Dustin Poirier Opens up About Beating Conor McGregor
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 4 minutes
Words per minute
215.19691
Harmful content
Misogyny
8
sentences flagged
Toxicity
32
sentences flagged
Hate speech
7
sentences flagged
Summary
Dustin Poitier is a former professional boxer, mixed martial arts fighter, entrepreneur, and entrepreneur. He is also a father, husband, and grandfather. Dustin talks about growing up in a tough neighborhood and how he was able to break out of it all at a young age.
Transcript
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.
00:00:21.000
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.
00:00:44.000
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.
00:01:00.000
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.
00:01:09.000
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.
00:01:17.000
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.
00:01:27.000
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.
00:01:39.000
I don't know how far back I should start, but…
00:01:42.000
Go from when you were in school and, you know, some decisions you made and what you did.
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.
00:02:20.000
I remember getting excited, going to a friend's house for Mike Tyson fights when he was fighting Holyfield.
00:02:30.000
And eventually, I met some guys at a boxing gym who were doing mixed martial arts.
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.
00:02:57.000
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.
00:03:06.000
How old were you when you got your first fist fight?
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.
00:03:38.000
I didn't really, not that that's a good thing or I'm boasting about it.
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.
00:04:01.000
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.
00:04:27.000
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.
00:04:44.000
And who were some of the guys that were mentoring you?
00:04:46.000
Did you have gyms you went to where there was, you know, reputable boxers?
00:04:55.000
But the TV show, Ultimate Fighter, I'm not sure if you've heard of it.
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.
00:05:11.000
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.
00:05:36.000
And was he also like a father figure, brother, like older brother guy, like, you know, kind of in your direction as well?
00:05:41.000
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.
00:05:47.000
He went to, for me, you know, he went to college.
00:05:56.000
By the way, just so you know, you don't need to worry about your past.
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.
00:06:13.000
Because I'm trying to see going back during that time was what?
00:06:26.000
So, it was an exciting time in mixed martial arts.
00:06:52.000
Who else were some of the guys that you modeled?
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
00:07:14.000
That's powerful, you know, to put your foot down.
00:07:19.000
Who do you think is the modern-day Ali right now?
00:07:24.000
The landscape of combat sports has changed so much.
00:07:33.000
By the way, I remember that movie when it first came out.
00:07:38.000
I think they're working on a Tyson movie right now.
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.
00:08:10.000
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.
00:08:16.000
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
00:08:27.000
And I was still an amateur, doing well, holding my own with those guys.
00:08:32.000
But like I said, before I even put those gloves on, I knew I can do this.
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.
00:08:45.000
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.
00:09:04.000
But who was the ultimate fighter back then when you were following him?
00:09:09.000
That's when it really blew up and UFC was on the map when that fight happened.
00:09:17.000
You started off with, what is it, extreme cage fighting, am I saying?
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.
00:09:36.000
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
00:09:56.000
I had grown man bills, and I was a young kid trying to fight and make money.
00:10:09.000
You're all over every magazine, every TV, everywhere.
00:10:18.000
And I think I wouldn't have accomplished a lot without her, so.
00:10:29.000
Sometimes if you're coming out and your first fight kind of doesn't go your way,
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
00:10:38.000
So I thought that the World Extreme Cage Fighting was a big organization.
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
00:10:57.000
I get out there and I lose, and then I get my check.
00:11:08.000
My coaches' flights are deducted from my check.
00:11:12.000
And I can't survive on this when I got the check.
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.
00:11:36.000
The way fighting works with mixed martial arts, at the beginning you get a show and a
00:11:40.000
If you win, you get the other half of your purse.
00:11:48.000
As a young kid, I don't know how much flights really cost.
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.
00:12:12.000
How did you not get – like, you're coming back.
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.
00:12:25.000
There's been a few times in my career where I've had that moment.
00:12:32.000
The first time I fought Conor McGregor was another one.
00:12:38.000
And I went out there and got beat by a guy who was running his mouth
00:12:44.000
And when I got back home, I was just like looking in the mirror saying,
00:12:50.000
I put everything I had into this and I went out there and lost.
00:13:01.000
Like, it was me or him who were going to fight for the belt.
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,
00:13:23.000
Do you have another routine to stay mentally stable and calm?
00:13:50.000
So, meaning, like, you know, we run businesses, man.
00:13:55.000
So, there isn't anybody in that world that's not going to have their moment,
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.
00:14:06.000
But for the most part, everybody has eventually that they're going to take a loss.
00:14:10.000
Because here's the difference that, gang, we have a different way of losing
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.
00:14:40.000
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.
00:15:03.000
Like, do you sit there and you watch the fight after fight or no?
00:15:11.000
I have to let the emotions kind of get out of me so I can really digest what I'm
00:15:15.000
But me and my team will sit down and replay the fight and see things that we were
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.
00:15:33.000
Have to be in fighting because there's no lying in there.
00:15:38.000
I don't know how it is in the business office world.
00:15:41.000
You might be able to cover some stuff with some whiteout and change some numbers here
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.
00:15:53.000
Honestly, that's the only thing I still love about this sport is that the fight is the
00:15:58.000
Because everything's so fabricated and online and people have opinions.
00:16:04.000
Yeah, the truth is going to be revealed in that octagon.
00:16:07.000
Everyone's going to know you can talk all you want.
00:16:10.000
And those guys around me, you know, I don't have yes men around me.
00:16:16.000
So, you do your first two fights and then UFC 2011, I think you start going into UFC.
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…
00:16:45.000
He was getting ready to fight a guy named Josh Grisby on a New Year's card in the MGM Grand
00:16:52.000
And they needed like a tune-up, keep the guy ready for when Jose's healthy.
00:17:00.000
I was in the gym training on the mats when I got the call.
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.
00:17:23.000
But when Dana White calls you and you're a young kid and this is going to be your first
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
00:17:42.000
Usually, it's somebody in the office at the UFC, but on these kind of things, Dana will
00:17:48.000
Dana calls and then who comes and tells you, hey, you got a big fight potentially
00:17:53.000
I was in the gym, so my coach, my buddy Tim, who was on the Ultimate Fighter came and said,
00:17:58.000
And we kind of knew that because the company bought the WEC.
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
00:18:07.000
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.
00:18:21.000
Guys, that's pretty insane to do something like that.
00:18:27.000
Now you're saying, are you thinking, are you talking to guys saying, hey, listen, the sky's
00:18:34.000
That win, out of all the wins, I've won the interim championship when I beat Max Holloway
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
00:18:54.000
But to go in there and beat the number one contender on short notice, I felt like everything
00:18:58.000
It really felt like, all right, I can do anything here.
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
00:19:13.000
But for me, the way I look at it is you start off with your athletic ability to be high.
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
00:19:44.000
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?
00:19:58.000
It looks like I'm going to be fighting for the lightweight world championship December
00:20:10.000
They actually leaked the news yesterday, so it's starting to get out there.
00:20:14.000
December 11th, I'm going to be the world champion.
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
00:20:26.000
So, that was the biggest payday I've had to that point.
00:20:32.000
I didn't have a car at the time early in our career.
00:20:37.000
My wife would bring me or borrow my mom's van and go.
1.00
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.
00:20:50.000
Now, you have the fight that is coming up in December.
00:20:57.000
And with all the stuff that's going on, there's a few characters I'm curious about
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.
00:21:16.000
I know we can say everybody packs a good punch.
00:21:19.000
Is there anybody that you said, I felt this guy's punch?
00:21:37.000
And I was on his, you know, in his trajectory was just, sky was the limit.
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?
00:21:58.000
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?
00:22:15.000
But my mental side is what lost me that first fight, you know?
00:22:23.000
If you were to say somebody who you went up against, went up against that ground game
0.96
00:22:32.000
A lot of people call him as the league of his own type of guy.
00:22:37.000
I've fought all kinds of different people, all kinds of different styles.
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.
00:23:05.000
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,
00:23:22.000
If he decides, let's just say you win in December.
0.99
00:23:37.000
If he wanted to, and you guys fought in 2022, how confident are you if you went up
00:23:50.000
But at the same time, I'm honest with myself and I understand this is combat sports.
00:23:56.000
But my skill set, I believe 100% of my skill set and work ethic, I can beat anyone.
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.
00:24:16.000
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.
00:24:33.000
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?
00:24:59.000
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.
00:25:13.000
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.
00:25:26.000
I mean, we should have paid $300 to watch that fight.
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.
00:25:55.000
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.
00:26:04.000
But in there, I felt his understanding of combat sports and I felt his knowledge and his skill set.
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?
00:26:41.000
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.
00:26:56.000
But look at all the things the guy's accomplished.
00:27:10.000
You know, he's a former multiple-time world champion.
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?
00:27:25.000
They say it's hard to wake up and run those miles when you're sleeping in silk pajamas.
00:27:37.000
Do you feel like you're at a point right now where you're feeling pretty confident about
00:27:50.000
The ribbon on top of my mixed martial arts career is be the undisputed world champion.
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,
00:28:06.000
And I'm still climbing that mountain, you know?
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
00:28:23.000
Like, do you say, I think I'm going to go until this age?
00:28:28.000
Well, we're going to see if we're going to take it one day at a time.
00:28:31.000
That's kind of the way I've been through my whole career.
00:28:42.000
Then you turn 32 and you're like, well, I still feel pretty good.
00:28:51.000
And as long as I can compete with these guys, wake up feeling good.
00:28:56.000
But as long as I can compete with these guys, I don't see why I wouldn't.
00:29:09.000
Is there any guys you're seeing where you're...
00:29:13.000
I trained at American Top Team in Coconut Creek when I'm getting ready for my fights.
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?
00:29:38.000
Younger than that, doing jiu-jitsu, boxing, doing mixed martial arts.
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.
00:29:55.000
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.
00:30:03.000
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?
00:30:15.000
I think UFC is gaining a lot of traction with combat sports fans in the past few years.
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.
00:31:15.000
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.
00:31:24.000
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.
00:31:52.000
Are you a guy that followed baseball, basketball, football?
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?
00:32:04.000
So, Dana White, what's his relationship with the fighters?
00:32:12.000
Like, hey, this guy's the boss, we gotta make sure we're going based on what he's saying.
00:32:21.000
If you fight like this, you ain't gonna get the big fight.
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.
00:32:52.000
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
00:33:10.000
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
00:33:27.000
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.
00:33:35.000
Is Daniel going to be able to poke and challenge like Dana does?
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.
00:33:57.000
And then he goes and he says, well, I wasn't too impressed.
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.
00:34:20.000
A personality like Conor, because Conor is, you know, he's a great fighter, but the guy's a great smack talker as well.
00:34:28.000
But leading a company, I'm not sure if you'd want that, you know.
00:34:35.000
Being the face and the voice of a company might get out of hand here and there.
00:34:42.000
Somebody who stands their ground but doesn't cross the line.
00:34:52.000
So this, you fighting, has also opened up a lot of different opportunities for you.
00:35:00.000
Can you talk about what some of the projects you're working on today?
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.
00:35:31.000
I got a bunch of them out of office, by the way.
00:35:40.000
And we take our hot sauce serious in Louisiana.
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?
00:36:11.000
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?
00:37:12.000
At this time, you know, I'm fighting in the biggest fights of the year.
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.
00:37:50.000
So it looks like that was kind of your strategy.
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.
00:38:25.000
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.
00:38:36.000
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.
00:39:04.000
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.
00:39:18.000
Was it, he couldn't get rid of the bad friends?
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?
00:39:41.000
Do you see a common trend with guys who end up becoming killers in your world?
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.
00:40:03.000
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.
00:40:39.000
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.
00:40:58.000
You don't need a lot of equipment, a pair of gloves and, and you're, you're on your way to start training.
00:41:07.000
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?
00:41:15.000
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.
00:41:23.000
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.
00:41:38.000
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.
00:41:48.000
Well, are you guys planning on having more kids?
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.
00:42:23.000
So, so your kids, if your son says that I want to be like you when I grow up, I want to do UFC.
00:42:34.000
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,
00:42:44.000
Are you a guy that also watches all the fights like you enjoy?
00:42:50.000
Like who's, who's your favorite, you know, fighters of all time in the, in the UFC?
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
00:43:06.000
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.
00:43:45.000
If you just go type in Fedor, F E D O R, you will be stuck to YouTube for a couple
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.
00:44:14.000
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
00:44:24.000
But when we were moving, I had these drawers full of fight worn gear over the years of
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.
00:44:48.000
And we were moving and packing up a U-Haul and we're like, what are we gonna do with
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.
00:45:12.000
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
00:45:27.000
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.
00:45:37.000
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.
00:45:51.000
Whatever we see we can help in the community or wherever.
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
00:46:13.000
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.
00:46:29.000
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.
00:46:35.000
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.
00:46:49.000
We got 15 minutes to go through questions here and Leo's walking like a turtle.
00:46:56.000
So Rose Namajunas had this, I may not pronounce her name right, but she had this like tradition
00:47:06.000
And I'm sure a lot of people that watch UFC saw that.
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,
00:47:21.000
What gets me in the zone is I write down the date of the fight on a piece of paper.
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.
00:47:42.000
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.
00:48:03.000
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.
00:48:20.000
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?
00:48:43.000
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.
00:48:55.000
I don't have to read all the comments and all this, but you still see them, you know?
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.
00:49:21.000
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.
00:49:50.000
I'm walking down this road into the unknown as prepared as I think I can be.
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?
00:51:02.000
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.
00:51:13.000
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.
00:51:31.000
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
00:51:57.000
Anderson Silva fought again, you know, fought two or three more times after breaking his leg.
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.
00:52:16.000
Go to one more CEO right here, right there, director of ops.
00:52:23.000
So one question, I saw you running with this like mask, like oxygen or something.
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?
00:53:00.000
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.
00:53:17.000
He can kick your ass, but you love the guy.
1.00
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?
00:53:58.000
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,
00:54:11.000
And also, when you made it to professionals, how did you balance between your professional
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,
00:54:25.000
MMA is such a big sport now that guys are kind of picking and choosing fights to make sure
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
00:54:44.000
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.
00:54:59.000
So I tried to fight a little bit longer against tougher guys as an amateur before I made the
00:55:06.000
Because you're like, let me just see if I can do this or not.
00:55:10.000
And I knew in the back of my head that it was, my record was going to be zero.
00:55:23.000
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.
00:55:47.000
Maybe I can ask guests the questions next time if you allow me.
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.
00:56:23.000
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?
00:56:49.000
And the question is for you both, Patrick and Dustin.
00:56:56.000
The question is for both of you guys, if Patrick also wants to answer.
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
00:57:28.000
When everybody's so different and fighting and they couldn't put up barriers.
00:57:36.000
And by the way, if it happened, it happened a little bit on the Conor fight with Khabib,
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.
00:58:13.000
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.
00:58:29.000
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.
00:59:00.000
They can burn you, or you can use them to cook your family's meals.
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.
00:59:44.000
The level of depth on your answers, Dustin, this is just great.
00:59:52.000
I wanted to ask you, you talked earlier about your camp and how you kind of do the peak week.
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.
01:00:23.000
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.
01:00:46.000
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.
01:01:14.000
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.
01:01:34.000
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.
01:01:47.000
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.
01:02:21.000
And the American people were very generous, you know, and I received donations.
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.
01:02:50.000
And I would encourage anybody else, you know, let's raise $10,000, $20,000 for his foundation.
01:02:59.000
Gang, first of all, how many of you guys had a blast with Dustin?
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.
01:03:44.000
So we got a nice little custom bottle for you to put your whiskey in with value tamer for
01:03:53.000
And on top of that, brother, we love you so much.
01:03:56.000
On the charity side, I personally, I mean, obviously, you came over here.
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.
01:04:18.000
So Dustin Poitier, how he mentally gets ready for the fight with the whole circle,
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?
01:04:33.000
And if you enjoyed this interview, I think you're also going to like the interview I did
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.