The Sevan Podcast - #190 - James Krause

Episode Date: October 30, 2021

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I'll be back. James Krause. James Krause. James Krause. James Krause. Thank you. Bye. James Krause Thank you Bye Live, bam 20 seconds in, answering phone calls

How disrespectful can you be? Let me try to figure out this situation really quick Are we on? Are we live? We are, but it's my show We do what I want I just need to figure out my Ladies and gentlemen Are we on? Are we live? We are, but it's my show. We do what I want. I just need to figure out my... Ladies and gentlemen, notice James Krause in his natural environment, preparing for a podcast, a behind-the-scenes look.

All right. As a UFC fighting and coaching legend, as he prepares his hair. Oh, man, I just got out of practice. I'm hurting. My back hurts. My hair is jacked. Let's rock it. How's your sack? how's your scrotum it's good my back not my sack buddy buddy i know but i'm just checking the vitals just checking the vitals we're good james i want to put your correct um

instagram account in here is it just at james kraus the james kraus the oh god i love it i love it The, oh God, I love it. I love it. Buddy, I'm hurting. God bless. I'm just staring. I'm just, I'm just in awe. I'm just in awe. I'm just a simple man trying to get a podcast off the ground and suckering fucking busy overachievers like you into my into my world we good what did you do this morning by the way i'm stevon nice to meet you nice to meet you uh what did you do this morning uh just some mma stuff uh striking and takedowns transitional stuff because if you don't fight this year it'll be the first time you haven't fought at least once a year since 2000 uh-oh my notes looking complete well i

looked last night 2007 yeah yeah are you gonna get a fight this year probably not whoa and are you okay with breaking the streak yeah i'm out i'm i'm kind of at a point now where uh coaching is taking a lot a lot of my time so i mean i'll be honest i don't really even if i never fought again i would be good with it i know i hear you saying that last night i'm just watching video after video after video by the way there is a three-part series on James Krause. It's three short videos. Is it called The Fight Game 1, 2, and 3? What is that?

It was just released in August. Yeah. Do you remember the name of it? I think it is The Fight Game. And if you just type in James Krause into YouTube when you search, you'll see this three-part series. Whether you're a fight fan or not, you have to see this.

It's beautifully shot. It's great insight into just, um, into just humans. Uh, I, I thoroughly enjoyed it in, in, in there and in other videos,

you say that you say that, Hey, like your whole deal is, is now like you, you never wanted to be a champion necessarily yourself, but you want to have a chance. You want to have champions in your stable. And I was, like do i believe them do i believe them like or or do or do you have to say that like as a psychological exit strategy i know you're like i don't give a

fuck what you believe no you go back go back find find me an interview where i've ever said that i wanted to be a champion you won't find one i've never said that i've never honestly i've never given a shit uh for me for me i said this from the get-go fighting was not it was never how fighting to me was sorry i'm a little underway uh no do it do it i get it it's just a platform man like i enjoy it i enjoy competing but like i've always said like i won't that's not the thing for me you know what i mean like i'm gonna do something different and uh i've used it to there's three things that i wanted to have if you listen to enough interviews you probably heard this as well there's three things that i wanted to have at the end of this and at the end of me competing as a fighter as an athlete there's one is i wanted uh

i wanted to go out on a win two is I wanted to go out on my terms, not the UFCs, you know, like I see too many guys that are like UFC kind of has to nudge them and be like, Hey man, like you lost three in a row. You don't have any more. Let's, let's part ways. I don't, I don't want to do that. You know, I want to leave on my terms, not somebody else's. And then last but not least is I just wanted to create some financial security from, from being an athlete. And I've done all three of those things. If I quit right now, all three of those things are accomplished. Uh, I don't need to fight anymore. Um, you know, my bills are paid and going out, I won my last fight and I would pick my own term. So if I never fought again, I would be good with it. This, um, blue, blue, uh, sex machine you

drive. Um, what is that? Oh, I just sold it. Oh, you did. Um, why did you sell it? And this is tied to the fact of not what kind of car you drive, but being financially responsible is where I'm headed. Yeah. So I sold it because, uh, well, the real answer is somebody offered me 30 grand more than I paid for it. It's, it's crazy. You say that I have a friend who was just trying to buy a Porsche. I don't know what kind it was, but it was $220,000. He went to the Porsche dealership in Scottsdale. He put the money down. Six months later, they still didn't have it for him. So he bought a used one in Florida for $270,000. I'm like, what the? Is it something like that? Like you had something. Yeah. I, uh, I don't buy cars.

Uh, so I, I'm part owner in a car dealership as well. Uh, so I don't buy cars to, uh, I buy cars that are really cool. That whole value that I can drive for free for six months to a year. And I sell them for what I paid for them or more. Um, 18 and one in your first 19 fights. Is that correct? Amateur. Yeah.

Yeah. That's, that's, that's amazing's amazing that's amazing did you fight as a kid like how did you know you were a good fighter no i did not i don't come from i'm a competitor i'm not a fighter like i'm not a i think i've evolved into a fighter but i wasn't a fighter starting out like i didn't get into a bunch of fights as a kid or anything like that i just really enjoyed the sport i enjoyed the the physicality mixed with the the mental behind it like you can outsmart people you could you know i'm really good at adapting and uh i've always been good i've always been that guy that like got the weird awards like the hustle award and i got a couple of team mvps and like that, but I never, uh, like I was good across the board. And I think if you're good across the board in this sport, you can be a really good

fighter. And, uh, that's, that's what kind of drew it to me is you can out athlete people, you can outsmart people and, uh, the sizes are the same because coming up in high school, I was small. I was really small. I graduated at five foot eight I think I'm six two now so wow yeah um you say you said that in one of your interviews you said hey you can be b minus at everything and you know and be the best and it's interesting you say that because um where I come from the world I come from I was an executive over at CrossFit Inc I worked there for 15 years from when it started to like its heyday i ran the media department there he is and all that shit yeah so um in crossfit you never have to you never have to win an event you take fifth place in every single event at the games

and you're going home with the 250 000 check but how do you explain that in fighting so just so you know my fighting background my fighting background is i'm cannot stand any sports because it's i think sports are a fucking waste of time to watch but for some reason i have this disgusting addiction to ufc and i haven't missed a ufc on a saturday and i don't know how many years right it's not a sport it's not a sport it's the most it's the most it's the most primitive form in human in mankind i mean we've been fighting since we were created since as far back as we know you know what i mean like it's not a sport you know you basketball was originated in x date football was originated on this date fighting has been here since the beginning of time people been fighting over food and uh and survival since mankind was started you know so this is this is literally it's i always say this and once again you i feel like you've done a lot

of research on me which is really cool uh i say this all the time fighting is the most primitive thing you can have it's the end of the road so like this is kind of like one of the things for me is like okay like you can go back and forth somebody like hey i have more money than you i'm faster you're stronger blah blah it ends with i can beat you up like you can't top that you know what i mean like no matter how much more how much more money somebody has if you can beat them up that's like it's the end of the road you know what i mean like like i could kill you if i want to and that's it you know what i mean it's the ultimate metric for the pecking order who gets to pick the bananas from the tree first and who gets to fuck the girls i mean yeah whatever it is you want that's the most primitive

form of that if if you can beat me up you you get to pick the cave, the girl, and which banana tree gives the fruit at the first. I mean, take it a step farther, though. Like, if I can beat you up, I can kill you. Right. You know, I can do whatever I want to. I can kill you if I want. You know what I mean? Like, I can kill you.

And that's, what do you have more money than me? I can kill you with my bare hands. Right. It's over. There's no, what is your argument to that? can kill you and there's no you know it's kind of stupid to sound but it's like no it's just just to put it in context yeah just for context it's not like we're saying that's what it's about but it's to show like at this level this this component does exist in the sport on a totally different tangent i just want to go on a little rant here it reminds me these fucking people who like cross the street when when they say they have the right away or when they do things that they have the right away or when you flip

someone off just out like don't forget it doesn't matter if you're right if you've been hit by a car or if someone kills you or like be staying alive is like the most important thing so that you can continue in the game do you know what i'm referencing like someone will just be like i have the green light i'm crossing the street that motherfucker ran the red light i'm just going i'm like uh no i'll wait over here till the car is gone like i don't want to yeah no i yeah no i know exactly what you're yes yes it's not that important to me because listen and that's another thing is we're talking about uh i was somewhere the other day and i was uh they somebody was leaning over a deck and it was really high up.

And they're like, why don't you meet our resident? Oh man, I hang around people all day. I know there's too much human error. I don't trust somebody to install that, that fucking balcony correctly. Like I'm,

you know what I mean? I don't trust people. Yeah. And plus what's the risk to it. So yesterday, a very good friend of mine sent me a picture of a woman. She had her two kids in a bathtub and, and then her newborn sitting on the bathroom floor. And she was doing lunges with a 20 pound dumbbell over her head. And like and everyone was celebrating that this this there's 400 comments saying that, like, hey, look at this mom still getting in time to work out. No excuses. But all I saw was a 20 pound dumbbell over a baby's head. And I'm like, like, I don't, the risk to benefit ratio is so out of whack there. And like people, my friends like, no, I quit being like that. I'm

like, nah, I gotta be like that. You got to protect the kids at all costs. I'm all for mamas working out. Like, but fuck man. Uh, yeah, I mean, it's, I, and again, I'm talking to a guy that gets punched in the face for a living. No, it's really not that it's not that deep though, man. It really isn't like it's man. It's why I watch football on Sundays, man. Those guys are getting hit harder, way harder than I am. You know what I mean? They're getting hit by fucking science experiments. You know what I mean? Like I got hit by a dude that's the same size as me. You know what I mean? Like these guys are getting blindsided by by by 250 pound linebackers that can run a fucking 4 3 40 you know what i mean and it's the equivalent of a 35 mile an hour car crash i'm

not getting hit like that yeah i um the nfl players i've talked to there was a lineman who played for like 13 years named john wellborn he ended up coming into the crossfit space and he was basically just telling me about basically every game getting hit so hard by another guy in the head that you want to vomit and that was just normal that's that is they're literally getting concussions every single game every game and when you get a concussion on top of a man this is a sensitive subject but that's why you've seen a lot of these guys kill themselves and kill their whole families and shit like that is they're fucked up in the head man like and that's man that's something i'm really're seeing a lot of these guys kill themselves and kill their whole families and shit like that is they're fucked up in the head, man. And that's something I'm really big on, a style of fighting.

You know what I mean? It's kind of like style of running back. Are you evasive? Are you a hammer? You know what I mean? I'm not hitting people, man. I'm trying to go around people. I don't want to get hit.

I don't want those car crashes, man. That's not my style. And if you watch me fight, I'm very evasive and I don't get those car crashes, man. Like that's not my style. And if you watch me fight, like I, I'm very, uh, evasive and, and, uh, I try, I don't get hit clean that often, you know? So, uh, I feel like my brain still works really well. I mean, I bet everybody says that, but you know, you can watch my fights. I don't really get hit clean that much. How old are you? 35. Um, I'm surprised to hear you say that you watch football just now,

that you have time for football. You have a family. You have two families. Well, I don't know if you compartmentalize them, but you basically have two families. You have a wife and kids, and then you've got these gym people who can't stop just loving on you, and everyone just says so many nice things about you.

Do you have time to sit down on sunday uh first of all um i'm not married anymore we just got divorced all good no it's a good thing on both sides all good okay still very cordial uh congratulations by the way not on the divorce but like respect and dignity with everyone is important especially when there's kids involved yeah we're still great um i wouldn't say that i have time to sit down all sunday and watch football but i try to like i i try to uh follow it you know what i mean i follow it that's better i follow if i if i have time i will like i watched a little bit of the game last night because my son goes down at like 6 6 30 and my daughter wanted to be upstairs in a room by herself and watching her ipad so i had a little bit of free time by myself and it's good for me uh it's good for me sometimes to to do that

you know but i man i typically don't you'll i won't just sit there and watch a whole game never never never i you know i mean i'm on my ipad working and i'm it's on as i'm doing something else typically but i'll follow it for sure there's this term that word used um uh sacrifice that's thrown around a lot i sacrifice this i sacrifice that and for and it and maybe it's just uh my my problem with the word but i don't like the word i think like you have a choice to do what you want to do like i like like like when i walk by the fucking croissant and cookie case today at the coffee shop and i don't choose to eat one i'm not making a sacrifice like i'm with that like um and yet i hear someone i i feel like when i i i know it's your personal life but like so you just said you just went through a divorce,

but like, I don't think like your business is suffering. So I don't want to say that you made a sacrifice, but you've chose you. We have to prioritize what's important to us. Right. Definitely. And, and what's going to get us ahead for what we want and what makes us happy. I mean, essentially, yeah. I mean, that's man, without going, without going without going into it it's like that's kind of the when you're with somebody for so long i think you we tend to grow apart we're growing apart every day right like it's that's why marriages work it's because you got to be able to work together and essentially what had happened with us is what was important to me was no longer important to her and vice versa and that doesn't mean we hate each other like we're still i

still love her she still loves me we're very't mean we hate each other. Like we're still, I still love her. She still loves me. We're very cordial with one another. For the kids, we talk every day. You know, I still love her in a different way now, but we're still very, very cordial. And, you know, we just, our interests grew apart and it is what it is. How do you know how to do that?

I think- Did you have any role model? Like, how do you know not to- Yeah, yeah, what not to do. My parents are divorced. My parents are divorced, and they're a cordial tool, too. Growing up, we still did Thanksgiving and Christmas together, and I never saw them fight. I learned that from watching them, right?

When I break up with girlfriends, I don't fight with them, even if they want to fight with me. I just don't do it. I learned that as well. The opposite, though. I learned what not to do uh my my my mom and dad really didn't get along that much and i just didn't like it you know it was uh it wasn't a good it wasn't a healthy environment so um so you're like fuck that i'm not doing that to my kids no man it's not their problem you know what i mean it's not their problem uh i feel what I mean? It's not their problem. Uh, I feel like whenever you choose to have a kid, whenever you say, Hey, listen, I'm going to have a child and both mine

were planned. Um, if you say, listen, I'm going to have a kid, or even if you don't plan on having a kid, but you, there's another choice that you make somewhere along the road to, you know, to do what you got to do without that. But if you make that vaginal intercourse, you mean vaginal intercourse without protection? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you make that choice, you're essentially, for me, you're, you're saying I'm no longer, uh, I'm no longer living life for myself. I'm willing to live life for somebody else. And all my wants and needs come secondary to this thing that I brought into this world is now my responsibility a hundred percent. So just because, uh, my ex and I have problems, that's not my kid's fault. That's not their problem. That's not my kid's fault. And I'm

not going to let that, uh, affect their upbringing. And obviously to, to, to a degree, you know what I mean? Like I have to be happy and my ex-wife has to be happy as well, because there's a reason they tell you to put your mask on first before you put somebody else's mask on. Because if you're not happy, you can't make somebody else happy, you know. So, yeah, I mean, it's it's it's essentially you got to you choose to to to help this other person first. So that's that's just what we're doing. We're doing what we agree to, you know, and that's helping our kids become great adults and good people. And that, that our wants and needs come secondary to them. James said something in there that sounds really scary when you hear someone else say it about putting someone else before you. And I think that's why some people don't have kids or afraid to have kids. But I want to tell you something.

If you are ready for that in your life there is a freedom that you can't even fucking explain when you put someone else before you at all times there is um and you would be surprised how you step up to it like i hate being woken awaken in the middle of the night i always have don't fuck with me but if i wake up at three in the morning and like i hear a sound i go straight to my kid's room now. No, no problem. My kid. I see my kids stumbling around the house at two in the morning looking for the bathroom. I get up and go in there with them and and rub his back with peas. I mean, and I'm like looking at myself like, who the fuck is this guy?

Like, this isn't me, but you will do anything for these fuckers. There's a certain level of love that you bring that is not you can't have for any other person or mom dad spouse it's just it's not there and uh it's only for your kids i do think that there's a special type of love that is reserved only for your kids and nobody else and you can't really experience that or anything close to it until you've you have your own kids i wonder if this is this is a bit of a stretch but but i'm i'm open to exploring it i wonder if fighters are more in tune with that because they're already more in tune with um like the deep biological implications of having a kid and

doing anything for them to survive i wonder if they're more in tune with that because they're already in tune with the fact of just fighting for survival maybe kids will make you soft too though man i don't recommend i don't recommend fighting young fighters have kids man i don't they'll make you soft don't tell me hey tell me you didn't get soft after you after you had kids james oh well so that's gonna let me switch to our next thing and it's i was so excited to hear you say this because it made me feel better about my own my own um upbringing but by the way a guy named dylan vowel just gave 20 bucks to the show uh Uh, thank you, Sevan, for getting fighters on, especially this legend. Um, can I ask James a question? How does amateur debut differ from pro debut? Is there anything

unique in your approach to, to a fight? That's two questions. You got to give another 20 bucks for that second question. No, I'm joking. Uh, I mean, it kind of depends on where you're at really state to state the rules change obviously like in my state elbows are the biggest difference pretty much one of the only differences is amateurs can't throw elbows um but but and this isn't like at the wide range not at the beginning range because you don't i don't think there's a skill level between there's there's good amateurs that are better than bad pros. So it's not necessarily a skill level thing. But on a broader scale, the skill level is much different, you know.

And the thing that I tell about going pro is, if you're on the fence about going pro and amateur, stay amateur. Because you can always have another amateur fight. But once you make the decision to go pro, you can never go back. You can never go back. So, like, your record can be 18-0, 47-0. And if you take one bad fight as a pro, you can start 0-1. And nobody gives a shit about the 47-0. So just make sure that you're ready from that from that step from amateur to pro, you know,

you're ready. And I always have my guys take a really tough amateur fight because most high level amateurs are better than your lower level pros or maybe even mid-level pros, man. Some of them are, you know, uh, sorry, my, I wish you guys could see what I'm, what I'm set up with right now. It's like a plant with my phone on this plant. Um, but just testing yourself you know testing yourself physically but but most importantly not physically technically because

those are two things that obviously we're always trying to get better mentally like like have you seen some adversity in a fight i always try to get my guys adversity like i want to see how you swim in deep water you know and that's if you can swim in in deep water overcome some adversity that's what i like to see before you take take the professional level because there's a lot of pros that aren't very skilled but they're tough and they'll hang around and they'll take you to deep water and they'll test your mentality and uh that's the biggest difference i think is is some of those guys just don't go away you know what i mean and that's a big one is that is deep waters when your mind is telling you to stop but but you're, but like,

like I hear the commentators go, Oh, that guy's withering. Does that mean like you're, you're tired, you're beat up. You're not making good decisions. Like the more tired you get, the more sloppy you get, the worst decisions you make. I mean, you're starting to melt. You know what I mean? Like your cardio is not there. You're going away.

Your body language shows you, you know, shit. Like I want my guys to be mentally tough i want them to hang through you know i want them to stay strong mentally like if you can overcome some mental adversity as an amateur i highly suggest you do that before you go pro like well like costa and vittori like that that was crazy like you saw costa wilt and then is that all just mental toughness how he came back and fought another four fought his ass off for four rounds yeah i mean that was crazy. Like you saw Costa wilt and then is that all just mental toughness? How he came back and fought another four, fought his ass off for four rounds? Yeah. I mean, that was nuts, right? Yeah. At that level, it's, it's at that level. I mean, it's expected, you know, not everybody has it, but that's expected at that level. I mean, those guys are elite level athletes, you know, they're top, top five in their, in their class. You know what

I mean? Like you would expect that from those two. Yeah's mind-boggling to me so james said that having kids would make you soft and that would tell you something very interesting so how different james and i are james was uh uh uh tough guy over here and he had kids and made him soft i was a fucking pussy and i had kids and it made me hard what do i mean by that like i was seriously new that if i was sleeping fucking pussy and I had kids and it made me hard. What do I mean by that? Like I was seriously knew that if I was sleeping in bed and I heard someone break into my house before I had kids that I would climb out the window. Like I knew, like I wasn't interested in hurting anyone, fighting with anyone,

any of that shit. I had kids. I got a Bob. I started taking striking classes. Uh, I got a gun. And now when I hear sounds in the, in the yard,

I get out my gun and i walk around the yard with my gun and my fucking flashlight and like and like if someone if you came into my house and like you were a threat to my kids you'd have like like it would be bad for you when my whole and i don't even know how that happened it wasn't a conscious decision but like for me it um but i think that's your natural role as a as a as a parent yes protect your kids protect you i mean that's biologically wired in you. Right. But it's sort of the opposite.

If you're already like you had already tapped into that before you had kids. Uh, I mean, I see where you're going with it. I kind of disagree though, because like, I mean, dude, honestly, I don't think there's, I don't think there's anything wrong with jumping out a window. Like you're just trying to avoid conflict. You're trying to avoid a life and death situation. There's nothing wrong with that. But now you don't have that option because you've, you've checked the box that says I'm now obligated to protect this guy over here or this little guy over here. And I, I don't have the option anymore to jump out that window. Right. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, if you could, if you're, if your kid was in your arms and you could safely jump

out a window, no problem. Right. You would do it, but you, that's not going to happen. You know what I mean? So like now you're like, I got to make a stand because you are wired biologically in your DNA to protect your, your young, you know, that's, that's, I mean, it's, it's wired in your brain to do that. It's wired in all of our, our brain and not even us, any animal it's wired to do that. So unfortunately I see a lot of people not standing up for their kids these days. It's really sad, but different subject. Yeah. Uh, um, in one of your, um, I'm 49'm 49, and I'm in the last – I've gone through quite the transformation in the last 15 years. Basically, I was raised to avoid discomfort at all costs. I was raised in a hardcore liberal family. I was raised to not enjoy sweating, not – but I did no hard work because I come from immigrants.

So working 365 days a year, 16 hour days, no problem, like grind, but by void discomfort, like not work out, not, not, not maybe it's, it's kind of, I hate to make it political, but it was this really liberal mindset, like this just whole peace, love, hug everyone, peace is the answer, blah, blah, blah, et cetera. And I like it. I like the thought of it. And then I found CrossFit when I was 34. And one of the tenants of CrossFit that Greg Glassman, the founder is, is that suffering or discomfort at a super high level forces the body into really, really gnarly adaptation. And so doing 400 meter sprints is better than long distance running because you get immediate adaptation without the risk of so much injury of running the marathon, for example.

And as I as I did more and more CrossFit, my mindset changed. And now I'm as you've seen what's happened in the last three years in this country, what I call the victocracy has is trying to take over. And I believe that when you blame people or you're offended by someone, that's the opposite of enlightenment, the opposite of happiness. So if someone says you big nose bastard, if I get offended by that, then it's like, that's my discomfort. But if I go, yeah, you're, you're, you're right. The bastard part's not right. Cause my dad, you know, my dad's still alive and around, but, but the big nose part spot on, you know, and I just cool, chill. That's where all happiness is. And I heard, so I know you're wondering where this

is going i heard you say that you came from a victim mindset growing up definitely can you explain to me what that like is that is that like just like blaming other people what is that and then how did and more importantly how did you change what what caused you to awaken yeah i mean that the victim mentality would be it's never my fault. That person got lucky or no responsibility, place blame on others. It's any of that stuff, you know what I mean? Basically, I think the biggest one is accountability. Like there's no self-account. Like there's no account of self accountability

and there's no self audit. Uh, but I had somebody kind of take me under their wing and really, uh, help me out with that. Gave me all the books to read and really did a great job helping me out with that. And, uh, it changed my life. You know, I, I've started reading books that, that talk about, uh, power, positive thinking, uh, setting goals, what wealthy people do, you know, think and grow rich is a, is a great one. Just think and grow rich is essentially the study of billionaires and millionaires, you know, like who wouldn't want to do like the art of emulation is such a key thing. Like if you have, if somebody has something that you want, just do what they do to get it. Act like they act.

You know what I mean? It's not like we're not reinventing the wheel here. You know what I mean? Like just do what that person is doing. And it's such a simple thing and just people don't do it. People like I have people that say, hey, man, like how do I get what you have? I was like, listen, you don't want the answer to that. I'm just telling you right now, you don't want my schedule.

People will try. They'll try to hang, and they never do. It's interesting you say that. If I would have told a 20-year-old James Krause, hey, this is what your next 15 years are going to be. This is the pile of work you have to do over the next 15 years, you to run the other way? Man, it's not even.

I can't even begin to fathom what that even looks like it's not even close man not even i was a shithead bro like it's not even close it's i would yeah i would tuck tail fast um uh dylan vowed seriously this guy just gave another 20 bucks and he said that's an incredible detailed response definitely deserves another 20 thank you for that um how much does it cost for a shameless plug for my amateur debut november 5th it's done dylan tell us where and how we can watch it and i'll read that off too um james i know i don't have a lot of time with you um i your show that's pick the pros pick the the pros pick show the show's pro pick show how long have you been doing that and how did you how did you um why and how and the reason why i well i'll tell you why i ask after you tell me so uh actually that show is brand new we just uh i was doing a show with espn

and it didn't end up working out uh like, long story short, Nick and I started this new show. It's doing really well. And I built kind of a following from the ESPN show, and people were hitting me up for betting picks. It's something I'm pretty good at. And, yeah, so I give my best pick out for every card. And it's a pretty cool deal, man. Like, I've,

I've done really well in, uh, betting on MMA. It's the only thing I bet on. I'm pretty good at it. And, uh, yeah,

we've done it. I think this will be our third week doing it. Okay. If something, if something happens and that show falls out, I want to do a show with you. Okay. Okay.

I know we just met, but I'm telling you, I want to do a show with you. Okay. Okay. I know we just met. But I'm telling you, I want to do a show with you. Glover and... Blaschowitz. Blaschowitz. Yeah, Jan. I get my... Wait.

I'm getting them all confused because of Jan also on the card. Peter Jan and Jan Blasiewicz. Jan, Jan, Jan, yeah. You picked Glover, right? No. No, you picked Jan. Yeah. Okay.

Is that because – so I feel like – and like I said, I'm no fighting expert. I'm just pure fan. But I feel like what you see happen to Glover is someone punches this is gonna be so crude someone punches glover he gets knocked out as he gets knocked out he falls on top of you and wins the fight i mean you know kind of there's more to it than that but yeah i mean he he tends to get hurt first and then he comes back grapples people takes him down they get tired trying to hurt him trying to hit him i just don't see y'all getting tired uh and he's got real power he's got some really good power uh he's a champion for a reason i don't i just don't see that happening with him i see him if he hurts glover i think he's gonna put him away okay what about the fact that he just had a kid and make it having kids makes you soft

and does he have any business bringing his kid to the fucking fight i mean i love the guy i also love glover too he used to be a crossfitter i filmed with a few times back in the you know 15 years ago i want glover to win um so maybe i'm just biased uh i'm not big on the on that kid thing but everybody's different like tim elliott is dude i coach one of my really good friends uh he doesn't mind bringing his kid he doesn't anymore but he used to it doesn't really bother him you know it's it affects everybody differently there's no way i could ever bring my kids not a fucking chance um i'm not big on that you know whenever the you're talking about in the in the medieval times when they went to duel to the death you didn't bring your kids you know you left the women and children at home you know what i mean they don't need to see that stuff that not to sound sexist or anything like that i'm not saying the women have to stay at home

that's not what i'm getting at you don't bring your kids and stuff like that that's just anyway but i agree i agree yeah if you don't it's just man i'm not trying to have my kids see me get knocked unconscious or anything like that you know uh i i think i think having kids will make you soft over time and that doesn't uh i think I think it kind of – it just chips away at you. You know what I mean? I don't think it would be a problem here, though. Dustin Gregory, I love the chemistry you all have. Even though you guys just met, you definitely need to show together.

Dude, I'm giving – I am courting fucking James Krause like a motherfucker right now. I'm giving him my best. I'm glad you like the show because I feel like shit right now. I feel like I'm doing a terrible interview. This is as real as I can get. And James teaches something about MMA. I know. I know.

What if I could have him on once a week and just pick his brain and shit? Okay. You pick. So I want Sanhagen to win too. But I don't think Peter Jan. I mean, I know that you guys aren't supposed to think like this but i don't think peter yawn is human he's really good he's really good but i'll tell you what aljermaine look made him look really human in round one of their first

fight and i think san hagen can pick out him uh and do that for five rounds i think it's going to be a really competitive fight back and forth so what happened to aljermaine you think he got tired that was cardio yeah he's not a striker he's a he's a grappler man he doesn't have that that type of cardio to keep that type of that that volume of striking up for 25 minutes and uh san jane does though um can i can i go to the following next week at all sure fine uh what about uh gaethje and chandler i mean are you just first of all before you tell me what you think does that like do you get excited about fights like oh yeah all right so when you see that are you like oh shit oh yeah that's a fun one like you're not supposed to mix oil and or water in a hot oil pan like there's

there's violence written all over that i like that that's a fun one um i'll be honest i have i have gaethje in that uh I feel pretty strongly about that one. Is that because – is that emotional for you? Is that because – no, it's not like just Chandler's the new kid or anything? I don't know either one of these guys. I mean, personally. It's extremely not – even – I'm pretty unemotional when it comes to anything, but especially Benny.

I just feel like Gaethje's a really tough matchup for chandler i mean chandler has the has the ability to smoke anybody but i like the low kick from gaethje a lot and chandler's shown in the past that he has difficulty with that uh and i feel like as the fight progresses gaethje gets better and chandler tends to fade a little bit he's he's tough at the start but if gaethje can kind of hide behind that that high guard i feel like prolonging the fight and making it and dragging out is that three rounds or five is that five is that main event that's a good no it's not a main event if it's three rounds it's at Favors Chandler dude I don't even think that's the co-main event do you know that get out of here

no it's gotta be it's gotta be a no no they got they got uh they got the men's a men's championship fight and that um is that cold uh covington newsman yeah and then they got like a woman's a woman's belt fight and then i think it's that fight that dude that card is crazy. I'll pull it up right now. Way Lee and Rose, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. How amazing is Rose? Is Rose's – go. Tell me how amazing Rose is. As a fan, I'm just dumbfounded by her. She's incredible.

Both those women are incredible. I got to watch Way Lee and Joanna in person. I was front row for that fight. I mean,guns going off The whole time But Rose Rose is so dynamic With her striking

She's so elusive I mean she's a sniper Out there It's a really Really good fight I mean that That card is insane She's special right

Very Very Very good Dylan gave another 20 Dylan you gotta stop You gotta You're gonna to go broke. Let's go, Dylan.

James' perspective on life and insight as a father is amazing. I 100% agree with Mr. Gregory. Thank you so much for you both. No problem. Someone said the fight's three rounds, Chandler and Gaethje. Really? If it's three rounds, that does help Chandler. I will say that.

If it's five rounds, I leave Gaethje heavily. But three rounds, I think, helps Chandler quite a bit. I lead Gaethje heavily. But three rounds, I think, helps Chandler quite a bit. It's still going to be fast chaos, though. No doubt. It is. That's awesome.

And I almost feel bad saying this, but I really hope Colby wins, too. I really, really, really – I just like his work ethic. I mean, I think Usman's just a terror. I don't – no disrespect to him, but I just love – I've always been enamored by Colby's – I'm indifferent on that. I like – it doesn't matter to me. I mean, Colby winning would be cool just to shake up the division. He's a shit talker. It would cause some chaos in that division, which I really like, but I'm indifferent on it.

It would cause some chaos in that division, which I really like, you know, but I'm indifferent on it. If you're in the corner and when one of your fighters takes a fight and you don't think he's going to win, what do you do with that thought? Don't take it. No. Do you tell your fighter that? Or do you just try to push it away? Do you just, like, move on to the next thought? I would just say it's a really tough matchup for us, man. I've said that.

It just doesn't make sense. If you're going in a fight you don't think you can win, what's the point? Did you ever take a fight you didn't think you could win? Never. No. Never. But you kind of think you can win every fight yeah of course it should you already be at that place in the ufc yes okay yes yeah you have to be man you have to be so so

and that's why you see the weird things um like uh i don't know if it was vitor but uh i forget who it is but it was um tony ferguson and one of those big guys, you know, sitting at a table and you see Tony's not backing down. Who was it? Fabrizio Verdum. Okay, Verdum. Yeah. And they're going at it. And like part of me is like, yeah, like I guess Tony just has is in that mind.

Like, even if it doesn't make sense to us who are watching, he's not saying no to nobody. What? He's batshit crazy anyway. Like, like legitimate. Oh, anyway. Like, like legitimate? Oh yeah. Like, like you've hung with him and it's, it's not. No, like I don't hang out with him. Fuck no.

He's crazy as shit. Like, um, like a scary crazy. Like if you're somewhere with him, like he could just, a fight could just break out. Like one of those people you don't want to go out with. Not like that. Like he's got screw loose for sure. I wonder, I wonder if it was loose before fighting or if it got – I think it was before.

Like I met him 10 years ago, and he was crazy as shit then. But it's for sure taking a toll on him. Damn. Is the UFC the gold standard? Definitely. So when someone – but there are – but the best fighters in the world, could they still be over at Bellator? And we just don't know because they have to come to the UFC. There's some good guys over there for sure.

But I personally don't think that, I'm trying to think of a guy that's over there that is better than, like, look at Bader. Bader was a two division champion over there. I mean, he was top 15 in the UFC, but he wasn't, you know, uh, try to think,

I just don't, I don't know if there's anybody over there that could be, you know what I mean? Like I'm trying to see like if, and even if they were, what you're saying is, is that you just can't say it because there's just too many good guys at the ufc like are you telling me aj aj mckee is going to be volkanovsky or holloway or ortega

i just don't think so man like maybe i'm wrong maybe wrong right how nutty how nutty is that division too you have someone like Max Holloway who just— It's nuts. Nuts, man. It's completely nuts. Hey, what about that fight with Max and Calvin Cater? When you see something like that, are you like, hey, that shouldn't have happened? That's just too many punches for a fighter to take.

I didn't enjoy that as a fan. I started to get uncomfortable. Listen, bro, when you sign up for it, it's a fight. You know what I mean? Yeah. He was still moving. He was still there yeah it's a it's a tough one to call because he's still conscious he's still defending himself he's still there he's just getting hit a lot you know what i mean like what do you do you stop it you stop it when he's still defending it you know what i mean i don't know right it's a tough that's a tough one that that that um sugar shane fight

was the same thing uh he he fought that guy who took the fight at the last minute it was the same thing. He fought that guy who took the fight at the last minute. It was the guy's UFC debut. You know the guy with the big fro, the guy who's all the hype in the 135 class. You know what I'm talking about? Sean O'Malley? Sean O'Malley, sorry. Sean O'Malley.

Yeah. That fight that he had with that dude, do you know which fight I'm talking about? The green hair guy? Yeah. That guy started to bring it it round three, though. That one they maybe should have let go. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

Yeah. It's different. You know what I mean? Like, it's so hard to – you have to look at every fight as an individual basis. It's really difficult to compare. When I watched your highlight reels as a fighter, when I watched your videos as a coach, the thought came to me that you're really brave with your words. That you're not a – you take risks in the corner. You say stuff to them that – with a candor that do you ever wonder like maybe if your honesty could backfire or do you ever second guess what you're saying?

Because you are so brave with your words, man. Can you give me an example? Uh, um, this big, this big guy, I feel his last name starts with an M Marquez.

I think so. He was the guy that you weren't friends with and you slowly built a relationship and now you guys are pals julian marquez um and you're in the corner and uh you're basically and then there was another guy blonde haired guy you're basically just uh a lighter weight guy than that guy marquez and you're basically like hey fuck nut you better go out there and like knock this fucking dude's head off and stop fooling around we didn't basically come here you have no choice now and like you're just telling them what they have to

do it's it's almost like you're playing a video game but it's someone's life do you know what I mean like you're giving them a directive and like you have to be so sure I feel like you would have to be so sure about what you're saying to tell someone do it because like we said it's the fight game it's it's the end of the road I was sure and you got to be so sure about what you're saying to tell someone to do it. Because like we said, it's the fight game.

I was sure. It's the end of the road. I was sure. And you got to know, you can't talk to every athlete like that. But I know Julian and I know I can talk to him like that. And I know that's what he needed to hear. And that was the reality. The reality was, as soon as I walked back to the corner, I said, you got to knock him out or don't fucking count.

And that was where we were at. We were going to lose if we didn't finish him. You know what I mean? So that's what he needed to hear. whether he wanted to hear that or not, that's on him. You know, my job is not to, my job is to coach the athlete to the, to the best possible chance of success in that fight. And, uh, I know my, I know my athletes really well, and I know which ones can handle harsh talk and which ones can't Julian can.

And, uh, I knew that and I knew that he, we needed to finish or we were going to lose. And that's, so yeah, I, I,

I was a hundred percent confident in saying that. Has it backfired on me before? I'm sure it has. Uh, but I don't really, it's, it's one of the fights more times than it's backfire i mean i can tell you that right now it's one of the fights we were down in more times than not so on my podcast i say

a lot and on my instagram i tell people listen you fat motherfuckers you better stop eating added sugar and refined carbohydrates no one who doesn't eat added sugar refined carbohydrates has died from covid not one not one fucking healthy person has died so you fat fuckers better get the fucking work start showing some discipline quit drinking soda and get on scale and my wife's like hey man like that's a bit harsh man calling those people fat like and i'm like dude it's life or death now it's not like i'm not i'm if, if you need like your handheld, like I'm not,

then I'm not the right podcast or the right Instagram account for you. But like, it's serious. I mean, they have the choice to choose you though. Yes, yes, yes.

And your fighters have the choice to choose you. Yeah. And if they don't like what I'm saying, they can get the fuck down the road. Yeah. Do not. And you, and it sounds like from the videos I've seen,

um, of your, of, of the gym, you make that very clear in the gym. Very clear. Very fucking clear. And listen, I mean, what am I supposed to say? I'm supposed to go in the corner and be like, you know, maybe we should probably try to finish this guy because we might be down.

That's not leadership. That's not leadership. That's not leadership. You know what I mean? Like, that's not leadership. That's not leadership. That's not leadership. You know what I mean? Like that's not a coach. That's not – there's no confidence in that. You know what I mean? Successful people are confident in their decisions.

They make quick decisions confidently. You know, that's just – that's a – Say that line again. Say that line again. Successful people make quick decisions confidently. You said something in an interview that I've only heard another maybe i like you so much because you say so many great things that i say um you said that um you like being led you like you're the kind of person and i love being led i love being around good leaders people love people

crave good leadership yeah i love good leadership i had some amazing i had some amazing leaders in my last job and i was just like one in particular and and you know what's interesting he was a military guy he was a seal guy a seal team six guy and the thing is is every he came from a place where every decision was like life or death right i don't know if every decision but that's how i romanticize it in my own head and like so i liked it there was no gray area there was no niceties there was no like hey motherfucker was no niceties there was no like hey motherfucker stand there if someone comes in without a wristband tell them to go away and be here for the next 20 minutes and then move over to this position and like i just knew what to

do yeah like right yeah i mean i nobody nobody's gonna if you if people sit people have an automatic bullshit detector wired in their brain and if they don't feel like you're delivering the information confidently, they're not going to trust you. Like they're not going to trust you. So listen, man, regardless of if I believe it or not, you're getting it like I fucking believe it. You know what I mean? And I do believe it. Nine point nine times out of 10. I believe what I tell these guys and I'm very honest with them and you know that i think that's i think we trust each other they trust me to give them the correct information so whenever i deliver it to them i gotta deliver it to them with very with clarity there can't be any that we're this is fighting you know i mean we're fucking fist fighting man this isn't

this isn't a play we're not running plays not as a basketball play it's not a fucking passing route like i'm trying to hurt this person you know what i mean like and that's that's the reality of it and you can't compare other sports and shit like that to fighting because this is not a fucking sport man like they've they've uh you use the term romanticized it into a sport it's not a sport it's the fucking most primitive goddamn thing since mankind like we're trying to kill each other here it's a it's a simulated murder is what we're doing i like the way in one interview you said so you drive a nicer car than me and your girlfriend's prettier than mine but i can beat you up yeah it's done i win yeah or i did beat you up. How do you, what, how do you not damage your child's bullshit radar? So like

you have kids, how do you make it so that your kids, you can keep that bullshit radar intact in them? I keep their, just their awareness intact or cultivate it. If it doesn't, maybe, maybe, maybe I'm, maybe I'm misrepresenting it, mischaracterizing it. Maybe it's not about keeping it intact, but it's about cultivating someone who's in touch with that shit. I think being honest with them. I think being honest with them. I don't press my kids on it. My life is not my kids' life. I try to teach them things that I feel like are important in life, not that are important to me, that are important in life. And they're able to take that information and do whatever they want with it. If my kid doesn't want to have anything to do with MMA, they don't have to. I allow them to create on their own.

I try to give them all the tools and all the information, and they can do with that what they want. I tell them what has made me successful and what I feel like is a good person. And those are my definitions, my interpretations of what good people are, of what success is, and what good human beings do. I try to give them that information, not by telling them, but by acting. You know what I mean? Kids don't do what you tell them. Kids do what you do, you know? So I just, i want to give them all the information and then they can do whatever what they want you know but i try to be honest with them uh as much as i can you know like i the world's a pretty shitty place to be honest you know what i mean like i try to be honest with

them and i try to give them the information and at least guide them. You know, I think, think for me, I look at parenting as kind of like, uh, I'm kind of like a tour guide. I'm not, I'm not necessarily taking them to go this, this, this, this, this, like I'm just, Hey, along the way, this is over here. If you want to check this out, this is over here. If you want to check this out, I'm, I am guiding them through life. I'm not forcing them through life. And, and that's, I feel like that's, that's how you create trust with your kids.

I like it. Um, you had mentioned that there was someone in your life about who helped you see the victim mindset and to shift your mindset. Um, was that person forced upon you or did you choose? No, no, they, they gave me the option and I was, it was something that I wanted, that I craved. I wanted to be better. This person had something that I wanted success and I had money, beautiful family, nice to drive nice cars, had everything that I wanted. And I, I said, what do I got to do to get this? And this is gave me all the tools. And I started doing it, you know, like I started reading the books and I, I form my own interpretations. Like he had some views that I didn't necessarily agree with,

but I was able to have all the information and go with that. You know, it was, is it someone in the MMA scene? No, no. Wow. That's awesome. Well, for me, it was, I was, I was in the workplace, and I wanted to keep my job, so I would just listen to this guy's fucking bullshit nonstop. And then finally one day I was like, oh, wow, this isn't bullshit. Yeah, this guy's on it. Like I'm starting to get, yeah, yeah, yeah, stopping in defensive pussy and listen a little bit.

I mean, however the information is delivered to you, man, you know, it's kind of irrelevant. Yeah. I just, it's, it's, it's, it's interesting that, um, that you knew that you needed to be better and you went to it. Um, you talk about your, your, your gym and your cohort and the guys wanting to be there when you see what's going on over at Daisy Fresh, are you familiar with this? Okay, so there's this – do you know about the Pedego submission team out of Mount Vernon, Illinois? You don't know about these guys?

Yeah, you're too busy. You've got to look these guys up. Daisy Fresh. Okay. They're basically just stormed. In the last 15 years, they're just slowly – I're basically just stormed they've in the last 15 years they're just slowly i shouldn't say stormed on now it's become a storm but they've worked their ass off to fucking basically take over the jiu-jitsu scene and what they are is is this fucking guy heath

pedigo and i bet you somewhere your paths have crossed um he's old school um he basically uh rented an abandoned laundromat in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Total shithole town. And basically laid it – covered the floor with jiu-jitsu mats and started a jiu-jitsu club there. And these boys – it's like fucking Peter Pan, James. These boys fucking come from all over the fucking country from the most harshest conditions, you know? Like places where you drink Mountain Dew because you got no running water in your house and uh and and they just trained jiu-jitsu there and now they got like world champions you never heard this dude the hillbilly hammer i'm sure the

the uh the daisy fresh thing rings a bell now yeah okay i'm sure i'm sure i have i i don't i'm not familiar with it but i i feel like i've heard the terms. So these are my words, not theirs. But these boys are fighting because I think that they're fighting because they don't want to go back to what they came from. Right. They lived in a trailer with an abusive mom, a drug addict, stepdad and fucking no water and no bathroom. Right. And no electricity. Like, I mean, it's some you can't even believe some of the shits from the United States.

Right. Yeah. And so you see what their motivation is. Yeah, they see an out and it's through this jujitsu thing and sleeping on the mats at the at the gym is no big deal. Right. What is the motivation like like for you for your gym? What is their motivation? Like I know you've done a great job with leadership and them, they need to be accountable to you. Right. And that's awesome.

Yeah. But, but is there, is there any like common thread between all of them that makes them like that? Like, are they avoiding their past also? Some people are. I think the, I think the common denominator with everybody is creating freedom. Freedom from whatever, financials, family, freedom doing what you love every day. I think people have seen the life that I've created for myself, and a lot of these guys want that. in the life that I've created for myself. And a lot of these guys want that.

And, you know, I think it's freedom. It comes with freedom, freedom to do whatever you want with your time. And then obviously they're doing what they love to do every day. I think that's part of it. Freedom is the answer. You know, whatever they're trying to free themselves from can vary. Some people try to free themselves from money tough past harsh conditions uh depression all walks of life whatever you know whatever it is they're trying to free themselves and they do that through an outlet their outlet just so happens to be beating people

up uh three pages of notes i've had you for 55 minutes. I'm going to bug you again. Tell me when you next time you're, you have fighters fighting. I have James Gallagher, uh, November 5th on Bellator. Okay. Dude, you the man. Thank you. Appreciate you for having me on bro. Sorry.