Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 087 - Mitch Aguiar

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

Join us for a discussion with Mitch Aguiar, former Navy SEAL, Professional MMA Fighter and Entrepreneur. Cam and Mitch talk about Mitch’s recent fight with Sean Strickland, thoughts on c*vid, the v@ccine and more! Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com   Follow Mitch: https://www.instagram.com/mitch_aguiar/  Thank you to our sponsors: Grizzly Coolers: https://www.grizzlycoolers.com/ use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/cam use code CAM for 15% off  Ketone IQ: https://hvmn.com/CAM use code CAM for 30% off your first subscription Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/ Use code CAM for 10% off  MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping  Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro: C*vid, Wearing Masks & Why Mitch’s Instagram was Deleted 0:06:53 A Love-Hate for Social Media 0:16:09 Mitch’s History with Sean Strickland 0:18:38 How the Mitch VS Sean Strickland Fight Came About 0:24:40 Mitch’s Charity: Adopt A Cop BJJ 0:26:05 Mitch VS Sean Strickland 0:29:48 Ad Break 0:31:50 The Fight & Sean’s Fighting Strategy 0:40:16 The Worst Part of the Fight 0:42:40 Lessons from the Fight 0:46:24 Mitch’s Fighting Experience 0:48:28 Sean Strickland & David Goggins 0:51:47 Mitch’s Respect for David Goggins 0:57:26 SEAL Influencers, Mindset & Life After Being a SEAL 01:03:47 Becoming a Civilian After Being a SEAL 01:08:02 Mitch’s Start in the SEALS & Social Media 01:11:45 Positives from the Fight with Sean 01:14:33 Enduring Other Workouts with Other Outliers 01:19:54 Lift. Run. Shoot. 01:21:48 “The Sauna Game” & Cold Plunging 01:28:33 Outro: Ray Cash Care

Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop, I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel, gather up my energy, and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I move it's so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with, giving my blood so I am relentless. We're on the Keep Hammer Collective. I'm with Mitch Aguirre. Aguirre.

Oh, God, okay. Close enough. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's so many different ways you can spell that because I was trying to put in, I was telling Rihanna who works for me, hey, I got a guest today. and it's Mitch and then I was like starting to do a I'm like God how does he spell that name? Yeah.

So yeah. Aguar. Agiar. Yeah. Agiar. Okay. Portuguese. Gotcha. Okay.

Well, I'm just going to say Mitch. That's fine. So what a, what a week it's been for you. Yeah. It's been quite a week. Jeez, dude. I was like, you know, I've, we've known of each other for a long time. I wore your shorts for years.

Yeah. And I thought those kind of Ranger Panny shorts, I guess. And what did they say on them? What was the logo? It was just my old logo, the massive logo. Yeah. It was M-A-S-F, massive. Right, right.

That's what it was. But I just loved them because they were so simple and just like, I'd light. I'd run in them. Yeah. But that was years ago. And then I think you got Shadow Band or? No, I got my Instagram totally deleted. What for?

For being outspoken against COVID and the VIII. and the vaccine mandates and everything. Oh, did you need a mask? Do you want to wear a mask or anything? No. But, man, I got, to get the Uber here, they were like, you know, make sure you're wearing a mask. And I was like, damn, they're still doing that here? I got, I can't even use Uber because I got kicked off for not wearing masks too many times.

Well, I got kicked off of American Airlines. God. I was banned from American Airlines for threatening a flight attendant. Well, I was flying to my son's wedding in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and this lady, steward, or not a steward, was like, going, I had my mask wherever, I don't know, but she's like, it needs to be over your nose. And I'm like, just, I was putting my, I'm like, just relax. She had to get the cat.

I almost got kicked off too. And I'm going to my son's wedding. So I wouldn't even have got there. And so, God, these people were insane, aren't they? It was. It was ridiculous. And the same same kind of situation. I had, this was right when the mask stuff really started getting ramped up on, you know, the airplanes and stuff.

And you could still wear a bandana. Oh. Like that was considered a mask. And so I was actually in the very first seat, so in first class, whatever, had. And I had a bandana and I just, you know, kind of had it here and was playing on my phone. and the flight attendant, this very flamboyant man, was like, hey, you need to put the mask on. And I was just like, okay, okay. You know, and it was, you know, about here.

And then he came back and said, hey, you need to put that mask on. And I said, it is on. And he goes, you need to cover your nose. and I said, this is on my face. It's fine. Like, leave me alone, you know? He's like, you can keep that mask on,

and if you want to get an attitude about it, you can get your ass off this plane. Oh, gosh. And I said, oh, I can get my ass off this plane. I said, let me tell you something. You don't know who the fuck you're talking to. And if you talk to me like that again, I'm going to stand up and smack the shit out of you

in front of everyone on this airplane. And he just, like, ran to the front. and, you know, and called security. And I was like, oh, man. And I was so pissed because I didn't want to, you know, be inconvenience with missing this flight. Yeah. And they were not letting it go.

So I was like, all right, well, let's get crazy then. And I was like, you know, if you're going to inconvenience and ruin my day over this, like, I'm going to make sure this guy at least has to talk to somebody. We'll go to code red. And I was freaking like just livid. Like, get me. whoever is the highest person that works at this airline. Do you have a boss?

Go get him. Do you have a boss? Go get him. And I was just like ready to be arrested. Yeah. Just out of, you know, just out of spite. Like in principle. Like it was so ridiculous.

And, you know, and luckily I was, I was in a position to where I didn't have to, you know, answer to anybody because I worked for myself. And, you know, I was out of the military at that time. So it really wasn't anything other than just inconvenience for me. So I really made it a point to resist and push back at every chance I could. And it wasn't because it was enjoyable for me to do. It was just because of the principle. Yeah.

Like, you know, and this is why people, this is why this has gotten to where it's gotten is because so many people were just complacent and just, you know, didn't want to be bothered to, you know, so it's just easier for me to comply and put the mask on. And, and, and I just made a scene everywhere I went. And it wasn't, and I, and I understand that that's not, like, there's a lot of people that are like, oh, God, I don't want to deal with this, you know? So, like, I would tell, you know, everyone that I was with, like, you know, because, you know, you remember how it was, like, going to a restaurant. Yeah. If you have to put the mask on to walk to your table and then you can take it off and take the bites in between. And then if

you know, all this ridiculous stuff. And everywhere I went, I just made a scene because I was like, you know, I have to like lead by example, you know, because how am I going to tell everyone that they need to resist this and push back and, you know, fight back against this if I'm not willing to do it myself because I don't want to be inconvenienced because I just want to go order my drink and then get out of here, you know, but I had to do it, you know, had to, had to, had to, had to stand by what I believed in and, you know, walk the walk. And it was inconvenient.

And I told everybody around me, I'm like, I understand if you don't want to go with me. And like, I totally get it. But like, I cannot comply with this. We're on the exact same page. And that's why I can't use Uber still. Well, they ban, so I was kicked off of American Airlines. They banned me from it. But they had it until the mask thing was gone.

So when the mask mandate was done, then I was allowed to fly again, which was really nice. I hate American Airlines with a passion. But unfortunately, like out of Norfolk, Virginia, it's a small airport. Oh, is that where you are? Yeah. That's where you live? Yeah. Oh, my God, dude.

That's so far away. Yeah. I didn't know you had to come all the way across country. Oh, yeah. I was just here last week. Oh. Yeah, I flew coast to coast to coast to go. Oh.

What were you here for? Well, I went and trained. with Brad Dunn with a shout out Brad Dunn Reliant Fitness he really cool dude he does online fitness coaching and he was helping me get started in that and just like teaching me all the software and how that all works and everything so I did a couple days you know spent with him shadowing him and learning that stuff with him and he lives in California okay and then and then I drove from there to Vegas to go spa with Sean. Oh, yeah. Well, so that's where everybody's going to recognize you from. Yeah. I mean, so many people probably saw that. Maybe if I put my hair down and

some blood on my face, then they would recognize me. I mean, yeah, so that's like, I don't know, like I said, you were off Instagram, got kicked off Instagram because of whatever, but then you were, I mean, and I kind of, you know how you kind of lose track of people? Yeah. You don't really realize that he hadn't been seeing their stuff. Yeah. And so then I was, I saw this clip of, you know,

Sean fighting this, and it just said seal. And I was like, I know, it seems like I know a lot of seals. I'm like, I wonder if I know who this is. And I was looking.

I was like, is that Mitch? And then I was like, God, Mitch, I haven't, I forgot. You know,

then I was like, God, I haven't seen his stuff. And so anyway, that's, you know, kind of got, I don't know,

you on everybody's radar recently. Yeah. So that's, that's like, Exactly. Like you used to follow me. Like we, we followed each other back in my original account. You know, when I had 370,000 followers and was verified before it cost 10 bucks, you know. And like it was a, you know, I had a very large page and very engaged, you know, organically built audience and everything. And and that was, you know, I had you, I had you, Donald Trump Jr. like, I mean, tons of people like big names were following me back then. And. And, and, and that was, you know, I had, I had you, I had you, Donald Trump Jr. Like, I mean, I mean, like, tons of people like, big names were following me back then. And. And. And, when I lost my Instagram, it just Overnight gone.

It's hard work. Dude, I mean, it felt like I lost everything, you know? That was by far the most like important tool that I had or resource available to me. You know, it was literally how 95% of my sales from my company

were directly from my Instagram. And that was my only platform because I never had social media before. that I didn't I didn't want it I never wanted social media but I like once I started messing with it then I realized how powerful it was and everything and then you know so I really took it serious like a job and then built it up to what I did and then you know I was able to launch my my company from it and you know it grew to a multi-million dollar company and but all through directly from Instagram no zero paid you know marketing advertisement nothing it was all directly from my

Instagram. And yeah, and then overnight, it just got taken from me because, you know, I'd posted a video in New York City of me on the streets of the bullhorn screaming, the vaccine does not stop you from getting COVID. The vaccine does not stop you from spreading COVID. Yeah, that's going to get their attention. And they deleted me for misinformation, and which is now widely accepted as truth. A hundred percent truth. And, you know, and it just, it was crazy to me. You know, I knew it was a risk like and that's why a lot of people at the time were not standing they're not standing up they're not going to risk losing their their platform you know because it was they were threatening that you know but i i thought it was it was way too important not to speak about and like not that i had the

largest platform in the world but 370 000 followers was a good amount and you know and i'm just because of my background as a seal you know people are looking for guidance, you know, in these situations and like, what are we do, you know? And there's a bunch of people out there with that talk about leadership and preach leadership or whatever. And it's like, where are you? You know? So in the absence of leadership, you need to lead. Right. And I really, truly just felt like it was too important not to, you know, and I did and, and I paid the man for it hard. And that is so frustrating. You know, it's wrong. It's 100% so wrong. It crippled my company. you know like it really really did a negative job on it and it sucks because like it's not just me

that punishes like i have employees and they have families you know and they all depend on like the paychecks that i'm giving them and uh so it it really like hit me hard and uh i've been rebuilding ever since and that's the other thing is like you know how many people do you follow on instagram you know a couple hundred thousand maybe whatever so one person that you follow just disappeared. Yeah. You would have no idea unless you, like, really follow that person closely and you're looking at their stuff all the time.

But if not, it's just going to be lost in the wind and you don't even think about it. And that's why, like, you know, when we recently were messaging, you were like, oh, man, I thought I was following you. Yeah, I did. And I'm like, no, if you haven't been following me for years, you know. And that, you know, it's frustrating. And especially for somebody like you have, who has fought for a country is like, this is supposed to be a free country.

Yeah. And like, what were you doing? You were, you were, I mean, like, just enacting your freedoms. Just saying First Amendment and just saying like what you believed. And that got, that got you canceled essentially. Well, that's, that's platformed. That's what's the craziest part about all this. It's like, you know, yeah, I literally have been overseas and fought for freedom, you know,

which I don't believe now, you know, my perspective on the whole military industrial. complex, everything, all that stuff has completely changed since COVID. You know, COVID really opened my eyes to a lot of things. But, I mean, just the fact that, like, we were experiencing what I believe is the most tyrannical time in our lifetime, you know, from our own government with COVID, you know, literally taking people's freedoms away and, and livelihood, livelihoods, bodily autonomy, all that stuff. I mean, and, yeah.

And then now, you know, with social media, the way it's become, it's kind of like the town square, you know. And, you know, they just censor people and with ideas or views that they don't like or whatever and just control the narrative. And it was just, it was infuriating to me, you know. And people were dying and stuff, you know. So, and I had the time and the resources at the time to really spend time and research. and go into this stuff. And, you know, I was flying to, you know, freedom medical rally conferences with, you know,

tons of doctors with hundreds and thousands of pages of peer-reviewed stuff talking about like why all of this is ridiculous. And, you know, and they were being censored and threatened to be removed and, you know, have their licenses revoked and all that stuff. And, you know, it was just, it was so bizarre what was happening. And I was just like, this is, this is, this is, This is a real problem and it's not a joke. And it needs people's full attention.

And so that was why, you know, like, I thought it was like bigger than me and my, you know, my little pot of gold. Like I could have been like totally fine. Like I had enough money. I was doing fine. I didn't have to get vaccinated. I didn't have to answer to anybody. But it was all the people that couldn't speak up and felt like, you know, and they're basically having to choose, hey, do you want your retirement or do you want, you know, to just comply?

Yeah. And it's terrible. It doesn't matter if you're healthy. You know, you need to take this experimental vaccine or, you know, vaccine and shoot it in you and it has like, you know, a real chance of hurting you, you know, to protect you against a virus that's so deadly you might not even know you have it. Yeah. I mean, I'm, I never even have got the flu vaccine.

So, I mean, I'm not like, so I wasn't going to take this either, obviously, because I'm like, no, I'm fine. I can, whatever. I'll take my chances. Take my chances. And it's like, and that, you were like the scapegoat if you weren't, if you were unvaccinated, like where I worked, you know, it was just like people would look down on you if you didn't wear a mask or like. So I totally get it. And I applaud you for standing up for people who don't have, didn't have the same platform or voice you have. I'm sorry you had to pay, you know, the price for that. But I think that does help explain. why you are inserted into the Sean Strickland story. Yeah. Because it kind of goes hand in hand a little bit because I think especially the seals, but a lot of people saw Sean saying that a seal couldn't last a week training with them.

Is that what got your attention? Yeah. I mean, so Sean and I have a little bit of a history before that, not in any kind of negative way. We had just, we had trained together out at Blackhouse MMA in Los Angeles. you know when I was still active duty in the teams I would go out there and and do some training camps and stuff like that with Kenny Johnson he he is the head coach out at

Blackhouse and you know all the guys there at the time it was you know Anderson Silva leota Machita Brian Ortega Tony Ferguson you know Sean Strickland big names big big names you know a ton of like awesome dudes in the room and you know and I'm And I just felt like, like so lucky to be in there and training with those guys, you know. So I had, that was where I first had met Sean Strickland and did a little bit of training with him. But, you know, nothing like, we weren't like best friends or anything like that. Just, you were just in the same room training. And then, and then when he fought in UFC, Norfolk, he came, Kenny had had called me and was like, hey, I got, you know, Sean's going to be fighting.

there and he needs to cut weight and I had a sauna at my house you know because I was always fighting and so he came over to my house and and cut weight at my house for that fight and so we hung out a little bit there but who was he fighting for that one I don't remember it was back when he was a welterweight he was 170 oh okay yeah he looks like a very different person yeah yeah I would have rather sparred that he was he was probably a over 200 one just fought the other day he was every bit of 220 25 yeah Sean's a big guy yeah what do you weigh I was 203 I think okay something like that well Rocky Balboa used to fight it 203 and he fought Culberling hey I didn't hear no bell I felt like Rocky but just the part where he's getting

beat up yeah yeah so but is that so you had a history but you then you saw that clip of course. Yeah, yeah. Like every seal. So, um, you know, so that was just our, our history. And then, um, and then we, we had, we had been following each other just from knowing each other. And, uh, Sean is very much like me, you know, very outspoken. And, uh, we had, we share a lot of the same views, um, politically and, et cetera. And, uh, and Sean had, he had gotten his Instagram deleted, uh, two times. Oh, did he? Yeah.

He was on his third account when he made that post, and I was on my fifth. Yeah. The one I'm on now is my fifth account. Okay. But, yeah, he had made that post, and he was like, hey, you know, I'm kind of sick of hearing about these Navy SEALs and thinking, everyone thinking they're so badass. Come train with me. I'll fucking break you, you know. Where did that come from?

I think it was just a random, just, you know. You know, and, you know, people got very upset with that, and I understand that. But I, you know, I like Sean because he's a little crazy. I feel like I'm crazy. Maybe a mask it a little better. And he'll just say whatever he's thinking. I can't, even though I don't agree with that, I can't hate, I can't judge somebody because if people knew the crazy shit I thought, but just didn't say, they'd be like,

what the fuck is wrong with you? So, I mean, just because he says it, it doesn't make him any worse than me and the crazy shit I come up with in my head. Right. Right. So, I mean, I don't agree with that. I didn't like that he said it. But I'm like, well, here's the thing. Whatever.

Here's the thing, guys. I know. That's him. I knew what he meant. He was talking about, he was talking about training like where, because there's so many people out there that are just ill-informed or or have these delusional. ideas that just Navy SEALs are these just masters of of of hand-to-hand combat or any kind of combat and they'll just you know come into the room and just hit you the judy chop and yeah UFC champion Stephen Segal yeah it doesn't stand a chance and and I think that and that's the way

I took it anyway so I took it as Sean was like you know basically sick of hearing that narrative or whatever and maybe he felt like disrespected because of the hard work that that he puts into his MMA work. And, you know, Sean, Sean does not shy away from, from adversity or, you know, like, like, fight through a lot.

Fight training is freaking hard. And the way that Sean trains, the majority of his training is sparring. You know, so it's, it's the actual, you know, anyone can hit Mitz and, like, look clean as hell on Mitz. And then you put him across from someone that actually hits you back.

and it's a different thing, you know? So that's why, and that's like one of the reasons why I've always respected Sean, because I really love, like, that's how I like to train. I like to train like if I, so I want to spar. Like, that's how I've always trained. Yeah. It's just sparring. So I've always respected Sean in that sense.

And, you know, and so when he had made that, I knew what he meant. So I didn't take it offensively at all. And people were, you know, obviously hitting me up, like, what the fuck you need to go teach him a lesson blah blah i'm like first off yeah i'm like you guys are delusional if you think that like any one of us are going to go beat up sean strickland like he's a champion yeah he's he's he's one of the best in the world and like the best in the world at that weight you know um so i'm like just and i was like that's not what he's saying like or that's the way i interpret i mean he's i know what he's saying and um and because like i

was already friendly with him, you know, and I, and I saw it as an opportunity, because I saw, like, oh, man, that's going to get a ton of attention. You know what I mean? Because people are just freaking out over it and just, you know, it's gone viral and all over the internet. And all these guys are jumping on kind of the clout, like, chasing a little bit. And, you know, and are never going to get in the ring with him. And so I messaged him. It was like, I was like, hey, dude, like, we should, we should totally do this. And, like, you know, I think we could get a ton of attention with this. And, you know, I don't care if, you know, I'll go out there. You can just beat my ass. And, and he was like, so were you, did you

want to, like, stand up for seals in some way? Or what, what was? I didn't, I didn't, like, take it offensively like that. I figured. But you knew, you knew some teammates did. Yeah, and any one of them that talked to me, I said the same thing. Okay. Like, I'm like, that's not what he means. And, you know, but it's not like he was out there. Guys, here's what I meant. So he didn't interp, like, no, because he didn't clear it up.

No, he's like, fuck you, come do it. And that's what I love about it. Yeah. I mean, I don't love what he's saying, but I love how he's unapologian. Yeah, he's not going to explain himself further. You know, or it's like, come, come deal with it. If you don't like what I say, come, come shut me up. You might hate it, but.

How do you not respect that at least? Yeah. And, you know, I'm a fighter myself. And I, you know, as a fighter and a seal, I kind of see both. And I'm like, hey, whatever. So anyway, I was like, yeah, Sean, let's do this. And I think we can make it like a big cool thing, you know. And I think it'll be helpful for both of us. And, you know, and Sean was like kind of like, yeah, okay, whatever.

And he was like, but we are going to have to fight. I'm like, I know. I'm aware. And, yeah. And then high rollers, you know, that jujitsu, where you smoke weed and do jih Tzu. So I've competed for them several times. And, you know, I did a match with Jake Shields. And, you know, we did a match to raise money for my charity Adopt-a-Cop, BJ.

Oh, okay. You know about that charity? No, no. So I started a charity back when my business was doing well. I was like, oh, I'm going to give back. And I started a charity called Adopt-a-Cop-B-J. and we pay for police officers around the country to learn or to attend jiu-jitsu training and we pay for them until the rank of Blue Belt.

That's awesome. Yeah, so. Such an important skill. Yeah. Especially for cops. We, you know, I started that basically with the George, around the George Floyd time where everyone was calling for defund the police. I'm like, that's not the answer at all.

Yeah. And I was like, cops just need more training. And if, you know, and you looked at any of these situations, you're like, if that cop knew a blue belt level of jujitsu then you know this could have been avoided so that's like our motto is jujitsu saves lives right and um so but anyway so that was my solution to it was um that and we're in all 50 states we're in over a thousand gyms across the country are affiliated with our charity and um we've graduated close to 400 police officers to blue belt that's awesome so pretty cool but anyway so I did a match with Jake Shields to raise money for my charity there and everything and we had a really fun exciting match and so they had reached out to Sean when that like back and forth because I made a post saying like oh Sean Strickland you must have forgot about me yeah yeah and you know kind of like WWE style or whatever and I was like oh I see you're on your third Instagram account that's cute and and then so high rollers sent us sent us a message and was like I'm like I see you're on your third Instagram account that's cute and um and then so high rollers had sent us a message and

like, hey, would you guys want to do a match on high rollers? And I was like, yeah, for sure. I'm down, you know, I'm a black belt in jiu-jitsu. That's kind of my thing. Yeah. And, you know, and I'm not trying to just get beat up by Sean. But Sean was like, and then he made a post of when that happened. He was like, hey, Mitch, high-rollers hit me up saying you want to do jiu-jitsu with me. Fuck that. He said, I'm not doing jiu-jitsu with you. Come here and do the man dance. And I was like, all right, Roger that. So I was like, all right, I guess I got to go out there and do the man dance with Sean.

I see. So it was just, it just happened to be like, you know, I wanted to go out there and do it. And things were coming up here and there. So got the time. And I was like, hey, I'm coming out there. Let's do it. And he was like, cool, let's do it. And yeah, so showed up and almost had him.

So what, like, what was your plan? What were you thinking? I was literally thinking like, I was telling my C-O, Kyle, and he's like, you're probably just going to have to get beat up. And I'm like, yeah, I think so. Did you think that like maybe you could get him a couple, you know, a couple good shots maybe? What if you knocked them out?

I mean, did you ever think like, because it could happen. So, so I, my best hope, like, one, so there was like, I had a whole bunch of mixed thoughts. Because one, I didn't know, you know, Sean is a little bit unpredictable. Yeah. You know, we'll call it. And so even though, like, we were friendly and, like, there was no animosity towards each other. Like, I think he's still, even his, you know, even if he's your best friend, when he's sparring, he's still going to try to hurt you. Yeah. You know, so I knew that about him. And, you know, he doesn't spar the way, like, typical people spar. Like,

you're not in training and sparring. You're not trying usually to hurt the person across from you. I don't think that's the case with Sean as much. I mean, I re-shared that and I said he's in the hurt business. Yeah, which again, I'm not mad at that. No. You know, that's who he is, what he does. Yeah.

And, you know, it's not my style, but whatever. But I don't care. It's, you're fucking playing fighting. You're not, it's not tickle camp, you know? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you can't be a pussy if you're in that world. And so I wasn't sure. I was pretty sure, though, that he was going to want to spar hard regardless.

And so I was like, all right, maybe we'll just do that. But then when I got there, he was, you know, and people were saying, like, on social media, like, the Navy SEAL wanted to spar. I'm like, I had, this was not my idea. Like, I got there and I was just down for whatever. Sean was like, hey, we're going to do five, five minute fives? Or five, five minutes. And I was like, whatever you want. Yeah.

I know you're, I was like, I was thinking if I was in your shoes, maybe I'd have been like, how about three, fives? Right. Because then, you know, 10 minutes less of whatever. Hey, but I was just there to accept his challenge. Yeah. You know, and just whatever you want to do. That was respect for, I mean, for you for like being so willing.

Yeah. When we, you know, we're starting to put our stuff on or whatever, I was thinking like, well, I already know Sean is very, very good. And he's got an awkward style. He's long and he's a big dude. And he boxes a lot. So he's like he's really good with his defense. And those big gloves, like, I'm not the greatest striker. I have a really hard right hand.

And that's basically like, that's my one weapon. And as far as that, I can kick really hard. You know, like Muay, low kicks, I kick really hard. And but really my game is jujitsu, you know. And when I can utilize my jujitsu in MMA, that's where I'm... And you can with gloves. I'm the best. Right.

Right. And with you got 16 ounce big gloves, it's very hard to do jujitsu. Right. You know, and I was like, I was like, Sean, I was like, do you want to wear small gloves? because I, you know, like, because I wasn't worried about, you know, I'm like, yeah, well, if I get knocked out, whatever, I get knocked out. But I was like with small gloves on, one, I have a better chance of, like you said, maybe landing a hard right hand. Yeah. You know, and like getting lucky and landing a hard right hand, you know.

And then, but more importantly, I could grapple. Right. And that's like where if I have any sort of hope with Sean Strickland, it's going to be. grappling. And, um, and he was just like, nah. And you know, he was like, nah, let's do big gloves. And I was like, all right. So he, but here world, he knew your jiu jitsu background. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He knows he knows. He knows. He knows, he knows, he knows that I'm a good, good on the ground. So yeah, he was smart about that. But he's, he's, it's not like he's a slouch. He's, you know, he's, he's, he's good on the

ground too. He just likes to stand. He's a black belt too. But he, he, he, he, yeah, he likes to fucking. He's, and throw hands and kick. And, you know, and he goes in spars pro boxers all the time. You know, so he really likes just throwing hands. Yeah. And so, yeah, when he said that, you know, he was just like, no, big gloves. I was like, all right.

I was like, well, this is going to just suck, you know? And, yeah, and again, I was still not exactly sure of how hard you were going to be or whatever. and then within like 30 seconds, I mean, the first punch he threw at me was not a light, you know, one. And he had even said, like, he was like, all right, let's kind of warm up first round. And I was like, all right, cool. Yeah, that sounds good to me. Yeah. And then, you know, it was that first hit, like, boom.

And I was like, okay, he's not going to be going easy at all. and and and and then he right after he like threw that first hit he was like it's going to be a long day for you and verbally said that to me you know and and I was like oh shit and then the front kick oh man he he was like I'm going to make you quit I'm going to make you quit are he kept saying he said it over and over and over and he he threw a a left teep kick and it just nailed me and it knocked the wind out of me. Like, you can see it in the video. I, like, wince over and I was like, fuck, that is the worst feeling when you get the

wind knocked out of you. And then you have this big fucking monster just. And there's no place to go. No place to go. No ref. And he wants you to quit. You know, so. That's rough.

I was just, and that was like, freaking one minute in or whatever, you know? I was like, oh, my God, this sucks. Yeah. And, and then, yeah, and then he started throwing the, like, the heavy kicks and shit. and he was like, you know you're going to quit. You know you're going to quit. And at that time, like, it was like, okay, he had, he's on a mission right now. Like, he's, he doesn't care about, like, being nice to me or whatever.

He's, he's going to prove a point and, you know, he's got an agenda. And at that point, I'm like, all right, well, it literally, like, I'm not going to be able to do anything to him. Like, this, this is, this is just going to suck. and at that point I was like all right you know I'm literally just going to I'm better off using all of my energy to just defend and deflect his shots as best I can right and try to make it the full 25 minutes yeah and um you know and obviously he could have knocked me out you know um but again he was saying he's like if I knock you out that's not you quitting right it's true yeah you know and which it would have been way like

less painful to just get knocked out in the first 30 seconds or first minute. That would have been, that would have been way better. That would have been way less painful. And so, you know, I was just like, yeah, this is, this is it. I'm just going to have to suck it up for 25 minutes and just take this ass open. And like people were, you know, obviously in the comment section, I'm just getting roasted left and right about this guy looks like you couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag. And, you know, he looks like it looks like it looks like it looks like.

he's never fought a day in his life, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like, yeah, okay. Like, this video's got a lot of you feeling delusional. But, yeah, I know. It's a, I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to be in there taking that. Yeah. And, you know, I'm like, I'm like, the way I'm, I'm thinking, like, you know, even when I'm standing there like this, I'm not just cowering. I'm literally watching his knees and his feet and his arms because he's, he's just wrecking my body over and over and my face. And, and, You know, throwing these kicks. And I'm trying to like watch where they're coming from.

Yeah. And so that I can like at least like defend a little bit here and there and just try to minimize the damage. You know, because this is going to be a long 25 minutes. That's so long fighting. Being a pinata. And he was turning into those. Your, your left leg there. Oh, yeah.

His right leg kick to your left leg. I mean, he was turning those hips. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he kicks hard. But even with that he had, you know, didn't he have shin pads on? Yeah. Yeah, but still, what's that going to do? I mean, you've seen my legs.

Oh, brutal. But you were checking them. So is that what you're saying? Trying to check. Yeah, some of them I checked. But, yeah, I was just trying to do the best I could and be, you know, defensive. Like I knew I wasn't going to be able to do anything offensively to him. And that was just going to waste my energy.

And then like when, if anybody does any kind of combat sports or anything like that, when you are super fatigued, you're worthless. You know, fatigue makes cowards of us all. I saw you did try, you tried to shoot like once or twice. Yeah, if I could just to, that was trying to just throw a Hail Mary real quick, you know. Because, but at that time, by the time I tried to shoot, I was already, and I wasn't exhausted from exertion. I was, I was just getting beaten, you know. And it's probably hard to push off of your legs. Getting beaten like that is, it's tiring.

Yeah. Well, I can't even imagine, dude. I've never, I've never been through that. So I can't, I know everybody likes, they're the expert, online experts. Yes. You know, we're in this business of that's just how it works. But I was just watching that going, oh, my God, that looks terrible. Terrible.

But I had so much respect. It was. Yeah. And I think even he did too that you lasted. Yeah. I mean, you last, because he wanted to knock you out just so he could say,

see? Well, the last, like the last, um, 10 seconds, you know, he,

uh, he just started rocking me in the face and then like, you know, I'd kind of stood up and he threw like a hard head kick because he wanted to just knock me out at the last second. Yeah. And, um,

you know, and it just, just nailed me on the forehead. head. What was that? And he was like, fucking A man. I know.

He was impressed by, you took that head kick. That's where he gave you the shout out of the greens. Yeah. But what was the worst? I mean, all of it? Or was there one shot?

The teep. The teep that knocked the wind out of me. That was, that was probably the worst thing. I can still like kind of feel like. And the one time that, we were on the ground like i kind of got folded up and my it felt like my intercostal muscles and my ribs kind of like shifted or something like tore a little bit and i was like man this is like

everything that can go wrong is like going wrong right now and but i was just like you know it doesn't doesn't matter he gave you you were kind of yeah you kind of shelled up a little bit one time and he gave you a couple hard shots the body yeah a couple of the body shots um really landed good and you know definitely like oh You know, just verb, you can hear me like verbally wincing. Oh, man. Because he was just looking for, you know, where's the opening, the best opening? The best opening.

And, yeah, at that point, and like, you know, at that point, like, I'm like, all right, well, whether I like it or not, I am kind of representing the SEAL teams in this. And like, there's no fucking way that I could, you know, like, this just hurts too bad. I quit. or I don't want to go another 15 minutes of just getting my ass hammered, you know. But I was like, there's no, there's no, no, no, I would rather die. Yeah. I would rather fucking die than be a pussy.

Well, I mean, I got a lot of respect, you know, because I figured that was going to be your mindset. And, uh, but a lot of people would say that and then change, you know, I've seen, I've been, in those situations a handful of times in my life. where I've, you know, I've been in so much pain that I want to quit, but it's just, I can't. You know, it's just not, not an option. And, yeah, I'd just rather die than be a pussy. That's, don't you have a shirt that said don't be a pussy? I do. So you sent me that shirt like years ago. Yeah. Don't be, I just, I just was thinking about that the other day. Well, you live that motto. I mean, you, you know, you're true to your word. And it's,

I know that was probably terrible. I can't imagine. But man, you made it. And yeah, I don't know. I don't know. What lessons like would you take away from that? Well, it's funny because I was like, you know, thinking about it during. And I was just like, this is kind of what Buds is like, you know, for people out there.

And like, buds is just that want to go to Buds or whatever. Like, Buds is just something that, you know, You don't like beat buds. You just have to endure it. There's no winning buds. You know, you're not going to like, oh, I won the race. Now the instructors like me. Like there's none of that, you know.

It pays to be a winner sure, but you're still, the whole point is to just embrace the suck. Right. You know? And just they want to see who can, who's going to just go until the end. And that's it, you know. And that's like, so I was kind of thinking about that. You know, just getting blasted. I'm like, this is kind of like buds, you know, like metaphorically.

Like when was a, you threw like you did throw a couple punches later, did you? Or was it not really? I think I literally in the very beginning just, you know, it was just a couple. I think you landed like, I don't think so. No. I thought you landed like one or two at right the beginning. I doubt it. I think I just threw a couple like out there.

And again, it was it was more like, you know, he said like, this is going to be a warm-up round. So I'm like, I'm not throwing with like bad intentions at all, you know? And I'm just kind of just going through the motions or whatever. And then when he started hit me, I was like, okay, it's going to be different. Yeah, because like I didn't throw a single kick. I remember, no, I'm sorry. I threw like a little, just a little front teeth, nothing, no, with no kind of power behind it or anything.

Yeah, just kind of range and all that. And, yeah, his was not like that. But I was like it. I didn't, I didn't try to fight. really back at all. I wanted you to just come up out of that hole and just freaking land a big one and just staggering. That's what I wanted.

It was just not the, that was not the mission, you know. But like if we, if we were spar again, which I'm sure we will, you know, like, you know, maybe it's like, hey, let's do one five minute round or something like that, you know, and I'm not worried about, if I get knocked out, I get knocked out. And I'm not like, you know, the SEAL team's honor is not on me on this round. You know what I mean? And we can just fucking, you know, let them fly. It'd be a big difference.

Then that'd be a big difference in the way that sparring match looks. Well, if you could use your hands. For sure. I mean, you're jiu-jitsu. You're using hands. Yeah. And well, in smaller gloves, too, like they're harder to defend yourself. You know, big gloves, like, especially when you're good at boxing, you know, you can use

those to deflect and defend shots. And he's great. Even with his shoulders. Oh, man. Sean's he's his defense is awesome yeah and and because he spars so much he's he's so used to that and he he he reaches out a lot and like you know deflects a lot of your stuff and keeps you at at distance and he rolls his shoulder and he leans back and hides his head and he's he's tall and long so it's like you know hard to actually land on there but um but yeah i mean but still like

you know, I am a, I am a big dude, you know, somewhat big and like, and I can hit hard. So if I do throw overhand right with small gloves, you have to respect it somewhat. Right. Because, you know, anyone could get, get caught, you know, like from a lucky punch or something like that, you know what I mean? And you've had success fighting. Yeah, no. And, yeah. I want people to know that, too.

Like, what, tell me what your fighting experience. Yeah, no. I mean, I've, I've definitely had a lot of fights. And I was a 10-time champion, you know, in multiple weight class at the same time, 170. And the majority of my fights were at 170. But I was also a champion at 185. And, you know, I fought in glory kickboxing as well. And, you know, obviously, like, lower level stuff, nothing like the UFC level.

You know, and there's, and there are levels to everything for sure. But, you know, and I've, I've sparred with a ton of. guys in the UFC prior to Sean Strickland, you know, training at Black House for, for years with a lot of those guys. So, you know, I've definitely, you know, had a lot of fights. I've done a lot of sparring. I've, you know, done a ton of jujitsu. And, you know, I'm no from, I'm no, I'm sorry, I'm not unfamiliar to fighting. Yeah, right. I just want people to know that. Because if they just saw that clip that who knows what they come up with. And that's okay. Like I, I'm very used to the internet. And, uh, you know, I don't, I don't put much stock or care. And a lot of them, like a lot of

the comments are hilarious. Yeah. You know, even the ones that they're roasting me. I'm just like, oh, that was a good one, you know. You got a great attitude about it. Yeah, you can't, you can't let that stuff bother you, you know. I mean, the fact that you went to Vegas and you met him, met up and you were like five, five with, you know, he was a former champion, probably going to be again. He's freaking good. It's not many people would do that. Yeah, for free. And last. No, for free. Yeah. So it's like, you know, it made me, I mean, I wanted to sit down

and talk to you and hear about it. Yeah, I'm super, super, you know, humbled and appreciative of you having me out here. I mean, that's crazy. Oh, it's awesome. I mean, it's a good excuse to be able to meet you and sit down and hear about it. I will say one part that I didn't like is when he, you know, took a shot at Gagons, you know, because I'm, me and Gagons, you know, I can, I can still love Sean. I can still love Gagins. I didn't like, you know, him saying that about Gagins because he's, you know, we're boys, you know. Gagins is the man. Yeah, I love Gagins and I love his mindset.

So I didn't love that part of it. But again, if Sean's going to speak his mind, he can say whatever the fuck he wants, right? Yeah. Yeah. So. And, you know, and I'm always going to speak my mind and speak my truth. I love that you, you said, you know, he said that where a lot of people in that situation with somebody's bigger personality of Sean would, even if they didn't feel

that way, it might go along with it. You know, people take that path of least resistance sometimes and like, you know, how that avoid that confrontation or want to be agreeable. Right. And especially with somebody like Sean. Sean, who is so like in your face, you know? But you were just like, oh, I love Goggins. And it's like, I was like, oh, man, thank God.

That was so nice to hear. And it didn't change Sean's mind probably on anything. I'll tell you this right now. I mark my words. I think Sean Strickland and David Goggins are going to become friends. I think they're going to, you know, and I think it'll be public. I think like Sean will change his tune publicly about David, you know. and I think David also is Sean,

I think they're going to be friends because, you know, after talking to both of them and they're more alike than Sean knows, you know, I think. And they are different for sure. Yeah. But I think their mentalities are similar in ways. And I think once they get in the same room and talk to each other, I think it's going to be a different story. And, you know,

and I'm happy to be a part to facilitate that and bring it together. The sacrificial lamb. I'm the sacrificial lamb. Let's go. Yeah. Well, you know, they've both been through a lot. You know, hard childhoods, been through a lot of shit. Nobody probably believed in them.

And so you get that chip on your shoulder. That's just how it's going to be. But just like, as you said, you get them in the same room. That goes for almost anybody. Yeah. Anybody who you think you probably hate, if you were actually face to face with them, you'd probably be like, ah. You can find common ground.

Yeah. Maybe I was a little bit off on that. So I don't think those guys are any different, but I think to your point, I think they're a lot more alike than they are different because they've had. And I think when you come up like that, you just have this armor over you

and you don't trust people. You don't want to give kudos to anybody. It's like, that's why I've been so thankful of David. He said nice things about me. And I don't know that he likes anybody. So I'm like, well, at least he likes me. Yeah. You know, because he's just, he's just a tough, he's so used to being on his own and being

critiqued for everything he does or going too hard or stay hard or this or that. Or even in the SEALs, you know, like, you know, seals seem like they have, there's that competitive environment and he's just been through a lot. So, I mean, to me, to me, David, one, I mean, he's, he's just kind of become like an icon, you know. I truly feel that he and he true I truly feel that he and yourself like are just uncommon amongst uncommon people and you know the things that he's been able to do and push himself physically and mentally is on a whole other level and not just that he did it once or twice he's continually continually doing it to this day you know that that's the other thing that I

don't think people give him enough credit or respect for. And, you know, I've done some hard things in my life. You know, I've been through Hell Week. I, you know, did a freaking year in Afghanistan with no running water and like, you know, hiking all over the damn mountains and 100 degree weather, whatever, and body armor and carrying a big A-dub machine gun and stuff. Like, I've, I've, I've, I've been through some hard things. You know, I ran the rim to rim to rim, to rim, Grand Canyon. run and one day, you know, with no preparation, just did it. Wow. And, you know, that was like the hardest freaking day of my life.

You know, I retraced the steps of the Spartans. I walked, you know, walk ran from Sparta, Greece to the battlefield of Thermopylae, 240 miles and eight days, you know, back to back to back to back. and that was, you know, real brutal. And those endurance type races or things that, you know, I was doing, I've never had to push myself so hard mentally, you know, and it's like nothing else that I've experienced where it's just you and your thoughts for so long and it sucks. the whole time it's painful the whole time every step you know after a certain point it's like

you're five hours in you still got 20 hours to go or you know it's like it's ridiculous and um so that type of stuff really opened my eyes and like gave me a ton more respect for endurance athletes like runners and you know these ultramarathoners and things like that because before i did those things. I looked at ultramarathoners and stuff like you're just running for a long time. It's kind of, how hard could it be? Yeah, it's just kind of weird, you know? Yeah. But then when you do it, you're just like, oh my God, this is brutal. And it's, I don't know, man, it just gave me a whole another appreciation for for that stuff. And then seeing, you know, guys like you and David doing these 200 plus mile races and, you know, just continually doing them. And, you know, just continually doing them. And,

knowing how fucking bad, I don't care how well trained you are, running 200 miles absolutely sucks. Yeah. You can't tell me that it doesn't suck. No, it's terrible. It's terrible. It sucks. And like your feet get blistered and swell up and every step you take is painful. And it's just enduring that pain for hours and hours and hours and hours willingly.

You're consciously suffering. You're seeking this. You're not shying away from it. And like that's the thing that like makes me respect so much is like you guys understand What you're signing up for and and you continually do it and you don't shy away from that adversity And it just makes you on a whole different level of mentally strong and that's where like You know, I have to give respect because like I would be a liar if I didn't yeah and it's just real you know it's just like It's just, that's just how I feel.

And I'm not going to, you know, just for to be agreeable or whatever, I'm not going to just, I'm not going to say what I don't think, you know, for real. Yeah. I feel how I feel. And, you know, David is on another level when it comes to that. He is. And he's still doing it every day. And it's badass.

And, you know, all he's doing, he's not, he's, he really keeps to himself. And he just comes on Instagram once in a while and just throw some motivation. shit out there and just he just encourages millions of people to push themselves to be better right and like uh i don't know if you've looked around lately but there's a fuckload of people that could could fucking use that we need that you know so the more people that are doing that and encouraging people to push themselves and be better the better yeah so why would i hate on that guy yeah no i well i just want to backtrack and say thank you for I don't feel like I can lump myself in with the David Gagins or you absolutely dude you're you're on another level oh well thank you I mean but it's that you know

you guys being seals or Sean being a fighter um it's got so much respect I've I haven't taken that path yes I do the endurance runs and yes they are hard but it's like I look at David and I look like at you people who have sacrificed for a country and and fought for this country is it's something different. You know, it's, it's, it can't be compared. But I do understand what you're saying about the pushing when, when everything's telling you to quit. And it is hard. And usually you're by yourself on those. Yeah. Because those races are spread out. There's no, nobody helping you. No one's cheering you on either. Yeah. So I get that. It's a, when, when I heard, uh, Sean say that, and I've, I've, I've also heard him say, maybe even recently talking about like seal influencers, right?

And I, you know, there's guys I follow. Like I, you know, a Jimmy Watson who I've heard his story, a Taylor Kavanaugh. Those guys, they're on. So they might be the influencers he's talking about. But I don't know. He really didn't give me any examples. But to those guys, nor do I care. Like I'm not, I don't really hate on anybody doing their thing, you know.

But the way I look at it is different. It's like when you guys were in, you had a certain mindset. It has to be a different mindset. now than when you're in. So I look at it as Sean right now is like you guys in the middle of a deployment. He's right in the middle of what he does. He's the peak of being a fighter. So his mindset would be like when you guys were in the middle of your deployment,

you have a different mindset during that time than you do right now, right? I would think. And these guys like this Jimmy Watson, who he's been through a lot. And now he's like been out and been reflective and grown. And, you know, he's, you know, I believe a Christian. And so he's going to have a. a different mindset than he did when he was working for Blackwater, you know. And, but Sean is like at a different place in life.

Maybe after he retires and he gets a little more reflective, maybe he'll, he'll think differently. But it's just different people. You're different periods in different times. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, like, and I get it with like the seal, the seal teams, like, you know, that's a, that's a pretty big accomplishment, you know, for, for somebody on, on their resume and a lot of times guys will you know they'll do their time in the SEAL teams you know 10 20 years whatever it is and then they get out and it's like now what like what that is your

experience is like what you did in the SEAL teams whatever and a lot of guys that's kind of like their identity almost you know it's and that's it's what they're passionate about it's what they know it's what they want to talk about it's what they are you know, it's the skills set that they have to kind of give back to the world. And, you know, and now just today's, you know, day and age, everybody has a social media or whatever. So when you get out from, and you can, even if you want to be a seal for, you know, the maximum time and you might stand 25, 30 years, something like that, eventually you got to get out. And, you know, if you go in young like I did, I went in right out of high school. So even if I did 20 years and got out, I'd be.

38 years old. Yeah. You got a whole life to live ahead of you. You're just not going to talk about anything you've done your entire adult life. Well, and the lessons you learned. I mean, you became a leader. You can help. It's a very valuable like skill set and stuff.

And many different, like said, areas where you can add value. And it's not, it's not, it's not. And that doesn't mean that you have to, guys in the teams get really pissed off about dudes writing books and stuff like that. and they call it like pimping the trident. And I understand that. And, you know, there's, there's, you can definitely be more than just that. You know what I mean?

There's a lot of valuable. Well, team building. I mean, yeah, for sure, leadership. What business or what part of society doesn't need strong leaders, the leadership skills you learn, strong team building skills. That's what you learned in the teams. It's like working together. But you don't need to be out there just beating your chest talking about war stories,

you know, how cool you were. Uncle Rico stuff, you know. Throw the football over that mountain. Yeah. No, I, but yeah, it's like, yeah, I think it's like all the lessons you learn as you guys serve our country. Yeah, let's help society with, you're not talking the war stories all the time, but man, you can help them in other ways, you know, and it's like to me that's, that's part of

you sacrificed, you learned, you grew, take advantage of it, you know. What else are you supposed to do? What else are you supposed to do? Yeah. Just go work at Walmart. Yeah. And pretend like this isn't what you did. You didn't learn all that stuff?

Yeah. Yeah. So it's a, I, you know, I follow a lot of these guys and I have so much respect for everybody. I hate the, I hate seeing the infighting because I know how it is, you know, with men. It's like, you know, hunting's different, obviously, but it's still a lot of like strong, capable. And we have egos. So there's a lot of shit talking and hunting. too. So it's, I just hate seeing that. I hate seeing it on what I do and I hate seeing it for you guys.

It's in everything, unfortunately. I mean, there's just like politics, like internal politics in every industry or any kind of field, I think, because you just can't get away from it as much as you try to avoid it. Because, yeah, that stuff is just toxic and, and annoying. Yeah. You know, and I just, I like, I want, it would be cool if everybody just got along, you know, And just like, hey, be happy for your success doesn't diminish mine. Exactly. You know, and that's a really big thing that that I wish team guys were kind of better about and supported each other, you know, and had that brotherhood.

Yeah. More of a real brotherhood. And there's kind of like one when you're in and one when you're out. You know, guys that when they're in, they're kind of, you know, this is their world. This is their whole lives. it's it's a lifestyle it's not just a job you know and um they're kind of just in that thing and then once they get out then they realize that that thing just keeps going and doesn't care about them or whatever yeah and then it's like there's a bunch of us that got off that bus a long time ago yeah and that

you've probably been talking shit about and uh you know we're here to welcome me with open arms and hey let's get you set up with the rest you know this is the real world now and you got to live your the rest of your life, not being a seal. And, you know, and that's fine. And it's just, that was a chapter. That's cool. It was, it was awesome. But hey, let's, let's do something else now. Let's, let's build you a business. Let's support each other. Let's, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's, you know, my son, he wasn't a seal, but he's a ranger. And so he, you know, just like, here's an example. He, you know, put in for the job, a job on the construction crew where I was, I was superintendent. And one of the questions was tell us about when you were faced with a challenging time at work.

And so he was just like kind of laughing to himself because when you're deployed, there's some challenging time. It's not really like the typical job interview. Like most people's job would be like a challenging time would be, I don't know what, they had to work, you know, over time or they're a pipe broke because it's like if it's a water utility, a water pipe broke. your guys is challenging time on deployment a little bit different, right? So that's valuable. But the point is that that's valuable to a workplace. You guys have been through so much and you're so prepared that a regular challenge in

general society is nothing. You know, you were forged in the fire. You're ready. Yeah. You don't look at that and be like, what do we got to do? You know, people are going to see that and be like, they have confidence because you have confidence because you've been through a lot. So yeah, let's celebrate that.

Yeah. And to, you know, just to any of the seals that are still active duty and in the teams or whatever and are thinking about maybe getting out or what would I do if I got out or whatever. You could literally do anything. Yeah. I mean, that was probably the most eye-opening thing to me when I got out and kind of became a part of the civilian world was just the quality. of like I guess or the acceptable standard in most fields or jobs anything is just so unbelievably low and I just found it like I'm like shocked that anything gets done and just because the standard excellence is the only acceptable standard in the SEAL teams

And I mean, you are held to that all the time. And, you know, from the inception, from, you know, all the way through buds on. And like, I mean, even we had guys that were, you know, had been seals for 15 years. And, you know, they fucked up one too many times in a month. And now they get in their trident pulled and having to pay back their bonus and all that shit. I mean, it's, you know, earn your trident every day kind of thing. Like the standards are always there. And you have to just, there is, that's it.

You have to adhere to the standard. So to your point is like if you're prepared and you're, you've lived up to that for years, you can go to any regular job and be like, you're going to, you're going to excel. Right. Because I do see that, you know, even my son getting out and the guys that got out at the same time, they're like, God, now what? Anything. Freaking anything.

Throw a dart. Yeah. Just pick a job. Whatever a regular. Anything you're interested in. You will, they will, they will, uh, um, excel. Yeah. You know, because that's just what they're prepared for.

And they're, they're used to, um, you know, uh, they're used to discipline. They're used to structure. They're used to following orders. Showing up on time. Being on time, being accountable, you know, especially in the SEAL teams, you, you, you are, you have to be accountable, you know? And it's, and it's not just like, if, if you mess up in the SEAL teams, it's, it's not like, oh, hey, I messed up and, oh, we'll talk about it. No, it's like publicly shamed.

You know, everybody's going to give you shit about it so that you learn a hard lesson, and you never want to make that mistake again, you know. So you just hold yourself to a higher standard. So to any team guys out there, if you're wondering or kind of hesitant or scared, like, what am I going to do when I get out? I don't know. Blah, blah, blah. Just trust me you're going to be fine and you're going to crush whatever it is that you set out to do yeah that's a good point um how long were you in 10 years 10 years is that why you live in virginia stales that were you i'm actually from virginia beach oh yeah okay yeah my my mom and dad were both um in the navy oh and they had me and i was so i was born at portsmouth naval hospital oh yeah and uh

so i lived there for the first 11 years of my life and then And then my parents were divorced at that time. Then I moved with my dad in Maryland. And then I lived there for five years. And then my mom had remarried to my stepdad who was also in the Navy. But he was from Ohio. And he got out. They moved to Ohio.

So I moved there my 10th grade year of high school to Ohio. And then I joined the Navy out of Ohio. And then I got stationed at SEAL Team 10. back in Virginia Beach. Oh, man. Full circle. Yeah. So then I just, you know, I got out in January of 2018 and I've just, I've been there ever

since just because I, my business is there. You know, my Jiu-Jitsu Academy, Violent Hippie Academy is there, massive supplements, headquarters is there. And then, you know, I've got my properties in Virginia. Gotcha. Well, I mean, I hate that you took a step backwards with that Instagram thing. that sucks, but it sounds like you're, you're balling out now or building that backup. Definitely not balling out now.

Well, but you're building a backup. How about that? Yeah, I'm definitely, I've been on, you know, my grind. I'm, you know, it's kind of, that was kind of similar to the Sean Strickland beat down, you know. That was Instagram deleting me four times, you know, but, hey, I didn't hear no bell. Yeah. And so I'm on my fifth account. and I've been less controversial, you know.

Yeah. And luckily now it's this all kind of widely accepted. And it's not, it's very safe to talk about now. But I'm like, hey, I've said my piece. You know, I've done everything there's to do. You served your sentence. Yeah. Like you guys, you can have it for me.

You know where I stand. Yeah, exactly. So right now I can't afford to say anything. I need to just. focus on, you know, rebuilding my business and, uh, and getting my head above water again. Did the Sean Strickland thing give you a boost? Yeah, I gained like 15,000 followers from it. And yes, I was, I was hopeful that that would, would happen, you know, I figured it would get a lot of attention and, um, you know, there's probably less painful ways to market yourself, but, uh,

probably not as effective, though. Yeah, definitely not. But, um, but, but hey, if I, you know, I got to take a little ass whooping to, to help, hey, hey, remember me. Like, that's what, that's what happened with, uh, with you, you know. It did. It's like, you're like, oh, I remember that guy. I know, I know.

And then you're like, oh, shit. I thought I was following you. And I'm like, now you haven't been following me since, you know. Well, I just know a lot of people in my circle, like, they watched that little sparring. Because it was, it was everywhere. Oh, for sure. And I was super viral. I was even at church yesterday and the pastor.

I said, hey, did you ever see that Sean Strickland that Navy Sea? He was like, oh, yeah, I watched that. I said, oh, Mitch is who he is sparring with. He's coming on the show. So it's like even the pastor of the church saw it. Hopefully he prayed for me. Yeah. He used to be a fighter himself.

He fought in Bellator. Very cool. So he's like tied into it. But yeah, I mean, I, it's, I don't know. I hope you get, I hope you get the respect you deserve. and I love the message. And not just for that one act. That's just a vehicle or, you know, Chandler, when he was on the podcast, he said

fighting is his shiny object. And the shiny object just brings to light his mission, you know. And it's not, that wasn't the thing. The sparring wasn't the thing. It was like, you're doing all this other good work. And this is a way for people to see it. Yeah. You know, and, you know, you talked about helping the cops out with the BJJ.

You talked about, you know, all you're doing to. You got employees, all the positive things you're working on, helping the military people, you know, trying to get reestablished when they get out. It's like all that we're talking about that because of the sparring. Yeah. You know what I mean? So yeah, it probably did suck. But look at all this positive that's going to come from it. Well, and I looked at it as a way to, you know, like I felt like I was kind of in a unique position to where, you know, nobody is actually going to get in the ring with him.

But I will. And I understand what I'm about to endure. I understand that this is going to suck. I know it's going to be an asswhip, whatever. But, hey, I've taken an ass weapon before. It's fine. It'll be all right. Pain is temporary.

Yeah. And, but I figured this would be a good way also to kind of bring this, you know, because it became like, you know, MMA and Sean Strickland fans or Navy SEAL fans or whatever and like this divide. Yeah. And negative, you know, like the message just got. so, you know, wrongfully interpreted. It was like, and toxic.

Yeah. I mean, I hate the word because people throw it around male toxic, whatever the fuck. But I hate the word, but it was. Yeah. And I figured, like, no, you know, this could be a cool way to kind of bring it together, like, in a positive way where, you know, I'm, like, you see right after, after he gets done beat my ass, like, I'm not sitting there sulking or being all pissy or, you know, whatever. I'm just like, yeah, that sucked. whatever. And like, we're good now, you know, like, and it's like a positive thing now. And now, Sean is, you know, he was like, man, I want you to, to put me through a bud style, like a seal

workout. And I want you to try to make me quit. Really? Yeah. He said that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We went to the UFC PI afterwards after we spired so that I could sit in the cold punch. Yeah, that probably did help that recovery there. Dude, I spent two hours. going back and forth from the cold plunge to the hot tub. And Sean, he just stood there and talked to me because he was like, dude, I'm a pussy when it comes to cold water.

He's like, I'm not getting in that shit. Well, so what do you have in mind? Because it's hard to. Oh, I know exactly. You do?

Oh, because as a seal, though, like what you, it's hard to simulate the no sleep, no food. Yeah, no, no.

We're not going to do like a hell week or anything like that. Okay. Which Sean said, like he said, he mentioned something about like, you know, put me through like an 18 hours thing. I don't think we need to do that. You know, I think we can get the message across with a two-hour workout. You know, because and the, the bud style beat downs, you know, on the beach, they're more about team building. Or they work really well with team, which is cool because I'm like, we can get your teammates involved too. And I'm sure some of them want to experience what it was.

be like to go through that stuff. And it would be good for team building because that's what it's about. You know, but that's, those, you do things like caterpillar pushups, you know what I mean, where the guy's feet are on, on the guy behind them shoulders.

Yeah. You know, and you do relay races or buddy carries or, you know, one of my favorites is like the bear crawls where one person's laying on their back in the sand and they reached up and they're hanging on their neck. and you're dragging like that.

And it's very, and again, it's going to be similar to how Sean and I's sparring went, how, you know, Sean, like, he was like beating me down, but he wasn't knocking me out because he wanted me to just suffer for the longest time, which is exactly like this Bud's Burkut's going to be. Because, like, you can tell someone, hey, give me 50 pushups. Give me 50 push ups. Give me 50 push. At some point, you're going to hit.

Can't do it. Failure. And it's like, okay, well, now what do I do? So, and that's not beneficial in any way. So instead, you, all right, now switch to squats. You know, you know, so you just, you push people to the edge and then don't let them fall over. You don't knock them out. Yeah. You just bring them back and do something different or whatever. So, but you can make it really shitty and, you know, being cold and wet and sandy and, you know, all that. stuff pushing yourself to that exhaustion it's going to suck you know for sure it's it's it's like nothing else and and but but again i think it's going to be a great look for sean you know to like and a cool ending to all this and now have david guggins you know who said he would love to be a part of that you know and then just kind of bringing those worlds together and it's like

you're experiencing, you know, I went and saw and experienced your world and in like your realm and that fucking sucks. And it shows like one, how badass you are in that space and how rough and tough it is to be, you know, on the receiving end or going through something like that. And then vice versa. You know, in the, in this world, how, you know, badass and it is, you have to be to endure it and go through it and how much it sucks, you know, and the respect will be there mutually. Right. And yeah, so I think it's going to be awesome, you know. Yeah. No, I'm pumped to, you know, because I saw the clips like everybody and I remember Goggins, he had to put put up a clip and says, hey, Sean Strickland, I haven't forgotten about you. So the storyline is there. Yeah. You know,

the storyline's built. Oh, for sure. So people want to see the conclusion to it. Yeah. And that's what, and it could be a positive message, you know, to your point. The reason why you're involved in all this is somehow turn this positive. We needed a sacrificial limb. Yeah. And thankfully, it was you and not me, but yeah. So, I mean, the story's built and I think everybody could learn from it, you know, I mean, to learn, learn that, yeah, it's okay to come from different places and maybe not see eye to eye, but then sit across the table or shared suffering. Shared suffering always brings brotherhood. Yeah.

And it's like they're two different worlds, you know? And then that's, again, Sean's message, I think, totally got misconstrued and everything. And because Sean is a patriot and he absolutely respects the troops and, you know, respects people that have served and all that stuff. He absolutely does. I've heard him say it from his mouth, you know. So it's, they're two different, two totally different worlds, two totally different levels, two totally different levels of badassery and like, you know,

yeah, applications. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're both, they're both complete badasses. Sean talked about coming up here and doing my thing too. So, I mean. The run the shoot?

Yeah, yeah. So it's like he's, yeah, I have always been a fan of his and I don't put too much stock into, you know, if people say stuff that I don't 100% agree with, what am I going to do? Just, I'm not going to hate somebody. I just say, I don't agree with that.

That's just part of being a human. We're not going to all agree on everything. But I'm glad that I didn't like that it was about somebody who I love like David. So I'm glad that we're getting to maybe, I don't know, inflection point there. Yeah. Yeah. But it's, so what are we going to do now? We got the rest of the day and tomorrow, right?

Whatever you want to do. Mm-hmm. Well, if I got these stupid stem cells, so I don't know if I can, lift but we're going to get out and get on the mound and then i'm going to get we're going to have you shot a bow before uh so i have shot like a um i've shot in a compound bow like my it was a really shitty probably like a walmart one no we're going to fix that yeah and then um i've shot like a uh i have a what are they called um it's like not a it's not a it's not a recerve but it's like a traditional bow. Well, there's a long bow or a recurve. It doesn't have any. There's no wheels or gears.

It's just like a wood and a string. Yeah, that's just like a, I mean, that's a long bow. Or if it has recurve limbs, that's a recurve. But like, recurves are just wood too sometimes. Okay. I think it's a recurve then. Okay. But it was, it's not a very expensive bow. I just got it just to shoot for fun once in a while. We're going to get you set up, but we can have to earn it first. All right. You're good with that? That leg okay? Yeah, my leg is, it's a giant Bruce. I know, I saw that. Well, we're going to, this might give you some ideas about putting Sean through a test. Maybe we'll do something that you'll be like, hey, maybe he should

try this out. What, yeah, like, so what do you do? Because not all your guests are like runners and stuff. Or like, what is that path that you do up to the mountain and then jump up on top of that? What is that? Like, Mount Piscay. And how long of a run is that? That's only, if you take the shortest route, it's a mile and a half. Okay. And it's a thousand foot. Sounds good. Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, we're going to get that in. And today, I love the heat. Okay. And so today's a perfect day for that. So I think we're going to go knock that out. But, yeah, then. I regularly do, like, 30 minutes in the sauna with no water. Do you?

Oh, yeah. Like, so that was one of the things I kind of play, I call it the sauna game. and it's one of the things I do for like, you know, kind of just like daily mental toughness training, you know, where I would like go to the gym, workout and then like in a public gym and there was like this co-ed sauna, big co-ed sauna and I'd do my workout and then at the end of the workout I would sit in the sauna for 30 minutes with no water and then, you know, I would just play this game to myself. I wouldn't tell anybody that I was doing it. But just at 30 minutes, then whoever was still in the sauna with me,

then that would be like, these are now the contestants, you know, or my challenges. Yeah. And anyone who walks in the sauna after 30 minutes, they don't count. It's whoever's in there. Right.

And then I just have to sit there and just... Until they leave? Until they, until every one of them leaves. Oh. And they didn't know they were doing it. They don't know that they're playing. Yeah. It's only me.

So it could be like how long for, it could be a minute or two. Yeah. could be 45 minutes. But I'll sit there with no water and just sit there and. Perfect. Yeah, because you don't know, you know, that's the hard part of it. It's like, you don't know how long you're going to do it.

And if you're already fucking Jones and to get out of there, it kind of sucks. Yeah, because people have that in that when you see the finish line, the time is a finish line. And when you see that and you know, oh, I can make it there. But when there is no finish line, that's when it gets time. That's the mental side of it. And, you know, what's funny is there was this old man one time, right? I was in there. And I look around, there's probably three or four people in there.

I'm like, okay, it's not too bad. And you're looking around like, he's probably not going to stay in long. He's probably not going to stay in long. Whatever. Fuck, that guy's got a water jug. He's probably going to be in here a while, whatever. So anyway, this older man, I mean, this dude looked like Santa Claus almost. like heavy heavy set dude yeah in like sweat pants sweats shirt full on you know over there

and I'm like all right he'll he'll be easy work he'll be out of here now I'm sitting there 10 minutes 15 20 30 40 what yeah 45 minutes 50 50 minutes 50 minutes and this dude finally gets and and I get and I get I can't tell him yeah and then I'm playing this right but he's by far the last person and I'm just like, get the fuck out of here, dude. What are you doing? Yeah. And I'm thinking, you're only going to be in here five minutes. Yeah. And he finally goes out of the sun and I just sprint out after him. And I'm like, damn. I was like, man, I was playing this game. Yeah. And I tell him about it. And he was like, oh, man, I come in here like every day and sit here for an hour. He was aquamated to him. Yeah. He was, that was like his thing, you know? Whoa. Yeah, you picked the

wrong day to do it. Man, totally judged book by its cover. Yeah, yeah, that happens. And, and then after that, you know, we started talking and stuff like that. And he's a super nice guy. His name's George. And I ended up giving him, you know, some of my smashing greens to help him lose weight and stuff like that. Perfect. And I would see him in the sauna and everything. But, you know, I'd be like, oh, it's going to be a long day. But he knew that I was playing that game now. But he, luckily, he never, like, tried to push it. Push me or test me. But he would just, hey, I'm in here for my time. And, you know, so it is what it is. That's a good test for sure. That sauna. Sana and cold, it gets you.

Yeah. We get so used to being comfortable, you know, as being humans nowadays. Man, I do better in the sauna than the cold plunge. You know, obviously, I can only stay in the cold plunge. I think the max I've done in the cold plunge was seven minutes at a long time. At 39 degrees on the reader, but usually the water's a little bit colder than the reader says. Yeah, ours has the water moves. Yeah, I've got an actual cold.

plunge. Yeah, it's brutal. It's crazy. Like, if they had those in buds, there'd be way less sales. And have you noticed that, like, girls do way better? Girls are tougher, dude. They're so much tougher. I've said this about ultra running, like Courtney DeWalter, who I said girls. Their pain tolerance. They're just tougher. I think, and I think it's from, for child bearing. Yeah. I agree. I think they're genetically, their disposition is, hey, they're going to have to get this kid out. It's going to be terrible. And they're just tougher than we are. If you're just measuring pain tolerance, they got us. Yeah, for sure. I 100% agree with that. Every girl, like I've seen do the cold plunge, they handle it so much better. My wife's better than me.

Most dudes, when I see him go in that cold plunge for the first time, panic. Yeah, I know. You should have seen Truitt the first time. Yeah. He was like going to hyperventilate. I was like, settled down. Just freaking chill out. He's like, who, that takes your breath. the way. It's tough. Man, I've been, so I've been, I've been forcing myself to do it, you know, anytime I'm home, I'm just like, I got to do it. Yeah. I got to do it because I know it, it sucks. And but I know it's, I know there's benefits and I know just the mental toughness is, you know, benefit is, is what I'm after, you know, and it's crazy. Nothing, that thing has, has, has me shook more than anything. Like, I wake up in the morning, I'm like, I got to do the cold

plunge, I'll just like, dread it. That's like, Rogan is the first thing he does. Well, mine's at massive headquarters. So, mine's not at my house. So when I wake up, I'm like, oh, man, I'm going to have to do a cold plunge at some point. And then I go to, like, get to work. And I'm like, all right, I just want to get it over with.

And but then I kind of like, we'll be like, well, I kind of make, I got to make this phone call first, you know? And I kind of like, tiptoe around it. And then I'm like, oh, and I just go and do it. And I'm just like, oh. And I dunk my head and I sit in there and I do my three three to five minutes. I've been doing five minutes lately. And but I do my five minutes.

And then like while I'm in like at the last minute, I get out and like, oh, okay, that wasn't so bad. And then I'm like, fuck, I'm going to have to do that tomorrow. Already thinking about it. Yeah, I'm already thinking about it. Like, damn, when is this thing going to get easier? You know, it just doesn't. No. That cold plunge sucks.

The sauna, though, I can sit in that shit all the time. Me too. That's relaxing. I kind of like it. Yeah, it's relaxing. I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like sweating because it feels like you're doing something. Right. You know what I mean?

You don't sweat in that fucking cold pond. Now you just fucking, just hyperventilate and miserable. And shake and try to breathe. I know you got a lot of supporters out there. Is it Ray Cash? What's his name? Ray, Ray Cash Care. Yeah, cash care.

That's it. Yeah, he sent me a message. Oh, did he? Yeah, he said, you know, got a great guy coming on with you. Oh, cool. Ray's awesome. I love Ray. He's a, he's a genuine good person.

person. And, you know, we've known each other for years now. We didn't serve together, but we've, we've been friends, you know, since I got out. And we've collaborated on a few things and stuff like that. We do, we do like, I started doing a thousand pushups an hour on live stream. I'd go live and just do like 17 pushups every minute on the minute. And then he, and that he kind of started doing that and then he took it to like 22 pushups every minute on the minute. So it's like 1,320 pushups or something. And yeah, we're going to start doing those again together. And yeah, like we want to we want to get to get, you know, start doing some like retreats for like, you know, men's retreats or something like mental toughness, just kind of whatever together.

I just need it. But yeah, now he's a good dude and he's always pushing positive stuff. Love it. Stuff. Yeah. Anybody who's out there, you know, helping people do better, push themselves, like, you have my support, you know. Yeah, me too. I mean, we need it. We need tough men for sure, tough leaders.

But, yeah, well, Mitch, I'm so thankful you came all the way out here. And I'm thankful you tried my smashing greeds. Yeah, yeah. That was awesome. They're good, brother. We're going to have a great couple days. Yeah, I appreciate you. I'm sorry you had to go through what you had to go through, but you're here now.

So, you know, hopefully it all works out for the best. Yeah, no. I'm thankful. Yeah, I'm super thankful for you having me on the show. Really, really, really appreciate it. I've been a huge fan of yours and supporter for years. Yeah, thank you. And, yeah, I'm looking forward to running this mountain with you and, you know,

earning some bow shots. All right, let's make it happen. All right. Keep hammering, guys.