The Sevan Podcast - #287 - Mark O. Madsen

Episode Date: February 3, 2022

Mark is a three-time Olympian in Greco Roman Wrestling and currently and 11-0 fighter in the UFC.   "The Sevan Podcast" T-Shirts https://asrx.com/collections/the-real-sevan-podcast-collection Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Watch this episode https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59b5GwfJN9HY7uhhCW-ACw/videos?view=2&live_view=503 Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Where's the guest guest you guys see him i don't see the guest there he is oh no that's not the guest hi where is the guest where where is the guest oh boy mark madsen three times to the uh olympics i wouldn't even want to fly somewhere um i i wrote down where they were it's it it's i mean i guess i should know better, but man. Brazil. Do you know how far Brazil is? Where else did he go? Darn it. I didn't write it down. I think he went to Brazil, Beijing, and London.

Am I right? Beijing. And the sports wrestling. Greco-Roman. Are you familiar with all the different kinds of wrestling? Yeah. Not like intimately familiar, but I know about it. Like I think that one, you're not allowed to do leg takedowns.

Yeah, I think it's all like upper body. I always think of the Greco-Roman guys like the brute strength, the barbarian wrestling. Yeah, it's pretty savage. In one of his fights in the UFC, he picks a dude up, and he's carrying a dude, and the dude's punching him in the face, and then he literally just ragdolls the dude. He just throws the dude and then lands on top of him. It was crazy. This guy's a beast.

11-0, I want to say. Let's see. I can bring up a little factoid about him, huh? Yeah, like his sure dog, Mark Madsen. There's a lot Mark, Madsen, and May. There's a lot of Mark Madsen. I think the L.A. Lakers coach's name is Mark Madsen. So when you want to research this guy, it's just a bunch of L.A. Lakers. You see just a ton of L.A. Lakers stuff.

I don't know if it's their head coach or what. Do you know anything about basketball? I don't know anything about basketball. Do you know anything about basketball? I'm more concerned with your new headline on the clickbait stream. Ah, smart.

Here we go. Yeah. After three years or so during my recent time away and subsequent discussion with the board and our senior team over the past weeks, I've decided... Oh, shit. Okay. I think you can post um um you're good to go

with your post matt mark yes is everything working oh there i am you look like you train for MMA. I do, a little bit. Good to have you on, buddy. Thank you. Three Olympics. Yes. I was just thinking about just all the stuff you have to do that's even not. By the way, I'm Sevan. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, Sevan. I'm Mark. I'm the Olympian.

Are you in Phoenix or are you in um phoenix are you in denmark uh right now i am in phoenix okay and and that's that's the new home for you that will be the new home for my family and i the next two years yeah it's um what a what an insane group of dudes you're you're chilling with these days. Henry Cejudo, John Jones is over there, Figueiredo, Wei Li. Is Gastelum there too? Gastelum is here as well. He's one of my solid training partners. So it's quite a unique group of people that have gathered here at Fight Ready in Scottsdale.

It's quite amazing. Dude, it's crazy. You know to watch out for Gastelum's left, right? You have a talk with him. Tell him we don't want him hitting you with that. Jesus. Is that what that is? Is that from him?

Listen, to be honest,vin is is an absolute beast i think we can expect you know great things uh coming from gastelum in the in the future he i know this is supposed to be about you but let's be honest about gastelum uh is he's as lucky as fucking any man that he left that ring that day is he's i mean that could have gone either way when, when he fought Izzy. I mean, he gave it to Izzy. I mean, kudos to Izzy for taking it,

but 99 out of a hundred men don't leave that ring when Gaslam does that to them. Absolutely. And I think what's, what's, what I find most interesting is, is how much potential Kelling actually has behind him. I mean, there's so many things that could be optimized. There's so much coming. is how much potential Kelvin actually has behind him.

I mean, there's so many things that could be optimized. There's so much coming from my Olympian background. You know, I've been working in this particular area my entire life. And I mean, I honestly believe Kelvin has, you know, the potential and will be the UFC champion. I'm not sure in what weight division, but I mean, his potential is enormous. And as you just said, I think he has one of the best left, right hands in, in the, you know, entire UFC. It's amazing. He's an amazing MMA fighter and I'm honored to be a training partner of his. No, that's not – this isn't Joe Rogan.

This is Mark Madsen, but I understand. They go to the same barber, so I understand the mistake. It's interesting that you say that about him dropping weight, or I'm assuming you meant going down to 171. I'm not like a – I'm the guy who spends three hours a week watching the UFC, right? I don't go too much further than that. Unfortunately, I'm doing my hardest to stay away from Bellator, but I'm getting sucked up into that too. And, um, but that, but he, he's, he was, he's,

he's been fun to watch for the last five years, Gastelum. And I think he started at 171, right? And then he went up and definitely you can tell, I mean, nutrition is something where when you say he has room to work, nutrition is definitely a place where he has to work. I mean,

you see it even in the embedded series, like you see, he's got a mom who loves him, who would just feed him until he popped. If, if he didn't have a nutritionist, he got one of those, he got one of those households, like the whole family's trying to feed him. I mean, all the fighters love food, especially when you have to cut weight.

There's kind of a buffer after that. I don't know too much about Gastelum's diet, but I think he is making all the right decisions. I mean, he chose to move out here. He joined the fight-ready camp. I mean, the guys, the teams here are putting a plan together for him, not only diet-wise, but, you know,

nutrition, physical training. I mean, creating a solid game plan. I think it's quite, you know, I think it's interesting. I think there's some interesting things coming from Kelvin Gastel in the future and uh I mean he's such a cool dude I know I'd like to meet him he does seem like a cool dude and he's from Cal he's from Southern California right well he trained in California but as I understand he's born and raised in Tucson here in in Arizona so I mean but he's a great guy we went on a

shooting range the other day and uh you know he's he's just such a cool guy to hang out with um we we don't go drink beers but that definitely one of the guys that i would love to go go enjoy a beer with because he's such a cool dude um i know a lot of you guys who watch the show you you are only know about fighting the ufc fighting in the UFC because of the UFC guests on I have every week or I try to have on. This gentleman you are looking at is something very, very, very, very, very special. He's still very – he's having a resurgence in a second sport. He was a Greco-Roman Olympian three times. sport. He was a Greco-Roman Olympian three times. I can't even imagine just dealing with the red tape of going to the Olympics three times, let alone the work. He did it in a real sport,

Greco-Roman. It wasn't that one where you have the stick and you push the little thing around, or it wasn't bobsledding. This was one where you have to fight tooth and nail to get there. In his third appearance there in 2016, he won the silver medal. And then at the same time as he was working on his third Olympics, and feel free to correct me here, Mark, he started dabbling in MMA. And it sounds like there became a little push back and forth. The government in Denmark was paying him to do wrestling, and they didn't want him to get hurt doing MMA. So he flirted with MMA for a couple of years. And then soon as he won his silver medal, he jumped at the age of 34.

He jumped into the deep end with MMA. And here you are. Yes. Here I am. Still undefeated. Yeah. 11-0. 11-0.

11-0. And you're absolutely right. And I would say I had an offer just to capture the thing. I had two MMA fights, one in 2013 and one in 2014. And I was still a full-time, let's say, employed wrestler. I wrestled for the country of Denmark. I was on a contract by the Danish Wrestling Federation. My focus was 100% on the Olympics in Rio 2016. However, I got an offer from a local promotion who asked me to do a couple of MMA fights. And, I mean, it's correct. I had to discuss it with my federation, with the Olympic Committee of Denmark, just to be allowed to go in there and have some fun.

So with no real MMA background training whatsoever, I did two professional fights. I don't have any amateur experience. I did two professional fights I don't have any amateur experience I did two uh two fights and um I didn't lock that much MMA time in the cage but I did get two wins and uh and then we decided to go back to wrestling 2015 2016 and focus on on MMA. And after the Olympic medal in 2016, I felt it was time to move on and accomplish new things in life. And I decided to retire from wrestling and then move into MMA,

focus on MMA 100%. So I've been in the sport, in my own calculation, I've been in the sport, in my own calculation, I've been in the sport of MMA since 2018. And I am very proud to be sitting right here talking to you about MMA, UFC in particular, because it's been quite a journey. And moving into the sport of MMA with, I mean, I was with the Olympic background. I think it's pretty important to have goals to set up goals to have something you know to work towards and i i told everybody

when i retired wrestling that my goal was to to sign with the ufc and and to do well in the ufc and as a as you can imagine as a 34year-old guy coming into MMA, totally green, I had a lot of people telling me that I was too old. It couldn't be done. I mean, even mentioning the Champions League, the UFC, that was like, that's impossible. So I've had to work against the odds. I'm the first wrestler with Greco-Roman experience. I mean, with my credentials to ever do MMA in Denmark.

So I don't really think people understood what my particular skill set was coming into MMA. But now I'm sitting here, UFC fighter undefeated. I have a new fight scheduled April 9th. I mean, I'm sitting here, UFC fighter, undefeated. I have a new fight scheduled April 9th. I mean, I'm proud. I'm making the commitments. You should be proud, dude. I just decided to move country. We're not talking about jumping states here.

We're talking about moving my family from one country to another, joining a team I believe in, surrounding myself with people on the same path. And just like I'm very excited on the behalf of Kelvin Gastelum, I'm equally excited about my own future goals in MMA because I believe with the right team, with the right support, I believe the sky's the limit. And I'm here with the ultimate ambition

of winning a UFC lightweight belt. I want to ask you a ton of questions about UFC, but a lot of my viewers don't know a lot about the UFC, so I want to back up just a little bit. I'm obviously in the United States. I think half my listeners are in the United States. You're born and raised in Denmark. Yes.

Tiny little European country. Super cool. The time I've spent there, I think you guys have more bikes than you do people, right? Huge biking country. Yes. Smart people, clean people. They like to party. They drink a lot. It's a nice people. We know, we know how to have fun. It's, uh, I've heard, I've heard Denmark described as a, as a fairytale country when people visit from, from the big world, keep in mind, Denmark is actually smaller than the state of Arizona. I believe we're around 6 million people. Uh, Arizona is, is around seven when I, when I Google it. So, so it's quite a, it's quite a small country. Arizona has more guns than you have people four times as many as that's not a criticism,

by the way. I, I, I would believe that. I would believe that. Um, and what's it like being born in Denmark? What did your parents do? What were their vocations? What was their occupation? Well, my dad is originally educated as a cook, as a chef. My mother was in daycare taking care of children. So I come from a very, I would say, very normal middle-class Danish family.

And it's interesting because I've had this discussion with a couple of people asking me, like, where do I come from? Did I have to overcome any adversity? people asking me like where do I come from did I have to overcome any adversity um like if you compare me to Brazilians coming into MMA they come from they come from a certain background that that that makes it easy to to push forward because MMA might be the only way out of the situation they're in but I mean I see myself very very lucky very fortunate being raised and, you know, born and raised in Denmark with the system and wealth we have in place in Denmark. So I had a great childhood. I mean, I stumbled upon wrestling at a very early age, six years old. It was my granddad that introduced me to the sport of wrestling.

wrestling in a very early age six years old it was my my granddad that introduced me to the sport of wrestling and uh i mean i didn't have to to wrestle or to struggle uh i just you know i just found it so exciting i loved the whole the whole aspect the grind of wrestling and all the friends that came with it so i've been wrestling my entire life up until i i decided to move into to mma but brothers and sisters did you. Brothers and sisters? Did you have brothers and sisters you were physical with? Not really. I'm the oldest of five. Oh, wow.

Wow. So I am equally undefeated, unchallenged in my family. And so the funny thing is uh i'm the only wrestler there's no one else in my family that that used to wrestle or none of my brothers that are wrestling now they they tried a little bit but they none of them got got stuck so it's uh it's something that i like to do are denmarkians um affectionate people like i'm armenian and my family's so affectionate like to do. Are Denmarkians affectionate people? Like I'm Armenian and my family is so affectionate. Like if my uncles and aunts were always carrying me, my mom always had like a hand up my shirt or like was squeezing me or my dad was always pulling my ear, pinching me. Like just Armenians are just crazy affectionate, right?

They're just always – someone is always pulling, grabbing me, pinching me too hard, squeezing me, slapping me on the butt when I was a kid. Was it like that? Is that how Denmark is? Or is it more reserved? Because I know the reason why I ask is I see this community of martial arts. My kids are in martial arts. I don't do martial arts. And I have three little boys. They've been doing three years and I cannot believe how different they are. They're so physical. Everyone they see, they hug, they hold any adult they see. Even if like my kid's two feet tall and he'll see his his cousin who's six feet tall he tries to single leg a six foot 18 year old and my son's like seven i'm like what are you doing i mean they just can't stop touching each other well i i think you know we're talking about a country so yeah like the culture of your people

is it is it opposite of wrestling i think of denmarkians as maybe being a little more reserved just all of europe is like not being a touchy-feely people except for those italians over there they got to kiss everything um but but then you do a sport where it's the exact opposite where you just lay around on man and every picture you guys are holding each other and yeah i would i would prefer not to talk on behalf of the entire country of denmark why not you can do politics after this why not let's give it a stab let's yeah let's let's let's just let's be prejudiced and lump them all in the one pile yes let's be careful here though but but i mean we as a family might be more reserved as uh as, as, as you describe, uh, I've, I've, I've traveled the world with wrestling. I've met so many different countries. I actually went to,

uh, to Armenia. I did a world cup there. Great people. I like you more now. I mean, and talking about wrestling, right. Armenia is one of the best wrestling, uh, nations in the world. I mean, I've wrestled Armen Juvallakian, the son of a very famous Olympic champ. So I know a lot of Armenian wrestlers and great people. But talking about Danish people might be a little bit more reserved than what you described. I can relate to a vacation I did with my family in Egypt. And Egypt is kind of comes up of a more open culture as well in terms of touching. And I remember my son being very shocked about all the, you know, all the people that wanted to touch him with, you know, the blonde, my son is, is very white. He's all blonde. And everybody was like, Oh my God. And they wanted

to touch him, hug him and kiss him. And he, I mean, he came home from, from that vacation with kind of a trauma, a trauma because he didn't want that kind of attention. He just preferred being, you know, being on his own, being with his family, enjoying his time, not being situated with a lot of people. So, I mean, the culture might be a little more different in the northern European countries than what you experience in the south. Is your grandfather still alive? than what you experienced in the South. Is your grandfather still alive? My grandfather, unfortunately, passed away a couple of years ago.

But he did get to see you go to the Olympics? He did get to see me go to the Olympics. All three times? Yes. And he could not have been more proud of the accomplishment that, you know, that back in the days he, I mean, I was hanging out. My mother was trying with, she was a single mom. Both of my parents are divorced. So she was a single mother with two kids and she was getting an education meanwhile taking care of of my brother and i back then and um so i hang out with my grand grandfather at the local arena and and you know i would run up and

down the stairs i couldn't be controlled uh i was i had a lot of energy back then and uh i still have but uh but he introduced me to wrestling and i mean sometimes the smallest you know decisions thoughts may end up having the biggest impact on on a person's life and and i have to say the decision my grandma grandfather took that day of introducing me to wrestling kind of, you know, it took me on a path. It took, it took my life in a direction that, that was meaningful and had purpose. And, uh, I'm very grateful for that decision back then. And I know he, he's looking down from somewhere up there and,

and I couldn't be more proud of, of the decision of the accomplishments I made, but also the person that, that wrestling and mixed martial art has made me into. You said you're the oldest child. My dad's the oldest out of, out of nine or 10 children. Wow. Yeah. And he, and he was born in Lebanon, in Beirut and things a little different than you. His parents weren't divorced, but my grandfather was away in the army all the time.

So basically he would come home, have sex with my grandmother, get her pregnant. She'd have another kid and he'd go away again. That was like, and since my dad was the oldest, he was stuck taking care of them. Right. And it's, I can tell it's left a pretty gnarly impact on my dad like my dad is um too nice he doesn't have any selfishness in him and it's it's made he needs to be way more selfish it's made him um there's a point where anyway i'll i'll leave it at that as i have trouble again how is it that i'm assuming that with your parents divorce and you as the oldest child, that there's this burden of you to take care of everyone? And then how are you able to do something like move to Phoenix? I guess you took your family with you and spent so much time on yourself. Isn't that the opposite of the way you were programmed? and spend so much time on yourself. Isn't that the opposite of the way you were programmed?

I can definitely relate to that. I wouldn't call it a burden taking care of my brother. Okay, sorry. Yeah, I apologize for using that word. The honor. A blessing because I've had the opportunity to impact my brother's life as well. to impact my brother's life as well. And I mean, it's never really black or white, right? There's always something in between and it's been a blessing, but I've also had to given my credentials and the things that I've accomplished, I've had to be careful not to apply too much pressure

on my brothers. I mean, I've been one of the best in the world for a period of maybe more than 10, 15 years, which is something I'm very proud of. But that's something that I wanted to do. That's something I wanted to accomplish. So, I mean, there's always something in between, right? Because I don't want my brothers to grow up or to be living with that kind of pressure. my brothers to grow up or to be living with that kind of pressure.

But, I mean, moving back to the decision of moving to Phoenix, my brothers, my family are doing well. Everybody is on their own path now, grown up. And I have an ambition. I have a goal of winning a UFC lightweight belt. And, I mean, I believe an ambition. I have a goal of winning a UFC lightweight belt. And I mean, I believe in intentions. I mean, we might have an intention to wake up and be positive one day. But if the environment is not geared towards your intentions, I believe environment will beat intentions nine out of ten times.

What will beat intentions? What was the word you used? Intention versus environment. So, I mean, I could have stayed in Denmark with the intention of winning a UFC lightweight belt, but if the environment is not geared towards winning that, and we're talking about trainers, we're talking about training partners, we're talking about the facilities that I require, especially with my, you know, my knowledge from, from my Olympic backgrounds. I know that intentions are great.

They will get me up 4 a.m. in the morning if I, if I need to, but environment, you know, the right people and right training partners are crucial in, in order to succeed in at the highest level in sports. So this is, I mean, this decision of moving to Phoenix is selfish. It's something I want to do for myself, but also for my family. I'm moving here to put myself in the best possible position in order to accomplish what I want to accomplish. But I also have to say we're moving from one country to another country. in the best possible position in order to accomplish what I want to accomplish. But I also have to say, we're moving from one country to another country.

And looking back, if we start with the finish of this two-year journey, my family and I have to be able to look back on this journey and have accumulated a lot of great experiences. I mean, looking back at an amazing time. And right now I'm sitting here in Scottsdale. I mean, the sun is shining outside. I have practiced in like a couple of hours with some of the best guys in the sports. I managed to move myself from a situation

with not that good possibilities of an outcome into something with, you know, all the, all the possibilities. I don't, I, I, the, the truth is too and it can't be said that you are training with the best guys in the world by, by far. Maybe there's other best guys in the world too, but they wouldn't let you in there if they didn't think you were going to sharpen them. You said that's really, really fascinating what you said.

It's so obvious, but you said it so well. Every aspect of there has to have the intention of carrying to victory. This isn't a, as you called your first two fights, a hobby. as you called your first two fights, a hobby. This is a, you guys all know you have to do the journey and be present for it, but this is about getting to point B. This is not about, like, this is, and all of those people have to have that same intention, yeah. And what a huge compliment it is to you, to each of you,

that each of you accept the other person. Like, if they thought someone would, if John Jones, I have to assume, that someone was wasting his time even a tiny bit he'd be like get the fuck out right i mean and it's nuts and then between you and henry and i don't know who else there has um has been to the olympics there's just such a wealth of top level competition there from everywhere which is kind of amazing and extraordinary and and you're absolutely right i feel very um very blessed that i am able to be a part of that group of extraordinary people but equally i think i think everybody has a plan right um i don't know i don't know. I don't have a plan.

I have a plan when I'm done talking to you to go to the skate park with my kids. I'm going to try not to drink any alcohol today. Those are my plans. Not to become UFC champion. Well, that sounds like a plan of having fun. God, I wish if you were my brother, I'd be fucked. My parents would hate me yeah that's what i'm talking about so we need we need to loosen up a little bit but no what the thing is is great here is is i have people around me that challenge every aspect

of my approach towards the sport and i've been an olympian my entire life and being an olympian three-time olympian that's a span over eight years maybe even 12 because you need time to prepare for the first one yes sir and then you have time leading up to that so i mean it's a mindset it's a it's a personality trait it's a lifestyle that i've enjoyed and encompassed for the most of my life. It's a lifestyle that I find fascinating. And I mean, you might even call me a sports nerd because I love going into details. And that's really one of the things that I find very giving coming here, that I have guys challenging the things that I have learned

and accumulated over a long, long time spent in the sport of wrestling. So I'm excited. I'm excited. Yeah, you should be. How old were you when your parents got a divorce? I was six years old. Do you remember it? old. Do you remember it? Not really. I don't remember that much of

the divorce. And it's actually quite an interesting question, right? Because you're asking me to look back in time, a long, long way back. That's the same year your grandfather introduced you to wrestling. Yes.

I don't recall any Your grandfather introduced you to wrestling. Yes. Do you... I don't recall any... I mean, I recall a lot of things from my childhood, but I don't recall any specifics in terms of the divorce. My parents divorced when I was three. When I think... My mom and my sister and I moved out and I, and I remembered that I don't remember it being awkward at all.

You know, they kept me, you know, in the dark. Um, and I remember just my dad would still come over and have dinner or hang out or, and then I would see him on the weekends, but it was normal. But my sister was older. My sister was your age she was six and i i just think now i have three boys now and like i just can't imagine um and i'm not judging my parents for it but i just can't imagine uh divorcing my wife i just can't like what would happen to the kids i mean i love my wife too sorry i'm not i'm not i'm not thinking about would happen to the kids. I mean, I love my wife too.

Sorry, Haley. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not thinking about kicking you to the curb or nothing, but do you, do you ever, when you got married and had kids, were you like, okay, I'm going to do this differently? Or how, how do you view the importance of a mother and father for your, how old are your kids? I have a, I have a son that's 10 and then I have a daughter at five. Okay. And how do you view the importance of staying with your wife differently? Or do you think about the fact that you didn't have a father and a mother in the same house and how that's different for your kids? family first i think no matter what i do as a profession um we all have to introduce ourselves at one time right we meet we meet new people and and we have to introduce ourselves uh i mean i

would i'm always introducing myself as a family man it's family first that's the most important thing in my no matter what i do no matter how high my goals are, what I want to accomplish it. It's, I mean, I need that anger. I need my family to be safe, to be happy, to, to, to thrive. And, um, that's always been, uh, you know, an anger, uh, in my life and, and, oh, anchor, anchor. Okay. Anchor. i was trying to figure out what that word okay as an anchor yes by anchor you mean a motivation i mean family first everything i do has to be surrounded around my family it has to do good things for my family i mean right now i'm i'm staying alone in scottsdale i'm waiting for my family to come over they're probably coming over in a couple of weeks staying with me a couple of weeks and then going back to Denmark until we do the

final move. But this, this period is, is by far the, the, I mean, the hardest thing to do at all, staying away from my family, even a couple of weeks. I mean, it's, I have to be honest. That's the, that's the, I mean, I'm in, I'm in mixed martial arts.'s i have to be honest that's that's the i mean i'm in i'm in mixed martial arts it's considered to be one of the toughest sports in the world you you see a little little scratch here that's only a minor cut in terms of what i go through and that's from practice that's from practice i mean what i do is uh and what i've done my entire life would be considered as some of the most brutal thing you can go through uh you get hurt every day in practice on a level that most people will never get hurt their whole life

imagine that like people hit you every day in practice where if they were to hit my mom like that she'd be like fuck it i'm done like i quit i'm killing myself you know what i mean it'd be like it would you probably get hit in practice is i wonder what the stat is you probably get hit in practice every day hard enough to kill half the population like anyone who's like obese and over 50 it certainly happens i but i try not to but but i would just say i mean i know you guys try not to but i mean you have just forearms and cock and balls and ass and just shit flying around everywhere. It's just nuts. What you guys do is nuts. People are worried about a virus and you have other dudes sweat dripping in you 18 hours a day.

Yeah, COVID is not a big worry. How could the MMA? Yeah. My kids' jiu-jitsu, it's like a joke. It's like, come on, man. Everyone's just fucking on top of each other in a pile licking each other. Yeah. So you have to imagine that the immune system must be pretty strong, right? I mean, that's one of the good things coming out of this.

My kids every single day. Sorry, we're going to get back to your family. My kids every single day will be at the skate park or anywhere. I'll see them. I have two five year olds and a seven year old. They'll take their hand and like drag it down like 60 feet of railing where everyone's hands are and then two seconds later they'll be like licking their hand i'm like and i'm supposed to put a mask on this kid i don't fucking think so there's no hope there's nothing i'm not putting this is crazy hey good congratulations landing in phoenix speak if if you're not afraid that's the place you want to be i i was in scottsdale a few months ago and and coming back to california i was like man you guys all need to take a trip to scottsdale scottsdale's cool absolutely and i

think one of the i mean it's been great coming here it's also very very joyful to see that the danish government just removed COVID as a critical disease. Oh, cool. So right now, the entire Denmark is taking a different approach toward COVID. And I mean, COVID is a big discussion, right? But I mean, I like the way people are looking at COVID in Scottsdale. are looking at COVID in Scottsdale. And I mean, maybe based on what I do for a living,

I'm not that concerned. I've had COVID three times. Like you tested on three different occasions, you tested positive for it? Yes. And one of the times I was actually in camp, I had two trainings a day, two sessions a day, and I tested positive. And I did feel like, I have to to say i did feel a little bit tired i didn't recover as well as as i used to but i was able to

do two trainings a day but this was the third time i tested positive so you know my body might have been adjusted uh i mean the natural response you get from from getting getting the flu or getting sick must have done something. But, um, did you, did you get the vaccine? I, I am vaccinated too, because one of the things that I needed to get in order to pursue my dream of, of going to America was to be vaccinated, fully vaccinated. Yeah. I'm sorry that if I was president, I would have never made you do that. I've been like, Hey, this is a healthy Olympian. We need him here in this country so other Americans can see what a healthy man looks like. But that's just me.

I'm not the president. And it's interesting that you've had it three times and you've been vaccinated because I always have this concern that the vaccine forces your immune system just to look for German shepherds and then all the other dogs can come get you. You know what I mean? Whereas if you get it and you're not vaccinated, your whole immune system is like, okay, dogs are bad. They bite. And then it fights off all the dogs. That's kind of my theory. I'm no scientist, but I'm smarter than most of them. Logically smart. I don't have an intimate knowledge with the uh the chemistry of it all but i can still think i know two plus two is four i think i think the natural you know immune responses is probably one of the most powerful things that we can do and just like i'm training

my body every day in terms of sport i i do believe that we should be training our immune response as well so i'm not saying not to get vaccinated or, I mean, I'm not saying to get COVID, but I do believe in the natural way. I think it's just, I mean, some of the things that's going on right now is unnatural. It's unnatural. And I mean, we might have smarter people based on education and stuff, but I mean.

But you get a free McDonald's if you get vaccinated. So that's cool. Oh, you do? You do? We might have smarter people based on education and stuff, but I mean – But you get a free McDonald's if you get vaccinated, so that's cool. Oh, you do? You do? I didn't get anything in Denmark, but I did it to come here, so that's commitment. That is serious commitment. So do you remember this first session when your grandfather introduced you at six? Do you remember? Can you walk me through what that looks like? Did he take you to a training center? Did he wrestle with you? FanDuel

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19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. This episode is brought to you by PC Optimum. If you like a curated playlist, why not try a curated grocery list? Please play responsibly. your list then swap it for one that's cheaper craving chips the app will suggest some on sale to get started just open the app it's as easy as that see the pc optimum app for details i i actually i do remember that and it had such a big impact on me and that was he was the the janitor of a of a big arena in my local, local city. And, you know, way back,

way back in the arena behind two big, big brown doors. That was like two double doors. The wrestlers were, were working out. And I remember the big, I still to this day, remember the big brown doors. I remember coming into the, you know, the the the place where they trained i remember the smell i remember all the kids running around i remember the heat the intensity and so i i remember the like the moisture in the air like there's too many people in here working too hard like it's like dripping from the ceiling shit yes the atmosphere in a in a wrestling uh in a wrestling area is quite unique. It's just like you mentioned from the BJJ.

Too many people in a closed area. The air is tight. It's like there's kind of an electricity because people are going at it. And there's this competitive atmosphere. And I mean, Jesus, I get all pumped just talking about it i get excited for training right now you weren't scared you weren't like six years old and you're like no no grandpa i don't want to touch these i don't want to wrestle with these boys no i wanted to compete with these boys you did i mean even even being taller even being bigger being wider yeah

i wanted i wanted to beat these guys from day one hey um have you when when you come here like um i mean like you said you've been to armenia i saw that you've been to iran you've trained over there you've trained in japan you've trained all over the world um um when you what do you think about the these guys this um uh nikki rodriguez do you know the him the b team over in austin like when you see those videos, or if you've seen those videos, does any part of you are like, hey, I want to go down there for the weekend and see what the fuck's going on over there? I haven't seen any of those videos. You haven't seen this guy? Do you follow any of the BJJ scene, like Gordon Ryan and Nicky Rodriguez

and like the ADCC stuff? I follow, I follow a little bit online. I, I'd like to stay focused in the present. Understood. Focus on my own training here. I mean,

putting, putting the trust in, in my coaches and trusting that they know how to develop a fighter like me. Yeah.

So no, I would rather stay here. And if I'm going outside the gym that would be in the you know in in coordination with with my coaching team saying like okay we need to develop your btj skills this is where you want to go we want to find the best place where you can develop and and so on so i mean makes total sense looking online uh looking on social media you might see a lot of good stuff going on right you might see you might it might look a lot better online than what you experience when you get there right and i mean that the place that i'm at right now i've been

looking for a place like this since i since i started mma time. And, and I actually did a little bit of traveling. I was, I was gym traveling a little bit in the States to find the right place. And this just seemed like the right fit. And, and I believe, I do believe social media sometimes give you the, the idea that the grass might be greener on the other side. Yes, yes, yes. 99% of the time, I think. I think you're being very reserved in your explanation. So, I mean, and I've had that experience as well, looking on social media at a gym and thinking, that was back in Denmark, thinking like, wow, oh my God, they're so good. They're so successful. I want to join this team. I came up for a practice and I stayed there for like five minutes and I knew right away, this is not the place that's going to develop me as a fighter. There's not a place that I want to be a part of. The atmosphere is just wrong.

Yeah. place that I want to be a part of. The atmosphere is just wrong. It's not something that I can identify with, that I can relate to. So, I mean, sport is as personal as it gets, right? Because you need to find the things that can develop you or that you like. I mean, this is not only about being an Olympian or having a goal and stuff. You also have to be in a place where you actually enjoy the things that you're doing, that you're excited to go to work, that you love going to work, that you love hanging out with the peoples that are surrounding you. So, I mean, surround yourself with people on the same path. It's not just, you know, about surrounding yourself with people on world-class level.

It's about surrounding yourself with people on world-class level. It's about surrounding yourself with people that you actually like, that can do good things for you, but that you also feel that you can give back to and do good things for. How do you learn? Can you just, like, if you're at the gym and you see Gastelum shadowboxing, do you learn from that? Or do you need someone to verbalize it? Or how do you – how does Mark Madsen learn when you're in there?

I believe I'm very visual. So watching a fighter like Kelvin Gastelum move around. That is something that helps me enormous. And just being able to watch fighters fight, study their movement, analyze their movement, their pattern, is such a great tool for me. But also talking to people, listening, like why is it we move around to that side? Why do we step on that side? Like nerding a little bit with all the details,

having the insight in the championship mindset, the fight IQ is also something that I'm benefiting from a lot. So, I mean, I'm very visual, but also from talking with some of the people that have an idea of... I mean, I have a black belt in wrestling. That's what I do. I might be the most credentialed Gregor Roman wrestler to ever join the UFC. So what I do, I'm the best at what I do in the world, in the entire UFC.

Finding people with the same knowledge in the different areas of MMA, which is, I mean, mixed martial arts, you have wrestling, you have boxing, you have judo, you have the mix of all known martial arts, right? And finding people that have the same knowledge of their field as I have in wrestling is something that I'm searching for and something that I've found down here. So you, you see them dancing around, you see them doing their, their dance, their fight dance. And then, but you also like to hear it. Do you like to hear it talked about for like intellectual justification? So you're like, I see that I like it.

I can mimic it, but but but then you like someone to talk to you about it and be like hey the reason why this is good is because x y and z if they have high kicks this is what you want to do if you have low kind of like chess absolutely and i see i see mma as a as a kind of chess it's a violent kind of chess. Yeah. But it is, it is, I mean, you react and the guy react. So,

or, or you react and the guy reacts. So it's, it's kind of a, it's kind of a chess game where you might have

different consequences than, than you would have in a, in a chess game. But yes, I believe, I believe in the whole...

You need to have an idea of why you're doing the stuff you're doing in there. Me as a fighter, I don't want to be on my back. That's related to wrestling. I'm not comfortable on my back. I know a lot of BJJ guys are very comfortable on the back. I don't like being on my back. I know a lot of BJJ guys are very comfortable on the back. I don't like being on my back. So that's one of the things that... Is that where the sport's headed to? I feel like that that's kind of going away. Like more and more guys are realizing like that maybe that that's not the good place to be anymore. Is it evolving that way or are you too new to it to know just i i would i would not i would probably say that i'm too new to to know the sport i can just say it seems like it's a healthy

a healthy intuition to not want to be on your back yes i mean you you can still do a lot of great submissions from from the back and i've you know i've uh rolled with a couple of guys that are great on the back where i have to be very careful on what I do. But, I mean, staying on top is always a good thing, not only in wrestling, but MMA and MMA in life, right? Stay on top. Yes. That's a winning position. Unless she's really nice.

And tell me about Greco-Roman wrestling you guys I don't know anything about it you guys don't do takedowns you guys don't grab legs like every video I see of you you're picking someone up and just throwing them around like a ragdoll you guys don't do leg takedowns no so you would have two Olympic styles

you would have freestyle which is what we know from American wrestling it's kind of like folk style uh gregor roman is it's only allowed to throw people and and grab people above the waist and which is the biggest difference in freestyle you're allowed to grab legs you're not allowed to grab legs or use legs in in gregor Roman, which makes it a little bit different. Yeah, so tell me the cons of being programmed to not grab the legs and then the pro, the benefits of being so specialized at grabbing above the waist. I do want to mention one thing that I saw. It was a fight you had. It's in your highlight reel. I'm sure I'm not going to describe it correctly,

but you grab a guy and you pick him up and he starts punching you in the face. And basically, he's not only punching you with his fist while you're holding him in the air. He looks like a kid having a temper tantrum. He's not only punching you in the face, but he's like dragging his forearm then across your face and elbowing you and you take either one or two of those and then you realize fuck this and you just you just i don't even know how you do it you throw him to the ground like he weighs like 20 pounds you just just your whole body just jerks and you guys go flying and i and then i think you end up beating them like in 42 seconds i think that was like the beginning of the end it was very early in the fight um so my first question is what what are the benefits of not of being so disciplined of having to focus on the top people

and the second thing is was that delay that he got that punch in something that you need to work on because it's like hey in your in the olympics no one would have punched you in the face you could have hung out there for a second got situated so those are my two questions yeah i think that was yeah it was like crushing a can right him i don't know what you did you basically he punched you pick him up and you're like oh this guy's fucked and then he starts punching you in the face and then you it's like it's realize, oh, shit, I'm MMA, not wrestling. And then you just fucking demolish him. He goes flying. I think you go flying with him and land on top of him.

And you make him pay dearly. I mean, you ground and pound him to pieces. That was actually my first fight in MMA. That was the fight I mentioned in 2013 with no MMA experience, no real practice leading up to that. I mean, that was pure wrestling. So I think having a black belt in anything, I mean, whether it be boxing, wrestling, Gregor, or freestyle,

I mean, just having a black belt in that, you know, being comfortable in that situation, that gives you the ability to focus on other stuff. I know if I land in a clinch with anybody, that's going to be where I'm comfortable. I'm the best in the world in MMA when it comes to the clinch. So that alone gives me the ability to be working on other stuff because I know when I'm in here, I know exactly what to do. I know, I mean,

I know how to get a guy down, but it also challenges a little bit because I've not been used to people grabbing my legs. So that's something that I've been working a lot on, which is also why I'm down here. I mean, Arizona is a great wrestling state. You have ASU,

you have a lot of, you have Valiant Wrestling, which is a high school that is killing most of the country and in wrestling so i mean great wrestlers down here in folk style freestyle you have henry cejudo Olympic champion freestyle i mean i need to learn more about freestyle and folk style you know getting comfortable with people grabbing my leg and that's something we've you know we've put a lot of work into and it's something that's beginning to be fun now because i have the power that's another thing that i would say is the is

the big advantages of uh of doing gregor roman you have you have like a up your upper strength body wise is second to none yeah you look You look so strong. It looks freakish. And I know a lot of really, really strong people, but I don't think, I mean, really strong people. And I don't think I could, any of them could do what you do, even though they're probably four times as strong as you. I don't think that they can throw 150 pound man the way you did there. I know they can't. It's weird. I mean,

it wasn't even like you used momentum. You were holding him. I mean, a lot is technique, a lot is technique, but it requires a lot of power. And that's power that has been accumulated through a whole life of Greg Roman. So, I mean, you threw him like a fastballball like a pitcher throws a fastball but it was another dude it wasn't a ball exactly we need him to land as hard as the ball we can knock him out

that would be good but I mean there's a lot of pros there's a lot of cons we've had great Greg Roman wrestlers joining the UFC before me randy couture uh had a had a great gregor roman base you had dan henderson you had man linlin so there's been a couple of very very good very talented gregor roman wrestlers that has joined the the mma and ufc in particular and has done amazing i mean r Randy Couture was 43 years old when he won the UFC belt last time.

Dan Henderson was a Greco-Roman wrestler? I didn't know that. Yes, and he was a two-time Olympian as well in Greco-Roman wrestling. So, I mean, he has some of the same or the same base as I have. same or the same base as i have he also knows folk style and freestyle based on his college experience high school experience in in the states but i mean it's a great base wrestling is a very great good base to have in in mma and the guys down here they know exactly how to apply that i mean a guy like henry knows exactly how to apply wrestling and mma and he also know how to do a good good game plan uh him and the rest of the team uh santino and eddie who are coaching down here so are you good at staying with the game plan it seems like it would be the hardest sport in the

world to stay on your game plan like there's just too much shit going on and too much emotion i might be a little bit too good to stay uh to stay with the game plan uh because you also need that ability to be loose in there and yeah you make a game plan i mean a game plan is good until you get punched in the face which will happen in mma so you also need the ability to move from play one a to b to to C to being able to adjust in there, no matter what comes at you. So, I mean, I'm learning. I'm adapting. And I believe I will develop in a rapid pace with the right people around me.

I mean, let's go. Let's get that belt. That's why we're here. It's a crazy division you're in. let's get that belt that's why we're here it's a crazy division you're in um you're you're i want to say this and be the uh most complimentary because i mean it in a complimentary way but we saw what happened to ben askren something he i don't want to take any say be disrespectful to him at all i i mean the the guy is amazing. But you see, he didn't look like he

belonged in MMA. He just seemed a little like he needed more development with his striking. But then we saw you in there with Clay and you were jabbing him. And he's a tornado. Were you pretty

like... When you were in there with him and then afterwards as you reflect were you like holy shit i'm fucking punching this guy in the face i mean because you would think that it just you would think that no matter how much you train i'm sure ben askren trained boxing like to death and then he gets in there and it's just gone right like you just go back to what you know. Yeah, that's, I think that would be natural. But one of the things that I'm, I'm very good at learning new skills,

adapting to new skills, boxing in particular, Muay Thai, you know, throwing knees in there, throwing elbows in there. And I mean, the way camps are being run down here makes it easy for me to bring what i what i learned at practice into the fight so i mean no that was i mean jabbing jabbing clay he's a tornado he's an amazing fighter he uh he went on to beat sansos in the next fight he looks so good against you it's crazy how good he looked against you. It's kind of unbelievable he's as old as he is. I mean, he is nuts.

And his cardio is amazing. Yeah. I mean, it's... That was, I mean... He's the Tasmanian devil of MMA. Do you know that cartoon? That thing that spins around and just fucking destroys shit? Yeah, he's that guy. And then you throw some rock and roll in there and you have clay yeah

amazing fighter i'm looking up the sport are you are are some of those jabs when you first start throwing them like you have to like actually force yourself to do it you know what i mean like almost like i don't know if you ever skateboarded or did any board sports but like when you switch feet like when you switch from like regular to goofy and you're practicing is like man i really don't want to punch but i have to i train this is it like that or no by the time you get in there it seems natural i mean at the beginning being a wrestler my entire life punching was so weird i mean that was that was challenging. Just having, you know, Did you ever feel like you were cheating? Like, I can't do this.

A little bit. And having the intention of punching a guy, hurting a guy. I mean, not just jabbing a guy, but actually punching him to knock him out. Yeah. That felt,

that felt very weird. And you have one punch knockout power, which is bizarre, right? Yes. You're knocking, dudes who get hit by you they don't like it they go to sleep when i land they go out so it's it's all about you know working myself into that position where i can land that punch and but i mean it's natural now it's another day

at the office i mean some some people might go in there and be texting on a computer. I mean, when I go in at the office, I'm there to punch a guy. I'm there to choke a guy out. And that's just another day at the office right now. And I mean, that's the whole mindset. You do something, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you, no matter how uncomfortable it may feel, if you do it enough, if you you have enough repetition that will just be the new normal and that was kind of the process that i've had to push myself through in in the short time span i've been in mma i mean making something very different very challenging make it normal and i i believe and feel that's where we're at right now. It's not, it's not uncomfortable anymore to, to be in there. It's just a,

it's just a day at the office. Your, your life is, is intense, more intense than, than people can even imagine. 59 minutes into this interview, Your wife was diagnosed with MS. You have two kids. You've been to the Olympics three times. Your house, you had to leave your house because of a black mold problem.

When you tell that story, I don't think other people relate to it as well as me. I purchased a house with every single penny that I had in my life. I was told think other people relate to it as well as me. I purchased a house with every single penny that I had in my life. I was told that it had new plumbing. I moved into my house and all the toilets backed up and it cost a hundred thousand dollars to fix it because I don't, there's nowhere to crawl under my house. It was in a cement slab and it was a fit and it was 50, a 50 year old pipe that was like a hundred feet long. And I had to move out of my house. Exact same thing as you. They had to tear my whole house apart down to the foundation and replace the plumbing.

And, and, and, uh, it ruined me. I mean, I mean, I was like so angry for like a year. I fucking hated those people behind that shit who lied to me. Um, and you have kids and you have this wife and there was there was there was another piece that was crazy what was the third thing uh uh oh and and and you had your jaw broken and then you got an infection in your jaw and for people who don't know how gnarly that is my wife got an infection in her knee and they couldn't figure out they couldn't grow it in the culture and they told her hey we're going to cut out a chunk of your knee but if this doesn't work we

have to start considering amputating your fucking leg so he got an infection in his jaw and and you in you had your jaw broken in a fight you won the fight congratulations that's pretty badass then you had surgery and then the surgery didn't work, so you had to have a second surgery. Yeah, it's crazy. Was there an infection in there? Yes. Yeah, that's nuts. Did they ever say that, like, hey, we might have to fucking remove your jaw? No.

Were antibiotics working? They didn't say that, but they had to. They put in a titanium. They actually gave me a titanium jaw. And I mean, that's not your real jaw we're looking at. Now it is because they had to take out the, they had to take out the whole piece because it was infected. So, but Sivan, it's, I mean, life, it hits us all.

I mean, we had more coming at us 2021 than I have had. I mean, my family and I have combined the last 10, 20 years. And you thought that maybe your MMA career was over. You thought, okay, maybe it's time. I'm just going to settle in Denmark, get a job at a local high school, teach wrestling. Like you, like those thoughts were creeping in. Like, how am I going to overcome? This is too much.

These are too many things absolutely i i mean the thought was there i think it's we had so much coming at us and house was you know was being pulled apart like even the roof there was nothing left there's nothing left of our house it's been completely rebuilt i had a wife with ms that was really really bad at the time she was not doing well how is she now by the way she's fully medicated and it's uh it's way way better i mean she's in the place best place uh we could have hoped for so we are very grateful grateful for that kind of development. I didn't see that coming at all.

But yeah, I mean, I was actually, you know, and we were discussing what's the best path to take from here with all these things going on. I mean, what I'm trying to accomplish is just not being a part of something it's not just about going going to work right i want to be the best at what i do and to be the best at what i do we we need to have like a solid base my i need my family i need you know you know the same heavy wife happy life right and i i need everyone to be happy at home i need everyone to be

I need everyone to be happy at home. I need everyone to be in a place where they're in balance and they feel good. And, I mean, 2021 was none of that. We had to fight every single day to get, you know, where we wanted. And I have to be honest, I was considering retiring MMA. I was considering retiring sports completely. Find a job. I mean, we do have a very comfortable life in denmark there's a lot of opportunities a lot of exciting things that i could be do that i could be doing uh if i didn't have the ambition and the dreams i have towards mma so

i mean like what like what would you do like like would you be a broadcaster or would you work like help coach the olympic team or what would you do i see you in a suit a lot would you help coach the Olympic team? Or what would you do? I see you in a suit a lot. Well, I've done a lot of… Would you put on a suit? I've done a lot of commentating. I've done a lot of TV shows in Denmark. I'm speaking in Denmark. We have a lot of things going on in Denmark and a lot of exciting stuff.

we have a lot of things going on in denmark and a lot of exciting stuff uh maybe maybe a little little too much in terms of the focus that i need to have on sport but i mean lots of opportunities so i mean the thought that the the discussion we had about retiring mma was real and and have i not found the team that I found down here in Arizona, fight ready, I think it would have been natural to retire. I mean, I was in the middle of all the things you just mentioned. And not only that, I think looking back that I've been in a very, very, that I've actually been suffering from stress, like looking back the

mind fog not being able to to put words together in the correct way i mean i was i was from the black mold from the black mold i think it was a combination of living in a house infested with black molds the stress that comes with a chronic disease as MS, you know, being the sole provider of my family, taking care of my family, having, you know, putting the response. I mean, it's family first. Nothing I do is without the, you know, everything is with the purpose of taking care of my family. And I mean, everything was, was just, you know, going from a very solid place. I like to be, I like to be grounded.

I like to know what's going on. I like to be in control. Everything was just up in the air. And I really had to struggle to get through that period. I think looking back, I think the training, getting that I'm in a great shape, that I'm eating well, that I'm trying to get the sleep that I'm supposed to get. I think that helped me a lot.

And you can't stop and feel sorry for yourself for a second, right? I mean, at this point – There's no time in the day to be like, poor me. It's like, oh, fuck, I got two kids. I got this dream. I got this wife. Like when I'm 50, I'll have a good cry. I'll have a good cry when I'm 50.

I mean, there's no time whatsoever to sit down. I mean, if there's been a time in my life where it would have made sense to sit down and cry, that would probably have been it. But that's not the way I like to run things. That's not the way. That's not something that I like to relate to. I know life is going to bring tough times. I know I'm going to have adversity, be deceased, be whatever. tough times. I know I'm going to have adversity, be deceased, be whatever. But I mean, I believe if I just, and it might even, if I just put my focus where it needs to be, the perception,

that might even be just breathing. I mean, making sure that I breathe a couple of times a day just to get the energy that I need, putting one foot, I mean, it could even be just putting one foot in front of the other. And that was really where I was at. And that was the feeling, the mind fog and everything. And then I got the call from my manager, Ali, who said, brother, I got to fight for you. And, I mean, in all of that, I knew that I also had to fight for my career. I mean, being a UFC fighter is something that a lot of people want to do.

If I'm not fighting, someone else is fighting. So it was also about taking care of my career. So I accepted the fight. And I flew out to Vegas. No clue whatsoever where I was going to do my fight camp. It was kind of just, okay. Wow. We're going.

This is now this is i mean who's we who came with you did a coach come with you it was my i mean i've done this with my wife we've been we've been doing this together so i mean when i say we that's my wife and i we discussed it and say hey it's it's either we we either retire now or we say go. I mean, we can't prolong this anymore. So your manager, Ali, gets you a fight and you come out to Vegas with no – you don't know where you're going to train or who's going to train you besides yourself. I booked an apartment for a week. Oh, my God. This is crazy.

I booked an apartment for a week. I came in. I mean, I was in an apartment for a week. I came in. I mean, I was all jet lagged. I was, to be honest, I was suffering a little bit from stress. Something I didn't respond to. But I mean, I feel it looking back with the mind fog, with everything that was going on. I mean, that was, that's the worst case of stress I've ever felt. I mean, that would have been enough to put people on whatever it's called,

sick relief or whatever. I mean, we had to work through it. I came out. I booked a week. And that was the time I gave myself to find the place that I wanted to. I was looking at a place, you know, King's MMA. I was looking at a place in Denver. I was looking at a place, you know, King's MMA. I was looking at a place in Denver. I was looking at different opportunities.

I knew I wanted, I knew I was looking for a place that could develop me. And then out of the blue, I mean, I land Sunday night out of the blue. The captain, Eric, one of the coaches down here, he calls me 3.30 in the night. I landed Sunday night. He calls me, Oh, that was Saturday night. He calls me three 30. He asked, Hey Mark, what are you doing? Three 30 in the morning. Yes. That's in the morning. What was he doing awake? He just, he just completed a Bellator fight with one of his fighters.

And he's saying like, Hey Mark, what are you doing? Say, Hey man, I, I'm trying to get some sleep here but i was i had obviously i jet lagged so i was up he says hey can i come over for a cup of coffee so sure so 4 a.m he comes over and he goes like who is this who is this again this is the captain eric he's the you know head coach of several you know, one of the best MMA coaches in the world. Okay. So he comes over 4 a.m. and he says like, okay, I know what you're trying to accomplish. I've been there before with Henry Cejudo, with Patricio and Patrik Pitbull.

Those are Bellator champs. I think you should consider driving down to Scottsdale and see the setup we have down here. And so we discussed it a couple of hours, and he almost missed his plane. He was going back to Phoenix 7 a.m. He almost missed the plane. So I thought about it a couple of days. And at that, you know, how do you explain that?

The mindset I had back then, I was just like, Jesus, I don't know what I'm going to do here. It felt kind of overwhelming. I thought like, okay, let's just do the camp here in Vegas because that's, you know, that's the easy thing. I knew it wasn't the right thing to do, but. Easy, convenient. It's still good. Yes. But somehow, and I can't really explain it. I can't really explain why the captain calls me 3.30 and asks me to come down. Sometimes if you send something out there in the universe, it will respond. It's just a matter of you a road trip down to to scottsdale yeah i had the opportunity to see

the team that was working with the korean zombie another great fighter actually a guy that's fighting for a belt uh yeah same car crazy crazy and the team was the team was working with the with the korean zombie and i got to see the way they worked and i mean another man was probably he appears to have insane work ethic that dude's amazing absolutely and integrity didn't didn't he didn't he put his mma career on hold to go serve in his military in his country's military and then came back to mma i think he has some crazy story like that. I think he's a man of such high integrity. That sounds right. So that was it.

And I didn't go back to the apartment in Vegas. I mean, it was still there, but I stayed in Scottsdale. And I mean, I slept a couple of days around some of the guys at the gym. And then I found a place down here. I called my wife and said, hey. This is it. And then i brought my family out we stayed here for the entire camp leading up to clay guida wow well you must be so proud also to introduce your kids to so much for people who don't know i've never been to scottsdale uh arizona it is there's a lot of money there and because there's a lot of money there there's a lot of money there. And because there's a lot of money there, there's a ton of resources there.

I'm actually going to go there in a couple of days and stay there for 10 days. And like, I mean, they have everything. They have like giant rooms. You can fly around. Like there's no gravity. They have skate parks. They have a butterfly park. I mean, they got, they got the best fighters in the world.

I mean, it's in the middle of the desert and they have every i mean it's a it's um it's probably one of the greatest cities in the world that people a lot of people don't know about and it's one of the fastest growing cities in the world yes absolutely and it's an amazing place which is all i mean and it's a desert have you ever been to do they had they don't have a desert in denmark no no no so you're like seeing cactuses you know those cactuses will fall on people and kill them right those saharos has people told you stories about that no no so they're illegal to cut down or steal or anything but there are there there was a period of time where people were trying to steal them and dig them up and they would find dudes dead because they'd be digging around that

thing and you know that thing's full of water so it weighs thousands of pounds even though it's only six feet tall it's basically just it's just tons of water, so it weighs thousands of pounds. Even though it's only six feet tall, it's basically just tons of water. And people would dig them out, and then they would find the dude dead in the morning, and it would be fall down and have him pinned with all the needles on it. Yeah, those are amazing plants, right? And you just see them in the weirdest places. You're like, hmm, they just left this one here. So that's a good thing to note.

So stay away from scorpions, rattlesnakes, and cactus. Yeah, the Sahara is no joke. I've had you on a long time. I want to ask you one final question. What does it take to be in a relationship with someone who is performing at your level? I don't think a lot of people understand what it's like to be the husband or a wife of someone like you, you're not going to meet someone and like, who's great. And then just like ride their coattails. Like I'm trying to figure out how to like, they're, you,

you're not normal people. Like you can't, you can't you can't bug like a great person you know you can't try to cage a hawk if a hawk is trying to set a world record for flying high you you really can't do a lot of shit with that hawk you got you you have to kind of be an observer mode it takes a special person to be with someone like you right absolutely first first and foremost a lot of love yeah that's that's uh that's an important ingredient like you like you need a lot of love you need a lot of like so that will and let me tie this to that question too there's two i feel like there's two kinds of people in this world

and maybe there's more but there's people who are like succeeding because they like they have an axe to grind that teacher who called them fat in the fourth grade they're going to show fucking them you know what i mean or there's people like me i don't have like an axe to grind with anyone but my mom and my and my sister and my and my wife believe in me and so i'm like fuck i better not fuck up you know what i mean like i have people who believe in me and and i and i need that i need that love i need crazy amount of love too okay sorry go ahead yeah but i'm i mean i i can relate to that and so a lot of love and um it's also about having fun i mean you mean like not to make things heavy like you can't have her make things heavy like if

something's bothering you she has to have fun and make it light. Like she has to be like an alchemist. Is that what you mean by have fun? We have an amazing word in the Danish language. It's called put. Put? Put. And it's a very short word that means don't worry about it. If something goes wrong, if something goes like you didn't expect,

don't worry about it. And I think that's one of, that's one of the key words in, in, I mean, you know, all we do, right. Because we, we strive very high. I mean, we, we believe the sky's the limit. We do what we can. We put our best at it. it and but we also have the you know the buffer that's put i mean none of us are committed above our abilities i mean that's really why i love sports because it gives me the gives me the opportunity to find how great can I be? But but there's like that we need the buffer saying like, Okay, this is my limit. This is the best. This is the furthest I can go. This is, this

is what I got in the tank right now, not only as a as a fighter, but as a husband as a as a father, I truly strive towards being great at, you know, several things, being a great father is one of my biggest, you know, goals in life, being a great husband, being a great person, I want to be someone that my kids can look up to, can admire, looking at and be inspired saying like, okay, when they find themselves in a situation where they feel doubt when they're, they're, you know, afraid of what the future holds. I want to be able to inspire them towards taking that jump,

taking the leap, trusting in no matter what happens, you'll land on both feet. So, I mean, when you described that grinding an axe, well, I'd love to grind an axe. I don't feel any pressure towards grinding an axe. I don't have anything to prove left. I'm already the most accomplished wrestler in the history of Danish wrestling.

I mean, I've accomplished based on the things that, you know, the facilities I've had available, I've accomplished things that I'm very proud of. So, I mean, what I'm doing right now is based out of love. It's based out of an interest of something, you know, a curiosity saying like, okay, I mean, imagine how cool it is to move from one country to another country,

do something we love. Moving from right now, I love the country of Denmark. I've served in the military. I would die for the country. Moving from, that being said, moving from freezing cold right now to the sun of Arizona, being able to bring my family out here. Incredible weather. And a great, incredible experience the next two years.

I mean, I'm so excited not only on behalf of the whole journey towards MMA, but also for my family. It's an amazing experience. Imagine the things that my kids will tell their kids when they grow up, right? You remember that time in Arizona we went to and so on. So, I mean, Sevan, life is great. Life is great. I mean, everything is not all about grinding that ax. It is about having fun, no matter what we do. And I don't care if that is going in and getting punched in the face. about having fun no matter what we do and i don't care if that is going in and getting punched in the face i mean we are all different i think that's one of the things that that that is really important in this i mean we all have different opinions yeah and that's okay we're all different

and i mean have fun yeah have fun no matter what okay i lied to you. Last question. Your fight is on April 9th, and it's against a guy named Vince, right? Can I just… Yes, go, go, go. Correct that. My fight is actually in 40 minutes. I'm fighting every single day. every single day. The fight that's coming up April 9th might be the thing on the cherry cake. But I mean, I'm going at it at 100% every single day. I'm having fun every single day.

So next fight is in 40 minutes and I'll have another one later today. It's about doing my best, not when I'm fighting, but every single day. why did they move your scheduled uh the fight i and does that drive you crazy no it i mean i'm the the reason sitting right here i have to take responsibility of that. And with all the things that we had going on in Denmark, I thought after the Clay Guida fight, I thought I would be getting

back to a house that was fully renovated. That got postponed. We had some things that we needed to attend to back in Denmark. So I actually had to ask the UFC to postpone the fight because I wasn't ready. Gotcha. I mean, I wasn't ready. I mean, I came out here a couple of weeks ago, and I've been going at it 100%, but I believe in things happen at the right time for the right reason. Yeah. And it wasn't the right time.

That time was about being there for my family, being there for my wife, family first. My family needed me at that time. I would have loved to do the fight. Don't get me wrong. That part is nagging me a little bit that I can't fight that soon. But you're asking me to fight or taking care of my family. As I said, during this, this talk, I mean, family first, no matter what. Yep. It's been the theme. I'm really impressed, man. I really appreciate your time. When, when you responded to me on Instagram, I was, I was tickled. I'm so happy. We've, we've had a ton of amazing people on here. The last Olympian we had on here, we had Kayla Harrison on here a couple weeks ago.

And, man, you guys are special people. You really – I really feel – Thank you so much. I feel like I grow just being around you guys. You're a man of positivity, family. I'm a father too. You're a good – you inspire me, and I appreciate it. And we will be watching on April 9th and I'm super excited, I believe, in your two-year journey. So we'll be in touch.

Thank you so much, Saman. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, absolutely.