The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #5 with Stipe Miocic

Episode Date: December 13, 2017

Joe Rogan sits down with UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic.

Ohio guy. They're everywhere. You Ohio folks stick together. Don't mess around. What is it about Ohio? What is it about Ohio? All you Ohio guys like, Ohio? You Ohio? We're Cleveland? Columbus? You guys all stick together. That's it, man. That's how we do it, man. Just good people.

Even when you won the title. You're like, Cleveland, we got a champ! OHIO. What is it about Ohio? Why does everybody love it so much? I don't know, man. I just think it's the mentality of people. Just the people are awesome. You know, I don't know.

It's just hard to explain. I think you just got to live there. Like, you know, there's people that have lived in other states and moved to Cleveland or Ohio. And they're like, man, you know, I get it now. I see why you guys are so in-depth with each other. You guys are awesome. You guys love each other. Yeah, man.

It's like its own nation. It is weird. Columbus in particular is one of my favorite places to visit. It's like I get the weather sucks a lot. I get it. But the people are so damn nice. Overall, it's a really good spot. Yeah.

Actually, I love Columbus, too. I've had a bunch of blurry nights there. Down there, I went to Brothers and all that good stuff. But I love Columbus, too. It's one of them. You know, going down there, especially for like we go down to Arnold and stuff like that. Right, right. Just checking it out. And, you know, they have a couple MMA fights and local shows, too.

We have a lot of our coaches go down there for local MMA shows. Remember when they used to do the UFC with the Columbus, with the Arnold? Yeah. That was a big event. That was a big—I wonder why that stopped. That was always a lot of fun. I remember the one time they had Strikeforce there. That's when Ronda Rousey—

Pull the sucker up. Sorry, I suck at this. This is my first podcast. Be gentle. Is it? Yeah. Really? Yeah.

How the fuck has a heavyweight champion of the world never been on a podcast before? Well, I've been on a podcast like over the phone, but not like in studio. Yeah, yeah. So, but I think Strikeforce is when Rousey and Tate fought and that's when she dislocated her elbow. Yeah, yeah. Was that one of them? I think it was.

I think that was one of them. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Back in the day. So what's it like walking around the UFC heavyweight champion of the world? How's that feel? It feels good.

It doesn't really matter in my household. I'm like fourth on the ladder. It's my wife and the two dogs and then me. I'm there just to pay bills. It feels like that sometimes, right? Yeah. It's a money machine. But so is everything good now?

You finally got a title fight. You finally got a real challenger in Francis Ngannou on January 20th. How do you feel about this? I think he's a great fighter. Definitely he brings it. It's hard. But, you know, unfortunately nothing's going to change. I'm walking out with the belt still wrapped around my waist.

I mean, you know, I'm excited for him. You know, he's going to get shot. But as long as I'm here, no one's going to be champ. Damn. You have to have that mentality. What do you think about him that's unusual? Like, what about him, other than the size and the strength,

what stands out? I mean, his power, I guess, you know, but I think everyone in the heavyweight division, I mean, 260-pound man, 250-pound man, I mean, you're not supposed to be hit by something like that. You know, I fought JDS, I fought Arnelson, I fought Marcant. I mean, I got guys who, you know, do hard. Yeah.

You know, and he's a little wild, too, which that's tough. You know, sometimes you can't prepare for that because there's punches you don't see. Right, the punch he hit Alistair with, that wild left hook, swings wide. Yeah, 100%. Well, I think that was a little bit on both ends. I think Overeem was just kind of being a little sloppy and then put his face right in the lane.

Yeah, Overeem's got a weird style now, right? It's a totally different style over the last couple of years. But he does awkward stuff. When you fought him what did you how did you feel well when i fought him he was like very traditional moving around running but i kept you know keeping his distance i'm like all right cool it's a fight you know and then uh you know he tried that that uh lunging i don't know what kind of kick to my thigh and i grabbed it in time and took him down but you know i mean I didn't watch the whole fight

with Ngannou but what I saw was he's doing all these wild punches I'm like you know when he fought me he was throwing straights and you know he wasn't really you know I think with Ngannou it was almost like he felt like he could not get hit which was correct right so he just decided to be just completely wild and unpredictable I mean through that wild lunging left hand to start the fight off and then got the clinch immediately, but wasn't able to do anything with it. Yeah. You know, I don't know. I mean, I'll find out January 20th.

I think I'll be all right. But, you know, I'm the best coach in the world. You know, I'm pretty confident walking in there. You know, he's a big dude, throws hard. I mean, but that's every weight. I mean, it doesn't take much. Well, the only time we've seen him on his back was, which fight was it? Curtis Blades.

Curtis Blades took him down? Yeah. That was his first UFC fight, right? Yeah. That was an interesting fight, right? You got a chance to see. But it's hard to see when a guy's real young in MMA. It's hard to see a fight from three years ago or whatever that was and then look at him and say, well, that's the same guy today.

Because it's not, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I've definitely changed in the past couple months. Oh, for sure. You know, I think he's definitely gotten better. There's no question. But, you know, we'll see what happens, you know. Listen, I'm going out there for broke.

I'm going out there to win. You always do. Yeah. Now, this is January 20th, and right now, what is this, December 13th or something? No, second. Yeah, it's December 2nd. No, today's not the second.

Oh, today, I'm talking about their fight. Oh, no, today. The 13th. The 13th, yeah. So, like, how much time did you have to prep for this? Well, I've been prepping. I've been working out. I've been, you know, staying in shape.

So, did you have a feeling that January was going to be the card? Yeah. So, like, when the UFC lets you know, how do they do that? How does that work? I usually contact my manager, like, hey,, hey, that's what we're thinking. You think you'll be ready. I was a little beat up after the JDS fight with my shin and everything. Not just my shin, but I had other things and just had to heal up.

That's why it took me a while. Everyone thinks I'm just trying to hold on to the belt. Who the fuck says that? All the time. Fuck them. Don't listen to that. Don't even respond. I don't respond.

I think it's funny. I think it's funny. I think it's great. That's crazy. You fought everybody. Yeah, it is what it is. What are you going to do? I can't make everyone happy. But yeah, man, I was beat up a little bit and just had a lot going on.

So now here we are. The JDS fight was interesting, right? Because that chin was swelling up hardcore, man. I couldn't believe that. Yeah. I felt fine. Also, I'm like, man, does it feel right? I could feel the rush of blood in my shin.

And I'm like, hmm. They kicked me again. I'm like, I checked it. And I'm like, oh, my God, that hurt. I got to end this. And so I was chasing them down and finding my opportunity. And thank God I got it. It's so interesting that after all these years in MMA, a new trend surfaces.

And that trend is the low leg kick. The low leg kick to the shin and the calf area is devastating. Yeah. Now you saw it with Benson Henderson, I think, was the first guy to really bring it to the UFC and really make it a big part of his arsenal. But you're seeing it with so many guys now. The low leg kick is just a giant technique. It sucks.

It fucking sucks, right? Yeah. Well, you can't condition that part of your leg. It's not the same. Anyway, I think some people are different. Some people, it's going to be real bad. For me, it sucked. It was terrible.

Going up the stairs after that fight was the hardest thing ever. Yeah, it almost looked like your leg was broken. It swole up so quick. I was wondering if the fibula was cracked the hardest thing ever. Just trying to straighten up. Yeah, it almost looked like your leg was broken. Like it swole up so quick. I was wondering if you had like the fibula was cracked or something like that. Yeah, my doctor actually was super pumped about it because he was like, oh, my God, look how deep this bone bruise is. This is amazing. He was so pumped, yeah.

He's a trainer with us, so he's a good dude, and he just loved it. He showed my coach, and my coach was like, oh, that's awesome. So what did he like put it on, an MRI or something like that? Yeah, he took an x-ray, and I think it was an x-ray or something like that he saw the pictures and he's like man this is a deep bone bruise like this is the deepest you get you know it's you know it's pretty bad yeah it's amazing to me that you know you think of all the techniques in martial arts that this technique uh becomes like a prominent technique in 2016 2017 yeah you know i'm still trying to work on my jab you know that's

what i'm working on right now in 2016 so over that it takes off for a while no but yeah it's yeah it's funny how you know mixed martial arts there's one thing and then like you know when it started you know there's one guy who's a wrestler one guy jiu-jitsu one guy now it's you know trending and more and more and then you know you got guys who like you know sprawl and brawl or yeah it's just crazy watching how the sport evolves. It's amazing, actually. Well, you're an interesting case because you're a guy who does everything, right? You're not one sports specialist. Like, you didn't come in as a kickboxing champ like Overeem or like Mark Hunt.

You know, you came into the sport with everything. You know, you're one of the new guys where essentially, you know, you do everything. You know, you're not a specialist. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean, I wrestled my whole life. And then actually it was my coach actually who made it better because when I started training with mixed martial arts, he literally was like, I would take everyone down.

I'm like, oh, this is easy. I'm going to beat everyone. He's like, no, no, no, Migo. He's like, every time you take someone down, I'm going to stand, this is easy. I'm going to pick up everyone. He's like, no, no, no, Migo. He's like, every time you take someone down, I'm going to stand right back up. So you got to learn how to fight. I'm like, oh. And I just got the crappy out of me for a while until I started learning how to use my hands better. And then I took a little time off, just do gold and gold boxing.

And here we are. When did you start? MMA? Yeah. Ten years ago. Ten Yeah. Ten years ago. Ten years. Nine years ago. That's not that long when you think about it.

Now you're the UFC heavyweight champ. Yeah. I took a year and a half off just for boxing. Really? Just to learn how to use your hands better. Yeah. It's probably a good move, right? It was a great best move I did.

Especially coming in with a wrestling background. But you have an overall athletic background, too. You played baseball. You're a multi-sport guy. Yeah move I did. Especially coming in with a wrestling background. But you have an overall athletic background, too. Like, you played baseball. You know, you're a multi-sport guy. Yeah, I tried. I tried, but, yeah, you know, I definitely wrestle. You know, the wrestling does help me out in MMA. Sure, of course.

I always use that. I think baseball definitely helps me out, too, just because of the reaction and the way I use my hips and stuff like that. It definitely helps me with my martial arts. Yeah, I would imagine. You know, I think that having a bunch of different skills, like, have you,

I'm sure you're a boxing fan. Did you watch the Lomachenko? God, that guy's fucking amazing. Or Gandia? Oh, I'm the boss, right? Oh, yeah, you can swear like a fucking, go fucking crazy.

Fuck your cock balls. Okay, I'm good. There you go. I mean, what I thought was fascinating about the commentary, they were talking about how his dad made him take four years off and just do Ukrainian dancing. That's how he got his footwork.

Really? Yeah. His father said, you want to be a fighter? He goes, well, you're going to take four years off of fighting and just learn traditional Ukrainian dancing. Yeah. I mean, his fucking father's a wizard man he nailed it he nailed it i mean you know they asked his dad like when did you know that he was

going to be the champion he said before he was conceived holy shit that's that's some russian shit right there that's a ukrainian dark oh my god like soviet union type shit just watching that dude watching that dude Honestly It's like It's like poetry I don't know It is

He's like Everything Even body shots He slides out of the way Of body shots He slides out of the way Of body shots The way like a Muay Thai guy

Slides away from leg kicks Yeah You know what I'm saying He just moves so much different Than anybody I've ever seen Box before And then like In his last four points

the coach just threw the towel in. Yeah. Fuck this. Fuck this. This is terrible. If I was playing that dude I'd be like I'm done. I'm going to walk in the ring. I'm going to run around and I'm like we're calling it a day. I'm wondering but I think he's one of those guys that's like a bar raiser, right? Like where he's just

raised the bar where people look at what footwork is and they look at that guy and go, okay, this is not just like moving around a lot. Everything's so purposeful. Like when he turned around him, when Regondio, like he put his hand on his head and then spun all the way around him, Regondio's like, what in the fuck is going on here? And he's a smaller guy. He's like, what's going on? That's crazy. Like like mind-blowing yeah because it's not like he got out like struck by a bigger heavier power puncher no you got the shit boxed out of him like it was just pop up double jab pop pop oh where is it over here crazy I mean just like watching that guy I mean sorry trying to comfortable here yeah I mean just it's that guy just it's like

I'm so happy to be alive to watch this. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because you're like, I was there. You know what I mean? Yeah. I watch videos on that guy all the time. Yeah, there he is right there.

I mean, just the fucking guy barely gets hit. I mean, there's no one like him in boxing because what he's doing is he's standing literally right in front of you and he's unavailable. It's not like he's like dancing all over the place and moving away he's doing some shit and they're doing it in a way that nobody else is doing like floyd had a lot of shoulder rolls and he's slick as fuck and floyd stands right in front of you too and he ties people up and shit but what lomachenko is doing is just some total next level shit yeah I mean, look at what he does. He throws a hand, a hand drops.

He doesn't care. You know, he knows he's going to get out of the way. Yeah, he does a lot of very interesting stuff. But I'm wondering, like, if we're going to see this in the future now. I mean, you know, obviously when Ali came along, a bunch of guys started imitating Ali. Yeah. You know, when Tyson came along, a bunch of guys tried to imitate Tyson. You always see that.

Yeah. I wonder how many guys are going to figure out a way to take that to the next level. Yeah, I think, you know, I think some guys are going to take it to like,

not to that, I mean, I don't know if everyone's going to catch that level. That's just. Well, that, you know what the next level is?

That, but with like Roy Jones Jr. power. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like if someone figures out a way to move like that

with that kind of footwork, but that one punch, go to sleep, knockout power. That'd be sick. Yeah, that's probably the next level. Hopefully I'm alive for that, too. We'll see it. I mean, this is an amazing time for all combat sports, I think. I think the bar, like, I think with all sports, right,

like if you look back at the olden days and you look back at today, the athletes are bigger, they know how to train better, they're faster. But I think anywhere that's more apparent than MMA. I feel like MMA is like the best example because it's so new. Yeah, 100%. Like you said, there's always something always evolving. Like, you know, I mean, like was it John Jones?

He just had a teep to the thigh. Yeah. Like that, you know, a couple years ago. And then everyone started doing it. And then, you know, like Benson Henderson doing that, you know, a couple years ago. And then everyone started doing it. And then, you know, like Benson Henderson doing the, you know what I mean? Just, I don't know. I just love it because it's always evolving. You literally cannot take like two months off.

And if you do, people are going to pass you out. Yeah, and it's interesting too. It's like there's different schools of thought, right? There's like the AKA school where you have all these killers in one room and you have like world champions beating up world champions and and then you have your gym which is much more specialized you know it's like you're the big guy to emerge from your gym and then it's been jessica i and some other high level mma fighters coming out of your gym but that's a like a lot of people think that's the way to go to have specialized training like max holloway has specialized training where like you know there's not you're not dealing with a bunch of people think that's the way to go, to have specialized training like Max Holloway has.

Specialized training where you're not dealing with a bunch of people that are already champs. You're building champs. Yeah, that's right. My gym's awesome. My coach, Marcus Marinelli, he's all homegrown, man. Guys come in and he just makes them better. I don't get any specialized training like anyone else. Like, I don't go out, you know, everything's just pushed aside. Like, if the dude's got a fight, they're going first, then I go.

You know, I'm not better than anyone else. Yes, you know, I'm a heavyweight champ. I don't look at it that way. I look at it like, all right, you got a fight coming up. You go first. We'll push my training back later. You know, like, I don't care. But, yeah, like, it's just great watching, like, you know, our gym.

Like, guys coming in, they're like, oh, yeah, I want to train. And all of a sudden, they're like, come out, like, a few just great watching, like, you know, our gym, like, guys coming in. They're like, oh, yeah, I want to train. And all of a sudden they come out, like, a few months later and these guys are killers. You're like, Jesus. Like, we have a Kenan Alexi, a 205 pounder. Kid's an animal. Like, he keeps me young. I have to, like, he just turned pro.

He's on his third pro fight. And I'm like, god dang, I come in some days and I'm like, whew. Isn't it interesting how there's guys like that in the gym and then for whatever reason it never clicks for them like there's some guys that are just so insanely talented but they just don't have whatever it is whether it's focus

whether it's the discipline to keep going when things get weird to just finally realize their potential like what separates a guy like that that's like a gym killer, from a guy like you who can perform under the bright lights? You know, when I was fighting UFC, I don't mean the whole story here, but when I was fighting, I was like 9-0, I lost to Struve,

and I thought I was unstoppable, and Struve beat me. I'm like, I almost didn't want to fight anymore. I was like, I don't know if I'm ready 9-0. I lost to Struve. And, you know, I thought I was unstoppable. And then Struve beat me. I'm like, I almost didn't want to fight anymore. I was like, I don't know if I'm ready for this anymore. And then came back, fought Roy Nelson. You know, I had a couple more fights. And then I lost to JDS. And literally, when I walked in the back locker room, I was just like, I'm done. I'm like, I don't even care anymore.

Like, I don't even care what happens. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to train. And all I'm going to do is put it all out there. If I'm going to win, I'm going to lose. I don't really care. It's going to happen. It's going to happen.

You know, but I'm going to go out there and get my damn this to win. And I'm going to do is put it all out there. If I'm going to win, I'm going to lose. I don't really care. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. But I'm going to go out there and get my damn list to win. And I'm going to do whatever I've got to do. And I just don't care. So something switched in your head. You can kind of see it. One of the things I've always said about you, when you walk out to fights and during the stare down, you're like stoic. You give them dead eyes. You're just like, you're there.

Here we go. Like when you fought Verdum. When you fought Verdum in Brazil and knocked him out in the first round. It's like you look at your face while you're standing there. It's like you might be waiting in line at the fucking car wash. You know? I mean, you could be anywhere. Yeah.

You're not mean mugging him. You almost got like that Fedor face going on where you're just like, here we are. Yeah. You know, I get that. I think I get that dead face from like when my wife yells at me. It's kind of just like – no, yeah. Yeah, I just – you know, I just – I looked at a lot of – I stopped caring. I'm like, you know what?

I'm not going to like get emotional about stuff. Like I don't care. Like all I care about is like I'm married. I got a beautiful wife. She takes care of me. End of the day, no matter what happens in this fight game, she's going to be there for me. She likes me for who I am, not because I fight. She likes me because I make her laugh.

I do good things for her. She does good things. I mean, just like a marriage should be. And she was there before all this stuff happened. So she's not like a, what do they call it? What's the word? Gold digger? There we go.

Yeah, gold digger. I couldn't think of that. I'm an idiot. But yeah, something like that. She's been there a, what do they call it? What's the word? Gold digger? There we go. Yeah, gold digger. I couldn't think of that. I'm an idiot. But yeah, something like that. She's been there the whole time, and that's what I love about her. So you're anchored. Yeah. Yeah, and I just stopped caring.

I'm just like, who cares? If I lose, I lose. But I'm going to go out there. But I'm very competitive, so I'm going to go out there and do whatever I got to do to win. Yeah, Randy Couture said that once. He was talking to young fighters, and he was saying, you can't be worried about losing. The people who love you are always going to love you. You're not going to lose anything.

You're just going to lose a contest. And if you're entering into something like a mixed martial arts fight, someone's got to win and someone's going to lose. And you've got to learn from those losses. And, you know, some of those losses, that devastating feeling, like I'm sure was there for you after this true fight, the rebuild from that is what makes real champions. Yeah, definitely.

It helped a little bit when I actually took my mom there. She didn't go to the fight. She never seen me fight. In London, they got those big double-decker buses. So we're going back, and my head's like, it's throbbing. I'm like, oh, God, this sucks. I'm driving back, and my co-driver next like it's throbbing. I'm like, oh God, it sucks. I'm driving back and my co-driver next to me,

he's trying to make me laugh while I'm sitting there talking and I look out the window at that hotel and my mom's smoking a cigarette and she's like, she's like, I'm like,

I look to my buddies and I'm like, am I in fucking high school right now? Like, who does that? You know, and I get that right there, like made me feel better.

Like, like you said, like no matter what happens, you know, always going to be, you know, someone's going to be, no matter what happens, they're to be. Yeah. Someone's going to be there. No matter what happens, they're going to love you no matter what. Yeah, your family's always your family.

Your friends are always your friends. And if they're not, they were never really your friends in the first place. Exactly. You're probably better off that way. Sometimes it's good to have some losses just so you realize who's just going to abandon you. Yeah, right. It makes sense. So do you have any mental coaching?

Do you do anything like that? I did for a little bit back in the day after the shoe fight. I think it was a shoe fight. I talked to a sports psychologist, which it turned into about a minute talking about fighting. The next was about my personal life. It had nothing to do with sports. It was just all I talked about. It was just about half an hour.

I did it a few times, and I walked every time. and that's when I started getting that mentality like why do I care anymore like I just stopped caring I'm not you know I just I don't care anymore like like what was he trying to she she she sorry I'm a sexist I immediately assumed an expert must be a man how could a woman know anything such a piece of of shit I am. But when you think about, like, that's a critical component in keeping your mental state together, right? That's one of the things that a lot of people will talk about, like, having a good support group around you, having a support system, family, friends, real loved ones. So in her examining that, do you think she was trying to, like, reinforce, like, what matters and what's important? You know, I never actually thought about it that way.

Maybe she's just nosy. Maybe. But I've known her. I've known her for a while. Oh, okay. No, she, like, we know her. But she, I don't know, I thought about it, but we just started talking, and she was like, so, let's talk.

I'm like, right. And I started talking about fighting. I'm like, yo, this, and that, and then I'm like, yo, my girlfriend, the girl with the towels, she's doing this to me. You know what I mean? And she's like, all right. She's like, psycho.

You know what I mean? But literally, I walked down, and I felt so much better, not even just because of the fighting. I think you needed to clear all the like, all that stuff out. Just needed to like get my mind straight. They say that for people who go to shrinks. Like if you go to a psychiatrist, I've never gone, but if you go, like the best thing is just to talk about it.

Like most people just keep things bottled up inside. They don't have anybody to talk to about a lot of the shit that's going on inside their head. Yeah. That was my problem when I was younger, actually. You know, like especially like my wife, the one thing that made us better was that I had to communicate. Because I was like, she'd get mad at me. I'd be like...

He just bottled it up. I would just hold it. And finally one day I'd be like, ah! She's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That was like two weeks ago. Like, calm down, dude. You know what I mean? I was like, well, you told me that.

And now it's just talking to that lady and just opening up more. And just when something bothers me, you know, she hates it now because I'm like, listen, you know, you need to do this. Like, you know, she'll go, oh, what's up, tough guy? Now, you're a full-time firefighter, too, as well as being the UFC heavyweight champion. How do you balance that? Well, I'm part-time actually at two departments. Oh, okay. You know, but it's just tough because being full-time, you know, I get hired full-time so i couldn't you know it'd be tough to do both

you know if i did before it'd be a lot easier but i can't just take a test because you have to probation year long and then you can't right so while you're fighting you work part-time and do you have it set up where you know like you tell them in advance like hey i got a january 20th fight yeah so i already pick my schedule. So a month in advance, like one station, I pick it within the first week. I pick my whole month. And then the next station, we go, like, seniority. So when I come up, I pick my schedule. So I make sure that, you know, it's already picked out.

So I literally work probably five times in about two weeks. 12-hour shift. How much does that get in the way of your training? Never. Never? Nope. No. How's that work?

The way I pick my schedule, if I have to do it, I could trade someone, and someone's coming in. I make it work. And they're amazing people. Both stations are amazing. The chiefs are great. The guys that work, I mean, actually a lot of them are coming to the fight January 20th. Yeah, well, that's an interesting thing about firefighters

is that a lot of times you get those 24-hour shifts, you know, and where, you know, you get a chance to work out, you can cook, you know, hanging out with guys. It's like once the duties are done around the firehouse, right? Yeah, I play a lot of Call of Duty. Do you? Oh, yeah. They're losing a 10-year-old kid.

It's a crazy job because when you have to do something, what you have to do is so extreme and what's demanded of you is just insane. I'm sure you've been paying attention to what's going on just a few miles from here. Yeah. In Ventura, it's out of control. You know what's crazy is that we just went past, was it Getty Boulevard? Yeah, Getty Center. I saw that.

It looked like it was Armageddon. And then we just passed it today and it was like burnt. It was nuts. Like a couple of days ago, that's what it would look like. It was like shocking. Well, LA is a fucking mess. The beautiful thing about California is we don't have any weather. And it never rains.

But the terrible thing is once it gets crispy. And the other night, when this was all happening, I was at my house, and the wind was blowing like ridiculous. They were calling it a dry hurricane because the wind was so crazy. Trees were falling down all over the place. And the thought was, man, if a fire gets lit here, we're fucked. And then, boom, they start popping up. It was a natural, like, just from being in the fire? I don't think so.

I think there's a lot of psychos out there. I think there's a lot of fucking people that recognize these are crazy fire conditions and they just want to light something on fire. And they do and they step away. And then next thing you know, it's a 300,000 acre fire. It's crazy. There's accidents for sure. But I think for sure some of this is arson.

What was it? A day or two of all those ones burning? Yeah. How is that possible? That's kind of weird. Yeah. There's a bunch of fucking psychos out there. That's what I think.

I think there's definitely some accidents, and obviously those winds exacerbate anything that would have been a small fire. Like, there was a small fire in my neighborhood a couple months ago, but it wasn't windy, and the firefighters jumped on it quick, and they put the house down. But, man, when the winds were the way they were,

I mean, you were having chunks of embers that were flying 600, 700 yards away, flying through the air, this and that and everywhere. There was no way they could stay on top of it. Yeah, that's like scary. Terrifying. I mean, we have like brush fires. Yeah, well, that's the good thing about Ohio. Yeah, right now I think we got like six or seven inches of snow.

Listen, man, snow, you just need snow tires. That's it. You know, warm clothes, snow tires, you're good. Fucking firestorm, it's not good. Yeah, I mean, that's like, oh, God, that's scary, man. Like, just reading about it and just seeing it and seeing the pictures, just, you know, you feel terrible for the people. We actually have friends in San Diego.

They had to get evacuated. Yeah. They said there was an 85% chance that their house would be gone. Jesus. They came back, and within a tenth of a mile, the fire stopped. They got lucky. Yeah. They said there was 85% chance that their house would be gone. Jesus. They came back and within a tenth of a mile the fire stopped. They got lucky.

Yeah. I've been evacuated twice. That's scary. Yeah, it's scary but you know, you just gotta get out quick, throw the dogs in the

back, let's go, fuck it. Yeah, I mean. You know, part of it's like cleansing. Like all that stuff in your house is not you, your fucking

TV or your clothes, that's not you, you're you. Yeah. You'll be alright. It's a much holistic thing, you always buy a new one. Yeah, just fucking stay with your grandmother for's not you you're you yeah you'll be all right it's a much holistic thing i always buy a new one yeah just fucking stay with your grandmother for a

while you'd be fine everybody will live as long as you get out you're all right you'll you'll rebuild get back it's sometimes it's a i mean it's not a good thing to lose everything that you work for but sometimes it's a good thing to know that you are vulnerable you know like in these these fires like i think it's one thing that L.A. is missing is humility that's brought on by the weather. Like you know how it is in Cleveland. When it fucking snows, right, when it snows out and it's thick, there's that feeling in the air where everybody calms down, right? Everybody's like, okay.

Like there's no one driving like a fucking crazy psychopath when it's snow. Everybody's going real kind of slow, slow and steady. Your back tires are kicking out a little bit. You know what I mean? That keeps people humble. Yeah, we actually, what was it? The weekend of, what was it? Which one?

New York. Madison Square Garden. Which one was that? UFC what? What was that? What number was that? I don't know. 211?

Whatever it was yeah um so i'm coming home my wife's like hey you know there's a huge storm coming just let you know i'm like cool she calls me again in my house we have actually a built-in generator so if the power goes out oh that's nice so i'm like sweet dude awesome so every saturday i would hear a kick on i'm like awesome the thing works great of course the time it needs to work the power goes out it's dead so the battery busted on it but so we came home and i came home and i flew home that night and I'm like, awesome. This thing works. Great. Of course, the tower needs to work. The power goes out. It's dead. So the battery busted on it. But so we came home, and I came home, and I flew home that night, and it was like a zombie apocalypse, man.

It was like stuff everywhere. Like, it was all dark. There was trees, like, on top of everything. It was crazy. And then they said, like, 15 tornadoes touched down within between Indiana, Ohio, and PA. And so we came to my house, and there was, was like half, I have one big tree in my yard. I have eight and a half acres. I have one big tree. That magically got split in half.

Wow. Then our barn, we have a barn. It's like a, it has like a little soft on the side. That all, like half of it got ripped down. It was crazy. Like, I mean, there was like so much stuff falling. We had a gazebo that got ripped down. It's humbling. Yeah, but like you said, it's humbling because we're not safe. But at least we found out that the generator didn't work.

Now we're good. Because it actually worked the other day. It was so windy that the power went out and it actually kicked down. I was like, oh, good. Yeah, there's something that's comforting about hearing that. When I lived in Colorado, we had a generator. The power would go out and you're like, ooh, I'm okay. I'm safe.

Yeah, are you handy? Do you fix shit? Oh, yeah, I know. Are you going to fix the garage? No, I have, ooh, I'm okay. I'm safe. Yeah. Are you handy? Do you fix shit? Like, are you going to fix the garage? No, I have a buddy, my buddy Rick. Actually, he was over the other day. I was like, hey, he said, what's up, man? I'm like, hey.

I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm going to your house. I'm like, uh, what? He's like, yeah, I talked to you. I actually need you to fix something. I'm like, all right, cool. I'll see you at the gym. So he comes over and does that for me.

I mean, I do help him out, but it's mostly, it's all him. You're lucky. Yeah. Lucky to know somebody who to fix something. I'm like, all right, cool. I'll see you at the gym. So he comes over and does that for me. I mean, I do help him out, but it's mostly, it's all him. You're lucky. Yeah. Lucky to know somebody who can fix shit. Yeah, I'm terrible at that stuff, man. I'm like, I make it worse. Well, especially if you live in a place like where there's fucking tornadoes. Like, can you, is there a tornado-proof house?

Can you make a house? Like, remember like Three Little Pigs? You remember? Like the guy with the bricks. You can make a little shelter in the ground, I guess. I don't know. You know, I don't. Like a little, I don't know.

Like little doors. I have no idea. Right, like Wizard of Oz type shit? I guess, yeah. Yeah, you'd have to go, you'd have to make something that like was underground, right? Like some underground dudes have that? Remember when we were kids, like a lot of guys had, like not a lot of guys, but people were talking about building bomb shelters in their backyard.

That was like a big thing. Yeah, yeah. Kind of like that thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, my basement's pretty, it's not bad. It's got a few like cinder block windows, like the, whatever. That's about it.

I mean. So you probably survived down there. Yeah. Pretty good. Plus we have like a little area in the, too, with like the furnace and stuff so we can hide in there. Do you work out at home at all? No. God, no.

No. Actually, I have a 3,000-square-foot barn with radiant heat, so it's warm all year round. It's awesome. I was like, dude, you should put a cage in there. You should train. I'm like, hell no. This is my sanctuary.

This is where I go and I watch TV and I relax and I do fun stuff. No, I'm not bringing anything. My wife does. My wife, she has some on it stuff. We have her little kettle bells and stuff like that. She loves it. So she does a treadmill and she does her thing there. Yeah, that's probably a good attitude, right?

To burn it all out in the gym and then home is peace. Yep. It's peaceful as it can be. If I piss off the wife, it then home is peace. Yep. I mean, well, as peaceful as it can be, you know. If I piss off the wife, then it's not so peaceful. How do you relax? Like, when you're the UFC heavyweight champion of the world, like, that's a tremendous amount of pressure and stress. Play some Call of Duty, I don't know, just hang out.

I really just chill. I don't do much. Like, you know, John Vellante, him. I play with him online with a bunch of guys from New York, and we just sit there and talk smack, talk shit to little kids, and make yourself feel much like you know John Valante I'm him I play with him online with a bunch of guys from New York and we just sit there and talk smack talk shit to little kids and make yourself

feel better you know imagine you getting your shit if you're playing online Call of Duty and the UFC heavyweight champions talking shit to you

what the fuck my buddy was actually we were playing one time with Nate and he's like guys like come over kick your ass

my buddy's like just let me do it I'm like don't you say a word I'm like just let him have his moment come over and kick your ass. And my buddy's like, just let me do it. I'm like, shh, don't you fucking say a word. I'm like, just let him have his moment. Come over and kick your ass. That's hilarious.

I mean, it's so funny to get direct messages and stuff like that. You're a terrible person. They're threatening you? Oh, yeah. Like, you're such a noob. And you're like, I don't know where you live. I fucking find you and I kill you. I'm like, ugh.

It's so funny. Can you imagine the thought that would go through their head if they found out who the fuck they were talking to Well the horror when you're some 14 year old shit-talking kid I'll fucking come to your house stick my dick in your mouth You find out you're talking to the UFC heavyweight champ you're like, oh Jesus. Oh, yeah, Jesus Lord. That's like what am I done? Yeah, yeah, I remember we were in Vegas, something like that. Some guy had no idea. Not being taught or shit, but

we went to a Bud Light party and we went to this one mansion. It was crazy. We were having fun. They had a bunch of different Elvis Presleys, whatever. They had all these models. I was with my wife and we're hanging out and I'm sitting there looking straight, not looking around because there's all these other girls.

So anyway, I'm like, do you want anything? I'm going to go get some macaroni and cheese looking around because like, you know, there's a lot of good looking girls. I'm like this, you know, and so anyway, I'm like, all right, babe, do you want anything? I'm going to go get some macaroni and cheese. She's like, yeah, because they're like,

I'll never forget that, macaroni and cheese. I went to go get some macaroni and cheese and I came back and just be talking to my wife and I'm like, hmm. So I'm like,

it turns around, I'm like, here it's him. He's like, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. He was being nice. My wife was like,

he was being nice. He just asked me what I was doing. But he had no idea that I was with her. Yeah, what a disaster. Yeah, it was actually pretty funny. That guy really pissed his pants. It was the greatest thing ever. Do people treat you any different around the fire station, or is it pretty normal?

It's gotten worse. Worse? Yeah, they treat me like garbage. They're like, I always say they give me a plunger. They're like, hey, go to Town Champ. I'm like, really? Yeah, they don't care. That's funny. But they're good guys. I know, I always say they give me a plunger. It's like, hey, go to Town Champ. I'm like, really? Yeah, they don't care. That's funny.

But they're good guys. I mean, I love them. Both stations, they're just, you know, Oakland and Valley View, those guys are just good guys. They're just always, you know, like they actually, when I fought in Brazil, so they couldn't go to a fight, so they flew to Vegas and had their own watch party in Vegas to watch the fight. How convenient. They couldn't stay in Ohio.

They had to go to Vegas. Yeah, honey, I got to go to Vegas to support Stipe. He's fighting in Vegas? No, no, no. He's in Brazil, but the hookers are in Vegas. I got to go where I got to go. Yeah, no, I mean, honestly, they're great guys. I mean, they're just, you know, as I became champ, they really don't care.

I felt bad for them, though, because, like, really, so I won the title on Saturday. I flew in on Monday. I got home Mondayay and i think worked wednesday at the state at the one station and literally like everyone found out and that phone did not stop ringing in the doorbell and they were like looking at me like are you serious you motherfucker we're supposed to be taking naps right now like you know ding dong where's the chip oh so i felt so like they understood but i felt really bad because like i want to relax, too. Didn't they have a little parade for you? Yeah. Yeah, not a little parade.

I was in the cast. Yeah, I'm joking. It was big. Yeah, it was pretty big. 1.3 million or 6 million, whatever. That's crazy. Yeah, it was nuts. It was so hot, too.

The UFC's like, hey, dude, here's a jersey. I'm like, are you serious right now? When we wear this black jersey right now. Oh, they wanted to wear one of them Reebok kits? Yeah. It was hilarious. It was so hot. It was like 90 degrees.

I'm like, I was struggling. I was so bad. But it was honestly, it was cool, man. There was, you know, everyone's screaming and like, you know,

it was so many people. It was just, it was great to see, you know? There it is. Yeah. It's hot. Yeah, you're sweating like a pig.

Bro, it was so bad. Is it weird like walking around the street now? Like, what is normal life for you? Not normal, man. Everyone's so nice. They don't, like, run to me and be like, oh, what's up, man? They're just like, hey, good to see you, champ. How you doing?

Do you think there's any benefit of keeping a day job? Do you think, like, in any way it's, like, good for your head or anything? I think so. I definitely think so. I think it keeps me grounded because, you know, we don't always talk about fighting, you know, but like it just, you know, other things to worry about. I don't have to worry about fighting this and that.

It keeps my mind off of it. But I think also, too, there's always a plan B, you know. I could walk out of here trip and fall and break my hand and never fight again. You just never know. So that's why you keep the job? Yeah, a little bit. But I really work hard and make my mom proud.

You know, I just, plus I love helping people. You know, my whole life, like I said, I've been helped. And so it's my, because I was thinking about being a Coast Guard, a police officer. And my buddies were like, dude, check out the fireman, dude. It's a great job. I looked at him, I'm like, yeah, get full time, 24 hours, 48 hours. That's awesome, man. Like, who doesn't want to do that?

And then, yeah, so. But like some people would say, like to be at the top of your game, you literally must devote all of your time to it all the time and that you wouldn't have enough time to work a regular job. No, I mean, I make it work, man. I don't care. Like, you know, I work a lot of Sundays. I'll do 24 hours on Sundays.

So, like, if you just hit the lottery tomorrow and you got $100 million. I'm out. You'd quit. Oh, you just hit the lottery tomorrow, you got $100 million. I'm out. You would quit. Oh, yeah. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't? But that's the point. What if, say, you continue your title run and you make more and more money, become a giant superstar like you deserve to be, and you start making those Conor McGregor checks?

You going to keep that job? Yeah. Really? I will. Really? Yeah, I know. You're going to get a lot of hit-ups for loans checks. You going to keep that job? Yeah. Really? I will. Really? Yeah, no, if I win a lot of- You're going to get a lot of hit-ups for loans. This is going to happen.

Trust me. Or I've been there, done that. Yeah, I'm sure. It's so bad. I'm like, it's like my family. I'm like, bro, my family don't even bother me. I'm like, this is great. But like, friends and stuff, like, Jesus, really?

They want loans, right? Yeah. That you know are not loans. No. Nobody's ever paying you back. I got one loan. The only one I've ever got out, and it came back. Really? It not loans. No. Nobody's ever paying you back. I got one loan. The only one I've ever got out, and it came back. Really?

It came back. You got lucky. Yeah, I did. Actually, it's that guy that looks like my brother with the mustache. Oh, steak and potatoes. You know what I'm talking about? My coach. Oh, oh.

The guy with the mustache that last night I was talking about. What's his other buddy's name? What's his name? Brian Callen? Yeah. Who's that, his brother or something? You remember in the cage? Oh, right, right, right, right, right.

So, yeah, he actually started his own business, helped him out, and he's the only guy I trust. Well, that's someone that you're close to, but it's always people that you're kind of like in the periphery that have some stupid business idea that can't go wrong. Yeah. It can't go wrong. Those people are my favorite.

This can't miss. Yeah, I don't play that. Those people are my favorite. This can't miss. Yeah, I don't play that game. Plus, my wife's the one pretty much in charge of the money. That's good. That's good. You have, like, removal from it. Like, hey, I can't even do anything. I'm sorry.

Yeah, exactly. I blame it on her, and she's like, she don't care. Can't even buy sneakers. Yeah. I have to check. I can't buy underwear for myself. I'm away from my next fight. So, who schedules your training?

Like, say, if you're going to do a big camp for this Ngannou fight, who schedules what you do all the time? My coach, Marcus. He sits me down. He's like, I want this guy here. I want this guy here. I think we should bring this guy in.

We kind of just figure it all out. Does he have all this written out? He'd like a certain amount of rounds. He wants a certain amount of strength and conditioning. Is he your overall trainer? Yeah, he's my head coach. Yeah, he's the one that figures everything out. But we have my boxing coach Alex. I have my strength and conditioning Bobby. You know, I have Steve, the guy who looks like he has a mustache.

Yeah, he's a grappling kind of more of my dude. Just makes me feel good about myself. You know, just a fun dude. You know what I mean? I tear him apart and talk shit to him. You know, I make myself feel better about myself. You know, like God you're so old and fat and like I feel good. You know what I mean? I tear him apart and talk shit to him and make myself feel better about myself. You know, like, God, you're so old and fat. Like, I feel good. You know what I mean? But, yeah, Marcus, he sets it all up, makes sure it's all good, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays, and then, you know, just Saturdays. I just take Fridays off.

How much strength and conditioning do you do? I don't do too much. I don't do, like, heavy lifting. You know what I mean? Because it's not a powerlifting competition. It's a fight. Right. So on Tuesdays, I do posterior chain work for my lower back and my half.

We have a Westside Barbell. Sure. You know the bell squat? Yeah, I love that thing. Oh, dude, it's sick. They're putting one in here. Oh, really? Yeah.

Yeah, dude, Louie Simmons is the bomb. Good dude, isn't he? I love that guy. Yeah. He's a freak. We had one of the best podcasts ever with him. He's so fucking crazy. He's out of his mind.

My coach is one of the OGs with him. He worked out in his garage before it became like it is now. He used to just train with him back in the day. Yeah, we went there. He gave us a tour and that whole belt squat thing, that thing's amazing. Oh, it's awesome. Plus, it gives you traction and so much strength.

So, you know, I do that. The new one is even awesomer now too which is great you can deadlift off of it and you can do rubber band like they're they're geniuses over there just do amazing jobs so i do a bunch of that like reverse hypers yeah i've got a reverse hyper machine back here yeah the pendulum swings real good too that thing's amazing yeah that reverse hyper is a back fixer oh i mean night and day. It's the craziest thing. I mean, if you have a back issue, ladies and gentlemen, please just Google reverse hyper. It is an amazing machine that Louis Simmons created, and it literally decompresses your spine and strengthens it at the same time.

It is a work of art. Yeah. I mean, I love it. I mean, you're- Jeez, I can't talk today. I'm excited. Yeah, there it is right here. Just don't look at me in my fucking paper boy hat with that belt squat thing on.

It's, that thing's amazing, man. Yeah. But I feel like having that thing on you, you would seriously develop some, like, real power in your, in your movements and your, your ability to push off. And I think for striking, that would be fucking incredible, that thing. Yeah, I did what I did yesterday. I I think for striking, that would be fucking incredible, that thing. Yeah, I do what I do. Yesterday I did three five-minute rounds, 290. So do you shadow box while you're doing that?

Yeah, it depends what I do. I do a little shadow box. The first one I did marching, and then I slide back and forth just a little bit. Then I do a – it's kind of funny, but I actually grab the bar and I thrust my hips. It actually helps me. It works my hips and helps with my lower back. And then the next round we did a squat, medicine ball, throw it to one coach, squat, throw it back, back and forth

five minutes. And then the other one I did like burbans. Keep moving a little bit like that. Have you evolved this over time? Oh yeah. We actually have a, put it back up again. We used to have a medicine ball that was strapped up, like a Muay Thai clinch. So we did that for five minutes. That was terrible, actually. So that was actually not fun at all. We did that, and then we had these massive, I don't know what they were. They almost looked like part of a boat, but there's these big metal rings,

like oval rings, and they had chains on them. We'd just sit there and just walk like this and keep your hands up high. So just working on keep your hands up high and just. So just working on keep your hands up. Plus we put the VertiMax in there. You ever VertiMax? No, what's a VertiMax? So it's like a platform. It's got all straps and all resistance.

It's pretty cool. So you can jump and punch. Oh, you know, I think I have seen that before. It's like it's strapped up to different parts of your body. Yeah, yeah. So you could throw knees and punches and kicks and stuff like that. Yes, we add that to that. So it's pretty interesting.

And you do operate on rounds? You do like rounds? Yeah, we do five-minute rounds. Yeah. So like when we go back and forth with that and stuff like that, you can want to be on one heavy one when they're in resistance and da-da-da. So do they monitor your heart rate? No.

No, I just push it to the limit. I don't worry about it. You know, like I do this in my body if I'm tired or I'm struggling. Like the last camp for JDS camp, I don't know what I was thinking, but I was already doing five, five-minute rounds, and then the first 10 or 12 weeks before the fight, I was like, fine. I was like, oh, yeah, I feel good. Yeah, it was amazing.

And then like eight weeks in, I was like, ooh, and just died. You went too hard. Yeah, I was being just a dumb jock. Well, that's what I wanted to say. It's like what is the – not that you're a dumb jock, but what's the way you prepare for like a major championship fight? Like what is the buildup like? Like how do you know like when to pushup like like how do you how do you know

like when to push too hard how do you know when you're peaking when to back off well every fight uh two weeks out i stopped sparring i don't spar two weeks before a fight two weeks two weeks why is that just my body rest no more but no building my body hurt my body so that's the reason i made that jds fight literally everything hurts so bad i would wake up in the morning but like just stretching out. I could feel the pain like just my bones. From sparring?

Just soreness, yeah. I was just being sore. And then from sparring, from doing everything, grappling, just, you know, boxing, whatever. And then, you know,

if I had two weeks, man, I'd feel like a million dollars. So what do you do for those two weeks out? I do power, conditioning, running, and stuff like that. You know, just keep

my mind straight, my mind right. You know, working keep my mind straight, mind right. You know, working on pads, just like technique, going over the game plan for the week, you know. Yeah, everybody's got a different strategy for that. Like Matt Hughes told me he would work out hard right up until the day of the fight. Like he's like, that's what we've always done. It's what I've always done.

It feels right for me. Like he puts his mind in a good place, I guess, too. Yeah. I mean, that's old school. Yeah, it's old school. But he worked for me. And he puts his mind in a good place, I guess, too. Yeah. I mean, that's old school. Yeah, it's old old school. But he worked for him and he looked like

he was one of the best of all time. Yeah, no doubt. But I talked to another coach who said that when he was competing that what he would do is the last week

of the fight he literally wouldn't do anything. He goes, I wouldn't work out at all. I go, nothing? He goes, nothing. He goes, I might ride my bike. He goes, I might swim a little bit because I don't do shit. He goes, I wouldn't work out at all. I go, nothing? He goes, nothing. He goes, I might ride my bike.

He goes, I might swim a little bit because I don't do shit. He goes, I already know how to fight. He goes, I'm already in shape. He goes, I'm just trying to recover. And he goes, and you think about it, like if you haven't worked out in a week, when you go and work out, you're like fucking. Yeah, it's like that. You feel so, so powerful and energetic because everything's recovered.

And he's like, that's how I want to be when I'm fighting. Yeah. And I'm like, okay. I think that's how I, you know, I still go hard. You know, I still do my rounds and I, you know, I'm pushing limit. But, you know, I definitely just the last two weeks just let my body rest from getting beat up. Yeah. No, it makes sense.

Get my mind right too, you know. Do you have any sort of recovery methods? Do you do like cryotherapy or massage or ice baths? Yeah, I do ice baths on my own, but I do cryo now. I have a place that hooks me up, so I go there. Back in Cleveland, I do Epsom salt probably once a week with menthol. Is that what it's called? Menthol with that green menthol.

Is it menthol on those cigarettes? No, I think it's like whatever comes in. You need to put it in the Epsom salt and the green, the liquid. I don't even know what that is. So it's Epsom salt, but it's like, you know, they need to put it in the Epsom salt and green, like the liquid. I don't even know what that is. So it's Epsom salt, but it's green? Yeah, I think it's menthol. I have no idea. I should probably pay attention to that.

Who knows? But it's supposed to open up the pores. It actually helps with people cutting weight, too. But it actually opens it up, gets everything out. And then I do that once or twice a week. I do the crowd pie. I'm going to start doing that here soon, once, twice a week. You know, proteins, amino acids, all this stuff, you know, you're supposed to.

I go to a chiropractor a couple times a week. They also include massagers, so I get to do a massage after. Yeah, I think massage is super beneficial. I think the more people do that, the better. I think especially for fighters, you're constantly dealing with knots and things that could eventually become, like, real injuries. Yeah, I remember when I was supposed to play Ben Rothwell and I pulled out of the fight. It was the

worst time of my life. I'd never pulled out of a fight before. I didn't know what to do. I really couldn't bend over. I was like, I'll never forget. I dropped my wallet. I was like... What happened? Just my back. It was so screwed up. I was driving. I couldn't even sit up straight. It was so bad. My back was so messed up like i was driving i i was i couldn't like sit up straight i felt like

it was it was so bad i my back was so messed up like i would did you get an mri yeah so my my my lower um sorry my um what was it my l4 whatever lumbar yeah they were just screwed up they're you know they're herniated bulging out whatever you want to call them. And so I went to talk to Tom from Westside, you know, Irish guy? Yeah. You know, Greek English guy, whatever. He was like, hey, man, check out his psoas, the psoas muscle. You know what the psoas muscle is? No.

So it's a muscle that's connected inside your thigh, inside your bone, and it goes over your hip bone and it goes to your lower back. So I was sitting there and like i would like take a shit and i'm like oh like i could feel like like my my spine it would kill so i started like stretching it out and i started getting massaged and the massage was like she's like i'm like i'm like a lie she's like you touching your psoas muscle because you have to dig and get to it because like you just't find it. She was like a rubber band with like bumps on it. She was like,

it was disgusting. She was like, it was a dad. So I go to West Island with a guy named John Quint who is a release therapist or whatever. Big dude,

awesome dude. He actually saved my career. He started working my psoas and started stretching me out. I mean, now I can do head kicks now. I'd never be able to do a head kick.

So it was like a muscle that just was broken down and it wasn't getting enough recovery. I think it was from wrestling, from being, you know. Sure. And then just being tight all the time and then hurting my back when I was a little kid. You know, not a little kid, when I was 18, I hurt my back. And then he just carried on.

You ever do yoga? I did. Yeah. It's tough for me. I'm not going to lie. Of course it is. Yeah. That's why it's supposed to be good for you.

Yeah. Because it's hard to do. I probably should is. Yeah. That's why it's supposed to be good for you. Yeah. Because it's hard to do. I probably should do it. It's just that it's tough. I remember I forget when I was training in a gym before I started doing mixed martial arts, I was doing a yoga class and I was trying to like do it. And this lady's like, you're just too big. She literally told me that.

I was like, you're a terrible instructor. Like, how do you want me to come back? Like, what? You're just too big. She's like, you're just too big. Your muscles are too big. That's what she told me. The yoga instructor told you that? She told me. Oh, she's ridiculous. I was so devastated. I just too big. She's like, you're just too big. Your muscles are too big. That's what she told me. The yoga instructor told you that?

Yeah. She's ridiculous. I was so devastated. I just walked out. I didn't know what to do. I was like, this is stupid. Yeah, that's ridiculous. I probably lost my mojo after that.

No, no, no. You got to get back in there. I would just think that for anyone that's involved in anything that's as brutal as MMA, that yoga is a great sort of balancing thing for that. It keeps you flexible, you know, keeps your core strong, does a lot of, you've developed like weird strength, strength in like, it helps the joints, it helps like a lot of the connecting tissues,

helps stabilize everything. Yeah, yeah, I believe it. Plus it doesn't really go with your mind and stuff like that. Sure. Yeah, that's why, I mean sure I've done it like once or twice like a toes in the legs when I read about it and when I've seen about it it looks pretty good yeah I like that post on Instagram

that I put up last night pull this up this is from Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood got it? what's up? yoga yoga is a martial art you do against yourself. How do you say Nick's last name?

Gregoriatus? Gregoriatus. Nick Gregoriatus. Anyway, real good jiu-jitsu guy. He was the guy that was in London Real, right? Wasn't he? Use that little fancy Google machine. I'm pretty sure that's Nick.

He was in the early London Real. He did our podcast. Yeah. Yeah, he did the podcast a long time ago. But that's a great quote, that yoga is a martial art you do against yourself. How long have you been doing it for? Real serious for like two years two and a half years before that i would do it like once a month or once every now

and then but now i do it pretty regularly we did uh the sober october thing no booze no pot 15 hot yoga classes a month it's fucking life-changing man man. Yeah? Yeah, I haven't done yoga since. Changed my life. I really haven't, but I need to because I tweaked my back yesterday doing something. Do you go to a chiropractor? No. No. Yeah, I don't believe in them.

Really? Yeah, no, I don't. I'm sure you do. So good. I think massage is good, but do you know how chiropractic was founded? Do you know where it came from? It came from a scam artist. The guy was a magnetic healer. And it came to him in a seance that he could cure all ailments if you manipulate people's spines.

And then he was killed by his own son, who was also a scam artist. His own son ran over him with a fucking car and then took over the business. I'm sold. I'm in. Yes. People claim all sorts of benefits for all sorts of things, but there's no scientific evidence that manipulating your spine does anything. The only thing that it does show is that if you can manipulate lower backs,

sometimes with some people you can relieve some of the pain. But I think a lot of that is just massaging them. Like a lot of that is just manipulating them, just rubbing into them, giving them some sort of relief and adjusting them but the neck is very dangerous you know people that want to get their neck adjusted and feel that pop it feels good right but literally people have gotten strokes from that oh yeah well i uh i just you know i read a little study on it said like you know they did like it said they did adjusting twice a week. Kids' reaction in sports were quicker just because everything was lined up perfectly.

Yeah, I don't think that's real. I feel like it is, though. I'm sure you do. I'm just joking. I just don't think your body is manipulated that way. I think that what's happening is you're putting attention on your body You're thinking about recovery more you're getting adjusted and while you're getting adjusted getting massage Yeah, when I used to get adjusted the best part of it was what you said the massage Yeah, that was the best part

I get it massage and then I get adjusted and it felt good like everything loosened up and but when I talk to guys that are actual orthopedic surgeons and real doctors, like spinal doctors, and they talk about it. They're like, you're just making like a pop. Like it's not real. Like it doesn't, your body would be so fucked up if like you could manipulate it one way or another. That's how you fix things.

It's like, that's not how you fix things. Like if you got an injury, it's like there's a whole bunch of shit going on. Like if you have some sort of a muscle pull or a back injury i soured on it when i had a bulging disc and the reason why was because this guy was convinced that i didn't have a bulging disc and i didn't get an mri and i was just going to a chiropractor and he was like pushing down on my head i had a in my cervical in my my neck oh it was a my hands were going numb from jujitsu yeah and this guy was like trying to tell me just keep coming to the car you'll get adjusted it'll be fine and then i finally went to a real doctor, and they gave me an MRI.

And they're like, no, this is why you're in pain. Your disc is bulging out, and it's pressing against your nerve, and it's called the ulnar nerve. And that's why your hand is going numb. We're going to give you spinal decompression, and you should try to look into some things that are going to reduce inflammation. They changed my diet, um i started getting something called regenequin which is like platelet-rich plasma where they take your blood they spin it they heat it up and in the heating up the blood it produces this radical anti-inflammatory process and they then inject that your own blood back into the injuries and just fixed it over like

a period of like two or three months then I got another MRI, and it went away. So I think a lot of that shit is just fucking voodoo, just nonsense. And you think it's working, or you're thinking about it, or you're giving yourself time to rest while you're getting all those adjustments, so you think that the adjustments are what's doing it. But obviously there's a lot of people that are chiropractors that are very skillful in all sorts of different methods of recovery, like electrical muscular stimulation,

massage. There's a bunch of different things. I don't know enough about acupuncture. I always, I never got it done, but I was like, yeah, it seems to me like horseshit.

If I had to guess it just, but I don't know I mean there may be there's some method to it I mean, I think that massage Works that definitely works like if I get a good massage and I have like something that's tight And you know like your neck is fucked up from not tapping or something like that And then you go get it massaged out like you can fix that. That actually can provide you some relief. And I'm sure that if you go to a good, one of those people that does cupping, people apparently swear by that shit.

You know cupping? What is cupping, by the way? You know what it is? I've seen it like sucks on the back and these terrible marks on your body. I think that's half of it. Half of it is like the marks on your body make you think like you're getting something done.

But they take this cup and it sucks all your your skin up into the cup and how does that I don't know how it works but look at this asshole that's so he has the worst disease known to man yeah I can imagine that was just like what happened to your skin you got like some porcupine disease yeah I guess like they have a vacuum thing and it attaches to the top and it pulls. Look at that.

Yeah. How is that like? Yeah. Olympic cupping, a practice rooted in ancient Islam. Oh, shit. Hmm.

Interesting. Yeah. I mean, look, these fucking people are world-class athletes at the top of their game. Is cupping therapy? Okay.

How about Google? Does cupping work? Is cupping therapy? Okay, how about Google, does cupping work? Is cupping therapy work? It's probably some weird sexual shit called cupping, too. You got to be real careful. Careful what you pull up. How does cupping work? Hmm. Dry cupping.

Yeah, how does it work? The glass cup is warmed by burning an alcohol-soaked cotton ball inside of it. And they're making a bomb. This removes the oxygen in the cup, which creates a vacuum. The cup is turned upside down and placed on the patient's back, the vacuum created by the lack of oxygen. Well, that's this kind of cupping. But the other one seemed to have, like, a stem on the top of it where a vacuum thing pulls in. But what is it supposed to do?

Facts. How do you feel about ice, though? I think that's very important. Yeah. Drawing up the skin. Scroll over towards the right so I can see. Drawing up the skin in the cup is believed to open the skin's pores, which helps to stimulate the blood flow, balances and realigns the flow

of... Okay, you fucked me with this chi. QI. Realigns the flow of QI. Oh, you got any peer-reviewed studies on that QI you fucking dipshit Breaking up obstructions creates an avenue for toxins to be drawn out of the body again as soon as asshole start talking about toxins Oh, I'm just cleansing. I'm on a deep cleanse getting the toxins out of my body nice It's so nice. It's so nice. It's just bullshit talk. That whole toxins talk is I'm pulling toxins out of my body. The fuck you are.

No, you know what pulls toxins out of your body? Your liver, you dumb cunt. That's what your liver's for. It gets the toxins out. You're not pulling them out with a cup. For me, it's a sauna after I've been drinking all day. That helps. Sweat.

Yeah, your sweat does. It'll at least filter out some of that water. That ionic foot spa thing. Oh, that's the worst. Where your foot, the water turns black and they try to pretend that it's like toxins coming out of you. But meanwhile, it's just a reaction. It's a chemical reaction.

Yeah, you ever seen that? No. Yeah, they have this thing. It's plugged in and your foot sits in it. And there's some sort of reaction with the water in your feet and it turns black. And they try to tell you, oh, the toxins are coming out of your body. And then you walk out of there. I feel amazing.

Now I need a colonic. No. No. This is not real, ladies and gentlemen. What is that? Like what are they doing? What is the exact reaction? There's lots of videos you can look up where people do the exact process

without putting anything in there, and the water still turns black. I think it's something to do with, like, battery acid or I don't know. Honestly, that might not be it, but it's something weird. Bullshit. See, people want to get healed. You get hurt. You want to get healed. You want to believe anything.

Yeah. Well, you ever heard of Reiki healers? Oh, yeah. No, that's rolfing that's real that's legit that's like fascia manipulation reiki is like they rub their hands and they just pass them over your body and they they heal you we had this one uh video that we were watching this this one lady was just rubbing her hand above this lady's vagina just like above it like what is going on there you're trying to what kind of sorcery are you using? What are you trying to, what are you trying to exercise from this lady's body? Next thing you know, she's the number one porno star in America.

Look, I did it with my hands, my healing, my Reiki healing. I met a dude last night that was a psychic healer. Told me he was a psychic healer. I go, good luck with that. That's not real. You that was a psychic healer. Told me he was a psychic healer. I go, good luck with that. That's not real. You fuck. Psychic healer. The reason I ask about icing is because I know there's some people that don't like icing.

They like doing it like that. The injury gets hurt. Unless it's needed. But say you sprain your ankle and you can't just start moving it right away and get the blood flow back in there without. Yeah. You know what I mean? start moving it right away and get the blood flow back in there without yeah you know there's there's some evidence that um well i think it depends entirely upon the injury but if you look at the vast majority of scientists and sports medicine therapists and the people that are at the cutting

edge of the business they almost all use ice yeah yeah they don't think that you're not supposed to use ice within. What was it? Who was it on the podcast? Was it Andy Galpin? Who was it that was talking about the time frame between icing and exercise where you need to? Well, that might have been Rhonda Patrick. There's a beneficial amount of time you should wait before you ice after an exercise like that you you give yourself a chance for more recovery and more growth if you wait a while before icing like say if you had a hard training session you wouldn't want to go right to cryotherapy you might want to wait an hour and a half two hours and then go and then you'll get the benefits of the hard training but then you also get the anti-inflammatory benefits of cryo you know when i when I did cryo, the first time, a couple times I did it,

I was like, this sucks. Like, I wasted a bunch of money. Like, I just hated it. Right. And then there's another place. Plus, also, it's free, which is nice. That helps. Free is nice.

Yeah, right? And the guy's like, hey, man, you know, come on. So I checked it out. And, like, man, I got done with that one. It was like I felt, like, coldness coming, like, in my whole body. So it was a better place? Yeah. You went to a better place? Yeah. I think so. I one it was like i felt like the coldness coming like in my whole body so it was a better place you went to a better place yeah i think so i think it was because i definitely felt a difference you know how long are you in town for i'm leaving tomorrow damn i want to take you to the place out here the the cryotherapy cryo health care out here they have

a very unique system their their system is um it's first of all the guys that developed it what they did was instead of having it where you're breathing in liquid nitrogen, you know, like where it's from the neck down, which is a lot of those places, you go into it and you're breathing air and you have to have your head above where the cryo is because you can't breathe that shit in, which is how that girl in Vegas died, folks. If you don't know, there's a girl in Vegas that went in the tank by herself and she was too short short, and she was breathing in the nitrogen, and she passed out, and then she froze to death. But the ones at Cryo Healthcare, that's the normal one. That's like Floyd Mayweather in there right there where you see the Cryo stuff is all below his head. The ones at Cryo Healthcare, they jack the temperature way down, like 240 degrees below zero. And what they do is they freeze the air itself. So the air they're pumping into is super cold air.

So you go in there with full, like you're breathing in this cold air. It's on your head. Your full body is immersed in this cold air. So it's way more intense. And it's supposed to have way more benefit because your head gets cold, too. So the reaction that your body has for producing cytokines and anti-inflammatory

cold shock proteins, your body freaks out way more when everything is covered, not just from the neck down, but your head, too. Really? Yeah, so I wish you were in town. I'll take you there. Yeah, that's pretty sweet.

What do you got after this? You got some other duties? Yeah, I do. What do you have to do? You got some other duties? Yeah, I do. What do you have to do? Other UFC stuff? No, not even UFC. Yeah, kind of, kind of not. It's like my stuff. I don't know. I didn't want to go, but I had to go. You're like a big kid. Oh, it sucks.

My wife's like, just go. I put up a little fight. That's funny. I rev you home right now. I'm just training. When you have a big fight, how much of the big fight is, like, how much of the pain in the ass is doing press? I don't want to say you're complaining about it, but, I mean, as far as, like, time constraints. Yeah, sometimes it sucks.

Like, it does suck because, like, you're in your center, you're thinking about doing this, and they'll call you, like, hey. You're like, oh. Right. You know,, oh, no. But I understand it's part of the game, and it helps promote you and your sales and pay-per-views and all that stuff like that. It does, but there's like a balance to be achieved, right? That was Conor McGregor's argument.

Conor McGregor's argument was when he went on that world tour with Aldo, he's like, they just did way too much. He's like, by the time you're doing all this, you don't have time to train. He goes, there's no way you're going to train, recover, sleep correctly. You're flying from one city to another country to another country, and you're just constantly on a jet.

Yeah, that was like, I mean, when I went to Australia, I mean, I flew to Australia when I fought Mark Hunt, and I flew more than I actually was there in Australia. I was there in australia i was there for like a day and a half and i flew back home that's crazy yeah it was bad so the flight is more more time i think it was it was like a 20 hour flight there in 20 20 hour that flight sucks plates of dicks that flight is you get out of there and you're just half a person you're like confused and like something happens to you when you're flying 16, 17 hours on a plane.

I was there after the flight. So I got there a week early before the flight. I stayed for the week of the flight, and I was there three or four more days later. So I was there for two and a half, three weeks. And I got home, and it was crazy. So I get home at 7 in the morning. My brother's at my house.

My wife and me and my wife come home, and I'm like, you know, I'm trying to keep my eyes open and like, it was like so miscombobulated so I get in the car, I almost forgot how to drive because I was on the other side

of the, you know, I mean like, I'm with my brother, I'm like, you should probably drive because I have not been on this side of the road

in a long time. Were you driving in Australia? No, no, but it was just, I was just, I was just standing opposite side,

it was just so weird, you know, just everything was so awkward and me and Craig, we went, I went for a run and there was freaking parrots and like, kangaroos and shit. like it was just, I was just saying that happens inside. It was just so weird. You know, just everything was so awkward. I mean, it was crazy. I went for a run and there was freaking parrots and like. Kangaroos and shit. Yeah, like there was like just regular, like, it's like our seagulls and crows. They're like, you know, I'm like, I'm like running.

There's like rainbows, like toucan sand next to me. Yeah, Australia is a weird place, man. Yeah, it was crazy. But like my time clock was screwed up. I went to work a couple of days later and like, I was still like four days later and I was still like messed up as bad yeah I could fuck you up for a week or two but you know it's worth it just because just to go to Australia all right to see amazing it's a great place yeah I have much family

when you have a big fight with a guy like say mark hunt well you know could be a brawl and that turned out to be a five round fight right was it mm-hmm laughs we have four and a half, you stopped him in the fifth? Yep. When you have a fight like that, and you know you're in there for the long haul, do you plan on, like, staying for days after the fight to recover?

No. I actually wanted to get home, but I was a bad boy, so they wanted me to do a couple, like... Promotional things. Yeah, so I went out here. I got to see my family so i have family out of melbourne and sydney oh you have family out there oh no kidding yeah so we got to hang out with them for a little bit it was cool did you see that video

that they posted uh yesterday of uh these guys in australia with a 39 foot boat and a shark swam by it was 20 feet long you see that video it's a fucking insane video. Because the shark is almost as big as the goddamn boat. They have this 39-foot boat, and they have an overhead, like a drone footage of the shark swimming around the boat. And I'm like, Jesus Christ. What do you do? I definitely shit my pants in that moment. There's not much you can do. I mean, you don't have a whole lot of options.

I mean, wow. It's like 20-foot shark. That's crazy. Fuck all that. And Australia has a ton of those. I mean, wow. It's like 20 foot shark. That's crazy. Fuck all that. And Australia has a ton of those. They're all over the place. Yeah. I mean, I was talking about.

This happens a lot apparently. I found an 18 foot shark next to a 21 foot boat. Fuck that. Oh my God. You see those videos, like those whales and stuff, they like sprout up. Yeah. Like, whoa, you know, like right next to the boat. Yeah.

What is this one, Jamie? The 18 foot shark next to the 21 foot boat oh my god that thing is big see how big the boat is jesus christ it's huge and it's just swimming next to the boat going can i eat you hmm how do i eat you hmm not sure if i can eat you god damn kid get back get back that was your son get back you little fuck sit down jesus christ it's a shark yeah they're they're did you see the video the guy was diving the real recent video and they like hit the back of the shark came over and thumped the back of his head you see one guy who's uh fishing and uh he's like oh it was probably i think all the video beats like this you know old guys like this in the in the seat and also he's like this and he was like, I don't know, it was probably, I think, an older video, but he's like this, you know, old guy's like this in the seat. And honestly, he's like this, and the swordfish. Half of it, yeah.

No, no, the whole thing jumped in. Oh, whoa. It was just going crazy, and one guy jumped overboard because he didn't want to get, like, sautéed by this thing, you know. And the guy's like, I'm trying to, like, get out of the chair. I'm trying to hurry up, you know. So the fish was trying to get away from a shark? No, I think he just jumped in. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So the fish was trying to get away from a shark? No, I think he just jumped in. Oh, yeah. I saw the seal one time. He jumped in the boat. He was trying to get away from a killer whale. Yeah. My oldest daughter, when she was 13, we went fishing. And she was a vegetarian at the time. She loves animals. But she was eating fish.

I said, listen, let's just go fishing. We'll catch a fish. We'll cook it. And you'll get like this sort of connection with your food. Is this one? What is this one? She was in South Beach the other day. Some guy just hanging around with a shark.

Probably 10 feet off the coast. This guy's just trying to die. What is he doing? I don't know if he even saw it. So anyway, I'm on this boat and uh we catch a marlin within 10 minutes of the the trip 10 minutes in we catch a marlin which is crazy right all of a sudden i'm pulling this thing in and it's not a big marlin it's probably like 80 pounds or something like that we get it into the boat and they beat the fucking thing to death with clubs right in front of her

because that's what they do. They pull it in, and they just fucking thump, thump, thump, and she's sitting there. And then they put it on ice after that, and then when they put it on ice, it's like still alive. Every now and then, you'd hear...

Like its tail would be flapping out. It would be spazzing. It would come back to life, and they'd thump it in the head again. She was a vegetarian for another year after that. Took a while. Man. Took a while to turn her back around. Oh, my God.

My thought was like, we're going to go catch some mahi-mahi. This is going to be great. It's hard to catch a marlin. You usually don't catch a marlin. And we caught one within 10 minutes. Yeah, it was... I mean, you were probably like uh i mean and you're like you were maybe like good dad you're like i'm trying to like and then they're just yeah

smash this marlin right in front of her it just was the total wrong experience like my youngest daughters i took them fishing and they caught little fish and it was a great experience it was like what i was hoping for like they caught little fish we brought it back to the restaurant the restaurant cooked them you were staying at a resort and that was great it was like what i was hoping for like they caught little fish we brought it back to the restaurant the restaurant cooked them you were staying at a resort and that was great it's like nobody got clubbed i was terrified the first time i took them i'm like if you're fucking four and you watch a marlin get clubbed i mean yeah you might not ever bounce back from that yeah i i don't know how i did if i like if like if i was a child and saw that. I'd probably be scarred for life. Yeah.

I mean. I fucked up. I just didn't. That's the only time I've ever caught a marlin, too. I've gone ocean fishing a hundred times. I've never caught a marlin. Yeah, I've never been ocean fishing. Oh, it's the best.

Isn't it fun? Yeah, man. It's amazing. Yeah. The only thing that's kind of a bummer is a lot of times they just want to troll, right? So they're just pulling the lines behind the boat. So you're not really actively doing anything i like casting yeah you know like the best uh ocean fishing i've done is in mexico for um i think they're either skipjack or amberjack

tuna i forget what they're called but we would go and there would be uh they would follow these seagulls and bait fish so like the bait fish would be frothing on the water because the tuna were underneath jacking them and then just cast into them and just, oh, it was amazing. Where in Mexico? It was outside of Cabo. Oh, okay. So it's like, no, no, it was outside Puerto Vallarta. Yeah, it was outside Puerto Vallarta.

So I'm not sure like what part of the ocean it was, but it's great. You know, it's like when you eat a fish that you caught like an hour ago, you realize like, wow, this tastes way better. It's amazing. Like what happened, the degrading of the, it's kind of the opposite with meat. Because with meat, like you can eat a lot of meat fresh right after you kill it and it tastes really good.

But much of like the best cuts of meat that you get like from a butcher or from a really good steak restaurant, they let it age. And apparently they do that with tuna too. Like when you get sushi, I didn't know that. No, me neither. Yeah, they let that shit age. I love sushi. Do you fish?

I mean, I used to like back in the day. Yeah. How do you have time? Yeah, I'm kind of busy. I have a little pond in my house, but I don't think I have. You have a pond? Yeah, it's not like huge. It's probably like 20 in my house, but I don't think I have. You have a pond? Yeah, it's not huge. Probably like 20 yards by like 20 yards.

It's not big at all. But we do have massive turtles. In the pond? Yeah, which I had no idea. Actually, we made a bet. One of the UFC fights, a bunch of my coaches were over. And I was lit up having fun. And I never bet.

And they're like, I bet you this person wins. I was like, I'll take that bet. What happens if you win? I'm like, if the person that wins, you can do whatever you want to pick. So I win. I'm like, all right, you guys have to get in my little shuttle boat and do a cross lake. We did snowballs at you.

It was winter, middle of winter. And they're like, no. I'm like, 100%. You're going to do it. So they did it. And the best part was half of it was covered in ice. so they couldn't go anywhere and if the peddle boat sucks so they're just sitting and I'm drilling them like so whatever and we do our thing and you know some like months later my wife's like honey she sends me

a video of these these massive snapping turtles they're like hate fucking each other like really the ones like sin I'm gonna find on the phone the ones like this and I'll get some bags and also the girls like I tried like Bryce face-off my what was going on It was like but they were like, I mean they had both had to be that big they're massive and then I looked over and they had like a bunch of babies and They don't and their necks are so long. I get the grab by like by the behind. Yeah, they'll bite your hand off Yeah, so those just moved into your neighborhood. Is that what happened? Oh, no, he's there where I live like it's weird. So I have like a private drive from my house They'll bite your hand off. Yeah, so those just moved into your neighborhood? Is that what happened? Or were they always there?

Where I live, it's weird. So I have a private drive from my house. You can't see my house off the driveway, so I have a little pond. But were they there before? Yeah, they've always been there. They've always been there. Yeah, they go back and forth. There's a little pond next to it that's connected to where our driveway is. Cook them up, turtle soup.

Must be half decent if you cook it right. What is your diet like? You know, usual pizza, beer. I frowned upon that. I mean, I joked around about that, but we had Courtney DeWalter in. She's the woman who won the Moab 240. Do you know what that is? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That chick is a fucking savage. She beat every man, every person who entered that race by a marathon length. 240 miles. And she was ahead by more than 20 miles. The next person, the second place person was more than 20 miles behind her when she won. So it's like an ultra marathon? Yeah, yeah. So three days for some people.

But for her, I think she did it in two, right? She's an animal. She's a fucking animal. Anyway, beer, nachos, candy. That's what she eats. Beer, nachos, and candy. And we were like, what? Like, I expected some sophisticated ketogenic diet protocol where they're monitoring her fucking ketone levels and her blood and checking out all of her portions are mapped out. It's like Evan Drago running around.

When she was here, she just kept eating candy she was just eating candy like M&M's and shit I mean I get like Icon Meals yeah those are great I love them

that's right so you get a meal prep yeah so they send me a bunch of stuff it's good but I'm a heavyweight so I don't go you know

some days I'll have pizza you can do whatever the fuck you want exactly but I don't go. Right. Some days I'll have pizza. You can do whatever the fuck you want. Yeah, exactly. But I don't like. Have you ever thought about trying to go to 205? We thought about it, but it'd be really tough. What do you weigh now?

240. Yeah, and you're not fat. So even if you got super lean, you're probably looking at 225 and then a hard 20 cut. Yeah, I did a 225 class all day. Yeah. Easy make that. I 225 class all day. Yeah. Easy make that. I think there should be one. Me too.

I think there should be a lot more weight classes. I really do. And I know there's a resistance because they want to keep the sport pure. They don't want it like boxing where there's a weight class every four pounds. But I feel like if you look at guys, there's a lot of guys that I think are tweeners. You know, they're like, they're not quite. Yeah. Well, you're a heavyweight champ.

You can't say you're a tweener. Yeah, that's for sure. You're like me me but you can't say that because you're the champ but there's guys that you know like Diego Sanchez was always a good example he's a little bit too small to make 55 when he tried to make 45 was a disaster like but if there was a 65 pound weight class I think that's perfect for him there's a lot of guys that like 70 to 85, that's a big jump. 85 to 205, that's crazy. That's like 20 pounds. I think definitely

a few more weight classes. I think every 10 pounds. Yeah, I think it'd be great too. I'd be on board for that. I think that's the move. Every 10 pounds and then when you go 205, 205 to 225, 225 to, it should be unlimited. It shouldn't be 265.

That seems silly to me. Yeah, but I think that too, with those guys that are unlimited, they won't last long. They might not, but Ngannou's cutting weight to get to 265. He weighed 250 last fight, I thought. No, no, he weighed 260-something.

He weighed 263, 263 or 264. Yeah, no, he's cutting weight oh cool yeah yeah he's a big fellow yeah but obviously there's pros and cons to being big and the the con is the if you're getting into the third fourth and fifth rounds yeah you know those big guys are not known for their endurance they say that the weight class like there They say there's a weight class. There was always a thought in MMA, like when Cain Velasquez was on top, there was a thought that that might be the perfect size, like 240. Anything bigger than that, maybe it's just not worth it because a 240-pound man could basically knock out anybody on the planet. So the power's still there, but nobody had more endurance than Cain.

I think so. I think being 240, you still got you know, you still got the cardio, you still got the strength, you still got the speed. I mean, I love being where I'm at. You know, I don't try to gain. I mean, I'm not going to push myself. You ever thought about gaining or no? No.

No? No, I mean, I've gained. I remember after Mark Hunt, man, Mark Hunt, I kind of went on the deep end and just went on binge drinking and finally worried for, like, living it out of life. And I actually stepped on a scale. I was like 259. Wow. like, living it up in life. And actually, I stepped on a scale. I was like... What'd you weigh?

259. Wow. I never weighed in on my life. Did you take a picture, like, holding your gut? No, I didn't. Actually, I looked exactly the same. I just looked a little bit thicker. Nothing, like, bad.

So it filled out good. Yeah, it was a good, yeah. I think I got a lot of them in the ass, too. So if you were a chick, it would have been a good move. Man, I would have been twerking all day. Tony Ram, go back to the whole ultramarathon thing. So I'm a weirdo and so I found out about ultramarathons

so I go on Wikipedia and I start reading all about it. They were talking about the top three guys. They're crazy. The one guy was the first ever ultramarathon guy that did awesome was a cattle runner, cattle guy, cattle farmer guy cattle farmer

yeah yeah so they run through the night well he he didn't sleep at night so he would just run and keep running he didn't run fast but then they had another guy oh i saw that guy i saw a video about that guy and then yeah and then uh there's another guy he uh he was like 30 years old he had like epiphany he was like he was drinking one night and he just got sick of like he just went to drink one night for his birthday party put on his shoes and just started running realized yeah you know you can still run and he like tore it up again i don't know who the guy's name was he's like american and another guy he was like at one point he was sleeping running and like he's still like while he was sleeping he was running yeah he was like yeah i can't talk give me a break but he's

like he's like they they watched him sleep while he was running. Whoa. I don't remember. And the guy, he's like twisting. Snoring? No, no, I'm saying he was just running. I don't know if he was snoring, but they had another time. They were saying a story about he twists his ankle at the beginning of the race,

and it was the size of a grapefruit. He still destroyed everyone, waited at the finish line, high-fived everyone at the cross finish line. Wow. It's going to bother me. I'm going to look it up. He was like, I don't know. It's like, did you find it?

This is the one guy, the Cliff Young shuffle. Yeah, that's the cattle rancher guy. Yeah. So he does, he kind of has a shuffle. And the idea was that that shuffle allowed him to save energy because he wasn't like picking up his legs really high. He was just kind of shuffling along. Yeah, I remember this guy.

Yeah, look at him. He competed without his false teeth because they rattled when he ran. Jesus Christ. He was 61 when he showed up, and no one knew what he was doing. They didn't know if he knew what he signed up for Wow meanwhile he won Well the history is filled with guys like that it's like everybody thinks they know exactly how everything works until someone comes along That's a completely unique version that no one has seen before like that guy doing a little shuffle Yeah, it's amazing or like like this Courtney DeWalter chick.

She just won, she just beat the world record for the most amount of hours a woman has ever run in 24 hours. She's a freak. And again, candy, drinking beer, nachos. Watching those people run marathons, it's crazy. I remember one year, my one coach, he did like security detail for like the Cleveland Revco marathon. So I'm like, I sat there, it was the worst day of my life though.

I literally sat by in the van driving five miles per hour behind these people running. So they like fell off, I'd pick them up, take them to the finish line. But like, it was just crazy watching. Like they were so like, like nuts. I remember the one guy, we stopped to check on him. He's like, saying like, you're right, we stopped to check on him. He's like, you all right? I got an IV on him and stuff like that. He's like, yeah, I'll be fine.

He put an IV in him. He went to go finish the race. This guy's dead almost. Gets IV, comes back to life. He's like, I got this. Starts running again. I'll never forget. We're about to get done.

I see the guy running. He's about 100 yards away. He starts tripping and falling. He couldn't finish the race. Wow, 100 yards away? Yeah, he's about a hundred yards away he starts like tripping and falling and he couldn't finish the race wow a hundred yards away yeah he's like literally a hundred yards away he couldn't he couldn't finish it but I was like oh I felt so bad but like he was like literally about to fall pass out the first time they put an ivy he felt gray he's like I'm good leave me alone took off again and then it's endurance racing is a totally different kind of thing as far as like the mindset. If you think about a five-round heavyweight title fight

is a grueling affair, right? It's 25 minutes of throwing bones at the best fighters in the world, but it's still 25 minutes. These motherfuckers, like this Courtney DeWalter chick, she's running for three days. That's crazy. What is this? It was a Dallas marathon.

This was a lady that was winning. She got to the end end and she just collapsed. And this girl helped her. She's like a high schooler. She was running one of the shorter races and just saw her and was compelled to help her finish. Did she still win the race? Yeah. I guess the lady said she was afraid she was going to get disqualified because someone was helping her.

But she still won. I would give that chick some of that money. So someone's helping her. That seems weird. Sort of helping her. You can kind of tell she doesn picking her up though she's picking her up every time she falls I feel like that's cheating they might have had some rules I don't listen hey hey well the rules when people tell that bitch to get back her metal no just kidding just kidding just get a little courage himself yeah himself is that legal they said in fights now if you poop yourself they stop the fight oh a lot of courage, man. A lot of people pooped themselves. Yeah. A lot of people pooped themselves or something like that. Is that legal?

I don't know. They said in fights now, if you poop yourself, they stop the fight. Oh. A lot of guys have shit themselves. A lot of guys. Famously. Yeah. I mean.

I wrestled a guy in college one time that shit his pants. I remember Michael Chiesa. Who was he fighting? Benil Dariush. And right before the fight started, he leans over to the cage. He goes, dude. He goes, I might shit myself during the fight. I go, you serious?

And he's like, I got to shit so bad. Are you serious? And he wound up choking out Darius. Thank God. And we were talking about it afterwards. He goes, bro, he goes, something will happen during the fight. It went away,

but I was convinced I was going to shit myself. Really? He goes, I just got out there and I was like, oh no. That's the worst feeling. That would be a terrible feeling. That would be like Arlowski. For my whole time, they're coming to get me and I'm like, no That's the worst feeling I have a terrible feeling That had me like Arlowski like They're coming to get me and I'm like you know what Let me just shit make sure

Thank god I shit because whatever came out of me It was like just Disgusting diarrhea and I'm like I get done I'm like Oh yeah but I didn't feel like I had to go But I was like you know just check me on the safe side Man thank god I fucking That was a big win for you too

Yeah it was a big one because it was like uh definitive it was like you were marching towards the title and then when you blasted or lofsky out it was like all right this guy's the guy like this is the next guy well it took a little longer than that but yeah but i mean you know what i'm saying like that was like the definitive like you're like i want my fucking shot like where's my fucking shot like right then and there like that was sort of one of those moments where like you got to give this guy the shot yeah yeah i know i appreciate it you helped me out with that too so i appreciate that oh you know i'm a big fan no i appreciate it and then the title fight man holy shit that must have been amazing knocking out verdum in brazil like that with one punch and holy shit that was like

one of the best title fight winning performances ever. Yeah, it was a good night, man. Yeah. You know, I actually work on that a lot. Step over, right across from the guy chasing you down. Just get that angle, you know. And, you know, it was just, what a great night. You know, I wouldn't be there without my coaches, honestly.

They're just great people. Of course. They're just, like, the only reason I'm there is just because they put so much time and effort into me. I've got to say it over and over again, but they're just amazing guys. I'm very lucky to have them in my corner. Well, they're very lucky to have you too. It takes both. You're right.

You have a great relationship with your coaches too, which is very important, I think. You were saying about having a great wife, having great friends, having a great support system, all that stuff for your mind, for your mindset, it's great. But having coaches that you have a great relationship with, that you really, you know they're looking out for you, you know they're working hard for you. You guys are in there together.

Yeah, yeah. This is what I love about my head coach, Marcus. I looked at him like a long time ago and I was like, man, when's the way to retire today? He's like, more time to drink wine, bro. You know what I mean? Like that's what I love about him. He's fine, yeah i don't care dude you can do what you want i just joke around see what he would say you know he's like bro he's like whatever he's like i listen i just want you

to be happy you know that's the best kind of coach man that's the best kind of coach that way when you retire and the worst is the kind of coach that wants a guy to fight when you really know it's over yeah you know when the guy really should be stepping away and then you, you know, trying to give the guy the pep talk. And you know the best days are in the past. Yeah, that's why Mark is actually real good at that. You know, we've had a couple guys that were like, I want to get known. He's like, yeah, I ain't going to be in your corner. He's like, you should retire.

Yeah, I mean. It's so hard. It really killed him inside of telling that. But he's like, listen, no. You know what? This is an important point to talk about. You remember that feeling that you felt like after the Strew fight? It's like you've got to kind of figure that out on your own and come back on your own.

Yeah. Right? And some guys, they have that feeling and then they're never the same again. They never reach those same. Like you got better for sure. You rose above that. those same like you got better for sure you rose above that but some people are dwarfed by bad performances or bad knockout or whatever it is and they just never they're never the same again yeah i mean i just i think it's you know just two different type people you're gonna go above

beyond or you're not i mean that's just how it is yeah but there's also stages in your life too right where you just don't want to do it anymore like you see some guys who at one point in time great driven fighters and then the grind just gets to them yeah yeah i mean i i totally understand like i mean i was just talking to who they're talking about this velante yeah i've seen less i mean i've had i mean 11 ufc fights i think more than 11 of those have been five rounders i've trained for five hours that's insane yeah my third my fourth ufc fighter was a five rounder and even if they didn't go five rounds you're still still training for five yeah you're doing a camp for five rounds i mean i mean yeah a lot of them ever since the verdun fight was so crazy because I almost think you benefited from it being in Brazil because it seemed like

Verdun was so emotional and so ramped up because it was in Brazil. He's like chasing after you, which I was like, this is crazy. Yeah, I think a little bit too is that, you know,

we knew exactly what he was going to do. And so he did everything he wanted to do and I just wasn't falling for anything he wanted. You know, he went for a flying knee,

he went for a takedown, he went for a body kick. I just wasn't giving him anything he wanted, you know, and I think he realized that I wasn't falling for anything he wanted you know for a flying knee you went for a takedown you went for a body kick i just wasn't giving anything you wanted you know and i think you realized that i wasn't going anywhere you also caught him before that big punch too yeah when we watched the fight we did a fight companion we watched the fight you clipped him early and i was like he's hurt like you could tell there was something going on like when he got hit like and then he tried to get it back and you know when a guy gets hit and then just tries extra hard to get it back, like, a lot of times they're exposed and you just caught that right hand perfect. Yeah, thank God.

Yeah. I wouldn't be here right now. What was that feeling like, man? Awesome. Like, so when I hit him, dude, he fell. And I was like, holy shit, he fell. You know what I mean? Because, like, when was the last time he's been knocked out like that?

Right. You know what I mean? Like, he was out. Junior was the last time. Yeah, I mean, I was like, when was the last time he's been knocked out like that? Right. You know what I mean? Like, he was out. Junior was the last time. Yeah, I mean, I was like, boom. You know what I mean? I was like, he's on a tear. I'm like, holy shit.

So I gave him a couple extra ones. Right. And then, you know, I stopped the fight. I looked over at some of my coaches. I was like, oh, hell yeah. Yeah. So I ran over. And I was like, you know, like, no one heard this before that.

But before I said, I'm a world champ, I looked at my coaches. I'm like, we did it. We did it. You know, that's what I told them. I was like, we all did it. You know, then I said, I'm a world champ. I looked at my coaches and I'm like, we did it. That's what I told them. We all did it. Then I said I'm a world champ and I kind of went like Frank Bittanga. I blacked out and didn't remember what I said after that. It was awkward

too because it was so quiet in there. All I heard was myself screaming. It was amazing. We were clapping. When you hopped over the octagon and you're standing there, you're like, I'm the world champ. I'm the world champ. It was like setting in.

You could see it. Those moments, man, those are some of my all-time favorite moments when a guy realizes the biggest dream, the biggest accomplishment of his career thus far at least, and to see a guy like you win the title. It's just, there's nothing like that, man. There's nothing like that. Yeah, it was just great.

You know, it was 45,000. We had about 15 people there. 45,000 people rooting for Fabrizio Verdum. Actually, it was 44,985. I had 15 there for me, so forget it. And then, boom. Yeah, it was actually my brothers and my cousins, and they were all in the top row with my buddies.

And when I knocked them out, they were all going, yeah, they're going crazy. And actually, they were like, oh. Yeah. And they were like, I was like, what's up, bro? You know, like, what's up? They're like, we're sorry. They're like, it's okay. You know, congratulations.

They were in a really nice spot. Oh, that's cool. It must have been silent in there, though, when you dropped them. Oh, it was so awkward. Oh, it was so awkward. It was so awkward. It was just because I remember seeing myself screaming. I'm like, yay, we got him, champ. What was the crowd doing?

Nothing. They were just quiet. Wow. It was just quiet. I remember hearing my wife screaming. I heard her screaming, and that was about it. Wow. Yeah.

It was awkward. Cleaning was like a total 180. Yeah. It was awkward. And then, you know, cleaning was like a total 180. You know, that was crazy too. I'm sure. You know, being put in my ass and then getting up and went into zombie mode and didn't care after that. Wow. It's a crazy time for you. You know?

Yeah. You're the UFC heavyweight champion of the world. I mean, one day you're going to look back and be talking to your grandkids. You're talking about the time now and you're the fucking champ of the world. Yeah. That's pretty intense. Yeah, I'm excited, man. Just have something, you know, that I might be proud of my wife, my mom.

You know, she's like, hey, you know, my son actually did something with his life. Well, what I'm excited about, too, for you for this Ngannou fight is there's going to be a lot of people buying this on pay-per-view. This is going to be a big fight. And these big fights, this is what makes a champion popular. I mean, this is really – I mean, historically in boxing, they've always said that the health of the heavyweight division just represents boxing overall. I don't think that's the case anymore. and it's like boxing overall. I don't think that's the case anymore because now in boxing,

you've got all these lightweight guys like Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, Lomachenko, all these big stars now that are emerging in the lighter weight divisions just because they're so skillful and talented. Andre Ward. But I think in the heavyweight division of the UFC, it's been a while since people really pumped up

about a big heavyweight title fight. Yeah. I'm excited, man. Listen, he's a good, tough dude. since people like really pumped up about a big heavyweight title fight yeah you know i'm i'm excited man listen he's a good tough dude you know i mean you can bring the pain so why but uh unfortunately i'm not walking out without that belt i'm still a champ and still when you see a guy like that what preparations like what what do you think is different about him than guys you fought before what are you going to do different well i mean i mean, every guy's different. I mean, every fight's different. You know, everyone's like, oh, my God, his punching power. I mean, listen, there's a lot of guys that hit hard.

I mean, there's no question. He does hit hard. I mean, but I'm not going to be stupid and put myself in a position where I'm going to get hit. You know, I'm going to do things that make him feel uncomfortable, and I'm going to do what I'm going to do. I'm not going to sit there and let him do what he wants. I'm going to dictate what I want.

When you see the rest of the heavyweight division, do you see any standouts or any guys that are coming up that are exciting to you? Honestly, I don't pay attention. You don't pay attention? Not really. That's a fascinating thing. Because some people – you know, I talked to Matt Hughes after Matt Hughes got beat by BJ Penn.

And this is what he said. It was really fascinating because he's got so much courage, that guy, to say this in an interview as well. He's like, honestly, it's a relief. He's like, being the champ was so much pressure. It's overwhelming. So having this happen, honestly, right now I feel relieved. And I was like, wow, that's crazy.

It's not like he gave up. I mean, he fought his heart out, but he got caught and got choked out. honestly right now I feel relieved and I was like wow that's crazy yeah you know it's not like he gave up I mean fought his heart out but he got caught and got choked out and then to go from that to say you know honestly he's relieved and then rebounds and then gets back on the horse and you know probably had to have that experience just to have the perspective that you know I don't know if you ever had a perspective that you have but your perspective is different in that you like you don't seem to be concerned well i mean i'm concerned there's no question i think every fight you can you know i'm nervous and always you know never know what's gonna happen that's what you know as real as it gets because you never know

what's gonna happen but you're not concerned that all these guys nipping at your heels all these guys coming up the ladder it's part of the game that's what i signed up for yeah you know i mean would it would not if i if i didn't want to do it, I wouldn't do it. You know, I knew that, you know, one day I would be the champ and I knew there were people coming for my belt. Yeah. I understand that. You know, and there's a lot of good guys out there that, I mean, you know,

like, you know, fighting JDS, fighting Overdue, you know, Nagani. Right. I mean, they all want a piece of it. You know, I understand. No matter who it is, it's not even just me. It's just whoever. When Kane was fighting, you know, I just, Overdue, you know, Nagani. I mean, they all want a piece of it. I understand. No matter who it is, it's not even just me. It's whoever. When Kane was fighting, you know, I just overdue him. I never wanted a piece of the title.

Well, you know, it's an interesting thing, too, because what we're seeing today with MMA, we're seeing this combination, like this marriage of fighting with promotion. I can't do it. Yeah, you're not that guy. I hate it. But you not being that guy is promotable. This is what, it's like, it's almost like, no, first of all, I don't think the UFC has enough resources to promote every fighter adequately.

Because I think UFC is a promotional entity, but it's also like this sanctioning body. You know, like, not the sanctioning body, but they're the ones who put on the fights. They're the ones who decide who fights. And you've got a 500-fighter roster. Whereas in other organizations, you would have a bunch of different venues and avenues where different fighters could go. When a guy like you is the heavyweight champion, blue-collar guy, works as a firefighter. You've got a great story you're a fun guy

like does it frustrate you that people expect you to talk shit and get I mean you're seeing all these guys that are getting a lot of attention

now for it obviously Conor's the master at it right but you're seeing other guys that are you know trying that route trying to say

outrageous shit to try to get attention you know yeah i'm not gonna be a copycat right plus um it's too exhausting for me to figure out what i'm going to say and like what i want to say and hurt someone's feelings i don't like i don't care like i got more important shit to worry about like i got like my kitchen i had to figure to fix that like i don't i didn't worry about that i knew i didn't worry about like what next i was gonna fight was gonna say i was gonna say, what he was going to say about it. Like, I'm good, man.

Like, I'm just going to do my thing. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to beat your ass. I'm going to walk out. I'm going to be champ. I'm torn because on one hand, I'm like, I love a good shit-talking session. I like shit-talking. Like, listen, if you're at the fire station all day, man,

I'll shit-talk the best of them. But, like, I just don't want to go out of my way and just hurt someone's feelings I don't even know. Yeah, but like Colby Covington, like, he's making a name for himself, but he's making a name for himself not just beating good guys like Damian Maia, but talking mad shit. Yeah. Like talking shit in Brazil. You see when Fabricio Verdum hit him in the head with a boomerang?

Does he have to go to court for that? I think he's got to go to court for that in a couple weeks. He should let it go. He's got to fly all the way to Australia to go to court for that? It's crazy. Let it go. Come's got to fly all the way to Australia to go to court for that? It's crazy. Let it go. Come on. Fucking boomerang.

He wasn't trying to hit him. I mean, he wasn't trying to kill him. He just threw whatever he had in his hands. I don't know. It's pretty sweet, though. Give him a fine. Give him a little fine. In Australia, right?

Yeah. It's great. Yeah, it's like hitting someone in the head with a koala bear, right? You got a bottle of Vegemite or something like that. Oh, God. That stuff's so salty. I like that stuff. Do you like it? Yeah, it's like hitting someone in the head with a koala bear, right? You got a bottle of Vegemite or something like that. Oh, God. That stuff's so salty. I like that stuff. Do you like it?

Yeah, I do. I did it one time. It was so salty. It's good with butter. Is it? Yeah, with butter on bread. But the thing, like, has there been any pressure on you to try to talk some shit, to try to, like, promote things more?

No. I mean, they tell me, you're your own promoter. I'm like, well, okay. That's what they say to you? How does the UFC say it? I don't know. I don't really care what they think I'm going to do. I'm not going to promote myself. That's why you guys

are in a promoting company. That's what you're supposed to do. You guys do that. I think they'd rather 50-50 with it, but I don't see it that way. Well, I think they would rather someone who just promotes themselves. Like, Conor McGregor's a perfect example, but he's a fucking unicorn. He's amazing. One guy comes along that has, first of all, he has an entire country behind him.

I've never seen anything like that. Ireland's not a big country, but it seems like they're the biggest country in the world when Connors fighting Yeah, he's fighting in Vegas against an American and there's more Irish people in the audience I mean, that's just bananas, right? But when they got a guy like that, they kind of get spoiled like hey Well, this is this is how you got to do it. You got to do like Connor does it well Not everybody's Connor, you know, so Like for a guy like you to see all these guys getting a lot of attention,

and they're very good fighters as well, in Conor's case, great fighters as well. But the thing is the shit-talking. Like, that's sort of what's ramping everything up. That's what's getting all these people to buy the pay-per-view, right? Yeah, I mean, if someone came at me, you know, of course I'm going to defend myself. I'm pretty witty. You know, I'm a fireman. I get shit-talked to every day by five or six guys.

But like I said, I just want to go out of my way and just have other stuff to worry about, like training-wise. What am I going to tweet today? It's too much. Made Chael Sonnen's career, other than being a great fighter. But it did. Chael's career really took off when he started talking shit. If people remember Chael in the early days of his career, he was a gentleman.

He never talked shit. Then somewhere along the line, he's like, Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. That's my belt. It's like a WWE promotion. Everybody's going crazy, and Chael took it to a new level. Chael opened up the door

to a lot of shit talkers of the modern era. He really let them know, look, that guy promoted the fuck out of some fights. Do you take classes or anything like that? I'm not trying to be funny. Chael's very smart. You ever talk to him? No, yeah, he's very intelligent, yeah. Very smart.

I did a couple of his radio shows. Exceptionally smart. And very articulate. He's got a great vocabulary. And just knows. See right there, I have no vocabulary. I'm not articulate. I'm screwed. But you're you.

I think – I've always said that, like, people just need to – it's almost like there's no way – I mean, other than, like, maybe having a podcast or something like that, there's no – and I know that Tyron does that now. Tyron Woodley has his own podcast, and I think a couple other guys maybe as well. But it's hard. It's hard for people to get to know you.

All they see is this stoic fireman who goes out there and fucks people up, which should be enough. Who doesn't want that? That's what I say. It should be enough. But it's hard. I think it's hard for the UFC to figure out how to promote everybody. No, yeah, I understand.

Like you said, there's 500 people on the roster and all that. So, yeah, definitely, yeah, whatever. It is what it is. What are you going to do? Can't make everyone happy. I think the embedded's helped me out a little bit. Yes. Embedded's are great.

I think those help me out a little bit, too. They help you out a lot. Yeah, they get the chance to see who you really are. The last thing I'll leave in the comments is either I'm too loose or my wife's got a fat ass. Both might be true. This is true. But there's nothing wrong with, you know, first of all, I can't read the comments. Oh, I love it.

I laugh. I laugh. They don't freak you out? Back in the day, back in the day when I lost a stream or anything, I was like, people would write me like novels about how bad of a person I was. I should kill myself. I was the worst fighter in America. I was in the world. I'm like, oh write me like novels to tell how bad of a person I was I should kill myself I was the worst fighter in America

in the world I'm like oh my god oh my god and my wife's like stop reading it so I deleted my Facebook account my personal

yeah I deleted it then I get my epiphany I said screw it I don't care anymore so now if you watch my Instagram once in a while I'll do a tagging

or something he'll be like what's up Joe what's up say something stupid like you're a paper he'll be like what's up Joe what's up you know say something stupid like you're a paper champion I was like he's a fake

he's a paper champion I'm like I know a dude totally fake and a paper champion dude needs his ass beat you know what I mean that's what I'll put it's me

he's talking about me and these guys are like and they won't put a word I'm like what the fuck man come back with me something man like you know so I just

like no I don't care I just laugh at it I just think it's funny as shit but isn't it kind of a waste of energy to engage with those people, you know, so I just, like, no, I don't care. I just laugh at it. I just think it's funny as shit. But isn't it kind of a waste of energy to engage with those people or you actually enjoy it? I actually enjoy it.

I think it's funny. You know what the difference is? Half of the people usually hit me up on a message and they'll be like, bro, I just love you, champ. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you. I'm like, oh, you're that guy.

That guy. Yeah. Those guys are the saddest. But it's also like after this true fight, you were at your lowest. So you're reading comments when you actually lost. Now you're reading comments when you're the heavyweight champion of the world.

It's like, what are you going to say, bitch? Yeah. What the fuck are you going to say? Kiss the rain. The worst thing they could say is they can't say anything. You fucking, you're the champ. You're going to lose someday. That's the worst thing they could say.

Most likely. If you keep going, eventually, you'll be 80. Someone're going to lose someday. That's the worst thing they could say. Yeah, probably. Most likely. If you keep going, eventually, you'll be 80. Someone's going to kick your ass. That's going to suck. I mean, everybody, if you keep going, will lose, including Mayweather, including everybody who's ever lived. If you keep going long enough, Father Time will kick your ass. 100%.

And someone will be there to help him out. Fuck, I go mow my three acres once a week, and I get done, I'm like, How old are you? I'm 35. You're still all right. You still got a couple of years. Heavyweights, they say, mature later in life. Not when I cut the grass, bro.

I feel like I'm 95, man. I get done, and my back is tight and sore. I'm like, God dang. From cutting grass? Yeah, yeah. I got a big skag, man. I fly around, I get done, and I wake up in the morning, I'm like, everything hurts.

What's a big skag? It's 61 inch like it's like a commercial on more oh you got one of them bad boy seems like fun all these flies but that hurts your back yeah cuz I'm always bouncing like it's not perfect level sometimes the fucking daily grind of MMA training like what that's got to be doing to your body like when you're talking about how you barely get out of bed some days, most people would think, they see you fighting, this fucking guy's just doing cartwheels all around his house all day. It's so bad.

I wake up in the morning and my wife's like, hey, should I get you a coffee? She wants you to get her a coffee? Yeah, that's what I do. Who's the fucking champ? Who's the champ? I'm fourth in my house. The champ doesn't get coffee. I'm like fourth in my house, man. It's like her, for a living. Who's the fucking champ? Oh, yeah, I know. Who's the champ? I'm fourth in my house. The champ doesn't get coffee.

I'm like fourth in my house, man. It's like her, the dogs, and me. Like I'm there to pay the bills, man. I think that's good for you, though. I really do. I think that's healthy to just like have somebody you got to answer to sometimes. I love it. Honestly, like, you know, she takes care of me, man.

She does a lot for me. So it's the least I can do for her. You know what I mean? She's a good woman. She, like, like I said, we had that, like, big storm. I had no idea what to do. She called insurance. She screened with them, got more shit than we needed, you know, than we needed.

And I wouldn't. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's fine. They gave me, like, a little check, and I've been fine with it. You should film, like, you getting out of bed in the morning. Maybe you should do something like that for, like, Instagram. Do, like, an Instagram video. Here we go. Ah!

Oh! Maybe should do something like that for like Instagram to like an Instagram video you here we go I Mean people just don't they don't know cuz well all they're seeing is you KO and Fabrizio Verdun knocking out Junior Dos Santos Raising your hands, you know all of the glory moments I think that's one of the things that embedded does really well as they show like hey, this is a fucking grind that embedded does really well is they show like hey this is a grind for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks until you get into a cage for a fist fight and this is a brutal way to get by in life i could go 30 seconds or you know 25 minutes yeah which of course really go 30 seconds and win but yeah maybe they should do something like that

for this fight like really like follow you from beginning to end like see see what it's like when you're getting up in the morning

and then just put it together for something after the fight yeah you know yeah I mean it sucks on some days man you know like you know some days

I'm alright but other days I'm like god damn it I'm so sorry like you know I mean like man this sucks like I sleep wrong

like unfortunately we let the dogs sleep in bed with us so I get like one eighth of it. I'm so sorry. Like, you know what I mean? Like, man, this sucks. Like, did I sleep wrong? Like, unfortunately, we let the dog sleep in bed with us. Oh, no. So I get like one-eighth of the bed. I have a king-size bed. So my wife sprawled out. Like a skydiver. Yeah, yeah.

I'm like, honey, can I have some covers, please? You know, like, yeah. And then the dog's a fart in your face. That last night was so bad, man. Primo, God, that dude had hot stinks last night. Yeah, I had her move. My dog was watching TV with me last night, farting up a storm. Dude, it's not cool.

It's the worst. But when do you, like, have a, like, how do you know when to call it? Like, if you get up in the morning and you're, like, real fucking sore and you just can't, how do you know when, like, maybe I should take today off? I usually know by that night, the night before. Yeah. I talk to my coaches, you know, and they'll be like, hey, how do you know when, like, maybe I should take today off? I usually know by that night, the night before. Yeah. I talk to my coaches, you know, and they'll be like, hey, how do you feel? And just how my sparring goes and stuff like that or grappling,

whatever I do, some type of my condition, like my sparring session, if it's MMA, kickboxing or boxing or jiu-jitsu, whatever it is, they'll just watch me and they'll be like, how do you feel? And I'm like, yeah, I feel like shit. And they'll be like, all right, you know what, just take tomorrow off and leave it at that. Or just take half a day and then work on it at night. And when you do take a day off, do you do ice baths?

Or how do you try to accelerate the recovery? Yeah, I usually do ice bath, Epsom salt or something. Or I just sleep all day. I literally just eat and sleep all day. Just sleep. Just catch up on rest. Yeah. It's interesting, though, because there's no real set thing

where you can know when to do it and when not to. You've got to do it all by feel. Yeah, I think just knowing your body. I think it's one thing I've picked up well on since I started fighting is just knowing my body. Because I think you're the best critic on your body. Because back in the day, we used to do K-band training. I feel fine.

I'm fine. But here's another thing, too. we're so used to training a certain way you can get through those workouts even if you're tired and sore but i can go and pick up a bag of groceries and blow up my back right like you know i pick up a baby or put on my shoe like i never have it but i just you do random stuff that you don't do every day like you know you pick up a bag of groceries oh my back oh your back goes out but then I can go and spar five, five-minute rounds and my body's dead, but I can make it through

just because I'm so used to my body being, you know, going through it. Yeah, that's the weirdest thing, right, was you do the most ridiculous, hardcore shit and then, like, you just go to tie your shoes wrong

and something tweaks. Yeah. Like, what is that? Like, what's causing that? Actually, after my Overeem fight, I was sitting there and we're on a boat with my buddy. We're with his parents. We're hanging out.

We're just, you know, a couple cocktails, a little day drinking. We're hanging out, driving around Brown Stadium in the water. And he has this little, like, four-pound dog. I was like, oh, what's up, little girl? How you doing? I go to pick her up. I'm like, and my back went out. After the fight?

Yeah, it was after the fight. That's hilarious. A week later. A week later. How crazy is that? I was like, and my back went out. After the fight? Yeah, it was after the fight. That's hilarious. A week later. How crazy is that? I was like, oh. But anything like go fully, fully, like, I felt it. I'm like, okay, we're good. We're good.

Wow. So then a couple days later, I didn't do anything for a couple days. So I went to the spa and hit a double leg. I pinched the nerve in my back and went. I was out for a whole week. That's crazy from picking up a dog. Four-pound dog. I fucked up, man. It's crazy from picking up a dog. Four pound dog. I'm fucked up man.

I get punched in the face by a massive man and then this little dog fucks me up. I was going to Vegas once for a K1 bout way back in the day. There was some K1 fights in Vegas we were going to go watch and I'm in the shower

on the way to leave the house. I'm taking a shower. Oh, this is going to be fun. I can't wait to see these fights. And I just turned to grab the soap and something popped in my neck. I was like, fuck, out of nowhere. So I drove to Vegas like this the entire way, like four hours. And every time I had to turn to look behind me to park, I had to literally turn my whole body like this from just turning

to grab shampoo or something like just turning pop like no idea what it was doesn't make any sense we just turn around

and just every now and then and it fucked me up for like two weeks for like two weeks my neck was fucked doesn't make any sense did you get adjusted

no didn't get adjusted maybe I should've maybe I should've maybe I should've gone to a chicken doctor. They kill a fucking duck and whack it over my head, some voodoo shit. I mean, look, I'm not saying that going to a chiropractor is a bad thing.

Some people, I'm sure it works. But when you know the history of how it got started, it's a little wacky. I didn't know that. There's some pretty good articles about how wacky it is. I'll look into it. But there's a lot of, like, it's interesting because there's a lot of methods of recovery that some people swear by, like the cupping thing or, like, electrical muscular stimulation. You ever see those Normatec boots?

They put those things on your legs. Have you ever used those? No. Do they hang upside down? No, no, no. Those are, they're like, it's like you're putting on pants. They go all the way up your legs. Oh, yeah.

The compression. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For circulation. Yeah, they have like, they're supposed to be really good for recovery. Yeah. Like, it's interesting how so many of these things, it's like they're just trying things out and they're trying to figure out like what works for you and what doesn't work for you, you know?

Yeah, when I had knee surgery, they had this awesome, like, contraption, like, wrapped around your leg. And she's like, how, like, compressed do you want it? I'm like, I want, you know, eventually we'll get it tight. So we should get it tight now so the cold water comes through and it gets super tight and constricts it and pushes all the bad blood in. You know, it's awesome. I love it. What'd you have done with your knee? It's a scope.

Yeah. Yeah. It's my fifth one, so. Fifth one? Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah i'm the same knee no i had two on my right and three on my left yeah it's tough being a big guy i'll be crippled when i get older do you run uh i do i use an anti-gravity treadmill what's an anti-gravity

treadmill so i put on these super tights these super tight things and i zip myself up and i and you can go like half your body weight 60% of your body weight whatever oh you in the water is that what it is no no it's air

and it lifts me up what really it's pretty badass yeah um what's the benefit of that just uh

so I don't pound my feet as much is that it right there yep that's it whoa so it doesn't pound your feet like so cause I'm 240 pounds so I'm gonna kill my feet

and my leg and my knees so it lifts me up makes it a little bit easier but does it it can't possibly be giving you as hard a workout oh definitely i'm running at 9.5 miles per hour right but you're running at 9.5 miles per hour less than your body weight yeah i'm still running you know 20 like 200 some pounds instead of 240. oh okay so like yeah so if i half of my weight I'm weighing 120 pounds and then 75% I'm running like 200 some pounds

whatever it is it still works I still I get a great sweat I'm still breathing hard you know what I mean I still push myself is that like

one of your main forms of cardio yeah that and I do like a lot of you know pad work you know with the sparring

so I get done with sparring I do my rounds and I get done I do either pad work for like 20 minutes straight right after and then I do some sticks with my get done. I do either pad work for 20 minutes straight right after and I do some sticks with my coach.

I work my head moving. The foam sticks? Yeah. They made some weird contraption probably. I have no idea. Do you do any other machines like a Versaclimber or anything? Swimming? Do you do any swimming? No. No? No. I do a lot of wrestle.

I started to wrestle here soon. So mostly a lot of wrestle. I started wrestling here soon. So mostly a lot of it is old school training. Yeah. Which is probably the best way anyway. Yeah, I like it. I mean, I run twice a week, though, for sure. There's no question. I like running just because, like, I run hard on Mondays,

and then Fridays is more of a recovery run, let my body rest. But you're doing it in this thing. You're not running on the concrete. Yeah. Yeah, I like running. I think it just feels so much better in my thing. You're not running on the concrete. Yeah. I like running. It feels so much better in my legs. I feel a hundred times better. I can imagine. I mean, especially when you're

dealing with 240 pounds pounding on your knees and you've scoped out all the cartilage and shit. Yeah, it sucks. They're doing some stuff now, though. You should look into like talk to Dr. Davidson from the UFC. Yeah. They're shooting stem cells into knees and regenerating cartilage and meniscus tissue.

Hmm. Yeah. I'd check into that for sure. I mean, definitely when I get knee replacement when I'm older, so. Knee replacement? I don't want to have that. Oh, no, you don't want that. Yeah, exactly. I don't think you're going to have to do that anymore.

I think soft tissue stuff, they're going to be able to fix that. Oh, thank God. Yeah. They're pretty damn close. They're able to do some pretty incredible shit now. Yeah. At least they can grow your teeth now. Really?

Yeah, my wife just posted on. They grow your teeth. They can grow your teeth like the PRP, something like that. Whoa. Really? Yeah. Jamie will find it. They can grow your teeth.

Yes. Something about this couple, they put a little scaffolding of some kind, and then they use some injection to regrow teeth. I don't know if it's in full use yet, but it's definitely on the way if it's not. They're going to be able to grow all kinds of shit. They're going to be able to grow body parts. Our great-grandchildren, they're going to cut their hands off and grow new ones if they don't think they look good. Kid's going to be like, my hands looked ugly.

I wanted long, slender fingers, so I cut them off. That's the world we're going to be living in. A hundred percent. Yeah. It's going to be superficial. Well, not just superficial, but bizarre.

Like you're going to be able to, you know, they've already regenerated a bunch of different body parts. Like this one woman had bladder cancer and so they made her a new bladder

with her own skin. They used her own skin and used stem cells and grew her bladder in a Petri dish and then put it back in her body. And works great now. Works.

I don't know how great it is. I haven't talked to her about her pee. The promise of growing new teeth. Dental stem cells could revolutionize treatment for patients who face extractions. Wow. Growing new teeth. Fuck, what a weird world we're living in. Right?

That's got gotta feel good for you though to be thinking about the future like all the stuff you're doing yourself right now all the injuries

and getting banged up yeah squirt some stuff in there and fix everything I'm good with that you good with that yeah I'm good with that alright Steepy

so January 20th everybody should watch UFC Heavyweight Championship live from Boston, Massachusetts. I'll be there. I can't wait. Good luck to you, brother. Thanks for doing the show, man.

No, thanks for having me, man. Glad we had you on. Oh, for sure. Ladies and gentlemen, Stipe Miocic, Heavyweight Champ of the World. Let these bitches know. What? Let them know. Cleveland's in the house.

O-H-I-O. Thanks for having me. Oh, my pleasure, brother. I know.