Bussin' With The Boys - Sean O'Malley & Chito Vera's Fight Predictions for UFC 299 in EXCLUSIVE Interviews

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

Dana White and Hunter Campbell hooked the boys up with Suga Sean O'Malley and Chito Vera for two interviews ahead of their headlining fight on UFC 299. O'Malley gives his fight prediction, the importance of his routine, tips to secret coffee, and how he is able to remain calm among the hype and chaos. Next, Vera explains how growing up in Ecuador shaped him into the fighter he is today and what he learned about the Suga Show in their first meeting. Safe to say the UFC put together another banger of a card! 0:00 Intro 4:45 SEAN O'MALLEY INTERVIEW STARTS 7:45 First fight w/ Chito 11:30 Pre-fight anxiety/breath work 19:15 Sean failed the same drug test as Taylor 23:40 Sean's Fight Prediction 26:45 Spelling Bee 29:07 CHITO VERA INTERVIEW STARTS 33:15 Remaining calm w/ all of the pressure 36:00 Chito's favorite junk food 39:00 Growing up in Ecuador & learning to fight 47:00 Chito will never get jumped 49:00 When Chito realized he could be a professional fighter ---- SHOP: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/bussin-with-the-boys FOLLOW THE BOYS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bussinwtb/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BussinWTB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BussinWTB/ Website: https://www.bussinwtb.com LISTEN iTunes: http://bit.ly/BWTB_Apple Spotify: http://bit.ly/BWTB_SpotifyFor more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. To a bonus episode of Bustin with the Boys, we are in Miami, Florida at this very moment and we just sat down with the main card event, Sugar Shaw-O-Malley versus Cheeto Vera. It is going down Saturday. It is Wednesday now when you're watching this on Thursday, on Friday, or Saturday before the fight. This is leading up to this fight.

sat down there. We're going to get you guys in the fight very the interview very quickly. However, we're going to tell you who we want to win. Not who we want to win. Who we think is going to win. Will, we'll start with you. Number one, we need to shout out the UFC. Dana Hunter for allowing us to be here. Getting to sit down with like the main event.

And you can like feel it too. Like walking in the hallways and sitting down in here and sitting with each one. Like when Cheeto sat down with us legitimately my heart rate was like pumping. It's like, dude, these guys are about to they're about to go to war on Saturday. But listen to both of them, man, I'm like, it sucks because I kind of, I'm like rooting for both of them. It's like I was telling you before we sat down to do this,

I would enjoy watching kind of the reign of Sugar-Shone O'Malley happen because of like the Connor McGregors, the John Jones of the world, who's had like their long reigns. And it would be cool to see Sean kind of do the same thing, especially since people have been like, oh, they've been feeding him fights and kind of setting him up, but he's coming off big wins with a with uh with uh yon and aljo but uh but yeah man and then you got chito who we've hung around with uh at chain gillis's comedy in in Vegas so we we know him a little

but we know he's a fan of busts with the boys right he's very like grounded and rooted and he just knows who he is and he's confident who he is and you're just like fired up for both so i'm like torn but if i had to put my money somewhere hashtag dk partner hashtag dk partner Who do you got? Let me say this. The opinion I'm going to give at this very moment is going to be based on the interviews we just had. And to me, Sean was great. He sat down.

He answered the questions, but it felt to me that he was doing this interview so he can go focus on his stuff. Cheeto, on the other hand, seems like present in the moment, taking everything in stride. as it comes to him. And so it's really just a first impression on the mic with these guys. I sit in the same boat as you when it comes to, I want like, if either one wins, I'm excited for regardless of what storyline happens. It'd be sick to see Sean do that,

but it also started a form of a relationship with Cheeto. It'd be cool to put that in your back pocket of being like, okay, I'm going to root for from now on. Kind of keeping them on the same playing field, though. I came in here thinking Sean O'Malley, Arizona Austrian brothers Austrian brothers

But I'm gonna go with Cheeto I'm gonna have to go with Cheeto And I got like If Sean wins Happy for Sean I still hope it's an amazing fight Yeah And I'll just

I will now go back to Sean But I think I'm with you Yeah it's a Cheetah thing I thought about I know we had this conversation before But I legit thought about Just switching just now That's how on the fence I am

That's how much I'm like And Cheeto though it's like It's tough to beat a good underdog story And obviously, Sean can have his, he has this kind of underdog mentality about it too, but knowing that this dude was coming in, the UFC, and talks about, you know, just trying to win a fight so he can live another month in the U.S. So he can continue to train and kind of do his thing. And knowing he's got the three kids, he's going to have a huge kind of crowd on Saturday.

You just like, you can't help but to just root for that, bro. And then just coming in, hanging out, chilling. He is the underdog. Scrappy hair, scrappy beard. Yeah. And Sean comes in the exact opposite, like hair, got the perm going, the blue and the pink. He got his trunks that he's super excited about, multiple chains that don't really make sense. Now, they're not layered.

They're just kind of there. And they're just kind of there. That's like completely different parallels of personality that both excite me. Yeah. I feel like this is going to be, it's just going to be awesome. I'm, like, fired up for Saturday. Dude, I know. It's, it's sick that the relationship with Bussin and the UFC has gotten to where we're at UFC 299 and we'll be.

fucking in the action on Saturday But I'm rolling with you I'm rolling with you I'm rolling Cheeto The dog The scrappy dog Grew up fighting

If you're gonna roll With the boys hashtag DK partner Obviously draft kings Is the place to go for all that We'll let you guys get the interviews right now Obviously you guys see us enough Let's get right into these We appreciate you guys

Please subscribe unsubscribe Resubscribe all those things Bake hugs And tiniest of kisses How are we feeling dude Well I've had about Four or five ounces of chicken without salt and a couple handfuls of blueberry

and about way too much water. Yeah. You know, it could be worse. You look good? Feel good for the most part. Is this the biggest struggle right now? It's just like the weight thing and knowing you have to cut? Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's, uh, yeah, it sucks. It really does. It's like, fuck, why do we have to do this? Dude, the pink shorts. Incredible. How fired up are you? Yeah, yeah, I'm pumped. You know, I feel like I was able to get those pink shorts

because of the performance I put on against Aljo. I feel like you can't have. ask for stuff like that if you're you know oh in a decision but the fact that went out there and put his lights out and asked for a little favor i think they came in how was that conversation with dana uh hunter you know hunter made it happen um hunter dude hunter's the man hunter's the fucking man so hunter made that happen um yeah simple bro i uh i was checking out earlier you were most recent vlog with your morning routine yep big fan rocking the daily dad reading the daily dad your morning routine your world famous coffee.

What do you do? You just buy a little frother for the heavy cream? Yeah, that's a huge part of froth in the milk. But using that aeropress machine, you got to have good quality organic beans, some good quality organic honey,

some organic heavy whipping cream. It's all you really need. You can add a little cinnamon on top if you want. But fuck, I miss that. You got it. It's fun. I got to look into it. I've been doing it probably like six years,

same way, AeroPress every morning. It's fucking, it's most, I use that as a pre-workout, you know, it's fucking, I love that. Do you do it yourself? Do you do it? I enjoy doing that myself. So I'll do that for myself, probably forever. I enjoy that little bit of the morning routine.

Yeah, the morning routine. Like, how long did it take you to establish that? How long have you been doing it for? I feel like that's been a buildup about six, seven years, adding a little something, you know. It used to be like, okay, I'm going to start a morning. I'm going to start a routine. I'm going to fucking wake up, hit a test. 10 minute meditation.

That's kind of like where I started a routine. It used to be, you know, when I first started, it was like just a three minute meditation. Learn, kind of get into that. And then it went from three minutes to five minutes, five minutes, ten minutes to, okay, I'm to do that. I'm going to do a red light. I'm going to do the cold plunge. I'm going to do this, that.

I haven't been doing the cold plunge right now. It's been too fucking cold. But in the summer in Arizona, it's like the cold plunge in the morning. It's nice. But, yeah, I built that over, up over the last five, six years, probably. The sugar era. How excited are to you about your? first title defense.

I'm very excited. It's, you know, before I was champ, I felt like I was a champ. I was making the most money in the division. I had the biggest name in the division. So I felt like I was kind of champ, you know, for the last three, four years. Now I'm officially the champ, defending the belt. You know, now I'm the main event, getting paper viewpoints. It's the highest of levels you get, and it's exciting.

With your opponent that you have, taking technically the only loss in your career, even I know, the whole thing. Having it go down the way it did, is this not only like you're defending a belt, but this is like a revenge tour as well for you? A little bit. It is kind of because of what happened in the first fight, but also, you know, I've never lost sleep over that fight. I've never been like, that fight's never bothered me ever because I'm in the position I'm in right now because of that fight.

I was a co-main event on a massive pay-per-view of that fight. If I were to go out there and beat him, you know, I'd maybe fought someone in the top five. Maybe I wasn't ready at the time. But, you know, that fight played out the way it did. I come back, fight Thomas Almeida, knock him out, what, seven, eight times at one fight, it was incredible. So I wouldn't have been able to have that performance if that didn't play out. So I've never really felt like it was revenge as far as like I need to get that one back. Because I don't feel like it's not there.

To me, I didn't lose because his skills were better than mine that night. It was a freak accident. How many times does that happen since that fight? You know, three and a half years later, not a lot. Yeah. With that nerve, like take us into like what that feels like. It's like you sit on the toilet school on the phone for too long and now your legs have fallen asleep

Or is that one of those deals where it's like a shooting pain Like if you did something to your back Like how does that feel? Yeah it's so Years before that in my second UFC fight I tore my head to Liz Frank surgery So in the middle of my fights my foot snapped And that was a two year recovery

That was horrible In my head boom I feel like it felt like that So instantly I'm thinking Fuck my I wasn't thinking it's a number nerve and my foot my foot just couldn't you know I needed to come back I was thinking my foot just snapped and half again but I also before I walked out I had ankle wraps on and they were too tight and I was telling I was having one of my corners I'm like we try to like loosen this up a little bit like they felt so tight so I think when he hit the nerve and that shut off I got dropped foot

so I couldn't lift my foot up so I kept rolling it I think that nerve would have came back that wrap wasn't so tight you know that's bro science but that's what I felt like you know was kind of happening would that have came back I don't know You know, it happened in previous fights to other people where they get that nerve and they kind of roll their foot a couple of times, but it comes back. I think my wraps were a little bit too tight that night. How are your emotions different? This fight compared to the Aljo fight. I remember your post fight.

You talked about that was the most nervous you've ever been for a fight. What's the difference leading up to this weekend? Yeah, going to do a fight healthy compared to going to a fight, you know, compromised is a big difference. I feel like I was able to get to that, you know, confident state of mind to where I was in there. And I was, you know, it wasn't bothering me. I wasn't thinking about it. It was, you know, the game plan was do not let this guy touch me anyway. It was just maxed out because I was dealing with a rib injury.

So, you know, it's definitely different. I'm going into this fight healthy. And it's, you know, Aljo, to me, was the hardest, the biggest test in the division. Obviously, he was the champ, but not the champ's not always the hardest fight in the division. He was the hardest fight and the champ. And going into there, compromised, it was, it was, I had a lot of mental chatter back and forth that I was able to overcome every time. So that didn't really phase me then. But yeah, I feel really, really good going into this fight.

The thing about Cheetos is he's so, he's so durable. That's what makes him so dangerous. This is a 25-minute fight. If I don't put his lights out, you know, and I do a lot of damage, I could potentially gas myself out and then get finished or lose a decision. So it's, you know, there's interesting challenges in this fight, but I feel good. And when you were dealing with the going into fighting for the belt and you're having all these nerves that you had to break through, like what is like your process that helps you break through kind of like you're so because you can be enabled by fear or disabled by fear. Well, I just feel like it because, yeah, I'm super curious because, yeah, as athletes, like people will be lying if you don't lay on that pillow and think about, okay, what if I miss his tackle? What if I fail?

The night before a game? You envision success, but you also at the same. time you're like fighting those demons of like okay don't doubt yourself like you put you've prepared you put in the work um but yeah i feel like we all go through that yeah i think the big one of the biggest things is trusting the process and not just saying that but truly truly trusting the process like i'm here for a reason i've been knocking people out since i was 16 you know i've been knocking people out for 13 years now so i i know i'm capable of putting his lights out and another thing is just accepting that if it doesn't go my way life's

You know, I have, I'm, you know, life's not over. If I go out there and lose, my life's still good. Yeah, I'm going to get hated on the internet, whatever. Now that really bothers me. I feel like I've came to accept that, truly accept that, to where it's like, I can let go of those thoughts because if it happens, you know, my life, I'm still super blessed, super grateful to be in the position I'm in. And I feel like I've been able to do that early, early on in my career, just accept whatever happens. life's going to be good. So it allows me to be able to not constantly keep thinking about,

oh, what if this happens? I'm like, what if anything happens? Fuck it. Life's going to be good. On to the next. And I feel like that's what really kind of allows me to let go of thinking and enter that flow state, whatever you want to call it, by not being too attached to those thoughts. What is something that you've, like, gravitated towards when kind of cultivating that

mindset? Because I feel like it's fascinating, right? Like you have the get up you have, but you're also very intentional. the daily day, like there's some type of stoic philosophy that you also have in there to counterbalance everything. How do you stay intentional? How do you stay balanced when wanting to be the celebrity and then also wanting to be the grounded fighter of like accepting whatever outcome that there might be? I mean, I would say routine is the biggest one but also having a three-year-old princess. Like that'll just, like what else is there to do?

Yeah, I'm 29 making a lot of money. I have status. I could go out and do whatever I want to do. party do all that but at the end of the day it's like i just want to hang out with you know hang out with elana so that that keeps me very very grounded um that's completely changed my life and i feel like that's what i don't even know if i have i like think of myself as a very disciplined person but i'm like man if i didn't have a little princess at home i might not be in the position i'm in so that that keeps me grounded i love that and congrats on the three-year-old by the way yeah tossing the hat yeah we

got yeah we got to get you right so we got on but my girl would kill me right now because she's in my head yeah yeah no we understand we got i got two girls he's got a girl yeah so yeah we know that life dude it definitely changes two years old i had six and three six and three man there's there's these two little girls at the gym that elana goes and plays with that are like four and two and i'm like i just melt my bro that age is like they're full of life man so fun you want easier you want more yeah oh yeah is there that piece of you that like wants that boy a boy would be cool i mean if i if you know 10 years down the line you're like fuck I got three girls I wouldn't be mad you know how I'm about having a princess and it's just I don't know but a little boy would be fun just to kind of get him into sports I would love I would love you know if I I would love him to be into sports and I'm like I wouldn't want him to the box I wouldn't want him to the MMA Jiu Jiu Jitsu for sure football is probably like like my favorite sport to watch and kind of was growing up my favorite sport but it's so brutal I'm like fuck I don't know if I would want to be able to could watch him do that so I'd probably want to get into like basketball or something you know you know

Some light. Maybe golf. Yeah, golf, something. I don't know. Dude, football's, I agree. I mean, it's just as a dad. Sitting with my low back is just burning right now.

Like, he's trying to get stretching. As a dad watching your little one, fuck it get clunked as a running back or something. Oh, yeah. Fucking hard. And knowing just how, you know, risky it is with brain injuries and all that.

Yeah, that's going to be an interesting conversation when your son's like, hey, dad, I really want to play football. And you're like, yeah, but the head injuries. And he just like pulls up. You get a smack in that. head like a compilation if you're just getting hit a bunch of times in the face yeah it'll be uh hopefully you know if across that it will cross it yeah yeah how do you see uh how long do you see the rain

going on what does that look like for like a fighter who you finally because you become the champion you obviously you don't want to get too far ahead you don't want to you know do too much but what does the rain look like for uh shana molly yeah i mean it's a very very rare a rain plays out like an Israel out of Sonia. Like, I don't remember the, like, a John Jones, I guess, as well. You know, it's rare when there's a champ that stays there for multiple years. And, like, Alexander Volknoffsky and Izzy were great examples of that. So I would love to have a reign like that.

You know, the Bantamweight Division is absolutely stacked. There's killers after killers after killers. So, you know, I'd like to have a long, nice rain. But also, you know, you never know. I'm going to go with the flow. I don't want to say I want to do this. And then I wake up one more, and I'm like, man, I really don't want to do this. but I also said I did, so I'm just going to do it.

I'm going to go with how I feel, and if I wake up one morning, and I'm ready to call it quits, and, you know, so I'm just going to go with the flow. You talked about one of your inspirations getting into the sport, and somebody wanted to emulate was Connor McGregor. How have your interactions ever been with him? I've had one interaction with Connor at a Dallas Cowboys football game. He was off the proper 12. I couldn't understand him.

His accent was a little thick, and he was a little buzzed up, So we had a little conversation. It was loud, hard to understand. He was thicker than fuck at the time. Just on some shit, I think. But so I didn't really have, you know, that was brief. But yeah, I look up to Conner. He's done really well for himself.

I love what he's done. He's my favorite fighter to watch out of press conference, interview, fight. Like, just love everything about Connor. So it took huge inspiration from him. How do you look at probably your. a business guy yourself, like all the business endeavors and everything and kind of seeing how Connor has, he's in the situation that he's in where he's thinking about coming back or his comeback's coming at some point. We have no clue when. But like watching his kind of a journey with

it all and not, I guess, getting too caught up in all the business and everything else and keeping yourself in check if you want to stay in the fight game, you know, at a high level like you want to. Yeah, I mean, you definitely, you got to be all in. You can't be in this sport. If you want to stay top you got to be all in and that's where my head's at right now i want to stay on top i want to be all in and uh i don't foresee in the near future that i'm not going to think like that i feel like uh you know you learn from people that do certain things and uh you know he he went in all all in and the thing is too is like it was the whiskey business you know you got to drink it to promote it you can't just you know promote it so i think he was you know maybe maybe drinking a little bit

too much a little you know maybe not i don't know obviously i'm not him but uh yeah Yeah, you learn for lessons from people like that. I want to, you got to stay in the gym and stay dialed. Yeah, getting the same supplements as him, dude. Yeah, I don't think it's legally I can't. By the way, yeah, we got two, I'm sure, two people who failed for Osterine. Taylor failed for Osterin as well. Yeah.

2019, I had a trace amount in my... Dusted. Are you serious? And so, I don't know what your situation was like. I'll give you the quick brief one. I was working with this nutritionist in New York, and he gave me a whole bunch of supplements to take. and then April, I took a drug test,

May they're like, you popped. And like the way the judicial system in the NFL works is like, unless you can find the batch, you're out. You just gave me anxiety, brother. That's tough to do a couple days before a fight. But yeah, what was your, what was like?

Dude, I, it was, when I get drug tested now, I get so much anxiety every single time. Because the same thing happened to me. I tested, I was like three weeks out from a fight. They call me.

They're like, you fail the drug test. And I thought I was getting, I didn't think it was serious. I'm like, I don't take anything like, there's no way. And it was the same thing, trace amount, picograms, which is like, what, a trillionth of a gram? Yeah, it's like taking a pinch of salt and putting it in an Olympic-sized pool. Yeah, so they said I tested for Osterine. I remember just fucking crying. I'm like, I'm getting suspended for taking something that I didn't take, or at least intentionally, because it was trace amount.

So it had to have been in something I took. And we never found out where it came from either. So I got suspended and I was out for a while and that fucking broke my heart. And I got a lot of shit online from it. People saying, y'all, you failed. You saw it. I'm like, do I look like I'm on shit, dude? I'm like 108 pounds soaking wet.

So, you know, thankfully I don't really get that hate anymore because I thought maybe that would linger around. But I think for the most part, if you look into it and it's trace amounts and it's like, You saw it came out and said, yeah, I mean, it's such a small amount. They actually changed the law, changed the rule, because Nate Diaz tested for something. It wasn't Austrian, but it was something similar. And he tested for under 100 picograms. So they changed the after my case, which sucked because I still got suspended. But after that, they changed it.

That if it's under 100 picograms, it's not as a failed test. But that's crazy. That shit blew my fucking mind. I was, yeah, that's why. I went into, like, a deep dive during the whole Austrian thing, like trying to figure out what it's, It's for osteoporosis. Like it's not even regular. Like it's not approved by the FDA.

It was a crazy thing for me that I was like, I don't, what was like the appeal process like with the UFC? How did that even work? Um, honestly like UFC, I mean, I had conversations with them to where I was like, guys, listen, I didn't take anything. They're like, yeah, we know it's such a, it's such a small amount that there's just no way you did. And so they were, they trusted me.

They believed me and they helped me just kind of get through it. And they, you know, how to still. you know, abide by the USADA rules and stuff and still just get suspended and stuff. But it actually, I got suspended twice for it because it was still in my system because I got tested again and it was still in my system. Like, that's fucked. How far apart were the tests? Well, I ended up getting tested like 50 something times that year. So there was times where they test me back to back days and they were all such low levels that it, that they were, they were confused.

They were like, I don't fucking know what to do. Like, it's such a low amount. But it's technically still You gotta, we gotta test you And just, yeah So. Did you ever figure out What supplement it was?

No, never did And I fucking Yeah, every time I get tested now To this day I get fucking this anxiety Because I don't know where it came from I don't know if someone was fucking with me Like my head was going there I'm like there's jealous people at the gym maybe

Maybe someone's fucking with me Someone just sprinkles a loss of yourself Like I don't even know Could you imagine the sicko that does that? Yeah, you never know I mean even being on all NSF certified products Like if you still test like it's still ultimately On the yeah

They're like, oh, it's still your responsibility. Because you could report these are all the supplements. I'm on. Yeah, and then they come to me and I'm on a wrestling meet watching. They're like, what are all the supplements you take? And I take a ton of supplements right now. They're all NSF certified. I've been very, very strict on that ever since that happened.

I'm like making sure everything's third party tested. But, I mean, you take, you just got to write every single one down when you took it, how much you took. I'm like, fuck. It's wild. When you catch hate on the internet for a bit of people like, hey, Sean, you suck. You're not that good. They gave you an easy roster. because they want to make you stuff like that that you can easily brush off.

Yeah. But when it comes to failing for a drug test, now it's like, hey, you're a cheater. Yeah. How is that mentally for you going through that? Yeah. I mean, it was so long ago now to where I, you know, I only remember that when I'm getting tested. It bugs me for a little bit. But, you know, it doesn't get brought up anymore. I think that it kind of got, it's just, yeah.

I mean, I'm sure now people will start saying it again that they get brought up. He's like, oh, fuck. Here we go. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was such a small amount. You sort of cleared me. I mean, I still got suspended, but they changed the rule,

and it was looked at as that was definitely a tainted supplement. How do you see this fight going on Saturday? You know, I keep saying, there's potential of it being a 25-minute war. He's never been finished. He's never been dropped. This dude is tough. But I also put people's lights out. And, you know, we're in Miami.

I got pink shorts. I want to, you know, my hair is going to be looking good. It already is. I'm feeling good. It's just my time. So I do believe I go out there and put his lights out. What round? A lot of people are telling me third.

You know, last fight, a lot of people, when I fought Aljo, I mean, you start here. Everyone tells you, hey, I think that blah-bah. So a lot of last fight was like, yeah, I think a second round of knockout. I was hearing that from a lot of people. I'm sure is shit. Put his lights out in round two. Now I'm hearing round three. We'll see.

bringing this interview full circle you start the the conversation talking about chito and how he's never been finished and it could go 25 minutes and all that and so you talk about you might get gassed out and that's how you get finished how do you like go into this fight do you take a little bit off feel it out for a little bit not as bouncing not as twitchy you kind of like see where he's at and how he wants to approach it or are you full aggressive going to be yourself no matter what Yeah, I got to be myself. I can't go in there, you know. And I just got to do what I've been doing and, you know, trust the process. Whatever happens, happens. But I do believe I'll put his lights out. what is the visualization process for you like when you get in the octagon the cage closes i feel like i've seen stuff you're heavy into the breath work the nasal breathing and everything else is that something you lean on like while you're walking in the ring to kind of

keep your emotions at bay until the fight starts 100% all day all fight day i mean i try to you know kind of be sit with your breath you know throughout every day but fight day is a very breath heavy following day. It just kind of keeps you in the moment, keeps you grounded, keeps those thoughts slowed down. So yeah, you know, breathing, being where I'm at, feeling my breath into my belly, you know.

And if I do think, which everyone does, it's, you know, too sharp, too fast, too focus. Is this mantra over and over and over, too sharp, too fast, too focused, following my breath. So it's a mixture between following my breath, saying that mantra and, you know, just going with the flow.

Do we appreciate you, man. Do you have anything else for? No, I'm solid, dude. This is awesome. Unless you got a word. No, man. Oh, yeah, yeah. How's your spelling?

Not good. Okay, good. Because I'm basically hooked on phonics at this point. Oh, wow. How do we do this, though, JP, if it's one word, it's not like they can both spell it out loud at the same time. Unless you don't say if he's right or wrong. Well, I guess I don't know if that works. We'll just, we both get two separate words.

So we've been doing this. thing at the shop where like uh i'm like horrendous at like my tweeting is always a spelling error jp's always testing me on words and i cannot spell yeah so we're kind of starting this thing where we're just gonna i'm competing against our guests now okay in spelling bees okay yeah yeah i'm just trying to be better yeah yeah oh fuck i i i love that you're nervous because i am i'm already at ground zero so your word is accommodate Accommodate. Accommodate. No, sir. Fuck.

Hold on. Hold on. Taylor's got scribbles on his. Oh, wait. Wait. D. Oh, D.A. These are mixed, right? Or no. Oh, like that? Ah. Yes, yeah. You're missing an M. Two C's and two M's. Really? Yep. Okay. So we both lost.

Both lost. That's all right. That's fine. I'll take a draw. We got another word. Oh, okay. let's go I'm sure like on a Wednesday before you fight for your belt

you're like I'd rather be doing so much of this shit right now this is so gay I journal every day I read them back when I'm in fight camp I look back on it I'm like

what the fuck thank God you said that I'm like I don't even know how I can read this shit let's go charcuttery oh

yeah I might just skip that one all right let's go I got zero I got nothing No. Okay. Let's go. Necessary.

Oh, fuck. I know I text that in a word. I'm like, I just wait for all the day. Just every time I say, fuck. Necessary. This is embarrassing. That is not. Correct.

Correct. Let's go. Are you going to take down the Bannonweight champion of the world? How did you spell it? No, no, no. You got to go. You got to go. Necessary.

I just fucking cross it out. I just tried to sound it out. Yeah. N-E. C-E-S-S-A-R-Y. Damn. Undefeated he is. One and 12.

One and 12. Brother, thank you, man. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. Thank you, boys. Let's get a photo real quick. Start us off, Willie. Cheeto, man.

It is, we were just before this episode talking about how we were sitting in the green room before Shane's show. But fast-forwarding until today, you got a massive fight. coming up Saturday. How are the vibes? How are you feeling right now? I feel like you got a different look every time we see you.

You kind of got like the Hispanic Wolverine going on right now. Yeah, I like to change it, man. I really try to don't be the same every fight. And this is a huge, massive moment for my life, for my career,

and Saturday night is going to be my first world title, which I'm fucking excited, man, I'm ready. And I've been dreaming to this my whole life. And it's been 10 years. with the JFC and I work my way up to the rankings and I'm here now so

Saturday night we're kicking some eyes. You said you said before that winning being a world champion seems impossible once upon a time. What does it feel like saying that now thinking about that comment now going into a title fight your first one in your career? It feels like a dream. It feels like I used to just think about this moment my whole life and last week come on keep winning keep trying to figure it up could try to evolve. And now that I'm here, I'm just, I'm just extremely grateful with the opportunity because not everybody gets to fight for a world title.

There's so many fighters that fought through the years. I never get to break to the top 10. Never get to break to the top five. I'd even better never go to fight for a world title. So I'm just full of joy. I'm happy and I'm going to make it happen. When you sit here on Wednesday, knowing that you're finally fighting for a title and you're fighting against somebody that you've technically beaten.

where are your nerves at compared to like your usual fights? Because this is the biggest fight of your life right now. This is, everything is more magnified. Like, you go to bed just thinking about it. You wake up thinking about it. You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it and it's how you handle it. I mean, everything is just more, it's bigger, it's more extreme. It's just, this is the biggest moment of my life.

And I'm going to make it happen and I'm going to, I'm not just let it. go by. I'm enjoying the moment. I'm happy with what I am today and on Saturday I'm changing my life. How do you temper the expectation? Like week one in the NFL is always like you get excited because you're out of camp and then you're so excited to go play against a different opponent that had this like phrase like you're going to blow your load too early. And then you're going hard as hell in practice on Wednesday. By the time you get to Sunday, your legs are a little more tired. Like man, I kind of left less some rounds out. Yeah, no, I told you. This fight was announcing November so we planned camp really good we start we started slow we start picking up the

pace and the last pretty much the last two months I've been in top shape I've been my running times were great my sparrants were great and we just keep bringing new sporting partners every week new sporting partners new sport and partners like I had my time to do my distance running from since November so I was running 50s 15 miles every Sunday. I was just prepping my diet, go dial in early, which I never have a problem in the past,

but I just tried to figure out how it can be better. My hyperbaric, my C-BAC protocols, everything was just dial in, and it's going to pay it off. It's going to pay it off because I did everything leading to this point that I'm looking back and I'm cool with everything I did. How do you keep that slow burn,

as Taylor was referring to, with like, now we're just a few days out, So you've had the time to train at camp and being the week of it's like I'm sitting here and my heart rate is sitting at 98 right now like my heart's beating just thinking like yo this fight's coming and we're still a few days out but like knowing that you know I've listened to one of your recent interviews to where you were talking about when you first came in you're just trying to win a fight so you can pay another make it another month in the US before going back and now you're sitting here and it's like how do you resist the urge to you know not get overhyped by come fight night I feel like um meditating and visualizing a lot when I'm on my own, when I'm on my solo time with no one is around me, I just, that's my time to, like, cool down, kind of like, put all my emotions together, it's close my eyes and just see the good, see really bad scenarios to see how I can react to it, and then I like to, what I really like to see is my feet on the canvas when

I entering the cage the first time and just be like, that feeling makes me feel like, very, very nervous and then I go, okay, it's okay, it's okay. You've been here before, just do it again. And I feel like this week is just slow. Like we train, but we don't train too much. We hit the meat, we grapple a little bit, but it's just to keep the sweat going, the flood blowing. And like you say, like don't burn the candle too quick. You just got to like just relax. Because emotions, even if you don't train and you're doing everything properly, your emotional, can burn you. So just making sure I keep the same circle, not new energies, no new souls, this far from this close of fight, just keeping the right people around me. That also helped me

to stay nice and calm. When you're talking about your camp and protocols and how all that stuff works earlier, what is like your go-to protocol? Is there something you do on a day-to-day basis regardless of like there's no wavering from what I do? Well, I do a nice, but almost every morning as soon as I wake up. And then there's a few ways to do with mix it up with ice and a sauna, depending on what you want. If you want recovery, if you want to boost testosterone, if you want to release stumps or whatever.

So I do all that. I have that at home. I just bought a hyperbetic chamber for my home too, so I don't have to drive too getting the chamber. So I can spar and go straight to recovery. And then the SIVA to get my cardio better, promote more red blood cells, all that is like, I do that year around, we're without fight.

There's protocols that are from out of camp, there's protocols when you are in camp to, like, go to a top shape, and all that plays a big influence on my life. Like, it helped me to recovery, and for me, it's all about my brain. I want my brain to be the best when I retire. I want to be able to take care of my family, to be able to see my kids grow. And the way I fight, I fight pretty fucking hard, so I need to be good. So all that really helped me just to add another gear to my game. Hey, without ever being knocked out too.

Yeah. Staying on top of that brain stuff. You take a lot of pride in that? I take a lot of pride in my hard work and everything I do leading to fights. And the way I eat, everything I put in my body is like, it's just everything comes from the earth. I don't do nothing processed, nothing with chemicals, I don't really cheat. I don't even miss eating like shit. I'm just...

You miss ice cream? Everybody misses ice cream. But believe it or not, I don't really... I do like once every two months I eat. Like, I give myself, like, one of those things. Like, if I eat a bag of dry mango, I'm cool. Damn, what that's... That sucks.

Like a solid, like, healthy treat. Yeah. If you're just, like a dairy queen blizzard, bro. Like, that's... Dry pineapple, I can eat that every day. That's how far. He's just...

Yeah, he's so good. Oh, man, dried fruit is the best. He's taking the pill. Yeah. Yeah, dry food is the shit, dude. When you were eating like shit, what was like your go-to? Like, I got it.

Oh, this is my deal. I would breakfast at McDonald's almost every day when I was in Ecuador. Mickey D's? No, what was it? It was the muffins, right? Yeah, the muffins was fucking delicious. That with fries. night in the morning

it's Christmas 9 in the morning with a gator red yeah and you don't miss it but check it out I didn't know that wasn't healthy

when I was when I was growing up I thought that was just food I was like I'm I'm feeling the body my homie

my homie what you do I'm gonna go turn at 10 you want to stop real quick I'm like let's go we smoke a five join eat McDonald's

and thinking that you're normal but now I'm like I pass by McDonald's I'm like fuck you you're gonna I heard my life. Yeah.

Dude, going back to where you were talking about visualizing and stepping in the octagon, your feet hitting the canvas, the gate closing. How do you, what is the protocol of the preparation there? Is it a focus, like focusing on breathwork and not getting too high in the moment because clearly it's going to be just the peak of every, you know, every match you've ever been in? I feel like you just have to, like, one does God, to start fighting, you just have to use that fire to almost warm you up instead of just, like, feeling it here.

Because on that moment, we all feel weak. In that moment, we all feel like, oh, I'm not ready. Oh, I don't want to be here. But that's just your mind playing tricks in you. And then you go, like, you know what? This is part of the deal. This is part of what happened before a fight. And then when you start warming up, just like, I personally, I just get mean.

I just go sweep the fleet. The, fuck, what is it? Switch the switch. There you go. Thank you. I lost my English for a second. And then I just go, I'm mean, I'm red. I'm like, I don't care.

I know I'm ready to do that. And that just comes like probably 10 minutes before I do the walk. I just go, poop, and I'm cool. I'm like, right now I don't give a fuck about nothing. I'm just going. How are you able to achieve the ability to flip the switch? Like, was that a thing that you had the minute you stepped in the octagon for the first time, the minute you found martial arts?

Or was that a deal that over time and learning? I feel that was fighting on the streets since a very early age. Like, I was the smallest guy in the room, the skinned one. And I used to, no one would pick on me, but I would be like a little fucking monkey just poking everybody.

And I would get a slap sometimes and I would be like, oh, fuck you. And I just learned how to fight early because I would start fights for no reason. And I got my ass kick so many times. and I just kept coming. I just kept coming, kept coming, kept coming. And probably that really helps.

Do you even think about the first fight with Sugar, knowing it ended in the first round the way it did? Well, I rewatch it, and the things I remember from being in there, it's just like, there's one thing the world can see, the coaches or people on TV, it's just like you can feel your opponent's soul and energy when you're in there. and the thing I can say,

he don't have a hard energy. He don't have a hard soul. You can see through him, and he's a great athlete. That doesn't mean he cannot beat you. That's what people sometimes fool into like, oh, you're not that good, and boom, they get punched.

I'm not thinking like that. But I'm also feeling you, and you're not a hard motherfucker. You're someone that will crumble if you have to. And that's something I know. You're saying his foundation is not as solid as he seems. Not at all.

when you, with his tactics as far as being on the microphone, how do you mentally, does that faze you in any way, shape or form? I don't, I'm not a big reader of opinions or comments and I'm not a guy that I like to engage in social media. Like, I'm not the guy that will be like, for example, let's see two weeks from now, you guys are hanging out with him. And I feel offended of that. Most guys that feel like that, they're poises.

because they get too quick on a on the like oh I think we were cool but you're hanging and they go online and be like oh fuck those guys I don't do that I like I just don't do that and when someone is talking shit to me or like saying something about me I'm just like cool dude but I guarantee you this if we're in a closed room and you talk shit that close

I'm gonna I'm gonna fight you I don't care who you are what you do but also in the other hand I'm being cool to everybody. I'm not trying to start nothing with no one. But if you took shit and we're close enough, we're going. But if you, so social media is one thing, but Sean himself, how when he, he's your opponent that you're going to be going up against it, he's, he's saying some nasty things. How do you compartmentalize that when you're going in the octagon with him? I really ignore it all. I really don't, you will never see me engaging with him online. I never reply. Here and there,

I would throw a nice fucking body show, but I don't have time. Like, I got cool things to do, bro. Like, I got a lot of fun things around my life that I just don't have the time to engage with anybody. And then when it's fight time, doesn't matter what you say. I want to fucking kill you regardless. If you were nice or you were a bad guy,

that's it matter to me. Yeah. Do you ever feel the noise, like the external stuff, like when you are the underdog, or like with Sean winning the bell, it's going to be the sugar air and everything else, and you're the first title defense. Do you ever hear any of that noise

or feel any of that? I try my best to stay away from the nose, away from the cloud, because all this is temporary. All this one day will be gone. There will be new guys, new fighters, new champions. So I do my best and enjoy the moment and making sure I invest my money right.

The rest, it will just pass by. A few years from now, it will be nice and over. It seems like you got your head on straight. Like, understanding that just because this is your time now doesn't mean in 10, 15 years, like, unless you make a big dent, you'll be essentially forgotten. Like, we all are in our sport. How do you, like, being present, is that something you've always had the ability to possess? Or is that something you've learned with success and failures?

A little bit of both. I wasn't the guy that was too attached to, like, oh, I'm desperate for the cloud. I'm desperate, like, to hang out with these guys, like, somehow, for some reason, the cool guys always call me out. be like, hey, come join the group or come to this party. And I also grew up with other guys. I would like, willing to do anything to be part of that. And I'm like, that's probably the reason you will never be part of that. And to me, it's just, I just think like this, I want to win because I feel I'm a winner.

And I want to make a shit lot of money because I want to invest it. And then after that, I want to kick it. I probably would do something like this, join you guys. Yes, sir. And with the boys. I'm not too worried about like, I mean, the war is fuck right now with all this fame and weird TikTok and everything is illegal. And fuck that. So I'm not really trying to be part of that group.

I'm trying to be more than this group. Yeah. How's your family feeling when it becomes the week of the fight? They're nervous, man. I can feel it. But it is what it is. You're getting into a fist fight, dude. Yeah.

You know, the family get nervous, but by now they're kind of experienced with it. They know how to handle it, but I get it. They're still hard for them. And it's for the belt this week, this time. It's big, bro. It's big. My kids are excited. My wife is excited.

My family from Ecuador, sometimes they don't really travel for my fight because it's expensive. This time, the whole family is coming. You should have a good crowd. I believe I will have a crazy crowd. out, dude. Like just in media, dude, 48 credentials. That never happened in the past. So it's going to be a big day. It's going to be a big day. Yeah, man. How many kids do you got?

They got three. Three? Boys, girls? Boy in the middle, two girls in the side. Two girls. We got a girl dad on our hands, folks. Before having kids, the mindset of the brain and everything. And then now, like, is there a different feeling going into the octagon? I know you flip the switch. But knowing that, like, hey, I got kids, that I worry about my head and making sure everything's all good. Does that ever cross your mind?

I feel like having kids was really what brought me to where I am today. I feel if I wouldn't have kids, I would probably be drinking beer right now and smoking cigarettes. Out of the game. Yeah, but like my kids really brought me. Sometimes I say the kid came to the bread

underneath the arm. I feel they, especially my daughter, my first daughter, I feel when I had her my whole life, I just put my head down and just work until today. I don't want left, I don't want right, I don't lose focus. I just feel like it's hard to let down your kids. You don't want to be a loser when you have kids.

You can be a loser on your own, and no one will say nothing, but I don't want my kids to have a shitty dad or a loser dad. So I believe that's really my, that is my main reason. That's my real reason why they do things. Man, we appreciate you. Do you have any other? I got one more. I love it, dude.

I saw it. I was about to ask you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is sick. We actually, we have this one as well if you want that. If you want the green one. Well, that would my song might get upset. That's all right.

Yeah. He probably needs it. Yeah, this is dope. Thank you guys. You're very welcome. The daughters are, the daughters, I'm sure, are ranked ahead of your son. Like, he's got to know. He's the lowest in the family.

He knows. He's losing that body. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With, uh, with the hair. Obviously last time we saw you you had the shaved head clean cut are we keeping it like this for the fight?

I'm gonna go just like that bro. Really? Yeah. Not gonna braid it, not gonna do nothing. You can have two guys braiding then. Yeah. I'm gonna go loose in there. Sometimes you got a guy with the hair kind of all over the place.

It gives that like psychotic look that you kind of want. Yeah, I look crazy with my hair is all fucking go out of place. Yeah, the beard going and all that. Yeah. Hypothetical. Sean walks in here right now. How are you operating? Just kind of keep to yourself?

I will ascend. up just in case. You would do what? I would stand up just in case. Bring in Sean. Just kidding. You got to make sure. You can't be caught slipping.

You fuck no, dude. Look what happened with Leon Edwards and Milesville. Leon Edwards just walked to Milesville thinking they're going to give each other a hug. He fucking went, bap, boom. Right in the face. That's not happening to you. Fuck no, dude. You're watching history and making sure you don't repeat it.

I mean, I don't like that type of history of my end. Yeah. That's what I'm like, if I have the mic, this shit hurt, dude. Yeah. Moving that thing around, like some nutchucks. I used to put, like, coins on my socks on the street fights and just fucking go. Would that be your move? You had to get the coins in the socks?

Like, 50 cents in Ecuador. If you knew the next day you were about to get in the street fight. Like, you knew, like, oh, I'm going after this cat right here. I make sure I have, I don't have big shoes. Like those barefoot shoes? Yeah. I will have something like that. I will make sure you have a short shorts.

Not tea. Any kind of weapon close by? I'm not a big weapon guy, but if I see balls, if I fucking throw him. Yeah. I feel like if you're at a bar and someone's talking shit, you go to the bathroom real quick, take your sock off. Put a couple of those Ecuadorian.

No, probably just fucking suck you right there. Yeah. Like, sometimes you gotta just go quick. Do you feel the runner or you just go, boom? I know we're running at a time, but if you, when you were fighting all the time as a kid, when at one point where you're like, I could do this professionally.

I didn't know. One of my neighbor, which is still my friend today, he was training in Yu-Jito, and he was like a white belt with four stripes. Back then, if you have four-stripes on a white-belt, you were already a fucking killer. Because Yu-I-J-2 was really big,

but also were, like, 20 blue-bells in the whole country, 15 purple belts, no brown belts and just one black belt. So back then, if you have a blue-bell, dude, you were a weapon. And this guy went like, dude, stop getting in trouble, dude.

You've been in jail like three times already for no reason. Stop drinking and being stupid. Also, I grew up trying to act like I was part of the Jakka's movie. So we will film ourselves doing stupid shit. I hope we could find those videos because I have some crazy footage there. But whatever, I don't have that. My homie came and it's like, yo, dude, come with me one day. It was a Thursday.

And it's like, I'm like, how much is the month for that shit? It's like, no, just do the first free class and see if you're like, 60 bucks? I'm like that. Can you give me 60 bucks? give me a check for 60 bucks. I get there and give you the check for the whole month. He was like, dude, you probably won't come back anymore. I never stopped coming until today.

I turned my whole life. That, when I started training there, slowly started hanging out with my friends. They were like, dude, what the fuck? We have a huge party tonight. I was like, no, dude, I got Yu-Gi-Chic tomorrow. They used to call me pussy, gay, everything. I was like, dude, this is cool. Because when I find Yu-Gi-Its, I was like, oh, my God, I can be something with this.

And then I started watching UFC, a strike person. I was like, I'm going to fucking do something. And people used to laugh about me back in the day because I was a crazy dumbist. What was the first time he came to the States? First time I came as a kid. My dad, when I didn't get in trouble one year in school, so he gave me like as a present. He sent me to a cruise with my family, with the wealthy side of the family. Yeah, Disney Cruise.

Yeah. And I thought I was fucking, I was the coolest man on earth. but I didn't speak any English. So I was just like kind of like speaking in Spanish to people, and people were like, huh? But like that was my first time. But I don't really have many memories. I was like 10 year old.

So I don't really remember much. And then my actual first time was when I came for training. I left. I was already married and I had a kid. And the UFC sent me to Abuquerque to train for, to do like the tryouts before the ultimate fighter. And that was it. No, that's awesome.

We appreciate you, man. Thank you guys. Yeah, right. I appreciate you guys. Good luck, man. Thank you, brother. Fired up for you. Thank you, bro.

This is for the hot boys. Yeah, absolutely. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it.

But, you know, tired and sick. tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.

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