The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #35 with Israel Adesanya

Episode Date: July 10, 2018

Joe sits down with middleweight MMA fighter & kickboxer Israel "The Style Bender" Adesanya.

four three two one style bender ladies and gentlemen salute sir congratulations man thank you thank you your fight your fight friday night was um that was what you would call like a coming out party yeah in america in america yeah people got to see. First fight in Vegas. First main event. First top ten guy. And I feel like I got to kind of like shut a lot of people up because before that fight, a lot of people were kind of like, shit, it's too much. It's too soon. The hype.

Yeah. It's like, oh, he's this and that. And for me, I wouldn't take insult to it because they don't know. You know, you can't fault them for it. Well, you did a smart thing in the way you handled your transition to MMA, too. salt to it because they don't know you know you can't um you can't fault them for it so well you did a smart thing in the way you handled your transition to mma too i mean you really you really took your time and did it right when did you and i talked for the first time about this how many years ago 2015 i think yeah you hit me up on instagram and said you know when am i going to call one of your fights yeah and i was like yeah we'll take our time because my coach he's

the mastermind behind all this eugene behrman our time because my coach, he's the mastermind behind all this, Eugene Behrman. Without him, my career would be in the shitter. So he kind of let, just take our time.

There's no rush. Smart way to do it. 100%. You see, like looking for a fight, guys like, example, Sage Northcutt,

he's been up and down in the UFC fighting and like his rise and stuff like that. But you have to, you can't just come in here with like maybe three fights unless maybe like a Mickey Gall who also has extensive background

in something else like jiu-jitsu. But, yeah, I took my time, fought around the world, fought different body types, different styles. And then eventually I think the UFC was like, okay, what do you want? Come on. Like, let's go. Well, you built up a lot of hype outside. You built up some hype kickboxing. You built up some hype go. Well, you built up a lot of hype outside. You built up some hype kickboxing.

You built up some hype in MMA, but you built up a lot of internet hype. Yeah. There was a lot of highlight videos made of you and people like, oh shit, look at this guy. And then dudes were breaking down your videos, like breaking down technique. Like, look how he sets this up.

There was one that, was it Brendan Dorman? Who did it recently? Was it Lawrence Kenshin? No, maybe it was Brendan Dorman. I saw one yesterday. Yeah, Brendan Dorman? Who did it recently? Was it Lawrence Kenshin? No, maybe it was Brendan Dorman. I saw one yesterday. Yeah, Brendan Dorman. He did one where you set that dude up and then left high kicked him. Oh, no, that was Lawrence Kenshin.

It was Kenshin. Dude, those guys are so important. You know, fun fact about that kick. We're drilling it. Eugene taught it to me, that setup, probably seven days before. And he said, if this lands, it's a finisher. He said that. Wow. Whatever. And then in the fight the fight something happened and i didn't even think about it just boom and it landed and i hurt my foot on his head actually i actually hurt my because that was the

third fight of the night so it was a tournament so the final fight and i hurt my foot on his head and i was like okay because you kind of see me limp a little bit then i went in on him and just yeah finished it off that was a beautiful high kick, man. The way you set it up was so interesting, too, because you forced him into this weird battle of erratic movement. Like you did a lot of this with him. You got to take care of this first. A lot of guys think, like, with Faraz Zahabi, what he said, take care of this, scramble your brain. Dude, Faraz Zahabi is a treasure.

100%. He's a treasure. I like the way he thinks. I do, too. And I listen to that podcast. And, yeah, when he said that, I was like, that's what we do. I like to make these guys second guess themselves. Like, just get stuck.

Like, okay, he's right here. Like, fuck it, I got to reset right here. Okay, cool, cool. Oh, just got jabbed. And then they just get flustered. And they can talk all this stuff. Oh, we're going to do this and this and that. And it's different when you see it on TV.

Because I've had it done to me. I've got teammates that do it to me all the time. If I'm not on my game, they do it to me. I'm like, so this is what it feels like. I don't want to be

on the other side of that. If you come in over-trained or just sick or lazy. Dan Hooker will catch me on some days. Dan Hooker's a beast, man. That's my guy, bro. He's a serious dude.

So it's been like three weeks. Shane Young in Singapore. Myself, Friday night and Dan Hooker on Saturday. Dan Hooker's one of them guy bro he's a serious dude it's been like three weeks shane young in uh singapore uh myself friday night and dan hooker on saturday dan hooker's one of them never never celebrating the octagon guys either he's all angry even after he wins i call him vegeta i call him vegeta remembering um was it 219 he looked at you he told me it didn't mean to but he looked at you like do you know who i am now and threw his mouth guard at the cage but he said it went through the cage and hit you in the chest or something is that what he said to me do you know who I am now? And threw his mouth guard at the cage. But he said it went through the cage and hit you in the chest or something.

Is that what he said to me? Do you know who I am now? I knew who he was. Of course you did. But it's because the UFC wasn't really putting him out there. They're kind of

just sleeping on him. So he felt frustrated. Yeah, I get it. That's just because he's so ambitious. Yeah, 100%. But I don't have nothing to do with that.

Yeah, of course. I know. Third party. All I do is sit down and call fights. Me and him go at it. Me, Carlos. Me, of course, I know. Yeah. Third party. All I do is sit down and call fights. Me and him go at it. Me, Carlos. Me, John Vaca, BJ Bland.

Like, so many. People don't know yet. I've told them, like, when K-1 was the pinnacle of combat sports, right? New Zealand, Australasia was on top. You had Ray Seffel, Mark Hunt, Doug Viney, Jason Vymore, Jordan Tai. Guys from that side of the world, like, running it. And other sides of the world as well well but I felt like we fell off and then New Zealand combat sports kind of took a little a lull for a few years a long time and now it's we're doing it again like guys like me Dan Shane

Kai we're about to like take it to the next level and then bring bring NZ sports again all the way up well you know what's interesting is that New Zealand in particular, like you guys, there's something about having you guys come over here and there's not like a long history where people think of you know, like New Zealand MMA fighters, but New Zealand kickboxers.

I mean, it's one of the most rich environments. Like think about all the different high level kickboxers that came out of New Zealand or Australia for that matter. Australasia in general. Yeah, crazy. Crazy about all the different high level kickboxers that came out of New Zealand or Australia for that matter. Australasia in general. Yeah. Crazy, crazy number of like really high level kickboxers.

Like when I came to help rumble with his camp for John Jones, cause Rashad linked it up and said, you should come help us out. And I said, yeah, sure. So into black zillions when it was still around and I was surprised. I was like,

man, the standup in America is not is not even close on our level. The grappling, the wrestling, because you guys have it in schools and all the Brazilians come here and open schools and stuff like that, but the stand-up was not on our level. So I told Eugene that and he's like, good,

I wanted you to know that because Doug had the same thing when he went to Vegas and then he saw like, man, these guys, their stand-up's not really on our level. So we've always had that. I don't know where it comes from. There's like a whole lineage of it.

Even Ray Seffel, we come from the same school. Sure. BLG school. But yeah, grappling and stuff, I feel like we were behind at first because of, you know, internet. We get seminars and shit like that. And I've got obsessive trainers like Adam Johnson. He's my jujitsu coach in a way.

And he's just obsessed so they're constantly like upgrading everything and I think it went for him I didn't really get to use my jiu-jitsu much a little bit in that fight but he the takedown defense that's all Andre as well my wrestling coach he's a Romanian guy so we're we don't need to like go anywhere else I felt like we've we've got people where we are we're stacked enough to be able to Level up and compete with the rest of the world Well, if you've got someone like Dan hooker in your camp just that alone when you have guys like you and him together That's what forces everybody to the next level and everybody around you will rise up to they'll see what you're doing They'll see your fight with Tavares to see some of your fights online

They'll see you in the gym and you when you have a guy like that in the gym I've always experienced this in juiu-jitsu and everything else. Everybody else's level rises up to try to catch up to that guy. 100%. Because all they see, like you guys, what the world sees is just us on TV. And then they see, like, the highlights, the cool stuff. But my teammates get to see me fuck up all the time. They see me get my licks.

Of course. So when they see all that stuff, then they see me on the world stage kicking ass. And they're like, man, of course, I can do this. Like Brad, Brad Riddell, bad-ass kickboxer, world champion, one of my teammates, a little angry panda, but he's making his move to MMA now, right now. But he's another one of those guys that kickboxing doesn't really do it for him. He's built like a Chad Mendes type guy, short, stocky, pretty thick. And he can wrestle, but no one knows it yet.

So whenever he comes into MMA or the UFC, then everyone's going to be like, okay, take him down. Let's see what can happen. But, yeah, they find out eventually. There's guys from that section of the world. I mean, you really stop and think about between New Zealand and Australia, how many world-class kickboxers? Holy shit.

A lot. Yeah, and they've run through, not just from this era, but even back in the day. Right, Dennis Alexio, right? Yeah. He wasn't? Yeah, right? I think so.

See, for me with kickboxing, I know. Or is he from Hawaii? I know, like, say, up to Ray Seffel's days, like Mark Hunt, but I never really invested in K-1 back in the day. I think I'm thinking of Stan Longinidis I think Stan Longinidis was from Australia but I know like there's a there's a deep uh rooted history in kickboxing in Australia and all that kind of stuff why what happened there how'd that get started idea that's the thing I could sit if you want to speak to someone usually would be the guy or Tojo they're the guys that have the

history just up here but for me I just came in and I enjoyed it and I jumped in the pool. Well, from the United States, there are some big kickboxing camps, but also you get a lot of guys who have come here from Holland and from other kickboxing rich places and tried to enter. Like Harry Hooft. He's another guy right now. Sure, sure, sure. And, of course, guys who fought over there and came over here like Alistair

and guys who entered into MMA. It's just – it is interesting that, you know, for MMA gyms, there's like a certain level of striking. And then you see like a Nikki Holtzkin will come and start training with those guys and you realize, oh, Jesus. He was there when I was there. I was watching, yeah, a little bit of his sparring. He's good.

What's happening to him now? I haven't seen him in a while. I think he's boxing now. Really? Yeah, I think he – Like Tyrone. Yeah, I think he's boxing now For real? Yeah, I think he Like Tyrone Yeah, I think he's decided That there's more money in boxing

Yeah And, you know, he's winning He's got good hands as well He does He's got a nasty left hook Yeah, that body rip Yeah, I like his style But I think kickboxing

Like, if I wanted to take The boxing blueprint I could have done that Because I'm 6-1 in boxing as well So I could have done that And just got built up Fight, like, you know cans, fight some champions, local champions, some national champions, and eventually on the world stage.

But for me, I never wanted to feel vulnerable. I never wanted to feel like another guy could kick my ass in another... Floyd Mayweather, they're about to do this fight with McGregor part two, and they had all these stupid rules. I think that was all fake. Yeah, I know. But even the idea of it, I'm like, if you're going to do it, just jump in. What are we doing?

It's like, okay, you're a man. Fuck you. We're going to do it. Man to man. But no kicks, though. No kicks, though. No knees. No elbows.

And I had that. I don't understand. I'm like, if you want to prove you're the best fighter, you have to fight people from other codes. Right. And at the UFC, that's the highest level. Have you entered into any wrestling competition or jiu-jitsu competition? Grappling competitions I have. I normally place. Submission grappling?

Yeah, submission. I've never been first, but I'm either second, third, or somewhere else. But yeah, I've only ever done maybe four or five in my career. You have a specialty, though. And I or five in my career you have a specialty though and i've always felt like guys who have a specialty if they can get to a certain amount of good at this other thing without abandoning their skills as a specialty they're always gonna have that giant advantage i agree it's just the same thing whatever got them to what they're good at and they say boxing wrestling they can do the same thing like gary tonin was a fight he um

had a one fc or one one championship and knocked the guy with the one two yeah that wasn't a jiu jitsu style punch that wasn't like a amateur like a guy who's never striked a strike before he actually looked like he was flowing well with a stand-up and that's because he same thing happens in jiu-jitsu or whatever you know this whatever made him great at grappling can make him great at stand-up as well yeah for sure i mean it I mean, obviously there's the added element of getting hit that some people can't psychologically handle as well. Yeah, we know those. Yeah, it makes a big difference. I used to be, but then it went.

Like now, if I watch my fight after it happened, I look. I keep looking at what's happening. I'm searching for people. I'm searching for shots or whatever but a lot of people kind of like either flare um close up or they not turn away but like they're just trying to use the wall and you can't really use that in in mma because the gloves they don't help but in kickboxing you can just like right i saw you were there in um la when i fought um for the glory world title yes that kind of style like you can just juggernaut yeah down and beat the legs or whatever exactly the big gloves

you can still find your ways around them and i they made this the ring was probably if you put three of these tables together that was the ring it was a smaller they're trying to rope you in i cracked i cracked the code i was able to get my footwork around them even this cage was big enough for people that was the cage smaller i was like yeah but it was big enough for me the thing about that palms cage that i really like is i feel i feel like it's the right size i feel like the setup i feel like the you regular ufc cage is big and i like that it's big but it might be too big yeah my kid wasn't too big for me it was it was small but it wasn't like oh my god yeah like in the phone before no i mean it looked like you had massive a lot better than a kickboxing ring yeah i mean think about that

it's very rare you get a boxing ring that has anywhere near the kind of distance from corner to corner. Yeah. But the UFC, there's some pros and cons, I think. But it's a con when it's a fight like Ngannou versus Derek Woods. That's when it's a con. I have a video of me before that fight. I was yelling, somebody's going to die. I know.

Everybody thought that. Dude, coming into that that fight when I saw Francis weigh 253 I was like oh shit he's in shape he's normally he looked jacked

he looked like he took it very fucking serious I thought he was gonna realize that he got out wrestled and out conditioned he's gonna come back

guns blazing and try to put a beating on Derrick Lewis but he was so tentative even with a fight like Stephen Waterboy Thompson and Darren Till, that fight, people were like, it was boring.

I was like, hell no. Like, I enjoyed that fight. It was just small margin for error. Two stand-up guys who, you know, you can understand the game where it's like the full placement, you know, feints, all that kind of shit. And then people were like, you know, that sucked. I was like, well, you don't understand, you know, striking on that level. But that Derek Lewis fight and Francis

was like, I tried and just it was just, yeah. It was weird. It was the number two least amount of strikes landed ever in a three round fight. Damn. Yeah. And they're both beasts. They're both motherfuckers. I know. They've both been in crazy fights. They've both been in nothing but exciting fights.

Yeah. Except for, you know, some brief moments. So it's just a psychological issue I guess who knows they said it was to you like if he had like a PTSD from his last fight like shit I don't want to like get hurt again or whatever but he took a beating in that last fight as well he did people don't realize he did he got fucked up in that fight like five rounds what people don't realize. He did. He got fucked up in that fight. Five rounds. What people don't see is how he felt after six hours later,

10 hours later, 24 hours later when his head's pounding and he's got to close all the drapes. Yeah. No light. Yeah, no light.

It's life, huh? Yeah, man. I want to be a fighter. He's only been doing it for five years. That's what's really crazy. And that's the thing. Look at him. I'm the runt of my people. You go to Nigeria, he's only been doing it for five years. That's what's really crazy. And that's the thing. Look at him.

I'm the runt of my people. You go to Nigeria, there's literally pics of the litter. When I went back there, I'm like, you should not be playing football. Big money in it, but I think MMA, you can just grab any of those kids and give them some boxing gloves, show them how to sprawl, show them how to wrestle, and they're beasts. Ten Inganas, ten Jon Joneses just walking down the street. I had the same size head, and I was just a skinny boy,

so I looked like a lollipop. I was a runt, bro, honestly. Just a runt of the little boy. I had to work. I had to develop. I think maybe around 15, I started to get taller. So every time I'd come back from school or from a holiday after school, I was like, dang, you got taller.

Dang, you got taller. And then somehow I just filled it out realized i got athleticism and then later on like i was never the athletic kid playing basketball or anything like that i was just the the runt when did you get into martial arts i started in taekwondo when i was a kid just because after school programs and it was fun such a good one for kids man yeah it was fun that's why i liked that yeah all that kind of stuff yeah it was cool but um yeah and then i think i almost got my yellow belt then my mom kind of pulled me out because i was just wrecking shop around the house kicking everything i broke my arm doing backflips off the couch oh and she was just like nah no more and um yeah i found you know unblock the Tony Jaa film. I found that maybe in 2008.

Yeah, 2008, early 2008, I found that. And I was about 18. And I was like, yo, this is cool. I don't know what this is. And then I found out it was Muay Thai. I found a Muay Thai gym. And then six weeks later, I had my first fight. Wow.

Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I found a video of that first fight, actually. I'll throw it up one day. How old were you? 18. I was 18. Wow. Yeah. But I'm glad. People first fight, actually. I'll throw it up one day. How old were you? 18. I was 18.

Wow. Yeah. But I'm glad. People are like, oh, isn't that a little bit too late? But I'm glad that happened because I didn't feel like I was worn out. Because I've seen some kids who, protégés, fighting from the age of 12 or 10. And they're in those smoker shows. And they get to a certain point and they're just like, I want to do something else.

Not all of them. Some of them. Yeah, they get burnt out. And then sometimes they come back as well. But sometimes they just find, I'm sick of just like I want to do something else not all of them some of them Yeah, sometimes they come back as well, but sometimes they just find I don't I'm sick of this You know, I want to do something else you find that a lot with like sons of trainers Yeah, it was actually the son of one of my my first trainer and he's doing something else now But yeah for me, I think 18 was a good year like good age to start and I just felt fresh It was something I wanted to do after my first fight I was just chasing that again, that feeling.

Because I've always been a dancer as well, so I like that roar of the crowd. So after my first fight, again, people were like, bro, that was sick. And I'm like, what the fuck did I do? I don't remember it.

You just went into a zone? Yeah, bro, I was scared. The guy looked like David Tua. You know when David Tua had that haircut? Yeah. And he was not 80 kgs. He was probably like maybe 92. What is 92 in pounds?

Kgs, pounds. Okay, maybe 205. So 80 kgs would have been like, say, 185. 175 or something. So he was way overweight? Yeah. But my trainer kind of just, he was a crazy dude. So he just let it go.

And you have to realize, at a certain point, I realized, okay, this is not the guy to get me to that level I want to be. So I left and I moved to Auckland, New Zealand. Auckland, the main city. Was your trainer encouraging brawls too much or what was it he wanted me to fight his style like what was that uh like he'd always tell me like you need to have your hands up and you know he was a real purist of muay thai so he wanted me to have that you know like the sway and stuff like that and that's the difference between someone that wants you to fight like them and someone like eugene my coach when he first saw me he's like cool we can work with that like he will he never try to make me fight any and like like him he never tried to make me do anything like this

guy he just said okay i want you to jab like this and it would almost be like trying to get someone to write songs like the songs they write exactly it's like this is expression this is art let me do me and it really is yeah and he could never understand it he's like put your hands up and i i like my people say y'all and people still say get your hands up i'm like that's textbook i don't read the text but i had a look at it it was all right i like the balance i feel when i'm over here like my takedowns i was able to stuff them because my hands are already low and i can still shell up when i need to i can still find hands up when i need to but i like there's a different consideration when you have to stop takedowns yeah 100 yeah even the kickboxing my hands were always down a lot of the times

having the ability to get an underhook or double underhooks quickly yeah but in kickboxing i like my jab from there from the lowest from right can't see where it's going it's there's definitely pros and cons to everything but a guy who's got the kind of speed that you have can take advantage many times more of having hands low. It really depends. I mean, look at Roy Jones. How the fuck can you say hands down's no good? Roy Jones Jr. kept his hands down all the time. He had the eyes as well.

I think you can train the eyes, because my eyes weren't, I always had quick reflexes, but I think you can train the eyes in certain ways. Roy could just land that lead left hook like a jab. He throws it like his shoulder. It would just snap in there, man. Crazy.

I remember that one with the four right hooks he hit that guy with. Remember he had giant biceps, but he didn't have big triceps. Everything was hooks. It was all from throwing punches in the back. It's a lead one as well. That's the thing. Most people were always leading with jabs as well. So that would never help him.

Lead, left, hook. That was something different at the time that no one could figure out. They couldn't crack the code. Roy Jones Jr. in his prime. People, people. It's like his song. It's like his song. Y'all must have forgot.

Oh, they forgot. That's what it is. Y'all must have forgot. That was his song. Yeah. Because people did forget. But the first boxer I ever saw when I was a kid, because I never really watched fights. I was playing with sticks, toys sticks toys whatever making my own shit

But I saw Prince Nassim Hamed and I remember this when I was about four but he was because I've always seen boxing on TV But he was the first box I saw that just made me pause and watch and just smile and laugh like what is this? Oh, he was doing crazy shit Yeah Just cuz the way he moved and guys have always I've always been drawn to guys like that like Ali Even Rashad when he was in his shit. Just because the way he moved. And guys have always, I've always been drawn to guys like that. Like Ali, even Rashad when he was in his prime doing his thing. Roy Jones,

you know, like Pernod Whitaker, Sweet Pea. Dude, people forgot about Whitaker. Exactly. It slept on him. That shoulder roll.

I mean, he was a master at that. Before we really saw it from Mayweather. Mayweather obviously has mastered it better than anybody. He gets hit less than anybody that's ever lived. Yeah. You think about the fact that guy is 50 and 0. And really, I mean, you think about.

Still talks well. He's not slurring. Talks great. Can count. Yeah, I mean, Conor clipped him with one left hand, like real clean. And that was it. The uppercut. Yeah, I mean, he hit him with a couple other punches.

But none of them were, like, dangerous. He rolled with them. Yeah I rolled with everything. I fucked up in my fight because I at one point after I felt his jab I was like you know what I can just close the distance a little bit more and then that's how I got the shiner right here but the right hands this right side's fine because I was just rolling with a lot of them I was rolling with a lot of them. So you just underestimated his jab? I underestimated his head movement at first. So in the beginning, he was moving away from my jab. And then Eugene said, all right, drop it down.

Drop it down to the chin a little bit. And I did. But eventually, I could adjust. I think from round two, I figured out the range. But his jab, it wasn't as powerful as I assumed it would be. So I thought, oh, I can just take and give. And that's how I got the shine. I ran into one of them. But, yeah, it was a big mistake, silly mistake.

So on the same card, Uriah Hall fought Paulo Costa. Oh, yeah. That's a lot of people are thinking that might be the next fight for you. I told Dana. Funny story. So we went to – after my fight, I chilled in my hotel room, just hung out with my boys. But then after dan's fight we went out and um someone told me oh dana's in this club he's the same i was like oh cool

that's whatever and when i got some money and i was talking to the guy that led me and then because he found out i'm a usc fighter he just led me to the private room and i see mcmahon i'm like what the hell and then we just start yarning talking to people and he's like i introduced you to dana and i finally meet dana, and we start talking. And I drop this name in there. I say, yeah, I want to fight Paula next. And he's like, they have other ideas. Fair enough.

But they've done this a long time. They're promoters. So I think what they want is me being a bigger name, Paul being a bigger name, and we fight like in some super fight. And I can see why that. But for me, I want to take him out now. He just knocked out Riyah Hall, who was talking mad shit as well. But, yeah, I want to take him out now. Because he's going to probably fight again.

We'll probably fight more than once because he's one of those guys, well, we'll see what happens, how long his UFC career lasts. But I think he'll probably fight, me and him will probably fight more than once. Yeah, I would imagine that as well. I was very impressed with him versus Uriah Hall it was interesting because the contrast between your fight on Friday night and his fight on Saturday night that was just a brawl like a technical brawl he got hit with a lot of jabs but he is a relentless marauding motherfucker that guy's he's very aggressive yeah and this thing is free footwork Uriah Hall, I was watching him,

I'm like, why are you right there? It's easy to look good against someone who just sits right there like a punching bag, you know? Uriah had tremendous potential

when we saw him in the Ultimate Fighter. We all saw it. But it also might be similar to what you were talking about with Sage Northcutt, who I also think

still has tremendous potential and still very young. I think there's an approach to take that you took that I think is really smart. You know where I got it from? One of the talk shows, UFC talk shows, Kenny Florin just said it. He said, get your experience outside the UFC before you go into the UFC. Wise words. Ten fights, nine fights, and just fight a lot of good guys.

Not just like, you know. Listen to me, man. You don't want to fight you on your second fight, right? Imagine, imagine you're a guy, you could throw a couple of good punches. You think you're a badass.

And then your stupid coach says, okay, you're going to fight this guy. They call him the style bender. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

I'll fuck up and do anybody. I'll fight anybody. I'll fight for the title. My mentality. Yeah. Those guys, they get lit up and they don't understand. They really don't understand.

Jump in the pool too quick. I had a conversation with a friend of mine who was a jiu-jitsu, he was badass jiu-jitsu, and he said he was going to go into MMA and I'm like, okay, how long have you been training striking? And he's like, well, you know, he goes, for the last four months, pretty regularly. Four months. I go, are you out of your fucking mind? I go, listen to me, man. He was a black belt in jiu-jitsu.

Like, nasty on the ground. I go, think about what you could do me man he was a black belt in jiu jitsu like nasty on the ground I go think about what you could do if I was a white belt and I came in here and I didn't know shit and I was like a strong guy maybe you know played basketball

or something like that I was just athletic and I tried to fight you how bad would you fuck me up on the ground right now think of someone doing the exact same thing

like that to you with stand up because you don't understand that there are guys who can do that to you there stand-up because you don't understand that there are guys who can do that to you there's tyrone spong there's you there's these high level kickboxers that you don't have a chance you think you have a chance because you're fast you don't have a chance you're gonna get hit you're gonna get fucked up and you're gonna get hit multiple times and they're gonna chip away at you until they decide to move in for the kill and then they're

gonna fuck you up there's not a damn thing you could do about it and it's almost the same as him grabbing a white belt letting him flail around and then eventually choking him it's an inevitable thing but the weird thing is some people don't see that they don't see that someone could do to them in a certain art they don't study objectivity yeah that's the thing like for me i'm always thinking like in anything why am i doing this why am i feeling this way right and that's why i said i moved to mma because i just know i want to be the best you know i could have been the best kickboxer ever i could have been the best boxer as well but i just thought in my heart there's a guy who could fuck you up exactly no just on the ground i've seen so many

street fights so many street fights i'm like dude okay just push your knee down you know like just holding each other and just hitting hitting i'm like you can easily just choke the guy right now if you knew what you were doing. That's what makes a champion. 80% of street fights end up on the ground, and people don't know what they're doing. So I just felt like I never want to be in a situation where a guy gets me in an alleyway and tries to fuck me up and just snap my ankle or some shit. But I just feel like I want to be able to be well-versed, take care of all areas. And I'll probably never get there, but I'll die trying.

Well, how old are you now? 28. I'll be 29 in a few years. You're still at least a year or two years away from your supposed physical prime, right? An athlete, they say that for a professional athlete, obviously they say, everybody's different. But there's something around age 30 to 32 where your mind and body catch up and you have a window there. Like Anderson Silva when he was like 30 to 32.

Woo! Just going. I remember that. Longest reign. You would watch him and just really put your hands to your head and go, geez. The first one I saw live was UFC 90. He fought Patrick Ote. Oh, that was an interesting one.

Yeah. But like for me, that first round. He fought Patrick Ote. Oh, that was an interesting one. Yeah, no, but like for me, that first round. Very smart. But that first round, he used like probably seven different styles to just hit him.

And then, I keep saying he used telekinesis on his knee. He just blowed it out. But like. Patrick had a fucked up knee going into that fight, I think. Already, yeah. It's hard to tell,

but it just seemed like he gave out. It was a good fight. It was a good fight. He just stood on it and just like, ah, fucked up. I think he went to like throw a front kick and it just buckled on him and popped out. Yeah, no, but like that fight, that first round, the way he just stood on it and just like ah yeah i think he went to like throw a front kick and it just buckled on him and popped out yeah no but like that fight that first round the

way he just handled him i was like that yeah that's the guy you know what it really did open up the recipe to giving anderson trouble though because the recipe to giving anderson's talus latest opened it up and so did patrick cote no but the real key was don't engage because Because if you chase after him, he's going to fuck you up. Countess Stryker. Forrest Griffin, all these different people that came at him. For sure, Chris Lieben. The first one, 90 seconds. That was the recipe for disaster.

When I saw that fight on paper, I was like, oh, this is crazy. You got a guy who's like the most reckless, iron-chinned marauder in the UFC, and you're putting him up against a guy who's like a ninja reckless iron chinned marauder in the ufc and you're putting up him against a guy who's like a ninja and this is gonna be crazy and this is a perfect fight it was a perfect fight in terms of like you want to see like the effectiveness of like high level timing speed and perfect technique like whoa yeah and the way he did it as well was clean i think he only got hit once that fight he landed like 100 100% of his shots in that fight. Yeah.

It was beautiful. It was crazy. And that's our style. I was a counter striker at first. That's when I started. I was always like, I'll wait for guys to come in. Here it is right here. I remember calling this.

I remember telling people because I was afraid. I was a fan of Anderson's from watching him fight in England. Look at that jab. I was a fan of watching him fight in England in Cage Rage and watching him fight in Pride. And I remember saying this, ladies and gentlemen, this is a different kind of striker. This is one of the first times you've got a high level. Look at the looks he's giving him as well. The shoulder feints.

And the lightness of his feet, man. The lightness. It's that bounce. He's on. People forget, man. Look how good he is. Ping. He's over.

Yeah, ping, ping. Look at that. Come on, son. Wait for him to get he is. Ping. He's over. Yeah, ping, ping. Look at that. Come on, son. Wait for him to get up again. And that knee. Ping, ping, ping. Shit. Ping, ping.

This is perfect. This is beautiful, bro. I mean, come on, man. Almost every shot lands. He's not getting hit. It's incredible. Ready? Doosh.

And it's over. Insane. And Chris was a beast, man. He could take a shot. He could take it all the time. There was one with him. It was not Mike Easton. It was a guy. He rocked him shot He could take it all the time There was one with him It was not Mike Easton It was a guy

Rocked him And as he's moving back As he's hurt And he drops the guy Knocks him out Cold Yeah no Chris could take a tremendous shot

He had an unbelievable heart But Anderson I feel like in that That's my argument For Anderson being the GOAT Yeah There's moments I think he is

That he had It's him and Fedor Right Yeah I saw his kid the other day after my fight i didn't wreck it i was like in the elevator i was like you're anderson's son he's like yeah baby goat but the only other person is the current guy is is mighty mouse the only argument against mighty mouse is he's cleaned out division now he doesn't have uh a chris weidman

you know a guy who's trying to fuck him up he doesn't have like someone who you really give a chance someone on his level, quote unquote. Right. I mean, there's never been a situation where Mighty Mouse had a chale son and who had him down on points in the fourth round, fucking him up, and then he catches him in a triangle. Not that flyweight. Flyweight. And he dominates, man.

He just runs through people. Is he going to fight, what's his name? T.J. Cejudo. He's fighting Cejudo. Yeah, Mighty Mouse is fighting Cejudo in a rematch, which he stopped. He's got better. Yeah.

Cejudo got better since the first fight. Yeah, Cejudo's an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling. That's all you need to know. And his stand-up as well is clean. He's kind of improved. I'll give him credit. The Wilson Hayes fight? Yeah.

He looked like Machida. I like his flow, yeah. He was crazy. He was almost like McGregor or Machida. He had that sideways stance. Just that flow, the in and out. Yeah. He was almost like McGregor or Machida. He had that sideways stance. Yeah, it was weird. So he can learn fast. That's another guy.

Great at wrestling. Transfer that greatness into learning stand-up. And now just mixing them together. That's the thing. If you have to learn, like GSB did, just learning how to mesh them together without getting stuck or thinking too much. Just flowing with it.

Yeah, that's the key, I think. Particularly the Wilson Hayes fight because it showed that he can adjust his style pretty radically. When he walked out like this, I remember going, whoa, what is this? This is karate, man. This is crazy. Game credit where credit is due. Well, again, when you're a gold medalist in the Olympics in wrestling, that's a special kind of human being.

That's next level. It's just a special kind of human being. Even the wrestling training I do now, I'm like, fuck. Sometimes. We have on Wednesdays, on Wednesdays,

it's VO2 Max, called a rape wrestle Wednesday, just because it's like, airdyne, and then wrestling. It's two minutes on the airdyne, going hard with the heart rate monitor, trying to get to the red zone,

and then wrestling for two minutes, trying to get to the red zone. And shout out to Kevin, Kevin Bentley. He's the guy that showed me the most this camp. So, you know, my hips were on point because every time I'd like stuff a takedown, get back up, boom, another one. And I have to like, Jesus Christ, just leave me alone because he's just on you like a blanket. Like a blanket.

Yeah. So that kind of work is hard. So imagine being a gold medalist, what kind of wrestling training it takes to get to that level. Imagine being a gold medalist, what kind of wrestling training it takes to get to that level. Well, that's why when you see a real high-level wrestler against almost everybody else, they have such a noted advantage in the clinch, like Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic this weekend. I mean, Dominic Cruz, we're very fortunate to have a guy that knowledgeable. Because Dominic's knowledgeable about basically everything.

He started out as a wrestler, but he understands MMA as good as anybody that's ever talked on the mic about MMA. Yeah, I've talked to him. He's very clued up. So when he talked about, like, he showed me some stuff that I hadn't caught about Daniels giving up the underhook so that he could limp arm, and then Stipe would run right into the right hand, and they had it all timed out. Okay, I've already broken down the fight. I was just already lit by that time.

Crazy, crazy. I was yelling off down the fight. I was just already lit by that time. Crazy. Crazy. I was yelling off my face just like, wow. Dude, when he connected and then he hit him, I don't even know if I said anything because I remember I was going like- I thought it was going to be five rounds. Five rounds. It was almost like there was a deja vu moment. Like the world just changed.

Holy fuck. Did he just knock him out? I don't know. It was so close. Like, oh! Dead on the ground. John Anik stands up. There's a picture I put on Instagram.

That is a beautiful picture because they've been working together for so close. Like, oh! And John Anik stands up. There's a picture I put on Instagram. That is a beautiful picture. Because they've been working together for so long. When John Anik stands up and DC looks at him when they look at each other. It's beautiful. Look at that picture. Come on, man. Because who the fuck else is a two-time world champion in two divisions? And also a commentator.

Currently. And a great one. Working two jobs. God, I love that guy. What a good guy. And I like the fact that he's chunky as well. Chunky's a nice way of putting it. Nah, honestly, he's chunky.

If that was a girl, what would you call her? Thick. He a thick boy. He doesn't give a fuck, man. This ain't even fat shaming. That's the goddamn two division champion. He's a champ champ. He's a nutritionist. He says he's 246, but he doesn't move like 246. I was like, yeah, 100%.

So it's deceptive. You look at him like, even Mark Hunt, he's another guy like that. But last Saturday, the way he was moving. Well, Javier Mendez was talking about it in camp. And so was Bob Cook. They were telling me after the fight, they go, dude, at heavyweight, he's knocking everybody out in training partners. Y'all must have forgot about Strikeforce.

How about that? They forgot about Strikeforce. They forgot about undefeated Strikeforce fucking Grand Prix heavyweight champion. Tossing out Burnett. Woo! Bigfoot dropping him. All that kind of shit. I was like...

And that was Burnett with five rounds. And he wasn't even like... That was early in his MMA career. Yeah. So I was like, you guys don't understand. So I thought it was going to be DC putting him against the fence, grinding him out for five rounds, and still beating him up, like fucking him up. And back and forth, but knockout in the first round.

That was just crazy crazy I thought if DC was gonna win it what was gonna happen was they were gonna get into the second and third

and they were gonna start getting tired and DC's wrestling was gonna take over yeah I thought he was gonna go five rounds unanimous to DC

but I felt like he had to somehow or another wear Stipe out a little bit before he gets takedowns and get him down. Yeah, push him against the fence.

Yeah. That would be the smart thing to do. But I thought it was real dangerous to end it up because Stipe's knocked out Junior Dos Santos. And he's longer. Knocked out Alistair Overeem. Knocked out Fabricio Verdum with one punch. I mean, you think all the people Stipe's knocked out, you go, damn, and DC's coming up as a

light heavyweight? Yeah. You want DC? Only time we ever seen DC hurt was with Rumble, right? Yeah. Well, John Jones, obviously. John Jones head kicked him and knocked him out. That's right. Knocked him out. Yeah. Yeah. Can't forget that. yeah only time we ever seen DC hurt was with Rumble right yeah well Jon Jones obviously Jon Jones head kicked and knocked him out

yeah can't forget that Jon Jones capitalized brilliantly on a tendency you know he knew that DC had this tendency

they talked about it yeah leaning I saw that and what's interesting is that Dominic Cruz explained this to me

as well is that this is how DC prefers to set up the single and that he prefers to lean in lean in towards his right side DC prefers to set up the single and that he prefers to lean on that side lean in towards his right side and then dive in on the single that's his preferred technique he's very strong at dragging you to the ground from that position so he has a tendency everyone does every level even

Jon Jones myself when I was watching my fight I've only seen it once I was after the fight rewinding I took about an hour and a half to finish watching it, just rewinding, playing, drinking with my friends, whatnot. Because they understand. I just like to be by myself and just chill. So they're just doing their own thing, and then we're just playing games. But I watch it to see what I did right, and I enjoy it.

I was like, okay, this is what I did good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But then I see if I was fighting me hard, I'd fuck me up now. Ooh. Yeah. That's a good way of looking at it, man. I can see certain things. Okay, I need to work on tendencies,

certain tendencies and change it up, confuse people, scramble them. Some of the things I was doing in that fight I've never done in training because, example, elbow pads.

I haven't really worn elbow pads in training, just knee pads. I was using that Ong Bak elbow to set up how to close a distance and I was watching

and I was like, where did I learn that from? I don't know. I did it probably three times. I'd use the fake Ong Bak elbow to close a distance. And I was watching, I was like, where did I learn that from? I don't know. Like you watch, I did it probably three times. I'd use the fake on block elbow to close the gap and I'd gallop in and catch him with a right hand or something. But I never like certain,

certain things like that were things like they're good, but then I can't really say the kind of thing. Do you think that, but yeah, don't, but do you think that maybe that when you learn, it's almost like you're learning words, like in these words or techniques, and then combinations or sentences. And then in having the mastery of all these words, you just see a new sentence that you could say.

Yeah, I was like, oh, that's nice. You throw those, obviously, even though you don't do it a lot in sparring. You just see there's something he's doing. You're like, you know what, This is what I'm going to do. This and then come in here. Yeah. Like that one was nice, but there was one in my last fight before that in Arizona.

Sean O'Malley throws this like spin and then the head kick. And in the fight, I was like, it feels right. Boom. First time I ever landed it. And it caught him on the back of the head. I was like, oh, good. And I just kept on moving with it. Yeah.

And that was when Yair Rodriguez 360 roundhouse kicked BJ Penn in the face. I was like, you've got just kept on moving with it yeah when yair rodriguez 360 roundhouse kicked bj penn in the face i was like you gotta be fucking kidding me man because i was always wondering when are we gonna see this i've done one i knocked that i knocked down the heavyweight with like a tornado kick and i learned that about a month and a half before shout out to um david daffodil he's the guy he's a taekwondo champion from New Zealand. And he told me, because I used to throw it with the right roundhouse and then spin with it. And he said, that's too much telegraphing. You're showing the guy I'm going to kick you because he'll lean back and then you come back. So he said, go southpaw and use your torso.

So I'll give it away. You throw your shoulder, your left shoulder from southpaw. I throw a few right hands. So you kind of, I'm going to throw a right hand, and then spin. That spin right there. Oh, hey, Taekwondo national champion. So that spin right there generates the force, and I was able to knock down the guy with it.

I never hit anybody with that. I hit the heavy bag with that a lot. Exactly. Make sure they can't move. So I like to do it when they're against the fence or they're against the ropes, so that way they have nowhere to go or not as much space to move around.

But if you're in the open, it's hard to land that. You know what's really remarkably effective is that Raymond Daniels side kick to jump spinning back kick. I can do it on the bag on the fence as well. I definitely have did it in sparring before. But when I saw Rick Rufus, one of his first fights was a really important fight with a Thai champion. Where he was fucking him up in the first round. We played it back because it was a really interesting moment. I think on YouTube it's labeled as the most important fight in kickboxing.

And what it was was the first fight where we got to see Rick Rufus in his prime face a Thai champion. And this dude, and Rick was winning in the beginning, and one of the things that he hit him with, he did that touch side kick, spin back kick in the air. This is it. The fight to change history. Is this Lawrence Kenshin as well?

Yeah, Lawrence. That guy's a treasure. Love his work. Yeah, go Google him or check out his videos on YouTube. He's got so many awesome breakdowns. He and Jack Black. And I like the way they kind of work off each other as well. Like a lot of these guys, there're not really, there's no competition.

They're all working together for the very good. Well, they're all very important. And Robin Black as well. Like all these guys. He's crazy. Yeah. What I really love about Lawrence, though, is that, you know, he breaks down things and shows them in slow motion, as is Brendan Dorman and Jack Slack.

There's a lot of these guys that do this. What weight was that? I don't remember. Looks lighter. Yeah. I don't remember. I don't remember how much Rick weighed. I know he went up to like 200 pounds,

but I think he started out in the 60s or 70s at the most. This Thai guy's pretty thick. Check out the pants. Yeah, well, he didn't understand how to deal with the leg kicks. This was what chewed him up. But early in the fight, I think in the first round, see, what this is showing is how the Thai starts taking over with the leg kicks. But I think in the first round, see, what this is showing is how the tie starts taking over with the leg kicks.

But I think in the first round, he hit him with that side kick, jump spinning back kick to the face and really hurt him. This is Lawrence's breakdown. Instead, this is just going to show how he lost. See how he tried to throw that body kick. Checked. He got checked. Nice 4x2, though. Hit him with the – oh, nice.

Oh, he hurt him with that left hand. Yeah, 4x2. Yeah, he dropped it. Oh, nice. Oh, he hurt him with that left hand. Yeah, 4x2. Yeah, he dropped it. Oh, shit. Yeah. No, Rick had his moments in this fight for sure. And it showed just what a dangerous striker he was. But we just really didn't know back then about the leg kicks.

So interesting. Their ties, they're the ones. Yeah. I felt some tie guys, their legs. Their legs literally feel like just concrete. Yeah. They're broken down from years of getting kicked. And mine are all right. It feels like a stegosaurus's back. legs their legs literally feel like just concrete yeah they're broken down from years and mine all

right like it feels like a stegosaurus's back but sometimes when you feel it it's like steel dude i felt so the first time somebody kicked me in my leg i felt so vulnerable because i couldn't believe how easy it was 100 my first thought was god damn and i have to recalibrate everything i thought about fighting yeah i fought a karate guy ky a Kyokushin guy, on maybe two hours notice because my opponent decided at the weigh-ins, he's like, I'm not fighting him.

And just fought off. What did you do that made him say that? I'm black. I'm black. And then this guy, Jamie Eads, who I've fought,

I think, four times now. So he came over to corner one of his teammates, and he was a national Kyokushin champion. He's like, I'll fight him. Cool. Jump in the ring, and this padded fight, everything. Yeah, two leg kicks in.

I was like, whatever. I can keep going. And then by the fourth one, I remember like, ooh, okay. Don't do that again. And then from there, it was too late. That was only in the first round. He ate my legs. He ate my legs He ate my legs And I remember for about

Three weeks after that fight Walking was just I didn't want to walk Every time I'd be like Can you pass me this Or just like crawling places And I would hate walking But fun fact

How long About three weeks Maybe two Two and a half Three weeks after that fight And it's just You know your legs are dead Heavy

Filled with blood And it's just Any little movement Because your knees are dead, heavy, filled with blood, bruised. And it's just any little movement because your knees are swollen as well. Sharp pains. Oh, I hated it. Fucking hated it. How long did it take before you recovered? Probably, yeah, about three weeks, four weeks.

I heal quick. Like, honestly, it's weird. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, I don't know why. Do you know Randy Couture, when he fought Pedro, his old needed six months of rehab? Shit, six months. Six months. Damn, because he still has a dent in his leg, apparently, from that fight.

Shit. Dude, Pedro gave a dent to Kevin Randleman too. Shit. I never saw anybody kick a bag like Pedro. Yeah. Or kick a people. But I was at Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu in like the mid-90s. And Boss Rutten was running it back at the time.

And Pedro Hizzo was over there. And Marco Huas. Dude, they had this big ass 200 pound fucking heavyweight and pedro hiso folded that thing it made me so nervous was it hanging off the ground or was it yeah it was hanging off the ground but it was just this it was just a different sound it's a head i don't think maybe it's the bones i think it's just heavy bones as well he's a dense motherfucker he's a thick dude thick boy his legs were giant but it was there was a feeling of this very you know sometimes you hear someone or you see someone kick something or something you go oh i

could never that no one can take that you can't take that pedro had that he had that you can't take that he hit rico rodriguez once and rico was like fuck this i'm going down check out he's like i just you try to bring this guy to my guard he's like fuck you man i'm gonna stand up with you he hit him so hard That Rico stayed on the outside The whole fight He never really He never really

Completely committed To trying to win the fight Because it was just too dangerous That's a heavyweight right Yeah Is the guy with The problem PED problem

The wrong guy Rico Did Rico get popped For PEDs Maybe I don't know There's a documentary on them No no no

That's another guy from the UFC You're thinking of Mark Kerr Oh yeah No Rico I don't think Rico got popped ever But Rico was a Machado There's a documentary on them. No, no, no, no, no. That's another guy from the UFC. You're thinking of Mark Kerr. Oh, yeah. No, Rico. I don't think Rico got popped ever. But Rico was a Machado Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. He was a heavyweight champion. I think I'm an American wrestler.

I think Tim Sylvia beat him for the title. Yeah. Tim Sylvia, when he was at the top of his game, he was a big, giant motherfucker. Is he still fighting? No. Yeah, retired now. He's bow hunting. He's in Iowa.

He's all giant now. He's 300 plus. He's bowhunts in Iowa. He's all giant now. Shit. He's 300 plus. He's like six, six foot nine. He's a huge, huge, huge person. Yeah, big boy. I always looked at him. One thing I, he was just Gumby, like a big guy, but he could fuck people up. He could fuck people up.

Yeah, and he was real, like a, you know, like when you get a baby giraffe trying to figure out its steps, but he just knew how to move and how to use his Gumbiness to his advantage. trying to figure out its steps, but he just knew how to move and how to use his dominance to his advantage. Well, if you go to the golden age of Tim Sylvia, pull up Tim Sylvia KO's Rico Rodriguez. This is the golden age of Tim Sylvia. Back when Mexican supplements were more easy to come by.

I'm going to find another day. If you know what I'm saying. The drug test back then was like, they would make you fill out a piece of paper. Tell me what drugs you took. Hey, I passed the test I wrote zero yeah it was fucking

everybody was on the sauce honestly man with all the PD kind of talk for me I kind of I thought yeah some people you know

take steroids whatever but after I seen Icarus everyone's on steroids well everyone in a lot of countries bro holy shit how crazy was that documentary holy fuck I was just like everyone nah but like there's whatever but after i seen icarus everyone's on steroids well everyone in a lot of countries holy shit how crazy was that documentary holy fuck i was just like everyone not but like these the cheaters are always going to be ahead of the the solution the guys who are catching them so

whoever's on the new shit they can't get caught just yet till they update their testings yeah you know what i mean so it's like i watched that i realized if you have the team behind you and you have people who can fund it, everyone's on steroids. Don't you think that USADA, they hold their piss for a long time, right? Don't they hold your piss for like eight years? I tell them just, yeah, use it for research, whatever. Yeah, but I think they hold onto it just in case new testing comes out. Comes out so they can test it again.

They took gold medals away from two Russian cats in the 2000s because they went back and with new testing, I think they found epo in their system yeah it's a interesting thing that documentary was amazing it changed my opened my eyes and i had a piss test the next day as well i came to my gym i was like yeah i told the guy i've seen this i saw this on the documentary last night the little cup they were using so yeah i was like who knows who's on steroids now and when when you sort of came through, you know the guys that kind of like their bodies changed, some of the people dropped off. Radically.

Yeah. Radically. So quick. Really quick. And it's like, damn, I never thought. Yeah. Well, not just changed, but changed to the point where like you're not even the same person. The same person, yeah.

You're like doing an impression. And guys in their 20s doing an impression of who they were just a couple years ago on the sauce. Yeah. Weird. Shit's happening, man. Well, they got caught up in a bad loop. I'm snitching. I saw that thing with you and the golden snitch.

He's a man. He sent it to me. He was all excited. He texted me as well. He's laughing. He's laughing. Nowitzki's a good guy, man. He's got a bad reputation from a lot of people.

I can be cool with him because I know me. I'm not cheating. I'm not a guy that's never interested me more I mean now he's what is his official title it's like athlete those who are cheating wouldn't be hanging around him like the way I would or wouldn't be as friendly with him because they don't want him sniffing around well he's there to make sure that someone doesn't cheat on you too though 100% I'm like please I'm all mad at it What's that? It's on his Wikipedia What does it say? The Golden Snitch? Ah!

Ah! Ah! She snitched Jeffrey Jeffrey John Nowitzki The Golden Snitch is the Vice President of Athlete Health

and Performance for the UFC Holy shit Yeah Brendan Schaub Made it Look what you did Brendan Schaub Look what you. Look what you did. Brendan Schaub, look what you did.

Golden snitch. God damn, that's funny. Yeah. Oh, shit. I'm glad he's around, man, honestly, because, you know, I don't mind being an ambassador for the sport if it's, you know, like a clean sport. Because, yeah, back in the day, even as early as 2010, 2012. Hey, find that Tim Sylvia Rico Rodriguez fight. it's only on fight pass and that's it. I can't find it anywhere

Damn, he says I have a voice on YouTube for a lot of different. That's weird Like when you look at him talking this like oh right cuz you have so many times. Yeah, I know it's weird being here I mean, it's weird being here for me too man believe. Yeah, bro. I think freaks me out. I quit my job September 4th, 2013. Before I quit that job, I think you were the first podcast I started listening to. Now I've got a few others, like a whole list. But I remember having all of my headphones in my ear, just one, so I could focus on the other things. And my boss would just ride me for so long. Like, just take that shit out your ears.

Stop listening to music i'm like i'm not i'm just trying to be entertained so i don't go postable on you niggas honestly because that it was just you can enjoy what you do some people fight when i was living in china i knew a lot of guys that fought but they didn't enjoy it they just did it because it makes good money and they get paid and i'm like do something else but for me doing that job holy shit soul sucking every single day you know you wake up train and then it was just a block away and i'm like do something else but for me doing that job holy shit soul sucking every single day you know you wake up train and then it was just a block away and i'd walk to work and i just knew i was gonna get just ridden that day and man but it's kind of crazy now i'm checking in like

i'm actually out here like i've listened to this for so long and it's like yeah i belong here now like it's weird everything just seems normal good good that's perfect that means you hit the right time that means you've got a good sense of timing just like because sometimes like even in my room i had a nice suite for this one shout out to the ufc shout out there's that that main event status so i had like a nice little spot conjoined rooms with my teammates and sometimes i'll just overlook the t-mobile arena and just be like okay like we're like we've made it we're out here no like we're not done yet but like you're look the T-Mobile arena and just be like, okay, like we've made it, we're out here.

No, like we're not done yet, but like, but you're there. Yeah, you're in the hunt. Okay, let's go. And they just kind of

check back in. You're in the UFC and now, I mean, you had to break into the top 10 with that fight. I don't think the rankings have come out.

Fuck rankings, man. Honestly, like, it's so stupid. You know, they fucked up Paul Felder. Paul Felder would have

got that shot against Khabib in Brooklyn. That fight was a welterweight, so it shouldn't even affect the lightweight ranking. No, it shouldn't, but I'm not talking about that fight. The reason why Paul Felder didn't get that fight with Khabib when Tony Ferguson hurt his knee is because the Athletic Commission wouldn't recognize him

because he wasn't ranked in the top ten. They wouldn't recognize him to be able to fight. That would have been a great fight. The fight at Quinta was a fucking dope fight. He handled that well. Paul Felder is a big fucking lightweight, and Paul Felder has outstanding striking. That would have been a real interesting fight.

100%. So just because of rankings, they didn't let that go through? Just because of the rankings. Who makes the rankings? That's the only thing I want to know. Who decides who, what the, is it like a group of them? No, but like like what have they done what's their credentials where have they trained have they fought are they just like

analysts are they experts because it feels like if you want to be instead of figuring out who did it let's think about what you would do differently like what who do you think should be who do you think should be making the rankings maybe ex-fighters ex-fighters or like um someone who's been in the sport someone who's trained same thing like you said with judging someone who's actually like involved

that's a big one dude the judging scares the shit out of me man after my second fight in the UFC I fought in Glendale, right? it was a split decision I got

in my head when they said you know Israel 50 whatever oh sorry 39, 38 Adesanya

I was like oh fuck come on just don't because it's my win bonus I don't give a fuck about my record I'm just like don't, sorry. 39, 38. At a Sonia. I was like, oh, fuck. Come on. Just don't. Because it's my win bonus. I don't give a fuck about my record. I'm just like, don't fuck me out of my money. Don't fuck with my money. Like, one other incompetent judge and that would have been it.

Yep. Done. Yep. Only half my money. Yeah. And that would have pissed me off. Ooh, so crazy. So I was like, what have you done?

Like, how the fuck did I lose that fight in your eyes? It is one of the biggest problems the athletic commissions have. Can't they just like, it seems like it's too much work. Shouldn't it just be like maybe a group chat? Like, okay, let's change the 12 to 6 elbow. Who's agree? Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Cool.

Done. That's a no-brainer. That one's the dumbest one of all time. It takes so long to try and make any change in the sport. For years. Well, how about the weight classes? Jesus. Kevin Lee tweeted the other day

that there's something like 150 different fighters in between 155 and 170. I think he said more than that. You hear what Michael Chiesa said? What did he say? About him almost dying. Felt like he was going to die when he was cutting weight. Well, definitely don't fight at 155.

That's careful. You should be fighting at 170. It is scary. You should be probably fighting at 170 anyway. He wants a 165 class. I read on that tweet. Well, should be fighting at 170. It is scary. He should be probably fighting at 170 anyway. He wants a 165 class. I read on that tweet. Well, it's a good class. It should be 55, 65, 75, 85, 95, 225.

I can do 185 and 195. If that was me, I would take that. I would be jumping between those two. Yeah, why not? I mean, that's doable. I think the real problem is you give guys like 85, 205. That's 20 fucking pounds, man. That's a lot of weight.

Yeah. I walk around 205 if I'm healthy, like if I'm DC'd out. Well, that's good. That's a good amount of weight to cut. I bet when you get real lean, you probably lose like 6, 7. Then you're only losing really cutting like, what, 10, 10, 13? This camp, I didn't use a sauna. I didn't use a bath for this fight.

Nice. Normally, like the last two, I did, and I was underweight. And I only cut a little bit as well. But this one, I woke up on weight. Do you use an expert to help you, like a Lockhart or something? I'm going to maybe for the fight week use Lockhart next time maybe. But normally I just – I've done this for a long time, so I know my body. And I'm always accurate as well.

I can feel like I'm about 98 kg – oh, 93 kg today. I'm about 85 kg right now. What about rehydration? Yep, Lockhart Method, the old one. There's a whole system with the waxy maize, amino acids, eating pineapples with crackers and honey and whatnot. So I follow the list and my coach. Why pineapples with cracker and honey?

I don't know. It's on the list. It's a Lockhart one. So it's like carbohydrates from the crackers and honey. Talking to the wrong guy i would know all that kind of stuff like for me i just that's the thing i have guys like my coach eugene who knows why you know and he'll just tell me do this and i trust them right yeah but it's i know it's a lock hard method and they've updated it because i talked to ian and he said that was

the old one i sent it to him and he said they've updated it so i said okay next time probably i'll use them to for the fight week weight cut and then the rehydration i'll try the new one the toughest you've ever cut like how how have you ever gotten let me go back go back uh this is probably early on in my career no actually there was one in china where i fucked up i was fucking around um at the buffet or something maybe like the fight week you know and then I think I cut four cages in the sauna. It was easy on the last one, but before that,

I was just like mentally sitting there like, shit, never again. I'm never doing this again. And I start to like visualize the fight, like I'm going to make this guy pay. And I start to get delusional and delirious. But yeah,

four cages is not bad. I've heard worse. I've heard like six cages in a sauna. And that's a lot on like someone who's not even that fat or that 13 14 pounds how many kgs damn it? That's okay. I know how many pounds is that? Yeah, yeah, that's a lot 30 pounds take 2.2. So oh god, that's right. I'm going the wrong way I'm going the wrong way. Oh Here it is.

As you get closer to the actual weigh-ins, we cut back on the fat and start incorporating frozen fruits. Interesting. Something I use a lot is pineapple. The reason is dietary fiber will hold water. If I put a bunch of water into a bowl and lettuce is brown and wilted, the next day will absorb the water via osmosis and be good lettuce again. Whoa, I didn't know that. When you guys are near the end of your weight class, they are cutting back on how much water they take in so they don't have to worry about the body absorbing the water via osmosis to be good lettuce again well i didn't know that when you guys are near the end of your weight class they are cutting back on how much water they take in

so they don't have to worry about the body absorbing the water that means we can give them fruit the fruit which is going to help them fuel the brain interesting hmm yeah that interesting huh now what kind of shit do you eat like you want a very specific diet or i see food and i eat it i like food i'm hungry the best thing is like for me it's weird when you're not allowed it you want it more of course yeah like the like fight week when i get here and i start to like crave just the good stuff and i go on these instagram pages like tasty and i just watch and i save it and i write down what i'm gonna get when i get back home and then it's like food porn for real yeah you get a heart just thinking about it oh my god

and then after the fight once it's time to weigh in i'm good and i'm just all right eat healthy get it done i don't like pig out like even on the the one i get i got from lockhart it says do not eat pasta until after the fight because apparently that can slow you down no pasta no pasta in capital letters do not what about like maybe a quinoa pasta or lentil pasta that's that that'd be better i think just like regular grains yeah i think just like maybe pastry pasta that kind of stuff you ever have that ezekiel pasta not yet i like that one thing do you have any elk yes sir yeah how long are you here for i got a spot till thursday just can i do you have a place where you can cook yes oh dude i got you i got you i got it yeah okay the easiest thing i'll give you

is i'll give you some elk sausage that's the thing i'll give you is i'll give you some elk sausage that's the easiest to cook easy and uh i'll give you some directions and i'll give you elk steak and give you a direction do you have access to like a uh like some sort of a a grill with a lid on it we can get a temperature control grill like a barbecue grill yeah yeah we got one as long as you get you just want to make sure and you got to get a digital thermometer you want to make sure the meat stays somewhere under yeah you don't want to keep it yeah you want you don't definitely don't want to cook it past 120 degrees easy i can follow instructions okay i'm coachable i'm coachable i know you are you must be but you know you can't learn on your own yeah you know both the thing

about a guy like you that's interesting to me is like it's very obvious that you had very good technical training but then you deviated and you figured out your own creative path and something you said earlier which i think is really important and it's a good thing to hear for people who don't really understand martial arts is what you do really is an art i mean you're expressing yourself you know there's something i've always been and for a person like me who's a fan of that martial art and i understand what you're doing i watch it and i'm appreciating it it's like I'm watching ballet or a symphony I'm watching art I'm like oh look how he set up there was one time when you trapped his it trapped his wrist and cracked him in the elbow and I know what that is is that's like

almost like NLP cuz nor some people use things coming at them in a certain speed not my pop so what I did like he had his guard up, and I was just like, just give me your hand. Ba-boom. And I just hit him with it. Dude. So, like, he gave, you watch it, he kind of, like, just. Well, he thought you were going at a slow speed. Yeah.

And then he sped up at his own. And then he sped up at his own. Because I'm used, you know, he's used to the fast thing coming at him. And I was like, just give me your hand. Well, that's the change-up in baseball. Yeah. They throw a slow pitch, and you're like, what is this? And you whiff it, and you're like, fuck, how did I miss that?

Oh, okay. Because you were expecting a ball to fuck. How did I miss that? Expecting a ball to be so fast. I've heard the term before but never I don't change it I'll get a change up. So if the guy throws like a 98 mile an hour fastball It also he throws one that's like a fraction of that. I don't know what fraction so Swing too quick or something. Yeah, they swing too quick. What would be a change-up pitch? Like how much slower would it be 20 or 30 miles an hour slower an hour slower yeah yeah so it fucks your head up man you're expecting that ball to come you see him throw it you're like yeah and then you see fuck it hasn't even gotten here yet deception that's what it is bro my game is just deception

well the question mark kick is the ultimate deception i got a few more that's just the basic one i use but i gotta i tried one on him you might catch it was a change up from uh left kick to a front teep but it just went right here it is right there here we see the highlight oh that was pretty you know another one that you see wonder boy likes to use is that front leg side kick front leg roundhouse kick combination he comes in touches you with a front leg side kick and then saw swap. Raymond Daniels, though, has the prettiest version of that. Jumping sidekick, spinning back kick to the face that he did in Glory.

That was sick. Made that guy do the splits. When you see a guy who can do that in a kickboxing match at a very high level, that's when you realize, whoa, this guy, you can't give him any room. Yeah, 100%. He likes space. Joseph Valtellini and Nicky Holtzkin,

when they fought him, that was really interesting. Constant pressure and leg kicks. Chopping that leg, chopping that leg, chopping that leg. Yeah. You know,

but what I like about your style is you basically do both of those things. You do the wild, crazy shit, but you also do technical Muay Thai. This is what I mean about, I kept on saying about Uriah Hall being a button basher. Like, you know when you play Tekken

and you just kind of like hope something cool happens That's what he does and I'm like establish your basics first establish your foundation land your jab He did it in this last fight, but like normally Establish something first and then the the cool shit comes afterwards You can't just like and he's had success with knocked out Gagar with the spinning jumping spinning back kick You know but like I think you'd have better success at landing those things if you establish your basics first, land your jab, set the pace. Well, he was landing a lot of jabs in that fight, but Paulo Costa was just constant,

relentless with his pressure. I think, I called it two minutes before it happened, I told Ash, my friend of mine, he's fading, he's going to go soon, he's going soon. You can just see it when he starts to like, and maybe because I see it, that's what I look for in a guy, or they tell me, like, I'm ready to go.

I'm like, all right, cool. I'll help you out. I just take him out. You can just find it. Like, you look in their eyes,

or you feel them. Like, when you see a guy who's starting to crack. You feel them. You feel them wilt? Yeah, you feel, it's an energy.

It's an energy. Right. They're not as dangerous? Yeah. Okay, he's ready to go. Like, example example my first fight shout out to Rob Wilkinson

I actually brought him in just to help me out not for this camp just for his wrestling pressure Rob Wilkinson he's a good guy he's my first UFC fight but when I was fighting him

it was in the second round after his last takedown attempt and then I like stuffed his head got my leg out and I skipped back to the middle and I saw him walk back

like circling and just the body language I was like oh you're ready and I skipped back to the middle, and I saw him walk back, like, circle, and then, and just the body language. I was like, oh, you're ready, and I throw my hands up like, what's up? And then, pop, knee, boom, and I just kind of like, just picked them apart slowly. I didn't rush it. Like, I keep telling, I don't rush these knockouts. Like, a lot of people are like, oh, he hurt Brad about three times, but, you know, he didn't go for the finish. I'm like, I'm not trying to bum rush these dudes.

I just picked them apart. They will fall eventually Well not only that Here's something to consider For people that don't Don't really totally Understand what you're doing You're doing everything correctly

You're not really Getting hit much You're doing everything Correctly And by doing everything Correctly You're kind of ensuring To continue your

Domination in that fight Versus put yourself In danger Which some people like Some people like I just like to bite down on my mouth, piece and bang. I love me a Justin Gaethje, Michael Johnson.

Yes. But I'm not going to be that guy. I'm not going to be that guy. Exactly. I'm not here for a long time. I'm here for a good time. I just want to keep my wits about me. Yeah.

Like Mayweather, get in, get out, make your money and fuck off. That's what I want to do. You're fighting correctly. Yeah. In terms of like, if you're trying to teach someone how to hit and not get hit,

you're fighting correctly. Facts correctly but in order to push further if you were trying to make it more exciting and engage more you have to risk getting hit yeah and that's not a wise thing to do i take risks i like to take risks in this and when i play with my distance like okay am i too close am i too far and i before i take those risks i calculate i know what he's gonna do already i'm like i can bait them with something. Like, if I want them to jab, I get closer. And when he jabs, I slip and rip. You know what I mean?

So I take risks, but I calculate my risks. And sometimes I might do some wild shit like that in a Nari roll. Yeah. I fucked up on that one because it was a little bit slippery. And I landed in training. I catch it all the time, but I didn't account for the sweat on his legs. And I got back up anyway, and I was like, come on. It was a good one, you know?

It's a crazy thing to do. You're also very honest when things don't go your way. Yeah. When things go wrong. You had a kickboxing fight. Was it in Glory? Yeah. No, that was the one in Brazil.

In Brazil, yeah. What's his name? Alex. Yeah. Alex Pereira, right? Yeah, Pereira, yeah. Where you lost, and you were talking about what it was like to get knocked out. Yeah, for me, that's everyone's worst fear.

So that for me was two firsts for the first time. My first back-to-back loss because that was just after the Glory fight. My first knockout loss. Glory fight, although you lost, a lot of people thought you should have won the decision. I won the fight. If you look at him, I don't even base it on that, but we both knew. I hit you more than you hit me, you know? Yeah.

And he was like, well, he had the pressure. He walked you down. And the commentary, being honest, was bullshit because, I mean, respect to a guy like Valtellini, but he never, he can't fight like me. He can't understand my style. His fight, you look at his career, he had to take time off because of, you know, trauma because that's how we fight. So he appreciates that kind of style.

But what's his name wellness walked me down but he really couldn't do shit leg kicks are supposed to slow you down i didn't slow down i was still dancing around them in the fifth round i was slipping and stuff i was fresh you know but yeah that fight i felt like i won that fight but it's all right so you know it wasn't meant to be everything happens the way it's supposed to happen i wasn't supposed to get that belt and i'm okay with it you know well the fight was the fight exactly it really was just uh the judges that people have a dispute with the actual fight was a successful fight for you and that you did land more shots than he did but then losing the next fight by ko and but you talked about it

online like you were real open about it on instagram and because that's the fair like every fighter like if it was just me and a guy fighting and I lost, it's like, oh, whatever. But when you put it in front of, you know, millions of people, that's the fear.

It's like, oh, shit, I don't want to look like shit in front of all these people. What did you get hit with? I was southpaw. It was a left hook from him. And before that, first round,

I teed him up. Second round, I rocked him. But then, from that wellness fight, I let some bullshit get to me just online

you know like people in your life it's not just online people in your life oh man you should have won that fight blah blah blah

guess you shouldn't leave it in the judges hands you know they'll say some shit like that and it just seeps into you so when I heard him in that second round

I just went berserk what people expect me to do what people in the UFC do just like I started throwing bombs and just like no I was only throwing right hands I just I only right hands at him and I watched that fight back now I haven't watched it in a long time when I watched it back I was like why are you doing this cuz that's not me that's not me staying true to myself what I would have

done if I was you know being true to myself is just alright cool where's the shot boom boom boom just pick it up do what you was doing he was hurt he was out on his feet already so it's a good story for, pop, boom. Just pick him up. Mix it up. Do what you always do. He was hurt. He was out on his feet already. So it's a good story for him. He knocked me out at the third round after he got rocked in the second round. But, I mean, yeah, it was good for him. But, hey, if we fight again, because even after my UFC debut, he put a contract up. He's coming to the UFC as well.

I'm like, all right, make your way up. I'll fuck him up. 100%. He's a very good kickboxer, too. I mean, there's no shame in losing to that guy. I'll fuck him up. 100%. He's a very good kickboxer, too. I mean, it's not shame. He's beat me twice. And the first time as well was another weird, you know, he's walking forward and, you know, not landing shots. But I'm moving back and hitting him the whole time.

And the judges gave it to him. So I was like, credit to you. You got the fight. I'll fight you again. So if he makes his way to the UFC, he can get it anytime. Is he trying to fight MMA now or is he I think he has he's had MMA fights he's had MMA fights but a lot of kickboxers like I said my boy Brad even he realizes like MMA is where it's at you know the UFC they see the way best

run company I've ever like come across I fall around the world fought for glory fought in China no one runs the show like the UFC like everything has everything has a place and a time, and it's just so clean. And you get your money quick. That's one thing I like about the UFC as well. Fuck. It's a well-oiled machine. Definitely. I mean, they've been running it that way since 2002,

and now the new organization is basically most of the old organization. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice to work for, man. I still enjoy it after all these years. When's your next one? The next one's in L.A., right? Yep. Next one is next. TJ versus Cody. The rematch. Sick fight. I can't wait. him, man. I still enjoy it after all these years. What's your next one? Next one's in L.A., right? Yep.

Next one is next. TJ versus Cody. The rematch. Sick fight. I can't wait. Oh, fuck. That first fight. Do you feel like after the last Robert Whitaker, Yoel Romero fight that your weight class is kind of in this weird state?

I mean. What do you mean? Well, it's Whitaker won the fight. But a lot of people thought Romero might have gotten the nod because he knocked him down and hurt him, and then he hurt him again in the next round. A lot of people thought at the very least it was a draw because if you look at it on paper, Whitaker never really hurt Romero,

but Romero did significantly hurt Whitaker twice. Yeah. And, you know, he came off of knocking out Rockhold, but then again he didn't miss weight, so that kind of puts it in turmoil too I don't really care as long as I think he's moving up I think I think he said he's gonna go to light heavyweight yeah I think that's the the most recent uh how tall is he how tall is he he's not that tall yeah dude that guy is built like a brick shithouse it looks like an action figure when he came in here when he came in here do a podcast while I was in camp you know him and Joey Diaz translated and shit.

I was looking. I'm like, he's 230 pounds. He's fucking huge. How is he going to make 185? That's how I felt when I first met Anthony Johnson. I was like, how the fuck? How the fuck did he make 170? I was like, literally, I saw him.

He's just like a thick burger, like huge. And he hit me once, I think when we were sparring. Only once, like a clean one. And I was like, I'm not getting hit by that again that was it so dangerous yeah 100 it was good work i enjoyed the work we got together but definitely you don't want to get hit spar or will he spar light with you no he because i'm i was the guy that brought in for him to mess up right yeah it wasn't i didn't let it happen i was making sure like nah stay away from that that there's one He teeped me And I went from one side

Of the cage to the other He hit me You know that teep he does Like the side teep He just pushes you Right like an elliptical Or a bleak Yeah

And he just did And I went Hit the fence on the other side I was like Yup he's a big boy And I was I was probably maybe 90 cages at the time

So that was about 200 pounds But yeah he's a He's a motherfucker You don't want to spar him Yeah to get down to 205 Is a bit of a struggle Which is just so crazy

Look at me run I gave Hey he got his licks as well It wasn't It was back and forth Oh I'm sure Yeah 100% But it was good work

How the fuck did he make 170 I have no idea I saw him in between fights At 170 And he was 230 pounds I was like What do you weigh You see him now

You see him on Instagram He's huge Yeah I saw him like a couple weeks ago he's just like he's lifting weights. Well he said if he's gonna come back he's gonna come back as a heavyweight.

Perfect. Dude. And he's already been a heavyweight he didn't even fucking do the heavyweight. He just couldn't answer the puzzle that was DC. DC is the one who really had him figured out.

Yeah. DC just figured him out man. DC just knew how to break him. I think it's just the gas tank as well sometimes. He puts his foot on the gas too quick. And also learning how to not be conservative, but manage your gas tank. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, he would just swing for the fucking bleachers. That's what I mean. And most of the time when he did that, he would just put guys in a coma. And I just think at a certain point in time. He was on the tear he was that motherfucker oh dude he was that motherfucker for a long time that was the one he had with glovitic share that didn't look like much no uppercut it didn't look like much and it was in the middle of a like a scramble like they were just working and then dude was amazing when

he hit him with that i was like jesus Jesus Christ. Yeah. He had ridiculous punching power. Yeah. Like some of the most ridiculous punching power I've ever seen. Guys like that, Mark Hunt, him. Who's another one? Rampage had that as well. Oh, yeah. I don't understand.

Chuck did back in the day. And Chuck, what I liked that he had it was because he was long as well. He wasn't really a thick guy, but I think it's his levers. Yeah. His arms. He just knew how to whip that. What are they fighting, he and Tito? I think it's his levers. Yeah. His arms. He just knew how to whip that. What are they fighting, he and Tito?

I don't know, man, but there's a video of Chuck working out. He's working out with Race F.O. Yeah, I saw that. Did you see that? Yeah.

Everybody was like, ooh. Shit. Maybe, I'll give him credit, benefit of the doubt, because I'm like, okay,

maybe he hasn't hit pads in a while. Let's see maybe three weeks from now, four weeks from now. I have no idea. Young Jamie, pull that up. I would think that. Young Jamie, pull that up.

I would think that. You want to say that, right? It feels good. Yeah, maybe four weeks. Let's see if he keeps the training up. It's like riding a bike. He didn't look like Chuck of old, obviously, because we have something to compare it to.

But he's not going to be like that either way. But let's see if he can get better from what that was on Instagram. But also, he's a 49-year-old guy, and he's probably warming up. Yeah, that's what I mean. Hopefully, that was just him just throwing, get loose, and then maybe three rounds in. Do you still spar? No. Oh, really?

Do you roll? I roll, but I'm 50 years old. I can't get hit in the head. Yeah, fuck off. For real. I can't get hit in the head. Fuck off, for real. Yeah, fuck off, for real. I can't get hit in the head anymore. The black don't crack. Yeah, I'm old enough to not be willing to get hit in the head anymore.

I stopped when I was probably 28, 29. When I first moved to L.A., I still did some kickboxing. I went to Benny the Jet Center in Van Nuys. Remember Benny Urquidez? I know Benny the Jet Center in Van Nuys. Remember Benny Urquidez? I know Benny the Jet. He's one of the original OG kickboxers. Him and Blinky Rodriguez had the Jet Center in Van Nuys. And for me, there was two things that I wanted to do when I came to California.

One, I wanted to go to Hard Times Billiards. Because Hard Times and Bellflower, California pool, it's one of the legendary pool halls in the country. And two, I wanted to go to the jet center and van nuys and i went there dude and it was all like gang members and blinky rodriguez had like a program where he would uh let these gang members in and you know have them all take classes so you'd be sparring with like hard hardcore gang bangers yeah they had like one dude had this like really shitty tattoo on his back with his gang.

I forget the name. And then it said, fuck the rest on his back. And we're both putting our mouthpieces. I'm like, Jesus, what am I doing? I grew up in the suburbs. It kind of happens, though. Gang activity kind of just seeps its way into fight. They find their way into fight culture somehow.

Yeah. Well, Blinky, I believe Blinky Rodriguez lost his son to gang violence. For real? Yeah. So is that why he did that? He had an open-up program where he was letting kids into the gym and trying to help the community and help these kids. I apologize if I got that wrong, but I think I got that right.

Please look that up. Blinky Rodriguez's son dies in gang violence. I'm pretty sure that's true. Blinky Rodriguez was a famous kickboxer, too. He knocked out Jean-Yves Thériault when Jean-Yves Thériault was the PKA champion, one of the most feared guys in the world. It's that point karate, isn't it? No, no, no.

It was PKA karate with kickboxing, but it was above the waist like Rick Rufus style. And Jean-Yves Thériault, is that true, that he did lose his son to gang violence? Yeah. Jean-Yves Thériault fought. See if you can find Blinky Rodriguez K.O. Jean-Yves Thériault. And Thériault is T-H-E-R I forget all the rest of the way

to spell his name but he was the man in kickboxing in like the 80s cause he was that was before my time he had pretty decent kicks nothing special

but ridiculous knockout power in his punches what was his hand like boxing? boxing yeah but Blinky Rodriguez

caught him with a left hook and starched him and that was always like one of Blinky here it is right here they're fighting this is like one of Blinky's caught him with a left hook and starched him. And that was always like one of Blinky. Here it is right here. They're fighting. This is like one of Blinky's claims to fame. Throwback.

Yeah, I mean, this is. Which one's Blinky? Blinky is the guy in the blue shorts. The blue, all right. And Johnny Terrio is the tall Montreal guy. He was an interesting guy, man. He was one of the first advocates of stair running, too. Okay.

Yeah, he was. Like sprints. Yeah, well, running hills and running stairs yeah he was uh like sprints yeah well running hills and running stairs because he felt like he felt like for kicking power they're good for you but fuck them fuck them there's something about gravity oh nice well blinky was a karate guy he had all kinds of crazy shit spinning back fist and all that shit but he had this oh there's his son yo blinky had a ridiculous left hook oh yeah the arms the arms boom boom that's beautiful I like how I set that up as well yeah

from that low kick boom boom that's textbook see that's textbook beautiful nothing wrong with textbook so it was an honor

just to be there in Blinky's gym we were right there take classes with him this was way later I came to LA in 93 yeah so it was 93

when I was here full of the dream yeah full of the dream from where I came here from well Boston to New to New York, New York to LA. So I started coming here around 93 and I think I joined. I joined the Jet Center, but they had got damaged from the earthquake in 93 and the

fucking roof, when it would rain, it would just flood the whole gym. So they had to wind up moving. Shit. So glory days. Life. No word on that fight. It's booked for later this year Which fight?

Ortiz, Liddell Oh Later this year Just no word It's termed to win I wonder how Chuck Or Tito looks as well Maybe

See him hitting pads He looks good Look Tito has been winning You know He fought recently Beat Chael Sonnen recently Tito is Oh that's Ryan Beltor

Yeah he's still active Oh yo Yeah I saw Tito hit pads He still looks good man He's still active. Oh, that's Ryan Beltor. Yeah, he's still active. Oh, yo. Yeah, I saw Tito hit pads. He still looks good, man. He's still a beast. He's got a gang of back surgeries, though. Yeah. Knee surgeries and back surgeries.

Tito's, his whole back is all surgery, man. There's a crazy video of him. He's lying unconscious. They got him sedated, and the doctor has a hammer and a chisel in his neck. In his neck. Shit. He's going like this. Clink, clink, clink, clink.

Putting some spacer in his neck. Like fusing his neck together. Shit. Fuck that. I'm not about that life. Dude. Hell no. That headlock life is a different life.

And wrestling. Because he was a wrestler by trade. Dude, all those wrestlers. They all wind up with some sort of catastrophic back injury. It's just a matter of how long can you hold out? For me now, I'm just, I'm trying to be preemptive because for the longest time I kind of like just

neglected all that stuff with like Cairo, physio, whatnot. So now I'm like, if I want to fight at this level and be healthy, avoid injury, you got to look after yourself in that sense what kind of strength and conditioning work do you do strength and conditioning uh sunze is a guy that does my

strength and conditioning work and thing is i know not much about these things like even when he tells me to lift like put some template i never ask what the numbers are because if i if i know what the numbers are i feel like i might i might get done till i was shit i might i can't lift this and then i'll ask afterwards like oh, oh, what was that deadlift? Oh, that was 180. I was like, okay, cool. That's all right. But, yeah, I do shit like deadlift, a little bit of bench, a lot of band work,

a lot of plyometrics, like exploding. Yeah, learning how to just fire. Like, when he says go, he's not just working the muscles. He wants to work the mind. So when it's time to explode, the mind just knows it's time to move. Yeah. Like quick twitch. And how many days a week do you do it?

Two times a week. Two times a week. And when you do it, how do you schedule? Does someone schedule all of your workouts or do you do it yourself? You have input. How does that work? I have input, but my main coach, Eugene Behrman, he's the one that schedules my workout. So he says today we're doing wrestling tomorrow we're doing. We have a timetable so

for each camp we'll adjust the timetable accordingly so for example when I go back now I'm not going to do any VO2 max no alactic capacity all that kind of stuff no camp stuff I want to go. Because it's after the fight? After the fight yeah. So it's skill work after the fight? Yeah skill work yeah just upgrade the software but, yeah, I think I've done well this year. Three fights in six months. I'm like, you know what? Take my foot off the gas a little bit. I'm just going to chill.

How long will you chill for, you think? Probably until September maybe. But in that time, I want to go back to yoga, Bikram, because my flexibility is kind of, I felt it in this camp. It took me a little bit longer to get my kicks going. Eugene was teasing me, saying I'm getting old. I was like, fuck that. I still have it, but I just think I need to get my flexibility back to where it was.

When you do plyos and things along those lines, do you stretch heavily afterwards? Afterwards, I should, and I try to, but sometimes I just neglect that. I forget. Damn, that's kind of so important because that's the time where you really have some Opportunity for stretching Really advancing your range of motion I have to plyometrics really Yeah well anytime

Explosive exercise You're really tired Your muscles are completely heated up Or you know Bikram's great for that too Because you get a lot of exhaustion of the muscles Then you have that extreme heat And everything's super pliable When I go to Bikram I can still do a full split

But if I had to do a full split right now, it'd be a little bit of a struggle. I felt the way, after Bikram classes, I was always more loose. Yeah, but that heat is something, man. Some of you can hack it, though. They need to hack it. Cut the shit, of course you can hack it.

If it was between live or die, never see your family again, or wait 10 more minutes in the sauna, shut the fuck up, you can hack it. Even just for the first session i ever did ever in bickram i sat there i didn't push myself as hard but i just sat on the mat if maybe that pose was a little bit too much or if i felt some type of way but listen i can handle it that ain't bad if you can't look the whole thing about it is adaptation if you overrun your body right away you're not going to recover as well you're not going to enjoy it as much if you can't get through a 90 minute Bikram class but you can do 60 minutes then you have to sit down for 10 and then jump back in for 10 then just do that exactly know

your body have some just sit down just sit down for the first time and just feel the heat just try what you can and if you can't do it just sit down dude that shit is so good for you I know Bikram's a crazy asshole I know there there's all this. I've heard some stories. I know he's crazy. He did an HBO. But here's the thing, man. Just because he's crazy doesn't mean it's effective. You can't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I know that dude's nuts. But also, here's the other thing about Bikram. Although he's a great yogi and his system is amazing, I don't even think he came up with that system. I think that system has existed for a long time. Like from India or something. Yeah. See, Google this, please. I think he lost a lawsuit

based on him trying to copyright those sequences of yoga. And I think the problem is that the yoga, those moves, all those moves have existed for literally thousands of years. But he was trying to claim them.

Well, he was trying to claim them in succession. So like say if you opened up the style bender yoga class and you used all Bikram's moves. That's not a bad idea. Not bad. I like it. Style bender. Especially if you want to meet yoga girls. Holla.

Sit in the back of the class. Holla. You need some help. What he is essentially saying is that he came up with this idea to put them all in that particular order, which is a super effective order. Like his order of yoga poses is an amazing order. Is it the same worldwide? Yep.

Everywhere you go. I've taken classes everywhere. It's all the same. I thought it was just because I only went to one, so I thought it's the same thing for that. If you do the, well, there's, you you know there's like vinyasa there's flow classes which are also very interesting yeah but i and i've taken those too but um there's something really good about the 90 minute b-crim program he just has it nailed yeah he figured it out but i

don't even know if that was his idea i think there was other people that did that he sued people oh he did yeah he's gangster he's so crazy they had this I mean, I don't even mean it in a good way. They had this HBO documentary where they're interviewing him, and he was talking about girls saying that he banged them and all this different thing. He goes, listen to me. He goes, there are people that would pay $1 million for one drop of my sperm. $1 million. He's getting interviewed by HBO.

And he's like this, like as if there's a bunch of people waiting. Like an auction house filled with people. Who wants three ounces? Right here. One million dollars. We have one million dollars for one drop of sperm. Who's in? How old is he?

What does he even look like? I'll take three drops. What kind of specimen is he? Is he like an old type dude? Is he in shape? He's not holding it together the best. You know, like if you and him, if you didn't see, if you're both the same skin color and you didn't see your heads and you looked at your torso, you would know who's who.

Okay. You know what I'm saying? Let's put it that way. Yeah, let's put it that way. I mean, he's like a 70 year old guy. I mean, how long can you hang in there? Can he still make sperm? One drop of my sperm, one million dollars.

It'd be like powder. One million dollars. Yeah, he's, there he is. Holla at your boy. Still looking jacked. Is that him? Let me see. Go large on that picture.

Not bad. Probably eating a few too many carbs. Yeah. Needs to get some squats or some hill runs in. But when it comes to yoga, he's flexible as fuck and knows how to do all that shit. He doesn't look 70. Well, you know what, man?

Look, let's go back to that picture again real quick. There he does. Go back to that picture again real quick in his underwear. The one on the art, yeah. One right above that, right above that, yeah. Listen, man. Let me just be real as fuck. Gravity is a thing.

Gravity is a thing. And let's be real as fuck. If you walk around wearing underwear like that in a yoga class, you're there to fuck. That guy's there to fuck. He's there to fuck. And if you leave a girl alone with him, he's going to touch her. He's going to pull that Indian dick out. He's going to send it home.

He's going to send it. What's an Indian dick? As opposed to like a he's bringing that with a flute French dick he comes out like a cobra

look at that guy I mean he's wearing little tiny skivvies my man's out here and if you're a dude and you come in that's me at 70 you can't be like

an amateur yoga guy holy shit wow look at that girl he's stepping on her ass that's from the Kama Sutra yeah might be

yeah okay like Holy shit. Wow, look at that girl. That's from the Kama Sutra. Yeah. Might be. Yeah. Okay. Like, you can't have underwear like that on and not be good at yoga. Like, if you're like a beginner and you fall down every time you try to do eagle pose, they'll talk to you. Hey, man, why don't you put some more clothes on? But if he walks in there with his man bun. He has a right to flex.

Yeah, he's got a right to flex, man. You know what I mean? I mean, he's fucking. It to flex, man. You know what I mean? I mean, he's fucking. It's like, I don't know. If you were a bowler, you had a bowling glove covered with rhinestones. Like, you better be good. Michael Jackson glove style thing. Oh, that's a thing.

Someone should do it. Someone should do it, right? Bowling glove with rhinestones on it. What else do you do? Do you ever do gymnastics? Gymnastics. No, I dance. What kind of dance?

You said that earlier. I forgot to go back to that. So I started off with popping as a kid. Now I'm crump. I crump dance. That's like, yeah. What's a crump dance? Crump dance is actually originally in L.A.

Really? Yeah, south central L.A. Like, Tide Eyes and Big Mijo started it off. But I remember I watched this movie as a kid called Rise. And that's kind of what introduced it to the world. Kind of like the way Ong Bak did with Muay Thai. Made it more mainstream. Rise.

It's spelled R-I. This is it right here? This is popping. This is with Poppin Pete. Look up a guy called Tide Eyes. T-I-A-T. This guy's good. Look at him go.

Hold on a second. Hold on. Let that guy go. So this guy is from the Electric Boogaloos. So this is how I started off. Look at him go. Back in the day. What's with the towel, though?

Seriously, are your hands that sweaty? He'll probably use it with a move or something. Oh, yeah, he's a man. It's so strange that people went thousands of years without these styles, and then when electronic music came along, people went, oh, the sound's different. Let's move different. Yeah, but for me, I had this metamorphosis last year like around my birthday and then for whatever reason i just went

back to dance because i felt like i had this dance you know how people get writer's block i had dancers block for like maybe six years or five years i just couldn't create i could dance i could flow but i couldn't create anything do you know lomachenko studied four years of ukrainian dance yeah classical ukrainian ukrainian dance one thing i learned is muscle memory i know dancers who have to do shows and they have to learn like 20 different sequences and that's for the whole show like 20 different each sequence might be like anywhere from a minute to three minutes and they have to do it like that so when i started dancing again when i went back to training drilling my i can retain that information so much better.

It's muscle memory. Right. So I don't even have to think about certain moves when I do it. It just, boom. Because I remember this. It's easy. And the muscle just does like, how do you do that? I wasn't thinking.

So dancing really translates into muscle memory like that in an effortless way. Like dancers, I think, have the best muscle memory or maybe one of the best in the world. Well, it makes sense that you're learning to use your body in a choreographed way, almost like a kata. Yeah, like katas back in the day. I used to think katas were stupid when I was a kid. I really did. I used to think it was dumb.

I thought they were cool when I was a kid. I think they look cool when someone's doing it, but I hate learning to do them. I felt like I only learned them to get the next belt, but then once i learned them i forgot them totally but now that i think back i realized like that was a mistake on my part because what that was was i i thought i knew better which is hilarious i thought i knew better than people who learned martial arts for thousands of years and it's not that kata makes you a better

fighter but it makes you have better control of your body yeah and the thing about like holding a sidekick up in the air yeah there's a lot of people that just can't do that I can't I've seen like that he's like the guy told me it's like window like literally his dexterity in his legs he'll on one leg pop pop pop pop pop while moving forward and he'll do it the other leg like all the way down all the way back up Southport or for dogs there's a balance yeah I think the balance is between that and maybe the Thai style that's what I'm trying to find and sometimes

you can go one side too much but you have to be objective enough to know this is what I need and you feel your body and for each fight as well you know what you want to use like with him I was going to throw some spinning shit at some point but I did

Nick Diaz has changed what spinning shit is by saying that, oh, we're throwing spinning shit now. I met him. I met him. What's his name? It was after I saw Dana and them, so I was walking around with Tony. Shout out to Tony Angelov. And then I see Jay Silva, who's the guy who used to fight. He's a thick boy.

He fights, I think, out of Ruka. And he just kind of recognized, hey, what's up? And then he got me into the club. And then, yeah, Nickuka. And he just kind of recognized, hey, what's up? And then he got me into the club. And then, yeah, Nick Diaz showed up. I was like, hey, what's up? How are you? And I just shook his hand and that was it. And yeah, he's a legend in the game.

He's a great guy. Cool guy. He is a legend. He's still fighting? Well, he's doing whatever the fuck Nick Diaz wants to do right now. I just see him in Las Vegas all the time. I think he's only going to fight for a bit. I think this is, I'm going to go out on a limb here.

I think the lack of the UFC Talking Nick Diaz into a fight I know he's crazy and he knows he's crazy too That is a criminal Criminal underuse of a valued asset I think if you wanted to have a giant pay-per-view Right now He's a big star Fuck he's a huge star so is his brother

But they haven't fought in forever Nate hasn't fought since he lost to Conor in the very close rematch. I think he's only coming back for the big money fight. But probably. He made a ton of money, and he doesn't live a crazy lifestyle. And I believe Nate just got a kid. Real? Yeah.

Oh, nice. I think I read that on Google. See if that's true. Nate Diaz just had a child. Either way, congratulations. Yeah. Salute. Either congratulations you had a kid or congratulations that you didn't.

I love that dude, congratulations. Yeah. Salute. Either congratulations you had a kid or congratulations that you didn't. I love that dude, though. I love Nate and I love Nick, too. I love the style, the way they fought. They're fun. I remember that Paul Daly fight. I watched it live. Bro. Yeah, man.

I think I sat down for that fight. You were there live? No, no, no. I was on the couch. Watching live on TV? Yeah, while I was standing up on the couch. That was a crazy fight. Shit.

He got clipped, too. He's one of the rare people that's got clipped by Paul Daly and survived. Yeah, come back and then knock them out. See the way Paul fell back as well? Damn. The stanky leg. It's almost like his legs

just gave out. He's exhausted. Yeah, that's what it is. Exhaustion. I keep saying, it's easier to knock someone out when they're tired. Yeah.

Like that fight. I want to say, Brad had good cardio. He was able to take it and I was finding it. There was one I hit him with a body shot. I think a body kick.

And yeah, he went for a takedown straight away. I pushed him off, framed him, got him against the fence or something. But yeah, it's easy to get. Like some of these guys, you can see, he never gave me that sign like, I'm ready to go. Like when they're ready to go, like I want out. They'll tell you. You know one of the most overwhelming performances of Nick's career was against Frank Shamrock.

Oh, dude. That was when I was like, whoa. Just body shot. He put his head on his chest and just bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. And that pace. I was talking shit to him. And Frank was like, really? You're talking shit to me?

Yeah, I saw that interview. He was like, yeah. I couldn't believe it. No, but honestly, like that pace, even like my first fight, it's sort of Diaz-esque in a way where it's like I didn't do it. When I knew he was ready to go, I just, all right, put a steady pace. Just put your foot on the gas a little bit, but not gas it out. Just pop, pop, pop, pop.

Find the shot. Find the shot. Find the shot. There's no need to like, it's wasted energy. Well, you've got a wise approach to your, well, to just your overall MMA game, but in particular to your striking game. Is that you're one of those guys that's showing people that you can be very exciting but take minimal... There was a couple moments in that fight where Brad was charging at

you. Where you're like, hup, hup, hup. Here we go. And we're out the other side. Yeah, 100%. To me, that is... And take the center. People don't take the center, man. Almost as exciting as watching someone get knocked down. I like watching someone figure out that the right hand's coming, the left hand's coming behind it. I'm not there. Here I am. sweep a little bit in clean sweep if one judge didn't give one

round to him but i don't know which round he gave because i thought i had all five rounds after watching it so it's judging you can't even 50 45 50 45 and then 49 46 and i was like damn that would have been cool if it was just like a 50 45 clean sweep well the the most important thing was not a judge's interpretation of it. It was the actual performance. And people enjoyed it. Some people were like, you know, people, they get caught up in knockouts a lot, like,

oh, he didn't finish Brad, though. But a lot of people, the response was, I'd rather see that than just a quick finish because he worked the guy. He didn't get gassed. He didn't, you know, I didn't dip. Maybe the third round of mine I dipped a little bit, but I didn't look it. I had my poker face on.

I was fine. I felt fresh. And I even said after my last fight before that, like, I was based on a three-round camp. The one I fought in Arizona, it was based on a three-round camp. And I looked in the camera. I was like, I can go five rounds. I told Eugene, my coach, I was like, man, I feel like I can go another two rounds easily. And this camp was based around five rounds.

So after this fight, honestly, I had the reserve ready. I was like maybe three rounds I could have gone if I needed to. Do you ever anticipate a time where people would have more than five rounds at an MMA fight?

Probably not anymore. Most of the time it's totally unnecessary. Yeah. But sometimes... I thought it was too long. I was like, I'm going to get this guy

in like three rounds. I thought so. I felt so. I was like, I don't know. Maybe that's just me bigging up myself, you know, my own ego.

But, yeah, I just felt like I would have taken him in two or three rounds, but five rounds and I still look good doing it. So I was happy with it. Now, when you see a guy like Paulo Costa who has like this just, I mean, he's not totally hittable where like everything you throw you're going to hit him, but he's much more aggressive, much more in your face. You see these? What, short arms? I was still next to him i was like he iced me he's trying to act like he doesn't know who i am and i saw interviews like oh i do not know that guy it was like

dude you know who the fuck i am now you know and i said after my first fight because these guys want to pretend and i don't know where it comes from maybe because of years of not getting noticed so i'm like don't try and act like because a lot of guys they'll creep on my instagram and then like see me in real life and act all high and mighty and i'm i'm a nice guy i like to you know be friendly yeah i like to hug people say what's up at least just nod like hey you know what's up i know who you are you know who i am but some people flex too much so for him yeah he knows who i am and his manager what's his name? The fucking gremlin. I don't know.

No, he looks like fucking Ariel. Was it Ariel? He looks like. Oh, Waleed Ismail. You know Undertaker's guy? Do you know who he is? Waleed is a mixed martial arts legend. He fights.

Dude, he fought in UFC 12. Really? Yeah. He fought Takahashi. Is that who he fought? Maybe it was 13. UFC 12 or 13. Dude, he choked out Hoyce Gracie

in a jiu-jitsu match in Rio. When Hoyce Gracie had just won all the UFCs and he was a fucking man. And he fought him in real jiu-jitsu. Waleed Ismail,

who was a Carlson Gracie black belt, watch this. He got a hold of Hoyce and this was in Brazil in a giant fucking audience. It was in a soccer stadium, I think.

It was a big ass audience. That's crazy. And they wound up going to the ground, scoot ahead. I had no idea. And Waleed got him in a clock choke. And I remember this because at the time, yeah, at the time I was like,

maybe a blue belt. And I tapped a guy with a clock choke. And I was like, clock chokes are that shit? Yeah. And he... I remember those with the gi. Clock chokes. With a gi. They're And he. I remember those with the gi. Clock chokes with a gi. They're no joke.

I tried it a little bit. I can do it when it's not sweaty, but with my arms because I got long arms. So I can kind of get it a little bit if I tweak it right. And Waleed had that constant, Waleedji they used to call him. He had that constant pressure, Carlson Gracie top game, crushing, you know, where you're going to shit out bone fragments after you roll with them. Yeah. That was their style, man.

Scoot ahead a little bit and you see Waleed gets that clock choke. But you can tell he's the guy that's like talking for Paul. Right here. He got it here. And he wound up putting Hoyce to sleep. Hoyce didn't even tap. Yo, he's out. Went out like a warrior.

He's out. Yep. Look at that. Look at that fucking pressure. Look at everybody running onto the mat. You got to let it go. Fuck, that was a little bit too long. He was on the outside. The referee. The's out. Yep. Look at that. He's out. He's out. Look at that fucking pressure. Look at everybody running onto the mat. You got to let it go. Fuck, that was a little bit too long. Well, he didn't know him.

He was on the outside. The referee. The referee should have known. I saw he was out. Yeah. Limp. No, you're right. Shit.

But this was back, see, there was Carlson back then. This was when there was like a bit of a rivalry between Carlson Gracie and, you know. Yeah, I heard about that. Yeah, I mean, Hickson and Hoyce and Hoyler. And there was a bit of a rivalry he was out he was a beast man so that little guy

so he's just managing now he's managing now he's taking care of fighters and stuff like that but he's a real legend Waleed's a beast oh his spec his spec

but like he's the like for real he's the guy he's the guy that I think talks for Paula a lot cause yeah

Paula's respect him trying to learn English as well that's one of the reasons I was like I really want Uriah Hall to win because he was talking all this shit

and if he wins I want to see him and I want to the build up for that fight would be fun because I will fuck him up you felt like there was holes in Uriah's game

like you were saying there was like in his game as well yeah in Paul's game as well there's holes in his game what did you see in Paulo can you say

he gets hit easily and you don't want you know how Uriah was tapping him with the jab he doesn't want to Impala's game as well. There's holes in his game. What did you see in Impala? Can you say? He gets hit easily. And you know how Uriah was tapping him with the jab? He doesn't want to. If I was behind those jabs, it'd be different setups. It'd be a different setup. I can come up with a few other pathways after that jab. Like Uriah was hitting the jab, but that's it.

He hit the jab. And his chin's up. He'll hit the jab. And what do you do after the jab? After you land it seven times, you've got to do something else with it. You can't just keep jabbing him, jabbing him. If you want to, you can. It seemed like Costa had extreme confidence in his ability to knock out Uriah.

He didn't respect his jab. He will respect my jab. Look at my knuckle. This is my moose knuckle. This is my regular knuckle. I'll show it to the camera. Moose knuckle. That thing's been worn, son.

No, that's from, what's his name? It got a little bit more swollen because of Brad Tavares. This is my regular knuckle. And, like, I was jabbing him at first. Is that swollen right now from the fight? A little bit, but normally it's just good. That's a rock, son. That's a triple knuckle.

That ain't even a double knuckle. That's a triple knuckle. It's a moose knuckle. Ouch, you wawa. Yeah, but, yeah, with Brad, in the beginning, my jab, he was slipping it. And I was like, all right, and then you just said drop it down. And at one point, he tried to counter it like And I was like, all right. And then you said drop it down. And at one point, he tried to counter it like Tyron Spong,

slip the jab and counter. But I recognized it. I was like, okay, cool. Drop it down. And I hit him. I think I went down to the legs, and that took away attention from the top. Then I was able to go back to the jab, and I busted him with the jab. Now, when you train, do you spend time to work on traditional moves like wheel kicks and side kicks and all that shit that you throw occasionally or do you throw them into your

overall pad work game or how do you the pad work eugene he has his own system and he he knows what he everyone's different so he treats every fighter as an individual you know what i mean so he knows what me what he can do on the pads, and what I like to pull. And if I have an idea like, oh, try this out, he's open. He's not like, he's a very open man. He doesn't understand, he doesn't try and limit you from what you can do or what you can create. So all the spinning stuff, all the creativity,

the things that I kind of bring myself, I try just 2 a.m., just walking around my house, shadow walking sometimes, you know, just in my own free time. I just think about certain things, like how can I do this different? Even someone like Chad Mendes, there's something he does, like he fakes the shot in uppercut. I like that. We're completely different body types, but I like that. And I have my own setups for that just because I feel like it's a good move, but with different body types.

And he has his own setup. So I like to create on my own and then if I have any ideas or anything that I feel like can work well with the pads or with our with our flow I'll let him know and he's open to it well you're one of these guys that's coming up right now that's in this new wave of MMA fighters that is every it seems to me that there's like an incremental increase in the skill level. There's always all-time greats like Cain Velasquez and, you know, fill in the blank. There's like Anderson Silva. There's these guys that burst out and they stand out as extreme performers. But there seems to me like right now to be a new, Zabit Magomed Sharapov, that guy.

There's a few of these guys that are coming up where you watch them and you go, whoa, there's some next level. You recognize a guy like me who's seen it for so many years. I go, okay, there's some next level shit going on right now. Yeah, 100%. It's like we're talking about Lomachenko. Lomachenko's footwork and movement, this is next level shit. I've seen a lot. I mean, I'm sure there's been some all-time greats.

level shit. I've seen a lot. I mean, I'm sure there's been some all-time greats when you go to guys like Pernell Whitaker and guys like Floyd Mayweather, you know, artistic geniuses. But there's something that Lomachenko's doing that they're not doing, right? 100%. Even some things, I watch his footwork. I watch the way he looks.

You see my fight as well. I like to look at guys. I don't just close my eyes and throw in hope. I don't throw in hope. I aim and fire. That's one of my quotes. I say that. But he does the same thing. He likes to look, and he's aware of where he is. He's data crunching.

Yeah, 100%. He's chunking. He's chunking all that information. Physically. Muscle memory. Like you say, he's a dancer. He learned, what, four years of ballet. All that stuff.

Rhythm, timing, offbeat, onbeat. It all translates well into fighting like easily yeah it really does and it's so fascinating to me and watching all these like new versions of different styles like Khabib in my opinion is a new version of the ground and pound style

like I watch his ground and pound I'm like Jesus fucking Christ like he's such a like when he fought Michael Johnson there's no Justin Gagey fight there, son. This is a mauling. This is a goddamn mauling. You're getting mauled by some crazy alien from another planet.

I like the way he traps the hands. And I had one on Brad as well a little bit, but I think he recognized it and he tried to go away. This is when I had his back for a brief moment in that fight, probably about a good 30 seconds, and I trapped his hand. I learned that from BJJ Scout. It was on the Ben Askren video. But Brad wouldn't let me have his right hand. But I got it though because I got these fucking monkey fingers. I can grip really well.

So I hold it and I peppered him a little bit. And then that's when I kind of got to the fence and something happened. Got a Kimura. But I pick from everyone. Khabib. There's a way he traps the hands. We call it the Khabib. When I get to my training partner, I start talking like, you will never get this.

I want this title shot. I just kind of mimic guys like that just because they're good at what they do. And if I can get it and make it work for me like Bruce Lee, make it my own. I'm really intrigued. I mean, I was really bummed out that Max Holloway had to pull out of that fight. I'm glad Michael Bisping called him out on that, though, man, because I think most other people would have just kind of like, oh, well, good luck.

But he called him out on TV like, bro, you look like you just woke up. And you can tell. Yeah, he recognized something. When I watched the interview, because I heard about it before I watched the interview, and I was like, oh, obviously. Look at him. He's just like, oh, you know, I feel great, blah, blah, blah. Something's wrong.

Yeah, facts. And he would have fought. He would have rehydrated And fought Maybe not to the best Of his ability But He might've got knocked out

He might've got hit With a punch And got knocked out Ortega's no joke No joke And you don't want To come up against A guy like that

And be slack He should go to lightweight I think Ortega's fascinating to me Because his The way he locks up Submissions Is so next level

Long range I like his chokes Not just that up submissions is so next level. Long range. I like his chokes. Not just that. The technique is so sharp, man. When he dives on shit. When he got Cub in that, he got him in a darse at the end of the first round. I was like, what the fuck, man?

That is tight. But there was something about the finality to it. There was like, this is not a question of whether or not he's going to finish it. Well, it was not that. It was the solidity of the technique. It was like when he locked it in, there was no doubt this fight was over. And then the bell rang. And then I was like, whoa. Some guys have that.

This wasn't slippery. This wasn't like maybe he's going to get out. You know how a guy gets a guillotine. He's like, oh, it looks like he's getting out. He's going to get out. This wasn't that. This was death. And then he got him with a guillotine. He jumped on. Okay. And then he got him with a guillotine.

He jumped on his guard. He jumped and got him in a guillotine. Looks beautiful. That kind of stuff. Like Ortega, I like the way he looks. I look at guys like that because similar body types. And lately, I've been catching that. You see, in the fifth round, give me another maybe seven seconds.

I would have squeezed that. But it rang on the belt. But every time someone goes for certain things I can snatch the neck but thing is I don't have that the way Ortega has where he knows like yeah it's done like for me I'm like I think it's tight let me try you know how it is right if like if you tried to throw a jab hook with one hand and then throw it with the other hand it just doesn't feel right with the other hand. Yeah, I can I'm bystander But you know some people like from From my own personal experience my left hand I know how to do with my left side, but my right side It feels like awkward. Yeah, well, there's a squeeze that you develop with certain guys just get like this Marcelo Garcia style squeeze

That's what he has got it. I want that that's the thing cuz I can get it No, I've got sure I can catch the neck but there's when is, when I catch it, I'm not dead set, sure, like, okay, it's over now. Like, I know. If you don't tap, you're going to sleep. But if you just tapped a certain amount of black belts with that, you would have that feeling. Yeah, he does. Yeah. Yeah.

He's a beast, man. He's a beast. He's so fucking explosive on the ground. He throws up triangles and arm bars. I like his style. I like his creativity as well. Yeah. He thinks outside the ground. He throws up triangles and arm bars. I like his style. I like his creativity as well. Yeah. He thinks outside the box.

Well, knocking out Frankie was giant, and hitting him with an uppercut like that was, whoa. Out of nowhere. It's just, Frankie can take it, too. I saw Frankie fighting Atlantic City after that. Cubs? Just, like, yeah, a few weeks after. Yeah, like four weeks after, I think it was.

He fought Cubs once, and that's a dangerous fight to take after getting knocked out by Ortega. What do you think about that, about guys doing that, like getting after, I think it was. He fought Cub Swanson. That's a dangerous fight to take after getting knocked out by Ortega. What do you think about that, about guys doing that, like getting stopped? I agree. Nah, same. Take time off. After that knockout in Brazil, I took about, I fought again in July. Were you totally unconscious in that fight?

Yeah. Okay, so I remember this is what happened. I woke up. I was like, oh, shit. Okay, let me try and get up. Fuck, my arms just felt like noodles. I was like, all right, whatever Okay, let me try and get up. Fuck, my arms just felt like noodles. I was like, all right, whatever. And then this kid, this fucking little shithead, like a baby, came over and just like, I think he either yelled in my face or whatever.

And I was like, whatever. And then, because it's Brazil, it got crazy. Like, holy shit, he knocked this guy out. So where was the kid? Like near you by the ring? He came in the ring. He came in the ring? Yeah, like the referee had to like, yo, everyone, get order again. It was chaos. And this is while they were doing the ring? He came in the ring. He came in the ring? The referee had to like, yo, everyone, get order again.

It was chaos. And this is while they were doing the count? Yeah. And then I was trying to get up. I was trying to get up. And then like, nah, I think it was just over after that. Then I had, okay, cool, good fight. Give him a, what do you call it, fist pound.

And then the kid again came over next to me and just laid on the ground just like, and I thought of myself. To mock you? Yeah, I was just stomping his face, brother. Nah. brother nah how old was the kid seven i don't give a fuck if you can crawl we can brawl shout out to michael blackson oh shit that's funny if you can crawl we can brawl that is fucking hilarious but um yeah and i ruthless. No, but then, it was a dick move at the time. Well, he's seven. Yeah.

It's probably his kid, right? Was that his kid? I don't know. He could have got it either way. If your dad don't spank you, I'll spank you. That's hilarious. But then I remember flashes as well, walking out. We usually into the stadium, then we walked outside.

We just sat there, and I was like, what happened? And he just we just sat there and I was like what happened and he just told me what happened and I was like alright okay and then I remember back in the hotel chilling and then

yeah I felt like fuck I'm okay this is the worst the worst case scenario I'm okay and that was my first

only ever knockout loss knock on wood and I was just like fine that's it and do you think you learned something in that fight about not giving in to your emotions? I just don't let people, like people, you're the man.

You ain't shit. Now I don't give a fuck. Like, I only give a fuck about those who I care about. Like, someone like Ash or Eugene, my close people, if they say something about me that, you know, hurts me, then I'll give a fuck. But if it's someone like oh bro you're the man this that but you gotta blah blah blah blah blah blah or be more this i'm like cool i just smile and wave because i don't give a fuck what they think they're no one to me you know understand so yeah after that fight i shouldn't i shouldn't have um given into people's opinions of myself

i should have stayed true to me and just fucked them up in the second round i would have knocked them out if i just didn't literally just right just right hands. Why am I only throwing right hands? So you think that's like a critical lesson in your career? Facts. I'm glad it happened. In the moment, in hindsight, it's like, oh, fuck. Sucks. And I hate losing.

I fucking hate losing. One thing, I went 40 and 0 before I had my first loss. And that was to Simon Marcus. Bati Boy, Simon Marcus. And I beat him in that fight as well. But another judge, like all three rounds. He's a beast. I beat him all three rounds.

And then, okay, extra round. I believe you, but that's a big fight to win. Yeah, extra round. They made it an extra round. And that extra round, I still beat him. But then they gave it to him because he was a super side at the time. And I realized, oh, shit, I lost. Okay.

I lived my life. And that was it. But I took winning for granted for so long in kickboxing because I was always expecting to win. And after that, after a fight, okay, I lost. Okay. I lived my life, and that was it. But I took winning for granted for so long in kickboxing because I was always expecting to win. And after that, after a fight, okay, what's next? Cool. I watched the fight maybe twice, maybe even once. Sometimes I only watch the fight, and then that's it.

What's next? But this weekend, ever since I got to the UFC, or just before, every single fight, after I win, because my brain tries to go to that place where it's like, okay, what's next? But I'm like, wait, stop. Nigga, you just main evented in Vegas, your first fight, smoked this dude all five rounds, and you're on top of the world right now. Take this in.

That's why I'll sit down and look at the T-Mobile arena and just like, I might have been a little iry as well. Just about myself in my room. And then just get, like, you get objective. And I sit down, I just like let it sink in. Like, yo, you're out here. You're doing the damn thing and really embrace it yeah eventually when i go back home and i let things settle down and i move back into the flow of things i i'll start to get over it but one thing i forget and smell the roses just stop sometimes and smell the roses and it's not cocky it's not it's just appreciating what you've done because you've put a lot of work

into this you know yeah that's a good attitude It's just appreciating what you've done because you've put a lot of work into this, you know? Yeah. That's a good attitude, man. I mean, I think what you're doing in terms of your ability to reflect on yourself and to be real objective about your abilities and where you want to go. I learned that from your podcast. The one thing you said when I was, because I don't have any big brothers, so I don't really have anyone sunning me apart from Eugene. And like, but sometimes when I first started listening, you used to tell me, like like don't be a bitch you had this like big rant one time if you want to do this and do that follow your dreams and like you know don't be your inner bitch yeah conquer your inner

bitch yeah everybody has an inner bitch i know tell me about it there's no way around it if you're a human i'm a bitch in the streets you got a little voice yeah and i'm like yeah like it part of that was part of the fuel that helped me amongst a lot of other things. I take inspiration from everything to help me get out of that. But I remember the day, September 4th, 2013. I was just like, yep, I'm out. And I never worked a day in my life again. Beautiful.

Never again. I couldn't do it. You're a talent, man. You don't have to anymore. You're working, but you're working at something you have a passion towards. You're still working. It doesn't feel like work. It doesn't feel like work. That's what I mean. It's the key to life. I don't care. If you work in the office, that's one time. You don't have to anymore. You're working, but you're working at something you have a passion towards. You're still working. It doesn't feel like work. That's what I mean.

I don't care. If you work in the office, that's your thing. If you don't feel like you're working and you have a passion for what you're doing, just do that. Right. But then, like I said, some guys who are fighting and they don't, they just do it because it gets, like Brendan Sharpe. He was doing it because he's great at it. Pays the bills. But now look at him.

Comedian, podcast. He recognized it, though. He's a wise guy in that he recognized there was this thing that he just, you go back to like his fight with Crow Cop or some of his earlier fights. He had a different attitude about fighting, and then he realized he didn't have it anymore, but he was still getting paid well, so he didn't know how to jump out. Exactly. That's what I mean.

So if you're not enjoying, it doesn't matter what it is, just opt out. And he did. You helped him, though. Yo, I listened to that. I was cringing the whole time I had to but you had to

yeah that's what look I love that guy he's like a brother to me I tell my homies all the time he wasn't all there in terms of like he wasn't all in facts

I tell my homies all the time because a lot of people like they don't know how to handle like not the new me but the new lifestyle around me it's weird people get they get

they become like groupies in a way what's spooky it's spooky way. I'm like spooky I'm like spooky cuz you know me but you broke through the membrane into the neighboring dimension You know like oh shit like a celebrity on TV. I'm gonna Yeah, I get it. I get it. Yeah, but to people that know you and then all since see you on TV That's a mind fuck man But I was seeing my first friends get on TV when I was a comedian

Yeah, and watch them on TV going whoa I know that guy and I see him on TV facts now before me So the ones that are around me now They're the ones that can check me like if I can handle it and they can check me like I fuck up like I'm not Perfect I mean there's no such thing Yeah, so it's like if I do something and I'm like I'm in the wrong They'll tell me like hey you need to pull your head in. You know what I mean?

So you need people like that. I'm glad I have people like that now. Well, having people like that and also having people like Dan Hooker in your camp, having people like all the other training partners you were talking about, having great coaches, all those things have to be together. You have to have people that are honest, that are assessing you. You have to have a good trainer who's looking at you, who knows you, who's like, you're a little off today,

you're a little slow today, or today we're going to ramp it up. I think you're hitting the next level. We're going to add in some more different things. Having someone who's like, it's everything, man. Everyone is different individually, even with fighting the style. So that's one thing I love about our staff at City Kickboxing is because they can look at someone and be like cool he needs to do this he needs to work on this better he knew and it's it's beautiful i honestly like 20 30 years from now i

keep telling my teammates that they're gonna talk about us the way we talk about them but we don't realize it like when people talk about ernesto who's gym 100 i've met him um manat andre manat as well in china and he's a kickboxing legend as well. But, yeah, one day I'll go out there and get some work done. Probably at the end of the year. Yeah, man. I mean, mix it up. Travel around.

I love New Zealand. Don't get me wrong. When I see the Sky Tower when I hit Auckland, I get excited like a little dog when it sees the park. You know what I mean? I love being home. But it's good to get out there, get some work. And without ego. Because one thing I realize now is if I go to a different gym, it'll be different now. park you know what i mean i love being home but it's good to get out there get some work and without ego because one thing i realized now is if i go to a different gym it'll be different now

because guys always that guy right sparring you might try to hurt you exactly and bro yeah we can play we can play but i don't get paid for that that's the thing you're also in one of the most beautiful countries that's ever existed there's something about new zealand man i said i've never been personally but there's a reason why they filmed The Hobbit there. Because you look at some of that shit, and it looks magical. Yeah, it is. It feels good to be. I just love the vibe. It's a vibe of New Zealand I like. What is the vibe like? It's chill. Everyone's real loose. Not loose like Australia. You can't get loose like that, but it's relaxed. What's the difference between loose like Australia and loose like New Zealand? Well, what's the difference between loose like australia and loose like new zealand all australia's are loose cunts what's the difference like what's the difference bam bam

drinks out of a shoe oh yeah they don't give a fuck aussie is like the the attitude and then they're cool as well it can be chill but you can get some real loose cunts there like in new zealand like in anywhere like in america right you know but um generically speaking like it's just yeah australians uh depends where you go. Melbourne's my city. That's my favorite city in Australia. Melbourne, Perth, and then Adelaide. Those are my favorite cities in that order.

But, yeah, I don't know. I'll probably hit a few other spots as well, see what the vibe's like. Just keep moving around. Now, what about American gyms? How many different American gyms have you trained at besides Black Zillions? Black Zillions, Black Zillions. Let me think. I've trained with a few fighters, but maybe I've trained with – let me think.

Who else? I think that's the only gym. I didn't go to ATT. In L.A., did I train? Most of the times I'm here, when I'm on holiday, I don't train. I holiday out. Right. Good for you.

Yeah. But, yeah. You've got a good idea about balance man yeah i try once in a while you go too too much this side you have to find it okay go to the other side and it never stays right in the middle for that for a long period of time it's just like okay you're leaning this way go this way all right and find the balance so just feeling and being honest with yourself objectivity i say always check yourself. A-C-Y. Always check yourself no matter what, how you're feeling. If something gets me like maybe if I see something makes me feel a way,

I get jealous. I'm like, why do I feel that way? Why am I hating? It has nothing to do with me. And I find out where it comes from. And then eventually it's like you identify the monster and then you slaughter it. You kill it.

Good for you, man. Good for you. I learn. I'm coming up. I'm learning. You're a bad motherfucker. Listen, man. I'm going to wrap this up. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Good for you, man. Good for you. I learned. I'm coming up. I'm learning. You're a bad motherfucker. Listen, man. Go wrap this up.

Thank you, brother. I'm glad we got a chance to do this. Last minute. Threw it in. The first one. That's right. It's the first one. We're going to do this some more.

I get more comfortable the way these go on. Dude, you were great, man. It was fun. I appreciate it. Thank you. Stylebender on Twitter. Stylebender on Instagram.

Everywhere. Everywhere. Catch me sliding my DMs. Everywhere. Sliding my DMs. Oh. Sliding my DMs. Oh, man. That was fun. I needed that, so I was like...