Coffeez with Joe Shalaby - How Ed Soares Built the Pipeline to the UFC | Coffeez

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

In this episode of Coffeez for Closers, Joe sits down with Ed Soares, President of Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) and one of the most respected figures in mixed martial arts.Ed has spent decades inside the fight game, from managing some of the biggest names in MMA to helping build the next generation of world-class fighters through LFA.Known for his work with legends like Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and José Aldo, Ed has played a major role in shaping the careers of athletes who changed the sport forever.This conversation goes beyond the cage. Joe and Ed talk about loyalty, fighter development, the business side of MMA, what separates real champions from talented fighters, and how LFA continues to serve as one of the strongest pipelines to the UFC.If you love combat sports, entrepreneurship, leadership, or the mindset behind elite performers, this episode gives you a rare look at the people building the future of MMA.Hosted by Joseph ShalabyCoffeez for Closers PodcastAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The LFA is the number one developmental organization in the world. That's like, that's not even me saying it. That's a fact. It's a fact. I mean, Google it. You know what I mean? You could Google it. You could ask chat GPT.

You can ask Gemini. They'll tell you we're the number one developmental organization. Welcome to another episode of coffees. Today you guys are in for a very special guest. I'm sitting down with the founder and CEO of Legacy Fighting Alliance, an ally of the UFC and a breeding ground for 27% of all of the current UFC champions. They are breeding the best of the best of the best. And their fight teams are incredible.

Please welcome the founder and CEO of Legacy Fighting Alliance. Ed Soros. Thanks, Ed, for jumping on the show. Oh, man, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Coming in hot from Redondo Beach. I appreciate you coming in. It's an absolute pleasure.

pleasure. I myself, I'm a big fighting fan, fan of yours, fan of what you're doing, and a fan of what you're doing to really elevate the fight game, so, you know, God bless. I like to start every show off the same way I start with all my guests, and what's your morning routine in?

You know, I wake up, it depends on the day. I don't have like a set routine every day. I just wake up, grab a coffee at the downstairs and then I kind of see what I have to do for the day.

So I don't really have a set routine. If I have time and there's waves, I'll go surf. If not, I'll just go right to the office. Nice. Okay, nothing crazy like these fighters that you're breeding. No, nothing like that. Nice. So I'm going to jump right into it. What was your journey like when you started in the MAA game?

What was the vision to start LFA? How did that start? What year did it start? what was the concept that you had that really made it different than, you know, what existed at the time, which is the old school UFC? Well, the reality of it is, you know, I started back working in the business back in 2004. When I got into the business, I got into the business producing a TV show called Passing the Guard. It was a program. It was a TV show, like a magazine show from Brazil. That was, it was called Pasamaguada in Brazil, which translates to passing the guard.

And we started broadcasting that in 2004. And then eventually it led into me, my partner and I starting our management company, which is called Tough Media. And then we managed athletes. So we were bringing, our niche was kind of we were bringing athletes from Brazil. I'm Brazilian. I was born and raised here in California. but my mom and dad are Brazilian, and so I spoke fluent Portuguese,

and my business partner is from Brazil. I actually met him when I was like 15 years old. He actually was my next-door neighbor in Redondo, and that's when we first met, and he's a legend in the sport. His name is George Gimanuj, and everyone knows him as Ziong is kind of his nickname. But, you know, he's just been a legend, and he's been a, a, pioneer in the sport. As a matter of fact, when Horian Gracie moved here from Brazil in the late 70s, George came with them to spread the word of jujitsu. Wow. I mean, you guys have been

pioneering, you know, BJJ since its onset here in the U.S. You know, I asked you about the Gracie family. You've known them since they were children. And you're in the, you guys never moved. You're all in the same area of the South Bay. Yeah, yeah. I'm, you know, really, you know, I've known Horian. And I, I, I I actually became really good friends with Hoyce. And that's, you know, he actually got me into training jujitsu was hoist. And he's the founder of UFC. No, Horian is the founder of UFC. But Hoyne was the, was the Gracie who, you know, Horian put in there to prove the efficiency of, of Jiu-Jitsu.

You know, the UFC was never started to become a sport. Horian created the UFC to prove to the world that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is the most efficient martial art in the world. And he proved that, you know, and, you know, there was other guys that, in theory, oh, you know, Hickson was better this, but they wanted to use hoist because he was the best example of how you didn't have to have size or muscle or anything like that to make jujitsu work. It was all technique. And, you know, hoist was six foot, six foot one, 170 pounds. And he created the ultimate fighting championship to, to show the efficiency

of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. And obviously he proved that. And then, you know, the sport kind of, or then, and then the UFC kind of took on a life of its own and developed to what we see today. It's amazing, you know, just to prove the power of, leverage. The power of leverage is so immense when you go up against a monster and a little guy like Hoyce or our Huron or, you know, all the Gracie family who went into the UFC and just mollywopped everybody at small sizes, people were bewildered by the power of leverage. Yeah, I mean, jiu-jitsu was unknown. You know, people didn't understand it. And like I said, You know, Hory improved his point that, you know,

nowadays, you cannot fight mixed martial arts without knowing jiu-jitsu. If you don't know jiu-jitsu, you're going to get beat. There's, I mean, they had wrestlers, they had grapplers, but nobody, BJJ just was the supreme. But when I asked people like Brazilian jiu-jitsu versus Japanese jiu-sikis, because Brazil got jiu-jitsu from Japan. Right. then they just improved upon it or added more technique to it.

They modified it more for real live combat versus more of the martial art of it. I mean, obviously it is a martial art, but, you know, the Gracie's, you know, Helio, Horian's father was the one who really modified it because he was such a smaller guy. He had to prove that you didn't have to have size and bulk to be. be efficient. Yeah, he was a tiny guy. He was. He's still alive. He's like 90, right? No, no. He's passed away. I don't know, maybe 10, 15 years ago. I don't recall the actual date. Yeah. Yeah. The Gracie family is amazing. It's how they keep jiu-jitsu at every age and how they train their kids at birth, just like very small moves. Yeah. It is, it is incredible. I mean, they, you know, they,

like I said, you know, the USC wouldn't be here today. without Horny and Gracie. Now, we fast forward. So when did Legacy start? Well, the way it started was I was a president of the RFA, which stood for Resurrection Fighting Alliance. And then there was Legacy Fighting Championship based out of Texas, which was owned by a guy named Mick Maynard.

Mick Maynard and his wife owned Andrea, owned Legacy Fighting Championship. we were both on Access TV at the time. So we approximately did about, I don't know, 14 shows a year. Legacy did about 14 to 15 shows a year. And basically the reason we formed the LFA was because we were always constantly trying to, you know, negotiate as we would do in business to better our deal with Access TV. and what happened was is every time Mick would go to Access TV and try to negotiate to get a better deal,

they would turn around and say, well, hey, if you don't like it, I could always give more dates to the RFA. And every time we would go negotiate with them, they would say, hey, if you guys don't like it, I could give more dates to legacy. And what ended up happening is one time, you know, I just sat down with Mick.

And we actually, before we sat down, In 2015, Access TV, a lot of people would say, hey, the RFA is better than legacy. Some people would say, legacy is better than the RFA. So I'm a competitive person. So I said, well, then let's see who's better. And what we did is we were the first ones in the United States and North America to do an event that was RFA versus legacy. And what we did is we did three fights that night that were. our guys that fought for RFA versus their guys that fought in Legacy.

And then we did one title fight of the RFA, one title fight for Legacy. And then the final fight of the night was our champion versus their champion in the flyweight division. And we created a title called the Access TV title. There was only one event that had it. There was only one person that won the title. and we did that event in, I believe it was May of 2015. We went in the first three fights, RFA won two of them, Legacy 1-1, and then they had their title fights, and then the final fight was a guy by the name of

Alexander Pantosia who fought for the RFA, and he fought a guy named Damacio Page, who was Legacy's champion. It was an incredible fight. You know, the first round, I believe Demosio won that round. And then the second round, they got back on the ground. And, you know, they were, you know, they were grappling, you know, they were there. And then right at like 15 seconds left into the round, you know, Damasio was in Pantosia's guard.

And Pantosia threw on a triangle. And then, you know, the 10 seconds, clack, clack. you know, hit, and he kept doing it. And then the bell rang, and as soon as the bell rang, they separated them. And when they separated him, DeMacio Page was passed out on top of them. And Pantosia won the fight. And, you know, Alexander Pantosia went on, and he was a UFC champion. He actually just lost his title because he dislocated his arm 26 seconds into the fight.

So they called the fight. But he was on his, I believe he had four title defeat. defenses before he lost the fight. But I don't consider it a loss because he dislocated his arm because he fell wrong. So yes, on his record, it's a loss. But he'll be back to get his title back here probably by the middle of the year. That's awesome. That's awesome. So what came of that, yes, the RFA won three fights to one. But what the most, that was almost irrelevant at the time. I mean, yeah, it was nice, you know, who doesn't like to win. But the greatest thing we got is that we got along great.

Mick and our team and their team got along great. And, you know, once again, creating leverage. So, you know, I was talking to Mick and I said, hey, you know, between you and between the LFA and RFA, we are creating 80% of the content that Access TV has on their Friday night. fights. And I said, the best way for us to create leverage for us to get what we want is for us to merge. Because if we merge, there's no one else out there that can do 30 shows a year. And that's the way that we could switch the table on them. And then basically in the middle of, towards the end of 2016, we announced our merger. And right about two weeks before we announced the merger,

the UFC asked Mick to become the matchmaker for the UFC. So Mick ended up taking the job at the UFC. We merged the companies and we were partners the first year. So 2017, when the LFA was started, it was started January 13, 2017. We were partners. And then in the beginning of 2018, we ended up buying Mick out. And then, and the LFA is what it is today.

So the LFA started in 2017, and, you know, we just did our 226 show a couple weeks ago. Actually, no. Yeah, last week, last Friday. Wow. So, so you guys did a merger with another, so you guys almost, other than UFC and then LFA, who else is a competitor in the, is King of the K's not around? anymore? Well, I mean, we are, the LFA is the number one developmental organization in the world. That's like, that's not even me saying it. It's a fact. It's not, it's a fact. I mean,

Google it. You know what I mean? You could Google it. You could ask chat GPT. You can ask Gemini. They'll tell you we're the number one developmental organization. So the UFC is what they are. And me coming from the management side, the reason why I've always wanted to create a developmental organization, which started in 2012 with the RFA, was that I realized that these athletes were fighting in a high school gymnasium in front of 500 people, and then they'd get the opportunity to fight in the UFC. And next thing you know, they're walking out at Staples Center with 17,000 people, and they were a little bit shell-shocked. So I wanted to create an environment so that these guys were a little bit, got used to, you know, having cameras and lights in their face,

so they weren't so overwhelmed when they stepped into the Octagon for the first time. So that's why we created a developmental organization. And, you know, at first a lot of people looked at me like I was crazy, saying I can remember people telling me, so you're telling me you're going to create, build up this talent, and then just give them to the UFC. And I said, yeah, and they'd kind of roll around and go, yeah, we'll see how that works. And, you know, I kind of had a vision.

that I knew it was going to work. And it did. And, you know, I'm so grateful for the team that we have around us because obviously, yes, I'm the CEO. And a lot of times I get the credit for creating this. But, you know, I wouldn't have been able to do it without the team of people that I have around me. Why not, like, make it a competitor like Pride did? Like, you're right there.

You already have the best fighters in the world. Is it a matter of like they need to make a lot? more money or like what is holding? I'm just not interested in that. I like developing talent. I like getting talent at a young age and developing them to make them flourish. And the UFC is kind of like the NFL. You know what I mean?

Like there to me the UFC is like the NFL. It is. There is no competitor now. So like they say, oh, PFL, well, the PFL is like the Canadian Football League. And what we are, we're like the NCAA Division 1 of our, of our sport. So to me, you know, I don't know too many athletes or too many football players that grow up wanting to play football and say, man, one day I want to be a big star in the Canadian Football League. No, they want to be a big star in the NFL the same way that these fighters want to be a big star in the UFC. So the way I look at it is I knew we had a niche.

I knew we had something that was good, that we developed the talent. And like I said, you know, currently approximately about 40% of the current UFC roster are LFA alumni. Currently, 27%. If Pantosia would have not hurt his arm and lost that fight, we'd be at 36% of the current UFC champions would be LFA alumni. Because he lost that fight, we're at 27% of the current UFC champions are LFA alumni. Those are just remarkable statistics. How in the world are you getting that sort of conversion out of your developmental organization?

Because that's just unreal to have that many champions come out of LFA. It's almost like they should all start in LFA. Well, I mean, like I said, we're the number one developmental organization. And the reason why I feel that our athletes do so well is that we really put on real fights. we put on good fights. So we prepare, like the bigger organizations know that if you're winning fights in the LFA, you're actually winning tough fights and you're winning fights. So they know that when they get that opportunity to step onto the big stage,

they're prepared to do that. And that's what we do. You know, we put on tough fights. There's a lot of promotions out there that kind of create these situations for guys to build. build up wins, you know, oh, I'm 11 and O, but they haven't fought anybody. Like, if you're 11 and O in the LFA, like, you're a beast. You're a beast, you know what I'm saying, versus if you're 11 and O in some of these other organizations. When you're in the hangar at the fair. You could have been fighting the hot dog salesman or an Uber driver or whatever it is, but not not in the

LFA. I mean, that's why our athletes are battle tested. And so the vetting process is what you basically stand on. It's like your fighters, how do you find these specific fighters? What's the, like, the protocol that you go through, the due diligence process to identify that a fighter is worthy

to go through the LFA? Well, you know, we try to give everybody opportunities, you know, we have guys who've had their debut with us and fought all the way through guys like Khalil Roundtree. He fought all his fights before he was in the UFC with the LFA.

McKenzie Dern fought a lot of her fights in the LFA before she went to the UFC. You know, so I would say a lot of the managers and a lot of the athletes know that we are the breeding ground and we are like, we're like the Division 1 of our sport. So it's almost kind of like if you're Alabama, right, if you're Alabama and you're at Division 1, you know, football team like, how do they get their guys? Yeah, they recruit, but at the end of the day, the kids know, hey, man, I want to go to Alabama because I'm going to get the experience, the coaching to prepare me to go to the NFL or I'm going to go to another big university, you know, or the SEC or wherever you're going to play. So that's the way I look at it.

So fighters know it's in the fight circle that the LFA, that's where you go first before you go to the UFC. Well, it's not always like that, but like I said, look at the numbers, the number. don't lie. I mean, listen, you got, you had Holly Holmes come through there. Alex Pantoja. I'm like the best of the best. Alexander Pantoja, Alex Pereira, Valentina Schoemenko, Henry Sehudo, you know, Camer Uspin, I mean, Carlos Prattes, Brandon Marino, Brandon Royval. There's just the list go on and on. Wow. Yeah, it's just remarkable. Now, what's a moment that you feel like really tested you personally? and professionally when it came to building the LFA because it started off as a dream.

It's not like it started off like what it is now. No. I mean, there's been so many adversities that we've had to overcome from, I mean, it just, it's constantly testing you, you know, as soon as you figure, you think you've figured it out, something new comes up that you've never thought about. So it's a constant grind, but, you know, I believe in doing something you love. I love what I do. I love seeing the success of our athletes.

I think our athletes, it's almost kind of like if you fight in the LFA, it's almost like a fraternity. It's like, you know, once you've competed for the LFA, we support you all the way regardless of where you go, whether you go to the PFL, whether you go to one championship, whether you go to Risen, whether you go to the UFC, we support our athletes and we just want them to do well because their success indirectly is our success.

And that means we've done our job right if they're having success. Let me ask you this. How do you spot a champion, like a Holly Holmes? What really separates these people early on? I mean, there's different athletes kind of have different paths. But I think, you know, just them going out there and them competing and them, you know, overcoming adversities. You know, when a lot of these athletes, you know, they'll, they'll, they'll have great starts to their career.

You know, they'll go out there and they'll, you know, they're talented and they go out there and they beat everybody. But, you know, where you really see that the heart of the champion is when they overcome adversities, when they're going through a rough part or when they're down two rounds and they come back and win in the third round or win in the fourth round. It's just, it just kind of happens, you know.

And I think that, Like I said before, it's just the LFA, the athletes that come out of the LFA that are winning fights in the LFA are battle tested. And I think the bigger organizations know that if you're winning fights in the LFA, you're actually really winning fights. And you're battle tested. And so they know that when they go into the UFC or another big organization, they know they don't have to worry, is this guy going to perform? What other big organization is there besides the UFC? I mean, you know, there's people, you know, talk about PFL and talk about one and one championship in Asia and, you know, they talk about Risen. But to me, I mean, the big organization is the UFC.

I mean, there is no real. Yeah, everyone else is just like, you know, you didn't go to the UFC. Those are, I mean, so Pride's not around anymore? No, Pride got bought by the UFC. Oh, so it's all. Okay. I didn't know that Pride now is the UFC. Well, no, it's not that it is.

UFC, they own that intellectual property of pride. They bought it. And there was a big, you know, big things behind that because there were so many athletes from pride that were going to come to the UFC. And there was so much history in those athletes that when they bought it, really, they bought it for the content because, you know, how are you going to promote Vanderlai Silva? How are you going to promote Antonio Rodrigo Nogera or Shogunhuah if you didn't have the content to show who they were. You know what I'm saying? So that was part of the evolution of the sport when they, when they acquired pride and they started acquiring other organizations strictly for the content. They acquired a strike force. That's how they got Luke Rockhold. That's how they got Daniel

Cormier, because Daniel Cormier was signed to Strike Force originally. Yeah, so there's no more Strike Force or Pride. No, strike force is owned by the UFC. So in lieu of Strike Force, you're just seeing a smaller UFC fight. And now UFC has BJJ. Yeah, they have BJJ, yeah, for sure. I mean, if the UFC is not able to make BJJ big, I don't think anyone

will be able to. Yeah, I mean, now there's just UFC BJJ, and now it's going to be you know, at the gym I train at, uh, the youth start there at nine. Yeah. Full time. Six hours BJJ training. Yeah. And they don't go to school. They homeschool.

Yeah. And I'm like, so what are you to do, you know, we're going to train UFC, we're going to train Jiu-Jitsu. That's what we're going to do for living. Yeah. Well, jiu-jitsu has become a big business, you know, grappling tournaments, and you can make the significant amount of money grappling now. Yeah. Between training, they train at like 200 bucks an hour privates, and then actually, you know, now with UFC and IBJFF, yeah. You know, they're making decent money.

Yeah. And a ton of other grappling tournaments that there are. There's Abu Dhabi. there's just so many out there and you know hopefully it catches on like i said if the ufc's not able to make it um i believe that if the ufc's not able to make it become a mainstream sport i don't think anybody can now there's a lot of people that want to be mama fighters what's a common misconception about becoming an m manta fighter that most people get wrong well i i just think a lot of the times people always see their end result they don't see all the hard work and all the dedication and all the adversities and all the injuries and all the over things you have

to overcome to be that you know people see the alex perera as they see the john jones of the world but they don't really see everything behind the scenes of all the dedication and all the sacrifices you have to make to become successful in the sport you know when you think about it how many people want to be a UFC fighter? There's only about 600 to 650 athletes signed to the UFC. So to think that out of the whole world, 8 billion people in the world. And everybody's fighting.

And everybody's fighting. So 8 billion people in the world, there's only 650 in the UFC. You have to really dedicate yourself and be elite to get there. And then once you're there to be the elite amongst the elite, that's a whole other level. Yeah. And then to be the champion. There's only five of them.

There's only 11 of them. Yeah. In the UFC, there's 11 weight divisions. And at 12, if you consider the BMF title. And then to hold some of a, you know, you got the, then you got guys that hold them in multiple weight divisions. Yeah. Nowadays, they don't allow you to hold titles in two different weight divisions, but they have been, like, for instance, like Alex Pereira. He's been the middleweight champion.

He's been the light heavy weight champion. and there's a chance he's going to be going up and become fighting for a heavyweight title. You've got McGregor who actually he was the first one to simultaneously have them because he was the featherweight champ and then he won the lightweight title at the same time. So he, you know, McGregor is, you know, he's an incredible athlete, an incredible figure in our sport. I mean, the attention that Connor McGregor has brought into our sport, I mean, I feel that the biggest names of like people that have brought attention to our sport, one of them is Connor McGregor.

The other is Rhonda Rousey. You know, Ronda Rousey was one that really revolutionized our sport. And, you know, before Ronda Rousey, Dana never saw women fighting in the UFC. And, you know, Ronda Rousey was someone that really broke a lot of barriers. You know, she was in the first time the UFC was met. mentioned in Time magazine was because of Ronda Rousey. Yeah. So Ronda Rousey has been a huge staple in the success of the sport also.

Ronda Rousey, I feel like John Jones, Daniel Cormier, these are like. Yeah, yeah, but. But Rhonda Rouse, to me, John Jones brought some negative heat to the sport too. Yeah, but you know, I think he's a little bit misunderstood. John Jones is an incredible human being. He's a good person. Yeah, he might make some bad choice. We all do.

But everyone has. But to me, I think the people who, if you were going to say who revolutionized this sport, I would say, obviously, hoist Gracie. And then you look at the fight between Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonner, that was the first ultimate fighter that basically put the UFC on the map. That was a revolutionary every moment in our service. sport and then you look at athletes like a ronda rousey who who tito ortees too was a political they're they're all political figures but i'm just saying if you're going to really name who the difference i mean there's been a lot of great there's been anderson silva there's been leotumachita there's been chuck ladle there's been tito or tis but i'm talking about like tipping points of

where where things made a difference i would say hoist gracy i would say the fight between um between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonner, and then I'd go to like a Rhonda Rousey, and then I would go to a Connor McGregor that's brought it to new points. New Heights, yeah. Yeah, it's amazing to see the evolution of the sport, and now it's going to be, I mean, for my kids' generations, it is like the NFL. You know, every kid knows every fighter. It's very, very normalized in every, you know.

Every culture now. I mean, you know, Dana has said it very, you know, and a lot of times, like, fighting's in our DNA. Like, if you go and if you were to put, if you were on four corners and there was a baseball game going on, a football game going on, and then there was a fight, everyone's going to watch the fight. I mean, think about it in school, when there was a fight, everybody would run to go watch to fight.

People love to watch fights. I take Dana's advice. I hear him on podcast and people ask him like, what sport? you put your kids in? Jiu Jiu Jitsu. Every time. So not baseball. I mean, I put my kids, Jiu Jiu Jitsu is like baseline. Then it's like baseball, football, basketball, you know.

I mean, I think kids playing multiple sports is always good. You know, I think that, you know, I grew up playing a lot of baseball. And it's like, you know, but I played baseball during baseball season. I played football during football season. I played basketball. So I think it makes the kids very well-rounded nowadays with all the, the specialties and all the things like you could play year-round baseball there wasn't year-round baseball when i played baseball i i wish there was but but there isn't but it really you know helps the kids

diversify yeah in playing different sports so i think it's important you know and you know living by the beach you know surfing is great you know skiing if you live in the mountains so there's just you know as long as a kid stays active and and and i think is important yeah yeah because it just helps with their overall discipline in general and that's what translates into real life anyways. 100%. So I'm going to ask you this. What's like the biggest mistake you think you've made in building your organization now?

The biggest mistake? Man, I don't, you know, that's a good question. I don't know what the biggest mistake would be. It would be like, I should have signed that fighter or I wish I got that venue. or I wish I avoided that lawsuit. Yeah, well, the reality of it is I think everything happens for a reason. For a reason. And regardless of what it goes, you know, like I tell our athletes sometimes, you know,

you see a kid come up and he's doing really well and then he loses. And I always tell him, I said, you know, you don't you don't lose in the LFA. You either win or you learn. So when I look at mistakes, I don't necessarily look at it like a loss or a mistake. I look at it as like it was a learning experience. And sometimes when you lose something, I, you know, I didn't go to college. So I think, you know, if I made a mistake like we say and, oh, man, I lost, I just look at it. Well, that was a semester of college for me.

The money I lost, the experience I got, and I'll never make that mistake again. So like I said, even when you make mistakes and you do that, I think what you have to do is you have to learn from them and improve. I think that's the way we look at it, you know. Well, then piggybacking on that, we're not going to call mistakes. You spilled this massive organization that has 27% of the current champions. What's some of the greatest lessons that you've learned? Well, I mean, there's just so many different lessons and so many of it. I mean, I just think that you have to keep striving.

Like, there is no such thing as a perfect event. There is no such thing. Like, I feel that when you have, when you think you've had a perfect event, you might as well just retire. Because there's always things that you can improve. I'm always looking to improve no matter how great an event is, no how great. And I think that when you look at fighters as champions, like, they may have an incredible fight, but there's always something that they could get better at. So I think that, you know, just stay focused on the goal and be humble and work hard.

And I think those are those are the rules, you know, treat people the way you like to be treated. And I think that's the key to life. I mean, you know, and I think overall, one of the biggest things that I think people need to recognize is having gratitude. You know, gratitude is something that I say this all the time. gratitude doesn't cost you a penny to give people gratitude but to receive gratitude it's priceless and time and time again i think why why don't people have more gratitude it doesn't cost anything to give and for whoever's receiving it it's priceless and just imagine how much better this world would be if people had more gratitude you know one of some of the greatest fighters i met i was just telling you

i you know i had got to hang out uh you know another ufc fighter giga and some of the they're just so meek and so humble so thankful some of these fighters are such just genuinely good people you'd look at them you're like man he's vicious and you talk to me like and he's so christ-like he is so godly because they just a lot of them are very humble guys you know is there a fighter in mind that you think of when you're like man that guy was just such a good guy i mean there's there's many there's many there's many fighters you know um i mean one that comes in mind you know is like Alex Pereira or Alexander Pantosia. And those are ones that I have personal relationships with that I know the kind of people that

they are. And Alex Pereira right now, to me, is the biggest star in mixed martial arts right now. There's no bigger name in our, the active name that's bigger than him right now. And, you know, he's taught me a lot about, you know, I used to, I've had experiences with other guys that I've worked with where I've seen the money. and the fame kind of change them. But what I've realized is that

money and fame doesn't change people. It doesn't change people. I used to say, oh, the money and fame changes people. It doesn't change people. What money and fame does is it magnifies the person that you really are. Because a guy like Alex Pereira

with all the money and the success that he's had, it almost seems like he's become a better person. But it's not that he's become a better person. It just magnified the great person that he was. And then when you see someone, you say, oh man, the money and fame changed him. The money and fame didn't change that person. What happened was, is before the guy had the money in fame,

he was wearing a mask. He was being fake. He wasn't really being who he really is. And the minute that he gets the money in fame, he can act the way he really is. And that's what happened when people say, oh, the money and fame. No, the money and fame didn't change him. The money and fame just let him show who he really was.

And that's what I feel. Money, success, money, all of that, that doesn't change people. What that does is it just brings out the person that they really are. You know, that struck me and what you said really resonated with me. Because I've had the opportunity to really be a blessing to many people and take people from rags to riches. people that I thought were like, oh, I'm going to help this guy. And that's my job.

I just serve. And, you know, I'll take someone who's dirt poor and make him a millionaire. And I'm thinking, you know, he's going to be so thankful or whatever. Like, it just magnifies who they were. And they're like, this guy's an evil dude, you know, like a girl or whatever. And it's like, you're absolutely right. Money and fame just magnifies the character of the person. 100% it does.

The 100% it does. does. You know, you look at, at least that's my experience. And, and I can tell you the person who really taught me that, that really taught me that to see that it was true was Alex Pereira. He, he was the one who, who showed me in a good light. He didn't, he showed me in a good way that, like, like I said, it almost seems like the money and fame made him a better person. But it's not that it made him a better person. It just magnified the great person that he already was. And now he's got the money and the fame to, to show the real person he was. And I've also seen it work the opposite,

where I've seen people be very nice, humble, and then they got money and fame, and all of a sudden they're not like that anymore. But that's just because they were just being fake. It wasn't that the money changed them. Now they've just been able to take their mask off because they feel, hey, I've got the money, I've got the fame, I could act any way that I want.

Or I could be my real self. I could be my real self. And that's unfortunately what you see. Now, you developed one of the best promotions ever in Fight History. What's like a common misconception or like basically what's like a sad truth about being a promoter that you've experienced? Well, I mean, I think that, you know, being a promoter sometimes being good at your job kind of can bite you. butt you know like so for instance you know you have to promote right so it's like you know let's just say the ticket sales are not that good but you can't go out there and say well you know ticket sales aren't

that good you got to you got to promote you got to make it seem so sometimes you have to you have to hype it up and there's just a lot of things that sometimes you doing your job can come back and bite you in the butt you know what i mean so like you know even though maybe you a show didn't do as well as people may have thought but as a promoter you got to promote nobody wants to hear well yeah you know ticket sales aren't that great

and I don't know how it's going to go what kind of promoter will you be then you know you got no no things are great things are going and and sometimes I'm not going to say you're you're excuse my language bullshitting but you have to you have to promote it you have to you have to make it

seem like it's good you know what I mean and that's what it is and and even if the numbers aren't what they are. Like I said, I look at that as a learning experience. You know, I come back and I think, what can we do the next time to make it better or what were the things? And there's some things that are uncontrollable. You know, you got a main event that's a huge ticket seller and he, you know, pops his knee, you know, six days before the fight. There's nothing you can do to control that. There's nothing. It's just, it's just part of the things that happen in our business. Now, kind of wrapping things up here. You've done a lot with the organization.

what's a personal goal that you have for yourself, a goal that you have for your family, and a business goal that you have? You know, I think the goal that I have for myself is, I just, I want to be a good father. And, you know, I have two daughters, and I just want to know that I'm, you know, a good, a good father, a good person to my family.

That's what's important to me at the end of the day. And, you know, my, my oldest daughter is, you know, she's going to, she got married about a year and a half ago. And I'm going to have a grandson. So I'm super excited about that. Congratulations. And thank you. Yeah. I'm just, you know, just to be a good person.

My goal is to leave this place a little bit better than when I got here or do whatever I can and make a difference in the world and make a difference in people in their lives. that that's what really excites me. As far as goals for business, goals for businesses to just keep growing and keep helping people get to where they want to go. That's really what enjoy it. You know, that's really what I enjoy is seeing people's success. And, you know, if I was to look at a fighter

or look at a person as a block wall, as a fighter, If I look at them as a wall of success, if the LFA can be a few of those bricks that make that wall of success, I'm totally happy with that. God bless. That's amazing. And I hope you hit every single one of your goals. I have one last question for you. When you're in front of the pearly gates, what do you think God's going to tell you? I don't know, man.

I really don't know. I hope he welcomes me. in with open arms, you know what I mean? I don't know. I feel I'm a good human being. I've always treated people the way I live by simple rules. You know, you treat people the way you'd like to be treated and you do the right thing, you know. I've made my mistakes. I haven't always been perfect, but I don't think anybody has. But overall, you know, that's what I want to do. I just want to make a difference and try to help as many people as I can in this life. Well, you're a great servant.

You've done a lot. You've already built an incredible legacy. Your company's named legacy. But the fact that you've changed an entire sport forever. You've read champions. You instill goodness in people. And you just are an incredible human being, a godly human being, raise great kids, going to be a grandparent.

And the fruits of your labor are showing in many, many ways, not just with your work, with your family, with your business, with who you are a person. God bless you. I hope you had every single one of your goals. If people want to connect with you, how can they find you? Well, I guess, you know, probably the easiest would be through social media. You know, my Instagram is Ed Suarez Pro. And that's probably the easiest way to get to get a hold of me. It would probably be through social media. Thanks, Ed. Thanks for jumping on the show. Appreciate you. Legacy Fighting Alliance guys, make sure you check out their fights. They're breeding the best of the best champions on the planet, get to see them before they become

the UFC world champions. Thanks for turning in.