May 13, 2024 • 39 mins
This week, Bellator MMA Star AJ Mckee stops by to talk about his passion for all things fighting and chasing adrenaline. In this short and fun-packed episode, AJ shares why they call him "the Mercenary". He takes us back to his youth, growing up the son of a professional fighter in Antonio McKee. He remembers being on the mat from an early age, getting into competitive wrestling at the age of 6. AJ talks about how fighting has always just been a part of him, so it was natural that he would sign to Bellator in 2015.
Since joining Bellator MMA, he has not only fought but also broadcasted fights. Will asks McKee if he would consider pursuing broadcasting full time, but he says he needs more adrenaline in his life. He then goes into his passion for action sports like snowboarding. Later, The boys share a few laughs as Brock shares a memory about an encounter with Mike Tyson and make predictions for the upcoming Tyson v. Paul fight in July. This is a great episode for any fans of MMA, any fans of AJ McKee or anyone who loves fighting or adrenaline.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to Studio twenty two.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Studio twenty two.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm your host Will Meltman here with as always Brock O'Hern.
How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Good, man another data happy? I woke up?
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Yeah, absolutely, I never know what to say in this moment,
so we have a little brief awkward moment and we
move on.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, that's that's our typical, our typical schedule.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We are here joined with AJ McKee, one of the
best pound for pound fighters out there with Bellator Mma AJ,
a man that has certainly earned his nickname the Mercenary.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Studio twenty two.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thank you, thanks for having me. Dude, thanks for coming on. Man.
Where did where did the nickname mercenary come from?
Speaker 5 (00:50):
So it actually took a bit of planning between my
family and I and we were just sitting there trying
to think of names. Were like, all right, Anderson, Spider Silva,
like dope, and like we just kept coming.
Speaker 6 (01:01):
Up with different things.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
And if I wasn't fighting, obviously I would have went
in the military, did something special Forces or something. Yeah,
so we're like, dude, mercenary, Like we came up with
mercenary and the like, do you know the definition of mercenary.
It's like it's someone that you hire to go get
a job done. And yeah, I mean pretty much that's
what I'm doing. You hire me, I go in that cage,
(01:23):
I get the job done, and I come home.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So it's clear you're very good at getting the job done.
That's sick, dude.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I'm actually writing a film right now about mercenary, so
it's a little close to home.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Dude, should be the start.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Come on, I'll talk to the guys, bro if you
want to come in, or Navy seals and they go
off and kind of have to do some crazy stuff. Yeah, man,
we'll talk a yeah. But yeah, man, dude, I appreciate
you coming on. Makes your time. Uh, I'm actually clear.
It's like, so you when did you first start because
I know your dad is a legend and you came
(01:57):
into sport early, but were you like rolling at age one?
Stuff like how did it or was it introduced a
little bit later for.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
You kind of.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
I was always in the gym as a kid, so
I started wrestling at like five six years old and
doing jiu jitsu probably like eight or nine. I had
my first amateur fight before amateur was even around.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Yeah, I was like I think eleven eleven or something,
and it wasn't even amateur.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Like.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
We went to another gym lined all the kids up, like,
you guys are the same size, match you up, and
that's how we did it. And then when I was
probably about sixteen or fifteen, the amateur league came into
play here in California and if you were under eighteen,
you couldn't punch to the head.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
So I did one.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Fight like that and I was like, this shit sucks.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
I'm not doing this.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
We'll go back to fighting in backyards and stuff, you know.
So the week after my eighteenth birthday, I had my
amateur fight, my first amateur fight. My dad put on
a show and uh, he just wanted to see what
I had. And yeah, I went out there, sup, plex
dude on his head, just had an awesome fight. He's like,
all right, I got a little potential, you know. And
after that it was it was full force. I went
(03:07):
to college for a year half a year and I
was like, yeah, this isn't for me. I wrestled at
Notre Dame in Cleveland and was like, screw this. I
flew home, went to JC for a year, want to
state title there.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
I was gonna try to beat my dad's record.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
He was two years undefeated, like sixty or seventy you oh,
and I lost one match that year, so I was like,
all right, screw college rus and dropped out and then
it was just full force fighting and I did probably
like eight or eight eight to twelve fights amateur, lost
one amateur. I got knocked my dad. I remember first
(03:42):
thing my dad told me, He's like, don't go out there,
throw a lead leg headkick. So like I'm thinking, like, no,
lead leg head kick, but obviously it's the first thing
I see because it's on my mind. And I threw it,
spun around, dude cracked me with the right hand. I
sat down and I just hear the crowd go oh.
And I remember I was like, oh my god, hit again.
And I just woke up. I saw four legs in
front of me.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
Two in the middle.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
It was one of his, one of the rest, and
they're stopping it.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So yeah, So you started with the wrestling, and then
there's also you also trained with boxing and ju jitsu, Right, Like,
when did that kind of come in and when did
you learn the alternative methods.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
I don't know, I kind of just started doing mma
before anything. You know, I get in trouble at school,
couldn't go to school suspended obviously sometimes and for fighting
sometimes sometimes I was just a little troublemaker, dude. Like
I just I love to talk. I couldn't sit still
if you notice, like I haven't sat still. I'm like
(04:41):
twisting in the chair. I'm always doing something. So in
school it was the same thing. And you know, I
got a few fights here and there.
Speaker 6 (04:50):
I was always a little kid.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
It's like ninety eight pounds until my junior year of
high school, like tiny, and people just challenged me. But
I don't care how big you are where I'm down
to fight you. I mean, if it's a fight, let's
do it. And I would get in trouble. So I
would just be at the gym training with all the guys.
You know, they had a night class for like the
(05:12):
AMI guys, mixed them with a few pros, and I'd
just be in there training with them, you know, just
always in the gym. I kind of love obviously boxing
and fighting, but kicking is like my thing. That's like
my passion, you know what I mean. You can keep
people away, you can pick them apart with kids kicks.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So was it?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That was it the Macapa Macapa fight where it was
like I think you threw a head kick and then
you were on the ground, but then you literally just
come right back up and knock them out.
Speaker 6 (05:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Yeah, I threw a kick and then something something happened.
I came up through an elbow. Most people don't even
see the elbow. The elbow was like so faint, it
was like an elbow. And then he threw an overhand.
I blocked it, came back and then hit him with the.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
Left and he was just he was out. Yeah, he
felt like a sack of potatoes.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
I watched in slow mo and like I didn't turn
the punch over until after it was through his chin,
and I was like, damn, what if they caught him
on the end, you know what I mean? Like it
was just different some of my fights.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
I'm just so dialed in on some of them that
it's like I analyze everything. You know, fighting is art,
so it's like you really got to be able to
analyze everything your opponent's doing, the way they're breathing, the
way they're stepping on their toes, their heels, how they're looking,
what they're looking at, Like, you gotta literally monitor everything.
And some of my best fights are when I do that.
You know, my eight second knockout. I broke that entire
(06:35):
fight down before it even happened.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Is that the Brian Kara Kanya Georgie Georgie, Yeah, we go.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
No, I was gonna say it was that, Like you say,
you broke down the whole fight for it even happened.
Is that just studying that guy beforehand, or even just
when he walks in the room and how he's holding.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Himself exactly, just how he's holding himself, Like we're in
the cage and before the fight starts, I see him
jumping around, he's looking around. Then next thing you know,
he's he comes out southball. I'm like, okay, why is
he southball? He's an orthodox fighter, So all right, I'm
gonna throw a job.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
See what he does. He switches back.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Oh, he's uncomfortable, so he's trying to throw me off
by switching his stands. So I back off, throw another jab.
I know what he's gonna do already He's into the
same thing he just did, which is step back. Oh,
just throw over him right over the top. Boom, he
goes down. Okay, now get on him.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
Boom boom boom.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
And it's like that's a matter of eight seconds, But
for me, it felt like it was a minute, you
know what I mean, because I'm assessing everything that's going on.
I'm watching his breathing, what he's doing, where he's looking around,
just everything. So it's it's pretty crazy when you can
dial in like that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
It's crazy too because you're definitely known for speed, right, So,
like to say, eight seconds felt like a minute. It's
like you're slowing down time, right, Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Does does it ever feel like it's moving in slow
mo for you when you're there?
Speaker 6 (07:56):
Sometimes sometimes when I'm there's certain fights.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
On just dialed in so fire that it's like everything
it's just lined up for that moment. You know, you
don't hear the crowds, you don't see the ref you
don't you don't even see the cage. You're like dialed in,
you know what I mean. And that's kind of the
crazy part. But when when it's like that, you're unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's like that Sherlock Holmes like, uh, guy, Ritchie movie,
I'm a total film nerd, so I'll relate everything.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
But yeah, it's like they.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Slow everything down and he's like, but like you said,
they calculate every little thing that goes into like every
step or punch or anything.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I really like how they do that with the showlock
Holmes thing because he's like left hook to the rib cage,
debilitate his breathing right, stuff like that. Yeah, but it's
just being like analytical and be able to break it down. Man,
it's sick there. Like it takes a lot of balls
to step in the ring. I already know that and
(08:58):
then to be able to be dialed have a mindset
going into it like a lot of respect for you, bro.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Thanks, I appreciate it. It's just it's part of me,
you know what I mean. I don't know what else
i'd be doing in life. Well, I wasn't fighting for real,
for real, but uh yeah, it's it's all lifestyle. Man.
I'm in the gym six days out of the week.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
I don't want to be there sometimes, but I'm still there. Yeah,
just go.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
You know, sometimes when I don't want to go, I
end up having the best day. So It's like that's
what really made me take it full force and just
always in there. But obviously getting older body starts to
wither away, so you got to train smarter, not harder.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Right, Well, I mean congrats on the massive contract with
Belotour as well. I mean that's yeah absolutely. Are you
excited for everything you got coming up? Uh?
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah, it's just be patient, wait, you know, see see
what arises.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
Just wait for that call.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Stay ready, you don't go to get ready.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah that's interesting, right is it? So there's essentially nothing
scheduled now, but then you're you're kind of in the
works and then you'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Kind of deal.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah, So they've been bringing me on board PFL poats
or they've been bringing me on board having me do
commentating and just other different things. I think they're just
trying to figure out what to do with me because
I'm good at so many different things. It's like, well,
what can't this kid kind of do?
Speaker 6 (10:17):
You know?
Speaker 5 (10:17):
Like I can commentate, I can referee, I can do
it all. You know, I know the rules, I know
technicianal points of the fight game, how to score around.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
So it's like, let's see what he can do you know?
Speaker 5 (10:30):
So commentating has been kind of the new thing that
they're kind of gearing me up for a little bit.
Speaker 6 (10:34):
But I don't know if I want to commentate.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
You couldn't see yourself maybe doing that after.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
I need adrenaline in my life, man, I'm trying to
be on a mountain snowboard and going X Games mode
or like racing cars. I gotta have adrenaline my snowboard. Yeah,
he's insane.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Bro. We gotta yeah, we gotta. God, I just got
backflips on locks, so.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
No way, we're not there, but and your backlips.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
But I saw the video with your buddy and you
guys are going down with the drink in your hand. Yeah, dude,
So they like were doing all these cricks flips like
all it was crazy and by the bottom, who had
the most liquid still left in there?
Speaker 5 (11:14):
It was monster Vodka Monster Vodka Challenge, Okay, ok, yeah,
my buddy he so pretty much last one whoever has
the most liquid in their drink at the end wins
and then we all backflip, and I mean it was
pretty even until the last jump, and I kind of just.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
And it wasn't intentional.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Probably people were probably like Oh that was set up like, no,
I really ate ship.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Oh damn, it's hard to fake that, right. Is that
something you've been doing since you're young too?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Or snowboarding though I've probably only done like four or
five seasons no ship.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
Yeah, and a few of them been.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Cut short just obviously with fighting and stuff. So this
previous season, this one that just kind of ended, but
still here that was the most stuff snowboarded This past
season was really impressive.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
I mean, yeah, it's insane obviously. I mean with the fighting,
so you probably know your body crazy well, so you
pick stuff up real quick.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Yeah, it's just knowing how to fall. Knowing how to
fall saved it a lot. You know, have knee pads,
little thin slits and knee knee pads, and then I
started wearing hip pads and like butt pads and when
hitting rails those come into dude. Yeah, they're doing all
that stuff, the life saving for real.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I mean I learned when I was like eight, so
like when you're a kid, you're in Yeah, I kind
of did that whole part as a as a young
and but yeah, doing rails and all the jump parts
and ship like that, I probably want to pad up
that stuff. Yeah, I'm more of just like a cruiser.
I'll do that.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You gotta wear risk guards.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Yeah, yeah, fall on double trauma punching people and then
falling on snow.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
That does not I learned the hard way.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I grew up skateboarding and it was literally like at
a certain point you realize you're just like falling, You're
just professionally falling. How good are you at falling? So
the one clip, yeah, exactly. It might not happen concrete.
It's a little less forgiving, but it's a same thing.
I mean, you can eat out eat it pretty hard
on a snowboard, but that's Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Would you have a favorite mountain?
Speaker 5 (13:14):
Honestly, I've only I went to Brighton in Utah and
I broke myself first run of the first day on
a week long trip. Oh tour my ac completely. So
I have no a c in my shoulder. Been meaning
to get that fixed for a while, but it doesn't
bother me anymore. So I'm like, I'm not gonna go
get shoulder surgery.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
But for the most.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Part, I'm always at Bear Bear Summit. Yeah, that's my mountain.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Easy to get up there.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
We got to get you to a yellow Stone Club
up in Montana. It's like Big Sky Montana up in
that area.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
Okay, a big pow.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, it's a Discovery Land company up there rocking because
they also have the Big Sky Mountain, which is a
public mountain right next to it, So it's I think
all together between the two mountains, there's like more skiable
track than like veil.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Yeah, that's why they got there.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yellowstone's private, so it's literally be on the mountain of
five people.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's sick. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
I haven't been to any like big mountain range like
that yet. I wanted to get up to Tahoe this year.
It didn't happen. They just closed Tahoe. So I think
I'm gonna try to hit Mammoth in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, Mammoth was great.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Scared they got dumped on earlier this year.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Yeah, this year and last year, last nast year.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
It was epic, Yeah, because we were supposed to go
for the film festival and then there's massive storm came in.
We're like, I don't think I want to deal with
one hundred and twenty miles per hour winds right now,
whatever else is coming in.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
We had plans to go.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
We were all and then it was just like too
dangerous driving out and that stuff and.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, yeah but fun.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
And then Jackson Holes is a little more considered difficult.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
I've heard a few things about Jackson. Yeah, it's pretty nice.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
It's sick.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I haven't been there, but yeah, you go a lot, right.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah, it just went went this uh December. It's
dope because like you get on the mountain, it's like
ten thousand feet away, but then it goes almost down
to flat, so you're like, I feel like you're in
heaven or something like that.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
It's crazy, dude, that's the.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I can't wait. I keep saying I'm gonna get out.
I never do.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Just so many things end up coming up, you know
what I mean. And it's like one thing after another
and then you get the call. It's like let's go
fight now. It's like all right, everything's halted. Yeah, straight
training camp.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
You know, what's what's the earliest you ever had to
get ready for a fight? Like short amount of time? Well,
I always get about eight weeks. Okay, yeah, they always
notified me.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
But my shortest camp that I've ever done was literally
a week.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
One week.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Yeah, I took a well I mean I took the fight.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
No, I took the fight a couple of months out
and just life being young and dumb, not training actually start.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
No, it was literally a.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Weight cut, right, that was my training camp.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, we learned as we.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
Go, all right, Yeah, definitely I won't be doing that again. Yeah.
I used to.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
One of my amateur career, I was taking full grammar
dabs before some fights under the cage, throwing up and stuff.
My Dad's like, bro, so I get the devil out
of you, and I'm like, it's just a horrible feeling, dude.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Oh man, I remember we uh. I grew up doing
a little bit of martial arts with my brothers. So
we had a couple of fights and he ate like
this big pasta dinner before one time and just yacked
red pasta all over the map.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I was like, you learn what not to eat when
it go in.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
It's a lot, man, Like, unless you do it, you
don't really know how physically intense it is. Like three
five minute rounds alone or just even one, It's it's brutal, man.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's I don't even eat before practice. Yeah,
I can't.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
I've definitely had stuff like that, more of like TV stuff,
you know, or I'm like nervous to go do some
live and thing or whatever because I grew up introverted
as hell. You're gonna be on TV in front of
ten million people in a live audience or whatever. I'm like,
but you you puke and then you get clear headed
and you're like, calm.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Get.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It's not something I'm proud of, but it is what
it is.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
See, I'm the opposite.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I'm fine on TV, fine on camera, but then when
I get around people, I'm like.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Like ship people are here, like more like crowds of
people are just in general, just.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
In general, I'm very introvert, but once I'm pumfortable, I
open up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
It just it takes a bit for me to get there.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Alcohol same way it helps me with that.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's the liquid courage out there.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah. Yeah, usually go for that.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah. It's if I do like one or two in
an event or something like that, I'm like, I.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Can talk to anybody exactly before I'm like, why am
I so fucking awkward?
Speaker 6 (17:33):
Dude?
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah no, but that's cool. Man.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Do you have a like a long term vision for
your career, where you want to take it, what you
want to do after or like I mean obviously got
hobbies of the cars and snowboarding stuff like that. Is
there anything outside of it or you just like in
it to win it right now?
Speaker 5 (17:50):
No, I'm just saying it to win it the best
to ever do it? Teach kids obviously have a few brothers.
I have a seven year old brother. I have a
eighteen year old brother. They're kind of following the footsteps
as well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So the oldest of the three, the three.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Yeah, there's many more though, like post crazy nine in
my family. Bro Okay, Yeah, there's three on my on
my mom's side, and then I think like five on
my dad's side. Oh yeah, and then two two and
three nieces.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
And nephews on each side.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Oh wow.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Yeah, so big family.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah yeah, that's like my little brother has four kids
and he's what thirty, he just turned thirty, and one
of them is eleven already, and then my little sister
is about to have her first.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
One, so sick. Yeah. Yeah it's cool, man, I'm fired up.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I'm so excited for Yeah, they're the best, dude.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I just I just had a my brother just had
a kid, so I have my first nephew.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
Like I had a.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Little brother who was super younger from on my dad's side.
But like it's crazy seeing your brother as a dad,
right because you're like kind of like you get competitive
because we were your little brother, older brother. Okay, yeah,
and like you know, I always played sports with him
growing up, so there's like that competitive.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Like you know nature there.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
So I'm like, if he can do it, I can
do it, you know. But I don't actually think that
he's a he's a great pops. But you know, maybe
one day I'll get there.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yeah, Okay, your brothers go to a lot of your fights,
you can see it.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
No, none, actually unless it's like here, if it's in
La somewhere traveling. Yeah, I just it's business's going handle work,
come home, you know, that's that mercenary thing. Yeah, come
home to the family after. But yeah, it's work. I'm
going to handle business.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
What's the further Furthest you've traveled.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
For a fight?
Speaker 5 (19:41):
I think Saudi? Yeah, Saudi was that was the Furthest.
And then Japan and then been all over Italy, Dublin.
I've been to a few places.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
I love Dublin. Yeah, Dublin's awesome. Devlin's awesome.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
Guinness is really good out there, the best, no comparison,
no comparison, like a bottle of Guinness here versus there
on tap, like night and day and not even then
a Guinness bomb.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh my god, dude.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I worked on a film called Your Highness out there
for like an entire summer, and I get back from
being out there and I just like, I didn't even notice.
I had this like big pot belly from all the
Guinness I had every night, and I'm like, it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Yeah, let me get a bike, dude, get another one.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
We get a bike. I was pint I was pinted
up out there.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
Chocolate milk. Yeah, it's like the best way to describe
it is chocolate milk.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, it's insane. It's yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
That was That's what I want to do for my
my thirtieth. But it was the middle of right when
COVID hit. I want to get a bunch of my
boys together, go out there and rent a castle because
you can be a castle for a couple hundred bucks
the night, dude, and we just get have Guinness. Maybe
grab some motorcycles. If you get out there, but it's
still on the bucket list. Yeah, that's a cool spot up.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
There, sick. I haven't been there in years. Last time
I was there, I was kicking with Vitur Belfort.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
We went to like Little Brazil and stuff. It's pretty lit.
It's a good time, dude, super cool.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
Into the night. He pulls out a fight dollar bill
signs it for me. He's like for you. It was
like for real, thanks, it's pretty too.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yeah, that's cool, man.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Has there been any experiences you had that the fighting
has kind of opened up the doors like that, you
know obviously, but that really stand out to you.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
Yeah, there's been so many.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Ye I've just been around so many fighters in my life,
you know, Randy Tito, Chuck town Woodley, like anybody you
can think of.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
I've seen him come into our gym.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You know, Chucks a buddy too.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Yeah, Chuck's awesome.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
I got to work with him like fully, hands on,
and that was probably one of my best moments, I'd say,
just because obviously it's like seie man and then like
getting like you know what I mean, getting to help
him through camp and see his progression through everything was
was awesome and when he first came to us, we
were like he's not fighting, We're not and then like
just seeing him fully and get to where we were like, yo, like.
Speaker 6 (22:03):
He's doing it again, you know, Like it was.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Just awesome to see, you know, and it's like being
able to relate as a fighter. It's like we never
want to hang up the gloves. Yeah, that's just that's life.
Like as a fighter, we always live to fight another
day regardless, Like we're fighting another day, fighting another day.
But then it's like at some point you're gonna have
to you know, my dad's fifty three and he's like,
I still want to fight. I'm like, we're fifty fucking three.
(22:28):
You're gonna have me jumping in the cage trying to
whip somebody's ass for hitting you. Bro, Like I live
it through us now, you know. And it's like you
still want to fight. But he still trains with us, dude,
you know what I mean. He's still in the gym,
active with us, coaching and training his hands on.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
So it's, uh, it's it's cool.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Would you say that fighting community is like a very
like more of a tight knit community of like sparring
together and working together than maybe, like you know, a
fan would would realize a little bit.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
I would say, more so of like organizations, because you
see a lot of fighters that kind of train together and.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Hang out together. But uh, like me, I don't go
train anywhere.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
It's it's strictly body shot. I don't go nowhere. If
I need somebody, I'll hire somebody to come in. And
that's on an occasion, you know what I mean, like
a specialist or like yeah, so like when I fought
Satoshi in Japan, I hired jeremiadvance sick jiu jitsu artists,
like black belt, probably some.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Of the coldest jiu jitsu around.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
I would say, And he's ten planning under every Eddie
Bravo and yeah, I hired him, and he's just whooping
my ass, you know. And I'll go to the headquarters
over in downtown La tenth Planet, and dude, I have
a thirty I had a thirty five pounder tap me
out ten times in less than five minutes.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Oh legit. And like I'm not gonna be like, oh.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Like whatever, you know what I mean, Like, no, let's
keep going. You're gonna keep doing it, and I'm gonna
figure out how.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
To get out of it. Yeah yeah, but he came
to my gym.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
I got my get back because like I knew what
to look for at that point.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
That's awesome. Man.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
You mentioned the older fighters, you know, like, what do
you think about the it's a different realm, but boxing
with Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, what do you think
about that going on?
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Last thing to go is your power in your time?
So one thing Tyson has always had his power and
his timing is impeccable. So I don't know, man, I
think realistically, Tyson a fucking flat line Jake in my opinion,
and I fuck with Jake, you know what I mean.
That's that's my boy. Like he's cool as hell.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
But I don't know.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I just feel like when he fought Anderson Silva, that
kind of showed me like he's he's got he's got
it in him. But there has to be that second
killer instinct switch where you gotta.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Go, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
He he outdid he outdid Silva. But if that fight
goes like that with Tyson, Tyson's gonna hurt him. Yeah,
you know what I mean. And that's just my honest opinion.
But then the same thing like the same time, it's
a fight, so you never.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
I don't know anybody that knocked Tyson out. I mean
one person. Like it's like realistically, like I don't know, bro,
it's signing to death wish. But at the same time,
it's like fuck it, why not. It's like fighting Floyd,
Like I'd go fight Floyd if I could, you know
what I mean, even if I know I'm gonna get
my ass. Well, even Crawford, Like Crawford's one of the
(25:27):
best right now. Yeah, And I even told him, I
was like, yo, I'd love to fight you, and he
kind of looked at me, like you just say, you know,
like yeah, bro, I'd love to fight you. Like it'd
be a great fight. Like you know what I mean,
You're the best. I feel like you're the best, and
it'd just be awesome to do.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I mean, that makes perfect sense, right.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
Yeah, it's just sharing that moment.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, you're you're in the game, and you know, put
me in coach.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Yeah, pretty much the forest all the way.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
The mentality is everything too. Man.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Like, we spend a little time around Tyson. Dude, I
just even today scared dude, Bro, he gave me.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
A friendly one in the side and like it.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
And I was like, but it's it's some of the
stuff that you'll hear him talk because he's such a dude.
He's so deep and he's so intelligent. And then when
he flips that switch just like and says, like when
he said he said he was a predator, I'm a predator.
When he said that, I was like, there is any
single sliver of fear.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Running through your body?
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Man, And like I was like, literally pictured Arnold Schwarzene
or the predator from Arnold and then him and I
was like, Mike would fuck his.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Crazy.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
So it's it's like humans in general were predators, you
know what I mean. I think as humans that's something
in today's era that we're kind of being desensitized.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
As you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
But that's why everybody loves fighting because it's like it
brings us back to those primal gladiator days, you know
what I mean, something everybody can relate to. And it's like,
whether you like it or not, you're intrigued with it,
you know, because it's as a human, it's something you
can relate to, you know, pain regardless, you know, So
It's like you see somebody get cut open. It's like, fuck,
I can feel that, Yeah, I can feel it. Maybe
(27:10):
I haven't been cut open, but I know that shit hurts.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, they've hurt. I wonder how bad that hurts.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
You know, So it's it's fighting's just different, dude.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, the rise of you know, I mean, boxing has
been around forever obviously, but you kind of like see
it hit mainstream kind of more in the fifties and sixties, right,
like that American football, you know, the rise of MMA.
It's like even the violence sports are the most watched
for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, for a reason, the beginning of time. College.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, civilization's built off that, man, Like, imagine how many wars,
how many battles Roman.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Dude, the biggest empire of like the entire world.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
The center of their capital is the massive gladiator arena.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, right collegeum in Rome.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah, sometimes I I wish, I guess maybe I fantasized
that we were still in like spartan days. My life
would probably be a little farther along right now, if
I had the chance farther shorter. I had a great run,
but a short run. Yeah, man, that's it's wild. Well,
(28:16):
it's just like making me think now about the whole
dam man, man, how do we switch this over?
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Right? Maybe I need a way. It sounds like fun
do it?
Speaker 6 (28:26):
It's hell fun.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, like I want to do it.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
It's one of the best experiences you'll ever have. Yeah,
And it's like, yeah, it might suck, but at the
same time, you're going to appreciate it even if it
does suck. You know, you get punched in the face
and it's like you feel it. It's real, you know
what I mean. And it's it's whatever you put in
you get out, you know. And sometimes ship doesn't go right,
but you got to improvise in that moment and figure
(28:50):
it out.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
And that's what I like about fighting, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
You can have a game plan, but that shit goes
out the window second you get cracked and it's like, oh,
game plan gone, now do I do?
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You know?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
You got to improvise in that moment. You got to
be able to act.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
You know.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
It's like a fight or flight. It's just like Navy Seals,
Green Berets, all these guys.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Shit don't always go as planned, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
But it's those that are able to improvise and figure
out a path and make a way, but still get
the job done in.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Slow down time, like you said, right.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
Like methodical thinking, methodical moving, you know, placement.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah, it's what I love about film production as well,
in like a weird way, the similarities of it never
goes as planned, so it's really more of like a
problem solving while you're on set, you know, than like
a here's the plan and here's what we're going to do.
A lot less at stake there typically don't get hit
(29:46):
in the face, or.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
I've heard that.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Like a lot of actors, like some of the best,
they won't stick to the script. They kind of go
based off of what it is and then they put
their own little.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Twist on it. See that's like it's just like fighting.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
It's a skill set you kind of just have to develop.
So I definitely see how those meshed together. It's pretty
sick though. It's a different skill within itself for sure.
I've done a few acting roles and yeah, it's fun, dude,
it's fun. I was in I was in what was
the name of the movie. It was Anderson, So it
was a fighter movie and I played the role. I
(30:22):
ended up getting shot Anderson's silver shot rest in pea stage.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
But it was pretty sick, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Did they have like the what do they call those again,
brock They're yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
No, no, no, I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
It wasn't that death like a real battle or a
real bullet.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
Yeah, I'm spinning up blood. Yeah, but it was sick, dude.
It was fun and I I hadn't.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Really thought of what I was going to be doing
acting wise, you know what I mean. So it's like, Yo,
there's a script and I'm like, dude, I could barely
remember my Bible verses. You think I'm gonna be able
to follow each fucking you know what I mean? Like,
so I just kind of wrote down little key points,
and it's like the same thing when I do commentating.
I look at the fighters, I write down a couple
of key points, what they're good at, what the record is,
(31:09):
and like kind of how to mesh it together, and
then I'm able to put together a full like segment
on it, you know what I mean. So it's kind
of kind of just the way my mind works. I
think I'm not able to do things normal.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
I think that's smart though, Like you know, a lot
of seinfeld or curb your enthusiasm. They'll be like, Okay,
the scene is, you know, here's where we want to
get to, but how we get there is kind of
up to the actors, right, or.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Like, yeah, it's the intention.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Like I usually I've worked with a bunch of directors,
Like some people are very strict what you say, word
for word, everything on there, but.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
The other some other fired. There's a couple guy Guy Ritchie.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
I know, we had my buddy Sean on that did
The Gentleman with him and or not The Gentleman. He
did that a couple yeah, yeah, yeah, and then another
show with him. But he was like he would walk in.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well he was in the Gentleman movie too, though.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yes, that's where it's started, the Gentleman movie and then
coming it after I was thinking of the show because
it was fresh. But Guy Richie would come in and
and just tell them like, who are you like, tell
me about your character, whatever you know, and then he
would basically give them ten minutes to come up with
some stuff and then let them do it in the
scene and then.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
It throws gets thrown in the movie.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
There's a million different ways to do it, but The
big thing I've learned over time of acting is the
intentions on the paper, and it's exactly how do you
get from point A to point B.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Sometimes it's not gonna go as planned.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
People are gonna forget lines, or you're gonna make stuff up,
but to get there and maybe some of the.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Best stuff on film was made up by the actors.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Man famous Han solo when Le is like I love
you and he says I know, and he goes down
and gets frozen and carbonited.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
It's like the line was I love you too, and Han.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
He's like, Han wouldn't say that shit, I know.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
Iconic.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That's awesome. Yeah, I think with fighting too, it's for me.
It was a working out. Same thing with acting too,
like but it's I would say probably the best way
to learn who you are as a man, as a
person is fighting. Like that's when you know, like to
dig deep. Sometimes you're either a mercenary or you're a bitch.
It's one of the two. Fight or fight. Yeah, it's
(33:19):
fighter fight sometimes.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
And like I said that week that I trained for
that one fight, choked the dude out in the first round.
He kept fighting. Second round, he split me open. Was gassed.
My dad's talking to me in the corner and I'm
not hearing a word he's saying.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
I'm just like just depleted.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
And I'm looking and I'm like, dude, you're an Ireland
right now. You're fighting a home turf guy. It's one
in one. If you don't finish this dude, you're gonna
lose a fight.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
It's period.
Speaker 5 (33:47):
I established that in my head. I'm like, if you
don't finish this guy, you're gonna lose a fight. They're
in his hometown. No way, even though it's one in one,
you're not gonna win. So I'm just like, get up, go.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
Swing until you can't swing no more.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
I've dropped them and put them in a rear naked
and finished them and I was like, yeah, yeah, it's
a crazy one.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
Got to dig deep sometimes, you know the you know.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
A lot of your knockouts and KOs, you kind of
like get him on the ground and then attack them
on the ground and do the ground and pound game.
Is that is that a strategy that you work on
or is that something that you're just good at and
you know end up.
Speaker 5 (34:26):
I would say it's low risk, high reward. You know,
if you crack somebody. Some guys like the dude Clay
call it. I just thought he's got a chin on him. Bro,
what's the point of banging out with the dude that
you know is going to take one.
Speaker 6 (34:39):
Just he'll take five to give you one.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
It's like, why do that when I know I can
hit you, take you down, and then kind of finish
you off, you know. Or if I hit you and
I crack you and I see you bounce back real quick,
all right, well shit, let me just take you down
and give you some more and then explore different games.
You know, a lot of guys, they're just a lot
of fighters in general. There one dimensional. They're either good
at stand up, they're good at jiu jitsu, or they're
(35:02):
good at wrestling. They're good at wrestling they neutralize the
jiu jitsu, but their stand ups garbage. And that's why
I feel like I'm probably one of the best missed
mixed martial artists in the world because it's regardless where
you're at.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
In a fight, I'm gonna give your trouble.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Yeah, you know, if your hands are really good, Okay, well,
I guarantee you can't stop my takedown. If your wrestling
is really good, then I guarantee you my hands are
going to give you a problem. Right If your jiu
jitsu is really good, it's like, all right, well can
you get me to the ground?
Speaker 6 (35:32):
You know what I mean. So it's that's the whole
key of being a mixed martial artists.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
It's a mix of all arts, and a lot of
these fighters are just one dimensional. But as the sport grows,
this third generation of fighters, we're gonna start to see
a lot more kids like myself that are good at everything.
They're switching stands, they're doing stuff. Look at Joan and Maley.
Technically he's the second generation fighter, but look at what
he's doing footwork wise, he's switching stands, he's doing different stuff.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
But look at his jiu jitsu, look at his wrestling.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
So it's it's there's just different, different aspects of fighting
that not everyone implements. So for me having wrestling in
my pocket, that's my ace in hole, you know, I mean,
I'll stand up, give people a good fight and then okay,
let's finish this.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
Take him to the ground, took them out, or you know, if.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
It's a big, big change on the table, we'll have
some Max Holloway fights, you know, Like that's like I said,
one of my dream fights is Holloway and that would
be Yeah, that's he's he's like pinnacle of just that guy.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
He he's a partner in my buddies company, this drink
called New Grew. Yeah, they're they're working together on that
reach out.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And like, man, what am I supposed to say? Man,
thanks for coming on, bro, thanks.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
For having me do it again. Sometimes absolutely super game.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Yeah, I'm really glad we connected and this was really
cool to be able to kind of get inside your
head and and see how you approach fighting.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
It's a different world. It's a different world, but it's
a fun world.
Speaker 6 (37:04):
You know.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
It's a very tight community. Like you said, everybody's loving.
Fighters are some of the most loving people in the world.
But like you said to Tyson's got that switch. We
all got that switch. Some people can manage it. Guys
like Perry that's just them, right, I mean they wear
it and that's their badge, that's their honor.
Speaker 6 (37:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah, it's been great watching MMR rise in the last
you know, ten twenty years and just becoming this behemoth
of a sport.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
I always love yeah, sorry.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
I always love seeing what people do with their career too,
you know, like it gives you this awesome platform. You're
doing something amazing now, right, But then even Chuck for example,
you see them doing movies right and doing all these
different stuff, So what you do with it on top
of it as well is really cool.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
Man.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
So hopefully we'll get some movies going, we'll get some
snowboarding going, and.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
Snowboarding for sure, movies for sure, but get I'm gonna
get a gym going soon and get back to the youth.
You know, I love the kids, and there there are
futures so so a lot of kids that don't really
have discipline and father figures in their life. So I
think really putting a gym together four kids is like
you know, I grew up in the gym, and it's
(38:11):
it's it keeps them out of trouble, it keeps them motivated,
It keeps their energy low because.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
They're utilizing it.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
So I think that's my next step, you know, get
a nice gym, big gym going, and get the kids
going in there, because the fighting is it's the next sport.
That's it right now, you know what I mean. So
it's going to go from the entertainment to a full
blown sport to where it's going to become like boxing,
just a larger scale.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah that's great.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
You do that in California.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
Yeah, definitely. I can't leave myself. I'm like, I'm ready
to leave, and I'm like, where am I going?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
It's like that Frank Rillo show.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
What is it?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Warrior?
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Is that the name of what's that Frank Rillo where
they have the gym and Soca in Venice fighting gym
in Venice.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Yeah, anyway, I know you got to get out of here,
but thank you so much for coming on hentime.
Speaker 6 (39:01):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Appreciate you bro anytime, Brost.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Thanks for tuning in to Studio twenty two.
You're listening to Studio twenty two.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Studio twenty two.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm your host Will Meltman here with as always Brock O'Hern.
How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Good, man another data happy? I woke up?
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Yeah, absolutely, I never know what to say in this moment,
so we have a little brief awkward moment and we
move on.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, that's that's our typical, our typical schedule.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We are here joined with AJ McKee, one of the
best pound for pound fighters out there with Bellator Mma AJ,
a man that has certainly earned his nickname the Mercenary.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Studio twenty two.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thank you, thanks for having me. Dude, thanks for coming on. Man.
Where did where did the nickname mercenary come from?
Speaker 5 (00:50):
So it actually took a bit of planning between my
family and I and we were just sitting there trying
to think of names. Were like, all right, Anderson, Spider Silva,
like dope, and like we just kept coming.
Speaker 6 (01:01):
Up with different things.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
And if I wasn't fighting, obviously I would have went
in the military, did something special Forces or something. Yeah,
so we're like, dude, mercenary, Like we came up with
mercenary and the like, do you know the definition of mercenary.
It's like it's someone that you hire to go get
a job done. And yeah, I mean pretty much that's
what I'm doing. You hire me, I go in that cage,
(01:23):
I get the job done, and I come home.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So it's clear you're very good at getting the job done.
That's sick, dude.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I'm actually writing a film right now about mercenary, so
it's a little close to home.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Dude, should be the start.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Come on, I'll talk to the guys, bro if you
want to come in, or Navy seals and they go
off and kind of have to do some crazy stuff. Yeah, man,
we'll talk a yeah. But yeah, man, dude, I appreciate
you coming on. Makes your time. Uh, I'm actually clear.
It's like, so you when did you first start because
I know your dad is a legend and you came
(01:57):
into sport early, but were you like rolling at age one?
Stuff like how did it or was it introduced a
little bit later for.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
You kind of.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
I was always in the gym as a kid, so
I started wrestling at like five six years old and
doing jiu jitsu probably like eight or nine. I had
my first amateur fight before amateur was even around.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Yeah, I was like I think eleven eleven or something,
and it wasn't even amateur.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Like.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
We went to another gym lined all the kids up, like,
you guys are the same size, match you up, and
that's how we did it. And then when I was
probably about sixteen or fifteen, the amateur league came into
play here in California and if you were under eighteen,
you couldn't punch to the head.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
So I did one.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Fight like that and I was like, this shit sucks.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
I'm not doing this.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
We'll go back to fighting in backyards and stuff, you know.
So the week after my eighteenth birthday, I had my
amateur fight, my first amateur fight. My dad put on
a show and uh, he just wanted to see what
I had. And yeah, I went out there, sup, plex
dude on his head, just had an awesome fight. He's like,
all right, I got a little potential, you know. And
after that it was it was full force. I went
(03:07):
to college for a year half a year and I
was like, yeah, this isn't for me. I wrestled at
Notre Dame in Cleveland and was like, screw this. I
flew home, went to JC for a year, want to
state title there.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
I was gonna try to beat my dad's record.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
He was two years undefeated, like sixty or seventy you oh,
and I lost one match that year, so I was like,
all right, screw college rus and dropped out and then
it was just full force fighting and I did probably
like eight or eight eight to twelve fights amateur, lost
one amateur. I got knocked my dad. I remember first
(03:42):
thing my dad told me, He's like, don't go out there,
throw a lead leg headkick. So like I'm thinking, like, no,
lead leg head kick, but obviously it's the first thing
I see because it's on my mind. And I threw it,
spun around, dude cracked me with the right hand. I
sat down and I just hear the crowd go oh.
And I remember I was like, oh my god, hit again.
And I just woke up. I saw four legs in
front of me.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
Two in the middle.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
It was one of his, one of the rest, and
they're stopping it.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So yeah, So you started with the wrestling, and then
there's also you also trained with boxing and ju jitsu, Right, Like,
when did that kind of come in and when did
you learn the alternative methods.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
I don't know, I kind of just started doing mma
before anything. You know, I get in trouble at school,
couldn't go to school suspended obviously sometimes and for fighting
sometimes sometimes I was just a little troublemaker, dude. Like
I just I love to talk. I couldn't sit still
if you notice, like I haven't sat still. I'm like
(04:41):
twisting in the chair. I'm always doing something. So in
school it was the same thing. And you know, I
got a few fights here and there.
Speaker 6 (04:50):
I was always a little kid.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
It's like ninety eight pounds until my junior year of
high school, like tiny, and people just challenged me. But
I don't care how big you are where I'm down
to fight you. I mean, if it's a fight, let's
do it. And I would get in trouble. So I
would just be at the gym training with all the guys.
You know, they had a night class for like the
(05:12):
AMI guys, mixed them with a few pros, and I'd
just be in there training with them, you know, just
always in the gym. I kind of love obviously boxing
and fighting, but kicking is like my thing. That's like
my passion, you know what I mean. You can keep
people away, you can pick them apart with kids kicks.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So was it?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That was it the Macapa Macapa fight where it was
like I think you threw a head kick and then
you were on the ground, but then you literally just
come right back up and knock them out.
Speaker 6 (05:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Yeah, I threw a kick and then something something happened.
I came up through an elbow. Most people don't even
see the elbow. The elbow was like so faint, it
was like an elbow. And then he threw an overhand.
I blocked it, came back and then hit him with the.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
Left and he was just he was out. Yeah, he
felt like a sack of potatoes.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
I watched in slow mo and like I didn't turn
the punch over until after it was through his chin,
and I was like, damn, what if they caught him
on the end, you know what I mean? Like it
was just different some of my fights.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
I'm just so dialed in on some of them that
it's like I analyze everything. You know, fighting is art,
so it's like you really got to be able to
analyze everything your opponent's doing, the way they're breathing, the
way they're stepping on their toes, their heels, how they're looking,
what they're looking at, Like, you gotta literally monitor everything.
And some of my best fights are when I do that.
You know, my eight second knockout. I broke that entire
(06:35):
fight down before it even happened.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Is that the Brian Kara Kanya Georgie Georgie, Yeah, we go.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
No, I was gonna say it was that, Like you say,
you broke down the whole fight for it even happened.
Is that just studying that guy beforehand, or even just
when he walks in the room and how he's holding.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Himself exactly, just how he's holding himself, Like we're in
the cage and before the fight starts, I see him
jumping around, he's looking around. Then next thing you know,
he's he comes out southball. I'm like, okay, why is
he southball? He's an orthodox fighter, So all right, I'm
gonna throw a job.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
See what he does. He switches back.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Oh, he's uncomfortable, so he's trying to throw me off
by switching his stands. So I back off, throw another jab.
I know what he's gonna do already He's into the
same thing he just did, which is step back. Oh,
just throw over him right over the top. Boom, he
goes down. Okay, now get on him.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
Boom boom boom.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
And it's like that's a matter of eight seconds, But
for me, it felt like it was a minute, you
know what I mean, because I'm assessing everything that's going on.
I'm watching his breathing, what he's doing, where he's looking around,
just everything. So it's it's pretty crazy when you can
dial in like that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
It's crazy too because you're definitely known for speed, right, So,
like to say, eight seconds felt like a minute. It's
like you're slowing down time, right, Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Does does it ever feel like it's moving in slow
mo for you when you're there?
Speaker 6 (07:56):
Sometimes sometimes when I'm there's certain fights.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
On just dialed in so fire that it's like everything
it's just lined up for that moment. You know, you
don't hear the crowds, you don't see the ref you
don't you don't even see the cage. You're like dialed in,
you know what I mean. And that's kind of the
crazy part. But when when it's like that, you're unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's like that Sherlock Holmes like, uh, guy, Ritchie movie,
I'm a total film nerd, so I'll relate everything.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
But yeah, it's like they.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Slow everything down and he's like, but like you said,
they calculate every little thing that goes into like every
step or punch or anything.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I really like how they do that with the showlock
Holmes thing because he's like left hook to the rib cage,
debilitate his breathing right, stuff like that. Yeah, but it's
just being like analytical and be able to break it down. Man,
it's sick there. Like it takes a lot of balls
to step in the ring. I already know that and
(08:58):
then to be able to be dialed have a mindset
going into it like a lot of respect for you, bro.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Thanks, I appreciate it. It's just it's part of me,
you know what I mean. I don't know what else
i'd be doing in life. Well, I wasn't fighting for real,
for real, but uh yeah, it's it's all lifestyle. Man.
I'm in the gym six days out of the week.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
I don't want to be there sometimes, but I'm still there. Yeah,
just go.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
You know, sometimes when I don't want to go, I
end up having the best day. So It's like that's
what really made me take it full force and just
always in there. But obviously getting older body starts to
wither away, so you got to train smarter, not harder.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Right, Well, I mean congrats on the massive contract with
Belotour as well. I mean that's yeah absolutely. Are you
excited for everything you got coming up? Uh?
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah, it's just be patient, wait, you know, see see
what arises.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
Just wait for that call.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Stay ready, you don't go to get ready.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah that's interesting, right is it? So there's essentially nothing
scheduled now, but then you're you're kind of in the
works and then you'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Kind of deal.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah, So they've been bringing me on board PFL poats
or they've been bringing me on board having me do
commentating and just other different things. I think they're just
trying to figure out what to do with me because
I'm good at so many different things. It's like, well,
what can't this kid kind of do?
Speaker 6 (10:17):
You know?
Speaker 5 (10:17):
Like I can commentate, I can referee, I can do
it all. You know, I know the rules, I know
technicianal points of the fight game, how to score around.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
So it's like, let's see what he can do you know?
Speaker 5 (10:30):
So commentating has been kind of the new thing that
they're kind of gearing me up for a little bit.
Speaker 6 (10:34):
But I don't know if I want to commentate.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
You couldn't see yourself maybe doing that after.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
I need adrenaline in my life, man, I'm trying to
be on a mountain snowboard and going X Games mode
or like racing cars. I gotta have adrenaline my snowboard. Yeah,
he's insane.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Bro. We gotta yeah, we gotta. God, I just got
backflips on locks, so.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
No way, we're not there, but and your backlips.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
But I saw the video with your buddy and you
guys are going down with the drink in your hand. Yeah, dude,
So they like were doing all these cricks flips like
all it was crazy and by the bottom, who had
the most liquid still left in there?
Speaker 5 (11:14):
It was monster Vodka Monster Vodka Challenge, Okay, ok, yeah,
my buddy he so pretty much last one whoever has
the most liquid in their drink at the end wins
and then we all backflip, and I mean it was
pretty even until the last jump, and I kind of just.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
And it wasn't intentional.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Probably people were probably like Oh that was set up like, no,
I really ate ship.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Oh damn, it's hard to fake that, right. Is that
something you've been doing since you're young too?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Or snowboarding though I've probably only done like four or
five seasons no ship.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
Yeah, and a few of them been.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Cut short just obviously with fighting and stuff. So this
previous season, this one that just kind of ended, but
still here that was the most stuff snowboarded This past
season was really impressive.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
I mean, yeah, it's insane obviously. I mean with the fighting,
so you probably know your body crazy well, so you
pick stuff up real quick.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Yeah, it's just knowing how to fall. Knowing how to
fall saved it a lot. You know, have knee pads,
little thin slits and knee knee pads, and then I
started wearing hip pads and like butt pads and when
hitting rails those come into dude. Yeah, they're doing all
that stuff, the life saving for real.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I mean I learned when I was like eight, so
like when you're a kid, you're in Yeah, I kind
of did that whole part as a as a young
and but yeah, doing rails and all the jump parts
and ship like that, I probably want to pad up
that stuff. Yeah, I'm more of just like a cruiser.
I'll do that.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You gotta wear risk guards.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Yeah, yeah, fall on double trauma punching people and then
falling on snow.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
That does not I learned the hard way.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I grew up skateboarding and it was literally like at
a certain point you realize you're just like falling, You're
just professionally falling. How good are you at falling? So
the one clip, yeah, exactly. It might not happen concrete.
It's a little less forgiving, but it's a same thing.
I mean, you can eat out eat it pretty hard
on a snowboard, but that's Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Would you have a favorite mountain?
Speaker 5 (13:14):
Honestly, I've only I went to Brighton in Utah and
I broke myself first run of the first day on
a week long trip. Oh tour my ac completely. So
I have no a c in my shoulder. Been meaning
to get that fixed for a while, but it doesn't
bother me anymore. So I'm like, I'm not gonna go
get shoulder surgery.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
But for the most.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Part, I'm always at Bear Bear Summit. Yeah, that's my mountain.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Easy to get up there.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
We got to get you to a yellow Stone Club
up in Montana. It's like Big Sky Montana up in
that area.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
Okay, a big pow.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, it's a Discovery Land company up there rocking because
they also have the Big Sky Mountain, which is a
public mountain right next to it, So it's I think
all together between the two mountains, there's like more skiable
track than like veil.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Yeah, that's why they got there.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yellowstone's private, so it's literally be on the mountain of
five people.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's sick. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
I haven't been to any like big mountain range like
that yet. I wanted to get up to Tahoe this year.
It didn't happen. They just closed Tahoe. So I think
I'm gonna try to hit Mammoth in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, Mammoth was great.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Scared they got dumped on earlier this year.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Yeah, this year and last year, last nast year.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
It was epic, Yeah, because we were supposed to go
for the film festival and then there's massive storm came in.
We're like, I don't think I want to deal with
one hundred and twenty miles per hour winds right now,
whatever else is coming in.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
We had plans to go.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
We were all and then it was just like too
dangerous driving out and that stuff and.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, yeah but fun.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
And then Jackson Holes is a little more considered difficult.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
I've heard a few things about Jackson. Yeah, it's pretty nice.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
It's sick.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I haven't been there, but yeah, you go a lot, right.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah, it just went went this uh December. It's
dope because like you get on the mountain, it's like
ten thousand feet away, but then it goes almost down
to flat, so you're like, I feel like you're in
heaven or something like that.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
It's crazy, dude, that's the.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I can't wait. I keep saying I'm gonna get out.
I never do.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Just so many things end up coming up, you know
what I mean. And it's like one thing after another
and then you get the call. It's like let's go
fight now. It's like all right, everything's halted. Yeah, straight
training camp.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
You know, what's what's the earliest you ever had to
get ready for a fight? Like short amount of time? Well,
I always get about eight weeks. Okay, yeah, they always
notified me.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
But my shortest camp that I've ever done was literally
a week.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
One week.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Yeah, I took a well I mean I took the fight.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
No, I took the fight a couple of months out
and just life being young and dumb, not training actually start.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
No, it was literally a.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Weight cut, right, that was my training camp.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, we learned as we.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
Go, all right, Yeah, definitely I won't be doing that again. Yeah.
I used to.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
One of my amateur career, I was taking full grammar
dabs before some fights under the cage, throwing up and stuff.
My Dad's like, bro, so I get the devil out
of you, and I'm like, it's just a horrible feeling, dude.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Oh man, I remember we uh. I grew up doing
a little bit of martial arts with my brothers. So
we had a couple of fights and he ate like
this big pasta dinner before one time and just yacked
red pasta all over the map.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I was like, you learn what not to eat when
it go in.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
It's a lot, man, Like, unless you do it, you
don't really know how physically intense it is. Like three
five minute rounds alone or just even one, It's it's brutal, man.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's I don't even eat before practice. Yeah,
I can't.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
I've definitely had stuff like that, more of like TV stuff,
you know, or I'm like nervous to go do some
live and thing or whatever because I grew up introverted
as hell. You're gonna be on TV in front of
ten million people in a live audience or whatever. I'm like,
but you you puke and then you get clear headed
and you're like, calm.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Get.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It's not something I'm proud of, but it is what
it is.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
See, I'm the opposite.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I'm fine on TV, fine on camera, but then when
I get around people, I'm like.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Like ship people are here, like more like crowds of
people are just in general, just.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
In general, I'm very introvert, but once I'm pumfortable, I
open up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
It just it takes a bit for me to get there.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Alcohol same way it helps me with that.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's the liquid courage out there.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah. Yeah, usually go for that.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah. It's if I do like one or two in
an event or something like that, I'm like, I.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Can talk to anybody exactly before I'm like, why am
I so fucking awkward?
Speaker 6 (17:33):
Dude?
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah no, but that's cool. Man.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Do you have a like a long term vision for
your career, where you want to take it, what you
want to do after or like I mean obviously got
hobbies of the cars and snowboarding stuff like that. Is
there anything outside of it or you just like in
it to win it right now?
Speaker 5 (17:50):
No, I'm just saying it to win it the best
to ever do it? Teach kids obviously have a few brothers.
I have a seven year old brother. I have a
eighteen year old brother. They're kind of following the footsteps
as well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So the oldest of the three, the three.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Yeah, there's many more though, like post crazy nine in
my family. Bro Okay, Yeah, there's three on my on
my mom's side, and then I think like five on
my dad's side. Oh yeah, and then two two and
three nieces.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
And nephews on each side.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Oh wow.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Yeah, so big family.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah yeah, that's like my little brother has four kids
and he's what thirty, he just turned thirty, and one
of them is eleven already, and then my little sister
is about to have her first.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
One, so sick. Yeah. Yeah it's cool, man, I'm fired up.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I'm so excited for Yeah, they're the best, dude.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I just I just had a my brother just had
a kid, so I have my first nephew.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
Like I had a.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Little brother who was super younger from on my dad's side.
But like it's crazy seeing your brother as a dad,
right because you're like kind of like you get competitive
because we were your little brother, older brother. Okay, yeah,
and like you know, I always played sports with him
growing up, so there's like that competitive.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Like you know nature there.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
So I'm like, if he can do it, I can
do it, you know. But I don't actually think that
he's a he's a great pops. But you know, maybe
one day I'll get there.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yeah, Okay, your brothers go to a lot of your fights,
you can see it.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
No, none, actually unless it's like here, if it's in
La somewhere traveling. Yeah, I just it's business's going handle work,
come home, you know, that's that mercenary thing. Yeah, come
home to the family after. But yeah, it's work. I'm
going to handle business.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
What's the further Furthest you've traveled.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
For a fight?
Speaker 5 (19:41):
I think Saudi? Yeah, Saudi was that was the Furthest.
And then Japan and then been all over Italy, Dublin.
I've been to a few places.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
I love Dublin. Yeah, Dublin's awesome. Devlin's awesome.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
Guinness is really good out there, the best, no comparison,
no comparison, like a bottle of Guinness here versus there
on tap, like night and day and not even then
a Guinness bomb.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh my god, dude.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I worked on a film called Your Highness out there
for like an entire summer, and I get back from
being out there and I just like, I didn't even notice.
I had this like big pot belly from all the
Guinness I had every night, and I'm like, it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Yeah, let me get a bike, dude, get another one.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
We get a bike. I was pint I was pinted
up out there.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
Chocolate milk. Yeah, it's like the best way to describe
it is chocolate milk.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, it's insane. It's yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
That was That's what I want to do for my
my thirtieth. But it was the middle of right when
COVID hit. I want to get a bunch of my
boys together, go out there and rent a castle because
you can be a castle for a couple hundred bucks
the night, dude, and we just get have Guinness. Maybe
grab some motorcycles. If you get out there, but it's
still on the bucket list. Yeah, that's a cool spot up.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
There, sick. I haven't been there in years. Last time
I was there, I was kicking with Vitur Belfort.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
We went to like Little Brazil and stuff. It's pretty lit.
It's a good time, dude, super cool.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
Into the night. He pulls out a fight dollar bill
signs it for me. He's like for you. It was
like for real, thanks, it's pretty too.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yeah, that's cool, man.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Has there been any experiences you had that the fighting
has kind of opened up the doors like that, you
know obviously, but that really stand out to you.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
Yeah, there's been so many.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Ye I've just been around so many fighters in my life,
you know, Randy Tito, Chuck town Woodley, like anybody you
can think of.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
I've seen him come into our gym.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You know, Chucks a buddy too.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Yeah, Chuck's awesome.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
I got to work with him like fully, hands on,
and that was probably one of my best moments, I'd say,
just because obviously it's like seie man and then like
getting like you know what I mean, getting to help
him through camp and see his progression through everything was
was awesome and when he first came to us, we
were like he's not fighting, We're not and then like
just seeing him fully and get to where we were like, yo, like.
Speaker 6 (22:03):
He's doing it again, you know, Like it was.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Just awesome to see, you know, and it's like being
able to relate as a fighter. It's like we never
want to hang up the gloves. Yeah, that's just that's life.
Like as a fighter, we always live to fight another
day regardless, Like we're fighting another day, fighting another day.
But then it's like at some point you're gonna have
to you know, my dad's fifty three and he's like,
I still want to fight. I'm like, we're fifty fucking three.
(22:28):
You're gonna have me jumping in the cage trying to
whip somebody's ass for hitting you. Bro, Like I live
it through us now, you know. And it's like you
still want to fight. But he still trains with us, dude,
you know what I mean. He's still in the gym,
active with us, coaching and training his hands on.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
So it's, uh, it's it's cool.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Would you say that fighting community is like a very
like more of a tight knit community of like sparring
together and working together than maybe, like you know, a
fan would would realize a little bit.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
I would say, more so of like organizations, because you
see a lot of fighters that kind of train together and.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Hang out together. But uh, like me, I don't go
train anywhere.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
It's it's strictly body shot. I don't go nowhere. If
I need somebody, I'll hire somebody to come in. And
that's on an occasion, you know what I mean, like
a specialist or like yeah, so like when I fought
Satoshi in Japan, I hired jeremiadvance sick jiu jitsu artists,
like black belt, probably some.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Of the coldest jiu jitsu around.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
I would say, And he's ten planning under every Eddie
Bravo and yeah, I hired him, and he's just whooping
my ass, you know. And I'll go to the headquarters
over in downtown La tenth Planet, and dude, I have
a thirty I had a thirty five pounder tap me
out ten times in less than five minutes.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Oh legit. And like I'm not gonna be like, oh.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Like whatever, you know what I mean, Like, no, let's
keep going. You're gonna keep doing it, and I'm gonna
figure out how.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
To get out of it. Yeah yeah, but he came
to my gym.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
I got my get back because like I knew what
to look for at that point.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
That's awesome. Man.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
You mentioned the older fighters, you know, like, what do
you think about the it's a different realm, but boxing
with Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, what do you think
about that going on?
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Last thing to go is your power in your time?
So one thing Tyson has always had his power and
his timing is impeccable. So I don't know, man, I
think realistically, Tyson a fucking flat line Jake in my opinion,
and I fuck with Jake, you know what I mean.
That's that's my boy. Like he's cool as hell.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
But I don't know.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I just feel like when he fought Anderson Silva, that
kind of showed me like he's he's got he's got
it in him. But there has to be that second
killer instinct switch where you gotta.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Go, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
He he outdid he outdid Silva. But if that fight
goes like that with Tyson, Tyson's gonna hurt him. Yeah,
you know what I mean. And that's just my honest opinion.
But then the same thing like the same time, it's
a fight, so you never.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
I don't know anybody that knocked Tyson out. I mean
one person. Like it's like realistically, like I don't know, bro,
it's signing to death wish. But at the same time,
it's like fuck it, why not. It's like fighting Floyd,
Like I'd go fight Floyd if I could, you know
what I mean, even if I know I'm gonna get
my ass. Well, even Crawford, Like Crawford's one of the
(25:27):
best right now. Yeah, And I even told him, I
was like, yo, I'd love to fight you, and he
kind of looked at me, like you just say, you know,
like yeah, bro, I'd love to fight you. Like it'd
be a great fight. Like you know what I mean,
You're the best. I feel like you're the best, and
it'd just be awesome to do.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I mean, that makes perfect sense, right.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
Yeah, it's just sharing that moment.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, you're you're in the game, and you know, put
me in coach.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Yeah, pretty much the forest all the way.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
The mentality is everything too. Man.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Like, we spend a little time around Tyson. Dude, I
just even today scared dude, Bro, he gave me.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
A friendly one in the side and like it.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
And I was like, but it's it's some of the
stuff that you'll hear him talk because he's such a dude.
He's so deep and he's so intelligent. And then when
he flips that switch just like and says, like when
he said he said he was a predator, I'm a predator.
When he said that, I was like, there is any
single sliver of fear.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Running through your body?
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Man, And like I was like, literally pictured Arnold Schwarzene
or the predator from Arnold and then him and I
was like, Mike would fuck his.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Crazy.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
So it's it's like humans in general were predators, you
know what I mean. I think as humans that's something
in today's era that we're kind of being desensitized.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
As you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
But that's why everybody loves fighting because it's like it
brings us back to those primal gladiator days, you know
what I mean, something everybody can relate to. And it's like,
whether you like it or not, you're intrigued with it,
you know, because it's as a human, it's something you
can relate to, you know, pain regardless, you know, So
It's like you see somebody get cut open. It's like, fuck,
I can feel that, Yeah, I can feel it. Maybe
(27:10):
I haven't been cut open, but I know that shit hurts.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, they've hurt. I wonder how bad that hurts.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
You know, So it's it's fighting's just different, dude.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, the rise of you know, I mean, boxing has
been around forever obviously, but you kind of like see
it hit mainstream kind of more in the fifties and sixties, right,
like that American football, you know, the rise of MMA.
It's like even the violence sports are the most watched
for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, for a reason, the beginning of time. College.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, civilization's built off that, man, Like, imagine how many wars,
how many battles Roman.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Dude, the biggest empire of like the entire world.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
The center of their capital is the massive gladiator arena.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, right collegeum in Rome.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah, sometimes I I wish, I guess maybe I fantasized
that we were still in like spartan days. My life
would probably be a little farther along right now, if
I had the chance farther shorter. I had a great run,
but a short run. Yeah, man, that's it's wild. Well,
(28:16):
it's just like making me think now about the whole
dam man, man, how do we switch this over?
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Right? Maybe I need a way. It sounds like fun
do it?
Speaker 6 (28:26):
It's hell fun.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, like I want to do it.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
It's one of the best experiences you'll ever have. Yeah,
And it's like, yeah, it might suck, but at the
same time, you're going to appreciate it even if it
does suck. You know, you get punched in the face
and it's like you feel it. It's real, you know
what I mean. And it's it's whatever you put in
you get out, you know. And sometimes ship doesn't go right,
but you got to improvise in that moment and figure
(28:50):
it out.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
And that's what I like about fighting, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
You can have a game plan, but that shit goes
out the window second you get cracked and it's like, oh,
game plan gone, now do I do?
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You know?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
You got to improvise in that moment. You got to
be able to act.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
You know.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
It's like a fight or flight. It's just like Navy Seals,
Green Berets, all these guys.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Shit don't always go as planned, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
But it's those that are able to improvise and figure
out a path and make a way, but still get
the job done in.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Slow down time, like you said, right.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
Like methodical thinking, methodical moving, you know, placement.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah, it's what I love about film production as well,
in like a weird way, the similarities of it never
goes as planned, so it's really more of like a
problem solving while you're on set, you know, than like
a here's the plan and here's what we're going to do.
A lot less at stake there typically don't get hit
(29:46):
in the face, or.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
I've heard that.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Like a lot of actors, like some of the best,
they won't stick to the script. They kind of go
based off of what it is and then they put
their own little.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Twist on it. See that's like it's just like fighting.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
It's a skill set you kind of just have to develop.
So I definitely see how those meshed together. It's pretty
sick though. It's a different skill within itself for sure.
I've done a few acting roles and yeah, it's fun, dude,
it's fun. I was in I was in what was
the name of the movie. It was Anderson, So it
was a fighter movie and I played the role. I
(30:22):
ended up getting shot Anderson's silver shot rest in pea stage.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
But it was pretty sick, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Did they have like the what do they call those again,
brock They're yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
No, no, no, I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
It wasn't that death like a real battle or a
real bullet.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
Yeah, I'm spinning up blood. Yeah, but it was sick, dude.
It was fun and I I hadn't.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Really thought of what I was going to be doing
acting wise, you know what I mean. So it's like, Yo,
there's a script and I'm like, dude, I could barely
remember my Bible verses. You think I'm gonna be able
to follow each fucking you know what I mean? Like,
so I just kind of wrote down little key points,
and it's like the same thing when I do commentating.
I look at the fighters, I write down a couple
of key points, what they're good at, what the record is,
(31:09):
and like kind of how to mesh it together, and
then I'm able to put together a full like segment
on it, you know what I mean. So it's kind
of kind of just the way my mind works. I
think I'm not able to do things normal.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
I think that's smart though, Like you know, a lot
of seinfeld or curb your enthusiasm. They'll be like, Okay,
the scene is, you know, here's where we want to
get to, but how we get there is kind of
up to the actors, right, or.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Like, yeah, it's the intention.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Like I usually I've worked with a bunch of directors,
Like some people are very strict what you say, word
for word, everything on there, but.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
The other some other fired. There's a couple guy Guy Ritchie.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
I know, we had my buddy Sean on that did
The Gentleman with him and or not The Gentleman. He
did that a couple yeah, yeah, yeah, and then another
show with him. But he was like he would walk in.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well he was in the Gentleman movie too, though.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yes, that's where it's started, the Gentleman movie and then
coming it after I was thinking of the show because
it was fresh. But Guy Richie would come in and
and just tell them like, who are you like, tell
me about your character, whatever you know, and then he
would basically give them ten minutes to come up with
some stuff and then let them do it in the
scene and then.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
It throws gets thrown in the movie.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
There's a million different ways to do it, but The
big thing I've learned over time of acting is the
intentions on the paper, and it's exactly how do you
get from point A to point B.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Sometimes it's not gonna go as planned.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
People are gonna forget lines, or you're gonna make stuff up,
but to get there and maybe some of the.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Best stuff on film was made up by the actors.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Man famous Han solo when Le is like I love
you and he says I know, and he goes down
and gets frozen and carbonited.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
It's like the line was I love you too, and Han.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
He's like, Han wouldn't say that shit, I know.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
Iconic.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That's awesome. Yeah, I think with fighting too, it's for me.
It was a working out. Same thing with acting too,
like but it's I would say probably the best way
to learn who you are as a man, as a
person is fighting. Like that's when you know, like to
dig deep. Sometimes you're either a mercenary or you're a bitch.
It's one of the two. Fight or fight. Yeah, it's
(33:19):
fighter fight sometimes.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
And like I said that week that I trained for
that one fight, choked the dude out in the first round.
He kept fighting. Second round, he split me open. Was gassed.
My dad's talking to me in the corner and I'm
not hearing a word he's saying.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
I'm just like just depleted.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
And I'm looking and I'm like, dude, you're an Ireland
right now. You're fighting a home turf guy. It's one
in one. If you don't finish this dude, you're gonna
lose a fight.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
It's period.
Speaker 5 (33:47):
I established that in my head. I'm like, if you
don't finish this guy, you're gonna lose a fight. They're
in his hometown. No way, even though it's one in one,
you're not gonna win. So I'm just like, get up, go.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
Swing until you can't swing no more.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
I've dropped them and put them in a rear naked
and finished them and I was like, yeah, yeah, it's
a crazy one.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
Got to dig deep sometimes, you know the you know.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
A lot of your knockouts and KOs, you kind of
like get him on the ground and then attack them
on the ground and do the ground and pound game.
Is that is that a strategy that you work on
or is that something that you're just good at and
you know end up.
Speaker 5 (34:26):
I would say it's low risk, high reward. You know,
if you crack somebody. Some guys like the dude Clay
call it. I just thought he's got a chin on him. Bro,
what's the point of banging out with the dude that
you know is going to take one.
Speaker 6 (34:39):
Just he'll take five to give you one.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
It's like, why do that when I know I can
hit you, take you down, and then kind of finish
you off, you know. Or if I hit you and
I crack you and I see you bounce back real quick,
all right, well shit, let me just take you down
and give you some more and then explore different games.
You know, a lot of guys, they're just a lot
of fighters in general. There one dimensional. They're either good
at stand up, they're good at jiu jitsu, or they're
(35:02):
good at wrestling. They're good at wrestling they neutralize the
jiu jitsu, but their stand ups garbage. And that's why
I feel like I'm probably one of the best missed
mixed martial artists in the world because it's regardless where
you're at.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
In a fight, I'm gonna give your trouble.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Yeah, you know, if your hands are really good, Okay, well,
I guarantee you can't stop my takedown. If your wrestling
is really good, then I guarantee you my hands are
going to give you a problem. Right If your jiu
jitsu is really good, it's like, all right, well can
you get me to the ground?
Speaker 6 (35:32):
You know what I mean. So it's that's the whole
key of being a mixed martial artists.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
It's a mix of all arts, and a lot of
these fighters are just one dimensional. But as the sport grows,
this third generation of fighters, we're gonna start to see
a lot more kids like myself that are good at everything.
They're switching stands, they're doing stuff. Look at Joan and Maley.
Technically he's the second generation fighter, but look at what
he's doing footwork wise, he's switching stands, he's doing different stuff.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
But look at his jiu jitsu, look at his wrestling.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
So it's it's there's just different, different aspects of fighting
that not everyone implements. So for me having wrestling in
my pocket, that's my ace in hole, you know, I mean,
I'll stand up, give people a good fight and then okay,
let's finish this.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
Take him to the ground, took them out, or you know, if.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
It's a big, big change on the table, we'll have
some Max Holloway fights, you know, Like that's like I said,
one of my dream fights is Holloway and that would
be Yeah, that's he's he's like pinnacle of just that guy.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
He he's a partner in my buddies company, this drink
called New Grew. Yeah, they're they're working together on that
reach out.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And like, man, what am I supposed to say? Man,
thanks for coming on, bro, thanks.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
For having me do it again. Sometimes absolutely super game.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Yeah, I'm really glad we connected and this was really
cool to be able to kind of get inside your
head and and see how you approach fighting.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
It's a different world. It's a different world, but it's
a fun world.
Speaker 6 (37:04):
You know.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
It's a very tight community. Like you said, everybody's loving.
Fighters are some of the most loving people in the world.
But like you said to Tyson's got that switch. We
all got that switch. Some people can manage it. Guys
like Perry that's just them, right, I mean they wear
it and that's their badge, that's their honor.
Speaker 6 (37:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah, it's been great watching MMR rise in the last
you know, ten twenty years and just becoming this behemoth
of a sport.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
I always love yeah, sorry.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
I always love seeing what people do with their career too,
you know, like it gives you this awesome platform. You're
doing something amazing now, right, But then even Chuck for example,
you see them doing movies right and doing all these
different stuff, So what you do with it on top
of it as well is really cool.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
Man.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
So hopefully we'll get some movies going, we'll get some
snowboarding going, and.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
Snowboarding for sure, movies for sure, but get I'm gonna
get a gym going soon and get back to the youth.
You know, I love the kids, and there there are
futures so so a lot of kids that don't really
have discipline and father figures in their life. So I
think really putting a gym together four kids is like
you know, I grew up in the gym, and it's
(38:11):
it's it keeps them out of trouble, it keeps them motivated,
It keeps their energy low because.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
They're utilizing it.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
So I think that's my next step, you know, get
a nice gym, big gym going, and get the kids
going in there, because the fighting is it's the next sport.
That's it right now, you know what I mean. So
it's going to go from the entertainment to a full
blown sport to where it's going to become like boxing,
just a larger scale.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah that's great.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
You do that in California.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
Yeah, definitely. I can't leave myself. I'm like, I'm ready
to leave, and I'm like, where am I going?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
It's like that Frank Rillo show.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
What is it?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Warrior?
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Is that the name of what's that Frank Rillo where
they have the gym and Soca in Venice fighting gym
in Venice.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Yeah, anyway, I know you got to get out of here,
but thank you so much for coming on hentime.
Speaker 6 (39:01):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Appreciate you bro anytime, Brost.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Thanks for tuning in to Studio twenty two.
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