The Sevan Podcast - #100 - Jason Witt

Episode Date: August 10, 2021

UFC Fighter @the_vanillagorilla @sevanmatossian The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Of course, man. Happy to be here. I am just clicking a few buttons so we can get the live stream going.

I'll see you guys later. Bye. What I do is before I go on, I go live on my Instagram live to let everyone know we're going live on YouTube. You got it. Let's see here. You seem like you have a good connection. Yeah, hopefully. I'm in a gas station.

I interviewed Jacob Heppner the other day. He's a CrossFitter who's doing a fight on the undercard for the Thor fight. Okay. The Thor-Eddie Hall fight. Well, I guess Eddie Hall pulled out, so it's Puginowski. Are you following any of that? I didn't know any about that. Yeah.

Do you know the guy? I think he was in Game of Thrones. You know the giant guy? I think he's the strongest man in the world, Half-Thor. Yeah. Say that again? I don't know what you know, the giant guy. And I think he's the strongest man in the world, Half Thor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Say that again? I don't know who you're talking about. Okay, so he's fighting Eddie Hall in Florida, I think next month.

Or maybe it's this month. No, it's not in September. And so I had a guy who was on the undercard doing the, on the show. And he was parked in front of a strip club he was using their wi-fi i mean you gotta do what you gotta do yeah yeah where are you at what what state are you in uh so i'm in overland park kansas wow and that's where this that's where this guy was too he was in kansas jacob heppner wonder what strip club he was at uh someone told me too because afterwards someone in the comments goes oh i drive by that strip club every day it's a complete shithole what's it called i don't know i honestly i don't i don't remember i think it started with a W. Whiteys or Whitney's or? Whispers.

Whispers, yes. Yes. Yeah, that is. I've never been to that one, but I heard it's out in the middle of nowhere. And from what I heard, it's a shithole. I wish I knew Kansas better. So if I knew you guys were close to each other. Are you born and raised in Kansas?

So I was born and raised in uh kansas missouri which is parker back to back so they're not far okay damn you're breaking up a little bit i want i wonder if people hear you breaking up in on on the live feed hope not um and uh so you're born and raised there and that's where you lived your whole life kansas on the live feed? Hope not. Um, and, uh, so you're born and raised there and that, and that's where you lived your whole life, Kansas.

Uh, so I lived in Missouri most of my life. Uh, kind of, I live about 45 minutes North of where I am now. And then I met my wife and we just keep moving further and further South away from my family. So yeah,

I live in Overland park, Kansas now. Uh, nice area. So yeah, I haven't lived here my whole life, just a couple of years. Was that the plan to move away from my family. So yeah, I live in Overland park, Kansas now. Uh, nice area. So yeah, I haven't lived here my whole life, just a couple of years. Was that the plan to move away from the family? Uh, no, not really. My wife grew up in, uh, Overland park, Kansas. She grew up in Leawood around here. Uh, so I just moved closer with her for her family. Cause I'm a nice guy.

Yeah. And you're going to want it. I know I, um, in some of the interviews I've seen you do, you've talked about having kids and you're going to want to be close to your parents. I mean, they're, they're 35 minutes away, so it's really not too far, but you know, her parents are, you know, 10 minutes away tops. Most of her family's 10 minutes away. Uh, I think my family was thinking about getting a house a little bit closer to

us. We haven't talked about that yet though. How old are you? 34. And you fight in the 170-pound division in the UFC. Yep, welterweight. Yes, I do. And you've made it to the highest level on planet Earth in the fight game. I mean, the UFC belt's the highest level, so once we get there, we'll talk about that.

Congratulations. How exciting. Yeah. It's been a long road man i'm i'm a i'm a veteran in the sport uh i've been in it for you know 13 14 years had a lot of ups and downs you know it's been a rough road to get here but you know when uh when you get your hand raised in the ufc cage it makes it makes it all worth it and you've never lost two fights in a row. Yeah, that's a weird one. I don't know how that happened. And you have some great fight win streaks. Yeah, that's kind of part of the ups and downs. I would get on a five-fight win streak, think I was close to UFC,

and lose a fight, and then I'd get four fights in a row and lose a fight. It's just the way it works. I don't know why it happened, but, you know, everything happens for a reason. And when you say you think you are getting close to getting into the UFC, what do you mean? Like you start to hear whispers or your manager tells you, hey, I got a call with the UFC. What signs do you get that you might be close? I mean, the UFC always looks for win streaks. They always want winners.

I mean, you don't get anywhere in this game, be a loser. It's not the way it works. And so, you know, I get five fights going and there'd be a lot of people talking about me being in the UFC. Like I should have been in the UFC this time, this time,

yada, yada, yada. And, you know, honestly, like I think, I think timing is everything.

I think everything happens for a reason. And the way I got in the UFC and how I got in the UFC is, it's just perfect. The way the story plays out. And what was the first sport you played as a kid how did how did you what started your like your journey of like using your body and enjoying moving around yeah so I was uh I was born really really naturally athletic and that's that's played a big factor in most of my life I played football and baseball when I was younger and i really enjoyed it and i wish i would have stuck with football uh when i was younger because i think i could have gone to college and played um stuff

like that but uh i went from i went from baseball and football to skateboarding uh which which i absolutely love skateboarding like i still watch skate videos this day. My Instagram's with skateboarding. It's something that if I didn't fight, I would still do. Also, I still roll around on it once in a while, but there's no point in skateboarding, especially where I'm at now. Skateboarding and football and baseball were kind of where I was before I started fighting.

Did you wear wrist guards? No. I threw myself wrist guards? No. If you get on... I helped on handrails. I threw myself downstairs. I mean, I battered my body and then I started fighting. So when I'm about 50, 60,

I'm going to be in a lot of trouble. My body's going to be feeling a little bit older than I want it to be. And what was the first sort of combat sport that you ever did? Did you start wrestling in high school that you ever did did you start wrestling in high school or something how did you start that no i uh i started mixed martial arts just kind of all played out together my uncle used to be a kickboxer and boxer and i started

training with him one day my neighbors across the street were doing strength conditioning and i started doing that with them and they they handed me off to a uh a mixed martial arts gym uh about 30 minutes away from the house and i just kind of all that kind of fell into play of how i got into mixed martial arts i always wanted to fight i always wanted to and i don't mean like in a violent way i didn't everybody but but to uh just compete is what i really enjoy doing and that's just that fell into place how old how old were were you when you first started MMA? 21, 22, something around there. I was a little older than I should have been.

Were you comfortable right away with all the contact, with just rolling around with guys? And the reason why I ask is so I took my three-year-old. Can you hear me okay? Yeah, I got you. Okay. So I took my three-year-old to his first jiu-jitsu class in Santa Cruz, California, Garth Taylor Jiu-Jitsu. He started crying. I waited a year. I took him back at four.

And for the first three months, three days a week, he would only do the warmup and then I would make him just sit and then he would want to get off the mat, but I would just make him sit on the mat. And I would ask him, Hey, why don't you want to do any of the technique? And he's only four. And he said, cause I don't want strangers touching me. And I'm thinking to myself and I don't do it. Right. So I don't do it. And I'm thinking, yeah, I wouldn't want strangers touching me either. There's a guy with his knee on your cock and balls. There's a guy with his hand on your face. You're rolling around with other people. And there's a lot of strange men in there, right? Like he's four and there's, and there's all his teachers are, you

know, like 15 to 50. And, uh, and then finally one day, Garth Taylor, the guy, um, who runs the, the gym gym the center walked up to obby and said hey did you know batman does jujitsu and that was it and since then yeah since then he's been doing i have three boys now i've uh two four-year-olds and a six-year-old they've been doing martial arts five days a week for i don't know two three years but i but i but i do think about that it's a crazy intimate sport. I mean, I've heard people say about the UFC, it's really just really shitty gay porn. And did that just come naturally to you to just be okay with that much physical contact? My first question to those people is, are they watching really high quality gay porn? No, that is a good question. I'll start start asking that that'll be my rebuttal what are they watching like they pay for a monthly subscription

or what i think they're making fun of me because they know i'm addicted i watch zero tv except on saturdays i block off every saturday and uh you boys gotta watch some tv yeah every saturday i just block it off and just watch ufc as much as i can yeah um man i was i was comfortable with i don't know like i never looked at it as as as uh like gay porn and or looked at it like that uh i just enjoyed the competition of i like i i hate team sports like it drives me crazy Cause I'm one of those people that I will give a hundred percent and we're playing flag football. We're playing, you know, a badman. I don't care. I'm giving a hundred percent. And if somebody else has given 50% we lose, like it's like, I don't,

I don't like that factor that, that I can lose because somebody else isn't trying. I don't like that. I don't like that in sports. So for me mixed martial arts was like the ultimate form of competition. It still is like it's, it's you versus you. It's you versus other guys. There's only one outcome. Now you have a team that you put in a lot of work with, but at the same time you only have you and you to, to go into that cage with. And I really enjoyed that factor.

I never thought about it as, as super intimate. I just, I just rolled and enjoyed enjoying the competition of uh beating other people and and other people beating me unfortunately that way but you know uh um it's it's interesting you say that so basically um at a I don't know around 20 years old I started making videos and films I'm 49 now and I had three partners and throughout. I'm 49 now. And I had three partners and throughout the years, and they were all amazing partners, but they compartmentalize their life. They would take vacations. They would take Saturdays and Sundays off. And I always,

and now I'm out on my own and it's so much better because I just want to work. And I, the team sport thing wasn't for me either. Like. And I start to resent people who are on the team who are only giving 95%. And it's not fair to them. It's not fair to them. It's not fair to me. And so it's like finally I'm like, okay, fuck it. I'm just going to do this on my own. And hence I have this podcast.

But it is scary as shit. Yeah, but the risk reward for that is anything know, is, is anything like the higher the risk, the higher the reward. So, and if you're not facing your fears, then you're not growing, right? You're not doing shit. When did you know you were tough? Like, like in my mind, I can't be punched in the face. I, maybe I'm, maybe I'm just not smart enough to realize that. You're very smart. I watched all your interviews. You're very smart. You've carried a lot of podcasts and a lot of interviewers. They should all be thankful when they interview someone like you. To be honest with you, this is something I was uncomfortable with when I first started doing

it. I was really nervous. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to talk to people. I still find myself talking way too fast. Like I had to like slow myself down a little bit, a little bit. Um, but I think I've always been tough, man. Even from a little kid, I would throw myself off bike ramps. I would, you know, I was skateboarding. I was a little kid. I just, I was always tough. I never, that was just kind of the way I was built. It was just who I was. It was never really, oh, I found out this or I did this and maybe this way. It was just kind of naturally who I am. I think that's kind of a genetic thing for my whole family. Like I said, my uncle was a professional kickboxer and boxer.

My biological father is an old-school biker, looks like ZZ Top, notorious bar fighter. We've all kind of just been built tough. Do you have siblings? I don't. I'm an only child. Wow. I was expecting, yeah, you had three brothers and you were the youngest and you were just always getting your ass beat. I would have liked that. That sounds fantastic. I would be a lot better at fighting if that was the case. What was your first, what was your first job?

I worked at a place called the big chill. It was a restaurant. I was just a frontline, you know, just helped out the servers, get their food ready, stuff like that, man. I wasn't, I was an immature, dumb little kid. I rode my bike to work. The bank was next door, so I could just cash my checks. Not much of a job, not much of an employee, but, you know, just did what I could do. Did you work hard?

Did you, like, pride yourself on, like, carrying the most plates? Like, do you see any connection that, like, you wanted to be the best at that? You want to be the best at the UFC? Do you see any thread of continuity there? At that time? No, man. Like I, I, I changed quite a bit when I turned about 18, 19, uh, I really saw. And then like, I saw a growth from like 18 to 19. And then I saw a growth from like, like 23, 24.

Like that was when I really just kind of figured out who I was 18, 19. I was still trying to figure out as, as a, as a man who I was. Um, and I just started lifting weights when I was like 19 years old. And then I started fighting when I was about 21, 22. So like all of those kinds of play to, to, to who I was, uh, as a person and just kind of played out a little bit. What's the, um, what's the catalyst to finding out who you are as a young man? What starts that journey? What happened? Great question.

I think it's, I mean, it was what we talked about earlier. It's finding growth and it's putting yourself in uncomfortable positions to kind of understand who you are. You know what I mean? And fighting helped me on that a lot. Like it created discipline for me. It created structure. It created an outlet to get a lot. Like, it created discipline for me. It created structure. It created an outlet to get a lot of energy out.

It created competition to understand who I was. It really, I think fighting really just changed that. Because I was drinking a lot and I was partying a lot when I was, like, 19, 20, 21, somewhere around there. Then I started fighting. I was like, man, I don't want to be hungover. I had another train. And it really, like, I don't want to be hung over under the train. And I really like I don't drink a lot now. It just really transitioned into into I wanted it gave me something or that I wasn't getting out of life. And I think that's forever changing. You know what I mean?

Like year after year, I learn a little more about myself. I figure out something. I talk to somebody and they give me an insight that helps me fix this part of my life or grow in this part of my life. You know what I mean? I've had a lot of influential people in my life that have really helped me kind of grow mentally, especially in the sport and outside the sport. Are you familiar with, even if it's a negative,

even if it's a person that tells me I can't do something or tells me I shouldn't do this, it makes me be better at it. Right. Have you heard of CrossFit? Do you know, are you familiar with that methodology? Yeah. So a lot of my friends on CrossFit gyms, I've done CrossFit for a long time uh i was actually no shit well i'm also i also own a gym i'm also a personal trainer so i do a lot of personal training stuff like that so so i really love crossfit i think it's a fantastic uh culture

in itself um but yeah so i'm i'm aware of a lot i have a lot of people that are uh into crossfit and what's the name of your gym my My gym is called Fit House KC. It's just a personal training studio in Overland Park, Kansas. Why do you call it Fit House KC? If it's in Overland Park. Because KC is a bigger city. It gets more people. People are going to kind of Google Fit House.

They're going to get more results. And I plan on opening multiple gyms, not just in Oakland park. I thought maybe it was an ex girlfriend or something. And like, you just got stuck with the name. There's no way. When a gym after an accident,

I'll be divorced. I asked because at 34 years old, I found CrossFit. And when I found CrossFit, I smoked, I smoked cigarettes. I smoked like, uh,

American spirits and I smoked cloves. Can you hear me? Yeah. And so after doing CrossFit for like six months, I realized, Hey, what do I like more smoking cigarettes or CrossFit? Cause the two were just not working together. And I just quit smoking. I was like, Hey, this fucking sucks. This is ridiculous to finish a workout um and then just go light up a cigarette i could only imagine like my lungs were probably all wide open my capillaries were firing and then here i am puffing on a cigarette it was stupid yeah so i made the choice to quit yeah but that that gave you the growth you needed to get past something that most people uh i argue my mom every day my mom's a smoker

40 years, something around there. I asked her today, she won't quit smoking. We argue about it all the time. I literally hide her cigarettes. I break her packs of cigarettes. She's pissed off me all the time. I was like, look. I gave her this thing.

I was like, would you jump in front of a bullet for me? She goes, yeah, of course. You would die for me. She's like, yeah, I would die for you. I'm like, cool. How about you stop smoking and live for me instead of, you know, not working out, smoking, not taking care of yourself. Like those, those things really, the, I get in arguments with my mom a lot about, about smoking cigarettes. And I just think it's, I think it's ridiculous. Man, you're a good son. Um, as a, as a young man, I was probably 20 years old and I, and i was having

a discussion with my dad and i said to him i just want to find something that i that i would die for and my dad paused and he goes why don't you find something that you want to live for and i was like whoo whoo he fucked me up Yeah. One of the greatest gifts we can give or one of the greatest gifts a parent can give their kids is taking care of their health. Right. So like one of the greatest things that I'm so happy about is that my parents are healthy and that they're financially sound, that they set themselves up in a way that like I'm not worried about them because if your parents are unhealthy, like it stresses you out. Right. And if they're not financially sound, it stresses you out. Especially, especially the person like me, who I'm a pretty healthy person. I eat pretty

healthy, take care of my body. Um, my mom was sitting with her sister who's a nurse and they're, they're both kind of overweight. They don't exercise. I don't take care of themselves, but they're complaining about their mom who has diabetes who's who's struggling you know their dad's been smoking for how many years they're they're complaining about these people their parents that don't take care of themselves when they themselves don't take care of themselves in front of the person that takes care of himself like like the irony of that whole conversation was just it killed me i did i didn't understand it and i it's just, you're just sitting there. Like you guys are literally complaining about the exact same thing you're doing in a worse way.

It is a, it is a difficult time now for people like us who take care of ourselves to see a whole world. That's like, you know, feeling threatened by this virus when the leading correlate of all deaths is being obese and people are concerned about their health. And yet they're shoving Coca-Cola and Twinkies in their mouth. It is,

we are in a very, very bizarre situation right now. I find it so weird that I'm an unhealthy, like I'm not vaccinated. My wife and I are traveling to kids. We didn't really, there's no evidence or science behind showing what, what the vaccine does for infertility.

So we didn't, we didn't mess with that part. But like, you're very smart. That raises that, that I'm an unhealthy person now compared to somebody who's vaccinated, who's, you know, 50% body fat. Like, I think that's, I think that's insane. Yes, it is. It's very backwards. And from the, from what I've read and I've read significantly about the vaccine, they skipped the tests and the protocol that checks on the effects that the vaccine has on pregnant mice or whatever they tested them on, ferrets or rabbits. They skipped that part. That was one of the shortcuts they took to get the vaccine out quicker.

And so you're white. I'm not going to have that matter. You know what I mean? My wife gets a vaccine and my kid has some's not, it's not going to happen. Right. That matter. You know what I mean? Like my wife gets a vaccine and my kid has some issues because of it, because they rush it out. Like that just, you know what I mean? I'm not an anti-vaxxer.

I'm not like, like me neither. You want to get, if you want to get a vaccine that makes you feel better, that helps you. That's great. But for me and my, my wife,

especially, you know what I mean? Like I'll take the vaccine if I have to, because I'm going to die one day. Anyway, I don't know what to give to my wife. I don't want to, I don't want to,

you know, put my wife to that. Um, does your wife train? She looks like she's in great shape. So we met at an MMA gym. Uh, you know,

the, the way we met was we'd known each other for a little bit. We've seen each other at the gym a couple of times. And she asked me one day, she's like, I was training for a fight and she's like, Hey, do you want to be my sparring partner?

I'm like, sure. And she's thinking I'm going to go light on it which which i did i promise you i did the first punch i threw was a superman punch and i cracked her then on we were we got so pissed off and tried to fight me and then you know we just started talking after after the class and that's kind of how we met um we call it love the first bunch you know it works uh so she does she does orange theory she works out quite a bit she stays pretty healthy um yeah uh so was that her did she did she find you attractive and cute is that why she asked you to spar like was that her first opening line or was did she really just look for looking for a sparring partner? She found me attractive. I don't know what's wrong with her. So, so you, you, you said you played football and baseball and you skateboarded. Um, and another

interesting thing, and I didn't know this about you until I started digging around is I did see you've made some posts about skateboarding and, um, my son is now skateboarded like 400 consecutive days in a row. Yeah, he's six years old. He just saw a skateboard sitting in our entryway. I never skated, but I bought a skateboard for him and he ignored it from three to five. And then one day he said, hey, I'm going to skate every day. And he skated every day now. And at six years old, he's just a complete shredder.

It's nuts. I love it. That's fantastic. And I think that mix with the jujitsu has given him a lot of confidence with falling. So when I see him crash on a skateboard, I see him do all sorts of rolls and just crazy shit. Yeah. I mean, I mean, you're going to get comfortable with falling over on skateboarding, no matter what. And, you know, you get comfortable getting taken down. You asked, you know, I was always tough, but I threw myself downstairs,

so I know I'm not made of glass. Right. Do you skate regular foot or goofy foot or both? I'm goofy footed. Like I said, I used to be able to skate switch, but I'm not that great at it now. So I just, you know, the less falling over i can do now the better so i try to just stay away from that are you left-handed no right hand but you're left-footed

yep wow that's a trip that's same with my son too yeah i don't understand why it's just when i jump on a skateboard that's what it was and uh when you fight do you fight both Southpaw and regular? I do fight both now. Yeah, I can switch. We call it bystander. Do they make you do that? Is there anyone in the UFC who doesn't do that, who can't do that? I imagine, but I think the way the sport's going right now, that you have to be able to understand that you've got to be able to do both.

you have to be able to understand that you got to be able to do both. And I mean, you, the, the way the sport's evolving, the, the way, you know, the sport's evolving quite a bit in the past couple of months or just past year, especially, you know, guys like TJ LeShaw with their movement switching stances, throwing from both stances, kind of Jeff, Jeff Molina's in our gym. He's fantastic at it. Cross is fantastic at it. So yeah, you kind of just got to evolve your game to, to understand how to, how to, how to win in our gym. He's fantastic at it. Cross is fantastic at it. So, yeah, you kind of just got to evolve your game to understand how to win in this sport. So you start MMA at 21.

When does the spark come that you're like, okay, I'm going to try to take this to the highest level. I'm going to try to get in the NFL. I'm going to try to get in the NBA. I'm going to try to get in the UFC. When does that like? Man, like last week so fights in and you're like and you're still it's still not a reality after i fought barbara and i'm like all right this is my idea no uh and i was i was i was a good amateur you know i mean like i was i was the guy i was 16 or 12 and four as an amateur like

i was i was i was a really good amateur i progressed a lot when i was going coming up the amateur ranks and and i got a lot of uh following because of that and i think that really just you know i mean i was i was a pretty good amateur so so that really kind of just said hey this is this is uh something i can do and i love doing it. It wasn't really like, oh, I want to get to the UFC. This is what I want to do. This is my goal. It's like, this is what I want to do. This is what I enjoy doing.

I mean, I always wanted to be in the UFC because that was the goal, but it was just about training and having fun. You're 21, or you started when you were 21. You're 34, 13 years. What's the longest you've taken off without training? Oh, without training? Like two weeks, maybe. And what caused that?

Why two weeks? Did something happen? There was one point where my body was pretty beat up, just not functioning correctly, and I just needed a couple days off. I think I popped my hamstring last year before one of my fights, and I just took a day or two off and just iced most of it. But, yeah, I don't take much time off. Today's my first day back of training.

I'll go and train. I took this week off. Still went to watch practices, but I just, I don't, I enjoy being in training. I don't like the fact that if I'm out of training, I know my training partner is getting better than I am. We were watching the fights at my house the other night and all the parents from my, a bunch of the parents from my kids' gym were here. I'm the only one who doesn't train. I'm the bad dad. All the other dads train with their kids and take the classes. And, and one of the dads who spends a lot of time with his kids, like I do with

mine, he basically, and he used to play the guitar and he had all these other, you know, outlets. And he basically said he loves jujitsu because it allows them to express himself sort of like as an artist. It keeps him physically fit and he gets to do something with his kids. It's just like crazy efficient. And I'm guessing it's like that with his kids. It's just like crazy efficient. And I'm guessing it's like that for you too. It's just crazy efficient. It checks all the boxes, right? And now for you, it's a vocation.

It's going to put food on your table. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's a great way to put it that way. But yeah, I mean, I got, it plays into the gym that I own. It's not a mixed martial arts gym, but you know, people want strength and conditioning. I'm good at that stuff. It plays into staying healthy. It plays.

And I think I know like when I was a kid, I wish I would have wrestled. I wish I would have done, you know, if I was three years old, I wish I would have done that. And so when I have kids, I know that I will be putting those kids into it. And I think that the growth that I've seen from even being 22 to now, the growth I've seen, my kids will have that confidence. And the things that I didn't have when I was younger to have that when they're growing up, which I think is fantastic. And that's something I really look forward to is having kids is kind of teaching them the things that I didn't know when I was younger. having kids is kind of teaching them the things that I didn't know when I was younger. Yeah. When my six-year-old, after two and a half years, he got his gray belt,

he got all the stripes on his white belt, and then he got his gray belt. And I just went there and he took the gray belt test. And I just thought it was like, you know, I'm just sitting there watching. And then one of the instructors said to me, after class walks by me and he goes, well, that's it. And I go, what do you mean? He goes, he'll never be a white belt again. I go, what do you mean? He goes, even if he quits today and comes back in the gym in five years, he'll always be a gray belt. And I had to like hold back tears. Cause I was like, holy shit, this kid at six years old, six years old has earned something. I didn't think I earned something until I was 16. And it was a paycheck like you were saying. And I probably bought like alcohol with it. And I'm like, it was crazy. He has an identity at six years old. I mean,

what a great thing to give a kid, right? What's, uh, what's stopping you from doing juicing? Uh, I don't know the real reason, but I just tell myself that I don't want to get hurt, but I don't know the real reason, but I got a pretty tweaky back. Like I wake up every morning and the first hour is like really, really slow, but then, you know, I'll go in the garage and do it and, and get at it with CrossFit, you know? So who knows? Sounds like it is. Yeah, it probably is. It probably is. 48 hours notice for your first fight.

And it almost feels like 24 hours notice when you start hearing the story and like hearing all the shit you had to do to get ready um can you walk me through the gritty details of that where you were who calls you do you have an agent do you have a manager like how like i just hearing that you went on to take a fight in 48 hours stresses me the fuck out uh super stressful very very uh so i was at my gym i had just gotten my rogue uh squat rack like the one that mounts on the wall the big ass 20 foot long one i just got i've been waiting for months for it to come in i just got it delivered uh i was eating chipotle with one of my clients i had six hours with the clients after that And

I was eating a bag of chips And I look at my phone I have my phone off to the side Look at my phone and I have like four text messages from Joe Wooster And I have like four or five text messages From Jason House And a couple phone calls Wait, Jason House is your agent?

Yeah Iridium is my man. That's awesome. They do a fantastic job. I'm all about them. So I called them back and my coach says, drop everything. What are you doing? I was like, just working.

He's like, drop everything. Cancel everybody. I don't care what you're doing. You have to get to the airport. This is 1245. You have to get to the airport for a three o'clock flight. Also, you have blood work to do. a three o'clock flight also you have blood work to do we already set that up so i called my wife i said pack me a suitcase the dryer just

throw it in my rabbit run out the house i live about to reserve my house ran out the house got all the way up north blood work blood work done the airport made it the airport by 2 10 for a three o'clock flight so what's the blood work for jason uh you have to get blood work done no matter what for your fighting for you know aids uh all that stuff hep c everything just to make sure you're you don't have any of that stuff for does it check for also for like steroids or covid or is it just like everything uh i'm not 100 sure i only get tests for steroids It could but I'm not Okay So anyways I made a I got a call at 1245

Made it to the airport By 210 I live an hour Or 45 minutes away From the airport So I'm I'm hauling ass on the highway Right

Hey I'm fighting This shit's crazy Which in reality I didn't even know I didn't even have a fight I was just a backup Just in case So I get there

And I have to weigh in The next day at 9 case. So I get there and I had to weigh in the next day at nine o'clock. I get to the hotel about 6.45, seven o'clock, start cutting weight. I cut 13 pounds, made it to weigh-ins by nine o'clock, or made the weigh-ins by nine o'clock the next day. Weigh in, get all that stuff done. They say, hey, your blood work didn't come in. Right. You got to go do it again. So I'd go into blood work again. Um, this is after I just made weight. So I did all that stuff. And then I, then my coach like, Hey man, you got the fight. That's great. We actually have a fight. I'm like, okay, that's awesome. I thought I already had a fight. So it wasn't really news to me, but apparently I fight. Um, and so wake up the next day, fight day, eat like normal, uh, get to the venue. They say, Hey, your blood work's not done.

Rush to the hospital, get blood work done again, which a third time, a third time I was already stressed out. I was already in my up and on. Um, my hands aren't wrapped just yet, but yeah, which you're not supposed to do is what it is. So that's why I got moved back to in my head. My hands aren't wrapped just yet. What you're not supposed to do is what it is. That's why I got moved back to the main card. My blood work did not get back until I walked out for the fight. They opened the door

and said, hey, blood work's good. You're ready to go. Also, your fight's up next. Let's go. Holy shit. Stressful, longest. it was the most exciting week in my life but also most stressful but it opened a lot of doors for me he gave me a four fight contract got me the ufc uh got me paid so i'm you know i'm really i couldn't be upset about it i'm looking back at it i really wouldn't change the way it happened. Who's Jason? Who's Rooster? What was the first guy's name?

Joe Wooster. He's been my manager since 2013, 2014. He partnered with Iridium, so they're both my management team. When I wanted to start interviewing UFC fighters because I watched so much UFC, I was trying to remember how I came across Jason House. But I came across him and I thought, oh, I should interview this guy. And then hopefully if he likes me, he'll let me start interviewing a bunch of his fighters. And so I've been trying to schedule with him and we keep missing.

We keep missing. But he's on the schedule for next week. He's a busy dude. I bet. I bet. And so in these interviews that he kept doing, every once in a while I would hear him mention this prospect he had, Mo Miller. Don't know him.

Okay. So he's not in the UFC yet. I think he's fighting in the Contender Series in September. And so I interviewed Mo, and it was awesome. We had a blast. So it's crazy. And then I had heard that it's Iridium, right? Jason House Iridium.

I basically heard that he has more MMA fighters than pretty much anyone out there. But I didn't know you were with him. I think they have like 150 people on the roster. Yeah, that's crazy. Something stupid. How do you choose an agent? yeah that's crazy something stupid how do you choose an agent so when i part of a glory in my fitness where i'm at now uh joe was just part of that and joe was i'd known joe for a long time as an amateur days um so like just the whole the kansas area mma scene it's a small small scene

everybody knows everybody you know people from st louis from colorado from iowa nebraska all that stuff so like everybody knows everybody and and wooster just uh i mean i've known him for a long time i fought on his couple of his shows that he had uh my last amateur fight was on his show um and so i just it was just kind of an easy easy decision like hey i need a manager that's where it works so so you jump in the ring with this guy um with just a few hours you know two days notice it's a whirlwind um and what was his name again tato tato uh santo santo sorry santo no offense i'm bad with names and um have you done any research on him had you heard about him before did you know if he was a ground guy, a stand-up guy?

What did you know? He was a stand-up guy, but he had a good left hand, which obviously he does because, you know, I just, I ate it. Yeah, I mean, there's not a lot of research you can do. There's not a lot of game plan you have in there. So we knew going into it what he wanted. And I just, I recognized it quick enough and did the end of my night real quick.

When you lose a fight, is there a goal to avenge it, or do you just let it go? You've got to have a short memory in this game. I mean, my coach is telling me all the time. And so I don't want to say that with the 48-hour notice fight, I kind of just let it go because I really didn't. Obviously, I came back way better. And with with the full camp i was a different monster and that's that was obviously apparent in the cole williams fight um you gotta have a short minute is if you dwell on stuff like that you're just gonna sit there and and you know sit there and sulk in your misery no point doing

that in this game you gotta get better and the only way to do that is get back in the gym and work does your wife stress out about your fighting about other dudes punching her her her gem in the face first off i don't know if i'm her gem i bet the pictures sure make it look like she loves you a lot instagram versus reality no i'm just, she does. Yeah, she's stressed out a lot. She drinks a lot before the fight happens. Mom both do. Yeah, she's super stressed about it. But, you know, she also sees the amount of work that I put in each and every day. I come home exhausted.

I'm an asshole. She knows what I put in. She kind of, I mean, understands that, hey, this is what I'm doing. And I told her since that first day we started dating, look, this is what I put in. So she, she kind of, I mean, understands that, Hey, this is what I'm doing. This is, and I told her since, since that first day we started dating, what I do. And if you don't like that, there's a door. And I've told that with every girl, every day that if you, you don't like fighting, if you want to tell me not to go to training, we're not going to work. So there's a curve. How about your parents? Like I have, I have a, I have three kids, like I said, and like my kids are my crown jewels. You know, they're my Sistine Chapel.

They're my greatest. They're my thinker. They're like they're my greatest piece of work. They're the only thing that I'm I've ever put all 100 percent of my passion into creating. Right. And now they've your parents have obviously created this amazing human being. He's 34 years old. He's an incredible physical specimen. amazing human being. He's 34 years old. He's an incredible physical specimen.

He's smart. He's married. And now their specimen is going out. Do they just push down their fears? Do they just push them all away and not talk? I was thinking if my kid got into fighting, I wouldn't express how I felt about it to him. Do you know what I mean? I would just push it down because you want your kid to be happy.

That's first and foremost. My mom, man, my mom hates fighting with the passion. I'll tell you this story. It's a different story. When I first started, I lived with my parents. She goes, look, if you start fighting or you get a tattoo, I will kill you. No, I don't got a tattoo but i gotta fight next week uh and she came to the fight she was hammered drunk she stood in the front row and hated it

with every bit of it i lost that fight um and she really disliked it she hates it with a passion so to this day she she but she came into the gym one day and saw me hitting pads with my one of my coaches back then you just saw how much i loved doing it just noticed that i wasn't just fighting people all the time we weren't just busting heads we were hitting pads i was trying to get better we now she really like she really supported me probably my biggest fan shares everything does i mean all that stuff um but i said earlier talking about my mom smoking cigarettes and we had i went to breakfast there yesterday took her and my dad out to dad

out to breakfast yesterday my wife and uh we got into the whole argument about smoking cigarettes and i we got an argument she's like how much i hate fighting right i'm like yeah she goes that's how you feel about me smoking cigarettes i'm like how many people have died from mma none how do you have died from smoking cigarettes a lot so your argument is invalid and that in that stance but i said okay i said when i quit fighting which i'm gonna fight forever because i don't fucking want to i don't want you to punch the face forever when i quit fighting you have to quit smoking cigarettes i'm shook on it so you know a couple years down the road right now she asked to quit smoking cigarette so at least at least i got that that uh timeline out of it it's it's interesting training is beautiful like fight training is is beautiful so it's basically like

going to a ballet you know what i mean like you see the guys rolling around you see the guys hitting the mitts you see the guys sidestep and taking angles you know like like in some of the greats that you watch train like lomachenko i don you know like like in some of the greats that you watch train like loma chanko i don't know if you're into do you watch boxing of loma chanko that's a gangster yeah or chocolatito or you see these guys and they move and it's just like in the training it's beautiful and then yeah i could see where if you're the you're the parent you don't want your kid taking this ballet out to the world like because then in that game like i mean it's it's got to be hard especially

like your fight with um cole williams there's so much fucking blood yeah but it's his blood so tell me about that is that the first what was the first fight you ever had where there was just a ton of blood and were you shocked at all or you just do you have time to reflect on it in the moment like you're like holy, this is all over me. This is in my eyes. I can't get around. This is slippery. Like, most human beings don't know what it's like to have, like, I have no idea what that much blood feels like.

I just know the commentators say it gets really slippery. Yeah, that's my goal, man. I love putting Xbox logos on people's foreheads. No, man. Once I busted him open, he he was bleeding not even a second thought to me it just doesn't doesn't register i love it i think it's fantastic i'm not gonna be bj pin licking blood off my gloves but at the same time it you don't you just don't think about it you're in there for a reason my focus is just to beat him and that's if i gotta put crosses on his forehead then I'm okay with that right it's part of the process you know things are going well

it's part of the evolution of the fight if you see blood okay like we're in this stage in the fight it also shows that I'm winning the fight if his face is all blood the two fights you lost in the UFC the punches that you took there did not look as hard as the punches you took from Barbarina.

And I wonder if it's because it takes the face a while to warm up and get used to a punch because you guys were fucking dropping bombs on each other. I mean, that one was, that was a crazy fight. Yeah. So a lot of that has to do with, uh,

I think that a lot of that's due with hydration and rehydration from the weight cut so obviously the first fight i wasn't the first fight i cut on you know 13 pounds 12 hours notice um so i don't think i rehydrated well enough i didn't i didn't have time to um the samuelsberger fight i was we after that fight we went to the institute and ran a bunch of tests that kind of showed me hey pretty much what they told me is i'm the most stressed athlete the ufc is recorded i need to do something to change my life so i need more sleep which what do you mean they did like diagnostics on you and they're like hey something like your system is stressed what it will like give me an idea what that looks like what a test do they do they ran they ran like body mass tests

and stuff like that which just kind of shows where my body weight is and that, but they gave me like a questionnaire that's kind of shows me, Hey, where's your body feel at this point? Where do you like, there's someone's kind of opinion based on depending on how I feel, but time, like I know,

like I felt terrible in the, in, in terms of their questionnaire, like, Hey man, something's fucked up. You got to change something there. You're, you're just, you're going to die, die which which i knew something was messed up but i'm i'm

a prideful person i guess i just didn't reach out to say i just i thought that as an entrepreneur i was waking up at 4 a.m i'd run my classes i go to training i come back i'd run i'd run more classes then i go back to training and then either i go back to training. And then either I'd go back to work or I'd go home. And so I wouldn't get enough sleep. I was getting like six hours, maybe five hours a night. I mean, twice a day. Six, seven, eight clients a day. Just was running my body down to the ground. And so you show up on fight week with your body being that stressed.

My body was 190, and I couldn't get under that. My body was just not having it. So I cut 15 pounds of water five pounds of soda so i really essentially cut 20 pounds and i really think that hydration factor your brain can't get hydrated enough your jaw can't get hydrated enough your body's not hydrated you don't feel good and i knew i didn't feel good and so when i ate that punch which i'm not taking away from simmonsburg he hit me clean me clean that you won that fight fair and square but i know that that barber and hit me way harder it's i think that hydration plays into the whole factor and you can obviously see the the difference of i am getting sleep and my body is

a full camp and i am i am rehydrated a punch i can take you know i mean the how good i am in the cage between simmonsberger and barbarina for sure uh i'm not just saying this because um jason witt is here if you guys want to see a remarkable fight go to espn plus and watch his fight with barbarina you will not be disappointed um it is it's a month yeah say that again it was fight of the month uh it was they're calling it round of the year because that that third round was insane. And you, and you won, you, you won fight of the night, right? I did. Yeah. Yeah. That it's a crazy fight. And, um, and you answered a lot of questions to anyone who just thought you were a wrestler. Um, now whoever fights you next has to definitely be concerned because I don't think a lot of people would have taken some of those punches you gave Barbarina if he wasn't made of stone I don't think a lot of people would

and I was you know what I thought the third round was gonna be the entire fight because I know how Barbarina fights um but I'm not just a wrestler and I don't I know that my two fights are just from wrestling and it showed but like uh I'm a well-rounded fighter i think i think a lot of people if i would barbarian is hard to knock down there's not a lot of people beat him or knock him down you know like that and i didn't expect to uh especially multiple times so yeah i think anybody else um they're gonna go to sleep is it um what is what is that feeling like when you i mean i don't i i guess i haven't asked you this question yet, but it looked like you fucking punched him pretty much as hard as you could with a perfect punch. And once, and it looks like he also hit you as hard as he can in the face with a perfect punch

and the other person doesn't go down. Do you, do you even process that for a second or do you just start punching? Are you like, holy shit, how is he still standing? Or do you ever ask yourself, holy shit, how am I still standing? No, man. When you're in that fight, you're just the task at hand. You're ready there to fight. If I fall down, that's great. I really didn't expect it. So that was kind of a shock factor. I expected him to hit me on my wife before that fight.

Look, I'm going to be bloody. I'm going to have blood on my face. This is not going to be an easy fight. I thought round one would be hard. I thought round two would be a little more. He'd put a little more pressure. And I thought round three was going to be round easy fight i thought round one would be hard i thought round two would be a little more he'd put a little more pressure and i thought round three was gonna be round three the way it was but uh round one and two i really felt good and i didn't think my wrestling was gonna be that dumb against him and that really played a huge factor in the fight but uh yeah you don't

think about getting hit in the hitting that time you're in there for one task and that's that's me the guy and that's that's all you think about when you fight someone like that do you think holy shit this guy's fought in some of the fucking greatest in the sport and some legends and now i got to deal with this fucking dude or is it yeah i mean that that plays a factor in my head that really does like he fought luke he fought colby covington he fought a lot of big name leon edwards fought a lot of big names um Leon Edwards fought a lot of big names. But you really can't think that way. If I think that way, I'm going in there to lose. And I really think the UFC, if you want my honest opinion, set it up. You know, I was on my last contract.

I was on my last fight. Barbarina was a huge, huge favorite in that fight. And I really think that they were trying to get Barbarina back on the win streak, which is fine. I mean, he's a veteran in the sport. He's been in the UFC for a while. He has 12 fights in the fight. And I really think that they were trying to get Barberina back on a win streak, which is fine. I mean, he's a veteran in the sport. He's been in the UFC for a while. He has 12 fights in the UFC. He's a nice guy, and he's a great fighter.

I really think that they were kind of looking at it that way and didn't expect me to look at it the way I did. But I did. Yeah, I didn't look until last night. I started looking around at what the pundits were saying, and, yeah, you were an enormous underdog. I didn't know that when I sat down to watch the fight that night, but you were an enormous underdog. And so it's kind of great.

You were basically the Rocky who fought on a smaller scale, but the Rocky who fought Apollo and won. Yeah, kind of, I mean, kind of, sort of. Did you know, did you, are you scared when you go into a fight like that? Is it in your head that like, oh shit, if I lose this, I'm four and done in the UFC? Like basically they're not going to resign me? Yeah, definitely. It definitely was in the back of my head. I knew that was, and that was, that fight, that's my retirement fight.

That's, that's, I'm done. I'm not going back to the lower levels. I mean, like I'm getting up there in age and I don't want to fight forever. And so that was kind of be like my deciding factor like i'm probably done so that played a factor in the back of my head but at the same time my i might be one of those people that it it helped out on there and win that fight um so how long and we're just speculating we don't know for sure if they would have cut you but how long after do you get a call and they're saying hey we want to sign you up for uh four more fights or however many they signed you up for uh i talked to james kraus i was i didn't i had to go sit so when i lost the

fight against simmonsberger i had to go sit back with the doctor 30 45 minutes when i won the fight i had to go sit back with the doctors for 34 that was okay um but yeah crowd told me by that time and this is 20 minutes after the fight 20 minutes after sorry you broke up a little bit holy shit that's awesome wow so you win the fight you get fight of the night and you get another contract yeah it was a great fucking night. And is your wife there in the building? No, she was at home. With the Apex, they don't have a lot of fans.

It's fight week. I don't want my wife hanging around. It's not my style. Yeah, I don't blame you. So no family there, just your gym family? Just Kraus, Jason High, and Julian Marquez. Wow. I noticed you retired a pair of your lifting shoes. Yeah, there we go. So tell me about your lifting. Are you a backspot or deadlifter? What are your lifts? What's your go-to bread and butter that you do?

I'm a deadlifter. I love deadlifts. I didn't lift a lot for this fight because my body was just, it was taking a lot of stress. And the less I lifted, the better I felt and the better I did. So, but yeah, I love deadlifting. When I was probably about 21, 22, I didn't know how to deadlift. And so I just taught myself how to deadlift and get better and better. And I lift like three days a week. Just, I didn't, you know, at that point you don't know any better. So you're just, you're just working. Um, I love deadlift.

I got my deadlift up to quite a bit. Um, I think my max was like, for one was like 585. Holy shit. A five by five was 505. And my, my one by 10 was 425 something like that so so something i really enjoy doing i loved it i love being strong i like i like picking up heavy ass weights and putting them down and how about back squatting do you have a good back squat and a good front squat uh i have a decent back squat um i want to say right now i'd like it to be but i think my max is around 450 uh somewhere on my front squat i pr'd by accident one day uh i was at a police academy uh at a police academy and i realized they had 100 pound uh plates instead of 45 pound plates and i put those on by accident and uh

i pr'd my back squat by 30 pounds i one rep like i picked it up and i was like man i just must be a week to one rep out of it and then i really counted i was like oh shit it was like 3 30 somewhere on there for a front squat so what were you doing at the police academy uh i have a couple friends uh the girl i was dating her dad was a police officer and then i have a couple friends who are in the police police academy too um going back to the sleep thing and and this it's i don't think people realize so you're at the top of the game you're in the ufc you're running a fucking business you have like you have you said the day that you went to go fight you had to cancel six clients right you had six hours of personal training yeah and

basically you had to run yourself ragged to get to where you were at. And obviously, it was your passion and you loved it. So ragged might not be the right word. But then in order to stay there, you had to give some of that up. Can you talk to me about that and tell me how much you're sleeping now, what you had to give up to sort of if you're going to stay in the UFC? So really, I didn't give up a lot, honestly. I had a 5 a.m. and a 6 a.m boot camp monday was a friday that i love those classes they're great people i've had them for a long time uh probably about three or four years

um and so instead of and i'd wake up four classes so instead of instead of canceling those classes i hired somebody to run my classes i get up at six now six six i run i have a seven o'clock o'clock and they go to training. So I'm sleeping like at least 8 hours now, 7 to 8 hours, 7 to 9 hours, somewhere around there. So that really just played a bigger factor. Instead of waking up at 4, I wake up at, you know, 6 or 7. And you know people who get up at 8.30 are like listening to you right now going, what the fuck?

Instead of getting up at 4, you've cut back and get up at 6.30. What did you say? say sorry you broke up i'm listening to myself going what the fuck i worked i worked for an ice company for up at five o'clock and i deliver ice on the back of a truck then i go to training and i mean i've done this shit it's not anything for me i just i'm a worker like i'm a workhorse that's just the way i am you know i mean. There's probably smarter, better ways to do it, but I'm not the brightest crown in the box, so I just work my ass off and say,

I'll give you what I need. Does delivering ice make you strong? I would say so. I was pulling one-touch doors and throwing 20-pound bags of ice off the back of a truck multiple, multiple, multiple times a day. off the back of a truck, you know, multiple, multiple, multiple times a day.

I'm looking down at my notes. Oh, this was a fun one. I liked your expression when the judge said in the Barbarina fight, 28, 28. That was crazy. Fuck off. Where, where, that was crazy. crazy please you guys watch the fight and watch i'd like to see if your reaction is the same as mine and jason's how um do you do you know the judges do you meet the judges do you make eye contact with the judges do the fighter like tell me about judges where are they they're just sitting right at the side of the ring uh yeah

all three sides of the ring i don't all three sides of the ring. I don't... All three sides? There's one on each side? Yeah, there's three judges. They're pretty much a triangle around the gym. Okay. I thought I just pictured them all together sitting on the same bench. No, I don't think so. Okay.

I mean, they are what they are. They serve a purpose. But to give that fight a 28-28, you're out of your fucking mind. Even give him a 10-8 round in the third round, which he dropped me twice. I dropped him twice. I took him down. Yeah, it was a crazy fight, but there's no way it's a 10-8 round. If you give him a 10-8 round in that, in round three,

how do you not give me a 10-8 round in round three? I dropped him twice and took him down multiple times and dominated him. How do you not give me a 10-8 round and round i dropped him twice and took him down multiple times and dominated like how do you not so 28 and one of the judges eyes you're you're fucking idiot in my opinion but and it was the first in my opinion too it was crazy it was it was obvious you won i mean barbarina did great but it was obvious you won to everyone at home no one was like at home was like oh it's a draw or Barbara Reina won. I can't imagine. That was the first score that was given out. You guys are out there. Do you start

tripping? Are you like, oh, fuck. Did I not perceive this right? No, there's no... I knew at the end of that fight, and Kraus even said in the middle of round two and three, he's like, look, we're up two rounds. Just don't get finished. I'm like, first off, that's the worst thing to tell me, not to get finished, because now I'm thinking about getting finished.

But, no, like, I knew I had one and two, and there's no way anybody could do that. You know what I mean? I think I had them – I controlled them for five straight minutes or five – I had control time of five minutes. So, I mean, there's no way i didn't have one and two in the bag so i don't see how you know round three was i don't know how you're gonna draw so when they when they said 28 28 i was like that's bullshit and then i knew i just knew in my head that i won the fight there's there's no denying if i'm round three i win um have you gone back and watched that fight just like one or twelve times one or twelve yeah it's

good um and uh do you go back and watch all your fights if i win yeah um do it when you watch the barbarina fight and and and you see him punching you do you do you talk to yourself like are you like jason you fucking idiot you should have moved to the side there or oh that was a great punch barbarina or like what's the dialogue like in your head when you're watching the fight so i mean you're always the i'm not great at watching fights i always watch from a fighter or a fan's perspective and it's hard for me but i got guys the gym like grant doll mastermind of watching fights james kraus is really good watching fights um they all they watch a fight from a, then they watch it from a fighter's perspective, then they watch it from a coach's perspective then they watch it of like

if I was fighting this guy how would I beat me and how would I beat him so they watch it multiple times which is crazy to me, it's hard for me to do that but I do, I've gotten a little bit better at doing that in terms of like I'll watch it as a fan, then I'll watch it as I do better

and then I'll watch it as like okay,, this is work on this running to fix. And I mean, the goal after a fight is to get better in the fight. That's a test. Not better. I was watching an interview with Vicente Luca, Luca, after his fight with Piazza. I can't even say their names but after that fight um and he said that when he heard the crowd booing it like affected him because he wants to put on a show and as a fan personally i never want the fighters to be affected by the booing like i don't

care if the two guys like the derrick lewis um ningano first fight i didn't care that they didn't punch each other i mean of course i want to see it but it's like it's not me in the fucking ring like i understand what's going on they're both fucking terrified like or at least that's what i think and like i'm not like thinking hey assholes i want my money back i'm thinking holy shit i can't believe you guys got in the ring with each other and locked the door yeah two massive huge power strikers i'm not no nobody's them and start swinging it's a terrible idea um but yeah i mean so in between round two and three kraus said hey man i don't care this is the most boring fight of your life like just don't fucking get finished and and there's been a lot of

times especially with barbarina when we're fighting for the when we're in camp they're like look i don't care this is a boring fight like if we can stay away from his power then why would we not you know i mean if we can time our. Like, if we can stay away from his power, then why would we not? You know what I mean? If we can time our takedowns better and stay away from his power, then if the crowd's booing, I don't care if it's a boring-ass fight. We're winning. Winning is – the goal is to win. The goal is not – you know what I mean?

I'm an entertainer regardless. The goal is not to, like, please the fans. The goal is to win and get three pages. That's what I'm looking for. If – I mean, if the fans don't like that part then y'all can fight then you you fight brian barber and i don't give a shit yeah and i always try to compare it to other sports too like if you're a boxing fan and you switch to mma and do both

boxing is so slow compared to mma or let's say you're a baseball fan are you fucking kidding me you go five innings without something happening i mean so relative when i hear the fans booing or giving the fighter shit i'm like are you fucking crazy like at any second something horrible can happen just chill just hang out so you're not you're you're not affected by that at all no not at all i mean i also i also haven't fought in front of fans in the ufc either so i mean that can be played but i fought in front of you know 5 000 people before and you you kind of play off when you slam somebody they they scream and yell so i never had anybody boo in a fight i i think i'm a pretty exciting fighter but so is luca so what they're booing for but and i don't i y'all

y'all aren't in here so you can't tell me what to do because you're not the one fighting you've never fought in front of all of your ufc fights have been in the apex with no fans this one had 150 fans a little bit of fans there but that was about it is that weird is that like it is that like being in it feels more like a street fight like holy shit like you can hear everything. No, it's awesome. It's like,

it's like, I was playing a video game. He just tells me what to do. And I do it. Oh, really? Tell me about that. So literally it's like that.

Like he'll tell you kick and you kick and, and, and it lands and you're like, holy shit. Keep, keep feeding me. Yeah. A lot of times I'm already doing it or he's said it.

And it's, we do it simultaneously, but there's a lot of times like when I have music, he'll say do this to this and i'll do it and it'll work and then he's like go from here and james cross is the best coach like like the best cornerman there ever was because he is very specific on what to do and a lot of a lot of people are just like still want to james cross is very specific on how to win the fight. When you're in the apex, you can hear him say, okay, do this, reap, do this, da-da-da-da.

You're like, okay. It's like playing a video game. But the guy you're fighting can hear him telling you what to do too, right? I mean, obviously. That's fine. It's his job to stop it. And you can hear what his coach is saying? Yeah. I'm more focused on my coaches, can you can definitely hear what they're saying too and can you hear the

commentators uh i had a comment sometimes you can but not really they're not loud enough is there anything that's distracting in there besides the fighter or no you just lock in and it's you and james kraus the ring. The ring girls are pretty crazy. Damn, UFC did a great job with the ring girls. They're so, they're so, like, you go back to boxing and it's just, it's, it's just such a different vibe from the ring girls. The ring girls for the UFC are great. Yeah. There's really nothing distracting there.

It's, it's, when you're you're at that higher level of focus. All you hear is your coaches, the three coaches in your corner, and the smash of leather. Do you have a choice to do the press conference afterwards? I've been looking for the press conference with Derek Lewis after his fight with Surreal, and I can't find it. So I'm guessing that you don't have to do them. Usually if you lose the fight, you don't get to do the press conference. Oh, you don't get to do it.

Not nothing more. I don't know about the main event. I don't know how that works, but the fights that I've lost, you do not do pressers. You do not do photos. You don't do any of that stuff, but you win the fight. Then you get to do all the press. And do you look forward to doing that? I do. I've really kind of embraced it and enjoyed doing it. Like I told you earlier, the interviews I used to get nervous at, and I'd talk too fast and didn't know what to say. And now that I've done quite a few of them, I like the press conference. I like talking to people.

I like just kind of hyping things up a little bit. I don't mean like in a shit-talking way. I don't talk crap. I just enjoy talking to people. Yeah, it's kind of like your parade. The press conference is your parade. Which is weird because I don't like talking to people in real life. Well, thanks for doing this.

Do you know your next fight? Nope, not yet. How will you know? What will the process be? Will someone just call you again and be like, hey, you have 48 hours? No, no, no.

Now that I have a contract, it's going to be like 12 weeks. My coach, when we all decide, I never say no. I'm like, hey, we're fighting this person this day. And do you think you'll fight this year? Yeah, yeah, i'm gonna try to get another fight in within this year at least my birthday is november so i'm trying to fight around that time wow as a birthday present to yourself punch someone in the face um jason i've taken an hour and four minutes of your time.

I would, uh, love to do it again sometime. I'd love to talk about your next fight when you get it signed up. You gave us a lot of details. You answered a lot of my personal questions and I really, really appreciate this. And, uh, I hope it didn't fuck your back up sitting in a car for an hour. No, I mean, I got heated seats. We're good. You have your car

running i do yeah what kind of car and it's a brand new car uh it is a brand new car yeah so uh my wife uh her family own car dealerships so when we got married i get a new car every 4 000 miles so often just a new car that's awesome because i see i'm i see the sticker in the back on the back of the window yeah so that's all right that's subaru so i get a subaru every couple thousand miles and just trade that in awesome all right brother thank you very much of course