Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais - MMA Fighter Vitor Belfort on Belief, Mindset, Overcoming Fear

Episode Date: January 10, 2018

This conversation is with MMA fighter and legend, Vitor Belfort, on belief, mindset, and overcoming fear.I wanted to sit down with Vitor to understand how he has created command of his deep love for people and at the same time has the ability to engage in one of the most brutal and violent sports (mixed martial arts).Vitor grew up in a tough neighborhood in Rio De Janeiro and from an early age knew he wanted to be a world champion.He came to the United States to realize that dream.For Vitor, it all comes down to belief.One of Vitor’s favorite phrases is: “Learn to love what you’ve been taught to fear,” and in this conversation, we have a great discussion on what it really means to fear something and how to overcome it.Vitor has a deep sense of clarity - of who he is and what he is after in life - and I hope his clarity challenges you to do the same for yourself.And for those that listen to this podcast this week - Vitor is singing his swan song on UFC Fight Night 124 - January 14 will be his last fight before he retires.He's a legend and this could be the last time we get to see him approach mastery in the one of the most ancient and intimate arts of war._________________Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindsetFollow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Finding Mastery is brought to you by David Protein. I'm pretty intentional about what I eat, and the majority of my nutrition comes from whole foods. And when I'm traveling or in between meals on a demanding day, certainly I need something quick that will support the way that I feel and think and perform. And that's why I've been leaning on David protein bars. And so has the team here at Finding Mastery. In fact, our GM Stuart, he loves them so much. I just want to kind of quickly put them on the spot. Stuart, I know you're listening. I think you might be the reason that we're running out of these bars so quickly. They're incredible, Mike.

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right now is the chocolate chip cookie dough. And a few of our teammates here at Finding Mastery have been loving the fudge brownie and peanut butter. I know, Stuart, you're still listening here. So getting enough protein matters. And that can't be understated, not just for strength, but for energy and focus, recovery, for longevity. And I love that David is making that easier. So if you're trying to hit your daily protein goals with something seamless, I'd love for you to go check them out. Get a free variety pack, a $25 value and 10% off for life when you head to davidprotein.com slash finding mastery. That's David, D-A-V-I-D, protein, P-R-O-T-E-I-N.com slash finding mastery. Now, this conversation is with MMA fighter and legend, Vitor Belfort.

Vitor presents himself in an unbelievable way. He is a beautiful soul and he's in one of the most ancient and rugged and difficult sports that we have today. It is brutal and it is violent. And it's one of the most ancient arts of martial, the art of fighting and the art of war, if you will. And it's intimate and it's, it's just really challenges people that watch it and people that are in it and people that are supporting it. Like it really challenges a deep part of the human experience to watch it and be part of it. And I wanted to understand from Vitor how he has so much love and so much compassion and so much passion for people.

And at the same time, he has the ability to be very destructive, very violent, and how he's contained the two of those and how he's formulated ways to think well in both of those environments and to be able to feel well in both of those environments. He's a beautiful man. I love having conversations with him. And, and as a little quick little gem for you is that, um, if you're listening to these podcasts in a timely way and you're up to speed, which I know not everyone is, and that's cool, but Vitor is singing his swan song on UFC Fight Night 124 on January 14th. So you might get to see somebody for their last event, their last approach to mastery on a world stage.

And I hope you love the man that Vitor is working to become and who he is as much as I do. And with that, let's jump right into this conversation with Vitor Belfort. Vitor, how are you? I'm great, man. Thank you for having me. So I want to do two things. I want to set up your track record, your legacy that you've built in mixed martial arts is world-class. And some people that might not be exposed to mixed martial arts and the UFC, I'd like to set up your path and your journey. And then I'd like to get into how you see the world and how you understand fighting, but also understand how you have used your mind and your training of your craft as well to be able to have great command of yourself. And then let's jump into the mental skills that you've used to build inner strength. Okay. And then we'll talk about your future, like where you want to go and what you want to do and

all that good stuff. But if you could just take us through kind of the quick segments of your life, or even the chapter headings of your life. And I know that early on, like you began training MMA in Rio at age 12. And, you know, I'd be curious, like if you could just walk us through the chapter headings of your life to give a perspective. Yeah, I was raised in a very tough neighborhood called Leblon. We had a mix of type of classes. So we had like a very poor middle class and we had the up-skill class. So we all live in the same environment.

And I remember it was tough to fit in. You know, when you're a child. So I remember my dad and my mom put me in sports I was I was very good in soccer swimming I did a lot of sport I was a kid trying to fit in and I have to learn how to protect myself now they have this word called bully back in the days we didn't have this word so so I think everybody has to deal with this stuff you know from my area so it was a pretty tough so that's how i get in contact with fighting you know how to protect myself and feel secure you know on the place that he didn't have

any control the streets so and and i always had that passion and I was always a visionary I can see talking to you I can kind of see sometimes 40 years from now and people could not believe what what I was seeing when I was young you know with 14 years old I knew what I would become in life I want to become world champion and when UFC, I remember I told my coach, Carson Grace, I said, I'm going to be one of them. And I was very young. People used to make fun of me and call me lunatic. But guess what?

I believe people that make a difference in the world, they're all lunatic in a point of life. You've got to be a dreamer to fulfill a dream is there um is there a story that comes to mind when you think about what it was like growing up in your neighborhood in rio and i'm thinking about like the bullying aspect and i'm trying to get a picture of what it was like and but i can only use a reference from my childhood and my neighborhood. So I'd love to hear what yours was like. Yeah, I was a kid. I played a lot of sports.

I was very successful. I wasn't the cutest. I wasn't the smartest. But I had something inside of me that I will say that today is passion. But passion can only be profitable if you can put it into the expect of the daily work, you know, hard work. And I used to believe that I could be something in life. And study was something that I never, my teachers never made interest in study. So that's something that I miss, having great teachers that can kind of capture, you know.

I was diagnosed when I was young that my mind was very speed. I was a very active kid. They say that I have this kind of disease. They used to take me, put me in psychology since I was four years old. They used to go to psychology, and my parents were divorced. So I used to see things horrible that, you know, my dad and my mom fighting. And I had a sister, you know. She's not here with me anymore.

She's been, since 2004, she's been kidnapped in Brazil and we don't know where she is right now. I'm still dealing with that. But I remember she had, she used to be bipolar. And back in the days, it was crazy because, you you know i never thought that anything could happen with my family and they start when you start living in the in in the environment of you trying to be someone in life and and everyone doubt because you don't have the great degrees you don't have the social you know things that can impress anyone and and that's

kind of the only the only way out i saw that when i was 15 16 i said the only way out i need to get out of here i'm not going to be anything if i stay in this country you know everybody they don't believe i can do it the way i see it even Even my country cannot see it as a sport yet. So I say I have to get out of here and I have to go to a place that dreams are capable. You know, people can make what they think they can be. So not just parents, friends, they thought I was a loser. You know, I was going to be just a loser. And I knew that if I had a chance, I always today understand that the only thing I need is not money, it's not success. I just need opportunity and access to be successful.

So I had the opportunity and access to come to America very early, you know, 16 years old. And I remember just arriving in this country was not easy. And everything was at risk, you know. But I was happy, man. I used to live with no money, nothing. And I remember that Carson Gracie is one of the greatest mentors in MMA sport. He's like a father to me. So I remember one day he said, I cannot survive this anymore. You know, it was a lot of pressure.

Everybody doubted that he would be spending his time with me and then we're not going to become this. I'm not going to become this. So I remember one day going to the gym in LA and I saw this woman, she's trying to, hey, you're an actor or not? I said, no, I'm a fighter. And she said, oh, because I know John Peters. She's one of the, you know, movie producer of Hollywood and he loves the fighting sport. So I said, oh, because he likes fighting, you know, and so let me schedule a meeting with him. So next day I said, Carson, don't go to Brazil.

Give me a chance. Let's go to this meeting and meet this producer. He's very wealthy and he can get us what we, he can give us an opportunity. And Carson come with me to his house in Beverly Hills, I remember, in Alpine Drive. So we went there, and he received us very nicely. And then he started becoming my promoter back in the days.

And then for some reason, after a couple years, one year, we split. And I got my first contract with 18 years old. I got my first contract with Mark Muschoff, the owner of 24 Hour Fitness. So he just sold that company a couple of years ago. But I remember he wants to pay me very little money. And I was 18 years old. And I said, OK, let's do this. You give me $10,000 if I win this fight. If I don okay let's do this you give me $10,000 if I

win this fight if I don't win you don't give me nothing and we went to Hawaii was in Super Bowl the second Super Bowl the name of the event you know and we see all the promoters they all there so I went to the main event fighting this guy called John has and the whole Lakers team was there Shaquille O'Neal was just signing he was there at the crowd and Kobe Bryant he just signed as well he was there so the Laker was playing the next day so they inviting the whole Lakers to participate and then I that was my first victory that lead me to sign a contract with UFC. And with 19 years old, I become world champion.

That's how it started, you know, a dreamer. You know, a lot of details between that. But I remember that everybody doubted. But I always knew that it was an adventure for me. I was just living my dream. And here we are. Okay. So let me,

God, I've got so many questions for you because you, I've cut the way that I've come to know you. Vitor is that you are so compassionate. You have so much passion. You have incredible fortitude to be able to like, to have an, a dream and idea,

be vulnerable enough to speak on it and then put action behind your words and then to go for it. And so it's incredible what you've done. And I've got lots of questions for you. Okay. So, um, I want to, I want to gather them in this way is that how did you, how did you, where did it come from for you to be able to believe that you had something special inside of you when your entire community, family, neighborhood, country, as you describe it, didn't believe that you could do something? They were calling you a loser and that you'd never make it. Like, where did that come from for you? Wow. I know the answer.

It's so simple. When I was a kid, my mom and my dad used to fight a lot. But one thing, they always give me a great education as best as they could. And they always feed my dream, especially my mom. She fed my dream, and she said, great. I remember when we were 12 years old, I used to have barely in my apartment. It was so small. And my dad and my mom let me put my punching bag inside my room. That was the only thing I had. It was a punching bag inside my room. I used to watch all the boxing fights, and I knew that I want to become an MMA fighter,

and MMA would be bigger than boxing. Everybody called me the lunatic and everything, but I knew inside me that fighting was the only way that got me out there. But I wasn't a very – I was an angry kid, but I was not angry with anybody else. But my dad and my mom was not being there, and they didn't have peace inside my house. So I saw horrible things.

But the things I always loved, and they always showed them the best love they could give me. And they fit my dream, you know? Great. And I remember the more people doubt me, the more raise something inside of me that say, okay, that's the biggest motive. I'm going to be successful. I don't care how much it costs. I'm going to do it.

And I always knew that I'm going to give my, I always knew when I was a boy, I will marry a beautiful woman. I'll build up a family. I would be faithful to my wife. I would raise my children. I would do my best. And here I am, three children, beautiful wife, great career.

But going back, you asked me the question, where? That's a question that I think we all need to know the answer. Where? Where I found it. I remember I made a contract with God. I remember, like, you know, I'm not talking about religion. I'm just talking about relationship. Because I think religion is just a counterfeit of relationship.

That's people call, create a myth. They can create a ritual. They can say, okay, if I do this i can have that that's how we we are we are we are wire in our mind you know if i do this and if i do this ritual i can be successful you know god love me and i believe nothing you can do it today the way i see god is nothing you can do better god you's going to make God love you more. And nothing you can do less, you're going to make God love you less. But what it does, you know, you as a father, if you have a great kid, you know, you're going to love them if they do good

or bad. You're always going to love your kid. You can be more proud of him if he does good things, but if he becomes something bad, you're still going to love him. But I believe that this kind of love is like people used to say, you have to do this, you have to do that. And I say, no, God, I was very sincere. God said, God, if you give me a chance to become world champion and just to be able to fulfill my dream, I will serve you forever. I will be with you forever. And I remember I made that contract in a paper. It was in a press conference when I was 19 years old. I don't have that paper, but I remember.

And now I understand that God didn't give me because he saw my heart and he saw my ethic, my work. You know, I put a lot of work, put a lot of effort. So the way I see it is I have a faith that whatever you believe, if you believe you can, you believe you can. If you believe you, you know, God loves you or God hates you, whatever you believe, that can become true. But in the sense of today, I understand that sometimes I want something so bad, and I try so hard, and things don't go my way.

I don't doubt, oh, it's God's fault. No. That's life. You have to accept life. You have to accept failure as a success. And that's one of the hardest things for humans to accept is failure because people see failure as a disaster. So I'm still learning how to see failure as a win and where and how.

And that's been the challenge of my life still. I'm learning is to accept things doesn't go my way. Okay, where I need to go. So I knew where, like that's the question, where and how, and I knew why. And I'm still searching for these questions every time, you know, where, how, and why. And sometimes even what, what you do, you know, what are you doing? Finding Mastery is brought to you by Momentus. When it comes to high performance, whether you're leading a team, raising a family, pushing physical limits, or simply trying to be

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Okay. So, you know, I don't know if other people have this response to you, but it's like this mix of deep respect for your craft and how dangerous you are in the cage. And then the other side is how dangerous because of how little kid like, oh my God, I just want to, like, there's a deep well of emotion just feeling what it must have felt like for you to how you're growing up in your family. And at the same time, it's like, good on you, kid. Like, wow. how does a person who's got the odds stacked against him have such radical clarity of vision and then the inner skills to be able to navigate all the challenges that come with that, which is not knowing where rent is coming from, not knowing where food is coming from, not knowing if people are going to be true to your path or going to call you a lunatic.

And so maybe we could take a step back and say, what is it? What was it like when you're a kid in your head? And then what was it like when you had your first chance inside of your body? And then what was it like when you lost on the world stage for the first time? Can you walk through those three different psychologies, if you will? So the question is going back, you know, I remember, okay, let's go back for my first, my first competition. I remember in the dressing room, you know, it's clearly that I can remember clearly I was in the dressing room. I a white you know I was gonna fight and I remember

having a friend of mine he was so scared you know he was so scared that I was there he was a tough fighter but he was scared you know everybody's scared I believe you know we are we are there we are a survivor you know I'm putting myself in the line. Everybody said, he's the next kid. He's the greatest fighter of all time, the greatest coach. Carson Grace is saying that I was going to be the best fighter in the world, and I'm fighting these guys, 360 pounds. I was 180 pounds.

There were no rules. And I had on my gloves. I was so prepared, so sporty. And then the referee comes inside the locker room and said, okay, Victor, we have a problem. The guy who's fighting, John Haas, he wants no rules at all. He has no rules. He wants eye gouging. He wants punching the nuts. He wants explicitly everything. Fish hook. If you don't know fish hook, when you stick your fingers in the nose and you can rip the guy's nose. He was just savage.

He would just – his last fight in UFC, he blinded a guy because he stick his fingers on the guy's eye. He was very savage. And everybody knew that. And I was fighting that guy. And I said, oh, my God. And I remember my mom was there. Carson Gray said to my mom, get out of here.

She took my mom out of the dressing room. And then he was hearing it. The translator was translating to Carson, you know, how is what the guy won. And the whole crowd was there, you know. The whole Laker team were there. You know, I remember even I think Magic Johnson was still there. I was just 18, 22 years ago. So it was the whole thing.

It was a lot of people. And they said, he's going to walk away. You know, we didn't have any contract. And then there was a lot of people. And he said, he's going to walk away. We didn't have any contract. And then there was a lot of pressure inside of me. And I just remember I was pulling my hands, my both hands in my nuts and say, Carson, I want to have a baby. I want to become a dad. I wasn't very preoccupied with eye gouging and all this stuff. I said I was very secure in my skills.

But I was concerned about punching in my nuts. You know, I say, my God, a guy's going to take rip off my nuts. Come on. And then I remember Carson say, shut up, Victor. Say, tell the guy he can have a knife. He can have you can give him anything he wants. Yes. The fight is on.

Go ahead. And I remember he was so confident in me and his confidence was even higher than mine but I was just a kid 18 years old and I remember the eyes of the my friends they are there in the dressing room everybody was so scared and they tried to pump me up Peter you got that you got that you know come on man it's your moment you were born for that you know but I can see in their eyes they're scared. You can see. You can sense it.

I think fear is something that you have two ways to respond to fear. I have three ways to respond to fear. They say the fire flight, but I say you can freeze as well. You can fight. You can fire flight. And also you can freeze. So three ways to respond to fear. And I saw in their eyes, they are like afraid, man.

They are afraid, afraid, afraid, and trying to encourage me. But, you know, I just took off and went to the fight, you know, and all of a sudden Shaquille O'Neal stepped in my dressing room, high-fived me and said, I bet a lot of money on you. You know, I bet a watch, you know, and I didn't understand. And the person said, hey, he bet a watch, like a $100,000 watch. And I said, oh, my God. So it was a lot of pressure on me, a lot of pressure.

So – and I have to respond to that pressure so early. I didn't have anybody to train. I didn't have any psychologist to train me. I didn't have anybody to train me. But life, I had an opportunity in front of me, so I had to take it. And the whole UFC team was there to see if they would assign me to, if I fight well, I would get assigned to

UFC, to the next step of my life, to fulfill my dream. So I had only one chance. I went there, I defeated the guy. The next step, I went to the UFC. I signed my contract. And the next time, at 19 the fc i signed my contract and the next time with 19 years old i become the youngest champion so ufc and was crazy man it was crazy okay so how did you deal with the pressure and then i want to know like specifically okay so you're scanning the world and seeing your mentor is like i don't care if he's got a knife or whatever. Vitor is highly skilled.

And so then you said, whoa, look at my guy. Okay. So that probably settled you down a little bit. And then, but you looked at your peers, your other mates, and they were like, their eyes were as big as you can imagine, but their words were saying something different. So you knew that they were messed up, like internally not convicted in what they were saying.

But what did you do? And then you got Shaquille O o'neal saying i'm betting a lot of money on you who i'm sure you know exactly who he was right at that time and but maybe you didn't know what kind of money his watch had but like how did what did you say to yourself what did you do, I wish I could be a ball player like she did. I wish. I said, what the heck I chose for my life, man? I said, could not have chose tennis or foot soccer. Could not hear my dad. You know, so many things came to my mind, man. You know what?

You don't have time to entertain that. You know, I believe like, you know, like I can see you study the mind but I was I was a teacher and the students of my own mind you know you cannot just share you know you feel fighter remember you cannot share I'm afraid and I want to I want I want to look to someone and say I'm afraid I remember like I always want someone to say man I know help me out because I'm afraid. We as a man, I think, even today, man, I can see a lot of fighters, a lot of people say, man, I got that.

They walk so secure. They become a trash talker. But I'm talking like I'm the founder of this sport. I was one of the founders. I'm still around it. It's crazy. So I want to share. I want to open the founders. I'm still around it. It's crazy. I want to open my heart. I'm very sensitive. I say,

I want to share my fear. I didn't have anyone to share. I had to keep to myself. That was one of the hardest things in my life. I had my coach. He sent me a lot of security. He had a lot of faith on me. That's helped me a lot to have someone to believe. But the reality is like I was a kid.

I was afraid. I'm going to die. I'm going to be blind. I'm going to be able to survive. I'm going to fulfill my dream. I'm going to go back to Brazil as a failure. A lot of things come to my mind, but I didn't have too much time to entertain that thing.

So I started warming up. And when you start warming up, start feeling the awareness of the moment. I didn't know anything about mindfulness, breathing, technique. Come on, man. I only know one thing. Someone in another dressing room wants to rip my eyes off. He wants to make me blind. He wants to make me blind. He wants to punch my balls. And he just want to, it's like a street, it's really,

the rules of the fight was just like the movie of John Clover Dunn was no rule. I thought, I even thought myself, he's going to put like something inside of his glove, but the guy didn't have any glove. The guy had bare hands, bare knuckles. You know, the guy was savage. He just just I say the only thing that referee said the only thing he agreed no biting and say

oh thank God I'm not I'm not fighting someone that's gonna try to bite my ears off so there I was you know I didn't have time I just went there out there and said I'm not gonna net I'm not gonna I'm gonna keep my this I'm I was a good boxer I was good boxer So I boxed the guy. I put him down. I used the ropes. I tripped him. I started punching him.

I put him out, cold, out cold. And the first thing I knew, the first person I saw was Shaquille O'Neal standing up. He high-fived me from the floor. He was so tall that even I was in the ring, he was always my side. He high-fived. He was so excited. even I was in the ring, he was always my side. He high-fived. He was so excited. He won the bet. You know, he made his money.

But I think that was the first experience of Shaquille O'Neal in the MMA world. So, and I believe he remembered that. It was amazing. It was an amazing feeling. And I said, man, I'm capable. I did it. And I said, man, I'm capable. I did it. And that's how it started. And it was crazy to go back right now with you and kind of see that moment and say, my God, how I did it.

How I was so courageous. But I believe that when you're so afraid, that's when you're the most courageous. When you realize, when you accept you are afraid and you deal with it so my wife taught me something so important he said face your fear the only way you're going to live your dreams if you face your fears and so true ah geez okay so you said okay um i'm gonna take off my watch right now and this was given to me by felix Baumgartner and he's the gentleman who jumped out of the edge of space basically on the Red Bull Stratus project and on the back he wrote a note and it's engraved in there and it says learn to

love what you've been taught to fear and so learn to love what you've been taught to fear okay so so that's that's part of his philosophy and for you like but another larger man than you that wants to have no rules in harm that's that's inborn inbred for the normal person to say that's really dangerous so there's an automatic ancient brain process that takes over and for fight flight freeze or submission and what you did like submission meaning okay just roll over let me show you my soft underbelly don't hurt me which is obviously very very dangerous for you to do so you use your mind to override your ancient brain. And did you walk down the concrete floor and up the five steps into the cage? Did you walk with confidence? Did you walk with fear? Did you walk with something else? Like what was that walk like for you? Because I

think I'm relating right now to all the times in my life when I've been challenged to approach something that I'm not sure if I have the abilities and skills to manage it, but I really want it. And I really want to experience it and I've trained for it, but I'm not sure. And this is for a lot of people, this is public speaking. This is asking someone out on a date. This is putting your hand up in a boardroom. This is a venture capital pitch. This is, you know, saying something intimate that you've always wanted to share with somebody like those moments. And I'm, I'm so excited for this part of the conversation, Vitor, because if we can just unpack this, your walk, uh, from this, from the back ready room onto the cage, uh, I think there's

a lot for me to learn here and for a lot of people to learn. So if you listen to this right now, I know you listen, go to YouTube and you turn First Fight of Vito Belfort, you can kind of see the highlights. I remember walking, I remember the song, you know, da-da-na-na-na, da-da-na-na-na. What's that song? Walk to the Bones. You know that song? Rock to the Bones.

You know that music? So I remember that the song started playing, and I just, I remember, you know, like you have to, you have to, I was like, you have to, I understand now superhero very much, and I can relate it to them, because, you know, Superman is very courageous, but Clark Kent is very afraid, you know, uh, Spider-Man is very courageous,

but the, the, the kid is very afraid. He's a regular. So the soup, every superhero has a, has a, has a weak side.

And then when he become, when he goes and change and put the vest, they become powerful. So that's who we are. We all, when you see a man, oh man, that guy is so courageous, every man fears something. And that's respectful. And I love that quote, learn to love what you've been taught to fear. So learn to love.

So then you kind of, and that's the great command, you know, love. Love is the biggest command that, you know, God taught us, love. So how you can love someone that did something wrong with you? How I can love someone who kidnapped and murdered my sister? How I can love people that come into our country and then they do something horrible? How we can love? So love has many ways and has many vests. So you have to understand that even though I was very afraid inside that dressing room, I was dealing with my fear and I was very sincere with myself because you cannot lie

to yourself. You can lie to everybody else. You can put a fake face and pretend that you are so happy, fake smile. But you know you're not happy. So I knew that I was afraid. But back in the days, when that music rolled, something steered me. Something said, okay, now you're not a lamb anymore. Now you're a lion.

Now you have to go out there and just – I would say, man, I have to survive. I'm not going to let that guy blind me or I gouge me or whatever. I'm going to, I'm going to take care of business. And I didn't have any help. I didn't read any book. I didn't do anything. I just had a dream. And I was exposed to that moment.

And I have to be, I have to learn, like, I have to learn, especially by no one, by experience. Now I have to learn like I have to learn especially by no one by experience now I have to become superman gosh okay so when the mission is larger than the challenge then we move forward when the challenge or the doubt or the pain is larger than the mission or larger than the purpose, then we give into the pain. And so your mission was, if I have it right, your mission was to, she's, I don't have it right because I don't think your mission was to be famous. I don't think your mission was to make money. I think your mission was about to survive, to survive. Okay. So was it survival as a man or survival in the cage? I think survive was back in the moment of survival. I cannot let the guy hurt me because his intention was very explicit. He's going to walk if he doesn't have no rules at all.

So I knew his intention was to hurt me. So his intention was very bad. It was not a sport. His intention was to hurt me. So his intention was very bad. It was not a sport. His intention was to survive. I wasn't survival. Okay, okay. Either I fight or I flight. I had only two options.

Either I say yes or I say no. So I say yes, I have to go and face that bear, you know, with bare hands. Okay, so then when you were – okay. So if some people that are listening and I want to just caution against this, it's not the music that changed you. It was the music that was the trigger. So it's not like this little hack tactic. It's the music that was a trigger for you to be able to put on or experience a more ideal mindset. And that more ideal mindset to your words, you can't fake it it's got to be born from something or spring from something that has been

watered and is true and authentic and for you what was that mindset was was not just the music itself the music was what we're hearing but what about the crowd the whole crowd all these Hawaiians? It wasn't Hawaii. Everybody was screaming, the whole thing. And when I looked to the left, I looked to the ring. It was that monster, that guy, six, seven foot something. You know, he was so tall. I saw that monster. I said, I got that, man.

You know, that's my moment. And I was just talking to myself, words of encouragement. And then I had in my back my whole team walk with me and say Victor you know every I just could feel the presence of greatness you know I almost like and I put myself inside because I always read about the Roman Empire the Colosseum you know I saw movies of these guys coming in I kind of knew it in my mind how it was. And I was just feeling like that movie. I was inside the Coliseum.

Do or die. Die or survive. I'm fighting to survival. I was in survival mode. There was no pay-per-view. I was not getting a lot of money. My contract is $10,000 to win, nothing to lose. I was crazy, man. A crazy kid with a crazy dream.

Nobody, you know, even pay-per-view ban. You can buy pay-per-view of porn, but you cannot buy pay-per-view of MMA back in the days. Nobody believed that, you know, something that I believe. So I just couldn't see it and kind of feel the moment. And I said, I got that, man. I know you're trying to hurt me. I'm trying to love you. I'm trying to love the sport.

I'm trying to spread a word. I'm trying to become an athlete. I want to learn. I want to read good books. So I'm just starting my life. You have to have a platform. You have to earn. So I didn't have anybody.

I didn't have any teacher, any team behind me, any money, nothing. It was just me and my dream and people that believe in my dream. And I said, I'm not going to be embarrassed here. It's my time. I'm going to do my best. And I just speak in victory. Nothing was passing through my mind like I'm going to get blind, I'm going to get hurt.

That fear was in the dressing room. As soon as I walk in, I said, man, let's do it. I was just thinking in the moment, let's get done with this and let me get out of here. Finding Mastery is brought to you by Cozy Earth. Over the years, I've learned that recovery doesn't just happen when we sleep. It starts with how we transition and wind down. And that's why I've built intentional routines into the way that I close my day. And Cozy Earth has become a new part of that.

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They've got some great new products I think you'll be interested in. A shampoo, conditioner, and a hair serum. With Caldera Lab, it's not about adding more. It's about choosing better. And when your day demands clarity and energy and presence, the way you prepare for it matters. If you're looking for high quality personal care products that elevate your routine without complicating it, I'd love for you to check them out. Head to calderalab.com slash finding mastery and use the code finding mastery at checkout for 20% off your first order. That's calderalab, C-A-L-D-E-R-L-A-B.com slash finding mastery. All the books that we read or the movies that we watch or the conversations

that we have or the way that we speak to ourselves or the highlight reels we play in our own mind, all of that is part of the preparation for tests, being tested in some way. And all of that is preparation for the moment when we're on the ledge of our capabilities, when we're not sure if we have what it takes. And all of those movies showed up and all of those conversations you had with yourself showed up in that moment. And then the music was this nice little trigger and the crowd was a trigger, but it was ultimately, it sounds like what you said to yourself as you switched mindset from fear to fight, you know, to survive. Yeah. Brilliant. Now I'd love to,

have you found flow state like the zone athletes call it the zone, but the technical science term is flow state. Have you, have you found that place in, in the cage? Yes. Yes. Many times, many times. What percentage of the time do you find that, that experience where time seems to be distorted, where there's the ultimate kind of merging of action and awareness. And as a complete syncopation in the present moment, at what percentage of time do you find it in the cage? I think I can see now as you're talking about, I can, I can see some fights comes in my mind.

It's just everything gets slow, slow. Everything becomes slow motion. If I will say everything, it becomes a slow motion. So the reaction that you know ducking a punch you know looking for my finish but all of a sudden right out right after you see us in the slow time you see everything before i'm fast forward everything goes so fast

so it becomes so flash and then you say oh that's it done and then you hear the crowd and you hear everybody celebrating and and how and it's funny because when you're talking about victory and all and how about defeat you know when you when you lose for yourself and everything becomes slow motion and and then you can become very depressed but But how you learn from these moments, you know, and that's been the story of my life. The worst defeat is the one that you lose for yourself. It's the one that you help the other guy, when you help the other person to succeed. And you say, oh, my God, I was my enemy. You know, he was inside of me.

And for some reason, that's a chatter in your mind. That's a chatter, whatever it is. So I think people can relate to that in many ways. A very successful man, very rich, very wealthy. But their kids, he never had time for his kids so it's how people measure success and how people measure you know victories so i i have learned my whole life that you have to learn how to understand that moment of of being the present moment but also have to understand how you can avoid anything that goes wrong with you, avoid to analyze,

you know, go back to your data, analyze and say, okay, what I can learn from this? Because most of the times I don't see when you win, when you have victorias, people don't analyze data a lot, you know, they just celebrate it. They go to the after party and whatever. So my life is being a roller coaster. And now I'm more in a sense of, okay, going back to my career, these moments of aha, moments of aha, of inspiration, things that you do say, man, I never thought I could do that. And I did it. And people ask you how you did it.

And I don't have the answer, man, how you did it, because it's an inspiration. It's living in the moment and being in the moment. Being in the moment, you cannot go back because it's already gone. But also, what about things you say, man, I wish I knew it, that technique, how to train myself today, to go back on that moment and say, train my trigger, train my mind, not focus on that moment and say train my trigger train my mind not focus on that moment and the more you know sometimes the more you you know that you don't know so being aware of learning how to have mindfulness and being in the in the moment that's something that it's so hard today do you have to learn yeah yeah me too for sure and it's you know essentially i think why um i'm in this

field that i'm in is because there's so much inside the human experience and it feels like we just me at least um there's this uh choking off of of brilliance of of uh something amazing that for so many people i know know that, and myself included, that it's like, what are we doing to condition our minds so that we can become the best version of ourselves? And this is, that's why I love what you stand for. I love how you see the world. And I want to know if there's a word or a phrase that guides you? Like, is there a philosophy, a personal philosophy that guides you in your life? I think it's belief, you know? I think the word is belief, you know?

And belief, you have two ways to believe in something. You have, you know, like you come to a person who is spiritual. I'm not talking about religion, you know? I'm not talking about the faith that people have. And, you know, I respect all people. But that belief, they call the belief that whatever you choose in your mind. So you have to train your belief system. And the belief system, I believe, we have this mind, that that our mind that we have so many things trauma i have

to do with your you know your culture you raise in the country you you know you you thought to to believe that this is true some people believe in so i remember when i was a kid everybody believed in santa claus i said man it's so bullshit and oh but please don't don't tell the other kids you know because they believe and say come on man they need to why are you lying it's funny how we raise we raise in believing in fair tales and and we have to believe that and and that's when you discover that they don't exist it's so frustrating man i believe when the first time i i thought i knew that Santa Claus wasn't for real, I was depressed. So we create, we are the only ones to create days for everything, beliefs for everything.

So we as humans, since the people from a long time ago, you know, they used to run from these pieces and go to caves. So we are taught to fear. Fear is so something that, you know, fear of cockroach. You know, I remember my father, he was so tough guy. I mean, when he see a cockroach, he used to call my sister. And I said, you are whipped, dad. And he is so courageous. He can face any giant. But when he saw a cockroach, he run. Because what? Because he was wired since he was a kid he saw his mom panic with cockroach and so how we trigger we are wired i said we are we are wired

for failure but we are we are planned god made us for success and and that's something that we need to understand that we can be as best as you want to be. So right now, someone, their listeners may be suffering for, you know, their parents. Their parents, look, you're going to be nothing in life. You're going to be a loser. How many parents they'd say that to their kids? It's so many. So how they can become so good?

They need to hear a podcast for micro GVs. They need to see stories of men that they can change the world because guess what? We believe in so much lies and especially today when you turn CNN, Fox, if you roll your

device, if you have a device in your hand, you have been controlled for your device. I always ask people that question, Michael, like this, what's the first thing you do when you wake up? And I said, please tell me the truth. What's the first thing you do when you wake up? First thing you say, oh, I turn my alarm on.

I say, what's your alarm? It's my phone. And what's the next thing you do when you turn your alarm off? I go by Instagram. I go to my Facebook. So we are entertaining by what people pictures, what people frame. It's such a lie. It's such a, we believe in such a lie. The world is teaching us today. We are being wired for this robotic. We've become robotic. You know, everything has to, you don't have that. You don't fit in. So going back to what we are talking, crafting your mind or your mindset, you have to be crazy belief.

You have to become so addicted to reading and to learning and to read inspiration. Understand that people that being failure, Picasso never knew his painting would court a fortune. You know, people didn't know they're going to become so famous. And today their grand, grand, grand, grand, grand kids are harvesting something that they even work hard for that. So going back to this, the word is belief.

And you have to understand that that word is so deep. It's bigger than anything you can understand because you have to create your own system of belief that you are capable to do things that people don't believe you can understand because you have to create your own system of belief that you you are capable to do things that people don't believe you can if you could go back to an earlier time a childhood time or adolescent time for you or young adult time and drop in a belief with the wisdom that you have now could you and you could go back in time and drop in a belief what belief would you want your earlier self to know I want to believe that the way it sees like I want to believe that I could make it again even though when I needed the most you know I did it but when I need the less. You know, sometimes we have beliefs, you know, you don't have a chance.

You know, it's either do or die. You know, you can have belief in that moment. But what about when you don't need that belief? When now it's going to cost your life? When it's not going to cost something that. So how you can create that belief when everything is good? You're already successful. You're already good. You're already successful. You're already good. So how you can create a

stable belief system that in your mind, you're not going to be, not going to be, I call it the bipolar belief. I think a lot of people deal with that bipolar belief. So sometimes you have big faiths, your faith is so good, but sometimes you're not. And people relate to this by doing stuff. I remember one time my friend said, hey, you're not doing this, that's why you're not getting that. And I don't see it that way because that's not how the world works today.

People measure success by how much money you have. Today, if you measure success, if I ask you, Michael, can you measure success for me? What's success for me? What's success for you? Some people have different meanings. You know, so I mean success for me is how is your private life? When I mean private, only you know what I'm asking you.

Are you happy in your private life when you against, you with you, are you happy? I'm not asking how much money you have, know if you're happy because you're you're stuck with high and and you're making a lot of money and don't need to worry i'm just talking about things that matters for you you know so i i will go back and kind of kind of go back and say listen man your inner belief is more important than your outer belief. Did you ever write down your belief system? Or what was the way that you would get more clear or amplify the clarity of your belief system? Was there a way that you did that? Yeah, so I'm going to divide, okay?

Three people, okay? We have three persons inside of us. And another day, my question, I love that question. And my daughter, yesterday I was putting her to bed, and she said, Dad, can I ask you a question? I said, of course, because I taught them that question is the most important thing. You ask question. Don't be shy. Ask question, whatever doubt.

And she asked me, I said, Dad, who created God? And I said, but not just with that question, Dad. I also asked her, she said, who created evil? So, and I said, okay. And I was trying to say, and how God, how God can, if God is one and we are his image, how man, how people can do what they did in Las Vegas? And I said, oh, my God, it's so much, so deep, that question. I took her time. I sit down and say, okay, I need you.

I say, okay, I'm going to tell you. And she knows about my sister. And she said, Priscilla's in heaven now. And how's heaven? So the question leads to another question, to another question, to another question. Because, and I said, okay, let's stop. Let's understand. So we are image of God. We are his likeness.

And the reason are we, we have a mind. I said, you have a brilliant mind. Look at your questions. You are eight years old. You asked me all this question. That's brilliant. So I encourage her. I'm not trying to give her an answer.

I said, I don't have all the answers, but what I believe. So now we're going back to my belief system. I say, what I believe. I believe we all have good and evil inside of us because we're not perfect. God is perfect. He's the only one who's perfect. And one day I have so many questions for God, but I don't know if when I saw him, maybe this question is going to disappear

because it's not going to matter. Because when you're in the present of something great, questions don't matter when you meet the greatness. So we're here with me. You ask me all these questions. These questions now doesn't matter. What you want is just my present and i'm here with you trying to explain you what you ask me but my belief system is easy we have a soul we have a mind and we have a body and every day i wake up my body is decaying even though i do botox i go to this i do this i do that i don't care i'm hurting. My back is hurting like I never hurt before. And every day, you know, I'm trying to not losing muscle, but guess what? We are dying. And you look pictures five, 10 years ago, five years ago, you see, my God, just encourage people, look pictures. Every five years, look pictures. And you're going to see,

maybe you don't get older because you have all your faces. You see Hollywood, the faces, man, full of stuff. But I'm talking about real. And what about the inner man? We have an inner man. But your inner man can be young forever. It doesn't matter how many books you're reading, how you have been inspired again. You have another. You have a stage of your life.

You have the first station, second station, fourth station of your life. I talk about journey, my first journey second journey third journey some people on the fifth journey in their life but some people even not not passing the first journey and the reason why because they don't understand how works their belief system and my belief system is easy i know my body is dictating i know my soul if If my mind, I don't feed my mind, my mind will become weak if I don't train my mind. And how I train my mind, reading good books, listen to great podcasts, you know, being in contact with leaders. I want to be emerged. I want to be emerged. I want to be soaking in like a meat soaking in that dressing. Just

reading, listen people. That's how when I listen to you, when I listen to you talking about with Dr. Albert Bandura, oh my God, man. I want to shake his hand. What about Nordstrom? Oh my God. I cannot forget the

things that they're saying. If I can go back and give a tip to someone, I'll pay them to hear them again. So how much value is these things that I'm feeling in my mind? That has no price. It's priceless. And I know that my spirit will live forever. And I told her, I said, we were made to live forever, but not in this world that we live in today. Nobody can live forever.

You know, some people are working for that, but I don't believe you can live forever. And guess what? Everything has a stage of beginning. We have the middle and we have the end. But what about how you can see yourself not ending from today? Because I believe that you can do whatever you want. But look,eland still living iceland still living how many teachers socrates you know plato this guy is still living through us

so we that the only thing is you cannot kill is is what inside of me what's in my you know and i can pass along and that's what we're doing here this podcast is going to stay for a long time if I'm not here, if you're not here so my belief system is easier you have an inner person inside of you and you have to find it and you have to feed them just as you feed your body

you know I have so much respect for you because of on the exterior on the, you have an incredible craft that you've refined. And you refined it from the inner stability of your belief system, of your willingness to get on the edge and to be afraid and to figure out courage and to do that over and over and over again. I have so much respect for you. And at the same time, it feels deeper than that. It feels like because of your vulnerability and your openness that there's like so much space in my heart for you.

And so I just want to say thank you for sharing and for expressing and being able to be articulate. And I've got this, this, this other question about you are, you care so much about people and, and people doing well in their life. How do you match that with the violent nature of your sport and the destructive nature of your sport? And how do you match those two or how do those two parts of your, your inner experience work? So I, I, I have a, I have a, I have something that is so simple, symbolic for me. I receive a shirt of a good friend of mine. You know, he's, he's a pastor, young pastor, Stephen Furnick.

He sent me this shirt. He said, Victor, it's an image of a lamb and a lion. And I love these two animals. They're so unique. The lamb is always willing to die. He's willing to serve. He's very weak and very vulnerable. And you have a lion.

He doesn't share his meal with anyone. He's unique. He's the king. They call him the king of the jungle for a reason. And so we have inside of us, we need to have both. If you feed only the lion and you don't have the lamb, you're going to be horrible. You're not going to be able to understand that. So I call the difference between a priest have the lamb, you're going to be horrible. You're not going to be able to understand that. So I call the difference between a priest and the king. The priest is serving and the king is ruling. And back in the days, the king cannot stay in the castle. The king has to be in the field of battle.

So we know that the story of King David, when he was not in the field of battle, the place, geographic, the place he's supposed to be, what he did, he committed adultery. He got the wife of his best friend and he's murdered the guy. And then we know the story, how it ends. So we have, we need to accept that we have this bold figure inside of us. We are lion and we are lamb. We are priests and we are kings. So we just need to understand when to become. Just to go back to superhero again, it's easy to understand. Clark Kent is very weak and very vulnerable. He's always working and serving.

He gives his coffee. He doesn't argue with with anyone so people call him a mama's boy yeah he's he's he doesn't share you know he doesn't care if you lose it he win he's willing to to to to give everything to don't fight but when he goes to the to where to the telephone booth and put the superman clothes man you don't want to mess with that guy, man. So we got to understand that balance of life and learning how to become that persona on the moment. So when I'm fighting, I know I cannot be the pity man. I cannot start to rule. There's only time for when I say in the first stage of my life was only have place for one. In the second stage of my life, I want everybody to win. I want people to learn with my mistakes how I can influence the schools,

how I can talk to people, how I can connect to the world, how I can learn to this greatest mastery that the world have today. Like before, I have some notes. Before I die, I need to meet Dr. Albert Bandura. I need to meet Nora. I want to meet some people. I want to just be able to

be around them. Even if I can't serve them coffee or be a bodyguard. I need to be with you. I need to go with you when you're working. I want to be around. I want to see. I want to see the greatest smile of all time. Let's make that happen.

For sure, let's make that happen. You know, for sure. Let's make that happen. And so let's talk about your future. And you have the ability for, well, for a long time, you've had the ability of seeing or having clarity of your future. Like you have a vision. And so what is your vision for the next, I don't know, three, five, 10 years? What are you seeing for yourself uh right now i have a i'm being developed the the bell for fitness lifestyle is a fitness program group class it's less than an hour 365 workouts it's all different it's based on three elements

of fitness and strength endurance and power so I have this gym it's a franchise we are starting here in Florida we're going to go worldwide and it's amazing it's the heart monitor system

people have technology involved people can track their progress and low impact, there's no impact at all in the training. So people with knee problems, back problems, they can do it. You know, I have so many injuries in my career. So I'm trying to share with people it's how to create a new lifestyle. So that's how I call it. Say, what's your lifestyle? So I don't see like I do a diet or I do this. So I want to help people. You know, like another day I was talking to a friend of mine.

You know, I have some goals in my life and this is one of them. I want to be able to not just make a lot of money, not just become very successful. Success for me is measured by what you do. So example, I'm talking about being moral, okay? Let's go back to moral. What's being moral is, is whatever you preach, you do it. So tobacco industry kills so many people today,

woolly, you know, every year. So if you own tobacco company, actually you are murdering a lot of people. So every segment today people be owners of this or that. So I was thinking to myself if I can own something that can, what the world needs today they need less stress, they need more peace, inner peace and they need to have a better lifestyle. So I think I have some unique, you know, business concept

that I can feed, I can give to people what their money cannot buy. And I have that question I ask people all the time. How much is worth? If you know you're going to die, you know, tomorrow, you know you're going to die tomorrow. And if God comes to you and says, I want to give you 10 more years of your life, how much you pay for it.

And I hear everybody asking that question. It's priceless. So imagine that question for Warren Buffett. Imagine that question for Bill Gates, opera. People are living their life. People, they're making an impact in the whole world. Elon Musk. So I think it's not just the sense of the world needs them,

but they need to be here because they don't want to leave. Nobody wants to leave this world. You want to see your kids get married. You want to see your grand-grandkids. You know, so I want to collaborate with the world today. It's easy to create a lifestyle. It's not hard. It's easy to create a lifestyle it's not hard it's easy you just just be willing to to start creating a different way to create your dopamine you know

instead of looking to a marshmallow or to a cake you can go inside the gym and work out and create a new lifestyle and create different way is impacting the world through a lifestyle training that you want to implement through a franchise model and where you are now. And for many people, that gap is full of anxiety. And there's obviously some excitement, but there's an anxiousness and there's a not knowing if that can actually take place. So you've got a whole history of being exceptional in that gap, in that space between knowing and not knowing. And so you know now that you've got an incredible body of work and a track record. You've got a model gym that's working well. And then there's that gap for the future vision.

So how do you manage that anxiety between the two? That's something that's called the belief. When you believe, when something is working for you, like you can only, I believe that we live in a world today that people are teaching, you know, I see people say, don't smoke, and then they talk to their kids, you cannot smoke. And then the first thing they do, they pick up a cigarette and start smoking. You know, you say to your kids, don't say bad word.

But the only thing you say, you always say half word in this. So you have to be, the only thing you can do things is, you can only offer what is working for yourself so and so with that being said so it's learning the craft then understanding that being vulnerable studying what's what's the world is accepting today so today we know that you know we how you create a habit you know it's hard to create we know that it's hard to create a new trigger and a new reward, but you can change the routine. So how do you make people think? Why do people buy stuff? So you don't know, but you're being wired with marketing.

Neuroscience is all these big companies that are behind to know what you need to do to be your product being consumed. So it's funny how the world works. So the biggest sponsor of sport is McDonald's and Coca-Cola. They're horrible for your health. You're not going to see any doctor prescribing, hey, you have to drink Coca-Cola three times a day. Every time you eat, you have to drink a soda.

Oh, you have to stop at McDonald's. But guess what? Athletes athletes they're getting paid millions of dollars to do a merchandise for these companies and this company supports sports so it's contradictory it's contradictory for what sport preach sports sport preach health but these products that we know there's no health so how you navigate on the system and and how you tell the truth without hurting people but how you can make a change you can only make a change by you being the change you can only be i say you can only be

that mean you have to path you have to walk the way you cannot ask a navy seal you cannot have a navy seal trainer training navy seal He never been a Navy SEAL. But you know that guy went through all that and plus. So that's how you're going to become a Navy SEAL if you're not a Navy SEAL training. It's like getting a guy with a bucket and say, okay, Michael, you're going to fight tomorrow. Getting a guy who never got punched on his face, how he can coach you. How are you going to listen to him? A guy like me, we're 18 years old, going to fight. Look, everybody was afraid. I knew that my friends never fought in their life, but I had a coach that said, go ahead, you're ready, because I

knew he passed the way. So you can only do something you feel paved the way if you went there. And if you don't know, you learn from books, become a great teacher. But it's always true. Speak the truth. I think it's so true. The truth sets you free. You have to be truthful with yourself and with other people. I mean, what you're saying, I'm resonating so deeply with because oftentimes people say, okay, Mike, I'd like to work on

confidence. No one really likes to say that phrase. I want to work on confidence because there's like this, I don't know, image of what somebody who's not confident is supposed to look like. But really the way that I decode that is, hey, I want to be aggressive in pushing the limits of my life. And I know that when I do that, there's going to be fear that creeps up and doubt that creeps up. And I'd like to be better at my, uh, ability to be confident. And I know that you have to base confidence on a body of work. That's real and things that in your past that are sturdy. So is there, if confidence is a cornerstone for great performance, um, or one of the

cornerstones, what can you share with us on how to build confidence? I think it's just first, it's just realized that, that we are human beings, that we have the fire flight, you know, we, you know, everyone is different, you know, it's so being brave and being confident. And if I can write, you know, words like being brave, being confident, it's what? It's be able to face your fears and learning just that quote. Learning to love what you've been taught to fear. Because who taught us to fear? It's what? It's our ancestors.

You know, they used to run from beasts, go to these caves, and so afraid of this big crap animal. So human beings are afraid for nature. When you're a kid, you can tell a kid. The kid, they don't have any fear. I remember I saw my kid picking up his own shit and putting it in his mouth and not knowing that it's bad. He was just playing with his own shit. Come on, man. Can you see yourself playing with your own shit? And he was having fun with his own crap. So how come we become adult human beings and, oh no, I don't have fear. It's such

a lie. We all fear. It's not a matter of what you fear. Are you ready to face that fear? No, I'm not ready. So what I have to do to get ready? That's why I said, Michael, can you help me be more confident? Can you help me to become a better athlete? Because you learned the craft of the mind. Things that I don't know the names, you know all the names. They're called amygdala. We are so's what, that's what's going to make you survive, and that's what's going to make you kill your enemy, and who's your enemy, your enemy is inside of you, called enemy, it's inside of you, it's not outside of the world, sometimes the enemy is sleeping in your own bed, you cannot sleep, you cannot sleep, because your enemy is in your head.

So it's you. So you have to learn how to be what? Be a man and say, listen, that whip kid that was taught to fear, I'm going to learn how to, I'm going to teach him to become brave. How? Knowing that I'm afraid and what I have to do to become courageous. And that's how you learn. People are lucky to know you. And, you know, I can't wait to figure out how I can support you and your vision and what the mission that you have to embed lifestyle, a particular lifestyle and way of thinking to become more. And so I know that there's some good stuff for us in the future. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm just excited to hear your passion and to know that it's come from a real place for you. So with that being said, um, you know,

how do you manage? Cause I know you work really hard. I know you have an incredible passion and like, those are the makings of grit, right? Like, like you've got this long-term vision. You live with great passion. You work really hard on a regular basis. You're pushing right on the edge of your capabilities and capacity. How do you recover? What do you do to recover really well so you can wake up tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow with all the zest and zeal and energy to be great? That's a great question. I think it's like being true to myself. So last night I was, you know, I have sometimes very hard for me to put things in paper. I was just talking to you in personal.

I said, Michael, I need to learn how to put, because my mind is, I'm so ahead of the game. But sometimes it's hard for people to to keep to understand what i where i am so i go to it's very easy for me to go to a to z and i i understand that all the crazy people in the world they make a difference because they they they thought of z before a before the name so it's not bad actually so it's how to accept that and how to work that. So how to balance that speed mind that I think I have. So I see it as a gift. I don't see it as a problem.

And I learned. So, for example, last night I was in my bed talking to my wife and trying to put everything and say, this is what I have to do. I was already there. I was already in 2040. And she said, honey, sit down. You're in 2070.

So let's focus on what we have tomorrow. So tomorrow I have this podcast at 1 p.m. It's going to be great not just for people. It's for me. It's going to be great, not just for people. It's for me. It's great for me. What a chance I have. Okay, honey, but now you have to sleep. So get a book.

Get your book and read it. So you have to manage and understand that what you need, nobody has everything. So I love the great mind of people. The greatest people in the world they build a team they call a teamwork so team is something that you need someone that you don't have it so understand that i don't have everything to become successful in every care it doesn't matter what it is and even raising my children they're the most important thing with me. So the key, if I could point from one people, is like people got it.

I want to be emerged. If you can listen to me and give me a present, I want to be emerged with greatness. So I need people. Relationship is the key for success in your life. Whatever you want in your life, you cannot, but also that being said, what you need, you need to learn being by yourself, you and yourself, learning to have what? Solitude is different than being alone, being lonely. You need to learn how to know yourself being aware of your breath being aware

of the moment you know create a moment of of meditation of you with you and said where i'm going where is my goal and start writing things that can make an impact not just in your life but the life people that you love people that you can you can make a change forever so that's being my main goal is to be on that moment you know be merged with greatness with people learn you know have i wish i can go back to school again and just go back and enroll myself with my kid and just go back again do it again do one more journey but guess what maybe i already have that journey now it's time to do another thing so it's just be able to be ready for what's next yeah brilliant and do you have a meditation

practice and what does it look like if you do you know it's i i love to pray and read the bible and and and have a moment and that's just being there in the moment learning I'm learning to be more doing the the mindfulness and listen and reading books and learning how to create your breath and pay attention I did a lot I did a lot but it's funny how when you work so hard for something you don't need to work so hard it's just right there it's right there in the moment so I'm learning to be aware of the moment of I don't need to work that hard just to be aware of my breath that God is so close to me that I don't need to jump or scream loud I think when I'm when I when I have these moments that learning that God is right there and I just have to quiet my mind and and be there in the moment I think that's that's the best moment of our

life you know just be aware of you okay Peter how in your words how do you define articulate mastery a master is something that that you can only achieve mastery if you become emerged and you drink from the fountain. I can see mastery is when Jesus offered a woman the drink from, you know, if you drink from my well, you'll never be thirsty again. And that thing is so powerful because he was not talking about the thirsty of the flesh. He's talking about the thirsty of the soul. And if you drink from this fountain, that means that the word drinking is not momentarily, not just right now. It's something that you have to do basically daily. Drink from the fountain of what? not just right now. It's something that you have to do basically daily.

Drink from the fountain of what? Of being there, you know, living what you preach. Be aware. Don't be a hypocrite. You know, don't be self. Don't be just yourself. You know, be aware of to be able to share. You cannot keep to yourself. And sometimes, you know, our bank account, you know, things that we like,

you're always trying to keep for ourselves. You know, we're trying to control. But these things, you don't need to. The more you give, the more you have. I think that's what it is. Mastery is the more you give, the more you have. It's opposite the financial world because mastery is something that is inside of you. It's not outside.

Okay. Vitor, I know that people that weren't familiar with your first craft of the fight game and mixed martial arts are going to look you up and take a look. And I bet people are going to just absolutely fall in love with you. So where can people find you? What's the best way to be connected the best way i think is

i cannot give my private song man he's gonna get crazy no social social media what's the best way the great minds you know just just contact you know the social media is is at Vito Belfort you know my Instagram and my Twitter and I have uh I have an email that you know I have a part my it is called contato it's c-o-n-t-a-t-o at vitor belfort.com so you can email there his name is gustavo yeah you are a blast to follow on social because um it's so obvious what you care about your family loved ones working hard and doing good for the world. So that's a really fun. Vitor, V-I-T-O-R, Belfort, B-E-L-F-O-R-T. And that's the Instagram and Twitter accounts.

So, Vitor, thank you. Really, thank you. It's so sad to hang up, man, because it's so good to you. I just love your questions. You know, I'm just writing down your questions here. I'm writing down, you know, it's so sad to hang up man because it's so good to i just love your questions you know i'm just writing down your questions here i'm writing down you know it's uh i call the golden circle you know you can see you know it's funny it's what how and why but you know in in i'm just gonna add one more you know my golden circle is you know how, and why, and where.

Because this question is so simple, but it's so profound. Yeah. I love it, man. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Brilliant. You're a brilliant man, and I hope people get exposed to what you're doing. And I wish you the best in every way, for sure.

And for those that are new to this podcast, thank you. And Vitor, you can find him on social media using his name. And then for those who have been around for a long time, thank you for listening and contributing. And thank you for writing reviews. If you haven't yet, please do so. And you can also find me on social media at Michael Gervais Twitter and at Finding Mastery on social media on Instagram. And then Vitor, like, let's do this again. I've got about 20 more questions I want to ask you.

And so let's find a time to do this again at some point. And I look forward to connecting with you soon. For sure, my man. Thank you very much, Michael, for what you contribute to the human beings. You're doing an amazing job, man. You're changing the world, man. Oh, you know, we're just trying to figure it out, aren. You're changing the world, man. Oh, you know, we're just trying to figure it out, aren't we? So, again,

all the best to you. Amen. Take care, guys. Okay. Alright. Thank you so much for diving into another episode of Finding Mastery with us. Our team loves creating this podcast and sharing these conversations with you. We really appreciate you being part of this community. And if you're enjoying the show, the easiest no cost way to support is to hit the subscribe or follow button wherever you're listening. Also, if you haven't already, please consider dropping us a review on Apple or Spotify. We are incredibly grateful for the support and feedback.

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