The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Daniel Cormier Show - Chris Weidman on beating Anderson Silva to become UFC champion, BRUTAL leg injury

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Former UFC champion and MMA legend Chris Weidman sits down with DC in the fourth episode of The Daniel Cormier Show! Cormier and Weidman talk about his two fights against Anderson Silva, and what it was like to both become champion and see such a gruesome leg injury. Chris also reveals his tough childhood with his brother, talking about how he would get physically and emotionally bullied to the point that him and his friends PUNCHED his broken collarbone! Weidman also breaks down his loss to Luke Rockhold and the brutal leg injury HE SUFFERED in the UFC 261 fight against Uriah Hall. Plus DC and Chris relive his road back to the octagon, his early wrestling days in high school and at Hofstra, and so much more! All lines provided by Hard Rock BetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. I'm Joey Dardano. And on my new podcast, Hope From a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021.

And I'm Conky, his best friend, and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown if you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The volume. What's up, guys? Welcome to a brand new episode of the Daniel Cori-A show, brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. They're in your corner with a limited 5G data that will not slow you down. Hey, today I'm joined by a special guest.

I believe that this man is one of the most influential. impressive and resilient champions that our sport has ever seen. He is the former middleweight champion, Chris Wydenman. This is a kid from Baldwin Long Island. He wrestled his way to becoming an All-American at Hostra before he shocked the world, and he knocked out Anderson Silva to become UFC champion. Chris Wythman's story is one where it showed

he had to battle through career-threatening injuries. He was able to come back and fight when no one thought he could. could. This dude's built a life defined by grit, his family, his faith, and he's proud of all of that, and I am proud to call him one of my friends. So welcome in, my man, Chris Wydenman. What's up, Wydenham? How are you doing, brother?

You like that? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I might like to say there was a teleprompter, but you actually went off. You went off of the teleprompter times. That's talent. Most of the time. Or skill. You're a man, Chris. Yeah, impressed. Hey, I talked a little bit about growing up in Long Island.

What was that like, right? Because so many people, we all have different upbringings, obviously. We all end up in the same place here, but obviously we are born and bought up differently. How was growing up in Long Island with you and your sister and your brother, who, by the way, was literally the definition of the 80s bully, which we will get into a little bit later? Yeah.

Man, I loved, I had a great upbringing. I had great parents, super supportive, loving. They were at everything of mine, every sporting event. They were showing up. Grew up in a diverse town. It was like in the area. People thought it was like pretty tough. I didn't think it was anything crazy.

That was worse. But I grew up, I grew up. Oh, snap. Can they hear anything? Yeah. Yeah. I grew up, you know, fighting a lot. You know, like you mentioned, my brother was big, strong, you know, three years older.

athletic he was pretty much better than me at everything he was smart too and but he would also put it on me he was he could be mean why why do you think so uh man he was uh he was just a different character like as a friend he was a great friend very loyal and you you you know he'd have your back to the death you do anything for you um but for me when it came down to like me getting beat up by other people he would have my back Like, there's one story that comes to mind. I was, it's funny we're talking about this now, but there was a bunch of these crips. You know, you got the crips and the bloods.

Yeah, yeah. Where we were from, there was really only crips. There was a couple other towns that had bloods, you know, and who knows what they really were. But at the end of the day, they considered themselves crips. And they were, they were messing with me, and I was basically like, you know, you guys could beat me up, but why don't you come down to my house? My brother would beat you guys' asses. Yeah. And so I brought, because they're older, so I brought them to my house.

And I'm like, I get inside. I'm like, Charlie's kids are outside. They're trying to beat me up. And he was like, oh, yeah, one second. He goes inside his room. He gets a bow and arrow. And he comes outside with a bow and arrow, his big white dude who doesn't give a crap. And these dudes just sprint in different directions.

They're running out. Bow and arrow. He was a maniac. You know, he's a great family man now. He's changed for the better, thank God. Because if he stayed on that path, he would have been either. dead or in jail. Really?

Yeah, he was crazy. But that obviously toughen you up, though. It toughened me up. All through wrestling or if there was like street fights, I always just knew that they weren't my brother, so I was good. Like, what he put me through was there was nothing that they could do to make it worse than that. When that was happening, though, like, were your parents?

Like, did he hide it from your parents or were they kind of like, Charlie stopped? Yeah, man, this is a kid that first grade, he walks into, he walks into his first grade class and the teacher's introducing herself, and her name was Mrs. Berger. And so Charlie shakes her hand. My brother's name is Charlie. Shakes her hand, and she goes, hi, my name is Mrs. Burger. And he goes, mm, burger and bites her hand.

Like, he's just, like, chemically, you know, his brain was on a different level, you know, running away from school. He was, I mean, I seen, he tore, like, my parents were, you know, it was a tough, my parents were great parents, but he was a tough kid to parent. You know, I seen the torment that he put them through. That's what kind of led me. trying to go down the right path because I hated to see my parents so upset and defeated all the time with what, you know, he was kind of putting them through.

You know, when I had a big brother, you know, my brother's Joe, he could be tough on me, but he was too busy, like, doing his own thing to worry about me. We were 12 years apart, though. How old are you guys? Three, three years, and sometimes four years. So we were 12. Oh, that's great. So he can't kill you that bad. Well, when he, when I would get threatened with fights, he never saw.

stopped it. One time I was going to get beat up and I was going to go home. We live right across the street. And I thought I was going to get saved by him, but instead he told him they couldn't jump me and made me fight. You know, that was one of those things that happened a lot where I grew up at and it

backfired on my friend one time. He got his ass beat so bad. His mom made him keep fighting. It was so bad. And it's like, but at least you could go to your parents to escape Charlie. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like my parents but my my my dad was working a lot and then my mom started working as we got older so you know

they weren't around as much you know I could go and tell but he was going to beat my ass for telling so but yeah he did the same thing I would have to fight his friends and their friends were always you know bigger and stronger and they they beat my ass but I had to stand my ground and I had this thing I would I used to sing Denver the last dinosaur Denver the last dinosaur and I would go with the fights like that And I thought I was invincible. Chris. The only person didn't work against, it didn't work against Charlie. Because I would start singing it.

I'd act like I'm psycho and I'm coming at him. And then he'd just like, he would call me out. He would call my bluff. I'm not supposed to laugh at this. Bro. I should have walked out to that too. Bro, Chris. I would have never lost.

CJ is laughing at you. He knows. He knows all these. You start singing this shit. He knows all these stories. You start singing that you deserve to get your ass kicked in. The kid that's singing didn't last. I'm sorry.

I have promised. Here's the craziest. That is the craziest story. I guess I wasn't the coolest story. Oh, no, man. It was bad. It was so bad. So what?

It was bad. Did it feel like you had a shield around you when you sang that song? Yeah, no. I thought it was like what gave me energy and like I thought I couldn't get beat if I was singing that for some reason. I don't know how it happened. Yeah. But I don't know how that came about, but that was my thing. I would just start singing that and I'd just be like, nobody could.

can beat me. Yeah. This is crazy. That is crazy. Bro, I hope my son never sings that. If my son I was getting in the fight and he starts singing,

I'd slap the shit out about that. I was younger, though. I was younger than even our kids. I was probably like, I feel like I was doing this probably anywhere from seven to 11. What made you stop? I don't know.

I don't know. Well, I started getting into sports and stuff. Yeah. I started getting into wrestling and stuff like that, and I wasn't just. fighting all the time like that anymore. Yeah.

So, Chris, you had a good wrestling career, right? I like how you say good. No, stop. But most people, right, when they do that, when they have success in sports, a lot of times, the parent is pretty present and there. Like you said, your dad and mom are always there. Yeah. Was your dad hard on you at all, or was he kind of, like, laid back and didn't really...

Zero percent hard on me. Come on, Chris. literally never mentioned, hey, you should get up and do a run. You should go to this practice. He was working hard. He was just very supportive. He's the way I want to be as a dad, to be honest. It worked for me. He was just super supportive, never acted like he knew anything about wrestling, wasn't putting his input. Same through with my brother with football. He ended up playing in college, and same thing with me with all my sports. But when I got really obsessed of wrestling, I mean, it was all on me. If I wanted to get the extra practice in, if I wanted

to go find the best guys around. It was me, find them rides and whatever I have to do. Really? Yeah, yeah. Zero percent did he ever push me at all? So my dad, he wasn't the hardest, but he always made sure I went to practice, and he would always kind of like make sure I was doing the right thing. But he was always kind of tough, right?

He never really, like, hug me and, like, he wasn't, like, kissed me or anything. Did your dad, like, show you affection? Yeah, no, he, I don't say it. Yeah, we, yeah, I'm kissing, hugging. It's not like we were cuddling on the couch. No, like, me and my kids. I kiss my son on the head all the time. Yeah, me and my kids, we cuddle all the time.

Before every wrestling match, I'll give him a kiss. Or a football game. I'll kiss him on the forehead. Yeah. My dad didn't do that, though. Yeah, I don't know if he was doing that, but he was there. He was a cheerleader. He was just a cheerleader.

Yeah, the whole time. He was just a cheerleader. That's it. The craziest thing is, like, I saw my father before he passed with my kids. I could not believe. how freely the I love you's just kind of flow. How he was saying I love you. Yeah, it was so free for him to say that to the kids.

So my dad is always been. Yeah. I never got much of that. I can relate to that with my father-in-law, my wife's Marevi's dad. He was a Vietnam vet. He was a very hard dude. He was very tough on, like her and brother and his kids. But when we started having kids with the grandkids, oh, my God.

He was like a baby. The nicest guy. Just so nice to them. I had no idea. I was like, I had no idea. They could almost talk back a little bit, and they're not getting killed. They wouldn't even think about talking back. Yeah, not in this.

In today's world, you can't get the kids like you used to. No, that's true. Yeah, you can't do that like you said. I make sure my kids don't talk back. They think everything's a joke with me. Well, because you're always smiling. I'm always messing around. They can get me to smile, too.

I could be pissed, and they'll just do things to just get me to smile, and then they think it's a joke. I'm like, I'm serious. Yeah. But then I start smiling. and they think it's funny. Because you're happy. Yeah, but I'm just trying to, like, be a dad and tell them what's up. Yeah, life is happy for you.

But, Chris, when you were a kid and you're going through all that, you broke your collarbone riding a dirt bike. So I broke my collarbone, too. We got a lot of stories that are very similar. I was playing football with the older kids, and I got clothes lined. How old were you? Do you remember? I think I was like nine.

And the guy. I was about the same, man. The guy kind of, like, clothes lined me, and I went halfway back and broke. my collarbone. It was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced. Same here. But, but I got up out of that park. I walked home and I was tough. But when I got to my mom, I started crying like a baby. My arm was broken. I couldn't move it. They put me in a sling, got me healthy, and then I got back together. But you got punched in the shoulder. My poor brother. I just want to say, I don't hold any grudges on my brother. I don't hold any grudges

that my brother the way I was treated as a kid because it made me who I am and literally there's no bad blood at all. But the stories are the stories, the facts of the facts. So yeah, I was, I wasn't on a dirt bike. I was on like a regular like a BMX bike and we built these like these jumps where there was this double. And my brother and all his friends, the older kids, they built, they built it and I was going to be the first guy to try it. Why? To see if it works. You know, to see if it's You were a test. You were a test dummy. And of course, my dumb ass is like, okay, I have to You know, I'm doing it. So I do it.

I'm trying to do a backflip over it. Well, because you're trying to prove yourself to them. You want to be those guys. Yeah. So I land on my shoulder. I break my collarbone completely in half. And I'm like, down. I'm like, oh, my God, my shoulder, whatever.

They come over, they line up. You would be crying if your shoulder is broken, blah, blah, blah. They start punching me in my arm one at a time. And I am like numb. And then I have to leave by myself. I know something's wrong. So I had to walk my bike all the way home. And I laid on my couch for probably about five hours until my mom got home.

And I'll never forget the drive to the emergency room, every, like, vibration, everything, because the collarbone was doing this. Yeah, the collarbone just keeps moving. Oh, it was, that was awful. So you're a nine-year-old kid in the back of the car. Where the hell's Charlie at this point? I don't know. I see he got in trouble. I mean, it wasn't like he was doing this and not getting in trouble.

He was getting in trouble, but I don't know if it was going to change him. I honestly can't stand, Charlie. Yeah, no. Even today, no, he's fine. But, like, this dude was a problem. I think you met him. You met him at a tournament. I met your brother.

You met my brother. There's a guy from upstate, oh, man, I'm going to forget his name. It's terrible. There's a guy who does, he coaches Empire, I think. KD? Is it KD?

No, what that was his last name? So he wrestled at Iowa with Tom Ryan. He's a club upstate New York called Empire. My nephew goes there. And so they were at, man, I met him. I know exactly what you know.

My dad was with him. The U.S. Open. I met your nephew. He's huge now. He's a young. Yep, U-20s and those is coach. Yes. And your brother.

Yeah, my brother was there, yeah. I can view his face now because you guys look at the exact same. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But all that led to you starting wrestling, right? Yeah. You start wrestling. You said you get obsessed with it. You have a pretty, you have a really good high school career, right?

Win the states twice, win the counties twice? One time, one time. You won the state ones? Two-time county, yeah. So you win the states, one at the county's twice. why did you end up in junior college? Because a guy in New York in New York that's a state champion is generally a Division I guy.

Yeah, so I was getting looks and everything from the Division I schools, but I didn't know about the Division I clearinghouse. You know about the Division I clearinghouse? So it's a combination of your SAT scores and your GPA, and man, I was very bad in school. It was, I was embarrassingly bad. And then once I started realizing these Division I wanted me,

I was like, all right, I got a good grade. Start trying to hustle. So I got all A's, my senior year in school, so I brought my GPA up. GPA up. I needed to get a 9-90 on the SATs. I took it five times. I couldn't break 980. So basically I was, I had to go to junior college.

Isn't that unfortunate, though, because now there is no standardized testing. They've got rid of it. No, they've gotten rid of it. Really? You can do ACT. You don't need that anymore. I did the ACT. Same reason I was in junior college.

GPA and the ACT did not match. They don't have that. no more. Doesn't that kind of, doesn't that stuff thinking back to it? Yeah, but I don't have any regrets, but only because, like, I mean, junior college worked out great for me. I had a great junior college career, you know, great people I got to meet, great coaches, people I'm still close to today, and the one I went division one afterwards, so it was a little good. Was there a moment when you were wrestling, right? Because wrestling's hard, especially early. You get beat a lot, man. You don't, it doesn't click for many kids.

the moment they walk into the restroom, they're just good. I struggled for like a year and a half, but I don't really quit anything, so I just kept going while all my friends quit. Was it hard for you in the beginning? And is there a moment you remember where, like, it kind of clicked for it and you go, hey, wrestling, this is my thing? It was my freshman year.

I was on JV., old year, and there's a senior on my team. It's a kid named Adrian Giewa. and he ended up, they ended up deciding to put me into the conference, into like the varsity conference tournament. So the other starter who's been in front of me the whole year, Adrian Giewa was going to be in that tournament as well. So I ended up going to the finals and I go against Adrian Gia Giawai and I beat him.

And then I go into the counties I went, I think I went 0 and 2. But just because I saw that I had, you know, some skills, I was able to beat this senior, that started giving me some confidence to where I started working over the summer and I started like kind of falling in love with it. and then that was the first push where I was like, I got to really start working on this. I think I might, you know, I had a chance to be good at this and it's fun.

And then I did Fargo going into my, it was my freshman year going to my sophomore year. Yeah, so that summer I did Fargo, and I ended up becoming a two-time All-American. I, All-American, did Greco and freestyle. And so right away, that gave me confidence. When did you start wrestling? I started, I'd wrestled in second and third grade,

and then stopped wrestling because they didn't have it in my town anymore until seventh grade. So it gave me like a little base, second and third grade, doing like twice a week, and then just during the wrestling season, and then I started again as a seventh grader. Yeah. But I was playing every sport. And it probably refreshed you, though, right, to get away from it,

because once you go all in on wrestling, you're so focused on it that it's hard to really do much of anything else. That's where I'm scared with our kids. You know, like there's so much, like when I was the second and third grader, There wasn't anybody saying, hey, we should be going to these national tournaments. We should be doing these extra practices. There was nothing like that. I asked you today for your kid to wrestle on national dual teams with this.

Yeah, I appreciate that. That's crazy, though. It's like that's the level to which they go and wrestle. I know. It's crazy. But there's kids that are doing that way earlier. You know, like second, third grade, they're going to Tulsa's, and they're taking a very serious, very early.

And I think there is a, in my opinion, I think there's like a time period, or probably about 10 years where you could be truly obsessed with something to where, like, you might still be obsessed after that 10 years. I mean, you still might be the best in the world after 10 years, but I think the level of obsessiveness on that activity is going to slowly, like, deteriorate.

And then other people who have that passion and that obsession are going to start, you know, catching up and surpassing you. So I feel like timing the passion is probably really hard to do, but I think that's what the greats have is that the timing was well. just happened to work out.

But most dads can't do that, right? Especially when they live through the kid. They push the kid and they push the kid and they pushed the kid. And the kid becomes the best in the world. But by the time they're 15, 16, 17 years old, they're thinking, I don't really want to do this anymore. Then the dad's heartbroken. But then how do you find the balance, right?

Like how do we find the balance as dads who lived the life that we lived, knowing that our kids have certain amount of you to live up to and also a desire to not only do well, but do also because I am Chris Weidman's son, right? And my name is Chris Weidman, right? When I go out on the wrestling mat, I need to be able to do that. How do you do that? How do you find that balance with your boys

while not being overbearing? Because there's already a built-in pressure. And I really hope they just, I really don't push them. I try not to push them, but you also want to encourage them. to encourage them, if they have a true passion for it, I'm going to be super supportive. But you can't instill a passion to somebody. That just kind of has to happen on its own.

So I think when you're trying to push that passion to somebody, it's just a battle that's going to be lost. You know, you're going to end up losing your relationship with your son. You know, your son's going to end the phone out of love with the sport. And it usually goes backwards. But that being said, I've also seen the other way. I've seen parents push their kids like maniacs. And it work out.

And it work out where the kid's amazing. I don't know about the relationship with the parent. Maybe it's good. Maybe it's not. That's where they suffer. That's where those relationships suffer. I go on with the percentage of what I've seen in my life, I think it's better not to...

Your kid has to decide if he wants it or not. And if he really wants it, then you're there for him, and you're going to give him whatever he needs to get there. So John Smith, the greatest American wrestler of all time, never coached his kid until he got older, 13, 14, 14, 15. Kid end up being a three-time All-American, and that's enough. But it's like, can you be your father when you are who you are?

Because sure, your dad was very supportive. He was a bit of a cheerleader. But he also didn't know what you know, and he can't give what you can give. So then, again, how do you not cheat with not passing on that knowledge? Dude, you have so much knowledge that you want to pass on to your son to cheat, to cut those hard times, make it a shorter time period where he's going through those hard times because you're giving him the cheat code, basically. And I try to do that my kids. If I start feeling they're rolling their eyes, they're looking the other way, I'm out. And I hope that, and it's starting to happen a little bit, but at some point I hope that it's full attentiveness and I could help them, you know, get there a little bit quicker so they don't have to, you know, go through as much hard times as, you know, we have to.

to go through. But I also, you know, I didn't become an Olympic champion. I'd become, you know, Olympian. I didn't become a national champion in wrestling. So I never really accomplished my goal in wrestling. So I'm not saying that everything my dad did, you know, is the way to be. But for me, I like the idea of trying to be the cheerleader. Being a really good wrestler, fighter, and then trying to teach your kid, it's almost like a blessing and a curse. Like you have all this knowledge that you want to instill into your kids. But then how do you make sure you're not pushing them too much? I think it's almost impossible for the kid to do what the dad did, especially in wrestling.

Like Nate Carr is so lucky because David Carr is amazing. It doesn't work out that much. I asked John that, I said, what's success? He goes, Joe being an old American was success for me. Not everybody's going to be an Olympic champ. And I was like, he's right. And my kid ever becomes a state champion one time. I guess place when it.

I'll be happy because you can't have that expectation of them, of what we had. But I think we also need to push them to make sure that they at least have the opportunity to learn it. Because we learn on the job. We can give them some of the things that we went through to try to guide us and guide them in their careers. But your career didn't take you to Hofstra. You become an All-American. but again it was still hard right at times you took some losses how have loss how has loss been a way for you to build and how have you taken losses from the college wrestling mat to

the mixed martial arts how have you applied that loss to make you better going forward um well especially coming i think what comes to my mind is when i when i got done wrestling um i was kind of known as like the kid who kind of could beat anybody but also could lose to anybody and I was kind of a mental midget I was I would I would choke you know I went to the semifinals twice the two times I went division one I made the semifinals both times both times I was winning against the guy who eventually won the national championship and then I got pinned oh Chris so it was you know just find a way to lose and I and when I reflected when I started getting to MMA I had to try to figure out like what the hell is wrong me why am I this guy and I realized that I think there was

a lot of these guys were just working way harder than me and smarter than me. I was competitive. I loved to compete, but I wasn't doing the extra stuff at all. I liked being like I was the athletic kid that could beat anybody. You know, that was cool for me. But when I got into MMA, I was like, you know, I don't want to be that kid anymore. I wanted to be that hardworking, blue-collar kid that just grinds every day. So when I got to MMA, that was the mind shift that I made within myself. was like, you know, I'm just going to outwork everybody

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But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was...

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

man, he running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body. On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30, you shouldn't have to share one with anybody. Mm-hmm.

From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health. These are real, honest conversations. We don't always get to have out loud. Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right? Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them?

Absolutely not. During one meal, I'm standing. I'm standing and handing my children food. Because healing, empowerment and resilience aren't just ideas, their practices. And this Mental Health Awareness Month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself. Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest.

Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot. I'd be too nervous. That's right. The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scoble and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers. What are the nippers? Very good question.

No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not. I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know. This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops.

Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why? If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. That was kind of what you did, right? Like, that's what you did, right? It's speak about mixed martial arts. But you end up training on Long Island.

Wyrne Longo. Was that just kind of by chance? Because that's where you're from. It's like, we talked about this before you and I, where it's like, man, you got kids that go wrestle for you from all different places. And kids transfer and they move and they do all these things. When we were growing up, it was like,

you kind of just go to your local high school. Yeah. And then you just go wherever. Was that what that was with the gym with Longo Serrame? It was like it was on Long Island. you or had you moved back home after college, and that was the gym that you were closest to. Yeah, for me it was just seamless, I guess, just luck being blessed.

The way I even got into MMA was there was MMA fighters coming from Lago's and Matt Sarras, coming down to Hafsha to learn to be a better wrestler. So I was helping them with their wrestling, and I was even thinking about fighting at that point. And then eventually, I was trying to be an Olympian. I was trying to be on the Olympic team. and after I got injured right before the trials, and that was kind of the crossroads. Like, am I going to try to make the world teams?

I was an assistant coach at Hofstra getting a master's degree and making $12,000 a year. And so I'm like, man, it's a tough way to live. It's a guy. And I was living in my parents' basement. We were just having our first kid. My wife is out. She just got her CPA license.

She's working at Price Warehouse Cooper, and I'm kind of the loser, you know, just making $12,000 a year. So I saw all these fighters making money. money. I knew wrestlers were doing really good with it. I had a lot of people around me that knew where I came from and the way I grew up. They knew my brother. They're like, you'd be like amazing at this. You should be doing this. And I'm like, yeah, maybe you're right. And when I got it, when I first walked into Matt Serra's gym, that was when I like made that switch in the mind.

Like, all right, I'm just going to try to outwork everybody. And I did three months of Jiu-Jitsu, straight up. I paid whatever it was, like, $200 a month. And I paid for a ghee, $169. and after three months I did a, after three months I did a Grappler's Quest and I did my weight class and then the absolute division

and the winner of the absolute division would get $2,000. So I ended up submitting everybody in my weight class and the absolute division black belt division and I won $2,000. I'm like, bro, I could do this. You had three months into your career.

Three months. I'm like, I can make, I make more money doing this if I could do this once a month, I'm making more money doing this than I am coaching the Hofstra. So then I was, I was like, I got my wife on board.

I'm going to start, you know, going down to Longos and learn how to do stand-up. And then six months later, I had my first pro fight. I just went straight into it. Yeah. I don't know many guys that were more highly regarded as prospects as you coming into the UFC. But to live up to that was crazy. But yours was expedited. You only had 9-0 when you fought Anderson.

Bro, when Anderson was rocking and rolling at that time, he was by far, the best fighter on the planet. He was scary. He was dangerous. You're 9 and no. You haven't even been in the octagon 10 times. And you get that call. What was that call like?

Because I know I see stuff that you've talked about where you go, I was excited. There had to be a party going, man, this is fast. I was on a mission, bro. I was in a, at that time, I was so focused on becoming a world champion. It was everything to me. You know, I had failed. and everything else I did, you know, wrestling and stuff.

I never accomplished my goal. And this was, I was doing everything right. I was outworking everybody. I was winning every training session against anybody that put me against. And with Jiu-Jitsu, stand-up, professional boxers. I had to win every round of everything. I had to finish people. And I was doing everything right, and I believed I could be the world champion.

And it was me who made that a fight happen. I mean, I went out there against Mark Munoz. And I put on the, I remember that. It's still probably the best I've ever felt in a fight was against Mark. And they were trying to get Mark to fight Anderson Silva because there was all this talk about how Mark had beat him in sparring or something. Yeah, yeah, teammates and stuff, yep.

Yeah. And so after that fight, I had met with Lorenzo and Dana and them in Chicago. And I was just like, you know, I begged them. I'm like, please give me innocent. I'm telling you, only will I beat him, I'll finish them. And they're like, all right, I didn't hear anything. And then next day I know it, they called me. I just had a shoulder surgery.

I just went through Hurricane Sandy, and they called, I just got done with the rehab, and it was going to be eight weeks. Actually, as soon as I got done with the rehab of the shoulder injury, it was basically time to start camp. But I was on a mission, man. There was doubt, you know, I saw all his fights.

You know, I saw all those highlight knockouts. I seen how he made people look stupid out there. And there would be moments where those doubts would come out of my mind and the possibility of being embarrassed and, you know, and not accomplishing my goal. But, man, I was anxious all the time because I was constantly thinking about

and constantly running those thoughts out of my mind. You know, I was fighting those thoughts every second of the day. Yeah. Do you think that those losses, right, not being able to ultimately accomplish what you accomplished, prepared you for those big moments? You carried a chip on your shoulder knowing, like, man, I want to prove everybody wrong.

I was the kid that blew it, right? I was the choker. Now I have an opportunity on the biggest stage of my life to not only not choke, but I can shock the world because you were supposed to get beaten. You were supposed to be bad. I was in the arena that night, and people were holding up Brazilian flags.

It was the 4th of July weekend. Yeah, they handed Brazilian flags out and American flags out. There was more Brazilian flags in the arena than American flags. On the 4th of July. And you're young at the time. Young in your career and young and age. I just went back And we just saw that fight with my son the other day

with CJ We were sitting on the couch We pulled it up I couldn't believe how young I looked You were a baby, dude I was a baby You were a baby Yeah

I was only a two to one underdog But you were no Everybody could tell That you were good I knew what other people I knew I mean we had got Like GSP came out He thought I was going to beat him

There was some big names in the sport They were like Wybman has What it takes to beat him But I mean I just, I didn't care. I had to win that fight. You know, I had to beat him. I had to, you know, finally accomplish my goal.

When you knocked him out, that place went crazy. When you knocked him out and he went down and you had just beaten the guy that was considered the best in the world, what did you think immediately? I know you're all fired up. You're like showing your hands and like, I knew I was going to do this. But, bro, when he went down, because he was talking and he was talking and you just kept plugging away. Like you never let anything get to you in that moment. Did you ever get a thought in there go, fuck this dude, man.

I want to take his head off. Like while you're fighting. So we had all these professional boxers and kickboxers come in, and we'd have them taunt me and put their hands down and mess with me. And I thought I was prepared for that. I didn't let it bother me in training. And then when it was actually happening in there, I kept my composure.

I kept my composure. Then he had done it one more time. And this is one that knockout happened. And it was actually me losing my composure. I got pissed. I said, he started doing, like, I was winning the fight. You know, I hit him the first round. Second round, I'm landing more strikes.

The only thing he was landing was the leg kicking the crap out of me, but I was, you know, not, I had my poker face on. And he did it one more time where he started doing, like, you know, the Harlem, yeah. Shimmy on me or whatever he was. And I was like, are you joking me? So I, that's why it was like a weird combination because I just want to, I threw a jab.

Then I came with a cross. I barely missed him. I just wanted to hit him with something. So I hit him with my back fist. And I guess that's what he thought that was my hook. And then now my hook was coming behind it and just hit him. And, I mean, when he went down, it was, you know, it was just surreal. I lost my mind.

I was pissed. Like, actually, I wasn't, as soon as I knocked him down and I finished him, I mean, I was ripping my shorts off. I was doing the Derek Lewis before Derek. You were fighting. I was pissed off. You were fighting. I was like, what now, motherfucker?

You want to keep talking shit? Like, I was actually losing my mind. Kind of blacked out. I thought I was going to beat him by either submission or TKL. I did not think I was knocking them out. We've seen guys, he lets people punch him. Yeah. And he just eats.

His eyes were so good. He would come on the cage and literally let dudes punch him in the face. sometimes he would even move his head. Yeah. It would be nothing. And so for me to knock him out, that wasn't on that, you know, you know, Longo had me believe in in my hands, but that wasn't the recipe for success that we were looking for.

You knock him out, you guys fight again. Second time, it looks like he's afraid to go to the octagon. I don't know if you watched that. His walkout took so long because I think he recognized, I'm in there where to do that. I don't know if I can beat. Could you feel that? Like when you were standing back there waiting,

did you ever wonder, like, first off, why is this taking so long? Like, what's happening? And then when you go back and watch it, you could see in his face like, he didn't think he could beat you. It was a different, he had a different approach to that fight. And you could see it all over. Yeah, I was a man on a mission, man. I was so hungry.

I was a young, hungry kid with, it was my dream. He had already accomplished so much. Like, it's hard when you're getting older, and you're just winning one title fight after the other, and you have this guy, you know, it's weird to say, but at the time, I was a freaking animal. You know, I was truly an animal. I was in there to completely dominate him.

It meant everything in the world to me. That's a tough, that's a tough act that gone to walk into, you know. And that second fight, obviously the leg break was awful. Did it sound loud when you were in there? Honestly, I did not know. I get a lot of backlash online, but people, I guess, don't watch the full tape. As soon as he goes down, I think he's hurt. I think I think I mentally and physically broke him at that point in my mind.

Because if you watch the first round in that fight, I drop him. I hit him in the temple. He drops. So now I drop him again on the feet. Hard ground the pound the whole first round. Second round, I check his first leg kick. First leg kick guy overchecked. And it was so much easier to fight him the second time because he had his hands up the whole time.

was like a traditional kickbox. Yep, yep, yep. And his hands were down. It was way more difficult to deal with, you know. You're dealing with your emotion. You're getting, like he's embarrassing you. But he had so much backlash when he got knocked out with his hands down that he came to that second fight doing everything right, you know, and it was just easier to see

everything coming. And so before that light broke, I checked his first leg kick. He was so good at setting those leg kicks up so well that you wouldn't see him. And I was able to see one. I checked it. That's not the time he broke his leg. leg, we move around a little bit more. Now he throws the leg kick without any setting up. You know, he doesn't set it up at all. And, you know, I check it. And I just thought he was

mentally and physically broken. I thought it probably hurt his shin. So I start running around the outgun. I win. And then I heard a scream, you know, from Anderson. And I'm like, why is he screaming like that? And I came over and then I seen his leg all messed up. And I mean, it was very hard for me to be happy. Really? You could watch me in that post-fight. Um, after my little runaround, my coach is coming in, super happy. I'm, like, trying to force a smile a little bit. But I was, it was devastating.

It was terrible. Yeah. Yeah. And then obviously, you know what happens later, but it really gave me a good insight on what he was dealing with. It was just awful. You go on this run of Brazilian champions that you're beating Lioto, Vitor.

And then we get to the fight with Luke Rockold, right? It was very easy to see that you two were on a collision course to fight each other. The fight was going very well early, and then he starts to work his way back into the fight. And then you do that spinning kick. Do you think about that? Do you think about like what if I did not do that in that moment? And what prompted you to do that in that moment when you're fatigued? You can't really do it at the rate or the speed that you normally would.

You know, it's not excuses. It's just I was on my way to lose. I was on my way to losing at some point, whether it was Luke or someone else very soon. In your career. Why? Why? Even before, even Vitor fight. Like if, if, because I started, I started, well, the injuries started really turning up on me.

You know, I started having, you know, I was on my way to get into 30 surgeries, you know, where I'm at now. But it was, they just started piling up. My knees were. So all the hard, all the, I'm going to be the hardest working guy in the room started to really become a negative. Yes. So I had to start changing things. You know, now I made money, right? I'm going out to expensive dinners.

I had had a rib-buye until I was probably, you know, 27 years old. You know, I never went to an expensive restaurant in my life. All of a sudden I had money. You were doing all these different things, you know, I'd sponsors. So you had that aspect of it where I was that hungry kid living in my parents' basement that was on a – my goal was to provide for my family and become a world champion. So now I already have that, all. I defended my belt twice against Anderson – oh, beat Anderson, the defendant against Anderson,

then Leo deemichita. Now I'm going against Vitor Bell for it. I got injured before that fight, and then they rebook it for a couple, you know, months later. and I was starting to get a lot of, I was starting to get a lot of backlash for having injuries and having to push out of fights and stuff. So I decided to do shorter camps.

I was like, you know, instead of doing a 10-week camp, I'm doing a six-week camp. I just started doing less. I started doing less work, you know, to think it's less chance of getting injured. But then I would still get injured in a fight. I would still get injured in training camp.

And then I was, there was no time to take care of my body. It was just I had to keep grinding and pushing through it. And the injuries just started adding up. But going into the Vitor fight, that was the beginning of my demise, because I won that fight the first round doing a six-week training camp. And I wasn't training like I used to at all. Why do you think fighters struggle so much?

When they get everything that they aspire to get, the money, the fame, the freedom, the comfortable life, why do you think fighters struggle so much? when you get everything that you intended to get and more. I had a hard time. So after I beat Anderson the first time, I knew I was going to have to rematch them no matter what, like even before the fight. So I had that as my goal.

Liotto Machita fight, I wasn't getting the credit. You know, people, you know, his leg broke. They thought it was a freak knockout in the first fight. I still wasn't getting the credit as a UFC champion. And it was pissing me off. So I was like, I got to dominate Leo de Machita. So I was very well prepared for that fight. Then I got a lot of credit.

People were like, oh, this dude, he's good. And I accomplished my goal. Yeah, I became a world champion. I defended a couple, you know, at that time, you know, twice. And I was, you know, now it's just like, all right, I'm just going to keep trying to stay undefeated and not lose anymore. You know, just keep trying to win belts. It wasn't as much of, like, a goal that I was hungry for,

like it was in the beginning. Yeah. I wasn't as obsessed, you know. To be the world champ. Yeah, I, you know, I did it. You know, I won my national championship. I won my little gold, I won, you know, all the things I didn't think I could do. You like that chip a little bit.

The chip on my shoulder started, you know, fall off. And so then going to Luke Rockhold fight, I knew he was, I was back into that old Chris, that old choke artist Chris, because I wasn't working as hard as everybody anymore. and so I was doubting myself and instead of fighting those doubts out I was like it doesn't matter what I think now all it matters is when I'm against the Afghan

so I'm not fighting those thoughts every day and I think eventually it just kind of caught up to me and yeah you know Luke was the better fight that night I thought we both looked like crap you know I honestly think we both fought terrible that night and yeah after that it was very difficult to regain

and reclaim that championship level. Why? Why was it so hard to, because again, that thing that you chased that you had coveted and you had gotten to, it was gone now.

Could you not recapture that want for it? Or were the injury so bad that you were like, man, no matter what I do. Because you should, when you recognize, I did a six-week camp this time. I should go back to doing 12.

Did you do that? And if you didn't, how did you really expect it to change? Yeah, I wasn't. Or did it matter? I wasn't thinking like I'm thinking now. I was thinking, I got injured. So with the Luke Rockold fight, in my head, the reason why I lost is because I did a six-week train camp,

but in the first week I broke my foot on Valante's elbow, right? So now I couldn't do the cardio and the footwork and all that stuff like I wanted to. So I just, I blamed it on that. But it was more than that. It was a lot more than that. It was so much deeper with all the things we're talking about. You know, like just mentally being confident comes from hard work. You know, I need to really grind and feel like I'm working harder than everybody else for me to truly be confident.

And I wasn't doing that anymore. And then on top of that, the injuries, man, I just had a lot of bad injuries that are a problem. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad,

Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about define the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball.

Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest. Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the pair. I'd be too nervous. That's right.

The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers. What are the nippers? Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt?

Maybe not. I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know. This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why?

If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body. On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30. You shouldn't have to share one with anybody.

Mm-hmm. From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health. These are real honest conversations. we don't always get to have out loud. Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right? Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them? Absolutely not. During one meal, I'm standing.

I'm standing and handing my children food. Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas. They're practices. And this Mental Health Awareness Month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself. Listen to cultivating her space on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Injuries are a problem, but you have injuries and then you have an injury like what happened at UFC 21. 20 seconds into the fight, you throw that kick, it is literally one of the nastiest things I've ever seen in my life.

Take me to that moment when you're in the octagon and that happens and how quickly you realize. is like, this is really bad. Seriously, because I've watched your documentary, right? And I've heard you talk about it a little bit and kind of go through the process, the recovery. But in that moment, are you thinking, oh, my God, this is what happened to Anderson? First thing, that's literally what went through my mind.

Really? So, I mean, you know, the long story, well, I won't make it that long, but so I never really did calf kicks before, you know, that was. wasn't a thing, right, when we were fighting. And then Anthony Smith came down to spar with me. He was getting ready to fight on the same card. And I calf kicked him in practice, and he went down.

I'm like, bro, that was crazy. One kick, he went down. He said his calf happened to be sore. I'm like, so I go into that Eryo Hull fight. We're circling 17 seconds in. I'm just like, I'm going to kick his calf as hard as I can. See if I can put him down. Yeah.

And I kicked as hard as I could. I kick. I remember the sounds. and the sound to me was like, holy shit, that was a heart kick. Like, there's no way he's not feeling that right now. And as I put my leg back, I'm looking at him in the eyes, I'm like, I know you got a poker face on right now. I know that hurt.

And then next day I know it, I don't remember really falling, but I've seen the videos. I remember looking at my leg on the floor, and the first thing was like confusion. Like, what the fuck? How was this? My leg. The only time I've ever seen that was Anderson's leg, right?

I was in there for that. How the hell is this my fucking leg there right now? And then I remember, oh, I remember him being in so much pain. And now I had no adrenaline. It was 17 seconds in. I wasn't even sweating yet. So it was like we walk outside right now and just kick a pole as hard as you can. Snap your leg in half.

Your bones go through your calf muscles and out your skin. Like, it was the worst pain I could have. I can't explain how terrible it was. And I was just, please give me pain medication. please screaming and yelling. I was a little biotch, you know, and it was completely awful. And I didn't know, yeah, I couldn't believe it.

I could not believe that was my leg. I still can't believe it. How crazy is it? I couldn't look. I literally could not look at it. If you watched the broadcast, I saw it happen. Then I was asking Joe and John, like,

I was like, is it bad? And they were like, it's really bad. And it also has. happens to be the only compound fraction because the bone came out so when I seen that the because they didn't show that on the UFC replays there's only I think Monster Energy only they have this angle I saw it yeah I saw an angle yeah they have an angle where you could see the bones and the bone my like tibia or fibula bones flopping coming out and spiking through like knives it's pretty nasty and the blood and everything the UFC didn't capture that but I seen that

and when I seen that and then the doctor's like he can't feel a pulse He couldn't feel a pulse on my ankle. And that means, like, you know, you don't have blood supply down there. So now, you know, am I going to start thinking like, am I going to be right? You know, I was just losing my mind. It was a complete nightmare. How hard was that for the family in the back? Oh, my.

Your wife and your parents, like, to see that, like, this board has done so much positively. But to see that, how was that when they got you back through the curtain? So they were trying to rush me out because they were worried about possibly losing my leg. And so I just, but I wouldn't leave without my wife. So I was screaming. That's, you know, my wife's name. Like, I'm not leaving until my wife gets here. So they ended up finding her way down.

And they got her into the ambulance and, yeah, got to the hospital. They put me on all the pain medication they could. And they couldn't, the surgeon wasn't coming into the next morning. so now you have the whole night. So they were just pumping me full of morphine, and it just wasn't enough. And then they ended up putting me asleep to put the bones back in.

So to clean it up, hopefully deal with any possible infections, put the bones back in. And then they wake me up, and the pain was just brutal. I was screaming all night until, you know, to a surgery. I remember Dana comes in, which is really nice of them,

and I've never. asked Dana for anything. Yeah, I'm not, you know, the guy gets asked for everything. You know, as a champion, I never asked him for anything. I'd ask him for some extra money. I was pretty, I was pretty timid with that too, but I just was like, Dana, please just make sure I have a good doctor, you know, I want to be able to walk again and play with my kids. My biggest thing, I could cry a thing about, I'm not going to cry, though. I just wanted to be able to play with my kids again and be able to walk and do things like that. And that's kind of where where my mind was at that point.

On that night. On that night. And even like weeks after. And weeks after. That was a, that was really it. I wanted to just be able to like do that. Life can change very quickly.

Yeah. Right? And we do this job that we love so much. And it was hard to watch that. But was even harder was watching you go through the recovery of it. And I remember in the beginning, like we would call you. And we would, I would talk to you on Facebook.

time at times. And you just sit on this couch, right? You're just kind of sitting on this couch. And life is happening around you, right? Because I'm pretty sure your kids are still doing athletics and everybody's doing things, but you can't really participate in the way that you normally do. When you were in the process or in the midst of recovery, was it harder mentally or physically? Because for me, I think mentally I'd probably have a harder time dealing with not being able to go to CJ's practices, not being able to go watch your daughter in gymnastics are, you know, it'd be hard. It was physically, it was the hardest thing I've been through for sure.

I mean, the pain, the pain, if any time I had to go get from laying down to having to go to the bathroom was one of the hardest things you could ever imagine. The pain of the blood rushing down. through that leg you know now like because the bones came out and through

everything the nerves were all damaged so like the nerve pain that I would have and the like you know it was it was just crazy

like nobody should have to feel that type of pain it was awful so pain was very bad for a very long time and my prayer was just like

I just need to be a bearable type of pain but I was you know I'm pretty like optimistic and, you know, I was, you know, but it was tough.

It was, yeah, just to answer your question, it was tough mentally as well as physically. Did you think you were going to come back? I wasn't thinking about, like, I wasn't thinking about that for a long time. And then at some point it started kind of becoming a thing in my head where like, I need to come back. I need to show that I could come back from this, not just for me, but, to my kids and everybody else. And when you did come back, you said, I'm going to throw a leg kick.

It'll be the first thing I do. Well, then you couldn't get yourself to do it. Oh, yeah, that's crazy. And you took a whole bunch of leg kicks. Damn, Brad DeVaris, man. I thought he was a good guy. Calf kicked the crap out of me the whole fight. He broke my other leg.

Really? Yeah, he actually fractured my tibia on this side, my hairline fracture, not fully fractured. But kicking both my legs. And, you know, for me, my defense, If someone kicks me, we kick right back. You know, you make him pay for that kick. And he kicked me the first time, and I go to, I was thinking I was going to be able

throw it, and I just could not throw it. I threw it one time in that fight, maybe like second round. And it was like, you could see if you watch it, like, I was trying to do it, but I wasn't throwing it hard. It was just like, I did it. I didn't say I did it. But I couldn't, it was crazy. I couldn't, my body would want to do it.

You could tell that there was a hesitancy to do that. But then the following fight, it was really. No, Silva, all you did was kick. What switched? I don't know. I don't know. I just, I was, I needed to get that monkey off my back. You know, I needed to be able to kick again, you know,

show I could do it. You go into the next fight and you, obviously, losing you walk away. You have this idea that you're going to box or do something different. The GFL thing comes up. It doesn't work out. You still haven't gotten any, like, of those boxing things that you talked about prior. Is that still something you want to do? Because generally, you still work for the UFC, right?

I'm pretty sure you could have stayed in the UFC. I don't know where they're going to cut you or did you ask for release? I think they were pretty much done with me. I think I could have probably got one more fight if I really wanted to. I could have pushed for it. But, you know, I was it, was it 41? I was 41, I think, yeah, it was this year. Geez.

Yeah, it was like 40, 41. I guess it was on my birthday's June, so it was right before that. Are they, are they in my, who am I going against to, what am I doing? You know, like, who am I fighting to beat? And for what reason, you know, it made no sense. So are you done? Because you signed up for the GFL, right? The game doesn't generally let us choose when we're done.

It says to us, we don't really have a need for you anymore. Yeah. you done, Chris, or like, do you still have a desire to find? I am, I'm done with MMA. My knees just can't bend anymore like they used to. I can't be in those type of scrambles. Jiu-jitsu-wise, I'll do some jiu-jitsu tournaments and stuff like that. And, like, boxing match against, you know, a big name, history that I have, you know, somebody I have history with, older guys, you know, like myself. Yeah, I like boxing. I wouldn't mind doing like a pro-boxer match. I'm staying in shape. I'm working out as, you know, at least five

times a week. I told you every day, but it's more like five times a week, you know. Yeah. I'm staying healthy, and we'll see if something comes. Yeah. You know, on this journey, we never do it alone, right? From the early parts of your life, your brother, your father, your mother, supporting you constantly. You know, your dad became a meme celebrity because he supports you, essentially. In that moment, he was being a cheerleader. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Right. I love my boy. There's nothing in the world that would have changed that. But your family, right? Your wife, Marivi, son, CJ, Colton,

who's a little different, right? That one was a tough one. That one's a little tough one. And Cassidy, your daughter, they've been a huge part of your journey. What have they meant to you? And how important is to have that support system from,

I mean, he's walked into, the Octagon and everything. That'd be a special moment, like, to have those things happen for you. Oh, man, it's the best thing ever. You're trying to make me cry. I know what you don't. This must be the end of the interview. You don't get me to cry. Yeah, no, it means, they mean everything in the world to me, you know, without having their support, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. My wife has been the backbone of the family,

but of me, you know, my entire career. She's been there having my bag through some crappy times, you know, tons of ups and downs. And she's always stood by my. side. So she's a real one, you know. And my kids, you know, they're everything to me. And we got, I have a new kid now. I adopted as I was going to talk about it. Baby girl, Savannah. She's the most amazing thing ever. I love her to death. She's been such a blessing. Yeah. So my family's everything to me. For me, my legacy is my family. You know, what I could pass down to them. When I think of fighting legacy, at the end of the day, all that disappears, you know, whether it's 10 years, 20 years. You know, I could see I haven't fought since I was

a champion being relevant, you know, it slowly goes away. And at the end of the day, that can't be your main motivation because it is going to go away at some point, you know, and even after we're gone, you know, how long are people going to know you? You know, it's probably not as long as anybody, you know, wants to think about, you know. How many presidents do you know? You know, you're right. Yeah, you know, it's just, and they're the most important people in the country. Yeah, exactly. So I feel like it's more about the impression and the role model you could be for the people around you, your family, and how they go through life and pass that on, you know, moving forward for themselves as well. Has your family taught you about being more resilient?

And have they taught you more about fighting just in life in general? Because now you're fighting with a team. It's still a team, right? But there's, as much as you might love very long ago in those guys, right? It's a different love when you fight for that team. And when you watch your boys compete or your daughter compete, like the nerves, the fear, like how much have they taught you in that regard, right? Going from the athlete to now the support system.

Yeah. It's, what I learned from them, especially at their ages, is it's all about the love of the game, you know. just going out there and having fun. Really, as a fighter, that's what you want to feel like when you're in the octagon. You know, you want to feel like you're just having fun. And, yeah, so I learn a lot from them. And I also, you know, want to practice what I preach. You know, I try to, you know, give them some of my, the things that's helped me mentally over the years.

So watching your kids compete, right? I know C.J. Russell's football. Yeah. What does Colton do? He put baseball too. And wrestling and football. All your kids do something. You told me, Cassidy does the cruise.

Cassidy does. Yeah. You told me that in order for you to be as good as you were, you had to be the hardest person in the room, you also told me that you don't want to be the one that's overbearing and pushing, but you recognize that they have to be the hardest worker in the room. Are they the hardest workers in the room?

And if they aren't, when do you step in and go, hey, remember my story. Yeah. It's getting there. CJ's 13 now. So he's getting to the point here over the next couple years. It's starting to matter. Where it's going to start matter.

I will say he's a very hard worker. When he's in that room, he's a very hard worker. I'm proud of him. He works really hard. Yeah. Colton is a little knucklehead. He's so talented. He is.

He'll grind it out, but he needs to learn. he's young, he's 10. And Cassie's a little, she's a savage. She works hard, too. She's a really hard worker. So you're proud. I'm proud of all my kids. They're amazing in all different ways.

So it seems like the perfect family core, right? You have the mom, you have the dad, you have the three kids, two boys and the daughter. It's ideal. But then you did adopt Savannah. Yeah. We went to that decision. I remember at the apex, you guys were going to have the baby. and you're all fired up.

You're like, I got to do the show and I got to get going because I have to go get my, I have to go meet my daughter. Yeah. We went to that decision. Honestly, my wife, I was good. I was, I'm just going with the flow type of guy.

Obviously, I always wanted kids, but we were young when we had it first, and then, you know, I was good with one, then I was good with two, I was good with three. And I was definitely, I thought we were good. We had, you know, two boys and a girl. Kids were doing great. But my wife, she, we had some,

She had complications, some serious complications in like 2018 and 19 when we were trying to have another kid. And we ended up, you know, kind of, we ended up moving to South Carolina. Things slowed down. We got busy. And I thought we were good. But my wife, she wanted one more. And she had a, she really felt that she had a calling, you know, to adopt. And I was like, man, that's a lot.

But, you know, who's had a kid that they've ever, they've ever regretted? So I couldn't say no. And I wasn't sure how it was what it was going to be like, but, man, I can't believe how much I love this kid. When my kids were real young, you know, I was so obsessed with becoming a world champion. I was not around mentally like I am right now with this baby. I'm obsessed with this little girl. She's so cute, yeah. Has it changed life daily?

Every day. Has it just made your life better every single day? When I come home and she's immediately, she's smiling at me. She's got the best smile. She brands up my day every moment of the day. And you're going to get through to about five or six years old where they just idolize you. Oh, it's the best. It's the best time.

And then they grow. Like the rest of these guys were like, I'm going to lay in my room and my phone all. And they're on their phone. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy, man. It's very crazy as a death. It goes so fast.

It goes so fast. I got a redo. It goes so fast. Chris, I always try to ask people this question when, they're done sitting with me. I know you said that your children are your legacy, but to your daughter, your new baby,

your three children that are older, what do you want them to remember about you, right? From the adversity, from the ups, the downs, the hardships, from seeing their dad stuck on a couch, like, what do you want them to take and applying to their lives? And how do you want the general fan

that watch Chris Wythman in his heyday, become the world champion to remember about you? For my kids, I mean, there's a lot of things that you want to pass on to your kids, but with this, I would say, you know, adversity is coming for you all, and just don't give up, stay positive, and push through, you know, because that's why injuries are like almost a blessing in the skies, because it's just draws powerless to everybody's life. Everybody has adversities that they have to go through constantly.

And when life is going good, at some point something's going to happen where you get a curveball and some adversity hits. And you've got to take it as a learning experience and find like the silver linings in all the tough times. You like living in South Carolina? Carolina, Chris? I like it, man. It's really nice.

It's very chill. People are very nice. No honking. Food's not bad. And, you know, it's a great place to raise a family. My family's living a great life. Yeah. And from all that, right,

Hofstra, high school wrestling, knocking out Anderson Silva, becoming a world champion. Coming back from that adversity, when you look back, what's the thing that you're most proud of? Is it your shining moment? You winning that NCAA title?

championship by knocking on Anderson or is it you getting up off the couch and showing that even in your darkest moment you're able to overcome and put yourself back in a position that you are today? I think I'd be lying if I didn't say you know winning the world championship you know that was just that was the goal that I set for myself and I accomplished it so and lucky for me it happened to be Anderson Silver who was you know one of the greatest of all time and the greatest world time at that time you know So it was a good opportunity. You've had a good career, my friend.

Thank you, man. You did a good job. You're doing a great job on television also. Thank you. It's awesome. Guys, let's thanks Chris Wyman for joining us. This guy is truly inspirational, like I said in the beginning. And he's a person that has given his all to the sport, and he continues to do this now behind a broadcast desk.

And I think that he has a massive future in this field, as he did, and the field where I became a world champion. So Chris, thank you for joining me, man. I appreciate it. You're the best. Guys, Chris Wydenman, I'm Daniel Cormier. Thanks for tuning in to the Daniel Cormier show. We'll see you on the next one.

Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

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Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. The story I told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work. to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more.

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