My Mom's Basement - QUARANTINE MINI-POD: CUB SWANSON

Episode Date: January 13, 2021

UFC legend Cub Swanson joins Robbie to discuss his recent win, how this past year was for him, fighting with nerves, and more. 3Chi: Use code MMB at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.comYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. We're gonna get right into it with Cub Swanson, but first, let me tell you guys about 3Chi. 3Chi is the industry leader in Delta-8 THC products. All of these products are federally legal and definitely a more functional alternative to marijuana. You'll still get a buzz, you're still gonna feel high, but it's just more of a great body feel. You have a clearer head, I would say less anxiety, less paranoia that comes with Delta 9 THC, which is found in marijuana. And again, this stuff is psychoactive. It will give you a buzz. Please make sure you use it responsibly. If you are 21 and older though, go to 3chi.com right now. That's the number 3chi.com. Shop for Delta 8 vapes, gummies,

tinctures oils whatever you want use the promo code mmb i'm hooking you up with five percent off your order at checkout go to three chi.com right now use the promo code mmb at checkout for my mom's basement all right let's get right into it with mr cub swanson all right everyone hello and welcome back to my mom's basement i am joined by a very special guest, a legendary fighter, someone that I've been a fan of for years now. I'm very excited about this, Mr. Cub Swanson. How are you? Happy New Year. Well, I appreciate that. Considering everything going on, I'm doing all right. Yeah, how was 2020 for you? You know, you had to rehab an injury for a lot of it, I know, but you got that awesome win right at the end of it. So I had to put a nice exclamation point on the year, at least. Yeah, you know, it's, it's 2020 was just a good, good helping of life, you know, just ups and downs and

learning to take the good with the bad. And I was able to look at all the positives and, and really just appreciate, uh, being able to adapt, uh, you know, continue to work hard and see some success through all of it that, that made it special. And what was it like making your return to the Octagon? You know, you're coming off the injury, you don't get the crowd. So it was your first time fighting in that weird environment, right. With the new apex setup or whatever. So what was that like? I was excited about it. I knew that it was going to be something different. I thought that I would probably shine under those circumstances because the crowd can kind of bring a lot of

emotions, um, because you, you feel the energy in the room. Um I think the, you know, coming back was quite a roller coaster. I knew that I would be ready, but there was obviously some second guessing yourself and, you know, maybe a couple of weeks before you get kicked and you're like, oh man, that still kind of hurts. When is it not going to hurt anymore? So you start playing tricks on yourself, but ultimately I knew that I was prepared and I would be able to succeed in the fight. I think it's interesting what you said about the crowd thing.

I've talked to a lot of fighters throughout the entire year. And you hear veterans talking about it and you hear rookies talking about it a lot differently. Like, I think a lot of younger fighters were saying, well, we kind of enjoy it. Like, it feels like we're in the gym. Like, it's just like, you know, it's not as pressure filled. And then some veterans were like missing it. They're like, Oh man, like, I really wish that we had the fans for that. So I found it interesting for you to say that you actually did enjoy it.

It was kind of a fun, different thing for you. Yeah. Because it's always kind of a mental preparation for, for the craziness of it you know you you put in your mind to go in there and compete against another human being right and all of your energy is focused on that and sometimes you don't really remember that oh yeah and there's gonna be 20,000 fans screaming and millions all over the world watching you don't really think about that but it's that it's it can be heavy on your mind right before the fight and so that's just another hurdle that you have to get over and i think a lot of the the younger fighters we used to you know say that a

lot more a while ago is you know the the the first fight in the ufc how is he going to perform how's he going to handle it you know and i think over the years we've seen less people affected by it but it's still a very real thing your first fight in there you're like oh wow this is this is a big deal you know so I think not having the the crowd there uh kind of lessens that when did those nerves subside for you where you found yourself maybe right before a fight feeling okay feeling calm feeling like this is my job and this is what i do it goes up and down uh i've always searched because there was portions of my career early on uh like when i got into the wc where pressure was just building and building uh that i put on myself that my fans put on. They just expect you to win.

But they only imagine you at your very best, right? So it's so hard to be at your very best every time when you only get to perform a couple times a year. So when they expect you at your best and just think that you're going to be there, they don't realize the mental pressure that you put on yourself to be able to get there and to rise to the occasion on that particular night, you know? Yeah. So that, that, that can be difficult. So over the years, it's been, you know, a roller coaster. Sometimes I'm easy with it. Sometimes it's not easy. Obviously coming off of losses is extremely hard compared to coming off of wins. But I've learned that those nerves are there, and that's what's going to kind of get you into that fight or flight mode.

And what you do with that, that's the important part. Don't try to put it off. Don't try to run from it. Embrace it and say, these are the tools that you need to take it to that next level to perform at a high level. But if you allow it to crush you, then it can just make you freeze and have the worst performance of your career. So don't don't run from it, accept it and and try to make the best of it. Definitely reassuring to hear that a guy like you still goes through that, at least for someone like me, someone that struggles with anxiety and stuff that you fight through it still to this day and you're

still just going out there and knocking people out and stuff so it's cool to hear well it's something that i battled with you know for years and worked with a sports psychologist and and going okay am i am i weird no this is normal you know and then even fighters that I ask about it guys that I train they're like no I'm good I feel great you know and and you actually believe them and then after they're like man I was so scared you're like well I mean you know like so you see the different personalities of some people mask it some people embrace it I have one fighter that he giggles and he laughs and he tries to make it playful and and helps him you know when he performs so I don't you got to learn how everyone's

different um and I'll say that there was a couple fights in my career where I just was so relaxed backstage and I fought terribly and I got smoked and I just didn't feel alert enough. Like my opponent, like let's say I just woke up out of a nap and I'm about to fight and this guy just got to the fight going 300 miles an hour. Like somebody brought him in a NASCAR and he's just like pumped and we get in there, who's going to win? You know, the guy that his he's elevated he's ready i'm i'm too relaxed so i've learned that you want to be relaxed but you got there's this middle point that you got to try to find and it's it's taken me my whole career to figure that out man that's fascinating that's absolutely from especially from someone like you who has this resume

where you fought some of the best and biggest names there are in the history of sports just looking at some of them jose aldo dustin poirier max holloway charles olivera uh frankie edgar let me ask you this out of everyone you fought in your entire career is there one name that sticks out when i say who hits the hardest i i didn't aldo hit me pretty damn hard and it was only one shot. So I didn't really get a good gauge of it. I don't know. I felt like Holloway, I really, when he was hitting me, I just kept thinking, that's not so bad.

That's not so bad. But it was the consistency and volume that all of a sudden I was like, man, these are taking a toll, you know? Yeah. So that kind of crept up on me. Poirier, I felt like I dodged him enough. And I, he really didn't crack me into the, to the third round. When I kind of was so tired, I was like, eh, he hasn't knocked me out yet. I'll let him, I'm not even going to try to put my hands up. And that's when I got like a big shiner.

Felt real stupid about that. But I don't know. I think Jeremy Stevens probably hit me the hardest flush, and I took it. And I remember going, okay, that wasn't so bad. I mean, I guess I would have to say the Moicano jab, I just never saw coming so that that really messed me up and I I didn't even remember uh half of that that I didn't even know that until I watched it again that I got taken down and I got back up I thought I got dropped

and then we had the I got submitted in the same sequence I didn't realize that I had gotten up got taken back down and then it happened so that I think it was the funny thing out of all punches uh the jab it's like the weird one yeah yeah I just yeah I when I look back it's like he allowed me to kind of get into range because he's so tall and and land some shots so I got comfortable and then he just went boom and just cracked me and I was like I never really had a chance to assess his range because he didn't do anything in the beginning literally was like the first real shot just cracked me and I was like wow that that was a mistake. Yeah. So you've had, like I said, you've had wars, you've had dominant wins, you've had up and downs in your career. As fans, I feel like we probably look at the wars as like the career highlights.

We look at the fight with Duho Choi and we're like, oh my God, that was legendary. I'm sure people bring it up to you all the time at this point. Do you look at those as the best nights of your career? Or do you look at the more dominant wins the wins that maybe came easier where you took less damage as those are the highlights of your career funny thing is that it my i have two choices right now of like my highlights in my career and they don't really have the most to do with the performance. Let's hear it.

It's more about the struggle behind the scenes. And I guess you could say three fights. One being Duho Choi because I was counted out. I was the underdog. I didn't feel like that was necessary. There was a lot of pressure. It was the biggest crowd I ever fought in front of. Toronto is such a great place to fight.

I had teammates on the card, and we were all in the room together. It was like tension. It was me and Cowboy and Tim Kennedy, like Lando Veneto. We were all in the room, and we were just swarming. It felt like sharks in the water. We all had high hopes and high expectations and pressure you know um and i went out there and did it and then you know i've said this many times i found out later that night that i was going to be a father so five of the year father like that was special of course one one that's special to me is one of my fights in WEC.

I broke my hand a week before the fight. I asked Diego Brandao to kind of work with me. And I just wanted someone to throw some punches with me and then shoot hard doubles because that's what my opponent was going to do, John Franchi. And the first one I stuffed perfectly, and I just wanted a couple reps of that to close camp, literally my last sparring day, and it was after sparring. The second takedown, he just tries to shoot through me like the hardest shot, and it took me off guard because I thought we were going like 50%. And I hopped on one foot, and then he tapped my leg knee tapped me and got me elevated

and I turned around because my arm reached back and I turned around and I was right I didn't realize how close I was to the cage my hand went into the cage and we both fell on it and I broke my hand so I was nine days before the fight and we decided that I was still going to fight and I fought going into my hand was huge it took me the whole week to get the swelling down to get the discoloration down because you have to pass medicals they squeeze your hands and i and i knew that like i had anticipation for all that and and i still fought in the pain while they were squeezing your hand just yeah i just kind of joke like oh just kidding you know know play it up and uh so winning that fight

and i broke my other hand in the second round that to win win a fight dominant you know i won all three rounds with two broken hands you know so i'm proud of myself for that and then this last one um with everything the stress of trying to stay healthy the stress of making it to the fight of limiting my training partners to to having to go get tested frequently and asking my training partners i can't we can't train today you guys go go get tested and then come back uh in a couple days and we'll train just the stress of all that and then um winning that fight and then having a nice moment with my manager who just passed away a couple um two weeks ago um since the fight so that that you know that is

super special for me of course i'm sorry for your loss yeah yeah he was my manager for 18 years and in like a best friend of me so um like now, like now when I think back, like, that's like, we had a couple of moments after that he came over. Um, we hung out like briefly a couple of times, but that last, like embrace after the fight was, is something that I'll remember. Of course, that'll always be special to you before, before we get you out of here, I would love to ask 2021, looking forward into the year, what are your goals? You have a new year's resolution. Are you out of here I would love to ask 2021 looking forward into the year what are your

goals you have a new year's resolution are you one of those guys new year new me are you saying I'm getting rid of soda or something I don't know yeah I always try to do a new year's resolution and I always talk crap to people who bash it because you know the ones that are

making it look bad are the ones that don't follow through. I always try to follow through and I'll usually hit 70, 80% of my goals. Um, and I try to reach, you know, so, you know, this year I want to, I want to get a few wins. I want to, you know, I want to take care of some things. I want to be a better dad. I, I, I, I set all these marks and I look at it and I, and I try to hold myself accountable. So, um, I've never really had anyone, you know, looking over my shoulder, barking orders at me, like, you know, a couple coaches earlier in my career, but I, I haven't ever needed that. I I'm pretty self-motivated. So those little new year's resolutions really helped me and i always

tell everyone you should do it too like i want to read more books be a better dad be a better husband um win a few fights uh stay injury free and uh try to grow all my businesses so that's kind of it sounds like a hell of a year to me yeah i wish you all the success in that i hope you get all the luck in the world in 2021 well thank you i appreciate it all right cub this has been awesome for me like i said i've been a fan of yours for a couple years now so it's just cool to get the pleasure to talk to you wish you the best of luck in 2021 going forward thank you for the time thank you i appreciate it have a good one you too