The Sevan Podcast - #121 - Mo Miller and Josh Bridges

Episode Date: September 7, 2021

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Bam. I think the show's a success already. Can you hear me, Hector? Hector Trinta. Can you hear me? The show is, uh-oh. There's a text from my wife. I wonder if that means that she can't hear me damn it i wonder if she's watching in the other room uh let me see no she sent me something else all right don't text me honey uh where was i yeah i'm so proud

that we uh i'm so proud that we went live at the exact time hector please let me know in the youtube comments in the chat if you can hear me uh i can hear you 9 30 a.m i think it's the first time we've been exactly on time on the podcast in the history of the show it's something that really really frustrates me uh cory says he tried to call last night but it didn't go through that's weird we got a bunch of calls cory we'll keep doing that on sunday oh shit there he is mo miller wow a hundred yeah can you hear me yep. 130 some odd shows in and we're, we're, we're doing it. Okay guys, I'm leaving Instagram live. Uh, check out the seven on podcast.

Now with Mo Miller, this is going to be a good one. We're a seven, eight days tomorrow will be one week until his big match on the contender series. So check in the seven on podcast live now or check it out later. We'll we'll buy delete video out later. Buh-bye. Delete video. Dude, thanks for doing this. No problem. Thanks for doing this.

You know, I had a, I don't know if you know who these guys are, but I had a, you're a unique fighter. I had an appointment with Daniel Rodriguez. He's the number 15 welterweight, and he slept through the appointment. I had an appointment with Robert Guerrero. He's the guy that fought Victor Ortiz on the Manny Pacquiao card. He slept through his appointment. And I had an appointment with Paddy. Actually, I should cut Paddy some slack.

Paddy the baddie, the kid who fought in the main card. We didn't have an official appointment, but we had something lined up last week, and it just fell through. But I think he's going to come through this week. But you know who never fucking drops the ball for me? Mo Miller. Yep.

Business. Business. And I had a couple other fighters on that were just too stoned to talk. I wish I was joking. In Vegas, probably. Holy cow. Holy cow. I wish I was joking in Vegas probably holy cow is it like the biggest so just so you guys know

Mo fights at 135 pounds he had the opportunity he was invited to be on the ultimate fighter series which is the huge series is it in it its 30th season. How many seasons have they done? 20th.

Yeah. Somewhere around there. Something crazy. It's, it's the, it's the series that the UFC does that puts fighters in a, in a house together. It actually blew season one is kind of what saved the UFC from the story

that I hear. The UFC was bleeding money. They did season one and that really got the ball rolling for UFC. We all know now UFC is a massively international company and Dana White's been at the helm and just killing it. And so Mo was invited to be on that show. He's represented by Jason House over at Iridium Sports Agency. And then he got the flu, otherwise known as the SARS-CoV-2. And so he had that for a couple days, but he was still ready to go.

He was like, fuck it, let's roll. But for some reason, they didn't want to spread it to the guys in the house. Jump in anywhere where I'm not being accurate here, Mo. And then, so then Mo just kept his thing kept his training alive and like any good agent jason house said yo i got you another shot uh job application to get on the ufc and on tuesday night live on september 14th you got to get in the cage and beat this dude brandon lewis's ass and then uh and then there's a good chance that d White will be like, yo, you're in. Yep, that's pretty accurate. Thank you.

You know what's crazy? You did that podcast. There's some Asian guy. I wish I could remember his name. I watched the podcast with him last night. Do you remember his name? Komoto? I did a podcast with him.

Yeah, just recently, like four days ago. You said I did one with him? Yes, sir. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forget his name, but yeah, somewhere. I'm going to put a link to his podcast in there. Mo, that guy has done so many podcasts with so many fighters. He's basically been doing a podcast like every day with a fighter for four years.

It's nuts. He doesn't have a big following but man what a uh what a just a an amazing resource if you're if you're a fight fan just go there he's interviewed everyone yeah he i checked out his page he interviewed all levels of fighters all levels it's crazy it's crazy um i this morning i pulled up the um the bantam weight that's what you're fighting right you're fighting 135 and you know when i was pulling that up i never knew this i mean i've only been a fan of the ufc for i don't know seven years but i never knew this but there's a minimum weight so like if you showed up at 124 i didn't know that there was a minimum weight i thought like you could show up at 105 pounds but the minimum weight for bannon weight is 125 and the maximum is 136 right with the one pound leeway

correct and man that that class has that that class is crazy yeah it's a lot of good fighters there crazy al jermaine peter yan tj cory jose rob font man rob font is exploding on the scene right uh marlon morass uh frankie edgar uh pedro cody dominic cruz is still in there yeah it's pretty deep whoo yeah and then and then down there in the bottom is sugar is shane o'malley yeah damn even the guys at the bottom are scary and and marlin is marlin also represented by jason marlo no marlin vera yeah cheeto yep yep okay how so where are you right Marlo, no, Marlon Vera. Yeah. Cheeto. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. How, so where are you right now? So where are you right now? Uh, well, I just finished up my, uh, last hard run probably an hour ago. So I just did a 10 K and, uh, that's what we do to end our camp. So I'm chilling today.

I meet with my coaches tomorrow and we just do technique. And we'll just pretty much do that throughout the week as I cut weight. And what city are you in right now? Cleveland. And when do you fly to Vegas? Saturday, September 11th. Okay. And so right Saturday, September 11th. Okay.

And so right now it's 11th. Is it 1130 for you? 1237. Okay. So you're in three hours ahead. So you woke up this morning and what did you eat this morning? Nothing. You just got up and ran six miles. Yep.

And did you run it solo? No, I had a, I normally run it solo, but since the gym is closed today, we have like a little route we take near the gym. So I had a friend of mine running with me. I prepped him last night and he was down. So it was easier to run with somebody. And is it a, it's a 6K route that everyone at the gym knows? Like, hey, go do the 6 or the 10K, go run the six miles? Yep.

And who ran it with you? And is he a faster runner than you or slower runner than you? He normally runs probably more than me, but he's also an MMA fighter. His name is Brian Houser, Brian Doogie Houser also an MMA fighter. His name is Brian Dugiehauser. That's what his fight name is. Yeah, you can look him up. He hasn't fought recently, but he's looking for a fight now. But he stays in shape pretty much all year round, and he's a good runner.

So I know if I can keep a good pace with him, I'm in decent shape. So he's the rabbit. You chose him because you wanted someone who would just make sure to keep you honest. Yep, yep, yep. And how much do you weigh right now? Right now, I'm like 148. Oh, so that sounds like it's on target, right? Yep, we're on target.

And how much did you weigh when you entered camp? Probably like 57. Okay. 56-ish. And is that, tell me about like the plan. Like is the plan to come in at 157? Is the plan a week before to be at 148 can you kind of walk us us knuckleheads through that so uh i like to enter the cage around

what i am now 48 to 50 uh 57 was when i started the camp so uh that's me eating whatever I want, pretty much. So I don't want to enter the cage at that weight because that's 20 pounds. You know what I mean? And one day from weigh-ins. So I don't want to be too sluggish. You know what I mean? I think 15 pounds because it'll come with the liquid. You know what I mean? Because you're cutting pretty much water weight out. So the weight will come on quick. But I like to rehydrate up to 150. I think that's a good weight walking into the cage.

So you fight on September 14th. Do you know what time? I believe it's 8 p.m easter time uh so i'm not sure all those details but i'm sure uh this coming week i'll know more and we can watch it live yep uh espn plus espn plus so if you want to watch mo interview for a job to work at the ufc you have to tune in september 14th which is a tuesday it's a week from tomorrow on espn plus i will definitely 100 watch okay so you fight on the 14th so on on September 13th, you weigh in on Monday. Yes. And what time do you weigh in? I'm not sure how they do it. I'm pretty sure it's sometime in the morning to get a fighter enough time to rehydrate.

Maybe. I would assume it's in the morning, but I'm not sure of the details yet. And do you know what the protocol is? Let's say you were on a UFC card. Who weighs in first? Do they do it in the order of the card? Or if, like, someone huge is on the card, like, if Jose Aldo's on the card, does he get to weigh in first because he's the big dog?

I think they do it because fighters, I think it's a window. So, say, if think it's a window. So say if it starts at 10 a.m., you probably get till noon to weigh in. So if I'm not on weight at 10 a.m., I have time to weigh in just before noon or whatever time. So it's not a fight to be like the first one to weigh in so you can just start eating again. Like there's not like a line out the door like at 956. Like, oh, shit, everyone's trying to get on the scale so they can start eating. If everyone's on weight, you know what I mean? If you're on weight, you want to do it.

You want to be first in line. But if you're not on weight and you know you need a little time uh i think they give you a window how um how hungry are you so you get on the scale like how how quickly do you start eating like i'm thinking like if it's me i get on the scale and the second i get off there's someone there with like a bag and i just start eating out of it. Is it like that? Yeah, it's pretty much like that. Uh, I used to eat food right away. Uh, but that's not good when you trying to rehydrate. Uh, so you gotta still have patience for my experience. You still gotta have a little patience after the weigh-in. So you pretty much want to get all the liquids back in you first. So

you probably, I probably won't eat for two, three hours after weigh-in. And so, and when you say not eat, you mean not solids, but you'll drink liquids? Liquids and probably a smoothie. Gotcha. And what will be in the smoothie? I like strawberry mango. I pretty much get that like wherever i go uh some protein some greens if possible uh but just all the healthy stuff and do you bring that yourself or you just go like to jamba juice or just to the hotel lobby or something and just order it yeah uh you can't if the fight is in ohio i prepare myself but since

i'm going to vegas i have to be there september 11th so three days before so i don't i can't really pack everything i need so uh normally they have like a shuttle or something to take you to the nearest grocery store or me and my coach normally i walk around the area we're in uh find a local store get it and most of the stores have what you need what's your coach's what's your coach's name again marcus marinelli is my head coach and that's right alex cooper is my uh boxing coach who will be traveling with me also. Is there any concern that you would order something from a Jamba Juice or just someplace like that and the shit would be tainted and it would cause you to pop? Does there become a point where you're just like, hey, I'm not putting anything in my body unless I know, know, know?

No, not after lightweight i mean you want to put uh you don't have that level of paranoia yet no i hope they wouldn't do that i mean i don't mean someone i don't mean someone would do it intentionally by the way i just mean just like uh just like some ufc uh they pretty much i don't think none of that stuff should be, or I guess with the protein or whatever is possible. But yeah, when I get there, I'm thinking about the fight, whatever. I don't really care about, hopefully not, but I'm not thinking about that. My kids, Mo, my kids just started doing jujitsu tournaments. I shouldn't say they did one uh in

stockton california that's where uh home of nate and nick diaz there are people from their academy there and then they have another one this weekend in santa cruz and my boys are young four and six and somewhat one of the guys um recently was telling me that that whole scene is just flooded with steroids just like the the whole the whole whole competition jiu-jitsu scene is flooded with steroids. And I don't see it, right? And I've been in the CrossFit scene for 15 years, and they say it's flooded with steroids. And I've been like intimate with it, and I haven't seen it. Very, very, very few, right?

And especially not the top guys. It's usually like guys at the bottom. very few right and especially not the top guys it's usually like guys at the bottom um and then um and then and then you hear people like nate and uh is it nate you've heard nate say hey everyone in the scene is on steroids do you do you have an opinion about that like do you see it uh yeah i know for a fact uh people uh, I think in all individual sports, uh, it's maybe not the steroids that get you super muscular, you know what I mean? But stuff for endurance and not to get tired. And I know they doing it, you know what I mean?

Like the stuff that TJ popped for or the stuff that the Tour de France guys use, the EPO stuff. Yeah, I know that. I'm not sure about jujitsu because I really don't compete in jujitsu. I just train it. But I can see that. You know what I mean? I think it's a lot of people out there who don't believe in themselves. You know what I mean?

Or feel they aren't enough, especially in individual sports. So yeah, it's cheaters everywhere. It's interesting. I have a lot of friends who are in the military or who've been in the military. And I always thought like, if I was going overseas to fight and it was a life or death situation, like I would do whatever it took. Like, yeah, that's one place I would, I would juice myself. I mean, I've never done it.

I've always been interested in doing it. I think my window closed. I'm 49 now. I just don't think it's going to happen. That's the best time. Yeah. When you're losing your youth. Get that 19-year-old Woody back.

But man, if it's a life or... And why like i like i i know the nfl is not necessarily life or death and but definitely going overseas to fight in the wars life or death so you might as well just get fucking strong and as fucking mentally strong as you can and then and then if fall if out of all the sports obviously i mean i mean it's crazy dude you're applying for a job where you have to go in i mean it's kind of like a movie what you're doing right it's kind of like some movie we would have watched this uh um it's like some arnold schwarzenegger movies what was it like running man i mean it's not life or death if you lose but like you're it you're going in there to beat people up. Pardon me? Right.

So to some people it is life or death. You know what I mean? A lot of fighters come from, a lot of fighters need money. Right. You know what I mean? So they might've been on a three fight losing skit, you know what I mean?

About to get cut and feel like that's the only thing that can up their level. You know what i mean about to get cut and uh feel like that's the only thing that can up their level you know what i mean so uh i i uh it's different situations i would never do it uh just conscious uh i know i would be cheating you know what i mean so i like to work for my stuff if i'm not good enough i'm not good enough if. If I was to go to war, maybe, you know what I mean? Because ain't no fairness in war. But when it's one-on-one and martial art, you know what I mean? You're supposed to respect that. And if you, I just couldn't do it and win and know and be proud of myself you know what I mean did you see this 18 year old girl who died last week this boxer yeah I didn't look into it

but I seen people yeah I didn't know she was 18 that's wow I think she was I need to double check but I'm 99% sure she was is that that hasn't happened in MMA huh I think she was. I need to double check, but I'm 99% sure she was. That hasn't happened in MMA, huh? Or should I say it hasn't happened in the UFC?

No one's ever died in the UFC. To my knowledge, no. Yeah, to my knowledge either. Someone wrote in the comments, Corey Pulido, please, I want to see Savon all juiced up. Dude, I want to see myself all juiced up too. I'm too busy to get all juiced up. Do it.

This guy I knew, there's a guy in CrossFit who I really like, and he got caught for cheating, and I looked on what he did. So then I went on – this was a couple years ago. So I went online to see what that stuff was that he took, and I started researching it. And then I tried to order it, and everywhere I tried to order it was sold out. And then 24 hours later, I lost interest. So I'm like, okay, I guess I'm not getting all juiced up. And then there's people who are just open about it, right? Like Joe Rogan just talks about it just openly. Yeah, I'm all juiced up or whatever the fuck he's on um which i think i think honesty above all else is the most important thing that's sort of the

saddest thing about drugs is that it forces people to lie and that's that part sucks because that just erodes it at our soul when you have to lie yeah yeah right that's what i mean with the conscience yeah it's no it's no fun life's better when you're free right you can just say whatever the fuck you want just like you don't have to like guard some secret um someone else just wrote in the comments hey the donations for your show would flood in if you promise to spend them on gear god you guys are bad people oh i can't see no comments i'm'm looking at both. I have the YouTube open on one computer in the back because the show is live. And then I can see it on this Riverside that we're using. So do you ever think about that? Like the fact that you're putting yourself in harm's way?

Or is that not even? What you just said. Going back to the girl yes yeah uh yeah i think about it uh every fight or i i kind of made my style from thinking about it you know what i mean uh when i was when i first started fighting i didn't have no insurance. So I was, I wanted to be, uh, very defensively responsible. You know what I mean? Uh, so even as an amateur, uh, everything was pretty much calculated, uh, fight, even if I didn't have the skillset, uh, I understood the risk. So, uh, every fighter I had always had their own game plan you know what I mean

uh not and if I stick to the game plan the risk lowers of getting hurt you know what I mean so uh that's kind of how I've been doing it I got insurance now but uh it was always in my mind that like okay if I get hurt how am I gonna take care of this you know what I mean so just uh having that in my mind and uh really working on uh my defense and defense techniques and offensive position to not allow me to be in a bad spot uh throughout the fight to where I am risking that. Luckily, I am good at wrestling, so if too many head strikes, I can try and get the takedown. You know what I mean?

MMA is a little different. Boxing, you kind of, if the ref don't step in and your defense not there, you're pretty much on your own. You know what I mean? And most of the blows are to the head. So boxing is a little different. MMA gloves are smaller, obviously, but it's a lot more different techniques that you can use, in my opinion, to protect yourself.

Did you see the last night when I was digging around the Contender Series, did you see that fight with A.J. Fletcher? That's my boy. I seen his. That's the only one I see. Oh, you know him? Yeah, he used to. I got a teammate from Louisiana and A.J. That's that's funny. You brought him up, A.J. My teammate used to teammate used to bring AJ to our gym in Cleveland. Go ahead. I kind of knew him for a couple years. We're pretty good friends.

Is he heavier than you? Yeah, that dude is a tank. He started, when I met him, he was a 155 pro. On his contenders fight, he fought at 170. Oh, shit. That guy he fought was so fricking good. Really? I didn't know the opponent too much,

but anyway, did you, and you watched that fight? You said, yeah, that's the only one I went. Were you, were you impressed with age?

So he's not a wrestler. He's a soccer player, football, baseball player, if the Contender Series is representing him, right? And when he would get punched in the face, he would just hit a double leg. Right. It was crazy.

I'm like, how is this? I mean, was he doing everything perfect? Yeah, he was following his game plan. I think he knew he had a tough opponent in front of him. And he was pretty much just being defensively responsible until that moment came, until the need came. Yeah, I mean, it was just nuts. That guy would crack him, and he wouldn't even—he would just, boom, double leg. He's like, I'm not doing that.

And I was like, how is this guy not a wrestler? I mean, it was nuts. When I first met him, I asked my teammate, I was like, this dude gotta be a wrestler. Just the way he was built. You know what I mean?

And no, he's a really good striker who can wrestle. And his fit, he, he, extremely articulate, smart, and a face that looks like it's just made to be punched.

Like I just see that guy. Like that's the guy, like if I see him in the bar, it's like he's the guy you either buy a drink or you go change bars. Like if I saw him at the bar, I'd buy him a drink or I'd be like, oh, let's go somewhere else. You know, it just looks like, yeah, he just looks like if you hit him with the chair, like he just turns around and looks at you. He just looks, you know what I mean? He's got that.

But incredibly articulate and smart. It's interesting. He was, he was saying he was, uh, I think he said he was going to be pre-med. It's always interesting to hear stuff like that. Yeah. AJ, uh, I don't know too much of that story, like the pre-med and everything, but just from being around him, uh, he's a smart kid and, kid in the way he fights translates. So good luck to him.

If anyone who hasn't seen that fight, you should go look it up. It was last week. It's AJ Fletcher. It's a very short fight. You will see a knockout that is probably top ten, in my opinion, in the history of my seven years of watching UFC. It is up there with, I'd say it's even crazier than Jorge's and Ben Askren's. I mean, it is something.

Yeah. I mean, that guy he knocks out is such a badass, and that knee is crazy. Yeah, and he's so explosive. Yeah. Most of his knockouts are like that. If you look up his fights. Okay. I'll definitely look him up.

I'm going to try to get him on the show. Yeah, get him. I will. So before I ask you if there's pressure on you, what kind of pressure you feel, what is pressure? To me, what is pressure uh to me what is pressure uh it's a it's different for everyone i guess uh but pressure is just an outside an outside source that's uh it can motivate you or it can break you or mess up your performance. And,

uh, it's either those two, I think. Uh, so just learning how to control that. Go ahead. No, no.

Well, so I, that's very interesting. I never thought of it like that. So some people would say there's no, I don't feel pressure. They say this shit and you're like, uh-huh.

Right. But I, I, it's kind of like homeostasis. It's like being a parent. There is no middle ground. Every time you talk to your kids, you're either being a good parent or a bad parent.

There's no, like there's no homeostasis. So I, I'm kind of thinking of it like that. You're saying there's pressure and you're either using it to benefit you or, or it's fucking you up. Like that's what it does. If it's on top of you, it's pushing you down. And if you got it under you, it's pushing you up. So you what it does if it's on top of you it's pushing you down and if

you got it under you it's pushing you up so you just have to make sure you gotta go ahead you gotta um i forgot what i was gonna say but you gotta you gotta use it you know what i mean because you gotta be a hundred percent sure if if going into the fight like nothing will break me nothing i'm here to do a job if you're not if you in the middle when it's time to walk out your thoughts are everywhere you know what i mean so like you're not focused like i try and end all that uh in the locker room or on the way to the locker room so before once the walkout comes, like my mind is made up, you know what I mean? So I think a lot of people deal with it differently. I don't really care what no one says because I'm the only one who got to get

in the cage. You know what I mean? So pressure, I learned to deal with it through wrestling all my years. And it has broken me sometimes, you know what I mean? Or I wasn't able to perform. And the pressure wasn't even nothing big or something. You know what I mean? Like at the end of the wrestling match, I hyped myself up for no reason. You know what I mean?

So I learned that throughout the years. Like most of the time, it's not as scary as you think. I hype myself up for no reason. You know what I mean? So I learned that throughout the years. Most of the time, it's not as scary as you think. You know what I mean? So just knowing that and just the years of repetition, like mental reps, and understanding how I deal with things in the locker room and on the way out. And it's like a pattern. Once I get it all in order um my mind is made up and it is what it is does someone teach you that or do you have to figure

that out uh i how to utilize pressure yeah not i'm sure i had many coaches uh and teammates explaining this to me throughout the years or how they dealt with it. But it's something you got to figure out yourself on how to deal with it. Yeah, I just I just years of years of competing. I found out what works, what doesn't. You know what I mean? I love self talk in the locker room. Just hyping my own self up. Just repeating

certain things over and over to where I truly believe it. And by that time, once I walk out, everything is like a tunnel. You know what I mean? So most people when they walk out, they forget everything.

It's just did you cope with it beforehand, in my opinion? So once I deal with it, I'm good to go. You're in the you're in the locker room and you want to do the self-talk. This is going to be I'm almost embarrassed to ask this question it shows how naive I am but you want to do the self-talk do you ever feel, do you have to like get over what everyone else thinks

like you know like when you don't want to dance because people are watching, I don't know if it was like that for you but it's like the 6th grade dance and you don't want to dance because you don't know how to dance and everyone's like watching you is it like, is there, do you have to like be like way beyond that, like as you're about to go out and fight, like you're in the locker room like i don't give a fuck what anyone thinks like fuck all y'all i'm talking to myself now this like fuck you this i'll dance however the fuck i want i'm not embarrassed about shit yeah that's uh you almost gotta be that because

people's opinions don't matter you know what i mean like most people uh i don't know about this fight but most people in the crowd is drunk or having a good time you know what i mean yelling out crazy things so uh as long as i can hear my coaches and i'm on the same page as my coaches uh once i sign the contract i don't care what nobody thinks you know what i mean so i already got months of training not caring what nobody thinks you know what i mean so i already got months of training not caring what nobody thinks you know what i mean like right like if you have to adjust your cock and balls out there it's like i don't give a fuck what camera sees me like my cock and balls are gonna be good i'll pick my nose i'll do whatever the fuck my shit is gonna be straight yeah yeah i don't care

about nothing okay okay got it um and so josh was supposed to be on the show today, and I think he had boxing training, but I did a podcast with Josh, I don't know, last week, and his personality is changing as we get closer to the show. Now, he's not as close as you are. His is on the 18th, but he's not as nice as he used to be. I don't want to say he's mean. He's not being mean. He's just like...

Something's changing. Yeah, he's getting closer. And he can feel that pressure. So I don't know if it's the pressure or whatever, but he is real. He can feel it and he knows he's got to dial it and and make sure he crossing the T's, dotting the I's. Because we can sit here and joke on this podcast, but he the one who got to go out there in front of the world and do it. You know what I mean? So I go to work still and I'm at gym, and everybody is running up and getting excited.

So I'm seeing 100 people a day, you know what I mean? So they all talking the same thing, you know what I mean? And you don't want to be mean to them, but a lot of regular people don't really understand how you got to get. You can't just flip the switch on fight night. You know what I mean? Like, you got to be – or at least for me, you got to be a savage these weeks. You know what I mean? Like, your mind got to be made up in these weeks.

You know what I mean? Like, every day of training is important. So, like, you can't let everybody come up to you like, oh, you're going to beat his ass, blah, blah, blah. You got to make sure you're putting in the work to do that. You know what I mean? So, I know Josh is feeling a little pressure, you know what I mean, because it's new to him. The text messages are getting shorter. If I call him, you know, instead of answering and saying what, he responds with what.

You know what I mean? He's just getting like – Yeah, he don't want to talk. No, yeah, he's not fucking around. No small talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No wasting energy. Just like –

Yeah, so I mean you seem like you understand that though. Oh, I appreciate it. I'm glad to be close to people like you so I can – to watch it. Like, good. Tell me – if telling me to fuck off is going to help you win the fight. I'm here for you. I'm here for you. I'm in your corner. Call me a piece of shit. I just want you to win. And we don't mean no harm. No, that's what I hear this all the time. You act different when you got a fight. And I'm like, I'm supposed to.

You know what I mean? Y'all like the wins. Y'all like everything that come with it. You know what I mean? So just let us focus and prepare for this because it's not a regular thing. You know what I mean? We really going in there fighting for our lives. Like you just seen the young girl.

Right. You know what I mean? like you just seen the young girl right um i uh there's in crossfit there's a guy named matt fraser and he is the um five times fittest man in the world and to do that he's had to put himself through just amazing just discomfort right a different discomfort than getting punched in the face but he has to go to a place you know every single day for fucking five years 300 days a year where he pushes his body so hard that he can't catch his breath right just that like that assault bike like he said basically he gets up would get up every morning and sell his soul to the assault bike you know what that

thing is yeah that's up yeah and you know like when you ride it so hard you want to vomit yeah he just he just lived like that for five years and basically like it's so hard for the rest of us to who don't have that capability to keep reminding ourselves like hey man these are eagles and they soar high and as much as you want to build a cage around them and keep them for yourself you can't or else like you ruin everything the metaphor i'm saying is like you see a bald eagle and you'll want it as a pet but the second you put it in its cage everything you like about it's gone it's not going to be hunting fish it's not going to be building giant 20-foot nest it's not going to be like fucking being a badass and so it's crazy you know like some some girl might see mo miller and be like oh my god i want to be a part of his

life but the truth is is like hey like being a part of his life is kind of like watching a TV set. You can't. Yeah, that's a good analogy. He's doing his own thing. Like the way to stay close to people who excel is to be a witness. You're not like some fucking participant. It's not like a normal relationship where you're going to be like, hey, I made you dinner. Why aren't you eating it? Like shut the fuck up.

Like as harsh as it sounds, but it's like this person has to eat. why are you sleeping on in the in the other bedroom why aren't you sleeping with me do you not love me it's like shut the fuck up like i'm like you can't put any of that on the on the eagles right like right you know what i mean like like you got to let him sleep on the floor you got to let or her let's say like you're dead it's the same way if you're a dude and you want to be the girl who's the best at what she does you got to give him fucking space can't bring any of your drama you're just there as a witness or be with somebody who understand it right i mean or been a part of that type of lifestyle yeah i think uh so i try not to get too mad at those people you know what i mean because everybody is excited you know what i mean Especially the people close to me or the people I work with, you know what I mean? They're all excited and they all want to

talk. So I try not to take it too personal, but, uh, it's like so many questions. So many. When I see people, when I see people, people like Manny Pacquiao, who's got like an entourage of like a hundred dudes and his wife is like terrified. Like the whole time she's like freaking out in the audience. And then have you ever seen his mom in the audience? She's like casting spells. Have you ever seen that? No.

It's crazy. I don't know how he does it. It's like his world is so chaotic, and yet he's at the top of his game. Did you watch that fight? Pacquiao? Yeah. Yeah, I've seen it. Did you think he—I didn't think he had any business in the ring with that guy.

That guy was too big. Everybody at that weight, because Pacquiao moved up to that weight, so he was supposed to fight Errol Spence. Errol Spence would have been that big. You know what I mean? So he's pretty fast, so he does have success sometimes against those fighters. But, yeah, Ugas, he had a good jab, and he was a bigger opponent. He shouldn't have took that fight.

Who, Manny? Yeah, he should have just waited. Yeah, that guy's like a statue, too. He's like, I mean, he looked amazing. He one of the top fighters. Lucas is like the fourth rank guy. You know what I mean? He was amazing.

And aggressive. I'm guessing the pressure is part of the in the fight game if you win the fight you always move forward right and I guess that's ideal right like it's a step

forward and if you lose a fight it's not always step back but where you are in your career this is like this isn't just any fight right i gotta win yeah um yeah because if you do i mean have you thought about plan b or is there you don't even think about plan b uh i i understand uh what i'm getting into you know what i mean uh every fight i know is 50 50 i can win i can lose no matter who favorite it's one-on-one so uh i know i can lose i haven't fought this year so to me i'm oh and no you know what i mean i like to restart every year like so those other fights it don't really matter a lot of the experience i got that's what i take from

those other fights but right now i'm oh and no so i'm just want to get one win in 2021 you know what i mean so i i'm oh and no i want to be one and oh you know what i mean so but but but both of your records in reality are six and oh right it's two undefeated guys five and oh yeah five and oh wow and and even if you win it's not guaranteed you go to the ufc right nope man so you gotta have a good performance so that's the pressure you speaking of uh but i don't like to uh i think all my fights i have a good performance you know what i mean i agree i agree i don't think you need to worry about that shit either i think all your fights have been amazing too i don't think you need a knockout or I want a knockout or a submission.

But I think a real excellent performance that shows martial arts would get me there. You know what I mean? So I don't think it always has to be a knockout. That's where I think a lot of people mess up on the contender series is doing too much and putting herself out of position trying to land a fly in the air spinning whatever you know what i mean like i got a lot of skills so i'm gonna show and i'm gonna be technical and aggressive like i always am uh if that lead to a finish that lead to a finish if not it will be a dominant performance either way so i don't i don't really uh and if he don't if if dana white or whoever making that decision can't like see

the skill level you know what i mean then i gotta try again but uh if they know fighting which i'm sure they do they gonna be able to see the level. I was surprised yesterday to see that, I guess, the first time Kevin Holland fought on the Contender Series, he didn't get a contract, and he won. Right, right, right. Maybe because he was talking too much. Yeah. I mean, I enjoy talking, but, man, that is a lot of talking he does. Yeah.

That is a crazy amount of talking. Does every fight have talking in it does every uh none of mine really there's none i would like somebody to talk just to bring out you know what i mean but somebody do they'll they just fight so uh but uh like a lot of my boxing work uh boxers talk trash you know what i mean so like i love the back and forth because it brings out the intensity and it makes you uh go a little harder so mma guys don't really talk i think it would be hard to not admire your work like like you know what i mean like like you're on top of someone ground and pound and not just be like like i mean uh what was it was it nate seemed to waste time when he

fought um when he pointed at uh what's the guy's name leon leon edwards he pointed at him for too long and then leon recovered but on the other hand i kind, yeah, like it must be hard not to be like, holy shit, I just fucked you up. Yeah. So you got to be Nate is focused on the entertainment part, too. You know what I mean? So, like, he got a lot of love for doing those antics in the crowd. So I think that's I think he consciously does that. I think that's, I think he consciously does that.

But me, I don't know. I think I'm just going to look for the kill. Like I don't get paid to go 15 minutes or two minutes. They all the same. So I think I got a good killer instinct that I always had. So anytime I get a chance to finish, I'm going to finish. Do you get paid to be on the Contender Series? Yeah.

Oh, that's good. And do they pay for your airfare and all that stuff? They fly you out there in the hotel and all that? Mm-hmm. What do you have to pay for? Do you have to pay for anything? When I get paid, I got to pay for the coaching and the managers and maybe taxes and all that stuff.

But of course, the taxes, damn it. It's taxes, right? As far as just traveling. And I guess I got it. Maybe they might have some food and or whatever after weigh-ins. But I plan on taking care of that. But other than that, they get me there. And hotels, I'll pay for it.

Do they fly you first class? No. I don't know about this one. The first time UFC flew me out was I just went in July to do those media things. It wasn't first class, but it was better than spirit. Are they going to send it? When do they send a camera

crew out to you? Do they send a camera crew to you to do promotions? I did. That flew out. That was four so that's done that's in the can yeah i did uh they already showed me i don't know if you watched uh not this week but the last two weekends they uh they on the ufc fight nights they showed my card then i'm gonna be on and they did a little commercial we had that i did in july they aired it two weeks ago so they've been promoting.

Was it on last? I've scrolled through all of last week's looking for promotion of next week's, of the 14th, and I didn't see it. So it's on there somewhere? That's like in the two-hour version, right, that's on ESPN Plus? This one was Who Just Fought.

Did you post it in your Instagram, like a copy of it? The promo. Yeah. I posted what somebody tagged me in for watching it. They were watching it. And then I'm going to rip it when I, when we get off and post it and I'll send you a copy too.

I'll send you the, I don't have that exact. Cause I wasn't even watching the fight. People were just like tagging me and stuff. Yeah. So like, that's how I found out because i thought they were like showing closer to my fight right and uh they were showing it last week not the yesterday's fights but i forget who fought last week yeah i'm bummed that i to be completely

honestly i'm bummed that the contender series doesn't have more promotion like uh they it's a pretty cool show what say it again they do multiple weeks so uh like i'm only week three and they showed me the first two weeks so i'm sure they gonna have some guys for week five and six you know what i mean but i guess i just i guess i just mean even like on on like on saturday i watch the fights every saturday night and they should just be promoting the shit out of the contender series i mean it's so cool it's basically like it's it's it's basically just a fight night with a bunch of hype i mean i've heard i like it when dana described it great it's a story about guys who just fucking it's all on the line you know here they are learn a little bit about them and their bio and bam here they go so it's cool yeah i think uh i thought the the house would

have been cool you know what i mean i think this is cool uh i just want a regular fight you know what i mean like i've been doing all these or preparing for all these contests basically you know what i mean so i just want to win this fight and go back to regular fights yeah i was i was i was debating uh or not debating discussing with someone the other day we were trying to figure out if fighters have to pay um their coaches like how that works like so let's say like someone like tj tj dillashaw who's got a big name does he pay his coach like a flat rate or does he does the coach take a percentage of the winnings or does the coach just get accolades and like um because they train such a big fighter how does that work

do you know and i'm guessing it's different for everyone. It is. It's different. I think whatever plan your coach got for you, some people pay memberships to the gym and don't pay after the fight. You know what I mean? Some people train for free and then after the fight pay. So I think it's depending on how uh you're set up it's always like a percentage i'm assuming uh because they they work hard to get you there you know what i mean and a good coach at least uh if you know you got a good coach and

he put in the time and effort they should be paid you know what i mean oh for sure right yeah for sure how many how many fighters does your coach have i say on our team we probably got a good 25 fighters uh with one two two in the UFC. I will be three if I win. We got another guy on the contender series in October, so he could be four. And we got a lot. We got some undefeated prospects. We got. And you had the world champ, right?

Is Stipe in there? Yeah, I counted him. Okay. Yeah. Do you ever spar with him i sparred with him uh for the first time probably in like june or july-ish uh in mma or boxing or wrestling or mma so i we didn't do uh takedowns because obviously he huge, but just kickboxing, basically. Wow. And was it was it just like he was in there and you guys just took rounds at him?

There's like eight guys and you guys just come at him or is it just you and him just training, getting a sweat on? We did it where we did like five minute rounds and we switched partners. where we did like five-minute rounds, and we switched partners. Damn. He went with somebody before that five minutes, and then I went with him. Then after that, I went with somebody else.

How cool is that? Is he as cool as he seems? Yeah, he's the same person in the gym as he is on TV, in my opinion. Yeah, he seems easygoing as shit. Mm-hmm. Man, I hope he fights again. Does he seem like he wants to fight again? Yeah, just from the recent interviews he's been having,

he wants his belt back. I know he wants Francis again, so I'm not sure how we're going to get to that. I think Francis might be fighting the Gain dude. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, so if he, maybe Stipe waits for that winner. But I also heard Jon Jones rumblings. Most of the stuff I hear about Stipe come from the Internet.

Right. He ain't really been in the gym too often. He does his – he meets with the coaches or whatever. And he just living life right now, just had a baby. So I haven't really talked to him about what's next or people don't really talk about it in the gym but like most of the stuff i've seen come from the internet is you when i talked to you last time it seemed like you had a really really structured life there wasn't there there weren't distractions right no girlfriend

no pets i got a little dog oh who helps you watch that me i got a roommate oh that's awesome um how long have you had the dog a year what kind of dog is it a pit and you take it everywhere with you no he too wow his name's poppy pop, Poppy. Is he right there at your feet? Can you hold him up? Can I see him? He's across the room. Yeah. He too big.

Is he potty trained? Yes. He knows when he, unless somebody ain't at home for all day, you know what I mean? He'll try and go down in the basement. But if we home, he knows when he's on the schedule.

Gotcha. If I asked your housemate that, would your housemate agree with you? Would your housemate be like, no, fuck that. Most dogs always pissing and shitting in the house. No, he would agree. I agree. All right. Is your life still like that since the last time I talked to you?

Is it just disciplined and you're just so, are you really happy with how you prepare for this camp? Yeah. My life, I think I didn't talk, I've talked to you this summer. So that's like right when I was getting in a camp, you know what I mean?

So I even got more focused. But yeah, I think I'm blessed. I think this camp went great uh my camp for the ultimate fighter april-ish i was a little banged up so i was a little uh i don't want to say worried but i was like damn i'm not about to be 100 you know what i mean i won't be close but to fight multiple people you know what i mean like not i don't know what you mean but i'll take your word well uh okay so this fight is one fight you

know what i mean yeah after i beat this dude i can chill out for a month in the house i got if i'm injured i fight this dude even if i win I may still be a little banged up. And then two weeks later, I might have to fight another top prospect. You know what I mean? So that's what I'm saying is not enough time. I would have just had to run through the house. But this one, I think God looked out for me. And my body is healthy. I just got to get the weight down.

Camp went good. Probably the best camp I had. So I'm excited to see how I perform. September 14th. It's a week from tomorrow. Mo Miller will be fighting on the contender series. Everyone should check it out. And, uh, and, uh, soon as, uh, soon as we can,

we'll have them on again and find out what it was like to be on the contender series and whoops, I'm as Mo. Thanks, man. You're awesome. This is so cool. I'm so excited for you.'m i'm like i'm trying to act cool but i'm so giddy like i'm gonna get off here and tell my little boys i know someone who's gonna be on the contender series i'm really i'm really pumped for you all right man you have a great day thank you brother appreciate you as always and i will try and text me or call me