Sean O'Malley details his rigorous optimization regimen involving stool analysis and training at the MMA Lab, while recounting his early days working at a Montana group home. He discusses his calculated "stoner" persona aimed at a $100 million net worth, critiques Aljamain Sterling's daughter's name, and reveals extreme weight-cutting tactics including drinking two gallons of water before dehydration. O'Malley also shares his morning routine of phone-free journaling inspired by Andrew Huberman, reflects on childhood sports anxiety, and confirms an upcoming boxing match against Tank Davis to avoid MMA bullying accusations. Ultimately, the episode highlights how O'Malley blends biological optimization with strategic branding to dominate both the octagon and social media. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Fighting for the Belt00:14:47
Al Jo and Henry, I'm fighting the winner for the belt.
It's rare when you got a you know a title fight coming up and no one gives a f they care about who I'm fighting next.
What were you doing?
What was the job?
I drove the short bus.
That's fire, dude.
I worked at a mentally disabled group home.
One of them put in this peanut butter jar and put it up in his group.
That was when I first met Danny, I was like, Mary's dumb, right?
I can vividly remember having that conversation with her.
And now I'm married.
Remember that doorbell rung one time?
Doorbell rung.
Yeah, she just kind of slips my bed.
Oh, hell yeah.
I got a solution.
I go like this.
She thinks it's funny, bro.
I don't think it's funny at all.
I ain't gay.
I've had mine wax before.
It doesn't hurt.
What?
I told you about this.
When I did that role and the director kind of meet-suit me.
Oh, God.
And I think you mentioned Hank Davis.
If I keep winning, that's something, a potential massive super fight that I'd be interested in.
It'd be a really fun boxing match.
I'm going to say fight.
Why?
Because you think that you smoke?
Let's make sure we're clarifying.
Like, there's rules.
We're boxing.
A fight, that's not entertainment.
That's we're boxing.
Magic.
I sleep that dude.
Sugar Ali, baby.
What's up, everybody?
Welcome to Flagrant.
And today we are joined by the great, the relentless, the inspiring Sugar Sean O'Malley.
What's up, Shoe?
Sugar, I've been doing some research on you because, as you probably know, I'm the greatest MMA journalist in history.
Let's go.
So in order to be the greatest, you have to do some research.
You are really interesting.
This whole thing is planned.
This whole thing is coordinated.
You're like, if Tom Brady and Wiz Khalifa could be an athlete.
Wow.
Do you know how, like, you know what I'm saying?
Like, because the idea of Wiz is like, he's just smoking all day.
He's partying.
He's doing whatever.
But like, I've seen Wiz in a green room and this guy knows exactly what he's doing.
He's polishy, sharp, business game on.
And I'm looking at this fucking, and I'm, you know, doing a little research and I'm seeing you're like analyzing your dumps.
You take a shit and then you have someone in the camp analyze the dump to make sure that you're getting all the nutrients from the food.
Yeah, that's some great journalism.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
A guy named Dan Garner does all my, reads all my, he does my blood work, stool, my shit.
Yeah.
We've taken hair samples, saliva, piss, everything I can do that they can fucking do the science behind and see exactly kind of what I need to be eating and what I need to be avoiding.
Yeah.
Causing inflammation in my body.
I'm trying to, I'm trying to be the, you know, the best that I can be.
And I believe if I'm the best that I can be, I can be the best to ever do it eventually.
So yeah, I'm not cutting any corners.
And it kind of does look like I just kind of smoke weed and don't do too much stuff, but I'm doing everything right.
But that's part of the art of war.
Yeah.
Right?
It's like, I'm going to fuck it up.
I'm actually not even going to try to get the get it right.
No, no, no, you got it.
Yeah, no, you got it.
Charlamagne has probably said it a million times.
But what is it?
I thought, I thought, I thought, it's, you know, let your enemy think you're an idiot or something like that.
And yeah, because they don't know when they're going in the ring with you that you've been analyzing them dumps, bro.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, yeah.
I feel like they definitely overlooked me, especially the next two guys in the main event this weekend or whenever this comes out.
Al Joe and Henry, I'm fighting the winner for the belt.
100%.
And I feel like they're both overlooking me.
They both...
It's rare when you got a title fight coming up and no one gives a fuck.
They care about who I'm fighting next.
So it's pretty interesting.
You don't really see that too often where they're literally fighting to see who gets to fight me.
Oh, crap.
Okay.
I'm telling you, man, I was really impressed because it's such a all-encompassing thing, like fighting, that I imagine, this is just imagine.
Like you were searching for optimization, but at the same time, you're like, how do I get better at jiu-jitsu?
How do I get better at wrestling?
How do I get better at all these disciplines?
I don't even have time to think about my sleep or fucking journaling or all these other things that I'm reading that you're doing.
And to do the outside work, it either takes like an extreme arrogance where you're like, I don't even need to worry about that shit.
I'm going to fuck these guys up already.
How can I get it?
Or there's an insecurity.
It's like, I need an advantage.
How can I get it?
Which one is it for me?
Ooh, that's pretty good.
I'd say a little mixture of both, but I don't look at my neck.
I don't look at Henry.
I don't look at Al Joe.
It's like, I'm going to go smoke these dudes.
It's going to be easy.
I look at him like, these are going to be very tough fights.
I need to make sure I'm doing everything right.
Every little advantage I can get, you know, I'm going to take.
At what level did that change?
Which guy did you fight where you're like, ah, it's different now?
I can't just smoke these guys.
Well, I'd say probably I broke my foot in my second UFC fight and had a two-year layoff.
And in those two years, that's when I found Dan Garner, the one that does all my nutrition and stuff.
I met Brandon Harris, who does my strength and condition.
I never really did strength and conditioning.
I was just a skinny dude.
And I realized, like, I need to put on some muscle to grapple against these guys.
When you're grappling, Tim is doing most of the training.
Tim's like, he's like kind of my head coach.
I feel like I'm kind of my head coach in a sense where I structure all my workouts.
You don't need credit.
Tim holds mitts.
Oh, he can do that.
Dude, that's a bucket.
If there's two chicks, he'll take the ugly ones.
That's what you need.
Now, I will say this.
Have you ever used his carnival connections?
Because he grew up in a carnival to bring in grapplers.
But instead of a grappler, it's like someone who could rip a phone book in half.
Just extreme strength.
Yes.
Does he bring other retards in from the carnival?
Yeah, we have a sparring partner.
No, but no, Tim, Tim.
No, I will say, I think Tim pretty much, you know, won me in my last fight.
Like, there's the eclipse of going into the second round where he gave me very good advice and changed the course of the fight.
My whole team is just so fucking solid that I believe everyone kind of says, I have the best team.
I really do believe I have one.
Who builds the team for a fighter?
Actually, actually, I want to go back even further.
I want to go back to the beginning.
You grew up in Montana.
Did not see that coming.
Yeah.
Okay.
You don't want to go to college.
You decide to go to Phoenix.
And why Phoenix?
Yeah, I didn't want to go to fucking elementary school.
I remember being able to fight that because it was like the half days in kindergarten.
I was like, I hated school from day one.
From kindergarten, bro?
It's coloring it.
Yeah.
It's just snaps and shit.
Yeah.
No, yeah, I didn't like school in general.
In high school, I loved sports, basketball, football, soccer, and basketball, football in high school.
I like soccer, but then I turned like eight and I was like, he couldn't hang vaginas.
He couldn't hang, bro.
That's what it is.
The cardio wasn't there.
He couldn't run.
Exactly.
Okay, go to shit.
He does shit.
You're in America.
Let's do a PK shootout right now, bro.
You had to get good grades to play basketball and football.
What?
What?
Type it in high school.
I mean, in Montana?
Good grade in high school in passing, dude.
Oh, passing.
No pass, no play.
He's got good grades.
You can't show up and say.
You're not going to fail at 2.0.
That's fair.
You had to go to school to play those sports.
I didn't like school.
I didn't like that stuff.
So I went to kickboxing.
We went to a kickboxing gym.
In Montana.
In Montana.
Montana kickboxing.
It's very low level as far as like, you know, and I didn't know that at the time.
So I'm fucking fighting.
I'm knocking these dudes out.
That guy just absolutely suck.
But I have this confidence.
I build this confidence, which is really important for young fighters, I believe, is to gain that confidence.
So I was knocking these guys out.
You know, fast forward, I'm, you know, 18, and Tim invites me to Arizona.
Tim finds out about you?
Yeah, Tim's from Great Falls, Montana.
He's an hour away.
So I didn't know him.
He fought on Bellator Fight Master.
It was like this TV show.
I'm sitting in my living room.
I'm like, what the fuck?
That guy's from Montana.
Like, I could do it.
I wanted to be famous and I wanted to be rich and I wanted to get chick.
That was my main motivation growing up.
What's the pussy like in Montana?
Yeah.
You have to be able to fight to get it.
That's the rules.
Because they're like bison?
No.
It was, you know, I was.
I lost my Virginia at 16, 16 to 18.
I pulled.
That was probably like my heydays, really.
Really?
Hey.
Hey, hey.
No, but Tim invited me.
He went down to Great Falls.
He was already living in Phoenix.
I had a fight.
I was 18.
I beat this kid.
Tim said, if you want to come and train at a real gym in Arizona, let me know.
And I hit him up like the next day, came down to Arizona.
Literally for 10 days, every time I left practice, I was crying.
Did you think you were going to get your ass kicked like that?
Or did you think I'm going to be?
I did not.
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Okay, so you're going into this gym.
Are you sparring or you do?
Are you doing this kickboxing shit where like everybody spars in the same room?
Yeah, they that's some weird.
Did you ever see like Mexicans play basketball in a pickup court?
No.
Oh, there's like 17 of them playing like three on three and four on seven.
Like there's no like rules.
That's what kickboxing sparring looks like to me.
A little bit now that you say I can picture that.
Yeah, yeah.
I did that when I first got down to I feel like you're not picturing it enough because it's really fun.
If you're really picturing it, you're dying laughing.
But yeah, you see it.
Like, you know, obviously if like in boxing, traditional sparring is there are two dudes in the ring.
Everybody's around the ring waiting to get their round and whatever.
But kickboxing is this group.
Yeah, it's like sweaty.
Everyone's grunting.
It's a sports orgy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's changed.
It's changing a little bit.
Well, growing up, or coming up, you have to do that.
You got to kind of just get your rounds in.
Yeah.
It's kind of probably like comedy.
You got to just do it.
100%.
You got to go beat up.
You got to fucking take your lickings.
So you got your ass kicked a lot.
Every single day.
In kickboxing.
And then when it came to wrestling, I didn't know how to fucking wrestle to save my life.
So everyone.
In kickboxing, I would do okay.
I would do all right.
But when it came to like grappling days, I had zero chance.
So I would leave the gym fucking crying.
Like, God damn it.
This is not kind of.
Where are you sleeping?
Where are you sleeping?
Tim and I, I was staying at the first time I came down here.
I was staying at Tim's apartment.
This fucking...
Yeah, in this shitty apartment.
And it was, yeah.
Were there any carney creatures in there?
No, it was just Tim, so one.
Yeah.
But yeah, anyway, so I moved back.
I went back to my family.
I was here for this.
I just fucked the uglier girls because he's click on the drug.
Say less.
Say less.
He was raised with like bearded ladies and shit, so maybe it's not that bad for him.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
I think he just likes feeling like the man.
So if like some chicks giving him a taste.
The thing is, he's got a really good looking girlfriend, too.
So he can pull some good looking girls.
Yeah.
But he will take the one that's not so good looking for the team, he says.
But it's Team Tim.
Yeah.
He says it's easier if they got like a fucked up mole or something.
It makes him feel like he doesn't have to like try as hard.
Or he makes it makes him feel more comfortable if they're like a little bit of a chicken.
He's like a Ross chopper, but with women, of course.
I like him live shoes.
I remember when I was younger, I went down to Argentina.
I couldn't get Live to save my life.
And by the last night, I was looking for a girl with like a small deformity that most people don't have.
Like a shorter leg or something.
No, no, finger mixing.
So I was like, look at girls' hands and see, because if it's a pinky, nobody's going to notice my dick will look at least this much bigger.
But she knows.
Yeah.
And she has nine feet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Did you find any nine feet?
No, but I found a girl that was fat, but she had one of those things that.
That's what he was grabbing.
He was like one of those dick things.
One of those things.
And then they get hard.
It's so much more fun.
No, no.
She just had one of those like slims or whatever.
Girls.
Yes.
So, and when I took it off, I mean, the seams were like tearing.
It was like open up one of those mattresses they ship you.
This ghost was not friendly.
Yeah, it was an insane little situation.
Yeah.
Anyway, so still took it down.
Oh, of course.
Yeah.
Argentina's known for their meat, dude.
Come on, bro.
So you're staying with him in this decrepit apartment.
Did he dye your hair?
Is that what it was?
That's where it started?
He's like, welcome to the carnival, dude.
No, not quite, not quite.
But yeah, so I went back to Montana for like probably less than a year, worked full-time, saved up $2,000 and packed my car and drove to Phoenix.
What were you doing?
What was the job?
It was actually really fun.
I worked at a mentally disabled group home.
So there's eight of them.
The youngest was like.
He's like, I just need more gym time.
Let's throw on the mats, baby.
Worked.
Did you fuck up any of the dudes?
No, I drove the short bus, though.
No.
Yeah, that's kind of something I like to tell people.
That's fire, dude.
So I would drive, I would bring them to work, kind of like peace out.
Yeah, they worked.
Just like drop them off at somewhere.
Montana is free to pay.
Yeah, bro.
So what do they do?
I drove them off like a paper place.
Like they just fucking sort paper.
I don't know what they actually did.
I didn't go in.
I dropped them off.
And then I came back and pick them up.
And this kind of helped them do their chores.
Some of them were like a little bit more.
They could do some shit.
Some of them really needed help.
One of them would shit in this peanut butter jar and put it up in his room.
That was fucked up.
Yeah.
Extra crunchy, dog.
I didn't find it, but someone else did.
They're like, why is your room so like shit so bad?
And they put him up in like little tiles.
He'd shit in a peanut butter jar, put it on, fuck, put it up.
Yeah, that's why you started examining your shit.
Yeah, it's like mostly done something.
So you'd shit in a peanut butter jar, put it up in the towel so nobody knows, and it would just stink up his room.
I don't think he was retarded.
I think he was an evil genius.
But that was actually a really rewarding job.
I really liked that.
But yeah, I saved up money, moved to Phoenix.
Tim and I ended up getting.
Can I ask you a question?
How much do you make being like a Wrangler?
I didn't want to say it.
Yeah, yeah.
How do you do that?
Fuck, that was probably 10 years ago.
I was probably making minimum wage.
I don't remember.
I think I made like $2,000 in a year.
$1,200, $1,600 a month, probably something like that.
$400 a week.
Something like that.
To really keep together.
Drive the short bus.
That's awesome.
Wow.
Underpaid.
Underpaid.
Yeah.
Great job.
Honorable job.
Passengers to the driver.
That's great.
If I had to go back to work right now, I'd probably go somewhere around there, though.
For real.
Hanging out with those guys, like hanging out with Tim all day.
You feel at home.
But yeah, moved to Phoenix.
Tim and I got an apartment.
So you have $2,000.
That's it.
Yep.
$2,000 saved up.
Luckily in Montana, they really did kind of, it was like, you know, they really supported me.
There was a couple like sponsors that I could get that would pay me like a couple hundred bucks a month.
And at the time, two, three hundred bucks a month.
I was like, fuck yeah, that was, that's going to this bill.
That's going to this bill.
So I never actually had to get a job when I moved to Phoenix.
Starting with Two Thousand Dollars00:11:29
I was able to train twice a day, which was fucking huge.
Right.
So Tim and I got a dumpy ass apartment.
And I only had known Tim for those 10 days that I came down.
Now we're, you know, moving in together.
My mom did my laundry, dishes.
Like, did I know how to live on my own?
And Tim had already been living on his own.
So he's like, what the fuck?
This kid doesn't know shit.
He's like having to tell me like, hey, dude, you got to fucking wash your bowl.
Yeah, you just shit in the toilet, not the jar.
It's like, yeah, it's a whole thing.
Yeah, pretty much.
So there's some learning curves there.
But yeah, we lived together for a couple of years.
And at the time, his goal was getting UFC too.
So we were just training, living that kind of like fight, fighter.
Sorry, there's a question from before this.
When you were in high school, you said you knew you were going to be famous between like 16 and 18, right?
That was the goal.
I thought you basically had like a revelation, like, oh, this is going to happen for me.
Well, actually, I feel like I was younger, even in like middle school.
I remember, well, I thought I was going to be in the NFL until I realized that was white.
No, okay.
No, I wanted to be in the NFL and I was super delusional.
I'm from Montana, hell in Montana.
Like 17 fucking people there.
So I didn't realize, like, that's not realistic.
Want to be in the NBA, you know, realize that's not realistic.
Then I started kickboxing.
I was naturally pretty good at it.
I was athletic.
And, you know, I do believe some people are just fucking born fighters.
Some people just know how to fight.
And I just, it kind of clicked for me.
It's like, that's it.
That's how I'm going to, that's how I'm going to do it.
Were you street fighting and stuff?
Like, no, I never, I didn't, I didn't like confrontation.
I didn't, I didn't like confrontation.
I didn't like street fights.
I avoided it.
But really, like, I wanted to get chicks, money, and fame.
Like, those were like the three things.
Yeah.
That's beautiful.
Now, you're in Phoenix, okay?
You're living with Tim.
You're learning how to be an adult.
You're doing all these things.
Tim is also trying to be in the UFC.
Do you guys ever spar?
No, he's a lot bigger.
But just for funsies?
Just fucking around grappling more so like jiu-jitsu wrestling.
Yeah, but like sparring.
Did you ever fuck him up a little bit?
No.
Wash my bull bitch.
No, no, probably opposite then.
Really?
No.
Tim was always, he was good and he was cool, but he was Jehovah's Witness too.
So he had to have been.
How do they react when they knock on the door?
That's a good question.
I see you getting after it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Respect.
He got disfellowshipped or whatever it is.
Because he got out, got the gang.
Stop witnessing.
Yeah, he stopped witnessing it.
Yeah.
Did he ever try to get you in?
Were you ever like, yo, let's start knocking it?
Yeah, no.
Door to door.
No, he was out at that time.
But yeah.
Okay, so you guys are in Phoenix.
It's starting to happen.
You're getting a few hundred bucks from Speed sponsors in Montana.
Family is supportive of this.
You're starting to get better, I imagine.
You're starting to get the better end of these exchanges with the kickboxing guys in Phoenix.
After years, like I didn't go down and was like, all right, I'm starting to.
It was like, there was years of how old were you when he felt like, all right, now I'm now getting.
Dude, there's still, there's still guys that are like, give me troubles.
There's, I mean, we're at such a good gym.
You know, I trained at Tim has his own gym in the MMA lab in Phoenix.
There's guys in the UFC, like, there's still guys.
I'm never, if you ever go to a gym and you're just a fucking man, you're not the wrong gym.
So there's still guys that give me trouble all the time.
So we constantly are evolving at each other.
But yeah, there was a couple years to where I was like kind of, I knew as long as I was athletic and I could learn.
I was like, if I go, just keep going, keep going, keep going, I can get good.
And then there was a time where I'm like, okay, I started getting better because I took it more serious.
Like there was guys that would like work kind of, they would work and they go to the gym once a day.
I was going twice a day and my main focus was becoming the best I could.
So, you know, after a couple of years, I started catching up as far as skill-wise.
So some people usually break down, right?
When they reach a wall, right?
They go, okay, I'm not good enough.
I can't do it.
What was the thing that made you push past that?
I think it was the chicks and the money.
It's like that hunger, that hunger for more.
Pretty girls in Phoenix, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's true.
I'm curious.
What did Tim see in you that he's like, ah, even though he's getting washed in the gym, I'll still let him live with it.
Yeah, well, I think it's actually even before that he saw, before he saw me when I was 18 in Great Falls, when he was commentating, before that, he actually had someone 16 kickboxing in Helena.
We never had any conversation.
I didn't know that until he's like, oh shit, I remember watching you kickbox when I was 16 and I did really good.
And then 18, I knew like one thing of jiu-jitsu.
And it was like an armbar off my back.
And I had fought this college wrestler that Tim knew.
He's like, oh, this guy should beat Sean.
He didn't know me very well at the time or at all.
And I fucking armbarred this dude.
And Tim was like, damn, wrestler.
Yeah, I armbarred this wrestler.
And Tim, at the after-party thing, he's like, hey, if you want to ever come down, that's when he asked me if I want to come down.
So he just offered it.
He had offered a bunch of other people too.
He said I was the only one that kind of took it up.
I was the only one that really kind of took it to them.
Let's do it.
I called him the next day.
I'm like, when can I come down?
He's like, holy shit, chill out.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Okay, so you're starting to get better.
Yeah.
At what point are you analyzing the fight game and going, this is what I have to do to be successful outside of just being a great fighter?
Because we know there are great fighters, but they can't sell a ticket.
And their careers are kind of stagnant because of it.
And sometimes they fall out.
And there are guys who are great fighters that also have a personality and find a way to get people invested.
You're getting your ass kicked at the gym.
Are you still analyzing how to have that persona that can garner interest and money?
It's a good question.
It's so weird.
I was so delusional when it came to like, I thought I was, because before Connor, no one had really kind of done that.
And I was thinking I was going to be that guy.
I thought I was just going to be, I thought, I don't know why.
I had no idea.
I thought I stole your shit in a lot of ways.
That's what I'm trying to say.
Yeah.
No, I was, I thought I was going to get in the UFC and just be this fucking celebrity character, like celebrity athlete for whatever reason.
I don't know.
I didn't think I was like how, I knew I was knocking people out in cool in spectacular fashion.
Like I didn't know if it was going to be that, my good looks, my no sex.
I didn't know.
I just thought I was going to be the fucking man for some reason.
I really don't know why.
But as far as like starting to kind of build a persona and like try to sell tickets and, you know, be someone that people want to care about, probably was probably like right before I got on the contender series when Snoop Dogg commentated.
Did you see that?
That shit kind of like, he started tagging me on Instagram.
And that's when I started getting a couple followers or like 5,000 followers.
Like, oh, shit.
And like, I kind of, I liked that.
I was like, oh, cool.
And that's kind of like, yeah, when that started.
And then do you, is it a calculated decision to lean in?
Do you start going, I have to be more vibrant.
I have to be bigger.
I have to do these things with my hair.
Does it organically kind of happen?
Because everything else in your life is incredibly specific and disciplined.
And it is a choice for optimization, right?
Yeah.
So I'm assuming the same thing is happening with your persona that's happening with your stool.
I'm so you're like, how can I extract the most of this?
How can I be the biggest?
Yeah.
It's funny too, because I grew up, my dad was a detective.
So smoking weed was like, I was terrified.
Even in high school, like if my, if the guys were, I was like avoiding it.
I wasn't around it.
I thought it was horrible.
Like I thought it was bad.
So when I when I moved when I moved to Phoenix, Tim's like, take a fucking puff.
And I did.
And I remember like that first time I would laugh.
And I'm like, this is what I was scared of.
Like, I just laugh.
And I'm always go, So at night, I'd smoke and I'd be like, I kind of chill out.
I was like 19, which I don't recommend.
I'd suggest if you are going to start smoking, you haven't.
Wait till you're, I think you're fully developed and make 25, 23, 25.
So I wouldn't recommend because I know some people that smoke too much weed and they're fucking, you know, but yeah, so I started smoking weed.
And then when I started smoking weed, I had always had this, like, I always thought like it was this horrible thing.
So when I started smoking, I wanted to tell people, like, whoa, it's not this bad thing.
So I started kind of posting on my Instagram.
And that's, yeah, I kind of just kind of went from there.
And then I really don't even smoke that much.
I smoke every day.
Like every night, I'll hit my fucking bag or a king palm or something.
I'll smoke and it'll be, you know, once at night.
But people think I fucking smoke all day.
Sometimes when I make funny ass videos.
You don't smoke all day, just daily.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's very different.
But, you know, so I kind of got this persona of like, oh, I'm just a huge pothead.
And that's kind of where it came from.
Because when I do smoke, I'll make a funny ass video on Instagram, like for a brand deal.
Yeah, yeah.
And it'll, you know, do great.
And that's just what people think I do all day.
Yeah.
Which is, which is good.
Yeah.
Hey, fuck it.
Yeah.
There's a lot of people out there that smoke.
Yeah.
And now they're interested in their fighter.
Yeah, exactly.
Was that the time you kind of were like fucking with different drugs too, like mushrooms and shit like that back in the day?
Yeah.
I definitely hadn't done anything like until I moved to Phoenix.
Yeah, so Tim influenced me to do drugs.
This guy's awesome.
We need Tim.
Next time you come back, you gotta bring Tim.
We went out for his birthday to this country bar.
We don't go out very often.
His birthday, I think he was like 32 or something.
Did you try to fuck the mechanical bull again?
Yeah, not quite.
We might as well have.
He fucks some.
I got this one, Chuga.
Don't worry.
I'll take it down for you.
No.
So we brought all the boys out.
I have a group of guys that I met on Xbox.
And they all moved down to Phoenix.
And I have a house that I rent out to them.
And they fucking live in that.
And they're our boys for like two years now.
It's funny as fuck.
You met them gaming.
I met them gaming.
Yeah, which game?
Which game?
Haley?
Characters, Call of Duty.
Oh, for sure.
They're fucking characters.
Schmitty's 6'7.
He's fucking Brendan's his best friend.
He's five foot.
They're just opposite.
But there's four of them that live this house.
I take them out every once in a while.
So we went out for Tim's birthday.
Tim made some very poor decisions, and now he's sick.
Yeah.
He has to pay back.
Yeah, so he's, yeah, he got sick.
He's so congested.
Oh, yeah.
That's the worst.
That's me immediately after I drink.
Just like sinus infection.
Oh, really?
Yeah, especially beer.
If I drink beer, I wake up just congestion.
Yeah, allergic to it, probably.
Sounds like it.
It is poison.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So Tim made some bad decisions.
He couldn't make it.
He comes in Friday afternoon, but I know you're going to be in Phoenix next week.
Definitely want to go out.
Yeah.
I'll go bust you guys' ass in some Call of Duty if y'all want.
No, you won't.
He's literally never played.
No, you won't.
I've also never lost.
That's true.
That's true, though.
That's a couple of times.
I'm undefeated.
I mean, the Xbox Live chat room is kind of the peak of friendship.
That racism.
It changes when you get to it.
That's friendship.
That's how you know your true friends are.
No, I used to, well, I haven't streamed in like two months, but I used to stream for like every day, probably six, seven years.
And so he couldn't be too crazy on there.
Yeah.
Now, yeah, be careful.
Now, now, okay, you start the podcast.
You're doing all these things that, like, I remember talking to somebody about this.
I forget who it was.
I was like, oh, yeah, this kid is the next generation of athlete.
Yeah.
Because you're doing all the promotional things that this generation of entertainers do.
Have the podcast, have the Instagram presence, be great on social media while also doing your thing in the sport, right?
But this is a choice.
Like, are you sitting around with your contemporaries and you're going, yo, we should do a pod.
We should, are you planning the game in the same way that we kind of try to hack the game?
Yeah, I'll give Tim credit when the podcast, he was always kind of like, dude, let's do a podcast.
Let's do a podcast.
And so he kind of, that's why we started was the Timbo Sugar Show.
The Motivation Behind the Pod00:02:23
He was always kind of wanting to do that.
And we've been doing it like consistently once a week for like five years, probably.
So we've been doing it for a while.
And it's easy because we recap UFC fights and like we always have something to talk about.
And then we kind of bullshit.
But yeah, so that was kind of more random.
But then like the YouTube channel, doing all the reaction videos and finding out what kind of pops and like what's working, doing that stuff, definitely planned, like growing clicks, views, essentially is money.
So yeah, I definitely saw that a couple years ago and continued to build, you know, even Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, all these platforms.
Because yeah, you can't fight forever.
And I definitely realized that.
And I want to be able to make as much money as possible to where I never have to go fucking work at that.
That might be part of it.
Yeah, I know you said when you started the motivation was money and chicks and whatever.
It seems like if you're optimizing this much, that's probably not the only motivation anymore.
What is the motivation now?
And what's changed?
Yeah, that's a good question.
It's still kind of there.
Yeah, it's still kind of there.
The money and the chicks.
The money's kind of always money's freedom.
Yeah.
You know, I don't want to, I want to be, you know, I've got a little piece of this life now.
I'm like, damn, if I play it right, I can live this the rest of my life if I play it out right and do all that.
What's your number?
What's your, I'm not working anymore now.
Oh.
And keep in mind that number will change.
Yeah.
Well, I remember saying it from when I was pretty young.
$100 million is kind of like where I want to make.
Well, you were making $8 an hour corralling retards.
You were like, $100 million?
I'm going to stop.
Yeah, $100 million.
I've always been optimistic.
That's a lot of corralling, dude.
That's like a lot.
That's true.
So $100 million cash.
$100 million investment.
So you got to make $200 to make the $100.
That's the...
I don't know if you thought about the taxes because I just looked at the business.
I'm on top of my taxes.
Shout out to my mama.
She helps me make sure everything's fucking in order.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
So $100 million is just kind of like a number where it's so far out there that it's reachable.
But it's also like, we got to work for a long time.
So I just like that number.
It's a good North Star.
But it will be, yeah, it'll go.
It'll go up.
Think about that.
You got $100 million invested.
Conservatively, you're making $5 million a year just off of the interest of that money.
You think you can live off $5 million a year?
Managing a Hundred Million Dollars00:15:16
Pretty good.
I'm getting there.
Yeah, I think we can do it.
I live a pretty simple life back in Peoria, Arizona.
Yeah, Peoria, West Side Peer.
I want to brag, dude.
Yeah.
You should see our fucking pod studio.
Dude, it is in this fucking old shopping mall.
It's just like fucking $1,200 a month for like 5,000 square feet.
Our place is like dumb.
5,000 feet, ain't bad.
We have Team Diamond there and then we got our pod studio in there, but it's fucking Peoria, Arizona.
Yeah, it's getting there.
Okay.
So have you seen the bare knuckle fights?
I did.
I watched it recently.
Okay.
Thoughts.
I wouldn't do that shit.
It was Eddie Alvarez said something really interesting.
He's like, this is not for the athletes.
This is dogs.
Yeah.
Shout out Mike Perry, bro.
Yo, shout out Mike.
Mike is so fucking broke.
Yeah.
This guy's so fucking funny.
Another one's so entertaining, but and a tough dude.
Yeah.
But yeah, I wonder if, I wonder if we're just drawn to the most savage form of combat that is not murder.
Yeah.
And because I remember ordering it up on my fucking phone.
I think I was just finished a show or something like that.
And I was just like, I just got to see what happens in this.
And it lives up to it.
And I'm curious, like, you wouldn't do it?
No.
100%.
No.
Why not?
I like the athletic chess game of fighting to where, like Eddie said, it's for the dog.
That's just like, who's the, you know, some, I don't know.
It's just.
But didn't you have a problem with UFC when you first saw it?
Did you think it was too brutal when you first started?
I did.
When I was like, I remember being like 10, 11, 12, something around that age group, my dad was watching fighting, and I thought it was fucked up.
And my mom hated it too.
And I wanted to watch something else on the TV.
So I was like, mom, dad's watching fighting again.
And my mom's yelling at my dad, change it.
But I remember, yeah, I was like, I don't understand how they can kick each other in the ribs and punch each other in the face and how that I just didn't get it as a sport, which is really fucking crazy to think about now.
But I remember that vividly, like telling on my dad for watching TV.
So bare knuckle, I just, I don't know if it's going to be as, I think it has potential to, you know, do grow, but I don't know if it's going to peak out much bigger than it is right now.
It seems like all of the biggest bare knuckle matches are still kind of drafting off of UFC fame.
Right.
So it's almost like watching Cristiano Ronaldo.
He's a soccer player.
I know you don't fuck with that shit, but watching him play in Saudi Arabia.
It's like we're still going to watch, but it's maybe not the peak level.
But it is a fascinating thing to see because at the end of it in the press conferences, like their hands are gone.
Yeah.
How many times can you fight?
Like you're going to break your hand probably every fight.
Single fight.
How many times can you do that?
I would assume.
I assume that.
Yeah.
No, no, no.
Like, I mean, I think it happens.
Like, I think you do that.
You can't break your hand 10 fucking times and then just keep fun.
Just keep doing it.
I think if they get better with the branding and promotion, that grows just as big, if not bigger than you.
Interesting.
Really?
Well, think about how many times you open your social media and watch a fight, a street fight.
How entertaining that is.
Yeah.
That's a bare knuckle fight.
Yeah.
The broken hand thing is a good point, but what I was thinking initially is boxers probably thought about UFC.
This is barbaric.
There's not a chest.
Remember the early days of UFC?
It was kind of like a sideshow.
And also, everybody would fight everybody in a smash.
Yeah, fat guy, skinny guy is always fun.
Yeah.
But to that point, that could happen with bare knuckle boxing.
I didn't think about the broken hand thing.
Yeah, you can only break your hand somewhere.
I'm with you.
I think the genius of UFC, obviously, it has top athletes now, but they really are curating the identities of fighters in a way that like boxing completely messed up.
It's clear that Dana came from boxing and these guys came from boxing.
They're like, what's wrong with this?
And I do understand that there are people that like push back and there are people that are upset about the structure of it.
But at the same time, if you're willing to do what you're doing, what Izzy's doing, what Connor did, you can make unbelievable amounts of money and have unbelievable success.
There is an organization dedicated to making you look amazing, cutting clips of every single thing you do.
In boxing, you got to do that yourself.
You got to hire your video team.
You got to do it.
The UFC, if you knock somebody out, please believe it is on Sports Center, Slow-Mo, 8K.
Everywhere.
So I think that is a good now.
I know it seems like I'm shilling for the UFC, but I come from boxing where I've seen these guys who are spectacular.
Maybe they don't speak English and they don't have a fucking shot, dude.
Unless they have a team, like a powerful management team that can hire those people, promote them, get them on different platforms.
They don't have a fucking shot, man.
Yeah, that sucks.
That's what I'm saying about when I was coming up in UFC, not necessarily getting paid like what people are like, oh, you should be making this.
Yeah, I'm all right.
They're giving me this crazy fucking platform.
You're going to get your money.
And I'm going to get exactly.
I'm going to get it.
And, but yeah, no, I agree.
UFC, Dana, those guys fucking know what they're doing.
But bare knuckle, they very well could grow, but we'll see.
You mentioned boxing before though.
Like you like boxing a little and you've done a little bit.
And I think you mentioned like Tank Davis before was not you said he wasn't a pay-per-view draw.
But now after the fight, do you think that's changed a little?
So I don't think you.
I think the reason they did big pay-per-views, obviously, because it was Ryan Garcia.
Javante, it was a big, both, both semi-big names.
I think Ryan might have been a little bit bigger of a name.
But yeah, that fight might have put him over the top to where he's like, he could be that guy that did boxing.
And I've been saying it for years.
I would love doing Connor Fought Floyd.
I was fucking all about it.
I watched every time they did a press conference.
I loved it.
I loved how massive that was.
And I've always wanted to be a part of something like that.
And me versus Giervante, if I keep winning, I got to be the champ, potentially the double champ, and he's got to continue to win and be undefeated and be great in his sport for the next five years.
That's something, a potential massive super fight that I'll be interested in.
Yeah.
And you like that one.
I'm telling you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Javante.
I mean, he's good.
He's fucking really good.
He's really good.
I mean, yeah, buddy.
What the fuck are you talking about?
What's going on here?
But that's how people.
This is your brain, man.
That's what people were saying when I was 18 saying I was going to be in the UFC.
What are you fucking?
What are you talking about?
Yeah, that's how I said we on.
So that's what they said with John.
So when people say that, it doesn't, I'm like, it doesn't, it doesn't really affect me.
It doesn't really, I like that.
I like when people die.
That's small.
I loved when people were.
I watched when I'm on, I'll write you the check.
I remember being on the treadmill, you know, every time I was doing my sprints, watching the same videos of people saying, like, Peter was, what are we doing here?
Why is Sean?
He's ranked number 11, fighting the number one guy.
Peter's going to kill him.
This isn't, you know, I like seeing that.
I thought that was their sink or swim fight for you.
Yeah.
I thought the UFC sat down there like, let's see if this kid actually got it.
Well, I was telling UFC, I'm like, I want this fight.
I've been asking for that fight for a while.
Oh, really?
So I've been asking for a big fight for a while.
UFC's doing their thing.
And, you know, very smart.
Sean Shelby's a smart guy.
What surprised you about Jan?
I don't know if any he shot more than I thought he was going to, but I do think that was just because I was...
I think I was longer than he thought.
I was going to be a little bit faster than he thought I was going to be.
Distance management.
Yeah, I don't think he was planning on that.
I thought he was going to out.
I think he thought he was going to come in there, get inside, and piece me up.
And so he did shoot more than I thought he was going to.
Unlike someone like Alger or Henry, I'd plan on them kind of shooting more.
So he shot more than I thought he was going to.
That surprised me.
He has a really good body kick from opposite stance.
So if I'm South Paw and he's Orthodox.
He has a really quick body kick, no load up.
He landed that a couple times.
Just tough little fucking Russian.
It was just so cool to be in there with that dude.
I remember watching him earlier and I was like, this is the best striker in the UFC.
I really thought that.
And I just thought that his ability, his ability to manage distance was brilliant.
And again, I'm coming into UFC from like boxing.
I love, like, lifelong boxing fan.
I remember seeing it.
I'm like, this guy's not long.
He's got these kind of short little arms, short little body, but his ability to get in and out and manage that distance.
And I remember seeing that even the first round, I remember going, oh, he took these big looping right and left hands.
You see that?
And it was missing both.
And I think after that, he's like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to touch this guy.
And he was going into the danger zone.
And then you fucking caught him.
We caught each other.
That's right.
He clipped you too.
Yeah, that was the hardest I've ever been hit.
And re-watching it now, like when they do the slow-mo, like that hit me perfect shot.
And I ate that.
And that was, it was all within like a minute because I rocked him and he recovered nicely.
I actually dropped him at one point.
Nothing crazy, but it kind of dropped him to his knees.
And then he cracked me back.
Just like that minute from the first minute in the second round was fucking just so fun to watch watching so many times.
Bro, that's a scary thing to find out when you're a fighter, though, that you have a beard.
Yeah.
I've never been hit like that.
I didn't know.
I mean, I've been hit in the gym pretty hard.
I've been cracked.
I've been like, okay, I can take a shot.
Did it intimidate you when you went back to your corner?
Like, fuck, that was a good one.
It's all kind of a blur.
You kind of almost blackout in a sense, especially after you get hit.
Like, the whole fight in general, even if you go in there and don't get hit, it's kind of like a weird memory.
But after getting cracked like that, getting concussed, I mean, basically got knocked out without getting knocked out.
And so it was all kind of a blur, but I don't remember like going into the third round.
So after he rocked me, he took me down and like kind of ended on my back in the second round where I think I kind of recovered.
So going into that third round of stuff felt pretty sharp and felt good.
But yeah.
Landing the knee.
That felt good.
Cutting him open like that.
I mean, I threw a second knee.
I threw a second knee that fucking went about took his head off shortly after that.
He was up against the fence.
I threw a combo with a knee right up the middle and it went right by his head.
That one would have put his lights out.
That would have put his lights out.
Oh, that would be good.
That was a highlight, bro.
This one's for Henry, though.
I'm saving that one for him.
Really?
So you think you...
Okay, so let's say you have a guy like Henry, right?
Do you think Henry beats Al Joe?
Yeah, what do you think about this fight?
I've been going back and forth.
I've been going back and forth.
I'd like to fight Henry.
He's fucking good.
Al Joe has really good man.
But it means potentially cutting too much weight.
He got big.
He got big.
He's a big fucking guy.
He's a big beefcake, too.
He had a body.
Yeah, I'm jealous.
Same, though.
But I'm also almost six foot.
He's not.
So it's like...
This is true.
And then Henry's like literally 5'4.
This dude's fucking not big, but he's thick.
But Al Joe, that's what I'm saying.
I don't know if Al Joe's going to cut too much weight and it's going to affect him.
But even if it goes out there and gets the job done against Henry, you got to turn around.
We're fighting.
We're fighting shortly after that.
So he's going to have to cut weight again.
So he's got to stay ready because I fought last fight was October.
So, you know, I'm ready to go.
It's, you know, September or August, September, one of those months we're getting it on.
So he's going to have to fight and then cut weight again in a couple months.
So what do you think happens this weekend?
I'd like Henry to win because I'd rather fight Henry.
Why do you prefer him?
I just wanted to fight Henry for a long time before he retired.
And I do believe, you know, if Henry goes out there and beats Al Joe, he's considered one of the GOATs.
Because that would be what did he get?
His first belt at one.
He got 35, then went down to.
Or no, he got it at 25, went up to 35.
Retired, would come back, get the belt again, and he'd be top three combat athletes of all time.
And I go out there and beat him.
Oof.
It just puts me on the top.
People would be so mad.
It'd be so mad.
Big time.
Okay, so let's assume, which I don't think it is going to go this way, but let's assume that Henry wins.
You're fighting a guy who has wrestling, I mean, the top of the top.
Yeah.
Right?
This is not your strength.
I'll take him down, though.
I could.
Hey, fighting's a different sport.
Fighting's a different sport.
Talk to me here.
You said you only strike in camp, right?
Like, I mean, a lot of it is groundwork.
I only, yeah, I only pretty much grappled.
I'll hate this motherfucker.
Hey, dude, watch me put him on his back.
Watch me put him on his back.
Okay, so you're taking if I wanted to.
In a fight.
Not in wrestling, not straight wrestling.
In a fight.
You're telling me I cracked this dude and he doesn't know where he's at.
And I fucking slip behind him.
And now he's on his back.
And like, god damn it.
This guy took me down.
I could lose the fight at that point.
I don't give a fuck.
He won't be able to sleep at night.
That little fucker will be so mad.
So that's a huge deal for wrestlers, huh?
Oh, yeah.
Being taken down.
Especially by me.
Yeah, yeah.
Colorful hair, like tall, skinny.
You know what?
He called me a fake American.
Wait, why?
You're from Montana.
Bro, he, yeah, I don't know.
He doesn't get more than that.
I don't think he meant to stay.
Yeah, you're a real Make America great guy.
Yeah.
He called me a fake American the other day.
And he named his, I don't want to, I don't like bringing families and shit into this, but he named his daughter America.
You guys don't got to say nothing on that, but he's from Mexico.
You know, what are we doing here?
So you're taking him down.
If I want.
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah.
So, so, but you think you win that fight by just out pointing him?
I think I could catch catch Henry.
I could sleep him.
He's just, he's going to have to get inside.
He's going to have to.
How's he going to take me down?
Yeah.
Without getting inside, getting to my legs.
Yeah.
You're going to eat a knee up the middle.
I've knocked a lot of short people out.
You thought I was going to say Mexicans.
But Mexicans.
No, honestly.
That's why he went to Phoenix.
No, Mexicans, I will give him that.
They are fucking hard to put out, dude.
They have their chins on them, but the real Mexicans, I don't know.
You know what I mean?
So I think his is going to be a little weaker.
Yeah.
And he's been out.
He's 36.
He's been out of the way.
They're calling him not a real Mexican.
Throwing it back.
Well, I mean, you, fuck, yeah.
Talk that shit.
Boy, talk that shit.
I think it's like social media already doesn't like this guy.
He's fucking cringy.
And he tries to play it off.
He tries to play into it and almost makes it worse.
And then just the way he talks.
And he used to be like God guy.
But a little bit, like, first he got in the UFC.
He was all about God and then kind of switched over to where he would kind of stop because he realized people were like, quit with that.
That's not it.
So he switched over from that and now he's just this.
It's not a good look.
People need, people want to see Henry get slapped by me.
And then if Al Joe wins.
If Alger wins, same thing.
We're fighting in September, August.
He better be ready to cut weight again.
I know he likes to get big because he's saying he wants me next and then he wants to move up to 45.
But he also is going out there and saying he might just go up to 45 after this fight.
So if he goes up, you would fight Murab or Murab or Corey would be my guess.
Dude, the fight between you and Corey would be so fun.
Yeah, Corey's fucking good.
He's very good.
Why Corey Lost That Fight00:02:20
Really good.
Just stylistically, you guys are really interesting strikers.
Similar but different strikers.
I think very different.
I mean, you have, I think, similar IQ, but in the way that it's approached, like very different.
Yeah.
I mean, that would be so much fun.
Just from like a super fight fan, striking IQ perspective.
We'll fight eventually.
You know, he's going to stick around the top.
That dude's good.
He's in it.
He's not fucking around on the LSI.
He's in it.
I'm in it.
So we're going to fight regardless whether it's next, two fights, three fights.
We'll fight.
And that's going to be a big one.
Okay.
And then what about one more time?
This could arguably be battle of the best dressed guy in the UFC.
You rematch with Cheeto.
That dude, he's saying he...
Yo, Cheeto's one of the best dressed guys in the UFC.
Honestly, Cheeto might be the best dressed guy in the UFC.
I'm not playing.
Yo, yo, the swag?
I know you're a comedian, so I don't know if you're trying to get it.
The swag is crazy on Cheeto.
Right now, I said it's battle.
I didn't even close.
No, dude, Cheeto?
He's wearing a yellow short.
No, no.
In the ring.
No, Cheeto is dripped.
I'm telling you.
I don't got nothing against Cheeto.
We're going to have a sweet fight in the future.
Do you think you get the belt first and then the hat?
Yeah, yeah, of course.
See this guy?
What do you mean he's fucking?
He looks like he's going to church.
Look, we're right there.
He's got a dynamite.
See, that's a motherfucker.
I can dress.
Yeah.
Nah, nah, nah.
The white coast fire, bro.
No, yeah.
Cheeto and I are going to have a sweet fight.
It's going to be a great rematch.
The first fight, obviously, it played out the way it played out.
And I'm excited.
I think that just builds for a massive fight, which works out because I claim to be undefeated.
People fucking lost their minds when I came out.
I was like, I didn't lose that fight.
That wasn't a fucking, I didn't lose that fight because he was better than me.
Skill-wise, a freak accident happened.
He kicked me in this perennial nerve.
My foot rolled like seven times.
That has happened to a bunch of guys.
I would say a bunch.
That's my Pareto fight.
Kind of.
Kind of.
It was different.
I think his was more like an actual calf kick to where this calf goes numb.
The muscle goes numb.
This was a, there's a little nerve somewhere in your fucking knee.
The Pain of Cutting Weight00:07:45
Like if you hit it, my foot, I couldn't flex it.
I couldn't do this.
So I was rolling my ankle like seven times while piecing him up.
I was still.
Actually happened to Henry in a fight.
It did, yeah.
And his came back, Demetrius.
Yes, I mean, it's Demetrius Johnson, yeah.
But I've seen this happen a few times.
So I guess there is a nerve in the knee, a control nerve.
Is that strategic?
Like, are people trying to hit that?
That's what I'm saying.
I'm like, why that motherfucker hasn't done it again?
Why didn't he kick Jose Elder?
Why did he let Hilzella beat him?
Why didn't he kick him in the nerve?
Why has he never done that kick again?
That's what I'm saying.
And the UFC, how many thousands of kicks, how many times they kick that nerve?
Very rarely.
Very rarely does that nerve get kicked.
That was my defense.
I'm like, this shit was fucking a fluke.
You guys call it what you want.
I'll get that fight back.
I'm excited for that fight.
There's a lot of big fights.
Me versus anybody in the division is a big fight, which is exciting for me.
And the Bantamweight division is the best division in the UFC right now.
Hands down, in my humble opinion.
Is there any plan?
What's the highest you could go up?
145, 155, you're getting up there with some big bastards.
Like you're getting up there with some big boys.
How tall are you?
5'111, 6' something.
I think you have a frame.
You get the lifts going.
I'm 5'8.
Sometimes.
What do you walk around?
158.
158.
Yeah, and I eat clean all year round.
I ate a pretty clean diet all year round.
If I want to start lifting, bulking up, eating more, I get up to, I feel like I put on some weight pretty easily.
So it's not that hard for you to get down to 135.
It's not easy.
It's fucking not easy.
It takes, you know, I'll diet hard.
Like, I diet year-round as far as like eating clean, but I can eat a little bit more.
But 10 weeks out from fight day, I'm dialing it in, eating a little bit, watching my calorie intake more.
So it does take a level of discipline that it's not easy to make weight.
What's the week before the fight like diet-wise for you?
When are you taking off those last painful four pounds?
Oh, the last painful four.
So I'll cut, I'll probably be like 152 going into fight week for so I'll cut down from water load, two gallons, two gallons, two gallons, cut water.
I've got it fucking down.
Dan Garner writes me up a meal plan.
I eat it, drink the water, just do it, and it comes off.
I just trust the process.
Really?
Yeah.
Has there ever been a situation where you're like one pound over or something like that, and you just have to put on the sweatsuit or jerk off like Izzy?
Oh, yeah, Izzy's.
I've tried that at night.
I'm like, God, you found out how much your load waste?
Yeah, it doesn't really affect the scales much.
But yeah, there's, I mean, every time it's just like, get these last fucking couple pounds off.
When you're recovering after cutting 17 pounds, the week of fight, a lot of this was made.
There's a lot of people talking about Ryan Garcia, rehydration clause, et cetera.
Like, how much time do you really need to get back to normal after the weigh-in?
Because the weigh-in is the day before in the morning, usually.
Yep.
Yep.
Yeah.
Are you by that evening good to go?
As far as physically, no, you'll be fucking your stomach.
You're definitely.
So I'll weigh in at 136, 135 next fight championship weight.
I'll be up to 158 that night.
Fine.
Wow.
Wow.
So 13 pounds comes on.
Yeah.
Well, I'll be or no, 20.
23.
23.
Oh, 50.
136.
So 135 to 150.
23 pounds in one day.
How the fuck are they?
You're just, it's just water, food.
Yeah, a lot of hydrogen while a lot of water.
Lots of liquids and carbs and eating good.
But the day at the actual time, you know, then you shit a couple times and then you, you know, that the day I walk into the cage around 154, 153.
Wow.
So, but that night you're at.
I'm full week.
Yeah.
How much is a lot of that's normal?
I would say that's probably normal.
But I yeah, I've heard I've heard, sorry, I've heard about this, but like, and I'm trying to understand, is it simply just your body bloating because it's been so deprived of water?
I think a lot of it's the liquids.
Yeah.
You don't, I mean, when you're on scale, you could give a fuck less about any food.
You just want water.
Your lips are dry.
You can hardly talk.
Your voice is raspy.
You're just like, you just want water.
And yeah, and you're supposed to drink, you know, rehydrate quite a bit.
So I think that's kind of where's where my brain is struggling: is 16 ounces is a pound.
Yeah.
So a 16-ounce bottle of water is a pound.
Are you doing 23 of those?
Like, I mean, it's an asterisk.
That's like seven gallons of water, whatever the fuck that is.
What is eight pounds for a gallon?
Is that what it is?
Something like that?
Something like that?
No, I think it's four.
Is it eight?
Yeah, I think it might be eight.
Yeah, it might be eight.
Gotta ask Gardner about that.
How much water do you consume before weigh-ins?
Before weigh-ins?
Zero.
When are you cutting out?
Yeah, when do you stop eating, stop drinking?
So Thursday, which is today right now.
So those guys are probably sipping minimal water.
Like if you have to drink some water, you will.
They're a press conference today.
Thursday, they got a press conference.
So I would do some coffee, just a little bit of caffeine, get me trying to spit some shit on the mic a little bit, a little bit of water, but not too much, because you know you're going to have to go cut that weight tonight.
So Thursday night's where you're going to cut the majority of the weight, eight, nine, 10 pounds.
And then in the morning, you know, everyone does it different.
Some people cut it all tonight, and then you don't sleep.
You will not fucking sleep.
Really?
Thursday night?
No.
Why?
But what's that?
Why?
Just because you're fucking hungry, you're thirsty.
Your body's just like in starvation modes.
You're kind of freaking out.
I always talk to my buddy.
I'll let them know almost like a spiritual thing.
Hey, we're cutting weight.
We're all right.
Like also meditation shit.
Yeah, it's scary.
It gets scary to a point.
Like when you're cutting those last few pounds, it's fucking, you feel like you're dying.
It's terrifying.
Like if you've never done it before, it's like a scary feeling.
Your heart rate's going real high.
But yeah, for the most part, I'll cut most of the weight tonight and then I'll wake up in the morning, cut three, four pounds so I can sleep a little bit.
Whoa.
And do you do weed at all in there?
No, I cut weed out mostly like three weeks out.
Yeah.
You get those munchies going, bro.
That's a wrap.
Yeah, it's really honestly like a big reason, too.
It's you can't snack.
Yeah, that Taco Bell commercial comes up.
You're like, oh, I'm going to throw it all away, bro.
Right?
And Cordita crunched it.
Right.
Little beefy five layer.
Yeah.
Oh, that's the order.
Every time.
Used to be, yeah.
So you have to go in Thursday night, entertain at a press conference.
Ridiculous.
While you're dying.
Everyone up there.
I mean, you see everyone up there cutting weight besides the heavy weights.
But yeah, everyone's cutting weight up there Thursday.
I've never thought about that.
I mean, like, I know when I'm hungry, my brain doesn't function well.
Yeah.
And me being hungry means I didn't eat in four hours.
Yeah, yeah.
So I can't imagine having zingers, being entertaining, calling people out when the only thing you're thinking of is water and they place a jug of it in front of you on the table right there.
And you can sip it a little bit, but you just know you're going to have to cut.
Anything you put in more painful later.
And what's the best form of cutting for you?
Like what type of exercise?
Oh, the hot tub.
Yeah, I've seen that.
I'll work out.
I'll get a sweatsuit on first, work out.
Hit minutes pretty light.
At that point, you don't fucking, the last thing you want to do is work out.
So you can, you kind of like move around, just get a sweat going for like 20, 30 minutes, ride the bike, get a sweat going, then go sit in the hot tub.
So what is the idea with the hot tub?
It's just your...
You're just prescribing.
Yeah, the first part.
No, it's just perspiration.
Fuck, you're just slowing it.
You'll do three, two, three minute, two, three, 15 minute rotations, check your weight, see where you're at, kind of go from there.
Maintaining Weight Year Round00:02:06
It's fucked.
I don't know why.
So if I naturally fought up my weight cuts, I'd be a 55er, right?
I'm walking around 56, 57.
I would fight at 155.
If I decided to do that, I'm going to fight.
I'm going to fight guys like Justin Gage who are walking around in 180.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm going to fight Islam Makashev or something like Charles Olivera.
That ain't fucking.
I ain't doing that.
So you don't really have a choice.
I go down.
I feel like I could have success at fighting at 145 right now.
I feel like my best chance of becoming champs at 135 right now.
That's obviously why I'm doing it.
But I have the build and the skills to fight and compete at 145.
Who's 145?
Volkovsky.
Pound for pound.
Who's Alexander Volkanov?
Oh, Volk, of course.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Dude, Volk fighting.
He's a motherfucker.
Dude, that guy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Craziest cardio I've ever Islam him versus dude him exhausting Islam ending the fight on top crazy I don't know why they didn't run that right back I think he wins that easy I mean I'm a huge Max Holloway fan but seeing the way that Volk adjusted from the first to the third fight crazy Are they protecting Islam?
I don't know if they're...
I think Yair just won the belt that same day.
Yair deserves it too.
But still, like, the big money, the big attention fight is Volk versus Islam.
And it's undecided.
Yeah.
I mean, depending on how much interest is there, I think you can't hold up both divisions, 55 and 45, and redo it.
I think you got to do something with the 45.
Yaira just won the belt the same night.
Yeah.
As an interim champ.
So if he goes and defends that belt, it's like then Alex isn't really champ.
Alex probably wants to stay champ.
So he's got to do it, but they could run that back.
Yeah, that's wild.
Yeah, so if you come up to 45.
All right, boys.
You know, it could be kind of fun.
You against Yair at 45.
Yeah, those are definitely possibilities.
I mean, he's not, he probably does weigh 5'6.
I might be 10 pounds bigger, but that's because I'm maintaining my weight right now.
I'm trying to maintain this weight so I can fight at 35.
That's definitely an interesting fight in the future.
Yair's a motherfucker, too.
Yeah.
Sleep and Cold Plunging00:02:50
Now, something you mentioned in your camps that you always like stress, I feel like more than other fighters is sleep and cold plunging specifically.
You're just like, yo, those, like, you were an OG cold plunger before it became a trend.
Yeah.
Is that still the same regimen?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got the cold plunge.
I've probably been cold plunging five, six years now.
So it's like, I feel like there's multiple trends, but now it's like everyone fucking, I cold plunge.
But yeah, I've been the old freezer chest, plug it in, fill it up with water, getting in that.
And like doing that religiously every night is a big part of, it used to just kind of be like part of camp, but it's really just part of my life now.
Yeah.
Even on the road and shit, you're like...
On the road, it's hard.
You know, it's hard to, you can't really cold plunge.
Yeah.
But at home, it's like fucking, yeah, 100%.
And then sleeping, fucking sleep's the number one performance enhancing anything there is.
I like it.
This is the number one thing.
You could fucking have two really good training sessions in the day, go home and not sleep for shit.
You're going to be, those training sessions.
This might be more art of warship, bro.
This is like stoner fighter mentality.
You're like, dude, you know what?
I like sleeping.
Yeah, I remember seeing a LeBron clip where someone asked him about his sleep and he was like, well, I've slept from 12 to 8 last night.
Then I got up, had breakfast from 8 to 8.30.
Then I slept again until 12.30.
Jesus.
Yeah, sleeping is a fucking superpower.
And I learned all these healthy habits to become a really good fighter.
And I realized, I'm like, this is just how to be a healthy human.
This is just what you need for anxiety.
People are like, I'm anxious.
Like, well, you're fucking staring at your phone at 11.30.
Like, I can't fucking sleep.
That's me.
Yeah, yeah.
There's answers to all these problems.
And if people just, you know, don't want to do this.
I would suggest Akash.
You got to fix him, bro.
Akash has huge sleeping issues.
Yeah.
You can fix that shit, I feel like.
All right, let's go.
Like a life coach.
Left hand.
No, I mean, a lot of it's caffeine intake.
Caffeine has like a half-life of eight hours or something.
So you drink 200 milligrams of caffeine at noon.
In eight hours, you still have 100 milligrams in the system.
So caffeine has a pretty high half-life.
So you got to be careful with when you're consuming caffeine.
Blue light, fucking watching shit all night.
It's not going to fucking happen.
I go yellow light.
I have the blue light basically off my phone.
You can set hours.
It's on from like.
You think that does anything?
I think it could help.
I don't buy it.
If you're just watching lights, talk for four hours.
Yeah, exactly.
It's yellow, though.
It's not bad.
I'm like, dude, I tried the same shit.
I know.
I think it's bullshit.
It makes the screen look.
The blue light thing.
I convince myself.
And then when I don't sleep the next morning, I'm like, you're a fucking retard.
This doesn't mean anything.
But at night, I'm like, well, you got to read SPN.com.
Yellow light.
Now, preparing for sleep is a real thing.
Like, you know, that's where the cold plunge kind of comes in.
It's like a meditation.
Go outside, chill for 10 minutes.
You guys can't really, I mean, it's different in New York.
Peoria is, you know, a different world.
It's like two different fucking worlds.
Here would be hard.
Blue Light and Caffeine00:13:39
Like, I feel like there's just a level of anxiety in New York.
Just like a baseline higher than other places, and they convince themselves it's good.
It's really fucking good, it's not healthy, but it's good because it makes you go.
Like, there's no relaxation, yeah, exactly.
You won't go, I mean that.
Like, I walk in you, like you, you were here, you feel the energy, you're like, I need to do things, I need to go.
It is, yeah, I felt that when I was walking around today, I was like, God, there's just this buzz around here.
Yeah, I do like it, and it's raining today.
Yeah, think about that.
The body's even in the street.
Anxiety, yeah, it's like I asked me what you're right.
You're right, you gotta go because everybody around you is anxious, and you're like, I gotta do something.
Everyone has a legal meth addiction in New York, no one talks about that.
Everyone's like, dude, the middle of the country, there's meth everywhere.
It's like everyone's on fucking Adderall.
That's what y'all need to know.
I know.
Like, I wake up and this is just all anxiety.
Wake up, grab our chest, just go.
You'll go to Florida.
Like, so much meth.
Good inhale of anxiety.
What about wake up?
Dieting?
Yeah, like what are foods you stay away from?
So I get tested probably two, three times a year.
Get all my tests because stuff can change.
There was a time where I wasn't eating eggs because, you know, I'm listening to the smarter guys.
I'm just repeating kind of what they say.
There was stuff that was causing inflammation, eggs.
So there was a point where I wasn't eating eggs in my diet.
Speaking of, I got six chickens the other day.
No way.
Fire.
I'm a farmer, dude.
Let's go.
Yeah.
That's actually been funny.
You were talking about the hose.
I was like, yeah.
Well, it's funny because I always wanted a lot of chicks.
And my girl, I've had a girl for like eight years.
Oh, and I've always wanted a lot of chicks.
And she's like, well, you kind of got your dream.
Kind of got your dream.
But she lets you get outside, right?
Yeah, I mean, I would say let because it's like, she doesn't necessarily have that.
You know, I've always been like, hey, I'm my own person.
Yeah.
You know, when I first met Danny, I'm like, hey, I don't get like marriage.
Like, marriage is stupid.
And just like the concept of it, fucking one chick for the rest of your life.
Stupid.
I don't like that.
So that was like one of our first conversations we ever had when I met her.
Like we weren't even like talking like we were liking each other.
I don't remember why, but I was like, marriage is dumb, right?
It's funny because I can vividly remember having that conversation with her.
And now I'm married.
That'll get you.
Legally.
That'll get you.
But yeah, go back to that.
Yeah, yeah, but the side.
What's the deal with the side?
It's like, hey, I'm in New York.
If hot chicks, like, hey, I want to fucking suck you.
No.
And I know you're not.
That's not what it is.
We're not asking you how you handle it.
We're asking you how you manage her realization.
I think the reason that works for us is because I treat her truly like a queen.
I really do take care of her.
And I obviously.
Kings has a nice piece.
I provide for her, not just financially, but like emotionally.
Like we still have great sex.
I think that's important for guys.
Like, I want to fuck other chicks.
Like, when was the last time you fucked your girl good?
Like, well, it's been, you know, so we have good sex.
We cuddle.
We have, we're like, I stay there every night.
I sleep there every night, every morning.
It's not like, oh, am I coming home tonight?
Like, I live a very strict lifestyle.
She's a part of it.
And, you know, I think it works because there's rare times people think I'm fucking chicks all the time.
It's not like that.
It's the random KA.
I'm in fucking New York.
Like, if I want to hook up with a chick and it's not going to be a big deal, you got to be safe.
You got to be, you know, wear protection.
I want to, you know.
He's putting out the bat signal right now.
You see that?
We live right now.
I'm in New York.
I think it works because I do treat her the way she deserves to be treated.
And I wouldn't even be in this position without her because she's literally like my like ride or dock.
She's my rock.
And she keeps me super.
I would be so much more distracted with trying to get chicks if I didn't have the life I have right now with her.
And I, and I tell her, like, I want to be with you.
We have a baby.
I want to be with you.
You know, forever is a long word or big word, but I want to be with you until we don't want to be with each other.
I can't see that really ever happening.
Yeah.
I do like to say, like, I plan on being with you.
I want to have more kids with you.
Like, I love you.
I truly love you.
I'm a horny motherfucker.
That's honest conversation.
It's how it goes.
I let her know how guys think.
Most.
Do you ever tell her about like you fuck something crazy?
Oh, go, go.
I got a funny story.
I was at the sign, uh, pict autograph signing picture thing in Houston once.
And I was just sharing like the people would tag me and I'd share it on my because I think it's cool.
They think it's cool.
Fans think it's cool if you share it on your own shit.
So I was sharing a bunch, a cute girl.
I didn't really think anything of it at the time.
I was like, oh, she's cute.
And which is rare.
Usually I'm on it.
Like, hey, what's up?
But I wasn't.
And Danny, Danny messaged me.
She's like, yo, you should try to smash.
My girl messaged me that.
Wow.
I didn't even hit that girl.
I hit her up after.
I'm like, well, fuck it.
Yeah.
And smashed.
And it was incredible.
And it was such a great experience.
And I experienced that because Danny told me to smash.
So I thought I was pretty fire.
Does she want to hear deets?
She didn't ask for to hear deets.
And it's not easy for her emotionally.
Like, it's not like she's just good at it.
But she's all, we've grown so much from these experiences.
Me hooking up with.
Yeah, what a spin you just put on that.
We've grown from me fucking.
She's grown a lot.
She's a fucking, she's like a queen bitch.
She's she's like, she's like a rare.
I feel like I lucked out so much finding finding someone like her.
So you travel a lot, you're training all the time.
I don't travel a lot.
Well, you're training all the time.
Training a lot.
Can she do her thing?
The way, you know, until Andrew Tate came along, I was like, you can.
And then Andrew Tate's like, girls can't do that.
I'm like, yeah, fuck that.
Yeah, you had to become a top G, right?
I'm a top G, so no, she can't.
No, I think it just makes sense.
Like, hey, we got this dope life.
If you want to go and risk it for something, and like, I provide you with everything.
What she wants is stability.
She wants to feel love.
I give her everything she feels, she wants.
So I'm marking all the boxes.
She doesn't fucking Danny doesn't go out.
She's straight up from Oaxaca, Mexico.
She's a real Mexican.
She's a Mexican queen.
She doesn't go out.
She doesn't do anything.
She does hair.
She's very passionate about hair.
She does jiu-jitsu.
She trains with us.
And she's a mom.
So the last thing on her mind goes, I got a lot of money.
You're so confident in the relationship.
You're like, yeah.
Yeah, she's not.
That's the last thing on her mind.
She's like grossed out by it.
And I can see how girls want to hook up with random guys.
It's different.
Guys fucking use their dicks like they're, they don't give a fuck.
So it is different.
There was a point where I did say, I'm like, hey, do you, if I want, I have this freedom, you have the freedom too.
I've never really told her she doesn't, but you don't feel like she wants suicide.
It's not an issue.
Yeah.
We've had conversations about it, though.
What about have there ever been any chicks in the DMs that you were like a fan of before?
Hmm, that's a good way to ask that.
Oh, you know.
I like that question.
Did you beat off to any girls that DM'd you?
No, but I'm waiting for, I've been looking in the DMs, like, where you at, girls?
No, nothing crazy, nothing crazy yet.
A little blue check situation, maybe?
I don't fucking.
I have 98% male audience.
So the girls in the DMs are pretty rare to be honest.
Dick pics?
I don't think I've actually seen any dick pics in the DMs.
Oh, you're about to.
What's your number?
Yeah, no dick pics.
But I also like, if I see a guy sent me a photo, I don't open it.
So maybe, maybe they did.
I had this like sex therapist guy I was talking to, and he made a comment that you were putting him on your podcast.
Yeah, it was on the scene.
He was on the show.
Let's just be clear.
Yeah, Jesus, man.
Yeah, no, I had a closed-door conversation with the sexual god, and he made a comment that is kind of maybe controversial, but he said, professional fighters are naturally the best love makers.
He said, professional fighters are naturally the best love makers.
He said in his experience, and he's fucked a lot.
He's been around gangbangs and shit.
He's like, mind-body connection in terms of like being able to withstand erection and shit like that is better naturally because you're in the ring getting punched in the head, able to like mentally deal with a stressful situation and your body trying to react a certain way and overpower the natural things.
You think that's true or not?
I think there, maybe, I don't know about that necessarily.
What's he going to say to that?
There's a certain level of alpha you have as a fighter that maybe can translate.
Oh, you don't beta it up in the bed, dude?
You don't get dominated on time for a little domination?
A couple times.
Be honest, are you like able to pull guard in the bed?
I'll be pulling guard.
I'll be pulling.
I'm too old for this.
You ever got the doorbell rung one time?
Doorbell rung.
Yeah, she just kind of slips in the bank.
Oh, dude.
Not all the way.
Hell yeah.
He's trying to soften it up.
He's like, baby.
Wait, for that specifically.
Well, it's just not optimization, bro.
It's just gross.
Yeah, get all the shit out of the way, dude.
I let her wax my ass a couple times.
Wait, who?
Oh, that's Muff.
I go like this.
She thinks it's funny, bro.
I don't think it's funny at all.
Let's go, dude.
I ain't gay.
No checks.
Hold on.
Cliff in your dick and balls.
And then she's waxing your asshole.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's love.
That is love, dude.
I've had mine wax before.
It doesn't hurt.
It's not great.
What?
Yeah.
Now, his ass needs to be waxed.
It's good, baby.
It is clean.
Where?
Where did this happen?
Who did this?
I told you about this.
No.
When I did that role and the director kind of me-tooed me.
Oh, God.
Hey, yo, you told us that he waxed you.
He waxed you?
No, he didn't ask, but like, I was, it was, I was cracking it and I was running out of a building.
So I was, I was naked.
And then I was like, yo, before I do this, I kind of got to tell you guys something.
Like, I have a very hairy ass, like, and that might not be what you guys imagine on camera.
And then he was like, all right, show me.
And I showed him, and then he came up and he like touched my cheek.
Oh, you got to do that.
It's like, dude, you didn't need to do that.
That was some like director.
You weren't a crackhead, though, in the role.
But I was.
Yeah, yeah.
What?
So he waxed you.
No, he waxed me in my ass.
No, no.
No.
No.
So then I went and got waxed, and some like Ukrainian woman waxed my ass.
And it wasn't that bad.
But did you?
I mean, did you like the aftermath?
After was fantastic.
It's great.
Wiping is incredible because toilet paper doesn't bundle up.
I got a bidet.
Oh, you've got to get it.
That's a game changer.
Yeah.
It really is.
Do you ever go reverse cowgirl on the bidet and just hit that?
Once.
You got to wash the front button sometimes.
The front butt's got a little.
Front button gets a little wash.
Your girl just walks in.
What the fuck are you doing?
You're a treasure, man.
You really are.
A fucking treasure.
Dude, that's wild.
Okay, so the ultimate dream is double champ.
100 mil in the bank.
Do you mean threesome?
Is that what you mean by that?
I've had lots of threesomes.
That's the thing.
Who gets the nut?
Both.
Well, there's been, it depends.
It's a sprinkler system.
If your girl is involved, if your wife is involved, she has to get it, right?
Dude, she gets off of me fucking other chick.
But does she want this queen?
They're taking our jobs.
Take down the wall.
She doesn't speak English.
This whole time she's been upset.
No, Indiana.
No, yeah, the nut.
It's just kind of however I'm feeling.
I get a pick.
No, Top G gets picked.
That's never an issue.
It's never been an issue when we've hooked up with other chicks.
She's always been very comfortable.
And again, it's like, it's because our relationship's so solid that we can do stuff like that.
It's not like we're fighting and then I'm like, hey, let's fuck this chick.
And Danny's like, okay.
It's always like we're in a really good spot and then we can, yeah.
But do you ever feel bad for the other girl?
Like she did all that work for that nut and then she doesn't even get it.
No, no, I don't feel bad for her.
I feel bad if I don't last.
That's what sucks.
Wait, what do you mean?
There's been times.
You bust before the girl even.
Oh, there's been times when I have been, I just busted too fast.
I'm like, hey, this never happens.
I don't know about that theory, bro.
You got to go to the corner of sex therapist.
Shut the fuck up.
You know, the second time to wait for the next nut.
Yeah.
Oh, you got to run it back.
Oh, yeah.
That first.
I seen a clip of you and Joe actually talked about it.
He said busting fast nuts because the leopards or some shit.
That was fucking funny.
It makes a little sense.
Yeah, it's evolution, bro.
That's why we bust fast.
But I always usually tell him, like, wait for the next round.
Give me five.
Give me 10.
Oh, you run it back in 10 minutes?
If it's a three-banger and it's a new chick and it's like, yeah.
You can get fat.
Like, if it, like, no offense, you fuck your girl so many times, how many times when you bust, you're good for the day.
You're good.
But it's a new chick, you're like, and you didn't perform.
I'm like, I got you.
Hit the perennial nerve.
We need a rematch.
That's it.
But do you really apologize?
Or do you just have?
Really?
Yeah.
Do you ever like fake nut and just go to the bathroom?
No, I did not.
Or just like nut, but like in your hand and then go to the bathroom and be like, oh, guys, I got to.
Oh, my mom's going to be.
Yeah.
Some moms having a three-seven emergency.
No, there's been times for sure.
Okay, tell me the apology.
This is really fun.
Set the stage for that.
I thought you'd not a bad one.
It's like, hey, I'm sorry.
You're just, I've wanted to fuck you for so long.
You're so hot.
Like, and it just happened.
I'm sorry.
So you were already fucking her and your girls there.
Yeah.
Journaling as Therapy00:10:18
Does she also go like, no, this doesn't really happen?
She has the struggle.
I tell her, I'm like, god damn it.
Like if we got a baddie coming, I'm like, damn, I'll probably bust fast.
And she's like, yeah, you got to do camp for that, bro.
You got to get ready.
Sometimes, like, honestly, doing some breath work before, just mind-body, like, whatever, you know what I'm saying?
Trying to kind of connect with yourself.
But for the most part, that fresh, that new puss is.
It's tough.
You ever have Tim just stand in the corner and watch and give you advice?
Just look over at him.
Quite vacillating on your eyebrows.
Look for the knee.
Oh, no.
Haven't had that yet.
Fucking Tim, man.
Yeah, what a life you're living.
Do you recognize that your life is different than 99.9% of humans in history?
Sometimes I try to, you know, kind of reflect and be like, damn, this is fucking crazy.
It's easy to not, though, just keep going, keep going, keep going.
But yeah, I definitely tried to reflect.
And, you know, that's times where I'm sitting in the hot tub, cold plunge, like by myself.
I just need time for myself, which I do have a lot of.
And I think that's important.
Just for, you know, especially for athletes in camp, kind of like visualization or, you know, connecting with your higher spirit or whatever.
But just to be healthy, happy human, just reflecting on life.
And when you're having this much success, do you start to believe that it's destiny, that there's some sort of divine intervention?
Do those thoughts creep into your head?
Like, wow, I'm supposed to do this.
And maybe God wants me to do this.
Yeah, that's a good question.
It's a weird, it's weird because there's times where I'm like, damn, this is all happening for a reason.
Like, this is how it's supposed to be.
And sometimes I catch myself thinking like that.
I'm like, God, that's weird.
But also, I'm like, I feel like Henry might go out there and win just because I feel like me and him are meant to fight and I'm meant to beat him.
It's a weird thing that when you're having success, everything feels destined.
And when you're in your downtimes, I imagine when you broke your foot and these other things, there's in no way are you going, yes, God is playing a role in this.
Yes, is there some sort of intervention?
I wonder if that's a huge competitive advantage.
Well, that's where I feel like I got really good at understanding how the mind works and how I can control my thoughts a little bit.
Because yeah, when I broke my foot, I was like, how am I supposed to get better?
How am I supposed to, I'm already not grappling as long as these guys.
How am I supposed to get better?
And I was able to really kind of change my mindset and improve in other ways.
That's kind of where I got more into meditation and learning more about and just listening to educational podcasts and trying to learn, maybe reading more in those two years that I was out.
I got good at a lot of other stuff.
And you went in thinking I can change my mentality because I was curious about the meditation and what you got out of that.
You said you did 50 straight days to just like challenge.
That was a waking up app.
Sam Harris, he's like a neuroscientist.
He kind of explains how to meditate.
And, you know, obviously there's a bunch of different ways of meditation.
But I feel like I got a and again, Tim, I got to give credit to Tim.
He's kind of introduced me to meditation.
He broke his jaw in his last fight.
It was the same day Floyd fought Connor.
Same August fucking 2000 something.
And he broke out.
He was wired shut.
Oh my God.
And he was at home for like six to eight weeks.
I didn't see him.
And he was like, didn't know what the fuck to do.
And he kind of, that's where he got introduced into meditation.
And he's like, hey, you got to just try it.
It's like, you know, I really feel like there's, you know, benefit here.
And so he, so he introduced me to that.
Yeah.
And you just do the guided ones.
Like I do a lot of the guided meditations.
10 minutes.
Yeah.
10 minutes.
I did 10 minutes this morning in my fucking hotel, just sitting there just to start the day.
You know, prepare myself for a fucking solid day.
There's meditations where you're kind of like doing a mantra or kind of visualizing the day, how it's going to go.
And then there's meditation where you're silent.
You're kind of trying to quiet your mind.
But I do think there's benefit in no matter what you do.
I mean, 10 minutes is, it's weird because when you first start, it seems like a long time.
You start with three minutes.
And then you go up to like five minutes and then like 10 minutes.
Now 10 minutes seems doesn't seem so long.
It's like, that's just normal time.
But I do think that could change a lot of people's lives.
And it's something so easy, but so fucking hard to do.
What do you think you got out of it?
Like, how did it change?
It's a good question.
I would say what I got out of meditation is I feel like I'm a lot more aware of my thoughts and I'm able to not react to certain situations.
I can react to certain situations more the way I want to rather than how I'm just programmed to.
You know, we were all programmed from when we're kids to react certain ways and we just never really changed that to where when you kind of start meditating, start learning about your mind, learning about your thoughts, you can kind of start to change that.
Something happens.
You know, I started learning about stoicism too.
Rod Holiday, right?
Yeah, Rod Holliday.
Yeah, he's one of my favorite authors.
But yeah, I'd say probably just being able to kind of control my thoughts more, which is an important and powerful skill, especially in sports.
Yeah, how does that happen in the ring?
Can you give me an example?
I'd say more so before the fight is anxiety that you're feeling.
Yeah, so I fought Peter Jan last fight.
I fucking calm as an all-fight week.
And it wasn't necessarily like I knew I was going to go out there and win.
I didn't think like, oh, I'm destined to win.
I'm going to go out there and win.
I already got it in the bag.
It was more like just okay with whatever happens.
And I was, a lot of fighters deal with negative thoughts.
And I really didn't have any.
And if I did, I was able to kind of counter them and turn it around.
And I think that's kind of what meditation has done for me.
Yeah.
That's cool that it's not like natural necessarily.
Like you're still feeling all the natural anxieties, but you're just able to overcome it through intentional presence.
Yeah, exactly.
And preparation, just leading into fights in general, leading into fights, like the preparation.
I have it so dialed in, I'm doing everything I possibly can that when it is fight week, it's not like, fuck, I shouldn't have went out that night or I shouldn't have ate that or I should have, I fucking wish I would have sparred more.
I think a lot of fighters deal with regret the week of?
I'd say it's almost like some fighters are so stupid that they don't because they just don't, it's almost an advantage how dumb they are.
Like, who?
Let's talk about it.
No.
Henry.
No, Henry's a motherfucking competitor.
He's obviously at the highest level.
He's not at the highest level.
Yeah, that dude, I'm tinting.
I never think he's going to be coming underprepared.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I know exactly what you're saying.
I remember playing sports with kids growing up and they were kind of a little duller.
And as a result, I'd be like, dude, are you worried about the game?
And they're like, oh, yeah, we got a game.
You know what I mean?
Like, there's a disconnect from their anxiety.
There's the quarterback.
Peyton and Eli Manning?
Eli Manning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Peyton is like a fucking computer.
Data in there.
And Eli didn't, he would throw all these bad interceptions, whatever.
But at the end of the day, I'm a cowboy fan.
I grew up in Dallas.
I'd watch the end of a game and I'd fear Eli because he felt like he doesn't care.
None of this scares him.
Yeah.
Eli's brain is giants right now.
Yeah, because he's like, so get too seriously.
Cowboys fan.
But it is interesting.
Exactly what you're saying.
Like the ability to not care or not overvalue a moment will reduce that anxiety.
Big time.
Yeah.
But being able to get yourself into that meditative state, meditative state and then calm it down.
Yeah.
I was reading about you doing the journaling.
Yeah.
That's huge.
What is I have a suspicion, but what is it that you get out of the daily journal?
I'd say a couple things.
Just the so right now I do it.
I've been not getting on my phone for like an hour when I wake up.
And I'm thankful that I can do it.
Huberman swears by that.
Do you know Andrew Huberman?
I've definitely heard of Andrew Huberman.
Not specifically that, but for the hour thing.
It's just like, I think I've heard Ryan Holliday talk about it too.
It's been huge.
And I have, I'm lucky to have that kind of a life.
And I have a two and a half year old daughter, so it makes it a lot easier.
Like just funny as play time.
Yeah.
But journaling is just kind of like a form.
So I'll do my meditation, then I'll journal.
So it's like another form of meditation.
And it's not like I'm writing any fucking philosophy.
Like if you read my journal, you'd be like, fuck, this guy's retarded.
Like, today I'm going to.
Like, it's not really what I'm writing.
It's the fact that the act of sitting down, writing out the day.
Yeah.
You know, yeah, hey, today I'm going to, you know, I got training at this time.
I'm really big focus on this and it will set my intentions in certain training sessions.
Or if I journal at night, which I haven't been right now, but there was a phase.
I'm going to go through phases of life, you know, where I'm doing different healthy habits, you know, or yeah, reflecting on the day.
But yeah, I think just the act of doing it, it's a healthy habit.
And I just get out of it, that's what I get out of it.
But the hour off your phone has been huge, really.
Like, I do think that it's such a small, simple thing.
You wake up at 7:30.
I'm not going to touch my phone until 8:30.
It's fucking that easy in a Ken Chadi day because I've had days where I'd wake up kind of in a rush.
I'll be eating, drinking my coffee, surfing on YouTube.
I kind of have this fucking buzz.
This is like fall in my head where I'm like, I don't like this feeling.
And I do think it's correlated with, I also don't drink coffee for the first hour, which I think you should look up Huberman, man.
A lot of the things you're talking about, he pushes super hard.
He's been on Rogan a bunch of people.
Yeah, yeah, I've definitely, I definitely could, I know of him, but sometimes he says too much, like too much for me.
Oh, man, fuck.
Like a three-hour pod.
I like to get through that.
The brain thing, I remember I lost my phone like 10, 15 years ago.
And the first day without my phone, I was miserable.
Second day, I was like, oh, this isn't so bad.
And third day, I felt like my brain just kind of like released all this tension that had been there that I didn't ever think about.
And if the phone is there, I'm so addicted to it.
Oh, it's not.
You're so much better.
Put it away.
Yeah, put it away.
It's so funny people don't necessarily see the connection.
I'll talk to people and they're like, dude, I just have such good ideas in the shower.
I don't know what it could be.
I think it's the water.
There's not all this noise in your head for 20 minutes.
The journaling thing, I think, is a form of therapy.
Yeah.
I think part of therapy is just, at least for me specifically, is getting it out of my head.
Sometimes when I'm frustrated about something, if I just type it into a note, just purging it.
Being able to purge something allows me to handle it so much better because once I've gotten the ideas out and kind of like worked through the ideas, I've organized what is actually bothering me and then I can focus on that.
When I'm avoiding it, it's just kind of pecking at me.
It's burning.
Yeah.
So I love, I think, I think, yeah.
There's definitely a form of therapy.
I'll call Emron.
There's days where, you know, business stuff, stressed out, and I'll talk to Emron.
We'll have an hour conversation.
I'll hang up a phone.
Thinking Three Punches Ahead00:05:03
I'll be like, ah.
It just feels so good.
Yeah, another form of that.
How do you do that?
Like, I've even noticed in my career, as I've gotten more successful, there's been different things pulling me in different directions.
And I've had to be really intentional about carving out time for the craft.
Have you felt the pressure of the different businesses that want your time, people that want your time, the promotional opportunities that you have to do to build yourself take away from your training?
I've always, it's always been a main priority is training comes first, but there's definitely been times where I'm like, whoa, like I need to step back and not do too much.
Training comes first, but yeah, I mean, you get more business opportunities and you're like, oh, how much is that?
I could probably fit that in.
Then you fit that in.
You're like, fuck, did I miss practice because of that?
So there's times where I've done that, but I feel like overall, I've done a very good job of making it.
Main focus is training.
If there's an injury and there's a setback to where I'm like, oh, I'm out for a week or two.
I can't train.
Then I can do a little bit more YouTube stuff because building YouTube is fucking massive, especially right now.
So I feel like I do a good job of doing that, but I got to be conscious of it all the time because, yeah, that shit can take over for sure.
When you're, I remember, I remember watching a few of your fights, and I was trying to figure out like your competitive advantage in there.
And it's not length.
I wonder if it's timing.
But like, I don't know.
I'm just like, I'm like, it's not just the length.
It's like you're, it's like you're kind of trapping a lot.
Yeah.
It's kind of interesting to see.
Like, do you see yourself as a counter puncher or do you see yourself as I'm trying to do like a boxing comparison, like a like an Eric Morales?
Do you remember him might be before your time?
But he was like, he was an amazing fighter.
He had this like trilogy with Barrera that was incredible.
But what he would do is he would set a lot of traps in his forward attack.
So it's not like he was waiting for the guy, but everything was setting up something else.
So he's being offensive to get them to be offensive to be counter.
Yeah.
So like when you're going in there, what is, are you like, okay, let me just see what this person's going to give me?
That's what Tank does.
First round is like, let me see what the timing is, what we have to worry about.
Or are you going in there going, I'm setting him up every single thing I strike?
Yeah, that's, I mean, you don't want to give away too much, but also everyone's such a different opponent.
Like my game plan against Henry would be different than Al Joe.
It just depends on the opponent.
But for the most part, I'm going in there to put your lights out.
Sooner the better.
And if it doesn't go as planned in that sense, or I gotta put your lights out for the Peter Young fight, I'm ready to go.
I'm ready to fight the whole fight.
But I guess I kind of am a counter puncher, but I also like to be offensive.
That's the thing.
It feels like when you get into that flow state, I don't know.
There's a moment where I see, I've seen a few different fights where you start connecting and things just, it's like it looks as if you're thinking two or three punches or kicks ahead.
Yeah.
I know when I got a motherfucker hurt, like immediately.
Yeah.
Well, that Holly and Piva fight, I knew I landed a hard right hand that you couldn't tell necessarily on camera or in, it wasn't like, oh shit.
But I knew that it landed and I knew I was going to take over from that moment.
And but yeah, I'm just I feel like I'm good at just flowing in there.
It's not necessarily like, okay, I'm gonna be offensive this fight.
I'm gonna go out there.
I've got to be offensive, or I'm gonna really counter punch this fight.
I'm good at going in there and adjusting, like going in there and just getting in a fight.
I'm just it's like a physical chess match to where it's just like I may be throwing and trying to be offensive, but I'm like, well, it's not really working.
I don't know.
I'm not really thinking much in that of a flow.
Just kind of like, like I said, I was born.
I do feel like I was born to fight when I found fighting.
I was naturally good at it.
I was like, what the fuck?
This is like, I have really good eyes too.
Like vision, actually, like you can see.
They say that with baseball players that I forget who it was, could see the scene.
Ted Williams could see the seams of the ball.
Jesus.
And he could tell which pitch was thrown based on the seams.
So he could see curveball.
So when you're in there, are you seeing I don't believe that?
I don't believe it.
I mean, I don't.
That's a great thing to lie about.
Yeah, it is.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm doing a contract here.
I know.
That's what I'm saying.
I don't lie about it, too.
Yeah.
No, I can tell when people are going to throw right.
No jokes.
Yeah, I think I just think it comes down to I do have good eyes.
I have good reaction time.
And I think that's just from playing so much Call of Duty.
Yeah.
I joke about that a little bit, but I'm also like, how much, how true is that?
I've been playing games since I was probably four years old, like sitting in front of the screen at hand-eye coordination.
There's got to be something there.
Well, they do say that about athletes who are better at video games because of that.
Yeah, but then there's those fucking nerds that are just so good.
But that's from beating off.
Double good at both.
You said you don't think too much when you're in the ring, but you do hear your corner telling you things.
Lying About the Curveball00:05:38
So, like, how do you block it?
Yeah, are you listening to that?
Are you blocking it out?
Like, what do you do?
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think Tim and I have an interesting chemistry too because we have known each other for so long.
We did live together.
And I think that kind of helps me be able to put his voice in my head when it needs to be.
For the most part, in the fight itself, I'm not really like I can't, I don't remember too much of like hearing Tim or the corners.
But in between rounds is really kind of where I'm getting that information.
You get that one minute to get your heart rate as low as possible and recover as fast as you can while trying to listen to the advice.
It's funny.
And I go into the second round against Peter at the beginning of the round.
Tim said, he's too fast for you.
He meant to say you're too fast for him.
And it's fucking hilarious.
You can see it.
It got clicked up and shared everywhere.
He's talking shit.
He's going to yawn.
Yeah, yeah.
He's telling me, he's too fast for you in the beginning of the second round.
And I remember that.
And I kind of like remember, like, thinking, like, he fucked that up.
Yeah.
And then at the end of it, he's like, you're too fast for him.
He came back around.
But that was funny.
I do remember that pretty vividly.
But in the fight itself, usually, honestly, Tim talks shit the whole time.
To the opponent?
Yeah.
Like, they get pissed.
I love this guy.
Tim has had such a huge impact on your life.
He brings you to Phoenix to Train, the weed, meditation, taking down the fucking ugly chicks for you.
Are you an only child?
Because this guy is the big brother.
I had a big brother.
Well, I do still have a big brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister.
Okay.
Wow.
Yeah.
My older brother, he was fucking, he was in the shit, addicted to meth, like not doing good for a long time.
And everyone lived in Montana.
I finally got my mom down, my younger brother down, my sister down, my older brother down.
And I got them all down to Phoenix.
And they're all doing really, really good right now.
My dad's still in Montana.
I'm like, what are you fucking doing?
Is he still a detective?
No, he retired.
He still does.
He retired, but I feel like that generation, they don't like, what is retiring?
Like, oh my God, just chill all day.
Yeah.
They got to work.
So he gets another job.
He works.
He likes it.
He likes Montana.
I've really been trying to get him down to Phoenix, though.
But my mom and dad split.
So yeah, fuck marriage.
I'm always curious.
Does the crowd affect the performance at all?
Like, I've heard guys be like, oh, I black out.
But like, does the different venue matter?
Like his comics were always like, oh, this venue's cool.
This one sucks.
Because we obsess about it.
Yeah, like, does the arena matter?
I always say, if Dana White's sitting there, I'll fight anywhere.
I fought at the Apex when there was no crowd, like the early Apex, because now there's like a mini crowd.
Yeah.
I fought early Apex, no crowd, Eddie Wineland.
When I fucking first time I colored my hair, I had the rainbow hair.
Yeah, like really inspired by Takashi, 6ix9ine.
I was like, fucking, that looks dope.
I get it.
Everyone's super interesting.
This guy's a character.
He's got face tattoos, colorful hair.
So I drew some shit on, fucking colored the hair, and went out there and knocked out Eddie Winand.
Zero people there.
And it was so fucking weird.
I didn't have an issue performing.
I can perform anywhere.
As long as Dana and the important people are watching, I'll perform.
But that was weird.
I fucking slap him and I could hear him snoring.
You could hear him in the video.
Wow.
And like, you could hear him snoring on the ground.
It was, that was so fucking jealous.
That's so interesting.
You sound jealous that that was in the fucking like MSG or some shit.
That's one of the best knockouts.
And to have it just to finish and be like silence.
Yeah.
So I had two.
So I fought Eddie Wineland in there, crazy KO, silence.
It was weird.
And then I had fought in Cheeto.
Obviously, that went the way it did.
And then I fought Thomas Almeida, which was another crazy knockout where he was laying on his back.
You remember that one?
Oh, and you went in for the big one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ref should have stepped in right there.
So I had dropped him like three times.
Yeah.
And, you know, the commentary, why is he walking away?
And then I smoke and they're like, oh shit.
That was crazy.
That was also in the Apex.
No one there.
And I do feel like a little bit of me got robbed of the experience of the crowd because I haven't really had a crazy, crazy.
Well, Hollywood Pivot was pretty sweet, but it wasn't like one of those sleepy where you just motherfucker was snoring.
Yeah.
Walking away.
So I'm craving that.
And I do feel like, you know, that would just be a perfect Henry one.
Motherfucker snoring.
Have you had people like step to you when you go out to bars and shit?
You know, people get drunk.
No, yeah, I don't know if it's because I'm always kind of just my vibe.
You're low-key when you're out.
Well, yeah, you know, when I'm out, I'm fucking dressed up looking like a fool.
Oh, I thought, I mean, last night when you came out, yeah, I was trying to be low-key last night.
I was pretty tired too because I had left Phoenix at 6 a.m.
The time change is weird.
So I was, yeah, I was keeping it low-key last night.
But if I go out, I don't really go out very often.
Like, very rarely, I'll go out.
And if I do go out, I'm going out to the club having a good time.
And if I go out, like, I'm going out.
I'm going out because I've been at a club sober.
I'm like, what the fuck?
It's like the Apex with no one there.
Yeah.
Why are these guys look like idiots?
You have a couple beans.
I mean, drinks.
And then you can start having a good time.
And so when I'm at the club, I get, I gotta, I always have to have security with me to make just make sure I'm standing up.
Yeah.
I like to dance and get wiggly.
Yeah.
I can't dance for shit.
But when I start flowing, getting some flows.
Fast dancer there.
And in my mind, I've seen people like record videos of me dancing.
They send it to me.
I'm like, oh, who is that, bro?
That's 6ix9ine dancing.
I look like a fucking fool.
So I try not to do that too much.
How'd you get the nickname, Sugar?
Sober Nights at the Club00:12:59
Good question.
Sugar.
Johnny Aho, my first coach in Montana.
At first, it was Spider.
Hey, coach, no offense, but we got to fucking.
So you had to be on the team for six months before you got your, before you got your hoodie with your name on the back.
Okay.
He's like, Spider.
I came up with it.
I'm like, eh, nice.
Anderson Silva's spider.
I didn't really watch fighting at the time, so I didn't really correlate that, which I'm glad that wasn't it.
But then I guess Sugar's not any better considering everyone else has that nickname.
But Sugar's legacy, though.
But Sugar, he said, I'm like, why that?
He's like, because you're so sweet to watch.
I was like, okay, I can fuck with that.
So I had Sugar on the back, and it said, now you see me, now you don't.
And I got, that was like, that was, that was the first time.
And yeah, no, fucking Snoop always calls me Sugar Shane.
Every time I've heard Snoop talk about me and anything, Sugar Shane, I'm like, God damn it.
But yeah, I get Sugar Shane a lot.
Not as much as I it hasn't been as much recently.
But you know where he's getting that from.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sugar Shane Mosley.
Yeah.
Which is, you know, hey, you look alike.
But yeah, sugar.
So here, you're a very thoughtful guy.
You're obviously smart and whatever.
What is your ultimate goal?
How long do you want to keep fighting?
Because you're a guy who's probably thought about the risks.
Yeah, what about your brain, bro?
You've researched it.
Yeah, I really don't get hit that often.
I don't spar outside of camp.
You probably just don't remember getting hate.
No, I'm actually building.
I just bought, so I got this nice little plot of land where my house is.
And then I just bought an acre right behind it.
So I'm building like kind of the sugar factory.
It's going to be like the fantasy factory kind of.
Just like a little fucking foam pit, little dirt bikes and stuff.
Some sweet shit.
Well, I try to avoid anything like that where I could get seriously injured.
But I'm building this, but it's got, it's going to have like podcast offices in it.
It's going to have a full-size octagon, which is kind of hard to come by to train for.
There's two size octagons.
The small one that was in the Apex, it's fucking tiny.
I hate that one.
And then there's the full-size octagon, which is more like the pay-per-view, the big, big fights.
Why would they do the small one?
The small one's 40, like 44, I think, percent smaller than the big one.
So it's almost half the size.
Wow.
What's the reasoning for it?
Just more action?
I don't know if it's just like, I know if I think it might be for smaller venues because it is quite a bit smaller.
But I'm getting a full-size octagon in my factory.
So in me building this, I'm going to do like the hot tub.
I have a hot tub and cold punch at my house and the sauna and everything, but I'm going to put it.
Have you been to the PI at all?
Yeah.
It's like a commercial-size hot tub, cold plunge.
So I'm building this.
It's going to be very expensive.
But that for me is an investment.
And I'm saying, all right, for the next, I'm 28.
I'm saying 10 years.
38 is a long time to fight, depending on where you're at in your career.
But I would love to do like exhibition shit like Floyd's doing, making bags.
I feel like in 10 years, who knows what fighting is going to be like?
You fucking bare knuckle.
No, it chokes.
But yeah, so I'm going to build this factory for, it's like an investment in my health, which I've already got all that shit at my house.
It's kind of like an excuse, really.
But it's, yeah.
So I can't.
Do you have any side businesses?
Because like a wellness app or whatever, like you're such a wellness-oriented guy.
I feel like it's a big one.
You got to narrate a meditation.
Oh, that'd be fun.
Just like going like this the whole time.
I got a deviated septum and I want to get it fixed so bad, but I guess the more you get your nose fixed, the more it breaks.
The easier it breaks.
And it's just like, get it fixed.
You got to get out.
But that's fucking annoying because nasal breathing, we can get into that too is important that shit.
Are you doing the mouth taping?
I do mouth tape.
That is more religiously than anything.
Anything.
I bring mouth tape.
I would mouth taped last night, but I had to sit up with my pillows up a little bit so I could.
Sometimes my nose gets super stuffed up.
When you and your wife are fighting ever, do you just take her out?
I don't, we don't even fucking fight ever, but I would.
What is there to fight at the time?
That left hook puts her out.
Yeah.
But fighting, I could say.
Brain injuries.
Yeah.
I know there has to be some concern.
Definitely.
You have a kid.
Definitely a daughter.
You know, older fighters and you've seen how they are.
You're like, I don't want to end up like that.
At what point, what do you do to stop that from happening outside of just getting fucking rocked?
I don't spar outside of camp.
When I am in camp, I do believe it is important to sparring and have pretty hard rounds.
We're going at it pretty good.
Just minimizing the head damage in sparring or in the camp for eight to 10 weeks.
And then obviously I ain't trying to get hit in a fight.
It happens.
And everyone takes damage differently.
There's some guys, some boxers that take so much brain damage and they're still fucking talking fine.
And then there's some people that haven't been hit very much and they're fucking...
We had Tony Hawk on the podcast and we asked him about it and he's like, yeah, dude, they did a study on me.
Oh, shit.
And he goes, no, I just happen to be one of those people where CT doesn't really develop.
So there's different types of brains.
I would be very scared.
I would like to get that study done, but I almost wouldn't want to know.
They say, hey, you're fucking, you get hit three more times, you're retarded.
Yeah.
Or that's good motivation, bro.
You start movement is crazy.
Yeah, he's in the bus.
But I also, like, I've invested, I got four houses, and I think for like investment properties, and I think I've saved my money really well.
I've spent it in the right areas to where, you know, if there's ever a time where I'm like questioning it, like, fuck, can I take more head damage than I, I think, and I have good people around me, Emron, Tim.
Like, I have good people around me that I hope and I believe will say, hey, I think it's time to be done.
It's going to be hard for me to quit competing at that level, but I also enjoy podcasting.
I enjoy doing other things to where I can, I feel like there will be a little transition.
Yeah, the competition doesn't end.
It just changes.
Yeah.
Do you ever try to help other fighters in not in terms of like maybe training or preparation, but more outside of fighting and how they organize their lives?
I feel like I could help a lot.
I feel like I could get paid a lot of money to organize people's camps and stuff, but I'm just my focus is on me right now.
And fighting is such a selfish sport, especially in camp.
And like Danny knows too, like when we're in camp, it's we're focused on me.
I don't give a fuck if you're in your period, bitch.
Shut the fuck up.
No, not that good.
But she knows, like, there's nights where I'll sleep.
It's nice too because we'll have our own rooms, especially if Elena's like sick and she's getting, she's two and a half.
So if she's got a cough, she's coughing multiple times.
I'll sleep in my own room.
Danny will sleep in her room.
And she's really cool about that.
So there's times where, especially in camp, it's a very selfish, selfish sport.
And it has to be if you want to be at the top.
Yeah.
And the wife that understands the game is going to be supportive of that and kind of push you.
I remember seeing DC say that to Henry, I think it was recently.
He was talking about the wives that baby their husbands, those husbands don't end up doing as well.
And the wives that are pushing their husbands and making sure they can go as far as possible are the guys that make it up.
Because it's very easy for a woman in a relationship to be like, oh, you're doing a training.
You're not spending any time with me.
You're not doing anything.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, Danny's been fucking as perfect as you can get as far as being a partner.
And she, like, she's a, I think that's why we're just good, we're good teamwork, teamwork parenting, we got, we have a good, you know, teamwork.
When it comes to merch and like designing merch and stuff, like we're.
You know, the merch looks like actual clothing.
It's a clothing brand.
I don't even like calling it merch.
I just call it a clothing brand.
Yeah.
Clothing brand.
So like we both, we sit down, we come up with like certain design color schemes.
We also have like people that do the designs because we're not doing them fully.
But then as far as my hair, she does hair for a living.
She's like fucking black belt in hair.
She's been doing hair for a long time.
So she enjoys that.
Just fashion in general, like getting fire fits for specific events.
So we're just good partners, good teamwork.
It's dope to have GoGo.
Does she get worried for you on like fight day that you're going to get injured or something?
No, she doesn't.
She watches my sparring and she knows how serious I take it.
And she also knows, and I tell her, I'm like, hey, I get knocked out.
It's okay.
Our life's still pretty fucking sweet.
I go out there and lose the next fight.
Obviously, that's not the goal.
That's not what we want to happen.
But I don't, it's fine.
Like, life's still fucking good.
I'm going to come home.
We still got Elena.
We still got the family.
We still got the Jiu-Jitsu community.
Like, we're good.
To where I think it makes it easier for her to watch.
And she can, she'll get into her breath.
And she gets kind of, she doesn't like a bunch of people fucking yelling at the TV.
If she could choose, she'd watch it by herself, sit there, breathe, and just kind of like be calm.
Yeah.
But yeah, she's very, and she, she's been, oh, that's what I wanted to say too.
Like, I met Danny when I was, I think I might have won an OPRO or an amateur still.
Like, it was very early on in my career.
And she's funny.
She just believed me.
I'm like, hey, I want to be in the UFC.
How'd you just meet?
Shout out my boy Tim.
Yo, Tim Tim.
Tim is a GOAT, yeah.
So Tim worked at the UFC gym.
Just like the generic UFC gym.
He worked there.
He worked like two hours a night, 6:30, 7:30, 7:30, 8:30.
And one of the classes was like a kickboxing class.
Danny and her sister, two hot Mexicans, and Tim and I were like, We got to get their IGs.
So we went over, I asked for their IGs.
And I was like 19 at this time.
So I was, you know, I had a big gap in my teeth.
I was not cute by any means.
Danny did not like me.
She wasn't looking for a boyfriend.
She was like, I'm there to work out.
And then I fucking do hair.
But I kept bugging her.
And I was just trying to fuck.
And I was just trying to fuck.
And she wasn't putting out.
And she was late.
I invited to the Coffee Bean.
She was 10 minutes fucking.
Damn, you might have to the coffee bean.
She still didn't put out.
Yeah, crazy.
So that would, I thought it went well.
I'm like, I'm texting her, and she's like, I'm like, yeah, she doesn't like super into me at first.
And then she was late to the fucking Cafe Zupa, the sandwich shop.
I was like, god damn it.
So, but eventually, yeah, so it fucking annoyed her enough that we started talking that I fucked.
And I was like a month in.
I'm like, god damn it, now I kind of like her.
You read that Steve Harvey book, probably.
I did it.
Steve Harvey is the man, though.
But yeah, that's kind of how that worked.
But yeah, it was at the UFC gym where Tim worked.
I would go and hang out.
That was when we first moved down.
We were living together.
So I would always go to the gym and while he teached, and I would fuck around, hang out, help teach, whatever.
And yeah, that's where I met her.
Whoa.
Yeah, that's crazy.
Shout out Tim.
I know, right?
Yeah, truly.
Does she want to fight?
No, it's funny though.
Mexicans just all have that.
Like when she does the kickboxing clash, she has good technique.
She's fucking five foot tall.
And I think what was so attractive for me for her work ethic.
Like if we were doing sprints on the treadmill, like she would push it.
She would always work really fucking hard.
I thought that was super attractive.
But she could fight.
Well, probably not.
She's too little, but Mexicans just have that in them.
They just know how to box.
Hands up, kind of that same little movement.
But yeah.
So she was just doing the kickboxing workouts.
That's dope.
Listen, you know, before we get out of here, I'm trying to think.
Do we make any bold statements?
You've already said you're coming for the belt next.
You already said you want Tank Davis eventually.
That could be a really fun fight.
Yep.
You got to write it.
That could be a really fun boxing match.
And then don't say fight.
Why?
Because you think that you'd smoke them if it was.
Well, it was the same argument with Connor, Connor, Floyd.
It's like, hey, let's make sure we're clarifying.
There's rules.
So we're boxing.
There's too a fight.
And it's not even.
That's not entertainment.
That's fucking bullying.
We're boxing.
I mean, if you guys are in MMA and you're fighting against Tank, is it just kicking?
It doesn't add any element in there.
It's over fast.
Really?
Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, yeah, kicks.
You have no concern about getting caught.
No, not.
Dude, one of my most dangerous weapons are my legs, my kicks.
There's no way he could even hit me if we were kicking.
Like, well, he just doesn't know.
And that's not because he sucks.
Well, I guess it is because he sucks, but it's not, it's because he doesn't know.
Yeah.
You know, he's a fucking good boxer and it shows.
Him versus Ryan Garcia was very impressive.
That first round in the clinch, I was like, Garcia's big and he's bullying him.
And fucker sat down on that left hand and adjusted.
He wasn't landing those body shots early on.
He started, you know, creeping up a little bit, you know, stepping a little bit more forward.
He, he can box.
Yeah.
He could be the face of boxing.
That dude could, you know, go down as one of the greatest of all times for sure.
And you think you have a chance.
And I do truly, I mean, hey, I wouldn't be calling it out if I didn't think so.
I've had that, you know, self-belief in myself for a long time.
You know, a lot of people get very, very upset.
Boxers, especially when I call them out.
But that only makes you more money.
More money, more.
It's just it's a big fucking fight.
And imagine I sleep that dude with boxing gloves on.