The Sevan Podcast - #322 - Cody Durden

Episode Date: March 7, 2022

A highly touted flyweight prospect, Mokaev (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his promotional debut against Durden (12-3-1 MMA, 1-1-1 UFC) on March 19 at UFC Fight Night. Partners: https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://www.barbelljobs.com/ - WORLD'S #1 JOB BOARD FOR THE CROSSFIT COMMUNITY https://www.zoeharcombe.com/register/... - 50% off first year with code "sevan22" https://thesevanpodcast.com/ https://www.sogosnacks.com/ - SAVE15 coupon code - the snacks my kids eat - tell them Sevan sent you! 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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Very flavorful. Yodeling with them. I like the way you looked up at the camera like what huh hey hey i'm c beaver how are you admission admission of my addiction is the first is the first admission of my addiction is the first mission of my addiction is the first step to getting healthy i am addicted to hi caleb fighting fighters cody durden what's up brother what's up how's it going good to see you it's cool i've watched so many videos with you in the last couple days getting up on my on my cody durden uh interviews and uh i just i was like god i hope the belts are in the background when i interview him too yeah man this is my, you know, I don't have a podcast studio, but you know,

never know. I might have one in the future. You're getting there. You're the man, dude. I, I really appreciate you doing this. There are, I've been fortunate that the UFC has got a lot of cool athletes who, who respond. And I realized that you guys are professional athletes and, um, that, uh, you guys are busy and that there's like a hierarchy to like the shit you have to do. And I had to stay on you a little bit to get you to come on and it's worth it.

And I'm, and I'm really excited for your upcoming fight. And I, I just think you're an all around the more and more. I watch your podcast and your interviews and I see like what a great family man you are, the more and more I respect you. You're just a good see like what a great family man you are the more and more I respect you you're just a good dude I appreciate it man yeah I get I get uh there's got to be 75 to 100 different people asking me uh for interviews uh a month so it's like a bit overwhelming you know you can't do them all, so you just got to pick and choose. And the ones that are more consistent are the ones that get them. Yeah, and it's like that.

It's funny. It's like that with a lot of the guys. I had, uh-oh, C. Beaver. Oh, by the way, this is Caleb down here. What's up, Caleb? Caleb Cody. Oh, yeah, thanks for muting yourself. And his initials are, you know, his first name's Caleb and his last name is Beaver,

so I just like calling him C. Beaver. It touches the little kid in me, yeah c beaver um you popped up on my radar uh i watch the ufc every saturday it's my um it's my guilty uh pleasure but then i've incorporated into doing my podcast i'm like shit well if i'm gonna watch the ufc i'm not only gonna i'm gonna interview all the regular people i interview but i'm also gonna interview you ufc fighters i'm gonna make my life you know like everything tight right right like everything pushing pushing forward and i can't i um i can't i can't waste any time everything has to be towards pushing towards the goal whatever that goal is to make the podcast better. And, um, one of the, one of the topics about my podcast, uh, very frequently is, um, you know, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, uh, form I was raised in Berkeley, California as a tree, uh, tree hug and hippie.

And I still have a lot of those components in me, but as things started getting more and more weird, and I saw a country that was willing to use racism. They would they would they would use racism to fight racism. And I know in the end of the day, there's the winner's racist. And I was you know, I voted for Hillary and Obama. And I was seeing just all this negative shit about Trump over and over and over. And I started hearing that he was racist towards Mexicans. So I went and looked up everything I could about this guy.

I never saw one racist thing he said he said mexico's sending over their their worst people like that's not racist then then i heard john oliver say that he's racist because he said obama was from i love obama but he said obama was from kenya or a muslim and they and they're saying that's racist that's not racist that is not fucking racist at all. Right. And I saw your comment. You're probably fucking tired of talking about it. But I saw your comment. I watched the fight. You said I sent this guy packing back to China. And I was so disappointed at Daniel that he walked away from you. I was so disappointed in these fighters. Because when you think that that's racist, you think that because you're racist. Cody could have said, I send this fucking dude packing back to miami i sent this dude fucking packing back to israel

oh you would have thought that was racist because you're sensitive about chinese jews and black people i sent this motherfucker packing back to africa but if you would have said i sent this motherfucker packing back to sweden it wouldn't be racist and the reason why you fucking people out there think it's racist is because you are racist against Jews and black people and Chinese people. You're projecting what you think onto Cody Durden. I see it every day. I'm walking down the street the other day on a highway, old highway, and a dude's walking towards me and the dude crosses the street. And on the other side, there's no sidewalk. It's dangerous as shit, right? I didn't think this motherfucker crossed because i look like osama bin laden i thought he i didn't even get i was concerned about him ironically it was a black guy

and if i went across the street someone he could have thought that i was racist maybe i am racist maybe i'm not but the truth is that's between his head and he would have to project that onto me and why would he think that? Because he holds racist ideology in his head. And when I saw that you were – I saw these people calling you out, people I like, John McCarthy. So he outed himself. He's a racist. Bilal Muhammad, racist.

Casey O'Neill, racist. Daniel Julian Marquez, racist. Jamal Hill, racist. Didn't Thomas, I didn't, you're right. You outed yourself by thinking what this guy did is racist. You outed yourself as racist. And I saw it and I just lost my mind. I'm like, do these people, and that's why I can't be a Democrat anymore. I'm sorry. I got, I can't, I'm not a racist. And I got three Jew boys. My wife's Jewish. Like I can't I can't do the racist thing. Sorry. Go ahead. I know I'm supposed to be interviewing you and I'm just leveraging you to just drive like the truth home.

Yeah, exactly, man. These these people don't don't even know me. They don't know my life. They don't know where I was raised. They don't know where I'm from. All they hear is this this country accent that I have and that I adopted from my family. So I'm a hillbilly, huck, all this stuff. Well, they don't even- Hardly. They should watch some of your interviews. Hardly.

You're a gentleman, you're a wise man, and you're a family man. If there were more people like you, we wouldn't have to worry about racism. Yeah, it's quite funny. A lot of people lot of people judge and stuff and, and they, they don't know my backstory. They don't know that, you know, I'm friends with people of all races, you know? Uh, so I have a, I have a pretty big house and, uh, I rent the basement out and, you know, I rented the basement out to one of my gym teammates, uh teammates for three years and he's Hispanic. And then he moved out about a year ago, a little over a year ago. And I had another teammate, he needed a hand and he lived about an hour from the gym. And I was like, man, just move in the basement and I'll do

what I can to help you because I believe in you because I see the hard work you put in hours every day, traveling back and forth, you know, hour there, hour back twice a day. I was like, bro, just just move in the basement. And he's a and he's he's a black guy. Let's get a couple of Jews in there, please. My wife's Jewish. Can you get a couple of Jews in there next? You had Hispanic, black. I think you're racist against Jews because you haven't had any Jews in there yet.

Well, hey, 57 years old. His name is Dr. Felton. You can do your history. Look up Dr. Stephen Felton. He's a Jewish man. Everyone needs a good Jewish doctor in their life. He's been in my corner, man, since I turned. I mean, he's the one that gave me $600 and was like hey go find a good gym and get started at MMA

if that's really what you wanted to do and you know he's the one that he's a Jewish guy and he's the reason why I started fighting check the boxes you got a gay dude in your you got a gay dude at the gym you need one of those no Caleb's a gay dude he'll go in your gym

I don't really you don't know and you don't give a fuck yeah oh i mean women yeah i mean i have some gay women friends but what's up what's up with fight what's up with fight what it's interesting um i don't want to go off in that direction yet because i want to i want to find out about about your youth but i really wanted to drive that home i completely understand the mechanism of racism. The mechanism of racism, when you call someone else racist, it's because you're afraid we're about to spot that you're racist. Like, I get it.

I get it. You had to make the leap of him sending – send that guy back to China. You were offended by it. And instead of looking inward and finding out why you were offended, you projected your hatred onto Cody. And it's unacceptable. You people who do that, you are the creators, purveyors of racism. You create it with your offendedness and then, and then you spread it by telling everyone they should be offended and you make them feel guilty. And it's not. And the truth is those people I named Casey O'Neill, Belalamed, Julian Marquez, Jamal Hill, Din Thomas, Jeff Molina, Jared Gordon, you're the worst.

I still like you even though you are racist. I'm not even mad at you. I get it. Being racist sucks. It's a miserable existence. You have to do shit like be in denial. It's like being in denial that you're gay or like it sucks. It must suck.

I feel sorry for you. I really mean that. You should all fucking dm cody and say you're sorry and that you will stop spreading racism you'll look at yourself and fix yourself i mean i mean that peace and love how how old are you cody i'm 30 years old dang and uh and you're in you, and you're making a run, your career's in a good spot, right? It is, you know, I feel like, uh, I haven't, I haven't really showed up to the UFC. I've had, I don't know, since I got in the UFC, man, I've

had a lot of, uh, camps, you know, tore my ACL, took a fight up a weight class on six-day notice, caught COVID weeks before my fight. And now it's all coming together, brother. You're going to see the best Cody Durden March 19th there is. And what's even funny is this guy that you're fighting, Mohammed Mokhaev, even he got in. This guy lives in Russia? I think he lives in London or Manchester. Okay. Or across Russia.

Even he wanted to throw some stones at you. I am so excited to see this fight. You, God, we're not going to avoid any controversial subjects. You got the vaccine to go there. Right, right. Was that hard? Was that hard? Like, what if you would have said no?

What if you would have just said, no, I'm not going to do it? I know I heard you say that you did it because you want to make money because you want to bring food, put food on your family's plate. But what if you would have said no? What would the UFC do? What would the repercussions be? Well, at first, I was apprehensive, but then, you know, I started talking to Mick Maynard and we negotiated some things and yeah, I discussed it with my family and I thought it was, was best, you know,

we got to put food on the table and we got to continue to grow and, and that's what I had to do. So that's what I did. And, um, did it cause any stress on your parents or your family, or do you feel like you are like morally compromised or anything like that? Uh, no, I mean, you know, we all have our different opinions on, on whether, you know, it, it, it's bad for you or, or, or it really works or whatnot. But at the end of the day, I just, I just had to do what I had to do. And, uh, it was, it was, it was my decision, you know, I wasn't forced to do it and, uh, I did it, you know? Yeah. Well, I think that, um,

there's no better reason to do anything than to, to help your family. That's right. I was actually, we say that again. Sorry. You got to do what you got to do. You know, you're the provider, you're the man of the, of the house. And, uh, you know, sometimes you gotta, you gotta put your feelings aside and do what you got to do to get things done. So that's what we did. We had a guest on the other day and I was talking and we were saying that we didn't think that anyone should be allowed to run for office unless you have kids. Yeah.

And hopefully that would change some shit. Because having kids, you do selfless stuff and you probably, value other you value your kids lives more than you value your own life. Well, yeah, I mean, that that that should be, you know, the code. But, you know, not everybody lives by that, though. There's a lot of deadbeat dads out there. But I definitely I definitely try to lead by example and be a great father. My father was to me. What city are you living in?

I live in Loganville, Georgia. And where were you born, Cody? I was born in Covington, Georgia. And were you athletic as a kid? Yeah, my dad had me in sports since early age, football, baseball. I was really, really good at baseball. I hardly ever struck out, but I got in eighth grade and I just didn't grow. My dad was like, man, we got to find a new sport. I got into wrestling. I quit all the other sports and just wrestled year-round.

Then I started climbing the ladder in the Georgia rankings. How tall are you? I'm 5'7 1⁄2". Are you in baseball? About six foot standing on my wallet though. Yeah. Jay-Z should use, is that a line from a rap song? I have no idea.

Oh, that Jay-Z should steal that shit. That's good. What's the average height of a baseball player? Why is five, seven no good? Can't you be like a shortstop or something or be a star player at five, seven or no? I mean, you can,

but if you don't have no weight behind, you know, no muscle, no thickness, then, you know, you gotta be able to drive a ball. You know,

what, what MLB players do you know that way? 145 to 148 pounds. Yeah. Are you still a student of the sports? You still watch baseball i do yeah one of my good friends is uh ryan kolesko and he's a pro uh he's he's in the um he's a baseball player ryan kolesko uh he was atlanta braves uh first baseman 1995 he won the

world series uh he hit back to back to back home runs he's the only player to ever do that in the world series yeah three three home runs back to back to back yeah in the series holy shit wow in in 1995 how uh you could you you were four years old yeah i was I was young. That's nuts. How do you know this guy? We share similar attributes. He likes to deer hunt, turkey hunt, fish. I met him through a friend, and then we just stayed in touch ever since. Wow, that's awesome.

And is he a fan? Is he a fan of MMA? Yeah yeah he was mma yeah he's actually good friends with chad mendez oh shit is chad a georgia boy no he's uh i don't know where he's from colorado i think but he trained in california right he was a uriah faber guy he did he train over there in sacramento Yeah, I think so. I think so. But he's a deer hunter too. He's an outdoorsman as well.

I've been trying to get him on the show for a long time. Do you remember that fight when he fought Conor McGregor, Chad Menendez? Did you watch that fight? Yeah, I did. I thought he was going to win that fight. Yeah, I mean, he dominated the first round, but he took it on short notice. And Conor had a full camp, and he was ready. And you saw Mendez get tired, and Conor's got power.

Have you ever gassed out in the ring? I'd say my first pro main event, I went a little too hard. You know, I wasn't used to the emotions, to the pressure. And yeah, I didn't know how to pace myself because I had finished everybody usually in the first round. And yeah, I kind of blew my load a little bit is that the fight against marcus levister no no this fight was jared scoggins ah yes i see it okay okay and it went three rounds yeah the decision okay yeah it's whenever i watch fighting i always think um uh that could that's got to be the worst thing that could fucking possibly happen to you in there. One of the fighters says it can get so bad that you see a punch coming, and your body won't even lift your hands up to defend yourself.

That's how gassed you are. I was like, holy shit, that sounds terrifying. Yeah, it can definitely happen. Yeah, that's nuts. Yeah, it can definitely happen. Yeah, that's nuts. So in eighth grade, you start wrestling. Is there anything that you don't like about it, or do you just take a love to it right away?

Man, I liked it. Going against somebody your weight, there's no excuses, just you and him on the mat. And you can slowly start seeing the progress of these certain techniques that you can do to actually the progress of, of the certain techniques that you can do, uh, to actually score and control your opponent. And you wrestled all through high school. I did. Yeah. Was there ever a moment where you like realized, Oh shit, I'm pretty tough. Yeah, man. I always, I got the, in high school, uh,

I got the iron evil award through middle school and high school. I got the Iron Eagle Award. Through middle school and high school, I had like 80 write-ups. I was just a bad kid and always getting in trouble with fighting. I was always smaller than everyone. I went to high school. In ninth grade, I was 80 pounds. And for a 103 weight class with weights in my pocket just to be able to wrestle I was so small and uh man I didn't take shit from anyone you know nobody and uh yeah that's I mean I guess that's where I got my fire my tenacity

man I almost fought the biggest guy in the high school. And I remember we were in the weight room and he was just picking on me. And we got into a little scuffle and he was huge. And we had to go to the office. And I told him, I was like, man, if I was your size, I'd beat your ass. He looked at me and he started laughing. And when he started laughing, the fire inside of me just wanting to punch him in the mouth. And then fast forward to I'm 28 years old. The same guy hits me up on Facebook. He's like, hey, man, you know, I saw you've been fighting.

You know, I want to try it out. I was like, all right, man, come come try it out. You know, I send him the address and his name's Carl Williams he just fought in PFL and he came to the gym that that day and he never left and and me and him get along so well now you know he matured I matured and we look back and we laugh at that you know I say you remember that time I told you I was gonna if I was your size I was gonna beat your ass and you laughed at me and we just laugh about it to this day. But, you know, we were so young and so immature and, uh, now we're, we're good friends and, and I'm glad to see him being successful. You know,

he started at a late age, but, you know, his will, his, his, uh, willingness to learn, uh, his determination, He shows up. You know, he has to drive three hours just to get here sometimes from South Carolina. And he's not scared to fight anyone. He's 3-0. 2-0 is a pro and fought a guy that was 3. And, you know, he got his shot in PFL, and he won his fight. Caleb, can we see him?

Carl Williams, PFL. are you hunting that dude down car okay oh yeah how big how big is he uh oh he's a 205 or he's huge wow six three he'll tell you you know we uh you know i was i was small as could be but i wasn't i wasn't afraid of anyone i wasn't afraid to pick up a weapon either um did you what where was that fire from did you have a chip on your shoulder what did you have like some small guy complex did you have like uh did your dad used to beat you like where does that that fire come from where you're just like you from where you're ready to stand up for yourself? because I was always smaller, you know, so, uh, always just, just like, you know, I knew I was really good at sports, which is, but you know, my size always hindered me. And, uh, you know,

once I found wrestling and MMA, I knew I could be good at it. So I stuck to it. How old are your kids? My son's 10. Go ahead, sorry. Stepdaughter. And how old is she? She's 10 as well. Oh, and what do you have them doing? What do they do? My sports. Soccer, and my daughter, she's not really into any sports. So your son's primarily focused on soccer, you said? Right, right. son's primarily focused on soccer you said right right he's really focused on soccer and he's actually pretty good at soccer so you know i don't i don't push him into to doing other things that he would like to like i don't push him into wrestling or he does

do jujitsu as well and he's starting you know here recently he's starting to really like, uh, jujitsu. So does he see what you do? Does he know what you do? Oh yeah, absolutely. He goes to practice with me. He, he, he's been there from the start, you know? And, and does he trip? Like the other day I was at the beach with my kids. I have two, two five-year-olds and a seven-year-old and like, they're, they're all, I mean, I'm

old, I'm 49, you're only 30, but-year-old. I'm old. I'm 49. You're only 30. But they're always scared I'm going to get hurt. If I get on their skateboard or something, one of my kids will start crying, don't get hurt, don't get hurt. I'm like, what? They must think of me as some crotchety old man. Actually, I had my first UFC fight.

My first UFC fight was August 1st, 2020. And, uh, I came back and, and he was on a ripstick, uh, August 5th, I think. And he was on a ripstick going down a hill, bad idea. He hit a rock and he broke, he snapped his arm above the elbow. So, you know, he, I see him and he's crying he's hysterical and then i just see the arm literally shifted over and the bone you know and it was the most gross gruesome thing i've seen you know personally but you know he's a hundred percent now and uh they freaking they heal like salamanders yes it's crazy i don't know how well salamanders heal but man they're like they're like wolverine kids like the finger breaks off and a new one grows exactly um i sorry to go back to this the the original thing we're talking about i want to

say one more thing too for those of you podcasters and commentators and journalists who like, Cody, do you want to take back what you said? How about you fuck off too? No one, you, when you say that to him, you're making the presupposition that he did something wrong.

You're, you're, you're, you're so full of your fucking self. Like get over it. You don't even know what the fuck happened. You don't, you don't even know how to think you're,

you're a fucking sleeping drone. And I appreciate the fact that you never walked it back by the way these people who there's people who say sorry when you say sorry for something that you didn't do that that people think is wrong but it wasn't wrong then you're telling the rest of the world to think it's wrong he didn't say anything wrong the guy lives in china they got into a fucking fight and he told him to go back to china the guy lived in Sydney Australia they got in a fight he told him to go back to Sydney Australia like anything else you make of it it's you it's between your ears exactly and and I just these these these guys do you want it and then you don't even tell your opinion if you think it's if you're asking Cody to take it back, then I want to hear your opinion.

You tell me why you think it's racist. Don't just ask him loaded questions or questions with presuppositions and then not give your take. Why don't you tell Cody to his face, hey, I think you're racist. Let me hear you say it because you won't because you can't explain it. Nobody's been mad at me or said anything to me, to my face. No. Nobody's came up to me and said, hey, Cody, what you said hurt my feelings and this is why.

Well, at least that would be civilized. At least that would be civilized. It doesn't matter. I'll talk to you. I want to hear your opinion. If you come up to me and say, hey, Cody, you hurt my feelings. Let me, let me explain to you why. All right. And so then we have a discussion about it, but no one's, no one's done that. You know, it's just the trolls on Twitter who have fake accounts that, uh, and virtue signaling fighters.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I mean, fighters, uh, such as them. Yeah. Yeah. That, those are real accounts, but I mean, those people we'll see if they say anything to me when, when, you know, when I'm in their vicinity, vicinity. So right. So then, you know, doesn't matter. I'm still getting paid. I still have a 780 credit score. I still have a huge house. I got a brand new truck outside. I have tons of support. I have endorsement deals. I got it going on, brother.

And you got a wide, a friend, friends from a wide group of ethnicities and races who support the shit out of you. Yeah, they know who I am. You know, my coaches are brazilian yeah so i mean did you watch the fight last night i did yeah well i'm always so impressed by jorge and and um and colby i really like both of them so much i love just like their work ethic and how did they they both seem like they came really prepared i mean i felt really bad for masvidal because i know i think he puts a lot of pressure

on himself but i was also in the same breath happy for um colby what did you think about the fight listen closely as a master painter carefully brushes benjamin moore regal select down the seam of the wall it's like poetry in motion. Benjamin Moore, see the love. This episode is brought to you by PC Optimum. If you like a curated playlist, why not try a curated grocery list? With Swap and Save, the new feature in the PC Optimum app, you'll get PC Optimum's best price for your grocery items.

Simply add products to your shopping list in the app, and it'll show you similar items at a lower cost. Add coffee to your list, then swap it for one that's cheaper. Craving chips? The app will suggest some on sale. To get started, just open the app. It's as easy as that. See the PC Optimum app for details. Man, I thought I knew Kobe was a great wrestler.

Man, I thought I knew Colby was a great wrestler. I thought if Colby won, the way he would win would go that route. You know, he would try to smother him, keep him against the cage, and just be relentless with the hands, the up-down, up-down. And that's exactly what he needed to do to win, and that's what he did. And I'll tell you, Jorge Mazdoval is one of the realest guys. I've been staying in the dorms at Coconut Creek the last three weeks. And just seeing what he says in his interviews and seeing what I see with my own eyes, it's the truth.

He's not exaggerating anything.'s not not telling lies and uh i respect that out of him he's a he's a good guy um i spoke with alex casares earlier today do you know who that is bruce leroy yep um and he he has a lot of like backyard fighting you know the stuff you can find on youtube and so does obviously so does jorge did you ever do any of that i i did some backyard boxing with my friends but not like fighting though not where like they like you go somewhere and there's like 400 dudes in the backyard and like you get into a ring and like if you guys fall out dudes are pushing you back in and yeah no no none of that stuff that shit looks crazy to me yeah it's pretty wild i mean think about how hard

your head is and and how soft your hands are you know once it to the temple with no no gloves on you're breaking your hand you know yeah here's here's alex yep i think that's him on the bottom there he ends up winning this right right? Yeah. Wow. Did you, what, what, what, what tournament did you win? We did. Say that again. Say that again. Sorry.

I said, see, I learned something new today. You know, I knew who, I know who he is. I've seen his career, but I never knew he did backyard brawling like that. Dude. Crazy. Crazy. He he's in the weight class up is what is Alex? Is he one 35 Caleb on 45? Yeah. I had a great discussion with him too. Speaking of just like being open with people,

I brought your situation up to him and he thinks it's completely ridiculous for anyone to say you were racist too, by the way, but he's a vegan. And like, I'm on the totally other end of the spectrum. I'm jumping on that bandwagon of eating raw meat. Yeah. And we had a great discussion. And he said some really cool shit to me. And people should just be able to come together and just talk. Yeah.

Are you... Say it again? That'll never happen, though. And why is that? I mean, with the internet, with different cultures, different religions, different... You know, just everyone has their own path and and the the people as a whole aren't aren't going to come together unless there's something like a war or something like some like what's going down in ukraine ukraine's being invaded you know and uh they're pretty much helpless uh russia could

could take over um and right now they're they're on Ukraine. They have so much – their military is so far more advanced as far as numbers than Ukraine. So yeah, that's what would happen to get the world to come together. That's what would happen to get the world to come together. Isn't it interesting, too, that there was this criticism of you, but now I'm curious, now you're fighting a Russian dude, and you're from the United States, and there's all this anti-Russian sentiment. I'm curious how the crowd reacts in London when you jump in the ring. Yeah, I mean, he's got a big following he's he's uh pretty well known in europe and uh you know when i walk out uh i'm pretty sure i'm gonna be getting booed and i'm the villain now so not my not my living room i'm so excited for the fight um so so you do high school you do

wrestling all through high school to your senior year when when does the um mma start to creep in and then when when does that creep in well i had i had a kid when i was 20 and uh you know it it took a like i had three scholarships to go wrestle in college and then like at the same time, my high school sweetheart was pregnant and I had to, uh, I had to make a decision whether I wanted to go to college or stay home and support my kids. So, uh, I ended up staying here, getting a job, working full time at a factory. And, uh, I had a buddy of mine that was fighting and we were he was just training at this little gym and uh it just had weights and mat room and we'd invite a couple wrestlers and and he was already like

six and one as an amateur and i'd go up there and he used to kick my ass and uh i think that's what made me come back so much because i you know i wanted to win and I just, you know, started fighting from there. What did you do? Did you train at all between the age of 18 and 20? So you graduate from high school and you're, you're caught your wrestling career's done and you have, and you're about to have a kid and you get a job. Do you do any training? Do you run? Do you go to the weight room, go to golds, any of that shit, or it's just a two-year break well yeah well from about 18 to about 20 21 i didn't do shit man i just partied well 18 to 20 i didn't do shit i i just partied and i worked but then when i found out you know my high school sweetheart was pregnant

you know my mind shifted to the future like what are you going to do to take care of this kid? You know, you have to work, you have to work hard, you know what it takes. And, uh, so my mind shifted to just purely work mode. And then sometimes I would go to the gym, uh, in the evenings when I got, when I got done working or whatever, but it was mostly, you know, uh, provide for the family. And then when I was about, I guess, 21, 22, you know, I had the horrible breakup. And then it was just go to work. And then I'd come home to my apartment. And I just needed to figure out what i wanted to do and then that's when i you know started going to train with my buddy travis knight and uh i just fell in love with it

you know is it um is it a different kind of toughness did you first of all did you have the toughness that you had growing up and then was it a different kind of toughness having some guy punch in the face yeah i mean you had to learn how to take hits and give hits. And, you know, there'd be a lot of nights I left with a headache because I didn't know how to take a punch. But I just kept coming back for more. And how do you take a punch? What is the rules, the wisdom?

Acting, seeing things coming. You know, a regular person, you know, if I were to fake at you, you would react instantly, you know. Just like if somebody bucks at you, you know, when you're coming around a corner, you jump back, you know. And you have to be able to, you know, really see the punches coming. That way you can defend them. And if you can't see punches coming then you're that those are the ones that you need to knock out you know the the uppercuts that hit right on the chin that you never see coming are the ones that usually lead to knockouts so

yeah colby colby uh took one on the chin last night that I'm really, I can't believe. I mean, that guy's pressure is insane. He dropped to a knee and got right back up. I mean, the camera angle is a little close. It looked like he went down and then came back up. Do you remember that shot? Yeah, yeah. Well, his head spun.

So anytime you get hit, anytime you get hit on the tip of the chin and your head spins, hit on the on the tip of the chin and your head spins um you know i don't know the scientific reason but uh it definitely dazes and confuse you confuse you it like it hits the kill switch yes the the chin the right on the right on the tip of the chin is is the kill switch yeah it's so bizarre and you actually see the guy's jaw will like go like this and then his head will follow yeah he's he's feeling that one today i promise you yeah how about the fight before that with the dos anos yeah uh i mean he was prepared and the other guy you know i trained next to him the last three weeks to uh at american top team and then he was back in the gym the next week after the fight but he wasn't in the gym preparing you know he wasn't he would just come in do a session you know uh but there's a difference in being prepared going to the gym with a purpose and just being there and training.

And you need time to prepare for a guy like Javier Dos Anjos. Yeah, he's a savage. Did you the commentators were I mean, I was uncomfortable with it in my own living room. Everyone's like they got to stop the fight. And even the commentators are like, hey like they got to stop the fight and even the commentators are like hey they got to stop the fight but i did like what the um what's his name mark goddard or whoever the head ref was he said as they went into the fifth round he said to moicano uh hey you got 30 seconds to pull your shit together right uh yeah i thought that was uh man i thought he he reffed it exactly uh how he should have, if he was, uh,

after that round, I wouldn't have been mad. Um, but I did like that. He gave him a fight, a fighting punchers chance. And, uh,

it didn't, it didn't go his way, but man, what a warrior, what a warrior to step up and fight the former champion on two, on, on what? Three,

four, five day notice. I i mean there's a big difference in fighting guys on six day five day notice that are good fighters but there's a big difference in fighting guys on six day notice that were former champions that are could potentially still be in their prime it um was hot. What was Rafael doing in the fifth round? Was he feeling, starting to feel bad and just what was going on? What do you think he,

cause he really slowed down, but it didn't look like he had to. Well, I mean, I think he just coasted, you know, I think he just coasted through that round. He knew that,

you know, he had the fight in the bag and, and you know, what, what, He knew that he had the fight in the bag, and why take silly chances and take him down and maybe get caught in a guillotine or maybe get caught in an arm bar when you can coast? And more than likely, this guy who's fatigued, tired, is not going to knock you out. But Morricano did have a great fifth round though yeah that's why i feel bad for um uh jafael because i was like oh he's taking it easy on him and then moicano fucking got his wind back and started drilling him yeah exactly so that guy trains at your gym also yeah um i don't know how to pronounce his name exactly more either yeah yeah he doesn't speak

english a little bit he does a little bit and what's it like training over there man uh so first of all it's in coconut creek florida and there's the best the best fighters in the world there and uh man the atmosphere the the fighters is just amazing you know is is that where is that where kayla harrison's at right yeah yeah we had her on the show too man she's special yeah she's a beast and and when you go in there does everyone's game get elevated because i guess there's two sides to it. You hear of like there could be too many alphas in one room. And then you also hear that it's good because then everyone's game gets elevated. Well, first of all, when you step on that mat and, you know, you're at the gym, you should be the student.

You shouldn't be the teacher. And if you you got to leave your ego outside the gym. Maybe you're trying to teach me something. I'm listening. I'll always listen. Whether I want to retain it and actually use it in my repertoire, then that's up to me. But you can't be disrespectful to coaches that are there doing their job

and that actually want to see you do better. And my experience there was great. Um, is there, do tensions fly always in the gym when people are fighting? Like, is it common every day that like tensions will get high in the gym or it's not common? Everyone has great etiquette. Not really common. You know, for instance, like I go to a new gym and when you're a UFC fighter, you always got a target on your back. And fighters just, you know, they just want to go with you, be around, you know, you. And a lot of times they want to test their self.

And, you know, me, I learned, you know, I had to to test their self and you know me i learned you know i had to say no to people you know guys six foot seven no no shit i'm not shitting you this guy was six foot six six foot seven but he was skinny as hell and he's like and we're sparring you know we're doing five minute rounds and then we switch so So he's 12 inches taller than you. Yes. He comes up to me and he's like, Hey, let's spar. And I'm just like, dumbfounded. I'm like, what is that going to do for me? What is it going to do for you?

Yeah. Why would I want to spar you? Yeah. You're not like huge muscle wise, but I am never going to fight somebody. 170 pounds. That's six foot six. But I am never going to fight somebody 170 pounds that's 6'6". And it just, that blew my mind that day. So what did you say to him?

I literally looked up to the guy and I just had this dumbest look on my face. Like, why would I spar you? You know, he probably didn't mean any harm by it or whatever. Maybe, you know, he just wanted to, you know, see how he's like, maybe he didn't know how big he was. Yeah. In some cases, you have guys that are hungry and they're young lions and they want to test yourself against. And, you know, that's that's when things start getting serious you know if i don't know you and i'm in the gym just doing my i gotta train six seven days a week you know what i mean i'm not

in the gym every day trying to get in a real fist fight you know because tomorrow i'm not going to be worth the fuck or i'm going to get hurt and uh i remember this time you know i was training and this guy was like hey you want to go yeah so we're sparring and uh i was getting the best of them on my feet you know like a veteran should and uh man he started getting mad and he started swinging hard as hell and then he don't even have any knee pads on and then he runs and doesn't switch knee uh i don't know if he went towards my head or my body but it hit me like right here and uh i was like i was so like i was like instantly like okay like this motherfucker's trying to hurt you you know what i mean and then he throws like a spinning back fist and his uh me, you know, not even the glove. You're not, you're not throwing

spinning back fist on, we're just sparring, you know, like I'm not here to fucking kill you, you know? And so, and it was only, it was only striking. So I picked him up and I slammed him on his head. And, uh, he was like, what the fuck, what are you doing? And I'm like, what, what the hell is wrong with you you know you're trying to fucking hurt somebody if you if you want to fight we can really fight and then he said hold on let me take my gloves off granted i'm standing over the top of you and you're gonna tell me let's take my gloves off so i took my gloves off and i was about to smack him one good time and and the somebody came up behind me and like

lifted me up this big old joker and uh we got in a little scuffle we talked or whatever but did you ever spar with that dude again i ended up you know i ended up apologizing to the guy you know because as a pro i should have damn you know i'm in the gym. I'm not at somebody else's gym trying to cause havoc and show my dominance. That's not who I am. You know, I should have just cut it off right there and be like, bro, you're not a good partner for me. And, you know, moved on about my business. But instead, you know, when he hit me with that flying knee with no knee pads on and the collarbone uh i wanted to i wanted to hurt him is that the most serious incident you've had in the gym in 10 years

no i've had a lot of incidents where those things where it escalates yeah there's there's been a lot of incidents, but every gym has them. Right. How about during – do they happen more if we were to graph incidents in relationship to weight during weight cuts? Do they happen more during weight cuts because people are hangry? Or have you noticed any correlation between the two? No, they don't happen more during weight cuts because when you're weight cutting, you know that you're usually around just the people that you're around every day.

I'm not going to go to another gym and spar and be cutting weight. I'm asking to get hurt. Usually weight cuts are done with your coach. Maybe we'll hit pads. Maybe we'll go sit in the sauna for a little bit. maybe we'll hit pads maybe we'll go sit in the sauna for a little bit it's just you're not going to learn anything new while you're cutting weight and implement it in your game where it comes out without thinking about it um in the last week so there's really no point in doing that so so you're you're 20 years old you you graduate from high school you do a little partying have fun

you um end up uh having a baby and and you're when you say you're doing factory work what kind of factory work i was working for a corrugation company those those make the things that go under the ground that take water away no no so they. So they make boxes, and the boxes get diverted. We make corrugated sheets, and the sheets get diverted into boxes. Oh, shit. I heard that's crazy money because of Amazon. I heard cardboard box business is just insane. Is that what it was, the cardboard box business?

Yeah, yeah. So that machine is about 100 yards long, and it's called a corrugator. A corrugator. And is the dude who owns that company Rich as Shit? Well, have you ever heard of Pratt Industries or CSC Atlanta? Pratt Industries is the leading recycling company in the world. company in the world hey did you guys this is off subject here it's kind of in the cardboard realm did you guys ever have to do um uh non-plastic straws in georgia uh i don't think so they haven't been florida though i just you know when i was down there they had them down there so they enforced this law in california saying you couldn't use plastic straws or something so everyone switched to paper straws and there was only one paper straw fucking company in the united states and that guy i was reading the story on

that guy became so filthy rich but what's crazy about paper straws is they don't work they don't work they sell a product that doesn't work it's like if you bought a car and you drove it home and then it just broke down in your driveway like you put it in you take two sips you know you look at your friend and go use it again. The whole damn straw is like collapsed on itself. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of the vaccine that Pfizer made $38 billion on that. And then I saw a couple of days ago, the CEO said the first two shots don't work very well, if at all.

If at all. If at all? What? Yeah, man. I'm not too educated on that subject, so I can't put my opinion in on it. I'm going to send you a link about what the lady from the head of the CDC said this morning. Fucking nutball. She said that they got their information from CNN. Wait, you got your – it's so ass backwards.

It's so ass backwards. Okay, so you're 20 years old, and then you start doing this with – what was his name? Travis Knight? What was the guy's name? Yeah, Travis Knight. You start training with Travis Knight. When does the idea pop in your head that, okay, I'm going to fight. I'm going to put this shit back to use uh i mean after it was probably like six months of training with him

you know i figured i figured it was time to get my first fight and me being you know the the don't give a shit attitude i uh i took a fight with a guy at 140 pounds, and I only weighed about 136 at the time. Meaning so he's a 160-pound guy who dropped down to 140. He did, yes. Yes. That was my first fight. And I won the first—I think I won the first round, and then I got submitted the third round. He got on top of me, and I could not get this guy off of me.

And then it was funny because I walked up to him after that fight. I was like, hey, man, how much do you weigh? He's like, I'm 159 today. I was like, oh, okay, well, I'm 138 pounds. So, yeah. Oh, shit. You didn't even weigh in at wow wow okay yeah you know what's interesting that fight of yours right there is not in sure dog it's only in topology is that weird yeah. Dog. Uh, there's a lot of fights that I see that I've looked up that shirt all doesn't have.

Cause they only have you down as having one amateur fight. Yeah. See, that's not correct at all. And how many amateur fights did you have? Uh, six. And,

and you lost your first fight. Right. And then what happened in your second fight uh i won via i don't even know that was freaking years ago i won and then and then and then what and then when do you decide to go is the whole point from when you start fighting that you're gonna go pro like do you, I'm going to use this to make some money? Not really. I had a good job.

I was making $70,000 a year. I was working my way up in work, and I was working my way up in fighting, and I had to choose which one I wanted to go down. I chose fighting because I knew i could always go back to the factory work the factory's not leaving and uh that's what i did and and how about your wife is she happy with that decision too did she how does she weigh in on that she wasn't happy at the time but uh you know she told me the other day, she said, you know, you know, babe, you, you make a lot of decisions and a lot of times I think they're stupid, but I don't think you've made one bad decision yet.

Uh, you know, life-wise and, uh, you're a pretty smart guy. I was like, I told you, baby, I'm a fucking fan. Are you an analytical guy? Are you pretty analytical? Thoughtful? Yeah. I'm very frugal, uh, with my money. Are you an analytical guy? Are you pretty analytical, thoughtful? Yeah, I'm very frugal with my money. Me too.

I think things through. I usually think about the future. To be honest, I didn't have anything planned my last fight for that interview. It's just some shit that I said that fucking turned out the way it turned out and uh you know me being me i was just like i didn't even think it was i just meant to send them back to china you know that's because you're not racist yeah that's because you're not racist i'm china i wanted to send them back home with a loss i don't fucking look at politics and all this other bullshit that's going on in the world. Like, dude, I like fucking, I like to wake up early as shit, be the first one at the gym, do more reps than anyone, and fucking just be myself. And shit, it turned out bad after that.

Are you hyper disciplined? What do you mean? Um, uh, you have no issue. Like, like you wake up regardless at 6am every day. So like last night before I went to bed,

like, sorry, go ahead. I usually wake up about seven 30 every day. And, and do, and is that like, are you regimented? Are you disciplined?

Do you stay – you don't – like you're not tempted to smoke cigarettes. You're not tempted to smoke whiskey. No matter – even if you feel a little sick, you'll still go work out. You understand that the kids have to go to bed at 8. Like I'm like crazy disciplined. And I just can't – and it makes my life great when i'm not disciplined on my shit sucks yeah exactly so yes i would i would consider myself hyper disciplined because you know i like structure stability and uh you know i like to get shit done and

there's no other way to get shit done than to be consistent, show up on time, punctuality and, uh, yeah, man, stay consistent. Like I, when I was, but I wasn't always like that when I was younger, I would feel like obligations to do. Like if someone, like I have friends who come to my house and watch the fights and 10 years ago, I would have felt like I had to entertain them. Yeah. Now I'm not like that at fucking at all. Hey, come in.

The fridge is over there. Clean up after yourself. I'm sitting here. This is my chair always. And like, fuck, I don't know you shit, but I want you here and I love you to death. And I'm so glad you came, but you're on your own. Yeah. So when my wife has friends over and stuff, they'll tell you, like, they don't even give me shit anymore.

You know, my wife, like, you're so rude. You know, they come over and they want to hang out with us and blah, blah. And you go to bed at 1030. I'm like, yeah, fuck. I trained for four hours. What the fuck did they do? You know what I mean? What the fuck did you do?

You were at home watching TV. Like, I'm tired you know what i mean and and like i felt like that you know she felt that i had to entertain and i don't feel like i have to entertain anyone they're they're people are i mean my friends are fine sitting on the couch you know what you know they don't need to be uh uh, Oh, Cody, this Cody, that like, we're just regular people. Like I, like, I'm always the first one to go to bed. If, if, uh, if we go out or, you know, I always, I always have to, like, I don't like staying up till one in the clock in the morning, two in the clock in the morning.

Yeah. Me neither. Like I like getting to bed early and, and wake up that way I can get shit accomplished the next day. And that's just how i am and and i used to be you know like staying up late but i just don't have the energy for that shit i'll even this is a super common thing for me like i have to work out every day even if it's even if it's just 20 minutes i have to and i got a really nice gym in my garage but like

it's not uncommon for my whole family to be over at my house and someone's setting the dinner table and i'm like they're like where you going someone i'm gonna work out and like 10 years ago because i was raised to be polite and nice and 10 years ago i would have felt bad but now it's like doesn't matter like this it's 7 30 at night i haven't worked out i've been with the kids all day you guys are now going to have dinner i'm going in the garage to sweat my ass off these things fucking have to get done even if it's no offense to you i'm not it has nothing to do with you has to do with me don't take offense to it i'm not trying to be rude to you but my shit got a sweat exactly like like you just have this shit

you have to do it's cool that your wife said that to you. Um, cause I always trip on the fact of like, this is just a common theme of the podcast that when you have great people, you have to have a great mate that understands that, that this person doesn't mean offense by not doing all the formalities that society wants you to do. But like great people don't, don't fuck with that stuff. stuff yeah do you know how many friends i have and and how many kids they have and and how many birthday parties that you know i've missed all my friends pretty much know like cody's not coming to the birthday party but why didn't cody come to the birthday party well because you you you had your birthday party at noon on a Saturday, and that's when I'm practicing.

So, you know, early on in my career when I first turned pro, there was a lot of bitching and, oh, Cody never comes to this, this. Like, man, I'm a busy guy, you know, and I put training before everything. Everything. man, I'm a busy guy, you know, and I put, I put training before everything, everything, for instance, like, uh, and there's one, one time I do regret, there's one time I do regret, uh, my wife's birthday dinner. Uh, I had a fight the next week and she was like, oh, my family, you know, set up the birthday dinner at Wednesday at six o'clock. And I said, well, I got to fight next week. I'm going to be training. I actually went and trained while

they had the birthday dinner. I do regret that one. Why? Why do you regret that one? Well, because I look back and that one practice, I don't think it would have affected anything. All these years

I do think it affects things if you consistently do it but if you don't only do it and you do it that one time and that was a special moment for her uh she don't bring it up she don't mention it but like when when the facebook memories come up and shit and you see it you're like you fucking dick oh you're a good dude man wow that's some good shit yeah so and and you think how much more i'm not sure if i agree with you but but i'll agree with you for a second you think about because she knows how disciplined you are a matt she knows how much that would have meant that much more to her. Yeah, exactly. That's like the cool thing about being around honest people. Like they're like, hey, that outfit doesn't look good on you.

Hey, you drive like shit. Hey, you shouldn't fucking eat that food. And then one day they're like, damn, you're moving good today. You're like, well, shit, I must be moving good today because that person always tells me the truth. Yeah. Instead of sugarcoats that shit. Exactly. Yeah. the whole discipline thing do you drink at all i do but uh when i drink i i try not to get drunk like uh like during fight camps i i'll have a glass of wine but uh two glasses max but i don't i don't drink i never I, I have, I've had my days

back in the day where I drink, uh, drink to get smashed, you know, and I could turn into a different person. And so I had to learn that it's okay to drink. You just have to know, uh, how much to drink. So I usually have about two drinks and I'm done. It's crazy for me to think that you're 30 years old. I was just thinking about what I was doing at 30 through my, I just didn't, I just didn't have anything going on that you have going on. I just, like, I mean, I wasn't, yeah, it's just, it's just, you have so much responsibility and personal accountability. I think you have two 10 years old, two 10 year olds and you're 30 and I'm 49 and I have two 5-year-olds and a 7-year-old.

I'm in a totally—your kids will be 25. What do you think about a beaver? It's pretty funny, ain't it? He's got his hands full. I got a few years left, too, so I'm good. Are you going to have more kids, you think, Cody? No, no. We're not having any more kids so um do you think um what do you think what do you think happens do you have a um kind of an end game to your career like maybe like uh that you go into coaching or that you save enough money

so you can just live in a cabin and fish all day or is there a plan because you said you're frugal and i'm frugal too like i just i'd rather have 100 bucks in my pocket not have to worry about how much gas costs and have a nice car like it's more important to me to be able to go to the store and buy avocados and not look at how much they cost and drive a shitty car yeah uh well do you have a plan yeah you, I'm going to open a gym up one day. And until when that happens, you know, I'm looking into buying and flipping houses or, you know, getting to the housing market. Yeah, that's smart. I knew that I was really bad with money. So as soon as I started making shitloads of money, that's all I did. I just bought houses and anytime I'd get a paycheck, I'd just pay it down towards the mortgage. I'd never saved a cent. world fucking went to shit all the pussies took over for the last two years like my shit was fine because i had invested in real estate i'm so fucking lucky yeah i didn't know what to do and

i just invested in real estate so smart there you go yeah so smart let's just hope we don't go back to 2009 well it's funny i my first house i ever bought and thank God for my wife. Cause I can't do any of that adult shit. Like I can make money, but I can't like the paperwork or like signing all those papers or like having the guys come out and inspect the house. Like I don't want to do any of that. So in 2011 we'd saved a bunch of money and we ended up buying a house and it was at the bottom of the market and Yeah. And the market skyrocketed. That was our first house. But I think even if – you're saying 2009 because everything went to shit, right?

Yeah. But that would be a good time for then you to buy a house. Yeah, exactly. That would be perfect. But for you, if you own multiple houses – Well, the thing is I just rent them out. And rents are skyrocketing here. I'll tell you how frugal I am. My wife and I lived in this 860 square foot home, right? And our mortgage was

1100 a month, but I knew I could rent the house for 4,000 a month. It was in Berkeley, California. So I told my, and we had tons of money, but I told my wife, this is completely financially irresponsible. We have to move into a shittier house so that someone else can pay us and we moved out you know what i mean like yeah and like you can do that when you're young and don't give a fuck you're like dude you can rent my house and and now i make three grand a month on it instead of it costing me 1100 a month yeah exactly do you know james krauss uh i don't know him personally uh i know i know about him though you know i've seen him coach and and uh he's a good coach yeah i just like his whole i mean i don't know him that well he's been on the podcast before but i just like his whole story fighter

coach businessman investor just like dad like he's just got his shit going on i just admire that yeah um you're gonna go into this fight when is the fight it is uh i wrote everything down except for when the fight is march march 19th march 19th in london um are you 100 healthy now like is this you i'm healthy you had the pink eye you had the broken toe and you had the knee surgery yeah i'm good i'm 100 there's no excuses this fight camp there's no covid there's no injuries i'm the best i'm the best i've ever been it's awesome well thank you for coming on um it was it was thank you for letting me just dig around i know that you're probably exhausted some of the things we talked about thanks for letting me dig around thanks for being so real and um and it is the it's the best fight on the card i think it's the

most exciting for me personally as a as a cody durden fan i just love how honest you've been um and and i look forward to seeing you fight ma'am and we'll be in touch i'll keep bugging you in your dms all right y'all have a good day all right brother thank you thanks cody bye