Digital Social Hour - The Brutal Truth About Fighting Friendships in the UFC I Anthony Pettis DSH #494

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

🔥 The Brutal Truth About Fighting Friendships in the UFC! 🔥 Join us on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly as we dive deep into the world of UFC with fighting legend Anthony Pettis! 🥊 This episode is packed with valuable insights and raw truths about what it takes to maintain friendships while competing in the brutal world of mixed martial arts.  Anthony opens up about his iconic fights, the mental toughness required, and the incredible discipline of fighters who observe Ramadan while training. From sparring with friends to facing off against legends like Wonderboy and Nate Diaz, Anthony shares it all. 💥 Don't miss out on this eye-opening conversation! Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more thrilling stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Tune in now and join the conversation! 👊 #DigitalSocialHour #SeanKelly #Podcast #AnthonyPettis #UFC #FightingFriendships #MMA #SubscribeNow #KarateKid #TraditionalMartialArts #Fighting #UfcFights #UfcWeightCutting CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - Karate Combat 1:51 - Favorite League to Fight In 2:33 - Most Iconic Fights 3:24 - Fights You Should Have Won 5:45 - Mental Approach Going Into Fights 7:25 - What Happened After You Lost Your Belt 9:58 - What Happened When You Fought Anthony Pettis 11:01 - What Happened When You Fought Nate Diaz 12:44 - Does Semen Retention Help You Win Fights 14:51 - How Long Have You Been With Your Wife 16:18 - Are you going all in on boxing 16:50 - Have you ever bet on your own fight 19:17 - Have you seen the skill level increase since you started 20:56 - Will Conor McGregor ever fight again 22:05 - Can you fight your friends 23:39 - How did you meet Criss Angel 25:21 - What was it like being on Mike Tyson’s podcast 29:54 - Psychedelics 30:28 - Ego 32:22 - Outro APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://forms.gle/D2cLkWfJx46pDK1MA BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Anthony Pettis https://www.instagram.com/showtimepettis/ https://link.me/showtimepettis https://millions.co/anthony-pettis-mma-2 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/apfc-fight-fiesta-feat-chito-vera-jose-aldo-tickets-871512265647 SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I mean, if you do Ramadan, you already know the dedication levels. That's the fasting? Yeah, the fasting, yeah. I have teammates that do Ramadan plus train with us. So they don't drink any water after practice. I'm like, man, if you could do that, that's a different level of toughness. Bro, I tried playing basketball game on a fast and I felt so weak, dude. Yeah, lightheaded.

These guys are sparring and doing full classes. So if they could do that, the UFC is easy. That's not right. Yeah, so I was like, man, if you could do that, that's a different level of mind control. Wherever you guys are watching this show i would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe it helps a lot with the algorithm it helps us get bigger and better guests and it helps us grow the team truly means a lot thank you guys for supporting and here's the episode all right guys we got a fighting legend in the building today anthony pettis thanks for coming on man of course man absolutely you just came off the karate combat fight right how did that go All right, guys, we got a fighting legend in the building today, Anthony Pettis. Thanks for coming on, man. Of course, man.

Absolutely. You just came off the karate combat fight, right? How did that go? Went well. I mean, honestly, it was my first time doing something besides MMA. I boxed before, but like just the striking portion of it. It's a cool rule set. I think they got something cool going on.

Like it's very entertaining. They're bringing in the right names. So I'm interested to see like where that company goes. And that's interesting because you don't have to be in your prime to do It right because it's more technical. Yeah, I mean you got to have a karate background I got a traditional martial art background just like the the rule set is more based towards traditional martial arts You can't do the low kicks like in MMA. You can't take people down You're not allowed to do the jiu-jitsu parts

It's really just more competition for like because I grew up doing taekwondo and karate as a kid Um, there was no place for us to compete besides mixed martial arts. That's kind of why all the traditional martial artists transitioned into MMA. Right. But there's so many traditional martial artists out there. There's probably more traditional martial artists than there are mixed martial artists. Damn. I didn't know that.

Wow. So you figure like all these, well, karate and Taekwondo are just done so well as a business. A lot of parents put their kids in Taekwondo or karate right away. They grew up doing it. But then once you turn like 15 or 16, there's like really nowhere to go with it unless you went to the Olympics. But then mixed martial arts came and was so popular and kind of all the people transitioned over.

Interesting. Yeah, you fought in a ton of leagues. You've done boxing. What was your favorite league to fight in? UFC. I mean, there's nothing like that, walking out in the UFC crowd. I think what they do as a business

is why it's so done well. Like they know why it's a genius when it comes to marketing and making UFC stand out. But the stand out yeah but the the crowd that's you know part of there i fought in japan actually um satama arena 40 000 people and uh that was the craziest damn that was probably the craziest 40 000 people they were so polite in japan like they they clap like this go clap yeah it's not it's not like america they're not screaming no no one's drinking they understand martial arts. Wow.

Was that your favorite venue to fight in? Yeah, that's my favorite venue. Yeah, for sure. Which fight was that? Joe Lozon. I actually got a head kick knockout, too. Damn. Went perfect.

That's crazy, man. You've had some really iconic fights, man. When you look back at your career, are there any fights you really think about to this day? Man, I would say that the ones I'm proud of is moving up weight classes. Like when I fought Wonderboy, Wonderboy has never been knocked out. He still has never been knocked out. I was the only guy to ever knock Wonderboy out. Wow. He's a good friend of mine, too,. Like when I fought Wonderboy, Wonderboy has never been knocked out. He still has never been knocked out. I was the only guy to ever knock Wonderboy out. He's a good friend of mine too, though.

So shout out to Wonderboy. It's competition. But like, I would say that was probably my, one that I had to earn. Cause like, you know, I moved up weight class. I'm fighting a guy who was, he was top three at the time. And I was coming, I was coming, you know,

from 155 to 170 is a 15 pound jump. And then the rest of them are 10 pounds. So it's like 35, 35. So yeah, I jumped out 15 pounds, fought one of the best and, you know, got 155 to 170 is a 15-pound jump. And then the rest of them are 10 pounds. So it's like 35, 35. So yeah, I jumped out 15 pounds, fought one of the best, and, you know, got a knockout. I feel like when people move up, most of the time they lose. Yeah, it's hard, you know,

because it's like a different, the guys that are at 170 usually cut from like 200 pounds. And then you got your fun guys at 55 that are probably 185, you know, 190. So it's like MMA became like a weight cutting competition. Yeah, that's nuts man are there any fights you lost that you feel like you should have won man there's so many of them i've never been knocked out a knock on wood never been knocked out in a fight uh never been

submitted um actually i've been submitted one time so i gotta take that who was that from carlos diego ferreira it was one of my last fights at lightweight the weight cut was just killing me that's why i moved up weight classes like i think as you get older and as you mature in the sport the weight cut gets harder and harder man like it's just hard to shed them pounds and i also fought at 145 so you know i damn i've done a lot to my body you got a big range yeah bro so my 145 to 200 pounds i fought roy jones jr at 200 pounds holy was that the boxing boxing fight yeah that's nuts dude when you lose is it always by like one mistake or is it usually just it's probably a combination of mistakes like because like in mixed martial arts there's so many ways to win i mean

you got the wrestling you got the the striking part of it you got cage control i usually use against wrestlers guys that pressure me put me on the cage and hold me down my strength is striking so if i can get my range and my rhythm that's when i usually have success but the guys that i struggle with are like you know guys that are good at striking but also have that forward pressure with wrestling like rda rda's guy beat me for my my belt he took my belt for me his style was just in my face the whole fight you know we did 25 minutes and he was just non-stop in my face damn that must be so annoying to fight against yeah like it was like a bad dream yeah i've had some dreams like i don't know if you've ever had one but like in your dream you hit hit somebody and nothing happens. That's how it felt.

Damn, they're just like a brick wall walking straight at you. I mean, their cardio is so good, too, so you really got to knock them out. It's just like a nonstop pressure. Yeah, five rounds is a long fight, man. Five rounds is a long fight. My last fight with Roy Jones, I did a three-minute round, so it was 24 minutes. Jeez, were you more gassed during that or UFC much? No, actually UFC because of the wrestling.

Because I think when it comes to boxing, you know, you just got two hands. You don't understand the rhythm. You have to have like a controlled pace. It's like a marathon. Right. Whereas like MMA is like a sprint.

Like you just go. You got the knees. You got the wrestling. So I think MMA is a lot more tiring. I had more success in MMA just because like my skill set I think.

I had the jiu-jitsu to back it up. A lot of submissions off my back and some crazy knockouts. Yeah, a lot of good fighters have the jiu-jitsu background on the other side. I would say jiu-jitsu to back it up. A lot of submissions off my back and some crazy knockouts. Yeah, a lot of good fighters have the jiu-jitsu background. I would say jiu-jitsu is probably the most practical martial art for anybody to practice. Like if you know jiu-jitsu, you're going to beat the guy that

doesn't know jiu-jitsu just because there's actual rules and regulations that, you know, put you in that position to like break an arm, put somebody to sleep. And then the rest of them are kind of like, you got to get tough and you got to get durable. Kickboxing, kind of the same thing. Absolutely. Talk to me about the mental approach. Was there any opponents you feared going into the fight? I never feared opponents. That's one thing.

My dad told me a quote as a kid, and I lost my dad when I was 16 in a house robbery. So when he died, I grew up doing martial arts with him. He kind of taught me and my brothers the competition side of it. You better win this tournament. And when he passed away, a quote that he gave me was, let up another man put fear in your heart and i just lived by that you know i was like whether it's business whether it's fighting whether it's you know whatever it is like i always i always had that in my head and uh when i go to my opponents i i try to intimidate them man like you can win you can win before the fight it's conor mcgregor one of

the best at doing it yeah wins before the fight even starts i've heard that he gets in your head he gets you emotional, and it breaks your game plan. So I think, you know, I played a lot of that in my career. I saw him do that with Aldo, man. Yeah.

Five seconds, I mean. Crazy. And Aldo's one of the best. You know, Aldo's, I mean, I'd say he's one of the goats of mixed martial arts for what he's done

in his career. Yeah. To see what Conor did to him, he just broke that mental. And he was never the same after June. Never the same. It was crazy.

It's crazy how one fight can just mentally break you for the rest of your career. Yeah, because if you think you're invincible, and all of a sudden you realize you're not, then the next training camp, like, man, I got to fix that hole. And then you kind of overemphasize on that hole, and then you forget what you were good at. Yeah.

And it takes away from your power. And you see guys transition. Like, oh, he was a great striker. All of a sudden he got knocked out once, and then he became a wrestler. He becomes a jiu-jitsu guy. Yeah, i think that's what really happens and then you get coaches as well like the coaches have to be you know mistakes happen in mixed martial arts it's not like boxing like boxing they lose once done mma like you got guys like the champs now they all

have losses like a couple losses it's just like figuring out what the hole was still staying true to what your strength is and trying to fix that hole. Yeah. So when you had that first big loss, where were you at mentally after that? Oh man, it was rough. Um, I never, I've never been bled in a fight before that fight. Wow. That was the first time I got hit, uh, got cut, you know, uh, concussion afterwards. So I felt how it felt to be on the losing side of that. And I was with my wife at the time we were married at the time, but I remember telling her, I'm like, man, if this is how it is, I don't know how much I would, how I want to do this. This is like, this is rough.

So like I was off for like three or four months and then I came back for a training session and then I tear my elbow. First training session. Damn. And I'm off for another like four or five months recovering. So yeah, it was like from that loss to my next fight was almost a year and a half. Holy crap. So that must have been probably your darkest moment. Yeah.

Dark time, man. Like the highest highs. Because like when I came in, I signed with the WEC, which was like the UFC's smaller weight classes. 125, 135, 145. Then 155 was the only division that like crossed over. So when I won the belt and the WEC, I was guaranteed a title shot in the UFC. You're talking about like minor leagues to the major, major leagues. So I was coming over as the champ. I was on a Wheaties box. I've accomplished some crazy stuff in my career. And then, boom, that one fight happens.

And right back to the zero. Which fight was that? Rafael Dos Anjos. Damn. I lost my belt. How'd the fight go? Did he submit you? No, no.

He won a decision. Oh, a decision. He just outscored me on the ground. He took me down. He landed some big punches. The first exchange, he's a southpaw, and I should have went away from his power side.

I went to his power side. Boom, got caught. Oh, so you're supposed to go towards the power side when you're fighting? No, away from his left hand. So if he's a southpaw, you go towards his right.

Got it. If you go this way, power comes. And I made the mistake. I hit with a big punch. Couldn't see for the rest of the fight. Damn. And he just kind of

imposed his will, really. And I hit him with some big stuff. Wow. When I watched the fight back, I'm like, man, I hit him with some big stuff like wow when i watched the fight back i'm like man i hit him with some high kicks and it just didn't affect him like he really wanted to win that's crazy so you literally couldn't see couldn't see yeah when i was and you still were fighting and you still had to fight yeah why don't you just drop out yeah because then you lose and that was my belt so it was like if i lose the belt like it's really hard to get a title shot in the ufc right it's not like it's really hard yeah it takes years right and? And it takes the right formula. It has to be perfect.

You've got guys that have won 15 times. Tony Ferguson won so many fights in a row and never got a title shot just because it didn't add up. It didn't line up right. So a lot of things play into that. It's sad to see his last few fights, man. I feel like maybe he should have called it earlier. He's one of those crazy guys too though it's like he is he's like uh his fighting style was good because he was in your face and you know non-stop

throwing elbows and now you see him uh you know the way he fights it's just like little technical errors now he's not in shape it's like he's just doing things differently right and you fought him right i fought him yeah what was that like uh man that was like one of my favorite fights i mean i had a great fight i broke my hand in the second round damn and i had dropped him so i hit him with like a kick punch so i threw a right kick right punch he drops and i just throw overhand right hit him right on the top of the head and then like he already had me cut open it was pretty funny he's like i'm on top of him and like i don't even know why i did it but i just like put my tongue out and i'm bleeding all my face like it was like one of those in the moment type things. Are you interested in coming

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and here's the episode, guys. The next round, in between rounds, my coach had to stop it because my hand was broke. Ah, so he won that one? He won that one, yeah. Damn, so if you didn't break your hand you probably i think i was winning on that

scorecards because i dropped them and i was already winning that the first round so i feel like on the scorecards i was winning but his style like without a big punch like he's gonna keep coming forward with elbows and right do more damage than i really needed to at that time so he's like nate diaz he just keeps coming oh man he's just non-stop yeah and you fought nate too nate as well i fought everybody that's not the nate one was that like you're just throwing punches and he's not even getting affected so i hit nate with a big high kick first round i won that round i hit him with a low kick and he never checks and for some reason he checked i broke my foot on his on his knee oh right after i break my foot i'm like i told my coach i'm like don't stop the fight i gotta i gotta fight this

one through and his pressure is just ridiculous like if you don't have for him too if you don't have a bomb to keep him off like range and movement to to keep him off you he's just in your face relentless with numbers and yeah so he just he won a scorecard as well that's how he always wins man scorecard always third round he just doesn't drop and he has that cardio he does them triathlons and you know he does he does he does a lot of like cardio work. And it's a weird style because, like, in MMA, there's not that many heavy-level boxers. And he had that boxing style, softball in your face, you know, slaps and, like, yeah, it was.

Has he ever been knocked out, man? He has, yeah. Oh, he has? Yeah, Josh Thompson knocked him out, actually, with a high kick. That was, like, the only time I think he's ever been knocked out. Yeah, I've seen him. They usually have to stop the fight because he's just bleeding so much. Yeah, he just comes.

He just comes. Him and his brother, same style. Yeah. Nick, too. Nick, too, yeah. When you were fighting him, what was going through your head, honestly? Don't lose. I was like, man, I cannot lose this guy. Because me and him had some beef back in the day.

Oh, you did? Yeah, because when I became the champ, he was around forever, right? And then I came in and I just exploded. Put me on the Wheaties box. I did my Showtime kick. And I think he was like, yo, I should be in that spot. He always would say that. Like, yo, I i want to fight the weedies guy because i was in the box and then when we had our fight like we we already had drama and beef actually happened

at a nightclub in vegas it's like our my crew and his crew were like talking back and forth someone threw a drink like ever since then like we all we always had like some kind of like a little tension yeah his crew runs deep too oh they run deep yeah they're 15 20 yeah they're all from ke, too. But after the fight, you know, we squashed the beef, and, you know, it is what it is. Nice. So some of that beef is real that you see. Oh, that one was real, yeah, yeah.

Some of that's real. I never know what's, like, real and what's kind of just marketing. It's hard to tell now. I think after McGregor, everybody, like, thought that they had to, like, talk s***, sell fights. Some people can't even do it. I know, right? Yeah, it's, like, bad s*** talking.

But I think when McGregor happens, like the McGregor effect, everybody tries to talk. That's why I respect Khabib, because he never talked and he just won. Yeah, I respect Khabib a lot too, and where he comes from, Sambo, I would say that's the best martial art to do for mixed martial arts, because it's basically mixed martial arts, and they've been doing it since

as kids, and they're dedicated. I mean, if you do Ramadan, you already know the dedication level is like... That fasting yeah fasting yeah i have teammates that do ramadan plus train with us so i don't drink any water after practice i'm like man if you could do that that's a different level of toughness bro i tried playing like basketball game on a fast and i felt so weak dude yeah lightheaded and these guys are sparring and doing full classes and waiting tonight to eat so they could do that the the UFC is easy. That's not right. Yeah, so I was like, man, if you could do that,

that's a different level of mind control and body control. That's probably why those guys don't lose, man. I agree. I think Andrew Tate said it. He's like, man, if you look at the most of the guys that are champs or around that area, look at their religion background. It comes back to that. If you could have that kind of discipline, it's not hard to put that into fighting.

And then they don't drink. They don't smoke. They don't do any of that other stuff. So they're very focused on that one goal. Yeah. Were you strict on that as well? I was, yeah, no alcohol during training camps. I mean, I drink out of camps. Like when I'm not in training camps for eight weeks, I usually don't drink alcohol. I mean, none of that, nothing while I'm in training camp. And then I'll do my time off, have some fun, hang out with the wife, go on a vacay and then come back and do it again. Load up. Are you doing semen retention also during the eight weeks?

No, I was never part of that. I've never believed in that. I mean, I had sex during fight week. So it's not true then? I mean, I've had sex during fight week, and I've had knockout fights, and then I've had sex during fight week, and I've lost. So it's like, yeah, I've never. Not enough evidence.

Yeah, I never thought it would affect my game plan. I mean, you're cutting weight too. So it's like you're cutting weight, and you're like miserable. So it's like you're cutting weight and you're like miserable so it's like my wife's there i'm like man let me kill some time might as well right right how long you been with her uh 10 years now 12 12 years she's been there from early days early days yeah she she was there when i first won the belt and then that's a real one bro she's seen she's seen everything man she's seen the highs highs the low slows she's helped me out you After the RDA fight, we were in Dallas, Texas. We stayed probably for, I want to say, four or five extra days

just because I was still trying to recover to get out the hotel room. Damn. That's how bad it was. You were that banged up? Yeah, it was just like injuries and the face was all cut up and stuff. And I lost. And when you walk out, everybody's seen that. So it's like my mom, people at the grocery store are like, oh, man, you lost your last fight. so it's like my mom people at the grocery store

like oh man you lost your last fight and it's just like one of those things that kind of fucks you up psychologically it's like the walk of shame almost in college right and it's like everywhere it doesn't go away until your next fight damn that's rough so yeah talk to me about like the because the social media too is probably rough if you have a bad fight and i think when i when i came in so when i won the belt instagram just So, like, it was just starting to happen where, like, people had access to you at all times. And, you know, my Instagram blew up really quick, and I had a lot of people, like, giving their input. Like, hey, you better need to do wrestling or change camps and all this advice. And, yeah, I grew up and understood, like, all right, you got to filter that.

Like, you can see it, but if it plants a seed and, like, it changes the way you think, then you've got to, like, go back and reassess, like, where you're at. Agreed. It's tough these days with so much scrutiny, especially on Twitter, dude. People have no chill on Twitter. I mean, bro, anywhere. Facebook, too, bro. Like, wherever they have access to you, they have no chill.

Absolutely, dude. So are you going all in on boxing? I'm boxing again, so I'm going to do one more. My next fight will be a boxing fight. I wouldn't say I'm done with mixed martial arts yet i just took a break you know i've got other opportunities coming up um money's great outside of you know mma right now nice side of the ufc um but i i i my passion was boxing for a long time like i was really good at boxing i just i mma just made sense at the time more money at the time at the time was quicker to get money in mixed martial arts and i had that quick success yeah now that I have a name, I get to pick and choose

when I want to fight and who I want to fight. So it helps. I saw you say on another show, you've never bet on your own fight. Yeah. Never. How come? I just didn't believe in it. I'm a betting man. I bet a lot. I've done very well in betting and I've made some big wins. I think once you put it on yourself, I'm not even thinking about that like my my only focus back then was like getting two paychecks maybe three you know the show money the win money and then a bonus if I got a knockout and that was like all I would focus on right and then like when I had time to like watch fights and like gather information and see like when you're a fighter you know like what styles win fights and which ones you know can and in mixed martial arts it's crazy because like you would think somebody would

win and then boom they lose like MMA math never really makes sense but I think uh you know for me it's like I the guys I know that I train with the guys that I know like who how hungry they are and how much they want it yeah those are the guys like you put nice bucks on what was your win rate in terms of betting on UFC fights um man I was doing very well I just my biggest one was my little bro uh the fight before this he just came back from from an injury and he was fighting the 145 pound champ in Bellator. And he was a 35 pound champ. And he beat the 45 pound champ. And I think he was like a plus 300, 350. I got him. Yeah. Plus 350. I put like 50,000 on him. You put 50K on your bro? I put 75 all together. Did you tell him before you did it? Yeah, he knew. Yeah, he knew. Yeah, he knew. Yeah, you put that pressure

on him, man. Yeah. I mean, he knows what's up. He's like, I'm a big boy. I take my own risk. That makes sense, though, because most people would say that's gambling, but you have so much knowledge in the sport that you can make educated decisions. It's definitely still gambling, though. You think so? I've made some picks where I'm like, oh, this one's guaranteed to win.

I mean, this last weekend, bro, like Ilya Tuporia comes and beats Volkanovski. Oh, you had Volk? I didn't bet. I didn't bet on that one, actually. But, like, if I had to pick, I would have said Volk. Wow. And, you know, to see Ilya't bet. I didn't bet on that one, actually. If I had to pick, I would have said Volk. To see Ilya do that, man, it's like, man, you never know. Yeah, because the experience, I thought Volk would have him, right? Yeah.

He has this more well-rounded game. Volk can kick. He can wrestle. He has good jiu-jitsu defense. Ilya just came with them hands. I don't think Ilya ever threw a high kick or a body kick in any of his fights. Only punches and low kicks. That's actually crazy. That's crazy, yeah. Because you could counter that knowing that. Yeah, and he just has success with it, man.

So I think when you get to those certain guys, like when I was on my rise to the top, you're so focused and obsessed with the sport that you're like, you just think you're invincible. That's how I felt, man. I would train in any training room. I'd come to Vegas. I'd go to all the gyms here, spar with the best guys,

and I just knew I was the best in the world. You were that guy. I was that guy, yeah. And then once, And I just, I knew, I was like, yeah, I'm the best in the world. You were that guy. I was that guy, yeah. And then like once, like I said, once you get that one first loss, you become human and you're like, oh, I got to figure that part out. Yeah. A lot of people have losses now, like you said, though. It's not like the old days where you were undefeated.

Yeah. It's hard to be undefeated, man. Like there's so many good guys. Like if you see, like I do my own fight show, APFC. I just did a fight show in Manchester. I had a 15-year-old and a 14-year-old fighting, but it's like, it's pancreation style style so you can't hit to the face okay but the level of technique and skill they had was insane I'm like man these guys when they turn 18 that no one's gonna be

even closer to levels one of them had like 50 fights and he's only 14 15 years old 50 fights so you figure the experience level these kids are getting like the the game of mixed martial arts about to be insane in a couple years yeah Have you seen it evolve from when you first got in? Like the skill level go up a lot? A million percent. Like when I first got in, it was like practitioners. Like a guy that had really good wrestling or a guy that had really good jiu-jitsu or a striker. Now everybody knows everything.

Every single style. Yeah, it's like it's a full mixed martial arts. These guys are good at everything. And you have to be these guys because you're fighting so many different styles. Definitely. You can't just specialize in boxing or striking, right? You don't see the guysizes special the guys that are specializing anything like they're not they're not winning fights like they used to because like

yeah other guys know like yeah i'll wrestle this guy or i'll you know take him down dude you're doing this guy yeah yeah look at mcgregor right striking used to be enough to just win fights but now i feel like you need more than just striking definitely you gotta be well-rounded i think he's lost what five straight now he hasn't went he hasn't won in a while yeah it's been like almost 10 years dude yeah it's been but that run was crazy what was going through your head during that run man i was right after my run oh yeah yeah so when he beat aldo i just lost my belt to rda so like our our path didn't cross because of that so like he fought eddie alvarez and i just beat uh fought eddie alvarez like two uh maybe two months before that damn he beat rDA so it was like

so you were right there you almost fought him if you won that fight if I would have won Eddie or RDA me and McGregor would have fought that would have been

a fun fight too yeah two strikers right his style is fun my style is fun I think it would have been a great fight for the fans that's nuts

you think he'll ever fight again or you think he's done I mean he's made so much money that's the hard thing and this is why I think the UFC

has such a great business model they pay their fighters enough to have to fight again. Like, they're not paying these guys millions of bucks and, like, all right, go take a break

for a couple, like, boxing. Like, MMA, like, you get your couple hundred thousand and then they know, like, all right, next year, next couple months,

you know, this guy's going to need to fight. And I think that's why they're so busy. Like, MMA fighters got to stay busy because they want to, you know, pay for their families.

Boxers only fight like once a year usually, maybe twice. And the high-level guys, Canelo Alvarez, twice a year. And he's making crazy money per fight. So it's like he could take his time off and pick and choose his opponents. And UFC, the UFC tells you who you're fighting next, and you got to say yes, otherwise they'll bend you. Oh, so you have no set. Oh, you can say no, but if you say no, then they'll pass you up for the next guy.

Got it. So you kind of have to just say yes. You kind of just have to you kind of just have to say who it is wow and you can't even request fights you got to just you can oh you can call out guys and like you know say this is who i want to fight next but it's ultimately up to the ufc like their their their job and their matchmaker jobs is to put on interesting fights that's dope and that's why they have such you know such a great product because yeah the best are fighting the best how do you balance friendships? Because you probably had to fight some of your boys. Yeah. Can you still knock them out if they're friends?

Oh, man, yeah. Wonder Boy. Wonder Boy was definitely one of my friends. I wouldn't say we were best friends, but we definitely were cool. We were acquaintances. I knew his dad. Yeah. And then leading up to that fight, we fought in Tennessee, I think.

I forget where we fought at. But I know, I was supposed to lose that fight. Everybody was there to watch him, watch him win, and, you know, his dad was doing all the radio shows with him, and we had to do a press tour together. And then once, you know, we square off, you know, it's like, alright, time to enter the cage.

And when we get in there, I see his face. It's different than, you know, when we were, like, hanging out and talking, and I'm like, right, now it's time to go. It's like a switch. It's like a switch. You got to be able to turn it on and off. Damn. I don't know.

I'm picturing my best friend. And I don't know if I can knock him out, dude. I think it's a killer instinct. I think if he's trying to knock you out, you could. OK. Fair, fair. You feel a punch come at your face or your nose starts bleeding? You're like, oh, OK.

We're back in a fight. That makes sense. What about with Dana? Did you have a friendship with him during that? Oh, man. Me and Dana are really good friends. Still good with friends, yeah. I was actually just with Dana at Chris Angel's show.

Me and Chris are partners in my APFC. Oh, dope. Yeah, he's helping me do the production side. I don't know if you've ever seen his show out here in Vegas. Yeah, I saw you on it when I was researching. Yeah, his show is crazy. Oh, not his show. I saw you on his podcast show.

Oh, yeah, his show. So his show at Planet Hollywood, he has a studio where he does his Mind Freak show. Oh, dope oh dope that's where we're gonna start doing apfc shows in there so nice you know the same level of production like all the stuff that he could do but with mixed martial arts being like the the the key the hook of it um but yeah so me so me and dana my dana helped me like when i was up and coming the fight i won after the henderson fight after i did the showtime kick you know i was supposed to fight for a world title shot at the ufc they fought to a draw so that

didn't happen uh then they gave me a clay guida and that was my first loss in the ufc clay guida and it was like a wrestling guy again he didn't beat me up he just held me down for three rounds and right after that fight i knew i was like all right i'm going on a run and that's when i got my title shot i beat you know cowboy serrani uh jo Joe Lozon. It was a bunch of guys in a row and then I got my title shot finally. Nice. And then after that title shot, I won the belt.

Dana had an opportunity to put a fighter in the Wheaties box and he picked me. Wow, could have picked anyone. He could have picked anybody. But at that time, I was really hot. I did the Showtime kick. I was knocking guys out. Then he picked me to be on the Wheaties box.

So he put me on the Wheaties box, helped me buy my mom her first house. Damn. yeah man I mean I have a lot of respect for Dana that's big time man how'd you get uh close with uh Chris Angel um actually in a club craziest thing ever he was in a club we were in a club yeah Moon Night Club in Palms yeah so he was I had a table and he had a table next to me and uh you know that was after the Showtime kick he was a fan of like you know what I did in mixed martial arts. So we just, like, talked. And, well, we were friends for a while. Nothing no business-wise.

And then I bought a house out here in Vegas in, like, 2013. Good timing. Yeah, and I was, like, right down the block from him. So, like, he's, like, up the hill from me. And I was the only guy I really knew in Vegas. So he kind of showed me around and, like, you know, showed me the ropes. And now we're doing business together. And, you know, I've seen what he can do with his show.

I mean, he's the number one show in Vegas. I heard that, yeah. If he could help, you know, bring any of that towards Mixed Martial Arts, it'd be amazing. Yeah, I just saw him say on Steve O's podcast, that show's bringing in $150 million a year. Crazy, man. Nuts, dude. It's been like that for years and years.

I mean, he was at the Luxor before that. I saw that. Yeah, so at Luxor, he was doing the same thing. Yeah, so he is the number one show in Vegas. That's awesome, man. And I saw you go on Mike Tyson's podcast. What was that like? That was crazy.

Craziest thing, so I went with my little brother. My little brother's a fighter, man. And I saw you go on Mike Tyson's podcast. Yeah. What was that like? That was crazy. Craziest thing. So I went with my little brother. And my little brother's a fighter, too. We're the first two champion brothers. Oh, yeah? They actually have belts together. I thought the Diaz were. No, they never champs.

Oh. They never champs. Nick never won a belt. And Nate was the BMF title. Serge won the Bellator belt, and I won the UFC belt. So we were pretty well-known in mixed martial arts. Pretty respected. And then Mike Tyson reached out for that hot boxing podcast. It was kind of new when we did it. pretty pretty well known in mixed martial arts pretty respected yeah um and then mike tyson

reached out for that you know hot boxing podcast it was kind of new when when that when we did it was like brand new years ago yeah yeah so when we went on there the first thing we did is like we get in there he's like has each of us get a joint and i smoke not like like that so we smoke and we're like you can't say no to mike so we're smoking with mike we sit down at the in the podcast and i was so high i was like all say was, like, damn, that's crazy. That's why I was so high. And I watched it back. I'm like, man, I missed out.

I'm, like, going to have a real combo with Mike. That's jokes. But he's so, like, passionate about his stories. Like, he's, like, in your face. And, like, you don't know if he's serious or if he's, like, if he's going to go off in a weird way. And, yeah, man, he was, like, I was too high for that one. That's jokes.

Was your brother high, too? But we were so lit. We got done afterwards. Like, like, I was too high for that one. That's jokes. Was your brother high too? But we were so lit. We got done afterwards. Like, man, I shouldn't have smoked that much. Oh my God. I would have taken one hit and threw it out.

They gave us each one. So like, a whole joint? Yeah. So like, he had one, I had, we were all at the table,

we had our own. I would have blacked out. Yeah, but that's how I felt. For real. Like, I don't smoke like that. If I take one hit right now,

I'm so f***ing high. I just stopped smoking. I stopped for like two weeks now like trying to get back into camp now when i do camps but i'm in vegas but i'm a big believer in the way weed helps you sleep i think that's what it does like recovery wise like i usually do it at night right before my bed my sleep i get on that and i wake up the next day i feel way better yeah then without it i like how the ufc changed their stance because when they banned nick for five years

I was so crazy and for me like so crazy. I mean kind of what they did him. They could have did that to anyone Yeah, yeah, I mean he was he was smoking like right before fights, but okay. It's it's like Especially out here. It's legal. So it's like, you know, it's like drinking like yeah, it's like it's it's normal You know, absolutely. Have you ever fought your brother? I spar him all the time Yeah, we had this crazy spark surge is the only guy that ever dropped me with a punch Dan It's normal here. Absolutely. Have you ever fought your brother? I sparred him all the time. We had crazy sparring. Serge is the only guy that ever dropped me with a punch. Damn. Yeah, yeah.

In a sparring session. With big gloves on, too. Holy crap. And he's like, he's a 135er. I mean, he probably walks like 160, 165. Yeah. But we had a sparring session. It was right before the play I got submitted.

He hit me with a jab. I got rocked. And I didn't realize I was concussed. So, like, this is the week before the fight. Yeah. I go do my last training session. I was doing, like, broad like every time I jumped I would feel dizzy I'm like damn something doesn't feel right. Damn. So I went that whole fight I thought I was cuz I was cutting weight. I went that whole like that whole little week What just what a concussion Wow, I was crying on the airplane. I'm like man like I feel like it some doesn't feel right

It's not my wife. I'm like y'all usually I'm in control of my emotions. Like I don't like that I'm like I was crying on an airplane. i'm like what the fuck is going on they don't test concussions before the fight no i mean it's up to you like you gotta like say you got something wrong with you wow they'll do like the basic you know medical tests to check your hands you know make sure your weight cut was right uh you know your face like there's like a super easy medical test and and that wasn't you know they couldn't see that damn for the fight i went to the mayo clinic and they're like yeah you got a concussion, man. Holy ****.

A couple months to get back normal off of that. From a concussion? Those were scarier than everything. Really? Because your brain is just like, you just have these moments of panic attacks, and you get dizzy, the lights when you're driving, just stuff that you can't control. I didn't know that. Concussions is the scariest thing. I've never had one.

I thought they just take like a week to recover, and you're good. It just depends how bad it was. Yeah. Wow. So he really rocked you. Well, then I fought afterwards too, right? So I didn't take no time off. I probably didn't help. Yeah. Luckily the guy I fought was a Jiu Jitsu guy. It wasn't a striker. Damn, man. It sounds like you've had quite a few concussions. Yeah. Well, that was the one I really remember. Like that was like a one where I was like, I had to go get medical attention. After fights, I'm sure we're all concussed. We get hit that many times. But usually you go to the after party, have a couple of drinks, and you forget about it.

We got to get you a brain scan, man. See what's going on. I've done it. Oh, you've done it? Yeah, UFC does it now, actually. They do it for all their athletes. So all the athletes in the UFC PI get to do a brain test before their fights, after their fights. Oh, ****.

Yeah, they try to get you back to where you were at before your fight, before you can take another fight. That's probably smart of them. Oh, so much smarter. I mean, longevity. They try to get you back to where you were at before your fight, before you can take another fight. That's probably smart of them. Oh, it's so much smarter. I mean, longevity for careers and just health for their fighters, man. Yeah, because you see some of these boxers, like the older guys, they can't even talk to you. It's kind of scary, actually.

Yeah, most of them, man. Oh, yeah, literally most of them. You can hear it happen, too. They'll have a conversation with a guy, and all of a sudden the next time you speak to them, they're like, oh, something's different. Yeah, they don't remember. Yeah, something's different. But I thinkyson with the psychedelics really helped yeah man he

told me about that too they're the dmts and the mushrooms i've never done dmt yet and i've done mushrooms mushrooms definitely i love mushrooms yeah i love mushrooms too like it's one of those things that makes your day better you know if you if i have to figure something out oh yeah you get locked in on this yeah and then you got it just it takes away the ego like you can figure out problems without like the ego being involved i feel like yeah yes but but the way he's playing dmt made me definitely want to try that it's on my bucket list yeah me too yeah ayahuasca on my bucket list for sure i definitely want to try it and see like what what what it opens up because you know if you smoke i you every smoke i smoke weed so you know that feeling you get from weed

then you get the feeling from mushrooms it's totally different super part of your brain yeah i can only imagine dmt and ayahuasca like it's gonna be yeah that movie limitless have you seen that yeah yeah get that done have you had battles with your ego over the years oh yeah so so much man like i think uh so when my dad died at 16 you know i i i i stopped fighting i stopped doing martial arts i stopped doing everything and like i was in a moment in my life where i'm like and i was 16 years old trying to figure out like what a man I'm going to be. Like I was supposed to be like figure out prom and homecoming. And I had to figure out my life and I had to pay my mom's bills. And like my mom too, like when my dad got killed, my mom stopped working. Like she was

just, yeah. So I lost both parents. Like, like she shut down, she shut down man for like probably two, three years. So me and my older brother had to take care of the household. We had to like, you know, pay for the bills. And then we had my younger brother. He was nine at the time when it happened. So he really didn't understand what was going on. He understood he lost his dad, but like not the rest of everything that came along with it. I think that's where my ego actually came about. Like when I figured out I could do it by myself.

It's like, oh man, I didn't have a mom or dad to tell me like, this is right. This is wrong. This is what you're supposed to be doing. I kind of made all my own decisions and it worked out really quick for me man like i had at 18 19 i signed with you at wc and i was the world champ at like 22 23 years old so that wow my ego was like way up here and then that rda fight equal check man and like everything everything like i re-evaluated everything my training my relationships you know who i was giving access to and uh i just saw a lot of it was my fault you know wow i take a lot of it was my fault.

You know, I take a lot of responsibility for that fight and why I got to that position. Damn. Yeah, it takes some balance, right? You can't have it too high, but you also don't want it too low. Especially in fighting. Like, you want to have the confidence, like, yo, I can win this fight, but not the confidence we're invincible.

Because that's when, like, you figure out, like, you get hit, and you're like, oh, that's when you see a guy's, like, and then his career goes way down here because it's the ego thing. Yeah, you see a lot of fighters like that, man. I mean, McGregor, obviously, and there's a few that have just gone from the top of the top. Yeah, you see boxing. You see this boxing's longer than UFC, been around longer than UFC, but you see the top of the top boxers that get that first loss.

Yeah. Never the same. Facts. Damn, man. It's been fun getting to know you, dude. Anything you want to promote or close off with? No, man. Thank you guys for. Damn, man. It's been fun getting to know you, dude. Anything you want to promote or close off with? No, man.

Thank you guys for having me, bro. Oh, Indiana, April 7th, APFC. We're doing a big show out there. Up and coming guys. A lot of good. So my goal with APFC was just to give the younger guys

a platform to get to the bigger shows. I think so far I've had 10 shows and I already have almost 15 guys signed to the bigger shows. Damn. Yeah, so APFC, April 7th, we're giving these guys a platform to show their skills. And if you guys get to tune in,

make sure you guys check it out. We'll link it below. Thanks for coming on, man. Thank you, brother. Yeah. Thanks for watching guys.

See you tomorrow.