Rafael Lovato is one of the most accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts in the world. He has won the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships 5 times and holds the record for the most Jiu Jitsu Black Belts in the history of the sport. In this episode, we talk about how he got started in jiu jitsu, how he became a black belt, and what it's like to be the son of a Brazilian Jiu- jitsu black belt and a martial arts black belt. We also talk about his life growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, and how he fell in love with the sport of jiujitsu and martial arts. We talk about what it was like to grow up in a family full of martial arts, and the challenges he faced growing up as a martial artist. And he talks about his journey to becoming a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu jitsu. This episode is sponsored by Bellator MMA. Check out their newest product, The Flyweight division, "The Flyweight Classic" which is available on all major streaming platforms including Pay-Per-View, Vevolution, and The Fight Network. If you like what you hear, please HIT SUBSCRIBE and leave us a review on iTunes and tell a friend about what you think of the episode! Thank you so much for listening to this episode and supporting the podcast! - Justin Wren - The Best Jiu Jitsu Podcast The Best Podcast in the World & The Best Muay Thai Thanks to our sponsor, and Thank you for being a Friend of the Podcast! We really appreciate it. We appreciate it greatly. - Thank you! XOXO - Justin & Rachael <3 - The Good Morning America (featuring The Good Fight Club - . - R&B & The Good Fellas is a great place to get the most out of this episode. . . . Canelo Muay & the Best of the Best Podcasts in the Podcasts And much more! (Thank you for supporting The Good Life Podcasts & Thank You for supporting the Podcast? -- Thank you, RACYO, Thank You, Raffy, Rachid, Raldy, and Rachit, and Thank You For Listening to The Podcasts?
00:01:29.000Martial arts upbringing well before I ever found out about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
00:01:34.000My father was a Jeet Kune Do instructor.
00:01:37.000And so growing up, you know, the main thing that we were training when I was a child was the Jeet Kune Do system.
00:01:44.000Which was basically mixed martial arts before mixed martial arts.
00:01:47.000You know, Bruce Lee's philosophy was way ahead of his time.
00:01:50.000He believed in, you know, learning from all the arts and creating your own personal system of self-defense that involves, you know, each range of combat.
00:02:02.000And so, you know, I grew up doing several different forms of martial arts, boxing, Muay Thai, Escrima, Wing Chun, Pinjak Silat.
00:02:12.000I mean, you name it, I've probably done it.
00:02:14.000And when my father discovered Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I was an early teenager, like around 12 years old.
00:02:21.000He learned about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in one of the Jeet Kune Do instructor conferences that takes place in California.
00:02:29.000They had They did shoot fighting and different sort of martial arts that included grappling, but it was very rough and not near the technique that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has.
00:02:45.000So whenever he first started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he fell in love with it.
00:03:35.000And once I started learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I fell in love with it right away because that gave me something that I could do where I could be competitive with the adults right away.
00:03:45.000I was a long, lanky kid, and the guard just felt natural to me.
00:03:50.000And just being on the ground, I really loved it.
00:04:02.000We sacrificed a lot to learn Jiu Jitsu.
00:04:05.000Being in Oklahoma, always traveled to learn.
00:04:10.000The first time I went to Brazil, I was 16 years old.
00:04:12.000It was in 1999 to train and compete in the world championships.
00:04:18.000And, you know, we just never stopped and we became the first American father and son Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts.
00:04:24.000But, you know, going back to your question...
00:04:27.000The full spectrum of martial arts was always in my blood.
00:04:31.000You know, even as a jujitsu competitor, you know, someone that found his passion in jujitsu, I still considered myself a martial artist first and foremost, not just a jujitsu practitioner.
00:04:43.000And so it was always in the plans to one day do MMA. But I really wanted to go as far as I could in Brazilian jujitsu.
00:04:50.000You know, I was there when BJ Penn won the world championships in 2000. And I watched him win and I said, you know, man, I really want to be the next American to win the Worlds.
00:04:59.000That immediately became my big life goal, my first life goal.
00:05:03.000And I achieved that in 2007. But we all saw BJ go straight to MMA after he won.
00:05:12.000That was the only tournament he ever did as a black belt was the Worlds.
00:05:16.000And he won and then switched to MMA. And so I really wanted to be an American, you know, just kind of representing for us in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, competing at that high level and winning as much as possible.
00:05:29.000And kind of, you know, at that time, it wasn't like today.
00:05:55.000At the end of the tournament, you're lucky if you had a handful of non-Brazilians on the podium at all the belts, including blue, purple, brown, all the belts, let alone black belt.
00:06:05.000And so I stayed in the sport to really try to get a second gold.
00:06:09.000That was the main thing that was keeping me in it, to win a second gold at the Worlds as a black belt.
00:06:14.000I ended up medaling eight times, never got that second gold.
00:06:18.000But towards the end, I was just like, you know, it's time to switch.
00:06:22.000You know, I really felt like MMA was calling me.
00:06:26.000Jiu-Jitsu was getting a little too comfortable, you know, and I had been fighting.
00:08:04.000Let's switch back in to kind of tapping into who I was as a martial artist, the training that I had as a kid, as a child, under my father, under the Jeet Kune Do system.
00:08:17.000And I did one fight, and I enjoyed it, and I said I gotta do more, and I gotta do at least one more.
00:08:25.000So were you, the whole time you were doing Jiu Jitsu, were you training kickboxing at all?
00:08:43.000Like what about practicing ground and pound and all the other things in MMA? Well, whenever I was younger, my father, he had some fighters that he was training.
00:08:54.000And then whenever I took over the academy, we had a couple guys that were fighting then as well, one of which went to the UFC. And so I was sparring with these guys, helping them get ready.
00:09:05.000And in 2008, I met who is now my main MMA coach.
00:09:57.000Well, it's totally designed for MMA. You know, it's not Muay Thai for Muay Thai, you know.
00:10:05.000They call their system Evolusantai, basically means evolution, you know.
00:10:10.000And it's evolved into this system that is designed for MMA. You know, you're not just training striking for striking, you're doing striking to set up takedowns or defend takedowns.
00:11:21.000You know, inflicting as much damage as possible.
00:11:24.000And for me, it was so good because they can work with me as a jujitsu guy much different because they don't have to worry about someone trying to take me down.
00:11:32.000You know, I can pretty much throw whatever, whatever is possible, everything in the kitchen sink.
00:11:37.000And for the most part, You're happy if someone takes you down.
00:11:42.000And then also I have the threat, being able to threaten someone with a takedown, which opens up a lot of striking as well.
00:11:48.000And so the way they have this system designed is just perfect for me.
00:11:54.000And Mauricio as a person is just an incredible guy that I really fell in love with.
00:11:59.000Honestly, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be doing MMA. He just made me feel like I had the right person in place, the family, to go into MMA confidently and enjoy it.
00:12:11.000In the beginning, I wasn't sure how much I was going to How much I was going to like the whole process.
00:12:16.000But you've been working with him for, what, 10 years?
00:12:18.000Yeah, we've been training together for 10 years.
00:12:19.000And you've been fighting for four years.
00:16:49.000I just basically followed his footsteps.
00:16:51.000Whenever I started to commit myself to going all-in, they've always been behind me.
00:16:58.000And, I mean, the timing of it is just very special because he was inspired by Bruce Lee and that's what pushed him to, you know, follow the Jeet Kune Do system.
00:17:08.000And so I got to come in in that, which is a very, you know, unique style.
00:17:13.000When I was a child, I was training with Danny Nusano, Richard Bastille, some of the most incredible martial artists that have ever lived.
00:17:20.000And then I was at this special age of a teenager, you know, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu first started making its way to the U.S. And I had the support of them saying, yeah, you're going to go to Brazil, you're going to compete in the Worlds.
00:17:31.000And I got to see Jiu-Jitsu, you know, very early on.
00:17:34.000The first World Championships was in 96. And I competed in 99. And so I got to experience Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in almost its roots in Brazil and see what it's become today, you know, worldwide, such a big sport.
00:17:51.000And now I'm also fighting MMA. So it's really cool, my whole martial arts.
00:17:55.000Shoot-a-Box is known for some of the roughest sparring ever.
00:18:00.000It was old school, the way they used to do it.
00:18:06.000I mean, and the criticism was that a lot of these guys were damaging themselves so badly in training that they were limiting their careers.
00:18:15.000Yeah, I would say they learned from that a little bit.
00:19:07.000And there are definitely days where I have to kind of speak up and say, you know what, I'm going to pull back just a little bit today, just depending on what my body feels.
00:19:15.000I try to listen to that as much as possible.
00:19:18.000Aren't you sparring partners with like Vanderlei down there still?
00:20:25.000Yeah, somebody needs to talk to them about traumatic brain injuries.
00:20:29.000Yeah, I think one of the things that they, the worst things they were doing, they were sparring full on, like two days, a day before the fight.
00:20:39.000You see what I was saying, sometimes they were sparring right the day before.
00:22:47.000And on top of that, what he does is he gets there, they rent a house, and then he builds his own gym.
00:22:54.000So they'll have like a house that they rent, he'll mat up the living room, and then he'll go outside, he'll put up a Wing Chun dummy, he'll hang heavy bags, He does it all himself.
00:23:04.000I used to do the Wing Chun dummy, too.
00:23:37.000But when you look at what happened, that was a dominant victory.
00:23:40.000I mean, there was one round where Conor did pretty good, the third round.
00:23:44.000Other than that, Khabib just sort of dominated him.
00:23:46.000I mean, dropped him in the second, beat the fucking shit out of him in the fourth, and the third was a round where Conor did pretty good because most of it was standing up.
00:24:09.000I mean, I guess you could say that's the same thing that sort of happened in the Nate Diaz fight, and then Conor came back and won the rematch.
00:25:17.000There's a new angle of video where Khabib's Russian manager, as Connor is tapping, he comes right behind Dennis and slaps him on the back like three or four times.
00:26:15.000I was hoping the chairs wouldn't start flying and then it wouldn't get too crazy.
00:26:19.000And I was really, really, really hoping that someone wouldn't do something stupid and hurt someone to the point where they would get kicked out of the UFC or suspended.
00:26:28.000But that might be the case with that one gentleman.
00:26:49.000It's supposed to be with Artem and not a bad idea to cancel that fight because it's so close to this and obviously it's going to be so charged up.
00:28:27.000I saw him at one of the Bellator's in Chicago there, and he was like, man, I'm still dealing with flash concussions or something like that.
00:32:21.000And then whenever that happened, it was just something that In me, I don't know if I was embarrassed or if I was disappointed, but we were introducing some guys.
00:32:29.000Steve Weatherford, who played for the New York Giants, he came over for like...
00:32:33.000He played for the Giants for like 10 or 12 years.
00:33:05.000I never really even sat down and watched it with him.
00:33:07.000But then he decided to take me to the T-Mobile Arena for her first fight was Conor Khabib.
00:33:14.000And she was in there, and she said she loved it.
00:33:17.000Before that, Michelle Waterson was an incredible inspiration to her, her saying that she wants to be the first mom to be a UFC champion.
00:33:24.000She said that the night was going great.
00:33:25.000And then whenever that happened, she said, It literally scared her because fights started popping off to the right of her, left of her, behind her.
00:33:33.000She just kind of poured out into the arena.
00:33:35.000And so that was her first introduction to MMA. So that was a little tough to see, but at the same time, I get it.
00:33:45.000And kind of your perspective of martial artist.
00:33:48.000Yeah, I mean, same thing that you were feeling, just, you know, that little bit of kind of sadness and disappointment of, you know, the biggest event, the most views, the most people watching, and that's the last thing that they see.
00:34:01.000That's what they, you know, go to bed thinking about and feeling about.
00:34:54.000What we value about martial arts in terms of teaching children honor and respect and discipline and the things when we think of as a classical martial artist like Liotta Machida or someone like that bowing to their opponent.
00:35:27.000There's something going on outside of the actual contest itself.
00:35:31.000There's all this extracurricular violence.
00:35:33.000There's throwing a dolly at a bus, shattering in the window, all these guys running and screaming, get off the bus, and then they're promoting this.
00:35:42.000And then everyone's shocked that it escalates after the fight itself.
00:35:47.000You know, one of the In some ways, one of the more interesting moments of the fight was Khabib on top of Conor, beating the shit out of him, going, let's talk now.
00:36:20.000If you look at his standard behavior, he's very respectful.
00:36:23.000I mean, he's never had an incident like this ever in a fight.
00:36:26.000All of his fights before that are him shaking his opponent's hand, doing the standard stare-down, standard stuff, talking about his skill set and what he's going to do.
00:36:48.000I'm very torn because all the shit that he talked to Jose Aldo, look, that was a big factor in Jose Aldo charging at him, losing his composure, face first, and getting clipped with that left hand.
00:37:00.000That's a big factor, is the emotional angst that he had gone through for months and months on the road with this guy.
00:37:06.000Yeah, I mean, that mental warfare is a real thing.
00:38:10.000And that they should have respect and honor outside of it.
00:38:14.000I wish you would have had the chance to say that.
00:38:16.000The sad part was him letting the emotions take over what he felt and instead of just getting the belt tied on and kind of killing them with kindness at the end and saying that and having that chance to put that in everyone's minds and ears.
00:38:31.000He did in the post-fight interview, or the post-fight press conference, but how many people got a chance to see that?
00:38:38.000I mean, just a few thousand, I'm sure, in comparison to the 2.4 million that downloaded the pay-per-view and the many, many, many, many more that saw YouTube clips and Instagram clips.
00:38:51.000It's unfortunate, but it's also a financial windfall.
00:38:56.000The whole thing, it's weird because part of what makes Conor so interesting is that he's so good at talking shit, he's hilarious, and he knows how to back it up.
00:39:07.000But when we saw him fight Khabib, he just fell short.
00:39:13.000When skill versus skill, he fell short.
00:39:16.000And the shit-talking led to Khabib taking it very personal, and very personal at the end, and then pointing at Dylan Dennis and jumping off the top of the cage.
00:39:53.000Throwing a dolly is fucking way worse than punching a guy who punches people for a living, which is Dylan Dennis is a professional fighter.
00:40:02.000He jumps out, he takes a swing at him.
00:40:04.000They're screaming, and Dylan's like, fuck you, and he's like, fuck you, and there's a bunch of people get involved, and then a bunch of other people jump in.
00:40:10.000The whole thing was nuts, but the idea that we should be shocked after him throwing a dolly at a bus because Khabib's on the bus, those Russians don't fucking play like that, man.
00:40:22.000Did you see the videos afterwards in Dagestan where they're shooting off the Uzis and AK-47s?
00:40:26.000So I wrestled there when I was like 18.
00:40:57.000All of a sudden, a car came up onto the sidewalk, started driving like they were gonna plow us down.
00:41:01.000We had to jump into the road to not get hit.
00:41:03.000And I don't know why that happened, but after that, we weren't allowed our...
00:41:08.000The hotel we were in, we had, like, balconies to where we could look out.
00:41:12.000Well, they had to move our rooms to where we're inside, to where we couldn't have a balcony and everything else, to where, just because of that threat, because of the laser that came, because of the truck that came up onto the sidewalk and tried to run us over.
00:41:25.000There was some crazy rumor that someone got arrested outside of the T-Mobile Arena.
00:42:57.000But if you are sitting there and you cross your legs and you show the bottom of your foot, that's culturally really disrespectful to show the bottoms of your shoes or the bottom of your feet.
00:43:40.000But just seeing that, that's the real life there.
00:43:42.000There's a photo of him that he posted on his Instagram with his father, him and his father standing right after the fight he did it, like, to explain, like, that this...
00:44:44.000For me, it just kind of felt like, it wasn't a surprise.
00:44:47.000It was kind of like the karma for the UFC promoting the bus and letting it just keep getting deeper and deeper.
00:44:56.000But they say it's the story, and it is the story, but at a certain point, if it's something that was illegal, hurt somebody, maybe don't use that for the promotion.
00:45:04.000I was honestly shocked that they were using it in promotion.
00:45:06.000I was like, well, I shouldn't be shocked.
00:45:08.000I thought that when I saw the promo, and I saw the dolly flying at the bus, and then the video from the inside with the glass shattering, I was like, okay, I guess I shouldn't be shocked, because it did happen.
00:45:19.000You know, it is a part of the story, but I mean, is this encouraging this?
00:46:12.000It's different, but at the same time, this might be more for the purist or hardcore MMA fan or martial artist that competes, but what originally drew you to the martial arts?
00:46:22.000I mean, I haven't heard that firsthand from you, but what drew you to the sport initially?
00:46:35.000I lived in New Jersey in an apartment complex, and my superintendent in the apartment complex, his son was my age, and I went over his house, we watched a Bruce Lee movie.
00:46:47.000And the kid had nunchucks and shit, I whacked myself in the back of the head trying to practice nunchucks.
00:46:51.000But I remember watching that guy throw kicks and, you know, jumping off of tables and beating the fuck out of all these dudes that are coming out.
00:47:03.000And then I took a Kung Fu class, and then I took karate, and then I got into Taekwondo, and then I got into Muay Thai, and all these other different things.
00:47:10.000But to me, it was just, martial arts was, you know, it was...
00:47:15.000It was a way to learn how to fight, first of all, for sure.
00:47:19.000But then it was also a way to test yourself.
00:47:22.000But it was always, there was no shit-talking back then in martial arts tournaments.
00:47:28.000Even if, you know, there was like little subtle things that people would say to each other at the weigh-in, under each other's breath, like, I'm gonna fuck you up, or something like that.
00:51:27.000He is, but I think if he, and I'm a big Derek Lewis fan, but I think if he fights DC like he fought Volkov, it's going to be a tough night for him.
00:51:36.000I know that it could go anyway and that one shot from Derek Lewis can put DC out or anyone in the world out.
00:51:43.000But I just see DC's wrestling, his dirty boxing, I mean, everything.
00:51:48.000If Derek Lewis is turning his back to DC like he was with Volkov, he's going to close the distance.
00:51:57.000Sure, there's a difference between 6'7 and 5'10, though.
00:52:02.000There's a giant difference in size between Volkov and DC. DC is a real light heavyweight who, in my opinion, could fight in Raphael's weight class.
00:52:10.000I think DC really got his diet in order.
00:53:24.000Every time he got booed, it broke my heart.
00:53:26.000It took a while for people to understand him.
00:53:29.000And now I think that people, you know, after people seeing him choke out Rumble Johnson and then seeing him knock out Stipe, people are like, oh, he's a bad motherfucker and he's a really nice guy.
00:53:40.000He's a great dude, one of the best commentators now.
00:54:23.000Well, he's probably going to fight the winner anyways, and then it'll be for the belt, so maybe let him keep the belt.
00:54:27.000I mean, look, I love the UFC, obviously.
00:54:30.000I've been working for the UFC forever.
00:54:31.000But I think there's an obvious conflict of interest when the promoter is also responsible for who holds titles and who gets to fight for titles.
00:56:12.000Amending Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 specifies that a sanctioning organization may not receive any compensation from a boxing match unless it files its bylaws and a complete description of its ratings, criteria, policies, and general sanctioning fee Scheduled with the FTC. The act further directs the FTC to make this information available to the public.
00:56:38.000A sanctioning organization does not have to submit this information to the FTC. However, it makes the information accessible through a public website.
00:56:46.000Alright, if you can translate that, I don't know what the fuck that means.
00:58:22.000Look, I get that they'd be upset that the fight would happen, or that the fight would not happen, and that he would, you know, someone else would have to take his place.
00:59:29.000Just for the rankings and the ability to get your shot, you know, just that by itself, I think, deserves a sanctioning body 100%, let alone the ability for them to get paid more and be more, you know, fair across the board and everything.
00:59:44.000Well, you see how USADA has completely taken away The UFC has nothing to say about USADA testing and about the punishment that it implements.
00:59:59.000So what they do is they come in, they randomly drug test fighters, they make sure the fighters give their whereabouts at all times, they have to register and log in and let everybody know wherever they are, and if they violate that, USADA hands out the punishment.
01:00:15.000And we've seen these punishments and they're strict.
01:00:18.000And they take away a fighter's ability to make a living if they violate any of their policies or if they test positive for any supplements.
01:00:26.000They've since made what I think is a welcome amendment where if a fighter has If it's possible that it's a tainted supplement or they have a trace amount of something, they don't say anything until after it's resolved.
01:00:41.000So instead of putting the fighter on blast and putting it out there to the whole world, hey, this guy tested positive, instead of doing that, they resolve it.
01:01:11.000But my point is, that is a completely independent entity.
01:01:16.000It's outside of the UFC's ability to- they don't control that.
01:01:20.000They step back, they take care of- it kind of should be that way when it comes to who gets to fight for the title.
01:01:28.000If a title is a title, like if it's- if it's the world championship and you look at a guy like Tony Ferguson, I think- I believe he's 11-1 in the UFC, right?
01:02:13.000What do you think about tournaments coming back to the UFC? I mean, they haven't done that, but what do you think about them doing that for finding out who's going to fight for the title?
01:09:30.000It was funny, the last time, you know, Shanji, he's always in my corner, and, you know, one was at Chicago, Rich, Rich Chow, who's also, I hope I said his last name right.
01:11:30.000Like the biggest Nogi tournament that there was besides for ADCC. And a lot of the ADCC champions would do that event to win the money, of course, and then also just kind of prepare for ADCC later in the year.
01:11:44.000And I knew Saul, he had his home base, his affiliations, association schools were in the beginning in that area of the country, in Ohio.
01:11:56.000And he always competed at that tournament.
01:13:45.000But, yeah, so, you know, I'm going into the finals against Saul, and I just beat one of his black belts, and I was just like, oof.
01:13:52.000I was so nervous, so scared, you know?
01:13:55.000Well, you're facing an absolute legend.
01:13:56.000Yeah, and I'm 19. I'm a brown—and, you know, it wasn't like today where you see all these— You know legends and these world champions all the time like at that time they were all in Brazil You know and so it was hard to see these guys like the only time you saw him is if you were in Brazil and they were still very like they had this mystique about them and You know it it was just a different vibe.
01:14:18.000They were way more scary I guess you could say way more intimidating Back then so I was definitely super intimidated, but you know at the same time I was fired up, you know, I want to be a world champion I get to face, you know a legend and Let's go.
01:15:51.000There was only a couple teams that didn't support that tournament.
01:15:53.000And at the same time, there was a couple teams that competed at that tournament that didn't support the original Worlds.
01:15:58.000So depending on what division you were fought in, it was either exactly the same or it was tougher, you know, especially in the lightweights because Novo Niel had all the best lightweights at that time.
01:17:22.000I remember being in Brazil with Eddie a long time ago back in the day.
01:17:27.000You know, you just, especially if they felt like you were a threat, you know, they wouldn't show you a lot because what if you ended up fighting one of their buddies, you know what I mean?
01:17:35.000And so this was the first time that I wasn't treated that way.
01:17:40.000And, you know, Salo and Shanji really opened up and was like, you know, bringing me sort of into their family right away.
01:19:34.000Total control, you know, and it's just pressure and, you know, I mean, everybody that I've talked to that's rolled with him or Shanji says it feels like you have a building on top of you and these guys are on you.
01:21:29.000And I didn't understand how to frame, how to protect myself.
01:21:32.000And I just literally got smothered and, you know, just destroyed on a daily basis.
01:21:38.000And in Toledo, Ohio, it would just be the three of us.
01:21:40.000You know, they didn't have like a big team.
01:21:42.000And so I would go there and stay with them, and we would just train for hours every day, and the bike, the Airdyne bike, would be the evening training partner.
01:21:52.000You know, so when two guys were out, the other guy was on the bike.
01:22:22.000And so you didn't want to be the one like going too slow and in the middle of the training, Sal looks over and he's like, you know, yelling at you to pick it up.
01:23:32.000I think he's teaching and I think he's also some of his family, either it's a bait and tackle shop or maybe it's like the standing paddle boards or something like that on a lake.
01:23:43.000And I think he's helping with that business as well, too.
01:24:04.000It wasn't anything too serious, but if there was something that kept me from training for a week or two, it would be because my neck would flare up.
01:24:12.000But fortunately, my strength conditioning coach that I've been with now for about nine years, he really changed the way I trained.
01:24:21.000I used to think that the supplementary strength conditioning type stuff, I had to just destroy myself and lift hard and do all this crazy stuff.
01:24:30.000I didn't feel like it was productive unless I couldn't walk at the end.
01:24:33.000And then I would go train and get hurt.
01:24:39.000And so my strength and conditioning coach, Luke Tyree, he really kind of put me on a different path and made it a lot more back to the basics.
01:24:50.000Pure, clean movement and everything just about health and awareness.
01:24:58.000Well, you'd be surprised how little I do.
01:25:02.000There are times where we push it, but I don't ever leave feeling like I'm not going to be able to train later.
01:25:09.000Actually, a lot of people do strength and conditioning type training later in the day after they've already done their martial arts training, so they don't feel tired when they do their martial arts training.
01:25:21.000The strength conditioning training that I do actually makes me feel healthier.
01:25:25.000It makes me feel, kind of awakens my body.
01:26:24.000It's so critical for decompressing, decompressing your spine and then strengthening up all that area in a real weird way that's very difficult to do outside of that machine.
01:26:34.000And here's the first one to just say, crawl.
01:26:37.000Why don't you, you know, he taught me how to crawl and, you know, just start crawling for five minutes, ten minutes.
01:26:43.000Hang, you know, get on the pull bar, hang.
01:26:46.000He would incorporate all these recovery techniques and exercises into my training and a lot of movement and would be the first one to say, I know you want to go this hard today, but no.
01:28:09.000So I love yoga, I love movement, and that's a big part of my recovery and training without impact, you know, and it's kind of implemented into my strength conditioning program as well.
01:28:22.000So your conditioning program used to be just, was it you on your own or was it someone else that was like brutalizing you?
01:28:42.000While you're doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it's not really the best way to do it.
01:28:45.000Yeah, I was 100% going for all the major tournaments in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at that time, and I would kill myself in strength and conditioning, go to train, neck would get jacked up.
01:28:57.000Do you ever fuck around with that iron neck?
01:29:56.000He was the first one to really get me to active recovery, like go take an hour long walk, you know, stretch, move, breathe, do yoga, you know, something like that.
01:30:56.000But it's not something you're going to get to in a two-month camp.
01:31:00.000And I wonder how many guys are coming into camp where they're not in the best shape and they're just pushing it so hard during camp that by the time those eight weeks are done, they're fucking worn out, man.
01:31:10.000And they taper off the last week or so, but it probably isn't enough.
01:31:15.000Yeah, it's got to be a lifestyle, 100%.
01:32:23.000The thing that was the deciding factor, my wife and I, we watched, if anyone's got a Flow Grappling subscription, or you need to go get one, because they did a documentary on Raphael, and it's called The American.
01:32:36.000And it's his life story, his life journey, and you get to see how hard he works.
01:32:42.000But then, to me, it was like, this guy's like a modern-day samurai.
01:32:46.000And then whenever I went down and trained with them, it was suffocating.
01:32:50.000And I've trained with Shane Carwin and Frank Mir and Randy Couture and all sorts of big heavyweights that are known for being so much pressure.
01:32:58.000I've never been claustrophobic under any person in my entire life except Raphael.
01:33:03.000And it just feels like, like you said, a building or like this building of melted hot, I don't know, cheese or blanket that's going over your face.
01:33:12.000It sounds cheesy to me saying that, but it's just like it's melted all over you and you can't get them off and you take inch by inch by inch.
01:33:20.000And I have a good wrestling game, but I wanted to get my jujitsu there where every time I take someone down, I'm going to finish them.
01:33:26.000And I've done that in fighting statistically.
01:33:28.000Every fight I've taken to the ground to finish, but I wanted to get even more proficient at that.
01:33:32.000And just seeing the way that he coaches, he teaches.
01:33:36.000Honestly, I've been coached by Kale Sanderson and Kendall Cross and Kenny Munday, Olympic gold medalist in wrestling.
01:36:03.000And becoming part of the team, part of the family.
01:36:07.000Of course, I did my research on Justin and I knew he was an amazing person, but I just didn't know what he trained like, what his energy was like inside the academy.
01:36:24.000What's so critical for you about the gi?
01:36:27.000For me, I can't pass on what I really have to offer, you know, my passion, my love.
01:36:36.000There's no way I'm going to be able to pass that on to you if you don't put on the gi, if you don't get inside my head and learn what I have to say and how I feel about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
01:39:17.000He told me it made sense that he was going down there.
01:39:20.000And then when I saw the results, as soon as I saw that one fight where you mounted that guy and got an arm triangle, I go, well, there you go.
01:39:27.000I mean, now you're finishing from the top.
01:39:29.000It's not just punching a guy when you're on top of him.
01:40:04.000When a wrestler falls in love with jiu-jitsu, I mean, you already have this ability to manipulate bodies that it's at such a high level and the strength that wrestlers have.
01:40:11.000But so many of them, for whatever reason, never make that leap.
01:40:23.000And so to do that, go to guard, to have someone put you in a...
01:40:28.000You're not supposed to be getting pinned.
01:40:29.000You're supposed to be turning your back and getting up, but getting comfortable with your back just flat on the mat, but then getting to your side because you understand that you're just going to get smashed and smashed and smashed if your shoulders are flat against the back.
01:40:41.000Are you catching triangles and doing things like that?
01:41:33.000And just coming in the academy, it's been really great.
01:41:36.000I came in and really wanted to be coached.
01:41:40.000And I wanted to have a mindset of being coachable and just absorbing everything he teaches.
01:41:44.000But then on the flip side, last year we had like this.
01:41:49.000Holiday break, Christmas party, and Rafael said, you know, what if we could, like, transform a community with clean water, and so what if we, like, set a goal at raising, and what does that cost?
01:42:00.000And I was like, man, it's like $4,200.
01:42:02.000And he's like, man, let's set a crowdfunding campaign, and let's do it.
01:42:07.000And hosted a party, and we were able to raise $14,400.
01:42:13.000Through the academy and the team just came around it and said, hey, this is your passion.
01:43:09.000And it's kept me out for a while, but the whole time I've been, and it was actually after being on the podcast last time talking about bullying, it's like, how can we make a difference?
01:43:17.000And there was such a response from the JRE community saying, let's do something here also.
01:43:23.000Let's make a difference here in the United States with bullying.
01:44:24.000In Oklahoma, this is the at-risk youth behavior survey, and they say that 15.4, no, 15.1% of the students are dealing with suicidal ideation, like seriously considering suicide.
01:44:38.000And then 7.4, 7.4% of the students have attempted suicide.
01:46:19.000Well, now the law basically brings into effect that law enforcement and the schools can get involved off a school campus and they can look into the cyberbullying and they can take action against it.
01:46:30.000So it basically just means, hey, this is serious and it's not okay.
01:46:36.000And we're going to stand up and do something about it.
01:47:38.000We're always going to be focused on the pygmies.
01:47:40.000We're working with even expanding in Uganda.
01:47:42.000We're working with the pygmy king of the Batwa pygmies in Uganda.
01:47:47.000We're looking to do land, water, and food initiatives among them.
01:47:51.000But there's kids in our own community right here that feel forgotten.
01:47:55.000And whenever I was a kid, sitting at the lunch table by myself, getting pelted in the back of the head with chocolate spit wads, food, fist, when kids were pulling up my shirt and slapping my belly and twisting my nipples in front of the girls and acting like they're hitting me with a harpoon, you know, because I'm the size of a whale and all this stuff, you know, and telling me, you should just kill yourself.
01:48:15.000Telling me, you should just kill yourself.
01:49:20.000I love that you've spoken out and said that about people.
01:49:24.000You can be the hero of your own movie.
01:49:26.000Well, Heroes in Waiting, the curriculum that we developed with Century and Maya, which is the Martial Arts Industry Association, It's all about teaching kids.
01:49:35.000It's bullying prevention, but it's also character development.
01:49:47.000Usually, there's something wrong at home.
01:49:49.000A lot of these kids that are bullies, they're usually getting abused at home or either by an older brother or by their dad or cousins or whoever the fuck it is.
01:49:59.000And then they're taking it out on someone who they feel is weaker than them.
01:50:03.000This is one of the reasons why I think martial arts is so important for young men.
01:50:07.000Because, I mean, we know from our experience in gyms, when you're dealing with high-level martial artists on a regular basis, they're some of the nicest, friendliest fucking people you're ever going to meet.
01:50:19.000Because they don't have any insecurities.
01:50:20.000And whatever insecurities they have, they get out in the gym.
01:50:42.000The whole idea of life itself is so confusing that anytime they have any sort of control over anything, they exercise it.
01:50:50.000Whether it's control over another kid or control over throwing a rock through a window.
01:50:55.000They don't know what the fuck they're doing.
01:50:57.000They have all this pent-up, fucked-up energy and pain.
01:51:02.000And I think that so many of them are just...
01:51:06.000Severely lacking in guidance and discipline and just those things alone guidance and discipline and also the lessons that you learn from martial arts that you can overcome things that you can get better at things and that when you feel like quitting and you don't you actually grow and learn like your experiences like training with Shanji and Salu just like that it's just one of the things that made you such a champion I mean training with people that are like It all started with my dad and having that when I was a kid.
01:53:20.000But, you know, besides for, you know, those are the core values and then, you know, being a forever student and dedicating your life to learning and bettering yourself.
01:53:33.000I mean, these things that martial arts gives you, I just...
01:53:36.000You know, there are certain areas and other sports that give you a piece of that, but nothing is like martial arts.
01:53:42.000You know, for me, everything I know of life, I've learned through martial arts.
01:53:47.000Yeah, I think what you're saying, that there's other sports that teach you discipline.
01:53:51.000Like, just, I mean, if you become a long-distance runner, there's discipline involved in that that's going to build up your character, but it's not specifically emphasized the way it is in martial arts.
01:54:31.000The Cash App is one of my favorite sponsors has done an incredible thing in donating $5 to Fight for the Forgotten every time someone signs up and uses the code word Joe Rogan, which is pretty amazing.
01:54:43.000We've gotten thousands of dollars from that.
01:54:44.000Yeah, they've built two wells, more of them are being built.
01:54:48.000In January, we're starting to implement, but Cash App Came to me and we were trying to do a $50,000 fundraiser to drill a deep, deep well in Tanzania for the Maasai Warriors.
01:55:00.000And we're going to do that with Water Boys, which is Chris Long's foundation.
01:55:03.000Chris Long plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.
01:55:05.000He won the Super Bowl doing it his entire salary.
01:55:15.000I started posting about that and Garrett McManus from Cash App hit me up and was just like, hey, we want to do something big with you guys.
01:55:22.000And we already had another $50,000 donor that was being anonymous and Cash App came in and said, hey, we're going to match that $50,000 match you have.
01:55:30.000So Cash App gives $50,000 if we could raise $50,000.
01:55:34.000And so we ended up raising $52,625, and then it was tripled.
01:55:40.000So it came out to being $152,625, and Cash App gave us $50,000 because they believe in the mission and vision of Fight for the Forgotten.
01:55:57.000In fact, on this crowdfunding tournament we're doing, on the website fightfortheforgotten.org slash heroes, we're doing a Heroes in Waiting crowdfunding tournament.
01:56:08.000And so we're inviting in 100 martial arts academies and 100 individuals.
01:56:35.000Everything that you could ever ask for to help pass that knowledge along and increase your program, help your school bring more kids in, make a bigger impact.
01:56:47.000So not only are you helping the kids, but then you're also raising money inside the academy to help towards the fight for the forgotten.
01:56:55.000Yeah, and it's going to be a thing where – so there's 12 weeks of Matt Chat topics, and I love it because Heroes in Waiting talks about, hey, everyone is a hero in waiting.
01:57:52.000And so you're being a silent supporter if you're not standing up and doing something about it.
01:57:56.000And so we're doing this competition and whoever is the top crowdfunding team is going to get their gym renovated by Zebra.
01:58:04.000They're going to get $10,000 worth of Zebra mats.
01:58:07.000Sentry is going to come in and do $10,000 worth of gear.
01:58:11.000They're going to do gloves, headgear, sparring equipment, shields, the Bob the dummy.
01:58:18.000Suplesse is going to do the Bulgarian bag, the throwing dummy.
01:58:22.000And then the top individual fundraiser is going to get a free home gym from Zebra and Sentry gear.
01:58:29.000Bellator just let me know last night that whoever is the top fundraising individual It's going to get flown out all-inclusive to January 26th, the Heavyweight Grand Prix finale between Fedor and Ryan Bader.
01:59:36.000So if a team's already created, you can join that team.
01:59:38.000Or if you're an individual martial artist or just someone that's passionate about the cause, you can hit start fundraising as an individual.
02:01:23.000Yeah, I just wanted to back it up one more time.
02:01:25.000You know, Justin has inspired me so much to, you know, get involved in these sort of things.
02:01:32.000You know, I'm happy to have my school involved and I'm just kind of out there calling out for all the other jiu-jitsu schools, you know, in the country.
02:01:41.000Like, I mean, if we just get two schools per state, that's 100. And if each one, you know, reaches the goal of 4,200, then we've done it.
02:02:09.000And then, you know, it's always great, like he said, you know, when we had the school Christmas party last year.
02:02:15.000And it's always great to get everybody behind something, behind a cause.
02:02:19.000And, you know, to get your whole school to rally together, you know, for this cause would be, you know, a great thing for your teams and your jujitsu families.
02:02:53.000It couldn't be done without you and your help.
02:02:55.000I mean, honestly, it's skyrocketed us to be able to make the difference we want, to knock out the water crisis and to stand up and speak out against bullying here.