In this episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, I sit down with Alex Volkanovski, CEO of Engage Fight Kit, to talk about what it's like to be an independent contractor in the UFC. We talk about his early days in the sport, how he got his start in the business, and what it s like to work for a big company like Reebok. We also talk about the UFC's sponsorship of the fight uniforms and shorts, and how they should have kept them in the fight game. Joe also talks about his time at the UFC, and why he doesn't think the UFC should have sponsored the uniforms anymore. I also discuss the new shorts the UFC is putting out for the UFC fighters, and if they should bring them back. Joe also gives us his thoughts on the UFC shorts and why they should be brought back in the future of the UFC uniforms and what they should do with them. Joe and Alex talk about how they feel about the new uniforms and the new fight uniforms the UFC are putting out, and who they would like to see them on the uniforms for UFC fighters. I also give our thoughts on why the shorts should be on the next UFC uniforms, and we talk about why we think they should come back in UFC uniforms. and why we don t like the new ones. We also discuss what we like and don't like the ones the UFC put out now. Thank you for tuning in! Podcast by Night podcast. -Joe Rogan Podcast by Day podcast by Night All Day Podcast by night All Day All Day by Night all Day by Day, by Night by Night, All Day, All day by Night! -The Joe Rogans Experience by Night By Night Podcast, by Day All day All Day By Night by Day Podcast - by Night Podcast by Nights by Night by Night - All Day all Day All by Day by Nights By Day, By Night All By Day All By Night, by Nights, By Day - By Night - By Day By Day by Any Day, Night, Day, Day All Night, By Anyday, All By Nights, All by Night... - By Any Day - Day, Anyday by Day by Any Night, Any Day - All By Any Night , All Day By Night Podcast, Any Given Day, No By Day... All Day - Any Day | Evening, Any Nights, Any Night - Night, No Day
00:02:25.000And I hit up Curtis, who works with Engage, does a lot of the designs, and I taught him what I wanted, and then he just did some custom stuff, and I sent a few to Hunter, and then boom, I got my shorts, the Lightning.
00:03:49.000I just feel like, you know, if they didn't like some because it didn't represent the sport, like Condom Depot, like, then just fucking, you know, have a list of ones that you agree to.
00:04:00.000That's actually a good idea, like, say, approve sponsors, like these guys, or maybe they go through a check first.
00:05:21.000I got something back there, but like, I don't know, a guy like, I won't drop no names, but like, you know, wearing tights, you look like a fucking stick or something, yeah.
00:06:14.000Look, I was the most active champion in UFC history.
00:06:17.000I think next to Alex Volkanovski as well.
00:06:19.000He was right up there with me, or if not more than me.
00:06:22.000I think Alex now is on his way to being the most active champ in UFC history because he's already saved this year, I think, two or three cards alone.
00:06:31.000He's like stepped in and be like, yeah, Sharma.
00:06:53.000It was fucked up in training camp, and so when he stepped off of him, he just decided to roll forward instead of putting weight on his right knee.
00:07:49.000No matter what, it's just the history.
00:07:51.000Because David even mentioned to me, my brother said, you know you're the only one that can actually stand with that guy.
00:07:57.000No one's lasted more than two rounds or even a round with him.
00:08:00.000And I thought about it during the breakdown like yeah, you're right and it's cuz I knew him I've fought that guy so many times and regardless of what happened I lost three times and I finally won one It was just the fact that I knew I could beat him every time I fought him.
00:08:15.000I was just like I was I was beating him I thought you won the first one I felt so, too.
00:08:20.000But then, that's, you know, the Chinese judges.
00:08:50.000Arena on the planet, Madison Square Garden, same way as the last time he beat me in Brazil, in his hometown.
00:08:55.000I was beating his ass, had him hurt in the end of the first round, all that shit, took him down, and then he gets me in the last round.
00:09:02.000It's his spirit, his whatever, like, ancestors or his people that are praying for him, because I got prayer warriors as well.
00:09:09.000My mom and dad be fasting, and they have people, like, in the spirit praying for me, but, like, the way he carries himself, something about him just...
00:09:41.000And, like, I always say this, the shower is the most interesting place on the planet, I feel, because you have the element of water running over your body, stripped naked in your bare essentials.
00:09:51.000You kind of have this, if it's a white shower, like a void, white space.
00:09:59.000And, yeah, one time after one of my showers, I just wrote this thing on my mirror because I just had this premonition, like, this is where I get it done.
00:11:35.000It's possible, but I don't think he's going to get it done because all it takes is one.
00:11:40.000From either side, but I just think Pereira right now has just got that momentum behind him and the frame because he's going to just avoid the shots Khalil's throwing because he's just got the long frame.
00:15:10.000But again, that's the beauty of the story, because then he waited until the fifth round, or got to the fifth round, and he's just like...
00:15:15.000Did his fucking juju, whatever thing, and then fucking...
00:15:19.000He just had this energy, and he came at me, and then my leg was compromised from the leg kick because of the peroneal nerve or whatever, and I couldn't do anything.
00:16:39.000And it was only when I watched the fight back, I saw a couple of mistakes I made, even on the feet, where I was like, ooh, don't do that again.
00:16:52.000But yeah, that and then the moment at the end when I slipped and just the lapse in judgment when I was just letting him know it was me tripping.
00:17:01.000Those kind of moments, maybe if I was as active, it wouldn't have happened, but who knows?
00:17:49.000I wanted to ask you about that, the gas in the tank thing, because there's a philosophy that Marv Marinovich and Nick Kurson, some of these guys have.
00:18:16.000You're not going to get better at fighting in six weeks.
00:18:18.000But what you can get is insane cardio if you only concentrate on that.
00:18:24.000And their thought process is that is the most important thing.
00:18:29.000That is the thing that fails you the most in fights.
00:18:32.000That's the thing that keeps you from hitting the gas, keeps you from doing the things you want to do, keeps you from being able to scramble out of positions.
00:18:38.000But if you can instead of all this fight specific training like put that aside and Just give yourself the most fucking insane gas tank humanly possible and then fight and then the Margins the things the times when you're going to need it like your skill level is already elite world championship skill level It's not going to deteriorate because your cardio gets better in six to eight weeks and But what you can do is give yourself this insane base of cardio.
00:19:06.000So in those moments when you need to hit the gas, you can.
00:19:10.000And that's what they did for BJ when BJ was at his best.
00:19:13.000I think the best I saw BJ from watching him, especially live, He was training with them.
00:19:54.000There was one point in the third round where me and him, we really put it on, and we kind of had this low-key agreement like, okay, you're fucked, I'm fucked.
00:20:48.000Not as strong as I thought it would be, probably because I felt strong as well.
00:20:51.000Like, I packed on some muscle for that fight.
00:20:53.000Preparing for those kind of grueling exchanges?
00:20:55.000Yeah, but even just for me myself, I just wanted to feel strong.
00:20:58.000So, me and my boy, AB, we put on some muscle for that fight, and then having Matt actually making good food for me for the first time ever, because I got this far off just...
00:22:46.000Telomeres are protein and DNA structures at the ends of the chromosomes that perform several important functions, including protecting DNA, preserving chromosomal integrity.
00:22:56.000Telomeres help maintain the structure and integrity of DNA during replication.
00:24:16.000I saw Uriah was always ahead of the game, and he was using hyperbaric chambers to help him recover.
00:24:22.000And so then I started looking into it, and then I found out about this Israeli study, and then I started seeing all the different ways that hyperbaric chambers can...
00:24:30.000Increase your recovery and you know TJ Dillashaw did a lot of that as well.
00:24:33.000I think but it makes a big impact They always do it like when you go down to CPI in Mexico when they do stem cells They give people hyperbaric chamber treatments as well.
00:24:43.000Okay, I have to look into that So if I wanted to do it, I'd maybe do it say like what twice a week or something.
00:25:10.000It's time consuming, you know, the whole experience is two hours, because it has to get up to pressure, then it has to decompress, and you're in there for 90 minutes.
00:25:18.000So it's like 15 minutes getting up to pressure, and then 15 minutes of decompressing at the very end.
00:25:23.000But that's a great way to recover as well.
00:25:27.000I feel like every, especially as you get older, every edge you can get.
00:25:41.000And I feel like even the one before that, and the one before that, I just remember thinking like, how can I... It was actually Eugene who said, how can you make this camp better?
00:25:49.000And I'll always find something to do to make this camp better, the next one.
00:26:25.000And even Jordy from Fight Dietitian, he told me, yeah, you should definitely be having breakfast because he thought, like, you're crazy training the way you do train.
00:26:33.000And some of my morning sessions as well will be grueling.
00:27:33.000He said, you know, I think the time of the fight got pushed back.
00:27:37.000I forget exactly what the reasoning was or just forgot to eat or just wasn't feeling it because of the anxiety fighting for the title, you know, the whole deal.
00:29:30.000It's a spiritual experience sometimes.
00:29:32.000It's a weird experience because not just me, I've seen fighters who have, not get delirious, but start saying things that they wouldn't normally say.
00:29:42.000Not even in a bad way, but just the way they talk.
00:30:04.000My weight cuts are normally pretty tame.
00:30:07.000Not as bad, because I think I'm perfect for 185. But the ones that I've seen guys lose a lot of weight the day of, and I see them how they are.
00:30:16.000And even when they go to the scale, you see their face just...
00:32:16.000No, that doesn't make any sense, because you've got guys like DC that, you know, even though he was not even barely six feet tall, was a heavyweight champion, but he's a tank, and he's the wrestling skills.
00:32:26.000I think that the way to do it really is to have more weight classes.
00:32:30.000I think when you have the big gaps, like 85 to 205 is 20 pounds.
00:32:38.000And then 205, if you want to start fighting heavyweight, and then you're dealing with guys like Francis, who's a natural 265, that's such a gap.
00:34:10.000Common sense rule and especially anybody who understands the power of elbows like this is not the most powerful elbow No, it's just not and so to deny that and to say that somehow or another that can't be blocked.
00:34:23.000Well, that's crazy Yeah, you could do that just as easy as you could do that you can block that elbow facts None of it makes any sense.
00:34:31.000There's a bunch of things that are unrealistic in my opinion.
00:34:33.000One of them is not being able to up kick from a downward position when a guy's on top of you.
00:34:39.000So if a guy's on top of you and you're on your back and the guy has a knee down, you can't up kick.
00:35:13.000Yeah, so that was a good knockout, but then they disqualified him.
00:35:18.000That technique, like if you are in a guy's guard, and that guy can elbow you in the face, punch you in the face, why can't he kick you in the face?
00:35:26.000He should be able to lean back and upkick you, and it would make the guard way more effective.
00:38:37.000I don't know if he's getting pressure from someone to have more action, but one of the things that Herb said was, if someone wants it, I think he was alluding to some specific officials and executives, whoever.
00:38:50.000He's like, if they want it to look different, I wish they would tell me.
00:39:54.000But it's what we were talking about at lunch today, too, is that there are certain fighters they want to win because those fighters are more exciting.
00:40:03.000I feel like there should be no stand-ups.
00:40:06.000Unless there's a violation, unless someone does something illegal, there should be no stand-ups.
00:40:09.000I think if a guy can take you down like Marab does and just beat you up and you can't do shit, and even if the audience is booing, that's the fight.
00:40:17.000If Sean wants to get up, he's got to get up.
00:40:19.000I don't think it should be you can just hold him on and you're full guard and the referee just stands you up.
00:40:24.000Because that's such an advantage for the striker to be standing up again.
00:40:28.000And you already have the advantage of every round start standing up.
00:41:45.000of her ultimately his opinion but not limited to those instances where he had called for more work from Rob what I cannot do today is speak on behalf of her ultimately his opinions and beliefs are his own and they are his to tell whenever he elects to do so what I can do is speak on behalf of my views no yeah I'm just fine happy what it was That's not it.
00:42:07.000There was an article where they had interviewed him.
00:42:36.000I can tell you what I tell fighters during the rules briefing.
00:42:40.000I tell them anytime I'm going to interfere or any intervention, I'm going to talk to you first, like if I'm going to stand you up.
00:42:47.000What I'm going to say first is I'm going to say let's work.
00:42:49.000I usually clap at what I'm expecting from him and what I'm expecting from him is not busy work.
00:42:56.000I specify I'm looking for effort to finish the fight.
00:42:59.000So either you posture to where you can set up fight ending attacks or advance your position, effort to advance.
00:43:06.000Because it's not as easy as just passing the guard, but effort to pass, effort to advance your position, effort to bring the fight to finish.
00:43:13.000That rule was put in place, standing fighters up, to make our sport look the way we want it to look.
00:44:07.000When you say someone, it's like, who's that someone?
00:44:09.000I don't think the referee's job is to instruct a fighter to do anything other than follow the rules.
00:44:16.000And if you can hold a guy down, I'm the worst with this because I think you should start in the same position you ended the last round because I think it's one fight.
00:44:27.000So an advantage for the striker is always standing up.
00:44:30.000So if a guy gets you down and has your back and the round ends, I think he should have the exact same position in the exact same place on the octagon floor when the next round starts.
00:44:40.000Because he earned that position, and you didn't earn the stand-up.
00:44:43.000So if you're standing up, standing up for a guy like you is a giant advantage.
00:45:17.000I've never done it in MMA. I've done it in boxing.
00:45:20.000I might bring back a tournament, so let's see who's really about this, because we have to fight, get the adrenal dump, then you go back and sit down, sit down for ages, and then eventually have to warm up again.
00:45:30.000I remember that I've done it a few times.
00:45:32.000I've won a few of them, but it shows this.
00:45:38.000Well, it's also built-in drama over the evening where people watch a guy fight once, and now he's going to fight a second time, and that was always wild about the early days of the UFC, watching those tournaments.
00:47:40.000I had him I should have won the fight should have been we did the round started the minute was up It should have been I could have got on him and I could have finished him and so in his head he lost focus It does happen.
00:47:53.000Like I said, even with me pointing at the ground in that moment, any small lapse in judgment, you just need 30 minutes or 25 minutes of focus.
00:48:01.000So in that point, yeah, I can see how that would get to him.
00:48:05.000Yeah, that would get to him because you're like, what the fuck?
00:48:06.000They're about to screw me out of this one.
00:48:44.000That's why I like to wear that as a badge on.
00:48:46.000I'm like, yeah, I was there and I watched that and I was just like Why he had eight more seconds he could have just done something and taken him out.
00:50:47.000I've only fought once in the new gloves now.
00:50:50.000I might give it maybe one or two more, but I'm like, the old gloves just, they didn't really protect, the wraps protect your hands, but the old gloves, they felt like rubber, like tire rubber.
00:51:01.000And I think they were just dangerous, like dangerous to hit with.
00:51:06.000If you hit someone with those, it's like bang!
00:51:08.000These new gloves, they feel like a little bit of a memory foam.
00:52:24.000Has he ever brought this idea to the UFC? Yeah, they were in negotiation, but I think Trevor went crazy and wanted like some ungodly amount of money.
00:52:32.000He wanted something, according to Dana, at least that's his version of it.
00:56:30.000I don't know if anybody that's made that, but that should be the way they do it because that would eliminate an enormous number of eye posts.
00:56:38.000That's a money-making scheme right now.
00:56:39.000If someone decides to make that and then put it out there as a prototype, you're like, look, this actually works.
00:56:43.000Train with them, and then they go, I'm patenting that.
00:57:14.000This guy could punch you in the face, kick you in the face so easy.
00:57:17.000This is not a good self-defense position.
00:57:20.000And you see it in MMA where guys are accustomed to doing that and they're literally face down holding onto an ankle and the dude just boom, boom.
00:57:29.000One of my boys, Nate, Nate Law, he just fought in his, I think, third pro fight.
00:57:35.000The guy had a leg lock, and Nate posted this quote from Chill Sonnen after the fight about if a guy is holding onto your leg, just posture up and punch him in the face.
00:57:46.000And that's what Nate did and won the fight.
00:57:48.000So yeah, I mean, the whole leg lock game, I know some stuff with Xguard and whatnot, but I don't really fuck with it too much because I get scared because the commitment when I hold on to someone's leg.
00:58:03.000The thing about leg locks is you have so little time to react.
00:58:06.000If you don't tap, there's such a brief, especially like an inside heel hook, there's such a brief amount of time you have before your shit has just blown to smithereens.
00:58:16.000It's just fine, this is fine, this is fine, and it's gone.
00:58:19.000Rips apart, and then you're fucked for nine months.
00:58:21.000Even if I'm running with people, if I don't trust that person, or if I just feel like, I'll just go, yeah, cool, tap, because ego's not worth it.
00:58:28.000I don't try and hold onto shit like that.
01:01:25.000And look, I would have, but I'm glad I took my time.
01:01:29.000And it was good for me just to fight different people from Ukraine, China, Brazil, all different types of places.
01:01:37.000And then Experience different styles, and that way I felt confident enough when I got to the UFC. My first fight, shout out Rob Wilkinson, good guy, good friend of mine now, and yeah, he tried to take me down constantly, and I was able to withstand that because of the work we did.
01:01:52.000And Andre, Andre Paulette, my wrestling coach, a lot of drills, just drills, wall work constantly.
01:02:01.000What year did you start grappling training?
01:02:02.000I started in 2010, but I was meant to go into MMA straight away, but there was just so many kickboxing fights, and I kept on getting kickboxing fights that it was just too...
01:02:12.000Also, I like fighting kickboxing, so I was just like, I'll just take this fight, take this fight, but I was always grappling on the side, like low-key grappling on the side.
01:03:39.000Honestly, I just know some dude can beat me, and he doesn't have to even throw a punch.
01:03:50.000you know, boxes, you know, like back in the day when it was UFC versus boxing or whatever, I was like, well, this is a, this is real fighting.
01:03:59.000Like you want to see what the baddest person on the planet is fight, right?
01:04:04.000No one's telling you, you can't use your weapons, but you want to take away all my weapons.
01:04:07.000That's why I don't think I'll ever box again.
01:05:02.000A lot of knockdowns, a lot of action-packed stuff.
01:05:05.000But if it was just marketed the right way, you know, with the UFC's marketing machine, easily, easily, it would be one of the biggest leagues.
01:05:41.000And I feel like there's an opportunity for that, for a kickboxing league in America that would be hugely successful if the UFC machine got behind it.
01:05:51.000You know John Wayne Post started that?
01:05:52.000I think he did, if I'm thinking about it.
01:06:26.000I always felt my striking was better for MMA. I always felt it was better for MMA because I was like, nah, if you can just do this, that's, yeah, you just block whatever hit.
01:08:02.000Look, I'm glad things happen the way they have in my career because it always gives me an opportunity to come back or rise again and showcase my spirit, my fighting spirit, not just in the cage, but as a human being.
01:08:12.000So all the things that have happened to me in my career when it comes to losses or setbacks, I just go, cool.
01:10:35.000And we're getting fucked here in America where it's very difficult to get the same kind of treatment that you can get in Mexico and Panama.
01:10:42.000What they can do here is much more limited.
01:10:45.000Hopefully in the future they'll release those limitations, but...
01:10:48.000In America, you're dealing with a lot of corruption because orthopedic surgeons, pharmaceutical drug companies, they're going to lose a lot of money if they have stem cell treatments because there's so many different things that it could fix.
01:10:59.000Even Briggs was just talking about what he said on here, just going at them, and that went viral, which is good.
01:11:05.000I just told him, bro, put out a tweet and say, I will never, ever kill myself, ever.
01:12:14.000I mean, we all think about it sometimes.
01:12:16.000Like when I was working this job, you just have like a passing fleeting thought like, oh, if I just jump over this bridge and hurt my leg, I don't have to work for the next six months because I hated my last job.
01:12:25.000But I would never, ever, ever, ever kill myself.
01:12:40.000That just made me feel sad for those who actually go through with it.
01:12:43.000But yeah, anyway, I would never kill myself, just in case.
01:12:47.000Well, there's enough people commenting on the Epstein case that I don't think you have to worry, but the people that are in the position to actually know the people's names on the list, those people are probably in trouble.
01:13:09.000No one talks about anything There's no effort to prosecute.
01:13:13.000There's no effort and then you have Glenn Maxwell who's in jail for sex trafficking to Who who you have to have you have to have done it to someone but there's no effort at all to uncover that But I'm saying now, this year, it's kind of crazy how this year started off with, what's his name, Cat Williams on Shannon Sharp.
01:13:34.000He starts talking, spilling the tea, sipping the cognac, and then now this whole P. Diddy thing.
01:14:19.000Apparently, they said they were using...
01:14:22.000I'm gonna guess it's like ketamine because it said horse tranquilizer and they're putting in people's drinks and the champagne and then getting them all loose.
01:14:32.000After I knocked out Pereira in Miami, we went to Tootsie's the next night and they were like, yo, P. Diddy wasn't here watching your fight last night.
01:18:40.000Yeah, this whole thing was just money.
01:18:43.000It was just they were trying to convince everybody that needed a vaccine because they wanted to make enormous amounts of money and they pulled it off.
01:18:48.000And then now, with all the information that's come out, all the deaths.
01:18:54.000I saw that show, Die Suddenly or whatever.
01:18:57.000And you see the blood clots from the same time that the vaccine got pushed.
01:19:18.000No one needs an apology, but it's kind of like everyone just, oh, well, I guess that's that, and then carry on with your fucking life.
01:19:23.000I was talking to a dude last night who's a veteran who was telling me that the hospital where these veterans get treated, they literally told him we are not allowed to make a connection with any of these adverse side effects to the vaccine.
01:19:37.000Even ones that are listed as vaccine side effects, they're not allowed to make that connection because they mandated the vaccine.
01:19:46.000The reason why all these corporations and all these people don't want to talk about it is because they mandated their employees to get vaccinated.
01:19:52.000So they, even though there's no liability for the vaccine manufacturers because they're exempt, which is part of the problem why they fucking propose all these things anyway, but then you're not allowed to make the connection with the problem these people are having and the fact that they got vaccinated two, three times, you're not even allowed to say that this might have been the cause of it.
01:20:15.000So they have to just treat whatever this side effect of the vaccine is without talking at all about the vaccine and not give any connection to it.
01:20:37.000I move through life, and I feel like, look, we are all born as players in this game, but everyone gets kind of programmed through schooling or whatever, education system, society, and then they just become bots.
01:20:51.000Because when I was bringing it up, and I would say something, People I really love and trust sometimes, and they instantly, they call it Agent Smith Syndrome.
01:21:06.000Because they got vaccinated, and they told people to get vaccinated, and they don't want to believe they made the bad decision, and they don't want to believe they coerced other people into making a bad decision.
01:21:17.000So they want to come up with all sorts of reasons why all these health problems, and then the overall all-cause mortality increase, which is through the roof.
01:21:27.000In some age brackets, it's 40% increase in all-cause mortality.
01:21:32.000Strokes, cancer, heart attacks, all these things have gone through the roof, and no one is making a connection.
01:21:38.000Must be just, you know, the food people are eating who are just ignoring it.
01:22:03.000And you just, I'm like, bitch, you literally said if you can't, if you don't get this, you can't go grocery shopping, can't go to restaurants, you can't do that.
01:22:49.000Isn't this supposed to be about recovering from a disease?
01:22:51.000Here you got a guy who's recovered in three days and is telling you all the shit he took, and you're lying.
01:22:58.000They still try to superimpose that sepia kind of filter over you.
01:23:02.000The one that got me, because we still travel during 2020, I did four of those MIQ quarantines.
01:23:10.000The one where you go back to your own country, and then you have to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks before you get let back into society.
01:23:34.000I went outside for our fucking daily outside for, what, 40 minutes or whatever.
01:23:41.000Sometimes we get shipped onto the playpen on a bus like prisoners or whatever.
01:23:46.000And then I remember everyone was doing these circles, just walking in a circle.
01:23:50.000And I almost did a full circle one time and I was like, what the fuck am I doing?
01:23:53.000And then I went back into my room and I stayed in my room for the remaining 11 days because I just felt like this was too much.
01:24:02.000And then also the one that got me was...
01:24:04.000Third one, this lady had a kid and she may be paraplegic or whatever.
01:24:10.000She had a neurological disease and then the kid had a seizure while the mom was having a smoke somewhere.
01:24:17.000The kid had a seizure and one of the guys went and helped the mom with the kid and the officer that helped the mom with the kid, they put him in quarantine for three days because he didn't have the correct PPE gear on.
01:24:29.000So that let me know This isn't about looking after people.
01:24:34.000It's about punishing this guy for disobeying the law.
01:24:49.000Well, I remember when Dan Hooker had fought over here, and then there was a picture of him being on the side of a fence looking at his daughter.
01:25:35.000People on Twitter lost their fucking mind because they were on Twitter all day long, locked in their house during quarantine for months and months at a time, just literally getting mentally ill, just reading Twitter and attacking people, and then blaming all these people that are unvaccinated on all the problems of the world.
01:26:47.000When everything seizes and you're not getting any packages in, like right now there's a Teamsters and longshoremen strike in America, which means all the docks, all the shipments are coming in.
01:27:09.000Right now, it's only been a couple of days, but the head of the longshoremen's union was talking about what effect it's going to have, and he basically said, I will crush you.
01:33:37.000I said even if it wasn't about me, I'd still recommend it because it was a well-made, not-so-sporty, sporty film.
01:33:45.000One of the best pictures I got sent was this lady knitting on a plane.
01:33:50.000And then watching it, and I thought that was like an old lady, not her demographic watching MMA. She's watching me through the documentary Knitting because it was something that was different.
01:35:32.000There's even a bit in this documentary where they would just film me one day, and then these kids are like, they just drove by my house, like, And they beeped the horn.
01:36:33.000Like today after lunch, I'd say yes to photos, but if I feel like, say I'm at the airport, if I say yes to, you've had this before, we say yes to one, and people are like, oh, he's taking photos, and it becomes like a zombie apocalypse.
01:36:47.000And I'm like, yo, I got to go somewhere.
01:36:49.000So if I tell someone like, yo, I can't right now.
01:36:52.000If I say yes to you, I got to say, oh, please, just one.
01:38:42.000But one of the best ones and the best replies I gave one time was, these three chicks and two guys, they were just, you know, Oh my god, fan, fan, fan.
01:38:50.000And one of them was like, excuse me, but who are you?
01:40:04.000And that's when I started going to therapy.
01:40:05.000But then I learned through the techniques and tools I've got from that how to protect myself.
01:40:11.000So before the rub fight I felt the same thing again because my girl at the time had to drag me away from the after party because I hid in the after party.
01:51:37.000Not to Strickland, but even this last one is the only time when I was just like, eh.
01:51:42.000I wasn't a champ, I guess, but this last fight was the first time I felt that like, well, but I still feel like I'm that guy because a lot of people still have that target on my back because I'm Israel Adesanya.
01:51:54.000But having to fight for the belt, having to fight with that thing, I don't know.
01:52:02.000This is the first time I've ever felt that where I'm like, meh.
01:53:14.000Young fucking schizo fritterer who just did shit for fun like the fucking Tavares fight and the round one I'm like I'm gonna try a Minari role see what that does and I kind of missed it but yeah I'm gonna bring that back I kind of want to do that that kind of shit again just cuz So do you think that, like, as the stakes are higher, the pressure is more, and it just restricts your creativity?
01:53:35.000It restricts your ability to just be loose?
01:56:32.000Fighting at 85, 170 pound champion, right off the title loss, and then, you know, third round he wins, and you're like, God, what would have happened fourth and fifth?
01:56:41.000Yeah, that's where some people come alive and say, let's go.
01:56:55.000I do enjoy the time in the cage, but even training for five-round fights, a lot of people train for three-round fights, but they don't understand.
01:57:03.000Everyone wants to be champion, so you got to train for five rounds, and it's like, oh shit, you got to do this shit.
01:57:07.000You have five rounds of the spider circuit.
01:57:09.000Oh shit, that's where you find out the men from the boys.
01:59:51.000And, yeah, at the moment, I just, look, I kind of like the feeling of not knowing because sometimes people ask, who are you going to fight next?
02:01:38.000He knocked out the guy in the second round, so now he's in the UFC. He got a contract, and he's going to fight this year, I think in December.
02:01:45.000So he's already in camp for his next fight because he was kind of fresh coming off that fight.
02:04:10.000I play the game as it says, like, it's almost egotistical in the sense...
02:04:18.000The rules are there for a reason and I am a law-abiding citizen but sometimes there's certain things where I think like The laws doesn't apply to me.
02:04:42.000The other laws and stuff, I'm like, man, unless if it's something crazy, like someone decides, oh, we're going to tax the rich 50% of their money.
02:04:51.000So when I say the law doesn't apply to me, it's in the sense of, like, I don't really care about what their policies are, you know?
02:04:58.000So, yeah, that's how I live, and I'm able to travel a lot, which I'm grateful for, but, yeah, if it wasn't for CKB, I definitely would have left NZ... Maybe traveled more.
02:05:20.000And again, I like watching America and the rest of the world from New Zealand because it's just like this little corner of the world just chilling and just, oh, yeah, Kiwi, mate.
02:05:28.000And then, yeah, just see what happens in the rest of the world.
02:05:31.000And we still get a lot of things happening.
02:05:34.000Culturally that are relevant to the world, but yeah I definitely want to travel after fighting and I get to travel like I'm gonna fucking Austin, Texas now, you know talking to you after this I'm going to New York Yeah, I'm sure I'll be somewhere else on the planet at some point, but Yeah, what do you think you want to do when this is over?
02:05:53.000So I have a plan in place because I know me and I'm an adrenaline junkie, so I know I'll need something every, like maybe thrice a year, where I feel like I'm gonna die.
02:07:09.000Jump on a crocodile and save it from so I don't know there'll be something I'll find things I'm there's always something I'll find something to do that'll make me feel like I'm my life is in danger so you feel like you're gonna need that forever Because if not, you just fall.
02:07:24.000A lot of guys, they come back and fight again because they miss that.
02:09:11.000There's a problem that girls, when they think that you're busy with something else and you don't care about, you're not paying attention to them, they're not your primary focus, they get very upset.
02:09:22.000I've seen guys where they're getting ready for a fight and their girl starts fights with them as they're weighing in.
02:12:30.000So yeah, for me, fighting takes everything.
02:12:34.000It takes everything and I've done well in this game and sometimes in the beginning I Didn't give everything so that's why now that I'm at this age.
02:12:43.000I'm like yo Give everything so that way when I'm done.
02:12:46.000I just know I Did everything I could to be the best and I was and I'm proud of myself.
02:16:02.000Because if I didn't have him, I definitely would end up...
02:16:06.000As one of those sad stories, I feel just because of who I am as a person, I feel like I would have ended up as one of those sad stories because of the trust I have in people.
02:16:14.000So I'm glad I have my dad around just to make sure things are cool.
02:17:08.000Or me living in a palace with a bathtub filled with gold.
02:17:12.000Yeah, but I just get, like, unless it's something maybe fiction that entices me and I can really go deep, but I like reading comics and shit like that, but a contract is just detail.
02:17:23.000But there's one person on this planet I trust that wants the best for me is my father.
02:17:57.000And I learned the game through him, but the details of the game I still don't know yet.
02:18:01.000So after this, I'll have more, I guess, input in the sense that, okay, this and that and this is what this means and that, you know, with the property values and whatnot.
02:18:11.000I try not to get too much into it because right now all I can focus on is this.
02:20:21.000And I understand that when it's like, because even when I was on top of the world, you know, like number one and this and that, it never defined me.
02:24:10.000And if I had a bad day, it might have been different.
02:24:12.000I like to say that because of freedom of thought.
02:24:16.000But also, my friend, you know, Fauvake got killed by senseless street violence.
02:24:21.000This is something that we've talked about even in the film.
02:24:23.000It was something that we all had to go through because...
02:24:26.000He got hit with a coward punch, and then hit the ground, and then boom, he's in a coma for about two weeks, and then eventually they have to pull the plug.
02:24:34.000As I'm talking to this guy, at one point I go, bro, I don't know you.
02:24:39.000Whatever has happened, I don't fucking know you.
02:27:30.000I've never heard anybody say I see red and it worked out well.
02:27:35.000But yeah, I'm glad it worked out well for me and I spared a life that day because if not, it would have been really bad and then I might not be here.
02:27:44.000I might be in a fucking cell somewhere.
02:27:46.000They might try to make an example out of you.
02:30:32.000Because back in the day when I first came into this game, I always felt like I had to, with every fan, I had to put on this song and dance.
02:33:39.000Well, listen, brother, I think the way you handle yourself and the way you communicate and the way you're honest and just you can be yourself, it's a great example to other people, especially young fighters that are coming up and trying to figure out how they're going to manage this.
02:33:52.000And if they ever be so fortunate, they get to a position like yourself.
02:34:00.000And I think that's a beautiful gift to give people, an understanding of how an intelligent, sensitive person deals with this crazy position in life.
02:34:16.000What you've done, everything from Dave Dawson since I've met you that you don't remember, and I'm glad you don't remember, to now, even being friends with you.
02:34:25.000And also, I don't Because you still have a job to do, and I never want to put you in a compromised position.
02:34:30.000I always still have to respect you and what you do, and I still kind of keep my distance a little bit, but I always respect and appreciate every time that we've interacted or hang out and, you know, who you are as a person.