In this episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, I sit down with one of the most enigmatic, difficult dudes to solve in all of MMA, MVP. We talk about how he got started in MMA, how he broke into the sport, and what it takes to become a champion.
00:00:42.000And I'm just like, okay, let me just be myself, do my thing.
00:00:45.000First fight goes well, land this crazy kick, go viral, and I get nothing but hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
00:00:54.000But then having prominent figures like yourself that are constantly have been champion my style, uh champion championing the points element of things.
00:01:38.000I always tell people that like most of the combat sports in terms of kickboxing, the full contact side of things is more to do with the there's a fixation on power, not for people else.
00:01:49.000Whereas our element is just the speed element.
00:02:21.000But the the point was that this was a an element that when I remember when I was doing Taekwondo and I would fight in tournaments, I would occasionally fight in point fighting tournaments.
00:02:30.000I'd go, and if you I'd fight a guy like Mafia Holloway or one of these guys that were really good, I'm like, this is crazy.
00:03:06.000But once you can solve the takedown defense and some of the grappling hurdles, and you've got actually got some mission victories, then you got a real problem because every fight starts standing up.
00:03:31.000But that's that's just part of my style is that kind of frustrating people because it's just so unfamiliar.
00:03:37.000For like you, for someone like yourself, you would kind of be in there, whether you're successful or not, you'd understand what's happening, and you'd you'd be calm enough still to be like, okay, I need to know how to figure this out because I've I've experienced this before.
00:04:02.000Yeah, he you know, friend of mine, uh, obviously, me and him and you know, just us getting on, and he's even said people have contacted him, like, oh yeah, I can fight an MVP, like I want to train with you.
00:04:13.000He's like, I want MVP to win, so he's like you, bro.
00:05:12.000And I always say that is because I, you know, I've caught come up against guys and was like, man, he can he's got big big hit with a big punch on him.
00:05:37.000Because you imagine just getting popped, your eyes are runny, your nose hurts, and this dude's standing in front of you going, calm down, calm down.
00:05:49.000But that's it's psychological war, but that's the end.
00:05:51.000That's obviously that's kind of like part of my personality coming out and the entertaining side of me.
00:05:57.000And a lot obviously added to the criticism that I would get, which of how I would make my opponents feel in terms of their frustration, and then obviously the antics on top of it.
00:06:09.000So many people that the the main term that came with me was like, Oh, he's fighting cans.
00:07:22.000So when we go over to the I'm just making sure I I get that to you because again, it's something that you've spoken about with me, and it's a big it's a big part of my my history uh in MMA, just that that that cyborg fight.
00:07:33.000So that was the most gruesome injury I've ever seen.
00:08:45.000I I keep telling everybody, I didn't know what happened because obviously they're like, you celebrated like threw the poker ball at him afterwards.
00:09:21.000I didn't want to, but I also he had come over for another MMA show, but with one of his students.
00:09:27.000But one of his students was fighting one of my teammates.
00:09:31.000And at the beginning, my coaches were like, oh, do you want to, you know, go and at some point go and see him and say hello or I was like, uh yeah, please, like I'd love to, because that's the last time I saw him.
00:09:43.000The fight happens, and my teammate is known for his leg locks and breaks his his student's leg.
00:10:02.000And I kind of walk into the room, his guy's obviously upset for losing his like getting sorted out by the medics, and he's sitting there, just looks at me and I'm like, hey.
00:11:23.000Luckily, but interestingly though, when I was in at the time that I he was around, uh, I was still very like heavily focused on the points fighting, kickboxing.
00:11:34.000So but a friend of mine was training at shoot, and he was like, You need to come and train with these guys, like these guys are serious.
00:11:41.000And but for me, MMA was just never gonna be a thing that I'd ever see myself in.
00:12:05.000Obviously, my had a successful career in the kitboxing, but it didn't really go anywhere.
00:12:10.000It's like you're fighting the same people over like the amount of times me and Raymond have fought, and we were like the some of the top two guys, like we've we're both in the competition, like we both walk in the room, everyone was like, Oh my god, are these guys gonna fight?
00:12:23.000Like, right, we were the guys, but I'm fighting the same people, and it's just like everything, everyone hoping that you're gonna lose, or your fans are kind of like supporting you, and then I come back to reality, come off a plane, I traveled, I fought all the you know, the whole week or whatever, won a world title, and I've come back home and then nothing.
00:12:44.000Yeah, I come back home to just me being myself, just me being me, which I'm okay with.
00:12:50.000But there's no recognition, there was no sponsorship.
00:12:53.000I you I paid to do everything, and as I I loved it, and if I could choose the route again, I'd still do it because I absolutely loved it.
00:13:02.000But there comes a point, I'm getting older, and it's comes a point where I have to start and I'm now starting to uh but at the time I'm I'm a kid, but now I get to the point where I have to work and so on.
00:13:12.000Now it's like I can't do this forever, but at the same time, I know I want to compete for a living.
00:13:20.000I just didn't know what in what so then I'd said to myself, okay, cool.
00:13:26.000Let me I need to take a step away from this.
00:13:29.000I know while I'm in this, this will be a distraction.
00:13:32.000I'm not gonna be able to focus on things because another competition that I'm gonna want to win is gonna come up and it's gonna turn my attention.
00:13:38.000So I said, look, I'm gonna I said to everyone I'm retired.
00:13:40.000I thought let me say it to as many people as possible, so then it's hard for me to turn back on it.
00:13:45.000So I'm just like, yeah, okay, yeah, I'm retiring now, not fine again, yeah.
00:13:52.000Started to go around looking at boxing gyms, looking at full contact kickboxing, looking at MMA gyms, and the first gym actually went to was uh in Miami, Coconut Creek, uh American Top Team.
00:14:07.000Ah, because my sister uh used to live in that area, because I got uh siblings over in America as well.
00:14:16.000So came out there and I in my head at the time, there's only few people from the UK that was doing anything in MMA.
00:14:25.000So when I was like, maybe I'm gonna try MMA, I was like, obviously I have to go to America, and I'm lucky enough to have siblings that live over there, so I'm good.
00:14:33.000So get to America, get to American top team, I go in there, I'm like, this is where I'm gonna start.
00:14:38.000Like I've met a couple of the coaches and just kind of just like general chitcher.
00:14:42.000I didn't tell them who I was or anything, just kind of saw the vibe, the the facilities are amazing.
00:14:47.000I was like, yeah, this is this is gonna be my new life.
00:14:50.000And then I get back to England and good friend of mine, Marvin Francis was like just in case, just have a look at some gyms over here.
00:14:59.000Just what before because obviously I got things to sort out before I can just make the full move.
00:15:03.000So while you're doing that, let's have a look at a couple of gyms.
00:15:06.000And we did some research, we went to a couple of the Gracie gyms, went to a few other gyms that I was around, then I found London shoot fighters.
00:15:12.000I hadn't done any research, and at this time I personally wasn't watching MMA at all.
00:16:44.000Like when they got on the floor, I was like, ugh.
00:16:49.000Fuck's sake, get stand up, stand them up.
00:16:52.000So and never been to a show, anything, but these are he's a guy that I like watching, and then I want to I made a decision I want to do it.
00:17:02.000Uh started in London shoot fighters, and for some reason the guys there, I don't know what I've I've had good coaching.
00:17:10.000Um I'm outbringing, so I can I feel like I can hear sense when I've gone to a place, I'm I'm hearing how they're coaching and what they're saying, and I'm like, it just makes sense to me.
00:17:21.000I was like, cool, I'm gonna start here.
00:17:23.000I still want to go to America, but I'll start here for now and then just see where it goes, and then I just fell in love with the place.
00:17:29.000Was that the first time you did any grappling at all?
00:17:49.000Yeah, it was it was weird, like I kind of enjoyed the fact that like I'm looking at this guy like if I saw you on the street in my head, right?
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00:19:47.000Like he was for me, he was the more talented one.
00:19:49.000But I mean, like every single weekend we're driving to Birmingham to Manchester to Scotland.
00:19:57.000Like my dad started the gym, he was going around everywhere.
00:20:02.000And every weekend, it's like three hours that way, four hours this way, this coming back, and I'm just gonna boss lip and they're just the medals are just like cling cling cling cling cling.
00:20:14.000Like they got all the medals, and they're talking about how they spin kick some guy and they did this, and I'm just like, yeah, yeah, cool, cool story.
00:20:21.000And I got destroyed for five years, and when I is that I got to a qualifiers uh in Birmingham, uh it was an Iaska uh qualifiers, and I I managed to win that, which that in itself was success for me.
00:20:43.000Like, I'm like, oh man, I I qualify to go to the world championships.
00:20:49.000Everyone else was there, so they were supposed to do it, like they're good enough to have the expectation of themselves.
00:20:55.000So then I get to the world championships, and the way they seed fighters in the US was very different to the UK at the time.
00:21:02.000So I had one fight, another fight, another fight, and I'm winning, and I'm like happy, and I must be in like the finals already.
00:21:09.000And then they're like, okay, bring the Cedars fighters in, and then like a shitload of fighters joined your your mat.
00:21:16.000And I'm like, oh my dad would tell me, he's like, Yeah, I think you're in a in the in the semis, I think you're in the quarters, and then he was like, Bro, just keep fighting.
00:21:27.000Seriously, I genuinely don't remember.
00:21:31.000I just remember just feeling tired, and I I didn't understand why this was still going on because in the competitions, three, four fights you're in a final.
00:21:46.000So there's uh again, the ISCO um world champions in Orlando, Florida, and it's it's a it's it was the big at the time, the biggest uh points kickboxing competition.
00:21:56.000So there's thousands and thousands of competitors, kids, adults doing forms, doing you know, catters and all this stuff, and then uh you had the points fighting, the light contact fighting, and that was it.
00:22:10.000Um yeah, it just all day, and then it literally got to this like okay.
00:22:14.000Uh I won a fight, and the guy was like, Okay, you're in the final next.
00:22:17.000The referee said that to me, and I was like, Oh, like I can't believe I'm in the final.
00:23:12.000And all the kicks that would I'd walk into face first.
00:23:16.000I was like, oh, actually I can do this.
00:23:18.000I was like, Wow, you entered into the matrix.
00:23:20.000I'd literally, I just I to the point to the point where I saw when when I went back home, it's like 12 and for the year of that circuit, I I didn't lose a fight.
00:23:30.000And this is from this is from getting whooped.
00:24:53.000And I beat everybody and got to the final, and the final was really, really close, and I felt like I got robbed, and even my dad was like, he could never tell me no after that because I destroyed some of the best fighters on the in that in the UK at the time.
00:25:09.000Do you think it was a confidence thing of having gone through that grueling tournament and proven that you could do it, and now you didn't have doubts in your mind anymore?
00:25:18.000Or was it you had just seen so many different high levels of competition that like maybe your own expectations had risen?
00:25:24.000Like what what was it that made that instantaneous shift?
00:25:28.000Because it's one thing to go and compete and do really well all of a sudden and like now I'm competing, but then you went and you were doing it against people that were normally beating you and you're fucking them up.
00:25:39.000That's cra that's a that's like a 50% shift.
00:25:44.000I would say one thing obviously I hated losing as anybody would, especially as a kid.
00:25:50.000Um we also, and I think it's for all of us, we wasn't allowed, so a lot of the kids would fight first and then the seniors would fight, and but because we all traveled down together, we stayed the whole competition until the seniors were finished so we can drive back.
00:26:05.000A lot of the other kids were messing around when obviously we like this guys that I've spent I've I've known since I was eight years old that I'm still good friends with now because we were the kids like playing with each other afterwards, like just being cool.
00:26:17.000But my dad was like, no, no, no, you represent me.
00:26:23.000So as much as we could play a little bit, like when he wasn't looking, but we have to try and get back to the mats and make sure we were watching people.
00:26:29.000And I've I feel like I'm a visual learner, and I feel like that helped me become that visual learner.
00:26:36.000As much as I was getting my ass kicked, I was also spending time watching amazing athletes at the time.
00:26:42.000I think it's an important thing to mention that at that time there wasn't video readily available, like there is like I remember the first time I went to the Taekwondo uh World Cup, it was in Colorado Springs in uh 2000, I mean not 2000, 1980, I think it was 86.
00:27:00.000And the first time I went, um, I immediately got better just by seeing just by seeing everybody.
00:27:57.000Cause I was with these guys that were younger, and their their little bodies had like grown stretching, and they they'd grown punching and kicking.
00:28:14.000And the only kids that was in my dad's class at the time, mainly a fair few others, because he at the time we did it was basically one class.
00:28:23.000He didn't really separate the kids and adults, it's just one class.
00:28:26.000So you're I'm trying my best throwing everything in to hit adults.
00:28:30.000And yeah, they're not moving, but I'm trying my best to just get some kind of reaction.
00:28:36.000And then when I started hitting people my own size, even though I was losing because I obviously I was tall for my age as well, so I was fighting kids slightly more naturally developed than me.
00:28:59.000And it was one of my uh again, Marvin was literally just like, Yeah, you got some venom in you, man.
00:29:04.000Yeah, and we was very into like Kung Fu movies back in the day, and then uh and I was very I'm creative mind, like I loved just even with my martial arts.
00:29:14.000I learned a job like this, and now I have to add something.
00:29:19.000If there's a everyone's walking that way, I'm like, I want to see what's over there.
00:29:22.000Like I just I don't know what is wrong, I don't know what's wrong with me, but what's right with you?
00:29:26.000Or what's right with me, but I just got that like I was just curious and creative.
00:29:31.000And so there's a film called The Five Deadly Venoms, like old school, old school Kung Fu classic.
00:29:38.000And he would be like, Yeah, five deadly venoms, let's make a move for each like uh thing because he'd be like Scorpion or Toad, and I would make up weird moves and try to add it in to and that was always my thing.
00:29:49.000I'd see something on the in the movies, and I'm like, I'm gonna try it in there in there.
00:29:52.000This is all while I'm still getting beaten up by the way, as well.
00:30:08.000Well, it's it's so perfect for martial arts for you for MMA, because a lot of MMA is pattern recognition.
00:30:16.000You get it, you get a uh accustomed to certain types of movements.
00:30:19.000I know this guy's gonna do this, the calf kick's gonna be available, I'm gonna faint with this, and I'm gonna throw that, I'm gonna shoot that double here because I know he's gonna come with the overhand right.
00:30:27.000All these patterns, you don't have you don't have normal patterns at all.
00:30:30.000So you're moving around, your hands are down, you're sideways, and they're like, and they have to make up new patterns as they go along, so they have to think.
00:32:15.000Your style's exhausting because you always have to be at high alert.
00:32:19.000There's no moment because there's so many times where you've done like a a shift in rhythm, and it looks like you're slowing down and then you explode and crack people.
00:32:29.000And you've done that so successfully so many times that if they've watched any tape, there's they know there's no there's no moments where you could catch your breath.
00:35:28.000I think sometimes it's uh uh the executives and the fighters and Dana generally gets along with people, you know, like most fighters he gets along with, but him and Francis It didn't work.
00:35:42.000I've never I've never got uh had the previo uh privilege of meeting him, but he's just seems very sweet, like a big friendly giant outside of the cage.
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00:41:07.000But it's funny you say that because I don't I don't really have structure either.
00:41:12.000So I said the weight cut, I do, but that's because I came in it with no understanding of weight cut and London sheet was like, you do this.
00:46:59.000You know, you got that guy in your gym that's the problem, just the echoes of that guy's style will permeate through that gym for decades.
00:47:06.000That guy's just an angry man, and he was an angry man.
00:47:10.000But then at the same time, you needed somebody like because my coach is our beast, like you needed that kind of militant force to be able to manage that and cope with that.
00:47:46.000But he'd push you, but he'd also do it himself.
00:47:49.000Like he'd jump on a machine, like, versus clamor, yeah.
00:47:52.000Smoke it, fight like five fights, back to back, and then running and this and that, like, and we're doing we have to do all of it because he's doing it.
00:47:59.000And he is not doing it, he hasn't got a fight.
00:48:15.000Which is more nowadays, like I'm seeing a lot of like uh and to be fair, I'm a fan of a lot of these guys, like the fighting nerds, and again, I'm hearing that they had uh I forget like an uh data analyst or something that's in, and he does like this you know, he studies this, and I think that's cool.
00:48:30.000Like, I feel like we we should have like add elements of these things as well.
00:48:35.000But obviously, I've just grown up by this iron sharp's iron.
00:48:42.000You know, there's outliers, there's a guy who will come out of a gym with nobody, and he's a monster.
00:48:47.000There's just a few of those guys that exist in the world.
00:48:49.000Yeah, but for the most part, like if you look at a gym like American Top Team, for example, look at how many animals have come out of that gym.
00:48:55.000So many Pantoja, who I think does not get the credit he deserves.
00:49:00.000I think Pantoja's one of the greatest ever.
00:49:04.000When that that Japanese cat came over from Ryzen, and he just like rag doll.
00:49:09.000Like he had no business, and then the the Kaikara France rematch, like you see the difference between when they first fought and now the difference between like a dominant all-time world champion.
00:49:38.000And a lot of I say that to my teammates as well.
00:49:40.000I'm like, do you know how you're gonna market yourself?
00:49:42.000I'm like, I don't know just you know, if I beat people up, it's like it doesn't always just unfortunately it should, but it doesn't that's not what's gonna get you.
00:49:51.000If I have to, as a promotion uh owner and the person managing everything, I'm either gonna pick you that's beaten everybody, but nobody cares about, or this guy that's you know, it's pretty decent, but everyone's making noise about gonna pick that guy.
00:50:04.000So you need to be able to market yourself.
00:50:07.000And I I knew that from the jump, and this is before really social media was massive, massive is a is a thing.
00:50:14.000But I said to myself, okay, I need to look in how am I gonna market myself?
00:50:20.000Because we don't have that much time, like on the mic.
00:51:40.000But you and you need to be able to do that.
00:51:42.000Like, I before I even had my first fight, I would I spent hours.
00:51:47.000I was a big WWE fan, and I felt like the rock, you know, Dwayne Johnson for out of all of them was the best at marketing himself.
00:51:57.000He had the the crowd in the palm of his hands, every word that he said, and it was simple sayings, and I was like, Yeah, I studied this, study this.
00:52:07.000What what could and then even like his stances, he'd come up, like jump on the ropes and put his hand up and just stand there, just like look around.
00:53:22.000Yeah, there's this weird guy who does some weird stuff with his arms, and that he's quite cool, but they're not gonna remember my name.
00:53:28.000But I need other things to keep them coming back.
00:53:30.000Oh, there's this guy in the way, and he stood above this guy, he put his snake hand up, and then oh, that's the same guy that did the dance, because now you're getting it from different places.
00:53:37.000That's the guy that threw the poker ball.
00:54:20.000And Chandler's still remarkably durable.
00:54:24.000But that's just a discipline thing and a hard work that I think he's just accustomed to, like you said, he's been he's trained a certain way his whole life.
00:54:30.000He's always gonna have that kind of athleticism.
00:55:56.000I didn't have any, I didn't get the nerves again.
00:55:58.000The first time again since then was the first fight.
00:56:01.000No, no, sorry, weird enough, the second fight in the UFC against Ian Gary.
00:56:05.000Now, the first fight, I don't know why.
00:56:07.000I just I don't know what it was, but I was quite relaxed.
00:56:13.000And then the second fight, I was like, oh, it's something a reality hit me of like, oh, you're in the UFC.
00:56:18.000The people are gonna demand a certain thing from you, and you got a reputation of before of the knockouts of the set of the celebrations of the walk-ins of the this of the that, and then I just let that put a weight on me.
00:57:35.000And this is why I don't just keep getting me back in the cage, because I swear to you this that I got I'm back to where I used to be and how I used to feel.
00:57:42.000There's just an issue of getting guys that are willing to fight you that are of a certain caliber.
00:57:58.000I can see a clear pathway, even after my last fight, I message Hunter and I literally like, look, uh, let me fight um it was Morales, yeah.
00:58:08.000And I was like, look, another undefeated guy, perfect fight.
01:03:53.000The car crash effect when you create those collision.
01:03:56.000So for a guy like Lerone, who's not a big marketing guy, not a big like doesn't say wild shit on the microphone, just steady professional, does his job.
01:04:19.000But this is why I tell people if he had a just a little bit uh a little bit of chat, a little bit of show your personality or something, just give me something else.
01:04:28.000You have that no, but you know what it is.
01:04:29.000I always say, like everyone, like um Demetrius Johnson for me is one of the greatest.
01:04:41.000Yeah, but I feel like underappreciated because you can't market him in the exact same way as you'd market like a Conor McGregor or somebody else like that.
01:08:01.000Because so here's the downside to fighting all the time.
01:08:04.000Fighting all the time the with your style is a very different thing because you take so little damage, which is another huge element.
01:08:10.000Like I I kind of would tell people that if you have a kid and your kid wants to learn martial arts and they want to eventually be an MMA fighter.
01:08:22.000Take that kid and teach him how to wrestle because if you could just develop take down defense and understanding of grappling, at least you have a base from the time you're real little.
01:08:59.000You know, all the the old school guys were all like light on the feet, bladed style, and they had this leap in ability that if you're used to a guy standing in front of it, it's a giant problem, and you don't have the timing to solve it.
01:09:12.000And you can you could go two, three rounds deep before you start actually landing it.
01:09:25.000Learn your your boxing fundamentals and tying knees and elbows, but but if they're nowhere near you and you can hit them, you can close that gap quick.
01:09:38.000And also the feints, the stutter steps, those things change the game.
01:09:43.000Yes, there's so much movement in that style of fighting that just gets lost when people are plotting and just teeping each other in the stomach and kicking the legs.
01:09:52.000But it's funny, I people always used to go on about me and um Wonderboy Thompson fighting.
01:09:56.000And I'd always say like it won't be as exciting as you think for us, like me and him, there'll be moments where we're bouncing and faking and then we would laugh at each other because we saw what would have happened if one of us went, but the crowd's like the fuck is going fight.
01:11:32.000If they're not good enough to kill you, yeah, right.
01:11:34.000What if they're good enough to take you down and hold you down, but then they just have to be real defensive afterwards, and they'll throw a little pity path.
01:11:42.000I know, I know that's the only element that I just but here's the thing, they're not good enough to do more.
01:11:52.000Maybe only good enough, like you're so good, and they're just good enough to hold you down.
01:11:58.000But if they've reined up and started rein, and then you fucking framed off, you got to half guard, you got back up to your feet, all of a sudden we're dealing with this shit again.
01:12:06.000But then but you're that but if you just stay on top and don't take any chances, now you can't do shit.
01:12:18.000If I was watching only joining the aspect because I know what I'm looking at now, like I'm like, oh, he's he's got okay, like he's got the he's grabbed his wrist egg, okay.
01:12:25.000I can see what you're trying to work to.
01:12:28.000Whereas some people, I guess the people if you don't get into grappling, you're not gonna know what's happening other than they're just lying there.
01:12:50.000That's not by holding you down, holding you down to get you to position to land his elbow and hold you down to get to position to land his yeah, but just to I completely agree.
01:13:00.000However, even though I'm a fan of yours, if a wrestler who had that boring style took you down and held you down for three rounds and won a decision, I'd be like, damn, he did it.
01:13:11.000Yeah, he did it because uh he can't do it any other way.
01:13:14.000If he can't stand up with you, he's gonna get fucked up, and he can take you down anytime.
01:13:19.000And if losing position is dangerous, so like if you're very explosive and you're very good at grappling, you're very good on the bottom, you've gotten submissions off the bottom.
01:13:28.000If a guy reigns up and starts throwing shots, but he feels like his base is gone and he just wants to clinch and hold on and maintain position, and he maintains position with this kind of shit.
01:13:37.000Yeah, you know, on top and he's doing this kind of shit, just little movements, like he's still getting away with that.
01:13:59.000He's talking to you, he's he creating that space by still pinning you, he's crushing your legs and between his legs and he's fucking trying to choke on on you.
01:14:07.000That I can appreciate all day, every day.
01:14:09.000I can too, but some guys aren't good enough.
01:14:14.000They're in there, they're like they're not good enough.
01:14:16.000There's guys at a world class level that are not gonna be world champions, but they might be able to beat a guy who could be a world champion if they can do that thing.
01:15:59.000You can take him down anytime you want to, hold him down, punch him a few times, make sure you're in dominant position, so you're not gonna get stood back up.
01:16:06.000Yeah, yeah, if the referee starts talking to you and telling you to gotta start to a little bit of this, do a little bit of that, fake a submission, don't throw all your gas into it.
01:16:14.000You know, do whatever the fuck you gotta do, but get that goddamn title.
01:16:37.000He goes, I just got back watching Hamza train.
01:16:39.000He goes, I've never seen anything like that in my fucking life.
01:16:42.000He's like, dude, but I'm telling you, he's mopping the floor with like division one, all Americans, world class grapplers, jujitsu black belts.
01:16:52.000He he goes, he's mopping the floor with people.
01:17:15.000I had the privilege of going to the gym and uh in Dubai and uh training alongside him and sorry for myself, and it's yeah, I was like it's a shocking level of grappling.
01:17:26.000Yeah, and when you can achieve that shocking level of grappling on world-class MMA fighters, why wouldn't you do it?
01:17:32.000This is this just my thing, my take on it.
01:17:34.000Like if you just want to win and make as much money as possible and keep doing that.
01:17:39.000I mean, you should finish guys whenever you can.
01:17:42.000Yeah, but if you don't think you can, and the path to victory is grappling, this is still a sport.
01:18:21.000Those guys, like when you watch a guy who's like an elite world class submission artist and the fight goes to the ground, it's just a totally different thing.
01:18:29.000You know, you you you're in real like Fabricio Verdoom when he was in his prime when he caught Fedor with that triangle.
01:18:34.000Bro, that was catching Fedor with a triangle is crazy.
01:18:38.000Yeah, just if you know how explosive that guy is and how fast he is and strong enough, what a great grappler he is.
01:18:44.000But Fabricio Verdoom's another guy who doesn't get his due.
01:18:47.000When you think about all time goats, yeah, you think about Noguerra, you think about Phaedor, and you think about Minotaro and Fabricio Verdoom tapped them all.
01:20:37.000Because in his earlier stages, I was just like, yeah, he's got power by his technically like Francis basically beat Tyson Fury in a boxing match.
01:21:10.000But again, like this is where the boxing is if you don't have that kind of intellect in the boxing, that footwork and foot positioning is put your foot on one side, you're gonna get killed.
01:21:20.000You're putting the foot in the other side, you're you're you're safe.
01:21:24.000You can kind of manage manage the power and see the punches coming.
01:21:28.000But he was kept switching stances, but just putting in and leaving himself in just the wrong positions.
01:22:45.000Like I've had so many people, obviously, I've got to see over the years that are talented, and again, it's the same thing, but can you do it when it counts?
01:23:02.000But I've seen guys that are there's a guy actually, uh, and I always talk about him just because he was super unique, and weird enough, he got to the UFC for on a short stint, uh, Galore Buffundo.
01:23:13.000I don't know if you ever remember him.
01:23:15.000He only did he only had two fights, but he fought uh Charlie Ward, and I I call it Hadukin.
01:23:21.000He just grabbed him and like threw his head into the floor.
01:24:15.000I was sparring him one time, and me and him, like I I'm the guy with him.
01:24:18.000When he steps in, my eyes do this, and I'm like, okay, I have to make sure I'm because a kick will come from anywhere.
01:24:25.000And we're sparring and going back, going back and forth, and I'm I'm in my element, and everything slows down for me, and I see his head drop down, and alarm bells are going off, and I'm like, he doesn't he doesn't shoot, he doesn't go for takedowns.
01:24:46.000But I'm feeling alarm bells going on like something's gone wrong.
01:26:01.000I've seen him, someone on a single leg, and he's run up the cage and slipped up the single leg and kicked off the cage and landed behind the person and started.
01:26:09.000I'm t it's it always when I talk about this, it sounds like I'm exaggerating.
01:26:13.000He used to do stuff that I've never it's only in games.
01:26:18.000And this is why everyone used to love.
01:26:37.000Yeah, he's like he just he teaches and stuff now, but he just and it's a shame, and he was a fun character, uh like I said, amazing person to train with because he made me better because he's and he's got the few people that in the gym that could actually kick me in the head and catch me because I usually I'm I'm I'm good at seeing, I got good eyes, and he's just yeah, it was just something else.
01:28:12.000I don't I still don't to this day know how I saw it coming, but if he did that, and again, he goes into he went into these fights, and he would it would be relatively basic.
01:28:24.000He wouldn't show all of this kind of stuff.
01:29:16.000Like what what are the thought processes when he competes and what could be done different to change that thought like to combat them when they those thoughts come up to have a tool, yeah, have a mentals toolbox where you go, no, no, no.
01:29:28.000Yep, we're not gonna entertain this kind of negativity.
01:29:33.000You know, the most important things, don't ever give in anxiety, don't let it get to you, don't let it fall.
01:29:38.000You're positive, you're breathing, you're moving, you're a killer.
01:29:41.000Keep moving, and and just have someone with him, maybe initially to coach him through those movements.
01:29:47.000I wish there was some again, but again, also maybe the the gym that he's in with us at London Shoot, that's that was not that's not a thing.
01:29:54.000It's right, we beast like we're just gonna.
01:29:57.000And the thing is he was he he still look amazing up until the fight.
01:30:00.000He'd get to the fight, and you'd be like, bro, I can't wait for people to see this.
01:30:27.000Never seen, and he still got signed to the UFC.
01:30:30.000Just because he was still talented, but and obviously somebody saw his talent and was like, Yeah, I want that, but that and nobody's ever seen what I've seen this guy do, and all of our teammates are like, Oh, if you go see that, this yeah, you everybody would be throwing money at this guy, just make sure he's on the next card.
01:31:35.000And anytime I feel slightly stressed, you might see me dance, which is interesting because people just think I'm just doing it for the other person to mock the other person.
01:31:46.000And sometimes it's just uh just stay chill, man.
01:31:52.000If I feel like a little bit like, oh, that was a bit, and my mind starts going, no, no, no, no, ha ha ha let's shake it off, get into this, get into your mode again, and then go back to enjoying yourself.
01:32:03.000That's my and but I know some people need to be in this angry state and just you know, psych themselves into a and I don't even need to be angry at my opponent.
01:32:12.000And I think that comes from the fact that I used to have to fight my siblings.
01:32:17.000It's never it's not based on anger, but I love them.
01:32:20.000Like, but my dad is he used to say, like, yeah, that's not your sibling on the map, but straight afterwards, make sure you pick that person up, make sure they're good, da da.
01:32:27.000And again, my brother would beat me up, other brother beat me up, my sister would beat me up.
01:32:33.000Everybody, but I still had love for them.
01:32:34.000So I don't I never needed anger to think, and and the fact that my family did this thing, and even my nephews and stuff now.
01:32:42.000We still they still it's generational, just something that keeps us all together, and we're so close.
01:32:48.000It's not based on being angry, just based on learning something, enjoying something, and doing it with people that you love.
01:32:55.000So I can I cause that's why I can make it fun.
01:32:57.000Everyone everyone loves this whole like tense, like and I don't I think what a lot of people don't understand too is the hardest part of it is the day of the fight.
01:33:13.000Unless you're you know, unless you're getting fucked up, yeah.
01:33:16.000You know, when you're getting fucked up and you know like the end is near, yeah, yeah.
01:33:20.000There's like you want to see ultimate bravery.
01:33:23.000Khalil Roundtree in the last round with Pereira, yeah or Pereira's putting it on him, that's ultimate bravery because he knows he's getting fucked up, he knows he's not much time, there's nowhere out, yeah, his skill set is all on stand-up.
01:33:36.000I mean, he can he can take guys to the ground, but at this point that's not gonna happen.
01:33:39.000It's not happening, and he's faces broken up, and Pereira's doing that cobra thing, or he gets cobra style and he's back and slams in.
01:33:48.000Oh, it was terrifying, but that's that that kind of bravery in front of the whole world.
01:33:52.000A lot of people they're not sure if they have that.
01:33:55.000And so there's just that the pressure of that in front of the whole world, like maybe like they didn't they're in there and it's like just do enough, just do enough.
01:34:03.000They're scared, which shrinks you, and sometimes super duper talented people are the most scared because it kind of came too easy for them.
01:34:11.000There's a thing about super duper talented people that for some reason, like that gift comes with a curse, and that curse is that it came to you too easily, so you never really developed.
01:34:23.000I understand the grind, yeah, the real will and drive to like overcome, just make these little tiny wins every day to pile onto a skill set.
01:36:30.000Like you you better l you better be ready for some hostility.
01:36:34.000You gotta be ready for some aggression.
01:36:35.000And there's a like there's a giant benefit of that as in far is uh as far as mindset because the mindset you you're accustomed to hostility.
01:36:45.000I mean, all his brothers are super freaks, just giant athletes.
01:36:49.000And so the you know, he's in this house with highly competitive males his whole life.
01:36:55.000So you're totally accustomed to competition.
01:36:57.000Whereas with some people, competition is like super overwhelming.
01:37:01.000And it's there's it's a test you don't want to take.
01:37:03.000You almost don't want to find out if you're good enough.
01:37:06.000I think school even the school system has like they slowly over the years it they've slowly taken out certain things that allows challenges people in a way that gives them that gift of being competitive and especially in the UK.
01:37:19.000I don't know, I'm not sure about in the States, but in the UK, we they they changed the rules sort of just after I would have left to um not allowed to pick teams because you know people feel bad if they got picked last year.
01:37:32.000I'm like, if you're shit, I'm not picking you, get better.
01:38:55.000And that's why I think even though it's uncomfortable for kids, I think like wrestling in high school, any kind of competitive sports in high school, martial arts especially.
01:39:50.000So I'm like, it's better that you hit him in the gym, so then when they go out into the real world or they go into a competition and whatever, they can actually they're actually good at these drills that I'm giving you.
01:40:01.000You're not helping by trying to be helpful.
01:40:48.000And and I get it if it's if you're if it's really excessive, you let you get get to a certain point, and it's like, okay, you need to at least some help to get to a certain point to then work out, but you need to work.
01:41:01.000Your brain is uh we have for whatever reason a whole series of human reward systems that are built into our brains from the times that we were all living in tribes, yeah, thousands and thousands of years ago.
01:41:41.000Your body's not getting any of the stuff that it needs.
01:41:43.000I think your mind isn't getting any of the tasks that it needs.
01:41:46.000Someone was telling me like it's the what's it, the reptilian mind set that looks for dangers or seeks dangers because we're not in a s society that has those dangers.
01:41:54.000We look at danger, our dangers are now this person looked at me funny, or this person like or you're even worse, your phone.
01:46:21.000I'm watching you move here, and I'm thinking, like, what do you do?
01:46:25.000Oh, you can't do anything, you can't do anything because he's so far away from you, and you can like that when you try to close a distance on him, and or when it rather he tries to close the distance on you, and he just can't.
01:47:22.000I was like, I landed the kick and I stood still, and I was thinking he might come back, so I couldn't spin the other way and land another kick.
01:47:45.000And I was I was like, because of the relief that I had because of how tense I was, I was like, oh my god, like I that was for me ticking the box that I can actually do this.
01:47:57.000And got home, what did you jump online, like I want to I honestly, like I'm seeing a video like crazy thousands of like comments and this and that like yeah, maybe the next comment.
01:50:48.000As soon as the legs start getting chopped, you're like, it's hard, you can't bounce anymore.
01:50:52.000But that's the thing, it's weird because I started to utilize that as a way to win fights.
01:50:58.000Weird, not obviously taking the leg kicks, but only giving you that option.
01:51:04.000So everyone's like, yeah, but that's an awkward style.
01:51:07.000I was like, yeah, but when I stand in front of you like that, you don't think to do a punch because I look I feel way too far away.
01:51:13.000So you're not doing a punch, you know.
01:51:15.000The only thing you have is what's in front of you is a kick.
01:51:18.000So it's like I got used to timing kicks as you're as you're kicking collision going in, or just pulling just off and then putting my foot in slightly deeper, and then just pull it off and then put my foot in slightly deeper now.
01:51:29.000I know I can pull this trigger when I'm ready.
01:51:31.000And you're you're getting more and more demoralized because you're not landing.
01:53:55.000And when you're doing that across every single weight class and every single world championship, the last guy that I know that didn't cut weight was Frankie Edgar when he was 155 pound champ.
01:54:05.000When Frankie Edgar was a 155-pound champ, he weighed 155 and he moved like a ghost.
01:54:26.000Yeah, I I'm I'm naturally that way, but it's weird though, because people's body types, because they are cutting, they're still slightly stuck, not necessarily as frame-wise as big as me, but they're just slightly stuck here, and obviously, as you say, the guys that want to come in and just go, Yeah.
01:54:44.000It's an advantage if they're gonna be that much heavier than me as well.
01:54:47.000Moving people, like even when um uh in my last fight when I got taken down in uh in that in that last round trying to uh against Cannonia, try trying to move him.
01:55:00.000I was just like, geez, is Cannon's huge, he's a big there's a big boy.
01:55:04.000He's one of the only guys that's got KOs in three different classes.
01:55:07.000No, from heavyweight, heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight.
01:55:15.000And I think look, there's something to be said for the ritual of doing it for a lot of fighters, it means a lot, and you could choose to cut less so that you're more healthy the day of the fight.
01:55:25.000But everyone kind of concedes you have to cut something.
01:55:39.000Like you're dehydrating the shit out of your body.
01:55:43.000And you only have three, five, forty hours to rehydrate between the weigh-ins and the time you're actually gonna fight if you're lucky of 40 hours.
01:58:34.000And uh, he missed the first time, and then this is like one of the second or third time that he tried to make weight, and they eventually didn't make weight.
01:58:40.000So even if he beat Anderson, he wouldn't have won the title.
01:58:43.000But bro, he had him down and he was on top of him in the beginning of the round.
01:58:46.000And for anybody that's ever rolled with Travis, if he was healthy and he has you down on the ground, like that's you're in your fucksville.
02:01:54.000But then once you start training, they should be able to randomly show up during those six weeks and go, all right, Michael, get on the scale.
02:02:37.000It's not it's not it's not bad for you at all.
02:02:38.000That's probably actually very good for you because you're giving your body all this recovery from the sauna and you're getting a nice little cardiovascular workout, but nothing crazy.
02:02:47.000You're giving yourself a lot of heat shock proteins.
02:05:01.000Um, but he realized like Dwayne is like this consummate studier of fighting.
02:05:07.000And he realized that the best way to fight is to overwhelm them with possibilities and options, but have a whole system of how to do this.
02:05:16.000So his system is all about switching stances and combinations while you're switching and turning and moving, and but he's got it mapped out.
02:08:08.000That's crazy to go in there knowing that that's so now he's he had to retire and he had multiple operations on his shoulder, and he can't even reach over his head.
02:08:49.000Like if you you can have some things loose in there and strengthen everything else up and kind of be functional, but not if you're gonna be a world championship fighter.
02:09:03.000So then you have really complicated surgeries where they have to take a piece of your hamstring and stick it up there or some other part of your body and reconstruct what was supposed to be there.
02:09:13.000Yeah, and then you have to slowly build range of motion into it.
02:09:16.000Like he got to the point where he was too tough for the injuries that he had, where he should have probably got them fixed immediately, and maybe he could have prolonged his own.
02:09:24.000I feel like it sounds like he just he went back in in terms of getting back into training a bit too quickly.
02:09:30.000So the I feel like the rehab can work.
02:09:33.000I know you obviously there's certain things you're gonna need surgery for, but it's a lot of my stuff I've managed to bring it back and even I don't think he had surgery until after he was done fighting.
02:09:55.000So he he put him in a position where if TJ didn't give in, he was gonna get his knee fucked up and he got it, he chose to get his knee fucked up.
02:10:03.000But that was Corey putting him in that position.
02:10:05.000Um so he had to get an ACL reconstruction.
02:10:07.000So that but I don't think he got the shoulder surgeries until after he was done fighting.
02:10:11.000He might have gotten one and then tried to fight again.
02:11:01.000I know guys that are like surgery, surgery, surgery, surgery, and it like they it never seems to I've never unless I forced to, I don't ever really go down the surgery route.
02:11:09.000I always try and figure it out a different way.
02:11:11.000Like I've had weird enough, it was both my shoulders, but one was uh super spinatus, the other one was rotator cuff, and kind of like some lat injury as well.
02:11:21.000But just slowly back to the point where I couldn't do a push-up.
02:11:24.000When in my last couple of was it Bellator fights?
02:11:28.000Yeah, my last few bellotor fights, I couldn't do a push-up.
02:11:31.000I could still hit in certain so certain angles I was fine, but I had no strength in that direction.
02:12:12.000I I up till today I don't understand it.
02:12:14.000I had um the p the UFC PI working everything.
02:12:18.000They did shock therapy, they did acupuncture, they were doing everything, and I literally had it.
02:12:24.000I had a um if you see the fight, I literally had uh ankle supports on, and they said you're allowed the ankle supports, you can't really have it tape, but I had it taped under the ankle support.
02:12:36.000But obviously, if I I couldn't just do one ankle, so yeah, do both of them.
02:12:41.000And um, yeah, just uh the day before the fight, I'm not sure if I did anything when I was uh cutting weight, like twinged it or something, but I don't remember anything distinct happening, but couldn't walk on my foot.
02:12:54.000So it was your ankle, you twisted my ankle.
02:12:56.000It was my ankle or something, and they were working on it literally.
02:12:58.000I was trying to I was in you now you don't have a single instance where it went.
02:13:03.000I don't remember anything all of a sudden it just hurt, and you started it hurt the night.
02:13:07.000You woke up, it hurt the night before, so on the way in, it hurt, and I was walking around and I was like, it's hurt, but it didn't feel like anything drastic, and overnight it just got worse and worse and worse and worse.
02:13:17.000Probably exaggerated by the weight cut, right?
02:13:20.000And then in and literally the next day uh in the morning we had to go to the uh uh PI.
02:13:26.000Uh I was my coach's like, bro, if we you can't bounce here now and I have to pull your father, I there's no way I can get pulled from this fight.
02:13:36.000And I went out there, he's like bouncing up trying to adjust myself and and bounce.
02:13:40.000And he had it, they they did the tape that it was he was gonna use for the fight, and he said he'll come in and do it again just before the fight.
02:13:47.000And yeah, it was I was like adjusted adjusting.
02:13:52.000And I obviously had uh still had a great performance.
02:13:54.000Yeah, I had a I had my so my guy uh my videographer, uh Kishan, uh he filmed he was we're doing a documentary, so he's filmed all of it as well.
02:14:07.000I was kind of like I'll wait until it comes out as as known, but not like not even to say as an excuse because I was able to adrenaline just I'm I'm in it now and fight, but there were certain things I was being cautious of and not not wanting to do.
02:14:22.000But I've had that's that's probably the worst in terms of the how close to the fight it was because it's the day before.
02:14:27.000But I've had injuries in the build-up, and I'm like, if as long as I can throw a punch and throw a kick, I'm make it happen.
02:14:36.000That's the thing that people don't understand when you watch fights.
02:14:38.000Like sometimes guys this is one of the things about the rematch this weekend, Ankalaya versus Pereira, is that Pereira supposedly had a fucked up left hand and rotavirus before the last fight.
02:15:26.000So if you've got rotavirus, your gas is very low, and you probably your energy level feels very he's trying to be he's conserve he's conserving energy and so this is what's makes this what this fight so much more interesting because hopefully he's had the camp he is.
02:15:40.000Ankle I have hopefully comes in looking exactly the same way he did that last fight.
02:17:35.000But then does he need you know, does it I would say like the time that John Jones took off to get to heavyweight, does he need that kind of time?
02:17:43.000Because it takes a while to put on size like that.
02:18:20.000I'm not accusing him of doing that, but I know that you know listen to me.
02:18:25.000That it was always like the joke about guys going over to Thailand.
02:18:28.000Like, why are they going over the Thailand training?
02:18:29.000It was good training, and also really hard to get those USA guys on a flight.
02:18:33.000Ah, yeah, I'm getting into that kind of stuff.
02:18:38.000Like, I just don't I just don't care enough because again, it's like like I said, I don't really have like a schedule for anything, even when I'm even the good stuff, like the things that you're supposed to be doing.
02:19:11.000I'm I'm gonna get my wife to do it uh uh soon because she's very into that, she's very into our fitness and stuff.
02:19:17.000She's uh Pilates in uh instructor, she's got her own Pilates app and stuff, and she's she smartly well I don't even know if she even intended it that way, but she kind of blew up over COVID because she set up her app at that time and now everyone's at home.
02:19:56.000But that's what's actually helped with a lot of my the rehab side.
02:19:59.000Because it's it's those muscles that we we we bypass, we go to the big muscles.
02:20:03.000Yeah, we want to work these muscles, and it's all those little ones that are not getting worked, and those are the ones that are injured.
02:20:08.000Stabilizers, stabilizers, yeah, and I didn't know that that it was uh uh a man, I forget his first name, but called something Pilates who started it for men in war to help recover uh guys in war to get them back out to to war.
02:20:24.000But it's become such a female-led uh sport.
02:20:28.000Well, that goes to speak about what I was talking about with the Russians and being technical.
02:21:27.000Bro I think like three moves later, I slowly like just like move the mat.
02:21:34.000Like I didn't want to go too far, I didn't want to but I moved from the hot side of the room to like the middle-ish, closer to that side, and then there was one move I'll just stretch in, and like I literally just got lightheaded.
02:21:53.000But my so my wife is strong as hell, and I'm just like, yes, it has to be from that.
02:21:58.000Like she and then when I do the session, I didn't do the session with her this morning because she does some great sessions.
02:22:03.000Like when I do sessions with her, like she she kills it.
02:22:06.000And she's I have to say, she's smart in is in how she's done it as well, because actually something I didn't know because she's you know on her app, she's done uh cycle syncing specifically for women.
02:22:17.000I didn't realise that women have uh obviously I knew women 28-day cycle and men have a uh 20 uh 24 day cycle.
02:22:26.000Um 24 hours and they have 28 days, so there's specific times that they should be training as uh harder than they shouldn't be training, or they should be doing this and should be doing that.
02:22:37.000Based on biometrics, based on just them of the cycle of the month.
02:22:42.000But again, uh I in my head, I'm like, there's girls that are training our class and they have to train and do everything that we do.
02:22:48.000But we we don't we forget that we're just doing it based on that with men can kind of just keep going.
02:22:53.000Well, women should think about that when they're scheduling fights.
02:22:57.000And that's what I said, she did it for police.
02:22:59.000When she and I looked into it and I was like, oh, there's actually this is like even down to ice bars, great for you.
02:23:06.000Not for women though, really not all the time.
02:23:08.000But if you look into it, so there's specific times that it's okay for them, but they shouldn't put their body under that kind of stress in the same way that we can.
02:23:17.000Yeah, so there's loads of when I started looking at certain things loads of things that we forget that a lot of the times it's done from a male point of view, right?
02:23:25.000Forgetting that we we're just different.
02:23:28.000I never would have thought about that in terms of their menstrual cycle of fighting, but of course of course, of course, of course.
02:23:36.000So yeah, she's put it on so individuals can actually be like her it was scheduled and say, Look, you're good specifically for you, are good to train intensely today.
02:23:44.000Or no, you need a very relaxed session, and and these videos that she's got hundreds of videos on I think that will come up and be like, This is for you, this was for you, this was for you.
02:23:51.000But again, it just made me think about the women in MMA, like you said, yeah.
02:23:56.000It's the same thing scheduling fight, even now to for them weight cutting, you know, at a certain time you're going through the elude of your face, they're holding weight, right?
02:24:15.000And it's it they they should be more information about that even for the female fighters.
02:24:20.000Yeah, they should actually be like their coaches should be setting fights up entirely based on I wonder like how many fights they would have won that they they couldn't really train right.
02:24:30.000Because they're cramping up so it's just but it's different.
02:24:34.000When you I've seen some videos of you, you do a lot of plyometric stuff as well, right?
02:24:39.000And is that something you've always done?
02:24:41.000Well it's it kind of comes with just uh this is why I feel like I can bounce on my cast for ages, just because of that constant and it seems to be a thing now.
02:24:49.000I didn't really understand it well enough.
02:25:00.000And but did you but back then when you were doing that, were you just doing the martial arts training or were you doing some martial arts training?
02:25:17.000So I had to learn how to do these crazy kicks and stuff in which I would then this is why I'd I would try seven twenties.
02:25:22.000Not because uh like I just randomly decide to to to just throw it out today.
02:25:29.000It's because we were drilling them just for cater though.
02:25:31.000And I was like, well, if I can do it for cat then I could surely I can find the time to throw it when I'm fighting.
02:25:38.000And I would be like brave enough to try and attempt these things in in the points fighting world.
02:25:44.000And yeah, that's that there's a couple of kicks that I keep telling people, there's a couple of kicks that even for me I haven't even shown you what I can actually do yet.
02:25:51.000Like there's a couple of kicks that I know I I can land.
02:25:55.000And it's you it's e usually it's easier on people that are well trained.
02:25:58.000So usually the better fighter is actually easier to hit them.
02:26:02.000Just because they are very traditional, they're very well trained.
02:26:05.000They have patterns that I can pick up on them like ah, you're gonna step this way and you're gonna do that.
02:26:10.000Uh and I always tell people I call it a attaching strings.
02:26:14.000The first minute of the fight, not too much happens for me.
02:26:20.000But every time I'm faking something, you twitch, I'm like, ah, this means you twitch this means this, this, and I just catch in strings to you.
02:29:24.000So the first one was actually about an a an athlete's mindset.
02:29:28.000One thing that I find with films, I think people are lazy watchers nowadays.
02:29:31.000They find uh just explodes, explosion, explosion, action, action, action, and crap storyline, but I want stories telling again.
02:29:38.000And um this one is just more about an athlete's mindset.
02:29:42.000Um I did it through the eyes of a runner, just because it's slightly different.
02:29:47.000I didn't want to just go down the the same lane as um MMA.
02:29:50.000Did it through the eyes of runner and just how toxic your want and your need to be the best, how it can look like and again it's I'll go go into that one.
02:30:04.000The next one's called Wait, and it's it's kind of about what anxiety can look like from a position of waiting for good news and a position of waiting for bad news and how the parallels work and and look I almost identical.
02:30:22.000So you're literally watching two uh point of views, so these two so this dude's just freaking out, waiting for yeah.
02:30:44.000He's he's that's fucking cool if you do things like that.
02:32:20.000And it just it represents uh who we are, hands down martial arts, this guys that do this and everyone mocks all the time, but it's obviously my brand.