Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Ulysses Diaz: From Miami Streets to Combat Sports History

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

In this powerful episode of The Determined Society, Shawn French sits down with Ulysses “Uly Monster” Diaz, professional fighter, bare-knuckle boxer, father, husband, and one of the fastest knockout artists in combat sports history. Uli opens up about growing up in Miami, life in the streets, prison, faith, fatherhood, and the moment he knew he had to stop repeating the same cycle  At 35, he walked into a boxing gym, found accountability, and began building a new life through discipline, consistency, and combat sports. This conversation goes far beyond fighting. Together, we dive into: • Growing up in Miami with no male role models • Learning to fight at six years old • Street life, prison, and the consequences of bad choices • Touring with Pitbull and still trying to find his path • The moment he asked God to pull him out • Starting his fight career at 35 • The discipline and accountability of the boxing gym • One of the fastest knockouts in combat sports history • Fatherhood, marriage, faith, and family • His son’s cancer battle and what it taught him • Why consistency is the key to changing your life • Letting go of people who cannot grow with you   This episode is about redemption, faith, fatherhood, consequences, discipline, and the determination to stop repeating the past and become the man your family needs you to be. Watch the full episode now on The Determined Society  #thedeterminedsociety #shawnfrench #ulyssesdiaz #ulymonster #bareknuckleboxing #bkfc #boxing #combatsports #fightermindset #faith #fatherhood #redemption #resilience #comebackstory #inspiration Connect with Ulysses Diaz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uly_monster/ X: https://x.com/Uly_MONSTER Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Ulysses-Diaz-100063488343637/   Connect with Shawn https://link.me/shawnmf32 Subscribe to our newsletter for all updates and heavy doses of DETERMINATION: https://thedeterminedsociety.com Subscribe on Apple/Spotify: Apple- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/determined-society-with-shawn-french-adversity-mindset/id1555922064 Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/show/5kS9tkLGQLcVyRgB3mDznw?si=184c18d1b9d44f53 The Determined Society is hosted by Shawn French — a show for people who refuse to quit. Every episode goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the real stories behind resilience, reinvention, and the relentless pursuit of a life built on your own terms.Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all others.. If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — and leave a review. It helps more than you know. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I went to prison as a young man. Of course, in prison, it's something normal to do is fight as well. I found myself back in the streets doing things I wasn't supposed to be doing. Got on my knees, I cried. I believe in God. I, you know, I asked God to please just like remove me from this life. You may not have to let someone go. That's right.

You may have to have some moments of solitude. I fought. I won by first round knockout. I had some friends there and it was the biggest rush of life, biggest high to get better than any drug I've ever done in my life. So you can heal, so you can get your self right in your own mind. Into the father I am today, into the husband I'm today, to the son I am today. Because all these things are lessons that I teach my son.

My son, he's 13 years old. When he was 10, they found a tumor in his fever bone. He had osteosarcoma. I spent a year in the hospital with my son fighting cancer. He beat it. Thank God. He's kicking ass. Been training every day.

But I got that fireback. I got that fireback. I stepped to these guys at bare-nuckle boxing told him, you know, you're retired. You retired with us. No, I did. But I want to come back. But I want to come back. You know, Paul and Malanaji, retired, and he came back with you guys.

I want to do the same thing. I still have a lot to show the world. What's the mission in the next few years for you? I feel bad for the guy who's going to stand in front of me, man, because I'm telling you, I have this crazy fire inside of him, and I feel amazing. Every now and again, I sit down with an individual that outlies the true definition of discipline and determination. That also makes you question the timeline that things are going to need to be done.

The man sitting in the chair never. next to me, didn't take his pro fight until he was 35 years old. Started training a month later was in the ring. He has the record, one of the quickest knockouts in combat history, at three seconds. From the time the bell rang to the time Benedetto hit the mat was three seconds long. He's gone from living in Miami, living in the streets, boxing since he was six years old, spent some time in prison, spent some time touring the world with his childhood friend Pitbull on his private jet.

Now he's in the ring fighting the best way he knows how, with his fists and his heart. I have with me, Yuli, Monster, Diaz. What's up, baby? What's up, brother? Thank you so much for the opportunity. It's great to meet you in person. Yeah, man.

It's so great to look you in the eye. You know, I always find that when I sit with fighters, I always have this early anxiety of like, what's this going to be like? But every time I meet a fighter, you guys are the softest and most gentle souls that I've ever met, but also there's that switch, right? Right, right.

You can flip it a little bit. Of course. And I think, honestly, I think I've always said we all have that switch in this. You know what I mean? It's not just fighters. For example, you're not a professional fighter, but if somebody messes with your kids, your family, you're going to hit that switch.

You're going to turn into an animal as well. But yeah, I save all that for the ring. They call me the monster. I'm only the monster inside the ring outside. I like to be as nice and as humble as I can to anybody and everybody I meet. The moment I walked in, you walked in, I saw you, I could tell how humble and just the level of humility you do have. So I appreciate that about you.

Thank you. But I don't want to start with the knockouts, the things in the ring. I want to start back when you were six years old. You were in the ring boxing with your family before you even barely knew how to read. Walk me through that, man. Okay, so at six, this is how it all kind of started. Six, seven years old. You know, I grew up in Miami, single mom.

We had no family down here. I had no father, no cousins, no male role models whatsoever. I had these family members come over from Cuba when I was about, like I said, six, seven, eight is she was right around that time. He was an amateur boxer. Boxing in Cuba was like P.E. in the United States. You kind of always, everybody takes it. Some people take it to the next level.

Some people take it as an elective and keep on moving in life. My cousin that came at the time, he was an amateur boxer. You know, he had his family, he came over with his family, he had done some amateur boxing, but he was still skilled in it. So he came over, had his little male cousin, me, and he started teaching me things. And that's when I really fell in love with the sport, you know. I had already, through kindergarten, first grade, second grade, I had already gotten in tons of trouble for fighting in school, just for, you know, for being real mischievous, but I loved fighting.

And I always told people, I was never a bully. I never picked on people, but I loved defending my friends. Those were, I never had any brothers or sisters or anything. So, you know, I have a sister. She's 10 years younger than me, so I didn't grow up with her. So, you know, my friends were my family to me. So defending them, I felt what I was my job always growing up. So I loved fighting.

Now, he taught me some skills. He taught me how to throw a jab. He taught me how to defend myself. He actually gave me my first bloody lip because I remember he was teaching me how to defend myself. And I kept trying to keep my hands out. He's like, I'm going to teach you why you don't do that. Boom. I'm like, okay.

Learn that quick. And I fell in love with the sport. Again, with a single mom working her ass off because she's trying to keep a roof forward my head and clothes on my back, had a lot of free time to get myself in trouble and do things I wasn't supposed to be doing. And it was hard to kind of stick to a sport. I played baseball at the time, but I was really on and off with things because I never had anybody to take me anywhere.

And, you know, again, my friends were my family, whatever they did, I wanted to do. I got into a little bit of boxing in my teens. Wasn't consistent with it stayed for a little bit. Couldn't get the rides there, all that. Then later in my 19, 20, 21, I already had kids. I found myself. I had my own car. Could get myself to places.

Started doing some amateur boxing. Did a few amateur boxing fights. But anybody knows that amateur boxing, you're coming out of pocket to pay for yourself to get into these tournaments and to get yourself there and to get yourself the gear that you need in. to pay for your coaches and your school and all these things. And again, I had a family of the feed. So that didn't last too long, but I always loved the sport.

Always my whole life, one thing I always did was workout. Either I did weights, I trained a little bit of boxing. I did jihitsu. I did something. Always kept myself in shape. That's something that I just always loved. And so that always stayed consistent. And then, you know, as a teenager, I got myself in trouble with juvenile detention center,

so I fought a lot being there. I went to prison as a young man. I was there from 23, 23, 24, 25. Of course, in prison, it's just something normal to do is fight as well. And so I always loved fighting. Then, you know, as time goes by, I was, when I got out of prison,

I was with Pitbull trying to move around to, but Pitbull wasn't back then what he is now. So I was going on tour, maybe twice a month, making a couple bucks, getting by. I needed more money to survive with these kids, with his family, wife, just life in general, especially in Miami. Miami's expensive. Oh, sure is, man. So I found myself back in the streets, doing things I wasn't supposed to be doing.

Pitbull, again, he's my brother still to this day. I had the common decency and the, you know, the common sense to tell him, hey, look, man, you know, I'm doing this. He tried to get me out of it. He's like, look, man, we got a future here. There's things that happen. But one thing I tell everybody, just as for myself and, like, for him in that example, I couldn't see his dream. I believe in you. And I believe that, for example, I believe this podcast is going to be bigger than what it is now. But I can't see it like you see it because you're here every day putting in the work. I'm coming in and out.

So I had to do what I had to do. We kind of parted ways in business. But, of course, he's always my brother. Always out of distance. Never wanted to get him involved in anything I was doing. So did my thing. And then finally, at the age of 35, I was in Denver, Colorado. I was part of the green rush, you know, living over there,

had growing weed and just tired of my own shit man tired of the tired of that lifestyle you can't trust anybody and you know shit is never as it seems and again just as easy as possible I just tired of my own shit I hated that lifestyle already I was really tired of it and trying to figure out I remember my thought that day when everything started switching one of my thoughts was like I'm 35 10 years from now 45 which I'm now I'm 45 years old I'm like I'm like try to sell a pound of weed to make a hundred bucks. Like, what am I doing? You know what I mean?

And got on my knees. I cried. I believe in God. I, you know, I asked God to please just, like, remove me from this life to give me something. I had no clue whatsoever. I was going to go into combat sports. I was training jiu-jitsu in Colorado doing weights. Anyways, that night packed up my car.

I had a 99-thahua. I packed it with everything that fit in it. I called the transport. They'll be there in two days. I bought my flight. Flew to Miami. Still trying to figure it all. I still had one foot in one foot out

because the only way I knew how to make money was the street. So I'm like, all right, let me just do this until I figure something out. But when I'm doing that, I'm in the boxing gym, fifth tree gym down here in Miami Beach.

Shout out of Dino Spencer. He saved my life, made me accountable, you know, and just got me into the fight world. And also Josh Dempsey was my first coach. But I get into the gym and I'm just training just to train.

Like I said, I've always trained. I've always done weights or something. exercise was just part of my life. Some in there, these guys know my background, because I know them for years from when they opened the gym. And they, you know, the accountability part comes when I'd come to the gym for three, four days, and I'd miss a day and they'd be calling me.

Hey, what are you doing? You know, they knew where I, they knew what I was doing? But they didn't want me doing this? Hey, what are you doing? Why don't you here? Come over here, man. Say, hey, stop bullshit. Yeah.

So that kind of gave me a sense of like, man, I owe these guys. The accountability comes in. So I'm like, oh, man, I can't miss out. These guys are worried about me. So started spending a lot more time in this boxing gym Figured Ben, I really liked this You know this was like about November and December of 2016 The end of December right before New Year's I remember telling my my coach

Like hey man I want to take a fight He's like you want to fight? Yeah, he's like all right so there to later It comes like there's a fight for you January 27th In Dominican Republic I'm like oh shit I was gonna fast You know, I wasn't really ready for it, but I'm like, I'll take it. Let's do it.

You know, I was, and then when I did take it, at the moment, I was like, all right, I'm going to do this for Instagram, take my pictures, say I did it. My kids will get to see I did it. But I got ready. I was getting ready. You know, I made the weight. I went, I fought. I won by first round knockout. I had some friends there, and it was the biggest rush of life, biggest high I get better than any drug I've ever done in my life.

Just an amazing feeling. Everybody proud of me. My mom was extremely proud of me because she wasn't worried about me being out, two, three, four in the morning and making sure I made it home. I'm not waiting for that phone call. Be like, hey, something happened to your son. Yeah. So she saw, you know, I was putting in the work.

I was disciplined. I was going to sleep already. I was eating right. And I just followed that trend. I just kept going. I did four fights in the first four months. My fifth fight was back here in Miami. I had an amazing crowd.

So 60 grand where the tickets had her. And then it just became a high. for me. It just became, that became my drug, the training, the putting into work, the fighting, and man, you know, it's giving me a beautiful life, it's giving me a beautiful home. My kids are great

and healthy. I got a beautiful wife. You know, it's given me opportunities like these. I've flown around the world to go train troops with AFE. It's armed forces entertainment and things that I would have never done if I would have stayed on that same

you know, same path that was on. I switched I'm here now. It's 10 years in. Fastest knockout in combat sports history. And man, it's amazing. What life could do, you know? It's crazy. Thank you for all that context because through that whole thing, I can see how you have

been built. So I do want to go back a little bit, right? That first time you threw a punch and it landed, how did you feel at that moment and how did you know at that point it was going to make you different? So that started like I said like in kindergarten. I remember after school, I was just a real headache of a kid. You know, it was a hurricane. So I remember kind of I remember hitting a kid and dropping them.

I'm not knocking them out or nothing, just dropping them and just thinking to myself like, whoa, you know. And then I'd take a school bus. And then on my school bus, I was the last one to get dropped off because I lived right by the bus driver. So she would drop me off last. So I'd be in there with, I was in elementary school, and there were middle school, the six, seventh, and eighth grade, and I'd go and I'd slap them in the back of the head, and I'd run, and they'd chase me, and they'd beat me up.

But I didn't mind that it was a weird thing, you know. I was just this menace of a kid. And I figured, you know, I was never, like, I was never scared. You know, I was never, I never had this feeling of, like, of, like, nerves because somebody wanted to fight me. And, you know, and it was just, I don't know, I just felt like, again, I was just different. And then when it came to my friends,

I always felt like I was the protection. to my friend and then growing up my name is ulysses i didn't like my name my everybody's to butcher my name remember i grew up in miami everybody's Hispanic they say my names in all types of different languages uh but then as i grew up i grew into my name ulysses is a greek warrior up i'm you know i'm the only guy who made it of the trojan war i mean and i kind of developed this this character within myself that that you know that's me i'm this warrior and i grew into it that's badass dude thank you you mentioned your mom a couple times yes you know and I've read somewhere that you know you said that your mom always wanted what's best for you

and always struggled to provide how did you see that as a kid and how do you see it now that you're a father so just like I tell my kids they don't see what I'm telling them now but once they grow older they're gonna they're gonna look back in me the damn that was right that's exactly how I see her doing my mom you know I gave my mom she struggled with me I had bad grades I I got got in trouble. I got suspended from school. I got expelled from school eventually. She didn't know what to do with me. And in 1999, she met this lady that got her into Christianity. My mom's not an ordained minister. She preaches the word to everybody. She goes to prisons and everywhere, you know. And that's something that she really instilled in me over time. And like I said, even when I was doing bad, I knew that I was doing bad.

I knew God was watching over me. But it was this kind of right in the fence thing, where, you know, I'd ask for forgiveness, but I was still doing bad. And, you know, now looking back, I just see how much she worked to get me into certain positions. And just to do everything for me, man. My mom, you know, she bent over backwards. That's my best friend still to this day. Now she lives with me in my badass house. That's so cool, man.

I mean, what a gift to your mom. Thank you. She used to be around her grandkids. She used to be around you and live a lifestyle that she wasn't able to provide for you. That's right. that's a way to honor your mom. You know, and you've mentioned, you called yourself a street kid. You know, so what I really want in this question is to tell me what your day-to-day actually

looked like. What, I mean, I know some of the things that you said you were doing, but day-to-day, what does a street kid do? So, you know, you sleep in because I'm going to sleep at three, four in the morning, five in the morning, maybe sometimes not going to sleep. Then when you get up, you know, you call to see who's up. I had a small group of guys. And, you know, we, it was different things.

We find out who had what and who we could take, you know, what we could take from who. And it was always when I say that, it was never a guy who worked nine to five. Hey, this guy works nine to five. Yeah, you know, no, no. It was, this guy sells drugs. We're going to go take that from them. This guy just made some money off selling drugs. We're going to go take that.

from them and you know what's funny is a lot of the information would come from ex-girlfriends mad girlfriends things like that we'd be at strip clubs these strippers know all types of things because the guys tell them they pillow talk and say all types of things so we you know we'd carry on our day about like that either we're checking somebody out all day to see what they're doing what their habits are to go see what we're going to do that was part of it then again like I said you're you know that's that's something that you're kind of planning for but throughout the day you still got to make a little bit of money so you're you're grabbing a pound of weed or or you know an ounce of this or grandma that or something and moving

in here because somebody needs a couple bucks and you're moving around like that and then what's funny is you're making this money then you're going out at night and you're spending it no you're spending twice but you made him one day at a at a strip club and and and not even sure because the strippers are friends you're buying drinks you're doing this and you're you're buying drugs and you're just you're living backwards you know you're living back you're just you're It's a cycle that continues over and over again. It's a vicious cycle. And while I was in the cycle, I always knew I was doing wrong, and I always knew I could

do better. I never thought I was better than anybody else, but I knew I could do better than what I'm doing for myself. And, man, I was like, just peeling out in the sand, you know what I mean? Just constantly and not doing anything with myself. And finally, like I said, I just got to that day where I'm like, yo, that's it. I put my foot down on myself. I cried, I got on my knees, and I said, God, please just pull me out of this.

And, you know, I promise I won't do this and I promise I won't do that. And I've, you know, 99% of my promises I've held on to. And but he, again, I'm not religious. I am very spiritual. You know, I do pray to God. I do go to church very so often. But I know he pulled me out of that, man. He pulled me out of the fire.

And so I praise them and I thank him as much as possible. Man, that's awesome. to have a true relationship with God, it doesn't have to be in a building. Right. You know, and I think that's what, I mean, it's nice to have that fellowship and have those people around

that can help you be accountable in the word of God and to move you forward in your spirituality, but it's truly not required. Right. And when I look at your whole background, I think there was multiple moments that you tried to make things different. You know, for instance, you went into the Coast Guard. That's right.

You know, and within 11 months, you're honorably discharged. Yeah. What were you hoping? to learn when you went in there and what did you actually end up learning? So that's a great question. So I went to the Coast Guard. The only reason I went to the Coast Guard

is because this person I grew up with, this guy I grew up with, he was my best friend since I was the kids since elementary. He was always a good kid. Never got in trouble. Always traded his student. He tells me, man, let's go to the Coast Guard. They'll give us a $2,000 sign-in bonus.

And you don't get stationed outside the United States. So I'm like, all right, cool. You go and like, yeah, yeah, we'll go together in this buddy program. The buddy program is you go to boot camp together, but then you don't get stationed together. So we go to boot camp together. I was 18. I turned 19 in boot camp.

Boot camp was an amazing experience as well. I did my boot camp. I already had tattoos on my hands on my fingers, so the guys would, the drill sergeants would pick on me. And they gave me a tough time. They actually put me in jail in boot camp where they made me wear a six-inch pink belt, and then when you're marching through this compound with thousands of kids with different recruits, you've got to go left, left,

every time you left foot hits the floor, and they would bring me up to, like, a new recruit, you know, dorm with like 200 kids, and they made me do push-ups and burpees and all types of stuff in front of these kids and burn me out. And then the day I graduated,

all these drill stars that made me do that, where grandma said, Diaz, I knew you had it in you, I knew you could do it. So they kind of, you know, But I don't want to say to use me. That's the wrong word. They knew I came from a troubled background, and they saw it in me. So they made me go through kind of through hell to see how much I could put up with.

And I put up with all of it. And I made it out. And they were all very proud of me. I got, so me and him, the day you fill out your form to see where you want to get station, you get these choices. Me and my friend that we went together, filled out everything together. And we got stationed together on Coast Guard Cutter Courageous. It was in Panama City, Florida.

It's actually a decommissioned cutter. It was a 210-foot boat. I lived on the ocean for months out of time. We went from Panama City, Florida, which is the Gulf all the way around through the Caribbean, all the way to Jacksonville, Bahamas, everything. We, you know, we chased on drug boats and refugees. Never caught any drugs. Caught, I want to say, 500 refugees between Haitians and Cubans.

I always had problems when they caught Cubans because I'm Cuban myself. And, you know, when you're on a coast guard, you're kind of supposed to be the cop and they're kind of like the inmates in a sense. I'd go out there and give these guys my cigarettes, give these guys my food, always getting trouble for this. Like, you're not supposed to be doing that. And I would tell them, like, listen, first I'm Cuban. And number two is, how bad do you think it has to be for you to leave with your two-year-old kid on a raft to try to make it to the States?

You know, so I felt for these people. And I had family that did this, you know? So I really felt for these people. Got me in a ton of trouble. But I stayed in. And then 11 months in, they'd tell me. me hey first of all to get into the to Coast Guard or any armed forces you got take the as VAB I scored very low my as Vabs so only I could pick from a

couple jobs one of them was diesel mechanic mm-hmm I have no idea about anything about mechanics I could I could do an old change in my car and change the tire it's about it but that you're going to diesel mechanic school in Norfolk Virginia sweet so flew from Panama City to Miami spent about two weeks on leave with my family caught a ground and this was really for no reason but to hang I caught a Greyhound from Miami to Tallahassee, Florida, because I had a great friend of mine up there, and I was going to fly from Tallahassee to Norfolk.

I get there, I got a big green duffel bag like this that you get to everybody in the military, pack with my stuff. So he picks me with the Greyhound Station, hey, we're going out tonight. Again, I'm 19 years old. His cousins are older gentlemen that own two of the biggest clubs in Tallahassee. So I'm 19 years old doing whatever I want in these big clubs, 21 and over, but I'm allowed to be in.

So he takes me to a club Well first I tell him Listen I'm not I'm packing his back He's like no no my roommate's out of town You'll borrow his clothes I'm like very cool So go to his closet Get some clothes on

That's not even mine We go to this club And I tell myself I always had a kind of a good Head on my shoulders at times You know because I knew what to do And what not to do So I'm not going to drink

He's all right cool So I were in the club And Just hanging out And I remember I'm talking to his girlfriend Some girls come over and we talk for a second and they leave

and then I see I see these dudes I want to say 20 yards away they're at the bar I'm leaning like against a pole and these guys are kind of like pointing at me and talking of course it's a club music blasting lights are going everywhere I'm like it looks weird

sure enough a couple more guys coming there like I'm whispering each other's ears and looking and pointing I'm like oh shit they are talking about yeah what's going on so I slide down this poem and lay on and grab a corona bottle I'm put it in a back pocket on my pocket. And I go to tell my boy, hey, man, I'm going to go use the bathroom.

So I go to the bathroom, use the bathroom. When I come out, all those guys who are at the bar are lined up outside the bathroom. They don't want to let me kind of like pass. So, you know, they kind of tell me something. As soon as I already know it, I know what's going on. And I grew up with the win in doubt, knock them out. So I pulled out the beer bottle. I smashed one guy.

They smashed me. I didn't know they smashed me, but a beer bottle. I thought they had hit me. Turned into a big rumble. Lights music goes off lights turn on people are screaming and leaving the club It's going crazy two bouncer grabbed me kind of take me off to the side and Remember the guy brings me a stack of napkins give me this detailed story because I haven't told this story years But this is exactly I went and I'm like no I'm good clubs full of mirrors when I look I have a gash in my head open wide

I'm leaking down my head I got blood coming here I'm like oh shit and this web on my hand is split open I guess when I hit him with the bottle, my hand split open. I'm like, damn. So I start patting my head, and I grab another bottle and put in my back pocket just to, like, protect myself. And cops are coming in the club, so I run out. I'm with my boy that his cousin owns the club. He said, come on.

So we run out the back. I see one of the guys. I smash him with a bottle again. And I go running. The cops grab me. I get arrested. I'm sitting in front of the club in the cop car. Everybody that's filling out police reports on me

or all everybody that tell me, police reports about me saying that I started the fight. So I'm sitting there and, you know, they take me to jail and this where the process starts of, you know, I was in the Coast Guard trying to do right. This happens and everything just started going downhill. You know, I got kicked out of the Coast Guard. I got an honorable discharge due to civil court judgment is what I got. I got a 19 year old kid. I got kids.

I'm on probation now. I get, you know, I come back to Miami. I'm in this environment again that is not any good for me. I'm around people that's not any good for me. So a couple years later, I got in a fight with a police officer here in Doral, Florida, and that's it. He starts my prison ride, a couple years in prison. And it was a crazy whirlwind of just bad times that I just, it's nobody's fault by my own.

I just kept getting myself into these things, and I never thought about getting myself out. I just kind of kept going head first into these things. things and during these times and everything that happened I had these choices to make and and I would always make the wrong choice and I would look back and I'd be man I had time to make these choices but I did I for some reason I wanted to show myself that I could go through these things in a weird way I have no idea why I can explain to you to this day why but I wanted to show myself that I could go through jail I could go through house arrest I go to a

prison and I can make it through these things why I have no idea but now 45 years old looking back obviously if you could do it all over again yeah I would choose the right thing to do but what I take it back now that it's done I would not take it back because it has built me into the man I am today into the father I am today into the husband I'm today into the son I am today because all these things are lessons that I teach my son for example my wife is a wrestler she's a champion in Australia I'm not allowed to go to Australia I can't go to Canada because I'm a convicted felon

And some countries don't let you in So I this is just a very small thing that I teach my son But look look son Something I did many years ago Many years ago I'm paying for now at 45 years old I can't even go to another country to watch my wife wrestle Because I got myself in trouble trying to be a badass Trying to be because there is no badass in that

At whatsoever So you know again all these things happen If I could go back and do it all over Yes I would do right But now, you know, obviously you can't. I look back and no, I wouldn't change anything because it made me into I am today. And these are valuable lessons that I'm able to not only to my son. I go to juvenile detention center and tell these kids things, you know, and just kids in boxing gyms.

And, you know, I'm able to spread the word. I think the past is always important. Absolutely. Right. I think, you know, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, right? I think everybody has. And at the time, you deal with so much pain because of those decisions. those are called consequences, right?

But when you go through that and you land in prison for an extended period of time like you did and go through the bar fights and everything like that, it has built you into this man that has a lot of integrity. You're also an amazing father now. And so now you're able to give that to your kids and be able to help them and then help the disadvantaged youth

that are also in jail in juvenile detention centers. So hopefully they can be able to be. break the cycle and not end up in prison. It's important. And that was your path. You, you know, a lot of times people will reject the past because it was so bad. But like nowadays, you know, if I were to sit here and say when I started the show, I'm going to sit across the way from probably two dozen convicted felons.

I would never even have thought that. Right. because the perception was different. Now it's like those are my favorite people to talk to because they've lived a life that I haven't lived. So if you were someone is watching right now as a young kid, you know, young adult that is going through all this,

what would you tell them in one breath? Man, so to me, what I've learned and I learned that a later age is that the most important thing is consistency, to be consistent. Now, what I would tell somebody young that was maybe going through what I would, went through or, you know, even worse possible, is very simply there's choices to make.

Figure out, you know, what the right choice to make because, you know, there was a time in life where I made these choices and I didn't think about consequences. So that's something I would tell them, like, think about the consequences before you make the choice. Think ahead before you make this choice right here because you're not, you're thinking about this year and not looking at what's going to happen over here. Find yourself most importantly to me, which I wish I would have done at an early age, especially like combat sports, is find something that you love to do. Just stay consistent with it. At the beginning, everything is rough. You start drawing. You're not going to be a great artist. You start boxing it like myself. You're not going to be a great boxer. First day,

you're going to suck. Ten days later, you're going to be not as good, but a little better. A year, you're going to be better. Five, ten years down the road, you're going to have a career. You're going to be a lot better than you were from day one. And I always tell everybody, too, at the beginning, it's a lot of hard days.

Hard to get up and want to get punched in the face. Hard to get up and train and run five miles. It's hard to get up and, you know, do all these things. But it gets to a point that if you stay consistent, there is the more hard days.

Everything is just a great day ahead, you know, and everybody has bad days here and there, but they're not, they're not, nothing compared to how they were back in the day. now you just it just the days just get greater especially when you find something you love to do you know that monologue right there is so important because you're talking about consistency and you're talking about a process and i think that a lot of times when people start something because i can remember when i

started the show it feels just like yesterday it wasn't that long ago coming up on six years but those early days were so hard right and it's still so hard no matter what stage in it's hard it's the hardest fucking thing ever because if you want to be great at something and you want to make a true impact through your art or through your gifts there's a big price to be paid what is the biggest price that you've paid biggest price that I've paid man you know uh I got to say I've lost a lot of people around me and I'm not talking about just you know not death but it just like you know, when you want to be great at something or when you want to make yourself into a better person,

it's called growing pains. Where you're growing and you're going to have to let a lot of people, you know, leave a lot of people behind. These are people I dealt with every day on an everyday basis for many years. People that I still wish well, then I hope they're great and I hope their families are great, but they're just still stuck in something

that I don't want to be around anymore. So I feel that maybe the hardest thing. There was a point as I was coming up that I even stopped talking to my mom for a few months just because I wanted zero, I wanted nobody to answer to or to nothing. I didn't want anybody, I didn't want to answer a phone to a friend and be like, hey man, we're going to this club

or going on this boat and we got these chicks or this and not or the other. And I didn't want to get stuck in none of that. My mom to come over and eat, no, no, I just wanted to be alone. And I think, you know, the toughest thing to do if you want to be great, I think everybody needs that time alone for a little bit.

And it's hard for some people, you know. You know, we have families and we have things we have to answer to, which is fine. You handle that. But still, you still need that alone time. And yeah, the toughest thing for me would be, you know, I had to let go. It was tough and it wasn't tough because now, looking at where I'm at now, it was a great thing for me to do. But I had to let go of a lot of people. That keeps coming up in a lot of conversations I'm having lately, including the internal conversation with myself.

There's been a lot of people over the last year that have kind of exit. or hopped off my train so to speak and when it's happening in real time it hurts so bad because you have a form of relationship with that person and you care about them but then I realize it's like man this old saying people come into your life for a reason season or a lifetime man and you know the reasons are cool the seasons are cool and if it's a lifetime fantastic but in order for you or myself to grow into the professional that we see our as that we feel that God gave us the gifts to achieve, some people are going to have to fall off the boat. Absolutely.

And we have to start looking at that. And for the person watching right now, you may not have to let someone go. You may have to have some moments of solitude so you can heal, so you can get yourself right in your own mind, so you can push towards that version of yourself that's going to achieve everything that you want. Absolutely. And I think in those moments of solitude, you need to hear yourself. There's too much outside noise in the life we live today. Everything is instant gratification.

So again, you've been working on the show for six years, you know, and it has been hard. There's kids nowadays. You know, I think the younger generation is more impacted by this where it's instant gratification. They start a podcast in a week if they don't have 100,000 views. They're like, oh, man, this is bullshit. I'm done with it. You know what I mean? No, it's consistency.

It's six years down the road. It's getting the gas. It's putting a team together. And again, you know, this is probably not. the team you started with six years ago. Exactly. That's how it goes. It's growing pains. You know, you, you had the best intention for these people. They probably had the best intentions for you.

But as you start growing in it, so you, as you want to start doing better for yourself and your family, people need to get let go of. And they're not understanding, like I said earlier, you know, with Pitbull and I said with yourself, I can't see your vision. So if I'm part of your team and we get to a point where like, Yuli, you're not,

you're not seeing my vision, brother. I need you to I need you to get with this, you know what I mean? No, no, but, but something is like this. oh no brother you're not you're not you're not understanding i love you man and you're still my boy but this right here we got to cut this off and that's the way it has to be you know and that hurts sometimes you know but it does because you you go through these moments right or you know you did the right thing professionally but you're getting slammed right out there by people right running their mouth he's a cell out right right for me i have a big heart and i and i know you do

too right how do you reconcile in those moments where people are you know you know you leaves a sellout he don't he don't come around no more man you know what i um it's funny he said because it does this happen recently i want to say like maybe two months ago and you know and they're like no hey they said this about so i'm like yeah i honestly like now where i'm at like i'm i'm i've always been very confident myself now more than ever because i live such a righteous life and i'm with my only my family 24-7 like if my wife is taking my my my kids got football practice stuff. If not my wife would be here, if not my kids would be here. Like, I'm with them on a constant basis. And again, I live such a righteous life.

Now, I'm human. Do I mess up here and there? Yeah, but, but my messups are very minor compared to what they used to be. Nothing that's going to hurt anybody. Nothing that's going to, you know, damage my marriage or my career or anything like that. So when they say these things and, you know, and it's people that I've hung out with and, and again, I have a huge heart. And that's one thing about me. Even when I was doing bad, I've always had a huge heart. I'd always give you the shirt off my back and the roof over my head at any at the drop of a hat. So when people say this, I honestly just laugh it off, you know. And, and then I ask them, you know, I asked the person was telling me, okay, hey, go, go ask them why, you know, why they're not around here

right now or not, whether they're not in trouble. It's, yeah, did I make a change? I did. But they were with me when I was making the change. They couldn't make a change as well. They decided to stay behind. Yeah, I can't. I can't. I can't. Now, when it comes to that as well, if your mortgage is due or tax man's on your ass, are they going to help you pay for these bills? Absolutely not, you know? Another huge thing, which I'm sure, I don't know if you have it in your notes. My son, he's 13 years old.

When he was 10, they found a tumor in his fever bone. He had osteosarcoma. I spent a year in the hospital with my son fighting cancer. He beat it. Thank God. He's kicking ass. He's as strong as can be. He's a badass.

He's my hero. But moments like those, you know, you figure out who's true and who's not, you know. And not that I need anything from anybody, but a phone call to say, yeah, how's your son doing? Some damn support. That's it. Some support or even just a just a phone call to say, how's your son doing? Yeah. How are you doing?

I'm here for you bringing some food or anything. Hey, brother. You know what? 99% of the time I'll probably tell you no. But I better remember that phone call. Yeah, exactly. So things have happened throughout my life with no plan, just destiny itself, and God putting these things on the road that have been able, that I've been able to separate these people without really trying in a sense. You know what I mean?

No, there was some time where I did, hey, look, I'm doing better. I can't be around this. And in situations like those where my son was going through cancer and I didn't want to talk to anybody. and I didn't need anybody around and very few people called anyway. So it was very easy just to like X amount in the way. I want to sit with that for a second because one of my biggest fears

is something going down with one of my three children. I have two dollars in a boy. My son's almost 13. So when you said 13, I'm like, my ears perked up. Recently, we lost a kid that I coached. Two years ago, Fourth of July would have been two years.

He got diagnosed with brain cancer, and he died on July 29th. So on a Wednesday when I'm on vacation, I got the news. It's heartbreaking. When you're in that hospital room with your son, man, take me back to that moment. What was going through your mind? Because that is a fear probably bigger than what was going through your mind when you were going to prison. Absolutely. First off, God bless that child and his family.

I know that it's, I can't even imagine. You know, and with that one, real quick, before you go on it, it's hard to believe that his assignment was 11 years long, but that young man brought more people to Jesus than any adult has done in their whole entire life. The kid's viral. Like, everybody knows in our community about Isaac, and it's beautiful, but it's still hard to stomach, man,

because, I mean, selfishly, I want him here. Of course. He was one of my players. Like, I miss that kid. And that's not selfish to want that. No. No. a child you know yeah and you know i include myself included in this statement there's people who've

done a lot worse and and i've lived a lot longer you know um yeah so to take you back to that moment it's uh yeah prison was even scary compared to this like this is like the bottom drops all you know I mean it uh so his birthday's March 3rd he had had this this little pain you know he played He played tackle football since he was nine, and he played basketball. Something he had a Charlie horse or something, you know? Yeah. Pain continues. Now he turns, you know, March 30 turns 10 years old.

This is already a few months. I had already taken him to the doctor. Doctor told me he was growing pains. You know, I take him to my guy who's a PT. Poor kid because my son, I can't, he's not letting me even touch his leg. So I take him to my friend with PT. Obviously, they got a massage the leg. And he's like, please, that's my leg.

But you don't know any better. Yeah. I'm going off this doctor, I know, for 20-something years. You know, he's telling me he's growing pain. All right, it's growing pains. One day I dropped him off at school. It was right after he turned 10 years old. At his party, he has a pool party.

He's kind of limping there, too. I dropped him off school. When he gets out of the car, he's got his boatbag. He's like, limping. You know, I'm like, man, get back in the car. Going to an emergency room. I had to recall the doctor before, too. Can I get an MRI?

And they give you this run around, you know, the insurance run around. Yeah. I'm not blaming on the guy. It was just like, it was. was that nothing could be direct. The bureaucracy about it. Exactly.

I'm in the car. Go to the emergency room. We do x-rays. Finish doing x-rays. We get back in the car. I'm taking them back to school. They send the x-rays over to his primary. Dr. calls me,

take them back. We found a lesion on his femur bone. Take him to oncology. At this moment, I'm 42, 43 years old. I have no idea what oncology is, believe it or not. I'm Googling this thing. I'm going to know. Onchal cancer, doctor.

I'm trying to call the doctor back day. We get to Nicholas Children's Hospital, one of the best, not one of the best, the best children's hospital, at least in Florida, Miami. Take them back to give us a room. This is already like March 8th. My birthday is March 14th, so his March 3rd. Now we're in the hospital about March 8th. I think it's like a Thursday or some. We're in a hospital, they're running some tests.

We're like, oh, we're going to do biopsies and stuff. Tuesday, March 14th in the morning, they come in the room. I'm still in the hospital and they're like, my, happy birthday, the kid has a tumor and his femur bone. It's called osteosarcoma. This is the game plan. 18 weeks of chemotherapy,

surgery, they're going to, I'll tell you the surgery now, but surgery, and then 10 more weeks of chemotherapy. First thing, my son says, am I going to lose my hair?

If I can lose my hair, and he says, yeah, you're going to lose your hair. So we go through that, 18 weeks. Now in the surgery, shout out to the doctor. Thomas Temple, this guy made, he made up the surgery, which is amazing.

They could get a cadaver bone. They took out his fibia, which is the back of his calf bone, put it inside the femur, the cadaver bone femur. So his DNA would regenerate everything. They shoot some stem cell in there, and he has a rod holding everything together. So he does 18 weeks of chemotherapy. He has to do the surgery. Then nothing for four weeks, no chemo, and then 10 more weeks of chemo.

if anybody knows what chemo is it does help but it's poison as well so it's helping and it's killing you at the same time very tough man very tough moment in life you know me and my wife were there i slept in a hospital every day i was this happened to fall at a perfect timing right when my son had surgery he had those four weeks off i was the co-main event for floy mayweather when he fought john goddy the third right here at the florida panthers arena so i got to do that one fight i was in the hospital running up the garage and doing push-ups in my son's room and there wasn't no boxing. I wouldn't leave my son alone. You know, I was there every moment.

So, you know, your question was how scary was, and it was the most scariest thing in the world. Every, I don't want to say every, but I know so many children that passed away that were with us there. I know all their families. There was one family that came from Costa Rica that I helped the lady move in, I helped the lady move out when her child passed away. there was one little girl that went to school my son that was in there as well that we ran shout out to my boy Stunner

we ran four miles every four hours for 48 hours to raise money for this girl and she ended up passing away a lot of kids passed away and my son made it and it's tough man that is a scary thing I can't even imagine

watching one of my children go through that for a year I mean you're talking you know 23 weeks of chemotherapy therapy in total that's half a that's damn near half a year 28 18 and then 10 that's more yeah so that's more than a half yeah we're there from March November 11th he rang the bell 11 11 11 you rang the bell and and he's been cancer free ever since again he's playing football kicking ass he does weights with me he does 70 push up straight he does 15 pull up straight he's cocked diesel he's dirt he just turned 13

man yeah man you know but that you know those moments you know taught him that if I can get through this, I can lift that weight. If I can do this, then I can go through that hell week in football. That is going to build your son. Absolutely. Into this freaking monster, no pun intended. No, no. A little junior monster to a point where nothing can fuck with them.

No, and I tell them all the time. My brother, this is nothing compared to what you beat already. You know what I mean? And, you know, thank God. None of these kids on your team ever ever done that. You know what I mean? None of these kids on your team ever done that. And thank God for that, you know, but you have.

You've already dealt with something way bigger than any of these kids have. So push, brother, you know. That fight you had, you know, at the Panthers Arena. Did you win that fight? It was an exhibition fight. I fought against Callas Karim. Shout out to him, man. He's a kid from London.

So me and him were the Coleman event for Floyd Mayweather when we fought in London at the O2 Arena. And then we had such a great fight then. an exhibition fight, none of us were a winner, but I'll tell the truth, if it came down to scoring the fight, he would have beat me. He was a great boxer. He is a great boxer. We fought that night, and I don't know if you remember that fight,

but Floyd fought John Gotti III, and they got into a huge rumble. So I'm in the back getting my eyes stitched up, and people are flooding into my room because it was a crazy fight. I know John Gotti Jr. well. I met him through Hector Lombard, another fighter, and I consider him a good friend, great people. But I was very lucky to have that opportunity. And again, it landed on a perfect time where my son was able to come see me. He was ringside. You know, he was ringside in his

wheelchair. He had a big thing on his leg. But man, you know, again, these are things in life that I look back. I'm like, it's hard to believe in coincidences. The way things happen, man, you know what I mean? Like, it's just crazy. Everything just happened to play out at the perfect moment and I got these opportunities and only fight I could ever do that whole entire year was that day and I got to do it, you know, and hearing this is just I hear it so differently because I didn't experience it, right? To me, the win is being in the ring and your son being there. Absolutely. That's the biggest one. You're right. How did that moment feel? That was bigger than never, man. It was huge. So that night was huge, but like I said, we're still in the middle of it.

So it was, was there a win to have them there? Absolutely. But, I didn't feel like that yet because we still had another 10 weeks of chemo coming up. December of 2020 he beat in November December of 2020 I signed a three-fight deal with bare-nacle boxing BKB still fighting for them I fight for them no August 29th here in Miami yes here in Miami James on the Light Center everybody come watch yeah my first fight for them was January of 24 right after my son be cancer now I'm going to tell you a couple things. I put them in the ring after I won, carried them. That was

like a huge win. I got to announce obviously I didn't put none of this stuff in social media. My son was going through cancer or anything. Everybody didn't even know what was going on. Finally in January, I announced that, hey, my son just beat cancer. This fight was huge, but this is nothing compared to this kid just beat.

But I signed this three-fight deal after being a year, basically March and November in the hospital, not training. I signed a three-fight deal. I love the sport, but I I was sending more out of making it was a great deal. I needed to make some money. This is what I know how to do.

This is what I want to do. But I was scared because I wasn't training. That whole year of 2024, I took three fights. I never really trained. You know, I'd go to the gym maybe three to four times a week. I'd half ask it for 45 minutes to an hour. Where now I'm in the gym, three hours a day. I'm doing three trainings a day because I'm back.

I got that fire back in me. But 2024, I was kind of scared. My last fight was August of 2014. I retired. I laid down my gloves, laid my shoes and a thing. Bare knuckle boxing retired me, gave me a beautiful montage of all my fights. And I started working with the company,

which I still do. But I knew I still had that fire in me. Just at that moment, I was more worried about my son. And I was, I didn't, 2004, you know, yeah, he was out of the hospital, but all I wanted to do was, I was training, just thinking about going back home and hanging out with him.

You know, that's all I wanted to do. So I wasn't in it I wasn't mentally in it So did those fights Finally I want to say Now it's been a little over a year Since 2025 I've been training every day But I got that fireback

I got that fireback I stepped to these guys That bare knuckle boxing told him You're like hey you're retired You retired with us And I know I did But I want to come back You know Paul and Malanaji

retired and he came back with you guys I want to do the same thing I still have a lot to show the world And they gave me this opportunity So August 29 James L Night Center the monster. So this is your first fight back?

Yeah, so March of 2025, I did a fight with dirty boxing. I fought the first guy I ever fought against in Bar-Nockel. We fought in dirty boxing, beat his ass again. But I just, again, I was still kind of in and out of it. I wasn't like really training. Now I'm like where I'm, I feel like this is back the beginning of my career. I feel like I'm back getting high off training. And, you know, like, I feel like this is my drug and I feel amazing.

And I feel bad for the guy who's going to stand in front of me, man, because I'm trying to I have this crazy fire inside of man. I feel amazing. I feel like I'm back 20 years old, man. You know, that's amazing. And, you know, the time period where you just weren't in it, you wanted to train for 45 minutes,

half asses and get back to your kid. That's called priorities, man. I mean, truly, like, you're not healed at that point. You're still going through it. Even when he beat it, you still have to work through the trauma of watching what your son just went through.

You know, now you know he's good. He's ripped. he's doing pull-ups, he's kicking ass on the football field, all that kind of stuff. Now, Monster can come back out and play, and it's time to execute that. A lot of people would not have the balls to come back and do it again. You're different. What's the mission in the next few years for you? The mission is, man, you know, I've honestly been thinking a lot about that,

about what it is, what my mission is. And honestly, just to get myself on the, I was thinking on the way over here, I want to get myself on the best pound for pound list. You know, the top of it would be great. Anywhere on it I'm happy with. And just I'm on my mission, honestly, to be like really clear even with myself and to be honest is I'm on a day-to-day mission. You know, I want to get through the day. I train this morning.

I still got training to do this afternoon. Get through it. no slacking no excuses no this got in the way stay on my meals get my rest take care of my family be present and once i get done today through today i get tomorrow again wake up in the morning get my training get my things done and i and i'm on this day-to-day mission i don't want to look too far ahead one thing like i just told you i do want to be on the best problem for problem list hopefully you know we're working towards that but i'm on this mission where i got to get through today and i have a lot to do today and I'm saying today in general you know what I'm course I want to knock this out

and get through the next day because if I say I'm going to do three work else in a day and I do two I'm I'm hard on myself the next day I'm like you're a slacker you're a slacker and I and I put myself in the shoes of this guy working harder than me you know what I mean does this guy want it more than me and there's doubt there's doubt and doubt is terrible for you when you're when you're being a fighter now I know I've been putting in the work I've been putting in the work and I know I haven't been slacking whatsoever. And it's like Kobe said, I'm so confident because I know I put in the work. And that's what I'm going in with.

I feel so confident. I feel so ready because I know I haven't missed a day of work. And it hasn't been no slacking. Hasn't been no excuses. The food's been on point. The CV's been on point. You know, and again, I'm still present. You know, I'm still present for my family.

They need me there. I can't just worry about my fighting because I got a real life to take care of as well. And I've been doing everything perfect, you know, or, you know, as perfect as can be. what you're saying sure of course and I feel great about it I feel great about it you know that's maturity though you know and what I want the audience to really take from that and this is so important that you guys do you're in love with the process right now absolutely so you have a goal but you're not focused on the destination you're focused on today that's right what do I need to do today and when

my mind shifted to that you know for me it's just getting in the gym and being healthy I want to live a long time for my kids I want to walk both my daughters on the hall. Hey, man, I want to live until I'm 95, bro. You know what I'm saying? I want to be here. 1.95.

Hey, nowadays, shit, you never know. If they can figure out the, you know, the whole bone system. Well, you know, like the, God, what is that? The, oh my God, why can I think of it?

Damn it. But, but, but when you look at the body, you want to be able to be mobile, right? You want to be able to, they can figure out the regenerative tissue, you if they can figure out the bones and all that kind of stuff, then you can live a quality of life.

So, hey, man, if I can live so I'm 195, but still move around like, dude, sign me up. You're right, but on the way there where we're at now, as long as you eat right, you sleep right, and you live a clean life. Yeah. You could, you know, you could make it, you know, as far as far. And hopefully by the time we make it real far,

they figure that out and we just boost them. Done. Like, but see, that's the perfect thing about it, though, right? Is, and this is what's so important, and this is the step that everybody misses. And admittedly, I've missed it a lot, too. I was always focused on what the goal was. And when I hit the goal, that night, I'd be so excited.

The next day I wake up depressed, because I wasn't chasing anything more. And then I had to retool everything. But what if we all, just like you're doing now and I'm doing and the people that I'm involved with do, fall in love with the work every single day because they realize, and we realize that's the gift. That's the present.

And it's a gift. The goals and the achievements, those are cool. But if you lose all the stuff in between, you won't enjoy that moment at all. So when you do hit that pound for pound and make it to the top, you're going to appreciate it so much more because you did the damn work consistently.

That's right. That's right. It's powerful. Thank you. And every day, I'm telling you, you know, it's, I love what I do, but it's never easy. You get to the jamming or, you know,

I'm 45, all, everything. It's cracking and moving and you're like, ah, but once I get that thing rolling, I'm like, I can't wait for the second workout. Once the machine's greased, it's time to go. That's it, that's it, you know, so I look forward to every day. And you made a good point, man. You know, yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery. Today's a gift. That's why they call it the present.

Bang. Bang. Like, for me, like, I'm turning 48 in October. You look great. Thank you, man. And I, and I, there's times every day. I'm like, yeah, I don't, I'm, nah, I could lay in bed with my wife. Of course.

I could sleep in, sneak one in, you know, for the kids wake up. But I was like, but wait a second. I set my alarm for a reason. So I told myself something. And if I don't do it, I'm not making a vote for myself. I'm making a vote for the enemy. And I don't want that old Sean coming back.

Lazy, Sean, undisciplined, Sean. I want the best version of me. And the key to that is, is always doing what you said you were going to do. Right. Because you can lie to yourself. no one else is going to see it. That's right. But you know.

Right. And when you step in that ring or in the arena of life, you don't get your ass knocked out. That's right. Period. You know, you and, you mentioned your wife, Dana.

Yeah. You know, congrats to her on being such a badass as well. She is a badass. You guys are two fighters, but entirely different. Yeah. What does she get to see with you

that the fight world doesn't get to see? Well, you know, she sees the sweet, you know, husband. I mean, everybody gets to see it, but not the way she does. You know, I am so head over heels about my wife.

I'm, you know, I tell her every day, I'm infatuated with her. I'm obsessed with her. I love my wife, man. She's been such a blessing in not only my life or family's lives. She's just an amazing person. She's actually taught me so much about just life itself and, you know, and being, you know, discipline

and being a man of my word and being a good husband and being a good son and being a good father. She's just an amazing person. And I'm married into an amazing family. Her father, her mom, her sister, just great people, you know, and that are in all my family, you know. And it's just such a blessing. You know, I couldn't.

If you asked me to write the most perfect person down, it wouldn't be as good as her, you know? Dude, that's badass. What I'm hearing is she's your rock. She's definitely my rock. You know, when I met my wife, I don't know what the hell she saw on me. I mean, truly, it's, what's wrong with you?

You know, gorgeous woman, Ecuadorian, you know, I got my Latin princess, man. And I just couldn't understand what she saw on me, but she saw the potential. She saw what was buried beneath all the insecurity, everything. And being married to her is the reason who I am right now. like how we choose our partners and this is important for everybody too to really take in because there's people that are thinking about getting married to somebody like

but man it may not be right I don't know but hey it's good enough don't do it right if that man or woman is not making you a better person and not holding your ass to the fire then it's not the right person and it should feel uncomfortable it should feel very uncomfortable

when your wife or your husband is just on you, like that's not the way. That's not who I'm married. That's not who you're going to be. That's not the example you're going to set for our children. Like to me, there's so much value in that. And you have to be, you have to have a large amount of humility

in order to deal with that. I just think it's super special to hear that, man. Thank you, man. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Yeah. There are moments of uncomfortable ability because especially the way I grew up, I'm very, and when my son, you know,

I have my son and I have custody of my nephew and my niece, you know, and I'm very soft on them. You know, she's, I don't want to say she's the disciplinary, not, she's not mean or anything, but she knows how to, you know, set rules and set boundaries where I'm like, I don't know, but, you know. So she's a yin to my yang, and like you said, that's a great word, she is my rock. She has, I don't know what she saw me either, to Drew, but I'm glad she saw it, and she brought it out of me, and you know I am the man I am today because of her. Dude, I love to hear that man. I think wives deserve credit.

Absolutely. Because people that are in the public eye like us, it's a different life. Yeah. It really is. And if they support it, that's a strong-ass woman, dude. But let me tell you,

she's way more of a megastard than I am, though. Dude, she's a badass, right? Yeah, she's a baddust. She was at WWE for 12 years. She wrestled with TNA. You know, she's been in a limelight longer and stronger than I ever have. you know so she's taught me a lot with that too that's wild she probably knows my friend

daria baronado darry's my dog man dude she was just in here bro no way darry's my that's my home that's my home girl dude yeah she's she's in tna now too i know yeah yeah she started that clothing brand demon yeah yeah yeah dude that's my dog bro she was just in here this morning yeah man well her and my wife i've met her obviously because of my wife they're their great friends uh from wwee Now she went to DNA, TNA. But yeah, I know Dario very well. That's wild, bro. What was her wrestling name, though?

Sonia Deville. Sonia Deville, yeah. Now she's on her own name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, what a small world, man. Well, it's a small world, but then, you know, when you get into things like this, and especially, like, you know, combat world

and just behind the scenes of, like, you know, kind of the influence of the world that we're in, it becomes a lot smaller, man. You realize that. Yeah. You think it's as big as a freaking, hole in the world but it's a freaking Coke can, bro. It is. It is. It is. It's

well, you gotta watch what you do. You do. You do. You, you you know, you fuck over one person. Sorry if I can't. No, you can do. You can go. But you mess over one person. You know what I mean? It'll get right back around quick, man. That's true man. You know, it's funny because like, you know,

your name's monster, right? And you've even said if you saw yourself at night walking down the you would even cross over to the other side. Who wins on your worst day, the monster or Yuley? Who wins on my worst day?

The monster or Yuli? I think Yuli wins because, you know, the monsters inside Yulee. I'm the one who made that persona. And, you know, Yuley's the one with all the determination, the discipline, the why, the how, and the want you know so definitely you'll beat his ass that's good man the funny thing is the nickname monster comes from my first coach josh dempsey uh so when i first started boxing again i was doing weights at the time i was like 225 i was cocked diesel so i'd go everywhere he'd call me his pet monster he's like oh here's my pet monster and the name stuck and you know first fight came wrong is

uly monster that's awesome and here we are the day so the knockout in three seconds yeah from bell when Benedetto hit the mat walk me through every second of it so from Bell to when Benadero hit the mat it's like one and a half seconds if you watch the fight it's only one and a half seconds the bell is still ringing when he's on the mat kicking his feet unconscious so to walk you through this fight I was training for this moment I do you know I watch video on anybody I fight I watch video whatever video I could pull up on him Benadetto was about six four big guy and I I noticed that whenever somebody, when everybody, anybody, he fought MMA, he fought kickboxing,

when people would put pressure on him, his thing to do would stretch his arms out and put his chin in the air. So I noticed this with a few different fights. So I went back to my coach and I go, coach, this is what this guy does. So we started going and in Bernouk, we started three feet apart. So I'm coming off the line. I'm coming with a jab. If I, you know, the jab was really just to get him to stretch out. And then I came with that overhand right, landed right on the right.

money and we made history that gone gone gone it was an amazing night uh that's what really i think cemented my name in the in the fight world uh made my name ring bells all over the world i got that was a friday by monday i was getting calls from korea japan italy you know in france i was getting calls from all over the world uh i was in a newspaper i was in sports center it was it was just an amazing moment in my life and and it was a little more gas for me to just know that this is what i need to to do. It just made me just want to keep going and keep training. Like I said, I fought Friday. I was back in the gym on Monday and I was still training and I actually had to fly out of town

because I was commentating on some fights in Dominican Republic. But it was just an amazing moment in life, man. Dude, that's wild. Now, you have said you practiced that punch and you saw it. You've been practicing it for weeks. Did you really manifest that or is just that preparation talking? You know what? I think it's a little bit of both. You know, it was a lot of preparation. and a little manifestation because, again, I saw his faults and we worked on him and we worked on him and worked on him and the preparation turned into manifestation.

And I believe that 100%. I believe it. I think you need to see things, but you also need to prepare. That's one thing I do. I have a reminder on my phone every day on a daily reminder. I sit down by myself somewhere in my house that don't matter. And I just visualize.

And I want to visualize. I want to visualize this fight. And I, you know, I always see it the way it goes. Does it go exactly as you see it? I'm 99.9% of the time, no. But it helps a lot with everything in life, you know what I mean? And I definitely do that, especially when it comes to these fights. You know, I want to be comfortable in my head.

So when I get up there, you're not jittery or nervous. Like I saw this fight 50,000 times before I even got up here to see this guy. So let's rock and roll, buddy. That's kind of like the old saying, like my baseball coach, she just telling me this. The fight is already won or lost before you enter the ring. That's right. That is a big lesson on preparation.

Now, the promotion, the last couple of years, gave the record to somebody else. Yes. You dispute it to this day. I do. I do. Make your case. Okay. So, you know, shout out to Justin Watson.

Watson, he's the one that they gave him 2.9, minus three. So, again, I put it side by side on my Instagram. Me and him are good friends. you know I've you know I met him in person I've invited him in the fight he's a great guy he's a great guy and he deserves his credit as well because this is extremely fast as well if you watch so the so for the moment the referee says fight to the to the moment the referee stops it is is how fast it is if you watch our fight side by side put him simultaneous and watch how happens mine comes off

faster now this is my thing I got it I got that record in BKFC. I fought for them five times. My second fight, which is November 2020 during the pandemic, I got the record. November 13th, 2020, I got the record. I fought for them probably three more times. I fought two world titles from one against Tiago Alves and one against Francisco Ritchie. I got beat both times.

Great fight against Tiago Alves. It was probably five of the year. We lost to a girl fight, which is amazing as well, but that one's up in the air as well. I left a promotion. I don't want to say I left under, it wasn't like terrible terms, but I left pretty abruptly because it got to a point they were fighting me,

you know, I was making decent money, but I was fighting once a year. And you can't live off that, not with sponsors, not with fight money, not with any of it. So,

you know, I went over, spoke to this promotion. They gave me a great deal. I fought with them three times just on my first contract, three times in one year. So as soon as that happens, I want to say, you know, in the year that I'm in there, this happens, you know.

And David Feldman, who's the CEO, he gets a knockout, and he happens to be holding up a timer that says 2.9 seconds. It looked all very staged to me. And again, I don't want to say nothing from Justin. It was an amazing knockout. It was very fast. He's a great person and he's a great fighter. I'll just let the crowd to, you know, you guys pick for your. yourselves, go look at it for yourselves, put it side by side.

Let me know who's faster. Me or Justin Watson? You're going to have to send that to me if it's not pinned, so I don't have to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pinned, but I'll send you. Okay, I'll check it out then. You mentioned the Tiago, all of us fight. Yeah. You know, you were doing really well in that fight.

It's like you had it, and the third round, it slipped away. When you look back now, what do you see in that fight? So, man, you know, I fought a dude. It was funny, so I used to have a podcast called Don't Blink Podcast. Oh, huh. And after we fought, two weeks later, I have. him on as a guest after we fought and I wanted to show him that in November 2005 when he made his debut in UFC I was in confinement doing 90 days in the hole in prison I have a picture me in prison

in November 2017 5 and I picture him in his UFC fight 2005 and how crazy life is that it that eventually it brought us together in 2021 for this fight it was fight of the year um I dieted so well for that fight I trained so well for that fight I trained like it was like the you know the fight of my lifetime, which it was, it was for a title, the first middleweight title for BKFC. It was an amazing fight. No excuses. He beat me. There's no excuses.

But this is factual. I weighed in after dieting for months to make this 175 weight. As soon as I weighed in, I started eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I ate this garbage. And it was one because I was starving and two because of nerves kind of, right? So I was kind of like nervous and I was like, I was like, I was like, I just want to eat and I the next day warming up for this fight. My stomach was done when I was I sat on the toilet probably five times

My stomach was grumbling. I was in terrible shape when it comes to that like you know stomach wise Got into a fight started off very well. I dropped them in the second round. It was amazing My fatigue Fatigue, fatigue probably from the adrenaline dump and the stomach at the same time it was kind of two things I once he's been in these situations many of times more than I have and he shined you know he's a veteran and you know hats off to him he was the first you know middleweight champion for BKFC and you know I can't give you any excuses I'm telling you factually what really happened and anybody that knows me knows is the truth I

messed myself up I think I could have done a little better maybe if I wasn't you know but you know my adrenaline dumped and my stomach was banged up I lost a fight I lost an amazing fight's an amazing fighter you know well I mean that's not an excuse that's a mistake that you made that you're holding a huge mistake yeah yeah and it won't happen again no no no so the next time no and it hasn't happened since then since then I'm like all right now now I'm actually scared I stick I stick to my plan because I know what can happen I went through it you know and it's happened I mean anybody out there that's watching that's a fighter knows because they diet to make this

weight and then after if you put in something that your body's not used to over the last month or two if you're not eating your stomach's gonna, you know, it's gonna get gassy, it's gonna get shitty, it's gonna get bad, but your body's not used to it. Dude, it doesn't even take that long. I've done 72 hour fasts, you know? And if you eat something hard,

and dude, like the last one I did recently, I broke the fast in a bad way. Yeah, because you're supposed to like soup and water and... Yeah, we're just like, you know, some fruit and some yogurt the first time, and then a little bit of protein. Then you can go, right. Dude, I had popcorn at the movies.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, so dumb. I felt like absolute trash for like three days. That's another thing too from eating bad that I didn't mention. Eating bad, the next day, from being in the bathroom and from eating bad, I felt lethargic because food could do that to you too. It just made me feel heavy and I felt like shit.

And I just, you know, I carried into the fight and he outperformed me. Yeah, man. Hey, but it's, again, it's a lesson. And that's what I asked the question because I wanted to know the real answer. and I want the audience to be able to translate and take your story and internalize and be like where are they making the mistakes because everything we do here and the conversations

that we have with amazing guests like yourself is just to get back to them because they may not know you but something in your journey sparks something in them that they can relate to and now they can move forward without permission from anybody else to become the best versions of themselves that's right like Tupac said

I might not change the world but I might spark the mind that it can go on to change the world. Tupac. Miss that guy. Like that, that sucked. He was a, you know,

a poet and a genius. He sure was, man. But thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure meeting you, dude. And I'm going to talk to the boys. Maybe we can make it to the 29th, man.

That would be freaking awesome to see you in action, dude. That would be great, man. That would be amazing. I think we have a post-fight podcast as well. Get back on there and talk about, you know, how I went. That'd be great. Thank you so much.

the opportunity man i love what you're doing i love the show i love the guests you've had on you've had some some very close friends of mine great people and listen man consistency is key keep going right bro thank you my man and for you for you guys listening if you want some updates on amazing guests like yule here go to the determined society dot com sign up for the updates and until next time guys stay determined