Uncle Joey's Joint with Joey Diaz - #255 - John Lewis, Joey Diaz, and Lee Syatt

Episode Date: February 10, 2015

John Lewis, multi talented MMA Legend, John Lewis, joins Joey Diaz and Lee Syatt live in studio John can be found: @JOHNLEWISMMA Facebook.com/JohnLewisFighter Instagram: JohnLewisMMA This podcast is brought to you by:  Onnit.com. Use Promo code CHURCH for a 10% discount at checkout. Iron Dragon TV. A New Roku channel with all the best martial arts films. Use Code word joey for two free rentals. HITecigs.com For a better tasting, longer lasting e cig go to HITecigs.com. Use Promo code joeyschurch for a 20% discount Naileditlife.com - Get 20% off a vapor pen by using code word joeydiaz. Music:  Woukd - Alice In Chains I Wanna Be Around - Tony Bennet War Pigs - Black Sabbath Recorded on 02/09/2015

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motherfuckers. John Lewis in the house, Lee Syat in the motherfucking house. What can I say, you know what I'm saying? What's your story, Lee Syat? What have you been on? You don't call, you don't write, you're out there dicking around with mama. I had a great weekend. What'd you do? Not much. We went to, I took your advice, went to Aroma yesterday, which is pretty good. What'd you think of them fucking Hebrews? They don't fuck around down there, do they? No, they don't. It was a little expensive, but it was good. What'd you get? Schwarma sandwich. What'd they put in there? Chicken Schwarma with some onions and some hummus, which you would have hated. It was delicious.

Did you have any appetizers? No, we were pretty full. What mama had? She had a like that turkey panini sandwich they have there. She loves her fucking panini. Hell yeah. But I had a fucked up thing happen last night. This guy threw rocks at me when I was driving home. He dinged my car. I don't know what happened. Like I was just driving home from the store. I was two seconds from my house and I just bang bang and it was like this older SUV and so I, he pulled over. So I went to go look at his license plate and it looked like, you know, in California when they have like the little paper when you don't have a license plate yet, but it was an older SUV. So I don't know why he didn't have it and as soon as I got behind him, he took off like after me,

like he, he, I was behind him and he took off. So I started chasing him, but then he got behind me and started chasing me. So I like, I had to go into a side street, turn my lights off and I have a gate in my parking area. So I turned my lights off when I snuck in and I didn't get out of the car until the gate closed again. I was, I didn't know what to, I was kind of upset at myself. I was like, maybe I should have got out of the car or something. So I, I didn't know what to do. So we talked about it a while ago how like I need to, I, I don't like confrontation and, uh, but we were just talking about earlier. I talked, uh, this week and I just, I had a conversation with you just, you know, it's not even a bad conversation. It's, it's just

something that I'm not good when it's a serious conversation that like above, like me starting my podcast. The real reason I haven't started it is because in the, over the past year, I've had two or three podcasts that I'm no longer with or that aren't going anymore. And I'm, I don't like when things don't work. It's like, I was basically being scared of failing. And it was just, it was fucked up. So I was feeling bad about myself last night. Like I couldn't go to bed thinking I should have stood up for myself or, but I don't know what that asshole was going to do if he's throwing stuff on my car. When you're on the street though, you don't fucking know. He's having a bad day. He's looking to mess somebody else's day. You're a sweetheart of a guy. He threw a rock at your

car. So unless you got a fucking cannon or bazooka in your car or a fucking flame thrower, you know, I don't advise people getting out, especially, you know, it's unless you take one of John Lewis's anime courses and you do what the fuck you want and you can fly out of the car with new chucks and stars and fucking everything. What's going on, my brother, John Lewis? Oh man, how you doing, man? Thanks for having me on the show. Good to see you. Yeah, man. You're doing great things. Like, you know, everybody I talked to, John Lewis around here, no shit. So I said, people want to fucking talk to John Lewis. Let him fucking talk to John Lewis. Here we are, man. What's happened, little brother? It's going good. It's going good.

What are you hearing? Oh man, just doing our thing, you know, being out here, opening a new school and just just getting it going, man, you know, acting and all of it. Sounds like anarchy and shit would be the well of it. Yeah, that was fun. Unbelievable. I put it on the one day. There you are. What the fuck did you guys shot? Yeah. Fucking Arab shot. They always shoot everybody. He's getting my head cut, caved in, like everyone else. So he's like, What's up with this, man? Did you audition for that? Yeah, I did, yeah. From scratch? Yeah, yeah, definitely. And for producers? Yeah, yeah, the whole session. Double call back, all nine yards. I thought you got it like as a stunt man. Like a lot of times I go on a

session, I see Marshall Autest, I know. Yeah, it's not my interest. Like, what the fuck are you doing here? Like, we're doing stunts. We're doing the fight scenes or whatever, so they throw you like a roll of it. Yeah, you know, you laugh, but most of the things that I've done so far have been like romantic comedies and I think I threw one kick and one show so far. Everything has been dramas of romantic comedies and that kind of thing. So a lot of the guys now from the UFC, they get the free pass. They're winning when they're titled and they automatically get and call for shows, but I retired 10 years ago. So for me, that has nothing to do with my acting career. When I talk to people about you, John, they always say you're one of the founding fathers

of MMA. Like, you're really one of the guys that was very vocal, very a part of it, very in the trenches. Explain that to me because I don't, I came later. Right, right. People, you know, I was friends with Joe for a long time. He would tell me about MMA. So I went home one night. I came from Cuba. I saw Bruce Lee. You know, I came from Cuba. A year later, Bruce Lee came on the scene. So I came up with that mindset. I joined Kung Fu. You know, Renato Lerange? Yeah. His father was my first karate teacher in New York City. So I, you know, I trained with the fucking codders of the forums and everybody was in great shape. And all of a sudden they're telling me, watch this UFC and I put on, I see Tank Ab and the wrestling suit and I'm like, I'm not watching this shit.

You know, no offense to Tank Ab. But I was just expecting these, you know, Chinese guys flying through the fucking air and stuff. So I never watched it again until one night I turned on something and I saw, hey, this is so we'll go through Chris Liebman. And I go, I got to see what the fuck this is about. I've been hooked ever since. I got him, man. Yeah. I mean, it's a story for a lot of people when he saw that force Griffin versus a boner fight that changed the game for a lot of people who weren't fans. Well, it was just weird to see these guys. You know, at first you'd see like a jiu-jitsu guy, I didn't know fucking jiu-jitsu, jiu-jitsu, you got to go to, you got to go like to Brooklyn to a Brazilian neighborhood to learn jiu-jitsu

in New York City. Nobody had, I remember talking to Matt Sarah and he was telling me that when he first started jiu-jitsu, he would have to take a bus on Sundays from Long Island to Red Bank, New Jersey, because that's the only place we had jiu-jitsu on Sundays. So they would drive three hours basically to train one hour and a half and then go right back to the fucking three hours. Now it's everywhere. Jiu-jitsu like dog shit, you know, you go to the corner. Next year they'll have jiu-jitsu onyx where you jump up and down. I think they already have that. Some old jiu-jitsu guy from the year 2000. How did you get into all this? Because you're from Hawaii. Yeah, yeah. Born and raised in Hawaii actually, left it when I was 17. We can get to all that stuff. But as far as

your specific question, you know, as I was fighting my whole life, Hawaii is a place that you grew up fighting and that's a place that you can actually build status as being a street fighter, a good fighter. And me, even though I was born there, I wasn't, you know, I'm not Hawaiian, I'm not vocal per se, meaning of the majority racist Polynesian looking. So, you know, at a young age, you know, me being half black, half white, we'd get, you know, racial slurs or things would happen. And I would always be quick to fight and I'd always do well. And I, you know, somewhere around my fifth and sixth grade year, I'd beat up a couple big name bullies in the area and all of a sudden, the same people that would get, you know, weren't digging on me, all of a

sudden started, like, liking me and being, and so that was my first, like, I guess it was my first introduction into seeing how if you're really good at something, people's perspectives change of you, you know, and I was young, so it mattered, you know. So at that time, I wasn't the punk ever. I was always defending people. I was always, you know, beating up the bullies or whatever. But at the same time, you know, I became more and more popular in Hawaii and I, that became a way of life for me is just being a fighter, you know. At the same time, I was dancing, believe it or not, break dancing, street dancing and all that stuff on a professional level and growing and doing shows there and everything. And then when I got to the age of, I think I was 17, I had an opportunity to

come to the California to audition for a big show that ended up being in Vegas and we can get to that. But it brought me out of Hawaii and that was where my foundation was, training some martial arts there as well. But really, my mentality of just fighting and wanting to experiment and see how good I could get because I was doing very well as it was as a natural street fighter. So I started dabbling in martial arts and just what was the first martial art you walked into? It was Shokon Do, which is like a Japanese kickboxing. It's basically once I, you know, so stand-up system, you know. And I just had good hands. I was fast, couldn't hit me, you know. And that combined with that, it just kept going and I just kept wanting to get better,

wanting to get better, wanting to see what holes I had in my game and I would just put myself out there in scenarios to see, you know, to test myself. And it just grew. This is all before, the way before the sport, you know. I mean, 93 was one of the UFC hit Denver, Colorado. So we're talking way before all this and it just kind of transitioned into all of it. And why is Hawaii such a, like, one of my dear friends is Earl, whatever his name is, Cooper, Black Dude, or Seafood Earl. He was telling me the history of something like Kajikembo, where I guess the Hawaiians were always smaller. So there was a naval base there. So these guys have to, you know, they would have to fight these fucking Americans that were yoked up,

you know, these fucking Midwest motherfuckers would come in there and they would eat the steak and potatoes. So Hawaiians really worked on their fighting styles. And one of them was Kajikembo, Judo, Eastern Boxing, or Western Boxing. Yeah, they love boxing. They love boxing. And it's just amazing that there's a system out of Hawaii. And Kajikembo breaks into like four different systems. There's a Kung Fu influence one, there's a harder one, you know, in LA. They have the brothers that really refined it. They call like a Kempo, you know, but it's, why is it such a fighting environment there? It's really funny, man. I mean, it's just as a warrior, a warrior, I mean, Hawaiians, Polynesians, you know, someone's, that whole, that whole, you know,

that's all a very warrior based people. So I think there's a pride, a pride there, a pride there, there's a pride there if you're really good at fighting and just combat in general and being a warrior. And the funny thing about it is even there, if you were in those days, if you were to grab someone and fall on the ground, it would be you'd be looking look bad, they'd say up and up, up and up, which means get back up on your feet, you know, like hands to hands and nobody would jump in. There was nobody trying to stick you with knives from behind. You know, we used to fight every Wednesday, we'd meet with another school called Lelihua, another competitive school near to us. And we'd meet under this bridge area every Friday, I mean, every Wednesday and it would

be because that's the half day of school, sure day of school. And it would be I'm gonna fight you, I'm fighting you and everybody would circle around and it would be a fair fight. Nobody would jump in, fist fight, if you go on the ground, you're back up, back up, back up and you just fight, you know, we scrap, they call it, you know, so it's like, it's just the nature of the beast over there. It's crazy, you have a smile on your face when you're talking about it and that sounds like the most terrifying thing in the world. No, it's really wonderful, man. You know, there's nothing more to me, there's nothing better than that, it's like really putting yourself out there, exposing yourself and really seeing what you're made of, you know, and a lot of the time it's my best friends and

that have been, I'm sure everybody can say this, being guys they fought when they're young, because it's such an intimate thing to be so exposed and to, at the end of the fight, to be very clear that you lost or you won, so you can't say nothing, I mean, it's like, you're great, you know, and then usually you become friends with the guys because it's an intimate experience to fight somebody, you know. It's just a different level when you, I remember coming from Cuba and going to Karate and then getting into a couple fights and where your mind goes, like it happened so fucking quick as a kid, you know, where your mind goes and then as I got older, you know, Bruce Lee came and we go to the movies and we get to little tussles and I liked it for a while, it's when I

started getting old I didn't like it, once I got into like, in my teens I love throwing my hands, I love getting smacked, you know, it's funny how you say that sometimes you fight like the kid that saved my, the kid I moved in with, my mother died, beat me up, two years before that, we got through a fist fight, we beat up and he broke my nose, I hit him in the head, you know, he bled from his eye but he beat me up, he got the best of me and when my mother died he came to me and he goes, I want you to move to my house, so it's correct, you take your friendship to such a level, I mean it's not even a friendship, we weren't friends and we became friends the next day, it was like a thing of respect but I just didn't like it, I liked the martial art angle of it but it got real,

once I got to high school it got a little too real, like a stick could come out or a knife could come out and that's what, that's a complete different level, I understand what you're saying, yeah, when two kids fist fight nobody can jump in, there's no knives, they hover around you and after eight, nine minutes you look at each other and go, hey man it's over, you shake hands and you go to school the next day, nobody says nothing to you, nobody says nothing to you, they want people who really want to see who is who's the better between the two fighters, they don't want you to use a stick or a knife because they really want to see who's better and the and the and the student follows the, like we do with boxers or fighters these days, you know, one day you're

like so-and-so sucks then he wins a couple times and he's your favorite and then he loses then he's overrated, it's just that, you know, you follow the, that you follow the winner, you know, so in those days I found, you know, be the winner, be the winner and you and you got friends, how did your parents react when you were coming home with like black eyes and stuff? I wasn't, the other guy was, I mean I have a couple things every now and then but for the most point, I mean I was winning, you know, so and a couple times I'd have other injuries and I would say I fell off my bike or whatever but it wouldn't change anything because that come the next day you're the one who got to go to school and you're the one who got to deal with the people so,

you know, funny thing though in high school my mother was a campus walker so half the fights I got and were defending my mother whose job was to make sure things were okay and I'm like somebody's wasting off to her so I, you know, so it ended up being actually helping me fight even more the fact that she was there so it was interesting. So you're you're a kid in Hawaii, the first school you walk into Japanese kickboxing? Yeah, yeah. And you're also breakdancing at the same time? Donnie D's on the backup right all that shit doing your thing. Pop and lock, you know, pop and all that, fucking tremendous. So you graduated high school though? No, I didn't, I didn't. You said fucking? What happened was I had an opportunity for a specific

show in Las Vegas called Splash at the Riviera Hotel which at the time, I'm talking about, man gosh I don't even know, but you know a long time ago and it was the popular hotel was a nice hotel back in the day and it was like there's an audition for this thing old friend of mine who lived out here already told me to come out and give it a shot. So it was one of those things like, you know, which of course everybody tells you, you know, finish school, you know, which I definitely am an advocate of, you know, my son making sure he's finishing school, but I left, I told my mother, say mom I want to go do this, I want to, this is what I want to do, you know, and so she was really supportive, you know, I had a good childhood as far as, you know,

parents supporting what I did, you know, and those kind of sad stories, it was had a good upbringing that way. You know, it was low income, but love was there, you know, and the support was there. So I, she put me on a plane, we flew to California by myself, you know, stayed at a friend's place, crashed on the floor and never went back, you know, and continued to climb the ladder from then on, you know. As a dancer. Versus a dancer, got the audition, got it, got on the show, called Splash in the River River Hotel, was there for about two, almost three years at 17 years old, you know, for me coming out,

living with my mom to have my own space, having what I thought was a lot of money per week and I was just living in a hotel, we had the run of the hotel, it was just a very, very big change, gotten into all kinds of trouble that you could imagine at that age with drugs and everything else. Nothing that was like, you know, put me out, but it was things, you know, things you dabble with when you're young, and all my friends were older in a nightlife kind of environment. It was very interesting, but a couple years later, you know, I moved on to, I started doing music, and I started writing music, and my girl got a piano, and she bought it in the house. I just, I started playing it, and I learned to play with myself, and six, seven months I was playing pretty

good, just taught myself to play. Then I started writing music, and from there, I said, you know, I'm kind of bored of doing this, I think I want to go be a rock star. So then I shortly after quit the job, which was doing well, and packed and moved to California, met another couple other like-minded people, started doing my thing, and got produced by a gentleman named Jerry Hay, who's a very, very big producer, the horn arrangement for Michael Jackson, and Quincy Jones, and everything. And a little bit after that, we had to deal with a lecture records, get signed, did that whole thing, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What the fuck is the name of the album? Let's play this song. No, you can't find it today. Pop Skoola was the band, me and my buddy Steve Silva,

he was the lead singer, and yeah, and then, and still, I mean, I was writing for a long time after that, and then during all that, I was also fighting, and then I fought on a title, and then I had a choice of what do I want to do? Do I want to, you know, even though you get a record deal, it's like, it's like acting. Yeah, I'm an actor. Yeah, I got a job, and then a year later, you're still trying to audition, right? So you get a record deal, you get, you know, you finish your album, it's so much more than getting a record deal to become a successful artist, and I was succeeding in fighting professionally. So I made a decision to let that go and focus on the fighting, and move to Vegas, and open my school in 95.

All right, so now you're fucking beautiful. So now you're in Vegas. Now you get to Vegas, you're 17, are you training at all? I am still training, yeah. Where are you training in Vegas? Just like with a friend of mine, I named Nick one kick, one of my buddies out there, he's still a big name out there. One kick? Yeah, one kick, because he knocked guys out with a kick. One kicked at it. And just, you know, just doing that kind of thing. Before I moved to Vegas, I jumped really along, because before I moved to Vegas was all the Gracie training, and a little bit of the Machado training. So you were doing Gracie training in Hawaii? No, no, when I moved, I moved from

there to here first. Okay. Here to Vegas to do the show. All right. Back to LA as an actor, I mean as a musician, and that's when I started training. Oh, okay, when you were in LA. I started Hicks and Gracie, and I did that for a while, and then I got kicked out of that school when I fought Carlson Gracie Jr., so they let me go, because I was fighting one of the cousins, and became the first, I mean it was considered a draw, because there were no judges in those days. You had to either knock them out, or submit them, or to draw, but I dominated the fight clearly, but so it was like the first person to open the eyes that at Gracie could be beat, because up until then, Hoyce was this cleaning house in the UFC. So that was like an instantly launching me

into a different position in the Intercontinental community, because it was on pay-per-view, so people could see it. And we were fighting with no gloves, it was 30 minutes straight, it was a whole, I mean you can Google, it's on YouTube. 30 minutes straight? Yeah, no rounds? Yeah, no rounds, yeah. But it was okay, you know, you just paced yourself through the fight, and that was where it really launched my my real martial art professional career, because that put me on the map, right? Up until then it was like, who's this guy, he's gonna get killed, and I didn't, and that changed a lot for me. And you trained with Machado's after the Gracie's? Because I kicked out of the Gracie's. What Machado? It was Carlos, and it was Roger. I'd see

Hegan a lot up in Jean LaBelle's spot, and Hegan's was a great martial artist. You walked into Jean LaBelle Whitebelt, Judo, right? I did, I did, yeah, yeah. I'm John Peretti, a friend of mine, brought me to meet Jean, and me and Jean hit it off, and I trained with him up in the cabin, you know, and it was great. I don't know what happened from the edit, so I'd see Hegan up there training, rolling with the guys, dominating everybody, he was powerful, a powerhouse young, and just powerful. And then, I don't know, from there, I just, he just keeps going on. Well, fucking keep going, tell me what happened after that. Well, so I would have gone to Machado's school, and that was cool for a moment. Now, you're a blue belt doing all this with Machado?

Yeah, yeah, I'm a blue belt, but I've been a blue belt for a while because I didn't have a home at that point. You know, as you see those guys, they've been a one belt for a long amount of time, you know, and I'm also a black belt from, from Jean around that time, or almost a black belt at that stage. Jean LaBelle, and Judo. Yeah, I was his first, I was his first black belt, white to black, and he's trained everybody from Bruce Lee to, I mean, Benny the Jet, and Chuck Norris to, but, but I was, you know, they'd come in and learn from him, but I really was a disciple from beginning to, and he walked in there. Yeah, so that's a really cool honor to say, you know, and also as a jiu-jitsu, I was the fourth American black belt in the world to get a black belt in

Brazilian jiu-jitsu. What's America? And who'd you get your black belt from? From Andre Pedeneris. Now, how does he come into the picture? No, Andre, after fighting the Gracie's, another mutual friend of ours who passed, he's a Brazilian guy. He's, he knew Andre was doing something over there in Brazil, doing really, really well, and he just brought him over to the stage to meet me and said, maybe we can do something together, because I needed that kind of support to grow, you know, and no one really wanted to teach me. After I fought the both, you know, the Gracie's, not any Brazilians were really trying to help, because it was threatening the, the, the mistake, you know, and this guy was an open-minded guy. They said,

man, I just, you're good, and you're a nice guy. Let's work together. And he got me up there real quick. He trained with me hard, and I'd go to Brazil, and I'd been staying in Brazil for a while, and I, and I'd fight, eat corner all my fights, and coach me, and I'd come back and forth, and eventually I got a black belt from Andre, and he launched a school, launched a team called Novo Nihal, which is basically means New Union, but it's one of the biggest teams in the world right now, top five teams in the world. We have 416 schools, and I was the president of Novo Nihal for the United States. I brought it, it was only in Brazil, I brought it from Brazil to the United States, and like I say, now almost 20 years later, just 416 different schools, you know, that are,

I don't just mean like you buy the affiliate, but I mean guys that went from under us to black belts, you know, and this spread, and their black belt spread, and it continues to go up. So, I mean Andre, and that was really the best for me, because he was not holding things back. There was no, you know, it was just, this is what you need to get to the next level. This is what you need to get to the next level, which is how I learn to teach the way that I teach. If people train with me, they realize there's no like, I don't have any pace as far as holding people back, it's just pretty much I can look at you, I can see what you got, I can see what you need, and I can show you something right then that will make you better right then, you know. I literally say, you

know, one class with me is like training a month with someone else or anywhere else. Why is that? Because of that exact reason. I know how to articulate what you need. I know how to show you what you need, and I can see what you need. I'm not just coming there with an agenda of this, you know, especially in a private situation, where this is just a move you're going to learn. I wrestle with you the whole class. I'm on the ground with you, getting sweaty, working out, and I can feel you, you know, and I can say this is what you got to do. And by the time that class is over, your game will be elevated. And I show techniques like that all the time, and a lot of

times they're very simple, strategic concepts or positions that people are like, man, you know, I never understood that, you know. Someone can show you something in acting, you know what I'm talking about. Someone can, you can go to acting classes and try to get this one thing, and then you can meet this one, probably usually another actor, who can just tell you something, and all of a sudden just like, oh, you know, like, why didn't you ever say so, you know, but it's just the way some people can articulate things better than others. And I think that's a gift that I have. I'm able to articulate my thoughts and what I'm trying to get out to someone across the board, not only martial arts, just that's just one of the things I'm good at.

Now, your mentor, Penares? Yeah, Penares. Now, who was his, because that was interesting. I wanted to ask you when we spoke on the phone, and we spoke in your class one day, that he was your Gracie guy or Machado guy himself? He is, his black, his black welcome from the late, whatever, what I fight is junior, junior, Carlson Gracie, I can't remember which, I'm running a blank, the guy that I fought, was Gracie, no, I fought junior, Carlson Gracie, junior, his father was Carlson Gracie, the past recently, that was his black belt.

That was his black belt. Yeah, yeah, and then from him was the source, you know, so it's, the lineage is strong, you know, so it's basically Machado's, you guys, Penares. How important is it for a UFC fighter, because I just, I just got into it about a couple years ago, and it's, when you're watching it, it seems like a one-on-one, this guy versus that guy's sport, but when you're saying like top five school, how important is it when you're like as a fighter, Joey, you've been to like four or five different judo coaches, even as an amateur, how important is it, like what school to go to, or what camp to be part of?

It's really important, because, well, first of all, it's, once of all, it's finding a teacher that you're, you can vibe with, that you enjoy to learn from, you know, number one, to one that really cares about teaching, and they really, doesn't want to just make the money, but really wants to help you get better, and, and then just, if you've got to make sure you can, you mesh with that person, you know, but, you know, sometimes if you get to the wrong teachers, I mean, they can teach you the wrong things, as simple as that, they can show little details they miss, or, or they can show you techniques without the details, that when you try to do it, you're like, man, it's not working for me, you know, it's not working for me, but then all of a

sudden, someone else can show you just one little, oh, because you didn't turn your hip like, I mean, literally, you didn't turn your hip like this, and all of a sudden, the move is totally different, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is like that, it's, it's a kind of situation where you have to do all the little details, and if you understand the, the movement of the body, and, and where you should be, and where your weight should be, the move can totally change, if I'm, if I'm over somebody, just, I'm just going to use a random concept, just someone's under me, and I'm over them, if I'm right here, I'm pretty wobbly, you know, because they can throw me the direction based on the technique, if I'm right here, I'm heavy to lift this direction, you know, so someone can show

you a move about passing, you know, we call passing the guard, getting around the guys' legs, you know, but they're, they're in the wrong place, you'll try it on your friend, and your friend will throw you over, and a few times later, you're like, this doesn't work, you know, but that's just because you weren't here, you went from here to here, and all of a sudden, he can't move you, so those are the details that takes a teacher that really has the patience and want for you to really understand the details, and that's how I teach, I want, I want you to learn, you know, exactly, I mean, your reflection on me, my black belt's a reflection on me. Are you allowed to, as a fighter, go from camp to camp to learn different things?

That's, that's up to the teachers, I personally advocate it, I don't mind at all, no, I like, I like my students to represent me when they're competing, so we're under one banner, but I have no problem with people going and experimenting, because I, I raised, I grew up that way, going to different schools, have black belts from many different in arts, and that's part of why I'm good, so for me to tell someone they shouldn't would be kind of hypocritical, you know, I love the loyalty of the, of my student to know that, you know, I'm, I'm where they get their belt from, they don't jump and get belts from, you know, blue from me, and purple from him, and you know, but please go out and experiment and maybe even bring something

back that you can share. Amazing how this is an art, you know, I hate when people call themselves artists, that drives me fucking crazy, but all these arts go hand in hand, how much does jujitsu and judo help your music? How much does it enlighten it for you to just buy, when I leave Dave, and Dave just went over an art bar with me, and I'm driving up Laurel Canyon, and my mind's going about that art bar, Jesus Christ, I learned it over here, and he was right, I didn't, you know, Dave taught me, I couldn't art bar anyone, all of a sudden Dave goes, you gotta get on the fucking angle, you're trying to art bar me from in front of you, what the fuck are you doing? Who taught you this? Yeah, this far, and all of a sudden you're like,

what the fuck? That's what I'm talking about. But that, I, what people don't seem to understand, it's like somebody emailed me a month ago about, you know, when you go to this, they send you all these math classes, I go, that's to make your mind analytical, you dumb fuck, you know, your wife is an attorney, her pre-eternity, she had to take a fucking ton of math classes, ask her, calculation, shit, what's calculation, it's got to do with fucking suing somebody for slipping on the stairs, it opens your mind, and I know for a fucking fact that, yeah, whatever, I've done comedy for a long time, but ever since I joined jujitsu, my comedy went somewhere else, ever since I saw MMA and I became a fan of certain fighters,

it made me stronger because I would get pissed off because they didn't learn something from the last fight, so if I'm smacking you with a fucking left jab, Jesus Christ, the whole last fight, and this guy saw that tape, I hope that you learn how to fucking protect the way from that left jab, maybe to work to your right or put your fucking opposite hand up high, when I see a fighter come in and do the same shit, and then start throwing spinning back punches, that move gets my blood pressure fucking going, except for Joe Shilling, did you see Joe Shilling in, he knocked the motherfucker out with it, but when you just come in and do the same shit, and think because you're doing a spinning backhand that I'm supposed to fall off my chair,

and then you get beat up, I think a stand up, and I think you're gonna go up there with that same stupid fucking joke, really, you got some pay-afucking balls, it's helped me, it's helped me, it's helped you with the music. Yeah, it's funny, I'm not even gonna say with the music, but I'm just gonna say in general, life-wise, like I'm the kind of guy that that, I mean, I've launched many different careers as well as you'll find out over our conversation, and I'm the kind of guy that just, you go and you just, you go and you come at 100%, and I was just this morning speaking about the very thing you're talking about, and I said to someone that when, before I get in the fight, I mean, I'm getting ready for it, I'm training for it,

it's I'm all amped up, you get to backstage for six hours or so before the match starts, and then a venture closer gets the butterfly start, you know, I've never, they always were there, you know, no matter how much, how many times I've fought, I'm always nervous, always nervous, and it's healthy, as long as you can control it, it's healthy, right, you know, let it consume you, because we all have what you said earlier, which is a fair failure, we all have this, the difference is, some people can take it and make it power, and others let it beat them and freeze them, you know, which is the stage fright concept. So in this situation, you know, you get backstage, and you've got butterflies, you're nervous, you know, and, but you're like, oh man,

I got to do this, and you start kind of, you're getting hyped up, and you're moving backstage, you know, they call your name, and you start walking out in front of all these thousands and people and millions watching you on TV, and you're nervous, you know, but once you step in the cage, and the door shuts, this is always what I say to myself, okay, I'm in the cage now, there's no turning back, I can get out, so I may as well win, because he's gonna, he's gonna try to take my head off, or I have to take his head off. At this point, there's no other choices, so that's how I look at life, it's like, when you pick something, you commit to something, and you go that direction, once you're in, you're in, you know, once you step on the stage,

and comedy, you ain't back, well, if you back off, you're just, you're lost, so you're here now, you might as well just let it all go, and go out like a man, or win like a man, so that mentality of, I tell myself, I'm in the cage now, there's no, might as well win, I'm in the cage, I might as well win, don't bitch about what you're doing, you know, you're in the cage, so I can either win, or I can lose, I think I'll win. With all the technology they have, and Martians, and fucking spaceships, the only fucking thing I want them to make is a thought thing that I could see, because this is what makes my dick hard, is, you know, what you just described, the five minutes before you throw that punch, when fucking Dean looks at you, or John McCarthy looks at you,

and says, you ready, you ready, and when you walk back to that ring backwards, what the fuck is in your mind, the same thing, when I get to a thing, hey man, what's up John, oh shit, the flying Jews here, how's the audience, the audience great, and you're killing, and you're killing, but once Lee comes off, that's when it's real, once Lee comes off, and the emcee, it's real, and this motherfuckers still talking to me about his wife, and about his kids, and it's bouncing off you, they don't realize that, your mind is just seeing fucking battle, and also you go up, whatever your shirt, you pop your, because your balls stuck to your leg, you pop it off, and they say your fucking name, and that's what I want to see, that's what I want to see, I want

to see the pop-up, you ever watch like VH1 pop-up videos, I want to see all of the things in your head, I want to see all that, because for me it's fucking tremendous, I love it, I love it, that fear, every, and I tell people, I tell them all the time, listen, whatever bullshit you see on stage, when I get in my car to drive for that gig, I think of every fucking excuse in the world, because that's what you naturally do, that's what your mind naturally does, why am I doing this, I'm a loser, I'm gonna get a job tomorrow, this sucks, why am I 50 still doing stand-up, I should be a fucking director, you know, you get all the, and the closer you get to Laurel Canyon, and once I make that left on to Laurel Canyon, oh, that's when everything comes out, that's when

it's in full volume, you're a loser, you did this, your mother sucks, it's just, and then you then, once you hit Laurel Canyon, like fucking, I'm going down there, I'm just gonna take the beat, that's when you forget all your jokes, you have no fucking idea, Lee, how many times have I called you from a place, I said, Lee, what jokes do I say, you know, even a fucking comment, how much you practice, no matter, it just goes away, every couple weeks you call me, people don't fucking understand, and then you get there, and they say your name, and that's a different process, and all of those feelings, all that I just told you those 18, 20 minutes, is a ball, and it just keeps spinning, and something, as soon as I grab that microphone,

and I go, what's up, motherfuckers, that's it, it all comes one, it becomes one, it just becomes one, I just become hard, you know, I used to do comedy for years, I didn't give a fuck, now when I do two shows, when I get back to my room, John, and I take a shower, when I come out of there, it's like I roll for fucking 15 minutes, my whole body hurts, I become a fucking savage, I can feel that energy going from your toes, and nothing else, it's commitment, it's gotta be that's the word, it's commitment, it's saying, I think everything in life is the same, I think you can wrap up life as a whole in that little sentence we just said about once you're in the cage, you might as well win, because you're in the cage anyway, to people following their dreams

and quitting the jobs, or even just being at a new job, like right out of college, and like being nervous, maybe I should go move back with my parents and work at the movie theater again, it's all those thoughts, the differences some people actually give up and do those things, and other people say, fuck it, I'm just gonna go with it. So how do you describe the adrenaline drop that sometimes happens, like is it them not preparing, or is it just natural that when you start something new that you're gonna fall a little bit, like when you see that happen, what do you think? When you say adrenaline drop, what stage do you mean?

Like when they're like first fight in the UFC, the cage, I forget what Rogan's term for it is. Yeah, I mean there's a little bit of overwhelm, and I mean this could happen in every entertainment industry you can think of as well, when you're put out there, you're really there, and that's the difference between the men and the boys, and sometimes that's the difference. There's a very small group of men and there's a lot of boys in acting and anything else that you do, because when you want it so bad, you finally get there, and when you're there, you're just, one you're probably not ready, because you didn't prepare properly, which is key, everything, in acting, training, whatever, just preparing yourself properly, and two is you find out what

you really got, or is this really for me? When you're in a fight and you're getting hit in the face, I learned the best from fights that I lost, you don't learn from winning, you learn from losing, and some of the best fights I've had have been fights that I have lost, and the reason why is because, for instance, 16 minutes in the fight when I'm getting hit in the face over and over and over, all I could think of is, I'm gonna win, I just gotta get, I never think I'm gonna lose, I think I'm gonna win. From the outside, it's like, damn, he's getting his face punched in. From my perspective, it's like, I'm a little hit me in the face, so I can get his ankle, like, I'm thinking I'm gonna win until next thing you know, a TKO happens where they just referee stops

you and says you're getting hit too much, but when I leave that fight point, wow, man, I was really, truly ready to die at that moment, and not wanting to die, I didn't think I thought I was gonna win until I lost, and that's when you can look back and go, I learned something about myself, and that is something that, no matter what you do in life, that's who you are, and some people don't have that, some people look for the, when they're winning, they're killing it, but when someone starts putting the pressure on them and they can't take it, that's when you see them fold, and that's who they are as well. How much of it do you think for UFC fighters is technique that they learned, and then just like

the other side is like them as a human, and they're willpower, and how much of that makes a successful fighter, do you think? Well, first of all, I think the majority of it is conditioning and being in shape, because if you're not in shape, no matter how good you are when that fatigue hits, it makes some ice on men, you gotta be able to fight past that fatigue, but I think it's just pretty much just being prepared, 100% prepared, and being able to weather the storm, there's a guy, you guys all should all know him, Frank Shamrock, he was a great fighter, because if he'd have fights, it was a really great fight with him in Tito Ortiz, and it was the one in the UFC where Tito was dominating, he was one of the guys that I trained, he fought him three times,

twice, three times, I don't remember, a couple times maybe, I don't even remember, but it was his first one, that one Tito was bigger, stronger, and he was dominating Frank for the whole, most of the fight, but once again he just kept trying, kept trying, kept going, kept going, and in the end Tito made the mistake, and he got out, and he was able to finish, and Tito was tired, and he was able to finish that fight, because that's the difference, is like no matter how bad, how down you are, you know, you haven't lost until you lost, you know, and a lot of people, you know, once they feel that losing happening, they just accept it, that they lost, and that's it, they did lose, because the mind changes, and you become the loser at that moment, but the greats are the

ones that just still think they're gonna win, you know, denial or whatever you want to call it, they're gonna win, they just gotta figure out when their chance to win is, whether they won or lost at the end of the fight, to me they won, because when you can come, give you everything, give your best, give everything that you've got, you can go home that day, and you know, you want, you wish you won, but you can go home and go, and I did the best I could do, nothing is worse, than going into there going, wow, why did I, I know I could have went longer, but I let the guy submit me, or I tap, because I was tired, or you know, that's when, that's the stuff you can live that'll carry you, that'll be the last 25 years in your mind after that fight.

After I started standing up, my life changed, because that's where my mind went, it went to a place of danger, and I like danger, I was a criminal, you know, I like carrying a gun, and climbing through somebody's window, and kicking the door, and seeing if they got an ounce, or a kilo, or a goat, I liked that danger of my life, I did, I really liked it, that's what got my dick hard, you know, then when you get in the car, and you're drowning, you're like, somebody could have got a shot in that fucking room, it could have been me, or I could have ended up getting 30 fucking years for stupidity, so as I was trying to get my life back together, I got into stand-up, and just that rush, that whole thing, I get overwhelmed, everything, you know, I think of now

how I got off the drugs, and I got out of that mindset, and it was all through stand-up comedy, it really fucking was, just taking chances, and once I was in, I was in, like in 1991, I thought I wanted to do stand-up, I got on stage, and I fucked around with it for two years, and I tell people this all the time, when they send me emails, I didn't take to it right away, it was everybody else, you suck, I fucking sucked, you know, I sucked, I had to talk to the audience, I sucked, but then in 1993, 1994, what's 93, 93.5, 94 came, I'm like, I'm going for this, I have nothing else, I'm 30 something years old, I have nothing else going on, I'm not gonna use my fucking degree, I'm not gonna fucking, I got felonies, I'm not gonna hire me as a stockbroker,

I'm not gonna sell insurance, didn't we check and see in fucking Colorado, if you have a felony, you can't even be an acupuncturist, I couldn't do shit, I wouldn't, I don't give a fuck, you know me, I walk in and deny it to the end, that I got felonies, I don't have no fucking, I don't know what you're talking about, but it was really the fucking stand-up, because that kind of, that get-your-ass kicked every night, and going back to this, you know, you know, how many times I cried myself to sleep, I have to stand up, as a man. Because it wasn't going well or? Sure, sure, you're in a fucking hotel in Moscow, Idaho, and you just bombed out of fucking college, and you're giving you 50 bucks, and you owe on the

rent, and you owe 600 on child support, and your kid hates you, your wife hates you, your girlfriend sucking somebody else's dick, and this is what happens, and now, but in the morning you wake up, and you go, my kid could hate me, my wife could hate me, I could owe on the rent, but one thing I could control is, I could get on stage tonight, do a lot better than what I did last night. That's right, you have control of that. Broke as fuck, getting living off a subway, veggie and cheese sandwich, and saying, fuck it, I'm gonna go on, you know what, you know what, tomorrow I don't get a job, tonight I'm gonna go fucking do a lot better than what I did last night, but tomorrow I'm gonna do a really quick comedy, but then you do so well that night,

then you go fuck it, I just bought myself another fucking month, and I get it, and I've transformed that attitude to jiu-jitsu, like a lot, you know, when I first started jiu-jitsu over here, there's schools, a lot of young kids, they're killing me, they're fucking killing me, they're my cardio stuff, then I started working, and I started saying, you know what, all I want to do is go in there the last two minutes to that, and I would last two minutes, I leave there like the king of fucking pressure. Right, because you're competing with yourself, not competing with that person, but you're better than you were yesterday, that's what matters. That's it, that's it, listen, if I, the other day I went for an arm bar against somebody, I was laughing my ass off, I didn't even

have the right arm, didn't matter, I went for the fucking arm bar, you know why, because what am I going to do, not go for it until I get it, how I'm going to learn is by going for it, how many times do I tell you, when I suck ass and we're on the car driving home, and you'll say, yeah, that joke didn't work, and I go, it don't matter, I said that thing on stage, so you go, what thing, and I'll say, I'll say that thing, it didn't work, but I said it. That's it. You're saying what you were saying is, I'm in the cage anyways, so I might as well win, and that's what, and by the way, when you started explaining this whole thing, you started talking about the first part of your career and sucking, and you kept coming back, that's great, but a lot of fighters continue to lose,

and except being losers, you just want to make some money and keep coming back, that's not it yet, it's when you said, I'm 37, I'm blah blah blah, that's when you stepped in the cage, you said, you know what, I'm here anyways, we're also not going to go, I'm just going to really, and that's when you step to the next level, and that's when you step in the cage, I'm here to fight anyway, I might as well win, you know, that's the simple thing. It's such a great feeling, and this works, if you're fucking salesman, the same thing as a salesman, I haven't sold shit in three fucking weeks, you know what, this is the week, if I don't sell shit, I'm quit, then you call some motherfucker who not only buys from me, but buys 80 fucking thousand of those

things, and you were ready to quit, you were ready to fucking quit, in the words of Cheryl Crowe, I quit before, what's he say, quit before the dream happens, what the fuck is this, so how does, now how the fuck does BJ and all these people come in, when do they come in, as you're fighting? Yeah, well basically when I'm on, so kept some fighting, I opened my school in 1995 in Las Vegas, still open, and it was really cool because in 93 the UFC started, Hoy Scrazy was kicking everybody's ass, and I opened my school in 95, and there was no Jiu-Jitsu, hardly anywhere in the world, not to mention in Las Vegas and Nevada, so I had the very first MMA Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Nevada, so every time he won a fight, the next day my school was packed,

you know, they had nowhere else to go, like you said, this is it, this is the end of it. How many schools are there now, probably? I couldn't even begin to even tell you, like you said, it's like a 7-11. There's four, there's one, there's four within 10 minutes of eight right now, that's on the safe side. Four good ones. Gracie Barra, Alberto Crane, Marcelo, Marcelo over here, Jacques Blackbelt, he's in Burbank from here, Rana Koenga, and the guy in Santa Monica, he's a Higgin' Blackbelt on 4th Street down there, Street Sports. Yeah, I know there's also like, Verdooms down there too. Verdooms down there too, you know, but no, he has a school in Sherman Hooks, the partner has a little school right in Sherman Hooks, Sherman Hooks, BJJ, right on Ventura.

And then there's a million affiliate schools, like you're saying, that aren't even great, but there's still Jiu-Jitsu schools, MMA schools, and everywhere, so yeah, look back to your question, you know, so basically I open school, I'm fighting, I'm doing really well, so I started attracting people, you know, they like how I fight, and they come to Vegas, they try the school, they train with me, and they're hooked, and then it gets better and better, and then Chuck Liddell, basically a friend, same guy, one kick, Nick, Nick Blumgren, he brings Chuck to me and says, Chuck's gonna fight in the UFC, you know, he's a kickboxer, maybe he wants to work on his grappling and ground and stuff, could you help? So I started training Chuck for his first fight, and I was with

him for his first 12 years from then on, you know, I trained him from the very beginning, when he was making a thousand bucks a fight, and you know, and I was, so Hackerman was a striking guy? Yeah, from a youth even way younger than that, even, yeah, but even during the first part of the UFC, John wasn't there as much, but then, you know, he started picking up, and then John was always there, but yeah, Hackerman was always been, when he was a young guy, his stand-up coach, because I was his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, and grappling coach in general, he was a great wrestler, but what we worked with him for the first few years, if you watch his fights, he just is the kind of guy, you couldn't keep him on the

ground, you know, you, even if you get Chuck to the ground, he's right back up on his feet, and that's what we worked on, and that's what my specialty was as a instructor for martial art fighters, is that I don't, I don't bring you to me and say, just start learning my, my moves or my way, and this is, this is all you're gonna do, because that would be very generic, you know, that's, that's what a lot of them, so schools do, and Jiu-Jitsu they teach, I would take to, take the individual, Chuck for instance, who could wrestle, and who could, and he could strike good, and even though my specialty was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I've, I've experienced in a lot of other arts at the time, black, couple, two black belts in Jogando and other things, I would say you need

to, first of all, not even do Jiu-Jitsu, you need the first of all know how to defend Jiu-Jitsu, and you know how to get back up so you can strike again, so the first couple years, my biggest focus was simply getting off your back, and getting back to your feet to do what you're already good at, then over time we'll build, you take any guy down and passing his guard, and you know, but the big concern was to fill, immediately fill holes that could help him fight now and get better, and that's what I could do for anybody, if I'd get a grappler who's really good on the ground, but he can't take guys down, then I'd be focusing on wrestling, taking him down, take downs, how to use the stand up, the basics, the hands, whatever, just to get to a situation that he

can get the guy in the ground, so I was a very, very good at strategy, and I'm very, very good at helping people understand, you know, what they need, you know, and I was, I'm called one of the first mixed martial artists, because besides being in the very beginning of the game fighting, I was one of the very few people that had black belts in a lot of different arts, and was very well versed, so I was able to take people out of their element, if I fought a boxer, I'd wrestle him, if I had a wrestler, I'd box him, if I fought, you know, I didn't have to just do, at that exact same time, it was hoist fighting jiu-jitsu against wrestling, jiu-jitsu against kickboxing, I was, I could do all of it, so when I fought the Gracie Kid, I was very good in jiu-jitsu already,

but so was he, so that fight was me mostly staying on my feet and using my hands, even when I took him down, I did real well, but I'm like, I know he can't box with me, you know, I'm a normal, better athlete than he was, so I was able to, in the very beginning, change that a lot, you know, change the game and become a martial artist, it was a mixed martial artist before there was a term for that, you know, and then it goes on and on into the story of, of how the fritida is, and they know why, and everybody even got interested in buying the UFC, you know, I trained them and all that, which is part of why they say what you said earlier about my legacy with the sport, is literally, I put together a scenario that helped the fritidas

make that purchase and move on into buying the UFC, and at that time, the show was pretty much dead in the water, so my affiliation with Dana and the fritida brothers, training them for years privately before they bought the UFC and bringing Chuck and bringing Tito and introducing to them all these people, simply because I wanted to make the private more exciting, so I bring BJ Penn and I bring Chuck Lavella as my friends, it got them so, they fell in love with the sport, and through that, you know, meant the, you know, the tap out guys, meant, you know, the UFC owners and everybody, and they're becoming what it is today, so I had a big hand in, you know, getting it where it was, when I was with Lorenzo Fritido at first, he was on the boxing commission,

and he was one of the ones that was trying to keep the UFC from coming to Las Vegas, because it was hurting, it would hurt the boxing game, you know, he went from that to resigning as chairman and buying the UFC through our two years together, you know. That's a fucking interesting thing to share. That really is interesting. It's kind of cool how you would think, well, like, I have to beat them at what I like, what we're both good at, but why, why put yourself through that, that pain, and sometimes fighters get, get knocked for it, like, it wasn't like Brendan Shaw at a metamorphosis or something, he just like laid on the ground, or like he wouldn't, he wouldn't attack in due to,

he'd only defend. Yeah, yeah. And people, spectators get mad, but as a due to a person, you're like, he's really good, when I attack, why would I, why would I put myself in danger like that? Well, you know, you know, the thing is funny, you say that because there's this thing about the sport, right now it's evolved into an exciting place because everybody's so well-rounded, you know, they can stand, they can grapple, they can wrestle and stuff, but when I was training Tito, I mean, he didn't have his title yet, and I trained him all the way through his title with 25 Vendor Lee Sova in Japan, and I was there in the corner, and I developed a strategy, the strategy, Vendor Lee Sova, good friend of mine, he comes forward, just one two, one two,

forward, and very aggressive forward, and he commits, and he has bad intentions when he throws his punches. To me, bad intentions mean two things. One, if he hits me, I'll knock me out, two, he's going to over commit, so I can take advantage of that. So Tito being a great wrestler, the whole strategy for me for Tito is basically go out like you're going to step in front of him, give, throw a couple of techniques to make him standing, to make him want to punch with me, just to get his good, get him going. As soon as he commits, shoot under him, take him down, ground and pound him. They'll stand you back up again, just do it over and over and over, and for the whole fight, he did that for five rounds, dominated every round, and you know,

some people said, man, all they did is take the guy down and didn't, but it doesn't matter, you know what, because he won the title, and from that day forward became Tito Ortiz that we know today, the champion, you know, so they can grumble, they can say what they want, because they're sitting out there watching, never even trained most of the guys, a lot of them are 16, but truth and matter is Tito had to make a career for himself and win, and as a fighter, you do what you have to do to win, and that's based on strategy, and that was the right strategy for that fight. So it's really, it really is a mature mind, they can make those decisions, and now you get caught up in trying to make everybody else happy, you got to make yourself

happy and get to feed your family first. It's messed up though, because it is a business, so as a fan, you want like every fight to be like two Nick Diaz's against each other. Of course you do, yeah. So does that play into that at all with the fighters when like their UFC is renegotiating their contracts, or they'll give you more money if you're more entertaining? What they did is they did those bonuses, knock out a night, submission of the night, that was how they did that, and that's what their answer to that was, just to get it more exciting, let's pay people, you know, 70,000 more if they do a great submission, and that's enough to incentivize somebody, especially when the money's okay, you know, so that was what they did, you're

right. When I used to walk out of Higgins and I'd see you teaching the MMA class, and one day it was just you and a dude, and you said, leave your gear, don't worry about it, just leave your fucking gear, let's do this, and he's like, well I don't know, and you like just fucking leave the gear, and you would teach them, and I'm putting on my shoes thinking how fucking interesting is this, that this guy, it's just another guy would maybe come in, stretch, and put you through the fucking nonsense, the kid was already warm, you jumped on him, and I was like so interested that this guy has worked with Chuck Liddell, he's worked with BJ Penn, he's worked with Tito, but he takes five minutes out to help a kid that's not even in this fucking class, that's why you're sitting,

why you're sitting by the way, because I think if I took the money away from this, you'd still do this. 100%, when I was fighting it was money. I gotta tell you man, I love doing stand-up comedy, you know when I hate it, when it's for money, when I go to the comedy store, and I do those 20 minutes a night, they pay me $15, and my dick gets hard, my dick gets hard, I don't have to worry about it, I don't think about it, sometimes I pick up my check, sometimes I've never gone in there looking for a check, the manager will see me go, and he'll just give us a bunch of checks, the other day I was standing at the bar with Joe, and the manager gave him checks, and Joe's like I never even take these, like they just go right back, they revert, you know, like you don't even

think about it, my heartburn is when I have to get on the plane and do a door deal and worry about how many people in the audience, I gotta take leave with me to count, that's not stand-up, that's something else, you know, what happened to the days where I gave you a buck and a half, and I fucking showed up twice a week, and you threw me through the wall, and at the end we stretched, and that's, I hate everything, you know, that's corporate America today, that's it, you know, if I'm not saying nothing bad, I'm just saying something like, I just said that Gracie Bob, you know, they're a union, they do whatever the fuck they do, you know, if I'm a kid, and I'm not, I don't have rich parents, you know, they charge 180 a

month I think, that's 180 for a ghee or whatever it is, you know, if I don't have the dough, I can't go there, you know, because it's corporate, that's what the rates are on paper, but a guy like you, you've been on the other side of the tracks, you know what, just leaving that sneak of what you got every month, and I'll take it, you want to learn, this guy really wants to learn what the other guy, you know, it's just, business side to art always sucks for me, it sucks dick for me, it makes me feel shitty sometimes when I, I just can't walk in there and do a gig and just fucking go home, you know, money and art to me have never really, it's a part that you, you want to do, but because you know it's some guy who'll give you all the dough in the world, come and train and

say to you halfway, hey, hold on, I got to take a call, somebody will come and give you $15 and he's there 10 minutes before the class, now he's already done 10 push-ups before you fucking walk through the doors, you know, that's worth my time, yeah, that's the one that you're like, you know what, come next week, well I can only come once a week because my parents can't afford it, just come fucking next week, we'll work it out, you mop, you'll clean the fucking bathroom, you'll do whatever you want to do, what is your vision for this new place, this is Hollywood, you know, you're in Hollywood here, as you know, a lot of fighters have relocated to Los Angeles, you know, Southern California is it, this is it, you know, Jersey's great, but you know, you got a Henzo and you got

the kid down in Henry, what's this, what's the Brazilian in Henry with Tom, where Frankie Edgar goes, Albert, the other guy, Alberto, he lost the UFC, Crane is here, Crane's here, Alberto, he trains in Jersey, in Henry, New Jersey, doesn't matter, he's a Henzo Black belt, right, Sarah's in Long Island, great man, but uh, good guys, you got, you got my man, Marcelo Garcia in New York, you got Draculino in motherfucking New York City, so New York's bouncing with Jujitsu, but this is it, you know, the world on the street is, you know, New Mexico's got John Jones down there, but this is it, you got the, you got the schools in San Diego, you got the schools in Orange County, which are top notch, you got great trainers, I mean, what do you want to do?

Well, this school, this school here, you know, it's the Unbreakable Performance Center, and it's beautiful, everything's fucking, you know, top of the line, partners Jay Glazer from Fox and then Brian Erlacher from Chicago Bears, and it's, so basically it's everything in this place, equipment-wise, just for conditioning is top notch, I mean, cryo machines from hyperbaric chambers, and I mean, this is top of the notch as far as that goes, so we have clients like, you know, Usher and Armie Hammer and Jeremy Piven and, you know, a great club, and so as well as every NFL that you can see just training there on a normal basis, just normal cool people just training, you know, and then we have the classes as well now, so basically I came in and I opened

all the, look at the martial arts side of it, you know, so we're doing all that stuff, kids' classes starting as well, and my goal is really used to be able to build a quality high-end martial art facility that really, people can get what they pay for, you know, not just, you know, it costs what it costs, but to make sure people leave the same thank you that for, I'm happy to pay this because you're giving me what I'm paying, people don't mind paying for something good if they really get what it's worth, you know, and paying for someone's name is one thing, which is a lot of people do in town, you know, I get to train with someone, so, but nothing's better than someone paying and being grateful because it was such a good class, and that's my goal, if I don't leave

the class with people saying, man, thank you so much, I get, every time I leave a class, I get texts from everybody saying, I'm so great to train with you, John, blah, blah, blah, you know, and it's just, they're not saying it because I'm John, because there's a lot of those guys in town, like you said, in this block, we have a bunch of those great names, it's because the class was, was rewarding, and they felt that I really wanted to be there, like you said, and I do really want to be there, so I just simply want to build a great school here, a great team, you know, we have privates, like kids, you know, adult classes, everything you can think of, just even just conditioning is great there as well, and just do that thing, you know, and then, you know,

my other passion, which is of course very, very important to me, is my acting career, which is why I left Vegas to come here, but gosh, you know, I'm in Hollywood training producers and directors, so it all works hand in hand, you know. Hold that thought. Where's Tony Bennett, Cocksuck, you're sitting there meditating, thinking about the Mexican girlfriend, up this weekend, I saw how you ate a star with me, and then pulled out that the truck, 10 milligrams, I got a piece for you, it's sugar free, that's all I want you to try. Are you kidding me or what? What? Fuckin' John Lewis is a savage and shit. Motherfuckers be flying through windows and shit.

It's a nice break. What the fuck, this is how we do it here. Yeah, I like this. What do you think of the whole acting fucking thing? Well, listen, I like it, I'll tell you why. As you know, I explained. I came from Vegas as a dancer, I was a guy on stage. I went from that to becoming, you know, what I wanted to be is the rock star, the lead guy, the lead guy in the band, not the drummer, you know, the guy, you know, and I went from that into doing, you know, I owned my own fighting shows, my own fighting organizations as the promoter and did all that, and then I have had and have an amazing business, you know, celebrity talent booking agency, marketing director for casinos and clubs,

and you know, so I've always been the guys, an entrepreneurial guy that's always the guy, but always likes to be the guy in front, so I enjoy acting. I look at it as a new craft, the same way I did, I found something I love again, like martial arts, you know, where I really love the craft itself and studying and understanding the craft and talking with, you know, actors like yourself that has such experience, and that really moves me the way that someone coming to train with me in jujitsu would move them, and I happen to be very talented as an actor, I think, and I've been doing very well, so it's, to me, that's, I love acting. Did you go to acting classes? I do, yeah. Where are you? You still go? Different places,

yeah, yeah, I trade, I have method right now with someone down in Santa Monica side. Okay. Yeah, some from the actor, from the actor studio in New York, but you know, also, you know, Aaron Spicer trained at his school, his place for a while, and in a master class there, and did the groundings, class courses, and all those different things, but a lot of my, you know, with Mickey, you know, I train Mickey work as well, so I learned a lot from Mickey, you know, and he's been very, very helpful and generous with his knowledge, you know, as well, so I just, you know, I can learn from watching, I mean, I watched movie after movie after movie, and I pay attention, and I just, and I excel quickly in things, so, you know, to me, that's, it's my new,

my new passion, you know, and I- It's funny because the type of comedian I consider myself is like an MMA fighter, because I could act, I could act this shit, I love it, especially now, like, now I'm to a point where I'm very fortunate. When I got on the set, I knew exactly what to do for me to see, and Lee and I have had this conversation that very early, I was very lucky, I got big movies, you know, a day here, two days here, which you watch, you, unless you're a fucking momo, you sit there and you watch your people do it, then you emulate it, you emulate, you put a touch of yourself, and then the most shocking thing that happened, I also, when I first got here, I got a couple big things, but I wanted to get good, like everybody else, so every Wednesday

at five o'clock, I was on 7-Eleven on Sunset and Gardener, and I would get the backstage, and I would run home, and that night I'd go out and get all fucking to stand up, but when I got home, I'd get a fucking grandma blow, and I'd do the coke, and I'd do the submissions for backstage, and I'd stay up till six, and I'd get all creepy and walk through the post office and mail them, and then that night, or the next day, they would call me first, because those small movies always only call three people per character, they're small, they don't even pay half the time, I just wanted to do it to get good, to get it real, because in this town you can't do dick without a real, and I kept doing it, and I locked down, then you start fucking booking, I booked a couple

improv shows, I booked mad TV, I booked a half hour sitcom, I booked some fucking dramas, you know, I booked movies as dramas, as comedy, you know, I like doing the drama better than the fucking comedy, because on the comedy, I'm on a hook, I'm on a hook, I gotta do this shit on a drama, I just gotta smack somebody off light through a wall and get beat up, we gotta hand cuffed, that's my specialty, get drilled by a cop, you know, and now, like when I did Maron and Brooklyn 99 last year and shit like that, I just felt, you know, I wouldn't, I would get there and I'd feel my natural insecurity, which that always comes out, but then after a couple of minutes I'd go, why am I insecure, I paid my fucking rent, I'm not the fucking white belt with a stripe in the

corner of this motherfucker, I'm sitting right in this motherfucker's middle here, and having that attitude lifts you, it lifts you, that's it, like when I did Maron, I looked around, Maron is the show, when I moved here, you know, what's the show that premiered last night, uh, Saul, very close, okay, when I first got to this town, you know what the hot show was in town, his show, with the other guy, Breaking Bad, no, no, this is fucking, it's 18 years ago, he had a show on HBO with the dude with the glasses and shit, and every agent you talked to when you went to their office in those days would say, you're a comedian, what do you think of this show, and you're like, oh, these two fucking guys, and you couldn't call an agent after 430 on

a certain two days because they were taping the show, so every fucking agent went to the show, well that show now is Maron, everybody goes to Maron, every agent, so I'm sitting there and I said, fuck, I'm taking it to the fucking hoop, that's why Maron, I'm snorting, blowing the episode, I'm going crazy, we don't want you to do it, but we want you to know we have vitamin B here, give me the fucking thing, fill it up, watch me snort vitamin B till I fuck, and you just go, you know, and I went home that night going, you know what, I'm not just a comic anymore, I'm a fucking actor, then you want to write, and that's the completion, that's the three disciplines mixed into fucking one, you know, some mornings I wake

up and I write a chapter in a book, some mornings I wake up and I write fucking three fucking jokes, you know. Yeah, I'm writing and I'm producing and all of it, I'm writing scripts and I'm producing features, I mean with my business background that I have, you know, I'm capable of, I'm not the guy that says they're waiting for my agent to call me and give me an audition, like a lot of the things I've got, I've just been my own networking and my own abilities, and I want to write pieces that I like, that I want to be in, I'll put myself in a scenario in there where I'm working with the right people around me that's going to help out with my game, but make sure they're where they need to be so I can make my money back, and you know, I get the

business and I understand it very well, and I love the craft man, you know, and the leading man is where I want to be, not just, you know, act, but I want to, you know, once again I want to be the lead singer of the band, I don't want to just be the drummer, you know. I always thought about musicians that came out, did what you did, had a lead album, a great album, an album that sold, you know, and then one day just said, fuck it, I don't want to do this no more. Remember VH1 had that show, where they show them, where are they now, and they showed some pretty badass motherfuckers who took that money and opened up a painting company, that's how I always wanted to paint houses, now I paint houses, and you're like, what the fuck, you little man, bitch, what were you thinking,

but you know, I think I can do the same thing every fucking week, I'm like, every time I go somewhere with my wife and I get pissed off now, a restaurant or something, I'm like, I should just do this and shut my fucking mouth and show these motherfuckers how it's done. Just a winner of a competing restaurant? Yeah, like fuck all these bitches up. Yeah man. I had to go to my wife to win her friends yesterday and the kids to eat Cuban food, I'm fucking Cuban, these people were insulting me, I mean. Wait, I think it's my turn, how did he get stuck with all that? How what? You're going with your wife's friends to go to Cuban food?

Oh, I love my wife and I know the girl, the girl's Cuban, her husband is an actor, great dude, the kids are beautiful, I wanted to go too, but when I went, it was the place we went, it keeps getting worse and fucking worse, every time I go, I gotta bring my own fucking hot sauce and shit, nobody has Frank's fucking hot sauce out here in California, I'm a Frank's type of motherfucker, I'm gonna put that top of tea on my shit. Is Frank's Cuban? No, Frank is fucking a white dude from Buffalo, he invented the wing con sucker, that's who Frank is, Frank's hot sauce and shit, Louisiana style hot sauce. But why would they have that in a Cuban restaurant? Because that's what you fucking, that's what it calls for, doesn't call for top of tea, oh shit,

that's for Mexican food, dog, I'm not insulting though, but I'm just telling you, you gotta pick a fucking flag, that's why I don't go to Chinese, Japanese restaurants, fuck you bitch, pick a fucking flag, you can't do boat, you can't do pork fried rice and sell fucking sushi, that ain't kosher, that ain't fucking kosher, that's any Jew, you can't mix fish and fucking pork like that though. No, I'm sorry, I've got emotion. They're trying to fuck with Cuban food, it fucking pisses me off. Yeah, now I'm just like you said, like what you said earlier, it's like when it comes to money and business and acting, it's like whatever it is you're doing, it's any good entrepreneur, any real legitimate successful entrepreneur would tell you

that you, you just do what you're gonna do and you do it the best you possibly can and the money will come, you don't do it for the money, you know, you focus on what you're trying to do, that you, you have a passion for it, that you love and you do it the best you can do it and then the money will come if you're doing it right. Well was that for you, was it that way for like the entire time or did you have a switch? Because when you're young it seems like, at least for me, it's like all about the money and because like you have all these bills to pay, was it a switch? Like at what point were you like okay, the money's not here so I'll just keep doing it? I mean still got bills to pay, you know, but you gotta love what you're doing,

you gotta love what you're doing, you know, and then it's not work, I don't get up in the day going, I have a full day of things that I'm doing for the goals that I'm trying to achieve and trust me, we could, if I told you them all you think I was all over the place, although it all makes perfect sense to me, but it's, it's every one of them or something I look forward to waking up the next day to do because it's something I love, you know, and if you do it right then, you know, any repercussions come? You know, you just have a belief, I told a thousand stories on here when I lived in an office, I lived in an office that was half of this in Seattle, a buck and a quarter a month, there was no bathroom, you had to piss out the fucking window, I had the ace to take

showers at the gym down the street, I had to go in there twice a day, go in the morning to work out, take a shower, you know, that's when you know how much you love something because at that point you go, what am I doing? I can move home, work for my dad at the gas station, make a ton of loot, steal, fucking drive his car, but you're like, fuck that, yeah, this is what I want to do, this is what I believe, yeah, it's a rough belief, man, it's tough to sell to people, people can't sell it to themselves and that's why just like you, you know, you have that picture of you, I don't know how many years ago, I had to be 15, Rico and Chuck with hair and Tito, so they were close then, that's when they were close, this was with one big team,

what the fuck, you know, what do you say, 15 years later, you see these guys, Chuck went on to become one of the greatest fucking, Chuck inspired me, I went back and joined Campo and lost 100 pounds because of Chuck, I get it, whenever Chuck's in the room though, look at my face, I'm just fucking pale and finally one day I had balls to talk to him, he's very nice, he introduced me to him, he's very fucking nice, I see him do some crazy shit, one time at a UFC event, like he had just knocked somebody out, he had just knocked somebody out, like two weeks before, he walked into an event with a fucking baby carriage, it was the fun, everybody fucking was howling, he was like, what bitches, he had this little baby carriage and

yeah, he was just a human being like all of us man, paying bills, you know, you know, like when I was fighting back in the day, to give you an idea, the fight would cross in Gracie Jr., this was the purse, zero to lose, $4,000 if I win, the title on pay-per-view, it could have been $1,000, it could have been, it wouldn't have made a difference to me because I was in fighting for that reason in those days, I was fighting because I wanted to see, okay, I've been fighting in the back of my yard, I teach at my school, you know, I had this thing on my flyers, it was anyone six, six or taller or 250 or heavier could train for free with me, and the reason I did that was because I wanted to fight against them, so I'd have, you know,

all kinds of people who are paying for privates, but these guys could train for free because that was going to benefit me to test where I was, and then I met a gentleman named John Paredi, who was a matchmaker for the UFC, extreme fighting, and he put me in some of these real shows when it just started, but to me it was like an opportunity to fight someone who is definitely worthy of me fighting, to see how good I really was, I really was, and it was always about the better of myself, to see how good I really was, and it's carried over. I retired probably five years before that real money started in the game, you know, because it was, that's why I started producing my own show, the WFA, the World Fighting Alliance, which the UFC

bought for me for, you know, for quite a bit of money three years later, I mean, but the reason was because I eventually said, okay, I'm not going to ever make money as a fighter, fighters don't make money, because, you know, now it's rough, but then you can't even imagine. Tat Paredi in the world for the best fighter, which I was one of them, was like 20 grand, you know. So, I mean, two times a year or 300, I mean, what is that, you know? So, long story short, I started my own show, you know, and I started, and I had this great concept called the World Fighting Alliance, where the fight club means the nightclub, and I brought in John Huntington, who is a very popular club promoter, he did huge arena shows, and I did all the matchmaking, I was a president,

I put it all together, he made sure that it had like laser lights, and great DJs playing, and go-go girls between rounds, it was amazing. It was amazing, everybody would be there, including the fratidas, everybody would be there, and it had it, it was 17 and over, so it was hot chicks, and it brought a whole other demographic, it was like going out, it was like going out to like a party, a nightclub, the fights, they go really good, and my fight, I mean, was Rich Franklin, Frank Trigg, and Marvin Eastman, I mean, it was real, it was top level. What year was this? This is, gosh, man, I don't know, 15, 20, you can google it, I don't even remember, yeah. Sounds like fun. Yeah, it was amazing, but it was, after four shows,

the UFC bought it from me, they bought it out, and we had Rampage, and they bought the contract, and all that stuff too, so, but that was my thing, and then from there, what was really interesting is I went into the nightclub industry, because the gentleman I was producing with, he said, hey, you know, I'm doing this little night over at the Palms, once a week, you can come and be a club promoter guy there with me, and it'd be kind of fun, I'm like, what do I do, and he's like, just, you know, just invite people, get them on a guest list, bring them in, you can have a table and bottles, so I'm going there, and I started inviting people, and the turnout I had was hundreds and hundreds of people would come, and I'd realize, you know,

my success from the fighting really carried over, it's like if Oscar de la Hoya invited you to a party, you know, you came, so I was like, man, this is so easy, tons of people were coming, and of course I was just, you know, having my table and bottles, making a couple hundred bucks for the night, nothing serious, and basically it was just popping off, and then eventually the individual had a, my partner had a problem with the hotel, they, you know, this sort of whole deal fell apart years later when we were the number one spot in Vegas, and within three weeks it was dead, and that they couldn't keep it going, it was so obviously it was us, but so they called me instead and said, hey, listen, you were bringing most of the people anyways, you know,

would you consider taking it over on your own, being your night, and I was like, sure, let me check with John, because, you know, I had loyalty, you gotta ask my buddy, and he's like, go for it, you know, so within a week and a half it was popping again, more than ever, but now it was, it was my thing now, and that 2000 went to 3000, I mean, 200 went to 3000 a week, and it just continued to grow until I ended up owning and starting this company, John Lewis Entertainment Group, which is still in existence, now it's an international company that deals with thousands of clubs, booking celebrity appearances internationally, and doing marketing for big casinos, but it just snowballed, and it never was my plan, but, you know, it's just

doing things that you love, you know, if you do it right, it just, you know, the fruits come, you know, and that's how I've been, I've been, I'd be surprised at all the different full life careers I've been at this point, you know. I hope that don't, we brought something interesting up, I always wanted to learn it, I always forget to ask, like, when Rich Franklin, who do we have, not Rich Franklin. Yeah, I love Rich. Yeah, it was Rich. Oh man. What the fuck am I thinking? It was Rich, and we've had an MMA junkie, and we've had, you know, I gotta ask you a question I've never asked anybody. I'm a hot UFC guy. I see the breakdowns, you know, like two days later, they'll tell you what each Friday, the main, and that's just a percentage, because that's not their

sponsors or whatever. Right. Let's pretend I make $25,000 for the fight, and I get a $50,000 fight bonus. That's $75,000. Okay. I walk into fucking your school, and I go take me to the fucking moon. You cover me for Jiu-Jitsu. You hook me up with some dude from Muay Thai. You hook me up with Dave for conditioning. When I get to $75,000, what do I owe you? 10% usually. So $7,500? Yeah. So for eight weeks, I give you a measly fucking $7,500. Well, you're talking about the best case scenario. The real, the truth of the story is about, say, you got a school that's based on fighters, you got one or two guys fighting in the UFC, and you got a bunch of guys that are fighting for $2,300 bucks a week, trained for two months before the

fight. So obviously, it's not about the money, because what, 10% of what? $500, right? For two months of work. $50 bucks, right? Exactly. So it's like that, but even worse. I thought the trainer made like 30% maybe a lot more money. Well, not, I mean, you can make 10 or 15% or whatever, but it's not a lot more than that. Because there's still a manager, there's a trainer, same as the business that we know. There's always different, you know, there's a lawyer, if you're trying to get a professional. So it all, it's once again, even the fighters, they're making okay money, they're divvying it up, you know, it's being divvied up. You look at the, again, I'm a freaking freaking, you know, because I'm a comic, so I want to see Gates, you know, I'm always interested in

Gates. You know, my business, my family business, when you came from Cuba was the gate on the track, you know, the numbers in New York City is the last three numbers of the paramutals, what the track made for the fucking day. So every night they'll tell you after a UFC fight, we made fucking $3 million, you know what I'm saying? So now you're telling me, on the other hand, then I make that much money. And I know there's fucking tons of costs, man, when you're going to fight, people don't know. I mean, every time you see that UFC commercial pop up during fucking ABC sports, you know, and ABC at six o'clock, they fucking pay for that. They pay out the fucking ass. And you know, they do a great job of fucking marketing. They get it out there. You pop your,

if you click onto one UFC post, that's it. Every time you fucking click onto something, UFC's lingering. You can be something about people dying of fucking gonorrhea, and the UFC's in the corner, they'll pop up something fucking crazy. It's amazing. There's a ton of fucking money. They put that name out there, man. So, you know, and that's what I, I always get pissed off when people raise their hand that they don't get paid enough. But on the other hand, I know that there's a lot of cost involved. As a comic, it's like, you said to me the other day, Joe, you sold this many tickets in this town. Why don't you just do a theater? Because it becomes something else. What if I do do the fucking?

See, the comedy club is a built-in thing location. All they got to do is drive. They give me a percentage, blah, blah, blah. But a theater, it's all me. If a theater is eight to 10, and I go long to eight, 15, guess what? I'm paying for fucking two hours, but I only did 15 minutes. It don't matter. It's a two-hour increment to read the fucking country. You know, there's a thousand fucking costs, you know? And that's what Joe Public has never really taken into consideration. When the people start raising their hand, that's something different, but that's what you agreed upon. Yeah, you know, the thing is that, you know, there's different conversations with this. And these are, it's always touchy for me because I'm, you know, I'm both sides of the game. I'm a

businessman. I've owned my own shows, but I'm also the fighter that wants to be paid for what I'm worth. And I see all the sides of it. You know, I definitely think, you know, we should work towards the fighters getting paid more and more, but at the same time, you're right. And also, this is a business that the Fratidas bought to run as a business, you know? And they spent two million dollars of their own money when it was gone, which it cost to buy. And before it, when they were just about to quit, and I was there through all of this, they had spent 47 million in advertising, trying to make it go from the most bloody sport in the world to the sexiest sport in the world, doing FHM ads, Rolling Stone ads, just so much marketing. They were literally

saying, let's throw the towel in, and that Forest Griffin fight happened, and the Bonner fight. And all of a sudden a spark of life showed that maybe we should hang a little longer, and now here we are. So it's just so much money, you're right, going in to make this thing what it is today. If they didn't do that, the fighters would be making nothing, because probably USC wouldn't have lasted, it would have been gone. But it's easy to forget that over time. And the next thing about it is, it is very expensive to run a show. I don't know exactly their percentages are, who's being paid what, but the real problem with the show is the monopoly they had on the business, being that it was very, you don't want to be the one that gets on the bad side,

when the only show in town is that, because what's your other option? So it's easy to control contracts and purses and things of that nature, when there's nothing else. But the game's changing. There's no Bellator now, there's the World Series fighting now, there are actually contenders. Bellator is going to be around. So that's going to help the game a lot, because there is another option. And those things over time are going to naturally help. But if people compare it to the NFL or to boxing and how much money people make in boxing, but let's think how long boxing's been around. But it seems like UFC is way more popular than boxing now. But my point is that, my point is not that, my point is that if you're judging apples and apples, you're judging a sport

that's the UFC bought, maybe 15 years ago, the Potatoes bought, they went from pretty much zero to this in that amount of time, even though it's been around before that. And you're saying they should be making the same amount of money as boxers, but that sport's been around forever. And by the way, amateur fighters fight for free a lot. And sometimes for 200 bucks in boxing, or the lower level fighters, just pack you in, maybe what the main fight's getting, the big chunks, because they draw the purse. So there's a lot of size to it, like you're trying to say. It's nice, cut and dry as it seems. It's a fucking business. You know what? Listen, I love to fucking go through my records and see who fucking shortchains me and go back and say, Hey,

motherfucker, you shortchanged me 10 years ago. I'm going to take you to court and all that stuff. But you know what? At the time, that's a deal I took. Yeah, you took the deal. Somebody came up to me about a year ago and said, You know, you'll see these cells when you go to the army, over there and fucking Iran, Iraq, they have little fucking huts and people go in there and buy stuff and commissaries. And you know, some CD I did with Jeff Garcia and Felipe's over there. They sold 400,000 copies of that fucking CD. You know, which I got 1500. That's what I agreed to. That's what I agreed to. Yeah. And my coked up mind, that was what was going to save me. So I knew what I was doing at the time. I don't think I fucked in the ass, but I did it anyway.

Right. And it happens in every industry. Every industry. I just read this book, my friend Mauricio Alvarado, about black Sabbath that didn't make no money. Nine albums, eight albums, didn't make a fucking dime. The guy would give him a car from time to the time. You think I bought your car. There's a car around the corner. You know, think of the people who got robbed. But in your haze and your love for what you're doing, just not to, I don't know, when you're involved in something, this is what you do. Yeah. Then years later, you wake up and you get pissed off or whatever. You all have bad feelings. Let me give some shout out to you. And we'll get you the fuck out of here. What's up with you, Dracula?

Look at you. You're sitting there giving me the evil eye, the fucking Malopia. You have like a buffet going on in Reddables today. I just, this is what they gave me. That's the scariest bag in the world. What are you gonna do? You know how I'll travel, right? I got time to do it, Dally. I'm like fucking John Lewis over here. Do you ever sleep, John? I can't imagine you. John, don't sleep. You take a special shot that gives you like five minutes to sleep and you're good. But I do sleep for like four or five hours and I'm happy. I'm good five hours. But not like I just wake up and I'm ready to work. I'm ready to start my day and do something. Thanks to Lord Dally Dally. He ain't playing fucking.

Call for duty. He lives it. You know what I'm saying? Why fucking play Call of Duty when you can live it? Jump off a fucking building and start your goddamn day. Stuart Cole out there in London. I love you, Cocksucker. Happy birthday. I know it's something going on with you. I just forgot right now. Lloyd, the Fly the Wave, Blake, Major, Juan Nunez, Ricky McLean, Aaron Heath, Radcliffe Yates, Radcliffe Yates, Clayton Webb, Ryan Kovosos down there. I'll see you next week, Cocksucker. Alex Zee and James Hewlett. Stay black, you fuck. You know I love you. What are you looking at me all creeped up for? Because your eyelids finally look as fucked up as mine do. No, no, no. I was swimming till I was jumping up and down. Your eyes are smaller.

I know, God. He's fucked up. I gave him one of the stars of that. That's when they shot at Bruce Lee at Fist of Fury. You called me and said people were at the dispensary and they were asking if these were the stars that you gave me fucked up on. That's right. That's right. Two little fuckers. I got to do it, John. If not, he sits around and you don't want to do not, and he plays that fucking Call of Duty six hours a day. I'm going to blow up that fucking game one of these days. I call him in the morning. What are you doing? When is the grand opening, my brother? We're going to pick a hard grand opening the next few weeks. I'd like to definitely let everybody know they'll look up some of the social media to follow that and find

out. Yeah, let them know. Yeah, if you don't understand. No, no, no. Yeah, so I love you guys to come follow me on Twitter. Just at John Lewis MMA real easy. You can kind of see all the updates and what I'm up to and follow the everyday exploits of a striving entrepreneur and Facebook. It's just forward slash John Lewis fighter, Instagram John Lewis MMA as well. And the website is JohnLewisMMA.com. So it's all pretty easy, but you can see we're open now. You can come train now, you can come into the school, you can find the information on the website. There's also a number you can call my partner, David, his number is 310-258-0786. That number's for taking, giving you more information about the school. But coming is signed up. And then when the

grand opening happens, we'll have Chuck there and Tito there and Randy and everybody. I mean, everybody will be there and this is going to be a real big shindig. You're a fucking savage. You see what I'm saying? Lee's going to come down. He's going to do some jumping. He's a little bit of rolling. Lee's a savage. He's a cryo machine. You have no idea. Lee's a wrestler in high school, state champion. No. Oh, man. I was never a champion. Wait, let me bullshit the man. Shut your fucking mouth. I'm trying to tell you. I can't tell. And open your eyes too. Open your eyes. That's not going to happen. What do you got the rest of the day? Lee, Lee, Lee. Now, nothing. That's why I went to the gym before this because I knew I wasn't going to get fucked up. How many calories

you got left? Huh? How many calories you got left? I don't know. I haven't put them all on gin yet. We got this cryo machine over there. It's awesome. It takes you down to minus 240 degrees for like two minutes, but it burns 900 calories just standing still. What? And it also is great for your joints and everything too. You burn 900 calories standing still? You can take one of those things, come down, just stand, burn 900 calories, and then you go and play Call of Duty. So two minutes just standing. Well, it's not that easy. It's cold, but. Like a mother fucker. If you don't make it. How cold is it? It's a 202. But wait a second. A minute is 450. That's why you gotta stand on that bicycle for an hour. I know. Wait. So how long could you stay there? Can I stay there for like an

hour a day? No, you probably need to get frostbite. Oh, fuck that, Lee. You can do it. You're from Boston. You ain't no fucking 900 calories. You ain't Hawaiian as shit. Tell him, Lee. That would take me like an hour and a half. Wait, how many fuck, tell him who needs the snow is falling in there? Like six foot. My mom, my mom, she was shoveling. And my younger brother lives there and can't, they don't, they won't let them like leave. Like there's a parking on the street band. There's a driving band unless you're like a state employee. So she's been shoveling all day, every day. My wife left CNN and it was on. I was in the kitchen with the baby and I heard some lady going, it's snowed 71 inches in like two days or something. Something fucking ridiculous.

I'm from Hawaii. So yeah, and I'm hearing this and all of a sudden like I straighten up and I'm like, what's he fucking bitch? There's always something on TV bitching. I did the math in my head. Oh my God, it's fucked up. Yeah, 71 inches in three days. I think it's like two weeks. I think it was like the last 72 days. Oh my fucking God. And it's 19 degrees this morning. And it's snowing again right now. My friend's like, yeah, it's 19 degrees. But it's warming up. What? What? I went to the fucking park with the baby. I had to put shorts on and shit. I got bit by some bug. Because I had shorts on. It's definitely much better out here. Yeah, no, no, I can't go back. I'm fucking Hawaii. They don't even give a fuck. All you do all day is do a couple jujitsu, eat some

pineapple juice, wait for a fucking tsunami. That's it. The beach, yeah, we've got big ways. I've actually heard from people who were born in Hawaii, if they were white or not native, they had like, they didn't like it. Howly. Yeah, they just did. Someone who's never been there, when you think Hawaii, you think paradise, it would be great to live there. But then I've heard a bunch of people say it's not that great a place to go up. I think there's a way to think after fistfights everything. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. So you've got to beat people up, you'd be all good. Oh God. Good thing you're a wrestler. No. I was in a couple fights. No. But no, I don't want to be in fights every week. They're going to kill you in that fucking car,

you're going to be driving there. Hawaii is a great place. That's what I'm talking about. Listen, man, it's tough because sometimes you get sucked in. I was coming home from the ice house one night, minding my own business, just driving. Some guy pulled up next to me and he was lurking. I don't know, maybe they have some people have bad days. You don't know what the fuck they're going through. They had bad days. They sat next to me, finally. I was in the express lane. I'm not even supposed to be in that lane. That's how late it was. It was 10, 30, 11. I'm not drinking and driving. I don't drink and drive. So I don't even drink. So I'm just driving. I look at the motherfucker, he's giving me the fucking finger. I'm like, what the fuck did I do? And I kept at the wall,

I'm like, you know what? Fuck you, bitch. And also they started looking at me, giving me like eyes and shits. I had a bunch of pennies in this tank. I opened up my window, threw it this way. And I heard this car go, that motherfucker drove down that 134. He didn't know what you were doing. He didn't know what hit him. Fuck no, and shit. He didn't know what that was. And by the way, to give you people a follow up, I haven't talked to my daughter in like 15 years. So it took me like a fucking six months to draw the courage up to call the house, you know, for her birthday. She's 25. I haven't talked to her. She was like 15 or 16.

So I knew, I knew it was going to be either some type of drama or I wouldn't hear back from them. And then I hear back to them like a year with some story or something. Listen, I've been through all of them. They never called back. Not one time that they called back, not even a fucking postcard, nothing. So I got to call them back again. I got like 100 emails, which is very supportive of you people. You're going to call them back now? Yeah, I got to call them back. That's it. I got to fucking reach out now. I got to fucking bite into it. This is my kid. Yeah, you got to do it. Got to do this for a long time. I was scared. I was really like, I don't want to call over there. But now I got the baby. I got a two year old. And I think every fucking day when I'm with the two

year old, you know, so yeah, I got my six year old and nothing more important to me. So yeah, you have him. Yeah, I'm a boy three nights a week. Yeah. And then the other nights he goes back to Vegas. No, his mom died here, too. 100%. No worries. He's coming back from Disney World today, even over there, partying in Disney World, I should say, in Florida. So he's been having a good few days, vacation, jumping up and down, getting people on bars. Let me get some shot. We'll get the fuck out of here. What time is it? Holy shit. I want to give my main motherfuckers over there at irondragontv.com. Listen, these people ain't fucking around. I got some secrets to tell you in a couple of weeks, but Iron Dragon TV is not fucking around.

It's just the beginning, motherfuckers. All right, go to Iron Dragon right now for Classic Martial Arts. The other day I was on that L-Ray channel, and they had the one arm swordsman, the return of the one arm swordsman, I taped all of them. And I remembered how much I enjoyed watching Classic Martial Arts. The movies are so fucked up and so unbelievable. You just sit there and go, what the fuck is happening? But fucking, this is how good this movie is. I love it. It's just confusion. You don't know what the fuck they're saying. It's overdubbed. Kung Fu Theater was a fucking bomb everywhere. So stop sitting there like a mook. Oh my god, the Academy Awards. Did you see the Grammys? Fuck you. Here it is. You didn't go down to Grammy parties? Fuck yeah. Nobody fucking

listen. Even if they invited me, I wouldn't go down there and walk around and watch Kanye West assaulting people. I don't need that shit in my fucking life. You understand me? That's why I kill a chicken once a month. That's why I kill a chicken once a month in my backyard. I give it to the saints and they move on. I don't need that shit. I sure. That's why you're in such good shape as I pray for IainDragonTV.com. You get two free movies when you're put in the box. Joey. Oh shit, J-O-E-Y. You get two free fucking classic Kung Fu films. They got tons of genre. The Hitman series. They ain't fucking. And they got new stuff too. They got new stuff on a daily. Number two on it. I love you motherfuckers. Without you, I wouldn't even live. If it's not the alpha brain, the fucking strong bone,

the shroom tech immune, the shroom tech sport. I get on a plane, I pop two shroom tech amunes. I can fucking sit in the toilet seat and rub my dick on the fucking thing. Nothing. I go home no rashes, no fucking itch, no nothing. No nothing. No Ebola. I told you this before. If you take fucking shroom tech, no Ebola, cock sucker. Listen, do me a favor. Go to honor.com right now. Go through it with their products. There's something you like. There's something you're not like. I can't get you 10% off on the ropes and the fucking kettle bells. But as far as the nutrients, I get you 10% off today. What do you got to press? Church. Church. C-H-U-R-C-H in the box. You get 10% off, right? You know how to fuck around. That's how I roll. Number two.

Here are these six. I'm just smoking a cigar or a fucking day here. Whether it's a cigar, whether it's a cigarette, it comes in 24, 16, 8. Boom! There you have it. You can quit in a fucking month. You don't have to hang out with stinky fucking fingernails. You can't stick your finger up somebody's ass when it smells like nicotine. That's terrible and you can't do that. What the fuck? That's the whole patois. You know what I'm saying? When they're sitting there looking like a popsicle and you're watching ESPN, who's better than you? Anyway, hitysix.com. They ain't fucking around. They also have this cigar. If you want to go to Lang City and be a big shot down there with the Puerto Ricans, knock yourself out. Go to hitysix.com right now and press in.

Oh, shit. Bang that motherfucker. Get 20% off. You know why? Because that's how I roll. Sitting there looking like a popsicle? Sure. You even think when you're finger some of these assholes, you're like, they're like a popsicle. They're sitting there frozen. What do you think you're dealing with, at least? Some fucking novice? You think I just wake up and wake you up and you can un-lankish him all day? I'm slinging dick, dawg. I'm telling you right now. Oh, shit. You want to smoke that vape? You're sick of smoking reefer. Go to naileditlife.com. They'll fucking take care of you. They got pens. They got whistles. They got sticks that you can burn with it. They got blow torches. This is burning the bitch like Rick James. I don't give a fuck,

you understand me? Go to naileditlife.com. They ain't fucking around. They got the best vaping pen in the business. They guarantee it. And just if you mention, oh, shit, you get 20% off like a motherfucker. That's how we roll over here at church, giving you discounts on vapor pens, blow torches, sticks with, I don't even fucking know, hidey-sigs, tremendous, one of the best fucking pens. You know what I love about them the most? 1,200 guaranteed pumps. I'll be smoking this cigar till the next fucking doomsday, you understand me? You know why? Because it's quality and that's how I roll. I ain't dragging TV. What can I say about Dave fully knocking cousins with Steve Foley from whoop, there it is, and honored.com and shit right now,

giving you 10% off lead. Stop rubbing your eyeballs. You're not calling Uber. Look at how high you are. Eat a piece of the cookie. I'll bring it down. It will bring you down. I'm glad he didn't take any because I feel like you lose your entrepreneurial spirit. And you don't even understand, I brought you this special joint. You know, this is what they gave, I don't even know what they gave, just, oh my god. Burned his eyes. Like six melon salt. You're becoming a cut. Between rounds, they were using between rounds. That's what Stitch got in his pocket. I love you. John Lewis, congratulations. Thank you.

The reason why he's here is because I can tell you really give a fuck about these kids. You really like what you do. And Dave, Dave's the master of this ass. Dave's got me doing tremendous fucking things. Lee, what's the story? What's up, buddy? You're not coming to Austin. You're staying home. Why are you excited for Valentine's? Tell John Elliott. What are you doing with Valentine's Day? You and the wife. John Lewis. I'm not calling him John Elliott. Call me whatever you want, sorry. John Lewis. How long did you call me, sorry. But we've been on a diet for like eight months, so we're going. Well, congratulations. Well, thanks, but we're gonna mess it up. We're gonna go to, we're gonna get a burger from In-N-Out, wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, and then a dessert.

And you're gonna split a burger for me now. You're not gonna get a whole one on your own. I don't know, probably not. Are you gonna buy it and take out and bring it to In-N-Out? No, we're gonna go to all three places. An expensive time, quality time at each spot. Yeah, but we were gonna go see a movie, but there's literally nothing out, so I think we're gonna do something else in between. Like what? I think I'm gonna take her to the museum. I think. She wants to go to the car and make out with it. Like old school Phillip and Titties, and you get that appetite going. You think you're just gonna eat a fucking cheese burger, and you're gonna be in to your wings 10 minutes later? No, no, no. It's all throughout the day.

It's not like in an hour. Bring like a bunch of plastic gloves, like you're a surgeon and shit. Bring it back to the fucking car and work that motherfucker. What are we doing with the plastic gloves? There's nothing. You jerk off and come in your own hand and take the glove off and you throw it away in case of your side shows up. You're not pulling an OJ, you know what I'm saying? I'm just talking to you here from the heart. This is a romantic Valentine's Day. It's Valentine's Day. Women like to give hand jobs and suck dick in cars. That's what they do on Valentine's Day. You're gonna get her flowers too, right? Yeah. Okay then. We think just give her the flowers, fuck me, you put it over your helmet. As she goes to get the flowers, you pick up the helmet,

that little Jew Roll is out ready to squirt, you know what I'm saying? You're all your eyes. I love you guys. Have a great day. We'll be back tomorrow night. Stay black, stay beautiful. Thank you, John Lewis. You know, I love you. Don't forget John Lewis, MMA.com. That's where it all starts. Go on and see what this motherfucker's done. He's a true savage. Lee, get it together. All right. Go to honet.com. Jesus Christ. There we go. This fucking... You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. I was. You can do it. I don't know what you're doing. Jesus Christ. Go to honet.com. I'm gonna mute you. Go to honet.com. We go to church to get 10% off of all their optimization products.

I tell you something. I'm gonna pray for you people who kept wanting to be my friends on LinkedIn, whatever that website is. LinkedIn? I don't want to know nobody, all right? Leave me the fuck alone. Every time I go get an email, I think it's something important. Somebody wants to be my name, my LinkedIn. Whatever the fuck it is. It's a professional network. I want to know you people because if you're in and out there, you don't know nobody anyway. Leave me the fuck alone. I want to hang out with another bunch of losers that ain't working. Get the fuck out of here. Leave me alone. I'm gonna be friends with nobody, all right? Everybody always bothers me from that John. I don't even know what the fuck it is. I'm a network of professionals. That's why you

bothered me for. I'm a fucking fella. Leave me alone. You're even supposed to be mingling with me. The fuck is wrong with people, John? I hear you man. Fuck LinkedIn. Yeah, here we go. You're gonna read this. That's for your next shirt. Huh? Fuck LinkedIn. Fuck LinkedIn. I don't know these people. Hopefully people will listen to these. I'm gonna kill them here right now. Okay, go to irondragontv.com. These are called Joey to get two free rentals of all the good martial arts movies they have for all the oil and wax smokers out there. Go to naileditlife.com and these are called Joey Diaz to get 20% off of the premiere paper print on the market and I'm gonna survive and to hit esix.com. Better tasting, longer lasting,

proof is in the vape. They have e-cigarettes and e-cigars. You code for Joey's church to get 20% off your order. Oh, shit. We'll be back tomorrow night, bitches. Eight o'clock. I'm over it. Good. Lee, you gotta get the roses and put them by your zipper. That's old school. Or before she gets the roses, you gotta take your pocket and cut it off and then put your dick by the pocket until it's on your pocket to get the car keys and boom, she feels that little juice stick. It's over, you know what I'm saying? It's like a juice legit. That's what we... I feel like this is like the opposite of what they would want from us. Stop. Will I give you fake romantic fucking info? I think you would. As long as he can reach the pocket, you gotta be able to reach the

pocket. That helmet. Kick that motherfucker, Lee. Kick that motherfucker. This is the devil's cousin playing the guitar. Let's do this. I owe me. Let's do it. Oh, you crazy motherfucker. Brain wash my hands. Oh, lord, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.