Kyle Kingsbury Podcast - #1 Catching Up With The California Kid Urijah Faber

Episode Date: October 2, 2017

Kyle sits down to get all the latest from MMA legend Urijah Faber.   Connect with Kyle Kingsbury on Twitter and on Instagram Connect with Urijah Faber on Twitter and on Instagram Onnit.com      ��       Onnit Twitter           Onnit Instagram  

Welcome to the On It Podcast. I am your brand new host, Kyle Kingsbury. You can go ahead and give me a listen over on some of the other podcasts. Joe Rogan, episode 756, I believe, which is still on YouTube. Might be harder to find going through iTunes. But I also did a great episode with Aubrey Marcus. I believe it was episode 114, talking about Burning Man and some fun stuff. This podcast is going to be fairly similar to what it was before as Total Human Optimization. I have been given the job title Director of Human

Optimization. So it's a good fit. We're going to talk a lot about health and wellness on this show. We're also going to bring in fighters and elite level athletes that I believe have transcended sport and really shown something that's more important than just being talented at what they do. And Uriah Faber, who will be our first guest, is one of the peoples that really embodies that to me. And I had a great episode with him. He's a good friend.

I hope you guys enjoy it. All right, here we are. Mr. Uriah Faber. Thank you, brother. I appreciate you doing this. Yeah, man. I'm pumped. It's been a minute.

We actually haven't had time to really sit down and shoot the shit, so this is perfect. Yeah, as they say, the podcast is the most genuine conversation because there's no one else around. There's no distractions. Yeah. Here we are. We're sitting in the Palms. They locked all the doors because apparently people try to kill themselves or something in Vegas. There's no balconies for all the degenerate gamblers.

So we're stuck in here, dude. There's no getting out. This might go for a while then. You know, it's funny. I was rolling up this morning in the Palms Place, and apparently Floyd Mayweather has the whole top floor or something. And he's getting out of his car. Like his entire fight camp or forever?

Just him. Is it just for the fight camp? No, he owns one of these. No shit? Yeah. And every time I come here, I see the Team Money Train cars. He's got like three of them out there. And so I see him, just him by himself, getting out of his car.

And I'm like, I was on a phone call. I'm like, Floyd, what's up, man? He's like, hey, what's up? And he's like, oh, you're a fighter this and that and i had to remind him we met like 13 years ago in a 24-hour fitness at like 12 o'clock in the morning and uh he was playing a one-on-one basketball game with zab judah someone i think he beat up the fight and uh we had a conversation back then it was right when i was getting started but it's kind of crazy, man. This is a crazy world we live in.

Oh, yeah. I heard Zab's pretty down with MMA. Like, he's got a lot of friends. He pays attention. Well, he wrestled in high school. And then his dad was a kickboxer. His dad was, like, a professional kickboxer. And he was a boxer.

So he wrestled. He's a boxer. And his dad's a kickboxer. So, yeah, he likes it. Yeah, he's fairly well-rounded than himself. Yeah, absolutely. He's got two of the three big pieces there. That's funny.

You know who you wouldn't know, but I think for celebrities, you always think about celebrities that could jump into our sport, and Mario Lopez was a state placer in high school, which is better than I did in wrestling, and he boxes and spars with the pros at Wild Card in L.A. Wild Card, is that Jay Glazer's gym? No, that's where Manny Pacquiao trains. Oh, no shit.

Yeah. Damn. Yeah. So that's Freddie's spot? Freddie Roach, yeah. Wow. Yeah. So he's been doing that for years. Oh, A yeah slater's no joke yeah i've never been putting the singlet on and saved by the bell yeah dude too funny that's awesome yeah he's he's you know what it's funny

because i anybody you grew up watching you kind of root for yeah you know that kind of thing and he's like uh it doesn't matter what that guy does he's always going to be on tv yeah like always the guys always flipping through the channels and then like he's on some fucking celebrity game show he's on e-entertainment every day like as a screensaver on a hotel room he's always popping up yeah he's everywhere yeah he's he's he and i have the same manager mark shulman so oh yeah a little shout out shulman yeah so you obviously you're doing pretty good if you get the same manager as Mark Shulman. So we've got to give Shulman a little shout-out for that. Shulman, yeah. So obviously you're doing pretty good if you've got the same manager as A.C. Slater. We're working on it. It takes some time.

That's awesome. So you've been on a shit ton of podcasts. You know, everybody in the fight game knows who you are. I don't really want to go too deep into the story of your Raya favor, but, you know, anytime I have a fighter on this podcast, I want to ask him about what was the driving force that really made you want to fight professionally? You know, it's kind of interesting because as a competitor, I wrestled. I always wanted to fight.

I was all my favorite sports growing up. All my favorite movies were mixed martial arts related. You know, Van Damme, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, you know, those are my guys. And then boxing was my sport. I remember when the first UFCs started in 94, you know, I used to watch them religiously. It was like the Super Bowl, even though they hardly ever finished a tournament. So I've always had like kind of an inclination. I think I showed some interest in boxing.

My parents are smart and never let me get into it. Like, you know, when your kid shows interest in something they could either be like oh yeah here you go and let me help you find the way or just like kind of snuff it and so I think I had a little desire to get into some combat sports and then when they offered wrestling in junior high and high school I just was drawn to it I was football wrestling and for me mixed martial arts was a continuation of wrestling I graduated college I was football, wrestling, and for me, mixed martial arts was a continuation of wrestling. I graduated college. I was top 12 in the nation.

They had Indian casinos at the time because it was illegal in California, and that was the only place they had fights. So I basically, like, was fighting to try to even get myself scheduled to take a fight. They didn't have weight class for me at the time, so I had to fight at 155s. I got paid $200 to win.

The promoter had hung up on me. And I don't know, I just wanted to do it, you know, for whatever reason. I mean, I always kind of felt like the sport would blow up, and I didn't know what that looked like necessarily. You can't really envision what it would really look like, but I always had faith in the sport. So I had the first fight, and then just was kind of hooked after that how'd that first fight go?

it was easy I mean the guy was another wrestler he wrestled in junior college and played some junior college and he had a couple more fights than I did Jay Valencia was his name Mexican cat, bald, tattooed pride across his stomach. And I remember walking out of the cage and just thinking, what the fuck am I doing, man?

Like, what did I sign up for, you know? It wasn't like a real popular thing at the time. It was just getting going in the UFC and everything. And then once the door shut, it was like game on. I had so much fucking fun. It was a minute and a half. My dad was in the front row. He popped up and was screaming. I remember smiling at him and throwing the guy in his head. door shut it was like game on i had so much fucking fun it was a minute and a half my dad was in the front row he popped up and was screaming i remember smiling at him and throwing the guy on

his head and choking him out with like a minute and a half and just like i was like oh this is it hooked ever since yeah and i made 500 bucks to me i was going to substitute teach i graduated college i was going to be a substitute teacher and i'm like you know i was going to be a substitute teacher. And I'm like, you know, I was going to get paid, what, $12 an hour or something like that. And I just made $480, $200 to show up, $200 to win, like $70 worth of ticket sales, 20% of ticket sales. With all the promoters doing the low-level shows. They're like, you're going to make your money in ticket sales. Yeah. Sell the stands out for me.

Yeah. So I sold like 30 tickets in a short period of time because it was a short notice fight. And I ended up making 500 bucks in a minute and a half. And I'm like, fuck, that was awesome, dude. It was like two fights later, I was making like 2,000 and 3,000 bucks because I was selling so many tickets. And I'm like, you know, I can make this work. Was this with King of the Cage when you first started? It was Gladiator Challenge.

That's right. And they were like sister companies, right? Yeah. Okay. So they had King of the Cage and you first started? It was Gladiator Challenge. That's right. And they were like sister companies, right? Yeah. So they had King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge. And King of the Cage had like a low-level pay-per-view setup where it was like hardly any pay-per-view. But they'd have at least an outlet for it. And so I would actually get paid more on the shitty little Gladiator Challenge show than I would in the King of the Cage. Because it was like, oh, you're going to fight on pay-per-view.

Oh, you'll get more sponsors, right? Yeah. They just, it was like, you know, they're a shy, see dudes. You can get like a thousand dollars flat, but it was never a local fight. And so the local fights, you could sling all sorts of tickets. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.

I remember fighting in like Globe, Arizona out in the middle of nowhere. And they're like, oh, you're from Arizona. We're going to give you an Arizona fight. fight because i was still at a fight near asu and uh we went out to globe and the only tickets i sold were family members that were willing to travel like pretty much out in the middle of nowhere in the desert there i fought globe too yeah i fought charlie valencia apparently dominant cruisers in the in the in the crowd that night and lurking in the shadows yeah he was like lurking and he's like, I knew I was going to fight you someday.

He told me that years later. I'm like, yeah, you creep. Well, I was telling Tosh the other night, when I first got into it, I was in Rage in the Cage local AZ promotion, and I had a really good striking coach. I should have stayed with him longer. Great guy.

But he wanted to take me to a bigger show, and king of the cage was you know maybe one or two steps above that so I was doing well in the local show and we go to a king of the cage and I forget where it was it might have been in Laughlin or maybe it was globe but uh we get out there and we're watching the fights and he's like all right you know scope the competition in every weight class because this is the next level. This is what you're going to have to get your game to to move up. We're watching, and then we saw you come out. He's like, the California kid in the long hair. Was he like Globe?

I can't remember. It might have been somewhere like that. We're watching you fight, and he's like, that dude is not at this level. He's at the next level. He'll be something special. We were both like, fuck yeah, dude. He is going to be something special it was rad awesome brother i appreciate i think that was the fight where i fought charlie valencia that was like a monumental fight

and that fight there's if you guys look it up whoever's listening look up uriah faber bali indonesia the story after that charlie valencia fight took, like, my first ever vacation to Indonesia. And that's where I got legendarily jumped by, like, 12 Indonesian dudes and almost died. And it was, and my whole life, you're probably like this too, but, like, people ask me what, when things were. It's all relatable to a fight. Oh, that was right before this fight. And I can look up on SureDog and see what date it was and whatnot. So that Charlie Valencia

fight was in Globe where you're probably talking about I think Don Fry was there he was drinking beers and about to fight someone also on the same show and then I went straight out to

Indonesia and almost lost my life to like 12 angry bouncers at a club. Watch that. It's a 10-minute story. You don't want to hear it. But it's pretty wild. You don't want to hear it. But definitely look it up and listen.

Yeah, look at it. You don't want to hear it right now because it's a long freaking story. But you made it out alive. I made it out alive. They have decent hospital care there for you. Oh, my gosh. Everybody in the hospital was in flip-flops. I got seven spots sutured on my head with yarn and cotton balls.

And I went to two different spots. And I was thinking, oh, man, you equate that to America. You know, you spend a night in the ER. You get shipped from one hospital to the next hospital. Do all this stuff. And it was $47. Damn. I'm like, dude, America's ripping motherfuckers off.

Yeah, you're like, cool, I got cash. I'll take care of the whole bill right now. Yeah, no problem. You got to tip everybody, you know. Yeah, it was kind of wild, man. That's a big difference. That's a big difference. I mean, that would have cost, you know, $2,000 to $10,000.

Thousands. Yeah. Well, see, I mean, I've been jumped twice in street fights growing up. And what amazed me was the lack, and maybe it was like sympathy or something like that, but it was the lack of diabolicalness on the part of the guys jumping me. Because I remember like falling into a bush or getting knocked into a bush and covering up and dudes just wailing on me from all angles. But nothing was really hitting, you know? I remember, like, falling into a bush or getting knocked into a bush and covering up. And dudes just wailing on me from all angles.

But nothing was really hitting, you know? Like, I was covering up pretty well. And I was thinking, like, why aren't people, like, holding my arms out? Yeah, stomping my face in. Yeah, like, open me up and actually get good, clean shots here. Well, the difference is, and I've been jumped in America, and I've been jumped in a third world country where they don't give a fuck about life.

And over there, they were trying to fucking kill me. Like, weapons, rocks, brass knuckles, bottles, a shoe hammer, and in America, it was like,

everybody was getting their licks in to teach a lesson because there's consequences. You lose the great American life by getting locked up and getting all your shit taken in America. Over there, I mean, I couldn't get a fucking cop to look in my direction as I'm running through the streets bleeding everywhere. So the quality of life is worth fighting for here in America and worth not fighting for. Over there, they don't give a shit. Less to lose, I guess. Quality of life is worth fighting for here in America and worth not fighting for.

Over there, they don't give a shit. Less to lose, I guess. That's a huge difference. Yeah. So you had a – your mom, I hear, was fairly into health and wellness, quality eating, that kind of stuff growing up. So you probably had a lot different and just getting some advice on things. I think she was saying she wanted to make sure that he doesn't fly off the rocker when he gets older and become somebody that tries to indulge in all the stuff you're bringing away from him. But my family and my upbringing was all about good health.

It was, you know, didn't have immunization shots growing up, was born to housewives in a house, to midwives, never really used conventional medicine unless, like, dire needs once I was in college and things like that, like, you know, staff infections and stuff like that. But, um, yeah, it was all about good health and, and, and from the get go. And what I, one of the things that I thought was, was important that I saw from my parents that they did for me at, which I'll do for my kids. And I think you guys are doing that as well is creating a sense of pride about what you are. I remember my mom always bragging to us

and having a sense of pride about, oh, we eat healthy or we do this and we do that, you know, like, and it's, it's becomes part of your identity on top of what you crave and like. So yeah, wheat, garlic, wheatgrass, carrot, beet juice growing up and millet and honey instead of sugar and olive oil instead of butter and all these different things, sometimes to an extreme. And then also being able to indulge a little bit. But that was a big part of my identity and a big part of me as a person. It made it a little easier to make the choices then when you left the house? Yeah.

I just craved different things. Like, for me, when I had, if I were to eat a donut, it would feel really, it would, like, function really bad in your body, you know, because I was used to such a clean upbringing. And it was like, our treats for going and watching movies was, like, popcorn with brewer's yeast and, you know, different spices and sometimes coconut oil instead of butter, sometimes butter. But then we'd have smoothies. That was like, you know, a nice big treat for us. And that's kind of the things you start to crave.

And then also the mental toughness of stuff. It was always about treating the cause, not the symptoms. You know, when it comes to medication, it's real easy to mask what the hell is going on in your head. You got a headache. There's a reason why you have a headache. Did you hit your head? Are you dehydrated? Are you sleep deprived?

Are you stressed out? Like, what's the cause of a headache versus there's a headache. You take something. It makes you not feel like you have a headache, but you're not necessarily addressing the problem. So those kind of things are part of what I feel made me mentally tough, allowed me to, in school and in life in general, be okay with being different because my school lunches were different than other people's, and then also give myself an edge

as far as being an athlete or being just general physique and stamina and things like that. I think it all played in. I took a lot of pride in it. Yeah, I think Kimbo was saying on the Ultimate Fighter Season 10, why would I want to put 87 in the tank when I could put 100 octane in the tank? How do you feel your body, right? Exactly. Well, that wise man wise man man sorry to

see him go yeah he definitely went too soon she also said as though tosh is also saying that your grandma is a person of interest that she's a little bit of an old horn dog oh man my grandma is hilarious so if my grandma this is my italian grandma full-blood Italian. She's legally deaf, has been since she was a little kid. And she's really like a big, perverted third grader. She's like 83, and she's always making dick jokes and talking about sex and saying inappropriate stuff. And I remember putting, I think I put maybe i put natasha on the phone my grandma one time and i got my grandma going talking about something and then let natasha listen in but uh she's a freaking character man and her husband alfredo straight from mexico he's he's

been my only grandfather that i've known from her standpoint. They've been married for 39 years, but he's 17 years younger than she is, and she's always bragging about that. You're still doing it, 83. It's good. I got a good healthy sex drive from my old grandma that got kicked in. Yeah, I bet. That's a trickle-down effect, right? Yeah, she's a crack-up, man.

She's a fighter, too. I remember my Uncle Danny, who's, you know, my mom has two brothers. My Uncle Danny said that my grandma's deaf, so they share a driveway in Santa Barbara and the front house was rented to like college kids. And then my grandma's house is through a gate to share driveway and everything else. And people would park in front of the gate and she'd always have to get people in there. So my grandma lost her temper a couple of times and started swinging on some of the college kids. And the guys are like, whatever, call the cops or do this and we'll do that and then my grandma sends my uncle out and he he knows she's a drama queen to go talk to the front neighbors and like Danny you know basically like go you know go get him go get him right and so my

my my uncle knows that she's watching from the house and he goes up to the he goes up to the college kids and so he's seeing her look through the window and she can't hear anything anyways. And so he's pointing his finger at them all animated and like talking loud, but he's just saying like, hey man, listen to me. Like, no, my mom's crazy. I apologize.

I'm acting like I'm real mad at you right now because she's watching. But just please bear with her she's you know a bit of a drama queen etc and she's in there watching like her son's showing them who's boss and everything else he's just appeasing my dramatic grandma so bless her heart she's a sweetheart

that's awesome brother it's funny stuff man that sounds like you had like a really i guess maybe like a very good foundation going into all this yeah i did you know i had a really really unique background so i have that part my parents you know i was born to hippie christian parents for real early age like my my dad was born again Christian, kind of saved my mom, who was a, you know, a hot chick in Santa Barbara, Southern California, and, and, you know, got her on the Christianity kick, and then they're, you know, living this uplifting kind of like commune life,

and then, then my mom goes back to, you know, wanting to be a model and actress and that kind of stuff as happens in the hot Southern California chicks worlds. And my dad is doing construction, drinking a little bit, and they end up getting a divorce when I'm in kindergarten. So I started out with this like really unique, like hippie, like fun-loving environment. Then, you know, moved to Sacramento. My parents split. It's kind of a rocky breakup. My dad is a single dad, partying animal for a couple years and becomes, you know, goes to AA and he's going on, I think, 25, 26 years sober now. But, you know, so all his house was like an open house. He always had his AA buddies over and it was like a kind of like a frat house type of situation. And then my mom,

you know, was doing modeling, so she got me and my brothers into acting and modeling and stuff like that. But yet we're like a mix of all these things, like the early Christian hippie life, now doing modeling and acting as a little kid. And my dad's like a party animal construction guy and just getting all these different influences. I got my horndog grandma who's a pervert.

My dad's parents are immigrants from Holland that are like, you know, my grandfather's a church. I mean, he's a Christian professor or music. So my upbringing is so diverse and weird that it's made like kind of an interesting mix, which is go follow your heart that heart happens to be fighting we're not going to stop you go be the best at it believe in yourself etc etc and and uh you know it's made it kind of a weird mix of of of cool things that make me mesh well with people you know so i can hang with snoop uh or right yeah or hang with Snoop or hang with the other side of the spectrum.

Either I can fit in. Hell yeah, brother. Yeah, it's kind of cool. Well, let's dive in a little bit, staying on the fighting topic. Let's dive in a little further because I brought up the foundation because a lot of guys come from a shitty upbringing. There's something in their life that maybe necessarily doesn't sit well with them, and they have a chip on their shoulder

and that's kind of the spark on why they want to destroy something or fucking get in the octagon. And, you know, it's funny because, you know, you talk to fans and I'm sure, you know, having been to the level that you've been at and you've spoken to fucking thousands and thousands of fans, there's always that oddness

when you're talking to somebody and they're like, oh, you're fucking an intellectual guy. You're fairly articulate. You went to college and all these things, and they kind of have this idea in their head of this meathead, knucklehead fighter that maybe necessarily isn't going to – it's just not what they expect to come across. And I find that in mixed martial arts in particular,

there's quite a few guys that either went to college or they were educated. I mean, Dominic Cruz is an educated guy, and he didn't go to college. But same thing, you know, as for the love-hate relationship you have with Dominic, you've got to respect the guy for who he is, not only as a fighter but as a human being. He's a pretty fucking good dude, right? right so I think um it's it it's odd to me but what I was getting at is how do you take without necessarily going through um so much adversity growing up and don't get me wrong I don't want to say that you know uh I don't want to belittle the divorce or anything like that it's hard on everybody but you know going into the cage how do we tackle the mental aspect of that

yeah it's it's interesting what you said and it's true. And, and everything's about perspective. When people ask me about my, my upbringing, it was an awesome upbringing. I had two parents that loved me. I always had food on the table. You know, we weren't rich, but we weren't like, you know, struggling so bad that it was like, couldn't, couldn't buy clothes or food or food. I feel like I have a good life. And then I hear other people that kind of, you know, it's all about perspective a lot of times. I did this, you know, I was talking to a good friend,

and he was talking about, oh, I didn't really like his chick. And he's like, oh, you don't understand. She had this happen,, she had this happen. She had that happen. She had this happen and that happen. This happened and that happened. And I was like, you know what? I can make my life sound like a sob story too.

My dad was an alcoholic or my parents split up or this happened or that happened. But it's about perspective. And I feel very lucky to have had what I consider a great upbringing. And for me, that's not the edge that I need to get into the fight game. What I see as a fighter and the guys that I see that have this bravado and I can spot talent, I can spot champions. It's a self-belief and a confidence that is unshakable. You know, a guy like Conor McGregor, a guy like Chuck Liddell, or a guy like, you know, you name a lot of the best fighters on the planet, it's just a

self-belief that they've got this confidence and they can. So it doesn't become, it's me, for my motivation, it's not because of something bad that I went through that I want to beat everyone up. It's for me realizing that in my mind, there should be no one in the world that can beat me up. And I feel like I have this inner feeling just like you or just like anyone else that says, I want to take my hat off and I'm going to throw it in the pile and say, I'm the baddest dude on the planet. And I'm willing to get out there and see if I'm right. I believe it. And let's find out. And you have that.

I have that. Anybody that steps in that octagon, they have that mentality. And some guys are right. Some guys are wrong. And some guys may be right, but the luck doesn't fall in their favor or life happens or whatever. But you've got to have that inner desire to test out and see if you're the baddest dude and i don't think that always comes from i was beaten by my dad or i was this or that you could

draw your motivation from all sorts of different things you know so i mean the reason i asked this question is because my motivation changed over time there was a certain element and this was not you know i don't think this had to do with upbringing or anything like that, but when I first got into fighting, you know, my first couple fights were easy also. We went under 30 second victories, and I was hooked. But there was very much this itch to beat the shit out of somebody. And that was kind of it.

It was like, yeah, man, I don't care if I get hit in the face because I want to fuck that dude up in front of me. And at some point that shifted to I want to do everything I can to be the very best possible fighter I can and push myself to a level that I didn't think was possible. And then test that level and test the very best version of myself against the very best version of my opposition. That kind of thing. It sounds like you came in right off the bat with that mentality of, I'm the best, I'm going to push myself to be the best, and I don't care about anything else.

I don't know. I kind of, it's more of the fact that it wasn't necessarily coming in and saying, I want to be the best. It was me not believing, like I couldn't fathom the idea of that somebody could beat me up I just was like there's no way someone's going to be able to beat me up and I that goes for big guys and small guys I always had that that that mentality where I'm like there's I just couldn't envision myself getting beat up and then and then and then it sounded like fun to me and I had watched it growing up so it wasn't like I want to and this is something that I've taken away from the beginnings of my wrestling in high school and junior high. And when I talk to you, motivational speeches and things like that, it went from a guy that

believes in himself, a guy that works really hard, a guy that, you know, pushes to adversity and all this agrees for success, which is all good, to a mentality of thinking really big. And I started out just with all the ingredients without the big thought process and wrestling and everything else. So I think it's kind of backwards. I didn't realize that I was saying I want to be a world champ. I was just saying to myself, there's no way anyone's going to beat me up, which is the same shit, really. But why not think I'm going to be the champion of the world

versus just no one can beat me up because there's a difference. Like there is a big difference there. Yeah. It's one's a goal set and one's just a belief. You know, once you set a goal, that's a different story. I learned that from from junior high and high school and college. I look back because I used to write down goals. My mom that from junior high and high school and college. I look back because I used to write down goals. My mom used to have us write down goals and think big and do these different things. But why was I not thinking as big as I could? I remember writing down my goals and the highest I got for my goals in both high school and in college, and I worked up to it, was go to the state tournament, go to the national tournament,

and then eventually be an All-American or place in the state. But I never wrote down, and I don't know why, I never wrote down be a state champion or be a national champion or go to the Olympics or anything like that. I just never did. So when I entered in the fight game,

I started out and had a couple fights. And then I wrote down my goals. And then I started thinking champion. Because I remember I beat guys. There's guys that I beat that were national champions in wrestling. And I'm sure their teams and their coaches and their own thought process was they were going to do that. And mine was to be an All-American, not to be a champion. So that's something that I had to teach myself and learn was to be an all-american not to be a champion so that's something that i had

to teach myself and learn was just to think bigger and it happened with you know you get a little success and you think bigger you get a little success and you think bigger so um you know it's kind of the same thing and it sounded like fun i was never allowed to fight anybody you're not allowed especially you big old brute like you you you beat someone up, you're going to fucking jail, dude. You know? I probably would. I'm not going to smash somebody's skull in necessarily. You lay a big punch on someone, they're probably going to sue you for, you know, or put you in jail.

So, I mean, there's that side of it where it was the first time I was able to get in a fight and not get in trouble. My mom wasn't going to get mad, and I was actually getting paid for it, and people were celebrating it. And I'm like, yeah, let's give it a shot. You know? So there's different motivations, but kind of the same thing. It sounds like fun. I get to get in a fight and not, not hurt anybody or not, not get in trouble. Then not being able to fathom that anybody could beat me up and then turning that into a thought process of I'm going to be the best in the world, you know?

Oh yeah. Yeah. And it's a progression you know most definitely yeah and it happens for the rest of our stuff now now you got this podcast and whatever else you're working on you know you've got your family you want your family to be the best it can be and you know I'm working on the next phase of my business stuff and so I've seen success from a from a low level and the power of thinking big on the fight scene and i'm ready to do that the next phase of things and sometimes it's just thinking you know hell yeah yeah real quick we'll dive into some of the stuff that you're working on right now but um just on that that concept alone that's something i talk to when i'm when i'm doing

personal training and things like that for people on weight loss is just to want more for yourself. Like it's okay to want more for yourself and it's okay to picture like I've had, you know, 300 pound clients that dropped 60 pounds and they, they've, they've lost a lot of weight, but they still don't look like you or I with a shirt off. And I'm like, you can fucking have a six pack. Like how bad do you want it? Like it's everyone on fucking earth could have a six pack if that's your goal. And it's not just an aesthetic thing. It's, it's like, how bad do you want it like it's everyone on fucking earth could have a six pack if that's your goal and it's not just an aesthetic thing it's it's like how healthy will you feel with that extra 40 pounds off how healthy will you feel when you finish the job those kind of things i think are they're only there if you believe they're there right the guy who holds a belt around his waist he doesn't fucking win that belt out of pure luck or because he had the best

coaches or because he worked the hardest it might be all those things but at the core of everything is this idea that i'm i can do this yes you have to have the belief in yourself yeah the think big mentality and and that's for and and that's and i'm sure you've experienced it also and i'm not sure to what level that you realize or thought about it but just being in the fight space, being professional athletes and being able to meet people like, you know, I just had a conversation with Lorenzo Fertitto, super cool down to earth guy, Dana White, super cool down to earth guy and Snoop Dogg, super cool down to earth guy. And the list goes on billionaires and athletes and all these people. And you see this common thread, these successful people

in business, in, in family, in music, in entertainment, in, you know, in the fight promotion game, you know, these guys are all, they just have an inner belief, and that's, like, the common thing is, like, they, it wasn't, like, like, they were super surprised shit happened, you know, I'm sure they had some some oh wow i can't believe i did that along the way here and there but they just knew snoop probably knew who's going to be a famous rapper believed it in his gut in his heart lorenzo knew that he was going to have success in the promotion world and dana white knew that you know when he was a jazzercise instructor around town and was like creating a craze and creating a little business that he was going to do something special and have a lot of success.

Like, you know, you got to believe that, believe that, believe that. And almost even trick yourself. Be, you know, almost a little unrealistic in your thought process. You know, and that's what my mom always had on the fridge. It was dream impossible dreams. When those dreams come true, make the next ones more impossible i remember we had a dirty stained sheet of paper that said that like my entire uh my entire childhood it was always on the fridge and it's just kind of cool to realize now that that's just the that's the big secret you know it's not a secret You just have to truly do it.

Yeah. Well, that's that other part. And Rogan was just talking about this with Dorian Yates is that, you know, and really talking about the movie, The Secret. Yeah. You can't just fucking wish it, right? Like the difference is the people that wish it, but they believe in it first, they wish it, and then they fucking do it, right? And that's all about the work and putting in work to be there.

And obviously, your whole life you put in the work at every level to get to the success that you had in the UFC. Yeah. And that's the thing that a lot of people, I mean, I get people telling me all the time I need to relax. I need to chill out. You know, I have a problem. I don't always sleep as much as I should or whatever, but I'm excited about the things I'm doing and I'm working hard. I don't think there's a lot of people that can carry the load that I can,

but, you know, and they don't, a lot of times people don't see the hard work behind things that are really happening. And this next phase of things, since December, I retired and I've been manifesting some things that I want to get into. And it's crazy to me that I've been manifesting, manifesting, manifesting, which basically means thinking about it, and leaning on the right people and things like that, all these other ingredients. But, you know, the thought process is the key to all that stuff. Hell yeah. Let's dive into that.

What do you got going on? So you just, you retired. You got inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame. Yeah. Massive congratulations. Thanks, dude. And what are you working on now? So, you know, I've always kind of had like an interest in the entertainment world. And I've been learning a lot about it over the last seven, eight years with my partner, Mark Shulman, my manager for Three Arts Entertainment is where he works.

But he's been basically teaching me about how that industry works. How do you get movies funded? How do you get this? And how do you get that? And there's not much luck, just like the fight game and everything else. Sure, you got to know some people, whatever. But there's a recipe to this kind of stuff. So I've been working kind of on a slate of movies, had some concepts, had somebody write

them, had a couple different projects that my manager put together, and I now have like a slate of movies that I'm working on getting funded. Some I'm in, some I produce. You know, I was just brought on to help produce the Kickboxer movie, the third one that they're going to do, the last one. I thought they did like 16 Kickboxers. There's the original kickboxer with

van damme and the and then they had the they had the dude from uh step by step remember that guy cody what was his name i thought he replaced him in like kickboxer three on okay i i don't know about that the new kickboxer series is they just came out with one george saint pierre's in it john clinton that's right yeah i heard about that relaunch and they're about to launch number two They just came out with one. George St. Pierre is in it. John Cladman danced in it. Yeah, I heard about that. They did a relaunch. And they're about to launch number two, which has everyone under the sun, from Ronaldo, the soccer player, to the strongest man in the world,

to Van Damme, to all sorts of MMA fighters are in the thing. So I'm actually going to come on and help produce the third movie, which is going to be an awesome, you know, all sorts of MMA fighters are in the thing. So I'm actually going to come on and help produce the third movie, which is going to be an awesome, awesome movie, and we're trying to get people from all different walks in the movie. And so that's happening here pretty soon. I got another movie that I just am a producer on, and we got some, you know, it's a lower-budget thriller that my buddy Jared Roxburgh had written. And I had a little packet ready at the right time in front of a producer and presented it to him.

And we got some money behind it. I was actually just, this is all within the last six months that these things are starting to come to fruition. Like since I retired from fighting and I started doing focus on other things I got a call to be in The Rock's new movie Rampage which is like a big budget movie which is fun so since December

I've been in a major motion picture I've been brought on to produce a kickboxer series a movie and then a TV show. I got another lower budget thriller that I'm working on getting produced and funded for. And I've got three other movies that I've been working on over the last five or six years that are in the slate and ready to go. So it's funny because it hasn't just happened all of a sudden.

It's been years and years of getting this ready and learning, et cetera, et cetera. But it's coming to fruition since I thought it was. What are you going to do after you're done retiring? Well, I think I want to get more into entertainment and do some of this. I get a call to be in Rampage. I get a call from the kickboxer guy and I meet this producer and present my little package to him and within six seven months all of a sudden i'm in a position where i'm talking to high level actors and i'm and i'm getting financiers behind things and it's just crazy how fast that stuff happens and that's

snowballing real quick yeah and and that's just since december and uh on top of that i have my gym which i just launched which is a scary ordeal, man, because here I am retiring, being an entrepreneur. As fighters, we make pretty good money. For me, I've been a guy— Not everyone. Yeah, not everyone. In a limelight, even for me, being a guy that's one of the faces of the Hall of Famer, etc., it's not a ton of money. I've always had to be smart throughout the years. being a guy that's one of the faces, a hall of famer, etc. It's not a ton of money, you know?

So I've always had to be smart throughout the years. And I've had some good years, but I just made this big move to build a brand new 20,000 square foot gym, a creative deal to actually purchase the building, which is scary. I did all the TIs, the tentative improvements on the build out of the place. So that would normally be paid for by the person who owns the building, but money out of my pocket. And I basically just rolled the dice on my passion project, building a home for Team Alpha Male, building an incredible facility in Sacramento. I'm trying to do the movie thing.

I've got the jam and the real estate going, and I've got my fight team. So I'm going full speed ahead on fight, the fight life, entertainment life, and the real estate life. And those are my three things that I'm focusing on. And how long do you go back to the gym? How long did you guys have Team Alpha Male in Sacramento where you guys were just renting a space?

For 11 years. Yeah, it's been a while, right? 11 years. And you guys have brought a while, right? 11 years. And you guys have brought in like, I mean, still right now, there's quite a few guys in the top 10 and in the top five and multiple weight classes. Yeah. I mean, it's known as one of the best gyms in the world to train at. Yeah. And I mean, what, what makes you shift? Because, and I'm asking this cause I'm going to interview Ryan Bader in a couple of days here. He had power MMA and fitness for six years. I remember training with that guy, you know, in small gyms, LA boxing, stuff like that, while they were trying to find a

place. They found an old Bally's, Total Fitness, took it over 30,000 square feet, built this mega center that was amazing, rocking and rolling, got a great deal on the lease their first year, didn't have to pay a dime. And then when they went to resign, the guys just wanted to double the rent on it. So they had to shut the whole thing down. And it kind of seems like if you have a good thing going, why change it? And you guys were there, obviously, for 11 years, but then also this idea that if you own the property, you look at Ray Kroc and McDonald's, that was a secret to everything.

Own the land, own the buildings, do whatever you want with it, and then that real estate is never going to devalue, right? Exactly. And just like the fight game where you learn, you know, there was no rubric or no straight path to the fight game. You had to learn a lot. At least in real estate and entertainment, there is a ton. You know, 2003, when I started fighting, there was no history of our sport.

So we had to help figure it out and help build it. But if you look at real estate and you look at the entertainment world, there's a real recipe for things, and you can figure it out with the help and research and things like that. So that's a great question. The short answer is this. The old gym was not a successful thing. It wasn't a, like it wasn't pouring in cash.

It was a great home for my team. And it was a place where we grew this organic thing that became one of the best teams on the planet. But the gym wasn't pumping out cash because of location and parking and just kind of had been run down. The real motivation behind it was because I could get in on the real estate deal and because I had the mentorship of the UFC gyms brass.

So there's a guy, Mark Mastrov, started 24 Hour Fitness and owns the UFC franchise. I became friends with him and Jim Rowley. That's his partner. And then Adam Sedlock, who's the president of the UFC gyms. And these guys had approached me years ago to get in on the UFC gym franchising deal and be a part of that and help grow it. And in turn, I built a relationship, and they really helped mentor me on what I was doing wrong and what to do in the next phase, which is it's a coach. You know, you've got to coach in that situation. Then also on the building standpoint,

I got a very creative way to purchase a building. It's a lease to purchase. The guy's 87 years old. It's a major purchase, but I only had to put a minimal amount down, which is understanding the marketplace and understanding what's happening

in the area. It was an education process. So the reason why I was able to do it, change it, was because of a lot of research, a lot of mentorship, and some straight out risk taking. And it's still a risky thing. It's still a scary thing. But I'm willing to do it. I'm a fighter.

I'm an entrepreneur. I'm somebody that rolls the dice. You know, In order to win big, you got to play big. And so I'm not going to let myself sink, although it can be very stressful sometimes. Yeah, it's a guaranteed loss if you don't step in the cage, but at least you have a chance to win if you step in there, right? Exactly. That's it. That's awesome, brother. You can't win the fight you never stepped into. So I feel like I've got good mentors and good coaches and good people that I can bounce things off of.

But at the end of the day, like, risk big, win big. And I'm not a gambler. I'm a calculated risk taker, you know. Oh, yeah. So you guys are working also. You've mentioned Snoop Dogg a couple of times. Dana White's got his, it's called the Contender, the Contender Series, is that right? Yeah, Contender Series.

And that's on UFC Fight Pass on Tuesdays, is that correct? Yep. And so they're running, I mean, explain how this works because they got a, the Snoop cast is kind of a, it coincides with that, is that right? Yeah, so the Snoop cast is an alternative, what is it, commentary crew. It's me and Snoop. So Snoop cast is an alternative commentary crew. It's me and Snoop. So Snoop's blazing joints, and we're sipping on some gin and juice and enjoying these scraps.

We've got our own little area, and we're watching every Tuesday five fights, ten of the most on-the-verge, up-and-coming fighters that are, like, fighting for their opportunity to get, to make their dream happen. So the fights are incredible. And then you've got a hilarious duo, mostly hilarious because of a real, like not necessarily an amateur perspective, but somebody that's not a seasoned, seasoned fighter. Of course, he loves the fight game, but, you know, you get a real raw perception of like what a general, you know, general public dude sees there.

G-pop, general population, right? Yeah, general population is like like why the heck's he sitting on his butt why didn't he grab his leg why did he do this and so you know sometimes you gotta break fights down it's too technical you ever see like i mean i don't know how many times joe rogan is has worried about me and somebody's guard you know oh no if uriah's in the guard he's asked to really be careful in the guard and you, you know, like, overanalyzing the fact that I'm sitting on top just elbowing a dude in the face. Like, Snoop would be like, oh, man, he's on top,

elbowing him in the face, you know? Which is what's really happening. Of course, you know, I can add in, well, if he gets the arm over here, this and that. But I like to have a little perspective of, like, just some common sense, like what am I seeing from a schoolyard perspective, on top of being able to learn and him being able to learn. Yeah, and then you have, obviously, you bring the legitimacy to the show

where you have, obviously, countless hours in the cage and you can really break down exactly what's going on. Right. To Snoop and to the people watching that may not necessarily know. Yeah, and Snoop's hilarious, dude. I mean, he's hilarious. He's singing lullabies, and he's, you know. I had him get in the cage, and I took a film of him shadowboxing.

He took his shirt off and did like a spinning helicopter kick and landed in a karate stance. And so now anytime anybody does something spinning, we call it. He went Snoop on them. Anything spinning is a snoop move. He's like, I done changed the game, man. Everybody's fighting straight up, now everybody's spinning.

I brought that to the table. It's pretty funny. That's awesome, brother. Yeah, it's funny. One last thing I wanted to talk with you about before we get out of here, I got to be mindful of your time, is Tosh was telling me that you do some work with Native Americans. One last thing I wanted to talk with you about before we get out of here. I got to be mindful of your time.

Tosh was telling me that you do some work with Native Americans. Yeah, so we have some of my best friends are Native Americans. Virgil Moorhead and Papis Martinez. And Virgil is actually a, he's got his doctorate. He's one of my buddies that was kind of a troubled guy, lived on the reservation. He's going on like seven years sober at this point and got his degree from UC Davis. And he got his master's from Sac State. Then he went to get his doctorate in Michigan. And then he's working at Stanford.

And so we've got a nonprofit that we raise funds for a lot of different things. And one of them is dealing with Native youth, which is the most at-risk demographic in the U.S. So we've done some cultural exchanges and gone up and talked to the juvenile halls up on the northern coast. And on top of a couple of other things that we get behind. We have our golf tournament every year.

We do some things to run funds for non-profit, yes. And just try to do good with it. Try to make a difference in people's lives. And I've always had kind of a real good connection with the native youth. That's very cool. What's the name of the tribe that you guys work with? So the tribe, well, there's the Tachi Palace is where Papi's Martinez is. We've been up there a little bit.

But there's the Big Lagoon Rancheria up on the northern coast. And that's kind of where we've hosted a couple things. We did a bear dance, and we did, you know, a couple of different, I can't remember the other group that we brought from, from like the Bay Area up to. Was it D'Aloni? I can't remember. Okay. It's been a while. Yeah, I've done some work with natives, that's why. But mostly my work is not, it's not, they're helping me more than I'm helping them, put it that way. Yeah, I believe it. I guess that's been my dive into really just, not just native culture, but really more into the ceremonial space. You know, how to work with plant medicines and things like that in an appropriate way with respect and reverence.

And yeah, I know you haven't been down that route thus far, but. Oh, you're talking about what? Like things like ayahuasca and. Yeah, I've heard a lot about that. I've heard that changing people's lives. I was actually talking, I'm always a stay away from drugs kind of guy. And I always preach that. See, that's funny though.

But hold on now. You drink alcohol, right? On occasion, yeah. Yeah. So you've had drugs before. Oh, I've had drugs before. Well, there you go. I have a little weed on occasion. Yeah, but that's the whole point though is there's a and it's not your fault. It's the way we're brought up. How old are you? Thank you. It's not my fault. How old are you? It's not your fault. It's not your fault. But how old are you right now? I'm 38. Okay, and I'm 35. So you grew up with the D.A.R.E. program.

You grew up with Just Say No. This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions with the fucking fried egg in the skillet, right? So, I mean, all that propaganda really does, it drives home a message no different than, hey, you should eat six meals of grains instead of maybe it's better to have a little bit more good fat in your diet. Yeah.

You know, shit like that. We're seeing a shift between people eating a ton of sugar and carbohydrates to maybe a higher fat, higher fiber diet. So I got to meet your son, Bear, not too long ago. And Natasha and I, finally, I've been wanting to meet Bear. He's a stud, by the way. What a cute kid. And Natasha and I got to talk about this.

And she was making the case for halluc cute kid and and natasha and i got to talk about this and she was making the case for for hallucinogens and this and that and i'm like okay ayahuasca i've heard some good things about it uh she's saying that it's been kind of therapeutic and in a lot of ways oh that's an understatement but yeah yeah and which is cool and then i get into other other things and i'm questioning like l LSD and those kind of things. Yeah. Well, I mean, they're all tools, right? And LSD you could certainly party on and have far less consequence in terms of, I mean, let me put it this way.

Anything has a dosage range, and it's going to have different effects at low doses versus high doses. Right. I've OD'd on alcohol before. Yeah, exactly. doses versus high doses right there's a lot of i've od'd on uh alcohol before yeah exactly and i had an edible one that just about made me call the cops on myself yeah send you into fucking outer space like when will it end it keeps climbing it keeps climbing right well i can tell you right now from personal experience that nothing has given me more fear than a high dose edible and i'd much rather have a high dose of psilocybin mushrooms or ayahuasca

than a high dose of THC. Yes, I've never done ayahuasca or I've never done mushrooms, I've never done anything really. Yeah, so I mean, I think part of the thing is too, like when you talk about these things, and psychedelics in particular, a lot of tech guys are doing microdoses of LSD and psilocybin for creativity and things like that. And that would be sub-perceptual where you don't see anything.

You just feel and you think different. Things like that. And then obviously you could take a megadose and leave your body and see some things. And that can be good or bad depending on your mindset going into it, what your intention is, and your environment. Are you in the right space? Are you in nature? Do you have a watcher or a guide? All those things.

But really, I mean, what I was getting at with ayahuasca is there's an element to it that's not fun. You puke. You shit like a madman. I mean, and you don't always puke. You don't always shit like a madman. But la purga is the purge. And there's a lot of work that goes into those ceremonies. So the chance of addiction to something like that, I think, is near impossible.

I mean, it even tastes bad. It tastes like the most bitter root tea. It's about a shot glass worth. You know, you might have two or three in a night. But, you know, what I'm alluding to is that this idea that you could get hooked on something like that is nearly impossible. I mean, it's... I don't even think I'm hooked about it.

My whole thing, like you said dare all that i'm like i'm pretty pretty dead on on listening to like your like what what i was told as a kid and i get drained like i don't like mayonnaise i don't even remember eating mayonnaise i just don't like it you know there's a couple other things like that my mom was like this is the devil that's the devil and so i am she's like she's like bobby boucher's mom the devil, that's the devil. So I am engaged a little bit. She's like Bobby Boucher's mom in The Waterboy. That's the devil, Bobby. Man, he's the devil. So, I mean, honestly, like, you know, at risk of being,

I don't want to say I'm closed-minded by any means because I've done, you know, tried marijuana. I'm not like a big-time pothead or anything. I just feel like it doesn't help me with what i'm trying to accomplish even though it's a lot of fun if i were to do it on occasion um but uh and i like to drink on occasion but i'm just a busy guy now i did look up when tosh and i were talking because she was she was hitting me hard with the with the all the pros of hallucinogens. And I'm like, I said, hold on. LSD?

And I Googled it, and it said in there that it can have permanent altering things. Now, that to me is scary. And let me tell you why. My brother went away to college, never had done any drugs or anything, got in a highly stressful situation, part of a cult, a Christian-based cult called the International Church of Christ, the Boston Movement, and lost his mind. Which, you know, we have— Was that from drugs or religion? It was from—it wasn't from drugs or religion.

It was from stress, and it was from an altering of sleeping less and guilt manipulation and eating less and just stress, right? And so it brought on, but I mean, I saw a man changed, and it affected his whole life, and he's doing great now, was you know a whole decade of just taking away his life and so the mind is is very malleable and very fickle and i don't really want to fuck with it yeah well i can see that you know let's go back to this lsd thing so what you read was was more propaganda and i'll tell you why what norm mcdonald it said it said wikipedia okay so it was wikipedia so i don't know if it's propaganda. Some clown wrote it. So, yeah. But what it did say is that it's less dangerous than alcohol and all these other things. But it just had one part that said there could be a permanent effect. Right. So Norm MacDonald has a bit on Netflix.

You've got to watch it. And I don't want to give away the joke. But basically he said. I won't be able to watch it. All right. He says he's a. Spoiler alert. If you guys can fast forward this.

If you want to watch this Netflix special, it's fucking awesome. But he's talking about how he's an economical drug user. So he's like, wait a minute. You're telling me I can spend five dollars on a hit of acid and 20 years later, I'm going to get high again. All right, cool. So he does it.

And he's like, you know, that was that was 30 years ago so uh unfortunately it didn't happen and that's that as it turns out is just a lie from big acid to try to get more people hooked on acid obviously you know the the puns in there but i mean you sound like that was a good impression actually i'm terrible. But he's you know, he brings up a point that that, you know, there is that idea like, oh, shit, man, am I going to be perma fried or am I going to lose my mind 20 years from now and go deep while I'm driving my family in the car? Yeah. And it's not true. And the beauty is science. I mean, you don't have to take my word for it.

And I don't want to sound like I'm a pusher here trying to get you on the train. But I have some more to say after science science is going to catch up to this shit as we start to understand these have the power to help to help people and uh you know rick doblan was a guy interviewed from the multidisciplinary association for psychedelic studies and he's doing a lot of work on soldiers with ptsd and you know different groups of people and demographics that actually are going through some real shit. And none of the traditional models of Western medicine are working for them, but they're finding that psychedelics can have a profound impact on their life positively.

And so one of the things that they studied at Johns Hopkins University with, I think, Roland Griffiths is the name of the professor there that runs their program for psychedelic research. They took cancer patients that were terminally ill, and so they're going to die no matter what, and they gave them a fairly strong dose of psilocybin mushrooms, and it didn't cure their cancer, but what it did is 80% of them no longer feared dying. So however long they were going to live out their life, they had let go of that fear of death, and they were able to enjoy the rest of their life.

And that brought quality of life back to them for the remaining days that they had. That's pretty cool. I went to school for human development and it's a trip because there was a class that I took where you read the result that is referenced in an article, like it is proven that this happened here, blah, blah, blah. Then they would have an assignment where you go and read the actual study and see exactly

what's going on. And then you look at the motivation behind the person holding the study, who's funding them, what are they trying to prove, what's their theory, et cetera. And so all those things where you take a look at different studies like that, it's hard. It's hard to say the conclusiveness. If something is 51% versus 49%, you can say it had a result. If it's 49% versus 51%, you can't it had a result. If it's 49 versus 51, you can't. And there's things like that. And then you look at the actual research and you go, oh, well, it could have maybe snubbed it here, pushed it here.

And this guy had his agenda and things like that. So my whole thing is this. I've been around in a small town and then in college. I've seen a lot of people do drugs. And I've seen it ruin some people's lives. Fuck yeah, same here. Yeah. I've lost friends to heroin.

Yeah, I've lost friends to drugs. I've seen, you know, guys, you know, and of course, and this is what I, you know, I'll say this to Natasha also, and you guys aren't messing with, I don't know if you are or not, but cocaine and heroin and things like that. So, you know, these are more natural-based things that you're doing, so it's different. But nonetheless, you know, I've seen one of my intelligent buddies who's now a lawyer and has a family and he's doing great, but I've seen him be my roommate and have, he

was slinging coke, so he had it all the time, and I saw him go through a cocaine-induced psychosis, paranoia, hearing voices, taking all the doorknobs off of our houses, in the house, taking the mirrors off the wall, putting a deadlock on the door, coming and crying to me about, you know, that the world is ending, and don't you know that this is happening? That is me having to talk him off a ledge, him having to drop out of school and spend a month just crying in bed. You know, I've seen this shit happen. And whether you start with whatever drug it is,

for me, I just like, you know, being present for me. Oh, no doubt. You know what I mean? And I'm not a closed-minded guy. You're in a good space mentally. Exactly. And it could have benefit for everyone, no doubt about it in my mind. But I like what you bring up here because I sold coke in college.

I did a fair amount of it. I did it early on in my career as a fighter. And basically the way I look at it now, because the fact of the matter is everyone's going to call these drugs whether they're psychedelics whether they're plant-based whether they're man-made chemicals they all get lumped in the category of drugs but the rule of thumb is do you feel good the next day is there a lasting wellness is there peace inside you that's if I have that then I know it's a good drug if I have a little bit of cannabis it's probably different for everybody oh it is different for everybody but there and there's a good drug. If I have a little bit of cannabis, it's probably different for everybody. Oh, it is different for everybody, but there,

and there's a right way and a wrong way to do anything, right? It's about respect and intention and learning and putting in, you know, you don't just step into the octagon one day with no experience and no thought going into that. You train for it. You train everything going into it. You train your mind for it. You put in the work on all the necessary things that go into that. And same thing goes for one of these heroic doses of psychedelics you do your homework you read you make sure that you have a guide or a sitter and all those things like i was mentioning but most definitely a right way in a wrong way but when you do these things correctly there is a lasting peace there is a lasting wellness and that's i think the biggest difference

in what in my opinion is a good drug versus a bad drug. Yeah, and you know what I like about what Natasha's talking about, and I feel like you're doing the same thing. You know, she's kind of cited as like a little bit of therapy. And, you know, I know Natasha well, and I've heard her story and everything. And I feel like, I mean, she's been able to overcome some things because of it, which is awesome. And it's also got to be what's your intent. Because a lot of times people are doing drugs to mask things, not to figure things out. You know, it becomes a drug,

it becomes, you know, you're, you're, you're trying to mask just like I was told not to do from, from a medicine standpoint, treat the, treat the cause, not the, not the symptom. So if, if your purpose is I'm doing this i mean it's all about the mindset i'm doing this to help myself get over this and get over that and get into this and get that i mean that's a whole different animal than than trying to mask intention yeah intention so i i could see that as well hell yeah brother yeah well thank you so much for fucking joining us i'll definitely try to get you back on here. Yeah, man. In like four to six months and catch up with you, see what you're up to. Hell yeah, brother.

Where can people follow you on Twitter, Instagram, all that stuff? I'm most active on Instagram. It's Uriah Faber. Just Uriah Faber. And then Snapchat's Uriah Faber 1. Instagram or Twitter's Uriah Faber. Everything's Uriah Faber. Facebook Instagram or Twitter's UriahFaber. Everything's UriahFaber. Facebook.

That's it. Cool, man. It's good hanging out, man. It's about time. Hell yeah, brother. Thank you so much. You got it. I want to thank you guys for listening in today to UriahFaber

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