My Mom's Basement - QUARANTINE MINI-POD: "THE MOUNTAIN" HAFTHOR BJORNSSON

Episode Date: December 4, 2020

Hafthor Bjornsson, AKA "The Mountain" from Game of Thrones joins Robbie and Clem today to discuss his new venture commentating karate, sparring with Conor McGregor, being apart of the biggest show on the planet, and more. 3Chi: Use code ROBBIE 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. This is the first interview that Clem and I ever did together. It's with The Mountain from Game of Thrones. Half-Thor Bjornsson. He is commentating Karate Combat, which I had never heard of before recently. I'll put it right out on Front Street. But oh my god, this stuff is unreal. It's a karate show where they've got real karate, real great fights going down in the pit and everything. But the outside environment, everything outside of the mats, the pit, is generated in the Unreal Engine, which is what they use to like create the environments in The Mandalorian and shit. So it kind of looks like real lifelife Mortal Kombat. He's commentating it. Marshawn Lynch has been a commentator in the past. This stuff is actually really cool.

He's going to be doing the final three episodes of the season. Before we get into this interview, let me just remind you about our sponsor, 3C and their Delta-8 THC. This stuff is amazing. It's the federally legal version of THC, and its effects are the perfect hybrid of CBD and Delta 9. It gives you that similar buzz, makes you feel high, but it takes away some of that laziness, anxiety, paranoia,

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We'll make you fail a drug test. We'll make you feel high. It is the real deal stuff. I'm not lying to you. Without further ado, let's get into this interview with Hafthor Bjornsson. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to My Mom's Basement. This is a very special edition of My Mom's Basement. It's Clem and myself, and we've got the world's strongest man with us, Halfdor Bjornsson. Halfdor, how are we doing? Doing good, thank you, man. How are you?

How are you, my friend? We're doing well. I mean, this is big for us. We're both big Thrones fans. We're both big fans of yours. We've been following you over the years, so this is for us to do. You have an awesome thing coming up. And that's what this interview is about. You're going to be commentating Karate Kombat, the final three episodes. It starts this Sunday. Now, Hafthor, I didn't know about Karate Kombat before recently. This stuff is insane.

I mean, Clem just said to me before we started recording, it looks like Mortal Kombat in real life. It sure does. It's something that people should definitely be excited about. You know, to work with these people has been absolutely a blast and it's awesome. I actually cannot wait to see the shows myself, you know. I was looking at it after Bob told us, which by the way, number one best part about this interview is a guy that I saw on TV. When the first time we saw your version of the mountain, everyone just said, holy shit. Like the Lannisters are now number one in the power rankings. They're taking over Westeros.

Once we saw the third version of the mountain, which was the best version of the mountain. But then I looked at this Karate Combat stuff. First of all, they had Marshall and Lynch doing one of the episodes. So when the Beast Mode's involved and you got the mountain involved. And like Bob said, you have these two guys. You have the Karate Combat full-blown, you know, fists and everything and everything and you have just it's just like all the people in the background so you literally want feel like you're watching a real live version of Mortal Kombat I mean that's like dream stuff it's the perfect quarantine uh viewing in my opinion so I think you guys are doing this

at the perfect time and we also get to have the exclusive interview so listen this is the my mom's basement exclusive exclusive exclusive that's how you have to build up this interview with the exclusive the only ones with it Hathor says I want Clem and Bob that's who I want I want to go to Listen, this is the My Mom's Basement exclusive, exclusive, exclusive. That's how you have to build up this interview, the exclusive. The only ones with it. Hathor says, I want Clem and Bob. That's who I want. I want to go to the basement. We're going to toughen up the mountain.

Ask for us by name. Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. It's going to be great. I'm excited to see it. And some great, great fights. Some great, great fights. I was in there for a treat.

That's a light word to describe it to be honest with you guys um some some good good fights so you've been at the combat sports for a while right I feel like over the past few years we've seen videos of you calling people out or even you sparring with Conor McGregor as a Conor McGregor super fan myself I remember that video like vividly what was that like for you big big big fan fan of uh of combat sports any sports really you know i'm just a big fan of people that work hard at them and to become good at any sports you have to work hard at them and i'm just fan of people in general that wants to uh work hard and i mean sparring with connor was it wasn't really a sparring session. It was more of a joke.

We were basically, we were just basically fooling around, to be honest with you. I came one time in just to watch one of their training sessions, just to say hi, because I knew one of his training partners, Gunnar Nelson. He's an Icelandic guy that trained a number of times with Conor. And, yeah, one time while I was filming in Belfast, Belfast is not so far away from Dublin where Conor's actually from,

I decided to contact Gunnar and say, hey, I have a day off. Is it okay if I drive and come and chill out with you guys? And he said, yeah, sure, come hang along. And that's basically how it all came along. And then this weed show just went viral of me and Conor, basically.

It wasn't a real sparring session because we were just fooling around. I was wearing jeans, I was wearing socks. If you check out the weed show. Basically, how it all went down is I asked for a picture. And he said, yeah, sure. And we posed for a picture and he said yeah sure and we we posed for a picture and then all of a sudden and when when when you have two alpha males in the same room something just clicks something just happens you know we're two alpha males there he was hungry to

fill the meat and I was hungry to feel the power from him you know so it just happened click and all of a sudden we're just dancing. That's unbelievable. Did you feel that same connection, that alpha male connection when you joined the Zoom with me and Clem? Absolutely. It's good to hear. It's good to hear. Yeah, yeah. That's what I love about sports overall.

Where did that come from? I've been a fan of combat sports and just sports in general all my life. So, I mean, it just, you know, they reached out to me and asked if I want to be a part of the show and instantly I was interested because I obviously have this I'm not sure if you guys you should guys know I have this big big fight coming up next year September against Eddie Hall so when this came along I was just like hell yeah I'm gonna take this because this fits my lifestyle right now and this can be anything cool to be involved.

These guys seem, looks like they have some awesome stuff going on. Good show. And also, a big, big plus for me is that there's a big guy there that I'm a big fan of, Bas Ratten. I was like, okay, he is there. He is there. The legend is there. I'm going. I want this job.

So I was like, hell yeah, I'm taking this. Bass Earth is there. I can go and meet the Bass Earth in himself. Hell yeah, I'm going, man. Hell yeah. I feel like, I mean, you just say, listen, we're going to have a fighting match going on. Who can come in and announce it? Well, the guy's name is Hafthor, first of all.

That guy is already pretty much on the list. Oh, yeah, he was the Mountain Game of Thrones. All right, everyone knows him. 2018 World's Strongest Man. I mean, set the deadlift record, all this kind of stuff. So I was trying to figure this out. Bob, you let me know if I'm missing anything. World's Strongest Man, Fastest Man Alive, Baddest Man on the Planet.

Those are the three titles I think any human aspires to be. We're on board with maybe, that might be, is that when you get the World's Strongest Man, they list you as strong man on your Wikipedia page. Is it just like, did you put that on your LinkedIn or something like that? Like, hey, by the way, world's strongest man 2018, not a big deal. I was stronger than every other human out of the billions on the planet right now. It's pretty cool to become, you know, the strongest human on the planet. It's definitely one of the most alpha male title you can ever get, to be honest with you.

And it's something that I, when I started to um so I've always been an athlete my whole life I started my athletic career as a basketball player that didn't turn out well I was constantly getting injured over training and I decided to take a break to heal up started to lift weights and I fell in love with the iron basically I fell in love with how I was able to transfer my body I just I just fell in love with the weights because like every single month I would see some progress I would see progress even like weekly in the beginning I would just lift weights and I would just see the muscles get bigger and it would just feel good so I've been in sports my whole life and this fighting thing is new to me even though i've been a fan my whole life and been watching fighting my whole life it's still new it's challenging but i'm excited for it when we were i was looking up

and reading up on you and all this stuff and i saw you know athletic you know history it said center i'm like oh my god can you imagine facing the mountain on the football field and he just snaps the ball and he plows and it's like basketball for you i was like oh wait so i gotta know does the mountain have a jumper are you went from the outside or you just you just barrel him down low back of it and dunk on him if you can i was more of a more of a like dunker i would i would just dunk on people that's terrifying that's terrifying i mean you say you weren't good at basketball me and clem were knicks fans new york knicks fans we would take you on the team right now i feel like you would be a force on the court absolutely absolutely so one last question about karate combat before we

get into some other stuff when can we expect westeros as the next environment for them decent idea eh yeah yeah yeah that's. That's a decent idea, yeah. That's a good question. That's a good question. Yeah, I'm not... And speaking of, so we're both Big Thrones fans. We're going on two years since the finale aired. What was that like being a part of the biggest show in the world? I mean, it was obviously great.

You know, it was just great to work with so many talented people. It was amazing to learn from so many talented people. It was amazing to learn from so many talented people. It was just overall a great experience. You know, I loved every part of it. It's something that you'll never, what's the right word to use here? You know, when you're trying to find the right word, when English is not your first language,

it can be challenging. But, you know, it's surreal to be honest with you guys. It's just, it was amazing to be a part of such a you know popular and and great show have throw let me tell you english is my first language it's my only language and i can't and i am paid to like talk on microphones with robbie and i can never get the first second or third word that's in my mind so don't worry you're among you're among friends and family right now so and i think you know like i think they're especially the the last season was you know kind of divided down the middle in terms of like critical acclaim obviously the first six

and i think no one was like oh i didn't like the way the mountain ended up or i didn't like anything the mountain was fucking a plus from the time we met him to the time he met his demise and all that stuff say you're you know tywin lann. You could throw on a hat and a jacket and no one really knows. You walk in the room, I imagine you can't just kind of go in the corner and hope no one notices, right? So do you get people asking you for pictures, put your finger in my eyeballs and make my head explode like our boy over it and stuff like that?

Absolutely. It has gotten less over the years, especially with the eye-cursing thing, luckily. It was pretty popular, especially right after season four when I cursed his eyes out. It was very popular. Now, obviously, with COVID going on,

it's quite impossible to do that. It's not appropriate right now. But yeah, of course. I get that through pictures daily. But here in Iceland, people are quite chilled. possible to do that it's not appropriate right now but but yeah yeah of course like i i get that for pictures um daily but here in iceland people are quite chilled it's more when you travel to the states to be honest with you guys i guess i'm just the regular big guy here in iceland you know everyone knows me and it's just half for the big guy we know him yeah it's more like i go to the grocery store kids ask me for pictures you know but in in america

it's it's much more i feel like social distancing is definitely a positive for you i know no one's asking you to gouge their eyeballs out we're like americans i think we're more into the entertainment and we live in this world so it's always there because it's like oh is the worst part about your day when you go out in public is having to put your finger in people's eyes no it's when people say you murdered her you raped her you're like dude this is from a show let's not scream that out. you're the world's most renowned rapist and murderer. it's all fictional. absolutely. I get a lot of comments like that and you only want to like well I just hope that everyone has actually watched the show because otherwise

people just like whoa who is this guy? This guy's badass. This guy's a motherfucker. He should be on immigration right now. If someone was screaming at you and saying, that guy's a murderer, I'd say, all right, well, I'm running the other way. He's not murdering my ass because no one's going to stop you. It's like he's a six foot nine, you know, behemoth, the world's strongest man. Do you have a shirt that says world's strongest man?

Like I have a number one dad mug because I'm a dad. You know what world's strongest man, world's strongest dad. You're a dad too. I just heard a baby boy in the because I'm a dad. World's strongest man. World's strongest dad. You're a dad too. I just heard a baby boy in the world. Yeah, yeah, it's true. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. He's two months old.

Doing very well. Thank you. You have more energy than I did at two months. I say there's the three-month fog. The first three months, nothing feels right. Up is down. Left is right. I put my coffee in the refrigerator.

I pour my milk into the toilet. I don't know what's going on. I can believe it. So God bless you. You seem to have it pretty well put together right now. Yeah, he's doing very well. He's sleeping well. He's eating well. He's growing well. He's smiling already. So he's doing fantastic. How much is he lifting? Be honest, 50 pounds? I know he's going to be outlifting me in no time he's he's bigger than average you know you you know when you when you when you do these checks on your kids you measure them how heavy they are how big their hats are and like a 12 12 weeks check and stuff like that

he's definitely bigger than the average kid so that's that's good yeah in your family absolutely so talking about the eye-gouging scene, that was one of the most gruesome scenes ever on television. You get the big win. Everyone thought it was over for you. Had you in the first half. You get the win. Does any part of you now see Oberyn Martell

gallivanting around the galaxy with this cute little baby Yoda saying, I want a rematch. I want to get this guy back in the Star Wars universe. That'd be pretty badass. That'd be cool. I could to get this guy back in the Star Wars universe. That'd be pretty badass. That'd be cool. I could see you as an alien versus the Mandalorian. That would be kind of sick, huh? That'd be sick.

I'd be in once. I could be here again. That's for sure. If the Empire needs someone, they could call you in. I'm telling you. That's like my dream. They can. Absolutely, man.

I'm down. I'm down. Just make a phone call and make it happen, man. Listen, if I can make the phone call, I would make the phone call. Another question about weightlifting. I got into weightlifting for one year in high school. I wanted to be a pro wrestler. I thought it would be amazing, but if you look at me, kind of pipe cleaner arms,

I don't look like a pro wrestler at all. So I was like 120 pounds, went to the gym like every day was drinking a gallon of milk a day and i got up to like 150 after a year would you recommend the gallon of milk a day method going forward if i wanted to start bulking up gallon of milk milk is good yeah absolutely i drink a lot of milk when i was training super heavy and lifting a lot of weight i would sometimes drink liter of milk a day, two liters sometimes. Yeah, absolutely. Do you think I could ever get to the point where maybe I don't look like you because I'm only six foot, so I can't get six, nine,

but to the point where I'm dead lifting logs? I don't know, man. That was tough. That was tough. That was tough. I mean, it's something that some people just born with, that strength. And I think God brought me to this planet just to be humongous and super strong. I think God has a reason for each and every one of us.

Sometimes people find their purpose in life. And I was lucky enough to find my purpose to just be like a huge human and insanely strong because also my my body is still super healthy my body is strong my body is like people ask how are your knees how's your elbows how's your shoulder they're fine even though i've been like torsing my body for fucking two decades but it's like i've been an athlete my whole life but but still my body is great. So I'm just like, I'm just meant to be an athlete.

Like that's for sure. I believe that. I truly believe that God just brings us to the planet and we have a reason. Like you have a reason to be something and I have a reason to be something. I was just like,

I'm just a born athlete. I truly believe that. Let me ask you this. Now that you're training for a fight, has your training and power lifting and all of that, is it hard to train? And now, you know, in that different mentality, in that different realm, is it like, oh, I wish I was a little smaller so I could be a little faster? Or is it like, no, I got the power to knock anyone in the world out. So. I'll tell you a crazy fact. When I started this journey, I was 205 kilograms. That's like 460 pounds, I think.

Let me convert that for you guys right now. I appreciate it. We're dumb Americans over here. No, no, that's okay. That's more than 450 pounds. So I weighed 450 pounds roughly when I started the boxing journey. Right now, I weigh let me figure this out.

Right now, I weigh 160. That's like 350 pounds. I lost a shit ton of fucking weight, guys. That's like a me. Yeah, imagine that. It's just like a you. That's crazy. I'm still lifting in the gym. I'm just

eating less. This is only like half a year. This has happened in six months roughly. And I'm eating less. I'm training much more cardio. I was like boxing every day, doing like technique work and stuff like that. Then I'm sparring three times a week. I'm going four to five times a week out for a run.

So I'm training a lot and different than I used to. I used to lift in the gym roughly five times a week, big weights. Then I would do a lot of other stuff outside the gym, but that would mostly just be eating. Now I basically train more now and eat less. That's my portion of the podcast where I'm trying to get those Bob Fox arms. Like I'm trying to lose the weight. So now I know just eat less cardio. Yeah, we could just put our bodies together and just go right in the middle. It's like we have the,

it's like the old Nintendo hockey game, the fat guy, the skinny guy. We just want to be the medium guy, both of us. That's all we're asking for right now. Maybe one day after Corona is all done with, we could redo this interview in person and me and Clem could go like in a trench coat and we could look like it's like one of you.

And then it's like the two of us together. That'd be fantastic guys. I would love that. This has been a pleasure after. Thank you so much. Check out karate combat. He's going to be commentating the final three episodes of the season. Like we said, this is straight mortal combat stuff. We got three cheese to sponsor of the show perfect stuff for three cheese invite your friends or well i mean maybe not invite your friends over social

distance invite your friends over a zoom meeting watch it with them it's awesome