Speaker 1: Hi'm my Boris and this is straight talk.
Speaker 2: You can be my friend, you can be the biggest asshole.
Speaker 2: I will still kill you on there. It's the job
Speaker 2: to be done.
Speaker 1: Freggus album to straight talk, make Mark thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Let's not go and act as a Sean Strickland. Fights
Speaker 2: are entertaining. I'm there to give the people a show,
Speaker 2: a fight, and I'm in there to kill someone. I'm
Speaker 2: not in there to point my way to victory.
Speaker 1: You just said you're going there to kill somebody. I
Speaker 1: mean that that's a mindset. How do you become that person?
Speaker 2: I'm fighting a guy in front of millions of people
Speaker 2: that wants to kill me, and I want to kill him.
Speaker 2: That's all the motivation you need. I'm pretty hyped up
Speaker 2: when I get out there.
Speaker 1: Pereira, what would you ask him?
Speaker 2: How's it going to feel to be in Sean Strickland's
Speaker 2: corner losing again?
Speaker 1: Ask him that, what's the next thing for you?
Speaker 2: Now? Becoming world champion as a big, big step, but
Speaker 2: this is not the end. My final step is being
Speaker 2: the greatest to ever do the sports. Along the way,
Speaker 2: being double champed is one of the steps to choose that.
Speaker 1: Joregus want them to straight talk. Mate, thanks for having
Speaker 1: me more importantly to Sydney.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: And then you're here for this astral Day long weekend
Speaker 1: which has just passed. How was that mate? What was
Speaker 1: it like? I mean you obviously didn't go out and
Speaker 1: get on it because so ready was it was?
Speaker 2: It sucked to be honest, because I could just see
Speaker 2: it's like a public holiday and you can see people
Speaker 2: are just having the best time and I just say no, tell.
Speaker 2: I went out and we went we got something to
Speaker 2: eat and I could just see everybody having the best times.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, after the fight, I'll have my Australia Day.
Speaker 1: Because I'm off mine. About fighters, I mean, do you
Speaker 1: go through like say twelve weeks prep fight then, so
Speaker 1: like I don't have to fight now for where I'm
Speaker 1: gonna fight again in June, so I'm gonna have a
Speaker 1: month off. Do you have a month off? Something happened?
Speaker 2: So sometimes you are forced to take off because of injury. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it is good, you know you get these guys.
Speaker 2: A lot of guys do that. So they'll fight I
Speaker 2: have come, they'll take off for a month and sometimes
Speaker 2: even longer. I can't do that like taking off for
Speaker 2: a month, I will forget how to do what I
Speaker 2: do and what am I going to do for that
Speaker 2: whole month. So it's less intense. I'll take off. I'll
Speaker 2: ever long I need. Sometimes mostly I'll fight this Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker 2: Next day I'll be at least go for a run.
Speaker 2: If the next day, the next day, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: if you if you're not injured, because you know, if
Speaker 2: you do this your whole life. I've been fighting professional
Speaker 2: now since I was nineteen years on the only job
Speaker 2: I've ever had, So what else am I going to do?
Speaker 2: It's what I know. It makes me feel good to
Speaker 2: train so and especially after a fight, you immediately start
Speaker 2: thinking about what you could have done better and the
Speaker 2: things you can improve on, and then you want to
Speaker 2: start working. But it's very important to take that break.
Speaker 2: Earlier in my career, I couldn't. I couldn't do it
Speaker 2: and couldn't switch off, and that that adds up. It
Speaker 2: gets to you, and then then it's not the pressure.
Speaker 2: You started losing the fun. If I can say.
Speaker 1: It, yeah, and you've got to love it too.
Speaker 2: You have to love it. And now I absolutely love
Speaker 2: it and did you get that obsessed, you start and
Speaker 2: you just want to go go. You start not appreciating
Speaker 2: the winds as much, and I find that being more
Speaker 2: devastating than anything, because then you're just thinking about what's next,
Speaker 2: what's next, focus on what just happened. Take it in,
Speaker 2: go on a week, two weeks, breakaway and come back
Speaker 2: and start working again. Said what to do?
Speaker 1: You got like family? Obviously got family, but are you married?
Speaker 2: Do you have a fiance? And I'm very close to
Speaker 2: my mom, dad, and my brothers and their wives and kids.
Speaker 2: So that's that's that's a breakaway for me, spending time
Speaker 2: with them because in a fire camp, now there's that's
Speaker 2: only it's a selfish sport. It's only me the fight ahead,
Speaker 2: and everything takes a back seat. So that's the time
Speaker 2: to really appreciate that.
Speaker 1: That's interesting you're say, and I'm glad you sort of
Speaker 1: made that a mission. It is a selfage game. At
Speaker 1: what point does someone like you say, and I don't
Speaker 1: even know if you thought it was, say it's time
Speaker 1: me to settle down and maybe marry, have kids, have families,
Speaker 1: because or would you happy to do that and have
Speaker 1: kids the same time, like volk is your family of kids,
Speaker 1: a couple of daughters married, Any fights do you say
Speaker 1: to yourself, now, I wait, I get my fight game over,
Speaker 1: then I'll settle down. How does that work?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a you get two minds on that.
Speaker 2: I mean in most guys, a lot of guys, especially
Speaker 2: champions guys all in the career you have to start,
Speaker 2: you know, because I want to have a family or
Speaker 2: wife and kids. But I'm thirty years old now, I
Speaker 2: only got engaged very recently. And yeah, it's something you
Speaker 2: have to think about because you know, I have so
Speaker 2: much respect for a guy like Vulk, even a guy
Speaker 2: like Rob doing what they're doing. And I mean I
Speaker 2: can only imagine because it's not like they are just dads.
Speaker 2: They are involved that you can see it. And you know,
Speaker 2: I look at my dad. My dad gave me everything
Speaker 2: like that was it was running a business. He was
Speaker 2: looking after us very well. He didn't miss a single game,
Speaker 2: didn't miss a single anything that I did, me or
Speaker 2: my two older brothers. And you know where I am
Speaker 2: right now, I can honestly say in terms of what
Speaker 2: he gave me materialist, he never mattered. But to know
Speaker 2: the support that I got and how much it meant
Speaker 2: to me to see him at every game and how
Speaker 2: I wanted to play and be better for him. When
Speaker 2: I played rugby, you know, he was there every single game.
Speaker 2: I actually did dancing at a stage when I was younger.
Speaker 2: He didn't miss a dance. He didn't miss anything I
Speaker 2: ever did, me or my brothers, And that means more
Speaker 2: to me than anything ever. And to this day, you know,
Speaker 2: he would fly when he can. He would fly to
Speaker 2: come and watch me fight. He went to every fight,
Speaker 2: drove thousands of kilometers to take us to judo tournaments.
Speaker 2: All that just out of the love. And that's more important.
Speaker 2: So when you are going to do that, That's why
Speaker 2: I so much respect for a guy like Robin Volk
Speaker 2: to be involved while doing this full time. I don't
Speaker 2: have that in me right now where I'm and in
Speaker 2: my career. Like I said, I got engaged, but I
Speaker 2: have a lot of things to do still. And you know,
Speaker 2: I know if I'm going to be your father, I'm
Speaker 2: going to be the best follow in the world. I'm
Speaker 2: want to be the same as my dad.
Speaker 1: Does that mean when you say you got lots to do,
Speaker 1: does that mean perhaps go up into a second division?
Speaker 1: Another division. I mean, what what do you have to do?
Speaker 1: I mean, you're already the champ in congratulations by the way,
Speaker 1: you defended as well, and you know, you know, against
Speaker 1: someone who's considered to be, you know, the greatest of
Speaker 1: all time in your division. What's the next thing for
Speaker 1: leg I mean, apart from defending your position?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for me right now? You know, ever since
Speaker 2: kind McGregor that it became almost a norm of being
Speaker 2: a dominant champion going up defending your title or are
Speaker 2: going up winning another title. What people have been struggling
Speaker 2: with is defending and keeping both. So I would love
Speaker 2: to be one to do that, winning both titles and
Speaker 2: defending them. But when the time is right, I believe,
Speaker 2: you know, at least three defenses before you even consider
Speaker 2: going up a weight division. You really have to dominate
Speaker 2: your division. You know, right now, I've beaten three of
Speaker 2: the guys in the top five of my division, and
Speaker 2: I think if you've gone through the whole the top
Speaker 2: five that you've beaten still top five. That's where you
Speaker 2: get to a situation where you go, well, what's next
Speaker 2: or just keep on doing rematches. I'm already rematching one guy.
Speaker 2: That's when I'll start thinking about that, but I definitely
Speaker 2: want to. It's one hundred in my part of the journey.
Speaker 2: It's the next step. Now, becoming world champion as a big,
Speaker 2: big step, but this is not the end, you know.
Speaker 2: My final step is being the greatest to ever do
Speaker 2: this sport. And along the way being double champions is
Speaker 2: one of the steps to achieve that dream.
Speaker 1: As it worked, though Driguz does just dainn to come
Speaker 1: up to you and say, hey, mate, let's maybe doesn't
Speaker 1: say mate, but Hedrick, let's go and put you up
Speaker 1: a division? Or do you do planning strategy planning in
Speaker 1: that regard with someone like Don and White.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think that's not the way we go
Speaker 2: about it or would go about it. It's about fighting
Speaker 2: and making at the end of the day the suspectator sport,
Speaker 2: so it has to make sense for the company. Whatever
Speaker 2: makes the most money, whatsever going to it has to
Speaker 2: make sense at the right time. Timing is everything in
Speaker 2: the sport, and sometimes you miss opportunity, sometimes you gain
Speaker 2: the opportunity. And with this it's purely going to be
Speaker 2: there is once you go up, this is going to
Speaker 2: make more money than any other fight in your division
Speaker 2: and more sense, because you don't want to water down
Speaker 2: a champion going to face another champion that needs to
Speaker 2: be a very especially the guy in the lower weight
Speaker 2: division needs to be so dominant that he really earns
Speaker 2: his spot in fighting for another title. So I think
Speaker 2: that's how it goes about, and the fans need to
Speaker 2: be calling for it. People need to go, Okay, done
Speaker 2: with this division. We need to see him one up.
Speaker 2: Let's see if you can, you know, get that comma
Speaker 2: commas zero zero zero one percent achievements.
Speaker 1: So it's when I when I look at you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a mad five fan. And in every sort of
Speaker 1: discipline of fighting. What did you first start off in
Speaker 1: terms of your disciplines? Like you know it was it grappling, judo,
Speaker 1: jiu jitsu, boxing, Where did you get I.
Speaker 2: Started with judo when I was five years old and
Speaker 2: I did that for five to six years. My brothers
Speaker 2: were both multiple national champions in judo.
Speaker 1: This is your older brothers, Yeah, brothers. I'm the youngest,
Speaker 1: the youngest in the family.
Speaker 2: Yeah okay, And my oldest brother became national champion twice,
Speaker 2: my middle brother four times, and I did it four
Speaker 2: five to six years and then we moved, We moved
Speaker 2: to another province, and the judo there wasn't just not
Speaker 2: at that level. And then I started wrestling for around two.
Speaker 1: Years, wrestling as in actual wrestling, like amateur wrestling.
Speaker 2: I was. I was ten eleven years old and I
Speaker 2: did it for years. I wasn't too fond of it.
Speaker 2: I didn't because I was so used to the judo.
Speaker 2: Now I wish I did it, but I started with wrestling.
Speaker 2: It's an amazing sport. But I mean at that stage,
Speaker 2: it was never for me to become a professional fight
Speaker 2: or anything. It was an extra curricular activity.
Speaker 1: For school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't have it in schools. It was just
Speaker 2: my parents always encouraged us to do. We tried everything
Speaker 2: to do as much as you possibly could. And then
Speaker 2: I started with kickboxing at fourteen. K one kickboxing it
Speaker 2: was and I love that, the full contact K one
Speaker 2: kickboxing that was that was amazing. I had my first
Speaker 2: fight late I was fourteen, maybe fifteen early, and I
Speaker 2: loved it. And MMA was always the well that's the
Speaker 2: videos I watched, but that was the sport that was available.
Speaker 2: Became national champion in that and at eighteen, I became
Speaker 2: Junior World champion in K one kickboxing as an amateur,
Speaker 2: and at nineteen I made my professional debut in MMA.
Speaker 2: So that's how my journey. I've been a lifelong student
Speaker 2: of Marshal arts, and yeah, it's been amazing.
Speaker 1: Given that you know, obviously world champion, like, but it'd
Speaker 1: be interesting to hear what your view is if say
Speaker 1: somebody a parent is saying to their a parent of
Speaker 1: a boy or a girl doesn't really matter, and you're
Speaker 1: saying to your partner, Okay, let's get our son or
Speaker 1: daughter to become very good at defending themselves and or
Speaker 1: perhaps even attacking in terms of maybe being a competitor.
Speaker 1: How would you rank the various disciplines wrestling, ju jitsu, boxing, kickboxing.
Speaker 1: But what would you say if you only had to
Speaker 1: pickture or three? Let's get them good at the competent
Speaker 1: of these three things.
Speaker 2: Well, if I had a daughter, I would invest her
Speaker 2: time and money in sprinting. So that's the best way
Speaker 2: to do if yeah, just get away, because now a
Speaker 2: girl fighting two men is never going to work, no
Speaker 2: matter how good you are at it. It's not going
Speaker 2: to work. It's not physically how it should work. So
Speaker 2: I would get a maybe throw a strike, runaway. I
Speaker 2: can see it out. But I'm talking about my brother's girl.
Speaker 2: She loves it. The kickboxing, she loves it. She said,
Speaker 2: an amazing dance, her world champion at that. And she's
Speaker 2: only twelve years old. Eleven years old, and her mom
Speaker 2: is like, no, like the dancing is what folks are,
Speaker 2: You're going to get hurt. But she loves it. The grappling,
Speaker 2: the wrestling, she wants to do all of it. And
Speaker 2: his boy is wrestling, he's loving it. The kickboxing not
Speaker 2: so fond of it, but he does it. And the
Speaker 2: best discipline for if you're going self defense, I would
Speaker 2: you know, jiu jitsu is just something that's always gonna
Speaker 2: gonna help you. Wrestling is great, you know, you can
Speaker 2: look at it at a striking situation, and in terms
Speaker 2: of kickboxing and boxing that is going to be great
Speaker 2: one on one. But if you are attacked judicious, just
Speaker 2: the way to go. I think that's something that that
Speaker 2: is every kid should do. I think it's amazing. But
Speaker 2: more so, I think other than self defense now people
Speaker 2: like to hide about around the self defense except for
Speaker 2: unless and just not saying my kid loves to do this.
Speaker 2: People feel our experience that people almost feel like you
Speaker 2: don't want to say my kid likes fighting. People don't
Speaker 2: want that image. Why not? It's an incredible sport. The
Speaker 2: behavioral changes when I started taking the sports seriously at
Speaker 2: the age of sixteen. You know, I really want to
Speaker 2: become a world champion. I'm talking about academically in my
Speaker 2: other sports. In my general life was insane. I went
Speaker 2: from a C student to A plus students within a
Speaker 2: six month period just because I found there. I found structure,
Speaker 2: and I found something that I love to do and
Speaker 2: something where what you put in directly results in what
Speaker 2: you get out. And once you realize that, you go, well,
Speaker 2: maybe if I put a bit more in this area
Speaker 2: of my life, I'm going to get more out. And
Speaker 2: that discipline to somebody telling you you are not going
Speaker 2: to talk right now, you are going to do ten
Speaker 2: push ups, even if you don't want you that is
Speaker 2: something that that is the biggest, the biggest attribute of
Speaker 2: doing a martial arts as for bullies and people are
Speaker 2: being bullied because now the bully gets to a place
Speaker 2: where you know, you use the bullying. Now you're getting
Speaker 2: a guy that knows how to fight. It's not just
Speaker 2: a bully. Now you're getting bullied and you feel, ah,
Speaker 2: this is what it feels like. Changes you if your
Speaker 2: guide that's being bullied. And in many situations, I own
Speaker 2: a gym back home, you see the bully and the
Speaker 2: guy who's being bullied. Two months later, different children, no
Speaker 2: manners all. The man is shy, high around his mom,
Speaker 2: being friends, can't wait to be at the gym because
Speaker 2: now he has a friend there who was His parents
Speaker 2: came to us say, we need our kid to learn
Speaker 2: discipline because he's a bully. Now you have a guy
Speaker 2: who's being bullied and a guy who was the bully
Speaker 2: best friends at that gym. That changes you forever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not that I'm suggesting he's a bully, but your
Speaker 1: your opponent, Seawan has actually put up on exit to
Speaker 1: you or to everyone, I guess, but to you in
Speaker 1: particular standard bang. Yeah, I mean, and that's his go
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's very good defensively, he's very good defense.
Speaker 1: But what do you think about that? How do you
Speaker 1: respond to that?
Speaker 2: My response was clear, was there are backs between lions
Speaker 2: and men. That was my direct response. But you know
Speaker 2: that was exactly what we did the last time. He
Speaker 2: said to death. Let's go, let's fight to death, and
Speaker 2: the manthild jab and a cheap for five rounds in
Speaker 2: that and this is statue. Can go check it for
Speaker 2: twenty three minutes, I went forward, he went forward for
Speaker 2: two minutes. That is a very clear indication of who's
Speaker 2: there to fight and he's there to defend. He's not
Speaker 2: banging moving, he's not banging, you know, he's and listen,
Speaker 2: very effective style. That's his style. But let's not go
Speaker 2: and act as if Stan Strickland fights are entertaining. The
Speaker 2: man has eight split decision victories, well, eight split decisions
Speaker 2: in six victories, two losses against me and Kennya. That
Speaker 2: is not somebody that's looking for exciting fights. Split decision
Speaker 2: means it's a very close it's a very close fight,
Speaker 2: and that has to say something. I have two decisions
Speaker 2: over my whole career. Split decisions is because he's not
Speaker 2: doing anything to prove that he's winning that fight. But
Speaker 2: he's not doing anything that make to make him lose
Speaker 2: the fight.
Speaker 1: I mean he's not he's fighting not to lose. He's
Speaker 1: fighting not to lose as opposed to win.
Speaker 2: He's good at frustrating people. He prioritizes defense over offense,
Speaker 2: and I prioritize offense because I'm there to give the
Speaker 2: people that spend their hardened money on baby use and
Speaker 2: arena tickets a show a fight, and I'm in there
Speaker 2: to kill someone. I'm not in there to point my
Speaker 2: way to victory. And I think that's where the biggest
Speaker 2: difference between us comes.
Speaker 1: You come across a pretty nice guy, but like, is
Speaker 1: there like a glaze over when you walk in the ring?
Speaker 1: Does something happen to dren? Because when you walk in
Speaker 1: the like you just said, you're going there to kill somebody.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's a mindset. How do you how
Speaker 1: do you sort of become that person?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think people always ask me, do I listened
Speaker 2: to a certain type of music to hype me up?
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm fighting a guy in front of millions
Speaker 2: of people that wants to kill me, and I want
Speaker 2: to kill him. That's that's all the motivation you need.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty hyped up when I get out there. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a good question. That's that's what I always tell people.
Speaker 2: The mindset that people always go you have to be
Speaker 2: able to like, you have to be willing to die
Speaker 2: when you get in there. That's true, you have to,
Speaker 2: but that's a minimum requirement. The harder idea is can
Speaker 2: you kill a man when you have to? Yes? I can,
Speaker 2: So I'm willing to die, and.
Speaker 1: That I mean I actually I know, yeah, you know that.
Speaker 2: I know that when I go in there, if there's
Speaker 2: no reef, the ref doesn't stop. But I'm not stopping.
Speaker 2: I can be sitting on you for ten minutes bashing
Speaker 2: your face, you know. If the ref doesn't say stop,
Speaker 2: I'm not stopping. And that is the question that me,
Speaker 2: as a as a modern day gladiator, has to ask myself.
Speaker 2: Am I still willing to die? Absolutely? That's easy. It's
Speaker 2: are you willing to kill a man in front of
Speaker 2: his family? Yes? I am. And that's why I'm the
Speaker 2: world champion because I say yes to that answer that
Speaker 2: question every single time. But that's treec is Stormlocks. Yeah, duplicity,
Speaker 2: that's not Treeck is the guy that you see right. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I can't be living like that the whole time. And
Speaker 2: I think that's for a lot of athletes a problem
Speaker 2: differentiating against the man in society and the man in
Speaker 2: the arena, two very different people. I can't live my
Speaker 2: life just willing to kill everybody that that wrongs me
Speaker 2: or no. But when the time comes in life as well,
Speaker 2: when you have to defend your family, when you have to,
Speaker 2: you have to be able to pull that trigger.
Speaker 1: So when you when you when he fought Israel, Israel
Speaker 1: was on his back foot the whole time. And I
Speaker 1: kept thinking to myself, I didn't You're sort of putting
Speaker 1: yourself in a difficult position when you keep walking up
Speaker 1: against the cage, especially when you know Israel's normally with hands,
Speaker 1: better off with hands and feet. He's not really a wrestler,
Speaker 1: And but when he fought you, it was a totally
Speaker 1: different deal. He was on the back foot the whole time.
Speaker 1: Do you strategize with your team, I presume we've got
Speaker 1: a big team. You sit down and say, okay, we're
Speaker 1: going to be on the front foot the whole time.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the fight to him, knowing that,
Speaker 1: as you say, he's a great defensive fighter like he's
Speaker 1: you know, he's got the role and everything on him.
Speaker 1: So how hard or how serious is the whole strategy strategizing?
Speaker 1: And do you train into the strategy or you just
Speaker 1: that's or or is this just drin because that's my style.
Speaker 1: I stick to my style. I don't change my style
Speaker 1: for anybody. How does it work?
Speaker 2: Well, there's still size of that. So the strategy for
Speaker 2: me is very important. I watch. I've probably watched every
Speaker 2: fight that there is to watch, every division, every division.
Speaker 2: I love fighting. I don't miss a UFC. I love fighting.
Speaker 2: I love watching it. I love you know, because I
Speaker 2: can learn from every What's great about this sport. It's
Speaker 2: so quick evolving that you see a UC fight, you
Speaker 2: maybe miss one weekend, miss another weekend, you watch another.
Speaker 2: It's almost a different sport. The people just get better
Speaker 2: so quickly. So you have to stay on top of that.
Speaker 2: Now in terms of watching tape of everybody in especially
Speaker 2: in my division, watching the guys that's coming up, it
Speaker 2: doesn't help. This guy burst on the scene and now
Speaker 2: you're too late. You have to know in the back
Speaker 2: of your mind what this guy does well, what this
Speaker 2: guy's where he's false are, where he's good at and
Speaker 2: the strategy I make my strategy the way I see
Speaker 2: the fight. I see his strengths, his weaknesses, my strength,
Speaker 2: the stuff where I can struggle. My coach does the same,
Speaker 2: some teammates does the same, and we discuss it and
Speaker 2: we see where the similarities are, and that's how we
Speaker 2: compile our game plan. This fight a bit different because
Speaker 2: we've had we've had five rounds in there with each other.
Speaker 2: But that can also be trouble because you're gon't just
Speaker 2: go out there and think it's the same guy. He's
Speaker 2: going to make adjustments. I made adjustments. I believe the
Speaker 2: guy who evolved the most in the last year, so
Speaker 2: that's how long it's been, is the guy who's going
Speaker 2: to win this fight. The guy who's who has made
Speaker 2: the necessary adjustments to be better for this round is
Speaker 2: the guy who's going to win this fight. And I
Speaker 2: made sure of that. I made sure of that.
Speaker 1: So you evolving, evolving the whole time, you're evolving a
Speaker 1: fight game the whole time.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at the guy who thought
Speaker 2: that the SIGNA is the guy who fought strictly the
Speaker 2: first time, completely different fighter. And if you like on
Speaker 2: the ninth the third, the guy who's going to afford
Speaker 2: out sign is as kicked against the Driguez that's going
Speaker 2: to show up that night. I know that for a fact,
Speaker 2: and the game plan is very important, but it's a fight.
Speaker 2: You know, you get a lot of people, and that's
Speaker 2: one thing I have to give to Suckland. He is
Speaker 2: always down to fight, I can. I know he doesn't
Speaker 2: listen to these coaches. I know he is a radical,
Speaker 2: so you know mentally when he gets frustrated, it's a
Speaker 2: it's a nightmare for a coach, I would assume. But
Speaker 2: he's always there to fight. And that's something you can't teach.
Speaker 2: Because you can have all the systems in the world,
Speaker 2: the best coach, the best team, the best technology, you
Speaker 2: can have everything, the perfect game plan. At the end
Speaker 2: of the day, it's a fight. If you gain bring
Speaker 2: your game plan. I punch you in the mouth. You
Speaker 2: bring your game plan. I just have a power. You
Speaker 2: get tired. Now that fatigue will make a counter of
Speaker 2: you very quickly. You forget about game plan very quickly
Speaker 2: because you don't know what my game plan is. So
Speaker 2: you can have this plan in your mind. Oh I
Speaker 2: did this in this fight, this in this fight. Now,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you're feeling my strength, You're feeling
Speaker 2: my presence in there. You're feeling the pressure that I
Speaker 2: put on you. It's really hard if you have a
Speaker 2: forward game plan and you're fighting a guy that's keeping
Speaker 2: you on your back foot to implement your game plan.
Speaker 1: You look like, I mean, I know your weight division,
Speaker 1: but you don't. You look bigger than your weight division.
Speaker 1: What are you walking around that normally.
Speaker 2: Around one hundred and two one hundred and five kidograms.
Speaker 1: Right, and so you've got to drop a fav bit
Speaker 1: of weight, Yeah, to make weight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's me. Like I would say three weeks
Speaker 2: after a fight, three four weeks after your fight, because
Speaker 2: then you know you're training, You're eating whatever you didn't
Speaker 2: eat in the last twelve weeks, eating whatever you want to,
Speaker 2: drinking a lot of beer, and enjoying life a little
Speaker 2: for that for that period because you have to. You
Speaker 2: have to do that. You have to unwind. And also
Speaker 2: you know, I love this sport more than anything, so
Speaker 2: you have to also have that breaks. You can't just
Speaker 2: be focused the whole time. It takes it away. You
Speaker 2: need to go up and go down, go up and
Speaker 2: go down. So yeah, when I'm when i'm yeah, i
Speaker 2: can get to one o five easily. But when I'm
Speaker 2: in good shape, and when I'm not in fight camp
Speaker 2: but in good shape, training every day eating, I'm around
Speaker 2: one hundred and two kilos.
Speaker 1: And so your plan then for in terms of making weight,
Speaker 1: do you is there any residual sort of exhaustion as
Speaker 1: a result of trying to make weight. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: because hydration hydration UFC is a bit different boxing hydration
Speaker 1: UFC is it's a big deal. You've got to be
Speaker 1: probably hydrated. In other words, you know, you can't be
Speaker 1: just yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean you have to wake us. I mean, you
Speaker 2: can be dehydrated as much as you want on waiting day.
Speaker 2: It's about fight day, you know. You can you get
Speaker 2: guys that you cut the weight. I mean you can
Speaker 2: cut like if I had to go, I used to
Speaker 2: fight at one seventy so seventy seven kilograms. This is
Speaker 2: the exact same body.
Speaker 1: Well that's the twenty three kilo drop.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was waiting to say I fought there for
Speaker 2: five years. The problem was when when you do that,
Speaker 2: it's the rehydration process that's the most important. The last fight,
Speaker 2: I thought that was just because as I grew, I
Speaker 2: started twenty one at that weight. When I was twenty
Speaker 2: five twenty six, you know, my body just became heavy
Speaker 2: and bigger. So to make that weight, my body fat
Speaker 2: was like three percent, which is possible, and I made
Speaker 2: the weight, but every shot I would take feels like
Speaker 2: somebody sitting with a baseball bat. Yeah, and that's I said, no,
Speaker 2: I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this anymore because
Speaker 2: I'm going to lose unnecessary fights. And it took the
Speaker 2: joy out of the sport because my diet had I
Speaker 2: had run one week off in terms of just diet,
Speaker 2: and then I had just started dieting for the next
Speaker 2: fight because I would go up from seventy seven, get
Speaker 2: in the cage at around ninety two. A week later,
Speaker 2: I'm one hundred killos again. So then the hall process
Speaker 2: starts all over and that's not healthy. Moved up to
Speaker 2: middleweight the best decision I've ever made because now I
Speaker 2: can have a life outside and when my camp starts,
Speaker 2: I can do it. And it's about that reideration process.
Speaker 2: It doesn't help you make weight, but you can't perform
Speaker 2: on fight night. You get bodyballers. They are allowed to
Speaker 2: use like water stuff that you know, strike take the water.
Speaker 2: We're not allowed to use any of that. You get
Speaker 2: tested and at the end of the day, you stand
Speaker 2: on a stage flexing, which is I mean, it's to
Speaker 2: their own and it's a hard work to get that physique,
Speaker 2: of course, but we need to get punished in the face.
Speaker 2: You need to be able to perform for the timing.
Speaker 2: It's I mean, you have to be able to perform
Speaker 2: at the highest level on earth, you know, cardio wise
Speaker 2: and muscle endurance, all of that. I mean, our whole
Speaker 2: bodies consist of water. So if you your brain, I
Speaker 2: mean the shots you take, so you have to take
Speaker 2: all that in consideration when you're cutting this weight, and
Speaker 2: do it in such a manner where it doesn't negatively
Speaker 2: negatively affect your fights.
Speaker 1: I see Conor McGregor the other day put up a
Speaker 1: post I don't think that's actually sure where it was
Speaker 1: probably on his own Instagram page, but I said that
Speaker 1: he's not going to do He's not going to fight profiders,
Speaker 1: He's going to go and start fighting YouTube. What do
Speaker 1: you think about that concept?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think where the man has had in his life.
Speaker 2: I mean, Connor McGregor is you know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of controversy around the man one hundred percent. But I
Speaker 2: did an interview a couple of months ago where I said,
Speaker 2: whether you hate him or love him, you've got to
Speaker 2: respect what the man has done and achieve in the sport.
Speaker 2: People look at Connor McGregor now they're like, oh, he's
Speaker 2: done well. If he has done, good on him. You know,
Speaker 2: good on him, you know, because I've been a fan
Speaker 2: of his for very long. When I was I was
Speaker 2: still up and coming, when he's first Understeen or far
Speaker 2: up and coming. I think my second fight in the
Speaker 2: UFC was on the undercut of Connor and dusn't third
Speaker 2: fight and before that when he was Understne, he just
Speaker 2: he was. He almost changed the game in terms of mentality,
Speaker 2: you know, bringing in mental warfare not only as saying
Speaker 2: nasty shit. No, bringing in mental warfare is a tactic
Speaker 2: practicing that mentality practicing. And I was twenty one when
Speaker 2: that happened. So I immediately to you and said, this
Speaker 2: is an area, especially locally where I was fighting at
Speaker 2: that stage, when people don't even consider this. People just
Speaker 2: go like two people are fighting, get in their node.
Speaker 2: The means of aspect of this creates makes people crush
Speaker 2: crushes people with both people. I see people in the
Speaker 2: gym all the time, great fighters, world champion fighters can't
Speaker 2: win a fight in front of people, or when the
Speaker 2: lights are shining. He brought that to light. He may
Speaker 2: change the game from we are fighters. When I started
Speaker 2: this sport, I said, she's I hope I make enough
Speaker 2: money so I can eat. But I don't need to eat.
Speaker 2: I just need to be world champion. That's the only
Speaker 2: thing I thought. And he changed the game to it
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be like that, And he made the
Speaker 2: sport more famous than the sport itself worldwide. Everybody knows
Speaker 2: Whoconomy is and if you love him or hate him,
Speaker 2: he was an incredible fighter. He did what no man
Speaker 2: before him could do. He beat Chosah although who was
Speaker 2: my favorite all time fighter at that stage. He beat
Speaker 2: the He was then bound for pound number one. He
Speaker 2: beat him in thirty second, thirteen seconds knockout. Then goes
Speaker 2: on becomes the first double division champion in an absolute
Speaker 2: clinical display against Eddie Alvarez, and people forget about that
Speaker 2: immediately now because it's been a while. The man sitting
Speaker 2: on his yacht. Jeez, you know, it's it's kind of
Speaker 2: easy to say yea and judge, but I think everybody's
Speaker 2: kind of jealous of that. And yeah, I mean the
Speaker 2: man's done some CONSCII or stuff. But that's a completely
Speaker 2: different story as the econo McGregor, that's an athlete. You
Speaker 2: have to give that man all the respect and thanks
Speaker 2: our fighters because of what happened to this sport because
Speaker 2: of him and the raising pay. It's as simple as that,
Speaker 2: because of somebody like him who changed the narrative.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely so, he did unbelievabletuff for you have see
Speaker 1: so McGregor out up, they get who else are you?
Speaker 1: You've been a student in this game for a long time.
Speaker 1: Who's your you know your goat list?
Speaker 2: Goatless? That's a tough one. I mean, you can't ever
Speaker 2: Denis grade John Jones never ever, ever. I mean this
Speaker 2: guy and I mean the Tom aspinall fight. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you this, Tom Asperov met him. He's an incredible guy, awesome,
Speaker 2: awesome man, so humble, nice, gentle giant until he gets
Speaker 2: in there. Of course it's a fight I don't need
Speaker 2: to see because the world wants to see this John
Speaker 2: Jones because I love aspiral. I think he's a phenomenal.
Speaker 2: He's in the heavyweight division. He has grappling, wrestling, incredible striking.
Speaker 2: You don't see that with heavyweights. John Jones is years
Speaker 2: ahead of everybody, especially at heavyweight, until Aspinall came along.
Speaker 2: I mean, we saw what he did with Sarahgan, and
Speaker 2: now Aspinall is a young he's hungry. You have Jones
Speaker 2: who is definitely at the end of his career. Watch
Speaker 2: thirty eight years old. I don't need to see this
Speaker 2: because he's never been beaten. So I don't need to
Speaker 2: see John Jones fight Aspirnam because I don't want any
Speaker 2: either one of them to lose. I want John Jones
Speaker 2: to retire unbeaten. Of course he had that DQ for
Speaker 2: twelve to six, which is now legal, but unbeaten and
Speaker 2: the legend that he is, and I want him to retire.
Speaker 2: And Aspronau goes on to be the next big thing,
Speaker 2: but John Jones bring the warrior. That is, he says,
Speaker 2: pay me enough and I'm doing it. Aspona wants it,
Speaker 2: and one of them has to lose that fight. And
Speaker 2: that's the one thing. If you look at it and
Speaker 2: you go, Aspera is probably gonna win. But then if
Speaker 2: you ask me that, I say, no, no, no. We've
Speaker 2: said that so many times with John Jones, and it
Speaker 2: makes it look easy. He is the greatest of all time,
Speaker 2: for sure. You can't deny that. I want to now
Speaker 2: this for now up until this date where fighting exists
Speaker 2: is goat. And then of course Connor McGregor massive inspiration
Speaker 2: for me in terms of how we changed the sport,
Speaker 2: approached the sport. He was a great inspiration to when
Speaker 2: I was young and how to approach it. The guy
Speaker 2: that got me into the sport was Merco Crocop from
Speaker 2: the K One Days, because that's how I started. He
Speaker 2: was and he wasn't the UC, but he was already
Speaker 2: forty years old then he was incredible. Anderson Solva was
Speaker 2: the guy that the highlight reels that I obviously you've
Speaker 2: seen me fighter doesn't look like Anderson Solver, but I
Speaker 2: always tried, definitely failed, definitely failed like he was. He's
Speaker 2: just made it look like a video game. So he's
Speaker 2: one of the greats. And then one of my favorite fighters,
Speaker 2: a guy that I've trained with, a guy that I know,
Speaker 2: one of the nicest people as well, and he's also
Speaker 2: down for anything as a guy a Gilbert Burns. I
Speaker 2: think you know he had a loss against jack Manlena
Speaker 2: in his last outing, but gil Burns is not a
Speaker 2: young fighter anymore. Just in terms of the guys he
Speaker 2: has beaten. If you look at the fight with Balo Muhammad,
Speaker 2: who is a very dominant champion. What he won his
Speaker 2: beout in dominant fashion, decision of course, and he located
Speaker 2: the shoulder in the first round. Thought that fight too,
Speaker 2: wasn't the easy fight. It just went but he couldn't
Speaker 2: use it one on. He has the mentality of a champion.
Speaker 2: I've trained with him and how I see that is
Speaker 2: just the work ethic of that man. When he's under
Speaker 2: you get people to be present and be productive. Is
Speaker 2: not the same thing. You can be at the gym
Speaker 2: every day. You can be training every day, but are
Speaker 2: you taking in and trying your best every day to
Speaker 2: show up. It's not like it's great. It's good for
Speaker 2: your weekend water to show up. If you want to
Speaker 2: be the base in the world, conjure show up. You
Speaker 2: have to show up. And that's one thing that I've
Speaker 2: seen from him that's really inspiring. So he's one of
Speaker 2: my favorite fighters too.
Speaker 1: What's really interesting is the way you talk about your
Speaker 1: favorite fighters. But what's it really interesting is the way
Speaker 1: you positioned Jones, et cetera. It's newly like there's a
Speaker 1: romantic I don't mean in a love your other sense,
Speaker 1: but I mean like there's a romance associated with the
Speaker 1: fight game, and for those people who you hold up
Speaker 1: in such high esteem, it's like it's not just the entertainment,
Speaker 1: not just the athleticism, not just the hardness, but there's
Speaker 1: a romance in there. You absolutely love the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: would it be fair summation?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? I think when people ask me what advice I
Speaker 2: would give any youngsters, and don't give them the advice
Speaker 2: of work hard to make the sacrifices. They know that
Speaker 2: you should know that by the time, and you'll figure
Speaker 2: that out very quickly, and you can just google motivation
Speaker 2: or YouTube and that's what they'll all tell you. You have
Speaker 2: to love this more than anything that you do, because
Speaker 2: people look at me now and actually listen to me now,
Speaker 2: because I'm the champion of the world. Up until then,
Speaker 2: you don't know what am I going to do after
Speaker 2: discuss I spent my whole life. I didn't develop any
Speaker 2: other skills in life. I didn't build up a CV.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's going to be hard to get a
Speaker 2: job if you say, now, what do you do before
Speaker 2: there's no fight people? Other than being a balance I guess.
Speaker 2: If you don't make it, you don't make it. It's
Speaker 2: only one way.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of risk.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of risk if and now you get
Speaker 2: you I was very young when I started fighting professionally.
Speaker 2: Some guys only get professionally twenty five. If you don't
Speaker 2: get to the UC by thirty, you're getting in a
Speaker 2: situation of okay, am I going to Because if you
Speaker 2: don't get into a PFL at least an mma. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about stam a PFL at least or the UC
Speaker 2: and make it to the top, you have to know
Speaker 2: that you're not going to be set. You're not going
Speaker 2: to be able to you know, you have after your career.
Speaker 2: You have to have something to look after you. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about and quickly, because if you don't make it,
Speaker 2: you don't make it. It's all you make it or
Speaker 2: you don't.
Speaker 1: It's all or nothing.
Speaker 2: It's all or nothing.
Speaker 1: It's a huge risk.
Speaker 2: It's only one way to find out, and that's to
Speaker 2: go for it. If you go, I want to do this,
Speaker 2: but I have to, you know, still make sure that
Speaker 2: I'm taking care of some things. If this doesn't begut
Speaker 2: you already lost it. You'll never make it can.
Speaker 1: Actual question about southe because it's really important question for me.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you're Rememberinghi, But many years
Speaker 1: ago I had quite a good relationship with a guy
Speaker 1: called town Strauss, a repe union.
Speaker 2: Guy Spremeboo, captain of the station and any capitiustraight he
Speaker 2: come over here to live and any capustraighta.
Speaker 1: But Tim work for you in another business because he
Speaker 1: was a lawyer. But he told me that. And I
Speaker 1: don't know what this is about South Africans, but he
Speaker 1: told me that when he was a young man, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was all bullshit, but he said they
Speaker 1: used to drive alongside I think he said Wildebeest or
Speaker 1: something like that, and actually jump out of the back
Speaker 1: of the jeep order was and try his father's to
Speaker 1: gin and try and tackle it. There's something about South Africa,
Speaker 1: the mindset that they're bloody, hard minded, tough minded people.
Speaker 1: Now we've only just seen you here in the UFC.
Speaker 1: There aren't a lot of South Africans in the UFC.
Speaker 1: There's not even a lot of South African boxes even
Speaker 1: out there at the moment that are known. But what
Speaker 1: is it about South Africans it makes them so hard minded.
Speaker 1: I mean people from South Africa. I'm talking about, not
Speaker 1: the ones that live here, but the ones from South Africa.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the ones from South Africa, I think, especially what
Speaker 2: you are talking about now, South Africans in general, English, Afrikaans.
Speaker 2: We have eleven twelve official languages, so that's eleven twelve
Speaker 2: different cultures. So in my culture has Afrikaans, South African.
Speaker 2: You know, my dad is extremely tough. Hard work is
Speaker 2: installed in us like you wouldn't believe. It's not like
Speaker 2: I see sometimes I see, for example, a kid like
Speaker 2: talking back to his parents, and I see the situation
Speaker 2: and I go, and the parents go, you are going
Speaker 2: to the naughty corner. I didn't get a naughty corner. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: it's not how it works in our culture. You get
Speaker 2: a naughty backhand. That's what you get. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's about discipline. And there's a lot of love. My
Speaker 2: parents love in my dad, my mom, they love me.
Speaker 2: But I was brought up hard and right because not
Speaker 2: a struggle. There's a lot of struggle. It wasn't a struggle. Now,
Speaker 2: I grew up in an amazing family. It is hard
Speaker 2: in a sense that you will show respect and you
Speaker 2: will appreciate every single thing you have, no matter what
Speaker 2: it is. I was rewarded for winning, and I was
Speaker 2: told when I didn't do good enough that it wasn't
Speaker 2: good enough. In the UFC when I for Derek Branson,
Speaker 2: that's actually a funny story, I thought Derek Brunson and
Speaker 2: it was a tough fight. No, you know, my Chodio.
Speaker 2: It was a great camp, felt amazing, but it was
Speaker 2: that first round was so intense. It was you know,
Speaker 2: it was wrestling. It was full speed. Second round came out.
Speaker 2: I was tired, he was tired, but I just kept
Speaker 2: on pushing. And that's that minded you talked about. And
Speaker 2: I got home at the airport and you know, I
Speaker 2: just became number five in the world, the first South
Speaker 2: African ever to even get close to a ranking. I
Speaker 2: get home, we get in the car, so happy to
Speaker 2: see my parents. They're so happy to see me, and
Speaker 2: they go, jeez, so you still want to be world champion?
Speaker 2: I said, well, yeah, it's my whole life is dedicated
Speaker 2: this one. They go, not if you fight like that?
Speaker 2: That was terrible and I'm almost I couldn't I couldn't
Speaker 2: even fathom what was happening right now, said, excuse me,
Speaker 2: I was right, number ten. I just became number five
Speaker 2: in the world. Like, no, that's amazing, But you won't
Speaker 2: be number Like it's number five what you want to achieve,
Speaker 2: because like that, you're not achieving number one. Like number
Speaker 2: five will be the highest achievement you'll get if that's
Speaker 2: the way you want to do it. And I was
Speaker 2: almost I couldn't believe I was studying like I am
Speaker 2: right now. I couldn't believe it. And they said, listen,
Speaker 2: we are so we couldn't be more proud. We are
Speaker 2: just saying we're not saying you didn't work hard enough.
Speaker 2: We're not saying you're not doing enough. We're saying there's
Speaker 2: a change needed, some you need to do. You need
Speaker 2: to find it. It's your career. You need to find
Speaker 2: something for the next level, because like that, you won't
Speaker 2: make it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: So it would would a good description be tough love.
Speaker 3: And I was angry at them. I was literally sitting
Speaker 3: in a carr and I'm not saying a word. I
Speaker 3: just got back for a month away from her, and
Speaker 3: I then when started thinking about it, made the changes
Speaker 3: that was needed. You know, the introspection, I was angry
Speaker 3: first like and then in perspection processed it and I said, shit,
Speaker 3: they were right. I need to make it made the
Speaker 3: change in your AWM today. So that you know my
Speaker 3: parents when I was younger, they were very hard on us,
Speaker 3: but rightfully so, because we were naughty little shits, me
Speaker 3: and my brother if maybe we would have been in
Speaker 3: jail if it wasn't what they because I would be
Speaker 3: more afraid of my parents finding out when I when
Speaker 3: we were making shit than going to jail.
Speaker 2: I was like, please please lock me up. If my
Speaker 2: dad finds me or my mom, we're in big trouble.
Speaker 2: And that taught us respect. It wasn't fear, it was respect.
Speaker 2: And to this day, you know, my brothers, myself and
Speaker 2: my parents, we are so close. We see each other
Speaker 2: every week, you know, we and that's very rare these days.
Speaker 2: You like, me and my brothers are best friends. Me
Speaker 2: and my mom and dad and my brothers. We are
Speaker 2: so close because we have that. And when you're younger,
Speaker 2: you don't necessarily understand why are they punishing me like this.
Speaker 2: I never got grounded, no ways, that's not You go
Speaker 2: to the farm and you work for a week, because
Speaker 2: you don't have manners and that was it. You're rewarded
Speaker 2: for hard work and you were punished with hard work.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: I think it's to me that's the best one before
Speaker 1: suns that I had to do that, But I mean,
Speaker 1: I love that type of process. I'm one quick last
Speaker 1: question and I want to get wound up. Keep warning
Speaker 1: because I know you've got a busy schedule. And by
Speaker 1: the way, can I say it's a great privilege to
Speaker 1: have you sitting here and I really appreciate it. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm meekly lucky to be able to interview Pereira next week.
Speaker 1: What question would you want to ask him? Because I
Speaker 1: don't know what to ask him? What would you ask him?
Speaker 2: If how's it going to feel to be in Sean
Speaker 2: Striegland's corner losing again? Ask him that I'll ask him that.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say it's from you. If you don't
Speaker 2: know one day when we fight, you will be zero
Speaker 2: and two really great, So really have to say. I
Speaker 2: think when we talked about my goat list, ye, I
Speaker 2: can't name him because he's a potential opponent, but doesn't
Speaker 2: really matter, like it doesn't change me. Like I said,
Speaker 2: you can be my friend, you can be the biggest asshole.
Speaker 2: I will still kill you in there. It's a job
Speaker 2: to be done. I think he is one of the
Speaker 2: greatest combat athletes to ever live. He is a phenomenal
Speaker 2: athlete to go in a short period of time from
Speaker 2: a different sport and not just a difference, but kickboxing,
Speaker 2: which is not a great base for MMA. It helps,
Speaker 2: but if that's the only thing, you know, not a
Speaker 2: great base, you know, if you want to go up
Speaker 2: against these wrestling guys. He came in and just went
Speaker 2: through everyone after being one of the greatest K one
Speaker 2: keyboxes to ever live, I mean in multiple titles at
Speaker 2: the highest level, comes in in a short period of
Speaker 2: time and just becomes a two like became a middleway champion,
Speaker 2: ghost lighte ever it becomes champion and being one of
Speaker 2: the biggest names, always always ready to fight. The world's
Speaker 2: respect for him as a fighter, I think, and you know,
Speaker 2: as a person even I think we are rivals, but
Speaker 2: you know, I have the utmost respect for what he
Speaker 2: is achieved in the sport and he's truly one of
Speaker 2: the goats to ever not do m m A or
Speaker 2: the UFC in combat sports. I think probably the most
Speaker 2: achieved combat sports athlete the worlds have we seen.
Speaker 1: Thanks Dregs mate, good luck, Thank you really seriously