April 9, 2025 • 37 mins
Anthony "The Violence" Pirozzoli doesn't live up to his nickname when he's laying bricks at his day job, but step into the ring with him, and you'll quickly understand how he earned it. Growing up wrestling in middle school before abandoning sports to "go work and make money," Anthony eventually found his calling later in life when his love of watching MMA transformed into an irresistible desire to step into the ring himself.
What makes Anthony's journey fascinating is his rapid evolution as a fighter. Starting with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, he quickly realized where his true passion lay: "I didn't like the option of the takedown. I prefer no escape." This philosophy perfectly captures why he transitioned from mixed martial arts to focus exclusively on kickboxing and striking. While he respects the technical beauty of ground fighting, there's something pure about two combatants standing toe-to-toe that resonates deeply with his fighting spirit and Italian heritage.
Despite working full-time as a bricklayer, Anthony's commitment to his craft is unwavering. He heads straight from construction sites to the gym for conditioning, managing to balance a demanding professional life with the rigorous training required for championship fights. This dedication has paid off with impressive victories, including winning the Impacto 165 title on just three weeks' notice and claiming Cleveland Golden Gloves at the same weight class.
From fighting in everything from hotel banquet rooms to Thailand's dedicated "mini arenas" that host fights seven nights a week, Anthony provides a fascinating glimpse into the regional fighting scene. He also shares personal connections within the fight community, including discovering he's second cousins with a previous podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,mike Bono.
I have a great guest to us forus today.
He is brought to us all the wayby the Latin assassin, tony,
from a couple weeks ago.
He is another mixed martialartist.
(00:21):
We're going to get into that,and this is Anthony.
The Violence Prezzoli joins theshow today.
Anthony, mixed Martial Artistlike that.
Uh, I'm originally from rockcreek, ohio.
I live in austinburg now.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Uh, grew up going to geneva high school.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You know k through 12 went to a trade school, all
that okay, um, so you know whatdid you do any other any sports
growing up or has, like fighting, wrestling kind of kind of
always, always been the thingfor you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I wrestled a little bit in middle school for like
two and a half three years andthen hit high school and I
decided that I'd much rather gowork and make money.
For the time being I didn'treally see the point in sports.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
No, I got you.
There's not.
There's a lot of people likethat.
So, with that kind of attitude,like you know what kind of got
you into mma uh, I originallygot in.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It was just something I always want to do.
I was always a huge fan, justwatching on the tv and stuff and
I was like I gotta get in afight one day.
I gotta get in a fight in oneday.
And I don't know, got big inthe lifting towards the end of
high school, started pumping outweights all the time putting on
weight, and then one day I waslike why don't I?
Just you know what's stoppingme.
So I looked up an MMA gym andstarted in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,
(01:54):
worked my way into MMA and thenfell in love with striking and
kind of just followed a path ofbeing a kickboxer.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay, so you more of a striker versus a a grappler
when it comes.
Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely yeah.
Nickname the, the violence, Imean that kind of.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm not much for the grappling stuff.
Uh, I've only had one mma fight.
All of my other fights havebeen strictly stand-up
kickboxing, muay thai boxing, uh, I don't know.
It's even though I was like Iwasn't bad at grappling at least
I thought I was, and I stillknow enough to be dangerous.
But no, I never liked theoption.
I didn't like the option of thetakedown.
(02:33):
I didn't like the option of theleg.
Hum, nothing against grappling,it's a beautiful sport.
It's just I prefer no escape.
I guess it goes with thenickname.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I watch the UFC everySaturday for their fight nights,
everything like that.
I know the technical portion ofthe grappling and the ground
game that a lot of the fansdon't like.
You can hear them start to boowhenever they're on the ground.
It seems like it's a stalemate.
I mean there's a lot going onwhen that happens, but when it's
(03:05):
a stand-up, just they'rethrowing it Like that's what I
look for when I'm watching afight and it's just so
entertaining to me.
And you know, coming fromsomebody who has, you know,
black belt in taekwondo, I likethe stand-up game.
I was never really good at theground.
I mean they say I have the bodyfor it because I'm 6'5", so I
(03:29):
have these lanky arms and theselanky legs.
But yeah, I just never liked itwhen I was learning Taekwondo.
They try to teach us a littlebit of the ground stuff.
It wasn't for me either, so Iget that for sure.
I mean it's not for everybody,but yeah, when, when it's two
bruisers in there and they'rejust throwing in the middle of
(03:50):
the octagon, there's nothingbetter oh, absolutely yeah.
So, um, like I said in thebeginning, you know you came to
us uh former guest tony.
Um, how did you, uh?
How do you know, tony, do youguys train at the same gym?
Like what?
What's the backstory with youand Tony?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That's a doozy.
Actually, I don't know if hementioned we're technically
cousins.
I was training at another gymand I'm not going to name names.
It's honestly not even worth mytime.
I fought out of there.
I had one smoker fight out ofthere, one that's where my mma
(04:28):
fight was, and a whole bunch ofgrappling tournaments.
You know bjj stuff and I, theowner just, and I didn't see eye
to eye on a lot of things.
There's plenty I could saythat's negative, but there's no
point.
Uh, so greener pastures, uh, alot of times the grass is
greener on the other side and Ifound that out firsthand.
When I went to UpgradeIndustries I got a taste of what
(04:54):
the fight scene, training andeverything should be like.
And you know, me and Tonybecame buddies and training
partners and he helped me a lotthrough my first few fights at
Upgraded.
I want to say four or fivefights ago a couple years back
(05:16):
my cousin hit me up and she waslike hey, saw your fight, you
did really well.
Blah, blah, blah.
I just want to say thanks, loveyou, cousin.
I was like when is her lastname Tortorice?
And out of curiosity I was likehey, tony, is there any
relation to this broad's husbandand he goes oh yeah, that's my
(05:36):
cousin and his wife.
And I go no, I go, that's mycousin and her husband.
So since then we're like ohshit, we're second cousins, you
know.
So you know, it was just one ofthose things where everything's
meant to happen Like I wasmeant to be there.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Turns out.
I'm related to the big goofball.
Yeah, tony's hysterical when wehad him on.
You know just his energy, evenyou know doing it via Zoom, and
just watching his last fight atMountaineer Casino a couple
months ago, it was amazing towatch him and Brolin win the
championship.
When you guys are in the gym,do we settle any family
(06:18):
rivalries?
When we're in the octagon oftraining, do we get into any of
that while we're there?
Just settle it in the octagon.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
We haven't had too many beefs in there.
We've had.
We're both, believe it or not,even though we're only related
by marriage.
We're both pretty similar inthe aspect, as we're hard-headed
and stubborn and there has beentimes where shit talking has
gotten the best of us and we'llsit in there, trade shots out of
purely stupidity.
But other than that no, notreal any beefs usually at the
(06:50):
end of the day we both realizethat there's a touch of autism
between the both of us and wekind of just let it be that got
a touch of the tism huh, oh yeah, I should say it slapped the
shit out of us.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
but hey, no worries.
I mean I grew up with, you know, my cousins being close by me
and we always settled it in thedumbest ways.
You know what I mean.
I think that's just kind oflike a family thing to do,
especially with his two malesStubborn as mules.
You know, I grew up in a fullbloodblooded italian family, you
(07:23):
know we we're we're gonna talkfor a second and then we're
gonna get to fisticuffs and thenhey, you see my last name, dog,
I get it I gotta say the name.
I see figure there's a littlepaisan in there somewhere more
than a little bubba absolutely.
Um, speaking of you know, with,uh, tony, you know, and being
(07:45):
the being the wrestler, I mean,do you think people with the
specifically with specifically aboxing background or wrestling
background, or more equipped forMMA?
I asked Tony the same question.
I'm kind of interested to seeyour, your aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
That's the funny thing about Tony and I is we we
both favor two different ends ofthe spectrum when it comes to
that.
He is super grappling heavy.
He's a wrestler he obviouslyhad.
He is a decorated wrestler fromback in his day, the old
bastard.
But uh, he, I would have to saygrappling for MMA, because that
(08:23):
option is there is definitelythe upper hand.
Like, yeah, obviously everyfight starts on the feet, but
you saw what Tony did to thatcat and a mountaineer is great.
Like, when you have wrestlinglike that and grappling, you can
make the best of strikers looklike a chump and that's yeah,
that's why I'm, that's why I'm astriker through and through.
(08:43):
But I'll, yeah, I'll ride withthe grappler most of the time,
just cause, if I mean don't getme wrong yeah, there's a lot of
guys who are good atanti-wrestling.
I mean, I'm sure you're anElliot to Poria fan.
He loves the stand and bang andhe loves to anti-wrestle.
He doesn't have bad ground.
Legate the takedown, then it'sgame over, buddy.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like most strikers have to have
that defense when it comes tothe takedown and they really
need to master that first beforethey start to master it.
Because, like you said, if youcan stop the takedown it's just
a straight fight.
At that point in time we'regoing to stand and brawl and
we're going to swing, and oh, Ifucking point time we're going
to stand in brawl and we'regoing to swing and oh, I fucking
(09:24):
love it.
I love it so much when thathappens and you can see a guy
just stopping takedown aftertakedown.
But you know, watching the ufcfor as long as I have, I mean,
look what, uh, madrid megavovdid to conor mcgregor, to
division champion conor was justa banger, like he wanted to
stand, he wanted to throw handsand Madigan Magadova wanted to
(09:45):
wrestle and he made Conor lookweak Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
And that first round though, that first round,
conor's takedown defense wasphenomenal.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, I was shocked at that.
I was like this might actuallybe a fight.
He might actually have to standand bang with him.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We're going to see what he's got to stand, but I
mean I didn't think we're goingto see what, what he's got the
the stand, but I mean, I didn'tthink it was going to last with
the takedown defense, especiallyagainst him, that big russian
was a menace.
Oh yeah, dude's a dude's afreaking agent, for sure all
them dagestanis are.
Though yeah, absolutely like Isaid, not my style, not my
favorite thing to watch, but,like, like you said, I I do know
(10:22):
when it's when it is enjoyableto watch.
I know the transitions that arehappening, I know the
submission attempts, I know thepositions, but for someone who
doesn't, I get it.
I get it dude.
It just looks like twogoofballs going around, but
that's probably the greasy Dagoin me.
All the boxers and stuff backin the day they just want to
(10:43):
watch.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
You know swinging and banging I'm so glad you used
the word day go.
I'm not gonna lie to you here.
I, I use that.
My family uses that word a lotwith each other, like wow, we're
just a bunch of dagos.
Like oh yeah, for sure I'm soglad you used that term.
Uh, I haven't heard anyone elsesay but my family, so that's
great, um, but you know, haveyou seen a lot of interesting
(11:07):
places, venues that hold theseMMA fights?
Have you seen any personallythat have taken place and do any
really stand out to you?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Believe it or not, kemba in Columbus, I fought
there.
That's a beautiful venue Likeyou're going to get a lot of,
especially in the amateurregional scene.
You're going to get a lot of,especially in the amateur
regional scene.
You're gonna get a lot of whatyou saw in Mountaineer.
But like I fought in my MMAfight was in Ohio or Valley and
(11:37):
how do you know?
Uh, cherry valley in columbus,that was that's a.
That was a nice venue.
Kemba live was my favorite byfar menu venue that I've gotten
to uh fight at.
Uh, I just got back fromthailand and their, their venues
are insane.
Like they had fights all overthe city going on muay thai
(11:58):
fights every night and their menthey were like mini arenas for
it, just seven days a week,seven nights a week.
So that's the thing is.
Like I've seen.
I've seen just about all youcan see.
Uh, maybe New York's got somepretty sick ones like they do.
Buffalo Riverworks and stufflike that will hold fights.
Nautica and Cleveland just gotback to doing fight nights.
(12:19):
Again, that's a cool venue, uh,but yeah, like I said, a lot of
your regional amateur mma,amateur boxing, amateur
kickboxing you're gonna see alot of.
You're gonna see a lot of, uh,hotel banquet rooms and bowling
alleys.
Well, not so much bowlingalleys anymore, but for a little
(12:39):
while there, that was kind of a, that was kind of a scene for
it.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I get it with these, you know, amateur venues and
that you know, being an up andcoming comedian, like I've done
it in dive bars, I've done it inbowling alleys, I've performed
stand up, you know, anywherethere's a stage and I'm like I
performed at a festival wherethere was literally two people
sitting in the stands watchingand like 500 people walking
around Just heckling the shitout of you.
(13:07):
But you know.
So sometimes I appreciate thosevenues, like you said, the
bowling alleys, the banquethalls.
You know it's a little bit moreintimate of a setting and at
least for comedy, I know thatfor me, you know it's you, you
know you get to interact withthe crowd a little bit more.
Do you notice that with thosetypes of venues at mma, like,
(13:28):
does the crowd interact a littlebit more?
Do you?
Do you feed off of them alittle bit more than you would
like these bigger arenas?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
it's funny you ask that because, see, I'm not one
that takes into considerationwho's there to watch or the size
of the crowd.
That part doesn't bother memuch.
I fought in Indiana last Aprilor May for the Impacto 165 title
(13:58):
and their venue was like.
The venue wasn't the coolest orthe greatest but the production
was nice, like brand new bigring, the lights, the cameras,
the pay-per-view, all that goodstuff.
And I mean it brings a littlebit the, it's an atmosphere,
it's it's like a like, a like avibe to it.
(14:19):
It definitely hypes you up alittle more.
If it is a cooler venue becausethe few boxing fights I've taken
outside of kickboxing, juststraight boxing just to do them,
those are definitely on thelower end, like there was one I
did in columbus just to knockthe rust off a year ago and it
was like a freaking barn, like ametal building up in a parking
(14:40):
lot somewhere and it was justkind of like.
It kind of took away from.
It takes the hype away a littlebit for sure.
When it's a cooler venue, likekemba had like the double deck
seating, like there was theground floor, one level, then
another level, that definitelymade it cooler because it kind
of just kind of gets in the zonea little bit yeah, I mean I
(15:01):
could that, especially for thefight game.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Like you know, I've always said that.
You know, for me in myprofession, like I said, being a
comedian, you know thosesmaller rooms are the harder
rooms to win over, because forme laughter is contagious.
You know you get one personthat laughs and then somebody
(15:25):
else just kind of chimes.
In those smaller rooms they'retougher to win over, for sure,
and you kind of have thatmindset going in like oh man,
this is going to be tough and Ithink it takes you off your game
.
Like you said there with thewith the different venues, it
takes you off your game a littlebit, um, and you really it
really makes you focus a littlebit more.
But I can see that for fightgame like, like, if it's a
smaller venue, I mean I knowmost fighters aren't really too
worried about the crowd orworried about their opponent, um
(15:47):
, and who's across the octagonof the ring, uh, but you know,
I've I've always wondered thatabout certain fighters, like I
mean, after like a round or two,are you are?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You're feeding off the crowd still, or is it more
just now where it's down tostrategy if we're out of the
first round, usually the first.
For me, the first round's afeeling out process.
I don't usually go balls to thewall early.
I'll usually kind of play touchbutt with him first round, move
around the ring, see whatangles he likes to take.
Usually I'll let him go nuts.
If they want to tee off on meand cast their arms out, go
ahead.
But yeah, later in the fight,like that.
(16:26):
Like I said, that title fight inindiana was a five round title
fight.
So I was definitely after thethird round, I was definitely
like, I guess coherent toeverything else going around
going on in the crowd.
I could hear everythingeverybody was saying uh, you
know, I was able to like lookover and like visually see,
because you walk into a fightfresh and you don't it's tunnel
(16:46):
vision, you don't really, you'renot focused on anything else.
But after going for threerounds and knowing you have two
more rounds ahead of you, uh,you definitely start to like,
start to get more coherent andadjust to everything going on.
So yeah, you can feed off thecrowd a little bit, especially
in five round fights.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Later rounds, yeah, later rounds, indefinitely yeah,
I, I can kind of, I can kind ofsee that for sure.
Um so, oh, excuse me, with umyou having you know, kickboxing
and more of a stand-up game whenyou are training for, like MMA,
what's a typical workout looklike for you?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Uh, to be honest with you, I'm probably I'm just a
kickboxer anymore I will.
Yeah, I did my one MMA fightand I was like don't like the
ground game.
So I've strictly beenkickboxing ever since 2021.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Okay, so with that, um, just being a kickboxer, is
there anything elseprofessionally that you do for a
job?
Or is the fight game kind ofwhat you do for a living?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
No, no, not a chance.
I am a bricklayer by trade butI come straight from work into
the gym and do conditioning.
I come straight from work intothe gym and do conditioning
Usually every day.
Recently I've had somelingering injuries that have
been keeping me from doing that,but I'm still in the gym two to
three days a week, outside oflifting and doing cardio.
(18:11):
But say, fight camp's on andI'm in the gym every single day,
usually not Sundays, maybe aWednesday rest day if I'm too
beat up, conditioning for anhour and then I'll do movement
drills and then I'll class willstart, and if it's not technique
, it's mitts or just dependingon if usually I'm fighting a
(18:33):
taller opponent, you.
But I have a title for impact,oh, at 65.
And that was a three weeknotice thing.
And then the following week Iwon golden gloves in Cleveland
at 165.
And so if I'm not cutting awhole bunch of weight, usually
(18:58):
my I, I, I thrive off goodcardio.
Usually I thrive off goodcardio.
I'm known for it.
A lot of my fights are highpace.
So usually if I'm not cuttingweight, we're not super focused
on my cardio.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
It's just more or less technique and sharpening
certain things that I need towork on.
Okay, I can see that for sure.
Now you said you cut weightsometimes and sometimes you
don't.
Do you have a preferred weightthat you would prefer to fight
at?
I mean, obviously, if you'renot having to cut it, you're 165
that you say you walk around at.
I mean obviously you might feela little bit better than that.
(19:33):
But I know some people like,yeah, I walk around at this
weight but I cut to 155 and Ijust I feel like I do better
there.
Is that cross your mind any atall when you're selecting fights
?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I'm definitely not going to get any lower than 55.
I do have to try harder to getto 55.
160 I can make pretty easy.
I don't.
My body is.
I have not that hard of a time Isay it because I'm a psycho but
I don't have that hard of atime cutting weight in general,
like I wasn't even trying to cutweight for that 65 fight.
(20:06):
It was on three weeks' notice.
The title challenger pulled outthree weeks out and I was next
in line.
So they called me up on threeweeks' notice and I was like I'm
170 right now.
I was like I'll get to work andwithin three weeks I knocked
out eight, nine pounds.
I got on the scale at 161.
(20:28):
Okay, so 55, yeah, it's a.
That's where I'm start cuttingwater hard.
160 I can get down to fairlyeasy.
Um, but yeah, I cut.
I cut water pretty easy, I cutweight pretty easy.
So it's never been a huge dealfor me.
There's sometimes if it'ssummertime and I'm eating and
I'm partying and I'm just beingstupid with my friends, and,
(20:48):
yeah, sometimes I'll float up to173, 175.
But once I put the work in andI eat right, it comes off pretty
quick.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, I think I've noticed that about a lot of
fighters Like they can putweight on real easily but they
can take it off just as.
Oh, yeah, I think their bodiesjust get used to having to cut
that water weight and get allthat out of them and it becomes
easier to cut weight.
I don't know if that's true ornot, if I'm just making that up,
(21:16):
but you know I that's just kindof what I think happens is, you
know, they just get so yourbody gets so used to being able
to have to cut weight forcertain events that it just
starts to happen naturally.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
I definitely fluctuate a lotmore now than I used to.
I mean, even if I'm not in afight camp, I still try to get a
gallon of water in a day.
Sometimes my body doesn'tcooperate, and it will purposely
hold water, depending's weird.
It's almost like I've grown tolike okay, my body's like oh,
(21:56):
you're depriving yourself ofcarbs a little bit, oh, you're
pumping in protein.
You're doing this, that and theother time to shed some weight.
So, yeah, it does come up, itdoes come easier over time,
especially if you, if you'veconditioned to water intake and
you know killing water gettingused to getting.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Now I know I've asked a couple of the other fighters
that I've had on this show herein the past four years.
Now I see these guys in the UFCand I know they weigh in like a
day or two beforehand to get totheir weight but we'll just use
your 165.
But when I see them in the ringI was like I'll kiss your ass
(22:35):
if he's 165 pounds right now.
There's no way he's 165 pounds.
Like do you have that to where?
Yes, I made weight and now,okay, I could put a little bit
more on to be into the ring, ordo you try to stay at that 165
and be there?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
so for that fight I like I still obviously sweated
out a little bit of water justto make sure I was under.
I didn't expect to be 161 whenI stepped on the scale, but yeah
, that's 100, true.
Uh, my first fight was at 55and and it was my first hard cut
like I've cut for I've cut forbjj tournaments, I've cut for
(23:14):
the, I cut for the smoker fightbefore that, but that was my
first real hard 155 cut and thatwas day of thank.
That's the thing is from liketitle fights for kickboxing.
For the most part around theseparts it's usually day before
weigh-ins, which is nice, sothere's really no point in me
going at 65.
But uh, those day of weigh-ins,those are brutal.
Because when I made 55 brutalCause, when I made 55, I was
(23:36):
skin and bones.
I tell you I was skin and bones.
And the minute I drank water Ifelt my body fill back up and I
was like, all right, I got sevento eight hours to get back into
, you know, to get back into gomode, and I probably I weighed
in at one, 54 something.
I probably stepped into thering at one seven, one, maybe
(23:58):
169 I'm gonna say 169, if Iremember correctly.
I remember, uh, stepping on thescale later that night in the
hotel room and I want to say Iwas like 169.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
That was before I started drinking and eating
hardcore so, yeah, that'sprobably pretty typical for most
fighters, especially the onesthat have to cut weight to get
down to their weight class.
Oh, yeah.
They're putting it back onbefore the fight.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Oh yeah, there's a huge difference between weight
like scale weight and then ringweight.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, that's pretty consistent with what most of
them have said, and they allkind of get that little smirk
that you kind of did when Iasked the question, like yeah,
we all know that we're not thatway.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Hey dude, look at Alex prayer.
I mean you gotta think that catwas fighting at one, 85 at one
point, and he walks around ittwo 30.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So I would say there's no fucking way.
He's one 80 when he steps intothe ring, not a big boy there
yeah, he's definitely a big boyoh, I'm a huge fan of him,
though I was watching him backwhen he was in glory yeah,
there's a couple that I'vewatched and, um, you know, kind
of coming up the ranks, um, andthat there's a couple out of
(25:07):
cleveland, uh, that I've had onthe show.
Um, they're doing big things,they're starting to to make some
headway in the amateur rankingsand getting their professional
fightings now and theirprofessional careers and you
know, I'm so happy for thembecause I had them on the show.
They're like one of the firstcouple fighters we had on the
show.
It is, oh, my god, why can't Ithink of his name?
(25:29):
I just thought of it and hisname literally just left my head
.
But Blake is the last name, um,and he likes the last name.
I believe Blake's the last name.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Where's he out of now ?
Speaker 1 (25:43):
He's still out of Cleveland, uh, but he um.
Every now and again he goes toHawaii and trains.
He has family.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
You're talking about.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Blake Perry, blake Perry, there it is, yep harry
blake player there it is.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yep, absolutely.
Oh, my god I could, I knew itand I could not think of his
name.
He's bouncing between hawaiiand uh cali.
Now, no, blake's a good dude, Iknow him.
Uh, my buddy is married to hissister but blake comes up every
now and then.
I talked to his.
I literally just talked to hismom yesterday.
She's in the gym all the time.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Oh, his mom was on the show.
She's hysterical and you knowshe's in the gym.
She's fighting to him like, wow, that's insane oh yeah, she's a
.
She's a bad woman, that's forsure oh yeah, I just again
seeing her on zoom.
I was like you know what, Iwouldn't mess with you.
You look like you could.
You just look like you couldfight.
I'm just gonna say that, right,like you look like a fighter.
And she was like, oh, I waslike so do you and Blake ever
(26:33):
like spar?
Like, do you ever like get intothe ring?
Now we're having a mom sonfight and now we're going to
settle it in the ring.
You know that stuff like that.
You know it's funny.
They're great.
People Love talking to him onhere.
But you know I follow him.
I believe he just had somethingon the UFC fight pass not too
long ago.
I think it was um.
(26:57):
Him and a couple people out ofhis gym have made it.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I believe his most recent fight was a loss.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I want to say it was a loss.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, that was his first fight after he had his
nose, yeah wrapped around hishead yeah, we, we.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
It was.
Oddly enough, it was like aweek or two after that happened,
when he was on the show.
And we had him on the show, hewas like, hey, I have a fight.
I was like, no, do your thingand then we'll get you on the
show.
And then we had to push therecording back a couple days
just so he can get his noseright and be able to talk.
And I was like man Dude.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I seen that goofy bastard's nose on SportsCenter.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, I saw able to talk and I was like man.
I've seen that goofy bastard'snose on SportsCenter.
Yeah, I saw that too.
I was like man, that's I meangood for you for making
SportsCenter, but not for theright reasons.
I mean it's because your noseis literally attached to your
ear now.
It's just.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, no, he's from out this way.
I believe he wrestled forJefferson.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
He's a tough cat, absolutely For sure, patterson,
he's a tough.
He's a tough cat, absolutelyfor sure.
Um, but, anthony, hey, we arerunning down here near the end
of the episode.
Here I do have one last segment.
I do want to get in here, um,and for anybody who's listened
to the show before you knowwhat's coming, for anybody who
hasn't.
This is the fast 55.
It is five random questionsfrom the wonderful manager of
(28:12):
the podcast, johnny FittyFalcone.
Uh, these are the most randomquestions.
They're kind.
Manager of the podcast, johnnyFitty Falcone.
These are the most randomquestions.
They're kind of rapid fire,anthony, but you can kind of
elaborate if you need to.
It's a fun way we like to endthe show.
So if you're ready for the fastfive, we'll go ahead and get
started.
Let them rip, all right.
First question baked or grilledchicken?
Which is better Grilled?
(28:34):
Yeah, I think he tossed you upon the first one there.
Question number two If you aredoing dinner and a movie for a
date, should you do dinnerbefore or after the movie?
Dinner before?
Definitely before.
Question number three the bestfish to eat is Shrimp, shrimp,
(28:57):
shrimp.
All right, yeah, I can see thatI'm a big shrimp guy.
Question number four best placeyou've ever visited, thailand,
thailand.
Okay, this last one.
I knew he was going to ask thistype of question.
The last question here who winsin a fight, 100 chickens or 25
squirrels?
25 squirrels, they're just tooquick.
(29:19):
I think the speed takes thatone for sure.
I raced chickens beforeSquirrels are taking them every
time.
That was the fastest.
I will say you took the rapidfire to that to heart and I
appreciate that sometimes.
This is just the way the mindof Johnny Fetty Falcone works
and he comes up with theserandom questions on a daily
(29:40):
basis and we like to put theminto the show and it's a fun way
for us to kind of wind down theepisode here.
But I do give every guest,anthony, this opportunity at the
end of any, every show.
If there's anything you want toget out, if you have any fights
coming up or you want topromote the gym that you're
working out with, I'm going togive you about a minute and the
floor is yours, my man I don'thave anything coming up on paper
(30:04):
.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Like I said, lingering injuries.
Once I'm cleared, hopefullyI'll be back in action june or
july, maybe even august.
Uh, outside of that, I meanupgraded industries.
There's really no other way togo about it.
It's probably the best gymaround.
So we offer everything mmaboxing, kickboxing, brazilian
jiu-jitsu, kids, adults,fighters, common folk, you know
(30:28):
and we got one of the bestlifting facilities in the
building in the area.
So I mean, you're really we goteverything you want to offer
there all right.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
yeah, I'm always down for helping people up.
If there's a link or anythingwhere people can uh look up that
, I will definitely put thatinto the description of this
episode so everyone can kind ofcheck you guys out, see what you
got going on there and maybe,you know, get a couple more
fighters out there for you guysto bang around with in the gym.
But that is going to do it forthis week's episode of the Ride
(31:00):
Home Rants podcast.
I want to thank my guest,anthony the Violence Brazzoli,
for coming on.
This was a lot of fun to get totalk all things fighting and
with your fighting career andeverything like that.
Glad to have you on, as always,if you enjoyed the show, be a
friend, tell a friend.
If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just
because you didn't.
(31:21):
That's going to do it for meand I will see y'all next week.
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,mike Bono.
I have a great guest to us forus today.
He is brought to us all the wayby the Latin assassin, tony,
from a couple weeks ago.
He is another mixed martialartist.
(00:21):
We're going to get into that,and this is Anthony.
The Violence Prezzoli joins theshow today.
Anthony, mixed Martial Artistlike that.
Uh, I'm originally from rockcreek, ohio.
I live in austinburg now.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Uh, grew up going to geneva high school.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You know k through 12 went to a trade school, all
that okay, um, so you know whatdid you do any other any sports
growing up or has, like fighting, wrestling kind of kind of
always, always been the thingfor you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I wrestled a little bit in middle school for like
two and a half three years andthen hit high school and I
decided that I'd much rather gowork and make money.
For the time being I didn'treally see the point in sports.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
No, I got you.
There's not.
There's a lot of people likethat.
So, with that kind of attitude,like you know what kind of got
you into mma uh, I originallygot in.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It was just something I always want to do.
I was always a huge fan, justwatching on the tv and stuff and
I was like I gotta get in afight one day.
I gotta get in a fight in oneday.
And I don't know, got big inthe lifting towards the end of
high school, started pumping outweights all the time putting on
weight, and then one day I waslike why don't I?
Just you know what's stoppingme.
So I looked up an MMA gym andstarted in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,
(01:54):
worked my way into MMA and thenfell in love with striking and
kind of just followed a path ofbeing a kickboxer.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay, so you more of a striker versus a a grappler
when it comes.
Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely yeah.
Nickname the, the violence, Imean that kind of.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm not much for the grappling stuff.
Uh, I've only had one mma fight.
All of my other fights havebeen strictly stand-up
kickboxing, muay thai boxing, uh, I don't know.
It's even though I was like Iwasn't bad at grappling at least
I thought I was, and I stillknow enough to be dangerous.
But no, I never liked theoption.
I didn't like the option of thetakedown.
(02:33):
I didn't like the option of theleg.
Hum, nothing against grappling,it's a beautiful sport.
It's just I prefer no escape.
I guess it goes with thenickname.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I watch the UFC everySaturday for their fight nights,
everything like that.
I know the technical portion ofthe grappling and the ground
game that a lot of the fansdon't like.
You can hear them start to boowhenever they're on the ground.
It seems like it's a stalemate.
I mean there's a lot going onwhen that happens, but when it's
(03:05):
a stand-up, just they'rethrowing it Like that's what I
look for when I'm watching afight and it's just so
entertaining to me.
And you know, coming fromsomebody who has, you know,
black belt in taekwondo, I likethe stand-up game.
I was never really good at theground.
I mean they say I have the bodyfor it because I'm 6'5", so I
(03:29):
have these lanky arms and theselanky legs.
But yeah, I just never liked itwhen I was learning Taekwondo.
They try to teach us a littlebit of the ground stuff.
It wasn't for me either, so Iget that for sure.
I mean it's not for everybody,but yeah, when, when it's two
bruisers in there and they'rejust throwing in the middle of
(03:50):
the octagon, there's nothingbetter oh, absolutely yeah.
So, um, like I said in thebeginning, you know you came to
us uh former guest tony.
Um, how did you, uh?
How do you know, tony, do youguys train at the same gym?
Like what?
What's the backstory with youand Tony?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That's a doozy.
Actually, I don't know if hementioned we're technically
cousins.
I was training at another gymand I'm not going to name names.
It's honestly not even worth mytime.
I fought out of there.
I had one smoker fight out ofthere, one that's where my mma
(04:28):
fight was, and a whole bunch ofgrappling tournaments.
You know bjj stuff and I, theowner just, and I didn't see eye
to eye on a lot of things.
There's plenty I could saythat's negative, but there's no
point.
Uh, so greener pastures, uh, alot of times the grass is
greener on the other side and Ifound that out firsthand.
When I went to UpgradeIndustries I got a taste of what
(04:54):
the fight scene, training andeverything should be like.
And you know, me and Tonybecame buddies and training
partners and he helped me a lotthrough my first few fights at
Upgraded.
I want to say four or fivefights ago a couple years back
(05:16):
my cousin hit me up and she waslike hey, saw your fight, you
did really well.
Blah, blah, blah.
I just want to say thanks, loveyou, cousin.
I was like when is her lastname Tortorice?
And out of curiosity I was likehey, tony, is there any
relation to this broad's husbandand he goes oh yeah, that's my
(05:36):
cousin and his wife.
And I go no, I go, that's mycousin and her husband.
So since then we're like ohshit, we're second cousins, you
know.
So you know, it was just one ofthose things where everything's
meant to happen Like I wasmeant to be there.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Turns out.
I'm related to the big goofball.
Yeah, tony's hysterical when wehad him on.
You know just his energy, evenyou know doing it via Zoom, and
just watching his last fight atMountaineer Casino a couple
months ago, it was amazing towatch him and Brolin win the
championship.
When you guys are in the gym,do we settle any family
(06:18):
rivalries?
When we're in the octagon oftraining, do we get into any of
that while we're there?
Just settle it in the octagon.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
We haven't had too many beefs in there.
We've had.
We're both, believe it or not,even though we're only related
by marriage.
We're both pretty similar inthe aspect, as we're hard-headed
and stubborn and there has beentimes where shit talking has
gotten the best of us and we'llsit in there, trade shots out of
purely stupidity.
But other than that no, notreal any beefs usually at the
(06:50):
end of the day we both realizethat there's a touch of autism
between the both of us and wekind of just let it be that got
a touch of the tism huh, oh yeah, I should say it slapped the
shit out of us.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
but hey, no worries.
I mean I grew up with, you know, my cousins being close by me
and we always settled it in thedumbest ways.
You know what I mean.
I think that's just kind oflike a family thing to do,
especially with his two malesStubborn as mules.
You know, I grew up in a fullbloodblooded italian family, you
(07:23):
know we we're we're gonna talkfor a second and then we're
gonna get to fisticuffs and thenhey, you see my last name, dog,
I get it I gotta say the name.
I see figure there's a littlepaisan in there somewhere more
than a little bubba absolutely.
Um, speaking of you know, with,uh, tony, you know, and being
(07:45):
the being the wrestler, I mean,do you think people with the
specifically with specifically aboxing background or wrestling
background, or more equipped forMMA?
I asked Tony the same question.
I'm kind of interested to seeyour, your aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
That's the funny thing about Tony and I is we we
both favor two different ends ofthe spectrum when it comes to
that.
He is super grappling heavy.
He's a wrestler he obviouslyhad.
He is a decorated wrestler fromback in his day, the old
bastard.
But uh, he, I would have to saygrappling for MMA, because that
(08:23):
option is there is definitelythe upper hand.
Like, yeah, obviously everyfight starts on the feet, but
you saw what Tony did to thatcat and a mountaineer is great.
Like, when you have wrestlinglike that and grappling, you can
make the best of strikers looklike a chump and that's yeah,
that's why I'm, that's why I'm astriker through and through.
(08:43):
But I'll, yeah, I'll ride withthe grappler most of the time,
just cause, if I mean don't getme wrong yeah, there's a lot of
guys who are good atanti-wrestling.
I mean, I'm sure you're anElliot to Poria fan.
He loves the stand and bang andhe loves to anti-wrestle.
He doesn't have bad ground.
Legate the takedown, then it'sgame over, buddy.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like most strikers have to have
that defense when it comes tothe takedown and they really
need to master that first beforethey start to master it.
Because, like you said, if youcan stop the takedown it's just
a straight fight.
At that point in time we'regoing to stand and brawl and
we're going to swing, and oh, Ifucking point time we're going
to stand in brawl and we'regoing to swing and oh, I fucking
(09:24):
love it.
I love it so much when thathappens and you can see a guy
just stopping takedown aftertakedown.
But you know, watching the ufcfor as long as I have, I mean,
look what, uh, madrid megavovdid to conor mcgregor, to
division champion conor was justa banger, like he wanted to
stand, he wanted to throw handsand Madigan Magadova wanted to
(09:45):
wrestle and he made Conor lookweak Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
And that first round though, that first round,
conor's takedown defense wasphenomenal.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, I was shocked at that.
I was like this might actuallybe a fight.
He might actually have to standand bang with him.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We're going to see what he's got to stand, but I
mean I didn't think we're goingto see what, what he's got the
the stand, but I mean, I didn'tthink it was going to last with
the takedown defense, especiallyagainst him, that big russian
was a menace.
Oh yeah, dude's a dude's afreaking agent, for sure all
them dagestanis are.
Though yeah, absolutely like Isaid, not my style, not my
favorite thing to watch, but,like, like you said, I I do know
(10:22):
when it's when it is enjoyableto watch.
I know the transitions that arehappening, I know the
submission attempts, I know thepositions, but for someone who
doesn't, I get it.
I get it dude.
It just looks like twogoofballs going around, but
that's probably the greasy Dagoin me.
All the boxers and stuff backin the day they just want to
(10:43):
watch.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
You know swinging and banging I'm so glad you used
the word day go.
I'm not gonna lie to you here.
I, I use that.
My family uses that word a lotwith each other, like wow, we're
just a bunch of dagos.
Like oh yeah, for sure I'm soglad you used that term.
Uh, I haven't heard anyone elsesay but my family, so that's
great, um, but you know, haveyou seen a lot of interesting
(11:07):
places, venues that hold theseMMA fights?
Have you seen any personallythat have taken place and do any
really stand out to you?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Believe it or not, kemba in Columbus, I fought
there.
That's a beautiful venue Likeyou're going to get a lot of,
especially in the amateurregional scene.
You're going to get a lot of,especially in the amateur
regional scene.
You're gonna get a lot of whatyou saw in Mountaineer.
But like I fought in my MMAfight was in Ohio or Valley and
(11:37):
how do you know?
Uh, cherry valley in columbus,that was that's a.
That was a nice venue.
Kemba live was my favorite byfar menu venue that I've gotten
to uh fight at.
Uh, I just got back fromthailand and their, their venues
are insane.
Like they had fights all overthe city going on muay thai
(11:58):
fights every night and their menthey were like mini arenas for
it, just seven days a week,seven nights a week.
So that's the thing is.
Like I've seen.
I've seen just about all youcan see.
Uh, maybe New York's got somepretty sick ones like they do.
Buffalo Riverworks and stufflike that will hold fights.
Nautica and Cleveland just gotback to doing fight nights.
(12:19):
Again, that's a cool venue, uh,but yeah, like I said, a lot of
your regional amateur mma,amateur boxing, amateur
kickboxing you're gonna see alot of.
You're gonna see a lot of, uh,hotel banquet rooms and bowling
alleys.
Well, not so much bowlingalleys anymore, but for a little
(12:39):
while there, that was kind of a, that was kind of a scene for
it.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I get it with these, you know, amateur venues and
that you know, being an up andcoming comedian, like I've done
it in dive bars, I've done it inbowling alleys, I've performed
stand up, you know, anywherethere's a stage and I'm like I
performed at a festival wherethere was literally two people
sitting in the stands watchingand like 500 people walking
around Just heckling the shitout of you.
(13:07):
But you know.
So sometimes I appreciate thosevenues, like you said, the
bowling alleys, the banquethalls.
You know it's a little bit moreintimate of a setting and at
least for comedy, I know thatfor me, you know it's you, you
know you get to interact withthe crowd a little bit more.
Do you notice that with thosetypes of venues at mma, like,
(13:28):
does the crowd interact a littlebit more?
Do you?
Do you feed off of them alittle bit more than you would
like these bigger arenas?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
it's funny you ask that because, see, I'm not one
that takes into considerationwho's there to watch or the size
of the crowd.
That part doesn't bother memuch.
I fought in Indiana last Aprilor May for the Impacto 165 title
(13:58):
and their venue was like.
The venue wasn't the coolest orthe greatest but the production
was nice, like brand new bigring, the lights, the cameras,
the pay-per-view, all that goodstuff.
And I mean it brings a littlebit the, it's an atmosphere,
it's it's like a like, a like avibe to it.
(14:19):
It definitely hypes you up alittle more.
If it is a cooler venue becausethe few boxing fights I've taken
outside of kickboxing, juststraight boxing just to do them,
those are definitely on thelower end, like there was one I
did in columbus just to knockthe rust off a year ago and it
was like a freaking barn, like ametal building up in a parking
(14:40):
lot somewhere and it was justkind of like.
It kind of took away from.
It takes the hype away a littlebit for sure.
When it's a cooler venue, likekemba had like the double deck
seating, like there was theground floor, one level, then
another level, that definitelymade it cooler because it kind
of just kind of gets in the zonea little bit yeah, I mean I
(15:01):
could that, especially for thefight game.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Like you know, I've always said that.
You know, for me in myprofession, like I said, being a
comedian, you know thosesmaller rooms are the harder
rooms to win over, because forme laughter is contagious.
You know you get one personthat laughs and then somebody
(15:25):
else just kind of chimes.
In those smaller rooms they'retougher to win over, for sure,
and you kind of have thatmindset going in like oh man,
this is going to be tough and Ithink it takes you off your game
.
Like you said there with thewith the different venues, it
takes you off your game a littlebit, um, and you really it
really makes you focus a littlebit more.
But I can see that for fightgame like, like, if it's a
smaller venue, I mean I knowmost fighters aren't really too
worried about the crowd orworried about their opponent, um
(15:47):
, and who's across the octagonof the ring, uh, but you know,
I've I've always wondered thatabout certain fighters, like I
mean, after like a round or two,are you are?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You're feeding off the crowd still, or is it more
just now where it's down tostrategy if we're out of the
first round, usually the first.
For me, the first round's afeeling out process.
I don't usually go balls to thewall early.
I'll usually kind of play touchbutt with him first round, move
around the ring, see whatangles he likes to take.
Usually I'll let him go nuts.
If they want to tee off on meand cast their arms out, go
ahead.
But yeah, later in the fight,like that.
(16:26):
Like I said, that title fight inindiana was a five round title
fight.
So I was definitely after thethird round, I was definitely
like, I guess coherent toeverything else going around
going on in the crowd.
I could hear everythingeverybody was saying uh, you
know, I was able to like lookover and like visually see,
because you walk into a fightfresh and you don't it's tunnel
(16:46):
vision, you don't really, you'renot focused on anything else.
But after going for threerounds and knowing you have two
more rounds ahead of you, uh,you definitely start to like,
start to get more coherent andadjust to everything going on.
So yeah, you can feed off thecrowd a little bit, especially
in five round fights.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Later rounds, yeah, later rounds, indefinitely yeah,
I, I can kind of, I can kind ofsee that for sure.
Um so, oh, excuse me, with umyou having you know, kickboxing
and more of a stand-up game whenyou are training for, like MMA,
what's a typical workout looklike for you?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Uh, to be honest with you, I'm probably I'm just a
kickboxer anymore I will.
Yeah, I did my one MMA fightand I was like don't like the
ground game.
So I've strictly beenkickboxing ever since 2021.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Okay, so with that, um, just being a kickboxer, is
there anything elseprofessionally that you do for a
job?
Or is the fight game kind ofwhat you do for a living?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
No, no, not a chance.
I am a bricklayer by trade butI come straight from work into
the gym and do conditioning.
I come straight from work intothe gym and do conditioning
Usually every day.
Recently I've had somelingering injuries that have
been keeping me from doing that,but I'm still in the gym two to
three days a week, outside oflifting and doing cardio.
(18:11):
But say, fight camp's on andI'm in the gym every single day,
usually not Sundays, maybe aWednesday rest day if I'm too
beat up, conditioning for anhour and then I'll do movement
drills and then I'll class willstart, and if it's not technique
, it's mitts or just dependingon if usually I'm fighting a
(18:33):
taller opponent, you.
But I have a title for impact,oh, at 65.
And that was a three weeknotice thing.
And then the following week Iwon golden gloves in Cleveland
at 165.
And so if I'm not cutting awhole bunch of weight, usually
(18:58):
my I, I, I thrive off goodcardio.
Usually I thrive off goodcardio.
I'm known for it.
A lot of my fights are highpace.
So usually if I'm not cuttingweight, we're not super focused
on my cardio.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
It's just more or less technique and sharpening
certain things that I need towork on.
Okay, I can see that for sure.
Now you said you cut weightsometimes and sometimes you
don't.
Do you have a preferred weightthat you would prefer to fight
at?
I mean, obviously, if you'renot having to cut it, you're 165
that you say you walk around at.
I mean obviously you might feela little bit better than that.
(19:33):
But I know some people like,yeah, I walk around at this
weight but I cut to 155 and Ijust I feel like I do better
there.
Is that cross your mind any atall when you're selecting fights
?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I'm definitely not going to get any lower than 55.
I do have to try harder to getto 55.
160 I can make pretty easy.
I don't.
My body is.
I have not that hard of a time Isay it because I'm a psycho but
I don't have that hard of atime cutting weight in general,
like I wasn't even trying to cutweight for that 65 fight.
(20:06):
It was on three weeks' notice.
The title challenger pulled outthree weeks out and I was next
in line.
So they called me up on threeweeks' notice and I was like I'm
170 right now.
I was like I'll get to work andwithin three weeks I knocked
out eight, nine pounds.
I got on the scale at 161.
(20:28):
Okay, so 55, yeah, it's a.
That's where I'm start cuttingwater hard.
160 I can get down to fairlyeasy.
Um, but yeah, I cut.
I cut water pretty easy, I cutweight pretty easy.
So it's never been a huge dealfor me.
There's sometimes if it'ssummertime and I'm eating and
I'm partying and I'm just beingstupid with my friends, and,
(20:48):
yeah, sometimes I'll float up to173, 175.
But once I put the work in andI eat right, it comes off pretty
quick.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, I think I've noticed that about a lot of
fighters Like they can putweight on real easily but they
can take it off just as.
Oh, yeah, I think their bodiesjust get used to having to cut
that water weight and get allthat out of them and it becomes
easier to cut weight.
I don't know if that's true ornot, if I'm just making that up,
(21:16):
but you know I that's just kindof what I think happens is, you
know, they just get so yourbody gets so used to being able
to have to cut weight forcertain events that it just
starts to happen naturally.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
I definitely fluctuate a lotmore now than I used to.
I mean, even if I'm not in afight camp, I still try to get a
gallon of water in a day.
Sometimes my body doesn'tcooperate, and it will purposely
hold water, depending's weird.
It's almost like I've grown tolike okay, my body's like oh,
(21:56):
you're depriving yourself ofcarbs a little bit, oh, you're
pumping in protein.
You're doing this, that and theother time to shed some weight.
So, yeah, it does come up, itdoes come easier over time,
especially if you, if you'veconditioned to water intake and
you know killing water gettingused to getting.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Now I know I've asked a couple of the other fighters
that I've had on this show herein the past four years.
Now I see these guys in the UFCand I know they weigh in like a
day or two beforehand to get totheir weight but we'll just use
your 165.
But when I see them in the ringI was like I'll kiss your ass
(22:35):
if he's 165 pounds right now.
There's no way he's 165 pounds.
Like do you have that to where?
Yes, I made weight and now,okay, I could put a little bit
more on to be into the ring, ordo you try to stay at that 165
and be there?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
so for that fight I like I still obviously sweated
out a little bit of water justto make sure I was under.
I didn't expect to be 161 whenI stepped on the scale, but yeah
, that's 100, true.
Uh, my first fight was at 55and and it was my first hard cut
like I've cut for I've cut forbjj tournaments, I've cut for
(23:14):
the, I cut for the smoker fightbefore that, but that was my
first real hard 155 cut and thatwas day of thank.
That's the thing is from liketitle fights for kickboxing.
For the most part around theseparts it's usually day before
weigh-ins, which is nice, sothere's really no point in me
going at 65.
But uh, those day of weigh-ins,those are brutal.
Because when I made 55 brutalCause, when I made 55, I was
(23:36):
skin and bones.
I tell you I was skin and bones.
And the minute I drank water Ifelt my body fill back up and I
was like, all right, I got sevento eight hours to get back into
, you know, to get back into gomode, and I probably I weighed
in at one, 54 something.
I probably stepped into thering at one seven, one, maybe
(23:58):
169 I'm gonna say 169, if Iremember correctly.
I remember, uh, stepping on thescale later that night in the
hotel room and I want to say Iwas like 169.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
That was before I started drinking and eating
hardcore so, yeah, that'sprobably pretty typical for most
fighters, especially the onesthat have to cut weight to get
down to their weight class.
Oh, yeah.
They're putting it back onbefore the fight.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Oh yeah, there's a huge difference between weight
like scale weight and then ringweight.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, that's pretty consistent with what most of
them have said, and they allkind of get that little smirk
that you kind of did when Iasked the question, like yeah,
we all know that we're not thatway.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Hey dude, look at Alex prayer.
I mean you gotta think that catwas fighting at one, 85 at one
point, and he walks around ittwo 30.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So I would say there's no fucking way.
He's one 80 when he steps intothe ring, not a big boy there
yeah, he's definitely a big boyoh, I'm a huge fan of him,
though I was watching him backwhen he was in glory yeah,
there's a couple that I'vewatched and, um, you know, kind
of coming up the ranks, um, andthat there's a couple out of
(25:07):
cleveland, uh, that I've had onthe show.
Um, they're doing big things,they're starting to to make some
headway in the amateur rankingsand getting their professional
fightings now and theirprofessional careers and you
know, I'm so happy for thembecause I had them on the show.
They're like one of the firstcouple fighters we had on the
show.
It is, oh, my god, why can't Ithink of his name?
(25:29):
I just thought of it and hisname literally just left my head
.
But Blake is the last name, um,and he likes the last name.
I believe Blake's the last name.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Where's he out of now ?
Speaker 1 (25:43):
He's still out of Cleveland, uh, but he um.
Every now and again he goes toHawaii and trains.
He has family.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
You're talking about.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Blake Perry, blake Perry, there it is, yep harry
blake player there it is.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yep, absolutely.
Oh, my god I could, I knew itand I could not think of his
name.
He's bouncing between hawaiiand uh cali.
Now, no, blake's a good dude, Iknow him.
Uh, my buddy is married to hissister but blake comes up every
now and then.
I talked to his.
I literally just talked to hismom yesterday.
She's in the gym all the time.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Oh, his mom was on the show.
She's hysterical and you knowshe's in the gym.
She's fighting to him like, wow, that's insane oh yeah, she's a
.
She's a bad woman, that's forsure oh yeah, I just again
seeing her on zoom.
I was like you know what, Iwouldn't mess with you.
You look like you could.
You just look like you couldfight.
I'm just gonna say that, right,like you look like a fighter.
And she was like, oh, I waslike so do you and Blake ever
(26:33):
like spar?
Like, do you ever like get intothe ring?
Now we're having a mom sonfight and now we're going to
settle it in the ring.
You know that stuff like that.
You know it's funny.
They're great.
People Love talking to him onhere.
But you know I follow him.
I believe he just had somethingon the UFC fight pass not too
long ago.
I think it was um.
(26:57):
Him and a couple people out ofhis gym have made it.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
I believe his most recent fight was a loss.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I want to say it was a loss.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, that was his first fight after he had his
nose, yeah wrapped around hishead yeah, we, we.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
It was.
Oddly enough, it was like aweek or two after that happened,
when he was on the show.
And we had him on the show, hewas like, hey, I have a fight.
I was like, no, do your thingand then we'll get you on the
show.
And then we had to push therecording back a couple days
just so he can get his noseright and be able to talk.
And I was like man Dude.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I seen that goofy bastard's nose on SportsCenter.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, I saw able to talk and I was like man.
I've seen that goofy bastard'snose on SportsCenter.
Yeah, I saw that too.
I was like man, that's I meangood for you for making
SportsCenter, but not for theright reasons.
I mean it's because your noseis literally attached to your
ear now.
It's just.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, no, he's from out this way.
I believe he wrestled forJefferson.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
He's a tough cat, absolutely For sure, patterson,
he's a tough.
He's a tough cat, absolutelyfor sure.
Um, but, anthony, hey, we arerunning down here near the end
of the episode.
Here I do have one last segment.
I do want to get in here, um,and for anybody who's listened
to the show before you knowwhat's coming, for anybody who
hasn't.
This is the fast 55.
It is five random questionsfrom the wonderful manager of
(28:12):
the podcast, johnny FittyFalcone.
Uh, these are the most randomquestions.
They're kind.
Manager of the podcast, johnnyFitty Falcone.
These are the most randomquestions.
They're kind of rapid fire,anthony, but you can kind of
elaborate if you need to.
It's a fun way we like to endthe show.
So if you're ready for the fastfive, we'll go ahead and get
started.
Let them rip, all right.
First question baked or grilledchicken?
Which is better Grilled?
(28:34):
Yeah, I think he tossed you upon the first one there.
Question number two If you aredoing dinner and a movie for a
date, should you do dinnerbefore or after the movie?
Dinner before?
Definitely before.
Question number three the bestfish to eat is Shrimp, shrimp,
(28:57):
shrimp.
All right, yeah, I can see thatI'm a big shrimp guy.
Question number four best placeyou've ever visited, thailand,
thailand.
Okay, this last one.
I knew he was going to ask thistype of question.
The last question here who winsin a fight, 100 chickens or 25
squirrels?
25 squirrels, they're just tooquick.
(29:19):
I think the speed takes thatone for sure.
I raced chickens beforeSquirrels are taking them every
time.
That was the fastest.
I will say you took the rapidfire to that to heart and I
appreciate that sometimes.
This is just the way the mindof Johnny Fetty Falcone works
and he comes up with theserandom questions on a daily
(29:40):
basis and we like to put theminto the show and it's a fun way
for us to kind of wind down theepisode here.
But I do give every guest,anthony, this opportunity at the
end of any, every show.
If there's anything you want toget out, if you have any fights
coming up or you want topromote the gym that you're
working out with, I'm going togive you about a minute and the
floor is yours, my man I don'thave anything coming up on paper
(30:04):
.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Like I said, lingering injuries.
Once I'm cleared, hopefullyI'll be back in action june or
july, maybe even august.
Uh, outside of that, I meanupgraded industries.
There's really no other way togo about it.
It's probably the best gymaround.
So we offer everything mmaboxing, kickboxing, brazilian
jiu-jitsu, kids, adults,fighters, common folk, you know
(30:28):
and we got one of the bestlifting facilities in the
building in the area.
So I mean, you're really we goteverything you want to offer
there all right.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
yeah, I'm always down for helping people up.
If there's a link or anythingwhere people can uh look up that
, I will definitely put thatinto the description of this
episode so everyone can kind ofcheck you guys out, see what you
got going on there and maybe,you know, get a couple more
fighters out there for you guysto bang around with in the gym.
But that is going to do it forthis week's episode of the Ride
(31:00):
Home Rants podcast.
I want to thank my guest,anthony the Violence Brazzoli,
for coming on.
This was a lot of fun to get totalk all things fighting and
with your fighting career andeverything like that.
Glad to have you on, as always,if you enjoyed the show, be a
friend, tell a friend.
If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just
because you didn't.
(31:21):
That's going to do it for meand I will see y'all next week.
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