July 7, 2025 • 54 mins
Before the fight gloves, there was grit. 🇺🇸 This week on Front Porch Chronicles, we sit down with MMA legend Liz Carmouche — one of the realest to ever do it. From her early days as a U.S. Marine, to becoming one of the first women to ever fight in the UFC, to reigning as a champion — Liz opens up like never before. We talk:
➡️ Life before MMA
➡️ Breaking barriers as a pioneer in women’s fighting
➡️ The mental toll behind the wins
➡️ What keeps her grounded
➡️ What’s next in and out of the cage This isn’t just a fight story — it’s a life story. Raw. Honest. Unfiltered.
🎙️ Pull up a chair — this one hits different.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-front-porch-chronicles--5999017/support.
🎧 Front Porch Chronicles — real conversations on healing, growth, fatherhood, and fighting through it. ▶️ Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thefrontporchchronicles
🤝 Collabs / Booking: (949) 933-4349 • thefrontporchchronicles1@gmail.com
🔔 Subscribe & drop a comment—tell us what hit home.
➡️ Life before MMA
➡️ Breaking barriers as a pioneer in women’s fighting
➡️ The mental toll behind the wins
➡️ What keeps her grounded
➡️ What’s next in and out of the cage This isn’t just a fight story — it’s a life story. Raw. Honest. Unfiltered.
🎙️ Pull up a chair — this one hits different.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-front-porch-chronicles--5999017/support.
🎧 Front Porch Chronicles — real conversations on healing, growth, fatherhood, and fighting through it. ▶️ Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thefrontporchchronicles
🤝 Collabs / Booking: (949) 933-4349 • thefrontporchchronicles1@gmail.com
🔔 Subscribe & drop a comment—tell us what hit home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
What's up everybody? Clinton Fouchet here and I'm Albert Chavez
and this is Front Porch Chronicles and we're super excited
leading up to the PFL playoffs in a couple of weeks.
We have a legend Liz Girlrilla Carmouche. Not only is
(00:27):
she an amazing fighter, a United States Marine veteran. Liz,
thank you so much for your service and taking the
time out of your busy schedule to come on. We
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So I know we prefaced a little bit right before.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I've only been diving into the UFC and PFL space
just over a years since working with Clinton, and so, dude,
you've had such an amazing career going off probably one
of the most underrated in all of UFC and PFL history,
and it's just great. You've had people fighting, You've beaten
Valentina scha ben Go just going jaws me shitate, you
fought and you fought around a Vaalazi, And so we
(01:05):
wanted to kind of just explore that a little bit
more like, how how is it like being able to
have such a long career has that impacted your life?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You know?
Speaker 5 (01:16):
I think being an athlete, I really prioritize just being
as healthy as possible and making this a lifestyle. I
think where other athletes kind of go wayward is they
enjoy like the freedom right, especially if you're in organizations
other than the PFL. You don't get a guaranteed scheduled
for fighting, so you may have a fight and then
we have another six months, eight nine months off.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So a lot of people take that.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Time and they just relax and they enjoy eating, drinking, party,
having a good time. But this is this is my lifestyle,
this is who I end twenty four seven. So the
nice thing about that is PFL caters to that. And
it's also helped benefit my career because I've let every
organization I've ever been a.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Part of know that I'm ready any day, anytime. Give
me a call. I'll take a last fight against your
number one in the world. I don't care.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
And because of that, I've got phone calls and opportunities
that other people passed on, and as a result, it's
helped elevate my career's hurts.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Today legendary, legendary career. I know fire there's never like
to say that, but like legendary career of the people
that you fought. Uh, And I know you're coming off
of a non fight win streak and getting ready for
the PFL. How is training camp going? Leading into that?
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Training camp is good? Like I said, I'm win or lose.
I'm always back to the drawing board immediately. Like if I
fight on Saturday, I'm back on Monday because I want
to refine all the mistakes that I've made. I want
to increase the likelihood that have success in the future,
even if that came off the win, even if it's
a thirty five second when I still see mistakes they
make in the fight that I want to work on.
(02:52):
And to me, the more time that you take off
from that, the more that you lose the momentum that
you had going into it. So for me, being a
PFL is great. And each each camp that I keep
going in so I just feel better and better and
more prepared for the fights. And it's really nice to
be able to have back to back fights that I
have to wait nine months to you for my next one.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
That's one of the things with the PFL, just to
be honest, that I've kind of admired lately is that
structure because with the UFC, and we've talked to some
people in the past about it, it's almost become somewhat political,
especially in the women's On the women's side of it
(03:35):
especially is because if you're not tweeting, you're not mainstreaming,
or you're not fitting into the narrative. And I'm trying
to be politically correct, but if you're not fitting into
the narrative of what is going to be beneficial, you
might sit on the shelf in the UFC for three, six,
(03:57):
nine months. And like you said, some people, you know,
some people aren't necessarily comfortable taking a short notice fight,
and if you're not, you could end up missing out
on a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
That's definitely. One of the problems that I had is
my first year fighting. I had eight or nine fights
my first year, and I thought that that's what the
temple of fighting was always going to be. And then
as I started to move up the ranks and go
to different organizations, I was getting one two fights a year.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I was like, this isn't for me. I don't like
the waiting game like I want to.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I want to stay in the loop all the time
and keep improving it and getting better and.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Keeping that because you build rust. Even if you're you're
training all the time. Competitive MMA is.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Different than training MMA, right, so you can you can
keep on doing what you need to. It's not the
same when you're in that cage. So Phil definitely caters
more to my lifestyle and what I prefer.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And it definitely helps out because a lot of people
don't realize or understand with fighters. They have this fantasy
land that you you as fighters just have this copious
amount of number one of money and the number two.
If you don't fight, you don't get paid. And so
if you have injuries or you're sitting on the shelf
(05:13):
three to six months, the build collectors or your mortgage
or they don't they don't care that. You know, the
other organizations don't have you lined up for a fight.
They need their money. And so yeah, it definitely helps out.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Yeah, I don't think enough people know about the struggles
that fighters go through. Very few of us are able
to not have full time jobs outside of fighting, and
and it's a very limited fee they're able to achieve that.
When I was trying to tell them, our fighters are like,
all right, cool, your oup to go pro just heads up,
you know, like the cost of medicals, of doing your
licensing fees per state, getting your corner fees, and it's.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Like wait, what my Yeah, as a professional.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Athlete, like you're responsible for paying licensing for your corners
as well as yourself your medical which you're you're hoping
maybe they're only five hundred dollars, but realistically they're probably
going more towards five thousand.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Especial if you don't have insurance.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Yeah, right, and then you're going to take your twenty
percent to go to your management. You're going to take
the ten to twenty percent that goes to your coaches
for putting sacrificing with you and being there. And then
let's not count the amount that ghost for taxes because
you're independent contractor, and nobody ever gets out. They're like wait,
so you walk around, you walk out of there, it
was like what ten percent, Like, yeah, that's that's we're doing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And the travel expenses, like and people don't understand it's
not like you're just paying for your own travel expenses.
So that's why I was telling Albert. He was we
were watching another friend of ours that's a fighter. He
was like they're all bunched up in one room, and
I'm like, dude, as fighters, it's almost like you go
back to dorm life, but because it's like you can't.
(06:48):
You can't afford to pay for every individual coach, you know,
three different four different rooms. So most of the times
you're rooming together, you're eating together, all of those things,
because it's very expensive to keep up with a lot
of that.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So yeah, we'll makes sense than why you'd want to
fight back to back to back too.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, exactly, that's so.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Yeah, not only do you want to get that rust
off of you, you also want to get paid to Yeah,
make sure you can feed all your family too, and
stuff like that too.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So I was curious.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I like to ask the fighters this, do you have
like a before fight ritual that you like to do
to get yourself amps before going to the octagon?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Not as much amp.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
So I'm not that person that fights with like the
adrenaline like I wish I did, because it'd be great
when I get kick clean. I'm like, man, that hurt.
I'm like, man, I wish I wouldn't feel it. I
could just feel it all after the fight and sit
him in there and I'm like, just play it off.
It was fine, it didn't hurt that bad. So I
wish I could get myself.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Like super amped and do that, but really the ritual for.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Me is just staying chilled for the day and not
getting the adrenaline going because with it you get the
adrenaline rise and then you get the adrenaline dump. And
you're hoping that the adrenaline dump happens after the fight, right,
that you can carry it all the way through, But
oftentimes it doesn't happen. So I try and just be
chilled and just joke around with the coaches and all
the way up until we have to go out to
the fight and we're watching ridiculousness and and things like that,
(08:11):
just cracking jokes.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I feel like everyone has their
own styles.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
People either like to be with their with their friends,
or some people just like to be isolated and just
only focused on what's going to be ahead of them.
And it's it's always curious for me to hear what
each fighter has to go through to make sure they
can get mentally prepared.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I mean, I've had I've had family.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
My mom is like Vietnam era right, And so she
was there seeing what all the troops went through before,
and volunteered a lot as a candy striper helping the
trips that came back. So she has a whole different
perspective on like violence and does not condone violence at all. Right,
I was taught a very young age walk away from things,
and I was always that kid who's like, yeah, but
they pushed that little kid for no reason. I got
(08:51):
to go fight them because that's not right.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And I was like, why did you get a fight
because they shut that little kid in the puddle. That's
not fair.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yeah, dude, right, So I was always coming back, I'm sorry,
I got another fight again. I joined the Marine Corps.
She's like, of all the branches, I had to be
the Marine Corps. I'm like, yeah, sorry, mom, And then
I get in the fighting. So she never watched.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Any of my fight.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
She's seemed too in person, and after the last one
she's like, I can't I can't watch as in person, Like, yeah,
it's super stressful having you.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I can feel your energy in the hotel and it's
not positive. You're not even You're all the way on
the other side of the hotel and I know you're here.
So I like to stay away from family and friends,
especially because if they're not in that world and they
don't understand it, or like say it's a new fighter
and they have all these questions and you're like, look,
I want to answer your questions, but it's really draining,
Like just chill, dude, We're just kidding.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Actually, especially during white cuts. You know, I's teller, I
was Tella Albert because RDA is a good friend of mine.
He cuts down to fifty five, so he walks around
jacked at like ninety eighty five and ninety in cutting
down to one fifty five. You have to be very
(09:58):
selective as fighters are in weight cuts, especially because it
is so it is the worst. It is to me
the absolute and I've had two amateur fights, nothing on
that level, but even then, like, the weightcuts are absolutely brutal.
So you have to be very selective with who you
(10:19):
surround yourself with because it gets so stressful and if
people get in their emotions or their feelings and don't
understand or know the struggle of what you're going through
as a fighter, cutting that extra that last, especially the
last part of the weight cut, you know, it makes
things a lot worse than it has to be.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Yeah, my wife was an amateur fighter and she wrestled
in high school and then taught high school wrestling, so
she certainly understands it. But even her, she was there
from one of the weightcuts because coaches had like, we
had multiple fighters going, so the coaches were all over
the place. She's like, I'll both, Liz, I'll help her
during the weightcut. She's like, yeah, I don't like watching
you you cut.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
This is really hard on me.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
I'm like what She's like, Yeah, when it's friends or
it's myself, that's superent. Watching my wife do that, She's like,
I don't like it. So it even changes like having
friends having a family there changes everything. My coaches when
I'm doing the weight cut, they're just hanging out watching TV.
I hear ridiculousness for the Food Network going, and now
I'm just cutting that I come out.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm like, I'm good. I really just have them there
just to make sure I don't accidentally kill myself.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
And I'm gonna say fallout.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Know if I'm not the fighter where they'd have to
hold me in the bathtub or lock me in this
song and like I'm not that person.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Just make sure that I don't do something stupid.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, and you've been doing it for so long till
you kind of know. But isn't it strange Like how
we want to make all of our friends and family
comfortable even though they're not there. I always find that
fascinating with like why we feel like we have to
do that and like make sure they're all right.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And I think that's why a lot of fighters, whenever
it comes to traveling, separate the two because you almost
have to separate the two because it is so stressful
going to these and again people don't know, like it's
not just you show up and fight like you have.
(12:04):
You're cutting weight like which is brutal, but you're also
having to do photo shoots, You're also having to do interviews.
You're also having to do all of the extra things.
So that was one of the things with the podcast
we started looking at when we were going to interview
people and how it's like, oh, they've got a fight
coming up on such and such. I'm like, dude, you
(12:25):
don't You're not gonna want to do any type of interviews.
Are talking during a way cut, we might get our
heads chewed off. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
So with that being said, we want to kind of
dive more into your background a little bit can share
with us what makes you want to transition from the
Marine Corps to MMA.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
So when I originally was I was looking at MMA,
my third work by Iraq, it would be playing like
we'd be watching it, and really our unit was really
into it. And I started getting into it more and
I tried got the bjpnbook and I tried doing the
work else and I really liked the diet and I
just my first tour, I wanted to see how much
weight I could lose, and then I felt like I
wasn't really that healthy. And second tour was like how
(13:09):
much muscle can I put on? I'm like, well, that's
not really healthy either. So the third tour for me
was me trying to find a balance between those and
how can I be lean but me strong and also
be as healthy as possible. And it made kind of
fit the bill for that, and I'm like, well, that
seems like a lot of fun. I really want to
get into that. But I didn't know what the possibilities
were at that time for me. I knew that I
didn't have a marginaldon's background. So if I really wanted
(13:30):
to follow this, like I started doing reachion and I'm like,
I'll be lucky if I had an amateur fight after
two years of training, Like, I would be lucky if
that would happen. I had no ideations that I'd be
a professional.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Did I want to? Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
I thought I could fight for Sidbord, but really he
was getting into it just to see how far I
could go with it. And my third deployment, I had
been like filing for jobs. I was sending out my
resume and I didn't really know how to write a
resume and it was horrible, but I didn't know it
at the time. But I applied for so many jobs
and just kick getting shut down over and over. So
when I got out, I'm like, wow, I guess I
(14:03):
have no choice.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I have to use a GI bill And that wasn't
the plan.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
I'm not really good at being in school and sitting
still like MMA works because my attention span is all
over the place. That's perfect, right, We're constantly moving, but
sitting still and timing to focus.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Not not good for me. Sit there right, We're not
going to read something right.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
So I'm like, oh man, I'm gonna have to do
my Plan C, not even my Plan A, and now
my plan be my Plan C of if everything hits
the fan, this is what we have to do. So
I went to school full time us A GI bill
and then trained at night, and again it was just like, well,
this I love. This is something I want to commit
to and see where it goes. Maybe I get amateure,
maybe me go pro, but I'm just enjoying the process.
(14:42):
And then before I know it, my first amateur fight
after four months of training, my first pro fight after
five months of training, and then fast forward fourteen years
and I'm still doing this professionally.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
That escalighted quickly. Yeah, but it's one of those things, honestly,
this is something kind that I talk about, Like we
talked about off my brother who was a US Marine
as well, Uh, seeing him kind of similar to you
whenever you know, he you know, had to he was
(15:13):
medically retired from the Marines, and I could see the
panic in the worry in his eyes because he was
on his his second stint with the Marines. And so
when you join the Marines, some people join it just
for oh okay, I need an out of where I'm at,
(15:35):
and then some people join it like, hey, this is
my career, like this is what you know. I don't.
I don't really know what I want to do beyond that.
And so I know, for my brother, seeing kind of similar.
He was filling out applications and he wasn't getting jobs,
and he wasn't getting callbacks and he wasn't getting and
(15:56):
I think that's where as you know, the government, you know,
the Marines, the different military branches, they really need to
do better about setting you up for success after like
with job training, filling out resumes, all of those things
(16:16):
that you need. You know, we do real estate. It's
one of those things. And it seems simplicitic, but a
lot of military veterans think, oh, well, I've got my
VA loan, so we're good to go on being able
to purchase a home. So a lot of them don't
necessarily save up a lot of money because they A
(16:36):
they don't get paid a lot of money, but B
it's hard to you know, save up, and so when
they get ready to use the VA loan, it's difficult
to use the VA loan because there's not any a
lot of money put down with those type of loans,
and so a lot of sellers don't necessarily go We've
(16:59):
been luckily, we're able to paint a portrait and a
picture for the veterans that we've worked with to help
get their offers accepted with the v A bill. Uh.
But it's it's one of those things that it's very difficult.
So we really these people, you know, you guys have
clicked your life on the line for our freedoms, and
(17:21):
I just think it's very important that we create programs
to set you up for success. Luckily, you were able
to go on to have a legendary you know, a career,
uh and still going. So kudos to you for for
finding a way when they're you know, when they didn't
(17:42):
really give a lot of options.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, I know, it was definitely difficult.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
I mean I was fortunate that friends that I had
served with were married and they lived off face so
we all got a house together because I was just
gonna live out of my car. I knew I didn't
have money, I didn't have a job. That was just like, well,
I have a car, this is I can sleep in now.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
That's easy. Slept in worse conditions.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
It's crazy that somebody can serve an office and for
the rest of their life doing a term of four
years in a safe environment, ac getting their lunch breaks,
only working nine to five for the rest of their lives.
They're sad, and yet we can right over a check
that doesn't guarantee a future for us and gives us
limited money, limited resources. We serve four to six years
(18:23):
deploy who knows how many times, putting their life on
the line, get out, and then I have nothing for us,
Like that's ridiculous. It shouldn't be that way.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It should be that the.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Same, Like, if you want to get benefits for those
that serve an office, get those same benefits for the
troops that they're willing to send to risk their lives
and put them out on their depth essentially. So often,
you know, you see a lot of particular in California,
a lot of the homeless are veterans. They're people that
have served and have struggles or mental illness that they
experienced because of the military, and then they're just discarded
(18:53):
and left there. And that's a sad reality. That shouldn't
be the way they needs.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I agree one thousand percent definitely needs to be something
that needs.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To be addressed a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, it's fascinating because you said you'd served three tours, right, Yeah,
So just going out and putting your life on the line.
That often just like giving your time and energy into
something like that too. You literally you sign your contract
to be with the government during that timeframe, and so
you've given so much to your contract already. So it's
just curious and like I always question, like, why would
(19:26):
someone want to go and do that when you aren't
being like it's not reciprocated to you as well.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, And I think.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
It was less about like looking at the government as
I was looking at the people that I served with, right,
the last thing I want to do, especially my third employment,
I had to extend my contract. I only had a
five year contract. I extended it for another four months
to deploy with them because I knew they were going
out there and they didn't have the personnel and weren't
ready to go on that mission. And the last thing
(19:53):
I wanted for them to come back to me hear
about friends losing their lives because they didn't have the
personnel that were trained to be able to do that.
So for me, I'm like, Okay, well, I'm going to
go out there one more time. And then also there
was this program called the Line S Program, and it
was everything I want to do in the Marine Corps.
I got to be attached to grant me to go
out there, go and patrols search. I'm like, okay, again,
I could to go out there and help people and
(20:15):
do something that's super cool, and I didn't want to
miss out on that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
So for me, it was worth it.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Regardless of what the agenda was of the government, it
was about helping the Marines that were a part of
my lives and want to go out one more time
to help them.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
No one's yeah, no one's going to understand that too,
like your desire to want to go and like support
them to They're like, you're crazy, why would you go
do that? But that's probably something like you went through.
You went through boot camp with them and all that
hard training to go into. It's kind of like I'm
fighting too, Like when you train with all your other
spar and train with everyone else, like you're doing that
not just for them, but with them in that process exactly.
(20:52):
So we're always curious what was your family's reaction when
you told them, Hey, I'm going to go and make
this a career and turn pro Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Well, like I said, my mom is like anti violence.
And when she'd asked, she's like, so, what are you
doing with your time?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Now?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I know that tree's in the jabbell. I'm like, oh, well,
you know, I'm training martial arts.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And she's like, oh cool, because I did different forms
of kate when I was little, but it'd be like
a month longest at the time, right, So like I
kio for a month I on. I didn't have the
attention span and we'd have the money at soccer's when
I was able to stick with the lungs. So she's like, yeah,
you really like that as a kid. I could see
that working out for you. I was like yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And she's not googling to verify when I say the
bigs martial arts what I mean? Right?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
And finally, and so she was looking in Japan at
that time, and I remember her giving me a phone
call in the middle of the night.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
She's like, are you kidding me? Are you doing the
fighting in the cage? Like wait, what, It's three.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
O'clock in the morning, what's going on here? I'm like, yeah, yeah,
cage door. They lock you in there to fight each other.
I'm like, it's sounds of the.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Death, like we could get it there. But she was horrify.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
She's like, well, you're wearing headgear and I'm like, no,
can in the fight. Well are you weringing the stuff
for your your legs, my shint guards?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
No?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Are you really? Like no, none of that. Somebody wearing
glove but yeah, wearing gloves and a mouthpiece. That's text
of equipment.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Of course, the three in the morning, I'm not like
trying to shelter and kind of like have her received
things in a much better way, you know, So I'm
just no filter.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I'm like, yeah, doing the stuff in the cage.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Yeah, I get hit all the time by way bigger
guys getting hit by the girls and spine what I'm.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Like, Oh, that wasn't the right thing to say. It
definitely did take very well, but very quickly.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Like in saying that I always stayed ready is I
got a phone call to fight Marlo's Conan's right course
for the world title.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
So where I'd been to nobody, nobody knew who I was.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
I took a nine day notice fight to fight against
a girl that had ten years and I've been training
eight months since she had ten years experience, just to amimate, right,
not not including she's a brown volunt World champion like
all those things. And because of it, like everybody's like
counting me out. They're like, oh, she's gonna get guillotined
in the first twenty seconds. And I ended up making
(23:07):
it through that. And so my mom had been reading everything.
She's like, oh, you do you realize who you're fighting?
Because she would then start reading stuff and she's like,
you know, you're all over newspapers.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
You keep popping up home on my on my Google
feed not stop. And I'm like, yeah, okay, I guess
I definitely can't do more.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
And she's like, all right, I guess this is like
a real thing, and began to get more supportive. And
then certainly when women got accepted into the UFC, that
really changed her mind about my role professional fighting where
she saw it actually going. But even then it was
still kind of like, I'm not really there. She was
born and raised in New York City, so when I
fought an MSGH, that's what changed everything. And she's finally like, okay,
(23:48):
I accept you.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I accept you. New Yorkers. New Yorkers always when you say,
it's like we're not worthy. So so let me ask
you a question. I know you've taken a lot of
short notice fights your own the streets too. How do
you feel like being a marine kind of helped with
(24:11):
your schedule as an MMA fighter because a lot of
people don't understand how complex the schedule is, especially when
you throw in family dynamics, Like, how do you think
that's helped? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (24:23):
I think the great thing about the Marine Corps is
it's the least funda of all the branches. Yes, so
they'll tell us like, okay, we need you to complete
this mission and here's a paper clip.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Wait, what how are.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
We supposed to get there? How are you feeding us?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
They're like, you guys will figure that out, Like we
have faith in you, go for it. So you learn
how to work with absolutely no resources and still accomplish
the goal.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Right.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
So, I feel like that's helped a lot because even
if like we have a holiday and nobody shows up
at the gym and I'm just there by myself, like
why don't fight coming up? I have to train, I'll
still find a way to get my six hours into
training without the training partners, right, And so that's helped
because I've faced numerous amounts of adversity having deployed TRIREQ,
where I know that I can overcome anything. I've been
(25:07):
given opportunities have to complete a mission with no resources
to do it, and I know I can still complete
that mission, and that was under dress in people's lives.
So just me training myself, that's easy, right. And then
to the discipline that you learn from the Marine Corps
and being able to do like I would do workouts
like I'm like, okay, well I don't have time to
go to the gym's day, I'm hating on the side
of the aircraft and pull ups, tool watches to do
(25:28):
weights like you find resources with anything that you can
make up in your mind, and not any branches see that,
but the Marine Corps does. And that's translated so well
to help me succeed in immy.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I definitely, I say the Marines are the megver, They're
the magver of the military unit. Definitely, They're going to
figure out a way to make it happen no matter
what it is.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Exactly.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
So for the viewers that don't really know much about
what does a typical day look like for Liscom Machine?
Speaker 5 (26:02):
Ooh, I think I'll probably train more than most of
the riders that I know.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Right.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
I start off in the morning and I usually do
about an hour of cardio. For me, I'm trying to
get to the fat burning level, so that really means
basically just walking. So I jump on my air dyne
and it's totally chill, read a book, watch TV for
an hour. Then I head and I do jiu jitsu
training for about an hour hour and a half. Then
I go to strength training or explosive train like sprints.
(26:27):
Then I have a situational mints with my coach that
I have striking. Then I have Sometimes I'll jump into
another NOD session for training or do.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Some more more.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Light cardio or just shadowing, and then h MMA training
and then I usually do a little bit of sauna
and call it close for the night.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It's always funny going through your schedule. I love whenever
people hear your you guys schedule, and the reason being,
again going back to the pay They think you get
all of this if you broke it down by the
pay hour. If people only knew that y'all do it
(27:07):
for the dedication and the love more than just the money.
They would actually be really more more respectful than what
they are on Twitter. MMA.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Yeah, I definitely I've had to break that down to
a few people because I can remember I traded in
my car and I've been saving up for years and
finally bought a truck, and they're like, oh, wow, so
look at you ball and get a big paid I'm like,
first of all, this is a three year old model
that I got too. I traded in a vehicle that
was in good condition, and I saved for years to
get this. Like it wasn't like, oh I just went
(27:38):
out there and spent eighty thousand dollars. I'm like, this
is a cheap truck and I just got the basis
like it's nothing.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
And I'm like, you don't understand.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Like you guys are seeing we get paid once, right,
so if we do a six month fight camp and
for fifteen minutes of work, we get paid.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
But that's not it. We're working seven days a week,
six to eight hours a day.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
For sixty months.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
So I'm like, when you really break it down.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
One of the times I broke it down and I
was getting paid five cents an hour.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I'm like, you guys think they were making all this money.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
But I'm like, but if you went to your job
and you worked eight hours a day for five days
a week and you didn't get paid until the six
month mark, how many of you would keep working?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And if you broke down? Would it be worth the mouth?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Like we just get paid for this moment, but it's
a cumuno Like the hardest work is at last fifteen
to twenty five minutes, but we're working for the month's
leading up to that too, And people kind of lose
that perspective. And then when we break down, like you
have to think medicals these that like we really are
not getting paid very much.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
No, And like I said again going back to people
don't give the respect to you as a professional. I
know with some of the fighters that I've worked with
that I own a management company as well, and some
of the fighters, like people will reach out to them
and they're like, oh, well can you sponsor I know
(28:58):
you've got a fight coming up, And I'm like, bro,
they probably need the spot. They need the sponsors more
than they can sponsor somebody. If you if you knew
what they broke it down to, So with that being said,
what would be the best advice you would give someone
that was wanting to become an MMA fighter?
Speaker 5 (29:23):
For one, Like I said, detailing out those things, because
so often the fighter is getting into it, Like we
have a guy right now, I'm about to go pro
and I just kind of like unfortunately, shattered that bubble
in the image that he thought fighting was going to
be when I explained everything he's responsible for as professional asset, right,
and once he realizes, like how do.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
You get money, I'm like, yeah, that's that's the game.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
But unfortunately, we live in a world now where it's
not just so important to craft yourself as a martial
artist and to make sure that you're roll around and
you're skilled, but also to craft your your appearance on
social media and make sure that you have a personality
that people to see. And sadly I wish that wasn't
the case. Like my focus is training and so often
I let my social media fall away, and organizations have
(30:08):
been very clear like hey, we paid more or you
could get sponsors, but your social media sucks, Like oh okay, right,
and like yeah, but I trained more than anybody else.
Like if that person just came in here. I've already
put in four hours and they're just doing one hour today, Like,
doesn't that count for something?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And it doesn't. So I really stressed to them the
importance of making sure that they create this brand that
is their social media and make sure that they if
they themselves can't do it, find somebody that can't find money,
find a sponsor that will help pay for that be
involved in in their their local environment, you know, whether
that's that they live in a large city or small town,
(30:45):
but getting involved so that you have local sponsors that
can help support you and maybe find somebody that's going
to be invested for the life of your career. And
that's just a quick payday that you end up losing
over time.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's that's the biggest
thing is, like you said, in this day in time,
especially the social media side of it, a lot of
people don't And that's one of the first things that
I tell.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
My fighters is, Hey, as your manager, my job is
to set you up not with short term success, but
long term success. And the first thing that we go
over is diving into the social media side of it.
What you're putting out, what your brand is what you're
(31:35):
and committing to that. You can't be all over the
place with what your I mean, just to be honest,
I'm a lot like you. I'm super I can't sit still.
That's why I do real estate. I run a management company.
I've got five children and we do this podcast. You
see what I'm Look, the struggle is real, but I don't.
(31:58):
I grew up in back you know, in Alabama, and
so I'm gonna workaholic because I can't sit still. And
so it's one of those things you have to be
very cognitive about what you put out and then being
committed to what it is that you're putting out on
social media. Like if you're gonna be a foodie, be
(32:21):
a foodie, If you're gonna be a train a holic,
be a train of holic. If whatever you're gonna be,
just stay consistent with it. So I and that's that's
what's going to be able to bring you in the
sponsors because you're going to be committed and that product
is one to co sign with you on that that
long term journey.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Exactly.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah, there's so many dimensions now, it's crazy, like even
with our social media too, with this it's we realized
how much work it actually takes to put your presence
out there more and more, and like you said, with
social media, just like booming up so much. There's so
much you need to do in order to become not
only just the fighter that you want to be, but
put you in the right position that will lead you
(33:04):
down the line years to come. It's crazy to even
think about anymore. Yeah, So I wanted to kind of
dive into a little bit more about my generation.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
You know, I kind of preface that before.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
There's a lot of more awareness about just who we
are and not trying to hide anymore, just being being
open about who you are as a person. And so
I wanted to ask an open question that's a little
bit vulnerable, but just kind of get some sheds some
light on it.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
How is it impacted Union?
Speaker 4 (33:31):
Can Can you share with us what it's like being
one of the first pioneers of being the first openly
lesbian fighter in just MMA in general.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, in the beginning, it had a huge impact on
my career. For one, I have been in the.
Speaker 5 (33:47):
Marine Corps during JO and US Hotel, so my coming
out was closeted in the dark, silence and constantly looking
over my shoulder, thinking to somebody, who's going to tell
my commandity to be kicked out of the Marine Corps,
which it makes you dishonorably discharged and incapable of getting jobs, disabilities,
all of that, right, So that impact is so then
when I got out, I was really scared because that
(34:09):
was the whole influence of my Marine Corps career and
me coming out and.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I couldn't even do that.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
Not that I wanted to, like shout out for the mountains,
but he just wanted to be true to who I
was and not hid anymore.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
And I didn't know what that was going to mean
to even me. I didn't want to alienate my training partners.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
And so often I heard in other gyms where people
that were open were just completely having a difficult time
or get kicked out of their gyms or not allowed
in gyms because they were openly homosexual, whether it's male
or female.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Right, So I'm like, yeah, I don't want to risk that.
This is my happy place. I love coming here. I
don't want to ruin that.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
But I also don't want it to be a surprised
if I show up somewhere with my girlfriend, you know,
so I had so how do I balance those things?
And I can remember my coach at the time, I
was doing sprints and he used to sitting there eating
canyon and stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
And doing sprints. He's like, hey, what do you think
of her? Do you think she's cute? I'm like what,
and nice? Keep doing sprints when you come back.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
And I was like, hey, you haven't really talked about
He's like, yeah, I know you're gay. And I was like, oh,
He's like, I don't care. He's like, all I care.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
All I care about. Are you a good person? Are
you a good fighter and a good teammate?
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Keep going. I'm like, oh, cool, all right, this is awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You know.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
So I was really fortunate in finding somebody like that
who didn't didn't care about those things.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
He's like, ah, we're all a little gay. It's fine,
Like it's a totally cool guy, right.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
And I was really fortunate because I knew other people
weren't experiencing in the gyms that they had. But then
as I started to like rise up through the ranks
and I finally got a management team, my management is like, hey,
we'd really like you downplay the gay thing.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Like, downplay the gay thing.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
I'm not like yelling at the rooftops and I I
don't understand. I'm like, yeah, I'm like your mouthpiece. If
you could just pretend like you're straight, I'm like, I
don't know what that means, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Like makeup, hair, curly clothes, Like, yeah, I can't do that.
Speaker 5 (35:55):
They're like, well, you could get better sponsors, but they
don't want to support a lesbian and for the demographic
that follows MMA, it's white males and white straight males,
they don't want that either. And I was like, oh,
then I guess I'm not getting sponsors.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I guess this is what it is.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
So I ended up indirectly from him finding out by
turning that down that I lost sponsorship opportunities, that there
are some people that didn't want to fight because of that,
and that I could have probably had a lot better
success in the early days had I decided to pretentially
demonstrate and go back to the closet. And me just
sticking who I was made it a difficult ruin, but
(36:38):
it's been really important to me to keep the integrity
of who I was, And even in other sponsors they
start to jump on board like, Hey, we want to
sponsor you, but we want you to do ABC and D.
I'm like, yeah, I don't. I don't believe in those things.
That don't condone those things. And they're like, well, then
you're not going to get paid. I'm like, then, I
guess I'm not going to work with you. That's not
the company that I want to represent, so you can.
I'm going to be true to who I am, and
(36:59):
if that means that it cost me these opportunities, then
at least at the end of the day, I know,
closing my eyes, I was true to who I was.
It kept my integrity and people know who I am
for who I am, not some made up version of himself.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Let me ask you a question going back into your career.
I mean, you've fought Valentina twice, Peter once, you fought
Randa Rouse a niche take literally a gambit. When you
go back and look at your your career legend, do
you think it it affected your career as far as
(37:37):
with the UFC of not pushing what they wanted as
their narrative, just being open.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So the UFC was.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
The first time that I finally felt like an organization
wasn't supportive who I was, because originally everybody knows like
Dana White saying like he's not supportive of the gays,
and then that changed as he got to know who
I was. I was like, yeah, this doesn't matter, this
is an important part. And then he said out to
be a part of like fundraisers and charity events for
up and coming LGBT communities, for different LGBT centers, So
(38:09):
that narrative changed completely, And I never felt that way
on a ZFC. Really the part that it was before
the UFC where I felt like that that was restricting things,
and then certainly from sponsors were willing to jump on board.
I definitely felt like that limited stuff, but never from
the UFC specifically.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Well, it's fascinating why people even care, especially I mean,
now we have hindsight, right, but still it's just like
it's just weird how it's like that was even an
issue at the line. You know, like you just if
you beat someone's butt, that should be enough to like
get you onto the next one, right, you know, people
want to see entertainment. It's not all about that stuff anyways.
So it's just funny looking back now.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
But then if you also look like you said, the
changing climate of social media is you can be this
talented and this phenomenal MMA fighter and you could have
like say fifty to oher record, But if you have
ten thousand followers on Instagram, five thousand followers on TikTok,
you're not going to get the big fights, you're not
gonna get the sponsorship. Right, It's that the persona having
(39:06):
that brand. So in that same token, you could have
an untalented fighter who does TikTok dances and all the
trends they're on Instagram, they have an OnlyFans and as
a result, they're getting big paydays and big so like
as much as it doesn't matter, one hundred percent matters, right,
because if you had a lesbian that was like uber
(39:26):
attractive that every male or female, everybody's like she's hot, untalented,
she's gonna have a better chance of getting the big
pay days and the sponsorship then somebody that looks like
like you're your soccer mom, and people you're like twenty
five percent say she's attracted and seventy five percent say unattractive.
That is the reality where it is, and that's a
sad world. It should be as martial artists, you're tuning
(39:48):
in for the fights.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Do you enjoy watching my fights? The rest shouldn't matter,
but people tune in.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Like you look at McGregor, people either love McGregor or
they hate McGregor. They tune in to watch him on
that p so either falling off or staying on it right,
and it's very much there. If he didn't do all
the trash talking, he would not be as popular as where.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
He's staying one one thousand percent agree and that that's
where as a uh lover of the fight game, it
drives me insane that people will because honestly, like you
look at your career, h RDA the legendary career, but
(40:31):
he's not a crap talker. He's not gonna go out
and be disrespectful. He's not gonna be He has, you know,
his his mindset. And people that that are like that,
unfortunately are punished by not not being that way because
(40:52):
people love the chiefs made the drama and they want
the Conor mcgregors that are on there, and they're like
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and every little independent thing. And
it's sad to see that we've come to that, but
unfortunately it's the world kind of that we live in.
It we have to be subjected to it. We can
(41:13):
only hope and pray that things go go go away
from that hopefully.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
So so we have a quick question, how do you
balance your personal life with the demands of being a
professional fighter and also like being a mother.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
How do you how do you manage all that at once?
Speaker 5 (41:32):
The easy answer my wife, I mean, if it really
came down to me, you know, there was definitely a
point before my wife where I wondered if I wanted
to have a child. I've never even susposed to tell her.
I've never done like I want this room to be buried.
But I did also believe that I I'd love to
give to adopt a child, you know, to be in
that in that position, but I never wanted to bear children.
(41:53):
So I wonder I'm like, okay, maybe all adopted child
And they're like, man, I have a crazy lifestyle. That
wouldn't be fair to a child for me to put
them through this crazy lifestyle of Hey, sometimes I'm home
and I'm there with giving everything I have, and then
other times I'm not there at all and I give
you nothing.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Like, that's not fair. And my wife is the balancing
person is able to put all those pieces together because
she is the consistent in our lives that's always there.
You know, we're able.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
We live in Tennessee, we have six acres, we have
a farm going. So she's able to give my son
so many different looks in life. And when I'm I
now go away for fight camp because it was really
hard when he was little. And I'm in fight camp,
but I'm at home, and so he's like, how come
mommy's here, but she's not, Like she's out in the
garage working out, but she can't come in and play
with me. I'm like, hey, dude, I'm sorry, Like you
(42:39):
can't explain that to a child right where. He's like, well,
how come she can go to the gym, but I
can't go play with her at the gyman.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
He wasn't understanding. So now I go away. He's like, Okay,
I get it. She goes away, and then when she
comes home, she takes me to school, she makes our food,
she does homework with me. She goes so when I'm there,
I'm there, and then when I'm gone, I'm gone.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
Like when he's at school, I'll do my workouts, and
when he comes home from school, I'm there so it's
not conflicting everything. And then when I have a fight booked,
I go away to San Diego or I go away
to Virginia Beach so that I can concentrate there and
still giving calls and still face final but it's not
putting as much stress. And he definitely has a better
connection understanding that. But all that's achievable just because of
(43:18):
my wife.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
She wasn't there. I come in.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
I don't know what I'd have to do with my
son and how we can actually hold that line together well.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
And I think it's cool that you actually, you know,
coming from I came from a very rough childhood, so
even that you had that mindset of thinking even before
the beginning is really cool to think, like, hey, I
want to put one hundred percent of myself into making
(43:46):
you feel loved and wanted and needed and cared for that.
To me, you get mad respect for thinking about that,
because a lot of people don't think about that. They
just think they watch these movies or they these things
and they think, oh, I really want to be a parent.
So I can be on social media and talk about
how great of a parent I am and all of
(44:08):
this stuff. So that's really cool to see that you
thought about those things even before you know you had
a child, So that that's really cool. And kudos to
your wife for being there to support you and you
ultimately support It's cool to see that unity, uh, and
that connection with that. What is the biggest lesson that
(44:34):
you've learned about yourself with MM A.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
Evolution?
Speaker 5 (44:42):
You know, it's something I always love a challenge, and
I've been that way in my full life. My mom
was saying that she asked about like my training partners.
She's like, you need a challenge. You can't have training partners.
You'll create a challenge just to have it. Yeah, And
for MMA, that's one of the things I love about
it is because like if I let back, I don't
concentrate on boxing and striking and let that fall for
(45:03):
a little bit, somebody else will kick my butt because
they're focusing on that. And if I let jiu jitsu
fall away, the same thing, but I let wrestling fall away.
I love that about the sport that there are so
many different pieces that come into it that you have
to focus on evenly to be all around commercial artist,
and that you're always capable of evolution, that there's never
(45:23):
if you get to a point where you think that
you have reached the capital possibility, you shouldn't be in
the sport because somebody else is.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Going to show you how wrong you are.
Speaker 5 (45:31):
And I love that Mma has influenced the other parts
of my life to help me continue to evolve as
a person and to continue growth and make that a
constant part of who I am.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
Right, I'm speechless.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
That's crazy because it's like you don't realize how much
of a part of your life, like you have to
continue evolving as a person like Mma. From what I've
heard of all the interviews that we've had, is it's
just such a reflection on life, like if you don't
do this, if you stay stagnant, you're never going to
be able to grow as a person, And that reflects
in your relationship, your personal life, you being a mother,
(46:04):
and then also all the people that are looking up
to you in order to make sure that not only
you are successful, but that they are able to live
their lives as well too.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
So that's amazing to hear.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
I think it goes back to living a lifestyle and
you see that people that have had There's a lot
of people that come into the sport that are good
for a year, two years, maybe three. But if you
don't live the lifestyle and you're not dedicated to being
a good person and good fighter and well rounded in life,
(46:37):
not just with MMA, but in life, you're not gonna
And you see the people like you that have had
an extensive career is because you have a good, pure
heart and you're always looking to elevate yourself, not just
as a fighter, not just with striking, but as an individual.
So definitely see that. So we're going to kind of
(47:00):
lighten things up a little bit. We're gonna have some
rapid fire questions here. We're gonna say some things. You
pop off the first thing that comes into your head
whenever we say it and you are on the clock.
Who is your favorite fighter growing up?
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Her Cyborg?
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I like you like she trains here.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Locally too, in the OC too nice.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
What is your favorite travel destination?
Speaker 5 (47:29):
Ooh, I think right now, just because I haven't had
as many opportunities, there's a sty Hawaii and it's been
the favorite.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Spot so far. What island I've only been to the
big islands.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
I want to see the other parts, and that's definitely
the future is a travel war.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
But right now, what's your biggest pet peeve?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Lack of manners?
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (47:52):
Yeah, I hope that's good to teach to your son
as well, to make sure that they have good advantage
off the bat too.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
What is your favorite cheat meal?
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Steak, French fries and cheesecape?
Speaker 4 (48:09):
What type of cheesecake are we going for? Just traditional
New York style? Do you have something I like to
go bougie?
Speaker 2 (48:14):
I'll go with like a caramel cheesecake with a crumb
lake topic.
Speaker 3 (48:19):
That sounds so good.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
I've just started a diet too. It's broken cheesecake factory
it is today. What is your hidden talent?
Speaker 2 (48:32):
Challenging myself.
Speaker 5 (48:35):
Is seeking is always constantly seeking, challenging evolution and being
able to evolve and grow not only as like an athlete,
but as a personal's one.
Speaker 4 (48:46):
Takes a special person to be so suff aware and
to make sure like this, just seeing the blind spots
and who you are too, that's that's really critical.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
You know, what is your favorite song?
Speaker 2 (48:58):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (49:00):
Do you feel like that changes? That's a hard one.
I don't have a favorite song just because.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Let's let's just go with this. What's gonna be the
walkout song for this mixt fight?
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Okay, so that's easy.
Speaker 5 (49:11):
If we're going favorite walkout song, it's baby BNOSSI Satisfaction.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I like it. I like it. I like it. Who
is your favorite actor or actress?
Speaker 5 (49:23):
Oh, probably have to go a favorite actor.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
Depphired to the Caribbing the tourist. What we're talking about that.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
He has such a range right from back to the point,
from like uh.
Speaker 5 (49:41):
Edward exactly, going from Edward Scissorhan all the way up
to uh Sweeney Todd, like all of it. I love
the university and.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
He's so animated in every character, the deos.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
What is your favorite TV show or movie?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Probably a TV show would be How I Much Mother?
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Oh yeah, with all the good ones, good answers, the
last one. If there was a zombie invasion, what one
fighter would you want on your team?
Speaker 5 (50:17):
Ooh see, probably need to go somebody crazy.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Hmmm, good question. I'm gonna go with Tim Kennedy.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
That's a new one.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:31):
I get to think he's a jack of all trades.
He can survive if he can shoot he's strong, he's healthy,
he's the guy literally literally happens. He can just throw
me on his back and backpack everywhere.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
I was gonna say, that's what I was gonna say.
Bigger than anything. Always look at who can carry me tired?
So let's get we want to We know you're busy
with your schedule. We'll ask one last question. This one's
kind of deep. If you need to take a second
to think about it, feel free. If today was your
(51:06):
last day, what is it that you won't live to
be remembered for.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
I think there's a few things I want to be
remembered for.
Speaker 5 (51:16):
For one, being a martial artist, you know, regardless of
any animosity and may have towards an opponent at the
end of the fight, we both put it on the line.
I believe in being respectful to my opponent. I still
shake the hands of them and their coaches.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Right. I'm not a trash talker. I've never been known
for that. That's not all of a sudden get a change.
Speaker 5 (51:35):
And for somebody who provoke me to trash stock, they
have to be really horrible human beings. Part of me,
I think too, showing people that be true to themselves
and then also if I could achieve these dreams and
achieve these goals, that anybody can.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
I'm not anyone special for any in any area. I've
never been excellent in sports, excellent in.
Speaker 5 (51:56):
School like nowhere. I've been on your c average student
across the board. The only thing that I have is
that I had a dream, and I have work ethic
and persistent. And I think for anybody setting a dream
and just giving everything they have to it and just believing.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
In themselves, and they'll find they're capable of that.
Speaker 5 (52:14):
I want people to learn from me, to be able
to find their goals, find their dreams, and to be
able to chieve them.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
I like it. But I will tell you this, you
are something special in the light of just to be honest.
This is being really transparent, and I'm the most brutally
honest person probably you'll ever meet. That's probably why I've
been divorced wife, because I tell people all the time,
if you don't want the real answer, don't ask me.
(52:42):
But I'll tell you your values of staying true to yourself,
your military service, all of those things, and I'll be
honest with you. You've my heart only in the short
(53:03):
time that we've done this interview. Hearing your story and
knowing now more about your background, it's touched my heart
to know and so you are a very special person
and I'm so glad to have met you and to
(53:25):
be able to hear more about your story to be
able to put out because I don't know if you
know this, but your story and your legacy is going
to help so many people and that is massive. So
I just want to thank you, not just for your
fighting but for the person that you are. I truly appreciate.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
Yeah, thank you so much for stopping by for me.
It was just awesome just to hear how you're willing
to just go through anything that you had to, even
if it was not the easiest road that you're going
to take. You just trusted in who you were as
a per before it was all popular to do it,
before social media is a thing, and you just still
continue like, hey, I'm gonna do it my way. Like
I know that this wasn't plan a B or C
(54:09):
as you said, right, but you're gonna make it happen.
And the fact that you're going to get a little
creative and also stick to what you knew. I just
I think for me that's really powerful, just to see
as a as a as a young man, and just
to learn what it really takes to get to where
you want to be. It's just very fascinating to hear about.
So thank you for sharing your story today.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
Yeah, thank you so much. We'll be tuning in, definitely
be cheering for you in the next couple of weeks.
If you ever out here, we're in Orange County. If
you are ever out in San Diego and you need anything,
we're always here. We appreciate you so much for coming
on and thank you so much.
What's up everybody? Clinton Fouchet here and I'm Albert Chavez
and this is Front Porch Chronicles and we're super excited
leading up to the PFL playoffs in a couple of weeks.
We have a legend Liz Girlrilla Carmouche. Not only is
(00:27):
she an amazing fighter, a United States Marine veteran. Liz,
thank you so much for your service and taking the
time out of your busy schedule to come on. We
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So I know we prefaced a little bit right before.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I've only been diving into the UFC and PFL space
just over a years since working with Clinton, and so, dude,
you've had such an amazing career going off probably one
of the most underrated in all of UFC and PFL history,
and it's just great. You've had people fighting, You've beaten
Valentina scha ben Go just going jaws me shitate, you
fought and you fought around a Vaalazi, And so we
(01:05):
wanted to kind of just explore that a little bit
more like, how how is it like being able to
have such a long career has that impacted your life?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You know?
Speaker 5 (01:16):
I think being an athlete, I really prioritize just being
as healthy as possible and making this a lifestyle. I
think where other athletes kind of go wayward is they
enjoy like the freedom right, especially if you're in organizations
other than the PFL. You don't get a guaranteed scheduled
for fighting, so you may have a fight and then
we have another six months, eight nine months off.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So a lot of people take that.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Time and they just relax and they enjoy eating, drinking, party,
having a good time. But this is this is my lifestyle,
this is who I end twenty four seven. So the
nice thing about that is PFL caters to that. And
it's also helped benefit my career because I've let every
organization I've ever been a.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Part of know that I'm ready any day, anytime. Give
me a call. I'll take a last fight against your
number one in the world. I don't care.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
And because of that, I've got phone calls and opportunities
that other people passed on, and as a result, it's
helped elevate my career's hurts.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Today legendary, legendary career. I know fire there's never like
to say that, but like legendary career of the people
that you fought. Uh, And I know you're coming off
of a non fight win streak and getting ready for
the PFL. How is training camp going? Leading into that?
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Training camp is good? Like I said, I'm win or lose.
I'm always back to the drawing board immediately. Like if I
fight on Saturday, I'm back on Monday because I want
to refine all the mistakes that I've made. I want
to increase the likelihood that have success in the future,
even if that came off the win, even if it's
a thirty five second when I still see mistakes they
make in the fight that I want to work on.
(02:52):
And to me, the more time that you take off
from that, the more that you lose the momentum that
you had going into it. So for me, being a
PFL is great. And each each camp that I keep
going in so I just feel better and better and
more prepared for the fights. And it's really nice to
be able to have back to back fights that I
have to wait nine months to you for my next one.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
That's one of the things with the PFL, just to
be honest, that I've kind of admired lately is that
structure because with the UFC, and we've talked to some
people in the past about it, it's almost become somewhat political,
especially in the women's On the women's side of it
(03:35):
especially is because if you're not tweeting, you're not mainstreaming,
or you're not fitting into the narrative. And I'm trying
to be politically correct, but if you're not fitting into
the narrative of what is going to be beneficial, you
might sit on the shelf in the UFC for three, six,
(03:57):
nine months. And like you said, some people, you know,
some people aren't necessarily comfortable taking a short notice fight,
and if you're not, you could end up missing out
on a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
That's definitely. One of the problems that I had is
my first year fighting. I had eight or nine fights
my first year, and I thought that that's what the
temple of fighting was always going to be. And then
as I started to move up the ranks and go
to different organizations, I was getting one two fights a year.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I was like, this isn't for me. I don't like
the waiting game like I want to.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I want to stay in the loop all the time
and keep improving it and getting better and.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Keeping that because you build rust. Even if you're you're
training all the time. Competitive MMA is.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Different than training MMA, right, so you can you can
keep on doing what you need to. It's not the
same when you're in that cage. So Phil definitely caters
more to my lifestyle and what I prefer.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And it definitely helps out because a lot of people
don't realize or understand with fighters. They have this fantasy
land that you you as fighters just have this copious
amount of number one of money and the number two.
If you don't fight, you don't get paid. And so
if you have injuries or you're sitting on the shelf
(05:13):
three to six months, the build collectors or your mortgage
or they don't they don't care that. You know, the
other organizations don't have you lined up for a fight.
They need their money. And so yeah, it definitely helps out.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Yeah, I don't think enough people know about the struggles
that fighters go through. Very few of us are able
to not have full time jobs outside of fighting, and
and it's a very limited fee they're able to achieve that.
When I was trying to tell them, our fighters are like,
all right, cool, your oup to go pro just heads up,
you know, like the cost of medicals, of doing your
licensing fees per state, getting your corner fees, and it's.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Like wait, what my Yeah, as a professional.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Athlete, like you're responsible for paying licensing for your corners
as well as yourself your medical which you're you're hoping
maybe they're only five hundred dollars, but realistically they're probably
going more towards five thousand.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Especial if you don't have insurance.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Yeah, right, and then you're going to take your twenty
percent to go to your management. You're going to take
the ten to twenty percent that goes to your coaches
for putting sacrificing with you and being there. And then
let's not count the amount that ghost for taxes because
you're independent contractor, and nobody ever gets out. They're like wait,
so you walk around, you walk out of there, it
was like what ten percent, Like, yeah, that's that's we're doing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And the travel expenses, like and people don't understand it's
not like you're just paying for your own travel expenses.
So that's why I was telling Albert. He was we
were watching another friend of ours that's a fighter. He
was like they're all bunched up in one room, and
I'm like, dude, as fighters, it's almost like you go
back to dorm life, but because it's like you can't.
(06:48):
You can't afford to pay for every individual coach, you know,
three different four different rooms. So most of the times
you're rooming together, you're eating together, all of those things,
because it's very expensive to keep up with a lot
of that.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So yeah, we'll makes sense than why you'd want to
fight back to back to back too.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, exactly, that's so.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Yeah, not only do you want to get that rust
off of you, you also want to get paid to Yeah,
make sure you can feed all your family too, and
stuff like that too.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So I was curious.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I like to ask the fighters this, do you have
like a before fight ritual that you like to do
to get yourself amps before going to the octagon?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Not as much amp.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
So I'm not that person that fights with like the
adrenaline like I wish I did, because it'd be great
when I get kick clean. I'm like, man, that hurt.
I'm like, man, I wish I wouldn't feel it. I
could just feel it all after the fight and sit
him in there and I'm like, just play it off.
It was fine, it didn't hurt that bad. So I
wish I could get myself.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Like super amped and do that, but really the ritual for.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Me is just staying chilled for the day and not
getting the adrenaline going because with it you get the
adrenaline rise and then you get the adrenaline dump. And
you're hoping that the adrenaline dump happens after the fight, right,
that you can carry it all the way through, But
oftentimes it doesn't happen. So I try and just be
chilled and just joke around with the coaches and all
the way up until we have to go out to
the fight and we're watching ridiculousness and and things like that,
(08:11):
just cracking jokes.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I feel like everyone has their
own styles.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
People either like to be with their with their friends,
or some people just like to be isolated and just
only focused on what's going to be ahead of them.
And it's it's always curious for me to hear what
each fighter has to go through to make sure they
can get mentally prepared.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I mean, I've had I've had family.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
My mom is like Vietnam era right, And so she
was there seeing what all the troops went through before,
and volunteered a lot as a candy striper helping the
trips that came back. So she has a whole different
perspective on like violence and does not condone violence at all. Right,
I was taught a very young age walk away from things,
and I was always that kid who's like, yeah, but
they pushed that little kid for no reason. I got
(08:51):
to go fight them because that's not right.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And I was like, why did you get a fight
because they shut that little kid in the puddle. That's
not fair.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yeah, dude, right, So I was always coming back, I'm sorry,
I got another fight again. I joined the Marine Corps.
She's like, of all the branches, I had to be
the Marine Corps. I'm like, yeah, sorry, mom, And then
I get in the fighting. So she never watched.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Any of my fight.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
She's seemed too in person, and after the last one
she's like, I can't I can't watch as in person, Like, yeah,
it's super stressful having you.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I can feel your energy in the hotel and it's
not positive. You're not even You're all the way on
the other side of the hotel and I know you're here.
So I like to stay away from family and friends,
especially because if they're not in that world and they
don't understand it, or like say it's a new fighter
and they have all these questions and you're like, look,
I want to answer your questions, but it's really draining,
Like just chill, dude, We're just kidding.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Actually, especially during white cuts. You know, I's teller, I
was Tella Albert because RDA is a good friend of mine.
He cuts down to fifty five, so he walks around
jacked at like ninety eighty five and ninety in cutting
down to one fifty five. You have to be very
(09:58):
selective as fighters are in weight cuts, especially because it
is so it is the worst. It is to me
the absolute and I've had two amateur fights, nothing on
that level, but even then, like, the weightcuts are absolutely brutal.
So you have to be very selective with who you
(10:19):
surround yourself with because it gets so stressful and if
people get in their emotions or their feelings and don't
understand or know the struggle of what you're going through
as a fighter, cutting that extra that last, especially the
last part of the weight cut, you know, it makes
things a lot worse than it has to be.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Yeah, my wife was an amateur fighter and she wrestled
in high school and then taught high school wrestling, so
she certainly understands it. But even her, she was there
from one of the weightcuts because coaches had like, we
had multiple fighters going, so the coaches were all over
the place. She's like, I'll both, Liz, I'll help her
during the weightcut. She's like, yeah, I don't like watching
you you cut.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
This is really hard on me.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
I'm like what She's like, Yeah, when it's friends or
it's myself, that's superent. Watching my wife do that, She's like,
I don't like it. So it even changes like having
friends having a family there changes everything. My coaches when
I'm doing the weight cut, they're just hanging out watching TV.
I hear ridiculousness for the Food Network going, and now
I'm just cutting that I come out.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm like, I'm good. I really just have them there
just to make sure I don't accidentally kill myself.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
And I'm gonna say fallout.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Know if I'm not the fighter where they'd have to
hold me in the bathtub or lock me in this
song and like I'm not that person.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Just make sure that I don't do something stupid.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, and you've been doing it for so long till
you kind of know. But isn't it strange Like how
we want to make all of our friends and family
comfortable even though they're not there. I always find that
fascinating with like why we feel like we have to
do that and like make sure they're all right.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And I think that's why a lot of fighters, whenever
it comes to traveling, separate the two because you almost
have to separate the two because it is so stressful
going to these and again people don't know, like it's
not just you show up and fight like you have.
(12:04):
You're cutting weight like which is brutal, but you're also
having to do photo shoots, You're also having to do interviews.
You're also having to do all of the extra things.
So that was one of the things with the podcast
we started looking at when we were going to interview
people and how it's like, oh, they've got a fight
coming up on such and such. I'm like, dude, you
(12:25):
don't You're not gonna want to do any type of interviews.
Are talking during a way cut, we might get our
heads chewed off. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
So with that being said, we want to kind of
dive more into your background a little bit can share
with us what makes you want to transition from the
Marine Corps to MMA.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
So when I originally was I was looking at MMA,
my third work by Iraq, it would be playing like
we'd be watching it, and really our unit was really
into it. And I started getting into it more and
I tried got the bjpnbook and I tried doing the
work else and I really liked the diet and I
just my first tour, I wanted to see how much
weight I could lose, and then I felt like I
wasn't really that healthy. And second tour was like how
(13:09):
much muscle can I put on? I'm like, well, that's
not really healthy either. So the third tour for me
was me trying to find a balance between those and
how can I be lean but me strong and also
be as healthy as possible. And it made kind of
fit the bill for that, and I'm like, well, that
seems like a lot of fun. I really want to
get into that. But I didn't know what the possibilities
were at that time for me. I knew that I
didn't have a marginaldon's background. So if I really wanted
(13:30):
to follow this, like I started doing reachion and I'm like,
I'll be lucky if I had an amateur fight after
two years of training, Like, I would be lucky if
that would happen. I had no ideations that I'd be
a professional.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Did I want to? Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
I thought I could fight for Sidbord, but really he
was getting into it just to see how far I
could go with it. And my third deployment, I had
been like filing for jobs. I was sending out my
resume and I didn't really know how to write a
resume and it was horrible, but I didn't know it
at the time. But I applied for so many jobs
and just kick getting shut down over and over. So
when I got out, I'm like, wow, I guess I
(14:03):
have no choice.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I have to use a GI bill And that wasn't
the plan.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
I'm not really good at being in school and sitting
still like MMA works because my attention span is all
over the place. That's perfect, right, We're constantly moving, but
sitting still and timing to focus.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Not not good for me. Sit there right, We're not
going to read something right.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
So I'm like, oh man, I'm gonna have to do
my Plan C, not even my Plan A, and now
my plan be my Plan C of if everything hits
the fan, this is what we have to do. So
I went to school full time us A GI bill
and then trained at night, and again it was just like, well,
this I love. This is something I want to commit
to and see where it goes. Maybe I get amateure,
maybe me go pro, but I'm just enjoying the process.
(14:42):
And then before I know it, my first amateur fight
after four months of training, my first pro fight after
five months of training, and then fast forward fourteen years
and I'm still doing this professionally.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
That escalighted quickly. Yeah, but it's one of those things, honestly,
this is something kind that I talk about, Like we
talked about off my brother who was a US Marine
as well, Uh, seeing him kind of similar to you
whenever you know, he you know, had to he was
(15:13):
medically retired from the Marines, and I could see the
panic in the worry in his eyes because he was
on his his second stint with the Marines. And so
when you join the Marines, some people join it just
for oh okay, I need an out of where I'm at,
(15:35):
and then some people join it like, hey, this is
my career, like this is what you know. I don't.
I don't really know what I want to do beyond that.
And so I know, for my brother, seeing kind of similar.
He was filling out applications and he wasn't getting jobs,
and he wasn't getting callbacks and he wasn't getting and
(15:56):
I think that's where as you know, the government, you know,
the Marines, the different military branches, they really need to
do better about setting you up for success after like
with job training, filling out resumes, all of those things
(16:16):
that you need. You know, we do real estate. It's
one of those things. And it seems simplicitic, but a
lot of military veterans think, oh, well, I've got my
VA loan, so we're good to go on being able
to purchase a home. So a lot of them don't
necessarily save up a lot of money because they A
(16:36):
they don't get paid a lot of money, but B
it's hard to you know, save up, and so when
they get ready to use the VA loan, it's difficult
to use the VA loan because there's not any a
lot of money put down with those type of loans,
and so a lot of sellers don't necessarily go We've
(16:59):
been luckily, we're able to paint a portrait and a
picture for the veterans that we've worked with to help
get their offers accepted with the v A bill. Uh.
But it's it's one of those things that it's very difficult.
So we really these people, you know, you guys have
clicked your life on the line for our freedoms, and
(17:21):
I just think it's very important that we create programs
to set you up for success. Luckily, you were able
to go on to have a legendary you know, a career,
uh and still going. So kudos to you for for
finding a way when they're you know, when they didn't
(17:42):
really give a lot of options.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, I know, it was definitely difficult.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
I mean I was fortunate that friends that I had
served with were married and they lived off face so
we all got a house together because I was just
gonna live out of my car. I knew I didn't
have money, I didn't have a job. That was just like, well,
I have a car, this is I can sleep in now.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
That's easy. Slept in worse conditions.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
It's crazy that somebody can serve an office and for
the rest of their life doing a term of four
years in a safe environment, ac getting their lunch breaks,
only working nine to five for the rest of their lives.
They're sad, and yet we can right over a check
that doesn't guarantee a future for us and gives us
limited money, limited resources. We serve four to six years
(18:23):
deploy who knows how many times, putting their life on
the line, get out, and then I have nothing for us,
Like that's ridiculous. It shouldn't be that way.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It should be that the.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Same, Like, if you want to get benefits for those
that serve an office, get those same benefits for the
troops that they're willing to send to risk their lives
and put them out on their depth essentially. So often,
you know, you see a lot of particular in California,
a lot of the homeless are veterans. They're people that
have served and have struggles or mental illness that they
experienced because of the military, and then they're just discarded
(18:53):
and left there. And that's a sad reality. That shouldn't
be the way they needs.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I agree one thousand percent definitely needs to be something
that needs.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To be addressed a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, it's fascinating because you said you'd served three tours, right, Yeah,
So just going out and putting your life on the line.
That often just like giving your time and energy into
something like that too. You literally you sign your contract
to be with the government during that timeframe, and so
you've given so much to your contract already. So it's
just curious and like I always question, like, why would
(19:26):
someone want to go and do that when you aren't
being like it's not reciprocated to you as well.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, And I think.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
It was less about like looking at the government as
I was looking at the people that I served with, right,
the last thing I want to do, especially my third employment,
I had to extend my contract. I only had a
five year contract. I extended it for another four months
to deploy with them because I knew they were going
out there and they didn't have the personnel and weren't
ready to go on that mission. And the last thing
(19:53):
I wanted for them to come back to me hear
about friends losing their lives because they didn't have the
personnel that were trained to be able to do that.
So for me, I'm like, Okay, well, I'm going to
go out there one more time. And then also there
was this program called the Line S Program, and it
was everything I want to do in the Marine Corps.
I got to be attached to grant me to go
out there, go and patrols search. I'm like, okay, again,
I could to go out there and help people and
(20:15):
do something that's super cool, and I didn't want to
miss out on that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
So for me, it was worth it.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Regardless of what the agenda was of the government, it
was about helping the Marines that were a part of
my lives and want to go out one more time
to help them.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
No one's yeah, no one's going to understand that too,
like your desire to want to go and like support
them to They're like, you're crazy, why would you go
do that? But that's probably something like you went through.
You went through boot camp with them and all that
hard training to go into. It's kind of like I'm
fighting too, Like when you train with all your other
spar and train with everyone else, like you're doing that
not just for them, but with them in that process exactly.
(20:52):
So we're always curious what was your family's reaction when
you told them, Hey, I'm going to go and make
this a career and turn pro Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Well, like I said, my mom is like anti violence.
And when she'd asked, she's like, so, what are you
doing with your time?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Now?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I know that tree's in the jabbell. I'm like, oh, well,
you know, I'm training martial arts.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And she's like, oh cool, because I did different forms
of kate when I was little, but it'd be like
a month longest at the time, right, So like I
kio for a month I on. I didn't have the
attention span and we'd have the money at soccer's when
I was able to stick with the lungs. So she's like, yeah,
you really like that as a kid. I could see
that working out for you. I was like yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And she's not googling to verify when I say the
bigs martial arts what I mean? Right?
Speaker 5 (21:34):
And finally, and so she was looking in Japan at
that time, and I remember her giving me a phone
call in the middle of the night.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
She's like, are you kidding me? Are you doing the
fighting in the cage? Like wait, what, It's three.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
O'clock in the morning, what's going on here? I'm like, yeah, yeah,
cage door. They lock you in there to fight each other.
I'm like, it's sounds of the.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Death, like we could get it there. But she was horrify.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
She's like, well, you're wearing headgear and I'm like, no,
can in the fight. Well are you weringing the stuff
for your your legs, my shint guards?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
No?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Are you really? Like no, none of that. Somebody wearing
glove but yeah, wearing gloves and a mouthpiece. That's text
of equipment.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Of course, the three in the morning, I'm not like
trying to shelter and kind of like have her received
things in a much better way, you know, So I'm
just no filter.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I'm like, yeah, doing the stuff in the cage.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Yeah, I get hit all the time by way bigger
guys getting hit by the girls and spine what I'm.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Like, Oh, that wasn't the right thing to say. It
definitely did take very well, but very quickly.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Like in saying that I always stayed ready is I
got a phone call to fight Marlo's Conan's right course
for the world title.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
So where I'd been to nobody, nobody knew who I was.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
I took a nine day notice fight to fight against
a girl that had ten years and I've been training
eight months since she had ten years experience, just to amimate, right,
not not including she's a brown volunt World champion like
all those things. And because of it, like everybody's like
counting me out. They're like, oh, she's gonna get guillotined
in the first twenty seconds. And I ended up making
(23:07):
it through that. And so my mom had been reading everything.
She's like, oh, you do you realize who you're fighting?
Because she would then start reading stuff and she's like,
you know, you're all over newspapers.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
You keep popping up home on my on my Google
feed not stop. And I'm like, yeah, okay, I guess
I definitely can't do more.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
And she's like, all right, I guess this is like
a real thing, and began to get more supportive. And
then certainly when women got accepted into the UFC, that
really changed her mind about my role professional fighting where
she saw it actually going. But even then it was
still kind of like, I'm not really there. She was
born and raised in New York City, so when I
fought an MSGH, that's what changed everything. And she's finally like, okay,
(23:48):
I accept you.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I accept you. New Yorkers. New Yorkers always when you say,
it's like we're not worthy. So so let me ask
you a question. I know you've taken a lot of
short notice fights your own the streets too. How do
you feel like being a marine kind of helped with
(24:11):
your schedule as an MMA fighter because a lot of
people don't understand how complex the schedule is, especially when
you throw in family dynamics, Like, how do you think
that's helped? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (24:23):
I think the great thing about the Marine Corps is
it's the least funda of all the branches. Yes, so
they'll tell us like, okay, we need you to complete
this mission and here's a paper clip.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Wait, what how are.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
We supposed to get there? How are you feeding us?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
They're like, you guys will figure that out, Like we
have faith in you, go for it. So you learn
how to work with absolutely no resources and still accomplish
the goal.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Right.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
So, I feel like that's helped a lot because even
if like we have a holiday and nobody shows up
at the gym and I'm just there by myself, like
why don't fight coming up? I have to train, I'll
still find a way to get my six hours into
training without the training partners, right, And so that's helped
because I've faced numerous amounts of adversity having deployed TRIREQ,
where I know that I can overcome anything. I've been
(25:07):
given opportunities have to complete a mission with no resources
to do it, and I know I can still complete
that mission, and that was under dress in people's lives.
So just me training myself, that's easy, right. And then
to the discipline that you learn from the Marine Corps
and being able to do like I would do workouts
like I'm like, okay, well I don't have time to
go to the gym's day, I'm hating on the side
of the aircraft and pull ups, tool watches to do
(25:28):
weights like you find resources with anything that you can
make up in your mind, and not any branches see that,
but the Marine Corps does. And that's translated so well
to help me succeed in immy.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I definitely, I say the Marines are the megver, They're
the magver of the military unit. Definitely, They're going to
figure out a way to make it happen no matter
what it is.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Exactly.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
So for the viewers that don't really know much about
what does a typical day look like for Liscom Machine?
Speaker 5 (26:02):
Ooh, I think I'll probably train more than most of
the riders that I know.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Right.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
I start off in the morning and I usually do
about an hour of cardio. For me, I'm trying to
get to the fat burning level, so that really means
basically just walking. So I jump on my air dyne
and it's totally chill, read a book, watch TV for
an hour. Then I head and I do jiu jitsu
training for about an hour hour and a half. Then
I go to strength training or explosive train like sprints.
(26:27):
Then I have a situational mints with my coach that
I have striking. Then I have Sometimes I'll jump into
another NOD session for training or do.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Some more more.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Light cardio or just shadowing, and then h MMA training
and then I usually do a little bit of sauna
and call it close for the night.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It's always funny going through your schedule. I love whenever
people hear your you guys schedule, and the reason being,
again going back to the pay They think you get
all of this if you broke it down by the
pay hour. If people only knew that y'all do it
(27:07):
for the dedication and the love more than just the money.
They would actually be really more more respectful than what
they are on Twitter. MMA.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Yeah, I definitely I've had to break that down to
a few people because I can remember I traded in
my car and I've been saving up for years and
finally bought a truck, and they're like, oh, wow, so
look at you ball and get a big paid I'm like,
first of all, this is a three year old model
that I got too. I traded in a vehicle that
was in good condition, and I saved for years to
get this. Like it wasn't like, oh I just went
(27:38):
out there and spent eighty thousand dollars. I'm like, this
is a cheap truck and I just got the basis
like it's nothing.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
And I'm like, you don't understand.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Like you guys are seeing we get paid once, right,
so if we do a six month fight camp and
for fifteen minutes of work, we get paid.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
But that's not it. We're working seven days a week,
six to eight hours a day.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
For sixty months.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
So I'm like, when you really break it down.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
One of the times I broke it down and I
was getting paid five cents an hour.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I'm like, you guys think they were making all this money.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
But I'm like, but if you went to your job
and you worked eight hours a day for five days
a week and you didn't get paid until the six
month mark, how many of you would keep working?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And if you broke down? Would it be worth the mouth?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Like we just get paid for this moment, but it's
a cumuno Like the hardest work is at last fifteen
to twenty five minutes, but we're working for the month's
leading up to that too, And people kind of lose
that perspective. And then when we break down, like you
have to think medicals these that like we really are
not getting paid very much.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
No, And like I said again going back to people
don't give the respect to you as a professional. I
know with some of the fighters that I've worked with
that I own a management company as well, and some
of the fighters, like people will reach out to them
and they're like, oh, well can you sponsor I know
(28:58):
you've got a fight coming up, And I'm like, bro,
they probably need the spot. They need the sponsors more
than they can sponsor somebody. If you if you knew
what they broke it down to, So with that being said,
what would be the best advice you would give someone
that was wanting to become an MMA fighter?
Speaker 5 (29:23):
For one, Like I said, detailing out those things, because
so often the fighter is getting into it, Like we
have a guy right now, I'm about to go pro
and I just kind of like unfortunately, shattered that bubble
in the image that he thought fighting was going to
be when I explained everything he's responsible for as professional asset, right,
and once he realizes, like how do.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
You get money, I'm like, yeah, that's that's the game.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
But unfortunately, we live in a world now where it's
not just so important to craft yourself as a martial
artist and to make sure that you're roll around and
you're skilled, but also to craft your your appearance on
social media and make sure that you have a personality
that people to see. And sadly I wish that wasn't
the case. Like my focus is training and so often
I let my social media fall away, and organizations have
(30:08):
been very clear like hey, we paid more or you
could get sponsors, but your social media sucks, Like oh okay, right,
and like yeah, but I trained more than anybody else.
Like if that person just came in here. I've already
put in four hours and they're just doing one hour today, Like,
doesn't that count for something?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And it doesn't. So I really stressed to them the
importance of making sure that they create this brand that
is their social media and make sure that they if
they themselves can't do it, find somebody that can't find money,
find a sponsor that will help pay for that be
involved in in their their local environment, you know, whether
that's that they live in a large city or small town,
(30:45):
but getting involved so that you have local sponsors that
can help support you and maybe find somebody that's going
to be invested for the life of your career. And
that's just a quick payday that you end up losing
over time.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's that's the biggest
thing is, like you said, in this day in time,
especially the social media side of it, a lot of
people don't And that's one of the first things that
I tell.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
My fighters is, Hey, as your manager, my job is
to set you up not with short term success, but
long term success. And the first thing that we go
over is diving into the social media side of it.
What you're putting out, what your brand is what you're
(31:35):
and committing to that. You can't be all over the
place with what your I mean, just to be honest,
I'm a lot like you. I'm super I can't sit still.
That's why I do real estate. I run a management company.
I've got five children and we do this podcast. You
see what I'm Look, the struggle is real, but I don't.
(31:58):
I grew up in back you know, in Alabama, and
so I'm gonna workaholic because I can't sit still. And
so it's one of those things you have to be
very cognitive about what you put out and then being
committed to what it is that you're putting out on
social media. Like if you're gonna be a foodie, be
(32:21):
a foodie, If you're gonna be a train a holic,
be a train of holic. If whatever you're gonna be,
just stay consistent with it. So I and that's that's
what's going to be able to bring you in the
sponsors because you're going to be committed and that product
is one to co sign with you on that that
long term journey.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Exactly.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah, there's so many dimensions now, it's crazy, like even
with our social media too, with this it's we realized
how much work it actually takes to put your presence
out there more and more, and like you said, with
social media, just like booming up so much. There's so
much you need to do in order to become not
only just the fighter that you want to be, but
put you in the right position that will lead you
(33:04):
down the line years to come. It's crazy to even
think about anymore. Yeah, So I wanted to kind of
dive into a little bit more about my generation.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
You know, I kind of preface that before.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
There's a lot of more awareness about just who we
are and not trying to hide anymore, just being being
open about who you are as a person. And so
I wanted to ask an open question that's a little
bit vulnerable, but just kind of get some sheds some
light on it.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
How is it impacted Union?
Speaker 4 (33:31):
Can Can you share with us what it's like being
one of the first pioneers of being the first openly
lesbian fighter in just MMA in general.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, in the beginning, it had a huge impact on
my career. For one, I have been in the.
Speaker 5 (33:47):
Marine Corps during JO and US Hotel, so my coming
out was closeted in the dark, silence and constantly looking
over my shoulder, thinking to somebody, who's going to tell
my commandity to be kicked out of the Marine Corps,
which it makes you dishonorably discharged and incapable of getting jobs, disabilities,
all of that, right, So that impact is so then
when I got out, I was really scared because that
(34:09):
was the whole influence of my Marine Corps career and
me coming out and.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I couldn't even do that.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
Not that I wanted to, like shout out for the mountains,
but he just wanted to be true to who I
was and not hid anymore.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
And I didn't know what that was going to mean
to even me. I didn't want to alienate my training partners.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
And so often I heard in other gyms where people
that were open were just completely having a difficult time
or get kicked out of their gyms or not allowed
in gyms because they were openly homosexual, whether it's male
or female.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Right, So I'm like, yeah, I don't want to risk that.
This is my happy place. I love coming here. I
don't want to ruin that.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
But I also don't want it to be a surprised
if I show up somewhere with my girlfriend, you know,
so I had so how do I balance those things?
And I can remember my coach at the time, I
was doing sprints and he used to sitting there eating
canyon and stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
And doing sprints. He's like, hey, what do you think
of her? Do you think she's cute? I'm like what,
and nice? Keep doing sprints when you come back.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
And I was like, hey, you haven't really talked about
He's like, yeah, I know you're gay. And I was like, oh,
He's like, I don't care. He's like, all I care.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
All I care about. Are you a good person? Are
you a good fighter and a good teammate?
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Keep going. I'm like, oh, cool, all right, this is awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You know.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
So I was really fortunate in finding somebody like that
who didn't didn't care about those things.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
He's like, ah, we're all a little gay. It's fine,
Like it's a totally cool guy, right.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
And I was really fortunate because I knew other people
weren't experiencing in the gyms that they had. But then
as I started to like rise up through the ranks
and I finally got a management team, my management is like, hey,
we'd really like you downplay the gay thing.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Like, downplay the gay thing.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
I'm not like yelling at the rooftops and I I
don't understand. I'm like, yeah, I'm like your mouthpiece. If
you could just pretend like you're straight, I'm like, I
don't know what that means, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Like makeup, hair, curly clothes, Like, yeah, I can't do that.
Speaker 5 (35:55):
They're like, well, you could get better sponsors, but they
don't want to support a lesbian and for the demographic
that follows MMA, it's white males and white straight males,
they don't want that either. And I was like, oh,
then I guess I'm not getting sponsors.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I guess this is what it is.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
So I ended up indirectly from him finding out by
turning that down that I lost sponsorship opportunities, that there
are some people that didn't want to fight because of that,
and that I could have probably had a lot better
success in the early days had I decided to pretentially
demonstrate and go back to the closet. And me just
sticking who I was made it a difficult ruin, but
(36:38):
it's been really important to me to keep the integrity
of who I was, And even in other sponsors they
start to jump on board like, Hey, we want to
sponsor you, but we want you to do ABC and D.
I'm like, yeah, I don't. I don't believe in those things.
That don't condone those things. And they're like, well, then
you're not going to get paid. I'm like, then, I
guess I'm not going to work with you. That's not
the company that I want to represent, so you can.
I'm going to be true to who I am, and
(36:59):
if that means that it cost me these opportunities, then
at least at the end of the day, I know,
closing my eyes, I was true to who I was.
It kept my integrity and people know who I am
for who I am, not some made up version of himself.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Let me ask you a question going back into your career.
I mean, you've fought Valentina twice, Peter once, you fought
Randa Rouse a niche take literally a gambit. When you
go back and look at your your career legend, do
you think it it affected your career as far as
(37:37):
with the UFC of not pushing what they wanted as
their narrative, just being open.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So the UFC was.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
The first time that I finally felt like an organization
wasn't supportive who I was, because originally everybody knows like
Dana White saying like he's not supportive of the gays,
and then that changed as he got to know who
I was. I was like, yeah, this doesn't matter, this
is an important part. And then he said out to
be a part of like fundraisers and charity events for
up and coming LGBT communities, for different LGBT centers, So
(38:09):
that narrative changed completely, And I never felt that way
on a ZFC. Really the part that it was before
the UFC where I felt like that that was restricting things,
and then certainly from sponsors were willing to jump on board.
I definitely felt like that limited stuff, but never from
the UFC specifically.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Well, it's fascinating why people even care, especially I mean,
now we have hindsight, right, but still it's just like
it's just weird how it's like that was even an
issue at the line. You know, like you just if
you beat someone's butt, that should be enough to like
get you onto the next one, right, you know, people
want to see entertainment. It's not all about that stuff anyways.
So it's just funny looking back now.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
But then if you also look like you said, the
changing climate of social media is you can be this
talented and this phenomenal MMA fighter and you could have
like say fifty to oher record, But if you have
ten thousand followers on Instagram, five thousand followers on TikTok,
you're not going to get the big fights, you're not
gonna get the sponsorship. Right, It's that the persona having
(39:06):
that brand. So in that same token, you could have
an untalented fighter who does TikTok dances and all the
trends they're on Instagram, they have an OnlyFans and as
a result, they're getting big paydays and big so like
as much as it doesn't matter, one hundred percent matters, right,
because if you had a lesbian that was like uber
(39:26):
attractive that every male or female, everybody's like she's hot, untalented,
she's gonna have a better chance of getting the big
pay days and the sponsorship then somebody that looks like
like you're your soccer mom, and people you're like twenty
five percent say she's attracted and seventy five percent say unattractive.
That is the reality where it is, and that's a
sad world. It should be as martial artists, you're tuning
(39:48):
in for the fights.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Do you enjoy watching my fights? The rest shouldn't matter,
but people tune in.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Like you look at McGregor, people either love McGregor or
they hate McGregor. They tune in to watch him on
that p so either falling off or staying on it right,
and it's very much there. If he didn't do all
the trash talking, he would not be as popular as where.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
He's staying one one thousand percent agree and that that's
where as a uh lover of the fight game, it
drives me insane that people will because honestly, like you
look at your career, h RDA the legendary career, but
(40:31):
he's not a crap talker. He's not gonna go out
and be disrespectful. He's not gonna be He has, you know,
his his mindset. And people that that are like that,
unfortunately are punished by not not being that way because
(40:52):
people love the chiefs made the drama and they want
the Conor mcgregors that are on there, and they're like
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and every little independent thing. And
it's sad to see that we've come to that, but
unfortunately it's the world kind of that we live in.
It we have to be subjected to it. We can
(41:13):
only hope and pray that things go go go away
from that hopefully.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
So so we have a quick question, how do you
balance your personal life with the demands of being a
professional fighter and also like being a mother.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
How do you how do you manage all that at once?
Speaker 5 (41:32):
The easy answer my wife, I mean, if it really
came down to me, you know, there was definitely a
point before my wife where I wondered if I wanted
to have a child. I've never even susposed to tell her.
I've never done like I want this room to be buried.
But I did also believe that I I'd love to
give to adopt a child, you know, to be in
that in that position, but I never wanted to bear children.
(41:53):
So I wonder I'm like, okay, maybe all adopted child
And they're like, man, I have a crazy lifestyle. That
wouldn't be fair to a child for me to put
them through this crazy lifestyle of Hey, sometimes I'm home
and I'm there with giving everything I have, and then
other times I'm not there at all and I give
you nothing.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Like, that's not fair. And my wife is the balancing
person is able to put all those pieces together because
she is the consistent in our lives that's always there.
You know, we're able.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
We live in Tennessee, we have six acres, we have
a farm going. So she's able to give my son
so many different looks in life. And when I'm I
now go away for fight camp because it was really
hard when he was little. And I'm in fight camp,
but I'm at home, and so he's like, how come
mommy's here, but she's not, Like she's out in the
garage working out, but she can't come in and play
with me. I'm like, hey, dude, I'm sorry, Like you
(42:39):
can't explain that to a child right where. He's like, well,
how come she can go to the gym, but I
can't go play with her at the gyman.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
He wasn't understanding. So now I go away. He's like, Okay,
I get it. She goes away, and then when she
comes home, she takes me to school, she makes our food,
she does homework with me. She goes so when I'm there,
I'm there, and then when I'm gone, I'm gone.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
Like when he's at school, I'll do my workouts, and
when he comes home from school, I'm there so it's
not conflicting everything. And then when I have a fight booked,
I go away to San Diego or I go away
to Virginia Beach so that I can concentrate there and
still giving calls and still face final but it's not
putting as much stress. And he definitely has a better
connection understanding that. But all that's achievable just because of
(43:18):
my wife.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
She wasn't there. I come in.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
I don't know what I'd have to do with my
son and how we can actually hold that line together well.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
And I think it's cool that you actually, you know,
coming from I came from a very rough childhood, so
even that you had that mindset of thinking even before
the beginning is really cool to think, like, hey, I
want to put one hundred percent of myself into making
(43:46):
you feel loved and wanted and needed and cared for that.
To me, you get mad respect for thinking about that,
because a lot of people don't think about that. They
just think they watch these movies or they these things
and they think, oh, I really want to be a parent.
So I can be on social media and talk about
how great of a parent I am and all of
(44:08):
this stuff. So that's really cool to see that you
thought about those things even before you know you had
a child, So that that's really cool. And kudos to
your wife for being there to support you and you
ultimately support It's cool to see that unity, uh, and
that connection with that. What is the biggest lesson that
(44:34):
you've learned about yourself with MM A.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
Evolution?
Speaker 5 (44:42):
You know, it's something I always love a challenge, and
I've been that way in my full life. My mom
was saying that she asked about like my training partners.
She's like, you need a challenge. You can't have training partners.
You'll create a challenge just to have it. Yeah, And
for MMA, that's one of the things I love about
it is because like if I let back, I don't
concentrate on boxing and striking and let that fall for
(45:03):
a little bit, somebody else will kick my butt because
they're focusing on that. And if I let jiu jitsu
fall away, the same thing, but I let wrestling fall away.
I love that about the sport that there are so
many different pieces that come into it that you have
to focus on evenly to be all around commercial artist,
and that you're always capable of evolution, that there's never
(45:23):
if you get to a point where you think that
you have reached the capital possibility, you shouldn't be in
the sport because somebody else is.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Going to show you how wrong you are.
Speaker 5 (45:31):
And I love that Mma has influenced the other parts
of my life to help me continue to evolve as
a person and to continue growth and make that a
constant part of who I am.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
Right, I'm speechless.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
That's crazy because it's like you don't realize how much
of a part of your life, like you have to
continue evolving as a person like Mma. From what I've
heard of all the interviews that we've had, is it's
just such a reflection on life, like if you don't
do this, if you stay stagnant, you're never going to
be able to grow as a person, And that reflects
in your relationship, your personal life, you being a mother,
(46:04):
and then also all the people that are looking up
to you in order to make sure that not only
you are successful, but that they are able to live
their lives as well too.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
So that's amazing to hear.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
I think it goes back to living a lifestyle and
you see that people that have had There's a lot
of people that come into the sport that are good
for a year, two years, maybe three. But if you
don't live the lifestyle and you're not dedicated to being
a good person and good fighter and well rounded in life,
(46:37):
not just with MMA, but in life, you're not gonna
And you see the people like you that have had
an extensive career is because you have a good, pure
heart and you're always looking to elevate yourself, not just
as a fighter, not just with striking, but as an individual.
So definitely see that. So we're going to kind of
(47:00):
lighten things up a little bit. We're gonna have some
rapid fire questions here. We're gonna say some things. You
pop off the first thing that comes into your head
whenever we say it and you are on the clock.
Who is your favorite fighter growing up?
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Her Cyborg?
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I like you like she trains here.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Locally too, in the OC too nice.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
What is your favorite travel destination?
Speaker 5 (47:29):
Ooh, I think right now, just because I haven't had
as many opportunities, there's a sty Hawaii and it's been
the favorite.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Spot so far. What island I've only been to the
big islands.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
I want to see the other parts, and that's definitely
the future is a travel war.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
But right now, what's your biggest pet peeve?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Lack of manners?
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (47:52):
Yeah, I hope that's good to teach to your son
as well, to make sure that they have good advantage
off the bat too.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
What is your favorite cheat meal?
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Steak, French fries and cheesecape?
Speaker 4 (48:09):
What type of cheesecake are we going for? Just traditional
New York style? Do you have something I like to
go bougie?
Speaker 2 (48:14):
I'll go with like a caramel cheesecake with a crumb
lake topic.
Speaker 3 (48:19):
That sounds so good.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
I've just started a diet too. It's broken cheesecake factory
it is today. What is your hidden talent?
Speaker 2 (48:32):
Challenging myself.
Speaker 5 (48:35):
Is seeking is always constantly seeking, challenging evolution and being
able to evolve and grow not only as like an athlete,
but as a personal's one.
Speaker 4 (48:46):
Takes a special person to be so suff aware and
to make sure like this, just seeing the blind spots
and who you are too, that's that's really critical.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
You know, what is your favorite song?
Speaker 2 (48:58):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (49:00):
Do you feel like that changes? That's a hard one.
I don't have a favorite song just because.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Let's let's just go with this. What's gonna be the
walkout song for this mixt fight?
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Okay, so that's easy.
Speaker 5 (49:11):
If we're going favorite walkout song, it's baby BNOSSI Satisfaction.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I like it. I like it. I like it. Who
is your favorite actor or actress?
Speaker 5 (49:23):
Oh, probably have to go a favorite actor.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
Depphired to the Caribbing the tourist. What we're talking about that.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
He has such a range right from back to the point,
from like uh.
Speaker 5 (49:41):
Edward exactly, going from Edward Scissorhan all the way up
to uh Sweeney Todd, like all of it. I love
the university and.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
He's so animated in every character, the deos.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
What is your favorite TV show or movie?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Probably a TV show would be How I Much Mother?
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Oh yeah, with all the good ones, good answers, the
last one. If there was a zombie invasion, what one
fighter would you want on your team?
Speaker 5 (50:17):
Ooh see, probably need to go somebody crazy.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Hmmm, good question. I'm gonna go with Tim Kennedy.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
That's a new one.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:31):
I get to think he's a jack of all trades.
He can survive if he can shoot he's strong, he's healthy,
he's the guy literally literally happens. He can just throw
me on his back and backpack everywhere.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
I was gonna say, that's what I was gonna say.
Bigger than anything. Always look at who can carry me tired?
So let's get we want to We know you're busy
with your schedule. We'll ask one last question. This one's
kind of deep. If you need to take a second
to think about it, feel free. If today was your
(51:06):
last day, what is it that you won't live to
be remembered for.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
I think there's a few things I want to be
remembered for.
Speaker 5 (51:16):
For one, being a martial artist, you know, regardless of
any animosity and may have towards an opponent at the
end of the fight, we both put it on the line.
I believe in being respectful to my opponent. I still
shake the hands of them and their coaches.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Right. I'm not a trash talker. I've never been known
for that. That's not all of a sudden get a change.
Speaker 5 (51:35):
And for somebody who provoke me to trash stock, they
have to be really horrible human beings. Part of me,
I think too, showing people that be true to themselves
and then also if I could achieve these dreams and
achieve these goals, that anybody can.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
I'm not anyone special for any in any area. I've
never been excellent in sports, excellent in.
Speaker 5 (51:56):
School like nowhere. I've been on your c average student
across the board. The only thing that I have is
that I had a dream, and I have work ethic
and persistent. And I think for anybody setting a dream
and just giving everything they have to it and just believing.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
In themselves, and they'll find they're capable of that.
Speaker 5 (52:14):
I want people to learn from me, to be able
to find their goals, find their dreams, and to be
able to chieve them.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
I like it. But I will tell you this, you
are something special in the light of just to be honest.
This is being really transparent, and I'm the most brutally
honest person probably you'll ever meet. That's probably why I've
been divorced wife, because I tell people all the time,
if you don't want the real answer, don't ask me.
(52:42):
But I'll tell you your values of staying true to yourself,
your military service, all of those things, and I'll be
honest with you. You've my heart only in the short
(53:03):
time that we've done this interview. Hearing your story and
knowing now more about your background, it's touched my heart
to know and so you are a very special person
and I'm so glad to have met you and to
(53:25):
be able to hear more about your story to be
able to put out because I don't know if you
know this, but your story and your legacy is going
to help so many people and that is massive. So
I just want to thank you, not just for your
fighting but for the person that you are. I truly appreciate.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
Yeah, thank you so much for stopping by for me.
It was just awesome just to hear how you're willing
to just go through anything that you had to, even
if it was not the easiest road that you're going
to take. You just trusted in who you were as
a per before it was all popular to do it,
before social media is a thing, and you just still
continue like, hey, I'm gonna do it my way. Like
I know that this wasn't plan a B or C
(54:09):
as you said, right, but you're gonna make it happen.
And the fact that you're going to get a little
creative and also stick to what you knew. I just
I think for me that's really powerful, just to see
as a as a as a young man, and just
to learn what it really takes to get to where
you want to be. It's just very fascinating to hear about.
So thank you for sharing your story today.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
Yeah, thank you so much. We'll be tuning in, definitely
be cheering for you in the next couple of weeks.
If you ever out here, we're in Orange County. If
you are ever out in San Diego and you need anything,
we're always here. We appreciate you so much for coming
on and thank you so much.
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