In this episode, I sit down with UFC Heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou. We talk about his early life growing up in a small village in France, how he got into martial arts, and how he went on to become the first black man to ever fight for the UFC's Heavyweight Championship. We also talk about how he became a better English speaker, and what it's like being a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is one of the most advanced martial arts in the history of the sport, as well as some of the challenges he faced in his early career, and some of his biggest mistakes he made along the way. I hope you enjoy this episode and that you learn something new about Francis, and that it makes you think about what it means to be Black in the UFC. I know that it's a crazy ride, and I can't wait to see what he has to say about it in the next episode! I'm looking forward to seeing what he's up to in the future, so don't miss it! Cheers, Joe! <3 -Jon Sorrentino -Jon & Joe <333 -Jon and Joe -The Best Podcasts of the Week: The Best Podcast on the Internet: Jon & Joe's Best Podcast: The Fight Game Podcasts: & The Best Fight Game: UFC: The Ultimate Fighter: Ultimate Beast of the Decade, UFC: UFC vs. Cowboy Cerrillos & UFC 246, UFC 246 & UFC Fight Night: UFC 246. - The Ultimate Beast, UFC 232, UFC 27, UFC 28, UFC 26, UFC 31, UFC 29, UFC 32, UFC 33, UFC 37, UFC 39, UFC 40, UFC 41, UFC 42, UFC 43, UFC 47, UFC 45, UFC 48, UFC 49, UFC 50, UFC 51, UFC 52, UFC 56, UFC 57, UFC 53, UFC 54, UFC 60, UFC 58, UFC Championship, UFC 61, UFC 63, UFC 62, UFC 67, UFC 64, UFC 68, UFC 1, UFC 69, UFC 72, UFC 70, UFC 76, UFC 73, UFC 75, UFC 83, UFC 80, UFC 78, UFC 74, UFC 81, UFC 71, UFC 79, UFC Stadium, UFC 89, UFC 86, UFC 88, UFC 85, UFC 90, UFC 82, UFC Night, UFC 87, UFC Fight Weekend, UFC 84, UFC 365, UFC 91, UFC 162, UFC HQ, UFC Seoul, UFC 128, UFC Hall of Fame, and UFC Championship Challenge, UFC 194, UFC City, UFC 189, UFC 161, UFC 311, UFC 182, UFC No. 1 and UFC Stadium.
00:00:23.000I think that's why I wanted to wait a little bit before I come.
00:00:28.000I'm like, well, I'm not sure if I will handle that.
00:00:31.000You know, sometimes I listen to the podcast, and I'm like, basically, when you're talking about different podcasts, different topics, I'm kind of like lost some time.
00:00:52.000I remember when you first went to the UFC, I interviewed you, and you didn't know what the fuck I was saying.
00:01:01.000Growing up, I went to school, like elementary school and middle school, and we were learning English.
00:01:12.000I know some few words like water and stuff, but just my accent was just so different than when I came here, my first UFC event was in Orlando.
00:01:22.000And I couldn't even hear people like water.
00:01:27.000Like the accent was just so different.
00:04:31.000Yes, very quick rides and didn't spend enough time in the octagon to have those experiences, even though I was almost like...
00:04:43.000He was almost four years, three years and a half since I've been doing the sport, but didn't spend enough time in the octagon to have that experience.
00:04:54.000I think in one night, I covered more than what I've been spending in the octagon for the rest of my career.
00:05:06.000It's got to be a difficult thing to figure out how to pace yourself for a five-round fight when you've only been knocking people out quickly before that.
00:05:17.000Also, you know, some people get here while they're being proficient, while they've been having at least at least lives for a long time, maybe wrestling, maybe doing some different sport at school or at college.
00:05:35.000But I never get into that stuff, you know?
00:05:38.000Growing up, I was just like finding my way to survive.
00:05:42.000Then I end up finding myself in somewhere that I never been there.
00:06:05.000And two years after that, I was fighting my first fight in the UFC. And I remember, basically, at first, when I went in the martial art, it was just for fun, for curiosity.
00:06:23.000I didn't like seeing myself being a UFC fighter and people was like, oh, if you put yourself into this, you can become a UFC fighter and a UFC champion.
00:06:36.000You can have a UFC belt wrapped around your waist.
00:08:39.000You know, I didn't even know the rules back then.
00:08:43.000I remember I was in Orlando and I'm like, man, this is the time.
00:08:47.000Like, I'm going to fight to be seen in the whole world, so this is the time to take my opportunity to showcase my talent, to prove that I can do something.
00:09:02.000Then I'm like, okay, so what is this about?
00:12:04.000So together it was a tough situation to deal with, basically in the boxing business, because they're going to go see this promoter, talk about you, but who is that guy?
00:15:08.000But since I was dreaming for boxing so bad, then...
00:15:14.000I sold that to go to the city and finally boxing because I've been dreaming for boxing for over about 10 years, but there wasn't a gym like 50 miles around.
00:15:30.000So I decided to sell my bike, my motorcycle and go to the city.
00:15:35.000And by the time my family thought I was, people around thought I was going crazy, like, what the hell?
00:15:43.000Like you have a job, you have a chance to have a job, to have a bike, you can feed yourself and maybe create your family, your own family and you say you're going to do this boxing.
00:15:57.000Did you ever see somebody coming from here to succeed in boxing?
00:16:03.000Then they will take some examples such as people like Wata Bele, Joseph Besala, Jean-Marie Mebe, which is people that was like a legend in combat sport in Cameroon.
00:18:29.000At the end of the day, what truly matters, you know, at least I will do what I want for some time, what I love.
00:18:37.000And if it doesn't work, you know, I still have some sort of satisfaction of doing it.
00:18:44.000Are you aware that the amount of success that you've achieved has got to be very inspirational for other people that are in the same sort of situation that you were in?
00:18:54.000When they hear your story and they know the people around them are questioning their desires too, you took a chance, a lot of chances.
00:19:16.000It didn't take me so long after I got in Europe to realize that.
00:19:24.000Because I started to fight, to compete in France, and they were seeing me on TV and calling me or texting me like, Oh, we see somebody on the TV like you, but you have a Drake love, Lux.
00:20:42.000But most people don't have the confidence to take chances like that.
00:20:46.000Most people, they hear these people saying, oh, you're going to get Parkinson's, you're going to get sick, you're not going to make money, you're not going to be able to feed your family.
00:24:05.000I knew exactly how to get myself ready to gather those stuff whenever it shows up.
00:24:14.000And this is from the time you were a boy.
00:24:16.000You've always known exactly what you wanted.
00:24:18.000You've always been stubborn like that.
00:24:20.000Yeah, like that started, I was six years old when my parents divorced.
00:24:27.000I went to my aunt and she has like a ton of kids and I was one among them.
00:24:34.000It wasn't a great experience, but what I do learn there, and this is the first thing that I learned in my life, like people was coming over, I'm like, okay, who kid is this?
00:26:12.000And that's why even today, thinking about my dad, he might be one of the irresponsible guys out there, irresponsible dad.
00:26:23.000But believe me, this guy impacts my life than nobody else.
00:26:30.000And I think, even in a better way, if he was a good dad, like, have us together, educate us, you know, sometimes you tell kids not to do something, you're like, why do they always want me not to do this?
00:26:45.000They want to try that out, to see how it feels to do it, you know?
00:26:49.000But I get it on my own, and that was for real.
00:27:04.000And since I already had a dream of becoming a professional athlete, a boxer, I wanted to Even though I didn't have a chance to have a gym around, I never see a gym in life.
00:27:26.000But I want to get myself ready to get a discipline.
00:27:33.000So if ever the opportunity gets there, I will be able to gather it.
00:27:39.000And that's why When my friend was drinking, I would never drink, never smoke because I'm like, I'm an athlete.
00:29:27.000It's also, your body must develop very strong from doing something like that.
00:29:32.000At 10 years old, like, as you're growing, as you're maturing, doing something that's that difficult, I mean, it must have made you really fucking strong.
00:30:12.000I didn't like my life and I always feel like I miss my childhood.
00:30:20.000There's something missing in it because there's been so much frustration in my life.
00:30:30.000I had to work by that age and it wasn't enough.
00:30:35.000When school starts all the time, I'm going to go to school and most of the time I still didn't have a pen to take notes or a notebook to write on it.
00:30:49.000Sometimes no shoes or clothes, just have to wear.
00:31:00.000I was frustrated to look around and see other kids looking good, you know.
00:31:05.000They went on vacation to this family member, came back with all brand new stuff and I was just there looking crappy with my I had to take my old book and look for an empty page to take a note, hoping that when I have a book, I will copy the note from this year in the new book.
00:31:29.000But at first, I always had to use the old book.
00:31:34.000And most of the time, teachers, they don't understand why you don't have a book.
00:31:39.000They don't understand why you don't have a pen.
00:31:41.000Sometimes they just think that you didn't tell your parents.
00:31:45.000You should tell your parents so they can buy it for you.
00:31:50.000They don't understand that you cannot just afford it.
00:33:03.000Bring something on the table to enjoy.
00:33:09.000But since you don't even have a pen or a book to take notes, nobody expects you to bring a lunch or to buy something in the break time to share with them.
00:33:26.000So they don't want to share with you since they don't have any hope that you have something to share with them.
00:36:22.000I would leave school sometime, you know, just because I was hungry.
00:36:27.000Or if I had a chance to have breakfast or something, I won't eat before I leave home because I know if I eat at 5 or 6, I'll get hungry early.
00:36:40.000I'll take it at school to eat maybe around 10 so I can resist until the end.
00:36:47.000And that's how I did it this entire time.
00:36:54.000So my process was all different from other kids.
00:37:39.000Like if you went to school during the day, when did you work in the sand mines?
00:37:42.000Over the weekend, over the holidays, because I never had a chance to go to holiday, even for the summer holiday, which is like three months.
00:37:56.000That would be because we have a tropical climate.
00:38:00.000So at that moment, we have two seasons, a wet season and a dry season.
00:40:49.000I think the moment that I enjoy the most is like those moments, you know, going back, go to the house that I grew up into, even though we fix it today, it's not the same, but the environment,
00:41:06.000like sleeping, have all this nostalgic, At 5 o'clock, all these animal sounds from outside, the bed, birds, all those sounds which are very familiar, bring you back from 20 to 25 years ago.
00:41:24.000The smells, everything reminds you something.
00:43:19.000You know, and that's why I feel very lucky, just to have a different mindset, just to even have a dream, because they don't even have a dream.
00:43:30.000Most of those people, if you ask them, OK, what is your dream?
00:43:37.000Where would you like to be in one year, five years from now?
00:46:14.000Most of you knew me before I even lived here, which means it's possible.
00:46:23.000You know, as long as you believe in something, in a dream, as long as you have a dream and believe in yourself, I think success is just a matter of time.
00:46:49.000But as for now, I have a gym for kids because when I was back there with my dream as a kid, I always expected to have someone come there and have a gym.
00:47:08.000And the first thing that I did when I went in France, and then I see how there are opportunities there.
00:47:16.000I started to collect clothes, everything that I can have.
00:47:20.000I started to collect them and ship it home.
00:47:23.000And over the years, I built a gym under the foundation so kids can go there and train.
00:47:30.000Not because I want them to become a professional athlete, but just because I want them to feel like they matter, you know, like somebody care about them.
00:47:41.000Because most of the time, that's why kids give up on their dream.
00:47:48.000They feel like, okay, it's not mean for us.
00:47:55.000Which is wrong, because I think everybody can make it.
00:48:01.000It's still difficult, more difficult to somebody than some, but it's still possible for everyone.
00:48:11.000And from my experience, I mean, it might not be always true, but when you believe, when you have a dream and you believe into, there's no way that you're not going to make it.
00:48:25.000You know, he might take time, he might come on his own time, but he will always come.
00:48:32.000So you have this dream, you leave Cameroon, you end up in France, you end up in Paris?
00:49:19.000In Cameroon, I've always been in this triangle city, which is like my village here.
00:49:26.000The capital, the political capital here named Yaonde, and the economic capital named Douala here is the triangle that I've always been into.
00:51:54.000At least I see my family, I see my village and everything for the last time.
00:51:59.000And I went back in the village and I went to my mom and sometimes I was staring at her like this, was thinking like, maybe this is the last time, man.
00:53:37.000We couldn't even bring him to the hospital.
00:53:40.000And we just look at him, get sick, suffer until he passed away.
00:53:45.000And I was like, man, if this shit happened again in my family, like, guess if my mom, after all what she, she have been doing, all the sacrifice as a single mom, if she gets sick today, We should be the ones taking care of her.
00:59:27.000Normally it's like 24 hours with a car because it's like very flat so they don't have speed limit.
00:59:37.000They can go like 150 miles per hour straight up and they have to hide from like rudders because sometimes they are like helicopter Flying up there looking, checking if there's something going on, because they know that there's a lot of traffic there.
00:59:59.000Not only immigrants, but only guns and drugs and everything.
01:14:02.000Sometimes with a bar of iron, you know, they kill people just by beating them.
01:14:10.000You know, there are just some people, they are not educated, they don't know differences, they don't even understand people's struggles, they don't understand nothing.
01:14:20.000They just took them in the town and trained them and gave them a bath to beat people.
01:14:30.000So the people that use for police, they just take anybody that wants that job?
01:17:10.000Because every time that you attempt, and it's not easy, you have to prepare to go attempt.
01:17:16.000And every time that you attempt, if you fail, If you get lucky, you don't get beat up or all the stuff, they're going to bring you back in the South and throw you in the desert to let you go.
01:17:34.000So it's their own way to say, go back to your country.
01:17:38.000They leave you in the border, out of their country, which is in the desert, close to Algeria.
01:17:50.000So you have to work like the whole night to get somewhere that you can rest.
01:18:00.000And to go back from where you were, it takes a lot of time.
01:18:06.000You know, it's a struggle because we're going to jump into like a...
01:18:12.000Merchandise train, and all those things, all this process is very long.
01:18:23.000Sometimes you have to go in the water to attempt to, like, deviate from Morocco to get to this island.
01:18:31.000But it became very, very complicated because they have radar all the time running.
01:18:39.000And as soon as you even have a chance to touch the water, you're going to get caught right away because they have all this high tech, this infrared motion detector.
01:18:52.000All those staff, they have all those staff.
01:18:54.000So even when we go to the fence, because there is somebody who is always going to go check, to look where there is a weakness on the fence.
01:19:10.000It's about 11 miles of fence, who protect an island, a small place like this.
01:20:52.000So he can go there and stay some time for two days in one place, just to observe, check what time the military swift What time, how do they react?
01:22:31.000The patrol car passed at this time, at this interval.
01:22:37.000So we have all this and like, okay, between the patrol car, after the patrol car left, Liv, we're going to attack because it's like five.
01:22:51.000Maybe we're going to attack in five or ten minutes because he will take them maybe another ten minutes to come and that will be enough time.
01:23:50.000And when you find that opening, you get prepared.
01:23:52.000Then you say, OK, we are doing this this day.
01:23:56.000Then sometimes you go there, You guys at night time, you will go there, the convoi.
01:24:04.000It might be 100, 200, hundreds of you guys.
01:24:10.000And imagine like hundreds of people walking in some town around with cops living there and they still have to be like silence, like hiding.
01:24:24.000Most of the time, the couple will see you and when they see this mass of people, they know that they are preparing something.
01:24:49.000When the alert goes on, most of the time, the Guardia Civil in the Spain side, they start to send the infrared, the motion detector all the time.
01:25:03.000Most of the time, they even send the helicopter to come flying on top.
01:25:08.000Even if the infrared notice something there, sometimes it's kind of tricky.
01:25:17.000It's technology, but it's not always accurate.
01:25:37.000How many times did you attempt to get through?
01:25:41.000On the fence, many times, I touched the fence like I went to the fence like I touched the fence twice and over time we didn't even get to the fence.
01:25:52.000They saw us even before because the Gwaja Sevilla, their technology is very high.
01:26:00.000So we don't even care about the Moroccan military.
01:26:04.000We know that we can get these guys all day long.
01:26:08.000But the Gwaja Civil, man, all the technology, the motorcycles, the car, even when you get there, it's another deal to run away from them.
01:31:42.000To bring you to the south is a very long trip.
01:31:44.000When they catch you guys, they'll put you in the police, keep you in the police station until you are there enough of you, maybe to fill one box, to make a trip in the south.
01:31:58.000But since there was a massive attack, there was a lot of people that got caught.
01:32:03.000So on the same day, they took us to Ushta, which is in the South, and you sleep there like one or two days, and they wait until the night time.
01:32:14.000They go to the border in the desert and throw you guys there.
01:32:19.000Then you figure your way up between Algerian military, who are not joking, because sometimes when they hear noises, they just shoot.
01:49:07.000Then from there, I don't know why I promised myself that with all those experiences, I promised myself that the next time that I'm touching this water, I'm done.
01:51:19.000You have to go to the market at night time to go find food in the trash, you know, sometimes arguing with rats in the trash, like, hey, get away of these tomatoes.
01:53:23.000We have to go all the way down to touch the water.
01:53:26.000But in the middle of the hill, there was a road and the military patrol was there.
01:53:34.000We put the air on our boat, right, in the upstairs, in the dark, and get the paddle to some people to carry, so we can carry the boat, because we have to, like, really protect him.
01:53:47.000Even a stone or something can just burst.
01:54:59.000And the military, they were just there.
01:55:04.000And I'm like, with their touch, you know, in the dark, when you're in the dark, there might just be four of them, but they use the touch and sweep it like this.
01:57:10.000I'm like, okay, when the boat is going this way, you guys, you should stop paddle and then you guys should paddle faster so he can bring it back.
01:57:21.000This is how we direct the boat, you know.
02:05:32.000But after the winter started to get over, I had a friend who called me and I was like, Francis, I have this guy, they have a boat, the water is starting to get better now, not too much waves and this.
02:05:47.000They have a boat, I would like you to come to our city so we can take them together.
02:05:54.000I trust you and myself, you should come.
02:05:59.000I called in my country and asked for my mom and my brother, like, I need money.
02:08:28.000And when you hear that boomlah, you have to run.
02:08:31.000We have this plastic that we, because in the forest, we put stones together, build like a little shatter, and then find a plastic and put on top of it, not to get wet when we are sleeping.
02:08:47.000So we build it like two feet high, put plastic on top, you know, and then get inside and sleep.
02:09:41.000You're going to have a nightmare every night.
02:09:48.000So when they say, The first thing you do, you wrap your blanket, you wrap your plastic, you climb on top of the tree sometimes to hide it, but sometimes they climb on top of it.
02:10:01.000They see that and they climb on top to take it and burn it.
02:10:07.000So you wrap it sometimes, you just run with it.
02:10:11.000You don't know how this run is going to end.
02:10:16.000Maybe you're going to get caught because they always surround you.
02:10:21.000Then we're gonna like sometime when you find found out you find out that you get surrounded you just go to hide somewhere and you're gonna stay like immobile for hours because they have like uh how they call miniculars Benarculus?
02:10:43.000To look from the other side and communicate over the turkey walking, like seeing if there is emotion somewhere, some people.
02:10:52.000So we have to get in the hardest part in the forest, that they can get there.
02:11:01.000Even if they are suspecting that we might be there, just this stake, It doesn't allow them to go there because they get hurt.
02:11:14.000So you have to go to this pain to support all this pain.
02:11:18.000Like, okay, he's hurting, but this is my only way to survive because they can come there to find you.
02:11:26.000Even though, because they are not sure 100% that you're there to take all that risk.
02:11:32.000So you have to stay quiet for like hours.
02:11:40.000Then, under the rain sometimes, whatever is the issue, you have to stay there.
02:11:46.000And sometimes, if you're really surrounded, if you see them before they surround you guys, you just start to run over the mountains and mountains for hours before then.
02:12:01.000Spend a few hours in the run before coming back in the evening, knowing that they might be back because they have to go back.
02:14:14.000And I have these people that, this guy, that he'd been texting me, being like, we want you to go with us, this, that, like, literally begging me to be the captain.
02:14:27.000Because I was a famous captain by the time.
02:17:00.000But I always give some little service to people to get money.
02:17:06.000Like first, if somebody wants to know how is the meteor, how is the weather, if the weather is good or not, even though I looked already, I'm like, Oh man, you have to pay for the internet for me to look at that.
02:26:48.000So you better don't be in between stone and the waves.
02:26:55.000So, I'm like, okay, where are we going to go?
02:27:00.000Suddenly, some place appeared to be right there, a working place between stones.
02:27:08.000I walk around, look, and I found a small beach, just as this table, just to put the boat.
02:27:18.000I always keep asking myself, that place really exists or it was just something that God put it there to make us go because it meant to happen.
02:28:56.000So I changed, and I was like fainting on them with powder, like, I'm going to smash you, like, do this, do that, and we put everything together.
02:29:10.000The water keep turning because in between stones, even though it was a beach, but the water there was very weird, like turning around, you know, and keep throwing us, keep throwing us.
02:29:24.000I'm like, no, man, we are going this way.
02:31:20.000Either we call the Red Cross and use the helicopter to tell them exactly where we are or either the Moroccan who saw that And figure out there's something going on and come here.
02:35:32.000We make sure everything that we get as a paper, passport, we let it in the water.
02:35:39.000Because if you have something on you that says you're from Senegal, even though you're not from Senegal, you're getting deported from Senegal right away.
02:35:51.000So you make sure you don't have any paper on you.
02:35:55.000I was there, man, thinking, Then suddenly I realized he was April 3rd and I left Cameroon April 3rd, one year ago.
02:37:50.000Because in Algeria, we are all Malian and...
02:37:56.000In Morocco, we are all from Senegal, even Guinea, Bissau, like West Africa, because a lot of West Africa country has a good relationship with Morocco, which is visa-free.
02:41:02.000For some people, if they suspect that you're from some country who has an extradition, then they'll deport you.
02:41:11.000They might bring somebody from your embassy to come and see, investigate to see if you're really from that country that you're saying If he recognizes you and if he recognizes, if he says yes, he's from my country, they will deport you.
02:41:32.000So what is it like when they finally let you go?
02:41:37.000Some association will come and text you and they offer you to stay there for a few days or for longer, for two weeks or for longer if you want, but you have to decide whether it's two weeks or if it's three months.
02:44:44.000You know, my signature, sometimes when I sign, people don't understand why.
02:44:52.000It's SF. And I was like 10 years old, figured out my signature, and since there was a city in America, what I know is San Francisco, and people sometimes, as my name is Francis, would call me San Francisco.
02:45:11.000I want to like change my name to put my name San Francisco.
02:45:14.000Like that's even why I signed SF and it end up to be my official signature.
02:45:21.000So my signature is SF. So when you write Francis Ngannou, you write SF? No.
02:46:14.000We were a group of people, most of the people in the group was just like France.
02:46:20.000I'm like, okay, let's go to France first.
02:46:22.000Then I went in France just by curiosity to see, but I never really want to go to France.
02:46:32.000And I ended up in France and things started to put themselves together and I'm like, By the end of the day, it's not that bad.
02:46:43.000I just wanted a place with opportunity, It plays with opportunity.
02:46:53.000France seems to have that opportunity and he will help me to get in the US, in the main door instead of the service door as usual.
02:47:08.000Because I went in France, I get in France like June 9th, 2013. We went, I was with some guy, I saw, I was with some guy, he has a friend who was in the, some community there, some Mali, from Malian community, and you're like, okay, I'm going there.
02:47:36.000I don't know where I'm going, so I just follow them.
02:47:38.000They jump on the, you know, this thing at the train station, how do you call it?
02:48:06.000That was the first place that I saw in France.
02:48:09.000Man, I was so desperate, disappointed.
02:48:14.000You know, it was like two buildings, and somebody was, they were like, putting their clothes, drying their clothes on the window, and somebody was standing from this window, talking to somebody there, in Bambara, like, Abrigidi!
02:49:23.000Because people was recommending, they recommend us to like call the French, that number is 115. So they have a place you can call to book for a night sleeping.
02:52:00.000But, I mean, I'm not asking for something besides somewhere to train, besides an opportunity, because I'm going to become a world champion.
02:52:11.000When you walk to the gym, you don't have nothing and you're saying that for people who have been there for years and years.
02:52:18.000It looks like you're kind of looking at them like, oh, what are you guys be doing there?
02:55:52.000But, you know, with your situation, I think the thing we're going to help you the most will be MMA. You know, boxing business is kind of very complicated.
02:58:12.000And he knows that most of the time in Paris, when a guy calls out for a drink, even though somebody calls out, make sure you have your money because everybody's going to pay.
02:58:25.000And he will say, I get you all the time.
02:59:02.000So, how long before you got your first fight?
02:59:08.000No, like, after that, like, after one or almost two months, that gym supposed to close for one month during the holiday, during the vacation.
02:59:25.000And that's when, because I wasn't doing MMA there, like, he offered me to try, like, whatever.
02:59:33.000But since at the daytime I didn't have time, I made this association at the street that they was, like, helping us, giving us, like, food.
02:59:44.000Every Monday they come by and trying to give us whatever, like, These little things that you might need, like a mouthpiece or a mouthbrush.
02:59:56.000I remember I had a sleeping bag, you know, the military sleeping bag.
03:00:44.000But if we want to come to our place to help, cook, cut veggies, or do whatever you can do because we make food about 700 meals every day to go provide a gift to the homeless in north of Paris.
03:01:06.000So if you can help for the daytime, if you have a time, every free hand is welcome.
03:01:12.000Because as an association, we don't have enough money to pay people.
03:01:17.000So we kind of like use most volunteers.
03:01:20.000So if you want to volunteer, I'm like, Yeah, that's cool.
03:01:24.000Then they set up a meeting with the manager.
03:01:37.000Every time, every day that you have time and you want to stop by for two hours, one hour, help us to load stuff in the truck or to unload or to cut veggies, you know, or to...
03:01:51.000Whatever you can help for, for how long you have, you're welcome.
03:04:42.000And I kind of like tell him like how my friend Didier Carmon is always trying to tell me about MMA. And he was like, yes, your friend, he's right.
03:04:57.000I'm like, yeah, but you do boxing too?
03:04:59.000He said, yes, the boxing class is at this time, that time, that time.
03:05:04.000Then I came there for the boxing time.
03:05:08.000I'm like, yes, you should try MMA. We do MMA year two.
03:05:45.000I just want to do it for fun and that's it you know but and so by the time I was already like having a good relation with Didier Kamu but as he saw that I started to do MMA and that's exactly what what he wanted like He get at the point that he come to pay for a membership at this gym just to keep me
03:10:19.000I remember when you hit him, I don't even know how I responded because you hit him so hard and he went flying back and stiffened up and I remember thinking, holy shit!
03:10:28.000That was about as hard as I've ever seen anybody get hit from a punch in my life.
03:10:39.000But the crazy thing is not just that you did it to him, but that you did it to, not that you landed that punch, but you landed it on one of the most decorated strikers ever in the sport.
03:12:05.000There was a lot of empty spots in this and I had to go back in France like three weeks before the fight because I came here a few months ago and I didn't really Give a chance to work with somebody.
03:12:29.000I was working with Dewey Cooper, which is my striking coach, but not an MMA coach.
03:12:39.000So I was holding back to trust people.
03:12:42.000I don't know if it was due to my experience or what, but it was really hard.
03:12:48.000So when comes the moment when Mick Maynard called me after the Alistair fight and offered me a fight, Okay, what are you doing?
03:15:01.000And, but there was a lot of things that I didn't know that I kind of, like, Figure out during the process, during the fight, how it plays out, how it works, you know.
03:15:13.000Have you watched the fight since then?
03:16:55.000Because I remember when Tim Sylvia was a heavyweight champ, there was a couple times where he didn't make weight, or at least one time, that he didn't make weight the first time, and he had to go back and cut weight.
03:23:14.000That's why I always think that if I would have grew up in the U.S. Look at this.
03:23:23.000There's there's so many videos the guys hitting you in the stomach That's gotta be very disappointing for him *laughter* Just have a dude stand there and take your best shot right in the stomach.
03:23:40.000Now, you have this amazing opportunity right now to fight for the title again, but for the longest time it seemed like that wasn't going to happen.
03:23:50.000I mean, you had to wait so long to get another shot at the title.
03:25:11.000We have been working on this for so long.
03:25:14.000Even before my previous fight, we have been working on this fight.
03:25:17.000And I have people around just ready to do everything that has to be done for the fight.
03:25:26.000Like Eric, he just let his family, not to mention that he came back home not long ago after like three weeks, two or three weeks in Abu Dhabi, leaving his wife and his three kids.
03:25:39.000But as soon as I'm like, okay, we are going to Austin, where I'm like, okay, we don't have to take a day off.
03:25:49.000We have to be together to keep training.
03:25:53.000And this is the thing that for the first fight, I was doing the media tour for two days, no training and that stuff.
03:27:08.000Not because I don't want you to make it, but because I don't want you to go through what I've been through and I know exactly what it is like.
03:27:19.000And I was very lucky to get out there alive.
03:27:22.000In the past six months, I know three people from my village who have died in Morocco.
03:27:30.000in the past three months trying to escape yeah two of them died in the water and one just gets sick and died recently it's like my friend little brother and that's so sad and I can like keep I can't be thinking that I have something to do with it.
03:27:53.000Most of them just want to follow my path.
03:27:58.000I'm like, that's not a good way to follow.
03:28:02.000I don't recommend that to nobody to go to that road.
03:28:26.000I don't want somebody to give me heart attack.
03:28:28.000So if I go out there and I will hustle for us, if things work pretty well, I'm going to go back there, build maybe a company, get you guys a job.
03:28:40.000You're going to build something good for the family.
03:28:43.000So you're going to be able to even apply for a visa.
03:28:46.000Just go visit those countries, Europe or US. Just don't take the path you took.
03:28:52.000You don't even need to go there and stay there.
03:29:34.000Oh, you committed to a different foundation.
03:29:36.000I committed to a foundation that's been helping people from Morocco who want to go back, who are tired and want to go back to their country.
03:29:47.000You know, to help get the youth, put them aware of the risk and tell them, please, don't do it.