of people that listen to this that have gotten this far that want to figure out how they can help.

01:16:24.000 So what can people do to donate?

01:16:27.000 Where can they go?

01:16:29.000 Water 4's website, is that the best place to start?

01:16:31.000 Or fightfortheforgotten.com?

01:16:33.000 Both of them are one and the same.

01:16:36.000 Fightfortheforgotten.org.

01:16:37.000 Yeah,.com,.org.

01:16:38.000 They both work.

01:16:39.000 Both work.

01:16:40.000 Fightfortheforgotten.org,.com.

01:16:42.000 And there's a big yellow donate button.

01:16:44.000 Click on that and have at it, folks.

01:16:47.000 Well, thank you, man.

01:16:49.000 It's been crazy to see what's going on.

01:16:52.000 We're getting ready to do something that I'm pumped about.

01:16:54.000 Me and Papa Wai and Ben and Matt, we had talked about it and kind of dreamed it up.

01:16:59.000 And we were saying, how awesome would it be?

01:17:03.000 If in Bunia, which is kind of a city center, maybe less than half a million people for sure, but in the city center where there's a university, there's a community development program that's literally changing their part of Congo by not waiting on the government or by not waiting on an NGO. They're just taking the initiative themselves.

01:17:23.000 And so we've seen that they're so bought in.

01:17:26.000 That whenever we presented an idea of, what if we could start a sustainable solutions, appropriate technology center where there's land, water, and food solutions.

01:17:38.000 And then after that, maybe we can get into solar.

01:17:40.000 Maybe after that we can do this or that or, you know, whatever.

01:17:42.000 But at that place, we'll have different stations where here's land.

01:17:46.000 You can come learn about land rights, how to replant the trees, the forestry aspect, you know, all that different stuff, the importance of land.

01:17:54.000 And we have people there that can help and show them things.

01:17:57.000 If a chief wants to come in and book our well drilling team for their community, they can come in, see how we do it, why we do it, everything about it.

01:18:06.000 We want to have a little conference room where we can train people up on the WASH program, because now we're doing that.

01:18:10.000 All the villages that we've drilled wells in, we're going back in and we're doing the WASH program, water and sanitation and hygiene.

01:18:19.000 Do they have outhouses?

01:18:21.000 What do they use for...

01:18:22.000 They're getting them.

01:18:23.000 They're getting them now.

01:18:24.000 And so for the year I was there, there was one or two of the ten villages we were in had a quote-unquote latrine, but it was only like three or four feet deep, which isn't safe.

01:18:35.000 So most of them were just going in the woods?

01:18:37.000 Yeah, and honestly, until you do it the right way, because outside of there, some of those latrines in the cities, man, I... Definitely think I've gotten sick from a fly that maybe landed there.

01:18:50.000 So, I mean, I don't know.

01:18:51.000 But, yeah, so we get to go in there now, teach them how to dig the latrines, make sure it's way far enough away from the water well.

01:19:00.000 And then, you know, outside of the...

01:19:03.000 That's another issue too, right?

01:19:04.000 It can contaminate the water?

01:19:05.000 Yeah, if you want, you have to keep, what is it, I think 30 meters away or more, any latrines.

01:19:13.000 And then if it's a, like a, what is that?

01:19:19.000 Dump, trash dump. 0.70

01:19:20.000 It has to be 50 meters or more.

01:19:22.000 There's batteries, different stuff like that in it.

01:19:24.000 And so, yeah, we make sure.

01:19:26.000 And this is what's nuts.

01:19:27.000 So, one of my last trips, I went and we're going through Uganda on the border of Congo.

01:19:34.000 And there's these people that are so proud of their water well.

01:19:38.000 And I love that.

01:19:39.000 But then I feel like the people who ever did it, I don't know.

01:19:45.000 Cut them really short.

01:19:46.000 They shouldn't be drilling wells because I went in the restroom and then all of a sudden I look out the window and I'm at a gas station.

01:19:54.000 Uganda's a lot nicer than Congo. 0.99

01:19:55.000 I mean, there's still terrible, brutal poverty parts of that, but it's just night and day difference.

01:20:02.000 And whenever I looked out, I see here's an 18-wheeler filling up.

01:20:06.000 Here's someone else filling up.

01:20:07.000 And in between that, I'm at the toilets.

01:20:10.000 At the other side, there's a trash dump.

01:20:12.000 There's 18-wheelers and trucks filling up with fuel.

01:20:14.000 And right in the middle of the two fuel pumps is a water well.

01:20:18.000 Oh, God.

01:20:19.000 They drilled it on the lot of the gas station with a trash dump, with latrines and toilets.

01:20:26.000 Oh, God.

01:20:27.000 And so it was completely contaminating.

01:20:28.000 And the line...

01:20:30.000 It was so long, and Ben was trying to tell him, like, hey, just want to tell you, because we love you, that water is really not safe.

01:20:36.000 Same thing.

01:20:37.000 Matt kind of ingrained that into us to where it's like, you know, you've got to do it the right way.

01:20:43.000 And so Ben was taught that.

01:20:45.000 So this was a recent well that these guys had put in?

01:20:48.000 And it was one of the...

01:20:49.000 And there's a big line of people to try to get to this recent well.

01:20:51.000 I'm telling you, there was at least 20, 30 people in line.

01:20:54.000 Oh, God.

01:20:55.000 And Ben was trying to tell them in the most appropriate way possible to, like, not...

01:21:07.000 We're good to go.

01:21:22.000 Yeah.

01:21:22.000 But that's what's creating.

01:21:24.000 A lot of people don't know.

01:21:26.000 I think it's...

01:21:27.000 No, I know it is.

01:21:28.000 Half the hospital beds in the world right now are because of dirty water or waterborne-related diseases.

01:21:35.000 Half?

01:21:35.000 Half.

01:21:36.000 Half right now.

01:21:38.000 So if we were able to, as human beings, if we could join forces, unite, kind of like everyone did against Ebola, you know, if we attack the problem head-on, and just because we got it, we don't pretend everybody else has it, like,

01:21:53.000 we could really end this thing.

01:21:55.000 We could fix it.

01:21:57.000 Like, the tools are there, the water is there, it's under our feet, and here we waste it, and there they don't have it.

01:22:05.000 We don't hear about Ebola anymore.

01:22:07.000 It's like it's over.

01:22:09.000 It's like they moved on to Zika.

01:22:11.000 Zika? 0.99

01:22:11.000 Yeah, Zika. 0.99

01:22:12.000 Zika. 0.64

01:22:12.000 All the Olympians are going to get it? 0.64

01:22:14.000 Yeah, they're fucked. 1.00

01:22:15.000 All of them. 1.00

01:22:17.000 Oh, the last time when I got back, the CDC was testing me.

01:22:21.000 Two different rounds of treatments, trying to figure out what...

01:22:24.000 So, on that trip, I told you going in, I got malaria.

01:22:27.000 Right.

01:22:28.000 Now, malaria...

01:22:29.000 Keep meaning to ask you this.

01:22:30.000 If you have malaria, can someone else get it from you?

01:22:33.000 No.

01:22:34.000 If a mosquito stings you while you have malaria, then it stings somebody else.

01:22:38.000 They can't get it?

01:22:40.000 Uh...

01:22:41.000 I mean, that's one I never heard of.

01:22:43.000 I mean, I've never thought of that one, but...

01:22:45.000 Remember that when people were worried about that with HIV? They were worried about mosquito transmission?

01:22:50.000 That was like the big thing. 0.99

01:22:50.000 Keep away from gay people in the summer. 0.99

01:22:52.000 Yeah. 0.99

01:22:54.000 No, I... I had never thought of that, but I know that...

01:22:57.000 Don't shoot hair in the swamp.

01:23:00.000 I know that the doctors, they're always saying, you're fine.

01:23:06.000 I mean, I can fight and everything else.

01:23:09.000 That's crazy.

01:23:10.000 You have malaria and you can fight.

01:23:12.000 Yeah, but I literally don't...

01:23:14.000 Because it's in my liver, I think you would have to go into the liver, unless it was a current outbreak that...

01:23:19.000 What about a liver kick?

01:23:20.000 You got liver kicked? 0.72

01:23:22.000 Don't let out that secret. 0.92

01:23:24.000 Just kidding.

01:23:27.000 No, but it's been a lot of fun to...

01:23:30.000 I don't know.

01:23:31.000 I think what maybe kind of shifted was...

01:23:37.000 Kind of growing up, you know, getting bullied, you're only looking at, why am I getting bullied?

01:23:41.000 And all this stuff's true, and I am not a good person.

01:23:44.000 And then, or nobody likes me, whatever.

01:23:46.000 Then when I got 23, fighting, still not really fulfilled.

01:23:50.000 I was living more for myself there, and I'm like, man, what am I doing with my life?

01:23:56.000 Now it's so cool because seeing that and being able to tell you that last time I was here, 20 water wells or 25. But regardless, we've done 20 or 25 more.

01:24:07.000 And so that to me is a life that I get to look at.

01:24:11.000 And if I were to die, I know.

01:24:15.000 I know.

01:24:16.000 Without a shadow of a doubt that my life meant something.

01:24:20.000 And I know that I never felt that before during the depression, addiction, and all that other stuff.

01:24:26.000 But now I know that the life I live hopefully will outlive my life.

01:24:32.000 I want this team to...

01:24:34.000 Doing what they're doing.

01:24:36.000 Climb higher than I can climb.

01:24:37.000 Run farther than I can run.

01:24:39.000 Jump higher than I can jump.

01:24:40.000 You know, like, I want my...

01:24:42.000 What's that saying?

01:24:43.000 I want my ceiling to be their floor.

01:24:45.000 I want them to go farther than I can go because then that means that I actually made an impact that matters.

01:24:53.000 That mattered to them enough that it continued.

01:24:56.000 That it had a residual effect.

01:24:58.000 It just kept on going.

01:25:00.000 And, man, that's really shifted...

01:25:04.000 Kind of everything in my life.

01:25:06.000 Like, man, this is what life is about.

01:25:10.000 I've been signing my book ever since it came out, but I signed it, Live to Love, Love to Live.

01:25:16.000 And I know that can sound cheesy or goofy or whatever, but that's something that just really helped me whenever I was sobering up was, man, if that's what I focus on, if I can live my life to love, love, love, Then I'll love to live.

01:25:33.000 But everyone wants to love their own life that they live.

01:25:35.000 And so they're just focused on that and get this and get this materialistic thing and get this different chick because she didn't make me happier, you know, this or that or whatever. 1.00

01:25:43.000 Whenever it's like, you know what?

01:25:44.000 Like, hey, let's focus.

01:25:47.000 Let's...

01:25:47.000 I don't know if that's if I think there's a natural inclination to gravitate towards unattainable things like Ferraris and mansions and you see those things on TV and the movies and you just that shows you that you've made it and When you don't have anything and you're wanting for things you don't have Money and you're struggling you look at someone who's got all those things and money and you think if I only had that all my worries would be gone and then I would be happy But if you have that,

01:26:16.000 and nobody likes you, your life is shit. 0.99

01:26:20.000 It's still shit. 1.00

01:26:21.000 Meanwhile, you are in a hut in the middle of nowhere, well, in the middle of the Congo, with all these people, and you're having a great time. 1.00

01:26:30.000 And you're making wells, and you're loving life.

01:26:33.000 That picture that came up, I think why I got so excited was because that night in that village, I mean, we, I'm not kidding, danced and danced and danced and feasted.

01:26:49.000 I mean, we just all came together just to celebrate.

01:26:53.000 Celebrate life.

01:26:54.000 Celebrate each other.

01:26:55.000 Celebrate, guess what, our kids aren't going to be sick anymore.

01:26:57.000 Different stuff like that to where...

01:27:00.000 It's just a life where, like what you were just saying, you're always comparing, comparing, comparing.

01:27:07.000 For me, man, comparison, I think for most people, comparison is probably the number one thief that robs us of joy, of being able to be at peace.

01:27:18.000 We're always comparing ourselves and we always compare up.

01:27:21.000 We never compare down.

01:27:22.000 Right.

01:27:23.000 Or just compare ourselves to people that are just like us.

01:27:26.000 We always look at what you're saying as unattainable.

01:27:29.000 And always pursuing that.

01:27:31.000 And my whole thing has been, like, recently, man, I just want...

01:27:35.000 I think I've learned it from our team in Congo.

01:27:38.000 Like, that's been the greatest gift.

01:27:41.000 Like, you were saying that, you know, there's been a lot of great stuff that's been happening.

01:27:45.000 And that's true.

01:27:46.000 But, man, I started thinking, and now I think it sounds cliche, but I'll say it anyways, where...

01:27:53.000 Man, like...

01:27:55.000 They've given me more of a gift than I can give them.

01:27:58.000 I mean, you see, I told you that growing up and everything else, but to find a life of purpose, of passion, of helping one another, of, I don't know, our mission statement is defend the weak, love the unloved, empower the voiceless.

01:28:13.000 And the vision statement is overcoming oppression with overwhelming opportunity.

01:28:18.000 And so if we can go into these communities, and we've seen incredible stuff, that's what's going to be in the dock this last trip.

01:28:23.000 Me, Ben, Matt, and Derek, the filmmaker, we would not be—they wouldn't be ashamed of me saying this.

01:28:30.000 We were in tears after an interview with one of the former slave masters that ran a hospital.

01:28:39.000 And actually, if you could pull up a picture, it's called Captula.

01:28:43.000 And we were at this hospital.

01:28:47.000 And it's tough because we were trying to get treatment for Keptula.

01:28:51.000 He's a buddy of mine that passed away.

01:28:53.000 And we spent seven months taking him to hospital, taking him to hospital, taking him to hospital.

01:28:56.000 And they were just sending him away because he was a pygmy. 1.00

01:28:59.000 And it's like I knew whenever I first saw him.

01:29:03.000 Actually, if you bring up maybe the first Keptula one, that's when I saw him.

01:29:07.000 That's when I saw him for the very first time.

01:29:10.000 Oh, look at a guy that's extremely emaciated.

01:29:14.000 Yeah, and so...

01:29:16.000 So what is going on with his health right here?

01:29:18.000 Right there, we didn't know, but I had a gut feeling that it could have been tuberculosis because we've helped several of the pygmies that have tuberculosis and stuff. 0.99

01:29:29.000 Little girl in Fina and some others.

01:29:31.000 What's the root cause of tuberculosis?

01:29:33.000 There was some sort of a study on that recently.

01:29:35.000 You have a low immune system.

01:29:37.000 There was something that just came out really recently about tuberculosis.

01:29:41.000 It had something to do with fire.

01:29:48.000 If it's something to do with smoke, I believe that because the bacteria spread from person to person through microscopic droplets released in the air.

01:29:55.000 It can happen when someone in the untreated active form of tuberculosis coughs, speaks, sneezes, spits, laughs, or sings.

01:30:04.000 Jesus Christ. 0.98

01:30:05.000 Imagine getting tuberculosis from a shitty song. 0.99

01:30:08.000 Like some dude breaks out the banjo like that scene in Animal House. 0.98

01:30:12.000 He breaks out a guitar and starts singing and he gives you tuberculosis as well as an ear beating.

01:30:21.000 Was there some connection with fire?

01:30:23.000 I swear I read something really recently about that.

01:30:26.000 Some connection between tuberculosis.

01:30:28.000 Is that it?

01:30:29.000 Here it is.

01:30:30.000 Was tuberculosis born of fire?

01:30:33.000 By damaging lungs and bringing people together, fire may have turned a soil microbe into a global pathogen.

01:30:44.000 Whoa.

01:30:45.000 Many thousands of years ago, a chilly African night.

01:30:47.000 That's interesting.

01:30:48.000 So they think that might have started it off.

01:30:51.000 Around a fire in a cave.

01:30:52.000 And that they're always in the fire.

01:30:54.000 I can't sleep with...

01:30:55.000 That's why the bugs are even worse on me, because I have many times slept in the huts whenever the fire's going, but it just fills up with smoke to where my eyes are just...

01:31:05.000 Tears are coming down my face the whole time.

01:31:07.000 So you have to light a fire in their hut?

01:31:09.000 Yeah, that's their...

01:31:10.000 That's how they keep the bugs out?

01:31:12.000 Oh, well, it's one of the ways, but it's mainly for warmth, but a benefit is there's less bugs.

01:31:17.000 Oh, God.

01:31:19.000 And it can help waterproof their twig and leaf huts, where enough smoke and everything, it kind of, I think it's like a tar.

01:31:27.000 Yeah.

01:31:28.000 That shits in your lungs, too, though, right, of course? 0.98

01:31:30.000 Yeah, and there's so many kids that are at this Sustainable Solutions Center that we're hoping to get up and running. 0.95

01:31:37.000 We're wanting one for cooking, where they can use either corn cobs or corn husk or peanut shells or different things where they can put those into little briquettes.

01:31:47.000 And then they can use that and recycle it and everything else.

01:31:49.000 And it burns longer at the same temperature.

01:31:54.000 And you're not having to deforest anything and you're not breathing in that terrible smoke.

01:31:58.000 Yeah, coconut charcoal is a really...

01:32:01.000 There's some company, a grill company, Kamado company.

01:32:05.000 You know what a Kamado is?

01:32:06.000 One of those Japanese grills? 0.83

01:32:08.000 Yeah.

01:32:08.000 It's like a green egg, that kind of thing.

01:32:10.000 And they sell charcoal made out of coconut.

01:32:13.000 And apparently it's like one of the best charcoals because it's like really sustainable.

01:32:17.000 It's really easy to grow.

01:32:20.000 And it's apparently slow burning.

01:32:22.000 So much of them they waste it.

01:32:23.000 Yeah.

01:32:23.000 They just throw it away.

01:32:25.000 So what if we can recycle it?

01:32:26.000 Exactly.

01:32:27.000 People throw the outside of the coconut away, but apparently it's really good for charcoal.

01:32:32.000 So Bellator has embraced this narrative.

01:32:36.000 They've embraced your story and they've made it a big part of your fighting there to let everybody know that you're doing it not just because you want to compete, but also because you want to expose the world to this passion,

01:32:51.000 this project, this sort of life direction that you've taken.

01:32:56.000 Yeah, absolutely.

01:32:58.000 I think it's really cool that they've done that.

01:33:00.000 Yeah, no, I agree.

01:33:01.000 Dude, I love the UFC. I was 13 years old, found those tapes.

01:33:07.000 And just on that real quick, I bought all those tapes, put them under my bed, and I would wait for my parents to go to work or to go to sleep.

01:33:17.000 And I'd be popping them in the VHS. And my dad comes in and I Turn it off real quick, lay down, act like I'm asleep, and it's, you know, the VCRs, the VHS is still moving, and the, I don't know, the screen's still lit up and everything.

01:33:32.000 My dad confiscated that tape, then when he found the rest, he thought it was all porn, but it was just the UFC. Why did he confiscate it?

01:33:41.000 Well, I think me being 13, being picked on, you don't want me to start fighting people at school and different stuff.

01:33:48.000 Just a precaution.

01:33:50.000 But he told my mom, he's going to do that one day if we let him keep that stuff.

01:33:54.000 I was like, no, I won't.

01:33:56.000 But in my head, I'm like, yeah, I will.

01:33:57.000 I remember looking at the VHS tape, and when I turned it over and saw the...

01:34:03.000 Jiu-jitsu and sumo and boxing and wrestling and all these different things, it came alive to me.

01:34:09.000 It's like, oh my goodness, these guys...

01:34:11.000 Well, I think I originally connected with it because I'm like, well, these guys aren't anything like me.

01:34:17.000 They could stick up for themselves.

01:34:20.000 They're an athlete.

01:34:21.000 They're popular probably.

01:34:21.000 Instead of being the laughingstock at the party, they might be invited to the party or it might be their party.

01:34:26.000 Yeah.

01:34:27.000 And so, I mean, I like that aspect, but then I just fell in love with the sport of it, you know, watching it and seeing how everything, and now being a fan and watching how it's evolved and everything else, it's just, it's not seeing a guy like Dan Henderson that's been fighting, I think, isn't it 20 years straight?

01:34:43.000 20, yeah, 20 straight.

01:34:45.000 I was there when he was fighting in 97, and I wasn't there for his first fights.

01:34:49.000 He fought in 96, I think, in Brazil.

01:34:52.000 Yep.

01:34:53.000 I think that was his first fight.

01:34:54.000 I actually watched that first fight in the last couple weeks.

01:34:56.000 Really?

01:34:57.000 Yeah, because, dude, I love Dan.

01:35:00.000 Dan's awesome.

01:35:01.000 Yeah, and to see him even, I mean, because whenever he stepped in...

01:35:04.000 He was just a wrestler.

01:35:05.000 He had heavy hands, but then he's just...

01:35:07.000 Well, he didn't even have heavy hands in the beginning.

01:35:08.000 Yeah, you're right.

01:35:09.000 You're right.

01:35:10.000 In the beginning, he was just a wrestler. 0.85

01:35:11.000 Lay down and take him down and pound on him. 1.00

01:35:13.000 Yeah, he figured out over time how to utilize his power. 0.70

01:35:18.000 That's what I want to get.

01:35:19.000 Maybe I could bribe Dan or Big Country or someone to teach me that big right hand.

01:35:25.000 Do you think you can teach someone that?

01:35:28.000 I mean, Dan's one of the few guys that have sort of developed it.

01:35:31.000 But Big Country always had power.

01:35:33.000 Big Country was known way back in the day as being a jiu-jitsu guy.

01:35:37.000 He was one of Mark Lehman's guys.

01:35:39.000 And he was really respected as a grappler.

01:35:42.000 Yeah, black belt.

01:35:43.000 Yeah, but to go from that to being this...

01:35:46.000 Crazy knockout brawler. 0.95

01:35:48.000 People rarely see big country.

01:35:50.000 You never see him submit anybody.

01:35:52.000 I mean, the closest thing was when he took Kimbo down and got him into the Mounted Crucifix and just elbowed him until the referee stopped the fight.

01:35:59.000 Since I was on that season, I think he threw a couple elbows, but when they finally stopped it, we were all counting every single punch, but he was just tapping his forehead like this because it wasn't intelligently...

01:36:13.000 Yeah.

01:36:13.000 Defending himself, but...

01:36:14.000 He didn't even have to hurt him to stop the fight.

01:36:16.000 He was just...

01:36:17.000 Tapping his forehead.

01:36:17.000 Well, he was...

01:36:18.000 It's almost like, you know, when you...

01:36:20.000 What is that called in wrestling?

01:36:22.000 When you have so many points, it's a technical...

01:36:25.000 Tech fall.

01:36:26.000 Yeah, tech fall.

01:36:27.000 Tech fall.

01:36:27.000 Almost like that.

01:36:28.000 It's like, you're never coming back from this.

01:36:30.000 Yeah.

01:36:30.000 It's like a 10-run rule in Little League Baseball.

01:36:32.000 Yeah.

01:36:33.000 10 points up, you just call it.

01:36:34.000 And...

01:36:35.000 The big countries got very good submissions, but everybody expected that from him when he started fighting.

01:36:41.000 Like, if you remember back when he was fighting for Elite XE, which was like the most corrupt organization in the early days of MMA, he had Andrei Olofsky down in side control, working for a Kimura, had that, yep, had side control and had that double wrist lock position, and he was working for the Kimura, and they stood him right up.

01:36:57.000 And I remember watching TV going, it's corrupt!

01:37:00.000 We're screaming at the TV, it's corrupt!

01:37:04.000 They had a 15-second rule.

01:37:05.000 Like, if it went to the ground, if nothing happened in 15 seconds.

01:37:09.000 I think Jake Shields submitted Paul Daly.

01:37:11.000 It was one of the few submissions in Elite XA. But he just mounted him and just immediately went to an arm bar and locked it in.

01:37:19.000 Was it Paul Daly?

01:37:21.000 I think it's Paul Daly.

01:37:23.000 I might be wrong.

01:37:24.000 I was actually, well, I mean, now with the Kimbo stuff happening, it's pretty, I mean, it's very, very sad. 1.00

01:37:32.000 Yeah, man.

01:37:32.000 I mean, apparently he had a doctor telling him, you know, for people who don't know what we're talking about, Kimbo died really recently of heart disease.

01:37:39.000 And he had a doctor telling him recently that he needed a heart transplant.

01:37:43.000 I guess he had some sort of congenital heart disease.

01:37:47.000 That, I mean, how could that be, you know, you look at him, the guy's a stud, he's in great shape.

01:37:52.000 I mean, how could you imagine that?

01:37:54.000 His heart was so bad that they were telling him he needed a heart transplant.

01:37:59.000 And this, yeah, this could probably sound cliche again too, but because knowing him, being an ultimate fighter, and him cooking the best steak I've ever had, sorry Big Josh, but he, I don't know, even though he had a bad heart,

01:38:16.000 I think I don't know.

01:38:17.000 Emotionally, I had a good heart.

01:38:19.000 He was always a good guy.

01:38:20.000 Always a very friendly guy.

01:38:22.000 Yeah.

01:38:22.000 Even with...

01:38:24.000 I mean, technically, we were supposed to fight, I think, three times before or two times on Elite XC. My name was in the hat for that.

01:38:33.000 And then because I was like a 19 or 20-year-old kid, I had a decent record.

01:38:39.000 But it was a bad matchup.

01:38:40.000 So they...

01:38:41.000 Scrapped it.

01:38:42.000 I get it.

01:38:42.000 Wasn't smart.

01:38:43.000 Then on Ultimate Fighter, I was actually matched up with him.

01:38:47.000 And then Roy got it.

01:38:49.000 And then we were talking about it in Bellator, where at our last fight, February 19th, I think, Houston Toyota Center.

01:38:58.000 And backstage...

01:39:00.000 Oh, actually, that was...

01:39:02.000 This will be good in a way that the dude just loved on Ben, my brother and translator from Congo.

01:39:10.000 He got to actually come from Congo for my second fight.

01:39:14.000 And so the first fight, actually, if you can pull up that video, it's called Fight Day, talking to my Congo guys.

01:39:25.000 But it's less than a minute, I think.

01:39:28.000 And they surprised me for my first fight back.

01:39:33.000 Josh woke me up, and it was a guy that's like my father figure, a guy that's like my brother.

01:39:38.000 And it was just an awesome fight day.

01:39:40.000 My first thing to see in here is this.

01:39:46.000 This was so awesome.

01:39:52.000 Who is this that's laying down?

01:39:54.000 Is that your voice?

01:39:57.000 Yeah.

01:39:57.000 You gonna watch it?

01:40:01.000 Yeah, you can't fall in from there, but we'll record it.

01:40:05.000 The shittiest angle ever.

01:40:06.000 I couldn't even tell it's you. 0.98

01:40:07.000 It's a beard.

01:40:08.000 A talking beard.

01:40:10.000 Yeah.

01:40:11.000 I miss you guys.

01:40:13.000 My heart's happy now.

01:40:16.000 I think you can stop it in a minute.

01:40:21.000 Yeah!

01:40:22.000 Yes, sir.

01:40:23.000 The battle's already won before the fight.

01:40:25.000 Hey, uh, you go back to Congo today?

01:40:29.000 Okay, so yeah, you can stop it now.

01:40:30.000 And then, um, it was, uh, it was really cool.

01:40:33.000 Like, I mean, Josh was filming because he didn't want, I guess it was a surprise.

01:40:35.000 They were going to call me and...

01:40:37.000 But they were in Uganda getting more well drilling supplies, because you can't Skype from Congo.

01:40:43.000 They were at a decent enough hotel that had Wi-Fi, and they were able to Skype with me the day of my first fight back.

01:40:52.000 Man, it was awesome.

01:40:53.000 That was so much motivation, seeing them, hearing them, and then having them come for the second fight and be there.

01:41:00.000 He was actually in my corner.

01:41:02.000 What you're doing is helping them by building wells.

01:41:07.000 Once you do that, like say if you establish a series of wells and well building and everybody has fresh water, do you want to take it another step?

01:41:15.000 Did you want to try to give them safer housing or cleaner housing? 0.56

01:41:21.000 Do you want to try to teach them how to build houses?

01:41:23.000 Are you planning on escalating it from where you're at right now?

01:41:27.000 Yeah.

01:41:27.000 In fact, I went about it, and it was a learning lesson.

01:41:31.000 I don't regret it, because I got some great training here in California.

01:41:34.000 I think, is it called Hesperia, California?

01:41:37.000 And there's something called CalEarth, and they build ecodomes, or earthbag homes, or they call them super adobe, the technical term.

01:41:44.000 But they make...

01:41:46.000 It looks like pygmy huts out of sandbags that they fill up with sand, do it in a circle, and supposedly they're earthquake-proof, tornado-proof, all this different stuff.

01:41:55.000 This is it?

01:41:56.000 Yeah, right there.

01:41:56.000 And a dome is the strongest structure known to man.

01:42:01.000 The arch is after that, or a vault, then an arch.

01:42:04.000 But yeah, I was in these exact buildings.

01:42:06.000 That's like a hobbit house. 1.00

01:42:08.000 What a cool-looking little house.

01:42:09.000 House Quetzalcoatl.

01:42:10.000 Back up.

01:42:12.000 But I went there because...

01:42:14.000 Why are they calling it Quetzalcoatl?

01:42:15.000 That's an Aztec god, right?

01:42:18.000 That's that Aztec snake feathered plume serpent god?

01:42:22.000 Costa Rica, that might be.

01:42:23.000 Oh, okay.

01:42:24.000 That makes sense.

01:42:25.000 Cal Earth Green Build.

01:42:26.000 I actually love all those guys there.

01:42:28.000 We have a lot of like-minded beliefs of how to help people.

01:42:34.000 But yeah, I loved it because...

01:42:36.000 Housing what?

01:42:37.000 Because I slept in the huts the first two times I went and got rained on and literally one time woke up in the mud like sunk halfway because it just rained and rained and rained and rained.

01:42:46.000 Just lying in mud.

01:42:47.000 Yeah, to where it just kept coming through.

01:42:49.000 It was just washing down the hill.

01:42:51.000 Wow.

01:42:51.000 When my wife was there, I was doing it again and all the pygmies get up and they came out and I didn't know what they were doing.

01:42:58.000 I thought something was going on because everyone was around our hut in a circle.

01:43:01.000 Digging this trench so it wouldn't come in and get Emily wet.

01:43:06.000 They're just so caring, so awesome.

01:43:09.000 But when I saw the huts, those ecodomes, earthbag homes, I was like, man, that's something culturally sound.

01:43:15.000 That is something that they would want to live in because it looks like that.

01:43:18.000 It looks like their huts, similar.

01:43:20.000 And so this is something that you want to try to implement?

01:43:23.000 Without a doubt, but it has to be the right timing because what happened was...

01:43:28.000 I knew Papawaii and the school was working on land and I was going to help with that too.

01:43:34.000 I had no clue how to get clean water.

01:43:38.000 I was looking for it.

01:43:39.000 I was in my backyard.

01:43:41.000 I bought everything from Lowe's.

01:43:43.000 I'm in my backyard and it was like a website.

01:43:45.000 I think it's literally something like howtodrillyourownwell.org or something.

01:43:49.000 And it's this guy standing on the back of his pickup truck and he's drilling a well.

01:43:54.000 But what I didn't know is that's not drinkable water the way he's doing it and everything else.

01:43:57.000 And so I'm in the backyard with like $500, $600 of low stuff with PVC trying to drill my own well by myself and trying to learn.

01:44:05.000 But I'm like, man, this is so hard.

01:44:07.000 There's got to be an easier way.

01:44:09.000 And so I kind of stepped around that because I'm like, you know what?

01:44:12.000 I can't help them with housing.

01:44:13.000 If I go here, get trained.

01:44:15.000 Sandbags are cheap.

01:44:17.000 Get a couple shovels, make some mud and get some cement and make a plaster to go around it to waterproof it better.

01:44:23.000 And that's going to work.

01:44:24.000 What kind of plaster?

01:44:26.000 You just make it out of a mix of...

01:44:38.000 It's a really great thing, but when I get there and all of a sudden I see, you know, hey...

01:44:50.000 First, if they don't have any land of their own, then building these things are going to be worthless.

01:44:54.000 Someone else can move into them.

01:44:55.000 So they've got to have land first.

01:44:57.000 There's a process.

01:44:57.000 The most important thing is land and the water, because water is next, then food, and after that, yes.

01:45:03.000 If you can be healthy, I want to stay in a sweet spot and in a lane and not spread ourselves too thin because we aren't focused.

01:45:11.000 But have you thought about these people that you dealt with in California, trying to bring them in and have them take over that aspect of it?

01:45:19.000 Yes, that would be cool.

01:45:20.000 The only thing that we are is we try to be really protective of the pygmies. 1.00

01:45:26.000 And because bringing in a lot of outsiders, most outsiders that visit them, it's not a good experience.

01:45:36.000 And so just bringing in a lot of random people.

01:45:38.000 If it was a couple of people that were really highly skilled, had the right hearts, their vision lined up with our vision of how we...

01:45:45.000 Kind of do the community development because we want to...

01:45:47.000 I think there's a great book.

01:45:48.000 I think it's called Helping Without Hurting or How to Help Without Hurting or something like that.

01:45:53.000 And I have it.

01:45:54.000 I should know it.

01:45:55.000 I have two of them.

01:45:56.000 And it's really great about how you can go about helping people in a way that helps them more than helps you.

01:46:03.000 In a way of like, a lot of people help because it's going to make them feel warm and fuzzy.

01:46:09.000 And yeah, you just do that enough for random people.

01:46:12.000 But what if you can make a difference that...

01:46:15.000 That lasted longer.

01:46:17.000 And it's great to do both, right?

01:46:18.000 It's great to do both.

01:46:20.000 I actually love when I see someone else do some random act of kindness.

01:46:24.000 It warms my heart.

01:46:25.000 I love it.

01:46:26.000 But how can we help in a way that really changes the game of things there?

01:46:34.000 Well, I think you're definitely already doing that.

01:46:36.000 I mean, you're certainly spreading it.

01:46:38.000 I think you feel like it's a long job and your job's not nearly done, but...

01:46:42.000 No, I don't think it ever...

01:46:42.000 Ever will be?

01:46:43.000 Well, for water, I have definitely hope for that, but then...

01:46:47.000 I don't know.

01:46:48.000 I think I just feel...

01:46:51.000 I don't know.

01:46:51.000 Whenever you...

01:46:53.000 How is it?

01:46:53.000 When you have that heart connection, it's kind of like, well, I want to see these people if they have everything I got, too.

01:46:59.000 I still want to hang out with them all I can.

01:47:01.000 Of course.

01:47:02.000 You know what, though?

01:47:03.000 It's been really cool to see...

01:47:05.000 So there's these guys from Uganda that came in and helped train us, and they're called Young Men Drillers. 0.98

01:47:13.000 And there are these guys that were...

01:47:15.000 You've heard of the LRA and Joseph Kony and different stuff like that?

01:47:20.000 One of the guys was, he told me around a campfire that he was one of two, it might have been three, survivors out of a three, four, five hundred person village.

01:47:30.000 The Rebels came in, killed everybody.

01:47:32.000 He barely escaped.

01:47:33.000 And then another kid, another kid.

01:47:36.000 And it's so cool to see these young guys all of a sudden stand up and Water 4 got involved with them and train them up on how to drill wells in their own country.

01:47:45.000 And these, when I say young men drillers, like, I think some of them were 16, 17, 18 when they started.

01:47:49.000 Well, then all of a sudden they cranked out over 100 water wells.

01:47:52.000 Over 100 water wells.

01:47:54.000 They've been doing it longer than we have.

01:47:55.000 We haven't done any.

01:47:56.000 I'm in the Congo.

01:47:58.000 We try to get them out to us to help.

01:48:00.000 Matt comes in to train us and to continue training with them.

01:48:03.000 And then they were going to leave that team.

01:48:04.000 You've got the main three guys from Youngman Drillers behind to train us, to invest.

01:48:11.000 We're good to go.

01:48:18.000 We're good to go.

01:48:28.000 It was probably every other night or every three nights.

01:48:32.000 He's waking up in night terrors where he is just screaming.

01:48:35.000 And I've never been around that before.

01:48:37.000 But the things he saw, the things he's been through are just so tough.

01:48:41.000 But then to see he chose that he's going to take a different path.

01:48:45.000 He's going to find something that he can help people with, and then he's going to give it to others in a different country, in Congo.

01:48:52.000 So they came and lived with the pygmies for three months. 1.00

01:48:55.000 It was awesome.

01:48:56.000 Now, Ben and a couple of our other drillers are in Cameroon.

01:49:02.000 And I kind of had this thing that I haven't really spoken out, but I would love to see the pygmies in Congo all have water.

01:49:10.000 But then after that, you know, the other pygmies are suffering in very similar ways to the pygmies in Congo. 0.79

01:49:17.000 And so what's so cool is that, okay, the Youngman drillers comes out, invest in us, pours their hearts and lives.

01:49:22.000 They almost died coming to us.

01:49:24.000 Their car flipped, ran over a lady.

01:49:26.000 A taxi driver was driving.

01:49:27.000 He ran away.

01:49:28.000 She died. 1.00

01:49:30.000 Oh, fuck. 1.00

01:49:31.000 They ran over a lady? 1.00

01:49:32.000 No, they didn't.

01:49:33.000 The cab driver did?

01:49:34.000 The cab driver did, and he bailed.

01:49:36.000 He was from Congo, and they were from Uganda, and at the border, they had to get in with a Congolese taxi driver.

01:49:42.000 Well, they do that, and they can't even speak the same language.

01:49:45.000 And he gets in a wreck.

01:49:46.000 He knows Congo.

01:49:47.000 He does that drive all the time to the border.

01:49:49.000 And so he just bails.

01:49:50.000 And literally, the people in a place called Nyoka, which means snake, it was a place of a rebel group that used to be there and everything.

01:50:00.000 And so it was a very, very bad part of town.

01:50:02.000 There's gold mines on both sides of them.

01:50:04.000 Luckily, this lady took them in and held them in there and called the military because people literally had, not the military, but the cops, and it was just a little shack. 1.00

01:50:14.000 Were people going to kill them because they thought that they killed the woman?

01:50:18.000 Yes.

01:50:18.000 And there, it doesn't matter if, you know, you're guilty and we'll ask questions later.

01:50:24.000 Right.

01:50:26.000 It's mob justice.

01:50:27.000 Someone's got to pay.

01:50:28.000 If this person was just hurt somebody, even if you weren't driving, even if you were...

01:50:31.000 One of our guys was thrown from the vehicle of the car when it rolled and running away, fearing for their lives.

01:50:38.000 They had, I think, $15,000 of well-drilling equipment in the trunk, plus they had a...

01:50:44.000 A solar pump, solar filter, and it did like 400 gallons of water a day, or 400 liters, 100 gallons.

01:50:53.000 And anyways, they looted it.

01:50:56.000 I think they set the car on fire.

01:50:58.000 I know they looted it, but then at the police station, a little shack, people outside had machetes, literal torches.

01:51:05.000 They had like those hose for farming. 1.00

01:51:09.000 What else did they have?

01:51:10.000 Oh, tires. 0.80

01:51:10.000 They were going to put tires around them and set them on fire. 0.80

01:51:13.000 Oh, God.

01:51:13.000 And so, luckily, man, I, yeah, very luckily, it was a miracle that Papawai is such a great, like, I don't know, he's a peacekeeper.

01:51:26.000 Like, he can go somewhere and talk with anyone that's having a dispute and bring him to some sort of agreement.

01:51:30.000 And he was able to go out there on behalf of our Ugandan guys, doesn't even really know him yet.

01:51:36.000 Gets them out.

01:51:37.000 And while they're leaving, Papa Wai is really respected because he's actually helping people in their country.

01:51:42.000 People know him when he's walking around because he's like, oh, that's the crew that's actually putting what they're learning into action.

01:51:50.000 And so he went up there and as they were getting ready to leave, someone came up to him and whispered to him and says, we know where all your stuff is.

01:51:57.000 And he's like, what?

01:51:59.000 Everything that was stolen.

01:52:01.000 He's like, I think it was something like he said it to him there or later.

01:52:05.000 Why they didn't keep it and why they gave it back.

01:52:08.000 But whenever they got there, it was the case.

01:52:11.000 They had broken the lock, opened it up, and...

01:52:14.000 Oh, whenever they opened up that solar pump, it's got these two different...

01:52:19.000 Oh, man.

01:52:20.000 I'm losing my words, but canisters on it.

01:52:23.000 And they left it because they thought it was a bomb.

01:52:25.000 Oh, God.

01:52:26.000 And so they left that and all our well-drown equipment, and we were able to reclaim everything, get them to us.

01:52:31.000 They lived with us for three months.

01:52:32.000 Then there are supply chain from Uganda to Congo.

01:52:37.000 I'll wrap this up where it's so cool to see where now, no joke, the guys that came out to learn from Cameroon that work with the Pygmies in Cameroon are named Willie and Turbo. 0.68

01:52:48.000 Those are their names from Cameroon.

01:52:51.000 And actually, that big heavyweight, what is his name?

01:52:57.000 He's in the UFC now.

01:52:58.000 Francis Ngara.

01:52:59.000 Yeah, Francis.

01:53:00.000 Yeah.

01:53:00.000 Now, him and Chet Congo, both.

01:53:03.000 Chet Congo's from Congo.

01:53:06.000 I believe.

01:53:06.000 I'm not sure which one he's from.

01:53:07.000 No, it's huge.

01:53:09.000 Yeah, dude. 0.99

01:53:09.000 He is fucking huge. 0.99

01:53:11.000 Beast. 1.00

01:53:12.000 He's a scary guy, man.

01:53:13.000 And both those guys ended up in France because they're French-speaking countries, both Congo and Cameroon.

01:53:21.000 It's just cool to see how the trickle effect comes from these guys.

01:53:28.000 We're good to go.

01:53:43.000 But now another can come and learn from us.

01:53:45.000 And now we're sending our team out to different parts of the continent, to Rwanda, to Kenya, to Cameroon, to I think Rwanda, Uganda, and training up these other teams that are wanting, they have a desire to...

01:54:02.000 To do the same thing.

01:54:03.000 That's such a crazy story, man.

01:54:05.000 They're so lucky. 0.93

01:54:08.000 They'll stick them in tires and light them on fire.

01:54:11.000 Yeah, I saw a guy beat. 1.00

01:54:12.000 Fuck, man. 1.00

01:54:13.000 Ben and I both saw a guy beat to death. 1.00

01:54:16.000 Because they called him a thief.

01:54:18.000 And rumors were that we were kind of far away.

01:54:21.000 I tried to get up kind of too scary close.

01:54:24.000 Ben's literally pulling my shirt away.

01:54:26.000 Because I'm seeing this.

01:54:27.000 I don't know who he is.

01:54:28.000 And he's getting beat and kicked and all this other stuff.

01:54:31.000 But Ben's like, F.A., we gotta go.

01:54:33.000 We gotta go.

01:54:33.000 And so he pulled me away.

01:54:35.000 And then when we came back later, I couldn't even bend my body like that.

01:54:39.000 Like it's like a contortionist kind of thing where he's like bent up like a pretzel and just laying there.

01:54:44.000 And supposedly the rumor was that just some drunk guys started a rumor, called him a thief, called him a thief.

01:54:50.000 And when someone says thief, they pounce on the on the thief.

01:54:53.000 And so sometimes it's really a thief or whatever, but other times it's some innocent guy and crazy stuff can happen.

01:55:03.000 I can only imagine. 1.00

01:55:08.000 You've seen some shit, dude. 1.00

01:55:10.000 Man, it's been different, but I wouldn't change it. 1.00

01:55:14.000 It's beyond...

01:55:14.000 It literally is wild.

01:55:17.000 Like, I couldn't...

01:55:17.000 I couldn't have dreamed it up for myself.

01:55:23.000 And what's kind of funny is, I think...

01:55:26.000 Not funny.

01:55:26.000 It's actually...

01:55:27.000 Have you ever heard of...

01:55:29.000 I think it's a book called What They Don't Teach You at Harvard?

01:55:32.000 Yeah.

01:55:33.000 No.

01:55:33.000 What they don't teach you at Harvard Business or something like that?

01:55:36.000 No.

01:55:36.000 I think the author's name is Mark.

01:55:39.000 Well, he did something pretty incredible, and I heard about it when I was in high school, but Kenny Monday, which he got to, it came full circle.

01:55:48.000 He coached me in high school, then for my comeback fight, and he coached me a little bit in MMA at the beginning, but then for my comeback fight in this last one, he was in my corner.

01:55:56.000 But anyways, he told me, you know, hey, if you want to wrestle, go home, write down your goals.

01:56:01.000 Like, write them down.

01:56:02.000 And this book talks about how if they polled some class, some senior class at Harvard, and asked who has goals.

01:56:13.000 Who knows their goals?

01:56:15.000 And some like 87% didn't know.

01:56:17.000 Like, besides, I'll get my college degree from Harvard and then I'll figure it out.

01:56:22.000 Then they asked, who knows your...

01:56:25.000 I think it was 87% of them or something like that.

01:56:28.000 Or 83% something.

01:56:30.000 And then it was...

01:56:35.000 13% or something like that where they had...

01:56:38.000 I'm sorry I'm screwing this up, but it's an incredible stat.

01:56:44.000 So 87% or 83% didn't know their goals.

01:56:48.000 13% or 17% did know their goals, but they didn't have them written down.

01:56:51.000 And then only 3% of the class had written concise, direct goals of what they wanted to do in their life.

01:56:58.000 I think they went back 10 years later, and the ones that had goals but didn't have them written down were making twice as much on average than all the other 83% or 87% that didn't have goals.

01:57:09.000 And then the people that had written down goals, they were making 10 times as all the other 97 combined.

01:57:16.000 Here is why 3% of Harvard MBAs make 10 times as much as the other 97% combined.

01:57:22.000 Harvard MBA program is extremely competitive and today admits approximately 15% of the applicants.

01:57:27.000 The 1960s acceptance rate was about 30% down to 25% in the 1970s, fluctuated between 10 and 15% ever since.

01:57:35.000 Students Hold on.

01:57:56.000 Okay, so it's explaining about writing your goals down and having a clear direction.

01:58:01.000 It makes sense.

01:58:02.000 And for me, and seeing that, hearing that, and then having Coach Mundy tell me that.

01:58:10.000 Honestly, wrestling, MMA, having a goal to focus on, having a goal to write down, I think that really helped me escape the depression for a while, for a few years, because now I found something that I could focus on and I was passionate about.

01:58:26.000 That was my outlet.

01:58:29.000 But he also told me, he went a step further, I don't think I've said this publicly, but he told me, write down, what's your goal?

01:58:38.000 I'm like, I want to be a state champion.

01:58:40.000 And he said, okay, go home, write that down, and put it somewhere you can see it either on your website.

01:58:45.000 You know, your bathroom mirror or somewhere.

01:58:48.000 I put it above my bed, but I didn't never write down state champion.

01:58:52.000 I wrote down national champion.

01:58:54.000 Started working towards it, was state champion that year.

01:58:56.000 Having a great, great training partner.

01:58:59.000 And I'm kind of jazzed up that the Olympics is coming up.

01:59:02.000 I know some guys that are going.

01:59:03.000 Robbie Smith, he's a heavyweight.

01:59:05.000 He was my roommate at the Olympic Training Center.

01:59:07.000 Travelle DeLagniv, we wrestled together in high school and then after.

01:59:13.000 So I'm pumped about it.

01:59:14.000 But see these guys obtaining their goals, their dreams, and writing them down.

01:59:18.000 Well then, with Coach Mundy, he's like, hey, get some of your favorite wrestling moves, some pictures, so you can visualize them.

01:59:25.000 Not just see the words, but see the actual thing that you want to do.

01:59:28.000 Like, see it.

01:59:29.000 And so I went and I put one wrestling move on the left and another on the right.

01:59:35.000 And man, I just would go to sleep dreaming about it, basically, and wake up motivated to attain that gold national champion.

01:59:43.000 And having a guy that's Olympic gold medalist teaching you the basics, like, you'll get good quick that way.

01:59:50.000 But, um...

01:59:51.000 Also having the goals.

01:59:52.000 The first national championship I won was with the move on the left, and the second national championship was with the move on the right.

02:00:01.000 And it was nuts to see how all that works out.

02:00:04.000 And looking back on this book and seeing, like, man, you've got to...

02:00:07.000 Write down.

02:00:08.000 And I need to update that now.

02:00:10.000 I've been working on it and everything else.

02:00:12.000 I think a lot of us do.

02:00:13.000 Yeah, I think focusing on one individual goal like that or writing something down, having a very clear thing that you're working towards, it takes away a lot of the ambiguity that people have about wanting to be successful.

02:00:26.000 Just wanting to be successful, just wanting to do well, that's not enough.

02:00:30.000 You have to have something that you're looking towards, something you're moving and working towards.

02:00:34.000 A plan, an initiative.

02:00:36.000 That's probably one of the biggest strengths that our team has had.

02:00:43.000 The 18 employees we have at Water 4, we write down what we want to do.

02:00:50.000 It's so cool.

02:00:51.000 When I came on the show the first time, And I had gone and I'd only experienced the terrible stuff.

02:00:58.000 Like, nothing good had happened yet.

02:01:00.000 Only corruption and me holding the little guy that died and all this just brutal stuff.

02:01:06.000 But I came back and, like, finally was like, okay.

02:01:10.000 I can't say no anymore.

02:01:11.000 I got to do something.

02:01:13.000 And so let's just write it down and do it and start speaking about it and throwing it out there.

02:01:18.000 And then to see the other team, like they're coming in with the real, like here's the big vision stuff, but here's filling in all the details, how we're going to get it done.

02:01:27.000 And man, my first time to write things down was one water well on 300 acres of land, and maybe we could build a school and get a teacher.

02:01:36.000 And they would help them with education because the Pygmies don't have any representation in the government because nobody is educated. 1.00

02:01:42.000 And that's their excuse, at least in Congo, what I hear.

02:01:45.000 And so I was like, school, that'd be great.

02:01:48.000 One water well and 300 acres.

02:01:50.000 And now it's, by the end of this year, it'll be 3,000 acres of land.

02:01:54.000 That's incredible.

02:01:54.000 That they literally own.

02:01:55.000 It'll be 10 times more.

02:01:57.000 45 wells.

02:01:58.000 45 wells.

02:01:59.000 That's amazing.

02:02:00.000 18 employees.

02:02:02.000 We've got three working farms right now.

02:02:04.000 Over how long?

02:02:05.000 How many years have you been doing this now?

02:02:07.000 Five.

02:02:09.000 That's pretty incredible, man.

02:02:11.000 Over five, for sure.

02:02:11.000 That's an incredible commitment.

02:02:13.000 Well, thanks.

02:02:14.000 It's been a...

02:02:17.000 Yeah, it's been an awesome watch.

02:02:18.000 Even being able to go back and have all these pictures to show you about Leo May growing papaya trees and standing in front of banana trees and all the different stuff.

02:02:28.000 And they're growing them with the water that they're getting from the wells?

02:02:30.000 Well, it's the rainforest and everything, so it's pretty fertile.

02:02:34.000 Yeah, you can spit a seed on the ground and it's going to sprout up something in the rainforest.

02:02:38.000 Well, that's great, too.

02:02:39.000 Are you bringing seeds over there for these people?

02:02:42.000 They have pretty good seeds there.

02:02:45.000 And a lot of those trees were doing seedlings.

02:02:48.000 And they know how to garden and farm and all that stuff?

02:02:51.000 Yeah, especially at the university, because they have a whole agriculture department that teams up with the community development department.

02:02:56.000 So they come and teach the pickings how to do it? 0.94

02:02:58.000 Yeah, they come in and teach them, and then they start learning how to do it for themselves.

02:03:02.000 And this was...

02:03:03.000 I think I can tell you two moments real quick where...

02:03:07.000 Going back and seeing Leo May and walking in and seeing all those banana trees blew me away.

02:03:15.000 And then now there, it's just so cool because I was leaving and there's a little guy named Jippy and I've seen him grow up.

02:03:23.000 I've watched him grow up and I saw whenever his water source was absolutely disgusting.

02:03:31.000 Like you could not ever imagine...

02:03:34.000 A human being drinking it.

02:03:37.000 What am I looking at?

02:03:39.000 That was their water source where they got water. 0.71

02:03:41.000 What is that?

02:03:42.000 It's this little stagnant pond kind of thing with all this moss over it.

02:03:47.000 That's a pond?

02:03:48.000 Yeah, now what's so cool is this picture.

02:03:50.000 That looks just like green.

02:03:51.000 It doesn't look like water at all.

02:03:54.000 It's a big thick thing.

02:03:55.000 So they'll get a stick and they'll push all the moss.

02:03:56.000 Did you send this to Jamie, this photo?

02:03:58.000 That's what I had and then it all lost.

02:04:01.000 What happened?

02:04:03.000 Oh, do you?

02:04:04.000 You're the man.

02:04:05.000 Oh, the people can see?

02:04:07.000 Oh, I see.

02:04:08.000 How's that working? 0.97

02:04:09.000 That's ridiculous. 0.95

02:04:11.000 What is wrong with the connection to you? 0.92

02:04:14.000 I don't have that photo.

02:04:16.000 Oh, no.

02:04:16.000 It doesn't have the photo because everything crashed on me.

02:04:19.000 Dude, I didn't even sleep last night at all.

02:04:21.000 Zero.

02:04:22.000 Because I was trying to send videos to Water 4, an update video, and it was at my hotel.

02:04:29.000 It's a little roach motel, but it took like two hours to send water.

02:04:32.000 One video, and then I have to do another.

02:04:34.000 Oh, Jesus Christ.

02:04:35.000 And then all of a sudden, it just...

02:04:37.000 I lost the PowerPoint, and it went back to...

02:04:39.000 Well, speaking of videos, let's watch the video that you said Bellator did for you.

02:04:43.000 Yeah, yeah, that'd be great.

02:04:44.000 Let's watch that.

02:04:45.000 I want to see that.

02:04:47.000 What is this one I'm looking at right here?

02:04:49.000 That's where we drilled one of the new wells.

02:04:53.000 What is those things in their hands?

02:04:55.000 Jerry cans.

02:04:56.000 They're filling out.

02:04:56.000 Oh, I see.

02:04:57.000 Okay.

02:04:58.000 Yeah.

02:05:00.000 In fact...

02:05:00.000 Okay, so let's play this.

02:05:02.000 Foundations.

02:05:08.000 Justin Wren versus Josh Burns.

02:05:10.000 The story of that fight was the time off of a very talented fighter.

02:05:15.000 He'd been away from the sport for years.

02:05:17.000 One of those guys, when he was active, when he was at his peak, was considered one of the hottest prospects in the heavyweight division.

02:05:23.000 Talented wrestler, aggressive, well-rounded, well-coached.

02:05:26.000 Whoa, whoa!

02:05:27.000 Whoa, whoa!

02:05:28.000 But the time off, the ring rust, the time away from the sport against Josh Burns, a guy who traditionally wasn't a very fast starter, we thought he'd have time to warm up and he didn't.

02:05:37.000 Burns came right after him, a guy I think was trying to take advantage of the fact that Wren had been off for so long.

02:05:43.000 Wren handled it extremely well.

02:05:46.000 Wren had been away from it a long time so you could see the surprise.

02:05:49.000 You could see the fatigue.

02:05:51.000 You could see the questioning of himself.

02:05:53.000 You could see those times when things started working out and it started coming back to him.

02:05:58.000 The story of all his time off was on his face and was in his performance.

02:06:04.000 That's a guy making up for time off in one fight.

02:06:08.000 What's easy to forget with Justin Wren's story, with him helping out the Pygmies, with all he's done socially, with all he's done politically for that tribe, they can't go in there with him. 0.93

02:06:20.000 And the pressure of having a big story on your shoulders, everybody rooting for you, everybody reading your book, that's not an easy thing to carry into a fight.

02:06:30.000 Everybody talks about how great the story is and what it does for a fighter and what it does for their career.

02:06:35.000 It's also a gigantic burden.

02:06:37.000 You're not just fighting for yourself anymore.

02:06:40.000 You're fighting for everyone who looks up to you.

02:06:42.000 Winning that night was a big deal for him.

02:06:45.000 People don't understand what he was carrying.

02:06:47.000 He was carrying ring rust, and he was carrying the hopes and dreams of everybody he was fighting for, and he managed it.

02:06:56.000 Could you go back to 1.27 real quick and pause it?

02:07:00.000 Just one minute, 27 seconds, because I just...

02:07:04.000 That's not easy.

02:07:05.000 It's great.

02:07:05.000 It's right there.

02:07:06.000 So the girls on the left through the cage, this is the only time this ever happened. 0.99

02:07:10.000 That's my wife. 1.00

02:07:11.000 This is her first fight of mine to ever go to or see.

02:07:14.000 And we've been together for four or five years.

02:07:17.000 And it's so funny because I was throwing the knees right here.

02:07:21.000 And this is the ring rust.

02:07:22.000 Dominic Cruz can say there's not ring rust.

02:07:25.000 He's just...

02:07:26.000 Way too mentally tough and stubborn, and he's an awesome competitor.

02:07:32.000 But, dude, well, one, I didn't train like I really should have.

02:07:35.000 Yeah, I'm sure that had a big factor.

02:07:37.000 Yeah, and two, it was, man, but one of the ring rust kind of things was, I could hear the commentators, and I could, I looked out, the first person I see is my wife.

02:07:48.000 And I see her, make eye contact with her, like, we stared into each other's eyes, and I know this is going to sound goofy, but...

02:07:55.000 She had a new outfit on and I'm just like, she's beautiful.

02:07:58.000 And then all of a sudden I see her and she's like, go!

02:08:01.000 And all of a sudden I'm like, I'm in a fight! 0.97

02:08:03.000 And he's like punching me and I'm just like, ah, crap! 0.92

02:08:05.000 So, uh, no, it was in, in actually right there was the closest part where I almost finished him there with some, some knees or coulda, shoulda, woulda.

02:08:14.000 And, um, and then I stop, look out at my wife, see her and Grace, which she came to Congo with us too.

02:08:20.000 And I see them, and I'm like, what am I doing?

02:08:23.000 After the fight, I instantly thought, what was I doing in the fight?

02:08:25.000 Looking out, seeing my wife, and thinking, she's beautiful.

02:08:29.000 So, I don't know why I brought that up, except for...

02:08:32.000 It was a moment.

02:08:33.000 Yeah, I mean, it was unique, and it was a blessing.

02:08:37.000 And that video actually was...

02:08:40.000 I'm glad to show it because of that, but then...

02:08:43.000 I meant to show you the one that came first, which we don't need to play that, but what happened for the first fight back, which is kind of nuts, that the guy surprised me and called me in the morning, and I was able to see him,

02:08:58.000 and they were able to encourage me for the fight and say, we know you're fighting for us, all that.

02:09:01.000 It's really great.

02:09:02.000 Then Emily sent me a picture of her.

02:09:04.000 It's so awesome.

02:09:05.000 Her with like 10 or 12 kids around her, and they all have the biggest smiles.

02:09:09.000 She says, remember...

02:09:13.000 Remember who you fight for and why you fight.

02:09:16.000 That's a lot of pressure.

02:09:18.000 It is, but at the same time, she's so awesome and loves me.

02:09:22.000 For some reason, I like pressure.

02:09:25.000 I like to be under the gun, something like that.

02:09:27.000 What's next for you, man?

02:09:29.000 Man, I think...

02:09:33.000 I think we just got pretty much settled into Colorado and joined in the MMA scene up there.

02:09:42.000 Team takedown was great.

02:09:43.000 It kind of dissolved.

02:09:45.000 Team takedown dissolved?

02:09:47.000 Yes.

02:09:48.000 Sort of?

02:09:48.000 Yeah.

02:09:49.000 When Johnny Hendricks left?

02:09:50.000 Is that what happened?

02:09:50.000 He's not on there.

02:09:51.000 Right.

02:09:52.000 But once he left...

02:09:53.000 Yeah.

02:09:54.000 The coaches are gone.

02:09:56.000 That came in from out of state.

02:09:57.000 No, team takedown was a weird situation, right?

02:09:59.000 It was like some wealthy guy was financing the entire thing, right?

02:10:03.000 One, and he's a great dude.

02:10:05.000 And then he brought in a bunch of other people.

02:10:07.000 But I think...

02:10:09.000 I think for them it was just...

02:10:10.000 I don't know.

02:10:12.000 I think they might have got burned.

02:10:14.000 Well, they had a deal, right?

02:10:15.000 Where they would pay guys a salary and then...

02:10:18.000 Salary, car, your rent, your groceries.

02:10:20.000 But when you won, you were supposed to give them a percentage of your winnings.

02:10:24.000 I think it was 50%.

02:10:25.000 50?

02:10:26.000 50%.

02:10:27.000 But you get your house payment, your car, your insurance, and the health insurance.

02:10:31.000 That's great until fighters started making 10 million bucks.

02:10:34.000 And then they're like, what?

02:10:36.000 Yeah.

02:10:37.000 That's very true, because they're only spending 50 or 70. Well, who agreed to that?

02:10:41.000 Did Johnny Hendricks agree to that?

02:10:42.000 Yeah.

02:10:42.000 So he was giving 50% of his purse?

02:10:44.000 Yeah, I think most every team takedown guy was.

02:10:48.000 Johnny might have been a little, I think his might have been a little different than everybody else's.

02:10:51.000 That seems like a crazy deal.

02:10:52.000 How much were they paying them?

02:10:54.000 I love all the guys.

02:10:55.000 They're awesome dudes.

02:10:57.000 I wouldn't even want to quote it, but I know over 50, maybe under 100, but...

02:11:04.000 A year?

02:11:04.000 Yeah.

02:11:05.000 Huh.

02:11:05.000 Well, that's a good investment if you get five million bucks back.

02:11:09.000 That's true.

02:11:10.000 But I guess it didn't work out because when Johnny started making real money, that's when he...

02:11:15.000 Is that when he left or was there other issues?

02:11:17.000 Yeah, I think it was that and then I think internally there was some butting of heads between a few different people, between maybe coaches, maybe management, maybe fighters too.

02:11:30.000 So now you're in Colorado.

02:11:31.000 Now I'm in Colorado because...

02:11:32.000 And where are you training in Colorado?

02:11:34.000 Well, my home gym will be Grudge Training Center, which is actually pretty cool.

02:11:39.000 There's an instructor named Drew that's pretty great, came in.

02:11:43.000 He opened, I think he opened up, maybe I'm wrong on that one, but 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu in, I think, Boulder.

02:11:50.000 But now he has one in Nevada, which is inside of Grudge.

02:11:53.000 And so now we got a 10th Planet in there.

02:11:55.000 And he's actually showing some slick Darce chokes.

02:11:59.000 Wow.

02:12:01.000 That's awesome.

02:12:02.000 Does Bellator have a fight lined up for you?

02:12:04.000 Maybe November, December.

02:12:07.000 We're looking at that.

02:12:09.000 The thing that I want to do is get in a real...

02:12:11.000 I haven't given myself time to settle, to really train, to really focus, and I know that now it's a time crunch.

02:12:20.000 I'm 29...

02:12:21.000 I know that the youngest heavyweight, I think, is still JDS and Junior Dos Santos in the top 10. He's 32. I mean, Barnett's, I think, 38 and Brock's 39. Heavyweights tend to mature later in life.

02:12:35.000 Hunt is 42. Well, Brock is pretty much done now, I think.

02:12:38.000 I think that last positive test, he did two positive tests in a row.

02:12:42.000 Yeah.

02:12:43.000 He got one before the fight, one after the fight.

02:12:45.000 It's most likely one and done.

02:12:46.000 Yeah.

02:12:47.000 Yeah.

02:12:48.000 So I got some time.

02:12:50.000 Are you thinking about going to the UFC? So you have this Bellator deal.

02:12:54.000 Are you enjoying competing for Bellator?

02:12:57.000 I have thoroughly appreciated how they've been treating me.

02:13:03.000 But you're mentioning all these MMA fighters from the UFC. So are you thinking about going over there?

02:13:08.000 Is that what's going on?

02:13:09.000 I mean, I would never be against that because I love the UFC, love MMA, and that's a big, big platform.

02:13:16.000 How long is your deal at Bellator for?

02:13:18.000 I have two more fights.

02:13:20.000 So I'll fight two more and...

02:13:24.000 For me, I mean, the reason we're in Colorado first is I'm wanting to get my wrestling back because I'm pretty disappointed in my first two.

02:13:32.000 Honestly, winning, this was the first two times winning felt really good because I didn't do it for me.

02:13:40.000 But then at the same time, right away, the competitor comes in and is like, you messed up here, here, here, here, here.

02:13:46.000 And I think...

02:13:47.000 Pretty much every guy taking the ground finished.

02:13:49.000 It's like, why am I trying to outbox the boxers whenever I need to wrestle? 1.00

02:13:53.000 Is it difficult for you to balance the two worlds?

02:13:56.000 Because, you know, you have one that demands incredible attention.

02:14:00.000 Your fighting career demands incredible attention.

02:14:03.000 And then you have the other that also demands incredible attention.

02:14:06.000 You have an amazing commitment to these pygmy people. 1.00

02:14:11.000 And this incredible passion and love for it, but then you also have, you're in the most dangerous combat sport in the world.

02:14:19.000 I mean, it requires massive attention.

02:14:22.000 Like, we were talking about Francis Cano. 0.95

02:14:24.000 Like, if you're gonna fight Francis Cano, you gotta fuckin' batten down the hatchets. 0.88

02:14:29.000 You gotta be in incredible shape. 0.69

02:14:32.000 Being consistent, dedicated, and no excuses.

02:14:37.000 That's what left a pretty sour taste in my mouth after these last two fights, because I knew...

02:14:44.000 I hate doing that, like rushing it or getting in whenever I'm not prepared.

02:14:49.000 Are you training at all when you're in the Congo?

02:14:51.000 And how often are you in the Congo?

02:14:53.000 Now I'm going to start going back just after every fight.

02:14:57.000 When I fight, go back for a couple weeks.

02:15:00.000 I tried to be real safe this time.

02:15:01.000 I took my own food, like all of it, like an entire check bag was just Kind bars and Lara bars and...

02:15:08.000 All these different green smoothies and different stuff.

02:15:11.000 So I wasn't even eating any food there.

02:15:13.000 Still got sick.

02:15:14.000 And so I had malaria.

02:15:16.000 Then after that, I got shingles, which is crazy.

02:15:20.000 It was completely across my forehead and over here.

02:15:23.000 So that was like the middle of the trip.

02:15:24.000 That's like a herpes, right?

02:15:26.000 Isn't that like kind of a herpes?

02:15:28.000 Shingles? 0.94

02:15:29.000 Yeah, I believe so.

02:15:29.000 But it's the adult form of the chicken pox.

02:15:33.000 And it's brutal.

02:15:35.000 Like it was...

02:15:36.000 It was a different pain than I've ever felt because it's a nerve pain.

02:15:39.000 And I was out in the forest and there was a couple, two, three days where we were there, you know, for the documentary, for the water wells, everything else.

02:15:49.000 And we got a team that came.

02:15:50.000 And so we got to get it done.

02:15:53.000 So I kind of stayed back a couple days.

02:15:55.000 But then while we're out there and different stuff, like a rebel group actually came like...

02:16:00.000 I believe it was three miles from us and only about a mile away from our truck.

02:16:05.000 And so I'm sick.

02:16:07.000 I can't get back to the hospital that I just came out of from getting treatment for malaria to get treatment for shingles.

02:16:15.000 So that was tough.

02:16:16.000 But for me, to answer your question, I want to be...

02:16:20.000 I want to be realistic, but at the same time, a quote my mom taught me, I forget who it was, but she says something like, an optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him.

02:16:37.000 So an optimist goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him.

02:16:43.000 So for me, I want to swing for the fences, make the biggest impact possible.

02:16:49.000 But at the same time, We're restructuring stuff.

02:16:52.000 We had meetings at Water 4, and I think just getting everyone on the same page.

02:16:56.000 Well, me too, because I was spreading myself too thin.

02:16:58.000 The biggest thing possible is the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

02:17:02.000 Yeah, without a doubt.

02:17:03.000 Maybe first Bellator, then UFC. Yeah, is that a thought that you have in your mind?

02:17:08.000 Yeah, we'll be on one of those goals.

02:17:11.000 Okay, at UFC 200, this could sound goofy to anybody else.

02:17:16.000 I think a lot of athletes would probably get it.

02:17:18.000 Some might not, but I bought a UFC replica belt because I'm not going to hang it or anything, but I want to have times where I set that down on a table or a desk and look at it, think about it, dream about it.

02:17:31.000 And know that before I go out the door training You know, that's that's a goal of mine, you know, if I could get there then I know this fight for the forgotten can be Set up for you know, the maybe the rest of my life there, you know It could keep going on and on further than it right what if I did realistically to try to attain that sort of a goal Like it's gonna require more than just staring at a belt or writing something down.

02:17:54.000 You're gonna you're gonna need to go on a rampage and Yeah, Waterforce surrounded Fight for the Forgotten with a team of eight people from media to my sports agent to lawyers.

02:18:11.000 All these people are incredible.

02:18:13.000 And I'm sitting in the room with them at a conference table like this.

02:18:16.000 And I'm like, what am I doing in a room with these incredible people?

02:18:21.000 All focused on you.

02:18:22.000 Yeah, they're all focused on me and them and the story.

02:18:27.000 I don't know if you'd call it raw or pure.

02:18:30.000 And they're getting behind it, which has been incredible.

02:18:33.000 But then they've just overwhelmed me saying, we want to free you up in a way.

02:18:38.000 We were kind of talking a little earlier when I was alluding to it.

02:18:41.000 But I've really got to readjust everything in my life of how I'm training.

02:18:46.000 Because now that I'm getting settled into Denver, I'll go up to Denver one to three times a week.

02:18:52.000 And then I'll also be going to the Olympic Training Center.

02:18:54.000 I've been talking with Brandon Slay, the old freestyle coach, which he actually just moved to Penn State.

02:18:59.000 But talking with, and I have access there at the Olympic Training Center.

02:19:03.000 And hopefully I can get in touch with Matt Linlund.

02:19:05.000 He's the new head coach for the Greco team there.

02:19:08.000 But with, have you ever heard of Adam Wheeler?

02:19:11.000 Adam Wheeler is an absolute beast.

02:19:13.000 And I wonder if I have that video in there.

02:19:16.000 But there's one if you just search Adam Wheeler on YouTube.

02:19:19.000 It should be called Iso-Pure, but this dude is an Olympic bronze medalist and black belt in jiu-jitsu, and he won no-gi worlds, heavyweight.

02:19:28.000 And so he's a beast, just an absolute monster.

02:19:31.000 And so I was helping him train before the 2008 Olympics and stuff.

02:19:36.000 And it was pretty great.

02:19:38.000 Oh, here it is. 0.66

02:19:38.000 This guy's a beast. 0.66

02:19:42.000 We're not hearing anything, Jamie?

02:19:44.000 I never actually got into wrestling until I was in high school.

02:19:49.000 There was a point when I started getting in a little bit of trouble and just hanging out with the wrong crowd.

02:19:55.000 My wrestling coach, he's the one that kind of put me back on the right track.

02:19:59.000 He taught me what work ethic was.

02:20:04.000 I try to be the guy who motivates people, pushes people.

02:20:09.000 The most pure moment of my athletic career is 100% the Olympics.

02:20:13.000 Even though I didn't win, I still was on that podium representing my country for the sport that I put so many hours into.

02:20:20.000 That feeling is indescribable.

02:20:22.000 And the point is, this is a guy you're working with or something?

02:20:26.000 Yeah, and sorry, I probably should have set that up a little better, but this guy is an absolute monster, and we're getting together and we're going to start working out, and he's at Prime Jiu-Jitsu now in Colorado Springs, but they cross-train with Easton's, and anyways, the thing...

02:20:41.000 I'm all over the place.

02:20:42.000 But he is the only guy at the Olympic Training Center.

02:20:44.000 We're all jumping, doing squat jumps, row by row up these bleachers.

02:20:49.000 And I promise he's skipping one at least and sometimes two.

02:20:52.000 And he's just flying up there.

02:20:54.000 People will be halfway, three quarters of the way.

02:20:56.000 This guy's six foot four, 235 pounds, solid muscle, freakish athlete.

02:21:01.000 And he's just...

02:21:03.000 So there's a training partner for you.

02:21:04.000 Yeah, training partner.

02:21:05.000 So I guess what I was trying to allude to is, man, I feel like how...

02:21:09.000 Water Forest surrounded me with such an incredible team to achieve success that we want with Fight for the Forgotten.

02:21:15.000 And now I'm really trying to do that with fighting because if I don't, then I'm going to fail and I'll be wasting time.

02:21:22.000 But if I... Because this isn't a...

02:21:24.000 It's not patty cake, right?

02:21:27.000 I mean, we're going in there and we're throwing down and I've got to have my head on straight.

02:21:32.000 Yeah, as you move up in competition, for sure.

02:21:34.000 Oh, without a doubt.

02:21:34.000 I mean, when you're looking at the competition you faced in Bellator, it's good steps.

02:21:39.000 It's tough guys to fight against.

02:21:42.000 They're good steps.

02:21:44.000 For the timing of everything.

02:21:46.000 Yeah.

02:21:47.000 Yeah, it's not, I guess, swinging for the fences or taking the tartar sauce with me, if I see that...

02:21:57.000 That it's not going to happen.

02:21:59.000 I hate saying that because I want to fight so bad, but fight for the forgotten is more important in a way.

02:22:06.000 But, man, I think it's possible.

02:22:08.000 I really do.

02:22:11.000 I think it's possible to be a great fighter.

02:22:12.000 Well, I think you've also brought a lot of people in to help you with Fight for the Forgotten.

02:22:15.000 They can sort of pick up the slack as well.

02:22:17.000 And you've started a movement.

02:22:19.000 I mean, there's a lot going on here besides just your involvement.

02:22:22.000 You've started this movement and being involved with Waterfor and writing the book and letting people know about it on these podcasts and educating people to what your goal is and what you've been able to accomplish over there.

02:22:36.000 You started a movement.

02:22:37.000 So...

02:22:38.000 I think, man, if you really can do it, it would be absolutely incredible and it certainly would shine even more light if you could really become successful as an MMA fighter from here on out.

02:22:49.000 I agree with that.

02:22:51.000 But it's going to require everything.

02:22:53.000 It requires everything.

02:22:54.000 I feel like there's two parts of this where, man, the fight for the forgotten guy in me wants to be...

02:23:04.000 I want to be humble and everything else say, you know, it's not going to happen unless I do all the right things, which is the same on the other side of the coin.

02:23:10.000 But I'm at the same time, I feel like if if I can just get the time, I haven't been getting the time to train.

02:23:21.000 And one of the things that Well, you have to make the time.

02:23:25.000 Yeah, we have to make the time, and it's got to be the priority, and I don't think I do six to eight hours.

02:23:33.000 Whenever I was telling the guys at Water 4, and it's just because they've been incredibly supportive, but whenever I broke it down, like, when's your training schedule?

02:23:42.000 What time do you train a day?

02:23:44.000 I mean, they know some NFL guys and stuff like that that might train once a day for four or five times a week or maybe twice a day.

02:23:52.000 But with MMA, it's just so different that they're like, oh, wow.

02:23:55.000 So that's why they've rallied around me.

02:23:56.000 And I think that through that, it's going to free me up to really go to all the right places, get up to grudge for my striking, get to the Olympic Training Center for my wrestling, get around these black belts and world champs.

02:24:06.000 In jiu-jitsu get around the 10th planet guys get around this so that we can We can take this the farthest that we can beautiful.

02:24:15.000 Yeah.

02:24:16.000 All right, man.

02:24:16.000 Listen Again, one more time for people at home fightfortheforgotten.org fightfortheforgotten.com What is your the big pygmy on on Twitter on Twitter and Instagram?

02:24:31.000 It's the big pygmy Translate, it's Mabutimangbo. 1.00

02:24:34.000 There you go.

02:24:35.000 Yeah, so it's The Big Pygmy, Fight for the Forgotten.org.

02:24:38.000 Oh, this is something that I just found out at Water 4 is that, man, $25.

02:24:43.000 Some of the people have been so generous.

02:24:45.000 Some of the donors have given a full water well, but even just $25 a month, if that's possible, it gives water to 15 people per year.

02:24:53.000 If you do it the next year, it's another 15 people that could save their lives, save kids' lives.

02:24:57.000 And so I just know it's being used the right way and passionate about it, seeing it in action.

02:25:02.000 You're a beautiful soul, Justin Wren.

02:25:05.000 You really are, man.

02:25:06.000 What you're doing is absolutely amazing.

02:25:07.000 And I'm so happy that we can help you out in any way.

02:25:11.000 So thank you very much for coming on again.

02:25:13.000 And let's do this again, brother.

02:25:14.000 Yeah, love you, man.

02:25:15.000 Thank you so much.

02:25:16.000 You got the best community.

02:25:17.000 Best fans, man.

02:25:18.000 Well, I'm honored.

02:25:19.000 And I'm honored to be able to help you tell your story.

02:25:21.000 It's powerful.

02:25:22.000 Thank you so much.

02:25:22.000 Thank you, my brother.

02:25:23.000 All right, folks.

02:25:24.000 We'll be back tomorrow with Duncan Trussell.

02:25:26.000 See you.

02:25:26.000 That's going to be a great one.

The Joe Rogan Experience - July 27, 2016

Joe Rogan Experience #826 - Justin Wren

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