The Sevan Podcast - #486 - Jalin Turner

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

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Are you headed to the gym? No, I'm just chilling at home. I'm going to end up going maybe like the the next couple hours all right cool my name's by the way thanks for doing this yeah no problem yeah thanks a lot for doing this are you are your kids sleeping is that why you're in the car yeah they're in there sleeping yeah i don't want to wake them up yeah you're a good dad are you single dad yeah single dad yeah and you raise the kids yourself uh uh their mom's in the picture still. Yeah. What a, what a, I didn't have kids until, I'm 50 now and I didn't have kids until I was, I had my first kid when I was 43.

And when I see, when I see a man like you pursuing what you're doing and raising kids and giving time to your kids, I'm just blown away. Yeah, man. It's a lot to juggle, but I always knew I wanted kids. So, and I've heard so many people like around me, like stop chasing their dreams because they had kids. They had to, you know, work and put their priorities first. And, you know, like I was blessed enough to have people around me that like still help support me and get me to this point.

But like in my mind, I always knew I was never, never going to stop chasing my dream no matter what. You knew didn't want kids you knew you wanted kids yeah i mean i'm glad now don't get me wrong like it's it's my whole life now but i i just thought it would be crazy to have but you knew yeah i've always wanted kids i always wanted to be a dad um yeah when i i used to want five kids but after i had my first one i was like, I'm okay with just one at this point. Don't you have two? Yeah, I got two. And you got a girl and a boy.

Yeah. And how old are they? My daughter's three. My son will be five this year. Crazy. Let me see. I got a picture of him here somewhere. And where's home for you?'m in loma linda right now

so and you're born and raised you're a california boy through and through yeah yeah born and raised born in la grew up in fontana and san bernardino and and what are your mom and dad what are you do you know what you are uh nationality wise yeah or ethnicity like what your background is. Um, you ever been 23 and mead? Nah. Yeah. Smart.

Don't do that shit. If you do it, use a fake name. For sure. No, my sister did her little DNA test thing. And, um,

uh, we're majority, majority African and like, I guess I'm like Scandinavian, some other stuff in there. You don't have any Japanese in you? no not that I've seen has anyone ever said that to you?

no I mean because you kind of look like a samurai like look at your eyes that's right and you're so tall yeah I respect that samurai samurai tarantula

yeah yeah the great Cobra Rhodes world famous arm wrestler Jalen Great Submission I respect that samurai, samurai tarantula. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Cobra, the great Cobra Rhodes, uh, world famous arm wrestler, Jalen great submission last weekend. Yeah. Crazy submission. Yeah. Crazy. You know, Cobra Cobra Rhodes. Uh, man, you're just, you're just exploding. And, and when I watch your podcast, I can just see, I can just see it in your, like, in, in like your being, you're using words like destiny and manifested. And I always knew it. It, it, it, some, something's happening to you, right? Is that, is that mental or spiritual or what's going on? a little bit of both mainly mental um i just started just changing my mindset with everything

and put it literally like when i manifest i'll especially like with the fight i'll literally try to focus in zone in and like put myself in the fight visual visualize every outcome you know visualize negative outcomes and how i'm gonna to get out of it, visualize every positive outcome and just keeping my mind focused, you know, like realizing like I'm human, you know, I'm going to make mistakes. But as long as I do my job and keep my focus on my purpose and what I need to get done, then all that becomes somewhat irrelevant. You know, it's going to happen. So I've been soaking that in.

And, you know, it's as weird as it may sound like i've been feeling kind of like more average but in my mind um i'm just taking in i'm taking in the good with the bad and just going with the flow and enjoying the moment even more instead of like trying to be like this super motivated all the time always you know i'm saying like always on on this shit and like like in reality like this in a perfect world yeah like that that's what you want to be but you know we all have shortcomings you know i have you know bad days mentally where i don't want to do anything i don't want to go excel and be great, you know? And I accept it, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't mess me up. It doesn't throw me off. And then if I need to take

that day off, I take that day off. Like I've just, I've just grown, you know, I've done this so long. I've just started to like figure myself out and figure out how to like break into and tap into something else mentally and spiritually, instead of just, uh, you know, just trying to like find motivational videos to keep me motivated and find this and that and do all this other stuff i'm like tapping into myself and figuring out like within myself uh it sounds like maybe compassion for yourself yeah that could be it too yeah uh i don't know the word for it but it it's, it's, it's helped. When you, when you say that, what if I were to come back and say, Hey, are you getting soft? Are you, are you, are you,

are you enjoying the victories too much? Maybe, maybe the success has gone to your head. No, not at all. Like, fuck you. It's like, it's honestly like, even with this one one like i've been telling my friends like and i was just i've been telling a lot of people like like i'm happy to be where i'm at you know but i also expected it on myself and then at the same time it's like like i don't really get too excited about you know oh you're in the top 14 top 15 you're number 14 like like yeah like i it's a

big accolade but like i've i'm i'm searching for more and it's almost like a melancholy feeling because you know like it's like it's satisfying it's gratifying but it also isn't at the same time kind of like okay like it's cool you know but there's there's still more to be done you know there's there's a lot more pressure added now so's like, I'm more focused on that and getting better and adapting for the next step than, than just enjoying this one moment so much, you know, like, like I enjoyed it when it happened, when I seen it and now I'm kind of like, you know, mentally moving on towards the next step, you know. It's interesting you use the word melancholy i remember when i i won my first film festival and forrest whitaker and selma hyatt gave me my award and the film went to like 30 film

festivals and it won them all and i remember after i got the award at this one film festival and forrest whitaker handed it to me uh the academy award winner i i left the film festival and i called my mom i was probably in my late 20s early 30s and I was crying and she goes what's up I'm like there's nothing here I feel no different with the victory there's no there's no like it's it's it's going to be never-ending pursuit of trying to get shit my whole life and I'm never going to be fucking fulfilled but but at the same time you still you got to just leverage that desire to try to fulfill that unfulfillable bucket to keep going right yeah it's it's like you get down um what about this what about this this is from uh this is almost three years ago from nothing to something growing up a lot of

people made me feel like i was nothing i took nothing and made it into a lot. Who was that? What was that? I was just like, me just reflecting on my past. I always felt like, man, growing up, it was hard growing up. I just always felt. How could it be hard growing up? You're in California how could it be hard growing up you're you're you're in california you're tall and you're good looking well i'm short i'm not good looking i was

in california that was cool i haven't always been this good looking all right i know i saw the picture i saw the picture man um i just i just went through a lot growing up like and it all taught me a lot i'm grateful for like how like my upbringing but like i just never felt like i like uh i fit in anywhere um and even like the places like the people i would hang out with like i would seldomly fit in like but they like it was just like more about the acceptance and it just became a lot why why you're a weirdo you're a weirdo that like spiders or what do you mean you didn't fit in i didn't fit in either but why didn't you fit in um man like i used to skateboard i guess like like so like most of my friends weren't like they like okay so i always i know you wanted kids at a young age. That's weird as shit.

Yeah. Oh man. Um, I just felt like I didn't fit in with certain groups of people. I never like, like had like a level of acceptance where I felt comfortable and, and like situations, I guess it's crazy. You know, like it's like out here, it's like you, you know, you either academically smart in school or, you know, you know, like, it's like, out here, it's like, you, you know, you're either academically smart in school, or, you know, you're, or you're a sports player, or, you know, like, or you're, you're just a little thug, you know, it's like, there wasn't really, like, I didn't really fit into any of that, you know, I, I tried out for sports, wasn't really good at them, until I found wrestling.

I fell in love with wrestling. That's what actually got me into the pursuit of MMA. Wow. You think you're more of an artist? Not academic? Are you crazy creative type? Yeah. I feel like that too.

But like, I've been like, even with art, like, I just feel like it wasn't like my complete niche. Like, I loved art class. Like, don't get me wrong. Like, my art teacher was the best. Like, she was super awesome. it wasn't like like my complete niche like i loved art class like don't get me wrong like like my art teacher was the best like she was super awesome and you know um but i just at the end of the day i just still felt like there was always something missing for me like i did i always felt like i was destined for greatness but i never knew what it was you know and it always

bugged me it always bothered me but you know i still went on my life like i like i didn't let it like get to me too much but like i like my outlets would be like like skateboarding or like you know like i used to have like pets like those are my outlets you know like those were like the things that made me kind of like feel like like like i had like a little bit of a purpose i like i got growing up at those times skateboarding's hard right you got to have almost a little bit of asperger's or a little autism you know like these like like whenever you see the pro skaters and they're interviewing skateboarding's hard right you got to have almost a little bit of asperger's or a little autism you know like these like like whenever you see the pro skaters and they're being interviewed you're like oh yeah you're fucking like like one of those japanese kids that plays the violin you

know what i mean i mean you got it i mean that kickflip is fucking hard if the obsessive yeah skateboarding no number one thing i feel like i took away from skateboarding is like determination and stubbornness because like you get hurt broke off off and you just want to learn. You just want to land this one trick. You know, you just want to land it and land it and you'll do, you'll try it a thousand times until you get it, you know? And then once you get it, it's like the best feeling in the world. And then you just keep chasing that feeling and just keep wanting to progress and get better. And like, same thing, like if you're like trying to do a trick off a stair set, you know, and you mess up, hurt your ankle, you like, you keep trying until like you live like legit or hurt and you can't keep going anymore.

And then you come back and try to try it again, you know? So that's, that's what skateboarding taught me like mentally. I'm reading this book by, or I'm listening to this book. I just finished it by Bob Rotella. It's called a championship mindset. And he was LeBron's three point coach. When he picked up LeBron, LeBron was only shooting like, I don't know, 29% or 20% three throws. And then three of the women

he coached in golf are the three only women, I think who shot a 59 in a tournament. I guess that's good. I don't play golf, but, and he tells all these stories, but the three things he says that great people have in common is they're focused on, on three things, their health, their family, and then whatever their shit is, whether focused on, on three things, their health, their family, and then whatever their shit is, whether it be golf or MMA or, and when I, and when I look at your, um, when I look at your, uh, Instagram, you pretty much fall into those categories. Like your, your, your health is like, and your family are, and then, and then MMA. your health is like, and your family are, and then, and then MMA.

Yeah. Those are, those are my biggest priorities for sure. Because like, you know, if that being said, if I'm not healthy, I can't provide for my family, you know? And if I'm not healthy and I can't provide for my family, I'm going to be mentally messed up and I'm not going to be able to go do my job as well. You know, so that all ties together with greatness, regardless of any, anything you really look at, you know, like even a normal job. If you go to a regular job and your mental health isn't there and you're not, you know, you hate it. You don't want to go there. Like it's it's not going to be good. It's the negative energy is going to resonate with everybody else that's around you, you know.

So how old are you again? 27. So you had a son at 22? Yeah. And you weren't tripping? You weren't like scared to death? No, I wasn't scared to death. You didn't see like your whole life flash before your eyes?

Like, oh shit, I got to do this. I got to do this. I better get a job at Starbucks so I can get health insurance. No, I didn't stress out about it like that. Like I already had, what did I have a job? I don't i can get health insurance and no i didn't i didn't stress out about it like that like i already had what did i have a job i don't remember where my job was i had a job at the time already so i wasn't really stressing it but um yeah like i i don't know dude like even when i was i think i had a pregnancy scare with my girlfriend i was like 17 16 17 so that was crazy you know so i at that point i already already, like, figured out, like, well, you know, my mom's not going to kill me if, you know, if I have kids.

I was like, oh, shoot. Oh, so you told her, you told your mom about the pregnancy scare? Yeah, when I was younger, yeah. So you're close to, you got to be close to your mom to tell her that shit? Yes. It's just my mom. My dad's not in the picture, so, like, me and my mom are super close. What happened to your dad?

Him and my mom got a divorce when I was like seven years old. He was getting out of my life at that point, and he ended up just completely getting out of my life eventually. Had his new wife, and they moved somewhere, lost contact with him. That was that. wife and they moved somewhere lost contact with him so that was that um do you trip now that you have kids do you ever wonder like hey how did your dad me having kids made me understand that my dad is a coward and there's no excuse for him not owning up to not being in mine and my sister's lives. I hear you, but isn't a part of you sort of feel bad for him?

I mean, look what a great son you are and he missed out. He must be hurting. No? That's his fault. I know, I know, I know. I hear you. I'm not trying to relinquish him of the blame, but the thought of me being separated from my kids fucking kills me. Exactly. Would you ever let anything come between you and your kids?

No. Okay, so there's no excuse for it, because I would never let that happen. Yeah. I mean, it would have to be someone would have to drag me away. I mean, it would have to be someone have to drag me away. Yeah. It'd have to be like, you know, like I don't even know what, like what it would take for me to not be in my kid's life. You know, like that's, that's how much I care about my kids and my family. So it had to be like a giant comes down,

a hand comes from the sky and just takes me. Yeah. You know, like something weird like that. That's it. Yeah. Something weird death. Like that's the only way I don't, I I'd have to be out of my kids' lives. Jalen, when did you realize you were tough?

Man, honestly, it's crazy because that's another thing. Growing up, my family like they always called me the soft the soft one like they never like if you asked like you were a sensitive boy like oh Jalen's so sensitive yep if you ever asked any of my family like like what they have thought I would have been the fighter they like they'll tell you no like not in a million years they like they'll tell you no like not in a million years and and when did you realize it um i guess like like the first couple times that like i've like i street fought i guess when i was like i was really young and i was just like i just always knew like i had like this like crazy like rage and like frustration built inside of me you you know? And I guess I also ties into like not fitting in,

like feeling like I fit into, I just always had so much. I just knew I had like this crazy, like dark side on the inside of me. Like I hated it at some, like sometimes, but like, I guess like, like when I would get really mad or like fight, like it would like, like come out and like, I get a little bit of a release, I guess.

And like, I guess that's when I figured out I was kind of tough, but like still would like like come out and like i get a get a little bit of a release i guess and like i guess that's when i figured i was kind of tough but like still kind of like i'm smart but i'm like you know i don't i don't know how to explain it yeah i don't i don't know how to understand either i do i do know that feeling though the first time you get punched in the face you're kind of like oh that's not as that's not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yeah. Yeah, I guess that's the feeling. Yeah, Cobra's trying to hijack the interview. Jalen, can you share with us the most important advice or lesson you've received and learned? Oh, man. I've been blessed to hear a lot of, uh, great advice. Um,

like I really can't even pinpoint one key aspect of advice that I've heard that, uh, that I would say is the best. Um, it's, it's a plethora, you know, like don't stop chasing your dreams, you know, like make it happen, like give it your all, like all the, you know, everything, you know, like just, I've heard so much from so many people. Like I've, I've been blessed to be around a lot of wise people and, and I guess actually like pretty consistent. So I can't even tell you what the best key advice was that I've had. Um, how old your sister?

Um, yeah, i got two sisters my one of them's 30 and the other ones i don't know she's she's a lot older than me and i don't like to remember her age because it's pretty crazy but she's we're like 12 years apart or something like that and the sister who's close to you did you wrestle with her as a kid growing up did you guys wrestle and play and roughhouse and no not not too much no uh-uh she she was mean we didn't get close we didn't get close until we both became adults and did she make the effort for that um it's i don't know we just both like she has kids yeah she has kids too she has a daughter. I don't know how that happened. I just, like, around the time, like, she, I think she was, like, 20, 20-something. I was, like, 18.

And then, like, we just got super close. It was just random. I guess she, like, kind of realized, like, how mean she was over the years. And we just got cool. So, yeah, it's just wild how it happened. And we just got cool. So, um, it was just wild how it happened.

It probably, uh, you probably know this as a parent, but the, the best thing about being a parent is watching the siblings get along. Right. So like your daughter falls down and your brother and your son stops, whatever he's doing and runs over and helps her.

And you're like, Oh shit, this is the best movie ever. Yeah. So it must, it must warm your mom's heart to see, uh, you and your sister. sister good because when my kids fight it sucks right like you see one of your i have three sons and i see one hit the other one and i i just fucking i hate it yeah i don't mind the wrestling but

just you know like walk over the stick and hit them you're like damn yeah especially with three boys yeah they're all gonna be a little it's crazy it's crazy um you're you're six three yeah um uh when did you when did you become six three how old were you when you stopped growing um were you ever short um i i and they lined you guys up by by height in school were you always at the front and i was in the back i was like hey jaylen what's up i'd be like middle back like there's some tall people i grew up with but um uh i think like my senior year i was like six feet six feet maybe six one and then like a couple years later i hit like six like six three and that was it dang were you ever goofy did you ever ever have an awkward stage were you like a praying mantis all gangly and shit or a giraffe yeah yeah i feel like I was like that in high school.

Like early high school. Because you don't show any of that now. It's crazy. It is kind of crazy how big you are and what weight class you're in and how you move around, don't you think? Yeah, I was always pretty lean growing up, but now I just put a little bit of muscle on and got my dad bod going. Yeah. Sometimes I hear you say in interviews that it's hard it was hard to make 155 and then in your most recent interview you were complimenting icon neils in the pi institute you said hey man smooth weight loss yeah this this

last one was like one of the best well compared to the last couple this one was amazing it was so smooth um there's no complaints like i didn't feel bad didn't feel like like of course you always feel depleted and drained cutting weight but i didn't feel like like i was gonna like fall over you know so it was smooth and um and basically because of your size and the importance of doing the weight loss properly and the fact that your goal is to be the champion you're not taking last minute fights which when i heard you articulate that i was like fuck that's some smart shit yeah man i gotta be smart this time around you know i like i've i've grown i've adapted a lot you know i've uh just it's just you know just certain levels you

want to reach you know and and you have to like just move move accordingly you know i just certain levels you want to reach, you know, and, and you have to like, just move, move accordingly. You know, I, I can't be taking crazy fights and risking, risking a loss at this point. Like, like in my heart and soul, like, yeah, I do it. I take a short notice fight. Like, like, but is it smart? No. Like, so I've had that like instilled in my brain to, uh, listening to my coaches in my corners, my corners and my management. So, yeah, I got to got to do everything right. A week a week before your fight, this last fight, by the way, your last two fights, man, the other guys were had the total hype train. Yeah. Malarkey and Riddell, like they were getting all the screen time and all the hype.

And the Malarkey fight was I was scared for you a little bit i mean he just looked like he was born to fight and you had to light him up yeah i always knew he was tough um we were supposed to fight it like a couple years back actually so that's why i wanted to get that one in yeah he looks like he fell out of him it's like his face was made to punch right i mean it looks like a fighter some dudes just look that way yeah he definitely has a fighter's look um and this fight a week before your fight you hyper extended your arm yeah what does that mean does that mean like your elbow like my arm goes straight here your arm started going that way a little bit yeah yeah it was pretty bad it actually still it still hurts like i'm

waiting to figure out what's going on we uh we already got it checked on so i'm just waiting here back but yeah i was doing some grappling um can you tell me with who so i can put him on the asshole list uh what's his um what's his name i think his name's ian his name's ian uh it's a little wrestler dude he trains at millennium with me but um are you mad at him should he have known better is it his fault no man you're like yo dickhead i gotta fight next week what are you doing it was it was actually like like the whole situation was it was like a crazy like a quick crazy scramble so it was like like it happened like the like a split second and it And it was, it was, it was, he did a legit move, but it's just what I did at the same

time as he was doing the move. So I had him in a, in a, in a, I had him pretty much in an anaconda choke. Right. And I'm, I'm spending, trying to finish it. And I was like, man, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna keep this up. So I opened, I guess I broke the grip and I went Gabe while I went here. And then, um, he went for an arm drag. Cause I had his arm, I had his, I had here. And then he went for an arm drag because I had his head. So he went for an arm drag.

So he grabs my arm and he pulls my arm and he's trying to drag me to the ground to take my back. And as he's doing that, I feel him moving. So I feel him do that. So I get up. I literally stand up because we're like knees on the ground. I stand up and I pull my arm back uh before he tries to get the drag but as as i pull my arm away he catches my glove and he catches like the end of my wrist and uh high bricks into my arm and just popped and i was it hurt pretty bad it was it was a crazy little exchange i guess literally like

split second so did you stop did you guys stop right away oh yeah i stopped i was i was screaming yeah it was crazy hey so so this this thing here whatever this thing is probably got stretched out a little bit yeah so it's like it's like all in here yeah like here and then like in here and and i already have like like tight bicep tendons so like my arms don't really stretch that far like this is like maximum yeah for me so that hyperextension like really like it really did did a good job on me and as you step into the ring with brad um do you remember thinking about your arm at all? I thought about it.

I thought about the week it happened. I mean, literally, as you're ending the cage, does that shit just go away? Yeah, by that time, I'm not even thinking about it. I'm just like, I got to, like, once I have to start walking out, all that goes out of my brain. I got to go do my job. Once I have to start walking out, all that goes out of my brain. I got to go do my job. And the reason why it's so fascinating to me is because part of you wants to be really cautious.

You have a nice car, and you only want to drive it fast on the track, right? You know that you're destined for greatness. You don't want to crash this shit fucking like going to the gas station. But yet you still put yourself, you still took this fight. Yeah. And it was on a huge card yeah it was it was too much uh it was it was more to gain than the risk so you know i kind of weighed that and you know my coaches also like put it in my mind too because they were like well you know like if you're able you should but if you want to pull out, like, well, really

the big key that helped me is my coach Ozzy. Cause he's also, he was a fighter at one point too. And he said, yeah, he had fought with, uh, with strained hamstrings and pulled hamstrings. And once he said, you know what? Like I fought with, like, I fought with that. And as soon as I went in the octagon and the adrenaline kicked in, i was able to um you know overcome the pain didn't feel it and so once he put like once he like gave me that i love it he doesn't tell you it's going to be better he says you'll have adrenaline that'll make the thing go away so i thought of that i was like okay like like as long as that's like it kicks in like i'll be good like i'll be okay you know because i was like once i was able to start like punching with it

and like feeling the impact on it and i could handle that i was like okay now we're getting somewhere and then grappling and kind of like uh it took a little while for me to like be comfortable grappling with it there's like certain certain moves and positions i couldn't do like anything that like pushed my arm back i would i would like like i'd be in a lot of pain. Did you feel it at all during the fight? A few times I got not doing that. No, I didn't even get, I didn't even get to that. We didn't even get into any exchange or any, anything. 45 seconds and it was just over.

Yeah, man. Such a blessing in disguise, right? Yeah. And he had no idea you're hurt, right? No. Honestly, like majority of the time, like maybe like 80% of the time when you fight somebody, something's bothering them, you know? Like that's just how, that's the name of the game, you know? And that's why people are like, oh, when are you going to fight again?

I'm like, like you had a 45 minute finish or 45 second finish. You didn't get touched. I'm like, it's not about the fight sometimes. It's about the training camp like that's where all the injuries and the ailments come from from just dealing with the the onslaught of continuously training and wear and tear and the mental mental roller coaster just a lot what's the most you ever weighed in your life you ever broke 200 no i've never broke 200 the most i ever weighed in my life was 193 and i was like during lockdown because i was just sitting on the couch eating playing call of duty and doing nothing um did you do that stuff did you participate in the uh in the

pandemic stuff i know la was i know some cities were like really participating um yeah were you kind of like fuck you i'll do what i want i did i did participate for a little bit and then i then after i was like fuck you like i was like i'm not i'm not gonna keep doing this shit like i gotta live my life i'm going outside um i'm taking my kids outside we're not gonna be cooped up in the house all the time but but yeah like i was i think i just got off like i just want to fight too like right at like right before that happened and yeah so i was like i was already chilling and i was really chilling i was like oh i don't have to do anything i'm like cool like okay it's weird my kids do uh jujitsu and that was one of the places like that didn't shut down and it was so it would

be so weird to be in a jujitsu studio with like 30 people and they're all rolling around on each other and shit and then and then i would see all these grown-ass men put their masks on and walk outside i'd be like dude i just saw some dudes fucking cocking balls in your face and sweat dripping in your mouth. Like, what? Like, what? Like, what are you doing? Put your mask back on.

It was so weird. It was it's I don't know. It's something weird happening again down there. I live in Santa Cruz. I'm north of you about 300 miles. And last week I noticed people have their masks on again and double mask. Is something happening again that I'm not aware of? I have no idea.

The only crazy. You're not paying attention either? Good. Me neither. Yeah. They said something. What was that? Monkey pox or something like that is coming out?

Is that crazy stuff? Something like that. I don't know. At this point, it is what it is. Yeah, it's just fewer kids on the playground for my kids. Yeah, you know? So 193, did you hate yourself at that weight or were you happy with it what'd you think um you know it's crazy like i actually like

i carried it well like i was like all right like my abs are still there yeah i was like my abs are still there i was like okay i can do that hey i saw you uh uh um sparring with Sean Strickland. Yeah. And when I saw him get in the – and you're fighting at 155. Yeah. And I saw him get in the ring with Alex. Yeah. And fucking Alex's head – two of Sean Strickland's heads fit inside Alex's head.

Alex has a mandible like a fucking donkey or a horse like a bovine you know what I mean his jaw is nuts did you were you Sean your buddy were you scared for him when you saw him get in the ring with that guy were you like oh fuck because you make Sean Strickland look a little small and you're a 155 and he's a 185

Sean's my boy Sean's cool yeah he seems fun he seems cool as shit yeah like sean's like he's like you either like him or you don't like he's not for everybody for sure but when he first got the call for the fight like i like we sparred and i was just like i was like dog just working on your body lock working your grappling, work on your takedowns, take this dude down. And that was it. You know, and I don't know what happened to the fight.

Like. The dude's huge. Hey, Strickland can make 171, can he? Well, he used to. Yeah,

he used to fight at 170. And, and you just, and just at some point in your career, you just go up. Yeah. He, uh,

he had, I think he has his last time of 70 at a tough cut, career, you just go up. Yeah. I think his last time was 70. He had a tough cut. But Strickland's big. He walks around at like 220 sometimes. Damn. What do you think is going to happen? That guy's legit, right? Alex Pereira.

Yeah, he's legit. What do you think happens when him and Israel meet? Man, I don't know. It'll be a good fight, though. I heard someone say that getting kicked by him is like getting hit by a piece of mahogany. Are there levels to that, the kicking game? Like there's dudes you're like, oh, fuck, I don't want to be kicked by that dude. Yeah, I mean, I've heard stuff like that i mean i don't think a lot of people want to get kicked by me yeah yeah i know they don't yeah for sure um you know um i i normally just

i'm just a fan and i watch and i'm just i don't really have a lot of pains but you know two guys i'd like to see you fight that i'd like to see you beat the shit out of are the two the Irish guy and the English guy. Or maybe they're both English guys. I'd like you to just go up to 171 and fucking Poppy and Gary in the face. And then I'd like you to put Patty Pimlet in a headlock and fucking give him a. You see, do you know? Go ahead. I asked for Patty. I wanted to fight patty before this fight

and uh and how does that happen how does that play out of like nah we're not letting you fuck patty yet we gotta make some money off him and i'm not hating him on him for that either like yeah you like build build the hype train that's why i watched the ufc yeah yeah i think i think that's the route they're going but i think jordan levin's gonna give him a fight i don't i don't think that's an easy fight for him but yeah i hope jordan ties him in a fucking pretzel yeah i think i think that's probably what's gonna happen they're gonna have some crazy grappling exchanges pat patty and ian both always i mean i'm not taking anything away from them they're both great but they always seem like they're a little too hype when the fight starts and they're a

little sloppy they're a little fucking out there um i i didn't i didn't watch ian's fight too much i was getting ready for my fight so i i can't really speak on it i've watched him fight like a couple times like he's cool like even like in the back room like he was he was a cool dude like um but patty though patty you know he's in my weight class, so he's competition. I'll take that fight. What do you think about your weight class? Are you ever just blown away when you look at it? Like, what the fuck?

Yeah, I'm like— Every fight's a championship fight. Yeah, and that's and that's another like going back to like how i'm kind of like okay like number 14 is cool but i'm like every fight i have from this point on especially it's like super detrimental i guess like i'm walking on a tightrope because you know the next fight can like make or break you it could put you up a couple steps or take you back five steps you know so because you know the next fight can like make or break you it could put you up a couple steps or take you back five steps you know so because like the the division is so stacked

especially like where we're at like the new generation is coming in like we're taking over and it's like it's like one big fight and you're pretty much like entitled contention because the competition is that stiff it is it is like a new generation right yeah i'm trying to i'm trying to find this list here of uh it's weird i see 145 i see 135 i see hey you can't go any lighter right you can't go down to 145 nah heck no i think that would be that you would be like You would be like, you'd die. Yeah, the last time I hit 45, I was like 21. Okay, listen to these guys. I mean, it's absolutely nuts. Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Islam Makachev, Michael Chandler,

Benil Darush, Rafael Dos Anjos, Mateos Gamrot, Tony Ferguson, Rafael Faziz. Man, Faziz is thick. He is thick. Armin Surakyan, Conor McGregor. How is Conor still on the list? I thought he retired. Dan Hooker, Jalen Turner, Demir Asmagulov. There's no one.

Everyone in there is like you don't want to see in a dark alley it's all it's fucking a freak show in there exactly um you're you're you're five fights in a row five five wins in a row uh does that does that weigh on you what what's the what's the what's the what's what's the feeling like when you get five in a row oh man i don't know um or it's nothing yeah yeah it's honestly i guess it's nothing like like there's a little bit of there's a little bit of pressure like to keep it going but at the same time it's kind of like all right like that's you know it's cool like it's cool like there's pressure whether it's my second fight or whether it's i'm coming off a loss like this it's all the same pressure you know

um this is all how you deal with it and i deal with it like pretty well i'm just like okay you know get another win get another finish go do my job do what i do you know and i'm happy with the outcome but but it's not bait it's not baseball where or basketball like every every fight is your jobs on the line every fight might as well be a championship fight there's there's no homeostasis you don't lose and everything's okay you lose and slip back you win you move forward there's no like there's no middle ground no There's no middle ground. No, there's no middle ground. It's like every time you fight,

it's the fucking Super Bowl for you. Yeah, legit, legit. And it's crazy because I've been learning to not make it as big mentally, but I prepare for it as if it's a championship fight, every fight. Anyone in your family um who who has uh changed their perspective on it who is like Jalen I really don't want you

doing this any friends and family and now they're like okay um my mom was like that when I first started she did not want I'm her only son so she was like, I don't want you to fight. Makes sense. Makes sense. No one wants their – it's like you're her masterpiece, right? You're her Sistine Chapel. She don't want anyone hitting you in the head. Yeah, and now she's like my biggest supporter. So that's always awesome.

Well, she's been my biggest supporter since I started. Once I started, she's seen my dedication to it, and she saw that I wasn't going to budge on it. She started really backing me when you when you interact with your kids do you see your mom like like just now before we came on the podcast i want to my son was in bed and i squeezed the blankets around him like a burrito and i give him a kiss on the on the cheek and i put my hand on his forehead and every every time i do that i'm like oh i'm doing that because my mom used to do that to me you know and i remember how it made me feel as a little boy do you do stuff to your kids

and you're like oh shit i'm doing this because i liked it when my mom did it to me um i'm pretty sure i do but i haven't like paid attention or pinpointed anything yeah uh any any family how about even around eating is there stuff that you make your kids or give your kids that your mom used to give you that you're like okay i love this or or like i took you know i didn't i took my kids to jack-in-the-box for the very first time when my twins were five and my son was seven and like i'm pretty i'm pretty uh anti-refined carbs and anti-sugar and i'm fucking can't stand putting poison in my kids but i took them to jack-in-the-box and they were fucking completely blown away

that you could drive your car up to a window and food came out. They were like, holy shit. Yeah. But my mom used to take me to McDonald's all the time. And it was like, it was probably like once a week and it was the best. It was the best.

I fucking loved it. Thank you. You got any shit like that you do with your kids? I won't tell anyone. Nah, man. Like, we just, yeah, we do our thing. We just, we go eat wherever. We hang out wherever.

It's like, I don't know. Like, I don't know. Like, my mom, she would take us to, like, she would take us to places where she could. Or, like, she would mainly, like, try to cook when she could. So, I don't know. My mom, she would take us to places where she could. She would mainly try to cook when she could. I don't know. When you say she could, you mean she's working full time? Yeah, she's working. My mom, she works, I think, in L.A. County.

So she was pretty much always working. We were at school. We're my oldest sister. What was her job um uh children's services with la county yeah hey do you have any concerns about sending your kids to school i'm homeschooling my kids i never thought i'd do that i thought that was for fucking weirdos but now but now i'm like fuck that i'm not sending my kid to school it's funny i was just talking to their mom about that yeah i don I don't, I don't, I don't know just yet.

I don't really want to, but yeah, I, I rather do the homeschool route with all the crazy stuff going on. But you know, like, um, you know, like it's, I was talking to my mom about it and it's just like, um, you know, we used to like think that the kids that were homeschooled were like socially awkward or whatever yeah but now it's like you know with all you see everything you see going in the world it's like shoot going being homeschooled is the route to go because you don't want no crazy and crazy stuff to happen um i so i used to think that too and real so you

want to know what i do with my kids and i don't know if this is conducive to your lifestyle, but basically like right now I'm doing the podcast and my kids are inside the house with mom and they'll wake up and they'll do this thing called Kumon, K-U-M-O-N. It's a Japanese English and math program developed in the 50s, right? then now i'll wait as soon as i'm done here hanging with you i'll just take them to the skate park and then after this and then after the skate park i'll bring them home uh we'll work in the yard a little bit maybe we'll water the plants or do some stuff and then later on this evening i'll drive them to jujitsu and then and then basically it's just that every single day and then then my wife at eight o'clock starts getting them ready for bed and then and then i start working on my podcast till midnight i get on the assault bike and I just start watching Jalen Turner podcast and taking notes and writing shit down and just get ready for the next day. And that's just my, that's my day, but I just take them to different shit all day, you know, just to whatever the

beach surfing, just whatever. And, uh, so I took them to a birthday party this past weekend. And as soon as the other kid, I'd realize it's not my kids that are Weird and socially awkward. It's all the other kids and and my kids do tennis five days a week, too And I asked the tennis instructor the other day. I said, hey, I go what the fuck's up with all these kids? I go why they all fucking acting like this and not listening and fucking off And he goes because your kids aren't in school. I go. What do you mean? He goes these kids are in a dick measuring contest from the second They wake up in the morning to the second they go to bed your kids don't have to

do that that's all school is is a dick measuring contest my yeah my kids don't do that they would if you fell down they would come over and ask you if you're okay not come over and laugh at you you know what i mean right it's not about it's not about like no that's it yeah and so you still get along with their mom yeah yeah um my parents are divorced and um and and they get along too um and i think that's had a huge influence on my life made me emotionally extremely mature um is that is that hard like how do you know to get along with your with your ex um for your kids you just swallow down a bunch of shit no it's i mean yes it's a bunch of it's honestly it's difficult like it's it's difficult in the aspect of the reasons why like it,

like stuff didn't work out, you know, like we've, we've constantly tried like, you know, on and off, but yeah, man, like she, you know, we just realized like, we're going to be in each other's lives forever. Like, I guess inevitable. So, you know, why, why make it harder for us, for the kids? Like why fight and be bitter like there's no point um my my it's interesting you say that so i met my wife when i was probably 23 and we were we in the first 10 years were like that on and off just fighting and

fucking around and just doing crazy shit right But then eventually we came back to each other and we're like, yeah, we're the ones for each other. And that's another thing that I just can't, but we didn't have kids. So by the time we had kids, we had done all the fighting. We were on easy street. You know what I mean? After a while, you're like, hey, if I say this,

it's like chess. If I say this, she's going to say that, then I'm going to say this. So I'm going to try to say some other shit. And like, you start trying to like avoid those things and you start to kind of laugh at each other, but you're doing that while you have kids. I like the fact that you just keep that you, you kind of alluded to the fact that you're, you keep trying, Hey man,

we can keep trying. I'm a big, uh, I'm a big, uh, you know, leave no stone unturned kind of person. And I'm, I'm really like stubborn with things too. And, um, you know, also like me, like growing up. Stubborn in a good way or stubborn, stubborn, like I'm going to make this relationship work or stubborn in a, in a bad way where like, yo, I'm not going to tolerate this. You're out. No, in a good way. Yeah. Um, and like also me coming from like a broken family myself, like I never really wanted that, like for my kids, but like, you know, I was like, cause I always a fine line where it's um you know it's either

it's either going to be healthy or it's not you know so um yeah like that's i guess like that's like like a like a point of why like like it'll it's easy to continue because you know even the things we like like fall out for it's, it's not like really big things, but, um, like they're things that like, that have just been built up over the years, but it's not like super crazy big things. So it was like easier for us to like be cordial and go back and, you know, like say, Hey, like maybe we can try again, you know, like, I'm pretty sure like my friends are like, dude, again, like, it was just like, you just like you know it's just it is it is what it is you know but um i i applaud you i applaud you for keep trying i applaud you and honestly like even besides that like dating people is like so it's so terrible these days like

like everybody's broken everybody has issues like it's like i'm not saying i don't like but i'm just saying like it's it's horrible like i'm just like, I was like, I can't deal with it. You know, and I'm, I'm super, I'm super genuine. I'm a loving person. Like, I don't, I don't like wasting my time. I don't want to like go through another talking stage and there's like trying to do all that stuff. So it gets, it gets annoying. It's bothersome.

I'm just like, for what? You know, I always think if my wife died, I would, I would just become a monk. I have no interest in starting ever. Like the thought of starting a relationship makes me want to throw up. Exactly. Hey, also, like, you know, my parents were divorced at a young age, too. But I always think this, too. And I don't know what the impact is on my kids, but I never got to see my parents show affection for each other. And that's another thing, too. Like, you don't grow up and see that because it's going to it's like for my kids, but I never got to see my parents show affection for each other. And that's another thing too. Like, you don't want to grow up and see that because it's gonna, it's like for my kids, like, I'm like, what, somebody, somebody recently told me like, what are you showing your daughter? Like, if your daughter is going to see you not showing

affection to your, to, to her mom, you know, like that's what she's going to start thinking is okay. Like in her relationships. And I was like, dang, like that was like, so I really like blew my mind too, you know, because you know, if you're always bitter with someone, that's like what your kids are seeing, it's not going to be healthy for them. It's not putting a good image in their mind. Right. They're going to, we just try to keep reliving our, what we saw our parents do. So we got to like break it. So like, sometimes like, like I'm running out of the house real quick and I'll remember,

oh shit, I got to kiss my wife. Not because I want to kiss her because it's the right thing or that, because I want my boys to see it. I want boys to feel security that they see mom and dad come to get, like, I just fake it. I just be, I'd be faked so that like, but who cares? I don't care. Like I'm doing it like, and then obviously, obviously when I kiss her, I'm glad I did it. But, but the whole kind of like, yeah, it of like – yeah, it's like what you said. I want them to have a good role model, a good model that they see.

And I'm sure as a kid I can only imagine it must feel so good to see your mom and dad hug. Yeah. It must make you feel like, oh shit, this is a safe world. Do they live by you yeah um they're uh maybe like 15 minutes away if that and you don't have any like crazy rules and shit you can see them whenever pick them up or it's all it's all good yeah we're all good like we like we since we live so close we just alternate nights oh that's awesome yeah oh that's uh, it was like that with my parents too. Even though they were divorced, there were like no rules.

Like my dad could just come over and get us. So there wasn't like, you know, like you had to do every other weekend. You could do three weekends in a row and miss a weekend or you could just do whatever. My parents didn't put any of that pressure on us. Do you eat pretty healthy? Do you do any shit eating? I, man, I eat bad tell me tell me bare your soul to me jaylen like would you drink a coca-cola no i don't drink soda much okay okay

good good okay that's good i can still be friends no legit okay um like last night well i had in and out last night oh that's cool i'm okay i'm good how about a milkshake oreo milkshake or anything crazy like that yeah i do oreo milkshakes oh shit but i gotta be dragging a box yeah yeah i and then my cookies that's about it i don't get. I don't get too, I don't get, like, I don't get crazy bad, but like, like, especially after a fight, like I got to go indulge in my junk food, like all my fast food cravings. And then I get back, right. I get back on track, like a couple of weeks after. Late night, you're watching something. It's time to go to bed, but you want to finish the movie. And so start getting because you're tired you start eating what will you eat um like popcorn a bag of chopped popcorn yeah or nuts or something not not crazy you won't just start eating snicker bars um i'd eat a snickers i can't say i wouldn't god it must feel good to work out that hard.

Tell me your easiest day of working out, like a day when you say you're not going to work out. Do you still work out? Yeah, I probably go out for like a hike or like something easy, something light. Just train my dogs, go do some of that, and that'll be an easy workout. You're a mover. You need to move for your happiness. It's funny. I was just thinking about that the other day like i can't just stay home like i like i really want to but it's hard like even like the days like i'm like okay i'm gonna stay home and like do all this and clean up the

house like i have to leave somewhere i have to go somewhere and do some movement you mean like go for a hike play some tennis wrestle with someone yeah i have to like walk take the dogs out go for a hike like like something i have to like do something but when i relax and i chill i can chill like before i get them out oh you listen to audiobooks um no not much you listen to anything podcasts no not much uh how do you get information where do you get information from? I have friends that will tell me information, like legit friends that will tell me good information.

Honestly, I'm just usually in my own world. Tell me about this. You're at the beach, and I don't know. It looks like you're at the beach, i don't know it looks like you're at the beach and you clearly have a you have a ufc backpack and some guy uh just walked what were you doing and some guy just said hey can we can we get at it yeah man it was crazy so i was doing this is uh two four years ago. Man, that's so wild. That was such a long time ago. We were doing a video shoot for Always Ready Meals, the milk cart company I was sponsored by back then. And that kid,

he came up to, there were some other fighters there, just some local pros. He comes up to us. They're like 25 or 35, so they're small dudes. And he's antagonizing everybody. He's like, oh, I see you fight like what's up like and i think he was drunk too he was like what's up like what are you like you guys want to you want to roll he's like oh i'm from hawaii blah blah like i used to wrestle like i do this my coach is that i was like i was like dude like you know everybody's just like man like it was like that's not how

you portray yourself as a martial artist like that's not how you portray yourself as a martial artist. Like, that's not how you present yourself to anyone. So one of them was about to swing on him. And I was like, no, no, like, we're like, I was like, relax, relax. I was like, I'll roll with you. I was like, let's roll. And, you know, he kind of starts like, you know, like, I'm bigger than everybody else that he's trying to pick on. So he kind of like, kind of like tries to back off. And he's like, all right, let's do it.

And he's like, trying to tell everybody so he kind of like kind of like tries to back off and he's like all right let's do it and he's like trying to tell everybody put your cameras down no cameras and then you know i one of them like ended up recording i said put your cameras down i don't care like and somebody got it on video um we roll and i'm just kind of having fun with him just seeing where he's at and then he thought he puts his leg in my face and then i grabbed the toe hold like i'm holding it and i'm like i'm like you good like and like i'm like cranking it and he's kind of like just still there and like i was like all right and then i cranked it a little bit more and then his his ankle pop you can hear his ankle pop oh shit really yeah yeah you can if you like listen close

you can hear it pop and um does he limp away um not right after like he was good but like like i've seen him later like on the beach and he was he was limping a little bit i was like i was like my bad dude hey but you did give him a warning yeah like he was warned like i got i still got the whole video like like all that all the build-up before that you know hey well um he looks like he knows what he's doing right he's just is it i mean i mean do you have any respect for him after that like oh shit he just came up here and just fucking got in the mix with a bunch of fucking dudes who fight for a living no i don't have any respect for that no no like i respect i respect the way he carried himself after and he you know just shook my hand and went about his day.

That's what I respect the most. But everything before that, everything leading up to that, like even the whole like grappling exchange. I'm like, you don't do that, you know. And like if you did do that, like you like you come with a different presence and poise, you know, like. I don't know. He should have just been like hey guys i've been rolling for five years could i just get a quick roll with one of you guys or something yeah you know like like just for fun like not trying to like be a big shot and like kind of you know like

like if we say no then then it's no leave it like you know leave it at that like go about your day you know like don't try to like keep antagonizing us and try to make somebody like grapple with you like dude like like it is weird like to someone like me it seems like batshit crazy what he did yeah like i'm like wait what what you saw a bunch of dudes who are ufc guys with ufc backpacks and you went up to them in your bathing suit and started fucking with them yeah it's fucking weird it's it's it's a little weird it's like he's off his rocker how many uh how many spiders are you at now when i first started looking into you i thought maybe you just had one now i'm starting to think you might have a collection yeah i have a collection i think i have um maybe like 20 oh shit jaylen that's not that's a problem that's an addiction you need help holy shit

um so for fun you like you went to the uh you made a post the other day guys this is a ufc fighter a father of two and he's making posts about going to the reptile expo yeah man i went it was fun it was cool it was a cooler expo so you have over 20 spiders yeah do they each have their own facility or do they do any of them share facilities oh i have i have a few i have a few that are communal so they share they share an enclosure right now hey this is going to be one of those things we're going to see jaylen on the news one day and it's going to be like police arrest man and sam bernardito for having rare endangered spider it's funny because this one on the video is actually a rare endangered spider and and it's locality dude this is a this spider's eating a bird yeah so you you bought you bought a live baby bird and threw it in there no um so here's a story

with the baby bird um where me and my kids were at the park and like it fell out of the tree or whatever. So we were going to try to like, I was going to try to like nurse it back to health. I don't know what happened. Like it croaked. It was dead the next day. Yeah, that sucks. That's happened to me too. I tried to nurse a bird back and I killed it.

Yeah. So I was like, I'm not going to let it just go to waste. I was like, I'm going to feed it to the tarantula. Made a cool video out of it. And you threw it in there and he got it. Yeah. Okay, sorry. So do any of them have, do any of them are in cages together or they're all separated?

Yeah, I don't think I have any videos of the ones that are together. And are they the same, the ones that are together, they're the same species? Yeah. Same kind? Yeah. And do you breed them? Have you ever bred any spiders um i used to when i had more time i don't breed them anymore and and you would actually see that

happen and there were millions of little babies sitting on the back and shit um they'll they'll lay an egg sack and then like i'll remove the egg sack or sometimes most of the time i kept it with the mom until they hatched. Wow. It's really this would be cool if there was a spider sitting on this cookie. Oh, where is it going to stop? How many spiders do you think you're going to end up with? Honestly, I'm kind of done with spiders.

Not done, but I don't I don't need anymore. I have all my favorites. I need like there's like two more i want to get and and then i'll probably be like settled i love it how it's i'm done with spiders but i need two more hey and what is this guy standing on that why is it moving like that is there water under there no that's his web he covers the whole bottom of the cage with a web yeah so anything that lands in there is fucked pretty much No, that's his web. He covers the whole bottom of the cage with a web. Yeah. So anything that lands in there is fucked. Pretty much.

Have you been bit? No, never been bit. They had these at some museum I used to go to, and you could hold them. And they would say that if the spider got agitated, it would take its back leg and rub one of those hairs off the ass. And those hairs would go in the air, and they would go in your eye yeah have you heard that yeah they're called uh urticating hairs so they kick the hairs or flick them and even if it like gets in your skin they're like little barbs so if it gets in your skin it'll irritate your skin it gets in your nose and your eyes it's it's it's really bad um i used to have a my my my therapist is thermy

uh it's a bird eater she had some terrible hair it's like even like if i would just like clean her enclosure and like i feel the hairs on my hand like it it it'd be really really irritating but you can't see them right like you can't look at your hand and be like there it is and pull it out with tweezers no no they're they're too small for that but you can like uh i haven't personally done it much but like people are like like they'll like get like like tape and put it over the like their whatever area and pull it off to get them out but it's usually not that bad uh have you seen this reptile girl on um instagram she got like almost two million followers have you seen her no i gotta send you she works at like some huge exotic reptile farm i'm gonna have to send you a link um what was this was this surreal yeah so so that was pretty

crazy like because you handled them so well you seem like you guys were homies. Like you went way back and he was all up in your business. He loved you. Yeah. Joe's dope. Joe's super cool. Um, I, I, like, I was like, I was speaking on manifestation. Like I told him, I was like, man, like I visualize this moment, you know, like I had to like, like I had to get this post-fight interview, you know?

So like, I just was hell bent. Like, I was like, I'm going to win this fight. I'm going to get a post-fight interview with Joe. Like, I'm going to make it happen., I'm going to win this fight. I'm going to get a post fight interview with Joe. Like, I'm going to make it happen. Like, I'm going to make it happen. I made it happen. So I was like, I was like on cloud nine. It was, it was dope.

Yeah, that's awesome. Do you, do you, do you know when you're fighting next? Um, no, not anytime soon. Maybe like the end of the year, early next year. Do they, um, how does that happen? You're just happen you're just you'll just be working out in the gym and you look over at your phone and you get a text um yeah so i'm sometimes or you know i just talked to my management about it like to like the moment

like like what's like good timing and um you know when i start throwing my name into into the hat and figure it out you fought your your ufc debut was on the mcgregor card yeah is that crazy yeah it's wild because like like every like majority of the cars i've been on have been super big cars so everybody like asks me like like how do you feel like fighting on this car how do you feel fighting on that card i'm like i'm like my debut was on one of the biggest cards in history like i'm like i'm fine with all that big card big name pressure you know and is everyone mingling back there um some sometimes like you just say hi say what's up you know like and then it's then after that's like you just kind of like start zoning in for your fight because they like everyone's got fight jitters right no one's

like making friends back there um sometimes like if you know somebody back there like you say what's up like ask them how it's going you know like some small talk and that's it and then you know you zone in get ready for your fight and that's about it because like we're not there like the whole night like they like we have certain call times so once we get there it's like a like a certain group of fighters like it'll be like okay like early prelims will be there then prelims will be there then then main card gets there so you know you if you're with someone uh if you know somebody else on the prelims like like close to you that's when you like me and gold talk a little bit um you were you were in bellator yeah i fought for them twice and then straight from there you went to contender series

yeah so my last bell after my last bellator fight i went to contender i believe so and is that the is that the goal is that the goal always like if every Bellator fighter I see, like, I see McGee over there. Is his goal, like, I want to come to the UFC? It all depends on the fighter, you know? Like, for me, I always knew I wanted to be in the UFC. I wanted to be a UFC champion. I just felt like that was, like, you know, the mecca, like, the epitome of MMA, you know? So, like, that's, like, the best of the best.

So, that's where the best of the best so that's that's where i always wanted to be like even when i fought for bellator like like i asked them like hey like are you like are we gonna do like a multi-fight deal you guys gonna sign me what's going on they always said yeah yeah we're gonna sign you like like we'll be in touch and let's like we're gonna do it and never heard anything so it's like whatever and and then someone reached out and then someone reached out to your agent is like hey we want him on the contender series or your agent reach out to someone and then that process just started um yeah uh he it's funny like all right like me and him had a little falling out right before he got me on contender series like i got upset about the

whole bellator situation i told him like i was like man i feel like you didn't push hard enough for me and then like you know he's like like we fell we fell out we fell out but it was literally like it was like a like a one or two day thing and then like he was like jay i'm working on like my mom even was like she was like don't leave jason like he's working on stuff for you i was like like, I'm like, yeah, but I was mad. I was younger. And you know, next thing you know, he's like, it's like Jason,

who Jason house. Oh shit. Okay. Yeah. Next, next thing you know, he's, he called me.

He's like, I got your contenders. I was like, Oh shit. I was like, I get, I get, I get good. Uh,

I haven't had him on the show, but I get good, good feelings about him in, in an otherwise dark, a place where a lot of fighters say is a dark area. Yeah, he's legit, man. He's good. He's a good dude. Are you good fighter by fighter? I don't mean in the ring.

I mean like so you fought with Jason, then you got back together. Like I'm good at fighting with my wife. I know to fight with her you know what i mean like i would never say something stupid i'd never be like yo you're a fat bitch like there'll be no coming back from that you know what i mean like i don't i would never do that i would just be like fuck i would just maybe say like fuck you or you know what i mean or slam a door or you know what i mean or like i don't know take all our shit that's sitting on the kitchen table and fucking throw it on our bed and be like you got to clean this shit you know what i mean i'd never do it i don't want to like say something that like in two years i got to hear yeah i don't want to come back i don't want to do that and i have friends like that too like i have friends i fight with like we'll fight but but uh

but i but we could come back from it are you are you good do you know how to fight like socially fight or do you yeah i'm like dig a hole for yourself and you can't get out i don't like i don't like getting to that point i i like i i really like despise it i don't like i used to not like it too but isn't it kind of necessary to fight a little bit no no i guess like yeah fighting is fighting is like arguing like that's necessary but i don't like to get to the point where I have, like, oh, I feel like I will say something super hurtful to you, you know? Like, if you get me to that point, like, it has to be, like, man, like, it takes a lot, you know? Because, like, growing up, I used to, like, have, like, so much frustration and, like, be like that. So, like, I was just, like, as I matured, I was just like, dude, like, there's no point. Like, it's like wasting energy. I'm so easygoing. I'm so laid back. I'm like, like why even push my buttons to get me to like anywhere near that point? You know, I'm going to like deescalate the situation before it gets there. So I don't like, I don't, I don't, I don't like digging holes for myself. I don't like saying things that I'm not going to be able

to come back from. Like, and if, if I ever do, which is like like like a two percent chance of that it's like you really said something crazy to me for me to say something like that to you like yeah i don't want to do anything like that that they can hold like uh your friend carol would never treat her man like that and then all of a sudden like i'd fuck that i'm not saying anything like that exactly yeah i want like like i would rather just hang up on someone like just disrespect them or something and then they're like you hung up on me i like yeah well i'll fight about that that's cool you know what i mean like i can come back from that and come back from that yeah i i think i i do think that if you have a um it seems like

a lot of the relationships i've seen that my friends have with women that it seems like it's good from the outside and then when the relationships are over i always feel like it was two people who just didn't know how to fight you know what i mean like like they both were just they avoided fighting and uh and they never got in the shit just built up i can see that you ever do any therapy um not recently. I did growing up. I think the last time I even had an actual therapy session was like four years ago. Was it with your ex-wife or the mom? Yeah. I would be in there the whole time being like, fuck, this is a waste of money.

I'd be thinking about the money the whole fucking time. I'd be tripping well luckily somebody paid for it for us oh yeah yeah nah it's it's funny like i recently heard something about about therapy too um and the guy made the guy made a good point i don't remember i don't know the guy's name like he's like like this like foreign dude he's like he says all this crazy stuff on social media right now dang i gotta remember his name but he was like why would i go to a therapy session to go talk about everything bad i'm going through every day he's like if you're always constantly bringing up the bad stuff are you gonna remember it's the bad stuff and you're just gonna feel

more sorry for yourself and i was like dang like he like that was a good point you know yeah i kind of like it made sense i mean i haven't ever done therapy but my thought is is that like i guess if you have a good therapist they they teach you they i don't know if they teach you they give you the tools to be personally accountable and responsible for your own shit. I mean, at the end of the day, that's all that we have. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Right?

So, like, the reason why your windshield broke isn't because someone hit it with a sledgehammer. Before they hit it with a sledgehammer, you bought that fucking car. You jackass. That's why your fucking window broke. Because you fucking bought the car. If you wouldn't have have bought a car that motherfucker couldn't have broken your windshield it's your fault i mean right i mean at the end of the day you started it by buying the fucking car and when you're in the ring that's it you are a hundred percent i mean even with the referee in there you can't even like like

i mean when you've seen guys get punched to to to at when they shouldn't have been punched and you've seen fights stopped early at the end of the day it's all on you right that guy i have to fucking turn that guy's off switch yeah that's it like no i i i feel that one that was that was a good analogy um that also being said that's why i don't like going to the judges you know i put everything in my own hands to try to finish the fight and get the outcome i want and need when i talk to um fighters they talk about when dudes wilt about how that's the greatest feeling what what is that what is? What can you just define that word for me? Wilt? I'm sure I word for word. It's like similar, like, like crumble, like where they just like break down and it's like they can no longer continue.

You know, you just like you sense they gave up. Right. But they're still in there with you and you're like, oh, shit. Yeah. You're you're you just make you you broke them. You it's like you just broke them under all your pressure. You just put so much pressure on them, so much pain that they can't handle it. Do you ever – are you ever in the ring? And it must be – there must be ebb and flows where you sense that you might be wilting and you have to like take space or you have to like then overcompensate and start punching the guy. Like sometimes I feel like a guy is losing and he overcompensates and start, starts like fucking going nuts and punching or they start taking a lot of space. They start circling the ring like fucking crazy. Yeah.

Yeah. All that, all that goes back to like how you're prepared in the gym, you know, like what you're going to like, what you do under those circumstances and situations. Um, yeah,

man, I've been there. I've had fights where I was like, dang, I got hit and I need to recover. I was like, oh, shoot, let me catch my wits. Or I just need to catch my breath. Crazy big exchange. I'm like, all right, let me catch my breath, slow down a little bit. But getting to the point where I feel like i'm gonna like like like break i'm just like i i'd rather die yeah i wonder if it was trippy for um i wonder what israel felt when

what's his name was on top of him the the light heavyweight oh blach Blakovich. Yeah, I like both those guys, but I hated that. I hated him being on top of Israel. As I watched, I was empathizing. I just felt for him. Yeah, man. That weight difference plays a big factor. Because everybody's like,

why don't you fight at 170? I'm like, by the time I'm in camp, I'll have to cut seven pounds and then I'll be way undersized so having that weight difference is gonna you know it sucks and it's not about the striking it's about the grappling exactly exactly what like and you know what is you have to go through like just having a bigger man on top you just suck what what what is fascinating about your body is that as you climb to the top, before I go there, your UFC debut was against Vicente. Yeah. That's fucking nuts.

Yeah. All the pressure in the world right there. That guy is a fucking savage and he's in the weight class above you yeah and at that time i walked around at 170 so tell me that discussion jason's like we got you in the so you win the contender series you go to the ufc and the first what could you have passed on that fight why would you take that fight that's a fucking nutty fight so when i fought on contender series i didn't get a contract okay they put me on like i was on the short notice list like the call list so they called me up asked me if i want to take that fight i said yeah i'll take it like i looked him up i was like like all right he's

like he's good he's legit but i feel like i could beat him yeah so i took the fight all right well like you know i had i really much you didn't know who he was. You had to look him up. I mean, yeah. Like I didn't know who he was. Like, you know, I was like, all right, like I'll fight him. But, um, I, I, the way I looked at it, I didn't have much to lose, you know, like, like it was the opportunity that, um, you know, I've been looking for, for a long time, you know, and especially since I already tasted being that close to, to, to have an opportunity and having that UFC contract. I was like, I'm gonna just do it.

You know, I just played the cards I was dealt. You know, I got a bad hand, but you know, I just played it and, you know, now look at where I'm at, where I'm at now. And, uh, and, and so when you take the Vicente Luque fight, do you get a multi-fight contract? Yeah. Okay, so they're not like, fight this dude. If you win, you go on. You're like, okay, even if I lose, I'll survive to fight another day. Yeah.

Yeah, so I took it and didn't have the outcome I wanted. But I feel like I was doing good up until that point. It's funny. I seen him before this last fight. I was like, what's up, bro? I was i was like see you're the reason why i don't fight it well to wait i was like damn you're big it was funny so we're we're cool like we'll chop it up i mean out again so yeah and then the next fight you fucking you mash the guy in 53 seconds yeah and that must have felt great you needed that yeah that that was like my confidence booster and you know that's where i that's why i really like wanted to like showcase when i had my

original debut and that's why like i just started going so hard especially like at lightweight because i'm like there's no excuse i'm back in my normal weight class like there's no reason why i shouldn't win this fight you know do you do you do you think you think about the shit that's happened to you let's say just in the in the last you know year well not even happened i don't mean this in a good or bad way but there's a lot of pressure on you right you own 20 spiders you have two kids you switch you got a new coach um just a lot of shit's been going on um do you ever wonder like if everything was just perfectly smooth and you had all the pressure taken off of you if you would be even better or do you think these are the types of pieces in place that actually make you who you as good as

you are you know i mean everyone fantasizes about okay'm not going to have to work anymore and I'm going to become this professional athlete, but is it like that? Um, honestly, I assume you don't have a job, right? Your job is you're now full-time fighting, right? Yeah. All I do is fight. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, honestly, like everything I've gone through is for a reason.

Like everything I go through helps me get to another point. through is for a reason like everything I go through helps me get to another point and I personally like it's it may sound weird like I hate pressure but I love it at the same time like I crave like I crave rising to an occasion you know um I do know so you know it it is it's all necessary it is necessary to an extent and like you know yeah like i want a peaceful life i want this i want that but you know like you said like it's everything's for a reason like it makes it makes a difference so yeah man like i don't know it's crazy like i never really got too in depth about about that. But I have gone through some shit, man. Like, losing my coach right before the fight.

You know, I had injuries and all kinds of shit. But it's like, all that is like another book of time. Two injuries, right? You had the arm and you had something else, too. Your ankle or something, right? I popped my rib. Rib, that's right. Rib.

Yeah, like, it's like, the way I look at it, I always tell myself, like, especially when I'm at camp, I'm like, it's all adversity from the universe to level the playing field for my opponent because I'm already that much more above them. You know, like, that's how I look at it. So that's what I tell myself sometimes. Like, mentally, I'm just like, you know, like, you're more prepared, you're more versed. So, you know, just look at it like that. In turn, I guess I put more pressure on myself thinking about it that way, but it gives me a relief in a sense. Yeah. Have you ever lost a leg off a spider?

Have you ever been too rough with one of your spiders and you pull off one of his legs? Yeah, they grow back though. No shit? Yeah. Because as big as those fucking guys look, they look delicate as shit, kind of. Yeah, they're tough, but they're not. Have you ever stepped on one? No.

No. Oh, yeah. Heck no. You'd probably cry, right? No, I wouldn't cry, but it'd be gross. It would be gross, yeah. The crunch, crunch the juice the guts coming out um have you ever have you ever any that where they they just they they reached they they expired like you had one that was so old he just came in there one day and he's dead yeah that's happened a couple times and what do you do with them do you throw

them away or do you keep them um it depends on a shoe box and let them dry out no no i like honestly like this may sound crazy but like i'll feed it to another tarantula oh yeah i don't i i don't i don't let it go to waste wow how how green how eco-friendly of you so so you would be whole you'd you would like grab one and somehow just end up with one leg and then the leg would just pop off and he dropped down to the back into his cage and you'd be holding the leg no like like uh let's say let's say one tried to escape or something i i'd accidentally like close the lid on it and his leg will like come off oh and the first time that happened were you

just like what the fuck have i done yeah i was like oh shit i was like i didn't i messed it up i was like he can't move no more i was like man but i like a quick quick research and you just figure out oh they regenerate their legs next month so they're good and and and is it is it kind of like fucked up like a fucked up leg like it's like a little smaller or something right back to normal really yeah fucking and all of them all their legs can regenerate there's not like two like you break that one off your toast nope all of them wow fucking nuts um what's the um probably my my hp cripes my golden blue leg baboon females probably those or not maybe my p metallica the one that's even a bird in the video oh really and how much is a spider like that uh maybe like like 350 400 bucks holy shit yeah you go into the pet store and you're like i want that guy and he puts them in a little cardboard box for you um yeah usually or i just buy the container and and oh with him in it you buy his whole house

and everything yeah i'll take him and his condo yeah yeah that makes sense that totally makes sense and are they all in the same room in your house yep they're all in my room some of your friends must freak the fuck out your mom must be like what the fuck happened to you boy no man she's she's used to it i've been like this since i was a kid you know like i grew up watching ste Irwin and Jeff Corwin. Like those are like my first idols. Like that's what I wanted to do before I knew anything about anything. So I've always been an animal.

Like she's used to it. I even had like I had like 50 babies get out one time when I was living with her. And they were like all over the house. Like she was so mad. It was funny. Yeah, that's crazy. If these guys get out, can they survive in Southern California? Like could they start breeding and like?

It depends on the species. More than likely they wouldn't. I had my cobalt blue get out and she was gone for like two weeks. I couldn't find her. And they're like, that's a really humid species. So I was surprised that she was doing so well. And you found her, and you found her. She was next to my bed.

She was laying like right on the side of my bed. I get back from practice at the gym, I lay down and I hear something move and I hear something hiss. I'm like, what the hell is that? And I was like, oh, that's her. I was like, she's right there. I was like, so.

What do you mean you heard something hiss? She hisses. Yeah. It's some bill us. Yeah. They'll hiss. I don't know the other word for it. Stretch.

I don't even know how to say it. Someone asked. But they may, cause I've seen hissing cockroaches in Mexico. Like you'll actually hear us. Yeah. And that's her like, yo, I'm fucking here. Watch out. Like I'm bite you.

Yep. Holy shit. Watch out. Like, I'm gonna bite you. Yep. Holy shit. Holy shit. I don't know. Yesterday I killed a spider. I felt pretty bad. He was big. So if you see spiders around your house, will you catch them and throw them in there?

Be like, oh, you fucked up coming in this house. Or like crickets, like you catch crickets. It depends because like i've done that before and the spider has actually eaten my tarantula so i'm kind of like no shit yeah dude yeah tell me that story talk about karma holy fuck so i think it was like um maybe like you know like those little like brown spiders they get like like that big yeah i threw it in the container one of my tarantulas it's running around and i'm like okay it's gonna like get eaten next thing you know tables turn boom they fight boom he eats my tarantula i was like oh no how big was your

tarantula um like way bigger than him no not way bigger but like slightly bigger like it was maybe like like that much of a difference you Yeah. And yeah, it got eaten. So that's pretty crazy. That's what happened to Brad Riddell. They threw him in the ring with the fucking thinking he was going to eat you and he got fucking, he got smoked. That must have been hard on him, right? He shows up.

I mean, the pressure. He shows up with Izzy and fucking Volk. Two of the biggest names in the sport and he gets fucking chewed up. They fought on the same card a few times. Every time I fought on the Izzy card, I think Brad fought, too. So I don't think that was too much pressure for him. Honestly, I haven't really even talked about this much. I feel like he just mentally wasn't there for the fight.

I don't know how to do with him having to fight me, but I really feel like he was already defeated before we even got in there. I looked at him at weigh-ins, and he looked away so quick. Even when we were in the octagon, I seen him when I was walking backstage, and he looked away so quick, him and Eugene. I was like, that shit was weird like

like i'm walking like i'm looking and then like he delayed does this and i was like i was like dude what the hell is that like like i would have been like intense like you like i see i would at least said what's up or something yeah yeah and you know like because like we had seen each other um the day before weigh-ins and i was like i got seen him i was going to the bathroom oh hey what's up you know he's like oh what's up he was like what's up i see you so i was like yeah yeah yeah you know so like like that like that was cool like but then like even in the octagon like like i'm just looking at him like i'm staring into his soul you know like i'm thinking like mike tyson i'm like i want to look into his eyes i want to see

if he's gonna break eye contact And he kept breaking eye contact. He kept looking away. I was like, he's not there. I was like, I got this. I already knew it. That's a trip that it's like that clear. Yeah. You think he's intimidated by you?

Or he had shit going on in life? Me personally, I think he has shit going on in life. I haven't reached out to ask him like, you know, like, Hey, why were you such a bitch in our fight? Dear Brad. No, I'm not that kind of guy. I'd be like, are you okay? Like, you know, like Robbie Lawler and, and, and Nick Diaz, you know, he's like, are you

okay? Like in life, you know, like outside of this, you know? Yeah. Because like, you know, like we're fighters, like we fight, but you know, we're still human. We're people, you know, like I got, I got compassion for people, you know? Yeah. That fight with Lawler and Diaz was a trip, right? Yeah. yeah i don't know i don't know throughout my life i've seen a handful of of dudes get jumped into like gangs and that's kind of like how gang fights are like they fight they fight they fight and then one dude will just be like all right i'm cool and that's the way diaz did it he just dropped to a knee and he's like i've never seen that in the ufc yeah the way that fight ended it was just like

he was i'm good i'm good like it wasn't it was like the weirdest tap ever right He was, I'm good. I'm good. Like it wasn't, it was like the weirdest tap ever. Right? Yeah. I mean, it happens. I don't know.

I mean, it is what it is. It was like a slow motion fight. It almost looked, yeah, it was weird. It was like a slow motion fight. Um, you have huge hands, huh? I think they're normal. Yeah. I was looking at him at the interview when you were holding the mic.

I'm like, Jesus, his fucking hands are huge huge Your dick doesn't want your hands anywhere near it Hey get the fuck away you're making me look small Get the fuck away When I break top 5 You'll see some showmanship I'll sell some tickets I mean we'll see I don't know

I don't know bro I'll play the game But you know I'm cordial for the most part. So I just feel like I feel like, man, like. Like at this point, it's like at this point in my career, like there's no point like in talking and talking shit and like having showmanship right now. Like even like later on, like I'm still be humble and respectful, but I'll still, I'll be like, all right, like, you know, I'll feel like the confidence is there to like call somebody out and like, like say like, I can do this and that with this guy or I'll beat this guy. You know? Like, I mean, I already like, I already believe that, but I'm like, like, what's the point of me like saying that now? Like, I don't know. Like everybody wants to see like the McGregors and all these people talk shit and do all this talk for social media and keep all that shit

going. Yeah, it sells. It pays the bills for when people want to see you fight. But I'm like, you should want to see me fight because I fight good. Also, on top of that. I think your eyes and your smile are your greatest assets.

I think you're expressive yeah you're expressive as a is all get out man you're so expressive yeah like i don't know i don't feel like i need to be like oh like fuck you like let's fight like you're you know like talk all this shit like i don't know like it's like i like it it's entertaining to me like so i understand it but like it's not really me. Nobody's brought it out of me where I have to be like that. Yeah, that's the thing. Part of me thinks that most of those guys, they get a bad rap.

But I don't think Kevin Holland's trying to sell tickets. I think that's who he is. That's literally who he is, yeah. Yeah. I'm never like, he's putting on a show. He's fake. I'm like, yeah, that guy has an interesting process of he's getting himself up right yeah yeah yeah i uh i think i think i think it's fine i think it's fine either way i think it's i think people just want to see the

fighters be authentically themselves exactly yeah uh thank you uh for 90 minutes of your time dude you're a beast you're such a beast you're so fucking cool that you did this with me of course man no problem and i'll stay in touch i got you in my google alerts every single move you make every spider you buy i'll be notified by uh the the god and god on the internet and uh and we'll stay in touch yeah let's do it all right man thank you if there's ever anything i can do for you hit me up congratulations on such a successful career yep thank you bro yep ciao bam 90 minutes yes in 2003 uh the documentary our House, Jeff, did win.

At that film festival, it went up against the film that won the Academy Award that year, Spellbound. Tomorrow, I want to do a live call-in show, and I wasn't going to talk about this until tomorrow, but I cannot resist. I cannot resist. I want to show you something here point to the crossfit games uh instagram account and i want to show you something oh my goodness this is this is better than i even thought i want to show you something you guys ready for this yeah he does seem like a humble dude i want to show you something here i made i made a post the other day of this uh a repost of this um this is the crossfit games instagram account and unfortunately this just shows you how bad things are at crossfit uh inc and how fucked up and out of uh they are. It is.

It's almost unbelievable to me that they could be this far out of touch. This this CrossFit Games thing is completely funded by other parts of the company. This thing does not. This thing. company this thing does not um this thing this thing does not have life without the rest of the company the rest of the company does have life without this so this is like this is not the head or the heart or or anything like that it's just like uh you know uh an appendage a finger it's not even a good appendage it's not even like the cock and balls it's just an appendage, a finger. It's not even a good appendage. It's not even like the cock and balls. It's just an appendage. And I'm not, I'm not dogging appendages. That's good. Like I like

my arm. I don't want to lose that shit. And I made a post and it was of, it was, it was of this. And I want you to hear what Dan, what I want you to hear this here really quick. Okay. I want you to hear this. Listen up, listen up. We've been kind of struggling off the floor at the end of the day yesterday what was your recovery like getting into this morning uh lots of carbs so the announcer asked what was your recovery like and she says lots of carbs good on her makes perfect sense right she's a we saw a lot of athletes kind of struggling off the floor at the end of the day yesterday what was your recovery like getting into this morning uh lots of carbs we know

as crossfitters that the leading that the world's most vexing problem is chronic disease by far there is no second place there is no second place you could combine all the other shit guns covid fucking uh um transitioning fucking all the other fucking lunacies out there combine them all together the wars in ukraine does not come they still don't reach second place there is no second place we are watching a country die under its own weight. We're watching disease fucking explode at an alarming rate. We're watching people who can't think properly. We're watching people who lose self-confidence, who don't even realize that they don't possess accountability and personal responsibility.

All because of their addiction to refined carbohydrates and added sugars. All because of their addiction to refined carbohydrates and added sugars. One of the only places in the world where you could get that truth was CrossFit. It was by far the loudest voice that was doing it. Now imagine that. A whole world collapsing under the weight of its addiction to something. And the loudest voice in the room is CrossFit Inc. on how to save you. There's a fire in the building. And with Greg Glassman at the helm, CrossFit HQ was pointing at the door.

There's the exit. Now, CrossFit HQ, with their messaging messaging and using Danielle Brandon. You have to know I love Danielle Brandon. Love her to death. Awesome. But using Danielle Brandon, she points to the fire. There's a fire in the building. There's a fucking mad dash to get out and escape and survive.

And instead of having someone point to the exit they use their biggest star she is by far the biggest star and i'm going to explain it to you're going to be like what about matt fraser what about tia what about the people have more followers than her stand hold on guys they use their biggest star and they point, go back to the fire. This is a company that has completely lost its way, but it's worse. Half the people at HQ know this is fucked up. But, Stefan, she really does eat carbs. It doesn't matter.

You have to contextualize it. You have to put it in relativity. You have to explain to people. When she says something something like that you have to explain why she's using carbs what kind of carbs she ate the world the world's going to take that completely out of context here's why she's its biggest star recently we got all the numbers back from uh our monthly numbers back from our youtube station. We only have 15,000 subscribers. But you compare us to everyone else in the ecosystem, including CrossFit Games,

who has 2 million subscribers or 1.8 million subscribers, and you will not see some of the fucking metrics that we have with only 15,000 subscribers. And what those metrics tell us is that the people who listen to the Sevan podcast are the most active and the most easily to convert and watching the show longer than anywhere else. And there's all these metrics that we blow everyone else out of the water. That's what Danielle Brandon is. She's a fucking needle mover. She may only have two, three, 400,000 Instagram followers. She might not have the two million or whatever that the Sarah Sigmund's daughters and the Matt Frazier's, but this, what she says matters. Matters to a ton of people. People are all up

in her shit. She's dynamic. Would you rather have her 400,000 followers or fucking Danny Spiegel's 800,000? I'd rather have fucking 10,000 of fucking Danielle Brandon's than all fucking 800,000 of Danny Spiegel's. Not a shot at Danny Spiegel, but the people who are following 10,000 of fucking Danielle Brandons than all fucking 800,000 of Danny Spiegels. Not a shot at Danny Spiegel, but the people who are following her, they're fucking – they're not the needle movers.

I don't know this for a fact, but I would fucking bet my fucking two inches of my cock on it. CrossFit Inc. is using its largest social platform with 1.4 million followers to sit to push carbohydrates with no contextualization just just like that's it look at i mean that that's the old what else is there she's she's gonna run and eat carbs and then we're gonna show you the most beautiful body in the fucking world we saw a lot of athletes kind of struggling off the floor at the end of the day yesterday what was your recovery like getting into this morning uh lots of carbs and then this shot by the way is horrible you pick the ugly the only ugly shot that fucking exists in the history of fucking daniel brandon and you put it up there

like like this is fucking incredibly fit super hot fucking chick who's fucking capable of anything i'm going to eat carbs that's the messaging from crossfit in these days hey i bet you the kid i bet you the person who made this shit cut doesn't know a single person on the l1 team i bet you they don't know nicole carroll i bet you they don't know a single flow master i i would i would i want to say they've probably never even been to an l1 who knows but you know why i would have never made something like this or fucking heber and mars would have never made something like this or any of the people or uh michael dalton or jay vera or any of those people would have made something like this because we'd fucking been to fucking 50 L ones.

Because we had flow masters who are our friends, because we heard Greg Glassman giving the vision every single fucking day. This is if I was Danielle, I'd be pissed. And they got it pinned at the top. This someone there either hates you, hates her, or is fucking stupid. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. There's no reason to celebrate carbs out of context. It's nuts. The company is fucking lost.

Yeah, shout out oatmeal. Wow. I never even made it to the end. Shout out oatmeal. So that's how they sandwich it. Eat carbs, oatmeal. I've nothing ill to say about Danielle Brandon. Carb away, girl.

Eat oatmeal. But for CrossFit to lead with this with no context, douchebaggery and completely lost their way, it's the exact opposite of everything, of every message that CrossFit should be sending in terms of what the people in the affiliate should be doing. Am I saying you should be carnivore diet? No. I'm saying you should be giving responsible nutrition advice because you have the cure to the world's most vexing problem. And at the bottom of your pyramid, which I bet you this current CEO doesn't even know, is nutrition. Most of the people who do CrossFit think it's a fucking fitness regimen. That's like saying I'm just a head. I'm not. I'm fucking all sorts of shit.

I'm some titties. I'm some arms. I'm some elbows. I'm some wristbands. I'm some short shorts. I'm some feet. It's really, it's so disappointing to see um it's like taking the world's last ambulance and turning it into a fucking hotel or into a shag wagon crossfit's the ambulance and it's just being turned into shit

used to come in there and be able to get healed and nurtured, and now it's a place to fucking eat gummy bears. It's sacrilege. I bet whoever runs their social media, fucking fire them today. Useless – sorry, yes, thank you. 60% knows. Yes, sorry. I don't know how I forgot that. 40% cock, 60% knows.

Or is it 60% cock, 40% knows? Whoever's running their social media, ditch them. Ditch the whole fucking games team. Throw them in the trash. Start with Justin Berg. You're destroying yourself as a brand. This thing will not survive on its own. The games is just a fucking arm.

This thing will not survive on its own. Make it a real. That's all I got to say. Make it a real. They should hire me got to say. Make it a real. They should hire me for their social media. They should hire anyone. They should hire anyone who knows the methodology, knows the message. Step on check your Instagram message. I got banned from running ads because I promoted a post showing me on a scale and before and after pics says I'm promoting diet culture.

Nuts. We're all on a diet. You choose your diet and we stay on it our whole life. Choose a smart diet. Start using the word properly, right? Big and flexy. They don't even know how to, they don't even know what the word means. We're all on a diet.

Choose it, choose it, choose a healthy diet. Follow it every single day as close as you can. Get better and better every day. This is the kind of shit I would expect to see on ESPN, the shit that they have of what Danielle Brandon is saying. Just completely negligent. 40% of your company is probably owned by Mars. Mars chocolate. Mars confessionary.

What a weird word, confessionary. You're not there to throw the donuts in the trash. I think what Jeff is referring to is, yeah, that's exactly right. When I worked at CrossFit HQ, someone would bring a fucking box of donuts in. One of us from the media team, it was usually someone from the games team, one of us from the media team it was usually someone from the games team one of us from the media team would go over there and just throw it in the fucking trash their fucking whole birthday cake

fuck you and let me tell you something I have no problem with eating a birthday cake but in the place you talk the talk walk the walk I eat shit once in a while. I get my swerve on once in a while. I don't leave a cake in my refrigerator.

If there's a birthday party at my house, let's say my kids have a birthday party and we get some cake and the cake's not all eaten, it goes in the trash that night. Thank you, Elise Carr-Ridow. not all eaten it goes in the trash that night thank you elise car read redow i do drink not a lot i do drink i go through phases i don't need i go through phases but but but i'm not a um you know if i told you what i drink you'd laugh i really dilute shit like really really like even if i were to have let's say drink, you'd laugh. I really dilute shit, like really, really. Like even if I were to have, let's say, a kombucha, alcoholic kombucha, I would dilute it with like a liter of sparkling water. My days of drinking are kind of over.

Sometimes I'll go a year without drinking or two years or whatever. I don't even, I can't even, I can't even drink beer anymore. I can't even I can't even I can't even drink beer anymore I can't even stand the taste of it big and flexy I can't show that

I've lost 150 pounds but they're perfectly but they are perfectly content if someone shows themselves eating a whole cake the woke healthy at every yeah just

please big and flexy please keep being the um keep being a um nah jaeger bombs that was high school that was 30 years ago 40 years ago uh please keep being the role model that we need i want i'm gonna be even more clear because there's gonna be some people who still don't get it that danielle brand Brandon video, it's awesome. All you had to do is start it with her answering another question, any question. Like whatever other questions they ask her, have her answer that question and then have it go into it. And then end with something else.

It would have changed nothing. This is a commercial is a um a commercial for general mills do you know general mills is this is a commercial for uh kellogg's this isn't a commercial for crossfit who the fuck is working there this isn't a this isn't a crossfit commercial we saw a lot of athletes kind of struggling off the floor at the end of the day yesterday what was your recovery like getting into this morning captain crunch i ate a lot of captain crunch yeah that's not that's not a commercial that's not a crossfit commercial who the fuck is in charge of your fucking media there. Toss them too. That chick Erin, buh-bye. Andrew Weinschnitzel,

adios, later. I love a Jew, but you gotta go. You gotta go, even for my peeps. You gotta go. Kinda makes you wonder if someone's even there inside sabotaging on purpose, but I don't think so

if someone something stupid's going on if I'm an affiliate I'm not happy Rich Holton because they do not have the drive or discipline to even be 80-20 they want to attack you for your ability to do something you can't oh yeah to be

inflexy yeah totally just think of all the little girls who know who now think eating carbs will get you to look like that i know and they could have contextualized that if you sat danielle down we've had her on the podcast she's fucking amazing talking about she talks about basically how she used to not eat enough because she wanted to be skinny she was on an assault bike one one day. She fucking basically fucking petered out and fucking collapsed. She got a nutrition coach, and they got her on a fucking program. every morning when you wake up, which most people have never done even once in their life. 99.999% have not even done that once, and they don't have the balls to do it once. It's scary shit. Sell your soul on the assault bike.

You guys know what that means if you've ever done it? It's fucking vile, and you feel horrible for an hour. Then go ahead. You're a different creature. Drink your Coke and your Snicker bar. So sad. The frustration you're hearing me is just so sad watching this happen to – I wonder what they do over at street parking you know there's this thought that um there's been this thought for the last five years that someone just needs to build crossfit somewhere else and let it and rebuild it somewhere else and after spending that time at that street parking event i was thinking oh shit maybe they've done it already i mean it's fucking massive and they got a great community.

Maybe they were just slowly building it over there. I don't like online shit. My mom loves street parking. And I don't even know online shit. When I was hanging with Miranda and Julian, I was kind of trying to plant the seed that they build a destination gym. I think that would make everything more palatable for me that's online. Like a gym that's like, this is the street parking gym, you know, and it's a real brick and mortar. Like the original CrossFit Santa Cruz gym, where you could be like, oh, that's where Andy did the pull-ups.

Oh, that's where Greg Amundsen did his thrusters. The problem is these high-level athletes doing three WODs within a a few hours and these athletes need this stuff not for everyday crossers yeah i don't i would change uh thank you rich i would change now you're being very clear i would change not i would use the word the problem is i would just say these high-level athletes doing three wads within a few hours and these athletes need different stuff for every day than everyday crossfitters yeah yep they do yeah peloton does have they yeah they have that yeah they have the destination right where you can go there when you're in new york and like ride the bike and the one that's on the videos yeah it's cool i think my friend uh or or maybe I should use the word colleague, Mariah Moore made the fittest on earth next gen.

And it's kind of why I don't want to see it because I'm concerned what if I don't like it and I say something about it and I don't want to say anything to hurt her. I know the preview shot beautifully. Weird shit's coming out of Tia's mouth, but it shot beautifully. What a shame that I'm fucking going off at the end of this show that no one's going to see. Maybe I should have saved it for tomorrow morning. All right, guys. Thank you. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to try to do a live call-in show.

We have no one scheduled. Then we have Rebecca Fuslier. I know I'm saying that wrong. Coming on Wednesday, that'll be fun. Uh, then on the, on Thursday, we have Nathaniel Nolan. That's the guy who's been walking on his, uh, his not stood up and walked on his feet like a normal human being. I want to say like in a year or something like that. Then on Friday, we have Amy West on Amy West, uh, is a friend of mine for a long time. She came on the CrossFit podcast. She's a pretty hardcore

CrossFitter, super active in the community. She graduated from NYC film school. And then I know she's a physician now. And I want to say that maybe she went somewhere crazy, like Harvard Medical School, total overachiever. And she's on the DEI council, diversity, exclusivity, inclusivity. She's on that council that I always poke fun of. And then on Saturday, we have Dalton Rasta on. Oh, that's awesome. Dalton is undefeated over at Bellator. Always great having him on.

Then Sunday, we have Wide Open. Then on Monday the 18th, we have Matt Bordeaux. He owns three schools uh three acting academies uh these are schools for kids with the kids run the schools themselves which is going to be pretty awesome oh i've deal saran coming back on next thursday no that's two thursdays from now shit suze has been busy scheduling people what about uh i know we're supposed to have dallin and uh james Sprague on. I,

why don't, I don't see them on the calendar. What the fuck are they coming on? There was someone else we used to have on here. Oh, how we need, we, I don't see Hunter and Eddie,

um, and Eddie. If I wanted to have both of them on too, you need five minute friend to pronounce the, uh, yeah. Uh, uh yeah uh okay guys thank you very much um i saw ashley one of the listeners to the podcast yesterday i ran into her at uh the market she was visiting from sacramento and she and i it's so weird i stay in

this really tight loop like finding me if you know schedule, finding me would be so easy. I'm just like such a creature of habit. And I just go to the same places and do the same things every single day. And yesterday this young lady and her boyfriend came down from Sacramento to go to the beach in Santa Cruz. And I'd never met them before. And she came up to me, she's like, Oh my God, I listened to your podcast. And we got to hang out for 10 minutes and it was cool, but it was weird. Cause I, I,

I'm usually like so, uh, undercover and just stay in my lane. And I was weird. It was a trippy experience to be spotted out in the wild from podcast. Okay, guys, I will talk to you tomorrow.

Bye.