Daniel Cormier Show - Khalil Rountree on loss to Alex Pereira, Jiri Prochazka, UFC journey, losing father

In Episode 2 of The Daniel Cormier Show, DC's newest show where he talks to UFC and MMA fighters and athletes in the sports world, light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree joins the show! DC talks to Khalil about his upbringing in Las Vegas, and what impact losing his father to murder had on his life. Rountree dives deep into the moment he decided to become an MMA fighter, and why shortly before then he contemplated his will to live. Khalil also details his fourth-round TKO loss to Alex Pereira and what exactly he was thinking the moment he let that victory and a title opportunity slip away. Plus, Cormier and Rountree dive into his time on The Ultimate Fighter, his weight loss journey, love for music as a child, and so much more! #Volume

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Episode Transcript

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All right, guys, I'm in Las Vegas for a new
episode of The Daniel Cormier Show, brought to you by
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not slow you down. And no guy that never slows down,
a guy that can do just about anything. And when
you talk about inspiring, I get to sit down with

(01:53):
an inspiring guy today and Khalil Rowndtree Jr. This is
a man whose journey began with tragedy. Honestly, his dad
when he was a kid, struggled with depression, weight, his identity.
But nineteen years old, Khalil Rountree walked into a gym
at three hundred pounds and he made a choice that

(02:13):
ultimately it changed his life and he never looked back.
Khalil has now dropped over one hundred pounds. He's fought
his way through the Ultimate Fighter to a UFC championship,
and he's become one of the most feared guys in
the entire sport. But what makes Khalil special is that
beyond the violence is his honesty and his message that

(02:38):
men can be dangerous and kind. And I'm very honored
to be sitting and joined today by the one and
only Khalil Raalntree Jr. Thank you for joining my friend.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Wow, the man was so excited to be here. Now,
that was cool. Thank you. It's nice to It's nice
to hear that back, especially on the path and the
journey that I am trying to create for myself. So
to hear someone like you give an introduction like that,
it's it's nice and it's it's.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Just your work that you've done have put you in
a position where guys like me want to, uh sit
down with you, talk to you, kind of get to
know you a little better man, because the things that
you have done in your life and the things that
you have been through have truly been amazing. And we
will get there. But you grew up in Las Vegas. Yes,

(03:36):
growing up in Vegas. I mean we all come here
to fight, right, We come here to fight, people come
here to party, right. What was childhood in Vegas? Like?

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Ah? It was very It was very interesting. So, like
you said, people usually come here fight, party or some
type of entertainment. So I moved here in ninety five.
So I was born in La My mom moved us
here to Las Vegas to take care of my great grandmother.

(04:08):
At the time, my mom was doing hospice. She was,
you know, in home nurse and stuff. So we came
here to take care of my great grandma ninety five
and then up until her passing. You know, we just
we were in school, so we just ended up staying here.
In those days, I mean, we had the Strip and
that was it. Yeah, you know the Strip and the

(04:28):
people who ran the city or who worked you know,
the locals here. It's either you worked at like a bar,
you know, your mom was a cocktail waitress, or worked
at like the hospital or some type of service job
to just kind of serve the strip. Yeah, and everything
on the outside was just really desert plots of land

(04:49):
that people were looking to like purchase and then build
housing development or a plaza or something like that. So
there's just a lot of desert land before you know,
before how it is today. So we had the Strip
and we had desert. So as a kid, We kind
of just we grew up in the heat, summer heat,

(05:10):
just a very dry place. Only visitors, you know, would
come here to just celebrate. So it was just an
interesting place to grow up.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Man.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Like the influence wasn't really the best, you know, like
Sin City, you know, like all this stuff what happens
in Vegas stays in Vegas and people leave, so like
we never really got to it was hard to like
form connections with people because there was in and out
or family members would just come to be like in
and out. We didn't have sports, you know, like we

(05:41):
don't walk because it's just too hot. So there was
it was. It was interesting, man, it was so I
I grew up just kind of trying to find my
way through the desert. Really.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
You know, what's what's interesting about your life and your
journey is that music was the influence in your childhood.
Not sports. We don't get that much in terms of athletes, right,
especially ones that compete at the level that you compete at.
You and I were speaking before it went on air,
and you said I never played football, and that to

(06:12):
me is crazy because it's all I've done is play sports.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, so when you.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Make the transition you become a professional athlete, it's almost natural.
But you didn't have that. You said you had a
fear of playing football.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah. Both my brothers, my older brothers, growing up, they
played sports every sport, baseball, basketball, football, and I would
go to the games and support them, and people would
always ask me like, when are you going to get
out there and go play? Because I always had size.
I was always a big guy. Yeah, so people would
always ask me like, when are you going to get

(06:48):
in there? And I would just be like, no, I'm
not interested. And it's because I never had that kind
of courage instilled in me. I was a bit afraid
because I knew that I was big, but like I've
never really been used to for like my having to
compete or you know, having to interact with other people

(07:08):
because I was really introverted, So a lot of sports
and stuff kind of made me shy, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, but Khalil in that right in that learning to
interact with people and compete at that young age. It
allows for athletes to have that quality, to have that quality,
especially as they evolve into who they become as men
in athletes, has that been difficult for you to develop, right,
Because if that's something that you didn't have almost forced

(07:38):
into you as a youth, how do you develop that
as an adult? Because since I was six years old,
I've played some sort of sport, So competition to me
because natural it came second nature.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
That experience of competition.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
And somebody in front of me that I have to beat.
How do you develop that as a man.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
It's been a it's been a very interesting journey. I
think the number one thing that has helped me develop
in that area is the people around me, Like my environment.
I started to listen to you know, guys that had
experience in sports are older than me, and it was

(08:21):
like influence, but at an older age. So now it's
like twenty years old getting in my first one on
one fist fighting an amateur, you know what I mean.
I'm like, I don't know confrontation, but these guys are
telling me kind of what to do. So okay, I
guess this is it, you know what I mean. And
then it just it came from that, really it came

(08:43):
from someone else acknowledging it in me and then just
kind of be like all right, like you gotta really
bite down and find this fire to compete. I know
it's in there.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
The music industry, though, playing a massive part was that
from your father.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, my father. He was a road manager for Boys
to Men and New Addition back in the late eighties
early nineties, and he passed away on tour. He was
murdered on tour with Boys to Men and growing up,
I had all of these plaques that were left for
him from Boise to Men, New Addition, everybody who worked

(09:19):
with anytime their album got you know, gold, silver, platinum,
they would always gift my dad with that. So my
dad's name was always at the bottom. And it's like
two hundred million records sold, you know, boyse Men to
Khalil Rowntree and so from a kid, the only memories,
the only tangible things that I had from my father

(09:40):
were what he was awarded. So I always was inspired
by music because I felt like that was my connection
to my father. So I always just connected through like
almost like spiritually through music. That kind of helped me
fill that void of I guess emptiness that I didn't
even really know I had. It was just I was
kind of born with it or it was taken from me.

(10:03):
So then there was a hole that was left and
I filled it with music because of what my dad
left behind.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
So it meant to you just a connection to your
dad because I watched that. Right, you did something called
UFC Connections, and you said you were constantly buying instruments.
I mean, could you play you did your mom have
the ability to show you how to use those instruments
or were you trying to teach yourself because that spoke
to you, right, music spoke to you.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, I taught myself really. So my first instrument was
a drum set. I asked my mom if she could
buy me a drum set for Christmas. That's all I wanted,
nothing else, and she was able to do that one
Christmas and I would listen. I would just put on,
you know, my headphones and put on one of my
favorite songs and I would just try to follow the beat,

(10:51):
you know, with the sticks until it became almost seamless
and it fit right in with this with the song,
and I started to figure out like, okay, cool, now
I can take off my headphones and now I can
play drums or I can play this song specifically, and
the drums got too loud. My mom was just kind
of sick of me.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Beat you know what, I will become annoying.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
It becomes annoying, especially in the.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Beginning when you're not very good at it.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, but I was dedicated, you know, and she she
supported me, and I picked that up. But I realized, like, okay,
this is too loud, and so my next instrument, I believe,
was a bass guitar. And then so like I started
playing the bass guitar and then I would listen to
my headphones you know here, okay, this is the bass line,
and then I would just practice over and over again

(11:37):
until it sounded right. And I never had anybody teach
me like this is a chord, this is you know,
chord progression, this is the e string a string Like
no one taught me that. I just picked it up
and tuned to what I heard. And then that's how
I learned how to play instruments. And that's how I

(11:57):
that was like my escape or like my out let
to start collecting, like okay, cool, now I want a keyboard,
and i'd like learned the song and listen to it
and just okay, that's the note. That's note until I
could play it.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
So you had like a musical ear right, like, but
but like, do you really believe, like do we believe
that it's almost passed down?

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Toy?

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Like, can we do you think we're stuff like that
has passed down Like a kid's father who's a great athlete,
it's gonna be relatively good athletically in most cases. Do
you think that that was passed down to you a
little bit? Because I can't listen to music and then
play music doesn't work that way for me.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, it could be. I mean, it could be that's
passed down. I don't know, And I'd never heard any
stories of my dad actually playing any instruments. But some
of the great stories I did here is that he
was essentially a renaissance man, Like he could cut hair,
he could fix anything, you know, he could do. He
was a jack of all trades from everybody. I heard

(12:58):
stories from that new That's what they said. But I
never heard anything musically, So I always just say, like,
because of what he left behind and the memories he
left behind, then that just it comes from him, you know,
whether he had the ability or not, just like his existence,
that it just it passed music down to me.

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we were talking, I told you has some things in common.
Your dad was murdered at a very young age. My
dad was murdered when I was seven years old, right,
so I was a little older. But your dad passed

(15:05):
when you were two years old. But you didn't find
out why until you were a teenager. Right, You thought
he was sick and then you learned that he was
murdered as a teeny one? Why so long before you
found out? And two, how'd you process that? How'd you
process that as a teenager finding out that it was
violent crime that got your dad? Because Khalil as a

(15:29):
black man, Right, we learned early that there's a lot
of violence in our community. Right, And my father passed
to violence years did Also, how did you handle that?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
When I got to be around I think it was
around like eleven, I think eleven was the age that
my mom told me the truth. But up until eleven,
I mean, as we get older, we just get smarter, right,
or we just get a little bit more like tuned
to things. And I just remember as I got older,
before I turned eleven, the thing that he like died

(16:07):
from diabetes and stuff like it really just I didn't
I didn't believe it anymore.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Really yeah, like it makes sense to you.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
It just not that it didn't make sense. It was
just more just like how like when I was around
or if I asked questions about my dad, people's responses
about how he died, it just didn't seem genuine, you know,
like when you're a kid, you can kind of sense
you know, bullshit when yeah, like kids can kind of
you know. So I just knew that, but I never

(16:34):
knew exactly what it was. But I always knew like
maybe it was something else they just don't want to
tell me. So around the time when my mom did
tell me actually what happened, I remember a sense of
relief of like knowing like, Okay, I know I'm not crazy.
I knew it was something else. But then like when
it when she told me that he was murdered. That

(16:57):
to me, that's where like life really started to like
hit for me. That's where like anger and pain and
resentment and you know what I mean, like a hard
look at life hit me at eleven. Yeah, because of that,
because now I'm like, I know, murder's real, I see

(17:19):
it on TV whatever, but it's like to be directly
affected by it. Now it's like, Okay, I don't have
my dad because he was murdered. And then now I
just think about like the world is a dark place
or like you know, my mind starts to make up
whatever it is about murder and why it happened and yeah,
and so then that's kind of where, like I guess

(17:41):
I started to have a more pessimistic outlook on life.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
How old are your two brothers?

Speaker 1 (17:49):
My middle brother, Donovan is five years older than me,
and then David is I believe around five years older
than him, so there's like a ten year gap in total.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
They were old enough to understand. Yeah, did you ever
find out what happened?

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah? I know the whole story and all the details.
You know what it took. I knew the basis of
what happened. He was on tour, you know, he he
was a well put together guy, and some guys went
to his hotel to rob him. Essentially is the story

(18:25):
that I heard rob him which turned into a fight,
which turned into a gunfight in an elevator. So, like,
I knew the baseline story, and then as I got older,
I started to look more into like the actual you know, uh,
what's like the court document, the report? Yeah, like I've yeah,

(18:46):
I've seen it all.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, you seek that out for some sort of closure
or like why did you seek that out?

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah? I mean it's like I'm a curious guy. You know,
I'm a Currick's guy. I like to explore. It's it's
good to read. I like, you know what I mean.
I like to read as much as, you know, as
I give myself time to. So yeah, I figured like,
instead of avoiding it, why not read what's like fact

(19:13):
written by law written?

Speaker 3 (19:14):
You know, because everything we get is a story. Yeah, exactly,
Now you know the story? Because was that hard to
deal with?

Speaker 1 (19:24):
No? I actually feel like the more and more I
look into things or like or just kind of put
myself in that night, I think the more I'm at peace.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
You know, people couldn't do that.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah, it brings me more peace than anything. It brings
me more peace and more pride.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, you said that many of the stories you get
from your dad is from people that knew him. They
spoke of his kindness, they spoke of how he was
a renaissance man and all that has that has that
served a sh you in terms of who you are today.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah. Absolutely, everything from like the way I speak to
the people I surround myself with, or the books I
want to read, or you know, the plans that I
have for my life and all that stuff is like
a direct you know, I'm directly impacted by just the

(20:24):
stories that I heard of my dad.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah, so let me ask you this all right, because
this is one thing that I didn't struggle with necessarily,
but it always came up when people would speak to
me about my father. Right when my father got killed,
he was killed by the dad of his new wife
right on Thanksgiving, and it was very sad for my

(20:48):
mother because obviously it was the father of her children.
But so many people spoke of him in such positive light.
And I'm like, well, if everything was so positive, like,
when will somebody speak to me truthfully? Because nobody's perfect, right,

(21:09):
You and I both make mistakes, and I'm pretty sure
I know my father wasn't perfect. My father was a womanizer.
That was his his Has anyone ever had a real
conversation like, has anybody ever said, did you ever go,
because you're an intuitive guy, you ever go, well, tell
me something that wasn't so bright and shiny about my father?
You have my mother and your mom was able to

(21:31):
tell you those things. Yeah, And did you appreciate that?

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah? Yeah, right, I actually did. Yeah. It it gave me.
It gave me a perspective man on love, Yeah, you
know what I mean, on relationship, on reality of seeing
like it. Kind of for the longest time, I you know,
idolized my father and then my mom you know, kind

(21:58):
of tells me some stuff and I'm like, okay, like
everybody's human.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
He was a man like like honestly, because we are
taught as boys to put these men on the pedestal
at times and then you learn, well, but it doesn't
change the love, right my mother, who to me was
the sweetest human being in the world. I loved my
mom to death before she passed. But my dad used
to sometimes pop into the house even though he was

(22:24):
married to the other woman. You know my mom did once.
Can I tell you my mom did? CALU takes some
crazy shit, Okay, was crazier than that. We were driving
at a four way stop in my hometown.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Okay, four way stop.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yep, envision it closed your eyes. LA had Louisiana, small town.
She's driving the Plymouth. My mom's driving the Plymouth because
we all had plymouths. My mom sees the car of
my father being driven by the other woman hand right hand.
My mom's coming straight. The ladies coming from the other side.
Mom hits her with the car.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Oh, she runs the cars.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
You have the car. My mom was a saint to me.
But I can't forget that she did that because you
know what she told the police. That's my car. I'm
driving my car. Why can't I wreck both of my cars?
It doesn't change the love I have for my mom. Right. Obviously,
I was with my mom until I was forty three

(23:21):
years old, so it's different forty two years old with
my dad. I was going at seven. I wanted to
know the truth, right, But it didn't change the love
that I had for Yeah, of course, right. So you
can look at all that and get those true stories,
can you appreciate the true story. Yeah, because only not
the good. Not only not only can you be shaped
by good, you can also kind of try to avoid

(23:43):
some of the things that might have been bad.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a part of, like
you said, being a man, being a human. I mean,
other people make mistakes and then try to pass it
down to that we don't make the same. Yeah, you
gotta do something. You got to mess up to be
able to pass something down, do you know what I mean? Yeah,
for sure, Like we can't all be perfect, and yeah,
I think it's it's always good to have, you know,

(24:07):
a true perspective. Man, that's so crazy.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
That's crazy. She was crazy a little bit. But again,
you never know, right, but that will never change the
way I viewed my mother because she protected me and
she loved me. And that's one thing that in our community,
we get our mom. John Jones's mom passed and you
know him and I's history, and I felt compelled to
tell him I was sorry. I felt for him because
I still had my mom and we know how important

(24:32):
they are to us. Your mom raised you and your brothers.
She believed in you. I mean, she believed in you
more than anyone, and at fourteen she even lets you
go off on your own a little bit. Yea, when
you decided to play drums, she supported you. How was
that having that, like just on dying support by someone

(24:55):
that could see greatness in you even when that time
is clue. Frankly, I not have seen it in yourself.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
It's unreal. Man. I'm I'm eternally grateful for my mom.
I still have a very close relationship with my mom.
She holds a very very deep, you know, the deepest
part of my heart because of everything that she went
through as a single mom to raise four kids, you
know what I mean, not marry on purpose, because she

(25:25):
just would never put anything before her kids, you know.
It's like very selfless. Yeah. And I just remember, yeah,
when I was young, anything that I wanted to do, yeah,
my mom always supported me. And that was where I
was kind of speaking about like the sports earlier. Like
I didn't have the courage, I didn't have that courageous

(25:47):
push from someone in my household. But I always had
love and comfort, Yeah, comfort and love whatever I if
I was afraid, not not like oh I'm afraid, mom,
you know, but it's just like I just new even
if my mouth was shut. Whatever, I walk in the door,
and my mom kind of already knew she had you,
she had me, you get what I mean. So if

(26:09):
I said, hey, Mom, I want to be in a band,
and these guys are going to California. This would be
my first time traveling, playing on a stage, and she's
just like, okay, Like, if that's what you want to do,
I support you, and but just go and do your
best and make sure, you know, make sure you do
your very best on stage when you're performing. And here's
the phone, like make sure that we stay in contact.

(26:31):
But I want to hear all about it when you
get back home, you know, like, and so I'm like okay.
And then after high school, like I told my mom
because she told me, I just want you to graduate
high school. Whatever you do with your life after that,
you'll be eighteen. You're a man. You gotta go. But
my only dream is please finish high school. Like that's

(26:51):
my only, like my living dream, just finish high school.
So I finished high school and I didn't play music
at the time, but my friends who I grew up
with playing music, they made it. They were signed by
a label. Label was paying for them to go on
tour all this, and they invited me to come out
and still be on the road with them and selling
their merch. This was fresh out of high school. So

(27:12):
I told my mom, like, hey, I got a new job.
Going to be gone two and a half months out
of the year at a time, traveling all around the
country via bus. This is what she's like, Okay, Like
that's amazing. You get to travel the world. You get
to go to states I've never been to. Like, she's like,
that's so cool, send me photos take you know. And

(27:34):
that's just been that's just been my mom from the start.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yeah, sounds like she's just like your biggest supporter.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, biggest supporter. The only thing that like, she supports
my fighting, but she can't watch it.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
I was gonna ask you that, like, how is it
now right when you tell mom at twenty one, Hey,
I'm going to be a mixed martial artist. That's what
I want to do. Hey, I've supported you in vands.
That gets scary. My mom would go to the fight
because I wouldn't do it without her, But I don't
know that she ever watched a fight because her head
down the whole time. She was so scared. How's that
now though, But not only the fact that she won't watch,

(28:05):
but the fact that you can give her now here, Mom,
this is me, little Khalil, the one that you believed
in every step of the way I can take care of.
You know, Like how is that for you? As a man?

Speaker 1 (28:18):
I mean it it feels good, and I definitely it's
still a big part of my my motivation because like
I want to do more, you know what I mean,
Like yeh, from the outside, you know, from the outside
looking in and based off where I come from and
even just people in my family, Like I'm doing well.
I'm blessed, you know, I'm grateful. But like when I

(28:39):
think about moms, I'm like, okay, like I can do more,
that's all. Every time I see my mom, it's like
I got it. I can do more and I will
and I gotta and like I got you, I got you,
you know what I mean. Like that, however it is,
you know, maybe it's not a you know, ten million
dollar house like I imagine, but it's going to it
will be something, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
It isn't that amazing, Like you said, Amen, I would
walk in and she got me but now at this age,
Mama got you right. One of my greatest accomplishments was
by my my house when I when I grew up,
my mom cleaned houses for a living, and I wanted
to make sure that by the time she passed, she
had her own house cleaners. And that meant something to her.
All the belts, all the other stuff didn't. It didn't

(29:22):
matter as much as me giving to my mother what
she gave to me. You know, remember the nutty professor,
a little fat boy that Hercule leaves her. My mama
used to have me feeling like that, her little fat boy.
It didn't matter what I felt. I'm picking up my muscles.
He's so strong, baby, and it just gave me this
belief that I could do anything. That the craziest, It

(29:45):
is the craziest thing of all time. And Khalil, like
you dressed, the way you dress has always been like
this boy got some stop. You were in GQ. GQ, Khalil, Yeah,
say it again, you were in GQ, Like what did
that mean to you to not only have the foresight
to always keep yourself up, make yourself look nice, but

(30:10):
life outside of fighting. This is not just mixed martial arts.
You have built something to where that magazine and that
platform is like we want Khalil Ramtree Junior, and that's
the matter to you.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
It's so cool DC because I just I get to
enjoy like all of these cool things and have all
these cool experiences. And at the end of the day
of DC, like I'm just being myself. Man. Yeah, like
I fight in the cage. I've always from since the

(30:46):
first time I lost weight. Part of my motivation to
lose weight was I want to be able to shop
in the mall. I want to be able to wear
the outfit that's on the mannequin.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
And when I was so big, I couldn't you know
what I mean, Like the biggest size was XL. Here
I am four X. So what am I wearing? You know,
just like a blank T shirt and you know what
I mean, some shorts from Costco, Like I don't know.
But now, like since I've lost weight, it's like now
I like, I like clothes, I want to wear. I
want to dress like whatever I see on the mannequin
or whatever, you know. And I'm still just being myself

(31:18):
And like I'm I'm just living life and I'm blessed
to be able to do what I do, and it's
through fighting, through channeling that, you know, having the support,
but stepping into that courage of like I'm all this
and I can fight and you know what I mean,
and I'm the baddest man on the planet. Like, no,

(31:41):
it's just it's so cool, man, But yeah, it's so cool.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Yeah. You spoke about men having the softer side. You said,
I am equally violent and dangerous as I am sensitive
in kind. I mean, I honestly, it's like for a
guy like me, right, or a guy that doesn't do
what you do, they can't even really understand or comprehend that.

(32:04):
But why is balance so important for you? Not only
the violence because the style is very violent right inside
the octon, it's very violent, but you also want to
make sure people understand that there's a different side to
Khalil Rawntree. And I think that's why platforms like GQ
are like, that's what interests me because there are I mean,

(32:24):
I are seven hundred fighters on this roster. Yeah, every
one of them violent. But I don't think everyone has
that other side like you do.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
M Yeah, it's it's it's definitely interesting. I think that
a part of a part of just my story, like
not having my dad and only kind of having my mom.
I think that helped me. If my dad was around,
maybe I would have definitely been on one sider, yeah
what I mean more, or I would have seen this

(32:54):
guy six five three twenty you know, just built, and
I'm like, who knows my brain would have like I
want to be like you know what I mean, and
like my mom five foot nothing, so like here I
am sprouting up being loved by my mom. The only
real love, true love that I knew was from my mom.

(33:14):
So I think it's not very common. I know that
there are other men like that in the world, and
I'm I'm grateful for everything that's happened, and you know
what I mean, although like it took a long time
to get to where I'm at today, I can sit
here and say like I'm grateful that for that journey,
for the journey, and for everything that I've lost and

(33:35):
everything so that I can be the guy who I
am today and have the good, you know, experience of
both like the extremes of both.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Yeah, for sure, and a journey's never taken a loan.
Your wife, Mia has played a massive part in your
journey the dragon? I mean, how important has she been
in this whole thing? And how much has her presence
and how much has her presence meant to you to
become the person that you are today because you don't

(34:06):
hide her. I was at the Contenden series and you
were there with your wife, like you guys are you know,
at the golf simulator You're there with your wife? Like
how important has her presence been to Kolou?

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Oh? Man, it's uh, it's everything, you know, like she is, Uh,
she's the dragon. Man, She's like you know what I mean,
It's like if you see me, you know, flying in,
riding in, like I'm with the dragon. That's how I
look at it, you know, like and like I love
her and we're best friends. You know, we're like we're

(34:42):
right or die. We like, we're honest with each other.
Where is equally sweet with each other? You know what
I mean. It's like it's just man, like, I'm so
grateful for me. She's smarter than anybody I've ever met
in my life. Yeah, we've got a great like communication
level of respect. Uh. It's just I'm I'm lucky. So

(35:03):
it's like, yeah, if I'm going to Contender series and
I'm bringing my wife. We're going golf and bring my
wife because we like we're a unit. Man, Like we've
that's just kind of the life that we've chosen to
build together is like, let's just do it together versus
like you and me and oh, it's just let's ride
together and and and make some dreams come true.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
You know, that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
It's fire. It's fire. Definitely the healthiest relationship I've ever
been in.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
With the healthy relationship comes the question kids absolutely something
you're going to focus on absolutely, or do you want
to family.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Give me the belt, give me my kids? No, I
really I want twin girls.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Girls?

Speaker 1 (35:44):
You want girls? That's my dream? Yeah, like my dream.
Obviously it's like yes, twin girls and and I'm set
for life the belt and then twin girls and like
I need nothing else out of out of this life.
But yeah, we're playing it where we're we're hoping. So
the both of us have an understanding right now that

(36:04):
I'm so close to getting to the belt again, and
there's some you know, one to two big obstacles in
front of that, and we've we've both decided that right
now is this time is dedicated to me, and you know,
the next the rest of this year for sure, and

(36:24):
I'd like to say by this time next year, there's
either one bruin or one coming out, you know what
I mean? One or two? Two? Like I said, you know,
twin girls would be my absolute dream.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Well, you gotta have twins in your family. Do you
have twins in your family?

Speaker 1 (36:40):
My mom's a twin, and then my mom's twin, her
daughter has twins. Like there's it's in the blood. It's
in the blood.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
So it might actually be a possibility.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's possible.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
So you and I met long time ago, yep Vandally
Silver's gym. Yeah, I didn't recall that as as much
as you did, but that was after you had made
a change in your life. You had decided that I'm
done being heavy, I'm done smoking and just kind of
wasting my life away like so many teens do. So

(37:12):
many teens make bad choices early that ultimately affect them.
Do you remember when you decided that enough was enough? Depression, overweight,
doing the wrong thing, no true direction. Do you remember
a time where you go enough is enough. I want

(37:32):
to change, I'm gonna do something different.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
I was on tour with the bands that I was
working with, and that time was like the darkest time
in my life. I remember sitting in the van, in
the front seat of the car, just contemplating what the
last week to two weeks looked like in my brain,
you know, like what was I experiencing, what was I

(37:57):
going through, what was I doing, the environments that I
was in. So I'm sitting in the front seat of
the van, got like the shade down. The guys have
to play that night, and I remember just like sitting
there and I'm thinking about just all this stuff, the
past bars, you know, just conversations. I was like taking

(38:18):
pills that I didn't even I didn't even know what
they were, you know what I mean, Like they were
some they were just pills, like prescription pills, and it
was just in your lost Yeah, it was just you
know what I mean. I was like on the road,
I'm I'm around a bunch of people who I like,
I really at the core of who I am, I
really don't fit in here, but all of the layers

(38:40):
of stuff that I built over myself makes me feel
like this is where I belong. You get what I mean? Yeah, Yeah,
for sure, my hatred for self for people, like you know,
I'm just like just covered in filth, you know, Like
that's how I could describe myself at the time, just
covered and filth. But I'm sitting in the front of

(39:00):
this van, and I remember I was just like, man,
I've never done this before, but like, if there's a God,
turn my life around, because like this is terrible stuff,
you know what i mean. And I'm like, I don't
even want to live anymore. Like yeah, I just like
I'm literally sitting front, like in the front seat of

(39:22):
this van, just thinking like I don't even want to
be alive. And I was just like, if there's anything
out there, now's your chance. Otherwise, like.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
I'm done for You said you felt your heart almost stopped.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Felt my heart almost stopped. That's around the same time.
It's like that was like also in the It's all
around the same time, you know what I mean. Like
I'm feeling my heart's like slowly dow through these bad things.
I'm like contemplating everything that I've done bad.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Right, trying to figure out why.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, but also like not even really caring you like
does that make sense, Like like kind of trying to
kill myself in a way, you know what I mean,
because like obviously I know it's bad for me, but
that's all I was going after. I had nothing else
to go after, so I was like, Okay, if this
is my fate, this is my fate. Until yeah, I

(40:15):
was like kind of like heart scared, and I was
just like, okay, I mean, this has to be a turnaround,
Like this has to be a turnaround. I've got to
do something different. I guess I don't really want to die.
I yeah, like I'm too I'm too young. My mom

(40:36):
would be so sad, you know. I just start thinking
about all that stuff other people and then trying to
find a way. And eventually that way was my brother
Donnie watching UFC and kind of showing me, hey, this
is what I'm interested in and maybe one day I
can do this or we can do this. And started
from there.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
And eleven months later you're down one hundred pounds. How
was it in the beginning on that journey to not
get discouraged and honestly give up Because when you're heavy, right,
you're not starting from any type of cardio base, no,
not at all. You're literally every single thing you do
is the hardest thing you've ever done.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
And it hurts, and it hurts.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
How hard was it to not give up in those moments? Because,
like I said, eleven months later, you're down one hundred pounds.
Was it seeing the results that propelled you forward? Or
can you remember that?

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Yeah? I remember? Okay, So the day I joined the
gym and I took my first moay Thai class, I
that's the day I stopped smoking cigarettes because I just
felt like couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe at all. You know,
two kicks on the pad, three kicks on the pad,
and the coach is telling us we got to do
twenty each leg. I was just like, well, if like,

(41:54):
I like this, I like being able to kick the
shit out of something, but I can't breathe, I can't
do it. Then that day I was just like, Okay,
that's got to be out of the question because like
I like this, But like.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
Were you smoking? Cigarettes? Are just weed?

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Two packs of cigarettes? So cigarettes forty cigarettes?

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Here's the problem. You knew what cigarettes do, teth Yeah,
that cigarettes kill you.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
I didn't care, That's the thing. I didn't care, Like,
I just didn't care. I could see this stuff it
says on the package, this and that, and like I
see people like you know talking yeah, yeah, the hole
in the neck, and like I've seen, I saw the effects,
like there is no positive from it, but I didn't care.
Get like, I'm just like who cares. I have nothing

(42:39):
to look forward to life anyway, I'm gonna die in
this one bedroom apartment with five of my family members anyway,
you know, like I just had this is pessimistic outlook
until I started training.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
MMA safe saved you.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yeah, Vanderlis place like that was like kind of like
our safe haven. My brother and I both we both
we saw Pride I think on YouTube or something, and
we saw Vanderlay Silva, the axe murderer. We loved his style.
We started looking up more stuff and then we found out, wow,
and Andala Silva just opened up a gym in Las Vegas.

(43:15):
If we're going to do this, let's go there. And
then we started going right on the freeway and we
started going there. Man, And that's everything that like the
people that we met there and just like the training
and just the lifestyle itself is what changed us.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
How far into your journey did you you and I meet?

Speaker 1 (43:35):
I would say, like within that first eleven months, you
were still an amateur. I didn't even have my first
fight yet.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
Oh okay.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
It was like literally DC like i'd probably been in
it for three months, four months.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Really, yeah, that's awesome. And then you come across just
Vandally and guys that are just passing through, and then
we trained, and you see what I becoming. You're like,
now I can do this.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Yeah, you slam me all over the ground well and
wrestled maybe borderline teer up. And then I had to
find out that I just went with you know this Olympic.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, well yeah, you wrestled before. But then you watch
those guys passing like, all right, man, I'm on the
right track because because then it's easy to go forward.
When you're rubbing elbows with these people. We probably had
a conversation after practice, sat and talked, and that's like,
that's uh, that's what's important on that journey of man.

(44:30):
I wish I knew, right. I wish I could have
known in that moment what you had been through or
the journey you were on, because I would have tried
to do something to help motivate you, especially knowing that
mindset that you were operating with at that time, right
as a as a young man that was trying to
truly turn his life around. So now looking back and

(44:52):
thinking back to that where you're just kind of passing through, Uh,
it feels like an opportunity missed because not everybody's gonna
be you that gets it, right, It grows to be
who you are today. So I think you now in
this position, when you're in a different gym, you got
to make sure that you're super aware of the surroundings
because maybe a word.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
With the guy, yeah right, he could be everything in
the world to him. Yeah for sure. Now that's deep
and that like I'm definitely gonna take that into consideration
and like not even consideration, just keep that in my
brain present, yeah, keeping yeah for sure, man, because that's it.
It's like that moment is cemented in my memory bank.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
I remember I was wearing yellow moy Tai shorts, you
know what I mean, Like yeah, and then I was like,
that's the day that you know that I sparreled Daniel
Cormier and I remember exactly how it felt. But like
that's a part of my story. So yeah, the same
thing can be.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
You can do that for some and that's an amazing thing.
On the Ultimate Fight, he had a very very emotional
moment discussing your father. That was a big stage to
really open up.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
Is that a part of that balance, right, being able
to be emotional on such a big stage, because at
that point, The Ultimate Fighter was the biggest thing you
had ever done in your entire life. Even though you'd
played in bands, even though you've done music, you've never
done it at that level. Was that hard to do
or does the emotion just kind of guide you at

(46:20):
times and you do it on that stage.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
I had no choice, Like I had no choice in
The Ultimate Fighter. I mean, there's everything they're filming NonStop,
you know what I mean. I even tried to. I
tried to get away from the cameras and go outside
and you know, and and have my moment. But uh,
you know, so there was really no escape in it.
But I never I never regret it, you know I

(46:45):
think that. Man. My mom always used to tell me, like,
you know, don't it well, like when people say no,
like boys don't cry, yeah, and don't cry, She's like,
don't ever believe that, you know. She's just like humans.
Cry human beings. Male. You know, it doesn't matter skin color, nothing.

(47:05):
Everybody cries. And when you feel it's coming up and
you're gonna cry, then like you know, let it out
and then be done with it. You know, just like
let it out and be done with it. Like, don't
cry for pity. But like, if it's coming up and
you feel so strongly about something, let it out. It
doesn't change who you.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Are as a person.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
So like I was just like, okay, cool. So obviously
in a sport like this, we know we want to
hold on to our stuff and we want to be
as stern as possible. I'm not saying cry about everything.
But like for me at that time, I just I
couldn't hold it back. It's it was my dad's birthday,
and I was so trapped in you know, being on

(47:46):
the show and stuff that I forgot it. I didn't
even it didn't even cross my mind. And so when
I had the moment, it just hit me, you know
what I mean, And that was it for me.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
The moment you realized you were in the UFC from
that dream of your brother watching and going, this is
our avenue, this is our way, right Obviously your brother
isn't in the UFC. Right. While you guys might have
started that journey together, your journey veered off and went
to the heights of the sport. When you realize I'm

(48:18):
a UFC fighter from the scared nineteen year old boy
that's sitting in that van heart about to stop. What
did that feel like.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
At the time When I first got signed to the UFC,
I felt like, oh, I'm the man. Yeah you know,
I little did I know DC, But I thought I
was the man. I I was still nervous to be there,
but I thought like, this is my dream come true.
You know. I thought that I had reached the pinnacle.

(48:53):
And I think I took a lot. I think I
got into the UFC with only four fights.

Speaker 3 (48:59):
Yeah you know what I mean, your baby.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yeah, super baby. Only four professional fights and then like
seven amateur fights. So anyway, I get there and I'm like,
I'm the UFC now, Yeah you know, I'm in the
UFC now, And uh, little did I know? Like I
was like, I know, you're in the UFC, now, wake up,

(49:21):
you get to work, like you know. It took me
a long time to like get smacked in the face
and realize, like you can also not be here tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Yeah, yeah, because it didn't start great.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
No, man, like it started like this, you know, up
down or big fight, go Kanzaki Johnny Walker. You know
it's like like but it's because I really wasn't like
I wasn't really locked in. I wasn't really like fully grateful.
I was just in the mixture, like I was right
in the middle of, like I guess, transitioning, you know,

(49:56):
like just becoming more mature, becoming you know what I mean,
grown the grown man, you know, like life experience everything,
because I was twenty four to twenty.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
Yeah, but since twenty twenty one though, you kind of
got going in the right direction. Right, You're sixty one
the only loss a world heavyweight title fight where many
believe that going into the fourth round you were winning, right, Yeah.
Can you go back to that and think, like what
you were thinking going into that round, Like, man, I'm

(50:30):
beating Alex Pereira, especially with the way that he was
viewed at the time and how people gawkeed at you
getting a title fight. You're like, wait a minute, not
only did I get this fight, I'm winning this fight.
Walk walk me through what you were thinking going into
that fourth round and what it was like to share
to Caja Pereira.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Every single round of that fight, I was thinking, how
amazing is this? Every time I got every time I
got punched, every exchange, I was in my mind thinking
like how amazing is this? The exchanges and what was happening.
I can't really tell you much about what I was

(51:12):
plotting in this and that, but I just remember, like,
how amazing is this? And I'm the main event right
now in Salt Lake City against Alex Ferreira, Like I said,
I was going to be like I asked for and
like and it's happening now. Knowing too that I had
full belief in myself that I could win this fight,
you know, so like I'm just I was in it.
I was locked in, like how amazing is this? And

(51:34):
then even coming into the fourth round. Third, the half
of the third round was pretty bad. That's when he
really started to sting me. Yeah, you know what I mean.
I really started to like get dizzy and fatigued, like
not cardial fatigue, but like.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
But you know, because when you start taking damage, you're
taking damage.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Your body just says, dude, preserve yourself. You know what
I'm saying. And I remember going into the worth, I
was just I was thinking fifteen or ten minutes left,
and I was like, I could do anything for ten minutes.

(52:15):
And so essentially the story that I like to tell
is that I just I treated the fourth round like
the fifth, and I just let it all out in
the fourth. Yeah, And that's not what I should have done.
What I should have done has was know that I'm
up two possibly three, yea cool off in the first,

(52:38):
cool off in the fourth, and then take it to
him in the fifth. That would have been a little bit,
you know what I mean. But I hadn't had that
experience yet. It was I was so pumped up. I
was so fighting for the title. I know I can
beat this guy, you know what I mean. I was
just I was all heart, you know what it was.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
It was.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
It was all hard.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
Though, it was all heart, but it was it was
very it was very It was honestly kind of scary, right,
It was honestly kind of scary because, like you said,
you started stinging, you you had the cuts, your nose
was messed up, and then it seemed like you took
more damage later when you were like, uh, I'm gonna
let it all hang out. I know you won't quit.
I know you'll never quit, right, But that had to

(53:16):
be hard for the people that love you to watch that. Yeah,
and then you have to go to them after the
fight and they have to see you in that state
and that that has to suck a little bit. Because
I got knocked out once and when I went to
the back, I was with my children and they were crying,
and that's hard to deal with and it makes you
kind of think. It made me kind of think, Man,

(53:37):
I put my kids through this. Did you have that
moment after? Like? It was awesome for me, but that
had to be hard for people that loved me to watch. Hey,
your mom doesn't watch fights. Thank god she never.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Watched, right, Yeah, you know what, I didn't. I didn't
really have to think about that too much because I
got to experience it right there. I mean, my I, uh,
my strength and conditioning coach Lorenzo, my wife, my brother,
my sister in law. They were the ones that went

(54:09):
to the hospital with me. You know, I got rushed
to the hospital right after that fight, and they were
in the hospital with me till five am, and I
just saw it on their faces.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
You know what I mean. No, for sure, bro, you know.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
We didn't even have to have that. You know, we
didn't even have to have that combo. I think for
the most part, you know, like they from a deep place.
I could feel that they were painting, like that they
were hurt, but they were still just like, I'm proud
of you, you know. But it was with like a
it was like but damn. But but to even look

(54:41):
at your face right now, you know it pains me.
But like I'm proud of you.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
You know, I know you right and I've interviewed you
and I've talked to you, and even I was like,
I don't love this. But I got to tell you.
When I walked out of the hotel on Sunday morning
to go home, I love At five am, I was
kind of shaking my head and I was smiling. Like
what Khalil really did, like fight, like I I I

(55:06):
left that place in Utah with a sense of Khalil
fought his ass off and he did a great job.
And even though he didn't win, it doesn't feel like
he lost. Yeah, but that was the overwhelming sentiment for
most Could you feel that fan appreciation even in defeat,
That it might have been even greater than some of

(55:27):
the fight that you've won.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
The fans helped me so much in that fight DC,
like in in many, in many different ways. I think
that the fans helped me, helped me process that loss.
The reaction from the fans really helped me process that
loss and helped me to grow from it to have

(55:55):
some more like belief, you know, like it was it was.
Had I not had that reaction, man, I think, you know,
I would have had a definitely a different type of
firelit because I wouldn't I wouldn't give up. I'd still
keep going for the for the belt. But I think
that it just it gave me a big appreciation for
the fans and like I think all of the new
fans and the past ones for you know what I mean,

(56:17):
for supporting me and a loss like that and really
building me up and a loss like that, because yeah,
I mean, it motivated me more. You know, it made
me want to keep fighting more, you know what I mean,
I just keep going for it because now, like there's
just so many more fans behind me. Now.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
Yeah, then you go to Baku, Yeah and you beat
Jamal Hill.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
Yeah, was that.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Fight a little easier than you expected. Because boy, when
we watched that, I got a group message with my
friends whore like, Khalil just dogged his dude out. It
didn't seem like he had anything for you. Were you
surprised that that fight played out in the way that
it did, or do you believe now you've elevated to
a point that if you're not one of the absolute
best in the world, they can't really compete with you.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
That's a tough one to answer. I don't really remember
what I expected of that fight. I I guess I
can say that I I had a little bit of
an expectation of it being of it being a little harder. Yeah, yeah,

(57:28):
I did. I did think that, Like, okay, because you
watched him. I went into this fight prepared, you know,
like I wasn't overlooking this guy at all, former champion, because.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
You guys have been scheduled to fight before.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
All exactly with reach, you know, with punching power, with
decent head movement. So I knew, I knew what I
was up against, and I when I went into that fight,
I just I just did what I needed to do, Yeah,
to win the fight, Like that was my That was

(58:02):
my My take on everything in my approach is that
the only thing that mattered to me was to win
that fight. Yeah, so there was there was no need
to really chase him down or go overly crazy. I
just pick him apart, and you did.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
And for me, you competed at such a high level
right after the Perira fight. One, how are you able
to bounce back so quickly? And two? How are you
able to not have any residuals from that fight? Because
I remember when I did get knocked out, when I
walked through the octagon, I'm like, I got it until

(58:42):
I got into the fight. I was like, man, I
gotta make sure I don't get hit with this. I
gotta be careful because of what happened prior. And then
when the door locks, you fight, right, But when you
go through what you went through with the confidence issues,
how do you make sure that that's all locked? Win?
You don't deal with any of those second thoughts because dude,

(59:03):
you operated like you had never went through the Perier
fight and then taking the damage that you took.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Uh, everything that the world experiences when watching me fight
in the cage live, everything that I am in the
in that cage is just a. It's a product of training. Yeah,
it really is the preparation and and uh, it's my

(59:33):
job to show up that night and be one hundred
percent confident in my abilities. And the only way that
I can be one hundred percent confident in my abilities
is to put in the real like really put in
the work during the training and and be truthful to
myself when I asked the question like did I do
enough to you know what I mean? Did I actually

(59:55):
do enough? And did I push myself to the limit
every day? And did I did I put intention behind
every movement? And you know what I mean, that I
properly prepare for this moment right now with while the
world's watching. And if the answer is yes, then I'm okay.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
Khalil, you have put yourself in situations where every moment
is intentional, where every spot is a big spot and
the world is watching, and now we're on the verge
of another one. You have see three twenty. You're fighting
your proasca. He is one of the most unorthodox guys
you've ever seen in the octagon. Him and Jamal Hill
had a very fun fight also, but he didn't dominate

(01:00:32):
Jamal in the way that you did. What are your
thoughts heading into the fight with Prohoska, another former champion
and a guy that is a very difficult guy to
prepare for in his own regard.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Pro Hosco's dangerous because of many different things, his strength,
his physique, his what people like to call weird, unorthodox
type of style. It's a dangerous fight for me and

(01:01:09):
I'm uh and I say that because I'm the one
stepping in there. Yeah, and I'm prepared.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Khalil Yuri's only lost twice in ten years, and that's
only the Pereira. Would that what would it mean to
you to be you know, URI's lost in ten years
to Pereira and Khalil Rountree, Because that's a feather in
the cap right to be a guy like that that
doesn't suffer defeat that would that? Would that mean to

(01:01:40):
you to add that? And would that or at least
in your opinion, be enough to warrant another opportunity of
the championship.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
I think that it would. It would really solidify my
number in the top five. Yeah, you know, beating him
gives me that number, like respectfully, Yeah, his only two losses.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
That's crazy, right in ten years? But you guys don't lose.
That's the thing about the best guys in the world, right,
you don't really lose. But in a decade, no one's
beating Prosca.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
But says a lot, Yeah, it says a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
But your intention is to go beat him and say,
now it's Khalil and Pereira. But you aren't. You weren't
ready to say I deserve a title shot after that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
I don't like to say that I deserve anything, you
know what I mean, Like, and maybe that's just my
own like, you know, self sabotage or I don't know,
I don't know what to call it, but like I
don't I don't naturally just think about like what I deserve.
I do dream of a second fight immediately after with Pereira.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
But but Pereerra isn't the champion as we speak today.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
As yeah, yeah, as as we speak to day. True,
But I guess the only way that I really would
like that fight again is if he was the champion,
because at the end of the day, that's my focus,
that's my goal that you know, like the belt is

(01:03:20):
what matters to me, and who holds it is just
you know, we're all kind of placeholders.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
The belt make it more likely that if you win
against your proscy that you fight for the championship, because again,
you have you have the fan sport, you have the audience, right,
and that matters in today's UFC.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
Yeah, it really does. I didn't really give it too
much thought, but I don't see why it wouldn't make
sense for me to win this fight and then go
into a title fight whoever you know, whoever it is
that that goes home with the belt that night. I
could see how that would make sense to make that happen.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
You are a tremendous muy Thai fighter. I remember when
you first came back from Thailand. Me and Rogan were like,
who in the hell are we watching?

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
It's so crazy?

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
It was crazy, like the differences that you made. But
you brought in Jonathan Haggerty did you bring in Why
would you bring in a do you bring in an
unbelievable muyit Thai striker? Like? What does he mean to
this camp?

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
And why?

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
When? Honestly I believe that in the UFC, your muay
Thai is as high level as anybody we have in there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
DC. First and foremost, thank you for saying that I have.
I think you said incredible muay Thai. That means a
lot to me because I think my muytai's trash really
in comparison to like guys that I admire and that
I watch, and I like like the real muy Thai.
So thank you. And then as far as Haggarty goes,

(01:04:55):
Haggerty and I we we shared the same coach, Christian Knowles.
And so while Christian is here with me for for
a training camp, Jonathan also has a fight coming up
in Japan in November. So Chris, you know, being the
coach that he is, being like the team that we are,

(01:05:19):
it's like, okay, hager Like, I'm in training camp right now,
You've got to get your training camp started. So you've
got to come to Vegas because this is where we are,
and so we have you know, we're not sparring.

Speaker 3 (01:05:34):
You guys, don't spark no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
I mean Hagate fights at one. We could, but you
know it's it's not really anything that's moving around. We
both we trained together, but uh, it's not something that
like I specifically brought in you know, Hagerty for this camp. Yes,

(01:05:58):
how we how we regulate and how I kind of
run the team and stuff is like Christians here. You know,
my my guy Lamb is here, who does all of
our content. Like, the team's in Vegas, Bro, do you
gotta fight coming up? Okay, you gotta come to Vegas
and then you know we'll go to Thailand after or whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
Yeah. Do you build your fight camp within the fight
camp at Syndicate, Like, do you have a Like? I
had fight camp within the camp, so I had my
own partners, I had my other coaches. Do you build
that inside of the camp in Syndicate?

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
Yeah, yeah, Syndicate. I started training with John ten years ago. Yeah.
I love John. He's always been a great guy to me,
a great mentor and friend and coach, so he's always
Syndicate has always been my home gym so long as
I'm in Vegas, and John allows me to bring training

(01:06:51):
partners in and I make sure everything I run through
him and kind of have him analyze what's going on,
game plan, strategize, and it seems to work.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
It's been working for Isn't it great to have a
coach that has no ego. All he wants is the
best for the athlete.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
He really does, man. Yeah, Yeah, And he coaches everybody,
you know, very very differently and very specifically. It's nice
to and he's been in the game for so long,
and yeah, he's friends with guys like you, and you know,
he's just been around. He's been in the game for
a long time. He's been dedicated to you know, syndicate
and making MMA grow in Vegas and he yeah, it's

(01:07:29):
it's so cool, man. But yeah, we bring guys in
if I need extra bodies, extra coaches, whatever, whatever keeps camp.

Speaker 3 (01:07:39):
I couldn't imagine how sparring with you kicking me the
way you kick now, it's crazy. You would need some
extra bodies. Khalil. As we start to run and head home,
you said, one of your main goals in life is
to inspire, to inspire that kid that's nineteen, that's going
through some of the things that you might have gone
through in your life. Kids that are in that same place. Right,

(01:08:02):
there are so many distractions for kids today, video games
to drugs to everything. What does it mean to you
to be that person that can inspire the next generation,
especially being one that lived that life. Right nineteen, I
was in college, right, I was already I was chasing
into championships. But there was a little round tree, and

(01:08:23):
there's a little round try out there right now. What
do you tell that kid?

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Hmm, you know, without saying directly to the kid like
do this, because I really don't have, you know, a
specific answer, but I have like a way of going
about things. A lot of the times DC that that
young kid that's that I talk about, or that young

(01:08:47):
kid eight, nine, ten, eleven years old, even in the teenagers,
I think about it because there's still that part of
me that that exists, like in my mind, in my spirit,
you get what I mean, still there, He's still there, yep.
So it's kind of like it's almost like inception because
a part of what I'm doing also is for that kid,
that for that little me, you know what I mean,

(01:09:09):
for the for the four year old who you know,
who didn't know what it's like to have, you know,
a father's embrace or a father to give you encouraging words,
blah blah blah. A lot of times I speak to
that kid. Sometimes it's the nineteen year old kid where
I'm like, hey, get your shit together, really, like what
are you doing with your life? You're you're you know,

(01:09:30):
like think about it you're you're wasting away or doing this,
Like come on, life happens, and ten years you're going
to be, you know, thirty years old, and you're gonna
wish that you would have done something differently. And sometimes
it's like, you know, the thirty five year old me
or you know, I'm just like so I look at
it as like, for one, don't be afraid to be yourself,

(01:09:54):
but also like work to be, work to be some
someone who like you wish you had. You get what
I mean, Like I try to be the father that
I never had. I try to be the role model
that I never had. I try to be the friend
that I never had, you know, like to myself and

(01:10:15):
to others. And it seems to kind of work for me,
you know, like I'm I'm intentional about like I said,
the things that I say or the things how I
treat people. If I leave the building, I'm like, okay,
is everything okay? You know, Like did I you know,
did I was I respectful?

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
This?

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
And that? Like those things really make sense. They make
a difference. Live authentically, be yourself, carve your like, carve
your own path, you know what I mean? Like, yeah,
we're doing everything we can to help inspire and all
this stuff, but we all have the ability to carve

(01:10:56):
our own paths and to be our own sense of inspiration.
You get what I mean, Like it comes from work,
It comes from you know, dedication and discipline. But if
there's something that you want in life, it's people say
it all the time. It's absolutely possible, but your actions
and intentions everything has to line it. I can't be

(01:11:17):
the champion if I'm like, yo, do you see after
this we go into the bar and like yeah, you
know what I mean? Or like hey, you know, instead
of training to say I'm gonna do this, like that's
just not really helping you on your path. So start
to make decisions that point you in the direction of
your vision. We all have a vision. Hit me up,

(01:11:39):
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:40):
I always try to ask guys this when it's all
said and done, right, when you look back on everything,
the music struggles, the weight loss journey, what do you
hope people get from the Khalil Raalntree story because it
ends for all of us. Right when you're done, what

(01:12:01):
do you think people want? What do you want people
to take from what they saw in Colaurentry Junior.

Speaker 1 (01:12:09):
I want them to. I want them to create their
dream lives. You know, like if there was like if
you could package it up and someone said, like, I've
been following you, I have been inspired by your story.
I used to be this and now I'm this, and

(01:12:32):
my life is in a complete different place. That's all
I want, you know what I mean, Like when you're stuck,
you don't really know where you're at, you don't know
what you want to do with your life, but you
kind of have. You have a dream and you want
to get there. I just want to be the example
of like.

Speaker 3 (01:12:50):
It's possible.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
It's absolutely possible. Less than you know. Fifteen years ago,
I was living in an apartment at twenty years old
with my mom and my brother and my sister and
my niece in a one bedroom apartment with no money
to even pay the rent that was only eight hundred
dollars and like just broke with nothing. But my brother

(01:13:12):
and I were like, Yo, this fighting thing's kind of cool.
Let's try it out. Then we go to a gym.
When we join a gym and allow ourselves to like
be in it, you know, like, oh, we're learning, we're
picking up. Should we do this? Yeah, let's give it
a shot. Okay, but we got to do our all.
We gotta be dedicated and then it's like that constant
dedication to one thing, and then along the lines like

(01:13:34):
meeting people and just being dedicated to like we are
going to get ourselves out of wherever we are today,
however we need to do it in a legal way,
in a safe way, in a healthy way. We're going
to get ourselves out of this one bedroom apartment, and
we are going to just make something out of our lives.
And here I am today, and here we are today,
and that's what I want, like my kind of testimony

(01:13:57):
to be for anybody who feels stuck, you know, like
stuck in the mud. Get out of the mud. There's ways.
I don't have the answers, but I have the experience
of like I've done it and I know that is
the truth. Yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, that's
like the best way I could put it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:13):
It's awesome. I have one two quick things. It's Monday,
after you have C three in three twenty, right, you
have fought your proska and you've lost a fight. What
are we telling people? What are we telling our supporters?

(01:14:34):
If it didn't go our way and it's Monday after
the fight? Or is that such a fas now?

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
As of now it's not even possible. Yeah. I like that,
as of now it's not possible. I don't even choose
to like.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
Make it a reality.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
Yeah, So what I would say is call me on Monday.

Speaker 3 (01:15:03):
It's Monday after the fight, and you just beat your prosca.
What are we telling our supporters? Are we screaming from
the mountaintop. I'm fighting for the belt next and I'm
gonna be the champ our week A little Roaldtree Junior.
We're operating with Grace and we're gonna see where everything falls.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
My heart's leaning more towards the second option because there's
still a lot more work that needs to be done
after your pro hosca. And I think, no matter what,
I kind of plan to go a little silent after

(01:15:47):
this fight.

Speaker 3 (01:15:47):
Why you will be hot as you've ever been. You'll
be You'll Kerosene will be set to you. You win
this fight, everybody will be calling for you to fight
for the belt. You can't disappear. Well, why do you
want to go silent?

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
Because there's work to do? Yeah, there's work to do.
Talk to me when I'm the champion. Yeah, you know,
like if just there's work to do, d you see,
like I gotta get the belt. And I know, like
people want to talk and you know and this and that, like,
but I have a dream. The dream is to be

(01:16:24):
the champion, not to talk to people, not to do
with these interviews, not to like my dream is to
be the champion. Yeah, and like if you can respect that,
then like then you can respect that. Like after this fight,
like I'm chilling, you know, I'm enjoying what it's like
to have a holiday for once, and like you know
what I mean, Like like this will be like I

(01:16:46):
know that I'm not going to fight for the rest
of the year, so like this is my time for me. Yeah,
you know what I'm saying. Like for me, man, I
love the people. I love the support, but like there's
seven hundred fighters on the roster too, you know what
I'm saying, Like they can share the defense. They have
a lot of fight cards, a lot of other title fights,
a lot of other you know, I anticipation is good,

(01:17:10):
but like as far as I go, like I've been
training my ass off getting ready to fight. You know
this this dangerous guy. My my life, my career, everything's
on the line.

Speaker 3 (01:17:23):
I think afterward, like, I think it will suit you too,
because I think when guys are getting more, they weren't
as present. Whenever you take a little break at times,
it makes people long for you and want to see you.
And I believe that, uh, it might be good for you,
but I think that you get the job done, people
will be calling to see you back in a title chance.

(01:17:46):
Hey man, thank you so much for joining me. You
are the man, bron It's inspiring what you have been through.
I use that in the opening I said inspiring. This
man is inspiring. I hope that you got something from
Kalo wrong, because I absolutely did. He fights at UFC
three twenty next week. But just sitting here truly does

(01:18:08):
propel me forward. And I'm a guy that doesn't struggle
for inspiration. When I can take it from someone like this,
it just makes me better in everything that I do
in my life. So thanks to Calttle Altree for joining
me on The Daniel Cormier Show, and thank you guys
for always watching and supporting. Till next time, Like and
subscribe and tell you friends that we're doing stuff like
this and We're sitting down with people like the Great

(01:18:30):
Khalil ratree Jr. Until next time, Peace,