Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 014 - Chad Mendes

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Chad Mendes, a UFC legend and avid outdoorsman, talks about his rise from 80lb high school freshman wrestler to a UFC frontrunner, shares memorable stories of the woods and elk hunting, and his transition to being a professional bare knuckle brawler.    Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com   Connect with Chad Mendes: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chadmendes Twitter: https://twitter.com/chadmendes Websites: https://www.finzandfeatherz.com/ https://theproviderlife.com/   Special thanks to our sponsors. MUD WTR: https://mudwtr.com/cam Use code CAM for 15% your first order MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping First Light: https://www.firstlight.farm/ Use Code Cam15 for 15% off your first order Leupold: https://www.leupold.com/ Black Rifle: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv Bass Pro / Cabellas: https://www.basspro.com   Timestamps:  0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:32 How Chad got his nickname 0:02:30 Amongst the Legends 0:06:39 Grinding from a young age 0:10:15 Losing the collegiate finals 0:14:52 Chad’s top 3 in MMA 0:18:19 Chad’s next fight 0:21:24 Most rewarding fight 0:22:55 Most disappointing fight 0:25:00 Fighter’s compensation  0:30:43 Better bow shot, Chad or Cam? 0:31:32 Correlations between fighting and hunting 0:38:44 Chandler vs. Conor  0:41:39 New diet 0:46:00 A passion for hunting 0:47:15 First archery kill 0:49:00 Ram hunting 0:52:23 San Carlos 1:01:25 This years hunting plans 1:01:50 Finz and Featherz 1:10:00 Journaling experiences through video 1:11:55 Training differences between bareknuckle and MMA 1:18:00 Boxing strengths 1:19:24 What would Chad be doing if he wasn’t fighting  1:23:00 Team Alpha Male  

Black Rifle Coffee Company is a company that's very easy for me to promote because I drink coffee all day, every day. But more importantly, they are a huge supporter of the veteran community and are a veteran-known business, so they have my full support. Use code Keep Hammering for 20% off your first order and 20% off subscription to the coffee club, where you get exclusive coffee blends and merchandise. Mountain Ops offers the best supplements on the market and functional gear for athletes and hunters. Their battleground merino garments are some of the best I have found. I've chosen to support a company that supports the community. A portion of every sale on Mountain Ops website,

www.w Mountain Ops.com, goes to help feed a family in need. Use my code keep hammering for 20% off your first purchase and also receive free shipping. I'm moving so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with giving my blood so I am relaxless. Welcome to the Keep Hammering Collective. I'm here with Chad Money Mendez.

Do you still go by is Chad Money or is that? Yeah, I mean, that's up to everybody that basically calls me by my nickname. I don't know. Do you want to hear the funny story about how that came about real quick before we get started on this? It actually used to be Money Shot Mendez. Okay. If you know what that means in the porn world, that's kind of, kind of. as something a little bit vulgar.

But I graduated. What does that mean in the form? I don't know. I'm not familiar with that. We'll leave that to the imagination. Oh, okay. Maybe Google it if you don't know. Okay, great.

I'll do that, yeah. But so I graduated through all my stuff in U-Haul, the very next day, moved up to Sacramento from, I moved from Cal Poly, St. Elizabethspo, jumped right into pro practice and started training with these guys. I had no idea what I was doing, punching white, I have this big goofy headgear on, big old 16 ounce gloves, shin guards. And these guys are just socking me up.

So I just kept blast double-legging everybody. Yeah. And getting them on their back because it's the only thing I knew how to do. And so after practice, Faber's like, man, he's like, your shot is money. Dude, you were crushing everybody with that. And he goes, that's got to be your nickname. Chad Money Shop Mendez. So honestly, for my first five fights, that's what it was.

And then I signed with Pepsi and I got in Wazufa. and they're like yeah that's not going to fly we're going to have to change that so it ended up dropping the money but yeah quick tangent there for you well it wasn't like chad glory holmendez yeah so i mean yeah yeah it could have been worse but so money so you that's up to the fans where they still call you money yeah i still like it yeah i'll go with it i don't i don't mind it i enjoy it well i always i put up this you know knowing you coming on so when i was making coffee out there. I put up the little post that, hey, does anybody have any questions for Chad? No one were doing this podcast. And this is a, there was a, this had me thinking it says the top

three MMA goats and why Khabib is not in it. But aside from that, I was thinking you have fought like some of the legends in ever in MMA. I mean Aldo, Connor. I mean Volk. you've been in there with freaking face yeah Frankie yeah I mean can you believe your career has went from you just said you started you didn't know anything came in as a wrestler and now you've you know had just this incredible career and you're still not done and you look better than you've ever looked you're training hard I mean we just ran the mountain um what has it been like you know looking back just this long career yeah how do you see it yourself and you look back and you look back.

Man, honestly, I feel like it's a little bit depressing to me, but it feels like it's gone so fast. Like I was just saying this the other day. Like, where did 10, where did 15 years go? Like, you know, I remember my senior year in college, like talking with Uriah and him being like, dude, you should come and try this MMA thing after if you want. Just come. I got an extra spare bedroom.

You can crash at my place until you make some money, figure it out if you like it or not, and go from there. So, man, I just. feels like yesterday and it feels like almost two separate worlds of mine like you know the old college days wrestling grinding you know going straight from graduating into living into Faber's you know spare bedroom and fighting for two grand you know which you know even at that point compared to what it was when Faber first started I think he made like three or four hundred bucks his first fight or something crazy like that but it's just crazy to see the gap and like think

back about, you know, how much time and energy and effort that I've put in from five years old, from wrestling, then all the way through college, and then taking that next chapter of life into the MMA world into now what we're doing, the bare-knuckle stuff. Yeah. You know, spreading into the fins and feathers and all these other businesses. It's been a crazy ride, man. It's, uh, I feel blessed. I feel like I've been able to do pretty much everything I've loved to do up until this

point in my life. I had a couple like crappy jobs here and there. I worked at a sandwich shop over the summer a couple times, you know, worked on a farm, driving tractors and stuff like that, which I didn't mind that one too much. But, you know, being able to basically pursue a passion throughout my entire life, I feel really blessed to have been able to do that. You know, I know a lot of buddies that have jobs that they've been there for 15, 20 years and they absolutely hate it. So, you know, know, looking back on it, I feel, I feel blessed me. I have a beautiful family, have a beautiful wife, you know, who's super supportive of this crazy career, I guess you can say. Yeah. And she's

got my back. So now I feel, I feel good about it. It's been a crazy ride for sure. Man, I mean, I just know some of the, you know, without knowing you, without, you know, being friends until, you know, maybe the last few years, I've watched you for years. I've watched you compete out there and put on shows. And you did say something that kind of caught my attention. You said it's a little depressing in some way. How so? I guess I went off on that. But, you know, I think it's just a little bit depressing,

knowing how fast life goes. Like, you know, I've enjoyed so much of it. And it's like they say time flies when you're having fun. Yeah. And it is so true, man. I feel like the last 10 years especially has just flown by. And it's like, I want to pump the brakes. I'm loving my life.

I'm enjoying everything I'm doing. I want to continue doing this. But you know, you just got to live it to the fullest. But, yeah, you think back on the last 15, 20 years, and it's crazy. It really does go so fast. Yeah, yeah. So is it, do you wish you would have, like, absorbed more of the moments or enjoyed it more of your head down grinding or?

Yeah, I mean, thinking back through, like, especially high school, I have so many people in my life that were like, man, I miss the, those high school days. And it's like, I hated high school. Like, all I did was get up. I would, you know, run before school, you know, ride my skateboard to school, go to school all day, basically go straight to wrestling practice for, it would usually be like three hours in the afternoon into the evening,

come home, eat, do my homework, go for another run, and then go to bed and do it all over again. Like, that was my high school, you know, and I'm like, God, I just, I do wish there was some times that I would have stopped and enjoyed a little bit more of those, I guess, normal life moments. But I also, looking back on that, I wouldn't be where I am right now if I didn't do that. You know, I have a lot of people that I went to high school with that are, you know, struggling in life. And, you know, they didn't grind back then.

They were partying and drinking and doing drugs and doing all that type of stuff. So, yeah, it's kind of a little bit of both worlds. I feel like, you know, I do miss. probably having those experiences, I'm guessing. But again, I owe a lot of what I have now to not doing that. Right. I don't know. Yeah, I understand.

Well, I'm curious. So what drove you back then? Probably my pops, my dad. Yeah. My dad got me into wrestling when I was five. He coached me all the way up till high school, and then I jumped into the high school program. But, yeah, my dad was always, my dad owned his own business

since he was, like, right out of high school. always very motivated, business-driven, just, you know, very hard worker. And seeing somebody like that, you know, having someone like that as a role model, I think, was definitely, it definitely played a big part, I think. But man, I remember as a kid growing up, there was a few times, me and my brothers wanted to try different sports, like baseball. And my dad was always like, baseballs for pussies, you're going to wrestle, you know. And, you know, I think.

I think I would have enjoyed playing a few other sports maybe, but wrestling was life in our family. Yeah. I mean, as a parent, you kind of look at your kid's skill sets. And, you know, yeah, kids want to do all sorts of different things. But you're like, well, where are they going to be successful? Yeah. And I remember with my kids, too, I had to make decisions like, Trude, I thought he was a good runner. So I pushed him with running.

He ended up hating running. He was like, I'm never running again after I. So whatever. And then Tanner, I thought, well, he's good at basketball. that was a tough one because everybody plays basketball is really hot you know he was good but the whole world plays basketball so I understand with your dad like saying he probably could tell hey no you're you're built for this I was 80 pounds in my freshman year in high school I was just tiny yeah so little so I mean when I was asking to play baseball that was probably even like four or five

years before that so he just I think he knew he saw that wrestling was something I was was good at and he's yeah i think he made the right choice there but set you up for success yeah yeah no i understand i mean it sounds like you were very dedicated what did you have success in high school then yeah i was a three-time state placer um never one state but uh placed three times out of my first year i was actually so small i was jv i didn't even get to compete on varsity but the the three years i was varsity i placed at state okay so and then uh i think i got third at senior national. So, yeah, did pretty, pretty well. And then got recruited, wrestled at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. And I was a two-time All-American there. My senior year,

undefeated the whole season. The only loss came in the finals. No way. Yeah, who was that against? Jay Jaggers from Ohio State, which ended up being one of my teammates in the fight world's roommate at that time. Yeah, Lance Palmer. So, but yeah, man, kind of a crappy call from the ref. those videos are on YouTube I haven't watched them in years because going back to what we were talking about those things you just want to black them out but yeah man it was a great year

coming up second looking back on it almost maybe it was just God's way of pushing me into the next chapter of my life because who knows maybe I wouldn't have wanted to try M&A at that point if I would have just been undefeated finished out the career national champ

and just been like, all right, I'm done with my athletic career. Let's go get a job. It lit a fire, man. I was like, oh, I'm so close, man. I'm still hungry for victory. Like, I need to, like, keep proven to myself, like, what I can do. What happened in that match? Well, it was a very close match.

I think it was a second round, last 15 seconds. I blast double-legged them, sat him to his butt, hooked both legs with my, it should have been two. Take down the ref just sat there, no point. And time ran out. And so that third round, I tried to really pick it up to win the match, you know, and ended up getting caught in some of his funk. He was a funky wrestler.

Didn't really have a strong offense. Most of the scoring came from defense and being funky and capitalizing. So I think if I would have got that two points, I wouldn't have had to pick the pace of that third round. And I could have, you know, stayed a little bit more solid and controlled. Not take chances. Yeah. You know, it's one of those things.

but yeah the ref actually came up and apologized to my dad after for making a bad call and it was not good my dad was not too happy about that but he's as invested as you were in it you know been with you that since you were five and yep that was the moment you know man it's part of life you know yeah nothing's never going to be handed to you and sometimes it's cruel so sometimes it's not fair it's true yeah you know i've i didn't wrestle but I've been a fight fan forever, but me and Rogan actually send wrestling videos back and forth because these guys are,

I mean, there's this one move I was telling Joe about we're back at the, you know, the Jones fight last week, and the wrestler drops down and like his, say, his left leg goes straight out. Like, and then this leg bends back, but he does it so fast, and he bends over, gets the, like the offensive move, gets his opponent somehow, but he's dropping that leg down, like it gets flat against the ground.

Your hamstring, my hamstring would snap, but it goes so quick and he pops down and gets this guy. And then there's another one where Joe sent me, he had this kid in a pretzel. I mean, so just twisted up. I was like, I couldn't even imagine how that would even feel or how the even being offensive and put somebody in that position. It's like, yeah.

Yeah, some of those wrestling moves, I mean, it's come a long way off. obviously, but yeah, yeah, there's some pretty gnarly stuff. That, that, uh, funky, uh, defense, man, there's some crazy like pretzel type moves that guys can get into, especially those long lanky guys. Yeah. Yeah, there's, and that's what Jay Jaggers was. He was a real long type of guy that like to wrap you up and do all that funky stuff. So, yeah. Joe is also talking about, do you remember an old, I think it was a Russian wrestler that he said was like 300 pounds and ripped. And he showed me a picture.

picture of him. Do you remember this guy? Yeah, I'm drawing a blink on his name. I know who I know who you're talking about though. Yes. He had a picture in his studio of this guy and he's this guy's just so intense, but just shredded. And he said like, he goes, if in the UFC, he, that was before the UFC started. But he said he would have been terrorizing. I'm pretty sure that's the Russian that Rulam Baumgartner, I think beat in the Olympics. I'm pretty sure. I think so. I think that's the one. Don't quote me on that but yeah i remember this dude was just jack big just burly mainly man yeah yeah and he showed me the picture of the guy and it's just like that big and that strong couldn't imagine but i mean it's uh you know you transition into the fight game then and then you you've found your home there um

as your as your career goes so like in regard to that question the top three m ms guys who would you put the top three just curious oh man i mean i mean That's a tough question, but obviously Jones, I mean, that guy's a freak of nature, man. I mean, I don't know. Obviously, body composition plays a huge part of that, his mental state, just the confidence that he always has. Definitely Jones is up there. I think Volcanowski's up there too. I mean, you know, obviously he's kind of a newer fighter.

But, I mean, the guy's just beating everybody they put in front of him at featherweight. So even Islam. I mean, there's people who say he beat him. You know, I mean, I've never seen one thing like people talked about Islam was like a new Khabib. I never saw Khabib on his back getting. No. I mean, Volkanowski was kind of beating him up. Yeah.

And even when Islam. And he's in 45 or two. Yeah. Even Islam had his Volk's back and he wasn't even worried about it. That would never happen against Khab. No. Not at all. If he's on your back, it's not good.

Yeah. And I think Khabi's up there for sure, too. Yeah. Yeah, I'd say. What do you think has he fought the level of competition to be considered like one of the best ever? Because that's what some people might say. Yeah, I mean, maybe not quite all the best top competition. But I mean, just do I have any doubt that he wouldn't have beat them?

Absolutely not. Like, I think he would have probably still crushed. He's one of those types of fighters that were extremely strong, like had the will to go from bell to bell and never slow to. down or stop. And I mean, his top game, that ability to just get someone down and grind them is like probably one of the most vicious styles of fighting in my opinion. Like, you know, you could be the best strike in the world. Look what he did with Connor. Like you get him to the ground. It's a different, different game, you know. And so I think his ability to do that and dictate where that fight went, I mean, it's, I think it would have been tough for anybody to beat him. So, yeah, I still think so.

You know what's, you know, he finished 29 and 0. I don't ever remember seeing him bleed. I don't know if he ever did. I saw him take very few, like, big punches, but I don't know if anything ever hurt him. I never remember seeing, how do you fight 29 times? That's pretty impressive. Never bleed. Yeah, that's pretty damn impressive.

So, I mean, I don't know. It's always fun to, you know, as fans to talk about, but is, you know, you've actually fought these guys. and just, I mean, almost the who's who, and your weight of 145, 155, and now you're going to fight it 165, but almost the who's who of the MMA world you've stood across the octagon from. Yeah. That must be incredible.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean, it's been a long career, but yeah, looking back on all that, and, you know, it's something that in my mind is pretty cool to be able to share with my kids once they get old enough and, like, hopefully they're kind of into it, and something that interests them a little bit.

But even outside of that, they are for sure into the hunting world. So that makes me super happy. But yeah, I mean, it was a crazy career for sure. We're not done yet. We still got a big fight coming up. And another legend that I'm stepping in there with Eddie Alvarez. So that's another one that is going to be a cool one to add to the resume. What are you thinking about that fight?

How are you feeling? I feel great about it. I mean, they mentioned it. I honestly was pretty much done. I did that last one. You know, I felt great, you know, went in there and got the fight finished in the fourth, the TKO and, you know, was good. And then they came back, like, hey, let's renegotiate.

And we got a big name that we're thrown around, Eddie Alvarez. And I'm like, send me the damn contract. Like, that's a fight. You like that match. I like it a lot. And it's a fighter that I've watched for a long time. I enjoy a style. I feel like I match up great with him.

Yeah. And, you know, for me, whether this is going to be a retirement fight or not, if it is, man, that's the one, that's a cool one to go out on for sure. It's a cool one to get a win against, to get that name under the belt and just get in there and share the ring with them. So I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. I mean, another former UFC champion, you fought a lot of them, you know. It would be, I mean, I like match up for you. Like I said, you seem like.

like mentally, physically, as like top of your game, I think it's going to be a great fight for you. I'm so pumped for it. Yeah, we've been going hard, man. I'm doing all the right things in the gym with my boxing coach and my strength conditioning coach. You know, diet's been on point for the last two years now doing the meat-based. And, man, this is probably the best I've ever felt.

So, yeah, I'm excited, man. I'm excited to get in there and at least do it one more time. It might be more, but we're at least get in there and share it. And a good payday. Yes. You know, I know that's, the pay with the UFC is always, seems like it's always coming up. Or like it's, it's because the UFC is such a giant organization. And I do feel for, I mean, I get it.

It's a business. Yeah. You know, there is a huge sacrifice to those fighters, maybe lower on the, on the card. You know, it's, if you're not winning, you're getting half that purse. And sometimes a purse isn't a ton and you're paying coaches and you're paying for gym time. and it's like you got to really want to do it. Yeah. It's not, nobody's doing it to get rich.

No. You know, starting off. It's just that competition. But so anyway, that's just the way business works, but I'm super pumped. You got a big payday coming for this one. And you're seemed like you're very dedicated and prepared. I think it's going to be good.

It's like you've earned it too. Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah, it feels good to finally be at this point in my career, making this type of money. I honestly didn't know if it was, going to happen in my timeline of being able to fight. But, you know, obviously I would have liked maybe halfway through my career to start getting this pay and continue to go up. But, hey, that's

part of it. It's just, maybe you are halfway. Maybe, I'm going to be 38 this year. I don't know. Don't tell your wife. I know. She's not going to like that if we do more. But she's, you get in there, no damage, big payday. It's going to be a little easier to sell the next one. 100%. That's the plan anyways. We'll see. What's been your most rewarding win so far? Oh, man. I'd say probably my favorite fight was the Ricardo Olmas fight. Coming in there and knocking them out in the first,

and I think I had more friends and family at that fight. Where was it? Oh, man, that was in Virginia, I think. Yeah, we had just had a big group of friends out there and family members. That was a good one. I'd say it might be a toss-up between that one in Miles Jury. That was a really good one too.

Coming back, had tons of, tons of friends and families. He was tough for a while there. Yeah, yep. Yeah. Went in there and got the knockout quick, which is always nice, man.

You go through these like grueling, long training camps, and, you know, obviously you're always hoping for something like that to happen. You put in the work, the effort, and you obviously plan for that to happen, but it doesn't always happen that way.

So when you go out there and you can get a knockout in 30 seconds or a minute or whatever into the first, you're like, no damage taken. It's in and out. You feel great. You know, you have a ton of fans and friends and family members there to just kind of be a part of that whole experience.

God, it means so much. It's so cool. That right there is what keeps fighters going, you know. That's exactly what it is. But, yeah, I'd say probably those two, if I had to lean on one more, maybe even actually the mild jury now that I think about it. Think that one's a little even better. Yeah, I think so. I think maybe.

Yeah, I'd say that one. What's the one that keeps you up at night? Of course, the Conner fight. Really? Yeah, man, it was a brutal, you know, getting that call on 10 days notice. You know, cutting 25 pounds in a short amount of time and just, you know, not being as prepared as I could have been to fight a guy like that. Like, I know I could have beat that guy if I was prepared. Because you were coming off a war with Aldo.

Although, yeah, my body was beat up. You know, I was telling you, I was peeing blood that night when I got back to the hotel after the Aldo fight. Right. Just the most pain from head to toe that my body's ever been in. That's really the only war I've ever experienced in my career. And it was brutal, man. So, yeah, I mean, wasn't really training a whole lot for, you know, a few months after that. Just letting my body heal trying to do things here and there as I could.

but, you know, and then basically getting a call in last second doesn't help anything. And you can't turn it down. No. I mean, how do you turn down that fight? It's a title fight, you know, at that point was the biggest payday that I had ever had in my career. And it's like, God, all right, let's do this. Like, who knows? Maybe I go out there and catch them in 30 seconds with the right hand, put him to sleep, you know?

You got the power. Yeah. So. Well, even like in that first round, I mean, you were taking them down. Yeah. And you were delivering damage because your top game is great. So to me that so fresh, that's you fresh. Yes.

But, you know, if you haven't been in camp, you can't stay at your best for, you know, too long. Yeah. And then you get fatigued, which is how this body works. Yeah. And he had been in a full camp preparing for Aldo already. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it was, that was a tough one. I think there's any fight that haunts me, I'd say that one in the Frankie Edgar. fight are probably the two toughest for me to swallow. Why the Frankie Edgar? Because it was just one of those fights I got caught, you know, quick into the fight. Like what we were talking about, it's like you put all this effort, energy, and time, and dedication, and love and passion into this fight camp, game planning. And, you know, you pour your heart and soul into it.

And then you go out there and something like that where first round you get clipped with something and you just basically go out for a second, come two, and the fight's over. And you're like, God, man. Yeah. Like, what the fuck happened, you know? I don't think, you know, as a fan, it's just like, fans are just on to the next, okay, next fight, what is it? And they're not thinking about what as a fight or what that must feel like after that year,

years of work to get there and then have something crazy happen. It's just such a brutal game. It is, man. That's one of the lowest lows of the sport right there. And it's, you know, if I went out there like I did against Aldo and I fought my heart, like that was the best me. and although just won, you know? Yeah.

It hurts physically more, like a war like that, but mentally it doesn't hurt as bad. Like, I know that I gave everything I had. I trained as hard as I could, and that was just me going out there. And he was just a better man that night. But you do that same thing and go out there and just get clipped by something because you made one stupid mistake or they just got lucky or whatever it may be. And you just wake up and you're like, God, like all that. I did all that for nothing, you know. And not only that, now I only get half of the pay that I was hoping to get, you know.

So it's just, it's a brutal, brutal game in that sense for sure. What do you think about that win bonus? Do you think they should just give a flat amount? 100%, man. Because it's not like you're trying any less. Yeah, 100%. It should be across the board. And that's what's great about Baranacul.

It's a flat fee. Like, no matter what, we're making this money. you know obviously I'm going to try my heart I see exactly like you said like I'm not going to oh I'm getting this payday either way I'm just going to half ass it and go out there and get knocked out like I don't ever want to get knocked out I don't want to lose like I am like extremely competitive I want to be the best in the world like you're just basically rubbing salt in the wound at this point not only did you just lose but we're going to take half of your money for me it's like yeah that I've always had I've had a hard time with that because I know you know some of those like I said

on the lower on the card, which I get it. But, you know, if you're getting 18 and 18, like 18,000 and getting knocked out, it's like, God, that's rough. My first UFC title fight, I fought Aldo in Brazil. I ended up coming home with $8,000, like, after losing that fight. After everything, like, because, you know, you're fighting Brazil. I think they taxed me, like, 35 or 40%. It was something crazy from Brazil.

You know, you only get half of it. And then, you know, after all, extra flights and everything out was like $8 grand. Wow. Thank God they ended up giving me a little bit of a bonus, but I mean it still wasn't a ton, but at least made it feel a little bit better. But God, man, that that's one of those ones where it's like,

what the hell am I doing? I bet. Just got caoed by Aldo for UFC title fight for $8,000. It's like, yeah, make you question everything for sure. Yeah, I understand that. Well, I guess all that was all part of building this road to get this big payday with bare knuckle. You know what I mean?

I mean, you built a name. So you are, you know, you add to this organization and you're being rewarded for it. So it's a, and that's where it gets tough to like, you know, is this the last one? Because you've made all these sacrifices for 8,000. And now they're offering, you know, your biggest ever. It's like, whew. I know. It's tough.

It is, and that's kind of where we're at. Like, I don't necessarily need this money. I have other businesses that are doing well. Like, this is more of A, it's kind of a passion thing because of the opponent. Like, it's exciting to me. It's motivating because it's Eddie. But then also they throw this big number, and it's like, man, I've never seen that payday through all the BS that I've gone through for the last 10, 12 years.

So you're right. It definitely is a big motivating factor. but is it something I absolutely need? No. And so I think that was kind of the hardest thing with me and my wife sent down having to like figure this out. If this is something I'm really going to do, you know, I got two daughters now. I got to be smart.

I got to be careful. He's got a family. He's got young kids. Like, you know, so yeah, I mean, I think we're, all of us are always playing with fire, but you can't look at it like that. I mean, we're all playing with fire every time we get in a damn car. Every time we get on an airplane, every time we, whatever. You know?

Yeah. It could happen to us at any time. But yeah, man, just, I'm going to get out there and give her hell. I know what I can do in the gym. I know what all the preparation looks like. I know what it takes to get out there and be successful. That's what I can control. I'm going to get in there and just what happens.

What happens is what happens. What's his, is he have a big right? What is his thing? He's kind of more of an output guy. Yeah, he's got out of right. Yeah, he'll kind of lead in with a left hook. he's a very like I'd say more of a standard boxing style you know so he's got to keep your hands up and hands up yeah hands up I got to stay compact

quick powerful get in there and do what I do yeah I know if I land one big one it's gonna be a game changer just just takes doing it so I'm always putting constant stress on my body which is why I decided to try mudwater and it has been a game changer in regard to mental focus. The blend of adaptogenic mushrooms, cordyceps, and lions mane, all support focus, physical performance,

and are great for the immune system. Now, these aren't the hallucinogenic type of mushrooms, but I do like that mudwater gives back to the Berkeley Center for the science of using psychedelics to help treat individuals with mental health disorders. Go to mudwater.com,

that's MUDWTR. Use code cam for 15% sent off your first order. Hoit archery has been my bow hunting sponsor since 2005. And personally, I really don't care what bow you shoot, what brand it is. I just hope that you have the same level of confidence in your equipment as I have in mind. Because I know if I get one opportunity with my Hoyt, it's going to pay off. We were talking to, we've done this lift run shoot here the last couple of days. It's been great too. It's been, I mean, you're in such great shape and a good, oh, that was one of the questions somebody asked who's a better shot chatter cam oh geez you uh i i wouldn't want to

what does it say it says um is he a better shot than cam well i'll just say Ethan dick dick dixon chad was shooting as well as i've seen anybody shoot at the bow rack laying wayne the herd bull had his bow dialed in and and was coaching chad and he was like laying him in and then we got out to the... He smoked me. No, no, no, no. To the balloon shoot and he set the record. So, yeah, I wouldn't want to shoot head to head against Chad.

I don't know. We did one arrow. And we got to show that in there, but we had one shot. I went right above the balloon and he and Cam smoked it with one. So... I got lucky in that one. Did preparing to fight and calming your brain help you execute a shot while hunting? So, yeah, just...

Is that your mentality transfer over, do you think? Yeah, I think so 100%. Yeah, I think there's a lot of similarities, a lot of things that translate from both fighting and training to hunting and then also hunting to fighting. You know, when you're getting in that, like, the red zone, you know, when you're inside 40, 50 yards on an animal, when you're getting closer and closer and every little thing matters,

every movement, you know, obviously any sound, that heart's racing out of your chest, and you're getting ready to take that shot. Like being able to not only focus on everything that you're doing, but calming yourself and being able to stay as clear-headed as you possibly can and executing that shot. I mean, through my bo-hunting career, I'm sure you probably have two, but I have messed up in that zone probably thousands of times throughout my life.

And it's like, you know, you have to learning how to, basically, execute. It's like you do everything perfect. You get in that zone. You shoot and miss. And it's like, God, I did everything right, but except for the execution. So being able to do that in a fight where you, you have your opponent next to you or in front of you, you just went through an entire training camp. You've studied the game plan. You've put that together. You know what you're supposed to do. And now you're in that red zone. That person's staying in front of you. Can you stay calm and collected enough to execute what you've just basically developed in the gym. It's the same thing as when you're sneaking in on a big bull, you know,

when you're 30 yards from them and they don't know you're there. I got to sink the shot in, you know. So I think the two translate well and like being able to basically calm your nerves, you know, stay collected, execute on both sides. They bounce off each other for sure. You talking about that reminds me of, you say, so today, We're recording this today. Camaro's fighting Leon Edwards.

And today, it reminded me you saying that of Camaro last fight stalked in. He was maybe 10 yards away. Leon is the bull. He doesn't even know Camaro's there. All he has to do is just make this shot. Camaro was right there for a slam dunk red zone. He had done everything right and lost focus for a second, took a shin to the side of the head.

Yep. No, not a champion anymore. No. Everything over. So it's just like shitting the bed on having that. You did everything right to get into that 20 yards on a big bowl and then you screw it out. Yep. Yeah.

So I get, that made sense about, you know, finishing it off too. You can do it all right. You can be prepared. You still have to implement the game plan. Yep. Exactly. And so I think those two bounce off each other. And one helps me on both sides, I think.

And I didn't really notice that until probably. I don't know, maybe five years ago now. And once I think I figured that out, it helped me so much more. I think on the hunting side of it, when you do get in that red zone and just trying to keep everything calm and collected. Because a lot of the times I'll get there and it's just like black out, everything gone. And that's how I used to be in my fight career. Like I'd step in there and almost would black out. It would just be like all next.

Just reaction. Right. And then you'd get out and I don't remember a lot of the stuff. Like my first probably eight fights, eight to ten fights were like that. And that's how I would be getting in that red zone on animals. Like I'd get so worked up that I would almost like black out and not think about what I'm doing and would screw it up. And so I think once I figured that out and I basically told myself when you're there like how to calm down to stay collected, it helped a ton. I think, you know, I think I was like that to you to have so much adrenaline.

where you'd shoot before I had multiple pins on my side now I have an adjustable but I wouldn't even know what pin I used did I use the right pin did I pick a spot what where was the animals even standing where did my arrow go because it was all gone yeah and I you know like you said that blackout and I do see fighters you see fighters who stay composed and collected all the time some of them get in there and it's like seems like more no strategy just kind of a brawl yeah and uh yeah I'm always you can tell the ones who stick to the game plan and it's like it must be hard though because so much adrenaline

it is and you're making decisions on a you know who I think is extremely good at that and the reason why he's the champion has just been as good as he has been is John Jones I feel like he's a thinker in there but stays pretty calm and collected but you know you can tell that he isn't one of those guys that just wants to get in there

and brawl and just blacks out and goes like he's thinking being very tactical the whole time and look at his success. I've never seen him in like just letting loose crazy. Like I remember, you know, Max Holloway used to like point as a thing. I can't remember who he was fighting, but Laumis. Laumis, yeah, and just wanted to just go for it. I've never seen John do something like that.

No, uh-uh. So that reminds me is like he is always tactical. Tactical, yeah. And then to me it seems like he's a little more mean. than most people. I mean, some of his shots, you're just like, it looks like there's just a little extra,

I don't know. He was, he was, God blessed him with the long, the long, bony body, the long, strong bony body because he's, I mean,

he knows how to use his elbows, his knees, his kicks, you know, jabs, punches, keeping everybody at bay. But then what's great about John is if there is a fighter

that somehow beats that range, which is very, rare he just wrestles him like he's a damn good wrestler right how are you going to beat john the only way to beat john is if for whatever reason you get lucky and KO this dude that's yeah in my opinion the only way anyone beats and it's never happened yeah because he's good at either closing the distance and taking you down or keeping you up bay yeah the one where i saw he was like i felt bad i think was when he won the belt against shogun it was like shogun was um against the the cage and just Just getting, you know, that oblique kick to the knee.

Taring him apart. Yo, just like nonstop, different strikes everywhere. And I was just like, oh, my God, I feel terrible for this guy. Yeah. It looked brutal. Yeah, that's not fun. No. I mean, because you could tell he'd beat up, tired, and John's just so varied, you know, elbows coming in.

It's like, God. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, when you mention that, I've never seen him in a war like that. And that's the one thing. So it reminds me another thing. So Chandler is fighting. Talk about war. Chandler's been in wars.

Now he's fighting Connor. So how do you see that fight going? Man, I'm really hoping that Mike can use a lot of his wrestling. Mike's got great wrestling. He likes to stand and bang and get in there. And he likes to get in those wars. So, man, I know the Cav kicks have been, you know, have worked really well gets Connor lately his well not lately but his last couple fights

yep slowing him down a bit I think Mike if he implements that that's going to be huge implements his wrestling that's going to be huge you know I think in and out movement not sitting there in front of Connor and letting him pick him apart with strikes I think he beats Connor I'm curious to see what type of Connor we have you know he's been out for a long time he's put on a bunch of weight I don't think he's been training like he should be training and he might be doing stuff here and there. But yeah, what is his cardio going to be like? Right.

Because Mike goes. Mike's got great cardio. Mike will push. You know, he'll be bleeding and taking punches but still coming forward going. So that could be bad for Connor. Yeah. No, I know it. And you can say, you know, once you've made it, it's way different than on your way up.

Like when you fought Connor, it was like he was hungry, still going up, wanted to be the double champ and all this. He had big goals. Now it's like, what's his goals? I don't know. You know, he's done it all.

It's really hard to capture that magic again. So, yeah, but that's why we watch. Yeah. You know, I mean, to see what version can come out. But, yeah, I mean, if he's not 100% into it, it could be a tough one for him because Chandler, yeah, he loves those. Those dirty, nasty, like bloody fights, it seems like.

So, you know, the calf kick, I saw it, you know, Chandler was champion in Bellator. And there's this guy, Brett Primus. He, that was the first time I had seen somebody doing calf kicks and it was on Chandler. And his, I thought, everybody thought he broke his ankle because his foot wasn't working. Yeah. And it was just, it was just weird. and I had never seen it before, but that's how he lost. And now, you know, he keeps his leg out there too.

So it's kind of susceptible to it. But Connor and him both have that, I guess, that lead leg out there. White stance, yeah. Yeah, so it's going to, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. I don't know. I'm excited to watch the Ultimate Fighter with them to coach. And, you know, I've heard that they've been kind of getting into it or they got into it and some crazy stuff happened.

So I'm just excited. That's going to be entertaining for sure. Um, you know, we were talking earlier about, uh, your diet, you know, here we had, you know, we did lift run chute, but then we had meat and, and fruit. So it's like, I've never seen you so jacked. And that's just like this disciplined diet. It seems like you've really found your groove on that. And that's just been recently.

Yeah, I'd say about almost two years now. So I had plaquesoriasis all over my body like really bad from as long as I can remember. And it just, as I grew older, kind of spread throughout my body. body got worse and worse. And man, I went to two different dermatologists and both of them as straight up told me like diet has zero effect on this. But both of them wanted to prescribe me a bunch of, you know, yeah, steroid creams and, you know, we can give you a shot. It's, it's monthly. It's really hard on your liver, but it should help and it's very expensive. Yeah, of course. And it's like, no thanks, you know. So I always just kind of dealt with it. Try different things here

and there, but just nothing really took it away. And just, man, there towards the end just started getting really bad. So I saw Rogan, he had Vitilago, I think is what it's called. That's an autoimmune disease. He tried it. He said it helped. I have a buddy whose wife had Crohn's disease. She tried it.

Basically took it away completely. And my buddy was doing it. And he's like, you should try it and just see if it helps out. And I always kind of shied away from it just because of my athletic career. I was like, man, I got to eat grains. I got to eat, you know, oats. Yeah, you know, and that's just what I thought. And so I never did it and just continue to get worse and worse and worse.

But finally, about two years ago, I was like, you know what, screw it. I'll do it for a month. If it doesn't change, I'm just going to go back to eating my normal diet. But if it makes a difference, then, you know, I'll stick with it. Within like two weeks, it was so much better, like night and day different. It's like the carnivore diet, basically. kind of at first for the first four months i went like hardcore just meat eggs uh dairy and seafood that was it no carbs at all no sugars no nothing and that was that was tough that was like a

full elimination diet um basically just to reset my gut and everything did you get lean too without those carbs i bet leaned out yeah um put on more muscle but but lean fat out it seemed like um but i was eaten a ton of eggs, ton of red meat, you know, wild game, beef, and did that for about four months and then started adding back in the fruits, you know, honey, some dairy, tried to do more raw than anything, but even still do some regular dairy. And that's pretty much it. Cut out all seed oils, processed sugar and most vegetables, like leafy green type stuff. And, and, and it. And And man, it's gone now. Like my legs are completely cleared up.

So I think for me, it's like at this point, I'm almost too nervous to go back to eating normal because I don't want it to all come back. So I've just been continuing to do it. And I feel great. Yeah. You know, I feel like I've leaned out. I've put on more muscle, which, you know,

that's honestly never been like a huge goal of mine. I like being, you know, a fit, you know, a fit human being that's more productive in the gym more in the mountain. Yeah, more athletic. But I don't want to be like that body builder type that I can't do anything. But it definitely did put some muscle on. But I still feel really good.

Like I feel explosive. I feel powerful. Yeah. So I think I'm just going to continue doing it. It's almost been two years. Through my training camp, I just up the fruit intake because I'm an explosive athlete. Yeah. I need the glycogen restore.

But man, I feel good doing it. Have you tried that first light, farms, their elk. Have you ever tried that? Yeah, I just got some of it. Is that some of the stuff that, yeah, Kip sent it to me. Oh, really? Man, that stuff, you know, I would say have my own elk, but that's like, because it's not wild elk, it's, it's freaking good. Yeah, it's more like beef. It's, well, it's not like beef. It's, it's, uh, leaner than beef, but it's taste so good. Yeah, I have, I just got it the other day and I'm going to try it here soon, but it's great. Look, the packaging looks nice.

Yeah. Yeah. It's really good. I mean, I've got some of those tenderloins and I've eaten quite a bit of them. Yeah. Great meat. But, yeah, I was curious if you tried that because you're so, you know, protein rich and your carnivore diet type thing. But, yeah, wild game.

So that leads us into hunting. So what's your thoughts on hunting? I love it, man. Yeah, it's all we've been talking about. All my teammates used to like tease and say, like, Like, dude, the only reason why you fight is to fund all your hunting. And I'm like, you're not completely lying. But yeah, man, it's always been a huge passion of mine.

My dad got me into it when I was a little kid. I used to follow him through the woods. The Sierra's up above Fresno and hunting, you know, black-tailed deer and mulees up there. And just kind of follow him around. And then killed my first deer ever when I was, I think, 12. It was that first year I got my hunting license, I believe. Yeah. And I arrowed it.

I had an old PSE, just an old Nova. First kill is a bow kill. Yeah, first one ever. And Nova, yeah, I remember those bows. I used to Mo Lons. Yep, Mulans. And I ended up buying it. It was a used one back then.

Yeah. And yeah, I had that bow for a while. And then, yeah, I had my first kill. Got a little fork spike. Yeah. A bow. And, yeah, it was just. We called those sporks.

Sparks, yeah. Got the sporks, man. It was kind of a, crazy story. That night I erode that and it ended up going down into like a hell hole and died down there. And so me, my dad and my two brothers went down there, found it. And my dad's like, all right, I'm going to hike all the way back up and I'm going to hike, try to get to the truck. And, you know, this was before Onyx or, you know, I don't even know if we had cell phones back then. If it was, it was like kind of, no, I don't even think there are cell phones. Yeah. So he's like,

I'll just drive around and try to find you guys. Oh, man. That was a bad idea. He hikes up, gets lost. He's hiking around in the woods that gets dark. It's me and my brothers. I'm 12. My other brother's 10. You know, we're all pretty much young kids.

Yeah. And we're just dragging this deer through the woods and dark have no idea where we are. Yeah. And a few hours goes by and we finally see some lights up ahead and we drag it over there. And he ended up coming into a campsite and scared the shit out of these people. He was a husband and wife. Yeah. You know, and we got face pain.

on. We're all in Cammo. We're dragging a dead deer. And the lady screams like, ah, we're like, sorry, sorry, you know. Like, we're lost. My dad's lost. Is there any chance you might be able to give us a ride? And the guy helps us load the deer up and takes us all the way back to camp. My dad was, I'm pretty sure he stayed the night out there that night in the woods. Looking for you guys? Or lost? Just lost. Yeah. And I think when it got light the next morning, he was able to kind of locate where he was, he got back to the truck. Thank God. But he said, he's like man I was at one point I was just sitting there and I heard something and I look over in this monster buck it's it was a full moon and this buck he could just see it in the in the moonlight and it's just staring at him he said just huge and he's just looking like what the hell yeah but uh sounds like good deer country yeah yeah there's some good ones up there for sure but um yeah so that was my first experience arrow and a deer well Fresno brings back memories of so our puppy in there is Theo he's from Fresno he's in a kill shelter down

there so he's still traumatized from Fresno so we we make fun of like when he acts scared about barking at everybody hair stands up he's like oh he's those are Fresno flashbacks so Fresno yeah don't mention that you used to hunt there no he'll uh get all upset that's funny yeah but uh so then from there's a 12 years old bow hunter and then And you've just been doing this whole time. And I know you've killed some incredible animals. That sheep you killed, that was a rifle kill, wasn't it? Yeah.

But just you won that tag at the Utah show. Yeah, the Western Hunt Expo. Incredible. I mean, the photos are just insane. Who took those photos? Who was on that trip? We had a few different camera guys. Okay.

I just remember epic photos. Yeah. Paul Bride, I think, was the one that I, actually made it up there with us. So one of the other camera guys got too scared. Is it Steve? It was treacherous getting up to where it died. And he's like, oh, I don't feel good about this.

I'm going to go back and we're like, seriously, bro? Yeah. So we left him down there and then Paul. Do you want to say his name? No. No. I honestly don't even remember that was, yeah, I can't even remember that kid's name. But yeah, Paul like led us up there.

He's done stuff in like Patagonia and done all kinds of crazy hiking. Yeah. He's a hunt with Jason Hirsten. and all over the place. So he knew what he was doing, thank God. But, yeah, those photos were cool. It died right on that little tiny ledge. It was like a hundred foot drop.

Like that thing almost went off. It was crazy up there. That's an awesome round. Thank you. Yeah. It was a fun experience having all my friends there. And that was cool. Where was that?

That was down in Zion, the Zion unit, southern Utah. Mm-hmm. And it's a desert? Desert, yep. And so you've killed a doll on a desert? Correct, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That doll was, that was fun. Yeah. That was the one where you had to go back. Yeah. But I'm hooked, man. I want to go do another one. Another doll or you want to, do you have a goal of getting your Super Slam done?

Man, I mean. Your Grand Slam, I guess. Super Slam's all 29. Grand Slam is sheep. I don't know. I mean, honestly, and I don't have like, like if it were to happen, it would be cool. But I'm, I'm not like 100% set on. I have to get this done.

Yeah. All right. Like if I were to drive. draw one of those stone sheep or something, that would be cool. But there's no way I'm buying a stone sheep to just, you know, just to get it done, you know. Yeah, I'm kind of the same way. I mean, sheep is, I'm mostly like elk. If I could just elk hunt every year, I'm good.

But a crazy sheep hunt comes up, I just like to bow hunt. Of course, I'll go do it. But yeah, I'm not like obsessed with like, I've got to get all sheep species. Now, if you just say, hey, I'm. I got the best elk honey in the world. Do you want to go? Done. Yeah.

Yes. That's why I love to San Carlos. And so tell me about you killed a giant bull down there last year. I did, man. I think we were there around the same time. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. You and Kip, right, we're there. Yeah.

Yeah, man, that was definitely a hunt. I'll never forget. It happened quick. It was the first day. But, man, it was, we got into a group of bulls that first morning. There was probably eight to ten bulls, bugling all around us. And we basically just kind of trailed them up until they bedded and put them to bed and backed out, came back in there at like three and just started hiking up in there.

And they fired up probably about five. And we snuck back into that group. And they're out in front of us. And we just got set up on the first, basically the closest one to us. We had no idea what it was. And I had already told these guys, like 3.30 bull walks out. if he presents it. He's getting it.

Like, I'm not, I'm not super picky with that. And, you know, I put my buddy back about 50 yards behind me, and he's calling. And I got Dustin over to my left, just kind of videoing and just watching. And, you know, 30 minutes goes by,

and he's screaming in front of us. We just can't see him. Finally walks in. I just see feet kind of walking through the brush. And I could see he's trying to get downwind of us. So I, like, peek to my left. I had a tiny little wind of us. window right here. And I'm like, yeah, dang it. Why wouldn't you just walk out front here? Yeah.

So I like on my knees, I turn to the side and I'm like range in and I can see a clearing through the trees and I ranged at like 60 yard just guessing like he's probably going to walk out somewhere through that little clearing. And sure enough, he steps out on the edge of it but never comes out. And I can just see his nose and he's, he was a big funky looking bull. So he's got like pretty short fronts on one side and that's all I could see because the other ones. turn up and go way to the sky like yeah and so i'm like yeah it's like a 3 30 bowl i'm guessing you know he steps out he's getting it yeah so i see where he's at arrange his nose tip like 60 yards and i'm like i got to just time this right because if he takes one step that's going to put his vitals

into this tiny little opening through the brush that's all i got and he's sitting there sitting there and i could feel the wind just kind of at my back and then kind of hitting me on on this side i'm like God, he's not going to sit here for long. And all of a sudden, let's out a huge bugle. And I'm like, all right, he's like at least comfortable, you know, takes a step. And I immediately draw back. And that movement stopped him perfect right in that window and just snuck it through there. So I still don't know what he is.

All I can see is his vitals. See my arrow hit. He runs off. And I'm like, pumped. Like, got him. I know that was a good hit. And so we sit there for like 30 minutes, walk over. My arrows lay in there, father of blood.

he's laying, we just see like body, you know, maybe 40, 50 yards out. And none of us had any idea that was the bull that I killed. So we walked up to it. Had that feel, seeing the body there, just big relief. Yeah. That's always like the biggest, as a bow hunter, you're just, you can think you made a perfect shot. But until it's, until you see that animal laying there, you're holding in, you don't know. Yeah.

I've hit bulls or even deer where it's like smoked them and never find them. And you're like, what? It doesn't make any sense. Yeah. Watching on film, you're just like, dude, that's perfect. Right. So, yeah, exactly. You just, it's a big relief.

And then it's like, okay, now what is he? And then you walked up and what did you find? That beast. I mean, Dustin had named that thing, Rick Flair, because he had two big kickers off each side. And he instantly was like, dude, that's Rick Flair. That's him. Oh, man.

And, yeah, it would have been over 440, not busted. He broke. He had a second main beam that came up and split at the top and a big whale tail with kickers off the backside that he'd busted off. Unbelievable. Oh, yeah, but crazy. Wow. Just crazy bowl.

440. 440 would have been. Yeah. Man, that's once in a lifetime for sure. Yeah. Super cool bowl. Just as weird as they come, you know, like super short beams, but insane mass. Just extra stuff all over the place.

Yeah, just crazy. But, yeah, how confident were you? so 60 yards is not a chip shot. No. I mean, you had to have a lot of confidence to take that shot on that hunt, which is for most people once in a lifetime to hunt there.

So what was your mindset going into that? You just knew you could do it? Yeah, man, I told you this. Like, I don't know what it was. Something last year, I have a range set up in my backyard. And for some reason, all year, I was like, I just need to practice at 60.

Like, I feel like that's a good range. that anything inside that I'm good. And if I'm just comfortable at 60, like I should be money, you know? And so all year, like I'd walk out first cold shot 60 and just send it. That's what I practice. I have no idea why. But both bowls I killed last year walked out at 60 yards and pinwheeled them both. So I'm just going to keep doing that.

Yeah. Well, that's, I mean, that's not a chip shot. But you're a good shot. I mean, I've seen you shoot the last couple days, and it's like, I have no doubt. But for most people, shooting through a small window at 60 yards on, I mean, maybe it's good you to know that that was Rick Flair. Because you didn't have to worry about that, you know, being a giant bull to. But it still doesn't change. It's still a hard shot and pressure.

And, I mean, impressive. But what a relief? Very relieved. As bow hunters, all we care about is like, we're, making a good show on that animal, it's not suffering. It's, you know, we do our job, merciful kill. And so, I mean, that probably was a huge relief in that. But then being a once in a lifetime bull, man, that thing was a beast. Definitely an experience I'll never forget. And then what was the other bull you got? That was an Oregon. That was a Northeast Oregon on one of

our fins and feathers trips up at Opel Bute outfitters. Just a weird, gnarly old bull. It could almost look like a big Axis deer. Yeah, he had like, you know, his two fronts and then nothing all the way up. And then it had that big like Y fork at the tops, like an axis deer has on both sides. It was weird, super weird bull. Was he old? Yeah, he was an older bull.

Came screaming in. I'd been wanting to kill a bull out of a tree stand for the last like four or five years and just have never gotten it done. And we got into the tree stand, me and my buddy Dave, late that morning. He was like dragging ass. You know, and I'm like, come on, Dave, let's go. It's like, it's going to be light in like 30 minutes.

We still got, so we ended up showing up like 30 minutes after like crawled up in there. But when we were sneaking in, there was a bull bugling off to our left and a bull bugling off to our right. So I was like, dude, let's get in this. Hurry, hurry, hurry. So we get up in the stand and he starts calling. And that bull just screaming comes running down the hill right into us. Really? Yeah, how far.

That was 60? Yeah. He came out, stopped Broadside. at 60. And 60 yards out of a tree stand is even harder. I know. Because when I hunt out of tree stands, you're thinking 20 yards would be good. Yeah. 60 looks like a mile. Yeah. No, it, I don't know, just felt good.

Pulled back, anchored, sent it, pinwilled them, ran off. And he probably only went 40, 50 yards over this little edge and died right there. But there wasn't a ton of blood. So we went down there. And I was actually like, shit, did I hit shoulder? you know and I got a short draw link I usually get on a bull you know 12 to 15 inches of penetration and that's what arrow was laying there about 12 15 inch penetration I'm like damn did I hit shoulder and it stopped it it didn't sound like it we watched the video over and it all looked good but we just sat there for probably two hours like just making sure yeah time and it was kind of cool

a couple ravens landed in the tree right above them and started going off so you figured and I'm like what the heck so I ended up walking over in there you're He's dead right below those ravens. So it was kind of cool. They're pretty quick on, they follow death around. Yeah, that's a good, good observation to pick that up. A lot of people, I've seen a lot of people out in the woods, and they don't even notice stuff like that.

You know, I mean, it's, there's a lot of telltale signs out there if you pay attention. Magpies too. They follow that. They find it pretty quick. A lot of those over there in that part of the country. Well, you're on a roll, two bulls in the same. Is that the first time you've killed two bulls in a season? No.

I think the first time two archery bulls. I've killed like an archery bull and then maybe a rifle bowl or two. But yeah, that was the first two, probably two archeries. Excuse me. Yeah, awesome. So what hunts do you got this year that you're looking forward to? Hopefully do that Oregon. They changed it last year to a draw.

Oh, yeah. You got to draw that one. So hopefully I draw that. And then we'll be going to New Mexico this year, which I'm pretty excited about. And your fins and feather, tell me about that. That's your business. And what do you do with that? So basically what we do is we subcontract out outfitters that already have things up and running,

you know, businesses where they, you know, whether it's elk, deer, whatever it is. And we basically put together a year-long schedule, you know, and we post that up on our site. So each trip is basically set in stone already, the dates, the species. And basically what we do is we add different UFC fighters or actors or pro ball players, different athletes on the trips with the clientele. So say we got a mule deer where there's five or six clients that are booking with us in this group. And then we'll put like Dan Henderson and he'll go in there and hunt with him. So we'll get him a tag too.

So he's in there sharing camp. And, you know, I think what the mindset of creating this, the reason why we did it was doing something different, something that where, I mean, you know this in hunting camp, the camaraderie, and like the way that you bond with somebody over a campfire after a long day of hunting, like telling stories, it's like you're never going to get that at a meet and greet where you shake a hand, take a picture, and then onto the next one, you know? So it's just a different way for these people who might watch these guys or girls on TV

in a sport or whatever it may be. Now they get to not only go on a cool hunt because we try to do stuff that's already going to be something people would want to do anyways, you know, badass mule. deer elk or antelope or whatever it is but now they get to do it in camp with the guy like you're at favor or dan henderson or whoever you know and all these guys love hunting as well and girls we got some macy barber yeah i like jessie jess like she's getting into it i got her bow and um so yeah it's you know it's just something that's different from the standard you know hunting outfit like you can go book a mule deer hunt anywhere or um you know an elk hunt or whatever but now you get to do it and

kind of throw a special twist on it and get to do it in camp with a guy like Henderson or T.J. Dillowell or Mike Chandler or whatever, you know, and just kind of get to know these people on a personal basis. So I don't know, man. We launched it in 2015, so 16 was our first full year. I had no idea how it was going to, people were going to take that, you know. And we booked out everything we offered that year. I was like, too, that's pretty cool. And each year, just kind of grown it, adding more trips. And just continue to, we'll sell out usually each year, book everything in advance, go out and do it. This is cool for me too, because I just get to travel all over and hunt with cool people

who absolutely love hunting and fishing, which is like my people, you know. So I don't know. I feel blessed to be able to go do this and almost feel like I'm cheating the system sometimes taking their money, you know. I'm like, God, I should be paying you to come hunt and hang out with you guys. But no, it's been super cool. I enjoy it. I love it.

My business partner, Mike, I love it. He was with UPS for like, 24. 20-something years and just retire. So now he's doing this full-time. Sweet. Yeah, it's been a fun journey. Yeah, I know. I've followed along.

I've seen a lot of the photos, and I see, I mean, everybody looks like they're having a great time. The trips you set up, people are successful. And so it's like you're kind of, that's a big challenge for people who want to maybe do a guided out for a fitted hunt. Is this a good place, you know? But you're kind of vetting that part. Yep.

So they know they're already going to go to a good point. place and then it's going to be with legends on top of it so it's like how do you lose that yeah exactly it sounds like a great setup yeah it's been fun and yeah i think that what you hit the nail uh on the head there with with the vetting part of it i mean i know i've been burned with outfitters like you know you go to a show and they got these cool photos and you're like all right they seem like they know what they're doing you end up putting a deposit down you go and hunt and it is complete garbage, you know, like horrible. And that's happened to me multiple times and it's like, God, man. So being able to, for me personally, I go on all these trips, like test them out

first and foremost to make sure that it, yeah, they have the animals to, you know, basically sustain this amount of hunters. Like we're going to, I want my guy successful. Even if it means they're not killing 200 inch mule deer. Like I want these guys to go home with me. I want them to like have the fun experience of learning from start to finish. what hunting is all about. Because we get a lot of people that have never hunted before, which is also super cool.

Yeah. You know, that have followed me or Hendo or whoever, any of these people through their MMA career and see that we hunt, we live off the wild game,

cook these amazing meals with it. Like, man, I want to go do that. So they'll book with us, you know, go get their hunter safety done and they're like, their first time ever. And that's pretty damn cool.

Like, you know, to take these men and women who have never done it before, kids sometimes and just kind of teach them from start, to finish what it's all about.

Like, that's a huge passion of mine. And I enjoy that. I love it. And that was one of the reasons, one of the main reasons we started fins and feathers in the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. It's been cool.

Try to pass on that hunting heritage in some way. And then also it gives opportunity to these legends in the fight game. Or, you know, it's because, I mean, they are people, people look up to them, but also it's nice having that camaraderie talked about, like, yeah, this is. more than just a fighter I've seen on TV. Here's these other interests he has, it's other insight.

And it's, you know, everybody, it's like, oh, you're a fighter, but yeah, you're also a hunter and you're this and that. It's like... Get to know more of a human level, on your normal buddy level, you know, instead of just this just savage that goes in there and chaos people in a cage,

you know? So it's just a different, you know, a different layer to it all, which is kind of cool. Well, and I mean, you're like a perfect example of that because fighting in the cage, you're so deadly, but then the nicest guy. It's just like, I don't know. I appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't for being just jacked in the ears, people might not know you're a trained assassin.

Oh, man, it's all about flipping the switch, I think. And for me, like my dad always taught us to be humble, you know, like, I'm no different than anybody else. I'm just an idiot. and get punched in the face for a living. Like, that's the route I chose to go. Yeah. And I'm good at it. So, you know, but I'm no different than anybody else. Like, there's no reason for me to be arrogant.

There's no reason for me to be a dick. And I never understand when there's people like that out there. It's like, like, you're just a human. We're all the same, you know? Yeah. Yeah. We're all just trying to survive here. I know.

I know. I know. I have no reason to make it harder than it needs to be. So, um, so. What do your brothers do? I mean, you guys all grew up together. It sounds like, do they hunting fish? I don't think any, I mean, everybody kind of steered away from it.

I was really the only one that kind of kept the passion going. Okay. Yeah. No. You just have brothers or a sister, too? I have brother and sister. So my mom and dad split up when I was little and both got remarried. So I have two brothers and a sister on my dad's side and two brothers and a sister on my mom's side.

So I'm the only child from my mom and my dad. I have half brothers and sisters. Right. Yeah, none of them on my dad's side, you know, my two brothers were into the hunting. My sister would go and fish and do stuff like that. But when they got older, nobody really kind of stuck with it. I was really the only one. My pop still hunts.

We just went and did a wild boar hunt on that ranch out of reading I was telling you about. Nice. We took my oldest daughter. So that was her first time doing that. And she's four. Yeah, almost four. And absolutely loved it. we both tagged out on two boars that first night.

And she got to see the whole thing go down and showed her how to do all the gutting and skinning process and showed her where meat comes from. And, you know, we talk about that type of stuff in our house all the time anyways. But had some breakfast sausage made out of it. So when we have breakfast in the morning, I make sure I always tell her, this is the bore that we got. Yeah. And she loves it, eats it. And, you know, I just, for me as a father now, like being able to share that and pass that down

means so damn much to me. Yeah. And we were talking about the YouTube thing the other day. And one of the main reasons why I started my YouTube channel, you know, what, four or five years ago was thinking about my kids watching it in the future. Like being able to see dad's hunts with mom or grandpa or whoever or just by himself from years ago. And now my daughter, like, when she gets out of the bath at night, she wants to sit there and watch hunting videos on my YouTube channel. So we'll sit there. Oh, that's awesome. You know, we'll watch a couple videos, read books. And that's how she goes. us to bed at that. So yeah, it's pretty pretty freaking cool. Well, it's an important lesson for kids to learn about, you know, where food comes from, where meat comes from, animals have to die for this to happen and to have a healthy relationship with that because a lot of people still put on blinders about they're eating this this burger or this steak and they're not

correlating it to an animal that was living at one time. So it's, I think it's valuable. I mean, one of the most valuable lessons we can teach our kids. I agree. Yeah. I'm I agree. Well, that's exciting. Oh, yeah, let me, I had another question for you here. What else are you hunting this season? So I got those two elk in September. I'll be going back to the San Carlos that first week in October.

I got a coal bull tag this time. Yeah. So we'll see what we can find. I don't know if we can locate anything like that, but we'll see. but then I'm going to Idaho with Chrissy Lee Cook for her show and going to go do elk out there mid-October and then Colorado for a deer and elk right there they've killed some bulls on that that hunt

she's been doing that I think her brother goes and I think she took Hannah Barron last year yeah looks like they're kind of dialed in on those elk I think she took Don Jr. there last year too late's right yeah he did kill oh here's a good one What is the training like between the UFC and bare knuckle? Man, basically all I'm doing is boxing and strength and conditioning. You know, body function stuff, you know, trying to stay as mobile as I can,

working on being explosive as I can. They're two-minute rounds. So, you know, it's balls to the wall for short amount of times. Very like sprint-oriented type training. we do mix in some longer endurance stuff more for building that aerobic capacity, but most of this stuff is just like sprint work stuff. Tons of knit work, you know, working straight boxing, you know, tightening everything up, keeping as compact and, you know, on point with everything as possible.

And then working with my, so that's with Joey and then my strength conditioning coach is Amadeo. and he just stretches the shit out of me. We do all kinds of, like I said, mobility type stuff, sled push, conditioning, iodine. God, I hate that thing. But, yeah, just a lot of that type of stuff. So it's way more specialized.

You don't have to get the wrestling and the jiu-jitsu. Yeah, that was the hardest thing about MMA, man. And a lot of people don't realize that. But, man, you're getting, you have to train three, yeah, three, four times a day. Because you have so many things you have to, you know, know, get really good at it because everybody's really good at everything nowadays. You know, it's not the days of, oh, he's just the boxer, you know, or he's just the Jits guy.

It's like, you got to basically try to master everything. You're boxing, your kickboxing, you're wrestling, your jiu-jitsu, strength and conditioning. And it's like to be able to keep up on all that and just full MMA training. Like you also have MMA sparring. So, you know, there's just so many facets to it that you have to stay on top of all that. I mean, the chances of over-training and, like, being just completely wiped out by the time fight comes is, like, very high. So you got to be smart about it.

But it's, I think that was the most difficult part, like sitting down, I would map out an entire training camp. Obviously, you're, you're adjusting on the fly, depending on what the body feels like and what you're doing that day. But, man, having everything mapped out, dude, it's, it was crazy. So, yeah, just focusing on boxing. So like mitt works, boxing, sparring, strength and conditioning. It's like, it's pretty nice to just focus on pretty much just that. What if like this is your, the perfect thing for you? What if this is what it should have been the whole time?

Yeah. You know what I mean? Because you got good hands, you're compact, you're fast, you're explosive. What if like all that other stuff was to lead up to bare knuckle? Yeah. And you're like going to be the. this bare-knuckle icon. Yeah, I don't know, man.

I mean, it could be that. Yeah, it definitely could be. And I'm here in the moment and I'm enjoying it and I'm here for the ride. So we're just kind of taking it one fight at a time and just seeing what things look like. But hey, I'm not opposed to it, man. If it's the amount of money they're willing to pay, you know, and how much I love the training and how much I love the sport of boxing, granted, it's bare-knuckle. It hurts a little bit more.

But, man, it's, I could see that happening. Yeah. We'll just have to see. Right. I mean, if I get out there and kill Eddie quick or get out there and win this fight, you know, in big fashion, I'm going to have to talk. I know. I'm thinking. I'm talking.

You're talking and I'm thinking about all the boxes you're checking. I'm like, maybe this is it. Yeah. It's awesome. I'm so, dude, I get so pumped for these fights and just like to, I don't know. We're going to have to get you out there for this one. Oh, I'd love to come. I've never been to one, but I'm obviously a huge Chad Mendez fan.

So, yeah, I'd love to be there. This is a good one. How do you know Cristiano, Cristiano, Ronaldo, since he follows you on Instagram? I don't know. Never met him, but that's pretty cool. Somebody else has said that also. Really? Yeah.

That's super cool. I mean, I think it's just because you're a badass. I don't know. Yeah. He's a stud, man. That's cool. Yeah. I know.

What? I mean, he's, isn't he like one of the most famous on Instagram or the most followers or something like that? He's up there. He's a giant and everybody knows him. Yeah. Yeah. No. That's super cool. And he follows you. So there. Um, uh, how old and what distance did you? Oh, no, this is for me. They're asking me, this one's for you. How old and what distance did you cover on your first race? Um, I don't even know. I was, It's probably 5K and I probably quit. It's three miles. What do you prefer bare knuckle or boxing in general to other styles of fighting? What do you prefer? Man, I mean, after doing MMA and going over, like what I was just saying, all the training and, you know, I really enjoy boxing. I've always liked boxing. I mean, obviously wrestling was always my background, you know, but even when I was fighting MMA, my style was boxing and wrestling.

Like those are my two like big bases. And you, you spar with a really good boxer, you said. Yeah. Yeah. Got some Golden Glove champion. And how do you, how do you do? I do really well.

Really? Yeah. Yeah. He pushes me for sure, you know. Is he your size? Weight wise, he weighs less, but he's taller than me. So he's longer. Man, he's explosive fast.

Obviously great boxing. So definitely keeps me on my toes. But man, I do, I do really well. So, yeah, I, I enjoy the sport of boxing outside of taking head damage. Obviously, I never want to do that. But just the sport itself and the way that my body has taken to it. And I guess my ability with it, especially being a wrestler, I like it.

What's your strength and boxing? I mean, speed, power. Yeah, I think speed and power for sure. Yep. So you got a good torque. I mean, does he say when you're sparring that, you know, powers. Yeah, he's feeling it?

Because you can tell on somebody. Somebody can it looks the same everything's the same, but the power is different. Yeah, there's another little snap to it. Like God. Yeah. I noticed that with like Amanda, woman fighter. Yes. But she punches kind of like a guy. Yeah. Like she likes them. At the end, those punches are landing at the end and just it seems really hard. So she's got something about her technique or whatever. So I was wondering if that's, you're the same. your hands are just you know I think who's that guy who's fighting um stylebender oh yeah uh what do they call him hands of stone or something like that Alex parade yeah yeah he he punches hard hard yes and when i watch i saw some footage of him the other day his he doesn't look super smooth style-wise but for whatever reason hands of stone land so it's just some weird things some people just yep Punch hard. But let's see.

Well, what would you be doing if you never started fighting? Man, that's a tough question. So my degree was in kinesiology. Ideally, like, PT or, I mean, that's probably where I was leaning. Physical therapy type stuff. But, man, probably don't. on that road. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Like training or something with either like a physical therapist, maybe even coaching. Maybe I would have got into like wrestling coaching. I tried to pick up maybe at a college or, I don't know, you know, maybe going down that path. But, you know, I honestly didn't think a ton about it because I already knew I was going into the fight world.

Right. My third year, I signed a contract with my management group. And like I had already known that was what I was going to do. So, you know, the thought of, because, I mean, your first two, three years of college, I don't, I didn't know what the hell I was going to do. Yeah, I picked, you know, physical therapist as my, as my major. Well, it was kinesiology, but that was like my mindset at first. And then I was like, I don't know if I want to do this. Yeah.

Then I tested out some of the teaching stuff. And I'm like, God, I don't know if I want to do this either. So I kind of dabbled a little bit the first three years and different things. but yeah I basically signed that contract talked to your eye and was like all right let's just give this a try and I don't know I don't know if I just had too much confidence in myself at that point but I just kind of like quit thinking about the career stuff yeah and was just like I'm gonna be a fighter go do this yeah yeah so I don't know I did have some doubt there for a little bit I'm like look I'll go try this like I guess if I get my butt kicked and I just suck at this then we'll think

about it but I don't know that didn't last too long I was basically just like let's do this yeah and it sounds like your io was a big part of your decision he's been a big influence on you 100% yeah yeah your i was honestly the person that got me involved in this all together but um so every summer our coach at calpali would put on like a six week long wrestling camp for young kids um up in squaw Valley like Tahoe area. And obviously all of us Cal Poly wrestlers would go and we'd be like instructors and camp counselors and stuff. Well, Yerai was at UC Davis. He brought him in also and was paying him to be one of the instructors. But Yariah was getting

ready for a fight. And that was my, the summer between freshman year and sophomore year. So my first and second year and Yariah was there and he was getting ready for a fight. And he kept rolling with these guys and he's trying to train Jiu-Jitsu. I'm We're all wrestlers and he just kept hurting everybody. And people are like, I don't want to work out with you, dude. And like Faber's style is very explosive and stastic and all over the place, you know. And I was like, and basically he was like, I got to have somebody to train with her.

I got to leave. I got to go back and like, I got to fight. So I was like, I'll train with you. I'll roll with you. So I rolled with him for like a couple of hours. And, you know, he submitted me probably 4,000 times. But I didn't know what I was doing. But he's like, dude, I think you'd be really good at this.

He's like, if you want to give it a try, he's like, just so you know. you know, I'll have space up there, T-Malph-Mil. I have T-Malph-Mil in Sacramento. And I was just like, all right, I don't know, we'll think about it. But yeah, towards the end of my, so I was at my third year in college, I was like, maybe that was my fourth year. I was like, all right, I'm doing this. I took them up on it.

But yeah, your eye was big influence, you know, obviously always very business-minded as well. It's kind of helped me and motivate me into starting the businesses we've done and staying on top of all that stuff and just trying to stay motivated in that world as well. Faber's a big, big influence in that sense for sure. Yeah, at one time that team Alpha Male was like the team. It seems like you and TJ and Benavitas and Faber and Danny Castillo and do we have, I forget how many, I feel like we had like 13 or 14 people in the UFC at one time,

which I think at that time was like unheard of yeah yeah I know everybody I mean everybody knew team alpha male for sure we had Dwayne Ludwig was in there yeah I had striking coach and yeah man it was it was a good one that was definitely magic there I'd say the peak yeah yeah that was definitely the peak yeah yeah nothing lasts forever no everybody goes but you guys have all had your own success and you know it's been amazing to watch uh the last question that I saw there that I was gonna We'll wrap up with that is, so why did you agree to do the podcast? Are you kidding me? Is it Kim Haynes, dog?

No, man, we've been talking about either linking up for a hunt, doing some training shooting. Yeah. Probably for the last four or five years or more, you know. And when I saw you started this, I was like, bro, I got to go do this. Oh, I'm so thankful you came. Oh, dude, I'm beyond stuck. This is cool. I know.

I'm a fan. I love watching you. I love your spirit. And then training with you was awesome. Heck, yeah. Yeah, we got to do a little bit in Utah out there. Remember at the Hunt Expo and stuff? We did.

We did. But yeah, this was cool. I think we got some dumbbells out there, didn't we? Yeah. I think we were pumping the hindoos. Yeah. I don't know. You look pretty strong today.

It's just like I think I'm getting older and you're getting stronger. So I don't know. I'm very thankful, Chad. Thank you for coming and doing the lift run shoe with me and the podcast. Again, I'm a fan. I think you're going to be that bare knuckle, the face of bare knuckle. And I think we're going to cement that with a big win against Eddie Alvarez. And thank you so much.

Keep hammering, brother. Thank you. I appreciate it. We can't wait to do it again. All right. I think a lot of you guys will be interested in this next sponsor. First Light Farms is a New Zealand-based farm that ships elk meat straight to your door. The reality is not everyone's going to fill their tag every year.

so First Light Farms is ready to fill your freezer with lean protein that is high in iron, zinc, and B vitamins. To tell you the truth, I've been pretty surprised at how tender the meat is from First Light Farms. And I guess it's because they have no natural predators in New Zealand, so the elk will have a pretty low-stressed life, and you can taste that in the meat. They're offering listeners of the podcast a 15% discount using code cam 15 at stateclub.1.1stlight. farms. The link will be in the show notes of the podcast for those interested. Cabellas and Bass Pro Shops is a sponsor of the podcast and that's especially powerful for me because I remember when Cabellas came to town, came to Springfield, Oregon and I actually played a role in the opening of that store instead of cutting the grand opening ribbon with scissors, I shot it with an arrow and it was

just a monumental thing. I mean, everybody here in town was talking about, hey, are you going to go to Cabellas? Can you believe Cabellas is coming here to Springfield, Oregon? So I know what a staple, those giants in the industry are. And it's actually, it's one of the first places people go when they're looking to get geared up to become a hunter as they go to Cabellas and buy everything they need. So I'm very excited that we've partnered together and we can help open up those outdoor and hunting opportunities to listeners of this podcast. Loopold Optics has been providing my binoculars and eyewear for the last few years. like that it's an Oregon company and they make such high quality glass is all I've really used. And if you can't find what you're hunting, it's going to be tough to kill. So loophole optics has

really played an integral part in my success these last few years. Thank you loophole for supporting the podcast.