The Sevan Podcast - #196 - Michael Todd

Episode Date: November 6, 2021

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You got to give me one second. Good morning. Good morning. good morning good morning good morning michael how you doing good how are you i'm blessed i'm life's going good been touring the united states and uh getting strong. You're home, right? Yeah, we're going to leave out in six days to go out and pull with John, and then I got some other practices I'm going to hit. We've hit 47 states since the end of June, 16,500 miles. Only state we haven't been in the RV is Arizona. Holy shit, dude. You're on a mission.

Yeah, we killed it. Yeah. Is it fun? Are you enjoying that life okay so it is amazing like uh the northwest portion going through you know uh bad land south dakota mount rushmore yellowstone montana you know oregon coast amazing like you words don't do it justice you know pictures don't do it justice. You know, pictures don't do it justice. It's something you have to see for yourself.

So all of that spectacular. The problem is I've overbooked every tour. Like I'm driving 300 miles a day. You know, you ordered, you ordered two pizzas cause you thought you were hungry, but you could only eat one. Basically. Yeah. So, and I don't want to, I'm trying to make everyone, you know, Hey, can you come here? Can you come here? And I'm trying to accommodate everybody.

And it's just unrealistic, but we're having a lot of fun. We've gotten pretty proficient. Like think about it. We've never RB'd in our life. We bought the RB. We went to the state park one night. And then two weeks later we did a 4,700 mile tour. You know,

when I think of you, when I think of you, one of your characteristics that I think of is a kindness to a fault. Well, I mean, you are a very I've always thought of you as a very, very, very kind person. I think I met you for the first time in 2004 in Arkansas. 2003 at the Arkansas State. I mean, yeah. Yeah.

That was 2003. Yeah. Yeah. And then I held it again in 2005, downtown. Then I held it again in 2009. But yeah. So I held the Nationals three years. But 2003, I won the left 198 that year. My right was trashed. I ended up taking like third right or something. Do you remember who you beat?

Left-handed. Man. I can't remember. Do you have good memory about your arm wrestling matches? left-handed man. I can't remember. Um, you have good memory matches in general. Like you have a good memory about it. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You can pretty much ask me. I'm surprised. I don't know that one. It was the guy from South Carolina. It might've taken second to me. Chad silver shining partner. Um, cannot remember his name.

Fritz Corey. Maybe he may have taken. Dude, you're right. Yeah, it was fritz well crazy thing about the year is i pulled well i saw him recently like when i say recently within the last year at show up at a tournament you know i think he pulled my first crazy thing about that 90 2003 worlds is so i won the national championship so i qualified for ottawa for the world championships well i was like 235 pounds and it was thanksgiving well i wasn't gonna miss thanksgiving the net the weight the the world championships for the next week so i cut 33 pounds in five days to make 198 and i missed weight by four pounds at the world.

So there happened to be an opening in the 242 class. I ended up taking second at the 242s after nearly killing myself, cutting 33 pounds in five days. Dude, I remember that. I was there. You pulled, was that Ibrahiminov or whatever? Ibrahiminov, yeah. He's the one who got me.

I smacked everybody else really fast shoulder press, but he cracked me really good. But I mean, I was 198 pound guy who had 30 pounds of fluff on him you know holy shit i can't remember and that's where um travis had that fucking win against yeah yeah wow what a trip down memory lane michael how old are you 48 years old uh my birthday is june 12th so i just turned 48 like five months ago. So we're basically the same age. I turned 50 in March. Wow. Okay, cool. Yeah.

So you're older than me, 15 months. Do you feel like a little kid? Man, here's the deal. My 31st anniversary was two months ago. So I'm two months into my 32nd year competing. And I just don't know where the time went. You know, it's weird because I remember being the 176 pound new kid at the 92 Nationals in McLean, Virginia. Right. And here I am. I'm one of the old dogs now. But you know, no retirement anytime soon. I still don't think I have not reached my peak.

I've had i've been very good and very strong at times but there's going to be a version of me in the next nine months that's going to show up that's going to that's never been seen before um the the the u.s well the north american arm wrestling scene right now is basically um the being held down the three best guys are you john brzenk and devon lorette right not only being held down. The three best guys are you, John Brzezink, and Devin Lorette, right? Not only being held down, you guys are probably the biggest promoters of it. You're the three best guys. Is that correct?

Is there anyone else who's climbed in there? Dave Chafee is definitely one of the strongest arm wrestlers in North America. He just didn't have a good outing against me, and then Devin beat him, and then he just lost to LeBron. But that still means nothing. Dave Chafee's an animal. You know, you just ran into three dudes that are bad for you. You know what I mean? John on his comeback. I mean, you got to put him in there. He got, I'm going to get to the pool with him next weekend. So I'll find out where he's at, but you got to put him in there. He's John. And if John's motivated 57 years old or not,

and I don't think 57 years old matters. Like I said, I still think the 49-year-old me next year is going to just run through people. Can you still jump up on an arm wrestling table? Yeah, I'm 290 pounds, right? I'm 293, and I can still box jump an arm wrestling table. And I wasn't – I didn't want to take anything away from Dave Chafee. Arm wrestling is a weird sport for people who don't understand it is still um it's still stuck in the wild wild west meaning that and that's what's sort of

charming about it you can literally if you want to jump in your car if you're a fucking young badass or for old badass and in this this sport is still about driving from town to town and taking names and whooping ass this is not uh anyone can enter there's no like political body there's dudes all over the the world but all over the united states doing it but it's still about going into other people's backyards knocking on their front door and being like yo you want a piece i mean right i mean well that's what the tours mean the tour see the tour originally was supposed to be me driving around the United States, going out there on the table at Lowe's and Walmart Home Depot, just taking on all commerce. Right. Introducing new people to arm wrestling. Well, I started using Devin's arm bet app and put it on precise. So every time I showed up somewhere, 15 or 20 arm wrestlers showed up.

So I'm like, well, should I just start having arm wrestling practice? I just hit practices all across the United States. So we figured it out at the end of the last tour. I'd probably arm wrestled 3,000 matches in the last three months. Wow. Yeah, probably between 700 and 1,000 actual people, but probably over 3,000 matches. Tell me about this app. How does the app work? It's basically like Tinder for arm wrestlers? Yeah, I guess.

I don't know anything about Tinder. I mean, either. is basically like tinder for arm wrestlers yeah i guess i don't know but uh i mean either you just have your thing and you you if you want to put precise on there you can click precise and they would know exactly where you're at so i mean i've had people of course the rv's got my picture on the side of right but i've had people following me going i know this guy's gonna have to pull over and pee eventually so i'll just pull away until they see me like hey my arm wrestling it's been fun man it's been a lot of fun. But, yeah, you were talking about Dave Chafee. You didn't want to leave him out.

But, yeah, it's just so like with John's new YouTube, Devin's huge social media presence. And I feel like we're probably the second biggest, well, definitely the second biggest in North America on social media. When I say us, I'm talking about me and Rebecca because I couldn't do it without her. But, yeah, between the three of us, we're pushing arm wrestling pretty good. I know what Devin's doing has helped a lot. I loved his fight with Thor. I was a huge fan, huge supporter of that. And then what we're doing on the tour.

And then John just being John. I love his channel because it's the funniest thing in the world. I'm just watching him. I'm like, well, I think we're a lot. It's just fun to watch him. It's amazing. People just want a piece of him. The comments, 400 comments in a video, 1200 comments in a video.

I mean, the engagement and the way people want to interact with him. It's pretty touching. It is. They love him. Who doesn't, right? It's John Verzine. Like I've always been a fan of John. And like I've John. I've said numerous times in several interviews, I've won 23 world titles, 36 national titles. I've had a pretty good career, but probably the thing that stands out the most is when I became John and Ron's peers. you do you know it's those things that meant more to me than you know the world titles and national titles whatever just because you looked up for those guys for so long and then when they you

know consider you their their peer their equal whatever and then asking for your advice was kind of cool i saw um since since john sort of got back into it and uh youtube has put all you guys back in my algorithm i've seen ron a few times and he's still just this beautiful specimen. No, he's jacked. Well, I mean, him and Angie, you know, they're both real fit. So they work out together. So they keep each other motivated. But yeah, Ron's dangerous.

So we're going to have a, uh, so when John pulls Devin, we decided we're going to go and do like a watch party here and a big arm wrestling practice. And I told Ron about it and he's going to come down and be here as well. So that should be an awesome day. You know, we'll get some super matches going. I mean, I don't know if you've seen my gym on anything,

but I have the Mecca of arm wrestling training and, you know, just the coolest. I'm so blessed to have this, but my grandbabies think it's like the coolest indoor playground ever. So they just love it. Your, your boys would love this too.

Yeah. You're you're you're where were you born? Michael?vern, Arkansas. So about 15 miles from where I live. OK. And you've never you've never moved out of Arkansas. I've lived everywhere. You know, arm wrestling took me to Baton Rouge back in the day, Texas, Florida. You know, but home has always been Arkansas. And and how did you find arm wrestling? Well, I was a redneck from Arkansas, of course. And, uh, so I got into martial arts. I saw a karate kid told my dad, I had to take karate, started taking Shotokan karate. Then it was too far to drive me to hot springs. So he

switched me to Taekwondo and Malverns had to start all over. Uh, it was a black belt about 14 or so did a little bit of Thai boxing. What did you have to do to become a black belt at 14? Were you just going, where you were always, I mean, you're a pretty obsessive person. So you must, you were going seven days a week to karate.

I was in the adult class and, you know, I was, I was the one doing the, I was watching, you know, enter the dragon and watching the guy hold the board and speed break it. But I was the,

the kid that was, you know, 13, 14 years old, the speed breaking boards with, you know, I was just very, it was so I'm so obsessive,

just like you said. And we'll get to a funny story here in a minute about you and i but yeah so i started that and i always liked arm wrestling so i beat my dad when i was 15 and my senior year in high school i had english drivers ed and votec and i was at votec and they're like that guy was their second estate so we got on the cafeteria table when i beat him he's like you should go to this tournament it was a 1990 sling county fair i got my third place medal hanging over there so you were junior in high school senior in high school yeah okay yeah so that was it and then uh and the funny thing on a different note is you know rebecca and i've been together now a little over 10 years and she was actually at that same fair she was in

a cheerleading competition that day while i was at the arm wrestling competition we never met so that's crazy but the funny story about you and I is the one of the one of the biggest regrets I don't have a lot of regrets in my life I'm very blessed and thankful for the life I've had but one of the regrets I do have is not listening to you when you told me hey dude you should do this crossfit stuff back in like 2004 hey you would be amazing and now I have so many injuries I can't you know I mean my arm won't come any closer than that. So I can't even get to a front rack spot. You know, there's so many things I can't do. But I should have taken I should have listened to you and started CrossFit back in 2004.

I think I could have been pretty competitive because I'm obsessive. That's the biggest thing is it's very hard to outwork me. I'm willing to do the work, you know, you are willing to do the work and you are you. willing to do the work you know you are willing to do the work and you are you your training was of all the arm wrestlers i ever saw and not that i saw you know thousands but i saw a bunch yours was the most um dynamic most explosive most varied right you would go to the kids playground and just and use the whole i remember you climbing all over the um the swing sets and the jumping and the explosiveness and the lateral movement and the, and the, and the flying kicks and just all that crazy shit you would do the spinning kicks. It was like, Holy shit. Yeah. So like I said, it was martial arts background and I was never good at

team sports. So this is funny. I went to a very small school growing up, um, 52 people in my graduating class. So I didn't play any team sports didn't play basketball didn't do any of that but i could beat every single person on the basketball team in one-on-one wow because i just i would out hustle you like i would chase the ball tennis i could i could beat my buddies who played collegiate tennis but my biggest thing was all i had to do was return your serve just like armor i said all i gotta do is stop your hit once i stop the hit you gotta want it more than me uh once i return the serve you gotta out volley me you know so i just it's just really competitive have you ever had a regular job yeah uh i had so many jobs actually uh when i first started arm wrestling i worked at acme brick in malvern i was hacking brick all day

so about 50 something thousand brick would go through my hands to an eight hour shift. Wow. Yeah. So it was a lot. Did you choose that job on purpose to make you stronger at arm wrestling? Nope. It did. It did make me stronger at arm wrestling back then. Then I was like, you know, this is too much work. So I switched and became a night auditor at a hotel because I was always really good with math and numbers. So I would just do the,

the audit was supposed to take like four or five hours. I'd do it in like 30 minutes and I'd just chill and check people in which was cool because i'd work you know the night shift like 11 to 7 and then i'd get off seven o'clock on a friday morning and i would drive down to baton rouge and hit an arm wrestling tournament and i didn't have to be back till 11 o'clock sunday night so who did you pull with down there it started off robert redden's a guy that got me involved okay uh craig tuye you know he was me and craig we met each other when we were like 19 years old so uh he and i pulled a lot together we used to do 500 matches a night three days a week and i'd make robert beat me 100

matches in a hook every night before i'd leave damn yeah but it was cool and i finally beat him i beat him left hand in 2001 tournament uh champions in St. Louis, and then 2002, Unified Nationals. I missed 198 weight again, and I pulled 220s. And I beat Mike Bowling and beat Robert Redd. And it's funny because Mike Bowling had seen us, and he's like, well, I'm going to hook Robert Redd, and I'm going to top-roll Michael. And then me and Robert hit each other, and I top-rolled Robert. And he's like, oh, shit, I don't know what to do now. Because he thought he was supposed to top-roll me, but I top-rolled Robert.

Is Mike Bowling still around? He just pulled Fallen Heroes this last weekend. Now, he didn't do it. I think he took third in the 200-pound class. But Sam Bowling, his son, won the 231s right and left. Sam was living in Arkansas, but I think he's moving back to Missouri or St. Louis or somewhere. He's a good kid. I spoke to Michael.

It's been a long time time but he had just written a book oh really yeah you he never showed you his book he wrote never saw it huh yeah and i'm pretty sure i read it it was he sent me a copy and i read it it's it's a um it's like a mystery it's a really good book oh wow that's cool we had that. I didn't know you had that skill set. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy, right? It's a really, really good book. It's like a murder mystery, as I recall. I read it like 10 or 15 years ago. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Didn't know anything about it. Okay, so you started arm wrestling. You have these odd jobs. When I flew out and saw you, you had a really nice house. You had a nice car, and it looked like you were already arm wrestling full time. Maybe I was wrong. And you had a sponsor.

I want to say it was an auto parts store. I've had so many. Basically, my point is, and I just love this part of it, is you're beating to your own drummer. And I just love this part of it is you're beating to your own drummer. If someone – like if anyone's common sense was around you when you were 15 and you started arm wrestling, they'd be like, hey, dude, that's a dead end. Right. And you didn't quit. And now you're synonymous with arm wrestling. I mean I know there's a lot of people who think they're synonymous with arm wrestling.

But like I said in the beginning, in North America, it's Johnzenk michael todd and devin lorette and i'm not saying that there's not other great people jerry catarat or like you know who's been around mike salieris or or or this paul lynn guy is coming up but i'm talking about like people who like like you even mentioned craig toulier but like you have longevity you've Your, your, your social media is exploding. Your YouTube videos are exploding. Like people now, like you're the, like, if you're an arm wrestler, you want to know what Michael Todd thinks, like you said. And you know, there's, and there's other great names, Ron bath, Barbosa, Travis, he's a spectacle. He puts himself out there,

but even he's kind of, he's like, it doesn't, when I hear him talk now, he doesn't, he's not, it doesn't sound like he's interested in arm wrestling. I mean,

the actual, the actual sport of it, as opposed to being the promoter. Yeah. The promotion side. And that's what, I mean, seriously,

people are just fine. You know, I watched Travis. I'm like, Travis probably makes more money promoting this sport with his Cooper tire gig and all these other things he's doing. And it's a lot of work trying to be the best. It's a lot of work.

Like, Devon and I were talking about this when we were down in Orlando. And we both agreed the funner path for both of us would be just to go out and promote arm wrestling and compete whenever we want. Win or lose, it doesn't matter. But that ego, that drive to go be the number one guy overrides that shit. We know what would be easier. We know what would be funner. We know what would make us happier, but we both have that same path

and it's directly to LeVon. When I say I want LeVon, I want whoever's number one. Devin got me in May. He had a perfect performance and I did not show up for whatever reason. That will not happen again. That will never happen again.

Do you feel like you didn't show up when you're out there? In the moment, I thought, that's the strongest human being I've ever arm wrestled. And he was spectacular. Like I said, he had the perfect performance, perfect prep, perfect everything. But I had pulled my training partner 10 days before and was annihilating him. And Corey's like, I'm completely helpless. I can't do anything. And then I get beat by Devin.

I'm just like, wow, that's amazing because I knew how strong I was. Eight days later, I get home and I pull Corey and I can't get him out of the center of the table. Like I couldn't budge him. So I'm like, what the hell happened? Did I overtax my central nervous system? Did I do something? I peaked too early. But the guy that I was 10 days before was not the guy that showed up.

And that's not Devin's fault. I mean, he won. He's a better man that day. I gave him all the credit. And I genuinely was proud for him because I knew how much he worked and how hard he worked and how much it meant to him to get that win. That being said, it's not going to happen again. And there were some wars in there. Like, it looked like you were going to win some of those matches,

especially the first one, right? Well, I mean, I really just, after the first round, I went back for back and I know I'm like, oh, I'm good, I'm good. And that means, you know, I'm fine, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to win. And she's like, I'm good. She goes, oh, you're going to win? I'm like, no, I'm fucked. I'm not going to win.

Like, I knew it just, just like i didn't have that there's something about me that just wasn't there and it's it's unfortunate because and this is something that is that has haunted me to a degree throughout my career i i've i've been the man on several occasions uh didn't get the chance to necessarily prove it to the world like hey i'm the number one guy on earth right now couldn't get the match to necessarily prove it to the world. Like, hey, I'm the number one guy on earth right now. Couldn't get the match, whatever happened, whatever. But I basically, you know, been the top guy in North America for a while. And then all of a sudden, you know, LeVon won't pull me.

I get Devin to take the match. And then it's like all the hard work and everything I did in one match. Oh, he should retire. He's no longer a lead. Bl's no longer elite blah blah blah blah all that shit right and then it's like devon just was able to jump right in and as he has completely deserved it but i'm like damn it you know because like we just did that thing at the olympia and devon has the legacy hammer right now now devon doesn't hold any world titles currently but he does hold the legacy hammer you now. Now, Devin doesn't hold any world titles currently, but he does hold the legacy hammer, unless they want to call King of the Table a world championship. It doesn't matter either way.

But it's like I went from being at the top of the hill to in one day, one night, it all fell apart for me. And that kind of sucks because I wanted the opportunities. I wanted to do the celebrity matches to do i want to do a celebrity boxing match when i left dubai i told him like hey next how many how many followers how many subscribers do i need to be considered for celebrity boxing match and this was in february like well if you get to have a million blah blah whatever so i was trying to get down because i just want to do and it doesn't come down to being famous like i don't

want to be famous i just want financial security you. It doesn't come down to being famous. Like I don't want to be famous. I just want financial security. You know, I want to be able to provide for my family. So if a certain degree of fame provides that financial security, then so be it. Right. But I'm up for anything.

Like I'm up for, I'm doing castings for television shows, movie roles. Like, like you talk about just, I'm willing to do it all. Like, you know,

whether it's martial arts, whether it you know, whether it's martial arts, whether it's this, whether it's different competitions, whether it's boxing, I'll do anything. Oh man, you are, you are pursuing the acting thing.

How you would be a great fucking bad guy. Well, that's the thing. Cause I got to be a cult member on season three, episode two of a spot is bad faith. Right? Oh, right.

Right. Yeah. It's from our mores. Like, dude, if you want to be an actor you definitely have to look you got the build you should do it so i've got an agent in uh just outside of atlanta and i'm constantly doing you know auditions and stuff they're all

virtual like this you know um but that's that's that's a path i'd love to go i mean i've always said i don't care if i jump out throw a few kicks and ronda rousey kicks my ass just put me in the movie you know oh yeah yeah yeah of course there are those guys who you just start seeing i'm trying to think of the guy's name he owns a he owns caveman coffee i've met him a bunch of times he's got the beard and the goatee you know who he is he's a bad guy and he was like a bad guy like in 100 movies He was a bad guy in every Steven Spielberg movie. Why can I remember? Who in the comments can remember this guy's name? He was big in the CrossFit scene.

I think maybe he owned Deuce or he owned one of the CrossFit gyms in Southern California. Anyway, when I remember his name. But he has the crazy handlebar mustache. Okay. He was a UFC fighter. But once he got a few roles, it was just – it just it was a goat yeah and he's probably a little older than you i'm guessing he's in his 50s maybe he's even 60 he's big not as big as you but he's big guy how tall are you michael six three yeah damn you're a big dude well i'm telling you you

saw you commented on that picture that my post on instagram have you ever seen me that size no and i'm still fit. Like, that's the whole goal. People are like, oh, you're super heavyweight. You shouldn't care about being fat. I'm like, psychologically, I don't do well if I'm fat. Yeah. My goal is to be 30 pounds bigger than I am now with the same physique, if not leaner.

Do you ever fast? No. Have you ever gone 24 hours without just black coffee? I've done that many times. Oh, okay. But it's really, I do it more like when I need to cleanse or something. You know, I don't – I'm not a big advocate of fasting. I'm not saying it doesn't have benefits.

I just love food. Yeah. I'm hungry all the damn time, you know. So I do this thing where I stop eating every Saturday night. Okay. I can eat as late as I want Saturday night. Like if I'm up until 3, I'd eat until 3. But usually I can eat as late as I want Saturday night when, like, if I'm up till three, I'd eat till three, but usually I go to bed around 11 or 12.

Um, I stopped eating and then I don't eat again until Monday morning. So I get to sleep Saturday night. I don't eat all day Sunday. And then I sleep again. And, um, the only thing that I really notice is on Monday morning, I have no inflammation. Oh, really? And that's, it's crazy. Like I'm one size smaller and you, and your joints might like that. I mean, I didn't, I mean, I know they were no protein shakes, no nothing, right? No, nothing. I just drink black coffee. I let myself drink as much coffee as I want. And I do that every week. But if you were just to try that once, and I know, I know it's, it would be, I know now you're just on a mission, but I would be, I would love to hear your feedback to see how you feel oh tate fletcher that's the guy's name do you know who that is the name is not ringing a bell but i will look him up when we get off here yeah

maybe i can even show you a picture thank you uh matt tate fletcher anyway fasting the trip i think you would i think you would uh i think you'd, uh, I think you dig it. Yeah. Anything that's going to help with inflammation. Like, I don't know if you're aware of, I had some nerve damage. It's atrophied my thumb muscle, right? I didn't know that. Yeah. It was, it happened during COVID. I don't know what happened, but it happened during COVID and my whole thumb muscle that

was all thick and meaty went away in like two weeks. Oh damn. Yeah. It's crazy. So I've been doing, you know, know ultrasounds e-stems everything but now i'm doing uh dry needling oh that he stuck it right in my thumb yesterday that thing hurt so damn bad but uh i feel like it did like activate some of that nerve so i'm just working to get it back because it kind of shut down my pronation and uh my riser a little bit so that's not good

did that happen in a match? No, it happened during COVID, like just in those two weeks that I was. Now, did you know how bad I got during COVID? No. Did you get SARS? Did you get that thing? Dude, I had double pneumonia.

I mean, Rebecca's been a nurse for 27 years. She's like, you're the sickest person I've ever seen who's not in the hospital. And my doctor's like, as sick as you are, I cannot admit you. I can't send you to the hospital because you'll die from something else. I went from completely healthy. Oh, hey, that's a smart doctor.

That's a smart doctor. Well, dude, I'm telling you. It was he, both. We all knew that it was. I went from completely healthy to 14 days later in the floor crying, saying I don't want to die. I mean, that's really what started me on this. This LeVon, like all in 12 month LeVon go get as massive as I can.

Cause I'm like, if something that small can almost kill me, you know, I'm not promised tomorrow. I'm going to, I'm going to all in in the, cause that's the thing. How did you get better by the way? What happened? How did you get over it? Did you take ivermectin or hydrochloroquine? Ivermectin. We took that malaria drug.

We took, um. Were you taking shit loads of vitamin C, all that stuff? Everything. Like I was doing, I was on breathing treatments. Rebecca was doing percussion therapy. The double pneumonia is what was rough. Like that shit really got me. But yeah, she, her being a nurse and just a lot of people praying for me.

I mean, really, it was, it was scary. First time in my life that I did not, like I genuinely was not sure that I would wake up the next day. Did you have a, was it crazy body aches too? Oh my God. Yeah, dude, I was like, I would, here's the deal. If it wasn't for Rebecca, I wouldn't be here because I would have thought that I could just mentally work through it and push through it. Like I've done everything else in my life. I got up to go use the bathroom, walk from my bed to the bathroom, came back.

My heart rate was over 200. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we just, it was so bad, but I would have came down here and tried to work out. Like I would get up and like,

I'm gonna go, Oh no, I'm not. And I just fall back in bed. Right. But Rebecca wouldn't let me. And it's, I would have,

I would have had a heart attack or something. Cause I would have thought, Hey, I'm just, I'm just sick. I can, I can work out, you know, but that's, it was way, I would have had a heart attack or something. Cause I would have thought, Hey, I'm just, I'm just sick. I can, I can work out, you know, but that's, it was way worse than that. You know, did she get it? Yeah.

And she was getting better by the time I was getting bad. So, but she wasn't completely over it. So she had to take care of me, you know, like her mother is, it was an ER nurse for a long time too. So she actually, we had the RV parked outside. She had her mom come down here and spend a few days in the rv just in case she needed help with me you know did her mom get it your mom didn't get covid did she no she didn't no my my wife had it the whole my whole family got sick yeah and then and then we got tested and we all came back

negative and then a few days later my wife's's like, man, I don't taste anything or smell anything, which is so weird. And, you know, it's interesting about that. She said, when you don't can't smell and don't taste, you don't want to eat either. And I never thought of it. I gained weight on COVID like I couldn't taste anything. I mean, I'm like, if I'm dying, I'm dying. Pizza, cake and ice cream. Let's go. So so that's really fucked for your immune system, by the way. Oh, yeah. And then so she's like, I'm going to get tested again. And then she tested positive.

And she said for two days that the body aches were pretty bad. But me and the rest of the kids, we just – but I don't need any added sugar. I'm little compared to you. I'm like half your size. Exactly. Wow. Yeah. That's nuts. Now that I think about it. So, um, so when you started arm wrestling, was your family like, Hey, Michael, you got to like, did you have parents being like, Hey,

this is ridiculous. You got to find something else. Go get a job, go start working. Go with it. Did you have a lot of not believers around you? Let's go get a job. Go start working. Did you have a lot of not believers around you? Well, so here's the deal. My mother, in 1992, I told you I was working at the Acme Brick, right? And I had went to college, and I was on a break from college.

And so I was working there. And she comes and watches me at the Malvern Brick Fest, which is this, you know, having a brick, brick, brick cap in the world, whatever. And she sees me just destroyed every weight class. I got pulled 176, 200, 200 or whatever. I went everything right. And I remember my mom saying, well, I think you found what you're good at, you know. And she was like manual labor and arm wrestling. I'm like, hell, it's a manual labor.

But it was pretty funny and then i actually was going back to college that year um and it was either pay for a semester of college or buy my ticket to the national championships in mclean virginia and i chose to go to mclean virginia wow and that was it for college then you just dropped out of college no i went back and i did another year or so but i was arm wrestling all the time you know but um have you what's the most you've arm wrestled in a year have you ever arm wrestled every month oh god okay so i here's the deal talking about sponsors and you know you're talking about me on sponsors i was always a hustler right like i was gonna go get it i felt like it wasn't like hey my hands out give me some money it was I felt like, and it wasn't like, Hey, my hands out, give me some money. It was,

I felt like I was giving value to, to my sponsors. Right. So, um, back then this before internet, you know, I'd go do a tournament. I'd come back home. I'd call the local paper. I would give my results, tell them, you know, thank my sponsors, blah, blah, blah, blah. I would print like 10 shirts up and have the sponsors logos on them. And I'll tell you in a minute about how that went. So this was in 2000. I had a sponsor the end of the year i pulled 26 tournaments in 2000 i pulled 35 in 2001 wow and you would go back then it was just in the it was just in the united states yeah 2001 i didn't leave the country um but yeah it was i literally would hop in a car so i had a sponsor and let's say you know how we do it.

So there's four or five guys. You split the gas four or five ways. You split the hotel room four or five ways. Well, I kept all the receipts. And while my sponsor wanted the receipts, I just turned in all the receipts. So every time I'd go to an event, it might be $500 in expenses, but I only spent $100. So it paid me $400 to go arm wrestle every week. And then there was money.

So back then, I was making a couple, this, you know, couple this you know 2000 i was making a couple grand a month arm wrestling damn that's crazy yeah was anyone else doing that was there anyone else who you would see at every single tournament you're like oh shit it's me and these three guys not back then i mean since then i think tim lewis may have hit more tournaments than me in a year because that dude's done a lot but how i used to get sponsors this i tell people because so many people are like, how do you get sponsors? How do you get sponsors? And I'm like, dude, how many tournaments could you go to if you had an extra $5,200 a year?

So if you had $5,200, what tournaments would you go to? Would you go to 10 tournaments, cost $500 a piece, drive them, whatever? I said, check this out. Because if you go ask somebody for $500 or $1,000, it's very easy for them to say no. I said, go find 10 businesses in your local area. You've got to go back. This was 20 years ago. And tell them you'll get 10 shirts printed, put the logos on it, and after each event, you'll come back, you know, get the paper to write up a story.

Or if they ever have a special event, you'll bring out your armrest on the table, do a beat the champ. But tell them, hey, it's only $10 a week. $10 a week. And get 10 people. You can say, I can come pick it up every Friday. Or if you want to come by once a month, whatever, whatever's easiest for you. I don't want to inconvenience you. I just really appreciate you supporting me. Well, you got 10 people. No one's going to say no to $10 a week. I mean, they're losing that much in a cash register, right?

So it's 520 bucks, 10 people, $5,200 a year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And. Yeah. And then a little time I, I, when I came out and filmed with you, um, we went and visited all your sponsors and you were great with them and you made sure that like you said, that you gave them value. It wasn't just about getting the money from them and, and, and, and splitting. Well, I mean, that's where I'm at.

Travis is good like that too. Embracing the money people. Man, Travis, if he, if you hire travis for a job he does a phenomenal job i mean he just he does it now outside of that travis may not be the guy you want to trust the most but i'm telling you you hire him for a job the man's gonna do his job did you go did you go to that tournament last month where him and devin went and it just, the whole thing fell apart. Nothing fell apart. The tournament was great. Oh, it did.

It did happen. Oh yeah. And were you there for that? Oh, I was, I was probably contacted before anybody was Travis. Like he cut out after his first day and then he didn't show up for the second day.

But me and Devin were commentators and we shot some, like some commercial footage. It's supposed to start airing Thanksgiving week. There'll be five episodes on NBC sports. Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad to hear that. Okay. I'm sorry for misrepresenting that.

I just remember calling Devin and him being, I'm him being like, oh man, this is like, we're doing some last minute patches to this thing. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean,

it was, uh, you know, and people are like, why didn't you tell more people? Why didn't you tell more people? For one, if we'd had 10 more people, we wouldn't have finished in the time that was allotted for us, right?

Because people thought it was an arm wrestling tournament. It was an arm wrestling tournament, but it was a cinematic production. They're putting on, they're filming the thing that's going to be in five different one-hour episodes, right? So the arm wrestling was just kind of like pulling John, the event at the end. Everything else is buildup and characters and all that, right? So it wasn't about the arm wrestling event it was about developing characters for these five shows right event was a culmination of this whole thing and and did you and devin pull in that event i'm not each other

but just in general did you guys pull no no uh dave dave won right cody merit one left we were we were paid to commentate people like because like, because it paid $10,000 right-handed and $5,000 left-handed. And people were like, why are you not competing? I'm like, I got a pretty good gig to commentate. You know what I'm saying? But so. When you do that, are you chomping at the bit to get in there? And you're like, no, this is fine.

I had just pulled those 3,000 matches in three months. Now, when Devin and I got there, I got there Wednesday night, and he and I ended up getting on the table, but we didn't film anything. And, you know, both of us having big social media platforms. Everybody wants to see the footage. Everybody wants to see the footage. But we got to kind of just enjoy it, you know, for once and just get on the table and bang. And that was a lot of fun.

Do you guys say that to each other before you get there and you're like, hey, let's just not film this? Like, is it kind of like a gentleman's agreement? Well, that one was. I mean, it was just how did that go exactly honey i was like she said i just said hey we don't have to film this let's just do some pulling and then what about all the other people around who are just fucking so excited to see you and everyone's got their phones out and shit you just tell them to hey guys chill we're just well we had the place pretty well empty when it was just me and him. It was Wednesday night. No one else was there yet. I'm traveling. Have you seen my RV yet?

A little like Rocky and Apollo. What Rocky was that afterwards? They go in the dark gym and they fucking... Yeah, Rocky 3. It was kind of like that. We had some really good matches. It was a lot of fun. Like I said, we both have a similar path and it's going after that world number one.

So if he pulls LeVon and he beats LeVon, then I'm taking that legacy hammer back from Devin. If LeVon beats Devin, I'm taking the legacy hammer from LeVon. So I really don't think anybody's going to stop me with this type of training and prep and supplementation. I really think that this is going to take me to a level that very few people, if any, have ever been in. I want to emphasize to people again,

and maybe you could help me explain it because I don't even fully understand it, but this is a sport probably where the athletes all respect each other at the top more than most sports because the hustle is real and and you have to work as a team together even with your biggest um competitors like like first of all you need someone to compete but second of all it's like still this thing is still so grassroots it's still so raw and so you and devin can't be um the competition has to stay on the table and then everything else has to be working together right right so i mean i genuinely

believe we're on the cusp of something very big with with arm wrestling um just because covid really helped us out i mean people went to youtube and started watching arm wrestling ah and uh there's a lot of things. I live in this small town, Hot Springs, Arkansas. Within 30 miles of my house, there's 100,000 people. Probably less than 500 people knew who I was up until COVID, right? Now, if we go out anywhere, someone recognizes me. Wow.

Okay. Whether it's Arkansas, whether it's anywhere. Like, if we are out, I walk into Planet Fitness, someone recognizes me wow okay whether it's arkansas whether it's anywhere like if we are out i walk into planet fitness someone recognizes i go to eat someone right someone recognizes me you know and that's never been a thing before so the sport is definitely growing um like i said what devin did crossing over with the boxing what we've done with the rv tour and uh stuff like that it's just the sport is growing. But we can't do that without each other. Like Devin and I, we try to help each other as much as we can on projects

just because we know that if like rising tide, you know, all ships rise, whatever. But, yeah, so like I said, I'm a big fan of Devin, super proud of what he's done. And it's just, you know, there's a lot of trash talk that goes on that never really gets out of control because we both respect each other. Same thing with him and John. But we are going to try to promote the sport as much as possible. And you want to win.

That's what I'm saying. The next time I pull him i will not be mr friendly guy you know i'm going i'm going in there very very aggressive yeah i i wouldn't want to mischaracterize it i i know you and devin i'm not extraordinarily well but i do know you guys and none of it is an act it's the only act it is is it's a balancing act between wanting to grow the sport but also like, I know neither of you guys are. I know I know both you want to win at all costs. Like if you have to break Devin's arm off, you have to break his arm off.

Whatever it whatever it takes. But I'm also I'm also the most transparent person you'll ever meet. Like, I'm not the guy who can not like you and then shake your hand when I see you. If I don't like you, I'm gonna tell you I don't like you. I appreciate if you get out. You know, I just I can't do. If I don't like you, I'm going to tell you, I don't like you. I'd appreciate if you get out of, you know, I just, I can't do it. I don't know how to be that way. If we have a problem and you show up to me and you shake your hand, I'd shake my hand before I shake your hand. We're going to resolve our problem.

That's just, that's just who I am. I've always been that way. And I'm, I just, if I'm, if I'm upset, you're going to know I'm upset. If I'm happy, you're going to know I'm happy. If I'm sad, you're going to know I'm sad. I mean, I'm very transparent. You can see whatever i'm feeling it's raw it's real um that's just me um 400 000 subscribers last time i checked of devin's youtube channel i think it's 411 does that just blow like when i saw that i I was like, I was so freaking excited for him. I was like, I mean, that's I mean, people like love him. Oh, my God.

Like to the point to where it's almost scary how much they love him. Yeah. And you in turn, how many how many subscribers do you have on your YouTube channel? We're like eighty three thousand and change. Yeah, that's nuts. Are you tripping on that at all? Like, oh, my God. What?

Like, I live in such a great time where i can just talk to people man we we like i said we're genuinely truly blessed uh we we really love the interaction with our followers or subscribers whatever but i'm so upset that i haven't got to 100 000 yet because there's that damn silver button you know my trophies and awards and shit i want that silver button button, you know? Oh, you're going to get there. Yeah, but see, the thing is, once you get that one, then the next one's one million, and that's the gold button, right? So I don't know how long that will take or if it will happen. I mean, Rebecca is the main reason our channel is doing as well as it is because she has put so much time and effort into learning, you know, learning how to do YouTube thumbnails, titles, trying to figure out the algorithm, all that stuff. Um, but you know, she, she's the one that deserves the credit, but we, like I said, she's my best friend and that's who I want to spend my time with. When I

do things, people, people give this shit all the time and think that, Oh, people need time apart. I'm like, she's my best friend. And that's who i want to spend time with right i don't want to see it with her that's why this being in the rv together has been so amazing because uh we've seen the most beautiful sunsets the most beautiful sunrises we've just seen just amazing gorgeous things and we got to get to have those experiences together so that's awesome um does she do you guys train together yeah and we've so that's how we met i was her trainer right and uh she got ridiculous like top like we went to crossfit games when we were out there with you guys and she looked like the crossfit girls right she was always just super super fit and uh then we got married and started

enjoying all the restaurants here so because i'm a foodie right so? So if I'm ripped, that means I'm following nutrition. If I'm not, that means I'm eating like shit because I'm always working out. How I look is how I eat. So we have recently got motivated. We did a really cool photo shoot together, like a fitness romance novel kind of photo shoot back six years ago. And we've decided we want to do another photo shoot next year. So we're both super committed, but after,

so I built this new gym and then, you know, we went to Dubai and we moved to Dubai. Then we went on the road. So I didn't get to go. Wait, you wait, wait,

go back. You lived in Dubai. We lived there the first seven weeks of the year, trying to Larry. Oh, wow. He flew me over last year. We spent a week and he didn't want me to come home.

He's like, dude, can you stay? I'm like, no, dude, it's Thanksgiving. I got to go home.

I've got four grandkids. I got four dogs. He goes, well, can you you stay? I'm like, no, dude, it's Thanksgiving. I got to go home. I've got four grandkids. I've got four dogs. He goes, well, can you come back? I'm like, well, if we can figure it out. And why does he want you there? Because he's embraced arm wrestling and he wants a world-class partner. Yeah, yeah. So like I said, we live in a world-class.

You want world-class tools in your gym, but this guy's up in his shit. He wants to own Michael Todd. He wants to open his closet and be like, okay, here's my training tool. Right? right i mean basically now he's got levon and iraqli there for two months wow so i mean that's him bringing me over and me living there so he uh devon went over there for a year and for a week in september then i went back for a week in november then i moved over there for seven weeks and that's how this whole king the table thing got started he always wanted to do his thing but i was pushing negotiating for me and levon right because best from the east versus best in the west world champion versus world champion that was the deal and then igor and

igor knew i was going to do it like i talked to him two weeks before and i get over there and he just starts dogging me and trashing me and with he i don't deserve a shot i'm like are you kidding we just talked two weeks ago you knew i was doing this you know and then for whatever reason they wouldn't let levon do it and then the only match that made sense to me from viewers and the more eyes we get on the sport would be devon you know so that's how i i basically went over there and got all that stuff going and then lose to devon now devon takes it's all good well what was the deal what was the deal with igor he just didn't think that i mean i know he's aer. He just didn't think it was a big enough match for LeVon? Or, like, what's the deal?

No, he thought it was great until I got over there. Like, I didn't know LeVon was going to be there. When I got there, LeVon was there. Oh, okay. So do you think – for people who don't know who LeVon is, this is LeVon. Yeah. It is a – yeah. I mean,

is that really what he looks like? Is that photoshopped? No, that's really him. So that's my objective. When I tell you, I want to be bigger. I'm going to be the same size as him without the excess body fat.

So he's three 70. I'm going to be about three 30, just as big of arms, just as big. I'm in when they say go, I'm cracking that wrist. I mean, that,

that is, uh, that is something else. He's special. He's got a 10-inch wrist, massive hands, hands bigger than some Plinkoff. And he's a top row versus inside puller, so he's a different puller than some Plinkoff. I mean, I've got three pins on some Plinkoff. You do?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah, me and John are the only two people from North America who's actually pinned him.ave chafee beat him on fouls but and i think they would have pinned him um but i pinned him once at the arnold and twice in our vendetta and he's pinned me five times and got one went on fouls man you're in a sport with some monsters yeah and that's the thing is when you met me i was 198 pounds yeah so it's it's many, many years ago, the evolution. But like I said, I graduated high school at two 15. I used to, I thought I had to lift weights to stay small.

I thought the only way I could have abs if I was, you know, this sub 200 pound guy. And then once I got over like two 10 and had abs, I'm like, well, hell, I just keep getting bigger. And then it was get bigger, lean out, get bigger, lean out. Cause I'd get fat. I'd get ripped. I'd get fat. I can't, you know, um, but.

Did you ever think you had a career in all these years you've done it? Have you ever gotten to a point where you're like, oh shit, this might be a career ending injury. Have you had anything? So many of them. Really? Oh, my right arm. So my left arm landed on the table behind me in 2010.

Uh, I went, came home and, uh, had a metroid in my right arm. The doctor said I had over 70 fractures in my right elbow. That was 11 years ago. In your elbow? Dude, this is the range of motion. That's it. That's all my right arm will do. This is all. Oh my God, I can hear

something bone on bone clicking. Yeah, that's my supination. That's as far as I can supinate. You mean you can't do this? That's it. Wow. That's it. Hey, does that mean that that thing can, like, can that thing be, if you put your arm on a table and then someone tied a rope to it and tried to straighten it out, it would break?

Like tied the back to – like the other end of the rope to the bumper of a car and straightened your arm, something would break? It'd break or rip my shoulder out. Let me see your arm again. Put your arm up again like that. Wow. Okay. So from there, you can't touch your shoulder with your fingers. I jokingly say that's why I have a beard. Oh my. And let me see the other arm. Can the other arm do that step? Wow. So here we go. So how do you train that arm?

Well, that's why the whole Kings move deal. If I want height left-handed i just pull my hand closer to my face i want height right hand i have to drop my body to my hand higher because it won't come any closer oh my goodness got you yeah so when you're pulling someone do you does anyone ever get you fully extended and then they're pulling against the bone if you get me fully extended i'm essentially an arm bar and i have to let up what i believe has happened over the years of all these injuries okay so so so just to be clear so no one it's not like they hit your bone and you're cheating if someone does open you up to your furthest point it is like an arm bar and you have to tap yeah i mean you have you if

you've watched my matches you saw me okay you got me like once it gets to that point i gotta let up what how do you know it's to that point you can still feel back there oh yeah once once so what i think has happened my tendons ligaments and muscles have gotten so this is as far as it straightens i've gotten really strong right there okay because my body doesn't want to meet it knows i'm stupid and i'll keep injuring myself so instead of getting all the way to there it's got really strong right there but if it gets gets to there, I got to let up. Theoretically, could they go in and clean that? Every doctor I've seen said the only thing that's possible for my right arm would be

a complete elbow replacement. I wouldn't be able to lift over 20 pounds. I didn't even know there was an elbow replacement. Yeah. I mean, my elbow is so much more deteriorated than what Devin's was when he got all his stuff cleaned out. My x-ray is horrific. Wow.

Yeah. And the problem isn't this. The problem is this. Cause you know how fast my shoulder press is or how strong my, if I could see, I can get all the way to here. That's a really quick move to shoulder press. I have to turn my whole body.

Right. If I could get this all the way to my shoulder, I think I'd flash everybody on go. I just can't. Yeah. You know, excuse me. Is there any way to,

to, to, to increase that range of motion? No, that's all bone on bonus. There's so much stuff in my elbow from all the fractures that that's it. Damn. I re I think I remember going to a doctor's

appointment with rj once molinere and the doctor and i think his arm was starting to not open all the way and the doctor told him what or maybe it was bob brown i can't remember but the doctor told me it's probably bob brown that he needed to or maybe bob told me this and i'm just imagining i was there but you he had to put like a roll of nickels or a quarter in his hand and put his arm on the table and just leave it out there like as a weight right and um and and set it on the table like this and leave it out there uh i don't know for like 30 minutes and then take the roll of quarters or nickels out and whoever it was you told me is that you couldn't do it and i said why i said when you took that roll of quarters out like the recoil was so painful it was like fucking nuts really so basically the doctor's idea was to try to stretch it out but even like

that two pounds of pressure or whatever roll of quarters is or one pound for like 20 or 30 minutes when you took it out it just was like oh the most painful thing you've ever felt in your elbow and i can kind of imagine that oh sure yeah i mean my i guess i get quite a bit of pain what it is is you just the pain becomes your new norm right you just get used to it so you forget what it's like to not have pain because you're always right um when you sleep at night do you sleep pain-free no no not at all not at all um but like i said it becomes your new norm it's just what you're used to um is is there is there anything you can't do with that arm that you miss like it like like is there anything like you're like like this is so

fucking bad because like i mean can you still drive oh yeah yeah i mean i that hand can't wash your butt like you can't wash your butt crack with that hand i can make it work you do okay the other thing is my wrist doesn't bend back past here either that's as far as my wrist goes so i can't even believe that's a hand look how thick your hand is it's gotten thick um so i can't physically do a push-up because i can't get into a push-up position i have to do them on dumbbells or you know my knuckles or whatever um so if i ever trip and fall it's immediately tuck and roll because if i try to catch something i'm everything's breaking that's nuts yeah i can't do anything you know hi guys mmt 2.0 world number one 2022 exciting times what's up phil what is that uh monster michael todd 2.0 ah but we said monster 2.0 is coming that. That's what this whole thing's about, something different.

How did you get the nickname Monster? Neil Pickup, 2006, NAL. We were sharing a room at Circus Circus, and I just finished a shower, came out, and I was 250 pounds, first time I'd ever been that big and fit. And he's on the phone with somebody in the UK, and he goes, Oh, my God, Michael Todd's a monster. The next day he announced me as Monster Michael Todd. How great is Neilil pickup yeah there are these people that are just like you can't even believe like how great they are and how cool they are man he brings a lot to the sport and he's still doing

his arm wrestling podcast huh yeah yeah yeah he just had john and devon on there sunday how was that i haven't watched it all but it was pretty funny john was taking some pretty good stabs at him you know he was pretty quick-witted when he was going after devon so you know devon's normally the one playing my games and it seemed like john had a good rebuttal for pretty much everything um so there's a there's a great synergy now right i mean in terms of media between uh neil you john devon like the the instagram the youtube i noticed you you you gave a critique of the the fight i didn't watch it um but the number of views was crazy with the half door devon fight oh yeah yeah so what it was it was just my real reaction

like i i teared up a little bit because you know i i know devin wanted to to be able to fight as long as he could and i knew how you know i know how hard he tried so you know because like i said whether we're competitors on the table or not i'm still you know a supporter a fan and i did you know i don't know it just that was it just me it's just my honest genuine reaction to the fight you know yeah what what what once again what a great world we live in where there's these opportunities through youtube and whatnot to do that oh hell yeah um did you and from earlier on in this conversation we started that's something you would have wanted to do i would have suspected that right you would have got in there with half

thor also i would in a heartbeat now obviously i would like ample training but that's me if if you gave me three months or six months to train for a boxing match i will take the same effort that i put in arm wrestling into training and learning everything about boxing um i'm just that guy right i almost enjoy the training more than i do the competition but yeah and it comes down to yeah it i mean and i people give me shit about this but like said, it's about providing for my family. If you told me I fight Mike Tyson for a million bucks, I'm fighting Mike Tyson. Right. You know, I mean, that's just.

I mean, at the end of the day, it's worth it to me, you know, whatever the risk is, it's worth it to have the extra financial security. So I'm down. Yeah, I get it. How would you fight with that arm? A lot of uppercuts and a lot of you know um because it'll be like i said if i was to uh what is it a clothesline like for wrestling that sucker's not going to go back it's it packs quite a bit of punch now one of the biggest compliments i've had from a fighter was in 2013 i was out there with john jones we still tell that big match of me and travis it all fell through but i was i was doing a we did the out there with John Jones. We still had that big match with me and Travis. It all fell through,

but I was, I was doing a, we did the photo shoot with John Jones. And he looked down at my hand and my wrist, my forearm. He goes, damn, I'd hate to get hit by that dude.

That's a pretty good compliment. I'm just saying, you know, but, uh, yeah. It's crazy how many people you've met on this journey, huh?

I saw the, I saw the pictures of you and the Duck Dynasty guys. How did that happen? What was that about? So Nine Line Apparel is one of our big sponsors for our tour. So just like I was saying about me hustling, I told Rebecca I want to go on an RV and I want to travel the United States. So I went out and hustled and I found some pretty good partners to partner with us. And I always want them to get a return on their money.

So they're on all of our YouTube videos. I've got a traveling billboard that's, I always want them to get a return on their money. So they're on all of our YouTube videos. You know, I've got a traveling billboard that's been seen by millions of people. So nylon apparel, they reached out to me after the Devon match, they came on board and then they started hooking me up with collabs. Like, you know,

I got to go hang out with guys for Doug Dynasty and eat with them and do both their podcasts. That was super cool. And then, like, I just got to do a little video, like, so I don't know if you've seen the video of me and the undertaker just on your instagram yeah tell me tell me

oh you hold on a second michael our internet connection is getting funky right now i don't know what's going on is that you or me? And I think you're back. Tell me about the Undertaker. Let me see if I can hear you. You froze. Yes, no. Yes.

It looks like I got full bars. Can you hear me? Yeah, now I can. Okay, go ahead. Okay, cool. This is weird. Okay, go ahead. Tell me about The Undertaker.

It looks like you're still frozen. I can hear you good, though. Uh-oh. Don't lose him. Don't lose him. If I lose you, make sure you log right back in. Just click that link one more time. Yeah, he's frozen. Good. Should I run a speed test and see whose fault it is? Let me see. He tests that. Oh, my goodness. Come back, Michael. And we lost him.

I blame him. Can you guys hear me can you guys see me can someone say something in the comments yeah this looks like a good connection this looks like and there he's back bam ah there you are hey yes sir sorry about that i'm not sure yeah i'm not sure what's going on okay so tell so tell me about the undertaker so you met the undertaker first of all where'd you meet him we met him at the nine line charity event in savannah georgia so uh yeah what is nine line it's closed it's a veteran-owned uh apparel company so they are they do so much they have their uh foundation where they build tiny homes for veterans, homeless veterans, and then they transition them back into society,

get them an education, all that stuff. They've done a whole lot getting people out of – where was it? Was it Afghanistan? Getting people out of Kabul and all that stuff over there. So they're an awesome company. But, yeah, so I got to meet uh mark you know undertaker we did a little skit it was pretty fun but it's got pretty good views but one of the cool things is i got to you know i got to shoulder a 50 cal rifle um got to shoot a

machine gun out of a helicopter um and got to do all this stuff with those guys so it's just been super fun and then i got a really cool gig coming up in February where we get to do a, uh, some guy was like, Hey, would you come out and do this event with us? I'm like, sure. He goes, um, cause they have like a 17,000 acre safari and you get to feed giraffes and see rhinos and drive an H1 Hummer through the safari. He goes, we'd like to drive a tank. And I'm like, huh? He said, would you like to drive a tank? I'm like, absolutely. He goes, how about shoot a bazooka? I'm like, book me now. I get to shoot a bazooka and drive a tank. Wait, what country was that in? That's going to be in Texas.

I get to do that. We've been so blessed with the people we've got to meet and the things we've gotten to do. Then Redcon 1 came on through Nine Line. Nine Line introduced me to Redcon 1. I'll get to collab with Robert Obrist and all, cause I'm one of their sponsored athletes. So we're going to get to do a bunch of cool collab with them and different fit expos and different events. So yeah,

just truly blessed me. Who are you pulling next? Who's who's on. Who? Gennady quick. Venia. You know, I spell that.

Uh, G E N A D I. Q V I K V I N I. you know how to spell that uh g-e-n-a-d-i q-v-i-k-v-i-n-i q-v-i-k k-v-i-k oh k-v okay i see him i see him yeah so he's he's the other guy from the republic of georgia he's got the most pins on levon but he's a big strong dude i see him. I want that match to make a statement so that I can really do a public push for me and LeVon. I see him. Let me see if I can share

this screen. Bam. There he is. He broke Devin's single curl record where Devin used to take that dumbbell and come all the way down and come all the way back up with it. Yeah. He broke Devin's record with that. He's got some videos of him doing some half rep preacher curls with like 300 pounds on one arm.

You know, he just recently released that stuff like two days ago. Super strong guy. And where are you pulling him at and when? Istanbul, February 12th. Oh, shit. Wow. Yeah. So I've always wanted to go to Istanbul. So we'll go a little bit early. but and where are you pulling them at and when istanbul february 12th oh shit yeah wow yeah so we get to i've always want to go to istanbul so we'll go a little bit early we'll sightsee and then so so like i said all the stuff we've been blessed with while we were in dubai we were there for thanksgiving so we went and got to spend not thanksgiving we got we were there for

valentine's day so we got to go to abu dhabi instead of seven star hotel this year for valentine's day so this next year we'll go to istanbul and then instead of seven-star hotel this year for Valentine's Day. So this next year, we'll go to Istanbul and then we'll leave on the 13th. We'll fly to Athens, Greece and spend Valentine's Day in Athens, Greece. What's a seven-star hotel? Insane. It was the Emirati's Palace. So there's two of them over in the Middle East that I'm aware of. I only thought there were five-star hotels, but Emirati's Palace, if you want to type that in and look at it, seven-star hotel, Abu Dhabi. Unbelievable. Private, white sand beach, mile and a half long, camel rides.

It's unbelievable. And because of COVID, it's like we're the only ones there almost. Like we got to go to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. So we've been to the Louvre in Paris, but we got to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. The Louvre in Paris was so packed. The one in Abu Dhabi, because of COVID, it's like we had a private tour. It was amazing. Yeah, I didn't even know that there was one.

I didn't even know that there was one there in Abu Dhabi. I don't think. Does that say Abu Dhabi? I don't know what. Yeah, yeah, it does. Okay. Well, that's just the pool area. Yeah, it was amazing accommodations.

But wait until you see the private beach and stuff or get a picture of the outside of the hotel but yeah that's where we got to spend valentine's it's just i mean who would who would yeah look at that it's crazy yeah it was so cool man i mean it's just the life experience or the funny thing is because rebecca and i first met she's like arm wrestling is a thing like past grade school and i'm yeah yeah and she says i said i was kind of a big deal. I have a shirt that says that, but I'm not sure I said that. But then all of our life experience, she goes, I cannot believe we get to have this life because of arm wrestling. Like the private, when I was a world champ for the UAL, Robert Drink, you know, the two times we've flown on a private jet, MGM sent the G550 over to pick us up.

We flew to Vegas, you know. That's because of arm wrestling. So it's just been pretty cool. I don't want to take anything away from arm wrestling, but it's really you. And by that, I mean you're doing what you love. You're doing you. You're doing what you love. You're doing you, you're doing Michael Todd. And that's kind of like the thing I,

I like, I, I admire most about people. You're just doing your own fucking path. You're, you putting your head down, you're making your, like there's all these roads over here,

right? You could have stayed in the accounting. You could have stayed in the auditing. You could have stayed in, in, in all these other places and just arm wrestle. Look, you went all in, you went all in and, um, and you're have stayed in all these other places and just arm wrestle. You went all in.

You went all in. And you're still all in, which is just fucking crazy. And every day now it's just building. And you stayed the course. Yeah, I mean, it's trying to just capitalize. I've wanted to take this arm wrestling career and turn it into something else, whether it's acting, whether it's commentatingating whether it's whatever right who knows what's next but there will always be arm wrestling arm there's no such thing as a retired arm wrestler i mean

just look at john he's back right yeah so i'm just trying to live my best life to the point where i've contacted you several times about madison i'd love to come up there to the crossfit game so they had such a good time i almost. We watched it all weekend long. We almost went to the 2021 Rogue because Big Laws was there. We was going to collab with him. I've actually reached out to Annie and Tia about possibly doing a collab or something. Rebecca's like,

honey, women don't want to be reached out to by men. Let me contact them. I'm like, that might make sense. I'm just thinking that, hey, we could do some cool collab. You could kill me in a CrossFit workout and I could arm wrestle all the people in the gym, and then Rebecca could arm wrestle them and stuff. But I don't know. So I got to go do a Ninja Warrior course on this first tour, which is cool. Michelle Warnke.

Like, I would love to do a celebrity run on American Ninja Warrior. That would be so much fun. Because, you know, like you said, explosive, athletic. I like that stuff. Yeah. I like that. But, yeah, so, I mean. And you're humble enough to try new stuff and, like, fall in the water or whatever shit happens to you. Yeah. I'm going to tell you. Okay. So, yeah. But yeah, so I mean. And you're humble enough to try new stuff and like fall in the water or whatever shit happens to you.

Yeah, I'm going to tell you. Okay, so yeah, but yeah. So the CrossFit stuff, love being involved in any way I could with that, collabing with any of those people because I think they're all awesome. I'm a huge fan. Like just watching Tia this weekend

because I was so bummed for Annie because Annie was just killing it, right? She was killing it. Yes, yes. What a great comeback story, right? Yeah, spectacular. And obviously I like to see someone dominant. Like, I like John just crushing everybody when we're not crushing everybody.

So I like seeing Tia just crushing everybody. I like Matt crushing everybody. But to see her come so close and then have that bad last event, I felt so bad for her. But then you watch Tia, who's already won, and just destroys it, you know what I'm saying? Because she's an animal. I mean just gotta respect you gotta respect that you know so huge fan of all of them and uh we love that's one of the things we like watching the most it inspires us when we're working out i'll just turn on some rogue crossfit and just watch these guys work out and motivates both of us but um what's gonna say i'm gonna say something will you drive anywhere pretty Yeah. It's just amazing to me. Like, you're – I mean, you just don't have any – you're just getting the motor home and go.

Yeah. I mean, that's still – at the end of this tour, at the end of this tour. So we'll finish that. We're going to go 10 days going out to Pearl John. And, you know, we're going to hit Tucson and San Antonio and Austin and all that stuff. Then we'll be back. We'll do a small one in December. But at the end of it, six months is over.

We've hit all 48 states. The tour itself is technically over. All the funds that I've raised, all the sponsors. But the RV is ours. I've got a paid-for RV out there. Anytime next year, maybe next year we go do a tournament, drive somewhere for a week, do a tournament, drive somewhere for a week, just take our time. Because you ask if we're having fun.

We're having a great time. But it would be so much more fun if the schedule wasn't so tight. If I could just stay. We're literally staying in Walmart parking lots boondocking because they're traveling so much. It's 300 miles, sleep,

300 miles, sleep. We're excited. Next year, who knows? Maybe next year we go to a tailgating NFL game and we break out the arm wrestling table and film content of me taking on all comers. Or I go to a fair or somewhere where there's a bunch of people and we just break out the arm wrestling table. Or we go to Florida and we pull the arm wrestling table on the boardwalk.

Who knows? I'm just trying to expose as many people in arm wrestling as possible and create some cool content and have some cool life experiences. You posted a post on your instagram of you at bob brown's training with bob brown's team i don't know if you call it his team or not and in the comments you said one of the most challenging stops yet um what happened was it because there were so many guys were there good pullers there what makes it how many people were there honey 30 some people at bob brown's practice yeah so there was a bunch of guys, right? So my first match was Jordan Steele because he was the top guy.

Second match was Cody Mayer. And there was a lot of guys. Bob, we knew I wasn't back to 100% because I just had COVID, right? And we didn't expect me to beat Jordan. But I ended up beating every single person at practice back to back. To the point where John called me and goes, John's like, damn. I saw that shit with Jordanordan i was really impressed you know like because i basically gave up everything and beat everybody from here you know so it was it was a it was a challenging

one but it's fun too and then and then that night you pull all those people there's 30 people there i'm assuming you pulled them multiple times um do you normally pull to fatigue so eventually by the end there's people beating you it's like yeah that that one was just a king of the table i literally just put everybody one time but i mean if you watch the match it's a 30 minute video because each match is a war like the new novice guy is giving me a war at the end basically right right right because i mean when you're pulling from compromised positions like that everything blows up real fast but yeah do you even feel your hand anymore at the end of the day like that no i didn't i didn't have much in them because i had the nerve damage remember so the nerve damage would bother me but yeah since then i've done

so many different um i've been beat so much on these tours and it's so funny because people oh michael's not even some guy literally they said because it's picture me and cory neither are elite michael's state level at best where these people get this shit i was like wait wait someone wrote that somewhere yeah i'm like because it's just it's so silly because people just don't understand you know they just have no clue or they'll talk about cory so cory i don't know how much you've seen of cory no i don't even know who that is what's cory's last name cory west okay we call him the gorilla because he pretty much looks like a gorilla right same height as me maybe a half inch taller oh yes yes i know who he is i see him on your instagram all the time i know exactly who that is he's enormous his hand is way thicker than mine

yes looks like a bear paw he looks like a great training partner too you guys look like you have a great friendship yeah i mean he's we're very very close i mean he's he's just part of the family you know what i mean um yeah and just one of the kindest good-hearted people he was 6 3 3 30 11 years old wow yes so he's been massive his whole life right um but someone will make a comment on him or see all that weight and he's not strong i'm like because he because todd beat him well he crushed todd the first match and then todd found the right lane and beat him the next three right you mean todd hutchins todd hutchins beating three three matches to two matches whatever but they can't even fathom how strong that guy is and i'm gonna ask you this have you ever seen anybody reach down and grab a master

lock with their bare hand and snap it off no i got a video of cory doing that really yeah because he did it at work one day he's at work and they lost the key so one guy went to get a set of bolt cutters other guys are standing around so that's what every guy would be doing just standing around cory reaches down and grabs it, snaps it off. Well, I tell that story a bunch. So about two months later, he's like, hey, dude, check your inbox. I'm like, what's up? He goes, well, you've told the story so many times, I figured I should do it again.

So he sent me a video of him breaking down the master line. Yeah, I've never, I've never, have you even tried that? Well, I have since then, and I haven't done it yet. You know, but I mean, who, who, first off, who even thinks that it's possible to even attempt it? Crazy. Yeah, well, I'll send you the it's possible to even attempt it? Crazy. Yeah. I'll send you the video. You'll be like, holy shit.

Like, he just reaches down and he just snaps it right off. What's the turnover for arm wrestlers? Like, is it – like, I haven't been in the scene in 15 years. Would I recognize people still? Are there the same people still around? I know Bill Collins is still hustling. i still see him doing the good work but how about like what's what's the turnover well how long do guys last in the sport we you have your guys like me you know who just love it right who just and bob brown bob brown still around i mean craig tuye's had injuries but

he's you know he's back he's always in the mix um rob bidgett came after you i think he was 2005 i remember him i remember him yeah but you know he's he's the the wa a champ right now but there are new guys you know the jordan seals the uh um who is that big-handed dude out there from pennsylvania well paul land of course but nor uh storm storm chelino the the wal brought a lot of new blood in um what happened to jerry cataract is he still around yeah man strong jerry's yeah um he just you know wal getting you know stopped because of coven he just hasn't you know, WAL getting stopped because of COVID. He just hasn't, you know, that dude's making big money working in the camping world. And he's having a good life.

But, I mean, I know he wants some matches. And how about Tim Bresnan? Is he still around? Tim Bresnan's committed to the PAL. So he has a PAL match coming up maybe December 4th, December 11th. I can't remember. He's pulling Givny Prudnik from Ukraine.

Tim's still a top five guy in North America, according to the rankings. I don't think... He's supposed to have a match with Derek Smith soon. Derek's a John. He's 6'8", 350, 360. I think Derek's got a good chance of beating him. I really think Corey West can beat him,

but we haven't got to see those matches. What's the heaviest you can be as an arm wrestler? There's no way. So it's not like fighting. It's not like UFC is 265 and you can't fight. Yeah, Corey was 440 when he pulled Todd. Wow. LeVon is 380, 390 most of the time.

375 to 390. And what weight class is that that's 242 and up well in their their particular organization is 231 and up and then and then there's no limit if you're a 600 pound dude you're a 600 pound dude that's it that's it that's why you're seeing this bigger version well actually that's not the reason you're seeing a bigger version i mean i just want to see what's possible you know so um look like i said levon does not look human he looks like he's created in a lab um so i'm gonna i'm gonna be that bald bearded lab creation guy and i'm gonna go crack it yeah um have you pulled him before we were in dubai together and because i was trying to get this, I was trying to get the sponsors to pay us a lot of money and they were

there. We'd never gripped up. We never pulled one time. Crazy. Yeah. I would have liked to have, you know, once I realized I wasn't getting the match,

I would have liked to, I felt like I had a lane. He could beat me on eight out of 10 of all the conventional functional strength stuff. But you know, my rise from pronation, I thought were enough to crack his, you know, take his bottom fingers off the back of my hand, slip at the strap.

And then at some point in the match, crack his knuckles past his wrist. Does he speak English? Yeah. Not super great, but he understands real well. We've had some really, there's a good video of me and him on my channel of us driving in McLaren 200 miles an hour. He's in the driver's seat.

I'm in the passenger seat, and I'm filming. At 200 miles an hour in a passenger seat, you basically accepted death. Wait a second. You've been 200 miles an hour in a car? Oh, yeah. Yeah, go watch that video. It's hilarious because, I mean, how did we both fit in? I was only 260 at the time.

But, yeah, his adrenaline's through the roof because he counted off in kilometers, 310, 320. You know, he's – he was in. It was fun. So you're just – you guys basically went to a track and two of you guys got into a McLaren and he just floored it? No, I was going to go rent a car, right? And then the guy at the gym was like, hey, what are you doing? I'm like, well, I was going to rent a Lamborghini or something. He goes, well, just take mine.

I'm like, what do you got? He goes, I got a McLaren. I'm like, okay. So was going to rent a Lamborghini or something. He goes, well, just take mine. He goes, I got a McLaren. I'm like, okay. So, um, he told us to drive it. So we, I took it out,

found a place because there's light. I mean, there's radars everywhere. Like there's film, everything's filmed in Dubai. Right. But far enough out of Dubai where there was a straight stretch with, uh,

with no, no cameras, you know, we took off. Holy shit. Did you guys pass a card going that fast we passed everything going that fast so there were other cars on the road probably i mean i don't know i can't remember um we'd either pass them or we maybe we didn't pass them as we've gone that speed but i took rebecca in it and i

probably got to about 140 150 and then we dropped her off and I went and picked up LaVon. I drove it and then I let LaVon drive 200 miles an hour. Wow. That's scary, right? Big time. Especially if you're in the passenger seat filming because if anything happens, it's over. Yeah, you have no control. If you're driving at 200, you feel somewhat in control.

If you're the passenger at 200, you don't feel in control at all. This match you have on february 5th where can people watch february 12th february 12th yeah um it's what is tentatively scheduled so john is pulling zolia there hutchins is pulling sasho um and there's some other matches but i think it'll be live on engen's channel holy shit so john has two matches scheduled. He has a match on December 11th with Devin Lorette and then he has this next thing scheduled in February?

Yeah, and then he's got a match with Ingen Terzi in March, I think. Or April. What's Ingen thinking? Does he even stand a chance against John? Well, I think they're agreeing on meeting at about 215 or something. And Ingen's over 200 pounds now.

He is? Yeah, he's big. But yeah, I don't think. I mean, if John's John, he can't beat him. But if John's off a bit, Ingen's top row strong, especially at 210 pounds, you know? I can't believe that. I mean.

Yeah, you remember Ingen at 154, 165, right? Yeah, and he's not that tall either as i recall no he's meaty he's meaty now but he's same age as me i'm 48 years old you get a little bigger yeah i wonder if i can are there pictures of him now i'm sure yeah yeah and is he still as gung-ho as ever about arm wrestling man he's as passionate about arm wrestling as ever for sure he gets into disagreements all the time on social media oh he's huge now i'm telling you wow wow that is really impressive he looks the same yeah he's just giant well tell me about what's going on with you i gotta get off here in a minute what's tell me about what's going on with you. I got to get off here in a minute. Tell me about Savant. What's happening with you?

Oh, nothing. I'm just killing the podcast game. I'm just fucking – it's nuts. It's absolutely nuts. I'm just watching – I'm having a blast. I'm doing them every single day. I'm on a race to – did I lose you? Did you freeze?

No, I'm here. Oh, you're so still. I'm just on a race to 500 podcasts, and I'm getting a ton of great guests. I'm just revisiting people. I'm enjoying hearing about people's lives, and the channel is just exploding. And I'm just, you know, I've figured out how to do all this shit live. We have a live call-in show. I'll interview basically anyone that – I just interview just people I want to interview. So like if I wanted to talk, I was watching you, and I'm like, fuck, I got to reach out to Michael Todd.

I don't have any obligations. I have no boss. I got fired from CrossFit. Oh, shit. Yeah, you didn't know that? I didn't tell you that? A whole other story. that i didn't tell you a whole nother story but basically when when the woke crew came in and canceled greg i they hung on to me for like three months and i was basically collateral damage

oh shit but it's been kind of the greatest thing that could possibly hand uh happen to me because once you're canceled you're fucking a superhero all your superhero superpowers come out like no one can say shit to me now i'm completely invincible i'm like a i'm a i'm like a snake on the ground i cannot get any lower and it's been uh incredibly liberating and i just raised my three kids living the dream and i was extremely frugal with my money and i'm extremely frugal with my money and so i've just i live a very simple um chill life but um i just take my kids to martial arts five days a week tennis five days a week um just uh you know skateboarding seven days a week i live by the beach i got fat house uh hundred fruit trees just living the dream buddy dude that's, that's awesome. That's awesome. And your movie is going to be awesome.

Yeah. I love watching that stuff, man. Yeah. They're just so, they're so, like, they're not afraid of anything. Like, they're fearless. No, they're game. Yeah, I love it. And like you, I'm just in love with my wife.

There's no one I'd rather spend time with. Like, I want to work out with my wife. I'm excited to go to bed with her every night. I'm excited to wake up next to her. I'm excited to stand in the kitchen while we make breakfast together. You know what I mean? Like I want to do, like, I never want to do anything without my wife. So that's nice to hear because it's so weird because people think it's weird to love somebody and to want to be with somebody. I'm like, listen, the one thing we're not promised more of is time. Yeah. I want to spend the time with the people I love the most. You know, like I've been about to do God things so many times like now I appreciate it, but I'm going to hang out with the wife. You know what

I mean? That's what I want to do. That's who I want to spend my time with. You know, um, it's just a blessing when you find that person, you know, when you find someone that it's so stupid that you, that completes you or whatever, but it just makes your life that much more enjoyable. Yeah. And that's, I'm happy to be there. Yeah. You know,

um, uh, on, on a final thought, when I first met you at that, at that, um, nationals at the nationals,

you had this thing with your neck. I just caught myself doing it like, and that whole nationals, you just kept doing this cracking your neck but you but now i didn't see you do it once in the show well see i do you remember that your neck was bothering you with that nationals man my neck is always so i crack my neck i don't have any times a day anyway but now it's like lean over something and i pull on my neck and crack it like that.

But, yeah, I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure I used to do that all the time. Well, Michael, thanks for coming on. Let's do this again. Yes, sir. Maybe as we get closer to February 12th, I can have you on again and we can talk about just how much stronger you've gotten and we can talk about the match. Yeah, I'll probably be 20 pounds bigger by then too. And what you're going to do to this cat. Yeah, man, absolutely.

Hey, anything comes up, you want to do something, glad we'll do something, I'm down, man. If you ever want to come out to Arkansas, you guys are more than welcome. Cool, thank you. But, yeah. Hey, awesome, man. Good catching up. Yep, tell Rebecca thanks for sharing her husband with us.

Yes, sir. All right, brother. All right, be good.