The Sevan Podcast - #312 - Joey "KoKing" Gomez

Episode Date: February 27, 2022

Joey is a pro MMA fighter in the UFC. He was also in the Marine Corp. and is an experienced diesel mechanic. He is a jack of all trades. https://thesevanpodcast.com/ https://www.paperstcoffee.com/shop https://www.barbelljobs.com/ "The Sevan Podcast" T-Shirts https://asrx.com/collections/the-real-sevan-podcast-collection Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ 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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I had no raw meat prepped, so just um i just i just had a raw egg have you done that just crack a raw egg into a little cup and throw it down no actually i haven't i can't i've never i have no like opposition to it i've never just never thought to do it i guess it's good uh yeah there's there's things yeah it doesn't taste like anything i did it for the first time's, there's things. Yeah. It doesn't taste like anything. I did it for the first time last week. There's things that like, I haven't done that. Like,

it doesn't seem unreasonable. Most humans should have done by now. Like, like I've never cut my own hair. It's, it's kind of, it's kind of hard to say you're a man and you've never cut your hair. Maybe that's why I don't have a gender.

I mean, it just seems like a fucking lie. I cut my hair. But I did eat a raw egg i mean that's got to count yeah it's like some rocky rocky shit right there yeah so a few weeks ago i just put i just i was just like right after i did were you were you with me on the show with the raw meat guy yeah and i ate the hamburger meat oh no i wasn't on it but i watched it yeah oh okay i felt like i was on it so like right after that, I just threw down an egg and, um, and then it's like a day after

that. And then, so today I was in a hurry. I'm like, well, I'm just going to crack an egg into one of my kids, little glass cups. You know what else I'm doing? I'm getting into this thing. I'm phasing out all plastic in my house, like in my kitchen. So got glass just glass plates yeah like see like i could see through them glass cups for my kids no plastic shit the only thing um that i have still that's plastic is i got these huge plastic like tumblers that i used to use for roadies yeah guilty huge plastic you know yeah um do you what do you do for tupperware do you use tupperware at all we i just get um you just use like the glassware i use the glassware yeah my wife does most of that shit and if i see plastic stuff coming around i'll start like when i go to

the store i'll pick up a piece of glassware yeah um and you know what else she started using she started using wax paper to wrap shit up instead of like tinfoil or cellophane you can go to like whole foods or one of these fancy joints and just buy a giant sheet of wax paper yeah wrap your cheese in it or since joey's here and we're racist your tamales in it and uh and then and then just put it in the fridge and then you can unwrap the tamale and then just rinse off this wax thing and use it again yeah that's genius and i guess you don't get any oscillates on it i don't know what those are but they kill your sperm supposedly and start turning you into a woman

can you say that nowadays only on this stream only on this stream mr g on this stream, Mr. Gomez. Joey. What's up, guys? Joey, we got Caleb here. Caleb, Joey. Caleb. You train hard today, dude? Dude. Fucking beat. I was almost asleep.

I had to set an alarm to make sure I didn't miss this. Oh, that's a good feeling to train that hard, right? It is, man uh i need it i've got so much energy that like it needs to go somewhere thank god i had you know trainings i don't know what the fuck i would do if i didn't hey there's a little there's a fan or something in the background it's not horrible but i think it's in your room joey do you know what it is it is it's the radon fan so like the radon levels in my basement are crazy high what's radon what's radon you know i have to fact check myself really quick but i'm pretty sure radon is like in it it's a

uh uh that will kill you and it's found found in the granite in New England. And when you go to buy a house, you have to get a radon test to see what the levels of radon are. And if the levels are too high, they pull the pipe into the ground, and you have to pump it out with a fan. There we go. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas

that can cause lung cancer radon gas is inert, colorless and odorless radon is naturally in the atmosphere and trace amounts, outdoors radon disperses rapidly and generally is not a health issue most radon exposure occurs inside homes, so you can't have that shit just go, okay so that's like

theoretically sucking it out of your house. Theoretically. I'll let you know in 20 years if I have fucking lung cancer. Do you have a radon meter? Is there like one of those, is there something in your house and you can like be like, Oh shit, we're getting a dose today.

Uh, no, I have not purchased one of those. Oh, but I mean, it sounds like a sound investment um so so good so tell me about the workout and i love that feeling of being so it's almost like um when you lay down tonight your body falls asleep before your mind it's like those are like the most they're almost

like you just go straight into lucid dreaming? That kind of like work you put in today. And what work? Tell us what you did today. I did two a day. So woke up. First of all, snowboarding this morning was a workout on its own. So I just like layer it up, snowblowed, right? Which probably burned two, 300 calories in a half an hour. You hand push this thing? We're in California. You put, it's like a lawnmower,

but it throws snow in your neighbor's yard. Yeah, pretty much. Whoever you hate, can you point that thing wherever you want? Yeah. You got to shoot. You can point it. You can change the trajectory of the snow. Yeah. Brad, I'm actually from california as well originally from southern california marietta and okay i moved out here to new england because my wife is from this area and i was just like what i was like you mean i gotta buy a thousand dollar machine to fucking move snow like why is this how long you have to have that right by law you have to do your sidewalk or some shit uh no there's it's some places it does dude snow snow shoveling uh like a big driveway is horrible uh but yeah so snow

blowing is a thing and uh it's pretty arduous it can be slippery and then uh so from there i went to the gym i worked out from uh yes dude look at that dope uh yeah you got the two auger you got like the the augers it's a two auger system and it throws it it's pretty red uh then i went to the gym trained hard uh with my team and my coach did a lot of mitts did uh some conditioning rounds was just like mainly focusing on uh specifics for the fights like fight specifics like specific combinations and specific counters to things we're anticipating that we're going to see during the fight and then it was about sweating so you know what i mean threw some abilene on which is actually makeup remover which opens your pores and allows you to sweat more.

Right. And threw on the sauna suit. And wow. But man, I've interviewed a bunch of fighters. No one's ever told me about Abilene. Dude, Abilene's the best. Is that a secret or does everyone know it? Uh, it's a trade secret for sure. Hey, it's crazy when I look at who you fought. You fought, oh, there he is, Dylan Val. Holy shit, I'm a huge fan of Gomez. It's blasphemous because Jeremy Pender is a local legend, but this man is undeniable.

Thanks. Thanks, Dylan. You the man. It's crazy to look back at your career, man. It's crazy. I had this friend from out of town who I haven't seen in a couple years swing by my house tonight to watch the fights and i told him i was doing and he he got me into ufc like i don't know six seven years ago i just missed like the gsp era and soon as i told him i was going on with you he knew exactly who you were and he started talking

about all your fights and shit and i was like holy cow yeah and it's crazy and uh and you fought rob font also right i did i did train with rob font too before the fight yeah nuts it was cool yeah dude rob is this rob is a stud you know i'm a huge rob font fan too uh and he's i mean he's gonna be the best in the world he's gonna be champ it's only a matter of time. He's got a great camp behind him. They're doing huge things for the sport right now in New England. And they're doing it. And yeah, to be able to share the cage with the Octagon with Rob was amazing.

Who did he just fight? Oh, gosh. They had that war. Oh, yes. Yes. Holy shit. Hats off to, I mean, no disrespect to Aldo, but I thought Font was going to, I mean.

Was it Font? Or I'm sorry, was it Aldo? Or was it Aldo and Cater? I mean, Cater and Font have been just in these blood baths. Both of them are studs, dude. Yeah, crazy. How far is your training camp from their training camp? They're in Boston. I'm about an hour and a half away from them. Okay.

You went black, by the way i think you like answered the phone or looked at a text message or something looking up fonts tapology really quick oh you gotta make caleb do that you can take his job uh it wasn't which of those sites do you prefer what to do your research you like tapology or sure dog uh you know sure dog back in the day was the bee's knees man like if like if somebody was talking some shit at the bar like oh i've got fucking 13 professional fights you're like oh yeah what's your are you on sure dog what's sure dog like full shut up you don't know what you're talking about and so tapology tapology is cool because they break it down with metrics and they've got like

links and that you know they've got bar graphs and you know it gives you a little bit more like you know it shows you the rankings of where they are in the region so on and so forth so both have their their their, their, their perks. You know what I mean? Plus you can use one to bounce the other off to make sure you're looking at the right guy and you've got the right record. Dudes would say that you've seen,

like, like I've heard of stolen valor where dudes say, we'll say they're in the military or something, but dudes would say that about fighting. Oh yeah. Crazy. Especially if you're in like a big fight town, you know what I mean?

Like dudes out of dudes that in, in Temecula all the time, we're a big fight town you know what i mean like dudes out of dudes that in in temecula all the time we're like oh you know i fight for team quest and like we were all team quest guys like come on dog shut up stop it all the time down there in jack or uh albuquerque with jackson wings or att you know down there in coconut creek dude's just trying to be hard i mean i mean i can't really fucking blame him who doesn't want to be a badass you know what i mean right and especially if you can get the credit for it not have to do the work if you ain't cheating you ain't trying um you are going in the ring after how much time off it's been like i think my last fight was like September 2016.

Five years. Five years is some change, dude. Do you remember why you got into fighting? To get free drinks at the bar and laid, man. Come on. Hey, that's why Zuckerberg created Facebook. True story. Like straight up, I was just young and reckless and i was 20 years old and

just came back from war and i needed a positive outlet you know what i mean and i freaking uh i got myself in so much stupid trouble for no reason just because i was being stubborn and one of my sergeants was like yo you know there's like gyms where you can go and fight people like you don't just have to keep being everybody up in the barracks i was like what the fuck do you mean and he's like yeah you should you should go to the bear you should go check out like an mma gym i was like all right let's go so i uh this is funny i haven't said this story in a long time, but I walked into this gym. It was called Island Boxing and Fitness,

and it was in a- Island Boxing? Island Boxing and Fitness in Bluffton, South Carolina. It was run by Miss N. Corbray at the time before he opened up a champion's training center in Savannah, Georgia. And I walked into this gym, and I was just like, I want to be on your next fight card.

And he was just like, all right. How much training you got? I was like, well, I wrestled in high school and I'm in the Marine Corps, so I'll be fine. And he's like, all right, tough guy. Why don't you come to pro practice? We'll see what you got. I was like, perfect. So I show up to pro practice or to fight team practice.

And like, I'm watching all the guys come in and I'm like amping myself up. And these dudes beat the shit out of me. Like they pummeled me. And, uh, it was a very, very humbling experience. And, uh, but I didn't give up and I stood in there and I held my own for, you know, what I thought I was capable of. And Ms. Emmer was just like, yeah, man, he's like, you're tough and you got a ton of heart just keep coming up and from then i was just hooked i was in the gym six days a week i just was obsessed and uh became very very successful you're not in the marine corps anymore no once a marine i was a marine but i'm no longer in active duty status and when did you go into the marine corps uh geez june 2004 how how old were you caleb into when did you go into the air force caleb uh it's 24 so it was that was 2018 2018

holy shit crazy it's it's it's it's so cool that you guys did that. Are you stoked you did that? Caleb's still in the Air Force. Are you stoked you were a Marine? legacy and and you know the whole spirit of the corps and everything you know marines are we've been accused of being a cult you know just you just gotta know it is it is what it is and how long were you in uh seven years and some change almost eight i did four years uh active duty and then i did like three and some chains in the reserves oh that's right i saw that i was wondering that i saw that in your instagram you were in the reserves and you're not in the reserves anymore no i got out could you be called up with this with this shenanigans that's going on now in ukraine and and now germany's getting there putting their toe in there could you could once you're in the reserves can they i've for some reason i feel like i've heard stories of

dudes who get called back into the reserves so So when you get out off of active duty, so not all, but the majority of military contracts, you do four years active and you do four years inactive, right? So you go in the Fleet Marine Corps Force or you go whatever you're doing, right? You got four years active duty, and then your four years inactive are in the IRR, the individual ready reserve, where if in a time of crisis within that four year period, they can bring you back in. But my time has since been passed, like, you know, being a total of eight years after eight years, total of eight years after eight years it would have to be like you know dire circumstances and if that were the case i would i would volunteer you know what i mean no i don't know what you mean i've none of that fucking badass that you got in you i'd be over here like but send your

wives and children over here i'll guard them in the basement thank you for your service mr gomez fuck thank god for men like you dude holy shit um and so um you're you haven't fought since 2016 you won your last fight in the ufc right i didn't i went in the ufc my only two losses in my professional career came from when i was in the ufc oh damn. Okay. Good job doing your research, Sevan. And so then you leave and you're 29 and a half and you leave because you told your wife that by 30 you will have either

what, been champion or have gotten a real job or... So I told... Holy shit, Rob Font, one of your losses in the UFC. That's nuts. For those of you who don't know, Joey Gomez So I told – Holy shit, Rob Font, one of your losses in the UFC. That's nuts. Yeah. For those of you who don't know, Joey Gomez has a fight on March 4th. It's a comeback fight.

I don't know if you call it a comeback fight. He's fighting for the first time since 2016. He is a badass. They called him Joey K.O. Gomez. And this guy, I don't know who Jose is, Alberto Canoze, but Rob Font is an assassin. He basically kicked Cody Garbrandt out of the division, right? Yeah, that was a rough fight. Yeah, that was crazy.

I mean, I like Cody, but congrats to Rob. Rob said bye-bye. Dude, Rob, I'll tell you what, man. I've never been jabbed so hard in my face. And I was not prepared for it. And UFC gloves, I don't know what they're made out of, but it feels like hard wrestling mat, like cold wrestling mat in the morning. If you ever wrestled and you stepped on a wrestling mat when it's cold, that shit fucking hurts, man.

And he popped me so hard. And I just remember I audibly was like ow he kind of looked at me he's like are you for real right now i was like that shit hurt like don't do that oh that's awesome dylan you were in the were you in the marines too hey if he says this to you does that mean he's in he was in the marines semper fi that's crazy semper fi is uh always faithful it's the marine corps motto can can non-marines say that to you i mean they could it's it's just it's a it's but it's normally reserved for marines you know what i mean it's there's a whole there's a whole culture like you know how it is like yeah and every gun club

has its culture you know yeah when i worked at crossfit every single fucking dude there was uh in on in the in the at crossfit headquarters it seemed like was either in the service or was just out of the service it was just marines and navy dudes and air force everyone and then it was me this fucking ber Berkeley tree-hugging hippie, just getting a fucking lesson in life by these real men. And so why – if you fight – you're fighting in the barracks, and then now why do you fight? Why – like has your why changed? It's always changing. that's part of the journey of martial arts you know what i mean and like uh like i said when i first started fighting

was to get free drinks at the bar noticed and and you know and then it turned out like i was kind of good at this i was like well let's see how far i can take it you know what i mean then i set my goals. I set some goals for myself and started marching towards those and started smashing those down. And then, you know, and then, you know, we started talking rankings and, you know, it turns out that I have an uncanny ability to knock people unconscious for my size, which is a gift. And, you know, then it was like well you know you let's fight for belts and then well championships started coming into talk and then you know my the a manager i said i got i got a manager then i got a publicist you know then i had a nutritionist strength and conditioning coach you know boxing coaches muay th Thai coaches, MMA coaches, you know, and like, I became a little business

and it's like, all right, well now it's, you know, then I got called up by the UFC and it's just like, whoa, you know, like it turned into, it turned into, it turned into something that I did because I needed an outlet and it turned into a profession where eating clean and working out and all that stuff was important and part of my daily life. It already was and still is part of my daily life, but now I was getting paid to do it.

It was just a crazy transition. Why I fight now versus why I fought back then it's always been a test against myself you know and it's physical chest against another person but i mean i can't control what that other dude's gonna do i gotta control what i'm gonna do you know there's more at stake now 100 in what aspect are you talking about from from an age standpoint or are you talking about uh family yeah family people

loved ones i'm guessing when you started fighting you didn't have kids now you have a daughter you're clearly obsessed with by your instagram you just love her to pieces and And, um, it's, it's like someone was telling me the other day and I couldn't agree more. Like, no, there should be no fucking leader in the world. If you don't have kids, if you don't have kids, I don't want to hear your fucking opinion really much on anything. Go back to work. And, uh, so like, because kids can make you selfless in a way that I don't like like maybe only death can you know what i mean because you're willing to die for your kids and so in that regards like you have more on the line right like yes i have always like

i've always i have a i was saying people like oh you gamble like never with uh never gambled my money always my life you know what i mean and I like I stand by that like you've got to be a little off your rocker to lock yourself in a cage and fight somebody you know and then to do it at the level that I've done it at

it's like less than 1% of fighters make it to the UFC so and there's like less than a percent of the population is a fighter so you're talking about a percent of a percent oh yeah it's got to be even less than it's got to be just minuscule so and i'm not here to like gas myself up or or inflate my own ego lord knows i don't need any help doing that, but like, I don't, I don't feel like I'm in danger when I'm doing that, man. I've been doing it for 15 years.

I've been fighting. I've been actively trying to fight people and become efficient with the movements and of fighting people for 15 years. That's a decade and a half. Yeah. You know, so. What happened between 2016 and 2021 what what what's what um were you still training on the reg oh yeah um tell me about tell me about that all the training still grappling jiu-jitsu striking yeah whole muay thai judo just just in it yeah man i just like i said i i took a there was a brief hiatus that i took you know for probably six seven months i didn't step on the

mats everybody i just was gone and i was getting my i was getting my life right man you know what i mean like uh like i said uh i met my wife and i told her this is what I was going to do. Don't try to stop me. And she respected that and she supported me. You know, like everything else we had, there were ups and downs, but I told her that if I didn't get signed, that I would, by the time I was 30, that I would look at retiring and get serious about getting a career

and providing her adequate life that she deserved. You know, not that we weren't living, you know, an adequate lifestyle, but you know, we were, we were strapped,

you know, I was chasing a dream. And, uh, so I did, I got real serious with, uh, you know,

getting into management level for in the, uh, transportation, like a diesel mechanics. So I signed with Cummins as a shop foreman and from there i kind of just took off as far as you know specializing in the diesel you know air world and uh made a name for myself doing that and you know my quality of life increased to the point where i wasn't strapped, you know, and living, you know,

penny for penny, paycheck for paycheck. And, uh, I went back into the gym and I kind of fell back in love with it. And, you know, there's something to say, be said about that. Cause you know, like I was talking about having a publicist and a manager and this and that, and it was great, but it kind of took away from it all. Like it became a job, you know, and it's hard to balance all of that. And that's the hardest thing that that's what was the most difficult part for me when I had when I started a family was balance. You know, we mean the Mrs. What about that so much? She's like, you need to balance.

You need to find a way to balance it all. Like you can't be gone six days a week in the gym for seven and a half hours a day. And then come back when your dog shit tired and you, you know, I, and aren't helpful around the house. I'm like, all right. So, you know, I think that I could have under different circumstances, I could have probably achieved, you know, what I did and some, and some, and some but it just you know it wasn't in the cards for me um joey i don't i don't think i don't think great people have balance no let me rephrase that let me rephrase that i don't think oh hey because everyone's great i don't think people who achieve greatness have balance like to be a mate of a to be a mate of someone who comes to the top of their game like like if you're if you're dating elon and he fucks your sister like you got to be cool with it

you didn't elon he fucks your brother you got to be cool with it because like he whatever's making that that he's he is the ultimate diesel cummings machine right he is like humming putting out the most horsepower the the the most efficient the strongest the best the best and if you at that at some point you're along for the ride like yeah i mean i that's how i think i mean it's tough man it's tough there's no um being a mate to a to the people at the top i mean it's got it's it's a they should have a hall of fame right this was abraham lincoln's wife this was hugh hefner's first wife i mean you know what i mean it's like this is connor mcgregor's. We've seen her just go through four. She just had like four kids while we watch him punch old dudes out at the bar. I mean like someone – like it's nuts.

Yeah, I mean it's crazy. It takes – she's a special type of woman if I can put up with my shit for sure. Yeah. It's – in these six years – well, let me talk about Cummins engines real quick. Are those amazing engines? Cummins is a good engine. I mean, all engines have their problems, you know, so I'm particularly fond of Cummins because I grew up wrenching. Like I cut my teeth on Cummins engines, the ISB, ICI cells.

And then, you know, the ISX 15. Ah, the ISX 15. OK let me better look that shit up isx 15 and uh but i'm also a huge detroit diesel fan too so if you had to ask me my preference i mean i can take the i can take a part of coming a Cummins engine with my eyes closed pretty much. But as far as Detroit Diesel did it right with the DD15 and the DD13, the way they kind of made it a modular setup, it's easier to take a part than a Cummins. And it's easier to turn around time. You can tear down a Detroit Diesel, I think, faster than you can an ISX.

Where are these guys based out of? Cummins is in the Midwest somewhere. Yeah, I want to say I drove by their factory one time. This huge, Jamestown? Yeah, Jamestown, Cummins. Oh, the town's named after them or they're named after the town? The Cummins plant is in jamestown oh um as you work on these over the years like you said you could do with your eyes closed is there stuff that you see that you want to talk to the engineers

you're like yo dude if you just switch this with this and tweak that like what the fuck why is that screw over there you could have put it over there why is that a hex that should be a is there stuff oh yeah there's all the times dude there's a huge rivalry between the engineers and the mechanics and the technicians that fix them like if we could flush them or flick them in their fleshy patch that they call nuts take something apart like why would you design it like this why do i have to do six hours of work to get to one injector like oh sometimes they shoot horn these engines in there like you got to lift the cab up to get to the rear injector it's such a pain in the nut or you're trying to set the top in and you're underneath the cowl you drop a wrench

uh dylan um uh says big reason why i'm a fan. This man is beyond legit. Awesome. Grab stuff on. Thank you. You know, I don't. So I'm on a fucking mad podcast here. And by the time people like circle into the queue and I'm about to do a podcast with them, I can't even remember how it happened. But I'm starting to get a little bit of a big head. And this guy. And so someone DM me and they're like, hey, you should have my boy Joey Gomez on. He's going to fight on the fourth. And I go over and look and I'm like, OK, yeah, he's boy, Joey Gomez on. He's going to fight on the fourth. And I go over and look and I'm like, okay,

yeah, he's not fighting in the UFC. He's not fighting in Bellator. Fuck it. And then this dude's like, dude, you got to hear that. You got to talk to this dude.

You're going to like him. And then something I was just like, all right, it's a fuck. I'd love to talk to him. And I'm already 30 minutes in. And I'm like, fuck,

I'm so glad I'm talking to you. Cause you know, you get some people on here, it's like fucking pulling teeth. Oh, I can only imagine. I had Volkanovski on here and he was a nice guy, but there was none of this. We're not like, we're not shooting the shit. Well, for sure. Not for sure. What are you talking about for sure? Not for sure. Like, I want to shoot the shit with them.

I want to talk about like why the fuck he lives in a country that has fucking a month quarantine dude what the fuck's going on over there right now huh caleb caleb could you be sent to the ukraine i don't know it's not right now it's not likely uh it's five minutes possible and our dude's freaking out on the base like like have they told has that what what do you know has anyone told you like pack your shit up and get ready no we've had the whole like hey war is happening like we've had that whole conversation um and a lot of people are like a lot of the women that i work with are like well time to get pregnant and then oh kind of joking and then uh pretty much pregnant. And then kind of joking. And then pretty much everybody else is like kind of panicking.

Either they have significant others who are already deployed or they're just they just don't want to go over there themselves. So, oh, dude, what a great thing to do. Like if you're a general, just tell all the women you're going to go to war just as a gift to all the men at home and all the dudes. I tell you, Nash Raw dog for the next month. I'm sure a lot of women will hate me for saying that. But at the same time, a lot of women agree. Like a lot of them are like, dude, I just joined for the school. Like I give a fuck. Dude, if women, if you're offended by that, shut the fuck up.

Because if we were women, we'd be doing the exact same thing. So don't like we're envious. We're saying envy, not. Guy, you need to get a fucking t-shirt that says free mustache rides and jump on the bags i'm looking at that thing it's hard to tell caleb you should have just pulled your shirt up right there and you got your sweatshirt and you got one underneath that says it i i wish i wish i did not have one. Where were you deployed to, Joey? I did two tours to Iraq and then one PACCOM tour.

So we went to Okinawa, Japan, and then we went to mainland Japan. But you did two tours to Iraq, and that's like – Japan, you're going there to eat sushi. To Iraq, you're going there like to eat sushi to Iraq. You're going there to sleep on dirt and eat. What are those things you guys eat? MRIs, REMs, EIMs? MREs. MREs?

Yeah. Yeah. Damn. I was deployed in 2005, I'm sorry, 2006, 2007, and then 2008, 2009. And how long in total time were you over there? 18 months, nine months a pop. No shit. Yeah, man.

I was a young buck, dude, 19. How much do you weigh right there? 160. 160? Wow, you look lean. And how much does the joy we're looking at right now way oh 143.7 as of my last workout oh man you look you look heavier now than you did in that picture it must be the camera then dog i'm skinnier than i've ever been right now

holy shit when and you're going down to 135 yeah i, I got to cut to 135. I'll be 135 Thursday. And if people want to watch the fight on Thursday, it is on UFC Fight Pass. You have to be a subscriber to Fight Pass to see it, right? Yes. You can do a month trial. It's $9.99. And then you watch the fight. Obviously, I'm going to encourage everybody to keep UFC Fight Pass.

So when I fight again, they can tune into that. And tons of great— When you fight again. Yeah, when I fight again. Okay, lots of doors opening. Lots of doors opening. So March 4th, do you know what time? Fight's not at 7.

I'll probably be somewhere in the main main card so i probably won't fight till like eight you know maybe even nine uh and that's east coast time yeah on the east coast with pairing out of the uh of the card there's one fight less so okay i'll be watching i have fight pass of course business deduction uh so you you take this fight and how does this fight come about is your agent from back in the day still your agent and did you give him a call and they're like hey joey gomez here's joey long time and he thinks you're asking for money but you're asking for another fight no it isn't my manager big tim tim O'Connor. Shout out to Big Tim, man. I hope everything's well with you, my dude, if you're watching. I think he got out of the game after I had retired.

But we had opened a gym during COVID. Gym's called Gracio Tengu Academy in Nashville, New Hampshire. And, uh, you know, we had been looking. You and Tim, you and Tim O'Connor opened it. Myself and Walter Coutito, my bad. Okay. Okay. So Walter Coutito and I started a gym, Carazzo Tango Academy, uh, Nashville, New Hampshire. And, uh, it was like legitimately in November of 2020. So like right in the thick of it.

And we got a good, strong group. We jumped all through the hoops and we became very, very successful. So much to the point now where like we can't get our fighters fights anymore. Like our guys are just, our amateur team has destroyed the local scene. Congrats. anymore like our guys are just our amateur team has destroyed the local scene and uh yeah it's it's been so rewarding and fulfilling to watch these young guys come out there and and to know to watch them you know just start their their martial arts journey and and to see them be successful it's been great but uh i've been training and getting all these kids ready for fights. I'm taking shots.

I'm like, fucking coming up, beating up. My buddy JC knocked out my tooth. Look at this shit. Oh, shit. Fucking asshole. I got the tooth over my fucking cabinet, too. I saved that shit. Hey, you don't wear mouthpiece or mouth guard?

It doesn't matter. I do, in the top, not on the bottom. Okay. Put that shit in milk and take it to the dentist. They're like, that's good. She's got to go. Don't you got tricare?

Come on, dude. And I, yo, I toughed it out for like a little bit. Like he cracked my tooth. My face got all swollen and infected. And the missus is like,

yo, your, your face has a face. You need to go. It was fucked i did the same thing with my elbow i got i got swept i was doing uh uh i was like hold on let me finish one so i so i so i got swept on my elbow my elbow got infected and i was like no i'm not getting seen i'm not getting seen just rough the fucking dirt on it kept going to work it's like three weeks later my elbows like three times the normal size like if i wiggled my arm like there was just just this mass it was just

you rent are you right-handed i am right-handed so does that hurt at work when you're wrenching and your elbows all fucking pussians and you're working on an engine? Oh, yeah. It was miserable. Okay. Okay. Good. I mean, it is what it is. And so because you're going through these, because you're a hands-on coach at this gym that moved into this spot that's now 5,700 square feet, right?

What are your second or third location? Second location. Second location. It's killing it. You're in Nashville, New Hampshire. You always have700 square feet, right? What are your second or third location? Second location. Second location. It's killing it. You're in Nashville, New Hampshire. You always have to say that, right? Ooh. Yeah, that's exactly what it looked like.

Ooh. You always have to say Nashville, New Hampshire. People would just think you're in Tennessee, right? Nashua. Oh, Nashua. Nashua. Yes, sir.ashua okay and then um hey i don't mind the keystrokes caleb i like the keystrokes it makes me feel like you're smart i'm telling you

whoever said they don't like the keystrokes i like to when you start typing i feel like we're like it's a real fucking podcast like holy shit we really are taking over cool thank you um uh so um so you're getting beat up and you're putting in all this hard work and and that that either that gave you the taste for it you're like oh i'm still tough enough or you're like well if i'm putting in the work i might as well cash the paycheck or like which one like if i'm gonna be taking shots might as well be getting paid for it instead of just you know you know what i mean and like it's something special too to say i'm also doing it you know you know what i mean and like it's something special too to say i'm also doing it you know to promote the gym 100 uh but also to

to it's for the it's also for the kind of for the culture of the gym too you know it's very very like yo this is a fight gym like if you come here like are you going to get in shape yeah but you're going to learn how to fight too and the shit teaching you isn't you know that you're gonna learn on you know kravmagadmymom.com they teach you shit that's gonna fuck people up and krav magad my mom there's a market for that and uh i think you got two sides mixed up i think you got the bang bus mixed up with the with the i mean i want to do krav maga with somebody's mom in their basement so and just your agent so so then you who do you reach out to who do you you just pick you just know agents because they're in the gym and managers for the fighters you have and you're

like yo hook a brother up walter currently right now walter curtito is currently managing all the fights right now he's finding everybody's fights he's doing the negotiations you know and he's your business partner in the gym too so you trust trust the dude. Correct. He's my best friend. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Are you concerned about that friendship being in business with your friend? No, because I, it's not the way that I've broken it down. And I thought about that because you have to, anytime you do business and everybody warned me about doing business with friends and family and et cetera.

And I've, I've been burned before in the past, but, uh, the way that it's structured, it is, it is I'm not doing this to make a buck or to make any money. I'm doing it because I'm building a legacy. You know, and what better way to do that than with my best friend that was there on the scene with me. Yeah. That was there for me for everything, for anything that I needed when it came fight time. He was always there for me. So I'm paying it forward. You know, I had my time in the spotlight and now this is his time, you know, and, uh,

and I just want to be a part of the journey, man. That's what martial arts is. It's about giving back and sharing knowledge and, and getting better. Hey, if you made it through the last two years with him, then you could make it through anything. 100%. Because the shit, the shit that's the shit that's uh i don't know where you fall on this so i apologize maybe a little bit but the shit that's like these these motherfuckers that like want me to wear a mask and want me to get vaccinated like i'll stay out of your fucking life do whatever you want take 12 vaccines i don't give a shit kill yourself love yourself just leave me alone i'm cool for sure shit i don't need added sugar i work out every day i don't

eat refined carbohydrates i stop the car and help old ladies cross the street i'm cool we're i'm chill i'm a good dude you know and um but but but these um my kids go to a jujitsu gym and i saw how and they've been going for like three or four years they're little i have little kids two five-year-olds and a seven-year-old and i saw half that gym fucking clear out because like they because they wanted everyone to be fucking masked i'm in california they wanted everyone to be maxed up and double and triple vax and it's like those like all i have tons of friends who are vaccinated but there's a group of my friends who aren't my friend anymore because i'm not vaccinated or i don't wear a mask or i won't test before i come to your wedding and so like the fact that

you made it through with your buddy somehow either you guys see eye to eye on everything or you guys are both just cool as shit and really accepting people uh i think it's a combination of both. Yeah. That's nice. That's nice. And New Hampshire is, I mean, the state motto is live free or die. You know what I mean? So. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling,

winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute i do enjoy the number one feeling winning in an exciting live dealer studio exclusively on fan duel casino where winning is undefeated 19 plus and physically located in ontario gambling problem call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Is New Hampshire a real liberal state? What's up? Is New Hampshire a real liberal state? You know, I think it's a blue state.

Yeah, I'm in California think it's a blue state yeah i'm in california and it's crazy blue and i was liberal as fuck until like they started like acting like like they weren't like like we're supposed to be dirt twirling hippies like you're supposed to be able to walk around naked yeah well dude i might be scared of fucking like some like uh i don't know whatever it is wait i don't my kids don't even wear shoes i thought it was peace love and make out with everyone voters predominantly elected republicans for national office during the 19th and 20th centuries until 1992 since then the state has been considered as a swing state oh they go both ways ah both ways they go both ways in my state too that's why it's supposed to be so welcoming and

loving so like everybody kind of just wants to be left the fuck alone in new hampshire yeah i mean oh good that makes me so happy good dude i mean in the state it's a fairly large state and there's only like i think it's like 1.5 million people is the population of the entire state so you're talking la is the state like when you put it into perspective it's we mass holes took over southern new hampshire you're a good dude chris even though you're a mass hole you're a good dude i love you uh sorry to interrupt uh walter is a sick fighter too oh is walter gets at it well i guess asked you bro we call him all day walter catito that dude has like i'd like i'd be curious to see what his vo2 max levels are i've got another kid right now joe peters is the same man

joe peters is the freak of nature he's a uh 205 pounder light heavyweight that never gets tired is just the most athletic kid. And he's 18. So we're, we're just scratching the surface with what he's going to be able to do. Is that the worst thing that can happen to you in a, in a cage is running out of gas. It sounds absolutely terrifying. Like I was watching the fights tonight and I saw a girl run out, a young lady run out of gas in there.

And I was like, Oh fuck. It sounds like just a nightmare. It's tough. I mean, you, everybody's you, you are all going to gas,

but like when you gas so hard that like you can't, when you gas so hard that you see the punches coming, but you're physically not able to get out of the way. Like you can't even try to get out of the way like you can't even try to get out of the way that's a great way to describe it right oh yeah i mean it's like you're like move and you can't you're just sucking wind oh my goodness but oh my goodness i But. Oh my goodness. I mean, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail, right? Do people have a, are there people who are just better at that? Who just like, you just have a better lungs or better engine or better ability, better efficiency, better red blood cells. I don't know what it is.

Yeah, man. People's ability to break down. So I've, you you know i've got to be careful how much i say here uh but i know that there's like people's ability to absorb oxygen is different yeah and i also know like there was a huge i think recently a study i was talking to one of my buddies at the gym about, for so many years and for decades, people have always contributed that burning sensation in your muscle with lactic acid in the muscles. Yeah. Which is why you take the glutamine to dissipate the lactic acid.

Well, I guess there's a new study that says it's not really lactic acid. So assuming that we're operating on the pretense that lactic acid is indeed what causes your muscles to gas the fuck out, some people have the ability to break that acid down faster. You know, so, yeah. Oh, look, there's our newest sponsor down there, California Hormones. Do you see that? Will added that in the graphic. Do you see that, Caleb? Yeah, I do.

Barbell jobs, California hormones, and paper street coffee. Damn, we're like doing it. Oh my, I can't even believe it. Three whole sponsors. Actually, I can't believe it. So, Gomez, you're Mexican? I am. Mom and dad? So, my father, it's a long story, but my dad is Mexican, yeah.

El Paso, Texas. Are you first generation? I am first generation. So, both your mom and dad are from Mexico? So, my mom is from Bolivia. Okay. And your dad's from Mexico. Yes, sir.

Well, no, he's from El Paso, Texas. I thought you said you're first generation. I guess that would, right. That would make me second generation. So first generation on your mom's side. Yes, sir. Yeah, I'm first generation on my dad's side, second generation. And then was your mom first generation? I mean, sorry, was your dad second generation and then was your is your mom said is your was your mom first

generation my mom sorry was your dad first generation he was his parents came from mexico yes and um how did they meet uh you know i'm not really sure. Are they still, are they still alive? Yeah. Yeah. They stay still together. They live together in California. Oh shit. That's amazing.

Yep. I'm actually going to be flying out there after the fight, hopefully to see them. It's been a year since I've seen them. Holy cow. That's amazing. Are you going with your family to see him? Are you going with your daughter?

I'm going to go with my daughter probably. So I have a, I have a daughter, Alexis, she's 10 and I have my son,rew she he's uh he's six and then my wife caroline so we made the trip last year during covid uh december of 2020 or so it would have been 2020 2020 was the last time we saw them. Holy shit. Yeah, dude, it was wild. That was what we're hearing. And where do they live? Who?

Your parents. Where in California? Marietta. Okay. Is that where you were born and raised? I was raised in Marietta. I was born in Fairfax, Virginia. In Marietta, that's...

I know there were some people who used to work at CrossFit in that area. Marietta's by... What was – you said another town over there. It's kind of like a motorcycle town. It's where all the moto – where? Temecula. Yeah, Temecula. So were you a motocross kid? No, I was not.

No. I wrestled in high school, and then I just partied. I joined the Marine Corps when I was 18, man, so I was kind of out of there. Why did you join the Marine Corps? That was a Marine career Marine, 28 years. So you knew. Oh yeah. Do you have siblings?

I do. I have three older brothers and an older sister. Oh shit. How, um, so you, when did you start fighting? Like just like when you were four, like by fighting, I mean, just like, when was it like, you just knew like, Oh, like this one fights. Uh, I, I got in a lot of fights in elementary school. Like, no, I wouldn't say I would say middle school, like seventh and eighth grade, ninth grade, a lot of street fighting. Right. And then why? Why? I just I mean, it was the 90s, dude.

Yeah. People were mad dogging. You needed to fucking check them. Right. You know, so just like some dude looking at you in the high school, what you looking at, what you looking at, what you look. OK. And then you had to kind of throw down. Yeah. Yeah. Bigger. And then you had to kind of throw down Yeah, yeah And Yeah, that was like when flat bills So I graduated high school I'm 49, I graduated high school in 90

And right in my senior year All these freshman kids started coming in Like all the gangster shit Like we listened to NWA, but we didn't think we were gangsters We listened to Two Life Crew, we didn't think we were gangsters But then all of a sudden the freshman class came in in 1990 that's probably the class of 94 those motherfuckers were like wearing flat bills and started bringing guns to school and it was like shit this class could beat up our senior class it got just got weird

it got weird so quick it was like the whole stigma you what I mean, of just wanting to be tough. Yeah. But so shout out to John Vandenberg. He was my study skills teacher class. He was also one of the PE coaches. That sounds like one of the class the bad kids were in, by the way, study skills class.'s like was that class for you to just do your homework so you didn't have to do that shit when you got home so i was all about it and uh he got me onto the wrestling team and that's how my adventure into combat sports came to fruition

so uh yeah so i once you started wrestling did it temper your street fighting nah I think it just made it more efficient okay like don't get me wrong like I didn't I didn't go looking for fights but I like if you were at the mall and someone talked shit like you would just fight there in the footlocker dude I was a skinny Mexican kid that you know black

that people fucking discriminated against here and there and I fucking didn't stand for it. I'd slap him around. You know what I mean? And, uh, and yeah, so I started wrestling and then from wrestling,

I joined the Marine Corps. And then from the Marine Corps, I, I tried the whole McMap thing and I was a little disappointed just because my unit at the time wasn't really pushing it. And so I got, what's that? What's McMap?

Marine Corps martial arts program okay is that like a brown belt or something like you get your brown belt you get your tan belt tan belt yeah yeah i think it was like tan gray green is there a brown and then a black yeah i just looked at it yeah brown and black yeah where are those at look at those bad those bad motherfuckers dude so you tried to start that up in your you call it your unit uh no so like once you get out of school like you know you go to uh boot camp then you come out and either you go soi or you go mct and then you you get out and you go to your mos school then you get to the fleet right the fleet marine force then you uh you get to a unit you get assigned you get orders to a unit so they say hey report to fucking you know 514 or mwss 273 or fucking 22 or you know 312 and you hop on a plane and you report in and service office and you freaking start doing your job and uh the unit that i was with at the time was getting

ready to push to iraq so it was like we literally got boots on the ground february we pumped to iraq in august so it was just like right off the ground hey you're deploying get your shit together sign your fucking will kiss your family goodbye and go so you got legit on the job training yeah legit and your first deployment was for how – they were both for nine months each? Yeah, nine months each. And where did you try to start the martial arts group within your unit? Well, I mean – Over there or here? Is it like a separate tech school for you? Like another school you can go to?

Like going to airborne school? Like you're just like, hey, I want to go to McMap. Yeah. So there's like the McMap instructor trainer courses that you can go to and like they're accelerated and like you get your red stripe and uh that means you can like make instructors so like if you're a black belt then you can promote or you can it's like martial arts belts like if you're a black belt then you can promote anybody but if you're a green belt then you can only promote a tan belt to gray and then maybe but either green so uh but like the instructor trainer courses in quantico virginia that's a

legit school that you go to and uh like there's there's boats or uh boat spaces and all that stuff for all for those schools um but no so i i forgot your first question you gotta give me one second my question was I'm gonna go pee out the door here I was gonna ask you about where you tried to start that school up at like if it was you starting it

but you can talk to Caleb I'll be right back yeah so it wasn't that I was trying to start the school it was just not a priority it's like annual training you know what I mean? It's stuff you're supposed to do on a regular basis, but it's like one of those things that doesn't get done. Getting ready for the deployment is a priority than fucking, like, Matt, sustainment training, you know?

It's like your readiness training, and you're not doing it when you're like, hey, I got to work up for a deployment kind of thing. Exactly. What do you do? I'm a med, I'm like a medic. So like a corpsman for you guys. That's I'm just in the air force basically. And I just work in a clinic, man. Like I don't do a whole lot of anything. I tried initially to get into like the special warfare portion of the air force. I got disqualifiedqualified like right out of

basic um and i was like well you make me a medic or i'm just gonna because i guess there's a clause in our contract says if you don't get a chance to try special warfare then you can either you can get out or you can pick another job and i just got lucky enough to get the job i wanted and so i'll take it. Stefan, if you don't mind me asking, what experience from post-OPF Fallujah 2 did you face that impacted fatherhood? Do you have a different perspective now as the war unfolds in

Ukraine versus Iraq? Hold that thought. Hold that thought. We're going to come back to it. Great question, Dylan. We'll come right back to it. Dylan, save your fucking money, dude. I really appreciate it, though. You are you are fucking amazing i love you the rest of you give me your money um uh so so so you deploy and um do you see combat over there like are you deployed into a war what was going on in 2005 yeah man it was pretty crazy over there while we're going over uh while we were overseas our first tour i was part of an instant response platoon and we were outside the wire every single

day you know getting shot at was something that happened on a regular occurrence while you're most of the times you didn't even know it was happening it happened so quickly you know there was a couple of times that i distinctly remember like being parked on top of a mountain pulling security for uh the water treatment facility and dudes were just coming by and shooting rounds and like in between the mountain passes and it happened so quick you didn't have time to react and then uh there were a couple ied attacks that attacked our convoy luckily we didn't lose anybody. Nobody got hurt. So the danger was real out there, man.

Would you, like you would be somewhere and you would hear shooting and then like, literally like you could see where the bullets were hitting, like in, like in the movie shit. Uh, I mean, the movie shit is the movie shit.

Like, you know, it's not Hollywood like that. Uh, you, like it was during the daytime that people just take shots and you would you would hear it and then you'd see the dirt kicking up behind the vehicle but you're going 40 miles an hour you know what i mean and i saw you guys ever

shoot back did you ever get in any gunfights when you were there there was uh there's a there's a lot of stuff that i'm not really ready to talk about that happened while we're over there right and so uh yeah well um when you say i'm not prying i mean i'm not prying for you to tell the story when you say you're not ready to talk about it it's um it's because it's emotional illegal i think it's what we did over there was meant for the boys that rove in that we did it right and it's just it's just i'm i'm extremely proud there was nothing illegal that happened i don't want it it to come off like that. It's just, it just is what it is.

You know what I mean? You're not going to get a book deal and write a book right after you get back and retire out of Marine Corps. Yeah. I just, I'm extremely proud to have done what I did with my guys over there, but that's kind of where I just want to leave it. Do you think about it every day,

your journey over there? All the time. It definitely shaped me to be the man that I am now. What kind of dog do you have? I have a pug. He's like half a pug, half a pug. He's not a puggle, but he's something different, and he's thirsty. Will your son go to the Marines, Joey?

I hope not. I hope he joins the Air Force. Oh, okay. Hey, we got it good over here. I'm not going to lie. Oh, man. It was hard. It was harder than necessary.

We got golf courses at our bases. I'm not even sure I understand Dylan's question. What experience from post-OPF, what's OPF mean? You know, I'm not sure. I know there's OIF and OEF, Operation Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom. You might just be talking about a specific mission, I guess. Like Operation Fallujah, maybe. I don't know.

I'm not sure what he means. A different perspective now. So, what are your thoughts about this current situation that we're having with Ukraine? Do you have an opinion on it? Do you follow it? I've been so consumed with the fight.

We were talking about being obsessed. Man, my poor wife. I'm like, hey babe, I woke up this morning. I was 147.3 and I freaking ate, hiccuped and farted and now I'm 147.3. Yes. I've been seeing what Tim Kennedy's been posting and Marcus Luttrell.

Who's the other guy that I follow? You fucking killed Baghdad or Osama bin Laden. Rob O'Neill. Like all those dudes have been freaking posting a ton of stuff and like just of what's going on over there. And, you know, it's it's tragic. It's crazy. I don't know how I feel about it man like but at the at the same time like if if we went to fucking war with russia like i would be i would be going back in and

volunteering my services at whatever capacity i could because that's a that's going to be a real fucking war you know i mean that'll be a war that has the potential to come to our doorstep that we would need to be prepared to fight for our way of life. You know, if Russia decided, I mean, didn't they make a fucking movie about this? What was it? Yeah. Red Dawn. Red Dawn. I think they made it like there was an old school one when I was a kid. There was an old school one when I was a kid. 1984. Savant. Was that the year it was made kid 1984 savan was that the year was made 1984 yes wolverines hey isn't it so weird that like isn't it so weird that some of the stuff that people have been worried about over the last

five years that like we've heard brought up to the forefront of like people's concerns and then and then there's this there's like oh my god look at that look at that oh is that is that patrick swayze oh yeah dude yeah and he looks puffy as shit i don't even remember how that um how that movie ended bruce wayne thank you for your service wad zombie fine that means like here here's two bucks fine like fuck you here's your two bucks everyone is that what that means like fine here um you say that um you alluded you more than alluded to you said that there could there's going to be another fight after this fight how so where are you in your fight career? Are you going, you're going at it again?

Like you're not taking it one fight at a time, really. You're like, well, I mean, I know you're taking it one fight at a time, but you're like, okay, I'm a fighter again. This isn't like, yeah. How did you get this fight? We still haven't gotten to that. How do you get this fight? And shouldn't, isn't it a bad idea to fight dudes with the,

with OV is their last names like Nerma Gamenov and like any like. And he's Russian? Yeah. So, yeah. The real, real though, for real, for real. I heard, I heard fucking Vlad's a pretty cool dude. You know what I mean? And I tell people all the time,

I don't have to hate you to fight. You gotta fucking fight, you know what I mean? I'd fight my mom for a pizza box. There you go. But, hold on one second. Oh, that's a cool shot. Look at down into that living room right there. Someone didn't pay the electricity bill.

Right. Okay. So, yeah, I mean, I have. That doesn't even look like you. I made that as the hold for youtube for this interview and then afterwards i'm like fuck that might not even be him and i took it down and i found another picture of you that's you yeah man that's me man look at that beard you look 10 years younger in this interview than in there dude the beard is the beard adds 10 years bro it's not that's why i shaved it. That picture came out.

I was like, fuck this. I shaved it up real quick. Had to make myself look presentable. Put a turban on you. You might look Afghani. Oh, yeah. I was going to say, he doesn't even look Mexican. He almost looks like Cuban or some shit.

Like, he should have a cigar in his mouth. They say all the time to me in Iraq, like, Gomez, go talk to the fucking Iraqis. Get in with them. I was like, fuck you fuck you guys salam alaikum yeah for real um oh oh here he's saying uh operation phantom fury second battle of fallujah were you there for that i was not that was i think that was like two deployments before we got on deck we were we came on deck during like during the surge right when there was this giant influx of like 55 000 boots on the ground and we

were part of that effort and uh we took we took part in uh some of like of the some of the support operations that were happening in the Al-Anbar Providence. Uh, and we did a lot of fucking counter IED patrols, which is just like a fancy way of saying we drove 10 miles down, 10 miles an hour down the side of the road, looking for fucking disturbed dirt or somebody had planted a bomb. And did you ever find any? Oh yeah.

We found them all the time. You knew what to look for yeah they train you up but and then what do you do when you see that you stop hey fucking back up as soon as you can mark the grid coordinates and call eod eod comes up with some c4 and a robot they drop it on there and they blow it up do you get to watch that oh yeah oh that's cool okay back to the fighting thing so so how so how many fight how many what's going on with you i still don't know how you got this fight did we i was training uh i don't like i said i i i know enough people

in the industry in the in the area to be like hey man i'm looking to have a comeback and they're like everybody was like yes let's make it Initially, I was supposed to fight with ammo. That fight fell through. And then Pat approached me at CES, and he was just like, Joey, let's fucking do this, man. He's like, come on, man. Great platform, great opponent. He's game.

I think if I remember correctly, look him up real quick. Vladimir Kobeskov. I think he's number 20 in Canada and number five in his district. So like the dude's fucking legit. It's a good fight. And yeah, keep scrolling. You'll see the rankings. Yeah, right there. So he's number five in his district, number 24 in Canada.

So like I'm not fighting the fucking bum yeah yeah this dude is i'm going i was fighting at the world scene or a world-class level and i'm fighting another world-class opponent after six years or i'm sorry five years uh of of not come of not competing but But yeah. So Pat reached out to me. I was just like, let's do it, man. You know, I looked him up. It's going to be a good fucking sick, tough fight. And, uh, I'm excited for it. I'm going to get a chance to press myself. Um, you're, do you know who James Krause is? I do know Jay. Oh, I heard the name. He's a legendary.

He's a legend in the sport. He's a good coach. Yeah. Yeah. You're kind of doing um i mean he's been he's been fighting for a fucking long time and i think he he has something crazy going on i think james is like james cross might be undefeated like his last seven fights or something weird like that in the 171 class but but he's but he's not a fighter he's like i'll fight you but i'm like like he he'll be at the ufc thing like with one of his dudes he's got in the ring and then like a fight will open up and he'll take it you know what i mean it's like um you're kind of in that you're getting into that area right you are and especially when you win this you're going will you do both continue to coach and fight? So that goes back to something that I was going to say earlier,

which is really neat. And it's that energy when you're, when your coach is fighting, there's just something, there's some sort of magic in the room. And so like I grew up, I was introduced into the sport of MMA underneath Misen Corbre. And then I moved back to California and I and i started training with dan henderson at a team quest wow so i was in the room with

fucking savages from like 20 i think i was 22 when i moved back to like when my daughter was born i was like 25 26 so getting to that kind of exposure at that level, like Dan Henderson was a, is an Olympic, you know, Greco Roman Olympian, you know, Terry Soju did his thing in pride. Tarek Safferdine had a crazy run in strike force, you know, uh, Frank, you know, Frank Lester from the ultimate fighter, tough nine, Richie Whitson, same season, Jesse Taylor. Like these are huge names in the sport. And these are the guys that taught me how toie Whitson, same season, Jesse Taylor. These are huge names in the

sport, and these are the guys that taught me how to fight. So then I come over here. I forgot. And you came over here for a woman? Yeah. We lived out in California for three years, and she wasn't having it. And I broke

my ankle getting ready for a fight. So I jumped back into the Marine Corps to get the surgery. But, uh, the price of the surgery was I had to deploy one more time. So I, Oh shit. No shit.

So I deployed with one fucking leg. And then, uh, and like, wait a second. So now we've got two stories going here. The story you were telling us, we were going to talk about when,

when your coach fights the energy there but but wait wait before you do before you do that oh that's dope is that the cast from your ankle no that's actually my son's cast oh good fine though caleb good fine um so so tell me about this so you were in the marine corps for four years and you were gonna get out but you had to have surgery so you did another three and a half you four three and a half years until you could get the ankle surgery and another deployment? So, no. So what I did was I did my four in the Marine Corps, got out, moved back, was going to school on the post 9-11. And then in the summertime, I would jump out of the IRR and go to my reserve unit for three months during the summer because there was no summer school.

And I would get paid doing that. So school would start up. I'd drop back into the IRR, go to school, get paid, fight, train, so on and so forth, business as usual. Broke my leg getting ready for a fight. Madi Baghdad fucking broke my my leg that son of a bitch and uh you should just call him a dd bag so uh what was i saying about about so so so then you had to go back so then they had to deploy to they're like you're like hey i need to get the surgery and they're like go ahead and deploy and

we'll get it for you it was like that they're like we got a deployment coming up in in uh with oscar battery this is when i was at uh 514 uh and they're like they're getting ready to go on a udp if you jump if you if you go on this udp they needed the uh ncos that will will prove your triceratcus like fucking surgery i was like when you went on your udp did you tell your girlfriend that she should take out her iud i want to play with some acronyms too what the fuck is going on here is irr is udp yeah okay unit deployment program so you did your your as a reserve unit You're a reserve unit deployed

Yes Yeah wow And then you were there Another nine months And they gave you the surgery when you came back What's that? They gave you the surgery when you came back No no

Surgery was Surgery was right before the deployment. So you're on crutches and shit when you're there. I'm pretty sure if you scroll my Instagram, I think I got a rifle stack with my crutches in there. And there's a couple of pictures with me in fucking desert digis with the cats fucking around on a truck, trying to fix a truck. Do your parents trip when you deploy or did they?

And my mom was a mess, dude. My, my poor mother, I've been stressing her out since I was born. What do they know you're fighting on Friday? Yeah. My parents know. Is your dad pumped for you? Yeah, my dad's fucking stoked. He's my biggest fan. So is my mom.

How about your three brothers and your sister? Everybody's super excited that I'm fighting. You know what I mean? They all... It gives them something uh everybody's super excited that i'm fighting you know what i mean they all they all it gives them something to rally for you know what i mean because it's something to cheer for and uh you know i'm putting it on the line and for the family and uh i definitely think it gets everybody surprised, you know what I mean? At that level. Yeah. You're breaking up super bad.

Can you hear me? Yeah. I wonder what happened. Like a bird landed on your antenna on your roof or something. A seagull. Can you hear me? Kind of.

It sounds like you deployed. Want me to try to leave and come back? Sure. That'd be dope. That'd be dope. He's in... You can just hang up and then click the same link you want to do that Joey yeah do that he turned into a robot

it was getting kind of bad sounds like he forgot to pay his wifi bill and his power bill oh no his wifi went to shit Bruce Wayne his power bill oh no his wi-fi went to shit bruce wayne monday night we're doing a show with angelo de chico we had him on the podcast from the mayhem empire uh brian friend from the unfriendly state of illinois um and we're gonna do a recap of the open i mean i didn't I need to watch the open shit.

I heard that they're saying that it's Dave's workout, but I know it's not Dave's workout, so that should be fun to... New Hampshire shuts its internet off at 10. Yeah, it's part of the censorship, right? I mean, it makes perfect sense. Part of the censorship over there. It's the swing state. That's going to be fun uh we have dalton uh muscle

white on uh that is on uh monday morning that's gonna be a great show i think the guy at one point weighed as much as 515 pounds and has dropped to as light as 215 and uh it's gonna be cool hearing his story uh and then tomorrow morning, oh shit, 11 hours and 15 minutes from now, we're going to have Facundo on. He's one of the coaches over at the Mayhem Empire. We're going to find out what's going on with Samuel Cornwallier. I heard Saxon has left the stable and headed over to Proven with missing an O where Tia Clare

Toomey's training. But what you really don't want to miss is Zoe Harcombe on Tuesday. Probably one of the smartest women alive. She should actually be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. And I'm not even joking. Oh, much better. Not much better. Much better. Can you hear

me, Joey? I catch you guys. Oh, nice. I had to plug in my phone too um is there a is there is there a is there a plan with this guy so so you fight on friday you go in there and is there a plan yeah man i'm just gonna do you remember how to fight i know that sounds like a fucked up question but like no there's that's actually a really like deep question like there's a lot that happens with competition and you know there's a lot of little tricks of the trade that happen when you're in the cage and you know i'm i'm ready my fight iq is there my my conditioning is there my timing is there everything's there man, man. You know, I was great.

I was lucky that my first six professional fights, I had six first-round knockouts. My total cage time was 11 minutes for six fights. You know, so I never took a lot of damage. And, you know, the Rob Font fight, that was a TKO loss. I argue that assumption. I would have let it go a little bit longer and then i went to a decision with jose kiones so you know i still got my chin i've got good cardio i still got my youth i haven't had any surgeries other than the one on my ankle uh i'm good man let's just go fucking touch this dude and see what happens. This is fucking exciting.

You're in such a different place here. In a way, it's a good thing because you are financially miles ahead. Your family is established. Your kids are old enough to where they can wipe their own ass. Your wife knows you.

You have a crazy great team around you but they also say is that fighters get older and they have kids and they got a little coin in their pocket they get soft but it is it is really cool what you said about having your chin because after you fought font then to go the distance because you see dudes like luke rockhold who you think are going to be ufc champions and then they get hit once and then like that then just every people are just knocking him out cold like every time he goes in there right so um it's exciting did you think you got soft at all like with kids and too much huggy huggy with your daughter and like no i'm i'm a hard ass for sure dude like i was raised in the marine corps you know what i mean like i was you like being

nasty you you like it uh i'm good at it you're good you know what i mean and so as far as being nasty in the cage it's like i think i have a different mindset when it comes to to fighting some guys go in there to compete like legit compete like it's a competition like i'm going in there to fuck you up like that's just how i do things and that's how i was raised you know like think of a dog like grabbing a dog's face and just fucking shaking it all the time and that's kind of what they do to you in the military and they're like are you ready are you ready are you ready are you like and then you go and then you come back and then 24 hours later you're back in the states and then you freak the fuck out and they're like oh what what's wrong with you and i'm like uh nothing i mean 24 hours ago i was in fucking ramadi getting

in gunfights and now i just beat the shit out of some dude in south carolina i don't know what to fucking tell you so um that's kind of my mentality going into a fight. Like I, because I've been to war, I kind of equate the two as the same, you know, so different mentality going in there. One, two, no, I don't think I've gotten soft. I think if anything, I've gotten harder. My expectations are high for my kids and my expectations are high for myself and now you know i'm going out there and i'm gonna walk the walk i've been talking the talk for six years five years telling my guys if you want to be successful

this is what you got to do you know if you're gonna if you do x y and z in a fight you're gonna be successful so now we're gonna go put know, metals and meat and see what the fuck happens. You know, so pressure, no pressure. It's not even about pressure. I know how to fight, man. I know I know how to fight. The only thing I got to do is not gas out. The fighting will take care of itself.

You know? Yeah, well, you look healthy as fuck. Are you healthy as fuck? Is your engine oh yeah dude yeah i've been the best shape i got a fucking eight pack and i'm 35 years old dog like what the fuck it's crazy and who does let's see let's see you have an impressive win in this fight what happened you what does ces stand for CES stand for? Classic entertainment sports. Okay.

Um, and then what, and then, and then all of a sudden you're on the map again, right? You knock this guy out, put him to sleep. I've had that thought too.

I know. And then, and then what happens if like in four weeks you get a call from the UFC and they said, Hey, we had a guy come out. We're going to, we got,

we got a four fight deal for you to come in and take this fight. Then what happens? Then we fucking rolled those dice, dude. You know what I mean? When the UFC calls, you answer. Right. And, you know, what better way to end a career? You know, even if I did, I don't know.

You know, I wouldn't say no to the opportunity. That's for goddamn sure. You know? I would love it if you beat this dude and then went to the ufc and smash on o'malley oh dude o'malley is a fucking big name too right now oh my god he's huge he's huge he's huge do you smoke weed uh i don't you don't i don't yeah the the weed smoking is a little out of hand in the with all the ufc guys i think i think they're just smoking a little too much weed i think he's smoking a

little too much weed mr o'malley you don't seem like you smoke weed i had alex casares on here great dude by the way you know who that is uh yeah yeah yeah and this motherfucker the podcast starts and he's got like a like one of those really nice uh thick paper plates you know the kind like you you're like when you buy them at the store you're like man these are expensive you know what i mean but there's a thick ones but you don't you know you're gonna be serving something heavy like four hot dogs on each plate and um he has that plate and the podcast starts and he's kicking back and it's just this big old pile of

weed and he's just rolling a big old blunt he's like yo what's up dude 40 minutes into the podcast he's so stoned he can't communicate with me oh man yeah i'm gonna have him back on though because he's got a fight coming up so i'll i'll leave it at that i hope that wasn't too much dude hey will you bring up his you're gonna trip on this will you bring up his uh tapology or sure dog or is he in one fc he's in the ufc what was the name again he's on a fight uh alec uh yeah caseras yeah it's a it's a uh i always spell it wrong c-a-c-e-r-e-s or something yep he's on he's on a five-fight win streak, dude. Really?

Yeah, it's nuts. And he has like 17 losses and shit. I bet you he has 40 fights. Dude, yeah. He might be the longest dude in the UFC right now. He might have something crazy like that. Okay, 19 and 12. Five-fight win streak.

Dude. He fights good. And he's 33 years old bro look at that yeah he fights good man he deserves one in front of that six for all the fights he's done yeah he looks stoned right there yeah he's a stoner he's such a stoner he's gonna i think he might be vegan too i can't remember I'd have to go back and look at the interview who the fuck was that Andy

no Andy Wang was Ultimate Fighter like 5 and he was vegan no what's that fucking Matt Danzig was vegan he was Ultimate Fighter Matt Serra oh he was No, what's that fucking Matt Danzig was vegan? He was Ultimate Fighter. Matt Serra.

Oh, he was? Matt Hughes, yeah. He was like one of the first vegan fighters. He doesn't look vegan anymore. He looks human growth hormone. Oh, that's right. Danzig is out there in fucking SoCal, huh? I don't know.

When you say Danzig, I just think of that song Mother. I don't know who Danzig is. I know who Matt Serra is, though. You know that song Mother by Danzig? You remember the band Danzig? Maybe, maybe not. I don't. Oh.

It's a great song. You should listen to it. It's called Mother. Oh, God. Do you think we could play that or we would get this pulled down? Yeah. Probably get pulled down. Oh, yeah. I do know that song.

Yeah, yeah. Hey, what is, do you know your walkout song? I haven't picked it yet. I want to toss up between two. I was going to do Beautiful Dan by G-Eazy or

the other one was... I can't remember the other one now off the top of my head. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. It's only took my time. Give me a second. We can talk about something else and then it'll come back. It's Ian Dior. Fuck. Now it's going to drive me crazy, dude.

And Joe does what? Ian D your prospect. Wow. So March 4th, 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Fighting a dude from Canada. UFC Fight Pass. Yep, through UFC Fight Pass. I watch it on Apple TV.

Download the app, watch it on Apple TV. It's $9.99. It's worth it. Now we all know who Joey Gomez is. We spend an hour and 26 minutes with him. It'd be fucking stupid not to go spend another 15 minutes with him. It's three five-minute rounds. I'm going to try to get it done in the first, but yes.

One five-minute round. No, no, but you can watch some other guys fight too. We want them to get their money's worth for $9.99. Absolutely. There's going to be 12 other fights on the card as well. And a world title fight as well. Andrei Sukhomtov, another UFC vet, is going to be fighting. Hey, do you stay after the fight?

You'll stay and watch the rest of the fights? I'll be watching Sukhomtov's fight for sure. Do you come out to do that, or do you watch it from back in the back? You can come out. I'm definitely going to come out and mingle with everybody from the gym that's coming to support and all my you know all the fans and you know just to network rub elbows shake hands kiss babies the whole dang dude yeah will your wife go oh yeah my kids are going to be there oh shit yeah man this will be the first time that my kids will be at one of my fights. So it's going to be fucking wild.

Hey, have you ever watched one of those fights? It's like, I don't know. I just assume it's in Russia because I can't or maybe South America somewhere. But it's a cage and there's dudes fighting in there. And around the cage is just tables, VIP tables. They're pushed up against the cage. And like you're watching the fight and there'll be like little kids playing underneath the tables while dudes are just have you ever seen footage like that and dudes are just getting mashed you know what i mean just like

it's nuts it's like the local fights and like hotel they're like local fights in hotels yeah or behind a strip club in fucking downtown San Diego. Hey, your son will cry guaranteed, right? Win or lose? Yeah. No, man. My kids have grown up in the gyms. You know what I mean? Wow.

Both my kids do jujitsu. Both my kids kickbox. My daughter plays softball, basketball, and soccer. My son plays soccer, uh, basketball and,

and T-ball right now. So like sports is just what we do. Um, my kids do all that too, but like, if I like my, do you know what a one wheel is? No,

it's basically like this. It's a, it's a, it's a motorized. It's a board that has a wheel in the center of it. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you stand on it. So my son has one of those and I got on it and my two five-year-olds start crying. And I get off.

I'm like, what's up? They're like, we don't want you to hurt yourself. You're old. For sure. Like if I got hurt, my daughter would cry cry she's super sensitive and she she's very mother hen nervous nelly what is that is that what they call it nervous mother hen yeah mother nelly works i like it that's like a cabbage patch kid there you go well um i'm looking forward to talking to you again i hope you mash this guy we're all going

to be watching um i appreciate it man i know it's 10 uh oh shit it's 11 o'clock i really appreciate your time dude honestly it's so cool you did this um absolutely i'm glad to be on here man this is cool yeah do you ever do you do any crossfit uh a little bit i kind of have my own routines that i have mainly strength conditioning a lot of olympic lifts explosive movements oh cool okay all right well we we got lots more to talk about um and i'll be in touch after your fight absolutely man you guys have a good night thanks for having me on the podcast huh my pleasure dude thank you