FULL SEND PODCAST - Chuck Liddell | Ep. 188

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

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We'd love to talk, business. All right, guys, welcome back to another full-sum podcast. We got a legend Chuck, the Iceman Lidl, on the pod today. Before we get into it, if you guys have not tried out the prize picks app, you've got to try it out. I love the fire on sports, and I've tried out every single app. Prizepicks is by far the most fun. There's nothing like fucking greening out on a lineup. What makes prize picks different is you hop on the app.

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And I mean legend in the building today. Chuck the Iceman Liddell. Crazy. Great to have you, bro. We've been wanting to have you on for a while. I remember watching you. I think I was in like probably eighth grade in like the Spike TV days. when I remember those fights.

That's got to be the best era of the UFC. Would you agree? I'm a little biased, yeah. But it was a good time. It was fun. We had a great time. You think that was like the best time in a division ever, like the light heavyweight division at that time?

Well, it was the big, yeah, at that time was one of the, it was the premier division, I guess. But, yeah, there was a lot of great fights back then. So, you know, it was a lot bigger. Like, well, you know, there was a UFC, There's five or six a year, not, you know, 45. You know, it's a little more. I'm glad there's a lot more guys out there,

a lot more guys fighting and a lot more fights. Yeah. I just remember how deep it was. It was like you, Tito, Rampage, like, was that Machita, Shogun? Yeah, yeah, everybody, yeah. Rashad Evans. Yeah, yeah, a lot of good guys. When you were fighting back then, did you kind of see the UFC

getting as big as like a sport as it was or how was it back then like a lot of times the way i put it is i you know i always thought it would get there because it's a great sport in the world but um but i thought it would take a lot longer and i think you know that us getting on it was just so hard to break into getting on free tv getting people to understand even that what kind of fan base we had even at that time and then but the you know the reality show top just exploded i mean it made it, you know, it was genius. I mean, it was great. It was like, I think Dana said it was this Trojan horse to get a free fight on TV

and get people to see, you know, see the sport. And I got to see, you know, meet guys that are fighting and see them training, see them doing stuff. And it exploded. I mean, I can tell you, for me, it went from me being able to walk through a mall and go, okay, that guy probably knows who I am, and that guy with a tap-out shirt on, he knows me, and that guy, maybe, to six-year-old ladies coming up, hey, good fight the other night.

Wow. And it was almost overnight after. From the ultimate fighter. From the ultimate fighter. The ultimate fighter was fucking sick. Because we had the ultimate fighter. We had the ultimate fighter. You know, that, and then I won the title of the week after.

and it was just, it was insane. How much of the reality TV did you like? Because I know you did a cameo and entourage too. You got got. Yeah, well, I like cameo. That was a lot of fun. Dude, that's one of my favorite episodes. Yeah, that was awesome.

I was my favorite show back then. I was probably the last show I actually went out of my way to try to see each episode right when it aired. You know, so. How did that even come together? You know, I don't know. I asked everybody I knew. Like, hey, man, give me, I just wanted to do like a cameo on the show.

I just want to walk in to say high defense or something. It was my favorite show. And then someone got me on there. And then, like, you know, hey, wait, we got this. I think they changed the punk thing for me. Yeah. So, oh, we got Chuck. Well, let's do this.

Yeah. So it was pretty cool. Yeah, that's great. That's one of the best episodes ever. That was awesome. What was it like coaching on the Ultimate Fighter? It taught me in the beginning. It taught me a lot of things.

for as a coach, because like I remember working with Forrest and I'm trying to show him something and it's like, man, this works for me every time and he can't seem to get it. And he's pretty good. Like he should understand what am I not doing? What am I not showing him? And it just had, there's a little detail in the middle of it that I do naturally to load something that made it work, like the move works. I'm like, oh. So I learned a lot more about showing details and teaching details. It's different. I mean, don't, you know, when you refer, my first started coaching people, it's like, you're like, no, don't like this. Like, they're like, well, I don't know what you're doing different, you know. So, but like, I have a lot of friends that, you know, you see some guys that are really good at this guillotine, right? Um, Jake Shields, great guillotine, you know, and finishing guys. And, you know, I'm watching him and go, okay, he's teaching it the same way everybody else

teaches it. What's he doing different? You know, you just kind, oh, okay, he's adjusting. in that okay okay now i see what he's doing so i think that i think i've learned learned from coaching there um from working with guys that obviously just were good at what they do and they really you know and they're they're not getting what i'm teaching i must be doing something else what was your biggest uh payday fight was it rampage i'd have to look back i don't know what do you think was your most iconic fight um iconic that's in terms of like opponent like who is like was it tito

You know it's fun, but I always knew from training with him. I trained with him. I was going to, I knew I was going to win that whoops that's not right. Now, I always, if I had to pick one, I mean, it'd be the fight with Randy, the second fight, because I avenged my loss. I finally got the title I was after, and it was it right after the show. You know, the first time I broke, I had a, like, a minimum, like, minimum paper you buy is to actually hit my bonus.

And I actually was the first time I ever hit my bonus. So I was pretty excited about that, too. Who do you like watching in the UFC now, fighters? I like watching a lot of guys. You got a lot of fights in person, too. Is there anyone, like, specifically, like, maybe top three for you? I don't know. I mean, I'd be an Alex.

Like Pereira? Pereira, yeah. I mean, he trains with Glover and Glover's my guy. So until Glover retired, Glover was one of my favorites, just because we're friends. You know, I don't know, I like watching a lot of the fighters. I mean, a lot of guys trying to finish today. I like, I think for a little while, guys are trying to just...

Ressle? Well, just try to edge out a win, you know, like, making sure to do a just point fight and just trying to do enough to win. And, you know, I like it. I don't care about how you try to finish. I don't care for your ground and pound submission guys, a striker. As long as you're trying to finish, I like to watch it. Do you not like guys that will just, like, wrestle and just try to, like, kind of win by points?

Because I know a lot of people complain about that. Sometimes it could be fun to watch if it's a technical grappling. Look, here's the thing. I'm a wrestler and I'm a judici guy. So I like, I like tag and appreciate technical. If you're not just riding the guy out, if you're just not ground and hold, you lay it or what they just call it lay and prey. Like if you're just taking the guy down and hold him there, it's like, what are you doing?

Yeah, like I don't want to watch this. like but you know I put it on if the guys get get held down from like you complain about a guy holding a guy down for five rounds hey learn how to get off your back you know if you can't get off your back that's your problem but I mean the problem I have with some of these fights is you see guys out there and they're like you're not even trying to get off your back yeah you know do you not know how to get off your back you're just holding him he's laying on top of you're losing the fight get up I always think it's different like if you if you if I see a guy If you're trying to get up, the guy's countering, that's one thing. Right. That's great. I like that, actually. That's cool watching how old, okay? But if you're just laying down there and holding your guard, cold guard, like, hey,

by the way, you're not going to submit this guy. He's got great. He's great on top. You're not going to submit him. Do you think there's people that try to prepare for that and they find whatever, the best sparring partner, and then they fight Kabib or Islam, and they're just not. There's nothing to do to prepare for that. You know, I wouldn't know, because I see, what I'm watching, I'm watching, the things he's doing down on the bottom.

Yeah. He obviously does not know how to get off his back. Yeah. Or he's not doing anything that I would consider attempting to get office back. It's not so much that he's being countered as much as he's just, and I'm not saying that someone like that would, could be able to someone wouldn't have counted. Yeah. That's okay too. I'm okay with that.

Yeah. But if you're not, you're not even, if I'm watching him, you're not, it's frustrating because they're even trying. If you get rid out for five rounds, and you're not trying to get off your back to me. I forget what's the guy with, but watching him, and he's just holding the guy down

and not let him damage him. Oh, my kid. Hamsat. I'm talking about the Homsai DDP. You feel like you see that, a decent amount. Yeah, it might have been that one, yeah. What's happened recently, yeah.

Yeah. He couldn't do shit, though. He couldn't do anything, though, yeah. I mean, when you're that dominant as a wrestler, I mean, Hamsat's wrestled his whole life. I mean, how you can't stop that? But it's, it has to do with knowing how to get, like, yeah. Or trying to do that.

If you don't know how to get, if you don't, to me, it looks like they don't know how to get off their back and they're just not even trying. It's okay with me that the guy stops you. Okay, guys, he's good. Great. Then I, I can live with that. But I don't want to watch you if he's going to sit down there and lay there, just try to keep them from damaging you.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're just trying to hold on to, You got to blame the guys on the bottom just as much. 100%. That's a good point. You got, they need to work. Get the fun.

Get up and try to get up and try to get up. You know, but that was one of those things. For me, I was always, like, I did a lot of stuff. I like work from a half guard down there. I do a lot of different things from down there. But, you know, you got to start right away. You can't let, if you get those guys get set on top of you, it's a bitch. You get a good, strong restaurant on top.

They get, they get set on top of you. I like that was a bitch. So you gotta, you gotta start, as soon as you hit the ground and get, boom, you're gonna be working to get out. Yeah.

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Let's get back on the podcast. What's your relationship with Dana like these days? Great. I look good. I feel like you guys always were pretty good relationship. We always had a good, right? Well, he was my coach. I mean, I'm not my coach, my manager before they bought the UFC.

I did not know that. Yeah. He was my manager. He had to quit as my manager. when they bought the UFC. I did not know that. That's fucking cool. So how did that come about?

How did you guys first meet? He was actually managing Tito and Wayne Harriman's friend of both of ours. And he actually suggested, hey, man, you see this guy training with Tito. And I was beating up because I was beating him up. I used to beat him up to everything with training together. They didn't love that probably too, right? Well, that came later. Okay.

At this time, he was his manager, so they were probably still, they were still good, right? Yeah. I think their squabbles started later. But, yeah, but, yeah, he's just like, this guy, watch this guy, if you think this guy's good, this guy's beating him up. So he started managing me, and it was, you know, and he, and that's where, that's why they decided to, I think that's how Dana has decided to buy the UFC with Lorenzo. They were talking about doing a boxing promotion at that time. And then they decided, hey, well, why don't we take this over and do it, right? Wow.

So would Dana, like, tell you stuff like that back then? Like, oh, we're trying to buy this UFC thing? Oh, yeah, so we talked about it. They were talking about daughter talked about, you know, Dana was always going for that other stuff, like getting bigger stuff than like, like, you know, it was normally like a black belt magazine and stuff like that, but he was always trying to get some of fitness magazines and do that and get more stuff. So would you notice about him and like his like work ethic or his intelligence when you back then?

Like you said, he was always, he's always pushed the envelope trying to get more promotion, do something better, get something better for you. You know, so it was it was getting something bigger. He was trying to, he was trying to make it bigger. Square up. A new podcast from Andre Berto. It was going on, man. It's Andre Berto. Two-time world champion.

Behind the scenes of life as a professional boxer. People want to see. They won't see who you are as a fighter. Like, I say, the time is now. I really wanted to do that sit down from a fighter's perspective. Find out what it really means to be a fighter inside and outside the ring. This fight game is such a roller coaster. Square up.

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's go. And he did a great job on it. Him and Lorenzoa and Frank. What was your personal favorite moment in your UFC career? Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know. people ask that i was they put a gun to my head i i would do that that second second fight with randy so when i knocked i got knocked him out because after winning the show like both both my guys won but won on the

show went through the whole thing and then uh you know and everything he was exploded and i went out and won my fight and my knock out and yeah so they don't really do the ultimate fighter as much anymore right the last one was what mcgregor and chandler well i don't know i don't keep up with it that much They should have you back on as a coach or like two. That would be cool, right? Would you do it? It's fun. Yeah, I do it.

They should have two legends on as coaches. I think they like to have it set up where they can have it right afterwards. Right. True. That makes sense. Because for a long time, that promotes a big fight, you know? Who's rolling you out? You don't think Mike Tyson got back in there.

You don't think you could get back in there? 56. My wife would kill me. But, yeah, no. I well what do you think is the greatest fighter of all time damn all time my my favorite was that Anderson so yeah probably uh I mean he's fun to watch right I mean beat beat beat him I like BJ and uh Maddie use good friend I'm friends of mine guys love watching those guys is there a dream fight uh for yourself like if there's anyone that you wish you would

have fought in your day I mean it's it's silly I guess I think it's silly talking about things that can't happen. Yeah. Like, why prime versus this person's prime or whatever. I think I matched up well with John Jones. I always thought I would have. He's,

I've got longer reach than people think. Because at least my reach at 76. I have about 79 inch, 78, I'd be about 80 inch reach. But John, John did that on purpose. My trainer's a little, he doesn't like,

he's always done on weird things with stuff like that. Like he didn't want people know when I was that long. Yeah. So you don't want to train for me being long. That's pretty smart. Because if you say I have an 80-inch reach, oh, you got to be careful, he's going to be really long. You know, they listed me at 76.

So that, you know, if you figure, by the time you figure out that I'm a little longer than you thought I was, a lot of times it's too late. Yeah. It's a little too late for that. Yeah. Based on all your fight,

what's the most important discipline, would you say, to be good at in the in mima most important i you know i think you have to be balanced down is you have to be able to do everything um i i always say as a coach what i preferred if i if i had to pick something i'll take uh an all-american wrestler i know you're tough i know you can cut weight make weight i don't have to worry about that um and and wrestling's a skill that it's hard it's it's it's hard to teach that you're not going to get the mad hours that they got to get to that good at wrestling. And I can teach everything out.

You think that's the best base? I mean, it's the hardest one. It's the hardest one to get, I don't know. If you didn't wrestle since you're a kid, since you're younger, you know, you can still be good. You can still fighting wrestling is different. So you can still be great at it, but you're not never going to quite be the same.

You know, it's hard to explain, but you don't have that mad hours of, of so if I if you give me one and I know they're mentally tough

you know I don't know if you've made it that far in wrestling you're mentally tough too so what's it what's it like

being in like in the mind of like when you were fighting like were there ever times when you'd go into the ring were you always like

super confident going into a fight like a big fight every time like you're always like or was there ever times you're like fuck no

every time I mean I'm so bad to the point where I got when I lost I'll be like, man. You still thought you want.

Can we start over? I know I could fix that. I know what I did wrong. Let me give me another shot. You know, I can beat this guy. I know I was, I mean, right after the fight, I knocked out. Still, wait, wait, man, I know what I messed up. I got, I can fix that.

So I was always not going to beat people. I think as a fighter you should, you know, you should always think, oh, yeah, I'm going to beat that guy. Well, do you think it's the biggest difference between your area, in the UFC and now. There's a lot of differences. I mean, I don't know. I think the biggest difference is that you, when we, when we came out, when I came into the sport, right, UFC 17 was my first, first one.

17. That's fucking insane. And I, first MMA mixed fight was in 97. So then I fought in USC 98. But the biggest thing back then is we were trying to figure out how to train, like how to mix it. Like everybody, everybody was coming from one discipline. and learning the other two.

Like for me, one of the advantages I had in the beginning is I came from wrestling and striking. I came from wrestling and kickboxing karate background. And so I had two and I had to learn the third. You know, but we're learning out of just train. How do you spar? How do you? You guys were inventing the sport almost.

Right. And yeah. So these are trying guys are getting better. I mean, if you go look at leg, locks back then you know most these the leg lugs were so basic you know some of these they got away with you couldn't get away with those nowadays yeah you don't you know but no but now the guys are just so much better leg locks they're different it's a different different breed but but like now now everybody you start training and you go to you go you know you

decided kim wants to train at five you take them out to a gym that does everything yeah you know they have they know how to go they know how to mix it together how to train how to and it just keeps evolving i mean this the sport when we're doing it like if you stopped evolving you died yeah you know can start out start out with guys that you know wrestling versus boxing versus jitzu versus whatever right but then it became and i think they started with it trying to prove jiu jitsu was the best you know and then and then what they found out was a mix of all of them's the best yeah you know putting into and you know put it in together and that's that's what's gonna did you feel like then there was more

pressure on you because there's like now there's so many stars in the sport and back then there's only a few of you guys. I didn't feel the pressure that way. I mean, I think in the off season, there was like, it was like there's a lot of, a lot more push to do the media stuff was like, if there's only a few people people knew, so we're like, okay, we want you. Yeah. You need to go do this.

I guess that's a good thing at the same time. At the same time, it was a great thing for me. And we were just, I mean, people are, oh, man, and a lot of stuff I get now after the fact is because of all the PR we did trying to promote the sport. I was, Bill Badey did a good job with your brand, but no, I just was trying to promote a sport. Yeah. We were just trying to grow a sport,

and for a long time, and just try to go into places and trying to learn how to do interviews. I think, funny from when I first fight, the first chip fight with Tito is like, you know, Dana came with, man, you got to get, your interviews got to get better. Oh, really?

Radio interviews, you got to do some, you know. But it was hard back then. You'd go in there and people would ask you the same, like I, I guess you the same dumb questions that really, or they ask you asked and answered questions. Like they have their idea, whatever the answer should be, and they kind of walk it through the question.

You're like, do I tell you you're an idiot and you're wrong? Or do I just go, yeah, yeah, great. That doesn't do anything. And actually, my manager at the time, his sister helped me because she's not like get better an interview so I went and I got an interview coach basically she came and maybe coming and she asked me she asked me write down 10 questions all that 10 questions are what uh you know most common questions she looked down like they're asking like all these questions there are two questions in here that's it so and look and these people obviously

haven't done anything they a lot of times when you come to a radio interview guys haven't read a one sheet. They don't know what MMA is. They're asking me, like, is it like pro wrestling? Like, no. Yeah. You know, but, and what the best bit of advice I got from her was she said, well, once you need to speak up because I tend to mumble, but, um, but then she said, you need, um, go out there. These are dumb. These questions are dumb. Just, just, whatever question they ask you, the first question, answer yes or no.

Whatever it is. and talk for about a minute and a half to two minutes. Just talk about whatever you want to get out there. Yeah. And just speak. Yeah. And then, and what it did,

is for radio interviews, because they're short, right? You know, and now you made a guy look good. He hasn't even looked at his one sheet. He barely knows your name. Yeah.

And he's like, and they're like, and you make him, you give him something that look good. And you look good to him too. You make him look good. Right. Because any good,

any good DJs, if you give him some information, They'll make it funny. They'll make it cool however their audience wants to hear. They'll take care of the other part of it. Yeah. You just have to give them some information that they can use because they'll just pick it out of whatever you said.

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They've been there for us every step of the way. Take advantage of that deal. Let's get back on the podcast. Social media and all that's like a skill set where you can just be a fan favorite and not even be the best fighter. You know, you can build the whole career just off your social media. Right.

Well, there's a lot more ways to promote, you and get guys out there talking, you know, but back then that we were doing it by radio. There was like radio and it wasn't, most of my, like I like going to the radio like station.

Like if they asked me if I wanted to call it or go, I'd rather go. Yeah. Because for me back then, you meet the DJ, whoever you're going to talk with and you have a conversation. A lot of times, And if nothing else, if I have a conversation with them before we go on, because it's a real

quick hit, right? Yeah. If you have a conversation with before, it makes it so much easier for them when they get on air. For sure. Because now that they, you're not just kind of going up, like, we don't know each other. Yeah, yeah. You know, don't, if you have a little rap before you go out on the radio, it, it was better. Right.

Dana always likes to post, like, injuries after fights, you know, like big cuts. What was the worst injury you sustained? I think after that, by the last fighting, you know, I got, I cut, split up my lip and I looked pretty bad. Yeah. What do you think about weight cutting in the UFC? You think guys or fighters should fight closer to their weight? That's one thing I'll never understand, bro.

By the way, it's a balance. I mean, a lot of fights. It's a balance. It's a fighter's choice. I don't, I mean, if guys want to cut that much weight, great. If you don't, if you're, if you're, I think he's better at 205 than 185. I think he's a better fighter up there.

I mean, he's cutting so much weight to get an 85. I don't even know how he made it. How do they do that? I'll never understand it. I didn't like cutting that much way. I did the one time screwed up long story, but I screwed up the they moved the fight date. And so it changed things.

So I want to have to cut 19.5 pounds of one day. Fuck. How like how? How old way, wait, wait, I'd weigh in and then fight. What do you do the day? You have to cut 20 pounds. Yeah, we cut 19 pounds. Plastics in the sauna and plastics and sweat.

It's all water. And you obviously, you can't even take a sip of water. And you're like in the sauna and you're like, are you working? At that point, you're not drinking a sip of water now. But that is so fun. Like, I could not imagine that. And I don't know how you guys had to also, you have to do that. And then you also have to do media.

all week long while you're like that is so far but here like it but it's a choice I like I walked around at like 225 to 30 right I fought 205 um but I would diet down during my I can't be by the time by by fight week I usually woke up about 213 2 14 you know I went to bad about I stopped eating and drinking about 8 o'clock at night when I go to bed then I get up in the morning I I I By the way, I'd hate having to make weight at 8 o'clock in the morning like to do now or whatever time they make it now. Yeah. We used to didn't have to make it until like three or four.

So I, because I don't know, I probably would have to start cutting. I had to wake up extremely and start cutting because I slept in when I fought, I was trained. I was, I slept until about nine, nine or ten on fighting. It's about where I'm out. That's what I was today. Yeah. That's what I mean, I slept in when I fought because I thought, I always told me I fought it, um, nine o'clock at night so if i'm going to bed at 10 o'clock nine o'clock my body's shutting down

at yeah you know so i i usually went to bed a whole fight camp about one or two that's smart yeah so i get that's more adjusted but yeah so that was like the best toughest weight cut that was the toughest weight cut yeah and that but you still made it i never i've never missed right now was there ever like i know the funniest one though the when i for after the ultimate fighter So I found out, I didn't know we had a pound allowance until the ultimate fighter. I said, no, you only have to make a 106, right? You don't have to make 105 scratch.

So I'm like, okay, perfect, I got a pound allowance. So they thought I was having a hard time to make away because I missed weight the first, when I went out to fight, when I read Randy, the first time I stepped on a scale. Because I was, I thought we got a pound allowance. Well, you don't get a pound allowance for title fights. You don't. You don't.

So I was like, oh, damn it. side or I just ran back in. Got the sauna. Just went to the shone and came back. Well, when I jumped to the sauna for a few minutes and came back to stealing. Well, that's not a thing.

Well, you have no food system. I got no real food system. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, but I used to, I mean, I used to cut eight pounds of water pretty easy.

Because I like, I like to diet down. But I walked around. I mean, two weeks out, I'd probably be about 218. Yeah. And I probably walk in the,

I probably walked in the cage about 16 to 16 to 16 to 15. 2016 but you know some guys like to cut more some people like to feel bigger and they cut more but at 205 no one was not selling me I was about as I mean I've been two oh I've been I've been two oh five since I was 19 years old you know so yeah you're comfortable right there was that way I'd stay there you know so and my last fight I was almost 40 so would you celebrate a lot after big wins oh yeah oh yeah good time so I was actually the first guy to announce my After party after winning a UFC.

You were the first after party ever? First got to announce. Oh, so you really paved the word job. Announce his after party and a thing. And it was funny because Dana told me a story like six, well, like you said, I know we were starting to get, when they got mad at me for you announcing, because I did it at the, it was at the Rio.

My after party, and we were fighting at Manley Bay. And after my fight, and one of the meetings later, I come months later, they're like, hey, we don't want your fighters like, sending people off out of the hotel after the fire. Who said that? The people from... Mandalay Bay.

Oh, wow. We know what your fighter is sending. So after that, all my after parties had to be wherever the vet he was. Because that was the first one announced. Was it pretty fucking packed that night? It was fun. What fight was that?

I don't remember who... Yeah, I just remember because the fight with the afterparties at the Rio. So that's a look at it. I always wonder now, because, like, win or lose these guys still host after. Like, it's got to be tough to go to the club after a big loss. Yeah, but your fans are still there. You still told me coming.

I guess there's a two ways of drinking, celebrate. You're getting paid. Yeah, you got paid. You know, you have, you know, it is what it is. Yeah. What was your craziest afterfight celebration? I don't know. I actually don't.

They're all pretty good. It was a good time back then. We had a good time. Yeah. Pretty hard not to have a good time after winning Vegas, right? Yeah. A lot of options. A lot of options.

Old school was the one. You would always fight in Vegas pretty much, right? Yeah. I thought Vegas a lot. Yeah. Was that a pool party at a back there? Oh, day party. Yeah, the day party.

Hard Rock. Is Hard Rock still exist there? No. So this was, I wouldn't even know now. It's virgin now. The hotel. I wonder what the club was called at Rio, because I remember Rio, when I was a kid, it used to be the spot. Yeah.

It was up top, yeah. Top, yeah. It was pretty cool. That and the palms were the two places. Yeah, Palm's had that one too, yeah. Did you ever fight in New York or? New York probably wasn't even legal. New York wasn't legal when I was still fighting, I don't think.

Can you believe that at a point? That's wild. So where else would it ever be hosted if it wasn't Vegas? Well, I fought in Canada twice. Oh, where did you fight Toronto or Montreal? Montreal and Vancouver. Oh, nice. I fought Brazil, not in the UFC, though.

What's that I fight? mostly in Vegas. Yeah. That was your favorite place to fight, Vegas? Yeah. Japan was interesting. That was, I fought over there a few times. For the UFC?

I fought for the UFC over there, and I fought for pride over there. What was different about fighting in Japan? It's just, the first time I went, going out there, I think it was an 18,000 people there, you know? And I remember it because I was watching that Dan Henderson fight. And I'm sitting there on, like, coming out from the locker, like, kind of, like, the, first tier clinging outside and when we're standing there and I'm screaming at them my brother's tapping me I got my headphones on right screaming at something's up hey hey I'm what people can hear you like uh-huh there's a crowd like no it was it was quiet like they

when you fight they're Japanese are quiet there quiet there it's like respect where you're they're very polite there yeah but you when you're fighting it's it'll go like it'd be like a guy I'd pass a guard, but they're very intelligent fans, too, but I passed the guard. I go, ooh, quiet. Like, I mean, I could yell, I could yell instructions from, you know, the first, first risers sit down to the ring and you can hear me. Yeah. I was like, it's like, what?

The Japanese love a good guard pass. No, but it was like, like a good move, but it was just so quiet. Like, you know, the fan, you know, you know, ooh. We're still fighting. That's hilarious. We just went there recently to Japan a few months ago. I noticed that, too. Like,

they're so polite. I think I heard one car horn the whole time. Oh, they don't honk. And I, and I was a lone out there when I was walking around too. Like, I get, like,

and I start taking a picture inside. And you have a crowd, I'd be in a crowd of people, right? Like, the mobby of the thing. But as soon as my buddy's back, and let's go, let's go, we got to get you out of here.

Like, and they start, we start trying to go away. Everyone goes, oh, he's done? Okay. They just leave you along. It's very polite.

Like, oh, he's not taking pictures anymore. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's where you got the tattoo. What? Is that where you got the tattoo? No, I didn't get it there.

But the tattoos for my original karate style. It says Koi Khan. Original. Nice. It's what we wear on our geese when you get your black belt. Instead of, like, your gym patch. Yeah. Switch said they have that iron gear.

So. Cool. A lot of the fighters don't come from disciplines like that now, right? like karate. A lot of them do, a lot of them don't. There's a lot of guys that come from different things. It's just playing and saying, if you decide to get into the final,

they start blending it so much sooner. Right, true. You know, like you start doing everything. You've realized, I think one of the best things about the UFC coming out and way back was that teaching people that, hey, we, we, because my old karate style, they think, was like, oh, we can't,

you can't masterize the heart. You just got to, you know, you can't evolve. Like, wait, our founder evolved and made our style in I think it was in 1950, and it combined in different styles together and put it together into one style, right?

We had to stop evolving in 52. Like, we can't get better. And I think one of the things that the UFC did was show everybody you have to have some kind of answer for a ground game. Yeah. You have to have some kind of answer for a wrestler.

You can't just, you're not just gonna, oh, I can just punch you. Okay. Well, if you can't stop me from taking down here, you'll get it. If you can't stop me from taking you down, you don't get to punch me. Sorry. All right, guys, I want to tell you guys about another one of our sponsors, Beam Dream. This shit is fucking amazing. I've been taking this every single night.

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I love this shit. So remember, go to shopbeen.com slash Shalef, Use code now for up to 40% off. Try it out and thank me later. Shut up being here. My boy, just let me know, too. You did Dancing with the Stars. Oh, yeah.

How long ago was that? And who was your partner? 0, 09. 09 and a Trebbing Sky. Everyone says it was a really funny and great performance. I don't want to take away from your dancing ability. No, my dancing abilities are, like, as well as things. I'd be fucked on that show.

Well, that's a pretty... Michael Irvin said it really well. He was on the show with me. I said, I'm used to telling my body what to do, and it just doesn't. But dancing is not the same for us. Like one of the things I always say, like, for me, like I got, you know, our position fighting, wrestling, football, it's all here. We're like bent over in a good athletic position, right?

In dancing, you need to be here, straight. But in the position you're in, it's like, if I'm ever in that position in any sport I've ever been, I'm screwed. You're done. Like so. It's going to strike you out when you're dancing? But when you're like, so when you get, like I get behind on a move or a step, you want to catch up, right? So you want to get to an athletic position to get there, right? Yeah.

But like, on her, explain it to me. She's like, look, when you get that position, now I've got to travel four times a distance to get to where I got to be. Yeah. So it's like, it's funny. We're trying to dancing with the stars and we're breaking it down like it's a UFC fight. Yeah, but it's like, I'm like, oh, okay. I think she's trying to give it to me in a way I understand it. I'm like, oh, okay, but.

So was it tougher to prepare for that than some of your fights, you think? Oh, yeah. You think you're not comfortable. Like, I like. Did you go into that with the same confidence, too? Or were you like, shit? I don't know. Oh, no.

My thing is I just did one letter down. I was trying to get to make sure I don't mess this up. And one of the hard things is, like, and she's, actually, she's so sweet. Like that, like in the season after she was talking about, the difficulties of working with someone by size. Yeah. She's like, well, he's like, and she called me a,

I think she said, called me a Sherman Tank. Like, I'm like, and she apologized. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm like, I'll take Sherman Tank. That's good. I'm good with that. Yeah. That wasn't an insult to me.

But she's like saying, like, that, because a lot of the girls, back lead the guys so they back the it's so and so I can't back lead you if you go the wrong way I'm going with you yeah I can't make you move the way I want you to right so it was just that back place do you remember oh I was out after a week four week four maybe like five I well I don't know though you know like I think I think they're mad at me because a friend of mine um you know who you are He stole the key thing.

They had like a, for the practice room. They had like one of those house boxes where you got a combination. You get the key out and you can open the door, right? Yeah. He stole it off the thing. Like when we're out, he wanted to see it, we're out drinking one night, and he wanted to go see the workout area. Like, oh, he'd go, all right, and he takes a picture of it. you know, takes a picture or whatever.

He'll go to say it and then we get back to the house and he's got the lock box. Oh, shit. I'm like, what are you doing? Yeah. Why do we get that? So I don't think about it. Don't worry about it.

I'll just take it back in the morning or whatever. I get up about it and get, I go in to go work out like 12 or whatever. And I bring the box in. I'm like, hey, man, my friend grabbed us. I'm sorry. They've got the cops that are changing locks. They're freaking out. And so we so we were, we've, we've,

pissed off the staff, like the people that run the play, like they, they changed locks. They probably thought that there's like a stalker or something. Yeah, something crazy.

So I'm like, and I get it. I mean, but, and then I, I think I was out the next week. I was out that week. So I,

I think that might have something to do with that. They're just getting rid of me. Yeah. This guy, this guy's a liability. We gotta just, no matter how good performance is.

Unless you had your best performance ever, then they're like, fuck, weren't a pickle here. Yeah, I don't know that. Yeah, because I think we,

We were still trying to get that. I mean, the reason I did it was because it was for, it's trying to get a demographic. Because it was a demographic that isn't ours. For sure. For me, it was perfect. It's like how they had Bad Bunny on the Super Bowl. Yeah. It's not our demographic.

It's not my demographic. Yeah. So it's trying to get more people to see us as fighters and. You're going to ask your girl to call you a Sherman tank now, eh? She already may. I'm trying to think because we have Dancing with the Stars Entourage. What other big cameos? Because I think I'm missing.

Blue Mountain State. Yes. Oh, wow. That's great. Blue Mountain State was fun. That's cool. The funny thing, that move I do in there, my special move, I don't know if you've seen that episode.

Yeah. Where I do a cartwheel to a horseshoe punch. And that was actually, the reality crazy move we can do. I do this one. We do like, at the end of the end of, training camp john who's always just crazy like point sparring like circle it's just kind of funny because we got there goof around and do like karate kid type stuff like and trying to try to score on guys and one of the one of the things i do this like especially guys that are coming from out of from other gems or

whatever like i go out there and i try to get a cartwheel to a horseshoe punch if i could land that it was like it was a walk off like i you know but it was just fun i was like people like they look at you that you You do a carburetrial out of them. Look at it. Like, what's he doing? Then you dive in with them. What I'm scoring both, you know, so. That's legendary.

Blue Mountain State. His name's Thad Castle. I said Daddy's young, but Dad Castle, absolute legend. Have you ever been, like, out at a bar and a fans tried to press you or something and been that stupid? Not really, actually. I mean, I've had guys, look, like, I grew up fighting, and I knew how to turn what you say into a, you know, a moment where you have to decide either going to put your tail between

your legs and, walk out the door, fight me. But I learned about when I was 21, 22 that. I didn't really want to do that. I give guys outs, right? So, I mean, I mean, I had people say stuff where I could have easily turned it into a fight or they were trying to be. I mean, hey, man, you sound pretty tough, man.

We're making some good money now. You should probably fight in the UFC. And they go, they go back and sit. They go, hey, Matt, Chuck, so I could be in the UFC. And I can go sit down and drink my beer, relax. But yeah, I always say, like, I never had much. problem with that like usually when the here's the thing um i'm you get a lot bigger than they thought i was um i'm not known for being a slick wrestler or a striker i are a slick wrestler

or jitzy guy i've known as a heavy-handed brawler yeah so that's not a yeah so you use want to mess with and then and moat and to be honest um most assholes that would do that kind of thing or fans of mine. So as long as I, I'm nice, I'm nice enough to them, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm easy, I'm approachable. I mean, you really, I'm not, not easy to start a fight with it. No, they just want to go home to tell their boys, you know, I feed Chuck Ladell at fucking the dive bar tonight.

I've never, I never, I never really had that problem. Yeah. I don't see that happening. I don't, and I'm laid back and I laugh. Yeah. But you make fun of me, I just don't, if it's funny, I'll laugh. Yeah. Was there any low points in your career, like mentally or just like emotionally?

I had to pick, pick one. I mean, obviously, anytime you lose, we're going to have that. Retiring was tough, like, just making that choice. But I think the hardest loss for me was losing to Randy the first time, the first fight with Randy. Not because I lost to Randy because he's a great fire. And I kind of knew what I did wrong coming into that. but letting Tito off the hook was what bothered me. Because he was dodging me.

He was like, he went from, challenged me, like, I'll kick Chuck's ass after I'm done with Ken. Like, I knocked the guy out and he wins, and then all of a sudden he doesn't want to fight me. Yeah. And so it was like, and this is the fight that I was a good interim title, and he's going to have to fight me if he wanted to get a title back. And I lost that one.

that kind of really sucked. But I think Dana helped out, let me go fight and try. And I got that fight with overream right away after that. Yeah. So they got me right back in the gym. So it was good. What do you think made you such? Because, I mean, even today, you're such a fan favorite.

What do you think people love about you so much? I don't know. You know, I think it, I'm just, I'm just me. Like, I go out, I'm like, I think. Authenticity is big. I was never a character. I just, I, I, I, I, I like to stop my style of fighting was when I like to fight the way, people that happen to like that.

You have the sickest shorts ever too. That, thanks. Those are cool. Other things, by the shorts are so dope. Yeah, that's awesome. Knockouts probably helped too. Knockouts help, yeah. Well, it's the style of the fight.

Here's the thing. I did, I did, I did, I was a good wrestler, um, decent wrestler. but I knew I could finish I was best at finishing on my feet and that's kind of when I got into the sport like I came in with two things had to learn the ground and I spent most of my time

like I like I do how to do sufficient I know I know but I wasn't good enough at them to submit guys at that level right I mean I've been doing it for our people asking me oh yeah I've been doing it I've been doing jigsitia for a long time. But during my fight career, I concentrated mostly on just getting off my back and staying at it and staying in good position on top.

So, and not getting caught in things. Not be, you know, that's one of those things. You have to learn submissions to understand what they're trying to do to submit you. Yeah. If you don't understand what they're doing, it's easy to catch you, right? Right. You know, you learn some new, like, oh, it's a new move, and oh, you get someone, you know, that's why those works so well,

because when you're first learning it, you don't know what to do, sometimes you do the wrong things. What's the mission where you best at? What did you like the most? Sort of like rear-nakeds. If I went for anything, it'd be rear-naked, usually. I mean, I like, I like, I'm being goofing around, and, like, I trained with Scott Adams,

who was one of the best leg-lock guys at the time, in my opinion. But, but so I didn't like playing it. I was really good at countering leg locks, but I was, as soon as you started to go for him, I'm out. I ain't playing with it anywhere near. I'm getting out of here. I'm not playing with leg locks. So.

Plus is like that. You know Ryan Hall? He always goes for leg locks. Oh, yeah. That's all. That's all he does. There's guys that are good at it, man. And that does, and people who's got better and better.

Obviously, like, it's been, you know, it's fun to wash. All right. Well, should we plug your clothing brand real quick? Oh, sure. Yeah, what do we got here? Yeah, the new colds. Iceman? Yeah, King of Wildens.

This is chest-dave lifting t-shirt right here. Shout to Lerlis and Chuck Liddle. King of Wiles.com. Hell yeah. So this is your brand? Yeah. When did you guys start this? A couple years ago.

Yeah, it's been going. It's been fun. What other stuff are you doing like right now, like day-to-day, business-wise, personal-wise, hobby-wise? You know, raising kids. Just kind of look at it open in a gym. I still, I've been planning on, but I've been talking about that for years, you know, but I kind of stayed away from a fight team and doing all the stuff for a long time because of my kids.

So, you know, I don't want to have to be gone when they got, when they got stuff coming up. I like to prioritize watching them play. So, but looking at, look at it open to one soon. And, yeah, just doing, doing things that, doing the out colds. Those are fun. Like, if you do those reaction videos, those. get on that with a few people have fun watching those

those are always people like those yeah there's always some stupid things they put on that but but that's awesome that's fun hell yeah

well we appreciate you coming bro you're a legend thank you thank you bro thank you bro the dan bonjino show damn i miss you all I've got so much content bottled up my head

I got a lot of stuff this is the kind of stuff it's real May not hear this anywhere else. Hard truths. There's a lot of stuff to talk about that you think is going to open a lot of eyes and a lot of ignoramuses are going to get shut down. And a bold perspective no one else can offer.

They are freaking out. It's the comeback everyone's been waiting for. Lovers, haters, friends, supporters, detractors, you're all welcome. I want to hear it all. The Dan Von Gino Show. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. See you there.