WEBVTT - Michael Chandler 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:16.239 Caralam. She's the queen of talking. He was man, She's 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:20.160 only yes, actually got the scoop on on the on side. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:28.400 No one can do with clid back Caral Lam, Carola. 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:35.960 No one can do with cuid Carala is timple, Caroline. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.519 I am so excited about this episode. I have Michael 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.400 Chandler on today. He is a two time m M, 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.440 a world champion. Not only is he an incredible fighter, 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.600 I've watched him fight and it is insane. I've watched 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.680 him on pay per view, I've watched him on the internet. 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.440 This guy is crazy good. He is such a competitor, 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.720 he is so great, obviously a world champion, and he's 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.200 so positive. We talk all about how he stays motivated 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.399 the importance of self talk, positive self talk, and just 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:09.880 the power of believing in yourself. He is such an 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:11.840 inspirational person. I told him he needs to be an 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.959 inspirational speaker in his next life, because this guy is 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.480 the most positive, inspiring person you'll ever meet. Y'all get 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:24.760 excited Michael Chandler. Okay, I'm so stoked. Michael Chandler is 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:29.120 in the house, and oh my gosh, I feel a 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:34.640 little bit overwhelmed because you're a world champion. You are 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.280 a two time world champion of the lightweight division for 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.080 M m m A fighting and oh, we just tell me, 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.720 how did you get into this sport to begin with? 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:49.600 And it's so layered because people are confused, like someone 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.040 like me, is it boxing? Is a UFC? Is it 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.480 m m A? Is it? What's belatour? There's so many layers, 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.640 there's so many How did you get involved with this sport? 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.080 And now you are sitting at the top of your game. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.080 So for me, it started out with just wrestling. I 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.840 wrestled in high school, wrestled in college. UM was in 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.720 love with the sport of wrestling. Well, I think for me, 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.519 I wasn't. I wasn't a big guy. Was I wasn't 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.440 gonna I wasn't going to excel at football because I wasn't. 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.839 I wasn't big and tall and whatever. I wasn't gonna 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.360 excel at basketball. Um, wrestling was that perfect kind of 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:27.200 blue collar work hard and good things are going to happen. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.080 And it really is the toughest sport in the entire world. 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.240 Everything I think, Yeah, I mean, I think if if 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.960 you talk to anybody who's ever who has wrestled or 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:37.640 knows wrestlers that they will agree that it's it's that 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.919 grind and it's so hard and it's tough, and it's 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.000 and it's weight cutting, and when you're not weight cutting, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.000 your training extremely hard. And then you couple them both 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.640 together and it's and it's constant ups and downs, an 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.080 emotional roller coaster. And it's maybe the man that I 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:50.920 am and the husband I am and the father I 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.280 will be, what did I teach? I mean, I think 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.679 it's just the constant stick to itedness and the constant 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.880 just honestly getting beat down and then build build back 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.720 up and beat down and built back up. And it's 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:07.280 just that constant faith in that constant grounded nous of 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.280 knowing that if I show up every single day and 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.560 I laced my you know, I put my mouth piece in, 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:13.680 I lace my shoes up, and I go as hard 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:15.800 as I can I get outside of my carben zone, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.120 good things are going to happen. And even when bad 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.320 things do happen, it's only a matter of time before 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:22.560 I'm back on top again or I win again. And 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.480 seeing that proven over and over again through this career 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.440 that you've chosen. Yeah, So so I think there's no 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.720 way that I would be sitting here as a multiple 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.520 time world champion without the sport of wrestling, you know. 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.240 So it's it was great, and I wrestled at wrestling 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.119 in high school and then college wrestled at miszoo. Wrestling 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.880 is obviously different than m m A. Wrestling is not 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.640 quite as intensive m m A. Right, Well, to me, 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.560 it's actually a harder sport. I think. I think if 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:49.880 you if you watch the wrestling match and you watched 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:55.280 the m m A fight, you're gonna see, you know, punches, kicks, knees, elbows, cuts, bruising, 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.560 stitches in a m m A fight, knockout submissions. Um. 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.760 But the sport of the sport of wrestling, the amount 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.240 of dedication that it takes to make it to that 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.800 top one per cent, is so much more than than 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:09.760 the sport of mixed martial arts. But when you talk 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:13.000 about intensity, when you talk about entertainment and blood and 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:19.440 guts and and crazy craziness and literally the volatility inside 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.440 of a competition, mixed martial arts is one of the 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:24.160 most exciting sports in the entire world. So you think 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.480 it's one of the more dangerous sports. Are you ever 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.560 worried about your health, Um, a little bit. I think 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.839 it's I think it's ignorance is bliss type of situation 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.159 where yeah, you know, and I just think I wouldn't 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:37.800 have been called to this sport. God would not have 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.800 called me to this sport. If you have great things 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:43.760 were going to happen or or harm was going to 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.320 be done. And I've had numerous sets of stitches. I've 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.920 had eyes swollen shut and lips turned inside out, and 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.919 injuries and losses and tears, and and I've been on 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:54.520 top of the world and I've been down in the dumps, 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.359 and it's been it's been such a crazy, crazy sport. 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:58.960 But it's you know, I just I truly believe that 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.360 I was I was put on this on this earth 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.520 to be a world champion and and reach people on 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:05.920 my platform. So I try not to think about it, 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.400 you know. But your calling, Yeah, absolutely, because I am 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.400 very big on callings to I think we all have 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.400 a calling, and I think it's so important to take 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.039 the time to figure out what it is. But you 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.239 found yours fairly quickly right away in high school with wrestling, 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.840 with wrestling and that, so you just fell in love 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.600 with wrestling, and then you became the best at wrestling. Yes, 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.840 well not as not as good as I wanted to be, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:28.680 you know, I think, you know, I think I fell 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.400 short in wrestling, and that's what really propelled me to 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:34.960 having a very successful mm A career. And I was 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.599 extremely extremely blessed. I was. I was the oldest of 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:39.400 three boys, you know, So I was I was the 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.440 I never had a big brother. But when I came 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.359 into college, I immediately started taking my lumps and getting 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.479 beat up by the upper classmans. And and um, you know, 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.599 there's two guys right now who are world champions in 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.160 other organizations. So I fight for Bellator. There's the welterweight 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.640 champion of the UFC, Tyron Woodley, and there's the welter 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.160 weight champion of one FC, Ben Askerin who I wrestled 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.440 with both of them in college. Wow, So y'all kind 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.160 of rose And so you were telling me earlier Bellator. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.400 It's like UFC Belotour, breakdown what those are for people 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.719 who might be confused on how it's all divided up. Yeah. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.960 So the sport is mixed martial arts. The sport is 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:13.919 m m A. We fight under the Unified Rules of 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.599 Mixed Martial Arts. And then yeah, so underneath the sport 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.600 of mixed martial arts there are different organizations and the organizations. 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:22.880 The first one was the UFC. They came in, came 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:27.320 around and basically started the sport in nine, I believe, 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.320 and then Belletre came around in two thousand and eight. Um, 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.160 there was Strike Forest, there's one FC, there's World Series 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.960 of Fighting. We're all the different organizations, and then under 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.760 those organizations are contracted fighters. So I'm I'm a ten 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:44.960 ninety nine employee to Bellaturers. So yeah, so I'm I'm 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.479 contracted in Bellotour and there's the guys in the UFC 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.880 and there's the guys in Belletour and NFC. We don't 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.840 cross promote, you know. And whenever my contract is up, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.880 I either choose to resign a deal with Bellotour and 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.480 continue my services with them, or I sup around, I 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.799 become a free agent. Just like football, just like baseball, 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:09.279 just like basketball. Okay, there's a lot. It's just it's 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:13.960 such a powerful platform that you're on because you are 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:21.560 literally using your body as your instrument to have your platform, 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:26.000 to have your calling. And so the training, mental physical, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.600 How do you mentally? Because I feel like so much 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.280 of it has to be mental. So when you're transferring 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.720 from wrestling and getting into m m A, are you 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.320 deciding in your mind then I'm going to be the best. 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.320 How what goes on in the process of you evolving 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.600 into this world ship champion? Well? I think that The 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.160 funny thing about the evolution of my careers is I 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.080 think there's been ups, and there's been downs, and there's 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.240 been There's been times where I have believed to myself, 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.800 and then there's been times where either I got complacent 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.880 with my self belief or I wasn't seeking that self 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.640 belief in that motivation and that and that positive self 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.960 talk that I should have been. And I find myself 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.680 positive self talk crucial. Oh my gosh, it's it's it 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:13.600 literally is everything I think. I mean in my career, 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.840 I came into the sport Sky High thinking, Okay, Michael, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.120 you've you were an All American. I was an All 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.120 American and wrestling, which is which is a very small 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.880 percentage of people who can become All Americans at the 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.680 Division one wrestler as at the Division one wrestling UM 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:32.240 ranks in college. And so when I came into the sport, 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.760 I told myself, Okay, Michael, you've worked harder than all 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.880 these guys. You might not be as skilled, you might 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:39.079 not be as good on paper, you might not be 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:40.240 ranked a high, but you can go out there and 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.559 beat him. And literally a year and a half after 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:46.400 I stepped into the cage, I became world champion and 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.640 ranked the top five in the world. So within twenty 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:55.240 two months or something, I was world champion right out 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.160 of college. So I found success really quickly. Do you 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.680 think it's because you wanted it? Maybe more because obviously 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.599 you're at this point you all have talent. What separates 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.960 the world champions from the people who are all talented. 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.880 I think it's toughness. I think it's I think it's consistency, 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:15.760 consistent belief and confident in expectancy of really truly believing 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.720 what you deserve, you know. And I think I think 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.040 in college, I would tell the reporters, or I would 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.600 tell my coach, or I would tell teammates, I want 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.120 to be a national champion. I want to be a 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.800 national champion. And if you watch the way I trained, 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:34.760 I would train harder than everybody every single day. Yes, 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.680 but mentally, I didn't truly believe that I was going 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.320 to be a national champion. I didn't truly believe that. Yeah, 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.480 well I wasn't as much back then. I would tell 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.640 other people, but when it when it was just me 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.520 alone in my thoughts, it was the fear of being 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:54.400 successful or um I would you know. I can remember 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.520 numerous times where I was winning a match and all 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.040 of a sudden I would find a way to lose, 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:00.400 you know, so we would find way to lose. I 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:04.920 would sabotage, not on purpose, but I think it's it's 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.880 it's that cognitive dissonance and and it's this is that 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:11.480 what I've come So let me let me become a 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:16.679 psychologist really quickly. Uh no, but cognitive dissonance is basically 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:22.240 what I think, what is happening not truly lining up 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.240 with your beliefs. So so I was about to be 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.840 say a guy named Cepias Later who was ranked top 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:29.240 three in the country at the time, and I was 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:31.360 just a freshman sophomore. I wasn't supposed to beat him, 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:33.000 but I was up by like five or six points. 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.400 So what was happening in real life? I didn't line 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.080 up with my self belief. My self belief was you'll 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:40.719 never be able to beat later, You're not as good 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.920 as him. You didn't feel like you were ready yet 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.920 or something. Yeah, or you just fear of fear of 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.880 being fear of being great because you're not sure what 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.800 is on the other side of greatness, what what that 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.640 entails were, you know? So it's what is happening not 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:58.920 lining up with what you truly believe, you know. So 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:00.800 I didn't truly believe it that I could beat him, 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:02.440 so I would find a way, and I ended up 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.079 finding a way to lose. I got taken down and 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:05.439 then I got you let me go, and I got 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.480 taken down again, and it's a point system and I lost. 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:09.920 And after the match, it was kind of like, what 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:11.760 the heck just happened? How did you lose that match? 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:13.560 That you had that match? So it's so how do 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.680 you process it? How do you realize that you were 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.240 self sabotaging a little bit? I think I didn't really 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.160 realize it till I didn't really realize that till after 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.200 college and I started fighting, and then I kind of changed. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:28.200 I think it's I think, really taking ownership of self belief, 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.880 taking ownership of self talk, taking ownership of of realizing that, 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.040 I mean a couple of generations ago, our parents are grandparents, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.720 they didn't have YouTube, they didn't have podcasts, they didn't 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.320 have do you realize, I mean yourself, for our listeners 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.080 at home, how easy it is to pick up your 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.280 phone and listen to so much positive stuff. So like 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.679 zig Ziggler was from like the nineteen eighties and nineteen seventies, 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.199 and and all of his stuff is still has turned 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.440 in the podcast and into all of these things. And 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.040 you can listen to your favorite sermon you say, your 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.080 favorite pastor, your favorite motivational speaker, YouTube videos. I mean, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.439 it's it's so easy to stay built up in the 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.200 year and our generation, you know. So I think it 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.640 was taking ownership of realizing that, Okay, I work harder 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:12.760 than anybody else at the gym, but what's going to 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.200 happen the other twenty hours of the day? You know, 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.720 what are you going to do? What are you gonna exactly? 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:18.960 What are you gonna read? What are you gonna say? 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:20.720 What are you gonna believe? What are you going to watch? 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.160 What are you going to what are you gonna what 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.200 are you going to decide to kind of to really 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.760 dwell on. So you have made it your because you Okay, 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:34.280 you're like so you are someone who actually has to 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.679 walk the walk and talk to talk because if you 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:38.800 don't have your mental game in check, you can have 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.960 your physical body at the top of your game, but 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.360 if your mental game is not there, that is just 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:46.760 as important, so much more important. And a lot of 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:48.760 people don't have to work on their mental game as 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:50.720 much as someone like you does because we can skate 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.200 through life and we don't have to really like you know, 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.360 our careers don't depend on the state of our mental being. 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.560 But you have to be tuned up all the time 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.640 in your mind, absolutely, and because it's it's all and 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:04.880 and really I always say this, I'm not actually going 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.320 out there and getting locked into a cage fighting against 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.920 another man. I'm really fighting against myself, you know. Am 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.000 I going to let myself go out there and perform 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.320 the way that I know I can let yourself? You know? 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.560 And that's what I always say. And I asked myself 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.880 this all the time, Michael. Somebody, at the end of 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:22.959 the day, somebody has to be the best. Why shouldn't 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.880 it be you know, why shouldn't it you have to 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.600 tell yourself that you do deserve that always. And because 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.080 everything I do in the gym live my life right, 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:34.800 you know what I put into my body, how often 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:38.160 I sleep, Like every single thing adds up to becoming 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:42.040 the best fighter of all time. But on the mental 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.839 aspect of it, that's that's the only way that that 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.520 doesn't happen, you know, But that's so important. And visualization 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:53.120 and and really realizing that that visualizing things the brain. 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:55.280 I've done a lot of reading or a lot of 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.559 a lot of research realizing that the brain doesn't really 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.640 truly know the difference between you know, me picking up 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.160 a pen or me closing my eyes and watching myself 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:06.599 pick up that pen and pick up that pen, and 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.560 that your brain doesn't quite know the difference between something 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.760 actually happening and something visual like you actually visualizing something happened. 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.280 And I'm not going to say I can you know, 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.320 I can sit here and and you know, say, visualize 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:19.920 something and it's going to happen like this kind of 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.880 people planned that that can happen if you really focus, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.240 and it really isn't. And now as I get older 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.640 in my career, I've closed my eyes and I've visualized 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:30.960 stepping into the cage and the smell of the cage 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.880 and they here, and the sounds of the crowd and 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.440 the lights, and then seeing my opponent in front of 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.120 me and all these things, and then all of a sudden, 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.200 I step into the cage and I feel like I'm 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.000 at home. I feel like I've been there. And I 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:42.480 used to not do that. I used to step into 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.360 the cage and just bite dow the mouthpiece and go 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.280 run and just and it was a crazy fight. And 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.200 now things have slowed down so much more because I've visualized. 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:51.920 So you go through the fight ahead time, what is 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:55.160 your morm So say, okay, you just had. Let's get 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:56.560 to your big fight that you just had, because this 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.720 was huge. You've already won two time world champion lightweight 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.560 of the World for the Bellator division. And so now 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.240 this summer you're you're gearing up again, You're going back 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.960 for three and you're playing at Madison. You're not playing, 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.200 You're fighting at Madison Square Garden. That was That was 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.440 my last fight. That was yeah, that was my last 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.320 one at Madison Square Garden. Yes, So tell me about that, 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.000 and tell me about your process getting ready for it 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.400 and then getting in the fight, and then how dealing 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.040 when dealing with things when they don't go as you 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.960 have visualized. Yeah, so it was the biggest fight of 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:29.760 my I mean, it's the biggest platform. And I think 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.200 when Madison Square Garden pay per view, I mean people 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.680 are betting probably millions of dollars on this fight. Yeah. 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.320 So so when you when you get pressure or do 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:38.920 you not worry about that? No, I try not to. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.560 I mean, in the in the unfortunate thing about fighting 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.880 at Madison Square Garden is you don't really truly get 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.000 to experience it or enjoy it because you don't want 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:48.720 to think about Madison Square Garden. You don't want to 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.600 think about warming up in the same locker room as 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.120 Mike Tyson or walk in the same holes as as 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.240 as George Foreman or Muhammad Ali. You don't want to 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.600 think about those things because with that comes out of pressure. 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.600 Added pressure comes higher heart rate, Yeah, higher heart rate, 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.880 and and and a less less mental stability, you know. 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:06.920 So so you just kind of focus on the task 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.120 at hand. But it's it was, it was awesome, and 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.080 it was crazy, and it was the biggest platform of 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.120 my career and and uh and it is just it's 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.760 just such a crazy It's another testament to how crazy 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.080 this sport is. That I was better than than my 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.280 opponent on paper, was better than my opponent, and and 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.360 stats was better than my opponent and everything. And then 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.920 all of a sudden, thirty seconds into the fight, I 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:32.120 rolled my ankle, jammed up and pinched a nerve in 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.720 my ankle. My whole ankle went limp like basically for 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.640 then it looks it looks so bad. It was. It 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.640 was basically just I had no control over it, you know. 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.760 So my brain was telling myself to take a step 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:50.320 forward and it wasn't working, and what are you thinking? Yeah, 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:52.720 you know, I think it was just uh, it was 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.560 just stay calm, you know. And I kept telling myself, 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.280 you're fine, you're gonna get the distance. You're gonna knock 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.360 him out on one foot, and you're just gonna do 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.640 it with one I was, and and I ended up 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:03.920 the only real punch that landed and landed in the 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.040 entire fight was me on one leg, and I knocked 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.680 him down, and then I over zealously went and chased 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:11.440 him and my ankle rolled like three other times, and 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.520 then the ref fleg stopped the fight, you know. So 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.360 it was. And then the doctors came in and they 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.560 were feeling around on my ankle and one doctor was 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:20.560 looking at the other doctor said, I think his ankles broken. 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:21.840 I think it's to be a fractor and this that 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:23.880 the other thing that I'm just bleeding with the doctors, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.040 Please don't stop the fight. I promise it's just an 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.479 ankle cramp. It's it's something. Just let me go back 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:30.440 out there. I promise you'mnna win this fight. And I 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.600 kind of looked over my opponent and gave him the 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.040 old you better hope that these guys stop the fight 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:36.920 right now, you know, just kind of playing those those 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.280 mind games and that mental game, and you know it's 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:45.439 and it's but with that comes this huge letdown. You 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.840 know this, you you I spent nine weeks away from 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:50.520 my wife. I trained down in Florida. We saw each 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.439 other four days and nine weeks, which you you know 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:56.119 how that is. We're having a traveling musicians as a husband. 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:01.400 But it's it's so it's not like with traveling musicians, 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.960 you know, at least like it's not it's not the 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:07.840 wake up, go to bed, all you eat, sleep and 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.840 breathe is this because when you're preparing for like that, 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.840 you're probably so focused. Yeah, and it's and yeah, it 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.360 consumes you. And my wife is a saint for for 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:18.720 for dealing with it. Yeah. But but the dieting and 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.920 the sleep schedule, and then you have to weigh a 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.400 certain thing you have to eat. I have to lose 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.879 about thirty pounds right now. I gotta get done. So 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.960 how do you lose weight like that? Diet, exercise and 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.360 then the last ten pounds or so it's just water weight. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.720 But it's so, do you have a training How long 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.919 is training period? Training camp is eight weeks usually eight 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:42.359 nine weeks and it's uh so it's about two months 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.639 and U I usually do a twelve week block training camp, 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.639 but the first four weeks, the first four weeks is 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.320 kind of pre camp. And I don't I'm not crazy 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.359 with my diet and I'm not crazy with my sleep schedule, 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.800 not crazy with all that kind of stuff. But um, 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.640 that eight weeks out is go time. So is there 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.600 a fight season? There's not a fight season, so we 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.879 we fight twelve months a year. Um, it just depends 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.640 on each promotion. They they do their schedule for each 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.080 six months probably, and they say, well, hey, like right now, 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.879 I I'm expecting to fight in December, but it's not 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:17.640 set in stone yet. I'm trying to get the guy 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.359 who has my belt to fight me in December. But 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.120 so you have to get the guy who holding the beat. 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.159 So basically, what if they're too scared to fight you 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:27.840 because they don't want to give their belt. Do they 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.359 have the ability to say no? They don't have the 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.880 ability to say no person. I mean they do, but 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.040 it's it's in their best it's in their best interest 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:37.560