Valuetainment - Dustin Poirier Opens up About Beating Conor McGregor

00:00:00.000 The first day I ever laced up a pair of boxing gloves and went to a gym, it felt like home.

00:00:08.000 The world's watching and there's no lying, no faking, no excuses.

00:00:12.000 In that 25 minutes of that fight, it's the truth.

00:00:17.000 The truth, I'm addicted to that.

00:00:19.000 Your fire is felt.

00:00:21.000 From the moment I walked into a gym and I started lacing up these boxing gloves,

00:00:26.000 a thought of money was never on my mind. It was always to be the best.

00:00:30.000 Everybody stand up and give it up to the one and only Dustin Poitier.

00:00:36.000 What's happening?

00:00:37.000 How you doing?

00:00:38.000 Doing good, man.

00:00:39.000 Good?

00:00:40.000 Excited to be here, yeah.

00:00:41.000 We're excited to have you.

00:00:42.000 Everybody was looking forward to this.

00:00:44.000 Dustin, you know before, I got a lot of things here to cover with you, with your history.

00:00:50.000 But before we get into it, the audience, just so you know who you're speaking to, raise your hand again so he knows who you are.

00:00:56.000 Anybody who's a founder here that runs their own businesses, raise your hand.

00:00:59.000 These are founders.

00:01:00.000 Anybody who's a C-suite executive, CEO, you run your own business.

00:01:03.000 Maybe you're doing a million dollars or more, raise your hand.

00:01:06.000 Any businesses you run, raise your hand.

00:01:08.000 Okay?

00:01:09.000 Any sales people, if you run sales or sales leaders, raise your hand.

00:01:13.000 From 150 different industries, just so you know who your audience is.

00:01:16.000 Yeah.

00:01:17.000 Nobody here can fight you and beat you up, so you're safe.

00:01:20.000 I don't think you're worried anyways, but I just want to put that disclaimer out there.

00:01:23.000 I'm off today.

00:01:24.000 I'm not fighting anybody.

00:01:26.000 That's good.

00:01:27.000 So Dustin, before we get started, for some guys that don't know your story, and they don't know how you came up, you got a pretty crazy story yourself.

00:01:34.000 If you don't mind taking a moment and sharing with everybody your story, that would be great to just get started with that.

00:01:38.000 Oh, yeah.

00:01:39.000 I don't know how far back I should start, but…

00:01:41.000 Go from eighth grade.

00:01:42.000 Go from when you were in school and, you know, some decisions you made and what you did.

00:01:47.000 Go all the way back.

00:01:48.000 Yeah, so in eighth grade, I was getting in a lot of trouble, running with the wrong crowd of people.

00:01:56.000 I ended up going to juvenile detention for a while.

00:01:59.000 When I got out, I started ninth grade and stopped, so I never graduated ninth grade.

00:02:05.000 And was just kind of running around aimlessly without a goal, without something to work towards.

00:02:12.000 And growing up, I always loved combat sports.

00:02:15.000 At what age?

00:02:16.000 Like how soon was it?

00:02:17.000 As far back as I can remember.

00:02:18.000 Oh, really?

00:02:19.000 Yeah.

00:02:20.000 I remember getting excited, going to a friend's house for Mike Tyson fights when he was fighting Holyfield.

00:02:25.000 And I just always loved boxing.

00:02:27.000 Boxing was what I wanted to do.

00:02:30.000 And eventually, I met some guys at a boxing gym who were doing mixed martial arts.

00:02:34.000 They were just working on their striking.

00:02:36.000 And I went to their gym, and the story is history.

00:02:38.000 You know, it just snowballed into a career of fighting.

00:02:41.000 But when I was younger, and when I dropped out of school, finding combat sports, the thing for me was when I was watching these guys fight, the grit and determination that they showed, I just for some reason knew I had that.

00:02:55.000 Whatever that was, I knew I could do that.

00:02:57.000 Didn't know if I could fight with the best guys in the world, but I knew I was willing to suffer more than the next guy.

00:03:02.000 You knew that at that fight?

00:03:03.000 I knew that.

00:03:04.000 I knew that whatever they had, I had.

00:03:06.000 How old were you when you got your first fist fight?

00:03:09.000 First fist fight?

00:03:10.000 Like a legit fight?

00:03:11.000 I would probably say 13 years old, maybe.

00:03:13.000 Do you remember that fight?

00:03:14.000 I've had so many of them.

00:03:16.000 I've had so many of them.

00:03:18.000 So 13 years old, if somebody was to say, you know, everybody has a reputation at that age.

00:03:23.000 Some kid was the athlete, some kid's the good-looking guy, some kid's the gangster, some kid's the guy that does baseball, cars, video games.

00:03:30.000 13 years old, what was your reputation?

00:03:34.000 The guy who did whatever he wanted.

00:03:36.000 You know, I just did whatever I wanted.

00:03:38.000 I didn't really, not that that's a good thing or I'm boasting about it.

00:03:41.000 I just, whatever I felt like doing, I did.

00:03:43.000 Whether it was against the law or against my mother asking me not to, I just kind of did what I wanted to do.

00:03:51.000 And I still do that these days, just much more focused and doing it the right way.

00:03:56.000 That same energy I had, I use it in the right way now.

00:03:59.000 Very cool.

00:04:00.000 Very cool.

00:04:01.000 So, when you're coming up at 13, at what point did you kind of get a feel that, I think I can fight pretty good against some of these guys?

00:04:10.000 What, did you have a moment where you're like, I think I can really compete with some of these guys?

00:04:14.000 The first day I ever laced up a pair of boxing gloves and went to a gym and started sweating and just the camaraderie of the other guys in there fighting and I just, it felt like home.

00:04:25.000 That's where I wanted to be with those guys.

00:04:27.000 I mean, from that day, I never looked back and I completely changed my circle and changed my focus and kind of just got drowned and lost in that.

00:04:36.000 And it's still that for me.

00:04:38.000 Was that in Lafayette?

00:04:39.000 Was it in New Orleans or was it here?

00:04:41.000 Lafayette.

00:04:42.000 Yeah.

00:04:43.000 Coming up.

00:04:44.000 And who were some of the guys that were mentoring you?

00:04:45.000 Was there any names?

00:04:46.000 Did you have gyms you went to where there was, you know, reputable boxers?

00:04:50.000 So, I went to a mixed martial arts gym.

00:04:53.000 It was the only one in Lafayette at the time.

00:04:55.000 But the TV show, Ultimate Fighter, I'm not sure if you've heard of it.

00:04:59.000 Sure, of course.

00:05:00.000 It was just starting to like be a big thing.

00:05:01.000 That was like when Forrest Griffin fought and it was on Spike TV.

00:05:04.000 One of the guys from Louisiana got a call to be on the show.

00:05:09.000 And when he came back, he opened his own gym.

00:05:11.000 And me and all the guys who were at this other gym went, you know, we moved to his gym and I started learning from him.

00:05:17.000 And he was the first black belt in jiu-jitsu in Louisiana's history.

00:05:20.000 And he's built a stable of incredible fighters.

00:05:23.000 One of his guys just won Tuesday night on Dana White's Contender Series and got a contract in the UFC.

00:05:29.000 Wow.

00:05:30.000 So, I mean, he was a huge part of my career.

00:05:32.000 So, legit, like he had a reputation.

00:05:34.000 Oh, yeah.

00:05:35.000 Okay.

00:05:36.000 And was he also like a father figure, brother, like older brother guy, like, you know, kind of in your direction as well?

00:05:40.000 Yeah.

00:05:41.000 He was, I'm not sure how old he, how much older he is.

00:05:43.000 I would say at least seven, eight years older than me.

00:05:46.000 But he had his stuff together.

00:05:47.000 He went to, for me, you know, he went to college.

00:05:49.000 He was running a business.

00:05:51.000 He was married.

00:05:52.000 So, he definitely was a father figure.

00:05:54.000 Got it.

00:05:55.000 So, good example.

00:05:56.000 By the way, just so you know, you don't need to worry about your past.

00:05:58.000 Many of us have similar pasts here.

00:06:00.000 I'm a one-pointed GPA kid in high school, divorced family.

00:06:02.000 There was nothing going in the right direction.

00:06:04.000 My savior was military.

00:06:05.000 Instead of, you know, you went fighting.

00:06:07.000 I went in the army.

00:06:08.000 That was my direction.

00:06:09.000 And then I got, I went in business.

00:06:10.000 So, at this point, what year would it be?

00:06:13.000 Because I'm trying to see going back during that time was what?

00:06:16.000 Pride was going on?

00:06:17.000 Oh, yeah.

00:06:18.000 What were some of the...

00:06:19.000 UFC had just bought pride around that time.

00:06:21.000 Got it.

00:06:22.000 It was like Rampage Jackson.

00:06:23.000 Yup.

00:06:24.000 Vandele Silva.

00:06:25.000 Those guys were just coming over to the UFC.

00:06:26.000 So, it was an exciting time in mixed martial arts.

00:06:28.000 The IFL was really big back then.

00:06:30.000 Wow.

00:06:31.000 You're taking it back.

00:06:32.000 Yeah.

00:06:33.000 Holy moly.

00:06:34.000 Because you're...

00:06:35.000 Are you January 16th, 89?

00:06:37.000 What year is your...

00:06:39.000 January 19th, 89.

00:06:40.000 January 19th, 89.

00:06:41.000 Yeah.

00:06:42.000 So, you're 32 years old.

00:06:43.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:06:44.000 32 years old, whooping some ass. 1.00

00:06:45.000 How awesome is that, by the way, right? 1.00

00:06:46.000 When you think about that.

00:06:47.000 Freaking amazing.

00:06:48.000 Okay.

00:06:49.000 So, you know, you said you watched Tyson.

00:06:52.000 Who else were some of the guys that you modeled?

00:06:54.000 Were you...

00:06:55.000 My mom, when the Muhammad Ali movie came out, Will Smith, we went...

00:07:01.000 She brought me opening night just because she knew...

00:07:03.000 I was also very big into how Muhammad Ali did what he thought was right against everyone's

00:07:11.000 judgment, you know?

00:07:12.000 Not going to war, getting his title stripped.

00:07:14.000 That's powerful, you know, to put your foot down.

00:07:17.000 So, you respected...

00:07:18.000 I respect him.

00:07:19.000 Who do you think is the modern-day Ali right now?

00:07:21.000 Who would you say is a Ali? 0.95

00:07:23.000 Oh, man.

00:07:24.000 The landscape of combat sports has changed so much.

00:07:27.000 I can't put a name to that one.

00:07:29.000 That's a tough one.

00:07:30.000 So, you got Tyson.

00:07:32.000 You got Ali.

00:07:33.000 By the way, I remember that movie when it first came out.

00:07:34.000 Great movie.

00:07:35.000 Will crushed it in that movie.

00:07:36.000 Yeah.

00:07:37.000 The story was fantastic.

00:07:38.000 I think they're working on a Tyson movie right now.

00:07:40.000 They're working on a Tyson movie right now?

00:07:41.000 Yeah.

00:07:42.000 We had Tyson on two weeks ago.

00:07:44.000 We had an event at MGM Grand Arena.

00:07:45.000 And we had Tyson at the event.

00:07:46.000 And it was very different kind of a hearing his story.

00:07:51.000 And he told the story, he said, when I was nine years old, I had $5,500 in my pocket because

00:07:58.000 I was street fighting and I was knocking kids' fathers out at nine years old.

00:08:04.000 He says, so I knocked out this kid and this kid went and grabbed his dad.

00:08:08.000 Then I knocked his dad out.

00:08:10.000 And he says, the first time I had a fight, he says, here's how I fought.

00:08:13.000 He says, I closed my eyes and I went like this.

00:08:15.000 And I saw the guy on the floor. 0.99

00:08:16.000 I'm like, oh shit, I can knock people out. 0.99

00:08:18.000 Was there a moment where you were kind of like, I can pack a punch? 1.00

00:08:23.000 Just being in the gym and fighting the guys who were established already, guys who were

00:08:26.000 professional fighters.

00:08:27.000 And I was still an amateur, doing well, holding my own with those guys.

00:08:31.000 I knew it.

00:08:32.000 But like I said, before I even put those gloves on, I knew I can do this.

00:08:36.000 I was overconfident in it.

00:08:39.000 But also, as I got older, I realized how much goes into this.

00:08:42.000 Like, ignorance is bliss when you're that young.

00:08:44.000 No question.

00:08:45.000 I'm just going into the gym thinking I'm going to beat everybody.

00:08:47.000 You continue to grow and get better skill-wise, but you get humbled through the process.

00:08:52.000 So when the ultimate fighter, who was the ultimate fighter when you started first following it?

00:08:56.000 Because I remember there was, who was the guy that, yes, yes.

00:08:59.000 Oh, Diego Sanchez.

00:09:00.000 Diego Sanchez.

00:09:01.000 Wow, he used to be very entertaining.

00:09:02.000 I remember watching him years ago.

00:09:04.000 But who was the ultimate fighter back then when you were following him?

00:09:06.000 It was Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonner.

00:09:08.000 Got it.

00:09:09.000 That's when it really blew up and UFC was on the map when that fight happened.

00:09:14.000 So your route isn't necessarily UFC.

00:09:17.000 You started off with, what is it, extreme cage fighting, am I saying?

00:09:21.000 WEC.

00:09:22.000 WEC.

00:09:23.000 Yeah.

00:09:24.000 And you started there.

00:09:25.000 Walk us through that, because I think you had two fights there.

00:09:27.000 The first one you actually lost, and then you won the second fight.

00:09:30.000 First loss.

00:09:31.000 First loss in my professional career.

00:09:33.000 First loss in your professional career.

00:09:34.000 Yeah.

00:09:35.000 Who won the first?

00:09:36.000 That was a heartbreaker for me, because fighting locally in Louisiana as a professional,

00:09:39.000 I wasn't making a lot of money, but sponsorships and people knew me there, so we could fill

00:09:46.000 out arenas and I could make a little bit of money, enough to support me and my wife.

00:09:50.000 Because me and my wife, we've been married 12 years, and we bought a house when we were

00:09:54.000 19 years old.

00:09:55.000 So I had a mortgage.

00:09:56.000 I had grown man bills, and I was a young kid trying to fight and make money.

00:09:59.000 Wow.

00:10:00.000 You've been married 12 years.

00:10:01.000 Yeah.

00:10:02.000 And she's in a bag, no?

00:10:03.000 Yeah.

00:10:04.000 Yeah, I saw your wife in a bag. 1.00

00:10:05.000 That's cool.

00:10:06.000 19 years old.

00:10:07.000 You guys are still together.

00:10:08.000 I mean, what's the secret sauce there?

00:10:09.000 You're all over every magazine, every TV, everywhere.

00:10:12.000 How are you making your marriage work?

00:10:14.000 I just got lucky and got the right one.

00:10:16.000 You know, she's my best friend.

00:10:18.000 And I think I wouldn't have accomplished a lot without her, so.

00:10:22.000 Awesome.

00:10:23.000 That's great.

00:10:26.000 So, you have the first fight.

00:10:29.000 Sometimes if you're coming out and your first fight kind of doesn't go your way,

00:10:32.000 can psychologically mess with you.

00:10:33.000 Did it do anything to you, or did the coach kind of come back and say, it's okay, it's

00:10:36.000 not a big deal?

00:10:37.000 Yeah, here's the thing.

00:10:38.000 So I thought that the World Extreme Cage Fighting was a big organization.

00:10:42.000 It was on TV.

00:10:43.000 You know, the championships were respected, and I was fighting on the local scene.

00:10:47.000 I got a fight up in Canada, and that's what got me signed to the WEC.

00:10:51.000 So I was so excited to go to Vegas for my first time, you know, traveling across the

00:10:55.000 country to fight.

00:10:56.000 I was going to be on TV.

00:10:57.000 I get out there and I lose, and then I get my check.

00:11:01.000 And I thought I was here.

00:11:02.000 I was going to make it.

00:11:03.000 Life is about to change now.

00:11:05.000 And then medicals are deducted from my check.

00:11:08.000 My coaches' flights are deducted from my check.

00:11:10.000 All these things.

00:11:12.000 And I can't survive on this when I got the check.

00:11:14.000 I was making more money fighting locally.

00:11:16.000 So it was a heartbreaking moment for me.

00:11:18.000 Wow.

00:11:19.000 Yeah.

00:11:20.000 So we got back home, reevaluated some things, and just kept my foot on the gas.

00:11:24.000 But, yeah, that was a heartbreaker, my first loss as a professional.

00:11:28.000 How big was the check?

00:11:29.000 Can you – was it $5,000, $10,000, $20,000?

00:11:31.000 No.

00:11:32.000 I think I was making $4,000 to show up.

00:11:36.000 The way fighting works with mixed martial arts, at the beginning you get a show and a

00:11:39.000 win.

00:11:40.000 If you win, you get the other half of your purse.

00:11:41.000 So I was making like $3,000 or $4,000.

00:11:43.000 I lost, so I didn't get the other half.

00:11:45.000 And then everything was deducted, you know.

00:11:48.000 As a young kid, I don't know how much flights really cost.

00:11:50.000 Wow.

00:11:51.000 They're booking.

00:11:52.000 I'm letting them book my coaches' flights.

00:11:53.000 It's $600 for his flight, you know.

00:11:56.000 And I have a few coaches.

00:11:58.000 So I get my check and I might have like $1,200.

00:12:00.000 And I got to fly back home and look at my wife.

00:12:02.000 You know, we didn't even have money for her to go. 1.00

00:12:04.000 I didn't even have money to get the hotel room, you know.

00:12:08.000 And –

00:12:09.000 That's your first fight.

00:12:10.000 That was my first loss as a professional.

00:12:12.000 How did you not get – like, you're coming back.

00:12:14.000 So you're coming back and your wife is saying,

00:12:16.000 Babe, we didn't make no money on this one.

00:12:18.000 Yeah, we lost money on this one.

00:12:19.000 Yeah, so was there ever a time where you're like,

00:12:21.000 I just don't think this is the world for me to be in.

00:12:23.000 I got to go figure out another way to make money.

00:12:24.000 Did you ever have that moment?

00:12:25.000 There's been a few times in my career where I've had that moment.

00:12:27.000 Okay.

00:12:28.000 You mind talking about those moments?

00:12:29.000 Yeah, I – that was one of them.

00:12:32.000 The first time I fought Conor McGregor was another one.

00:12:34.000 I was close to a title shot.

00:12:35.000 I was ranked in the top two in the world.

00:12:38.000 And I went out there and got beat by a guy who was running his mouth

00:12:41.000 and saying all these things, you know.

00:12:44.000 And when I got back home, I was just like looking in the mirror saying,

00:12:48.000 what am I doing here?

00:12:49.000 Like, what's going on?

00:12:50.000 I put everything I had into this and I went out there and lost.

00:12:53.000 And I just –

00:12:54.000 That was 2014?

00:12:55.000 2014.

00:12:56.000 You were seven years.

00:12:57.000 You were 25 years old at the time.

00:12:59.000 Yeah.

00:13:00.000 But I was on a good streak.

00:13:01.000 Like, it was me or him who were going to fight for the belt.

00:13:03.000 Oh, yeah.

00:13:04.000 Yeah.

00:13:05.000 And I took that loss and that one really – they all hurt.

00:13:09.000 But just got back home and I usually – when those things happen,

00:13:13.000 I drown myself in the work so I don't think about it.

00:13:17.000 I just get back in the gym every day working, grinding,

00:13:20.000 and it takes my mind off of those.

00:13:23.000 Do you have another routine to stay mentally stable and calm?

00:13:27.000 Like, do you and your wife, do you say,

00:13:29.000 babe, you can't talk to that guy.

00:13:30.000 That guy's negative.

00:13:31.000 You can't call this person.

00:13:32.000 Or, hey, do you do reading books, audio, mute?

00:13:36.000 What is your way of keeping yourself calm?

00:13:38.000 In – or just in general?

00:13:40.000 Just – no, you're coming back.

00:13:41.000 So, I mean, your record is what, 28 and 6.

00:13:43.000 Am I saying it correctly?

00:13:44.000 Are you – what's your record?

00:13:47.000 My professional record I think is 28 and 6.

00:13:49.000 Okay.

00:13:50.000 So, meaning, like, you know, we run businesses, man.

00:13:53.000 Not every decision we make.

00:13:54.000 We take losses all the time.

00:13:55.000 So, there isn't anybody in that world that's not going to have their moment,

00:13:59.000 except we got one guy.

00:14:00.000 And that one guy, if he continues fighting, maybe somebody could get him.

00:14:03.000 You know, we're talking about Khabib, right, outside of him.

00:14:05.000 Yeah.

00:14:06.000 But for the most part, everybody has eventually that they're going to take a loss.

00:14:08.000 How do you process a loss?

00:14:10.000 Because here's the difference that, gang, we have a different way of losing

00:14:14.000 versus Dustin and his world.

00:14:16.000 When we lose is in an office.

00:14:18.000 Nineteen people hear about a loss.

00:14:20.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:14:21.000 Yeah.

00:14:22.000 When we lose, oh, maybe people find that at a regional in front of 100 people

00:14:25.000 that just said we're running a real estate company or whatever business.

00:14:27.000 Right.

00:14:28.000 When you guys fight…

00:14:29.000 The world is watching.

00:14:30.000 The world is watching.

00:14:31.000 The world is watching you.

00:14:32.000 How do you manage that loss?

00:14:34.000 I get back home and I try to…

00:14:36.000 Not only in fighting, but in my life. 0.98

00:14:38.000 I make dumb mistakes all the time. 0.74

00:14:40.000 And in fighting, when I make a mistake that gets me caught or gets me in trouble 0.93

00:14:44.000 and I lose a fight, I try not to make it again.

00:14:47.000 That's, you know, being better than yesterday is my goal every day I wake up.

00:14:52.000 And in fighting and in life, that's what I do.

00:14:55.000 What led to this mistake?

00:14:56.000 How can I tighten up and not do this again?

00:14:58.000 Just try to learn from it, you know?

00:15:00.000 And I try to live my life that way.

00:15:02.000 Do you watch tapes?

00:15:03.000 Like, do you sit there and you watch the fight after fight or no?

00:15:06.000 You guys don't watch the fight?

00:15:07.000 I have to let it breathe a little bit.

00:15:09.000 Depends how it…

00:15:10.000 Yeah.

00:15:11.000 I have to let the emotions kind of get out of me so I can really digest what I'm

00:15:13.000 watching and try to break it down.

00:15:15.000 But me and my team will sit down and replay the fight and see things that we were

00:15:18.000 doing wrong and we could do better, always.

00:15:20.000 Is the team that you have around you, are they those who are comfortable telling you

00:15:26.000 the truth to say, Dustin, I don't know why you did this.

00:15:28.000 You know not to do this.

00:15:29.000 You did this three times in training.

00:15:30.000 Do they talk to you pretty…

00:15:31.000 Yeah.

00:15:32.000 Like, level of accountability is very open.

00:15:33.000 Have to be in fighting because there's no lying in there.

00:15:36.000 You know?

00:15:37.000 It's not like a…

00:15:38.000 I don't know how it is in the business office world.

00:15:40.000 Like, I can't…

00:15:41.000 You might be able to cover some stuff with some whiteout and change some numbers here

00:15:44.000 and there.

00:15:45.000 The world's watching and there's no lying, no faking, no excuses.

00:15:48.000 In that 25 minutes of that fight, it's the truth.

00:15:52.000 And that's…

00:15:53.000 Honestly, that's the only thing I still love about this sport is that the fight is the

00:15:57.000 truth.

00:15:58.000 Because everything's so fabricated and online and people have opinions.

00:16:01.000 It's just…

00:16:02.000 The truth…

00:16:03.000 I'm addicted to that.

00:16:04.000 Yeah, the truth is going to be revealed in that octagon.

00:16:06.000 Yeah.

00:16:07.000 Everyone's going to know you can talk all you want.

00:16:09.000 Yeah.

00:16:10.000 And those guys around me, you know, I don't have yes men around me.

00:16:12.000 Those guys cut it straight.

00:16:14.000 Very cool.

00:16:15.000 So, coming up.

00:16:16.000 So, you do your first two fights and then UFC 2011, I think you start going into UFC.

00:16:22.000 You're coming up.

00:16:23.000 At what point did the world kind of realize, this guy's legit?

00:16:27.000 What was the one fight that you had when everybody started saying he's legit?

00:16:30.000 I had a unique opportunity coming from the WEC.

00:16:34.000 When I was signed to the WEC, UFC bought the company.

00:16:37.000 So, they merged all the fighters onto their roster.

00:16:40.000 And a guy named Jose Aldo, if you're a fight fan…

00:16:42.000 Of course, yeah.

00:16:43.000 …legendary world champion Jose Aldo is.

00:16:45.000 He was getting ready to fight a guy named Josh Grisby on a New Year's card in the MGM Grand

00:16:49.000 in Las Vegas.

00:16:50.000 And Jose hurt his neck.

00:16:52.000 And they needed like a tune-up, keep the guy ready for when Jose's healthy.

00:16:56.000 And they called me.

00:16:58.000 And I actually got the call.

00:17:00.000 I was in the gym training on the mats when I got the call.

00:17:03.000 So, I was in the right spot.

00:17:04.000 And they asked me to cut down to 145 pounds for this opportunity to fight the number one contender.

00:17:09.000 What were you at that time when they called you?

00:17:11.000 I was fighting at 155 pounds, but I was probably 180 something.

00:17:15.000 So, you had to cut down 30…

00:17:17.000 Yeah.

00:17:18.000 35 pounds.

00:17:19.000 Yeah.

00:17:20.000 No, 120…

00:17:21.000 That's right, 25 pounds.

00:17:22.000 Yeah.

00:17:23.000 But when Dana White calls you and you're a young kid and this is going to be your first

00:17:26.000 fight in the UFC, you say yes.

00:17:27.000 You said 155 or 145?

00:17:29.000 This one was 145.

00:17:30.000 I've never made that in my career as a fighter, amateur or a pro, until that call.

00:17:36.000 When those fights happen, does a Dana call or does somebody on Dana's team call your

00:17:40.000 camp and say, hey, is he ready to fight?

00:17:42.000 Usually, it's somebody in the office at the UFC, but on these kind of things, Dana will

00:17:47.000 call.

00:17:48.000 Dana calls and then who comes and tells you, hey, you got a big fight potentially

00:17:52.000 coming up?

00:17:53.000 I was in the gym, so my coach, my buddy Tim, who was on the Ultimate Fighter came and said,

00:17:56.000 hey, it's happening.

00:17:57.000 You're going to the UFC.

00:17:58.000 And we kind of knew that because the company bought the WEC.

00:18:00.000 Got it.

00:18:01.000 So, we knew we were going to be merged over, but I didn't know it was going to be that

00:18:04.000 soon.

00:18:05.000 I might have had a few weeks to prepare.

00:18:07.000 But I went in there and you asked me when I felt like I got on the scene.

00:18:11.000 I went in there and I had a unanimous decision over the number one contender at 145 pounds.

00:18:15.000 That's pretty sick, by the way.

00:18:16.000 And made a big splash, yeah.

00:18:17.000 And that's 10 years ago.

00:18:19.000 You were 21 years old.

00:18:20.000 Yeah.

00:18:21.000 Guys, that's pretty insane to do something like that.

00:18:24.000 Okay.

00:18:25.000 So, now you leave.

00:18:27.000 Now you're saying, are you thinking, are you talking to guys saying, hey, listen, the sky's

00:18:32.000 the limit for us right now.

00:18:33.000 What are you thinking at that moment?

00:18:34.000 That win, out of all the wins, I've won the interim championship when I beat Max Holloway

00:18:40.000 in Atlanta.

00:18:41.000 Sick.

00:18:42.000 That first win, getting my hand raised in the UFC for the first time, is still one of

00:18:49.000 the best feelings, most memorable feelings that I've had, because I always thought I

00:18:52.000 could compete with those guys.

00:18:54.000 But to go in there and beat the number one contender on short notice, I felt like everything

00:18:57.000 was stacked against me.

00:18:58.000 It really felt like, all right, I can do anything here.

00:19:01.000 I can be the world champion.

00:19:03.000 I mean, of course.

00:19:04.000 I mean, if you're going with a guy like that at 21 years old, you're not even at your prime

00:19:08.000 yet.

00:19:09.000 Yeah.

00:19:10.000 What age in this business is prime?

00:19:11.000 Everybody's different genetics.

00:19:12.000 Yeah.

00:19:13.000 But for me, the way I look at it is you start off with your athletic ability to be high.

00:19:18.000 Okay.

00:19:19.000 And fighting is so mental.

00:19:20.000 It's not only your skill set in fighting.

00:19:22.000 Everybody punches hard.

00:19:23.000 Everybody's fast at this level.

00:19:24.000 We're all great athletes.

00:19:25.000 Everybody works their ass off.

00:19:28.000 There's a prime moment where the athletics here and the minds here, and you start to age,

00:19:34.000 and it comes down, and when they even out, that's when you're in your prime and everybody's

00:19:38.000 different.

00:19:39.000 That's my time right now.

00:19:40.000 You're at your prime right now.

00:19:41.000 Yeah.

00:19:42.000 You're looking at it.

00:19:43.000 Oh, man.

00:19:44.000 So, right now, like, you know, who do you think you can go up against and win?

00:19:53.000 Is there any fight that you would like to see happen where you're fighting?

00:19:56.000 I'm just waiting on the contract.

00:19:58.000 It looks like I'm going to be fighting for the lightweight world championship December

00:20:01.000 11th in Las Vegas.

00:20:02.000 Yeah.

00:20:03.000 And it's against?

00:20:04.000 Against Charles Oliveira.

00:20:05.000 Really?

00:20:06.000 Yeah.

00:20:07.000 It's not been signed yet, though.

00:20:08.000 It's not been signed yet.

00:20:09.000 It's not been signed yet.

00:20:10.000 They actually leaked the news yesterday, so it's starting to get out there.

00:20:13.000 But I've agreed to it.

00:20:14.000 December 11th, I'm going to be the world champion.

00:20:16.000 Very cool.

00:20:17.000 Well, we're definitely looking forward to that.

00:20:18.000 So, now, the fight when you won with the Aldo fight, was that actually the first one where

00:20:23.000 you got a little bit of money?

00:20:24.000 Did you get a taste of money there or no?

00:20:25.000 Yeah.

00:20:26.000 So, that was the biggest payday I've had to that point.

00:20:29.000 And I just remember going home.

00:20:30.000 I think we paid off my wife's car.

00:20:32.000 I didn't have a car at the time early in our career.

00:20:34.000 I used to ride a bike to the gym.

00:20:36.000 Sick.

00:20:37.000 My wife would bring me or borrow my mom's van and go. 1.00

00:20:40.000 It was just crazy, you know.

00:20:41.000 But paid off the car, got ahead and put some money in the bank and then just, it's been

00:20:46.000 that ever since, trying to do it the right way.

00:20:48.000 It's amazing.

00:20:49.000 That's great to see.

00:20:50.000 Now, you have the fight that is coming up in December.

00:20:54.000 You said December is going to be the card.

00:20:56.000 December 11.

00:20:57.000 And with all the stuff that's going on, there's a few characters I'm curious about

00:21:01.000 with you.

00:21:02.000 So, one, you fought a lot of different guys.

00:21:04.000 Okay?

00:21:05.000 And you fought different styles of guys in UFC.

00:21:09.000 Who to you, you say, when this guy punches, it's the heavy.

00:21:14.000 He packs a punch.

00:21:15.000 Who's above everybody?

00:21:16.000 I know we can say everybody packs a good punch.

00:21:18.000 Right.

00:21:19.000 Is there anybody that you said, I felt this guy's punch?

00:21:21.000 Conor McGregor.

00:21:22.000 No doubt about it.

00:21:23.000 You put Conor at the top.

00:21:24.000 Yeah.

00:21:25.000 As the biggest puncher I've fought?

00:21:26.000 Yes.

00:21:27.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:21:28.000 Oh, shit. 1.00

00:21:29.000 He's a special individual for sure. 1.00

00:21:30.000 Wow.

00:21:31.000 And you fought him what?

00:21:32.000 You fought him 14 and then 21-21.

00:21:34.000 Fought him in 2014.

00:21:36.000 Lost.

00:21:37.000 And I was on his, you know, in his trajectory was just, sky was the limit.

00:21:41.000 He was on his way up.

00:21:42.000 And he tore through everybody.

00:21:44.000 Became a two weight world champion.

00:21:45.000 But, yeah.

00:21:46.000 And I fought him twice this year.

00:21:48.000 So, this year when you get the first fight, the second fight, the third fight, do you

00:21:53.000 feel any different when he packs his punch or is it still the same?

00:21:56.000 Still the same.

00:21:57.000 Very dangerous.

00:21:58.000 It's just, I've felt differently mentally going into it.

00:22:02.000 You think the biggest difference between you and 14-21 is mental or is it skills as well?

00:22:07.000 Some areas where you saw some weaknesses where you can exploit?

00:22:10.000 For sure my skills got better over the years.

00:22:13.000 You know, all the work wasn't done in vain.

00:22:15.000 But my mental side is what lost me that first fight, you know?

00:22:19.000 And what won me these last two fights.

00:22:21.000 That's two fights.

00:22:22.000 Ground.

00:22:23.000 If you were to say somebody who you went up against, went up against that ground game 0.96

00:22:27.000 is just ridiculous. 0.91

00:22:28.000 Khabib Nurmagomedov. 0.98

00:22:29.000 Yeah.

00:22:30.000 Would you put him like in a league of his own?

00:22:32.000 A lot of people call him as the league of his own type of guy.

00:22:34.000 Would you put him?

00:22:35.000 Never felt anything like it, you know?

00:22:36.000 And I have 46 fights.

00:22:37.000 I've fought all kinds of different people, all kinds of different styles.

00:22:40.000 Been around the world, training in gyms.

00:22:42.000 This guy, this guy's good.

00:22:44.000 What's unique about it?

00:22:45.000 Tell us about it.

00:22:46.000 His understanding of his weight distribution, where my weight needs to be to keep me up,

00:22:51.000 to build back up, and his understanding of grappling is impressive.

00:22:57.000 The best I've ever felt.

00:22:58.000 The best I've ever seen.

00:22:59.000 You know, the guy's 30-0.

00:23:01.000 In MMA, that's a hard thing to do. 0.99

00:23:03.000 There's so many variables.

00:23:04.000 There's so many ways to lose.

00:23:05.000 And to be 30-0 against the best guys in the world is, you know, very impressive.

00:23:12.000 But his understanding of what I needed to do and what positions I needed to be in to advance,

00:23:20.000 he was steps ahead of me.

00:23:22.000 If he decides, let's just say you win in December. 0.99

00:23:25.000 Hypothetically.

00:23:26.000 You win, fight is over.

00:23:27.000 In your mind, you're going to win the fight.

00:23:28.000 So that's over with.

00:23:29.000 Okay, so now Dustin's the guy.

00:23:30.000 You're everywhere, right?

00:23:32.000 I'm talking every freak.

00:23:33.000 Everybody has to come through.

00:23:35.000 You.

00:23:36.000 You call the shots.

00:23:37.000 If he wanted to, and you guys fought in 2022, how confident are you if you went up

00:23:42.000 against Khabib?

00:23:43.000 I'm very confident.

00:23:44.000 I can beat anybody in the world.

00:23:45.000 Anybody in the world.

00:23:50.000 But at the same time, I'm honest with myself and I understand this is combat sports.

00:23:54.000 And I can lose to anyone as well.

00:23:56.000 But my skill set, I believe 100% of my skill set and work ethic, I can beat anyone.

00:24:00.000 It's exciting to be in that state.

00:24:02.000 And, you know, what makes you unique is your level of humility.

00:24:04.000 So, what's been happening a lot lately is with Jake Paul, Tyrone Woodley.

00:24:11.000 I don't know if you saw the fight.

00:24:12.000 Oh, you were at the fight.

00:24:13.000 I was at the fight, yeah.

00:24:14.000 You were at the fight.

00:24:15.000 I saw you were everywhere, yeah.

00:24:16.000 What did you think about the fight, Jake against Tyrone?

00:24:18.000 I thought Tyrone was going to do a lot better than that.

00:24:21.000 You know, he's been in the gym for the last 15 years fighting, training mixed martial arts.

00:24:25.000 He's a former world champion.

00:24:26.000 But he's not a boxer.

00:24:27.000 He's a big puncher.

00:24:28.000 But he's not a boxer.

00:24:29.000 The art of boxing is different.

00:24:31.000 It's a different thing.

00:24:33.000 You think if you, like, I'm not saying it's going to happen.

00:24:36.000 I'm just saying if you did fight these guys as a boxer, is there any chance they can go up against you if they box you?

00:24:42.000 I think I beat all these guys in boxing.

00:24:44.000 Every one of these guys?

00:24:45.000 Yeah, these social media guys crossing over?

00:24:47.000 Social media guys?

00:24:48.000 Yeah.

00:24:49.000 Yeah, I punished them.

00:24:50.000 Yeah.

00:24:51.000 Do it.

00:24:52.000 Confidently.

00:24:53.000 Confidently.

00:24:54.000 It's not even like a talk.

00:24:55.000 I'm not being cocky.

00:24:56.000 I know you're not being cocky.

00:24:57.000 It's not your style.

00:24:58.000 This is how I feed my family.

00:24:59.000 And I've grown up in the gyms and become a man in these gyms under the pressure and fire of fighting.

00:25:04.000 So when I speak about fighting, I speak about it strongly because I care about this stuff.

00:25:07.000 No, by the way, just so you know, it's felt.

00:25:10.000 Your fire is felt.

00:25:11.000 You can't act that way.

00:25:12.000 It's very natural.

00:25:13.000 So Max, you know, historically is known as being one of the better boxers in MMA.

00:25:20.000 And you went up against him twice and you won both times.

00:25:23.000 And the second fight you guys had, sick fight.

00:25:26.000 I mean, we should have paid $300 to watch that fight.

00:25:29.000 Was that sick of a fight?

00:25:30.000 What is it like fighting Max?

00:25:31.000 Max is a guy who his pace is hard to keep up with.

00:25:36.000 Fortunately for me, I work hard and build my aerobic capacity and my cardio and muscle endurance, but I have a natural gift.

00:25:44.000 I'm thankful for it, but I can be out of shape off the couch and go to the gym and outlast a lot of these guys physically.

00:25:51.000 I don't know how.

00:25:52.000 Why?

00:25:53.000 It's just the way my body's wired.

00:25:54.000 So I'm thankful for that.

00:25:55.000 So I was able to keep up with his pace and make him make mistakes.

00:25:59.000 You know, he was the current world champion at the time.

00:26:01.000 He moved up in weight and I beat him.

00:26:04.000 But in there, I felt his understanding of combat sports and I felt his knowledge and his skill set.

00:26:13.000 He's an incredible fighter.

00:26:15.000 If you were to put, of all the people you fought, a dogfight type of person, who would you put at the top?

00:26:20.000 Not best puncher, not ground.

00:26:22.000 I'm talking dogfight.

00:26:23.000 Like this guy's not going to stop.

00:26:25.000 He's relentless.

00:26:26.000 Who would you put at the top?

00:26:28.000 That I faced?

00:26:29.000 Yeah.

00:26:30.000 Max has to be at the top.

00:26:31.000 You know, I hit him with so many shots.

00:26:33.000 He was hurt multiple times.

00:26:35.000 Another one on that list is Justin Gaethje.

00:26:39.000 I mean, the guy's a wrecking ball.

00:26:41.000 He walks forward with reckless abandonment for his own body and his own health to land his shots.

00:26:47.000 But that's why he's such a fun fighter to watch.

00:26:49.000 Very cool.

00:26:50.000 You think Conor's going to make a comeback?

00:26:52.000 That injury, man.

00:26:53.000 You know, he broke the tibia and fibula.

00:26:55.000 That's going to be a long road.

00:26:56.000 But look at all the things the guy's accomplished.

00:26:59.000 If anybody can come back from that, it's him.

00:27:01.000 You know, I wish him.

00:27:02.000 I don't hate any of these guys.

00:27:03.000 It's very obvious.

00:27:04.000 Yeah.

00:27:05.000 All the stuff said and, you know, he could.

00:27:09.000 He could.

00:27:10.000 You know, he's a former multiple-time world champion.

00:27:13.000 And he knows how to work.

00:27:14.000 He has money.

00:27:15.000 He has a team around him.

00:27:17.000 So if he wants to build it back up, he has all the things to do that.

00:27:21.000 How do you stay motivated when you're getting paid as much as he's getting paid?

00:27:24.000 I don't know, man.

00:27:25.000 They say it's hard to wake up and run those miles when you're sleeping in silk pajamas.

00:27:31.000 Has that happened to you yet?

00:27:34.000 Have you made that kind of money?

00:27:35.000 Like, have you made the money money yet?

00:27:37.000 Do you feel like you're at a point right now where you're feeling pretty confident about

00:27:40.000 where you're at financially?

00:27:41.000 Yeah, me and my family are in a great spot.

00:27:44.000 But I still have things to do.

00:27:46.000 I still have things to do.

00:27:47.000 I'm not there yet.

00:27:48.000 I have one more box to check on my career.

00:27:50.000 The ribbon on top of my mixed martial arts career is be the undisputed world champion.

00:27:54.000 That's what I want.

00:27:55.000 That's what I...

00:27:56.000 From the moment I walked into a gym the first time in my life and I started lacing up these boxing gloves,

00:28:03.000 a thought of money was never on my mind.

00:28:05.000 It was always to be the best.

00:28:06.000 And I'm still climbing that mountain, you know?

00:28:08.000 You got a guy like Tom Brady that's...

00:28:11.000 How old is he right now?

00:28:12.000 68?

00:28:13.000 I don't know how old he is.

00:28:14.000 I think he's like 44.

00:28:15.000 Is he 43 or 44?

00:28:17.000 44? 0.98

00:28:18.000 And he's still, you know, going out there and kicking some ass and it doesn't look like 0.99

00:28:21.000 this guy's going to stop. 0.98

00:28:22.000 Do you have a number?

00:28:23.000 Like, do you say, I think I'm going to go until this age?

00:28:25.000 Or is it, you know, the diplomatic answer?

00:28:28.000 Well, we're going to see if we're going to take it one day at a time.

00:28:30.000 We're going to talk to the family and see?

00:28:31.000 That's kind of the way I've been through my whole career.

00:28:34.000 But I always thought I wouldn't fight past 35.

00:28:37.000 But 35 is almost, you know, I'm 32.

00:28:40.000 I was saying that when I was 19, 20 years old.

00:28:42.000 Then you turn 32 and you're like, well, I still feel pretty good.

00:28:45.000 35 is not that old, you know?

00:28:47.000 But we'll see.

00:28:48.000 I want to be the world champion.

00:28:50.000 That's the goal.

00:28:51.000 And as long as I can compete with these guys, wake up feeling good.

00:28:54.000 Of course, I have aches and pains.

00:28:55.000 I've been fighting a long time.

00:28:56.000 But as long as I can compete with these guys, I don't see why I wouldn't.

00:29:00.000 But who do you see right now that's coming up?

00:29:03.000 Younger guys that's coming up?

00:29:04.000 Where you say, that guy's got a future. 0.91

00:29:05.000 He could be a killer.

00:29:06.000 But the young guy's coming up. 0.95

00:29:07.000 Like the 21-year-old version of you.

00:29:09.000 Is there any guys you're seeing where you're...

00:29:11.000 There are so many guys like that.

00:29:13.000 I trained at American Top Team in Coconut Creek when I'm getting ready for my fights.

00:29:17.000 Not far from here.

00:29:18.000 And there's just so many guys.

00:29:20.000 But also, when I was 21 in the gyms, the sport wasn't nearly as big as it is now.

00:29:25.000 So the amenities these gyms have, the coaching staff that these guys have, we didn't have that back then.

00:29:30.000 So I'm just seeing the level of fighting getting so much better, you know?

00:29:34.000 The guys are starting at 16, 15 years old.

00:29:38.000 Younger than that, doing jiu-jitsu, boxing, doing mixed martial arts.

00:29:41.000 Back then, we had to...

00:29:43.000 There wasn't a mixed martial arts gym.

00:29:44.000 We had to go to a boxing gym, find a jiu-jitsu gym, travel across town, and try to put all the stuff together ourselves.

00:29:50.000 Mixed martial arts is becoming its own martial art now.

00:29:54.000 You have to be able to do everything.

00:29:55.000 And these kids are doing that from an early age.

00:29:57.000 So I'm just seeing the level grow so fast with these young guys, man.

00:30:02.000 They're incredible.

00:30:03.000 You think UFC is going to pass up boxing eventually, where it's going to be just more exciting to watch UFC and boxing?

00:30:09.000 And boxing is going to become a thing of the past?

00:30:11.000 Or do you think boxing is always going to be able to hang?

00:30:13.000 I mean, boxing has been around forever.

00:30:15.000 I think UFC is gaining a lot of traction with combat sports fans in the past few years.

00:30:21.000 It might be at that point right now, you know?

00:30:25.000 Those big fights, the heavyweight championships of the world, you know?

00:30:30.000 Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, those kind of fights are always going to be prestigious.

00:30:36.000 You're always going to want to see those fights.

00:30:38.000 But the overall week-to-week, month-to-month fighting, I think UFC or mixed martial arts in general is doing bigger things than boxing is.

00:30:45.000 Yeah, I think many people would agree with you.

00:30:47.000 How much of that do you think it's Dana, where he had the startup mentality of a barbarian CEO, you know, coming up and building that thing up? 0.93

00:30:55.000 How much of it do you think it's more, you know, the fighters coming up?

00:30:58.000 Like, what kind of credit do you give for Dana, what he's done?

00:31:00.000 They did an incredible job of building the company up to what it is now, cashing out on it, you know?

00:31:06.000 Yeah, three and a half billion, that was a nice payout.

00:31:08.000 They bought it for $2 million.

00:31:09.000 Yeah, they bought it for $2 million.

00:31:10.000 For $4 billion, whatever it was.

00:31:11.000 Crazy.

00:31:12.000 Good for them, though.

00:31:13.000 Yeah.

00:31:14.000 That's the best part.

00:31:15.000 The guy who, you know, the guy that started it, I don't know if you know this or not, maybe it's your world.

00:31:18.000 His original plan was to create a cage fight with sharks swimming around it.

00:31:22.000 Yeah.

00:31:23.000 Did you know that story?

00:31:24.000 I mean, can you imagine you go to a fight, there's sharks swimming around it?

00:31:26.000 It's kind of a little weird, but you got a Dana comes in with two of his investors, they buy it out, and the rest is history.

00:31:31.000 Yeah, I think a little bit of it, for sure, is Dana, his marketing ability, his thoughts that he,

00:31:37.000 he made this to what it is, but the fight sells itself because it's so exciting.

00:31:41.000 Like I was talking about variables, there's so many ways to win and lose in mixed martial arts that it's hard to get a boring fight.

00:31:49.000 Did you, did you follow basketball growing up?

00:31:52.000 Are you a guy that followed baseball, basketball, football?

00:31:55.000 Football.

00:31:56.000 Football, yeah.

00:31:57.000 Okay, so who was the commissioner when you were following football before Roger Goodell?

00:32:00.000 Who, are you, did you follow a lot of the commissioner stuff?

00:32:03.000 No, I didn't follow the commissioner.

00:32:04.000 So, Dana White, what's his relationship with the fighters?

00:32:08.000 You know, and here's what I mean by that.

00:32:10.000 Is it, is he the boss boss?

00:32:12.000 Like, hey, this guy's the boss, we gotta make sure we're going based on what he's saying.

00:32:15.000 Does he build relationship?

00:32:16.000 Is he his friendship guy?

00:32:17.000 Does he tell you the truth behind closers?

00:32:19.000 He didn't show up today.

00:32:20.000 I don't know what that was all about.

00:32:21.000 If you fight like this, you ain't gonna get the big fight.

00:32:23.000 What's his relationship with fighters?

00:32:25.000 He's honest like that.

00:32:26.000 Okay.

00:32:27.000 If you go out there, leave it all out there, don't play it safe, he'll bring you back.

00:32:30.000 He's a pretty, you know, cut dry, honest guy when it comes to that type of stuff.

00:32:35.000 I haven't spent a whole lot of time, you know, with him.

00:32:38.000 I've gone to Vegas a few times and cut some deals where he had to sit down with the lawyers and stuff like that.

00:32:43.000 Other times it's just been at events, behind the scenes, you know, quick chats.

00:32:48.000 But he's honest in person.

00:32:51.000 Dana is.

00:32:52.000 Yeah, you almost see like the way he deals with the fighters.

00:32:55.000 He seems forgiven, but he also seems like he's got a pretty high standards on the way he sets it up.

00:33:00.000 As long as you go out there and fight as hard as you can, you're in a good spot with Dana.

00:33:04.000 You're in a good spot with Dana because he gets the eyeballs. 0.95

00:33:06.000 So, crazy question for you.

00:33:08.000 Just crazy question.

00:33:09.000 This is just for my own interests.

00:33:10.000 It probably has nothing to do with the guys here.

00:33:12.000 If Dana, let's just say, comes to a time where Dana wants to retire or walk away, who does Dana's job? 0.99

00:33:18.000 That's a tough spot to fill.

00:33:21.000 I'm not sure.

00:33:22.000 I think Daniel Cormier maybe.

00:33:25.000 Maybe somebody who's been in combat sports.

00:33:27.000 I don't know if he knows a whole lot about the business side, but I think he would be a great face of a company.

00:33:33.000 Daniel Cormier?

00:33:34.000 Yeah.

00:33:35.000 Is Daniel going to be able to poke and challenge like Dana does?

00:33:39.000 Do you think Daniel could do?

00:33:40.000 Because, you know, Dana's like, he will steer the pot because he knows, like, even the, one of the best things I like to watch is his post-fight conferences.

00:33:48.000 So, tickets sold out, $16,208.

00:33:52.000 Pay-per-view buys, boom.

00:33:54.000 Fight of the night is this.

00:33:56.000 Questions.

00:33:57.000 And then he goes and he says, well, I wasn't too impressed.

00:33:59.000 I thought the judges this.

00:34:00.000 What sport boxing do you ever see people talking about the judges sucked?

00:34:04.000 Everything is about protect the judges and the referees.

00:34:06.000 He goes straight after the judges, right?

00:34:08.000 For sure.

00:34:09.000 Yeah, interesting guy.

00:34:10.000 Can you see Conor ever doing what he does?

00:34:12.000 Conor?

00:34:13.000 Conor?

00:34:14.000 I don't know if, I can't speak on it.

00:34:17.000 I guess he could.

00:34:19.000 I guess he could.

00:34:20.000 A personality like Conor, because Conor is, you know, he's a great fighter, but the guy's a great smack talker as well.

00:34:27.000 Yeah.

00:34:28.000 But leading a company, I'm not sure if you'd want that, you know.

00:34:32.000 Got it.

00:34:33.000 Okay.

00:34:34.000 Yeah.

00:34:35.000 Being the face and the voice of a company might get out of hand here and there.

00:34:38.000 Yeah, so you need a diplomatic guy.

00:34:39.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:34:40.000 That's what you're thinking.

00:34:41.000 Maybe a little bit of Daniel.

00:34:42.000 Somebody who stands their ground but doesn't cross the line.

00:34:43.000 I think that's cool.

00:34:44.000 And Daniel definitely stands the ground.

00:34:45.000 He's not up against everybody.

00:34:46.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:34:47.000 Very well spoken.

00:34:48.000 So we've talked about Dana.

00:34:49.000 We've talked about a lot of those things.

00:34:51.000 Your business venture.

00:34:52.000 So this, you fighting, has also opened up a lot of different opportunities for you.

00:34:56.000 You now have businesses.

00:34:58.000 Hot sauce.

00:34:59.000 You've got charities.

00:35:00.000 Can you talk about what some of the projects you're working on today?

00:35:02.000 Yeah, the hot sauce, I love cooking.

00:35:05.000 And I always wanted to have some space in the culinary world.

00:35:07.000 And during the last year, during the pandemic, when we were at the beginning of like March, you know, when we were locked in the house.

00:35:14.000 That's when I started putting pen to paper and jotting down ideas and finding people who I can link up with who were respected in that industry.

00:35:22.000 And we put it together and we launched it January of this year.

00:35:27.000 And it's doing very well, man.

00:35:29.000 The hot sauce.

00:35:30.000 Yeah.

00:35:31.000 I got a bunch of them out of office, by the way.

00:35:32.000 Yeah?

00:35:33.000 Yeah, we got the hot sauce.

00:35:34.000 Thanks.

00:35:35.000 Yeah.

00:35:36.000 So hot sauce is purely because you're cooking.

00:35:37.000 Yeah, I'm cooking.

00:35:38.000 I love to cook, but I'm also from Louisiana.

00:35:40.000 And we take our hot sauce serious in Louisiana.

00:35:42.000 Very, yes.

00:35:43.000 Yeah, Louisiana hot sauce is a special thing.

00:35:45.000 And I wanted, and I was just home during the pandemic and saw an opportunity to get in the culinary world.

00:35:53.000 Dustin, how much does you winning in your world that you're in, in the UFC MMA world that you're in, how much does this create additional opportunities for you outside of the world?

00:36:08.000 How much have you seen that happen?

00:36:10.000 It's huge.

00:36:11.000 You know, because I'm already have a spotlight with these fights and the buildup with these fights.

00:36:15.000 And for hot sauce, guys eating wings, watching fights, the demographic that's following the sport and my fan base, it was just a great timing and a great thing.

00:36:25.000 And it was, I knew it was going to be a win from the jump.

00:36:30.000 And my star in the UFC not only raises that with the sales of the hot sauce, but it also gives me a platform to speak about my charity and to speak about the things we're working on.

00:36:39.000 And I want to take advantage of that, you know, and when the UFC moved over to ESPN, I was excited because I knew that just, I had a bigger megaphone now to get these goals with my charity out.

00:36:50.000 But definitely me fighting has created opportunities, no doubt about it.

00:36:55.000 Do you think if you would have tried to do the hot sauce and the charity when you're not in the top five or the top ten, it would have the same impact as it does today?

00:37:03.000 Do you think there was an element of timing, like let's wait to do this when we got a bigger platform and then let's launch it?

00:37:09.000 Yeah, I really believe that.

00:37:12.000 At this time, you know, I'm fighting in the biggest fights of the year.

00:37:15.000 All eyes are on me.

00:37:16.000 So I really have an opportunity to take advantage of that.

00:37:19.000 And so many more people are hearing the news about what we're doing with charity or hearing the news about the hot sauce.

00:37:25.000 Just way more eyes on me and what I have going on.

00:37:27.000 Yeah, it's very big because a lot of times guys will, you know, try to do everything at the same time too early before they're way too big.

00:37:34.000 And then you don't have that big of an impact because you don't have the eyeballs on you yet rather than let me go win here first and then I can do all the other, you know, ancillary, whatever additional things that I want to do.

00:37:46.000 And sometimes these become bigger than this.

00:37:48.000 Yeah.

00:37:49.000 Yeah.

00:37:50.000 So it looks like that was kind of your strategy.

00:37:51.000 Yeah.

00:37:52.000 I just, it was a perfect timing.

00:37:54.000 Like you said, perfect timing.

00:37:55.000 Fantastic.

00:37:56.000 A couple other questions before we finish up also talking about your charity.

00:38:01.000 Is coming up, when you were coming up, were there guys, and the only reason I'm asking is because sometimes in business there's a lot of people that are here.

00:38:08.000 These guys all from across the world, you know, got people here from Netherlands, Qatar, here, all across the country.

00:38:14.000 Sometimes you're coming up and there are some guys that are better than you.

00:38:18.000 Maybe you fought somebody that had the ability to be a champion one day, maybe get at your level one day.

00:38:23.000 And you kind of saw them drift away.

00:38:25.000 Was there any instances like that where you saw some guys that could be fighters, but they kind of made some mistakes and they, you know, nothing ended up happening with them.

00:38:33.000 We don't know about their stories.

00:38:34.000 Yeah, I do.

00:38:36.000 What were some of the, not specific stories, but if you don't mind sharing a couple examples.

00:38:41.000 There was one guy, I, there's a documentary called Fightville.

00:38:45.000 It follows me since I was a young fighter, an amateur fighter.

00:38:48.000 Kind of shows my journey to the UFC, but the name that comes to mind when you're talking about guys who went on a different path is a guy in that documentary.

00:38:55.000 Was a tough fighter, you know, hard worker, but just couldn't see, he could have done it.

00:39:01.000 He could have been there.

00:39:02.000 He could have made money.

00:39:03.000 He could have been a world champion.

00:39:04.000 He could have just couldn't seem to pull it all together and be consistent.

00:39:07.000 And, and, and I saw him go down a different road, you know, but he had what it took.

00:39:11.000 When you say different road, what do you mean?

00:39:13.000 He couldn't put it all together.

00:39:14.000 Meaning he couldn't stay disciplined.

00:39:16.000 Was it a association?

00:39:18.000 Was it, he couldn't get rid of the bad friends?

00:39:20.000 Was it all of that?

00:39:21.000 All of them.

00:39:22.000 Yeah.

00:39:23.000 All of those things.

00:39:24.000 Is, is there a, is there a, uh, when I'm talking to Mike and I'm saying, Hey, he says, you know, when Mike Tyson talks about the fact that my son says he wants to be a boxer, I said, what do you mean?

00:39:32.000 You want to be a boxer?

00:39:33.000 You live in a multimillion dollar house.

00:39:34.000 You don't have what it takes to be a boxer.

00:39:35.000 What are you talking about?

00:39:36.000 Go back to school.

00:39:37.000 I didn't grow up going to a private school.

00:39:38.000 You do, right?

00:39:39.000 Like he has a conversation with his son.

00:39:41.000 Do you see a common trend with guys who end up becoming killers in your world?

00:39:49.000 Do they have similar upbringing?

00:39:51.000 Like, do you see a trend with that?

00:39:52.000 Yeah.

00:39:53.000 I think from my point of view too, it's, there's not a lot of people who fight just because they want to fight.

00:40:00.000 You know, this fighting is scary.

00:40:01.000 It's, uh, nerve wracking.

00:40:02.000 It's dangerous.

00:40:03.000 There are people out there, obviously, who, who do it and can be successful.

00:40:08.000 But most of the time fighters are, you're fighting because you have to.

00:40:13.000 You're fighting your way out of something, fighting for your family to have a better, you know, way of life.

00:40:18.000 You're fighting just to make a name for yourself.

00:40:20.000 So, a lot of these guys in these gyms that I've noticed are, are guys from similar backgrounds.

00:40:25.000 You know, made some bad mistakes, found a way to, that they can work with their hands and, and make a name for themselves.

00:40:32.000 You know, all these guys are, are blue collar hard workers for the most part.

00:40:36.000 And, um, they, they didn't have a choice.

00:40:39.000 They fought their way, you know, literally, uh, into a better life.

00:40:43.000 And I see that across the board, whether it's boxing or mixed martial arts, you don't, it's not like you're, you're playing football and you, you need pads and a helmet.

00:40:51.000 And all you need to do is wake up and have hands and, and you can shadow box.

00:40:56.000 You can go for a run.

00:40:57.000 You can start working on skills.

00:40:58.000 You don't need a lot of equipment, a pair of gloves and, and you're, you're on your way to start training.

00:41:03.000 And I just think that too is part of people.

00:41:07.000 Um, you know, you don't need a lot of money to start learning how to fight.

00:41:10.000 So there's an edge to the blue collar mentality, right?

00:41:14.000 You have to.

00:41:15.000 Big edge when you're coming up, you don't have anything you're around, you know, you're in the streets, you see stuff that others are not going to see.

00:41:20.000 It's almost like the survival of the fittest type of deal.

00:41:22.000 Right.

00:41:23.000 And you can, and it's something special because you can literally fight your way out of whatever, you know, life has, has whatever hand you've been dealt.

00:41:32.000 You can literally fight your way punch by punch into a better life.

00:41:35.000 Yeah.

00:41:36.000 Do you have any kids?

00:41:37.000 I have one daughter.

00:41:38.000 How are you going to pass that down to your kids?

00:41:41.000 How do you pass down the blue collar mentality?

00:41:43.000 So that's the thing you just said, like your buddy lives in a multimillion dollar house.

00:41:46.000 I don't want my daughter to fight.

00:41:47.000 You know, I don't want to see my daughter.

00:41:48.000 Well, are you guys planning on having more kids?

00:41:50.000 Yeah.

00:41:51.000 Okay.

00:41:52.000 So let's just say you have a son.

00:41:53.000 How do you pass it down to him?

00:41:54.000 I'd rather him go to, go to college and, and, but, uh, we'll see what happens.

00:41:59.000 I'll never tell, like try to direct them away from it, but I don't want to see that.

00:42:02.000 I, I, but I'm, I will try to pass on the lessons I've learned through fighting.

00:42:07.000 Cause I've learned so much about myself, um, through victory, through losses, through business.

00:42:12.000 And I've been in rooms that I would have never been in sitting across from, from people.

00:42:17.000 I would never be in front of if I never put on a pair of boxing gloves.

00:42:20.000 So I'm thankful for that.

00:42:21.000 That's cool.

00:42:22.000 It's going to be.

00:42:23.000 So, so your kids, if your son says that I want to be like you when I grow up, I want to do UFC.

00:42:26.000 I want to do MMA.

00:42:27.000 What do you tell the kid?

00:42:28.000 I'm not sure, man.

00:42:29.000 I, uh, we'll take it one day at a time.

00:42:32.000 We'll take it one day at a time.

00:42:33.000 You know what?

00:42:34.000 I don't even want to think about that conversation right now, Pat.

00:42:36.000 So, but you know, uh, going back to, uh, uh, the UFC, you know, as a whole, as an industry,

00:42:43.000 are you a fan yourself?

00:42:44.000 Are you a guy that also watches all the fights like you enjoy?

00:42:46.000 Oh yeah.

00:42:47.000 I watch everything.

00:42:48.000 Always have been.

00:42:49.000 Who do you like?

00:42:50.000 Like who's, who's your favorite, you know, fighters of all time in the, in the UFC?

00:42:53.000 I used to be a huge fan of George St. Pierre.

00:42:56.000 He's one of the guys who can do it all, you know, and back around when he was really starting

00:43:01.000 to rise up.

00:43:02.000 Yeah.

00:43:03.000 They had a lot of guys.

00:43:04.000 He's a wrestler.

00:43:05.000 This guy's a kickboxer.

00:43:06.000 He was one of the first guys who really put everything together and was a complete mixed 1.00

00:43:09.000 martial artist, world champion, held himself, you know, spoke well.

00:43:14.000 And, uh, I was a big fan of George.

00:43:17.000 St. Pierre.

00:43:18.000 You put him on Mount Rushmore.

00:43:19.000 Is he a Mount Rushmore?

00:43:20.000 Oh yeah.

00:43:21.000 He's on Mount, he's on MMA.

00:43:22.000 Who's on Mount Rushmore?

00:43:23.000 You got, is it Khabib and him and who else?

00:43:25.000 Khabib's up there.

00:43:26.000 Fedor is up there.

00:43:27.000 Fedor.

00:43:28.000 Fedor.

00:43:29.000 Yeah.

00:43:30.000 Fedor's gotta be up there.

00:43:31.000 Uh, man.

00:43:32.000 Jon Jones has to be up there too.

00:43:33.000 So that's the four.

00:43:34.000 Yeah.

00:43:35.000 Those are the four.

00:43:36.000 Anybody here watch Fedor fight or know?

00:43:38.000 Who doesn't know?

00:43:39.000 Yeah.

00:43:40.000 You guys don't know who Fedor is?

00:43:41.000 Oh my gosh.

00:43:42.000 Fedor was, you could watch this.

00:43:45.000 If you just go type in Fedor, F E D O R, you will be stuck to YouTube for a couple

00:43:50.000 hours.

00:43:51.000 This guy's fights were legit.

00:43:52.000 Remember the fight with Randallman?

00:43:53.000 Yeah.

00:43:54.000 When he slammed, did he slam him?

00:43:55.000 Yeah.

00:43:56.000 Yeah.

00:43:57.000 Fedor got slammed on his head. 0.95

00:43:58.000 He got slammed on his neck.

00:43:59.000 You're thinking the guy's dead.

00:44:00.000 Yeah.

00:44:01.000 Dude, they build him different in Russia.

00:44:03.000 Hey.

00:44:04.000 Yeah.

00:44:05.000 Perfectly in Russia. 0.89

00:44:06.000 Awesome.

00:44:07.000 Well, why don't we talk a little about your charity and then we're gonna have some of

00:44:10.000 the guys ask some questions here and then we'll go from there.

00:44:12.000 So talk about your charity if you don't mind.

00:44:14.000 My charity, me and my wife lived in Florida here in Boca Raton for five years and then

00:44:19.000 my daughter was born and we moved back to Louisiana because I wanted to raise her with

00:44:23.000 family.

00:44:24.000 But when we were moving, I had these drawers full of fight worn gear over the years of

00:44:29.000 fights.

00:44:30.000 Like my first win in the UFC, my first win in the WEC.

00:44:33.000 Fights that just meant, these things just meant something to me.

00:44:38.000 And it's cool when you have one or two or three, but when you have 40 something fights

00:44:44.000 and your drawers are just full of bloody gloves and clothes, it's not cool anymore.

00:44:47.000 It's kind of gross.

00:44:48.000 And we were moving and packing up a U-Haul and we're like, what are we gonna do with

00:44:51.000 all this stuff?

00:44:52.000 And we were just thinking, talking and we decided to auction some stuff off and donate

00:44:57.000 the money to a fallen officer who had just passed away in the line of duty right near

00:45:01.000 where my wife and I went to school in Louisiana.

00:45:04.000 So we did that and then we did it again, did it a few more times.

00:45:08.000 And I was just doing that out of my name.

00:45:10.000 Like Dustin donates the money, Dustin does it.

00:45:12.000 And I was in training camp one day and we were talking and we wanted to see if we can

00:45:17.000 give it its own identity and turn this into an actual charity.

00:45:20.000 So it's not Dustin does this, Dustin does that.

00:45:22.000 We can turn it into something that has its own name and see if it can grow organically and

00:45:25.000 other people can get behind it.

00:45:27.000 And my goal was to have other fighters donate their fight war memorabilia and we can auction

00:45:32.000 it off or sell it and do things in their communities too.

00:45:35.000 And we started the Good Fight Foundation.

00:45:37.000 And since then we've done some amazing things I'm very proud of.

00:45:40.000 We're currently building housing in Uganda right now for the Pygmy people.

00:45:44.000 We teamed up with Manny Pacquiao for that goal.

00:45:46.000 Awesome.

00:45:47.000 Justin Wren as well.

00:45:48.000 Yeah, so we don't have one specific goal.

00:45:50.000 We do all kinds of things.

00:45:51.000 Whatever we see we can help in the community or wherever.

00:45:56.000 It's the Good Fight Foundation.

00:45:57.000 And that's your 501c3.

00:45:59.000 That's my 501c3.

00:46:00.000 Awesome.

00:46:01.000 And also I have no background in starting a business or building a website.

00:46:06.000 So me and my wife are in training camp on a laptop computer trying to build this website

00:46:12.000 for the foundation.

00:46:13.000 We're just starting and it's been a learning thing, man.

00:46:16.000 You know, we were running like a mom and pop shop at the beginning.

00:46:20.000 But it's cool because we have full control of everything.

00:46:24.000 We have still no payroll.

00:46:26.000 We haven't paid anybody.

00:46:27.000 There's no employees of the foundation.

00:46:29.000 It's just me, my wife, two of our friends from Louisiana.

00:46:32.000 And we're doing some amazing things I'm very proud of.

00:46:34.000 It's great.

00:46:35.000 Well, I got a gift for you at the end that I'll announce it in front of everybody.

00:46:39.000 And maybe we'll do something special for Dustin here.

00:46:41.000 But what I'd like to do is open it up.

00:46:43.000 Leo, we have the mic.

00:46:44.000 CEOs.

00:46:45.000 So you got a question.

00:46:46.000 Cody, tell us.

00:46:47.000 What question do you have for Dustin?

00:46:49.000 We got 15 minutes to go through questions here and Leo's walking like a turtle.

00:46:53.000 But it's great.

00:46:54.000 We'll figure it out.

00:46:55.000 Thanks, Leo.

00:46:56.000 So Rose Namajunas had this, I may not pronounce her name right, but she had this like tradition

00:47:02.000 she does where she says, I'm the best.

00:47:03.000 I'm the best.

00:47:04.000 I'm the best.

00:47:05.000 Which I love that clip, by the way.

00:47:06.000 And I'm sure a lot of people that watch UFC saw that.

00:47:08.000 Do you do anything like this personally?

00:47:11.000 I don't chant anything, but I do have a routine I do during fight camp is I, for my mental focus,

00:47:20.000 that might get her in the zone. 0.93

00:47:21.000 What gets me in the zone is I write down the date of the fight on a piece of paper.

00:47:25.000 I draw a circle around the date of the fight.

00:47:27.000 And inside that circle, I write everything I have control of.

00:47:30.000 You know, my diet, my accountability, my commitment to training, just everything that I can control.

00:47:38.000 And outside of that circle, I write everything I can't control.

00:47:41.000 Sick.

00:47:42.000 Inside that circle is my thoughts, my work ethic, my commitment.

00:47:46.000 Outside that circle is opinions, critics, the media, my opponent.

00:47:51.000 And I'll just go to that page in my book periodically throughout my training camp and on fight week and look at it.

00:47:58.000 And I know I'm in a good spot because all the stuff outside of that circle doesn't matter.

00:48:02.000 That's just noise.

00:48:03.000 The only thing I can focus on and affect are the things inside of that circle.

00:48:07.000 So as long as I'm doing that, I'm doing the most I can, doing everything I can.

00:48:11.000 So I just make sure that the inside of that circle is taken care of.

00:48:14.000 That's phenomenal.

00:48:15.000 Thank you.

00:48:16.000 Unbelievable.

00:48:17.000 Yes.

00:48:18.000 John.

00:48:19.000 Awesome.

00:48:20.000 So to break that down even more, what are some routines and habits that you have preparing for a fight?

00:48:30.000 And then what are some routines and habits you do recovering from a fight?

00:48:35.000 And part two of that, or what are some distractions that are coming up while you're preparing for the fight?

00:48:40.000 I'll tackle that part first.

00:48:43.000 The distractions are just the media and the critics and, you know, social media is such a toxic place.

00:48:50.000 But it's a place that I have to be because I need to promote these things.

00:48:53.000 I have businesses, so I have to be on there.

00:48:55.000 I don't have to read all the comments and all this, but you still see them, you know?

00:48:59.000 So that's always a big distraction.

00:49:01.000 People saying, and especially in fighting, we're preparing to fight each other and you've got your opponent chirping all the time, saying crazy things.

00:49:08.000 Those things really used to get under my skin, but I do the circle thing now and I just focus on what I can't control.

00:49:15.000 So all those things that I'm reading are out of my control.

00:49:20.000 Distraction.

00:49:21.000 Besides that, you know, just the noise on the outside of that circle.

00:49:25.000 It kind of distracts me every now and then, but I can refocus on the center.

00:49:29.000 And the first part of the question, holding myself accountable, showing up every day, even on bad days, even days I don't want to go in.

00:49:36.000 I show up waking up and running the miles, you know, checking the boxes, you know, doing everything I think I need to do to be the world champion.

00:49:44.000 As long as I do those things, I mean, whatever's going to happen after that is just going to happen.

00:49:49.000 But I'm going into these fights.

00:49:50.000 I'm walking down this road into the unknown as prepared as I think I can be.

00:49:55.000 You have a set schedule?

00:49:56.000 Oh, yeah.

00:49:57.000 Yeah.

00:49:58.000 When I'm in training camp, I have a set schedule.

00:49:59.000 We usually start at eight weeks and we have different phases and it phases into peaking for the fight.

00:50:05.000 Interesting. Similar to bodybuilding, by the way. Very interesting.

00:50:08.000 Let's go here to Joanna and then I'm going to go to a couple of guys here on the CO side and maybe I'll come to some of you.

00:50:13.000 Is that tomorrow or now? Maybe I'll come to you.

00:50:16.000 Hey, Dustin. I'm a big fan, so thanks for coming.

00:50:19.000 In the last fight with Connor, you said the initial leg injury happened really at the beginning of the first round.

00:50:25.000 So he actually kicked you and you blocked the leg, right?

00:50:28.000 And then second time close to the first round, the end of the first round, he used the leg again to follow through with the punch, right?

00:50:34.000 And then obviously the fight ended because of the injury.

00:50:37.000 Did you hear anything? Did you feel anything when you blocked the leg? How did you know that's when it happened?

00:50:41.000 And the second question is, he's talking smack again saying he's going to fight you again.

00:50:45.000 Are you really going to fight him again for the fourth time?

00:50:48.000 I mean, I will. If he can heal up and...

00:50:53.000 If he can what? I didn't hear it.

00:50:54.000 If he can heal up.

00:50:55.000 If he can heal up.

00:50:56.000 If he can heal up. Got it.

00:50:57.000 And they can add some commas on the check.

00:51:00.000 Yeah.

00:51:02.000 But I didn't hear it break or I didn't even know it was broken until the end of the round when I looked down and it was kind of dangling.

00:51:09.000 Yeah.

00:51:10.000 But I just been throwing kicks for so long.

00:51:13.000 So many thousands of kicks I've thrown and received that I know when a kick lands bad.

00:51:19.000 I didn't get a full check on his kick but I turned my leg outward and his shin bone hit my knee and I knew it hurt him.

00:51:26.000 That's why at the beginning of the fight I pointed at his leg and I knew it hurt.

00:51:29.000 I didn't know it broke but I knew it hurt.

00:51:31.000 I honestly think that it fractured then and then later on he twisted or something and the bone, yeah, broke.

00:51:37.000 But I didn't know it was broken until the end of that round when he was holding his leg.

00:51:41.000 Have you ever had that happen in a fight to you before or no? That was the first time?

00:51:45.000 I've, yeah, the first time something that bad, you know, of course broken noses, broken hands, things like that.

00:51:51.000 But I've never seen me personally in a fight where somebody's disfigured like that. 1.00

00:51:55.000 Historically, who's recovered from that?

00:51:57.000 Anderson Silva fought again, you know, fought two or three more times after breaking his leg.

00:52:01.000 He broke it after he kicked it.

00:52:03.000 I fought on that card as well, yeah.

00:52:05.000 He broke it, the same kind of thing that I think fractured his leg but it was broke all the way through there.

00:52:10.000 Yeah, that was, I remember that fight. I remember that fight.

00:52:13.000 Let's go over here.

00:52:14.000 Let's go over here.

00:52:16.000 Go to one more CEO right here, right there, director of ops.

00:52:21.000 Hey, Justin, two questions.

00:52:23.000 So one question, I saw you running with this like mask, like oxygen or something.

00:52:28.000 What is that?

00:52:29.000 That was an oxygen, it was an altitude simulator.

00:52:32.000 So it pulls a little bit of the oxygen out of the air that you're breathing in through this machine.

00:52:38.000 So your body's running on less oxygen and you're getting fatigued a lot quicker.

00:52:42.000 And the second question is, so I saw you saying one of the interviews that before you come into the octagon, you're praying that you don't hurt like the other person like too much.

00:52:53.000 But are you like, when you come to the octagon, are you like ready to die?

00:52:57.000 Like, are you ready to like fight till the...

00:53:00.000 Yeah, I always pray that me and my opponent come out and go home to our family safe because what we do is very dangerous.

00:53:07.000 But when I walk and my feet touches that canvas, I'm willing to die in there, yeah.

00:53:11.000 I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be victorious.

00:53:13.000 Yeah, I am.

00:53:15.000 How do you not love this guy?

00:53:16.000 Like, seriously. 1.00

00:53:17.000 He can kick your ass, but you love the guy. 1.00

00:53:21.000 Right there. 1.00

00:53:22.000 But that part scares me as well.

00:53:25.000 You know, I wouldn't sit up here and say I'm not scared to death of making that walk, but I make it every time, you know.

00:53:30.000 And when I get in there, I'm willing to, whatever's going to happen, I'm willing to go through, so.

00:53:34.000 Does your wife watch your fights or no, when it's happened alive or no?

00:53:38.000 Yes, she does.

00:53:39.000 Are you comfortable watching them?

00:53:40.000 I didn't have a car.

00:53:41.000 I have 46 fights.

00:53:42.000 My first fight was 2006 or 2007.

00:53:45.000 I didn't have a car.

00:53:46.000 She drove me to my first fight.

00:53:47.000 She's been to, she watches all my fights.

00:53:49.000 Wow.

00:53:50.000 Good for you.

00:53:51.000 Seriously.

00:53:52.000 Kudos.

00:53:53.000 Awesome.

00:53:54.000 Go ahead, buddy.

00:53:55.000 Hello to everybody.

00:53:56.000 I'm Damien from Bulgaria.

00:53:58.000 I'm a professional wrestler, so I can, I'm very respected by you, sir.

00:54:02.000 My question to Justin is, when you were an amateur trying to make it to the professionals,

00:54:09.000 what was your mindset like?

00:54:11.000 And also, when you made it to professionals, how did you balance between your professional

00:54:15.000 life as a fighter and also family life?

00:54:18.000 Thank you.

00:54:19.000 When I was an amateur working my way up, I just knew I had to get in front of the, now,

00:54:24.000 the landscape has changed.

00:54:25.000 MMA is such a big sport now that guys are kind of picking and choosing fights to make sure

00:54:28.000 they build up their record.

00:54:29.000 But for me as an amateur, I wanted to fight the best guys.

00:54:32.000 I didn't want to fight the guy with the losing record.

00:54:34.000 I wanted to fight the best guys, build my name up and try to make it in the UFC or get

00:54:38.000 a call from the UFC.

00:54:41.000 So that's what I did as an amateur.

00:54:42.000 I took the toughest fights I can get.

00:54:44.000 And I also, in the back of my head, knew if I made mistakes in these fights that it's

00:54:47.000 going to, my record is going to be back to zeroed out when I turn pro.

00:54:50.000 So I wanted to learn as much as I could before I made that step into professional fighting.

00:54:55.000 I wanted to make mistakes and get better.

00:54:59.000 So I tried to fight a little bit longer against tougher guys as an amateur before I made the

00:55:03.000 decision to turn professional.

00:55:04.000 So did you take more risks as an amateur?

00:55:06.000 Because you're like, let me just see if I can do this or not.

00:55:08.000 I took more risks because I needed to learn.

00:55:10.000 And I knew in the back of my head that it was, my record was going to be zero.

00:55:13.000 Great.

00:55:14.000 What a mindset.

00:55:15.000 When I go pro.

00:55:16.000 Fantastic.

00:55:17.000 So you're starting zero and zero.

00:55:18.000 So it's not like a...

00:55:19.000 We wipe that away.

00:55:20.000 We don't talk about amateur records.

00:55:21.000 Nobody knows amateur records.

00:55:22.000 We don't talk about professional records.

00:55:23.000 And then obviously when you go pro, then you want to fight guys that favorable matchups,

00:55:28.000 build your name up, and then fight the best guys in the world.

00:55:30.000 But as an amateur, I had the opposite mindset.

00:55:32.000 I wanted to fight the toughest guys. 0.99

00:55:34.000 Sick. 1.00

00:55:35.000 Sick mindset. 0.99

00:55:36.000 Tamara. 0.54

00:55:37.000 Tamara.

00:55:38.000 She asks very technical questions.

00:55:41.000 So we're hoping it's less than 15 seconds.

00:55:44.000 Funny you say that.

00:55:45.000 I have so many questions.

00:55:47.000 Maybe I can ask guests the questions next time if you allow me.

00:55:50.000 No problem.

00:55:51.000 You are hired.

00:55:52.000 I believe in you.

00:55:53.000 So I'm a huge UFC fan.

00:55:57.000 I grew up watching UFC on the weekends.

00:55:59.000 And when I was thinking about what kind of question to ask, well, first of all, I have

00:56:04.000 so much respect for you, Dustin, and for everyone who works and fights in the UFC.

00:56:09.000 Because not only you give it all financially, you also give it all health-wise.

00:56:15.000 So, so much respect for you.

00:56:16.000 Thanks.

00:56:17.000 My question.

00:56:18.000 Does everybody know who Donna White is?

00:56:22.000 Okay.

00:56:23.000 So I was watching Donna White's interview on candidates.

00:56:26.000 And one thing that he said is when my guys fight in the octagon, I don't care who they

00:56:33.000 think, Allah or Jesus, who they believe in, Democrats or Republicans.

00:56:39.000 How come is that the most violent industry in an octagon is so peaceful in a political arena?

00:56:47.000 That's a tough question, man.

00:56:49.000 And the question is for you both, Patrick and Dustin.

00:56:54.000 I didn't hear the second part.

00:56:56.000 The question is for both of you guys, if Patrick also wants to answer.

00:57:01.000 I think he's qualified.

00:57:02.000 I'm just going to comment it.

00:57:04.000 Please.

00:57:05.000 Great question, by the way.

00:57:06.000 It is.

00:57:07.000 I think it's such a diverse talent pool from fighters and athletes from all over the world

00:57:12.000 that there's no room for, you know, for hate or for everybody's coming from around the world

00:57:19.000 and fighting in the UFC.

00:57:20.000 It's not like a one country sport.

00:57:22.000 So many walks of life, so many religions.

00:57:24.000 How could they have barriers?

00:57:26.000 You know, you can't.

00:57:28.000 When everybody's so different and fighting and they couldn't put up barriers.

00:57:33.000 I think that's why.

00:57:34.000 Everybody just accepts each other.

00:57:36.000 And by the way, if it happened, it happened a little bit on the Conor fight with Khabib,

00:57:40.000 right?

00:57:41.000 There was a little bit of that.

00:57:42.000 That was.

00:57:43.000 And the UFC world was not happy about that.

00:57:45.000 They were not supportive about that.

00:57:46.000 Like, listen, you can call out a lot of things.

00:57:48.000 Wives, you know, certain things got to be off limits. 1.00

00:57:50.000 And Conor breaks all of those rules, by the way.

00:57:52.000 Yeah.

00:57:53.000 That's definitely crossing the line.

00:57:55.000 Yeah.

00:57:56.000 Great question, Tamar.

00:57:57.000 Okay.

00:57:58.000 Anybody here on CEOs?

00:57:59.000 Founders?

00:58:00.000 Let's go over here.

00:58:01.000 Leo, if you don't mind running.

00:58:02.000 Like, yeah, just go over there, bud.

00:58:04.000 Okay.

00:58:05.000 Thank you.

00:58:06.000 All right.

00:58:07.000 That's fine.

00:58:08.000 Let's have him ask the question.

00:58:09.000 Okay, cool.

00:58:10.000 Thank you, Leo.

00:58:11.000 Next question is in reference to emotions.

00:58:13.000 So, how important is controlling your emotions in the octagon?

00:58:17.000 In the octagon or, again, how do you process that?

00:58:20.000 I know a lot of times in the business world we get good news, but more times than not we have to deal with bad news.

00:58:26.000 For me, I'm an emotional person.

00:58:29.000 So, you know, I'm a very emotional fighter, and I try to use that to work for me, but there's been so many fights that I've been over emotional and that has blinded me and made me make bad mistakes during the fight.

00:58:43.000 Kind of like just so angry that I'm doing things that I shouldn't.

00:58:49.000 I'm getting away from technique because I'm fighting on emotion.

00:58:52.000 But I had a trainer tell me one time after a fight that these emotions are like a fire.

00:58:58.000 Like, you can use them.

00:59:00.000 They can burn you, or you can use them to cook your family's meals.

00:59:06.000 And I kind of took that with me.

00:59:07.000 Wow.

00:59:08.000 And I'm just trying to use that fire to push me forward in training, to push me, to make me focus.

00:59:15.000 Because before I walk out there and fight, when I'm in the locker room, I'm nervous and I'm scared.

00:59:20.000 But I just, over these past years of fighting on such big stages and so many times, I realized that it's okay to be nervous and scared.

00:59:29.000 I'm supposed to be because my body is preparing itself to do something great.

00:59:32.000 You know, greatness should make you nervous and make you scared and make you emotional.

00:59:37.000 So I just try to embrace it.

00:59:38.000 I'm not absent to it.

00:59:39.000 I'm just acquainted with those feelings.

00:59:41.000 I'm not absent to it.

00:59:42.000 I'm acquainted to those feelings.

00:59:44.000 The level of depth on your answers, Dustin, this is just great.

00:59:49.000 Right there.

00:59:50.000 Go ahead.

00:59:51.000 Hey, Dustin.

00:59:52.000 I wanted to ask you, you talked earlier about your camp and how you kind of do the peak week.

00:59:57.000 And I'm also a competitive bodybuilder.

01:00:00.000 And as Pat said, the prep is kind of similar in many ways.

01:00:04.000 So as you go through prep and intensity kind of builds up and emotional, you know, I guess tension and the fatigue and everything kind of builds up.

01:00:15.000 Especially if things in life around you really kind of apply pressure, I would say.

01:00:22.000 Yeah.

01:00:23.000 Do you have any systems, things you do or that you think of besides that thing with the circle that keeps you focused, that makes sure that you're always on point, making the right choices, the right decisions.

01:00:36.000 So you can come to the fight as best as you can.

01:00:42.000 So you could perform the highest level and win the fight.

01:00:45.000 Yeah.

01:00:46.000 I think we just have to, for me, the circle you said, but if you know your why, like if you wake up every day knowing, oh, I want to be the world champion, but that's just part of it.

01:00:55.000 I'm a provider and I want my daughter to grow up and have things I didn't have.

01:01:00.000 I want my wife and daughter to be in a safe spot.

01:01:02.000 I think that is my driving force that pulls me back in because as it ends, training camp starts to end and I do start peaking.

01:01:09.000 I do get things do bother me more.

01:01:14.000 I'm trying to be laser focused on this day coming up because we have a date circled and every day is a day closer.

01:01:19.000 I'm worried about am I prepared enough that I do everything I could possibly done.

01:01:22.000 But that why is I'm going to go out there and do whatever I need to do because I have a wife and daughter at home.

01:01:29.000 And, you know, that's what I pull back to.

01:01:33.000 That helps me.

01:01:34.000 I don't know if you have something like that that anchors you, but that's my anchor.

01:01:37.000 You know, I would do whatever it takes to make sure that they're good.

01:01:41.000 We're going to do one more here and then we're going to wrap up right here to the left.

01:01:44.000 Last question.

01:01:45.000 Hey, Dustin.

01:01:46.000 My name is Juan Martinez. 1.00

01:01:47.000 And, you know, I just want to tell you, you know, when you kick the Irish guy's ass, I was so happy to see and just shut his mouth. 1.00

01:01:59.000 And, you know, but your humbleness, your humbleness after the fight, you mentioning your foundation, it really got to me. 0.99

01:02:11.000 As an immigrant, I came to this country when I was 16.

01:02:14.000 And it was people like you that make donations.

01:02:17.000 You know, I didn't have any family or nothing.

01:02:21.000 And the American people were very generous, you know, and I received donations.

01:02:25.000 Now I'm in a different position.

01:02:29.000 You know, those people impacted me as a child.

01:02:33.000 And here I am, you know, a company successful along with my wife.

01:02:38.000 And I wanted to, on behalf of my family, make a $1,000 donation to your foundation so you could continue to help those people.

01:02:48.000 Thank you so much.

01:02:49.000 It does make a difference.

01:02:50.000 And I would encourage anybody else, you know, let's raise $10,000, $20,000 for his foundation.

01:02:56.000 Awesome.

01:02:57.000 Thanks, buddy.

01:02:59.000 Gang, first of all, how many of you guys had a blast with Dustin?

01:03:02.000 Let's make some noise for Dustin.

01:03:03.000 Thanks, man.

01:03:04.000 I got two gifts for you.

01:03:05.000 I got two gifts for you.

01:03:06.000 Can we get the gifts, please?

01:03:08.000 So which one's this one?

01:03:09.000 I know what this is.

01:03:10.000 This is the bottle.

01:03:11.000 And what's this one?

01:03:12.000 This one is the actual nickel.

01:03:14.000 This is the what?

01:03:15.000 This is the actual whiskey.

01:03:17.000 This is the bottle that is branded.

01:03:19.000 Okay.

01:03:20.000 I got it.

01:03:21.000 So I'm going to give him this here.

01:03:22.000 First of all, we know you like this.

01:03:23.000 You may want to open it up and see what it is.

01:03:25.000 I think you'll like that.

01:03:28.000 This is also, you want me to open this one?

01:03:30.000 Yes.

01:03:31.000 Okay.

01:03:32.000 So you're a whiskey guy, no?

01:03:33.000 I am.

01:03:34.000 I am.

01:03:35.000 So we got you some nice whiskey for you.

01:03:36.000 Oh, you're the man.

01:03:37.000 Thank you so much.

01:03:38.000 And then we got you.

01:03:39.000 You want to open this up so we can show them what this is?

01:03:40.000 And then outside of this, I got one other gift for you.

01:03:43.000 Hang on.

01:03:44.000 So we got a nice little custom bottle for you to put your whiskey in with value tamer for

01:03:50.000 coming to the conference.

01:03:51.000 Oh, man, a nice decanter.

01:03:52.000 Thank you so much.

01:03:53.000 And on top of that, brother, we love you so much.

01:03:55.000 Thank you.

01:03:56.000 On the charity side, I personally, I mean, obviously, you came over here.

01:04:00.000 This is not like you're selling anything.

01:04:01.000 This is not a pitch fest.

01:04:02.000 But $20,000 from me to your charity to support what you're doing.

01:04:05.000 Seriously, what you're doing, we support your brother.

01:04:07.000 And we're going to encourage everybody else to support and figure out how to do that.

01:04:11.000 We got $20,000 from us to you.

01:04:13.000 Thank you so much.

01:04:14.000 Make some noise.

01:04:15.000 Dustin Poitier.

01:04:16.000 Thank you.

01:04:18.000 So Dustin Poitier, how he mentally gets ready for the fight with the whole circle,

01:04:21.000 what he can't control, what he cannot control.

01:04:23.000 Curious to know what you took away on what he said about Conor.

01:04:26.000 Like, is Conor still in a position to fight and the fact that he thinks he can fight anybody?

01:04:30.000 Who you think he needs to face off next?

01:04:32.000 Comment below.

01:04:33.000 And if you enjoyed this interview, I think you're also going to like the interview I did

01:04:36.000 with Mike Tyson.

01:04:37.000 And Mike probably told some stories I've never heard before.

01:04:40.000 So if you want to watch that, click here to watch Tyson's interview.

01:04:43.000 Take care, everybody.

01:04:44.000 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - September 30, 2021

Dustin Poirier Opens up About Beating Conor McGregor

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