On this week's episode, the boys are joined by former UFC Welterweight Champion and current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rampage Jackson. The guys discuss his career, his upbringing in the UFC, and what it's like being a black belt in the sport of mixed martial arts. They also talk about some of the craziest things Rampage has ever worn, including a gold chain around his neck, and the weirdest t-shirt he's ever worn. The boys also discuss the recent drug testing scandal that has been going on in the MMA world, and how it could impact the future of the sport. The guys also discuss what it was like growing up in the late 80s and early 90s in the "Big Boy" household, and reminisce about the days of Chuck Liddell vs. Dana White. And of course, there's a little bit of everything in between! Enjoy, and spread the word to your friends and family about this episode of the pod! -The Guys Who Know It All. Logo by Courtney DeKorte. Theme by Mavus White. Music by PSOVOD and tyops. Music by Suneaters, and our main man, John Rocha. Thank you for listening and supporting the podcast. We really appreciate it. XOXO. -Jon Sorrentino. Thanks to our sponsor, for making this podcast possible. and for sponsoring the show. Please rate, review, and subscribe, and share it on Apple Podcasts, and tell us what you think of the podcast, and we'll be listening to it in the next episode! if you like it, rating, rating and reviewing it on iTunes, review it on your favorite streaming platform, and review it, and spreading it around the world! and sharing it on social media! Love ya. <3 -Jonah. Jonah and Jonah is a great dude! --Jonah is an awesome guy. -- -- Jonah's music is amazing, Jonah & Jonah has a great story about his music is great, and he's a good friend of mine, and I'm looking forward to hearing it on the pod, so much so much more! . -Rampage Jackson is a good guy, too. -- -- Thank you Jonah s music is so good. , Jonah, too much love you're awesome.
00:00:45.000And whenever I put that guy in the guillotine because he has these big dreads, he would always get out of them because the dreads were like...
00:00:53.000It made his head appear like it was bigger, so you wrap around it, and you squeeze the cushion, and it just compresses, and then his head just slides out of it, completely out.
00:03:11.000I remember his fight with Chuck Liddell, his fights with Vanderlei Silva, even the one he lost in Pride.
00:03:17.000When he went through the ropes and then he came back and got redemption, I was like, God, that's got to feel so good because that's like the bad highlight.
00:03:23.000He came back and got a highlight of his own.
00:03:25.000I think he lost to Vanderlei twice in Pride.
00:03:27.000He got stopped twice in Pride and then flatlined Vanderlei in the UFC. Yep.
00:04:03.000It gets weird, but it is a thing that, if you look at it historically, if you look at the sport in terms of, like, when people look at Barry Bonds, and when they look at Jose Canseco, or when they look at, what is that other dude's name?
00:04:55.000It's about how debt, how owing a Roy doctor some money, turned into this horrible revelation where they found out how these baseball players were getting their juice from that guy.
00:06:34.000The one that got me most was Crocodile.
00:06:36.000That one where there's the car accident and they hide the body and then the lady winds up doing all these different things to cover up her crime.
00:07:31.000But if you had a video memory, that would be the first thing that we surrender.
00:07:36.000If they could put a chip in and say, Al Jermaine, listen, wouldn't it be amazing if you could pull every technique and see it exactly as it should be done?
00:07:45.000You could see it play out in front of your head.
00:08:45.000I mean, when you're thinking about people that have CTE and brain damage and car accidents and football and fighting and all these different things, what if they say, listen, listen, we'd fix all that.
00:09:48.000He went out cold instantly, and then he got punched in the face twice.
00:09:54.000It's terrible, but it's part of what makes the sport so exciting, is that you realize these guys are so brave to face these potential consequences.
00:10:41.000And I didn't, like, come to and, like, I mean, I woke up, but I didn't come to, like, actually remember, like, shit, I was in a fistfight and I lost, like, really bad, like, really quick when I got into the hospital.
00:11:14.000And just the way he did it, he was showing a video of him practicing it and saying he had three different scenarios of how that situation could have went.
00:11:22.000That's masterful thinking and tactical.
00:11:25.000There's not a lot of people who are that cerebral when it comes to the game.
00:11:28.000And I think the way he broke that down was just super impressive.
00:11:31.000And he kind of lulled him to sleep like his hands behind his back.
00:11:51.000Whereas like, Jon Jones versus Tiago Santos, it was an interesting fight, and it turned out to be a great fight, but it was an interesting fight because you're like, okay, how is Jon Jones going to beat this guy, and is this guy going to be wild enough to catch Jon Jones?
00:12:04.000But when you looked at it on paper, Jon was a prohibitive favorite.
00:12:07.000When you looked at Askren versus Masvidal, you're like, man, I don't know.
00:12:10.000When I looked at Holly and Amanda, I'm like, Holly's a great champion and she's a great fighter, but Amanda's so goddamn good, it's almost like she doesn't have anybody else left to fight.
00:12:19.000It's not like Holly had made this incredible case for her being the one to challenge Amanda next.
00:12:24.000It was just that Amanda's kind of cleaned out that bantamweight division.
00:12:40.000And then she tried to do the same thing the previous fight with Cyborg, and she ate a lot of knees in the clinch, trying to slow Cyborg down.
00:12:48.000So when that matchup was announced, I was like, Holly's going to either stay on her bike the entire time and just try to point fight, or it's just not going to end up good.
00:12:55.000And sure enough, that's what happened.
00:12:57.000Yeah, I thought she was going to probably try to stay on her bike as well and throw kicks from the outside, but I guess Amanda had planned for it.
00:13:03.000That's why she caught her with her leg up.
00:13:06.000If you see the way she landed that round kick, she caught her with her leg up.
00:13:09.000She was pressing with that side kick, and then boom!
00:13:12.000She caught her with that roundhouse kick right across the top.
00:14:02.000But if she decides, or if Shevchenko decides to step up one more time to 135 and tries to become champ champ and beat her, I mean, they had a really fucking close fight, especially that second fight.
00:14:13.000That second fight was very, very close.
00:14:15.000I didn't know who to even really score for.
00:14:17.000Yeah, and Valentina made a case at the end that she thought that she had won, but it was a very good fight.
00:14:22.000The point is, Shevchenko, obviously, when you see her knock out Jessica Ai, who used to be a top bantamweight contender herself, she's one of the rare girls that, like Amanda and like Cyborg, can flatline women with one shot.
00:14:54.000It kind of reminds me of like a little Koopa in Mario Brothers because she's like hopping and she's moving, sidestepping, check hook, boom, boom, spinning back kick out of nowhere.
00:16:14.000I love how much the band and weight division has heated up.
00:16:19.000It's been such a crazy ride for myself and just being a part of this and being able to see the wave and generations of different fighters coming in and out.
00:16:30.000El Nino, you know, Gilbert Melendez and seeing like when he was on the top and now he's kind of like his fight last fight with Arnold Allen is kind of like you can kind of see like the passing of the guard or maybe maybe he's just not a because I know he popped for some type of PD also so maybe that was something to do with it or maybe 35 I think or 36 yeah and Arnold Allen's 25 and fucking nasty young bull yeah and he's being trained by Faraz Zahabi who I mean I don't think there's anybody better Yeah.
00:16:58.000In terms of trainers, I think there's like just as good or in the neighborhood of good, but he's the fucking man as far as I'm concerned.
00:17:25.000It's really interesting to see him with a guy like Jimmy, who relies on his power and his toughness and his bulldog tenacity, to see him get lit up in those two rounds.
00:17:35.000Jan just set traps and looked for openings, and then when he finally found them, he just cracks them.
00:23:45.000I hope when I walk away, I just fucking walk away.
00:23:48.000I hope so too, but then again, if they're in a situation where they need money and something comes up like this and they're willing to do it, why do I give a fuck?
00:23:55.000Why is it a thing where I'm cool with young guys doing it if they need money, but I'm not cool with guys that are 50 doing it if they need money?
00:27:47.000If you looked at energy output, how much more energy you must have put out in that fight than he did, just in terms of the amount of kicks you throw and the amount of jumping back and forth and leaping in and leaping out.
00:30:37.0009am and I'm like, why am I putting myself through this?
00:30:40.000It could be so much easier and more simple just to do the other stuff like the plyometric stuff, which has not as much impact on the body, but this is what I enjoy.
00:30:48.000I think this is what translates to the fight because this is what I feel.
00:30:51.000And I feel when I do this, I notice a drastic difference from one sparring session to the next.
00:30:59.000If my legs are on fire and I feel like they're really beat up from sparring, I'll do more upper body.
00:31:04.000And then if I feel my upper body is more beat up, I'll switch it off to the lower body.
00:31:08.000And if I feel like I'm fresh, like I had a good week, maybe I didn't spar on a Saturday, and I come in fresh on a Monday, I'll hit it hard and do full body, everything, and I'll give myself five rounds of pushing it.
00:31:48.000I'll do the foam roller in my arms and I'll squeeze it.
00:31:51.000I'll simulate the rear neck and choke and I do it for two minute intervals.
00:31:53.000And I'm just squeezing the piss out of it.
00:31:55.000And obviously you can't do it, but you do it to failure.
00:31:57.000And your arms get tired, you switch and go to the other side.
00:31:59.000And you switch your legs, you figure forward, you scissor the legs.
00:32:02.000So you give yourself a different type of stimulation to your body to kind of account for everything that you may possibly be in for the fight.
00:32:25.000But I did a lot of output just burning out the arms, getting that muscle endurance, kind of using that Floyd Mayweather Structure of a workout, just getting the heavy back count, like high punch count in a five-minute round, and I'll do that for a couple rounds.
00:32:38.000We do that a couple times a week, and I think you implement that with the lateral footwork that we do in the cage and just staying on your bike and having people stalk you and just not going crazy, but it's control.
00:32:49.000They're throwing punches like hooks or they're throwing a one-two, and you got to bounce side to side and get out the way.
00:33:07.000Because that's something that comes up often in a fight, where you maybe got a guy in an arm triangle or something like that, and it's that close to whether you get it or he escapes.
00:33:15.000It's like, how much squeeze, how long can you keep it down?
00:33:18.000You know when you're caught in something?
00:33:20.000And it's like you're almost kind of tapping, the guy lets go.
00:33:55.000If everything is fast and exploding, but then you get a rear naked and you have to continue to compress or a guillotine, you continue to squeeze.
00:34:06.000It kind of reminds me, it is exactly like my Brian Carraway fight.
00:34:10.000Although I did do three workouts on the day of that fight before the fight, even Matt told me in the back room, he's like, Aljo, save something for the fight.
00:34:34.000Because the next week, I went to Fox, and I was supposed to talk about the Dominick Cruz fight versus Uriah Faber fight, which I went, but the fight didn't go my way.
00:34:41.000So it kind of had a bittersweet taste to it.
00:34:44.000Do you think it had anything to do with the extra rounds you put in or the extra work?
00:34:49.000I think if I had just done my one morning shakeout, 15-20 minutes, it was what I do now.
00:34:54.000Just get the food moving through my system so that my body can get like, just feel like it's more alive again like it does during training camp.
00:35:00.000I think that fight easily done in first round or even the second because he survived the first.
00:35:05.000But I think the second round, I think I'd get him out of there.
00:35:07.000But it's just experience, you know, learning and becoming more mature about the game and trusting your training.
00:35:12.000Do you think that has anything to do with you training yourself?
00:35:14.000Do you think that if you have a legit strength and conditioning coach who's monitoring your heart rate, are you monitoring your heart rate and all that stuff?
00:35:21.000I just started doing stuff with the PI Center and I tried to, because I saw that guy Brendan Davis, he's 45 or 40 to beat and he's a big fucking dude!
00:35:47.000I know he was saying some of it was like walking, but it's all about your heart rate, your resting heart rate, where you burn the most fat and calories or whatever you want to call it.
00:36:37.000And they say that that's one of the things that really determines whether or not you can push hard is monitoring your heart rate on a daily basis so that you see what it's like when you wake up.
00:36:47.000So say if you wake up and your resting heart rate is like 40 beats per minute or something like that, if one day it's 50. You need to chill.
00:36:54.000That day was maybe active recovery, maybe just do some light drills, nothing crazy, but you can't push it that day because you're already 10. So you might be getting sick or you might be worn out and you need to give yourself enough recovery.
00:37:07.000I've gotten sick a lot in my last three training camps.
00:37:48.000He does some of the strength and conditioning with, like, Caitlin Chukagin and some of the other fighters, Oka Sasaki and the other guys at the gym.
00:39:08.000Dude, sometimes I would just listen to the, I just like listening to the feedback so I can hear them screaming in the corner and you can just hear Matt going off like, yes, Aljo!
00:41:47.000And every time Diego was able to capitalize on a position, like a slip-up or a window of opportunity to get on top...
00:41:54.000He just fucked it up, and then Chiesa just got right back up, created a scramble, and then he was right back in the dominant position once again.
00:41:59.000I was like, yeah, this is not going to end well.
00:42:01.000I thought he was going to get the finish, but...
00:42:02.000Dude, the way you saw Diego Sanchez manhandle Mickey Gall...
00:49:23.000So, even when I throw it sometimes, I'm like, man, I throw a lot of shit, man.
00:49:27.000I do the tornado kicks and shit now, and I did one time DiPedro in this fight where he came at me, and I stepped back, and I did a hopping, spinning back kick.
00:49:38.000The one Uriah Hall hit Gegard Mousasi with.
00:51:48.000And I was talking about this earlier today with some of the guys.
00:51:51.000Like, I normally try to rewatch all my fights and then take like a notebook or my phone and jot down notes and things I could do better.
00:51:59.000Or things that I think I fucked up or I want to clean up, that type of stuff.
00:52:03.000And one of the things I'm noticing, I mean, I've noticed it for a while.
00:52:07.000But now I think that's going to be like the next evolution of my game is sitting down on my punches and my strikes more so that it has more of my body weight behind it.
00:52:20.000Again, like we were talking about, man, the work rate is just high.
00:52:23.000You've got to be constantly moving, but it's fun to watch.
00:52:27.000Do you think you're going to stick with doing all your strength and conditioning yourself, or do you think you will move to a professional strength and conditioning group?
00:52:34.000I mean, as you move into five-rounders, too.
00:52:56.000I still think I'm a young bull, but it's a difference when you're 21, 22 compared to 29, even though, you know, I think I'm right now in my prime years.
00:53:04.000I think also you're aware of, like, all the damage you're doing to your body all the time, too.
00:53:08.000Where you're 21, you're barely aware of it.
00:54:41.000I get it, but man, if you're a professional, it seems like every little edge that you can get can mean a little bit of something, and that Performance Institute is a real edge.
00:54:55.000Well, I look at it like I got my striking from Ray.
00:54:57.000I got my jiu-jitsu from Matt and all the other guys, Jason Brown, those guys, and the Henzo Gym whenever I go to Henzo's in the city.
00:55:03.000And then I had the wrestling, my own background, and then I teach the wrestling classes at the gym, and then I go down to Hasha sometimes and I borrow some of those guys.
00:55:29.000I mean, the CBD helps me the most, but everything else, unless I'm hammered and I just pass the fuck out, but then I'm fucked up the next day.
00:55:48.000He wrote that book, The Primal Blueprint, and he's a nutrition expert, and he's a former endurance athlete, but he's a giant believer of this thing where you put it as a mattress pad, and it chills your body to a certain temperature.
00:56:05.000You could set it for whatever temperature makes you most comfortable, But apparently, he said it is a game changer in terms of your ability to sleep through the night.
00:56:13.000Like, I woke up in the middle of the night last night.
00:56:14.000I must have been having a crazy dream.
00:57:02.000I was surprised that it was not as expensive as I would think it would be, especially compared to, like, I heard Miss Pat say she bought one of those sleep number beds.
00:58:45.000Then you gotta wait for like half an hour for it to kind of reset and adjust back.
00:58:48.000But man, being able to sleep, I feel like I could be so much more efficient with my day because I always hit that midday crash, which I'm not sure if that's normal.
00:58:55.000But I wake up, I have the most energy because I'm just taking a bunch of power naps.
00:58:59.000Because I wake up so many times in the middle of the night.
00:59:01.000Well, there's a company that I know that sells them that you could just buy and it's like a boil and bite mouthpiece kind of thing.
00:59:07.000And it has a bar that keeps your tongue from sliding back.
01:00:15.000So you see that thing there that has that band?
01:00:17.000That band sort of lays on your tongue, and it keeps your tongue from sliding back, and then you breathe out of the top and bottom, just like an over-under mouthpiece.
01:00:26.000I'm trying to envision this right now.
01:00:28.000It's just keeping your tongue from sliding back.
01:02:26.000That stuff takes away so much from your recovery.
01:02:29.000Because if you're snoring and you're not getting the proper oxygen in, you know, this Dr. Kuropian that I go to, he puts this thing in your mouth and he has you breathe in and out.
01:02:37.000It actually literally measures the output of your breath, like how much comes in and comes out.
01:02:41.000And he devised this thing to hold your tongue in place, to open up your airway.
01:02:45.000Almost like a resting VO2 max kind of thing.
01:04:30.000But once you open your jaw, the mouthpiece falls out.
01:04:32.000So this one is supposed to have a little bit of a layer, like a gel, where you bite into it, and it helps almost pull the jaw forward, so it gives you a little bit more...
01:04:41.000There's room for impact so you can bike down.
01:04:45.000I think it's going to just be better for combat.
01:06:37.000Even now, when I rustle and I bite down when I'm shooting sometimes and I get my jaw smashed against my teeth, I, like, chips on my teeth that way.
01:06:50.000I wear a cup because I got kneed in the dick once and my dick was bleeding.
01:06:55.000Again, my friend Scott Epstein, Einstein, same dude, he was passing my guard and just in accident slammed his knee into my dick, flattened my dick out, right on the dick.
01:07:07.000It's just sometimes it happens where it's like, you zig, they zag, pop!
01:07:12.000And when I took my jock off at the end of rolling, there was blood in my jock strap.
01:09:25.000I was convinced my balls were useless after that because my shit swole up like two times the size it should have been and it was all purple and I was like, I broke my balls.
01:09:35.000Did you have to get it drained or did you just like go down?
01:09:37.000Please, I was 18. I didn't do a goddamn thing.
01:12:14.000He's playing basketball with that dude, partying with him, and even giving him advice on how to get along with Trump and everybody should get along.
01:17:29.000So if you ask me to show you something, like send you houses, like listings, I should be able to like comprise like some data of like things that fit your criteria and then send it to you on like an automatic email.
01:18:41.000So that's why I'm like, I gotta make sure I don't get sick, I gotta make sure I'm doing the right things, look both ways before I cross the street.
01:19:24.000My dad, not to get off subject, but that shit fucked me up in terms of my confidence as a kid.
01:19:30.000I mean, he would just call us stupid and all these names for whatever reason.
01:19:34.000And I felt like even until dating in middle school and high school was tough for me because, yeah, I was the good-looking kid, but at the same time, I didn't know how to hold a conversation because I was never taught.
01:19:45.000I was never taught by my dad how to do certain things.
01:28:25.000Stop roping cows and wrapping around your neck.
01:28:27.000We'll give you a full report when I get back.
01:28:30.000What is this Alabama minister who died in June of accidental mechanical asphyxia was found hog-tied, wearing two complete wetsuits, including a face mask, diving gloves, and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask, according to the autopsy report.
01:29:09.000Condom-covered dildo up his ass while he was beaten up.
01:29:13.000I mean, that's from trying to hold back all your sin, pretending that you don't have any sin because you're a pastor, and it just bubbles up on the surface.
01:29:22.000He would have had the special order that it's illegal to sell those in Alabama.
01:29:32.000How's it illegal to have a dildo in Alabama?
01:29:35.000I just heard too, I think Mississippi is the only state you're allowed to drink while you're driving, as long as you don't cross over the.08.
01:30:16.000I got this idea that I've been trying to do for years now, and I haven't been able to make this happen because of financial situations, the whole thing with my mom and shit like that, trying to get the house for her and whatnot.
01:30:28.000But I wanted to do a cross-country tour and hit every state, hit every capital, and document the entire fucking thing.
01:30:36.000Like a one, two-month escapade or some shit.
01:33:23.000Yeah, I mean, those pioneers of the game, man, those guys who, you know, like Bud Brutzman, used to run King of the Cage, and these people that run these little small organizations where everything started.
01:33:35.000When we used to do it in California, when they first started doing MMA shows in California, they had to do them on Native American reservations.
01:33:50.000So when we would go to see King of the Cage, when Eddie Bravo used to work for King of the Cage, and I would go with him out to these events, we would have to go to the middle of nowhere, man.
01:34:22.000I got the CAT scan, and I had, like, two spots on my brain.
01:34:24.000So they just kept monitoring it, and I had to go see a neurologist and all that, and they just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to, like, bleeding out, and I wasn't going to, like, just die in the octagon randomly.
01:34:33.000And, you know, so they were looking out for me, but I've been able to fight everywhere except for New York, and I'm just hoping that these guys do the right thing so I can at least fight one time before my career is all said and done in my home state.
01:35:44.000They always put bananas cards on an MSG. Yeah, I was there live for the Conor McGregor, Eddie Alvarez, and just the weigh-ins were electrifying.
01:39:53.000That's the more amazing thing about leg locks is smaller people can get away with things from the bottom that it's very difficult to get away with because you're using both of your legs to control a person's leg.
01:40:06.000It's like you have so much strength in leg locks and so much control with those two legs around one leg.
01:40:12.000I mean, you're obviously from the Henzo team, which is, that is where it all started, with John Donaher, with Dean Lister, so to Donaher, and Donaher refined that system, and Eddie Cummings, and all these fucking animals that are coming out of there now.
01:40:28.000There's so many leg lock specialists out of that part of the world.
01:40:31.000Like, that one gym, that Henzo Gracie gym...
01:40:34.000Is responsible for a gigantic evolution in leg locking.
01:40:39.000Yeah, those guys are phenomenal to work with.
01:40:40.000Whenever I can get down there to get some training, it's always fun.
01:42:25.000If you get a stalemate at the end of the initial time period, then from there you have a chance to go at it for a certain amount of time until someone gets tapped.
01:42:34.000And you start out in different positions.
01:42:36.000You start out either with back control or what you call spider web.
01:42:41.000You're on side control, your legs are across the face, and you have the arm trapped.
01:46:22.000So many times you could just thrust up from the bottom.
01:46:24.000But if you do things with the right technique, like John Jock Machado, I think he's at least 50. John Jock still rolls and he doesn't have any injuries.
01:47:14.000Like, from the moment he clinched him, got a hold of him, he's just moving constantly, chaining, you know, chaining control, submission attempts, control, submission attempts.
01:48:27.000Like, so, let's go back real quick and just to finish it, because people are probably going to ask me, like, whatever happened with your mom and whatever.
01:51:42.000I would have been scared shitless, man.
01:51:44.000I'm like, I'm calling the exterminator.
01:51:46.000Well, I developed a real anger for them when they bit my dogs.
01:51:49.000I've had three times I've had to take my dogs to the veterinarian with their face all swole up like a water balloon going out of the side of their head because they got bit.
01:51:58.000Rattlesticks are fucked up too because what their venom does is it digests your tissue.
01:52:04.000Something about their venom is how it helps them eat rabbits and things that they kill.
01:52:10.000Because the venom, not only does it kill you, but it kind of breaks down your tissue.
01:52:38.000See, I'm not big into the wilderness, surprisingly, because my parents are from Jamaica, so we have that Caribbean upbringing.
01:52:46.000We weren't raised in a traditional American home, like the lifestyle, so we have different rules and everything, and we never really experienced that type of stuff in Jamaica and shit like that.
01:54:46.000But for him to go to another organization, and if he does win the belt, it's arguably like you really can't deny the guy is one of the GOATs, if not the GOAT. So that's the way I kind of look at it.
01:54:57.000And I'd probably be retired anyway because 32 is close.
01:55:01.000I think as now, you can't deny him anyway.
01:55:03.000I mean, no matter what happens from here on out, Mighty Mouse, in my opinion, technically is the best ever.
01:55:21.000He only has that one loss to Matt Hamill, which is a disqualification in a fight where he was totally dominant in, where I think it was a bad call anyway.
01:56:00.000The same thing with Jon Jones, but now there's like closer competition.
01:56:04.000Now you see Jon Jones going through decisions a lot more as opposed to finishing the older veterans, the pioneers who were the Shogun, who was the Rampage Jacksons, the...
01:57:03.000I'm not sure if he still parties like that, but when he was partying, I would see him at the bar in Ithaca or he'll come out to Cortland College because Ithaca was right down the road.
01:57:13.000This was like when he was kind of going back and forth between Jackson's and our gym when I was upstate at Bomb Squad, right before he like officially left.
01:57:20.000And then he was just coming home and going back to Jackson's, coming home, going back to Jackson's.
01:57:24.000And it would be like a couple weeks before his fight, and this guy would be out there, shots, and he'd be asking me if I want a drink.
01:57:31.000I'm like, yo, dude, I'm fighting in like four weeks.
01:58:21.000He kicked the shit out of John's legs, put him in real danger, and, you know, I think John would have made a way easier fight if he decided to take him to the ground, but he never did.
01:58:46.000See, the way I broke that fight down, I was like, John was always the guy, the aggressor, pushing forward, walking him down, cutting him off and pushing him back towards the cage.
01:58:56.000And then Tiago looked like he was just kind of waiting and waiting to pounce, like he was looking for John to take a half step where he could time it while he was off balance and try to rush him and blitz him with those big bungalows he was throwing, as Rampage Jackson calls them.
02:03:23.000Why don't they offer that to us when we have fucked up injuries?
02:03:26.000I'm like, my neck, my back, like, wouldn't that help?
02:03:29.000Well, I mean, if they really think that you need it, and they, I don't know if they know that you have this injury, like, maybe you have to ask for it.
02:03:36.000I feel like if you were one of your top guys, you would want us to be back healthy and as best as we can possibly be.
02:03:43.000It's not prohibitively expensive for the UFC either.
02:03:46.000If you talk to Dr. Davidson, I'll connect you with Dr. McGee.
02:03:52.000Last time I was with McGee, yeah, he's got the good shit.
02:03:56.000Dr. Roddy McGee in Vegas is always at the cutting edge.
02:03:59.000That guy is like, every time I talk to him, there's some new thing that's going on.
02:04:03.000There's new stuff now called Wharton's Jelly that is even more powerful than any of the previous stem cell ones, and I had that shit shot into my shoulder too.
02:05:25.000So she had a little bit of a deformity in the bone of her hip that was causing an irritation against the labrum.
02:05:29.000They sanded down that part of the hip that was kind of bothering her.
02:05:33.000They cut away the part of the bone that's intruding on the labrum so that it clears the path.
02:05:38.000So it's not that invasive a surgery and then six weeks later she's good to go.
02:05:43.000I mean she's rehabbing and everything and they still had to cut her open a little bit but the big one was the labrum tear and all that was fixed.
02:11:03.000I would think that I've battled back from a lot of adversity, just dealing with the stuff with my dad and my parents, my dad going through a few divorces and the domestic abuse and being the first one to go to college and finish college, becoming a two-time All-American.
02:11:22.000I have a lot of things to be proud of and a lot of things that set me back, but I was able to overcome those obstacles and then To have that happen, I thought this was my calling.
02:11:32.000I thought it was going to be the Floyd Mayweather of MMA, man.
02:11:35.000Well, you know, sometimes when you come from a background where you've had a lot of losses and a lot of bad things have happened, but then all of a sudden great things are happening and you're moving forward and you've got progress, setbacks are sometimes even more devastating because you start thinking about going back to the way things used to be.
02:11:51.000The way maybe your parents lived or the way other people you know lived.
02:11:55.000And when you see that life, you're like, fuck this.
02:12:23.000And I thought I was on the cusp of really changing my family's life.
02:12:28.000This is before things really got crazy with, like, the divorce and my dad.
02:12:32.000My dad came out of jail 2014 in October.
02:12:37.000And from there, it had just been a shit storm, like...
02:12:39.000them calling the cops on each other and getting orders of protection.
02:12:43.000I had my brothers even writing like, you know, Jamal, the guy on Juicy Air Smalley, or the guy who made up that fake thing that he got- - Jussie Smalley? - Yeah, with the hanging thing and said people jumped him and whatever.
02:12:59.000So that guy, they would put like his, like draw him on my door, like on a picture and post it on my door whenever I would leave for fights or leave their training.
02:13:07.000I'll come home and me and my brothers, we were bumping heads.
02:13:10.000And it was like my dad and like his side of my, not my mom's kids, like the other side, like the other half.
02:13:22.000And it was like, dude, I don't understand how you guys see one person, like, really, really trying to do something, push for, like, to be successful or something, and you guys just want to tear it down.
02:13:31.000I mean, our relationship is so much better now, so let me make sure I say that.
02:13:35.000But back then, it was so toxic, man, and I was dealing with that, and at a point, eventually, I had to just get the fuck out of the house.
02:13:42.000She was there from all that chaos and shit.
02:13:45.000So when she was being the negative Nancy, and I felt like, yo, there's just so much burden going on in my life, and now you're adding to it by stressing me the fuck out.
02:13:54.000I was like, dude, I'd just rather just be alone, you know?
02:13:57.000And just be a fucking bachelor with a bachelor's.
02:13:59.000This is the way life was supposed to play out.
02:14:18.000And for the male, the person, not even the male, guy or female, whoever's in the spotlight, being able to handle that and do the right thing In certain situations, it can be very, very tough sometimes, you know?
02:14:29.000Well, I think a person in your position, too, where you're so close to a shot at the title, there's so many things that could go wrong that could fuck you up or go right and could elevate you.
02:14:40.000And it's a delicate balancing act with personal life, economics, your health, training, trainers, training partners.
02:14:49.000Like, everything has to kind of be in place if you're eventually going to make that next step And gain the title.
02:17:12.000I was coaching at the high school program at Baldwin High School doing that, and it was cool, but you're not making any real money, so to speak, because it's not like a real full-time job.
02:17:25.000So I had to figure things out real quick, and that's what I always...
02:17:30.000Thank myself for not being one of these guys who makes their money and just go on these spending sprees and just blow their money.
02:17:36.000People see me traveling after every fight, which I do enjoy, but I'm smart about it.
02:17:41.000I always try to do it on the UFC's dime.
02:17:43.000I try to be a guest fighter for every single event.
02:19:01.000And even according to Uka Sasaki when he flew into Singapore, I extended my trip and I went to Bali right after because I have some Long Island friends and I stayed out there for a week.
02:21:41.000My guy Anthony Leone, Donnie Carlo-Klaus, and his brother Andrew Leone, they're from Long Island, but they've just been moving, hopping around to different places.
02:22:05.000And I guess in Bali, they have, like, a law where outsiders, foreigners can't buy property unless there's, like, an Indonesian...
02:22:13.000Like leasing it to you or like joint partners or something like that.
02:22:18.000Something interesting like that, which I thought was pretty cool because you can live in a very nice place, two bedroom, very nice place with a pool, with a garage, get a scooter for like $2,000 for the year, which is like insane.
02:27:40.000Because I wasn't that good in the beginning.
02:27:41.000It takes a while to figure out how to do it.
02:27:44.000But you were doing Fear Factor before that.
02:27:46.000I was doing Fear Factor, and when I was doing Fear Factor, that's when Zufa had just purchased the UFC. So I came to watch when Tito Ortiz fought Vladimir Mayushenko and I went to some of the earlier fights like when Matt Hughes fought Sakurai.
02:28:05.000I was in the audience and everything like that.
02:28:07.000And Dana and I used to have conversations about fights.
02:28:09.000And I would say, hey, you should check out this guy in Japan.
02:28:13.000You should check out this Russian dude.
02:28:14.000And we were just talking about fights.
02:28:16.000And I would always be asking him questions.
02:28:19.000And what do you guys got coming up next?
02:28:20.000And I thought it was exciting because the sport was trying to take off.
02:28:58.000And I was hanging out with them as just a friend when all this was happening.
02:29:02.000And then somewhere around, I think it was UFC 37 and a half, Dana talked me into doing commentary because they were doing, it was in promotion with Fox Sports and the Best Damn Sports Show.
02:29:14.000Remember that show, Best Damn Sports Show period?
02:29:28.000Met him in like 2008. Right when they bought it, like 2001, what happened was they bought the UFC and then they started putting on these events in Vegas and, you know, Eddie Bravo and I, we had always said, what this sport needs is some crazy billionaire who loves the sport, who just dumps a bunch of money in it to make it big.
02:29:48.000Because when I first started doing commentary, it was in 97. It was when, it was pre-Zufa.
02:29:53.000It was the old days when Bob Meyerowitz owned it and Bob hired me and Campbell McLaren.
02:29:58.000And I was just doing the post-fight interviews.
02:30:00.000I'd interview guys after the fight was over.
02:30:27.000And then when I got Fear Factor, I wound up going to one of their Vegas events because the UFC just bought this and they were giving out free tickets to celebrities.