The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament - #255 - John Lewis, Joey Diaz, and Lee Syatt

Episode Date: February 10, 2015

John Lewis, multi talented MMA Legend, John Lewis, joins Joey Diaz and Lee Syatt live in studio John can be found: @JOHNLEWISMMA Facebook.com/JohnLewisFighter Instagram: JohnLewisMMA This podcast is brought to you by:  Onnit.com. Use Promo code CHURCH for a 10% discount at checkout. Iron Dragon TV. A New Roku channel with all the best martial arts films. Use Code word joey for two free rentals. HITecigs.com For a better tasting, longer lasting e cig go to HITecigs.com. Use Promo code joeyschurch for a 20% discount Naileditlife.com - Get 20% off a vapor pen by using code word joeydiaz. Music:  Woukd - Alice In Chains I Wanna Be Around - Tony Bennet War Pigs - Black Sabbath Recorded on 02/09/2015

This show is brought to you by Onit.com. Go to Onit.com and use code word church to get 10% off of all the optimization products, like Alpha Brain, Newmood, ShroomTech Immune, Shrmtec Sport. It's code word church to get 10% off. Show is also brought to you by hitesigs.com. Better tasting, longer lasting, the proof is in the vape. They have e-cigarettes and e-cigars for you. The e-cigarettes have multiple flavors if you're into that.

And they all, the e-cigarettes and e-cigars all have different levels of nicotine if you're looking to quit smoking. You can go from highest 24 all the way down to zero. It's hitesigs.com and the co-writers Joey's church to get 20% off. For all the oil and wax smokers out there, for the premier vapor pen on the market, go to NailedItLife.com. That's NailedItLife.com

and use co-word Joey Diaz to get 20% off of your order. And go to iron dragontivy.com. Iron Dragon TV is a brand new Roku channel, has all of your favorite martial arts movies, The It Man series, Tai Chi Hero. They're just rolling out a lot of new 4K technology pretty soon. It's going to be on all of your Android tablets. Go to iron dragon TV.com and he's called on Joey to get two free rentals.

Oh shit. It's that time. Oh shit. The church of what's happening now. February 9th, grab your ball, salute the flag motherfuckers. They ain't got time for this shit no more. ain't running a charity out there, motherfuckers. John Lewis in the house.

Word. Lee Syatt in the motherfucker house. What can I say? You know what I'm saying? What's the story, Lisa, what are you been on week? You don't call, you don't write, you're out there dicking around with mama. I had a great weekend. What'd you do?

Not much. We went to, I took your advice, I went to a Roma yesterday, which is pretty good. What did you think of them fucking Hebrews? They don't fuck around down there, do they? No, they don't. It's a little expensive, but it was good. What'd you get? Swarma sandwich.

What they put in that? Chicken Schwarma with some onions and some hummus. What you would have hated? It was delicious. Did you have any appetizers? No. We were pretty full. What mama had?

She had that turkey panini sandwich they have there. She loves her fucking panini. Hell yeah. But I had a fucked up thing happen last night. This guy threw rocks at me. When I was driving home, he dinged my car. I don't know what happened. I was just driving home from the store.

I was two seconds from my house. and I just a bang bang And it was like this older SUV And so he pulled over So I went to go look at his license plate And it looked like, you know In California when they have like the little paper When you don't have a license plate yet

Right But it was an older SUV So I don't know why he didn't have it By it used And as soon as I got behind him He took off Like after me Like he

He, I was behind him And he took off So I started chasing him But then he got behind me And started chasing me So I like I had to go into a side street, turn my lights off, and I have a gate in my parking area, so I turned my lights off and I snuck in and I didn't get out of the car until the gate closed again.

I didn't know what's... I was kind of upset at myself. I was like, maybe I should have got out of the car or something. I didn't know what to do. We talked about it a while ago, how, like, I need to... I don't like confrontation. And... But we were just talking about earlier.

I talked this week, and I just... I had a conversation with you. It's not even a bad conversation It's just something that I'm not good When it's a serious conversation About me starting my podcast The real reason I haven't started it

Is because over the past year I've had Two or three podcasts That I'm no longer with Or that aren't going anymore And I don't like when things don't work It's basically being scared of failing And it was just

It was fucked up So I was feeling bad about myself last night. Like I couldn't go to bed thinking I should have stood up for myself. But I don't know what that asshole was going to do if he's throwing stuff on my car for a reason. Yeah, you don't fucking know. When you're on the street, though, you don't fucking know. He's having a bad day. He's looking to mess somebody else's day.

Right. You're a sweetheart of a guy. He threw a rock at your car. So unless you got a fucking cannon or bazook in your car or a fucking flame thrower, you know, I don't advise people getting out, especially, you know. Unless you take one of John Lewis's M. May courses. They need to do what the fuck you want. I should.

You come flying out of the car with new chucks and stars and fucking everything. What's going on, my brother, John Lewis? Oh, man, how are you doing, man? Thanks for having me on the show. Good to see you, yeah, man, you're doing great things. You know, everybody I talk tonight, John Lewis around here, no shit. So I said, if people want to fucking talk to John Lewis,

and let them fucking talk to John Lewis. Well, here we are, man. What's happening, little brother? It's going good. It's going good. What are you hearing? Oh, man, just doing our thing. You know, been out here, opening a new school, and just getting it going, man, you know.

Acting and all of it. Sons of anarchy and shit with Peter Well. Yeah, that was fun. Unbelievable. I put it on the one night. There you are. I'm like, what the fuck? Then you got shot.

Yeah. Fucking Arab shot. You know, we shoot everybody. He gave me head, caved in like everyone else. So he said. Did you audition for that? Yeah, I did.

Yeah. From scratch? Yeah, definitely. And you put producers? Yeah. Yeah, the whole session. Double call back all nine yards. I thought you got it like as a stunt man.

Like, a lot of times I go on sets and I see martial artist, I know. Yeah, it's not my interest. I'm like, what the, What the fuck are you doing here? Like, we're doing stunts. We're doing the fight scenes or whatever, so they throw you like a roll on it, you know? You laugh, but most of the things that I've done so far, been like romantic comedies, and I think I threw one kick and one show so far.

Everything has been dramas of romantic comedies and that kind of thing. So a lot of the guys now from the UFC, they get the free pass. They win their title and they automatically get called for shows, but I retired 10 years ago. So for me, that has nothing to do with my acting career. When I talk to people about you, John, get with you. would say you're one of the founding fathers of M.M.A. Like, you're really one of the guys that was very vocal, very a part of it, very in the trenches. Explain that to me because I don't...

I came later. Right, right. You know, I was friends with Joe for a long time. He would tell me about M.M.A. So I went home one night. I came from Cube. I saw Bruce Lee. You know, I came from Cuba. A year later, Bruce Lee came on the scene. So I came up with that mindset. I joined Kung Fu. You know, Renato LaRangea? Yeah. His father was my first karate teacher in New York City. So I trained with the fucking Cotters And the fullums Everybody was in great shape

And all of a sudden they're telling me What's this UFC And I put on it on I see Tankab in the wrestling suit And I'm like, I'm not watching this shit You know, no offense to Tank Abb But I was just expecting these You know Chinese guys flying through the fucking air and stuff So I never watched it again until one night

I turned on something And I saw Anderson Silver go through Chris Liebman And I go I got to see what the fuck this is about I've been hooked ever since I got him then Yeah, I mean, that's a story for a lot of people. When they saw that Forrest Griffin versus Bonner Fight. Bonner Fight.

That changed the game for a lot of people who weren't fans. Well, it was just weird to see these guys. You know, at first you'd see like a jujitsu guy. I didn't know fucking jujitsu. You got to go to Brooklyn to a Brazilian neighbor to learn Jitsu in New York City. Nobody had it. I remember talking to Matt Sarah.

And he was telling me that. When he first started jujitsu, he would have to take a bus on Sundays from Long Island to Red Bank, New Jersey, because that's the only place who had jujitsu. on Sundays. So they would drive three hours, basically to train one hour and a half, and then go right back for a fucking three hours.

Now it's everywhere. Jiu-Jitsu is like dog shit. You go to everyone. At the corner, like 7-11. Next year they'll have Jiu-Jitsu Onics where you jump up and down. I think they already have that. Some old Jiu-Zitsu guy from the year 2000. How did you get into all this?

Because you're from Hawaii. Yeah, yeah. Born and raised in Hawaii, actually. Left when I was 17. We can get to all that stuff. But as far as your specific question, you know, as I was fighting my whole life, Hawaii is a place that you grow up fighting,

and that's a place that you can actually build status as being a street fighter, a good fighter. And me, even though I was born there, I wasn't, you know, I'm not Hawaiian or I'm not vocal per se, meaning of the majority racist, Polynesian looking. So, you know, at a young age, you know, me being half black, half white, we'd get, you know, racial slurs or things would happen.

And I would always be quick to fight, and I'd always be to do well. and I, you know, somewhere around my fifth and sixth grade year, I beat up a couple big name bullies in the area, and all of a sudden, the same people that were, you know, weren't digging on me, all of a sudden started like liking me and being a coming, and so that was my first, like, I guess it was my first introduction into seeing how if you're really good at something, people's perspectives change of you, you know, and I was young, so it mattered, you know.

So at that time, I was in the punk ever, I was always defending people, I was always, you know, beating up the bullies or whatever. But at the same time, you know, I became more and more popular in Hawaii, and that became a way of life for me as just being a fighter, you know. At the same time, I was dancing, believe it or not, break dancing, and street dancing and all that stuff on a professional level and growing and doing shows there and everything. And then when I got to the age of, I think it was 17, I had an opportunity to come to California to audition for a big show that ended up being in Vegas and we can get to that.

But it brought me out of Hawaii, and that was where my foundation was. training some martial arts there as well but really my mentality of just fighting and and wanting to experiment and see how good I could get because I was doing very well as it was as a natural street fighter so I started dabbling in martial arts and just what was the first martial arts you walked into it was like a chokon-do which is like a um Japanese kickboxing it's basically mona you know um so a stand-up system you know and I just had good hands I was fast couldn't hit me you know and that combined with the with that it just kept going and I just kept going and I just kept wanting to get better, wanting to get better, wanting to see what holes I had in my game,

and I would just put myself out there in situations in scenarios to see, you know, to test myself. And it just grew, this is all before, way before the sport, you know. I mean, 93 was when the UFC hit Denver, Colorado. So we're talking way before all this, and it just kind of transitioned into all of it. And why is Hawaii such a, like, one of my dear friends is Earl, whatever, his name is Cooper, a black dude, a Seafoo Earl. He was telling me the history of something like Kajakembo Where I guess the Hawaiians were always smaller So there was a naval base there

So these guys have to, you know They would have to fight these fucking Americans That were yoked up you know These fucking Midwest motherfuckers We come in there with eating steak and potatoes So Hawaiians really worked on their fighting styles And one of them was Kaj Kaj Kempbo It was judo

Eastern boxing or Western boxing They love boxing and it's just amazing that there's a system out of Hawaii. And Kajakebo breaks into like four different systems. There's a Kung Fu-influenced one. There's a harder one. You know, in L.A., they have the brothers that really refined it. They call like a Kempo, you know.

But it's, why is it such a fighting environment there? It's really funny, man. I mean, it's a warrior. A warrior. I mean, Hawaiians, Polynesians, you know, someone's, that whole, you know, that whole, you know, it's all a very warrior-based people. So I think there's a pride there, a pride there, a pride there if you're really good at fighting and just combat in general and being a warrior. And the funny thing about it is even there, in those days, if you were to grab someone and fall on the ground, it would be, you'd be looking, look bad.

They'd say up and up, up and up, which means get back up on your feet, you know, like hands to hand. And nobody would jump in. There was nobody trying to stick you with knives from behind. You know, we used to fight every Wednesday we'd meet with another school called Lali Hua, another competitive school. I'm near to us and we meet under this bridge area every Friday, I mean every Wednesday and it would be because that the half day of school, a sure day of school. And it would be, I'm a fight you, I'm fighting you and everybody would circle around and it would be a fair fight.

Nobody would jump in, this fight. If you go on the ground, you're back up, back up, back up, and you just fight, you know, and you scrap, you call it, you know. So it's like, it's just the nature of the beast over there. It's crazy. You have a smile on your face when you're talking about it and that sounds like the most terrifying thing in the world. No, it's really wonderful, man.

There's nothing more to me. There's nothing better than that. that it's like really putting yourself out there exposing yourself and really seeing what you're made of you know and a lot of the times my best friends ended up being as i'm sure everybody can say this being guys they fought when they're young because it's such an intimate thing to be to be so exposed and to at the end of the fight to be very clear that you lost or you won so you can't say nothing i mean it's like you're great you know and then usually you become friends with the guys because it's it's an intimate experience to fight somebody you know it's just a different level when you i remember coming from cube and going to karate and get into it a couple fights and where your mind goes. Yeah. Like it happens so fucking quick as a kid. You know, where your mind goes. And then as I got all the, you know, Bruce Lee came and we go to the movies and we get

to the little tussles. And I liked it for a while. It's when I started getting old, I didn't like it. Once I got into, like, in my teens, I love throwing my hands. I love getting smacked. You know, it's funny how you say that sometimes you fight. Like the kid that saved my, the kid I moved in with, my mother died. Beat me up.

Two years before that. to a fistfire. We beat up and he broke my nose. I hit him in the head. He bled from his eye. But he beat me up. He got the best of me. And when my mother died, he came to me and he goes, I want you to move in my house. So it's correct. You take your friendship to such a level. I mean, it's not even a friendship. We weren't friends. And we became friends the next day. It was like a thing of respect. But I just didn't like it. I like the martial art angle of it, but it got real. Once I got to high school, it got a little too real, like a stick could come out or a knife could come out. And that's what, that's a complete different level.

But I understand what you're saying. Yeah. With two kids fist fight, nobody can jump in. There's no knives. They hover around you. And after eight, nine minutes, you look at each other and go, hey, man, it's over. You shake hands and you go to school next day.

Nobody says nothing to you. Nobody says nothing to you. People really want to see who's the better between the two fighters. They don't want you to use a stick or a knife because they really want to see who's better. And the, you know, the student follows the, like we do with boxers or fighters these days, you know, one day you're like, so-and-so sucks, then he wins a couple of times, and he's your favorite, and then he loses, then he's overrated. It's just that, you know, you follow the, you follow the winner, you know, so in those days, I found, you know, be the winner, be the winner, and you got

friends. How did your parents react when you were coming home with, like, black eyes and stuff? I wasn't. The other guy was. Good answer. No, I mean, I have a couple things every now and then, but for the most, I mean, I was winning, you know, so, and a couple times I'd have other injuries, and I would say I fell off my bike or whatever, but it wouldn't change anything because come the next day, you're the one and got to go to school and you're the one who got to deal with the people. So, you know, funny thing, though, in high school, my mother was a campus walker. So half the fights I got on were defending my mother, whose job was to make sure things were okay.

And I'm like, somebody's voicing off to her. So I, you know, so it ended up being actually helped me fight even more the fact that she was there. So it was interesting. So you're a kid in Hawaii, the first school you walk into Japanese kickboxing. Yeah, yeah. And you're also break dancing at the same time. Yes, I am. Donnie D's on the backup, right?

All that shit doing your thing. Pop and lock and all that. That's fucking tremendous. So you graduated high school or no? No, I didn't. I didn't. You said, fuck it. What happened was I had an opportunity for a specific show in Las Vegas called Splash

at the Riviera Hotel, which at the time I'm talking about, my gosh, I don't even know, but, you know, a long time ago. And it was the popular hotel, was a nice hotel back in the day. And it was like, there's an audition for this thing. A girlfriend of mine who lived out who already told me to come out and give it a shot. So it was one of those things like, you know, which, of course everybody tells you, you know, finish school, which I definitely am an advocate of, you know, my son making sure he's finished in school.

But I left, I told my mother, say, Mom, I want to go do this. I want to, this is what I want to do, you know. So she was really supportive, you know, I had a good childhood as far as, you know, parents supporting what I did, you know, and those kind of sad stories. It was had a good upbringing that way. It was low income, but love was there, you know, and support was there. So I actually put me on a plane.

We flew to California by myself, you know, stayed at a friend's place, crashed on the floor and never went back, you know, and continued to climb the ladder from then on. As a dancer. First was a dancer. Got the audition. We got it. Got in the show called Splash in the River River Hotel.

It was there for about two, almost three years at 17 years old, you know, for me coming out of living with my mom to have my own space. having what I thought was a lot of money per week and I was just living in a hotel how to we had the run of the hotel it was just a very very big change got into all kinds of trouble that you can imagine at that age with drugs and everything else nothing that was like you know put me out but it was things you know things you dabble with when you're young and all my friends were older in a in a nightlife kind of environment it was very interesting but a couple years later you know moved on to i started doing music and uh I started writing the music and my girl got a piano and she she bought it in the house

I just, I started playing it and I learned to play with myself. In six, seven months, I was playing pretty good and just taught myself to play. Then I started writing music. And from there, I said, you know, I'm kind of bored of doing this. I think I want to go be a rock star. So then I, I shortly after, quit the job, which was doing well, and packed and moved to California, men and a couple other like-minded people, started doing my thing and got produced by a gentleman named Jerry Hay,

who's a very, very big producer, the horn arrangement for Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones and everything. And a little bit after that, we got to deal with the lecture records and got signed. Did that whole thing? You put an album on everything?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What the fuck is the name of the album? Let's play this song. No, you can't find it these days. Pop Scula was the band, me and my buddy, Steve Silva. He was the lead singer, and yeah. And then, and still, I mean,

I was writing for a long time after that. And then during all that, I was also fighting. And then I fought won a title, and then I had a choice. of what do I want to do? Do I want to, you know, even though you get a record deal, it's like acting. Yeah, I'm an actor.

Yeah, I got a job. And then a year later, you're still trying to audition, right? So you get a record deal, you get, you know, you finish your album. It's so much more than getting a record deal to become successful artist. And I was succeeding in fighting professionally. So I made a decision to let that go and focus on the fighting and move to Vegas and open my school in 95. All right. So now you're fucking beautiful.

So now you're in Vegas Now you get to Vegas, you're 17 Are you training at all? I am still training, yeah Where are you training in Vegas? Just like with a friend of mine I named Nick One Kick One of my buddy's out there

He's still a big name out there Yeah, one kick Because he's out with a kick One kick to day And just, you know, just doing that kind of thing Before I moved to Vegas I jumped to really along Because before I moved to Vegas

Was all the Gracie training And a little bit of the Machado training So were you doing Gracie training in Hawaii? No, no, when I moved Because I moved from there to here first Okay here to Vegas to do the show. Oh, right.

Back to L.A. as an actor, I mean, as a musician, and that's when I started training. Oh, okay, when you were in L.A. said to Hicks and Gracie, and I did that for a while. And then I got kicked out of that school when I fought Carlson Gracie Jr. So they let me go because I was fighting one of the cousins and became the first. I mean, it was considered to draw because there were no judges in those days. You had to either knock them out or submit them or to draw. But I dominated the fight clearly.

But so it was like the first person to open the eyes that at Gracie could be beat because up until then Hoyst was this cleaning house in the UFC. So that was like instantly launched me into a different position in the inter-union community because it was on paper view so people could see it. And we were fighting with no gloves. It was 30 minutes straight. Damn! I mean, you can Google it's on YouTube. 30 minutes straight? Yeah.

No rounds? Yeah, no rounds, yeah. But it was okay. You know, you just paste yourself through the fight. and that was where it really launched my real martial art professional career because that put me on the map. Right up until then, it was like, who's this guy, he's going to get killed, and I didn't, and that changed a lot for me. And you trained them with Machado's after the Graces.

Because I got kicked out of the Graces. Avoid Machina. It was Carlos, and it was Roger. I'd see Higin a lot up in June the Bell spot, and Higgins was a great martial artist. You walked into Gene LaBella Whitebelt, judo. I did, I did, yeah, yeah. John Perretti, a friend of mine, brought me to me, Gene,

and me and Gene hit it off, and I trained with him up in the cabin, you know. And that was great. So I'd see he'd up there training and roll with the guys dominating everybody. He was powerful, a powerhouse, young, and just powerful. And then, I don't know, from there, he just keeps going, that.

We'll fucking keep going. Tell me what happened after that. Well, so I would go to Machado school, and that was cool for a moment. Now, you're a blue belt during all this from Machado. Yeah, yeah, I'm a blue belt, but I've been a blue belt for a while because I didn't have a home at that point. You know, you see those guys who've been one belt for a long amount of time, you know, and I'm also a black belt from Gene about that time, or almost a black belt at that stage. Yeah.

And I was his first black belt, white to black. And he's trained everybody from Bruce Lee to, I mean, Benny the Jet, and Chuck Norist, but I was, you know, they'd come in and learn from him, but I really was a disciple from beginning to black belt. And you walked in there as... Yeah, so that's a really cool honor to say, you know. And also, as a jiu-jitsu, I was the fourth American black belt in the world to get a black belt in Brazilian jihitsu.

What's American? And who did you get your black belt from? From Andre Pettanaris. Now, how does he come into the picture? No, Andre, after fighting the Gracie's, another mutual friend of ours who passed, he He was a Brazilian guy. He knew Andre was doing something over there in Brazil, doing really, really well.

And he just brought him over to the States to meet me and said maybe we can do something together because I needed that kind of support to grow and no one really wanted to teach me. After I fought both, you know, the graces, not any Brazilians were really trying to help because it was threatening the mystique, you know. And this guy was an open-minded guy.

They said, man, I just, you're good, and you're a nice guy, just work together. and he got me up there real quick. He trained with me hard, and I'd go to Brazil, and I'd stay in Brazil for a while, and I'd fight, he'd corner all my fights and coach me, and I'd come back and forth, and eventually I got a black belt from Andre,

and he launched a team called Nobonyahu, which basically means new union, but it's one of the biggest teams in the world right now, top five teams in the world. We have 416 schools, and I was the president of Noveniangu, for the United States. I brought it, it was only in Brazil, I brought it from Brazil to the United States. And like I say, now almost 20 years later, it was 416 different schools, you know,

that are, I don't just mean like you buy the affiliate, but I mean guys that went from under us to black belts, you know, and this spread, and their black belts spread, and it continues to go up. So, I met Andre, and that was really the best for me because he was not holding things back. There was no, you know, it was just, this is what you need to get to the next level. This is what you need to get to the next level, which is how I learn to teach the way that I teach. If people train with me, they realize there's no, like, I don't have any pace as far as holding people back. It's just pretty much I can look at you, I can see what you got, I can see what you need, and I can show you something right then that will make you better

right then, you know. I literally say, you know, one class with me is like training a month with someone else or anywhere else. Why is that? Because of that exact reason. I know how to, I know how to articulate what you need. I know how to show you what you need, and I can see what you need. I'm not just coming there with an agenda of this, especially in a private situation where this is just a move you're going to learn.

I wrestle with you the whole class. I'm on the ground with you, getting sweaty, working out, and I can feel you, you know, and I can say this is what you've got to do. And by the time that class is over, your game will be held elevated. And I show techniques like that all the time. And a lot of times,

they're very simple strategic concepts or positions that people, People are like, man, you know, I never understood that. You know, someone can show you something in acting. You know what I'm talking about. You can go to acting classes and try to get this one thing. And then you can meet this one, probably usually another actor, who can just tell you something.

And all of a sudden, it's like, oh, you know, like, why didn't you ever say so? But it's just the way some people can articulate things better than others. And I think that's a gift that I have. I'm able to articulate my thoughts and what I'm trying to get out to someone across the board, Not only in martial arts, that's just one of the things I'm good at. Now, your mentor, Panaris? Yeah, Petanaris. Now who was his, because that was interesting.

I want to ask you when we spoke on the phone and we spoke in your class one, that he was he a Gracie guy or a Machado guy himself? He is, his black, his black folk comes from the late, whatever, what I fight as junior, junior, Carlos Green Cambercham, in a blank, the guy that I fought. Hoace?

No, I fought Jr. Carlson Gracie Jr. His father was Carlson Gracie did pass recently. Right. That was his black belt. That was his black belt. Yeah, yeah. And then from him was the source, you know.

So it's, the lineage is strong, you know. So it's basically Michano's, the founder. You guys, Paneras. Yeah. How important is it for a UFC fighter? Because I just, I just got into it about a couple years ago. And when you're watching it, it seems like a one-on-one, this guy versus that guy's sport. But when you're saying, like, top five,

school, how important is it when you're like as a fighter, Joe, you've been to like four or five different judicious coaches, even as an amateur. How important is it like what school to go to or what camp to be a part of? It's really important because, well, first of all, it's, much of all, finding a teacher that you're, you can vibe with, that you enjoy to learn from, you know, number one, two one that really cares about teaching and it really doesn't want to just make the money, but really wants to help you get better. And, and then just, if you just got to make sure you can, mesh with that person, you know. But, you know, sometimes if you get to the wrong teachers, I mean, they can teach you the wrong things as simple as that. They can show a little detail they

miss or they can show you techniques without the details that when you try to do it, you're like, man, it's not working for me, you know, it's not working for me. But then all of a sudden, someone else can show you just one little, oh, because you didn't turn your hip like, I mean, literally, you didn't turn your hip like this. And all of a sudden the move is totally different. And Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is like that. It's a kind of this situation where you have to do all little details and if you understand the movement of the body and where you should be and where your weight should be, the move can totally change. If I'm over somebody, I'm just, I'm just going to use a random concept, just someone's under me and I'm over them. If I'm right here, I'm pretty

wobbly, you know, because they can throw me either direction based on the technique. If I'm right here, I'm heavy to lift this direction, you know. So someone can show you a move about passing, you know, we call passing the guard, getting around the guy's legs, you know, but they're in the wrong place. You'll try it on your friend and your friend will throw you over. and a few times later you're like this doesn't work you know but that's just because you weren't here you just you went from here to here all of a sudden he can't move you so those are the details that um takes a teacher that really has the patience and want for you to really understand the details and that's how

I teach I want I don't want you to learn you know exactly I mean you're a reflection on me my black belt's a reflection on me are you allowed to as a fighter go from camp to camp to learn different things that's a that's up to teachers I personally advocate it I don't mind all. I'd like my students to represent me when they're competing, so we're under one banner, but I have no problem with people going and experimenting. Because I grew up that way, going to different schools, I have black belts from many different in arts, and that's part of why I'm good. So for me to tell someone they shouldn't, it would be kind of hypocritical.

You know, I love the loyalty of my student to know that I'm where they get their belt from. They don't jump and get belts from, you know, blue from me and purple from him. But please, go out and experiment and maybe even bring something back that you can share. It's amazing how this is an art. I hate when people call themselves artists. That drives me fucking crazy. But all these arts go hand in hand. How much does Jiu-Jitsu and Judo help your music?

How much does it enlighten it for you to just by, when I leave Dave, and Dave just went over an arm bar with me, and I'm driving up Laurel Canyon. and my mind's going about that arm bar. Jesus Christ, I learned it over here, and he was right. You know, Dave taught me, I couldn't arm bar anybody. Also, Dave goes, you've got to get on the fucking angle. You're trying to arm bar me from in front of you.

What the fuck are you doing? Who taught you this? Turn this far. Yeah, this far. And all of a sudden you're like, what the fuck? That's what I'm talking about. But that I, what people don't seem to understand. Like somebody emailed me a month ago about, you know,

when you go to this, they send you all these math classes. I go, that's to make your mind analytical, you dumb fuck. You know, your wife is an attorney. Her pre-attorney, she had to take a fucking ton of math classes. Ask her. Calculation and shit. What's calculus got to do with fucking sue somebody for slipping on the stairs? Right.

It opens your mind. And I know for a fucking fact that, yeah, whatever, I've done comedy for a long time. But ever since I joined Jiu-Jitsu, my comedy went somewhere else. Ever since I saw M.MA and I became a fan of certain fighters, it made me stronger because I would get his thought because they didn't learn something from the last fight. So if I'm smacking you with a fucking left jab, Jesus Christ, the whole last fight, and

this guy saw that tape, I hope that you learn how to fucking protect the way from that left jab. Maybe it'll work to your right or put your fucking opposite hand up high. When I see a fighter come in and do the same shit and then start throwing spinning back punches, that move gets my blood pressure, fucking

going. Except for Joe Schilling. Did you see Joe Schilling in the end? He threw it. He knocked the motherfucker out with it. But When you just come in and do the same shit and think because you're doing a spinning backhand that I'm supposed to fall off my chair and then you get beat up. Yeah.

I think a stand-up. And I think of like, you're going to go up there with that same stupid fucking joke? Really? You got some pay of fucking balls. You know, it's helped me. It's helped me. Yeah.

Did it help you with the music? It's funny, I'm not even going to say with the music, but I'm just going to say in general life-wise. Like, I'm the kind of guy that, I mean, I've launched many different careers as well, as you'll find out over the conversation. And I'm the kind of guy that you go

and you commit 100%. And I was just this morning speaking about the very thing you're talking about. And I said to someone that before I get in the fight, I mean, I'm getting ready for it, I'm training for it, I'm all amped up. You get to backstage for six hours or so

before the match starts and then a venture closer gets the butterflies start. I've never, they always were there. No matter how many times I've fought, always nervous. Always nervous. And it's healthy. That's healthy. As long as you control it, it's healthy. You don't let it consume you because we all have, what you said earlier,

which is this sphere of failure. We all have this. The difference is some people can take it and make it power, and others let it beat them and freeze them, you know, which is the stage-fright concept. So in this situation, you know, you get backstage and you get backstage and you're like, you have butterflies, you're nervous, you know, and but you're like, oh, man, I got to do this,

and you start kind of getting hyped up and you're moving backstage. You know, they call your name, and you start walking out in front of all these thousands and people and millions watching you on TV. and you're nervous, you know, but once you step in the cage and the door shuts, this is always what I say to myself, okay, I'm in the cage now,

there's no turning back, I can get out, so I may as well win, because he's going to try to take my head off or I have to take his head off. At this point, there's no other choices. So that's how I look at life. It's like when you pick something

and you commit to something and you go that direction, once you're in, you're in. Once you step on the stage and comedy, there ain't no fucking coming back. Well, if you back off, you're just, you lost. You lost.

So you're here now, you might as well just let it all go and go out like a man or win like a man. So that mentality of, I tell myself, I'm in the cage now. There's no, might as well win. I'm in the cage and might as well win. Don't bitch about what you're doing. You know, you're in the cage. So I can either win or I can lose.

I think I'll win. With all the technology they have and Martians and fucking spaceships, the only fucking thing I want them to make is a thought thing that I could see. Because this is what makes my dick hard. Is, you know, what you just described, the five minutes before you throw that punch, when fucking Dean looks at you or John McCarthy looks at you

and says, you're ready, you're ready, and when you walk back to that ring backwards, what the fuck is in your mind? The same thing, when I get through a thing, hey, man, what's up, John Lowe? Oh, shit, the flying juice here. How's the audience? The audience's great.

And you're killing, you're killing. But once Lee comes off, that's when it's real. Yeah. Once he comes off in the emcee, it's real. This motherfucker is still talking to me about his wife and about his kids, and it's bouncing off you. They don't realize that your mind is just seeing fucking battle. And all of a sudden you go up, whatever your shirt,

you pop your, because your ball stuck to your leg, you pop it off, and they say your fucking name. And that's what I want to see. That's what I want to see. I want to see the pop-up. You ever watch VH-1 pop-up videos? I want to see all the things in your head. Blu-blip, blue, blue.

I want to see all that because for me it's fucking tremendous I love it I love it that fear every and I tell people

I tell him all the time listen whatever bullshit you see on stage when I get in my car and drive for that gig I think of every fucking excuse in the world

because that's what you naturally do that's what your mind naturally does why am I doing this I'm a loser I'm going to get a job tomorrow this sucks why am I 50 still doing

stand up I should be a fucking director you know you get all the And the closer you get to Laurel Canyon, and once I make that left on to the Laurel Canyon, oh, that's when everything comes out. That's when it's in full volume.

You're a loser. You did this. Your mother sucks. It just, and then once you hit Laurel Canyon, you're like, fuck it, I'm going down there. I'm just like going on and take the beat. That's when you forget all your jokes. It's true.

You have no fucking idea, Lee. How many times have I called you from a place and said, Lee, what jokes do I say tonight? You don't even a fucking comment. No matter. No matter. How much you practice? How much you practice?

It just goes over. way. Every couple weeks you call me. People don't fucking understand. And then you get there and they say your name and that's a different process. And all of those feelings, all that I just told you, those 18, 20 minutes

is a ball. And it just keeps spinning. And something, as soon as I grab that microphone and I go, what's up, motherfuckers? That's it. It all comes one. It becomes one. It just becomes one.

I just become hard. You know, I used to do comedy peers. I didn't give a fuck. Now when I do two shows, when I get back to my room, John, and I take a shot, when I come out of it, it's like I roll for fucking 15 minutes. My whole body hurts. I become a fucking savage. I can feel that energy going from your toes.

And nothing else. It's commitment. That's got to be close to... I think everything in life is the same. I think you can wrap up life as a whole in that little sentence we just said about once you're in the cage, you might as well win. Because you're in the cage anyway. To people following their dreams,

and quitting the jobs or even just being at a new job, like, right out of college and, like, being nervous, maybe I should go move back with my parents and work at the movie theater again. It's all those thoughts. The difference is some people actually give up and do those things, and other people say, fuck it, you know, I'm just going to go with it. So how do you describe the adrenaline drop that sometimes happens? Like, is it them not preparing, or is it just natural that when you start something new, that you're going to fall a little bit?

Like, when you see that happen, what do you think? When you say adrenaline drop, it was staged you mean? When they're, like, first fighting the UFC, the cage, I forget what Rogan's turn for is. Yeah, I mean, there's a little bit of overwhelm. I mean, this could happen in every entertainment industry you can think of as well. When you're put out there, you're really there, and that's the difference between the men and the boys, you know. And sometimes that's the difference. There's a very small group of men, and there's a lot of boys in acting and anything else that you do.

Because when you want it so bad, you kind of finally get there. And when you're there, you're just one, you're probably not ready. because you didn't prepare properly, which is key, everything, in acting, training, whatever, just preparing yourself properly. And two is you final what you really got, is this really for me? When you're in a fight and you're getting hit in the face, I learn the best from fights that I lost. You don't learn from winning, you learn from losing.

And some of the best fights I've had have been fights that I have lost. And the reason why is because, you know, like, for instance, 16 minutes in the fight when I'm getting hit in the face over and over and over, all I can think of is I'm going to win. I just got to get this. I just got to get. I never think I'm going to lose. I think I'm going to win.

From the outside, it's like, yeah, he's getting his face punched in. From my perspective is like, I'm going to hit me in the face so I can get his ankle. Like, I'm thinking I'm going to win until next thing you know the TKO happens where they just referee stops you and says you're getting hit too much. But when I leave that fight, wow, man, and I was really truly ready to die at that moment. And not wanting to die, I didn't think I thought I was going to win until I lost. And that's when you can look back and go, I know. I learned something about myself.

And that is something, no matter what you do in life, that's who you are. And some people don't have that. Some people look for the, when they're winning, they're killing it. But when someone starts putting the pressure on them and they can't take it, that's when you see them fold. And that's who they are as well. How much of it do you think for UFC fighters is technique that they've learned and then just like the other side is like them as a human and they're well-powered?

How much of that makes it a successful fighter, do you think? Well, first of all, I think the majority of it is conditioning and being in shape. Yeah. If you're not in shape, no matter how good you are when that fatigue hits, you know, makes them nice of men, you know. You've got to be able to fight past that fatigue. But I think it's just pretty much just being prepared, 100% prepared, and being able to weather the storm.

This guy, you guys all should all know named Frank Shamrock, he was a great fighter because if he'd have fights, it was a really great fight with him in Tito Ortiz. and it was the one in the UFC where Tito was dominating, who was one of the guys that I trained. He was great. He fought him three times or twice. Three times? I don't know.

I remember a couple times maybe. I don't even remember. But it was this first one that one Tito was bigger, stronger, and he was dominating Frank for the whole most of the fight, you know. But he once again, he just kept trying, kept trying, kept going, kept going, and in the end, Tito made the mistake, and he got out, and he was able to finish. And Tito was tired, and he was able to finish that fight, because that's the difference.

It's like no matter how bad, how down you are, you know, you haven't lost until you lost. You know, and a lot of people, you know, once they feel that losing happening, they just accept it that they lost. And that's it. They did lose because the mind changes and you become the loser at that moment.

But the greats are the ones that just still think they're going to win, you know, is denial or whatever you want to call it. They're going to win. They just got to figure out when their chance to win is, whether they won or lost at the end of the fight, to me they won. Because when you can come, give your best, give everything that you got, you can go home that day.

You know, you wish you won, but you can go home and go, and I did the best I could do. Nothing is worse than going into there going, wow, why did I, I know I could have went longer, but I let the guy submit me or I tap because I was tired. You know, that's the stuff you can live with. It'll carry, they'll be the last 25 years

in your mind after that fight. After I started stand-up, my life changed, because that's where my mind went. It went to a place of danger. And I like danger. I was a criminal. You know, I liked carrying a gun

and climbing through somebody's window and kicking the door and seeing if they got an ounce or a kilo or goat. I like that danger in my life. I did. I really liked it. That's what got my dick hard, you know?

Then when you get in the car and you're driving, you're like, somebody could have got shot in that fucking room. It could have been me or I could end up getting 30 fucking years for stupidity. So I was trying to get my life back together, I got into stand-up.

And just that rush, that whole thing. Like, it overwhelmed everything. You know, I think of now how I got off the drugs. And I got out of that mindset, and it was all through stand-up comedy. Yeah. It really fucking was, just taking chances. And once I was in, I was in.

Like, in 1991, I thought I wanted to do stand-up. I got on stage, and I fucked around with it for two years. And I tell people this all the time when they send me emails. I didn't take to it right. the way was everybody else you suck I fucking sucked you know I sucked I sucked I had to talk to the audience I sucked but then in 93 one 94 what's 93 93 and a half 94 came I'm like I'm going for this I have nothing else I'm 30 something years old I have nothing else going on I'm not gonna use my fucking

degree I'm not gonna fuck it I got felonies I'm not gonna hire me as a stock broker I'm not gonna sell insurance didn't we check and see in fucking Colorado If you have a felony, you can't even be an acupuncturist. I couldn't do shit. I don't give a fuck. You know me, I'll walk in and deny it to the end that I got felons. I don't have no fucking... I don't know what you're talking about.

But it was really the fucking stand-up because of that kind of... That get your ass kicked every night and going back to this... You know, how many times I cried myself to sleep after stand-up? And as a man... I hear you know. Because it wasn't going well, or... Sure. Sure.

You're in a fucking hotel in Moscow, Idaho. And you just bombed at a fucking college And you're giving you 50 bucks And you owe on the rent And you owe 600 on child support And your kid hates you Your wife hates you Your girlfriend sucking somebody else's dick

And this is what happens And now, but in the morning you wake up And you go My kid could hate me My wife could hate me I could owe on the rent But one thing I could control is I could get on states

And I can do a lot better Than what I did last night That's right You have control of that. Broke as fuck, getting living off a subway veggie and cheese sandwich and saying, fuck it, I'm going to go on, you know what? You know what?

Tomorrow I'll get a job. Tonight, I'm going to go fucking do a lot better than what I did last night. But tomorrow I'm going to get a job. I'm going to quit comedy. But then you do so well that night, then you go, fuck it. I just bought myself another fucking month. And I get it.

And I've transformed that attitude to Jiu-Jitsu. Like a lot of, you know, when I first started Jitsu over here, the schools, a lot of young kids, they're killing me. They're fucking kids. me that my cardio suck then I start working and I started saying you know what all I want to do is going there in last two minutes today and I have the last two minutes I leave there like the king of fucking pressure right because you're competing with yourself yeah not competing with that person who's you're better than you were yesterday yeah that's

what matters that's it that that's it listen if I did that I went for an arm bar against somebody I was laughing my answer I didn't even have the right arm didn't matter I went for the fucking arm bar you know why because what am I gonna do not go for it until I get it How I'm going to learn is my goal for it. How many times do I tell you when I suck ass and walk with the car driving home, and you'll say, yeah, that joke didn't work. And I go, it don't matter. I said that thing on stage.

You go, what thing? I'll say, I'll say that thing. It didn't work, but I said it. That's it. You're saying exactly what I said. What you were saying is, I'm in the cage anyways, so I might as well win. And by the way, when you started explaining this whole thing, you started talking about the first part of your career in sucking.

you kept coming back. That's great. But, you know, a lot of fighters continue to lose and accept being losers. You just want to make some money and keep coming back. That's not it yet. No. It's when you said, I'm 37, I'm blah, blah, blah. That's when you stepped in the cage. You said, you know what? I'm here anyways. This is, where else I'm not going to go?

I'm just going to really... And that's when you step to the next level. And that's when you step in the cage. I'm here to fight anyway. I might as well win, you know? It's such a... That's the simple thing. It's such a great feeling. And this works for you're a fucking salesman. You're a salesman. Anything?

I haven't sold shit in three fucking weeks. You know what? This is the week. If I don't sell shit, I'm quitting. Then you call some motherfucker who not only buys from you, but buys 80,000 of those things. And you were ready to quit. You were ready to fucking quit.

In the words of Cheryl Crow, why quit before, what's he saying, quit before the dream happens? What other fuck is this is? So how does, now how to fuck this BJ and all these people come in? When do they come in? How do you're fighting?

Yeah, well, basically when I'm on, so I'm fighting. I open my school. in 1995 in Las Vegas still open. And it was really cool because in 93, the UFC started, Hoyce Gracie was kicking everybody's ass. And I opened my school in 95, and there was no Jiu-Jitsu, hardly anywhere in the world, not to mention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

So I had the very first MMA Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Nevada. So every time he won a fight, the next day my school was packed, you know? They had nowhere else to go, like you said. This is it. How many schools are there now probably? I couldn't even begin to even tell you. Like you said, it's like it's like a side. There's four

There's four within ten minutes of here Right now That's on the safe side Four good ones Gracie Barra Alberto Crane No, but I'm saying it's not like a low level No, Marcelo over here

John Jack Black Belt He's in Burbank from here Right on Coenga And The guy in Santa Monica He's a Higin black belt on fourth street down there's street sports yeah I know there's also like Verduhams down there too but no he has a school in Sherman Oaks the partner

has a little school right in Sherman Oaks Sherman Oaks BJJ right on Ventura so yeah and there's a million million affiliate schools like you're saying that aren't even great but there's still Jiu-Jitsu schools MMA schools everywhere so yeah but back to your question you know so basically I open school I'm fighting I'm doing really well until I started attracting people You know, they like how I fight, and they come to Vegas, they try the school, they train with me, and they're hooked, and then it gets better and better. And then Chuck Liddell, basically a friend, same guy, one kick, Nick, Blumgren, he brings Chuck to me and says, Chuck's going to fight in the UFC. You know, he's a kickboxer.

He wants to work on his grappling and ground and stuff, could you help? So I started training Chuck for his first fight, and I was with him for his first 12 years from then on. You know, I trained him from the very beginning when he was making $1,000 bucks a fight, and, you know, So Hackerman was his striking guy? Yeah, from a youth, even way younger than that, even, yeah. But even during the first part of the UFC, John wasn't there as much. But then, you know, he started picking up, and then John was always there. But, yeah, Hackerman was always been, when he was a young guy, his stand-up coach.

So I was his Brazilian jihistu coach and grappling coach in general. He was a great wrestler. But we worked with him. For the first few years, if you watch his fights, he's just the kind of guy. You couldn't keep him on the ground. You know, even if you get Chuck to the ground, he's right. right back up on his feet. And that's what we worked on. And that's what my specialty was as an instructor from martial art fighters is that I don't bring you to me and say, just start learning

my moves or my way, and this is all you're going to do, because that would be very generic. That's what a lot of them is schools do in jiu-suitzoo they teach. I would take the individual, Chuck, for instance, who could wrestle and who could strike good. And even though my specialty was Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I've experienced in a lot of other at the time, a couple, two black belts in Shogondo and other things, I would say you need to first of all, not even do jiu-jitsu, you need the first of all know how to defend jiu-jitsu, and you know how to get back up so you can strike again. So the first couple years, my biggest focus was simply getting off your back and getting back to your feet to do what you're already good at.

Then over time we'll build, you can take any guy down and passing his guard, and you know, but the big concern was to immediately fill holes that can help him fight now and get better. That's what I could do for anybody. If I'd get a grappler, he's really good on the ground, but he can't take guys down, then I'd be focusing on wrestling, taking him down, take downs, how to use his stand-up, the basics, the hands, whatever, just to get to a situation that he can get the guy on the ground. So I was a very, very good at strategy, and I'm very, very good at helping people understand what they need.

And I was, I'm called one of the first mixed martial artists because, besides being in the very beginning of the game fighting, I was one of the very few people that had on black belt and a lot of different arts and was very well-versed. So I was able to take people out of their element if I fought a boxer, I'd wrestle them. If I had a wrestler, I'd box them. If I thought, you know, I didn't have to just do, at that exact same time, it was hoist fighting judic-suitous against wrestling, judic-to against kickboxing. I was, I could do all of it. So when I fought the Gracie kid, I was very good in judicu already, but so was he. So that fight was me mostly staying on my feet and using my hands. Even when I took them down, I did real well, but I'm like,

I know we can't have box with me. I'm a normal better athlete than he was. So I was able to, in the very beginning, changed that a lot, you know, change the game and become a martial artist. It was a mixed martial artist before there was a term for that, you know. And then it goes on and on into the story of how the Fritia's and Dana White and everybody even got interested in buying the UFC

and how I trained them and all that, which is part of why they say what you said earlier about my legacy. With the sport is literally I put together a scenario that helped the Frititas make that purchase and move on into buying the UFC. And at that time, the show was pretty much dead in the water. So my affiliation with Dana and the Fratita brothers training them for years privately before they bought the UFC and bringing Chuck and bringing Tito and introducing them to all these people simply because I wanted to make the private more exciting.

So I'd bring BJ Penn and I'd bring Chuck LaValle as my friends. It got them so – they fell in love with the sport. And through that, you know, meant the tap-out guys, meant, you know, the UFC owners and everybody, and they're becoming what it is today. So I had a big hand in, you know, getting it where it was. I think when I was with Lorenzo Fortito at first, he was on the boxing commission, and he was one of the ones that was trying to keep the UFC from coming to Las Vegas because it would hurt the boxing game.

You know, he went from that to resigning his chairman and buying the UFC through our two years together, you know. It's fucking interesting Yeah, pretty cool. That really is interesting. It's kind of cool how you would think I have to beat them at what I We're both good at

But why Why put yourself through that pain And sometimes fighters get Get knocked for it Like wasn't it like Brendan Schaubb At a Meta Morris Or something he just like laid on the ground Like he wouldn't

He wouldn't attack and do it So he'd only defend Yeah, yeah And people Spectators get mad but as a dude to a person you're like he's really good

when I attack why would I put myself in danger like that? You know you know the thing it's funny you say that because there's this thing about the sport right now it's evolved into an exciting place because everybody's so well-rounded they can stand they can grapple they can

wrestle and stuff but when I was training Tito I mean he didn't have his title yet and I trained him all the way through his title with when he fought Vendalee So in Japan and I was there in the corner and I developed a strategy The strategy, Randalay Sova, a good friend of mine, he comes forward, just one-two, one-two, forward and very aggressive forward, and he commits, and he has bad intentions when he throws

his punches. To me, bad intentions mean two things. One, if he hits me, I'll knock me out. Two, he's going to over-commit so I can take advantage of that. So Tito being a great wrestler, the whole strategy for me for Tito is basically go out like you're going to step in front of him, throw a couple techniques to make him standing, to make him want to punch with me just to get him going. As soon as he commits, shoot under him, take him down, ground and pound him.

They'll stand you back up again, just do it over and over and over. And for the whole fight, he did that for five rounds, dominated every round. And, you know, some people said, man, all he did is take the guy down and didn't. But it doesn't matter. You know what? Because he won the title. And from that day forward, became Tito Ortiz that we know today, the champion, you know. So they can grumble, they can say what they want because they're sitting out there watching,

never even trained most of the guys. A lot of them were 16. But truth and matter is Tito had to make a career for himself and win. And as a fighter, you do what you have to do to win. And that's based on strategy. And that was the right strategy for that fight. So it's really a mature mind. They can make those decisions and now you get caught up in trying to make everybody else happy.

You've got to make yourself happy and got to feed your family first. It's messed up, though, because it is a business. So as a fan, you want every fight to be like two-nictory. Diaz is against each other. Of course you do. So does that play into the, in at all what the fighters went, like their UFC is renegotiating their contracts,

or they'll give you more money if you're more entertaining. What they did is they did those bonuses. Yeah. Knock out of the night, submission of the night. That was how they did that. And that's what their answer to that was. To get it more exciting, let's pay people, you know,

70,000 more if they do a great submission. And that's enough to incentivize somebody, especially when the money's okay, you know? So that was what they did. When I used to walk out of Higgins, I'd see you teaching the other than my class. And one day it was just you and a dude. And you said, leave your gear on. Don't worry about you.

Just leave your fucking gear. Let's do this. And he's like, well, I don't know. And you'd like, just fucking lead the gear on. And you were teaching them. And I'm putting on my shoes thinking, how fucking interesting is this, that this guy, it's just another guy would maybe come in, stretch, and put you through the fucking nonsense. The kid was already warm.

You jumped on him. And I was like, so interested that this guy. has worked with Chuck Liddell. He's worked with BJ Penn. He's worked with Tito. But he takes five minutes out to help a kid that's not even in this fucking class.

That's why you're sitting, by the way. Because I think if I took the money away from this, you'd still do this. 100%. When I was fighting, you'd still do this.

I gotta tell you, man, I love doing stand-o comedy. You know when I hate it? Well, that's for money. When I go, to the comedy store and I do those 20 minutes at night, they pay me $15. And my dick gets hard. My dick gets hard.

I don't have to worry about it. I don't think about it. Sometimes I pick up my check. Sometimes I've never gone in there looking for a check. The manager will see me go, and he'll just give us a bunch of checks. The other day, I was standing at the bar with Joe, and the manager gave him checks, and Joe's like, I never even take these. Like, they just go right back.

They revert. Like, you don't even think about it. My heartburn is when I have to get on a plane and do a door deal and worry about how many people in the audience. I've got to take leave with me to count. That's not stand-up. That's something else, you know? What happened to the days where I gave you a buck and a half

and I fucking showed up twice a week and you threw me through the wall? And at the end, we stretched. And that's, I hate everything. You know, that's corporate America today. That's it. you know, if, I'm not saying nothing bad. I'm just saying somebody like,

I just said that, Gracie Baugh, you know. They're a union. They do whatever the fuck they do, you know. If I'm a kid and I'm not, I don't have rich parents, you know, they charge $180 a month, I think. That's $180 for a ghee or whatever it is, you know.

If I don't have the dough, I can't go there, you know, because it's corporate. That's what the rates are on paper. but a guy like you, you've been on the other side of that tracks. You go, you know what? Just leaving that sneaker

what you got every month and I'll take it. You want to learn. This guy really wants to learn where the other guy, you know, it's just business side to art always sucks for me. It sucks dick for me. It makes me feel shitty sometimes

when I just can't walk in there and do a gig and just fucking go home. Yeah. You know, money and art to me I've never really, it's a part that you, you want to do, because you know, and some guy will give you all the dough in the world,

come in training, say to your halfway, hey, hold on, I got to take a call. Yeah, exactly. Somebody who'll come in and give you $15, and he's there 10 minutes before the class night. He's already done 10 push-house before you fucking walk to the doors. That's worth my time. Yeah, that's the one that you're going,

you know what, come next week. Well, I can only come once a week because my parents can't afford it. Just come fucking next week. We'll work it out. You'll mop, you'll clean the fucking bathroom. You'll do whatever you want to do. What is your vision for this? new place. This is Hollywood.

You're in Hollywood here. As you know, a lot of fighters have relocated to Los Angeles. You know, Southern California is it. This is it. You know, Jersey's great, but, you know, you got Henzo and you got the kid down in Henry. What's the Brazilian in Henry with Tom, where Frankie Edgar goes. The other guy, Alberto, he lost the UFC. Crane is here.

Crane is here. Alberto. He trains in Jersey. at Henry, New Jersey. Doesn't matter. He's a Hensel. Got Sarah out there. Right. Sarah's in Long Island.

Great man. But good guys. You got my man, Marcelo Garcia in New York. You got Dracolino in motherfucker in New York City. So New York's bouncing with Jiu-Jitsu, but this is it. Yeah. The word on the street is, you know, New Mexico's got John Jones down there, but this is it. This is this guy.

You got the schools in San Diego. You got the schools in Orange County, which are top match. You got great trainers. I mean, what do you want to do? Well, this school here is the unbreakable performance. And it's beautiful. It's gorgeous. Everything's fucking top of the line.

Everything. Partners, Jay Glazer from Fox and then Brian Urlecker, Chicago Bears. And it's, so basically it's everything in this place equipment-wise, just for conditioning is top-notch. I mean, cryo machines and hyperbaric chambers. And, I mean, it's top of the notch as far as that goes. So we have clients like, you know,

and Army Hammer and Jeremy Piven and, you know, a great clock, as well as every NFL guy you can see just training there on a normal basis, just normal cool people just training, you know. And then we have the classes as well now. So basically I came in and I opened all the martial arts side of it, you know. So we're doing all that stuff, kids classes starting as well. And my goal is really used to build a quality, high-end martial art facility that really people can get what they pay for, you know,

And not just, you know, it costs what it cost, but to make sure people leave saying thank you for, I'm happy to pay this because you're giving me what I'm paying. People don't mind paying for something good if they really get what's worth, you know. And paying for someone's name is one thing, which is a lot of people doing talent. You know, I get to train with so-and-so. But nothing's better than someone paying and being grateful

because it was such a good class. And that's my goal. If I don't leave the class with people saying, man, thank you so much. Every time I leave a class, I get texts from everybody saying, and I'm so great to train with you, John, blah, blah, blah. You know, and it's just, and they're not saying it because I'm John, because there's a lot of those guys in town, like you said, and this block we have a bunch of those great names.

It's because the class was rewarding, and they felt that I really wanted to be there, like you said, and I do really want to be there. So I just simply want to build a great school here, a great team. You know, we have privates, kids, you know, adult classes, everything you can think of. Just even just conditioning is great there as well and just do that thing, you know. And then my other passion, which is, of course, very, very important to me is my acting career, which is why I left Vegas to come here. But gosh, you know, I'm in Hollywood training producers and directors.

So it all works hand in hand, you know. Hold that thought. Where's Tony Bennecock sucker? You're sitting there meditating, thinking about the Mexican girlfriend. I'm going to tire up this weekend. I saw that. I'm just thinking about how you ate a star with me and then pulled out that weird triangle. The truck between 10 milligrams.

I got a piece for you know, man. It's sugar-free. That's why I want to try. be around to pick up the pieces of god's botanic bad when somebody breaks your heart are you kidding me or what fucking john lewis is a savage and shit motherfuckers be flying through windows you shit nice break what the fuck this is how we do it yeah i like this

what do you think of the whole acting fucking thing Listen, I like it. I'll tell you why. As you know, I explained. Came from Vegas as a dancer. That was a guy on stage. Went from that to be coming, you know, what I wanted to be is the rock star, the lead guy. The lead guy, not the drummer, you know, the guy, you know. And I went from that into doing, you know, I own my own fighting shows, my own fighting organizations, as the promoter and did all that. And then I have had and have an amazing business, you know, celebrity talent booking agency,

marketing director for casinos and clubs. And, you know, so I've always been the guy. an entrepreneurial guy that's always the guy, but always likes to be the guy in front. So I enjoy acting. I look at it as a new craft the same way I did. I found something I love again, like martial arts, you know, where I really love the craft itself and studying and understanding the craft and talking with, you know, actors like yourself that has such experience. And that really moves me the way that someone coming to train with me in judici would move them. And I happen to be very talented as an actor, I think, and I've been doing very well. So, to me,

that's, I love that. Did you go to acting class? I do, yeah. Do you still go? Different places, yeah, yeah. I've tried, I have method right now with someone down in Santa Monica side. Okay. Yeah, some from the actor, from the actor studio in New York. But, you know, also you know, Aaron Spicer trained in his school

his place for a while, in a master class there and did the groundings, class, courses and all those different things. And a lot of my, I mean, I, with Mickey, you know, I trained Mickey work as well. So, I learned a lot from Mickey, you know, And he's been very, very helpful and generous with his knowledge, you know, as well. So I just, you know, I can learn from watching, I mean, I watched movie after movie after movie,

and I pay attention, and I just, and I excel quickly in things. So, you know, to me, that's, it's my new, my new passion, you know. It's funny because the type of comedian I consider myself as like an MMA fighter because I could act. I could act this shit. I love it. especially now, like now I'm to a point where I'm very fortunate.

When I got on the set, I knew exactly what to do for me to Z. And Lee and I have had this conversation that very early, I was very lucky. I got big movies, you know, a day here, two days here, which you watch, unless you're a fucking momo, you sit there and you watch what people do it, then you emulate it. You emulate, you put a touch of yourself.

Yeah. And then the most shocking thing happened. So when I first got here, I got a couple big things, but I wanted to get good, like everybody else. So every Wednesday, at 5 o'clock, I was on 7-11 on Sunset and Gardner, and I would get to Backstage, and I would run home. That night, I'd go out and get all fucking do stand-up. But when I got home, I got a fucking grandma blow,

and I'd do the Coke, and I'd do the submissions for backstage. And I'd stay up until 6, and I'd get all creepy and walk to the post office and mail them. And then that night, or the next day, they would call me first, because those small movies always only call three people per character. They're small. They don't even pay half the time.

I just wanted to do it. To get good, to get a reel, because in this time you can't do dick without a reel. And I kept doing it, doing it. And I locked down. Then you start fucking booking. I book a couple of improv shows. I booked mad TV.

I booked the half-hour sitcom. I booked some fucking dramas. You know, I booked movies as dramas, as comedy. I like doing the drama better than a fucking comedy. Because on the comedy, Tommy, I'm on a hook. I'm on a hook. I got to do this shit. On a drama, I just

got to smack somebody or fly through a wall and get beat up. We get handcuffed. That's my specialty. Get drilled by a cop, you know. And now, like, when I did Marron and Brooklyn Nine-N-N-N-Las-year and shit like that, I just felt, you know, I would

get there and I'd feel my natural insecurity, which that always comes out. But then after a couple minutes, I go, why am I insecure for? I paid my fucking rent. I'm not to fucking white with a stripe in the corner of this motherfucker. I'm sitting right in this motherfucker middle here. And

having that attitude lifts you. 100%. It lifts you. That's it. Like when I did Marin, I looked around, Marin is the show. When I moved here, you know, what's the show that premiere last night? Saul? Very close to. Okay, when I first got to this town, you know what the hot show was in town? His show. With the other guy.

Breaking Band. No, no. This is 18 years ago. He had a show on HBO. With the dude, with the glasses and shit, and every agent you talked to, when you went to their office in those days, and say you're a comedian, what do you think of this show,

and you're like, oh, these two fucking guys. And you couldn't call an agent after 4.30 on a certain two days because they were taping the show. So every fucking agent went to the show. Well, that show now is Married. Everybody goes to Maron. Every agent. So I'm sitting there, and getting my inside.

I said, fuck, I'm taking it to the fucking who. That's why Maron. I'm snorting blowing the episode. I'm going crazy. They're like, we don't want you to do it, but we want you to know. We have vitamin B here. Give me the fucking thing. Fill it up.

Watch me snort vitamin B until I fuck. And you just go, you know, and I went home that night going, you know what? I'm not just a comic anymore. Yeah. I'm a fucking actor. Then you want to write, and that's the completion. That's the three disciplines mixed into fucking one. You know, some mornings I wake up and I write a chapter in a book,

some mornings I wake up and I write three fucking jokes, you know. Yeah, I'm writing in producing and all of it. I'm writing scripts. and I'm producing features, I mean, with my business background that I have. You know, I'm capable of, I'm not the guy that says they're waiting for my agent to call me and give me an audition. Like, a lot of the things I've got, I've just been my own networking and my own abilities. And I want to write pieces that I like that I want to be in. I'll put myself in a scenario in there where I'm working with the right people around me that's going to help help out of my game,

but make sure they're where they need to be so I can make my money back. And, you know, I get the business and I understand it very well. And I love the craft, man, you know, and the leading man. is where I want to be, not just act, but I want to, once again, I want to be the lead singer of the band. I don't want to just be the drum right now. I always thought about musicians that came out, did what you did,

had a lead album, a great album, an album that sold, you know. And then one day just said, fuck it, I don't want to do this no longer. Remember VH1 had that show where they show, where are they now? Yeah, yeah. And they showed some pretty badass motherfuckers who took that money and opened up a page. company. That's how I always wanted to paint houses. That's how I paint houses.

You're like, what the fuck? You were a man, bitch. What are you thinking? But, you know, I think I can do the same thing. Every fucking week, I'm like, every time I go somewhere with my wife and I get pissed off now, a restaurant or something, I should just do this to shut my fucking mouth to show these motherfuckers how it's done. Just a win of a competing restaurant? Yeah, like

fuck all these bitches up. Yeah, man. I had to go to my wife with her friends yesterday and the kids eat Cuban food. I'm fucking Cuban. These people were insulting me. I mean, wait, I think it's my turn. How did you get stuck with all that?

What? You're going with your wife's friends to go to Cuban for you. Oh, I love my wife. And he said, I know, I know the girl. The girl's Cuban. Her husband is an actor, a great dude. The kids are beautiful.

I wanted to go, too. But when I went, it was the place we went. It keeps getting worse and fucking worse. Oh, really? I got to bring my own fucking hot sauce and shit. Nobody has Frank's fucking hot sauce in California. I'm a Frank's type of motherfuck. Let me put that top of tea on my shit.

Is Frank's Cuban? No, Frank is fucking a white dude from Buffalo. He invented the wing, cucket. That's who Frank is. Frank's hot sauce and shit. Louisiana-style hot sauce. But why would they have that at a Cuban restaurant? Because that's what you fucking...

That's what it calls for. Doesn't call for Tappata Tia. That's for Mexican food, dog. I'm not insulting though, but I'm just telling you, you got to pick a fucking flag. That's why I don't go to Chinese Japanese restaurants. Fuck you, bitch.

Pick a fucking flag. You can't. Do boat. You can't do pork fried rice and sell fucking sushi. That ain't kosher. That ain't fucking kosher. That's any Jew. You can't mix fish and fucking pork like that, though.

No, I'm sorry. I've got a motion. They're trying to fuck with Cuban food. They fucking pisses me on. Yeah. No, just like you said, like what you said earlier, it's like when it comes to money in business and acting, it's like wherever it is you're doing,

it's any good entrepreneur or any real legitimate successful entrepreneur would tell you that you just do what you're going to do and you do it the best you possibly can. and the money will come. You don't do it for the money. You know, you focus on what you're trying to do, that you have a passion for, that you love, and you do it the best you can do it,

and then the money will come if you're doing it right. Was that for you, was it that way for, like, the entire time, or did you have a switch? Because when you're young, it seems like it, at least for me, it's like all about the money. Oh, yeah, of course. You have all these bills to pay. That's normal.

Was it a switch? Like, at what point were you like, okay, I don't, the money's not here, so I'll just keep doing it. I mean, still got bills. to pay, you know, but you got to love what you're doing. You got to love what you're doing, you know. And then it's not work.

I don't get up in the day going, I have a full day of things that I'm doing for the goals that I'm trying to achieve. And trust me, we could, if I told you them all, you'd think I was all over the place, although it all makes perfect sense to me. But it's, it's, every one of them or something I look forward to waking up the next day to do because it's something I love, you know. And if you do it right, then, you know, repercussions come. You know, you just have belief.

I told a thousand stories on here when I lived in an office. I lived in an office that was half of this in Seattle, a buck in a quarter of a month. There was no bathroom. You had to piss out the fucking window. I used to take showers at the gym down the street. I had to go in there twice a day. Go in the morning and work out, take a shower, you know.

That's when you know how much you love something. Because at that point you go, what am I doing? I could move home, work from my dad at the gas station, make a ton of loot, steal, fucking drive his car, But you're like, fuck that. Yeah. This is what I want to do. This is what I believe.

It's a rough belief, man. It's tough to sell to people. People can't sell it to themselves. And that's why, just like you, you know, you have that picture of you. I don't know how many years ago. I had to be 15. Rico and Chuck with hair and Tito. So they were close then.

That's what they were close. One big team. This was one big team. What the fuck? You know? What do you say? Fifteen years later, you see these guys. Chuck went on to become one of the greatest fucking...

Chuck inspired me. I went back in Joint Campo and lost 100 pounds because of Chuck. I get it. Whenever Chuck's in the room, though, look at my face. I'm just fucking pale. And finally, one day I had balls to talk to me. He's very nice.

Eddie introduced me to him. He's very fucking nice. I see him do some crazy shit. One time of the UFC event, like, he'd just knock somebody out. He'd just knock somebody out. like two weeks before, he walked into an event

with a fucking baby carriage. Yeah. It was the fun. Everybody fucking was howling. He was like, what, bitches? He had this little baby carriage. Yeah, he was just a human being like all of us, man, paying bills, you know?

You know, like when I was fighting back in the day, you give you an idea, the fight with Carlson Gracie Jr. Here's the one of my purse. This is the purse. Zero to lose. $4,000 if I win, the title on paper.

you I didn't even it could have been 1,000 it could have been it wouldn't have made a difference to me because I wasn't fighting for that reason in those days I was fighting because I wanted to see okay I've been fighting in the back of my yard I teach at my school you know I had this thing on my flyers it was anyone six six or taller or two-fifty or heavier he trained for free with me and the reason I did that was because I wanted to fight against them so I'd have you know all kinds of people are paying for privates but these guys could train for free because that was going to benefit me to test where I was and then I met a gentleman named John Peretti

who was a matchmaker for the UFC, Extreme Fighting, and he put me in some of these real shows when it just started. But to me, it was like an opportunity to fight someone who is definitely worthy of me fighting to see how good I really was. I really was.

And it was always about the better myself to see how good I really was. And it's carried over. I retired probably five years before that real money started in the game, because that's why I started producing my own show, the WFA, the World Fighting Alliance, which the UFC bought for me

for quite a bit of my money. three years later. I mean, but the reason was is because I eventually said, okay, I'm not going to ever make money as fighter. Fighters don't make money because, you know, now is rough, but then you can't even imagine. Top payday in the world for the best fighter, which I was one of them was like 20 grand, you know. So I mean, what, two times a year or three hundred? I mean, what is that? You know, so long story short is I started my own show, you know, and I started, and I had this great concept called the World Fighting Alliance where the fight club meets the night club and I brought in John Huntington who is a very popular club promoter he did huge

arena shows and I did all the matchmaking I was the president I put it all together he made sure that it had like laser lights and great DJs playing and go-go girls between rounds it was amazing it was amazing everybody would be there including the Frittitas everybody would be there and it had it was 17 and over so it was hot chicks and it brought a whole other demographic it was like going out it was like going out to like a party a nightclub the fights they were really good and I mean it was rich frank Franklin, Frank Trigg, and Marvin Eastman. I mean, it was real.

It was top level. What is this? This is a, gosh, man, I don't know, 15, 20. You can go a little bit, I don't even remember. Sounds like fun. Yeah, it was amazing. But it was, after four shows, the UFC bought it from me. They bought it out.

And we had Rampage, and they bought the contract and all that stuff, too. So, but that was my thing. And then from there, what was really interesting is I went into the nightclub industry because the gentleman I was producing with, he said, hey, you know, I'm doing. this little night over at the palms, once a week can come be a club promoter guy there with me and be kind of fun. I'm like, what do I do? And he's like, just invite people, get them on a guest list, bring them in. You can have a table and bottles. So I'm going there, and I started inviting people. And the turnout I had was hundreds and hundreds of people would come. And I realized,

you know, my success from the fighting really carried over. It's like, if Oscar Delahuea invited you to a party, you came. So I was like, man, this is so easy. Tons of people were coming. him. And of course, I had my table and bottles, making a couple hundred bucks for the night, nothing serious. And basically, it was just popping off. And then eventually the individual had a, my partner had a problem with the hotel. They, you know, so the whole deal fell apart years later, when we were the number one spot in Vegas. And within three weeks, it was dead and that they couldn't keep it going because it was so obviously it was us. But so they called me instead and said, hey, listen, you were bringing most of the people anyways, you know, would you consider taking it over on

your own being your night. And I was like, sure, let me check with John because, you know, I had a loyalty. You got to ask my buddy. He's like, go for it, you know. So within a week and a half, it was popping again more than never. But now it was my thing now. And that 2000 went to 3,000, I mean, 200 went to 3,000 a week. And it just continued to grow until I ended up owning and started in this company, John Lewis Entertainment Group, which is still in existence. Now it's an international company that deals with thousands of clubs, booking celebrity appearances internationally and doing marketing for big casinos, but it just snowballed. And it never was my plan, but, you know, it's just doing things that you love.

You know, if you do it right, it just, you know, the fruits come, you know, and that's how I've been. You'd be surprised at all the different full-life careers I've been until this point, you know. We brought something interesting up. I always wanted to learn it. I always forget to ask, like when Rich Franklin, who do we have? Not Rich Franklin. Yeah. I love Rich.

Yeah, it was Rich. My man. What the fuck am I thinking? I was rich, and we've had an MMA junkie, and we've had, you know, I've got to ask you a question I've never asked anybody. I'm a hot UFC guy. I see the breakdown.

Like two days later, it'll tell you what each fight are made, and that's just a percentage because that's not their sponsors or whatever. Let's pretend I make $25,000 for the fight, and I got a $50,000 fight bonus. That's $75,000. Okay.

I walk into fucking your school, and I go take me to the fucking move. You cover me for Jiu-Jitsu. You hooked me up with some dude from Muay Thai. You hook me up with Dave for conditioning. When I get to $75,000, what do I owe you? 10% usually. So $7,500?

Yeah. So for eight weeks, I give you a measly fucking $75. Well, you're talking about the best case scenario. The truth of the story is about, say you've got a school based on fighters, you got one or two guys fighting in the UFC. and you had a bunch of guys that are fighting for $2,300 a week, training for two months before the fight. So obviously it's not about the money because, what, 10% of what?

$500 for $500 for $2.50, right? Exactly. So it's like that, but even worse, you know. I thought the trainer made like 30%, maybe a lot more. Well, no, I mean, you can make 10 or 15% or whatever, but it's not a lot more than that, you know, because there's the manager, there's a trainer, the same as the business that we know.

There's always different, you know, there's a lawyer if you're finding professional. So it all, it's, once again, Even the fighters, they're making okay money. They're divvying it up. You know, he's being divvied up. You look at the, again, I'm a fucking freak of, you know, because I'm a comic, so I want to see Gates.

You know, I'm always interested in Gates. You know, my business, my family business, when you came from Cuba, was the gate on the track. You know, the numbers in New York City, the last three numbers of the paramutuals, what the track made for the fucking day. So every night, they'll tell you after, UFC fight, we made

fucking $3 million. You know what I'm saying? So now you're telling me on the other hand, they're not made that much money. And I know there's fucking tons of costs, man. When you put on a fight, people don't know. I mean, every time you see that UFC commercial pop up during fucking ABC Sports, you know,

on ABC at 6 o'clock, they fucking pay for that. They pay out the fucking ass. And, you know, they do a great job of fucking marketing. They get it out there. You pop your, if you click on to one UFC post, that's it. Every time you fucking click on to something, UFC's lingering. You can be something about people dying of fucking gonorrhea.

And the UFC's in the corner, they'll pop up something fucking crazy. It's amazing. A lot of money. There's a ton of fucking money. They put their name out there, man. So, you know, and that's what I... I always get pissed off when people raise their hand that they don't get paid enough. But on the other hand, I know that there's a lot of cost involved.

As a comic, it's like you said to me, Joey, you sold these many tickets in this town. Why don't you just do a feeder? because it becomes something else. What if I do the fucking... See, the comedy club is a built-in thing location. All they got to do is drive. They give me a percentage, blah, blah, blah.

But a theater, it's all me. If a theater is 8 to 10, and I go long to 815, guess what? I'm paying for fucking 2 hours, but I only did 15 minutes. It don't matter. It's in 2-hour increments. Read the fucking contract.

You know, there's a thousand fucking cost, you know? And that's what Joe Public has never really taken into consideration. when the people start raising the hand, that's something different, but that's what you agreed upon. Yeah, you know, the thing is that, you know, there's different conversations with this, and these are, it's always touchy for me because I'm, you know, I'm both sides of the game.

I'm a businessman. I've all my own shows. Absolutely, absolutely. But I'm also the fighter that wants to be paid for what I'm worth. And I see all the size of it, you know, I definitely think, you know, we should work towards the fighters getting paid more and more. But at the same time, you're right.

And also, this is a business that the, the different you does bought, to run as a business, you know, and they spent $2 million of their own money when it was gone, and how much it cost to buy. And before it, when they were just about to quit, and I was there through all of this, they had spent $47 million in advertising trying to make it go from the most bloody sport in the world to the sexiest sport in the world, doing FHM ads, rolling stone ads. There's so much marketing. They were literally saying, we just throw the towel in, and that Forrest Griffin fight happened,

and the Bonner fight. And all of a spark of life showed that maybe we should hang a little longer and now here we are. So it's just so much money, you're right, going in to make this thing what it is today. If they didn't do that, the fighters would be making nothing because probably USC wouldn't have lasted. It would have been gone. But it's easy to forget that over time. And the next thing about it is it is very expensive to run a show. I don't know exactly their percentages are who's being paid what.

But the real problem with the show is the monopoly they've had on the business. It means, you know, being that it was very, it's, you didn't want to, you don't want to be the one that gets on the bad side when the only show in town is that. Because what's your other option? So it's easy to control contracts and purses and things of that nature when there's nothing else. But the game's changing. There's no Bellator now. There's the World Series of Fighting now. they're actually contenders.

You know, Bellator is going to be around. So that's going to help the game a lot because there is another option. And those things over time are going to naturally help, you know. But if people compare it to the NFL or to boxing and how much guys, how much money people are making boxing, but let's think how long boxing's been around. But it seems like UFC is way more popular than boxing now.

But my point is that, my mind is not that. My point is that if you're judging apples and apples, you're judging a sport that's the UFC bought, maybe 15 years ago if a potato's bought they went from pretty much zero to this in that amount of time even though it's been around before that

and you're saying they should be making the same amount of money as you know boxers but that sport's been around forever and by the way amateur fighters fight for free a lot and sometimes for 200 bucks in boxing or the lower level fighters just

pack yelling you know maybe the main fight's getting the big chunks because they draw the purse so you know there's a lot of there's a lot of sides to it like you're trying to say it's not as it's not. No it's not. I do comedy and it's a business. It's a fucking business. You know what? Listen, I love to

fucking go through my records and see who fucking shortchanged me and go back and say hey motherfucker you shortchanged me 10 years ago I'm going to get a court and all that stuff but you know what at the time that's a deal I took yeah you took the deal. Somebody came out to me about a year ago and said you know your CD sells when you go to the army

over there in fucking Iran, Iraq, they have little fucking huts and people go in there and buy stuff from commissaries in Europe some CD I did

with Jeff Garcia and Felipe's over there they sold 400,000 copies of that fucking CD you know how much I got? 1,500. That's what I agreed to. That's what I agreed to.

Yeah. In my coked-up mind, that was going to save me. So I knew what I was doing at the time. I knew I was going to get fucked in the ass. But I did it.

in any way. Right. And it happens in every industry. And it happens in every industry. Every industry. I just read this book, my friend Mauricio, Alvaradoa, about Black Sabbath that they didn't make no money. Nine albums, eight albums. They didn't make a fucking dime.

The guy would give them a car from time to time. You think I bought your car. There's a car around the corner. You know, think of the people who got robbed. But in your haze and your love for what you're doing, And just not to, I don't know, when you're involved in something,

this is what you do. Then years later you wake up and you get pissed off or whatever. We all have bad feelings. Let me give some shout out of you. And we'll get you the fuck out of here. What's up with you, Dracula? Look at you.

What's up, buddy? Give me the evil lie, the fucking Malibuian. You have like a buffet going on of edibles today. I just, this is what they gave. That's the scariest bag of the world. What are you going to do? I don't travel light. I ain't got time to dilly dally.

I'm like fucking John Lewis over here. Do you ever sleep, John? I can't imagine you. John don't sleep. Yeah. You take a special shot that gives you like five minutes of sleep and you're good. But I do sleep for like four or five hours

and I'm happy and I'm good. Five hours. But not like I just wake up and I'm ready to work. I'm ready to start my day and do something. Thanks the Lord. Yeah. Dillie Dally. He ain't playing fucking call for duty.

He lives it. You know what I'm saying? Why fucking play call of duty when you can live it? Jump off a fucking building and start your goddamn day. Stuart Cole out there in London. I love you, cocksucker. Happy birthday. I know it's something going on with you.

I just forgot right now. Lloyd, fly the wave. Blake, Mayor, Juan Nunez, Ricky McLean, Aaron Heath, Radcliffe, Yattis, Yates. Radcliffe Yates. Clayton Webb Ryan Cavasso's down there I'll see you next week

Doug sucker Alex Z and James Hewlett Stay black You're fuck You know I love you What's up? What are you looking at me

All creeped up for Your eyelids Finally look as fuck That was mine doing No no No no I went swimming today I would jump up and down

Your eyes are small I know He's fucked up I got I gained one of the stars of debt That's one of the ones They shot at Bruce

At Fist of Fury in the second. You call me and said people were at the dispensary and they were asking if these were the stars that you get me fucked up on. That's right. That's right. Two little fuckers. Like killing me. I got to do it, John.

If not he sits around, he don't want to do that. He plays that fucking call a duty six hours a day. He plays that shit. I'm going to blow up that fucking game one of these days. I call him in the morning. What are you doing?

When is it grand opening, my brother? We're going to pick a hard of grand opening the next few weeks. definitely let everybody know they'll look up some of the social media to follow that and find out of them.

Let them know. Yeah, if you don't want to say. No, no, no, no. So I'd love you guys to come follow me on Twitter. Just at John Lewis MMA, real easy. You can kind of see all the updates in what I'm up to

and follow the everyday exploits of a striving entrepreneur. And Facebook, it's just forward slash John Lewis Fighter, Instagram, John Lewis MMA as well. And the website is John LewisMMA.com. So it's all pretty easy.

But you can see we're open now. You can come train now. You can come into the school. You can find the information on the website. There's also a number you can call. My partner, David, and his number is 310-258-0-7-86. That numbers we're giving you more information about the school. But coming get signed up, and then when the grand opening happens,

we'll have Chuck there and Tito there and, I mean, Randy, and everybody will be there, and it's going to be a real big shindig. You're a fucking savage. You see what I'm saying? Lee's going to come down. He's going to do some jumping jacks. Lee's a savage. Some cryo machine.

You have no idea. Lee's a rest of high school state champion. No, I was. Oh, man. I was never champion. Wait, let me bullshit the man. Shut your fucking money. I'm trying to tell, you know.

I can't tell a lot. And open your eyes, too. Open your eyes. That's not going to happen. Look at the show. What do you got the rest of the day, Lee, Lee, Lee. Now, nothing. That's why I went to the gym before this.

Did you? Did you? How many calories you got left? Huh? How many calories you got left? I don't know. I haven't put the mulling in yet. We got this crying machine over there

It's awesome It takes you down to minus 240 degrees for like For like two minutes But it burns 900 calories Just standing still What? And it also is great for your joints

And everything too You burn 900 calories standing still? So it's a So yeah You can come down You can take one of those things Come down Just stand

Burn 900 calories And then you go on So two minutes Play Call of Duty So two minutes You're set Well it's not that easy It's cold

But Like a motherfucker If you can make it How cold is it? To 200 But wait a minute is $4.50. That's what you got to stand on that bicycle for an hour. I know.

Wait. So how long could you stay there? Can I stay there for like an hour of day? No, you probably did get frostbite. Oh, fuck that, Lee. You can do it. You're from Boston. You ain't no fucking...

Nine hundred calories. You ain't Hawaiian and shit. Tell him, Lee. That would take me like an hour and a half. Wait, how many fuck? Tell him who needs the snow is falling in a baby. Like six foot. My mom, my mom peep's shoveling.

Oh, my God. And my younger brother lives there and can't, they won't let them like leave. there's a parking on the street ban there's a driving ban unless you're like a state employee so she's been shoveling all day every day my wife left CNN on

and it was on I was in the kitchen with the baby and I heard some lady going it snowed 71 inches in like two weeks or something fucking ridiculous I'm from Hawaii yeah and I'm hearing this and all of a sudden like I straightened up

and I'm like what's he fucking bitch there's always something on TV bitch I did the math in my head. I'm like, that's fucked up. Like 71 inches and three days? Wow. I think it's like two weeks. I think it was like the last 17 days.

Oh my fucking God. And it's 19 degrees this morning in Jersey. And it's snowing again right now. My friend's like, yeah, it's 19 degrees. It's warming up. What? What? I went to the fucking park with the baby.

I had to put shorts on and shit. I got bit by some bug because I had shorts on and shit. It's definitely much better out here. Yeah, no. I can't go back. I'm fucking Hawaii. I don't even get. a fuck.

All you do all day is do a couple of jihitsu, eat some pineapple juice, away from a fucking tsunami. That's it. In the beach, yeah, wait for big ways. I've actually heard from people

who, like, were born in Hawaii. If they were white or, like, not native, like, they didn't like it. Howley? Yeah, they just, as someone who's never been there, when you think Hawaii, you think like paradise,

it would be great to live there. But then I've heard a bunch of people say it's not that great a place to grow up. What do you have to fist fights everything. That's what I'm talking about. So you've got to beat people up. You'd be all good. Oh, God.

Good thing you're a wrestler. No. I was in a couple fights. No. But no, I don't want to be in fights every week. They're going to kill you in that fucking car. You're going to be driving. Well, why is a great place.

That happened to me. You know, listen, man, and it's tough because sometimes you get sucked in. I was coming home from the ice house one night. Might of my own business just driving. Some guy pulled up next to me, and he was lurking. I don't know. Maybe they have some people have bad days. You don't know.

what the fuck they're going through. They had bad days. They said next to me, finally. I just, you know, I was in the express lane. I'm not even supposed to be in that lane. That's how late it was. It was 10, 30, 11. I'm not drinking and driving. I don't drink and drive, so I don't even drink, so

I'm just driving. I look at the motherfucker and he's giving me the fucking finger. I'm like, what the fuck did I do? And after a while, I'm like, you know what? Fuck you, bitch. And also, they started looking at me, giving me, like, eyes and shit, so I had a bunch of pennies in this tink. I opened up my window. I threw it

this way and I heard this car go that motherfucker drove down that 134. He didn't know what you were doing. He didn't know what hit him. Fuck no shit. He didn't know what that was. And by the way I'll give you people a follow up. I haven't talked to my daughter in like 15 years so it took me like a fucking six months to draw the courage up to call

the house for her birthday. She's 25. I haven't talked to she was like 15 or 16. So I knew. I knew there was going to be either some type of drama or I wouldn't hear back from them, but then I hear back from them like a year with some story or something. Listen, I've been through all of them. They never called back. Not one time that they call back, not even a fucking postcard, nothing.

So now I got to call them back again. I got like 100 emails, which is very supportive of your people. You're going to call them back now? Yeah, I got to call them back. That's it. I got to fucking reach out now. Oh, shit. No, I got to fucking bite into it.

This is my kid. Yeah, you got to do it. Got to do this shit. For a long time, I was scared. I was really like, I don't want to call over there, but now I got the baby, you got a two-year-old. And I think every fucking day when I'm with the two-year-old, you know, so. Yeah, I got my six-year-old.

And nothing more important to me. Yeah, yeah, I feel you, man. And you have him. Yeah, my boy. Three nights a week. Yeah, do you? And then the other nights he goes back to Vegas? No, his mom died here too.

Oh, thank you. You got along with the mom? 100%. See what I'm saying? There's no worries. There's supportive of each other. He's coming back from Disney World today, than over there partying in Disney World, I should say, in Florida.

So he's been having a good few days vacation. Fuck it. You're out here jumping up and down. Got people on bars. Let me get some shot up and we'll get the fuck out of here. What time is it? Holy shit. I want to give my main motherfuckers over there at iron dragon TV.com.

Listen, these people ain't fucking around. I got some secrets to tell you in a couple weeks, but Iron Dragon TV is not fucking around. This is just the beginning, motherfucker. I go to Iron Dragon right now for classic martial arts the other day I was on the El Ray channel and they had the one arm swordsman

the returning of one arm swords and I taped all of them and I remembered how much I enjoyed watching classic martial arts the movies are so fucked up and so unbelievable you just sit there and go what the fuck is happening but fuck it this is how good this movie is I love it

it's just confusion you don't know what the fuck they're saying it's overdubbed Kung Fu Theater was Kung Fu Theta. Kung Fu Theta was a fucking bomb everywhere. So stop sitting there like a MOOC. Oh, my God, the Academy Awards.

Did you see the Grammys? Fuck you. You didn't go down to Grammy? Party. Fuck, yeah. Nobody fucking... Listen. Even if they invited me,

I wouldn't go down there and walk around and watch Kanye West assaulting people. I don't need that shit in my fucking life. You know what I mean? That's why I kill a chicken once a month. That's why. I kill a chicken once a month in my backyard. I give it to the Saints and I move on.

I don't need that shit. You know? Sure. That's why you're in such good shape because I pray for you, I'm sorry. Iron Dragon TV.com. You get two free movies

when you're put in the box. Joey. Oh shit. J-O-E-Y. You get two free fucking classic kung fu films. They got tons of genre. The Yip Man series. They ain't fucking...

And they got new stuff too. They got new stuff on the daily number two on it. I love you, I love you, I wouldn't even live. If it's not the alpha brain, the fucking strong bone, the Shroom Tech immune,

the Shroom Tech sport. I get on the plane, I pop two Shroom Tech amunes. I can fucking sit in the toilet seat and rub my dick on the fucking thing. Nothing. I go home, no rashes, no fucking itch.

Impressive. Impressive. No nothing. No Ebola. I've told you this before. If you take fucking Shroom Tech, no Ebola, cock sucker. Listen, do me a favor.

Go to honor.com right now. Go through their products. There's something you like. There's something you're not like. I can't get you 10% off on the ropes and the fucking kettlebell. but as far as the nutrients, I get you 10% out today. What I got to press?

Church. Church. C-H. U-R-C-H. In the box, you get 10% off, right? You know I don't fuck around. That's how I roll. Number two, here these things. I'm just smoking the cigar all fucking day here.

Whether it's a cigar, whether it's a cigarette, it comes in 24, 16, 8. Boom! There you have it. You can quit in a fucking month. You don't have to hang out with stinky fucking fingernails. You can't stick your finger up. Some of these ass, but it smells like nicotine.

That's terrible when he can't do that. What the fuck? That's the whole patois. You know what I'm saying? When they're sitting there looking like a popsicle and you're watching ESPN, who's better than you? Anyway, HiddySings.com. They ain't fucking around.

They also have this cigar if you want to go to Atlantic City and be a big shot down there with the Puerto Ricans. Knock yourself out. Go to Hittiescings.com right now and press in. Joey's church. Oh shit! Bang that motherfucker. Get 20% off.

You know why? Because that's how I roll cock suckers. Sitting there looking like a popsicle? Sure. You even think when you're thinking. some of these asses. Oh, you're like a popsicle. They're sitting there frozen. Oh, no.

What do you think you're dealing with, Lisa? I'm fucking novice. You think I just wake up and wiki doke on Lancash him all day? I'm slinging dick, dog. I'm telling you right now. Oh, shit. You want to smoke that vapor? You're sick of smoking reefer? Go to Nelditlif.com. They'll fucking take care of you. They got pens. They got whistles. They got sticks that you can burn.

They got blow torches. Listen, burn the bitch like Rick James. I don't give my fucking. Go to nelditlif.com. They ain't fucking around. They got the best vapor pen of business. They guarantee it. And just if you mention...

Joey Diaz. Oh, shit. You get 20% off like a motherfucker. That's how we roll over here at church. Giving you discounts on vapor pens, blow torches, sticks with... I don't even fucking know. Hittie sings, tremendous. One of the best fucking...

You know what I love about them the most? 1,200 guaranteed pups. I'll be smoking this cigar until the next fucking doomsday. You understand me? You know why? Because it's quality, and that's how I wrote. I ain't Dragon TV. What can I say about Dave Foley knocking on the dead?

Cousers with Steve Foley from, whoop, there it is, and on it.com and shit right now giving you 10% off lead. Stop rubbing your eyeballs. You're not calling Uber. Look at how high you are. I eat a piece of a cookie. I'll bring it down. You know what?

It will bring you down. I'm glad he didn't take any because I feel like you'd lose your entrepreneurial spirit or you don't even understand I brought you this special joint this is you know this is what they gave this I don't even know what they gave this you burned his eyes like six melon salt you've become a between rounds they're using three rounds oh yeah yeah this is what stitch got in this pocket I love you John Lewis congratulations thank you very much The reason why he is because I can tell you you really give a fuck about these kids you really like what you're doing.

And Dave, Dave's the master disaster. Dave's got me doing tremendous fucking things. Lee, what's the story? What's up, buddy? You're not coming to Austin.

You're staying home. Why are you excited for Valentine's? Tell John Elliott. What are you doing Valentine's Day? You and the wife. John Lewis. I call him John Elliott. Call me whatever you want.

John Lewis. Long as you call me. But we've been on a diet for like eight months. So we're going to be. It was 80 fucking 8 pounds. Look at them. Wow.

Congratulations. Well, thanks. But we're going to mess it up. We're going to go to a, we're going to get a burger from in and out, wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, and then a dessert. And you're going to split a burger from an hour. You're not going to get a whole one on your own. I don't know. Are you going to split the fucking way?

Are you going to buy it and take out and bring it to it in now? No, we're going to go to all three places. All three places. An expensive time, quality time, each spot. Yeah. But we were going to go see a movie, but there's literally nothing out. So I think we're going to do something else in between. Like what?

I think I'm going to take her to the museum I think she wants her to let me take it to the car and make out with it like old school will feel up in tennies and you get that appetite going we will you think you're just going to eat a fucking

cheeseburger and you're going to be into your wings 10 minutes later no no it's all throughout the day it's not like in an hour bring like a bunch of plastic gloves like you're a surgeon and shit and bring it back to the fucking car and work that motherfucker what are doing with the plastic gloves

nothing you jerk off and come in your own hand Take the glove off and you throw it away In case of your side shows You're not pulling an OJ You're not pulling an OJ I'm saying I'm just talking to you here from the heart It's like a romantic Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day Women like to give hand jobs It's a suck dick and cars That's what they do on Valentine's Day You're gonna get her flowers too, right? Yeah Okay then What do you think is give her the flowers

Fuck no you put it over your helmet As she goes to get the flowers You pick up the helmet That little Jew roll is out Ready to squirt You know what to say You're out Your eyes.

I love you guys. Have a great day. We'll be back tomorrow night. Stay black. Stay beautiful. Thank you, John Lewis. You know, I love you. Thank you, Fred.

Don't forget, John Lewis, MMA.com. That's where it all starts. Go on there and see what this motherfucker's done. He's a true savage. Lee, get it together. Go to honor. Oh, Jesus Christ. Here we go.

This fucking. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. I was. Go to honor. com.

I'm going to mute you. Go to honor. on it.commy's co-word church to get 10% off of all their optimization products. I'll tell you some, right quick, for you people who want to be my friends on LinkedIn, I don't want to know nobody. All right, leave me the fuck alone.

Every time I go get an email, I think it's somebody important. Somebody wants to be my name on Lincoln, whatever the fuck it is. Some professional network. I don't want to know you people. Because if you're in and out there, you don't know nobody anyway. Leave me the fuck alone. I want to hang out another bunch of losers that ain't working. That the fuck out.

Leave me alone. I'm going to be friends with nobody, all right? Everybody always bothered me from that Lincoln, Lincoln, John. I don't even the fuck it is. A network of professionals. Then why are you bothered me for? I'm a fucking felon.

Leave me alone. You're not even supposed to be mingling with me. The fuck is wrong with people, John. I'll hear you then. Fuck LinkedIn. Go ahead. Hurry up. You're going to read this.

Let's read your neck shirt. Huh? Fuck LinkedIn. Fuck Lincoln. I like the fuck. I don't know these people. Hopefully people will listen to these. Oh, you're killing me right now.

Okay. Go to iron dragon TV.com. We use code Joey to get two free rentals of all the great martial arts movies they have for all the oil and wax smokers out there. Go to NaileditLife.com and use called Rooy Diaz to get 20% off of the premier vapor pen on the market

and I'm going to survive and to hit e6.com, better tasting, longer lasting. Proof is in the vape. They have e-cigarettes and e-cigars. You co-red Joey's church to get 20%. percent off your order. Oh shit.

We'll be back tomorrow night, bitches. Eight o'clock your time, hopefully. Lee, you got to get the roses and put them by your zipper. That's old school. Or, or before she gets the roses, you got to take your pocket and cut it off and then put your dick by the pocket and tell her going your pocket to get the car keys.

And boom, she feels that little juice dick. It's over, you know what I'm saying? It's like a juice linchin. That's what we... I feel like this is like the opposite of what they would want. Stop. Will I give you fake romantic fucking info? I think you would. As long as he can reach the pocket. You gotta be able

to reach the pocket. You gotta put that helmet. Kick that motherfucker. Kick that motherfucker. This is the devil's cousin playing the guitar. Let's do this. Zion. Let's do it. Oh, you crazy. Death's construction In the fields of bodies burning

As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Brainwash minds Oh large and this world stops turning bodies burning No more war pigs of the pie-pigs of the pie The hour struck the hour The day of judgment God is calling

Under knees the war pigs crawling Begging mercies for the saving Spreads his wings