The Sevan Podcast - #313 - Facundo Etchecolatz

Episode Date: February 28, 2022

Facundo is a coach for CrossFit Mayhem competitors and teams. He is well known in the CrossFit community for his kindness and caring attitude for the athletes he works with. We talk about his Mayhem team "Mayhem Libertad", a team representing Mayhem in South America. He works with other athletes like Gui Malheiros, Lazar Djukic, Mayhem Freedom, etc. 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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Facundo's first question, where the fuck is Brian? My words, not his. My paraphrase. He told me he was going to be there, so. I sent him a text just now with the link, and I said eight minutes. I sent him a text. I think that I need to turn off. It's done.

Wait, wait, wait. And I said. Let me off. It's on. Wait, wait, wait. Let me just. I muted him. I've never muted a guest. And it was a great show, guys. Thank you for coming. Facundo, stunning background.

And we'll see you this evening. Good evening. Oh, yeah, from Dubai. Goodundo, stunning background. We'll see you this evening. Good evening. Oh, yeah, from Dubai. Good evening, Melissa. That was a great show. Thanks for coming on, Caleb. That was two shows, 12 hours apart. That is a record for our shortest show ever. We'll see you guys

tomorrow at 7 a.m. Who do we have tomorrow? Oh, that's awesome. We went from Facundo to Brian. We went from Facundo to no Facundo to Brian. Dalton Muscle White tomorrow? Oh, that's right. That's right.

That's the weight loss story. You know, I think that guy weighed 515 pounds and dropped down to 215. Dude. And I think he's put on like 85 more. It's going to be fun getting to that. I love those stories. But don't tell anyone. The reason why I really like them is those are my easiest podcasts because I have so many questions that are just like –

You didn't mute me. You just kicked me off. Oh, did you get kicked off? Yeah. Oh, did you get kicked off? Yeah. Oh, oops. Good morning, Facundo. Good morning, Brian. I'm very happy you're there. I just, I knew I had to come on this one.

Yeah, I'm actually more scared about you than Sivan, because I know Sivan. I can tame him quite easily. You can tame me quite easily. I'm having a scared about you than Sivan because I know Sivan. I can tame him quite easily. You can tame me quite easily. I'm having a guest on next week named Patrick Bet-David. And he was on Joe Rogan. And when he was on there, I was watching the video. And he kind of takes over the show. And I was like, oh, yeah, I had a guest like that once who fucking took over the show for Kundo.

Laura Horvath. What? I don't know if she took it or you took it over laura horvat was just like it was i thought i was doing a podcast it turned into a lion taming show but you actually took it over like i felt like i was on a couch laying down and you were you were getting to the bottom of my issues i was like oh shit well if you start the conversation we're saying i dreamed and i'm very i'm feeling very intimate today you know is that how i started it yeah oh my goodness that means the door is open i have no boundaries i actually i actually been doing some research on you and i realized

the other day i watched um and it's a good way to start i I think. I heard that you said to Angela DiCicco that you are scared of turbulence. And when you are flying and you get scared, you have a tendency of thinking of people that you dislike enormously. And you tend to shout or to say, I love you. The one correction I'd say on there, it's not that I think of people I dislike, but I have a protocol where if your name pops in my head, regardless of how I feel about you, I have to like give you my best. I love you. And sometimes people put names pop in my head that I don't want to say that to, but it's the rules. The rules are the rules. I think it's interesting that in moments of despair, you find solace in people you don't know, random people that you tend to start a love, you know?

In moments of despair, I will be thinking about my family. I will be thinking about, I don't know, you know. They come in once in a while. They sometimes want to... I think that in the next few hours, we can touch back into that when you... Okay. Anytime I get to...

Anytime... I think that Facundo hasn't is that your um i'm not even gonna say it i'll i'll accidentally unleash the facundo beast if i say it oh you can't go no no i'm scared of you um are you in europe i'm in europe now yeah i'm finally after two months of traveling i'm back home for 10 days. And you're in Geneva? No, I wish. I'm in Brussels, Belgium. And why did I think you're in Geneva? Do you work in Geneva? Where are my wires getting caught? I think that you thought about that because I used to work in the European Parliament.

And even though Geneva is not part of the European Union, many people believe that everything that is diplomacy in the EU is in Switzerland, which is incorrect. Okay, okay. And Brussels is... Can I see where Brussels is, Caleb? Yeah, I mean, you will have a hard job finding it out. It's a tiny country in between France, Luxembourg, Germany, and the Netherlands.

And Luxembourg, it might even be smaller. Yeah. So that is where I live. And so if you go west, you have France. That's east. That's Germany. Can you come out even more, Caleb? Because I still have no idea where we're at.

Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. I didn't even know Brussels was it. So Brussels is the capital of Belgium? Brussels is the capital of Belgium, yeah. I took a train one time from Netherlands to Paris. And when it stopped in Belgium, some gypsies robbed us.

But we were able to chase them down and get it back. It was nuts. It was absolutely nuts. You're telling me that you faced some gypsies and you beat them and you won? I did not fight them, but I got my stuff back. We chased them down and got our stuff back. There was no beating anybody. Okay, good. That happened to us in Vietnam.

We got totally just fooled by two people on motorbikes. There was no chasing them down. I mean, you know that I love Americans, but many of these countries tend to see you as very naive. So they take advantage of you. Yes, yes. Basically, what happened is it was myself and a friend, Kerry Peterson, and we jumped on a night train from Amsterdam to Paris. And when the train stopped in Belgium, they had opened our

train doors and taken our, some of our luggage and our passports. And they made it seem like they left, got off the plane. And when we ran and asked the guy, not the, I guess they're called a train conductor. It's the guy who watches the door, people coming on and off the train. And he said, we said, Hey, did you see anyone jump off the train? And all of a sudden when we got on the train, he spoke English. And then all of a sudden he didn't speak English and it was weird. So we started, it was like three in the morning and we started opening the doors of all the cabins and we opened the cabin and there were like 10 people in the were all sitting on there and they were just they were gypsies they were dressed like gypsies and uh i said hey where's my bag and a big like 15 year old kid stood up who could have easily beat me up and he starts yelling at me in some language i don't understand and then i looked under the chairs and the couches and there was our our stuff our jackets our passports our luggage so i grabbed it and ran back to our cabin it was

kind of it was, it was scary. It was scary shit. I almost got beat up by a 15 year old. Can you define gypsy please in your eyes? Uh, yeah. Um, like, uh, like just a motley crew, like a, like a, first of all, it was like their family. It was like, it was like four generations, right?

It was a little kid to the grandma. They were all together. They had everything in this cabin like they looked like they were huddled around a campfire but it was inside of a train cart i mean you know what i mean imagination right but yeah anyway amazing you're telling me that anybody who is like put all oh man yeah oh it was those people in that black and white photo, but add four dudes to it. Hey, but I would have really liked to have seen the gypsy sisters. That would have been awesome. The problem is that nowadays, the term gypsy, and you know that you're going to love this,

but it's kind of politically incorrect because you might want to call those people that are called Roma, not gypsies. So they are part of their population or culture in Europe. And gypsy, we can – I don't know. I don't think we use the term gypsy very much anymore. But you're like controversy. I'm sure you can keep using it for a while. I heard that you're supposed to not even say – like there's this phrase in the United States that you say, I got got gypped meaning like you paid too much for a car or something and i heard that you're not supposed to say that because that's a reference to gypsies and then it means that gypsies gyp people but but it's funny i never

thought of gypsies as a um ethnicity like i thought there were armenian gypsies and mexican gypsy i just thought it was just like yeah like nomads i thought it was nomads who steal wallets. But the picture you just showed before, they are Roma people, people from the ethnicity of Roma, R-O-M-A. If our beautiful producer can go back to the first. He's got it here. He's got it here. So I'm using the word inappropriately. This is a disgrace. And I pride myself on using words correctly. So you're absolutely right. gotta hear he's gotta hear so i'm using the word inappropriately this is this is a disgrace and i pride myself on using words correctly so you're absolutely right what should i call them bandits i'm gonna call them bandits train bandits but bandit doesn't mean that everybody in a family

around fire are bandits right no no no but i'm gonna go with bandits because i like bandits because then it sounds like i was tougher like i wasn't getting robbed by a 15 year old boy and 80 year old woman i was bandits good i mean band very cowboy to me, but it's a good term. You can use it. What if we call them nomads? They can be Roma, Romani people that live in their territory, and they don't have to move. And then you will expel them from their own.

There you go. Okay. You know what's crazier,zier too i'll tell you just how how i don't know what the word is i don't think racist is the word but um it was weird getting punked i think they were speaking french and it was weird getting punked by someone who speaks french because like in in my being it's like the language of love like anyone who speaks french i should be able to beat them up but like they were like i was terrified of them and they were speaking french it was like getting beaten up by a pillow it was like i was like holy shit

it was scary and i had weed i was smuggling weed in my in my in my underwear me and carrie peterson were and so i was like shit we can't even like go to the cops because then we're gonna get busted it was fucked up were you intending to smoke that weed after watching your underwear for a while i guess you know what i ended up doing with it was in your underwear for a while? I guess. You know what I ended up doing with it is we ended up going – I would complain about that more than being robbed by bandits, I have to say. That is no shocking. I ended up mailing – we ended up going from Paris to Ireland,

and then in Ireland, we took it on the plane to Ireland, and in Ireland, we ended up mailing it to – we gave some to our host in Ireland, and we mailed the rest home to the United States. And you got it back? We were done. Yeah, it all worked out. I think it was crazy.

I know. You better love the American Post Service, no? Yeah. That was 1990. That was 1992. 1990? 1992. How old are you, Facundo?

Are you... You're 36? Yes, plus nine. I'm 45. Oh, no shit. Okay. How come you don't have any gray? I do have some gray. Yeah. It's more on your beard than your hair? No, it's everywhere.

It's not everywhere. It's by the weed.'s by the weed um yeah i don't have any below here yet i do have some nose hairs that i see gray but i don't have any like pubic hair no chest hair no butt hair no arm hair that's gray yet but i i think it happens i don't want to check to be honest all. All right. I'll keep you informed. So how is everything, Zivan? Are you happy now? I am happy.

I'm wondering what's going on in Europe, though. I'm wondering, are people freaking out? I woke up this morning to something like, it feels like I'm in a movie. It's like Putin goes to raise his nuclear alert. And I'm like, what the fuck? Is this fucking real? Unlikely it is. It's very, very sad, honestly. It's a very sad situation.

And it's, I mean, I just hope that authorities, governments, politicians, you know, man up or woman up. And they find a way to stop this. The European Union has already established some sanctions for Russia, but they are very soft. And actually the sanctions are going to be more aimed to make poor people poorer. Of course. Having less access than the rich friends of Putin

to get themselves in stress. The most irritating news for me is that Switzerland, which is where most of the Russian money is, has said, once again, it's not my problem. I am not going to do anything that will put our customers in stress. And by that, they mean the Russian money that is at Swiss banks. And I find it a very sad news again. In Switzerland's the country, they're always neutral, right? They're the ones in all the wars. They stay neutral. Yeah. Yeah. So do you have a lot of knowledge about that? Are you familiar with the entire situation because of your past and just because to be honest not so much at the moment i'm more more aware of how many reps are in 14 rounds of

21.22.1 uh for obvious reasons but uh my last master was international conflict and security so i studied humanitarian law which is the law of the war uh And I have my own way of seeing stuff, at least conflicts stuff, but conflicts. And yeah, it's how it's apparently to my ears sounding a very, very sad moment. Is your husband in the parliament? I forget what he did, but he's somehow intimate with the parliament

right yeah that's correct and is he home or is he with you or is he somewhere they went out for a swim okay but he's not abroad somewhere he's not in ukraine stuck in an embassy okay we are here in brussels yeah um is this is is europe is is it you know we're far away but but is Europe tense there? Is it tense in Europe? It's very tense at the moment, yeah. But you have to understand that one of the most devastating wars in history happened here not long ago, where still some people that went through that. And many of the countries here were very closely related to this war and we

europeans they are not very they don't take the world war very easily you know it's something very traumatic and they will try to do we will try to do everything in our hands not to get to that point but when an external actor comes and they, okay, I want this, I'm going to declare it anyways. It's very complicated to force in or to analyze what are the correct steps to follow. If this is out of your area of expertise, feel free to push back. I'm not an expert. It's my opinion. Tell me, ask me. So the way the picture is, the rough idea that I have of understanding of what's happened,

and I haven't done a lot of research on it at all, but basically that there's theoretically Ukraine is split into two parts. There's a part of it that's been saying, hey, we want to go back to Russia. And Russia is using that as an excuse to say, OK, we're going to take these guys back because they want to come back. But while we're there, we're also going to take back a little bit more. Is that it or is there more? Is there is there a pipeline? Is there energy? Is there? I mean, this is a very, very personal opinion. And I say it again. I'm not an expert on the matter. So, you know, but as some of the data we have within collecting, you know, after the 90s, Russia has been over and over bullying

the neighboring countries of the countries that have and you know it very well you're armenian i know that part of the u.s but it's a neighboring country and every time they're i wouldn't say russia but some authorities or some you know um chief of states of of russia had the chance we're annoying here and there. And there is also the issue of gas. Most of the gas that we consume in Europe goes to Ukraine. So Ukraine takes part of a commission for bringing this gas from Russia to Europe. And of course, Russia is not very happy of paying

a commission for using Ukrainian soil to transport gas. I'm not saying that this is the only reason either, but if you collect a lot of little points here and there, you know, but I guess that only time will give us more information regarding on what is maybe really happening and what are Putin's ultimate goals with all of this. Yeah, so no one really knows what his endgame is. He's a guy that is... I've been in Russia many times,

and actually it's a paradox because Russia is very unlikely of what people believe, especially in the Western continent, where they believe that, oh, it's still a communist country, it's very social, and it's the complete opposite. The highest conglomeration of richest people in the world are in Russia, and the biggest chunk of poorest people with India and China are still in Russia. So this idea of a communist, you know, all sharing where everything

belongs to the states and everybody gets a part doesn't exist anymore. It's a very, very liberal capitalistic place. And I think that Putin in the last years have unlikely managed to, you know, to segregate a lot of hate and a lot of, uh, very extreme behavior. And, you know,

when, when I, when I, when I chief of state allows people to be violent, aggressive, racist, and he said, okay,

that's fine. That's, that's not the most ideal. Uh, you know, people feel empowered by the authorities to do so at every single level. Um, so as you can see,

I'm not a big fan, but, uh, right. Right. He, um, do you can see i'm not a big fan but uh right right he um do you sense that he's a madman uh i don't i mean this will sound very childish i just think that he's an evil man yeah yeah i hear you i hear you okay it's it's so hard it's so hard to tell because we have the language barrier um he always seems like he's in control. He always seems well-spoken. But the stories, of course, that we hear are, I guess, an easy way to sum them up as evil. In order to maintain that, you need to be very well-spoken and very clever.

I mean, he built a, you know, I wouldn't say empire because I know that you saved the world for something else, but a fortress in which, you know. Thank you. That was clever. You know, many people, many spies that left Russia were killed. I mean, there was a very famous case of this spy that was killed in the UK by some venom that was put and so on. And everything that is opposition has been somehow minimized violently

by the authorities led by Putin. So it's very complicated. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, do you know Roman Krennikov? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. I worked with him for a while, and I was involved back then in his first visa issue.

And do you think that this significantly affects his ability to come to the Games this year? Well, I don't know. Yeah, probably. Can you imagine? But it wouldn't affect him specifically. It would just really affect any Russians who are trying to get here. Exactly.

I mean, one of the measures that the sanctions that the European Union wants to set on Russia is denying the access of Russians. I really don't know if it passed, if it was voted, but it was to deny access to Russian, to European soil. I'm not sure what are the measures that the United States is going to take. Hence, going back to what you were saying, it affects poor people. Because if you're rich, no one's stopping you. You're going to get on your jet and you're going.

Exactly. And I've seen that firsthand. Rich people fly wherever they want. I just hope that good Roman makes it to the Games this year. You just hope what? That our good friend Roman makes it to the Games this year and shows what he's able to. Do you have any concerns about, do you have any desire, is the tension so great that you have any desire to vacate Europe? No, no, no.

No. The problem with Ukraine is that Ukraine is not a part of NATO. You know, would something happen in European soil, then all the European countries the NATO will act accordingly together. And that will be, hopefully, we don't have to get there, but there will be a full throttle war, a full conflict. Oh, man. Yeah, I just read yesterday that my official sources that the war is costing Russia $20 billion a day. That doesn't sound very sustainable.

Yeah, especially, yeah, yeah. And that's why maybe, you know, these sanctions in which they can freeze their assets and so on, if Switzerland would say, okay, guys, we don't give you any more money, they would immediately oblige to reconsider whether to continue because, as you say, it's unsustainable. But, you know we see let's hope that uh that a solution no this is a super wise thing i don't think a lot of people

are considering but when i was a history major in college and one of my history teachers says anytime you want to study a war just follow the money yeah yeah yeah but that's why the sanctions were aimed to you know to freeze that And that is what for me is very upsetting that Switzerland doesn't want to collaborate in that aspect. Do you remember what happened in Cyprus a few years ago? The country was basically going bankrupt and they decided and the European Union bailed them out. And one of the, go ahead. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Cyprus, the island is divided into two. You know, there's a Turkish part, there's Cyprus, and there is a territory that's called Famagusta. There's a ghost territory.

Actually, it's incredible if somebody wants to Google it. Maybe not now, but to read. Famagusta was a territory that belonged to Cyprus. And when the Turkish came and invaded that territory, everybody was told, leave home, go to the southern part of the island. And in a couple of days when the conflict is solved, you can come back home. And that territory is left. You can visit behind bars and you can see.

And the houses are still the way they were left 40 years ago. Abandoned. Yeah, 40 years ago, 41, I think. But yeah, the European Union takes responsibility for the member states. And if these kind of issues arise, they are there for them. I had this guy on, Brett Mesrick. He wrote Accidental Billionaire and he wrote the movie, The Social Network.

He's the author of those. And in that book, The Accidental Billionaire, he talks about the Winklevoss twins. They're the actual creators of Facebook and then Zuckerberg took it from them or basically created a duplicate version and launched that and kind of buried theirs, right? Because they hired Zuckerberg to make Facebook for them, but then Zuckerberg made it for himself. It's an interesting story. But anyway, these guys

started buying Bitcoin, right? Shitloads of it. Well, I guess Cyprus was going bankrupt and the European Union bailed them out. But Cyprus had to do one thing. They agreed with the European Union that they would take – I think it was like 50 percent of all the money out of their banks from their customers who had over 100,000 euros. And that – they called it like a tax. But they basically stole that. And the reason why Cyprus – how they justified that is one-third of the money in the banks in Cyprus at that time was Russian money. I guess that was the place the Russians were putting their money. I want to say illegal money, but fuck if I know. I'm just saying that because it sounds good. I understand that they have money in many places.

Sure. I guess if you have a ton, right, like Switzerland. If you have a ton, you have to divide it. You have a ton, right? Like Switzerland. Yeah. You have to divide it. And when they did that, that caused Bitcoin to skyrocket. That's how the Winklevoss brothers became billionaires, because when they when the world saw the governments would take your money out of banks, everyone started dumping their money into Bitcoin like all over the world. They saw Cyprus as like this, this experiment. And I wonder how this thing in Ukraine is going to affect cryptocurrency. To answer Melissa, she left a message. It's different because Dubai has, the UAE has an agreement into exposing accounts.

So money that is in Dubai, they have a name. The bank account has the name of a person. It has a name and you can find that person. In a person. It has a name. And you can find that person. In Switzerland, you don't. You just put the money there and you just get a code or whatever that is. I don't know what is the procedure now. But nobody knows who the owner of that money is.

And that's what makes things more complicated. How old is your daughter now, Facundo? Oof. I love her. Good. 180. We're going from evil stuff to nice stuff she's five and a half yeah um does she have any idea of what the conflict or anything like that well actually yes and yesterday she went to the manifestation in front of the russian embassy with a banner saying not to put in war.

So you went over there and – I didn't go. Some friends of mine went and my daughter wanted to go with, and that's what she did. You let your daughter go with your friends? No, with their friends, and the other father was there too, but I wasn't there. Yeah, I don't let my kids out of my sight even though i'm kind of lying because i'm on this podcast right now and i can't see him trust it i don't trust anyone with my kids well but they're on they're on the estate oh yeah i mean but she she's very aware and she's uh you know she i'm very proud that she took uh

matters in her own hand and she was explaining why was the manifestation taking place, where and the reason why. I actually have the banner in the next door. I can pick it up. It's bigger than her. What's it say? It says no to Putin war. Man, I wonder what's going to happen to the leader over there i hope he gets out okay

uh yeah i mean he's number one target in the family number two did you see that i don't know if it's true but did you see that thing on instagram where the lady walks up to the soldier and she hands him the ukrainian woman and she she's handing him sunflower seeds and she said put these in your pocket so when you die sunflow flowers will grow from your body did you see that? no I haven't seen that from the Chinese I don't remember the name of the square Tian Mei I think it was

when that happens some years ago and people start to revolt and there were many Chinese giving flowers to the to the soldiers yeah oh yeah here wow Caleb you have a great production i mean since our last podcast these things uh you upgraded everything yeah we got well we just started just dumping pouring money on caleb just and and the shit just got better he just needed

some some money caleb oh yeah there it is yeah i mean who knows if that's what she really said but that's what the clip said so i'm gonna buy it i saw this show last night um facundo called in and of itself do you know that show it's on hulu no we don't have hulu here oh do you know it brian nope in and of itself the author's name is – I highly recommend it. Do you know that? Derek DelGaudio. Derek DelGaudio. In and of itself.

It's a one-man play, and he interacts with the audience, and it's about discovering who you are. It's a trip. It's such a trip. I thought – thought it's interesting i thought for sure you would have seen it for some reason for kundo no no no all right i've been watching videos of 22.1 since uh it's the evening i guess um how is everything so So what happened over there? Samuel, he's going team now? That guy seems so dead focused on winning the games when I interviewed him. I'm kind of like tripping. I got to get him on here.

Why did he switch to a team? I mean, I guess you could still win the games on a team. Oh, what's happening too? Samuel? Oh, Samuel. Samuel, yeah. Samuel Cornwallier. Yeah, yeah. Samuel Cornwire. Yeah, yeah.

Well, he's not thin. I mean, he's strong. He's very strong, actually. No, I think that, you know, if I were a competitor and I have a bright career in front of me, as he has, because he's really an amazing athlete, and Rich Froning offers me to go with him as a team member for one year, I think that is an incredibly

learning curve from that. Training with Rich, working with Rich as a team member, it's kind of a magical touch that Rich has. Whatever person is in the team, they win, and that is because they work in a, that is because, you know, they work in a way that is very interesting. And I'm sure that I know that Sam will take this year as an experience for going to the games as a team if they qualify. And eventually have, you know,

fill his pockets with a lot of experience and having learned from Rich. It is a little different though. Most, most of the male teammates that Rich has had are either, have either never made the games as an individual or, and none of them have gone on to make it after being on a team with him as on their own.

Yeah. I mean, Hobart was the game 2014. He's the, he's the exception. Of course I need to defend myself. So I was going to find the, well, that's the here's the exception of course i need to defend myself so i was going to find the well that's what i said most and not all yeah go go ahead i was gonna say i'm not sure if that's valid though like well uh well it's not that it's not valid

what brian said i think it's it makes implications that maybe are too strong like like who cares if no one's done that before right oh no i'm just i was just saying it's it's different and there's a and there's a couple things that uh you could you could take away from that i don't think it takes away at all from sam's potential of making the games in the future i agree with facundo that this would be a great experience for him and he'll come out of you know whatever happens this season as a better athlete, probably more cerebrally than anything else. But also it says, to me, it says a little bit about, you know, Rich and Mayhem. It's like this is the strongest play that they've made, you know, yet,

I think, because, you know, picking up Andrea and Taylor is one thing, but they were already winning. Like, and there was really not, I didn't think, you know, there was some teams obviously being made in the offseason, but it tells me that they thought, you know, we have to have a really good team this year if we want to win again. Yeah, I mean, last year they won with a big margin, a very big margin, despite people, you know, saying Chase is a new person.

He's not strong as the rest of the field, as the rest of the team members. And they, you know, they managed to have, I don't know, maybe the biggest margin, probably. uh i mean there were more events but the margin was was very big no to be honest i think that i believe i think that people have a tendency of overthinking the decisions that will make a mayhem and sometimes are very simple hey bro do you want to make team this year oh let's make teams okay we're going team and then they go yeah because he didn't do that and this when he felt the snatch he believed that he needed to go back to the basics no very often the decisions are like you know not random and and

thought but they are sometimes sometimes a bit more simpler than uh what people tend to analyze i think it's even simpler than that i think fucking rich goes to the mayhem family tree and just fucking shakes it and some dude falls out yeah this dude falls out chase he's like a third cousin from a step family he's like yo you're in chase like all right i think that's the gene pool over there they just yeah who would who would say no who as a competitor say no to being a team with Rich Froning? Right. Matt Fraser.

Hey, those guys got to do that. Those guys, they should get a building. I think he wasn't offered. Sorry. That might be the case. Those guys should get a building and put a thick piece of glass like bulletproof two inch thick glass in between it and just train to be on the same team they never talked the whole fucking time then they go out there and uh and and they're they're on this i

mean what a great show that would be just for the sake of just weird things for kundo for for the athletes that are that are living and training there in mayhem not just the team athletes but all of all of them that are there what's the general like feel or approach during the open because i think that's shifted a lot for elite athletes in the last two years so what's what's the kind of mindset surrounding the open at me i was there the week two weeks before two weeks ago so um you know the open was still a little bit of a big idea we knew the date and so on but yeah i i winning the open doesn't bring any advantage whatsoever going to the next stage just maybe some money if you win it so uh but what it does is it can put you a little bit behind on

your normal training so are you going to be on picking for that weekend of the quarterfinals or you would have spent some of your money already uh on for that weekend of the quarterfinals? Or you would have spent some of your money already on the three weeks before the quarterfinals. So I don't think that it's very much of a big issue there. Yet again, I wasn't there. But generally what happens is in the first day, they hear the announcement. They take the measures, put the thing. We all go, done uh what are we doing next uh you know rich has been doing the open workouts i think once and very often on thursdays or

fridays mornings uh but i i don't believe that it's something that stresses them particularly and and yeah and i assume i mean and it's it's pretty crazy uh uh i think fantasy fitness fitnessing on instagram put out a thing about his consistency over the last four years being the best amongst all male competitors during the open and you know and well that's that's a fact and just and to know that he's doing it one time without much preparation i mean in fact he's he seems to be doing it to then you then pass on information to the rest of the Mayhem community. And he's still able to finish in the top 10 worldwide year after year. It's pretty crazy.

But it's the way I remember many, many years ago when I started working there. It was during the open announcement. And on Friday morning, we woke up and said, let's do the workout. And that was the case. And I know I was judging him. So I wanted to be very, very clear of the idea in my mind of what I had to judge and the standards and i i know i want i was judging him so i wanted to be very very clear the idea of my man what i had to judge and the standards and everything and i think that he took less time to prepare and to warm up than the time that i needed to read the four pages of the

you judge rich in an open workout yeah in a couple yeah is there is is there no there's no there's probably no easier athlete to judge still stressful it is stressful because i remember the first one was one with i don't know how many wobbles and double unders and double oh 19.1 and you know what do you want to go by one to go english is not still my mother tongue so you know i can triple there too and uh so no it's very simple because he moves very well he moves so well and he doesn't take shortcuts uh when he does that he never takes so you know he's also counting and he knows everything so you're kind of there just like i know i'm i'm just i'm just signing the scorecard right right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's very aware of whatever is happening.

He's very aware of what he's doing, and he's very aware of the reps of the person behind him. I don't know how he does it, but he knows. What's the etiquette? What's the etiquette there? And feel free to choose any example, but I'm going to choose an example. Rich and Luke and Samuel are going to do the open workouts. Everyone says they're just going to do it once and be done.

And then they all do it once and they're done, but then Samuel sees, oh, you know what, I'm going to do it again. Let's say he's in third and he does it again and he beats Rich and Luke. Is that okay? I think it's okay. It's very okay. Anyone can change their mind. There's no etiquette.

Everyone knows you're just trying to do – everyone just do you. If you want to do it 20 times, do it. Anybody who sees the videos that we publish on Mondays or on Fridays, we see that often Haley beats Rich. And Rich is – he's just – it's not a problem. We all understand that this is gold. But in the case of Sam, I'm guessing that maybe Rich wants to train on Monday. And he said, well, if you want to do the Open again, you can go for it.

But maybe after this we need to do the team training. I really don't know how they are doing it at this time. But, yeah. So there's no tension there. Everyone knows there that they're supposed to be the best. There's no rules around that or etiquette around that. No. It's okay if I know your score. It's okay if I see Haley's score and then I just go out and try to beat it just because I want to beat her on the leaderboard.

I don't think that anybody – I don't think there is much competition among themselves. There are a lot of alpha males or individual male athletes that want to, you know, be the other one. We have Tyler, we have Guy, you know, but I think that they are very respectful.

And I think that if there is some competition among themselves, we happen in a proper competition, in a proper live competition. If you know, when you have that one chance to show whatever you've got. I think this back and forth of I do it again, I beat you for one second, I'm not sure. And actually, as an example, last year in the last-time qualifier,

Angelo went head-to-head with Tyler. You know, they would do it face-to-face. They were both, Tyler finished third, Angelo, I thinkto-head with Tyler. They would do it face-to-face. They were both. Tyler finished third. Angelo, I think, finished top 10. And if they were really competing, wouldn't have gone 50 kilometers away, do it on his own.

And, you know, I don't know. Tyler's Bailey Ray's boyfriend? Is that? Yeah, we had him on the show. What's his last name again? Christopher. Christopher. Okay, I was going to say Morrison. It wasn't even close. No. Not even close. yeah we had him on the show what's his last name again christopher christopher okay i was gonna say morrison it wasn't even close no no not even close so i want to go back to some more corn why

just real quick and then i'll bury the hatchet but i want to say something a little bit extreme so there's two ways to look at this really extreme ways but one of them is is like hey something's wrong mentally and he's going to team to hide that would be like worst case scenario he's not fit enough he doesn't believe in himself and then the other way is is like actually no going teams with rich is the pathway he's taking to win the games because it's to spend some intimate times with the greatest who ever did it and then and then and then from there launch out so so that's that that's sort of the narrative that you believe. I will answer now, but did you ever tell Matt Fraser that Rich was the

greatest that ever lived? No, when I'm on the show with him, Matt's the greatest. When I'm on with you, Rich is the greatest. Good, okay. And if Tia ever comes on, she's the greatest. Yeah, if Tia comes on, she's by far the greatest. Better than both of them combined. No, no.

I'm sure Brian knows it better than me or more accurately than me. Sam went to the Games two years ago. He was very, very sick. Very sick. He did manage to win an event. And he managed to finish top 20 despite the state in which he was. So there's nothing – I don't think there is anything negative about his performance or his, you know, role as a competitor.

On the contrary, I think that, as you said, this might be a great step for him to even improve the immense potential that he has. And he's a great person. He's a very nice person to be around you know that is something quite important if you move to cookville just you know because you spend a lot of time and and i think that sam you know has all of these elements to him yeah i mean his commitment by going there and leaving his kid and his wife is pretty insane and then on top of that i don't know if i've ever interviewed someone who seems mentally more strong than him when he's on the show he's like it's like talking to a hammer when this video came out everyone thought that rich's new teammate was batman

yeah and then it was just sam i mean you we one of the incredible things about mayhem is we i believe we have the best media team ever i mean the quality of the material they produce and the creativity they have i mean you you i know that you had scott on the show last week um and we had vander sloot yeah vander slot is kind of a dutch uh belgium name um uh bennett benjamin carlos david jen kelsey it's it's amazing it's a team and they Bennett, Benjamin, Carlos, David, Jen, Kelsey. It's amazing. It's a team. They are the greatest people to have the chance to work with,

and they are talented as few. So whatever comes out of that meter room, it's amazing, to my eyes at least. Facundo, did you see who I picked to win the Open this year for the men? No. Oh. You didn't see? No, I haven't seen. Oh. You didn't see? No, I haven't seen.

Oh, it wasn't you. It wasn't you. No, I picked Sam, Corn YA. Oh, really? Okay, good. Yeah, I mean. I thought he would have a chance to do it. I think he was seventh place last year.

He's been in the top 20 many years over. And I think he's a little leaner this season than he has been in past seasons coming off a great showing in miami training in a good environment and down there i i think he has a chance i mean it's it's super hard obviously to pick a winner for the open but yeah i mean he certainly has a capacity and i made that pick before knowing that he was actually on on that team okay so maybe now the stress is less for him as well since i'm going on teams well one of the other factors that you mentioned is you know it's not a it's not a ton of money compared to some other competitions but if you do win i think it is at 15 or 20 grand this year um and for a guy who's you know left his young family

to come and do something professionally i'm sure that he would be happy to to win that money i think many people would be happy to get 15 000,000 by doing something they like to do. Right. And they do for free the whole rest of the year, right? Well, I wonder – I hear that the boys who are going to Iceland are getting their way paid. They're getting their food, their housing. I don't know if it's true, but I'm hearing that. way paid they're getting the food their housing i don't know if it's true but i'm hearing that so that to to to be on the team with annie that that is a that there that there is a um

she's in iceland right that's her country yeah that island okay so i i and i wonder if any of that has if samwell there's something like that too you go on the team and there's something that's taken care of for you i mean it is pretty is pretty damn nice for anyone, I guess, who's at Mayhem. I don't know how it works there, but it is pretty nice that you have a media team that I'm assuming you don't have to pay for. I'm assuming Rich pays for the media team and it's like, it's, it's a mutually beneficial, right? I mean, he gets all that footage. He's in the documentary, it's on YouTube and you get the extra eyeballs that were there just to see Rich, to see you. And then rich ends up paying, has to pay Scott Vander slut. Is that, can I say that Scott Vander slut?

Is that, yeah. I mean, all right. I'm going to use his name a lot more now. Yeah. Um, okay. So, so, so I, I get, does, is that, do you know if that, do you manage, are you a manager and a coach? It's funny because since you – I really want you to be a manager too. I was a manager. Even when I was a volunteer at the CrossFit Games, you asked me,

are you a manager? Yeah. I'm serving coffee here. In the old Marriott, Marriott in Manhattan, I'm sure Sivan remembers those years very well. I think that's actually how you first got your job in politics. You were just there like doing the janitorial duties, but you looked very elegant. And so they asked you a question.

You just pretended that was your role. And next thing you know, you had an office upstairs. No, it was even worse than that. I mean, I wanted to pursue my PhD in neurosciences and I failed to do the exam and I didn't have a job. I didn't have anything. no studies, no job. And I met someone who needed a person who spoke German decently. And they said, well, but you need to move to Brussels. You need to work on politics. I said, okay, I'll do it. And it was challenging the first years to say the least. So are the members on the team at Mayhem,

are they given a stipend? Is that a paid position? I cannot answer that because I really don't know. Okay, fair enough. I really don't know. But what I know, for example, is that I think that Sam's living with Luke and it's not like...

Moving to Iceland, to me, seems like a big change compared to coming to Cuthbert. Cuthbert is very small. It's, you know, they hold them together. I know that he was living also with Luke before. I mean,

you should follow him on social media with their dances and so on. So, but, but really some will should pay. I mean, Canada has got to be one of the worst places in the world, at least what's so-called free countries. I mean,

it is a shithole. And, and then in Cook, Cookville is probably one of the freest places in the world uh at least what's so-called free countries i mean it is a shithole and um and then in cook cookville is probably one of the freest places in the world and um and rich is there so it's like i i mean and by the way i think i think dan i think no not dan i think josh bridges owns uh some some acreage next to rich so if anyone wants to offer uh josh money for that probably he would sell it now that he's vanished off the grid somewhere josh has fallen in love and vanished okay he won't be the first one why did that stop right fallen in love and vanished this is what savon fears is going to happen to catrin too he thinks it's already happened i've heard that i've heard that i think that was a bit unfair though i like she fell in love and

vanished no no no on the contrary i think that was a bit unfair, though. She fell in love and vanished? No, no, no. On the contrary. I think that maybe she gets some fire back. I think this is a bounce back year for her. Sevan thinks I'm crazy. Yeah. She trains. There's a very high level of athletes competing there and training there.

It's not just Annie. It's a very well-established box. A lot of the Icelandic people have gone and trained there. And one of the best coaches in the sport that probably doesn't get the with a lot of the Icelandic people that go and train there. And one of the best coaches in the sport that probably doesn't get the recognition of some of the others in Yami. That's true. Completely. That's true.

And no, I mean, look, I would love it so much. And not to say she wasn't one of the best coaches with Ben, but people think leaving Bergeron, well, what do you, you know, how can we go from there? But Yami has just as great of a track record. I really hope she kicks. I hope she dominates

and wins, and I hope like I hope she breaks off Tia's arm and eats it, but that's not going to happen. I would love to come on here and be like holy shit, I had this go wrong. There's a difference between having a bounce back here and beating Tia. But I think that it's over. Like, over, over.

Like, we're going to see her work in a booth. Do you remember when everybody said that Annie was over because of that bad year? And then she came back and she made it to the podium immediately the following year. And then she made it again. I think, I mean, not testify testify but maybe could adjust any uh wrong comment but yeah i mean these people and and katherine is a very clever girl it look if she wants to dedicate love because she deserves it and you know she's happy there it's fine i think that she's i agree competitor and i think that if she works hard she doesn't have much to envy to anybody.

Oh, of course, of course. It's just fodder for the show. It's just three minutes of talk for the show, some YouTube revenue for myself. But I saw her at Rogue. I don't even recognize her. I think she looked the worst she had ever looked mentally, just her face, everything. she had ever looked mentally. Just her face, everything.

And I think that there's just a lot of signs. How much would I love to be wrong? I'd love to be wrong. I'd love to, but I just don't think I am because I hardly ever am. Everyone loves it when you're wrong. I think that Raw was special. Maybe it was the first competition she wasn't doing with Ben.

Ben was there too. I mean, she was on her own there. Maybe it was the first one, but I will never, ever discard Catherine and her capacity and her talent

and her potential. And the great person I think she is. I think maybe she's one of the most charismatic to ever do it I mean that smile I agree yeah she's one of the most charismatic to ever ever

I think that look I think that Catherine Sarah is very charismatic like you know it's like kind of the ace of hearts like people's choice even if she doesn't do well one time, people will love her and root for her. Or five times. Facundo, do you play a lot of card games?

No, I don't play any card game whatsoever. We're desperate for content when Brian brings up the cards. Here we go. No, no, he's just a very cultured guy. So I thought maybe he has a background in bridge or something like this. No, no, no, no. I don't. I got a question.

Brian invents card games. Brian invents card games. Yeah. I think that Brian is dying for this question for a while, for some days now. So I'll let him pop it. Go on. No, no. I've been curious to ask you this for a long time.

I think you speak six languages fluently? No, I speak five languages. Five. None of them properly, as you can see. And I was just curious, what are the five and in what order and age did you learn them? Well, Spanish is my mother tongue. Then French. I studied French when I was in kindergarten, actually. Then English, Italian and German. But German is now the language that i speak the most probably and you learned it the latest in life yeah it was very hard and you were already an adult when you learned that uh yeah kind of well around those years around it's just

i mean i i don't know a lot of people or maybe anyone else who speaks five languages and it's always you know it's very fascinating we moved a lot with my family. So when I was part of Belgium, yeah, it's here in Belgium. So my daughter speaks fluently two languages and a third one that she can also speak. And, you know, she actually corrects me, my pronunciation in both German and French. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling,

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Okay. I think that's a wonderful asleep. No, no, no. I'm fascinated by this. This is just bullshit. This is understating how fascinating it is that you speak five languages. Monolingual, a person who knows only one language. That's 40% of the world's

population. Bilingual person using are able to speak two languages. That's 43% of the population that way that leaves us 17% left. Trilingual person speaking three languages fluently. That's 13% of the population. So what does that leave us? That leaves us, we're now at 96%. That leaves us 4% left multilingual, a person who speaks more than two languages but used often for four languages or more. Oh, shit. I didn't know that. That's 3% of the world's population. So that leaves us 1%.

And that's Facundo. A polyglot. Have you heard this word? Yeah. Okay. Polyglot, someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. That's less than 1% of the world's population speaks five languages. Well, less than 1%.

Here it says it's less than 1% of 1% on another. I mean, it's got to be even less than that. I mean, I know I hang out with just some of the dumbest people on the planet. I know I'm in the United States, and, like, we just – we're English. But, hey, your perception has to be so different. Are you aware of that? Because you speak multiple languages and naming is the, I mean, we've had so many guests on lately who are basically saying like we had Jim Hensel on and one of the foundations is if you can't put

words to it, you don't have the tools to use it in the world. And people don't realize how profound that is. Naming is the origin of all particular things if you can get your head wrapped around that it should explode and so if you know five languages you're a fucking world you're a world-class magician well that i know the language doesn't mean that i can use it proficiently in order to you know apply cognitive sense to them you know maybe randomly i i learn them yeah i don't know it's it's it has been. I did study Korean for one year. So I could write in Korean, couldn't speak very much. And I lived in Brazil for a bit more than a year when I was a toddler.

I'm going to give you the test of whether you're proficient in all five languages. This is the test. Ready? Okay. Have you been with, have you had mates in all five of those languages? I don't remember. I'm too old for that. I've been married so many years.

Oh, Facundo, you're swerving. You're swerving, buddy. You're avoiding the question. I hate to see the dishonest side of you. Facundo, let me ask you this, since you brought up Korea. I was kind of critical of that selection for a host of a semifinal this year. I think that it would be a great spot to have it in future seasons. But for me, I felt like CrossFit should have prioritized the potential

to have live competitions this year. Do you have any feelings about that? Okay. Yeah, so how that relates to having chosen South Korea? It's more difficult to travel there currently than it is to other Asian countries. If I were the director of a semifinal, you know, in the Asian territory or the African, you know, it's a bit complicated because you are only be able to display a very few number of athletes that are famous enough to bring sponsors to the table.

So how many people that are going to be competing in the Asian final are worldwide known? Of course, the Russian, of course, Roman and Alexander Ilyin. There is a number, but it's a minimal number. and the healing and you know there are there is a number but it's a minimal number so i'm guessing that you know i wouldn't be very very uh probably very keen on investing so much with such a high risk so i'm guessing that in that sense because i know that um crossfit had the asia crossfit championship in shanghai which i. And it was a great competition. And you saw a great Marvel movie there. We got three times in a row, yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, I guess that, I don't know. I mean, I'm working with a lot of athletes doing BCC. So we're at Copa Sur now, the Brazilian one. And of course, that is the, the, the best. Is it the same, is it the same competition directors just rebranded names?

It's the same competition director and they rebrand the name, but they also move locations. They are not, as before, they are not going to be close to Vitoria, which is another city in Brazil. Well, there were some,

I think since we're just traveling all over the globe, there's some people in the comments earlier who were asking about mayhem libertad can you tell us about the origins and how that came to be yeah yeah great question okay so there is an info yes inside info everything's oh can i sorry can i i just had to say one thing sorry i saw that earlier and i and i i thought someone was asking about mayhem libtard that's like a do you have you heard that term in the united states libtard is someone who's a liberal in the united states and i was like i can't what is this nonsense it's libertat my goodness remember remember the uh knowing languages i don't even know my own language he was talking about yeah yeah yeah

libertad oh my goodness i'm like gershwin that, that was kind of unlike him to use that term, too. I was like, that's kind of, he must be doing some morning drinking. Okay. It's one of my biggest prides, actually. You know, last time that I was with Seban on the podcast, we hang up, we finish the live, and he asked me, what do you want to do? And so on. I remember telling him, you know what? I was in South America not long ago.

I don't know if you remember, Seban, and I said, I really want to invest whatever I can do there. That's where I come from. And I feel that I felt that life, I feel still that life has been so great that I wanted to give people where I come from the same opportunities. So I came back to the cookbook and I talked to Rich and I said, Rich, the financial situation in South America is very different than, of course, the United States. So not many people have access to a full international program because the

dollar is extremely expensive, but we created Mayhem Espanol, which is actually two of our tracks, Mayhem Compete and M30. We translated everything in Spanish, the videos, all, and simultaneously. So the people that are doing Mayhem in English, they get each thing on Monday and people doing it in Spanish, it's the same thing. So I felt that I was, you know,

that's the team, that's my team. One of the teams, actually, because I'm still the coaching of Mayhem Freedom. Hopefully they don't crash when they meet each other. But, you know, having had the chance of, you know, bringing Mayhem, the program, into South America, I find it also a great opportunity to, you know, to start working with athletes in South America

and exposing them to our methodology. And the last thing I want to say about it, it's like, and I even remember having talked to Sevan about it, you know, very often, and people actually still ask me today, what is the difference between an American athlete or a European athlete or an American or an African or so on? It's like it's the difference, right? And it is true that for the American, have less opportunities than Americans. You know, you guys have incredible high schools with a lot of sport,

with access to great coaches from high school times and so on and so on. And what about if you give to these people who feel they have the potential, but they don't have the opportunity, you grant them the opportunity to have

a great programming. You know, Sasha is in the United States, Santiago Comba, Uruguay's fittest man, twice in a row, went with me two weeks ago. What happens if we take the lack of opportunities out of the equation? And now you have a great program. Now you have trained with Rich Forney and Hayley Adams and everybody else. So what is your excuse not to be as great as you think you are?

And that's what we did. That's what we're working on. So we want to minimize. Our idea was to build a bridge into these communities that didn't have the same opportunities and be able to grant them in the measure of what we were able to do.

And yet again, so... But it's an interesting... That specific team is an interesting makeup. I think a lot of people who know the caliber of athletes they're like nicholas bedarte and melina rodriguez were people i picked to make the games out of latin america last or out of well the south american region last year and and neither and they both i would i think they both i don't know what happened to them necessarily but

so mel was the the beautiful girl in the, she got a terrible COVID three weeks before the Open. She was hospitalized for many days. And just to say this, like, in my opinion, last year, there were three women in South America who had a chance to take the two spots. The other two took those spots and she finished like 15th. So that's not surprising to hear that something major was wrong with her. She lost a lot of weight. She, you know, the year before she was in BCC, she won BCC. Surprising to hear that something major was wrong with her. She lost a lot of weight. The year before, she was in BCC.

She won BCC. She also won through the Open. I was extremely, extremely lucky to have the chance to work with them. Santiago, Nicolás, and Ximena de la Mer, she was several-time master at the Games. She won the Open at her category in 2019. So, you know, they made it easy for me. It's not that I choose people and I,

you know, there are no ones. They are very, very well-established athletes. And so that is what Mayhem Libertad is. Say it again. Mayhem Libertad. Libertad, yeah. Libertad. It's like liberty, like freedom. So it's a's say it again may may hand libertad libertad yeah libertad it's like liberty

freedom so it's beautiful you know so Gertrude that's the that's the info we have

Mel Rodriguez multi-time she went to the games I think twice as a team member as individual once Santiago Acamba went as a

national champion of Uruguay Jimena went I think twice as a masters and once as a national champion of Uruguay. Ximena went, I think, twice as a Masters and once as a team member with BIG, I think. BIG Friends, I'm sure you remember, Brian. I mean, I might be... You're doing great.

And Nicolaus didn't make it to the Games yet, but he's an extraordinary athlete. And people will probably at least recognize him if they follow the underdogs team because he spent basically the whole last season with them. Oh, which guy? Which guy in that picture? In the center.

The blue. Oh, and what country is he from of origin? Three of them are Argentinian, the girls and Nicolas, and then Santiago is from Uruguay. Okay, wow. And so this is the Mayhem Libertad team that you're leading to basically, in a nutshell,

bring the Mayhem experience to Spanish speakers. Yes. Around the world. You know, what's interesting about that, I'll just throw a quick plug for this guy right here. This is a I think it's brilliant, Facundo. This guy right here this is a um i think it's it's brilliant uh facundo this guy right here um uh

patrick bet david who wrote this book your next five moves he's a iranian armenian immigrant who left tehran with his family uh at the age of 10 during during the iraq ir war. He comes to the United States, you know, raised on the streets of Glendale, tough Armenian upbringing, lots of gang shit like that, 1.8 GPA, 800 on the SAT, just can't figure out what he wants to do with his life. Eventually gets way into business,

reads like 1,500 business books, right? He launches an insurance, the the life insurance the average life insurance broker is a 57 year old white man he starts a life insurance company where the average employee is a 34 year old hispanic woman and he's fucking rich as shit today and in and i just think it's like he just took something it's like what you said and gave a whole different demographic access to it and and i and i just think i i don't obviously i think that um i mean i'm a huge fan of patrick bett david but but i'm i what you're doing is just crazy like the implications of what you're doing are massive. Like, forget the games athletes. Imagine the fire you're starting over there.

I mean, it's pretty awesome. To be honest, it comes more for the side of creating opportunities and minimizing the lack of opportunities as an excuse not to get somewhere. You're bringing the horse to water, and you can't do more than that. Exactly. So Santiago came with me to Cookville some weeks ago. And I don't know who was on the, I think that Angelo mentioned that newcomers need to stay away from Haley

because she will, you know, kidnap them. And they said, okay, you train with me, boy. And that is what happened. Santiago came there. He said that too. He said he showed up and she just fucking mashed him. No, it was like five

I mean strength session in the morning three workouts in the morning and Hayley you know she can manage

that volume she's she's extraordinary more than extraordinary to my eyes she's perfection to my eyes but

so Santiago was trying to cope with that and you know he came back to Argentina because he's living there now

and then you know they started talking and discussing about his experience and the why's and the why Haley does that. And there's a moment, funny moment. He's going to hate me for me saying it. But there's a moment they were training kind of a relays. Haley was with Tasia and Santiago was with John and they were doing relays. Right. And at a moment they kind of met each other together, starting at the same time, Hales, Haley, and Santiago.

And when that round had ended, which was in the middle of the workout, and they have a rest time, Haley says, hey, boy, don't try to catch me. Don't try to do anything you cannot sustain. We have still five rounds. So go for it, too. And the fact is a girl like Haley, 21 years old,

and you see very shy as he is, but but she said with a lot of love saying like you know come down that's not what you should be doing now probably maybe later if you can if you still have something to you know to bet on that but uh and then the fact that santa comes back and shares that and there's a lot of knowledge about that uh at the end of the day in how you perceive your training and how you perceive your performance uh so and you have to be aware of your surroundings a couple i was last year at the semifinals in granite games i did a workout that matt fraser was hosting and i and i just lined up in the back of a line and he's briefing the workout and next thing i know everyone starts and he jumps in the line right next to me in the same heat as me. And it's an imam. So I know I'm going to be skiing when he's skiing, biking when he's biking,

et cetera, et cetera. And the first round, I went for it a little bit and I paid for that. And he, you know, just demolished me. In the middle rounds, I just used like, there were seven rounds. In rounds two through six, I used to recover. And then then around seven because i knew we were the last heat so everyone who'd finished would be watching the last round so i made sure i had enough to do my best to match him in the last round and i was able to match my last round of burpees but what no one knows is he was doing the same thing every round i was sandbagging the middle five rounds just so i could try to be not embarrassed in the last round for you it was a full performance based work for him was kind of an

adaptation thing let's see i do that and i'd finish at 25 seconds yeah uh yeah i part part joking but i think there is some seriousness to it um there is a fear that when rich is away that hayley is so alpha that she takes over and just runs everyone metabolically into the ground and i just kind of love that that there there's that like, oh, shit, like you're safe with Rich, but you're not safe with Haley. I mean, that's crazy, but I just like that story. I would not describe it negatively. Right, right, not negatively, but it's still good for the folklore.

You know what I mean? It's like, oh, shit, Rich is gone. The big alpha is gone, and now we're stuck with Haley. It's even worse. What? Which is also an alpha, which is also very much of an alpha. But I want to say, even if the volume or whatever is not what you are expected to do, to have the experience of doing that side by side,

next to one of the greatest actors that we have, right? In which probably for certain aspects of our sport, it might be the best or the second best or the best, you know, it's also a learning curve. And so like, well, you know, she really kicked my butt, but I learned a lot from that. She breathes like, you know, there's a lot of things that you learn doing that. And the funny thing is when I went with, I don't train a lot,

but when I go to Mayhem, I never train because I love to see what these people do because it's so amazing the way they do it uh yeah i feel you i feel you i want to go ahead go ahead brian go ahead brian the the um the international presence of of the mayhem doesn't is not stopping in cookville or south america in this offseason first of all last year there were several very competitive canadian men especially that were part of the mayhem programming in the offseason fukowski no uh alex and alex oh and sam and sam yeah that's three of six that made the games last year who are following mayhem programming of some kind. And this year, obviously, the addition of Lazar Djokic in Europe.

I'm not sure if there are any other European men of that prominence. But what's really caught my eye is Roy Stunn's been with Mayhem for a while, but also Cara and Baden-Brown are now part of the Mayhem family. And just this international reach that Mayhem's starting to have to most parts of the world is pretty impressive. Yeah, we started working also with another female from from europe manon angonesia oh huge fan huge fan huge fan i knew it's just a huge fan hey because she's like to me she's like the d-ball queen i just saw her doing that thing i don't know

if where it was but she when she was touching go the 100-pound D-ball, that really fucking lit a fire. That really lit a fire under my ass. I immediately followed her. I'm like, what a savage. I love her. What? I thought there was a question. There was. I just got excited when I heard her name, Miss Mayonnaise.

She is awesome. God, she's awesome. And she's not coming. What? She's not. She she's not coming. What? She's not, she's not, she can't come to the games. No, she didn't want to go to Manon didn't want to go

to the Palooza because of vaccination things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she can't come to the States because she doesn't want to get, she doesn't want to take the injection. Well, maybe there's a chance for a change god i hope so yeah i hope so yeah she's one of those european athletes i don't know that she's as as good as karen freiova but they're similar in the regard that they have gotten close many times and i don't

think that people outside of europe know how good they are exactly yeah but she has um manganese has the hard part i mean it's all hard but she's got like a really hard part she's got it right yeah yeah i mean part that takes forever to develop she's already got she she developed that part there's some adjustment that needs to be done you know in the in the next weeks uh but um yeah hopefully we have enough time for the time where semifinal come to have improved those aspects and allow her to display them. And it'll be, have you met her in person?

Either of you guys, have you guys been with her in person? I was with her two days ago, three days ago, she came to train with me and we, we set a bit of ideas for, you know, for,

for the future. And she's, you know, I told my mom, she came to train with me and we set a bit of ideas for, you know, for the future. And she's, you know, I told Manon, she came to my place some months ago before deciding to, you know, just to start working together. And I even told her, you know, Manon, this is incredible because she's one of the people that has the strongest inner fire in her that I know overall on the female athletes field. There's a fire that burns her burns her you know the way she does in the positive way but I don't think that the fire wasn't the control still it wasn't this passion was so strong in her that maybe we would work in controlling that and putting all that fire on the right place because she's an extraordinary athlete and I hope that

this year or very soon she has a chance to prove that yeah that's what i was going to ask you like does she have presence like when you're in the room with her like like like we were talking about katrin katrin has crazy presence does that lady have presence miss manganese yeah i think so yeah she's yeah completely actually no i don't think i'm quite sure yeah yeah yeah i just love seeing her where was that that i saw her do that the the touching was that where was that that where was it it's in dubai wasn't it in dubai oh dubai okay that's where she was and she's had some very good lifting performances there too she's very cool and she also she said she's in a

a professional um um olymp Olympic lifter. She finished quite high in the Europeans and so on. So when she takes a barbell, she knows what she's doing. And there are some opportunities in the European women's field this year. They still only get 10 spots, but with Annie on the team and Kristen retired, that's two almost locks that are now open for some of the younger or gone to, right. Sam is, is competing this year, but it's her last year. So she's announced that this will be her final year. Um, you know, she barely made it in last year. I think it will be difficult for her to make it in the women's field is very strong, but you know,

betting against Sam Briggs is probably not the best choice, but she's still continuing to redefine what's the upper end for, for limit of competitive in the, in the elite women's field. Can I ask you a question, Brian? Because, you know,

say Bannon likes to stress people. I like to, but you never get stressed. Who do you think is the female athlete that is the most overrated on the field today? Oh shit. I would never put you in that position, Brian.

Good job. Facundo. This gentleman whom I like very much, overrated on the field today oh shit i would never put you in that position brian good job facundo this gentleman whom i like very much my friend brian he dares to put you know leaderboards before competition that sets the mindset of an athlete why wouldn't we ask him who is an overrated athlete i would like to know your opinion in the women's field worldwide yeah Yeah. Yeah. So I think that, you know, it's like I have to think about this in the context of the season. And I am not, you know, someone was asking this in the comments earlier, actually. I'm not really a fan of the current way that the spots are allocated globally. And so I would say that someone like Ellie Turner might be a good example for something like this. I think Ellie Turner is incredible.

And I think that she has an incredible potential in her career, but she's super young. And last year, because Tia couldn't travel to Australia and because Jamie was injured and unable to compete, she got an opportunity to compete there and she did, and she did okay at the games, you know,

she was in the twenties. And then she did really well in the first half of Wadapalooza, won a couple events in a row, and she faded towards the back of the competition. But overall, that women's field at Guadalupalooza wasn't that strong. None of the top 10 women, except for maybe Bethany Shaburn, maybe Emma McQuaid, fringe top 10 athletes were there competing. And so Ellie had the opportunity to make the games last year because of really technicalities if jamie and tia were competing no one would have seen her at the games and then she did really well at

wadapalooza early in the weekend but faded in what i would say was a sub subpar wadapalooza field historically at least over the last three or four years so that's a really hard question but that's someone that comes to mind i'll tell you who he's just scared to say it the most overrated athlete in the entire sport across there's two it's Annie Thor's daughter and Danielle Brandon and here's the reason why no one can fucking look at Danielle Brandon and their brain just gets all fucked up you can't think straight when you look at her she's too damn beautiful it's too much woman it's like it's like looking at a rhino run across the savannah at 30 miles an hour you just can't

comprehend this thing happening so she's the most overrated it's not her fault but it's just you can't think straight when you look at her and annie because it should have just stopped it danielle it's impossible that she took second place she used magic it's impossible she took second place it's impossible she came back from having the baby she used witchcraft or or something it's impossible and the way back from having the baby. She used witchcraft or something. And the way she did it with the smile on her face and humility. Well, she took third place, and she took second at Rogue. Yeah, whatever.

Thank you, Brian. Those two come to my mind as the most overrated. But it's not their fault. I don't mean it in a negative way at all. It's just – And when I put out the top 10 for the preseason rankings, there were a lot of people saying, where's Danielle? Where's Danielle?

Well, at the last two major competitions that she competed, she was just outside the top 10, and she hasn't shown yet that she can compete as a top five, top 10 athlete against the best woman. She might be able to eventually, but she's not there yet. You'll call some stir there, huh? I'll call some stir? Oh, you know what? But that's okay. That's great.

Do you think that Laura Horvath is underrated? I don't understand. I think Laura Horvath... Yeah, I think she's underrated. I think she underrates herself. How could you say that she's underrated? No, no, because he just put her away

from the second position at the Games There was a lot of controversy about why there was an interview to Tia, there was an interview to Annie and Laura, who actually was the second spot, didn't get much of the attention When I see Laura Horvat I see Tia Toomey

as the perfect version of Tia Toomey She cannot get any better When I see Laura Horvat, I see something that can get better see tia to me as like the perfect version of tia to me like she cannot get any better when i see laura horvat i see um something that can get better i think like i think laura horvat is like we haven't seen the best of her and i think with tia we have seen the best i don't like i'm not saying it's going down but i think we like that that car is painted perfectly it drives perfectly its tires have the perfect air pressure. It's stored in the perfect garage.

I don't think Laura – whatever – wherever those components are that make – it's like Rich. I think Rich is like sleeps every night in a helium chamber or something, and it's just kept perfect. But Laura Horvat is not – all the pieces aren't – He sleeps in the same metabolic chamber as Novak djokovic yes yeah he sleeps on the floor in a mattress wasn't that great when i had him on the show and he said that i would never even admit that and i do that and here's the greatest guy i know and he sleeps on the floor on a mattress so his kids can pile into his bed i was like oh you set me free thank you what yeah i slept on a single bed and he's like no i have a i have a queen on the ground so i Thank you. What? Yeah.

I slept on a single bed and he's like, no, I have a, I have a queen on the ground. So I immediately went and bought a queen. I go, I deserve what rich has. I have not met any professional athlete or a very tough CrossFit athlete that has the lack that he has in terms of normality. It's so it's such a natural thing. That might be his, his, you know, his, his secret. It's natural a natural thing. That might be his secret. It's natural to him, this life he has. There's no alteration.

There's not a preparation, extraordinary switch of my life because I'm competing. That's what it is. He's cerebral as a motherfucker too. People don't realize that, but if you listen carefully to how he talks, he lets out the clues. People don't realize that, but if you listen carefully to how he talks, he lets out the clues.

And, man, you hear these people who talk about Fikowski being so cerebral, the professor. I mean, Rich is a – he's been talking more and more that basically he's a head case. Do you know that in Europe it's illegal to call someone professor who does not have a degree. In Canada, it doesn't matter. It doesn't surprise me. Yeah. So, Brian, you can shoot because I know your mouth is forming with questions. Well, I think that we should, if you're okay with talking about the departure to the transition away from working with Saxon.

Yes. Yeah. I heard you kick Saxon out. Is that true? No, that wasn't true. Maybe. No, no.

I heard he was late on his payments. I heard you swiped his credit card three times. It bounced three times and you sent him off. And I, and it's funny that you heard that. I heard it was super amicable and that you helped with the transition to the next phase of his career. So maybe one of these is true? Yeah.

I mean, yes. I mean, after with Apollos and after Rogue, I think that we were both maybe doing changes. And I was taking a lot of responsibilities for Mayhem. And, you know know that would take a lot of time out of me and I think that because of the results Saxon needed a person who was with him more time I think that

it worked very well that they were apart but I think that he made some changes and he wanted a coach that was closer to him and yeah and you know he made some changes and he wanted a coach that was closer to him. And yeah.

And, you know. Do you have any insights into how he chose who that next coach would be? Good question. Yeah. Well, I mean, I mean, here's the thing is he was fifth place at the Games last year. I'm sure that he could have had his choice to go anywhere he wanted and people would have been happy to coach him he's one of the greatest athletes on the field it's an extraordinary athlete and it's a pleasure to work with him

but he also wanted to move to Tennessee for some time now and when we were discussing about the needs he had and what I could offer and vice versa came the idea of if you move to Nashville, you could train with Shane, which is a good, very good friend of mine,

a very, very good friend of mine. And one of the, without any doubt, one of the best coaches on the field. And he's someone who lives there and you can have access to him 24-7. Well, most of the day, if you want to. There's only one athlete who has access to him 24-7. well, not 24-7, but most of the day if you want to. There's only one athlete who has access to him 24-7. Yeah, exactly. But it felt a right decision for him to do and I completely supported that

and I even talked myself to Shane about it. And I think that actually I texted him before yesterday and he told me he was extremely happy with everything, how things were going. He also, I think that it was a very important thing for him to move away from Ohio. And so that is what actually...

And I think this is a great thing for Saxon, not leaving one coach going to another coach, but just kind of a change of scenery because he's 25 years old. He's already one of the best in the world. But I have this kind of feeling that he's on a little bit of a plateau. And athletes go through this all the time. It's like he's just trying to break through from a top five, top ten to a top three podium threat guy. And it's really, really hard to do to do completely and we talk about that and one of the things that i told him and

that's what i'm very happy that he's there i said i think that you need to start training with at your level because he was living in ohio you know um he he was training most mostly with saxon with scott which he knew from some he knows like you know everything that would do he already foresees. But what about training with people that you haven't trained before, that you're not used to do that and see what they can offer to you. And what can you offer to them in a, in a, in a training environment? So that's why I think that going and I was supported completely with Shane

and with Gia was a great decision. What other dudes train at Proven? Top dudes. Tia, Will Morad. Okay. And Tia Harmon. And is John Colty there? John Colty, I think he was there last year.

Because actually I came to see Shane and Tia last year. When I traveled to Cookville, you know, I land in Nashville. So if they're around, we have coffee or whatever. As I said before, we are very good friends. And, uh, I was there, uh, last year. Um, and, uh, yeah. And what about Spencer? What's Spencer doing? That I really don't know. Wow.

That I really don't know. I think that he's taking some time with Scott at the moment, but I'm not sure what he's going to do. Because Spencer is also, Spencer, and I always said it to Saxon, I think that Spencer is very magical. If he managed to have the fitness and his mindset, like equal on the same line, he's very, when i worked together he presented results that i thought he was kind of lying to me he's like show me the video send me the video because like it's not uh so uh both of them are are incredible i had the chance to be

with them for almost two years and uh and i yeah i think that this changes at least for sax because i don't know what's going to do it's going to be a great thing for him it's fascinating to me because i have twins and i know that they're not normal creatures in um is this the first time they've been apart yes this is the first time they've been apart, yeah. Yeah, very interesting. We'll get them on and ask. This is a total side question, not about CrossFit. When I communicate with you, I text with you, but a lot of my Eurofreen friends like Lazar, he – Lazar? Lazar Jukic? He only WhatsApps, and I have a lot of Eurofic, he only WhatsApps. And I have a lot of European friends who only WhatsApp and they don't want me texting them.

Like Asim Malhorta, a doctor who's been on the show from the UK, he only wants to WhatsApp. Why is that? Why do you text? It's very well known here and it's very simple. Also, you get a notification when the message has been read and you can send files very, very easily. So it's what takes care. But talking about Lazar, someone that I still work with, what do you think is going to be his season like, Brian?

Because I know that Seban likes Lazar a lot. I do. I love him. Well, he did make my top 10 preseason rankings. And I wrote about him there that he was the one guy on the list that I was a little nervous that I had too low, but I also didn't feel confident putting him any higher yet. So I think he has the potential to improve upon his game's performance last year, this season. I think that he showed, to me as his coach, he was so extraordinary in Dubai with a field that was quite challenging too.

And he stood his ground. I would say that the field was moderately challenging. There were four very, very good men there. There were a couple of others that have high level potential. Yeah, because we always decided to aim for the podium. So there were five people that they all would have access to that. And so to beat 60% of those and you're the other 20% and you really beat 75% of the threats.

That's obviously very, very good. No, I've been, I've been a big fan of his for a long time. I really, since I saw him in Dubai the last time that they had a competition and he placed fifth there behind Vellner, Fikowski, VKG and Roman.

I was like, and he was beating guys like Yonakoski and a host of other games. That was a very impressive games field. And to take fifth or Dubai field and to take fifth there told me that he had top 10 games potential, which he met that expectation last year. I think he can. I think he can push for top five this year, especially when I look at the guys that are ahead of him, you know, Medeiros is going to be there.

He's very young. And obviously he's the guy to beat right now. I still think Veldner and Fikowski and BKG are relevant and, and podium threats, but you look at Saxon's changing environment. So you'll get Yonikoski. He had an off season injury. You'll get Guimayaros.

He won three events at the games last year. Like that is a lot of points. Is he going to win three events every year? No. So can he pass him? Maybe. He's not going to win three events at the games every season. Well, maybe five. We'll see. Man.

No one's beaten Medeiros or Tia. We're in the Medeiros era, man. We're talking about individual events. I understand, but I'm just saying. What I'm saying is historically, on the men's side, Facundo, for your own education here. I'm just saying. No, but winning three events this year already puts him

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, tied for 11th in all of history for a game's event wins. And there's only two men in history who've ever won more than eight. So it's hard to win three events in one season. Fikowski won four his rookie year. He's won three since then. I mean, he's been working very, very hard. And I think that many of these imbalances

on the leaderboard that you saw last year are going to be minimized. Oh, I would not be surprised by that at all. But the point is that the guys ahead of Lazar, with the exception of Medeiros, all of them have this like, you know, I'm not saying – like Valdon Fikowski, they're 31 and 32, 33. They should be fine, but you never know. And all of the others, there's like just a little question mark for me.

So Lazar could make a big jump up this year, I think. Because I don't have any real questions with him. Everything looks good. I think he's got a really – I really like his up this year, I think. Because I don't have any real questions with him. Everything looks good. I think he's got a really – I really like his coach this year. Thank you. And he's – from what I can tell and what I know, he's improving on the thing that he needs to improve on most at a steady rate. And I don't think he's giving away anything else that he's really already exceptional at.

Do you know do you know laura very well yes okay please talk to her thank you uh i i did not abandon good dudes what happened is is this guy said hey i want to sponsor your show and i said i i drink good dudes already and he insisted and he's like i don't care you can push good dudes as hard as you want i just want to give you money i love your show and i'm like well okay i can't I don't care. You can push good dudes as hard as you want. I just want to give you money. I love your show. And I'm like, well, okay. I don't really feel comfortable doing that. Why don't you send me a shitload of coffee and I'll start drinking it? And he sent me a shitload of coffee and I started drinking it.

He sent me this dope mug. And he gives me money. And so it's like I would still drink good dudes, but this shit's great. And he won my heart over. So there. So I get money and free coffee. The way to Sav and he won my heart over. So there, so I get money and I freaked off. The way to seven's heart is his wallet. Well,

well, it's not, it's one way, one way, one, one other way to, um, any,

any, any new, anything that we're missing for Kundo? Is there any surface that we're not scratching? Is there any new, I want not scratching? Is there any new... I want to circle back to the Australians. How does it happen that Cara, in this point of her career, decides to follow a Mayhem program? Because it's a great program.

And same for Bade and Braun. Was there a conversation involved? Did they reach out to you guys and say, hey, what would it look like if you wanted to do this? Or did they say, we want to do it, and you're like, great. and say, hey, what would it look like if you wanted to do this? Or do they say, we want to do it, and you're like, great. Well, I know that Cara had some talk with Reach when they launched the iWear together. And from that, Cara expressed,

it's like, do you think we can do that and so on? And of course, I think what happened. And no, generally, I don't know what is with Baden, but I know that very often people reach us and, you know, we have a conversation. And what we try to do with that type of athletes is just not provide the generic programming, but provide some ads on. I mean, okay, this is our Mayhem Compete program,

which is extraordinary. But if you're missing something specific that is not fully expressed on the daily or the weekly program you know jake our our head coach for mayhem programming our director me or darren or whatever said okay well we contact our athletes and we just want them to you know to have access to everything we can do for them so i think that for many elite athletes that is uh something that sounds very uh and i'll if correct me if i'm wrong in this regard but part of the mayhem compete programming is that i think you guys have experts in a variety of different fields and you have chris sage and pamela that work with

the three sets of course uh for every capacity pamela for gymnastic kelly star is doing all the mobility and presenting everything preparing for, for example, for the Open. A couple of hours after the 22.1 was announced, we created a reel that lasted quite some time in which we have Kelly talking about how to prepare the body for the workout, Pamela talking about gymnastics, wall walks, and so on. And so our people, our athletes,

we try to take care of them as much as we are able to. So, yeah, that is. I mean, I think it's important for people to understand that. I don't know the makeup of every, you know, kind of mass pushed out program there is. But in this case, what I do know and what you just affirmed is that you have these experts in these different fields that are working together to provide the highest level gymnastics the highest level of mobility the highest level aerobic training and am i right the sage burgeoner works with you as for the weightlifting stage is our weightlifting yeah so you know they're

drawn they have somehow or another have brought together the premier i think all four of those are if not the the best amongst the the best in each respective field to put together a program that's extremely well-rounded and in the case that you have someone who is a serious competitor who needs a little bit more than that has access to someone who can maybe give them the more personalized approach yes but that's what we are working hard on and we are we were very happy last year with the amount of people following our program that qualified to the Games. One-sixth of the field were following Mayhem Athletes

and it's not just about the number. Maybe this year is less, maybe it's more. We are not wanting to improve a number. We just want to improve the program that we offer and the possibilities that it entails. We are very happy with the work that has been that we offer and the possibilities that it, that it entails.

And we are very happy with the work that has been done. Did you, did you say one sixth of the field of athletes follow mayhem programming? Ryan, correct. If I'm wrong, it's just the number, right?

Yeah. Morning Chaka wrote about this. Yeah. Following the games last year. And I'm not sure. And then they had a huge amount of age group athletes as well and um and now this year they're fielding four four teams we haven't actually talked about two of the teams yet yeah but yes i mean that's the point and you know everybody who qualified to the games was invited to come to mayhem in the month of july to prepare

you know to get into the competition mindset and so on. You talked with our extraordinary Jimmy the other day, and we want to offer them everything we've got for them to get to where they think they have to go or they belong. I should include

Jim as an expert in his field along the lines of all of those others that we listed. That's what it is. That's what we're doing. We are very happy. Yes, Ivan, it was one-sixth of the field. Has Cara been out there, Saunders? Has she trained there?

No, she's not been yet. I don't think she can. I don't know whether she can or she can't, but I understand that she might be coming earlier, qualifying for the CrossFit Games. I don't mean because we live in a giant prison. I mean personality. Personality.

I think there is no greater alpha in the sport than Cara Saunders. I think she's even more alpha than like mad or rich or i think she is like she's she's like the clydesdale only one horse in this like in this uh i don't mean a derogatory at all i just think that's the i think she is um she's a she's a powerhouse i i suspect yeah i think she's a very special. I suspect, yeah, I think she's a very special. The other thing is I think back on her career, and I don't know that she's really spent very much time in an environment where there are a lot of high-level athletes.

She's trained very much on her own over her career and then showed up and competed against everyone. Like it's almost old school to me. Like back in the early days, people would do all the training then they'd get together and compete and i think she's been mostly staying to herself for her career i never saw her hang out with the girls in the back by the way just for whatever that's worth there's no there's no point to what i'm saying but she would hang with the dudes and and like and like maybe yeah maybe because she lifted more than yeah but it kind of reminds me of like when you would hear

about um king richard serena and venus's dad like like they only played with guys and and and so you know there's this um i don't know but there is the there's definitely it is fascinating for kundo like what you were saying like you love going to mayhem and just watching them move and it's also just the presence of these characters right they're like they're like they're like mythological creatures kind of you're like there's the unicorn there's the pterodactyl there's the i mean they're almost like you know me as a coach i i see them when i see them compete or or doing workouts for adaptations which are not based you know to have a great time but to move better to learn something of course i am amazed of the quality of the performance but then again when they are out of there they're human beings and you can see their their their frustration their fears

their you know which is part of being a competitor too you i there's no competitor who's happy no not happy but like sure that everything is going to go the way they want to go so of course these elements exist and and this equation of seeing this incredible display of fitness and then having the chance to work with them as you know as human beings we all are uh because when i see them competing i don't take them as human beings i see hayley hayley training and she's not a human being she's you know yeah from another world they're like it's like it's like the in in in uh greek mythology was a prometheus like they go back and forth between the being playing with the gods and coming down and playing with the humans yeah

yeah it's a good it's a good um yeah but just as well said we still have two teams that just want to come back to it so we have mayhem independence and we have mayhem justice and mayhem independence you already talked to angelo i think angelo is going to be back on the on the call with you very soon yeah tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow evening so well look and angelo are very well known i'm sure you know alexis johnson too and sasha was the first argentinian athlete that that moved to Cookville when we started all this project. And she comes from the weightlifting world, and she's been working very hard.

I had the chance to work with them when I was in Cookville as a team, the first full team workout. And I have to say that I was very surprised on the quality they have as athletes. The other team, may I just? Okay, let me try this. So Jessica Kalagian? Yeah. She made the semifinals last year.

I think she got a backfill and competed there. She's Armenian. She might be Armenian. I'm not sure. She is. Does she coach in Cookville? I don't know. I think that Aniston,

the other woman is a coach there. Aniston is a coach. Yeah. And Ben is our, one of our media jewels. But Ben missed making semifinals after the backfields, like five, five positions last year.

It's pure talent. And then Seth is the one I know the least about. So Seth is... Which one of those is the dude in there? I see three girls and a guy. Ben is the dude. He's hot.

He's hot. And this is people that train together they they train together at the open gym in mayhem well as you know and he's a coach um and they finally realize that they have the capacity the potential the quality to create a team and probably make it surely make it to the games uh surely i think i think they can make the games i think it to the graphic games. Surely. I think, I think they can make the games. I think it'll, it'll fourth or fifth in a semifinal is realistic for this team.

And, you know, yeah, Ben is, is, is challenged Dre as a fetus cameraman on earth. That's it. And,

yeah, it's, you know know it's very cool this is a movie this guy Seth is he's pretty young he's pretty I mean they're all very young I mean I'm old person Brian so for me everybody's very young Jose Vance has the same opinion but

he's like the next Marcus Fili is that really true he has a movie it's called a man in a van or whatever well in a film directed by Ben Looper, which is one of our media team members and Feathering said. Tell them to change the name of that to A Man in a Van, and then that movie's ready to go. That guy with the van, I like A Man in a Van.

It's got a little more Dr. Seuss to it, right? I will, yeah. But this is our four teams, van i like a man in a van it's got a little more dr seuss to it right i will yeah but this is our four teams and i i'm you know i'm extremely excited about the the hard work they've been doing and of course there's mayhem freedom which we haven't mentioned but uh of course they're there there is is that the movie it's a short movie or it's a is that the trailer that's a short movie oh i can't wait to see that i'm actually going to watch that eight minutes you'll even have two minutes to spare on the assault bike yeah it's true hey hey who does the graphics you were talking about how great the media team the graphics are great too the cards

are great with like them kind of splitting the fours like that and their names in the corner i'm digging it yeah so ben does a lot of the graphics himself ben dutson um and uh but i think that they also divide a lot of the work. One of the things we do at Mayhem is not like, this is my thing, nobody touches, I do it on my own. Whoever brings something interesting to the table, we are celebrating that that's great and we all do that.

Whether it's media or project of training or whatever that is. I bet you no one touches a marker and writes on the board when Rich is in there. A little bit more complicated. It's true. Someone grabs the marker and writes something up there.

He looks at it for a second and then he just erases it. That's a bit more complicated, but yeah. Oh, Caleb, you're a good dude. You sent me a link to that movie in the private chat. You are a good dude. Brian. Yeah. Oh, Caleb, you're a good dude. You sent me a link to that movie in the private chat. You are a good dude.

Brian? Yeah, I thought you had more. Oh, so you were going to talk about Australia. Oh, no, so you brought up Cara. We got Roy Stone over there. Is there anything that we're – so we talked about Saxon. We talked about the war. We talked about the athletes in Europe, Lazar. We talked about – war we talked about uh the athletes in uh europe uh lazar we talked about

uh manon manon and we talked about is there anything we're missing did you get any new athletes is it true you signed fraser yeah yes okay good that's why mother keith came into uh hwpo no no i think we're very happy where we are now. We have a lot of work to do. We are doing the best we can. And we are very eager to start this season. That's where we are on. I think we're done,

unless you want to say something more about the five languages he speaks. No. I mean, I think it's very boring. But no, I mean, that's what we are. I think that, uh, that it's, it's, I said, again, we are very eager of starting this season and, and see how our work can be expressed in terms of athletes and our programming in terms of, uh, our community. Facundo, do you think this is the year Haley makes the podium?

Yes. I think she's, I think she's, I think, I think it could be too. I think you are the wrong person to ask because Haley's like a sister to me, like a daughter. There was no way that I would tell you something that she's not possible to do. I saw what I noticed in Miami was that her legs look bigger in a good way. She's been getting stronger.

She's ready, you know. She's so extraordinary. I think that it's going to be another great year for her because you know whether it's fourth, fifth, sixth third, the fact that the only teenager that managed to come from it as a champion and to immediately make it to six of the games and to stay there and to not be afraid of, you know, back in the day I remember the first time

we traveled together abroad was in London and she was competing in strength and depth and there was Jamie Christine Halti, Sarah all the girls, the strong girls and you see Hay depth and there was jamie christine halty sarah um all the girls the strong girls and you see hayley she was 17 still i think back then uh after the games and you know she stood her ground and and from there on she didn't do anything well and then she came back the following year and it was her and gabby and laura and there was and then everyone else you

know and so uh the the rating which is growing as an athlete, it's extraordinary. And I cannot say anything. She's able to do whatever she sets her mind to do. That's my answer on her. Hey, do you think that, in my mind, the women's podium only has one spot. Is the men's podium the same?

In my mind, the men's podium has two spots open. The top of the podium, you mean? Yeah, I think that Tia and Laura have it secured, and there's only one spot on the podium, and the men, Medeiros, has it taken, and there's two spots. Do you guys think that way? And if there was a man, is that true? Do you think that there's two spots taken on the men's podium too or no?

I think that Justin is an extraordinary athlete and a super nice person to talk with and to relate with. I would like him to see Wynn again and see how he wins. And then they always say, okay, this guy belongs there and it's going to be very difficult to take him away. But one year of winning the CrossFit Games, it doesn't make me feel super comfortable saying he's there today

and he lost that first position. I would not say that it's going to be easy to beat Tia for sure, of course. Well, okay, then how about this? Will you give me this? He's going to be on the podium. Yeah, hopefully, yeah. Medeiros, I mean, if? He's going to be on the podium. Yeah, hopefully, yeah. Medeiros.

I mean, if you're not going to give him the number one spot, you kind of got to give him number two or three based on his performance last year. At some point, once at the Games 2013, she won. And the following year, she didn't qualify for the CrossFit Games. Right. Right. And then she stayed.

I mean, maybe the fittest of them all. After 10 years competing, she's still at this playoff. Right. maybe the fittest of them all after 10 years competing she's still a display of you know right the way I see the landscape is if you want to make the podium at the games on the men's side you have to be prepared to beat two of Justin Banderas, Pat Vellner BKG and Brent Fikowski those are

still the four guys to beat and if you want to get on the podium you're going to have to beat two of them and for the women's side there's Tia and after Tia I think if you want to get on the podium, you're going to have to beat two of them. And for the women's side, there's Tia. And after Tia, I think if you want to get on the podium, the women standing in your way are Laura, Gabby, Haley. That's like the next group for me right now. So you have Gabby and Haley with Laura. No, I would say that – well, I put out my rankings.

I said I think I had Tia, Laura i had i think what i mean is like i just see them in tears i see tia in her own tear kind of hanging out and then she flies at 30,000 feet laura flies at 20,000 feet and it's in and then you have and you have basically hayley and i and i put hayley probably above gabby also i think hayley's hayley's in her own tear and then and then it's it's it's really amazing to do that too. And it probably resent the fuck out of me for saying that if they even listen. But it is crazy that the top people are so damn good. That they can set themselves away.

It's nuts. Gabby's an extraordinary athlete. It's an extraordinary athlete. And I think she's going to an incredible rate. So I would never discard her on anything. You know what's so fascinating about it? Since the 2019 Games, the first event, which had legless rope climbs, and she got eliminated.

I saw it today. She hasn't done legless rope climbs in a live competition since then. Was not there in London for Strength and Debt when she finished. I think there was a legless workout in that year when Laura and Haley were competing because I think that I talked to her and she said, no, it's getting better. Maybe it's in my head. I guess I was thinking the 2020 and 2021 game seasons didn't happen. Yeah. I mean, all of, yeah, I think that there are things that they are working on and hopefully, you know, if there's a big chunk of handsome push-ups,

if strict Laura is able to manage to do so, if Gabby with a legless and, you know. What was really as fascinating is if either of them make it to the games, and even if they have that bad workout, it's okay. But depending on how the semifinals end up going, two of the program workouts are programmed by CrossFit the other four or five workouts we don't know are free to program and you've seen it in the past with people like Catherine David's daughter like Sam Briggs who

had one workout show up at a regional that was just something they that everyone in the field beat him at and that was enough to keep him out and we and everyone who knows who I am knows how good the women's field is in Europe and if boom a workout shows up that's got strict parallel deficit handstand push-ups and laura takes bottom five in that workout is that can be enough to keep her out of the games that you know i know but you know as i said before many of my athletes are in the brazil semi-final which two spots two men two female two teams and we have not only ye but we have i was simply chelme another mayhem athlete that has won last last year bcc he didn't do very well at the games but he's an extraordinary extraordinary athlete and you know of course he could finish in the top

10 in the open by the way sorry yeah yeah he won he won 21.3 i think or two the one with it with the muscle ups and the thrusters and the we won the world in that workout so he's an extraordinary athlete and but yet again nobody can afford a big mistake with two spots that level of competition is what it is i think that's the first time i've ever sneezed in a podcast um i have a question for you seban yes i'm here now some weeks past since dave is not anymore at crossfit do you see any difference do you feel that things are settled and everybody has forgotten gastro and we move forward or do you think that there's a void that's still there on the air okay i gotta go still there on the air okay i gotta go um i i just i'll say this it's not surprising to me that they said that they were going to do day the the company the company since it was sold has no has

lost complete integrity it's completely lost its way of integrity and following the truth now whether that matter who that matters to why that matters a whole different discussion but it's completely lost its way of telling the truth the truth. Now, whether that matter, who that matters to, why that matters, whole different discussion, but it's completely lost its way of telling the truth. Everything that comes out from the mothership, not everything, 90% of what comes out from the mothership is double talk, bullshit lies. And, and, and the open just showed it again. They said it was going to be Dave's workout and it's not Dave's workout. So in that regard, that would be my comment on that. I know that doesn't answer your question exactly. I know that the show goes on and I'm happy to see it go on, but I think it's TBD, to be determined. They went from TDC to TBD.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Facundo, thank you. Thank you, Guy. Thank you very much. And I hope I get to see you very soon in a competition especially you Brian well that you might be in luck with it with regards to that

you're coming to Knoxville TBD to where to not to Knoxville Knoxville yeah yeah you must be stoked two weeks in a row there oh no I'm going to go to one week because I have the lowlands where hopefully Lazar and Manon are going to compete. And then I have to go to Brazil for, well, the team and me

and Agustin and Piero and a couple of athletes that we have competing there. Also Victoria, who is the last person who didn't make it to the quarterfinal. Campos? Yes. She's also a mayhem athlete so um but yes thank you so very much for your time and uh till very soon i hope yes thank you thanks for coming on sunday morning even wow you're a good dude it's afternoon there