In this episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Joe talks about his recent trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. He talks about how amazing it was, and how much he loved it. He also talks about what he's looking forward to going back to in the future.
00:00:52.000I had never heard of the place in my life.
00:00:54.000I agreed without even looking it up, you know, but in my mind, I was thinking, like, okay, this is a place I've never heard of.
00:01:01.000You know, I started thinking, like, I don't know, it's probably going to be something similar to like Saudi, and it's probably just like a lot of desert, blah, blah, blah.
00:01:08.000And I get there, and my mind was absolutely blown.
00:01:13.000Amazing treatment from Baku City Circuit welcomed us in.
00:01:19.000The fans were some of the best I've ever encountered, man.
00:01:24.000They were so happy to have the UFC there.
00:01:28.000Everyone in the streets, like people who weren't even fight fans, were just excited that the UFC was in Baku.
00:03:31.000I was in a good place, but I was also in kind of a fucked up state, like, not going to lie.
00:03:38.000I was just so happy to be across the world doing what I love to do and to be like treated like we're actually appreciated for, you know, like for what we do.
00:03:50.000And so that helped me get through all the other shit that happened.
00:06:44.000I still felt it a bit on flight day, but there was nothing that was going to, like, my mind for like through this camp, through this fight, man, like, I'm so happy for everything that I went through, honestly.
00:06:56.000Like, there was nothing that was going to take away my shine or my joy or my feeling of like being ready, being prepared.
00:08:14.000And that is something that was a shock to me.
00:08:21.000Especially coming off a loss and just knowing that I gave my all in that fight and that's I guess what the people wanted from me to get that type of like acknowledgement because I've been in the UFC for so long.
00:08:38.000But that fight, I guess, really showed people like who I am.
00:08:41.000And I got to show the world who I am and against a guy like Alex.
00:08:46.000So now I feel like I've at least kind of made my mark and been like, hey, I'm here.
00:08:54.000And so people are now like, okay, Khalil, I know who this guy is.
00:12:16.000I think that that's one thing that I try my best to always embody the artist in mixed martial arts.
00:12:23.000I think it gets lost in the growth of the sport of MMA, you know.
00:12:28.000But, you know, from the past conversations we have and you understanding kind of how I was before, like, man, I need some type of outlet for creativity, you know?
00:14:17.000And I think because of that, you have this, you have speed and not just speed of the strikes, but the way you move in and out.
00:14:25.000You know, it's like when you close the distance on Jamal, you could see it was like, there were some moments where I think he was surprised by the speed in which you were able to close the distance.
00:16:46.000I mean, like, I feel like in that fight, so there was not necessarily like beef between Jamal and I. Like, we never really exchanged, you know, there wasn't any like heated discussions or anything.
00:17:24.000Just like, I think it were like things again about like the Alex fight or just saying that like he's going to outskill me or, you know, I don't belong in the division.
00:17:34.000Like, don't take my exact word for it.
00:17:36.000But that's kind of how, like, that's the stuff that I kind of saw.
00:17:39.000So for me, there was no real reason to show any like respect.
00:17:46.000You know, if we're in the same building, if we're in the same room, I just like, whatever.
00:17:50.000I wanted to just kind of block him out.
00:17:54.000And then during the weigh-ins, so I had a press conference and they were saying like, hey, in the Alex fight, you know, there was a lot of blood.
00:18:22.000I didn't say his name, but he didn't like that.
00:18:24.000And so at the weigh-ins, he comes like, and mind you, we had three days before the weigh-ins, and we'd seen each other in the hotel room and blah, blah, blah, or in the hotel.
00:18:38.000You know, there were many more opportunities for him to say what he said, but he chose to do it at the weigh-ins in front of Dana White.
00:19:12.000I knew how I've been training and what I'm prepared for.
00:19:15.000And I know the type of athlete and fighter and man that I am.
00:19:18.000And I just knew that it wasn't going to happen.
00:19:21.000I was just that confident in my abilities and the work that I put in that I just knew it wasn't going to happen.
00:19:25.000It's pretty wild also considering you're coming off of a loss.
00:19:28.000Like you had more confidence coming off of A loss 100% because the loss just showed me that there's more work to do, you know.
00:19:36.000Like people always say back to the drawing boards, and like it was more than the drawing boards for me.
00:19:41.000It was like back to the dirt, back to the Vegas weather, back to the dying on the assault bike, back to challenging myself, back to going deeper.
00:21:46.000Because I thought it was a very smart performance.
00:21:48.000Like, if you're going to fight a guy like Jamal, who's an awesome counter-striker, one-punch knockout power, got a series of bodies behind him.
00:21:55.000Like, he's knocked out a lot of dudes.
00:22:28.000The win for me happened before the fight.
00:22:34.000Like I said, I think with camp, the training, you know, my head trainer, like with John, with Lorenzo, Christian, just the guys who are in my circle and the work that we do, I just, it really helped me with, you know, a lot of confidence and a clear vision and a path to victory.
00:24:16.000And then Las Vegas can come out and support a local.
00:24:20.000So that's cool because with the growth of Las Vegas, we're getting sports.
00:24:26.000Got the Raiders, getting a baseball team, women's basketball.
00:24:31.000The local scene in Vegas right now is I'm proud of it to come from there and to see that now we have something besides just gambling and all the debauchery.
00:24:45.000So it's going to be nice, and I'm very happy to represent that night.
00:24:50.000So how do you train for a guy like Yuri?
00:25:59.000But it's very hard because you can never really truly be someone.
00:26:05.000So someone can give you certain looks that maybe you'll see.
00:26:09.000So I don't rely too heavily on people emulating.
00:26:14.000But I do appreciate bodies and people that are around the same size, just so I can, you know, get used to that body contact of maybe someone who's a bit taller and not training with guys who are maybe shorter.
00:26:30.000You know, like if I had a short guy who can emulate my opponent, it's not going to help because it doesn't help.
00:26:38.000So if I have a taller guy who maybe can't emulate and I can do what I want to do against a taller body, then the rest is up to like my awareness and like making sure that, you know, a guy who maybe has this weird style, okay, I'm aware of that, but I know what I can do against someone of the same size.
00:26:57.000Yuri's just, he's so unusual in that a lot of times his hands are down really low, his dance is very wide, and he moves back and forth like a cobra.
00:27:06.000Like he hinges at the waist more than probably anybody.
00:27:10.000He does a lot of unusual stuff that you could see guys like try to adjust to that when they're inside the cage with them.
00:27:18.000It's like you have this weird moment where you have to think and consider these new possibilities.
00:27:25.000Yeah, I think that, you know, like I said, I've just returned from, you know, a reset.
00:27:36.000And yeah, now as soon as I leave here, I'm, you know, I'm locked back into samurai mode.
00:29:19.000So how are they getting salt out of the water like that?
00:29:22.000Like what do you do to – I honestly, like, I was so excited to be there that I probably missed out on a lot of the details, but that's how it looked.
00:29:31.000Like, there were these windmills, and I know they're like— They're just experienced like they're very passionate about.
00:29:52.000And there's different salts from everywhere.
00:29:54.000Like that up there on the right is salt.
00:30:33.000They took a bunch of, I guess, influencers from around the world and flew them into Thailand to welcome us and show us just different sites.
00:30:43.000It's not always about the beaches and Phuket and all this stuff.
00:30:58.000Yeah, like all these movie stars and the people from just like the Thai government and stuff just showing people pretty much like the heart of Thailand.
00:31:10.000It was a really cool way to kind of come back and feel home again.
00:31:16.000And then I ended up staying an extra week or two.
00:31:22.000Same thing, Thailand tourism, you know, made sure that we just continue that experience.
00:31:28.000So we stayed at some other hotels, did like the boat ride cruise down the river, you know, just had dinner, just really got to live it up and experience, you know.
00:31:37.000So it was all basically vacationing, not training?
00:31:39.000No training because it was fresh out of the fight.
00:32:31.000And when you get a big victory like that over a guy like Jamal, what does that feel like in your head when you know the work paid off?
00:32:41.000To just keep going and to just to just keep like keep digging.
00:32:47.000You know, like it's it's nice because I'm before, you know, like when I went, I went on that five-fight win streak, I was like coming back from Thailand and like now I'm fully in this.
00:34:50.000And thanks to BetterHelp, therapy is becoming more and more convenient.
00:34:54.000All it takes is a few clicks to join a session.
00:34:57.000You can also join from anywhere, whether you're at the beach, on your vacation, or at home after a grueling day of work.
00:35:05.000Plus, as the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise.
00:35:15.000Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash J-R-E.
00:35:21.000That's better H-E-L-P dot com slash J-R-E.
00:35:26.000From what I've seen so far and like just the text that I've gotten, yeah, a lot of people are really excited about it, which hypes me up and makes me want to, you know, train smarter.
00:35:36.000Well, you know, Yuri, who also beat Jamal in one of his last fights, looked fantastic in that fight.
00:35:43.000And coming off of the Pereira fight, he also made some big changes and big improvements.
00:35:48.000That's one of the things that makes your fight with him so much more interesting.
00:35:51.000Yeah, because I'm sure from his last, even a loss to Pereira, he I knew him coming back, he mentioned it.
00:36:02.000Like he wants to fight for the title again.
00:39:05.000That was kind of one of the highlights of that night for me.
00:39:09.000Not only did I feel like they both put on a really good fight, I just thought, like, what a cool way to be able to just like do that much work and then like be appreciated for it, like, win or lose.
00:39:21.000I think, yeah, maybe the tides are changing a little bit.
00:39:26.000Like, I felt like for a long time, and still to this day, it's still pretty like heavy, but to lose in MMA was almost kind of like the end of the world to the fans.
00:39:48.000And like, you know, sometimes like someone can be on a tier and then they, you know, they lose and then you can just see the direction of the support like completely shift.
00:40:00.000But yeah, I think that it's, you know, when I see things like, you know, Dustin's exit and all that stuff, granted, he did a lot in the company and he's done a lot in his career.
00:40:12.000But to see that kind of gave me hope, like, okay, maybe this will, you know, give the fans a little bit of different perspective.
00:40:18.000And maybe it can start to shift towards like appreciating people.
00:40:49.000One of the things that I really struggled with in the early days of commentary is that regular sports people were starting to do MMA commentary, and they were talking about fighters the same way they would talk about like a football player who drops a pass or a basketball player who misses a shot very disrespectfully, choked.
00:41:46.000But there's like a culture, particularly in America, that embraces that and that likes that because that's the kind of talk that like dum-dums have when they're on the job.
00:42:52.000And that also brings to thought, like, I went to the Espes and that was really cool.
00:42:58.000The first time going to the Espes and seeing all these other athletes, you know, that we see on football, you know, just on television, being in the same room.
00:44:12.000I think it's, you know, I'm excited for the growth of the sport as well.
00:44:16.000And I, you know, hopefully the next generation or even sooner will be able to know what it's like to be an MMA fighter and still get like an SB award.
00:44:26.000I wonder what's going to happen if the UFC doesn't renew the ESPN contract.
00:44:32.000Because there's this negotiation thing that's going on right now, and I don't know where they're going to land.
00:45:34.000Or in a PT clinic, it's just like, okay, ESPN's on, you know, and to be able to, yeah, to be shown through that, I think it's been really helpful to us.
00:45:44.000And the thing is, it's like you can get converted to a fan with one fight.
00:47:28.000The only way to not go crazy when you get really famous is to keep doing exactly what you've always been doing and make sure you fucking burn yourself out.
00:47:38.000You go hard all the time with everything you do.
00:47:41.000Because if you don't, then you're going to just wonder, you know, am I slipping?
00:48:11.000I've seen it happen to many fighters where they get too caught up in reading comments and interacting with people in a negative way online.
00:49:00.000They're just caught in this weird trap because we have this undefined new modality of communication, this social media modality, this new thing, this new device that you have that interacts with your brain and oftentimes a very negative way.
00:49:17.000And you're wasting hours and hours a day.
00:49:20.000Like how many people look at their screen time on their phone?
00:51:19.000And you tell me, like, cool, I'm doing the same thing.
00:51:22.000I wake up, I go to the gym, I shoot my bows, you know, I go to the club.
00:51:27.000Like that to me, to know that just personally without being one of those people that are just like sucked into my phone or whatever, to just hear it come from your mouth face to face, that's what you're up to.
00:51:41.000I think getting, I mean, I've been sucked into my phone before, for sure.
00:51:45.000But now, for the most part, if I spend time on my phone at all, it's watching things.
00:51:49.000I watch like YouTube videos, but it's always stuff on like, it's either watching MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing, or watching, like, YouTube videos on ancient history, the interesting things.
00:52:04.000So I'm not interacting with opinions and people.
00:53:15.000One of the things that was interesting where they were talking about the fight, and AJ was, Tony Bellows was talking about when he fought him.
00:53:26.000And AJ was saying that when he fought him, it was the most exhausted he's ever been because he's always moving.
01:00:04.000It could be like a series of just like life experiences and my like, I don't know, books that I read or just like things that I try to practice or some enlightenment thing that I'm trying to get or, you know what I mean?
01:00:21.000Like I think that I think that it comes from that because I'm just I'm kind of always searching for the light in short, you know?
01:00:31.000God, it's got to be so hard though in that situation because generally speaking, there's a moment in fights where you see guys starting to get hit and tuned up and you see hesitation and you see panic.
01:00:54.000So right before we went out or right before we got to the arena, my coach Lorenzo is like, all right, your nose is already cut, so it's going to open up.
01:01:03.000And he's like looking at me in my face, you know, like he's like face to face with me.
01:02:10.000And so, like, in the locker room, you know, in my warm-ups and everything, I think subconsciously, I'm just like already programming myself for the worst of the worst.
01:03:31.000But like, I just remembered like the whole time, this, just, this very like positive feeling that, like, and that's why, like, those shorts are framed in, you know, like, I got the shorts framed, never washed them, you know, blood still on them, gloves, never wiped them off, and I just put it in a shadow box.
01:03:52.000It's on my wall, you know, like that for me is just, it was a, just a pivotal moment for me, just in my life as a person, as a human, you know, just, yeah, that's like the beginning.
01:04:07.000I think I was like, that's the beginning of the, wow, of the journey now.
01:05:01.000this feels like, yeah, this is it right here.
01:05:05.000And then, obviously, like, you know, the loss was, it took a little bit of an emotional toll on me because my focus was to win, and that was my, you know, that was my intention.
01:05:17.000But I think, like, in hindsight, I look at it and it's like, no, my, I was meant to be there to experience it and to learn from it because the things that I did learn and experience from that fight have made me a better person for sure.
01:06:17.000Amazing, like, multiple time jiu-jitsu champion.
01:06:23.000Rolling with guys like Luke, Rockhold.
01:06:26.000I mean, being able to be like on a team with those guys and us train together has really helped me as well because it's just given me more confidence in my abilities and my development as like a championship level fighter.
01:06:46.000So yeah, I mean, like, even to, I, you know, I brought you those shorts today, the Santo Studio ones, man, we're, we're building an incredible team down there.
01:07:09.000Yeah, men's jewelry, but there's also like Jackson Media House.
01:07:13.000And over there, we're trying to include all of MMA fighters, extreme sports athletes, like give them like a platform to showcase, you know, their talents and build themselves.
01:07:27.000But Santo Studio, the clothing brand, we have the sickest team.
01:07:31.000So we've got like Buccecha, we've got Arman, we've got, I mean, Dilla Shaw's behind it, we got Rockhold.
01:07:41.000Gabriel Silva, Anderson Silva's son, on just like the fighting side, but then it's like Paul Rodriguez, Skateboarder, Nigel Houston, Ryan Sheckler, and then we got motocross riders like Jet and Hunter Lawrence.
01:07:54.000And like, so there's all these kind of like extreme sports athletes under one umbrella, but like in one place in Newport Beach.
01:08:01.000And we all support each other under like the same type of brand.
01:08:36.000Weightlifting, but also like shopping.
01:08:39.000Dude, it's unheard of, but it's so cool.
01:08:42.000And it's put us all in the same place to be able to train with each other, collaborate with each other.
01:08:48.000If it wasn't for Santo, I would have never been able to train with guys like Buchetcha and Bernardo and Leo Vera, you know, the CheckMat guys.
01:08:57.000So like now there's a partnership with CheckMat, which makes me like have access to training with these guys.
01:09:06.000I would have never been able to, you know what I mean, have that same like connection.
01:09:09.000So we're just doing everything we can to just, you know, like support each other within this like MMA community, help each other grow and just like expand and also include the community within right now Newport Beach.
01:09:26.000But I mean, I'm sure that the vision is bigger than just that.
01:09:31.000So this is something also that you can do once you retire?
01:10:41.000Or like maybe sometime not only there's like a renegotiation and it's not for as many fights, but like I think six or seven more fights would be nice and be able to like look around and say like, okay, is this enough?
01:10:58.000You know, like is this okay for me to step away from and like, am I secure?
01:13:58.000I love that there's so much outdoor stuff involved.
01:14:01.000So like when I imagine the rest of my life and how I want to live that after fighting, it's like, let's say I do have my family and there's a child in play.
01:14:45.000I like the culture in South Korea, man.
01:14:48.000Like, when I see that, when I see just like the, like, the culture in South Korea, the people, how I envision just like my family interacting with society and stuff, like, to me, another thing that just makes sense.
01:17:01.000But I just, I can, I realize how I feel inside, you know, and how I'm interacting with people who I don't even know on a daily basis.
01:17:16.000And when I think about like, I always, I'm constantly thinking about like my future or my vision, you know?
01:17:25.000And when I think about, and when I think about my views, my future and my vision, there's a child involved.
01:17:32.000And I try to think about like, okay, as a dad, how do I want to operate with a child?
01:17:42.000Or like, how do, how do I want, you know, our child to experience life?
01:17:49.000And there's just, you know, a lot of different questions and visions that come.
01:17:53.000And the way that I've seen it, or like the way that I envision it, it's kind of like, it makes more sense that Way you know, like if I could if I could, let's say, take away some of the like stress of raising a child from my wife by like,
01:18:15.000let's say, hiring help or you know, having instead of having a car, having a driver to have us get through traffic so that we can still enjoy life and, you know, go on like a family, you know, dinner or take the kid here or whatever, but I don't want to drive the damn car because there's too much traffic and you know what I mean?
01:18:59.000But if I wanted to get a live-in helper, let's say in Hong Kong, it cost me $1,000 or less dollars a month to have a full-time live-in helper.
01:19:10.000And there's nothing wrong with it there.
01:19:14.000Like in Hong Kong, you have just groups of women who are live-in helpers that like on their off day in the summer or on their off day, like on Sunday, you'll see them.
01:19:25.000Everybody's just in the streets with tents, combing each other's hair, boom boxes out, sharing food.
01:19:59.000I just think like for me and my development and growth as just like a human being, that's just kind of where it's like a never-ending like finding out what's next.
01:20:11.000Like I've constantly got to adapt and evolve.
01:21:42.000Like, when I think about the stuff that I had to go through as a kid and just like the dangers and, you know, I'm like, hmm, how about like my kid doesn't necessarily have to be worried about certain things or, you know what I mean?
01:21:58.000Being worried about like getting shot at school or like just different things.
01:22:02.000It's just kind of like, what can I take off?
01:22:04.000Like what mental load can I take off my offspring in the beginning?
01:23:44.000You're getting outside of your lane and you're spreading yourself thin.
01:23:48.000And there's just no way to really be locked into training while also doing that stuff.
01:23:54.000So when you see someone preparing for a major fight and they see a lot of extracurricular activities, I'm always like, like Daniel Dubois had a fucking party the day of his fight.
01:25:29.000So the week that I landed, I had to do like four or five days of filming with DraftKings for this online.
01:25:36.000So it's like I just landed, but then like I didn't get time to adjust because the next day we got to wake up, you know, first filming sessions at 9 a.m.
01:26:37.000And I think by time, like with jet lag, with training involved, with the filming, with all of that, I think by time fight week came, like my body's like, fuck you.
01:27:13.000So I got information and they're filming me, you know, get information.
01:27:17.000And then from the old town, then we go somewhere else.
01:27:20.000And, you know, so where ideally you would be resting or doing my own training or resting or adjusting.
01:27:28.000Yeah, but when you're, when you're forced to interact, like that's, I mean, you're dealing with something where you have this monumental moment that's coming up in 14 days.
01:29:41.000I don't like people who talk shit for no reason.
01:29:43.000If I didn't say anything to you, if I've never fucking mentioned your name, then why are you talking shit to me or about me or disrespecting me?
01:29:52.000Well, people talk shit because he gets some attention.
01:29:54.000And I think a guy like Akolayev, there was a long period in his career where he didn't talk shit and he wasn't getting a lot of attention.
01:30:01.000I mean, look, he had that fight with Jan Bohovich where it was for the title.
01:31:38.000And it's a fucking toxic way of fucking being and it's passing along through social media and kids are fucking getting beat up for it.
01:31:47.000And we're fucking grown men on a large platform where people are looking up to us for many different things and they envision us as these fucking gladiators.
01:31:58.000And this is what you're choosing to do as a fuck.
01:36:47.000He had this really amazing conversation.
01:36:50.000Someone was interviewing him, and they were talking about different addictions that fighters fall to and different things that, that sidetrack people.
01:36:58.000And he's like, the best addiction is discipline.
01:37:01.000And he was talking about his discipline.
01:39:44.000The best athletes go into combat sports in Dagestan.
01:39:47.000And so he's like, what you get is you have genetics, which is an ultimate requirement of the elite of the elite.
01:39:55.000At the top of the game, it's like discipline and genetics.
01:39:58.000Those are the two things that separate the men from the boys.
01:40:02.000And he's like, we have all those things in America.
01:40:07.000It's just when you're dealing with the elite of the elite, it's like, what pool are you drawing from?
01:40:14.000One thing that I think they do have there, though, is this.
01:40:19.000The fact that they're all very religious and the fact that there's no drinking, there's no partying, there's no nothing, there's no chasing girls, there's no bullshit.
01:42:44.000We I don't remember exactly how much time, but we for two weeks before that were regularly going up to Mount Charleston and to running other mountains and stuff like outside of Vegas.
01:42:59.000Right, because there is quite a bit of elevation outside of Vegas.
01:43:30.000We'd just drive there, and then we'd just run out there, train out there, come back down home.
01:43:36.000One of the things that I've heard, there's different philosophies on how to handle training in altitude.
01:43:41.000But one of the things that I've heard is what you should do is you should train at sea level and then sleep and live at a high altitude.
01:43:48.000So that way you get more output at sea level because you're getting more oxygen so you could put in more work.
01:43:54.000And then when you're at the higher altitude, your body is adapting and developing more red blood cells and all that stuff and more adaptation for oxygen.
01:44:29.000It was crazy that when I would go to Boulder to train, I would go to Amal Easton's Jiu-Jitsu gym.
01:44:35.000It felt easier because it was only 5,000 feet because that's like Boulder's like 5,000 something.
01:44:42.000And then one time we had to go to Philadelphia for like a UFC event and I was working out in Philadelphia and I felt like a fucking juggernaut.
01:46:16.000It's like, and the same thing, even when AJ was training down there, they're still tight with Ray Longo and Matt Sarah and all those guys that got him to the dance.
01:46:26.000And then you see those guys also in his corner.
01:46:29.000It's a very collaborative thing where there's no, the egos don't get in the way.
01:46:33.000No, that's such a cool thing to respect.
01:46:41.000Like he just brings a bunch of Georgian guys in and it's like.
01:46:47.000Yeah, if the guys at the top have a great vibe and they're all like collaborative and work together, you know, really you feel that vibe in the gym.
01:46:58.000His energy is definitely like infectious.
01:47:00.000And one thing that's cool too is like the way that John's organized training in Syndicate now when people have fights coming up and like you're doing your live cage rounds and the whole gym's watching.
01:48:42.000Like, whether it's running up and down mountains and all this stuff, like, John Wood actually has to have some type of like monitor on this guy.
01:50:03.000I mean, he's in his prime, clearly, but I don't think he's reached his full potential because I think he was even better in the second O'Malley fight than he was the first fight.
01:50:10.000And I think O'Malley was considerably better.
01:51:40.000I mean, and you see the, like, I think the perfect fight for him was seeing Kaikara France, they fought in the ultimate fighter, and it was a good fight.
01:51:51.000And then you see this new fight where as he's the champion, Kaikara France is the contender.
01:55:18.000It's interesting because boxing has the same thing.
01:55:21.000You know, I mean, when you get into the heavier weight, look, look, Usik made somewhere in the neighborhood of $132 million for that fight.
01:56:53.000It's like everybody was scratching and clawing, and they were just doing it out of the love of the game.
01:56:58.000Or because they had a career in wrestling, and then that wrestling, amateur wrestling career was over, and they're like, all right, I'm going to be a fighter.
01:57:14.000I'm sure they paid him well, and at the time it was a lot, but I mean, like, Fedor's still fighting.
01:57:18.000Is he fighting because he wants to, or is he fighting because he has to, you know, which is crazy.
01:57:24.000Yeah, if one of the greatest of all time is fighting because he has to, it's not like Fedor is like living the craziest, flashiest lifestyle with like diamond, like Floyd Mayweather.
01:57:34.000Like, if Floyd Mayweather went broke, he'd be like, look at his Instagram.
01:58:42.000I honestly, I would love to work with the UFC.
01:58:45.000Not as a commentator, because I don't really see myself like commentating or like being, you know, someone speaking, but I'd love to work for the UFC.
01:58:54.000Why wouldn't you want to commentate or speak?
01:59:52.000I am friends with, I try to make friends with everybody in every department because they're just great people that make, that make this all happen.
02:00:00.000The equipment team, you know, Ember, Stephanie, like, I've been testing the gloves for the UFC for the past year, making sure we get the right ones.
02:00:08.000You know, what is going on with the gloves?
02:00:10.000Because you and Alex fought with the new old gloves.
02:00:31.000And we tried, Joe, I'm telling you, we tried hundreds of different ways to get the UFC logo printed on the gloves so that they will not come off in the octagon.
02:00:44.000From me testing it on the canvas, doing live situations, sparring, rubbing it in the cage, blah, blah, blah.
02:01:24.000It's just, it's, it's just not the same.
02:01:28.000Like, it's, it's, it's a little, it was a little softer, but it's, it's, it's treated differently to be able to, you know, to before, like, while it's being processed or whatever that whole process looks like, it's just, there's some type of, you know, chemical or something that's just different.
02:01:47.000Because what I had heard was that there was less knockouts with the new old gloves, the gloves that they developed and then they abandoned recently.
02:01:56.000Because I'm just hearing straight from what the equipment team's being yelling at.
02:02:01.000So the equipment team is saying that's the issue, is that this leather.
02:02:04.000It has nothing to do with the knockouts.
02:02:07.000It's that every time when the fighters come to return a pair of gloves or whatever, or even in the fight, it's peeling off or chipping off, and that's a hazard if it gets in your eye.
02:02:27.000It has nothing to do with the knockouts.
02:02:28.000It's more that the logo wasn't adhering, and it doesn't look professional to have these guys fighting a championship fight, and then here's this guy raising his hand, and you don't even know.
02:03:32.000They turn over like this, where it's not like this.
02:03:36.000So you don't like the thing that people, the problem with the old gloves that are now the gloves that everybody uses is that everybody says that they kind of force your hand into an open position and you have to tighten up to make them close.
02:07:24.000But he was explaining to me the different kinds of foam that you can buy and that people buy cheap foam and it's not as high density and it's not as good.
02:09:50.000But that said, like, here's the thing.
02:09:54.000is gonna fight cyril gone yeah i might if i was running things i might set up the derek lewis fight with aspinall i might say forget cyril gone for now like derek just has his big knockout win who's more popular than derek who's Who's more beloved by fans than Derek?
02:10:14.000Yeah, I mean, that would be a great fight to set up.
02:13:14.000I mean, it's like, if there is anybody as a combat sports practitioner and fighter, if there's anybody who I would say I'd want to be or like model myself after in my career, it'd be Muhammad Ali.
02:13:48.000And like not that like I'm not as outspoken as, you know, as he was.
02:13:53.000But for just like the things that he was also remembered for outside of the ring, I just look at that as like so admirable.
02:14:02.000And he gave young men like me something to kind of like aim at and like model myself after.
02:14:09.000You know, like that to me, I feel like is very important, especially in this country and as a young man who maybe doesn't have a father figure or who doesn't know what to become.
02:14:18.000And then you read the story about Lee and you're like, oh, that's similar to me.
02:14:30.000I'm actually, there's actually people like me out there.
02:14:33.000And I like, you know, it just gives you something to kind of hope to become.
02:14:38.000And so I try to, I, I try to just be authentically me so that whoever out there does connect with me can see that, you know, yeah, you can go through certain shit, but like there's so much stuff that is possible for you.
02:15:00.000You know, mental health is a big thing.
02:15:03.000You know, it's not the end of the world, you know, and if you feel like it is, there's support, you know, and if you actually have a disorder, there's support for that too.
02:15:12.000And there's also outlets like martial arts and, you know, communities and things like that that will make you feel less alone in life.
02:16:07.000Like it's life, but we don't, a lot of people, we don't have the tools, you know, or we don't have the people to listen to or whatever to be able to be like, okay, it's not just me.
02:16:41.000It's very easy to just think me, me, me, me, me, you know, my problems, my struggles, my this.
02:16:47.000But, like, to consider millions of people and lives and children and youth and teenagers that are watching the sport and da-da-da, like, I have to be conscious of the things that I do and how I live my life because I don't want to be the guy on the news.
02:17:16.000Like, I'm like, I'm just like, I'm just like, okay, like trying to do the right thing, not only for myself, but for my family, for my father, you know?
02:17:26.000So there's just a lot of responsibility that comes with this game and how we live our lives, man.
02:17:34.000And I'm glad there's people like you out there that do present a very positive role model because I know for a lot of young people, they turn towards really successful people in sports and particularly fighters, especially if you are a martial artist yourself and you look at someone who carries themselves a certain way and you admire it and you want to be like that person.
02:17:55.000Like, I aspire to be my own version of what that means to me, what this person means to me, what they represent to me, which is like a championship mindset.
02:18:05.000Like someone who's really like, there's a lot of people with championship mindset that never become a champion, but they 100% inspire people to live better lives.