On this week's episode, the brother and sister duo of the sit down with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brian Kellen. The guys talk about his career in the UFC, how he got into the business, and what it took for him to make it to the highest level of competition. They also discuss his life after the UFC and how he dealt with the aftermath of his time in the organization. Finally, the guys discuss the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and how to deal with them in the workplace and in your personal life. Don't miss it! This episode is brought to you by DIVE Studios. DIVE is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Produced by Riley Bray. If you like what you hear, please HIT SUBSCRIBE! Subscribe, Like, and Share to stay up to date with all things Native Creative! Thank you for listening and share the podcast with your friends, family, and the Native Creative Crew! P.S. Thank you so much for supporting Native Creative - we really appreciate it. We really appreciate all the support we've gotten from you! - Thank you. - The Crew at Native Creative and all the hard work you've given us the opportunity to make this podcast a great place to grow and build a better place to work and grow. We're looking forward to seeing you in the future. -PODCAST! - PODCAST. PODCASTS: - , , PODCOYS, & PODS, , and PODGASKING, PODGAARD, - AND PODGS, PED, PEDGAS, . and PEDS, and PAGS POGS, AND PANDORA POD, ! - PEDGAARD. AND PEDDAS, PADDS, PANIC, PASCO, PANDORS, PICKS, PUNDS, & PEDCASTING, AND SONGS, AND MORE! . . . - THANK YOU! - - BABY PODDS, BODDS AND PASTRODCASTING! - AND MUCH MORE! - BRIAN KELLEN, PEN AND POTTER, AND BOUGAR, AND TALKING ABOUT EVERYTHING AND MORE.
00:02:28.000Like I didn't anticipate, when we did that crazy podcast that wound up being, you know, this like intervention, I didn't even know I was going to do it.
00:02:36.000But while it was happening, I was like, you gotta stop!
00:02:40.000That's all I was thinking is, you gotta get out!
00:02:44.000I don't even remember if we were drinking, but we probably were.
00:02:48.000But I remember that being so sensitive to it like there's something has to be done Like now you gotta you you had so many other possibilities that there's if like most guys that are all in on fighting They don't have anything on the side like there's almost nothing else there.
00:03:04.000There's almost just fighting and maybe a family, right?
00:03:07.000But you were you were starting to flourish.
00:03:10.000You're hilarious on podcasts what you know that can go away and Yeah, and guys become shells.
00:04:02.000I know I never did anything professionally, but it was the formative stages of my life where the only thing that gave me any feelings of good was martial arts.
00:04:14.000Everything else I felt, even though I was kind of good at drawing, but even then I was like, my drawing teacher didn't like me.
00:04:20.000I had friends that I was close with in the class.
00:04:23.000We all drew and we liked our stuff, but man, I felt like a fucking loser except for martial arts.
00:04:28.000So when I quit, Then I'm just doing comedy and I suck at comedy.
00:04:32.000I was eating shit and I was like, what am I quitting for?
00:04:35.000Like I'm quitting something that I was good at to be something that I suck at that I maybe think I have this pipe dream that I could eventually make a living out of.
00:04:43.000I remember that feeling of not having an identity and obviously when you're 21, no one has an identity anyway.
00:05:18.000And I think it took that bridge and that gap.
00:05:21.000To be honest, I think that's the only way that you could have done it because the ego that I had at the time, especially fighting, man, getting to that level, it was like that ego's insane.
00:05:33.000The narcissist and the dream of, oh, I can beat Kane or Stipe, these guys.
00:05:38.000And I think the only way that I could have bridged that gap is by you going so hard in the paint.
00:06:13.000I have a deep appreciation for him as a fighter.
00:06:16.000Yeah, and my feeling was when he came over as K-1 Grand Prix champion, I'm like, this is the most celebrated striker we've ever had in MMA. And you saw it in his fight with Brock Lesnar.
00:07:45.000All day, most likely, because he was so elite in that realm, but you add striking to MMA, and there's so much craziness going on that sometimes it's hard for people to clearly establish who's actually better on their feet until someone can stop the craziness.
00:08:14.000He's so technical and he finds these openings that maybe other people don't see or maybe they can't get to where those openings are and he finds those.
00:08:23.000You think you're doing good, but he's waiting.
00:08:25.000He's waiting for the moment where he sees this spot that he's been looking at and BOOM! He cracks Darren Till with that step in left hook and puts him out.
00:08:33.000You put a fucking animal like Darren Till out cold.
00:09:34.000This new ability to measure substances in the most minuscule amounts that it's so ridiculous that just some random sort of vitamin that has some contaminant, one millionth of a fucking gram or whatever the hell.
00:09:49.000Water or dick pill or protein, whatever the fuck you're eating.
00:09:52.000All kinds of shit test positive that's not a drug.
00:11:27.000But that extremely long window, I mean, it's going to come to a close, and they took away a large chunk of it for something that turned out to not be accurate.
00:11:35.000But they're going to last a long time.
00:11:37.000These guys, they say that at their peak, the best fighters have nine years at their peak.
00:12:44.000It's hard for him to, because you look at the resume of guys he's beat, and then they're like, again, it's not a knock on Dominic Gray, it's not a knock on Corey Anderson or Anthony Smith, but you're like, here's Anthony Smith, and John's like...
00:14:28.000And not just a head kick, but a head kick on the side where DC said, you're not going to trick me into leaning towards my right where you could hit me with that left kick.
00:14:36.000Like, they actually had a conversation about it.
00:19:24.000Maybe he's doing specific kinds of training that keeps his body light.
00:19:27.000And maybe if he lifted weights, he would actually get better.
00:19:29.000The only thing that would worry me about that fight, and I'd be rooting hard for Izzy in that fight, but the only thing that worries me is Jon's wrestling.
00:20:53.000And they get to this point where you have to be so much better to beat them because you're shitting your pants going in, you're compromised, and you're fighting a guy who's at the peak.
00:23:04.000I knew that he hit him, but I think Tito had, I'm not making excuses for anybody, but I think what I heard is Tito had like dress shoes on, like slippery ass dress shoes.
00:23:12.000I talked to Chuck about it and he goes, no one got knocked out.
00:23:15.000It was a scuffle and then we separated.
00:23:17.000Chuck hates Tito, he goes, but I'm not gonna spread the rumor.
00:30:59.000Here's the thing, though, because I thought Gaethje's kind of left out in the cold with all these matchups being announced with Khabib, Tony, Conor, Cowboy.
00:31:18.000Gagey is a little bit left out, but if anybody gets injured, he's right in there.
00:31:23.000See, we're in this weird place where we're pretending these fights are all going to happen.
00:31:27.000We hope and pray that Khabib and Tony, we hope and pray that Cowboy and Conor actually make it to the dance, but they might not make it to the dance.
00:31:35.000So if somebody doesn't make it to the dance, guess who gets a phone call?
00:31:49.000Which, when it was first announced, I was like, oh, at 55, man, that's a tough fight for Cowboys, slow starter, Conor's a finisher, comes out the gates like a fucking banshee.
00:31:57.000And then my brother texted me, he goes, man, you know it's at welterweight?
00:31:59.000I'm like, why the fuck would they do that?
00:32:01.000Because Conor doesn't want to lose any weight.
00:32:04.000Listen, dude, I think that guy tortured himself to get down to 45 so hard.
00:32:09.000And when you looked at what he looked like when he was on the scale, when he was flexing, he looked like a goddamn zombie.
00:32:16.000So I think, you don't, nobody, whether he complains or not about that, nobody rides for free.
00:32:22.000You do that to your body for a couple of years, you're doing some fucking damage.
00:32:25.000And it makes it harder to lose the weight afterwards, right?
00:32:27.000So then he's going up to 55. He's obviously elite at 55, wins the title at 55, has the great rematch with Diaz at 70, and then comes back and fights Khabib at 55 again and gets mauled.
00:32:53.000He's too big, but my only issue at 70, and I would assume his team decided to do it at 70, is when I look at Conor McGregor as a welterweight, is his power the same as it was at 45 and 55?
00:33:23.000My only issue with that is, and I'm a huge Conor McGregor fan, obviously Cerrone's a friend of mine, so I just want him to have a great fight, but...
00:33:33.000When people were complaining about this fight, when the internet's like, ah, it's whatever to me, I think it's a phenomenal fight because I think if you're a Cowboy fan, you know, I always said Cowboy is too much of a company, man.
00:33:45.000The UFC and Dan would go, cut weight, dude, fight this fight, do this, quick turnaround, right?
00:33:49.000Cowboy, the legend of Cowboy was born.
00:33:52.000He's jumping out fucking ships and whatever the hell he's riding fucking bulls and whatever the fuck he was doing the week of the fight Yeah, and he was kind of kill himself to make weight And I just went does it ever work out for anybody who says who's a yes man to the UFC not really?
00:34:04.000But now we've seen it's worked out for cowboy because this is his you know I I don't put too much into titles anymore like this is Cowboys title shot you got the biggest fight in the game and You're fighting Conor McGregor.
00:34:17.000You're going to make millions of dollars.
00:34:21.000If you talk to Kamaru Usman, Kobe Covington, Masvidal, Khabib, Tony, maybe not those two, but if you talk to anyone, who do you want to fight?
00:36:11.000But one of the reasons why I was trying to think why they would do it at 70, I think you're right where Cowboy is a natural 155. He's not a huge welterweight.
00:36:19.000But the other thing is, now that Conor fights at 70, now he has options.
00:36:23.000He can play in 70, he can play at 55. In 70, I know his team wants to do it, and his manager told me this, Masvidal told me this, they want to be the co-main event against Nick Diaz, and they want the Conor fight.
00:38:14.000And even the vegans love him, because sometimes he follows a vegan doctor.
00:38:17.000Yeah, he checks all the boxes for a lot of reasons.
00:38:19.000See, he's got so many good things, and he's tough as shit, and he'll fight anybody, and he's been a veteran, he's been fucking fighting forever, he's had so many wars.
00:38:28.000What did you think of his fight against Masvidal?
00:38:29.000We haven't talked in a long time, dude.
00:38:34.000I thought Masvidal, out of the three rounds, I thought it was best case for Nate, too, that they did, that that doctor stopped the fight, because I thought Masvidal was setting up to finish him.
00:38:45.000And, you know, Nate's never been finished, so...
00:39:35.000He sees things and he can act on things that other guys just, they just either don't have the ability to or they don't throw themselves in the fire correctly like he does.
00:41:30.000But my thoughts are that right now we're experiencing Masvidal in this very strange zone where you see fighters enter into it, whether it's through this rededication or refocusing of his intent and his discipline.
00:41:45.000You know his story, how he went and did that reality show?
00:41:51.000This is a fucking South American reality show.
00:41:53.000He had to go to this village and ask for food.
00:41:55.000He also said he had time to get out from...
00:41:58.000Sit back and think about everything going on.
00:42:01.000I was like, alright, this is what I want to do.
00:42:03.000And then came back and was like, let's do it, man.
00:42:05.000And then just, he became this superstar.
00:42:07.000And I just, you know, when I meet those guys, and obviously I know their story, and you get around them, I have this sense of just like, I'm so happy for them, man.
00:42:16.000Like, that's why I talk about a Nick Diaz fight for Jorge, and I talk about a Conor McGregor fight, because you're not, the title, like, Kamaru and Colby, they're not making real money, man.
00:42:27.000You don't think that Colby's going to bring in a lot of people?
00:42:54.000If he gets through and he beats Kamaru Usman and it gets on the internet and it becomes like a thing, he could be the next huge superstar.1.00
00:43:14.000He's smart as shit and his fucking discipline is unparalleled and people look at him with that stupid suit on and the MAGA hat and he's carrying around Donald Trump Jr.'s book.
00:45:42.000He's making fucking half a billion dollars.
00:45:45.000This is where you gotta, whatever you want to say about Conor, obviously his outside doctor on antics have been crazy, but you gotta respect the guy who has all that money and goes, yeah, I'll fight Cerrone in January at welterweight.
00:45:59.000He's number five lightweight in the world.
00:47:04.000Yeah, but when we're talking about a tip of the spear like Evander Holyfield at that time, Evander Holyfield, there's a real good argument for sure that he's one of the greatest of all time.
00:47:14.000He's the only guy to ever win the title four times.
00:50:00.000This guy was into the most ridiculously hot chili.
00:50:04.000It was so hot, you would have to sign a waiver if you wanted to buy the stuff that they put in it.
00:50:09.000And he was telling me that even with the hottest shit that they had, they had like a number system, I think.
00:50:15.000I think ten, you know, I think eight was like the most I could tolerate.
00:50:19.000But they would have these guys from Nepal come, and even with the ten, number ten, the hottest shit they had, these dudes would be putting some extra hot sauce in there.1.00
00:52:29.000I mean, they fucking went after it for six rounds.
00:52:31.000Dude, for guys like that to go, you know, I've seen guys who have experience in amateur boxing would gas the fuck out in front of a crowd like that.
00:54:59.000I think I found it on one of the websites I follow on Instagram.
00:55:02.000But usually they leak there and then it gets announced.
00:55:04.000But if he does fight Yoel Romero, and when I was talking to Jorge and Yoel Romero's manager when I was doing the food truck with Jorge, he was just like, oh, Jorge's getting the fight, man.
01:01:16.000When we first watched it, I went, oh, he's going hard on the paint on the USA and gays.
01:01:20.000But I remember thinking, when I heard it, that he was saying, don't forget, because a lot of Cubans, with that accent, they might say, don't forget!
01:02:05.000But listen, man, that guy is one of the most scary athletes I've ever seen in the UFC. When he knocked out Chris Wyden with that flying knee that just comes out of nowhere.
01:12:10.000Because he underestimated Andy's resolve and his ability to recover from the big shot.
01:12:13.000He didn't realize how good Andy is inside that close quarters.
01:12:16.000Now imagine what would happen if instead of going crazy and trying to stop him, what if he just boxes on the outside and keeps trying to land a big shot.
01:12:45.000I feel like Ruiz is going to have incredible confidence because he's going into this fight knowing that he's able to beat the heavyweight champion of the world, win the title, and he's got a fucking Rolls Royce now, okay?
01:12:55.000He's going in there with champ attitude.
01:14:23.000He said essentially his word, the way he described it is, I was listening to this interview with him, some English gentleman, and he was saying that, you think about it, you have 100% of your energy.
01:14:33.000If you put 50% of it to strength and conditioning and 50% of it to boxing, you're not going to achieve the same amount as if you put 100% to boxing.
01:14:46.000It's because if you look at Andy Ruiz's kind of advantages over and be speed combinations, so you don't want to just be this big heavy bulk.
01:14:54.000Also, if you're looking at future matchups, Fury and Wilder, they're all lighter on the feet, move better, better cardio.
01:17:26.000The only argument for Deontay Wilder is, you know, he did knock him down.
01:17:33.000Oh, if the fight was a fight, if it was a fight fight, you know, like in the streets, and two guys were going at it like that, and one guy dropped the guy and blasted him, and then dropped him in the end, and he was laying on his back, and he got up, and, you know, at the end of the round, they decided it was the end of the fight, you would say, man, I think he won.
01:20:18.000I used to train with Tony at RAIN. He would spar with everybody else, keep going to guys like, I'm good, then go to the bag or run sprints.
01:22:45.000But here's an argument that I always used to make about Roy Nelson, is that he could take body shots better because it's like he's wearing eight sweaters.
01:26:47.000And Andrew Schultz is kind of part of the squad over here now.
01:26:50.000And he goes, when Ari moved from L.A. because of Joe, when Ari moved from L.A., came to New York, he came in there and was like, what the fuck's wrong with you guys?
01:30:35.000Instead of laughing and enjoying it and going up there as a guy who's having a good time and wants everybody to have a good time, I was going up there selfish.
01:30:48.000I wasn't thinking about having a good time.
01:30:50.000I wasn't thinking about being the director of having a good time.
01:30:56.000I learned that with Brewer for sure, but I never had to follow Brewer again after that other than maybe like a small spot at the Boston Comedy or Caroline's or something like that, but not when he was doing like a half an hour.
01:31:10.000He was the middle and I was a headliner.
01:31:11.000I wasn't supposed to be a fucking headliner.
01:31:13.000You know Brewer's doing like, he's opened up for a while, he did Metallica.
01:31:17.000Yeah, but Metallica, didn't they, I think Hatfield just checked into rehab.
01:32:24.000So what I learned to do, instead of being scared to go on after him, which I definitely was a couple of times, Particularly that one time in Jersey.
01:34:49.000Because sometimes what keeps someone from becoming a professional...
01:34:53.000Is like you don't, you know, you don't have supportive friends and you don't put the extra effort into it because it doesn't feel good to be there because you're not doing well because you bomb too often.
01:35:13.000Dude, anybody who tells you they haven't bombed is either a thief, either they've been stealing all their jokes, or they're just not telling the truth.
01:39:33.000And he might be one of the biggest comedy geniuses ever, but he's certainly our biggest comedy genius of today.
01:39:38.000He understands comedy like nobody else does.
01:39:40.000Did you hear what he said to Trevor Noah was on a show and they asked him about opening for Dave Chappelle because Chappelle brought him on a bunch of dates.
01:39:48.000And Trevor Noah was like, he was saying, he goes, I mean, I'm fairly good at stand-up.
01:39:53.000I'm not the best, but, you know, I've been to stand-up a while now.
01:39:55.000And he goes, I'm in the green room with Dave Chappelle.
01:39:57.000And he goes, and I'm thinking, why the fuck would he have me open for him?
01:40:00.000Like, he has all these guys, like, great comics.
01:46:12.000Well, how about Masvidal fucking sucker punches him and he cuts his face and they're in the middle of this whole thing after he knocks out Till.
01:48:10.000From 36 to 40 is where you see some guys, Bernard Hopkins it, and they just fucking eat nothing but grilled chicken with perfectly cooked vegetables.
01:51:52.000And it worked for Ben, too, because he made a lot of money over in one UFC. But I think that if Ben had left Bellator and gone straight to the UFC, things would have been very interesting.
01:52:16.000But also, people dogging on stuff like this.
01:52:19.000Like, dude, what about the guy who was retired, had everything going for him, where he's living, has the wrestling camp, was like, Yeah, alright, I'll fight the best of the best in UFC. Yeah, right away.
01:52:29.000Just for him to do that, you have to tip your hat to the guy.
01:54:24.000Sometimes I'll be driving, no bullshit, I'll be driving down the road and I think of Damian Maia having Kamaru Usman's back and the referee stepping in and I go like this, FUCK! Just driving out of nowhere.
01:54:34.000If someone saw me driving, they would think that I have some personal thing I'm dealing with or your money or something.
01:54:40.000I'm just driving down the road thinking about that ref pulling Damian Maia off Usman's back and I just go, fuck!
01:56:11.000The only thing that made sense to me is maybe Damian Maia thought that Ben Askren's chin would be soft because he was so brutally KO'd just four months ago.
02:04:40.000Junior is a great fighter, but his style is the wrong style to stand in front of that fucking guy.
02:04:46.000He also has some Brazilian miles on him.
02:04:48.000He's a shell of what he used to be, let's be real.
02:04:52.000Francis is just on this tear right now, but sometimes there's losses that happen for guys where you're like, oh man, they needed those huge bumps in their career where it's going to pay off in the end.
02:05:04.000I think it's happened with Francis, it's happened with Darren Till now as well.
02:05:08.000I don't know if Francis can immediately beat top-level boxers, but I know that if they put him against some guy who's like a journeyman who's going to stand in front of him.
02:05:19.000He'll starch guys, and he'll starch a bunch of those guys, and people will get super excited about him.
02:05:24.000I agree if they want to do that, but you're talking about a different animal.
02:05:27.000If you were to go in there like a Wilder or a Fury, which is almost ridiculous to say, but that's where we're at because Conor Diggins Floyd, or even Masvidal talking about, oh, I want to fight Canelo, and they ask Canelo, and Canelo goes, what the fuck?
02:07:01.000If Francis hits anyone with that left hook, I don't give a fuck if he's wearing one of those cartoon gloves that you get that weigh five pounds.
02:07:08.000You know those ones you get at the carnival?
02:07:09.000I know exactly what we're talking about.
02:07:10.000If he hits you with one of those, you're fucked.
02:09:57.000When that guy kicks his leg, that guy comes storming in like a bat out of hell, throwing punches that each one of them has concussion written all over it.
02:11:53.000But I do know that when you look at the way he looked when he was training for that 125-pound fight, he looked like he was a dead man walking.
02:12:01.000I couldn't imagine that he had any energy to train.
02:12:25.000Either way, again, props to USADA. Because they're catching people doing shit like that.
02:12:30.000Look, he should have never gone to 125. It's a terrible idea.
02:12:33.000I mean, that guy that is training him, that guy who's that master strength and conditioning coach to put together this diet to drop down 125 pounds, that's all good on paper.
02:13:52.000Is Marlon Marais in a similar situation where he just can't maintain a pace after cutting that much weight because Marais cuts a fuckload of weight.
02:15:20.000The only difference that you can really see, neither guy's ever been taken down in a fight, ever, but I would give the finishing power to Kamaru Usman.
02:18:38.000The last six, all five, last five, all decisions.
02:18:42.000So it's like, if you're like, all this guy, he doesn't finish, but what he's doing to guys like Damian Maia and Dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler is so fun to watch.
02:21:09.000To the Nate Diaz thing, I think Conor goes, I want to fight three times in 2020. I think he goes, if I've got a crystal ball that screws you McDuck of the UFC, I think he goes cowboy, Masvidal, and ends it with Nate Diaz.
02:22:24.000That's the one thing I'm not fucking around about.
02:22:25.000I don't want anybody to get it twisted.
02:22:27.000I really think that guy hit so fucking hard.
02:22:30.000He's so good at fighting now, and he's so good at fighting high-level.
02:22:34.000He's been fighting in the UFC against high-level guys for a long time.
02:22:37.000I know it's different, but I don't think there's that much of an adjustment when you think about his primary skill set and the division he's talking about.
02:22:43.000You don't think he can starch some of those top 15 guys?
02:22:47.000He could fuck some of those dudes up.0.99
02:24:04.000To me, he's pound for pound number one.
02:24:06.000You look at his resume, everyone goes, ooh, Bud, who I love, Bud Crawford, shout out to Bud, Bud and Earl Spence, everyone goes, that's pound for pound number one, or Lomachenko.
02:24:15.000Dude, look at who Canelo's has beat, man, in different divisions.
02:24:19.000You're talking about fucking marquee guys, and he's stopping them, man.
02:24:23.000The Triple G fights, obviously there's some controversy there, but...
02:24:27.000The Triple G fights are real controversial.
02:26:37.000You look at the division, there's no one else.
02:26:39.000Well, one of the things that Masvidal, who's friends with Yoel, said, I respect the fuck out of Adesanya because he asked for that beast.0.93