The Joe Rogan Experience - #247 - Tito Ortiz

Episode Date: July 31, 2012

Joe sits down with Tito Ortiz.

Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out! The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night! All day! We should just wipe all that white. Maybe not. Maybe not supposed to when they're starting to help us out. Dude, first of all, thanks for doing the podcast, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate you having me on it, man. This is cool.

I think the fans will dig it, too. Yeah, I'm wearing punishment athletics since what, 99? Is that when you started this company? 1999. Goddamn businessman, athlete. Is that the focus now, now that you're completely done fighting? My clothing company is always's always been my focus. I've been in my love.

You know, I have love for something that I've never wanted to get rid of. People who try to come in and buy me out, and I've never wanted to sell out, you know? Right, because it represents your baby. You made it. Yeah, you know, and it's punishment. I mean, every person who goes through work deals with some type of punishment. You know, either you wake up at 5 in the morning, and you press that alarm clock going, God, what am I doing this for? You come to realize you've got to pay bills. You've got to take care of your family. It's punishment. You know, either you wake up at five in the morning and you press that alarm clock going, God, what am I doing this for? Wake up and realize you got to pay bills. You got to

take care of your family. It's punishment. And that's what all life and walks of life go through is punishment. That's what my brand represents. You, uh, you told me something once we're talking about submissions and, uh, you said, you know, the problem with submitting a guy is you can submit the guy and after he taps,'s okay and he's like yeah man he got lucky man he got lucky but when i get on top of you and punch you in the fucking head for 15 minutes i'm punishing the referee pulls me off that is punishment i'll never forget that because that really uh that that one quote really embodied your career you know i mean you only submitted yuki kondo and ryan bad. Those are the only two guys, right?

That's it. In MMA, that's it. That's all I've ever done. I always wanted to put on a show, man. You know, I thought it was, you know, those guys are going, oh, he caught me, got lucky with the arm triangle or with the arm bar. I mean, don't get me wrong. I would love to submit at Machida. That would have been awesome.

But I've always wanted to be dominating, be on top and just polarize a guy, just try to finish them and make him not want to fight me again. The Yuki Kondo one was the all-elusive one-arm guillotine. No, that's actually called the Cobra Choke. Cobra Choke? That's from Cal State Bakersfield. Is it a one-arm? One-arm. Are you grabbing his chin?

What I'm doing is I'm hooking the chin. I try to pin his chin across to his shoulder, and it's almost like a throat choke. Cal State bakersfield coach daryl pope showed us that choke and we choke guys unconscious in wrestling matches and the referees don't know what's happening because in college you're allowed to turn the chin wherever you want in high school rules you're not allowed to turn the chin wherever you want but i learned that and i do it a lot of jujitsu guys because they'd pull guard they all got my

chin under my arm i'm fine but once you hook and kind of snuggle in guys don't go anywhere so it's like one of those old school catch wrestling moves exactly exactly there's uh is that the same one that uh jake shield used on nick thompson in strike force hit him with some sort of a one-armed one and he posted out with his left arm and then he arched his back it was pretty gnarly yeah it's a little different because this one this one you got to hook literally outside hip you need to hook the outside hip to make it happen um and you hook the hip and what you do is you're compressing the lungs and uh compressing the chin and the neck at the same time so all it's like a compressive choke is it the hardest

thing to me seems as an observer watching it seems it's hard for dudes to put new aspects to their game. Once they become successful, that seems to be the most hard, but I think that the hardest thing is, is doing it in repetition because everything you got to do in repetition to get better and better. You have to do it in repetition over and over again.

Guys think, well, okay, I know that move. I don't need to do that anymore. No, you, you'll lose it during going live.

Cause in wrestling that I learned was I would do it anymore no you'll lose it during going live because in wrestling that I learned was I would do it so much it was reaction it wasn't a factor of just doing it to do it

you did it as reaction and so when I would go for a high crotch guy would defend that then I'd go to a single guy defend that I'd go to a double

guy defend that then I'd go back to a high crotch and you're not even thinking you're not even chaining them together because that's how you drilled it

chain wrestling exactly and that's what it came in fighting, the same thing. But you kind of get caught up into the idea of going, okay, well, I'm going to do submission defenses. That was my first thing. I didn't want to learn submissions because I wanted all the defenses first. And then when I learned all the defenses, I was like, okay, I'm not going to get caught anymore. Then I started learning offenses.

Then after I started learning offenses, okay, great, now I got those positions, good. Then I started learning more stand-up and then it was just it was kind of like uh I didn't want to over step my boundaries by doing too much at once so I just kind of put in a little I guess you know like little schedules it was like all right this week I'll work on this next week I'll work on this and then I had to go back to the first week a couple months later so it's like yeah it's hard to absorb something new also especially if you're trying to do like two different things new because when you when you absorb something new it becomes like an obsession where like thinking about it in the background well you'll go for that move over and over and over and over and over and over again i mean when i was in high school i mean i was known

for a head and arm and uh low single i mean that was people go you tie up with them he's gonna head and arm throw you you stand away from he's little single you. And I was known for that. But then when I got to be a junior and senior in high school, Paul Herrera was my coach who fought in the UFC. He goes, Tito, you're going to live by that. You're going to die by that. Let's learn high crotch. Let's learn double leg.

Let's learn snap down. And I started learning these different things in collegiate wrestling that I was like, oh, I'm starting to learn all this different stuff. So I wasn't just stuck to one thing. Yeah, it's funny when you see a guy like Cody McKenzie, you know, who's got this fucking ridiculous guillotine that nobody can run away from. But it's so weird to have one move like that. But someone will learn the defense too.

Yeah. I mean, you look at, who was it, from Strikeforce, from Pride who came over here, the heavyweight. Noguera? No, the big guy who just got burnt for a fight. John Olovinum? God, I can't think of his name. He got burnt for?

Steroids. Carwin? No, Carwin was never a Pride guy. No. Oh, Overeem? Overeem. Overeem. He had a sick amount of guillotines.

He caught Belfer with him over and over and over, and all of a sudden he got away from it. He stopped doing it. Yeah, he pretty much got away from the ground game, period. When he became K-1 Grand Prix champion, and just to clarify, he didn't really get popped for steroids. He got popped for elevated testosterone to epitestosterone ratio, which was from testosterone.

I mean, he admitted they shot him with testosterone. Yeah, he was really trying to concentrate entirely on the kickboxing for a while. When you see a guy that, I mean, he's one of the best examples ever of a guy whose career was in the shitter and then pulled out of it and all of a sudden he's on top of the world. And amazing, dude. He's great. I mean, Anderson Silva. Look at Anderson Silva. Yeah.

He was in pride. He was losing and getting submitted. And all of a sudden, he came over. Rio Chonin. Takashi submitted him. Yeah. And he came over to UFC and just hasn't been beat since, I don't think. Yeah.

It's interesting when you see guys, when you catch guys in between camps. And there's a split in the camp. That's when you really realize how important it is to have the whole fucking package together to have a coach that you will listen to to have trainers who are looking out for you to have a guy who's actually analyzing your training and say you know he's he looks like he's peaking a little early we've got to take him back a little let's check his heart rate guys are really looking at you like a racehorse and when a guy doesn't have that like anderson Anderson Silva went for a stretch in Pride where he left Hoojamaar and he formed Muay Thai Dream Team.

And he sort of on his own for a little bit, too. And he was losing, man. He just wasn't the same dude. He just wasn't the same guy. And then he surrounded himself with great people, man. Look at him. He does an awesome job. But, I mean, it goes down to the fighter also, man.

I mean, we go through a lot mentally. It's just battles that we go through in our own heads and you gotta have that confidence man that confidence is what changes everything what was it what is it like when you know you go from i mean i was there i was very fortunate to be there for your very first fight in 1997 wasn't it west alberton yes his name was all britain he came alabama. You came in as a replacement, right? Yeah. Actually, I watched Jerry Bullander fight. We wrestled in high school.

He went to Livermore High. I went to Huntington. We're at the state meet, and I beat him. Then I watched him win the lightweight. At the time, it was lightweight, under 199, the lightweight tournament. I was like, that kid looks familiar. I remember it. I called Tank at that time. I was training with Tank. Dude, I want, that kid looks familiar. I remember it. I was like, I called

Tank at that time. I was training with Tank. Dude, I want to fight in the UFC. I could crush these guys. They see Bo Lander just smitten guys and just pretty much handing their ass to them. And he goes, you think you could do this? I was like, yeah. He goes, all right, we'll see about getting you a fight. I get a call like two weeks later. It says UFC 13. How much training did you have? MMA training before that fight? Probably about two months.

What did you do during that time? I wrestled. I wrestled. I wrestled. I mean, I didn't have a street fight. I grew up in the 80s. We were punk rock era. We used to slam dance and there was no guns. People didn't have guns. Real men fought. We fought. I got in fist fights. Got my ass beat a bunch of times. My brothery and jim and mike and their brothers or their friends um but i just came from a wrestling

background i knew how to street fight i mean i had a fight so that's how you looked at you looked at it look i got this is a fight i got my wrestling i'm gonna take this guy down i'm gonna beat his head and i knew i knew at the time i i mean i was a state champ i was very confident and i knew that guys couldn't stop my double. These guys weren't college wrestlers, and I knew I would dominate. What is it like to – there's got to be completely different mindsets from the first time you step into the octagon to as your career is progressing to becoming a champion. You know, there's got to be a lot of differences in the way you approach things.

It was, I don't know, I just really didn't think too much about it. You know, I didn't want to get lost. In the beginning, was it like all of a sudden, this is what I'm doing? All of a sudden, boom, I was like, I'm trying this out. And all of a sudden, I was like, wow. I remember stepping in the cage and going, holy shit. What am I doing here? What's going on?

And people listening were going, you're Tito Ortiz. No, I was an average guy to me. It was like don't make a mistake keep your hands up because at the time everybody's an average guy that's the secret at the end of the day right everybody's just a person everybody's just a person I mean I'm just a person I just work really really hard you know Paul Herrera who fought in UFC the uh it was a David versus Goliath he was my high school wrestling coach and I was training with him at the time, and I remember him saying, and this was a sign of cockiness. He's like, oh, what is Gary Goodrich going to do?

Arm wrestling to the ground? And then I was like, I wouldn't think of it that way. I would look and see what he really does. And I started watching, seeing some of the other, Capacito or some of the fighting he did. That was one of the scariest KOs ever. I was there, and it shook my heart. I was like, blam, he got blasted. And I was just of the scariest k.o's ever that was i was there and it shook my heart i was like blam he got blasted and i was just like holy shit i remember at the time my girlfriend

kristen she was like i don't want you to happen what happened to paul happened to you i'm all i'm gonna train hard i can i can let me too confident i'm just gonna go in i'm gonna know i'm gonna fight i'm gonna fight as hard as i possibly can and i did i worked my butt off you know i'd run four miles a day six days a. I would wrestle three hours a day with jiu-jitsu, two hours a day. I would do my boxing. I didn't do kickboxing at the time. I just did boxing. I didn't spar that much because, I mean, at the time,

I didn't really understand what sparring was about. We did a lot of wrestling. We did a lot of ground fighting stuff. We did stuff with small gloves. But you didn't do much stand-up fighting. Not really. Not really. I mean, Tank was the guy who I'd have to spar with, and he didn't do much stand-up fighting. Not really. Not really. I mean, Tank was the guy who I'd have to spar with,

and I didn't want to get punched in the face by him. Everybody saw what he did to guys. I never got a chance to spar with him. But I'd wrestle with him all the time. We'd do submission wrestling all the time. I was a lot faster. But it was just one of those things. As it progressed, when I first started to, like,

when I went to Cal State Bakersfield after I fought my first time, I took a year off. I went to Cal State Bakersfield to try to finish up to get my teaching degree and get my major in physical education, my minor in special education teaching. And then me and the coach in Seattle, I was like, wow, man, this is something that I don't want to do. I got an opportunity to go back and fight for the UFC. And I was like, all right, I'm going to kill this coach at Golden Army, at Cal State Bakersfield, or I'm going to leave. So I packed my stuff up, dropped my stuff off at his school and said, you know what, you're a piece of shit, and I'm not going to say anybody respects you.

I'm either going to kick your ass or I'm out of here. So I packed my stuff in U-Haul, moved back down to Huntington, got a job at Spanky's adult bookstore, and I started training. You were one of your first sponsors. Yeah, one of my first sponsors. Spanky's on your shorts. Spanky's adult bookstore. They were one of your first sponsors. Yeah, one of my first sponsors. Spanky's on your shorts. Spanky's XXX, my first sponsor. It was an adult novelty store.

I worked there. I sold merchandise. I was probably one of the highest selling guys there. I was a great salesman. There were some interesting stories that would happen there. But beyond that, I started training. I got my first fight back. So it was like an opportunity in the middle of a play.

It was the best door for you. It was. The best opening. It was. Actually, the owner from the company knew that I fought. He goes, there's a UFC in Brazil. And I told him I wanted to go. He said, how about I pay for your air ticket and your hotel to go out there?

Me and one of my other friends went out there. I made my first little fighter cards, and I had my phone number on it. I had my email address on it. I had a picture of me with my back to the picture. It said Tito Ortiz on it. I remember walking up to John Peretti and going, I want to fight.

I'll kick any of these guys' ass. I'll kick that Frank Shamrock's guy's ass. I'll kick his ass. I'll kick his ass. I go, I want to fight. He looked at me like, who in the hell are you? I go, I'm Tito Ortiz. I go, watch UFC 13. I go, i almost beat guy metzger in the finals i got beat up guy or west all britain

at the time i was a young kid i was cocky and how old were you i was uh 22. i just know i just turned 20 yeah i just turned 22. i was a young kid i mean at the time i i was hungry man i was yeah you can't judge a man on what the comes out of his mouth when he's 22. i believe me i at the time, I was hungry, man. Yeah, you can't judge a man on what the fuck comes out of his mouth when he's 22. Believe me, at that time, I didn't care. Of course. I was the toughest guy in the world, I thought. Well, you did not have a good childhood. No, I came from nothing.

I think God has put me in the right ways a lot of things. But don't get me wrong, I don't go to church all the time. You know, I just believe in being a good person. You know, you treat people how you're going to be treated. You know, I never try to step on anybody to get ahead. That seems to be self-evident, right? I mean, pretty much everybody who has a brain knows treat people well and good things happen to you. There's an ethic to the world, right?

Yeah, I mean, when I was a kid, you know, I mean, I had a problem. I used to steal a lot when I was a kid because I never had anything. My parents were drug addicts. You know, we lived in motels. We lived in cars. We lived in people's garages. And everybody else always had something. And I never had anything.

My parents could never buy me anything. So, you know, I would steal to put clothes on my back. I'd steal to put food in my mouth, you know. So that was always your reality growing up? Your parents were drug addicts your entire time of your childhood? To, I was about six years old to about 13 um it was it was it was so that was just your reality that's all you remember i got the therapy right now it's like i'm talking my therapist and it's like um and i realize the things that i do and why i do them it's like okay this is the reason why i do that

this is right the reason why i do that yeah it's a learning process and i think each person knows us individuals we got to understand ourselves and how we're brought up is usually is how we become, but you still have that opportunity to make those decisions. Yeah. You have the opportunity to change your behavior, but you have to look at it and it's hard to do. It's hard to, it's hard to look at yourself. It's challenging to look in the mirror and to question yourself. Don't, I mean, people could say, Oh, that guy's talking shit about me. No, maybe that person's speaking the truth about you. You're just too in denial to really realize it.

And I'm still learning. I'm human. I'm still learning. And I look at those things as, it's a challenge. It's a challenge from God, you know? I could be a quitter. I could be a complete drug addict right now

and be strung out on heroin as my parents were. Or I could be in prison right now and doing a life term for killing somebody for something. Or I could be dead. I could have been shot as one of my friends were when I grew up in Santa Ana. But I was able to make a choice of my future. And I think that through my UFC career, people had a kind of a bad image of me because of the bad boy image.

But I was just trying to sell. I was just trying to do what Ali did. You know, I was trying to do what some of the bad guys were that got the most attention. At Tyson's heyday, he had said some of the most negative things ever, and people loved him. That's why he was selling 1.5 million pay-per-views. I've done that. I've done that for the UFC. There is a part of it that is show business that people kind of have to understand. It's like rappers. Do you think they're really going out shooting people?

No. You know, black, black, black. Some of them from Atlanta. You never know. Some of them. Some of them get a little caught up in the game. But, you know. I think you've got to find that happy medium, you know, where you realize that it's about yourself to make the decisions.

It's not about others who made you make those decisions. How did you get out of the place where you were, where you were growing up with drug addict parents? How did you get out of that? What was your mindset like when you were separating from your parents and becoming your own person with that sort of a background? Well, my mom gave me $800 when I was 18 and I graduated. She goes, time for me to be a man.

And I wanted to move out too, but she was like, here, time for you to be a man. I moved in with my brother Marty and his wife Christine. I was doing drugs. I mean, I was doing, I mean, crystal. We smoked weed. We drank on the weekends. But I worked at an allied moving service and I would work 16 hour days.

Drugged out. Kind of forgot about wrestling a little bit. It was about a year after high school. I was at some club and I was partying. One of my coaches old coaches pulled up to me. He's like Tito is that you? Yeah. You doing alright man?

I'm fine. I'm looking at myself. What do you mean? I'm fine. Cause you don't look so good, man. No, I'm cool, man. I'm good. I'm good. Cause you ever thought about coming back and wrestling, going back to school? I was like, yeah, but I mean, I don't know. I live on my own. I'm just trying to make ends meet. And he's like, you know what? I'll tell you what I'll do. You come to my, come to my, uh, my, um, office and we'll see if I'll get you financial aid. I go, what do you need financial aid? He goes, your Mexican rent.

I go, yeah. He goes, we can get you financial aid. It'll pay for your schooling, pay for your books, and possibly give you some type of stipend to pay for your house or apartment. I go, really? So that was a Saturday night I was partying. I was at Rhino Room in Huntington Beach. I was drinking.

We partied that night. Sunday rolled around. I was at Rhino Room in Huntington Beach. I was drinking. We partied that night. Sunday rolled around. I was up still doing drugs, doing crystal. That night I looked in the mirror and I didn't recognize myself. I was 182 pounds, 183 pounds, 6'2", sucked up. I mean, people see me when I make weight at 205, my size now, it's the big difference, but weighing 185 pounds, pitfalls all over my face. I look like a drug addict and it scared me. I looked at myself and I said, you're turning into your parents, you know,

and I have these conversations with myself all the time, just to read a reality check to check myself. And I woke up that Monday morning, I called Allied Movement Service, and I said, I can't come in today. They're like, what do you mean you can't come in today? You can't call and say you're not coming in today? I go, I got to check out the school thing. They're like, you don't come in today, you're fired. I go, well, I guess I quit then. Walked into that office, and the coach had a big smile on his face.

I remember Raul Duarte at Golden West College had a big smile on his face, and he was like, you showed up. I want to give this a try. That's amazing. So this is just based on your wrestling ability that he saw from high school. He said, this kid's got some talent, and let me give you an opportunity to get out of your situation. He knew you were in a bad spot.

Yeah, I mean, I knew I was in a bad spot too. I just wasn't. Isn't that one of the best things about competitive athletics, just that you can't get an opportunity like that yeah well you know i don't think you can only just in athletics i think it's in general in life there's always someone that gives somebody an opportunity and i think people got to take that advantage and take that as a situation of maybe it's god giving you a chance maybe it's someone just looking out for you i mean i've done that through my whole career if i try to help guys

come up and uh you know i look look at it. It was a gift. It was a gift to me. And it was a challenge. It was a challenge from God saying, you want to become a real person? How hard is it to kick that crystal? That was almost four months, three months. Four months to kick it? Yeah.

I mean, my situation was when I would drink, I would like to party. That was it. I wasn't like I was, I had to do it to get up and go. I had, my situation was when I would drink, I would like to party. That was it. I wasn't like I was, I had to do it to get up and go. I had, no. I mean, I hated the feeling the next day, the burnout feeling. I hated that. That sucked.

But really what it was, was I didn't feel normal anymore. I didn't feel that I was able to cope on a normal feeling. So you just wanted an escape. I wanted an escape. It was from, it's funny, I talk to my therapist, I wanted to get away from that child of always wanting the attention that my parents never gave me. And that was, it was weird,

because the only way to push that stuff away where I didn't think about it anymore was doing drugs. It helped me deal with it. I dealt with it, I dealt with it well. And all of a sudden when the drugs weren't around, then I had something else to deal with it. I dealt with it. I dealt with it well. And all of a sudden when the drugs weren't around, then I had something else to deal with it. School. School kept my mind off of it. Wrestling kept my mind off it.

The security that I had from my coaches and from at the time my girlfriend Kristen who backed me, I just felt great from it. I felt great from wrestling. I felt great from winning tournaments. I felt great from it. I felt great from wrestling. I felt great from winning tournaments. I felt great from winning a match. I felt great when I ran four miles, when I lifted weights, when I would drill, when there was no one else in the room and I'd be drilling by myself or I'd have one of the other guys with me and I'd be drilling by myself.

The coach would be looking at me going, all right, our training's done. I'm like, no, no, no, I still got some work to do. And I always wanted to be better. I always wanted to do something better. And I think that's what it was, just hard work and dedication. And, I mean, here's another story that, I mean, I look back when I used to drug someone when I was growing up, when I was with gangs and stuff, we used to sniff rubber cement. And when you hallucinate and so forth, when I was growing up,

I would hallucinate that I was walking on a red carpet. And this is at the age of 12 years old, 12, 13. I would hallucinate that I'm on a red carpet and this is at the age of 12 years old 12 13 I would hallucinate that I'm on a red carpet and people are taking pictures going Tito this way this way pictures pictures pictures at that age and I mean I'm assuming anything that I was going to be who I am today as well who you are today is probably because of that very hunger I mean it's the exact opposite of what your life was you weren't treated as special at all so you wanted to be uber special you wanted to be uber special. You wanted to be... But it was weird. I looked at it and it was like, maybe

was that God showing me that this is what could happen? That it could be possible? Well, you know, it could be, but I mean, I think everybody's motivation when you're in a bad situation is to improve. And it's one of the weird paradoxes of life, especially as a father, because I want to do

the best I can for my kids and provide them with the most love and give them the most experiences. But everybody I know that's interesting had a fucked up life. Yeah, right. It's kind of weird. I mean, look at everybody who's very, very successful. They have had a fucked up life. They don't want to be in that position. They don't want to put their family in that position.

And I've worked so hard to make sure that doesn't happen for my surroundings now yeah i look at it yes i have nice cars yes i have nice house and yes i'm very financially comfortable but my biggest thing is making sure my kids have nothing to worry about where they don't have to steal to eat and i'm not convinced that you're you know let you your situation or my situation is bad for children as long as they get enough attention and you communicate with them, I do think that they can see life for what it is. But you've got to give them challenges. You have to give them challenges.

You have to make sure that they're working hard for what they're getting. If you just give them everything they want and they say, well, my dad's going to get it for me. Well, my dad's going to get it for me. No. My son Jacob, who's with me right now, actually, he has all A's in school right now. He's in private school. He has all A's. He reads on a sixth grade level now. He's in the second grade.

That's awesome. And our deal is, is, Jacob, I'll buy you anything you want, but you've got to get all A's in school. And you've got to do four things for me. You've got to respect your mom. You've got to respect your students. You've got to respect your teacher. And you have to respect me. And he goes, done deal, Dad. I promise you. And he's a great kid. And he has a good head on his shoulders.

Well, that's amazing. You're really lucky. I'm very lucky. Well, it's not even that. It's also just the attitude and the fact that he gets to see how hard work pays off. I think that's so important to see. He's seen you struggle. He's seen you see, like, he's seen you struggle. He's seen you up and down.

You know, he's seen you win and lose. He's been a part of the whole thing and seen the actual pain and the actual effort that's involved in becoming excellent. Yeah, let me tell you, when I fought Rashad last year, it was the worst call I've ever had with him ever. And I was like, Jacob, did you watch the fight? He goes, no, Dad, I can't watch the fight. And I go, what do you mean? He's like, it hurts when I watch you lose. And I was like, Jacob, did you watch the fight? He goes, no, Dad, I can't watch the fight. And I go, what do you mean? He's like, it hurts when I watch you lose. And I was like, oh. I maybe started crying. I was like, what do you mean?

He's like, I can't watch you lose. You get hurt and it scares me. I just can't handle the pressure. I was like, okay. Now I know I'm starting to get him. I was like, wow, this is starting to get me right now. And then I realized, okay, I've got a couple more fights left. I've got to worry about it. When I told him my last fight was in July, and he was like, thank

God, Dad, now we can spend time together. And that's how much time I'm away from when I'm training. People understand that. It's not like I get in a cage and I fight. No. I'm putting in three months of work. In Big Bear. In Big Bear. Three times a year. That's nine months out of the year that's a long time you're away from the family and by the way if anybody wants to buy tito ortiz's big bear house that shit's for sale yeah it's for sale i'm trying to sell i'm trying to get rid of it pretty fucking badass i saw some photos of it online pull them up brian it's five stars you can get

we'll try to get that motherfucker sold i bet we can say i bet there's some fans out there that probably don't even know that that's your training camp and used to be Oscar De La Hoya's training camp. De La Hoya made it for himself. It started with one home, and then he made another home right next to it. It's on an acre and a half of land, and he made it right next to him. And it was 4,000 square feet, 4,500 square feet. It's got its own jacuzzi in the room. Everything's set on the inside.

I mean, it's got its arcade system. I mean, it's a manhouse for sure. It's dope. It's all own jacuzzi in the room. Everything's set on the inside. I mean, it's got an arcade system. I mean, it's a manhouse for sure. It's dope. It's all wood, too. It's all logs. It's made with logs. It's pimp. It's about as pimp as you get.

I mean, I go there. It's pimp and it's rural. Yeah. It's like woodsy pimp. It's almost like better than my home, my house at home. I'm like, Jesus. Is that it? Yeah, that's it.

Oh, come on, dude. Look at that place. That's fucking badass. You got to understand, when I first went to Big Bear when it was 2001, I stayed in a two-bedroom apartment with eight dudes. Dude, this is so sick.

What happens if your kid gets straight A's and wants to buy this house? That's what he wants you to buy. One. You never know. I keep it. Our job as a father. You never know. Might keep it. No, our job is, you know, I mean, as a father, is making sure that he gets through school, you know.

And he says he wants to be a fighter. But I tell him what's our deal, and our deal is to make sure that he gets his master's degree first. If he gets his master's degree, you see, he'll be buying this house from me. I already just ended up getting it. I've already paid for it by then. Go Google it, folks.

It's on YouTube. So what I was trying to get at when I was asking you about the psychology of the difference between when you first were like, fuck it, let's give this a shot, to when you actually have something to lose. Now, like this conversation that you had with your kid where he doesn't want you to fight anymore. It's like, I can't watch.

I don't want to watch you lose. You know, it came down, I think, to the couture fight. I defended my world title at the time five consecutive times, and I was up in Big Bear for three months, the whole time, three months. I never left the mountain. I didn't do any PR. I just sat up there, and I busted my ass. And I thought I was prepared.

I may have overtrained myself a little bit. That was the first problem I had with my back. I came down. I got injections in my back. I didn't want to pull out. I was like, I ain't pulling. What did it feel like? It felt like someone stabbed me right above my tailbone.

So did it feel like it was in the spine itself? It was in the spine. It felt like literally right on the spinal cord cord so what happened was a bulged disc the disc got bulged and pressed on my spinal cord and my legs went completely numb oh and it was the worst it was a month before the fight for fat couture and it was the worst pain ever and people don't understand me and i get all the time people make tito makes excuses and that ended up people man if you guys ever had back pain before try to train on it try to run on it not only that when someone says it's it's an excuse we really it's true you know you could say it's an excuse but if you want

to have all the information about a guy's performance you really got to know first of all what goes wrong in. How many different dudes go into the cage fucked up already? I mean, how many? So many times when you see guys, you don't even know. They might have something wrong with their shoulder. They might have something wrong with their hip. You never know. And, you know, to people who get upset at you bringing that up,

you've gone through knee surgeries, neck surgery, back surgery. I had an ACL replacement. I fought six months later after it. I had back surgery, two-level fusion, my lower back, L4-5-S1 fused. I fought a year later. Now, when they fuse it, is it like they did with Nate Quarry, where it's like a

flexible piece or something in between? No, they fuse, they put screws in it. Also, they bolt them together and they make it like one disc. It becomes like two becomes one, right? Actually, two becomes one.

Does that change your movement? No, it didn't change my movement. I could touch my toe. My hands could touch the bottom of the ground with my feet flat. Not a problem at all. It was a hard recovery, very, very hard recovery. That was the worst pain I ever had in my life. I've had ACL surgery, like I said. I had my neck fused, C6, C7 fused. I had meniscus, 50% meniscus taken out. And when you had that fused, is it the same way? Did you have it done the same way?

Same exact thing.'m a dr william smith out of las vegas who did my surgery who's the best surgeon in the world um and i'll say that again dr william smith is the best surgeon in the world um i was able to bounce back and fight and i was able to bounce back and and train i was able now not to have back pain anymore i mean it was so bad where when my escalating i actually was leaning so much on my right ass that when I got my back fixed, my seat was still leaning. And I was sitting normal.

It was dented. And I would sit normal and I was like, what the fuck? Jesus, that is just weird. And just little small things. I mean, getting up to go to the bathroom, sitting down to go to the bathroom was impossible. And it's the same thing in your lower back as it was your neck?

Yeah. Was it the same kind of pain? It was different pain. The one on my back would go down to my butt, it would go down to my legs, my legs would go numb. The one that was in my neck would go through my whole body. It was going down my arms. And this was before I fought Forrest in UFC 106, where I had a ruptured disc the disc was ruptured

And I still fought I mean I wasn't I mean I had no choice I mean gotta pay bills right but they went in and they fused it they took a disc out completely They stuck in two bolts on a plate and they by the way Brian that videos online. Yes You got to see it. People don't understand. People, you've got to watch this because you'll see this guy putting in the screws on my neck. He's hammering in his neck like his neck is a chair. Yeah, and putting in these bolts and you hear...

Yeah, it's like he's hammering a leg in on a wooden chair. Dunk, dunk, dunk. Tito Ortiz surgery maybe? Surgery video? Neck surgery? Yeah, neck surgery. Dunk, dunk, dunk. T to R T surgery maybe. Surgery video. Neck surgery. Yeah, neck surgery. It was gnarly. But you know,

it was challenges, man. God gives me challenges. You know, I could, you know, as everyone calls me or tries to call me a pussy

for making excuses, I could have been a pussy and pulled out of my whole career. And I wasn't letting that happen. Listen, the people that call you a pussy are silly. You can't address them. They're silly.

It's, look, there's so many. Is that the video? Oh, yeah. Oh, you don't even want to watch this. Look, that's the spacer. That thing that guy's screwing, that's to open the neck up. Oh, look how gnarly this is. That's me on the ground and i i had him record

it just so people understood what they're going through this is so fucking crazy so right now he's clipping out the disc oh my god this is nuts and you guys look how fucking wide your neck is open yep and you'll see the little this guy's in there with a hammer and pulling shit out see the blood on the tube right there is sucking through the's sucking through the pipe, and that's all the disc. Oh, my God. So he's pulling the disc out. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

And he's like, now he's just pulling little disc pieces out completely. He's pulling chunks out. Yeah. Dude, I mean. Oh! The work they do now is just amazing. I mean, like I said, this Dr. William Smith and this God has gave him some blessed hands. Dude, it's like your head is a car.

No, really. It's like you're servicing a car that has a blown transmission. That motherfucker was straining as he was pulling shit out of there. Just wait until you see the part. Oh, here's the hammer part. Watch this. No, I can't watch it. Yeah, no, he's hammering the bolts.

Oh, Jesus. And then the raddest thing is, too, is when he screws them in, like, right. See, right now he just screwed in the first little tip of the screws and then he goes with this whole hand He goes right right here, and now he's tightening it down. Oh My god, I'm like people go online you check us out in the audio for this I mean it is really you can hear the squeaking. Oh, let's hear the squeaking And it was start tapping her. Like, tap, tap, tap.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Jesus fucking Christ. And then you hear him, like, it's like he's changing a tire, but it's actually changing a neck. Oh, look at this face or this fucking giant hunk of metal they're sticking inside you. After I got this done and I watched this, I was like, you made me cringe. I'm like,

are you fucking joking right now? Three millimeter punch. Were you watching this while you were healing up? Yeah. I was laying in bed. It was actually, I got done um it was my son my boy's uh second birthday jesse and journey's second birthday and they're having a party

downstairs and i was up in bed laying down we're talking about i just like man i wish i'd be downstairs with my family but you know sacrifices we do to become fighters you couldn't even move around how long were you in bed for i was in bed for a week um but no i got after after surgery i got up i got up i had a neck brace on i got up i stood up i walked to my car i sat down my friend juan drove me back to honeyton beach from holy shit um you drove like when you were in a car i was in a car and you feel like your head would be like a weeble i mean i was in my phantom. It's a little different when you're in a phantom. But the raddest thing is I had this during the shoot in The Ultimate Fighter. So they shot The Ultimate Fighter, and I was getting kicked off.

I got kicked off because I had to get neck surgery. And back then, The Ultimate Fighter was shot six weeks before. Dana goes, you can't be seen in public. I was like, what do you mean I can't be seen in public? He goes, you've got to wait until we show that you get kicked off before you can be seen in public. Are you serious? He goes, yeah, if you't be seen in public. I was like, what do you mean I can't be seen in public? He goes, you've got to wait until we show that you get kicked out before you can be seen in public. Are you serious? He goes, yeah, if you're being seen in public, they're going to know you're going to have to get neck surgery tomorrow. Okay.

He goes, so I had to stay in the house for an extra month and a half. And hide? Yeah, literally hide. I would go to my physical therapy. I had to pull through the back door. And I would be like, all right, no one's looking. All right, go. Because at the time, paparazzi would be looking around and stuff.

So I was like, all right. That's hilarious. And go. I would run, make a run to the door, and I'd get in, and everybody was all hush-hush when I was there. And it was the worst. I mean, not being able to go out was hard, because I had a neck brace on, and I couldn't take my neck brace off for seven weeks.

So it was tough. How long was it after surgery before you could actually train? It was probably about two and a half months, three months where I was able to do a little bit of cardio stuff. Um, that's it. Yeah. I was able to hit the bag a little bit. So for two months, nothing, no movement at all.

Well, a little, I mean, we don't physical therapy, you know, at, uh, um, Joe Donahue down in, uh, Costa Mesa called, uh, pro sport. We did a lot of physical therapy stuff. I was doing a lot of movement, some shoulder workout stuff, a little arm paddling, biking. But all very low-key. Very low, low-key. You know, the way my doctor put it, he said,

Tito, you've got to understand, all those nerve endings are starting to heal up again. For the first two, three or four weeks, you've got to chill. You've got to let those things just heal. So, I mean, I was eating painkillers like no thing i mean i was like just handfuls of them handfuls of them but he says you don't want to feel any pain he goes when you feel pain it gives irritation to the areas trying to be healed and they're not going to heal that fast so i was like all right i'm never going to feel it so he's telling you to take as many pain yeah he sounds like a dude is selling painkillers no but i mean he put it to acknowledge it's not the factor of selling painkillers.

I mean, he's not making money off the painkillers. He's making. I'm totally kidding. Yeah, no, no, no. But just listeners don't understand that. Right. So it's important, actually, to take those pills. Take those pills.

Doctors say take them, take them. When it's time to get off of them, stop taking them. How hard is that, though? It takes a week. It's hard. You know, you go through the little shakes and the sick feeling like you have the flu. How ridiculous is it that that shit is legal? There's got to be

another way to fucking stop pain than that. Dude. Rubber cement. It's crazy because people, they'll take painkillers and they try to get off them and they're in pain and they're like I gotta take painkillers to get rid of the pain no it's because your body is

addicted to those things I know so many fucking people that have had problems with pain pills I know a lot of people I mean there's a lot of kids that are in school that get them from their parents they're snorting them a lot of kids are smoking them and snorting them fucking snorting Adderall that's ridiculous.

It's bizarre. We were growing up. Kids, while we were smoking weed, maybe the rich kids had cocaine. That was it, man. I've seen so many people that were normal people and then they had a back injury or something. They got on pain pills

and they could not fucking get off. That's what started my dad. He had a hernia. He had a hernia, and he had surgery. And he started taking painkillers. And my uncle, because the doctor said, we can't prescribe painkillers anymore. Well, I was still in pain.

So my uncle hooked him up with tricep heroin. Oh. Bam. All of a sudden, everything, life changed from that point on. Because my dad used to own a business. When I was young, I mean, I remember when I was five, my dad had his own carpentry business, and he did well. I mean, we lived a great life, I thought. I mean, at the time.

But when I was six years old, everything changed. I mean, I remember perfectly. Everything changed so fast. All of a sudden, we're in a house. We're hearing my parents fighting all the time. All of a sudden, we're in a house. We're in someone's garage. And then we're in a house where i'm hearing my parents fighting all the time all of a sudden we're in a house we're in someone's garage and then we're doing someone's trailer and we're in someone's we're in a car for a while then we're in motels and it was it was challenging and i'm very thankful for my mom leaving my dad because i got a second chance in life i think

do you feel like you could have ever been the guy you were if you didn't have such a child no no way there's no way you would have that drive't have such a shit childhood? No, no way. There's no way you would have that drive, right? I wouldn't have the same drive, no way. But you'd still like to think you'd still be a winner, though, right? You'd figure something out. I would, you know, I may be a little bit better in school. If I got a different opportunity, I think if I would have got the same opportunity I'm giving my son

of being a straight-A student, I think my parents were very artistic. My dad was an artist. My dad was a carpenter. My mother's an artist. I think I have great brains. I mean, shit like I'm wearing right now. I mean, the business work I've done already,

by all the damage I've done to my brain when I was younger, I'm on great capacity of just learning experience. And I think that my kids have that same opportunity now, but without the drugs around. Well, you certainly got out of MMA, too, without incurring some speech problems or any of the shit that we're starting to see now from guys. I see some of the guys now. It just makes me cringe. I'm just like, God, man. All those times, all those fights, and you think of guys.

You're like, God, I just want to see you guys stand up and just punch each other in the face. And I was like, okay, I look at boxers. Yeah. I mean, perfect example, actually one of my buddies who I, back in the day, who used to box Fernando Vargas. I know Fernando. Has he changed? A lot.

A lot. A lot. And, I mean, I love him. I mean, he's my boy. He's a great guy. Awesome guy. Stand up dude. Cool, cool cat.

But there's no doubt he paid a price. He paid a price, man. I mean, these guys, they're getting ahead of you. And it's weird when you know a guy before he pays the price and then you see the results and then you go, oh, this is real. The Trinidad fight was the one that changed everything. I met Terry Norris once in Vegas. I didn't actually meet him. I was standing next to him to him i should say while he was talking to a fan and he

was uh you know someone's asking him you know what's what's going on with you you're gonna fight again and he was talking and it was almost like it was a joke i was like is he drunk like what's going on and then i realized oh jesus this is why you haven't seen him in years he's fucking punch drunk yeah just from taking so many blows and like saying is it exciting to put a great fight on yes but to stand there and slug with guys well it's not just that it's also the gym wars you know yeah yep that's 100 you're true and i mean he he got hit too terry norris got hit by guys like mugabe you know when mugabe was a monster when he was ko and everybody he ko terry norris it was ugly or did ter. He KOed Terry Norris. It was ugly.

Who did Terry Norris KO that was like a vicious KO puncher? I'm pretty sure Mugabe KOed Norris. I don't want to say that. I mean, you look at some of the guys now. I mean, guys that Tyson's fought. I mean, they're not all there. Yeah. I mean, you see a lot of these guys go through some things.

I mean, football players and other guys that have the concussion. Oh, Terry Norris KO'd Mugabe. Jesus Christ, Joe Rogan. I know, Joe. Come on, dude. It was Julian Jackson? Who the fuck was it that Mugabe knocked out where it was really ugly? I don't remember.

Look, Terry Norris had gotten stopped a bunch of times in his career. Terry Norris had gotten stopped a bunch of times in his career. And, you know, the fights where he got stopped, it wasn't even just that damage that really did it to him. I think it was Julian Jackson knocked out Terry Norris. It was really the gym wars, right? The gym wars are the things that people don't see, but they accumulate. And a lot of times it might as well be a fucking fight. I mean, I've been in gyms where we're watching dudes who are high-level guys.

We're fighting. We're fighting. Fighting. I mean, Rampage. Me and Rampage, we're training partners. Yeah. We would spar. We would fight.

Yeah. We would kick each other's asses. We would fight. I mean, it was just that type of thing where we got the best of each other. And it was like, all right, cool. And some guys can handle that. Good job. All right, good job.

Some guys can handle that but some guys are not that durable and you slowly see it slipping away on them and you know exactly what's causing it i mean my biggest thing was in my training trainers i'll be like okay we're sparring three times a week i was like whoa whoa whoa why are we sparring so much for i mean like we don't want to spar i go no i just want to get my ass whipped every day i go let's do twice a week all right we'll do twice a week but there's a week. I mean, don't get me wrong. There was times and years and years and years that we'd do three times a week. I mean, sometimes four times a week.

But, I mean, I don't like to get hit. Tell me a guy who likes to get hit, I'm going to show you a stupid man. Yeah. Well, I think that it's a weird aspect of MMA. You know, the guys who just want to stand there and bang. They just want to stand and bang. I'm like, man, you don't know what you're saying. Like, you're saying something crazy.

Like, you got a ticket, okay, and there's only so many places you can punch a hole in that ticket. And you're just going to give up all these tickets on purpose. That's crazy. Just to put on a show. Cool. Fans love you. Awesome. Great.

But when it's time to cash in that check. Yeah. Are you sure you can count those numbers on there? Well, it's like I love the fights between Natoro Gatti and Mickey Ward. They were fucking amazing fights. But if you know anything about brain damage and you know anything about what causes it, those are the type of fights that those guys are going to pay for. Pull up, Brian.

Pull up a video. Julian Jackson KO Terry Norris. Julian Jackson versus Terry Norris. Julian Jackson versus Terry Norris. This is the fight that I was talking about. It was frightening. Really? Yeah. Well, Julian Jackson was another murderous puncher.

You're knocking guys out and they're blowing snot bubbles. Yeah. Your brain ain't working all the way there. Yeah. At all. That's not good. You're going, hello, hello. They're like, mama, dada?

No, we're not at home. It seems like the guys with the grappling-based styles that are trying to initiate grappling more avoid a lot more damage than the guys who are striking only. Free-kick the damage. I mean, if you can put on a show. I mean, I have done a great job in my career of being the dominant person on top. Yeah. Well, not only that. I mean, look at a guy like Anderson Silva.

He barely gets hit, and everybody loves watching him fight. You don't have to slug it out with people. It's true. It's very true. And, you know, people like watching submissions, too. People like watching a guy figure out how to beat a killer. And in MMA, you never know. Yeah, you never know.

But people can't figure out how to beat Anderson yet. Not yet. Which has been very impressive. Maybe Jon Jones would. What's the catch weight there? I don't know. I don't think it should be one. I don't think Jon Jones can get any lower than 205 and be healthy.

Oh, that was it. That's Terry Norris getting killed. Watch this shit. Julian Jackson was ridiculous. Julian Jackson was one of the most murderous power punchers of all time. See, stuff like that just kills you. Yeah. And you realize how there's only four boxers in a year dying.

Stuff like this is what does it. The fucking power that guy has. Right hook. Ooh, another right hook. Jesus. Yeah, poor Terry. Took a few of those in his career. Man.

I watched him fight Dana Rosenblatt. It was like one of his last fights. Dana was a friend of mine from Boston. And Dana beat him by decision. But I remember watching Terry in a fight. I'm like, he can't pull the trigger. His body's just, he just couldn't pull the trigger. That's one of the things, too, that I talked to Jason Perlow about.

Because Jason, you know, he's worked with some great guys. And he goes, you can tell when a guy loses it. Because when he hits pads, when he spars, it's not there. You just lose your timing. You lose everything. I mean, what did they say? Jason Tomlin says, first goes your legs, then your body, then your mind. Yeah.

I mean, you see it. I mean, all fighters do that. I mean, thank God my legs are gone. Thank God my body's gone because my head's still here. So now it's time to use my head instead of my body and my damn legs anymore did you ever get to i mean i remember uh on my brief time of kickboxing uh there was moments where i would lay in bed at night i have fucking headaches and i'd be sitting there when my head is throbbing going what the fuck am i doing to my head right now like what is the did you ever wonder about like what's the like where are you at like what's the Like, what is the, did you ever wonder about, like, what's the, like, where are you at?

Like, what's the tally? What do you owe? You know what I mean? No, you know, I always felt like I was smoking weed after I sparred. Just like dizzy, silly? Dizzy, silly feeling. Yeah, people say some silly shit after they spar. Like, sometimes the funniest conversations you get in with guys who just got done sparring

and then they go eat. Yeah. And it's like, everybody's like, you're almost like hammered. No, seriously. Yeah.

So they call it punch drunk. I guess. Well, no, yeah, sort of, but that's a different feeling. That's like a,

the sort of post workout post getting punched in the head feeling. Your adrenaline is rushing. You got cracked with some good shots. You kind of get that iron taste in your mouth like blood yeah the copper yeah that doesn't do you um did you ever like say like how many times can i fight how many did you ever like try to like sit down and look at it and say realistically how much damage there's because we all know there's there's certain guys like even boxers that got out in time and you listen to them talk, and they're fine. They have no

problems at all. Well, that was my thing. I never wanted to take too much abuse. I think Liddell's the only one that's really hurt me. Literally. I mean, Vanderlei still hit me with one punch in our title fight when we fought that made me feel like the world went upside down. Chuck caught me in our

first fight with a couple good shots, two good shots, a good right hand, a good left hook. And it just feels like your legs get dropped. Your legs come out from under you. They stop working. Stop working. Just everything goes bing. I mean, I've never been out unconscious ever in my career.

I think Rampage and when we were sparring made me see some twinkle bells where everything felt like it's been there. I'm like, well, this has been here before. Wait a second. I've not been here before. Move. Right. But, I mean, I've never been unconscious where i'm on the ground i'm waking going oh what what happened um thank god that's some scary shit yeah that's some scary shit you know i've been able to get up right after like boom you know like i said first time me and chuck fought i popped right on my feet i was fine i mean the judge tried to keep me down i was like get the

fuck away from me let me stand on my feet get I was fine. I mean, the judge was trying to keep me down. I was like, get the fuck away from me. Let me stand on my feet. Get away from me. You know, a little embarrassed, but at the same time, it's just one of those things as fighters and as men, you don't want to be in that position. Yeah. You don't want to. Yeah. You still didn't want to accept losing, too.

Yeah. I mean, losing. Even though it just happened. Yeah. I mean, people understand. I mean, as a fighter, I mean, at heart, as a fighter, when I lose, it's like a love one dying. That's how much pain it is. It's just like it sucks. Everything.

Fighting is so lonely, and people don't understand it unless you're a fighter. The only, the loneliest feeling there is in the world is laying in bed before a fight and going, you have to go out there and fight. You got to put on a show. You got to make it fun for the fans to watch. And everything lies on you. There's no one that could save you. There's no one that could boost you. There's no one that could help you throw punches. There's no one that could help you take a guy down. It's only you by yourself. And there can be family, wives, girlfriends, brothers, sisters, dads, mothers going, good luck, kick some ass.

That's as far as it goes. Right there. It goes no further than that. You're the one that got to get in the gym and train every day. You're the one that got to push yourself and spine, do the extra drilling, do all these extra things. And, you know, I never really understood it until I started working with Jason Pro. And he explained it to me. He goes, man, isn't this a lonely sport?

And I was like, fuck. I've never heard it that way. yes it is man it's lonely but it all comes back into that one gigantic moment of the exact opposite of lonely when you win yeah when you win everybody wants to be your best friend everybody wants to be a part of the joy and not only that the moment that you actually win like when you tapped ryan bader let me tell you something man that was about as happy as i've ever seen you because you had gone through a drought for a few years and it's like you wanted that w and when you tagged him you dropped him and you grabbed a hold of that neck and pulled guard and fucking crushed it and he tapped dude you were so

happy you jumped up that was like watching Channel, and you see a lion chasing a gazelle and trying to eat for the first time in his life. Mm-hmm. I was that lion. Just finally got it. Fucking finally got it. I remember locking my hands, and I was working with Ferdousa Verdum at the time, and I remember just hooking the guillotine, wrapping one leg over, wrapping the other leg over. I remember just thinking, Ferdousa goes, keep your elbow down, Tito. Whenever you get the guillotine, keep your elbow down.

I kept my elbow down, and I just squeezed everything together. And it wasn't the fact of pulling his head towards me or my body towards me. It was just doing a crunch. And just crunching everything together. And just squeezing the shit out of him. And I remember, I'm not letting go until the referee rips me off.

Because I'm not going through something where he didn't tap or whatever. The referee has to rip me off. And I remember, and three days before go until the referee rips me off, because I'm not going through something where he didn't tap. The referee has to rip me off. And I remember, three days before that, I did the Ultimate Fighter with Michael Bisping. And all the guys were on the show, they're like, Tito, man, please do the Grave Digger. Please do the Grave Digger. Show us how you do it. I was like, no, I'm going to wait until this weekend,

because when I drop Bader, I'm going to drop him, I'm going to beat him, I'm going to do something, whatever I do. But when I get it done, I'll do the great bigger for you guys. It's crazy that that was only the second submission in your career. It really is crazy. Because I always tell people you have a very underrated ground game. When you pulled that triangle off on Machida, I was like, oh, shit. Like, that was a wrinkle that a lot, look, there's a lot of dominant dudes,

top dominant especially, that don't have that wrinkle in their game. They don't have that aspect of the game. You locked that thing up fucking sweet. If it wasn't Machida, if it wasn't a real Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, you would have had that shit. I would have had. You went for a tumble with it. You went for the arm too.

That was my mess up. When we drill, I drill the triangle. Then from the triangle, I go for an arm bar because the guy pulls away. I blew it by doing that. I probably should have never did that. I should have stayed at the triangle. Then from the triangle, I go for an arm bar because the guy pulls away. And I blew it by doing that. I probably should have never did that. I should have stayed at the triangle the whole time. And all the time I ever catch guys now in triangles, I just make sure I hold on to it and don't let go.

And I know now to grab onto my shin. Don't let anything else go. Just grab your shin. Just hold on and wait the guy out. And for you, too, gable grip around the back of the head. Pull the neck. You pull the neck. It can't handle it. After a certain

point in time, you have to tap. There's a guy from Brazil that I moved out here who teaches at my school at Punishment Training Center, Ricardo Abreu, and we go over that stuff. He's like, Tito, I promise. Oh, Cyborg. That guy? No, Ricardo Abreu. He's 3-0 right now. He's an 85-pounder. He's an up-and-coming kid.

He's 26 years old, and he's amazing. Amazing. Who's that? The other's a brew. Cyborg, a brew. You know what I'm talking about? Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy?

He might be. I think it's the same last name. Yeah, same last name. But this kid, he's an up-and-comer. He's 3-0. He's amazing. Try to get him to find the next Strikeforce card. But he's still got good form of fights until he's UFC status, I think. He just needs to build his confidence a little bit.

But it's just one of those things I say, man, you get those submissions and you do it over and over again. You're used to just making sure you don't make the same mistakes twice. And my whole life I've never done that. You know, I try to make the same mistakes more than once. There's so few guys that are big guys that have a strong guard. You know, for every Fabricio Verdum, there's, you know, 100 guys that turtles when you put them on their back.

And when I went to Abu Dhabi, it was when I started learning, you know, I started realizing, I mean, I was a wrestler. I mean, going to my back, it took me a good two years. Just to be comfortable? To be okay to go to my back and be okay with it. But it was one of those things that when I first started fighting, I wasn't going to my back. Guys weren't taking me down. No way. I was defending, defending.

But then you get a little lazy when you start doing jiu-jitsu. You start going, taking me down. No way. I was defending, defending. But then you get a little lazy when you start doing jiu-jitsu. You start going, okay, I'll pull guard. I'm not fucking. I teach my guys now, don't pull guard. That's the least. That's the last thing you guys can do. What do you do if you can't take a guy down, though, and the guy's fucking you up kickboxing?

Then pull guard. You better be fucking tougher in both those things. You got to figure something out. You better, because you're going to be like a pulled guard. He's going to smash you on top. Well, there's guys who you can't do that to. Like, look at that Paul Sask guy. You watch that kid out of Great Britain?

Not yet, no. Woo, his triangles are nasty. Really? I think he's got eight or nine wins by triangle. Wow. And he just catches everybody. He just caught Jacob Volkman with a triangle. But, I mean, you get in that motherfucker's guard, you're in quicksand.

Well, if someone fights him, give me an opportunity and I'll show you a defense for a triangle that everybody can get out. I just love watching the guy. Dean Lister showed it to me. Oh, yeah? Really? Someone can lock a triangle on you and you're going to get out. Is that that sort of roll where you roll towards where the foot is locked up? What I do is I put right hand goes on top of the shin, left hand comes on top of that, and I do a tripod,

put the knee down, and literally his legs will open up. He has no choice to get it. I want to see you try that on Fabrizio or do him. It works. Really? It'll work on Fabrizio? It works on Fabrizio. Alright, I gotta see that, man. I gotta see. It's amazing, dude. It's good shit. Is the mic on him?

Yeah. That's a good shirt for you, Brian. It's good. Good shit. Somebody on the mic isn't on him. Yeah. That's a good shirt for you, Brian. It's dangerous. I'm a clown. Dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous. How much, when you were in the middle of training for fights, and then, you know, the fight would be over, how much time would you spend, like, working on your skills?

We just make, constantly making sure you're always in shape. Like, did you have a set thing that you did? Well, I would take a month off. Always? Always take a month off. Just let everything heal up? I would enjoy myself. making sure you're always in shape like um did you have a set thing that you did well i would take a month off always always take a month off just let everything enjoy myself enjoy myself enjoy yourself it was because i was when i started wrestling in high school that was my deal i'd go through a whole season of wrestling summer would start and right before actually right at right summer first started we'd have uh freestyle wrestling. And during freestyle, you know, for the first month, I would work really hard. And then as soon as that was over, I'd have a month and a half to chip before school started.

So I was like, all right, I get to party, I get to drink, have fun with my friends. And then as soon as school started again, wrestling started. So I couldn't drink. I had to stick to school. I had to get a good grade. So I would do that. So I followed right into college. When I got into college, I did the same thing. college when I got into college I did the same thing when I got into fighting I did the same thing as soon as the fight was over

I had a party with my friends and for the first month and as soon as that month was over okay there's my date I have a contract signed for another fight and I started training did you feel more pressure once you became the champ yes that's when the walls were closing in that's when all the contenders were running at you I would yeah yeah it came down to that but i always wanted to learn i was always going out to learn you know i'd go out to john lewis's uh i go out work with all different guys all the time i i wanted to learn i mean that's the one thing i could say to guys who are listening who are fighters is don't ever stop learning don't ever think just because you're with one school that you can't go with other guys and learn.

Because when your coach says you can't do that, that coach is not right for you. Because if you're not learning enough in your gym, you're only as good as the guys you're with, you've got to go out and learn from other guys. It's hard to learn new shit and try it on fights. Yes. Right?

Because you're worried about doing something where you're not. Like, you're double, you're ground and pound, that shit's in your head. It's cement. It's cement. It's not going anywhere. I get a guy against the fence, I'm taking him down. Right.

But you jump in the arm bar on somebody. It's like, fuck, should I really be doing this? Am I going to give up one position for another position right now? No, I probably shouldn't do that. But it was just one of those things. I got set in my own ways. I got comfortable. The guys I trained with, I would bring guys around me.

And, you know, I started Team Punishment when we first started. It was, you know, Rico Rodriguez, Rampage, myself, Liddell, Tiki, Rob, Fabiano Iha, John Lewis. I mean, there were so many guys. There's a name from the past, Fabiano Iha. Fabiano Iha, right? The guy turned out to be a scumbag, too. It was just one of those things, man, that you just kind of look at,

that you just try to bring the best guys around you. And when I didn't have the best guys around me anymore, I was like, all right, I'll just get the guys that I thought I needed at the time. Did you run all your camps? Did you have a head trainer ever? Always had a head trainer. Always had a head trainer. Always had a head trainer. A guy who always told us what we needed to do.

I always did that. There was a couple times that I had to do things myself just because of my injuries. After the Couture fight, there were so many injuries that came back to back to back to back that we were always guiding around things to make the right things happen. Well, it's also got to be very hard for you to develop any sort of a real relationship with a head trainer because you really were a part of the whole transitionary phase of mixed martial arts even being recognized as a sport. I mean, in 97 when you first did it, I was there, man. We were in the fucking middle of nowhere.

And it was a weird half-full gymnasium. So to get a professional, like, real head coach, it's almost like you've got to train them. How many guys were there? I mean, there was two really good guys. I mean, it was funny because back in the day, there was a kickboxing trainer that I would use, John Spencer.

There was a ground guy that I would use, John Loeber. And I would do the wrestling. I mean, I came from college wrestling, so I'm not wrestling. We just drilled. We drilled all the time. And then as I got a little bit better, or excuse me, right before I fought my world title, I trained with Colin Oyama, who was a kickboxing trainer.

And I would have Fabio Aniha do our jiu would have Fabio Niha do our jiu-jitsu. Rico Rodriguez would do our jiu-jitsu. Rampage didn't spar with us a lot of times, so we had great sparring. Great wrestling with some of the guys in the college and so forth. And then about when I fought, who was it? Vitor Belfort. Me and Colin didn't get along. There was some things back and forth due to Rampage

Rampage was in his ear saying shit and saying oh you can beat Tito it was never about that, me and Rampage were always good friends and it just got too personal between me and Colin so Saul Solis came about because of Rico Rodriguez

great trainer he was one of the guys who pretty much invented the MMA training game. He was the first guy to do it. And the other guys caught on to it is when we did the Ultimate Fighter. That's when people caught on to it, when I can't have him come in and do the Ultimate Fighter in Season 3. Well, that was a great time for you too, man, because people really got to see how much attention

and how much focus you put on coaching kids. This is such a direct contrast. My friend Tate was on that season. Tate Fletcher. Unfortunately, he was on Ken Shamrock's team. And it was like, Ken Shamrock barely fucking paid attention to that. I came from a wrestling background.

If any collegiate wrestlers are out there, you guys got coaches. Wrestling's a family. Wrestling's a family. You know, it's a family. It's not just about coming in and training. It's, you know, you're okay with your girlfriend. You know, you're okay with your friends. You're okay with your family.

That was my family. My family was wrestling. That's what saved me was wrestling, you know. Wrestling saves lives. So you were bringing everybody together. Yeah, everything was always a family deal, you know. And with Saul Solis, like I say, he doesn't get as much credit as he should, I think, because he was one of the first guys to kind of start the MMA training game, I think, behind all of it.

I mean, when I deal with a fighter, he's seen all the stuff we did. He did half the stuff. I just had the mentality to have the positive outlooks on things I would say to the guys, to get them going, to get them pushing forward, to push harder in practice. And it wasn't like, you guys better show, or you guys are pussies, and you guys ain't going to be a part of this. No, it was like, what do we need to do to make you guys better? What do we need to do to make this better?

What can I be on a positive influence to you guys to make you guys love to be here? And they did. You look at Kendall Grove. You look at Michael Bisbing. Hamill. I mean, these guys that came up from my team, they understood it. Bisbing now is a huge star. He understood it. I mean, I was a couple times up with

Bisbing around. I go, be the asshole, dude. People hate you. They're talking about you, right? I think it annoys them, though. I mean, it works. He's getting paid. And people don to understand that. I couldn't hear enough where Dana says, stop talking fucking about money. I'm paying for my family.

I'm paying for my kids. This is a business to me. From day one. Dana tells you to stop talking about money? Yeah, he always says that. He says, you need to stop talking about money. Fans want to hear that. And I hear fans saying that.

Oh, she was talking about fucking money again. What do you guys do for a living? You guys get in a cage fight. You guys get in a gym training. to hear that. And I hear fans saying that, oh, he was talking about fucking money again. What do you guys do for a living? You know, you guys get in the cage fighting, you guys get in the gym training, you guys get away from your family three months at a time. If Floyd Mayweather wasn't talking about money, I would think there's something wrong with him. Like, check his temperature. He might be sick. Floyd's a smart cat.

When you're making $120 million on a fight, you're doing something right there. I mean, that's smart business and you look at uh delahoya i mean the guy made almost a billion dollars last year what are these fighters doing different than us mma fighters are doing maybe i think we're kind of being they're being businessmen and it's very fighters are just being fighters or excuse me those fighters just being fighters i'm being a businessman i understand it Some people, though, can't do that with their personality.

Their personality lends itself to competing, and that's about it. They like to be stone-faced and stoic, Fedor-like, let their work do the talking for them. But for folks that don't understand, like, if you want to get paid attention to, look, when I go to the expos and, you know, when you're signing, I know that your fucking lines are longer than anybody's man i'm signing for eight hours yeah ridiculous those lines are ridiculous i've watched that man and there's a certain amount of you know

entertainment to it there's a showbiz aspect to it people have to appreciate i mean i'm two different people man i think you know i think maybe it was because when I was a kid, I always wanted to be that person who had the money. I wanted to be that kid who was accepted in society, I think. Right. You wanted to feel normal, right? I wanted to feel normal, and I was always dying for that normalcy, and I never had it.

That's the drive, right? Yeah, and that was the drive, and that's what I looked at. I came down, and it was just all the fighters that come up now, guys, please, if you're listening, please. And I can't explain this enough to you guys. This is a business. No more than that. You come in and you bust your ass. And in 15 years, if you last that long, you'll have a business in front of you that you'll be able to.

I made a clothing company. I made a nutrition line, Punishment Nutrition. I was able to build a gym. I was able to, not just that, but make my name a brand. I was thankful for Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta, Dana White, for giving me the opportunities that I've had through my career to expose the way I have of myself. But the only way for that to happen was to have a good head on my shoulders,

to never step on anybody to get ahead. And I think, you know, God overlooks us. You know, like I say, I got to go to church. I don't believe, oh, worship God. You're the best person in the world because of that. No. Have open hands and help people around you and be respectful. Don't step on people to get ahead.

And I really think good things will happen. And my whole career, I look at it you know I could have made a left or I could have made a right and I went the right way and I'm thankful because of it you know because I had three choices in life dead or in prison or I am right now and I'm pretty I'm thankful to be where I am right now I'm not a religious person but I recognize that when a person becomes religious or when a person adopts the ideals of religion, of wanting to do the right thing, like the really simple ideals, wanting to do the right thing, treat your brothers as if they were yourself,

to go through life with that idea that you are aspiring to the wants and desires of a higher power that's all-knowing, you're going to do better. It's really simple. It's not whether or not you believe in fairy tales. It's the idea that you're aspiring to a higher connection with your brothers and sisters on this planet, with the universe itself.

And if you can call that God, you can call that anything you want, man. Call that anything you want. I have that battle all the time with people who are like, you don't believe in Jesus. I was like, but some guy who someone talked about? Yeah, maybe.

Who knows? You don't know either, bitch. They don't know. They don't know. You don't know. If you were born in 1972, you do not know about Jesus. Prove that shit.

You know, all I got to say is, you know, before I go to bed at night and I brush my teeth and I look who's around me, it's myself. I look in the mirror

and I said, did you me it's myself I look in the mirror and I said did you do something today to help somebody most of the days yes some of the days no am I gonna do something tomorrow to help somebody yeah I'm gonna try and every day I do that I believe in myself of saying you're gonna be a better person by doing that I don't need to answer anybody else I ain't gotta go god please help me because I mean don't get to answer anybody else. I ain't got to go, God, please help me. Because don't get me wrong, there's been times that I've been challenged. I would say, why are you doing this to me right now? There's been times where I'm just like, go on, man.

The challenge I've been through in my relationships, personal stuff. Why is my parents treating me like this? Why? And all I kept, the question that comes to my mind is, I'm challenging you. you what type of man are you what type of character do you have that you could prove else or this with every moment and of adversity in your life comes an opportunity to grow and learn 100% and every time I've had I mean two years ago I mean I went the worst stuff I've ever had in my life and just to kind of correct my character it was a factor that I, it was a challenge.

It was a true challenge that I looked back on and I was just like, that's a gift for trying to help someone. And I looked and I always realized that I made myself better. I made myself mentally stronger because I went through the things I did. Well, I don't know what you're referring to that you went through, some personal thing. Yeah, personal thing. Yeah, I mean mean it's it's just a part of life it's like what i said about it's weird that all the interesting people i know all have fucked childhoods it's like adversity can really make you a more interesting introspective

more more well-rounded person really if you allow it to or if you allow you can just decide that oh life hates me life hates me god's not doing anything for me, so I'm just going to quit. Stop being a fucking pussy and step up and be a man. Exactly. That sounds like a meathead thing to say, but that is reality. That's true. It is reality. No, it's reality.

Don't be a fucking pussy. Don't be a pussy. And step up and be a man. Step up and make the right choices. Make the right choice for yourself. Don't do it because someone else told you. Don't do it because you're doing it to show someone wrong. Do it

because you look in the mirror and you're by yourself and you say, are you going to do something better today? Is this an attitude and is this a philosophy that you've sort of developed through trial and error through your life? 100%. When you sort of slowly patched it together and pieced it together? 100%. And I think it all comes down to my children.

I want to make sure I'm a good dad. So you feel like just having these children, having these kids that look up to you, makes you an even better person, makes you aspire to a higher calling. Yeah, I think so. It really started when I was an assistant coach at Marina High School in Huntington Beach,

working with the kids, and watching them going, coach, coach, coach, coach. And it wasn't a fact we were just showing them how to work hard. I would help them with their relationships. They would ask me, like, these girls give me problems, da-da-da-da. So you felt like you could provide a service that you didn't get when you were a kid? 100%.

Because I went through those same type of trials when I was a kid. I always wondered, why? Why? And I was always the kid asking the questions, why? Why? I always was challenged by that. why and I was always the kid asking the questions why why I always was challenged by that and I think through my life I've lived through what people have gone through and have quit and have never made it past and I've made it

past because I believe that I was able to do it I mean there were times when don't get me wrong I mean I'd ask for people for advice I mean I would ask for strength you know I'd say God please help me through this right now and like Sam I don't go to church, but someone has to believe in something a little bit bigger to answer to. When you were a kid and you were an athlete and you were coming up, was there anyone who you looked up to, anyone who you drew inspiration from, that you looked at their work ethic, like was it a Dan Gable type character?

I watched Hulk Hogan and Muhammad Ali. Hulk Hogan and Muhammad Ali. That's a good goddamn combination. The 24-inch pot thorns right here. I remember Howard Cosell said something to Muhammad Ali, and Muhammad Ali was irritated at him. And he goes, you're being very truculent, champ. And he goes, whatever truculent means, if it's good, I'm that.

Well, I would watch that. I mean, this sport, MMA, it's so new. I mean, there's so much stuff that people haven't even touched a mark on. Why can't I do the things that Ali did in boxing, in MMA? That's my question I always ask myself. Why can't I do what Hulk Hogan did in professional wrestling? As far as showmanship? Showmanship, champion style.

I mean, I won world titles. I defended world titles. I made the start. Excuse me, I'll retract that. I helped make this sport what it is today. I pushed it to the next level. Maybe I said some shit I shouldn't have said. Do you have any regrets?

If you look back. I have regrets. One, and I just think it's just something that I learned and I think it was the only way I knew at the time was the shit that I said towards Dana. I'm a human man. I make mistakes. And I was just defending for my family. That's it, man. It's business. It was nothing personal towards Dana. It was nothing personal. And it was just defending for my family. That's it, man. It's business. It was nothing personal towards him. It was nothing personal.

And it was never towards the Fertitta family. I love them. I'm very thankful for everything they've been giving to me and gave to me. What I have, it wasn't for them. I wouldn't have anything I have right now. And Dana was my manager. And he taught me to fight for things. I remember when I fought for pay-per-view.

I fought for those things because he told me to fight for those things. He's like, Bosker's doing it. Why can't you do it? We're going to get this from Bob Meyerowitz. We're going to do this. If he's not going to do it, we'll walk away. We'll go to Pride. I looked at him like, I don't want to go fight Japan. I want to stay here in the States. He's like,

don't worry about it. They'll answer. So we sat for a week and a half. Is it weird watching Dana go from being a manager to a promoter? Different person. Complete opposite role? He's a different man. Totally different. He's not the same person.

That's not Dana. All right. I love him. I miss his friendship. And, I mean, me and him were boys. And I see him change. And he's not. I just. He's become famous.

It's crazy. Crazy. Crazy. I can't say nothing bad about it because he's given so much to me. I've said everything that I wanted to through my career. And it was nothing ever personal towards him. It was always business. And it was no more than that.

I was defending for my family. I was defending for my family i was defending for as a business t-door t's brand punishment brand was a business to me and i wasn't gonna get walked over on i wasn't get walked over on well i don't know the specifics of your your dispute how much time we got i'm joking i'm joking but i've known dana from the the beginning when they first bought the organization. He's definitely different. He's more confident now. He's more successful now.

But me and him, we have a very different relationship. When I was growing up, they called that cockiness. But now you said confidence, so I guess I'm right. Well, it's also that hubris is how he gets things done. And that's why he's so good at what he does. I know he does an awesome job at UFC. I mean, if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be where we are today. That's for sure.

He's got a whole lot of doesn't give a fuck. I appreciate that. Yeah, no, he's a fucking cut and dry. I appreciate how much the guy works for it. And I also appreciate, I like watching people grow. I like watching a guy who's not, you can call it cocky, but my relationship with a dude is very different than yours. I've never really had a dispute with him.

Me and him, we always get along great. We're cool now. We talk, we always get along great. We talk, but I can still see. I think you have to have an unflappable belief in yourself to run a company like that. You could say that's negative all you want, but I think in order to do what he does, you've got to be like that. I think he's the perfect guy for the job. It's a business.

Yeah. I think along with you, he's one of the more integral reasons why this sport has become what it's become. You got to have someone who's nuts running the fucking thing. You know, it's a crazy sport, man. This ain't a normal sport. No. You know, it's nuts. I think it should be about the fighters a little more, but that's just my opinion.

Well, it is an opportunity, and it's an opportunity that you have capitalized on better than most. And that opportunity to really, like you said, make a brand, make a name for yourself. And fighters, I mean, I can't explain this to fighters more enough, is do something different that the other fighters are doing. When I first started it, I was the first guy to make fighter cards. All of a sudden, Rampage started doing it. I mean, I helped Rampage do it, but- When you say fighter cards, it's cards with your- The little-

So you can hand out- The stats and everything. Yeah, yeah. I make 10,000 of those. I'm at my 16th edition of doing them. I have one more. I'm doing my last one, my retirement, my last one. But I made 10,000 of each one, and wherever I would go, I'd pass them out.

I would literally sit there and put them on every single chair in the front row. That's funny. It was branding. I understood by doing that. I mean, there was a part, I think it was five years ago, where I got a letter from UFC saying, you can't do that anymore, Tito. I was like, what do you mean I can't do it anymore? He goes, you can't do that anymore.

It's free. I was like, but you can't do that anymore. You can't promote yourself. I was like, okay, I'll keep my mouth shut then. They said you couldn't put cards on chairs? Nope. What's up with that? Because people don't want to sweep up.

A lot of people are throwing those cards away. I mean, there's popcorn on the floor. Come on, Joe. Why do they need to put more paper on the ground, Brian? People are supposed to put them in their pocket. Listen, that's what happens when a business becomes big. They all start developing corporate rules. Yeah, I know.

But I say, I mean, as fighters, like I say, I want to be an inspiration to fighters, man. And you guys got to promote yourself. I mean, UFC will do their part, yes. Do you think that's a big part of your legacy? Like, that's one definite thing that you added to the game. Yeah. Promotion. It was about promotion. It was you added to the game. Yeah. Promotion.

It was about promotion. It was Hulk Hogan, dude. Yeah. I followed his footsteps. Well, you were the only guy who was doing it, really. There was no one who was doing it like you were doing it. I mean, Dan Henderson started making fighter cards. Randy Couture started making fighter cards.

I was making them for him. I was getting them done for him. That's funny. They understand it. It was about Liddell had a fighter card. I have fighter cards of me and Chuck Liddell. Chuck Liddell's fighter cards. And there's fans that came up to me and showed them.

And you see a little Team Punishment logo on them. That's funny. That was funny because I was back with me and Chuck Liddell. We were never friends. It's got to be a strange thing for you to have watched going from where you did that first fight in 1997 to seeing Roger Wert on the cover of Sports Illustrated and seeing all this. It's cool, dude. It's cool cool what is it like to watch this all like i mean you literally got on the train at the first stop this this last month has been really heart-wrenching for me it's just one of

those things just going wow i i've helped get this where it is today and it's over but i'm okay with it i'm cool with it you're happy with cool with it. You're happy with it. You seem like you're happy with it. I'm really, really happy with it. And there's people come up to me and like, so when you're coming back, when you fight, I'm like, I'm done. And it was like, it was funny. I was sitting with my therapist and he's like, so fighters, I mean, we just kind of met a

couple months ago. But he's like, so fighters, I mean, I know boxers after they fight, they want to come back and do it. I go, no, dude, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I made my money. My kids, their future is done. They go to college.

They go to any university they want. They get their master's. I'm done. I've done what I wanted to do. My clothing company is doing awesome. My nutrition, my punishment nutrition is doing awesome. My gym is starting to grow. I'm going to start trying to do some acting.

I think I use my brain for a lot more than just fighting. And I'm sick of all the pressure. I'm sick of being expected so much of. I've been doing 15 fucking games a day. When you say the pressure, you mean the psychological pressure of performing, Yes. Getting in there and knowing you're going to get hurt. Knowing you're going to get fucked up. Not knowing you're going to get hurt. Knowing that you've got to not let my fans down. Not letting my family down. Not letting my kids down.

Not letting so many people around me down. And people always think about, well, you shouldn't think about losing. I don't think about losing. The fact of losing, that goes through my mind. Of course, that's just maybe 5% of a thought. No, it's thinking about, what if I get bounced on my head again and I'm paralyzed? I had that happen once before I fought for UFC 106. I got bounced on my head by Aaron Rosa, and my arms and legs were completely numb for two minutes.

I was laying in the middle of the cage up in Big Bear for two minutes paralyzed. That's some scary shit. People don't understand that. People don't see that. People don't understand that. My training partners don't want to see that. My trainers don't see that shit. The fans don't see that.

They think, oh, how did you deal with that? Well, two minutes later, I got up. The paramedics came. I got up. They said, we're taking you to emergency. I'm like, no, no, no, I'm cool. I'm good. Test my arms. I'm good. I'm okay. I got up. They said, we're taking you to emergency. I'm like, no, no, no, I'm cool. I'm good. I'm good.

Test my arms. I'm good. I'm okay. I'm okay. Went and laid in bed for a couple days. Woke up that next day, and I just had pain going on my arms, so I went and got injections. I got cortisone injections with my neck. They gave me 15 shots.

So this is the same neck injury that you wound up getting surgery on. Yeah, I got surgery. That's when it started? This was three weeks before UFC 106. This is when I found out that Brock wound up getting surgery. That's when it started? This was three weeks before UFC 106. This was when I found out that Brock Lester pulled out. And I became the main event. So I was pulled out. I had to pay for my

family, of course, but at the same time I didn't want to let Dana down. Because if I would have pulled out, he'd go, here's Tito again, fucking pulling out a match. He's going to go blast me on the internet, blast me on the media saying Tito's being a pussy again. And that's the only thought that's ever came about my fans of having that question is because of

him blasting me. And it sucks, man. I just wish it never came about, that part. But I look at it, I had to get a surgery. You know, I thought it would go away after I got my injections. It felt better. You know, in the third round of that fight, when I fought Forrest the second time, I remember the third round going, fuck, I ain't got my injections. It felt better. In the third round of that fight, when I fought Forrest the second time, I remember the third round going,

fuck, I ain't got nothing left. Don't get knocked down. Don't get taken down. You got the match won. They ended up giving him the match. And I remember afterwards going, God, thank God this is over. I had a fracture.

My eyebrow bone was cracked. I was pretty beat up after that fight. And I remember three weeks before, a month and beat up after that fight and uh i remember three weeks before for a month and a half before that fight even happened dana asked if i do the ultimate fighter i said of course i'll do it no problem at all and this situation came about it was already signed for me to do it and i thought if i took a month off i came back and shot it in january that i'd be okay i can get through the camp, and I would fight Chuck. I was sparring with the guys I was training with for the ultimate fighter,

and I got hit with a couple shots. Between training, I went home to watch TV, laid down, went to go get up, and I couldn't stand up. I was like, what the fuck? I started to feel the same pain, sickness in my stomach. I was dry heaving. One of the doctors said, you've got a ruptured disc in C6, C7. told dana i called told him and uh he's like oh okay sure i was like what do you mean okay sure well dude they got a ruptured disc in my neck he's like all right well we gotta we gotta have the ufc doctors to make sure i go all right so okay question me they showed ruptured disc

they went in did surgery five days before the before the Ultimate Fighter Season 11 was over, he goes, we got to let you go. I go, what do you mean we got to let me go? He goes, you're not going to be fighting, so we need to promote the next fight. I go, so you're going to fucking fire me on television? He goes, yeah, that's the way it's supposed to be. He goes, I would do that with anyone. I go, dude, that's fucking, are you serious right now? He goes, yeah. The show, though, is to promote a fight, right? That was the idea. Okay, Anthony, here's do that with anyone. I go, dude, that's fucking, are you serious right now? He goes, yeah.

The show, though, is to promote a fight, right? That was the idea. Okay, Anthony, here's a question for you. Maybe they should work with you. Yes. Would you be happier if when Rich came in, you trained along with him? 100%. Instead of making a limelight of sitting Chuck down and fucking saying that Tito's playing a fight and Chuck getting him.

Oh, I told you he'd pull out. He's a fucking pussy. He'd pull out. Come on, dude. Be real, man. Are you fucking serious? And that really pissed me off. I was just over the board about doing that just to destroy my image.

And that's what they've always tried to do. And I took it to heart. You know, I'm being real, dude. I don't give a fuck what people say. When they came about and Dana says that I came out, and I was one of the only UFC fighters to have destroyed the company, bullshit. I've never been that.

I've always tried to help this company prevail and get better, and he's only the type of guy that's ever tried to destroy me. And thank God of my fans. And thank God I could fucking fight well. And thank God I've always spoke my mind. The fans have supported me. I was able to become who I am. And the only reason that happened was because I worked hard to get where I am. And I look at the situation that I've been portrayed over the last eight

years. It's been bad, but I've been able to survive. And you look at other fighters like Matt Linlin. He was a champ. People forget about him because he tried to stand up. There's other fighters that try to do the same thing and stand up. They're forgot about. Well, in the defense of the UFC, Matt Lindland wore a shirt that was forbidden. It was a casino shirt. He wore it to a casino, right? Isn't that what happened at a weigh-in?

That's why they banned him? I don't know. I don't want to speak to the specifics of his details. Well, usually the same situation as Rico Rodriguez, and he had a station on his back, right? Yeah, yeah. Rico stayed around. But just to kind of go back on the conversation about the Ultimate Fighter, now with Dominic Cruz and Uriah Faber. Why didn't Dominic Cruz go home?

Well, he hurt himself on the show. Okay. Why didn't he go home? Well, I think it was late in the season, wasn't it? Yeah, but mine was five days left. I don't know, man. That's a good question. You just tell me.

I know that you and Dana had some issues. Yeah, but I'm just looking at the real questions. I think it's unfair to bring this up unless he was here as well. Because I don't know all the details of it. I'm sorry that it happened with you. Yeah, it's just things that I always think about. I think my fans are really bummed about. They have those same questions too.

So you feel like you just unfairly portrayed as far as your injuries and they try to make fun of your character. 100%. 100%. And it was to downplay me. And like I said, that's behind me now. Those are still things that I still hear all the time

from my fans and I still hear from my family. And it hurts my feelings. And when my kids start talking about it and they get made in front of school for things like that, that's my kids, man. That's challenging. What do kids say to your kids at school?

Pick on my kid. Just say, oh, your dad's a pussy. Whoa. Yeah, like gnarly stuff. How many kids are 10 years old? That's hilarious. It's hilarious that kids would actually have the balls to say that a former light heavyweight champion of the UFC is somehow a pussy.

But the raddest thing is the only association they get that from is from Dana. My kids all, he's a champion. What are you talking about? How can you say that? That's what Dana White says. And it's like, this is 10-year-old kids, man. They're just always trying to talk shit. Take their names down,

go to the school, and just give them a wink. Yeah. The raddest thing is that actually it's a private school and I went and talked for career day at my school and I kind of told her my story about me coming up and everything

and how my real name's Jacob. Of course, all listeners, you don't know my true name. Not my true name's Tito, but my real name's Jacob, my birth name. You have a true and a real name? I only have a real name.

I have a fake name. What's your fake name? What's your stage name? Burbank Bad Boy Brian Redman Yeah! That's a quadruple B right there Burbank Bad Boy! I water the lawn before seven

Don't give a fuck, right? Yeah, don't give a fuck You're breaking all kinds of town ordinances and shit. But like I say, my real name's Jacob. In the Bible, Jacob wrestled against an angel. And Jacob lost to the angel. And the angel saved his life. Well, wrestling saved his life.

Wrestling saved my life. My son's name is Jacob. He loves wrestling now. He just took second in the state just this year at 10 years old. That's pretty awesome. I know, it's really awesome. I don't know what it has to do with some other dude named Jacob that was born a billion years ago. He wrestled against an angel.

Did he really though? Yes, in the Bible read. I don't think it happened. You really think he wrestled an angel? Of course he did. He was probably sleeping. He had a crazy fucking dream and he told some people about it. He probably ate some mushrooms and smoked some weed, right? He's like, dude, I was wrestling a dude with

wings. It was really fucked up. I just remember that story. He was pinning me down with the wings. I associate it. I mean, like I said, I'm not really a Bible thumping person, but that story just hit me right at home because wrestling saved my life. And I made a shirt, actually. People go to

punishment.com and it says wrestling saved my life. And I made a shirt actually people go to punishment.com and it says wrestling saved lives. And yeah, I've seen that shirt. I've seen a lot of people wearing it lately. Yeah. That's one of the cool things about punishment athletics. You sponsor many fighters.

Yeah. A lot of fighters wearing your shirts. I try to give my, give an opportunity. No, they can make a piece of the shirts that we make personally for them. We give them a big chunk so they can help promote. And that's what it comes down to.

I want to show guys this business-wise to promote what you've got to do to do it. People say, oh, I'm just going to wear a shirt and I'm going to sell a bunch. No, you've got to get on Twitter. You've got to follow. You've got to post pictures about it. You've got to make the interest for the social media for people to understand who you truly are. And I think that's what it really comes down to, that I've helped. Now, you talked about counseling, that you've gone through counseling.

Did you do any while you're fighting? Did you do any sports psychology work? Nothing? No. No? I tried it when I got married with my ex, Kristen. We were going through relationship counseling. And I started to get soft, I think,

because I started realizing why I was reacting the way I was. You started to get soft, I think, because I started realizing why I was reacting the way I was. You started to get soft? I thought. I think it was just myself. I started getting to my feeling touch. You thought it was going to fuck you up as a fighter? Yeah, I thought it was, so I stopped. That's hilarious.

You know, I took yoga when I was young, and I stopped taking it because I thought if you were enlightened, it would be bad for you as a comedian. That's crazy. You wouldn't be as funny because a lot of my fucking comedy was like being mean about people. Hey, comedy is fucking funny, dude. Let me tell you, dude. I've never laughed so fucking hard in my life. That shit is funny. Oh, thank you.

Funny, funny, funny. I know that thing. For me, my childhood was not nearly as hard as yours, but I had a bad dad. My parents divorced when I was five, and my mom remarried my stepdad, who was a great guy. So from seven on, my childhood was pretty goddamn good. Everybody's nice. Nobody beat me up. But my father was a terrible person, and I have these crazy memories of my dad beating up my mom.

And I didn't realize until i was a grown man that that was why i was angry all the time i really didn't realize that you know i you know you a person looks at their father a child especially a boy you look to this is this is the person who's already done it this is my goal you know i want to be like him this is my superhero when you see a terrible person in place of that, and you just feel like the world fucked you with a shitty deck of cards. You want to repay the world back by being that same fucking person. Somehow or another.

I'm very thankful that my dad was actually good until I was about six. Because I remember the loving feeling of my father. But then the abstinence after I was six of my mother and my father. And I'm like, say I talked to my therapist and that's why I'm always looking for a mother figure on me. I know my girlfriend, Kristen,

I mean, I, I started dating her after my second year out of my first year out of high school. And I was with her the whole first year out of high school. I was with her the whole time. It was just me and her. I was always looking for that mother figure.

Me and Jenna together, she's perfect for me. We don't have the same associations in life coming up business-wise. We're never supposed to be successful. We didn't have loving parents. But we still are missing that same type of role models in our life. You know, her mother died at the age of three. Her father was never around. So I think we just kind of work hard to be the best parents a week possibly can be. And I think work on each other and making that happen is what it comes down to, I think.

You know, learning from it. Well, you know, also learning from, how about you talking about it, man? You know, this shit wasn't available when your parents were coming up, nor when my parents were coming up. We didn't have anybody sitting around talking real about relationships or real about being raised by cunts. Dude, seriously. I mean, and I mean, any people who are parents now who have fucked up parents make a difference.

Yeah. Don't keep that cycle going. Fuck the cycle, man. Fuck the cycle. Fuck. Doesn't have to keep going. You can grow and learn. Grow and learn and move on.

Read. Find someone else who has a great family and try to be something like that. Well, this conversation alone, I'm sure, look, this podcast gets heard by a lot of people all over the world. I guarantee you it's going to speak to a lot of people. I hope sure. Look, this podcast gets heard by a lot of people over the world. I guarantee you it's going to speak to a lot of people. I hope so.

Like I said, I can't rehearse this over and over and over and over again. Be truthful to yourself and don't step on people to get ahead. I'm telling you, good things happen for that. Good things happen for that. You've got to embrace the losses. You've got to embrace the losses that life hands you because you're not perfect. No one is. You're not born perfect. You've got to embrace the losses as far as relationships. You've got to embrace the losses that life hands you because you're not perfect. No one is. You're not born perfect.

You've got to embrace the losses as far as relationships. You've got to embrace them in your social life as well as embrace them in your business life. You've got to learn and the only way to learn is to try and fail. That's the only way. That's the only way to do it, man. Just keep getting up. Keep moving forward. Learn. Grow.

Continue to analyze yourself. It's a learning process. I mean, like I say, continue to analyze yourself. Yeah, I know. I mean, it's a learning process. I mean, like I say, every day, test yourself. Every day, test yourself. What's beautiful in this day and age, what's beautiful in this era of endless information is that kids are listening right now, people who you can influence,

and I guarantee you they're going to get something out of this. I guarantee you. Even parents. Even parents. Even old people, man're going to get something out of this. I guarantee you. Even parents. Even parents. Even old people, man. No one's too old to learn. And bro. When I did The Apprentice, I had a whole different demographic when I did that show. I was like, holy shit. I walked in the airport and there's like 80 year old old ladies coming up to me

and going, hi Tito, how are you? I watched on Apprentice and you're such a nice guy. I saw you on Ultimate Fighter and you're a different person. That's my fight game. But you're still a really nice guy. Who were you on Celebrity Apprentice with? Lennox Lewis. Pierce Morgan won it that year.

Lennox Lewis? What was he like? He's a cool cat. He's a bad motherfucker. Yeah, he's a bad motherfucker. He's laid back. What a nice guy. I went out partying with him a couple times. Really? He's a cool dude. Really, really, really, really cool guy. Chess playing, bad motherfucker. He's calm. He's calm, collective.

He's just like cool. He's just a cool black fuck. He's cool, man. You know what I really loved cool black folk. Just like, he's cool, man. You know what I really loved about Lennox Lewis, man, is that he had some fucking bad losses. Like, Haseen Rahman knocked him out. Like, he got, and he came back. He come back. Yeah, I mean, he was a real human dude.

He wasn't a, like, when Tyson was the king, it was like, it was Tyson the destroyer, and then it all fell apart. But with Lennox Lewis, it's like, you know, likenox Lewis, he stumbled and got back up. Stumbled. Vladimir Klitschko was another one. Got stopped a bunch of times. Corey Sanders knocked him out. It looked like he was losing it. It looked like Vladimir was never going to be the dominant guy that he is today.

I love even an Overeem story. I love a guy who moves forward. There's Tito in The Celebrity Apprentice. What is that like? It was a lot of work, man. That was me walking out. And let me tell you, after eight straight weeks, I was like, thank God I'm going home right now. Because I had an opportunity.

I had an opportunity to sell out and step over Omarosa and call her out and just make her look like shit. And I didn't. I was a straight up dude. I think Trump's seen that. Trump goes, you know what Tito? You're an awesome guy. You got some great things

ahead of you. Because you didn't call it Omarosa? Yeah. If you were really, if you wanted to serve the public, you should call her out. You should have choked her out.

Yeah, no, but we had her on Fear Factor. That bitch is crazy. Yeah, no, she was, she's a cool,

Oh, you were on with Stephen Baldwin? Stephen Baldwin. Oh, she's actually a cool lady, dude. She's's actually was a cool lady but when the cameras came on she was yeah she's hustling yeah she was yeah she's hustling for sure steve baldwin try to sell you on jesus for about a half a second and but not really no he's a cool dude and then he realized that I was with Jenna, and he was like, okay.

Who is that pretty girl? The blonde. Oh, that's his daughter? That's his daughter, yeah. Trump's daughter? Yeah, she's a really cool girl. Really, really nice girl. She seems really cool.

That would be a great person to date. Trump's daughter? Yeah, no, she's great, yeah. And who are all the other people? Who's that? She's a model, supermodel. That was some guy from... Oh, Pierce Morgan was on that from... Pierce Morgan won it.

He won it. Did he really? He was a cool guy. He's a pretty cool guy. He's smart. He's very crafty. He's like the anti-Larry King. He really is paying attention. He's asking questions

and really paying attention. He's a smart guy. He has some great ideas. When he was a project manager or whatever, but he was a really good dude. He has some good connections. He has some really great donations, but to me being on that show was...

Put a lot on MMA, of course, but for charity. My charity was St. Jude's Children's Hospital. I raised over I think it was $90,000 just from the show. But then $100,000 were donated to

St. Jude's Hospital under my name. So I mean raising that much money for St. Jude's, that was my biggest thing. Help kids, man. I want to help out. That's awesome, man. That's awesome. I think this podcast is going to help a lot of people, man. It's a good example. Just keep understanding where I come from. I think this podcast is going to help a lot of people. It's a good example. People just keep understanding where I come from.

I think people get so associated automatically with the ultimate fighting. It's so easy to point, too. It's so easy to point. Fuck this guy. This guy sucks. Fuck this guy. This guy's a pussy. This guy sucks.

It's so easy for people to do that. People don't understand until they get in the cage and they fight. When they get in the gym and they lift weights, they're like, oh, I'm sore right now. Man. You don't even know what sore is, bitch. You don't even know what sore is. Oh, I ran three miles today. I'm sore.

You don't even know what sore is. Well, not only you came along in a time where the ultimate fighter didn't exist or the ultimate fighting in MMA was in its infancy when you came along. But you also came along in an age where the internet was at its infancy. So it was the first time where athletes could get shit on every day by a million YouTube people and Twitter people. That's another thing, too. Like I said, the fighters who are listening, don't listen to fans. Don't listen to fans don't listen to them be tell you man because it can it got to me i got to a point where i was like you know what

and i i have i i've i block people like no other i'm doing the negative stuff i since the beta fight i have no more negative stuff i don't battle back and forth people i don't call people out i don't say shit it's not worth it i just block them yeah no reading let's just block them fuck the negative all about positive baby that's what i'm talking about and i live my life seems like that and life has been so much better because when you involve yourself into a positive environment it just spawns more positive positivity and it sounds you know kind of hippie but it's true if you involve yourself enough in negative energy, negative is going to come

about you and everything around you you're going to see it goes, god man this stuff won't stop leaving me alone, stop going on it you know and I was right before the beta fight it was funny because everyone, Dana everyone was just talking shit and just you're done and da da da and I just It was funny because everyone, Dana, everyone was just talking shit

and just you're done and da-da-da. And I just, you know what? I'm believing in myself. I remember just thinking to myself, I'm going to believe in myself. And no more fans. You can't talk to them. I can't listen to them. I just say, you know what?

I watched this beta fight. I remember doing an interview. I'm like, so what are you going to do after this fight since your career is going to be done? I looked at him. I go, when I win, you'll see. I go, what? I go, watch.

When I win, you'll see. It was actually Showdown Joe from Canada. I go, when I win, you'll see. And no one understood it. I go, just watch. Watch when I win. How annoying is it talking to reporters that are telling you you're going to lose? Ignorance.

Ignorance is bliss. It's so stupid. First of all like people always say you know what's gonna happen in this fight I always say I don't know that's why they gotta fight

the only reason to watch is cause you don't know you don't know what the fuck is gonna happen and that's one thing about UFC and I think that's why

Dana and Joseph do such a great job it's not like boxing fighters aren't built you don't see a UFC guy built no way boxers are built to be 28 no when you say built for the uninitiated what you were saying is set up with easy fights set up with these so they're slowly tested to slowly tested and they're 28 now and

they're built to become world champions and they're built. Or at least to have a good financial run at the title. Yes. A highly respected, well-ranked contender. Exactly. And it's smart. That's smart business. There's two situations. You can have a WWE or you can have a professional wrestling.

Right. Or, excuse me, a professional boxing. or you could have a professional wrestling. Right. Or, excuse me, a professional boxing. As in WWE, they're washing guys in and out so fast that you don't really get a chance to catch on. Well, it's not real, though. It's not fighting.

But still, it's making money. Uh-huh. Okay, I see what you're saying. Okay, so they're having guys that are getting put in every single week of all different guys. So you're not building one single person. Now, as in boxing how you have guys like delahoya guys have like ali and they were built coming up you know delahoya that's

me he fights his first six seven eight fights 10 fights 15 fights then all of a sudden when he's 20 you know then now he starts fighting guys who at the tail end of their career now he's knocking guys out and Holy shit. Also, I think you have to take into account that boxing has been around for so long. They really have their situation down as far as how to develop a fighter correctly. If you wanted to look at it from the point of view of the fighter, that's the way to do it. The way to do it is to be tested slowly. Or there's these fucking John Jones type dudes that just jump into the deep end of the pool after three years in and dominate.

There's exceptions for guys like that. Guys like John Jones is just a tremendous athlete. That guy, I respect that guy like no other. He's amazing. I watched that kid and I'm just like. Is it weird seeing like the next level coming up? Like seeing the Rory McDonald's? It's crazy. It it's cool it's good to see it's wild it's cool because you can gather the river donald come up to me you're like dude man i've been watching you since i've been

like six years old i'm like fuck yeah i'm really that old mike mcdonald i think he's only 21 maybe yeah and it's crazy it's like kids come to my gym at punishment train center huntington beach and they they they're 10 year old kids who do kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, and they're doing MMA classes now. I'm just like, are you joking me? And parents are calling. I was like, yes, do you do UFC at your gym? They're like, excuse me?

Do you do the UFC fighting style at your gym? I'm like, you mean MMA, mixed martial arts? Yes, do you do that? Yes, we do. We're bringing our kid down. I teach classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and uh it's crazy dude the kids just like you teach kids classes i teach kids class oh that's badass so it's in huntington beach where at where how can they find it what is the website it's actually punishment training center.com punishment

training center.com so that is also one of the fucking cool things about the sport is that you can go and take classes. Your kid can from a former world champion. That's amazing. To me, it's just, like I say, I've always wanted to be a coach. I love it. I dig it. I love seeing a kid progress. I remember when I first started at Marina High School, we were last in the league.

I was there for two years, and when I left, we were second in the league. And just to watch a kid progress and just seeing his attitude and just how they respond to things and from the negative to the positive and just being an involvement around them, they're just like, wow. It's crazy.

Can you imagine if you were a young boxer? Through the gym. There you can see it right there. Oh, beautiful. And I painted myself. Oh, that's a nice-ass place, man. No, I painted myself. You painted that place

There's a floor See the red floor on the left All the red flooring I did all the red And that's carpet on the right Holy shit that place is fucking huge How many square feet is that That's what she said

It's actually 10,000 square feet If that's what she said She's talking about her pussy Because I said that place Is fucking huge It doesn't even make sense I think she said that was huge No I said that place is fucking huge

I think she said that was huge Almost works Almost works Sounded good though That's a massive fucking gym't even make sense. I thought you said that was huge. No, I said that place is fucking huge. I thought you said that was huge. Almost works. Almost works. Sounded good, though. That's a massive fucking gym, man. Yeah, I know. But the color itself, I was red, black, and white. I really just kind of put my heart into it, man.

What I want for training and get the next level of fighters, of course. We do girls kickboxing there also. We do kids wrestling, kids jiu-jitsu. And you've only been open for about two years now? No, one year. One year? One year now. Wow.

And we're still building, man. It's a class that I've really, or a school that I've really just tried to give for the youths. Look at that. Jiu-jitsu, kids, Muay Thai, adults, kids wrestling. That's fucking awesome, man. And it's the women come in. They dig it. The women come in.

They do kickboxing. It's like all of a sudden the girls now, it's a rad thing. The girls come in and go, I want to do MMA fight. And it's the women come in and they dig it. The women come in and they do kickboxing. It's like all of a sudden the girls now, it's a rad thing. The girls come in and they're like, I want to do MMA fight. And it's like, you're a girl. Like, no, but I want to do MMA fight. And I want to be like Ronnie Rosie. It's crazy. It's like cool.

It's like. Well, you stuck to Huntington Beach, huh? Yeah, I ain't going. You got to understand, when I lived in Huntington, from the age of 7 to 13, I moved to Santa Ana. That was when my parents had the drug problem. I moved to Santa Ana. And then I actually, when I was 13, my mother separated with my father, and she got remarried and moved me back to Huntington.

And all the time I grew up, all the kids lived in the harbor, Huntington Harbor, and all the rich, prissy kids. And I remember fishing on one of the docks back there, and I was like, one day, guys, guys I was fishing with, my friend Dave Cottle, who's a friend of mine, I go, one day I'm going to buy a house here. He goes, shut the fuck up. I was like, whatever. I go, dude, I'm serious.

One day I'm going to buy a house here. Well, we shot that one Bad Blood DVD with me and Chuck. They shot it. And I told that story, and he was with me on the boat. And the week prior to that, I took him on my boat to ruin fish. He goes, God, dude, remember that one time that we were sitting on the fucking dock and we were fishing for bat rays? You told me you were going to get a house here. Yeah, I never forgot that.

And he goes, dude, that is crazy shit. But it's just one of those things. And I'm not leaving Huntington. I live in the harbor. I own a fishing boat. Now my kids are the rich little prissy kids. But he's not the prissy kids. They're the little rich kid that, you know.

But it's just an opportunity. I'm changing the cycle. And I look at it. I worked hard to get where I am today. What's so great about Huntington Beach? No crime. Really? Yeah. Crime is very, very, like, I think it was 93. where I am today. What's so great about Huntington Beach? No crime. Really?

Yeah, crime is very, very, I think it was 94 to 97 is the safest world in the United States. Safest part of the United States? Safest city in the United States. Really? Yes. But the HBPD does an awesome job down there. And the city,

the little town I live in, or not town, little area that I live in, it's really nice. No gangs at all. No gangs there at all. Crime is pretty much nil. There's downtown. Kids get a little crazy. But I can say the HBPD does an amazing job down there just making sure it's very safe. kids get a little crazy, but like I said,

HPPD does an amazing job now of just making sure it's very safe. So to you, it's also sort of a sentimental thing, because that's representing the good times in your life when you were younger and now you're back there. Yeah, and you know, I have H and a B behind my arms. I know. It's the only tattoos I've ever had. Forever. You had that shit back in the day when I first met you. When I was 18,

I got it. It was the first tattoos I ever got. Wow. I like to beach represent. Yeah, it was forever. You know, I look at it and I don't forget where I came it. It was the first tattoos I ever got. Wow. I like to beach represent. Yeah, it was forever. You know, I look at it, and I don't forget where I came from. You know, I remember when I first became the world champion, and I was in Vegas, and I was partying. I was actually at Cheetahs, a strip club, and I seen Diamond Dollars Page there.

This one was in WWE. And I was like, I want to get in WWE one day. And he's like, let me tell you one thing, son. You're the champion right now, right? And I go, yeah, yeah, yeah. He goes, I give you one word of advice. No matter how famous you ever get, don't ever forget where you came from.

Because you'll be more successful if you never forget where you came from. And I always kept, I mean, shit, this is 14 years ago. So because of one conversation with Dallas Diamond Page, you have repped Huntington Beach. Hard since then. No, I've repped it no matter what.

I just never forgot where I came from. It's just always been an idea in my head. No matter how famous you get, no matter how much money you make, don't ever forget where you came from. Because there's guys that will make millions, and they'll bounce and say, fucking, I forget that neighborhood. I don't need that anymore.

That's me. I'm the first out. As soon as I get some money, fuck you. See ya. No, don't get me wrong. There's places that I would say grab your stuff and get the fuck out of there. Because there is some towns, you know, I mean, Detroit. I mean, there's places in Santa Ana.

I mean, there's places in the United States that's really hard. And I advise for, as parents, to get your kids out of there as soon as possible. If you get that opportunity, please do. I like moving, man. I think it's good. I wish I didn't have so many good friends in L.A. Because I like to live in a bunch of different places all over the country. When the weather's seven degrees year-round, there's no crime.

There's a beach. And I can drive an hour and a half to go to the snow you also drive five hours to get to la the fucking huntington beach traffic is brutal isn't it no from four until seven yeah yeah but thank god i started driving a period of 330 because i missed all of it you know it took me an hour yeah listen man thank you very much for doing this a lot of fun talking you. Anything else you want to say to these people before we wrap this bitch up? No, I just really appreciate all my fans through my career.

I appreciate you doing what you've done. I think the fans are very appreciative for having me on here. I am, of course. And thanks for Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White, Frank Fertitta for saving the UFC and giving me an opportunity to give my family what I've always wanted, and that's just being a loving father and to give them things that I never had as a kid, and that's love and wealth.

Tito Ortiz, bitches. Congratulations on a fantastic career and good luck in the future. And I know whatever energy that you put into becoming a champion, you put into anything else you choose to focus on. You're still a young man, man. You're crazy. You've got a crazy opportunity. You've got a whole new life now.

Yeah, I've got a whole new life. I'm excited. People say retirement. It's not retirement. I'm just graduating from fighting. I'm going on something. Yeah, but when they retire, they're old men. You're a young dude with some fucking crazy parts,

some bionic parts. Yeah, no, I've got some good stuff coming up. I've got some shows I'm doing, working on now, possibly with NBC. Good. Well, keep us posted, man. And if some shows I'm doing, working on now, possibly with NBC. Good. Well, keep us posted, man. And if you ever needed anything promoted, come on back, man. Oh, for sure.

Let me know. We'll blow it up on Twitter. Whatever we got to do. Before the year's over, for sure, I'm going to do that. Okay. And Huntington Beach Training Center? Punishment Athletics. Punishment Training Center.

Punishment Training Center. Yes. And then Punishment Athletics, of course, my clothing company. Of course, Punishment Nutrition. Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to get some fucking classes from Tito Ortiz himself. Yes. How awesome would that be? What days are you teaching that?

Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Yeah, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Go on down. Check it out, bitches. And thanks to Onnit.com for sponsoring. But thanks to Alienware MMA, too. Because Alienware, we've been using these computers here for a couple months now.

They hooked us up with them. And we're supporting them because they support fighters. Yeah, what's up, Alienware we've been using these computers here for a couple months now. They hooked us up with them and we're supporting them because they support fighters. What's up Alienware? I need some stuff. Hook Tito Ortiz up. Hook Tito Ortiz up bitches. But Alienware sponsors a lot of up and coming fighters and so we support them. If you follow them on Twitter it's Alienware MMA on Twitter. Just show them some love

ladies and gentlemen. I'm doing this right now. Let's do this. Let's do it. Alright, thanks to Onnit.com. If you're down with some alpha brain, true tech sport, true tech immune, new mood, or bone strong, use the code name Rogan and save yourself 10% off. Also, check out the kettlebells we got going on now

and battle ropes. All different sorts of sizes and packages for kettlebells, beginners and expert. And for battle ropes. The battle ropes are all completely new. The cheapest shit you're going to find on the internet, the best quality, it's all at Onnit.com. That's O-N-N-I-T.

All right, we'll see you freaks on Thursday with the great Tom Rhodes, great, hilarious, awesome, real international comedian and world traveler, and he's going to be here on Thursday. It should be a lot of fucking fun. We also have a Death Squad show tomorrow. Joe Rogan, Don Marrera, we got a possible Doug Benson, Brody Stevens, Ian Edwards, Christina Pajitski, and a possible

Tom Segura. Oh, that's a beautiful lineup. Ian Edwards, if you've never seen him before, is fucking hilarious. And of course, Don Marrera, all-time great. So we'll see Dirty Bitches on Wednesday. That's even before this. Yeah. Tomorrow at the Ice House. There's some tickets still available. We just announced it today.

Go to icehousecomedy.com and get your tickets, you dirty freaks. And the Ice House Chronicles podcast that we air simultaneously. How revolutionary is this, ladies and gentlemen? We have a fucking podcast that we do while we're doing a comedy show. The green room of stand-up comedians, or stand-up comedy clubs, rather, has always been the most fun for stand-up comedians.

It's a place where we fuck around before we go on stage. Everybody's laughing and joking around, and what we decided to do was turn that into a podcast. So it's called the Ice House Chronicles and it's only available through the Death Squad label on iTunes. So go check that out and support DeathSquad.tv, dirty bitches. Alright, we'll see you soon. See you tomorrow!

Ice House Chronicles. Available on this Ustream channel. Ustream.tv forward slash Joe Rogan. Alright. All right.