The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #115 with Valentina Schevchenko

00:00:00.000 The Joe Rogan Experience Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day Okay, here we go, Valentina, pleasure to have you in here Very excited.

00:00:18.000 Finally.

00:00:18.000 I'm here, right?

00:00:19.000 Finally, yeah.

00:00:20.000 I mean, we've been talking about it for a while, and I've been a fan of yours for quite a long time.

00:00:25.000 You're a very unusual person.

00:00:26.000 Very unusual.

00:00:27.000 I mean, it's unusual to be a martial arts champion, but you're an unusual martial arts champion.

00:00:33.000 I mean, you're very diverse.

00:00:36.000 You have so many skills and talents.

00:00:38.000 It's very strange.

00:00:40.000 First of all, how many languages do you speak?

00:00:44.000 Three, what I speak, and I'm learning fourth.

00:00:48.000 I'm learning Thai now.

00:00:49.000 You're learning Thai, because you were speaking Thai after one of your fights.

00:00:52.000 The last one, yeah.

00:00:53.000 Yeah, so it sounds like you know it.

00:00:56.000 Like you say you're learning it, but you've got a lot to say.

00:00:58.000 Yeah, it's kind of like I can say a lot, but when I mean I'm learning, I want to...

00:01:06.000 So once I will speak it like fluently and I will understand like native people so good, then I consider it, yes, I speak language.

00:01:16.000 Before that, it's kind of still learning.

00:01:19.000 And I think I started to learn a couple years ago, but I think it's very important to have practice with native people.

00:01:29.000 Go to Thailand and forget about speaking English, just speak Thai.

00:01:34.000 And this is how you just adopt everything.

00:01:38.000 So this is what I want to put this language, Thai language, on the next level.

00:01:43.000 Then I will say, okay, now four.

00:01:46.000 So, like, you immerse yourself?

00:01:49.000 Maybe.

00:01:50.000 Yeah, kind of.

00:01:52.000 Because for me, I try to do everything, like, the best way I can.

00:01:58.000 Not the perfection way, right?

00:02:00.000 But the best way I can.

00:02:02.000 Now, your first language is Russian?

00:02:05.000 Yes.

00:02:05.000 And when did you start learning other languages?

00:02:10.000 So English, I started to learn it in the school, just some basics because it's like a school program.

00:02:19.000 We learn alphabets, some just very easy words and nothing enough for like speaking level.

00:02:27.000 But when I started to compete and go and travel for the competition, that was like my push for bringing my like Language level to the next level.

00:02:39.000 And when we moved to South America, then I started to learn Spanish.

00:02:46.000 But learning Spanish, it was kind of like the hard way.

00:02:50.000 I came there with no one word in Spanish.

00:02:53.000 No one word.

00:02:54.000 And it's straight like to there.

00:02:56.000 If you want to learn Spanish, you have to speak Spanish right now. 0.86

00:02:59.000 And I say, from the moment when I started to speak to the moment when I was kind of like, given my first interview, it was four months.

00:03:10.000 After four months, I was given my first interview in Spanish.

00:03:14.000 It was not the perfect Spanish, but I still could communicate.

00:03:17.000 So, talk us through this journey.

00:03:20.000 So, why did you go to South America?

00:03:23.000 Um, I, uh, was born in Kyrgyzstan.

00:03:26.000 My, um, sister, she's a martial artist. 0.99

00:03:30.000 I was, uh, starting my training when I was very young age, five years old.

00:03:34.000 And definitely, uh, um, like, through all the years what I practiced in martial arts, I compete a lot.

00:03:41.000 Every competition, a lot of martial arts.

00:03:44.000 And, um, so, um, I started to compete in Kyrgyzstan.

00:03:51.000 Then there was not any competition, like any opponents, and it was hard to compete already.

00:03:58.000 Then we started to travel.

00:04:00.000 My coach, Pavel, who I trained since the beginning, he decided to explore something new.

00:04:07.000 We moved to Russia for a couple of years, and then there was also no opponents to fight with.

00:04:13.000 And we decided to move next and to see how to explore.

00:04:19.000 And definitely, I think, for martial arts, for MMA, for anything in South America, it's a good place.

00:04:27.000 And mostly it's interesting to explore, interesting culture from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, it's very far.

00:04:35.000 It's kind of like a totally different culture.

00:04:38.000 And we decided to explore over there.

00:04:40.000 We come to South America, and people there just wanted to learn a lot Muay Thai.

00:04:48.000 We started to train, give classes, and they were asking for the seminars, and we stayed a little bit more, a little bit more, and then we decided, okay, why we not stay here and live here?

00:05:01.000 And we stayed there and lived for eight years.

00:05:04.000 So you initially went there just to find people to compete with?

00:05:08.000 No, initially it was...

00:05:10.000 It's very hard to say in one word what it was initially because I'm not traveling looking for a gym.

00:05:20.000 I'm not traveling looking for something like one.

00:05:24.000 I'm traveling to explore new places, to explore new culture, to have different adventures, I can say.

00:05:35.000 And this is the initial reason for traveling, to see what is there.

00:05:41.000 And once you are there, you're kind of like, okay, South America is a very interesting continent.

00:05:48.000 It's not just one country like Peru, where we both live in.

00:05:52.000 It's Argentina, it's Brazil, it's Colombia, it's Ecuador, Chile, it's so many different countries and you want to be there.

00:06:02.000 You want to explore what is there.

00:06:04.000 You want to see how people live, what they think and what they believe.

00:06:07.000 And it's kind of like it's pulling you into it.

00:06:11.000 It's very hard to say, okay, now it's time to go back.

00:06:15.000 Because every time when I'm traveling, I want to explore more.

00:06:18.000 I want to see deeper.

00:06:20.000 For me, it's not enough to see with the tourist eyes.

00:06:24.000 Okay, I take picture here, there.

00:06:25.000 I've been there, Mark.

00:06:27.000 No, it's not enough for me.

00:06:28.000 I want to understand what actually people, how they live.

00:06:33.000 Has this always been something that's fascinating to you?

00:06:35.000 Like, what draws you to want to know so much about these different cultures?

00:06:39.000 Yes, I remember it was since the beginning.

00:06:43.000 I just like, it was, it is a huge part of my life.

00:06:47.000 It's everything about me.

00:06:49.000 And I think it's kind of like the best school, the best education what one can get.

00:06:55.000 Because definitely when you're in school, you can learn something.

00:07:00.000 But this is like a real school.

00:07:03.000 And the travel, it puts you in different life situations.

00:07:07.000 And you have to know how to react.

00:07:09.000 You have to learn how to communicate with other people.

00:07:14.000 For example, I can say, in your city, in your street, in your country, you can be the superstar.

00:07:22.000 You travel somewhere else And like, for example, if you are a local star, and you go to the other country, and it kind of like they are okay, that's okay, but what?

00:07:34.000 And you have to know how to deal, how to communicate with other people.

00:07:38.000 And it's put you on the ground every time.

00:07:40.000 And it's kind of like good, even for the, especially for the fighters.

00:07:45.000 Yeah.

00:07:45.000 So if you talk me through the progression of your career, when you moved to Peru first, that's where you moved, were you already a world Muay Thai champion?

00:07:56.000 Yes, it was five or seven.

00:07:59.000 Five or seven Muay Thai world champions.

00:08:02.000 And did you worry that you wouldn't get good training partners there or they wouldn't be at the same elite level that you're at?

00:08:13.000 That part...

00:08:15.000 First, I'm never worried about to find the right training partner because I know this is the world.

00:08:22.000 It's like so many good training partners, so many different people, so many like you can find anyone.

00:08:29.000 No matter if it's a small place, big place, you can find a good level for your training.

00:08:37.000 The most important, I think one of the most important ones is to have a right coach.

00:08:43.000 Because no matter how good a fighter can be, if it's going to be not the right approach, If it's going to be the right approach, he can rise or she can rise.

00:08:56.000 If it's going to be super much talent but not the right approach, he will fall.

00:09:02.000 And this is the worst thing I think would happen.

00:09:07.000 That's why the most important thing I was worried about was to have the right coach with me.

00:09:11.000 That's why I travel everywhere where Pavel goes.

00:09:14.000 So Pavel has been with you from the very beginning.

00:09:17.000 Yes.

00:09:17.000 Yes, from the very beginning.

00:09:19.000 That's a huge advantage.

00:09:20.000 He is my coach from the first day in his gym.

00:09:25.000 Oh, wow.

00:09:26.000 I started five years old when I had five years old.

00:09:29.000 Wow, so you've been with him since you were five years old.

00:09:32.000 Yes.

00:09:32.000 I am fighting and training 28 years.

00:09:35.000 Wow!

00:09:36.000 And since there, it's more like a coach.

00:09:39.000 We are a team.

00:09:40.000 Me, my sister, Pavel, we are a team who are sharing so many things in common.

00:09:51.000 We love the same things, traveling, exploring, seeing different people.

00:09:59.000 It's not just a sport, it's like family.

00:10:03.000 Well, it's very fortunate that he was willing to travel with you.

00:10:06.000 If he didn't want to move to South America, would you have stayed in Russia?

00:10:11.000 You know, it's hard to tell.

00:10:14.000 It's not hard to tell because I think...

00:10:20.000 At a certain point, when everything comes in one, like in something, one complete, it's not a question if they don't want, if like something happened differently, because everything happened as it has to happen.

00:10:38.000 And you never think what it would be if it would be different way.

00:10:42.000 It just happened how it happened.

00:10:44.000 And I know that this passion for travel, it's not just my passion.

00:10:49.000 Pavel shares the same passion for travel.

00:10:51.000 My sister shares the same.

00:10:53.000 That's why we are like a good and strong team.

00:10:57.000 Yeah, it's a perfect combination.

00:10:58.000 So when you moved to Peru, you had no problem finding world-class strikers to train with and people to work out with?

00:11:06.000 You know, it's kind of like when we moved there, firstly, we started to train and to teach Muay Thai and give different seminars because before it was mostly kickboxing.

00:11:22.000 So Muay Thai, it's more deeper martial arts.

00:11:25.000 It's more complete martial arts because kickboxing is just hands and kicks.

00:11:31.000 Muay Thai, it's everything.

00:11:33.000 It's elbow, knee...

00:11:36.000 And clinching so you can wrestle till the ground.

00:11:39.000 So it's kind of like more complete and it has different fight character rather than kickboxing.

00:11:47.000 And this is what we're starting to do.

00:11:51.000 Every time he was traveling, even we were like living in Peru, we spend it for three, four months in Thailand.

00:11:59.000 Every time.

00:12:00.000 Really?

00:12:00.000 Yes.

00:12:01.000 And this is amazing because, for example, we travel for the World Championships there and we just stay there for another like two, three months.

00:12:09.000 And this is the best part.

00:12:11.000 So where were you training out of in Thailand?

00:12:14.000 Were you at Tiger Muay Thai?

00:12:17.000 Last six, seven years, it's Tiger Muay Thai.

00:12:21.000 It's gym what I represent, what I fight for.

00:12:24.000 Before it was Koh Samui, WMC, Lamai Gym.

00:12:29.000 So for me, it's every time I was like, if it's Thailand, it's islands.

00:12:34.000 And what is the benefit of training in Thailand as opposed to training other places?

00:12:43.000 I would say the spirit.

00:12:46.000 Because what is Muay Thai?

00:12:50.000 It's Thailand.

00:12:51.000 It's the spirit of Thailand.

00:12:52.000 And definitely to train in Thailand, you have to enjoy everything.

00:12:57.000 But I'm not a fanatic of people who just come in there and train in three sessions a day.

00:13:05.000 And they don't explore...

00:13:10.000 Thailand, what is that?

00:13:11.000 They explore the culture, explore the food, explore what's around.

00:13:16.000 They just spend all their time in the gym without seeing what's happening outside.

00:13:22.000 To understand the full picture, you have experienced everything.

00:13:26.000 That's why I say every time, if you want to put yourself on the next level, you have to train but also speak with the people and see what's happening around.

00:13:38.000 So it's kind of like open your eyes more widely.

00:13:43.000 And you think that actually improves your skill set?

00:13:46.000 It just improves your perspective, which improves your skill set?

00:13:50.000 I think everything tied to each other.

00:13:53.000 So there is no, for example, I would put this example.

00:13:59.000 I started to learn, so I speak English, I speak Spanish, right?

00:14:06.000 And when I speak, when I started to learn new language, it was helping me to improve my first language.

00:14:16.000 So it's kind of like, yes, it's totally different language, but it's helping me to put on the better level something what I have already.

00:14:26.000 That's why it's very hard to say if you do something, it doesn't help to put on the next level what already you have.

00:14:36.000 So it's interchange.

00:14:38.000 It's something that influence on each other.

00:14:41.000 That's why for me it's every time Yes, to have better skills in sport, no matter what sport, mixed martial arts, just martial arts or like whatever, definitely you have to spend enough time on your technique.

00:14:58.000 You have to spend enough time on your skills.

00:15:01.000 But sometimes it's just not enough.

00:15:03.000 Sometimes you have to go and see something else.

00:15:07.000 I mean like the character of the fight of different fighter.

00:15:12.000 To get this experience, to try it on yourself, not only just like, okay, this is my technique and I will perform it the best way that I can.

00:15:21.000 Yes.

00:15:21.000 But sometimes you have to add yourself, your spirit in this technique to modify it, especially how it will work for you.

00:15:30.000 And this is only way how you know this technique will work.

00:15:33.000 If you are just like doing it because someone told you that is right, it's one thing.

00:15:40.000 But when you started to actually feel the technique, then it became your like so natural thing that it's kind of like dangerous for everyone.

00:15:52.000 Is this something that you learned, too, that things all help other things, like whatever you do, the more you experience, the broader your understanding of things, the better it helps all the things you do?

00:16:06.000 Or is it something you were taught?

00:16:08.000 It's a combination.

00:16:10.000 It's a combination of what my mother told me, what my coach, what Pavel told me, and definitely my own experience.

00:16:21.000 Because I see it works.

00:16:23.000 First, I hear from them it works.

00:16:26.000 It's one thing.

00:16:27.000 When actually I see it works, it's kind of like put...

00:16:31.000 Stronger impact on you.

00:16:34.000 And definitely for the experience what I have through all years what I practice in martial arts, I see this is the only way to put your game on the next level.

00:16:49.000 And now it's just intuitive?

00:16:51.000 Now this is just how you approach things naturally?

00:16:54.000 Yes and no.

00:16:55.000 It's combination.

00:16:56.000 Sometimes you have to...

00:17:00.000 To break something like, for example, you're trying to learn something new and you go for it and you go for it and you try it's like and you have like barrier you cannot like break this barrier and you try and you try and you try.

00:17:16.000 Sometimes you have to put there a little bit more pressure to break the barrier.

00:17:22.000 And it doesn't consist with anything like feeling or something like intuition or something like that.

00:17:30.000 But once you break it, then it's like different level.

00:17:35.000 And then when you have to start to learn how to feel it from inside to perform it a better way.

00:17:42.000 So what was your initial martial art you started with when you were five years old?

00:17:47.000 I started with Taekwondo.

00:17:49.000 Taekwondo ITF. This was my first sport.

00:17:54.000 And then how did you branch out from there?

00:17:57.000 What were the years?

00:17:58.000 When did you start training in different arts?

00:18:03.000 So, every time, what was the idea of Pavel?

00:18:10.000 Pavel, every time, was thinking about universal fighter, about, like, fighter who doesn't have any, like, problem, for example.

00:18:22.000 If you are speaking about striker, striker every time would feel something weird and like uncomfortable when someone other start to wrestle him, right?

00:18:32.000 And wrestler, definitely he will feel not the best, strange when he's fighting.

00:18:40.000 So the idea, every time, was to be, like, universal.

00:18:45.000 To create from his students universal fighters.

00:18:49.000 That's why he put us in different competitions.

00:18:51.000 Kyrgyzstan, it's a little country.

00:18:55.000 And there is so many martial arts, so many like schools and Pavel have friends like presidents of Federation of Karate, of like different styles, Taekwondo, Wushu Sanda, so like different competition we would have.

00:19:13.000 And we competed in different ones, like in my childhood it was like thousand different competitions.

00:19:19.000 And this is what, like, helped me to feel the different style of fighting, different technique, and I never had, like, problem to fight in different style.

00:19:37.000 It was kind of like how good you can transform yourself, like, switch the chip for the different martial artists.

00:19:49.000 That's why I cannot say there was like, okay, this day I switch, stand up for the crowd, or like I start to train like Muay Thai since this day.

00:20:00.000 Because it just never happened.

00:20:03.000 It was everything like, so naturally, development, like going from one style to another style.

00:20:12.000 And more, first speaking about Taekwondo, there is like Taekwondo professional style, pro Taekwondo.

00:20:18.000 It's the same like fighting, similar to Muay Thai, but they wrestle with more like throws.

00:20:29.000 I mean like judo throws or freestyle wrestling throws.

00:20:33.000 So it's more like wide variety of throws.

00:20:36.000 So it's kind of like also help for my competition in Muay Thai.

00:20:43.000 Yeah, but when I started to compete more frequently in Muay Thai, it's I would say since 2003. And then you became just much more Muay Thai focused?

00:21:01.000 Much more, it started about 2005-06, because before it was like, we already started to fight Muay Thai, MMA, and at that time it was less competition for female fighters in mixed martial arts.

00:21:19.000 It was very hard to find frequent fights.

00:21:23.000 If you want to keep, like, busy and fight every time, you would fight, like, more, like, in stand-up, because there is more opportunities for you.

00:21:33.000 And this is how it started that I started to focus more in Muay Thai, because it was more opportunities in Muay Thai.

00:21:41.000 But in 2010, when female MMA started to, like, just, like, pooh, explode, yeah, we definitely was, like, thinking to come back, do the same, and we started to compete And Muay Thai and MMA. So it's interesting that the beginning of your journey in martial arts coincides with the beginning of the UFC. So if we go back 28 years, we're talking about like 1993, right?

00:22:09.000 Like that is the beginning of the UFC. Oh my god.

00:22:13.000 It's a good example, no?

00:22:15.000 Yeah, it's a perfect example, right?

00:22:17.000 Because one of the things that we've always said as this sport has grown is that it's really interesting to watch these young kids growing up with martial arts, with mixed martial arts, as opposed to, you know, they would be 30 years old with a lifetime of wrestling and then learn how to strike and then enter the UFC. We're seeing people Like yourself, that when you started your martial arts journey was the beginning of the UFC, which is pretty crazy.

00:22:46.000 It is, and I think it's...

00:22:49.000 And now you're a UFC champion.

00:22:50.000 I know.

00:22:51.000 It's crazy.

00:22:52.000 It's something that means so much for me now, yeah.

00:22:55.000 Yeah.

00:22:57.000 Well, you're not just a UFC champion, you're one of the best champions.

00:23:00.000 It's very unique to watch you fight, because you're one of those people, like Anderson Silva in his prime, where you've kind of cleaned out your division.

00:23:11.000 And there's no disrespect to your opponents, but some of your opponents, when I'm watching you fight them, I'm not thinking, are they going to beat you?

00:23:20.000 I'm thinking, what are you going to do to them?

00:23:23.000 It's a strange position to be in where you're almost like competing.

00:23:28.000 You're competing against these women, but your level is so much higher than everyone else in this 125-pound division that there's just not much there for you in terms of like Valentina has to fight this woman. 1.00

00:23:45.000 There's no fight like that for you.

00:23:47.000 I think that definitely this is one of my goals in my performance, in my training.

00:23:55.000 And definitely this is like the idea of my fight style to be able to...

00:24:07.000 Win the fight, made the fight very beautiful from the technical side, very intensive, very, like, just high-level martial arts.

00:24:17.000 But in the same time, without doing, like, dirty fight, like, street fight, just, like, different level, when you can finish your opponent without them touching you.

00:24:29.000 So this is kind of, like, ideally ideal.

00:24:32.000 Yeah.

00:24:34.000 Well, you can see how you sometimes impose the opponent's style on them.

00:24:40.000 It's almost like you're challenging yourself, like the Jessica Andrade fight.

00:24:44.000 Coming into that fight, most people thought the only way she would have any sort of advantage at all would possibly be grappling.

00:24:52.000 And so what did you do?

00:24:53.000 You out-grappled her.

00:24:55.000 Did you do that on purpose?

00:24:56.000 No, no, no.

00:24:58.000 I don't know.

00:24:59.000 This is what I think.

00:25:00.000 It's no.

00:25:02.000 Because maybe...

00:25:06.000 People just, like, was speaking about that so much, so frequently before the fight.

00:25:11.000 Maybe it just stayed in my, like, mind and was there.

00:25:14.000 But, you know, I never felt that this is a position dangerous for me.

00:25:20.000 Since the beginning, since, like, I know exactly what is my strength.

00:25:25.000 I know exactly what is my power.

00:25:29.000 That's why it never was a doubt.

00:25:31.000 Would I be good there?

00:25:33.000 No.

00:25:34.000 I know what I can.

00:25:36.000 I know exactly what I have to worry about in the fight.

00:25:44.000 I know that I have to be careful to see everything because it's MMA. Everything can happen.

00:25:51.000 You cannot just go there and say, okay, I'm a champion.

00:25:54.000 Everyone has to fall down.

00:25:56.000 No, you cannot.

00:25:57.000 You have to be wild.

00:25:59.000 You have to be like a wild animal ready for anything.

00:26:04.000 But at the same time, you cannot overestimate your opponent.

00:26:10.000 Because you overestimate them, it's going to be, like, not an interesting fight.

00:26:15.000 You're going to be, like, just afraid of throwing anything.

00:26:20.000 And that's why you have to find the balance.

00:26:23.000 And the balance is everything.

00:26:25.000 Where you are, like, you can do whatever without any fear, but at the same time very careful.

00:26:33.000 And...

00:26:34.000 I never before the fight put some like challenges for me.

00:26:39.000 Would I be good there?

00:26:40.000 Would I be good like what I do like for my next fight?

00:26:44.000 I train myself for the different situation.

00:26:48.000 And this is what we are working like and it's not just my work.

00:26:52.000 It's like teamwork.

00:26:53.000 Pavel, Antonina, we all watching our opponents.

00:26:57.000 And we share what we think about them, what we have to worry, what we have to work on.

00:27:02.000 And through our training camps, through trainings, we just work on every possible situation.

00:27:08.000 And even, for example, I saw some situation in the fight was happening not with my opponent, Or like different, completely different fight.

00:27:16.000 And we try this situation.

00:27:18.000 We try what I will do, how I would escape, or how I will finish from this situation.

00:27:26.000 So we're just getting ready for anything.

00:27:29.000 And this is what I think helped me to...

00:27:34.000 Take right decision during the fight.

00:27:37.000 Because I don't have time to think about what I will do next, what my technique will be next.

00:27:45.000 In the fight, everything happens instantly.

00:27:47.000 And I have to be sure that my brain and my body are ready to act.

00:27:54.000 Well, it's very clear that you have a very well-rounded skill set, but it's also clear that when you're faced with particular challenges, your preparation for those particular challenges almost puts you in a situation where you want to try, like the Juliana Pena fight is a good example of that, right?

00:28:11.000 Like you shocked the world when you armbarred her, because everybody felt like if she had a chance to beat you, it would be grappling, and you as a Muay Thai champion, if you had a chance to beat her, it would be your striking. 0.98

00:28:24.000 Holy shit! 0.96

00:28:25.000 Like, that was a wake-up call for a lot of people, that you're not just well-rounded, but you're capable of finishing everywhere, that you're lethal everywhere. 0.99

00:28:36.000 Yeah, this is what every time was in my training, my goals for the competition.

00:28:42.000 Not just go there and compete, but go there and win.

00:28:48.000 Doesn't matter what I have to do to win the fight, I have to find the solution.

00:28:53.000 I have to find the way to win the fight.

00:28:55.000 And every time it was like my mindset.

00:28:58.000 I don't like like this idea just go and have fun in the fight.

00:29:04.000 I don't like idea just be there and like just to experience the feeling.

00:29:10.000 I think for someone it's good, but if you have like higher goals for yourself, you have to put higher goals, like higher like things what you're thinking for.

00:29:20.000 This is in my head.

00:29:22.000 This is what I had since the beginning, that no matter what happening, I have to find solution to turn the fight to my side and win the fight.

00:29:32.000 And definitely I was like, I understood fighting in mixed martial arts.

00:29:38.000 I have to have more arms.

00:29:40.000 I have to have more advantages, like if we are comparing with other fighters.

00:29:48.000 Because the more advantage you have, it's kind of like in the war, right?

00:29:54.000 You have a handgun, you have a certain percentage to win.

00:29:58.000 You have more arms in your position, you have more percentages.

00:30:04.000 So I want to have 100% to win the fight.

00:30:09.000 That's why I was training everything.

00:30:12.000 And training not just pretend to do technique, But know how to make people tap after this technique.

00:30:23.000 Yeah, so when you say more arms, you mean more weapons, right?

00:30:26.000 Exactly.

00:30:28.000 Now, is this something that was just inside of you when you first started doing martial arts?

00:30:35.000 When did you realize that you had this competitive spirit that would lead you to become a champion?

00:30:40.000 Was this something that you knew from the beginning, or was it something that you developed along the way?

00:30:45.000 Did you always know that you wanted to be a martial arts champion?

00:30:50.000 I started, as I say, five years old.

00:30:53.000 And as a, like, regular child, normal child, like, I doubt that anyone at this age would clearly know what they want, what they want to do in the future.

00:31:08.000 For the children, like, it's like, what they want to do, just have fun, play, play around with the same children, like, around.

00:31:15.000 And this is, I was no exception, so it was the same.

00:31:20.000 I just wanted to...

00:31:22.000 I don't know, just to be a child.

00:31:26.000 But my mom, she put myself and my sister Antonina to the gym of Pavel and we started to train there.

00:31:37.000 So she had vision for us that her children, her daughters, have to do martial arts because she is a martial artist. 0.83

00:31:47.000 And she knew exactly this is something that she want for us To be strong, to be confident, to be like just fearless of anything because martial arts give that all.

00:31:59.000 And definitely at first, it was not anything deep.

00:32:04.000 I mean, like knowing that one day I will be the champion or something like that.

00:32:09.000 No, it was just playing, doing some techniques in form of play and just exercise.

00:32:18.000 But when I started to grow up and I started to understand actually what I'm doing and what I want to be in the future, it was, I'm saying about age 12. This is the perfect age for the children, for the child, to understand and analyze what they're doing in the life, what they're looking for, what is their expectation from the life.

00:32:47.000 And this is the age when I... I actually started to train with a lot of sense.

00:32:54.000 I understood that this is my life.

00:32:58.000 This is martial arts, what I want to be, what I want to do forever.

00:33:03.000 This is what I wanted to do.

00:33:05.000 And I didn't know...

00:33:09.000 Where is it going to lead me?

00:33:11.000 I didn't know.

00:33:12.000 It's just like you start one thing, you never know where it's going to lead.

00:33:15.000 You can expect something, but you don't know how it's going to end.

00:33:18.000 And for me, it was just like to have this experience, to have this way in martial arts, just to enjoy the process.

00:33:26.000 And this is how everything started.

00:33:29.000 But...

00:33:31.000 I would say once I start to understand that this is my life, martial arts, then I put my heart to all trainings and I wanted to be better and better.

00:33:45.000 And there it was, I discovered my talent, what I can do, what is my good side, and I discovered that I can understand technique way faster than other children the same age.

00:33:59.000 And I can perform it a little bit better.

00:34:02.000 And so this is how I start to just feel it inside me.

00:34:09.000 So your mother was a martial artist as well?

00:34:12.000 She is a martial artist.

00:34:13.000 She is a martial artist, not just was.

00:34:15.000 What style did she start with? 1.00

00:34:19.000 She's president of Kyrgyzstan Muay Thai Federation, actually.

00:34:23.000 Yes, she has her students.

00:34:26.000 She has her, like, team, what she's, like, trained and what she traveled to world championships.

00:34:35.000 But yes, and she started when she was young, and it's kind of, like, was her passion for her life.

00:34:43.000 And I'm so happy that she decides that this is what we will do because it's kind of like, yeah, because of her, I am where I am right now.

00:34:57.000 So your mother started with Muay Thai?

00:35:00.000 No.

00:35:01.000 She started in the time when it was like karate, but it was like Soviet Union karate, underground karate, because you know in Soviet Union it was prohibited to do karate.

00:35:14.000 Karate was prohibited?

00:35:15.000 Yes.

00:35:16.000 Really?

00:35:16.000 Yes.

00:35:17.000 Interesting.

00:35:18.000 Until when?

00:35:20.000 Until the Soviet Union collapsed.

00:35:23.000 Why was karate prohibited?

00:35:25.000 Because the philosophy of karate, it was against the philosophy what Soviet Union had.

00:35:34.000 Because karate, it's more like different philosophy.

00:35:38.000 It's like Oriental philosophy.

00:35:40.000 In Soviet Union, it was ever since strict.

00:35:44.000 Interesting.

00:35:45.000 So what martial arts were legal in Soviet Union?

00:35:50.000 What sport?

00:35:51.000 The sport, it was...

00:35:53.000 Boxing, judo.

00:35:54.000 Boxing.

00:35:56.000 It was sambo.

00:35:58.000 Sambo.

00:35:58.000 Because it's like...

00:35:59.000 Sambo, it was a combination of judo and what they created in Russia. 0.93

00:36:04.000 And these sports like gymnastics, like athleticism, the running, right?

00:36:10.000 Like Summer Olympic Games, we can say.

00:36:16.000 But the cult of sport was very strong.

00:36:19.000 When did combat sambo start to make its emergence?

00:36:24.000 Because combat sambo took essentially a lot of the techniques of mixed martial arts, but wore the gi top.

00:36:32.000 When did that start?

00:36:34.000 You know, I cannot tell exactly, but you know, that sport, sport samba and combat samba, it's definitely, every time more it was about the sport samba.

00:36:47.000 It's just a wrestle.

00:36:49.000 Yeah, it's every time it was like more, something that more children would do and more like influence.

00:36:55.000 But with, I would say, when it's, All martial arts, like taekwondo, karate, it started to be more popular.

00:37:06.000 Then definitely it was more time for the fighting styles, for the martial arts, like combat sports.

00:37:15.000 It was just insane.

00:37:16.000 It just was everywhere.

00:37:18.000 So it wasn't until the collapse of the Soviet Union that things like karate and taekwondo and all these other martial arts became popular.

00:37:25.000 Yes, and free.

00:37:26.000 And free.

00:37:27.000 And then they started integrating that with combat sambo and becoming mixed martial arts.

00:37:34.000 You know, I would say that combat samba, it was since the beginning, because it's part like, if I'm not mistaken, it was kind of like what military was training.

00:37:47.000 So yeah, but if you're speaking about like competition, about what people competing right now, yeah, it's different.

00:37:56.000 So you start out with Taekwondo, and then you make your way to Muay Thai, and when you are a teenager, you start deciding that this is going to be your life.

00:38:06.000 Did you have any other dreams or interests or hobbies or passions, or was it just martial arts?

00:38:13.000 You know, my life, it was so much different things to do.

00:38:20.000 And I mean, just to learn different things.

00:38:24.000 That's why I never had this, like, oh, I want to do that, that.

00:38:29.000 I never had this, like, I have to choose one.

00:38:32.000 I have to choose, or I'm a martial artist, or I'm, like, I don't know, something else.

00:38:37.000 I didn't have, and I'm lucky that I didn't have this, like, that I have to choose.

00:38:44.000 Because, for example, in my opinion, a person can be complete in everything.

00:38:53.000 It doesn't matter, like, he can be martial artist, but the same way good artists, like, paint, or, like, play some instrument, musical instrument, or singer, or good shooter, or some different profession.

00:39:13.000 Because if you're singing about, for example, we have life, right?

00:39:20.000 And To become a professional in something, we are studying.

00:39:25.000 For example, it takes five years to be professional in certain things, right?

00:39:30.000 If you're speaking about university or something like that.

00:39:33.000 So why we don't spend another two, three years to learn something else, another year to learn more?

00:39:43.000 And it's going to fulfill you as a person to add more knowledge into you.

00:39:48.000 That's why for me it never was like, okay, you're just a martial artist.

00:39:53.000 My mom, when I started doing martial arts...

00:39:58.000 She said like, okay, you're also going to do dance.

00:40:02.000 So it was like same things that I did since childhood.

00:40:05.000 I was dancing and doing martial artists because it's kind of like balancing each other.

00:40:11.000 It's like, you're not going to one side too much and other side, you're going to be in between.

00:40:17.000 Keeps the perfect balance.

00:40:20.000 And, for example, then when I discovered the shooting competition, it was another thing that I wanted to learn more, to be there, like, better every day, to just do what I like.

00:40:36.000 And same with the languages.

00:40:38.000 I never end.

00:40:41.000 I don't want to stop to learn.

00:40:44.000 I want to learn every day something new.

00:40:46.000 It's interesting that that concept of balance was written about in the 1400s by Miyamoto Musashi when he talked about being a great swordsman.

00:40:57.000 He talked about balance, that you had to learn poetry and you had to learn calligraphy and art and he was a big believer that you didn't just concentrate on sword fighting, you concentrated on all these things and that they work synergistically, they work together.

00:41:16.000 And this is true because you're a good martial artist, yes, but you want to be a good person as well, right?

00:41:26.000 And more you know, it's just you are like a better person.

00:41:32.000 And I think it's very important.

00:41:34.000 Your education, it means a lot.

00:41:37.000 And you have to put...

00:41:39.000 All money in your education.

00:41:42.000 And not only just do whatever you like.

00:41:45.000 For example, when you were growing up, for example, anyone had some dreams or some things that was a huge inspiration for them.

00:41:57.000 And then for the time pass...

00:42:00.000 And you're thinking, okay, now it's too late to start to learn something, and it's kind of like you're just wasting time.

00:42:06.000 But actually, it's never late.

00:42:08.000 It's never late to learn something you were, like, wanted to do all your life.

00:42:14.000 You just have to start to make your first step, and this is the hardest, I think, the first step.

00:42:21.000 But once you do it, and once you understand that this is the hardest, How it should work, how it should be.

00:42:28.000 Everything is going to be fine and you're going to just love it and just continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to make yourself a better person.

00:42:41.000 Yeah.

00:42:42.000 It's so smart that your mother enrolled you also in dance and got you to learn dance as well as martial arts because the two, the skill sets are so interchangeable.

00:42:52.000 Like you see it like Vasily Lomachenko, perfect example.

00:42:56.000 He learned dance for years and he has this incredible footwork.

00:43:01.000 That you see has given him a huge advantage in boxing.

00:43:06.000 And with you, when you fight, one thing that I've always noticed is you never are flat-footed.

00:43:12.000 You're always moving.

00:43:15.000 You're never a stationary target.

00:43:17.000 You never get lazy.

00:43:18.000 Your back heel is always off the ground.

00:43:21.000 And that is not the case with everyone.

00:43:24.000 People that don't have like the kind of leg dexterity that you have, or the kind of ability to move your footwork.

00:43:33.000 Maybe that's a big advantage, I think.

00:43:38.000 Agree and not agree.

00:43:40.000 It's like, yes and no.

00:43:43.000 Because if you want to be...

00:43:47.000 Good one at something.

00:43:49.000 You have to work.

00:43:50.000 You have to spend more time to work on this thing.

00:43:53.000 On that thing?

00:43:54.000 Definitely.

00:43:55.000 Dancers, they're going to help probably with your balance. 1.00

00:44:00.000 They're going to help with something, but it's not something that would help you to win the fight.

00:44:07.000 Definitely, no.

00:44:08.000 Do you think it helps footwork, though?

00:44:10.000 No.

00:44:12.000 I would say it helps with more like if you're speaking a balance.

00:44:17.000 Because in dancing we have a lot of spins, right?

00:44:20.000 And yeah, different dance have different level, like different movements.

00:44:26.000 But I'm speaking about like folk dance, what I was doing, like folk dance, Russian dance.

00:44:31.000 It's kind of like part of ballet, part of like traditional dance of different countries.

00:44:39.000 and a lot of spins and definitely it's kind of like help you to do like round kicks or something like that but I would say if the lead man your coach have very right of approach of how to teach the students it's not necessary to do dancing He can just or she can just teach their

00:45:10.000 students on how to do the footwork, what is the better way to move or something like that.

00:45:15.000 The other thing, not every coach naturally like teacher because it's also take a lot of knowledge.

00:45:25.000 Coach has to have this like vision of technique and not only vision of How to teach exactly this technique for every student.

00:45:36.000 No, also, it's like, he has, for example, five different students.

00:45:41.000 Five different, like, biometrics, fight style, like, different type of muscles, different, just different.

00:45:49.000 And he has one technique, one, two, like, two straight, like, two hooks, whatever.

00:45:54.000 But everyone would hit it differently.

00:45:57.000 And if the coach see...

00:46:01.000 And combine specific of each fighter with their like right angle how to turn the fist or something like that and can see this detail and say, okay, this is your thing.

00:46:13.000 Do it right there.

00:46:14.000 This will work for you.

00:46:16.000 Maybe it's not the classical one.

00:46:19.000 Maybe it's not the right what everyone thinks, like this is the right weight for this punch.

00:46:25.000 Maybe it's like just a little bit angle, just something like that.

00:46:28.000 But it's work for the student and the student is winning with this technique.

00:46:32.000 So this is what a coach has to have, this type of the vision.

00:46:37.000 But what I see, many coaches, they know their technique and they don't see the specification of each fighter, the biotype of the fighter.

00:46:48.000 And they try to just break the nature gift, what the fighter have, and put this technique, just like what they're thinking is going to be right.

00:46:59.000 And this is what I want to say.

00:47:01.000 This is wrong because it's kind of like it's not helping fighter to win.

00:47:07.000 And to get the right technique for themselves, what it will work for them.

00:47:15.000 It's just like what coach, like just he's not naturally teacher.

00:47:21.000 This is what I mean the most important.

00:47:24.000 It's not about dance.

00:47:26.000 It's not about fighting.

00:47:27.000 It's about right coach what you have.

00:47:31.000 So it's about recognizing that each person is different and not trying to impose one style on all the fighters.

00:47:39.000 Exactly, exactly.

00:47:40.000 Because even one style can be different.

00:47:45.000 It's the same, but a little bit different.

00:47:48.000 Just small details.

00:47:50.000 And coach has to see it.

00:47:52.000 He has to understand.

00:47:55.000 And that's really where the art in martial arts comes from, right?

00:48:00.000 It's this expression of the individual that comes out while competing and while training.

00:48:05.000 Exactly.

00:48:05.000 Yes, I totally agree.

00:48:07.000 And it is an art, and to us, to people who practice martial arts, when I watch you fight, it's beautiful.

00:48:13.000 It is an art.

00:48:14.000 Even the most brutal parts of it, like when you knocked out Jessica Ai, it's beautiful.

00:48:20.000 The way you set up the kick to the body and then switched up to the head, for someone who appreciates what that is, how you did that, it's beautiful.

00:48:31.000 I think that's why it's called martial arts.

00:48:35.000 It's interesting because people that don't practice martial arts, they don't like that term.

00:48:42.000 I've heard that described.

00:48:44.000 I've heard people talk disparagingly about martial arts, saying that is not art.

00:48:49.000 It's just brutality.

00:48:50.000 It's just violence.

00:48:52.000 And although brutality and violence is a part of the art, it is art.

00:48:58.000 Because it's fighting art, definitely.

00:49:00.000 You cannot just go there and say to your opponent, okay, let's agree, I do the technique and you will do that technique and then I win.

00:49:08.000 So you cannot just, it's all about the fight.

00:49:11.000 Yeah, it's about expressing yourself while the other person is trying to express themselves and you both have similar sized bodies, at least they weigh the same, and you're trying to figure out how to impose your skill set and your training and your technique and your mind.

00:49:28.000 And that I think is one of the more interesting things about you is this approach that you've taken to life to educate yourself, to immerse yourself in different cultures and to achieve balance.

00:49:40.000 Clearly that is having some sort of effect for you as a champion.

00:49:46.000 Like you're a different kind of person because of all these experiences and I think that speaks volumes on who you are as a champion.

00:49:56.000 I think it's one of the reasons why you're such an interesting person to watch fight.

00:50:03.000 Thank you.

00:50:05.000 I think, yes, it's kind of like experience what I have through the years what I practice in martial arts.

00:50:12.000 It's teach me how I have to react for the certain situation in the life, right?

00:50:23.000 And I see, for example, many...

00:50:27.000 Young people, they are, for example, having some success and they are starting to believe in themselves too much.

00:50:38.000 No, belief is a wrong word.

00:50:41.000 It's like thinking about themselves too much.

00:50:44.000 And thinking about themselves, they are like untouchable.

00:50:48.000 Ego.

00:50:49.000 Yes.

00:50:50.000 And it definitely will affect their trainings.

00:50:53.000 But what I learned through the years, In the training, you have to be the most simple person as you can be.

00:51:03.000 Because it's a fight.

00:51:07.000 It's a real fight.

00:51:09.000 It's not a fight and saying what you can...

00:51:13.000 Do beautiful leaves and repeat or something like that.

00:51:16.000 It's real, exactly.

00:51:18.000 And if you have the wrong approach to what you have to, like, represent in the fight, you never will be the, like, winner.

00:51:29.000 And definitely it's experience what I got.

00:51:36.000 Through the years, it just showed me that while I'm fighting, I don't have time to think about myself too much.

00:51:47.000 You cannot.

00:51:49.000 You just cannot.

00:51:49.000 Because it's going to last before your fight.

00:51:53.000 And in the fight, you're going to see, no, it's not working.

00:51:57.000 You have to come back.

00:51:59.000 So clearly, you have confidence.

00:52:01.000 But you also think that it's important to have humility.

00:52:06.000 Definitely.

00:52:07.000 And important to understand, you have to do everything to win the fight.

00:52:11.000 Because if you have...

00:52:15.000 You start to have mercy on something like that.

00:52:19.000 In the fight, it doesn't work.

00:52:21.000 Or you're a winner or you're going to be a loser.

00:52:24.000 So decide who you want to be.

00:52:26.000 Winner or loser?

00:52:27.000 Yeah.

00:52:28.000 Just decide.

00:52:29.000 It's easy.

00:52:29.000 Simple.

00:52:30.000 It's simple.

00:52:31.000 If it was only that simple.

00:52:33.000 Do you have an idea of when you're going to stop competing?

00:52:39.000 No, no.

00:52:40.000 I don't have any idea because I like the lifestyle that I have right now.

00:52:45.000 I feel myself so strong, so healthy, so good.

00:52:50.000 That's why I want to experience that feeling as long as I can.

00:52:54.000 I want to see what my body is capable of.

00:52:58.000 I want to see my limits.

00:53:00.000 I want to see where I can go.

00:53:02.000 Because if you are, like, put in this certain day, certain year, till what time you're gonna compete, it's kind of like, my opinion, it's not good because you're starting to go to your end, slowly but surely.

00:53:21.000 Yeah, it messes with your head.

00:53:23.000 You think about it.

00:53:24.000 I think so.

00:53:25.000 And if you are just enjoy the time, what you are, and just experience and want to just do the best things what you can without like, okay, this is my limit.

00:53:38.000 And you just do it the best way you can.

00:53:41.000 And this is the only way to explore what you're capable of.

00:53:45.000 So right now you're 33?

00:53:47.000 Yes.

00:53:47.000 And so this is the prime of your athletic life?

00:53:50.000 I hope it's still coming.

00:53:53.000 I'm sure there's years to go, but this is like athletically...

00:53:59.000 They say early 30s for a fighter is their prime because that's when their mind catches up with their body. 0.99

00:54:05.000 I would add a little bit more about the...

00:54:11.000 We don't know, because if we compare what it was 5-10 years ago, how people were at age 30 years old.

00:54:23.000 For example, 10 years ago, they would feel themselves as like, okay, it's a lot.

00:54:29.000 They are already family persons, and they are not thinking about competing or do something like that.

00:54:35.000 Now, we have a different scale.

00:54:39.000 Now people at age 30, they feel younger than it was before.

00:54:44.000 That's why I don't know if we can say this is a prime.

00:54:49.000 Maybe not.

00:54:49.000 Maybe prime is now 40 years old.

00:54:52.000 Who knows?

00:54:53.000 Well, I think you love competition so much you want to drag it out.

00:54:57.000 You want to stretch it out.

00:54:58.000 Probably.

00:54:59.000 I love it a lot, but it's so hard.

00:55:02.000 It's so hard to have training camp.

00:55:04.000 And it's more than just physically.

00:55:08.000 It's mentally.

00:55:09.000 And combination when it's physically and mentally, this is what is really hard.

00:55:14.000 Because I noticed that...

00:55:19.000 Mentally, what I mean, like mentally, not just your preparation, but when you have to every day train with your training partner or different training partners, and you know it's going to be like mini battle.

00:55:32.000 And you know that you have to push yourself to the like doing better thing.

00:55:39.000 It's not just like just running or just any physical exercises to do without too much mental like things to push.

00:55:48.000 So it's easier.

00:55:49.000 But in mixed martial arts, in martial arts, it's combination physically and mentally what it's making that hard.

00:55:57.000 That's why it's kind of like so hard during the training camp, but it's worse.

00:56:02.000 It's worse when you feel your hands raise up and like everything good.

00:56:08.000 Even if something happens, sometimes something happens not the way you want it.

00:56:13.000 Even that one, it gives you so much energy to continue.

00:56:17.000 That's why, in my opinion, martial arts is the best thing that anyone can have.

00:56:23.000 So, meaning when things don't go your way, then it gives you motivation to train harder and get better.

00:56:30.000 Motivation and also the energy of the event, of the fight.

00:56:36.000 For example, it puts your level of martial art on the next level.

00:56:44.000 It teaches you.

00:56:46.000 Sometimes you teach one technique for years and sometimes you just have to fight in the real fight and you will understand the technique so fast.

00:56:55.000 Yeah.

00:56:56.000 When you're talking about your body and your mind and the difficulty, you're now training at the UFC Performance Institute, which is an amazing facility in Las Vegas, which for sure helps the body, right?

00:57:11.000 Oh, definitely.

00:57:12.000 Because you have access to the state-of-the-art equipment, state-of-the-art coaches and nutritionists, and it's an amazing place.

00:57:18.000 Do you work on your mind in sense of do you study psychology?

00:57:26.000 Do you meditate?

00:57:28.000 Nothing.

00:57:29.000 No, no.

00:57:31.000 I have very different, very unusual approach for my trainings.

00:57:37.000 For example, physically.

00:57:39.000 I don't like to train with weights.

00:57:41.000 I don't like to train with some very popular equipment, like modern fighters working.

00:57:51.000 I prefer to focus myself on the training in the gym.

00:57:55.000 For the mental, I work on my mental game during the training as well.

00:58:03.000 For example, I give this example.

00:58:06.000 My coach, he said in time, Pavel, he said in time how many minutes One round is going to be.

00:58:13.000 How long is the training going to be?

00:58:15.000 So coming into the gym, we don't have like from 10 to 11, this is our training.

00:58:20.000 From 10 to 12, this is a limit for our training.

00:58:23.000 No, we have like three, four hours, the window.

00:58:28.000 And it's decision of Pavel, when's the training going to stop?

00:58:32.000 So it can go all three hours, sometimes all four hours.

00:58:35.000 It's all up to him.

00:58:37.000 And this is like, for example, this is the mental preparation, the mental game that you are dying in the training physically, but your mind is saying continue.

00:58:51.000 Your coach is saying, continue.

00:58:53.000 And you are pushing yourself to continue.

00:58:56.000 This is the best mental preparation you can have for the fight.

00:59:01.000 When your body already says, I cannot, but your mind says, yes, you can.

00:59:06.000 It's kind of like opening the second respiration, second respiration.

00:59:11.000 Something like that.

00:59:12.000 So through this difficult training and forcing yourself to stay focused in the gym, that's where your mental training comes from.

00:59:19.000 Yes, because as I said earlier, to be the best version of yourself in anything, in something, in martial arts, for example, you have to do everything what's considering with martial arts.

00:59:36.000 You cannot do psychology apart, because if you go to...

00:59:45.000 As a person who doesn't know what is that fighter psychology or never was in the fight, it doesn't know how it feels in the fight, they will give you wrong advices.

00:59:58.000 They will teach you wrong things.

01:00:01.000 No, so it's completely you don't want to happen.

01:00:05.000 It's something that's gonna miss.

01:00:09.000 They're gonna choke to each other, strike each other, and be completely not...

01:00:14.000 Incompatible.

01:00:16.000 Exactly.

01:00:16.000 So this is what you never want to happen.

01:00:18.000 Did you get advice from other fighters?

01:00:21.000 Did you train with other champions and get advice from them at all?

01:00:26.000 I trained with other champions, but I don't need advice.

01:00:31.000 The only person who I take advices, this is my coach, my sister, and my mom.

01:00:38.000 Only three persons, what I consider that they have rights to give me advices.

01:00:44.000 Well, obviously it's working.

01:00:47.000 This is the most important.

01:00:48.000 Yeah, the most important thing is that it's working.

01:00:50.000 But it doesn't matter I won't listen to something like what people have right, saying right, or something like exactly that I consider would work for me.

01:01:02.000 It doesn't mean that I will close the eyes and I won't listen to you.

01:01:06.000 No, I won't do that, definitely.

01:01:08.000 I will take it.

01:01:09.000 But I mean to go to someone and like, okay, share your experience, share your like...

01:01:15.000 No, no, it's not.

01:01:17.000 Even like you will listen it for a thousand times, if you are not experienced that, you never will feel it.

01:01:25.000 It never will work for you.

01:01:31.000 Backwards, when I feel a person trying to give too much advice, when no one asks them to give that advice, I feel like, okay, maybe I have to get away from that person.

01:01:45.000 That's a weird one, right?

01:01:47.000 It's usually someone who's not that good.

01:01:51.000 Oh no, they can be good.

01:01:53.000 They can be good physically, technically, but they're maybe not that good with their mind.

01:02:02.000 Yeah, maybe, right?

01:02:04.000 Maybe they're trying to convince themselves by talking to you and giving you advice.

01:02:09.000 It's interesting you say you don't like to use modern training equipment.

01:02:13.000 Do you mean like weightlifting, like cardio machines?

01:02:19.000 What do you mean?

01:02:20.000 Exactly.

01:02:20.000 Weightlifting, cardio machines, I don't like them.

01:02:23.000 You don't like them?

01:02:24.000 No?

01:02:24.000 No, no.

01:02:25.000 But you look like you do.

01:02:26.000 It's interesting.

01:02:28.000 You look very fit and strong.

01:02:31.000 And someone would assume if they saw you and you're fighting, oh, she must do a lot of strength and conditioning work. 1.00

01:02:37.000 No, I don't.

01:02:38.000 No, I don't like to run.

01:02:41.000 I hate to run.

01:02:42.000 And I don't like to hit pads also.

01:02:45.000 You don't hit pads?

01:02:46.000 I hit pads, but I don't like to do that.

01:02:48.000 Really?

01:02:49.000 I know some people, it's like favorite thing because they don't have to fight or something like that.

01:02:54.000 Like this, have this mental pressure.

01:02:56.000 But I rather do five rounds of fight, like sparrings, than do like five rounds on pads.

01:03:05.000 No, I just don't like it.

01:03:07.000 What about working with power, with techniques?

01:03:10.000 Do you like to hit the bag?

01:03:12.000 Oh yes, yes.

01:03:13.000 I do everything, bags, pads, but I just don't like it.

01:03:18.000 You don't like it.

01:03:18.000 Do you like any more than the other?

01:03:21.000 Do you like bag more than pads?

01:03:26.000 For back, it can be sometimes a little bit more lazy.

01:03:30.000 You can relax, you can explode, you can manage your timing.

01:03:35.000 For the pads, especially when Pavel holds pads, it's just intense.

01:03:39.000 All five rounds not stop.

01:03:43.000 In the sparring, I can find timing when I rest, when I explode.

01:03:52.000 When I'm hitting pads and Pavel holding pads, there is no time for it.

01:03:57.000 Just go, go, go.

01:03:58.000 You can't control it.

01:03:59.000 But definitely what I'm working on, it's like a lot of work with partner.

01:04:06.000 When you wrestle, it's your weightlifting.

01:04:09.000 It's the same, but with someone who moves.

01:04:12.000 Someone who responds.

01:04:14.000 Someone who do your protection.

01:04:17.000 So for me, this is my training style, what I do day by day.

01:04:26.000 And this is where I get my strength, where I get my power, and my speed.

01:04:32.000 How many times a day do you train?

01:04:35.000 One time a day now.

01:04:37.000 Yes.

01:04:37.000 That's unusual, right?

01:04:38.000 For professional fighters?

01:04:40.000 For me, no.

01:04:41.000 For not for you.

01:04:42.000 I would say...

01:04:45.000 If a person is still learning and still has many things to work on, or teenagers, or children, they have to work twice a day or three times too much.

01:05:02.000 No, twice a day, that's fine.

01:05:04.000 They have to work more.

01:05:06.000 I was working more, so I was training more when I was early ages.

01:05:12.000 Now it's enough one time a day.

01:05:14.000 It's more than enough.

01:05:16.000 And you know, people sometimes do, for example, one hour in the morning, then sparrings in afternoon, and it's kind of like they're tired here, they're tired there, and they cannot do one hard session and show everything put in the sparrings and have this full energy.

01:05:36.000 It's not here or not there.

01:05:38.000 It's something in between.

01:05:39.000 And you don't know, like, do I have to do that or that?

01:05:42.000 And sometimes you just feel so tired when the time is fight and you're changing room in the fighting room.

01:05:50.000 Before you fight, you're thinking, oh, I wish it's going to finish soon because I'm so tired.

01:05:56.000 This is what I don't want to happen.

01:05:58.000 I want to feel so much energy for my fight.

01:06:03.000 Because it's good if you are training good, but the most important part to win the fight, right?

01:06:09.000 Yes.

01:06:10.000 Some people, they confuse.

01:06:13.000 They think that they have to train, like, so hard and, like, to prove something like that.

01:06:19.000 But for the time in the fight, they don't have energy.

01:06:22.000 They're like a balloon.

01:06:23.000 Pshh! 0.99

01:06:24.000 They go down.

01:06:25.000 And so this is a very thin line where you have to know what is good for your body and where you have to know how to manage your training system.

01:06:36.000 And is this something that you've just figured out about yourself over the years?

01:06:41.000 I think this is the...

01:06:46.000 What like my team is training right now, how we prepare for the fight.

01:06:50.000 Yes, it works for me.

01:06:52.000 It works for me because we do very hard session.

01:06:56.000 This one, but very hard one.

01:06:59.000 Just one.

01:06:59.000 But that is unusual.

01:07:01.000 If you pay attention to other MMA fighters, they usually break it up to two things a day.

01:07:06.000 Usually they're doing a strength and conditioning workout or maybe they're doing pads in the morning and then they're doing some sort of sparring, maybe wrestling and jujitsu in the afternoon and then maybe they'll do MMA sparring in the evening.

01:07:19.000 So sometimes you have these three sessions but you prepare differently.

01:07:24.000 Yes.

01:07:25.000 And I don't like to do like separate.

01:07:30.000 For example, now it's Muay Thai time.

01:07:33.000 Now it's wrestling time.

01:07:35.000 Now it's grappling time.

01:07:36.000 I don't like it because we're fighting mixed martial arts.

01:07:39.000 It has to be everything in one.

01:07:41.000 That's why in my training, we do everything at once.

01:07:44.000 So you never just do only jujitsu?

01:07:49.000 If you're speaking about training camp, no.

01:07:52.000 If you're speaking about, like, after the fight in between, definitely I don't want to spar every day.

01:07:58.000 So, like, right now, you just beat Lauren Murphy.

01:08:02.000 You're off for a while.

01:08:04.000 Do you have an idea of when you'll be competing again?

01:08:07.000 I don't have it yet.

01:08:09.000 I didn't ask UFC yet about my next fight.

01:08:13.000 And, yeah, I just take my time.

01:08:15.000 Yeah, so right now you maybe would do a jujitsu class or train something differently just to try it out?

01:08:22.000 Yeah, I could.

01:08:24.000 I train every day.

01:08:26.000 Not every day.

01:08:27.000 Now I train like one day, one rest, one day, one rest.

01:08:31.000 But just to maintain.

01:08:33.000 Maintain physical and maintain mood.

01:08:37.000 The most important.

01:08:39.000 Mood.

01:08:39.000 So you need some training just to stay calm.

01:08:42.000 To stay happy.

01:08:45.000 Happy, yes.

01:08:47.000 Not calm, happy.

01:08:48.000 Right.

01:08:48.000 Because I feel that, I don't know how people feel with no trainings.

01:08:55.000 Like they just don't train.

01:08:57.000 They just don't sweat.

01:08:58.000 And it feels so bad.

01:09:00.000 Feared for me.

01:09:01.000 I feel that the sweat, it's like, it's favorite phrase of my sisters.

01:09:08.000 Like, when you take shower, like, you feel clean, right?

01:09:11.000 But when you sweat in the training, you feel clean from inside.

01:09:15.000 So this is for me that I have to do constantly.

01:09:19.000 And I just feel if I'm not training, my mood is, like, Starting to be crazy and it's like you never know what to expect.

01:09:27.000 Now she's laughing, that's why she's angry.

01:09:29.000 No, I have to train her.

01:09:31.000 That's the case with everybody, I think.

01:09:33.000 I really do.

01:09:34.000 I just think most people just choose to live this way where they don't have a real good grasp on their body and a good control over it because of exercise.

01:09:44.000 Yes, yes, I think so.

01:09:46.000 It's definitely, even training martial arts, you don't have to fight.

01:09:52.000 You don't have to be a professional fighter.

01:09:54.000 Just do it for yourself and everyone would feel the difference.

01:09:58.000 They're going to be happier people.

01:10:00.000 Yeah.

01:10:01.000 So when you structure your training camp, does Pavel structure it all?

01:10:05.000 Like say if you have a fight and it gets scheduled, you have 12 weeks or whatever you use for preparation.

01:10:12.000 Does Pavel schedule everything?

01:10:14.000 He schedules everything.

01:10:15.000 So you just show up, put in your time, and that's it.

01:10:19.000 Yes and no.

01:10:20.000 We are participating in everything.

01:10:23.000 So it's not something that...

01:10:25.000 I like to know everything.

01:10:28.000 I like to understand how everything works.

01:10:32.000 And I'm not only speaking about training and the training camp.

01:10:35.000 I'm speaking about everything.

01:10:36.000 It doesn't matter what we do.

01:10:37.000 I want to understand what we're gonna do, what is like things we will work.

01:10:42.000 So it's kind of like Work, teamwork.

01:10:45.000 And definitely we are speaking about what to expect from the training camp, where we gonna have training camp, because it doesn't mean we are training like at the same location all the time.

01:11:00.000 We love to travel, to have training camps in different gyms.

01:11:03.000 In different states, in different countries.

01:11:06.000 So we plan it in advance.

01:11:08.000 We're thinking about, like, considering, for example, my fight's gonna be in this type of the climate.

01:11:14.000 So where it's gonna be better to train?

01:11:17.000 And we just plan it all together.

01:11:20.000 This is, I think, the best when everyone knowing what's happening.

01:11:25.000 And you've moved around in this country as well, right?

01:11:28.000 You've trained in Denver for a bit?

01:11:31.000 For the fight with Juliana Pena, yes.

01:11:34.000 So is that when you started training with Rose?

01:11:38.000 Because you and Rose have done some training together too.

01:11:42.000 Was that beneficial for you?

01:11:44.000 I think it's beneficial for everyone.

01:11:46.000 For example...

01:11:50.000 When high level athletes training each other, it's kind of like good for both.

01:11:56.000 It's everyone can take something for themselves.

01:12:00.000 And it's something that good experience and we build our like good relationship, friend relationships.

01:12:07.000 And it's amazing to have friends who are doing, like, the same thing what you are doing and sharing the same ideas what you are having.

01:12:16.000 For this training camp, for example, in my training camp was Brendan Marina.

01:12:20.000 And it's, like, he's an amazing guy, very strong guy, very, like, strong technique.

01:12:27.000 And it was amazing to train with him as well.

01:12:30.000 So I think it's, like...

01:12:34.000 Every time, no matter who I train with, I learn something new from them.

01:12:39.000 No matter what levels they are, I able to learn something from them.

01:12:45.000 Do you take trips specifically, like say if you're gonna face someone who's a great judo expert, do you train specifically, like would you go to a place and train with like a Kayla Harrison or something like that, or someone who was specifically a judo stylist?

01:13:02.000 First of all, we're considering to have a similar weight class.

01:13:07.000 This is the number one rule.

01:13:10.000 Because, for example, if someone is...

01:13:13.000 I'm not just speaking about Kayla right now.

01:13:15.000 I'm speaking like a general.

01:13:17.000 I know.

01:13:18.000 I'm speaking about general.

01:13:19.000 Sometimes it's not beneficial.

01:13:23.000 Even the person, they are skillful, super controlled, and do so good at their things.

01:13:35.000 their heart full power because they are just bigger and they just stronger it's not good for you because you have to feel this like moment when you're kind of like breaking them or they kind of like have this thing when they are like in their technique you have to feel the moment you have to be able to go hard Exactly.

01:13:58.000 And this is like the number one rule.

01:14:01.000 So I like to train and I'm trained with a training partner similar to my weight class.

01:14:08.000 When you have competed at 135 pounds, was that an issue?

01:14:13.000 Like when you went up to 135?

01:14:15.000 Well, your first fights in the UFC, there was no 125 pound division.

01:14:19.000 Yes.

01:14:19.000 So like when you fought Holly Holm, when you fought Amanda Nunes, these fights are all at 135 pounds.

01:14:25.000 Did you feel when you were in that division that you were just a little undersized?

01:14:31.000 Oh yes, definitely.

01:14:33.000 I was a smaller one.

01:14:35.000 And for 135, I never was worried about cutting weight.

01:14:40.000 What did you weigh when you weighed 135?

01:14:42.000 Did you walk around?

01:14:43.000 Walk around.

01:14:44.000 This is my walk weight right now.

01:14:46.000 Like 135, this is my walk.

01:14:48.000 And if I stop to train for like one week and eat every day, 138 might be maximum.

01:14:53.000 But with training, it's like 135, 136. So yeah.

01:14:58.000 And definitely it's...

01:15:01.000 I didn't experience any problem fighting 135, but definitely I would have to think more about strategy for the fight.

01:15:12.000 Being smaller, you have to think about Different tactic.

01:15:20.000 How to approach two different fighters.

01:15:22.000 Because sometimes you will have enough power to break them, sometimes no.

01:15:26.000 So it's kind of like yes or no, maybe.

01:15:29.000 And you have to have your backup plan and you have to have your body ready for different game plan.

01:15:38.000 That's why I didn't have problem to fight in 135, but every time I was to think about something, extra things.

01:15:48.000 Do you foresee a possibility of you competing at 135 pounds again?

01:15:54.000 Because Amanda Nunes is kind of running out of opposition and you're kind of running out of opposition and you both had epic fights against each other. 0.99

01:16:03.000 Do you think that that's possible?

01:16:05.000 There is only one possibility.

01:16:07.000 Why I move up to 135 and this is it.

01:16:11.000 Do you think that could be the case someday?

01:16:14.000 I think so.

01:16:15.000 Why not?

01:16:16.000 If everything's going to continue that way, it's just going to be inevitable.

01:16:22.000 Is there anyone in your division right now, in 125, where you look at them and you say, I want to fight her?

01:16:31.000 It's just not my style.

01:16:34.000 It's not my style, I would say, to pick an opponent for you.

01:16:40.000 Because all the time when I was fighting Muay Thai, MMA, I was like, Valentina, would you fight her?

01:16:47.000 Yes.

01:16:48.000 Valentina, would you fight her? 0.89

01:16:49.000 Yes.

01:16:50.000 Her?

01:16:51.000 Yes.

01:16:51.000 So it was like the way I am.

01:16:54.000 It is the way I am.

01:16:55.000 I'm not choosing my opponents.

01:16:57.000 I'm not looking for some easy fights.

01:17:00.000 I want to fight with the best ones.

01:17:02.000 That's why...

01:17:04.000 I just not pick and run.

01:17:05.000 I just wait when you see, like, okay, this is your opponent.

01:17:09.000 Well, it is an unusual situation, though.

01:17:12.000 Like I said, you are in this position that's very similar to, like, many of the great fighters that are dominant champions where you don't have one person who stands out.

01:17:24.000 I think that there is a lot of girls. 1.00

01:17:27.000 And 125, it's the most comfortable weight class for females. 1.00

01:17:36.000 125, it's not too big, not too small.

01:17:38.000 And a lot of girls, they are in this weight class. 1.00

01:17:42.000 And from the straw weight, they're going up.

01:17:45.000 From the bantam weight, they're going down.

01:17:47.000 So it's just like...

01:17:51.000 Very strong girls over there. 0.98

01:17:52.000 But as I said, it's wrong to compare when they fight me and you have to watch them fighting to see their levels.

01:18:03.000 Because my goal is to fight differently.

01:18:06.000 It's like I say, when you can finish them, but they cannot touch you.

01:18:11.000 So it's every time was the same.

01:18:13.000 Muay Thai was the same. 0.97

01:18:14.000 For example, I was watching them fight to each other before I fight them.

01:18:19.000 And I was like, wow, yeah.

01:18:21.000 But then it's completely different.

01:18:23.000 So it's kind of like...

01:18:25.000 And 125, I think there is like whole rosters, they are very good.

01:18:29.000 They are very strong.

01:18:30.000 And you could see the last event when it was all bonuses for the female fighters. 1.00

01:18:37.000 There's obviously some great talent in the female division of the UFC. Was Amanda Nunez your most difficult fights? 1.00

01:18:48.000 I never was considered...

01:18:53.000 Difficulty of the fight only for the fight, for this five rounds or less.

01:19:00.000 For me, difficulty of the fight, it's combination of training camp, your approach to the fight, fight week, and the fight itself.

01:19:13.000 I still cannot, like, answer this question.

01:19:17.000 I think it's the hardest question.

01:19:20.000 And every time people ask me, like, what is your hardest fight, hardest opponent?

01:19:25.000 And I just cannot answer because it's so different.

01:19:29.000 Each fight, it's a different approach, different training camp.

01:19:33.000 Everyone is difficult.

01:19:35.000 Difficult with their, like, own style, something like that.

01:19:41.000 That's why it's hard to say, hard.

01:19:43.000 What is difficult about Amanda's style?

01:19:47.000 Her size is... 1.00

01:19:48.000 Size?

01:19:49.000 It's not her style.

01:19:50.000 It's not her style.

01:19:51.000 It's just she's big and heavy.

01:19:53.000 Yeah.

01:19:54.000 And power?

01:19:56.000 Everyone has power.

01:19:57.000 Everyone has power.

01:19:59.000 If you're speaking about 135 weight class, everyone has a lot of power.

01:20:06.000 But Amanda, I think she's just bigger than anyone, bigger.

01:20:10.000 You think she's bigger than the rest of the division? 0.97

01:20:13.000 What is her working weight? 0.99

01:20:16.000 160?

01:20:17.000 170?

01:20:17.000 I don't know.

01:20:18.000 Is it really that big?

01:20:19.000 I don't know.

01:20:20.000 Well, she does fight at 145 and she looks the same at 145 as she does at 135. And obviously at 145 she's able to knock out Cyborg. 0.99

01:20:28.000 Yeah, yeah.

01:20:29.000 It's kind of like, you know, what about the knockouts?

01:20:33.000 Everyone has, like, chances to knock out each other.

01:20:38.000 So it's just like, it's 50-50.

01:20:41.000 It's the situation.

01:20:42.000 If...

01:20:43.000 For example, you have interchange.

01:20:47.000 The chances are more for each one, right?

01:20:51.000 But you have to fight very smart.

01:20:55.000 You know that small gloves, it's like more possibility to be knocked out or you make the knockout.

01:21:02.000 So if it's kind of like, are you or you gonna hit or they gonna hit you?

01:21:08.000 So it's kind of like, this is what I saw in their fights.

01:21:11.000 So it was interchange.

01:21:13.000 And this interchange who's on that moment were more lucky.

01:21:17.000 If you had a long time out, like if the UFC said, here we are, we are in October, if they said, Valentina, August, next year, we would like you to fight Amanda Nunes.

01:21:34.000 That's going to be this big, super fight.

01:21:36.000 Would you try to gain weight?

01:21:38.000 Would you lift weights?

01:21:39.000 Would you do anything differently?

01:21:41.000 Or would you just concentrate on technique and strategy and maintain the same weight you're at now?

01:21:46.000 We are in October and August.

01:21:49.000 Do you know anything they're going to approach me with this?

01:21:51.000 I'm going to try.

01:21:54.000 I think when I look at the two of you, it's the most compelling fight in the UFC, in the women's MMA, I believe.

01:22:01.000 That's the most compelling fight.

01:22:03.000 It's because you're both at the top of your game and there's an argument for both of you to be the greatest of all time.

01:22:08.000 I'm not gonna do anything special to lift up my weight.

01:22:13.000 You wouldn't start working out and lift weights?

01:22:15.000 No, no, no, no.

01:22:17.000 Because I don't believe it's gonna help.

01:22:20.000 I believe it's gonna be worse for the fighter.

01:22:25.000 Because if in your whole life you was like a certain body type, you know how to carry like certain muscles, amount of muscles.

01:22:35.000 And then suddenly for last 2-3 months you start to carry way more.

01:22:41.000 So what's gonna happen?

01:22:43.000 You're gonna be slower.

01:22:44.000 You're not gonna have same resistance for the whole fight because you have to carry more weight on top of you.

01:22:52.000 So I will do the same.

01:22:55.000 I just want to do the last day weight cut for what I do for 125. I'm not going to lose six pounds, what I do.

01:23:06.000 That's what you do for 125. And I just will eat normally as I do and train the same way as I do.

01:23:15.000 It's interesting to see different people's approaches, right?

01:23:18.000 Like when Israel Adesanya went up to challenge Jan Bohovic for the 205 pound title, he did the same thing that you're saying.

01:23:25.000 He didn't gain any weight.

01:23:27.000 He just concentrated on his technique and training.

01:23:31.000 But there was moments in that fight where the size of Jan Bojovic was evident in the grappling exchanges when he was able to control him on the ground.

01:23:41.000 Do you think that there's any benefit?

01:23:44.000 I mean, this is why I'm saying if you have a long time.

01:23:46.000 I'm not saying if you just have a normal eight-week camp.

01:23:50.000 I'm saying if they give you eight months, nine months, and they let you know in advance, you still don't think you'd ever try to gain any weight?

01:23:57.000 I don't think it's still gonna help, because someone naturally bigger, every time they'll have this advantage, being bigger.

01:24:07.000 No matter how more weight you're gonna put on top, you are still the same, just with the extra weight on you.

01:24:14.000 Well, that's why I'm interested in John Jones.

01:24:16.000 And John Jones, when he's trying to move up to the heavyweight division, he's gained a lot of weight.

01:24:21.000 And he wants to be over the 265 pound limit and then cut back down to 265. So I believe he's walking around somewhere in the 260s now.

01:24:31.000 I think we will know the answer only when he will fight in this weight class.

01:24:37.000 And we will know exactly how it's going to affect him.

01:24:40.000 Will it be good for him or bad for him?

01:24:42.000 So we don't know.

01:24:44.000 As I say, every person is different.

01:24:46.000 And I know how my body works.

01:24:49.000 I know what is good for me, what is bad for me.

01:24:52.000 Israel, he knows exactly the same about his body type.

01:24:56.000 John Jones, he knows exactly about himself.

01:24:59.000 So this is everyone's approach.

01:25:02.000 And I think everyone should do what they think is going to help them to win.

01:25:07.000 So for you, from going down from 135 to 125 was the right move.

01:25:14.000 You felt like much better at 125. It's my natural weight class.

01:25:19.000 It's like what I was competing all the time.

01:25:22.000 Have you ever thought of going lower?

01:25:25.000 1.15 and die from their hunger.

01:25:32.000 But there are some girls who fight at 115 that look in between fights very similar to you. 0.90

01:25:39.000 Physically.

01:25:40.000 I know.

01:25:41.000 And I really don't know how they do that.

01:25:43.000 Like Ioana.

01:25:44.000 You and Ioana fought in Muay Thai.

01:25:48.000 Yes.

01:25:48.000 And what weight was that at?

01:25:50.000 57 kilos is 125. Yeah.

01:25:53.000 Which is your natural weight.

01:25:55.000 And then Ioana has had notorious struggles to get down to 115. Yes, I know, yes.

01:26:01.000 And she is like...

01:26:02.000 That's why I have so much respect for her, what she is doing.

01:26:08.000 It's amazing.

01:26:09.000 And when she is fighting 115, after all this weight cut, and showing all technique, what she is showing, it looks so impressive.

01:26:18.000 And it's very hard to do that.

01:26:21.000 And I know it's very hard.

01:26:23.000 But, you know...

01:26:25.000 I feel good 125. I don't see a reason why I have to move down to 115. I don't want to try.

01:26:35.000 Because now it's my best shape.

01:26:37.000 If I will try to lose my weight, it has to be a huge reason why I do that.

01:26:45.000 Because...

01:26:47.000 We have to consider what's going to be after.

01:26:51.000 I will lose all that, but it's going to affect my performing in 125 as well because everything has sequences, right?

01:26:58.000 Yes.

01:26:59.000 And that's why you better think twice before you take decision.

01:27:03.000 But no.

01:27:05.000 Yeah, I wouldn't think that was a good idea either.

01:27:08.000 I was just curious.

01:27:08.000 I think that there is a real issue with fighters that lose a lot of weight, and I think the long-term consequences are probably ultimately not worth it.

01:27:18.000 No, exactly, exactly.

01:27:21.000 It's kind of like the same, the opposite way, for example.

01:27:25.000 They are going down too much.

01:27:28.000 They are, like, having this extreme cutting weight.

01:27:31.000 But them, all weight, it has, like...

01:27:35.000 Tendency come back like double, triple with the friends.

01:27:42.000 And then it makes it harder to go back and cut the weight again.

01:27:47.000 So it's kind of like it's going that way once, working once, but then you have to do it harder and harder before you decide that it's not a smart thing to do.

01:27:59.000 Yeah, your body starts to think that it's experiencing famine.

01:28:03.000 And also, it's fine.

01:28:05.000 It's okay when you have 20, 25 years.

01:28:09.000 But if you are thinking about long-term fighting, you have to think about your health as well.

01:28:14.000 Do you think there's enough weight classes in the UFC? Would you like to see more weight classes?

01:28:21.000 For say female fighters? 1.00

01:28:22.000 Yes.

01:28:23.000 Like 145, 105, something like that, or something in between?

01:28:28.000 Yeah, the way they do it with boxing.

01:28:29.000 You know how boxing has so many champions and they have so many different weight classes.

01:28:34.000 You know, like boxing, they have, you know, oftentimes like every four or five pounds would be a new weight class.

01:28:40.000 I think, like, to do that much, I don't feel it's going to be worth it.

01:28:45.000 Like, I don't feel that it's something that UFC has to do.

01:28:53.000 Because UFC has so unique type, and it's, like, it's uncomparable to anything.

01:29:02.000 It's, in my opinion, it's even bigger than Olympics.

01:29:05.000 It's way bigger than Olympics.

01:29:08.000 That's why, yeah, maybe 105 for a smaller goal.

01:29:12.000 On 145 we have 145. But not in between.

01:29:15.000 I don't think so.

01:29:17.000 Yeah, there's a much more limited talent pool as well, right?

01:29:23.000 It's just not so many mixed martial arts fighters like this.

01:29:28.000 Because what is UFC? You see it's rosters.

01:29:33.000 It's the best ones.

01:29:34.000 The best ones in the world.

01:29:36.000 It's not just a small league where you have different levels of competitors.

01:29:41.000 It's like you can see the roster.

01:29:43.000 It's like low level.

01:29:45.000 Here's the high level.

01:29:46.000 No, here it's like since the beginning to the end.

01:29:50.000 Super high level of everyone.

01:29:52.000 This is what makes it so unique, so special.

01:29:57.000 Well, it's really interesting because that level has increased dramatically over the last decade and a half.

01:30:04.000 When we first saw Ronda Rousey competing in the UFC, some of the earliest female fights in the UFC, the competition that she was facing was just not at the same level as the male competition.

01:30:17.000 But now, when you see Rose Namajunas versus Zhang Weili, that is a very, very high-level fight.

01:30:26.000 And it's very exciting because they're both world champion, elite martial artists.

01:30:31.000 So when they fight, you're seeing two of the best of the best, period, in the sport.

01:30:37.000 It is.

01:30:38.000 And this is saying about how fast and how far mixed martial arts developed.

01:30:45.000 And even if we are comparing UFC fighters 15, 20 years ago, it's going to be different.

01:30:52.000 Now it's like mixed martial arts, it's complete fight style.

01:30:57.000 It's not a fight between stand-up fighter, boxer, or wrestler.

01:31:03.000 It's two high-level MMA fighters who know how to dominate so good in boxing, so good kicking, like Taekwondo, so good wrestlers and grapplers.

01:31:16.000 So it's speaking about the...

01:31:18.000 How MMA develops through the years.

01:31:23.000 And it's amazing because now we can see there is no difference.

01:31:27.000 Female fighter, male fighter, they are just like performing the best way and it's amazing. 0.99

01:31:33.000 Watch them, how they compete.

01:31:34.000 It really is amazing when you think back from when you first started training martial arts as a five-year-old girl in 1993 to today, the UFC is almost unrecognizable.

01:31:46.000 If you go back and watch any other sport from 1993, say like football or basketball, it looks similar.

01:31:52.000 I mean, you might have better athletes today and better training today, but it looks pretty similar.

01:31:57.000 Today, martial arts has expanded so far above and beyond what it was at in those days.

01:32:04.000 Yes, and this is like a dream for a mixed martial artist.

01:32:11.000 Every time it was a dream of mine, to be comfortable in everything.

01:32:20.000 Know how to fight in every single situation.

01:32:25.000 Don't have any...

01:32:29.000 Fear that, okay, if someone will throw me down, what should I do?

01:32:34.000 No, I don't know.

01:32:35.000 This is an amazing thing of being a mixed martial artist, that you are so complete that you kind of like, you don't have a fear.

01:32:42.000 You just like know how to do in any situation.

01:32:47.000 Do you remember the first high-level female mixed martial arts fight you watched? 0.61

01:32:52.000 Do you remember who it was?

01:32:54.000 Oh.

01:32:55.000 Was it Gina Carano?

01:32:59.000 Was it like Elite XC? Was it Strikeforce?

01:33:02.000 What was it that you saw?

01:33:05.000 You know, back then, people are more like young generations.

01:33:14.000 They don't have any idea how it was back then.

01:33:19.000 To watch some fights, you have to have this VHS cassette.

01:33:25.000 You have to have not only this tape, but also the whole equipment to watch that.

01:33:30.000 And it's only special people would have it.

01:33:34.000 And being here in America, in the United States, it's different than being there.

01:33:40.000 It's everything way harder over there.

01:33:42.000 It's so much technology here and not yet over there.

01:33:48.000 So it's kind of like was very hard to watch fights.

01:33:52.000 It's only like special people would have this VHS tape.

01:33:59.000 So it's kind of like, I would say...

01:34:02.000 First, like, fights, female fights, for me, if you're speaking about youth, definitely when I was competing Muay Thai and MMA, I was watching, like, different fighters from, like, their countries and, like, definitely, like, high level from their countries.

01:34:21.000 And it was my first championship, but I won world champion in mixed martial arts.

01:34:27.000 It was South Korea in 2003. It was my first MMA. That was your first MMA fight?

01:34:34.000 Title, what I won.

01:34:35.000 It was the World Championships in South Korea, in Seoul, against Korean fighters, the best in their response. 0.99

01:34:47.000 So, yeah, but I would say...

01:34:52.000 Since MMA started, female MMA started to develop through the world a lot, it was probably Gina Karana and Chris Seiberg. 1.00

01:35:04.000 Yeah, that was a big one.

01:35:05.000 This is when it started, and it was a big push.

01:35:09.000 But definitely with Rwanda it was kind of like the second wave much powerful and it's like going beyond the limits and it was very important for the female martial arts.

01:35:25.000 That was, I mean, there was two waves, right?

01:35:28.000 I think you said it perfectly.

01:35:29.000 There's the Gina Carano wave and the Chris Cyborg wave in the early days.

01:35:33.000 And then right after that, Ronda Rousey.

01:35:36.000 I think so, yeah.

01:35:37.000 And I think Ronda was an even bigger wave.

01:35:39.000 Exactly.

01:35:40.000 The way she was finishing everybody.

01:35:41.000 She's this beautiful woman who was so skilled and, you know, arm barring everybody. 0.98

01:35:46.000 I think also it takes place that it was UFC fights.

01:35:50.000 Because no matter how talented you are, no matter how beautiful you are, if you're fighting in the smaller league, it's gonna stay in the smaller league.

01:36:02.000 So when they first started having fights in the UFC, how exciting was that for you when you saw women fighting in the UFC for the first time? 0.85

01:36:12.000 No, it was the same for me.

01:36:14.000 It's like, I don't know.

01:36:16.000 You didn't think, like, that could be me now?

01:36:19.000 No, no.

01:36:20.000 I never had these, like, things, it could be me, that, or I will compete there.

01:36:25.000 I just was like, okay, it's happening, it's opportunity, definitely it can be someday, but it wasn't something like, oh, I have to be there, and I was like, do anything to be there.

01:36:36.000 I just, every time in my life, I don't like to rush things.

01:36:42.000 I just like do everything for make it happen, to be ready when it happens, but in the same time to not do like some crazy movement towards that one because it's not right, I think.

01:36:58.000 It's completely like...

01:37:00.000 Not right, because you're just losing your style yourself.

01:37:04.000 I just...

01:37:05.000 Okay, it's happening.

01:37:07.000 It's a good sign.

01:37:08.000 But I continue doing my life.

01:37:10.000 I don't know what it's going to be like through some years.

01:37:14.000 And for example, I tell you, local fighters born in the United States, five, seven fights, they have a chance to be in the UFC. A fighter who was born far has to make a whole circle around the world,

01:37:38.000 living in South America for eight years, winning 17 times world titles, and then, only then, being signed for the UFC. Well, that's you!

01:37:52.000 I had a long way.

01:37:57.000 I'm not complaining.

01:37:58.000 I think it's a very good thing.

01:38:01.000 I think it's a very good way because I am ready for where I am right now.

01:38:09.000 Because you can see...

01:38:13.000 Fighters who are mentally not ready for being in the position where they are.

01:38:18.000 And just they are starting to break.

01:38:20.000 And they're thinking, oh, it's so much pressure.

01:38:22.000 I am not ready for that.

01:38:23.000 I don't want my title.

01:38:24.000 I want to give up.

01:38:26.000 I don't want to do it anymore.

01:38:27.000 So this is not right because they're going to fight.

01:38:31.000 They're still going to come back and fight.

01:38:33.000 And I think it's better fight for the title than be a challenger to defend your title.

01:38:40.000 But in my case, I already was so ready to do what I am doing.

01:38:47.000 I am ready mentally.

01:38:50.000 I know that my first fight definitely was huge.

01:38:54.000 It was big.

01:38:55.000 It was different to compare to other leagues where I competed because it was just big.

01:39:03.000 But I was ready for it.

01:39:04.000 It didn't put any pressure on me.

01:39:07.000 Extra.

01:39:07.000 I think you make a very good point because I look at some talented young fighters and I say this person has a lot of potential, but they're in the deep water too quickly.

01:39:17.000 I know.

01:39:18.000 And then they're going to get hurt.

01:39:19.000 So they'll fight against someone who is far better than them and they'll get set up and hurt.

01:39:25.000 And I think they might have a better chance at a better career, a better result if they started out in the smaller leagues and worked their way up.

01:39:35.000 I think that Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series is amazing and I love the fact that these things exist.

01:39:42.000 Even The Ultimate Fighter, I think it's amazing that these things exist.

01:39:46.000 But there are some fighters that I think should hold off and wait.

01:39:50.000 And some do, like Yuri Prochaska.

01:39:52.000 He's a good example.

01:39:56.000 Offered him the UFC years ago.

01:39:58.000 I believe it was like five years ago.

01:40:00.000 And he's like, I'm not ready yet.

01:40:01.000 And he's very smart.

01:40:02.000 And by the time he was ready, man was he ready.

01:40:05.000 I mean, you look at his two fights in the UFC, Volkan Ozdemir knocks him out, and then Dominic Reyes knocks him out.

01:40:12.000 So two fights in the UFC, already in contention for the title.

01:40:15.000 Amazing.

01:40:16.000 Amazing, but it's because he was ready.

01:40:19.000 Whereas some other fighters, maybe they get there too soon and you're seeing them gonna get beat up when they're fighting someone that's too many levels above them where it's not really competitive yet.

01:40:35.000 Like they're not, they don't have the skills.

01:40:37.000 Some people can just rise.

01:40:39.000 Like Jon Jones again, he's another example.

01:40:41.000 He was in the UFC early in his career.

01:40:44.000 But he was so talented that he was able to dominate guys like Mauricio Shogun Hua in his first title fight when he was 22 years old, which is crazy, right?

01:40:54.000 But some people, they're just not ready yet, but they could be.

01:40:58.000 They could be one day.

01:40:59.000 And I think that they get into the UFC maybe too soon.

01:41:03.000 Whereas with you...

01:41:05.000 You had so much experience.

01:41:07.000 World Championship Muay Thai fights.

01:41:10.000 You had MMA fights.

01:41:11.000 You had all this experience.

01:41:13.000 You were like a fully developed martial artist by the time you got to the UFC, which I think is the perfect way to do it.

01:41:19.000 I think, for me, it works so good, everything.

01:41:23.000 It works so well, and I was ready.

01:41:26.000 I knew exactly what I want.

01:41:28.000 I knew exactly what is my goal, what I have to do to, like, To continue, make my life interesting.

01:41:37.000 And this is what I'm still doing.

01:41:39.000 I know exactly what I have to do.

01:41:41.000 I don't have any doubts how to have my life, how to live my life, to still feel like this interest is for the life, interest for martial arts, this desire to keep training the same hard way as I do.

01:41:58.000 So I know exactly how to maintain that.

01:42:01.000 And this is, I think, the best.

01:42:03.000 Because for me, martial arts, it's not just sport.

01:42:07.000 It's my, every time I say, it's my lifestyle.

01:42:10.000 Even my philosophy.

01:42:12.000 Even, for example, if you come back to the question about the meditation and, like, all these things.

01:42:18.000 For me, gym.

01:42:22.000 Place where I train, it's like my temple.

01:42:25.000 I'm coming there without laughing, joking, or because when you're going to the temple, you have to be respectful for what you're doing, for everything that's around you.

01:42:37.000 This is, for me, my gym.

01:42:39.000 I'm very respectful for that place.

01:42:41.000 And I know exactly if I will be respectful, it will keep me safe from injuries.

01:42:47.000 Not every time, but most likely.

01:42:49.000 Because I will...

01:42:51.000 I will be focused on what I am doing without any distractions.

01:42:55.000 That's why for me martial arts, it's for me as a person.

01:43:00.000 It's teach me so much.

01:43:02.000 I'm so grateful for martial arts because it's like everything what I am right now, it's because of martial arts.

01:43:10.000 Do you have long-term goals?

01:43:12.000 I mean, you are already a world champion.

01:43:16.000 You're already at the top of your heap.

01:43:18.000 Do you have goals?

01:43:20.000 I just want to continue to have the way of life what I have, the style, lifestyle what I have.

01:43:32.000 I don't like to set up these kind of goals.

01:43:38.000 I think it's good to know because if something went...

01:43:44.000 You don't know what exactly goal.

01:43:47.000 Sometimes you can invent the goal and if it's not fit for you, it's not happening, you're just gonna feel frustrated.

01:43:57.000 I just try to prepare myself for the, like, to put in myself more knowledge, what I can have.

01:44:06.000 I mean, fighting and general, like, life, like, just to have, like, more things to know how to do.

01:44:15.000 And where the opportunity will come, and it can be like anything.

01:44:20.000 It's like, whatever.

01:44:22.000 I will be ready to take it.

01:44:24.000 But I know that when it comes, you have to be smart to react fast.

01:44:28.000 Because sometimes people think, oh, maybe this is not time.

01:44:32.000 I will wait for another one, but another one can never happen.

01:44:37.000 So then you're thinking, ah, I should do that.

01:44:40.000 So it's kind of like hard, hard decisions.

01:44:43.000 Do you have ideas about careers that you would like to explore when you're done fighting?

01:44:48.000 When I'm done fighting.

01:44:51.000 Done fighting but still like it can be like not done fighting so it can be both.

01:44:59.000 I very like movies, action movies.

01:45:03.000 So yeah, acting is one of the options that I really enjoy.

01:45:08.000 I don't feel myself like it's something hard what I have to do.

01:45:13.000 It just happens like everything that I do is naturally.

01:45:16.000 I feel that way.

01:45:18.000 So I don't know, maybe shooting competition.

01:45:23.000 Maybe after I finish compete fighting, I will compete in shooting.

01:45:28.000 Why not?

01:45:29.000 I wanted to talk to you about that.

01:45:30.000 When did you get involved with guns?

01:45:32.000 When did that become a big part of your life?

01:45:34.000 I have the introduction was like gun world from my coach, from Pavel.

01:45:41.000 He was served in army, in Soviet army.

01:45:46.000 So yeah, definitely has a lot of knowledge about different arms, guns.

01:45:51.000 And yeah, it was back in Russia.

01:45:55.000 But when we moved to Peru, we started to compete in defensive shooting competition like IDPR, IPSC. Here I think it's called IPSC. It's very, I think it's excellent sport, like shooting style, when you are not only just in your position and shooting for the like accuracy, But also you are shooting in different position, moving, standing, laying down, sitting.

01:46:25.000 So it's like a circuit with different targets, different circuits, different goals, how you have to shoot.

01:46:34.000 And it's like everything combination about your speed and about your accuracy.

01:46:40.000 And also about if it's stuck some, like the gun is stuck at some point, you have to be able to resolve the issue and continue your shooting.

01:46:51.000 So it's very like amazing sport.

01:46:55.000 What teach you to respect what you are doing, to respect a gun, to respect everything, like considering about the safety and like whatever you have, but also teach you to To not have fear for a gun, but know how to use it for the sport.

01:47:17.000 I've talked to people that have shot with you, and they say that you shoot like you fight.

01:47:23.000 Who was that?

01:47:24.000 Someone who had trained with you.

01:47:26.000 I don't even remember the gentleman's name, but he watched you shoot in Texas.

01:47:31.000 And he said, when you see her fight, that's how she shoots. 1.00

01:47:35.000 And they said you're very high level.

01:47:37.000 I'm trying, I'm trying.

01:47:39.000 Of course, like, there is, like...

01:47:42.000 So high level competitors in the shooting because they are spending all their lives doing what they're doing and definitely it's like all these tricks about like everything about how they shoot and definitely for now I spend more time in martial arts definitely but I enjoy so much shooting because gun culture it's very strong culture and it's amazing because it's like it's a history it's a human history If you're like

01:48:12.000 watching a gun from what was made like back then, I have a rifle, Mosin rifle from 1935. Really?

01:48:23.000 Yes, it's like it was in the Spain war and yeah, it has a lot of history.

01:48:30.000 Bolt action?

01:48:31.000 Yes.

01:48:32.000 Is it good?

01:48:33.000 Is it accurate?

01:48:34.000 It's very precise.

01:48:36.000 Really?

01:48:36.000 Actually, you know, I don't know if you know, the last...

01:48:40.000 No, this summer, I was participating in the first ever Hunter Games organized from the six hour.

01:48:48.000 And so they made like two days competition.

01:48:52.000 It was five teams.

01:48:55.000 Yeah, five teams of three shooters.

01:49:00.000 So we were walking the circuit of how many miles?

01:49:06.000 So it was 8 hours to pass all the circuit.

01:49:11.000 It was 10 circuits.

01:49:13.000 In elevation it was 9000 elevation.

01:49:18.000 So it was hard competition.

01:49:24.000 So, for this competition, my gun was crossed, the rifle from Six Hour, and it's like the modern rifle with the scope.

01:49:37.000 Yeah, exactly.

01:49:39.000 You see how modern is it?

01:49:42.000 It's like Yeah.

01:49:45.000 So much technology.

01:49:46.000 But what I was preparing for this competition is my Mohsen rifle.

01:49:50.000 It's a bold action.

01:49:51.000 Yes.

01:49:52.000 So precise.

01:49:53.000 So good.

01:49:54.000 1935. Exactly.

01:49:55.000 Iron sights?

01:49:56.000 Oh, yes.

01:49:58.000 Yes.

01:49:58.000 It's kind of like nothing comparing to that.

01:50:00.000 Yeah.

01:50:00.000 When did they first develop scopes for rifles?

01:50:05.000 Hard to tell.

01:50:07.000 I would say maybe World War, something like that.

01:50:13.000 But what I was telling, it's about the history, the gun history. 0.69

01:50:18.000 It's like human history.

01:50:20.000 People who was creating that gun, they're not alive anymore, but we still have the opportunity.

01:50:28.000 Touch their creatures and feel the energy.

01:50:33.000 It's like sculptures, what we have in different cities.

01:50:37.000 For example, we see some in it.

01:50:39.000 You read the capture, the history.

01:50:41.000 It was made by this famous artist back, I don't know, 100 years ago.

01:50:46.000 The same with the guns.

01:50:48.000 It's a huge art history.

01:50:52.000 It's way much deeper than just a gun.

01:50:56.000 I have a friend who collects old guns, and he has flintlock guns.

01:51:01.000 So, like, with the flint and the ball and musket.

01:51:05.000 Oh, yeah.

01:51:05.000 Black powder?

01:51:06.000 Yes, yeah.

01:51:07.000 The old-school muzzleloader.

01:51:09.000 Oh, my gosh.

01:51:10.000 It's wild.

01:51:10.000 It's like you think that that was what people went to war with.

01:51:14.000 You know, I have one.

01:51:16.000 Do you?

01:51:16.000 I do, but I never shot it because it's very hard to find the right ammunition for it and you have to be sure that it's the right one.

01:51:26.000 So I was trying to, I was asking like my friends, like everyone, but they advised me, Valentina, like keep it on the wall.

01:51:36.000 Yeah, it's an antique more than it is anything.

01:51:38.000 But it's so interesting to think that they used to use flint, an actual piece of stone, to strike against the base.

01:51:45.000 And that's how, yeah, it's crazy that that's how guns would fire and they would pull the trigger and then there was a delay.

01:51:53.000 Boom! 0.99

01:51:54.000 And then it would shoot.

01:51:56.000 Yeah.

01:51:56.000 I think it's the same with martial arts when it started like when it's like what's martial arts it was back then in what is now like modern arm.

01:52:06.000 There it is.

01:52:06.000 Exactly.

01:52:07.000 Look at that.

01:52:07.000 This is it.

01:52:09.000 Wow.

01:52:10.000 That's such a cool gun.

01:52:12.000 And what year is that gun from?

01:52:14.000 If I'm not mistaken, it's sometime 1800s.

01:52:20.000 Wow.

01:52:21.000 Yeah, keep that on the wall.

01:52:22.000 Yes, I know.

01:52:24.000 It is fascinating how much the technology has improved and changed.

01:52:29.000 I was hunting recently and most of the time I bow hunt, but we did some hunting for pigs and we used rifles.

01:52:38.000 And this rifle had an illuminated reticle.

01:52:43.000 Like you hit a button and it would show all the different ranges where the rifle, like where you would have to aim at 100, at 200, at 300, and it was all marked off.

01:52:53.000 I was like, this is incredible.

01:52:55.000 Like the technology.

01:52:56.000 Technology, exactly.

01:52:57.000 For example, this cross rifle from SIG, it has like a brake system of when it's the scope connected via Bluetooth with the binocle, and you can set your range, like seeing the target, you set it, it's connected, and the rifle know where to shoot.

01:53:16.000 It's safe, where to shoot.

01:53:17.000 Yeah, SIG has an amazing system, right?

01:53:20.000 Where their rangefinder connects with apps, their scopes connect with apps, and that all of this works together.

01:53:29.000 I have a few guns from SIG. I have a few of their pistols, and I have two ARs from them.

01:53:34.000 They make great stuff, but it's just so incredible how everything is like, when you start studying it and realizing that the ballistics are so accurate and precise that now They have these competitions where people are shooting out to 1,100, 1,200 yards and hitting small steel targets at 1,200 yards.

01:53:54.000 I mean, it's crazy.

01:53:55.000 I know.

01:53:56.000 This is a level.

01:53:57.000 Yeah.

01:53:57.000 Do you do any of that, long-range shooting?

01:54:00.000 For that competition, I was, like, spending more time training for the long.

01:54:06.000 And the longest what we have, it was 1,000.

01:54:10.000 1,000.

01:54:10.000 Yes.

01:54:11.000 It's the longest what we had in the competition, yeah.

01:54:14.000 But...

01:54:16.000 I would say that I'm really looking forward to the next year when they're going to do the second games because it's a combination of shooting and to be in a good physical condition and it's like The best and you are in the nature.

01:54:34.000 It's like targets the same like in the shape of animal with the like steel lungs, the shape of the lungs and you have to hit the steel target.

01:54:46.000 And first you arrive to your stage.

01:54:50.000 You have to see where's the targets.

01:54:53.000 And you don't know how many are them before you get into any of the stages.

01:55:00.000 So it can be two or three different targets.

01:55:02.000 You have to find it.

01:55:04.000 Like in the real situation, hundreds of you have to spend some time. 0.97

01:55:09.000 Once you find it, you have to shoot.

01:55:11.000 You have three shots, and each shot gives you some points.

01:55:15.000 And then you shoot, you move to the next target, to the next target.

01:55:19.000 And it was kind of an amazing experience.

01:55:21.000 One, because of the competition itself.

01:55:24.000 And the second, because so many amazing people was combining together.

01:55:31.000 And so good spirit.

01:55:34.000 We slept under the sky in a tent.

01:55:38.000 So it's amazing.

01:55:41.000 Royce Gracie was there.

01:55:42.000 Yeah, Royce is big on shooting.

01:55:44.000 He's very good, too.

01:55:46.000 He's really dedicated to shooting.

01:55:48.000 We spoke with him and he's so amazing person.

01:55:51.000 He just got done training with my friend John Dudley in archery.

01:55:56.000 So now he's learning archery as well.

01:55:58.000 He just went through a whole comprehensive multiple day course one on one with my friend John.

01:56:04.000 Amazing.

01:56:06.000 I think it's like in everything, definitely when you have these people around you, it's so huge motivation.

01:56:14.000 Well, the gun culture and the gun community gets oftentimes disparaged, unfortunately, because it's not accurate.

01:56:25.000 Gun people and gun culture, they're some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life.

01:56:29.000 It's true.

01:56:29.000 They're very nice.

01:56:30.000 They're very respectful, and they're friendly, and they're welcoming to people that want to participate.

01:56:38.000 When I go to Taron Tactical when I'm in Los Angeles, there's always someone there that's like some world champion shooter that will give you advice and give you tips and help.

01:56:50.000 There's so much encouragement.

01:56:52.000 It's amazing.

01:56:53.000 This is what I say that the gun by itself, it's teach you about like respect, be kind, be noble, be like help to each other.

01:57:05.000 It's like, it's amazing.

01:57:08.000 It's like, it's just different.

01:57:11.000 And I would say that those people are like truly care about nature and truly care about Animals, because it sounds like they shoot animals, they hunt animals, but they care.

01:57:27.000 It's every time like funds, what they are creating, and every time it's like foundation and something like that.

01:57:35.000 And yeah, I was like, I have friends, hunters, and they are just like one of the best persons ever.

01:57:46.000 Yeah, they're some of the nicest people, and what you're saying is true.

01:57:49.000 They contribute more to conservation than any other group.

01:57:52.000 True.

01:57:52.000 In this country, there's not a single group that even comes close to the contributions to wildlife and conservation that hunters give.

01:58:00.000 Yes, this is fact.

01:58:02.000 All the money when hunters, because of the Pittman-Robertson Act, when hunters buy gear and ammunition and guns, I think it's 10%.

01:58:13.000 Find out what that is.

01:58:15.000 I think it's the Pittman-Robertson Act.

01:58:18.000 I believe it's 10%.

01:58:20.000 So I think what it is is 10% of all the money that comes from the sale of hunting gear goes towards conservation.

01:58:28.000 And I believe it's not just hunting gear.

01:58:30.000 I believe it's also the sale of recreational firearms.

01:58:33.000 That money goes towards wildlife protection, protection of habitat.

01:58:39.000 It goes to hire wildlife biologists who will We'll monitor the population, the species, to make sure they're healthy.

01:58:48.000 So it's kind of counterintuitive to people that don't understand the relationship and don't understand anybody in that.

01:58:56.000 What does it say here?

01:58:57.000 11%.

01:58:58.000 Oh, 11%.

01:58:59.000 Okay.

01:58:59.000 So 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

01:59:04.000 Instead of going to the U.S. Treasury, it is done as the pass.

01:59:07.000 The money generated by the tax Is instead given to the Secretary of the Interior to distribute to the states.

01:59:14.000 The Secretary determines how much to give to each state based on the formula that takes into account both the area of the state and the number of licensed hunters.

01:59:23.000 So it's pretty interesting.

01:59:25.000 Yeah.

01:59:26.000 And through this Pittman-Robertson Act, they've generated billions and billions of dollars that have all gone towards conservation.

01:59:33.000 Yeah.

01:59:35.000 People just have to know that, right?

01:59:38.000 Yeah.

01:59:39.000 Well, again, there's misconceptions.

01:59:42.000 There's misconceptions about gun culture in terms of recreational gun users. 0.81

01:59:47.000 People want to think that people that own guns are terrible people or bad people or just assholes or bullies or whatever, but it's not. 0.95

01:59:55.000 When you meet these people, There is a certain humility that comes with guns, because you realize anybody could just point that gun at you and kill you. 0.97

02:00:03.000 That is the ultimate balancing act.

02:00:07.000 If you want balance of power, it doesn't matter how big you are. 0.90

02:00:12.000 A 25-pound child who can squeeze a trigger can kill you. 0.94

02:00:17.000 It sounds terrible, and you don't want a 25-pound child to have a pistol, but if they had one, they could kill you.

02:00:24.000 This is about, like, I think about this education, right?

02:00:30.000 I would love to see more programs starting, like, in the school, educate, like, everyone to, how to respect the arms, the safety, and instead of, like, prohibit, like, everything, just teach people, explain people, like, then they have choice what they, like, are Or they want to do that or they don't.

02:00:56.000 But how they will know the truth if they don't know and everyone, like, try to hide.

02:01:02.000 Yes.

02:01:02.000 Well, I feel that way about martial arts as well.

02:01:05.000 I think that if, you know, there's all these discussions about how to decrease bullying in school.

02:01:12.000 And I think the best option is to teach children how to fight.

02:01:16.000 Teach children martial arts.

02:01:18.000 First of all, they won't want to bully anybody.

02:01:21.000 It's not skilled martial arts for the most part.

02:01:24.000 There are some exceptions.

02:01:25.000 But for the most part, it's not the skilled, trained martial arts that are the bullies.

02:01:29.000 It's people that are insecure and the people that really don't know how to fight.

02:01:33.000 That's why the best advice about bullies is always to stand up to them.

02:01:37.000 But if you just taught them martial arts, they wouldn't want to be bullies.

02:01:42.000 Again, it seems counterintuitive, but I think that really is the correct response, the correct strategies probably to distribute martial arts throughout schools.

02:01:53.000 I think we'd have healthier kids.

02:01:55.000 I think so, too, because kids, they have so much energy.

02:01:59.000 They have to spend this energy.

02:02:01.000 And what is the better place to spend it as a gym, right?

02:02:06.000 To spend in doing something useful for your life, for whatever.

02:02:11.000 Not only self-defense, but in general sports, it's good.

02:02:14.000 And it's kind of like definitely a child has to move.

02:02:20.000 Has to do a lot of things, has to practice here, there, because they have so much energy, they have to spend it.

02:02:27.000 And yeah, it's kind of like the only one thing, teach them, explain them, and like make them experience instead of like, I don't know, if...

02:02:40.000 Every time there is some fight in the school, right?

02:02:43.000 And like, instead of like do something like to prohibit, put them in the class, put gloves on them.

02:02:51.000 They would fight each other like a training class and something like that.

02:02:55.000 And then they will feel good and friends.

02:02:58.000 Better friends than fighting on the street or something like that.

02:03:01.000 Because I noticed that, for example, in my trainings, when we do hard sparring with some other training partners, And it makes us better connected to each other, better friends, because we experience the same.

02:03:18.000 Yes, we hit each other.

02:03:20.000 Yes, we hit with the full power, but we have so much respect to each other.

02:03:26.000 It's just different level, different.

02:03:29.000 What do you think about this debate about sparring?

02:03:32.000 Because there are some people, including very high-level fighters, that don't spar anymore.

02:03:39.000 They get to a certain point in their career, like Max Holloway for an example, and you could say, you know, there's a lot of debate about this, but where there's no debate is how good Max Holloway looks.

02:03:52.000 So to me it's so perplexing, because I think It's undeniable that there's a certain amount of timing and fluidity that's generated from sparring.

02:04:02.000 But it's also undeniable that sometimes people spar too hard and that you lose some of your resiliency and you're taking away some of the future of your career from these hard sparring sessions.

02:04:16.000 So what are your thoughts on hard sparring?

02:04:19.000 Do you think Max is saying the truth?

02:04:21.000 That he's not sparring?

02:04:22.000 You never know, right?

02:04:24.000 You never know.

02:04:24.000 Yeah, you never know.

02:04:25.000 I don't think he's lying.

02:04:27.000 But he might be.

02:04:28.000 He's tricky.

02:04:30.000 Tricky, Max.

02:04:31.000 No, I think he's telling the truth.

02:04:32.000 I really do.

02:04:33.000 But you know what I feel about sparring?

02:04:36.000 Sparring is necessary.

02:04:38.000 If you want to prepare yourself for the fight, you have to feel your opponent.

02:04:43.000 Timing and, like, one thing when you hit pads, different when you hit someone and someone hit you back.

02:04:51.000 But sometimes people, they have a wrong approach to sparrings.

02:04:58.000 Sometimes they want, like mostly young people not having much experience, they want to show that they're brave, that they are not afraid to receive this hit or something like that.

02:05:12.000 They said, why I have to put helmet?

02:05:15.000 What?

02:05:16.000 I'm professional.

02:05:17.000 I'm a super fighter.

02:05:18.000 I don't put a helmet.

02:05:20.000 And definitely when you absorb strong Strike, like jab or whatever, you're going to feel it.

02:05:31.000 You're going to feel it.

02:05:31.000 And if it's before the fight, training camp, you have to have sparrings, a lot of sparrings.

02:05:37.000 And less protection you have, more damage you have.

02:05:41.000 So it's my concept.

02:05:43.000 You have to protect yourself.

02:05:46.000 First, helmets, shin pads, elbow pads, knee pads, everything.

02:05:51.000 You have to have everything.

02:05:53.000 So it's kind of your people that if they have damage, like everyday damage, damage, and no protection, this is what affected them.

02:06:05.000 In the fight.

02:06:07.000 Because they're coming to the fight already, like, with a lot of...

02:06:10.000 Right.

02:06:10.000 Yeah.

02:06:11.000 But if you are protected, you still can, like, big gloves, for example, you have.

02:06:16.000 Definitely you won't spar with a small glass with full power.

02:06:20.000 You don't want to do that.

02:06:21.000 But if you have, like, big gloves, helmet, and everything, it's kind of you have certain type of protection.

02:06:27.000 It's definitely not protecting you a lot.

02:06:30.000 But it helps you to be healthier and stronger with less damage for the fight itself.

02:06:37.000 So when you spar, are you sparring with boxing gloves on?

02:06:42.000 Depends.

02:06:43.000 Depends.

02:06:44.000 Usually like if it's, most likely if it's five round fight and we need this spar, it's gonna be big gloves.

02:06:53.000 Definitely it will affect grappling.

02:06:55.000 Definitely.

02:06:57.000 But you have to choose.

02:06:59.000 Yeah.

02:06:59.000 And when you spar, are you sparring full blast?

02:07:03.000 100% power?

02:07:05.000 Oh, yes.

02:07:06.000 Oh, yes.

02:07:08.000 Because to get ready for something and know how it's gonna look, you have to do it in full.

02:07:17.000 It's like, for example, rehearsal for the movie.

02:07:19.000 You can do it like 50%, but you have to have it 100% like few times just to know what you're gonna do.

02:07:29.000 And this is the same.

02:07:31.000 Even, for example, I... It's not happening here because we got our uniform right before the fight.

02:07:40.000 But before, when I fighted in Muay Thai in different competitions, it was necessary to have one or two trainings in the same uniform, the same gear that I would use for my fight in the competition.

02:07:55.000 So you would have training sessions with no shin pads, smaller gloves?

02:08:00.000 No, I want to say more about shorts or like top or something like that.

02:08:07.000 You have to make sure that it's going to be comfortable because it's like small detail but it can bring a whole difference.

02:08:15.000 I will not do never.

02:08:18.000 Full power sparring, no shin guard, small gloves.

02:08:22.000 Never.

02:08:22.000 We force a fight.

02:08:23.000 Only force a fight.

02:08:25.000 Yeah, that makes sense.

02:08:27.000 The ties, when they spar, they spend a lot of time...

02:08:32.000 They play spar, where they touch each other.

02:08:35.000 They're tapping because they fight so often that they're prepared for fighting because they're fighting on a regular basis, sometimes once a week or once every two weeks.

02:08:44.000 But when they spar, they spar very lightly.

02:08:47.000 What are your thoughts on that sort of play sparring?

02:08:50.000 Like if you watch Sanchai, for example, he's one of the best ever.

02:08:54.000 And when he spars, he's very light and it's a lot of movement and playful.

02:09:00.000 You know, it's very different.

02:09:02.000 For example, we have to consider all circumstances.

02:09:06.000 For example, if you're speaking about ties, what they're doing.

02:09:09.000 They are, for example, fighting each week.

02:09:11.000 They have competition.

02:09:13.000 They even, like, can do shadow boxing between their competition.

02:09:18.000 It wouldn't affect their performances.

02:09:20.000 Because competition by itself is a gift to a lot.

02:09:24.000 And if you compete frequently, definitely you don't have to spend too much time in the training to prepare your body for the fight.

02:09:33.000 You can spend less time because fight is already going to put you on the next level.

02:09:39.000 And definitely, I think Sanchai, he has days when he has to spar in full.

02:09:50.000 He has days when he can do it light, but definitely he spars in full as well.

02:09:58.000 So you think that the play sparring is basically just a result of the fact that they fight so often?

02:10:05.000 Most likely, yeah.

02:10:08.000 To prepare so you don't have to hurt yourself in training.

02:10:11.000 Yes.

02:10:11.000 It doesn't make any sense to hurt yourself in the fight, then do it again in the training, then again in the fight.

02:10:21.000 No, it's like what's the ultimate goal to be healthier for your fight?

02:10:26.000 That's why you have to find the way how it's going to work the best way.

02:10:30.000 The Thais also do a lot of running.

02:10:32.000 I know.

02:10:34.000 Do you run when you're in Thailand, when you're training there?

02:10:36.000 No.

02:10:37.000 You don't?

02:10:37.000 No.

02:10:38.000 Really?

02:10:38.000 No.

02:10:39.000 I never run.

02:10:40.000 I just don't like to run.

02:10:45.000 For example, we have a glass.

02:10:51.000 This is our energy, for example.

02:10:53.000 We can fool it with full of energy or like our training session is this time.

02:10:58.000 We can fool it with half of running and half of doing things that are going to help for the fight.

02:11:06.000 Or we can fool it with full time that's going to help us for the fight.

02:11:11.000 Running is good, but when it's not enough...

02:11:15.000 Like your technique or something that would help you in the fight.

02:11:20.000 It's like not make sense.

02:11:23.000 But if you do like strong training and running like before the training, you come to the training already tired.

02:11:31.000 And you don't have this energy to do your main thing.

02:11:36.000 To do what you have to do in the training.

02:11:38.000 To perform your best in the training for your fight.

02:11:42.000 Because you spend your own energy already running.

02:11:46.000 So it's like wasting your energy.

02:11:49.000 This is my thought.

02:11:50.000 The argument against that is that what you're doing in the strength and conditioning is building your reservoir of energy.

02:11:58.000 So you're making it much bigger because instead of concentrating on the technique, you're only concentrating on the physical performance of your cardiovascular system.

02:12:07.000 You're only concentrating on your VO2 max.

02:12:11.000 You're only concentrating on explosive energy and power.

02:12:14.000 And then in building that, you strengthen the machine that you used to fight with.

02:12:19.000 Yes, but if you do the same with your training partner, it will work double because machine, it doesn't respond you.

02:12:28.000 It's like you used to do the certain exercise, the weight what you are doing with the machine, but when you are in the fight, The machine starts to work differently because it's attacking you as well.

02:12:40.000 And you have to now work differently.

02:12:42.000 This is what I want to tell you.

02:12:44.000 You are not focusing on the technique when you are training with a training partner.

02:12:48.000 You are focusing on both, your resistance and technique.

02:12:52.000 So it's different.

02:12:52.000 It's harder.

02:12:54.000 Yes, I know it's harder.

02:12:55.000 It's very hard because you have to be perfect in your technique and also have enough resistance, endurance for keep going.

02:13:05.000 This is what I want to say.

02:13:08.000 I don't want to force anyone.

02:13:10.000 It's just the way what is work for me.

02:13:12.000 Well, obviously, it's working very well for you.

02:13:15.000 So it's interesting.

02:13:17.000 Well, there's other people that had similar strategies like George St. Pierre told me he didn't really.

02:13:22.000 I mean, I think he varied.

02:13:24.000 He changed things up at some important time in his career.

02:13:27.000 And he did have different approaches as time went on.

02:13:30.000 But at one point in time, he said, I don't do any strength and conditioning.

02:13:32.000 He goes, I concentrate on efficiency, and I concentrate on my technique, and I concentrate on fight training.

02:13:38.000 And he had the same philosophy that time spent doing other things would detract from his ability to improve his efficiency and improve his overall technique.

02:13:49.000 And more I want to add, like, all injuries, they are coming mostly from training.

02:13:57.000 When you are in the training, and when you are, like, already so tired to defend something, and you're just like, okay, whatever, I will fall down, and you fall down bad, right?

02:14:09.000 And this is what this energy comes from.

02:14:12.000 So if you are doing, like, you spend half of energy of running, then already you don't have this Defense level, protection level against injuries.

02:14:24.000 So it's kind of like another point of view.

02:14:27.000 When you train in Thailand, they give you a hard time about not running?

02:14:30.000 No, no.

02:14:31.000 You know, it's never was something like...

02:14:34.000 I wasn't at any time training in Thailand on the regular basis.

02:14:40.000 And since the beginning, it was...

02:14:42.000 I have my coach and he's the one who is like saying what I have to do.

02:14:48.000 And what I don't have to do.

02:14:50.000 Pavel, he was every time, like, looking for me, for his students, for Antonina, to do the right things.

02:15:01.000 Because, like, he spent so much energy in us.

02:15:06.000 He put so much, like, everything was, like, creating the fighters, right?

02:15:11.000 And then to have someone...

02:15:15.000 Messed up and destroyed.

02:15:17.000 No, he has to see and control, to have control of how the training process is going.

02:15:26.000 And for example, now our trainings in Tiger Muay Thai, it's what we are doing.

02:15:32.000 We have the same group.

02:15:34.000 We have people from all around the world, some Thai fighters, some fighters who are in that time in Tiger Muay Thai.

02:15:44.000 And we do like separate training.

02:15:46.000 We have our schedule and certain time what we are training and we do our style training.

02:15:56.000 Now when it comes to things like endurance, do you monitor your heart rate?

02:16:01.000 Do you check your heart rate in the morning?

02:16:03.000 You're smiling at me!

02:16:04.000 I don't do that!

02:16:06.000 I don't do that.

02:16:07.000 I don't check my heart rate.

02:16:09.000 I don't use gadgets.

02:16:11.000 I don't even like...

02:16:13.000 I don't do that.

02:16:15.000 And I know there is a lot of apps that are very helpful.

02:16:20.000 They just help to know how you feel.

02:16:24.000 But my indicator is myself.

02:16:28.000 My indicator, if I feel good, this is the most important indicator.

02:16:33.000 If I feel that, for example, I don't have endurance during the training, it means that my diet is not good.

02:16:42.000 It means something like I have to change in my diet, most likely.

02:16:46.000 So my indicator is myself.

02:16:49.000 So I don't believe in gadgets.

02:16:51.000 They're going to help me in the fight.

02:16:53.000 I believe in myself.

02:16:55.000 Only there is one person who's going to help me.

02:16:58.000 So, no heart rate monitors.

02:17:00.000 No.

02:17:01.000 No VO2 max tests, none of that.

02:17:04.000 Do you monitor your progress when it comes to training camp entirely based on how you feel then?

02:17:11.000 Entirely.

02:17:11.000 You don't write anything down?

02:17:13.000 Do you keep a journal of your training sessions or anything?

02:17:16.000 I was doing it like...

02:17:20.000 Years ago.

02:17:21.000 Like most likely, not training session, but like diet, yeah?

02:17:27.000 For example, my weight in the morning like that, and this is what I was eating like that.

02:17:32.000 After training, I felt this, that, that.

02:17:35.000 I did it like part of my time, but right now, no.

02:17:39.000 Right now it's like I know exactly how I have to feel and every time I'm sharing my feelings with my team and we are saying, okay, this is right, this is not right, this is okay to feel that during this period of training camp and this is what we have to do to maintain it or something like that.

02:18:05.000 Yes, now it's all about Sense, right?

02:18:13.000 Your intuition, how you feel.

02:18:16.000 Do you have a nutritionist that you work with?

02:18:19.000 I know you're at the UFC PI, so do you work with their nutritionist?

02:18:22.000 Or how do you decide what you eat?

02:18:25.000 How I decide what I eat?

02:18:27.000 The team of UC Performance Institute, they are so incredible.

02:18:32.000 And for example, for like Fight Week, Charles, Nicole and like Clint, they are like working so good to build your like meals and working like excellent.

02:18:49.000 I cannot complain because it's amazing what Fighter can have someone to worry about their food and you don't have to think about anything.

02:18:58.000 It's already just eat.

02:19:00.000 But the rest of the time, I'm just monitoring my food myself.

02:19:06.000 I know the diet, what has worked for me.

02:19:10.000 I know exactly what things I have to eat, how to maintain my weight, or I don't have to eat.

02:19:17.000 But I'm not that strict on the diet when I... Out of the fight, out of the competition, I can eat anything.

02:19:26.000 And it's the same, the balance and my intuition.

02:19:29.000 When my body starts to feel heavy and I feel, okay, this is too much water in me, I just put on the suit and go to run.

02:19:39.000 A sauna suit?

02:19:40.000 Yes.

02:19:41.000 Now, do you, like, what is your diet like?

02:19:46.000 If you say you know what works for you, like, what is a general...

02:19:49.000 For the fight?

02:19:49.000 Yeah.

02:19:50.000 No, just, like, general training.

02:19:52.000 Like, general, like, what is your diet like?

02:19:55.000 What do you eat most?

02:19:56.000 Um...

02:19:58.000 A lot of cakes.

02:20:00.000 Chocolate cakes.

02:20:01.000 There's a lot of creams on top.

02:20:03.000 Are you kidding?

02:20:04.000 No.

02:20:05.000 Really?

02:20:05.000 I just like sweets, yes.

02:20:07.000 You eat cake?

02:20:08.000 I do.

02:20:09.000 Really?

02:20:10.000 Yes.

02:20:11.000 So if someone asked me, do you think that Valentina Shevchenko eats sugar, I'd be like, no, no way. 0.99

02:20:16.000 Oh, yes.

02:20:17.000 A lot.

02:20:19.000 If you would ask people who know me, they'd say, oh my god, she's all about sugar. 1.00

02:20:24.000 You're all about sugar. 0.98

02:20:25.000 But is it because you train so hard, your body needs that glucose and you can get away with it?

02:20:31.000 Is this like an after-training thing, or is it just you just love cake?

02:20:34.000 I just love them.

02:20:36.000 I like the taste.

02:20:38.000 But what about nutrition?

02:20:41.000 Do you have staples in your diet in terms of meat and vegetables?

02:20:47.000 What is your diet normally like?

02:20:51.000 The only thing that I keep like a rule, and I can break it sometimes if it's some party or some like situation, it's I'm not eating after 5pm.

02:21:04.000 So this is the most important.

02:21:06.000 If I know that after 5pm I just stop, I can drink some tea, like water, but no sugar.

02:21:12.000 And it's going to be balanced.

02:21:15.000 So this is the most important rule.

02:21:17.000 And definitely when I feel it's okay, it's too much sugar, I go and eat salad.

02:21:23.000 Too much cake.

02:21:24.000 So 5 p.m.

02:21:26.000 and then when would generally your morning workout be?

02:21:34.000 Sometimes it's early 7, sometimes it's 8, but we train in the morning, and I like to train in the morning.

02:21:43.000 I don't like to train past 10, so it's going to be sometime between 7 and late.

02:21:50.000 So even if it's 7, you're still generally getting about 14 hours of intermittent fasting.

02:21:56.000 But before the training, I don't eat.

02:21:58.000 No training?

02:21:59.000 No.

02:21:59.000 Wow, so you eat at 5 p.m.

02:22:02.000 as you're done.

02:22:02.000 And then after training.

02:22:03.000 And then you wait and then train for hours?

02:22:07.000 Yeah.

02:22:08.000 Wow, that's interesting.

02:22:09.000 No fruit, no nothing?

02:22:11.000 I can take a shake, for example, meal replacement, something like that.

02:22:16.000 And lately I very like these greens, protein, and collagen.

02:22:23.000 I mix that and I can have that just a small amount before the training, but that's it.

02:22:32.000 I don't like to feel full before the training.

02:22:35.000 It affects my endurance.

02:22:37.000 But that's crazy that you go that long and then train really hard for multiple hours.

02:22:44.000 Yes, but it depends on how much you ate before five.

02:22:49.000 How much?

02:22:52.000 Not that big.

02:22:54.000 Not that big.

02:22:55.000 Now, when you're training, are you taking any sort of glucose supplement while you're training?

02:23:01.000 Like, are you drinking Gatorade?

02:23:03.000 While training, no.

02:23:05.000 No, just water?

02:23:06.000 No, I don't drink during the training.

02:23:08.000 You don't drink any water?

02:23:09.000 No.

02:23:10.000 Really?

02:23:10.000 Yes.

02:23:11.000 So for hours?

02:23:12.000 Yes.

02:23:12.000 You're training for hours, no water?

02:23:14.000 Yeah, no water.

02:23:15.000 Wow.

02:23:15.000 Yep.

02:23:16.000 It's, I don't know, it's in Soviet system, it was, since all boxing, all wrestlers, they had the same, like, no drinking, because it's kind of like, you know, I feel...

02:23:28.000 When you drink, your liver and your heart start to work more.

02:23:34.000 And it's like after five minutes after you drink, you feel like more tired than it was before.

02:23:41.000 So I just like that.

02:23:42.000 I don't drink.

02:23:42.000 Even just a little bit of water?

02:23:44.000 Just a sip?

02:23:45.000 Nothing?

02:23:46.000 No, no.

02:23:47.000 Because I don't feel that I... I used to...

02:23:50.000 All my life, I didn't drink.

02:23:53.000 And that I just used to it.

02:23:55.000 So all my life, it was like during the training, no drinks, no water.

02:24:00.000 And this is, I feel good.

02:24:02.000 I feel comfortable.

02:24:02.000 So I don't need that.

02:24:03.000 Wow, that's incredible.

02:24:05.000 What about alcohol?

02:24:06.000 I don't drink.

02:24:07.000 Nothing?

02:24:08.000 I don't drink, but I'm not against it.

02:24:12.000 I'm not a person who's judging people for drinking or something like that.

02:24:17.000 No.

02:24:18.000 I think it's the same culture of drinks and more my family.

02:24:24.000 My grandfather, he was doing homemade wine.

02:24:30.000 And now my mom, she's continuing his tradition, and she's every time sending a picture of making her own wine.

02:24:37.000 Oh, wow.

02:24:37.000 Yeah.

02:24:38.000 But you don't touch it.

02:24:39.000 No, I don't.

02:24:40.000 No.

02:24:40.000 I don't feel.

02:24:41.000 Do you think when you're done competing, maybe?

02:24:44.000 It's different.

02:24:44.000 Yes, maybe.

02:24:45.000 Maybe someday?

02:24:47.000 I'm doing my theory now.

02:24:49.000 All right.

02:24:50.000 What about vitamins and supplements and things along those lines?

02:24:53.000 Training camp.

02:24:54.000 Yeah, training camp?

02:24:55.000 Only during training camp?

02:24:56.000 Only training camp.

02:24:57.000 How long is your training camp generally?

02:25:00.000 Two months probably, yeah.

02:25:02.000 So for those eight weeks, you'll take in vitamins and supplements.

02:25:05.000 What kind of vitamins do you take?

02:25:08.000 So I have UC Performance Institute, nutrition specialist.

02:25:14.000 Oh, so they set everything up for you?

02:25:15.000 Yes.

02:25:16.000 It's amazing because they are taking care of everything.

02:25:19.000 That's very convenient.

02:25:21.000 And so that's generally the reason why you moved to Las Vegas to have access to the Performance Institute.

02:25:28.000 Actually, it was not the main reason.

02:25:31.000 I just love Nevada.

02:25:33.000 I love Las Vegas.

02:25:35.000 I like the climate.

02:25:36.000 Yes, definitely it's kind of hot in the summertime.

02:25:40.000 It's only a few months.

02:25:41.000 It's only a few months.

02:25:43.000 If we are speaking about what the weather is right now, it's just perfect.

02:25:48.000 I like the quality of air and everything.

02:25:53.000 I never thought that I will be so in love with the desert nature.

02:25:59.000 I grew up in Kyrgyzstan.

02:26:02.000 We have four seasons.

02:26:03.000 We have gorgeous summer, super cold winter, like spring.

02:26:10.000 It's something like so beautiful, like so many greens, so many trees, so many everything colors.

02:26:17.000 And I never thought that I gonna miss so much desert.

02:26:22.000 And I knew it.

02:26:24.000 We had last summer, our U.S. trip, and we usually, like, when COVID things, all of this starts, and we start to explore United States, like, so deep and, like, just traveling.

02:26:37.000 We just take our car, our truck, and for two, two and a half months, we're just driving around.

02:26:44.000 And it's our trip.

02:26:45.000 It's different.

02:26:46.000 We are not going, like, from destination to destination.

02:26:49.000 For example, our navigator saying like, okay, you have two hours drive.

02:26:55.000 But in reality, it will take like six, seven hours because we are just driving small roads, stopping in every little town.

02:27:05.000 And like if there is like by the coast marinas and something like that.

02:27:10.000 And last summer we traveled, we started from Las Vegas, then we went to Lake Tahoe, then San Francisco, and drew all Highway 1, Pacific Coast, all the way up.

02:27:26.000 And then Seattle, Washington, and all the area by the border with Canada.

02:27:33.000 So it was an amazing trip, two and a half months.

02:27:36.000 And then when we were on our way back and we started to drive closer to Nevada, closer to that nature, desert nature, I was like, oh my god, it feels like coming back home.

02:27:51.000 You're accustomed to it now.

02:27:54.000 It's amazing how much outside activity, outdoor activities you can also do in the Las Vegas area.

02:28:01.000 I've had Alex Honnold on the podcast before.

02:28:04.000 Do you know who he is?

02:28:05.000 The free solo climber.

02:28:07.000 And he was telling me there's a lot of climbers that move to Las Vegas just because they have access to so many climbing routes.

02:28:14.000 Oh my god, yeah.

02:28:16.000 And yeah, it's so many activities like...

02:28:19.000 Hiking trails.

02:28:20.000 Shooting.

02:28:21.000 Yeah, a lot of shooting, right?

02:28:25.000 Skydiving.

02:28:26.000 Do you skydive too?

02:28:27.000 I did indoor, indoor skydiving.

02:28:30.000 Oh, that's a lot safer.

02:28:31.000 It's different, yeah.

02:28:32.000 But it's better to start with something, right?

02:28:35.000 Yeah, and also you don't fall as far.

02:28:38.000 I know.

02:28:38.000 Yeah, you're just kind of floating around.

02:28:40.000 And you have your protections.

02:28:42.000 Much, much, much better.

02:28:44.000 Well, listen, Valentina, it's been a pleasure to talk to you.

02:28:47.000 I really appreciate you coming in here.

02:28:49.000 I've admired your work inside the Octagon, and I really appreciate your style and your technique and your ability.

02:28:55.000 It's beautiful to watch.

02:28:57.000 So I'm a big fan.

02:28:58.000 So for me, this was a real treat.

02:29:00.000 Thank you so much, Joe.

02:29:01.000 It's my pleasure.

02:29:02.000 Thank you very much.

02:29:02.000 I can't wait to see you in there again.

02:29:04.000 Me too.

02:29:05.000 Hopefully next time I will talk to you, they will say, and still.

02:29:09.000 I will work on it hard.

02:29:10.000 I'm sure you will.

02:29:12.000 I have no doubts.

02:29:13.000 So thank you very much.

02:29:14.000 Thank you.

The Joe Rogan Experience - June 20, 2011

JRE MMA Show #115 with Valentina Schevchenko

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