The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #88 with Frankie Edgar

Episode Date: January 28, 2020

Joe sits down with former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar.

Boom. What's up, Frankie? How are you, brother? Good to see you, man. Hey, good to be here. Good to have you. We talked about this many times. We have. You know, my buddy Chris LaGuardia, I got to shout him out because he got me listening to you, you know, years ago. And he's been telling me to come on this podcast for forever. So I'm glad to finally get it done. So shout out to Chris. I know he's listening. Hi, Chris. So you got your own podcast now? I do. Me and Roger Matthews from Jersey Shore fame. He was the ex-husband of JWoww. The champ and the tramp.

Champ and the tramp. That's what you guys call it? Yeah, champ and the tramp. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. So what's happening, man? You just got off of the Chan Sung Jung fight. Yeah.

And what's next? What are you up to? I'm going to go down 35. Yeah? You know. How much do you walk around at? I'm probably like 56 right now wow you know so for 45 well marlin's gotta be bigger than you right marlin is about a little

bit bigger than me yeah i think so i think he walks around a little heavier he's a little bit more of an eater than i am dude that guy i can't i have a hard time believing he makes 35 sometimes you look at him he's so jack he's got such a small waist though but he's so his legs and shoulders are so big but his waist is kind of small so maybe that's how he carries it so have you done a cut like that before i haven't been but i mean my last fight i think i was you know getting down to 45 got down to like 44.5 i mean it's only eight and a half over where i gotta be for to make 36 and it was such an easy cut for this last time. So you're in an interesting situation, man, because you won the title at 55, and you didn't cut any weight at all.

And a lot of people were like, well, fuck, man. Frankie Edgar can do it. Because the thing about you at 55 was you were so durable. That was one of the craziest things about some of your fights, like the Gray Maynard fights. Fucking A, man. Who reffed those fights? Eve Levine.

Both of them? No, the first one. The second one, I think, was Josh Rosenthal. Well, shout out to both of those guys. Yeah. Because a trigger-hungry referee who's got an itchy trigger finger, they would have stopped those fights. Now, I think nowadays, someone might stop it. Yeah.

You know? Back then, I feel like they let it go a little more. I mean, of course, there's still some times they let it go a little too long now. It all changes. It depends. You never know. You never now. It all changes. It depends. You never know. You never know. It all changes.

It's such a weird thing, right? It's like the referee is trying to help the fighter. They're trying to make sure that the fighter doesn't take unnecessary damage. But, you know, more than once you see fights stopped where you're like, oh, that guy wasn't done. Right. He was getting through a bad patch, and that's part of what a fight is about. It's like trying to figure out how to survive. For sure. I always want the benefit of the doubt. I don't want to get unnecessary punishment, of course, but I'd rather get the benefit of the doubt. I've never been

turned off, even with Ortega and Chan's Jung fight. Both those fights, even though I got rocked in my other fights, these fights, I kind of was more coherent um i'm not complaining about the stoppages or anything like that you know i could see why they stopped it but uh in the great fights even the benson henderson fight where i got up kicked i don't remember any of those fights you know i remember like three four rounds of those fights just because it was so wild because of getting hit yeah because i got hit and i kept getting hit maybe maybe that's why i didn't remember um the Ortega fight, I got rocked pretty good. And I remember in my head saying, all right, there's a short time left. Let's get through it.

Let's get through it. Obviously, I didn't make it to the end. But I remembered being coherent. Even this last one with Korean Zombie, I remember the ref saying, you know, you got to do something down there. You got to do something down there. And I was trying to do my best. My body maybe wasn't reacting the way I needed it to be.

But, yeah, you know, I've never been turned off. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I don't know if it's a good thing either. It's like some people say if you get turned off, it's better because then you don't absorb as much punishment. I've heard that argument. But then if you do get turned off, your body gets turned off easier next time. That's pretty true. Yeah.

It seems to be true. It seems like, yeah. Guys that get cracked, they kind of continue to get cracked and get rocked a little easier. I'm hoping that's not the case for me. Well, it's more of the actual knockout itself. Yeah. I think. Like a bad knockout.

Yeah. It's crazy that you have had a bunch of fights where you don't remember most of the fight. That's a thing that a lot of fighters don't necessarily talk about, but it's a reality of hard fights. Yeah. My second fight with Gray where Eve Levine was the referee, I remember I think the fourth round, Mark, my coach Mark was telling me, we got one more round. In my head, I'm like, one more round? What happened to three and four? I didn't remember at all.

And also, when he dropped me, I rolled my ankle really bad, probably a grade two sprain. And I remember in the fourth round coming to, and my ankle was hurting me. I'm like, what happened? I have no idea what happened to my ankle. And even walking back, I was kind of, I don't know. Sometimes when you get rocked, you get depressed for some reason.

I noticed that even in the gym. When I get rocked, I get a little bit of depression going on for some reason. Like what does it feel like when you say depression? Like my middle ball, you know, you're just down on yourself, you know. I was emotional. I think I was crying after the great fight in the locker room. I think they have a camera back there, and there's a video of me. Even the second fight when you stopped him. Not the second fight, but the second. Well, that was the second fight, not the Gray fight. In the locker room, I think they have a camera back there, and there's a video of me. Even the second fight when you stopped him.

Not the second fight, but the second. Well, that was the second fight, not the third fight. The third fight you stopped him. The third fight I stopped him. That's right, the second fight you won. Right. The fucking fights that you had with Gray were so crazy. They were so crazy.

He was so big. Yeah. He was a big boy, man. He was so big for 55, you know? And you were a guy who didn't cut any weight at all. Nothing. I literally would eat breakfast on weigh-in day. Wow.

That's crazy. Yeah. Did you ever think back then about dropping down? Or were you just like, fuck it, I'm the champ. Yeah. Why should I? Well, that's why. I was like, I'm the champ.

Why should I go down? I mean, I'm winning. I'm beating these guys. Yeah. Even the Benson Henders fights, they were super close. You know, I could have went either way. But I just felt, you know, all right, I'll go down now. I lost two in a row here.

What more can I gain from here? Let me go down to 45. And that's when I fought Aldo for the 45-pound belt. When you think about it, like if you had a chance to do it all over again, like if you had to engineer your career all over again, would you do it exactly the same way? Would you fight at 55? Well, you definitely would against BJ, right?

Yeah. I mean, you can't go back, you definitely would against BJ, right? Yeah. I mean, you can't go back and change those things. It all worked out for me. I got a world title. I'm continuing to have a pretty good career. There's always things you wish you could do differently. I can't be that guy that's going to say, I wish I did this, wish I did that.

Things went the way they went. Well, they went pretty fucking good. Yeah, I'm not complaining. Especially the BJ Penn fight. I remember the first one in Abu Dhabi. I was there for that one. I was like, holy shit. That was a big victory, man.

And the second one, too. That was big, yeah. The second one was probably even better just because I more definitively won. I felt like, too, BJ had my back in that second fight. And, you know, everybody thought, you know, BJ gets your back back then, you're in trouble. And I was able to defend. I think I reversed him. So I kind of showed a little bit of all my complete skills in that fight.

Out of all the guys that I've ever seen fight, I've never seen anybody who controls people with their legs the way BJ does. He's got the craziest dexterity in his legs. He does. I heard when he was younger, he could stand up and put his leg over his head standing up. Jesus Christ. Yeah. I don't know if that's true. Like just lift it up and put it back there?

Yeah. Like not even grab it? Yeah, not even grab it. Put it over his head. I don't know if that's true. I've seen him jump out of the pool, too. That's pretty wild. Yeah.

No, he's an incredible athlete. Yeah. And his physical talents were unusual but he worked on it like this other thing a lot of people don't realize like there's some great videos of bj stretching right and he would stretch with bands so he has all this crazy like he would grab his foot like put it on his chest he's got bands and he's stretching the shit out of himself so it wasn't just natural ability it was also like he realized well he realized that his legs were like other arms.

Because when you're in his guard, those legs would come up and just pinch you down. And his mount, he would cross his legs underneath dudes, and his back mount was incredible. Yeah, he was one of a kind, I think, on the ground. And just as a fighter, I mean, I looked up to him coming up. He was the man, licking blood off his hands. I was actually with him. We did the UFC gym 10-year anniversary party up in Concord. Dana was there and BJ was there.

So I was hanging out with BJ. BJ's a good dude, man. We get along really well. Is he done fighting or what is he going to do? I don't know. I think he wants to fight. I don't know. I think he wants to fight. I don't think Dana wants him to fight. We had that crazy brawl in Hawaii.

Yeah, yeah. Outside of a bar. People are also like, oh, look at Pete. You're getting mad at a fighter for fighting? You know, come on. Is it that surprising? It is a funny way to look at it, right? Like if a singer gets in a fight, like what is he doing?

But a fighter fighting, it's like a basketball player having a pickup game. Yeah, exactly. Can't get mad enough for that. That is kind of weird when you stop and think about it, you know? And that's the nature down in Hawaii, I think. A lot of people get down. That's how they get down out there. Yeah, they get down.

Yeah, tough motherfuckers in Hawaii. Yeah, for sure. You know, that fight That was so sad to watch Like that dude clipped him With a left hook And dropped him And bounced his head Off the concrete

I know I was like fuck BJ Did he say hit me He said Yes He let him hit him Let the guy hit him But then he came back

He went out He flashed out And went down And then I don't know If the video was continuous Or what But later Is a video of him

Having the guys back And smashing them It's like god damn it Yeah I mean you gotta be careful you never know what could happen in the street fight too so you gotta be careful guys go home open the trunk come right back yeah that or i mean you should throw some on their head and they don't wake up you know that's a big one yeah you know um that happened to a buddy of mine in long island kevin james actually the the comedian yeah his his buddy they're working together as ascers, and he was working with this guy, and this guy got in a fight with a patron, punched the guy, knocked him out, the guy fell, banged

his head off the ground, died. Wow. Dude wound up doing jail time. Wow. And that happens. I heard a story of some wrestler, kind of same thing, got into a fight, picked the guy up, slammed him on his head, and ended up in jail. Oh my God.

Can you imagine a wrestler, like a Yoel Romero fucking suplexing you on the street? You ain't getting up from that one. Like, what in the fuck? It's over forever. Absolutely. Yeah, it'll flatten the top of your head. You know? Yeah.

I'm like, oh, God. He's another freak, man. Oh, he's the freakiest freak. Yeah. Out of all the freaks, you got, like, Brock Lesnar, who's, like, got some freaky Viking jeans, like, for sure. Yeah, it has to be. That dude don't make any sense.

You ever see photos of him when he was in high school? Oh, dude. Look at that freak in high school. Wow. Yeah, he was a senior when I was a freshman, and we were wrestling nationals together, and I remember just being next to him like, damn, how the fuck is this guy even real? Yeah. This looks like an action figure.

Yeah, he was the biggest physical freak I think I've ever seen. But then you got Ngannou, who I think is more of a physical freak. Yeah, yeah. You know, Ngannou, 265 pounds. A little taller, a little bit longer. Because I'm 100% positive Ngannou's on the natch. That guy's all natural. Yeah, just digging salt mines or whatever, dirt mines.

Sand. Sand mines. He's got a photo on his Instagram today of him chopping wood. Everything he does terrifies me. He's so fucking powerful, man. That guy, out of all the guys I've ever seen in the heavyweight division, he is for sure the most powerful. That uppercut he landed on Alistair Overeem was incredible, man.

I thought he decapitated him. Yeah, it's like the back of his head touched his back. Like there he is. Oh, man, look at this dude. He's breaking rocks, I guess. What the fuck is he doing? He's hitting a stake into the ground. That motherfucker has power.

Yeah. He has like the most ridiculous punching power. It has to, right? Oh, yeah, man. Well, he's a natural 270 plus and apparently he's been lifting so he's even above 265 right now he's gonna have to cut weight cuts weight yeah that's wow this guy's fighting next uh Rosenstreich is badass that's a really good fight is he a k1 guy I don't know where he did his kickboxing career pull up uh uh jarzino rosenstreich try spelling that good luck you got it really

this dude's the man come on he knows i don't know how you fucking spelled that correctly but rosenstreich the thing that scared me about him when he's fighting alistair was like he was walking right through alistair shots which is the craziest and alistair's no joke. I mean, he takes people out left and right. Dude, when he was on the sauce and he fought Brock, when he was Uber Eam, here it goes. So he fought in a bunch of different organizations, Danger Zone. Yeah. So Slam. Where is he from? Rosenstruck.

Let's see. It says. What was his name? Suriname. Isn't that where. You know who he said? Tyrone Spong. Yeah, yeah.

Tyrone Spong is from there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Spong was supposed to fight Usyk in a heavyweight fight. When Usyk moved up to heavyweight and boxing. Tyrone Spong is all. Yeah. He's all boxing now

Is he? Oh yeah He's only boxing yeah Did you see his last kickboxing fight? He was supposed to fight I don't know I'm thinking a big baby Miller Was supposed to fight

Johnson That's right Yeah Joshua right? Joshua that's right But he's tested positive Yeah yeah Yeah

Tyron tested positive too Yeah that's what I was thinking of Tyron tested positive Before he was supposed to fight Usyk But he said tested positive. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tyron tested positive, too. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. Tyron tested positive before he was supposed to fight Usyk, but he said it's bullshit. And then I think he was actually cleared of it, but it was too late. They'd already set up this other fight for Usyk. He's a dangerous guy. I think there's a lot of people that are going to avoid Tyron Spong. Yeah, he is hard, man.

He hits fucking hard, and he's a savage. He is. He's, you know, his last, did you ever see his last kickboxing fight? He broke his leg. He broke his leg, yeah. Against Turkish Tyson. Right. What's his name?

Turkish Tyson, right? Oh, Jesus. Why can't I remember his name? He's in the UFC now, right? Yeah, you made me forget his name. What happened? Gohan Saki. Gohan.

Gohan Saki. Jesus Christ. It's early. I gotta wake upon Saki. Jesus Christ. It's early. I've got to wake up. Saki, he's had a tough transition to MMA, but he's still a bad motherfucker. In fighting and kickboxing, man, he was one of my favorite guys ever to watch. Saki had the nastiest left hand. He would throw left hook, left hook, left hook.

Left hook to the body, left hook to the head, left hook to the body. Bang, bang, bang. Fast as fuck. And for a. Bang, bang, bang. You know, like fast as fuck. And for a heavyweight, ridiculous hand speed. Yeah, I mean, I feel like all these athletes are just getting better and better as it goes, right? Oh, yeah, for sure. It's kind of crazy. These big guys are athletic as hell, too.

When you stop back and think about your first fights in the UFC, when you first got started, what stands out as being real different about seeing the younger guys coming up today? The younger guys are just more complete, and they're more athletic. I think back when I first started, we were just guys that wanted to fight. We were tough guys.

The wrestlers always did well because we competed our whole lives, but now these kids are polished right away. You're seeing 20-year-old kids with crazy skills. Yeah, they're polished. They've been doing it for five years already. You see that kid, Edmund Shabazian? Yes.

You've seen him? Yes. Fucking incredible. He's like, I think he's 21 now. Right. And he is just a fucking murderer, man. Yeah. It's crazy.

It's amazing that I'm 18 years older than some of these kids. You know what I mean? That is crazy. When do you think you're going to not do this anymore? I don't know. You know, I always have three rules. As long as I'm enjoying it and I want to do it, as long as I'm competitive,

I don't want to lose fights to guys I think I should be able to beat, and as long as my body holds up. And how old are you now? 38. So for the lighter weight divisions, that older it's older yeah yeah yeah i i mean i i feel good my body feels good i mean always always little injuries here and there um but uh i i enjoy it it's still fun you know my last couple fights didn't go the way i wanted to you know what holloway obviously i thought i gave him a pretty good run.

That was a very good fight. He's a big dude. It was tough to kind of close that range, and I was in on some of his legs. I just couldn't really move him. He felt like he was part of the tree, you know? And then, you know, took that fight with Kareem Zombie and obviously didn't go as I expected, but now I've got to bounce back from this one.

When you think about your preparation like between when you first started to now like as you get older is there anything that you do differently i don't spar as much i think i i would spar three days a week always um five rounds you know for five round fights six rounds sometimes now i kind of do two days a week that was a little push push and pull for me and mark and mark wants us always sparring a lot oh really he's big into sparring and i i kind of am too i feel like the best way to get in shape for a fight is is by fighting you know and we have good sparring partners we're not trying to kill each other right um you know but our team when i first started it was me and a couple guys that really weren't in ufc now it's you know it's a bunch of hammers nonstop. That Mark Henry camp is insane.

Yeah, he's a special guy. He has so many top flight guys come to him from all around the world. Like Zabit. Zabit is... How do you get from Dagestan to Jersey? Yeah, they all do this. They say they're coming. They all fly to Moscow.

They stay in Moscow for a couple days. And they go to Brooklyn, stay in Brooklyn for a couple days, and they come down. So if they say they're coming the next day, it's usually three days later because that's the rounds they make. Why do they go to Brooklyn first? I don't know. There's a big Dagestan community up there. I guess they get some. I don't know if they take them shopping or something.

I never knew Dagestan was a place until I heard of Khabib. Yeah, I mean. I mean, I maybe heard about it didn't it didn't feature in my mind as like a prominent martial arts spot yeah well I knew Satiev

the wrestler he's from Chechnya right there and he was I remember watching him when I was in high school and this guy was just unbelievable

I think he won I don't know how many world championships like 10 he was in 10 straight world championships with Olympics and Worlds and he's a Chechen fighter

and that's that area. This past world championship, Ossentia, Chechnya, and Dagestan, which is like the size of Georgia, the state, won the world. Just people from that area would have won the world championship in wrestling. Wow. I just can't fathom that. Well, they're just hard people, man. Yeah. You see that basketball game that they play?

You see Will Harris' films? Yeah. Will Harris' production. Shout out to Will. Yeah, Will's the man. hard people, man. Yeah. You see that basketball game that they play? You see Will Harris' films? Yeah. Will Harris Productions. Shout out to Will. Yeah, Will's the man. Will's the man. I love that guy. He's a cool dude.

He's a great guy. And he gets embedded. He does. I mean, he goes to Dagestan. He hangs out with them. He eats with them. He plays that crazy basketball game with them. And he's a semi-professional ball player, too.

Yeah, he's a huge guy. He's a big dude. He could have been a real... I mean, he had a bad knee injury when he was in college. But it's hilarious watching them play that basketball game where they grab ahold of each other and drag each other to the mat and submit each other. I used to think I fouled bad, but at least I dribbled the ball. It's like rugby slash basketball slash MMA. That's probably my only way to score some buckets, though. It's weird rugby slash basketball slash MMA. That's probably my only way to score some buckets, though. It's weird, though.

It seems like they might have invented it, right? It has to be. I wonder if it's prominent in Dagestan or if it's just that camp. In wrestling, they play handball. They call it handball or we used to call it gator ball where we have soccer nets or field hockey nets. It's kind of the same thing we you had three steps you pass you could pass the ball no dribbling and then you know it's a bunch of wrestlers playing so we're all tackling each other and everything so we kind of always just do that but we never did

it with basketball hoops so i guess that's that's a little different well will said that that's how they warm up they just get out there and like for one hour they'll play this crazy basketball game yeah yeah and then they go train that's what we have we used to do that with the handball or gator They warm up. They just get out there and for one hour, they'll play this crazy basketball game. Yeah, yeah. And then they go train. That's what we used to do with the handball or gator ball, we used to call it. It kind of makes sense that that would be a good way to warm up, right? Because it's competitive. You're running around a lot.

Yeah, it's fun. Kind of fun instead of just doing the same old routine. But it's interesting that even him, even Khabib, with that crazy camp and all those monsters that he trains with, makes his way down to AKA to train in America. That is something I always wonder. Even the guys that come to us, I'm like, these guys are all so good. Why don't they just train with each other at home? But I think they like the fact that they're locked in when they get here.

They have no distractions. And I think they come here for the coaching. Yeah, I'm sure. I think just a different look a different perspective is probably beneficial but just the fact that you know so many elite fighters from all over the world still want to do their camps either at att or with you guys or aka or you know there's just so many different places that they travel to have you ever gone somewhere for a camp or you just locked yourself down?

No, I've always did all my camps in Jersey. Early in my career, though, before I had Mark, even before I started training Ricardo and Henzo and those guys, I went out to AK, actually, with Thompson. I stayed with Charles Thompson. Charles is the man. I love that dude. He was just here last week.

I know. I was listening to him a little bit. Yeah, he opened his house. I stayed at his house for a little bit, man. Oh, that's cool. He's a here last week. I know. I was listening to him a little bit. Yeah, he opened his house. I stayed at his house for a little bit, man. Oh, that's cool. He's a super good dude. He was kind of a veteran at the time when I came in, so he helped me out a little bit. I stayed a couple weeks there hanging out at AK.

And I just wanted to be home. I knew I wanted to stay in Jersey. Yeah, well, with your family and everything like that. I get it. But I think there is probably a benefit for a fight like a lot of great boxers used to go to the cat skills right and they would do their training up there and then like a lot of guys today they go to big bear right like triple g goes up there and a lot of other fighters have their camps up there delahoya always did his camps

up in big bear it's like something about a camp that's very attractive, too. Someone thinking, oh, he's locked down in camp. You like it. Yeah, your tunnel vision and all that. Yeah, I need my family around me. I need my friends around me. I feel good in Jersey. I feel like I built it. I built it up.

That's why people come to me now. Not only me, obviously, for Mark and Ricardo, probably more so for those guys, but I show them that it could be done here. That's why we have the atmosphere that we do, I think. That is true. You definitely were one of the most successful pioneers of MMA coming out of there. Yeah, yeah.

It's cool to see all these young guys come and train with us. We have a pretty good team now, plus Eddie Alvarez is there, and he's a pioneer as well. When you see Eddie go over to 1FC, does any of that ever look attractive to you? I mean, for sure. I actually only have one fight left on my contract now. Oh, yeah?

But I've been in the UFC. It'll be 13 years I'll be in the UFC coming in February. But you see Mighty Mouse went over there. Yeah, Mighty Mouse. I mean, money talks, you know. Yeah. Well, especially at this point in your career. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

But, I mean, honestly, if I was being straight up, where do I want to finish my career? I do want to finish in the UFC, you know. I mean, I felt like I got in the UFC 5-0, you know. Yeah. I pretty much grew up here. That's crazy. So it would be nice to finish it here, but everything has to make sense. Well, you're still near the top of the heap, right?

I mean, you just fought Max Holloway. How long ago was that? In July. Yeah. It was not that long ago. Not too long ago. And it was close, obviously, to fight with Korean Zombie. I mean, I feel like I didn't get a chance to get going.

He got me with a good shot. Motherfucker hits hard. He does hit hard. I was really down on myself. That was tough. That was a tough one. I was really down on myself that was tough that was a tough one I was really down on myself for a while

you know nobody takes losses well right no one competitive yeah no one competitive and I definitely took it pretty bad

and Christmas was right here and in my head I took the fight on short notice but in my head I never once took a fight and didn't think I was going to win

how many weeks did you take it on two weeks two weeks on it I didn't think I was going to win. How many weeks notice did you take it on? Two weeks. Two weeks notice. I was in shape. I was training. Not like I was training for a fight, but I was training pretty good. I believe in myself.

I thought I was going to go there, put this dude away, and come home and enjoy Christmas. But it turned out to be the opposite. A little depressing during Christmas time. You try to be nice with your family and and you know loving what your family but you know what's weighing over my head is i just got fucking tko'd yeah yeah that's uh the the emotional side of fighting like the emotional side of losses like when you see guys just weeping in their locker room and like remember the hardest one for me was aldo after mcgregor knocked him out and he was just in his locker room just weeping like god damn that dude that's a tough one too because you know that's that's gonna stay like in infamy you know what i mean yeah forever and

connor's probably the worst guy because he's gonna tell everybody about it everybody's gonna want to cover it and that's just the way it goes it was was such a picture-perfect punch, too. Yeah, I mean. And he slides back, boom, drops that left hand in there. I was in the crowd, and I was told I was getting the winner of that fight. And then when it went down like that, I just knew that wasn't going to happen. Really? Yeah, I just felt it. I thought Aldo was going to win back then. Did you really?

We didn't know much about Conor, I feel like, at that point. So I thought Aldo was going to win, and I was going to get a rematch with him. And then when Conor did that, and you hear him talking about, I'm going to go up to 55, I'm like, damn, there goes my chance. Yeah, the Aldo fight was crazy because I think that was the first time that anybody ever really disrespected Aldo. Because Aldo was the fucking man for so long. I mean, the crazy thing about Aldo is he's still only 32 years old.

Yeah. Like we were talking about that with the Marlin fight. Right. Is he though? Is he really? Yeah, I know. What do you think? Well, they've been following him since the WEC.

Yeah. I mean, he was like 20 then, so he kind of has to be 32. I mean, he was WEC champion a long fucking time ago, man. You know, I mean, you go back and think about when he knocked out Cub Swanson with that flying knee. That was a long time ago. It was like a double knee, right? Yes. Boom, yeah.

Dude, he was so fucking athletic. Explosive. I don't know. When did he stop throwing leg kicks? I don't know, man. I would like to ask him. I wonder if, like, he's got injuries or something like that. Maybe his shins are fucked up.

I know when we fought the first time, he threw a leg kick, and then I took him down on it on the second one. And then that's the last time he threw a leg kick in both our fights. It's crazy because if you watch his early career, watch the Uriah Faber fight. It is one of the most horrific displays of destroying someone's leg you've ever seen in a fight. Yeah. And so fast, dude.

Oh, man. Just pop. No loading, just pop. No, yeah, that's the thing. No loading. He would just whip those hips in there. Well, you know, he was a soccer player, like a really good soccer player. Have you ever seen videos of him play soccer?

I've seen him juggle the ball and whatnot. He's like a pro. Yeah. Like he could have been a professional soccer player. Right, so ever, yeah. And I think soccer players, of all Their legs are so conditioned Because they're doing all the They're basically sprinting all the time

They're running up and running back And they're going left and right And left and right They're always side to side They apparently have the highest instances of ACL blowouts Yeah yeah that makes sense But because of those legs Aldo he was like a whip

Those legs would just crack. That's what I thought. When him and Marlon were going to fight, I'm like, ooh, we're going to see some crazy leg kicks. But neither of them really got him off. I wonder why Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks. I really wonder. I mean, he's got to be successful. He's got to be something, right?

Some injury. Maybe a hip injury. Yeah, could be. A lot of those kickboxer guys, as get older their hips start falling apart you know it's a it seems to be a big issue with some guys like john wayne parr needs a hip replacement right yeah i mean he just had his last fight he won in a boxing match yeah i saw that which is great huge for him he's a man dude he's such a good guy to follow yeah he's such a good energy good such a positive dude and so is his whole family he's just like he's just a great daughter's got like 30 fights his daughter's a beast energy, such a positive dude. And so is his whole family. He's just a great, happy dude.

His daughter's got like 30 fights already or something. His daughter's a beast. She's a beast, man. I think she's like 14 now. She's a beast. It's crazy. Yeah, he's something special. But that poor guy, he's been fighting over the last year or two with a really fucked up hip.

Yeah. I mean, it's falling apart, man. They're like, you've got to have a hip replacement. The whole inside is just torn apart. Right. So I'm not looking forward to the future, man. I'm just, you know what I'm looking forward to? The future with regenerative medicine.

Well, yeah. Well, you had stem cells. I had some stem cells in my shoulder. Yeah, we talked about that in Jersey when I saw you. You don't give it enough time. I know. The thing about the stem cells is it really takes like four or five months before it actually kicks in and starts healing things. And a lot of guys like yourself, I mean, you don't gather any dust.

You ain't waiting for shit. You're chopping out the bit, man. But that's the problem. But the one on my shoulder, it did help. It helped a lot. I bet early onset arthritis. And they did the Wharton jelly. Yeah.

And I got that. And like six weeks later You know I don't know I want another round I feel like I don't know if it works like that Yeah Another round would definitely help

Yeah But I think Really Panama's the place for you It's right here Go down there And get that super sauce Yeah My neck's jacked up too

A little bit So I wonder if they I don't know if they help that stuff What is up with your neck? I got I guess stenosis Of the neck Okay So your discs are shrinking.

Yeah. I have that too. Yeah. My discs and the holes where the nerves run through. It's tight, man. Actually, it was kind of like a little bit before Holloway, more and more so after. I got epidural on my neck and I was getting the tingles down my arm, weakness in my hand a little bit.

God damn. And the epidural really didn't even work, but I just did therapy and it got better. But it still bugs me a little bit and the epidural really didn't even work but i just did therapy and it got better but it still bugs me a little bit there's a place they i think they have an office in dallas they have one here in santa monica and then there's a place in germany it's called lifespan medicine and they do this procedure called regenequin right and regenequin is what you've heard of it yeah uh kobe bryant rest in peace he went to went to Germany to get it back in his day, and so did Peyton Manning went out there, a bunch of other athletes, and Dana actually went out there. They do it in the U.S. now?

They do it in the U.S. now. I've had it a bunch of times. I had it done on my neck on a bulging disc that was doing the same thing. My hands were going numb, that kind of shit, and it fixed it. I also had it recently on my lower back because I was getting sciatica. Same shit. That fixed it. It's basically a more potent version of platelet-rich plasma. They heat the blood and they add something to it.

And it's just a radical anti-inflammatory. And it's good because it's also your own blood. They take your own blood out, spin spin it and do this procedure to it and then it takes like 12 hours i think 10 or 12 hours for the it to become this they it looks like this yellow serum and then this yellow serum they inject into all your discs i'm telling you i had my friend dean del rey go down there dean had a real fucked up neck from a car accident some lady he rides motorcycles some lady fucking clipped him and he went flying. It fucked his neck up to the point where he's a comedian. We're hanging around the comedy store and he gets nervous if anybody comes near him.

Like he's worried someone's going to accidentally bump into him. And just be like, ah! Because he was in so much pain because he was like real stiff. And so I sent him to that Lifespan Medicine place and dude, he was fixed up. Like within a week or two, he was back. Wow. Yeah. I would love to just be like a pin cushion, but it'll get me everywhere. in place and dude he was fixed up like within a week or two he was back wow yeah yeah i would

love to just be like a pin cushion but it'll get me everywhere well they can do crazy shit now but it's a lot of money you know and if you want to travel to all these different spots it's but it's there's real benefit in this my hope is that it's like cell phones remember when fucking cell phones were giant and they cost a billion dollars they were so expensive and now you can get a cheap phone like i saw a flip phone the other day a best buy for 50 bucks wow i was like you can get a phone for 50 bucks that's amazing yeah so hopefully stem cells goes that route that's what i'm hoping and i'm hoping that see the problem is like health care providers like if you have insurance like insurance doesn't want to cover any of that shit no i know but doesn't make sense they want to

cover a surgery but the surgery is 30 grand i always wonder like what's the politics behind that is there have they i'm sure there's something yeah someone's gotta make money you know so it always goes like the hospital has deal with the insurance companies and everybody's working together and they're all making money but they don't want to cover these things because they're treating stem cells like it's a drug and so they're they're they're treating it like what you're doing is you're taking a drug so these drugs have to go through the same evaluations that the fda has but if they do that it's going to literally cost hundreds of millions of dollars but the fda didn't they just say CBD is no good? They're so crazy.

Those people are awful. If they said that, anybody who said CBD is no good, you're awful. Yeah, for sure. That shit is so good for you. The Oxycontin, I think, is FDA approved. You know what I mean? Like, come on, what are we doing here? Well, I think it's the same thing.

They think of CBD as an untested drug. Right. But regardless of how many people have positive effects from it and positive benefits from it, the way they look at it is like this stuff is in competition probably with like non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen and things along those lines.

Right. But CBD is so much better than all those things. Yeah. I mean, it's natural too. Yeah. Do you do it? Do you take it? I have, yeah.

I take it. How much do you take? I mean, I need to be a. Yeah. Do you do it? Do you take it? I have, yeah. I take it. How much do you take? I mean, I need to be a little more consistent with it. I'm just like my wife. I'll go get stuff done. How do you feel? I'm like, I feel pretty good. I don't know.

I always feel pretty good. So I'm like such a bad gauge on that stuff. There's a problem with really mentally tough guys because mentally tough guys don't even think about what things feel like. They just go, fuck it, I'm good. I'm just going to go. Look at Kane. Kane literally destroyed his body because he was so mentally tough.

Yeah, oh yeah. Because he's such a fucking savage that he had everything blow out on him. He did. His knees, his shoulders, his back, his neck. Everything's fucked up. When I went to AKA, this was before he was in the UFC, and I went out there And I seen him sparring with

I think Paul Bantello Some other UFC guys And they were just rotating on his And he was just Putting these dudes away And they were just rotating on him I'm like who is this kid? Dude that guy's gonna be good

I'm like no shit Before he came to the UFC There was so much hype around him Everybody was like This motherfucker doesn't get tired Yeah As a heavyweight you doesn't get tired yeah like he's the heavyweight you don't see that not like him his cardio was insane i remember when he fought big ben rothwell he he would put it on guys and they would have that 100 yard stare where they're

like what the fuck like what is happening to me how is this guy not tired it didn't make sense he was like a lightweight yeah yeah but 240 pounds 140 pounds and uh great wrestling great jiu-jitsu great everything yeah boxing's second to none yeah for you know and just surprised you with his body right because he didn't look ripped and cut look like a guy eats a lot of burritos right yeah yeah dude to this day i think in his prime i think he was i mean there's like the argument is him and Fedor. Those are the two arguments. And then Stipe for his accomplishments, right?

I mean, I would have loved to have seen Stipe versus Kane when Stipe wouldn't, if Kane was in his prime. Yeah, that would have been great. That would have been amazing. But, you know, it's like this, that model of the heavyweight, the Cain Velasquez model, I don't know if anybody else could do that. I don't know. I think his cardio was almost like supernatural. People always ask because people say,

I've got good cardio and I could push always. And they're like, what is it from? I think it's all mental more than anything. I don't know. Maybe some people are born that way. I feel like even the summertime, when I wrestled in the summer i wasn't like in wrestling season shape i was gonna be the guys in better shape just because just your mind just my mind yeah i think it's most of it's my everybody's like do you get tired i'm like fuck yeah i get tired i just keep

going i think everyone gets tired because then you see some guys that you know are really really good and they're just scared to get tired. So they're scared to push themselves. I've seen that in wrestling a lot. You kind of see it in MMA. You know, some guys where they're just scared to get tired, so they don't push it too hard. Yeah, that's real, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there's a mind game going on where you don't want to drain the battery, right? You don't want to. Like, it seemed like Marlon against Aldo, there was a little bit of that. Yeah. Just easing off the gas Right

Especially after the Cejudo fight Yeah You know I was in I was in the corner From Marlon And um It was going great

That first round I'm like man This is great The pace is Like how Marlon likes it You know it wasn't too crazy And then Cejudo turned it on And I just seen the look

In Marlon's face I'm like In the second round He got up and looked at me And I was like You know I'm trying to Pump him up Like dude come on let's go But I just seen the look in Marlon's face. I'm like, ah. In the second round, he got up and looked at me, and I was like, you know, I'm trying to pump him up. Like, dude, come on, let's go. But I just seen it in his eyes. Dude, the first round looked like Marlon was going to establish himself

as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Yeah, I mean, he looked amazing. He looked so good. His kickboxing was off the charts. That fucking left leg switch kick that he has to the head is like a whip. It's crazy the way he does it. It's so light and effortless. He just swings it up there.

When Marlon Edson came into camp, my legs hurt for a good couple months. I'm sure. Edson's terrifying. His switch kick is the fastest shit I've ever seen in my life. It doesn't even make sense. I don't even know how he moves that quick. He's a freak. He's super tight tight too i'm sure that's why he's like a rubber band you know what i mean let's snaps as it goes fast super tight like in what way like and just like not he's not very flexible really yeah i mean

he could wheel kick and do all that stuff because i think it's just he was doing since he's a kid right so his body's made for that but as far as being like a flexible guy he's not very flexible i mean i'm not very flexible either but i'm not kicking like him that's interesting i would have thought that guy would be real flexible yeah no what about marlin marlin's probably a little bit more flexible he's still he's still not very flexible either that's crazy how's he throw that switch kick to the head like that i just think their bodies from doing it forever they're like made to do that wow yeah. Yeah. And their wheel kicks like crazy. Yeah. But as far as like touching their toes, you know, we'd go to yoga together and you hear

Marlon, ooh, oh, ooh. How often do you do yoga? I try to do it once a week when I'm not in camp. When I'm in camp, I don't do it as much because that kind of takes away from something else. Right. But I try to do it once a week. Hot yoga? Hot, yeah.

I do hot. Dude, I love it. I love it. And everyone that's never done it, they need to fucking do it once a week. Hot yoga? Hot, yeah. I do hot. Dude, I love it. I love it. And everyone that's never done it, they need to fucking do it. Because everyone's like, oh, yoga, yoga. I'm like, bro, it's hard as shit. Hard as shit.

There's no bullshit. I've been in some yoga classes that if my boy wasn't in there, I might have walked out because I'm tired. I'm like, I can't let this guy see me walk out. The place I go to, they don't let you leave. Yeah, oh, really? They're like, you can't leave. You just make a commitment when you're here. That's great. If you can't take it

Just sit down And try to rest it off You know Try to take a couple poses off Try to get your heart rate Back down But it's hot as fuck I've done some yoga

Me and my wife Went to the yoga class once It was me and her And it was so hot And the lady's like How you guys feel with the heat And I'm like Please Rene

Say it's too hot say it's too hot. Say it's too hot. It's one of the most underrated, difficult exercises because you think of it as like housewives or moms. Right. Like a bunch of gals, a bunch of hot girls in yoga pants. Yeah, I'm the only dude in there sometimes. Yeah, me too, sometimes.

Well, there's more guys in my place now. I'm starting to see that sometimes it's actually half and half, which is kind of interesting. Yeah, I mean, I think it's great for you. It's something I, too, like when I say I'm done fighting, I'm sure that's something I'll do more often. Well, for me, too, it's like a 90-minute meditation session, too. Because all you're thinking about is those poses.

All I'm thinking about is concentrating on maintaining a steady breath and then holding the positions as long as possible. Yeah and i like just it's like you know the instructor or yogi is giving you uh positive affirmations i mean some of it's a little wonky but you know it's always like a good a good message yeah sometimes some of them go a little bit crazy some of them try to give you life lessons like yeah well yeah settle down well and then also like oh this is your lower intestines is getting no it's not i'm like what do you mean i'm bending over yeah yeah it's massaging your descending colon no it's definitely not it's definitely not you're just stretching stop but i sweat like a maniac in there yeah it's great

it's definitely good for you oh my god you can lose amazing amounts of weight in there. But I just think for maintaining strength in your joints and strength, it always feels to me, and maybe this is just my head, but it's helping all the connections, like shoulders and hips and knees and all the other stuff that doesn't necessarily get the same kind of workout when you're just doing regular stuff, like weight training or kettlebells or kickboxing, whatever. You're working out like holding your leg in one certain position and like leaning forward and just maintaining that pose. It's like static holds.

Yeah, I feel like it tightens all your connections up. And it also increases your range of motion. It does. It opens you up. I feel so much better when I'm doing yoga. I would like to do it more often, to be honest with you. I don't want to miss hitting pads or jiu-jitsu and all that stuff. That's the thing, right?

It's like for a mixed martial artist, there's so many skills to concentrate on. There's so much. If you're a boxer, what are you going to do? You've got to run and you've a box yeah that's it right you know when you're a mixed martial artist god damn you got to think about everything and you don't want to overdo one and underdo another you know how do you know what to do i you know i i came up with a formula and seems to work what's your formula like i you know uh just my schedule is i do jiu-jitsu Monday, Friday. I spar either, well, it used to be Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

I'll wrestle Wednesday and Friday, and then strength and conditioning between all that. Jesus. Yeah. Just hearing that makes me tired. But when is your strength and conditioning schedule? I do that Monday and Wednesdays Monday and Wednesdays

And when you do it Do you do it before MMA training? I usually do grappling or wrestling Before and then do that after Really? Yeah Why do you do that? That's just the way it kind of worked out for me

So do you do it the same day? I mean the same time of day Like noon? No, I'll just do it in the morning I'll do Jiu Jitsu Or Wrestling And then at the afternoon I'll do my strength

So you give yourself a chance to recover Yeah Although it's like It's like 10 and 2 So it's quick It's just enough to eat Yeah just enough to eat And drive

You know Jersey's a commuter state So I drive everywhere man Like there's only I don't think any None of the places I train are in my town. So I'm always on the move. Jersey's got a lot of fucking traffic, too. It does, but it's like, it's predictable. Not like here.

Yeah, predictable traffic. You know what I mean? You know if you miss the rush hour, you're good. Here, you never know what you're getting into. Dude, I've been coming home from a comedy club at 2 o'clock in the morning. I hit bumper to bumper traffic. Yeah, that's crazy. There's too many of us I was actually

I didn't even realize I stayed right across the street From the comedy store Oh which place Where you at Mondrian Mandarin Oh the Mandarin

Mondrian What is it Mondrian Right Mondrian Mondrian Yes Why can't I See that

When someone says something wrong Sometimes you go How do you say it right Mondrian Yeah that is right across the street. Yeah, I didn't realize until I woke up the next day. I'm like, oh, shit, I should have went there last night. Yeah, anytime you want to go there, even if I'm not there, just let me know.

I'll set it up. So when you are in Tom's River, what is a typical day for you? When you leave your house on a Monday morning, what time do you get going? What time do you eat? Yeah, I get up like 8 o'clock, I guess. I'm not an early guy. I get up at 8, I'll eat something. I'm out of the house by 8.30, 8.45.

Get to Ricardo's for like 10 a.m. practice, 9.30 practice. Practice for two hours, drive back home, which is like about 45 to an hour. And when you're practicing, are you practicing with the Gi? with the gi no no gig never not in a long time ricardo actually believe it or not told us not to really yeah he said he said the gi will always be there he said you always go back to the gi when you're done he's like right now it's just not applicable for mma i'm so glad he said that yeah man that is i don't know hopefully he doesn't get mad For saying that Well that was a giant problem With like So many Brazilians

Were so connected to the Gi That they would be offended If you didn't train with the Gi They'd get really mad at you That's what I thought When I first went to him I'm like Oh man

We're gonna have to do A lot of Gi stuff now You know We did a little bit You know Messed with it It is good for you It's good

It's great for defense I think it's good for People like myself Where I use a lot of wrestling and athleticism for my jiu-jitsu because it kind of takes that away and makes you you know pay attention to technique yeah it makes you concentrate on defense because you can't just muscle out of things right and with a lot of fighters you know especially like real explosive guys they get used to just yanking out of things and you know when someone's got collars and grips on your sleeves, you can't yank out as much. You've got to systematically think about what you're doing. Yeah, you've got to apply pressure.

You've got to have a good position. You've got to be patient, too. You can't expose yourself because you're impatient and you just want to get out of a spot. Right, right. Yeah, that's the positive aspect of the gi. The negative aspect of the gi is when guys go from the gi to MMA and they're looking for those handles and the handles aren't there. They're not there, yeah.

Yeah. But Eddie always told us just do the gi but don't use collars. Don't use collars and sleeves. So my gi game was really just no gi in a gi. Honestly, probably when I did the gi, I probably didn't grab as much as someone, so I wasn't used to it. In desperado times, I'll grab the gi. Yeah.

Right, right. You know, if I'm getting fucked up. But for the most point, I think you're better off just using overhooks and underhooks and gable grips and just working your same positions that you do in no-gi. So then you're doing the same game always. Yeah. But I'm glad Ricardo said that because to have such a an accomplished brazilian jiu-jitsu artist like him who's got this gigantic school and who was a accomplished fighter himself and now as a judge right to have him say that like yes yes for a

long time people got so connected to this idea that you need to do the gi in order to be good in mma which is no gi yeah slippery yeah i mean youery. Yeah. I mean, you know, even like Gary, Tone, and Gordon, Ryan, I don't think those guys are in the Gi very often. Very rarely. Yeah. Yeah. I think that Gordon, Ryan has done some matches recently in the Gi. Maybe Gary, Tone, too. I mean, they know how to use it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But it's, you know, it just makes everything more, you know, it's just there's so much more friction so much there's so many things you can do in the gi you cannot do

in an MMA fight or in a no gi contest right yeah it's really just not applicable at all so that's good

we don't I figure when I'm old I'll put the gi on you know yeah yeah well you could I mean there's guys

in my jiu jitsu class that are in their 60s yeah they're still rocking yeah that's what's great. You know, you're nice and slow. It's something I'll definitely do in the future. So you go there, you do that class, and like how far, you're driving a lot to all these different spots?

How much time are you in your car? A couple hours a day. Oh, shit. So you have to have a reliable fucking car. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do. I got a Pine Belt, it's a monster ship, so I get to drive a nice Ram or Silverado. Oh, you got a deal with the Dodge dealership?

Yeah, I drive it for the demo. Oh, that's awesome. And then I turn it in for a thing. Oh, that's great. But I also got a Cadillac CTS-V, too. I know you're into cars. Dude, I love CTS-Vs. Yeah.

Those things are beasts. Yeah, it's fun. I got a little stage two tune on it and stuff. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. It can move. It moves. That's a fast car.

That's a good Italian guy in Jersey car, too. Yeah, it's perfect. I got a little stage two tune on it and stuff. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. It can move. It moves. That's a fast car. Yeah. That's a good Italian guy in Jersey car, too. Yeah, it's perfect. It's perfect. So have you ever thought about living somewhere where everything is so connected to Tom's River you would never move? Yeah. I mean, well, now Nick Catone is in Brick, too, and he has a huge facility in Brick.

So that's where we do a lot of our sparring. How far is that? That's only 20 minutes away. Oh, okay. So he's been there for now a couple years and um he's like a 30,000 square foot gym oh really two full cages a bunch of mat space oh wow oxen ring yeah it's a phenomenal facility what's it called uh nicotones mixed martial arts academy okay cool that's awesome man it's amazing that these gyms are they're so good now it's like it was so hard in the beginning to find one facility that had this kind of place. Even in the country, there's only a couple gyms, whether it was an AKA or Jackson's.

When I first started, I graduated college. It was in May. I graduated college. I wanted to – Ultimate Fighter was the first season Ultimate Fighter was on. I think they had the finale in May. I watched it with my teammates, I'm like, dude, I'm giving this a try, you know, Koscheck was, uh, was on the, on the season, he wrestled for Edinburgh, wrestled for Clarion, we're in the same conference, so I see him, I'm like, oh, man, look, he's doing pretty well, I'm gonna give this a shot, so I found a place to train, and, uh, Kurt Pellegrino actually had a gym

in, uh, in, in near my town, so I called him up, I knew him through wrestling, he's like, he's like, I'm actually moving to Florida, he's like, but you can come train here for a couple days before i go i'm like all right so i came there and a new guy was taking his gym over and so that's where i ended up staying and the gym was no bigger than this room here wow you know and uh you see all these young kids have this 30,000 square facility i'm like dude you guys are fucking spoiled man yeah it's a different world now i mean it's there's only there's no other sport like mma where if you go back to like the 90s and then you look at it today it's unrecognizable oh yeah it is it's it's just martial arts is is changed like you say it all

the time you know how how quickly ufc or mma changed martial arts. Forever. Yeah. I mean, we'll never look at it the same way again. Like martial arts have evolved more over the last 20 years than they have over the last 20,000 years. And that's just, I don't think anything has done that. No. Go back and watch UFC 1 and then go watch UFC 246.

It's like, what the fuck, man? Like everyone is so evolved now. And even, you know, across weight classes, it's just such an interesting thing that we figured out how to do it right. Yeah. I mean, shit, even when I started 2005 to now, it's changed a whole bunch. Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah.

I mean, 2005 was when The Ultimate Fighter was on, right? Dude, how crazy is it that Diego Sanchez is still out there throwing it's amazing he's the last of the mohicans it really is right he's the last one on that show yes oh for sure yeah i mean stephan bonner's long gone right forrest griffin's long gone he's working for the ufc now and fucking diego sanchez still still screaming yes doing cartwheels. He's a special dude, man. He's crazy. Yeah. He's a wild motherfucker, man.

He is. He's just his outlook. I mean, he was kind of strange on the show. I don't want to call him strange, but just like a different personality. He's weird. Definitely weird. But he's also got a mind like a fucking bank vault. He's intense.

He is. I mean, his will's unbreakable. That guy does not quit. He's lost before. He's been stopped before. But you ain't getting him to quit. I remember when he fought BJ, he just kept coming. Yeah.

His head split open with the head kick. I was like, damn, this guy's nuts. Yeah. No, I mean, in all of his fights, I mean, he's an animal. I mean, and he's such an entertaining guy. I mean, you think about some of his fights that he fought even at 170

against guys like Jake Allenberger Martin Campman Campman had his face hanging off I mean giant cuts

all over Diego's face and in the third round Diego's chasing him just chasing him down like god damn he's tough his willpower is second to none

I think it's insane it's insane and he's still out there he is still. His willpower is second to none, I think. It's insane. It's insane. And he's still out there. He is. He's still out there throwing. He is.

Yeah. It's impressive. I mean, these guys are setting the bar high, you know? Yeah, real high. Yeah. And it's interesting. Like, Diego, I've always thought was like a guy who could have benefited from a 165-pound class. I feel like the UFC, I've been saying this forever, I'm a broken record,

but I think they should reorganize the weight classes and put weight classes every 10 pounds. There's too many big gaps, like the 85 to 205-pound gap. That's crazy. Yeah, no, it is nice. That's so big. Yeah. I mean, if they have time, look, they have plenty of fighters, right? And there's plenty.

They just should move some of these weight classes around. I think they should do it. Even Dos Anjos, too, with him and Chiesa, you know? I think Dos Anjos is probably a 65-pounder. Probably. He looks so much smaller than Chiesa. Dude, Chiesa, how the fuck did he ever make 55? I don't get it, man.

I seen him, you know, after he made it. I'm like, dude, you were always a 70-pounder. Yeah, always. I just was really impressed with how he was able to control Rafael Dos Anjos. I didn't get to see the fight. I was actually flying down here. But, yeah, I've seen the highlights. I think he took him down five or six times.

Yeah, man. His arms are so long. They were in positions where a lot of guys would have to kind of hold on, but he could reach all the way the fuck around and clamp his hands together. You're like, oh, what an advantage that is. It's like when I train with Zabit. That's how I feel. Oh, right.

He's like 6'2". Yeah, at 145. He can cover my head and my toes, and it's only half of him. He's got the weirdest style, man, because is like you know he does like scissor takedowns but it's got like a lot of wheel kicks and 360 roundhouse kung fu right it is kung fu right it's a real kung fu but also with wrestling or something wing sanda oh sanda yeah but i think it's it's a form of kung fu oh yeah it's kung fu yeah yeah he's he's one of the more unusual guys in the sport. Yeah, he is.

He's got a quiet demeanor, too, you know? Well, he looks like Abraham Lincoln. He does. He does. Exactly like him. As soon as he walked in, that's what everyone said. Well, everybody says, too, that you haven't even seen what he can do. Like, in the gym, you see what he can do.

And, like, I was talking to Mark about him, and he's like, dude, this was, like, back before Zabiba had really made a name for himself And he's like that fucking guy He goes The real deal Super talented Yeah I was really impressed with Calvin Cater though

In their last fight Yeah you know That third round Seemed like Zabit kind of lost some steam Yeah And Calvin started coming on a little bit Calvin was digging to the body a lot too He's got great hands Calvin

Great jab That jab is by me Might be one of the best jabs in the UFC His fucking right hand too And Calvin started coming on a little bit. Calvin was digging to the body a lot, too. He's got great hands, Calvin. Great jab. As good as anybody. That jab might be one of the best jabs in the UFC. His fucking right hand, too. The right hand that he knocked out Lamas with. Dude. Oh, man, yeah. Calvin, he's on another level when it's striking, particularly with his hands.

He does a lot of training with boxers. Boxers, yeah. Right here. Dude. He's a Boston guy, right? Yeah. And only getting better. He's doing, guy, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And only getting better. He's only two, yeah.

He's just beginning to get into the top tier of guys. You know? I mean, he beats Shane Burgos with that beautiful knockout. And the Ricardo Lamas knockout was just spectacular. So Lamas had fought for the title. Lamas was a top guy. And then the Zabit fight when Zabit is like right there at the very top of the heap at 145 and who knows what the fuck would happen if that was a five rounder i know because calvin

was putting it on him he was at that point and when zabit took him down the 30 basically just hung on in the end yeah just found the way yeah just hung on through yeah calvin's dangerous he's dangerous and getting better and he's's, boy, what a fucking division, man. Your division. Yeah, four and five. That you're leaving. The division that you're leaving. Yeah, good. 35 is no fucking sweeter, let's be real.

There's a lot of killers there, too, but you'll be a bigger guy. Yeah, I mean, I still don't think I'll be the biggest guy either at 35. But I'll definitely be much more comparable to the rest of them. Well, it was interesting because even when you're fighting at 55 a lot of people were saying that you should be 35 yeah and i was like you might be right like if he weighs 55 a lot of the guys that weigh 55 compete at 35 yeah shit what's his oh my god uh lockhart ge George Lockhart was on. Oh, yeah. And he's on here. And he said, I can make 25.

So slow down, George. I don't know about 25. I don't know about 25. Yeah, you look like T.J. Dillashaw. That was a mistake. Oh, yeah. That would... Out of all the...

There's only two... Well, his was real bad all the way up and to the way in. T.J., the way he looked. He looked like he was starving to death. That you know he looked like a like he was starving to death that's what he looked like he did i mean his cheeks were sucked in his face was sucked in really bad decision though even because he had to you know take that stuff to try to train yeah it was just terrible you know 35 he was the fucking champ and like a really good fighter at 35 and to take that stuff i don't know you know cody cody cody garbrandt was accusing him of taking it even before then yeah that's true he

said he didn't cody's actually uh training with us now too oh is he yeah oh that's a good move for him that's a very good move for him and mark been working together he was out he's out for a week he went back. He still had Alpha Male, too. Oh, that's right. He was talking to me about that. Mark was giving him some real good pointers on some of the things that he does where he exposes himself. Right.

How to make sure he's more protected and make sure he's more elusive, more difficult to read. Right. Do some different kind of things. But, yeah, he's been with us for a little bit now. He went back to Alpha Male, but he's coming back and finished the camp with us. He's got sick hands. He's got some of the sick hands. I've seen Marlon, seen all these guys, but Cody's hands are so fast, man.

Yeah, he's fast as fuck. He is. There it is. He can come back, man. He can come back. He just, you know, he had that fight with TJ, lost, lost in the rematch, and then lost again to Pedro Munoz. So you're like, God damn, like he's just so game.

But all three of those fights, I mean, he was in them. He had those guys rocked. He did. That Pedro Munoz guy has a chin made out of fucking steel. He must. Steel. And he knows it, too. He's like, I'll stand in front of anybody.

Yeah. He has that belief in himself. And one of the nastiest guillotines in the game. Yeah. That guy's got a fucking sick clamp. He gets a hold of your neck. Woo. Yeah, he'd be in trouble.

Yeah. It's a fucking, that division, that whole division that you're about to drop down into. Yeah. That's just as scary as the division you're in now. Yeah, I mean, you can't go anywhere nowadays, you know. Yeah, there's no picnics. There's no easy spot. Nothing easy.

Even for the ladies. There's no easy ladies divisions either. Every weight class is getting deeper and deeper, and that's just the progression of the sport. You know, I mean, even when I first started, it wasn started, it wasn't at maybe the top five, top ten. Now you've got top 20 or some dogs. Yeah. What do you think you're going to do when you retire?

I don't know. I don't know. I'm involved with UFC Gym. I have one in North Brunswick, New Jersey, one in Riverdale. I kind of partnered up with a couple guys. I'll definitely stay involved in this sport. How does that work? Does the UFC contact you and say, hey, Frankie, you want to be involved in one of these gyms?

I think we sought them out, they sought me out type thing. That process took a while to get to where we're at now. I started inquiring about the UFC gym back in 2014, 2015. They must be popular as fuck though, right? Everybody would want to train at a ufc gym yeah you would think i think some people just uh they think when they think ufc gym like i'm not wanting to fight anybody but it's not even like that ufc gyms a family atmosphere man you don't have to go take a fight class you can go just train and or take a martial arts class

yeah now when they have these ufc gyms do they have uh like sparring classes jiu-jitsu classes they have everything yeah they have everything yep so it's just like a fight gym it's like a fight no it's more i'd say it's more like an la fitness like la fitness fucked a fight gym yes exactly exactly it's the love child la fitness and a fight gym yeah and do you train at those places i do some from time to time yeah you, yeah. But I usually go up there and teach a class or a seminar, stuff like that. When you train with Mark, where do you train with Mark? His basement. Really?

Yeah. Or like Nicotone's, but mostly his basement. We start out in his basement. How big is his basement? It's big. He owns a pizzeria. He does pretty well. He kills it with the pizza business.

I heard he has amazing pizza. No bullshit. It's some of the He has amazing pizza. No bullshit. It's some of the best pizza in Jersey. No bullshit. That's a big statement because Jersey has some killer pizza. Jersey's got great pizza and his is very good. I'm not lying. Where's it at?

It's in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Pino's Pizza. Pino's Pizza. Tell him Frankie sent you. And so his basement he has decked out like a gym? Yeah, it is It uh It starts

Yeah he's got like Whole workout stuff He's got like a full You know Full basement Pretty nice house Um Then he put mats on the thing

And you know Bunch of like Of our posters are up there So it was cool Oh that's cool Yeah But I started with Mark In literally in 2005

And that's when we started In his basement Now did you have any Striking experience before that? None. None at all. Just the seaside boardwalk. That's about it.

So what was it like going from just straight wrestling to learning how to strike and wrestle together? It was a learning process. Early in my career, I was able to take everybody down in those early fights. But I had some pretty good fights even before ufc i fought uh davidius something davidius he was uh this ukraine type fighter i don't know he fought in wc um he beat some good guys so he was decent i was able to take him down then i fought jim miller actually my last fight for ufc and that was yeah we had a crazy fight. So, you know, I had good opponents right away, but the striking, you know, it's something that I really liked. I was always

into boxing growing up. I was always into fighting. You know, jerseys, you know, I'm not from the hood or by any means, but everyone fights where I'm from. You know, it's kind of like, everyone goes to Seaside, look for fights. That's kind of the nature of it. Really? Yeah. I mean, you hear Joey Diaz talking about it. So, you know. Jim Miller's a fucking beast. He is a beast, dude. I'm so glad he's healthy now because that guy struggled for so long with Lyme disease.

Yeah. My wife has it, actually. Does she really? She's been dealing with it since 2007. Dude, everybody gets it in the East Coast. It's crazy how many people have it. And it's just, they say that there was, we did this, we looked at this map online of all the areas in the East Coast where Lyme disease is prevalent and what percentage of

the ticks have it. It's bananas. Oh, yeah. My wife's neurotic with it, too, because she's had to go through a bunch of treatments and whatnot. Is it still with her right now? It is. It's not as much, but she's got, like, a bunch of issues, like autoimmune stuff, I think, you know.

And she does the IV treatments, the sunlight therapy. It's like where they take the blood out, run it through UV, then put it back in you. Yeah, she's done a lot of that stuff. And she's starting to feel better. With Jim, I think he changed his diet. I think that was a big one. Just really started eating clean. Yeah, my wife eats pretty clean.

She's a kind of holistic-ish type person. Yeah, the Lyme disease thing is fucking terrifying. Because for a long time, they were diagnosing it incorrectly. Like people didn't know whether it was Lyme disease. And people would come in with all sorts of aches and pains and if they didn't have that big bullseye mark on them where the the tick bit them the doctor really had no idea what was going on and some doctors didn't have a lot of experience with it right i got it when i was young did you yeah but i'd seen the tick so i got our medicine right away and and i was fine but they say if you don't see the tick

and then you just don't know you have it and then if you don't get on medicine right away, then you're fucked. And then you're probably ever. You can even say like, it's not even the Lyme disease, it's the other diseases that get attached to it. Yes. Well, there's a thing called Morgellons.

Have you ever heard of Morgellons? Yeah. Morgellons is a disease that a lot of people think is like a psychological disease. They think that like you're imagining things because they would imagine that like fibers were growing out of their scabs and they'd scratch themselves like crazy. But I had some good insight. We did a television show called Joe Rogan Questions Everything.

And we had some – one of the conversations I had was with a doctor who has Lyme disease. And that's when things got interesting because he was aware of it not just as a person who has the disease but also as a doctor. And he said one thing that all these people that have Morgellons have in common is that they all have Lyme disease. And he thinks that Lyme disease is not just one thing, that it's a host of other things

that are attached to Lyme disease like non-identified pathogens and that some of them have some sort of neurotoxic effect that changes the way you see things. So he was seeing things that weren't there. He was seeing worms crawling around in his eye that weren't there. Weren't even there? They weren't there.

And he realized, okay, this is probably what Morgellons is. These people are thinking that things are growing in their skin, but there's nothing there. But it's really because the Lyme disease and all the other toxins and pathogens that come with it are fucking with your neurology. They're fucking with your brain. Yeah, my wife said brain fog is probably the biggest thing that bothers her.

And she went through a period where she was always tired. And it's crazy because my wife, you would never guess it, because she's super high energy. She works out every day. She pushes through it. Yeah, pushes through it, but it's definitely something she has to constantly treat. You remember when people had chronic fatigue syndrome?

Yeah. Where'd that go? I don't know. Isn't that like a thing that everybody always had? But it's an excuse. Is that an excuse? I don't know. Like a bullshit thing?

I don't know. See, that's you, that's these mentally tough guys Like, come on, fuck How do I feel? I feel good, let's go That's it, I feel good You know, I mean, my wife It's It's expensive too All these damn treatments

Well, Marcus Davis All of his UFC money He spent treating his wife for Lyme disease. Wow. Yeah. He wound up. He's a prison guard now. Is he really? Somewhere.

Yeah. I think he's still doing that. You know, he's good buddies with De La Grata. Yeah. Yeah. De La Grata was keeping me posted on him. But he wound up like his wife got it real bad. I think he spent more than a quarter million dollars just treating her.

Not that much. I mean, unless my wife's not telling me. It's fucking bad. My friend Steve Rinella, he and his son got it, and the doctors didn't recognize it. The doctors, he was like, I think it might be Lyme disease. The doctors didn't think so. Then his son started getting Bell's palsy. So half his face, And his son was little

I think he was like four or five Half his face was going numb Yeah, it happened to my wife actually She had Bell's palsy the one time Yeah I think she got a flu shot she said And then came home She got Bell's palsy

Jesus Christ Yeah, it's a fucking creepy disease, man It is Because no one seems to know what to do with it And you know, they had a vaccine for a little while But the problem with the vaccine was People were, and this is including my manager's dad, took the vaccine and got Lyme disease from the vaccine. I keep hearing this with vaccines or even flu shot. People get the flu shot and they get the flu.

I've heard that people get sick when they get the flu shot. But then I've talked to people that are vaccine people and they're like, no, you probably were already getting the flu. And the flu shot that you got was the wrong one for whatever flu was in the area. Well, I also heard, too, they give you the strain from last year and then there's the new strain this year. So it's not even really helping you. Well, I think there's multiple strains each year. And I think they're basically just hedging their bets. They're guessing.

I don't take flu shots. No, hell no. yeah but i i think they do work if you get lucky yeah the right one i'm not too lucky i don't know i mean i believe in vaccines for sure but i don't think that it always works in in the flu shot case i'm not sure because like sometimes sometimes they just get it wrong like they have the wrong strain. Right, right. What do we know? No, I know. It's a fucking touchy subject anyway. Two morons talking about flu shots. But with the Lyme disease, there's a conspiracy theory that that's the government put that out in the wild. Well, there was a conspiracy theory that there was actually – look this up, Jamie, because there was actually something about this they were talking about recently where um they were looking in there was they were investigating

the idea that lyme disease was a biological warfare weapon that uh accidentally got released but this was through like legitimate channels they were investigating this it wasn't like some fucking tinfoil hat job they released it on the east coast i guess right now not where they wanted to release it i think it got out i think the idea is that somehow or another this disease had accidentally escaped their labs or while they were in the middle of uh treating people is a tick the only way you can get lyme disease i believe so yeah and it's the ticks i think it's deer ticks i think it's places that have a high population of deer also have a high population of these ticks. And then when people get it, it's less, you know, most of them don't realize they have it until it's too late.

Yeah. So you don't realize you have it and then you miss the early rounds of antibiotics, which can knock it out. And then you get this chronic state Like Jim Miller has And your wife has Yeah My buddy Steve Rinella That had it He was fucked up

I mean bad For at least six months When I saw him He looked like he had lost And he's a slim guy But he looked like he had lost 20 or 30 pounds And he just said

He'd just been dealing with The Lyme disease, and it just killed him. I mean, not killed him, but just really diminished his body. Beat him up, yeah. Yeah, it's a weird disease, man, because you can't find anybody who doesn't know anybody who has it when you're on the East Coast. Everybody knows, a brother, a cousin, or a wife.

Someone has it. It's crazy. I love running the woods and trails, but in the summertime, it's like man you just i'm so nervous to get ticks or my kids i don't want my kids going out in it well i think it takes 24 hours for it to set in so like once you once you do come back if you have a tick on you just have to remove it yeah yeah so we do every time we go in the woods tick checks how do you get them off you though if like it's what if it's like in the middle of your back and you're by yourself? Yeah, I guess you're one of those back scratchers or something.

Here it is. Was Lyme disease created as a bioweapon? Is this a legit website? Yeah, it's HowStuffWorks. So it's not unlegit. No, that's legit. HowStuffWorks is very legit. I just sort of read through the whole article.

It's sort of unproven, but there are some people, I believe, that think that this is a thing. It just would be very hard to do is what the end of the article says. Tick says weapons issue made headlines back in July 2019 thanks to the U.S. House of Representatives. Chris Smith, R., New Jersey, Republican, New Jersey, who introduced legislation directing the Department of Defense to review claims that the Pentagon researched tick-based bioweapons in the mid-20th century. The amendment passed. Smith said he was inspired by a number of books and articles suggesting that significant research

had been done in the U.S. government facilities including Fort Detrick, Maryland, and Plum Island, New York to turn ticks and other insects into bioweapons. Imagine if those cunts created a fucking disease and now everyone on the East Coast has it. What the fuck? Because it's mostly out there. That's what's fucked up.

Yeah, it is. It is. Lime. Isn't lime a place in Connecticut? Yes. Yeah. Is that why they named it Lime Disease? I mean, I think that's why they named it that.

Yeah. Have you heard of the Rocky Mountain Tick? Yeah. Isn't that kind of the West coast version of well it's Texas it's uh um or the Lone Star tick oh that's different it makes you not like meat or something yes Alpha Gal

Alpha Galactos it does something I think that's the word um it it makes you allergic to meat yeah so you literally go the rest of your life and you can't eat meat you have to eat like chicken and fish. Shoot me. What is that?

Yeah, the first cases of it were there in 1975. Yeah, the goddamn government. They're creating bioweapons. I'm not surprised. No. I talked to this Soviet Union guy when I was doing that television show, and he was saying that they had all sorts of bioweapons that they were developing over there. Oh, there's got to be.

Giant pits filled with anthrax. Are there ticks in other countries? Are there lyme disease in other countries? That's a good question. That's a very good question. That would sort of explain a lot. While we're in Conspiracyville, have you seen the coronavirus stuff? Oh, there's conspiracies about it?

Yeah. What's a conspiracy? There's a level four bioweapon facility opened in Wuhan. Oh, wow. Not too long ago. Of course. The suggestions are online. I don't know. I'm not saying it.

The suggestions are online. Something might have leaked just like this. Have you consulted with Sam Tripoli or Eddie Bravo? I have seen tweets. I'll just say I've seen tweets. From who? From Sam or Eddie? I think Sam's retweeted some stuff.

Oh, of course. Of course he has. I've seen other stuff online, too. Well, I mean, I think whatever news is out there, there's always some conspiracy theory that goes with it, right? That's true. Even if it's like Locke. Look, I saw conspiracy theories that Conor threw the fight, or Cowboy threw the fight

with Conor. Oh, people are so stupid, man. I had my cousins like, oh, I can't believe Cowboy would do that. I'm like, do what? Do what? Yeah, do what? People are crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I was upset at Stephenven a smith and then he made a video come on listen steven a smith i guess i should

respond right uh you're a very entertaining guy i like you a lot and uh i appreciate the props you gave me in that video but you're wrong Yeah Cowboy got fucked up with those shoulders in the clinch He had Conor's arms tied up And they're in tight spaces Conor dips low and slams This bone of his shoulder Into the nose And he's at the beginning of the round

Conor's a fucking super explosive guy Super explosive All muscles just fucking pulled tight at the beginning of the fight and just bang! Bang! He got off good shots and Cowboy was confused. I think he was flustered. Flustered. I don't think that those shots maybe

rocked him. They broke his nose. That could rock you, I guess, in a sense. Well, he's got blood pouring out of his nose, so he's not breathing out of his nose now. And then all of a sudden he's like, fuck, my nose is already fucked up, and he hasn't even punched me yet. It was unusual. I could see if someone has a peripheral understanding of the sport, and you see that happening, like, come on, man. Or even guys like Mike Bisping.

Mike Bisping was like, fucking shoulder strikes. Come on, shoulder strikes. But that said, Mike Bisping is without a doubt one of the toughest human beings has ever walked the face of the planet like if he lost an ear but ah you got another yeah yeah he fights with one eye he doesn't give a fuck he fought a giant chunk of his career against the best fighters in the world including winning the title with one eye yeah michael bisping is a fucking died in the wool savage yeah so if he's like ah it's just shoulder strikes that said the shoulder strikes didn't end the

fight the shoulder strikes definitely got him off on the wrong foot then cowboy threw a kick to connor's arms and then connor con counter with a head kick rock head kick rocked him good. You see his legs go, and then Conor hits him with pistons. He hits so hard. I don't get how people could say it was a work. He broke his fucking orbital bone. Yeah. But Stephen A. Smith said that he felt like Cowboy quit. He did not quit.

He got smashed. You can't say someone quit after getting their nose broke and rocked and a broken orbital. You can't say he quit. It's also who you're talking about. You're talking about a guy who has the most fights in the UFC, the most finishes in the UFC, the most head kick knockouts in the UFC, the most bonuses in the UFC. Cowboy is a fucking legend.

He is as tough as they come. He's lost before. Every human can lose, especially you're fighting guys like Darren Till and Jorge Masvidal and these fucking animals that he's lost before every human can lose especially you're fighting guys like Darren Till and Jorge Masvidal and and these fucking animals that he's fighting he's fighting the cream of the crop or Connor and Connor broke it literally broke his face he broke his nose and he broke his orbital bone so so Stephen A Smith responded and then Connor responded yeah I've seen that Connor told him to apologize and Connor's right yeah he is mean, give Conor the credit a little bit. I think the problem is Stephen A. Smith, who's a very entertaining guy and is very knowledgeable about other sports.

This is not his wheelhouse. And also that style of dismissing athletes and putting people down. That's how he kind of made his name. That's how he made his name. And it's fun to listen to. He's a fun guy to listen to. He talks great shit, you know? I wonder, I mean, I'm sure basketball players are kind of saying the same stuff we're saying

when he's criticizing basketball players, though. Or football players, you know what I mean? Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. I mean, I don't know too much about that. Jamie, you're a sports fan, right? Do they criticize him, too? I mean, he's respected, for sure.

Yeah, but the show he was on, it's like every day he's respected for sure yeah yeah but that's the show he's on it's like every day he's got to wake up and give his take and they got to talk about it for an hour or two and a lot of the take it's like the controversy is like good yeah they got to talk about yeah and he had a radio show for three hours he did after that so like yeah he talks all day long right yeah and he you know he's entertaining. That's what people like to hear. They like to hear someone passionate. You ever hear him and Teddy Atlas argue after the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather fight? Yeah, yeah.

Because Teddy Atlas is like, Conor McGregor made the best chef in the world be a fucking fast food cook. That's basically how they're like backing for the two of them yelling and arguing. It's very entertaining. That's his position, all right? I just think that this sport demands more appreciation, more respect, and it demands a higher level of reverence to the athletes who literally put their lives on the line. It's different. I don't think you have to say the guy quit to describe what happened.

No, you could just talk about what Conor did that was so special. Look, the guy finds tricky ways to do things, and those shoulder strikes. Look, we've seen guys do shoulder shrugs before, but we never saw anybody do it successfully. But you've got to think about the UFC is a lot of what happens in the UFC is someone, out of all these fights finally does something. And then other people start doing that thing.

Like you remember when no one was throwing front kicks to the face. No one. For all those fucking years. Yep. All of a sudden Anderson knocks out Vitor, who's like one of the elite of the elite strikers, knocks him out with a front kick to the face. And you're like, what the fuck? And then you see Everyone trying it Nobody ever did it

I don't remember anybody ever Even in kickboxing People very rarely Threw a front kick to the face It just wasn't You know they would teep To the face To the body yeah

But even teeps to the face It was more like The range thing Yeah All you would like push in his face Right Like you very rarely Unless someone caught it perfect

Saw a guy get knocked out With like a snap front kick with the ball of the foot. It's almost like an uppercut the way it comes off from underneath. Dude, it's a fucking devastating technique when done correctly. I mean, Justin Buchholz got a KO with it outside of the UFC that's devastating. Lyoto Machida did that jumping front kick to Randy Couture. You knock out Randy Couture with a fucking front kick to the face, that's a legit technique. But then you see everybody doing that, like low calf kicks, right?

Yeah. First guy I ever saw do it was Benson. Yeah. Benson really, Benson Henderson really got into those low calf kicks. He did it to me. Yeah, right? Those are rough, man. Yeah.

But now everybody throws those kicks. You got to think of how many years went by before people were not throwing low calf kicks. I guarantee you now when people get tied up in the clinch and someone's holding someone with uh double overhooks or whatever i don't remember how connor had a hold of uh or cowboy had a hold over under right over under was it over under yeah when someone's tied up in the clinch and you can't strike you're gonna see guys yeah yeah 100 because this is a bone man it's a fucking bone right there and if anything it's just something to distract him you know to move to something else.

But this, where your shoulder, the top of your shoulder, that's fucking hard. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's not the ideal thing to strike with, but when there's nothing else there, there's something there. Yeah. It's, I could see how Stephen Smith would not think that that was effective. I could see. But for me, it was clearly effective there were hard

shots there's a lot of power behind it there's a lot of explosion connor dipping his level and coming up and slamming into it it was kind of crazy but even if you take that away the head kick and the punches to finish i mean yeah no one's coming there he's not he got beat down he got beat down smashed by a guy who rises to the occasion look cowboys had problems in the past with these really big fights and yeah he looked nervous as fuck and he talks about it openly he talked there was a video that they played which i don't think they should have played before the fight because he had to hear that so they're playing a video of him describing how nervous he gets before fights and how he throws up right all that stuff and also about how he's

kind of faking it he's pretending like he's fine but he's not inside i'm freaking the fuck out they played that before he fought i'm like why are you doing that think about even more yes that's what i was thinking i was i was saying fuck he does not need to hear this that's why i'm in the locker room when i'm in the locker room and the tv's on i'm always like turn that volume down i don't want to hear anybody talking about my fight turn that shit down good for you good for you i mean i'm cognizant of that when i see a guy in the locker room and i'm talking i try to pump him up yeah i want him to feel good yeah show up yeah well when you come out man that biggie song biggie that's uh there's something about some fighters and songs you know there's like there's a connection to those guys every time

i hear that song i think about you yeah man i started uh 2009 when i fought shirk it was the first time i ran out to it and i was like man the most shady frankie baby you know i was like this is it dude biggie's probably my well he's if he's not my all-time he's like top three it's like nas is probably my all- time But he's right up there Yeah I think Biggie Might be my guy too Seventh grade I got that

Ready to die Cassette tape And listened to this shit I think I listened to it Until I couldn't listen to it No more Yeah Well I was on news radio

While I was doing this sitcom And I remember I listened to that Fucking hypnotized song Like ten times in a row Hell yeah I was like god damn That's a good song.

Yeah, he's- His flow was so entertaining. He was. He could tell a story better than anybody. Oh, man. He was a special dude. He was a special dude. The feud between him and Tupac, the fact that both of those guys got murdered.

Yeah, that's crazy, right? What the fuck, man? Yeah. Like, oh, God. How good would they have been as they got older, too? I know. Pac at least had thousands of CDs at least or, you know, come out after his death. But they only had two albums, really, you know, so they didn't have much material.

Isn't that crazy that Pac put so much shit down? Yeah. Pac, man, he was like an activist, too, you know, so everything was kind of politically charged and everything. Well, he was unbelievably prolific.. Yeah, like he wrote so much he Like after he was dead they released like five hours. Yeah, it was crazy stuff. Yeah, where's all this shit from? Remember then they did the cuba recording. That's why I remember they had the hologram was it Coachella? Yeah, that was so Right. That was so creepy right that was so creepy i was like what is the future going to be like we're going to see janice joplin up there singing

yeah you're right you know like legitimately they're going to be able to do that in the future that's true like they're probably going to be able to write new janice joplin songs and have her singing in a hologram and you won't even be able to tell it's not really her they just put i just listened to the radio yesterday uh Chester Bennington from Lincoln Park, his first band he was in when he was like 18, they had recordings of him that they just put new music to and re-released the music. I think it's called like Gray Days or No Gray or something like that.

I heard it, I didn't listen to it myself, but I heard it's not bad. That's a bummer. He was a bummer. I know. That was a bummer. A lot of these guys They I don't know

It's like a lot of artists Seem like they're conflicted In some ways It's one of the reasons Why they're so good Yeah Like when Chester would sing It was like he was wailing

Right You know like screaming You know there was something About his The angst And the anger And the energy And the emotions

And his voice That was why he was so good Man and you know Sometimes like Linkin Park He's just listening Because they jam And, you know, sometimes, like, Linkin Park, he's just listening because they jam. Then you start listening to some of the words, like, man, this guy was feeling it for a while. Yeah, he was going through some shit for sure.

Yeah, it's just so hard to believe when someone like Chris Carnell or someone like him takes their own life. They were good friends, right, I believe? I believe so, yeah. I think one of them, didn't he kill himself on his birthday or something like that i think so yeah something sad like that but again two guys with those insane voices i mean sound garden god damn he was good definitely yeah oh damn but it's like it's almost like those guys that have that insane, and women too, that have that insane emotion in their voice. They're just so torn and conflicted.

Yeah. Yeah, that's, I mean, pour it out. You could hear it in their voice, their hearts pouring out. I think that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It's, I don't know, man. It's a bummer. It's a bummer.'s a bummer But uh The Tupac They don't do that anymore right That fucking hologram The Tupac hologram Was built like Marlon

Marlon Marais Did you ever see the Tupac hologram I mean a little bit yeah Yeah he was way more jacked Than Tupac ever was Like this Tupac been doing Fucking CrossFit Yeah

He's been doing F45 For the last That's it Five years while he's crossfit yeah he's been doing f45 for the last uh five years while he's in hiding yeah i've been getting after it yeah um there's a lot of guys that uh yeah there it is like look how jacked he looks like wiz khalifa looks now yeah wiz khalifa there's a good video the other day of wiz khalifa the bag. I'm like, God damn, Wiz Khalifa. Wiz Khalifa's got good technique. He does. He does Thai fights or he does what? Yeah.

Yeah, he's doing a lot of Muay Thai. But he's got crazy abs, man. That dude is fucking jacked. He is. He's got no fat on him. And he smokes weed all day. My guy. All day.

Is weed legal in New Jersey now? How does it work? Medical. It is. Yeah. You have to have a real problem, right? No. All day Is weed legal in New Jersey now? How's it work? Medical You have to have like a real problem right? No You can't just have headaches Can you have headaches? Anxiety you could have

Oh anxiety I get that There's Wheat's Cleaver Yeah He trains hard man Yeah That's cool It's always good when

These guys do this stuff Brings light to our sport Yeah Snoop trains too Yeah Yeah there's There's some videos of Snoop training and sparring online. It's awesome. I love it.

I love it. I mean, it's just great for you, too, even if you don't ever plan on fighting. To me, I mean, you know, I'd rather hit pads and kick a bag than run on a fucking treadmill, man. Oh, for sure. It's so much more entertaining. These people realize that. They would like it a lot more, too. Do you all i do run i like to run i but i don't run for my camps or anything i was never really into work i just enjoy running well you've known

for your endurance you know and when you when you would train how much of you did you do any cardio specific workouts or was most your cardio done through fight training? I mean, my strength and conditioning stuff would be a little cardio-based, you know, just like circuit training and stuff. I actually started working with a new strength and conditioning guy. He's a young kid, man. He's 24, but super passionate, really, into, you know. How do you find someone like that?

You know, I just, actually, Todd Frazier, who's actually on my podcast, we just released the episode today. Champ of the tramp? Champ of the tramp. He's a professional baseball player from my town. And I asked him where he was doing his off-season training and he hooked me up with this guy. This guy does, give your RPR, reflexive performance recovery or something? No.

Reset performance recovery? What is that? He does like these certain things that just reset your nervous system, I guess. Like a bang on your back. Bangs on your back, bang on your back. And then you do a test and like you're stronger in a weird way. Yeah. Really?

It's RPR. Is that real? Is that voodoo? That's what I'm wondering because I'm not a voodoo guy. I'm not a voodoo guy. And yeah, but he you know he has one where i chopped it my inner thighs i'll go up and down like four times and then he'll do something we'll test uh help make me go like a v like a sit-up position and he'll try to push me

down flat before i did the test i pretty much couldn't stop and then i did the test he almost put his body on me and i could hold him up really i don't know if it's mental but i always feel i feel good i'll come in i'll come in the training and i'll be like and i'm you know i feel a little little shoddy and he puts me through these tests and some of them hurt like sometimes he goes up and down your your sternum on your ribs and like it's supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and you're supposed to relax and kind of wakes me up gets me going hmm and the idea is that it jumps your reflexes up yeah i mean again mean, again, I'm a dummy. Yeah, I don't know either.

I know for sure that deep tissue work does a lot, right? Deep tissue massage. The way he explained it, too, was like, I couldn't do it to myself. One of them where he kind of goes and he hits up my IT band on my left, on my inside and outside of my thigh, and it hurts to the point where I'm like almost writhing in pain. I'm trying to relax and I'm doing it. But you can't't do it to yourself it's like he says you can't tickle yourself because you know the pressure you're giving yourself but someone else could take you so someone else that do this to you but isn't tickling like you don't have

control like because like i can do the the same pressure that someone would tickle me but it's but you do but you know the pressure you're giving yourself that's what was explained to me okay so like you don't know what you don't know so you was explained to me. Okay. So you don't know what pressure. So you're like, hey, what are you doing? Yeah, you don't know the pressure they're giving to you. And I think that does something with your nervous system. What do you think tickling is from? Do you think it's from evolving to get away from bugs?

Like you feel something on you, like, ah! Yeah. Doesn't that make sense? Yeah. Like a spider's on you or some shit? Yeah. Yeah, I think everything has to go back to that stuff i have to or or why do you hold your breath when you're when you're like nervous or you know like people

say you gotta breathe breathe why hold your breath by because like you're in the middle of the woods and something's fucking hot and you're like you don't make any noise maybe or maybe just your body's just panicking because so much pressure you know like you know so much adrenaline so much freaking out your body just body doesn't know what to do your body tenses up yeah that's a thing about fighting right where guys when they're swinging in a big like big exchanges they they don't they don't breathe and they get tired right yeah yeah like you know i don't know you have those coaches that are like okay guys breathe i don't want my coach telling me to breathe in the corner. No? I'm like, I know how to breathe, bro. Tell me what I need to hear. Right.

Well, does that drive you crazy when you hear corners that don't give good advice? Like, go out and finish them. Yeah. What does that mean? Thanks. Get up, man. Get up. I know shit.

Go out there and kick his ass. Yeah. That's why I was lucky to have guys that paid attention to detail like Mark and Ricardo, man. Those guys are top notch. Technical. Yeah, technical. They're not giving you that you know sometimes you do you need to like sometimes some guys i think mark got some flack for the marlin fight where he was in the corner he was like your mother raised you blah blah blah you know and someone's like why is he talking about

his mom it's like because he knew he didn't need technique he needed some motivation at that point was marlin too big did he lose too much weight to get down to 35 and was he depleted or was it so hudo just steamrolled him i just think the moment you know i think marlin hit him with some good shots and he hit him with some good shots and the head kick the right hand yeah and i think the fact that pseudo just took and kept coming forward i think kind of um just demoralized marlin a little bit like in my eyes, Cejudo was not going to be able to take much more to the legs. Yeah, no way. I thought, for sure, in that first round, I'm like, this fight's not going the distance.

Yeah. I thought Marlon was going to keep chopping at the legs, but Marlon let Cejudo close the distance. And once he let Cejudo close the distance and get a hold of him, started hitting him with knees, and I was like, oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah. And even like, I mean, Mar marlin it was in that tie clinch too i'm like dude marlin knows how to deal with a tie clinch yeah and he just wasn't even reacting to it he's like kind of letting him hit him with the knees i felt like almost it's like i felt like he was just depleted it seemed like he didn't have the energy to fight the kind of fight that

suhudo was willing to fight especially su. Especially Suhudo at 35, right? Suhudo at 25, he's draining himself a little bit. But Suhudo at 35 was much healthier. Yeah. And this fucking guy is just tough as shit, man. He has a winner's mind. He finds a way. He's got a winner's mind.

Yeah. You know? And the videos that he makes are pretty ridiculous. Super ridiculous. Triple C. Come on. Bend the knee. I mean, I guess that's, you know, everyone's got to have a shtick now, you know?

I guess they do because it keeps them out there. It's just, it's weird because this sport is part of that, right? It's like part, it's part promotion, but it's also performance. It's like guys like Connor are the perfect blend. Yeah. Like he's just, just be him himself. But Connor's like, it's entertaining performance It's like Guys like Conor Are the perfect blend Yeah Like he's just Just being him himself But Conor's like

It's entertaining It's funny Some of these other guys man It's just So forced It's rough But look Like Colby Covington

Colby Covington Shit talked his way To a goddamn title shot Yeah He really did And then fought his ass off But he's also very good Very good

I mean you can't not be good And talk yourself into it. But the UFC was willing to cut him before he fought in Brazil. Do you know that? Yeah, I heard the story. That was the last fight on his contract. He's going over there to fight Damian Maia, and he just talked mad shit. He said, I'm going to-

Kept him on board. Kept him. He's like, yeah. That's what did it. I mean, that's literally what did it. And then that character just took off. If you go and look at the early versions

of that character he had nice suits like he had like a real crisp suit like Connor would wear but then later he's got these terrible

cheap suits it's like it's part of the fun of it is he's wearing bullshit suits and a MAGA hat he's playing to a character fuck man

he fucking figured it out what about Connor he's kind of made a little 180 type Flip on his personality He's still funny He's still you know Mouthy and stuff

But he's not being He seems like he's trying to Clean his image up a little bit You think with Cowboy You think that's it Maybe it was Cowboy Cowboy's kind of easy To get along with

And whatnot Or maybe it's just that He's been Dealing with so much You know With the Khabib fight And all that stuff Well Khabib

And you know Hitting the old guy And the shit that he's Dealing with over there you know with the khabib fight and all that stuff and you know hitting the old guy and the shit that he's dealing with over there you know he's like you know he's got a that proper 12 he's got a total line a little bit yes right i mean you got to think proper 12 is an enormous amount of money for him i mean he's he's making shit tons of money i was in vegas that fucking those billboards were everywhere yeah on cars and shit he was sponsoring the bellator cage too was he yeah good for him yeah good for him uh yeah i wonder but i also think i don't think he felt like he needs psychological warfare with with cowboy i feel like

he thought from the beginning that he had a giant advantage over cowboy yeah you know like if you go back to an old press conference or talking back and shit to each other he's like as stiff as a board right right yeah fucking break in half yeah um i think yeah he just felt like this fight look i could just be a nice guy with this guy right but with khabib i think he felt like he had to fuck with him i felt like he felt that he had to get khabib emotional the same way he got Aldo emotional. But that shit didn't work. Didn't work. That motherfucker, he's a vault.

You look in his eyes, you just see nothing but doom. Yeah, no. It's just those people over there. They call it the steppe where they're from, right? Is that the steppe? Is that where it would be considered the steppe? Well, Mongolia is the steppe, right? Oh, okay.

Isn't that? It's close to there, isn't it? I don't know. Is it? The hard part of the world, though. Yeah. I know that. Did you see when he won?

When the fucking, they have a video of the streets, the streets of Dagestan. Everybody, lights on their cars, honking their horns, fucking screaming out the window. Yeah. Dude's shooting machine guns up there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's a fucking terror man and i am so interested in this

fight coming up with him and tony ferguson i am so interested in that fight that's a crazy fight oh that fight is everything to me that fight i don't know how dana white is doing these press conferences talking about matching up connor and khabib. I'm like, hey, hey, what about the boogeyman? Because the boogeyman is right now a big bear fucking doing kicks on trees and shit and wing-chunk dubbing rocks and stuff. Doesn't he build his own gym, too? Yes, he builds his own gym. Eddie Bravo, you talk to him about it because he does his camps.

He helps him in his jiu-jitsu. He talks him through it. Eddie Bravo will talk you through it, rather. He goes up there. He'll get a house up there, like rent a house, or he has a place. I don't know which one it is. But then he builds everything. He builds the racks for the bags.

He builds the fucking, he mats the rooms. He does everything himself. He is a unique human being. He is, yeah. And you want to talk about cardio. That guy is the freak of all freaks because he never even seems a little tired not at all and keeps coming forward keeps coming forward never seems even a little tired and everyone he fights looks like they got they got mauled by a leopard you're right everyone's face is hanging off like look at this shit that

he does headstands and stuff. He's into breakdancing, right? Yeah. But he's always doing this kind of shit, like weird kind of exercise. Look at this. Just standing only on his head. That's a good way to blow your discs out. Yeah.

Want stenosis? There you go. That's how you get stenosis. Oh, man. Look at it. Look at this shit he does. But that's every kind of training. No one's telling him what to do either. No, he does But that's every Kind of training And like No one's telling him What to do either

No he does on his own Like guys who've gone To camp with him Say it's like Okay today we're gonna run hills Like he just decides Like what we're gonna do He's a different dude

Yeah Well And Eddie told me that His cardio is fucking ridiculous Like they'll be doing These hill sprints And he'll do these hill sprints With his other training partners

And he's lapping them He runs all the way up And all the way down and then all the and then passes them as they're still up the first time he's a freak yeah that's interesting fight it's a fucking great fight that's why i don't understand why dana is not like considering the fact that tony ferguson would win that fight what is he you think he's implying that Khabib's already got this one? They're talking about Khabib versus Conor because look that's the money. From what I hear

Khabib won't fight him. He said he'd fight him for $100 million. That's what he said? Yeah. Oh then he's gonna fight him. I think his dad said that. His dad said that he'll fight Conor for the same amount of money that Conor made fighting Floyd. Wow. But I don't know if you could get $100 million in the UFC.

Do you think that fight, Conor-Khabib will be big? The problem is... Because Dana's saying it's going to be as big as Khabib or Conor-Floyd. I don't know. That was a pretty big fight. Yeah. Floyd brings a different thing to the table, right? Floyd brings all the hardcore boxing fans.

And he's so polarizing. Yeah. And he's the best boxer of all time. I mean, you stop and think about the amount of times that guy's been hit over a period of 50 fights. It's insane. His defensive skills and his ability to size up an opponent and figure out what the guy's doing and then start to break him down systematically. He's the best.

There's been guys that have been incredible and they're up in his level. All-time great fighters, but in terms of not getting hit, I don't think anybody's been as good as Floyd. Yeah, I agree. To have Conor

go in there and fight him A guy who's never had a professional boxing match But is Fucking up everybody in MMA And all these people think he has a chance And there's All this hype behind it All this craziness

And the fact that it was this sort of crossover fight Yeah It had a lot of First time ever Really Yeah Well Basically yeah

James Toney James Toney Randy That was ridiculous though I don't think James Toney even trained MMA for that fight. No. I was on that card. That's my full BJ second time.

Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah, as soon as Randy ankle picked him, I was like, oh, this is over. Yeah, it's over. This is over. You want that fucking animal on top of you?

Randy Couture in his prime. Ooh. Randy Couture. Man, I looked up to Randy big time coming up. What a great guy he is I still run into him nowadays He's a super solid guy He was so calm when he got into the cage

It was so crazy He was one of the first guys ever He's getting ready to fight They're ready to announce him He looks over at me and just winks And gives me a big smile I'm like, is this guy all relaxed and shit Just saying hi to people

He loved it, loved competing Loved competing. Loved being in there, man. And didn't even start fighting until he was in his mid-30s. Yeah. And he was just wrestling. Maybe that's why he was able to fight so long, too. Yeah.

Yeah, maybe. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, it's kind of crazy when you think about his career, too. You know, light heavyweight champ, heavyweight champ. Came back and won it and beat Sylvia. That was crazy. When he dropped Sylvia with that right hand, I was like, what the fuck? I was worried about him in that fight. I was like, you think about guys like Chuck Liddell knocking him out.

What is Tim Sylvia going to do? Yeah, he's a big dude, man. He's enormous. You know, and Tim Sylvia, back when there was no testing, when Tim Sylvia fought Rico Rodriguez, people forget. Tim Sylvia was not like this doughy guy back then. Do you remember that fight when he fought Rico? Yeah.

That's scary, Tim Sylvia. Oh, yeah. He had a back like a fucking brick wall. He was huge, and he had to cut weight to make 265. I remember he had to come back to the scale. He missed it the first time. That was back in the old days. Yeah. Funny story Rico

When I was wrestling in my junior Senior year of high school So it was like 98, 99 Our manager on the team Said her brother fought in UFC I'm like This is when UFC wasn't as popular I'm like get out of here

Your brother fought in UFC And it was Rico Rodriguez. He was their stepbrother. And I ran into him one day. He's like, I used to date my sister back in the day. I'm like, a little bit. Rico Rodriguez was a bad motherfucker. Hell yeah.

He was one of the first real high-level jiu-jitsu guys in the heavyweight division. He's still around Jersey. He's still around Jersey a little bit. What's he doing these days? He was coaching Jamal Patterson. He's one of the hands on those black belts. He was coaching at his place. Oh, no shit. Coaching wrestling? Jiu-jitsu black belts. He was coaching at his place, yeah. Oh, no shit.

Coaching wrestling? Jiu-Jitsu, I think, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Rico was a beast, man. And, you know, that guy fought a giant chunk of his career with a blown out ACL. Oh, really? He had no ACL. He just, like, rehabbed his knees or rehabbed his legs, like, built up his muscles.

Got him strong and just dealt with it? Yeah, like, I think they say your hamstring is, like, a big part of it, like, if they say your hamstring is like a big part of it like if you strengthen your hamstring up but most people can't do it like most people when the acl is blown out like they they can't they can't compete right yeah rico rico could that's why supposedly dos anjos has a blown out acl oh does he yeah supposedly he's been fighting yeah yeah that's what i heard i need to talk to him yeah find out if that's a fact Oh does he Yeah supposedly He's been fighting with it Yeah Yeah That's what I heard I need to talk to him Yeah

Find out if that's a fact My knee's always been Always been good Yeah Thank god Never had knee problems None I mean I've had

LCL tears MCL tears But never surgery or anything No meniscus surgery Nothing No Wow That's rare

Right Everybody's knees are fucked up After a while Especially a wrestler I've never worn knee pads In my life either Really Yeah I wonder if that's why No Wow. Yeah. That's rare. Right. Everybody's knees are fucked up after a while, especially a wrestler. I've never worn knee pads in my life either. Really? I wonder if that's why.

No. No, it can't be. But, like, you know, Bisping just got his knee completely replaced. That was scary. I was like, God damn, he's only like 41. Yeah, man. And don't they only last 10 years? Yep. I think so.

I would have tried stem cells first, I think. Or is it maybe just past the point of that? I don't know. I mean, they wanted to do that to my mom. They wanted to get my mom knee replacement, but I sent her down to Panama. And she's fine now. Yeah? Wow.

Dude, crazy. It took eight months. I was really worried that it wasn't working because I talked to her afterwards, and then I talked to her up to six months. She wasn't feeling anything different. And then she started to feel better. And then like eight months later, the pain went away. It was gone.

That's amazing. Yeah. And then I sent her back again. And then the second round, she's doing. But here's what's weird. When I saw her for Christmas, she looked younger. Really? Yeah.

I was like, you look great. Did they just inject the stem cells in the knee or did they put them in both knees and they also did iv and they do it for three days so you just get barraged down there they just fill you up and then you walk out of there like oh i wonder if that stuff helps uh lyme disease i bet it would yeah they say it has to go to the brain barrier or something right i don't know the blood brain barrier or something, right? I don't know. The blood-brain barrier? Yeah.

Well, I mean, they inject the stem cells intravenously. You'd have to talk to Dr. Reardon. He'd probably be able to explain it. But I think anything that boosts your immune system and helps your overall body, and the idea of doing it intravenously is that your body knows where to utilize it. Your body knows areas that are troubled it's weird that your body has some strange innate intelligence to know we need to yeah it knows where the injuries are like how is that working it knows what's wrong with your

brain like how's that working yeah that's wild like what yeah what is it doing tracks i guess it tracks it right yeah it's the where it needs to be. Yeah. I'm really excited about the future of that shit because I think, you know, I talked to Dr. Jeff Davidson from the UFC and he just got back from, you know Dr. Jeff. Yeah, yeah. He's an awesome guy. Oh, he's great. He's the one who got me into stem cells in the first place. Yeah, he's the one who hooked me up with the one on my shoulder.

Me too. Did you do Dr. Roddy McGee or did you- No, I actually did do Roddy McGee way back. I had stem cells.ee way back I had stem The first time I had stem cells Was in my groin Hey Yeah

Yeah But You have a torn muscle Something I had like a Sports hernia Oh wow I had the same surgery

Usman had Oh really Yeah Damn Same We went to the same guy too This guy Dr. Myers He actually invented the surgery

If you call it a sports hernia He gets mad at you Because it's not a sports hernia It's a core muscle injury Damn. We went to the same guy, too. This guy, Dr. Myers. He actually invented the surgery. If you call it a sports hernia, he gets mad at you. Because it's not a sports hernia. It's a core muscle injury. Well, what is it? How does it work? I think they cut the tendons in my thighs and also in my abs. Cut them completely off and then resold them together.

Whoa. It was painful. For one week, super painful. For one week, super painful. Maybe two weeks, super painful. But literally six weeks later, I was kicking a heavy bag. Really? Yeah. It was amazing.

You do physical therapy the day you get out. The next day, I'm at physical therapy. Wow. Yeah. And it was bad. Like I had this, I probably was dealing with it for like two years. It would come and go. I would get flamed up where I couldn't even cough down there or like, you know, it was pretty bad. I remember the one time I went to get, finally get checked out and to get the MRI. I went to the doctor by myself, drove up to the city and came home. I

didn't eat anything. Cause I, I mean, I had to park my car and walk to the damn doctor and was like, you know, a couple of blocks in the city. It took me forever to walk anywhere. So I didn't even stop and eat. I come home. I park my car. And I call my wife. I'm like, you've got to help me get out of the car. I can't get out of the car.

Jesus. So I get out of the car. I'm walking. And I literally passed out while I was walking. Whoa. She caught me. I had to crawl into my house. Crawl into my house.

I was like, damn. So I got that surgery. And it was the best thing I've I Probably the best surgery I've had That's crazy That it was that bad So painful So painful It was probably because

I didn't eat That's why I passed out All that stuff too But yeah that was That was rough When I hear about a guy like you Passing out I'm like okay

This is a motherfucker That stays awake I've never passed out in my life I've never passed out in my life That's the first time So they detach the tendons or the ligaments. Is it tendons? It must be tendons.

It must be tendons, yeah. They cut the ones here, like up my thigh, and then I guess you have it connects on three points, like by your leg. So what was wrong? It was tearing. It was like playing, like it was pulling. Each side was pulling the other side,

so I was getting tears everywhere. And so when they do that, they cinch it down again, and then how's it better six weeks later? The next day, I go there, and I start doing the foot exercises. They put the bands on. I'm doing all that stuff. I guess it just strengthens up. Wow. But it's crazy.

It's six weeks later. That's not a lot of healing. Yeah, six weeks later. And he told you you'd be good to that six weeks later, I would think, that's not a lot of healing. Yeah, six weeks later. And he told you you'd be good to go six weeks later? Yeah. So how quickly after that could you have fought? January. I'm trying to think.

I fought that May. I got surgery in January. I fought that May. The first time Usman came in here, he had a bag on his waist that was draining pus. Yeah, yeah. He had both sides. i only had one side i think yeah i was like what the fuck is that like he took him a long time to recover after the the dude my my downstairs was all jacked up my balls were so fucking big really oh my god they swell up. Did you take pictures? Of course. You would have to, right?

When are your balls going to look like that again? There's a hockey player, Sidney Crosby, remember I told you? He recently got this surgery and Odell Beckham, a popular NFL receiver, just got this last week by a doctor in Philadelphia. Dr. Myers. That's the guy I went to. He does everybody. Imagine one dude specializing in one. So it's Dr. Myers. Yeah, that's the guy I went to. He does everybody.

Imagine one dude specializing in one. The guy's not even like a surgeon, I think. It's kind of crazy. What? He's not a surgeon for orthopedics. He's not an orthopedic doctor. He created this surgery, though. That must be a surgeon. Athletic pulbidia?

Does that sound right? Say that again? Athletic pubalgia? Put it up on sound right? Say it again? Athletic Pubalgia? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know the word. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah, that's it. Pubalgia.

Why do you say it? I don't know how to. When they invent a name, why invent that name? Right, right. Why Pubalgia? Pubalgia. Pubal, what does it mean? What does Pubalgia mean?

Groin disruption. Ah. Also known as groin disruption. Yeah, sportsman. Pool ball gear. Pool ball. What does it mean? What does pool ball gear mean? Groin disruption. Ah. Yeah. Also known as groin disruption. Yeah. Sportsman's. Sports hernia. Sports hernia.

But he told me it's not a sports hernia. Persistent groin pain during exercise when there's no evidence of clinically detectable hernia. Athletic pool ball gear is not a true hernia, but it's considered an overuse injury in which the external oblique muscles and surrounding tendons and or traverse abdominis or internal oblique muscles are worn down or partially torn. So this is, okay, conservative treatment consists of rest medications or physical therapy. If conservative treatment fails, surgical treatment may be suggested as an alternative. The procedure may be performed using a laparoscopic or open anterior approach.

Polypropylene or polyester mesh is suggested to correct the identified abnormality. However, there's no data from randomized studies to confirm effectiveness of this surgery. Well, why don't you talk to Frankie motherfucking Edgar Wikipedia or whoever that is that you're getting that thing off of. It's funny how some doctors just figure something out. Yeah, yeah, he's killing it too. I mean, I don't know a bunch of athletes, but there's a bunch of famous athletes that went through that guy. It's crazy that I didn't know that that was a persistent injury,

and then all these guys have it. I never even heard of that before. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know what it was until it happened. Again, that's probably one of those things of being too tough for your own good, right? Like you get a little bit of an injury. For sure, I just kept pushing through. Before I got that, I got an epidural in there. That was crazy.

Literally, they go through probably by my pubes. And they go that way. Oh, Jesus Christ. The needle was like six inches long. I'm in the doctor's office I got My junk's practically out You know And he's putting this thing in

I'm like I'm like doc And also he puts the medicine in When he put the medicine in That's when it Flared up I'm screaming Fuck take it out

Take it out He's like hang on Hang on That only lasted for like A couple months And then it came back oh so epidural just kind of numbs it right yeah it does i've had several in my back have you yeah i had back surgery when i was 18 actually you did yeah what kind dystectomy oh so a little

bit of a meniscus or a little bit of the balls disc yeah yeah they cut it out but it worked pretty good it does work good but there there's ways around that for certain injuries. For 18, I was an 18-year-old. I had it in my neck, and they were talking about me doing that. But virginikine cured it. They were talking about doing it. I went to one doctor, and he was like, you're probably going to have to get the disc trimmed. That was eight years ago.

And you're good to go. Yeah, what is it? Nah, maybe. Yeah, yeah. At least, let's say at least five years ago, six years ago. I've no pain in my neck now. You know another thing, though? The iron neck.

I fucking love that thing. Yeah, that's what I've been seeing. I see people using that. I got it right on here. You want to try it? Yeah, definitely try it. Dude, it's the shit. It's the shit.

You put that thing, it is the single best thing I've ever used for developing neck muscles. And for jujitsu and wrestling, it's fantastic, too too because it's attached to a bungee cord, right? Right. So the bungee cord's a 50-pound cord, and you put this halo on, and then you pump it up like a Reebok pump. Remember those old pumps? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You pump it up, and it gets tight to your head, and then you can control the amount of resistance when you turn, right? Because it's actually got resistance when you turn right because it's it's it's actually got resistance when you turn so you pull back so your neck is holding this 50 pound cord back this way and then you're doing this oh wow you know i've seen someone i don't know i've seen someone uh had that attached to like you know gym equipment yes and then their shadow box oh yeah well the idea is it's like your your neck is constantly resisting this like when dudes are trying to snap you down or pull your neck down or you're trying to posture out of triangles and shit right like when do you ever work out your neck in that way yeah and most people when they work out their neck they put

one of them harnesses on which is you know does something but a lot of doctors will tell you that that's not a normal action for your neck to be lifting weights with. And you could do some damage to your, I don't know if they're right or not. I don't know. But I know the iron neck, you don't have to do any of that shit. So it's basically just the muscles in your neck. And you're not making your neck hold weight at a weird angle. Like this way or that way.

Just natural movements. It's just straight. Your neck is always straight and it's turning it's just the muscles are getting exercised and everything gets stronger uh i know cory's into it yeah yeah yeah cory anderson yeah he loves talking about it yeah yeah i was just wondering if it's good if you're you know if your neck is bad well according to them they've had people that would had neck injuries they rehabilitated it with that because it strengthens all the areas. So, like, say if this is just me talking, but if you have an area where you have an injury and it keeps getting hurt, if you strengthen all that area around that, it's not going to be as mobile, right?

So, you're going to have more control and it's probably going to protect it more. That just makes sense to me. Yeah, that makes sense, yeah. But I'm a big fan of that product. I love when – and that was a football player that figured that out oh really yeah what was the gentleman's name that figured the guy who came and he gave me a bunch of demonstrations and shit but um it's uh great for football players as well and they and his idea was that it was also going to help prolong people's careers because it'll prevent more concussions because you're not the story your neck is yeah you're not going to get your

head snapped as easy you're going to be able to withstand much more impact you know it's they find it's it's so interesting that all these people that are involved in uh athletic equipment they figure these things out like what what do you how do we strengthen a core better how do we strengthen the neck better how do we do do this? How do we do that? Glad there's people smarter than me out there. I know. Well, you can't be on top of everything. Mike Jolly.

Say his last name again? Jolly. Mike Jolly. That didn't sound like you said that the first time. My voice swallowed it, I think. Oh, okay. Yeah. Anyway, Mike explained the whole thing. It's a very impressive piece of equipment. I love it. Yeah. I mean, all that stuff. You did the reverse hyper, okay. Yeah. Anyway, Mike explained the whole thing. It's a very impressive piece of equipment.

I love it. Yeah. I mean, all that stuff. The reverse hyper, too. I got that. Oh, love that. That's great. Yeah.

That thing's the shit. Yeah. I want to get a belt squat. You have a belt squat over here? A belt squat? We don't have one, but we saw that when we were there. They offered it to us, the Westside barbell. Yeah, yeah.

Come down, put it in here. We'll probably get it done. That thing looks great, because you put a lot of load On your body Without having to load your back Yes Yeah without fucking your back up Yeah and guys do Shadow boxing and shit

With that on too Yeah I've seen that Yeah That's probably really good For your legs Oh really increase Your ability to punch And to push off of stuff

Do you ever use the It's like a wheel I forgot what Do you use like Centrifugal force You pull up on it It makes it Ah shit

A wheel It's it a wheel. It's like a wheel, and it wraps around. So you could do lifts, and the quicker you go up, the faster it pulls you down. Hmm. I feel like they had that, too. Didn't they have that at Westside Barbell? He's got all kinds of crazy shit down there. That guy, Louie Simmons, he's a mad genius psychopath.

Yeah. Yeah. I've watched some of his stuff. He seems pretty nuts. He's a mad genius psychopath. Yeah. Yeah. I've watched some of his stuff. He seems pretty nuts. He's nuts. And having him show me all of his stuff. We did a podcast with him. Right.

Right. I remember. I listened to it. Yeah. It was pretty cool. You were here at his place. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Sitting across from him at his desk. He told me that he got his shoulder replaced. And then the day he got back to the gym, they made him max out bench press. I was like, what the fuck, man? They told me to do it. I had to do it. Like, animals.

I think it's crazy. He's talking steroids ain't bad for you. I've been on steroids since the 60s. Holy shit. Yeah, they never get off. That's the thing. Yeah, you can't, right? You can't, yeah.

No. But, I mean, everything's on him. Who was telling us this? Was it Rob Kearney was telling us this? That he had his bicep replaced, his bicep tendon, because his bicep tendon blew out. And so he had his arm in a sling. And he lasted like a week. And he got tired of it and just straightened his arm out and popped it off so he could lift again.

What? So both of his biceps are... Oh, there's me. In this fucking thing. There's the bell squad, yeah. In my stupid fucking paper boy hat That's a cool machine man Yeah

Very cool And there's Louie Yeah he's got I mean Every What is that thing Different too Yeah

What does that thing do I don't remember It's more for like football players I guess But he was showing It's like it's a belt squat, I think. Oh, no, it's like a thing you hit. I think you have to have the thing.

Oh, the belt on. Yeah. Oh, okay. So you put the belt squat on, and then you hit that thing. Right. Yeah. Well, those guys, man, that Westside Barbell, a bunch of fucking animals down there. Yeah, he trains the world's strongest people, right?

Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah, there was a bunch of freaks like that dude that was in there working out while we were there. Super strong human beings. Yeah, again, I'm happy there's people out there that are smart that can figure those things out. Like, Louie Simmons invented that reverse hyper

because they told him that he needed to get his disc fused. Right, yeah. And he's like, oh, do I really? Hmm. Hold my beer. Yeah. He figured out the best way to decompress your lower back and to strengthen that area. That machine is great.

Sometimes I feel like I wait until my back hurts to use it. That's why I don't do it. Me too. Me too. I try to do it twice a week. I try to get in here twice a week and just do a few sets on that. Yeah, I got to make it a little more consistent with that. Yeah, because it strengthens your lower back in a real weird way that's hard to reach any

other way. It is. And I like how it gives you the traction, too. Yes. Yeah, it gives you traction, but it gives you, what do they call it, active traction. Right. So it's like decompressing, active decompression. Yeah, it's awesome, man.

I love it. I love those teeter things, too, hang by your ankles, like anything to give your back. Inversion table. Yeah, I have one of them, too. I got the inverted table, which is great when you hang by your ankles, but then I got another one. What's the other one called? The Dex. The Dex.

That's my favorite, where you hang by your waist. It's just from your waist. I feel like when you hang by your ankles, it's great, but it's like the weight is going from your ankles and your knees yeah by the time you get to your back how much compression you're uh yeah it definitely does something but i think the decks really targets the lower back amazing i see the people have the ones that lay down and then they attach that on and pulls them apart yeah i haven't done that one that's the decks the decks decompression one i fucking love that thing so you grab a hold those handles and then you let go,

and then you just drop down, and it's all the weight is decompressing in your lower back. And then you could do like that. Yeah, you could do back extensions on it. Yeah, I think that's what they're called. Yeah, you could do those on it too. I mean, you could definitely get a workout on it if you wanted to, but for me, I use that after I'm done working out.

I feel like if I'm real consistent with that with that and the um the inversion deck and the reverse hyper i keep my back healthy yeah yeah i got i got a i go to a therapist get stretched out like once or twice a week and i do art active release therapy oh yeah that's great now when you like when you see like there's different schools of thought when it comes to strength and conditioning. And the more radical school of thought was the Marv Barinovich sort of school of thought, which you see Nick Curzon does, who's doing it with Rafael Dos Anjos and a lot of guys, where you concentrate almost entirely on strength and conditioning. And the idea is like

you already know how to fight like you know how to fight and the real thing that fucks with guys when they're fighting is their conditioning and so they're putting these guys through these radical plyometric and explosive exercises and then just like push and that comes first that is more important than anything and that's when bj was at best. If you go back to BJ when he fought Sean Shirk, BJ when he fought Diego Sanchez, he was training with Marv. Yeah, I think I'm on the opposite side of that.

Condition's never been an issue for me. Maybe that's why I have this take. I feel like I want to feel good on sparring days. Those are the most important days I need to feel good. So I feel like sometimes you spend you wear yourself out of strength and condition and you come to spar the next day,

you're not going to have a good performance that day. Yeah, I could see both ways of thinking about it. I could see both. I think there are probably some guys that maybe are afraid to get themselves tired that you've got to make them get tired. They're not going to push themselves that much when they're sparring if they're scared to get tired. But you can push them hard as hell when they're not worried about getting punched or worried about winning anything.

That's the good thing about strength and condition. You can really push yourself without hopefully getting hurt as well. I think a lot of strength and condition people, they just want to put the cool videos up and put the chains on and do this and flip the tire. I just want to keep it simple, man. I heard someone say, you want to leave a strength and condition workout feeling better, not worse. Yeah. Yeah.

That's like the Pavel Tatsalin idea, that you don't ever go to failure and those kind of things. You're just trying to strengthen things up. Yeah. It's interesting because the sport is so new, fairly new, that there's all these different schools of thought about the right way to do it, and you really don't know. And so while you're going through your camp, you've got to go,

wow, I hope this guy's right. Yeah. There's definitely a right way and a wrong way, but there's also your way and my way, and they could both be right. Right. Yeah. But, I mean, some guys like long slow running sessions some guys like hill sprints some guys like mostly plyometrics and organized

um you know tabata drills and things like that for strength and conditioning and then there's guys like nick diaz just like doing triathlons and stuff like that yeah but this new guy i'm with it's like much more detail. My last time the conditioning guy was great. You know, I'm never not in shape. But he would just kind of just go and we'd just work out. This guy, everything's planned out way ahead. Way ahead of what I'm doing.

So what kind of stuff does he have you doing? All different types of modalities, I guess. You know, he kind of switches it up. I do the – that's another thing too. A lot of it's breathing stuff for warmups and whatnot. I can't remember the name of it. It was along with that RPR stuff I was talking about. But yeah, it's a lot of it's breathing before and after

and hold breath holds. I've been doing a lot of that stuff. Oh, so it's like lung conditioning. Yeah, for to warm up and and to cool down too yeah breathing exercises are very underrated you know like if you look at like what hicks and grace used to be able to do that kind of like fire breathing yeah yeah you know like if you can literally strengthen your lungs there was this dude that i used to do yoga with His name was Yoga Ray And that wasn't his full name He was a lead singer in a band I forget the band

I'm trying to remember right now God damn it Anyway, we always just called him Yoga Ray But he had amazing cardio And he had amazing cardio Specifically because of his breathing exercises Like he didn't do cardio He was just doing yoga and jujitsu

But as a guy guy would never get tired yeah because he would do all these like radical breathing exercises so his lungs were like a strong muscle yeah that's that's what they always work your diaphragm you know yeah so what other kind of exercises you have you do that's different like with him i they he's really pays attention to my body position and stuff like i because my back is bad I try to stay away from deadlifts and this and that. But since I've been with this guy, I've been able to do all that stuff. Really? Yeah.

Just because of making sure that you have better technique? Better technique. He always says, if you want to feel your abs and your hamstrings, if you feel your abs and your hamstrings in all your workouts, your back's probably safe. So he's always touching me, making sure, make sure these are firing, make sure these are firing. So making sure that your abs are firing yeah you know like say i'm doing a bench or something he'll put like a towel underneath my back and

like i'm trying to pull it out make sure you keep it pressed pressed on the floor so i can't pull it out that's protecting your back so he's just like really cautious and just knows a lot about exercise physiology yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you go to him, you say a couple days a week? Two days a week, yeah. Do you do any like cryotherapy or ice baths or anything like that? No. I've done cryotherapy a couple times.

I just don't have somewhere super close to me. I feel like if you want to do it, you got to do it at least three times a week. I think even once a week is not enough to get the benefits of it. Yeah, it's fucking awesome. I'll tell you that. I love doing it. I would suggest to anybody that if you can get into one of those things, do it. Do it whenever you can.

Apparently, ice bath is really good, too. I've done an ice bath probably 10 years ago, and my dick hurt for like a half hour after that. And I'm like, yeah, I'm good. That's hilarious. What about sauna? Do you ever do that? Yeah I do the sauna I love the sauna I don't have one in my house

My wife has like a little teepee sauna It's like a red light one You can go in And your head sticks out Is that good? But you lay down It's not bad It's not hot enough I feel like

Right I feel like it's gotta be hot My wife's into the red light one As opposed to the heat one Right To me I think you gotta suffer for you to really get the benefits. I think so, too. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know about infrared sauna because I've never really done that. But Laird Hamilton was saying that he had some skin issues that he got from infrared. Oh, yeah. But he does some wacky shit, man. Like, that guy puts an aerosol bike inside of a sauna and then puts oven mitts on. Because it's too hot. Yeah. And he's sprinting in there. I'm like, Jesus, bro.

Yeah, that's nuts. Yeah, he's a freak. He's a real freak. We have the Russian Banya kind of in Jersey. They have like this 200-degree sauna in there. Jesus. Crazy. 200 degrees?

Feels like it at least. And then they beat you with sticks? Yeah, I did that the one time too. And I was with some of my Russian buddies, so they were talking to him for me and everything. They're like, ah, we give them the real treatment. And do you go in the cold right after? Because that's what they do, right?

They jump in the water, cold water. Cold, yeah, cold. Did you do all that? I did, I did it all. I did like this guy Timur Valiev, who should be in the UFC. He's not, so Dana, get this guy Timur in. What weight class? He's a 35 UFC. He's not. So Dana, get this guy Tamor in. What weight class? He's a 35er.

He's tough, man. He was a WSOF guy. Very good. Only has one loss, and he revenges his loss. But he's been training with us for a long time. World Series of Fighting is what? Professional Fighting League now, right? Oh, yeah, PFL, yeah.

That's where Rory is now, huh? Yeah. Rory McDonald went over there. Yeah. That's interesting. He's actually going to come on here huh? Yeah. Rory McDonald went over there. Yeah. That's interesting. He's actually going to come on here with Eve Edwards. We're going to talk about it. That should be fun.

Yeah, he was at Bellator, right? He was at Bellator. Lost his title. Or, excuse me, lost a fight to Gegard Mousasi. And then lost to... Lima, right? Yeah, Douglas Lima beat him in the rematch. Lost his title there. Beat Lima. Gegard Mousasi and then lost to Lima right? Yeah Douglas Lima

beat him in the rematch lost his title there yeah beat Lima he had some good fights over there you know but I think he just

got a big offer from the PFL they're looking for a big name yeah they're giving away a lot of fucking money I don't know how long

they could do that for right a million dollars for people who win like if you win the tournament with like 7 people won the last end

how do they do that? yeah that's a lot of money it's Kevin Hart behind it is he? for people who win? Like if you win the tournament? Yeah, and there were like seven people won in the last end. How do they do that? Yeah. That's a lot of money. It's Kevin Hart that's behind it. Is he? Yeah, I think he's an investor. Kevin Hart is?

Yeah, pretty sure. Kevin Hart invests in everything. That guy is, he's such a genius in terms of like business. He is, dude, he is. I don't know how he sleeps.

I don't know where he has I don't know how you sleep though either. My hard work is an illusion. I don't know, man. But you're into so many things, you know? Yeah. I feel like, damn, I don't have time for shit.

I do a lot of stuff, but it's not hard. This is not hard. This is fun. Stand-up, not hard. It's hard if you suck. It's hard if you're bombing. It's hard when you're writing new material. But there's a lot of preparation, though, no?

Yeah, there's some preparation. But it's not working in a fucking of preparation, though, no? Yeah, there's some preparation. But it's not working in a fucking sand mine. Yeah, well, yeah. It's not real hard work. As far as hard as in laboring, but still time-consuming. It's time-consuming, but it's fun. The hard part is the discipline things, like forcing yourself to write. That's hard.

Forcing yourself to go to the gym. That's the discipline in most things in life is hard. Once you're there doing it, it's mostly fun. Yeah. Like people kind of exaggerate the difficulty of a lot of things. You know? I just, you know, you're into bow hunting. You're like, damn, I want to get a – I don't have any hobbies.

I need a fucking hobby. Find Jim Miller. He'll take you bow hunting. Yeah, you're right. Well, Corey. Corey. Oh, that's right. Corey's the best one. I got to get a I don't have any hobbies I need a fucking hobby find Jim Miller he'll take you bow hunting yeah you're right well Corey Corey I gotta go with Corey Corey's the best one

I gotta go with Corey that guy's constantly hunting every time I check his Instagram gets up works out goes to hunt goes back works out again

when he came here he brought his bow no we were shooting well we have that machine yeah that's it yeah that techno hunt dude I gotta use the bathroom

Yeah well let's Let's wrap this up It's 2.30 yeah Alright Um listen Um thanks Thanks for coming down here Let everybody know

How to find you On Instagram and Twitter Yeah Frankie Edgar Everything Champin' a Tramp Check it out Champin' a Tramp podcast And when do you think

You'll be back again Any ideas I think um Early Or late spring Early summer Okay 35 Alright brother Always a pleasure Thank you sir Thank you man Awesome time Frankie Edgar ladies and gentlemen Any ideas? I think late spring, early summer. Okay. 35.

All right, brother. Always a pleasure. Thank you, sir. Thank you, man. Awesome time. Frankie Edgar, ladies and gentlemen. Bye-bye. I know.

It gets rough at the end. Dude. Holy shit, bro. Let's get the kettle.