The School of Greatness - 389 TJ Dillashaw: Inside the Mind of a UFC World Champion

Episode Date: October 5, 2016

"You can create the greatest things with belief." - TJ Dillashaw If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/389

Episode number 389 with UFC World Champion T.J. Dillashaw. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. I am still so fired up from this incredible weekend experience, Summit of Greatness.

I'm still to do a recap, podcast, episode, video about it. I'm still to do a recap podcast episode video about it. I'm still processing it, guys. We've already sold almost half the tickets of the whole theater for next year in the first couple of days. Just from the people who attended the previous event recently. The feedback has been mind-blowing. So for everyone that came, thank you so very much. We're about to release tickets to open up for the general public here soon, so stay on the lookout for that.

But again, I'm so proud of my team for what we created for our first event. And our closing DJ, DJ Irie, said we screwed people over because we made it too good for the first event. So that just gives us something to stretch for to make it even better the next time. But I'm still on a high and I can't wait to share with you guys everything that happened in a follow-up episode. Today's interview is with the one and only TJ Dillashaw, who is a UFC bantamweight champion. And after graduating from college, he planned to pursue a career in the medical field before

being introduced to mixed martial arts by his former assistant wrestling coach. So soon after college, he chose to follow his athletic compass and decided to dedicate himself to the sport of MMA and into full-time training mode. And in 2011, TJ was cast on the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter, where he fought his way to the finals. And the success of the television show led to a contract in the UFC. And in 2014, he won the UFC Bantamweight Championship. It's unbelievable.

And in today's interview, we cover the mental and physical routine every single day that TJ follows as he trains. TJ follows as he trains. Also, what the characteristics of the championship fighters have versus the rest of the people who get second, third, fourth, fifth place, etc. How any athlete today can build a brand that can support them financially. So what he's done when he was first starting out, he's only making, I think, $8,000 a fight doing two fights a year. You can't make that much. You can't make a living off of that. So how he's built his brand to bring in other streams of revenue and teaching essentially

how anyone can do that if you're building a brand, why the sport of MMA has grown so fast, he shares his opinion, and how MMA has changed since it's become so popular. This and so much more with the one, the only, T.J. Dillashaw. Welcome, everyone, back to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got the legend, T.J. Dillashaw, in the house. Good to see you, T.J. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, man.

I'm excited. We met through Aubrey Marcus a couple years ago in Austin, Texas. I think it was the opening for Onnit, like gym or something? The DeFranco gym. It just started their DeFranco gym. And yeah, they were having a podcast. And that's why we were all out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kind of grand opening. And what did we do? Was there a UFC fight that weekend too or something? There was. Yeah, there was a fight out at Austin. Because I was out there coaching Joseph Benavidez as well. That's right. I remember.

So we met originally then a couple years ago. And you are the former and soon-to- be bantamweight UFC champion, correct? Yep. And how long have you been in the UFC? I've been in the UFC since I was on the Ultimate Fighter, which was season 14 and that was… 2011? Yeah, I think so. Okay.

I think it was 2011, yeah. And you graduated 2009, is that right? Mm-hmm. And so shortly after you were doing exercise science, correct think so. Okay. I think it was 2011, yeah. And you graduated 2009, is that right? Mm-hmm. And so shortly after, you were doing exercise science, correct? Yeah. And did you ever think you were going to be in the UFC or you were going to continue wrestling or doing any type of fighting? No, not at all, man. I was on a Fulbright scholarship to Cal State Fullerton.

I was doing clinical exercise. For wrestling, right? For wrestling, yes. Sorry, for wrestling. And I was doing clinical exercise science at the time and kinesiology there. And when I graduated, my plan was to go to grad school. I was already enrolled in summer school to get my prereqs done to go to grad school to become a physician's assistant and was all gung-ho on it. And I got talked into fighting by my assistant wrestling coach that was a fighter at the time, Mark Munoz.

He knew that I was an aggressive wrestler and thought I'd be good at it and kind of put it in my brain. And I was at one of his wrestling camps and yeah, I just kind of got intrigued to do it. You know, I didn't feel like I was done competing yet. I didn't reach my goals in wrestling. So I was real intrigued and continue to compete. I just didn't know what it was going to be at, you know. You never won the championship in college, but you were like top 10, correct?

Yeah. I went to national championships a couple of times. I qualified three times for the NCAAs. Goal was obviously to be a national champion. Set your bar high, you know, and I didn't become an All-American, never placed top eight. I did pretty well. I was ranked top 10, just never panned out, you know? That's tough.

Yeah, it was. It's a tough weight class though, right? What was the weight class you were in? 133. Yeah. It's like really competitive, right? It was stacked. It was definitely stacked.

But it was heartbreaking. I mean, I remember my senior year after I graduated just kind of like bawling my eyes out that I didn't really like do what I wanted to in my career, you know, that like that was it. It was all for nothing, you know what I mean? Just kind of crashed. But, you know, greater later, it all turned around and, you know, wrestling got me to where I'm at today.

Yeah. So I owe it all to it. Great foundation for the UFC obviously, right? Absolutely. Not only for the UFC but I was thinking work ethic and athletics in general. I tell you what, man. I did wrestling for like one season when I was in 6th grade. Now granted, I was about 6'3

in 6th grade, about 140 pounds or something. And the first day, I just remember just getting put on my ass so many times. And all these little guys were just shooting at me. And I was like, this is not my sport. I need to go to something where my height matters. And I quit.

That was like the one sport I did not continue. Like every other sport I continued, I was like, this is not for me. These guys are like the toughest. They're like just grinding your face in the mat all day, just sweating on top of you. That's why my nose and my face looks the way it is. I've been beat up my whole life. I know. You've got the little cauliflower ear. The little cauliflower ear, yeah.

It was just like, man, this is a tougher sport than I want to be a part of. So you're a real man in the sense that you gritted it out, and I was not able to. I appreciate that, man. Wrestling's a— But I always have a lot of respect for wrestlers, man. You guys really grind. One of the toughest—it's the toughest thing I've done to date. Even after all the fighting and all the training I've done through that,

wrestling is by far the toughest martial art, teaching dedication and how to compete and cutting weight. It's a lot of work. You're training hours and hours every day. Oh, yeah. Especially at the collegiate level. It's just like a whole other ballgame. Yeah, usually having to wake up at 6 in the morning for practice, go to school

the whole day, and then practice in the evenings and compete every weekend for the most part. It's a grueling season. What are the three or four principles that you learned from wrestling at any level that have helped you since wrestling in your

life and your career and relationships? Yeah, I mean, first and foremost is the dedication, how serious I'd always take every season. It seems like most wrestlers that I meet are that way, the dedication of giving yourself up to something. When I was a young kid in high school, my friends were going out partying, wanting to have some fun, and I was intrigued to go do that.

I wanted to, but instead I was waking up at 6 in the morning, running to school and had a dream, had a dedication. And, uh, I think, I think being out in front of all those people one-on-one is what, what creates that, you know, you don't have a team to back you up. You don't have anybody to support you. It's kind of, you're out on the map by yourself going against another man. And, uh, that, that, that fear of being humiliated, I think is what creates that dedication. And that's what's carried me through everything is the dedication from it. Wow. So that's the first thing, dedication. I would say that's the first.

And then the second would be my health, making sure my body stays tip-top shape and I'm eating the right foods and on the right diet and living that kind of lifestyle. That's helped with my life now and just kind of pursuing being healthy. When you talk about the fear of humiliation, did you ever feel humiliated a lot growing up? No, I guess not. I guess it was just the fear of there's no one else to blame if you mess up. All eyes are on you. Because wrestling, you don't have a team out there. It's just one-on-one. So if you mess up you know all eyes are on you it's because because wrestling you know you don't have a team out there it's just one-on-one and so

if you mess up it's all on you and you lose not the team loses yeah you're right and my dad was a good wrestler and he was my coach and there was kind of like high expectations for me because i was good wrestler as a kid and so those high expectations just creates pressure which creates the fear to be embarrassed i guess sure not saying that ever really was, but it was a fear of mine though, you know? What drives you today? That's that dedication. I guess I've learned to push and want to be the best. You know, I just have that drive, that absolute drive that I want to be the best in the world.

Why do you want to be the best? Because it's just a great accomplishment. I don't know. Because the greatness, you know, like I want to be someone that's remembered. I want to be someone that I know I've always tried my hardest and that it's just, you know, I don't know. It's a tough question. It's just, it's just embedded in me. My dad raised me this way. You know, my dad's the same kind of personality, real intense and wants to be the best at everything and real competitive. Sure. If you could map out

the rest of your career, how would each year go and how long would you go until and what would be the final story of your UFC career? If I could map it out, I'm going to get my belt back here before the end of this year. Defend it

as many times as needed. I'd like to do a super five, maybe drop down to 125s and beat Demetrius Johnson. He's known to be the pound for pound one of the best in the world. You know, I can make 125s, so I'd love to do something like that. And then, you know, I don't want to fight forever. You know, I've seen the wrestling's taken a toll on my body. Fighting's taken a toll on my body. I'm 30 years old.

You know, I've got to start setting my life up outside of athletics and inside of, uh, being an athlete. And, uh, I'm starting to do so now. And, you know, I like to create a family and, uh, yeah. What would be the final year you think if you can map it out, if you could have the perfect story, I would hold two belts under my name. I'd have a, I'd have a weight, uh, a belt in each weight class and I would probably call it good. You know, I'd probably maybe do the mic drop after my fight and say, thank you, UFC. I'm out of here. So really two more fights in. I mean it could be.

You never know. It could be done. I'm sure it will take longer than that. How many years? What would be the last year you think for you? That's so tough to put out. If you could map perfectly for like, yep, okay, I'm going to be healthy this whole time and I'm going to win it here. Yeah.

I guess it's hard for me to put a number on it because I want to be able to live the lifestyle I want to live. And with fighting, you never know when that's going to be because your career can end tomorrow in practice. It could continue to last forever. I want to be successful and be able to live the lifestyle I have now, so that's a hard answer. But as soon as I feel comfortable, I don't know. Right, right, right. For a few more years. Yeah.

Okay, cool. Yeah, absolutely. What do you think about when you set your goal? Okay, you lost the fight. And then what do you think about next? Okay, it's to get it back. What is the day-to-day process like for you when you wake up? Do you obsess over this vision?

Do you have something written on your wall? Do you have the image of the person you're going to fight? Like Rocky style, what is the process of the person you're going to fight, like Rocky style? Like what is the process of you mentally and physically to prepare for that goal? More inside my head than, you know, I don't have to put the image on the wall or, you know, the belief or anything like that. It's more of I kind of wake up and live that lifestyle every day. You know, if I haven't worked out in a couple days, I was just telling my wife in the car that I got to get back to working out. I got to get better.

I got to do this. I got to get my belt back. It's just something that I always have to remind myself to almost calm down because I always want to work out. I always want to get better. So I think it's more of just that mental battle of, I'm easily motivated, you know, me to get that belt back. I'm pushing for it every day. So she wants me to rain you back more than anything. Yes, exactly. I got get that belt back, I'm pushing for it every day. So she won't make – She's going to rein you back more than anything. Yes, exactly. I've got to rein me back on that stuff. So I'm wanting to train three times a day and sometimes my body won't let me because I'm injured or I need to go visit family and do these other things.

So I do have to be pulled back all the time. Sure, sure. Three times a day you're usually training or you want to? Yeah. During camp I'm definitely training three times a day. Some days I'll take it and do two and then take one day off a week usually, I'm definitely training three times a day. Some days I'll take it and do two and then take one day off a week usually. But yeah, usually three workouts a day.

Try to be, yeah. What is the 24-hour process before the fight? The night before, what's going through your mind? When you wake up in the morning and then also probably the two-hour window before, walk me through it. So you make weight the night before and the week of, you're focused weight the night before and, uh, the week of your, your,

your, your focus on your fight, you're nervous, but the, the day, uh, the day before you're worried about making weight, you know, and you think about nothing but making weight. Cause you want to drink some water. You want to eat some food. You're depriving your body. After you make weight, you're about 36 hours out, most likely from fighting if you're towards the end of the card. And from that point on, it's being ridiculously nervous and thinking about the fight and thinking about situations. That's how you feel. You feel really nervous. Yeah. If I wasn't nervous, I'd be worried, you know, because I feel it's that fear of humiliation or fear of that you're not going to perform to your best,

you know, fear that you're not going to go out there and do everything. Like the 10 weeks I've worked as hard as I possibly can in my entire life, that it's not going to happen the way that you want it to, you know, and you have that fear in your head for the next 30 hours of thinking about what you want to do and how you want to do it and breaking it down through your head, motion by motion. And as you do that, you're getting more and more nervous all the way up until, like you said, the two hours before I'm in the back room, warming up and then all the nerves go away. It super excitement it's warming up it's still nervous but it's excitement nervous you're about to walk out there it's game time you're the most pumped up you've ever been in your entire life

you know you're going to get locked into a cage to fight another human being you know so it's uh it's a big bag of mixed emotions you you know, go from being scared. Well, first it goes from being hungry and starving and wanting to feed yourself to going to being too scared to being really pumped up and that walk out, just putting a smile on your face and getting ready to have some, try to have some fun. If you can, I had a Randy Couture on here and he said that,

you know, 20 minutes before he was just happy all the time. He was smiling because he did all the hard work and he got there and now he wanted to have fun. Yeah. It sounds like – He's a guy that was greatly prepared. So you can have a smile on your face and you can be happy because he trained so hard.

Yeah. Maybe guys that don't feel so confident that they did give it their all, then they're going to be a little bit more scared going out there. Yeah. But you feel pretty relaxed once you step into the cage or – Oh, yeah. I don't think it was always that way though. It took time for me to get that. It's just this mental battle, you know, it's, uh, the, the process of being scared and the process of being excited and, and pumped up and then mixing that when you

get in there to having fun. I usually, if you've seen from my last few fights, I will usually walk out and I'm inside the cage with a smile on my face. You know, I'm ready to relax. And I'm only going to fight well if I'm having fun and I'm relaxed. If I'm in there thinking too much and too scared of what's going to happen, then I'm going to be too slow and I'm going to lose. You know? So I've kind of had to learn throughout my career to kind of learn to have fun and be relaxed. Have no thoughts. Just relax. What's your most proud moment in the cage where you did something that you either shocked yourself or you were like, this is exactly what I wanted to do or you came from behind?

What's a moment you're so proud of? It's going to have to be me winning the belt, you know, in May of 2014. Because you were a big underdog, weren't you? I was an 8-1 underdog. No one was giving me a chance to win. The only people that believed in me were like my teammates and my coaches and myself, you know. And I'm sure even some of my teammates were like, yeah, right. You know, I mean, Hinton Burrell was pound for pound the best fighter in the world, unbeaten in 10 years.

And it was a big deal, you know, and everything kind of, this never happens, but it went down as planned. I fought exactly how I wanted to. I did the moves I trained. Everything happened exactly how it was supposed to, at least how you want it to when you're training. Usually you have to mix up your game plan or change some things up. And that just went so smoothly that I think after the first round was when I

had that feeling, you know, I knocked him down. I almost finished him. I felt great. I walked back to the corner and I sat down. I was like, wow,

that just happened. You know what I mean? I almost just knocked out the best comfort pound fighter in the world. Like this is happening. But then I had to control myself and not like get overly happy to get beat the next round. Because one punch could be done. MMA is crazy like that. Absolutely.

Yeah. There is a clip I see on Facebook, people posting over and over. It's got like 50 million views or something. I forget the guy's name. But one guy is just getting pummeled like over and over. And Joe Rogan, I think, is announcing it saying, oh, this fight is over. He's almost unconscious.

But somehow he keeps grabbing onto the guy and then he comes back and hits him in a minute and knocks him out like that. You just never know. You get tired at any moment, right? That's the craziest thing about our sport. It changes so fast. A blink of an eye, any fight can be finished. The scoring is all over the

place. You never know what's going to happen. I think the unpredictability of MMA is what makes it so great. I think that's why the sport has grown so fast is because of that. What do you love better, wrestling or MMA? Wrestling was by far my first love and I appreciate it the most because of what it's done for me. It's got me to where I'm at and and there's no way to have this work ethic without it. But I like fighting. I felt like I'm built to fight. I was always good at wrestling.

I was a very aggressive wrestler, kind of like mean. And it kind of transferred over to fighting. And I don't know. Like I said, I just felt like I was made for it. It just kind of came so easy. What were the skills you needed to learn coming to the UFC that you didn't have yet where you did with wrestling? Obviously there's lots of different arts that people have in MMA. So what did you need to train to become better at? Definitely stand up, you know, having to do kickboxing and boxing was the thing that I

needed to pick up on to become a good fighter. You know, being a wrestler, coming over and doing jujitsu, it takes a very short time to be good at jiu-jitsu because I've wrestled my whole life and I've been on the mat. It's very similar, right? Yes, very similar. There's small changes you've got to make to not get submitted, not put yourself in trouble.

Like in wrestling, you don't want to put your back to the mat because you're giving up points. In jiu-jitsu, you want to put your back to the mat so your opponent can't take it. Because if someone gets on your back, you're… Just pummeling you. Pummeling you or choking you out. You're done. You're done. So you want to be your back to the mat so your opponent can't take it. Because if someone gets on your back, you're – Just pummeling you. Pummeling you or choking you out. You're done.

You're done. So you want to be on your back. In jiu-jitsu, you want your back. If you're on bottom, if you're in the defensive position, in jiu-jitsu it's also offensive because you've got so much offense from your back. Really? If you're on the bottom, you want your back to the mat because you have so many more chances to submit the guy on top of you

and you're actually kind of controlling him. In wrestling, you don't want to take your back to the mat because you have so many more chances to submit the guy on top of you and you're actually kind of controlling him in wrestling you don't want to take your back to the mat because that's how you give up points that's how you get pinned and so that's the one big thing you got to learn to change too when you start grappling is that you don't because a lot of wrestlers go to the hands and knees and then someone takes their back and the match is over they're going to get points they're going to choke you out you know so but those are minor things that i feel like are pretty easy were easy for me to change. It was the standup and getting comfortable doing standup was what took a little bit of time. You know, um, it's almost like getting comfortable and learning how to dance and having some rhythm and, you know, it definitely took a little while,

but I fell in love with it cause I wasn't as good at it. You know, something, it was like a challenge for me. Yeah. It was something that, because I wrestled my entire life. So I was over it. I was like, I've done it for so much. As soon as I got to pick up another art, I just instantly fell in love with it. Now I love kickboxing more than anything. I'd rather strike. I do kickboxing.

I mean, nothing like what you do. I do it like once every couple of weeks in private class or something, but it's so much fun with like a Muay Thai kickbox fighter. And it's just like the aggression, the timing, like the pacing, the art of it is so much fun. So for me, it's, it's a perfect anger management. I get to get out everything. You get to hit things as hard as you want.

You know, you work out really hard and then it's insane how well the cardio is for kickboxing. Gosh, man. I've never sweat so much in my life. You get in such good shape for anybody the cardio is for kickboxing. Oh, my gosh, man. I've never sweat so much in my life. You get in such good shape. For anybody that hasn't ever kickboxed, if you want to get in shape, find somewhere where you can go do some cardio kickboxing. You'll get your butt kicked. It is amazing. You'll lose so much weight just sweating every practice.

It's a real tough workout. It's good. That's cool, man. So how do you decompress then from training? And how do you relax when you're just so focused? I know how obsessed I get with a goal sometimes. and it's like I can't rest at all. Yeah. How do you do it?

It's tough. It's tough. And it's something you need to be able to recover too, right? Absolutely. If I didn't stop thinking about fighting, then I would be so stressed out. My body would be producing cortisol nonstop. I'd be breaking my body down. So it's something that I have to, I have had to focus on doing.

I think how hard I work out during the day helps out with that as well. Cause when I get home, I want to do nothing but hang out with my dogs, my wife and watch TV. So that's pretty much my decompression is just hanging out with my wife at home. We're, we're big time homebodies. You know, I'm out all the time. I'm working out nonstop or traveling the world to fight or to do seminars. And when I'm at home, I just kind of want to veg out. You know, I traveling the world to fight or to do seminars. And when I'm at home, I just kind of want to veg out. You know, I don't want to have to think about anything.

Um, I don't go, I don't watch everyone thinks I'm a fight fan. Like I know everything about fighting, but when I go home, I kind of, I don't want to watch any kind of TV that's got fighting involved with it. I just want to completely forget about it. Yeah. You watch real housewives or something, right? Something like that. Yeah. She does. Kardashians and Housewives. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Watch something that's going to just get me to forget about fighting completely.

Yeah. Who is the toughest competitor in the UFC right now in your mind, no matter what weight class, but just in your mind, toughest? Hmm. I think Demetrius Johnson. I think he's pound for pound one of the best in the world. He's the 125 pounder, the champion. The one you want to drop down to after you get this belt back? Yeah, exactly. I think he's pound for pound

the best fighter in the world right now. He's been on a crazy win streak. He's been very dominant. He's kind of found himself as a new fighter. He's been fighting at 135s and then he created 25s when he dropped down. I feel like he just recreated himself and he's just on top of the world right now. So that's the kind of guy I want to push for. I want to be known as one of the best in the world and that's someone I need to beat to do so.

Sure. Yeah. Wow. And Conor McGregor, what are your thoughts on him? He is very smart. His theatrics has pushed him very far. He's a good fighter. He's done very well for himself.

But I almost think his acting and his whole persona is what's so smart. He knows what to say and when to say it and what pauses to take during his interviews and how to bash someone that's created so much drama has brought a lot of attention to our sport. I don't really love it

that much, but he's done very well for himself. Do you feel like his outside the cage game is better than inside the cage game? I believe so, yeah. He's got some holes in his game that Nate Diaz has shown and he's not very good at jiu-jitsu. His wrestling's not very good.

What weight class is he? He's been all over the place. He has the belt at 145. So he's supposed to defend it, but he was just fighting at 170. He's a big guy. He cuts a lot of weight to make 145s. So he's supposed to defend it, but he was just fighting at 170. Oh, my gosh. He's a big guy. He cuts a lot of weight to make 145s.

Wow. He's a real big guy. How do you think you'd handle with him? I actually have said that I wanted to fight a guy. I think I would do really well. I'm faster than he is. He's really big. He hits real hard, so you've got to be careful with that stuff.

That's obviously giving up a lot of weight, but you've got to believe in yourself, and I believe that I would beat him. That would be a great fight for me. Wow. So you'd have to gain a little more. He'd have to drop down to 145 or what? The only way. 135 or what?

There's no way he can get lower than 145. I think even making 145 is hard for him. I would have to put the weight on. Gotcha. You think that's a possibility? It could be, yeah. Absolutely. He's got big fights lined up already, but I know I could do it.

First step first. Get your title back. Like you said, I've got to got big fights lined up already, but I know I could do it. It's just all about first step first. Get your title back. So like you said, I've got to have some long-term goals, but the first goal is to get my belt back, and then I can start thinking about those things. I mean, I have a stacked weight class, too. 135s is a very stacked weight class, so when I do get my belt back, People are coming after you.

I'm going to have a target on my back, and there's a lot of good kids there. I always call them kids, but we're grown men. They're going to me coming after me. So I'm going to have to be defending my belt. If I'm going to be pushing something else, it's going to be a feat. I'll be very busy. That's for sure. If you had, say you win your belt back and then Dana's like, okay, you want to go after

Connor or the guy at 125 and you say you get to choose what you want, which one would you rather have first? That's a tough one. I mean, the money fight's Conor McGregor. You're going to make money fighting that guy. If you want to get paid in the sport, that's the guy to fight. How much would you make as a challenger against him? I would make a lot more than I even make being the champion.

Millions, right? Yeah, absolutely. So you're going to have to probably push that way. I mean, it's very enticing to want to fight a guy like that. It's going to be a lot of tension and a lot of drama, a lot of talk, which I don't really like that much of. I don't like that stuff either. See, I feel-

Would you rather just be quiet? You think you'd be quiet the whole time? Just be like, say what you want and I'm going to- I probably, instead of playing his game, I would just kind of play the opposite. I would just let him talk and just kind of- Be calm. Yeah, be calm about it and not get too emotionally invested and just kind of let him do all that, let him hype the fight up. And I don't have to hype it up, but he's already doing it for me.

I think that's the one thing that's kind of bad about McGregor is the attention. He's bringing a lot of money. He's bringing attention to the sport. But for me, he's bringing the wrong attention. Yeah, the negativity. I like the sport for it being the sport. I fell in love with MMA because of MMA. I didn't fall in love with the theatrics and all the drama, which it seems like nowadays it's who talks the most

crap and, you know, you're going to bag on this guy and everyone's in like all the new fans are invested in the drama. They're not invested in the sport, you know, and I'm more invested in the, the martial artists and being respectful and, and being the baddest man on the planet. You know, I'd rather be known as the aggressive professional rather than the guy's going to yap his mouth off to get what he wants. So you will make more money doing it, but I really, I really just don't like it.

You know, what is the biggest thing you learned about yourself since transitioning into UFC and MMA in these last five, six years? Uh, you know, since before. You had a lot of information in wrestling, but then what did you learn personally?

How did you grow in this sport? A lot. So first and foremost, I think the mental aspect of it and learning to believe in myself more and learning that my mind can control so much, you know. You're always going through this battle inside your own head. Like you have these negative voices that want to tell you that you're not good enough, that you're not doing the right things that, you know, this guy's better than you. How can you beat him? And then this other side to where you're going to talk yourself up and bash that negative, that voice in your head all the time, you know? So I've learned to control

that more and learn to believe in myself more and to just have a better outlook on the sport and have more fun, which I still think that took me, you know, half my career of fighting to even get that way. You know, I, it took me a little bit cause I was, you know, very negative and, and put too much pressure on myself until halfway through my career when I learned to have a little bit more fun with it and believe once you believe in yourself, you're going to have more fun, you know, and once you can get control of that, it helped out a lot. I think that's the biggest thing I've learned. And then next is just how my body works. You know, I was a kinesiology

major, so I was always intrigued in it, but I didn't have the best diet wrestling. I cut weight, but I cut wrong. Um, I didn't really know how the, the, the body worked as well as I do now. I've learned being a professional athlete and getting paid to do it. You want to take every advantage you can and train the smartest way possible so you learn more about your body. You learn the diets that are going to help you out and the best way to train and not to overtrain. I overtrained a lot in wrestling. I put too much emphasis and too much pressure on training.

I always figured if I want to get better, train harder. But instead, it was learning how to train smarter. Yeah. That's cool. What would you say are the championship characteristics of the best UFC fighters? What do they all have in common that second, third and on

doesn't have? Confidence. I think it's definitely a confidence mental aspect. Everyone can talk a big game of being confident but you can see how they carry themselves positive about every kind of situation. Most of the greats that I've met are very easygoing people too. I feel like they kind of – they can enjoy life.

They can kind of recognize everything and enjoy it. How does someone build confidence? I think it's got to be trial and error kind of thing and learning what kind of helps you out personally. You know, I don't think everyone's going to build confidence the same way. Um, some people need to go to a sports, uh, sports, what do you call them? Psychologist and, uh, have someone help you do that. Or it could be a mental battle with yourself and self-taught. Um, it could be you accomplishing goals and realizing, oh, dang, that was awesome, and start mimicking it. How do you overcome the self-doubt, the conversation?

I think mine was learning to have fun. I think my path was created on – it was perfectly created for me to where I met some people in my life that have really helped me out. I still think to this day the person that's helped me out with that is a friend of mine, a training partner of mine, uh, Justin Buckles. Uh, he's always been in my corner. Um, he's a coach at a team off a male now. And, uh, those guys know how to have some fun, you know, how to relax and have some fun and get, get rid of the pressure.

And I remember after I lost to a since out in 2013, my next fight was against Mike Easton. And I was nervous before I walked out for the fight and, you know, real, real nervous. And I remember this always stick with me. Justin Bocco said, hey, man, you got to learn to have some fun with this. Like think how many people would pay millions of dollars to be in your situation right now to be as good as you are to walk out in front of all these people and show off. You know what I mean? Go out there and just absorb this, absorb this atmosphere. Like you've worked so hard to get here.

People would pay so much to be here. Enjoy the process before it passes you up, you know? And I think ever since then I've kind of been like, yeah, what's, what's the point of being so stressed out that I don't enjoy this? You know what I mean? Life's too short. So I still think today that's what, that's what stuck with me forever. And I think that's when it kind of flipped to switch. And I've actually started fighting better ever since that

day too. I've just been able to realize I've been able to relax and have fun. Yeah. And that's what Randy said too, is like, I want to just have fun. And I felt like I could be less nervous in that process. What's your big fear today then? Big fear today? I mean, I'd say there's a bunch of small ones that add up to make them big, but's always like making enough money being happy having being healthy you know like wanting to create a family but I'd say biggest fear um no I mean I don't I don't know I don't know I don't know my biggest fears right now yeah I guess not I mean I always I always have fears there's always thoughts to go in your head but you got to kind of conquer them yourself with giving them some positive influence on them. Nothing coming off the top right now.

Nuh-uh. Yeah. Talk to me about becoming a professional athlete brand and the business of becoming a pro athlete because you don't have to tell me specific numbers, but I'm just curious. If someone is an athlete who wants to become a pro at something, how does it work for you? And how have you been able to design a lifestyle where you're able to make good money to support yourself, your family, your lifestyle, pay for coaches? Because originally you said the UFC doesn't pay well when you start out, you get like 8,000 or 20,000 or whatever it is a fight. You only have a couple of fights a year. So how does an athlete today in today's age

build a brand around themselves and bring in multiple streams of revenue? And how are you doing that? It's with creating a name and interest behind yourself. I think with anything, it's getting a following, having people like you for a reason or hate you. You could be the complete heel. I mean, I think that's how – there's people that – there's a whole country that love Conor McGregor. They follow him no matter what he does but i think it started out because he talks so much trash you get under so many people's skin that so many people want to watch him lose or

be able to back up what he's saying and so he created this interest behind himself and things have flourished and now he's the highest paid mma fighter you know um it's creating a brand but for me it's creating a brand that you're going to be happy with in the long run. I could be – I mean, actually, I don't think I could be. I don't think I could do it. I can't do what Conor McGregor does. It would be fake. Yeah, exactly.

It would be completely fake. I'd be forced if I tried doing that. So my persona is kind of creating a level-headed professional that's going to go work hard and try to get what he can out what he can out of it, you know, um, do good things along the way hopefully and have people appreciate it. Um, and what are the revenue streams for an athlete? Then you have the money you win from fighting sponsorships. What else can you bring in? How other ways could you bring in money as an athlete? Yeah.

So you have your, the way the fighting works is you have a contract that you, you paid a certain amount to show up and then that, that amount doubles when you win for the most part. Everyone's contracts a little bit different, but the money works is you have a contract that you paid a certain amount to show up, and then that amount doubles when you win. For the most part, everyone's contract is a little bit different, but the money doubles when you win. And then you have endorsements, depending on what you like to do or who you want to push. And the way I believe in endorsements is I go for the things I like to do already. I'm a big avid hunter. I love to be on the water. I like boarding, wake surfing, and things like that.

Finding endorsements is going to kind of push you along and create a fan base as well. And then using your name to set up businesses and things you like to do outside of it, which I'm trying to do now. You're starting other businesses? Trying to, yeah. I started a woodworking company with my brother-in-law. He works for a tree trimming company, so he's cut down big redwoods up in Northern California and kind of seen them just get rid of the wood, not use anything with it. And he's a very artistic guy, and he's had this idea to start making furniture and big wood slabs and cool stuff. It was a hobby of his that we're trying to slowly now start into a business.

It's called Murphy's Woodworks. Just started the website up. We've got an Instagram going. We create custom furniture and wood slabs and it's, it's a pretty cool little thing. You know, it's, it's a hobby, like I said, that's growing now into a business. Um, I've gotten into my body a lot in nutrition and, and I wanted to be a physician's assistant. So I teamed up with my nutritionist, uh, perfect Athletes is who they are called. And we're going back to the wrestling community and trying to kind of give back to them.

And they've written a couple books on how to cut weight and feel great for an athlete, athlete-based cutting weight. And then also for people that just want to help their lifestyle out as well. And we're kind of going back to the wrestling community specifically for me because I wish I would have known what I've known now wrestling, because it would have helped me make weight. It actually would have helped my body maybe mature a little bit faster and maybe not stunt my – I think I stunted my growth from cutting weight. This is what I like to tell myself. But just kind of being a healthy human being that way. So we're going back to California Eastern Wrestling,

trying to give them back to them and going to get involved with some charities and do that whole bit. So trying to kind of set some things up outside of fighting and try to be smart inside the cage and outside of it. Right. But so I think that's the main ways of being a professional is kind of tapping into everything. Sure. Sure.

What do you think is the biggest misconceptions that women have about UFC fighters? That we're all like meathead tough guys, you know? Savages. Yeah, just a bunch of jerks. Yeah. Because every, for the most part, every MMA fighter I meet doesn't have a chip on their shoulder. They're all pretty good guys. I definitely could hang out with them all and very respectful.

When you're an MMA fighter, what you have to do for practice and what you have to do for your lifestyle, it's hard to have an ego. Because everyone gets beat up. I don't care how good you are. You can be a world champion. You're going to go into the gym. You're not going to have your best day. You're good. I mean, you should be at a place where you're going to get tested or you're not going to

get better. Like all of my days where I get my butt kicked and I'll come home just distraught, so mad about it. And just like, I'm supposed to be the best in the world. And I just got my butt handed to me in practice. You know, we got kids like one of my buddies, Corey Sanhagen that I train train with now at a muscle farm in Colorado and he'll get the better of me. And he's not even in the UFC yet, but he'll be a great fighter and just kind of like, dang, if I can't beat this guy, what's going on? But then the next day you kind of turn around.

So you learn to let go of that ego. You learn not to have a chip on your shoulder. And so most MMA fighters that I meet or fighters in general kind of have the same mentality, I feel like. And I think it's hard to sustain being in the UFC. Maybe you can make it, but after a couple of fights, if you're not able to, I don't know, have some humility at some point, you're not going to be able to sustain it. You're going to be burnt out probably, right? Oh, absolutely. You're going to be a lot worried about everything for so long.

It's going to be tough to stay involved in the sport. Wow. Who's about the most positive brand in the UFC in your mind? I think George St. Pierre. Oh, yeah. I think George St. Pierre is someone that I would like to image myself after, someone I'd like to carry myself and what he's done with his career. He retired many years ago, right?

He's coming back, supposedly. No way. He's supposedly coming back. He's a machine, man. Yeah, greatest of all time. He's a mutant. What happened to him? Was he injured?

No, he's just been fighting for a long time, was on top of the world. He's just kind of getting a little bit older. I don't know. He just kind of wanted some time off. I think that time he stayed in the gym. He stayed hungry. The word is on the street that he's hopefully signing a new contract

with the UFC and going to be coming back. How old is he now? Do you know? Let's see. He's 35, somewhere around there. No, he's not that old. Mid-30s. He's old, but not that old. For fighting, it's towards the end of your career. One part of me doesn't want him to come back, though, either, because he's the greatest of all time.

I think he's the best image for fighting. He might ruin his image, yeah. I hope not. I hope he comes out and looks awesome, but you never know. He could come out and show everyone how much the sport has grown in the last 10 years. But that's why I think he's got the best positive influence on the sport. He carries himself the best way and gives fighting a good image, a better image than someone like Conor McGregor would or something. Now, there was an image on Instagram or Facebook that I saw of Conor's wife or girlfriend.

His wife? Girlfriend. Girlfriend who's in the ring after him winning the first championship. Instagram or Facebook that I saw of Connor's wife or girlfriend, his wife, girlfriend, girlfriend, who's like in the ring after like him winning the first championship and a message about how she was always there for him and always supported him, even when he had nothing and this and that, how important is it for you to have an incredible relationship to be able to continue to grow as an athlete?

Or do you think you'd be able to be where you're at and win the title without the relationship you have? I wouldn't be able to. My wife's been with me. We've been together 10 years, married for two. She was through my whole entire wrestling career. So she's followed me around, helped me out with everything I needed. You know, she's got my back for when I need mental support.

When I do come home from those practices and just distraught about getting my butt kicked. And she's like, this is normal. Don't worry about it. This happens all the time. Every camp, you're always worried about it. Having a, having a strong woman behind you helps out a lot, you know? Um, so you don't think you'd be where you're at as an athlete without that? I don't, I mean, I've never, never thought otherwise, you know, I've always, yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't think so. I think it's, I think it's a very important thing to, I mean, she keeps me level-headed, you know, I can't let my head get too big because she'll smash it down, keeps you in check. Is that true? He's not going to run away. Helps out with my diet, helps out with the things I need. And yeah, I think it's very important to

have a good home life. I mean, home life for someone else might not be having a wife. It could be whatever. It could just be good friends that are around you all the time, you know. But for me, being a homebody, good support system. Yeah, and for me, that's my wife. How important is having the right coach train you for the UFC? Very important. I mean, I think it's very, very important.

It's good to have great teammates, great gym, but most importantly, a great coach. Someone that you can believe in and trust your career with, you know, because trust your life with exactly my life. Yeah. I mean, he's the one that's telling me what I should be and shouldn't be doing. And if I don't believe in that, if I don't like take that to heart and know that he's got my, my best interest at heart, then it's hard. You know, it's hard to, to get better with him. It's hard to grow with that person. And, and to find that coach, I think means so much to, to be successful in this sport. I think finding that right coach is, is really important. And that's why I moved from Sacramento to Colorado because I found that person, you know,

I, I was fighting for three years before I met Dwayne Ludwig. I was a team alpha male in Sacramento. Great team. Awesome gym. Still to this day, Dwayne moved to Sacramento to, he retired cause he, he blew his knee out and was done fighting and still to this day. Dwayne moved to Sacramento.

He retired because he blew his knee out and was done fighting and wanted to start coaching. This was his first coaching position he ever put in for. And Team Alpha Male accepted it, and he moved to Sacramento and started coaching us. And the first practice he taught, I knew that he was the coach for me. We just kind of clicked perfectly, same mentality, and then our relationship continued to grow from there. The next two years I met Alpha Male, I won a belt.

I made huge gains with him being there. You won the championship, right? Yeah, I won the championship. Two years. Yeah. And just knew that that was the guy that I needed to continue to be with. Not so much a crutch, so much as someone to help guide me and someone that I trusted in and believed in. And knew that he would always give me the way I needed it, a straight shooter.

Do you feel like you could have won the belt without a coach? I don't think so. No, I think everything that I've done in my life, the way I was raised, the woman I have, the coach I have was all meant to help groom me to get that belt. At least I like to believe that. It's funny. As an athlete or former athlete, I still play with the USA handball team, but as a former pro football player,

I just knew that there's no way I could have gotten there without the coaches I had. I tell all the listeners who either played sports or didn't play sports, listen, you need to have a coach in business, in your life goals. You need to have someone coaching you who's great, who's been there and done that.

Otherwise, it's going to be really hard to do it on your own. So I talk about the importance of having a great coach, even when you're at the top of any area of your life, because that's going to serve you in moving forward. Yeah. I mean, I was a champion of the world when Dwayne was coaching at Sacramento and moved to Colorado. And I knew that me being the best in the world, I needed to have the best coaches in the world. And I believe that was him. So I packed up my entire life. My whole family was in California. Crazy.

And I live in Boulder, Colorado right now and train with Muscle Farm out in Colorado. Amazing. There you go. Yeah. I mean having a coach is very important if that doesn't show it enough. Sure, sure. Yeah. A few final questions for you.

What's something you're most grateful for recently? Most grateful for is my family. You know, the way that I've been raised and I feel like the ethics I have and the way I kind of carry myself is all kind of stemmed down to how I was raised, I believe. You know, and so I think I'm happy with everything I've done in my life.

You know, good or bad, I'm happy that it's happened and I'm happy of my path and I believe that was the way that I was raised. Sure. Do you believe – I'm writing a book about masculinity right now. I'm doing research. Okay. Do you believe you have to be physical to be masculine? That's a tough question. It's not a trick question.

I'm just curious. I know, but it's tough though because I want to a trick question. I'm just curious. I know, but it's tough though because I want to say yeah, but I'm sure – I mean because when you think of a manly guy, he's like, oh, he's working out. He's out hunting. He's building a house. He's doing all these manly things which usually cause physical activity as well. So I almost kind of want to say yeah. It's kind of hard to be a man's man without being physical. Sure.

What is your definition of masculinity? Being able to support a family, take care of things. You're a handyman. For me, it's an outdoorsman that's going to take care of your family and be able to provide is masculinity for me. Sure. Okay. Do you feel like roles have changed between men and women since we've been

growing up? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I feel like there's a lot more, I mean, you know,

so you have the equality you want. Every woman wants to be treated like a man, which I believe in, but it's also creating this stuff where they have a completely different lifestyle. And now, you know, it used to be,

you look at my grandmother, I mean, she'd live to wait for us to get home and cook us a meal and take care of our, everything at home, you know, it used to be, you look at my grandmother, I mean, she'd live to wait for us to get home and cook us a meal and take care of our, everything at home, you know,

and now it's, a lot of women are doing both of that or only working, you know, and there's stay at home in now too. So,

I mean, think roles have definitely changed. How do you think that's affected us as a, as a culture or society? Do you think it's created more conflict

or more harmony or? I'm sure a little bit of both, you know, it's created more conflict or more harmony? I'm sure a little bit of both. It's funny. We were just kind of talking about this on the Rogan podcast. Boss Rooten was bringing up the fact of going to war and women serving in the military because men always want to protect a woman. That's so instinctual and you want to protect women. And now we have women on the battlefield. Is that a good thing? Do these men push to try to still protect these women even though on the battlefield?

And, you know, so we're kind of pushing like, you know, is that good or bad? But you also can't say that because you don't want to be a sexist either, you know? So I think it creates maybe a little bit of both, you know, some harmony because everyone can be treated equally, but then some, yeah. Confusion with our like, our mental makeup or something, right? Exactly, because we all mentally absolutely have this genetic code of how you're supposed to think you're made. Yeah, I think it kind of pushes the limits on that.

Yeah, yeah. Do you like where things are moving towards or what are your thoughts? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I do. Yeah, I mean, I like it. I mean, like you said, there's a lot of confusion up in there and there, but that kind of makes life interesting, you know. You're never going to be able to meet someone and know exactly what to do by judging a book by its cover, you know.

You can't just see someone's wife and be like, oh, she stays at home and takes care of him, you know, when she could actually be the breadwinner out and taking care of him, you know. So I think it's a lot of fun, actually. This is a question that I call the three truths. Okay. I ask everyone towards the end of the towards the end of the podcast so say it's your final day many many years from now you've achieved everything you want to achieve just got all the kids you want grandkids whatever it is you want you had it uh and at the end of the day you get to write down on a piece of paper three things you know to be true about everything you've experienced in your life that you would pass on to the world your kids the world but they would have nothing else to remember you

by except for these three truths written on a piece of paper three truths about myself or how to live about yeah your experience in life and what you would tell people to do as kind of these three principles these three things you know to be true? Yeah. I think the first would be that life is tough. It's very, very hard, you know, and emotional. That'd be the first point. I think the second point that any problem can be conquered and to believe in the process of life and what you're doing and to follow your instincts, you know. And then the third would be to find love. You know, I think that that kind of makes everything in harmony and kind of helps you relax and keep it all together. I think the love is what keeps the whole life together, you know. Sure.

Without love, it would be all anger. That's true. You know. That's true. I like those. Those are good. Good. Sweet.

Before I ask the final question, where can we connect with you online? My social media, it's all my Instagram, my Twitter, my Facebook is TJ Dillashaw. I have a website, TJ Dillashaw Inc. I'm sorry, TJDillashaw.com. And then created Murphy's Woodworks. I'm always putting stuff on there as well. You got ship all over the place, all over the country? We haven't started yet.

Like I said, that's the big picture goal, right? Sure, sure. Is to be able to ship all over the place? We haven't started yet. Like I said, that's the big picture goal, right? To be able to ship all over the place. But as of now, it's all been kind of locally. We should check out the art online though. Yeah, exactly. Check it out for now. That's cool. We don't know when your next fight is, but you might be...

The push is the fight at the end of this year. It all depends when Dominic Cruz is held. Dominic Cruz is the champion that i supposedly lost my belt too it was a bad it was a bad decision in my book and a lot of people's book that i should still have my belt but that's the way life goes and you got to follow the process and so i'm hoping to fight dominic cruz by the end of this year nice um nothing's been announced yet but uh you know i got a call from dana white before we did this podcast so hopefully that's what i'm waiting to hear here in the next few hours. Well, if this is announced, we'll put it up on the show notes of when it is,

if you let me know later. I'll definitely let you know. I'll keep everyone informed. But yeah, hopefully fighting for the belt by the end of this year. Awesome. Before I ask the final question, TJ, I want to acknowledge you for a moment for your ability to transition in all these areas of your life. You transitioned from a great wrestler to UFC to being an underdog, 8-1 odds.

Is that what it was? 8-1 and shocking the world. I remember seeing a photo of Aubrey Marcus after you won. He was in like the second row or something, maybe the first row. Like a photo of him in complete joy and shock saying like he did it. I just remember that moment being like, wow, what an amazing underdog story of someone who just shocked the world. And it kind of gives me goosebumps you just saying it right now. Exactly, man. That's something that was so vivid for me is like this kid who's like had a dream who made it happen.

Yeah. So I want to acknowledge you for your incredible work ethic, your ability to believe in yourself and show others what's possible because when we do believe in ourselves and work hard, look what we can create. You're an amazing example, man. Appreciate it. You can really create the greatest things with belief, man. There's a video on YouTube. It's The Power of Belief, and it's from that fight in my career. And I had a friend of mine that created it, and it's a really cool video.

It still gets me pumped up today. If I'm feeling down in the dumps and I need to watch a video to pump me up, I watch The friend of mine that created it and it's a really cool video. It still gets me pumped up today. If I'm feeling down in the dumps and I need to watch a video that pumps me up, I watch the Power of Belief. It's a pretty cool video. We'll link it up on the show notes as well. Final question, what is your definition of greatness? Definition of greatness

is the ability to conquer everything that you want to, I guess, you know, what you set yourself to and not giving up, you know, cause it might not be the biggest goal in the world, but as long as it's something that you hold high in your own heart and pushing for it, you might not get it. But as long as you're always pushing for that goal and always pushing to be that, I feel like that's greatness. You're pushing for greatness.

You're pushing for that one object, you know? And, uh, I feel that that's greatness for me. DJ, thanks for coming on. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Thank you. Boom. Mama said, knock you out. Hope you guys enjoyed this one and you got a burst of inspiration and motivation to kickstart your day and your week, whatever time it is for you. Very excited about this. Make sure to share it with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 389. Make sure the next time you watch the UFC, you are supporting my man TJ Dillashaw. And leave a comment over on the YouTube channel, on the blog, on social media. Tag me and TJ.

Check out all the show notes, videos, links to connect more with tj on social media at lewishouse.com slash 389 hope you guys enjoyed this one and if this is your first time listening to the school of greatness podcast make sure to subscribe over on itunes because we do this every monday wednesday and friday and it's all about bringing you the greatness to inspire you, educate you, and lift you up in your life, in your business, in your relationships. That's what we do here at the School of Greatness. We teach the things that they don't teach you in school, the things you need the most to get the most out of life.

Boom. Super pumped for all the incredible guests we have coming up. Just interviewed a guy named Wim Hof today who is considered the Iceman who has broken, I think, 26 world records in freezing cold temperatures without clothes on. He can run marathons with shorts on only. He can climb mountains in shorts.

He can do all these crazy things, hold his breath underwater for four or five minutes or something crazy in sub-zero water. He is a machine, and he teaches other people how to overcome any challenges, overcome any stress, anxiety, fear, doubt, by mastering the mind and mastering the breath. So many incredible interviews coming up. I'm super pumped to be sharing them with you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So make sure to subscribe on iTunes.

Share this out with your friends, lewishouse.com, slash 389, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music