October 28, 2023 • 41 mins
Text me a question for the show
Ever wondered what's going on inside a fighter's mind leading up to a match? Offering an introspective look into the emotional and mental struggles fighters face, our conversation with UFC star Vicente Luque does just that. We unravel Luque's recent UFC 294 victory and how high expectations can have profound emotional impacts. We also delve into the reactions of other fighters like Kamaru Usman and the ripple effect of Alexander Volkanovski's comments about needing a fight.
Navigating through losses in the ring requires an immense amount of self-belief and resilience. Luque shares his journey of personal growth and how his move to Florida to train with top-level fighters has been a game-changer. We discuss the significance of confidence, the influences of other fighters on his career, and how he is gearing up for his upcoming bout with Ian Garry. This episode also takes a peek at the evolution of techniques in MMA, discussing the dynamics of training and the decision-making process involved in fighting a teammate.
Life outside the ring is equally vital; it's not just about setting high goals, but also appreciating the smaller wins in life. Luque talks about the importance of having a respectful and positive attitude even in the face of adversity, and how setting limitless goals can sometimes be a recipe for unhappiness. We explore how family support and faith can provide a strong foundation. So, for an episode packed with inspiration, wisdom, and some MMA insights, buckle up and join our enlightening chat with Vicente Luque.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Oh, very exciting news, very special edition of
FITS Nation.
Look who I ran into.
What's up?
What's up Vicente Lucches here?
Yes, and FITS Nation has acoastline, as it turns out,
we're in beautiful FortLauderdale, Florida.
There we go and I was comingdown here for a UFC assignment
(00:25):
and obviously there's like ahundred fighters that live down
in this area and I said let medo a podcast.
And we call up Vicente Luccheand say, want to go for a walk
on the beach?
And you said yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yes, it's always a good time, you know, having a
talk with you, being able tojust share more of you know
myself with all the guys thatare fans and that appreciate our
work.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So Vicente's off a huge win the day after my
birthday, actually August 12thbeat RDA.
Just let's talk about UFC 294.
We're just talking about Camarojust a little bit.
And Camaro Ustman was likeemotional and kind of down on
himself after the fight.
Like what did you think of that, knowing that you're pretty
(01:11):
well versed with Camaro and youtrained with him a lot and
you've known him for a long time?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, I mean, I think that always, like I've trained
so many years with Camaro, sincethe days of the tough 21 season
where we live togetherrepresenting the Black Sillions
you know we always expect a lotfrom him, just because we know
how much.
You know how much talent he'sgot, how tough he is, and I feel
like he expects even more ofhimself.
(01:36):
That's why, like when you havea loss, it's hard, it's hard for
you to deal with that.
But then again, when I watchedthe fight he fought, a guy that
was training, had a full camp,you know, is a dangerous guy,
has moved up to the real weightclass he should be, fighting.
All of this was really new forCamaro 10 days, short notice,
(01:58):
really training.
But he wasn't training for afight, he was just training once
in a while, getting making surethat he wasn't shaped, making
sure he was developing, but notthinking of a fight, and in a
new weight class, new weightdivision.
So at the end of the day, Ithink he did really good.
I think he's really, aseverybody knows, you know, a
tough fighter, a dangerous guy,and I would like to see more of
(02:21):
him, maybe at 185 against otherguys with a full training camp
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And then Volkanovsky made a lot of headlines for how
he was emotional after the fight.
Can you speak to?
Because he said you know, I'vegot a beautiful family at home,
but I was doing my head in ishow he phrased it, which is an
Australian phrase, for like Iwas going a little crazy because
I wasn't in camp.
He's a busy fighter.
(02:47):
He already fought twice thisyear and you know he's got a
fight theoretically coming up inFebruary or January to defend
his featherweight belt.
How did you take that news assomebody who has, you know, wife
and son, you have a good lifegoing about, you know from from
outer things.
But what did you make of hiscomments?
Like he just needed a fight, heneeded to stay busy.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think it's like as fighters, you know, we're really
I don't know how to say likeit's our passion.
We do this.
You know there is the money,there is like taking care of our
family, there is all that, yeah, but but that's not enough for
us sometimes.
You know we really we lovegoing out there, performing and
and showing the world that wecan be the best at this, and
(03:30):
obviously he's one of those guysthat that is really competitive
, really wants to, to, you know,make a statement and and just
show everyone that he might beone of the best of all times,
and maybe that's hard to dealwith.
You know you have your family,you have everything going well
for you, but you still getaddicted to that Like I want to
be.
You know the guy that isshining, that is doing the
(03:53):
headlines, and then you knowalways in there and putting in
the work and showing how good Iam, and if you cannot balance
that out, you can get lost in,you know, in that.
So I don't know, maybe, maybethat's something that you know.
I believe a lot of the thingshappen for a reason, you know,
and then I think God always putsus in the in the right spot.
So he was talking about that,you know.
(04:15):
Oh, I thought it was likedestiny, I was going to come
here and become a champion.
Yeah, I think it was destiny,maybe to show him hey,
appreciate more what you've gotand and just keep on doing what
you, what you got to do.
You know he is a great champion.
He's still going to.
You know, I believe he's goingto come defend his belt and keep
on on building his legacy, butyou don't need to rush.
(04:36):
You know he has accomplished somany things.
Why, why rush?
Why go crazy about it?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You know you've been a busy fighter in the past, like
you've fought.
Have you fought five times in a?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
year I fought five times in 13 months.
Yeah, so almost a year.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Did that resonate with you Him being emotional,
just saying like I needed to,like I was, something was wrong
mentally and I needed to figureit out, or do you think you've
kind of figured it out at thispoint in your career?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I mean, I think it.
It does like kind of rightafter I came, I had the two
losses against Bilal and thenJeff Neal.
I started looking at my careerand looking at myself in general
, like how I approached fighting, and realized that what I was
doing is like I was putting myworth, like what I see in myself
(05:20):
, in my wins or in my losses.
So if I won, I felt good.
I felt like, yeah, I'm hardworking and I'm deserving of all
the blessings I have.
But if I lost, I felt theopposite and that's a very
dangerous thing to do.
Why?
Because that has nothing to dowith you.
If you lose or win, your familyis there.
Everybody that loves you isstill there.
(05:41):
That's not going to change.
So when you're able to reallykind of take, appreciate
yourself for what you are andthat just frees you up from
being able to perform and beingable to be the best athlete you
got to be, you don't got toprove anything to anyone.
You got to just go out thereand do what you want to do.
That is be the best.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, and people will react to emotions at a press
conference because normally guyslike you will be able to hold
it back in public, but behindclosed doors there's tons of
emotions all the time.
I just know it from the back ofthe arena and knowing the
fighters.
What I've seen when you seebehind the scenes stuff that's
(06:24):
so just like gut wrenching forfans that really love watching
you guys and appreciate thetalent and the ability, and even
in defeat like the show.
But what we'll see is a lot offighters that are like holding
back tears with their coachesand their families and saying
I'm sorry, you ever done that.
Can you describe that feelingof apologizing because you feel
(06:47):
like you let them down whenthey're there to support you?
No matter what, there's nothingto be sorry about.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
For sure.
I think that fighting is a verydifferent, sport is a very
different profession.
Let's say, to choose and itgoes a lot to have that
mentality, to be able to go outthere and do what we got to do,
because at the end of the daywe're competing against another
competitor that is there to tryto knock us out, try to submit
(07:16):
us and try to just be betterthan us at a combat, at
something that we're going inthere to really try to hurt each
other and that brings differentmentalities and a lot of it is
also kind of, in certain momentswe just got to kind of hide.
I wouldn't say hide, but kindof try to hide in a way, air
(07:38):
emotions try to hide, even fromourself, to make us tough to
make us.
You know, okay, we can gothrough this, we can go through
anything.
I have no fear.
And it is good to get that whenyou're going to compete against
your opponent, when you'regoing to face off and you're
going to show him that you'reready.
But after so many fights like Ihave more than 30 fights it's
(08:01):
hard because that kind of startsbecoming who you are and nobody
is like that.
You know, everybody hasfeelings.
Everybody has ups and downs.
Everybody has, you know, thesedifferent.
If I'm always the way that I amas a fighter, that's going to be
hard for me with my family, forme raising my son.
Because I got to be loving tomy son, loving to my wife, I got
(08:24):
to be able to just relax andshow a little bit of my emotions
as well.
So, yeah, I think that'ssomething that fighters do
struggle with.
But you know, more and more Ithink like when fighters like
myself and others can startsharing and opening up, we can
just relax and be like, okay,hey, I'm a fighter, but I don't
(08:45):
got to be always tough.
You know, when I step in thereand when I'm doing business,
I'll be that guy.
I'll be the guy that you knownobody can break, but out here
I'm just chill, just relaxed.
I love my family and just enjoythis much more.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
What was it like for you to lose those two in a row?
You had never lost two in a rowno, not in the UFC.
Yeah, yeah, we talked aboutthat the last time you were on
the show.
It was like you're such awinner now because you took all
those challenges before you wereready for them.
Right?
Yes, really part of your career, yes, so one of the things that
Kamaru, I think, was reallystruggling with is you go back
(09:21):
like when's the last time he won?
I mean, it's been three fightsin a row.
For a guy that was undefeatedin the UFC to leave the arena
feeling bad and not being ableto say he won.
The fight is really challenging, and for you, I would imagine
that was a challenging part,especially of a two in a row
type of thing, where it was whathappened.
(09:41):
How did you like deal with that?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I think he said it well right in the interview
after the fight, like when hewas backstage.
It brings a lot of doubts onyourself and I think that's
something that we, as fighters,we don't really like to see.
It's hard.
The biggest thing that we haveto do to fight well is to trust
(10:07):
ourselves completely, trust ourabilities, be confident that we
can go in there, step in thatoctagon and do what we got to do
and overcome the challenge.
And when you have one loss,that's kind of like okay, let me
just improve, see my mistakes,go out there and get another win
, and that brings back theconfidence.
(10:29):
When you have two losses, thatkind of like it breaks a little
bit that confidence.
That is okay, I wasn't able tocorrect my mistakes or I did
correct it and it wasn't enough.
And now you start looking intoother things you know, like am I
the same fighter?
Is my mentality the same?
Am I still as tough as I usedto be?
(10:50):
Am I getting old?
And all these different kind ofthings that go through our mind
.
And I think that that'ssomething that it did help me a
lot to have lost in the past.
Before the UFC, I've had twolosses in a row and that kind of
like just helped me realizethat, yeah, I mean, there are
several reasons why we lose.
(11:11):
We make mistakes, sometimeswe're not doing the right
choices outside of fighting.
You know our day-to-day life.
We're having issues and thatcan be a problem.
Sometimes we are, we aren't inthe best physical shape,
sometimes we are actuallygetting old.
Maybe, you know, some guys aregetting old.
But what I think that, like thebiggest thing is, it doesn't
(11:33):
really matter, you got to win.
The way you are, you got to win.
You always look to improve andgo in there and focus on winning
.
Be that guy that, like how didKamaru become so dominant?
Just by being confident andtrusting in what he does, and
that's what he has to do now.
Forget about the losses, forgetabout all that.
(11:54):
You know the oh yeah.
You got kicked in one fight andin the other fight you weren't
able to really get your movement, your flow, and now you know it
was a short notice fight.
My first round was a toughround because he got taken down
and couldn't get up.
All that, yeah, you can correctit.
You can look at it objectively,like towards, like I'm going to
(12:15):
correct the mistakes, but theconfidence has to be there.
You know it doesn't matter whathappened.
That's in the past, Just likethe wins are in the past too.
The wins aren't gonna make metougher.
I have to be every single fight.
The toughest guy can be thatday, that night, and I think
that's what any guy that iscoming off losses has to realize
(12:36):
.
Hey, every fight is a new fight.
Every day is a new day.
Gotta go and face it, you know,as hard as I can.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So you've been coming to train here at San well,
various places in Florida, butyou've been coming to Florida
for several years, but youalways lived in Brazil, yeah, so
.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I lived here.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And so 2023, february , you move here to Florida and
then you kinda full time hereand train at Sanford, or kill
Cliff, yeah, kill Cliff.
What has this year shown you sofar in terms of making that big
change and where you're atright now, as you have a big
(13:17):
fight with Ian Gary coming up ina couple months?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So I think that the move here was something that I
kind of.
It took me a while to reallysee that I needed this, but I
think I've needed it for a whilebecause it's just, it's a
different environment.
Brazil was always great.
I always had a great gym totrain over there.
It was the gym I startedtraining in since I started my
(13:41):
career, and it grew up.
It grew the physical part of it.
We had better facility with allthe things we needed.
We had a lot of new fighters.
But Was that?
Serato MMA, serato, mma?
Yeah, bonfim Brothers, bonfimBrothers.
I've trained with the BonfimBrothers since the older one was
(14:02):
18 and the younger one was 16.
So I've seen them develop andbecome the beast that they are.
We have Vivian Araujo.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That just won as well .
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And a lot of other guys, but I always felt like I
was maybe not maybe I was forsure the guy that was.
They had the biggest career inthe UFC and I was the guy.
Let's say you were the best guyin the room.
Exactly, you were the best guyin the room.
I was the best guy and that'swhat everybody was trying to get
to, you know.
(14:33):
And so, yeah, it was great tobe able to be there to train, to
develop, but at the same time,I felt like I needed guys to
push me up, you know, guys tochallenge me Not that the Bonfim
Brothers didn't challenge me,they did but it was always like
looking up to me.
You know they wanna beat mebecause I'm the guy that wants
that is up there.
Now I have guys all the timethat I look up to that I wanna
(14:56):
beat that.
I wanna.
You know, I train with Kamaru,I train with Michael Chandler
when he's there, and all thesetough guys Gilbert Burns,
shavcott so many guys that are,you know, at the same level as I
am, and that really issomething I needed a lot.
So, yeah, overall, I think thatseveral, several different
reasons I had to come here andonce I did.
(15:21):
What I realized is that muchbefore the fight with RDA.
So just, I came here I didn'thave a fight yet.
I came in February and training, like maybe a month and a half
later I really could see intraining like how I've been
developing so many differentjust the way you know, just the
approach of fighting, not reallyall.
Now I'm a new fighter because Ihave so many skills.
(15:44):
No, I just know how to use myskills better.
I started realizing the skillsthat I already had developed but
I didn't use sometimes becauseI didn't have people, like in
training, that required thatfrom me.
You know, that didn't put me inthis spot where I didn't need
to use that skill.
Yeah, so yeah.
And then came the fight withRDA and that was just like, okay
(16:05):
, hey, you did the right things,you did the right choices and
now, yeah, like you're on theright path, let's keep on
working our way up to the title.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I think, as, like a more mature person, you're
probably able to put it inperspective a little bit better
instead of beating yourself upof oh, I should have done this a
long time ago.
It's almost like, no, this wasthe perfect time, because I
needed to go through whateverlessons that got me to there.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's for sure.
Yeah, and now it's like kind offull speed ahead, exactly.
And I think that, like, evenwhen I look that like all my
life, I thought that I was late.
Like, imagine, like when I wasI got to the UFC, I was 23 and I
wanted to get to UFC younger.
You know my goal when I started.
I started MMA professionally at17.
(16:53):
And my goal was to be theyoungest champion, and the
youngest champion is VictorBelfort at 19, because he won
the Grand Prix, right, and forme, that was it.
So when I became 19, I was likedamn, I didn't do this.
And so I got to the UFC.
In my mind it was late already,right, but now I get to this
and I'm gonna turn 32 next monthand I'm like this is the
(17:17):
perfect timing and everything.
You know I got so early in theUFC.
I have eight years in the UFCand I'm just 32.
I have over 30 fights.
I mean it's so crazy.
When I look at it, you know I'mlike no, there's nothing I
can't complain about.
You know, all I can be isgrateful and really like, really
(17:38):
for me it's like it'sfulfilling my destiny, it's
fulfilling what God has plannedfor me and little by little I
started understanding what heplanned, because it's really not
in my control.
I can try to control everything, but life comes in and throws
whatever it wants to have me.
So better, kind of see, try tofind a path and just walk
(17:59):
through that path.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's funny to.
I mean, you're in your 30s, I'm41 now to just want everything
right away.
When you think you're turning24, you're like I'm in my
mid-20s, I gotta get to it.
And then you look back and yougo 23,.
You thought you were old in theUFC at 23.
And now you look and you justgo.
Anybody who makes the UFC before25, I'm like this is a young
(18:22):
prospect.
I hope they're ready for it.
Yes, and I see some people toothat are 21, 22, 23, and just go
man.
Some of them fizzle, some ofthem lose a few fights.
Maybe they fall out of lovewith the sport.
They're not.
Maybe looked at as a prospectwould be at 26, 27 because they
(18:43):
had losses on the big stage.
And I just go.
How much better would theircareers have gone if they joined
the UFC at 26 and had anothereight fights before the UFC?
So, speaking of young, you gotIan Gary on the other side and
there's going to be a lot offight talk with Ian Gary in the
(19:03):
coming months, but trains atTiltcliffe.
How extensively have youtrained with him before saying
yes to fighting him?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So I've trained a lot with him and I met him in 2021
at MSG.
He was gonna.
That was his first UFC fightand I was kind of like the
alternate for Kamaru and Kobe.
Okay, so that's what I met him.
We cut weight together and I'vealways found him like a really
(19:35):
nice guy.
He's super.
What could I say?
Like he's that kind of likethat person that you imagine,
like the Irish guy that is justchill, just relaxed.
He talks, he's mind.
Sometimes that's good,sometimes people don't like it,
but he is really like he ishimself.
He is what people see and Ialways had a great time around
(19:56):
him.
I trained a lot, to say like nota lot for many years, but
whenever I was in a kill clipand he was there, we would train
a lot, we would grapple,wrestle, spar, you know, always
looking to really get the mostout of each other.
Because, like, he saw me as aguy that, okay, this guy, you
(20:19):
know, is a real toughwelterweight.
Let me learn from him.
And I saw him as a young kidthat is a prospect, that is a
kid that really, really skilledand can be, you know, one of the
best in the world.
So I wanna take what I can fromhim.
You know.
Take all that competitiveness,take all that the skill like
(20:40):
striking.
I've always seen him as one ofthe guys that most real, like
raw talent in striking.
He has a lot of great timing,great ability.
So I wanted to learn that fromhim as well.
So we always had a goodrelationship.
We always, you know, had a goodtime training and when the
fight was offered I had notrouble like untaking it for
(21:04):
myself, but I needed to talk tothe coaches.
So I talked to Henry just tomake sure you know I don't wanna
.
Being part of a team for me isvery important.
I've always, back in Brazil,when I was at Serato, it was
always like a team decisionbecause I wanted it to be good
for everyone.
And now it's not any differenthere.
At Kill Cliff I talked to Henry, all the guys, and Henry was
(21:26):
cool, he was for him.
It's tough because he's been,you know, part of a lot of Ian's
career and he in his mind itwas like if you guys wanna fight
, go ahead and do it.
I'm gonna stay out, I'll letyou guys fight it off and I
don't wanna be a part of it,like he's not gonna corner me or
him and just gonna kinda stayout of it.
(21:47):
And I was like I respect thatfor sure.
You know let's go out there.
But if you're good with it, youknow I do wanna fight because I
think it's a great fight whenyou look to it in paper.
It's an amazing fight.
You know the fans are gonna gocrazy.
Ian, you know, is so much skill, so much aggressiveness Me as
well.
It's a fight that has to happen.
You know the guy that has beenthere for a while.
(22:10):
You know the veteran that isalready kind of established in
the division, looking to becomea champion, and the young and
coming, you know prospect, thatwants to go and prove everybody
wrong.
So I think there's no bettersetup.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, who is going to be in your corner then?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
So I don't have a final decision, like Gilbert's
going to be in your.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Like, Gilbert probably wants to sit it out too
right.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Gilbert cornered him, that's what I mean.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Gilbert just cornered him, I know.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And it's tough, you know.
It's even something funny, likeJosh is Gilbert's younger son,
Okay, and he as a birthday gifthe got, like he went to the two
Ian's fight in Boston.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, and I think Ian gave that to him as a birthday
gift.
So he's really, you know,friends with me and friends with
Ian, and so it's kind of it's atough spot to be when you're
not the fighters.
You know, for us it's easy.
We're just going to go outthere and fight and everybody
around, and then it's they gotto get like okay, what do we do?
Right In my mind is just dowhatever you want to do.
(23:13):
I'm not in my set, I'm notgoing to be mad.
Yeah, you know, I just want togo out there, fight and show
that, show my skills and andwhatever happens, whatever
happens.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So you just said it's easy for you as the fighter,
like you, have no problem withit.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I mean, all I got to do is train and go out there and
do what I love.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
It's kind of doing what you guys do in the gym a
lot.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, right, yeah, just you know.
Yeah, we've done that just fortraining, right?
Why aren't we going to do itlike in the biggest stage
possible?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
It's an interesting dynamic.
It's just one of those sportswhere you know you just had the
Kelsey brothers in the SuperBowl opposite each other.
You talk about playing for highstakes, yeah, but you know
they're both on offense.
They were never on the field atthe same time, type of thing.
It's different when, okay,let's just compete against each
other.
This is what we do in practicebut somebody might be knocked
(24:03):
out cold.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's like a different kind of sport.
You know, it's also likesomething new because the sport
is so new, yeah, but I think inthe future we're going to see
much more of this, because Jim'slike ATT.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I mean look at Kill Clip.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Gilbert Shavcot, ian, you, kamara, all in one room
you know, and that's somethingthat clearly it works Right.
Right, it's not an accidentthat we're all there is because
training with each other ismaking us better.
So that's going to be thefuture.
We're going to have big gymsthat have a whole bunch of tough
guys training with each other.
Eventually, they have to fight.
(24:38):
Yeah so now we're starting toget into this, but I think it's
just the beginning.
Later, like maybe five, 10years from now, it's just going
to be a normal thing.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, what would you say?
Because you know, like youmentioned 30 fights.
You've been in the UFC a longtime, but you always want to
evolve and grow, like even thechampions.
Will say it, the Hall of Famerswill say it, right up until
their last fight.
What are you trying toincorporate into your routine?
(25:09):
That's new, so a?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
few things.
One thing that I started tryingto do since my since, when I
fought Jeff Neil, so I've alwaysbeen a 170 fighter, but my
weight, like as I grew olderbecame, I became much heavier
and that's something that I wasstruggling back not to make
weight I did make weight.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
What are you weight right now?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
So right now I'm keeping myself like a 196.
Okay, so I used to at thispoint like maybe right before
Jeff Neil fight, I would be like203.
Okay, so I was getting tooheavy, yeah, and that kind of
like I could make weight.
It wasn't an issue.
But what I felt is I became alittle bit slower right in the
(25:53):
striking, which is what I mostuse and my most dangerous weapon
.
So I just felt like I needed tokeep myself a little bit
lighter.
That's an adjustment I did withmy nutritionist and we just kind
of changed some, some routinesand some just the way overall of
eating and the habits I had.
(26:13):
You know, sometimes I wanted toI don't know go like when,
after I fought, I relaxed andjust ate whatever.
And now I realize, okay, atthis age, and like I am, if I
want to keep at 170, I cannot.
Just you know, okay, now I eatwhatever.
When I was 22, 23, yeah, it waseasy, but now it's not.
(26:34):
So that's an adjustment Also,just kind of like really being
able to.
So something I do now I takethe heart monitor to training
and kind of track my sessions.
Why?
Because now I feel like it'sreally important for me to know
what's going on physically inthe training so that later I can
(26:55):
know what I really need for myrecovery Right.
So at 20, 22, it was easy torecover.
So it didn't matter how I train.
You know, I could train hardand maybe even harder than I
should have, but I would stillrecover.
Right Now I got to like I'm aguy that I love training, so if
I just train whatever I want to,training is the problem I might
(27:17):
over train.
I'll be sparring three times aweek and that's not healthy, you
know.
So it's kind of like differentthings that we're adjusting and
realizing with age that thatchange.
Like sparring, I don't spar likeI used to.
So for this fight I'm onlygoing to start sparring like
really, really hard, like forspecifically for the fight, six
(27:38):
weeks out, so in two weeks.
So, and when I don't have afight, I don't spar, I grapple,
I do wrestling, I do extra ofother things that I can develop
my skill and and that.
How did I get to that?
I kind of top.
You know, look back, I probablyhave over, let's say I don't
(27:59):
know 100,000 hours of sparring.
Right, I started fighting at 17.
So imagine 17 to 31,.
How many hours of sparring ahalf.
I don't need that experienceanymore.
So if I do that only close tothe fight, it's enough to, you
know, get my timing down, getthe distance, the techniques,
and I don't got to be like crazythinking, okay, I got a spar
(28:24):
and before I thought that Ineeded to win sparring, what am
I going to win in training?
You know, I'm not going to payfor that, Right, so I don't
really got to go out there.
All I got to do now is go outthere with somebody that is kind
of the same built as myopponent, that is going to do
the same things that my opponentis going to try to do, and make
(28:44):
sure that I have all thetechniques down and that is
flowing, that I'm feeling like Ican execute it well.
Yeah, and the rest of it, I gotthe experience.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
When you're on your way up.
You want to win every day,every session, and now you just
know I need to be as the bestversion of me for those 15
minutes, whatever long they last.
Everything else is kind of likeit doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, even if it's all anybody's going to talk
about it, yeah, and evensometimes like, put yourself in
bad situations, so like drill,starting in a place where you
don't want to be in the fight,right?
Why?
Because that's going to happen.
That's what your opponent istrying to do.
So, if you're always winning,if you're always like training
(29:28):
to dominate, you're going to bethat lion that is great at
hunting, but he doesn't knowwhat to do when he's being
hunted, right?
You know, so you got to be ableto fight in both situations.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
What do you do when you get into a rut?
Because I think what a lot ofpeople can identify with,
whether they're athletes or not.
It's like sometimes, a careerthat you love, you go through a
few weeks or a month where youjust you don't love it and you
like you laugh because that'sprobably happened.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
It happened maybe during four years straight.
Really.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah, you didn't like it for four years.
I mean didn't like it kind ofin your head.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I like.
I thought that.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
What years were they?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
The last year was right before I lost to Jeff Neal
.
Yeah, so what happened?
Like in my mind, I mean, that'shalf your UFC career.
Yeah, in my mind it was likethere was a point where I was
training and, like you said, oh,I fought a lot.
Yeah, I fought a lot because Iwanted to get to where I wanted
to.
(30:36):
What is that Be a champion?
And in my mind I was like, ok,I'll become a champion and then
it's done, like I did what I setout to do and then I can do
whatever.
You know, I can relax and I canenjoy.
Where was the mistake?
I can enjoy right now.
I can take my time, I can enjoymy family, I can travel with my
(30:57):
family, I can do the thingsthat I love.
But in my mind and that happensI think a lot because we look
outside for approval and we looklike, oh, I got to do whatever
other people are doing and so Iwould not go.
Let's say, I love cars and Iwould not go racing and I would
not go to car shows and stuff.
(31:20):
Why?
Because I thought, no, I got totrain, I got to rest, I got to
stay here ready because, I don'tknow, maybe they're going to
call me to fight in two weeksand I better be ready.
But I'm missing out on so manythings.
That is part of life.
And am I only going to liveonce?
I'm a champion and then Iretire and then I can live my
(31:42):
life?
That makes no sense, and that'swhat I spent four years of my
life being, and in my mind itwas like no, but every job is
boring, so this one just becameboring as well.
But I'm really disciplined.
That's why for many years, Istill got the wins, I still
moved up the rankings, because Idid everything I needed to do.
(32:02):
Like I went to training, Iwould wake up, but the attitude
was different and in the longterm it cost me those two losses
.
Why?
Because one thing is when youdo something that you love and
you appreciate it, so you workhard, but it makes sense.
Something else is when you'reworking hard and putting in the
(32:24):
work, doing everything you gotto do, but you don't see sense
in it.
You just want it to end andthat's what it was.
So at that point, when I step inthere, I guess I got like Balau
, I guess I got like Jeff, whichare guys that are extremely
tough.
If I don't have appreciationfor what I do, I'm not going to
perform the best I can, I'm justgoing to go out there.
(32:45):
Ok, it's another day, I've gotto do what I do and that's it.
And then I'm going to getpunched in the face and knocked
out Because if it's just anotherday, I don't really care about
it.
So it's kind of what I realizedto myself I had to get out.
That's why it was great to likepeople say man, it was terrible
(33:05):
what happened to you after thefight with Jeff.
It was terrible, like in thesense of it was hard and it's
something that put my career atrisk.
But it was great because I wasable to really just take time to
reset my mind, to realize OK,I've been walking through a path
(33:27):
that is not going to take meanywhere.
Let me go back to that guy thatgot to the UFC at 23.
Because I got there because Iloved what I did and it was much
harder than it is now Because Igot paid nothing to fight in
Brazil.
We got paid less than $1,000per fight and if I break a tooth
(33:48):
I wouldn't pay my tooth.
So we got paid nothing and Ilived with my mom and so many
things that were much harder andI had so much appreciation.
That's why I fought so well andI started realizing this.
Ok, let me start appreciatingwhat I have.
And then I started seeing myfamily not only seeing them, but
(34:12):
looking at this family I have.
I have a son, I have a wife, awife that has always been next
to me, having my back andhelping me with everything.
I have a whole my mom and mydad that always supported me,
and I don't know.
I just started realizing all ofthis, started appreciating it,
and I was still training.
(34:32):
But training wasn't the biggestfocus.
And once I got back to traininghere I was like I improved,
even though I'm not training ashard as I thought I was, but I'm
training much smarter Because Iget fresh, I get excited to
train, and this has been all themonths I've been here, since
(34:53):
February to now.
Every single day I wake up totrain and I wake up as tired as
I used to, or more tiredsometimes, but I'm happy, I'm
excited, I'm like, ok, I can'twait to get to training and do
this again.
And before no, those four yearsI talked to you about I woke up
and I had to talk myself intogoing Because I had all the
(35:14):
excuses in my mind.
But I'm good at beating excuses, but that's just going to take
me to one starting point, is notgoing to take me all the way up
and really he's not going tomake me appreciate all that I've
built, all that I've worked for.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Right.
Probably the most importantconcept that I've learned this
year and it might be the mostimportant concept of my adult
life is what you just said.
A lot of times we want to chase, checking off a box and then
thinking once we're done withthat, we'll be happy and then we
can unfold the rest of ourlives, knowing that we hit the
(35:52):
goal and that we're good now.
For a lot of fighters, it's achampionship.
For me, it's like once I havethis job or my podcast grows to
this amount, then I can reallyenjoy life because everything
can line up the way I want it to.
What we forget to realize islike that's what we've been
(36:12):
saying all along and I wassaying once I get to ESPN, I can
die happy and that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I've been on ESPN for almost nine years now and you
still don't want to die.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
And I'm still just like that doesn't count because
XYZ.
So I'm glad that you figuredthat out, because you're only
coming up on 32, so you beat meby like a 10 years in that
concept, so good for you.
Life does not begin after youcheck a box, because it's not a
check box, it's an opening of adoor to just a big new hallway.
(36:45):
That's really long, dc said.
I'll wrap it up on this.
Remember I was like in an Uberwith DC one time and you know he
was a champion.
And then when you hold the beltfor a long time, he was like
you know, you think you needthat for fans to like you.
And then when he lost it or Imean I guess you know he was
(37:06):
like once you get to a certainpoint, people just like you for
you, they don't need achampionship belt.
You need to have that,obviously, and that's a healthy
thing to chase.
If you're an athlete, youobviously want a championship,
but to attach your happiness toit is a recipe for unhappiness.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Exactly, sometimes, over the stretch of four years,
yes, yeah that's wild, it'scrazy, it's crazy, and yeah, I
think that you know, just beingable to, what I see, in myself
at least, is that I could neverimagine my true potential.
So if I set any goal as okay,this is what I got to do and
(37:49):
that's what I got to strive for,I'm going to limit myself
because maybe I can't much more.
That's like I believe in Godand it's something that has, you
know, throughout my career,just shown me so many things and
that is really where I am ableto, just I let him take care of
what the goals are, you know,and what my potential is going
(38:12):
to be.
What I got to do is work, enjoyevery day of my life and, you
know, just realize all theblessings I have.
And I don't have theseblessings.
It's not a mistake that thesethings are happening.
There's a reason.
So, hey, let me keep on building, let me keep on improving, let
me let me be the best fighter Ican be, which is something that
(38:33):
I don't know.
I cannot tell you what that isnow, because I'll see it when I
am, but if I, if I try to makeit to something like, oh, I'll
be the best fighter when I'm awell to weigh champion, I'll
limit myself, because maybe Ican be a well to weigh champion
and then a middleweight championand then something else.
So it's just like I've learnedto.
(38:55):
There are some things that wegot to surrender, and just let
you know, for me it's God, justlet God take care of it, and I
do.
You know the what, what my partis to work hard, to show up and
to be the best that I can be.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Another good example that's timely is like Volkanosky
look at how how much the fanslike him, love him and how
dominant he's been atfeatherweight.
And yesterday he's fightingback tears, saying mentally I
was not all there because Ineeded to fight and it's like
dude, you are as dominant achampion as we've ever seen in
the UFC and he still is likechasing something.
(39:30):
So enjoy the chase.
That's what life is all about,because if you can't enjoy the
chase, then you can't enjoy life.
Alright, vicente, thanks forcoming for a walk with me, thank
you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
A couple quick things your hair.
Yes, Are we going to keep?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
the hair going long.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
No, I'm going to cut it soon, me too.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I haven't gotten a while and it's just, it's a
little too nuts.
The beard too.
And then also, do you expectIan Gary to like trash talk?
You guys talked about that justreal quick.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I mean, I sent him a message and then he messaged me
back.
That's kind of what we postedon social media and it was just
like.
I mean, for me that's what itis, it's going to be.
You know, all business, Irespect him.
I actually like I have a lot offun.
You know, I think he's a greatguy, so if he wants to trash,
talk man, it'll be what it is.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
He turned Neil Magney into a mountain of an enemy,
and I'm just like man, if he didthat to Neil Magney, he's going
to do that to everybody so Idon't think it's worth it.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Whatever he needs to do, do it.
You know I'm not going to takeit personal and I'm just going
to try to be.
You know the example that I amof a chill guy, and that's what
I want to put out there.
I've always wanted to show that, hey, we're tough, we're
fighters, we go out there, wepunch each other in the face,
but we don't got to be mean andI'm not a mean guy, I cannot
(40:49):
even try to be one, so that'swhat I'll be.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I want to throw up with my friend, vicente Luque,
at the beach, and look at us,vicente, at the beach.
Yes, let's get some palm trees,maybe.
There you go.
Thanks, buddy, thank you.
Oh, very exciting news, very special edition of
FITS Nation.
Look who I ran into.
What's up?
What's up Vicente Lucches here?
Yes, and FITS Nation has acoastline, as it turns out,
we're in beautiful FortLauderdale, Florida.
There we go and I was comingdown here for a UFC assignment
(00:25):
and obviously there's like ahundred fighters that live down
in this area and I said let medo a podcast.
And we call up Vicente Luccheand say, want to go for a walk
on the beach?
And you said yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yes, it's always a good time, you know, having a
talk with you, being able tojust share more of you know
myself with all the guys thatare fans and that appreciate our
work.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So Vicente's off a huge win the day after my
birthday, actually August 12thbeat RDA.
Just let's talk about UFC 294.
We're just talking about Camarojust a little bit.
And Camaro Ustman was likeemotional and kind of down on
himself after the fight.
Like what did you think of that, knowing that you're pretty
(01:11):
well versed with Camaro and youtrained with him a lot and
you've known him for a long time?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, I mean, I think that always, like I've trained
so many years with Camaro, sincethe days of the tough 21 season
where we live togetherrepresenting the Black Sillions
you know we always expect a lotfrom him, just because we know
how much.
You know how much talent he'sgot, how tough he is, and I feel
like he expects even more ofhimself.
(01:36):
That's why, like when you havea loss, it's hard, it's hard for
you to deal with that.
But then again, when I watchedthe fight he fought, a guy that
was training, had a full camp,you know, is a dangerous guy,
has moved up to the real weightclass he should be, fighting.
All of this was really new forCamaro 10 days, short notice,
(01:58):
really training.
But he wasn't training for afight, he was just training once
in a while, getting making surethat he wasn't shaped, making
sure he was developing, but notthinking of a fight, and in a
new weight class, new weightdivision.
So at the end of the day, Ithink he did really good.
I think he's really, aseverybody knows, you know, a
tough fighter, a dangerous guy,and I would like to see more of
(02:21):
him, maybe at 185 against otherguys with a full training camp
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And then Volkanovsky made a lot of headlines for how
he was emotional after the fight.
Can you speak to?
Because he said you know, I'vegot a beautiful family at home,
but I was doing my head in ishow he phrased it, which is an
Australian phrase, for like Iwas going a little crazy because
I wasn't in camp.
He's a busy fighter.
(02:47):
He already fought twice thisyear and you know he's got a
fight theoretically coming up inFebruary or January to defend
his featherweight belt.
How did you take that news assomebody who has, you know, wife
and son, you have a good lifegoing about, you know from from
outer things.
But what did you make of hiscomments?
Like he just needed a fight, heneeded to stay busy.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think it's like as fighters, you know, we're really
I don't know how to say likeit's our passion.
We do this.
You know there is the money,there is like taking care of our
family, there is all that, yeah, but but that's not enough for
us sometimes.
You know we really we lovegoing out there, performing and
and showing the world that wecan be the best at this, and
(03:30):
obviously he's one of those guysthat that is really competitive
, really wants to, to, you know,make a statement and and just
show everyone that he might beone of the best of all times,
and maybe that's hard to dealwith.
You know you have your family,you have everything going well
for you, but you still getaddicted to that Like I want to
be.
You know the guy that isshining, that is doing the
(03:53):
headlines, and then you knowalways in there and putting in
the work and showing how good Iam, and if you cannot balance
that out, you can get lost in,you know, in that.
So I don't know, maybe, maybethat's something that you know.
I believe a lot of the thingshappen for a reason, you know,
and then I think God always putsus in the in the right spot.
So he was talking about that,you know.
(04:15):
Oh, I thought it was likedestiny, I was going to come
here and become a champion.
Yeah, I think it was destiny,maybe to show him hey,
appreciate more what you've gotand and just keep on doing what
you, what you got to do.
You know he is a great champion.
He's still going to.
You know, I believe he's goingto come defend his belt and keep
on on building his legacy, butyou don't need to rush.
(04:36):
You know he has accomplished somany things.
Why, why rush?
Why go crazy about it?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You know you've been a busy fighter in the past, like
you've fought.
Have you fought five times in a?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
year I fought five times in 13 months.
Yeah, so almost a year.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Did that resonate with you Him being emotional,
just saying like I needed to,like I was, something was wrong
mentally and I needed to figureit out, or do you think you've
kind of figured it out at thispoint in your career?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I mean, I think it.
It does like kind of rightafter I came, I had the two
losses against Bilal and thenJeff Neal.
I started looking at my careerand looking at myself in general
, like how I approached fighting, and realized that what I was
doing is like I was putting myworth, like what I see in myself
(05:20):
, in my wins or in my losses.
So if I won, I felt good.
I felt like, yeah, I'm hardworking and I'm deserving of all
the blessings I have.
But if I lost, I felt theopposite and that's a very
dangerous thing to do.
Why?
Because that has nothing to dowith you.
If you lose or win, your familyis there.
Everybody that loves you isstill there.
(05:41):
That's not going to change.
So when you're able to reallykind of take, appreciate
yourself for what you are andthat just frees you up from
being able to perform and beingable to be the best athlete you
got to be, you don't got toprove anything to anyone.
You got to just go out thereand do what you want to do.
That is be the best.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, and people will react to emotions at a press
conference because normally guyslike you will be able to hold
it back in public, but behindclosed doors there's tons of
emotions all the time.
I just know it from the back ofthe arena and knowing the
fighters.
What I've seen when you seebehind the scenes stuff that's
(06:24):
so just like gut wrenching forfans that really love watching
you guys and appreciate thetalent and the ability, and even
in defeat like the show.
But what we'll see is a lot offighters that are like holding
back tears with their coachesand their families and saying
I'm sorry, you ever done that.
Can you describe that feelingof apologizing because you feel
(06:47):
like you let them down whenthey're there to support you?
No matter what, there's nothingto be sorry about.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
For sure.
I think that fighting is a verydifferent, sport is a very
different profession.
Let's say, to choose and itgoes a lot to have that
mentality, to be able to go outthere and do what we got to do,
because at the end of the daywe're competing against another
competitor that is there to tryto knock us out, try to submit
(07:16):
us and try to just be betterthan us at a combat, at
something that we're going inthere to really try to hurt each
other and that brings differentmentalities and a lot of it is
also kind of, in certain momentswe just got to kind of hide.
I wouldn't say hide, but kindof try to hide in a way, air
(07:38):
emotions try to hide, even fromourself, to make us tough to
make us.
You know, okay, we can gothrough this, we can go through
anything.
I have no fear.
And it is good to get that whenyou're going to compete against
your opponent, when you'regoing to face off and you're
going to show him that you'reready.
But after so many fights like Ihave more than 30 fights it's
(08:01):
hard because that kind of startsbecoming who you are and nobody
is like that.
You know, everybody hasfeelings.
Everybody has ups and downs.
Everybody has, you know, thesedifferent.
If I'm always the way that I amas a fighter, that's going to be
hard for me with my family, forme raising my son.
Because I got to be loving tomy son, loving to my wife, I got
(08:24):
to be able to just relax andshow a little bit of my emotions
as well.
So, yeah, I think that'ssomething that fighters do
struggle with.
But you know, more and more Ithink like when fighters like
myself and others can startsharing and opening up, we can
just relax and be like, okay,hey, I'm a fighter, but I don't
(08:45):
got to be always tough.
You know, when I step in thereand when I'm doing business,
I'll be that guy.
I'll be the guy that you knownobody can break, but out here
I'm just chill, just relaxed.
I love my family and just enjoythis much more.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
What was it like for you to lose those two in a row?
You had never lost two in a rowno, not in the UFC.
Yeah, yeah, we talked aboutthat the last time you were on
the show.
It was like you're such awinner now because you took all
those challenges before you wereready for them.
Right?
Yes, really part of your career, yes, so one of the things that
Kamaru, I think, was reallystruggling with is you go back
(09:21):
like when's the last time he won?
I mean, it's been three fightsin a row.
For a guy that was undefeatedin the UFC to leave the arena
feeling bad and not being ableto say he won.
The fight is really challenging, and for you, I would imagine
that was a challenging part,especially of a two in a row
type of thing, where it was whathappened.
(09:41):
How did you like deal with that?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I think he said it well right in the interview
after the fight, like when hewas backstage.
It brings a lot of doubts onyourself and I think that's
something that we, as fighters,we don't really like to see.
It's hard.
The biggest thing that we haveto do to fight well is to trust
(10:07):
ourselves completely, trust ourabilities, be confident that we
can go in there, step in thatoctagon and do what we got to do
and overcome the challenge.
And when you have one loss,that's kind of like okay, let me
just improve, see my mistakes,go out there and get another win
, and that brings back theconfidence.
(10:29):
When you have two losses, thatkind of like it breaks a little
bit that confidence.
That is okay, I wasn't able tocorrect my mistakes or I did
correct it and it wasn't enough.
And now you start looking intoother things you know, like am I
the same fighter?
Is my mentality the same?
Am I still as tough as I usedto be?
(10:50):
Am I getting old?
And all these different kind ofthings that go through our mind
.
And I think that that'ssomething that it did help me a
lot to have lost in the past.
Before the UFC, I've had twolosses in a row and that kind of
like just helped me realizethat, yeah, I mean, there are
several reasons why we lose.
(11:11):
We make mistakes, sometimeswe're not doing the right
choices outside of fighting.
You know our day-to-day life.
We're having issues and thatcan be a problem.
Sometimes we are, we aren't inthe best physical shape,
sometimes we are actuallygetting old.
Maybe, you know, some guys aregetting old.
But what I think that, like thebiggest thing is, it doesn't
(11:33):
really matter, you got to win.
The way you are, you got to win.
You always look to improve andgo in there and focus on winning
.
Be that guy that, like how didKamaru become so dominant?
Just by being confident andtrusting in what he does, and
that's what he has to do now.
Forget about the losses, forgetabout all that.
(11:54):
You know the oh yeah.
You got kicked in one fight andin the other fight you weren't
able to really get your movement, your flow, and now you know it
was a short notice fight.
My first round was a toughround because he got taken down
and couldn't get up.
All that, yeah, you can correctit.
You can look at it objectively,like towards, like I'm going to
(12:15):
correct the mistakes, but theconfidence has to be there.
You know it doesn't matter whathappened.
That's in the past, Just likethe wins are in the past too.
The wins aren't gonna make metougher.
I have to be every single fight.
The toughest guy can be thatday, that night, and I think
that's what any guy that iscoming off losses has to realize
(12:36):
.
Hey, every fight is a new fight.
Every day is a new day.
Gotta go and face it, you know,as hard as I can.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So you've been coming to train here at San well,
various places in Florida, butyou've been coming to Florida
for several years, but youalways lived in Brazil, yeah, so
.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I lived here.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And so 2023, february , you move here to Florida and
then you kinda full time hereand train at Sanford, or kill
Cliff, yeah, kill Cliff.
What has this year shown you sofar in terms of making that big
change and where you're atright now, as you have a big
(13:17):
fight with Ian Gary coming up ina couple months?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So I think that the move here was something that I
kind of.
It took me a while to reallysee that I needed this, but I
think I've needed it for a whilebecause it's just, it's a
different environment.
Brazil was always great.
I always had a great gym totrain over there.
It was the gym I startedtraining in since I started my
(13:41):
career, and it grew up.
It grew the physical part of it.
We had better facility with allthe things we needed.
We had a lot of new fighters.
But Was that?
Serato MMA, serato, mma?
Yeah, bonfim Brothers, bonfimBrothers.
I've trained with the BonfimBrothers since the older one was
(14:02):
18 and the younger one was 16.
So I've seen them develop andbecome the beast that they are.
We have Vivian Araujo.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That just won as well .
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And a lot of other guys, but I always felt like I
was maybe not maybe I was forsure the guy that was.
They had the biggest career inthe UFC and I was the guy.
Let's say you were the best guyin the room.
Exactly, you were the best guyin the room.
I was the best guy and that'swhat everybody was trying to get
to, you know.
(14:33):
And so, yeah, it was great tobe able to be there to train, to
develop, but at the same time,I felt like I needed guys to
push me up, you know, guys tochallenge me Not that the Bonfim
Brothers didn't challenge me,they did but it was always like
looking up to me.
You know they wanna beat mebecause I'm the guy that wants
that is up there.
Now I have guys all the timethat I look up to that I wanna
(14:56):
beat that.
I wanna.
You know, I train with Kamaru,I train with Michael Chandler
when he's there, and all thesetough guys Gilbert Burns,
shavcott so many guys that are,you know, at the same level as I
am, and that really issomething I needed a lot.
So, yeah, overall, I think thatseveral, several different
reasons I had to come here andonce I did.
(15:21):
What I realized is that muchbefore the fight with RDA.
So just, I came here I didn'thave a fight yet.
I came in February and training, like maybe a month and a half
later I really could see intraining like how I've been
developing so many differentjust the way you know, just the
approach of fighting, not reallyall.
Now I'm a new fighter because Ihave so many skills.
(15:44):
No, I just know how to use myskills better.
I started realizing the skillsthat I already had developed but
I didn't use sometimes becauseI didn't have people, like in
training, that required thatfrom me.
You know, that didn't put me inthis spot where I didn't need
to use that skill.
Yeah, so yeah.
And then came the fight withRDA and that was just like, okay
(16:05):
, hey, you did the right things,you did the right choices and
now, yeah, like you're on theright path, let's keep on
working our way up to the title.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I think, as, like a more mature person, you're
probably able to put it inperspective a little bit better
instead of beating yourself upof oh, I should have done this a
long time ago.
It's almost like, no, this wasthe perfect time, because I
needed to go through whateverlessons that got me to there.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's for sure.
Yeah, and now it's like kind offull speed ahead, exactly.
And I think that, like, evenwhen I look that like all my
life, I thought that I was late.
Like, imagine, like when I wasI got to the UFC, I was 23 and I
wanted to get to UFC younger.
You know my goal when I started.
I started MMA professionally at17.
(16:53):
And my goal was to be theyoungest champion, and the
youngest champion is VictorBelfort at 19, because he won
the Grand Prix, right, and forme, that was it.
So when I became 19, I was likedamn, I didn't do this.
And so I got to the UFC.
In my mind it was late already,right, but now I get to this
and I'm gonna turn 32 next monthand I'm like this is the
(17:17):
perfect timing and everything.
You know I got so early in theUFC.
I have eight years in the UFCand I'm just 32.
I have over 30 fights.
I mean it's so crazy.
When I look at it, you know I'mlike no, there's nothing I
can't complain about.
You know, all I can be isgrateful and really like, really
(17:38):
for me it's like it'sfulfilling my destiny, it's
fulfilling what God has plannedfor me and little by little I
started understanding what heplanned, because it's really not
in my control.
I can try to control everything, but life comes in and throws
whatever it wants to have me.
So better, kind of see, try tofind a path and just walk
(17:59):
through that path.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's funny to.
I mean, you're in your 30s, I'm41 now to just want everything
right away.
When you think you're turning24, you're like I'm in my
mid-20s, I gotta get to it.
And then you look back and yougo 23,.
You thought you were old in theUFC at 23.
And now you look and you justgo.
Anybody who makes the UFC before25, I'm like this is a young
(18:22):
prospect.
I hope they're ready for it.
Yes, and I see some people toothat are 21, 22, 23, and just go
man.
Some of them fizzle, some ofthem lose a few fights.
Maybe they fall out of lovewith the sport.
They're not.
Maybe looked at as a prospectwould be at 26, 27 because they
(18:43):
had losses on the big stage.
And I just go.
How much better would theircareers have gone if they joined
the UFC at 26 and had anothereight fights before the UFC?
So, speaking of young, you gotIan Gary on the other side and
there's going to be a lot offight talk with Ian Gary in the
(19:03):
coming months, but trains atTiltcliffe.
How extensively have youtrained with him before saying
yes to fighting him?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So I've trained a lot with him and I met him in 2021
at MSG.
He was gonna.
That was his first UFC fightand I was kind of like the
alternate for Kamaru and Kobe.
Okay, so that's what I met him.
We cut weight together and I'vealways found him like a really
(19:35):
nice guy.
He's super.
What could I say?
Like he's that kind of likethat person that you imagine,
like the Irish guy that is justchill, just relaxed.
He talks, he's mind.
Sometimes that's good,sometimes people don't like it,
but he is really like he ishimself.
He is what people see and Ialways had a great time around
(19:56):
him.
I trained a lot, to say like nota lot for many years, but
whenever I was in a kill clipand he was there, we would train
a lot, we would grapple,wrestle, spar, you know, always
looking to really get the mostout of each other.
Because, like, he saw me as aguy that, okay, this guy, you
(20:19):
know, is a real toughwelterweight.
Let me learn from him.
And I saw him as a young kidthat is a prospect, that is a
kid that really, really skilledand can be, you know, one of the
best in the world.
So I wanna take what I can fromhim.
You know.
Take all that competitiveness,take all that the skill like
(20:40):
striking.
I've always seen him as one ofthe guys that most real, like
raw talent in striking.
He has a lot of great timing,great ability.
So I wanted to learn that fromhim as well.
So we always had a goodrelationship.
We always, you know, had a goodtime training and when the
fight was offered I had notrouble like untaking it for
(21:04):
myself, but I needed to talk tothe coaches.
So I talked to Henry just tomake sure you know I don't wanna
.
Being part of a team for me isvery important.
I've always, back in Brazil,when I was at Serato, it was
always like a team decisionbecause I wanted it to be good
for everyone.
And now it's not any differenthere.
At Kill Cliff I talked to Henry, all the guys, and Henry was
(21:26):
cool, he was for him.
It's tough because he's been,you know, part of a lot of Ian's
career and he in his mind itwas like if you guys wanna fight
, go ahead and do it.
I'm gonna stay out, I'll letyou guys fight it off and I
don't wanna be a part of it,like he's not gonna corner me or
him and just gonna kinda stayout of it.
(21:47):
And I was like I respect thatfor sure.
You know let's go out there.
But if you're good with it, youknow I do wanna fight because I
think it's a great fight whenyou look to it in paper.
It's an amazing fight.
You know the fans are gonna gocrazy.
Ian, you know, is so much skill, so much aggressiveness Me as
well.
It's a fight that has to happen.
You know the guy that has beenthere for a while.
(22:10):
You know the veteran that isalready kind of established in
the division, looking to becomea champion, and the young and
coming, you know prospect, thatwants to go and prove everybody
wrong.
So I think there's no bettersetup.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, who is going to be in your corner then?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
So I don't have a final decision, like Gilbert's
going to be in your.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Like, Gilbert probably wants to sit it out too
right.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Gilbert cornered him, that's what I mean.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Gilbert just cornered him, I know.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And it's tough, you know.
It's even something funny, likeJosh is Gilbert's younger son,
Okay, and he as a birthday gifthe got, like he went to the two
Ian's fight in Boston.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, and I think Ian gave that to him as a birthday
gift.
So he's really, you know,friends with me and friends with
Ian, and so it's kind of it's atough spot to be when you're
not the fighters.
You know, for us it's easy.
We're just going to go outthere and fight and everybody
around, and then it's they gotto get like okay, what do we do?
Right In my mind is just dowhatever you want to do.
(23:13):
I'm not in my set, I'm notgoing to be mad.
Yeah, you know, I just want togo out there, fight and show
that, show my skills and andwhatever happens, whatever
happens.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So you just said it's easy for you as the fighter,
like you, have no problem withit.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I mean, all I got to do is train and go out there and
do what I love.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
It's kind of doing what you guys do in the gym a
lot.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, right, yeah, just you know.
Yeah, we've done that just fortraining, right?
Why aren't we going to do itlike in the biggest stage
possible?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
It's an interesting dynamic.
It's just one of those sportswhere you know you just had the
Kelsey brothers in the SuperBowl opposite each other.
You talk about playing for highstakes, yeah, but you know
they're both on offense.
They were never on the field atthe same time, type of thing.
It's different when, okay,let's just compete against each
other.
This is what we do in practicebut somebody might be knocked
(24:03):
out cold.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's like a different kind of sport.
You know, it's also likesomething new because the sport
is so new, yeah, but I think inthe future we're going to see
much more of this, because Jim'slike ATT.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I mean look at Kill Clip.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Gilbert Shavcot, ian, you, kamara, all in one room
you know, and that's somethingthat clearly it works Right.
Right, it's not an accidentthat we're all there is because
training with each other ismaking us better.
So that's going to be thefuture.
We're going to have big gymsthat have a whole bunch of tough
guys training with each other.
Eventually, they have to fight.
(24:38):
Yeah so now we're starting toget into this, but I think it's
just the beginning.
Later, like maybe five, 10years from now, it's just going
to be a normal thing.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, what would you say?
Because you know, like youmentioned 30 fights.
You've been in the UFC a longtime, but you always want to
evolve and grow, like even thechampions.
Will say it, the Hall of Famerswill say it, right up until
their last fight.
What are you trying toincorporate into your routine?
(25:09):
That's new, so a?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
few things.
One thing that I started tryingto do since my since, when I
fought Jeff Neil, so I've alwaysbeen a 170 fighter, but my
weight, like as I grew olderbecame, I became much heavier
and that's something that I wasstruggling back not to make
weight I did make weight.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
What are you weight right now?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
So right now I'm keeping myself like a 196.
Okay, so I used to at thispoint like maybe right before
Jeff Neil fight, I would be like203.
Okay, so I was getting tooheavy, yeah, and that kind of
like I could make weight.
It wasn't an issue.
But what I felt is I became alittle bit slower right in the
(25:53):
striking, which is what I mostuse and my most dangerous weapon
.
So I just felt like I needed tokeep myself a little bit
lighter.
That's an adjustment I did withmy nutritionist and we just kind
of changed some, some routinesand some just the way overall of
eating and the habits I had.
(26:13):
You know, sometimes I wanted toI don't know go like when,
after I fought, I relaxed andjust ate whatever.
And now I realize, okay, atthis age, and like I am, if I
want to keep at 170, I cannot.
Just you know, okay, now I eatwhatever.
When I was 22, 23, yeah, it waseasy, but now it's not.
(26:34):
So that's an adjustment Also,just kind of like really being
able to.
So something I do now I takethe heart monitor to training
and kind of track my sessions.
Why?
Because now I feel like it'sreally important for me to know
what's going on physically inthe training so that later I can
(26:55):
know what I really need for myrecovery Right.
So at 20, 22, it was easy torecover.
So it didn't matter how I train.
You know, I could train hardand maybe even harder than I
should have, but I would stillrecover.
Right Now I got to like I'm aguy that I love training, so if
I just train whatever I want to,training is the problem I might
(27:17):
over train.
I'll be sparring three times aweek and that's not healthy, you
know.
So it's kind of like differentthings that we're adjusting and
realizing with age that thatchange.
Like sparring, I don't spar likeI used to.
So for this fight I'm onlygoing to start sparring like
really, really hard, like forspecifically for the fight, six
(27:38):
weeks out, so in two weeks.
So, and when I don't have afight, I don't spar, I grapple,
I do wrestling, I do extra ofother things that I can develop
my skill and and that.
How did I get to that?
I kind of top.
You know, look back, I probablyhave over, let's say I don't
(27:59):
know 100,000 hours of sparring.
Right, I started fighting at 17.
So imagine 17 to 31,.
How many hours of sparring ahalf.
I don't need that experienceanymore.
So if I do that only close tothe fight, it's enough to, you
know, get my timing down, getthe distance, the techniques,
and I don't got to be like crazythinking, okay, I got a spar
(28:24):
and before I thought that Ineeded to win sparring, what am
I going to win in training?
You know, I'm not going to payfor that, Right, so I don't
really got to go out there.
All I got to do now is go outthere with somebody that is kind
of the same built as myopponent, that is going to do
the same things that my opponentis going to try to do, and make
(28:44):
sure that I have all thetechniques down and that is
flowing, that I'm feeling like Ican execute it well.
Yeah, and the rest of it, I gotthe experience.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
When you're on your way up.
You want to win every day,every session, and now you just
know I need to be as the bestversion of me for those 15
minutes, whatever long they last.
Everything else is kind of likeit doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, even if it's all anybody's going to talk
about it, yeah, and evensometimes like, put yourself in
bad situations, so like drill,starting in a place where you
don't want to be in the fight,right?
Why?
Because that's going to happen.
That's what your opponent istrying to do.
So, if you're always winning,if you're always like training
(29:28):
to dominate, you're going to bethat lion that is great at
hunting, but he doesn't knowwhat to do when he's being
hunted, right?
You know, so you got to be ableto fight in both situations.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
What do you do when you get into a rut?
Because I think what a lot ofpeople can identify with,
whether they're athletes or not.
It's like sometimes, a careerthat you love, you go through a
few weeks or a month where youjust you don't love it and you
like you laugh because that'sprobably happened.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
It happened maybe during four years straight.
Really.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah, you didn't like it for four years.
I mean didn't like it kind ofin your head.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I like.
I thought that.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
What years were they?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
The last year was right before I lost to Jeff Neal
.
Yeah, so what happened?
Like in my mind, I mean, that'shalf your UFC career.
Yeah, in my mind it was likethere was a point where I was
training and, like you said, oh,I fought a lot.
Yeah, I fought a lot because Iwanted to get to where I wanted
to.
(30:36):
What is that Be a champion?
And in my mind I was like, ok,I'll become a champion and then
it's done, like I did what I setout to do and then I can do
whatever.
You know, I can relax and I canenjoy.
Where was the mistake?
I can enjoy right now.
I can take my time, I can enjoymy family, I can travel with my
(30:57):
family, I can do the thingsthat I love.
But in my mind and that happensI think a lot because we look
outside for approval and we looklike, oh, I got to do whatever
other people are doing and so Iwould not go.
Let's say, I love cars and Iwould not go racing and I would
not go to car shows and stuff.
(31:20):
Why?
Because I thought, no, I got totrain, I got to rest, I got to
stay here ready because, I don'tknow, maybe they're going to
call me to fight in two weeksand I better be ready.
But I'm missing out on so manythings.
That is part of life.
And am I only going to liveonce?
I'm a champion and then Iretire and then I can live my
(31:42):
life?
That makes no sense, and that'swhat I spent four years of my
life being, and in my mind itwas like no, but every job is
boring, so this one just becameboring as well.
But I'm really disciplined.
That's why for many years, Istill got the wins, I still
moved up the rankings, because Idid everything I needed to do.
(32:02):
Like I went to training, Iwould wake up, but the attitude
was different and in the longterm it cost me those two losses
.
Why?
Because one thing is when youdo something that you love and
you appreciate it, so you workhard, but it makes sense.
Something else is when you'reworking hard and putting in the
(32:24):
work, doing everything you gotto do, but you don't see sense
in it.
You just want it to end andthat's what it was.
So at that point, when I step inthere, I guess I got like Balau
, I guess I got like Jeff, whichare guys that are extremely
tough.
If I don't have appreciationfor what I do, I'm not going to
perform the best I can, I'm justgoing to go out there.
(32:45):
Ok, it's another day, I've gotto do what I do and that's it.
And then I'm going to getpunched in the face and knocked
out Because if it's just anotherday, I don't really care about
it.
So it's kind of what I realizedto myself I had to get out.
That's why it was great to likepeople say man, it was terrible
(33:05):
what happened to you after thefight with Jeff.
It was terrible, like in thesense of it was hard and it's
something that put my career atrisk.
But it was great because I wasable to really just take time to
reset my mind, to realize OK,I've been walking through a path
(33:27):
that is not going to take meanywhere.
Let me go back to that guy thatgot to the UFC at 23.
Because I got there because Iloved what I did and it was much
harder than it is now Because Igot paid nothing to fight in
Brazil.
We got paid less than $1,000per fight and if I break a tooth
(33:48):
I wouldn't pay my tooth.
So we got paid nothing and Ilived with my mom and so many
things that were much harder andI had so much appreciation.
That's why I fought so well andI started realizing this.
Ok, let me start appreciatingwhat I have.
And then I started seeing myfamily not only seeing them, but
(34:12):
looking at this family I have.
I have a son, I have a wife, awife that has always been next
to me, having my back andhelping me with everything.
I have a whole my mom and mydad that always supported me,
and I don't know.
I just started realizing all ofthis, started appreciating it,
and I was still training.
(34:32):
But training wasn't the biggestfocus.
And once I got back to traininghere I was like I improved,
even though I'm not training ashard as I thought I was, but I'm
training much smarter Because Iget fresh, I get excited to
train, and this has been all themonths I've been here, since
(34:53):
February to now.
Every single day I wake up totrain and I wake up as tired as
I used to, or more tiredsometimes, but I'm happy, I'm
excited, I'm like, ok, I can'twait to get to training and do
this again.
And before no, those four yearsI talked to you about I woke up
and I had to talk myself intogoing Because I had all the
(35:14):
excuses in my mind.
But I'm good at beating excuses, but that's just going to take
me to one starting point, is notgoing to take me all the way up
and really he's not going tomake me appreciate all that I've
built, all that I've worked for.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Right.
Probably the most importantconcept that I've learned this
year and it might be the mostimportant concept of my adult
life is what you just said.
A lot of times we want to chase, checking off a box and then
thinking once we're done withthat, we'll be happy and then we
can unfold the rest of ourlives, knowing that we hit the
(35:52):
goal and that we're good now.
For a lot of fighters, it's achampionship.
For me, it's like once I havethis job or my podcast grows to
this amount, then I can reallyenjoy life because everything
can line up the way I want it to.
What we forget to realize islike that's what we've been
(36:12):
saying all along and I wassaying once I get to ESPN, I can
die happy and that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I've been on ESPN for almost nine years now and you
still don't want to die.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
And I'm still just like that doesn't count because
XYZ.
So I'm glad that you figuredthat out, because you're only
coming up on 32, so you beat meby like a 10 years in that
concept, so good for you.
Life does not begin after youcheck a box, because it's not a
check box, it's an opening of adoor to just a big new hallway.
(36:45):
That's really long, dc said.
I'll wrap it up on this.
Remember I was like in an Uberwith DC one time and you know he
was a champion.
And then when you hold the beltfor a long time, he was like
you know, you think you needthat for fans to like you.
And then when he lost it or Imean I guess you know he was
(37:06):
like once you get to a certainpoint, people just like you for
you, they don't need achampionship belt.
You need to have that,obviously, and that's a healthy
thing to chase.
If you're an athlete, youobviously want a championship,
but to attach your happiness toit is a recipe for unhappiness.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Exactly, sometimes, over the stretch of four years,
yes, yeah that's wild, it'scrazy, it's crazy, and yeah, I
think that you know, just beingable to, what I see, in myself
at least, is that I could neverimagine my true potential.
So if I set any goal as okay,this is what I got to do and
(37:49):
that's what I got to strive for,I'm going to limit myself
because maybe I can't much more.
That's like I believe in Godand it's something that has, you
know, throughout my career,just shown me so many things and
that is really where I am ableto, just I let him take care of
what the goals are, you know,and what my potential is going
(38:12):
to be.
What I got to do is work, enjoyevery day of my life and, you
know, just realize all theblessings I have.
And I don't have theseblessings.
It's not a mistake that thesethings are happening.
There's a reason.
So, hey, let me keep on building, let me keep on improving, let
me let me be the best fighter Ican be, which is something that
(38:33):
I don't know.
I cannot tell you what that isnow, because I'll see it when I
am, but if I, if I try to makeit to something like, oh, I'll
be the best fighter when I'm awell to weigh champion, I'll
limit myself, because maybe Ican be a well to weigh champion
and then a middleweight championand then something else.
So it's just like I've learnedto.
(38:55):
There are some things that wegot to surrender, and just let
you know, for me it's God, justlet God take care of it, and I
do.
You know the what, what my partis to work hard, to show up and
to be the best that I can be.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Another good example that's timely is like Volkanosky
look at how how much the fanslike him, love him and how
dominant he's been atfeatherweight.
And yesterday he's fightingback tears, saying mentally I
was not all there because Ineeded to fight and it's like
dude, you are as dominant achampion as we've ever seen in
the UFC and he still is likechasing something.
(39:30):
So enjoy the chase.
That's what life is all about,because if you can't enjoy the
chase, then you can't enjoy life.
Alright, vicente, thanks forcoming for a walk with me, thank
you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
A couple quick things your hair.
Yes, Are we going to keep?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
the hair going long.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
No, I'm going to cut it soon, me too.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I haven't gotten a while and it's just, it's a
little too nuts.
The beard too.
And then also, do you expectIan Gary to like trash talk?
You guys talked about that justreal quick.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I mean, I sent him a message and then he messaged me
back.
That's kind of what we postedon social media and it was just
like.
I mean, for me that's what itis, it's going to be.
You know, all business, Irespect him.
I actually like I have a lot offun.
You know, I think he's a greatguy, so if he wants to trash,
talk man, it'll be what it is.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
He turned Neil Magney into a mountain of an enemy,
and I'm just like man, if he didthat to Neil Magney, he's going
to do that to everybody so Idon't think it's worth it.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Whatever he needs to do, do it.
You know I'm not going to takeit personal and I'm just going
to try to be.
You know the example that I amof a chill guy, and that's what
I want to put out there.
I've always wanted to show that, hey, we're tough, we're
fighters, we go out there, wepunch each other in the face,
but we don't got to be mean andI'm not a mean guy, I cannot
(40:49):
even try to be one, so that'swhat I'll be.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I want to throw up with my friend, vicente Luque,
at the beach, and look at us,vicente, at the beach.
Yes, let's get some palm trees,maybe.
There you go.
Thanks, buddy, thank you.
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