The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #108 with Stephen Thompson

00:00:01.000 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out!

00:00:04.000 The Joe Rogan Experience.

00:00:06.000 Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.

00:00:14.000 Wonder Boy in the house, ladies and gentlemen.

00:00:16.000 What's up?

00:00:16.000 What's up, brother?

00:00:17.000 What's going on, man?

00:00:17.000 Glad you're coming in.

00:00:18.000 Thank you, man.

00:00:19.000 Appreciate you having me.

00:00:20.000 Glad to be on with you.

00:00:21.000 Long time coming.

00:00:22.000 Should have had you in a long time ago.

00:00:24.000 I know.

00:00:25.000 You know, schedules, time, things.

00:00:27.000 We had planned on it, like, last summer or something like that.

00:00:30.000 It was one of those things, but then, obviously...

00:00:33.000 The COVID. The COVID. The COVID. Yeah.

00:00:36.000 Yeah.

00:00:36.000 But dude, you're still rocking at the top of the food chain.

00:00:41.000 It's amazing.

00:00:42.000 I'm saying.

00:00:43.000 People are saying I'm too old.

00:00:45.000 I'm 38. Well, look at your victory over Vicente Luque and then look what Luque just did to Tyron Woodley.

00:00:51.000 You're still at the top of the fucking food chain because that was real recently that you beat him. 0.98

00:00:56.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:00:56.000 I mean, it was, what, a year? 0.99

00:00:58.000 It was two years ago.

00:01:00.000 Two years ago I beat Vicente.

00:01:02.000 But, yeah, man, people saying, I'm too old, and I guess once you get knocked out one time, you just, they throw you to the side.

00:01:10.000 That's people that don't understand the human chin.

00:01:14.000 It's just a fact.

00:01:17.000 You get hit with the perfect shot.

00:01:19.000 It wasn't even hard.

00:01:20.000 It wasn't even hard.

00:01:21.000 I've been hit harder.

00:01:22.000 Tyron hit me harder.

00:01:23.000 Jake Ellenberger hit me harder.

00:01:24.000 This was just right on the button.

00:01:26.000 It's crazy, isn't it?

00:01:27.000 To be honest with you, it was like a relief.

00:01:30.000 Being knocked out.

00:01:31.000 I mean, I've got close to 80-something fights with kickboxing and MMA together, and I've never been knocked out.

00:01:38.000 And it was always one of those, you know, going into a fight, this is going to be it.

00:01:44.000 This is going to be the time I get knocked out.

00:01:47.000 This is always going through my head.

00:01:48.000 And now that it happened, it's not that bad.

00:01:51.000 It's really not that bad. 0.95

00:01:53.000 I would rather get knocked out than get just the crap beat out of me for five, five minute rounds.

00:01:58.000 Have you ever been knocked out in training? 0.94

00:01:59.000 No.

00:02:00.000 So that was the only time ever in your whole career you've been knocked out.

00:02:02.000 And it was a wild punch too, the fact that he caught you with a Superman punch.

00:02:07.000 The memes after that were hilarious.

00:02:09.000 I don't know if you saw it, but it was funny.

00:02:11.000 You gotta think, though, you've dished it out so many times.

00:02:14.000 I know.

00:02:15.000 Through your kickboxing career and MMA, I mean, there's so many times you flatline people.

00:02:21.000 And then, yeah, I get knocked out by a guy in a lighter weight class.

00:02:25.000 My dad, my family is pretty rough.

00:02:27.000 They bring it up as much as they can.

00:02:31.000 I was in the hospital that night, and my dad's doing like a Facebook Live thing, because, you know, we had a bunch of karate families and karate kids there.

00:02:43.000 We pretty much sold out that arena.

00:02:44.000 Greenville, South Carolina, where, I mean, everybody was there to watch me fight.

00:02:49.000 And then I get crushed, or I get knocked out, and then, you know, everybody's wanting to know how I am, so I did it like, it was probably 2 a.m., did a Facebook Live, and my dad's just eating me alive.

00:02:59.000 Eating me alive.

00:03:00.000 Yeah, I got knocked out.

00:03:01.000 He's like, yeah, by a smaller guy, too.

00:03:03.000 And he just let me have it.

00:03:05.000 But that's how he is.

00:03:07.000 It is what it is.

00:03:09.000 You took it really well in terms of the way you reacted in social media and the way you reacted when you were asked about it.

00:03:16.000 Showed poise.

00:03:17.000 Thank you.

00:03:18.000 I mean, what can you do?

00:03:20.000 I mean, you can't just sit there and cry about it.

00:03:22.000 No.

00:03:23.000 Yeah, it bothered me for a while that, you know, why did I not see it coming?

00:03:27.000 I normally see this stuff coming.

00:03:29.000 Do you think you were relaxed when he hit you?

00:03:30.000 Is that what it was?

00:03:31.000 I think it was definitely a distance thing.

00:03:33.000 Because when I had sidekicks, I watched it over and over and over again.

00:03:36.000 I don't remember any of the second round.

00:03:38.000 I don't remember any of it.

00:03:39.000 All I remember is getting up off the stool, looking across the cage, and I see in his bloody nose, he's banged up, and I'm like, all right, time to pick it up.

00:03:48.000 I'm going to finish him this round.

00:03:49.000 This was going through my head.

00:03:50.000 That's all I remember.

00:03:51.000 And I got knocked out.

00:03:52.000 Five seconds left in the second round.

00:03:54.000 Wow.

00:03:54.000 I don't remember anything.

00:03:55.000 I don't remember sitting up, talking to him in the cage.

00:03:57.000 People say I was like high-fiving people as I was walking by.

00:04:00.000 All I remember It's like these sparkles kind of fade away, and I see Chris Weidman's face right there.

00:04:08.000 He's laughing at me.

00:04:09.000 He's like smiling at me. 0.99

00:04:10.000 And he said, if you ask me that again, I'm going to slap you. 0.87

00:04:13.000 I guess I asked him the same question. 0.66

00:04:14.000 I kept saying, you know, what happened?

00:04:16.000 How did I get knocked out?

00:04:16.000 I got knocked out?

00:04:17.000 Just kept saying that stuff over and over again.

00:04:19.000 That's what people do when they get knocked out.

00:04:20.000 They ask the same question, what happened, over and over again.

00:04:23.000 It was such a weird thing.

00:04:26.000 And then, you know, not remembering any of that.

00:04:29.000 And then just being in the back.

00:04:30.000 It's like I got teleported there.

00:04:32.000 I was fighting, and then I was there.

00:04:34.000 And I remember him helping me, trying to answer the doctor's questions.

00:04:38.000 They're like, you know what day it is?

00:04:39.000 I'm like, uh...

00:04:40.000 And Chris is like, Stephen, come on.

00:04:41.000 You know what day it is.

00:04:42.000 He's like trying to help me out, answer these questions.

00:04:45.000 But that's all I remember, man, is that.

00:04:48.000 But it was a relief.

00:04:49.000 Like, I have nothing...

00:04:52.000 What else?

00:04:53.000 I mean, that's like the worst thing that can happen.

00:04:54.000 Why do you feel like it's a relief?

00:04:57.000 Well, you know, it was such a worry.

00:04:59.000 You know, I've knocked out people.

00:05:01.000 I've seen how they are, you know, getting up off the canvas and the, you know, what it's done to people psychologically getting knocked out.

00:05:10.000 And that's always been kind of like, how would I handle that?

00:05:13.000 You know, how would I handle that?

00:05:15.000 You've seen people get knocked out and they try and come back.

00:05:19.000 Maybe as soon as pops, which is not a good thing.

00:05:21.000 It's a terrible thing.

00:05:22.000 Yeah, they should give their time for their body to heal up.

00:05:25.000 But, you know, I've seen people do that.

00:05:28.000 It was always a worry for me.

00:05:29.000 How would I handle that?

00:05:30.000 Yeah, I always get concerned when I see someone who gets knocked out and they want to get right back in there.

00:05:35.000 I'm like, ooh, you're asking for trouble.

00:05:36.000 Because you might feel fine, but you probably are a little loose.

00:05:40.000 Yeah.

00:05:41.000 It's funny you said that because UFC wanted me to fight two months later in my hometown.

00:05:47.000 Wow!

00:05:48.000 And after, the day after, was going to get some breakfast with some friends.

00:05:53.000 Still in Knoxville with the fam.

00:05:56.000 And I get a call from Dana, I think it was Hunter.

00:06:00.000 Hey man, you still wanting to fight in Greenville, South Carolina?

00:06:04.000 Of course, The athlete in myself said yes.

00:06:07.000 Like, I wanted to jump back in there.

00:06:08.000 Yeah.

00:06:09.000 But then, you know, reality kicked in, and, you know, I look over at my pops, and he's like, I think he already knows who it was.

00:06:16.000 He just shook his head.

00:06:18.000 Who was it that you were supposed to...

00:06:19.000 I don't think we had anybody.

00:06:22.000 The UFC should have made it Anthony Pettis.

00:06:25.000 It was only, like, two months later.

00:06:27.000 It should have been Anthony Pettis in my hometown.

00:06:30.000 But...

00:06:32.000 And I didn't find out that UFC was in Greenville.

00:06:35.000 I found that out watching some fights like a few months before.

00:06:38.000 So you're saying that the UFC should have made a rematch with Anthony Pettis?

00:06:40.000 Not a rematch.

00:06:41.000 That should have been when you fought Pettis.

00:06:43.000 Yes.

00:06:43.000 Was in your hometown.

00:06:44.000 Yes.

00:06:44.000 We would have sold that out.

00:06:46.000 Yeah.

00:06:46.000 My first MMA fight was in the arena the UFC was at.

00:06:50.000 The Bonson Core Wellness Arena.

00:06:52.000 And it was standing room only.

00:06:54.000 What organization was that for?

00:06:55.000 It was a promotion called Fight Party.

00:06:58.000 And a lot of UFC fighters came up.

00:07:00.000 OSP was on my first card.

00:07:02.000 It was crazy.

00:07:02.000 OSP was fighting.

00:07:04.000 I think...

00:07:06.000 Who else was on that card?

00:07:07.000 Both Lima brothers were on that card.

00:07:10.000 And it was my very first MMA fight in my hometown.

00:07:14.000 And the main event, I think it was OSP, was main event, but his fighter ended up not making weight or something.

00:07:20.000 That didn't happen, so they pushed me to the main event.

00:07:24.000 What year was this?

00:07:25.000 This was 2010. Wow.

00:07:28.000 2010. And I was like, what?

00:07:30.000 I had no wrestling.

00:07:32.000 No, I mean, blue belt.

00:07:36.000 Barely blue belt, probably in jujitsu.

00:07:38.000 And I'm like, alright.

00:07:39.000 And I'm fighting a wrestler.

00:07:41.000 Ended up knocking him out in the second round.

00:07:43.000 And I almost threw up all in the ring.

00:07:45.000 That would have been twice.

00:07:47.000 That would have happened to me.

00:07:48.000 Twice.

00:07:49.000 Because I had no idea how to cut weight.

00:07:51.000 I hadn't been 170 since 11th grade in high school.

00:07:55.000 What were you weighing when you were kickboxing?

00:07:57.000 I would actually fight up in weight.

00:07:59.000 I would weigh in with keys in my pocket, weights in my pocket.

00:08:03.000 I fought at 185, fought at 195. I fought for the World Combat League.

00:08:07.000 I would fight up in that, but nobody's grabbing ahold of you there, so you really didn't have to worry about the weight, and I was a lot faster than the guys that were heavier than me.

00:08:18.000 That was a crazy experience.

00:08:20.000 That World Combat League was an interesting situation.

00:08:23.000 It was wild, right?

00:08:24.000 Yeah.

00:08:24.000 I went to one of them.

00:08:26.000 Which one?

00:08:27.000 I'm trying to remember.

00:08:28.000 I think it was in Atlantic City.

00:08:29.000 I'm trying to remember where it was at.

00:08:31.000 I might have been on that card.

00:08:32.000 You might have been on that card.

00:08:33.000 I think I fought a guy named Carlos Tierney.

00:08:37.000 Carlos Tierney?

00:08:38.000 I don't remember if you were on that card or not.

00:08:42.000 I definitely watched you fight in those events, but I watched you a lot when Farras Ahabi was talking well about you.

00:08:49.000 I was like, let me check this dude out. 0.91

00:08:51.000 And then I saw some of your kickboxing fights, and I saw you in the World Combat League, and I was like, oh shit.

00:08:57.000 When you got into the UFC, I got really excited because you represented a style that I had been talking about for a while.

00:09:04.000 Because everybody was like, for striking, it was Muay Thai.

00:09:08.000 For submissions, it was Jiu-Jitsu.

00:09:10.000 And then there was wrestling.

00:09:11.000 Everybody had this idea of what was effective and what wasn't.

00:09:15.000 And I was like, man, I'm telling you, if you find a guy who really understands karate, who has that sideways stance and a really good front leg, he's going to fuck a lot of people up and they're not going to know what to do with it.

00:09:27.000 And a lot of people dismissed me. 0.90

00:09:29.000 They're like, what are you talking about?

00:09:30.000 They thought I was just...

00:09:32.000 That I was reminiscing about my traditional martial arts days.

00:09:35.000 And I was like, no, I'm telling you, man.

00:09:37.000 Dudes with a good front leg, that's a totally different animal to get in on. 0.74

00:09:42.000 When a guy has that sideways stance, and then when you're fighting with your hands down, and no one knew what to do, and you lean back like a snake when guys are punching him, and you go forward. 0.97

00:09:52.000 I'm like, that's a totally different style, and it's a fucking really sneaky one. 0.79

00:09:57.000 It's hard to handle. 0.89

00:09:58.000 It is definitely a very difficult style to prepare for as well.

00:10:02.000 Oh, yeah.

00:10:02.000 Well, try finding.

00:10:04.000 I know.

00:10:04.000 You got like you, Raymond Daniels.

00:10:06.000 There's like a couple guys out there that can emulate that style.

00:10:10.000 And I think it was, because I remember in the early years, especially when Lyoto Machida was coming in, he's a traditional Kyokushin.

00:10:18.000 Is it Kyokushin style?

00:10:20.000 I think so.

00:10:22.000 Shotokan.

00:10:22.000 I think it was Shotokan.

00:10:23.000 I know GSP was Shotokan as well.

00:10:25.000 That was kind of his background.

00:10:27.000 Let's find out.

00:10:28.000 What is Lyoto Machida's original karate style?

00:10:31.000 I want to say it's Shotokan.

00:10:32.000 His dad was straight Japanese, right?

00:10:35.000 He married his mom who was Brazilian.

00:10:38.000 And people didn't think karate worked.

00:10:41.000 Karate was just a frou-frou...

00:10:44.000 Style, McDojo style, you know, not geared toward real applications, you know?

00:10:50.000 And in the early UFC's it was looked down upon.

00:10:54.000 The karate style.

00:10:55.000 I guess because I don't know if Karate Kid, you know, I think that era, the 80s, you know, a lot of people saw that karate can make them a lot of money.

00:11:04.000 And so they were opening up those McDojo schools left and right.

00:11:08.000 Same with Taekwondo, same with Kung Fu.

00:11:11.000 There's a lot of traditional martial arts that did have some real life applications and they got severely watered down.

00:11:18.000 Because people didn't want to lose a lot of students, so they didn't want to make it really difficult for you to advance and to move up.

00:11:25.000 And even...

00:11:26.000 Shotokan.

00:11:27.000 Shotokan.

00:11:29.000 Yeah.

00:11:30.000 I didn't even notice that.

00:11:31.000 He was 13. This right here.

00:11:32.000 That's ridiculous. 0.99

00:11:33.000 Wow. 0.97

00:11:34.000 I love this.

00:11:35.000 I need one of you.

00:11:37.000 There's only one Jamie.

00:11:38.000 I know.

00:11:39.000 I need a Jamie.

00:11:40.000 You'll find some dude who pretends to be Jamie and he'll be annoying.

00:11:45.000 But this style of this sideways...

00:11:48.000 Michael Venom Page is another really interesting example.

00:11:51.000 He's awesome.

00:11:52.000 He's super unusual because he was an elite...

00:11:56.000 Raymond Daniels was as well.

00:11:58.000 He was an elite point fighter.

00:11:59.000 And people were always making fun of point fighting.

00:12:02.000 I'm like, man, you never sparred one of those guys.

00:12:04.000 I fought in a few of those tournaments.

00:12:05.000 Fast.

00:12:06.000 Oh my god.

00:12:07.000 Their whole thing was just jumping in and blitzing.

00:12:09.000 And even if it wasn't the most powerful or effective techniques, you had to adjust to this new way of fighting.

00:12:17.000 Because everybody else, like if you're a Muay Thai guy, you're used to fighting in this rhythm, and these guys are moving around and jumping and leaping forward.

00:12:25.000 Did you flinching, you know what I mean?

00:12:27.000 And that's what, you know, I think that was the reason why.

00:12:30.000 And of course, the point fighting.

00:12:32.000 You got schools that kind of gravitated, forget all the self-defense stuff, let's just focus on the competition.

00:12:38.000 Point tournaments, yeah.

00:12:39.000 And then people think a real fight is going to be like that. 0.98

00:12:43.000 Point fighting is, in real life application, it's fairly dumb.

00:12:48.000 But there's real benefits to learning how to win at those things, to learning how to blitz, to learning how to leap forward with strikes.

00:12:58.000 You shouldn't do it all the time, but if you have that ability, The thing is like when you see guys who have that ability and then they learn the other stuff like you did, they learn the wrestling, they learn submissions, then they become very dangerous because you have this whole range where they thrive in where most people are completely lost.

00:13:17.000 This range on the outside where you're standing there like that, doing a lot of this, throwing a lot of those front leg techniques.

00:13:23.000 You see these guys like, shit, I've got to get closer to them. 0.95

00:13:26.000 That's crazy that they can't compete at a very specific range. 0.99

00:13:31.000 And for 170, you're pretty tall and long, too.

00:13:34.000 So you have this height and reach advantage as well.

00:13:37.000 Yeah, the street fighting thing, I agree with you, because you YouTube street fights now, and it's like 99.9% of them, they end up on the ground.

00:13:46.000 99, but the ones where a guy can deliver a wheel kick in a street fight? 0.99

00:13:50.000 Holy shit! 0.99

00:13:53.000 You seen that? 1.00

00:13:53.000 I've seen a few of those. 1.00

00:13:54.000 Oh, it's ridiculous. 0.99

00:13:55.000 Crazy. 0.99

00:13:56.000 Oh, I know.

00:13:56.000 And everybody is just going crazy.

00:13:58.000 What?

00:13:59.000 Yeah, if someone pulls off a real movie martial arts technique in a street fight. 0.93

00:14:04.000 And probably kill the guy because he hit his head on the pavement.

00:14:06.000 I know, right? 1.00

00:14:07.000 Yeah, that's the scary thing.

00:14:08.000 I told myself, if I ever in a street situation, hopefully I'm never in one, but I'm like, hey man, let's go to the grass.

00:14:13.000 Let's move over here to the grassy area just in case.

00:14:16.000 Yeah.

00:14:17.000 But yeah, the point fighting thing.

00:14:19.000 The nicest street fighter ever.

00:14:21.000 Yeah.

00:14:22.000 The NMF, I gotta hold that title.

00:14:24.000 That's so funny.

00:14:25.000 Not only the nicest MMA fighter, the nicest street fighter.

00:14:28.000 Let me tell you, I was in some scuffles in high school, and I remember beating the crap out of this kid, and his mom rolls up to pick him up after school.

00:14:37.000 This is right after school.

00:14:39.000 My sister was just a badass, my older sister. 1.00

00:14:42.000 She fought kickboxing. 0.96

00:14:44.000 She kicked my behind for years. 1.00

00:14:46.000 I mean, I've seen her knock dudes out. 1.00

00:14:48.000 She married Carlos Machado.

00:14:52.000 And she fought kickboxing, you know, amateur, never went pro.

00:14:57.000 But at a very high level.

00:14:58.000 And she would just mess people up. 0.97

00:15:01.000 And she had gotten a scuffle in school and just beat the crap out of some dude. 0.98

00:15:05.000 So she was kind of on her last leg.

00:15:08.000 And nobody messed with her.

00:15:09.000 I mean, you know what she's like when you meet her.

00:15:12.000 She's a very honest person, but she's not the nicest way.

00:15:16.000 She's just very straightforward, you know? 0.92

00:15:18.000 If you look ugly, she's like, you look ugly. 0.95

00:15:20.000 She's the opposite of you. 0.99

00:15:21.000 Exactly.

00:15:22.000 She's more like my dad.

00:15:26.000 But she was in some heated argument with this guy, and this guy comes up to do something.

00:15:30.000 I kind of pushed my sister out of the way, and I hit this dude.

00:15:34.000 I'm walking over from a middle school, you know, the high school and middle school are right next to each other, so I would have to walk over and then get picked up from my parents.

00:15:42.000 So I'm like 7th grade, maybe 8th grade.

00:15:46.000 This kid's probably in 10th grade.

00:15:49.000 And so I like sidekick this dude.

00:15:50.000 He backs up. 0.80

00:15:51.000 I hit him right in the chest.

00:15:52.000 I'm a lot smaller than him.

00:15:53.000 And I know, Lindsey, if she gets in trouble, she's getting expelled. 0.99

00:15:56.000 And my dad's a pretty rough dude.

00:15:58.000 You don't want to get expelled living under his household, you know?

00:16:01.000 And then so I end up piecing him up.

00:16:04.000 Just hit him with a three-piece combination. 0.97

00:16:06.000 His lips bleeding. 0.99

00:16:07.000 He's on the ground.

00:16:08.000 And to be honest, I don't even know what I did.

00:16:10.000 I don't even know how I did it.

00:16:11.000 It was just like such a blur.

00:16:13.000 I've never been in that kind of situation before.

00:16:15.000 Maybe once or twice.

00:16:16.000 That was it.

00:16:17.000 And it was just like in a fight.

00:16:20.000 In a fight, I'm not thinking about what I'm doing.

00:16:24.000 It's just reaction.

00:16:25.000 So it's a lot of times I have to go back and watch the fight to remember exactly what I did during the fight.

00:16:31.000 His mom rolls up, and I'm sitting here helping this dude up.

00:16:34.000 I pat him on the back, and I was like, good job, man.

00:16:37.000 That's what I said to him.

00:16:38.000 Good job.

00:16:38.000 And he said, thanks, and walked off.

00:16:40.000 He's wiping his lip off.

00:16:42.000 He's bleeding.

00:16:43.000 His mom's looking at me.

00:16:44.000 She drives off, but still.

00:16:45.000 I'm like, why did I... I help him up!

00:16:49.000 He said good job!

00:16:50.000 Oh my gosh.

00:16:51.000 Good job taking punches. 0.60

00:16:53.000 Yeah, to the face.

00:16:55.000 And you know this is getting around school.

00:16:57.000 Of course.

00:16:57.000 This middle school just beat you up.

00:17:00.000 So yeah, man, I can't, I don't know.

00:17:01.000 When did you start karate?

00:17:03.000 Three years old.

00:17:04.000 Wow.

00:17:05.000 Mandatory.

00:17:06.000 Mandatory.

00:17:08.000 Wow.

00:17:09.000 There was five of us.

00:17:10.000 I've got two brothers and two sisters.

00:17:12.000 And we started the martial arts as three.

00:17:14.000 My dad started early 70s because of, it's weird, Elvis Presley. 1.00

00:17:21.000 No shit! 0.99

00:17:22.000 He was a huge Elvis fan. 1.00

00:17:24.000 Wow!

00:17:25.000 That's crazy!

00:17:26.000 Because those videos, we've made fun of those videos of Elvis all pilled up, doing karate.

00:17:31.000 Oh my god.

00:17:32.000 They are some of the wildest videos because he's so clearly high out of his mind.

00:17:37.000 Like he's completely disassociated.

00:17:39.000 And he's like, hey man.

00:17:41.000 Grab your neck. 0.60

00:17:42.000 Come here now. 0.56

00:17:45.000 You ever seen the movie Walk Hard?

00:17:46.000 No.

00:17:47.000 You haven't seen Walk Hard?

00:17:48.000 No.

00:17:49.000 It's like a...

00:17:49.000 Look at him.

00:17:50.000 That's when they put the fist to his neck and he pushes forward.

00:17:54.000 The guys fall down.

00:17:55.000 You've never seen this?

00:17:56.000 Oh, I've never seen this.

00:17:57.000 This is an actual video?

00:17:58.000 Oh, you need to watch these videos.

00:17:59.000 Please pull up.

00:18:00.000 I, on multiple occasions on this podcast, have watched and made fun of Elvis on pills doing karate.

00:18:08.000 See, it's a 50-minute video.

00:18:10.000 Oh, okay.

00:18:11.000 I can watch it.

00:18:12.000 We could just keep it on for the entire 50 minutes and talk.

00:18:16.000 This is on YouTube.

00:18:17.000 Yeah.

00:18:18.000 There's like a lot of people to watch.

00:18:19.000 Elvis Presley, Gladiators Project, 1974. It's not hurting him because he's high.

00:18:24.000 Meanwhile, he's got like a regular shirt on underneath.

00:18:27.000 Look, look at this collared shirt underneath his gi.

00:18:29.000 Look at Elias!

00:18:32.000 You remember the Stars and Stripe gi?

00:18:34.000 Yes, I do.

00:18:35.000 He admitted that.

00:18:36.000 Really?

00:18:37.000 Elvis Presley admitted that. 1.00

00:18:38.000 Oh, no shit. 0.99

00:18:39.000 The Stars and Stripe actual, like, gi. 0.99

00:18:41.000 Look at these guys.

00:18:42.000 I know.

00:18:43.000 So he was an Ed Parker student, right?

00:18:45.000 Yes, yep, Ed Parker.

00:18:47.000 This is so funny, man. 1.00

00:18:49.000 With the fucking shoe. 1.00

00:18:51.000 He's got a regular shoe. 1.00

00:18:55.000 He's talking about pulling out your neck.

00:18:57.000 Look how high he is. 0.51

00:18:58.000 What in the...

00:19:02.000 You can see the passion he loved training with.

00:19:08.000 The guy's on his neck.

00:19:09.000 He's like, I can't believe Elvis is rubbing my neck.

00:19:11.000 Yeah, I know.

00:19:11.000 Look at the dude.

00:19:14.000 Look at him.

00:19:14.000 He's like blinking his eyes.

00:19:16.000 Oh, he's out of his fucking mind. 1.00

00:19:17.000 Wow. 1.00

00:19:18.000 He's probably on all...

00:19:19.000 I mean, I don't know what kind of pills he's on back then.

00:19:22.000 I've never seen this before in my life.

00:19:23.000 Oh my God, I've seen it a hundred times.

00:19:26.000 And he was one of those...

00:19:27.000 Look at that.

00:19:28.000 Is that super...

00:19:28.000 No, that's not.

00:19:29.000 That's super Bill Wallace.

00:19:30.000 Yeah, that's Bill Wallace.

00:19:31.000 In the Stars and Stripe Gee.

00:19:33.000 Yeah.

00:19:34.000 Bill Walsh is an interesting character too because he shows what's possible with just one leg.

00:19:40.000 No, that's not Chuck Norris. 0.97

00:19:41.000 But he shows what's possible because he had a fucked up knee. 0.99

00:19:43.000 His right knee was fucked up and he couldn't really throw kicks with it. 0.99

00:19:47.000 So everything he did was with his left leg. 0.98

00:19:49.000 Look how he lifted his leg up like that.

00:19:51.000 Oh my god, like it was nothing.

00:19:51.000 Easy, I can't do that.

00:19:53.000 Well, he had incredible dexterity with that left leg because he only kicked with that leg.

00:19:58.000 So his hook kicks were off the chart.

00:20:01.000 A lot of people would dismiss hook kicks.

00:20:03.000 Even in Taekwondo, they would dismiss hook kicks.

00:20:05.000 And I was a big Bill Wallace fan.

00:20:07.000 I would watch him fight. 1.00

00:20:08.000 I was like, I'm telling you, man, that fucking guy throws... 0.99

00:20:11.000 I think it's one of those things where you just have to learn how to do it, and then you get the dexterity, and then eventually it becomes just like throwing a round kick Or a side kick or anything else. 0.99

00:20:19.000 That's what's so special about developing that front leg.

00:20:22.000 Yes.

00:20:22.000 And you don't need a lot of power to knock somebody out with it or to do what you need to do with it.

00:20:26.000 Do some damage, right?

00:20:27.000 Yeah.

00:20:27.000 So that's why I love doing the front leg stuff.

00:20:30.000 Yeah.

00:20:30.000 But that is crazy.

00:20:32.000 Front leg round kicks seem like they don't have anything to them.

00:20:35.000 Nothing.

00:20:35.000 But the first time I ever knocked a guy out, it was a front leg roundhouse kick.

00:20:39.000 And I bet you it wasn't even as hard as you could.

00:20:41.000 It was weird.

00:20:42.000 It felt like I barely hit him.

00:20:43.000 And he just shut off.

00:20:45.000 It's fast.

00:20:47.000 And one of the things that I love that you do, and we were taught to do that too, is you sneak things around the shoulders.

00:20:52.000 Over the shoulders.

00:20:53.000 Yeah.

00:20:53.000 So you don't see it coming until it's right here.

00:20:55.000 Oh shit! 0.99

00:20:56.000 Bang! 1.00

00:20:56.000 And then it's too late. 1.00

00:20:57.000 Was it the first fight?

00:20:59.000 Yes.

00:20:59.000 The very first fight.

00:21:01.000 And a lot of times I will fight with my hands down.

00:21:05.000 And so I like to lure people in with my face.

00:21:09.000 Mm-hmm. 0.99

00:21:10.000 You know, I can hit you from there.

00:21:11.000 But they don't realize that, you know, everybody has a security, their own security force field, I would say, around them.

00:21:20.000 And when you step, if I just plod in to that little security boundary you have, you get defensive.

00:21:26.000 You start bringing your hands up, you're more aware.

00:21:28.000 But if you stay to the outside of that, you know, they start to get more relaxed.

00:21:32.000 Those hands start to drop just a little bit.

00:21:34.000 Even if it's just a little bit.

00:21:35.000 Because you can't be tense all the time.

00:21:37.000 Right.

00:21:38.000 And that's when I got you.

00:21:39.000 Yeah.

00:21:40.000 You know, because I can close that gap faster than you can.

00:21:43.000 Right.

00:21:43.000 Right?

00:21:44.000 I can close that gap and people aren't used to that.

00:21:46.000 People think it was funny because once that karate style started to get out there, started becoming more popular, especially in the full contact sports because you're seeing Michael Page Venom and you start seeing guys with those tendencies like you when You didn't see him in his last fight because he was doing more boxing.

00:22:03.000 But Conor McGregor, when he fought Jose Aldo, just in those first few minutes of that fight, he was moving like a karate guy.

00:22:10.000 Sideway stance, in and out movement.

00:22:12.000 Drew out his left hand and countered him.

00:22:15.000 It was beautiful.

00:22:16.000 But it's nothing that you can do and learn right off the bat.

00:22:22.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:22:24.000 If I was doing MMA and then I go, alright, I want to try and do that distance manager, get that karate style, you can't just go into any karate studio and learn that.

00:22:35.000 It takes a lot of time.

00:22:36.000 A lot of time.

00:22:37.000 A lot of time.

00:22:38.000 I talked about Taekwondo kicks to someone once.

00:22:42.000 We were talking about this, about them implementing them in MMA. And I was like, you kind of can, but really you should start with that.

00:22:49.000 If you want to learn it, you kind of have to learn it when you're a kid.

00:22:53.000 And then you develop that crazy Bill Wallace type dexterity.

00:22:57.000 And then once you do that, then learn takedown defense.

00:23:00.000 Then learn a little bit of wrestling. 0.99

00:23:02.000 Then learn all the other shit. 1.00

00:23:04.000 It's so hard. 0.99

00:23:05.000 If you start right with MMA, say if you're a 15-year-old kid and you just go to an MMA academy, there is no way you're going to kick like a guy who's been kicking his whole life.

00:23:16.000 You need to learn how to do it almost first.

00:23:20.000 There's a lot of arguments about what you should learn first.

00:23:23.000 But I think there's a real good argument for young kids to learn either karate or some kicking-based style.

00:23:30.000 Real young.

00:23:31.000 I agree.

00:23:32.000 Because when they spar, they don't really hurt each other.

00:23:34.000 Yeah.

00:23:34.000 And then they get used to doing it, so you get used to sparring.

00:23:37.000 Like, I love watching little kids spar.

00:23:38.000 Man.

00:23:39.000 Because they hit each other, but they don't hurt each other.

00:23:41.000 We do full-on MMA sparring.

00:23:43.000 Wow.

00:23:44.000 Yeah, kicking, punching, you know, obviously in the beginning, when they first get their sparring gear, you're doing more sparring drills than anything, learning how to block, but you've got to take them through this conditioning process.

00:23:58.000 A lot of schools out there don't even allow contact. 0.97

00:24:00.000 I think it's crap. 0.90

00:24:02.000 But it's also, there's a thing with the style that you do, that you almost... 0.99

00:24:09.000 You're not gonna do it that way if you could do everything else from the beginning.

00:24:13.000 You get hit a couple of times, you're gonna try to take somebody down.

00:24:16.000 You're gonna try to do something different.

00:24:18.000 Even your style originally, you didn't really leg kick.

00:24:22.000 When did you start leg kicking?

00:24:24.000 I did...

00:24:25.000 Pull this thing up to keep it close to your face.

00:24:27.000 Sorry about that.

00:24:28.000 No worries.

00:24:29.000 When did you start leg kicking?

00:24:31.000 My last fight, my last kickboxing fight before I wanted to go MMA, it was a leg kick fight.

00:24:37.000 It was a Muay Thai fight.

00:24:38.000 So that was your first one?

00:24:39.000 My very first one.

00:24:40.000 So you had like 56 above the waist.

00:24:43.000 Above the waist.

00:24:45.000 And then one Muay Thai style.

00:24:46.000 Which, it can kind of go both ways.

00:24:48.000 I figured, like, now that I go back to above the waist, it's so hard.

00:24:52.000 It's so much harder.

00:24:53.000 Right, because you can't kick the legs.

00:24:54.000 You can't, yeah.

00:24:56.000 You're not getting kicked, but then you only have this small area that you have to find a spot to kick or find an opening when you can create that by just kicking somebody in the leg.

00:25:05.000 And it was so difficult.

00:25:08.000 But that was my first experience of full contact to the legs.

00:25:11.000 Our Kenpo style, we go at it, man.

00:25:16.000 My dad's just really old school.

00:25:18.000 And I remember in the earlier days, if you didn't have the natural ability to do the martial arts, he ran you off.

00:25:23.000 Really?

00:25:24.000 Oh yeah.

00:25:25.000 It was that early 80s.

00:25:26.000 He was very hardcore.

00:25:28.000 He didn't let you learn?

00:25:31.000 I don't think he wanted...

00:25:34.000 The easier for him to teach you something, those are the kind of people he wanted around.

00:25:38.000 He didn't want to spend a whole lot of time trying to...

00:25:41.000 This is what I got.

00:25:43.000 He may have something different, but this is kind of, you know, living in the dojo is what I kind of come up with, you know?

00:25:47.000 And people didn't last long.

00:25:49.000 He grew up in a military school, pretty much.

00:25:52.000 His dad was pretty rough.

00:25:53.000 Put him in military school.

00:25:54.000 His dad owned bars and brothels, man, in Charleston, South Carolina.

00:26:00.000 Oh, wow.

00:26:01.000 And high school, put him in military school.

00:26:04.000 That's when he fell in love with the martial arts.

00:26:06.000 And then when he was 18, he moved out.

00:26:09.000 It's so crazy that Elvis is what inspired him.

00:26:12.000 He loved his Western movies.

00:26:15.000 Really?

00:26:16.000 Yeah, he loved them, man.

00:26:17.000 His mom was a huge Elvis fan.

00:26:19.000 She said, you know what?

00:26:19.000 I can't sing like the guy.

00:26:20.000 I can't dance like the guy.

00:26:22.000 I want to try this karate thing.

00:26:23.000 So, he had his first fight at the, it was in Charlotte.

00:26:32.000 I forgot which arena it was, but in 1977, I think it was.

00:26:37.000 1977, he had his first kickboxing fight.

00:26:39.000 Wow.

00:26:40.000 And then he fought, went over in France.

00:26:43.000 He fought for the USA team.

00:26:44.000 He fought in Greenville, South Carolina.

00:26:45.000 The baddest man in Greenville is what it was called.

00:26:48.000 It was no holds barred.

00:26:50.000 Really?

00:26:50.000 Yeah, with boxing gloves on.

00:26:52.000 You can take him down, no weight class.

00:26:53.000 Submissions?

00:26:54.000 Yeah.

00:26:55.000 I mean, if you knew them back in those days.

00:26:58.000 I don't think anybody knew submissions.

00:26:59.000 But boxing gloves?

00:27:00.000 Boxing gloves.

00:27:00.000 How heavy were the gloves?

00:27:02.000 I don't know.

00:27:02.000 They were probably...

00:27:03.000 Eight ounces?

00:27:04.000 Eight, twelve, eight ounces.

00:27:07.000 But, I mean, this is how crazy it was.

00:27:09.000 You had a guy, you know, you had a black guy come out into the ring with a Confederate flag, you know? 0.80

00:27:15.000 What? 0.85

00:27:15.000 It was wild. 0.85

00:27:16.000 He fought.

00:27:17.000 He had to fight that guy.

00:27:18.000 He had to fight a guy who was 300 pounds.

00:27:20.000 We had a picture of him.

00:27:22.000 Literally with his opponent on the ground and my dad's up in the air getting ready to staunt this dude's head.

00:27:27.000 I'm like, you didn't realize that you could kill the guy?

00:27:30.000 He was like, nah, I had to pay rent, man.

00:27:32.000 I had to win this thing.

00:27:33.000 Wow.

00:27:33.000 I had to pay rent.

00:27:34.000 Yeah.

00:27:35.000 He fought on that thing twice before they wouldn't let him compete anymore.

00:27:38.000 Really?

00:27:39.000 They kicked him out?

00:27:40.000 Yeah.

00:27:42.000 What did they say?

00:27:42.000 You're too good?

00:27:43.000 I don't think they said you were too good.

00:27:45.000 You're going to stop stomping people?

00:27:46.000 Yeah, maybe.

00:27:47.000 I don't know.

00:27:49.000 But then I think the promotion changed hands and it became the Toughman contest.

00:27:55.000 There was an event in Hawaii back in the 70s.

00:27:59.000 I believe that was one of the very first no-holds-barred events that Benny Urquidez competed in.

00:28:06.000 Benny Urquidez, yeah.

00:28:07.000 He was a beast, dude. 0.59

00:28:08.000 Benny the Jet was a bad man.

00:28:11.000 Dude, I heard the craziest story about him.

00:28:14.000 And this was when I was competing in the Walker World Championships.

00:28:18.000 Which was like our kickboxing Olympics, right?

00:28:21.000 It's held in a different country every two years.

00:28:22.000 We got some kids that point fight. 0.58

00:28:24.000 They're switching over to MMA. You think that I've got a lead leg man and the conservatives cover some distance.

00:28:31.000 These kids, 17 years old or 18 years old, his brother's 21. Blake and...

00:28:36.000 Blake Spence, Trent Spence, these kids are fast.

00:28:41.000 Boy, they kick me in the face on a reg.

00:28:43.000 On the regular.

00:28:44.000 But they've competed all over the world since they were kids, you know?

00:28:47.000 That's what...

00:28:49.000 They're getting ready for the Walker World Championship.

00:28:51.000 They're supposed to be in Moscow or something this year.

00:28:55.000 But got to hang out with Bill Superfoot Wallace.

00:28:59.000 And he told me this crazy story about Benny the Jet.

00:29:03.000 He was asked to fight a guy.

00:29:07.000 The guy's name was Muay Thai.

00:29:10.000 His name was Muay Thai?

00:29:11.000 That was the style.

00:29:13.000 He thought it was the guy's name.

00:29:15.000 Yeah, that was the guy's name.

00:29:16.000 It was in Thailand.

00:29:19.000 And I don't know how true this story is.

00:29:23.000 Maybe he was just blowing smoke.

00:29:24.000 But Biddy the Jet was undefeated.

00:29:27.000 He was fighting this guy named Muay Thai.

00:29:30.000 And he goes out the first round.

00:29:32.000 It was him.

00:29:33.000 Chuck Norris was there.

00:29:34.000 I think Joe Lewis was there.

00:29:36.000 You know, big heavyweight Joe Lewis.

00:29:37.000 Yeah.

00:29:39.000 And he was losing the fight.

00:29:41.000 The guy kept kicking him in the legs, kicking him in the legs.

00:29:43.000 So what these three guys did, and this is what's so freaking cool, they started a fight in the crowd that went, just got nuts that they had to cancel the fight.

00:29:52.000 They were throwing chairs in the ring. 0.90

00:29:54.000 They did that to try to stop Benny from losing?

00:29:56.000 From losing.

00:29:57.000 That's what I heard.

00:29:59.000 That's what I heard.

00:30:00.000 Yeah.

00:30:01.000 I think I've seen a video of something like that.

00:30:05.000 I definitely have seen videos of Benny fighting leg kick style.

00:30:10.000 Yeah, I think after this fight he ended up doing more Muay Thai stuff.

00:30:14.000 But he would still wear the pants, the karate pants.

00:30:16.000 Well, I'm sure you've seen the Rick Rufus fight, where Rick Rufus fought that champion from Thailand.

00:30:20.000 And he hurt him in the first round with punches, but then the guy just kept chopping at his legs, chopping at his legs, and eventually they literally had to carry him out of there.

00:30:29.000 He couldn't walk.

00:30:30.000 Yeah, there's something else about those Thai guys, man.

00:30:32.000 And also back then, nobody understood the effectiveness of leg kicks. 0.99

00:30:35.000 And Rick Rufus was a bad motherfucker back then. 0.99

00:30:38.000 I mean, he was so good. 0.99

00:30:40.000 And he had the guy really hurt.

00:30:42.000 He dropped him in the first round.

00:30:43.000 Had him in real trouble.

00:30:44.000 But the dude got up.

00:30:46.000 They call it, it's on YouTube, the fight that changed kickboxing forever.

00:30:51.000 It was like the American kickboxer versus the Thai. 1.00

00:30:56.000 People just did not understand the effectiveness.

00:30:59.000 They didn't understand how vulnerable...

00:31:01.000 The legs are when you get a guy who's a Thai who really knows how to slam those shins. 1.00

00:31:07.000 Because back then, all the guys were kicking with their insteps.

00:31:09.000 They were either hitting you with the heel or the instep.

00:31:11.000 Either they were hitting you with hook kicks and wheel kicks and side kicks, or they're hitting you with roundhouse kicks with the instep. 0.59

00:31:16.000 But the Thai's had figured out a long time ago that the shins... 1.00

00:31:19.000 Thousand years ago.

00:31:20.000 It's quick.

00:31:21.000 Thousands.

00:31:22.000 Isn't it crazy?

00:31:23.000 Oh my gosh.

00:31:24.000 Here it is.

00:31:24.000 So here's the fight.

00:31:25.000 And so this dude had a complete traditional...

00:31:29.000 Look, he's a low calf kick.

00:31:30.000 Wow.

00:31:31.000 Way back in the day.

00:31:32.000 And he's still wearing the karate boots.

00:31:33.000 Oh yeah, man.

00:31:34.000 He had the karate boots and that dude is barefoot. 1.00

00:31:38.000 But Rick had him hurt, and he hit him with some wild shit. 0.99

00:31:41.000 Because, you know, the guy had never seen anybody that could throw the kind of techniques that Rick could throw. 0.99

00:31:46.000 Look at the calves on that guy.

00:31:48.000 I know.

00:31:48.000 Something about ties, man.

00:31:50.000 You watch those guys, their calves are just ridiculous. 0.98

00:31:52.000 Look at him, he hit him again in the legs. 0.99

00:31:54.000 Just plodding down.

00:31:55.000 And Rick doesn't know what to do.

00:31:56.000 He doesn't know how to check it.

00:31:58.000 Look at that beautiful jump-spinning back kick.

00:32:00.000 And he dropped the dude with a punch, but he just keeps getting lit up with these kicks.

00:32:05.000 And after a while, his legs just became useless. 0.71

00:32:08.000 There it is.

00:32:09.000 It was like a...

00:32:10.000 Yeah.

00:32:10.000 That was sick.

00:32:11.000 Yeah, threw a kick and then a punch right behind it. 0.99

00:32:13.000 He threw a left round kick and then right behind it, he lands a perfect punch. 0.99

00:32:17.000 And it's got the guy really fucked up. 0.99

00:32:19.000 Guy drops his mouthpiece. 0.99

00:32:21.000 He's in real trouble.

00:32:22.000 And Rick swarms on him.

00:32:24.000 But the dude knows how to survive.

00:32:25.000 Look, he drops him again.

00:32:26.000 Almost kicked him in the face when he was down, too.

00:32:28.000 Look at the stare down there.

00:32:30.000 So Rick is out for blood, but this dude probably been fighting since he was five.

00:32:36.000 They have tie fights when they're really young.

00:32:39.000 Yeah, I've seen them actually on dirt surfaces.

00:32:41.000 They just have people around them, and then they're fighting on dirt.

00:32:45.000 But then these leg kicks started really taking their toll, and eventually Rick's legs are just chopped meat.

00:32:52.000 And this dude is just attacking the legs.

00:32:54.000 Like, look at this.

00:32:55.000 Like, right there.

00:32:55.000 That was it.

00:32:56.000 I mean, he's in fucking agony there. 0.99

00:32:59.000 He gets up and he just gets punished even more. 0.98

00:33:01.000 And at this point, the dude's going across the front of the legs.

00:33:04.000 He's going to the back of the legs.

00:33:05.000 Like, anything he can.

00:33:06.000 And that's it.

00:33:07.000 That was a wrap.

00:33:07.000 He's just in agony.

00:33:08.000 I'm wincing because I feel for him.

00:33:12.000 Like, I've felt those kicks before.

00:33:14.000 Especially low calf.

00:33:15.000 Yeah.

00:33:15.000 I wonder if they're...

00:33:16.000 Is that allowed in Muay Thai?

00:33:18.000 It is allowed.

00:33:20.000 Yeah, it is allowed.

00:33:21.000 But the thing about low calf kick in Muay Thai, first of all, the guy in the...

00:33:24.000 They don't have to worry about takedowns, right?

00:33:26.000 So that front leg is very light.

00:33:28.000 They're very light on the front leg.

00:33:30.000 And they turn on the outside.

00:33:31.000 If you watch...

00:33:33.000 Jimmy Rivera-Pedro Munoz fight is a good example of how you can check that low calf kick if you plan on checking it and you look for it regularly because Jimmy Rivera is so good at it and he hits it all the time but in that fight Pedro is aware of it in advance,

00:33:50.000 and Munoz checks it over and over and over again, but he kept landing it on Jimmy, and he eventually won the battle of the low calf kick.

00:33:58.000 But it's such a punishing kick.

00:34:00.000 Oh my goodness.

00:34:01.000 I think it was the Vicente Luque.

00:34:02.000 I took three of them, and I don't know if it has to do a lot with those three kicks or sometimes whenever I kick, I roll my hip over maybe a little too much and I start hitting with the outside of my calf instead of the shin.

00:34:20.000 So that may be why sometimes I'm limping afterwards, but those calf kicks are no joke.

00:34:26.000 They're brutal.

00:34:27.000 I hit Rory McDonald with lead leg low calf kicks in that fight, and he was limping afterwards.

00:34:31.000 He had to have somebody carry him, walk off with him.

00:34:34.000 That's early on in the calf kick game, right?

00:34:37.000 Because really, Benson Henderson was the first guy I saw use it really effectively and regularly.

00:34:41.000 But then when you get into fights being stopped with low calf kicks, you're like, wow, this is crazy.

00:34:48.000 Guys literally can't walk.

00:34:50.000 And then the Conor McGregor fight was like...

00:34:52.000 I mean, the whole world got to see that, because even a casual MMA fan watched that fight and was like, that is crazy.

00:34:58.000 I feel like 2019, 2020 was like the years of the low calf kick, where it really started to become mainstream, right?

00:35:05.000 Because you don't have a lot of muscle there, It's bone on bone, you know, and that group of muscle is such a function for you to move around.

00:35:15.000 It's like, you know, you hit that one or two times, good spot.

00:35:18.000 And you saw with Sugar, was it O'Malley?

00:35:21.000 Just shut him down.

00:35:22.000 Yeah, was that Deadfoot?

00:35:23.000 Was that what they call that?

00:35:24.000 That happened also with Cejudo when he fought Mighty Mouse.

00:35:27.000 Mighty Mouse kicked him, his leg went numb, and he's got that drop foot.

00:35:31.000 Drop foot, that's what they call it. 0.99

00:35:33.000 But Henry survived.

00:35:34.000 He survived and he made it through.

00:35:35.000 But it happened to Michael Chandler and Bellator.

00:35:37.000 I saw that one.

00:35:39.000 It's like those nerves are so exposed there.

00:35:42.000 You hit that one spot.

00:35:43.000 I thought he broke his ankle, but it was just a dead foot.

00:35:45.000 It's really like the button for the calf.

00:35:47.000 It's like the version of on the button for your chin.

00:35:50.000 That's kind of the same thing for a calf.

00:35:53.000 And I think that's the beauty of that karate style as well.

00:35:55.000 You're starting to see more and more people doing it, but switching sides.

00:35:58.000 Sometimes, switching sides can just do it for you.

00:36:02.000 Well, you switch up quite a bit, and you're much more, it seems like, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're more comfortable right leg forward with a front leg.

00:36:10.000 With my front leg, yes.

00:36:11.000 I do throw with my left, but I love using my right leg.

00:36:16.000 You're right-handed.

00:36:17.000 Yeah.

00:36:17.000 I'm right-handed, yeah.

00:36:19.000 But it's funny because I have little things here I like to do with my left leg, different kicks, different kicks I do with my right leg.

00:36:29.000 But sometimes preventing somebody from low calf kicking you.

00:36:33.000 So if you had your left foot in front, like when I fought Vicente, I'd come out, we're in a closed stance, I had my left foot, he had my left foot.

00:36:39.000 I can tell he was just trying to shut me down.

00:36:40.000 Most everybody tries to do with my movement is just try and low calf kick me or take my legs out and all it takes for me to switch sides.

00:36:47.000 They throw that one hard low calf kick maybe on the inside and I check it.

00:36:51.000 A lot of times they think twice about doing it because I do a lot.

00:36:54.000 I spend a lot of time conditioning my shins, my feet and that's just the old school.

00:36:58.000 What do you do?

00:36:59.000 My dad.

00:37:01.000 I start off and I actually have a tutorial on this on my YouTube channel and it was one of my most popular videos to be honest.

00:37:07.000 I didn't think it was We're good to go.

00:37:24.000 Most guys that are athletes, their bones are pretty dense.

00:37:27.000 You know, you're jumping, you're running, you're getting those little micro fractures and they heal back up so the bone becomes strong, bone becomes dense.

00:37:33.000 I don't recommend doing this if you're just coming off of the couch and you haven't played sports before because you can end up injuring yourself.

00:37:40.000 But just, you know, you get a Muay Thai bag and you know the lower part of the Muay Thai bag is harder than the rest.

00:37:45.000 Everything kind of sinks down.

00:37:47.000 You spend a lot of time hitting that.

00:37:49.000 Boom! 0.99

00:37:49.000 Just over and over and over again. 0.99

00:37:51.000 You're taking a lot of punishment to that bone and the bone wants to beef it up.

00:37:56.000 Then when you go from that, you go to, I have a maki. 0.84

00:37:58.000 A maki where? 1.00

00:37:59.000 Makimara?

00:38:00.000 Yeah.

00:38:01.000 So it's in our school.

00:38:03.000 My dad's on that thing every day.

00:38:04.000 You see my dad's hands. 0.98

00:38:06.000 It's ridiculous. 0.98

00:38:07.000 He used to punish us. 0.99

00:38:08.000 He just slapped the top of our head. 0.78

00:38:09.000 There you go.

00:38:10.000 There you go.

00:38:14.000 You can go check that out, find that.

00:38:16.000 But yeah, that's the actual market.

00:38:18.000 But you see the tire.

00:38:20.000 And that's there to condition the skin, not just the bone.

00:38:23.000 Because your skin's got to be conditioned and tough. 1.00

00:38:28.000 Because you don't know if you saw when Luke Rockhold...

00:38:32.000 During the Yoel Romero fight, he had split the skin from kicking Yoel Romero, and it got Mercer or something in it. 0.99

00:38:39.000 Yeah, he's still fucked up. 0.99

00:38:40.000 Really, still? 0.99

00:38:41.000 Do you see the fight that he had with Jan Bohovich?

00:38:43.000 Yes.

00:38:44.000 He had that thing wrapped up?

00:38:45.000 Yeah, he wore a sleeve over his shin because he's had multiple skin grafts.

00:38:50.000 What?

00:38:50.000 Yeah.

00:38:51.000 Oh, his shin's been fucked from that fight. 0.99

00:38:55.000 Dude, infections like MRSA, staph, that kind of shit, and a cut and an open wound, you have to take care of that. 1.00

00:39:03.000 That is so dangerous. 0.99

00:39:04.000 People die from that.

00:39:05.000 That's wild.

00:39:06.000 They probably had to pack it.

00:39:07.000 Have you seen that?

00:39:08.000 I'm sure, yeah.

00:39:09.000 I can sit there and watch that on YouTube all day.

00:39:11.000 Pull those stuff up.

00:39:12.000 Put that video back up again.

00:39:14.000 So what I do is...

00:39:15.000 I will condition the skin so that way those splits don't happen.

00:39:21.000 And I've done this for years.

00:39:24.000 I'll go from the top of the foot, from my toes, all the way up to that knee knuckle on that top of the shin, right below your knee.

00:39:30.000 And I'll do...

00:39:31.000 I tell people to start off with doing 10. And you work your way up to doing 50 and then doing 100. And you just do it...

00:39:39.000 And it's not hard.

00:39:40.000 Yeah, it's not hard.

00:39:42.000 And I try and do it three times a week.

00:39:45.000 Does it show what you're doing up there?

00:39:46.000 I don't know if it does or not.

00:39:47.000 Yeah, they're right there, Jim.

00:39:48.000 And it's just tapping.

00:39:50.000 So that's how you do it?

00:39:51.000 Yep, just sit there, pop, and I do both of them.

00:39:53.000 And, you know, obviously the more your skin and shin becomes more conditioned, you know, you can sink it in there a little bit.

00:40:03.000 Now, did you, when you went to train from, when you went from above the waist kickboxing to incorporating leg kicks, did you go to a Thai gym?

00:40:11.000 Did you, no?

00:40:12.000 No, sure didn't.

00:40:14.000 Just jump right in?

00:40:15.000 Jump right in. 0.94

00:40:15.000 Did you think, I'm going to kick him in the legs too, or did you say, I'm just going to do what I do? 0.94

00:40:20.000 No, I knew that the legs were additional to targets, so we really focused on that.

00:40:24.000 Really focused on trying, I did a lot of changes, man, from when I went from kickboxing to, and I learned that through training with GSP. I had fought on a card in Montreal.

00:40:35.000 This was when I was in kickboxing.

00:40:36.000 This was before I had torn every ligament in my left leg in the World Combat League, when I fought Raymond Daniels.

00:40:42.000 You tore every ligament?

00:40:43.000 Every ligament in my left leg.

00:40:45.000 What happened?

00:40:46.000 First 30 seconds in the first round, it was...

00:40:48.000 Of course, you were in that weird bowl, right?

00:40:51.000 And it was...

00:40:52.000 It wasn't canvas.

00:40:55.000 And I believe it was first 30 seconds in the first round, I had fought Raymond.

00:40:59.000 And I guess they didn't...

00:41:02.000 I didn't clean up where somebody had fallen on their back at the fight before.

00:41:06.000 There was really some damp spots.

00:41:08.000 And I knew Raymond Daniels, he liked to spin.

00:41:12.000 I forgot which side forward it was, but he likes to spin off of, I think it might be his left foot in front, so he kicks with his right leg.

00:41:19.000 And I think he was kind of in between switching, and I decided to blitz him then, right?

00:41:23.000 I was trying to catch him when he switched.

00:41:25.000 And then I had ran in, for some reason, I had slipped a little bit as I was coming in.

00:41:32.000 He grabs me by the neck and he pulls me to the side.

00:41:35.000 So I step with my left foot.

00:41:37.000 My leg was straight.

00:41:38.000 Then he kind of pulls down and I just kind of fold into my leg and it just collapsed inward.

00:41:44.000 And that's all she wrote, man.

00:41:47.000 I could just feel it just collapse.

00:41:48.000 Everything just gave way.

00:41:50.000 I just felt everything just break.

00:41:54.000 And I'm sitting on the ground rolling.

00:41:55.000 Here we go.

00:41:55.000 Watch this.

00:41:56.000 Right there.

00:41:58.000 Boom! 0.99

00:41:58.000 Oh, my goodness, dude. 0.99

00:41:59.000 Oh, my goodness.

00:42:00.000 Oh, look at you.

00:42:02.000 So that's where I slipped there.

00:42:04.000 He's throwing the blips.

00:42:05.000 He pulls to the left, and I step, and that's when it collapsed in.

00:42:09.000 Oh, my God.

00:42:10.000 It just went.

00:42:11.000 I remember afterwards, I tried to stand up.

00:42:14.000 That's where I slipped.

00:42:15.000 Boom.

00:42:15.000 I pull in.

00:42:16.000 He stepped.

00:42:17.000 Pulls down.

00:42:18.000 It was almost like this, I guess.

00:42:20.000 Kind of pulls me in.

00:42:23.000 It was terrible.

00:42:25.000 And then...

00:42:26.000 You have to get surgery?

00:42:27.000 Yeah, multiple.

00:42:28.000 Multiple surgeries?

00:42:30.000 I did cadaver.

00:42:31.000 How many surgeries?

00:42:32.000 Well, there was only one original surgery where they went in.

00:42:36.000 They took 40% of my meniscus out.

00:42:38.000 Oof.

00:42:39.000 I did.

00:42:41.000 That's a lot.

00:42:42.000 Yeah.

00:42:45.000 Is that the same leg that Darren Till was sidekicking you on?

00:42:48.000 Yeah, I tore my MCL during that fight in the first or second round.

00:42:52.000 Wow.

00:42:53.000 Actually, I showed it.

00:42:55.000 I kind of back up and shake it out a little bit.

00:42:57.000 I was kind of pissed.

00:42:59.000 You know, it is what it is.

00:43:00.000 And then I feel like after that, I did cadaver tissue so they could beef up my ACL as much.

00:43:07.000 They can make it as thick as they want.

00:43:09.000 And then...

00:43:10.000 So what did they do with the Achilles tendon?

00:43:13.000 Is that what they use for you, for the cadaver?

00:43:16.000 I don't know.

00:43:16.000 It might have been Achilles, or I know they use patella, and they can take as much as they want.

00:43:22.000 Because I know if they take your own, they can take a small portion, but the healing time is elongated.

00:43:29.000 I did both.

00:43:29.000 I did patella on my left leg, and I did cadaver on my right.

00:43:33.000 Yeah.

00:43:33.000 The right, they used Achilles tendon from a cadaver, and it was great.

00:43:38.000 That one has never been a problem since.

00:43:41.000 The left one was patella tendon graft, and it took a long time to heal.

00:43:45.000 Wow.

00:43:46.000 It took a full year before I felt confident with it, and then even then, like, if I would do anything where I had to get on one knee, it would hurt.

00:43:53.000 It would hurt pretty bad.

00:43:54.000 Even two knees.

00:43:56.000 Like, even stretching.

00:43:57.000 Still?

00:43:58.000 Yeah, you know, no, not anymore.

00:43:59.000 Now it's nothing.

00:44:00.000 Now it feels like 100%.

00:44:01.000 It doesn't bother me at all.

00:44:02.000 But, like, if I'm, you know, the one where you get on your knees and you lean back? 0.99

00:44:07.000 Shit, it took forever before I could do that one. 0.99

00:44:09.000 It was just so tight. 0.99

00:44:11.000 That's how mine was.

00:44:12.000 It hurt so bad to be on your knees.

00:44:15.000 Because they have to take a piece of your bone off your kneecap and a piece of bone out of your shin, and they pull it out with the piece of the patella, and they open you up like a fish and drill it in place.

00:44:26.000 Have you seen those surgeries?

00:44:27.000 I watched it.

00:44:28.000 I watched my surgery.

00:44:29.000 Because I was hoping I was never going to do surgery again, so I asked the doctor.

00:44:33.000 I said, can I watch?

00:44:34.000 And he goes, well, I want to put you under.

00:44:37.000 And I go, is there a way where I could watch instead of you putting me under?

00:44:41.000 He goes, well, I could give you an epidural, but I don't recommend it.

00:44:45.000 So you did an epidural?

00:44:46.000 Yeah, he goes, I don't want you to freak out.

00:44:48.000 I go, I'm not going to freak out.

00:44:50.000 I go, I want to see it.

00:44:51.000 That's awesome.

00:44:51.000 The doctor was crazy.

00:44:52.000 He let me. 0.73

00:44:53.000 He goes, okay. 1.00

00:44:54.000 You're fucking crazy. 1.00

00:44:54.000 I'm crazy too. 1.00

00:44:55.000 Give me knuckles. 0.97

00:44:57.000 Let's go.

00:44:58.000 I watched the surgery.

00:45:00.000 Next surgery, I'm watching it.

00:45:01.000 It was pretty weird.

00:45:02.000 I don't know if you can even do it.

00:45:03.000 Yeah, it was pretty weird.

00:45:04.000 But, you know, it took a while because five months in, that ligament dies.

00:45:11.000 And then your body kind of regenerates it.

00:45:13.000 Yeah, your body re-peripherates it.

00:45:15.000 And then the doctor told me, five months in, your knee's going to feel great.

00:45:18.000 Of course, me, before that, man, I felt like I could do anything.

00:45:22.000 You know, I'm sitting here dunking.

00:45:23.000 I can do...

00:45:24.000 I've got it where I can...

00:45:26.000 My dad's 6'2".

00:45:27.000 I can jump over my dad, you know, just doing crazy tricking, martial arts tricking.

00:45:31.000 And I do some of that if I knock anybody out on the octagon.

00:45:35.000 But that was my first flip, that little corkscrew I did.

00:45:38.000 I used to do that all the time.

00:45:39.000 I don't do that anymore.

00:45:40.000 Just because it's not worth the risk.

00:45:44.000 It's crazy because it looks cool, but when Michael Chandler knocked out Dan Hooker and then did that backflip, I was like, bro, stop doing that.

00:45:54.000 What's his name?

00:45:54.000 He was doing like the body roll.

00:45:56.000 He hurt his shoulder.

00:45:56.000 Johnny Walker.

00:45:57.000 Yeah. 0.98

00:45:57.000 He fucked his shoulder up. 0.98

00:45:59.000 He was out forever. 0.99

00:45:59.000 He had to get surgery. 0.99

00:46:00.000 Hadn't been the same since.

00:46:01.000 He has a giant scar on his shoulder from that.

00:46:03.000 Yeah.

00:46:03.000 Yeah, I know.

00:46:04.000 He hasn't been the same since.

00:46:05.000 So it's like, you know, I didn't listen to him.

00:46:09.000 Five months in, sparring, and I end up, my knee, it just kind of like moves over and back in.

00:46:16.000 That's what happened.

00:46:16.000 That's what it felt like.

00:46:18.000 Yeah.

00:46:18.000 Like this is where my knee bends.

00:46:19.000 It just went, pow, whack.

00:46:21.000 And then I was like, mess it up.

00:46:23.000 I know.

00:46:23.000 I guarantee you mess it up.

00:46:25.000 I tore it again.

00:46:26.000 But I didn't.

00:46:26.000 I had stretched it.

00:46:27.000 But then I had tore more meniscus.

00:46:30.000 So they had to go back in, tighten everything up.

00:46:32.000 They repaired my meniscus.

00:46:34.000 I'm talking six weeks couldn't put any weight on that leg, right?

00:46:38.000 It was straightened the whole time.

00:46:40.000 It's crazy.

00:46:42.000 A lifetime to get your leg to where it is.

00:46:44.000 Took six weeks for my thigh to be as big as my calf.

00:46:47.000 Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?

00:46:49.000 I was out for three years.

00:46:52.000 Three years.

00:46:53.000 Which was kind of a blessing, to be honest with you, because I was fighting all the time.

00:46:59.000 And my dad's been there with me 24-7, seven days a week, training.

00:47:04.000 And I wanted to quit.

00:47:06.000 I didn't want to fight anymore.

00:47:08.000 Burnout.

00:47:08.000 I was burnt, man.

00:47:10.000 And I didn't know how to tell him.

00:47:12.000 Didn't know how to tell him.

00:47:13.000 Because he's your dad.

00:47:14.000 And he's scary.

00:47:15.000 And he's scary, too.

00:47:18.000 And to be honest, you know, I didn't...

00:47:20.000 And he's always told me that.

00:47:21.000 He's always like, man, if you don't want to do this, let me know.

00:47:23.000 But I can always see, you know, there's something in his eyes.

00:47:26.000 Like, he really...

00:47:26.000 He wants me to do this.

00:47:27.000 Of course.

00:47:28.000 And then this happened.

00:47:31.000 Right?

00:47:32.000 So, in that time, those three years, I just...

00:47:37.000 When the doctor told me I would never do it again, that's when it was, like, for real for me.

00:47:42.000 Like, that's when that flame just arose in me.

00:47:46.000 Like, I'm doing this.

00:47:47.000 Screw that.

00:47:48.000 I'm doing this again.

00:47:49.000 What are you talking about?

00:47:50.000 You know, there's no way.

00:47:51.000 I'd probably never fight again.

00:47:53.000 And he's done all my surgeries.

00:47:56.000 It's funny because I look at him like...

00:48:02.000 Remember?

00:48:02.000 Yeah.

00:48:03.000 We were just talking the other day about when I got my ACL reconstructed and then I had meniscus damage.

00:48:09.000 I had to get scoped out.

00:48:10.000 They were like, you got to stop doing martial arts.

00:48:12.000 And I was in my 20s.

00:48:14.000 I was like, what are you talking about?

00:48:16.000 This is my whole life.

00:48:17.000 This is my identity.

00:48:18.000 I'm not stopping.

00:48:19.000 I'm like, are you fixing this?

00:48:21.000 You're fixing it, right?

00:48:22.000 Then we're going.

00:48:23.000 I'm going back in.

00:48:25.000 I don't know what you're saying. 0.92

00:48:26.000 You're just talking nonsense.

00:48:27.000 Because I was looking at him with his belly and his pencil arms. 1.00

00:48:31.000 I'm like, shut your fucking hole. 1.00

00:48:33.000 I'm not going to stop doing this. 1.00

00:48:35.000 It was one of the reasons why I ended up injuring it again.

00:48:37.000 Because my physical therapy that I was doing was for normal people who just walked a point A to point B. So my quad was overdeveloped.

00:48:47.000 My hamstring was weak.

00:48:49.000 And that was one of the causes of me injuring my knees so much.

00:48:52.000 So in that time, before that injury, I fought in Montreal, back to where we were getting to.

00:49:00.000 I was fighting a guy, very tough kickboxer out of Montreal.

00:49:04.000 And lo and behold, George St. Pierre and Faraz Zahabi was in my opponent's corner.

00:49:09.000 And I ended up knocking that dude out in the fifth round.

00:49:11.000 And then afterwards, I think it was kind of wild.

00:49:15.000 He comes up, GSP comes up, and Faraz, hey man, we would love to...

00:49:18.000 Bring in for, you know, and his student was kind of over there just like this, you know.

00:49:23.000 He was like, we would love to bring out for GSP's camps, you know, help him out with the striking.

00:49:27.000 I'm like, are you kidding me?

00:49:28.000 Heck yeah! 0.96

00:49:29.000 That's incredible.

00:49:29.000 What year was this?

00:49:30.000 Oh, man.

00:49:36.000 2000... 0.97

00:49:36.000 Shoot. 0.97

00:49:38.000 7, 8, 6, 7, 8. So this is GSP at the top of the fucking food chain. 1.00

00:49:43.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:49:44.000 Right?

00:49:44.000 This was probably around like the Nick Diaz fight.

00:49:47.000 It was probably before that.

00:49:49.000 Really?

00:49:49.000 Because I helped him with John Fitch, Tiago Alves, Matt Serra.

00:49:57.000 Shoot, I know there was more.

00:49:59.000 But was up there and that's when I knew.

00:50:02.000 I was like, I kept getting taken down.

00:50:04.000 Every time I blitz this dude, just change his level.

00:50:06.000 Run right into a double leg.

00:50:08.000 Ended up on my head.

00:50:09.000 So I was like, I gotta make some changes, man.

00:50:11.000 I gotta lower my stance.

00:50:13.000 I can't blitz straight in.

00:50:15.000 I gotta angle off.

00:50:16.000 Because I'm running into these things.

00:50:19.000 And that's when he was my inspiration to switch from kickboxing to MMA. Really?

00:50:23.000 He was my inspiration.

00:50:24.000 Yeah, man.

00:50:25.000 I mean, we became friends, man.

00:50:27.000 And I was up there helping him out.

00:50:29.000 Well, he was helping me out more than I was helping him out.

00:50:33.000 That's what it felt like to me.

00:50:34.000 I was just at awe that I was up there training with this guy.

00:50:38.000 He's so open-minded, too.

00:50:39.000 He's awesome.

00:50:40.000 The fact that they did that, that you just knocked out their guy, and they're like, hey, man, can we train?

00:50:45.000 That's so smart.

00:50:46.000 It's so open-minded.

00:50:48.000 And I think it was the style, too.

00:50:50.000 They know there was something different about that, and maybe I can...

00:50:53.000 I don't know if I could somehow figure that out, then these other strikers like Tiago Alves was...

00:50:59.000 I don't know.

00:51:00.000 I don't know what they were thinking.

00:51:01.000 George started out with Shotokan as well.

00:51:03.000 So because of that style, that was his original style, that karate style.

00:51:08.000 And he always attributes that to his ability to take people down.

00:51:11.000 He said it's his karate blitz.

00:51:13.000 Like the blitz, the ability to close that distance quickly is what allowed him to get really good at double legs.

00:51:20.000 That's awesome.

00:51:20.000 Makes sense, right?

00:51:21.000 It does, 100%.

00:51:22.000 I mean, especially the angles.

00:51:24.000 You never see me throw it in...

00:51:25.000 You did in the earlier days.

00:51:27.000 I mean, when I fought Nishan Burrell, you know, I out-wrestled him, out-struck him, but I was using a lot of wrestling.

00:51:34.000 Chris Clements, I was doing a lot of wrestling.

00:51:36.000 I was taking him down, but I think it was after the Nishan Burrell fight.

00:51:40.000 I was like, Joe Silva comes up, and I was like, Steven...

00:51:42.000 He's like, just remember, it wasn't your wrestling that got you here.

00:51:45.000 I'm like, that's all I said.

00:51:47.000 I was like, got you.

00:51:49.000 But, you know, it was the Matt Brown fight that I really, after that, really wanted to show my wrestling because everybody thought I didn't have it.

00:51:58.000 And I don't think it was the fact that I didn't have it.

00:52:00.000 I was just done 30 seconds in the first round.

00:52:03.000 The weight cut and everything killed me.

00:52:06.000 What was it about that fight?

00:52:08.000 Because that was a weird fight for you.

00:52:09.000 It was.

00:52:10.000 It was different.

00:52:10.000 I had just come off of knocking this dude out in the first round, got the bonus.

00:52:16.000 The week I got back, they were like, hey man, you want to fight this guy Matt Brown in a few months?

00:52:21.000 I'm like, yeah, let's make it happen.

00:52:23.000 I was like, why does that name sound familiar?

00:52:26.000 And then I looked him up and I was like, dude, this dude's got some fights, man.

00:52:29.000 He's been in the game for a while. 1.00

00:52:31.000 Matt Brown is a fucking savage. 1.00

00:52:34.000 And he showed it. 1.00

00:52:35.000 I'll tell you in a second.

00:52:37.000 We rode back in the ambulance together after the fight because we beat each other up so bad.

00:52:42.000 But I had hired a new conditioning coach.

00:52:47.000 I was doing a lot of heavy lifting.

00:52:49.000 I was walking around about 215. Never got up above 200 pounds since then.

00:52:54.000 Just muscled up.

00:52:55.000 And I had, you know, Nate Marquardt come down from my camp and I felt great, you know.

00:53:01.000 And realizing that everything was going great until I had to cut the weight.

00:53:06.000 You got up to 215?

00:53:08.000 Yeah.

00:53:08.000 Oh my God.

00:53:10.000 210, 215. I think in my heaviest I was about 215. So you're cutting 40 pounds.

00:53:14.000 Yeah.

00:53:15.000 40 pounds.

00:53:16.000 Killed me.

00:53:18.000 After that, we cut.

00:53:19.000 How far out did you start the cut?

00:53:21.000 Man, I think a little too late.

00:53:25.000 Trying to come down.

00:53:26.000 I mean, I was eating chicken.

00:53:28.000 I hate chicken.

00:53:29.000 Until this day, I don't like chicken since then.

00:53:31.000 But I still felt explosive.

00:53:34.000 I guess, you know, if you are naturally explosive, you're going to keep some of that, even if you gain some muscle.

00:53:44.000 I don't remember when I started it, but I remember almost passing out a few times, getting down to that weight.

00:53:55.000 Did you check your weight before you got back into the octagon?

00:53:58.000 Like when you fully rehydrated?

00:53:59.000 No, I didn't.

00:54:00.000 I didn't check it.

00:54:01.000 I was up there for sure, but still it was like...

00:54:05.000 Of course, that whole weight cutting process was still new to me.

00:54:07.000 And I know for a fact we didn't rehydrate.

00:54:10.000 My first fight?

00:54:11.000 First fight ever?

00:54:13.000 We went to a Longhorn Steakhouse.

00:54:15.000 I had about a gallon of sweet tea.

00:54:18.000 Like three baked potatoes, cheese fries.

00:54:22.000 And even though I knocked the guy out in the second round, I almost vomited everywhere.

00:54:26.000 You had so much food in you?

00:54:27.000 Oh my gosh.

00:54:28.000 That's hilarious.

00:54:29.000 But just drinking sweet tea and not even drinking water.

00:54:32.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:54:33.000 Oh.

00:54:34.000 A little bit of glucose is probably good for your muscles.

00:54:37.000 Yeah, I think so, but no water.

00:54:40.000 I had zero water.

00:54:41.000 It was wild, man.

00:54:42.000 I don't know what we were thinking.

00:54:43.000 That's crazy.

00:54:44.000 You just drank sweet tea and no water?

00:54:46.000 Yeah, sweet tea.

00:54:47.000 That's like the nectar of the gods in South Carolina.

00:54:49.000 Sweet tea, man.

00:54:50.000 That's one thing I have a hard time not drinking during fight camps.

00:54:55.000 Really?

00:54:55.000 Oh, yeah.

00:54:56.000 Wow, that's funny.

00:54:57.000 I keep a weight now where I pretty much eat what I want up until about a week before I go.

00:55:01.000 What do you stay at now?

00:55:02.000 At my heaviest, 195. That's a big difference, that 20-pound difference.

00:55:08.000 And that's trying.

00:55:09.000 That's just trying to do it.

00:55:12.000 Is it because you don't lift weights as much anymore?

00:55:15.000 I think the way that we do it.

00:55:18.000 After the Tyron fight, good reason, because the guy was strong as an ox.

00:55:23.000 I had hired, after that experience with Matt Brown, you know, I had stopped lifting weights.

00:55:32.000 Like, you're just kind of not going to do it anymore.

00:55:35.000 Just going to stick with just, you know, bag work and trying to throw bodies around, you know, that would just be my...

00:55:41.000 It worked for a while until Tyron, and I've just felt how powerful that dude was.

00:55:48.000 I mean, he was just, he was a different animal.

00:55:53.000 He was very smart in how he fought you, too.

00:55:55.000 I've always said that if you want to look at a good way to fight Wonderboy, look at what Tyron did, because he didn't care if people were booing.

00:56:01.000 He didn't care if people thought it was boring.

00:56:03.000 He really was careful running into the buzzsaw.

00:56:06.000 Real careful staying on the outside.

00:56:08.000 Not a lot of activity, but then when he did have activity, it was like super dangerous, explosive movements.

00:56:14.000 Oh my goodness.

00:56:15.000 And he was.

00:56:15.000 He was quick.

00:56:17.000 But even since then, he kind of fought the same.

00:56:20.000 I don't know if he just felt like that was the ultimate way of doing it because after that, he just fought the same way.

00:56:25.000 He just kept backing up, backing up.

00:56:26.000 I think Tyron...

00:56:27.000 I don't know.

00:56:28.000 You know, I think Tyron...

00:56:29.000 I think there's a certain number of years a guy can compete at the top of his range.

00:56:35.000 You know, and everybody's different.

00:56:37.000 Some guys, like Randy Couture, kept going.

00:56:39.000 Like, deep into his 40s.

00:56:41.000 He was elite.

00:56:42.000 And I think that was, like, the style that he was...

00:56:45.000 Fighting too?

00:56:46.000 Like, that Greco-Roman wrestling that he had, that experience, he can just tie dudes up and he was so good at it that he didn't take a whole lot of damage, maybe?

00:56:54.000 And he was just able to do that?

00:56:56.000 I don't know what it is.

00:56:57.000 It's like everybody's got their own amount.

00:56:59.000 Like, you know, some guys are Toyotas and they can get 200,000 miles on them, and some guys are Jaguars, and 50,000 miles in, they're junk. 0.90

00:57:06.000 You know, it's not that Jaguars are junk. 0.96

00:57:08.000 Sorry, Jaguars. 0.99

00:57:09.000 Bad example.

00:57:10.000 Whatever.

00:57:11.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:57:11.000 Like some cars are just Range Rover.

00:57:14.000 How about that?

00:57:14.000 They're just not designed as durable.

00:57:18.000 They don't last as long.

00:57:20.000 And some guys can just, for whatever reason, look, and Bernard Hopkins fought at a world-class level until he was 50 years old.

00:57:28.000 And a world-class level, like, beat world champions up until in his late 40s.

00:57:33.000 I'm trying to be on that level.

00:57:35.000 Crazy.

00:57:36.000 I'm trying to be on that level. 1.00

00:57:37.000 That's ridiculous.

00:57:37.000 Well, that guy was super, super disciplined, ate super clean, never got out of shape, and, you know, just, and he fought so defensively responsible.

00:57:46.000 Yeah.

00:57:46.000 Like, you know.

00:57:47.000 Very smart fighter.

00:57:48.000 Oh, yeah.

00:57:48.000 Fight IQ's just really good.

00:57:50.000 Never got in crazy wars, you know?

00:57:52.000 As much as I love Marvin Hagler, I'm a giant Marvin Hagler fan.

00:57:57.000 To the day I die. 0.99

00:57:59.000 When Marvin Hagler fought Tommy Hearns, he threw everything out the window and was like, I'm gonna fucking kill this guy. 1.00

00:58:05.000 I don't give a shit. 0.99

00:58:07.000 And he just waded into the fire. 0.99

00:58:09.000 And Tommy was blasting him with big shots.

00:58:11.000 He even had him hurt in the first round.

00:58:13.000 You would never see Bernard Hopkins fight like that.

00:58:15.000 Ever.

00:58:16.000 Ever.

00:58:17.000 He would never be defensively irresponsible.

00:58:20.000 He always fought super technically and clever.

00:58:23.000 That's why I think...

00:58:25.000 Izzy Adesanya is the way he is.

00:58:29.000 He's very...

00:58:29.000 When you walk out there and you see a guy, you know, getting ready to do battle with somebody, and you see two different types of guys.

00:58:38.000 You see the guy that's very jittery and very just, like, just on edge all the time.

00:58:43.000 And you see somebody like Izzy, or even Connor.

00:58:45.000 There's a calmness.

00:58:46.000 There's an eerie calmness about him.

00:58:48.000 That's a dangerous guy.

00:58:49.000 Especially now, because Izzy's so accustomed to being successful at the highest levels. 0.97

00:58:55.000 I've had so many people go up and fight him.

00:58:57.000 I'm like, no, no.

00:59:01.000 No.

00:59:01.000 I mean, Chris Weidman throws me around like a ragdoll.

00:59:06.000 You know, it's funny because you got 170, you got 185, and 185 doesn't seem that big, but these dudes...

00:59:14.000 It's big.

00:59:14.000 These dudes are massive.

00:59:15.000 It's a big difference.

00:59:16.000 And Izzy, he's so long, and he's a big dude, too.

00:59:20.000 He is big.

00:59:21.000 He doesn't look it. 0.88

00:59:22.000 He looks like a beanpole.

00:59:23.000 Yeah.

00:59:24.000 But he's big.

00:59:25.000 He's just, I don't know, it's a different weight going around at that level. 0.99

00:59:31.000 It's ridiculous, man. 0.56

00:59:33.000 I would love to have a sparring, you know, go up there and sparring with him. 0.88

00:59:35.000 I think that would be a fun experience, but when I, you know, I got Chris Wyman grasping by my wrist, I feel like a three-year-old.

00:59:42.000 Can't get away.

00:59:43.000 There's something about that wrestler strength.

00:59:45.000 It's so uncomfortable.

00:59:46.000 It is, but it's funny because I love being in that situation.

00:59:50.000 I love being, and I had to learn to do that.

00:59:52.000 I had to learn to love to get accustomed to being, just having somebody just grinding you all the time.

00:59:58.000 Didn't sound right, but you know what I mean.

01:00:00.000 Yeah, I know what you're saying.

01:00:01.000 You know, you got Chris Wyvern just grinding me.

01:00:04.000 Well, when you were...

01:00:05.000 The thing is, like, you were so dominant as a striker.

01:00:08.000 It shows tremendous character to be able to kind of start from the ground floor.

01:00:13.000 I mean, obviously, every fight starts standing up, so you do have a big advantage there, but that advantage is...

01:00:19.000 It's diminished quite a bit by takedowns, by the threat of takedowns, by all these different aspects of MMA, and even fighting in a cage is so much different.

01:00:28.000 Oh, yeah.

01:00:28.000 And fighting in ropes or fighting in the World Combat League, that sort of bowl, that bowl thing.

01:00:32.000 Did you like that bowl thing?

01:00:34.000 No.

01:00:34.000 Not at all?

01:00:35.000 I mean, it looked cool.

01:00:36.000 It looked cool.

01:00:36.000 It looked like Bloodsport.

01:00:38.000 Yeah.

01:00:38.000 You know?

01:00:40.000 They're using that for the Boss Root and Karate League, too.

01:00:43.000 Karate League, yeah.

01:00:44.000 What's it called?

01:00:45.000 Karate Combat.

01:00:46.000 Karate Combat.

01:00:47.000 It's got like a...

01:00:48.000 Similar.

01:00:49.000 Very similar, but they have walls so you're not falling off the stage.

01:00:52.000 Right, right, right.

01:00:52.000 Then it was, you were like on that fine line when you got close to that thing, you could go off of it and you got like a three-foot drop.

01:00:59.000 I've been fighting forever to have fights take place with no cage.

01:01:04.000 And I'm like, if you can have a football field and you could have all these dudes run around playing football, there's no fence, there's no cage, and they're running full blast.

01:01:14.000 These are Giant super athletes.

01:01:16.000 You're telling me you can't have a fight in the middle of a football arena?

01:01:20.000 How come you can't have a...

01:01:21.000 Like basketball is another example.

01:01:23.000 Basketball.

01:01:23.000 You got all these players.

01:01:25.000 These giant dudes, seven feet tall.

01:01:27.000 They're running around.

01:01:27.000 They're fine with this basketball floor.

01:01:30.000 But we have to have everybody caged in?

01:01:31.000 Because that cage is an artificial structure.

01:01:35.000 It stops you from moving that way.

01:01:37.000 You get pressed up against it.

01:01:39.000 You can get up quicker from it.

01:01:41.000 You can utilize it to hold people in place.

01:01:43.000 There's a lot of weirdness to a cage.

01:01:45.000 It also obstructs the view.

01:01:48.000 Wow, I didn't really think about that.

01:01:49.000 It does.

01:01:50.000 And you're better off just kind of like, you know, watching it at home.

01:01:54.000 You get a better view at home.

01:01:55.000 That's right.

01:01:55.000 And you got the commentating.

01:01:57.000 On the grass.

01:01:58.000 Dude, you got my mind rolling right now, dude.

01:02:01.000 You can have more than one.

01:02:02.000 Just more than one.

01:02:04.000 Fights going on at once, kind of like gladiators.

01:02:07.000 Yeah, but that's like a gym where guys collide into each other and someone gets a blown out knee.

01:02:11.000 Oh yeah, that's true.

01:02:12.000 That's how Rashad Evans lost the fight with Jon Jones.

01:02:15.000 When Rashad Evans, rather, lost the fight with Shogun, he was sparring in the same ring as Diego Sanchez. 0.92

01:02:24.000 And Diego Sanchez collided with him and fucked up his knee.

01:02:26.000 So Rashad had to pull out of the fight with Shogun. 0.59

01:02:29.000 Jon Jones steps in, takes the fight.

01:02:31.000 Jon Jones becomes the youngest ever light heavyweight champion, youngest ever UFC champion.

01:02:36.000 Yeah.

01:02:37.000 Crazy. 0.90

01:02:37.000 Look at him now. 0.90

01:02:38.000 He looks massive.

01:02:39.000 Look at him now.

01:02:40.000 He's so big.

01:02:41.000 I feel like he is.

01:02:42.000 I don't think it's a good move.

01:02:44.000 Can you get massive enough for Francis?

01:02:46.000 That's the question.

01:02:47.000 Yeah.

01:02:47.000 Or...

01:02:48.000 Do you want to?

01:02:49.000 I mean, do you want to?

01:02:49.000 Right.

01:02:50.000 I don't care how much weight you put on to get up.

01:02:53.000 This dude's been carrying that weight around his whole life.

01:02:55.000 And it's natural.

01:02:56.000 And he's explosive.

01:02:57.000 Yeah.

01:02:57.000 I mean, you got some dudes that just...

01:02:59.000 Even I've sparred with guys smaller than me, but they just have some kind of power about them.

01:03:04.000 I fought a...

01:03:06.000 I was up there training with GSP, and he was going over to the Howards Brothers up in Montreal, and there was a guy, Adonis.

01:03:13.000 Adonis Creed?

01:03:14.000 I don't remember his name.

01:03:15.000 Adonis.

01:03:16.000 He was a world champion.

01:03:17.000 Adonis Stevenson?

01:03:17.000 Boxer.

01:03:18.000 Yes.

01:03:18.000 Oh, my God.

01:03:20.000 I was in the ring with him, and I know one of the Howards Brothers, I think the oldest, he was just happy a white boy can go up there and box. 0.99

01:03:27.000 He was like, get up there and spar this guy.

01:03:28.000 I didn't know who this guy was.

01:03:30.000 I'm like, yeah, okay.

01:03:31.000 You know?

01:03:32.000 Yeah, sure.

01:03:33.000 Thumbs up.

01:03:34.000 And I go out there.

01:03:35.000 I'm sparring this guy.

01:03:35.000 He's taking it easy on me.

01:03:37.000 But whenever he would throw a punch, I felt it in my bones.

01:03:41.000 I've never been hit like that.

01:03:43.000 And the funny thing is, he's probably taking it easy on me.

01:03:47.000 I mean, there's something about a guy, and it doesn't make sense for these MMA fighters to go over to boxing.

01:03:52.000 It's exciting, but still, to do that, it's a different sport.

01:03:57.000 It's something different about it.

01:03:59.000 It's very different, but I think the most interesting crossover is Claressa Shields.

01:04:06.000 Claressa, who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in boxing.

01:04:11.000 Now she's fighting in MMA, and she's still young, man.

01:04:13.000 And she looks great.

01:04:15.000 She's crushing.

01:04:16.000 I've seen her in some of her photos, some of the videos she's putting out there.

01:04:19.000 She's doing some work in for sure. 0.90

01:04:21.000 And those hands?

01:04:22.000 You don't want no part of those hands.

01:04:24.000 And what weight?

01:04:24.000 Little gloves?

01:04:25.000 She's big.

01:04:27.000 So is that a Nunez?

01:04:28.000 Yeah, well, she's 55. Oh. 0.92

01:04:30.000 Yeah, it's a weight above, really.

01:04:33.000 Is she picked up by anybody yet?

01:04:35.000 PFL. PFL. PFL's picking up everybody.

01:04:38.000 Yeah, they're doing a good thing.

01:04:40.000 They're being very smart.

01:04:41.000 You know, they're getting really good fighters.

01:04:43.000 They've got Rory.

01:04:44.000 Now they've got Showtime.

01:04:45.000 Pettis is there.

01:04:47.000 John Doomsday Howard is over there.

01:04:49.000 They've got good fighters over there.

01:04:51.000 They have a good roster, and they're putting more.

01:04:54.000 And Kayla Harrison.

01:04:55.000 And she is probably the most exciting female fighter outside of Chloressa that's not in the UFC. And, you know, judo gold medalist, beast... 0.98

01:05:04.000 Beast of an athlete.

01:05:06.000 She'll probably wind up fighting Claressa. 1.00

01:05:11.000 Claressa needs a lot of time to get to that because obviously you know what it's like when a real world-class judo player grabs ahold of you. 1.00

01:05:21.000 I remember I rolled with Cairo Parisian when Cairo was in his prime.

01:05:25.000 It was like rolling with a chimp. 1.00

01:05:27.000 It was really like... 1.00

01:05:28.000 You just get thrown around like, what in the fuck? 0.99

01:05:31.000 That's what I heard it was like rolling with Marcelo Garcia. 0.99

01:05:35.000 Oh yeah, I'm sure.

01:05:36.000 Just the gorilla strength that guy has got.

01:05:39.000 He doesn't look it.

01:05:40.000 I heard he's just so strong. 0.99

01:05:41.000 Ryan Hall told me he was just ridiculous. 0.99

01:05:43.000 Well, his legs are so preposterously big. 1.00

01:05:45.000 Yeah.

01:05:46.000 And Marcello was so good at utilizing his legs, like his X guard and his sweeps.

01:05:51.000 And then when he would take your back, he would crush you with those legs. 0.68

01:05:55.000 His legs were like these crazy tree trunks. 0.98

01:05:57.000 Big casp. 0.91

01:05:58.000 I mean, he was short, so he looked like the beast from X-Men.

01:06:01.000 He looked like a champ.

01:06:02.000 Yeah.

01:06:02.000 Like a champ.

01:06:03.000 Yeah.

01:06:03.000 And Ryan told me, he was like, you know, I look at Ryan, I was like, he's, you know, he's here.

01:06:07.000 And he said, Marcello's just...

01:06:09.000 There's a few guys I've rolled with where you're just like, geez, Jake Shields is another one.

01:06:13.000 Oh my god.

01:06:13.000 Crazy strong.

01:06:14.000 Ridiculous. 0.99

01:06:15.000 Have you rolled with Chris? 0.99

01:06:16.000 Weidman?

01:06:17.000 No.

01:06:17.000 I can only imagine.

01:06:19.000 Chris Weidman in his prime, like on his way up to the title, like when he smashed Liotta Machida, like when he was smashing people, Chris Weidman was a monster.

01:06:28.000 He competed...

01:06:29.000 I think the Abu Dhabi.

01:06:32.000 Vitor Belfort, I'm thinking.

01:06:33.000 Did he fight Lyoto?

01:06:35.000 He did.

01:06:36.000 Five fives.

01:06:37.000 I was right.

01:06:37.000 That was the fight right after the second Anderson Silva fight.

01:06:42.000 They went the distance.

01:06:42.000 You know what I was actually thinking?

01:06:44.000 I was thinking of him and Vitor Belfort because he destroyed Vitor Belfort.

01:06:48.000 He just crushed him.

01:06:49.000 But he competed in Abu Dhabi, I think a year of jiu-jitsu.

01:06:54.000 It was controversial.

01:06:56.000 I think he was beating everybody.

01:06:57.000 I forgot who he was going up against, but he ended up losing.

01:07:01.000 He was such a powerful wrestler.

01:07:04.000 I remember when he knocked out Munoz and when he was on his way up to the title.

01:07:09.000 He was just on another level. 1.00

01:07:12.000 I remember Ray Longo saying, after one of his fights, Ray Longo looked at me and goes, The kid's a motherfucker! 1.00

01:07:19.000 I'm telling you, that kid's a motherfucker! 1.00

01:07:21.000 We call him the godfather. 1.00

01:07:23.000 He just looks like a mafia guy.

01:07:25.000 Ray?

01:07:25.000 The way he talks.

01:07:26.000 Ray is such a character.

01:07:28.000 I love him.

01:07:28.000 He was in South Carolina not too long ago.

01:07:30.000 Him and Matt Serra are my all-time favorite corner guys to listen to.

01:07:33.000 The two of those guys together.

01:07:35.000 They're such characters.

01:07:36.000 They're so funny.

01:07:38.000 They're awesome, man.

01:07:39.000 The two of them together.

01:07:39.000 The energy?

01:07:40.000 Yeah.

01:07:40.000 They feed off of each other.

01:07:42.000 Oh, yeah. 1.00

01:07:42.000 It's just that fucking Guido energy. 1.00

01:07:44.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:07:44.000 They're so hilarious. 1.00

01:07:46.000 And they're both like super talented martial artists, too.

01:07:48.000 They know what they're talking about, but they have all this personality and flavor.

01:07:52.000 Yeah.

01:07:52.000 I feel like the whole team up there is like that.

01:07:55.000 Well, it's what a team.

01:07:56.000 I mean, just think about, like, you have Hensel Gracie.

01:07:59.000 That academy has produced more elite grapplers, I think, than any other academy on earth.

01:08:04.000 And still to this day, right?

01:08:06.000 John Donaher comes out of there.

01:08:07.000 The Donaher death squad is dominating no-gi competition.

01:08:11.000 You know, you got Gordon Ryan, who's... 0.98

01:08:12.000 Ridiculous.

01:08:13.000 Pretty much universally regarded as the best no-gi grappler of all time, right? 1.00

01:08:17.000 He's only 26 years old, 25 years old.

01:08:20.000 He comes out of there...

01:08:20.000 Still, like, he's 25?

01:08:22.000 Yes!

01:08:23.000 Pull up Gordon Ryan.

01:08:25.000 I think Gordon's 25. At the most, I think he's 26. And his brother.

01:08:28.000 His brother's nasty. 1.00

01:08:29.000 Nicky Ryan, he's nasty. 0.97

01:08:31.000 Eddie Cummings came out of there... 0.90

01:08:33.000 25. 25. 25. He hasn't lost in 39 bouts.

01:08:37.000 In jiu-jitsu, that's crazy.

01:08:39.000 That's unheard of.

01:08:40.000 I watched some of his recent stuff, too, before the whole COVID thing, and it almost looks like he just rolls so slow and he's playing with these dudes.

01:08:48.000 He's at such an advanced level.

01:08:50.000 They don't take a single day off.

01:08:52.000 I talked to Donaher about that, because I'm trying to get them to move out here.

01:08:56.000 They're in what?

01:08:57.000 Cuba?

01:08:57.000 They're in Puerto Rico.

01:08:58.000 Yeah, they're in Puerto Rico.

01:09:01.000 Donaher, they had this event out here, and then afterwards we all went to dinner, and we were all hanging out, and Donaher was telling me that he has people come over, and they have these brutal training sessions.

01:09:12.000 He's like, I'll see you tomorrow.

01:09:13.000 He goes, tomorrow?

01:09:14.000 You guys do this every day?

01:09:15.000 He goes, every day.

01:09:16.000 He goes, seven days a week?

01:09:17.000 Seven days a week.

01:09:18.000 He goes, what about Christmas? 1.00

01:09:19.000 Fuck Christmas. 1.00

01:09:21.000 They're there at Christmas. 1.00

01:09:22.000 They're there every day.

01:09:23.000 I go, you don't believe in rest days?

01:09:25.000 He goes, no.

01:09:26.000 He goes, just train lighter.

01:09:28.000 Active recovery.

01:09:29.000 I'm like, wow.

01:09:31.000 But look, the results speak for themselves.

01:09:34.000 Yeah, but there's something with that because I train every day.

01:09:37.000 Sometimes twice a day.

01:09:38.000 Yeah?

01:09:39.000 Still.

01:09:39.000 Seven days a week?

01:09:40.000 Don't take a day off.

01:09:41.000 Well, Sunday off.

01:09:42.000 I take Sunday off.

01:09:43.000 Church?

01:09:44.000 That and filming.

01:09:46.000 Just to take a day off.

01:09:47.000 Filming?

01:09:48.000 Oh, for your YouTube channel.

01:09:49.000 Have you always taken Sunday off?

01:09:51.000 Always.

01:09:52.000 Yeah.

01:09:53.000 Just to kick back and just do nothing.

01:09:55.000 Yeah, I think you'd need a day of that.

01:09:58.000 But these guys are not, I mean, but Donaher, he's a strange cat.

01:10:03.000 Because he's a super genius.

01:10:05.000 I met him through GSP. When I was going up there to train with him, he was in GSP's corner.

01:10:11.000 And through him is how I met Chris.

01:10:13.000 So think about that combination.

01:10:15.000 You got Weidman, Ray Longo, Matt Serra, Donaher, Henzo Gracie.

01:10:20.000 You also have Ferasa Hobby, who I think is the best mind in MMA. We're talking to that guy about strategy and about training, and he's, without a doubt, one of the masterminds of the sport.

01:10:30.000 You got GSP. You got the whole TriStar.

01:10:33.000 Rory.

01:10:33.000 Did you say Rory?

01:10:34.000 Oh, yeah.

01:10:34.000 I mean, crazy.

01:10:35.000 It's a crazy group of people that all came out of this one sort of group of human beings.

01:10:40.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:10:42.000 That's ridiculous. 0.98

01:10:43.000 It's amazing affiliation. 0.99

01:10:45.000 Oh yeah, 100%.

01:10:46.000 You know, that affiliation of all those top schools together.

01:10:49.000 Yeah, I would go up there, you know, with Chris, and that first sparring session was crazy.

01:10:54.000 Yeah.

01:10:55.000 You also have Gary Tonin, who's now killing it in 1FC, you know, and he's one of the most elite grapplers on the planet, too.

01:11:01.000 He's a part of that group, too.

01:11:01.000 Where's he fighting at?

01:11:03.000 1FC. 1FC? Yeah.

01:11:04.000 And what weight?

01:11:05.000 I think he's, well, you know, 1FC has no, they have a hydration thing.

01:11:10.000 Yeah.

01:11:11.000 Where they check your hydration.

01:11:12.000 What do you think about that?

01:11:12.000 Do you like that?

01:11:12.000 I like it a lot.

01:11:13.000 It sounds great.

01:11:14.000 I like it a lot.

01:11:14.000 Yeah, I like it a lot.

01:11:16.000 I don't believe in weight cutting.

01:11:18.000 I think it's, I think it's sanctioned cheating.

01:11:21.000 That was the big kicker for me, too, from going from kickboxing.

01:11:25.000 I didn't cut any weight.

01:11:26.000 I'd go up a weight class.

01:11:27.000 But when I had to learn how to do it, it took some time.

01:11:30.000 It wasn't until probably the Whitaker fight that I finally found a good way of doing it.

01:11:38.000 Really?

01:11:38.000 Yeah.

01:11:39.000 We were just winging it.

01:11:40.000 We were asking people.

01:11:41.000 So how did you learn how to do it?

01:11:43.000 Weidman didn't show you how to do it?

01:11:46.000 It might have been, okay, it might have been before.

01:11:47.000 That's right, because I was with Weidman at that fight.

01:11:50.000 Maybe it was the Chris Clements fight.

01:11:52.000 But no, I mean, we were asking, you know, it was actually GSP and Fraz.

01:11:57.000 They kind of, we called them and said, listen, man, we're dying here.

01:12:00.000 We need some help.

01:12:02.000 Now, you never thought about, like, getting a George Lockhart or someone like that to come and work with you?

01:12:08.000 Not at the time.

01:12:09.000 Do you use someone like that now?

01:12:11.000 I used Tyler Minton.

01:12:13.000 Tyler Minton was it.

01:12:14.000 I was using Perfecting Athletes for a while.

01:12:16.000 The ladies were great, man. 1.00

01:12:17.000 I loved them.

01:12:19.000 We ended up going with Tyler Minton.

01:12:20.000 The dude is just...

01:12:21.000 It's funny.

01:12:23.000 I'm having full-on meals and still losing weight.

01:12:26.000 Really?

01:12:26.000 Oh, yeah.

01:12:27.000 How are you doing that?

01:12:28.000 What are you doing differently?

01:12:30.000 Obviously, I think a lot helps with just coming into fight week lighter.

01:12:36.000 During fight camp, training two or three times a day, I naturally get to 185 and I stay there up until the Tuesday...

01:12:43.000 Before the fight.

01:12:45.000 UFC usually brings us in on Tuesday.

01:12:47.000 I water load on Sunday, so I'll drink three gallons of water, which takes all day.

01:12:52.000 So I naturally get to 185. Halfway through camp, I stay there.

01:12:57.000 The Sunday before fight week, I'll drink three gallons of water.

01:13:00.000 Why on Sunday before fight week?

01:13:02.000 Eh, that's when I start my water load.

01:13:05.000 I hate drinking water.

01:13:06.000 I drink maybe a half a gallon.

01:13:08.000 Sweet tea, man.

01:13:09.000 Sweet tea.

01:13:10.000 Or I gotta flavor the water with something.

01:13:12.000 I can't stand it.

01:13:14.000 Are you drinking distilled water when you're doing this?

01:13:16.000 No.

01:13:16.000 With the water load?

01:13:17.000 Just regular water?

01:13:18.000 Regular water.

01:13:19.000 And still taking vitamins and minerals because you can deplete yourself of that.

01:13:22.000 I had a buddy of mine go through eight hours of body cramps, man.

01:13:25.000 Cutting weight and not taking the...

01:13:28.000 You know, potassium and the magnesium and things like that.

01:13:31.000 And then after that, I just saturate my body.

01:13:35.000 I cut a half a gallon off each day.

01:13:37.000 So we show up on Tuesday.

01:13:40.000 Tyler Minton's there.

01:13:41.000 He's got my three meals ready and little snacks in between, little butter balls.

01:13:45.000 I don't know what is all of the ingredients.

01:13:48.000 Like little protein, like little butter balls, man.

01:13:52.000 Some kind of seasoning on the outside.

01:13:54.000 Like almond butter or something?

01:13:54.000 Maybe almond butter.

01:13:56.000 And some of them, and he's got this one now, it's like a chocolate flavor.

01:13:59.000 So if you have any kind of cravings, it just gets rid of all those cravings.

01:14:03.000 And I'll do like, he'll make like chicken with spaghetti or zucchini spaghetti.

01:14:10.000 Spaghetti squash.

01:14:11.000 Yeah, spaghetti.

01:14:12.000 It's just phenomenal meals, man.

01:14:13.000 I'm still losing weight.

01:14:14.000 Really?

01:14:15.000 And I'll still work out once a day.

01:14:16.000 Small portions?

01:14:17.000 Regular portions?

01:14:18.000 I mean, I wouldn't say your average.

01:14:21.000 Maybe a little less than average.

01:14:23.000 But enough.

01:14:24.000 But enough, man.

01:14:24.000 I feel great.

01:14:25.000 Yeah.

01:14:26.000 And sometimes it's like, man, I shouldn't be feeling this full right now.

01:14:29.000 I'm all right.

01:14:30.000 Just trust the process.

01:14:31.000 Just trust the process.

01:14:32.000 And he's been great.

01:14:33.000 So he's been doing this for MMA fighters for a long time?

01:14:37.000 For a while.

01:14:38.000 Yeah?

01:14:39.000 For a long time.

01:14:40.000 I think he started with George Lockhart.

01:14:42.000 I'm not sure.

01:14:43.000 When I talk to Lockhart about it and he's explaining the science behind weight cutting, I'm like, whoa, wait a minute.

01:14:49.000 Like, he's doing it based on, like, how much muscle mass you have and how much water they can draw out of your muscle mass and where you're at now versus where you need to be right before they drain you out.

01:14:59.000 And he was explaining that the bigger your muscles are, the more water you can cut.

01:15:02.000 Yeah.

01:15:02.000 So a guy like Yoel Romero...

01:15:04.000 Or Tyron.

01:15:05.000 Yeah, Tyron can cut a shitload of water.

01:15:07.000 But I've got to think that still is depleting you.

01:15:09.000 And if you could just weigh what you weigh...

01:15:13.000 I would agree.

01:15:13.000 Why is that not cheating?

01:15:15.000 How come steroids are cheating, but that's not cheating?

01:15:18.000 Like, when you see a guy like, you know, fill in the blank for some guy who cuts a shitload of weight, whoever it is, when they're weighing it at 170, but you know they're really 195, 200 by the time they get on the scale.

01:15:30.000 It's crazy, because you're not a 170. The 170-pound champion of the world.

01:15:34.000 Bitch, you're not 170. You were 170 for 10 minutes. 1.00

01:15:38.000 Yeah.

01:15:38.000 Like, you're not 170. I mean, I understand that everyone's doing it, and it's okay because everyone's doing it, but it's not healthy for the fighter.

01:15:46.000 It's completely lying to the general public, you know?

01:15:51.000 Like, when you see these guys, like...

01:15:52.000 Some guys, they're cutting weight, and you look at them, you're like, what are you doing yourself?

01:15:57.000 Like, T.J. Dillshaw, perfect example.

01:15:59.000 When he goes down to fight Henry Cejudo.

01:16:01.000 He's walking around like a guy from The Walking Dead.

01:16:04.000 Yeah, he looks like death.

01:16:06.000 And he performed, I mean...

01:16:08.000 I feel like you're not holding the amount of water you should to.

01:16:12.000 I don't know if that was why he got knocked out.

01:16:15.000 It was right on the button, but still.

01:16:16.000 It's not good for your brain.

01:16:17.000 Right.

01:16:18.000 None of that's good for your brain. 1.00

01:16:19.000 I mean, he was so fucked up before that fight. 0.99

01:16:21.000 He clearly should have never gone down to 125. And that's one of the reasons why I walk around lighter. 0.99

01:16:26.000 I just feel like I'm...

01:16:27.000 Smarter.

01:16:28.000 It's smarter.

01:16:29.000 I feel so fast.

01:16:31.000 I feel a lot faster.

01:16:32.000 Even the guys that walk around a lot bigger, they're stronger probably right off the bat, but...

01:16:36.000 You're healthier.

01:16:38.000 Yeah.

01:16:38.000 Like, a lot of guys, their careers really flourished once they moved up in weight.

01:16:42.000 You know, Masvidal's a good example, right?

01:16:44.000 Whitaker? 0.67

01:16:45.000 Whitaker is a perfect example, right? 0.93

01:16:46.000 At 170, he was struggling. 1.00

01:16:48.000 He's a big fucking guy. 0.99

01:16:50.000 Goddamn, he looked good against Kelvin. 1.00

01:16:51.000 Bro. 0.97

01:16:52.000 How good did he look?

01:16:53.000 I'm ready for that fight.

01:16:54.000 I'm ready for the Adesanya fight.

01:16:56.000 Let's pretend the Adesanya fight never happened, and you saw him vs.

01:17:00.000 Kelvin, and you saw Stylebender vs.

01:17:02.000 Kelvin, you'd go, wow, that's a great fight.

01:17:05.000 I want to see that fight.

01:17:07.000 It depends on what else you saw from Stylebender.

01:17:11.000 If you saw Stylebender versus Boricina, then you'd go, oh, okay.

01:17:16.000 Because Paulo Costa looked like a destroyer, and Stylebender lit him on fire and pissed on the ashes.

01:17:22.000 That was crazy.

01:17:24.000 That was crazy.

01:17:25.000 That was. 1.00

01:17:26.000 To call it like that, and then to say, I'm just going to pick this guy apart and make him look foolish. 1.00

01:17:31.000 And he did. 1.00

01:17:33.000 And then dry humped him after we put him away.

01:17:35.000 Yeah.

01:17:36.000 I don't know about that, because that's just weird to me.

01:17:39.000 I'm telling you, man.

01:17:40.000 I'm in.

01:17:41.000 I'm in for the dry humping.

01:17:43.000 Whatever he does, I'm in.

01:17:45.000 And I love the fact that he had the courage to go up and fight Bojovic.

01:17:48.000 It's what it is.

01:17:48.000 205, you know?

01:17:49.000 I mean, that was an interesting thing, right?

01:17:51.000 Because when he fought Bojovic, he didn't even gain any weight.

01:17:54.000 But he didn't get beat up?

01:17:56.000 No.

01:17:57.000 He didn't get beat up, he really didn't, but he did get dominated in the grappling exchanges, which pretty much shut out any talk of him ever fighting Jon Jones.

01:18:06.000 Yeah, the size, I think, the strength at that level.

01:18:09.000 And also grappling ability.

01:18:10.000 You know, the reality is, when you have a big guy like Bohovic, I would like to take Bohovic's bones and bring them to a scientist. 0.98

01:18:19.000 I go, what the fuck is going on with this dude? 0.98

01:18:21.000 Where is he from? 1.00

01:18:22.000 Poland.

01:18:24.000 Legendary Polish power.

01:18:25.000 The Polish power. 1.00

01:18:26.000 That motherfucker can punch. 1.00

01:18:28.000 Ridiculous. 1.00

01:18:29.000 Rockhold, when he fought Rockhold. 0.97

01:18:30.000 Oh my god.

01:18:31.000 One left hook.

01:18:31.000 Boom!

01:18:32.000 See, I think that's Jon Jones' mistake.

01:18:33.000 He's doing the same thing Rockhold did when he moved up.

01:18:36.000 Putting on...

01:18:37.000 Putting on a lot of weight.

01:18:38.000 A lot of weight. 0.95

01:18:38.000 Yeah, and it will slow you the fuck down. 0.95

01:18:41.000 100%. 0.93

01:18:41.000 It'll slow you down. 0.93

01:18:42.000 What's interesting about Blachowicz is you watch John Jones versus Dominic Reyes.

01:18:46.000 They go five hard rounds.

01:18:48.000 A lot of people thought Reyes might have won the decision.

01:18:51.000 John Jones clearly came on the championship rounds, pulled it out, and you go, okay, but close fight.

01:18:57.000 You see Bohovic versus Dominic Reyes. 0.99

01:18:59.000 Dominic Reyes is like, what in the fuck is going on? 0.99

01:19:02.000 By the time the first round is over, he's got a giant foot on his ribcage. 0.99

01:19:06.000 That body kick.

01:19:07.000 Crazy power that guy has in everything.

01:19:09.000 And then he clips him with one punch, and you see Dominic Reyes give out, and he puts him away. 0.99

01:19:14.000 That guy can fucking punch in a weird way. 0.98

01:19:17.000 Gotta have something. 0.99

01:19:18.000 Yeah, like you said, just the size of him, the density of that guy.

01:19:20.000 Weird power.

01:19:21.000 He just looks like you couldn't pick him up.

01:19:22.000 Yeah.

01:19:23.000 He's got crazy power.

01:19:24.000 He's talking about fighting Ngannou.

01:19:27.000 Blachowicz?

01:19:28.000 Blachowicz.

01:19:28.000 Blachowicz says he wants to fight in Gano.

01:19:30.000 Woo! 0.99

01:19:31.000 I would love that fight, actually.

01:19:33.000 That's crazy.

01:19:34.000 I would love to see that fight.

01:19:35.000 I wonder if he would put weight on it.

01:19:36.000 I wonder how much he would weigh.

01:19:37.000 I don't know.

01:19:38.000 He's got to cut a little weight to get to 205. He's got to.

01:19:41.000 He probably walks around...

01:19:43.000 220-ish?

01:19:44.000 Yeah, I would say.

01:19:44.000 Something like that, probably.

01:19:46.000 You think?

01:19:46.000 He fights at 205. Yeah, 15 pounds.

01:19:49.000 15 pounds ain't shit for a big guy like that. 0.99

01:19:51.000 Yeah. 0.99

01:19:52.000 I think.

01:19:53.000 Maybe 200. Yeah.

01:19:55.000 He's a big guy, man.

01:19:56.000 Yeah, he's massive.

01:19:57.000 I mean, Chris, at his heaviest, 225. Really?

01:20:00.000 Yeah.

01:20:01.000 Why did Chris fight 205 when he fought Dominic Reyes?

01:20:03.000 I don't know.

01:20:05.000 Did he get tired of cutting weight or what was that about?

01:20:07.000 Possibly.

01:20:08.000 I mean, he's had 25 something, 24 surgeries.

01:20:12.000 Wow.

01:20:14.000 24?

01:20:15.000 Yeah.

01:20:16.000 He's got a titanium plate in his neck, right?

01:20:18.000 I think he's had two neck surgeries.

01:20:20.000 He's got knee surgeries, but the dude, he's an animal.

01:20:26.000 Well, it's mental toughness.

01:20:28.000 Yeah.

01:20:28.000 I mean, I feel like if you wrestle at some point in your life, or especially doing as long as he has, that wrestling instills that mindset in you.

01:20:36.000 Oh, yeah.

01:20:37.000 Well, you think about so many all-time greats, like we talked about Randy Couture before.

01:20:40.000 Cain Velasquez, he's another example, a guy whose mind was stronger than his joints.

01:20:45.000 Like, his body just started giving out.

01:20:47.000 His shoulders, back, his knees, everything started giving out.

01:20:51.000 But his mind was just impenetrable.

01:20:54.000 I mean, when that mental toughness meets the actual physical limitations of your tissue, that's the problem.

01:21:02.000 And that's, man, because I know, I know that, you know, my knees ache every now and then, but even that, it's like, you know, I get lower back problem every now and then, I feel like I'm about to die.

01:21:12.000 I can't imagine if your whole body feels bad.

01:21:14.000 He's had 24 surgeries?

01:21:16.000 Yeah.

01:21:16.000 What else has he had?

01:21:18.000 Knee surgeries.

01:21:19.000 That many knee surgeries?

01:21:20.000 He broke his thumb, I forget how much fight it was.

01:21:22.000 He's got this scar that goes from here.

01:21:24.000 I mean, it's just in the...

01:21:25.000 That was a long time for him to heal from that one, right?

01:21:27.000 Yeah.

01:21:28.000 But the guy, man, it's funny because he doesn't move around like it does.

01:21:33.000 He spent some time with me for this camp.

01:21:35.000 He's fighting this weekend and just felt better than he ever has.

01:21:40.000 Well, I talked to Aljamain Sterling before Sterling got his neck surgery because I had heard that he was getting neck surgery and I've had bulging discs in my neck.

01:21:48.000 So I called him up and I said, hey, tell me what you got going on.

01:21:51.000 I was going to see if maybe I could send him to, because he was getting his neck surgery done in California.

01:21:55.000 I said, why don't you talk to my doctor?

01:21:58.000 Maybe they could do Regenikine on your neck and stem cells and maybe you could postpone it. 0.98

01:22:04.000 Apparently, his disc was so fucked up that they just had to replace... 0.98

01:22:07.000 He was atrophying one of his arms. 0.99

01:22:10.000 What?

01:22:10.000 He was so pinched.

01:22:11.000 And this was actually before the fight with Pyotr Jan.

01:22:15.000 Wow. 0.99

01:22:15.000 And then when he got dumped on his head in that fight in the first round, and then he got kneed in the head, that illegal knee, in the fourth round, he was fucked. 0.99

01:22:25.000 And from then on, he said he lost all strength in one of his arms because the nerve was pinched. 0.99

01:22:30.000 Like, he couldn't activate his tricep. 0.99

01:22:32.000 It was pretty fucked up. 0.99

01:22:33.000 That's what... 0.99

01:22:33.000 Chris was complaining about that too. 0.99

01:22:35.000 He couldn't lift his arm above shoulder level.

01:22:38.000 And of course they're both wrestlers.

01:22:41.000 And Al Jermaine talked to Weidman.

01:22:43.000 And that's one of the reasons why he got the disc done in his neck.

01:22:47.000 So they replace it?

01:22:48.000 Yeah, they put an articulating titanium disc in it.

01:22:53.000 Go to Aljamain Sterling's Instagram, please.

01:22:56.000 He's got x-rays of his neck where you can see this disc that's been screwed into his neck.

01:23:03.000 They go in through the front, too.

01:23:04.000 They cut the front of your neck.

01:23:06.000 They...

01:23:06.000 Push everything out of the way.

01:23:08.000 They push everything out.

01:23:09.000 And they go to the back.

01:23:10.000 They cut the bad disc out.

01:23:11.000 They pull it out.

01:23:12.000 And they put this fake disc in.

01:23:14.000 Eddie Bravo has one in his lower back.

01:23:15.000 Just easier access to it, I guess, going through the front?

01:23:18.000 Yeah, I guess.

01:23:19.000 So that is in Al Jermaine Sterling's neck now.

01:23:22.000 Look at that.

01:23:22.000 It's like a rubber, just a rubber sponge, I guess, in there?

01:23:27.000 No, no, no.

01:23:27.000 It's all titanium.

01:23:29.000 The whole thing is titanium.

01:23:30.000 So it sits.

01:23:31.000 That thing on top sits in like a divot, and it articulates, and it's very strong, and it has those spikes that go through it, and they dig into the bone.

01:23:40.000 So that has to anchor into the bone, so the tissue has to grow around those spikes, and then Apparently, he can do everything. 0.97

01:23:47.000 He can get guillotined, he can wrestle, he can do all kinds of shit. 0.97

01:23:51.000 And like I said, Eddie Bravo has one in his lower back. 0.98

01:23:54.000 I have so many discs in my back that are like my disc meat, the spongy part is starting to get pushed away.

01:24:04.000 I know, the older you get too, but still, I mean, obviously when you're an athlete, is that what happened with you?

01:24:09.000 Yeah.

01:24:11.000 It's getting all the above.

01:24:13.000 Just all the years of getting shoved into weird spots.

01:24:17.000 Punched and kicked and this happening.

01:24:19.000 Yeah, and then you fight off guillotines, and then you get stacked in your guard, and then you're back.

01:24:26.000 It's called disc degeneration, is what they call it, or stenosis.

01:24:32.000 What's happening is all those discs are getting smaller and smaller and smaller until eventually They start rubbing on each other.

01:24:37.000 Like, there's nothing there.

01:24:39.000 With Pat Miletic, this is how tough Pat Miletic is.

01:24:41.000 He never got surgery, but his discs, he had no more meat in between the bone, and the bones fused together on their own.

01:24:50.000 So what?

01:24:51.000 He can't even look?

01:24:52.000 He's like this.

01:24:53.000 And one of his arms doesn't work right. 0.97

01:24:55.000 Like, Pat Miletic, he just didn't do anything about it, just dealt with the pain, and his bones just fucking fused in to get like a tree growing around a mailbox. 0.92

01:25:05.000 Just... 0.95

01:25:08.000 I feel like just one day he just needs to go like, ah!

01:25:11.000 Just to break everything up, you know what I mean?

01:25:13.000 I don't think he can anymore.

01:25:15.000 I think it's fused together.

01:25:16.000 But I think there was one fight that he was going to do when he was older.

01:25:20.000 I think when he fought Henzo Gracie.

01:25:23.000 I think that's who he fought.

01:25:25.000 But Pat, someone had said that he had neck surgery and they wanted to make sure that he was still okay to fight after neck surgery. 0.98

01:25:32.000 He's like, hey, I never had any fucking neck surgery. 0.97

01:25:34.000 Like, I didn't have neck surgery. 0.99

01:25:36.000 And so there was a rumor going over. 0.99

01:25:38.000 So he had to get a bunch of different MRIs and tests done so that they could determine whether or not he had had neck surgery just because his neck was so fucked up. 0.97

01:25:47.000 They just assumed that he had surgery. 0.96

01:25:50.000 Because I think Boss Rutten had that surgery and he can't.

01:25:53.000 Yo, Boss is messed up bad.

01:25:55.000 He has one arm that he calls baby arm because his nerves are so shut off that one of his arms had atrophied so small that it's like he has a regular arm for his left, his big-ass bicep, and his right arm is like really small where he can't even hold up a gallon of milk.

01:26:10.000 Stop it.

01:26:11.000 Boss Rootin! 1.00

01:26:12.000 One of the greatest fucking martial artists of all time. 0.99

01:26:15.000 He picks up a bottle, like a jug of milk, and his arm is like... 1.00

01:26:19.000 I think it'd still kill you, though. 0.99

01:26:21.000 He'd probably still fuck you up with that left. 1.00

01:26:22.000 He'd still just mess you up, bro. 1.00

01:26:23.000 His legs are fine. 0.87

01:26:24.000 And not even closed hands, just open hands slap you.

01:26:27.000 Open hand!

01:26:28.000 Yeah, because that's how they did it, right?

01:26:30.000 They didn't stop.

01:26:32.000 But he won the heavyweight title, too, remember?

01:26:34.000 And, you know, fought in the UFC, knocked out Teyoshi Kosaka. 0.97

01:26:36.000 His neck was already fucked up by then.

01:26:39.000 Because he had been, you know, sparring with Rico Rodriguez back when Rico was in his prime and doing a lot of jujitsu. 0.99

01:26:44.000 And he actually fucked his neck up, though, on Sons of Anarchy on the TV show. 0.91

01:26:50.000 What? 0.99

01:26:50.000 Yeah. 0.99

01:26:51.000 Yeah, he told me he was doing a stunt scene. 0.99

01:26:53.000 And in a stunt scene, you know, you're doing this thing with this fake fight and he falls on his head and his neck gets fucking jacked. 0.97

01:27:01.000 And then he had to get his discs fused. 0.83

01:27:03.000 So he had a bunch of discs fused in his neck, and apparently it impinged upon the nerves, and it became even worse.

01:27:10.000 He's had multiple surgeries.

01:27:12.000 He had to go and get stem cells.

01:27:14.000 He's gone and got a bunch of different treatments to try to deal with it.

01:27:18.000 And it's getting slowly better and stronger, but over years and years.

01:27:21.000 Like, when Boss told me about this, it was...

01:27:25.000 Four or five years ago?

01:27:26.000 It's still not, nowhere near full strength.

01:27:29.000 Golly.

01:27:30.000 Yeah.

01:27:30.000 It's just, you know, they're coming up with new stuff every day.

01:27:33.000 It's just going to be before long where you can just replace something.

01:27:36.000 Well, he could have done that, but that wasn't available for him back then.

01:27:39.000 This artificial disc.

01:27:40.000 The first guy that I ever heard of, is that Boss's neck?

01:27:42.000 Look at that.

01:27:43.000 Oh my God, that's insane.

01:27:46.000 That's insane.

01:27:47.000 It's like actual carpenter screws.

01:27:48.000 So he has four discs that are screwed together.

01:27:52.000 Look, look at that.

01:27:53.000 Oh my god, five discs!

01:27:56.000 How nervous you gotta be just to go in and do something like that?

01:27:59.000 That is so crazy.

01:28:01.000 He's got five discs screwed together.

01:28:03.000 Wow.

01:28:04.000 So his whole upper neck is just fused.

01:28:08.000 Like, look how they're, see those bottom ones?

01:28:10.000 Yeah.

01:28:10.000 There's no space in between the bones.

01:28:12.000 Wow.

01:28:13.000 They're all just smooshed together. 1.00

01:28:15.000 Fucking that's crazy. 0.99

01:28:17.000 So that's why when you see like an older man, they start shrinking and their back gets like that. 0.99

01:28:23.000 That's what's going on.

01:28:24.000 Like you're losing all the space in your discs.

01:28:27.000 Have you seen the, what is it, like the Y-straps? 1.00

01:28:30.000 What's a Y-strap?

01:28:31.000 So it's like a chiropractic thing where they just take your neck and...

01:28:35.000 Oh, yeah.

01:28:37.000 Have you seen that?

01:28:38.000 I don't believe in chiropractors.

01:28:41.000 I think chiropractors incorporate a lot of effective and legitimate physical therapy techniques, but the idea of cracking your neck...

01:28:48.000 This is chiropractic.

01:28:49.000 Ready?

01:28:50.000 I just chiropracted my knuckles.

01:28:52.000 Your knuckles. 0.97

01:28:52.000 It's nonsense. 0.97

01:28:53.000 It just looks like it feels so good, though.

01:28:54.000 There it is.

01:28:55.000 Yeah, right here.

01:28:56.000 That feels good, though, when they do that and they pop your neck.

01:28:59.000 The way to do it, the real way to do it though, is decompression.

01:29:04.000 Hanging upside down?

01:29:05.000 No, you can put one of those chin straps on and it hangs on a door, like the top of a door.

01:29:11.000 Yeah.

01:29:11.000 And then you can literally allow your own body weight to decompress your spine.

01:29:17.000 I used to go to a... 0.99

01:29:17.000 See, I went to a chiropractor and this motherfucker for a year was telling... 0.99

01:29:22.000 Because I had a bulging disc, I knew something was wrong. 0.98

01:29:24.000 And it was like slowly getting worse and slowly getting worse and I was still doing jujitsu and he was like...

01:29:28.000 He's like, no, you have a muscle pull.

01:29:30.000 I'm going to subjugate your C5 and they do this little back thing and twist you. 1.00

01:29:34.000 You're good.

01:29:35.000 And I was not good.

01:29:36.000 It kept getting worse.

01:29:37.000 And this is how the guy told me that I didn't have a bulging disc.

01:29:40.000 He pushed on the top of my head.

01:29:42.000 He's like, does that hurt?

01:29:42.000 I go, no.

01:29:43.000 And he's like, then you don't have a bulging disc.

01:29:44.000 But he's not a doctor.

01:29:46.000 This is the thing.

01:29:47.000 When they say doctor of chiropractic medicine, take a guess at how much time they spend in medical school.

01:29:55.000 Zero seconds.

01:29:56.000 You only say like zero.

01:29:58.000 Zero seconds.

01:29:58.000 Zero.

01:29:59.000 Not a second.

01:30:00.000 They didn't even walk in and then leave.

01:30:02.000 They're not a doctor.

01:30:03.000 A doctor of chiropractic medicine. 0.98

01:30:05.000 Now chiropractic medicine was invented by a guy who was a magnetic healer who came up with the idea of chiropractic science through a fucking seance. 0.99

01:30:16.000 He was murdered by his son who was a con man. 0.99

01:30:19.000 Stop it. 0.92

01:30:19.000 And his son took over the business. 0.92

01:30:21.000 What?

01:30:21.000 So the con man took over the business.

01:30:23.000 In the 1800s.

01:30:24.000 Wow.

01:30:24.000 So it's just one of those legacy things.

01:30:26.000 It's been around for a long time.

01:30:28.000 What?

01:30:29.000 Yeah, there's no real evidence that it works.

01:30:32.000 I'm sitting here watching this stuff and you go, man, it feels great.

01:30:34.000 It feels good.

01:30:35.000 It feels good when they pop it.

01:30:37.000 But as far as it being able to heal you from things, no.

01:30:41.000 There's a lot of chiropractors, though, that are legit physical therapists.

01:30:44.000 And they incorporate a lot of deep tissue massage and a lot of real physical therapy techniques that do work.

01:30:52.000 But the whole idea of chiropractic medicine when they first invented it was they're going to crack your back and fix blindness, fix leukemia. 0.99

01:30:59.000 If you go and listen, there's a great article called Chiropractors Are Bullshit. 0.97

01:31:04.000 And it's by this, what's that woman's name that wrote that article? 0.94

01:31:08.000 She's been on the podcast.

01:31:11.000 I'm sorry, I apologize to her right now.

01:31:13.000 My brain is like an overused hard drive.

01:31:16.000 I don't have any space.

01:31:17.000 But it's a great article because it details the whole history of where chiropractors got started.

01:31:24.000 A lot of chiropractors don't even know this.

01:31:26.000 Like a lot of chiropractors, they go to chiropractic school and they think they're going to learn something that's really effective and works.

01:31:32.000 And some of it's the placebo effect.

01:31:34.000 Some of it is just, it feels good, just loosening muscles.

01:31:38.000 Like you can break up tissue with your elbow.

01:31:40.000 That's why rolfing is legit, right?

01:31:42.000 You're breaking up fascia and scar tissue and it allows people to move better and it can help them heal.

01:31:47.000 I love getting those deep tissue massages.

01:31:50.000 Yvette?

01:31:50.000 Yvette.

01:31:51.000 It's coming to you.

01:31:53.000 How do you say her last name?

01:31:55.000 Is she French? 0.53

01:31:56.000 No.

01:31:56.000 Well, she's American, but she's awesome.

01:31:59.000 Yeah.

01:31:59.000 But she's really funny, too.

01:32:00.000 And the article is great because the way she writes it, it's very abusive and hilarious. 1.00

01:32:07.000 Funny. 0.99

01:32:07.000 But it's called Chiropractors Are Bullshit. 0.99

01:32:09.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:32:10.000 That's the name of the article. 1.00

01:32:12.000 And when I remember reading this article, I'm like, motherfucker! 0.99

01:32:14.000 So anyway, I wound up going to a real... 0.99

01:32:16.000 This was before she said this.

01:32:18.000 Right.

01:32:18.000 I was having real...

01:32:19.000 I was like, I gotta go to a neck specialist.

01:32:21.000 I went to a neck specialist.

01:32:22.000 There it is.

01:32:22.000 That's the article.

01:32:24.000 That's the article.

01:32:25.000 Yeah, how do you say that?

01:32:26.000 Yvette?

01:32:27.000 Yvette Tremont.

01:32:28.000 Yeah, Yvette.

01:32:29.000 Yvette Tremont.

01:32:31.000 Sorry, Yvette.

01:32:32.000 But she's awesome. 1.00

01:32:33.000 But that article is excellent.

01:32:35.000 You shouldn't trust them with your spine or any other parts of your body.

01:32:37.000 But just, you should read that.

01:32:39.000 It's a great article.

01:32:40.000 So I knew something was wrong.

01:32:42.000 I just felt like I was being bullshitted.

01:32:44.000 And every time I'd go, it was like a hundred bucks.

01:32:46.000 I was like, this is crazy.

01:32:47.000 So then I went to a legit spine specialist.

01:32:50.000 He's like, you have a bulging disc.

01:32:51.000 He's like, here it is.

01:32:52.000 He shows me the MRI. He's like, see how it's pushing against your nerve?

01:32:55.000 That's why you have elbow pain.

01:32:56.000 That's why your fingers are going numb.

01:32:57.000 He's like, yeah, well, we can use decompression therapy.

01:33:00.000 That'll help you.

01:33:01.000 And they put you in this harness and you lie on a table.

01:33:05.000 Do you find some relief in it?

01:33:05.000 Yeah, like slowly decompress.

01:33:07.000 But it was in Santa Monica and with traffic. 0.98

01:33:09.000 It was like a fucking hour and a half to get there. 0.99

01:33:12.000 It was annoying. 0.99

01:33:13.000 So then I got one of those things.

01:33:14.000 They wouldn't let you take something home?

01:33:14.000 Oh, you got one.

01:33:15.000 I got one of those things off Amazon.

01:33:17.000 You ever seen those things?

01:33:18.000 It sits on the top of a door.

01:33:19.000 Dude, they're great.

01:33:19.000 And you pull it like this.

01:33:21.000 Click, click, click, click, click.

01:33:22.000 And it's like you're kind of hanging from it.

01:33:24.000 And it just loosens your neck and decompresses.

01:33:26.000 But then I got Regenikine.

01:33:29.000 And Regenikine is like an advanced form of platelet-rich plasma that And I knew that Peyton Manning had gone to Germany for that, and Kobe Bryant had did it, and Dana White.

01:33:38.000 And you had to go out of state to do that.

01:33:40.000 You used to have to go to Germany.

01:33:41.000 Germany.

01:33:41.000 You used to have to go to Germany, but I got very fortunate that as when I was dealing with my injury, they had set up a place in Santa Monica so you could go there.

01:33:51.000 And I did that, and within two weeks I had no pain.

01:33:55.000 It's still there.

01:33:56.000 It's lifestyle medicine.

01:33:57.000 And this is legit.

01:33:58.000 Like, this isn't nonsense.

01:33:59.000 Like, I went and got an MRI afterwards, there's no more bulging disc.

01:34:02.000 It relaxed and it reduces...

01:34:05.000 What it is is they take your blood, they spin it in a centrifuge.

01:34:08.000 We've talked about how this works before.

01:34:10.000 I don't remember the exact process of...

01:34:12.000 See if you pull up what Regenikine does.

01:34:15.000 But shout out to my man, Dr. Ben-Ruhi.

01:34:17.000 He's taking care of me with a bunch of different...

01:34:20.000 His name's Moshe Ben-Ruhi.

01:34:22.000 He's taking care of me with a bunch of different injuries with Regenikine and then later on with biologics like stem cells and stuff like that.

01:34:30.000 But they healed my neck.

01:34:32.000 Like, all the problems in my neck went away.

01:34:34.000 It took a while, but I did it smart.

01:34:36.000 It took many months of no yanking on my neck, no guillotines, no nothing, no craziness.

01:34:41.000 And now I have zero problem with my neck.

01:34:42.000 Really?

01:34:43.000 Yeah.

01:34:43.000 So did you, I mean, is this something you have to kind of keep going back and doing?

01:34:46.000 You do if you injure it again, but one of the things that I also incorporated is a machine called the Iron Neck.

01:34:52.000 Have you ever seen that?

01:34:52.000 Yes.

01:34:53.000 Yes.

01:34:53.000 That's amazing.

01:34:54.000 Really?

01:34:54.000 That strengthened my neck tremendously.

01:34:56.000 That's one thing I'm constantly doing.

01:34:57.000 I got this giraffe neck, right?

01:34:59.000 So everybody's wanting to just guillotine.

01:35:01.000 And next thing you know, I walk around the next two weeks.

01:35:03.000 Okay, so here it goes.

01:35:05.000 Dr. Peter Welling is the guy who invented it.

01:35:09.000 Treated Regenikine serum holds up to 10,000 times the normal concentration of anti-inflammatory protein.

01:35:16.000 This protein known as interleukin-1 receptor antagonist blocks the inflammation-causing counterpart interleukin-1.

01:35:24.000 Dr. Christopher Evans, director of the Rehabilitation Medicine Center in the Mayo Clinic, explained it this way.

01:35:32.000 The bad interleukin, interleukin-1, combines with a specific receptor on the surface of the cell.

01:35:37.000 The response to it, it docks there, and after that, all sorts of bad things happen.

01:35:41.000 The good interleukin, continued Evans, Is the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist material.

01:35:47.000 This blocks the cell's receptor.

01:35:50.000 The cell doesn't see the interleukin-1 because it's blocked and therefore bad things don't happen.

01:35:55.000 It's the thought that the IL-1RA may also counteract the substances that lead to cartilage and issues tissue breakdown and osteoarthritis.

01:36:09.000 Wow.

01:36:09.000 So it says, is Regenicene effective?

01:36:12.000 I can tell you it's effective.

01:36:13.000 And he is the founder.

01:36:15.000 He's pretty much...

01:36:15.000 Dr. Peter Welling is.

01:36:16.000 Got you.

01:36:17.000 And he's the guy that's in Germany.

01:36:18.000 And most of these guys like Kobe Bryant and even Dana White went over there for his tinnitus.

01:36:24.000 He has tinnitus in his knee.

01:36:25.000 But it's great for arthritis.

01:36:27.000 It's great for people with back issues, knee issues, disc issues, anything that involves inflammation.

01:36:32.000 So for me, the disc and all the tightness and the inflammation...

01:36:36.000 Once I got the Regenikine treatment, it all relaxed and the disc tissue went back in.

01:36:42.000 But doctors were telling me to get surgery.

01:36:45.000 They were telling me that they could cut that piece of disc out.

01:36:48.000 And this doctor, Dr. Benroo, he said, listen, let's try this first.

01:36:53.000 Well, was this something new?

01:36:54.000 Because I'm pretty sure.

01:36:54.000 Yeah, fairly new.

01:36:56.000 Okay.

01:36:56.000 Because a lot of these doctors, they studied these techniques decades ago, right?

01:37:00.000 And they're effective.

01:37:01.000 They can't help you if they cut that disc material out.

01:37:04.000 But that disc material is important.

01:37:06.000 That's cushioning.

01:37:07.000 It keeps your discs healthy.

01:37:09.000 So through this technique, it reduced the inflammation in the area, and then the disc material went back in.

01:37:16.000 So through spinal decompression therapy, and through Regenikine, and then through this kind of therapy...

01:37:23.000 They just inject it?

01:37:24.000 Yeah.

01:37:25.000 Wow.

01:37:25.000 It's pretty gnarly.

01:37:26.000 There's images on my Instagram of me getting it in my back.

01:37:29.000 I've had it done like five times.

01:37:31.000 Wow.

01:37:31.000 I've had it done in my mid-back, my lower back, my neck, just because it makes you feel great.

01:37:35.000 In Germany?

01:37:35.000 Every time?

01:37:36.000 No, Santa Monica.

01:37:37.000 I did it all done in Santa Monica.

01:37:39.000 Lifestyle medicine in Santa Monica.

01:37:41.000 How uncomfortable is that needle going into your back?

01:37:43.000 Was it in the muscle or was it actually in the joint? 1.00

01:37:45.000 Oh, it's in the fucking juice, baby. 1.00

01:37:47.000 Stop it. 1.00

01:37:47.000 Yeah, there's images of it. 1.00

01:37:50.000 Ah, stop, man.

01:37:50.000 Yeah, we can see all these little needles in my back.

01:37:53.000 There it is.

01:37:54.000 What?

01:37:54.000 That's what it looks like.

01:37:55.000 Yeah.

01:37:56.000 And who puts that in?

01:37:57.000 He does.

01:37:58.000 The doctor does. 0.79

01:37:59.000 And then they shoot it in there.

01:38:02.000 So I had issues in the mid-back, my lower back, my neck. 0.98

01:38:06.000 And after a while, I was like, every time shit was going wrong, I'd just go in there and get it done and then it would feel better. 0.93

01:38:11.000 Wow. 0.99

01:38:12.000 Wow.

01:38:12.000 And they do this from your own blood?

01:38:14.000 Yeah.

01:38:14.000 Your own blood, yeah.

01:38:16.000 They just take your blood out, it's like a 10 hour process, and then you go back like the next day, and then they would do it.

01:38:22.000 So I was trying to get Al Jermaine to look at that, but apparently he was so far gone, even Dr. Benroo, he was like, he really should get the surgery.

01:38:28.000 I just already made it a point like it's inevitable.

01:38:32.000 In about 20 years I'll probably need new knees, new hips.

01:38:35.000 How are your hips?

01:38:36.000 My hips are great.

01:38:37.000 No problems at all.

01:38:38.000 I've never had any problems with my hips.

01:38:40.000 I don't have any problems at all.

01:38:42.000 I know my dad does a little bit, so I don't know if it's something that he had injured years ago.

01:38:47.000 I don't know.

01:38:47.000 Well, one of the things that I've incorporated recently, I don't know if you've ever heard of this, I haven't talked about this guy so much, people are going to think I'm working with him, but this is Knees Over Toes guy, do you know who that guy is on Instagram?

01:39:00.000 I've heard of him, yes.

01:39:00.000 But he's got this whole protocol of strengthening your knees, strengthening your hip flexors, and strengthening all of the connective tissue, everything that stabilizes your knee.

01:39:11.000 Those joints.

01:39:11.000 And it's made a giant difference for me in knee pain and just my knee feels stronger.

01:39:17.000 It just feels stronger.

01:39:18.000 I've only been doing it a few months.

01:39:20.000 It hasn't been a long time and I'm dedicated to it.

01:39:22.000 I do it every week now.

01:39:23.000 I still do my physical therapy that I've been doing just to keep my knee strong because I know guys are going to try and take them out, you know what I mean?

01:39:30.000 Yeah, well, when a guy like you, your mobility is such a huge part of your game, they're always going to try to do that.

01:39:37.000 But they can replace knees now, man.

01:39:39.000 It's kind of crazy.

01:39:40.000 They can resurface knees.

01:39:42.000 That's a rough surgery.

01:39:44.000 But you could throw kicks again and you have no pain.

01:39:46.000 It's just like these two crazy composite materials together that are on the surface of your knees.

01:39:51.000 Yeah, man.

01:39:52.000 You can run.

01:39:53.000 You can throw kicks. 1.00

01:39:54.000 You can do all kinds of shit. 1.00

01:39:56.000 You get heel hooked and you don't feel it. 0.99

01:39:59.000 You'd feel it in the ligaments, I guess, or the tendons.

01:40:02.000 I mean, what's the law on having a new knee and fighting?

01:40:05.000 You can have a new knee and fight.

01:40:06.000 Really?

01:40:06.000 Yeah, just like you can have a new neck and fight.

01:40:08.000 There's a lot of guys who have been...

01:40:09.000 Chris has a titanium disc in his neck, and he's the one who told Al Jermaine, but I know...

01:40:15.000 Guys, well, Braulio Estima was the first guy that I ever heard of, the jiu-jitsu guy.

01:40:19.000 Braulio was the first guy I ever heard to get one in his neck.

01:40:22.000 He had a bad bulging disc in his neck and won the worlds with it like that.

01:40:26.000 That's what a beast that dude is. 0.65

01:40:28.000 Golly. 0.96

01:40:29.000 Those dudes are just jacked.

01:40:30.000 Yeah.

01:40:31.000 You see some of those, yeah. 0.99

01:40:32.000 They're all, by the end of, like, when they get into their 40s, their backs are all fucked up. 0.99

01:40:37.000 All of them. 0.98

01:40:38.000 Everyone's like, 40s, huh?

01:40:39.000 They're all walking out like this.

01:40:42.000 They're getting out of bed like this.

01:40:43.000 Oh! 0.60

01:40:45.000 The one time, or any time I get injured, it's not sparring, not doing jiu-jitsu, it's wrestling.

01:40:52.000 Oh, yeah.

01:40:53.000 The guy's just snapping my neck.

01:40:54.000 That's the hardest. 1.00

01:40:55.000 That's the hardest shit. 1.00

01:40:56.000 I'm jacked. 1.00

01:40:57.000 Jacked, man. 0.97

01:40:57.000 It's a crazy sport? 0.97

01:40:58.000 Just getting picked up and slammed.

01:40:59.000 Oh, my God.

01:41:00.000 Yeah.

01:41:01.000 That is the hardest sport there is, in terms of physical output, mental toughness.

01:41:06.000 Just listening to these kids at the NCAAs doing their interviews is just hard.

01:41:09.000 Did you see Jordan Burroughs versus Kyle Dake?

01:41:11.000 Yes.

01:41:12.000 Kyle Dake. 0.98

01:41:13.000 Kyle Dake's a monster. 0.94

01:41:14.000 And that was his... 0.97

01:41:15.000 Every time he's gone up against this dude, he's lost.

01:41:17.000 Yep.

01:41:18.000 And I think he dry-humped him, didn't he?

01:41:21.000 Or teabagged him or something.

01:41:22.000 Didn't he?

01:41:22.000 Yes.

01:41:23.000 There was a teabag moment.

01:41:26.000 Well, it's because Jordan was trying to take him down and Kyle was defending the takedown.

01:41:29.000 And that's apparently a legitimate technique is to bob up and down the dude's neck.

01:41:33.000 So he wouldn't do it in a long time.

01:41:34.000 He was trying to escape.

01:41:35.000 Yeah, it's like... 0.94

01:41:36.000 Because it's fucking super uncomfortable when you're... 0.94

01:41:38.000 Driving in, this guy's like jumping up and down and squatting on your head. 0.98

01:41:43.000 See if you can find that.

01:41:44.000 As fun as it is to watch.

01:41:45.000 Shout out to Jordan Burroughs because I love that guy.

01:41:47.000 He's awesome.

01:41:47.000 You've had him on here, right?

01:41:48.000 He's a brilliant guy.

01:41:49.000 Really interesting guy.

01:41:51.000 And specimen.

01:41:52.000 Just look at him.

01:41:53.000 So is Kyle Dake.

01:41:54.000 There's also some great videos of Kyle Dake...

01:41:57.000 Working out and doing this really odd strength and conditioning routine that he does online with this guy who used to work with Jeremy Stevens.

01:42:06.000 Google Kyle Dake.

01:42:09.000 We don't need to see the teabag.

01:42:10.000 Respect to Jordan.

01:42:12.000 No need to see the teabag.

01:42:13.000 Google Kyle Dake functional patterns.

01:42:19.000 This is the guy's workout.

01:42:21.000 He's a really interesting strength and conditioning coach.

01:42:25.000 Look how shredded this dude.

01:42:26.000 He lost some weight, man.

01:42:28.000 Oh, I've seen this right here.

01:42:30.000 Like core development and stuff.

01:42:32.000 They do a lot of stuff like, you know, real similar to...

01:42:38.000 Well, not as much plyometrics, but the idea is they're doing a lot of weird movements that are applicable, like a lot of big kettlebell swings and jumps.

01:42:50.000 See how he's doing these things where he's jumping and twisting?

01:42:53.000 It reminds me a little bit of some of the stuff that Nick Curzon is doing and some of these other, like, really innovative strength and conditioning trainers. 0.99

01:43:01.000 Like, look at this shit. 0.99

01:43:02.000 Wow. 1.00

01:43:03.000 Like, really wild stuff, right?

01:43:05.000 Where he's doing these explosive movements off his back with a medicine ball, jumping up in the air, and then slamming that medicine ball down.

01:43:12.000 Who is this guy?

01:43:13.000 The guy's name is...

01:43:15.000 I'm trying to...

01:43:16.000 I remember his program, what's called Functional Patterns.

01:43:20.000 Does it say his name?

01:43:21.000 Not there once.

01:43:22.000 I remember that Jeremy Stevens worked out with him and brought it up on the podcast.

01:43:29.000 What did he say?

01:43:29.000 Did he like it?

01:43:29.000 Yeah, he loved it.

01:43:30.000 He loved the idea behind it and he said it was very effective for him, very applicable for MMA training.

01:43:36.000 How much strength and conditioning work do you do?

01:43:39.000 Right now I'm doing twice a week.

01:43:41.000 Twice a week.

01:43:42.000 And what does it entail?

01:43:43.000 Oh my goodness.

01:43:44.000 I go through different weeks.

01:43:47.000 So as of right now, I'm trying to get...

01:43:50.000 This guy's got me stronger, but not getting any weight.

01:43:54.000 How is that possible?

01:43:55.000 Exactly.

01:43:56.000 I don't even know the science behind it.

01:43:57.000 But there are weeks where I'm doing like...

01:43:59.000 Where I am kind of bulking, right?

01:44:03.000 And then I do a week where it's more cardio-based, where I'm kind of...

01:44:06.000 I'm not really...

01:44:08.000 I'm kind of shedding that muscle down, I guess, because I'm not too big.

01:44:14.000 A lot of cardio involved, a lot of bodyweight stuff.

01:44:17.000 I don't do any Olympic lifts or anything like that.

01:44:19.000 You're just begging for injury, doing that kind of stuff.

01:44:22.000 But I'm loving it, man.

01:44:23.000 I can't believe the...

01:44:24.000 And I found out about this guy through my buddy Carl Reid, who was one of our fighters.

01:44:29.000 He's been on the Ultimate Contender Series a few times, but...

01:44:32.000 And I saw how explosive this guy's gotten, how strong he's gotten.

01:44:35.000 Even though he's a bigger guy, he fights a 205, I kind of see how fast and how explosive, how strong, and his cardio is still on point.

01:44:43.000 He's like, yeah, man, I'm working with this guy, Josh Reynolds.

01:44:48.000 Well, I said Ryan Reynolds.

01:44:50.000 Josh Reynolds.

01:44:51.000 I was like, I gotta try this guy out.

01:44:52.000 You know, because the guy before that just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

01:44:56.000 I was kind of doing my own thing.

01:44:57.000 But I needed to get stronger if I was facing Tyron again.

01:45:00.000 It's hard when you find strength and conditioning coaches that are like really good or really bad.

01:45:05.000 Yeah.

01:45:06.000 A hundred percent.

01:45:06.000 I remember this guy, we had this one Street in the Gishinny guy, and he just had so many problems, man.

01:45:11.000 He had me doing a lot of Olympic stuff, had me doing a lot of road work, and we had this guy over at house, I think it was Thanksgiving or something like that, because the guy's family wasn't in town, or he had just moved down here, and the guy was just a nutball.

01:45:24.000 He went through a whole bottle of my dad's crown.

01:45:27.000 Oh no!

01:45:27.000 Oh man, I'm talking like, just crying.

01:45:30.000 Oh no.

01:45:31.000 We got the whole family there, bro.

01:45:33.000 Oh no.

01:45:34.000 And it was just like, alright, we need to do something.

01:45:38.000 You know, we had to drive him home.

01:45:40.000 Oh no.

01:45:41.000 Yeah.

01:45:41.000 Oh no.

01:45:42.000 All the emotions has been built up.

01:45:43.000 I don't know what it was.

01:45:44.000 It just came out that day.

01:45:45.000 Ugh.

01:45:46.000 Oh, no.

01:45:48.000 My man Josh is awesome.

01:45:50.000 This guy is awesome, man.

01:45:51.000 I've seen a lot of improvement working with him, especially when it comes to just keeping my body healthy.

01:46:00.000 I'm 38. I feel like I'm 25. That's amazing.

01:46:04.000 My movement, I feel like I'm getting better, especially with my striking and wrestling and jiu-jitsu, even though you don't see it a whole lot.

01:46:11.000 Well, you looked fantastic against Jeff Neal, and Jeff Neal is super talented.

01:46:16.000 Getting this fight, I wanted somebody in the top five for the longest, obviously.

01:46:19.000 But, you know, it's funny because, you know, I was in their shoes at one point.

01:46:24.000 And Johnny Hendricks gave me that opportunity.

01:46:27.000 You know, I wasn't even ranked, I don't think, when I faced John.

01:46:29.000 Maybe I was running number nine.

01:46:30.000 That was one of my favorite fights of yours.

01:46:32.000 Thank you.

01:46:33.000 Because you were on fire in that fight.

01:46:36.000 You were on fire.

01:46:37.000 And that was like, to me, that was like the perfect example of how difficult that style is to handle.

01:46:43.000 And it was the preparing for him, and no disrespect to him, but it was...

01:46:49.000 Obviously, he had good wrestling.

01:46:51.000 He had that one-hitter-quitter type power.

01:46:54.000 But it was...

01:46:56.000 You've seen him fight once.

01:46:57.000 You've seen him fight a hundred times.

01:46:59.000 I feel, and I'm gonna say this, no disrespect, I feel like that power went away when USADA showed up.

01:47:07.000 I can see, yes.

01:47:10.000 And there's a lot of people, I know GSP had said something, he faced him when he was fighting for the title.

01:47:16.000 There's two different versions of Johnny Hendrix.

01:47:19.000 There's Johnny Hendrix before there was real testing, and then there's later Johnny Hendrix.

01:47:23.000 And it could easily be, given the benefit of the doubt, that he got burnt out.

01:47:26.000 Yeah. 0.99

01:47:26.000 I mean, Johnny had been wrestling since he was a kid, and he was a fucking monster when he was younger. 0.99

01:47:31.000 I mean, he was a monster. 0.99

01:47:32.000 When he was putting people away, he would knock guys out and they would go flying.

01:47:36.000 Remember when he knocked Marvin Campman?

01:47:38.000 Yeah, yeah.

01:47:38.000 One hit.

01:47:39.000 Just, boom!

01:47:40.000 And he went flying.

01:47:41.000 I watched that over and over on the over.

01:47:43.000 John Fitch.

01:47:43.000 John Fitch, yeah.

01:47:44.000 Same thing. 0.97

01:47:44.000 Johnny Hendricks at one point in time was one of the fucking scariest guys in the sport. 0.97

01:47:50.000 And he was just a monster. 1.00

01:47:51.000 Just a monster. 1.00

01:47:52.000 Crazy wrestler. 0.99

01:47:53.000 Super skilled. 0.99

01:47:55.000 And then ridiculous one-punch knockout power. 0.98

01:47:57.000 Yeah. 0.78

01:47:58.000 But then...

01:47:58.000 But there was no...

01:47:59.000 But even then, like, he fought the exact same.

01:48:02.000 Like, Rory McDonald was very difficult to prepare for.

01:48:05.000 That was...

01:48:07.000 That was one of my favorite fights.

01:48:11.000 Just the whole preparation.

01:48:12.000 That's what makes it fun for me.

01:48:14.000 I like to try and break guys down.

01:48:16.000 And even there could be trying to adapt to a guy mid-fight.

01:48:20.000 That's what makes it fun for me.

01:48:22.000 You know what I'm saying?

01:48:23.000 So, breaking dudes, breaking guys down, you know, trying to adapt to the, if they made any changes mid-fight is fun, but he was difficult because he's good everywhere.

01:48:36.000 He's got great striking, good wrestling, and for some reason it was funny because I had a hunch he's going to try for some Iminari rolls. 0.99

01:48:42.000 Really?

01:48:43.000 Yeah, I had a hunch, man.

01:48:45.000 So, because, you know, I met Ryan Hall out in Montreal training at TriStar.

01:48:52.000 And I know he's a big fan of that, right?

01:48:55.000 He does it all the time.

01:48:56.000 I've done some work with him, and he was actually neutral for that fight.

01:49:00.000 He didn't train with any one of us.

01:49:02.000 And then I watched a grappling match he had.

01:49:04.000 It was a few months before the fight, I think.

01:49:10.000 And he was going for them all the time.

01:49:12.000 He was going for those heel hooks. 1.00

01:49:13.000 And I was like, he's going to try and heel hook.

01:49:14.000 He's going to try to get me out there as quick as possible.

01:49:16.000 He's going to try and make a statement because I know that was his last fight on the contract.

01:49:21.000 And we worked it over and over and over again in the gym.

01:49:24.000 And he went for it like several times, three or four times during the fight.

01:49:26.000 But he just knew.

01:49:27.000 He knew it was coming.

01:49:28.000 I knew it was coming. 1.00

01:49:29.000 When Ryan Hall pulled that off on BJ Penn, I was like, holy shit, dude. 0.99

01:49:34.000 And he does that in the gym all the time. 0.98

01:49:36.000 I see it all the time now.

01:49:37.000 But he's gotten so good with his striking.

01:49:39.000 I know.

01:49:40.000 I'm like, yes, Ryan.

01:49:41.000 He's a fascinating character.

01:49:43.000 I love that guy.

01:49:43.000 I really want to talk to that guy.

01:49:44.000 I want to get him in here.

01:49:45.000 Get him.

01:49:45.000 He's a wizard.

01:49:46.000 Have you heard him on Lex Friedman's podcast?

01:49:48.000 No, I haven't.

01:49:48.000 He's excellent.

01:49:49.000 Really?

01:49:49.000 He's really good.

01:49:50.000 Very intelligent guy.

01:49:51.000 Super intelligent.

01:49:52.000 Maybe a little too smart.

01:49:54.000 Yeah.

01:49:54.000 Some of the things, like, he'll sit there and explain stuff to me.

01:49:57.000 And he's like, right?

01:49:58.000 And I'm like...

01:49:59.000 Huh?

01:50:00.000 Okay, I'll just nod my head like I know what you- He's one of those guys that's so smart, he blinks a lot when he's talking, like his brain is going- Like going a thousand miles an hour and he's like trying to water it down, like cool it off. 0.70

01:50:10.000 He's the perfect example of just, he looks like a nerd. 0.68

01:50:14.000 Yeah, but he's an assassin. 0.82

01:50:16.000 There's something sinister behind those eyes of Ryan's.

01:50:19.000 I'm serious.

01:50:20.000 I've seen him. 1.00

01:50:21.000 I've seen him in just the I'm going to kill you mode.

01:50:24.000 I remember in Montreal he was doing a seminar while he was there. 0.98

01:50:29.000 And some young buck...

01:50:31.000 He's out there.

01:50:31.000 I don't know if he's just trying to embarrass him or what, but he was going hard.

01:50:35.000 He was trying to heel hook Ryan hard.

01:50:37.000 I think he was coming from another gym maybe.

01:50:39.000 And I saw Ryan grabbing by his head, grabbing by his leg, and he had his knees in this guy's face.

01:50:44.000 And he's just driving that knee in.

01:50:47.000 I couldn't help but laugh.

01:50:49.000 This dude, he doesn't look like it.

01:50:51.000 He's the sweetest guy ever, but he has got some sinister stuff behind his eyes.

01:50:55.000 If you're gonna compete in MMA in the UFC, you must have at least a door that you can open to let the devil out.

01:51:02.000 I don't know why.

01:51:03.000 Like my dad, I think it upsets him.

01:51:06.000 That you're so nice?

01:51:07.000 That I'm just like this all the time.

01:51:09.000 I'll walk out with a smile on my face.

01:51:11.000 I'll high-five you. 1.00

01:51:12.000 When you were teeing off on Johnny Hendricks, there was some fucking evil in your eyes. 0.99

01:51:16.000 Yeah, there was. 0.99

01:51:17.000 People don't see it.

01:51:19.000 I see it.

01:51:20.000 I'm smiling at you, but it's like a...

01:51:22.000 The way you're landing combinations, you have to be vicious to do that.

01:51:27.000 There's no other way.

01:51:28.000 It's funny because guys are like, man, you're not as good anymore because you don't knock people out.

01:51:32.000 I'm like, man.

01:51:33.000 Who are you?

01:51:34.000 You're fighting the top of the food chain.

01:51:35.000 Yeah, there's levels to this thing.

01:51:37.000 Who says that to you?

01:51:38.000 You get people say fans all the time.

01:51:39.000 You know, these guys on social media.

01:51:41.000 You should have done this.

01:51:42.000 You should have done that. 1.00

01:51:43.000 You can't read that shit. 1.00

01:51:44.000 Oh, I know. 1.00

01:51:45.000 I do it, but I laugh at it.

01:51:46.000 I'll even comment back.

01:51:48.000 Just like, oh, thanks, man.

01:51:48.000 Appreciate it.

01:51:50.000 Thanks a lot.

01:51:51.000 I'll keep that in mind next time.

01:51:52.000 The Jeff Neal fight had to be particularly satisfying, though, because Jeff Neal was...

01:51:56.000 He's a real destroyer.

01:51:58.000 I mean, the way he knocked out Mike Perry.

01:52:01.000 He's so slick.

01:52:03.000 So intelligent in there.

01:52:05.000 Knowing when to move and when not, when the opening's there, his reads.

01:52:11.000 So good.

01:52:12.000 And that's one of the reasons why I liked that fight, and I loved the Vicente Luque.

01:52:18.000 These guys...

01:52:20.000 They're hard to draw out.

01:52:25.000 They're so disciplined to their positioning.

01:52:28.000 For my style, that's my goal.

01:52:30.000 I want to draw you out.

01:52:32.000 Draw your counter out so I can counter that.

01:52:35.000 These guys were on point all the time.

01:52:38.000 To find those openings in that fight, I had a great time.

01:52:45.000 I had a blast out there with it.

01:52:47.000 Especially the Vicente fight.

01:52:49.000 Number one, people didn't think I had a chin anymore because I got knocked out by Anthony.

01:52:54.000 That was the fight after.

01:52:55.000 And I remember getting headbutted in the first round.

01:52:58.000 I couldn't see it on my left eye the whole first and second round.

01:53:01.000 Really?

01:53:01.000 Of that fight.

01:53:02.000 And it was a headbutt.

01:53:04.000 He was coming this way with a hook and I was moving away.

01:53:07.000 And then we, boom, we just clashed heads right on the temple.

01:53:11.000 And I couldn't see.

01:53:12.000 I was like, I got hit and I kind of went like this.

01:53:15.000 And it looked like he didn't hit me with anything, you know, but it was, but a skull, but there were some flurries there.

01:53:22.000 And I couldn't see, man.

01:53:24.000 I was like backing up.

01:53:25.000 I was moving.

01:53:26.000 And I just had to stay calm, man, and try and find my shots.

01:53:30.000 But then it was like I got in a flow state.

01:53:33.000 And sometimes when you're out there, I try and find that flow state every time I step out in the cage or even in sparring.

01:53:40.000 I try and get in a flow state where I'm not thinking.

01:53:42.000 It's more reaction, but it's just things feel right.

01:53:44.000 My reactions are on point.

01:53:49.000 And I just got there.

01:53:51.000 It was probably the middle of the second round.

01:53:54.000 I just found my range.

01:53:56.000 I knew exactly when he was going to throw a punch.

01:54:00.000 The timing was right.

01:54:02.000 And I had broken my hands in that fight, both of them.

01:54:05.000 Really?

01:54:05.000 Yeah.

01:54:06.000 First round, I think.

01:54:07.000 Really?

01:54:08.000 Both of them?

01:54:08.000 He's got the hardest head.

01:54:10.000 Wow.

01:54:10.000 I've hit guys with half of what I hit him with, and they've gone down.

01:54:14.000 I mean, you saw Tyron Woodley.

01:54:15.000 He's one of the hardest hitters.

01:54:16.000 He staggered him, and how fast did he recover?

01:54:18.000 Like that.

01:54:19.000 Just blah.

01:54:20.000 Yeah.

01:54:20.000 And then he hit Tyron.

01:54:21.000 Tyron couldn't recover.

01:54:22.000 Yeah.

01:54:23.000 I think Tyron was too anxious.

01:54:25.000 Yeah.

01:54:26.000 It's like Tyron losing all those rounds in a row.

01:54:29.000 I mean, Tyron had lost every single round.

01:54:32.000 I mean, imagine being Tyron.

01:54:34.000 You go from being, in my opinion still, erase his last fights.

01:54:37.000 He's one of the greatest welterweight champions of all time.

01:54:40.000 Yes.

01:54:40.000 Beat you.

01:54:41.000 Beat Damian Maia.

01:54:42.000 He just knocked out Robbie Lawler for the title. 0.98

01:54:45.000 He was a killer. 1.00

01:54:46.000 Fucking killer. 1.00

01:54:47.000 Tyron's a killer. 1.00

01:54:48.000 And then loses every round. 0.99

01:54:51.000 Usman smokes him.

01:54:53.000 Just dominates him. 1.00

01:54:54.000 Gilbert fucked him up. 1.00

01:54:56.000 Colby fucked him up. 0.99

01:54:58.000 And it's like, Jesus. 0.99

01:55:00.000 I know.

01:55:00.000 I was rooting for him for those fights, too.

01:55:02.000 Like, every one of them.

01:55:03.000 Because when you share something like that with somebody, it's...

01:55:07.000 It's almost like an intimate experience.

01:55:09.000 When you fight somebody and you go through that experience with each other, even though you're fighting each other, it's like...

01:55:15.000 Yeah, I want this guy to win.

01:55:17.000 Yeah.

01:55:17.000 I want this guy to win.

01:55:17.000 But the last one is like, I don't think he's going to win.

01:55:20.000 That was the first time at his last three or four fights.

01:55:23.000 You just felt like?

01:55:24.000 I just felt like it wasn't there.

01:55:25.000 Well, I felt like he had, you know, he brought Antonio McKee into his camp, who's really good at resurrecting guys.

01:55:31.000 Dean Thomas is there, who knows him inside and out.

01:55:35.000 And I know he trained real hard for that fight.

01:55:37.000 And I felt like if the bomb lands, he can still take people out.

01:55:43.000 And he did hurt him at one point in time.

01:55:45.000 But then he just got wild.

01:55:47.000 He got wild and Luque just stayed poised and calm and found his spot.

01:55:53.000 Vicente's got a check left hook like no other.

01:55:55.000 He's got some great hooks.

01:55:57.000 And he was hitting me.

01:55:57.000 I had him hurt.

01:55:58.000 And he was still throwing bombs.

01:56:00.000 He's getting better too.

01:56:01.000 That's the thing about Luque.

01:56:03.000 He's so durable.

01:56:05.000 He's so tough.

01:56:06.000 That's the thing.

01:56:07.000 After that fight, looking at him, I'm like, bro.

01:56:11.000 I hit him with some shots, man, over and over and over again.

01:56:13.000 He had bumps all in his head.

01:56:16.000 I was like, man, how could you take that and still have a good conversation with somebody?

01:56:22.000 But he does.

01:56:24.000 I think it literally has something to do with him having a big head.

01:56:27.000 He's got a big melon.

01:56:29.000 Well, you think about guys like Mark Hunt.

01:56:30.000 Giant head, takes an incredible shot.

01:56:33.000 Some of the best, like the guys that took shots better than anybody, have big heads.

01:56:37.000 It makes sense.

01:56:38.000 But Vicente is also just...

01:56:40.000 The fact that he stays composed, it's his mind, too.

01:56:44.000 It's not just the size of his skull or the ability to take a shot.

01:56:47.000 So disciplined in there.

01:56:48.000 Yeah, his mind.

01:56:49.000 He's getting better, too.

01:56:51.000 And he's only 30. I'm pretty sure Vicente Luque, look up his...

01:56:57.000 I'm 99% sure he's 30 years old.

01:56:59.000 See, I think that's one of the reasons why everybody's like, alright, I don't know, maybe the UFC's not betting on me or fans.

01:57:05.000 29!

01:57:06.000 He's 29?

01:57:07.000 He's not even 30 yet.

01:57:08.000 Not even 30, that's crazy.

01:57:09.000 I didn't get in the UFC until I was 28. Wow.

01:57:12.000 Came in late, man.

01:57:13.000 10 years ago.

01:57:14.000 Isn't that nuts?

01:57:15.000 That's crazy.

01:57:16.000 I remember, who was it?

01:57:17.000 Errol Hohani called me a vet and I kind of got low-key pissed because I was thinking he was calling me old.

01:57:23.000 He's like, no, you've just been in the game for a while.

01:57:25.000 Because when I think of a vet, I think of somebody who's just old.

01:57:28.000 Really?

01:57:28.000 Is that what you think?

01:57:29.000 I think of just an old guy.

01:57:30.000 Well, I call Kamaru Usman a vet.

01:57:32.000 Yeah, I know. 0.99

01:57:32.000 I mean, for sure, in the Gilbert Burns fight, that was veteran shit. 0.99

01:57:36.000 When he just weathered that storm in that first round, and then by the end of the first round, he was winning. 0.99

01:57:40.000 Yeah.

01:57:40.000 You know?

01:57:41.000 And then fucked him up in the second. 0.98

01:57:43.000 And his striking's getting better, man. 0.98

01:57:44.000 Oh my god, much better.

01:57:45.000 His striking's getting better.

01:57:46.000 That fight this weekend is very interesting.

01:57:49.000 You know, I watched the first fight again the other day.

01:57:51.000 And I'm going to tell you something, man.

01:57:53.000 Masvidal was all over him in that first round.

01:57:55.000 And that was last minute, correct?

01:57:58.000 Six days notice.

01:57:59.000 He stuffed, what, 11 of his takedowns?

01:58:01.000 Which is unheard of with Usman.

01:58:02.000 Yeah, but more importantly, was not in condition.

01:58:06.000 No.

01:58:06.000 Was not prepared for a fight like that.

01:58:08.000 They offered it to him, he took it, he went there, six days notice, and I mean...

01:58:13.000 That first round, he looked very good.

01:58:16.000 He only won that one round.

01:58:17.000 That's what's important in the fight because Usman made adjustments.

01:58:21.000 Another thing that's important to note is that Usman apparently had shattered his nose two weeks before that fight.

01:58:26.000 Wow. 0.99

01:58:27.000 Yeah, so his nose was fucked. 1.00

01:58:28.000 Because after the fight, you know, they had him checked out. 0.99

01:58:32.000 He had a broken nose.

01:58:34.000 And he was like, my nose is already broken. 0.98

01:58:36.000 Like, his nose was fucked up two weeks before the fight. 0.98

01:58:39.000 Yeah. 0.98

01:58:40.000 The thing about Usman, man, is that he...

01:58:43.000 Some people say he's boring, you know, boring fighter.

01:58:47.000 I think he's great.

01:58:48.000 Wasn't boring in that Gilbert Burns fight.

01:58:50.000 Oh, no he wasn't.

01:58:51.000 I think he's great, man.

01:58:53.000 He presses the fight.

01:58:54.000 He's got cardio for days.

01:58:56.000 And a guy that has that kind of physique shouldn't have that kind of cardio.

01:59:01.000 I think he's great.

01:59:02.000 I think he's got charisma, man.

01:59:03.000 His striking's getting better.

01:59:05.000 He freaking knocked out Colby Covington, TKO'd and broke his jaw.

01:59:08.000 And he beat Burns with a jab. 1.00

01:59:11.000 Anybody who says he's boring is an idiot. 1.00

01:59:13.000 You get poked in the eye. 1.00

01:59:14.000 Just poke yourself in the eye. 1.00

01:59:17.000 You've got to be an idiot to think that guy's boring. 1.00

01:59:20.000 That's crazy. 1.00

01:59:20.000 Look, he did what he had to do to win the Masvidal fight, but if you take into consideration the fact that he had a broken nose going into the fight, and you take into consideration the fact that Masvidal is, you know, you fought him. 1.00

01:59:31.000 He's game good.

01:59:32.000 He's game.

01:59:33.000 And he's clever, and he's experienced, and he's a real vet.

01:59:37.000 Masvidal's a real vet.

01:59:38.000 That's somebody that...

01:59:40.000 You cannot break this guy's will in a fight.

01:59:43.000 No.

01:59:43.000 I've seen it.

01:59:44.000 I've broken guys' wills in there in a fight.

01:59:47.000 When a guy like that who comes out just as hard in the last round as he does in the first and still has got power and still is just a savage, just wanting to rip your head off, that's a scary dude.

01:59:57.000 You hit him and he smiles at you.

02:00:00.000 Yeah.

02:00:01.000 And normally when guys do that, they're hurt.

02:00:03.000 Right.

02:00:04.000 But this guy, you know, he's just a G, man. 0.99

02:00:07.000 He's slick.

02:00:07.000 And I like him because he is who he is.

02:00:10.000 He is who he is.

02:00:10.000 He's not faking nobody.

02:00:11.000 He's not trying to be somebody he's not.

02:00:13.000 I love when he dresses like Tony Montana.

02:00:16.000 He's got the whole suit, get up.

02:00:19.000 When I talked to him here, one of my favorite moments on the podcast with him here was when I asked him, I said, well, I go, the question is, can Ben Askren get a hold of you?

02:00:27.000 He goes, he can get a hold of these nuts.

02:00:30.000 Ha ha ha!

02:00:32.000 Dude, that guy.

02:00:34.000 That's why I love that guy.

02:00:35.000 It was funny.

02:00:36.000 I was in Singapore.

02:00:38.000 Me and him both were there as guest fighters and that's where we made that fight happen.

02:00:43.000 We had planned it out there.

02:00:45.000 He was wanting to work his way up and I had just lost the tyrant the second time.

02:00:50.000 So I was like, let's make it happen, man.

02:00:54.000 I think what's changed from him, I wouldn't say so much his style, but his mindset.

02:01:00.000 Yeah, he talked about that, the resurrection.

02:01:03.000 Well, you know when it happened, he went on a reality show.

02:01:06.000 Do you know the story?

02:01:07.000 I think so.

02:01:11.000 Was it the preparation?

02:01:12.000 No.

02:01:13.000 He talked about that on this podcast, too. 1.00

02:01:15.000 He went on this reality show, and it was a fucking nightmare. 0.99

02:01:18.000 It was like in the jungle, this reality show. 0.99

02:01:21.000 He had to go into villages, try to get food. 1.00

02:01:23.000 It was fucked. 1.00

02:01:24.000 It's crazy. 1.00

02:01:25.000 It was a South American reality show.

02:01:27.000 Apparently, he was there for a long-ass time.

02:01:29.000 He had no contact with the outside world.

02:01:31.000 It was a disaster.

02:01:32.000 Hated the show.

02:01:33.000 But it gave him a lot of chance to think about his life, about where he was, and then what his future is going to be.

02:01:39.000 And realized that maybe some things had been holding him back.

02:01:43.000 One thing that had been holding him back was he was trying not to lose versus trying to win.

02:01:48.000 And that he was a little bit worried about his condition because maybe he didn't train enough.

02:01:52.000 Maybe he didn't prepare correctly. 0.98

02:01:54.000 And then he just decided, look, I'm going to fucking go for it. 0.97

02:01:58.000 So here he is. 0.98

02:01:59.000 I mean, Masvidal's got to be your age, right?

02:02:02.000 He's probably 38. He's in the range.

02:02:04.000 I think he's a little bit younger.

02:02:06.000 36?

02:02:06.000 Something like that.

02:02:07.000 One of the most popular guys in the UFC. Said he was going to do it.

02:02:10.000 He's there.

02:02:11.000 Yeah.

02:02:11.000 Fighting for the title twice.

02:02:12.000 But just think about what he did after that.

02:02:14.000 Think about his fight.

02:02:16.000 The fight with Nate Diaz. 0.99

02:02:17.000 Holy shit. 0.99

02:02:18.000 How about the knockout of Darren Till? 1.00

02:02:20.000 The Darren Till knockout was fucking crazy. 0.98

02:02:23.000 And him getting knocked down early in that fight, he got knocked down and comes back with that. 0.99

02:02:27.000 First round.

02:02:28.000 Oh my goodness.

02:02:28.000 Yeah.

02:02:29.000 And KO'd him in the most vicious fashion.

02:02:32.000 And the way he did it too, where he set it up, that switch where he stepped in and throws the left hook.

02:02:37.000 Yeah.

02:02:37.000 Well, he grabbed his front hand.

02:02:39.000 I don't know if you saw that.

02:02:39.000 Mm-hmm.

02:02:40.000 Grabbed his front hand, pulls it down, and hits it with a left. 1.00

02:02:43.000 Yep, yep.

02:02:43.000 That's what it just took out.

02:02:45.000 It was awesome.

02:02:45.000 Oh, so smooth.

02:02:46.000 Well, he's so clever.

02:02:48.000 He's clever.

02:02:49.000 Like the knockout of Ben Askren.

02:02:51.000 People think, oh, he just ran at him and threw a flying knee.

02:02:54.000 No, no, no.

02:02:55.000 No.

02:02:56.000 He went to the side.

02:02:58.000 Yeah.

02:02:58.000 And then he came at him.

02:02:59.000 Angle changed, man, and he went at him.

02:03:01.000 Also, so Askren has to follow him, which even more activates Askren's natural desire to grab you.

02:03:08.000 Yeah.

02:03:08.000 Right?

02:03:08.000 I mean, he showed him planning for it.

02:03:10.000 He knew he was going to do that.

02:03:11.000 And he went to the side where Askren shoots.

02:03:13.000 Yeah.

02:03:14.000 I mean, he went to the side.

02:03:15.000 And then boom!

02:03:17.000 The whole lead up to that was awesome.

02:03:21.000 Oh my god.

02:03:21.000 Him just...

02:03:22.000 Incredible.

02:03:23.000 Yeah. 0.80

02:03:24.000 You know, just looking like a freaking G and then he steps off. 0.96

02:03:27.000 And that photo of him in midair landing that knee to Ben's face. 0.93

02:03:33.000 Jack, you see his six pack and everything.

02:03:36.000 He's angry looking at his face.

02:03:37.000 That's one of the classic...

02:03:38.000 All-time MMA photos.

02:03:40.000 See if you can find that photo.

02:03:41.000 And then him saying, was that necessary to hit him?

02:03:44.000 Super necessary.

02:03:45.000 Super necessary.

02:03:46.000 Yeah, super necessary.

02:03:47.000 Well, not only that, as Ben is out cold, after he punched him in the face, he's talking to him and slapping the table. 1.00

02:03:53.000 Like, I told you, bitch. 1.00

02:03:55.000 Yeah. 1.00

02:03:56.000 Crazy. 0.96

02:03:57.000 And what's good about him is that he can throw something. 0.98

02:03:59.000 Like, obviously.

02:04:00.000 There it is.

02:04:01.000 Wow.

02:04:03.000 That one in the middle is the one I'm talking about.

02:04:05.000 Yeah, look at that. 0.99

02:04:06.000 That is a fucking classic MMA photo. 0.99

02:04:10.000 The stiffening up of Ben Askren. 1.00

02:04:12.000 In the middle of the fucking impact. 1.00

02:04:14.000 Look at his face. 1.00

02:04:15.000 He's so angry.

02:04:17.000 Bam! 0.98

02:04:18.000 I was there, too.

02:04:19.000 I was there, too.

02:04:20.000 I was there, too.

02:04:22.000 And you know what?

02:04:22.000 After that fight, I went up and congratulated him.

02:04:24.000 He was like, man.

02:04:25.000 He's like, thank you, bro.

02:04:25.000 I was like, we need to make this fight happen.

02:04:26.000 We need to do it again.

02:04:27.000 Phew. 1.00

02:04:28.000 That was crazy shit. 1.00

02:04:30.000 He became a superstar that night. 1.00

02:04:31.000 That's right.

02:04:32.000 Been at two knockouts, crazy knockouts back to back.

02:04:34.000 Yup.

02:04:35.000 And now he has another chance at Usman with a full camp.

02:04:39.000 Super interested.

02:04:40.000 On paper, it's like, alright, how do you choose against somebody who's been so dominant in the welterweight division?

02:04:46.000 Usman.

02:04:47.000 But then you get this guy out there who can just, out of nowhere, just do a thought in his head, hit you with a spin, something, or a flying knee.

02:04:55.000 He's so creative and he's intelligent.

02:05:00.000 I would never count Usman out.

02:05:02.000 I think Usman is one of the most, mentally, he's one of the strongest guys that I've ever seen compete.

02:05:08.000 You never see a weakness from him.

02:05:11.000 You know, he's so strong.

02:05:12.000 And when he dominated Tyron like that to win the belt, this was his first shot at the title.

02:05:17.000 No nerves at all.

02:05:18.000 Just full dominance.

02:05:19.000 Just went at him.

02:05:20.000 Just controlled him. 0.78

02:05:21.000 Smashed him. 0.97

02:05:22.000 Just beat him up.

02:05:23.000 Almost tried to take him out at one point in time and emptied the gas tank and realized, like, Jesus, Tyron's still here.

02:05:29.000 We talked about it on the podcast, too.

02:05:30.000 I'm like, how tired you were.

02:05:31.000 He's like, bro, I was so tired.

02:05:33.000 He didn't show it.

02:05:34.000 He didn't show it.

02:05:35.000 I could see it a little bit, but I was right next to him.

02:05:37.000 I was right there watching it.

02:05:39.000 I feel like it's like that, because I see Chris do that.

02:05:42.000 He tries to break people.

02:05:44.000 That's his goal.

02:05:45.000 He doesn't want to beat you.

02:05:45.000 He wants to break you.

02:05:47.000 Yeah.

02:05:47.000 That's what it is.

02:05:48.000 Cain Velasquez used to always do that to people.

02:05:50.000 Break you.

02:05:51.000 I don't care how tired I get, you're going to get tired first.

02:05:54.000 And that's why, like when I spar with him, that's what he tries to do.

02:05:57.000 He tries to break you.

02:05:59.000 The first time we sparred, I'm coming in, he's looking at me, this 170 pound guy, he tells me this story all the time.

02:06:07.000 You didn't have this guy.

02:06:08.000 He's such a funny guy, Chris.

02:06:11.000 I think Roy McDonald was up there and was low-kicking Roy.

02:06:16.000 He would send his sparring partners home.

02:06:18.000 Pack their bags and just send them home.

02:06:21.000 I'm in there and he's just like, what's this guy going to teach me?

02:06:25.000 He's literally trying to make me quit.

02:06:28.000 He was keeping the lights at the head, but he was just ripping body shots, taking me down.

02:06:35.000 And then he was like, you get back up and you're bouncing just like you were in the first round as you were in the second.

02:06:41.000 He was like, after that first sparring session, I know I'm going to bring you back every time.

02:06:46.000 So I was just trying not to get killed, obviously.

02:06:49.000 You know, smiling at him.

02:06:51.000 Talk about going into the fire, right?

02:06:53.000 Don't have a background in wrestling.

02:06:54.000 And then you start training with a guy like Weidman.

02:06:57.000 I mean, there's no middle ground there.

02:06:58.000 You're just going from nothing to elite.

02:07:01.000 Straight extreme.

02:07:03.000 It was funny because it was Don John Danaher that hooked that up.

02:07:06.000 He was there with GSP when I would go up and train with GSP. So he made that happen.

02:07:11.000 He needed somebody to...

02:07:13.000 And that's why I love this sport.

02:07:15.000 I've trained with so many freaking awesome dudes.

02:07:18.000 I was up there helping Rashad Evans get ready for Loto Machida.

02:07:22.000 And of course you had Nate Marquardt there, GSB, Cowboy, Brendan Shaw when he was training there.

02:07:29.000 And I was just a kickboxer pretty much.

02:07:31.000 You know, I wasn't even an MMA fighter.

02:07:34.000 And then through him, you know, I was trained with Liotta Michida, Anderson Silva, sparred with those guys.

02:07:41.000 What was it like training with Anderson?

02:07:42.000 Because when you trained with Anderson, he was in his prime, right?

02:07:44.000 Yeah, that was the coolest thing ever.

02:07:47.000 I did a few rounds with him, and he would go from a karate style to a Muay Thai style to just kind of go back and forth.

02:07:53.000 I was talking about elite, man.

02:07:55.000 Elite.

02:07:55.000 And I'm just like...

02:07:57.000 At all.

02:07:57.000 I was afraid to even close the gap on the guy, because next thing you know, he fights like a karate guy, but then he's got you in a tie clinch and you can't get out.

02:08:04.000 I know, you know, any way of getting out of a tie clinch didn't work.

02:08:09.000 It was just one of those, like, just to try and get out of it and hope he doesn't throw a knee at the same time.

02:08:14.000 Well, you remember the Rich Franklin fight?

02:08:16.000 Oh, yeah.

02:08:16.000 He clamped a hole to Rich, and Rich just had no answer.

02:08:19.000 Couldn't do that.

02:08:20.000 Had no answer.

02:08:21.000 Nothing.

02:08:22.000 And his forearms come down to here.

02:08:24.000 Yeah.

02:08:24.000 On me.

02:08:25.000 What do I do?

02:08:25.000 It was technique, though.

02:08:26.000 It's so sharp.

02:08:27.000 So beautiful.

02:08:28.000 And he wasn't the fastest guy, but there was no telegraph.

02:08:32.000 He had very little telegraph.

02:08:35.000 It was just there.

02:08:37.000 No, I'm going to put...

02:08:38.000 You know, a lot of guys do that.

02:08:39.000 A lot of MMA fighters, you know, they have...

02:08:42.000 You can find their tails, right?

02:08:45.000 Anderson was one of those guys.

02:08:46.000 He didn't have...

02:08:47.000 When he front-kicked...

02:08:48.000 Vitor in the face?

02:08:49.000 No tell.

02:08:49.000 Boom!

02:08:49.000 It was there.

02:08:51.000 And he was looking down when he did it, too. 0.96

02:08:53.000 Like, he was looking like he was gonna kick him in the stomach.

02:08:56.000 And then it went right up to the chin.

02:08:57.000 And, you know, I had a conversation with Eddie Bravo before that.

02:09:00.000 There's actually a video of it where I had one of those Bob dummies, those Sentry dummies, and he's talking about front-kicks.

02:09:06.000 He's like, would you ever throw a front-kick to the face?

02:09:08.000 I'm like, nah, I don't think so.

02:09:09.000 It's like, the timing would have to be perfect.

02:09:12.000 And then once Anderson did it, everybody started throwing front kicks to the face.

02:09:16.000 I just feel like you could be caught so easy.

02:09:18.000 It seems like it.

02:09:19.000 It seems like it, right.

02:09:20.000 But when Anderson did it, it was just so picture perfect.

02:09:24.000 And then Lyoto did it too at the tour.

02:09:25.000 Randy, jumping front kick.

02:09:27.000 Tooth went flying out.

02:09:28.000 It's like a flying karate.

02:09:29.000 It was like the perfect karate thing ever.

02:09:31.000 It was crazy.

02:09:31.000 It was like a spar with Lyoto, which was cool.

02:09:34.000 It was pretty intimidating because I kept hitting him with a side kick, and he's more traditional.

02:09:39.000 So, more round kicks, round house kicks, front kicks. 0.96

02:09:42.000 No, not a whole lot of angle things.

02:09:43.000 And I kept side kicking.

02:09:45.000 And I could tell I was getting frustrated with it.

02:09:47.000 So afterwards, I showed him, you know, just a few things, you know, scooping, moving, you know, get around the side kick.

02:09:53.000 So the next time we sparred, I knew he knew, he knew how to get around the side kick because I just showed him.

02:10:00.000 So I let him, I saw one side kick, so I let him work it a little bit, you know, while we were sparring.

02:10:05.000 And then I faked the hook kick, I hit him with a hook kick. 0.94

02:10:08.000 And he got mad.

02:10:09.000 It was a stand-up match only, but he tossed me.

02:10:12.000 He grabbed me and just went, yeah!

02:10:15.000 He apologized after, but he said, I'm sorry, man.

02:10:17.000 I didn't mean to.

02:10:18.000 I might have hit him.

02:10:19.000 I don't know if I hit him with my heel or whatever, but I don't throw hook kicks in sparring anymore either.

02:10:24.000 Because it's too hard to control?

02:10:25.000 Yeah, and guys can lean into it.

02:10:28.000 I had broke a guy's orbital.

02:10:30.000 It was Mike King.

02:10:31.000 He was on the show, The Ultimate Fighter.

02:10:37.000 And I ended up breaking his orbital with a hook kick. 0.99

02:10:42.000 That's such a scary injury.

02:10:43.000 It is.

02:10:44.000 They had to go in behind your eye and fix it and put a plate back there. 1.00

02:10:49.000 What's the worst injury in your knee, the left knee?

02:10:52.000 I would say as many.

02:10:54.000 It's taken years off because of it.

02:10:58.000 My hands took a year to recover.

02:11:01.000 Really?

02:11:02.000 Yeah.

02:11:02.000 Vicente Luque and then December.

02:11:05.000 Vicente Luque was 2019. In the Jeff Neal fight, you broke it again?

02:11:09.000 No, not the Jeff Neal, but it was a year later before I fought Jeff Neal.

02:11:12.000 Oh, oh, okay.

02:11:14.000 So it took me a year.

02:11:15.000 Wow.

02:11:16.000 Even still today, I can't get this finger to go down, and it's painful.

02:11:21.000 Like, I wake up in the morning, and my finger's up here like this.

02:11:24.000 Right.

02:11:25.000 I mean, you can see this one.

02:11:27.000 You know Ian McCall?

02:11:28.000 Yeah.

02:11:29.000 He can't make a fist.

02:11:31.000 He can't close that finger?

02:11:32.000 No, he's broken his hand so many times and broken his fingers.

02:11:35.000 He makes a fist like this.

02:11:37.000 There's no closing it.

02:11:39.000 Aim for the eye, man.

02:11:40.000 Yeah, literally. 1.00

02:11:42.000 His fingers fuck forever. 1.00

02:11:45.000 And I condition my hands. 1.00

02:11:46.000 It's the first time I ever injured my hands.

02:11:49.000 What do you do to condition your hands?

02:11:51.000 Maki.

02:11:52.000 Really?

02:11:52.000 Just punching things.

02:11:53.000 What about grip strength?

02:11:55.000 I do grip.

02:11:56.000 I do a lot of rice stuff.

02:11:58.000 Just rice, grip, more forearm stuff.

02:12:00.000 What about grippers?

02:12:02.000 Not really grippers.

02:12:04.000 I'll do my strength and conditioning coach.

02:12:07.000 Anytime I'm doing pull-ups or any pulling motion, I have wide grips that I'm using.

02:12:12.000 So it forces me to really have to use my grip to strengthen it up in order to be able to do the things I need to do with strength and conditioning.

02:12:19.000 So I do that, but I haven't just sat there.

02:12:21.000 I don't think I have time really to sit there.

02:12:23.000 You do when you're driving.

02:12:24.000 Yeah.

02:12:24.000 I have those Captains of Crush.

02:12:26.000 Really?

02:12:26.000 Yeah, I have the 120-pound one.

02:12:28.000 120 pounds?

02:12:29.000 Yeah.

02:12:30.000 Freak. 0.69

02:12:31.000 I mean, look at your forearm. 0.96

02:12:32.000 I can see it through your shirt.

02:12:33.000 Yeah, but that makes such a big difference, man.

02:12:35.000 I'm going to have to get me one of those.

02:12:36.000 I believe in them so much.

02:12:37.000 Yeah.

02:12:37.000 I believe in hand strength so much.

02:12:39.000 You have to have it.

02:12:40.000 Yeah. 0.98

02:12:41.000 For jujitsu, it's fucking so critical. 0.99

02:12:43.000 Grips. 0.97

02:12:43.000 But also just for protecting your hand, like having muscle around all the bones. 0.97

02:12:48.000 It holds it all in place.

02:12:49.000 I just think it's one of those things where people overlook it, but you could work it while you're doing other stuff.

02:12:55.000 Yeah.

02:12:56.000 Like you could drive in the car and just be sitting there like this.

02:12:58.000 Teaching classes.

02:13:00.000 I do my shin condition while I'm teaching.

02:13:01.000 I'll just ding my shin.

02:13:03.000 You know the captains of Crush?

02:13:04.000 You ever see those grippers?

02:13:05.000 Yeah. 1.00

02:13:05.000 They're the shit because they get real fucking heavy. 1.00

02:13:07.000 Wow. 1.00

02:13:08.000 I think you can get, see what you can get it up to.

02:13:10.000 I think you can get up to 150 pounds or more.

02:13:12.000 So I wonder who's, I mean, what, professional arm wrestlers maybe do the, I mean, I have to go up into that.

02:13:17.000 Those guys are so weird.

02:13:18.000 You ever see that one guy, he's got one giant forearm.

02:13:21.000 Yes.

02:13:21.000 And the other arm's like normal.

02:13:23.000 Tiny?

02:13:23.000 Tiny.

02:13:25.000 It's gotta be who's dad have been born that way, right?

02:13:27.000 No!

02:13:27.000 There it is.

02:13:28.000 They do them by numbers.

02:13:29.000 My dad used to have like a pair of those.

02:13:30.000 They go to 237? 0.99

02:13:32.000 Shut up. 1.00

02:13:32.000 Oh my god. 1.00

02:13:32.000 It goes really high. 1.00

02:13:34.000 Oh my god.

02:13:35.000 They've been around forever, right?

02:13:36.000 There's only three or four people that have ever done this.

02:13:38.000 365 pounds.

02:13:39.000 I feel like these have been around.

02:13:40.000 I've seen my dad use some of these maybe back in the freaking early 90s maybe?

02:13:44.000 Could be.

02:13:45.000 I don't know about this company.

02:13:46.000 This company, I've been using their stuff for years though, Captains of Crush. 0.97

02:13:51.000 If you scroll back up, you take a look at them, you can see that's the shit that I use. 0.99

02:13:56.000 I love them. 0.99

02:13:57.000 Yeah, they go by numbers.

02:13:58.000 That 365 is their number four, it's called.

02:14:02.000 And you have to be certified, I think.

02:14:05.000 Oh, that's hilarious to order it.

02:14:07.000 Not to order it, but to show that you've done it, because only a few people in the world have ever done it.

02:14:11.000 Scroll up a little bit.

02:14:13.000 So I'm at...

02:14:15.000 So it says 100 and 140. I definitely have 140. But I thought I have 122. I might have it from a different company.

02:14:22.000 Might be a different company.

02:14:23.000 But I definitely have the 140. Because I used to bring it to the comedy store and the bouncers would try to squeeze it.

02:14:31.000 I'd be like, ha ha.

02:14:32.000 I see like, for some reason, when I get on stuff, I go down these rabbit holes.

02:14:37.000 And one of these...

02:14:38.000 Arm wrestling rabble holes. 1.00

02:14:39.000 I was just everything I could get to just watch these guys do and how they train to do this stuff.

02:14:45.000 It's all technique.

02:14:46.000 A lot of it is technique.

02:14:48.000 It's not actually pulling the hand down or pushing the hand down.

02:14:52.000 It's pulling. 1.00

02:14:53.000 The dumbest shit on that Jake Paul fight was the slap fights. 1.00

02:14:57.000 Oh my gosh. 1.00

02:14:58.000 How about Ric Flair?

02:15:00.000 It was awesome.

02:15:01.000 Yeah, that's awesome.

02:15:01.000 No, that's not dumb.

02:15:03.000 Oh, okay. 0.94

02:15:03.000 He was like the judge of the slap fight. 0.94

02:15:05.000 Oh, that was great.

02:15:06.000 He was the judge.

02:15:07.000 Ric Flair is always great.

02:15:08.000 That's not the problem. 0.86

02:15:09.000 The problem is the guy sitting there Letting a guy slap him in the face. 0.99

02:15:13.000 That is so crazy.

02:15:14.000 How many times did you get knocked out, right?

02:15:15.000 Was it Jake Paul?

02:15:17.000 Yeah.

02:15:19.000 I guess he had this guy for a hire. 0.98

02:15:22.000 I guess people hire him to slap him in the face. 0.96

02:15:26.000 Oh, yeah, yeah. 0.95

02:15:26.000 There's a guy on Instagram. 0.95

02:15:28.000 No, it was Logan Paul that did it. 0.97

02:15:29.000 Slaps for cash or some shit like that. 0.99

02:15:31.000 He fucked that guy up. 0.99

02:15:33.000 Yeah, he knocked him out. 0.98

02:15:34.000 Talk about a guy who needs to go MMA. Wait a minute.

02:15:37.000 Logan knocked the guy out?

02:15:39.000 Logan.

02:15:39.000 Yeah.

02:15:40.000 See, this guy lets people slap him in the face for money.

02:15:43.000 Logan was going to enter a slap fighting competition.

02:15:47.000 Right.

02:15:48.000 So this guy put it out there.

02:15:50.000 I mean, on Craigslist, I don't know, slapped me for however much money.

02:15:53.000 And Logan slaps him and knocks this dude out.

02:15:58.000 Might have been fake?

02:16:01.000 Maybe for that video.

02:16:02.000 I don't know, maybe.

02:16:03.000 Well, maybe set up for a video or maybe they just reenacted it with the video like they made a conversation like this is what we're going to do.

02:16:10.000 So this is the video.

02:16:11.000 Or this is the picture.

02:16:13.000 Oh, I've seen this.

02:16:13.000 I saw this.

02:16:14.000 Yeah, I saw this.

02:16:15.000 So the guy said it was set up or something.

02:16:17.000 Of course it's set up, but you still got KO'd.

02:16:20.000 Yeah.

02:16:21.000 No, that was 100% legit.

02:16:22.000 He was done.

02:16:22.000 Let's watch the video because there's no way it was fake.

02:16:26.000 That guy clearly got KO'd.

02:16:28.000 You can hear it.

02:16:29.000 Oh, look at this.

02:16:29.000 Logan Paul, 100% fake.

02:16:31.000 Shut up. 1.00

02:16:32.000 Look at that face. 1.00

02:16:34.000 Watch this.

02:16:34.000 There's not a chance that was fake.

02:16:37.000 There's not a chance in hell.

02:16:38.000 He slaps this dude so hard.

02:16:40.000 Logan's a big boy.

02:16:41.000 Watch this.

02:16:43.000 Listen to this.

02:16:44.000 Oh! 1.00

02:16:45.000 Oh shit! 1.00

02:16:46.000 Yo, catch him, catch him, catch him! 1.00

02:16:47.000 That's not fake.

02:16:48.000 Not at all.

02:16:48.000 That's not fake.

02:16:49.000 100%.

02:16:49.000 There's no way- When you fa- Here's a little tip, folks.

02:16:53.000 He's out.

02:16:53.000 When guys pretend they catch themselves when they fall.

02:16:56.000 Yep. 0.99

02:16:57.000 When you fall like that, you fucking faceplant, you're out. 1.00

02:17:00.000 No one- It's just- Your instincts would save you. 1.00

02:17:04.000 Yeah.

02:17:04.000 You would do this, like, oh my god, he got me.

02:17:06.000 Or you would fall to your knees first.

02:17:08.000 Yeah.

02:17:08.000 You know what I'm saying?

02:17:09.000 But even what- You wouldn't faceplant.

02:17:12.000 Your instincts are never going to be, especially if you're not a stunt guy, you're not a guy who does this all the time.

02:17:17.000 The way he went out, that guy was out.

02:17:18.000 Not only that, the impact of that was crazy. 1.00

02:17:21.000 Logan's a big fucking kid. 0.99

02:17:23.000 Did you see him wrestle? 1.00

02:17:25.000 Yeah, Paulo Costa. 0.98

02:17:26.000 Yeah, he's fucking good! 0.97

02:17:27.000 He's a good wrestler. 0.99

02:17:29.000 Why box?

02:17:29.000 You'd be more entertaining watching doing MMA than boxing.

02:17:33.000 I think it's money. 0.97

02:17:34.000 There's a lot of money in those crazy men. 0.80

02:17:38.000 But he only boxed KSI, the other guy who's a YouTube star. 0.71

02:17:41.000 They both were YouTube stars and they boxed each other.

02:17:44.000 Maybe KSI doesn't have a wrestling background.

02:17:47.000 But Jake apparently is the more talented boxer.

02:17:49.000 That's what I hear.

02:17:50.000 He always talks about fighting his brother or something, I don't know, on interviews.

02:17:54.000 Yeah.

02:17:55.000 I mean, maybe he knows he can fuck his brother up, but Jake has some power. 0.99

02:17:59.000 That's real power. 1.00

02:18:00.000 I don't give a shit what anybody says. 0.99

02:18:01.000 The way he stepped forward and cracked Askren like that, that's real, legit power. 0.99

02:18:06.000 I felt so bad.

02:18:07.000 Obviously, I mean, he did it for the money.

02:18:10.000 Come on.

02:18:10.000 Come on, Ben.

02:18:11.000 I think he knew he was not going to go out there and win this fight.

02:18:14.000 Well, Jake knew it too.

02:18:15.000 You know, look, the guy's coming off of hip surgery.

02:18:18.000 He had a hip replacement.

02:18:19.000 Ben Askren did.

02:18:20.000 He definitely looked like he wasn't in the best of shape.

02:18:23.000 And he was never a striker.

02:18:26.000 It was never his thing.

02:18:28.000 His thing was just like, get close to you and grab you.

02:18:30.000 I'm pretty sure he even trained, from what I hear, he didn't train striking before a fight.

02:18:34.000 He just wrestled.

02:18:36.000 That's so crazy.

02:18:36.000 That's what I heard.

02:18:37.000 That's so crazy.

02:18:38.000 Yeah, he didn't do any kind of striking training.

02:18:40.000 He just wrestled.

02:18:40.000 He just looks so much different physically than he did when he was in the Olympics.

02:18:44.000 It's just...

02:18:45.000 So much different than when he was in the early stages of his MMA career when he was fresh and young and healthy.

02:18:50.000 He just looks like physically spent.

02:18:52.000 Yeah, he was done.

02:18:53.000 Wrestling does that too.

02:18:54.000 It takes years off your life, I feel.

02:18:56.000 Oh, yeah, man.

02:18:56.000 Years.

02:18:57.000 The punishment these guys go through.

02:18:59.000 The everyday grind. 1.00

02:19:00.000 Yeah, it's such a fucking crazy sport. 0.98

02:19:03.000 I feel like I have to take a day or two off after wrestling training. 0.98

02:19:07.000 I don't even do live wrestling.

02:19:09.000 I don't even do live wrestling.

02:19:10.000 More situational stuff.

02:19:12.000 I may start in on a leg, try to finish it.

02:19:16.000 We'll do drills where we're entering on a double or a single, things like that, but it's live stuff.

02:19:23.000 You're too prone to injury, man.

02:19:24.000 Yeah, that's what I think too.

02:19:26.000 I think...

02:19:26.000 I wonder about guys who get really in love with wrestling and then they start developing all these injuries and then they have to kind of work around them and...

02:19:34.000 Even in sparring, like I... You know, we have an amateur and pro team.

02:19:38.000 We all spar together.

02:19:39.000 I'll spar...

02:19:40.000 Kids who are 12 years old, you know, all the way up to elite pro fighters.

02:19:45.000 And I spar everybody the same.

02:19:47.000 There's no egos.

02:19:48.000 There's no, you know, and that's where a lot of these other, you know, gyms kind of get in trouble with guys like that.

02:19:55.000 You know, you get trying to crush each other.

02:19:57.000 Are you real careful, especially when you're in camp, with guys you train with?

02:20:02.000 Will you train with anybody? 0.99

02:20:04.000 Or do you only train with guys that are known to be calm and keep their shit together? 0.77

02:20:09.000 In the earlier days, we made some mistakes of just letting anybody come in. 0.97

02:20:16.000 You wind up in a fight.

02:20:17.000 Yeah, and I've had to do that.

02:20:19.000 Lay people out.

02:20:21.000 We've got guys come in from other gyms and they come in to spar with the general public of our school and try and take everybody out.

02:20:28.000 You have those enforcers that you've got to humble them up a little bit, but Dad's like Steven.

02:20:35.000 I remember those days.

02:20:36.000 It's crazy.

02:20:37.000 And I hate doing it.

02:20:38.000 Every dojo has those, right?

02:20:40.000 Those situations?

02:20:41.000 Oh, yeah.

02:20:42.000 My dad was in a...

02:20:44.000 I wish I was around for those days.

02:20:46.000 It was dojo wars days. 0.52

02:20:48.000 There was a time where my dad was a brown belt, and I guess his instructor was talking crap about some taekwondo school in the area.

02:20:56.000 So the instructor and one of his best students came over to my dad's school.

02:21:02.000 Where he trained at.

02:21:03.000 And his instructor had just come off a knee surgery.

02:21:06.000 My dad had no idea why they were there.

02:21:08.000 So the instructor threw him under the bus.

02:21:09.000 He's like, I can't fight you, but he will.

02:21:11.000 Like, pointed at my dad.

02:21:13.000 You know, my dad said he looked over and saw him pointing at me.

02:21:15.000 My dad's like, You know, hey.

02:21:18.000 And you can tell these Taekwondo dudes, they were just like pissed.

02:21:22.000 And this was knee surgery in the 70s?

02:21:24.000 Yeah. 0.99

02:21:25.000 So they used like hammers and shit. 0.97

02:21:27.000 Yeah. 0.98

02:21:28.000 So this guy, my dad didn't come off a knee surgery, his instructor did.

02:21:31.000 Right.

02:21:31.000 So he couldn't fight.

02:21:32.000 So he's like, but that guy will fight you.

02:21:34.000 So my dad thought it was just a friendly sparring match.

02:21:36.000 My dad asked the guy if he needed any gear.

02:21:38.000 He's like, well, we don't use gear.

02:21:40.000 You could just tell in the guy's face, like, alright, this guy's gonna try and, you know, crush me.

02:21:44.000 And, um, so, my dad, they're out there sparring.

02:21:47.000 He said he knew it got real when the guy grabbed me by my headgear and headbutted me.

02:21:51.000 Like, real hard, just headbutted.

02:21:53.000 Boom! 0.99

02:21:55.000 And I was like, alright.

02:21:56.000 Next thing you know, Dad's still trying to take a line and the guy sidekicks him.

02:21:59.000 And they had a stucco wall, right?

02:22:01.000 Sidekick him and he just kept sidekicking him into the wall until that stucco wall kind of just kind of broke a little, broke, caved in.

02:22:08.000 Dad's like, alright.

02:22:09.000 He's like, I gotta end this quick.

02:22:11.000 And my dad had this, you know, crappy dip foam, probably, you know, gear back they had in the 70s and 80s.

02:22:17.000 I don't know what they had.

02:22:18.000 And the guy came in with a sidekick or a front kick and my dad parried and hit him with a ridge hand.

02:22:23.000 We call him Papa Ridgeham, you know, for one of these reasons, and cut the guy all the way across his face, knocked him out cold.

02:22:30.000 And what makes that story funny was you have a small airport in Greenville, South Carolina.

02:22:36.000 We're going through the airport, and one of the guys there, an older fella, kind of a big dude, you know, jacked.

02:22:41.000 He's like, oh, yeah.

02:22:42.000 You Ray Thompson's kid, right?

02:22:44.000 I'm like, yes, sir.

02:22:45.000 You know, he's like, tell him blah, blah, blah.

02:22:46.000 He says, hello.

02:22:47.000 I'm like, all right.

02:22:48.000 So I went back to the karate school and told my dad that this guy said hello.

02:22:51.000 He's like, oh, man.

02:22:53.000 You know, and dad told me that story, you know, years ago.

02:22:57.000 And he's like, that was him.

02:22:58.000 They're like best friends now.

02:23:00.000 He comes over to the school all the time.

02:23:02.000 And the guy's face gets red and he's got like this white yellow.

02:23:05.000 Oh, wow.

02:23:07.000 Yeah.

02:23:07.000 From the scar?

02:23:08.000 Yeah.

02:23:09.000 But the guy's awesome.

02:23:10.000 The guy's such a nice guy.

02:23:11.000 Ridge hand is a crazy technique that you've never seen in MMA. No.

02:23:15.000 My dad's wanted me to throw that ridge hand.

02:23:17.000 Really?

02:23:18.000 Yeah.

02:23:18.000 For the longest.

02:23:18.000 You know who used to talk about the ridge hand all the time?

02:23:20.000 Charlie Murphy.

02:23:22.000 There's a hilarious moment that there's actually a photograph of.

02:23:25.000 Charlie Murphy and I did a show together, and Maurice Smith and Ivan Salivari are there.

02:23:31.000 And we're all having dinner.

02:23:33.000 And Charlie Murphy, who is really good at karate, Charlie Murphy gets out, he's talking about the Chicago Chicago Ridgehand!

02:23:38.000 He's got this technique that, you know, Charlie was really good at karate.

02:23:42.000 He made it.

02:23:42.000 Chicago Ridgehand.

02:23:43.000 He was really good at throwing a Ridgehand, and he was saying, like, how come you guys don't throw Ridgehands in MMA? And, you know, he's talking to Ivan Salivary and Maury Smith.

02:23:52.000 We're in Seattle, and they're both like... 1.00

02:23:54.000 What the fuck? 0.99

02:23:54.000 There it is right there! 0.99

02:23:56.000 What?

02:23:57.000 Why don't y'all throw this, guys?

02:23:58.000 So that's Ivan Salivari to the right, and Maury Smith is right next to him in the white shirt.

02:24:03.000 And he's talking about the Chicago Ridgehand.

02:24:06.000 Look at Charlie!

02:24:07.000 The thing is, it's like...

02:24:08.000 Look at his eyes!

02:24:09.000 I know.

02:24:11.000 Charlie was the best.

02:24:13.000 The Ridgehand, man. 0.57

02:24:14.000 Oh, man.

02:24:15.000 It is underestimated.

02:24:16.000 It really is.

02:24:17.000 Oh yeah, it's a legit technique. 0.86

02:24:19.000 And you don't really, I mean, my dad would hit dudes in the head with it.

02:24:23.000 He'd condition his hand.

02:24:24.000 If you don't condition your hands, I recommend not doing it.

02:24:27.000 But, you know, the neck area, you know, you knock dudes out.

02:24:31.000 I mean, coming from up underneath, the guy's trying to shoot, you throw a ridge hand.

02:24:33.000 Well, think about how many guys have been KO'd on the ground by hammer fists, right?

02:24:37.000 And then think, like, you can't really, it's hard to do that.

02:24:41.000 To do a chop.

02:24:41.000 Chop.

02:24:42.000 But, like, this, not that hard.

02:24:43.000 Right.

02:24:44.000 It's like throwing a hook.

02:24:45.000 And sometimes guys get KO'd with a ridge hand accidentally, right?

02:24:48.000 Because a guy will throw a hook with a straight arm, and he'll catch him with the side of the hand with a closed fist and KO him.

02:24:53.000 That happens all the time.

02:24:55.000 I don't see why people don't do open hand slaps, like using the palm.

02:25:01.000 I feel like when I hit a mitt, I hit harder with an open hand than I do a hook.

02:25:05.000 Well, you know, Bryce Mitchell, you know Thug Nasty, Bryce Mitchell? 0.98

02:25:09.000 Wicked Jiu Jitsu guy.

02:25:11.000 Awesome fighter.

02:25:12.000 He actually sent me a message recently because I was talking about how good Trevor Whitman's gloves are.

02:25:20.000 You know, Trevor Whitman has that company, Onyx.

02:25:22.000 They make incredible gloves. 1.00

02:25:24.000 His gloves are the shit. 1.00

02:25:25.000 And he made a better MMA glove. 1.00

02:25:27.000 His MMA gloves are fantastic.

02:25:29.000 And the UFC was doing something to try to work out a deal with Trevor to buy his gloves, but apparently it never came to fruition.

02:25:37.000 Yeah.

02:25:37.000 One of the things that I said, what I love about the glove is that it's curved constantly.

02:25:41.000 So when your hand goes in it, it's curved.

02:25:44.000 It makes you have to kind of keep a fist so you can't...

02:25:46.000 Right.

02:25:46.000 In the UFC gloves, they kind of make your hand come open.

02:25:50.000 But Bryce was saying, you know what the problem with that is?

02:25:53.000 When you break your hand, he goes, I want to be able to still slap a guy.

02:25:57.000 And he goes, if it's constantly curved like that, and then slapping is out of the question.

02:26:01.000 Like if you can't open it.

02:26:03.000 I guess you could still.

02:26:05.000 You can open it.

02:26:06.000 I've had Trevor's gloves on.

02:26:08.000 You can open them, but they naturally want to close your hand.

02:26:11.000 So when you relax your hand, the OMX goes back to that.

02:26:13.000 When you relax your hand, your hand's like this, instead of the UFC gloves, which you're kind of trying to extend your hand.

02:26:18.000 The dudes are still going to get poked in the arm with that, I think.

02:26:20.000 That's true.

02:26:21.000 I was just super impressed with Bryce Mitchell too, man.

02:26:25.000 That kid is something.

02:26:26.000 He's something.

02:26:28.000 His jiu-jitsu is off the chart, man.

02:26:30.000 Yeah, we got Chase Hooper coming back in again.

02:26:33.000 And that kid's a little wizard too. 0.93

02:26:35.000 Nasty on the ground. 0.93

02:26:36.000 He reminds me of Ryan. 0.97

02:26:38.000 He reminds me of Ryan Hall.

02:26:40.000 He just looked like a little kid.

02:26:41.000 He's 21?

02:26:42.000 Mm-hmm.

02:26:43.000 21 in the UFC. He got kind of bummed out because I was talking about his striking in his last fight.

02:26:49.000 He's like, man, I like those guys and they're shitting on me because me and DC were talking about striking.

02:26:53.000 But it's purely because I don't want him to get hurt.

02:26:57.000 Because when I see him, I see the level of jiu-jitsu that he has is so high.

02:27:02.000 It's so good.

02:27:03.000 His ground game is so nasty.

02:27:04.000 He's so good at controlling guys.

02:27:05.000 But I worry about him at a young age Taking on someone who's nasty, who's got really good striking.

02:27:15.000 It's just like, the gap between is, you know, some guys, they're like, jujitsu's here, and then their striking's here.

02:27:21.000 It's like a little bit better, but his, the gap is so big.

02:27:25.000 His jujitsu's so much better than his striking.

02:27:27.000 I agree.

02:27:27.000 And he's 145. I don't know how long he's going to be at 145 because he's still growing.

02:27:31.000 He's so long.

02:27:32.000 And he's tall.

02:27:33.000 He's like 6'1".

02:27:34.000 Yeah.

02:27:34.000 And I know he's got a longer reach than I had.

02:27:36.000 I was like, how are people touching you?

02:27:39.000 They should never be getting in on you like that.

02:27:41.000 He's just learning.

02:27:42.000 Yeah, he is.

02:27:43.000 He's so young and so green when it comes to the striking as well.

02:27:46.000 Imagine if he's in there against a real elite striker who finds that chin, you know?

02:27:52.000 And that's the thing.

02:27:53.000 He needs to move up at a certain rate.

02:27:56.000 I don't think he needs to be thrown out there. 0.99

02:27:58.000 You've got to be careful with the UFC because they don't give a fuck. 0.99

02:28:01.000 They don't. 0.99

02:28:01.000 They're like, hey Chase, we've got a fight for you. 0.99

02:28:03.000 Hey! 0.99

02:28:05.000 Next thing you know, they'll try you.

02:28:07.000 With me, my first fight, still learning the wrestling, and they throw me in with Matt Brown.

02:28:14.000 But you're 57-0 as a kickboxer.

02:28:17.000 You're one of the elite strikers in the sport.

02:28:19.000 It's a different thing.

02:28:21.000 Yeah, he's been doing jiu-jitsu, but strictly jiu-jitsu.

02:28:24.000 I don't know how long he's been doing the striking thing, but if he can use that, especially the style that we have.

02:28:30.000 Ryan's done very well with it.

02:28:32.000 I didn't expect him to start throwing hook kicks out there. 0.97

02:28:35.000 Crazy! 0.97

02:28:36.000 Dude, let's go, man! 0.79

02:28:37.000 He throws so many kicks, and the thing is, he's not worried at all about you taking him down.

02:28:42.000 Not at all!

02:28:42.000 So he'll throw head kicks all day long.

02:28:44.000 I mean, I know I'm physically stronger than this guy, Ryan.

02:28:47.000 I know I'm more athletic than him.

02:28:50.000 His jiu-jitsu is so good, though.

02:28:51.000 There's nothing I can do.

02:28:52.000 So good.

02:28:54.000 Levels of jiu-jitsu are so interesting, because you see a guy who's a black belt who's really good, and then you see him roll with an elite black belt, and you're like, wow.

02:29:02.000 Yeah. 0.99

02:29:03.000 What the fuck, man? 1.00

02:29:04.000 That's crazy. 1.00

02:29:05.000 It's like...

02:29:06.000 And with him, it's like, you know, he's doing the things you're not supposed to do.

02:29:09.000 Like, when you first start jiu-jitsu, you're not supposed to do this, you're not supposed to do that.

02:29:11.000 He wants to turn your back.

02:29:13.000 He's doing all of that.

02:29:14.000 Yeah.

02:29:14.000 And he's doing everything you're not supposed to do and still finishing you.

02:29:17.000 Well, one of the beautiful things about the sport is we haven't even begun to see what's possible.

02:29:23.000 The elite of the elite of today will not be as good as the elite of the elite of tomorrow.

02:29:28.000 They're getting better.

02:29:29.000 There's not a sport other than MMA where you can go to 1993 and then you go to 2021 and it's unrecognizable.

02:29:37.000 It's crazy how much better guys are today.

02:29:39.000 The day where you got those guys that has the Izzy Adesanya striking, you got the Chris Ryman wrestling, and you have the Ryan Hall jiu-jitsu all in one.

02:29:48.000 All in one, yeah.

02:29:49.000 That's crazy.

02:29:50.000 The thing is...

02:29:53.000 I feel like in order to get to that level, you would have to start, maybe.

02:29:57.000 Maybe have to start getting into the, maybe fighting for the UFC later on, like when I did.

02:30:02.000 Because when you're 21, you're still learning, right?

02:30:05.000 And I think that's one of the reasons why I've survived so long in this game, because I had that time to develop.

02:30:11.000 Yeah, you had so much timing and experience and so much just combat sports experience where you were used to competing.

02:30:19.000 Yeah.

02:30:19.000 That's big.

02:30:20.000 And also, look at Daniel Cormier, how good he did in MMA. But it was also, how much time did he have in wrestling?

02:30:26.000 Yeah.

02:30:27.000 That's combat sport experience.

02:30:28.000 It might not be striking, but it's still combat sport experience.

02:30:31.000 It's learning how to compete.

02:30:33.000 So by the time he got into MMA, he was already dominating people.

02:30:36.000 I mean, when he dominated Josh Barnett as a heavyweight, he picks up Josh Barnett and slams him, throws him around, and strikes for us.

02:30:44.000 Won the heavyweight Grand Prix.

02:30:45.000 I loved him in that, man.

02:30:46.000 I still love DC. I love that guy.

02:30:48.000 I love him to death.

02:30:49.000 And that's something that we try and do with our amateur fighters.

02:30:53.000 If they want to fight MMA, we want you to fight a few kickboxing fights first so you get used to the crowd.

02:30:57.000 You get used to the nerves.

02:31:00.000 You got some gems that just throw them out there.

02:31:03.000 Yeah.

02:31:03.000 It's not smart.

02:31:04.000 It's not.

02:31:05.000 You know, it's interesting the difference between the way boxing handles contenders versus the way MMA does.

02:31:11.000 Because look, a guy like Jon Jones who fought Shogun for the title at 22 years old, it turned out Jon is one of the greatest athletes the sport's ever seen.

02:31:20.000 It just turns out.

02:31:22.000 But in boxing, they would have built him up slow before a title shot.

02:31:26.000 He would have, you know, unless he's a Mike Tyson who's just smoking everybody in front of him and then finally...

02:31:31.000 At 18?

02:31:32.000 Yeah, he gets to Trevor Burbick and they're like, yeah, he's ready, he's 20. But he was a really unusual case.

02:31:37.000 Right.

02:31:38.000 But with boxing, generally, you're given a guy who tests you a little bit, and then there's a guy who tests you a little more, and there's a guy who tests you a little more, and they're like, let's see how he does with a guy who can move good.

02:31:50.000 Let's see how he does with a guy who's an inside fighter.

02:31:53.000 And the trainers and the managers will try to figure out your career and then ideally get you to the title as an undefeated prospect.

02:32:02.000 That's what they want.

02:32:03.000 In MMA, you get a late call.

02:32:06.000 You know, Sean Shelby calls you up, hey, what are you doing tomorrow?

02:32:11.000 Yeah, we need you here, man.

02:32:13.000 Let's go.

02:32:13.000 Can you make 170 tomorrow?

02:32:15.000 I think that, like, when you're first starting in the UFC, that's how it was like, especially, like, for me.

02:32:19.000 I feel like the fights they give you, you need to take them.

02:32:23.000 You have to take them.

02:32:24.000 And then, once you get to the point to where, like, the Jake Ellenberger and the Hendricks, after that, I was able to kind of make some kind of—they gave me two or three fighters.

02:32:33.000 All right, what do you think about these guys?

02:32:34.000 And I can kind of choose. 0.92

02:32:36.000 The Jake Allenberger fight, I always wanted to ask you about this, because Jake Allenberger, leading up to that fight, was talking shit about spinning techniques. 0.84

02:32:42.000 Is that why you hit him with a wheel kick? 0.96

02:32:45.000 You know what?

02:32:46.000 I want to say yes.

02:32:48.000 I really want to say yes, but it was one of those things where I was so...

02:32:51.000 You know, when I'm out there, I don't think of anything.

02:32:55.000 You know, it's just reaction.

02:32:57.000 But I do hear my coaches, and I hear my opponents' coaches.

02:33:02.000 So, it made it a little bit easier not having an audience, but my last fight, I tuned into both.

02:33:08.000 Yeah, that had to be weird, right?

02:33:10.000 Yeah, that was weird.

02:33:11.000 But it was kind of easy at the same time.

02:33:14.000 They were saying things, hey, hymn them up!

02:33:18.000 I can hear what you're saying right there.

02:33:20.000 You know what I'm saying?

02:33:21.000 I know what you're going to do.

02:33:22.000 Alright, I'm ready.

02:33:23.000 It was so weird.

02:33:25.000 He didn't have a fight I'm tuned in, but my dad said spin.

02:33:28.000 I knew exactly what to do.

02:33:29.000 Wow.

02:33:30.000 He said spin.

02:33:31.000 You can hear it. 0.99

02:33:31.000 Do you think your dad said it because your dad wanted to get at him for talking shit about spinning? 0.99

02:33:37.000 100%. 1.00

02:33:37.000 Because he was talking shit about spinning techniques. 1.00

02:33:39.000 Karate period. 0.99

02:33:40.000 He was like karate.

02:33:42.000 He just laughed.

02:33:43.000 But you couldn't hit anybody more karate than that.

02:33:45.000 Woo! 0.99

02:33:46.000 And more clean.

02:33:48.000 And I hit him with it twice. 0.83

02:33:49.000 The first one was the neck.

02:33:51.000 I knew he was going to protect that, so I went up a little higher and got him right in the temple.

02:33:55.000 Yeah, that was wild.

02:33:57.000 Yeah, I remember watching and looking at Chris Weidman jumps up.

02:34:01.000 He had CJ's young son in his hand.

02:34:02.000 Just flailing around like, yeah!

02:34:05.000 And that was the weekend where Conor McGregor fought Chad Mendes, I believe.

02:34:12.000 Oh, wow.

02:34:13.000 That was that Saturday.

02:34:13.000 That was like International Fight Week, maybe?

02:34:15.000 Oh, wow.

02:34:16.000 He fought Chad Mendes on Saturday, and I fought on Sunday.

02:34:19.000 No kidding.

02:34:20.000 Yeah, that was one of those weird things.

02:34:22.000 They had a few of those nights where they had fights on Friday night, fights on Saturday night.

02:34:27.000 And how crazy is this?

02:34:29.000 Usman was on the undercard.

02:34:30.000 Was he?

02:34:31.000 Who was he fighting?

02:34:31.000 Do you remember?

02:34:32.000 It was the contender.

02:34:33.000 Oh, not contenders.

02:34:34.000 The finals of the Ultimate Fighter?

02:34:36.000 Ultimate Fighter.

02:34:37.000 Yeah, I think Vicente Luque was on that, right?

02:34:40.000 Did you?

02:34:41.000 No, obviously, I don't remember, but obviously you won a fight for the title.

02:34:45.000 And, you know, when you saw Masvidal getting another shot, did that piss you off?

02:34:52.000 No, it just made sense. 0.96

02:34:54.000 I mean, the hype the guy's got around him is ridiculous.

02:34:59.000 He took the fight on short notice, so I guess the UFC might have owed him a favor.

02:35:03.000 He hasn't fought since.

02:35:04.000 He hasn't.

02:35:05.000 It was like back-to-back.

02:35:06.000 Yeah.

02:35:07.000 I know a lot of fans were wanting me to fight him because I'm the only guy.

02:35:10.000 He hasn't fought in the top five.

02:35:13.000 But, yeah, man.

02:35:16.000 I'm patient.

02:35:17.000 What do you think you have to do to get that, to secure that title fight again?

02:35:21.000 Because a lot of people kind of counted you out after you had those two fights with Woodley, but then you worked your way back, and then obviously the Pettis fight, but then you worked your way back into contendership, and I think the Jeff Neal fight opened up a lot of people's eyes, because a lot of people, me included, were really high on that,

02:35:37.000 and I still am.

02:35:38.000 And he's got a big fight coming up too, right?

02:35:39.000 He does.

02:35:40.000 Neil Magny.

02:35:41.000 That's right.

02:35:42.000 That's a really good fight.

02:35:43.000 Neil Magny.

02:35:43.000 That's a really good fight.

02:35:44.000 Yeah.

02:35:45.000 Neil Magny's another guy that people like to look past for some strange reason.

02:35:48.000 It's weird because he, it's like, and I can't really say anything because I've, you know, got beat by Darren Till, got knocked out by a guy who I was beating.

02:35:57.000 But it's like a swing or miss for Neil Magny.

02:36:01.000 Like, he does very well against this dude.

02:36:03.000 He's like a different fighter.

02:36:04.000 But then, I don't know if it's just the smaller grapplers because RDA submitted him, right?

02:36:09.000 Grapplers, he has an issue with.

02:36:10.000 And Michael Chiesa.

02:36:11.000 Maya.

02:36:12.000 Yeah, but he's a grappler.

02:36:14.000 Yeah.

02:36:15.000 Michael Kiesa, how the fuck did that guy ever make 155 pounds? 0.99

02:36:20.000 I don't know. 0.99

02:36:21.000 Whenever I give that guy a hug, it's like hugging a door.

02:36:24.000 Jesus, bro.

02:36:24.000 He's such a cool dude.

02:36:25.000 I love that guy.

02:36:25.000 He's so nice.

02:36:26.000 I love that guy.

02:36:26.000 He's a great commentator, too.

02:36:28.000 When he does the breakdowns on the desk with Alan Joban, those guys are awesome.

02:36:32.000 I love that the UFC does that, that they give fighters an opportunity to do stuff outside of just compete, even while they're active, you know?

02:36:40.000 I've done a few things.

02:36:41.000 I think it was for the Tyron fight was one of them.

02:36:42.000 When he knocked out Lawler, I was behind the desk.

02:36:47.000 I was with Cormier and I think Dominic Cruz and some of those guys.

02:36:51.000 But I liked it.

02:36:53.000 I had a lot of fun doing it.

02:36:54.000 But those guys prepare, man.

02:36:56.000 They do their studying.

02:36:58.000 Daniel does.

02:36:58.000 He does a lot of studying.

02:36:59.000 And for me, I would like, hey, you need to do that more often.

02:37:02.000 I was like, it's just too much work.

02:37:03.000 It's a lot of work.

02:37:03.000 I was winging it, for real.

02:37:04.000 I was just going out there just, all right, here I am.

02:37:06.000 Well, when we have a card like this weekend, I think there's 15 fights on the card this weekend.

02:37:11.000 I gotta watch a lot of fights, man. 0.99

02:37:13.000 There's a lot of fucking people. 1.00

02:37:15.000 Some of these people I've never even heard of. 1.00

02:37:16.000 I've never seen them fight.

02:37:17.000 Well, a lot of them are debuts.

02:37:19.000 So you gotta go and find something about them online.

02:37:22.000 Find footage online.

02:37:24.000 Yeah, this will be the second time Chris has fought Uriah Hall.

02:37:27.000 Oh, that's right.

02:37:29.000 He fought him before the UFC. I think he knocked him out at the same point.

02:37:33.000 Yeah, he hit him with a left hook. 0.87

02:37:34.000 Yeah, that's right.

02:37:36.000 It was crazy.

02:37:36.000 We were in Brazil doing a TV show.

02:37:39.000 It was like a fight science thing.

02:37:43.000 It was me versus a CrossFit guy.

02:37:45.000 Chris Weidman versus a Brazilian Olympic wrestler.

02:37:49.000 And he had to wrestle.

02:37:49.000 He was so pissed because he's out of shape, you know, and he had to actually wrestle these guys.

02:37:56.000 But everybody, he was like, you think Joseph Bieber walked in?

02:38:00.000 People love Chris.

02:38:02.000 Love Chris Weidman for beating Anderson.

02:38:04.000 For beating Anderson.

02:38:05.000 Wow.

02:38:07.000 They were so pissed that Anderson Silva was doing his whole shenanigans out there.

02:38:13.000 Yeah.

02:38:14.000 They did not like him for that.

02:38:16.000 Wow, it was such an unfortunate way to lose when Anderson had this dominant reign and to be, like, clowning Chris.

02:38:23.000 And the way Chris set it up was so interesting, too, because Anderson would go left, right, left, right.

02:38:29.000 So Chris throws a punch and then he throws a backfist.

02:38:33.000 Yeah, it was like a...

02:38:33.000 Yeah.

02:38:34.000 So he already was going to the right.

02:38:36.000 So he had to go to the left.

02:38:38.000 And he walks right into that left hook.

02:38:40.000 Boom.

02:38:41.000 Went nuts when that happened.

02:38:42.000 It's really funny.

02:38:43.000 I mean, it's not funny, but it's really interesting because a lot of people missed that.

02:38:46.000 He threw the punch and he threw a back fist.

02:38:49.000 Yeah.

02:38:49.000 So Anderson was moving away from the back fist and Chris lured him right into the left hook.

02:38:54.000 And for some reason, Chris, he's not the fat.

02:38:58.000 When you look at that punch, it doesn't look really fast.

02:39:01.000 It just kind of moles through his chin, his skull, and just takes him out.

02:39:05.000 I don't think he saw it coming.

02:39:07.000 It was perfect. 0.99

02:39:08.000 You know, and what was interesting is Anderson was fucking up Chris's legs. 0.99

02:39:11.000 Yeah. 0.99

02:39:12.000 He really was. 1.00

02:39:13.000 And if he just stayed disciplined and fucked up his legs... 1.00

02:39:15.000 I have a theory about that, too, though. 0.99

02:39:17.000 I think for some fighters, when they're that dominant for that long, I think the pressure is just overwhelming.

02:39:23.000 And that's one of the things that Matt Hughes said when he lost to BJ Penn.

02:39:27.000 When BJ tapped him out, he was like, you know, honestly, I'm relieved.

02:39:31.000 It's just like all these guys chasing after me all the time, trying to get to the title.

02:39:36.000 And first of all, I was like, wow, kudos to you in this moment of defeat for being so honest to say, I mean, and one of the greatest fighters of all time.

02:39:45.000 To be that guy and also be like, look, I'm going to be honest with you.

02:39:49.000 I'm happy.

02:39:49.000 I'm relieved.

02:39:50.000 Yeah.

02:39:51.000 I mean, that pressure can be...

02:39:52.000 I don't see how Connor does it.

02:39:53.000 I don't see any of those guys do at that level.

02:39:55.000 Just the constant, you know, everybody just like this watching you everywhere you go.

02:40:03.000 Everybody's training for you.

02:40:04.000 Yeah, I felt that way, you know, coming up at the kickboxing, just being undefeated for so long.

02:40:08.000 And when I got beat by Matt Brown, it was a relief.

02:40:12.000 Now I can just go out there and fight.

02:40:13.000 I don't have to worry about not losing.

02:40:15.000 Being undefeated constantly and holding on to that zero.

02:40:18.000 Yeah, that's interesting.

02:40:21.000 Do you ever work with a mental coach or anything?

02:40:25.000 I did for a little bit, but I felt like these guys were trying to put into my head that I was mentally weak.

02:40:35.000 Really?

02:40:35.000 That's how I felt.

02:40:36.000 That's just me.

02:40:37.000 I don't know.

02:40:38.000 I don't know why.

02:40:38.000 How so?

02:40:40.000 Just the things that they were saying, hey, you know, what bothers you?

02:40:43.000 I was like, nothing's bothering me.

02:40:44.000 Stop saying something's bothering me when nothing's bothering me.

02:40:47.000 I don't want you to focus on this.

02:40:48.000 I'm like, you know, I just like, you know, I've never been, I don't think, at least I don't think, like...

02:40:56.000 I've never been a negative thinker.

02:40:59.000 I've always thought positively.

02:41:00.000 I always thought, like, I'm going to go out there and crush this dude. 0.80

02:41:02.000 You know, I'm just going to work my behind off.

02:41:05.000 And that's what gives me confidence going to a fight.

02:41:08.000 Preparation.

02:41:08.000 Preparation, man.

02:41:09.000 Knowing that I did everything I could to prepare for it.

02:41:12.000 And if there's any doubts, then if there's any of those doubts out there, like, you know, I should have did this, I should have, or I wasn't feeling good.

02:41:18.000 I see guys at the top do this all the time.

02:41:20.000 And that's why working with champions, I guess, coming up, which has been a privilege with GSP and Chris and these guys.

02:41:28.000 They may feel a little bit of down, whatever.

02:41:32.000 They don't care what's bothering them at home.

02:41:34.000 They may feel a little bit of bumps and bruises, but they're still in the gym.

02:41:37.000 There's always something you can do.

02:41:38.000 Always.

02:41:40.000 So it's just that mindset, man.

02:41:41.000 I kind of try to be as observant as possible.

02:41:44.000 It's contagious, right?

02:41:44.000 Yeah.

02:41:44.000 Oh, yeah.

02:41:45.000 100%.

02:41:46.000 And so is the loser mentality.

02:41:48.000 It is.

02:41:49.000 It is.

02:41:50.000 You know, you see a lot of those guys who, it was like a compilation somebody put out there after I lost to Pettis, and they showed a bunch of people up there crying, and then me, I'm just like, yeah, what's up, man?

02:41:59.000 But it's, you know, it's, you can't go back and change it.

02:42:03.000 Yeah, it is what it is, right?

02:42:05.000 Just go back to the drawing board and get better.

02:42:07.000 Bless yourself, baby.

02:42:09.000 This is Max Holloway shirt.

02:42:10.000 Shout out to Max.

02:42:11.000 But that's what he always says.

02:42:12.000 It is what it is.

02:42:14.000 It is what it is.

02:42:15.000 Life's a garden.

02:42:16.000 You've got to dig it.

02:42:17.000 Nobody's more relaxed and happy after a loss than that guy.

02:42:20.000 He just lets it go.

02:42:21.000 Even when he gets robbed.

02:42:22.000 He's like, it is what it is.

02:42:23.000 And that's kind of how I felt with the till fight.

02:42:27.000 I felt like I won that fight, but, you know, like I said, at the end, it is what it is.

02:42:33.000 You go back to the drama.

02:42:33.000 You were talking in that fight about those sidekicks to the knee.

02:42:37.000 Yes.

02:42:37.000 You don't like those kicks.

02:42:40.000 I don't.

02:42:40.000 I guess when you're out there fighting, anything can happen.

02:42:43.000 You have the potential to really damage somebody, but I feel like that's just like a...

02:42:48.000 Like somebody getting a heel hook and really cranking it in sparring. 0.99

02:42:52.000 Just a dick move, you know? 0.98

02:42:56.000 I'm like, yeah, we're out here fighting each other, but I'm seriously trying to injure you. 0.99

02:43:01.000 I'm seriously trying to put you out of the game.

02:43:04.000 I feel like if I went out there and started a sidekick on the knees, it would just be, I don't know.

02:43:10.000 I couldn't do it.

02:43:11.000 Really?

02:43:11.000 Yeah.

02:43:12.000 Do you remember the first fight with Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero?

02:43:15.000 Yes.

02:43:16.000 Yoel came out, threw sidekicks to the knee, and really fucked up Robert's knees. 0.97

02:43:21.000 The second fight, Robert came out and fucked up Yoel's knees. 0.98

02:43:25.000 His knees. 0.99

02:43:25.000 Did it the same way. 0.99

02:43:26.000 Yeah.

02:43:27.000 Came out and immediately opened up with those sidekicks to the knees. 1.00

02:43:29.000 Jon Jones is notorious for that.

02:43:31.000 Who is he?

02:43:31.000 Both knees.

02:43:32.000 He's so good at that.

02:43:33.000 He's so good at that.

02:43:33.000 And he's so long, too.

02:43:35.000 See, that's the thing.

02:43:36.000 At the end of the fight, I want you still standing.

02:43:38.000 I want you to go have a beer and be cool.

02:43:41.000 I wish there was something they could do about meniscus.

02:43:44.000 Oh, man.

02:43:45.000 Meniscus and cartilage. 0.99

02:43:46.000 Because it seems like when that shit blows out, it's so hard to fix. 0.99

02:43:51.000 And then it hinders your movements in sparring and training. 0.99

02:43:56.000 So it changes the way you prepare, and it changes the way you think about moving and kicking.

02:44:01.000 Mm-hmm.

02:44:02.000 And so it makes you think, too, how crazy the human body is because there's not anything out there that could replace that meniscus. 0.59

02:44:09.000 Other than resurfacing.

02:44:12.000 Yeah.

02:44:12.000 Other than...

02:44:12.000 Right.

02:44:13.000 But there's no material, like no rubber out there that could replace it.

02:44:17.000 No.

02:44:17.000 So when it's gone, it's gone.

02:44:18.000 It's gone, it's gone.

02:44:19.000 I mean, what they do now is just they just completely remove the cartilage and put this...

02:44:24.000 Crazy synthetic material.

02:44:26.000 Really?

02:44:26.000 And they drill it into your kneecap.

02:44:28.000 And that becomes your new knee surface.

02:44:30.000 What?

02:44:31.000 Yeah, and you don't feel it.

02:44:32.000 Is it?

02:44:32.000 The guy from the Highland Games, we've talked about him before.

02:44:34.000 Do you remember the gentleman's name? 0.98

02:44:35.000 He's a big fucking house of a man who won the Highlands Games and got his knee replaced. 0.99

02:44:43.000 Who told me about it? 1.00

02:44:45.000 Kelly Starlett told me about it.

02:44:49.000 I like your shirt, by the way.

02:44:51.000 Thank you.

02:44:51.000 You're welcome.

02:44:52.000 Matt Vincent.

02:44:52.000 That's it.

02:44:53.000 Matt Vincent.

02:44:54.000 See if you can find his Instagram.

02:44:56.000 There's a video of him moving post-surgery, doing like these, you know, Highland Games. 1.00

02:45:02.000 It's all the crazy shit where they throw fucking cannonballs and stuff. 0.99

02:45:06.000 Don't they like toss big poles? 1.00

02:45:10.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1.00

02:45:10.000 All that kind of crazy shit. 1.00

02:45:11.000 Scottish games? 1.00

02:45:12.000 Yeah, the Highland games they call it.

02:45:14.000 But this guy, Matt Vincent, that's his name?

02:45:16.000 Matt Vincent's a gorilla. 1.00

02:45:18.000 He's just a fucking tank of a man. 1.00

02:45:19.000 So it was just a huge change? 1.00

02:45:21.000 Yeah, he blew his knee out and blew his ACL out and kept training.

02:45:26.000 What is that?

02:45:27.000 What his knee used to look like?

02:45:29.000 Yeah.

02:45:30.000 And that's what it looks like now?

02:45:31.000 Two years ago. 0.99

02:45:33.000 Yeah, so that's how fucked his left knee is, or it might be his right knee. 0.99

02:45:38.000 You can tell there's no gap between the knees, so it's bone on bone. 0.99

02:45:43.000 But watch what he can do now.

02:45:45.000 Watch this.

02:45:49.000 That's not the best video of it.

02:45:51.000 What?

02:45:52.000 Yeah. 1.00

02:45:54.000 There's a great video of him doing some crazy shit. 0.99

02:45:59.000 So you see him running on a treadmill. 0.99

02:46:00.000 He can do everything now, basically, essentially.

02:46:03.000 He's lost some weight, too.

02:46:06.000 This is him.

02:46:07.000 What year is this?

02:46:08.000 What is this?

02:46:08.000 And this was his right knee, he said?

02:46:10.000 If you go a little further than that, there's some videos of him moving really well.

02:46:14.000 No, that's not it. 1.00

02:46:15.000 That's him at the Highland Games with this stupid skirt on. 1.00

02:46:18.000 Sorry, bro. 1.00

02:46:20.000 Yeah, he did a lot of that knees over toes stuff.

02:46:24.000 Oh, so that's what you're talking about.

02:46:26.000 Yeah.

02:46:26.000 Okay.

02:46:27.000 But that's just to strengthen all the shit around the knee. 0.98

02:46:30.000 But if you go a little further down, I'll tell you when I see it, is him... 0.95

02:46:35.000 I feel like everybody's dabbled in MMA. Yeah, everybody's doing a little something.

02:46:40.000 Well, it's because, you know, that's the ultimate.

02:46:45.000 Yeah.

02:46:46.000 I've talked to other athletes, man, and just talking to them, they're huge fans.

02:46:50.000 It's like something I wish they could do.

02:46:52.000 No, no, no.

02:46:53.000 Oh, that's me talking about them.

02:46:54.000 Scroll a little down.

02:46:56.000 I've talked about them several times.

02:46:57.000 That right there.

02:46:58.000 That one in the middle.

02:46:59.000 You can see them moving really well.

02:47:02.000 I mean, this is...

02:47:03.000 That's a big boy, man. 1.00

02:47:05.000 And this is with a fucking fake knee. 0.99

02:47:08.000 I mean, all of this movement with a fake knee, that's crazy, right? 1.00

02:47:14.000 That's ridiculous. 0.87

02:47:14.000 All the spinning and stuff, yeah. 0.87

02:47:16.000 Yeah, what does it say there?

02:47:19.000 Let's say one of my goals the next year is to get a through throw.

02:47:22.000 It's been a long time.

02:47:22.000 My goal is to start throwing, but I'm able to move well enough.

02:47:25.000 Pain-free.

02:47:26.000 Teach people the script.

02:47:27.000 That might be old.

02:47:29.000 That might be an old video.

02:47:30.000 I don't know if that's it.

02:47:32.000 Anyway, there's some videos of him moving around on his Instagram page to show how... 0.97

02:47:38.000 So his ACL apparently was completely fucked and he kept training and kept competing even with his fucked knee and just destroyed the inside of it and then ultimately had to get it resurfaced. 0.92

02:47:49.000 If you go to the Ready State, that's Kelly Starr's page and he's the author of The Supple Leopard, really smart strength and conditioning coach and guy who's a real expert in physiology. 0.98

02:48:00.000 Blew his knee out skiing, and then did his best to try to get it fixed and rehab it and all that jazz, but eventually wound up getting it resurfaced.

02:48:13.000 And now he can do everything.

02:48:15.000 It's not what it used to be.

02:48:19.000 There's some videos of him doing stuff in there.

02:48:21.000 If you scroll a little down, you can see some of the movements and stuff that he can do now. 0.98

02:48:25.000 And he's only four months out of getting his shit resurfaced. 0.96

02:48:32.000 So this is definitely something I need to be getting into, for sure. 0.98

02:48:35.000 Well, Kamaru Usman was saying that eventually he's going to have to do this.

02:48:37.000 Yeah, I heard his knees are... 1.00

02:48:38.000 His knees are pretty fucked. 1.00

02:48:39.000 You would never tell while he's fighting. 1.00

02:48:41.000 Nope.

02:48:41.000 So this is him doing rehab.

02:48:44.000 This is him rehabilitating his left knee, which was the one that was...

02:48:48.000 It's those stabilizers.

02:48:49.000 So stabilizers that actually keep that knee in.

02:48:52.000 So this is a blown out fake knee and you can go all the way down and do pistol squats on it and all this stuff.

02:48:57.000 Yeah.

02:48:58.000 Yeah.

02:48:59.000 And again, the inside of it was complete toast.

02:49:04.000 And that going down and up, that's what gets it for me.

02:49:07.000 For me, standing up, I feel like it's grinding.

02:49:11.000 Oh yeah, well all the meniscus and everything gets smushed in there.

02:49:14.000 You could go back to his page.

02:49:17.000 So he can, oh, he can go back up, up please.

02:49:23.000 There's a video of him skiing where he talks about how well he can move now.

02:49:28.000 I think that's it.

02:49:30.000 Is that it?

02:49:31.000 I'm taking a guess.

02:49:32.000 I don't know.

02:49:32.000 I think that's an ad for a thing.

02:49:34.000 I think that's an ad for a thing.

02:49:37.000 Whatever.

02:49:38.000 It's so hard to go.

02:49:40.000 Everybody posts too much.

02:49:42.000 I found it.

02:49:43.000 Oh, you found it?

02:49:43.000 Okay.

02:49:44.000 So this is him.

02:49:45.000 Yeah, okay, there.

02:49:45.000 After surgery.

02:49:46.000 This is him lifting. 0.98

02:49:48.000 Look, he's dead lifting a shit ton of weight. 0.94

02:49:51.000 How old is this guy? 0.98

02:49:52.000 He's in his 40s, I believe.

02:49:54.000 If I had a guess, sorry if I'm wrong.

02:49:57.000 Still a young guy.

02:49:58.000 But there's a video of him skiing.

02:50:02.000 I think it's in the beginning.

02:50:04.000 Yeah, see, so he's mountain biking.

02:50:05.000 Yeah, and right here, just let it play out.

02:50:07.000 So he's doing this, and then he's skiing. 0.99

02:50:09.000 So this is him with a fucked up fake knee. 0.99

02:50:11.000 Wow. 0.99

02:50:13.000 And he's doing jumps. 0.81

02:50:14.000 So they resurface the knee, and it's just whatever that material is, that fucking composite stuff, it fuses itself to the top of the knee, so it requires, just like Aljamain's neck, your bones have to sort of take to it and fuse it in, 0.61

02:50:31.000 and then there's no meniscus anymore.

02:50:33.000 So is that like a swing or miss if your body takes to it or not?

02:50:36.000 Kind of like a cadaver?

02:50:37.000 That's a good question.

02:50:38.000 I don't think so.

02:50:39.000 I think they have it down now, and they're getting better at it all the time.

02:50:43.000 Because it used to be, once you had those things, you were stiff, and you were never going to walk normal again, and you just had a fake knee.

02:50:50.000 Now, the way they have it, you could actually compete in athletics.

02:50:53.000 What?

02:50:54.000 Yeah, it's getting interesting.

02:50:55.000 Definitely something I need to be looking into, for sure, because I got...

02:50:59.000 How long do you think you're going to fight?

02:51:00.000 I will do it as long as my body will let me.

02:51:03.000 I mean, I haven't taken a ton of damage, you know, coming up in the, even in kickboxing or, you know, I've been knocked out once, been knocked down a few times though, but that was Tyron.

02:51:15.000 Tyron throws missiles. 0.85

02:51:17.000 He had a perfectly timed too, that freaking left hand. 0.91

02:51:20.000 And what was crazy, he hit me with like two in a row. 0.86

02:51:23.000 Thank goodness I was blessed with a hard skull because I got back up. 0.99

02:51:26.000 And then I was in that guillotine and learned to breathe out my butthole. 0.98

02:51:33.000 That's an ancient Chinese secret. 0.98

02:51:35.000 So you just have a thought in your head, just as long as I can do it.

02:51:39.000 Yeah.

02:51:39.000 I mean, until or if my pop says I'm done.

02:51:42.000 As a fighter, I want to be able to compete.

02:51:45.000 I do it for the fun of it.

02:51:47.000 Money is just a bonus.

02:51:48.000 I've been fighting since I was 15 years old, and I just love to compete.

02:51:53.000 What's next for you right now?

02:51:55.000 Burns.

02:51:56.000 That's right.

02:51:56.000 When is that?

02:51:57.000 July 10th.

02:51:59.000 Interesting.

02:51:59.000 And they just announced that, right?

02:52:01.000 Yeah.

02:52:02.000 Yeah, I've got 12 weeks.

02:52:04.000 That's a big fight.

02:52:05.000 Yeah.

02:52:05.000 That's a big fight.

02:52:06.000 Yeah.

02:52:07.000 I'm excited.

02:52:08.000 And Gilbert, this would be his first fight coming off of Usman.

02:52:11.000 Yeah, and you know he's going to be on point.

02:52:13.000 He's going to want to prove a point, so I know I'm going to be getting the best burns.

02:52:17.000 I wouldn't have it any other way.

02:52:18.000 I'm sure you wouldn't. 0.99

02:52:20.000 He's another guy that I'm like, how the fuck did you ever make 155 pounds? 0.99

02:52:23.000 Yeah, he's not that tall, but he's thick, boy. 0.99

02:52:26.000 His neck is as wide as my shoulders.

02:52:27.000 I know, he's got that Mike Tyson neck, that 25-inch round neck, man.

02:52:31.000 I feel like in that fight with Usman, he just had an adrenaline dump, and I think there was moments where he had so much success that I think maybe he just got a little excited.

02:52:42.000 Yeah, earlier on, it looked like he had rocked him.

02:52:44.000 He did rock him.

02:52:45.000 He dropped him.

02:52:45.000 He put his hands on him.

02:52:47.000 I remember that.

02:52:47.000 He dropped him.

02:52:48.000 And then that's what was cool.

02:52:50.000 That experience in being the champ.

02:52:52.000 He stayed composed.

02:52:54.000 Usman's mind is Fort Knox.

02:52:56.000 I love it.

02:52:57.000 You ain't getting in there.

02:52:58.000 I love it.

02:52:58.000 I mean, he may lose someday.

02:53:00.000 He's lost before.

02:53:01.000 He lost his pro debut.

02:53:04.000 Really?

02:53:04.000 Yeah, he got strangled.

02:53:07.000 Yeah.

02:53:08.000 Who did he fight?

02:53:08.000 Do you remember?

02:53:09.000 I do not know.

02:53:10.000 Go to Kamaru Usman's Wikipedia.

02:53:15.000 I wonder if he wrestled himself into a submission.

02:53:17.000 Sometimes wrestlers do that.

02:53:18.000 He got caught in the rear naked.

02:53:20.000 Some guy put him in the rear naked.

02:53:21.000 And he really didn't understand jiu-jitsu back then.

02:53:24.000 And got tapped.

02:53:26.000 Oh, second fight, I'm sorry.

02:53:28.000 Okay.

02:53:28.000 Jose Caceres, submission for a negative show in CFA 11. Yeah, Jose Caceres, that's about as Jose, right?

02:53:37.000 Yeah, yeah.

02:53:37.000 That's about as Brazilian-sounding a name.

02:53:39.000 That's the only loss in his entire career.

02:53:41.000 God, that's crazy.

02:53:41.000 And then you scroll all the way up.

02:53:43.000 Look at that.

02:53:43.000 It's all just dominance, you know?

02:53:46.000 Pretty fucking interesting. 0.97

02:53:48.000 Yeah. 0.91

02:53:49.000 So Maz Vidal and then Gilbert, but I think the Colby Covington fight was probably the most satisfying for him.

02:53:57.000 Yeah, I think so too.

02:53:58.000 I think it was most satisfying for a lot of people.

02:54:01.000 Not for Colby.

02:54:02.000 No.

02:54:03.000 I mean, I hear Colby's a really nice guy.

02:54:06.000 He is a nice guy.

02:54:07.000 He is great.

02:54:08.000 I've hung out with him at the comedy store.

02:54:09.000 I've never met him before.

02:54:12.000 Do you know the story?

02:54:13.000 No.

02:54:14.000 The story's interesting.

02:54:15.000 This is what happened.

02:54:16.000 They had him scheduled to be cut.

02:54:19.000 And he was about to fight Damien Maia. 0.99

02:54:22.000 And they told him, listen, your style sucks. 0.97

02:54:24.000 We don't like, you know, I don't know who said it to him. 0.99

02:54:27.000 I don't know what the words were, but essentially what he said to me is they told me you're boring and we're going to cut you even if you win. 1.00

02:54:33.000 And he's like, fuck! 0.99

02:54:35.000 And so, because he was a wrestler and he was, you know, had kind of a safety first style and he was really good at grinding and incredible gas tank. 1.00

02:54:43.000 And never did any of this shit before, right? 0.87

02:54:46.000 His whole fight before that was just like, I'm going to fight my best, I'm going to train hard, I'm going to do my best. 1.00

02:54:50.000 And then he is in Brazil with Damian Maia, and he starts talking mad shit. 1.00

02:54:55.000 And he starts, fuck you, you fucking filthy animals, I just beat your best guy. 1.00

02:55:00.000 And everybody's like, what? 1.00

02:55:02.000 They're going crazy. 0.99

02:55:04.000 And he talks mad shit, he beats Damian Maia, and then the next thing you know, the UFC's like, okay, what's next? 1.00

02:55:12.000 Wow. 1.00

02:55:12.000 And then, you know, he's like, okay, I got a character now. 1.00

02:55:15.000 And then he starts wearing the fucking MAGA hat. 1.00

02:55:17.000 Yeah. 1.00

02:55:18.000 And he brings girls around for all these photo shoots.

02:55:21.000 And, you know, he's out there.

02:55:23.000 Meanwhile... 1.00

02:55:23.000 The guy drinks nothing but water, trains like a fucking animal, you know? 1.00

02:55:28.000 I mean, he doesn't party at all. 1.00

02:55:31.000 I mean, that guy is super dedicated.

02:55:33.000 He's good friends with my friend Cam Haynes, who's an insane ultramarathon runner slash bowhunter, like one of the most disciplined guys I've ever met.

02:55:42.000 He trains with Colby. 0.99

02:55:44.000 Colby trains with this fucking... 1.00

02:55:47.000 Animal and does these runs with them and mountain runs. 1.00

02:55:50.000 He says the kid is an incredible shape He's like he's super dedicated and he eats clean 24 7 365 fully dedicated no partying I mean he all he cares about is fighting and winning.

02:56:03.000 That's all he cares about I've never heard this story.

02:56:06.000 Yeah, no idea that store his character was because of desperation He created that character.

02:56:13.000 When you talk to him in real life, he's not like that at all.

02:56:16.000 He's a wrestling heel.

02:56:18.000 Like, he really is like Ric Flair or like some wrestling guy.

02:56:21.000 But meanwhile, everybody goes crazy.

02:56:23.000 With that situation, he almost got in a fight with somebody outside of one of the hotels.

02:56:28.000 It was Verdum, I guess because he called him Fluffy Animals, right?

02:56:32.000 Yes.

02:56:35.000 Verdum's a proud Brazilian.

02:56:38.000 Brazil's filled with very proud people.

02:56:41.000 100%.

02:56:41.000 They love Brazil.

02:56:43.000 You know, and they don't like you disrespecting Brazil. 1.00

02:56:46.000 Look, he fucked up. 1.00

02:56:47.000 I was wondering. 1.00

02:56:49.000 Didn't he hit him in the head with a boomerang or some shit? 1.00

02:56:50.000 Yeah, he threw a boomerang at him. 0.99

02:56:51.000 And then, who was it?

02:56:54.000 Somebody wore a boomerang shirt.

02:56:56.000 I think it was Usman.

02:56:57.000 Oh, that's hilarious.

02:56:58.000 I think Usman wore a boomerang shirt.

02:56:59.000 I guess in one of the press conferences.

02:57:00.000 Listen, Fabricio Verdum is an enormous man.

02:57:02.000 He's huge.

02:57:03.000 He's also the first guy to ever beat Fedor.

02:57:05.000 I remember that. 1.00

02:57:06.000 So just stay the fuck away from him. 0.99

02:57:07.000 Strikeforce, right? 0.99

02:57:07.000 Yeah. 0.99

02:57:08.000 Caught him in a triangle.

02:57:09.000 Golly.

02:57:10.000 What is Fedor doing nowadays?

02:57:11.000 Still fighting, unfortunately.

02:57:13.000 What?

02:57:13.000 Yeah.

02:57:14.000 In Russia?

02:57:14.000 No, in Bellator.

02:57:17.000 Yeah, Ryan Bader Cato'd him in the first round.

02:57:21.000 Ryan Bader caught him with a left hook in the first round.

02:57:24.000 Ryan went, like, faked for a takedown and came up with a left hook and clipped him and knocked him out.

02:57:28.000 You never saw that?

02:57:29.000 See, pull up that. 0.94

02:57:30.000 Because Ryan Bader has reinvented himself as a heavyweight, and he's the heavyweight champion of Bellator.

02:57:35.000 Bader is the heavyweight champ of Bellator.

02:57:38.000 Ryan Bader is a beast as a heavyweight.

02:57:39.000 I don't watch fights.

02:57:40.000 He was.

02:57:41.000 That's incredible.

02:57:42.000 I don't watch fights.

02:57:43.000 Oh! 0.60

02:57:43.000 Watch this. 0.60

02:57:47.000 Oh, what?

02:57:48.000 Look at that.

02:57:48.000 Faked a takedown like he was going down to the knee and clipped him perfectly on the chin with a left foot.

02:57:54.000 He looks massive.

02:57:54.000 He just looks like he didn't stink.

02:57:55.000 Oh, he's huge.

02:57:56.000 Yeah.

02:57:57.000 Bellator's drug test is a questionnaire.

02:57:59.000 Ha ha ha ha ha!

02:58:02.000 Agreed.

02:58:03.000 Look at this dude's neck, man. 0.96

02:58:04.000 He's a tank. 0.92

02:58:05.000 It's the thing, man.

02:58:07.000 He doesn't have to cut any weight.

02:58:09.000 Yeah, he doesn't.

02:58:10.000 It's just his walk-around weight.

02:58:12.000 But he lost a light heavyweight title.

02:58:14.000 He had the light heavyweight title of Bellator as well.

02:58:16.000 He was a two-division champ.

02:58:18.000 He fought...

02:58:18.000 Nemkov.

02:58:20.000 Nemkov's a beast. 0.96

02:58:21.000 Nemkov just beat Phil Davis, too.

02:58:23.000 I feel like if you have a name like that, like...

02:58:26.000 Nemkov's legit.

02:58:27.000 Nemkov's very legit.

02:58:29.000 There's a few guys over in Bellator that I believe can hang with anybody in the world.

02:58:32.000 Douglas Lima is the biggest one.

02:58:33.000 Douglas Lima, in my opinion.

02:58:36.000 And then Musasi at 185 is, in my opinion, one of the best fighters on planet Earth.

02:58:40.000 But Douglas Lima is one of the scariest leg kickers I've ever seen.

02:58:45.000 Man, that one, I saw a meme when he knocked out Michael Page Venom.

02:58:48.000 Oh my god.

02:58:48.000 He had Mjornir come in and he grabs it by his hands and he just KOs him.

02:58:53.000 Oh my gosh.

02:58:54.000 He was the first guy to have any success against Venom.

02:58:56.000 You know, Venom is so slick. 0.80

02:58:58.000 And Venom looked like he staggered him early and then he comes back and just like kicks the crap out of that. 0.99

02:59:03.000 Well, he kicked him low and dropped him like he wobbled, like he went down and then he caught him with that fucking punch on the way down. 0.98

02:59:09.000 Yeah, as he was coming up. 0.99

02:59:10.000 Yeah, brilliant.

02:59:11.000 That was awesome.

02:59:12.000 Yeah, there's a few of those guys over there.

02:59:14.000 Pitbull.

02:59:14.000 Yeah.

02:59:15.000 Patricio Pitbull. 0.99

02:59:16.000 I mean, I think he's as good as anybody on the fucking planet. 0.98

02:59:19.000 What do you think about Mighty Mouse losing for the first time? 0.99

02:59:21.000 Patricio Pitbull.

02:59:22.000 Which one is...

02:59:23.000 Patricio's the brother, right?

02:59:26.000 Yeah.

02:59:26.000 Patricio's the really good one who's two-division champion.

02:59:29.000 Crazy Mighty Mouse losing for the first time.

02:59:32.000 Over there.

02:59:33.000 Yeah, over there.

02:59:34.000 Yeah, in one.

02:59:34.000 Now, how are those...

02:59:35.000 By KO. First time by KO. Because some of those dudes are...

02:59:39.000 Yes!

02:59:41.000 Yeah, man.

02:59:41.000 That guy who knocked out Eddie Alvarez?

02:59:43.000 Yeah.

02:59:44.000 Timothy Natsukian?

02:59:47.000 Nastyukian? 1.00

02:59:47.000 How do you say his name? 1.00

02:59:49.000 Nastyukian? 1.00

02:59:49.000 It's like nasty is in his name. 1.00

02:59:51.000 It's called Nasty. 0.95

02:59:53.000 Nastyukian. 1.00

02:59:54.000 He's a fucking animal. 1.00

02:59:55.000 He's scary. 1.00

02:59:57.000 Yeah, they got some great strikes.

02:59:58.000 They have Giorgio Petrosian over there.

03:00:00.000 You know John Wayne Parr is fighting tonight.

03:00:02.000 What?

03:00:03.000 John Wayne Parr is fighting Nikki Holtzkin tonight.

03:00:05.000 On a Wednesday?

03:00:05.000 On a Wednesday.

03:00:07.000 On TNT. This is tomorrow, so if you're listening to this, sorry fuckers. 1.00

03:00:13.000 We'll air this tomorrow. 0.98

03:00:14.000 But yeah, John Wayne Parr is fighting Nikki Holtzkin tonight.

03:00:18.000 Yeah.

03:00:19.000 On TNT. One championship is now on TNT. Shout out to my man Michael Ciavello.

03:00:24.000 Big Mike Mike.

03:00:25.000 I love that dude. 0.99

03:00:26.000 He's fucking great. 0.98

03:00:28.000 The Big Kaboosh! 0.99

03:00:29.000 I love that guy.

03:00:30.000 I love when he says that.

03:00:31.000 He commentated one of my brother's fights when he fought for Legacy, I think it was.

03:00:36.000 He calls him the Beanpole.

03:00:38.000 He called my brother the Beanpole.

03:00:39.000 The Beanpole!

03:00:42.000 My brother Evan fought MMA before I did.

03:00:45.000 Really?

03:00:45.000 He fought at 185. How many brothers and sisters did you have to fight?

03:00:48.000 It was me.

03:00:49.000 Well, all the boys did.

03:00:52.000 How many boys?

03:00:52.000 There's three.

03:00:53.000 All of them fight?

03:00:54.000 And I'm the oldest, but I'm the runt.

03:00:56.000 Really?

03:00:57.000 I'm the runt of the group, yeah.

03:00:58.000 Wow.

03:00:59.000 And the one, my brother Evan fought at 185. He was probably 225 now.

03:01:03.000 6'3", 6'4". 0.75

03:01:05.000 The baby, Tony, he's about 6'2", about 285. Played college football.

03:01:12.000 One point he was over 300 pounds.

03:01:14.000 Jesus.

03:01:14.000 But he has more talent than I will ever have.

03:01:18.000 Really?

03:01:19.000 And he just didn't have a competitive bone in his body.

03:01:21.000 Wow.

03:01:22.000 Wow.

03:01:23.000 What does he do?

03:01:25.000 Teaches at the school.

03:01:26.000 Wow.

03:01:27.000 Yeah, teens program.

03:01:28.000 How old is he?

03:01:28.000 He's just turned 30. Maybe he can fire back up again after he hears this.

03:01:32.000 I've been trying to.

03:01:33.000 I've been trying to, man.

03:01:35.000 Would he be light heavyweight or a heavyweight?

03:01:37.000 No, he would not be heavyweight.

03:01:39.000 Light heavyweight?

03:01:39.000 Yeah, 205er for sure.

03:01:42.000 But those guys at heavyweight are just on another level.

03:01:44.000 Sweet T, what do you think?

03:01:45.000 Come on, Sweet T. What do you think, Sweet T? But, you know, the guy comes off the couch and just waxes dudes. 0.82

03:01:52.000 I feel like I'm a spar today.

03:01:54.000 No pressure, maybe.

03:01:55.000 Maybe.

03:01:56.000 I don't know.

03:01:56.000 But there's a savagery about him, too.

03:01:59.000 Like, you hit him hard, he's coming after you.

03:02:01.000 There's some guys that just, they're not interested in competition.

03:02:04.000 I know.

03:02:05.000 That's why I feel like the best fighters in the world, you'll probably never see them.

03:02:08.000 Some of them.

03:02:09.000 I mean, we all know guys in the gym that, for whatever reason, dominate people in the gym, and then you never see them compete.

03:02:16.000 They're not interested in whatever it is.

03:02:19.000 Maybe they wanted to do it with the pressure or the nerves.

03:02:22.000 Maybe they have other interests, they just happen to be super talented.

03:02:25.000 Because sometimes, just because someone's really talented at something doesn't mean they want to do it for a living. 0.99

03:02:29.000 I've seen guys like that before in the gym that you watch them roll and you're like, what the fuck, man? 0.98

03:02:36.000 Like, how good is this guy? 0.99

03:02:37.000 And you're like, dude, he's as good as anybody.

03:02:38.000 He just doesn't want to compete.

03:02:40.000 Don Aher told me there's a bunch of guys like that that would train at Henzo's.

03:02:43.000 I feel like you have to be that way to train at Henzo's, man.

03:02:47.000 You'd just be...

03:02:48.000 Trashed on. 0.99

03:02:49.000 You've got to be a savage over there. 0.59

03:02:51.000 That's a perfect example of a real shark tank where there's so many sharks there.

03:02:56.000 You really rise to the level of your training partners, especially in jiu-jitsu and those environments.

03:03:03.000 If you hear a guy trains at Marcelo Garcia at his gym, you're like, oh.

03:03:07.000 Or a guy trains at John Jock Machado's gym, you're like, oh.

03:03:10.000 There's gyms where you hear about people and you go, oh, Jesus.

03:03:13.000 You have to be good.

03:03:14.000 And Henzo, in my opinion, is like, If you hear some guy got a black belt from Hickson, you go, whoa.

03:03:22.000 There's levels to it.

03:03:24.000 That's a young jock, man.

03:03:26.000 I haven't seen him in a while.

03:03:27.000 That's my man.

03:03:28.000 I was in, what, 2005?

03:03:30.000 I was up at the Abu Dhabi.

03:03:32.000 He was going against...

03:03:34.000 Some heavyweight.

03:03:35.000 It was a super fight.

03:03:36.000 And the guy just laid on him the whole time.

03:03:37.000 Rico.

03:03:38.000 Yes.

03:03:39.000 Rico Rodriguez.

03:03:39.000 Yeah.

03:03:39.000 Yeah, I remember that.

03:03:40.000 No, no, no.

03:03:41.000 Dean Lister.

03:03:42.000 Dean Lister.

03:03:42.000 That's right.

03:03:43.000 That's right.

03:03:43.000 I think GSP competed there, too.

03:03:45.000 He did.

03:03:46.000 And got submitted.

03:03:47.000 Yes, he did.

03:03:48.000 He did.

03:03:49.000 I'm trying to remember who submitted him.

03:03:52.000 Whew.

03:03:53.000 The reason why I said Marcelo Garcia, because Marcelo Garcia, or Rico Rodriguez, Marcelo Garcia submitted Rico Rodriguez.

03:03:59.000 He got him in a heel hook. 0.97

03:04:01.000 And Marcelo was there, and he was just crushing people, but then he got, who was it?

03:04:06.000 He was fighting the open division, and he had somebody's back, and he jumps up and just gets- Rico Rodriguez.

03:04:11.000 That was him!

03:04:11.000 And then he tapped him.

03:04:12.000 Tapped him with a heel hook after that. 1.00

03:04:14.000 Everybody booed that dude. 0.72

03:04:16.000 Yeah, because Marcello was on his back and Rico's like 260. That was like a D move right there.

03:04:22.000 Just jumps up, lands.

03:04:23.000 And it was Jacare and Roger Gracie. 0.98

03:04:28.000 I'm trying to remember who tapped GSP, but the guy was fucking good. 0.96

03:04:35.000 Is this it? 0.98

03:04:35.000 No, this is... 0.98

03:04:36.000 Rio Santos.

03:04:37.000 Oh, really?

03:04:38.000 Rio Santos, yes.

03:04:39.000 2005. Yeah, I was there.

03:04:43.000 Yeah, he got him in an arm bar.

03:04:44.000 Yeah, I was there.

03:04:45.000 It was a flying one.

03:04:46.000 Flying arm bar.

03:04:47.000 That was in LA, right?

03:04:49.000 Yep.

03:04:50.000 Caught him quick.

03:04:52.000 And the good thing about GSP, man, he put himself.

03:04:55.000 He would bring people in.

03:04:56.000 He would go train with the best guys.

03:04:59.000 Watching him roll with, you know, Roger Gracie.

03:05:02.000 Roger Gracie.

03:05:03.000 Even who was it?

03:05:04.000 I was up there.

03:05:05.000 I was watching Roger Gracie and...

03:05:07.000 What freaking...

03:05:10.000 What's his name?

03:05:14.000 I was just talking about him.

03:05:16.000 Brain fart.

03:05:17.000 What does it look like?

03:05:19.000 I was hoping to get ready for Leo Chumichita. 0.77

03:05:22.000 Rashad Evans!

03:05:24.000 Those guys were going at it.

03:05:27.000 Savage, man.

03:05:28.000 They were just picking up and slamming.

03:05:30.000 It was like the craziest scrambles ever.

03:05:32.000 And I don't know, I think Roger was going kind of like this, and Rashad with that wrestling mentality was 100. That was fun.

03:05:41.000 That was fun to watch.

03:05:42.000 I was like, no, I'm not stepping out there.

03:05:44.000 Not stepping out there.

03:05:45.000 There's been a few gyms.

03:05:46.000 I went to ATT one time.

03:05:49.000 Before the Matt Brown fight, and I was getting out there and spar, and I saw Hector Lombard out there just wailing on dudes.

03:05:56.000 I think he was sparring some guy small and then just dropped him.

03:06:01.000 I'm like, ah, I'm just going to pack my stuff up.

03:06:02.000 I'm just going to leave.

03:06:04.000 We'll see all that.

03:06:04.000 Hector's kind of famous for that, for being really, really hard in the gym.

03:06:07.000 I mean, he comes from that old school Cuban mentality.

03:06:11.000 There's no soft sparring.

03:06:13.000 There's none of that.

03:06:14.000 There's no light sparring here.

03:06:15.000 You know, and that gym, ATT, I mean, you want to talk about an incredible gym.

03:06:19.000 Oh, yeah.

03:06:20.000 I mean, Dan Lambert, shout out to that guy.

03:06:22.000 That guy poured millions of dollars into that gym before he ever saw a penny back.

03:06:26.000 Really?

03:06:27.000 Yeah.

03:06:27.000 Yeah, and they built that whole new gym that they're at now with the dormitories and the incredible space.

03:06:32.000 He built that.

03:06:32.000 Built the whole building.

03:06:33.000 Bought land, put up the building just because he loves the sport.

03:06:36.000 Good for him, man.

03:06:37.000 I mean, he made his money outside of that.

03:06:39.000 He's a businessman.

03:06:40.000 Made his money completely outside of MMA. He just loves it.

03:06:43.000 Just says, hey, here you go, guys.

03:06:44.000 Loves it.

03:06:45.000 Loves it.

03:06:46.000 Any one of those guys.

03:06:49.000 Well, listen, brother, I can't wait to see your fight with Gilbert, and I'm a big fan, and I'm glad we finally did this.

03:06:55.000 Are you kidding me?

03:06:55.000 We've been talking for three hours and 20 minutes.

03:06:57.000 Are you kidding me?

03:06:58.000 I feel like we just sat down.

03:06:59.000 No.

03:06:59.000 How long are we doing?

03:07:01.000 3.20?

03:07:02.000 What?

03:07:02.000 Yeah.

03:07:03.000 Three hours and 20 minutes.

03:07:05.000 I feel like there's more to talk about.

03:07:06.000 What are we doing?

03:07:07.000 Why are we stopping?

03:07:08.000 What else do you want to talk about?

03:07:09.000 You good?

03:07:11.000 I'm on your time, baby.

03:07:13.000 Thanks, brother.

03:07:14.000 Appreciate you, man.

03:07:14.000 Thank you very much.

03:07:15.000 Thank you, brother.

03:07:16.000 Bye, everybody.

03:07:17.000 See ya.

The Joe Rogan Experience - April 22, 2021

JRE MMA Show #108 with Stephen Thompson

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Transcript