00:00:46.000Like, I don't know how you have any time.
00:00:48.000That's kind of the balancing act, isn't it?
00:00:50.000That's why you see, that's why I have nothing but respect with the guys that hang in there and fight for any long amount of years, is because life goes on around it.
00:01:01.000And from when I started, like 20, I had no kids to when I'm now married with six kids and.
00:01:06.000Mortgages and their life, you know, you kind of juggle it around, just balancing act.
00:01:28.000It's a lot, a lot of activity, a lot of things going on, a lot of balls juggling.
00:01:32.000Yeah, you gotta stay busy, though, right?
00:01:35.000It's like idle hands, especially, yeah.
00:01:39.000And you'd get it's like when, I guess, like with performance sports and like the guillotine's kind of always over your head, right?
00:01:47.000So you've kind of always got to stay busy, keep moving like a shark, otherwise you just kind of drown.
00:01:52.000For sure, especially in combat sports, especially when you consider the fact that even in the outlier end, you only have a certain amount of time.
00:02:01.000Like, the true outliers in the sport, I think one of the true outliers in the sport right now is Jared Cannonier.
00:02:08.000One of the outliers because that dude is how old is he now?
00:04:43.000You cover so much distance so quickly, and they're so good at avoiding shots and then leaping in, and they're so good at timing and scoring.
00:04:51.000And if you could score with one shot like those guys do, they leap in and score with one.
00:04:56.000If you're a good combination fighter, once you connect once, then the other shots can flow from that.
00:05:02.000If you develop that style on top of that original point fighting style.
00:05:32.000I feel like that's a great style also to like avoid that.
00:05:35.000Like some of these fights, some guys, like you see these fights where they just like, Fucking stand right in front of each other, and some guys thrive on it.
00:05:43.000You know, it's like that's their thing, they like to just stand in the pocket and blast it out.
00:05:57.000Because like I wasn't on his wagon, but then he changed his name.
00:06:01.000It's like he started going downhill, and like everyone was just like, okay, he's gonna just fade into obscurity, you know, let's leave it as that.
00:06:06.000Changes his name, starts piecing people up, yeah, starts winning by TKOs, and you're like.
00:07:15.000And we were talking about his time in Thailand when he moved there, and he essentially had, over the course of something like six years, he had 100 Muay Thai fights and kickboxing fights, which is crazy.
00:07:26.000Yeah, that's wild because Muay Thai is so damaging on the body.
00:07:53.000Because everyone's waiting, I guess not everyone.
00:07:56.000It's like everybody that, I don't know how to phrase it.
00:08:00.000It's like everybody that doesn't drink and smoke before a fight is waiting for it to catch up with him so they can justify why they don't drink and smoke, right?
00:08:09.000Because I guarantee if I started drinking and smoking before a fight, I'm gone.
00:08:15.000Within seconds, within seconds, I'm gassing on the walk out.
00:08:48.000I wonder how much of an edge that takes off of you physically versus what it gives you psychologically to just be able to chill out every night.
00:08:57.000Yeah, and I guess that's what we were discussing last night.
00:08:59.000What's the balance, the tipping point for that?
00:09:04.000Whilst he's happy and he's loose and limber and you know he feels invincible, like there are detrimental effects of all this stuff he's doing.
00:09:14.000I don't, but then fighting is a funny sport, isn't it though?
00:09:17.000Because it's like it's not like sprinting where you build up this machine to run at your maximum, there is so many variables working against you.
00:09:28.000And like, how many times have we seen just nobodies out of shape dudes just come in but know how to throw a punch and just win by starching people?
00:12:40.000Well, Yuri, in that, like, maybe I'm thinking about it differently because in that moment, so that's post the injury when Yuri realized he had the injury.
00:12:48.000But in that moment, it did look like Yuri was moving in for the kill.
00:12:52.000But you just, you can't throw caution to the wind with a guy like, Carlos, because Carlos Olbert could just start you.
00:13:31.000And you just can't play games like that.
00:13:34.000There's only a few guys that are like smaller, like Mirza Kanoff is a good example of a guy who's been real successful as a light heavyweight, as a smaller guy.
00:14:03.000When you see Paul Acosta fight him at light heavyweight, you're like, Jesus, how come Paul Acosta wasn't a light heavyweight the whole time?
00:20:15.000Predictions and free to play sports contest availability varies by state.
00:20:18.000Well, it's also this I think there's this little micro injuries that you're not totally aware of, and then you do something and they just give, which makes sense because I was throwing a lot of left hooks today and a lot of left switch kicks.
00:20:30.000So it was like, I think I was just a lot on that side.
00:20:51.000Like, I pick up so many silly injuries just trying to either play with the kids, for one, because I think once you're over at 35, you can't go into a dead sprint from a stopped position without a 30 minute warm up.
00:21:09.000I need to warm up my hamstrings and everything before I'm doing this because I dare say, when I'm, and if your kids challenge you to a race, especially if you've got boys, you've got to beat them.
00:21:19.000Right, you can't let your boys beat you.
00:21:29.000Like, they're getting faster that way.
00:21:31.000I know, especially if you're a little bit light, faster.
00:21:34.000My boys are all under 11 still, so I can hobble along.
00:21:38.000I don't need the full warm up, you know.
00:21:40.000But it's yeah, I that's you know, I need a full hamstring warm up, stretch out before I remember reading that Muhammad Ali would he would warm up for a full hour.
00:21:51.000Before his workouts, he had a whole system that he did.
00:21:55.000And one time, I did this thing with Daniel Tosh for his TV show where I trained him to take a punch from Manny Pacquiao.
00:22:57.000Well, you know, pool is gigantic in the Philippines, yeah.
00:23:02.000And you know, I mean, it is way bigger than it is in America, it's everywhere.
00:23:07.000And he has his own pool hall in his compound, so he has a compound in his home.
00:23:11.000I mean, a full pool hall with like 15 tables and all these people running around, and everyone's playing and they're gambling all over the place.
00:23:18.000Everyone's gambling, they're all gambling.
00:23:20.000And while he's playing, this is so crazy.
00:23:23.000So he's playing pool, and while he's playing, while his opponent's shooting.
00:23:52.000So, look, he's got his chessboard that's right by the pool table, then he's making shots, and then he goes and sits down, and then in the middle of that, he's signing things.
00:25:28.000Like signing all these autographs for people, like everybody's running over to him with boxes of shit for him to sign so they could go sell it.
00:25:35.000I'm surprised at how many fighters in general like chess.
00:25:39.000I know it's a tactical, it's a strategy game, but it's just, it's surprising to me.
00:25:43.000Like the guys, like I'll go to the gym and I'll train with some of the boys and they are just, they are ogres with gloves on.
00:27:49.000Because you have to be, otherwise, you'd kill yourself.
00:27:51.000And those guys are taking a pounding that people don't recognize because they're on the road hundreds of days a year doing these shows in these local stadiums.
00:28:02.000So these people come out to see them, and they're doing these big pro wrestling shows, but no one thinks about the fact that's real damage.
00:28:09.000You're getting body slammed, you're getting a concussion, probably.
00:31:24.000And I think because of the knee issues, boxing is just a way better choice.
00:31:28.000You don't have to take into account the grappling.
00:31:30.000You're not getting kicked in the knees.
00:31:32.000I just think his knees are pretty fucked up.
00:31:34.000I think that's why you see a lot of the older guys that weren't really taken advantage of wrestling wise early in their career.
00:31:42.000But as they get older, they start getting taken down, held down, beat by decision, or put on their back and kind of submitted there or kept there.
00:31:52.000And I think that's because, I know this firsthand, I can still do it because I've just been lucky, really.
00:32:00.000And genetically, that's a thing people don't realize.
00:32:40.000So that when you get in there with these younger guys and they take you down or they start pushing on the wrestling, you're just not there for it.
00:32:48.000And I also think that a big part of wrestling is what you do in the first second of the engagement, of the takedown.
00:32:56.000It's like how that fighting, that fight, that's why you see a lot of young fighters that don't have a huge pedigree in wrestling, but they get out of positions, they keep fighting, they work their way back up because they're fighting and fighting and fighting, which is another thing that kind of Dims a little bit as you get older.
00:34:19.000I, I, people don't give it that fight and what had what what what Shemaev did to Drikas enough like thought or space because that was unbelievable in a championship level fight to hold down someone like Drikas who who couldn't do anything.
00:34:39.000He couldn't do anything and he's a big, strong guy.
00:34:42.000At the worst case, you just flop around and push someone, you know, but he just kept getting put in that crucifix and held down, like taken advantage of.
00:36:33.000Cut that wants to keep fighting in the UFC, he's undefeated just because you think he's boring.
00:36:39.000Well, put him in with someone who's fucking exciting.
00:36:41.000Yes, put him in with someone who pushes him and makes it a crazy fight.
00:36:45.000Like, if a guy's fighting and winning, you keep fighting and you keep winning.
00:36:49.000Yeah, like, are we saying that Hamzak can't fight in the UFC anymore because of the trickest fight where he won the title, which a lot of people thought was boring?
00:36:57.000Yes, I didn't think it was boring, but a lot of people thought was boring.
00:36:59.000Yeah, his brother had the and wasn't undefeated, I don't think, but had the same issue in February.
00:37:29.000And this idea that you're supposed to just be entertaining and put your brain on the line and.
00:37:35.000Ignore your skill set, ignore your skill set, which is to avoid damage and to fight intelligently.
00:37:40.000Know when to engage, know when your gas tank is on E and you got to play it off a little bit and move around a little bit and let your body recover.
00:38:13.000Because they take no damage, no damage.
00:38:16.000And they just take people down and destroy them there.
00:38:21.000And then the longevity of that is much longer until that curse hits them where they can't get a takedown and then they never get a takedown again.
00:38:29.000Yeah, I think that curse is probably what we're talking about too like a buildup of injuries and all these different things over time.
00:40:32.000And that was like a good example of like a super powerhouse, enormous guy who's gigantic for the weight class just gets pieced up by a guy who's just slicker.
00:41:12.000When Costa is on, he's a motherfucker.
00:41:15.000I think he went through a dark time after the Izzy fight.
00:41:19.000I think the pressure of fighting for the title, I'm just speculating, overwhelmed him.
00:41:25.000Obviously, he had some injuries too because he had red suction marks all over his calf, which is a real bad thing to go into the octagon with.
00:44:41.000That's why everyone loves this sport is because crazy stuff happens.
00:44:46.000Oh, yeah, like it is just a melting pot of athletes.
00:44:51.000Like when Sean Sharaf just knocked out Gable Stevenson, oh, like in the first round with the first punch, like a 2,400 to one underdog, yeah, minus 2,400 underdog, yeah, that's crazy, crazy.
00:45:02.000Like, that would have been, and you know, there were punters that put 10 bucks on, like, just.
00:50:19.000And he's bringing you up to a pace that he knows that you can't sustain, but he does every day.
00:50:24.000Do you reckon that's what burnt him out?
00:50:26.000Because I swear, it's got to be like, if every fight you turn up and you're like, all right, four rounds to go before I got you, like, you know, you got 20 minutes of cooking a guy, you know what I mean?
00:52:28.000At a certain point in time, everybody's time is up.
00:52:31.000And if you've been sparring with pro boxers for years and sparring hard for years and training hard and fighting and getting in these crazy wars.
00:53:18.000And because during his prime, he was running through people.
00:53:21.000Before people worked it out, before there was like a ton of tape on him, before they found that, and before also Anderson's age and the amount of fights he had caught up with him, he was untouchable.
00:56:27.000And They thought they were going to get delayed way later to like 10 30 p.m., but it wound up passing over us, like literally, miraculously, like literally circled around.
00:58:02.000No excuses, just wrestling at its best.
00:58:06.000RAF 14 live from Las Vegas, Friday, October 23rd, streaming exclusively on Fox Nation.
00:58:13.000Go to foxnation.com and sign up today.
00:58:18.000I'm like a heavy sweater, like a heavy, heavy sweater.
00:58:23.000So, whenever I do a hard session, like if I have a big sparring day and do some rounds and it's hot, because in Australia, humidity is, we live in it, right?
00:59:08.000I don't know if, but it's like what we were talking about earlier that there's this balance between like drinking and smoking and having fun and being like fucking a marine.
00:59:34.000You know, you got two guys that are special athletes, but one of them gets up at five o'clock in the morning and screaming war and running up sand dunes with combat boots on in the middle of the winter in Cape Cod.
01:01:35.000Just get him up against the cage, land elbows.
01:01:38.000And the way he went for the single, you know, and then he's like defending his head straight up in the air and boom, caught him with one and he was like out cold and he held him up to hit him with the second one.
01:03:30.000Hamzad started training with him fairly recently.
01:03:32.000But Sam Calavita, he comes from a cycling background and, you know, like a real scientific approach to cardio.
01:03:40.000And these guys do these fucking insane cardio strength and conditioning workouts in a garage in California.
01:03:48.000So, you got all these elite fighters, and this, you know, Middle class residential neighborhood.
01:03:52.000Guy fucking lifts up his garage door and you got these assassins on your fucking driveway doing like whipping chains and shit and doing all these crazy medicine ball workouts.
01:05:11.000I think the thing is, though, if you're just doing a cardio based sport like cycling, obviously it's power and there's some technique to it, but it's not the same sort of give and take, completely open ended, improvising thing that MMA is.
01:05:54.000I know when I used to work out at Carlson Gracie's place, one of the things that I didn't like, no disrespect, but one of the things that I didn't like is they put you through this grueling, Strength and conditioning thing before you would do your skills.
01:06:07.000And I was like, hmm, why would you want to be exhausted when you're learning something?
01:06:12.000I think it's a good thing if you're just trying to get in shape and have a real hard workout.
01:06:16.000And yeah, you should know what it feels like to wrestle tired.
01:06:18.000But also, shouldn't you learn all this stuff when you're fresh?
01:06:43.000If you're exhausted and your abs are fucking killing you and your neck is stiff and you're like, it's like you're a little more labored with stuff.
01:06:53.000You don't have the confidence and you don't have the neural pathways of the sharpness.
01:06:58.000You know how sometimes you learn a move and then you get it and you finally get it?
01:07:02.000And then you're hitting pads or something and you just, TOMAP!
01:08:47.000And I think there's a real benefit to like flow rolling.
01:08:51.000There's a real benefit to like shadow sparring where you're just touching and moving and it's just, you're just building pathways in your mind.
01:08:59.000But then there's also like a giant benefit to just breaking down the machine and pushing the fucking machine to its red line and forcing it to recover and build a stronger base.
01:10:18.000Well, you know, that brings me to BJ Penn's prime because one of the things that I've talked about a bunch of times is he didn't really do much sports specific training in his prime for camps.
01:10:30.000He would do the camps with Marb Marinovich.
01:10:34.000He's his philosophy was you already know how to fight.
01:10:38.000What we're going to do is give you the most insane gas tank, and then you're going to go in there free as a bird because you're never going to think about cardio, you're just going to be able to perform.
01:10:46.000Yeah, and so it was all plyometrics like crazy plyometrics and all these weird box jumps and all this different shit.
01:10:53.000And every day, just getting broken down, broken down every day.
01:10:58.000But he would show up shredded and just looking like an absolute demon.
01:11:04.000And he had been doing very little in terms of like sparring, very little mitt training.
01:11:09.000And the philosophy was you already know how to fight.
01:13:36.000Heel hooks, people would be furious at you.
01:13:38.000You know what's great about the gi in terms of, in terms of like a jiu jitsu side of things, especially like in trend, like for MMA as well, is that you can't make as many mistakes in the gi.
01:14:04.000I've jumped into beginner classes, and a really strong guy will still like shove me from mount or from the half guard because I'm just not ready for him to just bench press me.
01:15:44.000So defensively, I felt like it was very, but I also felt like offensively, I should just do all the things that I do no gi and ignore the gi and just, except a clock choke.
01:17:36.000So his whole thing was just get a hold of the necks.
01:17:38.000High elbow guillotine, rear naked choke, anything you can do, head and arm choke, you know, whatever he could do is just get a hold of the neck.
01:17:45.000You know, he had a crazy north south choke.
01:19:06.000Like, when you start training with him and do, and like you watch him train with like elite guys and he catches them and stuff, you're like, oh, fuck, man, that's slick.
01:19:15.000It's like, so I've rolled with him and it's like you're drowning.
01:19:18.000It's just, you're just wondering how this ends.
01:19:20.000Like, what he's going to finish you with.
01:19:24.000Now, what's crazy is imagine Gordon can do that to him.
01:20:50.000If I get you in a position, you're not getting out of it, and I'm advancing to the next spot, and I'm advancing to the next spot, and then checkmate.
01:21:00.000And when he was saying it, I was like, oh shit.
01:21:38.000He was doing neck exercises with like bands where he was like going upstairs or pulling against a tree with a fucking thing to control his neck muscles and strengthen his neck muscles.
01:21:49.000He was doing shit that nobody had figured out.
01:22:23.000So, doing a lot of these imbalanced sort of exercises and balance exercises where you're strengthening one muscle or flexing one muscle or turning one on, they're so important.
01:22:34.000That's why I think you mentioned it or we started to just beforehand.
01:22:38.000Gymnastics as a baseline for anything, anything is just the best.
01:22:47.000Yeah, gymnastics are so physically strong to be able to throw yourself in the air and land on your feet and move around like that, like that dude who did the front flip to the axe kick.
01:25:36.000I think a lot of people neglect core work, like, real core work, like, rotational core work.
01:25:41.000I know I did for a long time, and I just started doing it a few years ago, like really getting into rotational work, like a lot of heavy cable rotational work and kettlebell rotational work.
01:25:51.000Man, I was doing it out of necessity because I kept getting injured.
01:25:54.000I was getting certain lower back injuries that were like a repetitive use injury.
01:26:00.000And I said, I think there's an imbalance.
01:26:03.000So a lot of it I was getting from archery.
01:26:05.000So I was getting this tendonitis on my lower right side.
01:26:09.000And what it is is because I'm pulling back with one arm.
01:26:55.000They say that, like, if you do those, you know, those hanging foot to bar moves, just a hanging foot to bar, that improves your deadlift, that improves your clean and press, that improves the strength of your chin ups, it improves everything.
01:28:04.000Like, it doesn't look like you could burn a stupid amount of calories just on bars, but you are right because you're building muscle and the muscle requires more calories, and you're essentially like lifting your own body weight all day.
01:28:17.000Those guys do it for hours and hours at a time.
01:28:20.000And I guess, like, having any extra weight would affect this the performance of all this stuff by a great degree.
01:29:27.000I was an electrician as I was like kind of fighting on the local scenes, professional still, but on the local scenes.
01:29:32.000And then I got the call up for Ultimate Fighter and I said, I'm gonna take some annual leave when I'm on the Ultimate Fighter.
01:29:38.000So, did you go through an apprenticeship?
01:29:39.000Yeah, yeah, I was a fourth year apprentice, so I was supposed to do my capstone, which is the end test, and I was going to do that, and then.
01:29:47.000The ultimate fighter said, All right, come in.
01:39:50.000So, you had like great performances at Welterweight, like really promising performances, but for sure, when you went up to 85, that's when you became Robert Whitaker.
01:42:00.000And then, as well as because I've been in the game for so long and You understand better than most, like there's life going on around you.
01:42:07.000I don't know what it was because the last few middleweight camps I had did not enjoy them the cut, the diet, the training, fatigue.
01:42:17.000I've got a bunch of kids at home trying to hang out with six kids when I'm this fatigued, starving.
01:42:24.000It was just you kind of get sick of it, you get burnt out a little bit from that style thing.
01:42:29.000And one of the big things that I don't know why it seems like a small thing, but one of the big things that made me like sad was that.
01:42:38.000I went to my cupboard and nothing fits because, like, I get fitted for suits when I'm like trim, when I'm lean, when my shorts are in.
01:42:47.000So, if I'm walking around my normal weight, I don't have clothes.
01:42:52.000And I know how stupid that sounds, how little that is, but it made me sad.
01:42:57.000It's like at the end of this career that I've had, like, I've been in the UFC for 15 years, end of my career, I'm going to have no clothes.
01:43:07.000And it made me, I was like, I was upset.
01:44:26.000Like, you could do that as a professional fighter as well.
01:44:29.000You could do a lot more cardio and get your body down to a healthy level of whatever it is, whatever weight class you're at your best.
01:44:36.000But then when you jump on that family holiday, that family cruise, and you're at the salad bar the entire time, that doesn't sound super fun.
01:44:43.000That doesn't sound super fun, but I mean, I don't think, I don't advocate that.
01:44:51.000But be at a weight that's a real, like, if everybody just fought at the weight they are when they're in shape and eating the adequate amount of food to fuel you, like a real full meal, like full meals every session, eating fruit, getting in your carbs, drinking tons of water, never being dehydrated, but this is what you weigh with, you know, 10% body fat, natural, healthy fit.
01:45:53.000And weight cuts and weight divisions and all that into the sport itself.
01:45:58.000But I definitely feel like you see more of that, like that dichotomy of that kind of scenario of more natural weight classes, the higher up you go in the weight divisions.
01:46:10.000So you see more in light heavyweights where guys are, they're more normal weight class.
01:46:15.000Or especially in heavyweight, they're all just big boys.
01:47:08.000Telling him, we can make you, we can make you.
01:47:12.000Ensign Inouye, when he did the podcast, he told me very specifically that in the contract it said, in capital letters, we do not test for steroids.
01:47:22.000It was like in capital letters, like, we're all good.
01:52:35.000Maybe, I mean, but I think he memorized, but just the will to do that when you've already lost sight in one of your eyes, yeah, and to continue to fight and know potentially you could lose sight in the other eye.
01:55:02.000That's always been my take, like, If I had to look to dissect him, because when I was a middleweight, obviously I'm doing that with most of them.
01:56:39.000The thing too is, like, those guys who are really good at switching stances have a giant advantage.
01:56:45.000If you're one of those guys that must stand orthodox or must stand southpaw and you get that front leg compromise and now all of a sudden you're in a bad position, you're 50% of what you really are.
01:58:53.000Because it's like fighting Southpaws and fighting Orthodox fighters, they're like two different strategy sets.
01:58:59.000Like a Southpaw game and an Orthodox game.
01:59:02.000They're very different, very different shots, very different openings, like very different opportunities.
01:59:09.000And especially in MMA, where wrestling is obviously prevalent.
01:59:13.000So, having that lead leg not there, like if you're an orthodox guy and you're used to shooting on that orthodox side, that lead leg, that lead left leg, and they switch, your takedown games are off.
01:59:26.000And if you're a wrestler, that's tough.
01:59:30.000Yeah, I would feel like if you're a young fighter and you're just learning right now, my God, start switching.
02:00:15.000He's hitting you with like the big toe, yeah, because his big toe is like this big.
02:00:20.000He's like, you've seen the size of his feet, man.
02:00:23.000He's like digging the side of his foot into your calf, yeah, and that that protrusion of like where his toe connects.
02:00:30.000Oh man, yeah, he's got a hard as a rock.
02:00:33.000He's got like a foot built for that kid.
02:00:35.000He's got like a little hammer, yeah, he's like tagging your calf muscles, and his posture doesn't break at all because he's got long legs, he's tall, obviously.
02:03:08.000Because Glover Teixeira, for like six years, people don't realize this, before he even got to the UFC, for six years, Glover Teixeira was the boogeyman.
02:03:48.000He obviously is an elite Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, phenomenal wrestling, and then great striking as well, and knows how to combine the two of them together.
02:03:56.000And so with him working with Alex, I think it really sharpened his striking skills.
02:04:03.000And then on top of that, when he beat Jan Bohovic.
02:04:06.000And then on top of that, him working with Alex really tightened up Alex's takedown defense, really tightened up his back and filled each other's holes.
02:06:27.000You know, that like you're getting all that leverage behind those shots, the wide shoulders and the length of the arms, and it's all like accelerating to the target and all your weights.
02:07:34.000If you're a wrestler and you start striking when you're 28, you get pretty good.
02:07:37.000But there's stuff that happens in a long, prolonged fight where there's a series of exchanges, where there's openings that you're going to leave that you're not aware of.
02:07:46.000And then a striker, a seasoned striker, is going to be able to capitalize on that.
02:07:49.000And you throw in fatigue as well when you start relying on instincts and things like you start sleepwalking almost.
02:09:44.000At the end of the day, he's a fan favorite, and that's a big factor.
02:09:47.000If you're trying to sell a fight, and the UFC needs to sell fights.
02:09:51.000And if you've got a world champion, you know, like Hamza, and you need someone to fight him, who better to sell the damn fight than Sean Strickland?
02:09:58.000He's going to talk mad amounts of shit.
02:12:33.000And I believe if someone could hold you down like Ben Askren used to do in Bellator and just give you no by the rules for five rounds, that's it.
02:12:40.000Like, and if you want to get up, figure out a way to get up.
02:12:42.000But if you can't get up, well, you're definitely losing.
02:15:00.000You know what's funny is because I tuned in and I was watching it, I was like, man, I don't like this light heavyweight stuff.
02:15:07.000Like, because I remember I just remember Johnny Walker from being a light heavyweight.
02:15:10.000When I first saw him, I was like, man, maybe I should go back to middleweight because I still thought he was there.
02:15:15.000And then I saw the heavyweight thing, I was like, ah, well, I think he was the point of diminishing returns where he lost so much weight to make light heavyweight, definitely, he couldn't take a shot.
02:17:02.000And obviously, the 12 week camp or whatever you do before the fight.
02:17:09.000Leads itself a lot to that, like it lends itself, yeah.
02:17:13.000It makes the whole thing a drag, you know.
02:17:17.000But then the changes, I was like, Well, let's go to light heavyweight.
02:17:20.000People have been saying for years, like, you should go to light heavyweight because I've always been a heavier set guy, and I was like, Okay, I'm gonna do this.
02:17:26.000And then, but more than that, needed a change.
02:17:28.000I wanted to enjoy fighting, I wanted to bring the love back for it, so I just started being a bit freer.
02:17:33.000You know how we were talking about the happy Rob is, yeah, being a bit freer.
02:17:42.000Is like I'm hyper focused on fighting, and that is like something that is the objective, that is the goal.
02:17:49.000I took a little bit off, stepped away a little bit from it so that I could go to my kids' soccer games, you know, instead of running sandhills, things like that.
02:18:00.000I started enjoying kind of the moments between fighting, which is there's a lot, right?
02:18:06.000So just enjoying that made such a big mental difference.
02:18:11.000And then I took that into the workroom, and in the workroom, A big thing was just like, let's not get hit.
02:19:23.000It's just, it's, it's, So, I'm trying to work on that still because, whereas, like, when middleweight, I could, you know, I'd get bigger, but you can't go too crazy because you know you've got to get back down to 85 at one point.
02:21:04.000Because I've been fighting so long, and when I started, like you couldn't just Google how to cut weight, you just get these wrestling sort of camps, right?
02:21:43.000And one of the things that he was saying is he doesn't do it at like a really high temperature, he does it at like 165, I think he was saying.
02:21:50.000Well, I know the science supports that.
02:21:53.000You just needed to be hot enough to sweat.
02:22:51.000Yeah, because like I'll do it and it'll come off, but I don't know if the weight's coming off just because of the diet change or if because it's actually because of the water.
02:23:02.000And also, like, depending on who you speak to, people water load differently.
02:23:07.000Some guys like restrict it, some guys go backwards, some guys go up to only a certain amount, some guys go as high as they can.
02:23:36.000Have you ever done it with like one of those elite weight cutting coaches?
02:23:40.000Like there's a few of those guys that people bring in that are like real experts in monitoring the exact amount of sodium you take and the exact amount of water you drink.
02:23:50.000At this day, and the amount that you drink at that day, and they get you perfectly to that threshold?
02:23:56.000But I've got to ask you, like, how much, especially in like, if we look at the grassroots of fighting, like, we are just two men with sticks and rocks, right?
02:24:42.000But I wonder sometimes if the science, if sometimes we get too caught up in science, because you see that a lot with today's.
02:24:51.000Like younger guys coming in, like their parents are getting them into it because they've been watching QFC their whole life.
02:24:56.000So the kids starting mixed martial arts with like an elite program and they're like doing the best things, eating the best foods, like and they get too technical when a lot of the guys that are champions and stuff like that they're just punching on in garages, right?
02:25:14.000Or Strickland, yeah, look at Strickland.
02:25:16.000Like that's not the most scientific approach just to constantly spar and talk to people while you're sparring them.
02:25:24.000To be fair, like, he's able to constantly spike because he's beating people up.
02:26:54.000Like, these are two guys out there putting their souls on a line with the consequence of getting knocked out in front of their friends and family and the world.
02:30:43.000However, if I was Justin and I'm looking at the landscape and I'm like, well, who do I fight?
02:30:51.000I mean, you could fight if Oliveira wins in his next fight and Oliveira retains the BMF title and then Justin fights him in a rematch for the BMF title and for the lightweight title together, I could see that fight too.
02:31:07.000But it seems like you're denying Armand what he's deserved.
02:31:50.000You know, like, why do you, the age of these athletes are just going up.
02:31:55.000Well, I think with proper training and with all the different sports science modalities today, like particularly people that are using hyperbaric chambers, red light therapy, saunas, cold plunges, massage, all these different training methods that they're doing to strengthen all their tissues and make sure they don't get injured and increasing their cardio scientifically and all the nutrition, everybody's got everything dialed in.
02:32:19.000You can extend your lifespan a lot further than you could a few years back.
02:32:24.000Well, I hold a great belief in longevity.
02:32:28.000Like, that's why me and my wife actually just created an app that, like, really focuses on sports science, longevity, personal strength.
02:32:50.000It's, honestly, it's programmed just like, Built around making like what got me to be able to perform for so long because you know how rare it is to be able to fight at this level for the length of time, right?
02:33:02.000Like, that's always the hardest thing is longevity.
02:33:04.000The turnover rate in the UFC is like super fast, so like, performance, doing these little things, performance training, conditioning to make life better.
02:33:14.000We just want to make life better, but what we do differently, and this is kind of an avenue that I started playing with the idea when I wasn't going on a title run before I had my success in my last fight.
02:34:54.000I think that's why pub culture was so important for men, you know, going through the years, because they lower their guard a little bit and they just start shit talking.
02:35:07.000We can just start, we're just talking.
02:35:10.000And in that, I'm venting, I'm letting out stresses.
02:35:13.000I'm saying things that make me vulnerable.
02:35:15.000I'm saying things that, like, I just want another opinion on because, like, sometimes you just need to say something and then you need the other guy to be like, nah, you're a pussy.
02:36:20.000Yeah, well, that's when guys run a foul in their gym and have to leave the gym, that's always like a giant problem because the people that you train with on a daily basis, you spar with, you grind with, those are like brothers.
02:38:19.000And obviously, I'm still going to go to CKB and stuff because I have a good relationship with them and I did some really good work with it.
02:38:25.000And for me, everywhere is so far for Australia.
02:38:49.000All those fucking billionaire dudes who are like worried about the end of the world, they all get a bunker in either New Zealand or Australia.
02:47:16.000Because it's one thing to watch it play out, but it's another thing when those knees just come at your body like that and you realize, like, that's the speed that they're competing at.