Lessons from War, Jiu-Jitsu, and Hard Work with Julio Rosario

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're all adult choices, right?

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (00:02):
You choose, you know? Sometimes we got a couple of,
you know, some people just dealtwith two choices. Mhmm.
Sometimes people dealt with acouple of choices. You gotta be
able to freaking pick.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Now if you choose to go steal cars, hang out with the
right the wrong people, that wasyour choice. Yeah. Now you gotta
deal with

Speaker 2 (00:24):
it. Consequences.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah. The consequences of of your choices.
Some people don't understandthat.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show. What's going on,
Eagles? Welcome to the Fuel HuntShow. Today, I'm here with my
cousin and cofounder Joey andsomeone who's taught me a lot.
Iraqi three time Iraqi warveteran, black belt owner, head
instructor at Semper Fi MMA, anda coach to some of the world's
renowned black belts.

(00:50):
Staff Sergeant Julio Rosario.Julio, welcome. Thank you for
coming.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Thank you guys for having me. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
So we were basically deep into the show already. We
had the real back. I feel likethe the the stories we're
getting into here are just gonnabe one for the record books.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
So, Julio, could you get us started and just tell us
a little bit about theupbringing and how you maybe
became Staff Sergeant JulioAzaria?

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Alright. So I'm I'm originally from Jersey. I grew
up in Newark, New Jersey. Ifanybody knows Jersey, Newark is
the largest city in New Jersey,and it's probably the roughest.
Grew up in the projects justlike anybody that's ever grew up

(01:47):
in the hood, probably didn'teven have that father.
I grew up with a single mom. Shewas a bartender, so pretty much
mornings were left to us. We hadto get ready because my mom was
just

Speaker 2 (02:00):
You have siblings?

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yes. So I have a brother sister from same mother
being Puerto Rican, you know, mydad had 10 kids.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Right.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know? So but we were tight with with the other
siblings as well. Gotcha. Youknow, again, growing up in the
projects, it was rough seeingthings that most, you know,
growing up as a kid, youshouldn't see, you know, and

(02:30):
dealing with. But it just becamea normal type of lifestyle.
I really wouldn't change much,honestly. You know? I I think it
really shaped me to the personthat I am today. Shaped my
brother, shaped a lot of peoplein my family. You know?
We're grateful for it. Or shouldI say, like, we took it as a

(02:52):
hell of a lesson, you We'velearned from it, and then we
just try to just try to changethat for other people, not to
follow. It doesn't have to bethat way, you know? Always had
this dream of being a Marine. Somy uncle was a Marine and my mom
used to display his picture at ahouse.
And I said, who's that? Youknow? She's, oh, that's your

(03:16):
uncle. He's a Marine. I waslike, man, the uniform Even as

Speaker 2 (03:20):
a kid, this is what

Speaker 1 (03:21):
you're Yeah. I'm looking at that thing. I'm like,
I wanna be him. Yeah. Never knewwhat the hell the marine was.
You know, I've always watchedmovies, but, you know, being
young, I couldn't really tellthe difference. If he was a
marine, he was a soldier, airforce or what, I was like, I
just wanna be a marine. Didn'tknow much. And

Speaker 2 (03:41):
any of your did any of your other siblings feel that
way too? Or was that like yoursthat was like yours thing?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
I I think I was the more that gun ho, hardcore. In
my family, I'm like the, I'm thefavorite uncle, right? Yeah. Or
the best uncle, should I say?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
You're the fun uncle.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I was never that, I was that, that kid you had to
keep an eye on. You could notblink. Yeah. I was doing
something crazy, you know? I'vebroken bones, stitches all over
my I mean, was, it was alwayssomething for my mom, God
goddamn it.
I just got home. I wanna go tosleep. I gotta take this kid to
the hospital. You know? Get somestitches, things like that.

(04:19):
But that's how my family saw it.Like, this kid is all over the
place. You know? He's crazy in agood way. Yeah.
And next thing you know, I'm,you know, was just following the
wrong crowd, man. I got arrestedfor stealing cars. That was a
big thing in Jersey back in theday. How old were you at this

(04:41):
point? 14.
Yeah. You know? A couple oftimes, you

Speaker 2 (04:45):
know? Maximus. Maximus?

Speaker 1 (04:49):
What would

Speaker 2 (04:49):
you Nissan Maximus back in the day. Everybody was

Speaker 1 (04:52):
tagging those. I more luxury. BMWs, Lexus.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
That's the

Speaker 1 (04:55):
thing. Yeah. If I was gonna do it, I was gonna go all
out. So, you know, and it was abetter getaway car.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
You know what's crazy? I would say to him, like
the level of effort and hardwork it takes to steal a car,
you might as well just doanything else. Like, the risk to
reward reward is just not there.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah. The thing, the it's the it's the length of time
to the reward is

Speaker 1 (05:21):
the other thing. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's true.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Because you you boost the car.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
The the reward, the time to reward is very short.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, whereas if you use that same
knowledge and willpower to dosomething like, you know, like
something else that's going tobe.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
I saw a friend. They stole the car right out of their
driveway that they had literallymiddle of the night, they these
three three guys roll up, dowhat they do, like hot wire the
car or whatever, and literallywheel it out of the Hey. In
neutral out of the driveway. I'mlike, this is a shit ton of
work. Like, between and all thestress that's involved with
doing it, I'm like, they mightas well just go do something

(05:57):
else.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah. I mean, it there there there's a like, high
out of it. Mhmm. You know? Ithink that's what yeah.
That adrenaline. Kind of littlerush for it. And there was some
bad moments. I've lost somefriends doing it, you know,
being killed for taking the, youknow, for trying to steal a car
and stuff like that. And youstart to think like, all right,
is this shit worth it?
Yeah. You know? But then there'sthat peer pressure, you know,

(06:21):
being pushed to, you know, to dosomething, having a dad, you
know, or just someone in yourlife to say, what the hell are
you doing, man? Yeah. You know?
Don't do this. It's not worthit. Stuff like that, which is
where later on, you know, how mymindset started to change. So

Speaker 2 (06:39):
when you got, when you got arrested the first time
for for stealing cars, did yousay, hey. That's it? Like, I'm
done with this now, or was ityou went right back to it after?

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Nah. A while. Just I was more upset, like, how I got
caught. How you got caught?Yeah.
I'm like, damn. I could've beenbetter. I should've I should've
jumped this route. I should'vedid this. I should've went
instead of left.
I should've went right.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
And, yeah, I I think I was still immature about it.
Mhmm. Just didn't reallyunderstand understood the the
consequences. Mhmm. You know?
And then it was two times. Yeah.You know? After the second time,
my mom was like, you know what?You're going with your brother
to Philly.
You know? Because my brothermoved here to Philly with with
his wife because her her familywas from here. Ah.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Okay. You

Speaker 1 (07:24):
know, Jersey, Philly, it was just like, I was like,
man, fuck. Yeah. Excuse mylanguage, but F the Phillies. F
the Eagles. F Eagles.
F Fizz. I didn't even like noneof that. So I was like, you know
what? Whatever. And Well, plusit was like a punishment

Speaker 2 (07:40):
for you. You know what I mean? Like yeah. It
wasn't vacation.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
You know what

Speaker 3 (07:43):
I mean?

Speaker 1 (07:43):
So I come here and

Speaker 3 (07:45):
What part of Philadelphia was it?

Speaker 1 (07:47):
We were at, like, Suttleville section. Yeah. Yeah.
Now eventually then I was livingin a hunting park. Okay.
So HP for all those who know outthere.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Hunting Park in Kensington Ave.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
Grandparents are. So I went to Albany High School.
Mhmm. Right? I was over I hadstraight Fs from the high school
I came.
Right?

Speaker 3 (08:07):
I was going to school You said straight Fs. Fs. If you
said straight Fs, I wasexpecting As at the end of that.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
My my brother had to literally explain, like, why do
they why should we take him?He's he's straight ass, this
guy. You know, seems like a youknow, been suspended so many
times fighting

Speaker 3 (08:27):
this and

Speaker 1 (08:27):
all that. Yeah. And somehow this vice principal was
like, you know, we'll we'll takehim in. Now, I got sent over
there like in February, Marchtime frame. I was gonna flunk
regardless.
There was no way I was gonnacome back from straight f's.
Yeah. You know, the last threemarking periods. So I flunked
that year and I went back toJersey. So I'm thinking, I'm

(08:48):
cool.
Here's the summer. Alright. Mymom, end of summer, she's like,
you're going back. I was like,what? I thought it was just for
temporarily.
So I'm pissed. I have to, now Igotta start a whole new school
year. I I don't know anybody.And, again, I'm starting at
Olney High School. And I go andI'm just like, guess I just

(09:12):
gotta deal with this, man.
So Mhmm. First day of school. Ifmy brother watches this, he's
gonna crack up. After heexplained, you know, went
through tooth and nail to try toget me into the school Mhmm. And
I wasn't even the best school.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
You know? And I freaking leave the school first
day. I freaking left right outthe door. So who's there's a
coach who was my gym teacherthen the vice principal, they
see me walk right out andthey're like, yo, isn't that
that new kid? And sure enough,man.
I get here I go. I'm calling mybrother. And then my brother's

(09:48):
like, you know what? If anythinghappens, call me. This is my
direct line.
Mhmm. And I just always wonderhow they were ahead of me. Not
knowing it would you know? Butthis is where my brother decide
where he was my my fatherfigure. He would not let off

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
On anything with you know, he I had to work. So at
the time, I was 17 years old. Iwas working at night clubs. My
brother was like, you're gonnawork with me. I'm barbacking at
nightclubs.
You know? Now we would get outof these clubs at, by the time
we cleaned up, you're talkingabout getting home at almost
four in the morning. Mhmm. Nowyou would think it's a freaking

(10:28):
Thursday night. Maybe you let mesleep in.
Yeah. Hells no. My brother waslike, wake your ass

Speaker 3 (10:33):
up. Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
You know, now in Jersey, school started at like
08:50. Mhmm. Here it was like07:30. Yeah. So I'm like, man, I
just went to bed.
I'm at school, like and you knowwhat the crazy part was? I made
honor roll that year.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Really?

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Literally, whole year, I made honor roll.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
What was it? The structure you Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Like, how did you go from straight f's to?

Speaker 1 (10:54):
I think so I have, like, ADD, right? Whole
attention deficit disorder. AndI just think it was just like
rolling the dice, and I just hadall the teachers were great.
Actually understood what theywere teaching. Versus where I
went to a school have you everseen that movie, Lean On Me?

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah. Was

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Eastside. I leaned on me that time.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Well, I went to two high schools. I went to
Barringer and then it wasWestside High School. So we had
Eastside, Westside. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I dealt with that, wherethey changed doors. You go only
come in through one door becausethat's what they did to keep the
drug dealers out. Yeah. So whatthat movie portrays is 100%
true. Yeah.
And the no teachers cared. Justwent there, got a paycheck. If

(11:41):
you showed up, you showed up.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Some of them will mark me present and I wasn't
even there.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah. They were

Speaker 1 (11:47):
just like, I just go home and raise They

Speaker 3 (11:49):
were kind of enabling the bad behavior, like, not even
thinking I mean, I realized

Speaker 1 (11:53):
So I have these teachers, and like I said,
Holleney wasn't the best school,but let me tell you, it was the
best high school I went to. Youknow? High school in Jersey,
they were shootouts in that inthat school. You know? And it's
crazy because you see it, like,happen around the country.
And I'm like, why didn't theytalk back in the day when it was

(12:14):
it was already happening? Yeah.But, you know, I think the media
just took the opportunity tokinda make it a political thing.
Mhmm. You know?
It didn't matter back then. But

Speaker 2 (12:25):
So it sounds like you had, like it sounds like the
teachers that you had, like yousaid, that you understood what
they were teaching, but I canonly imagine, like, you
understood what they're teachingbecause they cared. Yeah. Like,
they cared.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
You know, I try that's why I explained. We all
watched the the cartoon Snoopy.Right? Yeah. You know the
teacher, how she talks?
Yeah. Womp womp womp. Yeah.That's how it is for me when
when I was in school. If Ithat's just how I was just Mhmm.
Interpreting it when they wouldteach. I was like, oh my god.
What the hell? And then that'sit. Alright.
Can I go to the bathroom? AndI'm just

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah. On the

Speaker 1 (12:55):
hall because I just couldn't take it. Yeah. And but
that that year, man, everyteacher, English, math, science,
I was like, I love school now.Yeah. I'm going to school.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
What's your brother what's your brother say? Going
from straight F to honor roll.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
What's he saying? Now he's like, now I'm not I'm not
gonna let off.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah. Now

Speaker 3 (13:14):
I don't He's like it worked.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah. Now now Yep. You know, basically, like, look
what you can do. Yeah. You know?

Speaker 2 (13:19):
This is your potential.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah. So anytime I did kinda slack, you know, I was
like, Hey, you better get ittogether. You know, I've already
seen you. You you can make honorrolls. Yeah.
You know? And, yeah, and then mymom was like, Cool. Now you're
staying over here, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah. Now you're never coming back.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
I was like, All right. Now gotta stay in Philly,
so

Speaker 3 (13:41):
As as you got those better teachers and had a better
experience, did your attitudestart to shift as well? Like,
you less interested in bullshitor was it No. Were still you
were still fucking around.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
No. Like like, I was getting my education. Mhmm.
Right? I was falling in linewith that.
And I was in my depressionbecause I was missing home, my
friends and stuff, like, leastwho I thought were my friends.
And then I got some friends hereand, you know, and kinda led
back to the same thing. Stilldoing

Speaker 3 (14:14):
some bad stuff.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Stolen cars here in Philly. You know? I got caught.
I got caught here three times.And

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Difference is now you're on the honor roll when
you're doing it.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
You got caught by the cops? Yeah. Like arrested in
cuffs and things.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Oh, yeah. I was at a CFC. CFC. Yeah. Know?
Total, I was locked up for aboutfourteen months. What? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
What's crazy is the people that take on this
fatherly figure and people thatwould literally beat someone's
ass that they cared about fordoing these things.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Someone Don't know that part. Yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Like, when I got my jutsu started with Julio and,
like, I'm, like, sitting there,as I was telling you before,
like, the store we have a storytime after class. Like, we just
hear about, like, some of the,like, the things you've through.
Like, I'm like, damn. Julio,like, fuck me up if I was like,
the guy had a lot.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah. This is where, like, when I'm hard on Sean or
whoever it is, and I'm tellingyou from my experience.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah. You're speaking from experience.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'm telling you that you're gonna waste your time.
I'm telling you what you'redoing is wrong. Mhmm. You know?
I already did it.
I I already did the hard workfor you. Yeah. There there's a
easier road. Just listen to whatI'm telling you to do. And when
I was sitting in jail for that,you know, for the fourteen
months, and that's when I wasthinking about the Marine Corps

(15:36):
stuff.
Because I was actually I'm asenior in high school. I was
gonna be the first person tograduate high school in my
family. Woah. That's Andeverybody's rooting for me.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
I effed it up. I effed it up with one stupid
decision. I'm like and I'm inthat cell and I'm thinking like,
damn, man.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
I was

Speaker 1 (15:55):
gonna join the Marine Corps. Was gonna do this. It was
gonna change my life.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Just to confirm, you were about to graduate and then
you locked up for fourteenmonths or for it was a total of
all the times you've been lockedup was fourteen months?

Speaker 1 (16:07):
No. So the other times were like, I was there for
like a day or two, then it waslike two weeks, and then a third
time

Speaker 2 (16:13):
That's

Speaker 1 (16:14):
because I had still two open cases, you know, I had
to go through court. Mhmm. Andthen I didn't get a bail till
about halfway through, which was$310 Now my brother, being the
hardcore guy he is, and like Isaid, I'm not even mad, I
understand why he did it now,but I hated him for it back

(16:38):
then. He was like, nope. We'renot paying for it.
Yeah. Yeah. It's not that wedidn't have $310. We could've
got that.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
He was like, nope. You made this decision. You're
gonna deal with this shit.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
So you missed graduation because you were

Speaker 1 (16:51):
in there? Oh, they kicked me out.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh, they kicked you out?

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Wow. I took a stolen car to school.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Ugh.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
So they expelled me from that. I was like, damn,
everything was going well. I wasdoing this, this, that. Yeah. It
was only a few months tillgraduation.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
So I was well on my way. And yeah, my brother was
like, Nope, you're staying inthere. I'm like, Mother. That's
like $310

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Was there any part of you that thought that he was
gonna do that? Or did you thinkhe was gonna bail you out?

Speaker 1 (17:19):
You remember? It was kinda surprising.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I was like, really, man? But I was he he he
definitely wanted me to learn mylesson.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
You know? He was, I'm not gonna help you. I was
Literally,

Speaker 3 (17:30):
if that was Parker and I he was I was I was at my
wit's end with him. Right? Like,my son and we had just, like,
literally don't know what elseto do. I'm like, that actually
seems like a fair

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah. But you

Speaker 3 (17:40):
got like, fair thing to do. We even

Speaker 2 (17:43):
see It's a way to send a message, but you gotta
think about, like, what could goon in there while he's there.
You You know what I mean? Like,if he if he doesn't bail you out
and you got to spend anothereight months there, like, who
knows what could happen inthere? And then he's got to live
with that.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
True. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Like, yeah, it's it's it's

Speaker 1 (17:58):
crazy. Yeah. I have to think about that now, but
yeah, because, you know, andyeah. But once I was going to
court and I was beating thecases, right? They couldn't find
enough evidence.
I was like, all right, cool. Igot two more to go. Then I'm
down to one more. It was like,all right, this ain't looking so

(18:19):
good. Just plead guilty to this,this.
It's like misdemeanor stuff. Andthat's it. You'll be on
probation for a year. I waslike, You sure? Was

Speaker 2 (18:28):
like, no.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
And I tell, Okay, well, misdemeanor.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Who's this, defender? Yes. Public defender.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
And I'm like, Wait, I could probably still be a
Marine. And I remember when thepublic defender came to see me
and talk about the case, he waslike, let's do this, this is
probably your best bet. I waslike, all right, all right,
let's do it. I remember justgoing to sleep and I was having
a dream that this was gonna workout the way I, what do you call

(18:58):
that when people, how shall Isay, just envision things.
Visualization?
What is it? Visualization? Oh,this is another one.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Out of body experience.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Manifest? Yeah, manifesting.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah,

Speaker 1 (19:12):
yeah. Right? So it was like a more of a manifest.
All right, I'm gonna beat thiscase, I'm gonna take this deal,
I'm gonna be good for that year,right? Because I'm on probation,
I'm a go back to school.
I'm just gonna have to go atnighttime, right? I'm a
graduate, and then I'm a jointhe Marine Corps. I don't know
how I'm a do it, but I'm

Speaker 2 (19:30):
This is

Speaker 3 (19:30):
how it's gonna Yeah. Is gonna This is what's gonna
happen.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
And sure enough, man, I'm out, I'm on with the
probation thing. I get a job,I'm working at a warehouse. Now
I go back to Jersey. WarehouseI'm working at, you can
literally see the World TradeCenter across, right, the River.
And I'm in high school, about tograduate, right?

(19:55):
Actually, just graduated, right,got my diplomas, the first one
in my family, right?Everything's going on well.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Did you go back at night? Yes. Or did you okay.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
I

Speaker 2 (20:03):
got So you're working during a day at

Speaker 1 (20:04):
the warehouse? Full time. Working a full time job.
So and this is where I tellpeople, man, stay in school. You
got it so much easier.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah. Right? And how old are you? Like, 19? 18, 19?

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah. I was I was, like, 19. So I'm working a full
time job. Mhmm. Right?
Seven seven to four. Right? Yep.So once I got home, shower,
change. I didn't have a car.
So I had to take two buses.Mhmm. It took me two hours just
to get there.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Oh man,

Speaker 1 (20:30):
that's By the time I was done, so high school was
from six till nine, all right?When they let out, the one bus,
you would see it leave, the nextone would come to almost ten
Remember, it's two hours to gethome. I was getting home at
twelve at night.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
And then getting up and doing the same thing.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
You know, and I did that for for a year. Mhmm. I was
like, this sucks, The winter, Iwas freezing my ass off.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Now were you back in Newark?

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
And you're saying your mom?

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
So now you're back. Where are the friends at from
when you were 14

Speaker 1 (21:01):
I just want I cut a lot of them off.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
You cut them off?

Speaker 1 (21:03):
You know, in in order to stay there, I just couldn't.
I mean, I was still friends withsome, but, you know.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Do you think that vision that you had for what was
about to happen next gave youthe courage to basically say
like,

Speaker 1 (21:13):
you're just

Speaker 3 (21:13):
You flipped the, in jail, you flipped the switch.
You're like, I'm done with this.Right?

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Well, was really believing that vision. Yeah. You
know?

Speaker 3 (21:21):
I'm being

Speaker 1 (21:21):
like, alright. Yeah. I I wasn't doing that with the
car stuff. I was like, I'mworking. I'm

Speaker 2 (21:25):
making Yep.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Honest living, stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
And And you wanted to be a marine. Like, you're like,
so

Speaker 1 (21:31):
So now

Speaker 3 (21:32):
You didn't have time for any to to fuck around
anymore.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
So now I'm like, I could make I know I could make
this happen. So, you know, I Isaved money, got a little
lawyer, got some things expungedthat I needed to, just in case
because

Speaker 3 (21:43):
because they wouldn't have accepted So

Speaker 1 (21:44):
the Marine Corps, and it's still the same way, they
will not take you.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Even with misdemeanors?

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Depending. Depend right?

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Case by case maybe? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
So depend so I got all that stuff expunged. I
didn't want them findinganything. Yeah. And so I was
like, alright. Let me startseeing this recruiter.
So they, you know, start goingthrough the process and I'm
like, you know, have you everbeen arrested? I'm like, nope.
You know? And obviously theysay, you know, you shouldn't

(22:14):
lie. There's things that can putyou in jail for so many years.
They can fine you up to 200 andsomething grand. I was like, you
know what? I'm a lie my ass off,man. I gotta make this dream
happen. If that's what it takes,I'm gonna I just wanna serve my
country.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
You know? Right. Yep.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
And things were getting a little difficult.
Right? And 09:11 happens.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yep. Are you still working at the warehouse when

Speaker 1 (22:38):
09:11 We see the tower. We see it on fire. And
I'm just like holy shit, whatthe hell is going on? Second
tower gets hit. We're like,woah.
So now all the workers are like,and I just remember the boss is
like, listen, I'm not gonna telly'all you guys can go home, but
I ain't gonna tell you all allcan stay either. We all clocked

(22:58):
out because we thought it wasthe end of the world. Yeah. And
I went home, man, just Iremember just watching live, and
I'm seeing this guy fall ontohis death. And I'm like Yep.
And when I saw that andeverything started to click,
said, this is my ticket in.Watch. I said, this is my ticket
in to the Marine Corps. Yeah.And sure enough, I just

(23:19):
something did come up, and itwas one time I got arrested for
trespassing.
I jumped in someone's pool witha bike. Okay. So I was like, out
of all things, I was okay withit.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, take that one. You know?

Speaker 3 (23:32):
So they were still, even at that time when you knew
that was your ticket in, werestill, they had a standard and
they were gonna

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, the Marine Corps has one of the high, and
that's what I loved about it.Yeah. You know, they weren't
sugar cooking anything. Yeah.You have to be, you know, it was
one of those things like,anybody could just join the
service.
Mhmm. But Marine Corps wantedthat selected few, which is
where you get that you know? Thefew, baby. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah. Did I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
Go ahead. Go ahead.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
But did anyone remind you along the journey, yo,
you're not gonna be able to be aMarine if you don't straighten
up.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
My best friend.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
You just didn't

Speaker 1 (24:10):
My best friend is like, dude, you're not gonna he
was a marine. Yeah. And hebecame aware because of me,
because I was sound like, dude,join the Marine Corps. Like,
dude, this he was gonna do army,and he's actually my instructor.
Okay.
He said, tell it to me. And Iwasn't offended. It just drove
me more. Like, no, I'm a proveyou wrong, man. I'm gonna make
it.
Yeah. I just felt and I wouldn'tsay nine eleven. I just felt

(24:31):
like nine eleven just made iteasier.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Well, they needed people, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
You know? So I was like, I was all about it. Yeah.
And then next thing, no, I'm inboot camp, man, and suffering. I
was like, damn.
You know, I thought it wastough. Was like, shit.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
This is thirteen years So

Speaker 2 (24:48):
how how where how much time was there between
09:11 and when you went intoboot camp?

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Maybe about a year.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
You know? While I was in boot camp, the war just
kicked off.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I was gonna say,

Speaker 1 (25:00):
yeah, now it's we just went to Iraq. And yeah,
man, I'm like, my family washappy. It was like, wow, big
changes. You know, you went fromnot going to school, not gonna
get an education, being lockedup, probably was gonna end up

(25:21):
being dead because that washappening to a bunch of my
friends. And yeah, just changedthat.
My mom was happy. And thecraziest part, when I left to
boot camp, I left on Mother'sDay. I was like, had all
freaking days. Now I was gonnaleave at the end of the summer,
and that recruiter called meback was just like, Hey man, I
got an earlier ship date. Youwanna do it?

(25:43):
I was like, yeah, when is it? Hewas like, May 11. I was like,
alright, put me in. He didn'ttell me May 11 was Mother's

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Day. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
You know? So that was hard on my mom, but to this day,
she's just, you know, she justloves our journey. Yeah. You
know?

Speaker 2 (25:56):
I gotta imagine it was, mixed emotions because
she's so she's so proud of youfrom, you know, the 13, 14 year
old version to where you arenow, but at the same time,
you're going to war. Yeah. Youknow what I mean?

Speaker 1 (26:06):
So Yeah. Yeah. It it was I mean, she it actually
changed her too. My mom washaving an alcoholic. Mhmm.
Into drugs. And I remember hertelling because her best friend,
her son joined. I mean, himbecame best friends at Marine

(26:27):
Corps. Oh, wow. And she waslike, listen.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Did you go to boot camp together?

Speaker 1 (26:31):
No, no. I was about eight months ahead of him.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
He's actually still there. He'll be retiring in the
next two years.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
So she was telling me, she was like, you know what,
ever since you've been to Iraq,she was like, you know your mom
doesn't drink no more? She said,she was like, I'm not gonna
drink till my son gets back. Howlong? Well, I've been back, but
she's so used to not drinking,She's like, well, I'm just keep
living this life. And my mom, ifwe have a party or something,

(26:58):
she'll drink and stuff, but it'snot where she's just home
cracking stuff, you know?
Yeah. And

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Did you did you ever talk about that with her? Like,
that did she ever come to you

Speaker 1 (27:09):
and say, hey.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Like, I made this promise to myself when you left
that No. Was like, I've spoken.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Did it more, like, for her, but didn't know that
that we knew about it.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
You know? And I was proud of her for that. Was so
happy because I'm like, youknow, she was different, you
know? And I was like, all right,I could parade this mom around.
Like, I'm happy to show you thisis my mom, not maybe an older
version of her, you know?
And my mom was tough as hell.Tough, tough, tough. My mom

(27:39):
actually was, she went to jail.So my mom used to be a drug
dealer, right? She was big timeback in her day, and she got
caught.
She got caught with a couple ofkilos of cocaine and it was one
of those things where it waslike, we won't give you a
choice. You either do five yearsor you getting life. She was

(28:04):
like, oh hell no, give me five.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
I didn't have a That happened while you were

Speaker 1 (28:09):
So not only that I didn't have a father, but I lost
my mom for five years. Know? AndI was bouncing around from my
aunt living in Brooklyn, butthen child services wanted to
take us away, me and my sisterand stuff like that. And we had
to go to Puerto Rico for alittle bit, high school.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Before high school? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So

Speaker 1 (28:26):
you know? Well, when I tell people

Speaker 2 (28:28):
like the story before the story.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah. I I try to tell people, listen, man. There's not
much you can tell me that'sgonna surprise me, you know,
that I probably didn't gothrough. Well, I didn't have a
mother. Well, I didn't have amother either for five years.
Yeah. You know? Well, I didn'thave a father. Okay? I knew who
my father was.
I didn't have him either. Mhmm.You know? Well, my father was
alcoholic, so was mine. Well, mymom was this, so was mine.
Yeah. You know? Well, I didn'thave anybody, neither did I.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
You know? And I just think it's we all have we're all
adult choices, right?

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
You choose, you know? Sometimes we got a couple of,
you know, some people just dealtwith two choices. Sometimes
people dealt with a couple ofchoices. You gotta be able to
freaking pick. You know, if youchoose to go steal cars, hang
out with the right the wrongpeople, that was your choice.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Now you gotta deal with

Speaker 2 (29:22):
it. Consequences.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah. The consequences of of your choices.
Some people don't understandthat. So

Speaker 2 (29:28):
I feel like as a kid, you don't you have to live those
consequences before you canunderstand it. Like when you
were doing that, like, likemaybe you could have made a
different choice, but I mean,didn't like you said, you didn't
really understand theconsequences involved. You had
to live them.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
And I'm also a fan that, you know what? Sometimes
you're gonna have to learn byfalling on your face. Yeah.
Because I can tell you what notto do, what to do, which choice
to go, but I think it'd bebetter off if you just learn
until you fall on your face. Andwhen you fall on your face, then
I'll help you up.
And I'm not gonna be there totell you, Hey, I told you so.
I'm like, All right, are youwilling to listen now? You know?

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Did you have that moment with your brother when he
didn't bail you out? When youcame to the end of your 14, did
he come pick you up at CFCF? Anddid he explain, Hey, I did this
because?

Speaker 1 (30:14):
No, actually, he didn't pick me up, so I got
released out of court down onSanta City, right? So they
released me right away. I said,cool, I'm happy. I got no money.
Yeah.
I'm trying to call, I don't haveeven a quarter to call home. I'm
like

Speaker 3 (30:32):
That's crazy, they could give you a couple bucks on
the way.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Give you a call at least.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
I'm still in jail clothes. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
All right. What?

Speaker 1 (30:40):
I got honest job, so I'm in the blue pants, light
blue shirt. Yeah. And the buslooks out and I said, Look man,
I just got released. And he waslike, Get on the bus. Right?
But I just got on the bus notknowing where the hell it was
going.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
You don't know where buses is?

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Man, I think I walked like two hours, man. I was happy
at first. After a while, feltlike I was in a desert. That's
crazy. And I get home, man, mybrother's wife was like, You're
home?
I was like, Yeah. Remember shecooked this meal for me, and
then my mother, he was happy.Did she think, did you, you were
still in the blues, so did

Speaker 2 (31:15):
she think you like escaped?

Speaker 1 (31:17):
No, no, to pay paperwork. They told me carry
that paperwork because the copsgonna probably freaking stop
you. Oh my god. Was like and,hey, it was just matter of just
keep reminding me of that thatdream. I'm like, it can happen.
It can happen. Yeah. You know?

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Was there any point in time, like, during that
during that, like, adolescence,right, where you let go of the
dream? Yeah. Or was it all yeah.So when you were

Speaker 1 (31:46):
You know, There's times when, and anybody's like,
we end up losing focus, right?And in my case, you know, we
lose focus a little bit. I wasway back there, like holy shit.
Hard left. I'm in jail now.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Hard left, yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, like hard left, two rights, downhill. Know? And
so

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
A whole puddle of mud. I'm like, how the hell am I
gonna get out of this? You know?And I just tell people, look at
me, man. Know?
I've really lost track. And Iwas able to find it again where
most people wouldn't. Yeah,know. You know? Thank God I
wasn't really big into alcohol,wasn't big into drugs.

(32:30):
I was just more into causingtrouble.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Been shot at, all types of stuff, just didn't got
nothing where I didn't get hit,where I where I, you know, where
I could've got killed. You know?So but now it's I focus on just
passing on a better message forkids, you know? Sure. Or even

(32:55):
young adults, it doesn't matterwho, you know?
Someone that

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Shit, even adults. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah. Just this I could I could pick up some stuff
on how people are now, I'm like,all right, I need to talk to
that guy. Yeah. Yeah. I I cansee it, you know?
Yep. And just try to like

Speaker 3 (33:09):
to that too.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Not necessarily motive. You could look at it as
motivation, but I look at it asmore like as an example. Mhmm.
You know? Don't tell me shit isbad.
I could tell you when shit'sbad. Yeah. You know, bad, bad.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
What you think is bad, okay, it's bad. I can give
you a better example of what'sreally bad, and I still was able
to pull out from it.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
You know? And my brother, same thing, you know?
Mhmm. Him, he's a cop here inPhilly. And I tell people, man,
listen, that's not one copyou're never gonna see on TV
that'd be like, oh, this cop gotcaught stealing money.
My brother's like the mosthonest cop. Mhmm. Very fair. He
knows, like, hood. He knows youcan't really trick him.

(33:54):
Yeah. You know? Because he'slike, dude, I've been there.
Yeah. Know, I know

Speaker 2 (33:56):
He knows how it works.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
What's your brother's name?

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Sammy.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
That that comes into Semper Fi and, like, tells you
about all the boxing stuff goingon? Yes. I didn't realize that
was your brother.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah. So, you know, and he's all about the
community. Mhmm. You know? Imean, he's got an autistic son,
you know, so that's just hard todeal with as a parent, you know?
Anybody that has a child withspecial needs, that just takes a
lot out of you. So you're doingthat. Yeah. Being a cop, that's

(34:29):
gonna take a toll out of you.You know, you got a family, you
got your personal life, youknow, that he's training, he's
still helping kids out,dedicates a lot of his time to
the community, a lot, you know?
And he's always got me doing it.Hey, come on, man. Let's do
that. Let's do this. I'm like,all right.
Sign me up, man. Let's just youknow? So now it's like, I'm just

(34:53):
grateful for and I'm not themost religious person, but just
grateful for God not giving upon me. Mhmm. You know?
Alright, man. Listen. I get it.You dug yourself real deep in
this hole. I'm gonna help youout of that hole.
Don't mess this up. Know? Notjust mess it up, but I need you
to give back.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
So any opportunity, I'm like, listen, without
hesitation, sign me up. Let'sgo.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
What do

Speaker 1 (35:18):
you need? I'll do it. I don't ask for money. Know?
Anybody that's ever known me, Idon't ask for money.
Nothing, nothing. Even like myfighters. Nope. I don't want
nothing. Just wanna see yousucceed.
Yeah. You know? I'm happybecause you're

Speaker 2 (35:33):
happy. That's the best gift.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
Yeah. Yeah. That's what

Speaker 3 (35:37):
And that's so much of a give of your energy and time
too, like the fighters. Like,you gotta prepare them for their
fights and then go to theirfights.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Know, you know, what it takes coaching wise. Yeah.
You know?

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Have to

Speaker 1 (35:55):
like John Marquez, was funny. He was saying stuff
like, you know, not only do youhave to be a coach, mentor, you
gotta be a father Yeah. To someof them. Yeah. The disciplinary
person, you gotta be a atherapist, you know?
Yeah. Financial advisor.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
There's just so much.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
That's probably the hardest part of

Speaker 1 (36:16):
the part. The hardest, what we tell these guys
is, listen, the best way you canrepay us back, just listen.
Yeah. Just listen. That's thebest way you can repay any coach
back.
Just listen. You know, we don'texpect you, we know what you're
making, and we know it's notenough. We know you gotta pay
bills, but you also have tounderstand that I'm taking away

(36:37):
time from my daughter, you know,my girlfriend, wife, know, my
family, my friends, my personalBusiness. Because I could be
home right now watching a movie,hanging out

Speaker 3 (36:49):
with my know? Business, too.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yeah. Same thing, running a business, students,
you know? I'm trying to worryabout one individual. I got a
couple of hundred studentsthere. They want my attention
to, you know, who are paying me.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
They actually paying the bills.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
You're not. And they the least I ask is that just eat
good so we can make weight,right? You know? Do do your
strength and conditioning so wedon't look like crap out there
in the ring. You know?
Just just listen. Just just dothat. It's not it's not the
hardest thing in the world.There's a lot a lot of things
that are a lot harder than that,but I tell people, look, it's

(37:24):
not that hard. You know?

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah. So I feel like we'll have to do another episode
on just the war stories. But,like, at what point did in the
journey that jujitsu come intoplay when you got out, like and
how did, like, your MMA, like

Speaker 2 (37:39):
So did you do,

Speaker 1 (37:40):
like, after I graduated, like, the once I got
out and I was doing a nightschool thing, that's when I
started jiu jitsu.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Oh, so you

Speaker 1 (37:47):
were doing

Speaker 3 (37:47):
jiu jitsu before? Or

Speaker 1 (37:49):
No. Before the Marine Corps. Yes. Yeah. About three,
maybe about three, three plusyears before the Marine Corps.
So you did? I was already a BlueBelt when I joined the Marine
Corps.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
That how'd you how'd you start that?

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yeah. Was

Speaker 1 (38:04):
through through my instructor, which is Johnny
Guerrero. And they were doing itand when we used to hang out,
right, he used to practice onme.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Oh, so you guys were buddies?

Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, yeah. We go out and he's the one that joined the
Marine Corps because I had toldhim to. You know, he might say
no, but, you know we were justwe were always into fighting,
right? Yeah. He like, All right,do this on me.
We'll do it. He'll freakingchoke me out and do this. And
I'm like, yeah, he was

Speaker 3 (38:35):
like was enrolled in the school, like he was

Speaker 1 (38:38):
No, so I'm old school jujitsu, right? We were learning
from

Speaker 2 (38:43):
VHS?

Speaker 1 (38:44):
Yeah. VHS is real good. If anybody knows, like,
Gracie's in action. Yeah.Watching those stuff and
magazines and stuff.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
So he was watching those, was practicing on you,
and then that's how you gotstarted.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Yeah. Oh, that's wild, dude. Him and my buddy
Cesar, they were, my buddy, soNewark has one of the biggest
Brazilian populations in TheUnited States. So he would go
down and get magazines, jujitsumagazines, because nobody knew
what that jujitsu was. Yeah.
You know, you're talking aboutYeah.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Years it

Speaker 1 (39:12):
I started in '98. My buddy started in '94.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
That's crazy. That's wild.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Look at magazines, see the And would just practice
the techniques because theywould show, alright, this is
one, this is two, the sequences.We weren't sure if we were doing
it right, you know? Sure. Andone day they went to a seminar.
This seminar had, like, eightblack belts, and it was only,

(39:37):
like, $40.
You'll never find

Speaker 2 (39:39):
that today, you And

Speaker 1 (39:42):
they went and they rolled with some of their white
belts, blue belts, and they hada lot of trouble. They was like,
yo, who you guys train with? Oh,nobody. What'd you guys learn
from?

Speaker 2 (39:50):
VHS.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Teams, magazines, right? And they was like,
really? Where you guys from?Jersey. Oh, I'm gonna introduce
to one of my guys who has aschool in Jersey, David Adeev.
Okay? David Adeev is one ofHoyler's top black belts.
Alright? And which is he has aschool in Jersey. What's the
Miggy Gull?
Mhmm. From UFC? That's histeacher. And yeah. Then we

(40:15):
connected with Dave David Adeeveat the time was a a purple belt.
You know? I mean, when I say goback, anybody knows David Adeeve
as a purple belt, you're oldtoo.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah. So your buddies paid for a $40 seminar with
eight black belts there. Theymet David Adeeb, and he said,
guys gotta try guys gotta

Speaker 1 (40:37):
try they they just introduced. Yeah. And David was
like, alright, man. Go join joinup with me. Alright.
Now we're getting properinstructions.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Gotcha.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
All this, that, whatever. So your buddies came
back from the seminar? Youdidn't go to the seminar?

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah. Didn't.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
But they were like they were like, oh, met this
guy. We gotta go do this.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah. So now I'm training. We would go. We would
pay, like, mat fees. Mhmm.
His school was a little far fromnorth. Right? My one buddy, he
had a car, so we would drive upthere. But now we were like hood
ones. Know, everybody else is alittle more like, you know,
suburban type.

(41:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
The hood guy comes in there.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
But we were, like, we were hardcore. Like, you you
Yeah. You're gonna tap. Yeah. Sowe would go out Friday, like
Friday nights.
Right? Or even Saturday nights,get drunk, wake up, go train.
And David and Dee would see us,he'd be like, because we're weak
like alcohol. Yeah. Hey, you gowith him, go he would tell his

(41:36):
bluebells, probells to beat ourass.
We'll get our asses whooped,like whooped.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
And he was like, all right, they're probably gonna
learn their lesson and not comedrunk again next week. We would
still come drunk, know,hungover, you know, and I know
he

Speaker 3 (41:49):
was

Speaker 1 (41:50):
like

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Those are probably the day the good old days,
though.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
They were. They were. Yeah. It's I'm I wouldn't do
that now. Was too early for thatnow, but back then just because
I was young.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Yeah. You got no no responsibilities, no problems.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
You know, we did it.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
High recovery.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
Yeah. Yeah. Let's see someone try and go into a jiu
jitsu

Speaker 1 (42:06):
Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
The morning after being hungover.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
You know, jiu jitsu was still out there trying to
prove to the world.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
So when you're going there and you're paying the math
fee to train, like, how manypeople are there while you're
training?

Speaker 1 (42:15):
Maybe be, like, fifteen, twenty people. Yeah.
You know? Okay. And but nobodyreally like I said, nobody
really knew what jujitsu was.
Jujitsu was still the Gracie'swere still trying to prove to
the world

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
That jujitsu was the best. Right?

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Is that who gave you

Speaker 1 (42:30):
challenges and stuff.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
Is that who gave you your blue belt from, like, those
days of paying your

Speaker 1 (42:34):
man? Hoyler Gracie did. Okay. Yeah. So, you know,
even when you saw blue belt,blue belt was like Yeah.
Seeing a black belt like, yo,you a blue belt? Yeah. Like,
man. You know, it was, you know,it was just seeing a purple or
brown was like, you just saw aghost. Yeah.
And that let alone black belt.And, I mean, if you were a blue

(42:55):
belt, it probably took you fiveyears to get that thing. Yeah.
Yeah. It took me four, like,four, four, four or some change.
And And at that time, was there,like, a

Speaker 2 (43:02):
lot of knowledge sharing between upper belts and
lower belts? Or no? Were youlike bullpen?

Speaker 1 (43:07):
You like the white belts? I'm not gonna show you my
secrets. That that that was,like, the part I didn't like.
I'm trying to get better, youknow? Teach me how to get out
this triangle, man.
Yeah. Stop putting me in thisthing. Yeah. Like, help me get
out, you know? Yeah.
At least if I know how becauseif somebody else put me in, I
wouldn't know, you know?

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Yeah. So so is there still, like, it's still you and
your buddies, like, working onthat together via chest
magazine? We had

Speaker 1 (43:32):
we used to work out of we used to train out of the
the police department's PAL,police athletic. Yeah. Yeah. Got
crappy mats, man. I mean theVelcro never even stuck that
well.
We do it on hardwood floors, youknow, and we were still skeptic
on, man, this really work? Youknow? So we would actually go to

(43:55):
the projects and start fights.Oh, wow. Yeah.
Yeah. And

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Test it. Test it And

Speaker 1 (44:02):
I don't wanna say no names, but, you know, I would
see my instructors at a time,you know, fist fight, take a
dude down, mount him, you know?Yeah. And the person would turn
around and choke him out. AndI'm like, oh, man, this really
worked, You know? Put a guy inthe arm bar, snap his arm.

(44:23):
You know, I'm like, all right,this really worked. And one time
we got into a fight at anightclub, outside the guy cuts
us off and he's like, and I waslike, oh yeah, us at the gas
station, okay. You're like, whatblue belts? So all my boy,
there's three of us, three ofthem, and we all knew jujitsu.
Everybody got one.
I get stuck with this big dude,I'm like, he comes charging, I

(44:45):
level changed, double leggedhim, took him down. Mounted him,
did what we normally do, punchedthe guy, turned, and I choked
him out. And I was like, I'mhooked. Like, I just beat a guy.
At the time, I was like a buck20.
You know, this guy was probablylike two ten, two fifteen. Yeah.
Any other day, I I should havelost that fight.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
And they probably had no idea what happened.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Hell no.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
That's the last thing I expected to happen.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Hell no. What's crazy is I heard that story before in
in the gym and it was better thesecond time. Literally, there
are the stories that that thatmade, like, Semper Fi, like,
great. Like, those, like,everyone be crying. I don't know
who we are.
Just like, listen.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Yeah, I can understand why.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
So you get hooked, and then you take the hiatus to
go serve the country?

Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yes. So yep. And then, yeah, I joined the Marine
Corps.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
So you come back, you pick up right where you left?
Like, or how long were you inthe Marine So

Speaker 1 (45:41):
after boot camp, I've been getting stationed to San
Diego. Okay. Right? AtBunnellton. And as soon as I get
there, check into my unit, theywere like

Speaker 2 (45:50):
You're off.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
They was like, hey, did you unpack here? I was like,
no, why? Don't.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I was

Speaker 1 (45:55):
like, okay. They lined us up, man. They put us in
a formation. It was like, allright, we need volunteers to
Iraq. Wow.
I was like, it was like, caneither volunteer or you're gonna
be voluntold. So I'm like, neverheard that word before, but it
don't sound good. So my buddythat, me and him went to boot
camp together, I was like,what's up man, you go, I go. He

(46:15):
was like, let's do it. Yeah,we're here.
And everybody that was prettymuch there already already had
just came back. They'reexhausted. And they're looking
at us like crazy dudes, y'alldon't even know what the hell
y'all getting into. Yeah. Yeah,volunteered for the first one,
second one, and my third one.
So my, when I went my secondtour, I volunteered for a third

(46:39):
one to stay again. And let metell you, I don't know what the
fuck I was thinking. I regrettedthat.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Why did you do that?

Speaker 1 (46:47):
I don't know. Honestly, man, and and I know a
lot of marines can relate. Iactually ate better in Iraq than
I did here. I felt some, how tosay, I felt important over
there. Once I got back, it wasjust like, just another Marine,

Speaker 3 (47:06):
just Yeah, yeah, yeah, purpose.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Yeah, purpose, you know? And not only that, with
the other Marines, you know,we're, especially Marine Corps,
we're very tight. Thatbrotherhood is just that bond.
And it was just, it became evenstronger in Iraq. Yeah, you're
going through we got back, youmissed all of that, man.
Put you in this state ofdepression. I was like, you know

(47:28):
what, send me back. You know?Though I hated that over there
too, but that bond andeverything, what we were going
through, we went through ittogether. My third tour, man, I
mean, they were all rough, youknow?
But that third one, was like,what the hell was I thinking,
man? I was like, god. And Idealt with it, you know? So I

(47:50):
did fourteen month. Well Yeah.
How long were you two of yourtours? So at Marine Corps, we do
seven month rotations.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
So where the army, they were doing that, then they
switched over to fourteen monthrotations. So I did seven seven
well, and then two back to back,so I became fourteen. Mhmm. You
know?

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Yeah. Same thing, though. We were young, and,
like, did you not you obviouslydidn't have your daughter or
anything. Like, you didn't haveany not much at home here to
really miss. Right?
So, like, that time in Iraq, youkind of felt like like it was
your purpose. Like, you you hadso much fulfillment there
because you were doing, like,great things that maybe, like,

(48:31):
if you had a family back here orsomething, like, obviously, you
had your your

Speaker 1 (48:33):
brother in. I don't even know. I'll miss my mother,
my brother, my nieces, thingslike that, my friends. Wish I
could be at the club, you know,all this stuff we you know, I'm
talking about. But it was justit was a different feel, man.
It's just so hard to reallyaccurately how should I explain
it? You know? It's just afeeling that

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Well, you had the experience

Speaker 1 (48:57):
won't really understand or get how we feel
unless you're there.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Yeah. And

Speaker 1 (49:01):
and really be in that position, you know? Because
trying to find the right wordson what I was feeling and and
and what even when, like I said,when it when it was over, you
know, once I got out the MarineCorps and I got off active duty
and I come back home, I'mthinking I'm good, I get called
back in. Freaking 07:30 in themorning, man. FedEx banging on

(49:24):
my door. I'm like, yo, who thehell is that?
I'm like, ain't even know FedExdelivered that early. You know?
And eyes are barely, you know,open. They give me a letter,
sign here. I'm like, alright.
I open that thing and it's agovernment letter saying that
I'm getting deployed again for afourth tour. And I'm like, how
could they do this?

Speaker 3 (49:44):
The end?

Speaker 1 (49:45):
You know? I'm like and I'm I'm at my mom's house.
She she goes, who who is that? Iwas like, FedEx? And she sees
the the that that

Speaker 2 (49:52):
The ambulance.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Marine Corps seal on it. She was like, what is that?
I was like, they want me to goback to Iraq. She was like, why?
Now she's upset because she'shappy that she's got her son
back.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
She thinks you're done. You think you're done.
Like, you think you're in a

Speaker 1 (50:05):
So when you sign up, active duty, you sign up for
four years, right? Once you'redone, there's four years
inactive. It's like a strength.They can pull you back in. Well,
again, not even home for sixmonths, and they they were
pulling me back in.
Yeah. Because at the time, wewere just so exhausted. Rotating

(50:25):
after rotation, the the onlybreak in between you were given
was six months. You know, noteven, three months. Yeah.
Because as soon as you wereselected to go back again, you
had to train again for threemonths out of that that six. So
you really were just parting

Speaker 2 (50:39):
So even between your first and second tours, you had
three months and then you wereback in Six

Speaker 1 (50:45):
months breaks in between, you know? And just
mentally and physicallyexhausting. And not just on you.
Think about your family.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
You know? I know I know a lot of marines that they
were all divorced, you know?Wow. A lot of things happen,
losing families, things likethat. It it takes a toll on both
sides, you know?

Speaker 3 (51:07):
Oh,

Speaker 1 (51:07):
yeah. But, yeah. I get this letter, man. I'm just
like, you know, and I we justopened up Semper Fi. So Semper
Fi came up.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
We literally the other time, like like, they went
into business. Like, they wentthrough this hard shit, then
you're like, okay. I'm gonna

Speaker 1 (51:23):
go into So

Speaker 2 (51:24):
you you opened Semper Fi after your third tour. You
came home.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Yeah. So once I came home, while I was in Iraq, my
brother was like, hey, man. Youknow, let's open up a gym, man,
so you don't have to keep doingthis thing, man. And I'm like
because for him, it was likerolling the dice. Eventually,
I'm gonna crap out.
You know? Was I was hit with awith an IED and stuff like that.
Vehicle blew up. You know? Gotall my fingers and toes, man.

(51:49):
Thank God.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Was he did was he part of that crew that trained
jiu jitsu with you? Yes. Oh,okay. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
Yeah. Yeah. I I I put my brother down with it. Oh,
okay. You know?
I even taught I I I was hisfirst teacher. Trained him.
Yeah. Yeah. I trained himhardcore, man.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
I don't think he was a black belt when I was at at
Semper Fi.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
No. No. My brother's a purple belt.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
He's a purple belt now. Still? But he's he's old
school too, but he's good, man.He knows definitely what he's
doing. Trains police explorers,hosting the police academy,
stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Was the IED in your third tour?

Speaker 1 (52:20):
That would have been my third tour. Yep. Oh, second
and third.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Yeah. Sincerely.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Second and third. Yeah. It just it during second
and third, there was no fightinggoing on. It was most of the
KIAs due to for soldiers werewere through IDs, majority. You
know?
It's not it wasn't fromfighting. You know? It was
Alright.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
So you get this letter, and you you but you just
opened the gym with yourbrother. And how when you say
just opened, it's, like, a monthor, like, a like Five months,
maybe? So like you're trying toget people in the door, like
you're Yeah, so Plus

Speaker 2 (53:01):
at this time it's not

Speaker 1 (53:01):
like everybody's

Speaker 2 (53:02):
beating down the door to get

Speaker 3 (53:03):
to the once I signed, Before MA. It was at five of MA
from the start?

Speaker 1 (53:08):
Yeah, okay. So my brother asked me that while I
was in Iraq. I called him overthere just to say what's up, and
he was like, yo. When you thinkwe opened up a school? I said,
god.
You know, I was like, I'm down.I was like, I got the funds.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
I haven't been

Speaker 1 (53:20):
spending it. You know? I was like, because when I
get home, I'm not doing enoughto really spend it. So he I was
like, look, I'll fund it all.Don't worry about it.
And I was like, yeah, just finda good place. He's like, yo, I
found this good place. Great.It's been closed for for months.
And then he was like, got a gooddeal.
What do you think? I didn't evensee pictures. I just took his
word for it. He was like,alright. I need a name so I can

(53:42):
do this paperwork.
And I'm like I'm like, hey. Iwas like, Sam, let me call you
back. You know, let me call youback. He goes, dude, I think it
takes, like, two weeks for youto call you call me back. I
said, I'll call you backtomorrow.
Don't worry. I'll I'll make sureof it. So I talked to my
Marines. Because they knew I wasteaching and training jujitsu
out there. Oh.
To other like soldiers, airmen,other Marines, you know. I

(54:05):
actually met Tim Kennedy forUSC.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Oh, really?

Speaker 1 (54:09):
Yeah. Got a great funny story with him. He beat my
ass over there, but great dude,though. And I'm asking my
marines, I was like, hey, I'mtrying to open up a gym. What do
y'all think I should call it?
They're like making jokes, callit Oo Ra jujitsu, call it this,
call it that, you know, call itKill Kill MMA. I'm like, No,

(54:31):
man, I can't do that, man. Thensomebody was like, Simplify MMA.
I'm like, Hey, you know what?That's starting to click.
It's sticking in my head. Waslike, I told my brother, my
brother was like, You sure wecan use that? I was like, I'm
like, What are they gonna say?I'm like, If I wasn't a Marine,
then I could see the yes shit.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I'm a Marine. We're gonnause that shit.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Did you call them back the next day?

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Yeah, I called them back the day, you Did

Speaker 3 (54:56):
you ever have anything come up with Semper FMA
or no?

Speaker 1 (54:59):
As far as?

Speaker 3 (54:59):
As far as the name? Like, I remember

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Like, terms or anything?

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Yeah, did they ever say, like

Speaker 1 (55:03):
I've had a bunch of marines because, you know, on
Levick, there's the the the

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Navy Base. Right?

Speaker 3 (55:09):
Yeah. Depot.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Couple of marines working there. In Camis. And
now, if anybody knows marines,you can't just walk around in
Camis. It's forbidden. It's partof our policies, you can't.
All right? If you're gonnaleave, you go straight home. All
right? Unless you run out ofgas, you pump that, you go sit
back in your car. You ain't

Speaker 3 (55:28):
Is that just a Marine thing?

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah. It's part of our standards, man. You can't be
in uniform. That's what mostmarines do. They would change.
So if you ever see a marine,you'll know the difference
because it's like this, thedigital camouflage. They're not
supposed to be out there unlessthey have orders to do
something, you know, whetherthey're working or they're doing

(55:50):
something, you know. So I seethese two Marines come, one's a
staff sergeant, one's a gunnerysergeant. I'm vacuuming, I'm
like, oh hey, what's going onMarines? They're like this.
They was like, who's the ownerof this? Why does it say Semper
FMA? I was like, because I'm aMarine. You're a Marine? Where'd

(56:12):
you serve at?
Who, you know, and this is whatwe do, you know? Who are you
with? Who it is? Find out, meand him were at the same place
and I served at the same timewas pretty But it wasn't the
all, I've had old timers comein. Who the hell, who's the
older of this place?
You a Marine? I'm like, yeah, aMarine. And we talk and stuff
like that now. You know? So Igot the respect from the city.

(56:33):
Yeah. Sure. Anybody that thatknows.

Speaker 3 (56:35):
Well, it's the first location. Where is that now? I
guess where you've there the

Speaker 1 (56:39):
whole Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
That's the only location. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
That's the only one on the bus.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Is that the way I know that's where you started
too.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Yeah. Yeah. No. It's I've been there seventeen years
now.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Wow. So it was a much different area seventeen years
ago.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
Maybe not as busier. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Traffic wide traffic wise and that's what helped me a
lot. Just people stopping thereand stuff like that. I see. A
great family neighborhood, so alot of kids are walking around.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Yeah. What

Speaker 1 (57:03):
year was it that you opened? 02/2007.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Two thousand '7. Was I there?

Speaker 1 (57:08):
I would say June.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
I mean, No. Because I was

Speaker 2 (57:12):
No. Think I I was sophomore. I, so I was at like,
I was in like North Philly, likeCastro and Erie, like around
there, Hunting Park. And then wemoved to Fox Chase. So I lived
like right by 75.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Okay. Because you were next to Rikers, right? Yep.
Yeah. So, and then, you know,I'm training and started to get
I have a family of seven.
And the mom was walking with adouble stroller. You know, she
was into working out. So she'spushing like three kids, three

(57:45):
girls. Her daughter was my firststudent who started it all, man.
That family, I'm so grateful tothem.
And then we had which somepeople may know, Danielle Kelly.
Mhmm. She came through and, youknow, I got her started, you
know, to where, you know andshe's got a successful career
with the whole grappling thing.But then Sean Brady. Mhmm.

(58:10):
His little knucklehead, youknow, around the neighborhood
and, you know, he might notadmit it, but he was

Speaker 3 (58:15):
a knucklehead, you know, in

Speaker 1 (58:17):
the neighborhood. I think was

Speaker 3 (58:18):
another one back in the

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Fighting, punching dudes, you know, him and his
brothers, man, they were toughas hell too. Tough case. When

Speaker 3 (58:24):
I do Sean Brady's a legend of Semper Fi, obviously.
So, like, did you know what withDanielle and Sean, like, did you
know that those they had worldclass potential or like, Sean
Brady's known as, like, the bestrappler in the UFC right Well,

Speaker 1 (58:43):
yeah, for UFC and then Danielle's one of the top
in the world, so far femalewise. Necessarily with Sean, not
right away. Danielle, she justwas just a good listener. She
was a great student, you know,and just absorbing this. Boom,
boom.

(59:03):
She had some, how should I say,tragic things that happened in
her personal life and, you know,I was there for her and jujitsu
was there for her. Because, youknow, Spiel was like, look, you
can get through this. Get inhere, train, train more. And I

(59:27):
know that helped out a lot, youknow, it really pushed her and
once she started seeing herpotential, it just, you know, it
went from there, man. That girlwas just like a magnet to
everything, absorbing.
It didn't know it didn't matterwho was teaching her, you know?
Great great student overall.Mhmm. And then Sean, he started
with Muay Thai first.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Oh, wasn't even playing jiu

Speaker 1 (59:48):
It wasn't jiu jitsu first. Him and his brother,
Brad, oh man, funny story. Theyused to fight in my gym.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
Like, yeah, I can't imagine.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Like two brothers, just not getting along. Normally
for me, you fightin' my, I'mkickin' you out. Don't want your
money, go somewhere else, givesomebody else another headache.
And I woulda did that, but Ineed to pay the bills, man. I
was telling my boss, man, can'tkick them out, man.
We could use that money to helppay some bills, you know,

(01:00:18):
because we're still new at it.And he's like, I was like, just
separate them. Because let metell you, they will hold pads.
If one of them, they'll holdpads like, it's like this, no.
They will drop pads and justfist fight each other.
Jesus, that's And I'm like, whatthe hell, like what are y'all
doing? It's him, no it's him,fuck you. I was like, all right,

(01:00:39):
you're gonna train with us, sojust don't put them together.
Yeah. Let me tell you, hisbrother Brad showed, like, I'm
like, yo, he's got a lot ofpotential to freaking kill it.
Yeah. Know, Sean was like on theback burner a little bit. He was
I just didn't see it yet. He wasstill down. He was still hitting

(01:01:00):
pads.
He was still about it, you know?I just didn't really he just
didn't shine yet. And then oneday they just stopped and
causing trouble in the streets.And then one day he just came
back and was just like, hey man,I wanna come back. It was like a
couple of months later.
I was like, you sure? He waslike, yeah, yeah. He goes, but

(01:01:23):
this time I wanna do jiu jitsu,wanna do the whole MMA thing. I
was like, All right, well, classis on this day. Yeah.
And that was it. Then startedwith jujitsu, you know? And the
rest is, you know, where he's atnow.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
Yeah, was just locked in from that day on.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Yeah, he just was getting better and better. Man,
he was into just lifting, beingSome people think like, you
know, oh, he's steroids. Thekid's just a natural freak, man.
He's just strong, technical.It's funny because me and some
of the other black belts arelike, oh, you can't do that.
You know, that doesn't work.Sean was just You be a

(01:01:59):
psychotrope, my man would justCould get a one arm, put you on
the arm. I'm like, You can't dothat. You're gonna get arm
locked. That's not gonna work.
But he was doing it to like toplevel black belts. So I'm like,
okay, I can't tell him that, youAnd I started to understand, you
know what, certain things arejust gonna work for certain
people. You know, so as teacher,start to kind of, woah, that

(01:02:19):
works for him. Why am I gonnatake that away from him? Until
someone proves him wrong and notmuch, you know, nobody really
has.
So I'm like, let it work foryou. Sure. You know? Look at his
guillotines, you That startedwith me showing him how to get
it from the mount one way, andthen guess what? He took that
and started, you know, making itwork for him, and now he's

(01:02:41):
freaking doing it one hand.
I never showed him one hand.

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
That's what he taught us at the if you wanted to tell
him. The seminar. Yeah. Hetaught us the the mounted. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
How to put it through. Yeah. He does it one
hand. I showed him like this,but again, he took something and
made it work for himself. Sure.
You know? And that's where, allright, you know what, you're a
black belt, you're able to seethat and make things work for
yourself. You know, obviouslyhe's a lot more mature, you

(01:03:09):
know, not the little knuckleheadkid anymore, doesn't even like
drinking anymore, you know?

Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
I really try to have All Sean there is eat, sleep,
train.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
If anybody knew what Sean was, oh man, he used to
come to the gym just like I usedto. This was crazy because I saw
a little bit of me in him.Remember when I tell you guys I
used to go and be hungover agood night or drinking and still
train jujitsu?

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
I tell

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
you what, he would show up, and me and my other
black boy Frank, we would lookat him and we're like, oh, this
motherfucker's drunk. And heused be all, man, like, I'm
good, know, go challenge and gochange. I was like, we're gonna
beat his ass. We're gonna beatNow, it wasn't jujitsu, was MMA,
so I'm hold him crucifix,punching him, thinking that he's
not gonna do it again. Just likeme, guess what?

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
He freaking did it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
So, you know what? I just it's just

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
It all worked out for

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
me, man. I'm just like and then I had to tell him,
like, well, I had to learn,like, like, you're you're
younger than me when I started,you got more potential. You
know, at the time my body wasbeat up from the Marine Corps,
just doing stuff even when I wasyounger, breaking bones and
stuff. It starts to add And I'mlike, you know, you're such in a
better spot than I am. You know,and I remember he didn't make

(01:04:25):
weight one time.
Boo. Out of all the times, thisone time he didn't make weight
is because he was out drinkingthe weekend before. Yeah. And I
chewed him up the whole wayhome, man. Let him have it.
Like a dad would. Dude, this isfreaking embarrassing. I said,
Do you understand that? Peoplewho brought tickets, it's not
just like, Hey, here's yourmoney back. No, I had to get a

(01:04:46):
babysitter.
Yo, I took off of work. Youknow, I made arrangements. He
doesn't understand that. I'mlike, they did, I said, look,
you have to decide, what are yougonna do? You know, if we're
gonna fight, then you can't bedoing this drinking stuff no
more.
You can't do that. This is whatyou're, and I can't say that
that conversation fixedeverything, but it definitely

(01:05:07):
clicked. Yeah. You know? Becausefrom then on, that's when he
started to change, you know?

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
That was his jail cell moment. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
There's consequences. Yeah. You know, they have to be
an

Speaker 3 (01:05:15):
actual sinner. Yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
You know? But that's where I'm like, alright. I
already got my reward. I I sawyou know, I said what I needed
to said, and and look whathappened. Look where you at now.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Yeah. Mhmm.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
You know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
And we talk, and he's been he's been there for me. You
know? I was going through awhole mental, emotional roller
coaster as far as my PTSD. Youknow, I was trying not to let
all that affect me, you know?It's different because I could

(01:05:49):
talk about it now, but I knowthere's a lot of people that
just don't, you know?
You would never know, man.There's some people put a smile
on their face not knowing whatthey're going through, and
that's what I was doing. Runningmy classes and trying to be in a
relationship that, you know, toact, you know, trying to be a

(01:06:12):
father for my daughter. Mhmm.And just going through this
every day, man, was just thehardest thing to get up every
day.
And I know there's hundreds ofthousands of people that are
just like that, you know,millions if anything, you know,
of our veterans going throughthe same thing. And I just

(01:06:33):
didn't have no one to talk to,no one that was gonna relate,
not understand, you know? Andthen I was seeing, you know, my
buddy's wife posting a picturethat he just took his life, you
know? I was like, what? He justposted he was chilling, he was
good last night.
That morning, blew his head off.Another one, I'm like, What the

(01:06:53):
hell is going on? And it allstarted, I think, with the
medication that the VA wasgiving out, and I just knew to
stay away from that shit. Stayaway from that. And the alcohol
and things that were leading,because we're doing it to
suppress the pain, you know?
And I just had to suppress it onmy own, which made it even

(01:07:16):
harder, you know? And jujitsuwas helping me, you know, helped
take some frustration out. But Ijust couldn't really understand
why I was feeling like this. AndI just recently went through a
breakup with my fiance after tenyears and yeah, it pushed me to
the edge. I was in the darkestplace possible, man.

(01:07:39):
Yeah. I mean, Sean was trying tohelp me, talk to me. I went to
his house and, you know, I thankhim for that. Not just that,
other friends, family members,my other best friend Johnny,
who's my instructor. And justthank God just for having just

(01:08:02):
friends that just care justenough to say, call, reach out.
Yo, you okay, man? I'm okay. No,you good? I don't know what,
normally I would say yes. Yeah.
But that moment I was like,Nope, I'm not okay. Yeah. I am
not effing okay. And yeah, thethoughts were dark and then I'm
like, You know what? Thosemedications they gave me, it's

(01:08:24):
time to start taking them.
And I was taking it, made mefreaking worse.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
I was like, what the?

Speaker 3 (01:08:30):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
And I wasn't the same. My daughter and everybody
else is telling me like, whatthe hell? You're not the same
person. And it was themedication, man. They just had
me zombified and I'm just like,I didn't wanna teach.
I I think I taught for, almosttwo or three months. And thank
God

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
How's it ever that?

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Thank God. And you heard my speech, right? Yeah.
But if it wasn't for my guys,man, my black belts, my white
belts, it didn't matter, you

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
Yeah. Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Who was able to hear what little I had left in me to
just say what I had to say.Mhmm. And it was just like,
Sensei, what do you need? We gotyou. Because I didn't give a
shit about my business.
Yeah. It could have closed, Iwouldn't give a shit. I wouldn't
give a shit about bills. Theycould I didn't listen. Take it,

(01:09:18):
take it.
I was just not giving about careabout nothing. Nothing, all I
wanted was that pain to go away.And tell you what, I never ever
want to feel like that again. Sothree years ago, I was going
through some stuff too, I didsome research on psychedelic

(01:09:38):
therapy. And I was seeing acouple of podcasts of veterans
talking about that.
And one of the companies,Veteran Solutions, and didn't
know much about it, man. I wasactually a little scared about
it because I'm like, man, isthis shit gonna erase my mind?
Like, you know? Sure. All theveterans, I'm just, I'm still in

(01:10:00):
the loop looking at newfindings, researches, medical
stuff that they're doing on.
I'm like, man, this shit soundspromising. It sounds life
changing. Mhmm. And I reallycouldn't I didn't know if I
wanted to spend that type ofmoney on that. It I didn't
understood I didn't see thevalue, if that made sense, you

(01:10:20):
know?
Mhmm. To spend this much moneyfor what? To be kinda cool or if
it might work, not might

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
And when I went through this breakup, man, that
pushed me over the edge and Iwas I called my broker, man.
Mhmm. And I told him about it.He was like, dude, I just had a,
my, because his, he was a Marinetoo. My broker's a Marine.
He was like, dude, my buddy's,my brother's boy just went
through it, changed his life. Hesaid, bro, I'm so happy for you,
man. What do you need? You know,me and him are talking. And I

(01:10:49):
was like, I need $7.
I said, can you just I I wannapay for all of this. Yep. Let's
just do it. He was like, allright, I'll send it to you right
away. And I mean, was my money.
It was some sort of investments.And I called these people up,
man. And I wasn't getting noresponse at first. Yeah. So I'm

(01:11:13):
like, man, fuck.
And when I wasn't getting aresponse, man, I kept thinking
about taking my life. More andmore, I was like, man, fuck this
shit. It's probably a sign. Justget it over with. Let's just,
you know, and I'm taking mystepson and my daughter to the
movies.

(01:11:33):
As soon as we're about to walkinto the to that theater, my
phone rings. That's one of thereps. Hey, can I speak to Julio
Rosario? Like, yeah. What was soand so from Veteran's Solution?
I'm like, oh, yes? It was like,hi, how are you feeling? And I
told the kids, just go go in,I'll be in.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
And I just started bawling. Was like, Listen, I'm
fucked up. Yeah. I can't. I wasjust holding it just together
just for the kids.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
I was gonna say, you're taking your kids to the
movies. Like, a lot of timeswhen people hear stories like
this that you're in that state,they think that you're like
balled up in a corner of yourhouse somewhere. It's like, no,
you're wearing the mask. Yeah.You're like out wearing the
mask.
Every time that-

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
was gonna do it that night. I was just gonna spend
that time with them. Yeah. And Iwas done. I was just mentally, I
was just-

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
Well, here's another sign that that call coming in.
You thought it was a sign thatyou were done, but here the call
came through and it's anothersign that you're just, you know,
getting started.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
And I just, yeah, I just told her I was messed up.
Yeah. And she talked me throughit, and she said, we're gonna
give you the help you need. AndI was like, if you tell me to
leave right now, I'll jump on aplane right now. She was like,
let me see what dates we have.

(01:12:54):
It was just three weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
It was three weeks out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:58):
Longest fucking three weeks of my life. Longest. I
thought being in Iraq was likelong, waiting seven months. And

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
They had people, coaches calling me every week,
every other day.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Leading up, leading up to that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
Yeah. Preparing me for this thing. And it was just
like my last straw, likesomething's gotta work.
Obviously the VA therapy, noneof that stuff was working. It
was more just like putting bandaids on something.
I was still bleeding out, wasn'thealing the wounds. And telling

(01:13:35):
my friends, my closest family,I'm like, I'm doing this. I'm
like, I don't care. I'll spendall my money. So I decided, man,
I'm gonna do this, I'm goingfirst class.
First time I flew first class.

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
That's a different experience, by the way. I got on
a business trip, got a lastminute upgrade for my sister and
I for a hundred dollars. Andthey treat you like royalty.
What? Oh, man, listen.
I'm like, this is crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
I was like, damn, I've been missing out,

Speaker 3 (01:13:59):
man. Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:14:01):
What the fuck? I was like, oh, heck. First flight

Speaker 3 (01:14:03):
is what?

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
I'm like, I've done I paid a little extra $40.50 bucks
to get extra

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Each leg room, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
Extra four inches of leg room, but

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
So everybody's experiencing it, I'm like, I'm
never not flying first classagain.

Speaker 1 (01:14:12):
Yo. Right? That's what I said. I said, fuck. I'm
gonna save the extra money.
I care. I'm going first class.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
Next flight? A bajillion dollars. I'm like,
fuck that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:20):
Yeah. I

Speaker 3 (01:14:21):
guess I'm not flying first class.

Speaker 1 (01:14:24):
I I'm sitting in first class. This lady sat to me
with a service dog, and I swearthis dog knew what the hell was
happening. He was looking at melike, bro, you okay?

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
They know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
You know? And he just kept like

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
They definitely know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
Rubbing up on my leg to almost sense like something
was wrong. And I'm just lookingout the window, And I knew
things were wrong because Icould just be like this, fine.
Mhmm. And I'm talking about thismonths ago, but I would just be
crying. And I'm like, I wouldn'tknow I was crying till it was
coming down my tears.
Like, why? Yeah. Because I hadno control in my mind, and I

(01:14:58):
knew I was losing it. And I'm inthat plane, it's happening. I'm
looking out the window, I'm atthe window seat like, don't want
this lady to see what'shappening.
And she didn't I don't think shesaw it, but the dog was I would
look and he was looking at like,like, yo, you need a hug or
something? I'm like

Speaker 3 (01:15:15):
I mean, I feel like a service dog would probably know

Speaker 1 (01:15:17):
you even more than that. I talked to my daughter,
my mom. I was like, look, Igotta do this. This is gonna
change my life and stuff likethat. I just put all my belief
into it, man.
And when I got there, company'sname is Ambio. Do they pick me

(01:15:38):
up in the airport? Sopsychedelic therapy, was two
psychedelics. One is calledIbogaine, one of strongest
psychedelics on this earth, andthen the other one was called
DMT. Yeah.
And so the first psychedeliccomes from like a a root extract

(01:16:02):
out in Africa. And then DMTcomes from a tree frog. Yeah.
And funny because I was hearingpeople saying licking the frog.
I'm like, crazy as hell.
And man, they took me, picked meup from the airport, drove me
straight through Mexico becauseit's illegal to do a ibogaine
here in The United States.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:16:20):
So they're still trying to work it to pass it.
And, yeah, we get to Mexico,man. Beautiful house on the
beach. Mhmm. So I you know, myfamily was scared for me.
They was like, you're goingwhere?

Speaker 2 (01:16:31):
Because you're yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
I'll do what?

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was without a six other I I was
a six person.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
Okay. I got you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:38):
So they do, like, six at a time.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
I got you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
But let me tell you, it was worth every penny.

Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
Were they Marines?

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
No. One was two of them was army, you know? And
then the rest were just regularguys just like you, just going
through had a really dramaticplace, I guess, growing Yeah.
And but you coulda told me thisthing was worth, what, was
20,000. I'll you to I'll tellyou to this day, it was worth

(01:17:07):
every penny.

Speaker 3 (01:17:08):
You're saying you woulda paid You woulda paid

Speaker 1 (01:17:10):
Listen, I woulda paid 50. Yeah. Like, it was worth
every penny. Long how long wasthe feeling was crazy, these
people are so passionate abouthelping veterans or anybody
Mhmm. That's going throughsomething that I wasn't even
charged yet.
They picked me up from theairport. They didn't even ask

(01:17:31):
me, hey, I'm not gonna pick youup. Did you pay for this
already?

Speaker 3 (01:17:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:33):
I'm on day two going through this stuff, and they
didn't ask me anything aboutpaying or nothing. I mean, I was
gonna pay. Yeah. So I was like,shit. I realized, and I went on
the thing and I paid foreverything.

Speaker 2 (01:17:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
And but I was like, they weren't even asking.
Weren't even asking. I was like,I felt like another company
would have been like, before wepick you up, we gotta pay for
this. Mhmm. Know?
I knew I knew those people greatpeople, man. To their staff,
their nursing, the doctors. Andlike said, you're in a mansion
house type setting. Beach isthere, there's a pool, nobody

(01:18:07):
used it. We had our own chef.
Yeah. I mean

Speaker 3 (01:18:11):
So what was the, like, would you do the drug
during the day and, like

Speaker 1 (01:18:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:18:16):
Like a whole experience?

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
So first day, it's more like introduction to try
and find out who you are, that'swhat we're doing, stuff like
that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
As a group or individually?

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
As a group. As a group. Oh, okay. Yeah. And they
were just like, look, man.
You've done enough for people,helping people out. Let us help
you. Do not do anything. We hadlaundry service, everything.
Like, you just you just got outof bed.
Didn't do anything.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:18:39):
And it just felt it was like, focus, it's all about
you. Yeah. And more of thatholistic Mhmm. Type of stuff. We
did

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
Speaking my language, man. I love the

Speaker 1 (01:18:49):
the So we did what's called temescal, which is like a
looks like an igloo. You knowwhat the the hottest you think
Russian bath houses are hot?Yeah. This ain't got nothing,
bro. Nothing.
This thing was so I felt like Iwas seeing stuff in there, was
freaking again, it's allholistic type stuff, but Yeah.
Everything from that, breathwork, yoga, meditation. Wow. We

(01:19:12):
did all of that leading upbefore we did the eyeball game.
So eyeball game was first.
Next day you rest and thenbecause we were there for five
days.

Speaker 3 (01:19:21):
So

Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
Ibo Gang was on day three. You rest and then we do
day five, you do the the DMT.But I'm not depressed anymore. I
have no anxiety. And it's not tosay that my past traumas are

(01:19:44):
gone.
They just don't bother meanymore, if that makes sense.
Mhmm. You know? Like, I couldthink about it. I could talk
about it.
I just don't. Doesn't have ahold on you. Yeah. You know? It
it just doesn't.
And let me tell you, I seeeverybody different. If I know I
could just pick up. You're goingthrough something. I I don't

(01:20:06):
know. It's just like it's justcrazy.
The visions I had, everything.Changed my life, man. Saved my
life, is what I should say. Andnow, know, I've already got a
couple other marines and thisfemale Airmen, I got her to do
it. She's always hitting me uplike, Dude, you saved my life.

(01:20:28):
I'm like, Not me. I'm like, Thepsychedelic therapy saved your
life. I just point at you to theright I'm telling you what it
did for me. And that's the samething why I tell for any
veteran, man. Look into it.
The company's called MBOSciences. You can look up
Veteran Solutions. Mhmm. Itworks, man. And these people are

(01:20:51):
trying very hard to get itlegalized here in The United
States.

Speaker 3 (01:20:57):
Crazy you got alcohol and drugs or alcohol and weed
legal in The US, but Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:02):
And and not only does it just help people with
traumatic or PTSD type stuff, ithelps people with addiction.
Mhmm. Actually, the ibogaine wasfirst used for addiction.
Originally, that's what it wasSo someone that's hooked on

(01:21:25):
heroin, fentanyl, any of thisstuff. You do the ibogaine,
it'll clean you out.
You won't crave it anymore. Itwill so anybody that has like a
daughter or a son, man, you'rewatching this and you wanna save
your son, you want your kidback, look into that.

Speaker 2 (01:21:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:42):
I will bet all my money, you will save your kid.
You will get your kid back.

Speaker 2 (01:21:47):
Yeah. What was the was the experience like when you
came home? Like, you after theafter the therapy, after the
trip, when you got back, wereyou

Speaker 1 (01:21:55):
So I was supposed to hang out with some kids with
with some friends in San Diego,some other marines that I served
with. And I did. And I wasexcited, to get home, man, just
tell my story, tell my visions.Because when you do the
psychedelics, there's visions.And yeah, man, I saw my inner
child, you know, I saw myselfhugging it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:17):
Sounds like my kind of trip, dude. Some yoga
meditation, breath work, andsome

Speaker 1 (01:22:20):
It was

Speaker 3 (01:22:21):
plant medicine.

Speaker 1 (01:22:22):
But the the DMT, I was only out for seven minutes.
So my experience was sevenminutes long.

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:22:26):
Now, eyeball game, shit, it was like sixteen hours,
man.

Speaker 3 (01:22:29):
Why?

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. Most of it, you're
floating in space, bro. Blackspace.
You know, then you'll have somevisions. It's just a couple of
points you're like, alright,man. I'm done. I just wanna get
out of this, but you can't, man.You're like blindfolded.
You take that off, man. It's

Speaker 3 (01:22:46):
You laid there 16.

Speaker 1 (01:22:48):
Your eyes are doing this like everything's moving,
man. It's just sad.

Speaker 3 (01:22:51):
Laid there for sixteen hours? Like, you laid
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:22:54):
Was about a good twelve to sixteen hours for for
for most Wow. But you'remonitored. They they they got

Speaker 2 (01:23:03):
hard Oh, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (01:23:05):
They got I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (01:23:05):
When I say these people are pros, listen, they
got doctor on-site, they gotnurses. Oh, sure. They're
constantly checking on you,making sure that nothing's bad.
It's what I thought too, youknow, the beginning, man. What
if I freak out?
Like, never done any, I don't dodrugs.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
Yeah. And

Speaker 1 (01:23:23):
now I'm gonna go and do some of the hardest stuff in
the world? You're telling me Iwill gain the strongest
psychedelics in this world onearth, and I'm gonna do that?
You know, I'm like, man, isthere like little steps I can
Yeah, yeah, I'm pushing So I waslike, yo, I hope I don't freak
out. Hope I don't freak out. Youknow, I'm like, oh, God.

(01:23:44):
I'm like, but they prepare you,man. They prepare you for a lot
of stuff. Know, whether you'reinto drugs or not, it doesn't
matter, man. They're there tohelp you.

Speaker 3 (01:23:53):
Did you bring any of the yoga, meditation, breath
work, some of those stuff backwith you? Like, did you do any
of that now?

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
Yeah. Some stuff in the mornings just to help you
get started and stuff like that.Yeah. Like a whole mindset kind
of thing. Just Mhmm.
You know? Because I I believe ittoo. It's like what you're
putting out to the world, theworld's gonna get it right back.
Yes. You're putting out thisnegativity, these thoughts.

Speaker 2 (01:24:15):
Of course.

Speaker 1 (01:24:15):
Listen. That that's what you're gonna live

Speaker 2 (01:24:17):
in.

Speaker 1 (01:24:18):
Kinda like it's kinda like the the manifesting you did
when you

Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
sat down, you said this is

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
the vision I see, and I'm gonna make it happen. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
The same type of thing?

Speaker 1 (01:24:25):
Some people are not answering, listen, man. I'm I'm
gonna walk my dog out in thisfield and I'll start just let my
dog run. I almost forget aboutwhere the hell is he at. And I'm
just manifesting, walking outthere. This is what's gonna
happen.
This is what I'm gonna do. Youknow? Things are gonna get
better for me. You know what? Iforgive this person.
You know? I can't hold thatthought. Know, I used to hear
people say, you know what? Theforgiveness is not for them,

(01:24:46):
it's for you. Know?
You would ask me that monthsago, what the hell are you
talking about?

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:24:52):
You know? And now I understand it. Mhmm. You know?
What happened to me in myrelationship past, you know,
regardless what was done to me,you know what?
I'm gonna forgive myself, youknow? Yeah. For dealing with
certain things, allowing certainthings. It's okay. You know
what?
We can't hold it anymore. We'regonna move on. Want for me to

(01:25:14):
move forward? I had to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
Yeah, yeah, really sad. So,

Speaker 1 (01:25:19):
like I said, I had made a post on Facebook. Look,
man, if I ever, you know,wronged you in any way or said
something, I did my best to tryto just apologize to those
people, you know? My bad,because that wasn't me, you
know? Wasn't me, You know? Eventhough how should I say, I was

(01:25:45):
still all about helping you guysdo all that stuff, you But deep
down the side, man, it was justyou know, I don't wanna use the
word demon, you know, justdefinitely wasn't the person I
really am.
But now, and it's only beensince September, right? Yeah,

(01:26:06):
since September. So and theiBowl game stays could stay in
your system for almost six totwo six months to a year or
something like that. Really? Youknow?
So it's still doing its thing,you know? And I'm grateful for
it, man. Best decision I evermade in my life Mhmm. Is save
me. And now I'm just trying tojust see who else I can save.

(01:26:27):
Mhmm. You know? Who who reallyneeds it, you know? There's some
people I talk to, I'm like,alright. They're not at that
point, they don't need to wastethat money.

Speaker 2 (01:26:34):
Yeah. You

Speaker 1 (01:26:35):
You just need a little therapy, you just need
someone to talk to, you justneed to learn not to hold that
in.

Speaker 2 (01:26:41):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (01:26:41):
And just start, you know, talking. Or you need some
jujitsu too, man. Yeah, yeah,Exactly. You know,

Speaker 2 (01:27:01):
specific therapy and that's what you needed at the
moment? Do you think that it wasthe period of time that you were
holding on to the things thatyou had been through that you
didn't maybe talk about?

Speaker 1 (01:27:14):
Yeah, I felt like when I found out about the
psychedelic therapy three yearsago, I just don't think it
wasn't my time yet to go pushfor it, you know? Was still I
felt like my body was saying, wecan hold a little Yeah. Got more
room to to to keep holding thisin, you know?

Speaker 3 (01:27:32):
You almost hadn't suffered enough.

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
So, man, it was just like I said, just recently over
the summer, man, that that wasmy my mind, my body telling me,
like, dude, dude, we're done.

Speaker 2 (01:27:43):
Yeah. This is

Speaker 1 (01:27:43):
We are done. This is as much as you could fit in the
bag. That's it. We're ready topop. Like, it just Yeah.
And I know that feeling whenother marines, sailors, does any
other veteran that's goingthrough Like, that's it. This is
much as and it's painful. Andthat's where they think about
the dark thoughts. You knowwhat? I'd rather just take my

(01:28:06):
life.
It's just you know? And I I alsounderstand there's two two
differences on, you know, beingphysically tired and mentally
tired. Yeah. Dude, mentallytired? I mean, anxiety.
I hear people with anxiety. I'mlike, I never I kinda knew what
that was. Mhmm. I didn't knowwhat it really was until the

(01:28:27):
best way I could explain is takepre workout before you go to
bed. Dude, can't freaking sleep.
Yeah. As soon as you startthinking about it, I'm like,
amped up. And now you're soamped up, you don't even have an
appetite to eat. Yeah. I hadlost, I think, over the summer,
I think I lost like 18 pounds.
I'm not the biggest dude. Yeah.So you take 18 pounds, it's
like, you know, I had my bags, Iwas like sucked in and

Speaker 3 (01:28:50):
But it's crazy going through all this. Still have
plenty of energy to beat a lotof asses. A of ass whoopers from
who you

Speaker 1 (01:28:57):
are. After all of this, I was losing my passion
about teaching, running theschool, coaching, which is kind
of like where, you know, I'mguiding Sean to go somewhere
else. Yo, go with these guys.Look, they'll take care of you.
I'm a put you in good hands.
I'm not just gonna throw you outthere, you know, where other
guys that needed my coachingneeded me. I just didn't have it

(01:29:20):
no more. And it wasn't that Ididn't have it, I just

Speaker 3 (01:29:23):
You can't pour from an empty cup.

Speaker 1 (01:29:24):
Yeah, man. You know, it's just a shame some people
didn't see it like that andbecame a little selfish. I'm not
mad at them, I get it, you know?So I'm very more understanding
now. Yeah, my cup ain't empty nomore, man.
And now I'm rolling with myguys, I'm fucking loving this
shit. I'm like, I get like Leeand them, you know? Liam. Liam,

(01:29:47):
and they're like, all right,let's go. You know, they throw
the old man thing.
Liam's always like, dude, you'refucking strong for your fucking
age. Like for an old man, I'mlike, fuck, I'm not old. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:29:57):
I was gonna say, let's let's

Speaker 1 (01:29:58):
bag on this old man shit. You know? So it's good to
see that I can still hang outwith the with the young boys. Oh
yeah. You know?
Yeah. They're doing all thisfancy shit. I'm like, yeah, go
ahead and do all that shit. I'mgonna do my old school stuff
and, you know, I feel good. Notlike, listen, I'm sore and all
that, bones hurt, joints hurt,but not like before, man, which

(01:30:19):
kind of like just pushed meaway.
I was like, man.

Speaker 2 (01:30:22):
But like you said, there's a difference between the
physically tired and thementally tired. You know what I
mean?

Speaker 1 (01:30:27):
I think the mental effect definitely had a

Speaker 3 (01:30:29):
Has effects on the physical too.

Speaker 2 (01:30:31):
Yeah, of course.

Speaker 3 (01:30:32):
Of course. Probably manifested in your body, like,
what's going on in your braintoo.

Speaker 2 (01:30:37):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:30:38):
But, man, now I'm back to coaching, back to
training We just had atournament on Saturday and just
proud of my kids, man. Justseeing them, like, now I love
it. You know, I'm like, allright, I'm back to how when I
first opened the place, youknow, I had that passion of
doing all of this stuff. I'mlike, now I'm single too, so
ain't like I gotta worry aboutgoing home to someone. You know,

(01:30:59):
because she's like, you're stillat the gym?
Yeah. Still doing this? Oh, Ithought we was gonna do this
this weekend. You're gonnacoach? I'm like, you know?
So I'm like, screw down. Youknow what? My students want my
time. I'm gonna give it to them.

Speaker 3 (01:31:12):
And I think the right partner will understand that
too.

Speaker 2 (01:31:15):
Yeah. You what mean?

Speaker 3 (01:31:15):
Like, she'll make it a, like, maybe a a point to be

Speaker 1 (01:31:18):
a part it. When it comes to that, you know? No. I'm
not even worried about thatstuff, man. Yeah.
Yeah. Come spring, though. Comespring to summer. You gotta love
I'm putting myself out there.

Speaker 2 (01:31:26):
Yeah. Okay. Right now.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
Alright. Fresh pictures, dad, in the Tinder
profile.

Speaker 1 (01:31:47):
There were a lot of kids that were dealing with
anxiety. So what frustrates meis that this generation is far
different from mine, man. Fardifferent. I think even people
in my generation have tounderstand that we didn't have
that technology, you know? Wedidn't have the better clothes,

(01:32:08):
shoes, all this other stuff.
We obviously foods were betterfor us then, not this junky
stuff, you know, that's killingkilling our kids, killing us.
Right? Mhmm. We didn't have thetherapy, you know, to help the
you know, we just dealt with it.Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:32:26):
And suck it up.

Speaker 1 (01:32:27):
And we expect that from our kids today. Suck it the
fuck up. Deal with it. It'sdifferent, man.

Speaker 2 (01:32:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
It's so different. You you look at the TV shows,
they meant something. If youlook at what was that show, the
Cosmys. Yeah. Bill Cosby was adad to a lot of us who didn't
have one, because he was like,yo, that's I want damn.
That's a dad? Yeah. Look whathe's doing for his kids. Look
how he's being there. We I lovedhim for that.
You know? That's that's that waslike a vision that I saw. Look

(01:32:55):
at shows now, man. I'm I'm I'mfreaking understanding. Look at
the music.

Speaker 3 (01:32:58):
The dads a a freaking I think he

Speaker 1 (01:33:04):
idiot. He's in the house. Idiot. Yeah. Look at full
house.
Yeah. You know, their dad. Yeah.And I was like, alright. Like,
even if you're a suburban like,I'm from the hood, but I'm gonna
wipe that like that.
You know? And

Speaker 2 (01:33:17):
it's just You don't see that on TV nowadays.

Speaker 1 (01:33:19):
No, man. Like, the messages are just different.

Speaker 2 (01:33:21):
Yeah. Messages

Speaker 1 (01:33:22):
are different. Like they know it, man. They're
taking advantage of screwing ourkids over.

Speaker 2 (01:33:27):
Listen. Things don't happen by accident. You know
what I'm saying? Like, thingsdon't happen by accident. I

Speaker 1 (01:33:32):
agree with You got social media.

Speaker 2 (01:33:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:33:34):
That screw you know? You're you're sending a vision.
That's not even true, man. Youdon't live like that. Yeah.
So many people right now, youknow? Yeah. You don't know what
they're going through behindthose You think, oh, man,
they're living their life. Yeah.Not knowing.
They're they're struggling andand they're doing that. So
because it's like a two lives,you know?

Speaker 3 (01:33:53):
Mhmm.

Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
The more likes, it makes them feel good. Yeah. You
know? And then people don'tunderstand. That's a trigger.
You know? That's a trigger fromyour traumas. Yeah. You know?
Because what happens I know agirl.
She posted a picture. She didn'tget over 500 likes. She took
that shit off. Yeah. She it madeher feel like shit.
Yeah. But it was it was youknow? And this is stuff that I
know now.

Speaker 3 (01:34:14):
Where anxiety is starting too because you're
seeing you're people are onsocial media all day every day
seeing highlight reels ofpeople's best moments of their
lives. And subconsciously, it'screeping into their mind that my
life's not this great. Mhmm. ButI see all of these people's
lives are that great. So that'striggering anxiety, depression,

(01:34:35):
etcetera.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:34:37):
Yeah. People don't like, was telling some my
students this past weekend,nobody tells you that. Like
like, when you look at someonethat's a champion, whether
they're MMA, any type of sports,basketball, they don't tell you.
Like, you look at Jordan. Mhmm.
I'm not telling you the hardwork that, you know, we we if
you see a documentary, you kindaunderstand. Yeah. But they're

(01:34:57):
not tell you just see, oh, Iwanna be like Jordan. Do you
wanna it's not be. Do you wannago through what Jordan went
through?
Yeah. You know? Order to becomeJordan.

Speaker 2 (01:35:05):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (01:35:05):
People don't get that. They don't understand The

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
middle's missing. The middle's missing.

Speaker 3 (01:35:10):
Comes along with being Jordan. Do you want the
like, you don't know what hisquality of life is. You know
what mean? He's sacrificingeverything for the dream. Yeah.
Even when he's made it, and heis Jordan, like, do you want to
live Jordan's life on a dailybasis? Like,

Speaker 2 (01:35:22):
you know what No privacy. Can't go nowhere. Can't
do you know what mean? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:35:26):
Practicing

Speaker 3 (01:35:26):
Time away from kids.

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
When your buddies are out there partying, you're at
the court by yourself, you know,working on your jail or
backyard. Or you'll see a kidshovel half a court on his own
just so he can practice. I'veseen that at Hunter Park. I'm
like, that's a kid who could beout there selling drugs, doing

(01:35:47):
something, he's doing the rightthing. Hard work, you I'm a big
fan of hard work beats talentwhen talent fails

Speaker 3 (01:35:56):
to work hard.

Speaker 1 (01:35:58):
You know? That's I push that on my students all the
time. Work hard. Work hard. Pushyourself.

Speaker 2 (01:36:04):
Your students are fortunate to have you,
especially the young ones,speaking all this wisdom and
experience into them.

Speaker 3 (01:36:09):
Like

Speaker 1 (01:36:09):
Yeah. And it's all from trial and error, man. I'll
tell you that. I was like,listen. I I can save you the
heartache.
I can save you a lot of trouble.I can save you some money.

Speaker 3 (01:36:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:19):
Just listen to me. And I said it. Not that I've
been through it all, but I'vebeen through some shit. You
know? There's not a lot youcan't tell me

Speaker 2 (01:36:27):
that

Speaker 1 (01:36:28):
I haven't been through, you know? Rather, you
could talk about racism, youcould talk about finances,
breaking up with a girl,military, you know? Depression,
anxiety, I'm like, having thosedark thoughts, thinking about
suicide, you know? If anybody'sout there, like, go on my social
media, know, shoot me a message.I'm definitely open about

(01:36:51):
talking to a person and try todirect them.
I don't have to know you, youknow? I'll listen to your story.
Sure. You know? And then let'sget you the help that you need.
But it's gotta start with youjust, you know, opening Opening
Just say We're not asking you totell us your whole life. Talk
three hours, two minutes. Yeah.Talk with us two minutes, let's

(01:37:14):
see where you at.

Speaker 3 (01:37:15):
Being open to hours always wins.

Speaker 1 (01:37:17):
So, and that's what I learned now, man, not to hold
that stuff in, man. That's likethe worst. That's what's
killing.

Speaker 2 (01:37:24):
It's poison.

Speaker 1 (01:37:25):
Yeah. Well,

Speaker 3 (01:37:27):
that being said, can you let the community know where
to find you and Semper Fi MMA onInstagram?

Speaker 1 (01:37:34):
Yeah. So on Instagram, it'll be Semper Fi
MMA. My personal one is My nameis Julio, but I make jokes when
I was younger, teachers calledme Julio. You know? So it's
julio77, that's what It's j u lI e o o seven seven.

(01:37:54):
You can find me that. Like Isaid, DM me, man. And just send
me a message and let's just likeI said, two minutes. Yeah. You
know?
I think that could definitelynot just change your life, but
save your life. Absolutely. Youknow, you're interested in
psychedelics and they wanna knowa little more about that, you
know, we can do that. Know,there's some, I tell people,

(01:38:17):
man, look, sometimes justfundraise, you You don't gotta
spend $7 like I did. I just didit because I'm on first class.
Yeah, yeah. But the whole thingin total, for the five days, I
say you're responsible for yourflight, your there and back. So
they don't do that. But they'llpick you up, drop you off, you

(01:38:38):
You got a place to stay, food,everything. Medical services,
they take care of all that.
It was, if you are a veteran,they do discount it. I believe
it was 62, I wanna say. About6,200, you know? If you're not a

(01:39:01):
veteran or something like that,it's like sixties I think it's
extra $500 on top of it. Gotcha.
So they deduct 5.

Speaker 2 (01:39:08):
Gotcha.

Speaker 1 (01:39:08):
You know, on on top of that. But they'll work with
you. If you're like, look, man,I I really need this.

Speaker 3 (01:39:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:39:15):
Listen, they're not gonna tell nobody. They'll
deduct 500 and it is what it is.There are some other solutions
there where you could break downthe payments. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, they have something, Ithink another company you go to,
that they'll pay for it and thenyou just pay over time.

Speaker 2 (01:39:28):
Gotcha.

Speaker 1 (01:39:29):
So, there's a solution. It can be done. So I
don't wanna hear someone, Iain't got the money. Yeah. You
know?
I mean, you gotta get out there,you gotta work, you can Uber.

Speaker 2 (01:39:40):
Yeah. You

Speaker 1 (01:39:40):
know, don't tell me you can't work, you can Uber.
Yeah. You don't like beingstanding up all day at a
warehouse, then just Uber.There's definitely a solution to
anybody's problem.

Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
Well, we got a lightning round of three
questions before I let you go.Alright. The most rewarding part
of teaching jujitsu in MMA.

Speaker 1 (01:40:05):
Seeing a kid that didn't believe in himself, who
didn't play sports, wasn'tathletic, never did anything
physical in their life, right?Even their parents thought they
were like a little, I hate tosay this word, but a little
pussy, you know? Yeah, yeah.They just wanted to try to

(01:40:26):
toughen up their kid, and you'reseeing this person beating grown
men, you know, choking peopleout and loving the damn thing.
I'm like, that's better than anygold medal for me.

Speaker 3 (01:40:37):
It's always nerdy guys that get you.

Speaker 1 (01:40:40):
And that's the ones I'm talking about too.

Speaker 3 (01:40:42):
They're the killers. They

Speaker 1 (01:40:44):
are, the silent killers too.

Speaker 3 (01:40:47):
What is a quote you live by?

Speaker 1 (01:40:50):
I've mentioned it before, man. Hard work beats
talent. When talent fails, theywork hard. So any day.

Speaker 3 (01:41:00):
And if there was someone that was just getting
started in their jiu jitsujourney or thinking about
quitting their jiu jitsujourney, what is one piece of
advice you would have for them?

Speaker 1 (01:41:16):
Some days you're gonna be the nail, some days
you're gonna be the hammer, allright? You have to be realistic
with yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:41:24):
You

Speaker 1 (01:41:25):
can't be the hammer every single day. Being the nail
is just an opportunity for youto learn, you know? You gotta
learn from that. Why was I thenail? Work on that so you can be
the hammer the next day, right?
There are definitely brighterdays, you know? Just, it's

(01:41:47):
almost like a storm, man. Youjust gotta weather it, right?
Yeah. I tell some people too,they be people that are
depressed, can't rain forever.
It can't rain forever.

Speaker 3 (01:41:56):
True. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (01:41:56):
The sun's gotta come out. Know?

Speaker 2 (01:41:58):
It's true.

Speaker 1 (01:41:59):
And if you just stick with it, you'll have those sunny
days, man. You're gonna startseeing your progress. But also
too, you get what you put intoit. Mhmm. You're only putting
10% of work.
You're gonna get 11% back maybe,10% back. Of course, anybody
will quit. Go ahead, put 80% ofwork in. You get 80 back, you're

(01:42:21):
like, woah, I can work withthis. Yeah.
Oh, I I can die. That's good.Yeah. You know? So sometimes you
just gotta be realistic withyourself.
What are you doing? Mhmm. Youknow? You Yeah. You know?

Speaker 3 (01:42:36):
I was gonna the next question was gonna be like, do
you have the next coming of SeanBrady coming? I know you I know
you got the the young Brady.

Speaker 1 (01:42:44):
You know what's crazy?

Speaker 3 (01:42:45):
You got the the young Brady over there.

Speaker 1 (01:42:47):
He's already

Speaker 3 (01:42:48):
started at a young age. Right?

Speaker 1 (01:42:50):
Yeah. So it's crazy. I've been it's hard for one
school Mhmm. To have a one star,right? Whether they're a jujitsu
star or MMA star, boxing, itdoesn't matter, right?
I've been I don't know what itis, I've been fortunate to have,
you know, top female grappler.Yeah. Top welterweight in the

(01:43:15):
UFC in the world. I got some upand coming ones, you know,

Speaker 3 (01:43:21):
that have I'm not saying like it's the teaching,
but you gotta just connect thedots. You know

Speaker 1 (01:43:27):
what I Connect the dots. I'm not even a fan of,
anybody knows me, I don't evengo like, pushing like, yo, I did
that for Sean. Oh, I did thatfor Danielle. I did that. I
don't do I'm happy for them.
You know, I'll praise myselfmore inside. Yeah, I'm not being

Speaker 3 (01:43:48):
on social

Speaker 1 (01:43:48):
media and be like, yo, I did that. He's there
because of me. Mhmm. I know Ididn't do it by myself. Yeah.
You know? He needed trainingpartners. Danielle needed
training partners. You know,they needed someone to pat them
on the back, talk to them, stufflike that. It wasn't just me
because there were other Mhmm.
Other teachers. Know, otherpeople came into their lives
too, it's not just about myself,but Yeah, we got I got some

(01:44:12):
stuff that some people that havethe potential, you know? Yeah.
And then they see them.Eventually, I'm gonna retire,
man.
It's it's gonna be Sean's job.Yeah. You know? Yeah. I'm a give
you this, But

Speaker 3 (01:44:24):
having Sean and Danielle out there, it's like,
it is like, makes it realistic.Like, attainable. Yeah. You know
I mean? Yeah.
Can actually do

Speaker 1 (01:44:30):
this. It's just really But I one day to just be
able to be like, you know what,listen. I, it's almost like, I
did a, I put the filling, I madethe pie, you know, put it, all
you gotta do is just put this inthe oven, man. Yeah. Put it in
the oven for forty five

Speaker 3 (01:44:44):
minutes Here's the recipe.

Speaker 2 (01:44:45):
Let it cook.

Speaker 1 (01:44:46):
You know what I'm saying? So I'm cooking some guys
that when I'm ready to hang thisup, Sean decides that he wants
to teach, open up his own gym,go to him, go there, you know.
Oh, John, I got guys that go toJohn, Marquez. Like, you know,
let them do it. And guess what?
When these guys are winning, I'mnot don't thank me. Thank John.

(01:45:07):
Thank those other guys that werebeating your ass, you know, that
were pushing you every day. SoI'm not that coach that wants to
take 100% of credit, you know?Yeah.
I'm like, look, I just happen tohave the place and you just
walked to my door. Yeah. Youknow?

Speaker 3 (01:45:20):
Yeah. So And taught some good jiu jitsu along the
way.

Speaker 1 (01:45:22):
Yeah. So

Speaker 3 (01:45:24):
Alright. Well, anybody have anything else
before

Speaker 2 (01:45:26):
we move I I really enjoyed this, man. Thank you for
coming, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:45:29):
Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:45:30):
Alright, Eagles. Remember I leave you with a
reminder. Always choose effortover entitlement. Always choose
hard work over handouts. Andremember, no one owes you.
No one owes you. Let's hunt,baby.

Speaker 1 (01:45:43):
Babe, go birds.

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