The Sevan Podcast - #68 - Mo Miller & Josh Bridges

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EP 68 - Mo Miller & Josh Bridges @MO_MILLA @SEVANMATOSSIAN @BRIDGESJ3 The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.

Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Thanks, Mo. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, easy day.

Did you train this morning? No. So my fight is in September, so I'll actually start the camp next week. So this week is kind of just getting back in a men's shape, but fine-tuning before I actually start the camp. So as far as two-a-days, I'll do all that next week. But will you work out today will you do something will you go running assault bike something yeah we spar today we have practices

at night so 7 30 is today we spar today at 7 30 awesome are you trained seven days a week is there some sweat that pours off that perfect skin of yours every day? I try and train six days. I need one day rest. MMA is pretty tough, so it's hard to kind of power through it every day. So you do kind of need at least a day. I'm going to give you, since I know a little bit about you, since I've scoured the web about you, I'm going to give you a little background about how we ended up on this podcast together.

Yeah, I wonder. 15 years ago, I started working for a company called CrossFit. It was very, very small then. And then about a year ago, I stopped working there. And so I was there 15 years, and I finished there as the executive director of media. So I started there when there was 300 gyms. I finished with 15,000 gyms. I was in charge of everything that was forward-facing to the public, whether it be YouTube, Instagram, ESPN shows, all that.

And I had a podcast when I was there. And then I took a year off. I wasn't working anymore. I took a year off, and I'm really focused on my kids. I have these three boys, right? Two four-year-olds and a six-year-old. And they do martial arts five days a week. They do jiu-jitsu and striking. And so while I was at CrossFit, I met a lot of amazing athletes. CrossFit is kind of,

in a nutshell, it's where professional athletes go to die or want to be professional athletes go to succeed. Meaning you're 6'1 and you want to be a wide receiver in the NFL, but you're just, like you have everything, but you're just not tall enough. So what do you do? You, you know, maybe you played like the new big guy in CrossFit. His name is Jason Hopper. He played at Clemson, but just didn't make it to the pros. Right. So he picks up CrossFit at 23 and he can express that physical capacity, just like, kind of like you can in MMA, but these guys don't want to get punched in the face. Right. Right. So, or maybe they don't want to punch someone in the face. I don't know. So while I was there, I met tons of amazing athletes and CrossFit's huge in the military because one of the, one of the basics of CrossFit, one of the basic tenants of CrossFit is, is if

your life, if your fitness and your, if your life depends on your fitness, you should probably do CrossFit because it's great for general physical preparedness, like jumping out of a window, chasing down a bad guy, running from a gunfight, carrying a baby out of a burning building. So that's kind of, that's the cornerstone foundation of CrossFit, right? Picking up your grandkids, all that stuff. So, um, so while I was there, I met a guy named Josh bridges and Josh used CrossFit in 2005 to get into the Navy and he became a Navy seal. And while he was there, he became a CrossFit darling. Like everyone loves him. He's funny. He's easygoing. Doesn't get offended by shit. And he was, and he was great at the sport. He's one of the best ever at the sport. So now that I'm not there, I'm also been, became a huge MMA fan. First I was a boxing fan and then I became a huge MMA fan. I thought I was a huge

MMA fan. I'm really, I realized I'm just a UFC fan, right? I watched all the embedded. I watched every Saturday. I haven't missed a show in seven years. Like I'm just pumped. So there was, so I have this podcast now and it's doing very very well i'm 60 some odd shows into it we're in the top 100 and a bunch of categories in the uk brit and australia and i'm like man i and i'm interested in a lot of different stuff but i'm like i should get some uh ufc fighters on and my favorite ufc fighter is um jordan levitt the monkey king yeah and and before i always liked like you know the big names, like the Conor McGregors, right? That was like, I always just liked the big guys, but now I'm starting to really

enjoy, I'm liking different guys for different reasons, right? Not just the hype. So I had Jordan on and Jordan, I asked him, Hey, do you have an agent? And he said, yeah, I have an agent named Jason house. I'm like, Oh, I should look up this guy. Maybe it would be fun to interview him. And in the three interviews I watched about him, there was one guy he kept mentioning over and over and only one guy. They would ask him about Moreno, but who would he talk about? Mo Miller. So I'm like, all right.

So I go on to his Instagram account. I'm like, oh, shit, this guy will talk to me. He's only got 2,500 followers desperate he's as desperate as i am and and uh and so what's funny is um my so jaw with the and so i'm friends with josh and normally he doesn't co-host the podcast but he's my he's my boy that i i text with on saturday nights when the fights are going on right and now josh you know how like it's become this thing for people to box who aren't necessarily boxers? Yep, I've seen that.

Okay, so Josh is, do you know who Eddie Hall and Thor are, those two giant guys who are going to box it out? They're the main event. Yes, and so Josh is on the under, not even the undercard, I think he's the co-main event. He's the fight right before that. And he's fighting another CrossFitter named Jacob Heppner. So I'm like, oh shit, I got to get in. And I, and Josh wrestled in college and you wrestled in college. So I was like, oh, this will be cool. We'll invite Josh on too. So he'll be popping

on in a minute. So that's the whole. Okay. I got you. That's the whole. So as you that's the whole so as i as i dig into your camp i see you have the amazing coach marcus uh miranelli correct and you have stipe who trains at your camp and jessica i jessica for many years she was at our camp she recently moved to vegas now okay and and uh man so you're you're you're in it to win it. And as I did research on you, that's when I realized, Oh, I'm not an MMA fan. I'm a UFC fan. And now because I'm interviewing Mo Miller, I'm actually digging deeper. Right. When, when I watched the UFC, I always see, Oh, this guy's eight. No. And I'm like, how can it be eight? No. And this be his first fight. But now I get it right. Lfa bellator like i'm like i mean i'm embarrassed to

say i didn't even know who michael chandler was until like three months before he went to the ufc what a joke right so thanks for coming on and thanks for kind of forcing me to dig deeper into the to the world of fighting so what uh what made you like just from jason mentioning my name or did you like like my fight stuff all the well so just mentioned so i went i did a bunch of watched a bunch of videos on jason then i heard him mention your name a bunch of times and then so then i started watching all your videos and then i'm like yeah i loved it all although i really like your fight style um i have obviously a ton of thoughts about it. You obviously come from a wrestling pedigree, right?

And then you talk about how you did taekwondo as a kid. And so, of course, I'm like, oh, this is going to be interesting to watch him, like, his hands. And I know you talk about your hands a lot, like, okay, guys, you don't think I have hands? Let me show you something so um it's it's you and Jordan are the first two guys where I'm getting on the bandwagon before you're big yeah that's for us so I'm like and when I used to I used to think I was a huge football fan as a kid but really I just like the Niners and the Raiders because I'm from the Bay Area right so um and and I never kind of I never swayed away from that if they didn't play in the super bowl i

didn't really watch the super bowl but i watched all their games every sunday or saturday or thursday whenever they'd play but but fighting sort of becoming a little bit more it's probably i'm more into i'm more into fighting than than uh any other sport i've ever been into josh thanks for thanks for uh so sorry thanks for presenting us with your great presence, buddy Apologize, apologize Josh, Mo, Mo, Josh Nice to meet you, man Nice to meet you too

Mo, who are you fighting in September? His name is Brandon Lewis I actually can't tell you too much about him They offered me Him probably like three months ago. So normally I like to. So that's the longest I ever had to prepare for an opponent. So normally you get two months, which is July 14th in my mind.

You know what I mean? Is when that'll be the two month mark. So that's when I like to kind of look up my opponents because, uh, five months knowing about somebody, uh, in this fight game, like it can change opponents or a lot of things can happen. So I don't, I don't like to, uh, really look them up until it gets closer to time. If that makes sense. Yeah, totally. And is it with the LFA you're fighting? No, this is actually for Dana White's Contender Series.

Oh, wow. Nice. Yeah, so a chance to get in a UFC fight for a contract. Okay, man. That's awesome. And I'm sorry if I missed this, but how long have you been fighting for? So MMA, my first fight was in 2016 okay what's your background before that wrestling and taekwondo so okay okay black belt in taekwondo uh three-time all-american in wrestling no big deal no big deal where uh where'd you wrestle at notre dame college cleveland ohio

okay oh yeah okay i know where it's at yeah yeah yeah so you are you from ohio i was born in plainfield new jersey but uh i came here when i was like five years old canton ohio okay so where the pro football hall of fame is yep i know. Yeah, I've been there. I've been there many times. I've actually been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I've been to Ohio a bunch of times. Yeah, man, Ohio's got great wrestling. Yeah, real good wrestling. Great wrestling.

Yeah. So I wrestled a little bit in college in an NAI program, so not anywhere on your level. No. Yeah, man. Wrestling, it don't matter. You can find dogs in any division that's true man that's true i know that's that's crazy but um but yeah ohio always had some tough wrestlers we had uh we had our heavyweight in college was from ohio and he was he he looked

like a bowling ball but man he could do a gainer off a diving board it was what school were you at athletic he was uh lyndon lyndon. Yeah, Lindenwood is pretty tough. Yeah, yeah. Lindenwood got some good wrestlers. Yeah. The year I was there, we won NAIA Nationals. I wasn't the starting lineup or anything like that. But still.

I was just a practice room dummy. Josh, can you pull the mic closer to your mouth? I can barely hear you, dude. Sorry, really. No problem. You're actually saying some good shit. We should probably record it. I played badminton at lunchtime in high school.

It was tough. It was tough. I can see that. Those kids were good. Where were you born, Mo? Plainfield, New Jersey. And how old were you when you moved to Ohio? Four or five years old. i was raised in ohio and uh what was your first uh what was your first exposure to sports athletics

uh i got two other brothers so i'm the middle child so we play pretty much every sport i wanted taekwondo wasn't my first sport i want to say it was either baseball or wrestling and was your house non-stop wrestling with uh three brothers how old are you how what's the age range of that? So I'm 28. The oldest is he'll be 31 in November. And the youngest is 26. So we're all pretty, pretty close. There was a, there was a lot of wrestling,

bloody noses, pushing, shoving, all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It was a lot. Did that play a role in you being so comfortable being physical?

Yeah. Yeah. I always, and Canton is. Did that play a role in you being so comfortable being physical? Yeah, yeah, always. And Canton is a tough city to grow up in, you know what I mean? So having two brothers is always something physical going on, you know what I mean? So I think that definitely did help with the toughness and helped prepare me for MMA. did help with the toughness and helped prepare me for MMA. So are your brothers wrestlers? Are they fighters? I made it the furthest in wrestling college-wise.

My older brother, he went to college for football. So, like, in high school he wrestled and football, but he was better at football younger brother uh he was good and everything so he didn't really have a focus you know what i mean so uh he ended up coming to notre dame with me for a year or two but he wasn't he didn't want to stick with it yeah it's a tough sport man i tell my i my, I got my, I got two little boys. I'm, you know, I both got them into wrestling really young five and three. And, uh, I kept telling them like, man, it's a, it's a hard sport, but I mean, if you stick with it, you'll be a world champ, you know, because most kids won't, most kids will quit before when it gets tough, when

kids, when they move up a little bit and all of a sudden the kids are really good and it's like you know it becomes a like oh i'm i'm i'm not the biggest man on the block anymore right you know and man most kids will give up but if those kids that stick with it those are guys that become world champs it's crazy yeah not even uh not even world champs just uh just what wrestling brings you know what i mean yeah discipline like you said how to win how to lose you know what I mean? Yeah. Discipline, like you said, how to win, how to lose, you know what I mean? Yeah, man. It's a phenomenal sport. Every professional athlete that I've ever met has either said, I wish I was a wrestler or I was a wrestler.

It's kind of crazy. It's crazy. And I got blessed. I had no interest in going into wrestling when I was a baseball player. I played baseball. I played soccer. less i just i i had no interest in going into wrestling when i was uh i was a baseball i played baseball i played soccer um and then the high school wrestling coach came to like junior high and he was like he walked i walked past him he's like you should be a wrestler and i was like okay sounds good you know i went to the wrestling room that was really it i'm short i'm five five

and you know stocky so he's like yeah you, you should be a wrestler. You got no hope in anything else. So I was like, fair enough. How did you get pulled into wrestling? I saw that you used to wrestle 106 your freshman year. Yeah, me. Or 104, was it? What was it? It was 103.

103. They changed it to 106 nowadays, though, high school. So for me, my dad wrestled a little bit in high school uh so it was always in my mind uh and then uh elementary school i had a friend who wrestled the previous year basically uh brung the flyer to me like hey check this out and at around the same time my older brother was in middle school so he wrestled for the middle school and i tried the uh youth league that was around and uh and i loved it you know what i mean it went all the way up into uh high school but as far as the uh i wouldn't even say i was like a really like really a wrestler if that makes sense up into probably up and even up into college like

i was just like athletic so i didn't really have the uh i knew i was missing something like i didn't really have the technique like everybody like all the better wrestlers have so like when i got to high school i was super small i was 85 pounds how tall were you uh probably i don't know five two five three however tall you know you were like you were like malnourished skinny basically so i was uh i was uh younger for my grade too you know what i mean and i didn't get held back like my parents didn't believe in none of that stuff i actually didn't even wrestle the first half of my freshman year because my dad thought I was too small, giving up 20 pounds more to the kids that's cutting weight. We're in Northeast Ohio, so that's one of the toughest areas. toughest areas then uh halfway through the year my brother was on the team and he came back and said the team they lost to had a small 103 pounder who was like 90 pounds and then my right after

that my dad was like you can go to practice so i went i was like i think i finished that year like 10 and 16 but it was varsity so I was like super happy yeah yeah big jacket because I was small yeah I grow into it yeah yeah that's right why was can't you said you mentioned Canton was tough what's tough about Canton I think it's hard to like make it out there you know what I mean every it's a small city so I don't know it's like a lot of envy and hate it's hard nobody's like helping each other you know what I mean come out so like I don't know it's just rough area dangerous neighborhoods uh but it's a lot of good people there you know what I mean a lot of great athletes a lot of a lot of good people come from there if you can make it out you know what I mean and and do well

in life but I think it's just a small city not a lot of opportunities so it's not much for people to do you you've mentioned your father a few times your parents didn't ever got a divorce no they they had their ups and downs, though, like anybody else. My brother, he'll be 31, so they've been married 30 years. Incredible. Yeah. You see, like, you know, I don't know what the divorce rate is in the United States, but it's like 50%, right? And you see, like, 85% of the people who are incarcerated, they come from broken homes.

And, like, you can attribute that to, like, all sorts of stuff. People who get cancer. It's crazy how powerful that metric is to have both parents at home. Do you see the role? Do you see the importance of that role in your life? Or since you're in it, you can't even see it? Yeah, definitely. I know it's important.

I mean, I grew up in them same neighborhoods you know what i mean and a couple of my friends they don't have that father figure or someone to uh not want to disappoint if that makes sense you know what i mean so like having that authority like guided me and my brothers you know what i mean it's hard to raise three boys in that neighborhood, you know what I mean? Or in that city. So just having the guidance all the way up until I left the house, college, I could see the difference. Yeah. I was reading an article about you. I think it's a pretty old one. But it basically said that when you went away to college that you never went back home again because you wanted to train all year round because you felt the need to keep learning yep two two two part questions about that um how was

that instilled in you that like that desire to keep going uh to you know to not want to go home to keep getting better let's just go with that one where did that come from uh just my competitive nature and not wanting to lose you know what i mean i just off the top of my head i uh like i said i was small in high school so uh i took my lumps in high school uh so i never made it to state. Uh, I got recruited to Notre Dame is a powerhouse division two, uh, school that we can compete, uh, with most D one schools. So I had a guy who was kind of from my area. Uh, he came to the district tournament just to watch. He was already at Notre Dame college and he seen that I had potential, even though I lost.

You know what I mean? So he was like, hey, I think if you got in a situation like this, you can do well. And they won their first national title when I was a senior in high school. So I'm like, my team, not that good. You know what I mean? In high school, I come from a football town, a football basketball town. So when I hear national championships, I'm like, I want to go. And I didn't have too many offers just because I was in Ohio.

You know what I mean? It's tough. It's a tough wrestling program. And I was Division I, so I was wrestling the best guys. I didn't get whooped on. Don't think that. I just didn't have the technique that came down to it tournament time, if that makes sense. No, for sure.

When did you say you started wrestling again? In middle school or fifth grade? Fifth grade. But it was all athletic. Still. You know what I mean? You're a phenomenal athlete, so you were able to push through those times. I was the same way, right?

I tell my kids this all the time and say, you're going to come up with kids who just have more mat experience. And in wrestling, that is huge. It doesn't matter how athletic you can be when a kid's been wrestling since he's been three or five years old. And around the right people, like Olympic coaches at five years. You know what I mean? I never had none of that. You know what I mean? Yeah, right?

You were just a raw athlete that picked up on skills, man. It's impressive for sure to go to a D2 school. D2's huge. I don't care what anybody says. Like you said, studs come from all programs. I mean, I saw guys at JUco that were phenomenal freaks you know any individual sport it don't matter you i think you can make it as long as you put in the work but to go back to your question uh about staying up there i just felt that i was behind technically

you know what i mean to be on a national championship team and uh and I never wanted to like not start so like even though I was small I always started in every sport and growing up you know what I mean so like I didn't want to go to college and not start so I knew I was behind though so I registered in my true freshman year and then I just stayed up with some of the guys that were staying up all americans or just learning i knew if i went home i'd be like wasting the time i can to get better you know what i mean so i uh those four summers helped tremendously did you have an ac just turn on in your house, Mo? Probably. Oh, okay.

I just want to make sure I know where that little wind sound is coming from. Or the windows or something. If Josh and I are close, if it was him, I could just start yelling at him. But you and I are close. We have another 20 minutes before I start yelling at you. All right. That's all right. You brought up something that I also read in the article, that you were the only person who didn't win a state championship who was on the team.

Only person who didn't go to state. Go to state, okay. Yeah. So that's how I knew. Because even though we were D2, Notre Dame attracted a lot of state champs from all over. You know what I mean? So a lot of nationally ranked guys, like they always reloaded, you know what I mean?

So I had to figure out, I knew I was just as fast, just as strong. I just knew I was missing something, you know what I mean? Yeah, when you walk into a college wrestling room, there are no chomps in the room, zero. Right. You know, it's like, it's such an extreme, I it's it's such an extreme i felt like it was such an extreme jump from high school to college we're like we had actually a really good program i'm from missouri um and we had a good program we were you know the three of the four years we were i was

there we won state titles as a team and so like our program was really solid and we still had guys in the room that you could just beat up on right that just really you know they're just there to to get in shape but man when you walk into a college wrestling room like it was a in like the level was insane like every per i felt like every person in the room was a two to three time state champ yeah from wherever state they were from it was nuts yeah i definitely took my lumps i had a friend who won the um many years ago he won the new york state high school wrestling championships exact same thing he said he went to college he said he couldn't hang he said one year on the college team he said like exactly what you said

josh he said it was a whole different says it's not even like the same sport he says they're just savages yeah it was brutal i remember i remember doing conditioning workouts. Like I actually always thought like so I was in the military. I was a SEAL. And I actually tell people that I thought college wrestling was physically more demanding than like when I went through SEAL training. Really? It was insane. It was crazy. I mean I remember doing stadium runs.

We did stadium runs and we watched three practice teams on the field. It was like men's soccer, women's lacrosse, and women's soccer come and go as we were doing our stadium runs. It was nuts. Yeah, that sucked. I was like, this is crazy. And then we went into the wrestling room after that. Yep. It was a different level.

And I think that's what makes, I don't want to say, I shouldn't say easy, but the transition to MMA is going through that. You know what I mean? Because MMA, it's a grind, but it ain't that type of grind. Right, right. Well, yeah, there's just so many different it ain't that type of grind. Right, right. Well, yeah, there's just so many different skills that you have to learn. Yeah. And when you're working skills, it's typically not as exhausting as something like wrestling,

where it's just always just a grind. Yep. Mo, how old are you? 28. I'm 49, and I've gone through a life of vices. I had a drinking phase, and I had a smoking smoking weed phase and I had a chasing the girls phase. And like, now that I'm, I don't know, a few years ago, you basically just start getting rid of all your light vices and you start kind of living your best life. Right. Um, but, um, and at 28, I would have never

thought this, but do you think there's anything sadistic about how much I enjoy the sport? Like, here I go. It's Saturday. I'm so – like, I can't wait for this Saturday. I cannot wait. I'm going to work out in the morning. I'm going to play with my kids, and I'm going to take a shower. I'm going to sit on my couch, and I'm going to watch men in booty shorts beat the shit out of themselves from 3 o'clock to 10 o'clock.

And, like like what's wrong with me like what what is going on here do you have any thoughts on on the uh no i think i think we need fans like that at mma yeah i think it's uh it's a hard sport so uh because coming from our background wrestling he probably can tell you it's not too much support the stands aren't families you know what i mean it's families yes families so like a lot of people don't understand wrestling but like we didn't do it for that so but now i think uh i think that's part of the reason we do it is for the fans. What's your favorite part of the training aspect?

Is it, I mean, obviously you're a phenomenal wrestler. We all know that. Is it learning, like, striking? Is it learning, like, obviously you probably are learning, like, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu. Like, what's your favorite part of it? My favorite part is learning the skills. Like I said, I come from wrestling where I was just a straight athlete to understanding the techniques, you know what I mean, and what and what they're used for and what they can do. So, like, learning each individual's martial art is endless.

I think that's my favorite part is because I'm never bored in MMA. You know what I mean? I know I'm not the greatest in the world. I know I can get better. If I think I'm the best wrestler, try and be the best boxer.

You know what I mean? I like the attention to the little details each sport presents which uh which one are you like where are you uh enjoying it the most i guess uh which which uh which art boxing boxing yeah yeah i'm like i'm i've been i just started boxing about a little over a year and a half ago and i am yeah i've seen that it's it's crazy i enjoy it so much man yeah what do you like about it the striking the footwork the i think how how much for me sorry uh how much more technical it is than i thought it was yeah like i was like you watch boxing you're like oh this this isn't that hard and then you do it it and you're like, wow, it's incredibly, like, technical how throwing punches,

slipping punches, moving footwork, everything. It's, yeah. Yeah. For me, I just, I think it's something a lot of MMA fighters skip over. So I think it's an advantage for me to really get all the details and the sweet science of boxing because most fighters they don't go too in-depth

with their boxing, if that makes sense. They throw the one-twos and add a kick or whatever to it. But it's a lot in boxing that a lot of MMA fighters are leaving on the table. A lot of skills that can help you in MMA. From my perspective, I don't think MMA is taking advantage of it,

if that makes sense. It's crazy to me to hear you say that they would skip over it. It's always weird for me to see fighters who look like they're out of shape. Clearly, they're not out of shape. They they get into the ring but you're basically getting in the ring and someone's basically trying to kill you they're trying to fucking turn your turn you off right and to hit the off switch on your brain and so like i would think that you would feel this insane pressure to leave no stone unturned, right? Have your nutrition dialed. Have your boxing dialed. I just...

It's not that common. I think MMA is an ego sport. You know what I mean? So if I'm a wrestler and I'm 5-0 taking you down, you know what I mean? I'm on top of the world right now. You know what I mean?

So some people don't feel the pressure you know what I mean I'm on top of the world right now you know what I mean so like uh some people don't feel the pressure to adjust or the need to adjust uh others just don't like boxing like I'm not that's that's a true thing too uh I can see that so I'm not sure uh why they don't take advantage of it but a lot of them don't do you think it could be like they think like i thought before boxing you know like oh it's just striking it's just throwing punches it can't be that it can't be that complicated yeah i think where you know it is it's crazy how like you can see my coach is just like he's like he's like when you when you bring your arms out wide it's like i can see it all day right he's like, when you bring your arms out wide, I can see it all day.

He's like, I can see those punches coming from a mile away. And so trying to disguise your punches and things like that. Yeah, I mean, you're probably right. It's probably just that it's not that complicated. When you actually get into it, it's insanely complicated. Yeah. And I've trained with, like in my gym, Strong Style. Half of the side is MMA and half of the side is mma and half the side

is a whole nother boxing team so when it's uh like we do uh like mondays are stand-up only days so i can't shoot for a takedown you know what i mean only muay thai boxing something like that so like if they say only boxing i'll just go over there and box the boxers. You know what I mean? Right. So they humble me numerous times. You know what I mean? So, like, I don't like that feeling.

And I would rather it happen in the gym than in the ring. So I go with them as much as I can just to clean everything up. That's awesome. Mo, there's a video of you on the Internet. It's, like, basically a video of you on the on the internet it's like a basically a compilation of you picking i don't know if it's the same guy or different guys but picking guys up and throwing them down on the mat and there's one particular video where you pick the guy up and he's really high like parts of his body are up over your head and the commentator

goes i think he says something like mo better be careful here and why does he say that i don't know enough about wrestling is there a certain way way you can't throw him down? Oh, you're talking in the wrestling match, not MMA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not MMA. It's like it's old, some vintage footage. Yeah. In high school days.

In wrestling, when you lift them, you have to come down with them. Okay. Like, and I think your knee, they might have changed it. But when I was wrestling, I think your knee has to hit as well. You know what I mean? Yeah, so it was like your body had to hit, I think, before their body. Yeah. Yeah, before theirs.

And I can't turn them. That makes sense now. And I can't turn them and put them on his head. Yeah, okay. And you did set him down more gently than the other guys who you had lower. The guys you have at waist level, you slammed down. But this guy you had over your head, it was like WWE like you could have just thrown them anywhere it looked like and the commentators all mo better be careful here i'm like what do you mean better be careful here that

you can lose a point i was thinking the same thing there's a um do your parents have any concerns about combat sports, other men punching their son? I wouldn't want anyone punching my son. My mother. But they came to all my wrestling matches, even in college. So they like wrestling. My dad is a combat sports fan. He likes boxing, wrestling, MMA.

So when I first graduated college in 2015, so in 2016 i had my first fight so she was like you just graduated won't you go be a lawyer or some shit you know and uh but she know i like to compete so uh and she didn't know how good i was at it. So that's the first thing that come to her mind is like getting hurt. So I had six amateur fights, five pro fights. So 11 fights and I haven't got hurt, not going to hurt or punched in the face hard or whatever. So she she haven't really seen the worst of it yet. And you're undefeated, right? In all your amateur fights and your pro

fights yep you made a comment i think in college where you felt like hey i just feel like i can take anybody down did i say that i think so basically if i get a single leg on you or a double leg on you you're going down yeah do you still feel that way as you go as you climb the ranks yeah just you and wrestling uh once i figured it out so i i figured it out my junior senior year in college uh the game that they play if that makes sense uh so i understood the technique and i understand the importance of not just getting on the shot but finishing it it. It's two separate things. You know what I mean? So I really worked hard at the finish part. So anytime I get a leg, in college it's hard to get the leg because everybody got a good defense.

So anytime I was to get on it, I needed to make sure I finish it because it might be the only time I get it in the whole match. You know what I mean? So that's the approach I took. And as far as MMA, it's different scenarios. Like you can use the cage. So that can help them, you know, that can help me as well offensively. But yeah, I feel like any person I grab, I can figure out a way to take them down. I got a wide variety of takedowns. So it's not just a double leg and a single leg. You know what I mean? I'm really good at upper body throws, front headlocks, even low singles. That was my favorite shot. So getting on the ankles, I don't necessarily have to shoot the traditional MMA takedowns

that if you don't come from a wrestling background, that's what you will prepare for, a double leg or a single leg you know what i mean the basics of mma so like i kind of understand that if uh at this level most mma fighters are working on that defending double legs single legs cage defense so i'll i'll try and just do a variety of something they've never seen before if I can't get the takedown. Who was the guy you fought where you got that belt? Yo-He Rojas.

Yeah, right. In that fight, I saw something that I saw from your college days, and it was just tremendous speed that I don't even see necessarily very often in the UFC, that basically when you're wrestling with them, you're just everywhere at once. You're basically like a tornado. It looks like – and when I see guys in the UFC, even top guys doing jiu-jitsu or wrestling, you can kind of see the moves unfolding. But that guy, Rojas, you were just swarming him.

You were like everywhere. As he's even defending something, you're moving to something else yeah you were like spinning on him and stuff and uh yeah it was it was some incredible incredible speed he didn't even he couldn't get he couldn't recalibrate or get organized see that kid was actually a college wrestler too so uh he actually just fought in the main event for cffc so that's a bigger promotion right under the ufc so uh he's a he's a good talent but that kid was a college wrestler so okay so when i approached that fight i knew he could stop a simple single leg or double leg so what i do with that is chain wrestle so one move i'm assuming he's going to stop that but I'm already in transition to the next move.

So that's called chain wrestling. So I just assume, even if he probably couldn't stop it, I wasn't going to that anyways. I just need to get him occupied on defending that while I chain wrestle over here. You see that, Josh? I know I'm seeing something, but I don't know what I'm seeing. Hey, man, you should be commentating wrestling bro right i need i need mo explaining explaining the shit i see that i see something here i don't know what is going on but something is happening that guy is doing something i think i like it yeah i mean i mean you just didn't let him showcase his talents you were just all over the fucking place.

It was just like crazy. I'm like, fuck, this guy can't even fucking figure out what Moe's doing. Moe's just everywhere. Yeah, that's the, it was all about me on that night. You know what I mean? I'm not, I don't want to ever get fight of the night, if that makes sense. I want to get performance of the night or knockout of the night or something of that nature. Like, I don't want it to be a bloody war.

It could go either way. You know what I mean? So if he can't showcase his talents, that's all. Right. That's not your fault. Yeah. Do you have a girlfriend? Actually, maybe it is.

No girlfriend. No kids. Is that conscious to not have a girlfriend to keep yourself focused? Yeah, right now I feel like I'm not, I don't want to say stable, but not where I need to be. And I'm super close to achieving what I need to achieve. And girls are going to always be there. They've been there my whole life. You know what I mean?

But I need, this is, like I i said coming from where i come from like this ain't uh normal you know what i mean to get a shot at the ufc or or mma in general wrestling isn't even big where i'm from you know what i mean so uh i gotta stay focused and i have been uh and, and I'm close, super close. And, uh, I think it'll motivate a lot of people and it has been from where I'm from. Is, is that, is that, I mean, you're 28, you're in your prime, um, mating age. Is that like, does that just require crazy discipline? And tell me about your bubble, like how you do that. Like you wake up in the morning, you have eggs, you go to the gym, you don't respond to the dms you finish working out you take a nap like is there some sort of loop that you're in that just protects you from distractions like girls

uh yeah it's just uh self-discipline you know what i mean like i don't want to lose and i don't want to get distracted. I'm basically fighting for my life every time I'm in there. You know what I mean? And yeah, if the right girl comes around and understands what's going on. Yes. But right now, like I'm like super focused, like because I don't want to lose this. It's not like wrestling.

You know what I mean? Like you're basically your money go up with the wins, if that makes sense. So I need to, I want to change my lifestyle. So I need to stay disciplined. And I know being disciplined, you get rewarded. I learned that through wrestling. So it's the same thing. You know what I mean?

And pretty sure being Navy SEAL's the same thing you know what i mean and pretty sure being navy sales the same like if you get if you put the time in and be disciplined and put aside those urges right now like you'll be rewarded and it's been shown throughout my life like once i do that normally i can get what i want that's's right. Discipline equals freedom, as Jocko would say. Yeah. It's true, man. It's true. It's such an easy thing to think about, but it's so true. Like, right?

Like, being disciplined in certain aspects of your life gives you freedom to do whatever you want to do. Yeah. And that's what I'm aiming for. You know what I mean? As long as I use up my 20s, work in my 20s like I'm supposed to do, you know what I mean? When I hit 30 the party can start

are you always refining your habits to become more disciplined is it something that you're like constantly uh i just know the pros and cons uh you know what i mean because you are what decisions you make if that makes sense so me being an undefeated fighter amateur and pro is based off the decisions I make you know what I mean not just being a good wrestler

because if you watch me fight it's more there you know what I mean yes I'm winning a lot of fights with my wrestling but it's more there you know what I mean so yes i'm winning a lot of fights with my wrestling is but uh it's more there you know what i mean so i'm not undefeated based off wrestling how about how what does it take to get into your like training pod into your training camp do they do they look at not just your ability but your character you my coaches yeah uh yeah where i'm at strong style it's a

real good gym you know what i mean it's like a family base i say we only probably got 15 fighters like men and women you know what i mean steep a included so like it's not like if you go out to these other big gyms where it's 50 people in there all all of them are in the UFC or, you know what I mean? So you're not really getting that much attention. But at my gym, like, I was getting attention when I came to the gym when I was a 2-0 amateur. So, like, I was, they didn't know too much about me. I had college wrestling teammates who were already on the team. And they said, I got a guy who's a wrestler, Vaze Vaze.

And they seen I need to work on my stand-up more. I had good taekwondo kicks, but the hands, you know what I mean? And when I'm tired, holding them up and everything. So they focused on molding me in all aspects of mma so like it wasn't uh i think everybody there gets the same amount of attention you know what i mean we got all skill levels for some of the people i sparred every day have zero fights you know what i mean so like i don't need to uh have a ufc guy in front of me every day or Bellator or whatever. As long as you understand the drills and how to defend yourself to a certain point, I can work with pretty much everyone.

But if you were screwing off, let's say you missed two practices or you came in smelling like alcohol, would one of your coaches or one of your training partners be like yo what the fuck dude knock that shit off that shit's not cool here yeah they would because it's not uh because people don't do that around there you know what i mean in that gym so like uh and they know the potential and and know what we are trying to do here so if anybody i got a very uh straightforward coach marquez marinelli you know what i mean so he that's one of the reasons i'm there like i said it's not necessarily the training partners or the gym is is basically the coaching you know what i mean like he had uh he got steve bay there jessica there cody garbrand was at our gym before he went to uh wow alpha male

you know what i mean so like all of those guys and girls touched the title you know what i mean or fought for it or you know what i mean they all came out of this gym you know what i mean so like i believe in uh the coaching so i'll take if i'm messing off or goofing around there uh and they tell I'm doing too much, then I'm going to listen. You know what I mean? Because I know they know the way to go. There's accountability. Yeah.

Biggest thing everyone needs is more accountability. Fact. Mo, so I apologize. I don't know this. So what weight do you fight at and what do you walk around at? I fight at 135 uh okay i'll probably walk around at 55 okay yeah how's that like i mean how was that compared to like when you were cutting in college i didn't uh like i so i told you in high school I was 85 pounds. Right, yeah, yeah. I can't even believe that. I know, that's crazy.

I got to find a picture. Yeah, yeah. So I guess my parents never believed in cutting weight. So in high school, I think. So I wrestled two years at 103. I wrestled 105. I weighed 95 my sophomore year. Oh, my gosh. I was like 114 my junior year and wrestled one oh i weighed 95 my sophomore year then one gosh one i was like 114 my junior

year and wrestle 112 127 my senior year wrestle 125 so i didn't even cut weight because my parents didn't believe in doing all that you know what i mean so i kind of wrestled and that's what i can so that was made it hard and wrestling in high school because a lot of them were cut away. You know what I mean? So when I face in districts, the top guys, I was facing some bigger kids. Yeah, dude, they're walking around 140 probably. Yeah. So college, I wrestled no less than 141.

But I weighed like 148. You know what I mean? So like almost every year, I think my senior year, I was like 151. So I never really had to cut weight that much or even learned how to do it the proper way. Like from 149 to 141, I was just too hard practices of sweating, you know what I mean? And I would be on weight.

So to do this, a of mma got the next weight was 145 so i only walk around 10 pounds heavier and i would like to fight 45 but everybody else is fucking cutting from 170 you know what i mean right so like i know like yeah the am i that's big and uh so you're 5'8 you're 5'8 yep okay the um uh well the the guy in my go comes into my the boxing gym i go to named wilson reyes and so he fought for the title actually and uh he fought he fought at 25 and he's fighting now at 35 but he walks around at 65 i'm like oh my i mean he stands next to me and i'm like how do you get down to 135 like there's no fat on his body whatsoever he's thick he's short you know like me but he's thick but he doesn't i mean his legs aren't nearly as big but

um you know he wasn't a crossfitter where you had to squat every day a thousand times right but yeah like it's it's just it's so impressive to me to see guys like drop that much weight it's so crazy yeah so are you gonna slowly like so you're uh do you say i'm sorry you're five months out no no no it'll be two months i'm fighting september 14th. September 14th. Okay. All right. So you're basically just starting to back down your calorie intake right now and kind of slowly? Yep. So this is my last week of basically eating whatever I want. You know what I mean?

So next week I'll start eating all cleaner food. You know what I mean? Because I want two months of my body used to, like, eating this food. So by the time I diet, I'm, like, 148, 147, you know what I mean? Just switching up food, you know what I mean? So, like, once I do that, then I'm 12 pounds away, you know what I mean? So I'll probably cut that three weeks, two weeks, you know what i mean so i'll probably cut i'll cut that three weeks two weeks you know what i mean and like what do you think at the end like how much water weight like seven pounds

no i try and do uh i try and do no more than 10 okay like so that's uh so i need to get to uh walking around weight like 146 145 and then that's just how i like it i don't like to cut weight fight week you know what i mean yeah a lot of people do i like to save my legs and save my body and heal up a lot of people wait till that thursday to drop 20 pounds you know what i mean i don't want to do that i like to chill fight week for sure. Josh, what did you weigh your freshman year? Freshman year in high school, I weighed one. He's still worried about the freshman weight. Yeah, 112.

You weighed 112 your freshman year? 112, yeah. I wrestled 112, and so I don't think I was cutting anything that I can remember. Do you remember how tall you were? Oh, probably 5'1". I'm only 5'5 now, so maybe not even 5 foot. Who knows? Damn, I can't see you being that little.

It's crazy. Yeah, I went 12. My senior year. Imagine you being born. I just figured your mom just gave birth to you like that. I can see it. I came out just like this. With that goatee and shit.

My senior year, I wrest wrestle 130 130 135 and I actually I wanted to wrestle 130 and my height my coach was like you could you would be better for the team at 135 and this kid that I used to beat up on he'll be better at 130 for the team it was for the team I was I love listening to the two of you guys talk. You guys, when you guys say stuff like that, it's so humble the way you guys say it too. It's not even like,

like if I told you a story about how I beat someone up, it'd be the greatest. You guys just say, so this kid, I used to be that long. He was a great, he was a stud, man.

So he ended up taking second and that year. And then I, I took fifth. I lost in semis and then then cried myself into fifth place. Mo, I'm afraid Josh is going to run off here to some... I do. I actually have boxing, so I have to leave here in

five minutes. Do you have any advice for him? How many rounds is your fight, Josh? Six. Six three-minute rounds. Give me some advice. I need it. Six three-minute. No headgear, Josh? Six. Six three-minute rounds. Yeah, give me some advice. I need it. Six three-minute. No headgear, Josh?

No headgear, 12-ounce gloves. And this is your first fight? Your first box match? Yeah, first anything other than wrestling. I know you've been in some fights. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I looked up his opponent.

So he's bigger, right? Yeah, he's like 20 pounds. Mo did more homework than you did, Josh. I know, I know, man. I didn't even look up my opponent either. But I look up yours. I know, man. You're a good dude.

No, I just wanted to see what was up. So I think, okay, for six three-minute rounds. All right, so look, this is your first boxing fight, right? And this dude's two. And this dude's two. Right. this your first boxing fight right so and this dude's too and this dude's too right yep so it's gonna be a lot of like yeah intensity all right so look you gotta let him wear himself out first all right yeah you're gonna be the faster fighter but you gotta make it six rounds like if you uh

if you go out there and you just waste your energy, y'all both got big muscles. You know what I mean? So, like, it's hard to last that power for six rounds. So you got to have good defense, keep your hands up. And kind of if you feel him going crazy, don't hop into it. You know what I mean? Kind of be defensively responsible and let him wear himself out. Don't hop into it.

You know what I mean? Kind of be defensively responsible and let him wear himself out. Because 90% of, look at any of the boxing shows that's going on now. You know what I mean? The celebrity boxing. Like most of them will wear out. Six rounds is a decent time to fight for a debut. So I think around three, four is when you can use your speed a little more.

Okay. But you got to be safe, though, for the first round or two. You know what I mean? Let him go crazy. Let him think he got it. Because you can win four to two. Right. You know what I mean? I love it. I love it. That's true. Yeah, exactly. You can win four to two.

So use your your jab too. The jab set up everything. Once he starts getting tired, keep the jab in his face and I think you'll do good. He was a lot faster. I appreciate it. Thank you.

How annoying is it fighting a guy with a good jab? I'm actually long for my weight. I use it. And it's hard to see it in my MMA fights because I'm not just boxing. You know what I mean? So, it's hard to deal with a jab because it set everything else. Most people don't understand the importance of the jab.

You know what I mean? That it sets everything else up. So, like, they're just being creative on the feet. You know what i mean that it sets everything else up uh so like they're just being creative on the feet you know what i mean like there's no um i don't want to say structure because a lot of guys do have technique but it's just based off going off the other guy's movement and what's there like if you got a jab you can force what you want to happen you know what i mean like he literally has to deal with this first you know but if you don't got a jab you can force what you want to happen you know what i mean like he literally has to deal with this first you know but if you don't got a jab you like you just throwing one single shot or

two or uppercut you know it's kind of being creative so when you get tired you don't have nothing to lean on you know what i mean like but if you get tired and you got a good jab that's always gonna be there you know what i Throughout the fight, as long as you understand what is used for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My coach has been kind of saying the same thing where he's like, he's like, if you, if you throw that out there, he's like, it just offsets me.

Right. He's like, I'm trying to set something up. And then all of a sudden you disrupt me with a jab. Now I have to reset and like figure out what I want to do now. And it's like, it just, it just upsets, offsets my timing. And it don't have to land. Like a lot of people, like, figure out what I want to do now. And it's like it just upsets my timing. And it don't have to land. Like, a lot of people, like, I had a hard time with that, too. It was like I didn't think the jab was working because it wasn't landed.

So I abandoned it. You know what I mean? Yeah. But it can just be right out in front of them just blinding them. You know what I mean? To set up the two. So it don't necessarily have to land. You just got to make them deal with it. Especially if you if your opponent has a

longer reach. Now if his reach is longer than yours, you double the jet. Gotcha. I love it. I'm getting all the good. I can't be telling everything, but I'm going to help you out. I'm going to help you out. Alright, my man.

I love it. We'll have to get on that text message. You start sending me more info, right? We don't have to give it all here. Just drop me off and start giving me the good. Yeah, I got you. There's a ranking that you're in, and it has you ranked as the number. Do you follow that stuff? I don't know what you're talking about right now.

Okay. Well, I just was just Googling around everywhere last couple days your name. And there's a ranking that I saw yesterday that was updated like within the last 24 hours. And it had you number three bantamweight in the state of Ohio, number 14 in the Midwest, and number 71 in the United States. What, who, is that stuff that like, does that affect you when you see those numbers? Are you like, okay, cool. I'm going to climb up here. I'm going to come up there.

Do you just ignore that stuff? What, where does, how does that fall into your mindset? Yeah, I ignore all that because those people don't even know me. Like they don't know how,. Like, they don't know how, what my skill set, you know what I mean? And the way the rankings go, I'm pretty sure you're talking about topology.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I think that is it. Yeah, so that goes, like, if a guy got more fights than me, he can be ranked number one. He could be, like, 10 and 8, but he ranked ahead of me. I'm only 5-0 and he got 18.

I don't pay attention to that. I just pay attention to the person that signed the contract. I just got to keep winning one fight at a time. Rankings don't really matter to me. I learned that in college wrestling. I learned a lot of wrestling. So I learned the,

uh, a lot of this stuff I'm taking here. I learned from rest, you know what I mean? So I beat guys who were in college who were ranked and I wasn't ranked at the time. So I already knew that, you know what I mean?

It's just, whoever has the better day that whoever stepped on the mat, have a better day or whoever stepped in the cage and more prepared can get the win so rankings i guess that's more so for the fans yeah rankings don't mean shit that's why they fight the fights that's why they wrestle the matches that's why they play the games because day game day is all that matters rankings are numbers rankings are numbers next to your name that's it yep yep yep who've been there the longest that's right how did how did you choose your agent or does he choose you uh that's actually a good question because i didn't uh i didn't believe in agents even though i kind of went to college to be one like i didn't uh i didn't uh

or i didn't think i needed one at this point in my career. So before LFA, I got into LFA when I was three and no pro. So he actually managed the guy that I made my LFA debut against. So and then I beat that guy and then I start hearing from him. You know what I mean? A lot of managers were hitting me up but uh the package i guess didn't seem right or i didn't feel like i needed one right now because i'm not bringing in no money you know what i mean uh it's corona time like the opportunities are like slim even though that's a major reason why i did choose a manager at that time, I'll tell you that in a minute.

But Jason, I just felt like he had all the packages. You know, everything that I needed to hit from a manager, he had it. You know what I mean? He's gotten me opportunities. And I signed with him last October, and it's not even been a year. You know what I mean? That I'm getting a chance on the Dana White Contender Series. And then before this in April, I'll tell this story real quick.

I was on the Ultimate Fighter Show. And I was supposed to. That's going on right now. So I was supposed to be on that. And then two days before I was supposed to fly out, failed the corona test oh yeah yeah yeah oh shit yeah so that's did you have any symptoms after they told me but i don't mean crying i don't mean crying yeah did you have any like real symptoms yeah literally after they told me. Like, I noticed them probably, like, the next day.

You know, I was like, okay, this. But I was already in training camp. I was already finishing up at training camp. You know what I mean? Because I was about to fly out to Vegas. So, like, I was already in shape, like, ready to fight. But once they told me that, probably a day or two, I felt. I did feel a little different. I still felt like

i could fight but i knew i wasn't i knew something was different you always feel like you can fight i have a feeling yeah for my life so wow how are you making over the last like since you've been fighting since 16 right how have you made money have you had other jobs or have you yeah i got to uh type of jobs that would let me have the uh time to do this so right now i work at a mortgage company i'm assistant to a loan officer he actually owns the company so like he's uh there i was alone i was a loan officer yeah i don't want to be a loan officer yet you know me because you don't because you don't ever want to be alone they're gonna listen to this but uh yeah so i'm assistant to one i do basically whatever he need

a few times a week uh he's very flexible you know what i mean let me whatever i got coming up i'm allowed to uh do that you know what i mean so when you say you do whatever he needs like like he'll be like hey this person hasn't paid their mortgage this month you go knock on their door no no no no like i'm his assistant so he runs the company you know what i mean so like he got many loan officers in the bill, you know what I mean? So like he also like it's a continuing education department that I run. You know what I mean? So like all the attorneys and lawyers need their education. So that's kind of what I'm doing now is getting them their certificates for he runs the seminars.

They attend the seminar. So I'm getting them their certificates for that. So like basically whatever he needs calls emails you know what I mean just whatever he needs so I can keep doing what I do basically so like I'm blessed to uh had I'm blessed to find a job like this you know what I mean that's flexible enough to uh dude because I I didn't want to go right into my degree dream job, I guess, because once I start working, I'm going to be working the rest of my life. You know what I mean?

Fighting is a little window. You know what I mean? So whatever job or anything I need to take to do this right now, you know what I mean? I already got my degree. I already went to school, all of that. So this is what I'm focused on, whatever is helping paying the bills. And he was also a – he wrestled at Oklahoma State.

I knew it. That was going to be my question. What's his attraction to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys are in a brotherhood, man, you wrestlers. It's wrestlers all in it. Josh, yep. You got to follow me, Josh. I'm going to follow you too. Yeah, I will, man. I will for sure, yeah. you guys are in a brotherhood man you wrestlers it's wrestlers all in it yeah yeah you gotta follow me josh i'm gonna follow you too yeah i will man i will for sure yeah definitely

love man so so that's that's great that you said that that he was a wrestler and so you guys bonded on that and he understands the discipline and hard work so it's like that's your application right one wrestler to another he knows okay this guy's no joke yeah yeah yeah in an article i read it said i want to come back to's no joke yeah yeah yeah in an article i read it said i want to come back to the contender series too but in an article i read it said that basically you you were true if i understood it right um and feel free to unfuck me here um you were training you couldn't afford your training and so basically that's why you started fighting to make some cash to pay for your training so it's kind of like this weird relationship or not uh you're talking about wrestling all right so oh wrestling okay so after i wanted to uh do the freestyle circuit

like so i graduated in 2015 so 2016 was like the olympic year so i wanted to try that you know what i mean uh freestyle greco but where i'm at in cleveland great wrestling, but the freestyle Greco scene to be on that level is not there. You know what I mean? I got to travel to Columbus at Ohio State or I went to Penn University, their wrestling club with Brian Dolph. I don't know if you guys ever heard of him, but he's a coach up there. I went up there. I was doing a lot of traveling but I wasn't like make I was spending money to train you know what I mean because I had to like if I wanted to do

this I had to travel to go places to get the training to compete on that level and then it wasn't uh it was just too much to do like I'd rather fight and make the money. You know what I mean? Then spending it. And I don't know. That's how that went. Are you living at home with your parents right now? No, no, no.

I got a roommate. Uh, we, I'm living in Cleveland. Oh, and how far is that from Canton? An hour. And I'm 20 minutes from the gym.

The gym is in Independence, Ohio. Josh, Josh and I have this other podcast. It's called the Josh, Matt, and Savon Show. And the other guy is the five-time CrossFit Games champion. And one of the funny things about him is that he stayed in his parents' basement as he won world championships. Until he was 30.

I think he was like 29. Yeah. And now he's killing it, man. Yeah, he crushed it. If you asked him, hey, would you move back in with your parents? He'd be like, yeah, sure. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, yeah. And now he's killing it, man. Yeah, he crushed it. If you asked him, hey, would you move back in with your parents? He'd be like, yeah, sure. He'd say yes. He'd bring his girlfriend there.

This guy. I mean, some people got the luxury to do that. You know what I mean? Like, if you got the luxury to live with your parents that long and everything is paid for, taken care of, you know what I mean? And they understand the goal. Because this world, I mean, it's an expensive world out here. You know what i mean and they understand the goal and because this world i mean it's an expensive world out here you know what i mean so like whatever you got to do especially if you're chasing a goal you know what i mean it's hard to uh support yourself and put in 100 in that

you know what i mean so that's why i said when i was looking for a job it had to be something to coordinate with this or allow me to do this so him staying at his parent i can't do that my mom would be like f fighting go you gotta get a job you know what i mean job at starbucks yeah some like you gotta do something so uh yeah kudos to that man yeah hey i'm so sorry guys i'm sorry I showed up late. I really apologize. No worries, Josh. I'm stoked you made it, buddy. What's that? So stoked you made it.

No, man. I'm so glad, too. Very nice to meet you, Mo. I am so fired up to watch your fight now in the Contender Series. I wish you all the luck in the world, and I will definitely be following you and keeping up. You, too, brother. Good luck with yours. Remember what I said.

That's right. I will. I will, for sure. All right, guys. Hey, as soon as he gets off, I'm going to ask you whether you think i just hit hang up right all right yeah just hang up and then we'll start talking shit behind your back good do it do it that's funny all right brother there was something so how do you think he's gonna do i mean it's two it's two untested guys what decides the winner in a fight like this and the guy is bigger and man the guy

he's fighting is so talented yeah so uh when you got two new guys like that uh then you just throw them in front of the world you know what i mean emotions will come into play nervousness will come so it's more so who can control that so he comes in more calm and that's what I was saying. Let that guy use his emotions and fight emotional and you be calm and weather the storm. You know what I mean? And then you can start working because he is a bigger dude. So you want to be safe. You know,

you got to make sure you're safe. You don't want to get knocked out in front of the world. And first round is the most dangerous. And Josh has obviously been in other life and death situations um so so obviously years of wrestling but then as a seal he was obviously put in some precarious situations so i guess he has that i mean nothing's worse than what he's already done in life right nothing's right right right right so so i i think he'll be ready though like just from the videos i've seen uh i think think Josh is more quicker.

You know what I mean? I feel like skill level, they're probably near the same. But I think if he can outsmart him and not just bang with him, I think he can be successful. Yeah, this other guy is pretty smart, too. What do you think about the other fight, this Thor and Eddie Hall fight? I don't think that i want to go well i don't know how many rounds that is but if that's six rounds i think three rounds max one of them will go down there's some big boys because of how hard they hit and how much oxygen they consume yeah i think they're gonna like same thing i think the nerves come into play with them too you know what i I mean? And they're all athletes and used to competing.

But boxing in front of the world, you know what I mean, risking it, it's a different feeling. So I think those two big guys, I think it'll be super entertaining. But I don't think it'll last six rounds. I definitely think one of them going down. Did you scrap as a kid or were you pretty you avoided that stuff i did when i had to but i was i'm pretty chill you know what i mean my brother i'm the middle one so you know what i mean both of them was the was the wow i had to be even kill you know keep the keep the yeah so like when i had to but i wasn't out

just fighting already i've wrestled into taekwondo as a young age so i already knew how tough i was you know i mean people in the city knew you know what i mean what we did so like we ain't really have too much problems but when we did we handled it uh but we wasn't out here looking for trouble. Yeah, good. That's interesting. You said that. I never thought of that.

I wonder if some people do fight on the streets just to because they want to be tested. Yeah. They want to test what they have. Yeah. Millions of people do. You know what I mean? But like when you. I never thought of it like that.

I always thought it was just like two angry people who couldn't get their fucking shit straightened out so they would fight it out but you're right but what you're saying it makes even more sense it's young men who just wanted like they did some shadow boxing in the mirror they work out in the gym and now they want to see what happens if they get yeah yeah that's very possible you know what I mean but like when you grow up in the gym grow up in the rest of that like you know your level you know what I mean so you you you're you're humble I would say like you you don't you know that guy down the street don't don't know much you know what I mean just talking is his mouth but so you you tend to be calm in most situations because you already know what can happen and uh like i was cool with every neighborhood in my city people

all around you know what i mean so uh so was my brother so we really didn't have too much uh too many fights i would say but uh we always handled ours when we had to i'll say that we had to say that. Tell me about the contender series. And so, so you, so you, so you said you liked the package that Jason presented. I guess that just means that he checked all the boxes of what you saw.

He basically laid out a career path for you and you're like, okay, this, this guy understands me. So you sign with him. And then does he tell you that he's's gonna try to get you on the contender series or all of a sudden you get a text message holy shit dude you better call him and you call him and he says merry christmas no he didn't uh see it's almost i don't really even like the

contender series like what i just went through with the uh like i'm super excited don't get me wrong uh but like what i would just went through with the corona and then it's like getting my hopes up you know what I mean so like you'll believe it when you see it you're like hey I'm supposed to be an ultimate fighter yeah yeah yeah so like but I know but Jason he got me

the opportunity right away you know what I mean so no matter what he's doing his job you know what I mean so no matter what I'm feeling like he's doing what he's supposed to do. That's all I can ask. He is giving me the opportunities. After I fought that first LFA fight, my second, the one I fought in December, the slam, he got that fight for me. That was a tough fight.

You know what I mean? He got me on the ultimate fighter so less than a year like this is my second opportunity i'll say yeah you know they i hate to use this cheesy line but they say everything happens for a reason yeah and it's uh it'll be interesting to see i'm guessing that going this the route of the contender series to the UFC is easier than the Ultimate Fighter. But the Ultimate Fighter would bring more prestige, meaning that more eyeballs would see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's pros and cons, but also like even in wrestling, I kind of did worse in tournaments just from the day, you know, long days.

And sometimes rounds I didn't feel like wrestling or whatever so like dual mat dual matches one-on-one you know one match i always did well like i'm almost probably 100 and wins and so like fighting is like perfect because there's only one fight you know what i mean so contenders was uh i would prefer that over the ultimate fighter. But like you said, ultimate fighter comes with a little more, you know what I mean? So I was looking forward to that and, uh, and just showing the world what I can do against different type of prospects. You know what I mean? But this one, uh, I, like I said, I haven't really looked them up yet, but he undefeated. And I'm sure he's going to be a tough fight because he wants the contract too.

So fighting one time, I think that's more my style anyway. So I'm not complaining. Do you have goals or is it just habits? My whole life I always hear about people who have goals or is it just habits like i like my whole life i always hear about people who have goals goals goals and i'm like shit i've never really had any goals in my life but i am very disciplined and i have very good habits and i'm always one of my habits is always to refine my other habits but i feel like i'm more like forrest gump like you know how he just runs and they're like where are you going he goes i'm just running and it's so like people ask me what's your

goal with the podcast i don't have any goals with the podcast but i'm running i put my head down i do one a week i'm watching it explode um yeah i don't have any goals i just have good habits and i'm having fun i don't think nothing wrong with that you know what i mean uh as long as you keep going i think uh for fighting though though, I do have, like, getting into the UFC is a goal. You know what I mean? I can't just keep running, you know what I mean? Because there's millions of people I can

fight out here in the regional scene. You know what I mean? You do got to hit marks in fighting, I'll say. Because it is levels. I mean, I'm pretty sure you'll come up with some goals for your podcast because it is levels so i mean i'm pretty sure like you'll come up with some goals for your podcast because this level is the podcast too and maybe you just maybe you just help me think more clearly like i definitely had goals like hey i'd like the ufc why am i not

talking to ufc fighters i like the ufc why am i not talking like i like fighting why am i not talking to these guys so in that way way, I guess I do have goals. It's like what you said. You're just pursuing. You inherently want to test yourself, it seems like. Yeah, I want to reach the highest level. Like, if I'm putting in this much work, I've got to reach the highest level. You know what I mean?

Because I know what I'm sacrificing. Right. There was something you said in one of your interviews. You said, I don't know if it was before a fight, but maybe before you took your first fight, you said, I asked God before I went to bed, give me a reason not to fight. And you woke up and you went and fought. So you didn't get the reason. What is your – are you a religious man what what is your relationship with like god did you have some sort of epiphany did you have a dark moment that

turned you that way or did you um were you raised that way i was raised that way uh christian i just i think i kind of have my own i grew up in the church but i I haven't been in a while. You know what I mean? I kind of feel like I got my own relationship with God. And I talk to him whenever I can in my own way. You know what I mean? You got your own relationship. I think everybody has their own relationship. So that quote, I knew what I went through in wrestling. You know what I mean? So I knew like, if I'm

going to do this, like I got to be 100% again, you know what I mean? So the quote came from basically if it was, I asked God, yeah, it was similar to that. I forget if this is for me or something like that. And to give me a sign and next day I went to a gym, you know what I mean? So I wanted to if this ain't for me, I don't want to get out there and embarrassing myself and getting punched on and doing all this stuff if it ain't let me into the UFC or the higher level until I'm ready. You know what I mean? I don't want to be somebody just getting in there because of my wrestling background. That happens a lot. Guys who are national champs shoot straight up to the contenders of UFC and get their buzz beat because they skip the whole lot whole lot basically you know what i mean just up just going based off of their wrestling reputation and it's mixed martial arts you know what i mean so

like i'm very thankful that i uh that i'm 28 and i'm getting this opportunity you know what i mean so like i know i've been through everything i'm'm not 21 years old. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like I'm ready now. Like, if you'd asked me even at 24, I probably would have said I'm ready. But looking back, I wasn't to compete at the highest level. I'm saying, yes, I may have won some fights or whatever, but I want to be a champion. You know what I mean? I want to compete at the highest level. That's what I'm asking. Don't let me get there until I'm ready. You know what I mean? Don't let me get there. God, that's wise. Man, that's smart, right? Yeah, so.

Like, hey, prepare me for tomorrow. But don't bring tomorrow until I'm prepared. I'm excited for tomorrow. Yeah, that's great. I'm excited for tomorrow yeah that's great did you this relationship you say you have with God did it come through dark times

did it come through evolution probably both you know what I mean I've been through some dark times you know I think a lot of us have and a lot of people don't know how to get through that dark place. You know what I mean?

So instead of going through it, they go backwards and doing stuff they ain't used to. You know what I mean? So the environment I grew up with, I've seen what can happen if you don't do the right things to get out that dark place? And the dark place can be anything to us individually. That's a dark place or a spot that we don't want to be in in life. My record is perfect, but I got to deal with real life issues too. I'm not in the UFC. I'm not making the UFC. You know what I mean? I'm not making life changing money. You know, so fighting

helped get me through that dark place. You know what I mean? So like me, yeah, I think the relationship with God just came from being raised that way and having experience in those dark places like putting my faith in God got me

out of this. You know what I mean? So each time I know and give thanks when I'm doing well. You know what I mean? So not just in a dark place, but understand that you got to give both sides. Are you going to have kids? Yeah, I'm going to have kids. They're going to be just like me. Are you going to have a lot of kids? No no i'm too chill to have a lot of kids so i'll probably have two or three you know what i mean

but i gotta make sure i'm in a right spot you know what i mean i can't just bring kids in the world because i want to have kids you know what i mean like i gotta if i bring kids in the world right now i'm balancing a lot of stuff. You know what I mean? So they're going to come, though, for sure. It's funny you say that. You have to be in the right spot because I knew I would never have kids, and I knew I would never get married. And then at 39, my girlfriend, who I'd had for 15, 20 years, said,

hey, I want a kid. I was like, sure, let's do one. And you're right. You nailed it. I was in the right spot. She could have said it two years earlier, a kid. I was like, sure. And you're right. You nailed it. I was in the right spot. She could have said it two years earlier and I'd have been like, no, yes, I can't do it. But I was at 39. I was in the right spot. And then now I'm 49. I got three little boys and it's, it's, there's nothing. See, I think you did it right. You should ask your mom and dad. Was there anything better than me and my three brothers? They're going to be like,

Is there anything better than me and my three brothers? They're going to be like, hell yeah. No way. No way. It's all water under the bridge now. Man. Well, Mo, we are an hour and 22 minutes. Really?

I'm so stoked Josh made it. You're a cool dude. This was fun. Maybe I'll bug you again. No low stress, but I'll bug you again before the contender series. Oh, yeah, one question. How come I can't find it? I must have Googled a hundred different things.

Mo Miller's next fight. And I can't find anything. UFC, I'm not sure how they, like I said, it's been five months since I've known about it. So, like, the contenders is each week starting, I think, August. So, like, they got to get those guys. You know what I mean? Before, it's more contender fights before mine. So, like, as far as them announcing, I don't know. Like I said, that's why I ain't even look them up.

My opponent can change. I don't know what they got going on. But per source for me and my manager, the Brandon guy is the next fight in September. Okay, cool. And did you say September 14th? 14th. That should be on a Tuesday, yes. Okay.

And where is it? Is it in Vegas? Yes. They're all in Vegas? The contenders, yes. Okay, cool. Will Jason come out there with you for that? Is it in Vegas? Yes. They're all in Vegas? The contenders, yes. Okay, cool. Will Jason come out there with you for that? He lives in Vegas.

Oh, sweet. Yeah, that's another reason he parted it. That's cool. Yeah. That's cool. All right, well, I'll bug you if you're too busy, super low stress. No, whenever. I'd love to talk to you.

Okay, cool, man. Hell yeah.