This Past Weekend with Theo Von - Dustin Poirier

00:00:00.000 Today's episode is brought to you by Gray Block Pizza, Gray Block Pizza, 1811 Pico Boulevard, on the way to the beach, Gray Block Pizza, get that hit there.

00:00:10.900 Today's guest is a Louisiana, a fellow Louisianian, a young man that I'm a huge fan of, a man that's, you know, has constantly risen against adversity uphill towards a single goal.

00:00:27.300 Um, he's a UFC champion in many people's eyes and a title contender right now.

00:00:34.240 Uh, I am happy to have Mr. Dustin Poirier.

00:00:50.880 Yeah, I'm from Covington, that's where I'm from.

00:00:53.160 Okay, I think that's, uh, between Louisiana and Mississippi.

00:00:57.000 Yeah, it's like heading towards Alabama, like off, off I-10, if you're heading towards like, you know, if you pass, like I-10 hits like a Jackson exit.

00:01:06.920 Yeah.

00:01:07.340 And then, I think that's I-55, and then if you keep going down there.

00:01:10.980 You're closer to like Abita Springs and stuff.

00:01:12.400 Yeah, right next to Abita Springs.

00:01:14.200 Good brews.

00:01:15.080 Huh?

00:01:15.440 Good beers out there, man.

00:01:16.140 Oh, good beers, dude.

00:01:17.160 Dude, Abita Springs has this place there where it's like four dead man's curves, like all come together at once.

00:01:22.660 And it's literally, like there's a graveyard, like so many people have died there, like it's the absolute worst idea ever.

00:01:28.520 That sounds horrible.

00:01:30.580 It is two hours away from each other.

00:01:32.800 Yeah, there we go right there.

00:01:34.040 So what town are you from, Louisiana?

00:01:35.580 I'm from Lafayette.

00:01:36.300 Oh, really?

00:01:36.660 Right there where that red dot is.

00:01:37.920 God's country.

00:01:38.700 Is it really?

00:01:39.960 Better believe it.

00:01:40.620 Yeah?

00:01:40.980 Yeah.

00:01:41.560 So do you miss being at home because now you live in Florida?

00:01:44.200 No, I moved to Florida in 2012 when I first made the switch to American Top Team.

00:01:48.020 Right.

00:01:48.280 And then, you know, I bought a house there.

00:01:50.300 Me and my wife lived there for five years maybe almost.

00:01:54.400 And then we had a daughter, so I sold my house and moved back.

00:01:57.060 I live in Louisiana.

00:01:57.940 Oh, you do?

00:01:58.360 Oh, yeah.

00:01:58.840 Oh, really?

00:01:59.340 Yeah.

00:01:59.780 Oh, that's awesome.

00:02:00.700 I just go to South Florida when I do training camp, so I'll go there eight to ten weeks.

00:02:04.140 Yeah?

00:02:04.620 Yeah, I have an apartment there.

00:02:05.720 Yeah.

00:02:05.920 But my home is in Louisiana.

00:02:07.460 So are there other fighters that are down there in South Florida, like that you get to see when you go there?

00:02:11.060 Like, what is that training camp vibe like?

00:02:13.720 Training camp is great.

00:02:14.920 Well, first of all, American Top Team is just a mecca of not only mixed martial artists, but boxers come in and out, kickboxers, jiu-jitsu practitioners.

00:02:24.020 I mean, it's just combat sports headquarters from people from all over the world.

00:02:28.420 So there's a few guys in the stable that live there, but there's a lot of people that it's rotating.

00:02:33.020 I mean, there's new people in and out.

00:02:34.660 So I always have different training partners when I'm there.

00:02:37.180 Yeah.

00:02:37.360 You know, lots of guys from, like, Russia come in.

00:02:39.440 We have a lot of guys in that PFL tournament right now.

00:02:41.480 So a lot of Russian guys in right now.

00:02:43.240 Dude, the Russians.

00:02:44.220 What is wrong with Russian people, man?

00:02:46.000 Something's different about them, huh?

00:02:47.280 I don't know, man.

00:02:47.800 They're hairy for sure.

00:02:48.820 I know that.

00:02:49.400 Yeah.

00:02:50.140 Dude, fucking Russian people.

00:02:52.060 Dude, I dated this Russian girl for a while, bro.

00:02:54.140 She was crazy, bro.

00:02:55.880 She was always trying to do, like, butt stuff to me and stuff.

00:02:58.080 Something was wrong with her.

00:02:59.020 To me.

00:03:00.120 Like, she wasn't.

00:03:01.300 Yeah, I know.

00:03:02.060 She was wild, bro.

00:03:03.220 She was wild.

00:03:05.560 So when you're in those, like, these training camps and stuff, are people, are you just training with dudes all day?

00:03:10.900 Like, is there just constant access to different types of, like, you know, like if you wanted to do, like, bow staff fighting or, you know, could you do anything?

00:03:20.940 Yeah, anything.

00:03:22.080 Nah, I mean, they probably have some self-defense stuff that they do teach, but it's normal stuff.

00:03:26.880 They have boxing classes, jiu-jitsu classes, mixed martial arts classes, but then there's a pro team, and we have our own separate schedule.

00:03:33.420 So we don't, for the most part, the pro guys don't train on the normal, everyday, you know, schedule that the customer or a family would come in, you know.

00:03:42.400 Yeah.

00:03:42.720 You can't have guys in there.

00:03:43.420 Oh, I see what you're saying.

00:03:44.080 Beating each other up with their shirts off, sweating and breathing all over with kids on the mat.

00:03:47.740 And you guys will get bloody in there.

00:03:49.080 You know, sparring sometimes gets pretty serious.

00:03:52.320 Now, yeah, that's a question I have because, like, I'm not a fighter, dude.

00:03:55.900 Like, I'm not even, I don't even think I could really defend myself, you know.

00:03:59.060 Like, if I had a shield, I could.

00:04:01.180 But I don't think if I had, like, just my own body, I could, you know.

00:04:05.660 So when I see people fighting, I'm like, damn, this shit is wild, bruh, you know.

00:04:10.720 Do you, when you guys are doing the practice, fighting the training, how actual is that to what we see when we're watching the cage?

00:04:21.060 You know, younger guys, for sure, it's pretty close to what you see in the cage because these guys are nuts.

00:04:26.020 They're trying to find out if they still, if they are fighters.

00:04:27.960 They're finding out.

00:04:28.540 They're soul-searching themselves.

00:04:29.600 But guys who have a lot of fights, you know, we kind of train smart and keep it under control for the most part.

00:04:35.320 The grappling and wrestling and stuff is live as hard as it goes, you know.

00:04:39.120 Like, it would be a real scramble in a fight.

00:04:41.480 Right.

00:04:41.840 With the grappling and submissions and stuff like that.

00:04:43.840 But when it comes to the kickboxing and boxing and stuff, there are moments where it gets heated.

00:04:48.020 But most of the time, it's pretty under control.

00:04:50.520 Yeah.

00:04:50.800 Yeah.

00:04:51.300 So right now, you're down in Florida and your family's in Louisiana.

00:04:55.500 No.

00:04:55.720 So when I go to Florida, I'm back in Louisiana now.

00:04:57.760 Okay.

00:04:58.040 When I go to Florida, my family comes with me because I'm there eight or ten weeks.

00:05:01.000 You know, I fly my wife and daughter out.

00:05:02.180 Right.

00:05:02.540 Because I just can't stay away from my family.

00:05:04.240 I'm a family man.

00:05:04.980 You know, I love my girls and I need them with me, especially going through training camp.

00:05:09.080 Yeah.

00:05:09.440 But I was supposed to fight Nate Diaz November 3rd in Madison Square Garden.

00:05:13.460 Joe Rogan, dude, I've called Joe one time and we're talking about something.

00:05:18.740 And I told him, I was like, dude, I'm a Dustin Poirier fan.

00:05:20.760 He's from the same state as me.

00:05:22.100 And he goes, do you want to go to the Poirier-Diaz fight?

00:05:24.660 And I was like, oh, my God, bro.

00:05:26.860 I was so excited.

00:05:27.780 But I had to work that night in Buffalo.

00:05:29.460 But you guys got – so what happened?

00:05:31.860 My hip is pretty jacked up.

00:05:33.820 That's why I'm out here in L.A.

00:05:34.800 I'll be here until Wednesday.

00:05:35.780 I'm having some stem cells and synovial fluid injections in my hip joint on Wednesday morning.

00:05:40.560 Right.

00:05:40.980 So that should ease the pain a little bit.

00:05:42.460 I have two tears in my labrum.

00:05:43.820 Uh-huh.

00:05:44.120 And because of that, it's causing some bone-on-bone.

00:05:46.220 And it's just really painful, man.

00:05:47.500 Is it?

00:05:47.800 Yeah, anytime I get stretched out or overextended in a stride, I just pay for it really bad.

00:05:53.380 Like where do you pay for it?

00:05:54.200 In the muscle or where the muscle hits the bone?

00:05:55.660 No, in the actual joint where the top of your bone goes in – you know, the ball and socket joint where your hip bones meet.

00:06:02.960 Yeah.

00:06:03.260 Because a lot of people have to get those replaced sometimes as they get older.

00:06:05.760 Yeah.

00:06:06.140 I mean, I got to try to take best care of it so that doesn't happen.

00:06:09.340 Are you worried about – like is that like a bigger worry than just having to step out of this fight?

00:06:14.180 You know, honestly, talking to the doctors, they think surgery is going to be like inevitable sooner or – it's going to have to happen.

00:06:22.120 But this will buy me a few camps, this stem cell and stuff, and let me do my training a little bit pain, you know, less pain.

00:06:29.440 But, dude, I just – if it lasts me until the world championship, then I'm golden.

00:06:34.160 Yeah.

00:06:34.320 You know, that's all I want.

00:06:35.100 I just want to be the world champion.

00:06:36.020 Then you can cut my hips off and whatever.

00:06:37.540 You can cut my fucking legs off.

00:06:39.300 You can fucking tie me to a skateboard.

00:06:40.940 You can cut my arms and legs off.

00:06:42.300 Yeah.

00:06:42.580 Is that – so like I was actually talking to a friend of mine.

00:06:46.340 I called a friend of mine today who lives down in New Iberia actually on the way up here.

00:06:50.440 I was just excited you were coming in.

00:06:52.020 I was like, hey, man, I got Dustin Poirier coming in today.

00:06:54.380 And we were just talking about like – well, I wonder what drives like a fighter at a certain point.

00:07:01.900 And do you think that the drive to fight has been different from when you started to where you're – to what your kind of drive is now?

00:07:11.000 Does it evolve?

00:07:11.920 Because I can imagine as you get old – like as you get older, like, you know, when you're young, you kind of like had that frenetic, youthful energy.

00:07:18.240 And when you're an adult, it's – you get a little bit more articulate as to like what your plan is.

00:07:24.200 Has any of that – have you noticed any of that in yourself?

00:07:26.120 For sure, man.

00:07:26.880 That's definitely a lot of – a lot changes.

00:07:29.780 I had my first mixed martial arts fight when I was 18 years old.

00:07:32.460 Yeah.

00:07:32.680 You know, I'm 29 now, so 11 years later, you know, I still have love for the fight.

00:07:38.160 But it's just I'm fighting for different reasons, you know.

00:07:40.580 I've found out the first reasons I was fighting for.

00:07:43.400 I've discovered those things and found out more about myself.

00:07:45.580 And now I'm here.

00:07:46.800 You know, you mature and grow in the sport and as a person.

00:07:49.420 And now I'm a father and a husband and stuff.

00:07:51.380 Things change in your life.

00:07:52.480 Right.

00:07:52.780 Fighting, still fighting.

00:07:54.220 But, yeah, I'm fighting for different reasons now.

00:07:56.100 You know, I got people depending on me.

00:07:57.460 That's the biggest motivation I could ever, ever have.

00:07:59.480 Is it really?

00:08:00.120 Yeah.

00:08:00.520 Yeah.

00:08:00.700 Oh, yeah.

00:08:01.100 So you feel that, like that now it's like, yeah, I wonder sometimes, I guess,

00:08:05.420 would you have to evolve for different, like, not passions,

00:08:10.080 but different things that drive you?

00:08:11.920 Yeah.

00:08:12.440 And like I said, man, I got miles to feed and I'm trying to leave a legacy.

00:08:16.040 I'm at a point in my career where the next moves is huge, you know.

00:08:21.520 Yeah.

00:08:21.880 Do you think – yes, do you start thinking about, like, you know, Michael Bisping,

00:08:24.720 he does – you know, he does – actually, I was watching an interview you did

00:08:28.140 with him the other day, which was pretty funny.

00:08:29.380 It was after one of your fights.

00:08:30.640 Yeah.

00:08:31.660 And he's like – you know, he works with Fox now and does fights.

00:08:36.060 Do you think about that kind of stuff or do you think about, like,

00:08:38.880 would you like to train maybe in the future, like train younger guys,

00:08:41.720 or do you have some of those thoughts?

00:08:43.840 I'm going to be in fighting some way or another.

00:08:46.960 But like – yeah, I mean, I am this.

00:08:48.720 This is what I am.

00:08:49.640 But everything I have in my life – dude, everything I have is from these two things

00:08:55.440 right here in my brain.

00:08:56.820 You feel me?

00:08:57.060 I didn't finish high school.

00:08:58.840 I had, you know, low-paying jobs, you know, and now everything I have is an empire built

00:09:05.540 off of fighting and chasing my dreams.

00:09:07.440 So, I can't turn my back on this.

00:09:09.180 I'll never – I'll always be part of fighting somehow.

00:09:11.020 Yeah.

00:09:11.220 Training people is not a huge passion of mine, but being part of the sport is.

00:09:14.960 Like, helping professional fighters is something that I would like to do.

00:09:19.000 Yeah.

00:09:19.120 But like training families and kids and stuff is – in jiu-jitsu, I'll have a lot of

00:09:22.900 buddies who open gyms, and that's what they do now.

00:09:24.900 Right.

00:09:25.220 That's not a big passion of mine, but, you know, another five, six, seven years, we'll

00:09:29.020 see.

00:09:29.220 Maybe it will be.

00:09:29.900 But right now, it's just – I'm addicted to the fight.

00:09:32.240 Yeah.

00:09:32.580 Yeah.

00:09:33.120 So, dude, so how – were you like – I mean, were you just devastated when you realized

00:09:37.740 that you couldn't go in that fight, bro?

00:09:39.100 Because that's – I mean, how did you feel, man?

00:09:43.780 Yeah, it was co-main event, Madison Square Garden, pay-per-view.

00:09:46.060 Oh, dude.

00:09:46.360 It's a huge fight.

00:09:47.620 It's huge.

00:09:48.200 It's like exactly where things were headed.

00:09:51.360 Right.

00:09:51.560 And I took this fight because it was like a fight for my legacy.

00:09:54.940 It's Nate Diaz.

00:09:55.620 He's really hot right now.

00:09:56.560 Yeah.

00:09:56.680 You know, coming off of two of the biggest UFC pay-per-views ever before the Conor Khabib.

00:10:02.100 And it was just a crazy timing for this fight to come together, but it sucks I had to pull

00:10:07.040 out.

00:10:07.580 But, you know, I think that shows maturity on my part.

00:10:11.160 You know, when I was younger, I probably would have kept going.

00:10:12.980 I wouldn't have said a word.

00:10:14.100 I wouldn't have told my manager of the UFC that I was injured.

00:10:16.000 I would have fought.

00:10:16.520 And then, you know, but now I just got to look at it as a whole.

00:10:19.420 I'm trying to be professional with this.

00:10:20.700 You know, I'm injured.

00:10:21.520 Yeah.

00:10:22.600 I can't run sprints.

00:10:23.780 I can't throw kicks right now.

00:10:25.300 So, yeah, that's a big part of my training.

00:10:27.520 Oh, that's huge.

00:10:28.100 Oh, 100%, man.

00:10:29.120 Yeah, I was watching some of your fights this past weekend.

00:10:31.580 And like, yeah, it's like, dude, that kicking is fucking crazy.

00:10:34.540 Like, how do you do that?

00:10:35.640 Because you got to pay attention to somebody's hands, and then they got their fucking feet.

00:10:39.160 But usually you don't want to throw, you want to put something in your face, throw punches

00:10:42.320 or combinations or make them think something else before you kick.

00:10:44.660 You don't want to just throw dry kicks, you know?

00:10:45.960 Yeah.

00:10:46.300 Yeah.

00:10:46.740 Now, what does a dry kick mean?

00:10:48.280 I just call it a dry kick.

00:10:49.920 Just a kick by itself.

00:10:51.080 You usually want to set it up with something.

00:10:52.440 Like, throw a hand combination or just something to distract them from the kick.

00:10:57.060 Right.

00:10:57.400 Yeah.

00:10:58.100 Oh, I see what you're saying, dude.

00:10:59.120 Yeah, watch.

00:10:59.640 One, they had a fight that you had done with this guy, Cub Swanson.

00:11:02.240 Remember a while back?

00:11:03.040 Like, that dude looked like he, it looked like he had like nine arms, bro.

00:11:06.640 That dude, it seemed like it was fighting like a, it looked like you were fighting 40 raccoons.

00:11:11.840 That guy was just, it was like a, he's like a tornado or something, it seemed like.

00:11:15.400 Yeah, he's a vet, man.

00:11:16.120 Been around a long time.

00:11:17.040 I grew up watching that guy fight.

00:11:18.140 Did you really?

00:11:18.600 Yeah, yeah, and WC, you know.

00:11:20.240 Would it be, so is it scarier if you grew up like watching a guy or do you have any thoughts like that when you go in?

00:11:25.940 Like, is there any, is it, is there any like fear about the actual guy or is there fear about the cage?

00:11:33.380 Is there fear about the, like, what is that kind of like when you go into the fight?

00:11:39.220 There's not a lot of fear.

00:11:40.980 It's just a lot of anxious energy, you know, the unknown.

00:11:46.460 But.

00:11:46.860 Yeah, anxious energy.

00:11:47.600 Yeah, just a lot of anxious energy.

00:11:49.100 But a guy like Cub, you know, I take pride in fighting those kind of guys.

00:11:52.700 Oh, yeah.

00:11:53.180 Guys I grew up watching, like him and Eddie Alvarez in my last fight.

00:11:55.780 Oh, yeah, dude.

00:11:56.380 That guy's a journeyman.

00:11:57.120 That guy's fought like 40 times or something.

00:11:58.640 Dude, he's like, he has every belt of every major organization, you know, and now he's going to one FC and chasing another one.

00:12:03.760 Jesus.

00:12:04.340 But I take pride in that and I'm happy with that because like they say, you know, work until idols become rivals and that's where we're at now.

00:12:10.240 You know, I'm fighting these guys.

00:12:11.220 I've thought, man, I used to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with my wife and be like, oh, my God, we're watching this guy, you know.

00:12:16.520 And now I'm in the cage with them.

00:12:18.000 That's fucking so cool, bro.

00:12:19.500 Yeah, yeah.

00:12:19.960 That's the same way I feel about comedy.

00:12:21.460 It's like sometimes I'll be in a green room and like Rogan's in there or Bill Burr's in there and I'm like, damn, dude, this is crazy.

00:12:27.100 And like, and they're not looking at me like I'm a weird guy and I'm at the server.

00:12:31.920 That's crazy.

00:12:33.580 So how, so like, so you have this moment now where you, so you have to step aside from this fight to make sure you're well.

00:12:40.800 And then what, like, so does, did you have to talk to Diaz before that or how does that kind of break down?

00:12:47.000 No, I speak with my management and then with the UFC matchmakers and stuff like that.

00:12:51.880 But this is a quick, a quick turnaround for me.

00:12:55.380 If my body takes good to the stem cells, they're saying I'll be training in three weeks.

00:12:58.840 Oh, wow.

00:12:59.700 And hopefully I'll be a lot less pain and range of motion will be better.

00:13:03.640 And we'll see.

00:13:04.960 But, but I'm going to, you know, keep good energy and have a good mindset about it.

00:13:08.700 I'm pretty sure it'll help me out.

00:13:09.920 Yeah.

00:13:10.460 Do you feel that, so now would the Diaz fight then be hopefully rescheduled or does he go on to fight somebody else?

00:13:16.080 I don't even know how that works.

00:13:17.060 It's different in every, in every case, but I saw, interviewed Dana White saying he didn't want to rebook this fight.

00:13:22.800 But if they do want to, I'm open for it for sure.

00:13:25.860 Right.

00:13:26.520 So if they do want to rebook it, you'll just, yeah, if you want to move it to January, whatever, let's do it.

00:13:30.580 Yeah, exactly.

00:13:30.840 That's perfect.

00:13:31.640 Right.

00:13:31.920 Yeah.

00:13:32.980 Damn, January's perfect, bro.

00:13:35.840 Get the holidays out of the way.

00:13:37.360 Yeah, my birthday's January 19th, so try to get it in before that.

00:13:40.700 It's easy to celebrate.

00:13:41.900 Yeah, man.

00:13:43.020 So when you're at home right now, like, what's that like?

00:13:45.320 I mean, you got the family life going on.

00:13:47.220 I saw you guys have a beautiful little girl.

00:13:49.080 Thanks.

00:13:49.400 She's beautiful, man.

00:13:50.340 Thank you, man.

00:13:51.380 And you met your wife in Louisiana?

00:13:53.860 Yeah, in middle school.

00:13:54.780 Oh, really?

00:13:55.520 Yeah, crazy.

00:13:56.480 Yeah, middle school, man.

00:13:57.280 I haven't looked there in a while, thank God.

00:14:00.760 But, and so you guys were just like sweethearts, huh?

00:14:04.480 Yeah, yeah.

00:14:06.240 Been together off and on, all through middle school, through her high school, while she was in high school.

00:14:10.900 And then we got married, you know, at 20 years old.

00:14:13.920 Wow.

00:14:14.400 Yeah.

00:14:14.820 Dude, that's so like South, that's so like, that's so like kind of Louisiana.

00:14:21.140 That's so that area you're from.

00:14:22.900 People do that, man.

00:14:24.080 Oh, that's awesome, huh?

00:14:25.300 Yeah, that was, we were watching some dolphins in Destin, Florida.

00:14:28.880 That was after this last fight, we went on a little vacation.

00:14:31.040 And does your daughter know that you fight?

00:14:32.680 Does she think you wrestle?

00:14:33.800 Like, does she have any thoughts?

00:14:34.880 Does she see anything?

00:14:35.460 She's putting it together now, man.

00:14:36.560 Because like, when I leave the house, she says, dad's punch, punch.

00:14:39.260 Like, she knows I'm going, she goes to the gym, she hits the bag, she knows about it.

00:14:42.660 She puts on my MMA gloves and boxing gloves and runs around the house trying to hit me.

00:14:46.040 Oh, that's cool.

00:14:46.720 I don't know if she can put it all together, but she knows I do something with ass whipping.

00:14:50.120 Yeah.

00:14:50.740 I know.

00:14:51.580 That's great.

00:14:53.160 So now with the, so with the DS thing, man, like, so you don't reach out, did you reach

00:14:57.660 out to him after?

00:14:58.320 Was there any like communication after?

00:14:59.780 Did he say that he was bummed out?

00:15:01.700 Like, he's talking shit, saying I'm faking an injury and stuff like that.

00:15:04.960 But yeah, people are going to say what they want, you know, fans and him and whoever

00:15:08.840 else.

00:15:09.620 But I have two tears in my labrum.

00:15:11.020 Like, I can't fake this.

00:15:11.960 You know, this is really, really painful.

00:15:13.280 And this was going to be my 40th fight.

00:15:14.760 I've never pulled out of a fight or misweight in my life.

00:15:17.020 Like, I'm not scared to fight somebody.

00:15:18.380 Come on.

00:15:19.140 You're ready to fight.

00:15:19.860 This is how I eat.

00:15:20.500 Yeah.

00:15:20.740 Yeah.

00:15:21.320 Are you, were you disappointed?

00:15:22.800 So you're disappointed that this happened?

00:15:24.240 Of course.

00:15:24.860 Yeah.

00:15:25.020 This is a huge blow to like what I had plans of, you know, I was going to beat Diaz and then challenge

00:15:31.160 for the title beginning of next year sometime, I was hoping.

00:15:33.500 Yeah.

00:15:33.680 But, you know, everything happens for a reason, man.

00:15:35.840 Yeah.

00:15:36.240 A hundred percent.

00:15:37.440 Do you guys have, so, well, this will give you at least time like over the holiday, like

00:15:41.380 I guess over the holidays then you'll be able to like, there'll be a lot of excitement probably

00:15:44.920 amongst your family and like energy kind of moving up towards the fight.

00:15:48.240 Yeah.

00:15:48.660 And it's, you know, I don't get to spend a lot of time home.

00:15:50.860 I've been fighting so often since we moved back to Louisiana that I'm in the house a month,

00:15:55.300 two months, and we're back in Florida for two, three months.

00:15:57.900 And then, you know, so at least I'll be home for the holidays most likely.

00:16:00.700 And, yeah, I have a non-profit.

00:16:03.680 I'm going to do something for Thanksgiving and in Lafayette, Louisiana.

00:16:07.240 Yeah, man, we're going to make a donation to that too, dude.

00:16:08.800 Oh, dope.

00:16:09.280 Yeah, I saw it on your website.

00:16:10.380 Awesome.

00:16:10.580 So, that's really awesome.

00:16:12.940 And you, so, yeah, it seems like a lot of that's part of your story.

00:16:15.000 Like you like, you like, like when you think about helping people, like is there a certain

00:16:19.660 group that you think about helping or like where do you think like help is needed when

00:16:23.820 you think about that kind of stuff?

00:16:24.920 So, my non-profit is just like whatever we think at the moment that we can help and make

00:16:30.040 a difference in our local community, we do it.

00:16:32.060 I saw you guys were doing backpacks for kids and school supplies this year.

00:16:34.940 That's awesome.

00:16:35.720 We did that after the last fight, 500 backpacks and school supplies for the whole school,

00:16:39.500 the whole middle school that me and my wife went to actually.

00:16:41.600 Wow.

00:16:42.960 Yeah, start a little dating club over there actually, bro.

00:16:45.740 Yeah, speed dating.

00:16:48.300 But, no, we just do whatever's happening in the community.

00:16:50.800 And right now, Thanksgiving's coming up and I'm back home, so we're going to do full plates

00:16:54.760 for Lafayette is the name of the thing we're doing now.

00:16:57.280 And we're just going to have a pickup a couple of days before Thanksgiving and I'm going to

00:17:00.680 have, you're from Louisiana, you know what a plate lunch is.

00:17:03.060 Oh, dude.

00:17:03.640 But I'm going to have thousands.

00:17:05.240 I'm going to shoot for like three or four thousand plate lunches filled with Thanksgiving

00:17:08.080 food and then people can just come pick them up.

00:17:10.040 That's awesome.

00:17:10.340 Whoever needs it.

00:17:11.200 That's what we're doing next.

00:17:12.540 Cool, man.

00:17:13.000 We're going to make a $1,000 donation to that.

00:17:14.980 That's incredible.

00:17:15.660 I appreciate it, man.

00:17:16.180 Yeah, man.

00:17:16.540 Well, I appreciate it, too.

00:17:17.360 That's so cool.

00:17:17.820 I appreciate you being out here.

00:17:19.520 And I love that, man.

00:17:20.640 Yeah, I think there's a like, and that's one thing I miss about being like at home a lot

00:17:24.620 of times is just like out here, everything is so like separated, bro.

00:17:28.480 Yeah.

00:17:28.740 It is so, it's just like everything's like work out here and you don't get a lot of feeling

00:17:32.080 of like familiarity and stuff like that, you know?

00:17:34.040 Yeah.

00:17:34.260 My wife was just talking about it the other day when we got back home because I've only

00:17:36.840 been home for a week or, you know, and I had to leave again, obviously, to come

00:17:40.160 here.

00:17:40.340 But we went to the grocery store and she was saying like how nice people are, you know?

00:17:44.240 Oh, yeah.

00:17:45.420 Yeah.

00:17:45.720 It's just so different in like Miami area or I'm sure out here.

00:17:48.580 I haven't been here long enough, but people are just so quick, quick, you know, out there

00:17:53.340 back in Louisiana, man, it's, it's, people want to know what's going on.

00:17:56.480 They want to talk.

00:17:57.060 They want to help you out.

00:17:58.000 Yeah.

00:17:58.260 It's just more relaxed.

00:17:59.340 Yeah.

00:17:59.480 For the most part.

00:18:01.240 What do you guys have planned for the Halloween?

00:18:03.280 Well, my daughter's finally old enough to, to know what's going on and dress up.

00:18:07.000 So we're going to bring her around the neighborhood.

00:18:08.280 Yeah.

00:18:08.540 Yeah.

00:18:08.800 Yeah.

00:18:08.980 We were at home last Halloween, so she was only one years old then.

00:18:12.840 And do you dress up like a fight, like in your like fight stuff when you go to Halloween?

00:18:18.040 No, I don't do too much dressing up.

00:18:19.580 Yeah.

00:18:19.820 Yeah.

00:18:20.480 Just that's for the kids.

00:18:21.280 Yeah.

00:18:21.460 That's for the kids.

00:18:21.900 Right on.

00:18:22.380 What about when you were a kid?

00:18:23.380 What was Halloween like when you were a kid?

00:18:25.180 Oh, we actually got a question right here.

00:18:26.400 This came in from this guy.

00:18:27.300 Looks like he already lost a fight.

00:18:28.940 You can see this on the YouTube or not.

00:18:30.660 Here, we'll listen to this one real quick.

00:18:32.740 Hey, Dustin.

00:18:33.360 Hey, Theo.

00:18:33.820 Big fans of both of you boys.

00:18:35.240 And I was just wondering if you had any good Halloween stories or memories that you'd like

00:18:39.360 to share and what you're going to dress up as this year.

00:18:41.860 Thank you.

00:18:42.720 Good luck to both of you.

00:18:44.060 There you go.

00:18:44.940 Good timing.

00:18:45.740 Yeah.

00:18:46.040 Good timing, man.

00:18:47.580 I'm not dressing up, man.

00:18:48.980 No.

00:18:49.180 Nah.

00:18:49.640 I'm not dressing up.

00:18:50.360 Now, what if your daughter wanted you to dress up?

00:18:52.300 When she's old enough to ask me and really want me to, then that's a different story.

00:18:55.720 Okay.

00:18:55.820 Yeah, yeah.

00:18:56.400 And what about stories back in the day?

00:18:58.120 I don't really...

00:18:58.680 Dude, I don't...

00:18:59.660 Never.

00:19:00.140 Never dressed up.

00:19:00.820 Nah.

00:19:01.140 I mean...

00:19:01.500 Really?

00:19:01.960 Nah.

00:19:02.340 I don't have any memories of that, bro.

00:19:04.400 Really?

00:19:04.680 Yeah.

00:19:05.860 Yeah.

00:19:06.420 Wow.

00:19:07.380 But do you remember like Halloween, like when you were at school and stuff?

00:19:10.200 Like, you know, they would...

00:19:13.780 I don't know.

00:19:14.880 Wow.

00:19:16.480 Not really.

00:19:17.320 Yeah.

00:19:17.700 I guess not, huh?

00:19:18.960 But they do it over there, huh?

00:19:20.540 Oh, for sure.

00:19:21.020 Big time.

00:19:21.440 Yeah.

00:19:21.720 Yeah.

00:19:22.680 I didn't go to a whole lot of school, honestly, man.

00:19:24.680 Really?

00:19:25.040 Yeah.

00:19:25.480 So did you like learn a lot at home or what was going on there?

00:19:29.380 Yeah, I kind of...

00:19:31.300 I started getting in trouble in middle school.

00:19:33.740 And when you say trouble, were you just like fighting people?

00:19:36.720 Yeah.

00:19:37.020 Stuff like that.

00:19:37.640 Getting expelled from middle school for fighting and stuff like that.

00:19:39.760 But I got put in an alternative program and put back in the right grade.

00:19:42.740 Yeah.

00:19:42.940 And then I went to ninth grade and then I got in a bunch more trouble and did a little

00:19:46.880 bit of ninth grade and juvenile detention and then I just didn't go back to school.

00:19:50.100 So do you think like, what caused all of that?

00:19:53.300 Because you were probably the dude then if I was at school with you, I'd be like, fuck,

00:19:56.620 that guy's a fucking dick, you know?

00:19:58.780 Or that guy's like, I'd be scared of that guy.

00:20:01.700 Nah.

00:20:02.180 Were kids like, was it just like a kind of a tough environment or was it like you guys

00:20:07.280 like just like to fight or what was it?

00:20:08.560 I'm from the north side of Lafayette, Louisiana.

00:20:10.160 It's a tough area.

00:20:11.000 Yeah.

00:20:11.960 But yeah, I was just always getting in trouble and scrapping and doing things I shouldn't

00:20:15.760 have been doing.

00:20:16.340 Yeah.

00:20:16.580 Yeah.

00:20:16.960 And school just wasn't your thing?

00:20:18.080 Nah, it wasn't my thing.

00:20:19.260 And you got out?

00:20:19.860 Yeah.

00:20:20.780 Damn, that's freaking wild, bro.

00:20:22.960 Yeah, man.

00:20:23.560 I'm looking out of here.

00:20:25.560 And that's...

00:20:25.980 I actually got arrested for truancy for not going to school before.

00:20:28.060 You really?

00:20:28.460 Yeah.

00:20:28.840 Yeah, yeah.

00:20:29.220 When?

00:20:29.500 In like eighth or ninth grade?

00:20:30.440 Yeah.

00:20:30.960 Mm-hmm.

00:20:31.900 Because there was some point, I remember like after eighth grade, first of all, like

00:20:34.860 70% of the black kids at our school were gone after eighth grade, bro.

00:20:38.880 Like I didn't know where any of them went, right?

00:20:41.040 If they weren't playing sports, a lot of them were out.

00:20:43.700 And then, yeah, and after a lot of kids left.

00:20:46.760 Like in Louisiana, I didn't even think about that.

00:20:48.400 Yeah.

00:20:48.700 A lot of kids just fucking jetted, bro.

00:20:50.140 Just start working, you know?

00:20:50.980 Yeah.

00:20:51.220 Yeah.

00:20:51.340 Or just get in, like especially if their family had a job or something like that.

00:20:54.420 What kind of work did you get into?

00:20:56.280 I did cement work.

00:20:58.900 I did building decks, construction work.

00:21:03.280 And then when I was 18, I got a decent job with a buildings distribution company.

00:21:07.020 Yeah.

00:21:07.260 And we would go to job sites and like deliver doors and just brand new houses, everything

00:21:11.800 they need, trim, doors, windows.

00:21:13.960 I did that for a couple of years.

00:21:15.280 Yeah?

00:21:15.580 Yeah.

00:21:16.060 And at what point did you were like, man, this isn't for me?

00:21:18.720 I was fighting during those times.

00:21:19.880 Oh, you were already fighting?

00:21:20.400 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:21.000 I was fighting when I was 18.

00:21:22.200 But I did that and I had benefits at the place.

00:21:24.240 So I didn't want to quit the job because, you know, I was making like-

00:21:27.220 And do you have your lady with you?

00:21:27.680 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:28.140 Okay.

00:21:28.460 So you had to support that.

00:21:29.460 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:30.320 But I was making like such little money that I was just working because I needed the benefits

00:21:34.320 and I was fighting.

00:21:35.220 So, you know.

00:21:36.420 Damn, bro.

00:21:36.780 I was still working.

00:21:37.380 I was still working when I was fighting in the WEC.

00:21:39.700 I think even in the UFC, I was still working.

00:21:41.700 Was there a not-

00:21:42.400 What was that moment like where you're like, okay, now I at least have enough income where

00:21:46.560 I don't have to do a side job?

00:21:47.820 Was that-

00:21:48.240 That was a huge part of my life because I was like, I'm finally-

00:21:51.760 You know, people run around and say they're a professional fighter, but they're not really

00:21:54.440 feeding their family and paying their bills being a professional fighter.

00:21:57.080 Yeah.

00:21:57.420 Yeah.

00:21:57.860 Technically, they are.

00:21:59.060 Yeah, right.

00:21:59.620 It's like you kind of say you are for a long time, but until somebody sees you working on

00:22:03.860 a real stage on television or something, it's just like-

00:22:06.920 But even then I was on television.

00:22:08.580 I was still working, you know.

00:22:09.560 Oh, wow.

00:22:10.040 Yeah.

00:22:10.140 But when I got to finally walk away from my work and commit 100% to fighting, I felt

00:22:17.280 like the sky opened up and the sun was shining on me.

00:22:19.160 We made it.

00:22:19.860 We really have a chance at this.

00:22:21.700 That's crazy, man.

00:22:23.140 And the wildest thing about your profession, at least in so many professions, you can kind

00:22:27.980 of be anywhere, you know, there's a billion lawyers, you know, and there's a billion, you

00:22:33.680 know, and there's tens of thousands of comedians, but in your profession, there's only, like,

00:22:38.580 it just keeps getting smaller towards the top until you have the strap.

00:22:42.420 Right.

00:22:43.120 Yeah.

00:22:43.480 And there's, you know, lots of fighters nowadays.

00:22:45.860 It's such a popular sport.

00:22:46.980 Yeah.

00:22:47.280 And it's not like we find out who the best is.

00:22:51.320 You know, we fight each other and find out who the best is.

00:22:52.900 So that's a pretty cool way of, you know, filtering out everything.

00:22:56.300 Yeah.

00:22:56.520 When you look back at, like, a fight that you, if you could have another fight or do

00:23:01.100 one over, it could even be one that you won or it could be one that you didn't.

00:23:04.980 Do you have any that pop in your head that you're like, oh, that one?

00:23:10.820 One that sticks out for sure is the Conor McGregor fight.

00:23:12.940 I, just way too emotional.

00:23:14.800 Yeah.

00:23:15.360 I just cared too much about everything going on and read too much about what people thought.

00:23:19.640 And was he a celebrity at that point, really?

00:23:21.240 No, not really.

00:23:21.900 I mean, he was.

00:23:22.940 Right.

00:23:23.660 A lot of people, he had a lot of hype around him, but he wasn't the guy he is now, you

00:23:26.460 know.

00:23:26.540 Right.

00:23:27.340 Yeah.

00:23:27.540 Now it's almost like he's a, yeah, now he's more of a celebrity.

00:23:30.360 Oh, huge.

00:23:30.840 Than a fighter.

00:23:31.520 Yeah.

00:23:31.800 Or not more than, but it's like.

00:23:34.340 Equal.

00:23:34.700 Equal.

00:23:34.800 Yeah.

00:23:35.280 And it's different.

00:23:36.120 It's different when people will come that, or I noticed anyway, like in standup, like

00:23:39.000 Dave Chappelle will come into the comedy club and he's like a celebrity, you know, when

00:23:43.400 he gets on stage and he'll, I mean, he's a funny guy, but he's, but if Bill Burr

00:23:47.420 comes in, Bill Burr is a comedian.

00:23:49.340 Like Bill Burr does his fucking job.

00:23:51.580 He murders every time.

00:23:53.460 Like Chappelle is a little bit more like, oh, look at me where Bill Burr is like sneaks

00:23:57.540 in, does his fucking work really good and leaves, you know, for that, um, for the love

00:24:03.220 of the craft.

00:24:03.940 Yeah.

00:24:04.100 Yeah.

00:24:04.420 Yeah.

00:24:04.620 Do you start to see that in your, in your line of work too?

00:24:06.980 Like some guys, when they become celebrity, like it seems different.

00:24:09.640 Yeah.

00:24:09.760 People change for sure.

00:24:10.800 Yeah.

00:24:10.980 Start making money.

00:24:12.040 Um, people start running up to him for autographs and they start getting that, you know, recognition

00:24:16.220 in public and stuff.

00:24:17.100 People change for sure.

00:24:17.980 Yeah.

00:24:18.140 The ego is dangerous, huh?

00:24:19.340 Yeah, man.

00:24:20.000 Do you worry about that?

00:24:21.900 Nah.

00:24:22.300 Cause I'm in it for the scrap, you know, I try to walk away from that type of stuff,

00:24:25.820 you know, right.

00:24:26.580 If I think, if I see a bunch of guys wearing UFC shirts, I'll put the hoodie on and kind

00:24:30.440 of turn, you know?

00:24:31.560 Yeah.

00:24:31.980 Yeah.

00:24:32.440 You just want to win the belt.

00:24:33.760 Yeah.

00:24:33.900 I just want to win the belt, man.

00:24:35.040 That's all I want.

00:24:35.780 I just want to be the world champion.

00:24:36.680 And then I'll go back to delivering windows.

00:24:40.320 So is that, is that really that goal?

00:24:42.580 I mean, is that, so that's the thing.

00:24:44.160 That's the, you just want to be the best.

00:24:46.620 Yeah.

00:24:46.780 Of course I would, I would love to stay in this sport for a long time and make a shitload

00:24:50.680 of money, but I just want to say that I did it.

00:24:52.720 I want to have the UFC championship around my waist, you know, all these years with my

00:24:56.740 wife struggling and, and taking food out of the, out of the grocery basket because

00:25:01.220 we couldn't afford it and making ends meet and, and, you know, sacrificing a lot.

00:25:05.220 I just want to say it was all worth it because once you become the world champion, you know,

00:25:08.000 that's forever.

00:25:09.140 Yeah.

00:25:09.580 And, uh, you know, that's, that's what I'm trying to do.

00:25:12.340 Honestly.

00:25:12.700 Dan, that's powerful, man.

00:25:14.660 That's really, really cool.

00:25:15.820 That's so inspirational.

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00:27:38.380 Does your wife work as well?

00:27:40.340 It's not really any of my business, but...

00:27:42.000 No.

00:27:42.580 She worked throughout my whole career.

00:27:44.780 And then when we moved to Florida, she was actually in school in Louisiana.

00:27:49.280 She followed my crazy-ass dreams and pulled out of school, out of college,

00:27:54.020 and moved with me to South Florida and then started working a normal job.

00:27:58.340 And she worked until she had the baby.

00:28:01.380 Yeah.

00:28:01.940 And does she come to the fights or is it...

00:28:03.700 Everyone.

00:28:04.220 Really?

00:28:04.580 Everyone.

00:28:05.240 Dude, my wife used to...

00:28:06.620 Me and her in Louisiana, I rode a bicycle to work.

00:28:11.100 We would both use her car.

00:28:13.160 She would pick me up after she worked all day and bring me to the gym.

00:28:16.080 Dude, she used to drive me to Lake Charles at these Motel 6, dude, gunshots and stuff.

00:28:21.560 And outside, she would...

00:28:22.940 Dude, I was crazy, man.

00:28:23.760 She's been my dog, man.

00:28:24.880 Has she been?

00:28:25.460 Yeah, she's been.

00:28:26.200 She's awesome, bro.

00:28:26.600 She's an anchor, bro.

00:28:27.320 Yeah, for sure.

00:28:28.440 I wouldn't be as far in my career without her.

00:28:30.400 Yeah.

00:28:30.660 Yeah.

00:28:31.260 And because what is that?

00:28:32.580 Because you always have that home.

00:28:34.740 That home is always there.

00:28:36.040 It is.

00:28:37.120 And she just balances me out, man.

00:28:43.580 And no telling what I would be doing if I wasn't married all these years.

00:28:46.920 I'd probably have been cutting up and getting into trouble and not as focused.

00:28:49.800 Oh, yeah.

00:28:50.060 Definitely not as focused.

00:28:50.920 But we have a team, me and my wife.

00:28:53.160 Not to sound cheesy with this, but we have a team and we had goals that we set.

00:28:56.680 Right.

00:28:58.080 No, well, look, it's working, bro.

00:28:59.880 Yeah, yeah.

00:29:00.280 No, it's a huge part of my fighting success, my wife, for sure.

00:29:03.760 Yeah.

00:29:04.540 Nick, do you have something?

00:29:05.680 Yeah.

00:29:05.980 Uh, so going, first of all, I want to thank you for, especially the Eddie Alvarez too

00:29:10.740 and Joseph Duffy won a lot of money on you.

00:29:13.280 Uh, you were almost a two to one underdog on Joseph Duffy.

00:29:16.360 That was absurd.

00:29:17.280 Uh, but, uh, so thank you.

00:29:18.840 But, uh, going back to that Connor fight, when you were fighting at 145, like how much

00:29:25.480 are you depleted fight night?

00:29:26.840 Do you feel fresh by, and now you're at 155.

00:29:29.300 Are you fresh by fight night when you cut that much weight or does it have an effect on

00:29:34.380 your performance?

00:29:35.020 I'm sure it has some, some effect.

00:29:36.960 I don't feel it as much at 55, even though I'm cutting a lot of weight to make 55, 55

00:29:41.100 is not easy anymore.

00:29:42.620 This last fight with Eddie Alvarez fight night, uh, I left the place I was staying at to go

00:29:48.040 to the arena.

00:29:48.580 I was 178.

00:29:49.540 So I put on 23 pounds.

00:29:53.000 I'm still cutting a lot of weight.

00:29:54.820 Um, but at 45, I felt really, really bad.

00:29:57.720 Yeah.

00:29:58.400 And what is it?

00:29:59.180 You just feel like weak, like there's not a lot of water in your cells.

00:30:01.960 So you're probably, you kind of, for me, I'm maybe people.

00:30:05.020 People's symptoms are different.

00:30:05.800 I just felt a little off balance.

00:30:07.280 I felt like foggy in the head.

00:30:09.120 Yeah.

00:30:09.820 Um, I felt my muscles would get fatigued when I, when I would squeeze, like they would,

00:30:13.640 just a pump would come really quick.

00:30:15.060 And I, it just weird feeling my whole body felt a little flat footed sometimes.

00:30:18.220 Yeah.

00:30:18.660 Like I put the weight on and my muscles didn't suck it up.

00:30:20.880 It was just like in between my skin.

00:30:22.760 Kind of weird.

00:30:23.540 It's a weird feeling, man.

00:30:24.340 Felt jiggly almost.

00:30:25.360 Yeah.

00:30:25.620 Yeah.

00:30:26.060 Do you, have you noticed, do you, are you like really in tune with your body?

00:30:29.100 Like, can you kind of like, because you're constantly, I mean, your body is your, it's

00:30:33.360 your occupation almost.

00:30:35.480 Oh, I'm very in tune with my body.

00:30:37.160 Yeah.

00:30:37.380 Yeah.

00:30:37.700 So you can kind of feel all the time what's going on.

00:30:39.860 Yeah.

00:30:40.340 Yeah.

00:30:40.620 Is it, do you, are you more weary these days of like pushing the envelope sometimes

00:30:44.420 because you know, as you, you know, you're 29 now, as you get older, it's like, yeah,

00:30:49.140 it's like the years start to become crucial.

00:30:51.160 You know, in the last few years I've noticed like when I was younger, I can train every day,

00:30:56.440 three times a day, as hard as I want and be fine.

00:30:58.480 Wake up the next day and do whatever.

00:31:00.320 But now, like if I have a hard sparring session, I wear that, that, you know, bumps and bruises

00:31:05.020 for a couple of days after that.

00:31:06.160 Right.

00:31:06.280 So my training kind of.

00:31:07.480 Like a bang over kind of.

00:31:08.660 Dude.

00:31:08.960 Like a hangover, but for fighting.

00:31:10.620 Yeah.

00:31:10.820 Yeah.

00:31:10.980 Yeah.

00:31:11.140 Exactly.

00:31:12.520 Yeah, man.

00:31:13.500 Like when you were young, you could drink every night, wake up and start over.

00:31:16.800 Right.

00:31:17.120 Yeah.

00:31:17.320 You could do whatever you want.

00:31:18.180 You could cut your fucking leg off when you were young.

00:31:20.700 I felt like it was a different time.

00:31:23.900 Yeah.

00:31:24.060 Bang over.

00:31:24.680 Yeah.

00:31:24.780 I know.

00:31:25.180 Bang over.

00:31:26.000 Yeah.

00:31:27.240 So, so if this fight, so after the stem cell stuff, you'll know if you're ready to rock

00:31:31.900 again then.

00:31:32.680 Yeah.

00:31:32.900 I want to talk to the doctor again Tuesday, they said, and then I'll go in Wednesday morning.

00:31:37.140 But everybody reacts differently to stem cells.

00:31:39.860 Hopefully my body reacts really well to it.

00:31:41.540 Yeah.

00:31:41.760 And, you know, it takes a lot of the pain away and gives me back my range of motion.

00:31:45.240 It takes some of the inflammation out.

00:31:47.080 But I'll be back in three weeks to training.

00:31:48.840 Wow.

00:31:49.180 Yeah.

00:31:49.660 Yeah.

00:31:49.940 I got stem cells.

00:31:50.640 It's where they take your blood out and then take the cells out of it and inject them

00:31:53.180 into you.

00:31:53.820 That's PRP.

00:31:54.740 Oh, that's PRP.

00:31:55.380 That's what I got.

00:31:55.880 I got that in my hair.

00:31:56.640 Yeah.

00:31:56.980 Just to keep this fucking class going, bro.

00:31:59.680 Keep that shit up, bro.

00:32:01.640 Dude.

00:32:01.840 I mean, I feel like I'm a squirrel master.

00:32:03.880 Bro, if I get hot, if I was down by you, I might get hunted.

00:32:06.840 I feel like.

00:32:07.860 Fucking Daniel Boone.

00:32:08.780 Dude, it's kind of crazy when I go outdoors in Louisiana, if I'm out at night, bro, and

00:32:12.860 I'll turn around, there'll be a lot of raccoons behind me.

00:32:15.500 I swear to God, bro.

00:32:16.540 Oh, man.

00:32:17.100 When's the last time you've been tiki tubing?

00:32:18.480 Oh, I don't know.

00:32:19.360 No.

00:32:20.160 What is it?

00:32:20.840 No, that's right around your area, up Denham Springs area.

00:32:23.260 Oh, tiki tubing?

00:32:24.000 Yeah, man, tiki tubing.

00:32:24.560 What is that when people get tiki torches and go tubing?

00:32:26.240 No, no, no, no.

00:32:26.760 It's like this.

00:32:27.820 That would be crazy.

00:32:29.460 I don't know.

00:32:29.860 It's like, I don't know if it's a river or some stream that's miles long.

00:32:32.560 People go up there with their, they have like.

00:32:34.740 Oh, the ice chest and all that?

00:32:35.880 Yeah, yeah.

00:32:35.960 And the shit floats down.

00:32:36.900 It's like a slow.

00:32:37.400 Look, there you go.

00:32:38.180 Tiki tubing, Denham Springs, man.

00:32:39.280 Oh, yeah, dude.

00:32:39.900 I've been.

00:32:40.220 I thought you brought that mullet out there a time or two.

00:32:41.740 I was wrong.

00:32:43.720 Dude, we went.

00:32:44.780 You're not from Louisiana.

00:32:45.480 We went in the Boca Chitter River, right?

00:32:47.980 This is like, which I don't even know if it's a river.

00:32:50.080 I honestly feel like it's an outlet from a business.

00:32:52.040 I feel like it should be definitely shut down, like condemned.

00:32:55.180 And I remember one time we're like going and there's like this bend in the river.

00:32:58.380 And this dude is out there with a girl and they're just shooting a gun into the water,

00:33:01.620 right?

00:33:02.280 And they're on a date.

00:33:03.200 It's like this guy.

00:33:03.900 It's like.

00:33:04.220 That's romantic, bro.

00:33:04.900 Yeah, it was romantic, right?

00:33:06.420 You're popping off.

00:33:07.940 So we start coming around this bend and we keep getting closer and they're just still

00:33:11.200 shooting into the water.

00:33:12.420 You know, this guy's obviously trying to fuck.

00:33:14.860 So I'm yelling.

00:33:16.160 I'm like, hey, bro, can you guys stop shooting the gun?

00:33:19.380 And the guy yelled back.

00:33:20.400 He's like, why?

00:33:22.260 Because there's literally like 20.

00:33:23.900 It's going to almost be like a game you would see at a carnival where like, you know, people

00:33:27.300 are trying to get those little ducks or whatever.

00:33:29.720 Fucking idiots.

00:33:30.780 That's Louisiana, man.

00:33:31.820 We had two being in Wisconsin on the Apple River and that was Wisconsin's Mardi Gras.

00:33:37.100 Basically, there were just like people had beads and girls got wild.

00:33:40.660 And for some reason, at the end of the river, there was always a Jack Johnson concert.

00:33:43.820 It was really weird.

00:33:44.260 What do you miss about growing up in Louisiana?

00:33:49.180 Like, do you miss anything about being young?

00:33:50.920 Or do you feel like, was that the best time of your life?

00:33:53.040 Is this the best time of your life?

00:33:55.080 I mean, they're both awesome.

00:33:56.640 Yeah.

00:33:56.960 You know.

00:33:58.260 Was y'all's family pretty close?

00:34:00.060 My family was, like my mother and her mom and dad, we were close there.

00:34:06.020 But my family was kind of spread out.

00:34:07.500 Yeah.

00:34:07.940 Yeah.

00:34:09.640 I kind of miss the innocence of the beginning of my fight career.

00:34:15.780 Oh, yeah?

00:34:16.200 Yeah.

00:34:16.640 I kind of miss that a little bit.

00:34:18.140 Yeah.

00:34:18.380 Yeah.

00:34:18.620 That was a fun time in my life.

00:34:20.160 But growing up in Louisiana was fun, man.

00:34:21.660 You know, picking pecans and getting into trouble.

00:34:24.220 Yeah.

00:34:24.560 Yeah.

00:34:25.220 Isn't it interesting that, like, I start to think about that too.

00:34:28.720 Like, I didn't realize that, like, the journey part of it was like the crazy, was going

00:34:33.080 to be the craziest part.

00:34:34.740 Right.

00:34:34.980 You know, now it's a little bit more like business.

00:34:37.080 It's still fun.

00:34:38.360 Yeah.

00:34:38.680 You know, even with comedy.

00:34:39.620 You know, like, not to compare them, but it's still exciting.

00:34:41.680 Like, you know, the shows and the, you know, and the preparation and doing the little shows

00:34:46.400 to get to the big shows.

00:34:47.820 Right.

00:34:48.540 But the, yeah, but the, like, I remember hanging my groceries outside of, like, I was

00:34:52.420 in Kansas City one winter and I would buy groceries and then hang them out of the,

00:34:56.560 it was freezing outside, so I'd hang them out the window at night to fucking keep cold

00:35:00.100 and then bring them in in the morning to thaw out and then eat lunch, you know?

00:35:03.380 But it was like, things like that were going to be the best, you know?

00:35:06.700 Yeah.

00:35:07.100 For sure, man.

00:35:07.880 Like, the struggle sometimes.

00:35:08.440 It's a journey, bro.

00:35:09.200 Yeah, the journey.

00:35:09.840 Yeah.

00:35:10.400 The journey's kind of the wildest part.

00:35:12.040 Right.

00:35:12.320 But it's all still fun for sure, man.

00:35:13.800 Yeah.

00:35:14.160 Yeah.

00:35:14.520 So how many more fights do you have to have to get to the belt?

00:35:18.080 We'll see.

00:35:18.580 I mean, I think I'm ranked number three right now, so it's Khabib is the champ, then Tony

00:35:24.680 Ferguson, then Conor, then me.

00:35:26.420 Yeah.

00:35:28.040 Conor just fought Khabib.

00:35:30.020 Tony probably is going to fight Khabib next, so I'm after that.

00:35:33.280 Right.

00:35:33.640 Yeah.

00:35:34.460 So now, so why was Diaz the fight that you got put into then if he's not in those three?

00:35:40.360 He's ranked a 10, I believe.

00:35:41.900 Oh, yeah?

00:35:42.100 It was just a fun fight that, I mean, sometimes you get the right matchups that you know are

00:35:46.060 going to be a banger, and this one's one of them, you know?

00:35:47.880 Damn, dude.

00:35:48.940 I met his brother one time, bro, and I was, that guy was wild enough, man.

00:35:52.900 Nick Diaz.

00:35:53.580 Yeah, yeah.

00:35:54.280 Yeah, man.

00:35:54.880 They got something like, yeah, they're fighters, man.

00:35:58.200 For sure.

00:35:58.620 They're fighters.

00:35:59.220 No doubt about it.

00:36:00.260 Do you think about when you go in now, is it more about, like, do you think about,

00:36:04.980 like, do you prepare for the fighter's weaknesses and strengths?

00:36:07.960 Or is, because I'm watching some fights when you were young, and it was almost like letting

00:36:11.640 like a dog loose from one side of the ring, you know?

00:36:14.260 Right.

00:36:14.420 Like, you know, when somebody's dog weak hit loose, and suddenly it was fucking coming

00:36:17.660 at you?

00:36:18.060 Yeah, you can't do nothing about it.

00:36:18.980 You can't do nothing about it.

00:36:19.760 You just scream.

00:36:20.580 Yeah, that's it, bro.

00:36:21.740 It was like, all you could fucking do is scream.

00:36:24.000 Like watching a car wreck.

00:36:25.620 Yeah.

00:36:26.020 Oh, shit.

00:36:26.680 Like, damn, this car's just going to keep on wrecking, bro.

00:36:30.560 Is there more strategy involved now?

00:36:32.440 Yeah.

00:36:32.780 This is definitely an art now.

00:36:35.220 Back in those days, it was just, it was a fight.

00:36:37.680 And it still is a fight, but it's definitely more technical, man.

00:36:39.940 We break down footage my coaches do.

00:36:41.600 We train specifically for certain guys, and that's one good thing about American Top

00:36:46.360 Team.

00:36:46.560 There's so many guys there.

00:36:47.640 Yeah.

00:36:48.000 That like, if I'm fighting a Diaz, we have tall guys who I can spar with.

00:36:51.060 Oh, that's dope.

00:36:51.460 We have Southpaws.

00:36:52.240 We have, he's, you know, obviously a really good jiu-jitsu practitioner.

00:36:55.020 We have guys who are great in jiu-jitsu, a lot of black belts on the mat.

00:36:57.360 So like, all bases are covered when you're at a big camp like that.

00:36:59.820 Yeah.

00:36:59.940 That's one of the benefits.

00:37:00.800 That's one of the values.

00:37:01.680 Yeah.

00:37:01.800 Did, uh, did Platinum Mike Perry ever be down there?

00:37:04.700 I've never seen him there, no.

00:37:05.620 You haven't?

00:37:05.980 That guy's wild, bro.

00:37:06.920 I think he, I think he trains a lot in, in, uh, northern part of Florida, maybe.

00:37:10.540 Yeah, he's in New Mexico.

00:37:11.360 Jackson Week now.

00:37:12.500 Okay.

00:37:13.100 Yeah.

00:37:13.640 Is there any fighters out there that like, people don't know about that are like, you

00:37:17.260 know, like, is the toughest guy you've ever met, is it, is that been in the cage or is

00:37:22.680 that been in the streets, you think?

00:37:25.400 Uh, I don't do any street fight.

00:37:26.720 I haven't been in a street altercation.

00:37:27.960 Maybe like the gym or something.

00:37:29.540 There's incredible guys that you've never heard of coming from all over, man, that I

00:37:33.060 run into in the gym, um, that are, you know, hopefully they make a name for themselves or

00:37:37.920 get a break and get that moment of spotlight where they show who they are.

00:37:41.280 But there's lots of great, you know, everybody who's in the UFC has made it there and then

00:37:44.780 they're incredible fighters, but there's so many guys out there that haven't made it

00:37:47.460 there yet or that are fighting on smaller shows that are just as good as a lot of these

00:37:51.680 guys.

00:37:52.060 Yeah.

00:37:52.320 Yeah.

00:37:53.000 Dude, do, um, do you, so when you say like get a break, like what kind of break has to

00:37:58.140 kind of happen, like, do you have to have a manager that gets you a fight?

00:38:02.040 Like how much of that kind of stuff goes on behind the scenes?

00:38:04.400 That's a little bit of politics, of course, but like beating the right guys.

00:38:08.100 Um, maybe let's just say there was a matchmaker for the UFC who's watching this up and comer

00:38:12.000 and, uh, you're his opponent and you go out there and beat his ass.

00:38:16.560 Yeah.

00:38:16.720 And now the matchmakers are looking at you like, wow, who's this kid?

00:38:19.080 Like that kind of break, just the right matchups, the right eyes on the fight.

00:38:22.420 Yeah.

00:38:22.620 The right, the right platforms to, to really show who you are.

00:38:25.540 Yeah.

00:38:25.840 But nowadays, man, there's so many, uh, streaming organizations that are on online and they

00:38:30.960 have fight pass that are given all these guys, uh, uh, a place to fight where, where a lot

00:38:36.260 of our eyes can see it.

00:38:37.120 So there's a lot more opportunities now.

00:38:38.560 Yeah.

00:38:39.020 Yeah.

00:38:39.560 Dude.

00:38:39.880 I remember when I was, they had this thing for a while, it was like gay dudes were fighting

00:38:44.340 at bars.

00:38:44.960 Right.

00:38:45.280 And they would set up like a ring or something and they would have two gay dudes would fist

00:38:49.340 fight and, uh, and people would bet on it and shit.

00:38:53.200 I remember that dude.

00:38:54.060 I think that was, yeah, when I was at LSU for a while, I don't know what happened to

00:38:57.600 that shit.

00:38:57.980 It might've got shut down.

00:38:59.020 It cockfights.

00:38:59.780 Yeah.

00:39:00.100 It was a cockfights.

00:39:01.020 I think, I think it was like really triple A, you know, um, do you think that you could

00:39:06.840 fight an animal ever, buddy?

00:39:08.080 You think it's ever going to get to that?

00:39:10.320 What?

00:39:11.100 Like a bear?

00:39:12.400 All right.

00:39:12.880 Yeah.

00:39:13.020 I don't know.

00:39:13.340 Like if you think like, I thought like, like a kangaroo with gloves on, like, yeah, if

00:39:16.660 you could fight, yeah.

00:39:17.380 Could you fight a couple of animals?

00:39:18.420 I'm fucking body shot that thing.

00:39:19.760 Could you, would you really?

00:39:20.700 Yeah.

00:39:20.780 I mean, I don't, I would, can they kick?

00:39:23.480 What's the rules?

00:39:24.200 I don't know if that's a good question.

00:39:25.800 What is the rules?

00:39:27.260 Yeah.

00:39:27.500 I, sometimes I just wondered that.

00:39:28.700 Like if you, like if I was a fighter, right, that's what I think about.

00:39:31.280 Like if I was a fighter, you know, and I could fight and when, then I would stop thinking

00:39:36.520 like, oh, would I quit fighting people?

00:39:38.220 Yeah.

00:39:38.860 And want to start fighting animals.

00:39:41.000 That's the Nate Diaz kangaroo.

00:39:42.500 Is it?

00:39:43.080 Yeah.

00:39:43.420 It did look like Nate Diaz a little.

00:39:45.380 Pull up the, uh, Nate Diaz kangaroo side by side.

00:39:48.560 That really was the one.

00:39:49.520 Like, was it really?

00:39:51.000 Yeah.

00:39:52.140 Are you amazed sometimes how some guys look like they could, look like they can't fight

00:39:56.420 and they can totally fight?

00:39:57.860 Yeah.

00:39:58.060 That's one thing I learned early.

00:39:59.180 Like, you know, looks are, you know, if a guy looks strong for the most, there you go.

00:40:03.980 Right.

00:40:04.800 Oh, wow.

00:40:05.420 That's wild.

00:40:06.220 They're identical.

00:40:07.280 That is very similar.

00:40:08.360 Virtually identical.

00:40:09.300 That is very similar, bro.

00:40:11.340 Yeah.

00:40:11.660 A lot of times, like you'll see a stringy, lanky guy, not a lot of muscle definition.

00:40:15.840 And then you get on the mat with him and you're like, guy's incredibly strong, you know, or

00:40:19.500 you'll see a guy who's got huge muscles and then you go with him and you're like, this

00:40:22.380 guy's not really that strong.

00:40:23.540 Yeah.

00:40:23.840 Uh, a lot of that's for show.

00:40:26.300 I mean, most of the time a guy looks big and strong.

00:40:29.440 He is, but that's like, it doesn't transfer over to grappling and fighting.

00:40:33.380 He might be able to lift a lot more weights than you, but like functional squeezing

00:40:36.120 and, and, and technical stuff.

00:40:38.320 It's not the same.

00:40:39.180 Right.

00:40:39.520 Yeah.

00:40:39.700 That one punch is still there.

00:40:40.880 Like if a guy's really big, he's probably going to have a good shot.

00:40:43.220 Yeah.

00:40:43.600 But, uh, it won't last long.

00:40:45.660 And then the muscles don't translate when you grapple.

00:40:49.000 What was like, did you have like a fit?

00:40:50.780 Do you have like a, ever have like a plan when you first started to have like a finishing

00:40:54.220 move, you know?

00:40:55.880 Dude, honestly, I trained my whole career just to finish any way I can with strikes, submissions.

00:41:00.720 I never once game plan to go to the judges or win round by round.

00:41:04.500 I just fight.

00:41:05.440 I, I, most of my fights I've, I've never really had a solid game plan.

00:41:08.540 Really?

00:41:08.780 I don't like that.

00:41:09.340 Yeah.

00:41:09.700 I just like to fight.

00:41:10.520 You like to fight?

00:41:10.920 Yeah.

00:41:11.020 I just like to fight.

00:41:11.760 So for you, it's like, you're just, you get a feeling you're, you are in a fight.

00:41:15.440 Right.

00:41:15.660 So if the guy kicks a lot, we kind of prepare for that, but I'm not putting together crazy

00:41:19.360 stuff that, that, you know, we just get ready for a lot of kicks.

00:41:21.940 Or if the guy box as well, we, we do a little bit extra boxing, but I don't, I don't, I know

00:41:25.780 some coaches go crazy with game plans.

00:41:27.380 Like we're going to jab and then we're going to put them against the fence and take him down.

00:41:30.260 And like, I never done that.

00:41:31.660 Right.

00:41:31.900 Just fight.

00:41:32.360 And hopefully opportunities present themselves and I capitalize and I kind of trust myself in combat.

00:41:36.800 I've been, like I said, this is going to be my 40th fight with Nate Diaz.

00:41:39.680 I've got a lot of time in there, you know, in that.

00:41:43.520 Right.

00:41:43.960 In that.

00:41:44.300 Yeah.

00:41:44.660 In that.

00:41:45.160 Yeah.

00:41:45.660 Yeah.

00:41:45.840 Is it fucking violent, bro?

00:41:47.940 When they close that shit up, have you ever heard them?

00:41:49.780 Like, does it make a sound when they close the cage door?

00:41:51.960 Oh yeah.

00:41:52.300 Yeah.

00:41:52.620 It's metal.

00:41:53.540 Do you hear the metal?

00:41:54.160 It's so scary, bro.

00:41:56.320 Dog, I will fucking look for a trap door.

00:41:58.200 I'm sure, I'm sure like the same thing when you're on stage at a, at a comedy show, like

00:42:00.920 the, all the lights are on you.

00:42:01.880 Right.

00:42:02.040 So the crowd looks really dark.

00:42:03.300 Yeah.

00:42:03.640 So it's like that in the cage.

00:42:04.720 It's like, it's really light, light up.

00:42:06.900 Everything's lit up and you kind of look at through the fence.

00:42:08.840 You can't really see anything out that much.

00:42:10.460 You know, you see like the first row, but it's just like, yeah.

00:42:12.800 Spotlights on you.

00:42:13.440 Yeah, that's really similar.

00:42:14.340 That's crazy.

00:42:15.600 So then you're just in there.

00:42:17.260 You just.

00:42:17.800 And you can, can you see to do some guys is like, can you tell when a guy is lasered in

00:42:22.700 and can you almost see when you look in a dude's eyes in the ring?

00:42:25.460 Like, can you feel if you think he's been training hard, if he's been focused, does

00:42:29.620 all that kind of come into that moment or is it still.

00:42:31.920 It's different for everybody.

00:42:32.720 Some guys are like that.

00:42:33.600 They're looking at you and they're really intense and all that.

00:42:35.700 And you get in there and you whip their ass and then they, you know, but some guys

00:42:38.100 don't want to make eye contact.

00:42:39.440 They're kind of staying to themselves.

00:42:40.480 And then the bell rings and they're maniacs trying to, trying to take you out.

00:42:44.320 Right.

00:42:44.860 Everybody's different.

00:42:45.500 I think it's more of a personality and personality thing.

00:42:47.840 When you're fighting, are you looking somebody in the eyes or are you, is it, is it more

00:42:52.080 of this kind of this wider kind of view that's going on or something?

00:42:57.000 I mean, eye contact is made for sure, but I'm kind of, like all my senses are engaged.

00:43:02.340 I'm just kind of the whole picture I'm seeing.

00:43:04.780 And are you, at this point in your career, are you thinking or is a lot more of it like

00:43:08.960 react, it's just natural, it's a flow almost.

00:43:12.640 You know, it's just a flow.

00:43:14.240 The only times I really start to think a lot is in positions like against the fence.

00:43:19.640 If we're both crunched up or like I get a takedown and we're on top, we have like moments

00:43:23.560 of clarity in there where things kind of slow down and I'm just like, oh shit, I can hear

00:43:26.180 Joe Rogan talking right now.

00:43:27.180 He's right there.

00:43:27.740 Wow.

00:43:28.180 But then it goes back to the, to the craziness.

00:43:31.020 I don't feel like you have time to think, you know, you're doing what you, what you're

00:43:34.800 trained to do.

00:43:35.720 There's, there's a tiny bit of thinking, but if I can explain it to you, think about

00:43:39.500 this.

00:43:39.720 If you're driving on the interstate.

00:43:40.820 Right.

00:43:41.380 And, and, and somebody slams the brakes and you see red lights, do you say, I need to hit

00:43:46.660 my brakes now too?

00:43:47.820 No, it's too late.

00:43:48.980 You, you, you know, you don't have time to think.

00:43:50.520 You just do it.

00:43:51.200 That's kind of what fighting is.

00:43:52.200 It's a guy punch at, I don't say, well, there's the punch.

00:43:54.460 I'm going to slip it and counter.

00:43:55.760 You just do it.

00:43:56.700 You know, I'm just like hitting the brake.

00:43:58.180 I just do it.

00:43:58.720 I've done it so many times.

00:43:59.800 It's muscle memory and my brain and, and it's just what I do.

00:44:03.500 Yeah.

00:44:03.780 Yeah.

00:44:04.340 So do you feel more comfortable in a fight than say like, like what's something you would

00:44:08.300 feel like uncomfortable in?

00:44:11.600 Um, uh, speaking in front of a lot of people, I guess would probably be a big one.

00:44:16.780 Right.

00:44:17.200 Um, you'd rather be in a fight.

00:44:18.280 Once I'm doing it, I wouldn't probably have a problem, but the thought of doing it is like,

00:44:21.760 oh shit.

00:44:22.540 Oh, here we go.

00:44:24.340 So you'd rather be in a fight than being a public speaker.

00:44:26.640 Yeah.

00:44:26.860 Fighting.

00:44:27.220 I mean, yeah.

00:44:28.020 That's fucking crazy to me, man.

00:44:30.600 The absolute last thing I would ever want to fucking be in is a fight.

00:44:34.900 Dude, I'd rather fist fight a kangaroo than, than go do a comedy show.

00:44:39.980 Dude, I'm telling you, I'm telling you what's next is going to be a league that travels around

00:44:43.780 and it's going to be men fighting animals, dude.

00:44:46.500 What about 40 foxes?

00:44:47.920 Do you think you could fight 40 foxes?

00:44:48.980 40?

00:44:50.180 Baker's dozen, I'd give a good shot at.

00:44:52.100 Yeah.

00:44:54.040 Um, let's take another call that came in.

00:44:55.920 Yeah, for sure.

00:44:59.240 Theo, huge fan, brother.

00:45:01.060 I wanted to ask, I'm a huge fan.

00:45:03.000 I live in, uh, Youngsville, Louisiana, so, uh, not far from him.

00:45:06.320 One, uh, what's your favorite place to eat at here in the Lafayette area?

00:45:10.200 And don't say Eno's, because I know that's your boy.

00:45:12.020 Uh, and then second, I mean, I know you have the Diamond Training Center, but I was curious

00:45:17.100 as to, you know, I guess future business opportunities that you were maybe looking into establishing

00:45:23.020 here in the Lafayette area post MMA career.

00:45:26.480 So, killing it.

00:45:27.680 Love y'all.

00:45:30.400 Yeah, man.

00:45:30.960 What's up?

00:45:31.300 What's up?

00:45:31.800 Yeah, dude.

00:45:32.160 I live in Youngsville.

00:45:33.280 Oh, do you?

00:45:33.680 Yeah, yeah.

00:45:34.220 I'm always at the Rouse's and, uh.

00:45:35.900 I love Rouse's, bro.

00:45:36.880 Oh, dude.

00:45:37.060 It's a spot.

00:45:37.760 Dude, Rouse's is the best, man.

00:45:39.000 Yeah.

00:45:39.820 Yeah, Rouse's has everything.

00:45:40.940 And you think it's not going to be good when it first opened up.

00:45:43.100 I was like, this shit's all just going to be like, but it's good.

00:45:45.120 No, it's good.

00:45:45.680 Yeah.

00:45:46.520 Um, I missed it, man.

00:45:47.660 And when I, I was in Florida for a while and I haven't been back to Louisiana and then I

00:45:50.820 fought in New Orleans and there's that Rouse's right by the, uh.

00:45:53.360 Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:45:53.780 Oh, dude.

00:45:54.140 It was so awesome, man.

00:45:54.980 To just walk back in there and smell that, smell that crawfish in the air.

00:45:57.820 Yeah, they got everything in there.

00:45:58.920 Right.

00:45:59.300 But, uh, I, I like, uh, Prejean's and Karen Crow.

00:46:01.800 I like that spot, but he's right.

00:46:03.500 Dino's is good pizza, man.

00:46:04.660 My buddy owns that place.

00:46:05.700 Um, I don't know what business ventures I'm going to, I have the Diamond Training Center,

00:46:10.220 but that's like, I don't make money with that.

00:46:11.540 That's just a gym, a private gym I have where local guys come, we open the door, train,

00:46:15.140 clean the mats and just have fun training.

00:46:17.240 Um, but I really like beer.

00:46:19.160 Maybe I'll do something with some beer.

00:46:20.780 I, um, I don't know, man.

00:46:22.300 We'll see.

00:46:22.820 I got a cool idea for, uh, a TV show.

00:46:25.720 Oh, yeah?

00:46:26.040 Yeah, yeah, where I travel around and train at gyms and go to local places to eat.

00:46:30.540 Oh, that sounds really cool, actually.

00:46:31.480 Yeah, yeah, I got it up here, man.

00:46:32.640 Nobody done that, man.

00:46:33.780 That'd be dope.

00:46:34.660 Hell yeah.

00:46:35.120 Yeah, I wonder what it would be called, man.

00:46:36.460 It'd be called Food Fight.

00:46:38.140 Ooh.

00:46:39.160 I like that, bro.

00:46:40.800 Yeah.

00:46:41.080 Bro, off the beaten path places, too, dude.

00:46:43.060 Yeah, yeah.

00:46:43.520 Like, shit, you gotta catch with your face to eat.

00:46:45.640 You know what I'm saying?

00:46:46.240 Yeah, 40 foxes, bro.

00:46:47.640 Right.

00:46:48.000 We might have to cut this part out, so no one still says ID.

00:46:51.000 Oh, yeah, so you keep your idea, too.

00:46:52.580 Yeah.

00:46:53.080 That should be all over.

00:46:54.040 It really will, man.

00:46:54.940 Food Fight's a great idea, actually.

00:46:56.360 I want to do, like, so say I go to Louisiana.

00:46:59.540 We go to a boxing gym, then we go to some local spots, or we go to New Orleans.

00:47:03.600 I go to, I got a bunch of buddies who have gyms.

00:47:05.200 Like, any gym in the U.S., like, I won't be able to get into, you know, just because

00:47:08.720 I've been fighting so long and I know so many people.

00:47:10.540 Yeah.

00:47:10.860 But I'd like to do, like, what's around that city.

00:47:13.040 Like, if I go to Philly, we'll go to a bunch of boxing gyms, then we'll hit a bunch

00:47:15.760 of cool spots.

00:47:16.480 Right.

00:47:16.680 And kind of learn the gym story, and then some restaurants around their story.

00:47:19.940 I like that.

00:47:20.660 And what it's like, what guys that are training, what MMA guys are eating, what UFC guys are

00:47:24.920 eating, you know, like.

00:47:25.780 Well, I'd like it to be, like, not so much the healthy stuff, but, like, the local spots

00:47:29.840 that only these guys who live at this gym and train there know about.

00:47:32.680 Right.

00:47:32.980 Like, yeah.

00:47:33.520 Yeah, to keep it grassroots.

00:47:36.480 Do you, is there a lot of pride from your area?

00:47:40.760 Is there a lot of support for you?

00:47:42.020 Dude, it's amazing.

00:47:44.040 I mean, you know how Louisiana gets behind sporting events or athletes, LSU or anything.

00:47:49.480 That's one thing I can say about Louisiana that I miss being away, is, like, Louisiana supports

00:47:53.880 Louisiana.

00:47:54.540 Yeah.

00:47:54.700 Like, yeah.

00:47:56.180 And if you're from Lafayette, everybody's behind you.

00:47:58.560 Everybody loves you.

00:48:00.220 You know, it's a good feeling to have that sense of community.

00:48:02.660 Yeah.

00:48:02.960 Yeah.

00:48:03.440 Especially over there where you guys are.

00:48:05.060 Like, my area is more like just rural white kids.

00:48:07.600 Like, our area was just kind of white and black.

00:48:09.040 It was, you know, we had some rednecks, but we didn't have a lot of, like, you know, where

00:48:13.740 you guys are.

00:48:14.660 I feel like everything is a fucking recipe.

00:48:16.820 You know what I'm saying?

00:48:17.380 For sure, man.

00:48:17.680 Like, everything.

00:48:18.480 Like, if water floods in the house, then that's soup.

00:48:20.720 You know, it's like, it's just that kind of place, you know?

00:48:22.940 For sure, yeah.

00:48:23.600 Yeah.

00:48:23.880 And family is, like, and family is super important in Louisiana.

00:48:26.940 That's another thing.

00:48:27.840 Right.

00:48:28.100 Like, people don't care.

00:48:28.960 Like, their dreams and stuff are important, but some people's dream, their whole dream

00:48:33.880 is just to spend time with their family.

00:48:35.500 Yeah.

00:48:35.800 And that's beautiful in itself, man.

00:48:37.480 Yeah.

00:48:37.980 But I think that's just the culture there.

00:48:39.440 Like, in Lafayette, the area I'm from is Cajun country.

00:48:42.540 You know, that's where all the Acadians are.

00:48:43.960 Oh, yeah.

00:48:44.400 You know, so it's just a really good group of people.

00:48:47.000 Yeah.

00:48:47.320 Yeah.

00:48:47.900 Yeah, man.

00:48:48.600 That area's a lot of fun and a lot of good people from over there, too.

00:48:50.800 No doubt about it.

00:48:51.320 A lot of good food.

00:48:51.980 A lot of athletes, too.

00:48:53.220 Yeah, for sure.

00:48:54.120 A lot of great high school football.

00:48:55.600 Yeah.

00:48:57.500 Yeah, man.

00:48:57.980 I miss Louisiana, dude.

00:48:59.680 I miss it.

00:49:00.340 I love Nashville, too.

00:49:01.360 Have you been to Nashville?

00:49:02.040 Never been to Nashville.

00:49:02.900 Oh, Nashville's pretty cool.

00:49:04.000 Yeah.

00:49:04.260 Yeah.

00:49:04.500 It doesn't have, like, the same kind of, it's more, like, kind of fancy south a little

00:49:08.260 bit, but it has, I mean, there's some fucking just, I mean, it just still

00:49:13.700 has, like, a lot of, like, family-first type of stuff, you know?

00:49:17.440 Right, right.

00:49:17.760 That's why, like, when I get out here, I'm just like, I feel like everybody, I

00:49:21.180 don't know.

00:49:21.900 Family's not as important, you know?

00:49:23.340 Yeah.

00:49:23.580 But I think it's just because it's more of a city and it's just more of a place

00:49:25.840 where people come to work.

00:49:26.640 It's business.

00:49:27.220 It's business.

00:49:27.720 Yeah, yeah.

00:49:28.240 It's business out here, man.

00:49:29.260 It's business.

00:49:29.540 No, yeah.

00:49:30.100 And Lafayette, dude, or Louisiana in general, like, everybody's, like I said,

00:49:33.240 supports local.

00:49:34.620 But if you go into a bar and there's Louisiana beer, that's what people are

00:49:37.020 ordering and drinking.

00:49:37.880 Yeah.

00:49:38.260 If there's homegrown Louisiana food, that's what they're ordering.

00:49:41.580 That's what they want.

00:49:42.080 Yeah, it's just, I like that.

00:49:43.500 I like that.

00:49:44.320 Do you, do you feel, do people, like, do you get a lot of hardheads that come at

00:49:49.880 you because you're a fighter that want to take on Poirier?

00:49:52.580 I don't put myself in those kind of positions, honestly.

00:49:54.340 I don't go to, like, bars, really, and stuff like that that much.

00:49:57.100 Yeah.

00:49:57.540 Probably out drinking and stuff.

00:49:58.600 It would happen a lot, but that never happened.

00:49:59.880 More on Twitter.

00:50:00.560 Yeah.

00:50:00.740 There's a lot of tough guys on the internet.

00:50:02.080 Instagram and Twitter.

00:50:03.240 The internet's fucking filled with idiots, bro.

00:50:06.320 Knuckleheads, man.

00:50:07.240 That'd be another show.

00:50:07.940 Not in person, never.

00:50:08.980 No, never in person, bro.

00:50:10.160 No.

00:50:10.380 Oh, it's the worst.

00:50:11.580 Was there ever an injury that you, like, where you hit a guy where you were like,

00:50:14.780 oh, man, this is, like, you almost, like, you didn't feel, like, you knew it was part

00:50:18.600 of the fight, but you're like, ah, fuck, I feel bad about that.

00:50:21.820 No, never.

00:50:22.520 No.

00:50:22.780 No.

00:50:23.320 That's not it.

00:50:24.060 No.

00:50:24.640 It's not part of it.

00:50:25.380 No, it can't be.

00:50:26.400 Right.

00:50:27.920 So, there's no room for that, man.

00:50:29.400 There's no room for that anymore.

00:50:30.260 No, when I get in there, I'm, that goes back to, like, me saying I'm not looking to ink

00:50:35.060 out rounds and win a decision.

00:50:36.380 When I get in there and the bell rings, I'm trying to finish you or you're going to finish

00:50:41.080 me.

00:50:41.380 It's like, that's all that is to it.

00:50:43.140 This is combat.

00:50:44.400 Right.

00:50:44.660 You know?

00:50:44.920 And how hard, so how hard is it now to have that patience to wait for that Diaz fight

00:50:48.880 to wait, like, you know, because that's, like, I mean, that's, it's just, you know, I feel

00:50:54.380 like it's, it would just stress you.

00:50:56.020 It is, but I'm honestly a little proud of myself, man.

00:50:58.700 When I was younger, this would have felt like the end of the world.

00:51:00.440 Oh, my God.

00:51:00.880 This was such a huge fight.

00:51:02.140 It's not coming together.

00:51:02.920 What, what am I going to do?

00:51:03.820 My, everything's falling apart.

00:51:05.760 Oh, my God.

00:51:06.140 Now, I'm just like, ah, it's just.

00:51:07.440 More time.

00:51:07.900 Yeah.

00:51:08.120 It's just, everything happens for a reason.

00:51:10.040 If they want the fight, it'll come back together.

00:51:11.520 If not, we'll move on.

00:51:12.460 But, we're in a good spot, and.

00:51:14.920 Yeah, there's only a couple guys left you can fight.

00:51:16.860 Right.

00:51:17.380 And, and, just take it in stride, man.

00:51:19.840 I'm going to get my, I just want to not be in pain, you know?

00:51:22.100 I just, I just, like I said, I have people depending on me, and I need to give myself

00:51:27.120 the best shot at, at being a world champion, and to do that, I need to be healthy, and

00:51:30.180 be able to train like I need to train.

00:51:31.640 Yeah.

00:51:31.940 Yeah.

00:51:32.480 So, Cormier's from Louisiana.

00:51:34.380 Do you guys ever communicate or no?

00:51:35.720 Really?

00:51:36.320 Yeah.

00:51:36.620 Yeah, we, we talk all the time.

00:51:37.720 Yeah.

00:51:38.000 He's a big guy.

00:51:38.660 I never met him.

00:51:39.160 He's a big guy?

00:51:40.280 Probably not much taller than me.

00:51:42.260 He's round.

00:51:42.820 He's round.

00:51:43.660 Yeah, he's pretty.

00:51:44.100 He's like an Ottoman.

00:51:44.900 You ever try to, you ever have an Ottoman, and you try to push an Ottoman over, and you

00:51:47.780 can't really get it over, you know?

00:51:49.320 You know what I'm talking about?

00:51:50.140 Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

00:51:50.620 The thing you put your feet on?

00:51:51.560 I feel like it would be like a, like three Ottomans, so it's just like stacked on top of

00:51:55.700 each other, man.

00:51:56.700 Yeah.

00:51:57.040 Is he a pretty cool guy?

00:51:58.000 Real cool.

00:51:58.580 Real cool guy.

00:51:58.780 He seems really, really cool, man.

00:52:01.260 Does, do you talk to other guys, like say like you're going to fight Diaz, will you talk

00:52:05.560 to other guys that have fought him?

00:52:06.500 Um, if there's somebody in my camp who's fought him, then we will talk, but I don't go, I don't

00:52:11.860 go like searching, you know, or trying to find somebody's input.

00:52:15.220 Yeah.

00:52:15.520 Yeah.

00:52:15.760 But if like, like I said, if there's somebody at the gym who's fought him, they'll give me

00:52:19.120 some input.

00:52:19.740 Right, right.

00:52:20.160 Um, do you, uh, do you like when you're envisioning it, are you just thinking about the fight?

00:52:26.920 Do you like, do you have any like mental stuff where you like envision like after the fight?

00:52:31.680 Um, like, do you have any sort of like, uh, I guess stuff where you kind of like go through

00:52:38.300 things in your head kind of, or what's some of your procedure?

00:52:40.980 Yeah.

00:52:41.640 Um, you know, fight week, I think I try to focus a lot on being in the moment.

00:52:47.580 Like tomorrow's going to come like, you know, Sunday after the fights, I'm going to go home

00:52:52.100 to my family.

00:52:52.800 Everything's going to be okay, but I just need to focus on right now.

00:52:56.200 Yeah.

00:52:56.480 Not yesterday, not tomorrow.

00:52:57.760 I just need to be right now in the moment, be aware of everything, be okay with myself,

00:53:01.800 be just, it's a weird feeling, but, but I know how I need to feel and I know my mindset,

00:53:06.280 how it needs to be.

00:53:06.880 That's a huge part of fighting is mindset.

00:53:08.620 It took me a long time to realize that.

00:53:09.980 Really?

00:53:10.280 Yeah.

00:53:10.540 It's, I mean, the biggest weapon you can have.

00:53:12.680 Wow.

00:53:13.040 Yeah.

00:53:13.580 And so do you see it on some of the younger guys now?

00:53:15.580 You're like, oh, I used to be just like that.

00:53:17.340 All the time.

00:53:18.060 How funny is that?

00:53:19.140 Yeah.

00:53:19.460 All the time.

00:53:20.060 And I'm like, just hearing stuff, not only the way they act in practice, but some of

00:53:23.120 the stuff they say, I'm like, man, you've got a knucklehead.

00:53:25.700 Yeah.

00:53:27.040 Dude, that's one thing.

00:53:28.080 It's, it's kind of interesting how, like, as you get, as you get more up in your field

00:53:32.800 or as you spend more time in it.

00:53:34.560 Yeah.

00:53:34.900 Just looking back and being like, man, especially when you said like, oh, I would have thought

00:53:39.300 that that would be the end of the world.

00:53:40.780 And everything was, I can remember when I was a young fighter.

00:53:42.880 Or I lost a fight or got hurt in practice or something didn't come together.

00:53:46.800 Our sponsor fell through the way.

00:53:47.980 I didn't think it was going to come in.

00:53:49.700 And like, I thought it was the end.

00:53:51.380 Like, I was like, oh my God, this is such a huge, what am I going to do?

00:53:54.360 This matters so much.

00:53:56.540 And man, you know, I'm a fighter.

00:53:59.980 Having a daughter has helped me a lot.

00:54:01.440 Put things into perspective.

00:54:02.780 Really?

00:54:03.080 Fighting is just something I do.

00:54:04.240 I love it.

00:54:04.820 And I'm passionate about it.

00:54:05.740 And I'm addicted to it.

00:54:06.520 And I want to be the best in the world.

00:54:07.500 But at the end of the day, that's just fighting, man.

00:54:10.000 I'm a father.

00:54:11.180 And she has a life.

00:54:12.700 And I'm a husband and a son.

00:54:15.020 Like, that stuff, it took me a long time to realize that.

00:54:18.160 But that stuff is, and looking at it this way, caring less, you know, caring less about

00:54:23.220 fighting, I feel like I'm a better fighter now.

00:54:24.740 Yeah.

00:54:25.400 Oh, that's powerful, man.

00:54:26.860 It took me a long time to realize that, man.

00:54:28.620 That's powerful stuff.

00:54:29.620 And do you think some of that stuff is just stuff that comes with age?

00:54:32.520 Yeah, I'm Dustin Poirier.

00:54:33.800 Fighting is just something I do.

00:54:35.160 Right.

00:54:35.320 And I know that now.

00:54:37.840 Yeah.

00:54:38.380 I'm a bad motherfucker, though.

00:54:39.600 I know that, too.

00:54:40.560 That's fucking wild, bro.

00:54:42.200 Imagine waking up in the morning and being a bad motherfucker I could never imagine.

00:54:45.360 Every morning.

00:54:46.080 I know, dude.

00:54:46.940 Never goes away.

00:54:47.580 Every morning, bro.

00:54:49.480 That's fucking awesome, dude.

00:54:51.160 Fuck, dude.

00:54:51.520 I want to fight Nick.

00:54:55.960 When you, after the fight, is there something?

00:54:59.720 I was thinking about this, man.

00:55:01.000 Like, it's so rare, like, in my life that I have things physically that make me feel, like,

00:55:05.400 alive.

00:55:06.840 After a fight, whether you win or lose, I was looking at some pictures of you after a fight.

00:55:10.480 One of them, you had, like, I think you might have had a crutch or something.

00:55:13.700 I mean, I don't even know.

00:55:14.580 Or you were sitting on a table or something.

00:55:16.340 Just a couple different pictures.

00:55:17.580 And I was like, man.

00:55:18.560 And I couldn't tell if you'd won or lost the fights, right?

00:55:20.860 I didn't even know which fights they were from.

00:55:22.940 But I was just like, fuck, he looks so alive.

00:55:26.340 Like, there must, is there something that just, like, to get, to get in front of, well,

00:55:32.280 I guess any fight, if nobody's watching, it's just so pure combat, one-on-one, man-on-man,

00:55:37.260 just, you know, fighting to the finish.

00:55:40.560 Nobody's jumping in.

00:55:41.420 It's just, you guys are going to handle this business and somebody's going to get beat up.

00:55:45.320 Yeah.

00:55:45.580 And that's so pure.

00:55:47.160 And, like, after you go through that, it's almost spiritual.

00:55:48.960 You know, after a fight, it's, like, almost spiritual.

00:55:50.880 Like, I just, I elevated my life.

00:55:53.340 I walk away from fights like I'm a different person.

00:55:54.980 I have a different view of the world.

00:55:56.620 Like, it's weird, man.

00:55:58.280 It really is.

00:55:58.960 I can feel that.

00:55:59.760 And it's a rush I can only get from that.

00:56:01.540 Right.

00:56:01.960 Yeah, win, lose, or draw.

00:56:03.040 The next day, I get on that airplane to go home or to go wherever we're going,

00:56:05.880 and I just feel like I just went through a spiritual journey, you know?

00:56:09.660 And that's win, lose, or draw.

00:56:11.040 You feel that same kind of, you have that same moment where, wow, I went through.

00:56:15.580 You know, winning is obviously the best thing.

00:56:18.000 It's like a trip or something.

00:56:19.020 Like, you're tripping.

00:56:19.880 You can have a good trip or a bad trip.

00:56:21.480 Obviously, losing is, you're on a bad trip.

00:56:23.320 Right.

00:56:23.580 But it's just that.

00:56:25.440 It's just a high that you're on, and you can only get it from that.

00:56:28.600 And it's just, it's a crazy thing to do, man.

00:56:32.260 I could imagine.

00:56:33.180 It seems, yeah, it would almost be like taking a drug or something.

00:56:35.280 And back in the day, like I was saying about innocence, I kind of miss that innocence.

00:56:39.360 There wasn't as much on the line.

00:56:40.460 I was just fighting for the love of fighting.

00:56:42.000 Now there's bills on the line, and got to get home healthy to my daughter.

00:56:45.760 None of that stuff was in my mind as a young fighter.

00:56:47.540 It was just, you know, let's bleed.

00:56:50.100 Yeah.

00:56:50.240 You know, let's put on a show.

00:56:51.220 Damn.

00:56:51.660 For 500 bucks.

00:56:52.560 Let's just hope nobody dies.

00:56:54.080 That's crazy.

00:56:55.380 But now it's like so much on the line every time I step in there.

00:56:58.760 Yeah.

00:56:59.340 And it's spiritual.

00:57:01.840 Yeah.

00:57:02.180 Yeah.

00:57:02.440 It seems like that.

00:57:03.720 It seemed like it would always be like a native.

00:57:05.300 Yeah.

00:57:05.480 It almost seems like, yeah, it made me wonder when I look at that kind of stuff.

00:57:09.940 And I just look at the pictures after.

00:57:11.300 I was like, man, it seemed like no matter what, I couldn't tell if you won or lost or

00:57:15.700 whatever it was, but what if, yeah, you would learn something about yourself, you know?

00:57:20.460 Yeah.

00:57:22.560 Like they say, adversity introduces a man to himself.

00:57:25.400 Yeah.

00:57:25.560 So when you win, you learn the whole camp.

00:57:27.840 But when you lose, you learn a lot about who you are too.

00:57:30.200 Wow.

00:57:30.320 And, you know, I've lost five times in my professional career.

00:57:33.920 Yeah.

00:57:34.060 What have you learned, man?

00:57:35.040 I mean, were there...

00:57:35.880 I feel like every time I've lost, I've made huge adjustments and explored those reasons

00:57:40.380 I've lost and I've always learned from it.

00:57:42.700 Really?

00:57:43.040 Yeah.

00:57:43.300 Every time, every single time.

00:57:44.360 So you'll go back and even look at like, okay, this specific moment or two that contributed

00:57:48.540 to the loss and you'll learn and you'll become more aware specifically of that, you

00:57:53.660 feel like?

00:57:53.900 Yeah.

00:57:54.100 And whether it was, if it was a technical thing I did wrong, then I go back and work

00:58:00.440 on ways to round that out and make everything smoother, not get in that position again.

00:58:05.220 But sometimes it's mental, you know?

00:58:08.260 Yeah.

00:58:08.600 Yeah.

00:58:09.220 The kicks piss me off, dude.

00:58:10.600 I don't like when people kick that much.

00:58:12.180 I don't like dick kicks.

00:58:13.320 Really?

00:58:13.660 People do that?

00:58:14.260 No.

00:58:14.560 I mean, not supposed to, but it happens.

00:58:16.080 Really?

00:58:16.500 Oh, yeah.

00:58:16.820 Are there people out there that just do it just, that's part of their goal?

00:58:19.140 There's probably people out there who do it to get a breather, you know?

00:58:21.680 Oh, yeah.

00:58:22.560 You get one warning, right?

00:58:23.540 Oh, you do?

00:58:24.460 I'll fucking burn that bitch.

00:58:26.180 I'll burn that bitch at the start of the second round.

00:58:28.260 It's like a free time out in there.

00:58:29.320 I got a dick kick.

00:58:31.180 Hey, let's run up and both kick each other in the dick real fast and take a break.

00:58:34.520 You get a five minute break, man.

00:58:37.320 And there's no time outs or anything?

00:58:39.000 No, of course not.

00:58:40.180 Fuck.

00:58:40.600 Yeah.

00:58:41.760 Once the bell rings, you go.

00:58:43.160 Yeah?

00:58:43.500 Oh, yeah.

00:58:43.940 You go.

00:58:44.580 And do you, is there like a moment in the fight, say if like a fight goes five rounds,

00:58:50.000 right?

00:58:51.100 If it goes through all of them.

00:58:52.480 Uh-huh.

00:58:52.840 Is there a moment, like, is there usually like kind of a flow to a fight or is it different

00:58:58.580 every time?

00:59:00.260 Like if it goes five rounds, like if it.

00:59:03.140 There's definitely different rhythms.

00:59:04.440 Yeah.

00:59:04.640 In fights, you know.

00:59:05.600 Um, you kind of know, well, me from fighting so long and having so many fights, like I

00:59:11.900 know how I'm feeling in the fight, how we're matching up, what I'm doing, what I need to

00:59:16.020 switch, things like that.

00:59:18.020 Um, but every fight's different, man.

00:59:19.980 Every fight is a different.

00:59:21.540 Damn.

00:59:22.120 With that, uh, between three and five round fights, are you pacing yourself more in the

00:59:26.940 five or are you full speed?

00:59:28.580 I think my last three or four fights have all been five rounds scheduled for five and

00:59:32.300 I fight the same.

00:59:33.180 You know, I, uh, I prepare differently.

00:59:35.160 I try to get there a little bit lighter so I'm not cutting as much weight.

00:59:37.400 So like the fatigue doesn't set in over the, you know, dehydration and stuff doesn't mess

00:59:41.660 me up if we do go four or five rounds.

00:59:43.640 Um, but I, I, I fight from bell to bell, whether it's three rounds or five.

00:59:47.840 When you, it's so, it's different seeing you like some of your more recent fights and

00:59:51.300 your beginning fights.

00:59:51.980 It's so different.

00:59:52.780 But do you notice that when you watch them?

00:59:54.220 Oh, for sure.

00:59:54.540 Big time.

00:59:54.880 And I was a maniac.

00:59:55.860 I was just throwing punches and eyes closed, swinging for the fences.

00:59:58.960 Yeah.

00:59:59.180 Yeah.

00:59:59.500 Yeah.

00:59:59.740 One's like watching almost a kid and one is more like watching a man.

01:00:02.400 Do you notice that when you see them?

01:00:03.680 Yeah.

01:00:03.980 And I, and it is that I grew up in the sport.

01:00:06.900 So there's, there's fights of me being a kid and there's fights of me being a professional

01:00:11.500 fighter, uh, feeding his family.

01:00:13.580 That's wild.

01:00:14.180 Yeah.

01:00:15.260 Um, do we have any more questions next to Kevin?

01:00:17.820 Yeah.

01:00:18.020 There's a couple more.

01:00:19.140 They're kind of silly, but.

01:00:20.580 Let's take one.

01:00:21.160 And then I just have one more question.

01:00:22.300 And then we'll probably be able to.

01:00:24.100 All right.

01:00:25.720 Oh, I had one more actually is, um, are there fights that you've had that were like on a

01:00:32.340 card, but they weren't like pro fights that on your record, like in Louisiana, like just

01:00:36.040 in a bar in a cage.

01:00:37.660 So, uh, everywhere's different.

01:00:39.700 Um, and I didn't know that till I got out, out of Louisiana.

01:00:42.600 Um, in Florida, you have to have like, they can't need to the head and you can't, well,

01:00:48.380 kind of weird.

01:00:48.960 You have to have bigger gloves and you have to wear shin pads if you're an amateur.

01:00:51.440 Sure.

01:00:51.800 So I have nine fights in Louisiana that aren't on my pro record that are pro fights.

01:00:57.800 Wow.

01:00:58.140 I mean, I, right.

01:00:59.080 Yeah.

01:00:59.220 The same rules.

01:01:00.080 Yeah.

01:01:00.380 Small gloves, knees, you know, some of them where you're allowed to elbow.

01:01:05.760 So I, those just aren't on my record.

01:01:08.140 Yeah.

01:01:09.020 And took to like, and I've never really been out of Louisiana until I started traveling

01:01:13.160 for fighting.

01:01:13.780 Really?

01:01:14.200 Yeah.

01:01:14.440 So getting on a plane to go fight somebody, like, damn, first time on a plane is pretty

01:01:18.860 crazy.

01:01:19.200 You know, it's like the military.

01:01:20.440 It's like Vietnam.

01:01:21.360 It's like a lot of people.

01:01:22.380 The first time they got on a plane was just to go fight somebody, you know?

01:01:25.980 Damn.

01:01:26.900 But yeah, here's our, uh, last question then.

01:01:29.360 So for those that are only listening, he asked, uh, with the greatest fighter of all time,

01:01:43.040 Artem Lobov coming up fighting next weekend, how does Dustin think you would do against

01:01:47.220 him?

01:01:47.560 If you want to give a little background.

01:01:48.840 The goat, Artem Lobov is, uh, one of Conor McGregor's training partners.

01:01:52.360 Uh, I'm looking forward to watching him fight, man.

01:01:56.860 How would I match up against him?

01:01:58.860 I would stop him.

01:02:01.940 But, uh.

01:02:02.760 Who do you like to watch fight?

01:02:04.620 I like to watch fighters, fighters, guys like Nate Diaz.

01:02:07.520 I like watching him fight.

01:02:08.340 Yeah.

01:02:08.680 His brother.

01:02:11.260 Nick Diaz?

01:02:12.320 Yeah.

01:02:12.680 I like, I like watching both of them.

01:02:14.100 Eddie Alvarez, you know, Justin Gaethje.

01:02:16.220 Some of the guys that I've fought are really fun guys.

01:02:18.380 That's, that's why I take those fights.

01:02:19.940 So guys who I like to watch fight.

01:02:22.360 It excites me.

01:02:23.300 That's the kind of fights I want to be part of.

01:02:24.680 So that's why I fight a lot of those guys.

01:02:27.560 Dang, dude.

01:02:28.140 So now how many fights will you get presented that you will be, and you might be like, ah,

01:02:31.780 not for me.

01:02:32.220 It happens a good bit probably then.

01:02:34.300 Guys that want to take a shot at you.

01:02:35.740 Not as much as, as you think.

01:02:37.140 Really?

01:02:37.360 Yeah.

01:02:37.600 It's not like they send me a list of five names and say, here's a, here, pick a guy.

01:02:40.940 Yeah.

01:02:41.220 It's just kind of comes together at times.

01:02:43.100 Right.

01:02:43.400 You know, like, Hey, this guy, um, it seems like it's a decent matchup and he's going to be willing

01:02:48.560 to fight.

01:02:48.940 It just comes down to, um, timing.

01:02:50.860 He wants to fight this month.

01:02:52.520 You said, you'll be ready to fight this month.

01:02:54.380 You want to do this?

01:02:55.220 Yes or no?

01:02:55.660 Kind of that thing.

01:02:56.540 It's not like I have a choice that, that often, but I'll ask for certain people.

01:03:00.560 Yeah.

01:03:00.840 And then that's when they make it happen.

01:03:02.140 And do you, so say if some come in, will you like, uh, do you decide immediately?

01:03:06.820 Usually what's your process?

01:03:07.860 Do you kind of take a beat?

01:03:08.900 When they call me with a fight, I call my coaches.

01:03:11.060 I say, Hey, what do you think about this matchup?

01:03:12.640 And then we take the fight.

01:03:13.780 Yeah.

01:03:14.040 Yeah.

01:03:14.720 I've never turned down one.

01:03:16.000 You haven't?

01:03:16.440 No.

01:03:16.840 Wow.

01:03:19.200 Pretty fascinating.

01:03:20.040 You got this, uh, they got that Cormier Lewis fight coming up.

01:03:23.360 Yeah.

01:03:23.560 The black beast.

01:03:24.320 Oh, dude.

01:03:24.960 It sounds fucking crazy.

01:03:26.540 I can't even believe they're going to let these guys fucking fight each other.

01:03:28.820 Dude.

01:03:29.100 And they're Daniel.

01:03:30.020 They're both taking it pretty, pretty, uh, quick.

01:03:32.100 Like, you know, yeah, Lewis just fought and Daniel was probably two months ago at most.

01:03:36.620 Yeah.

01:03:36.940 Yeah.

01:03:37.880 Does, um, what, what happens in that?

01:03:40.920 What is a negative about taking a fight quickly?

01:03:43.240 The good thing is these guys are heavyweights, so they're not going to be far off.

01:03:45.860 You know, they, they can weigh whatever up to 265 pounds.

01:03:48.360 So they're not going to have to cut weight for me.

01:03:50.420 It would be a scramble because I'm obviously going to be a lot heavier than I would be after

01:03:53.800 a whole training camp.

01:03:54.620 So I'd have a lot of weight to cut.

01:03:55.760 You got to go in there and cut it up.

01:03:56.860 Oh yeah.

01:03:57.120 And that'd be really bad, you know?

01:03:58.220 Um, but you don't get time to train for the opponent.

01:04:01.560 Yeah.

01:04:01.880 You know, you don't get a lot of those sparring rounds and a lot of mat time that preparing

01:04:05.040 for a specific style.

01:04:06.340 There's lots of downfalls to taking short fights like that.

01:04:09.900 What do you see happening in the, uh, in the Lewis Cormier fight?

01:04:12.500 I think Daniel's going to take him down and he's not going to take the risk of throwing

01:04:15.780 punches with a real heavyweight.

01:04:16.940 You know, Daniel's a big guy, but Lewis is a lot bigger.

01:04:20.500 Yeah.

01:04:20.840 And, uh, he's known for knocking people out.

01:04:22.380 I think Daniel's going to wrestle him.

01:04:23.680 Yeah.

01:04:23.980 Yeah.

01:04:24.500 So if you got a guy that's trying to knock you out, you gotta, you gotta slow him down.

01:04:28.160 Unusually then.

01:04:29.360 Yeah.

01:04:29.760 Or you can break it down and try to counter punch him.

01:04:33.080 And there's, I mean, there's so many things you can do.

01:04:35.120 Were you right-handed or left-handed when you were a kid?

01:04:38.080 Right-handed.

01:04:38.600 And are you both handed now?

01:04:39.720 Yeah.

01:04:40.020 I use both hands for different things, but I fight left-handed now.

01:04:43.000 Really?

01:04:43.340 Yeah.

01:04:44.220 Fuck, bro.

01:04:45.960 That's crazy, dog.

01:04:48.120 I realized like if I'm, I noticed that it's if I'm gonna like do like hopscotch, I start

01:04:52.240 on my left foot.

01:04:53.440 Yeah.

01:04:53.880 I noticed that.

01:04:54.580 Yeah.

01:04:54.760 I can go right, but mostly I'm more left, man.

01:04:57.980 Yeah.

01:04:58.120 I just don't have that many athletic skills.

01:04:59.800 Like a sprint you would start with?

01:05:01.520 If a sprint, I think I would start, I wouldn't sprint anymore.

01:05:04.820 Okay.

01:05:05.120 Yeah.

01:05:05.580 Me either, man.

01:05:06.120 My hip.

01:05:06.700 Yeah.

01:05:07.000 I would shut it down.

01:05:07.940 Um, if the, so the stem cells you'll know in three weeks then?

01:05:11.820 Well, I think I'll know before they said I'll, I'll be able to go back to training in three

01:05:14.980 weeks.

01:05:15.200 I'll know before then.

01:05:16.080 I'll know how I'm feeling like within a week of the shots.

01:05:18.300 Right.

01:05:18.620 Yeah.

01:05:18.800 They're also doing synovial fluid.

01:05:20.540 So my joint is going to be, you know, lubricated.

01:05:22.980 Okay.

01:05:23.380 Get an oil changed out.

01:05:24.280 That's it, huh?

01:05:24.900 Yeah.

01:05:25.060 So dude, and that's just, now do you just really need enough to be able to get to that

01:05:29.600 fight?

01:05:30.360 Is that kind of how you think about it?

01:05:32.080 Well, they told me, uh, I mean, yeah, as long as I can have a healthy training camp and then

01:05:35.760 fight, whatever happens after that just happens.

01:05:37.380 That's kind of my mindset, but I want to do the right things.

01:05:39.340 And they told me that this could be anywhere from eight months relief to a year and a half.

01:05:44.100 It's hard to tell.

01:05:45.000 Everybody's different.

01:05:46.060 Okay.

01:05:46.380 So this is kind of like, I remember I got a part of my disc taken out once and they give

01:05:49.540 you like the same thing they give women when they're pregnant, they give them, um,

01:05:53.240 epidurals.

01:05:54.000 Right.

01:05:54.220 And so that would make it, so then totally like my back would be fine for like six to

01:05:57.400 eight months and then it would, uh, it would just get kind of bad again, but maybe it's

01:06:01.380 similar.

01:06:02.240 This is a little bit different, I think.

01:06:04.380 Yeah.

01:06:04.700 Maybe it's not even similar.

01:06:07.680 Oh, well, let's take one more question, man.

01:06:09.420 And then we'll shut it down.

01:06:11.540 Yo, what's up, baby girl.

01:06:12.780 This is, uh, Eric calling from Denver, Colorado.

01:06:16.180 And I thought you got, uh, that bad boy, the diamond on your show.

01:06:20.080 And I got a question for him.

01:06:21.700 Sorry, I'm talking kind of fast.

01:06:23.280 I've been doing some jokes, um, cocaine.

01:06:27.340 But, uh, yeah, my question is, uh, what was the craziest street fight he's ever seen or

01:06:33.320 been a part of?

01:06:34.580 And, uh, Theo, I think I know yours.

01:06:36.240 It was when you got, uh, when you ran into the head button champ and it didn't, uh, go

01:06:41.740 your way, but, uh, Theo, take care and, uh, we'll try and stop doing, uh, cocaine soon.

01:06:45.960 So, all right, boys.

01:06:47.240 Yeah.

01:06:47.420 Take care.

01:06:47.940 Good luck.

01:06:49.240 Good luck.

01:06:50.060 Yeah.

01:06:50.380 Good luck stopping doing cocaine, bro.

01:06:54.040 Oh, man.

01:06:54.740 I haven't been part of a street fight.

01:06:56.160 And to answer that question, I haven't been part of a street fight and I don't know how

01:06:58.400 long.

01:06:58.840 Yeah.

01:06:59.040 I don't want to do that.

01:06:59.780 I don't want to, that's a, I'm off the clock.

01:07:02.380 Yeah.

01:07:02.760 Did you ever see any though?

01:07:03.920 Have you ever seen some real wild ones?

01:07:05.960 Dude, last one that I could think of that I've been in was, uh, one Mardi Gras down in

01:07:11.060 Lafay, Louisiana.

01:07:11.620 I was at my brother's house and it was like a street party, you know, the whole, everybody's

01:07:15.060 out on the street.

01:07:15.560 And my wife was leaning over a fence talking to somebody.

01:07:18.680 And then guys from next door came over and like bent over her back while she was bending

01:07:24.540 over and put his hand on her stomach and like started talking in her ear.

01:07:27.960 And then, uh, bro.

01:07:29.700 You just saw red, huh?

01:07:30.960 Yeah.

01:07:31.320 I ripped him off.

01:07:32.440 I had a buddy of mine who fights.

01:07:33.860 He started dropping this other guy's people left and right.

01:07:37.120 Dude.

01:07:37.380 I mean, dude, a hundred percent.

01:07:40.160 Every shot that landed, everybody fell.

01:07:42.680 A hundred percent.

01:07:43.660 He shot a hundred percent from the field that night.

01:07:45.140 Uh, then I started punching this guy and then he, he had a lot more friends than we

01:07:51.540 did.

01:07:52.140 And, uh, my brother is not a fighter, so he, he didn't run, he didn't run out of the house

01:07:56.400 to come fight, but it was just like people were fighting everywhere.

01:07:58.840 He was a referee in that.

01:07:59.380 Yeah.

01:07:59.500 And I ended up getting my back up against a car cause they were jumping.

01:08:02.260 I was like, yeah.

01:08:03.140 And I got hit with a bunch of uppercuts.

01:08:05.200 It was crazy, man.

01:08:06.380 Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras things.

01:08:07.780 Mardi Gras is fun though.

01:08:08.540 Yeah.

01:08:08.780 Yeah.

01:08:09.060 Anything can happen at Mardi Gras, dude.

01:08:10.520 Yeah.

01:08:10.940 I love that, dude.

01:08:11.780 My buddy, uh, some guy slept in his truck all night one year.

01:08:15.140 Um, I slept in a portal that one time in New Orleans, man.

01:08:17.980 I didn't have a place.

01:08:18.840 Yeah.

01:08:19.120 Oh, like a port-a-potty?

01:08:20.520 Yeah.

01:08:20.800 I mean, the seat was down, but yeah.

01:08:23.020 That's like the Ritz-Carlton compared to where some people sleep out there.

01:08:25.580 That's true.

01:08:26.920 It gets a little deep out there, Mardi Gras.

01:08:29.380 Dude, I love, that's one thing I do miss about Mardi Gras, man.

01:08:31.920 Everybody would drink all day and anything could happen.

01:08:34.360 Yeah.

01:08:34.780 You could start a family.

01:08:35.820 You could start a fire.

01:08:36.680 You could start a family.

01:08:37.420 You could start a fight.

01:08:38.700 Anything could happen at Mardi Gras, man.

01:08:40.340 You'd end up with all kinds of strange people.

01:08:42.200 Yeah.

01:08:43.200 I miss that stuff, man.

01:08:44.440 I think some of what I miss really is just being young, you know, and not having those

01:08:48.500 responsibilities.

01:08:49.460 Like, dude, I remember when I was young, I would take a, you could take a nap and if

01:08:52.860 you, like, you didn't care how long it was.

01:08:55.900 You didn't set an alarm.

01:08:56.940 No.

01:08:57.240 Like, fuck it, bro.

01:08:58.300 Yeah.

01:08:58.700 I'm going to sleep.

01:08:59.900 I might wake up tomorrow.

01:09:01.680 Don't even matter.

01:09:02.420 Yeah, don't even matter.

01:09:03.300 And now it's just like everything is more just, uh, I guess adult, you know?

01:09:06.940 So, but I guess that's part of growing up.

01:09:10.040 Um, well, man, we wish you the best of luck, dude.

01:09:12.620 Thank you so much for coming in, bro.

01:09:14.000 This is really, really cool.

01:09:15.060 Thanks for having me on, man.

01:09:15.920 Yeah, man.

01:09:16.680 Uh, wish you the best of luck, man.

01:09:18.320 Uh, we're going to try and come out and, uh, and see one of those fights.

01:09:21.360 That'd be dope, man.

01:09:22.080 If you're ever back in Louisiana anytime soon, dude, hit me up.

01:09:25.360 Yeah.

01:09:25.680 And I'll show you a good time.

01:09:26.600 Yeah.

01:09:26.960 We eat some boudin crackling.

01:09:28.140 Dude, I'll come over there and do something, bro.

01:09:29.700 Do something strange.

01:09:30.260 You know what I'm saying?

01:09:30.860 Dude, I'll eat some fucking, I'll bring some fox meat, you know?

01:09:34.260 Fight some kangaroos.

01:09:35.180 Well, they had a couple of brothers that lived by me when I was in Baton Rouge.

01:09:37.380 They were always grilling dove outside of my apartment.

01:09:39.620 Dove.

01:09:39.920 Yeah.

01:09:40.340 And then I go out there, dude, and these two black dudes was always cooking dove, dude.

01:09:43.800 And I don't usually eat peaceful birds, you know?

01:09:45.800 No, right.

01:09:46.440 But then one day I was like, I'll fucking have some, man.

01:09:48.720 And it was good.

01:09:49.440 Keep it to violent birds most of the time, right?

01:09:50.960 Oh, dude, I'll fuck a toucan up.

01:09:52.920 You know what I'm saying?

01:09:53.980 Some toucan kebabs.

01:09:55.480 Oh, bro, forget about it.

01:09:56.560 I know.

01:09:58.040 Dustin Poirier, the diamond.

01:10:00.340 Best of luck in this upcoming fight, man.

01:10:01.960 I hope you heal up soon.

01:10:03.460 And we'll see you next time.

01:10:04.780 Thanks, brother.

01:10:05.180 Yeah.

01:10:06.120 Now I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.

01:10:11.800 I must be cornerstone.

01:10:16.880 Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found.

01:10:22.540 I can feel it in my bones.

01:10:26.820 But it's going to take a little time for me to set that parking brake.

01:10:34.780 And let myself on my eyes shine that light on me.

01:10:42.200 Well, thanks for watching that video right there.

01:10:50.160 That was a beautiful little segment, I think.

01:10:52.280 But of course, I'm partisan to myself.

01:10:55.100 But you can move on to another video right now.

01:10:57.200 You can check on this video or on this video.

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01:11:07.920 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jonathan Kite, and welcome to Kite Club, a podcast where I'll

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01:11:49.140 I'll take a quarter pounder with cheese and a McFlurry.

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This Past Weekend with Theo Von - October 25, 2018

Dustin Poirier ｜ This Past Weekend #142

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