The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #172 with Gable Steveson

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

00:00:03.000 The Joe Rogan experience.

00:00:06.000 Train by day, Joe Rogan.

00:00:07.000 Podcast by night, all day.

00:00:12.000 Right.

00:00:13.000 What's happening?

00:00:14.000 Pleasure to meet you, man.

00:00:15.000 Great.

00:00:15.000 How are you?

00:00:16.000 I'm great.

00:00:17.000 When you got a name like Gable and you're named after Dan Gable and you go on to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling, that is kind of prophetic.

00:00:26.000 My mom, when I was young, she was trying to find names for me and she liked Kale Sanderson because Kayl was a guy at the time.

00:00:32.000 But she was at a tournament in Iowa with my older brother and she kept hearing Gable, Gable, Gable.

00:00:37.000 And it was Dan Gable at the time.

00:00:38.000 And, you know, Dan Gable is a huge figure in the Midwest for wrestling.

00:00:41.000 And so she was like, why don't I name you Gable Dan?

00:00:44.000 And the rest was history, which is really crazy.

00:00:47.000 His whole timeline is my timeline, which is fantastic.

00:00:50.000 Except for the MMA part.

00:00:51.000 That too.

00:00:52.000 Yeah.

00:00:52.000 Which I wish he would have done.

00:00:54.000 He would have been amazing.

00:00:55.000 I think he would have been amazing.

00:00:56.000 But it wasn't around.

00:00:57.000 I mean, when he was wrestling.

00:00:59.000 Bare knuckle, maybe?

00:01:00.000 I don't know.

00:01:00.000 Do it on the street or something.

00:01:03.000 He could have found a way.

00:01:04.000 It's kind of fucked that there's no real professional outlet for actual wrestling.

00:01:10.000 It is fucked.

00:01:11.000 And wrestling needs a real way to go out there and be something big.

00:01:16.000 And I think they have a really good one now with RAF.

00:01:19.000 If you haven't heard about it, it's American Freestyle.

00:01:21.000 They're trying.

00:01:22.000 And I think they're trying really well.

00:01:23.000 And I think it's going to come to a point where how do you make matchups continue?

00:01:28.000 Because, you know, wrestling gets to the point where, and in fighting and a lot of the sports, you can get to the point where, you know, maybe you draft a guy.

00:01:34.000 In fighting, there's a next big thing.

00:01:36.000 There's the next guy out there that you can kind of create.

00:01:38.000 And with wrestling, they're trying to create an atmosphere of how can you create that person.

00:01:42.000 And I like it.

00:01:43.000 And I think it might work.

00:01:44.000 And hopefully it keeps going the way it needs to go.

00:01:46.000 It would be interesting if it would.

00:01:47.000 The problem is MMA is so huge now and people kind of associate wrestling with either MMA or pro wrestling now.

00:01:55.000 Like those are the two things that they think of.

00:01:57.000 And I think it's one of those things like soccer where soccer should be huge in America.

00:02:04.000 It's huge all over the world.

00:02:06.000 It's a very exciting sport, but nope.

00:02:06.000 Right?

00:02:09.000 You know what's crazy how popular soccer players are.

00:02:13.000 And I feel like in America, we have so many sports that we can't hit that market for soccer.

00:02:18.000 And I think that might be the biggest case why.

00:02:20.000 Because if you go overseas, Ronaldo's paid $500 million.

00:02:25.000 And if he scores a goal, he gets a million dollars a goal or something.

00:02:28.000 So he's out here doing bicycle kicks.

00:02:30.000 But it's like we have so many professional sports at LeBron James is our biggest athlete.

00:02:36.000 But even then, I think it's at a point where some people see LeBron and, you know, it's not like the crazy wow factors.

00:02:42.000 If you saw a soccer player in Italy or Spain, it'll be like, man, it's him.

00:02:45.000 Right.

00:02:46.000 Well, they have less sports, though, right?

00:02:49.000 I think so.

00:02:49.000 Italy?

00:02:50.000 I think Italy got like basketball, soccer.

00:02:52.000 Well, they're not really known for basketball, though.

00:02:54.000 Soccer's big, boxing.

00:02:56.000 There's a lot of boxers come out of Italy.

00:02:58.000 But other than that.

00:02:59.000 Rome.

00:03:00.000 Yeah.

00:03:03.000 They got a couple fighters.

00:03:05.000 But other than that, I think we're kind of at a halt with creating that big guy for America.

00:03:13.000 Well, it's just strange to me because it's such a wrestling itself.

00:03:17.000 It's such an exciting sport.

00:03:19.000 It really is very exciting to watch.

00:03:21.000 And everybody understands it.

00:03:23.000 It's not complicated.

00:03:25.000 I really think everyone understands it to a certain extent.

00:03:27.000 I think they have points and all the other stuff.

00:03:31.000 Have you wrestled?

00:03:32.000 Yeah.

00:03:32.000 Wrestling in high school.

00:03:34.000 Just one year.

00:03:34.000 I was doing Taekwondo at the same time.

00:03:36.000 Because I was doing Taekwondo and I couldn't do both of them at the same time.

00:03:40.000 And I was pretty good at Taekwondo.

00:03:41.000 You know what's crazy?

00:03:42.000 I think since you've done Taekwondo, maybe I should try.

00:03:45.000 You are such an athlete, you'd probably be awesome at it.

00:03:48.000 I might be able to pull it off.

00:03:50.000 I don't know if I can get to your level.

00:03:52.000 Well, you would figure it out, man.

00:03:53.000 You'd figure it out.

00:03:55.000 Are you flexible?

00:03:56.000 It depends how.

00:03:57.000 And what are we doing?

00:03:58.000 Well, you would get flexible.

00:04:00.000 The thing is, you'd figure out how to get flexible.

00:04:03.000 The flexibility thing drives me nuts because I've tried to show stuff to guys before, MMA fighters.

00:04:08.000 And they're like, oh, I'm not flexible.

00:04:10.000 I'm like, what does that mean?

00:04:12.000 What does that mean?

00:04:13.000 This is not like you're not tall.

00:04:15.000 Like, you can get flexible.

00:04:16.000 Like, you just stretch.

00:04:17.000 Okay, we can rewind now, and I could say, I am flexible.

00:04:20.000 I am flexible.

00:04:22.000 Well, you certainly could get flexible.

00:04:24.000 You can.

00:04:24.000 Anyone can get flexible.

00:04:25.000 But it's not, can you get flexible?

00:04:27.000 Do you want to get flexible?

00:04:28.000 That's do you want to do something?

00:04:31.000 This is a good question.

00:04:32.000 It's a lot of work to get flexible.

00:04:34.000 And would it compromise anything?

00:04:35.000 You know, some people say it compromises some stability, you know, like to have like completely over-flexible hips and flexible joints that it could possibly compromise some stability that maybe.

00:04:47.000 But I mean, Yoel Romero is pretty fucking flexible.

00:04:49.000 And he's explosive.

00:04:51.000 Crazy explosive.

00:04:52.000 Super explosive.

00:04:52.000 Bro, how about that match with Pat Downey?

00:04:54.000 He went out there and made Pat Downey look like a beginner wrestler.

00:04:57.000 And it's crazy because Pat Downey's really good.

00:04:59.000 Really good.

00:05:00.000 Yoel's 48.

00:05:02.000 I know.

00:05:02.000 48 shooting blast doubles.

00:05:04.000 Like he just, like he's back in 04 Olympics.

00:05:07.000 It doesn't make any sense.

00:05:08.000 He's a freak.

00:05:09.000 He's a real freak, man.

00:05:10.000 And I mean, he's 48, allegedly.

00:05:13.000 We don't even really know how old he is because he's from Cuba.

00:05:16.000 How old do you think he is for real?

00:05:18.000 Oh, I don't know, man.

00:05:19.000 35 at this point.

00:05:22.000 I mean, he's obviously at least 48.

00:05:26.000 But it's just crazy.

00:05:27.000 But you know what the best part about it is?

00:05:29.000 When guys get older and they kind of get a little bigger, they don't look good in a singlet.

00:05:34.000 And this is crazy to say, but Yoel looks really solid in that singlet.

00:05:38.000 Oh, bro, he looks solid everywhere, man.

00:05:39.000 He's still got a six-pack.

00:05:41.000 He still does.

00:05:41.000 And, you know, now he's doing dirty boxing and he's still fighting MMA.

00:05:46.000 He's just, he's a freak.

00:05:48.000 I mean, and we really didn't even get him in MMA until he was past his athletic prime.

00:05:53.000 Yes.

00:05:53.000 I mean, he really started fighting in the UFC.

00:05:55.000 How old was he when he first fought in the UFC?

00:05:57.000 I want to say he's like 35.

00:05:58.000 I don't know that, but it seemed really late because when he was going through Olympics, he was sound in every position.

00:06:04.000 And like you said, I mean, in a couple of interviews back, if he would have started that early, just imagine.

00:06:09.000 Oh, my God.

00:06:10.000 Just imagine.

00:06:12.000 But that's the thing that you have too, is athleticism.

00:06:15.000 And the thing about MMA is the real freak athletes, they go to football, they go to basketball, they go where all the money is, and they go where all the traditional sports avenues are.

00:06:26.000 And it's just not, there's not a lot of freak athletes that wind up making their way to MMA.

00:06:31.000 And when they do, they really shine.

00:06:33.000 You know, and when I first started seeing you competing, you know, first, obviously in wrestling.

00:06:38.000 And, you know, if you can win a gold medal in the Olympics in wrestling, I mean, you have to have everything.

00:06:43.000 You have to have everything.

00:06:44.000 You have to be a freak athlete.

00:06:46.000 You have to be unbelievably dedicated, disciplined.

00:06:48.000 Nobody gets there easy.

00:06:49.000 That is not, you know, like, oh, he's just gifted.

00:06:49.000 No.

00:06:52.000 It doesn't exist.

00:06:54.000 You got to have everything, man.

00:06:55.000 There's got to be a lot of tools.

00:06:56.000 Yeah.

00:06:56.000 A lot of tools.

00:06:57.000 A lot of tools and a lot of fortitude.

00:06:59.000 The thing about wrestling that I've always said is like, not only is it the best base for MMA, because if a guy can dictate where the fight takes place, that is the most important aspect of fighting.

00:07:09.000 And you can learn everything else.

00:07:10.000 But it's also, it's like the mental toughness that wrestlers have, the ability to grind out those practices, the conditioning that's involved in wrestling.

00:07:19.000 It's above and beyond, I think, all other sports.

00:07:22.000 Yeah, I think it's a next level thing.

00:07:24.000 And you see in UFC right now, the guys that are dominating and winning are kind of putting that wrestling base first, but making it MMA wrestling.

00:07:32.000 I feel like when a lot of guys, a lot of D1 wrestlers come to MMA, they kind of don't make the switch of how to take the right shot and how to finish the right shot and how to use your feet to trip their feet out on the cage.

00:07:42.000 And if you get stuck with a stuck in a guillotine, how do you move from that spot?

00:07:46.000 And I think you see the guys that are doing it best, the Islams, the Hamzats, are really going out there and attacking and making sure that people can understand that, hey, you got to fear this. 1.00

00:07:55.000 And then next, I'm going to come with the hands.

00:07:57.000 So I think that's the biggest thing that we're working on now is that I've wrestled my whole life and I've done great things and won the Olympics and multiple national championships.

00:08:05.000 But I think the main thing is going out there and understanding that you are that bad dude.

00:08:10.000 But when you show them hands, now you got to have to respect both.

00:08:14.000 And I think that's where a lot of this is going to come into play when I finally get to that point of reaching that competition.

00:08:20.000 Now, how long have you been striking for?

00:08:23.000 I've been going into a little, so I'm from Minnesota.

00:08:26.000 I'm actually from Portage, Indiana.

00:08:26.000 Apple Valley.

00:08:28.000 I moved to Apple Valley, Minnesota when I was 11 years old.

00:08:31.000 And in college, I met a guy named Billy Simon.

00:08:33.000 He's from Prior Lake.

00:08:34.000 He fought nothing too big, just on a regional scene in Minnesota.

00:08:37.000 He has a house on Prior Lake and he has a place in his basement that is built out for MMA and stuff like that.

00:08:43.000 When I was maybe 21 years old, I started hitting the pads.

00:08:46.000 And mind you, stiff as a board, don't really know what I'm doing.

00:08:50.000 But he's kind of started and guided me along the way.

00:08:52.000 How old are you now?

00:08:53.000 I'm 25.

00:08:54.000 So just four years.

00:08:55.000 Just four years, but I think really, really striking, seven months.

00:09:02.000 That's so crazy.

00:09:04.000 Like really after really time consuming.

00:09:07.000 Hey, this is what I want to do.

00:09:09.000 I'm not going to wrestle.

00:09:10.000 I'm doing MMA.

00:09:12.000 I would say seven months.

00:09:13.000 But when you watch your dirty boxing match, I would have never believed that.

00:09:17.000 Except I know what an athlete you are.

00:09:20.000 It's just, it's so crazy how someone who really knows how to use their body can learn other things.

00:09:26.000 Well, I think the main thing also is I'm all ears.

00:09:28.000 You know, you can't have, you can't go out there and think that you can do something without putting that time and effort in, like we talked about with the Olympics or like you talked about.

00:09:37.000 But I think the main thing is if I can go out there and be all ears and soak up game from the people that are kind of trying to show me the way, I think I can do a lot of great things.

00:09:46.000 I'm all ears.

00:09:46.000 And that's all I do.

00:09:47.000 I want to show up twice a day.

00:09:48.000 I want to do the best thing that I can.

00:09:49.000 If I got to show up three times a day and I feel like it, I'm going to go do it.

00:09:53.000 It's also to be an elite athlete like yourself.

00:09:56.000 You have to be coachable.

00:09:58.000 You have to really, like the guys who like already know things and like, I'm going to do it my way.

00:10:02.000 Like they never get elite.

00:10:04.000 It doesn't work.

00:10:05.000 No.

00:10:05.000 And I think you got to put that guard down.

00:10:07.000 You got to trust somebody.

00:10:09.000 And if you don't trust anybody and man, I think I can do it alone.

00:10:12.000 I think I can kind of wing it.

00:10:13.000 I think I can maybe not practice today.

00:10:16.000 You got to trust somebody and you got to put your heart into somebody.

00:10:18.000 And I feel like I have a good group of people around me to kind of put that heart into.

00:10:21.000 And they're kind of, they're not even, they're kind of, they're leading me in the right direction.

00:10:24.000 And I'm, man, I'm grateful.

00:10:26.000 So you were doing a bunch of different things, right?

00:10:28.000 So you become an elite wrestler.

00:10:31.000 And then for a while, you were thinking about playing football.

00:10:35.000 So you played football for a short amount of time?

00:10:37.000 Buffalo Bills, yeah.

00:10:38.000 Yeah.

00:10:39.000 How long did you play it for?

00:10:40.000 I never played football in my life.

00:10:41.000 Never played?

00:10:42.000 No, that was the first time.

00:10:45.000 Hey, that was the first time I played football, I promise.

00:10:48.000 That's crazy.

00:10:48.000 First time you played football was professional.

00:10:50.000 It was in NFL.

00:10:51.000 My mom was always scared.

00:10:53.000 The high school coaches at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota were like, hey, can play football.

00:10:56.000 They were trying to call my mom and dad.

00:10:57.000 And I'm like, you're not going to convince her.

00:10:59.000 She is scared to death of football.

00:11:01.000 But whole time, I'm wrestling.

00:11:03.000 So where do we bridge this gap at?

00:11:06.000 And I just get done with WWE and I go out there and I'm chilling.

00:11:06.000 Right, right.

00:11:12.000 I get a call saying, hey, you want to try out for the Bills?

00:11:14.000 And I tell Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean, I said, hey, don't expect much, but I could put on shoes, but I've never had football cleats on.

00:11:20.000 I never had pads on.

00:11:22.000 I don't even know how to put the tights on, anything.

00:11:25.000 And I went out there and I sprinted my ass off, though, in that tryout.

00:11:29.000 I was sprinting down and back and forth.

00:11:30.000 I said, hey, if I don't know any technique for D-line, you're going to see effort.

00:11:34.000 And McDermott saw effort.

00:11:35.000 And that's all he needed to see.

00:11:36.000 And he gave me a chance.

00:11:38.000 What was that like?

00:11:39.000 Like jumping into a completely new sport?

00:11:42.000 Hard because it's not just football.

00:11:45.000 How old were you when you did that?

00:11:47.000 20.

00:11:47.000 I just turned 24.

00:11:48.000 Wow.

00:11:49.000 I just turned 24.

00:11:53.000 I know you see it.

00:11:54.000 You see that stance?

00:11:56.000 That's a beginner stance.

00:11:57.000 That's the beginner stance.

00:11:58.000 But I came out there, no gloves, just winging it.

00:12:01.000 And I told them, just give me a good chance.

00:12:03.000 But football is not just football.

00:12:05.000 It's the playbook.

00:12:06.000 And the playbook is crazy because I went from, hey, go out there and wrestle someone one-on-one to see if the guard is light on his feet or see if he's leaning forward to see if the center is going to silent count maybe or see if the guard taps the center to snap the ball.

00:12:20.000 There's a lot of different things that you got to know.

00:12:22.000 And I'm out there with this big-ass helmet on.

00:12:24.000 I've never put a helmet on, Joe.

00:12:25.000 So I'm out there with this big ass helmet.

00:12:26.000 My head's like down and I can't look up.

00:12:29.000 And I don't know what I'm doing.

00:12:31.000 But I knew if I gave effort that someone would give me a chance.

00:12:34.000 And I went out there in my first game.

00:12:36.000 I feel like I think I had a tackle, a QB rush.

00:12:39.000 And I was kind of unheard of at the time because I've never played ball before.

00:12:42.000 But it was crazy.

00:12:44.000 Once in a lifetime experience, most definitely.

00:12:46.000 And when you got cut, did you think about trying somewhere else?

00:12:51.000 Did you think about doing it more?

00:12:52.000 Yeah, once I got cut from Buffalo, I was the last one to get cut from the room.

00:12:56.000 I remember going in to see Bean and McDermott, and they were going to do practice squad.

00:13:01.000 But I knew they were going to do practice squad.

00:13:03.000 So I was like, yo, just send me home.

00:13:05.000 I'll try again.

00:13:05.000 I'll figure it out.

00:13:06.000 So my plan was to go back to college and wrestle already.

00:13:09.000 But I sat around for maybe a month.

00:13:12.000 Baltimore Ravens called me and Baltimore was like, hey, you want to come to a tryout?

00:13:15.000 I said, okay.

00:13:17.000 You know, I never played football before.

00:13:18.000 Just let you know.

00:13:19.000 Like, if it's a little shaky, I went out there and I dominated the tryout.

00:13:23.000 And I had like 10 minutes of work, but it was a great 10 minutes.

00:13:26.000 And they're like, okay, we're going to take your physicals.

00:13:28.000 You're going to be here and stay.

00:13:30.000 Their injury report comes back and injury report says they need a, what's it kind of?

00:13:36.000 They need a DN and a linebacker. 0.72

00:13:37.000 So you got to compensate for the spot because you need someone to play next week.

00:13:40.000 And I probably needed like six weeks on practice squad to play.

00:13:43.000 And so I get sent home.

00:13:44.000 They say, give me a week.

00:13:46.000 We'll bring you back.

00:13:47.000 A week comes.

00:13:48.000 They don't bring me back.

00:13:49.000 And so I'm like, okay, I see the writing on the wall.

00:13:51.000 Let me move on.

00:13:52.000 I sit for a little bit.

00:13:53.000 Indianapolis Colts call.

00:13:55.000 They just got ran over by a team.

00:13:57.000 They said, we need a run stopper.

00:13:58.000 So I go out there, do the trial.

00:14:00.000 I think it went well.

00:14:01.000 They said, we're not taking anybody today.

00:14:02.000 And then from there, I was like, you know, maybe, maybe this is not it.

00:14:07.000 And so I went back to wrestle.

00:14:10.000 And did you ever think about MMA at that time?

00:14:13.000 Was it in the back of your head?

00:14:14.000 MMA was in the back of my head since the Olympics.

00:14:18.000 But I wanted to make sure that if I was going to go to MMA, that let me try things first before going all in on something that I need to go all in on.

00:14:26.000 And I did my tryouts.

00:14:28.000 I did my things.

00:14:28.000 And now I want to go in all in on something that is finally here.

00:14:32.000 And when your mom was scared of you doing wrestling, how did she feel about you doing MMA?

00:14:36.000 Oh, you know, she's shitting all over. 1.00

00:14:41.000 Oh my God.

00:14:42.000 She'd even watch me wrestle.

00:14:42.000 She can't even watch.

00:14:44.000 And so now I'm like, mom, I got a dude about to punch me in the face.

00:14:47.000 Maybe if he can get to me, you sure you want to come and watch?

00:14:52.000 And she's like, yeah, I'll come watch.

00:14:53.000 And she comes, has a good time and has her drinks.

00:14:55.000 And when I step out, I'm like, where were you?

00:14:57.000 Oh, I was in the back.

00:14:59.000 So you didn't even see me fighting?

00:15:03.000 So I'm like, why you even come then?

00:15:05.000 So she, out of the three fights I've had, she's sat in the back and she'll be like, John will go and get her and be like, Gable's done.

00:15:14.000 And she'd be like, oh, what happened?

00:15:15.000 And John will be like, good, it's all.

00:15:18.000 So did she get nervous?

00:15:19.000 Is that what it is?

00:15:20.000 Oh, my God.

00:15:21.000 She's sweating.

00:15:22.000 She's nervous.

00:15:22.000 But I'm just like, I kind of, I'll give her that look of like, if this is one of them ones, I'm going to tell you.

00:15:29.000 But I haven't gave her those looks yet.

00:15:30.000 So she'll know.

00:15:32.000 So when you make this, so you decide football's not going to happen.

00:15:36.000 WWE is not going to happen.

00:15:38.000 You did like one televised match with WWE.

00:15:40.000 I did, yes.

00:15:41.000 Yeah.

00:15:41.000 What was that like?

00:15:41.000 That's right.

00:15:42.000 Honestly, I had a great, from me being real and honest, I had a great experience.

00:15:47.000 I have nothing wrong with anybody there.

00:15:50.000 TKO was great.

00:15:51.000 Triple H, Paul Levesque was great.

00:15:53.000 Stephanie Vince, everybody was great.

00:15:55.000 I just had a competitive drive that I needed to get out.

00:15:58.000 And so, you know, when you have that gap is there, you can't do both.

00:16:02.000 And I was trying to bridge both, and I wasn't giving my 100% to the business.

00:16:02.000 Right.

00:16:07.000 And if I'm not going to give 100% to the business, then you might as well X me out because it's already over with.

00:16:12.000 So I just, that's how that's practically how it happens.

00:16:15.000 Yeah, no slide on pro wrestling, but it's just like if you really want to compete, compete, you got to get it all out.

00:16:21.000 Yeah.

00:16:22.000 And so I would love to go back in the future.

00:16:24.000 I would love to do a sport and go out there and dominate.

00:16:27.000 And then, hey.

00:16:27.000 Maybe after the UFC heavyweight champ.

00:16:29.000 For sure.

00:16:30.000 Maybe after a couple times.

00:16:32.000 And so I would love to go.

00:16:33.000 And if it meant well, and I would do it again, most definitely, because I have no hard feelings to them.

00:16:38.000 And that's how it goes.

00:16:40.000 So when you make the decision that you're going to go into MMA, what is that like?

00:16:46.000 Like, what are the steps that you take?

00:16:47.000 I got done with NCAA's and I said, I flew down to Miami.

00:16:51.000 I met with John and a couple other people.

00:16:54.000 And I said, hey, I want to fight.

00:16:56.000 And John had me in his camp.

00:16:58.000 So we're talking about John Jones.

00:16:59.000 And did you know John before this?

00:17:02.000 I knew John because I knew John from Instagram.

00:17:04.000 John liked wrestling.

00:17:06.000 So I knew John from IG.

00:17:07.000 He sent me a DM.

00:17:08.000 He sent me his number.

00:17:09.000 And if you know John, he don't answer the phone worth anything.

00:17:11.000 And it's crazy.

00:17:12.000 But he sent me his number.

00:17:14.000 He said, call me.

00:17:14.000 So I called him.

00:17:15.000 And this was before he got hurt for the first steepee fight.

00:17:18.000 He was like, I want you to come practice with us.

00:17:19.000 You know, I want a wrestling partner.

00:17:21.000 I left him and played football.

00:17:23.000 The next year comes, no, I'm sorry.

00:17:25.000 I was, I don't even know where I was at at the time.

00:17:28.000 But Skip, we go and he's like, I want you to come back for the second camp.

00:17:33.000 He's going through it.

00:17:34.000 Me and John hit it off like that.

00:17:36.000 We hit it off.

00:17:36.000 Wow.

00:17:38.000 So when you guys started training together in camp, is that when it really sunk in your head?

00:17:43.000 When you're like, this is what I want to do?

00:17:45.000 Yeah.

00:17:45.000 He really, he really, I needed somebody to kind of engrave it in me.

00:17:49.000 With wrestling, I had my father.

00:17:51.000 I had the University of Minnesota.

00:17:52.000 I had a lot of good people around me kind of like say, hey, this is how we're going to do it.

00:17:56.000 And this is how you're going to, this is how it's going to happen.

00:17:56.000 This is where you need to go.

00:17:59.000 And when I saw John, I saw that drive of like, damn, you know, this guy's winning.

00:18:03.000 And people get close, but they can't get past him.

00:18:07.000 And why is that?

00:18:08.000 So I really sat back and like watched his mental and like how he went about a lot of things, how he talked to people, how he greeted people, how he walked, how he punched, maybe how he looked when he was in the pocket, when he needed to get out, when he rested his hands.

00:18:22.000 And I saw everything and I was like, wow, like, man, this guy's a superstar, super, superstar.

00:18:27.000 And, and, and, and people known that for a long time now.

00:18:27.000 And we all know that.

00:18:30.000 But I really saw him and I was like, damn, I want to be that.

00:18:33.000 And that's what kind of, that's what flipped my switch right there.

00:18:36.000 What an amazing opportunity.

00:18:37.000 You know, you haven't done any MMA and you get to go in there and train with the GOAT.

00:18:42.000 It's crazy.

00:18:43.000 This one, man, you know, it's hard to explain.

00:18:46.000 I tell people, people ask me all the time, like, what was it like seeing John for the first time?

00:18:50.000 Because I'm 25.

00:18:51.000 So when John was like super peak, I was like 12, 13 years old.

00:18:56.000 And I'm looking at this guy beat Gus of San Reyes and Tiago Santos and stuff like that.

00:19:01.000 So it's different.

00:19:05.000 You see a different side of people.

00:19:06.000 And when I saw John, I was like, wow.

00:19:08.000 Like, I've seen you for my whole life and I get to see you in person.

00:19:11.000 Like, how cool is that?

00:19:12.000 Okay.

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00:20:26.000 Or visit the link in the description to get started.

00:20:30.000 And for people that don't even know, the close fights that John had, they were really only close because John wasn't training.

00:20:36.000 That's really all it is.

00:20:37.000 100%.

00:20:38.000 John was partying and he was what I would call playing with his food.

00:20:42.000 You know, like he did, he didn't, like, the Gustafson fight is a perfect example.

00:20:47.000 Didn't train at all for the Gustavson fight.

00:20:49.000 I mean, I talked to Greg Jackson, and he was like, I swear to God, he barely showed up.

00:20:54.000 I'm like, that is so crazy.

00:20:55.000 And then he gutted it out in the last rounds.

00:20:58.000 That's what's crazy.

00:20:59.000 It's a close decision, but he wins the fight by gutting it out in the final rounds when he's done relatively no strength and conditioning.

00:21:07.000 Nothing.

00:21:08.000 It's so crazy.

00:21:09.000 It's fantastic to see.

00:21:10.000 Then really gets motivated for the second fight with Gustav.

00:21:14.000 Smokes him.

00:21:14.000 And blows him out.

00:21:15.000 Blows him out.

00:21:16.000 Which is what you expect.

00:21:18.000 When John is in prime form, he's the greatest of all time.

00:21:23.000 For you to be able to be a young guy who's thinking about MMA and train with the greatest of all time now, two division world champion.

00:21:23.000 Most definitely.

00:21:34.000 It's crazy.

00:21:35.000 Amazing.

00:21:36.000 And it's amazing because you don't see the guy that's, you see the best of the best right away.

00:21:41.000 We're back.

00:21:42.000 So anyway, where were we?

00:21:43.000 John Jones.

00:21:44.000 Yeah.

00:21:45.000 So you're saying you so you were talking about like what it's like to first start training with him.

00:21:51.000 So you're you had no MMA training really before that at all.

00:21:55.000 You just been doing a little bit of striking with this guy.

00:21:58.000 Joe, I kid you not.

00:21:59.000 I didn't even know really how to defend punches.

00:22:04.000 That's crazy.

00:22:05.000 I didn't know how to defend punches.

00:22:06.000 And you probably saw the video of him throwing the knee at me because I'm so hard-headed.

00:22:10.000 I'm like, let me shoot on John.

00:22:11.000 But the whole time I forgot he's a national championship wrestler.

00:22:14.000 Right.

00:22:14.000 So I didn't even know how to defend a punch.

00:22:16.000 I didn't know how to defend a kick.

00:22:17.000 I didn't know how to do anything.

00:22:18.000 But I went in there and I said, hey, if you need somebody, it's got to be me.

00:22:23.000 And that's how hungry I was.

00:22:24.000 And I feel like that's how kids should be nowadays about getting that opportunity, man.

00:22:27.000 Just be hungry because someone's going to respect you.

00:22:29.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:22:30.000 But I mean, not a whole lot of people get that opportunity.

00:22:33.000 That's a crazy opportunity.

00:22:34.000 It's also like John is an elite wrestler as well.

00:22:37.000 And so like learning how to incorporate elite wrestling into all the other aspects of MMA and to be able to go right into camp with John is just, this is amazing.

00:22:48.000 Incredible opportunity.

00:22:49.000 Super incredible.

00:22:50.000 I'm grateful for it every day.

00:22:51.000 And especially he's still here in my corner to this day.

00:22:54.000 We talked this morning.

00:22:55.000 He's still giving me all the pointers, all the advice, even when we're not even fighting, just telling me how I should say things, what I should say, how I need to go about life, how I need to go about business and meeting people and greeting people.

00:23:07.000 So it's a true opportunity.

00:23:09.000 That's awesome.

00:23:10.000 That's really awesome.

00:23:11.000 So when you were in camp with him, you're going through the camp.

00:23:15.000 Were you planning on MMA then?

00:23:18.000 Or like, how does it work?

00:23:19.000 Like, what were you thinking?

00:23:20.000 Were you just like the moment you started training with him?

00:23:22.000 Is that when it really started the fire in you?

00:23:25.000 Yes.

00:23:26.000 I had a little bit of burn for it.

00:23:28.000 Like in the back of your mind.

00:23:29.000 Yes, but a little burn.

00:23:30.000 You got to have the heart.

00:23:31.000 You got to have the heart.

00:23:32.000 So kind of what was the stamp on it was I went to Madison Square Garden with him and John was just doing John things, you know, just being a superstar.

00:23:43.000 Everybody knew who he was.

00:23:44.000 And I was like, man, you know, I got an Olympic gold medal.

00:23:47.000 You know, like, maybe I should be getting some too.

00:23:49.000 Like, you know, like John showed me the way a little bit.

00:23:51.000 So I'm trying to have him show me the way.

00:23:53.000 And he's bringing me to every place, meeting every person, you know, showing me the opportunities that he has.

00:23:57.000 And he looks at me and he was like, you can have this too.

00:24:01.000 And that was kind of the cherry on the top.

00:24:03.000 But we can put another cherry on the top and do a double one when he won the fight.

00:24:07.000 And then I'm holding the belt with him.

00:24:09.000 And I see this guy face to face.

00:24:11.000 And, you know, he's just the most popular man on earth for that day.

00:24:14.000 And it's kind of like, wow, like you don't get, you don't really get to see the backstage moments.

00:24:19.000 You get to see the guy go out there on TV and fight.

00:24:21.000 But I got to see the backstage of everyone taking the pictures with him, the superstars.

00:24:25.000 You know, I'm walking out the Knicks game and I see Queen Latifa and I'm like, damn, that's Queen Latifah.

00:24:30.000 And I'm taking a selfie with Queen Latifah.

00:24:33.000 I'm like, yo, can I send this to my mom?

00:24:35.000 And she's like, yeah, go ahead.

00:24:36.000 And I see Fat Joe talking to him and everybody.

00:24:38.000 And I'm like, wow, like this is what it is to be like a real fighting star.

00:24:43.000 And fighting is one-on-one.

00:24:45.000 And people want to watch someone fight.

00:24:47.000 But I think in other sports, like we talked about earlier, there's a full team with helmets on, with jerseys on.

00:24:53.000 But in fighting, people want to meet that badass dude and they want to meet the champ.

00:24:57.000 And that's what I want to be.

00:24:59.000 Yeah.

00:25:01.000 So what is training with John like?

00:25:03.000 Like, what is the training camp like?

00:25:06.000 Like, when, you know, you obviously haven't gone into training camp with any other elite fighters, but one of the more interesting things that separates John from everybody else is like, John doesn't take no short notice fights.

00:25:16.000 John game plans for everybody.

00:25:19.000 He studies tendencies.

00:25:20.000 He's his fight IQ.

00:25:23.000 I mean, it's obviously he has, obviously he has everything.

00:25:26.000 He obviously has all the skills.

00:25:29.000 Obviously has all the drive and everything else.

00:25:31.000 But the fight IQ is the big one.

00:25:34.000 That's the big one.

00:25:36.000 Because if you don't have a good driver, who gives a fuck how fast your car is?

00:25:40.000 True.

00:25:40.000 It's really the mind behind it that puts it all together.

00:25:44.000 He's sitting in a Ferrari with Ferrari gas.

00:25:48.000 A lot of people sit in a Ferrari with 87 gas and the car don't work.

00:25:52.000 So when I got to see those tendencies of him watching people, and he does it to me now where he'll send me videos on Instagram of the top UFC guys being like, oh, watch how he steps.

00:26:01.000 Watch when he throws a punch, how he comes back and he doesn't reset this certain way.

00:26:05.000 And he's kind of already installing those tendencies in me.

00:26:09.000 And so now when I was wrestling, I never used to watch people wrestle.

00:26:13.000 Like I went out there on a limb and I was just beating guys.

00:26:15.000 Even in Olympics, I never watched anyone wrestle.

00:26:17.000 I never watched their film.

00:26:19.000 Really?

00:26:19.000 Never.

00:26:20.000 I told coaches, don't show me one video because I don't want to focus on that one thing he did.

00:26:25.000 And that was me being hard-headed.

00:26:26.000 Like, if a guy had a great double leg and I'm like, damn, how do I stop this double leg?

00:26:31.000 And I'm worried about stopping a double leg instead of doing my offense.

00:26:35.000 And so I never watched anybody.

00:26:37.000 I went to the Olympics and I said, show me the guys I'm wrestling.

00:26:40.000 And I said, let's do it.

00:26:43.000 The only guys that do it.

00:26:45.000 Come on.

00:26:45.000 Banging their head against the wall, listening to this.

00:26:47.000 Damn, he did that to me?

00:26:48.000 That's crazy.

00:26:49.000 I said, let's do it.

00:26:50.000 I said, is it me or you as do or die?

00:26:52.000 And this tournament, I'm not dying.

00:26:54.000 Like, you can't beat me in any way possible.

00:26:56.000 And that's when I was at my best when I had that mindset.

00:26:58.000 And he's kind of putting that back into me.

00:27:00.000 And I feel really good about it.

00:27:01.000 That's amazing.

00:27:03.000 It's amazing.

00:27:04.000 So when he's sending you videos, like, do you have like a, do you save all this shit?

00:27:09.000 Do you have like a folder where you have all these different fighters and different moves?

00:27:13.000 Because you're, you're basically brand new at something.

00:27:16.000 But it's like, let me just tell you what I said.

00:27:18.000 You had a fight, an MMA fight, where you hit that dude with a left hook and then took him down while he was out cold.

00:27:24.000 I sent Dana White a text message.

00:27:25.000 I said, everyone's fucked.

00:27:27.000 I did.

00:27:28.000 Well, I appreciate it.

00:27:28.000 Thank you.

00:27:29.000 Because I was like, that kind of speed is crazy.

00:27:33.000 Like that kind of speed and incorporated with elite wrestling is crazy.

00:27:37.000 I'm like, what do you, the heavyweight division is so shallow right now.

00:27:42.000 You got Tom Aspinall, Cyril Gone, John Jones, if he chooses to fight again.

00:27:46.000 Francis, if some by some miracle, they can work something out and bring him back to the UFC.

00:27:52.000 Other than that, there's no one compelling for like a championship caliber fighter.

00:27:58.000 There's basically four or five guys on earth that are in this like championship caliber like class.

00:28:07.000 And you're already there, which is nuts.

00:28:10.000 And you haven't even fought in the UFC yet.

00:28:12.000 When I watched you move and I watched you fight, I was like, okay, how do you stop that?

00:28:16.000 Like, what do you, who is, who's got the skills to be able to stop that?

00:28:21.000 And in my mind, there's like only a few guys where it's going to be a problem.

00:28:25.000 There's like the Francis and Ganus, the Cyril Gons and the Tom Aspinalls.

00:28:30.000 That's it.

00:28:31.000 There's like a few guys.

00:28:32.000 And everybody else on the way up, the only problem is going to be you getting fights.

00:28:38.000 Like that kind of speed is just bananas for a 250-pound man.

00:28:43.000 And when you have that and you're 25 years old, it's like this is a very rare thing that you see in MMA.

00:28:52.000 And it's kind of crazy because the heavyweight division is, of course, the most prestigious division in the world.

00:28:58.000 The heavyweight champion of the UFC is the baddest motherfucker on the planet.

00:29:02.000 And, you know, right now, it's kind of a toss-up, right?

00:29:08.000 Because Cyril Gon had this fight with Aspinall.

00:29:11.000 John is kind of semi-retired.

00:29:13.000 Whatever he decides to do, it's kind of up in the air.

00:29:16.000 He'll probably have one more fight, right?

00:29:18.000 I want him to.

00:29:19.000 I think he's got the juice in him.

00:29:22.000 White House.

00:29:23.000 He would love the White House.

00:29:24.000 He's told me many times he wants to be the main event on the White House and he wants me to be a couple slots behind him and kind of have us both win.

00:29:30.000 And that's his last leg right there.

00:29:33.000 I would love for him to do one more.

00:29:35.000 If he really wanted to in his heart, he should.

00:29:37.000 But if he doesn't, John's not going to do it.

00:29:39.000 They should do Alex Pereira and him at the White House.

00:29:42.000 I told people, I said, Alex Pereira would be a great matchup for Tom.

00:29:45.000 A heavyweight version of the BMF belt.

00:29:47.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:29:48.000 It'll be perfect.

00:29:49.000 There's nothing else to it besides two guys going out there.

00:29:52.000 It's Alex Pereira, the baddest, light heavyweight.

00:29:54.000 And that's John Jones, baddest heavyweight right now.

00:29:56.000 And regardless if someone else has the belt, John Jones is still the baddest heavyweight out there.

00:30:01.000 The belt doesn't mean jack shit when it's John Jones.

00:30:03.000 It doesn't mean jack shit.

00:30:04.000 It doesn't.

00:30:05.000 There's so many fighters could do that.

00:30:07.000 They could just step away from the belts, abandon the belts, and then come back.

00:30:11.000 It's really just about the fighter.

00:30:13.000 Everybody knows who John is.

00:30:14.000 Everybody knows what John does.

00:30:16.000 It's like people will pay to, you don't need a belt.

00:30:18.000 That belt doesn't mean anything.

00:30:20.000 Yo, this is a crazy story.

00:30:22.000 I had a French bulldog that passed away.

00:30:24.000 So I like to go out there and I adopt French Bulldogs and I kind of give them a better home and I either ship them to a new home or I keep them. 1.00

00:30:31.000 And so at the time I had a baby French Bulldog.

00:30:33.000 And I told John, I was like, yo, my dog died.

00:30:33.000 He passed away.

00:30:35.000 I got to go home.

00:30:36.000 He let me go home.

00:30:37.000 I came back and I came back on a Tuesday.

00:30:40.000 I didn't see John until Thursday.

00:30:41.000 And mind you, this is a week before he's going to go out there for Steepe.

00:30:44.000 He's sick, like super sick.

00:30:46.000 And I watched this guy do five rounds on a Thursday and they sent, they sharkbaited him five new people and he's dead tired.

00:30:53.000 And this is when I knew he was unstoppable.

00:30:55.000 He went out there and nobody could touch him.

00:30:57.000 And I'm telling you, high-class PFL fighters, ex-UFC fighters, ex-glory kickboxers were going in there after him.

00:31:03.000 And he was just mopping them.

00:31:05.000 And I was like, damn, this dude is beyond next level.

00:31:09.000 And that was like, you know, you got to see greatness.

00:31:12.000 And I see it at the fight, but you also got to see it when how does this guy be great before the fight?

00:31:17.000 And I saw that and I was like, God damn.

00:31:21.000 I said, excuse me, John.

00:31:23.000 You think I can go in there with you?

00:31:25.000 And he was like, no.

00:31:26.000 And I was like, why do you think so?

00:31:28.000 He was like, you don't know how to defend.

00:31:30.000 And it was kind of a funny joke because our partner got hurt.

00:31:33.000 And I was like, I raised my hand.

00:31:34.000 I told Greg Jackson.

00:31:35.000 I said, Greg, let me in there.

00:31:36.000 And Greg was like, not today, Gabel.

00:31:39.000 And this is when I didn't know how to defend or anything.

00:31:41.000 He was like, Gabe, not today.

00:31:42.000 And I was like, man, why?

00:31:43.000 You know, I can go in there and take him down.

00:31:44.000 And he was like, this is different.

00:31:46.000 And when I saw that, that was like the epitome of like super greatness in my eyes because I like hard workers.

00:31:54.000 I like guys that beat on guys.

00:31:55.000 I don't like guys that go out there and do the little extras that they to look cool.

00:32:00.000 I mean, just go out there and dominate and let's go home.

00:32:03.000 And I saw that and I was like, yeah, it's over with for Stipe.

00:32:05.000 It's going to be a long night.

00:32:06.000 Well, unfortunately, they met when Stipe had already had a lot of miles on the clock.

00:32:11.000 A lot of miles.

00:32:12.000 John was still elite.

00:32:13.000 It's crazy that John essentially developed a spinning back kick, a real spinning back kick when he's 36 years old.

00:32:18.000 Crazy.

00:32:19.000 It's so nuts because, I mean, he tried it earlier in his career, but it was like he would spin instead of go straight.

00:32:25.000 You know what I mean?

00:32:27.000 But when he hit Stipe, it was perfect.

00:32:29.000 It was per you.

00:32:30.000 That picture, we showed a video of it and then Freeze Froze, the heel.

00:32:36.000 It was halfway into his rib cage.

00:32:38.000 It was crazy.

00:32:39.000 I wouldn't have got up either.

00:32:41.000 Well, very few people would.

00:32:42.000 Very few human beings can talk.

00:32:44.000 That kick is so powerful.

00:32:45.000 And when it comes from a big guy like John with those long ass legs and all that leverage with perfect technique and it goes right into the sweet spot like that, like good luck.

00:32:55.000 But it's such a brilliant think, it's such brilliant thinking on his side because he's like, okay, I have to fight heavyweights and I need something that can take them out with one shot.

00:33:05.000 Like, what is that?

00:33:06.000 Well, it's the most powerful kick, which is the spinning back kick.

00:33:09.000 And so he trains it constantly.

00:33:11.000 Constantly.

00:33:12.000 You know, which is just very few people have the mindset to be able to do that.

00:33:17.000 Very few guys develop new skills late in life.

00:33:21.000 You know, late in their career, they start incorporating new skills like that.

00:33:26.000 I think that's a thing where he was, he's always our ears too.

00:33:29.000 And that's kind of what he's putting into me also.

00:33:31.000 I watched him do a spinning back kick the night before at midnight when we were practicing in the hotel lobby.

00:33:36.000 So he was just planning on that.

00:33:38.000 He was planning on his showstopper.

00:33:40.000 He told me he wanted to take Stipe down, and then all of a sudden he does a spinning back kick.

00:33:45.000 And I was like, you slide motherfucker.

00:33:49.000 Did he bring in a Taekwondo coach?

00:33:51.000 How did he develop that technique so far?

00:33:54.000 There's a kickboxing Taekwondo coach named Alex.

00:33:58.000 He's got a long last name because I think he married a Thai lady.

00:34:01.000 So I think he changed his last name.

00:34:03.000 But he's from New Mexico.

00:34:04.000 He works out of Jackson.

00:34:05.000 He's got a lot of tattoos on him.

00:34:07.000 And nobody, if you saw him, you would never know.

00:34:09.000 But the dude can kick hard as shit.

00:34:12.000 And it's crazy.

00:34:13.000 And so he worked with John on that?

00:34:15.000 Yes.

00:34:15.000 Yeah.

00:34:16.000 The only other guy that I would say developed a crazy new technique late in his career was Vitor.

00:34:22.000 When Vitor was like 35 or 36, he developed a wheel kick.

00:34:27.000 It was crazy out of nowhere.

00:34:28.000 When he fought Luke Rockhold, all of a sudden he's throwing wheel kicks.

00:34:31.000 Like Vitor never crazy.

00:34:33.000 Crazy.

00:34:33.000 Vitor never threw wheel kicks.

00:34:35.000 Crazy.

00:34:35.000 But I think it's honestly got to be cool from, because you sit right next to the cage.

00:34:39.000 So it's got to be cool to see people grow up through their career.

00:34:42.000 And then all of a sudden at the end, you see a guy does a spinning wheel kick or a guy does a spinning back kick.

00:34:48.000 And you're like, damn, like, where'd that come from?

00:34:50.000 And I feel like, does it give you a high to kind of see like a person grow through a new stage of like seeing a new move from them?

00:34:58.000 I just love excellence.

00:34:59.000 That's what I love.

00:35:01.000 I love when someone shines, when they just figure a way to eclipse everyone else, when they figure a way to, when they just like the Pyotr Jan Murab Dwabish-Willie fight, when you see a guy like Pyotr Jan who loses the first fight to Murab and comes back and dominates in the second fight, like I love that shit.

00:35:20.000 I love it.

00:35:21.000 I love watching someone put in an insane amount of work and dedication and then shining on fight night.

00:35:30.000 I love it.

00:35:31.000 It's cool too because you see Peter Jan is the new like blueprint for guys that are coaching kids to do moves.

00:35:39.000 I mean, he went out there and threw a fake hook and liver kicked Marab. 0.76

00:35:43.000 And then he goes out there and he hits Sotogari and trips guys.

00:35:46.000 I mean, what other film tape blueprint can you use from someone else?

00:35:51.000 I mean, he's done everything in all of his fights.

00:35:53.000 His flow state is amazing.

00:35:54.000 His flow state's incredible.

00:35:56.000 And he's so good at mixing up trips along with like inside fighting.

00:36:02.000 His stand-up is so good.

00:36:03.000 He's so hard to hit clean, too.

00:36:06.000 I think the only guy who really hit him clean was Sugar Sean.

00:36:09.000 Sean hit him with a knee, like a really good knee, timed it perfectly in their fight and dropped him.

00:36:15.000 But other than that, he very rarely gets hit.

00:36:18.000 And when you do hit him, you're hitting him and he's kind of rolling with it.

00:36:22.000 You know, he keeps that super high guard.

00:36:24.000 He does the high yard.

00:36:25.000 Yeah, he keeps his hands straight in front of you.

00:36:25.000 Uh-huh.

00:36:28.000 He's something special, man.

00:36:30.000 And, you know, that dude's still only 32 years old.

00:36:33.000 Yeah.

00:36:33.000 He's only 32?

00:36:35.000 I know.

00:36:35.000 It's crazy.

00:36:36.000 What do you think if he doesn't lose?

00:36:38.000 32 or 34?

00:36:39.000 How old is Piotr Jan?

00:36:40.000 He's either 32 or 34.

00:36:42.000 But, you know, we've seen him in, I think he's 32.

00:36:46.000 32?

00:36:47.000 Yeah.

00:36:47.000 I mean, we've seen him in the UFC since he was like in his mid-20s.

00:36:51.000 Yeah.

00:36:52.000 If he doesn't lose to Murab that first time, where do you think his path goes?

00:36:56.000 It's a good question.

00:36:57.000 You know, I mean, because he did lose to other guys as well.

00:37:00.000 He lost to Sean and he lost to the Al Jamaine fight was fucked.

00:37:04.000 The first fight was fucked.

00:37:05.000 But the second fight, Al Jamaine dominated him.

00:37:08.000 But I think he probably overestimated himself in the second Al Jamaine fight.

00:37:13.000 It doesn't seem like he was as prepared.

00:37:15.000 And the thing about Al Jamaine is like his wrestling is very good and his back control is the fucking best in the business.

00:37:22.000 When Al Jamain gets your back, you're in deep shit.

00:37:25.000 He's so good at back control.

00:37:26.000 He's so good at rear naked chokes. 0.92

00:37:28.000 And, you know, Al Jamaine just really struggled to make that 135.

00:37:33.000 It's got to be hard.

00:37:35.000 But if he got it right and he got it right in that second fight, you know, and he just did what he does at his best.

00:37:42.000 It was one of his finest performances.

00:37:44.000 So he lost that fight, but it didn't mean that he was done.

00:37:47.000 It just means like he realized like, okay, he had to have a camp like he had for Murab in order to beat Al Jamaine.

00:37:54.000 Yes.

00:37:54.000 You know, and I just don't think everybody's willing to go through that kind of camp every fight.

00:37:59.000 Murab went through four?

00:38:01.000 Yeah, I think so.

00:38:01.000 Four in a year.

00:38:02.000 Yeah.

00:38:04.000 For blueprint, how do you like that?

00:38:06.000 Because I know guys kind of take the two-fight a year approach, maybe three if you're doing well.

00:38:10.000 I think that's more sustainable.

00:38:14.000 Alex Pereira did the same thing.

00:38:16.000 He's fought a lot of fights and he's fought fights short notice.

00:38:20.000 You got to admire that mindset of a guy who's like, I don't give a fuck.

00:38:23.000 Let's fight.

00:38:24.000 But Alex has fought with broken toes.

00:38:26.000 He's done everything.

00:38:27.000 He fought with a norovirus and he had a fucked up hand the first time he fought Ankoliav. 0.99

00:38:32.000 But then the same thing.

00:38:34.000 He comes in for the second fight with Ankoliya, fully healthy and just smokes him.

00:38:37.000 Smokes him in the first round.

00:38:40.000 What do you think about if you gave Alex Pereira like a solid great wrestler, like an Islam of light, heavyweight, heavyweight, how do you do?

00:38:48.000 It'll be a problem.

00:38:49.000 Yeah, I mean, I think less of a problem certainly now than early in his career.

00:38:54.000 Like if you see his first fight in the UFC with Michelitis, he gets taken down the first round.

00:39:00.000 That's not going to happen now.

00:39:02.000 And if it does, he gets up.

00:39:03.000 You know, it's different.

00:39:04.000 But it gets up against who?

00:39:05.000 Does he get up against a guy like you?

00:39:07.000 You know, there's different levels, right?

00:39:10.000 You really saw that with Jack Della Maddalena in Islam, right?

00:39:13.000 There's levels.

00:39:14.000 And when you got a guy that's at Islam's level, that's just a super elite grappler, unless you've faced that before, you don't know what to prepare yourself for. 1.00

00:39:25.000 I tell people all the time.

00:39:26.000 That's the thing with Piotr Jan.

00:39:28.000 He had been in there with Murab for the first fight, and so he knew what to expect.

00:39:32.000 And he'd seen all those crazy fights.

00:39:35.000 He saw the fight with San Hagen.

00:39:37.000 He saw the fight with the rematch with Sugar Sean where he submitted him.

00:39:40.000 He's like, okay, this guy's a fucking monster.

00:39:43.000 He's a monster now.

00:39:43.000 You got to prepare for a monster.

00:39:45.000 And he was ready.

00:39:46.000 But unless you've experienced that before, and there's really no one like that in the light heavyweight division, unfortunately.

00:39:53.000 There's not some like super elite grappler in the light heavyweight division.

00:39:58.000 And I think that's one of the reasons why Hamzat is thinking about going up to light heavyweight.

00:40:01.000 And I think he should.

00:40:02.000 I'm a big fan of Hamza.

00:40:03.000 I love his style.

00:40:04.000 I love his intensity.

00:40:05.000 His intensity is the best thing ever.

00:40:06.000 He's an animal.

00:40:07.000 It's the best thing ever to watch.

00:40:08.000 Because when I was wrestling, I like to go out there and just, you know, put the hammer down and dominate.

00:40:13.000 And he's got it.

00:40:14.000 He's got that touch.

00:40:15.000 Oh, yeah.

00:40:15.000 He's an animal.

00:40:16.000 And you know, that animal part of him almost killed him because he refused to stop training when you have COVID.

00:40:23.000 When he had COVID, he was just showing up at the gym and putting in two and a half-hour sessions and vomiting blood.

00:40:29.000 Like it's a nut.

00:40:30.000 That's crazy.

00:40:31.000 They said the real problem with Hamzat was that you couldn't get him out of the gym and he was always overtrained.

00:40:31.000 Yeah.

00:40:38.000 So then he brings in Sam Calavita.

00:40:40.000 And Sam Calvita monitoring training lab, right?

00:40:42.000 Right.

00:40:43.000 So he's monitoring his heart rate.

00:40:43.000 Yes.

00:40:45.000 He's monitoring his recovery.

00:40:46.000 And he's working on him with his strength and conditioning and they're doing it scientifically.

00:40:50.000 And then you've seen the Dricus duplicity fight.

00:40:52.000 I mean, he's just didn't gas at all.

00:40:54.000 That was the same thing as Islam and Madalena. 0.99

00:40:57.000 Very similar.

00:40:58.000 They try to do the, you know, maybe what if and what if he can outbox him?

00:41:02.000 But it's hard when you got to worry about so many things.

00:41:04.000 And I think Islam did a great job of showing the leg kicks, making Jack switch. 1.00

00:41:08.000 Jack didn't really push forward.

00:41:08.000 Oh, yeah.

00:41:10.000 And Islam, when he did, shot the double or he shot an outside single. 0.94

00:41:13.000 And that's hard.

00:41:14.000 It's hard when you got to think about so many things.

00:41:16.000 Yeah.

00:41:17.000 Well, you know, Khabib is without doubt one of the all-time greats, one of the greatest to ever do it.

00:41:22.000 But the difference between Khabib and Islam is Islam is elite stand-up wise. 1.00

00:41:28.000 Like Khabib was very good stand-up, but Islam knocked out Volkanovsky with a head kick. 0.61

00:41:33.000 You know, that's not in Khabib's repertoire.

00:41:36.000 Islam is on another level. 1.00

00:41:38.000 It's like one more level above.

00:41:40.000 He can knock you out standing.

00:41:41.000 He can knock you out on the ground.

00:41:43.000 He could submit you.

00:41:44.000 He could take you down.

00:41:45.000 He's fucking huge for the weight class, especially 155.

00:41:48.000 It's like there's so many aspects.

00:41:50.000 And you're always thinking about that grappling when you're striking.

00:41:53.000 So when you say, oh, you know, who's better striker, Islam or Jack Della Madalena? 0.84

00:41:58.000 Well, it depends because if you got to worry about that takedown, your striking is not going to be the same.

00:42:03.000 It's just not going to be the same.

00:42:04.000 Because everything he does, you're always looking for that takedown.

00:42:08.000 And that factor leads to guys getting hit all the time.

00:42:12.000 Yeah.

00:42:13.000 Like if you go back and watch old fights like Kevin Randleman versus Crow Cop, Kevin Randleman knocked out Crow Cop because Crow Cop was worried about the takedown.

00:42:20.000 He was worried about the takedown.

00:42:22.000 All of a sudden, Randomly comes with a big left hook.

00:42:23.000 And Kevin Randleman was an NCAA champ where Ohio State, I believe.

00:42:28.000 Was it Ohio State?

00:42:30.000 I believe he was Ohio.

00:42:31.000 184 or 197.

00:42:33.000 Was he heavyweight?

00:42:34.000 I don't know.

00:42:36.000 Oh, yeah.

00:42:37.000 Three-time Big Ten wrestling champ at Ohio State.

00:42:40.000 What he ever won the tournament?

00:42:45.000 Heavyweight.

00:42:48.000 Wow, who do you lose to in the tournament?

00:42:49.000 Oh, it says heavyweight.

00:42:50.000 No, no, no.

00:42:51.000 I'll look that up real quick.

00:42:53.000 Okay.

00:42:54.000 But that was the thing about Randallman is like the speed and the takedown was always this big threat.

00:42:59.000 And so because of that, you're thinking about one thing and boom, you get hit with a big shot.

00:43:03.000 I've seen Kevin Randoman wear shoes in his matches.

00:43:06.000 What's the difference?

00:43:08.000 What's the difference of wearing?

00:43:09.000 I've seen a guy wear shoes now.

00:43:10.000 I was on Instagram and I saw maybe a kickboxing match or something like that.

00:43:14.000 Why can't they wear shoes now?

00:43:15.000 Is there a rule that you can't?

00:43:16.000 It's not now.

00:43:17.000 All those things are old.

00:43:18.000 Those are old?

00:43:19.000 Yeah, those are all old.

00:43:20.000 Pride used to allow you to wear shoes.

00:43:21.000 Okay.

00:43:22.000 Early UFC used to be able to wear shoes.

00:43:24.000 I saw that.

00:43:25.000 I remember the first UFC video I seen was that big huge dude and that little dude that knocked him out.

00:43:30.000 Was he the big black dude? 0.72

00:43:31.000 Which guy?

00:43:32.000 It was like an old video.

00:43:34.000 Super old.

00:43:35.000 That's not descriptive enough.

00:43:37.000 Okay, I'm sorry.

00:43:38.000 Give me a second.

00:43:39.000 Big Hughes dude, little black dude. 1.00

00:43:42.000 No, that wasn't your favorite.

00:43:43.000 Who was the big video?

00:43:44.000 And then the white dude came out there and he was just whooping him.

00:43:46.000 And then the big dude tried to grab him.

00:43:48.000 I might be tripping, but I saw the video.

00:43:50.000 Well, I don't think you're tripping.

00:43:52.000 I mean, there's been so many fights.

00:43:53.000 It's so hard to figure out what fight you're talking about.

00:43:56.000 But there's an advantage to wrestling shoes for sure, without a doubt.

00:44:00.000 I mean, the grip on the ground.

00:44:02.000 I mean, how many times have you seen guys?

00:44:04.000 Yeah, this one.

00:44:05.000 Oh, Keith Hackney.

00:44:07.000 And Keith Hackney had a very strange style.

00:44:07.000 Yeah.

00:44:10.000 It was like, I think he was a Kembo guy. 1.00

00:44:13.000 And he hit him with a bitch slap. 1.00

00:44:16.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:44:17.000 Like, you ever see how he knocked him down?

00:44:19.000 Like, look at the difference in the size.

00:44:21.000 Emmanuel Yarborough, who is a sumo wrestler, but Emmanuel was probably like, look at that.

00:44:26.000 He overhand bitch slapped him. 1.00

00:44:26.000 See? 1.00

00:44:29.000 This is crazy.

00:44:31.000 He basically stepped in and palm striked him to the head.

00:44:34.000 You think he looks, if he's still alive, you think he looks back at this video and be like, damn, I got slapped?

00:44:40.000 Probably.

00:44:40.000 Damn.

00:44:41.000 I mean, Emmanuel fought a bunch of different things.

00:44:44.000 He fought, I think he fought in Pride as well.

00:44:51.000 Oh, they forgot to lock the cage.

00:44:52.000 He flew out the cage.

00:44:54.000 Look at thin big John McCarthy.

00:44:56.000 He lost to Mark Ryland.

00:44:57.000 Mark Ryland.

00:44:58.000 Okay.

00:44:59.000 There you go.

00:45:01.000 That's random, but we're talking about.

00:45:02.000 Yes.

00:45:03.000 Yeah, the old days were wild, man.

00:45:05.000 It's wild.

00:45:07.000 It's wild to go back and watch those fights.

00:45:08.000 It's like, since you've been kind of like a huge figure your whole life, have you gone back and watched Fear Factor?

00:45:17.000 I watched it because my kids were watching it.

00:45:20.000 My kids were watching Fear Factor because there was a whole Fear Factor channel.

00:45:24.000 Was it True TV or one of those?

00:45:26.000 Or Spike TV.

00:45:26.000 True TV.

00:45:27.000 One of those things.

00:45:28.000 They had Fear Factor on all day long, and my kids were watching it.

00:45:31.000 I thought it was hilarious.

00:45:32.000 Man, I was watching it too.

00:45:33.000 I'm just going to tell you right now.

00:45:35.000 And all the shit they was doing, hell no.

00:45:38.000 Yeah, a lot of it is in your head.

00:45:40.000 Like a lot of the stuff that they had to eat is not that bad.

00:45:43.000 Some of it was fucking disgusting.

00:45:46.000 Were you trying some while they were trying to do it?

00:45:47.000 I ate a bunch of things.

00:45:48.000 What was the worst thing?

00:45:51.000 None of the things I ate were that bad.

00:45:53.000 You know, like I ate a Madagascar hissing cockroach. 0.86

00:45:56.000 It's like a cockroach the size of like this lighter.

00:45:59.000 Damn.

00:46:00.000 Yeah.

00:46:01.000 That wasn't bad?

00:46:01.000 Yeah.

00:46:02.000 It was just cringy.

00:46:03.000 Yeah, it doesn't have much flavor to it.

00:46:06.000 What was the worst?

00:46:06.000 Yeah.

00:46:07.000 More in your head than anything.

00:46:08.000 I'm sure.

00:46:10.000 Being on that show, what was the worst thing you saw someone tense up about?

00:46:15.000 The worst thing was what they had to eat.

00:46:17.000 And watching people throw up.

00:46:20.000 I watched people throw up every day.

00:46:22.000 You know how the smell of throw up makes you want to throw up?

00:46:25.000 That went away after a while.

00:46:27.000 It was that bad?

00:46:28.000 Yeah, I saw people throw up every week.

00:46:31.000 Every week I was watching four or five people throw up.

00:46:33.000 This is totally normal to be around.

00:46:35.000 It's like a scandal for you.

00:46:36.000 Because they were throwing up in front of me and I was telling them that they keep going.

00:46:40.000 I'm like, don't worry.

00:46:41.000 You can keep going.

00:46:42.000 You can keep going.

00:46:43.000 Don't put that out of your head.

00:46:44.000 This is a task.

00:46:47.000 You want to win?

00:46:48.000 Okay, you can do this.

00:46:49.000 I can help you.

00:46:50.000 I'll talk you through this.

00:46:51.000 But you just got to just, you are in control of your body.

00:46:55.000 Force yourself to eat it.

00:46:56.000 Chew it, swallow it, get it down.

00:46:58.000 Let's go.

00:46:59.000 But that was the worst is the eating shit.

00:47:01.000 Holding your breath underwater was hard.

00:47:03.000 There's a lot of things they had to do that was hard.

00:47:04.000 It's a crazy fucking trail.

00:47:08.000 There was one where they had to jump out a helicopter and swim and grab some while the helicopter propellers were like blowing the water so they couldn't.

00:47:14.000 Yeah, we did a few of the things like that.

00:47:16.000 Yeah.

00:47:16.000 Were you ever scared?

00:47:18.000 For some of them?

00:47:19.000 I was worried when they had to ride bulls. 0.73

00:47:21.000 That one scared the shit out of me because I was like, you know, the stunt stuntmen are animals.

00:47:27.000 If you ever meet stunt men, they are some of the bravest, toughest dudes alive.

00:47:33.000 And the stunt guys had this attitude about the bull.

00:47:36.000 Like, eh, they're like, oh, that's a stunt bull.

00:47:38.000 That's a practice bull. 0.90

00:47:39.000 And I go, does a fucking bull know he's a practice bull?

00:47:42.000 I bet he doesn't.

00:47:43.000 I bet he didn't get that memo.

00:47:44.000 He don't know that.

00:47:45.000 He's just a bull.

00:47:46.000 That's a fucking huge animal, and you're going to get a hundred-pound lady to ride this huge animal. 1.00

00:47:50.000 That's crazy.

00:47:51.000 It's over with.

00:47:52.000 And they got launched and almost got kicked.

00:47:55.000 And they rolled the dice a lot and got lucky that no one got seriously injured, I think.

00:48:00.000 And the bull one was the big one for me.

00:48:02.000 I was like, you can't predict that.

00:48:04.000 Like, you can, if you got a car stunt, you got to jump a car off a building into like this big cushion.

00:48:09.000 Like, okay, cool.

00:48:11.000 You kind of know what's going to happen.

00:48:14.000 You know, this is the thing, this could go wrong, and this is how we're going to prepare against it going wrong or prepare for it.

00:48:21.000 But you can't prepare for a bull.

00:48:22.000 Like, there's not much you could do.

00:48:24.000 If the bull decides to stomp this person, that person could die.

00:48:28.000 Like, that's a real possibility, especially people that have no business riding bulls.

00:48:32.000 Bull riding is hard for bull riders.

00:48:32.000 Yeah.

00:48:34.000 It's crazy.

00:48:34.000 Bull riding is tough.

00:48:35.000 And they got a good seven seconds on that bull if they're great.

00:48:38.000 If they're great.

00:48:39.000 If they're great.

00:48:39.000 And when you're watching it, you're like, oh my God.

00:48:41.000 And you watch the bull kicking and jumping up in the air.

00:48:44.000 Crazy.

00:48:44.000 I know their lower back kills after that.

00:48:46.000 Oh, we had one guy on Fear Factor who was a professional bull rider, and his shoulder was so destroyed.

00:48:53.000 He took his shirt off to show me.

00:48:54.000 He has scars all around his shoulder.

00:48:57.000 He's like, my shoulder pops out all the time.

00:48:59.000 It just will pop out of socket.

00:49:01.000 He'd go reach for something, his shoulder would pop out of socket.

00:49:03.000 It was just destroyed.

00:49:04.000 It was hanging on by a thread.

00:49:06.000 Jeez, that's disgusting.

00:49:07.000 How do you live like that, though?

00:49:09.000 I don't know, man.

00:49:10.000 I guess you just deal with it.

00:49:11.000 I guess you just, that's the price you pay for greatness.

00:49:14.000 You know?

00:49:15.000 Got to pay something.

00:49:16.000 Yeah, well, they all pay.

00:49:17.000 Every bull rider pays.

00:49:18.000 You see those guys later in their career, they're all stiff because they got fused discs and messed up bolts in their back and shit.

00:49:24.000 They're all fucked up.

00:49:25.000 Spines rubbing.

00:49:26.000 Oh, yeah.

00:49:27.000 It's a terrible messed up.

00:49:28.000 Terrible way to live.

00:49:30.000 I can't believe that bull riding is a real thing.

00:49:33.000 I know.

00:49:33.000 It's not.

00:49:34.000 It's fascinating, though, because you can really see guys go out there and be like, you're facing the devil.

00:49:39.000 Literally.

00:49:39.000 The bull is going to win all the time.

00:49:41.000 Every time.

00:49:42.000 Even if you can do is hang on for seven seconds.

00:49:44.000 There's no goat who could just hang on the bull as long as possible.

00:49:47.000 I'll hang on that bull for 30 minutes.

00:49:49.000 Keep kicking the bitch. 1.00

00:49:50.000 He's going to get you off.

00:49:51.000 Everybody goes flying eventually.

00:49:53.000 Everybody.

00:49:54.000 Everybody.

00:49:54.000 It's going to happen one way or another.

00:49:56.000 Yeah, there's no human being that could just stay on a bucking bull and just like, when I decide, I'll get off.

00:50:02.000 Have you rode?

00:50:03.000 No.

00:50:04.000 Okay, I haven't either.

00:50:05.000 I don't think black people do that. 1.00

00:50:05.000 Fuck. 1.00

00:50:08.000 I think there are.

00:50:10.000 Is there a couple?

00:50:10.000 It's got to be.

00:50:12.000 There's got to be.

00:50:14.000 Ezekiel Mitchell.

00:50:14.000 Oh, look at that dude right there.

00:50:16.000 Ezekiel Mitchell.

00:50:16.000 Bam.

00:50:18.000 Look at the size of that thing.

00:50:21.000 And look at his angle.

00:50:22.000 Yeah.

00:50:22.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:50:22.000 He is so the bull is so athletic that he's damn near doing a hand spring with the dude on his back right and he weighs 2,000 pounds.

00:50:30.000 He's just throwing his body up and through the air.

00:50:34.000 That is fuck all that.

00:50:36.000 Like right there.

00:50:37.000 Like you easily could get stomped to death right there.

00:50:40.000 It's the game's over.

00:50:41.000 You fall wrong.

00:50:42.000 He lands on your face and that is a wrap.

00:50:45.000 Your fucking head is pulverized.

00:50:47.000 I wonder what the size of that thing.

00:50:49.000 God.

00:50:49.000 I wonder what the numbers are on like if a bull stomps like the velocity of and the mass of it.

00:50:55.000 Like what is the generator force for you?

00:50:57.000 Oh, it's got to be insane.

00:50:59.000 How many guys have died?

00:51:02.000 None that I know, hopefully.

00:51:03.000 None that I know.

00:51:03.000 But I mean, there has to be like an enormous number of guys that have died bull riding.

00:51:08.000 What's the, what's like the since like on a crazy topic, what is what is like the craziest thing outside of like maybe fighting Taekwondo that you've done that you're like, damn, like that shit felt good.

00:51:18.000 I never did anything other than I had three kickboxing fights, but other than fighting, that was the scariest shit that I ever did.

00:51:27.000 Yeah.

00:51:27.000 I mean, I've never done it.

00:51:28.000 I'm not like a parachute.

00:51:30.000 No.

00:51:31.000 Okay.

00:51:31.000 I'm not a bungee jumper.

00:51:32.000 I mean, I've done bungee jumping on vacation.

00:51:34.000 I did ziplining.

00:51:35.000 I was like, what am I doing?

00:51:36.000 This is stupid.

00:51:37.000 I don't like doing stiff like that.

00:51:39.000 I don't like dumb risks.

00:51:41.000 No, I'm big, so I went on a ziplining one time.

00:51:44.000 You know, you got to jump off the thing.

00:51:45.000 Right.

00:51:46.000 You got to jump off the platform.

00:51:48.000 I thought I was going to fight.

00:51:49.000 Joe, I'm kidding.

00:51:50.000 That might have been my last day on earth if that line didn't hold me.

00:51:52.000 Right.

00:51:53.000 Because what do you weigh about 250?

00:51:54.000 Like 255?

00:51:55.000 And it bounces.

00:51:56.000 You're like, I was in Thailand and I went to do this thing.

00:51:59.000 It was a bungee court thing.

00:52:01.000 And they said I couldn't do it because I was only 200 pounds.

00:52:04.000 And I was like, that's crazy.

00:52:05.000 Like, what happens if you get a guy that lies about his weight?

00:52:08.000 It's over with.

00:52:09.000 Yeah, because people lie about their fucking weight all the time.

00:52:11.000 I've seen the ones where the guys got the squirrel suit on.

00:52:15.000 And they jump off the building or they jump off the rocks and they go down and they come up.

00:52:15.000 Oh, okay.

00:52:20.000 And sometimes they don't.

00:52:21.000 Sometimes they don't come up.

00:52:23.000 My friend Andy did that jumping out of a fucking plane.

00:52:25.000 He made it?

00:52:26.000 Okay.

00:52:26.000 Oh, yeah.

00:52:28.000 He held the world record at one point in time for the longest squirrel suit flight.

00:52:33.000 What do they call those things?

00:52:33.000 What are they called?

00:52:34.000 Wingsuit.

00:52:35.000 Wingsuit?

00:52:35.000 Wingsuit.

00:52:36.000 He held the record for it.

00:52:38.000 It's ridiculous.

00:52:39.000 But Andy's nuts.

00:52:40.000 He's a Navy SEAL.

00:52:41.000 18 miles.

00:52:42.000 18 miles.

00:52:43.000 18 miles?

00:52:44.000 One flight.

00:52:46.000 What do you think he's thinking at like mile nine?

00:52:47.000 Maybe I drop.

00:52:48.000 He's a psycho.

00:52:49.000 I don't know.

00:52:50.000 18 miles is crazy.

00:52:52.000 Yeah, that's crazy.

00:52:53.000 I would never do nothing like that ever.

00:52:55.000 No, I'm not interested in parachuting.

00:52:57.000 I'm not interested in any of that shit.

00:52:58.000 I might get on a wake boat and surf.

00:53:00.000 That's about all.

00:53:01.000 You fall in the water.

00:53:02.000 With a life jacket.

00:53:02.000 Not that big a deal.

00:53:03.000 Yeah.

00:53:04.000 Yeah.

00:53:05.000 That sounds reasonable.

00:53:06.000 That sounds a reasonable thrill.

00:53:08.000 Hey.

00:53:10.000 Falling out the sky is crazy.

00:53:11.000 Falling out the sky is crazy, but at least falling out the sky, you have equipment, you check the equipment, you make sure you double-check.

00:53:18.000 You've done it before.

00:53:19.000 It's done.

00:53:20.000 You know when to do it.

00:53:21.000 With a bull, there's no safeguards.

00:53:25.000 You know, I mean, you have like some sort of a chest protector on some people.

00:53:28.000 You have a helmet.

00:53:30.000 There's no safeguards.

00:53:31.000 He could land on your hip.

00:53:32.000 You're never going to walk again.

00:53:33.000 It's overwhelming.

00:53:34.000 Fuck that.

00:53:35.000 This game over.

00:53:36.000 I can't fathom riding a bull.

00:53:38.000 Yeah.

00:53:38.000 Doesn't Donald do it?

00:53:39.000 Doesn't Donald Cerrone?

00:53:40.000 He rides bulls.

00:53:42.000 He got the name cowboy.

00:53:43.000 He's out of his fucking mind.

00:53:43.000 You better do something.

00:53:44.000 You got to do something with the name cowboy.

00:53:46.000 That's a dude that has a real adrenaline problem.

00:53:48.000 He's got a real.

00:53:49.000 Rightfully so.

00:53:50.000 He looks crazy.

00:53:53.000 He's got a real adrenaline problem.

00:53:55.000 He told the story about getting trapped in a water, he was diving and he got trapped in a cave.

00:54:00.000 And the guy he was with panicked because his cords got tangled up and the water was cloudy and he couldn't figure out how to get out.

00:54:06.000 That was one of the most terrible.

00:54:08.000 I knew he was okay because he was right here telling me the story, but it was one of the most terrifying stories anybody's ever told me.

00:54:13.000 But that dude loves that kind of shit.

00:54:15.000 He loves like thrills.

00:54:18.000 I don't think I can get behind thrills.

00:54:18.000 I can't.

00:54:20.000 I can't.

00:54:21.000 No.

00:54:22.000 It's too much.

00:54:23.000 And especially your heart be like, it's just not working.

00:54:28.000 Is today my day?

00:54:29.000 It can be my day.

00:54:30.000 This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company.

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00:55:34.000 Was fighting for the first time?

00:55:36.000 Was that, what was the difference in the difference in the way it felt the first time you fought versus wrestling?

00:55:43.000 When I wrestle, I'm not really nervous.

00:55:44.000 I'm more anxious to perform and put on a good show.

00:55:48.000 When I went out there for my first fight, my heart was beating on my chest because that pin drops and it's like, it's me or you.

00:55:54.000 And I always had the mentality of like, it's me or you.

00:55:56.000 It's do or die.

00:55:57.000 Today's not my day.

00:55:58.000 You got to go.

00:55:59.000 But that first time, you're like, I kid you now, my heart was like jumping.

00:56:04.000 And John had it like.

00:56:05.000 looking me in the eyes and be like, yo, you're good.

00:56:07.000 Rely on what you know.

00:56:08.000 We've been here before.

00:56:09.000 You've done this before.

00:56:11.000 There's 2,000 people here.

00:56:12.000 You've wrestled in front of 20.

00:56:14.000 Just think about it like that.

00:56:16.000 And when I thought about it like that, my heart rate calmed down.

00:56:18.000 You know, you kind of get like shaky a little bit.

00:56:21.000 You kind of feel like your legs are not there.

00:56:22.000 And that was kind of my first time fighting.

00:56:24.000 After that, at dirty boxing, I wanted to kill that dude.

00:56:29.000 Which is crazy because you couldn't even rely really on your wrestling in that.

00:56:33.000 Which is what I wanted.

00:56:35.000 I wanted to go out there and show you that I can throw punches without having to look down at that leg. 0.55

00:56:40.000 And that's exactly what we did.

00:56:42.000 Was that a calculated decision to try to do that as well?

00:56:45.000 As just like to just have a pure striking fight?

00:56:48.000 Just so you could show that you could do it and then in your own mind, not have your main skill set to rely on.

00:56:56.000 Yes, I really wanted to handicap myself because I wanted to show the people to, and I kind of, hopefully I did show them a great show.

00:57:03.000 You definitely did.

00:57:03.000 I want to show the people, I want to show the people at home that are a casual viewer who doesn't know Gable.

00:57:08.000 Like, hey, can I turn on dirty boxing?

00:57:10.000 And the mom and dad and kids are sitting there watching saying, hey, what is about Gable Stevenson that's special?

00:57:15.000 And he's a wrestler.

00:57:17.000 So what can be special besides wrestling?

00:57:20.000 And then I go out there and I get this knockout and I jump over the ring and I'm doing the Arthur Jones sack dance.

00:57:28.000 The crazy thing was the way you leapt over the ring like it was nothing.

00:57:31.000 That was banana. 0.81

00:57:33.000 What does it feel like to not have, oh, there it is.

00:57:37.000 Boom.

00:57:38.000 But this is the nuttiest part right here.

00:57:41.000 The big jump.

00:57:44.000 Like it was nothing.

00:57:45.000 Like it was nothing.

00:57:47.000 I mean, that is crazy athleticism.

00:57:51.000 But what's wild about that is you look like a really good boxer and you have only been boxing for a very small amount of time.

00:58:00.000 I always had very good confidence in myself.

00:58:03.000 I've always spoke about myself highly.

00:58:05.000 I've always wanted to be over the top, you know, like a WWE.

00:58:09.000 You know, when he gets on the microphone and John Cena's like, you can't see me or Roman Reigns, like acknowledge me.

00:58:14.000 You know, when I go out there, I don't want to have to say those things.

00:58:17.000 I wanted to, when you see me, that's him.

00:58:19.000 And I've always tried to be the bigger than Gable person.

00:58:24.000 But also, like, if we had like a routine combo, you can see like, man, he's a real human.

00:58:28.000 You know, you can talk to him.

00:58:29.000 He does real things.

00:58:31.000 We put on shoes the same way.

00:58:32.000 We put on pants the same way.

00:58:33.000 And I feel like a lot of superstars don't really show people that side of them.

00:58:37.000 And it's up to them if they want to or they not.

00:58:38.000 But I've always really like showing the families and the kids that like, man, look at Gable.

00:58:43.000 He's an awful human being, but when you compete, you're special.

00:58:47.000 But it's just crazy to be able to do that in a sport that you're relatively new at.

00:58:47.000 It's different.

00:58:52.000 I mean, just, man, just think big about yourself.

00:58:55.000 I tell every kid.

00:58:56.000 I tell everybody.

00:58:57.000 What's crazy about that, honestly, is like, I know you're just going to get better at it.

00:59:01.000 That's what's crazy.

00:59:02.000 When you watch someone strike that well early in their striking career, like your striking journey is so new that the sky's the limit as far as your potential.

00:59:13.000 Joe, in the nicest way possible, I really want to say this, that's the worst I'll ever be.

00:59:18.000 The worst I'll ever be.

00:59:20.000 And for whoever who's going to watch this, that's the worst I've ever been.

00:59:23.000 Just think about it.

00:59:25.000 14 seconds.

00:59:27.000 And then now think about if you're going to put some time into me, some effort into me, and I'm putting effort into myself.

00:59:33.000 That dirty boxing is probably the weakest I'll ever be in the sport of MMA.

00:59:37.000 I believe you.

00:59:38.000 I believe you.

00:59:39.000 I mean, it only makes sense if you've been training that short amount of time at striking.

00:59:43.000 Now, when you train striking, are you training boxing?

00:59:45.000 Are you doing Muay Thai?

00:59:47.000 Like, what kind of striking training are you doing?

00:59:49.000 Are you incorporating it all together in MMA?

00:59:51.000 I do it all.

00:59:53.000 So, a lot of days I go in, so I kind of have like a really good schedule right now since I'm not going to go into a fight.

00:59:58.000 So, I do every day besides Sunday, some days are two days, like because I go to lifetime and play basketball.

01:00:03.000 I go to lifetime and sit in a cold tub and sauna and stuff.

01:00:07.000 But when I strike, I go in there.

01:00:09.000 One round is maybe boxing.

01:00:10.000 Next round is kicks, teeps, knees, everything, elbows.

01:00:15.000 The next round is the blueprint I have of what moves I need to really do to get in to kind of get to my shots.

01:00:22.000 Or I'm going to fake shoot and punch.

01:00:24.000 And then I probably go 10 rounds, 12 rounds of that, five minutes each.

01:00:28.000 So you always incorporate all the MMA skills together in a workout.

01:00:32.000 I try to.

01:00:33.000 What's interesting, when I was talking to Ilya Taporia, when he's particularly when he's not training for a fight, he doesn't do that.

01:00:41.000 He is very rare in that, like when he goes and he works on his boxing, he'll just box.

01:00:47.000 He just boxes.

01:00:48.000 When he works on his jiu-jitsu, he just does jiu-jitsu.

01:00:51.000 When he works on his wrestling, he just does wrestling.

01:00:54.000 Then he puts them all together with MMA training.

01:00:57.000 But he spends an exorbitant amount of time on each individual skill by itself to really like hone and tighten those things out, which is an interesting choice.

01:01:08.000 And obviously for him, it's worked out spectacularly.

01:01:10.000 Yes, I have.

01:01:11.000 But there's no real, like, I guess if you want to be like an elite soccer player, I'm sure there's a program that they've kind of devised.

01:01:20.000 Like, this is the very best way to become a good soccer player.

01:01:24.000 They have, you know, coaches and they game plan.

01:01:27.000 They know what to do.

01:01:28.000 With MMA, there's all these different approaches.

01:01:31.000 Everyone, Alex Pereira's approach is different than Marab's approach, which will be different than your approach.

01:01:37.000 Everybody's got a different thing.

01:01:39.000 Yeah, it's just like you said, it depends a person and it also depends on the team that you have.

01:01:44.000 I'm just really big on, I'm still very new, so I'm really big on just trying to make sure I can absorb all the information possible.

01:01:49.000 And kind of when I go into these fights, these first few fights come kind of showcase what I can.

01:01:55.000 And sadly, they have ended early.

01:01:57.000 Not sadly, but in a good way, you know what I'm saying?

01:02:00.000 But just go out there and showcase who I am.

01:02:02.000 And when I go train, man, I don't mind sitting in there all day.

01:02:04.000 Sometimes me and John will practice for hours just sitting there repeating, repeating.

01:02:10.000 And then all of a sudden we go into eight o'clock.

01:02:12.000 It's midnight.

01:02:13.000 But I like that though, because it makes me feel good.

01:02:15.000 It makes me feel like there's someone invested in me that makes me feel like I'm here for a purpose.

01:02:19.000 And it makes me feel like this is what I'm, there's someone out of the country, there's someone in Russia.

01:02:24.000 When I'm asleep, he's up.

01:02:26.000 And I don't like that.

01:02:28.000 He's up working.

01:02:29.000 So when I can get all the time possible, I'm making sure I get all that time because I don't want that dude to show up one day and he's got a little inch on me.

01:02:36.000 And I just can't, I can't think about that happening.

01:02:39.000 I always have that thought in my head in terms of like UFC fighters.

01:02:43.000 Like there's such a shallow division.

01:02:46.000 The heavyweight division is so shallow.

01:02:47.000 I'm like, there has got to be some elite Russian wrestlers that are thinking about going the Fedora Amelianenko route.

01:02:55.000 Like they're thinking about, I know Nemkoff, who just won the PFL title.

01:02:59.000 He's a very high-level guy.

01:03:01.000 But there has to be some really high-level wrestlers that are considering going into MMA.

01:03:07.000 Right now, Russian heavyweights are really not as good as people think in wrestling.

01:03:12.000 They got a guy named Abdur Sheesa Alive.

01:03:14.000 I don't know if you heard of him.

01:03:15.000 I have.

01:03:16.000 He told me about him.

01:03:16.000 60.

01:03:17.000 Man, he is crazy.

01:03:18.000 If he came to fighting, it's over with.

01:03:20.000 Not for heavyweights, for the other groups, because he's got to go through me.

01:03:25.000 If he comes heavyweight, but Iranians' heavyweights are really good. 1.00

01:03:30.000 I think that's where the heavyweight field should start coming from is I ran.

01:03:34.000 They got a lot of good, they got two good guys that are, one's my age, I'm 25, and another one is, I think, 22.

01:03:40.000 They battle for the Olympic spot every year, but the older one wins just by a little.

01:03:43.000 But the time is going to pass where that guy steps up and he's going to take the spot.

01:03:48.000 So I would watch out for him.

01:03:50.000 You know, what's interesting with MMA is some guys have a background in wrestling and then they learn how to strike and they fall in love with striking and then they hardly ever wrestle when they fight.

01:04:02.000 You know, it's kind of weird.

01:04:05.000 Like you would see that a lot in the early 10, like Josh Koszczyk is a good example, who's a very good amateur wrestler.

01:04:11.000 And then when he fought in MMA, very rarely wrestled.

01:04:14.000 It was mostly striking.

01:04:15.000 You know, he could knock guys outstanding.

01:04:17.000 And I think guys kind of fall in love with that.

01:04:19.000 And then there's also the amount of effort.

01:04:21.000 It's so tiring to wrestle along with all the other things that sometimes guys just put that aside and they just decide to stand and bang with people.

01:04:30.000 I really like wrestling.

01:04:31.000 I grew up wrestling.

01:04:32.000 And if I had a chance, I would love to go to 2028 Olympics and win a gold medal.

01:04:37.000 That's how much I still love wrestling.

01:04:38.000 But right now, my path is MMA.

01:04:40.000 And I knew the first couple of times that I would get those knockouts, you look at your hands and it's like Spider-Man, you got superpowers.

01:04:47.000 Like I got lightning in my hands.

01:04:50.000 I would have never thought in my 25 years of life that I would go out there and I would left hook somebody and he would be out cold and I would double leg and flip him.

01:04:56.000 Who would have ever thought that would ever happen?

01:04:58.000 And so like, you're right.

01:05:00.000 You get obsessed with knocking people out, but I still think my base is wrestling.

01:05:04.000 I just haven't used the best base yet.

01:05:06.000 And that's just, I just want to show people that my best base doesn't need to be used because the second best one is just as good as the first.

01:05:14.000 Well, and the second best one is getting better all the time.

01:05:16.000 That's the thing.

01:05:18.000 And again, I keep going back to this, but if you can get that good at wrestling, you can get that good at anything.

01:05:23.000 It's just a matter of putting in the time and dedicating yourself to that thing.

01:05:27.000 But it's the mindset that allows someone to become an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling.

01:05:32.000 Boy, if that person, that's a scary person, if that person decides to focus on whatever the fuck it is, fucking pickleball, who gives a shit?

01:05:40.000 They'll be elite at it.

01:05:41.000 They just have to put their mind on it.

01:05:43.000 It's 100% a mindset thing.

01:05:45.000 It ain't nothing else.

01:05:46.000 You can have athletic ability.

01:05:48.000 You can hard work all day.

01:05:49.000 You can be so disciplined in the world.

01:05:51.000 But if your mind doesn't think it, that's why I feel like that's why I beat a lot of people before I even walked out there is I knew it.

01:05:58.000 I just, you just got to know.

01:05:59.000 And some people.

01:06:01.000 Some people just don't feel it.

01:06:02.000 And you just got to feel it.

01:06:03.000 I know.

01:06:04.000 You know, it's like I was talking to a friend of mine.

01:06:07.000 I don't want to mention any names because then you'll connect it to the fighter.

01:06:10.000 But he said, man, he goes, I don't want to fuck with anybody anymore that needs a mental coach.

01:06:15.000 And I said, really?

01:06:16.000 He goes, it's just like, this is just too much.

01:06:16.000 Why?

01:06:18.000 He goes, I want a dude who don't need that shit.

01:06:20.000 You don't need it.

01:06:21.000 It's interesting because some guys do.

01:06:24.000 And some guys, that mental coach takes them over the top and then they find a way to win where maybe they'd have mental hiccups in the past.

01:06:33.000 But his mentality was, I want a guy who has no problems.

01:06:39.000 Like if I'm going to coach a guy, I don't want a guy who's a head case.

01:06:41.000 I want a guy who goes in there and already has this.

01:06:45.000 I'm going to fucking dominate.

01:06:46.000 And if I don't, I'm going to learn why I didn't dominate and I'm going to come back.

01:06:50.000 I'm going to get him next time.

01:06:51.000 Yeah.

01:06:52.000 And I feel like that's the person I am.

01:06:53.000 I just want to go in there and dominate.

01:06:55.000 And I also think that a lot of people kind of rely too much on a lot of outside things to kind of make them feel good about themselves to go out there and perform instead of just putting that switch on and just saying, hey, we here.

01:07:06.000 Outside things like what?

01:07:08.000 Just, you know, mental coaches.

01:07:09.000 You know, someone, you got to get someone else to be maybe a breathworking coach, another coach, another coach.

01:07:14.000 There's so many labels for coaches out there that you don't need.

01:07:17.000 And when I was wrestling at Minnesota, I had Brandon Eggham, Luke Becker, who's the assistant and head coach, and Trevor Brambo.

01:07:25.000 That's all I had.

01:07:26.000 I didn't have nobody else.

01:07:27.000 Because I didn't want anybody to interfere with the connection that we had.

01:07:31.000 And I feel like when you get a great bond with somebody and then you bring in more people, the bonds get mixed up.

01:07:37.000 People are paying attention to too many different things.

01:07:39.000 Instead of practicing, maybe I got to work on my mind.

01:07:41.000 Instead of working on my mind, maybe I got to go do something else.

01:07:45.000 Maybe I got to take care of something else.

01:07:48.000 Sort of like when you were talking about not watching video on your opponents because you're thinking about his double, how am I going to stop his double?

01:07:53.000 Instead of thinking about what am I going to do?

01:07:55.000 Yeah.

01:07:56.000 I would rather be productive for the team instead of productive for eight different people and maybe three of them don't care about you as much.

01:08:02.000 You know, they're there just to get a little something from you.

01:08:04.000 Right, Where are you training now?

01:08:07.000 Right now in still Minneapolis.

01:08:09.000 I'm having a baby girl this Sunday.

01:08:11.000 Oh, congratulations.

01:08:12.000 This Sunday, my little girl's coming.

01:08:13.000 I appreciate it.

01:08:14.000 Thank you.

01:08:14.000 That's awesome.

01:08:15.000 She's going to pop out.

01:08:16.000 My lady's going to hopefully get induced that day. 1.00

01:08:18.000 If it comes early, it comes early.

01:08:20.000 So that'll be really nice.

01:08:21.000 So I'm in Minneapolis right now.

01:08:22.000 But when I do all the main training, New Mexico, Jackson Wink.

01:08:27.000 Okay.

01:08:27.000 So in Minneapolis, where are you training?

01:08:30.000 That guy with that guy, Billy Simon, and probably.

01:08:31.000 The same guy.

01:08:32.000 I've been with him forever.

01:08:33.000 So you're in this little tiny gym?

01:08:35.000 I'm in that little gym.

01:08:36.000 Nobody sees us.

01:08:38.000 We got partners that need to come in.

01:08:40.000 But rather than that, I don't want the big lights.

01:08:43.000 When I was growing up in Portage, Indiana, I had a wrestling mat in the garage, and me and my two brothers would wrestle.

01:08:49.000 And that's where we got the most work in.

01:08:51.000 My dad said, go in there and hand fight, and whoever comes out comes out. 0.98

01:08:54.000 And it was definitely not me at the time.

01:08:57.000 But maybe right now is me.

01:08:59.000 But we would go in there and hand fighting.

01:09:02.000 My dad's philosophy was we had Iowa-style wrestling, and Iowa-style wrestling was brutal. 0.52

01:09:07.000 If his face needs to be run into the wall, run his face into the wall.

01:09:10.000 And that's how we grew up.

01:09:11.000 And if you don't want your face ran into the wall, you better put his in first. 0.99

01:09:15.000 Right.

01:09:17.000 And so when you train with this guy, are you training, like, are you training like I could get a call in a week to fight and I'm ready to do that?

01:09:25.000 Or are you training like just developing skills constantly?

01:09:29.000 I just religiously train to develop skills constantly.

01:09:32.000 I try not to never stop.

01:09:34.000 I don't like stopping because I'm kind of a, this is crazy.

01:09:37.000 I'm a thicker body, so if I sit for a little bit, I feel like I'm getting fat.

01:09:40.000 And I want to feel that way.

01:09:42.000 So I just try to always keep myself in shape and try to keep the best look possible.

01:09:45.000 So if you need me on one week, which I don't want to do any short notice, just how me and John do it, no short notice.

01:09:52.000 Like if you need me in a week, I look good.

01:09:53.000 I'm ready.

01:09:54.000 But we just take our time.

01:09:56.000 So did John coach you about that?

01:09:57.000 Like give you some thoughts about that?

01:09:59.000 Because I think that's a giant mistake that guys make.

01:10:02.000 And like the Alexander Volkanovsky fight is a good example.

01:10:05.000 The Islam Makachev fight, he took that fight on 11 days' notice.

01:10:09.000 He's just been hanging around, drinking, partying, just being himself, just chilling.

01:10:14.000 And then all of a sudden he gets this opportunity for a rematch.

01:10:16.000 First fight was a razor-thin decision.

01:10:19.000 He lost and he's like, I can do better, but you can't do better without a camp.

01:10:24.000 You got to have time to be yourself.

01:10:26.000 Yeah.

01:10:26.000 You have to have time to peek.

01:10:28.000 And one of the things I really always admired about John is like, even a fight like the Chal Son and fight, they offered him Chaosan on short notice. 0.60

01:10:36.000 He was like, nope.

01:10:38.000 Nope.

01:10:38.000 And they're like, we need you to do this.

01:10:41.000 He's like, nope.

01:10:42.000 I'm a professional world champion.

01:10:44.000 I prepare for my opponents.

01:10:46.000 And I don't want to fight unless I'm prepared for my opponent.

01:10:50.000 It's the smartest way.

01:10:50.000 Period.

01:10:51.000 Look at him.

01:10:52.000 He's the GOAT.

01:10:53.000 I mean, it's just so many guys that get, and I do appreciate that Alex does take those short-notice fights and he wins some of those short-notice fights.

01:11:02.000 But how many times he's fought injured, like really injured?

01:11:05.000 Like the first Yuri Prohovska fight, he had a fucked up knee, man.

01:11:09.000 And when he stopped Yuri, there's a moment when he's on top of Yuri and he's beaten on him and the referee stops it and he goes to step up and he rolls off of him.

01:11:18.000 The reason he rolled off him, he couldn't support himself on his knee.

01:11:22.000 That's how fucked up his knee was.

01:11:24.000 And he was in a world title fight.

01:11:27.000 It's bad.

01:11:27.000 Crazy.

01:11:28.000 Well, I feel like this is the only sport where they would let that happen just because football, you sitting on you sitting on IR.

01:11:34.000 Yes, we don't have no IR.

01:11:36.000 It's either you do it or you say no.

01:11:38.000 And if you say no, they get upset at you.

01:11:38.000 Right.

01:11:40.000 A lot of people get timid.

01:11:41.000 Yeah.

01:11:42.000 And I mean, once you get past that barrier, I think right now, since I'm going to have this daughter, I think my tone and mindset has changed to kind of really be more of a father figure for her, but also for like if kids want to look at me and be like, wow, you know, Gable's normal also.

01:11:57.000 But I think just you got to say no to a lot of people.

01:11:59.000 You got to be, you got to be generous in a lot of ways, but you also got to be able to go out there and say, I don't like this.

01:12:06.000 I don't feel this way about this, and this is why.

01:12:08.000 And be cool on both sides.

01:12:10.000 But some people get scared about that moment.

01:12:13.000 Are you doing what kind of strength and conditioning are you doing?

01:12:17.000 So I still, I still lift with the college team.

01:12:19.000 So everything they do with wrestling teams.

01:12:20.000 The college wrestling team?

01:12:21.000 Yes, everything they do at the University of Minnesota, I still do.

01:12:24.000 I still got the same strength coach with them.

01:12:27.000 Bike sprints, aerodynamics, Watt bike, VersaClimbers, everything.

01:12:33.000 We try to mix it in all rowers, everything, just to stay active.

01:12:37.000 And if it's not where we're getting close to a fight, just maybe just take longer breaks in between just to keep the heart rate up.

01:12:43.000 But I don't like when my heart rate takes a break.

01:12:46.000 I like to kind of keep it consistent.

01:12:48.000 So when I ramp up, it's already ready to rock around.

01:12:50.000 You already have a very high baseline.

01:12:52.000 Yeah.

01:12:52.000 And like when you're doing strength and conditioning as far as like weightlifting and stuff like that, like are you trying to put on weight at all?

01:12:59.000 No.

01:13:00.000 No, I like 250.

01:13:01.000 I like to stay where I'm at.

01:13:02.000 I do a lot of band work, a lot of explosive work, a lot of jumps, a lot of light weights with high reps just to kind of keep the body moving and kind of keep the cutness and the strength there, but not also put too much where you're stiff.

01:13:16.000 And you're naturally a large guy anyway.

01:13:19.000 It's not like you have to put on a ton of weight.

01:13:21.000 But like when you see a guy like Francis who's 265 natural, you know, and he used to have to cut a little bit of weight to make 260, which is kind of crazy, isn't it?

01:13:30.000 Isn't it crazy?

01:13:31.000 But it's also crazy that the UFC has a weight limit that you have to make at heavyweight.

01:13:35.000 You have to cut weight to make heavyweight.

01:13:37.000 How different do you think it would be if they didn't have 265 and it was just it should be no weight.

01:13:43.000 It's heavyweight.

01:13:44.000 It should be what they really need is more weight classes.

01:13:48.000 The UFC there's gaps that are just enormous.

01:13:52.000 Like the gap between 85 and 205 is crazy.

01:13:55.000 20 pound weight gap in between categories is that doesn't make any sense to me.

01:14:00.000 10 pounds.

01:14:02.000 10 pounds is still a lot, but at least it's reasonable.

01:14:04.000 How many weight classes boxing have?

01:14:06.000 A shitload.

01:14:06.000 Like 30?

01:14:08.000 They have so many.

01:14:10.000 Boxing has so many weight classes.

01:14:12.000 Boxing got like eight champions for each weight, too.

01:14:14.000 That's a problem.

01:14:15.000 That's a problem.

01:14:16.000 MMA does as well, right?

01:14:17.000 If you think about it, there's the one champion, there's the PFL champion.

01:14:21.000 But the difference is really only the UFC champion in terms of the public perception.

01:14:26.000 Like we talked about Nemkov, who's an excellent fighter.

01:14:28.000 Nobody knows who the fuck he is.

01:14:30.000 Not in America.

01:14:31.000 You go to a regular kid, you know, some kid on the street, and you know, you say, who is Vadim Nemkov?

01:14:36.000 And they're like, what?

01:14:37.000 But I bet you that kid knows I show speed.

01:14:40.000 I bet they do, right?

01:14:41.000 I bet they do, right?

01:14:43.000 Right.

01:14:44.000 They know I show speed.

01:14:45.000 They probably know who Alex Pereira is.

01:14:47.000 They probably know who Islam Makachev is. 0.99

01:14:49.000 They know who the UFC guys are.

01:14:51.000 The UFC, that title is worth so much.

01:14:54.000 It's so, it's, you know, it's a, it's the name.

01:14:59.000 It's the, it is the combat sports leader.

01:15:02.000 And if you're not in the UFC, I don't care.

01:15:05.000 I mean, you look, you can go to the PFL and you can win that million-dollar tournament and you can make money.

01:15:10.000 And I'm all for that.

01:15:11.000 And I'm very happy for those guys.

01:15:12.000 They get to feed their family and they provide and they make a great living and they can retire with some money in the bank.

01:15:19.000 But the reality is, part of what you're doing is you're trying to be the best.

01:15:24.000 And if you're going to be the best, you kind of have to be in the UFC.

01:15:28.000 I mean, that's just what it is.

01:15:28.000 Agreed.

01:15:30.000 That's just what it is.

01:15:31.000 There's so many great leagues, but like the most prestigious people, you can say PFL, you can say anything.

01:15:36.000 And you can go to any place and make a shit ton of money.

01:15:40.000 But once you get that stamp of he's a UFC champ, people are like, damn, man, that's him.

01:15:45.000 That's him.

01:15:45.000 That's it.

01:15:46.000 They put that UFC belt on you, and it's on ESPN, and everybody sees it.

01:15:46.000 Yeah, that's it.

01:15:50.000 That's it.

01:15:51.000 The PFL is just another belt.

01:15:54.000 It's like, you know, boxing has so they have the IBF, the WBA, the WBO, the WBC.

01:16:01.000 It's like, just like so many fucking organizations.

01:16:04.000 It just gets so crazy.

01:16:06.000 Then they try to make Terrence Crawford pay for his belt.

01:16:08.000 Ridiculous.

01:16:09.000 How crazy is that?

01:16:10.000 Terrence Crawford's like, fuck you.

01:16:11.000 I'm the champ.

01:16:12.000 I just wanted to.

01:16:12.000 Wanted 300,000?

01:16:14.000 Is that what they wanted from him?

01:16:14.000 Everybody saw it.

01:16:15.000 300 grand?

01:16:17.000 Can we get a look on this?

01:16:18.000 Because I might be tripping.

01:16:19.000 But they just stripped him.

01:16:21.000 I know they stripped him.

01:16:22.000 It's like percentage of purse.

01:16:24.000 And I think it was like 3% of whatever he made.

01:16:27.000 So it was.

01:16:28.000 That's so nuts.

01:16:29.000 That is so nuts.

01:16:30.000 That is so nuts that they get paid that much, just be a sanctioning body.

01:16:35.000 And what are they doing?

01:16:36.000 They're not doing anything.

01:16:37.000 Like, it doesn't mean anything.

01:16:39.000 Well, they just get the best-looking guy to maybe throw a belt on you. 1.00

01:16:44.000 That's about all.

01:16:45.000 They don't really get nothing else.

01:16:46.000 You get nothing.

01:16:47.000 You get a belt.

01:16:48.000 But everybody knows he beat they beat the brakes off Canelo Alvarez.

01:16:52.000 That's it.

01:16:53.000 Man, I love him.

01:16:53.000 He's the champion.

01:16:54.000 I love Canelo as well.

01:16:56.000 But, you know, I love what Terrence did because what Terrence did was crazy.

01:17:01.000 He goes all the way up from 47 to 68.

01:17:05.000 He had one fight at 54, you know, wins the title at 54, and then goes all the way up to 68.

01:17:11.000 And everybody's like, Canelo is going to be too big.

01:17:13.000 Canelo's going to be too big.

01:17:14.000 Nope.

01:17:15.000 Nope.

01:17:16.000 Skill.

01:17:17.000 He's next.

01:17:18.000 Yep.

01:17:18.000 Skill is king.

01:17:19.000 He's 38.

01:17:20.000 He's 38.

01:17:21.000 He could do a couple more if he wanted to.

01:17:22.000 I don't think he does.

01:17:23.000 But he doesn't want to.

01:17:24.000 But he's done.

01:17:24.000 And I love it.

01:17:25.000 I love that he's done.

01:17:26.000 $300,000.

01:17:26.000 Dethroned over a $300,000 fee.

01:17:29.000 Wow.

01:17:31.000 That's crazy.

01:17:33.000 Do you think that's right?

01:17:34.000 No.

01:17:36.000 Unpaid fees and brief reign as undisputed champion.

01:17:39.000 It doesn't matter.

01:17:41.000 He's the fucking champion.

01:17:42.000 You can't take the guy's belt because he's not willing to give you money.

01:17:45.000 Fuck you.

01:17:46.000 He won.

01:17:47.000 He won.

01:17:48.000 Fuck off.

01:17:49.000 Fuck off.

01:17:50.000 He won.

01:17:50.000 Well, now I see, is there going to be a new boxing promotion?

01:17:53.000 Zephyr?

01:17:54.000 Zufa? 0.83

01:17:55.000 Sorry.

01:17:55.000 Yeah.

01:17:56.000 So the UFC is doing something with the Saudis.

01:18:00.000 And they are, I think they're launching their first event in January.

01:18:04.000 I think they're launching their first event the night before the big UFC on Paramount event.

01:18:08.000 So it'll be the 23rd.

01:18:10.000 Yes.

01:18:10.000 I don't think they've announced anything in terms of the card, who's going to be on it.

01:18:15.000 I mean, that's not a lot of time.

01:18:16.000 You know, that's only not even a month from now.

01:18:19.000 So I don't even understand how they're doing that.

01:18:23.000 But they're probably going to do the same thing that Riyadh Season's doing, you know.

01:18:29.000 Which is really smart.

01:18:30.000 Riyadh Season's great.

01:18:32.000 I mean, it's putting guys into that next level category of, hey, you are a star.

01:18:36.000 And Turkey Al Sheikh is throwing crazy money for a lot of these guys.

01:18:41.000 They deserve it.

01:18:41.000 Oh, yeah.

01:18:42.000 Oh, they definitely do.

01:18:43.000 But it's, you know, if you do that, you're going to get people to fight that would avoid each other ordinarily, you know?

01:18:52.000 And, you know, we've seen that already.

01:18:54.000 The Saudis have already been able to do that.

01:18:56.000 Get guys to fight.

01:18:58.000 And, you know, you're going to put on the most exciting fights.

01:19:00.000 You're going to put on the best matchups.

01:19:02.000 And so I think the UFC is trying to do that same kind of model.

01:19:06.000 And now that the Saudis own Ring Magazine, so they have the Ring Magazine belt, which has always been the most prestigious belt.

01:19:13.000 You know, like there's always a bunch of different champions in different weight classes.

01:19:18.000 But if you're a fan of Ring Magazine like I am, when you would get Ring Magazine and they would have the Ring champion, you know, with Marvin Hagler, like, well, that's the fucking champion.

01:19:26.000 That's him.

01:19:27.000 Yeah, that's it.

01:19:28.000 There might be a WBO guy out there, a WBA guy out there, but the reality is that's the guy.

01:19:33.000 That's the guy.

01:19:34.000 And the boxing needs like a unified champion thing like that. 0.57

01:19:40.000 So when you see Terrence in there with like five belts, like it's great that he's got all those belts.

01:19:44.000 But why?

01:19:45.000 It should be one belt.

01:19:47.000 It's like, this is the super middleweight champion of the fucking planet, period.

01:19:52.000 Fuck all your sanctioning bodies. 0.99

01:19:54.000 That's the guy.

01:19:55.000 That's it.

01:19:56.000 One belt is all he needs.

01:19:57.000 And they're all different colors, too.

01:20:00.000 They're all cool looking.

01:20:01.000 They're all cool looking.

01:20:02.000 I mean, it's cool.

01:20:03.000 He's got them all.

01:20:03.000 I mean, you go over his living room.

01:20:04.000 It's probably dope.

01:20:05.000 The Instagram picture looks cool.

01:20:07.000 Yeah.

01:20:07.000 It looks great.

01:20:08.000 I mean, he looked great when he was in the ring and he's got him on his shoulders and shit, one on his waist.

01:20:12.000 I wonder if they fight over who gets to be on the waist.

01:20:15.000 I'll give you an extra 100 grand if you put it on your waist.

01:20:18.000 But the reality is, it's like the belt doesn't mean anything.

01:20:21.000 The fighter means something.

01:20:22.000 And when we all know who the champ is, we all know it's Terrence.

01:20:26.000 If this other guy gets the belts, like, okay.

01:20:28.000 But you didn't beat Terrence Crawford, so you're not really the 168-pound champion.

01:20:32.000 But isn't that a hard?

01:20:33.000 Do you think for a boxer like that, is that a hard shadow to live in?

01:20:37.000 Or do you think it's a shadow to, or is that labeled as a shadow?

01:20:41.000 Because Terrence leaves and then you step up.

01:20:44.000 Well, that's different.

01:20:45.000 When Terrence leaves, if he gives up all the belts and he really does decide to totally leave, which I'm not totally convinced, because I think they wanted him to have a rematch with Canelo, and I think he threw a big number at them.

01:20:59.000 This is all I'm reading rumors online.

01:21:01.000 I don't know what's see if you find out if that's true.

01:21:04.000 Did they offer, did Terrence Crawford demand like a certain amount for a Canelo Alvarez rematch?

01:21:09.000 Because he's coming in soon.

01:21:11.000 I'll ask him in person.

01:21:12.000 But I feel like you could probably entice him for one more big fight.

01:21:20.000 You know, one more big fight at 68 or maybe even at 54.

01:21:20.000 Probably could.

01:21:25.000 I mean, really, he could fight at 47.

01:21:28.000 When do you think there comes a point where people need to just stop?

01:21:31.000 And like, you know, there's always going to be money thrown at you.

01:21:34.000 But when do you come up, when do you think there's a point that like different for each person, you know?

01:21:38.000 Yeah.

01:21:39.000 So here it is right here.

01:21:41.000 So Bernie Davis revealed that Terrence Crawford's price for a Canelo rematch, and it's massive.

01:21:46.000 According to Davis, Crawford won't return to the ring with Canelo Alvarez unless he's paid $100 million.

01:21:51.000 And he deserves it.

01:21:52.000 Rightfully so.

01:21:53.000 So Crawford earned $50 million for the first fight in September, but after a tactical, low-action bout that disappointed many fans, fuck off.

01:21:59.000 Who the fuck did that disappoint?

01:22:02.000 Who did that disappoint?

01:22:03.000 You got to be a casual if that disappointed you.

01:22:05.000 Tactical, low-action bout.

01:22:09.000 Who wrote this?

01:22:10.000 I don't know.

01:22:11.000 Fuck off.

01:22:12.000 I think I could write a better one than this.

01:22:13.000 I think boxing has some very disrespectful journalists. 0.85

01:22:16.000 I see some disrespectful shit they write about boxers.

01:22:20.000 Go back to that little thing when it said there.

01:22:23.000 So anyway, pressure now on Turkey Alashik to decide whether the rematch is worth that kind of money.

01:22:28.000 Fans already calling for other opponents, Benavidez, Peter Biev, Bevol, fighters they believe bring real action.

01:22:35.000 Oh, so this is a kind of a disrespectful.

01:22:39.000 Why is she dissing? 1.00

01:22:40.000 Why are they dissing him like this?

01:22:41.000 They do that a lot.

01:22:42.000 There's a lot of shit talking in boxing, which I guess is fine.

01:22:46.000 I like that there's not that much of that in MMA.

01:22:48.000 MMA is much more respectful.

01:22:50.000 Really standard and respectful.

01:22:51.000 Yeah, and that guy deserves everything.

01:22:53.000 He's one of the greatest to ever do it and one of the best switch hitters in the history of the sport.

01:22:59.000 Are you putting him above Floyd?

01:23:01.000 It's hard.

01:23:03.000 It's, you know, it's hard.

01:23:04.000 You know, they never fought each other, which I think would have been amazing if they're both in their prime at the same time.

01:23:09.000 That would have been fantastic to watch.

01:23:11.000 Ain't Floyd supposed to fight Mike?

01:23:13.000 Am I tripping?

01:23:14.000 Yes, I think I'm tripping.

01:23:16.000 I mean, I feel like that's going to be like Floyd versus, or excuse me, like Mike versus Roy or like Mike versus Logan.

01:23:23.000 It kind of looks more like sparring, more like sparring, really, than a fight fight.

01:23:29.000 How is Floyd going to fight Mike Tyson?

01:23:32.000 Have you ever spoken to Mike Tyson?

01:23:34.000 Yeah, I've had him on a couple times.

01:23:35.000 Yeah, man, he's my favorite.

01:23:37.000 He's my favorite.

01:23:38.000 Bro, when he was in his prime, there was nobody like him.

01:23:41.000 There was nobody like him because he had that speed, that speed.

01:23:45.000 And that's something that you have.

01:23:47.000 The speed of a lighter person in the frame of a heavyweight is an extraordinary gift because so many of these heavyweights, man, they got big power, but like Francis, big power, but they don't move like a lightweight guy.

01:24:03.000 They don't move like a 170-pound guy.

01:24:05.000 When Mike was in his prime, he was so fast.

01:24:10.000 You could see guys trying to calculate and calibrate because it was different.

01:24:14.000 They were used to fighting heavyweights.

01:24:16.000 And all of a sudden, you got this guy bobbing and weaving and moving towards you.

01:24:19.000 And like, ah, it's crazy.

01:24:21.000 Your brain is being overloaded with all the possibilities.

01:24:24.000 It was just, it was a totally different thing, man.

01:24:26.000 He's by far my favorite.

01:24:28.000 In his prime, he's the most extraordinary heavyweight that ever existed.

01:24:28.000 Oh, yeah.

01:24:32.000 And it was, every show was an execution.

01:24:35.000 It wasn't like, you know, oh my God, is Mike going to lose this one?

01:24:38.000 No, in his prime, it was just all executions.

01:24:41.000 And I think the best thing about that, like being popular back in the day, like he was such a big-time fighter, I was watching a lot of videos like Will Smith and Magic Johnson were showing up and Jordan and stuff.

01:24:51.000 Oh, you know how crazy it is nowadays that we have social media that you don't have to go and watch someone live.

01:24:56.000 But back then, like when you see the videos of Michael Jackson in this hotel and you look out and it's like, wow, it's Michael Jackson.

01:25:02.000 Like that wow factor is like super cool.

01:25:05.000 And he had that amazing to the highest degree.

01:25:08.000 Yeah, everybody dressed up in the best clothes.

01:25:11.000 They all showed up.

01:25:12.000 Chains on, watches on.

01:25:13.000 Everything.

01:25:14.000 It was an event to be seen at.

01:25:17.000 And if you were one of the people that was ringside, you were an elite celebrity.

01:25:23.000 And that was the Mike Tyson era.

01:25:26.000 That was, I mean, it was different.

01:25:29.000 It was different than any other heavyweight since Ali.

01:25:34.000 So you had Ali and then Larry Holmes, who doesn't get the credit that he deserves.

01:25:38.000 He was fantastic, too.

01:25:39.000 I watched Ali.

01:25:40.000 Amazing.

01:25:40.000 He was too.

01:25:41.000 Amazing fighter.

01:25:42.000 But he lived in the shadow of Ali.

01:25:44.000 And a lot of people hated him too because he beat up Ali when Ali was already done.

01:25:48.000 Yeah.

01:25:48.000 That was tough to watch.

01:25:50.000 And, you know, he had been Ali's sparring partner when Ali was younger.

01:25:55.000 And everybody knew how good Larry Holmes was.

01:25:57.000 And everybody knew that Muhammad Ali was older.

01:26:02.000 What's that?

01:26:02.000 Would you do that if he was a sparring partner for your homie?

01:26:05.000 And that's got to be a difficult combo because you burn a bridge.

01:26:10.000 You burn a bridge with the whole society.

01:26:10.000 Yeah.

01:26:12.000 But part of it is like you kind of have to, right?

01:26:15.000 Because if you are the heavyweight champion of the world and they want to set up a fight with Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali wants to fight you and they want to give you $10 million and it's going to be on TV and everybody's hyped up about it.

01:26:27.000 Like, what are you going to do?

01:26:28.000 Say no, I won't fight him.

01:26:30.000 I'm going to relinquish my crown.

01:26:32.000 What are you going to do?

01:26:33.000 Like, I don't know if he had any opportunity to do anything other than fight him.

01:26:38.000 But it's just like he was, Muhammad Ali was so beloved, not just as one of the greatest fighters of all time, but also as a cultural figure that watching that man beat him up like that just beat the shit out of Ali.

01:26:52.000 And then seeing Ali afterwards when he had the shakes and he had Parkinson's and everybody knew that that was trauma-related Parkinson's and knowing that Larry Holmes dished out a lot of that.

01:27:04.000 I think in a lot of people's mind, that always, that so, and I think that to this day is why Larry Holmes does not get the credit that he deserves.

01:27:12.000 He had one of the greatest jabs in the history of the sport.

01:27:14.000 Crazy.

01:27:15.000 I just saw a video of it.

01:27:16.000 Ooh.

01:27:16.000 He was flicking it.

01:27:17.000 Even when he fought Mike.

01:27:18.000 When he fought Mike, he was way past his prime.

01:27:21.000 You know, he had been out for a long time.

01:27:23.000 Mike did his thing.

01:27:24.000 But, you know, there was a round in that fight where Larry Holmes was popping that jab where it made you think, like, man, what would this fight have been like if Larry was in his prime?

01:27:33.000 You know, it would have been very interesting.

01:27:36.000 I think Mike was on another level, though.

01:27:39.000 He was.

01:27:39.000 He was, when I, man, when I see him, he just had the veins.

01:27:42.000 You know, like, that was, that's my like wildfire.

01:27:44.000 He was just.

01:27:45.000 He was a speedy tank.

01:27:47.000 And just the skill, too.

01:27:49.000 And also that style, that peekaboo style was just so different than anything else anybody was doing.

01:27:55.000 So it was so hard to prepare for.

01:27:57.000 You got most of most of these heavyweight boxers were standing straight up.

01:28:01.000 You know, they're throwing jabs and moving, moving like Foreman or moving like Ken Norton, whoever they were.

01:28:06.000 But Muhammad Ali, you know, was the only guy that moved like a lighter guy.

01:28:11.000 He was, he was different.

01:28:12.000 But Mike Tyson was crouching and bobbing and weaving and coming at you.

01:28:18.000 It was a totally different thing to prepare for.

01:28:20.000 You can't prepare for something like that.

01:28:22.000 That's like when someone is too athletic.

01:28:24.000 That's like preparing for Miles Garrett right now.

01:28:26.000 You just can't.

01:28:27.000 He's going to have 25 sacks this year.

01:28:29.000 And it's like, how do you prepare for something like that?

01:28:31.000 Besides, try to psych yourself into maybe I can do it.

01:28:34.000 But this is not going to happen.

01:28:35.000 There's always going to be freaks.

01:28:36.000 There's always going to be these athletic freaks that can just do things that no one else can do.

01:28:40.000 Now there's more than, now there's even more because you see high school football guy, 6'5, 280 going in Ohio State.

01:28:48.000 I'm like, man, what they got.

01:28:49.000 People are bigger.

01:28:50.000 Also, people are doing things for their kids at an early age to optimize their growth and making sure that they come out bigger and stronger and faster and getting them training younger, strength and conditioning and plyometrics and shit when they're real young to get them prepared for things.

01:29:06.000 I mean, look, you know, Vasily Lomachenko?

01:29:09.000 Yes.

01:29:10.000 So that guy, man, he was fast.

01:29:12.000 That dude's dad took him out of boxing for two years to have him learn Ukrainian dance so that he have better footwork.

01:29:18.000 And he was dancing on people.

01:29:19.000 I see I watch his highlights on Instagram.

01:29:22.000 Footwork was insane.

01:29:24.000 Usik's the same. 0.57

01:29:25.000 Usik's the same person.

01:29:25.000 Same coach.

01:29:27.000 Same coach.

01:29:28.000 I really like Usik.

01:29:29.000 Oh my God.

01:29:29.000 Yeah.

01:29:29.000 Usik.

01:29:30.000 He's crazy.

01:29:30.000 Again, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.

01:29:33.000 And not a big guy either.

01:29:34.000 He just knows where to go and when to go, which is nice.

01:29:37.000 What's also constantly moving?

01:29:40.000 He's never right in front of you.

01:29:42.000 He's constantly stepping and stepping and stepping and stepping.

01:29:44.000 And, you know, he's setting you up.

01:29:46.000 And he's always downloading and calculating your movements and your reactions to things.

01:29:50.000 It's so skillful.

01:29:52.000 That to me is the most beautiful thing about boxing: someone could stand in the fire and be so skillful.

01:29:58.000 That, like Crawford, that I mean, standing right in front of Canelo, there was one point in the fight where he was Pity Patnam.

01:30:05.000 Here's Lomachenko when he's in his prime.

01:30:07.000 Like, the movement was bananas.

01:30:10.000 And it was just his ease of footwork.

01:30:13.000 And it wasn't footwork like trying to get away from you.

01:30:16.000 It was footwork standing right in front of you and stepping off to the side and cracking, like that kind of shit.

01:30:22.000 Like these angles, it's just, unless you have tried to do that, you don't know how ridiculously difficult that is.

01:30:28.000 The conditioning, all that is crazy.

01:30:31.000 Oh, yeah.

01:30:32.000 Yeah, your legs have to be in peak form.

01:30:34.000 Super peak form.

01:30:35.000 It's just there's so many guys out there that you could learn from by watching, and they set the bar so high.

01:30:43.000 And that is the difference between watching like Keith Hackney versus Emmanuel Yarborough way back in 1993 versus watching John Jones in 2025.

01:30:52.000 It's like we get to see now these guys that have seen it all, the Pyotr Jans, the Ilya Toporias, the Islam Makachevs.

01:31:00.000 You get to see the elite of the elite today.

01:31:02.000 And these young kids that are coming up now, they get to see that and learn from that and incorporate all these things.

01:31:09.000 And you're seeing these guys that are fighting on Dana White's contender series that are, they look like world championship caliber fighters, and they're not even in the UFC yet.

01:31:18.000 Most definitely the latter guys.

01:31:20.000 Most definitely the latter guys.

01:31:21.000 Yeah, there's so many good guys now.

01:31:24.000 But in the heavyweight division, it's still fairly shallow.

01:31:27.000 I know.

01:31:28.000 Which is where Gable comes in.

01:31:32.000 It's funny.

01:31:33.000 I think I heard you say shallow about three times.

01:31:35.000 And, you know, Joe, in the most nicest way, because I like to be humble with the words, and I like to talk with the confidence.

01:31:42.000 I really think I can go out there and do right by this big promotion and go out there and just be fantastic.

01:31:49.000 I think you can too.

01:31:50.000 And I think you can do what Mike Tyson did, which is revitalize the heavyweight division.

01:31:55.000 Because, I mean, other than John, who's, of course, a superstar, but he's kind of semi-retired, the Tom Aspinall Cyril Gawne thing was a fucking disaster.

01:32:04.000 I mean, that's a disaster.

01:32:06.000 I mean, Tom Aspinall still can't see.

01:32:08.000 He's got a fucked up right eyeball still.

01:32:10.000 It's really bad, right?

01:32:12.000 I mean, the reality is he might not ever fight again.

01:32:14.000 Like, who knows?

01:32:15.000 Like, if he has surgery on his eye and it doesn't go well and he can't see out of the eye, apparently he's still fucked up in his right eye.

01:32:22.000 There's some tendon damage or something.

01:32:25.000 And, you know, eyes are so tricky.

01:32:27.000 You never know.

01:32:28.000 Like, unless you're a fucking complete psychopath like Michael Bisbank, who fought 11 fights in the UFC blind in one eye, which is so crazy that he did that.

01:32:38.000 Do you know what he did, that crazy motherfucker?

01:32:40.000 He memorized the eye chart.

01:32:40.000 What did he do?

01:32:43.000 Like, he memorized it so that he could put a, they could cover his left eye.

01:32:47.000 Oh, my God.

01:32:48.000 And he could just do an eye exam, he knew the letters.

01:32:51.000 They would say, all right, read the third chart.

01:32:53.000 And he would say, A, B, C, D, E.

01:32:56.000 He knew what the letters were.

01:32:57.000 Oh, he's smart.

01:32:58.000 He's crazy.

01:33:00.000 He couldn't fucking see out of one of his eyes and still fought world-class fighters.

01:33:06.000 I think 11 fights he had, only being able to see out of one eye.

01:33:10.000 Yeah.

01:33:10.000 I'm not really sure how to engage with the eye talk on Tom Aspinall.

01:33:15.000 But I think he's a fantastic fighter.

01:33:18.000 I think Gonzalez.

01:33:18.000 What do you mean by engage with the eye talk?

01:33:20.000 You know, I feel like getting poked in the eye sucks.

01:33:22.000 And I just don't know how he feels that he got.

01:33:25.000 You know what I'm saying?

01:33:26.000 We don't know what he was experiencing.

01:33:26.000 So I'm not going to.

01:33:28.000 Yeah.

01:33:29.000 And nobody ever knows.

01:33:30.000 But, you know, critics are going to go online and say, say, X, Y, and Z.

01:33:33.000 But I'm just going to stay in the middle ground.

01:33:35.000 I say, I think Tom's a fantastic fighter.

01:33:38.000 Cyril is great also.

01:33:39.000 And I think a lot of them are also great also.

01:33:41.000 You're going to always say it's really shallow.

01:33:43.000 And I believe it's shallow too.

01:33:44.000 And I believe I can go out there and do the best I can and really dominate when I need to.

01:33:49.000 But just when I see Tom Aspinall, Tom Aspinall reminds me of a guy from Turkey that I wrestled in the Olympics.

01:33:56.000 He was a 2016 Olympic champ.

01:33:58.000 His name is Taha Akgul.

01:34:00.000 He was 6'4, same size as Tom, same build, same everything.

01:34:04.000 And I went out there and I beat him 8-0.

01:34:07.000 And I was in his face for that six minutes.

01:34:09.000 And I let him know that I was here.

01:34:11.000 And I feel like in that instance, that's when the tides change.

01:34:14.000 And I feel like with a guy like Tom, I think I look at him as like a guy like Taha Akul.

01:34:19.000 You know, he's on top.

01:34:21.000 You know, he's still fresh.

01:34:21.000 He's the leader.

01:34:23.000 But I think there's another hungry guy that's going to come.

01:34:26.000 And hopefully it's me that's going to come and go out there and do what I need to do.

01:34:30.000 Well, listen, I hope Tom gets back in because, again, we don't know what's going on with his eye.

01:34:35.000 And for all the critics, you need to know this the right eye that's the problem.

01:34:39.000 But if you look at when he fought, his left eye, the finger went deeper in his left eye than it did his right eye.

01:34:45.000 So if you think he's faking it, he was knuckle deep in that fucking left eye.

01:34:50.000 He was all up in that eye.

01:34:51.000 I mean, it's horrible to see to undergo multiple eye surgeries, multiple eye surgeries.

01:34:51.000 Yeah.

01:34:57.000 And that's horrible.

01:35:00.000 By the time a statement goes out, I'll probably have surgery on one eye already.

01:35:04.000 Next surgery is coming mid-January.

01:35:07.000 Neck surgery.

01:35:08.000 So he's having surgery on both eyes?

01:35:10.000 You know, it's really messed up.

01:35:11.000 But I think the way the post-fight interview went, because I like to look at how people approach the world also, too.

01:35:18.000 And he was just upset how the people were reacting, you know, saying, why the fuck are you booing?

01:35:22.000 Why are you doing this?

01:35:23.000 I mean, there could have been a great approach to that of him saying, man, you know, I got my eye poked, but I'm going to come back stronger from this.

01:35:31.000 Well, the problem is people are always going to doubt you when you get poked in the eye.

01:35:35.000 You know, there's always going to be a bunch of people like, oh, you're fine.

01:35:38.000 Because people have gotten poked in the eye and they have continued fighting.

01:35:41.000 But is that smart?

01:35:42.000 It's a foul.

01:35:43.000 First of all, I think every time a guy gets poked in the eye, one point deduction immediately, instantly, maybe even two points.

01:35:51.000 You should never do that to a person.

01:35:53.000 Never.

01:35:54.000 One thing you notice about Pyotr Jan's fight with Murab, he fights like this.

01:35:59.000 His hand is in a fist.

01:36:00.000 So when he's got his hand up like this and the front hand's extended, he's not doing that.

01:36:05.000 He's kind of guiding you.

01:36:06.000 Yeah.

01:36:07.000 Honestly.

01:36:07.000 Well, he's letting you know this motherfucker's coming.

01:36:11.000 And he's also like in a shell, very well protected by having that one hand up like that and have that shoulder.

01:36:18.000 He's got the chin blocked and then he's doing this with this hand.

01:36:21.000 It's a very good defensive position.

01:36:23.000 Also very skillful because he's so good defensively in terms of his movement and the way he's able to roll with punches and get out of the way in time.

01:36:30.000 But he never pokes in the eye.

01:36:32.000 He's not doing that.

01:36:34.000 Cyril Gon has a habit of doing that.

01:36:36.000 Why do you think that is?

01:36:38.000 You could speculate.

01:36:39.000 You could speculate all day long.

01:36:40.000 You could say he wants to do it.

01:36:42.000 I mean, ask John.

01:36:43.000 John's poked people in the eyes.

01:36:44.000 He does it all the time.

01:36:45.000 Yeah.

01:36:46.000 I mean, even if you would have took the points from him, he still would have won.

01:36:48.000 Yeah.

01:36:49.000 I know.

01:36:49.000 It's just, it's one of those things.

01:36:51.000 It's like, here's the problem.

01:36:54.000 Why are the fingers out in the first place?

01:36:57.000 Like, why don't they cover that shit up?

01:36:59.000 Like, why don't they have it like one of those everlast bag gloves?

01:37:03.000 Okay.

01:37:03.000 Where it's like a mitt.

01:37:04.000 Yeah.

01:37:04.000 I mean, have the thumb out because you don't grapple with these anyway.

01:37:08.000 You don't do this.

01:37:09.000 You never do this.

01:37:10.000 So why do the fingers have to be loose?

01:37:12.000 If you grapple, you're grappling like this or like this.

01:37:14.000 Like, if you're clenching your hands together, you're never clinching your hands together like this.

01:37:19.000 You never interlace your fingers together.

01:37:20.000 So why the fuck are they open in the first place when it only causes problems?

01:37:24.000 If they developed an MMA glove that covered the tips of the fingers like a mitten, we would have way less problems with this shit. 0.57

01:37:33.000 You'd occasionally probably have a thumb in the eye every now and again, but you would have at least eight less possibilities for each fight of things going into your eye.

01:37:43.000 True.

01:37:45.000 It just makes sense.

01:37:46.000 And it wouldn't hinder grappling.

01:37:48.000 You just have a thin piece of leather that, you know, the padding goes over the knuckles.

01:37:53.000 The piece of leather goes over the tip of the fingers and have it come down like this, like a mitten.

01:37:57.000 But it's not hard to design.

01:37:59.000 If it was a mitt and I'm on top and I grab wrist control, do you think the leather of the mitt sticks harder?

01:38:06.000 Probably.

01:38:07.000 Yeah, probably aid grappling.

01:38:09.000 It'd probably make fights better.

01:38:11.000 It'd probably do stuff like you'd probably be able to get more takedowns.

01:38:14.000 Maybe.

01:38:15.000 I don't know, man.

01:38:16.000 Maybe when the leather gets wet, maybe it becomes slippery like a finger.

01:38:20.000 We'd have to find out.

01:38:22.000 But at least we would have less eye pokes.

01:38:25.000 And it's not going to hinder the striking at all.

01:38:29.000 There's no need to have these fingers exposed like this.

01:38:32.000 No, there's no need.

01:38:32.000 But two great fighters.

01:38:34.000 I mean, accidents happen.

01:38:36.000 Accidents happen and also purposeful fouls happen.

01:38:40.000 And I'm not saying that Cyril Gon did it on purpose, but he did it like five times in that fight.

01:38:45.000 I rewatched that fight a couple of times.

01:38:47.000 And every time Aspinall came towards him, he was doing this.

01:38:51.000 Every time.

01:38:51.000 Fingers outstretched, pointed towards the face.

01:38:54.000 It's just, it's illegal.

01:38:57.000 You're not supposed to ever do that.

01:38:58.000 Your fist should always be balled up when it's moving towards your opponent's face.

01:39:04.000 But we don't have to have these goddamn fingers covered like that or open like that.

01:39:08.000 They should be covered.

01:39:09.000 It's not impossible to do.

01:39:12.000 It could be really easy to design a glove like that.

01:39:15.000 I don't understand for the life of me how the sport's been around since 1993 and no one has introduced gloves like that.

01:39:22.000 True.

01:39:23.000 No, you're right.

01:39:25.000 A really good thing I wanted to ask you is for someone new coming in to a sport that a lot of people know, how do you think they should bridge the popularity of the sport and also the real life of who the person is?

01:39:39.000 I might be saying this in a hard way for you.

01:39:41.000 No, I know what you're saying.

01:39:42.000 Like, how do you think they should, because you know, I've been around a lot of people, but you know, like, it always gets bigger and always gets bigger.

01:39:49.000 And how do you bridge that gap of keeping that same mind frame of like, man, you know, I'm the guy, but I need to reset.

01:39:57.000 I always need to reset.

01:39:58.000 I need to make sure.

01:40:00.000 Well, it's going to be dependent upon you, right?

01:40:00.000 Yeah.

01:40:04.000 And it's going to be a rocket ride that you're on.

01:40:06.000 And the pressure and just the overall, like, not being able to go to the mall is going to be weird.

01:40:11.000 You know, it's going to get weird.

01:40:13.000 You know, you're going to get mobbed at the airport.

01:40:13.000 It'll get weird.

01:40:15.000 It's going to get weird.

01:40:17.000 And, you know, you're going to have to have to figure out a way to have your own private time.

01:40:23.000 That's very important.

01:40:24.000 When guys never have private time, they're always surrounded by people.

01:40:28.000 You could lose yourself.

01:40:29.000 You could lose your way.

01:40:30.000 And just fame itself.

01:40:32.000 Fame itself is very complicated.

01:40:34.000 It's very complicated for people, especially for fighters, when your entire identity relies on the way other people perceive you.

01:40:43.000 That's not good.

01:40:45.000 It feels good when you're on top because everybody's like, oh, there's Gable.

01:40:49.000 He's the fucking man.

01:40:50.000 Whoa, you're the man.

01:40:51.000 You're the man.

01:40:52.000 But if you rely on other people's opinions of you for your self-esteem and your self-worth, then the moment you have a stumble, you know, what if you get eye-poked?

01:41:02.000 What if you get eye-poked and then all of a sudden, Gable's a bitch, Gable, and you're like, what? 1.00

01:41:06.000 What?

01:41:07.000 And you're dealing with the opinions of morons and they're affecting your own feelings about yourself.

01:41:13.000 And then there's all the other pressures that come with money and people trying to scam you and business deals and bullshit and this and that.

01:41:21.000 And they want you to do movies and that kind of shit.

01:41:25.000 You know, like, look, that's the bane of fighters' existence when Hollywood gets involved.

01:41:31.000 That kind of, in a lot of ways, led to the decline of Ronda Rousey, in a lot of ways, Conor McGregor.

01:41:37.000 People start fucking, you know, throwing everything at you.

01:41:41.000 You're doing cell phone commercials and all this different shit.

01:41:43.000 And that stuff gets in the way.

01:41:45.000 It gets in the way of your training, but it also gets in the way of your ability to have that depressure time to be yourself and to be alone with your thoughts, which I think is very important just to solidify your own understanding of who you are as a human being.

01:42:05.000 And you don't want to be defined by other people's opinions and perceptions.

01:42:10.000 And then there's also like the UFC does a fantastic job of showing who a fighter really is.

01:42:18.000 You know, the Countdown series, you know, the UFC embedded series.

01:42:22.000 So when they're doing stuff like that and you get to see this person interacting with their family, going through training camp, going through the weight cut, and you get to see who they are, joking around with people, hanging out with their friends, laughing.

01:42:37.000 That's important too, because people really want to relate to you.

01:42:41.000 They don't want this guy who just appears every five months.

01:42:45.000 You don't know shit about him.

01:42:46.000 And then all of a sudden there he is in the ring again.

01:42:48.000 And you're putting all these things on him and imagining what he's like.

01:42:53.000 The more they can get to see behind the curtain, the better it is for you, especially if you're a good person and you're an interesting person.

01:43:00.000 And they get to see.

01:43:01.000 It's also inspiring for people.

01:43:04.000 You like to talk about yourself like you're a regular guy.

01:43:07.000 You put your shoes on one foot at a time like everybody else.

01:43:09.000 But like, wow, look at the greatness this regular guy can accomplish.

01:43:14.000 Maybe, maybe I can do this.

01:43:16.000 Maybe I can do something like that.

01:43:18.000 Maybe in whatever I'm doing in life, if I'm a fucking skier, I'm a whatever, whatever your job is, maybe I can be great and be a normal person like this guy is.

01:43:28.000 True.

01:43:28.000 No, 100%.

01:43:29.000 Well, that's a fantastic answer because, you know, I just feel like at some point I'll get to that spot of like, how do I, how do I know if someone's not real?

01:43:39.000 How do I know if someone is in that space of things change and there's leeches, there's bad people, there's bad people.

01:43:46.000 So, you know, it's always a nice thing to have someone that has surpassed that level that you can finally see and be like, man, like, how did you, how did you get it?

01:43:54.000 John's a great guy to talk to about that.

01:43:55.000 Most definitely.

01:43:56.000 Obviously, John's had his stumbles, which is, you know, when people talk about John and the things that John's gotten in trouble with, I'm like, listen, do you want a wild motherfucker or not?

01:44:08.000 If you want a guy to be the greatest of all time in fucking cage fighting, he's going to be wild.

01:44:08.000 Okay.

01:44:15.000 That's one of the reasons why he's great.

01:44:17.000 When John was, what is he, 22 years old when he won the title?

01:44:20.000 He's fighting 23.

01:44:21.000 Mauricio Shogun Hua, who's an all-time great pride legend, he opens the fight with a flying knee.

01:44:28.000 Who does that?

01:44:30.000 You got to be wild.

01:44:32.000 You got to be a wild fella.

01:44:34.000 I mean, and, you know, obviously there's stuff he shouldn't have done.

01:44:34.000 That's John.

01:44:38.000 There's, you know, a lot of, a lot of extracurricular activities, a lot of partying.

01:44:42.000 That's not healthy.

01:44:43.000 It's not good.

01:44:44.000 But that is what comes with being that kind of a guy.

01:44:49.000 And, you know, John could probably tell you more about this than anybody that's ever lived.

01:44:56.000 Like, what were the stumbles?

01:44:58.000 What could I have done differently?

01:45:00.000 And he probably could help prepare you more than anybody ever.

01:45:04.000 Most definitely.

01:45:04.000 He's already kind of put a big foot into it.

01:45:06.000 And, man, he's amazing with a lot of things now.

01:45:08.000 You know, he talks so well now.

01:45:10.000 A lot of things are in a sense of he's trying to look out for me in business opportunities and places that I need to go.

01:45:17.000 And it's amazing.

01:45:18.000 You know, a lot of people don't do that, especially when you see the peaks and valleys of that person and their public info also.

01:45:25.000 And a lot of people don't want to give people the chance because you see something about someone until you finally meet them.

01:45:30.000 And it's like, man, like, this guy's a whole different person you would have never expected.

01:45:33.000 And so, man, with John, he's just opened a lot of doors and kind of he is doing that guiding of me.

01:45:39.000 Well, that's great too, because John is essentially guiding his replacement, you know, which is really hard for a lot of people to have that kind of self-awareness and know that there's only a certain amount of time that I can do this for.

01:45:52.000 And I see this young, great man who's coming up and I'm going to help him.

01:45:55.000 And I'm going to give him some advice that maybe it would have been amazing if someone gave me, you know, because John didn't have some heavyweight champion training with him that could teach him those things.

01:46:04.000 Especially not someone at that level, the level that he's at.

01:46:07.000 Man, I know he's honored.

01:46:09.000 We're both honored.

01:46:10.000 Yeah.

01:46:11.000 He just, like I said, he called me today.

01:46:13.000 He was just, man, I really think you should just let the world know who you are and just kind of give people the real feel of who you need to be.

01:46:20.000 And I've always loved to have, like you just talked about with the UMC abetteds, you know, you see the real human being.

01:46:25.000 And I've always liked people seeing a real human being because we all do shit the same way.

01:46:29.000 There's nothing special.

01:46:30.000 There's nothing special.

01:46:31.000 Some people just have more money.

01:46:32.000 Some people just have more status.

01:46:33.000 But at the end of the day, hopefully we can all sleep in a bed.

01:46:36.000 And I know some people don't, which is sad to see, but it's just, some people live different lives.

01:46:41.000 And I want to live a life where it's happy and healthy with the people I have.

01:46:44.000 And I can meet so many people.

01:46:46.000 And I feel like I'm doing a great job right now.

01:46:47.000 So, man, any input I can get on how to be better, how to be more mature, how to be more sound, especially from John.

01:46:54.000 I'm getting a lot.

01:46:55.000 To hear from you, you know, you get different perspectives of you are in a different realm than John also.

01:47:02.000 But you guys are also in the same place.

01:47:04.000 Like you do the podcast, and John's semi-retired, but you see the two different lives of two different well-respected people.

01:47:12.000 Well, it's that mindset that you have to really want to acquire that information and really sort it out and know that these challenges are coming your way.

01:47:21.000 The money and the fame and all that stuff is the thing that everybody focuses on.

01:47:27.000 But really, the focus is on excellence.

01:47:30.000 Excellence is what brings you the money.

01:47:32.000 Excellence is what brings you the fame.

01:47:34.000 And the moment you start thinking about the fame and the money and not thinking about the excellence, you've lost your way.

01:47:41.000 And a lot of people lose their way.

01:47:41.000 You've lost your way.

01:47:43.000 A lot of people, that money and that fame, it starts coming.

01:47:46.000 And all of a sudden, you're just thinking about numbers.

01:47:48.000 You're thinking about the house you're going to buy and the car you're going to drive and all that stupid shit.

01:47:52.000 And you lose your way.

01:47:53.000 And, you know, one of the things that I always try to tell people, I try to tell this to young comedians, especially, is that think of the attention that you have like it has a number value.

01:48:05.000 Like the attention, like, let's imagine, like, if you had $100, you know, you can only spend $100.

01:48:11.000 Let's imagine your mind only has 100 units of focus.

01:48:15.000 You have 100 units of focus.

01:48:17.000 Any focus that you have on other shit outside of the thing that brings you excellence is just robbing from excellence.

01:48:25.000 That's all it is.

01:48:26.000 If you're concentrating on haters on social media, or if you've got a crazy bitch in your life that's ruining everything, or you got some friend who's a hater and you think he's like, maybe like hoping you fail, like all that stuff that's distracting and is just robbing attention from excellence.

01:48:43.000 And some of it's unavoidable, and some of it actually strengthens your resolve to have a certain amount of like shit in your life, just to understand how to maintain and still be excellent despite all that.

01:48:56.000 There's probably some resilience building that comes from that.

01:49:01.000 But protect your focus.

01:49:05.000 It's precious.

01:49:06.000 Protect your time.

01:49:07.000 Protect that energy that you have to invest in things.

01:49:11.000 It's so precious.

01:49:13.000 The mind, your focus, and your drive, that is everything in your life.

01:49:19.000 That's everything.

01:49:20.000 And anything that steals from that, I remember this was one fighter, and he was a very good fighter that was fighting in pride, and he had this crazy girlfriend.

01:49:29.000 And every time he was going to fight, like the day before the fight, the girl would start problems.

01:49:34.000 And she would start fights and she'd scream. 0.99

01:49:36.000 And she'd left the hotel at like one o'clock in the morning and went down to the bar.

01:49:40.000 She wanted him to fail.

01:49:42.000 She wanted to be more important than his fighting career.

01:49:45.000 And his fighting career was so important and so overwhelming that she felt like she wasn't getting the attention that she needed.

01:49:51.000 So she would go get attention from him and she would steal from him.

01:49:55.000 And it was crazy.

01:49:57.000 And this guy, and he never wound up being a champion.

01:50:00.000 He was a very talented guy, too.

01:50:01.000 I don't want to say his name, but it was one of those things where it's like, man, there are people in your life you got to recognize when you're dealing with that kind of a person.

01:50:11.000 You got to recognize that.

01:50:12.000 You got to cut them out.

01:50:13.000 You got to get rid of them.

01:50:15.000 They're stealing.

01:50:16.000 They're stealing from your focus.

01:50:18.000 They're stealing from your ability to create excellence.

01:50:21.000 And that's what you're in the business of.

01:50:24.000 You know?

01:50:25.000 You're in the business of excellence.

01:50:27.000 And anybody that's trying to steal from that, like those are liabilities.

01:50:32.000 That's like you got a hole in the bottom of your boat.

01:50:34.000 You got to patch that shit up.

01:50:36.000 Well, it's just like Mike Tyson kind of said, you know, once you're favored by God, you're also favored by the devil, too.

01:50:36.000 Yeah.

01:50:41.000 Ooh, that's so true, too.

01:50:43.000 Yeah, the temptations will come.

01:50:45.000 Yeah.

01:50:45.000 And then also you start believing your own bullshit.

01:50:48.000 You know, I mean, look at John when he wasn't training, you know.

01:50:52.000 But luckily for John, he was so much better than everybody in the division that all it took was like a readjustment.

01:50:58.000 Like the Dominic Reyes fight, he almost lost that fight, you know?

01:51:02.000 And Dominic Reyes, as great as he was that night, should not have been beating John Jones.

01:51:08.000 I think John Jones, with like a real focus and a real like real drive towards destroying Dominic Reyes, would be on another level.

01:51:19.000 I think so too.

01:51:21.000 It's like he could, he is the best guy to be in your corner, man, because he's made all the mistakes and still come out the GOAT.

01:51:29.000 Like who better to tell you how to do it right?

01:51:32.000 There's no one better, man.

01:51:33.000 Probably the greatest, of course.

01:51:35.000 The greatest by far.

01:51:36.000 Yeah.

01:51:37.000 What do you do for chill time?

01:51:38.000 Like what do you do to unwind?

01:51:40.000 Honestly, right now, I like Call of Duty.

01:51:44.000 I play a lot of Warzone.

01:51:46.000 Ronnie 2K, you know who that is?

01:51:48.000 That made the basketball game.

01:51:49.000 Okay.

01:51:50.000 So I got my own player on 2K, and it says, so when I load into the game, it says my real name, and then people know you're playing against me.

01:51:58.000 So it's either I'm playing Call of Duty or 2K.

01:52:01.000 I mentioned before the French Bulldogs.

01:52:03.000 I mean, I like to take care of French Bulldogs. 0.77

01:52:04.000 I feel like Jamie's got one.

01:52:06.000 You do?

01:52:07.000 Oh, he's so cute.

01:52:07.000 Yeah.

01:52:09.000 You should have brought him.

01:52:10.000 We didn't know.

01:52:10.000 What?

01:52:11.000 We didn't know you were into French Bulldogs.

01:52:13.000 Sadly, I had two pass away.

01:52:15.000 I just had one pass away.

01:52:17.000 He had IV DD in his neck.

01:52:19.000 And that's a bad thing.

01:52:21.000 It's a disc disease that happens in French Bulldog because they're bred so bad.

01:52:26.000 And so my first one had it in his back.

01:52:29.000 He was playing all day.

01:52:30.000 And then I turned and he was like paralyzed in an instant.

01:52:34.000 And I was like, oh, man, like, that's not good.

01:52:36.000 So I had to put him down.

01:52:38.000 Oh, that's horrible.

01:52:39.000 And then I adopted one after.

01:52:40.000 This is like, I adopted one a year ago.

01:52:42.000 He just passed away a couple weeks ago.

01:52:44.000 His name was Archie, my little guy.

01:52:46.000 He had it in his neck, and I had him on painkillers for like six months.

01:52:51.000 And I looked, and one day he kind of rolled wrong, and he kind of yelped again.

01:52:55.000 And I was like, we got to take him in.

01:52:57.000 Oh, that's horrible.

01:52:58.000 So it's bad.

01:52:59.000 You know, I got bad attachments to French Bulldogs.

01:53:01.000 Like, they're like my.

01:53:03.000 Since I'm having a real baby now, that's like my second baby.

01:53:06.000 You're going to be amazed how much you love your real baby more than you love your dogs.

01:53:10.000 As much as I love my dogs, it just.

01:53:13.000 There's just another level.

01:53:14.000 Oh, it's beyond.

01:53:15.000 It doesn't even compare.

01:53:17.000 One of my dogs went to surgery today.

01:53:20.000 He had a hernia.

01:53:21.000 I have a golden retriever, and I have a King Charles Spaniel.

01:53:26.000 He's the cutest little dog.

01:53:28.000 He's so fucking cute.

01:53:29.000 He's seven months old, and he was born with a little hernia.

01:53:33.000 It's like some of them get that.

01:53:35.000 He's got hernia.

01:53:36.000 So they had to stitch him up.

01:53:38.000 But when I was playing with him last night, I was so scared.

01:53:41.000 I was like, what if something happens to him?

01:53:44.000 I can't take it, you know, because I love him so much.

01:53:47.000 He's so sweet.

01:53:49.000 He just, like, when he, I pick him up, he, like, kisses me, like, constantly, and he makes noise like, and sometimes he barks while he's kissing you.

01:54:00.000 You're like, oh, I love you too.

01:54:01.000 I love you too.

01:54:02.000 And his little tail's wagging.

01:54:03.000 He wags his tail with his whole body.

01:54:04.000 Like, his whole body's wagging.

01:54:05.000 He's wiggling all over.

01:54:07.000 Mine would go after the ears.

01:54:08.000 Yeah, he doesn't.

01:54:09.000 And he would like, he would like put a whole nibble on the ear and then he would switch side.

01:54:12.000 And then he would switch sides.

01:54:13.000 Yeah, mine does that.

01:54:14.000 Let me live for a little bit.

01:54:16.000 But I'm his whole world.

01:54:18.000 And I feel like sometimes we forget that.

01:54:20.000 Yeah.

01:54:21.000 Well, they're little love devices.

01:54:24.000 They just want love from you and they want to give you love.

01:54:26.000 They never have bad days.

01:54:29.000 They're never shitty.

01:54:30.000 They're never in a bad mood.

01:54:32.000 They're always cool.

01:54:33.000 You know, every day is the same thing.

01:54:35.000 Every day I see him in the morning, like, good morning.

01:54:37.000 And they go crazy.

01:54:39.000 And I get on the ground with them on the carpet and roll around.

01:54:42.000 Letting them roll all over.

01:54:43.000 I love dogs.

01:54:45.000 If it was up to me, I'd have 50 dogs.

01:54:47.000 I wish we could make them live longer.

01:54:49.000 I know.

01:54:50.000 Making them live longer would be crazy.

01:54:51.000 Like, cats are like 20 years.

01:54:52.000 Why can't a dog be 20 years?

01:54:54.000 Well, I think they are working on that.

01:54:56.000 I think there's actual startups right now that are working on animal longevity.

01:55:02.000 Which would be cool.

01:55:03.000 Yeah, they're working on different medical interventions that can allow dogs to live longer, which is fascinating.

01:55:10.000 And then sometimes people they clone their dogs.

01:55:13.000 Tom Brady just did that.

01:55:14.000 I don't know how he did it, but I mean, that's weird.

01:55:17.000 Hey, have a good time.

01:55:18.000 That's pet cemetery shit.

01:55:19.000 That is.

01:55:20.000 That might be like hereditary.

01:55:22.000 Yeah, I don't know if I'm into that.

01:55:24.000 I don't know how I feel about that.

01:55:26.000 I feel like every dog has their own unique personality.

01:55:29.000 And as much as I love the dogs that I have now, like, look, I had my dog Marshall.

01:55:34.000 He's almost nine.

01:55:36.000 Or he just turned nine, rather.

01:55:38.000 And I've had him since he was a puppy.

01:55:40.000 I love him to death.

01:55:42.000 But then I got this new dog, Charlie, and I love him to death, too.

01:55:45.000 He's a totally different personality.

01:55:46.000 Like, I don't mind new dogs and new personalities.

01:55:50.000 I don't need the same dog over and over and over again.

01:55:53.000 You know what I mean?

01:55:54.000 I think that's weird.

01:55:54.000 You should try a French Bulldog.

01:55:55.000 They got like 12 different personalities.

01:55:57.000 Oh, I love Carl.

01:55:58.000 Jamie brings Carl in.

01:55:59.000 He's a little psycho.

01:56:00.000 He's got too many personalities.

01:56:02.000 Oh, he runs at you and just wants to play.

01:56:04.000 They got that bowling ball head.

01:56:05.000 I know.

01:56:06.000 He's a little ball of muscle, too.

01:56:08.000 Carl's jacked.

01:56:09.000 Carl and Carl's got a bit stacked.

01:56:11.000 I need to see a picture.

01:56:12.000 You got pictures of him?

01:56:14.000 Pull up a picture of Carl.

01:56:15.000 He's adorable.

01:56:17.000 He plays at my Golden, and he just throws himself like a meat missile at my Golden.

01:56:23.000 Because my Golden's so gentle, which is great because Charlie is only 15 pounds, my little dog.

01:56:30.000 And so my Golden is like playing.

01:56:31.000 And he gently puts a paw over him when they play.

01:56:34.000 There's Carl.

01:56:35.000 Look at that interface.

01:56:37.000 Look at that interface.

01:56:39.000 I just know he does everything extra.

01:56:42.000 Oh, yeah.

01:56:42.000 Oh, look at him sleep.

01:56:44.000 He's really nice.

01:56:46.000 He's adorable.

01:56:47.000 But when he plays with Marshall, it's really crazy.

01:56:49.000 We got a video of him playing with Marshall.

01:56:51.000 Did you get his nose done?

01:56:52.000 No, he's just.

01:56:52.000 Nope.

01:56:53.000 Wow, that's perfect.

01:56:54.000 He had a good nose.

01:56:55.000 That's really good.

01:56:56.000 Some of them have fucked up noses.

01:56:57.000 Well, they come out like this.

01:56:59.000 Oh, no.

01:57:00.000 And then they can't breathe, and so they breathe out their mouth.

01:57:02.000 And sometimes they got to get solder.

01:57:05.000 They clean that out.

01:57:05.000 They make like a bigger hole.

01:57:07.000 It's awful.

01:57:08.000 But some of them have it where you have to go in and kind of help the esophagus because their face is flat.

01:57:14.000 So you got to help the back and kind of cut it to where it can go down the pipe.

01:57:19.000 Oh, no.

01:57:20.000 Crazy.

01:57:21.000 Crazy.

01:57:22.000 I wish those dogs could live forever.

01:57:23.000 Those dogs got a million different characters.

01:57:26.000 I know.

01:57:27.000 Well, I love all kinds of dogs, man.

01:57:29.000 I love working dogs.

01:57:30.000 I love German Shepherds and Belgian Malamois.

01:57:33.000 Kane Corso be cool.

01:57:35.000 They're a little dangerous.

01:57:36.000 But that's what I'm hearing.

01:57:37.000 They only lure to one person, if I'm not mistaken.

01:57:40.000 They don't like to listen.

01:57:41.000 Yeah.

01:57:42.000 Well, never mind.

01:57:43.000 My boy Mark DeLaGrate from Sit Yong, Sit Yotong Muay Thai.

01:57:48.000 He coached a lot of UFC fighters, coached Kenny Florian.

01:57:53.000 Great Muay Thai coach, great guy.

01:57:54.000 Works with UFC.

01:57:55.000 He had a Connie Corso.

01:57:57.000 They had to put him down.

01:57:58.000 Bit his hand.

01:57:59.000 Like, dang.

01:57:59.000 Chomp down on him.

01:58:00.000 And he had it for years.

01:58:00.000 Yeah.

01:58:01.000 Out of nowhere?

01:58:02.000 Well, you know, he's testing him.

01:58:04.000 Like, sometimes those dogs, and not all of them, but some of them, they will test you.

01:58:09.000 You know, and you just can't have a dog that's biting you.

01:58:12.000 No, because what else?

01:58:13.000 What if it bites your kid?

01:58:14.000 Yeah.

01:58:14.000 What if it bites your wife?

01:58:15.000 Yeah.

01:58:16.000 Facts.

01:58:16.000 What if it bites the mailman?

01:58:18.000 You never know.

01:58:19.000 Yeah.

01:58:21.000 It's just like those, and it's not all of them.

01:58:23.000 Like, I've had pit bulls, and I never had a pit bull that wanted, even wanted to bite a person.

01:58:28.000 They were always like the sweetest with people.

01:58:30.000 But then you hear stories.

01:58:32.000 Which is crazy.

01:58:32.000 You hear stories.

01:58:33.000 I know.

01:58:34.000 Because how can I go online and see a pit bull just not letting go of somebody?

01:58:37.000 But all of a sudden, the next video, I see a pit bull wearing a Christmas sweater with paw shoes on.

01:58:45.000 I know.

01:58:45.000 So it's weird.

01:58:46.000 I know.

01:58:47.000 It doesn't make any sense.

01:58:48.000 But it's just like people.

01:58:48.000 It does.

01:58:50.000 Some people are born crazy.

01:58:52.000 Some people are born crazy.

01:58:53.000 Yeah.

01:58:54.000 Are you big into anything like what do you believe in conspiracy-wise?

01:58:58.000 Like, what's your big one?

01:59:00.000 Don't open up that door, Abel.

01:59:02.000 Oh, my God.

01:59:02.000 Don't open up that door.

01:59:03.000 Oh, my God.

01:59:04.000 Yo, I gotta tell you this, bro.

01:59:05.000 My dad, my dad's diehard conspiracy.

01:59:08.000 If you and him had a talk.

01:59:09.000 Uh-oh.

01:59:10.000 What is this big one?

01:59:11.000 What's the big one with him?

01:59:13.000 I don't even know.

01:59:14.000 But I know he's really bad.

01:59:16.000 I think that the biggest one right now, he just said it, but I don't even know.

01:59:21.000 I don't even want to say it wrong.

01:59:23.000 But that's my thing.

01:59:24.000 But I'm big on conspiracy.

01:59:25.000 What is the subject?

01:59:26.000 Do you remember the subject?

01:59:28.000 Some about.

01:59:30.000 I don't even want to say it.

01:59:31.000 Okay.

01:59:31.000 I don't even want to say it right now.

01:59:33.000 Okay.

01:59:34.000 We'll talk off air.

01:59:35.000 Yeah.

01:59:36.000 Okay.

01:59:38.000 But I believe there's a lot of things we don't know as people.

01:59:40.000 And I believe there's a lot of conspiracies are real.

01:59:44.000 That's the problem.

01:59:45.000 The problem with conspiracy theories is some of them are crazy and ridiculous.

01:59:49.000 But the reason why people entertain crazy and ridiculous ones is because some of them are real and they're so nuts that you go, they did what?

01:59:57.000 When you just when you find out about U.S. history alone, you know, you find out that the reason why we got into Vietnam was I don't know.

02:00:05.000 Okay, it's called the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

02:00:07.000 The Gulf of Tonkin incident was supposedly the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong, attacked one of our ships, but it was fake.

02:00:15.000 They faked it.

02:00:16.000 It's not real.

02:00:17.000 It's called a false flag.

02:00:18.000 And they did it just to have a story so that we would have an excuse to invade Vietnam.

02:00:23.000 So we sent all those people to Vietnam for nothing? 0.87

02:00:25.000 A lot of people died for nothing.

02:00:26.000 A lot of people died for nothing.

02:00:28.000 And a lot of people made a lot of fucking money.

02:00:30.000 And it probably had to do with drugs, too, because they were moving heroin out of Vietnam.

02:00:35.000 I mean, it was control of the heroin trade was a big part of it.

02:00:39.000 That was also one of the reasons why we were in Afghanistan.

02:00:42.000 While we were in Afghanistan, heroin production in Afghanistan was 94% of the world's heroin.

02:00:48.000 And it ramped up after we invaded Afghanistan.

02:00:51.000 It went up.

02:00:52.000 Heroin production, not only did it go up, but we were guarding poppy fields for the Taliban. 0.95

02:00:58.000 Why do we need to guard them?

02:00:59.000 For the farmers, rather.

02:01:01.000 Why do we need to guard them?

02:01:02.000 Well, are we using them for medical here?

02:01:05.000 Or they're just getting used to fucking.

02:01:08.000 It's money.

02:01:09.000 It's money.

02:01:10.000 There's dirty money that gets moved around for sure.

02:01:14.000 When you're dealing with something like the drug trade and billions of dollars are going all over.

02:01:22.000 People want a piece of that.

02:01:24.000 And there's high-level people that are dirty.

02:01:26.000 And they get involved in that and they make decisions based on that.

02:01:30.000 And they put people's lives at risk.

02:01:33.000 And people die because of it.

02:01:34.000 And that probably happened in Afghanistan.

02:01:36.000 It definitely happened in Vietnam.

02:01:38.000 And people don't want to believe that.

02:01:40.000 People are hearing this right now.

02:01:42.000 Oh, stop with that nonsense.

02:01:44.000 But it's true.

02:01:45.000 I mean, there's a video of Geraldo Rivera interviewing these military guys that were guarding poppy fields in Afghanistan.

02:01:54.000 And the guy who's interviewing is very reluctant to talk about it, but it was on Fox News.

02:01:59.000 And he had to talk about it because everybody was aware of it.

02:02:02.000 It was becoming a big conspiracy online.

02:02:04.000 And they were coming up with some sort of a rational reason why they needed to guard their heroin production.

02:02:10.000 Because, you know, we need them to tell on the Taliban. 0.99

02:02:14.000 Really?

02:02:15.000 Really?

02:02:16.000 So we're letting the farmers poison young people and heroin addicts all over the world because we want them to give us information about.

02:02:25.000 Is that really what's going on?

02:02:26.000 Or are you motherfuckers making money out of this? 0.73

02:02:29.000 They got to be making a lot of money, too.

02:02:30.000 A lot of money.

02:02:31.000 Well, I just saw the story about that guy from, he was a football player from Australia.

02:02:31.000 A lot of money.

02:02:35.000 He was selling drugs.

02:02:37.000 What was that story?

02:02:38.000 He's not from Australia.

02:02:39.000 He went to the USC quarterback.

02:02:41.000 He was selling drugs?

02:02:42.000 He was selling drugs out of an apartment in Australia for a cartel that was from Tijuana.

02:02:48.000 I forgot his name.

02:02:49.000 It's his quarterback.

02:02:50.000 I feel like a lot of people know it.

02:02:51.000 It's a real recent story?

02:02:52.000 It's a real story.

02:02:53.000 A recent story?

02:02:55.000 From what I've seen, it might be like a couple years older.

02:02:59.000 But yeah, he got caught because someone along the way was a middleman for a lot of wild, true story behind cocaine quarterback, signal caller for the cartel.

02:03:10.000 Wow.

02:03:11.000 And they said he was making like a million dollars a day cash, and he was trying to move it through Las Vegas casinos, but the middleman, someone messed up the bet and he lost the money.

02:03:22.000 So he had a loan money from someone and that someone was like an undercover waiting for him like a year later and caught him at a McDonald's before he went across the road to Tijuana or something.

02:03:33.000 It's crazy, yo.

02:03:34.000 You know how drugs control a lot of things and it's messed up.

02:03:37.000 Well, it's the money.

02:03:38.000 When you think about how much money gets moved around in the drug game, and people get tempted by that.

02:03:46.000 And then, you know, you get a hold of some legitimate businessman.

02:03:48.000 You say, listen, there's a way for you to get 10x return on your money.

02:03:55.000 You know, you invest in this and we do that.

02:03:57.000 It's simple.

02:03:57.000 You'll never get dirty.

02:03:59.000 All the money goes to offshore accounts.

02:04:00.000 No one will know about it.

02:04:01.000 You can retire when you're 45.

02:04:03.000 Crazy.

02:04:04.000 And then people start getting roped in.

02:04:05.000 And it's also, it's the excitement of doing something naughty.

02:04:08.000 That's part of it, too.

02:04:09.000 Some people just get, you know, like some people like to ride bulls.

02:04:12.000 Some people like to do some shit they're not supposed to do.

02:04:15.000 They get addicted to doing things that they are not supposed to do.

02:04:19.000 They get addicted to the life.

02:04:21.000 DEA agents.

02:04:23.000 A lot of DEA agents become drug dealers.

02:04:26.000 Well, it's just like that show, Narcos Mexico.

02:04:29.000 Yes.

02:04:29.000 It's the same thing.

02:04:30.000 Exactly.

02:04:33.000 Or Cocaine Cowboys.

02:04:34.000 Have you ever watched that documentary?

02:04:35.000 No.

02:04:36.000 Amazing.

02:04:36.000 What's that about?

02:04:37.000 Cocaine Cowboys one, and then there's Cocaine Cowboys two.

02:04:41.000 There was so much corruption in Miami during the 1980s, during the cocaine time, that one graduating class of the police academy, the entire graduating class either wound up murdered or in jail.

02:04:54.000 How do you do that?

02:04:55.000 Because they were all corrupt.

02:04:56.000 They were all involved in cocaine dealing.

02:04:58.000 All of them.

02:04:59.000 Because there was so much money.

02:05:01.000 Everybody's driving a Corvette.

02:05:02.000 Everybody's living large.

02:05:03.000 Everybody's doing blow and wearing diamonds.

02:05:06.000 It's crazy.

02:05:07.000 It's like you get caught up in that life.

02:05:09.000 And if you're involved in, like, if you're a police officer and everybody around you is dirty, you know, like it's just more likely you're going to be dirty too.

02:05:19.000 Well, now aren't they kind of blowing the Ecuadorian ships up that are coming here that are having a lot of drugs on them?

02:05:26.000 Yeah, Venezuela, right?

02:05:27.000 Venezuelan ships.

02:05:28.000 Yeah.

02:05:29.000 They're just blowing them up.

02:05:30.000 I don't even know.

02:05:31.000 I'm not educated on stuff like that.

02:05:33.000 I wonder if it's to keep the trade here.

02:05:36.000 No, I doubt it.

02:05:38.000 I think more likely what it is is because Trump genuinely hates that they're bringing drugs into this country.

02:05:46.000 Is there other things involved too?

02:05:48.000 I don't know.

02:05:48.000 I mean, I'm sure some of it has to do perhaps with politics.

02:05:53.000 I mean, I think that's a reasonable assumption.

02:05:55.000 But Jamie, I just sent you something.

02:05:57.000 Here's what's interesting.

02:05:58.000 One of the things that Trump was saying is they're poisoning our kids and that 100,000 people are dying every year from drug overdoses.

02:06:06.000 We have to put a stop to this.

02:06:09.000 From the time Trump's been in office, deaths by overdose have dropped off a cliff.

02:06:15.000 Look at that.

02:06:16.000 Look at 2024.

02:06:19.000 And leading into 2025.

02:06:21.000 Look at that.

02:06:21.000 These are all deaths from overdoses.

02:06:25.000 I mean, that's kind of crazy.

02:06:27.000 Like, look at that.

02:06:28.000 From all drugs, which is the top one, look at that drop.

02:06:33.000 I mean, that's crazy.

02:06:34.000 So you see the peak was in 2022, or it looks like actually 2023, between 2023 and 2024.

02:06:43.000 That's the peak where people are dying.

02:06:45.000 And then from the time Trump's in office, it's taking a fucking sharp downturn.

02:06:52.000 And why is that?

02:06:53.000 Well, part of it is because they're blowing up these fucking boats that are bringing in all the drugs.

02:06:58.000 And not just drugs, but drugs that are tainted with fentanyl.

02:07:01.000 Fentanyl is terrible.

02:07:03.000 Because a little piece can kill you.

02:07:03.000 Terrible.

02:07:05.000 Exactly.

02:07:06.000 It's smaller than a penny and you're dead.

02:07:08.000 And people are snorting lines of it.

02:07:10.000 And they don't even know it's in there.

02:07:11.000 And the cartel, they're buying, you know, they're taking shitty drugs and mixing it with fentanyl so it has an effect.

02:07:18.000 It's crazy.

02:07:18.000 And people are getting it from what they think is a Xanax and it's not a Xanax.

02:07:24.000 It's fake and it's got fentanyl in it and they're dying from that.

02:07:27.000 They're dying from Coke that they think it's Coke and fentanyl's in that.

02:07:31.000 You know, it's horrible.

02:07:32.000 There's so much access to things in this world right now that I feel like is there's so many attainable things that people don't even think about that a lot of shit happens in this world that we just have no clue.

02:07:43.000 And it's kind of weird.

02:07:45.000 And I just don't know like kind of the variety that I'm bringing to the combo, but I'm just saying it like out of just to say it.

02:07:51.000 But it's different.

02:07:53.000 Just like social media, you can meet so many people and just going to random places and meeting people and you can get roped up in the wrong things and it's just the downhill of the downhill starts.

02:08:04.000 Yep.

02:08:04.000 You take a bad turn and next thing you know, you're on a bad road and you keep going.

02:08:08.000 You're like, eventually I'm going to get out of this game.

02:08:10.000 You can't.

02:08:10.000 No, then you're in jail or you're dead.

02:08:13.000 Ed Calderon's guy who's been on this podcast many times.

02:08:16.000 He used to work for the Mexican military.

02:08:17.000 Now he's an American citizen, but he's a cartel expert.

02:08:20.000 And, you know, the stories that he's told us about the fucking cartel and the amount of money they have.

02:08:27.000 I mean, they essentially have giant military operations.

02:08:30.000 It's all cartel.

02:08:32.000 And they go to war with each other.

02:08:34.000 It's crazy.

02:08:35.000 Is it Pablo Escobar that had the money in the walls of his house?

02:08:39.000 I mean, probably.

02:08:40.000 I don't know.

02:08:41.000 Or who died and he buried it all over in different places.

02:08:44.000 I'm sure they all do that.

02:08:45.000 I'm sure Escobar did that.

02:08:47.000 I think they all do that.

02:08:49.000 They have so much money.

02:08:50.000 That was one of the things of Cocaine Cowboys was this pilot, they had millions of dollars buried in his backyard.

02:08:56.000 He would just take garbage bags, fill it with millions of dollars of cash, dig a big hole in the backyard and bury it there because he couldn't bring it into a bank.

02:09:03.000 Why not just give it away?

02:09:04.000 I'll fuck it away.

02:09:06.000 Because they're doing coke and they want more money.

02:09:08.000 They just don't know what to do with it, you know, and they can't just have it all laying around their house and someone will break into their house and kill them and take their money.

02:09:14.000 Then it's over with.

02:09:16.000 It is a crazy game.

02:09:18.000 But I can't recommend that documentary enough.

02:09:20.000 Cocaine Cowboy.

02:09:21.000 Cocaine Cowboy.

02:09:22.000 You go, what the fuck?

02:09:22.000 You'll watch it.

02:09:23.000 Where's the streamed at?

02:09:25.000 It's probably on everywhere.

02:09:27.000 Where is Cocaine Cowboys?

02:09:29.000 Sounds like Amazon.

02:09:29.000 Gotta get it.

02:09:30.000 I'm sure it's on everything.

02:09:31.000 It might even be on Netflix.

02:09:33.000 But it's incredible because you realize, like, wow, like cocaine built Miami.

02:09:38.000 Miami had more banks per capita.

02:09:40.000 I don't know if it still does, but at one point in time, more banks per capita than any other city in the country.

02:09:46.000 And it's because those banks were laundering money.

02:09:48.000 Damn.

02:09:49.000 They were laundering cocaine money.

02:09:50.000 It was all coming in.

02:09:51.000 And Miami never sleeps either.

02:09:53.000 So it was an all-night affair.

02:09:55.000 Yeah, that is a crazy fucking town.

02:09:58.000 That is not a good town if you want to be a fighter and live like a low-key, disciplined life.

02:10:03.000 No.

02:10:04.000 You can, all of a sudden you're here, then you end up here, and then all of a sudden it's 8 a.m.

02:10:07.000 Right.

02:10:08.000 You're at the beach at 12.

02:10:10.000 Can't be right.

02:10:11.000 No.

02:10:11.000 Can't be right.

02:10:12.000 That's a dark hole that a lot of people should not be in.

02:10:14.000 But how do you get out, though?

02:10:16.000 I don't know.

02:10:17.000 Ask John.

02:10:20.000 I mean, he seems to have navigated those waters better than anybody.

02:10:24.000 You know, because usually it ruins everything in your life.

02:10:26.000 He's obviously had some missteps, but still comes out the greatest, you know, which is not everybody's path, you know?

02:10:33.000 But obviously John is smart in that he spends a lot of time doing the things that he wants to do.

02:10:39.000 Spends a lot of time training his dog, doing, you know, tactical stuff.

02:10:43.000 He's always shooting guns and training.

02:10:44.000 And, you know, you got to have things outside of that life, you know, that you enjoy other than just partying.

02:10:52.000 Yeah, you got to have fun.

02:10:53.000 You've got to have some type of gap.

02:10:55.000 Some release.

02:10:56.000 Yeah, and he's got a good release, and he's got a good mentality of what the release should be and how it should go and where he needs to go with it.

02:11:02.000 And then, I mean, I've been with him now since we have this close connection.

02:11:06.000 I've been with him to places and he's always kept me on a straight path, which is really, really nice.

02:11:12.000 You know, a lot of people that may have, you know, like to take shots or like to do something like that, you know, there's always a little, man, do you want one?

02:11:20.000 Right.

02:11:21.000 But there's never, there's never been a time where he's like, man, I think you should try.

02:11:25.000 And it's great because as an older, as a younger kid that's coming up, he sees the potential.

02:11:30.000 And that's all that matters.

02:11:31.000 And I just need someone to see it.

02:11:32.000 And, man, he's been great with it for sure.

02:11:34.000 Yeah.

02:11:34.000 When you're around a bunch of people that party and they drag you into that world, it's so easy for people to get hooked.

02:11:40.000 It's so easy for people to just get roped into that lifestyle.

02:11:44.000 Because people essentially, for the most part, imitate their atmosphere.

02:11:47.000 And if you're around that kind of an atmosphere, those are the type of people that you're with and those are the type of thrills that they're seeking.

02:11:55.000 You can get caught up in that.

02:11:57.000 And it's the bane of every fighter's existence is women in partying. 1.00

02:12:02.000 He's always been like, hey, you got to stay clean.

02:12:04.000 Go home.

02:12:05.000 And that's been the best part about it.

02:12:07.000 That's great, man.

02:12:08.000 That is fucking great.

02:12:09.000 So what is the timeline right now?

02:12:11.000 Have you signed a deal with the UFC?

02:12:13.000 I know they're talking to you.

02:12:15.000 What's going on?

02:12:15.000 Yeah, they reached out many times, but I told them, just I'm kind of on the lines of right now.

02:12:19.000 I'm waiting for my little girl to give, my baby girl to give to come out.

02:12:24.000 So January is kind of a dead month for me.

02:12:27.000 But are you signed with the UFC?

02:12:29.000 No.

02:12:30.000 I'm not signed to anybody.

02:12:31.000 But have they offered you a fight yet?

02:12:32.000 Yeah, they've reached out about a couple of things, but no one specific.

02:12:35.000 They just offered dates.

02:12:36.000 Do you want to have fights in other organizations first?

02:12:39.000 One of the problems with a guy like you is that you're so talented that you could have one, two fights in the UFC and all of a sudden be fighting a top contender, which I think you would do well.

02:12:49.000 Yeah, I would love to.

02:12:50.000 If I was a manager of like a boxer and a guy with your potential, I would do what Customato did with Mike Tyson.

02:12:57.000 You have him fight a bunch of different guys like you did with Dirty Boxing, small organization MMA fights, build up those skills, get a lot of experience while you're constantly training and growing and getting better.

02:13:09.000 And then once you enter into the UFC, you're essentially already the champion.

02:13:13.000 It's just nobody knows it yet.

02:13:14.000 I would really like to debut at the White House.

02:13:17.000 I would like to debut at the White House.

02:13:17.000 Debut.

02:13:20.000 I would like to do one or two more fights before then.

02:13:23.000 And then if I can sign, do a big release.

02:13:27.000 Hey, he signed.

02:13:28.000 Good job.

02:13:29.000 And then debuted at the White House.

02:13:30.000 That's my perfect world.

02:13:32.000 Is it hard to get fights right now?

02:13:36.000 Maybe a little bit.

02:13:37.000 Maybe a little.

02:13:37.000 I don't ask.

02:13:38.000 I just say yes.

02:13:39.000 And then just keep moving.

02:13:40.000 I kind of leave it up to John to kind of watch the people and all the coaches to kind of watch and see what goes on.

02:13:46.000 But I mean, if a guy says no, there's no hard feelings.

02:13:49.000 I mean, just keep it pushing and hopefully I can get to the guy that says yes.

02:13:52.000 That's the problem is that when a guy gets so much hype around him, there's a lot of guys who want to eventually be a world champion and go, oh, I'm not ready for this guy yet.

02:14:02.000 You know, even good guys are still like, this guy's not, he's on another level right now.

02:14:09.000 But just when if they do think that, just whenever you think you are ready, I will be there waiting.

02:14:17.000 That's terrifying.

02:14:19.000 Just listen.

02:14:20.000 I will be there waiting.

02:14:21.000 Last it.

02:14:22.000 A lot of people heard that.

02:14:22.000 That's terrifying.

02:14:23.000 Like, I don't want to wait.

02:14:24.000 Fuck, I don't want to wait.

02:14:27.000 But also, the smart move might be to get a hold of you now before you get better.

02:14:32.000 You can try now too.

02:14:35.000 But you know what I'm saying?

02:14:36.000 Yeah.

02:14:36.000 You know what I'm saying?

02:14:37.000 It'd be like, pick your poison.

02:14:40.000 I mean, like I said, dirty boxing and that last fight in November with that double leg, that's the worst I'll ever be.

02:14:45.000 And it's kind of neat to repeat that to the world or kind of let them get a refresher.

02:14:49.000 That is the worst Gable Stevenson will be.

02:14:51.000 And the best is when he'll come back his next time.

02:14:54.000 But after that, that's the last worst I'll ever be.

02:14:56.000 After that, so.

02:14:57.000 Do you have a blueprint, like a map of what you'd like to accomplish in your career?

02:15:02.000 Yes.

02:15:03.000 Yeah, long term, I'd like to be champion, UFC champion.

02:15:03.000 Long term?

02:15:07.000 I think Steve has it with five defenses, if I'm not mistaken.

02:15:11.000 I would like to do, I would like to try to beat that record if I can.

02:15:16.000 And if I can't, die trying.

02:15:19.000 I would like to, I played in the NFL, I won the Olympics.

02:15:22.000 I would just like to be just an overall good man.

02:15:26.000 A lot of people want to look at, like we just talked about, a lot of people want to look at the success, the money.

02:15:30.000 I just want to be an excellent man.

02:15:32.000 You know what I'm saying?

02:15:32.000 I want to look back and be like, damn, like Gable did that.

02:15:36.000 And I saw Dana White.

02:15:37.000 He had a picture and he said, let your last name be the reason that people remember you.

02:15:42.000 And I want the Stevenson last name to be something that people remember.

02:15:44.000 And I want them to look at me and be like, damn, like through the peaks and valleys, Gable stood up and he became someone in his life.

02:15:51.000 And he provided for his family and he went home healthy.

02:15:55.000 And that's what I want.

02:15:56.000 Championship is going to come.

02:15:58.000 But I feel like a lot of people are so obsessed with I got to do this.

02:16:01.000 But I'm obsessed with being the best version of Gable because if I'm the best version of Gable, you're not going to be able to beat me.

02:16:07.000 Keep that mindset and you will accomplish these things, my man.

02:16:10.000 I believe it.

02:16:10.000 Man, I appreciate it.

02:16:11.000 Well, I appreciate it.

02:16:12.000 Yes, you're already.

02:16:12.000 Thank you very much for being here.

02:16:13.000 Pleasure.

02:16:14.000 And I can't wait to see you fight in the UFC.

02:16:14.000 Thank you.

02:16:16.000 Man, I can't wait.

02:16:16.000 It's going to be fun.

02:16:17.000 Thank you.

02:16:17.000 All right.

02:16:18.000 Thank you.

The Joe Rogan Experience - January 01, 2026

JRE MMA Show #172 with Gable Steveson

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript