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Speaker 1: They want to offer us a hundred million dollars. Me

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Speaker 1: isn't gonna have to go in the back room and

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Speaker 1: talk about this, and we want we want to do

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Speaker 1: it a hundred million dollars. You know, you got mom

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Speaker 1: and dadd Now they they living up there in the

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Speaker 1: upper room and they living somewhere nice now you know.

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Speaker 1: So you know that's the conversation men and would have

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Speaker 1: to have. But right now it don't make no sense

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Speaker 1: for me because and I've said it before, two Nigerians

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Speaker 1: having belts, right, it's more important than do that all

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Speaker 1: my life, the grinding all my life, sack fights, hustle,

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Speaker 1: back price, one slice got the dice swad all my life.

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Speaker 1: I've been grinding all my life, all my life, the

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Speaker 1: grinding all my life, sacond fights, hustle, pack price, one

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Speaker 1: slice got the brother dice to swad all my life.

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Speaker 1: I've been grinding all my life. Hello, welcome to another

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Speaker 1: edition of Club Sha Shake. I am your whole Shannon Sharp.

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Speaker 1: I'm also the proproud of Club Sha Shake. The guy

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Speaker 1: that's stopping by for conversation on the drink today is

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Speaker 1: one of the USC's best. He's the reigning and defending

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Speaker 1: well toweight chance. He was the pound for pound best

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Speaker 1: fighter in the UFC twenty twenty one Fighter of the Year,

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Speaker 1: King of the Octagon. The Nigerian Nightmare, Kamaro Uzma. How

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Speaker 1: you doing, br I'm good, I'm good. Hold on, hold on,

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Speaker 1: hold on the be here. I got ask that name,

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Speaker 1: Nigeria Nightmare. Now you know Christianna Coore, you had that name? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Have you ever met Yeah? I actually met him. It's

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Speaker 1: a crazy story, I do. I did a little bit

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Speaker 1: of research on it, okay, because it's when you're growing

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Speaker 1: up a Nigerian athlete. Growing up, you hear that name

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Speaker 1: a lot, right. He's not the first to have a name,

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Speaker 1: oh he not. No, We've had a plenty of famous

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Speaker 1: soccer players that had the name. So it was just

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Speaker 1: a name that that just signifies excellent, right. So it

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Speaker 1: was if it was any Nigerian at the top of

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Speaker 1: their game and they respected sport, that was the name

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Speaker 1: you had to carry on that torch. And so growing up,

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Speaker 1: I was like, man, I wish I haven't was, you know,

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Speaker 1: in a sports where I could carry on that name.

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Speaker 1: So when I got into him and May, I was like,

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Speaker 1: there's no one in this space with that name, right,

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Speaker 1: I need that right, So I carried on the name

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Speaker 1: for a while, so you know, you're building the buzz.

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Speaker 1: You're building the buzz. And then once I got to

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Speaker 1: that level where I was about the challenge for the title, right,

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Speaker 1: I had the USC do the research or reach out

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Speaker 1: to him and he was actually there. He watched me

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Speaker 1: become the champions. Okay, he was there also the other

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Speaker 1: Nigeria ninemare with Samuel Peters heavy WBC Heavyweight Champions in

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Speaker 1: the World. Okay, he was there as well that night

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Speaker 1: in Vegas when I won the title. Okay, yeah, I'm

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Speaker 1: sure a little a little secret which I haven't told

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Speaker 1: anybody this. I did my ancestry. I'm ninety percent Nigeria.

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Speaker 1: Of course I see it. I see it the way

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Speaker 1: you talk. Oh yeah, okay, we've been claiming you are.

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Speaker 1: But what what okay? What do I okay, what foods

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Speaker 1: do I need to eat? What do I is there

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Speaker 1: certain is there a certain food that I need to

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Speaker 1: eat that's uh exclusively for you for the Nigeria. I

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Speaker 1: can tell you like chicken I do. I could tell

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Speaker 1: you like rice I do. Right there, We're good. We

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Speaker 1: like chicken with like rice. Right, you know we're mixing

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Speaker 1: other things in there, you know, but that's that's the foundation. Okay,

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Speaker 1: when you eat those, you got your size, you got

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Speaker 1: your strength. Good. What about gear? See, I know, I

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Speaker 1: see you came in here, you cat you nice little

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Speaker 1: jacket on. You got your jeans, you got the double

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Speaker 1: jeans all. So obviously you know, Nigerias are fashionable. We

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Speaker 1: are very fashionable. We we And this is the thing too,

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Speaker 1: is I think a culturally you know, in this culture

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Speaker 1: that where we a lot of people they see some

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Speaker 1: of these guys with this jewelry. There's there's a such

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Speaker 1: thing as being sensible, right with especially with all these athletes.

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Speaker 1: And when you get money, you gotta be sensible. You

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Speaker 1: gotta do the right things first. You gotta make sure

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Speaker 1: you have your money in places to where you know,

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Speaker 1: you don't never run out of money. Right. But of

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Speaker 1: course having the jewelry and the thing we come from kings, right,

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Speaker 1: we come from gold and diamonds, so yeah, we like

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Speaker 1: those things. Those are in us, right, there's nothing wrong

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Speaker 1: with that. So yeah, Nigerians we were fashioned them. But

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Speaker 1: we like to shine. Yeah, if you don't, if you

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Speaker 1: don't work for it, you don't earn it. Why not you?

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Speaker 1: You gotta show a little exact, exact inspiration. How important

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Speaker 1: is it for you to represent the Nigerian culture and

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Speaker 1: represent it appropriately. It's very important because and it sounds

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Speaker 1: cliche cheesy, but it was something in this for me

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Speaker 1: is that famous line in that Spider Man movie. With

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Speaker 1: great power comes great responsibility. You don't choose to be

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Speaker 1: in a certain position. Sometimes you're placed there to be

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Speaker 1: able to touch and effect change in certain ways. And

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Speaker 1: that's something that I learned and I I understood early

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Speaker 1: because growing up, I didn't really see somebody in the

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Speaker 1: spot to show me that all that can be done right,

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Speaker 1: that that's something that you can get one day once

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Speaker 1: you go down this path. I didn't really see it through,

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Speaker 1: you know, the positions that I was put in and

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Speaker 1: the doors that I was blessed to be able to

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Speaker 1: walk through. I found myself in this place to where

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Speaker 1: it's very rare nowadays to be the first to ever

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Speaker 1: do anything right and to say that I was the

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Speaker 1: first ever Nigeria born Mixed Martial us UFC champion right.

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Speaker 1: It is something that I don't take for granted, and

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Speaker 1: so it's extremely important for me to show the next

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Speaker 1: generations everybody else, all the kids coming up, that hey,

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Speaker 1: you do have somebody that represents you right, and that

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Speaker 1: you can get to that point one day. You was

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Speaker 1: born and raised in Nigeria, what was it like and

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Speaker 1: what did as a kid? You mentioned soccer players. Obviously

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Speaker 1: the soccer is big, so as a kid growing up

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Speaker 1: in Nigeria, what were your aspirations? What did Carmaro Usman

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Speaker 1: want to be as a kid? Of course, in sports,

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Speaker 1: you we boys, you know, I was growing up it

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Speaker 1: was three of us, three brothers until my sister came

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Speaker 1: later on, but it was three boys. So if it

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Speaker 1: was problems out there, we fought together, you know. And

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Speaker 1: then if it was if it was sports, we was

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Speaker 1: gonna play together. Football what we called it, which is

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Speaker 1: soccer here is what we all played. Of course, everybody

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Speaker 1: wanted to be the best at it. You saw some

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Speaker 1: of the stars JJ Colches, some of those guys, so

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Speaker 1: we all wanted to be like them. So then eventually

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Speaker 1: when we immigrated here, it was like now you got

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Speaker 1: to simulate to what's going on and the sport wasn't

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Speaker 1: so big. And I was in Texas right and so

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Speaker 1: foa it was football, or he was playing basketball, right.

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Speaker 1: I didn't had a hype for basketball, so it was

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Speaker 1: football right. Middle school, I was okay, right, and then

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Speaker 1: you got to high school and the boys looked like

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Speaker 1: college players and I wouldn't. I wouldn't messing with him.

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Speaker 1: So I was kind of caught in a space to

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Speaker 1: where I didn't really know where I could fit in

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Speaker 1: because I was freshman year. I was five ft two,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and three pounds. Yeah that's not it wasn't yeah,

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Speaker 1: So I didn't know in my in my mind, I

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Speaker 1: was like, I'm not gonna grow right, and and I'm

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Speaker 1: watching all these guys and I just can't find out

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Speaker 1: where I fit in. And the assistant football coach was

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Speaker 1: the assistant wrestling coach, right, and he kept why don't

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Speaker 1: you come in and try wrestling? And I remember the

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Speaker 1: wrestling I was watching with my dads. Don't coach Steve Voston.

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Speaker 1: So I told him, I said, man, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to get hit with chairs. I ain't trying to do that.

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Speaker 1: And he laughed at me and said, why don't you

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Speaker 1: come on in there and try it? One day, and

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Speaker 1: I was walking by the gym and I peeked my

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Speaker 1: head in there one day, and it was it was older,

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Speaker 1: it was a small it was I just I was like, nah,

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Speaker 1: that's not for me, right, and and I but I was,

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Speaker 1: I was a little shook on the inside. I just

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Speaker 1: seen it was about sixty seventy kids in there slamming

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Speaker 1: each other down, and and I was like, yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: not that's not for me. And that was the thing

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Speaker 1: as football players because football is king here in this country.

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Speaker 1: So football players we liked it. Were tough. You're the

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Speaker 1: toughest guy. You're the big basketball player. So we don't

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Speaker 1: like to admit that it's something else that it's more

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Speaker 1: difficult out there that we can't do. So I was like, no,

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Speaker 1: I'm a big, bad football player, even I was one

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Speaker 1: hundred and three pounds for two Naw, I'm a football player.

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Speaker 1: Now we don't we don't do that, right. But I

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Speaker 1: was shook on this side. So he kept the coach

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Speaker 1: kept making fun of me and making fun of me.

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Speaker 1: I was like, man, you know one would shut him up.

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Speaker 1: One day, I'm going there and showing him up. And

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Speaker 1: I went in there one day and they put me

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Speaker 1: in the group with two other two other guys and

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Speaker 1: a girl and yeah, it was all out of salt.

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Speaker 1: You know. This girl beat on me so bad, took

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Speaker 1: me down, slam me. I didn't know how to get up.

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Speaker 1: It was the first time in my life to where

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Speaker 1: I felt like I didn't understand something and there's nothing

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Speaker 1: I can do about it. And I just remember walking

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Speaker 1: home that day and I was thinking, man, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: get him back tomorrow. So I kept showing up and

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Speaker 1: showing up and showing up. Next thing you know it,

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Speaker 1: I've been in there for about a month or two months,

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Speaker 1: and one day we wrestled. I threw a move and

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Speaker 1: I landed it, and I was walking home that day,

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Speaker 1: I said, man, I actually learned something, right, I'm coming

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Speaker 1: back the next day. I ain't go off for football.

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Speaker 1: I went straight to wrestling and the rest was history.

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Speaker 1: Being a Nigeria was raised on a farm. So what

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Speaker 1: what what did you do? What did you have like pigs?

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Speaker 1: You had chickens? I mean, what kind of farm were

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Speaker 1: you on? We were kind of It wasn't a full

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Speaker 1: bread like here we full bread farm, right and right.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't necessarily full bread farm like that. We did

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Speaker 1: a seasonal to right. At the point my dad at

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Speaker 1: all was already here. My dad was going to school here, okay,

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Speaker 1: and so my mom is there with three boys, right,

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Speaker 1: so we we we grew corn, you know, yams with

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Speaker 1: it for the sailor we just for you guys to okay, okay,

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Speaker 1: So sometimes we of course, you know, you eat you

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Speaker 1: know special kids. You had chicken. Yeah, we're hard, but

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Speaker 1: it's hard work to get in them. You got you got, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I grew up on you got a planet, watch some girls,

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Speaker 1: yeah yeah. And so we had all of that. And

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Speaker 1: my mom, my mom was an ultimate hustler. She was

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Speaker 1: a teacher, right, she owned the store, all of the above.

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Speaker 1: And so going up I got to see every level

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Speaker 1: of hustle, right, I got to see it all. So

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Speaker 1: coming here and immigrating here, it was just I just

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Speaker 1: I say, it's a different level of hustle, right in

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Speaker 1: my mind. You know that most kids that I grew

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Speaker 1: up with, you say, you had three three or three boys,

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Speaker 1: then your sister came along. How was the discipline because

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Speaker 1: your father's away, Because there's something about a father's voice

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Speaker 1: and a boy that would resonate a little bit more

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Speaker 1: than a mother. So your dad is thousands and thousands

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Speaker 1: of miles away, you and your brothers getting the tussle.

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Speaker 1: If somebody gets the best of one and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden all heiled break loose. How did your mama

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Speaker 1: control that situation? It's my dad always had a voice, yes,

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Speaker 1: So even though he went there, his voice was loud. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he had a voice. And so and that that was

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Speaker 1: a big thing about growing up in Nigeria as well

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Speaker 1: as it wasn't just mom and dad that raised you.

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Speaker 1: The village, the whole village raised. You know, you did

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Speaker 1: something up the street and they house over there, always

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Speaker 1: coming back to your house. Yeah, Oh they might whoop

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Speaker 1: you over there. Then they're gonna back yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna Yeah, you got the whooping over there, came

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Speaker 1: back to your house and you got the whooping. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And so it was a whole village. So you knew

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Speaker 1: how you was growing up, the whole village. You knew

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Speaker 1: how he was growing up. And so even then, my

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Speaker 1: mom still had a firm grip on things. And you know,

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Speaker 1: you understand the dynamic. The mother's gonna be the loving one, right,

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Speaker 1: but she still she was able to deal with the

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Speaker 1: three boys. And at that point we were still we

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Speaker 1: were still relatively young, So we weren't we weren't. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: not quite yet. Yeah, when your dad said we're going

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Speaker 1: to the States, obviously born, raised in Nigeria, you got

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Speaker 1: friends in Nigeria. Now when you go to the States,

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Speaker 1: this is not like, Okay, I'm in California and I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna move to Arizona, or I'm in George, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: move to Florida. You on one continent, You're about to

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Speaker 1: move to another continent, and there's a very good chance

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Speaker 1: you're probably not gonna see these again. Yeah, what went

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Speaker 1: through your mind? I meant that at that point, you're

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Speaker 1: a young man. You don't you're just going with the flow.

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Speaker 1: You don't really know what to expect. You know, you

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Speaker 1: don't have that make mental capability to be able to Okay,

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Speaker 1: I don't like this. I liked it. You just knew

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Speaker 1: that this is what's happening, right, and you were going

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Speaker 1: along with it. But you had heard about you you

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Speaker 1: had heard about it. Oh yeah, you don't heard about

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Speaker 1: the US. You heard about McDonald's. You know, I didn't

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Speaker 1: even know what McDonald's was, but I wanted to McDonald's.

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Speaker 1: What was so you heard about all these things you've

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Speaker 1: seen him on TV. And so now you get up

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Speaker 1: first something bit on the airplane, get off an airplane

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Speaker 1: after hours and hours on the flight. And crazy thing

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Speaker 1: is the day we landed was one of the first

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Speaker 1: times it's snowed in Texas in a long time. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I think maybe over ten years. So the night we

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Speaker 1: get outs, first night are slowing so we can arrive

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Speaker 1: here like two thousand nins. No, it was in the

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Speaker 1: I want to say ninety I want to say ninety eight, Okay,

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Speaker 1: someone around that. So we come come out and were like,

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Speaker 1: oh what we Nigeria. It's not sun and rain sun

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Speaker 1: and rain? And I'm like, what is this white stuff

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Speaker 1: for you? And we tug out the car trying to

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Speaker 1: be trying to see what this is, okay, and and

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Speaker 1: you know, the car slipping and slide right, And that

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Speaker 1: was my first experience. So it shattered everything that you

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Speaker 1: you thought, whatever you thought that you were going to

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Speaker 1: experience when you came out. There was no words that

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Speaker 1: I can describe it. How much TV did you watch?

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Speaker 1: How much because obviously being from another country and the

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Speaker 1: language obviously, and then so how much American TV did

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Speaker 1: you watch? To figure out Okay, this is what I

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Speaker 1: should say when they say this, this is how I

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Speaker 1: should do, Just what I should do. They do that

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Speaker 1: a lot of it, a lot of it. And that's

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Speaker 1: the thing. When you're a kid. TV is is one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest teachers. Yes, So that's why obviously the

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Speaker 1: parental guidance and the certain things that you should be

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Speaker 1: able to children should be able to watch, and televisions

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Speaker 1: so important nowadays because you don't realize how big that is. Right,

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Speaker 1: We watched TV constantly to where we we learned what

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Speaker 1: you could and you couldn't say. And I learned quickly,

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Speaker 1: right because how much English did you speak before you

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Speaker 1: ride through? We spoke I mean the root of the

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Speaker 1: language in Nigeria is English. Okay, so you speak a

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Speaker 1: bit of English, but it's just different English. So certain

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Speaker 1: words are differently. You know, you can tell obviously the

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Speaker 1: Europeans colonized that area, so you know, our English is

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Speaker 1: different than American English, right like obviously the trash can

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Speaker 1: here we call it the trash can, but that's the

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Speaker 1: despoin Okay, you know, so you you you say certain

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Speaker 1: words differently, but we still we spoke English. But then

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Speaker 1: you come to America. The slang is what what got it?

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Speaker 1: The slangs will get you. And I remember That's where

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Speaker 1: going back to the TV and the things that you

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Speaker 1: should watch, it was obviously we might remember some marriage

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Speaker 1: with children with Al Bundy, and so that was that

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Speaker 1: was that was a show. We I uhould love to

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Speaker 1: watch that show. So we watched the show. And there

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Speaker 1: were certain words. You know, Kelly was the blonde, and

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Speaker 1: so she was you know, you can't say those words nowadays,

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Speaker 1: you know. And and it was a word that was

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Speaker 1: said to her. And I went to school. I was,

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Speaker 1: I guess you called girls that? And and I said

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Speaker 1: it to a girl and I think it was I

307
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Speaker 1: was in the fourth grade at that point. I said

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Speaker 1: it to a girl. Yeah, I was in the principal office.

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Speaker 1: They called my dad. I got a whoop in that day. Okay.

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Speaker 1: So you start to learn very quickly things you can

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Speaker 1: as certain things you can't say. Well, if you moved

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Speaker 1: to Texas, you moved to Arlington, you in Texas, football

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Speaker 1: is king pro sports. Cowboys tell me tell much to

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Speaker 1: tell me cowboys? And Skip, I was with you back

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Speaker 1: in the day. Skip, I was with you. I of course,

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Speaker 1: by default, I'm a Cowboys fan, okay to by default, right,

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Speaker 1: But you know, now, in my position, I have so

318
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Speaker 1: many friends that played for so many different teams. I

319
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Speaker 1: support my friends. So if my friends played for the Saints,

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Speaker 1: I gotta support them. If they played for the for

321
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Speaker 1: the Ravens, I gotta support them. Right. So that's mainly

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Speaker 1: what I support. But by default, in my heart, if

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Speaker 1: the Cowboys succeeding, I have to I have to support them. Well,

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Speaker 1: you ain't seeing them, and they ain't then much of

325
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Speaker 1: in the very long time you came here in ninety eight,

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Speaker 1: you ain't see the man I'm gonna get I'm gonna

327
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Speaker 1: give you opportunity before we end this interview to get

328
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Speaker 1: on another team that could possibly possibly win it, if

329
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Speaker 1: you like. I see. That's the thing. Though, I watched

330
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Speaker 1: the game, okay, and Andy, they said they I'm big tired.

331
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Speaker 1: I was tired of being disappointed. They told me this

332
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Speaker 1: was a year, you know, Skip said this was a year. Yeah,

333
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Speaker 1: it was gonna do it. It was gonna do it.

334
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Speaker 1: And so I watched the game and I was just like, man,

335
00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,800
Speaker 1: so many opportunities and we just we just couldn't get

336
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Speaker 1: over it. But but we you know, y'all in my heart, cowboys,

337
00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:20,520
Speaker 1: y'all in my heart. You come here, you said, well,

338
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Speaker 1: I'm too small to play football. You start wrestling. Did

339
00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,159
Speaker 1: you view wrestling as your opportunity to get out to

340
00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:33,640
Speaker 1: do go places? No, I didn't. I didn't. It's one

341
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,160
Speaker 1: thing about when you're coming from an immigrant family, especially

342
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,359
Speaker 1: in African family, certain career fields that you were gonna

343
00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:42,720
Speaker 1: be able to go into. It's gonna be a doctor, doctor,

344
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,520
Speaker 1: gonna be an engineer, gonna be a pharmacist, and it's

345
00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,120
Speaker 1: maybe a lawyer. You know nothing else, that's it. Those

346
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,679
Speaker 1: are the accepted fields that you were always going to

347
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Speaker 1: get a job, right, So that's where you wanted to be,

348
00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,280
Speaker 1: not an athlete. That wasn't in there, right. And so

349
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:03,439
Speaker 1: for the first two years of me wrestling, I actually

350
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,240
Speaker 1: lied to my parents about it, right, So I they

351
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Speaker 1: once they said the grades, you gotta keep the grades up.

352
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Speaker 1: So I said, okay, once the grades were up, could

353
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,280
Speaker 1: I practice? Could I go to football? And they yeah,

354
00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:15,720
Speaker 1: of course you could. You could do that. That's on

355
00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:18,560
Speaker 1: the side though, right, I said, Okay, So they ain't

356
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 1: known I have. I was done football after that, I

357
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 1: was wise and knowing that air and you have the size,

358
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:26,720
Speaker 1: it's time to move on. So I was done with

359
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,600
Speaker 1: it after freshman year. So now I was in the

360
00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,399
Speaker 1: wrestling right, So I was going to practice. And of course,

361
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,440
Speaker 1: the same thing I thought when I first was introduced

362
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,720
Speaker 1: to wrestling, if they would have heart wrestling, they would

363
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,719
Speaker 1: have said, no, we just watched SummerSlam with Stone Coast Seabaws.

364
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:42,879
Speaker 1: We don't want you in that, right, So I didn't

365
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,320
Speaker 1: say nothing for the first two years. So I was

366
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Speaker 1: wrestling and I started to kind of get better and

367
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,120
Speaker 1: better and better at it. And then the junior year,

368
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Speaker 1: I actually was in the City City Championships and took

369
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Speaker 1: third place. Okay, and my my mother, I was flipping

370
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Speaker 1: through we had a of course, the channel in the

371
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,200
Speaker 1: city of the City channel. My mom was slipping through

372
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Speaker 1: the television and she saw me wrestling on that. Oh

373
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Speaker 1: so you got I got home over TV. Oh yeah,

374
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Speaker 1: so I got home. By that point, now it was

375
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,360
Speaker 1: already too late. I was. I found something, and so

376
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:20,640
Speaker 1: you know, at that point she was able to talk

377
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Speaker 1: my dad down and say, Okay, let's let him keep

378
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Speaker 1: doing this. And so the next year I think that

379
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,600
Speaker 1: summer I made the decision in my mind that I

380
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,679
Speaker 1: wanted to be good at something, okay, because I had

381
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:33,840
Speaker 1: ups and downs. I would win something, I would lose something,

382
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Speaker 1: and then I got sick of it. I said no,

383
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Speaker 1: in order for me to ensure that I continue to win,

384
00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:43,120
Speaker 1: I need to do something that I haven't been doing right,

385
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,679
Speaker 1: And so I dedicated myself fully to it. And it

386
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:50,120
Speaker 1: was just the trajectory that I saw in my career

387
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:52,879
Speaker 1: at that point was astronomical. So I said, I'm not

388
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,760
Speaker 1: turning backwards. Did your mom understand that this could be

389
00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,199
Speaker 1: an opportunity that could help you get an education that

390
00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,800
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have to finance. That you could get a scholarship,

391
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,760
Speaker 1: go to school, get get an engineering degree, or towards

392
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Speaker 1: a lawyer or pharmacy, pharmacist. That's why they let me

393
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 1: stay in there as we discovered that, hey there's scholarships

394
00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,000
Speaker 1: for these things. Yeah, all right, you could keep doing that.

395
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,160
Speaker 1: Then you can keep doing that because now you don't

396
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,199
Speaker 1: have to cost this so much, right, I mean, and

397
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,480
Speaker 1: all my brothers we all had scholarship, We all had

398
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,080
Speaker 1: My whole family was ex athletes, so we all had athletes.

399
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:32,159
Speaker 1: My my oldest brother, Cash, who is a pharmacist doctor,

400
00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,679
Speaker 1: Cash actually said he but he was a semi pro

401
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,400
Speaker 1: soccer player. He played at the University of South Carolina

402
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:42,440
Speaker 1: Aiken and got done and played semi pro. My little brother,

403
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,600
Speaker 1: football player, played at University of Arizona. Okay, big boy,

404
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: So I got my chance on So so athletics running

405
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,920
Speaker 1: your family? Yeah, so your mom, your mom and dad

406
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 1: had to be athletes. Yea, even though they weren't willingness

407
00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:58,960
Speaker 1: and they didn't really want you guys to be a

408
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, we we had the athletic jeans. We

409
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 1: got my uncle's you know, look like you. They got

410
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,000
Speaker 1: the size, and so we got those genes in our family.

411
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:12,680
Speaker 1: But once I got to that point, I was getting

412
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,200
Speaker 1: ready to graduate, and now we found out that day

413
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,600
Speaker 1: there's schools do offer scholarships, yes for this. And at

414
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 1: that point I didn't even know there was more than

415
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,479
Speaker 1: five schools. I thought it was Texas University of Texas,

416
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: Texas Tech, Texas A, and m SMU and that that

417
00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:30,639
Speaker 1: was it for football. And then I'm starting to get

418
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,520
Speaker 1: all these letters from these small schools or different schools

419
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:35,879
Speaker 1: all across the country. I'm like, oh, they got wrestling

420
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,960
Speaker 1: out there. Okay, okay, now we can do that, and

421
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,040
Speaker 1: you know, thankfully I was able to get a scholarship

422
00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,760
Speaker 1: to go out there and compete, and it just built

423
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 1: that fire. Who is your favorite wrestler growing up? Favorite

424
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,679
Speaker 1: wrestler growing up? See? I gravitate towards the ones that

425
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,920
Speaker 1: I respect, all the wrestlers, like the out like any Monday. Okay,

426
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 1: are you talking about pro wrestler, Pro Wrestling, Stone Coach,

427
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,920
Speaker 1: Steve Ass, Okay, Undertaker, Yeah of course, Harlem Heat, Yeah,

428
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,040
Speaker 1: you're talking book a team start. So these were the

429
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,040
Speaker 1: guys that I grew up, Watson and I love, so,

430
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,520
Speaker 1: you know, going up and seeing them do is is,

431
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:17,800
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yeah, that's fun to watch. Me

432
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 1: and my brothers we played that in living room. But

433
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,480
Speaker 1: we can't we can't do that right. So like the

434
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,280
Speaker 1: actual competition, the freestyle, which which you were a freestyle wrestler,

435
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,400
Speaker 1: did you know any great freestyle wrestlers? Yeah, of course.

436
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:33,639
Speaker 1: When you start to progress in something, and this was

437
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: something that I I even tell kids now when they

438
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,120
Speaker 1: asked me about certain things, is by my careers. When

439
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,240
Speaker 1: you want to get to a place, you want to

440
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 1: find out who's been there, right, And then once you

441
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,919
Speaker 1: find out who's been there, It's like, who looked like

442
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,399
Speaker 1: me that's been there? Right, who possessed some of the

443
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 1: athletic abilities that I possessed has been there? So I

444
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,440
Speaker 1: started researching that. Then you realize, Oh, there's a Kenny

445
00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:59,240
Speaker 1: Monday out there, right, There's a Kevin Jackson. Right, there's

446
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 1: a league camp out there. There's there's all these guys

447
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,359
Speaker 1: Bobby Douglas out there that that looked like me, that

448
00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 1: have accomplished heights greater than than where I'm trying to

449
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: go to. So being able to research those guys, I

450
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,640
Speaker 1: started to say, Okay, they've done it, so I could

451
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 1: I could get there? You am I reading this correct?

452
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 1: You wrestle alongside John Jones? No? See me and John

453
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,639
Speaker 1: Jones Actually mad. It's crazy how this this inter twines.

454
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:31,120
Speaker 1: We met senior year because there's this tournament called Senior National, right,

455
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 1: and there's a tournament just for the best seniors all

456
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: across the country, Okay, from different states get to meet

457
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: in a location and we wrestled to see who's the best.

458
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,920
Speaker 1: And John Jones and Author Jones were at the tournament

459
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,879
Speaker 1: as well. So, like I said, there's not a lot

460
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,080
Speaker 1: of brothers that look like me, and wrestled and my

461
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: brother my my buddy Iron at the time. So we

462
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,120
Speaker 1: were the two from our area in Texas that were

463
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,719
Speaker 1: in the tournament. Right. So we in Cleveland, Ohio, and

464
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 1: and in the hotel we're staying at. She these two

465
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 1: big tall brothers eat breakfast in the in the cafeteria

466
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 1: where we would eat breakfast in the hotel. So of

467
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,679
Speaker 1: course naturally gravitate towards them. You gotta say, what's up

468
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,440
Speaker 1: to him? So then we start talking and what's y'all name,

469
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,720
Speaker 1: Author Jones, John Jones or y'all wrestled too, Yeah, we wrestle.

470
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: Were from New York and the New York Okay, So

471
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,120
Speaker 1: we we get acquainted and then we watched him court.

472
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 1: Now you gotta follow them and see, Yeah, they do

473
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: in a tournament and they do well. Like, oh, these

474
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 1: this is a bad dude. Right. And then Author said, oh,

475
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go play football Syracuse. Right. I'm like okay.

476
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,680
Speaker 1: Then John said I'm gonna go wrestle at a small

477
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 1: school in Iowa. Right. I said, oh, well, I've been

478
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 1: getting calls from a small school in Iowa. Two. So

479
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, what school? And he tells me in school,

480
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: and I tell him my school. We'll say we're about

481
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: an hour and a half apart. So I said, okay,

482
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: well we'll Shane Numbers will link up next year if

483
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: we end up in Iowa, all right, cool. Then the

484
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: following year we end up in Iowa. So we stay

485
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 1: in touch. And and my fall break was, which is

486
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 1: a week off for school, was a week before their

487
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,440
Speaker 1: fault break, so we talk. I said, Hey, I'm gonna

488
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: come see you, come hang out with you all fall

489
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 1: break because I didn't want to go all the way

490
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,680
Speaker 1: back to Texas. So I drove up there hung out

491
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: with him all fault break. And while I was hanging

492
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 1: out with him that week, we had got invited to

493
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,840
Speaker 1: uh I guess a friend of the wrestling teams house

494
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 1: to watch some fights. Never seen a MMA fight every

495
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: I never seen anything like that. So we go to

496
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: the to the house. It's the first time John and

497
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:37,200
Speaker 1: myself actually watched MMA fight. So we watched the fight

498
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 1: and and and the dude, the guy was saying, Hey,

499
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: y'all should get into this, I should try this. Yeah.

500
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: I think we looked at each other like, Nah, We're

501
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,440
Speaker 1: not doing that. That's crazy right there. These dudes hitting

502
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,679
Speaker 1: each other, needing each other. We're not doing that. And

503
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,480
Speaker 1: we left and it was just the next year I

504
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,640
Speaker 1: transferred out and John went on his path. I think

505
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: he moved back to New York. And then a couple

506
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 1: of years later, I'm wrestling at Nebraska. You're wrested in

507
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: Nebraska at Carney, and I see him on television. I'm like, Oh,

508
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 1: that's my guy. He's wrestling, he's fighting out for the UFC. Right,

509
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,400
Speaker 1: he's doing well. And two thousand and I believe two

510
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 1: thousand and eleven, two thousand eleven, I watched him win

511
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: the title and I'm like, if you can do it

512
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: all right, I'm doing it right. I made the decision

513
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,159
Speaker 1: right there. I wrote it down in my journey. I

514
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 1: said I'm gonna I'm gonna be champion in this And

515
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: fast forward to two thousand nineteen, me and him end

516
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: up fighting same night. He defended his title and I

517
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 1: become the welterweight champion. Wow, so crazy? How crazy? You know?

518
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 1: I'm just a small a small kid from out Nigeria

519
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: ended up you know, being on this on this platform

520
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: and on this stage. Well, here's the thing. Obviously, you

521
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 1: got to have a background in something if you're gonna

522
00:26:54,560 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: do the MMA, UFC, and the more discipline you're good at,

523
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 1: the better you're gonna be. Absolutely wrestling background obviously, so

524
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: you're good at the take down. So how difficult was

525
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,440
Speaker 1: it for you to transition because it's just not about

526
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,919
Speaker 1: getting somebody on the ground. No, it was difficult. But

527
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: a thing that helped me is being able to deal

528
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 1: with competition. Right, I have been just trained and dealing

529
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: with competition, dealing with wins. No, you're dealing with that too,

530
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,359
Speaker 1: that too, So dealing with wins and losses. I was

531
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: accustomed to that, learning knowing how to bounce back from

532
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 1: the laws and getting back on the horse and continue.

533
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 1: And so the biggest thing that wrestling teaches you is

534
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: how to be able to deal with diversity and overcoming

535
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,520
Speaker 1: which is a big part of what people don't really understand.

536
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 1: And now, the thing with wrestling too is is you

537
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 1: got the leg up. If you already mastered the wrestling,

538
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:53,439
Speaker 1: you got the leg upright because you think about it,

539
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 1: you go, you go out there and you see a

540
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,080
Speaker 1: street fight happening. Right now, it's only three positions you

541
00:27:58,080 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: can end up in in the street fight, right you?

542
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,480
Speaker 1: I could both be standing punching each other, or one

543
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,359
Speaker 1: guy could be on top of the other guy punching them,

544
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: or flip vice versa, the other guys on top of

545
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,639
Speaker 1: the other guy punching him. Right, So two thirds of

546
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 1: that fight is on the ground. Right now. As a wrestler,

547
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,640
Speaker 1: I have the ability to control the real estate where

548
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 1: that fight takes place. So six I already have a

549
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: sixty seven percent advantage of a fight, and so it

550
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,360
Speaker 1: takes some years to get used to getting hit right now.

551
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: That was a tough one, is you know you don't

552
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 1: because you know somebody come in here right now and

553
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 1: wail off on you, You're gonna get mad, And it's

554
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: it's it's right being able to control the mind, being

555
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 1: able to control enough to where you could see these

556
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: shots to where you could defend yourself intelligently and plan

557
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: and put them and set them up for something that

558
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: took years to come. But it was all a mixture

559
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,640
Speaker 1: of learning how to compete, learning the wrestling, because you know,

560
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 1: you get lit up too much now standing up, I

561
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:04,160
Speaker 1: could take him now right, So when you're getting ready

562
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: for a fight, Floyd Mayworther says, I don't watch other

563
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: fighters if I'm gonna fight a fighter. A fight a fighter.

564
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,960
Speaker 1: I don't watch him fight. My corner handles that when

565
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 1: you're getting ready to fight someone, do you watch them

566
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 1: or you just trust your corner. It's like, Okay, this

567
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 1: is what we need to do, this is what he's

568
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 1: good at, this is where we're gonna try to stay

569
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: away from. Or do you sit down and actually watch

570
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: him and try to break him down? Because when I

571
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,720
Speaker 1: play football, I'm watching my opponent. Okay, I'm trying to

572
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 1: pick up any tendencies. Okay, you gotta stagger, probably gonna blits, Okay, square,

573
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: probably gonna buzze the flat. So I'm trying to just

574
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: the slightest thing. He doesn't know he's doing it. He's

575
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 1: just playing football. But I'm just trying to pick up

576
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: the slightest tendency to give me an advantage because it's

577
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: not about yards, it's about inches, it's about seconds. I agree.

578
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: I think different things work for different people. Okay, there's

579
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 1: there's there's certain things that make certain people great. Okay,

580
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 1: like Floyd's great. Yeah, you know that that's a special

581
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 1: individual right to be able to do what he does.

582
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 1: And we are great and our our right right, right,

583
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 1: And so what makes us great is your ability to

584
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 1: be able to just see study a little bit into

585
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 1: where you know. For me, at the end of the day,

586
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,120
Speaker 1: my coaches ain't gonna get with them for me and

587
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,120
Speaker 1: fight for me, right, I have to be able to

588
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 1: fight for me. So whatever it can make that easier

589
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 1: for me, I'm willing to do. Okay, So if I

590
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 1: can see a little bit of tapes to where I

591
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 1: know an overview, like I could tell just by watching

592
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 1: I know an overview. Okay, you don't breathe well, so

593
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,440
Speaker 1: you won't have a problem once I push that heart rate. Okay,

594
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 1: you're striking and the greatest, so I can stand with

595
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 1: you as long as I want. Or you're wrestling the greatest,

596
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 1: So if you're starting to get the best of me

597
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 1: with the striking, I can take you down if I want,

598
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: and I'll have an advantage. Yet, So I like to

599
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 1: be able to see a little bit of film, right,

600
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: So I have an overview when you're watching film? Are

601
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: you what look listening to the TV copy? Because see,

602
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: I couldn't listen to the TV copy because the commentators,

603
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: because you get a false sense they're talking about Oh

604
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: he's so good. You just see that play, so I

605
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 1: need to listen to it on silent. So when you

606
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 1: watch tape, are you watching a TV copy or you

607
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: just watching and silent, just watching him seeing what he does, Okay, circling, Okay,

608
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:16,479
Speaker 1: I can see him up. I can, I can, you know,

609
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 1: I can take him down. And that's that's a that's

610
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: a very very good assessment. But I watch every aspect.

611
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 1: I watch it with and I watch it without, okay.

612
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: And the reason I do it is a lot of

613
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,760
Speaker 1: people don't understand. And if you have you ever been

614
00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: to a UFC I have a matter of fact, I

615
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 1: went to the first two UFC fights in Denver, Colorado

616
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three, so waiting waiting before there was

617
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 1: no day of water about dance, Samfering and all those guys,

618
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: Ken Shamrock Horse Gracy. Have you been to him recently? No?

619
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 1: The last one. The last one I've been to is

620
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: that John Jones be uh sugar sugar sh Rashard Evans

621
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 1: in that lage. Okay, I didn't I need to go

622
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 1: to weather when you try to get him coming, Yeah,

623
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 1: you gotta come to one. Now. It's different, it's different. Yeah,

624
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: So it's one thing about a UFC event. It's infectious.

625
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 1: I don't care where you've been at football game, basketball game,

626
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 1: it's infectious. You know the sound of a kick landing, Yeah,

627
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: and the crowd go from quiet to ut like that.

628
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: It's infectious. It's nothing like it, and you have to

629
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,160
Speaker 1: be able to understand what that does to a fighter

630
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: when you're fighting. So when I watch film, I'm not

631
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 1: just watching Okay, he's doing these moves, he's doing that.

632
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 1: I'm watching how he reacts. I'm watching his heart. That's

633
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: what I call it. I'm watching his heart, how he's

634
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: affected by what's going on. Okay. So I like to

635
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: hear the crowd because I like to put myself in

636
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: there with that fighter. Okay, how I would react when

637
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 1: I hear this crowd? Okay, he's a fan favorite, So

638
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,480
Speaker 1: the crowd's gonna chant for him. How does he react

639
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 1: when they chant for him because he turned up a

640
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 1: little bit more? Or is he able to deal with that?

641
00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: So I like to watch it that way, And then

642
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 1: I could watch this for the movie. I can turn

643
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 1: the sound off and watch him. Okay, he's he's a

644
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: good striker. He set you up with this, this and

645
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,960
Speaker 1: this but I watch all of it, But what about

646
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 1: him being a fan favorite and the least little thing

647
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 1: the crowd is going to erupt they're trying to sway

648
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,840
Speaker 1: the judges does that? So how do you like? Okay, man,

649
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 1: he ain't even hit me. What's yelling is pray for

650
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: it ain't touch me. That's that's my job. That's my

651
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,280
Speaker 1: job to control the outcome. That's why I do everything

652
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 1: outside to make sure by the time I step in there.

653
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: There's no question. There's not a fight that I've been

654
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 1: into where I don't understand if I want a round

655
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 1: or not. There's not There's no question if I even

656
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: had remotely feel like I lost that round. Okay, you're

657
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 1: not gonna make it out out of this fight. You know.

658
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let it go to the judges. I

659
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: don't want to go let it go to the judges,

660
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 1: and then I'm wonder that I win. Did I not win? No,

661
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 1: if it goes to the judges, I know I want.

662
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 1: You have one loss in the UFC. Do you remember

663
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: why you lost one loss in my career? Yeah? Yes,

664
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: I know exactly why I lost. What happened, and it

665
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 1: was it was ignorance. I got into the sport. When

666
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: I got in, I was I was just high level wrestler,

667
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:11,879
Speaker 1: where I mean I could control I don't care whether

668
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 1: you were twenty light flyweight or you were a heavyweight.

669
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 1: If I got a hold of you, you're gonna end

670
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 1: up on the ground, right, I could control all of that.

671
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 1: So it was a certain ignorance that came with that

672
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 1: that I that, yeah, that I didn't even realize at

673
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 1: the time. I'm a team player. I'm gonna help everybody.

674
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: I'm not cocky with it, I'm not none of that.

675
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:35,640
Speaker 1: But when you've spent so many years and you get

676
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:42,200
Speaker 1: to a certain level of controlling the engagements, there's a

677
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 1: certain level of ignorance that comes with it that you

678
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 1: don't really realize. And I had that. So I was,

679
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,760
Speaker 1: you know, mma practice were practicing. I hated the striking

680
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:54,359
Speaker 1: days because I knew I was gonna get beat up.

681
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: You know. I had to train with Sugar Shot Evans

682
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 1: and Tyrone, ty On Spawn and Vitor Belfo was in

683
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: there at certain times, and some of these caused more

684
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 1: Alexander like some of these guys that were more tight

685
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: world champions, they knew what they were doing. So I

686
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:13,800
Speaker 1: knew I was gonna get beat up on kickboxing Day.

687
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: Emma made day. I knew I was gonna get beat

688
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:18,839
Speaker 1: up too, but I could still kind of control what's

689
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: going on. Wrestling day was my favorite day, right, I

690
00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: knew that was my that's my day. Everybody knew they

691
00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 1: better stay away from me because I'm gonna put it

692
00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 1: on you. And with that being said, it was just you.

693
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,720
Speaker 1: You developed this. I didn't. I felt like, okay, jiu jitsu,

694
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,960
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't need to study what was on

695
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: the ground because I control if the fight goes there

696
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,440
Speaker 1: or not. So if I want to take somebody down,

697
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take him down, that's it. You know. I

698
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:55,080
Speaker 1: dominate there. But my ignorance was understanding that there's tricks

699
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 1: from being down there. Yeah, and jiu jitsu is kind

700
00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 1: of like the counter for wrestling. Yeah, you could take

701
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: them down. They want to be a lot of them

702
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: want to be on the gud want to be on them. Yeah.

703
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 1: I saw a horse grace and he would lay on

704
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,320
Speaker 1: the Yeah, he jumped down on him. You want to No,

705
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,520
Speaker 1: that's it's exactly what what happened. And so and then

706
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:11,960
Speaker 1: you got teammates because my teammates knew what I was

707
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:13,879
Speaker 1: capable up there, like, oh man, you about to fight

708
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,759
Speaker 1: this guy? Oh we know this guy running, or you're

709
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:17,880
Speaker 1: gonna get him. You're gonna get him. He's nothing. So

710
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: I was wondering. I never want to believe that, right

711
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:25,319
Speaker 1: because I still gotta do my homework. I still gotta

712
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,760
Speaker 1: do my research. But for the first time I started

713
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,960
Speaker 1: to believe that a little bit. I'm no, that's that's

714
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 1: the former chance. He said, I'm gonna get him. I'm

715
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 1: gonna get him. I know I'm gonna get him. So

716
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,479
Speaker 1: I get in the fight and not even really trained

717
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,719
Speaker 1: jiu jitsu like that. So I get in the fight

718
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 1: and of course I threw it one two boom shot,

719
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,520
Speaker 1: took him down. He was ease, took him down, mounting him.

720
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 1: Now you're man, you're like, okay, yeah, this is so

721
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,359
Speaker 1: I'm punching. And this dude was about six I want

722
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 1: to say, six three six four, tall, skinny for the

723
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 1: weight crack, but tall, long and flexible. Okay, And I'm

724
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 1: from a family they do this, they've been training for

725
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:06,280
Speaker 1: a while. And he did something that I've never seen

726
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,640
Speaker 1: because I don't really do you just like so he

727
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 1: threw his legs around my waist while I'm in a

728
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,040
Speaker 1: full mount, and I was like, I never felt that before.

729
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:19,799
Speaker 1: What was going on? So I panic and I try

730
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: to turn up and get it. Try to turn and

731
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,160
Speaker 1: get up. He just called off my back. This was

732
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 1: a minute and a half into the fight. We're not

733
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,360
Speaker 1: sweating yet. I'm dry. He's on my back. I'm carrying

734
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,960
Speaker 1: a backpack for about another minute and a half. I

735
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,239
Speaker 1: don't know the defenses to what's going on because I

736
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 1: haven't spent time learning because I'm my ignorance and thinking

737
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: that just because I'm a wrestler, I control everything right.

738
00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 1: And I learned the hard lesson that day. I just

739
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:54,160
Speaker 1: remember before I had to tap because and I And

740
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 1: there's a story behind this because in the back the

741
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,840
Speaker 1: commission they have a talk with you and they tell you, Okay,

742
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 1: if you're choked unconscious, or if you're knocked unscious, you're

743
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 1: it's automatic six months, six months suspension. Now I'm fighting

744
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:13,240
Speaker 1: for one thousand and one thousand, so I'm might here struggling.

745
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 1: I'm staying with my big bros. Sugar Ri shot Evans.

746
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,720
Speaker 1: I ain't got no money, so I got about seventeen

747
00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 1: dollars in the bank account, and I'm like, Okay, if

748
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: I can't fight for six months, I can't make no money. Right,

749
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 1: So now I'm in this compromising position, and of course,

750
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 1: going into a fight, I'm like, oh, I'm a warrior.

751
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to tap out. I'm going I'm going

752
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 1: out of my shield. I'm dying here. I'm not tapping out.

753
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:44,680
Speaker 1: And I'm in that position, and I realize, for the

754
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:47,879
Speaker 1: first time, I didn't have the knowledge to be able

755
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 1: to get out. So either I was going to just

756
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 1: try to be tough, get choked unconscious, or tap and

757
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 1: live to fight another day. And for the first time,

758
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:00,960
Speaker 1: in the last time in my career, I made a

759
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 1: decision to give up on myself. But then I you know,

760
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: I made peace with it later because I gave up

761
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: because I didn't have the knowledge. Right. I didn't give

762
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,239
Speaker 1: up because I had the knowledge and I was incapable

763
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:14,360
Speaker 1: of doing it. I gave up because I didn't have

764
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,359
Speaker 1: the knowledge. And I walked out of that cage. That night.

765
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,480
Speaker 1: I paced in the back for about two hours, just

766
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 1: by myself. I was pacing, and I made a decision

767
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:25,759
Speaker 1: to myself, and I said that I will never go

768
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:27,640
Speaker 1: into a fight without the knowledge to be able to

769
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:31,760
Speaker 1: defend myself. Right after that day, the rest is history.

770
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 1: You're great at freestyles, at wrestling, So now, how much

771
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,920
Speaker 1: time do you spend in your areas of weakness? Okay, Virginia,

772
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 1: jiu jitsu obviously you know striking, you're bet, you're most

773
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 1: You're probably most comfortable on the ground. So you're talking

774
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,080
Speaker 1: about the movie tie to kick boxing. So in a

775
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:53,440
Speaker 1: given week, how much time are you spending and say

776
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: kick boxing, how much time are you spending in jiu jitsu?

777
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 1: How much time are you spending in wrestling? How much

778
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: time are you spending in striking? I spend a lot,

779
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:03,359
Speaker 1: a lot of time. I think the words the most

780
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 1: of your time spent. Most of my times it's spent,

781
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: was spent on striking. Because I had gotten so far

782
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 1: in wrestling to where not all I had to do

783
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 1: was maintain I had gotten to what you would consider

784
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 1: an elite level of wrestling right where now all I

785
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 1: had to do was maintain that because once you stop wrestling,

786
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: it's a quick, rapid decline. So I just had to

787
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,600
Speaker 1: slow down that process. And if I could slow down

788
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,200
Speaker 1: that process to spend a lot more time on my

789
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 1: areas of weakness. I was going to be there. And

790
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 1: so one of the biggest things is as an athlete

791
00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:44,800
Speaker 1: that I think makes the the best the best in

792
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: the world is being able to be honest with yourself.

793
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: Is not just drinking your own kool ai, but being

794
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,600
Speaker 1: honest with yourself because if you weaken that area, you're

795
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:57,319
Speaker 1: honest with yourself to say, oh, i'm weak there, I

796
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:59,759
Speaker 1: need to get better. And I see that's what a

797
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,879
Speaker 1: lot of people can't can't do that because they get

798
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 1: to a certain level and they're good at something, they're like, oh, no,

799
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,680
Speaker 1: I'm not weak in nowhere, right. I know I'm still weak.

800
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:09,920
Speaker 1: I'm still learning to this day. But the fact that

801
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:13,040
Speaker 1: you're willing to still train a strength, because a lot

802
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:14,960
Speaker 1: of people, well you train your weakness to just train

803
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 1: your weaknesses, but you're still willing to work on that strings.

804
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,799
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because I knew it's the thing. I knew

805
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,919
Speaker 1: what got me to the dance right, and I wasn't

806
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 1: just gonna give it up right away. Because they're guys

807
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 1: have been striking to say, we're five years old and

808
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,680
Speaker 1: now they're thirty years old. They got twenty five years

809
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,839
Speaker 1: experience on me. You know, it's something different about twenty

810
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 1: five years compared to five years of experience. How good you? Right?

811
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: And so no one what got me to the dance?

812
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:41,279
Speaker 1: I have to make sure that I stayed polished on that, right.

813
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,719
Speaker 1: But of course I'm honest with myself to know that

814
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:45,640
Speaker 1: I'm weak with the striking and I gotta get better

815
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: at Yeah, but I watched you and you have gotten

816
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:51,800
Speaker 1: exponentially better at striking. It's now you're sitting down on punches.

817
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,359
Speaker 1: You're throwing punches with the tent. I ain't just tried, bro,

818
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 1: I ain't trying to get your attention. I'm trying to

819
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 1: get you out of here. Yeah, I'm trying to put

820
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,040
Speaker 1: them in the right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'll see you

821
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 1: sit down on the punches. But you did something to

822
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 1: model that. I don't know if anybody saw it. You

823
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: You knocked his head, you knocked his hand down and

824
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 1: caught it with the overhand. Right. Yeah. He that that

825
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:18,000
Speaker 1: sequence and that that's I gotta give it up to

826
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:21,919
Speaker 1: my my coach, Trevor Whitman. He he really we spent

827
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 1: a lot of time that camp committing to punches and

828
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,799
Speaker 1: just committing all the way through throwing and even if

829
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,440
Speaker 1: it lands, throw it. If it doesn't land still though, Right,

830
00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:33,640
Speaker 1: So he gonna feel you, He gonna know that you

831
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 1: You you almost put something you came out there that

832
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,080
Speaker 1: came out to get him out of that that second one,

833
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:41,760
Speaker 1: because I was unhappy with the first one, okay, because

834
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:43,360
Speaker 1: a lot was made of him taking the fight on

835
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:45,920
Speaker 1: six days notice, right, But I also took the fight

836
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,759
Speaker 1: on six days no, right, And I have also had

837
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:50,719
Speaker 1: to fly across the world to go fight him when

838
00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:53,200
Speaker 1: I prepare for a whole another definitely, And people don't

839
00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:56,560
Speaker 1: realize that you had. You had a decided disadvantage because

840
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:58,840
Speaker 1: I'm prepared for one type of fighter and then you

841
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 1: send me somebody else in week's notice. Yeah, I haven't

842
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,520
Speaker 1: prepared for him. Forget who he is. And that's that's

843
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,120
Speaker 1: the big thing is as a champion, all eyes on you.

844
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:09,600
Speaker 1: You have to entertain, You have to go out and

845
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,279
Speaker 1: you have to put on that performance each and every time.

846
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 1: So you give me six days notice with a completely

847
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:17,879
Speaker 1: different style, a completely different fact that I haven't prepared for, right,

848
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 1: And but you want the fireworks that you want from

849
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,359
Speaker 1: a champion, right, And I couldn't give that that night.

850
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,839
Speaker 1: So I was disappointed in myself, and I was dealing

851
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: with other little, you know, injuries and things like that

852
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,560
Speaker 1: that kind of hindered it. But I knew that I

853
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:33,600
Speaker 1: had to still see Burns first. And once I got

854
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:35,480
Speaker 1: through Burns, I said, nah, we got to do that

855
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 1: one over because he's still walking around here, he's still

856
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:42,440
Speaker 1: talking about Now. I took the man. Yeah, I get

857
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 1: a pull of training camp. He gonna have to see me.

858
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 1: He gonna have to feel man. So I said, I

859
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:48,440
Speaker 1: you want me to feel you, I'm gonna feel you.

860
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 1: And so I asked for that one person and I said, data,

861
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 1: we gotta run that one back over. And then they said,

862
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,680
Speaker 1: all right, let's do it. Okay. I was gonna go

863
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:58,279
Speaker 1: out there. I was gonna put something on him that

864
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:04,080
Speaker 1: he was never gonna forget. Okay, Kobe Covington, you hear

865
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,319
Speaker 1: what he's saying. He's a maga guy. Okay, what if

866
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,399
Speaker 1: that's if that's if that's where you want to be. Okay,

867
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:10,839
Speaker 1: I got no problem with that. That's who you are.

868
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,760
Speaker 1: How do you after you hear all the things he says,

869
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 1: knowing that you gotta fight him? But remain calms, and oh,

870
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:21,319
Speaker 1: I just want to do something so bad to him,

871
00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 1: But I got to be calm. I gotta stay with

872
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:25,440
Speaker 1: him myself, because the one thing that you can't do

873
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,200
Speaker 1: is get outside of yourself, because now you play into

874
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:30,200
Speaker 1: his hands. And maybe he says a lot of that

875
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:33,360
Speaker 1: stuff to get you to play into his hands. He does,

876
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:37,319
Speaker 1: he does, and I don't think it was intentional at first.

877
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:39,000
Speaker 1: I think it was just he was trying to find

878
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,200
Speaker 1: his own lane. But then it got to a point

879
00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: where he's like, Okay, I might be able to use

880
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:47,040
Speaker 1: this to my advantage, right because of his specific skill set. Right.

881
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,319
Speaker 1: But I got into the sport. I got to where

882
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,719
Speaker 1: I got to because not because I I wanted to

883
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 1: be rich, I want to be famous or any of

884
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,640
Speaker 1: that that came later. But I got into it because

885
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 1: of competition. I wanted to be the best at right,

886
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 1: And so studying all the grades and learning what it

887
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:07,359
Speaker 1: takes to be the best at it is your wit

888
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,279
Speaker 1: and not just what you got out here and your

889
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: strength and all that. And so with him and some

890
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:15,040
Speaker 1: of these guys that I deal with, is is learning

891
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,719
Speaker 1: how to deal with them. You sign that contract, so

892
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:21,960
Speaker 1: that means it's a date. We're gonna get in there

893
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:24,800
Speaker 1: and it's gonna go down, right, And so that that

894
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:28,200
Speaker 1: was it for me. Once that signed. Okay, you're gonna

895
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:30,480
Speaker 1: compensate me for this to do this with all right,

896
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,840
Speaker 1: that's the date, okay. So now I'm gonna do everything

897
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:36,680
Speaker 1: in my power to prepare to make sure that I

898
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: go out there and I dish out that discipline the

899
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,279
Speaker 1: right way. So when these guys talk and I tell

900
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 1: it to all these guys, now, I am the judge,

901
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,400
Speaker 1: the jury and the execution of when we step inside

902
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 1: that octagon. So anything you say outside leading up to

903
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:56,640
Speaker 1: the fight, I'm gonna hear it. Somehow, somebody gonna send it.

904
00:45:56,719 --> 00:45:58,799
Speaker 1: My mom now is a big fan. So my mom

905
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 1: watched everything, so she gonna tell me, you see what

906
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 1: do you said? You see with this? So I'm gonna

907
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:06,480
Speaker 1: see it, and I'm gonna use it against him when

908
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 1: we get in there. And so Master Door, there's a

909
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,040
Speaker 1: famous viral clip of him during an interview. He was

910
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:15,120
Speaker 1: sitting now he said, yeah, this guy's nah, he just

911
00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 1: don't possess the the macho ness to be able to

912
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:22,280
Speaker 1: send you know this, you know, set a man apart

913
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:25,680
Speaker 1: from his consciousness or something like that. I've seen it.

914
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 1: I said, okay, all right, I'm gonna give it to him,

915
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,279
Speaker 1: and then and then somebody of course later on they

916
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,279
Speaker 1: put the clip together when he's saying that, and I'm

917
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:37,480
Speaker 1: sending him over to the you know, to the rafters.

918
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,719
Speaker 1: And it was a good feeling, you know. But at

919
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:42,680
Speaker 1: the end of the day, for me, it's about competition.

920
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:47,719
Speaker 1: That the cleanest point you ever landed on somewhere, Yeah,

921
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:50,480
Speaker 1: because you hit him. Yeah that was I mean he

922
00:46:50,520 --> 00:46:52,439
Speaker 1: was out before he even hit the floor. Yeah, that

923
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:57,160
Speaker 1: that one was. That was the cleanest in competition, that

924
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 1: this flush landing. It was another one that I ended

925
00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 1: a few fights before on I thought a Brazilian Sergio

926
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 1: Mariahs I few fights before, and but this one was

927
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:11,919
Speaker 1: the clean one shot you know, send all that the

928
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:17,280
Speaker 1: sweat flying from Yeah, you gotta you gotta send him off.

929
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:19,640
Speaker 1: So that one was in. Let me have the one

930
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:25,040
Speaker 1: the Covington too. You won that fight he's talking about.

931
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:28,040
Speaker 1: I don't know if he really proved yet that he's

932
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:31,759
Speaker 1: the better the man. Do you want a trilogy? I

933
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:35,319
Speaker 1: wouldn't mind. Now, this is the thing that and these

934
00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 1: guys realize that when you fight for the title, the

935
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:39,440
Speaker 1: most money you're gonna make, you're gonna make when you

936
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,399
Speaker 1: fight for the type, right, So of course they want

937
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:43,919
Speaker 1: to fight me, right, everybody want to fight me because

938
00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:45,839
Speaker 1: you fight me, you're gonna get the big check, right,

939
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:48,840
Speaker 1: So I have no problem with that. Comington is a

940
00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 1: guy that he has proven that he's one of the

941
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:53,880
Speaker 1: best in the division. If if he's not the next

942
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:56,919
Speaker 1: best guy in the division, he has proven tough. Yeah,

943
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:59,719
Speaker 1: he's tough. So he's a guy that's always gonna make me.

944
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,400
Speaker 1: There's no cutting corners. I don't want to cut corners

945
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,279
Speaker 1: anyways when I'm trained, but there's with him especially, there's

946
00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:09,080
Speaker 1: no cutting corners. And so there's a certain level of

947
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:12,480
Speaker 1: discipline that you earn that you get from that training

948
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 1: camp when you compete against a guy like that. So

949
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:17,799
Speaker 1: I like it each and every time. So being able

950
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:22,720
Speaker 1: to overcome that level of competition, it's you know, as

951
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:26,239
Speaker 1: an athlete, it is something that really solidifies where you

952
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:30,320
Speaker 1: are as an elite. What about I look at you,

953
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 1: you you well to weight champ is it is at

954
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,720
Speaker 1: a signa in frances In God, you got three African champs.

955
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 1: Uftually needs to take take the show on the road

956
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 1: and go over, go go to Africa. They absolutely and

957
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:47,120
Speaker 1: all three of you guys want to fight on the

958
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:50,799
Speaker 1: same car. Of course, of course that it's something that,

959
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,319
Speaker 1: like I said, it's very rare nowadays to be the

960
00:48:57,360 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 1: first or be part of something that's that's the first,

961
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,480
Speaker 1: never been done right, and so to be able to

962
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:08,960
Speaker 1: do something like that, it's it's monumental and and I

963
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 1: don't know it's whether obviously there's a lot there's a

964
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:14,040
Speaker 1: lot of details behind the scenes that we don't understand

965
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:17,200
Speaker 1: that you know, the partners and the deals and the

966
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:20,520
Speaker 1: TV contracts that UFC have that might not permit them

967
00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:22,319
Speaker 1: to do it, or they might not feel like they

968
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,040
Speaker 1: have the landscape to do it, which is why myself,

969
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:29,960
Speaker 1: I've started promotion in Nigeria right now, the AKL show

970
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,160
Speaker 1: you know, Face Off Fight Night too. We're about to

971
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:36,480
Speaker 1: have the second event March eighteen, and I want to

972
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:38,000
Speaker 1: let them know that, I want I want to show

973
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,360
Speaker 1: them that because this sport is not really that big

974
00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:46,040
Speaker 1: right Africa, right and you have three champions right now,

975
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:49,640
Speaker 1: Imagine once we're able to spread that sport round, bring

976
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,719
Speaker 1: the sport over there. I mean, we I mean, it's

977
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:54,920
Speaker 1: not even it's not even fair. You within Francis Saint

978
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:59,240
Speaker 1: got Nuth's corner against Cyril Gone. Why did you decide? What?

979
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:01,719
Speaker 1: What did you bring with just a different set of

980
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:04,239
Speaker 1: eyes that you can see some things Like Francis, I

981
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:05,839
Speaker 1: think this is what we can do. I think this

982
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:08,200
Speaker 1: is how you can neutralize some of his strengths. Uh,

983
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 1: stay away, you know, stay away from his strength. Play

984
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:15,759
Speaker 1: to your strength to his weaknesses. What what? Why did

985
00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 1: you were? You're in the corner with Francis. The thing

986
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,680
Speaker 1: with Francis is me and Francis are like brothers, right,

987
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,000
Speaker 1: and so I'm always gonna have my brother's back, and

988
00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 1: so I'm there mainly for that moral support, right, because

989
00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:32,920
Speaker 1: I understand what it is when I'm going to a fight, right,

990
00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:37,080
Speaker 1: I like to know that everybody behind me, next to

991
00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 1: me is ready to ride. Right. So if something broke

992
00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:41,759
Speaker 1: out in here right now and I'm going to fight,

993
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:43,759
Speaker 1: I know that everybody on my corner is stowing that

994
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 1: we fight. Yeah, And so it's something in that solace

995
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:50,839
Speaker 1: as a fighter when you walking when you're going to compete. Now,

996
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:54,480
Speaker 1: as far as game plan, Francis has excellent coaching. Eric

997
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:58,239
Speaker 1: nick sake and doing do it Cooper. Those guys down there,

998
00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:03,520
Speaker 1: they great coach for Francis or Francis Is is a competitor.

999
00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:06,000
Speaker 1: You know, some of the greats that just a lot

1000
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:07,839
Speaker 1: of things that you just can't teach them. They know

1001
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 1: how to they know how to win. And that's the

1002
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:13,319
Speaker 1: thing about Francis. You know, he was dealing with a lot.

1003
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 1: You know, he had a knee injury, right, and he

1004
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 1: still resorted to the wrestling to get the job done right,

1005
00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:22,279
Speaker 1: and so it wasn't much for me, of course, being there,

1006
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:24,040
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell him my Okay, I think this is

1007
00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:26,080
Speaker 1: where we should go. But at the end of the day,

1008
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:28,000
Speaker 1: Francis is the one that's gonna step in there. He's

1009
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 1: gonna make the decisions that's gonna win or lose him

1010
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 1: to fight, right, and that's exactly what he did, you know.

1011
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 1: Alongside with it with his coaches, I mean, they do

1012
00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:37,359
Speaker 1: a good job with him, and he's proven that he's

1013
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:39,440
Speaker 1: the baddest man on the planet. Yeah. I mean when

1014
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:41,879
Speaker 1: Francis walking the room, you know, Francis gotta in the room.

1015
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:47,840
Speaker 1: What transpired, Dana wasn't in the ring to put the

1016
00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:50,400
Speaker 1: belt on him. He wasn't there in the press conference,

1017
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 1: and I don't know if I've ever seen him not

1018
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 1: put the belt on the champion, not go to the

1019
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:59,680
Speaker 1: the the after fight press conference. Obviously there's a lot

1020
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:02,200
Speaker 1: going on. His contract was up after that fight, but

1021
00:52:02,239 --> 00:52:04,560
Speaker 1: since he won, he gets have to resign for another

1022
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:07,560
Speaker 1: two three fights or wherever however that goes. How do

1023
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:10,040
Speaker 1: how do you guys bridge the gap? Because the pay

1024
00:52:10,080 --> 00:52:12,359
Speaker 1: scale we're gonna talk about Jake Paul said, you look,

1025
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,080
Speaker 1: come on over here and fight, you boy, make a

1026
00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:16,480
Speaker 1: big pay. Dare you make triple quadruple what you're making

1027
00:52:16,520 --> 00:52:20,799
Speaker 1: in the UFC? How do you guys get the money

1028
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:23,279
Speaker 1: that you believe you deserve because there's a big piece

1029
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 1: of the pot there and trying to start, you know,

1030
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:26,799
Speaker 1: trying to get you in trouble with your balls, but

1031
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:28,799
Speaker 1: there's there's a big piece of the pot there. I

1032
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:32,040
Speaker 1: know you want the biggest slice. Absolutely, I don't care

1033
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:33,680
Speaker 1: what it is. You give me a hundred million today,

1034
00:52:33,719 --> 00:52:35,840
Speaker 1: that's fine. I'll fight for one hundred million, But the

1035
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:37,839
Speaker 1: next fight, I'm trying to get two fifty. I'm gonna

1036
00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:41,840
Speaker 1: need too fifty. So I understand that as an athlete,

1037
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:43,719
Speaker 1: as a man, It doesn't matter what it is. That's

1038
00:52:43,719 --> 00:52:49,399
Speaker 1: who's competitive. I'm always gonna want more, absolutely right. Could

1039
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:52,480
Speaker 1: we have biggest slice of the pot? Absolutely right. You

1040
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:54,880
Speaker 1: could argue that with any and everybody in every sport.

1041
00:52:56,320 --> 00:52:59,839
Speaker 1: Now there's there's things that of course Francis and it's

1042
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:02,239
Speaker 1: coach in the camp that they need to you know,

1043
00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:04,960
Speaker 1: work out with the UFC. That's absolutely everybody knows that.

1044
00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:09,279
Speaker 1: I mean, the situation the way it got, it doesn't

1045
00:53:08,360 --> 00:53:12,080
Speaker 1: it didn't have to get like that. Absolutely. You know,

1046
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:13,640
Speaker 1: there's stings that they need to sit down and they

1047
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:16,680
Speaker 1: need to talk about. One hundred percent. You know, Francis

1048
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:19,239
Speaker 1: gonna that's my brother. I believe Francis is always going

1049
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:22,319
Speaker 1: to be worth more than he's getting. Absolutely, if he

1050
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:24,480
Speaker 1: can go to boxing tomorrow and they'll pay fifty million,

1051
00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:26,640
Speaker 1: I think he's worth more than that. You know. So

1052
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:28,840
Speaker 1: that's something that they need to sit down with the

1053
00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:33,200
Speaker 1: company because you know there's plenty and plenty of athletes

1054
00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:37,800
Speaker 1: that weren't happy that we eventually sat down and something

1055
00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:41,239
Speaker 1: was done. You know, that's that's business. No one side

1056
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:43,640
Speaker 1: is always going to get more than you know, you're

1057
00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:46,640
Speaker 1: gonna come to a compromise, and I think they need

1058
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,839
Speaker 1: to come to a compromise. You know, can he get more? Absolutely?

1059
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:55,640
Speaker 1: Should we get more? Absolutely? Shoult football players get more. Absolutely?

1060
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,360
Speaker 1: Would you be willing to go fight a Jake Paul

1061
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:03,400
Speaker 1: or a Logan Paul. Absolutely, But these guys don't make

1062
00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:05,920
Speaker 1: These guys, don't they They're making a lot of noise.

1063
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:09,160
Speaker 1: That's good. They got the they got the the YouTubers,

1064
00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:11,960
Speaker 1: and they got the new generation that these new kids

1065
00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:15,200
Speaker 1: involved in watching them. That's fine, but they don't equate

1066
00:54:15,239 --> 00:54:20,719
Speaker 1: to dollars. No, it's not them, you know, like like,

1067
00:54:21,080 --> 00:54:23,200
Speaker 1: what's the what's the other one? Logan Paul Floyd, But

1068
00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:25,919
Speaker 1: that's Floyd. Floyd been making a hundred million dollars paper

1069
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:28,960
Speaker 1: so that that money came because of Floyd, right, you know.

1070
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:31,160
Speaker 1: But Jake Paul, he says, oh, we're doing these numbers.

1071
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:33,879
Speaker 1: We're doing these numbers. You can add up every fight

1072
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,680
Speaker 1: Jake Paul has had, and they pay per view numbers.

1073
00:54:36,719 --> 00:54:39,200
Speaker 1: Want more than what I did my last fight, So

1074
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:40,920
Speaker 1: they can say whatever they want to say. He can

1075
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:43,239
Speaker 1: say this, or I'll say that, or you write me

1076
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:45,160
Speaker 1: a check for one hundred million dollars. Jake Paul and

1077
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:48,640
Speaker 1: I'll be there to kick your ass next week. Do

1078
00:54:48,760 --> 00:54:52,560
Speaker 1: you blame Connor for UFC fire is wanting the box

1079
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:54,839
Speaker 1: because he got a hundred million dollar paper he got

1080
00:54:55,800 --> 00:54:58,439
Speaker 1: No why why we blame No, we don't blame him.

1081
00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:00,799
Speaker 1: You got one hundred million dollars. That's a kyda. Don't

1082
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:03,759
Speaker 1: have to work no more? Right? Is that why he's

1083
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:07,000
Speaker 1: been unsuccessful? But he hasn't been the same fighter. It's hard.

1084
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:09,719
Speaker 1: It's hard now when you when there's a difference. When

1085
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:11,759
Speaker 1: I got on the Guti, when I got on Louis

1086
00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:14,920
Speaker 1: vittar roll, I got on meek slippers, I got some

1087
00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:17,359
Speaker 1: bringing me all three of my meals in bed if

1088
00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:20,520
Speaker 1: I need that. I got a yacht, I got a Rolls,

1089
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:24,759
Speaker 1: I got a Ferrari. It's it's about it's a good one.

1090
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:26,920
Speaker 1: It's a good one. You're right, You're absolutely right. It's

1091
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:30,000
Speaker 1: a it's a difference. But I think it also depends

1092
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:32,840
Speaker 1: on that on the individual. Yeah, because you mentioned Floyd.

1093
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:34,960
Speaker 1: Floyd had all that and he's still going out there

1094
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:37,280
Speaker 1: get putting the work in giving folk. To be exactly,

1095
00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:41,640
Speaker 1: it depends on the individual because some guys they they

1096
00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:45,279
Speaker 1: they that's what they aspire to get right. So that's

1097
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:47,360
Speaker 1: everything that they do. They do it for that and

1098
00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:49,640
Speaker 1: they get once they get it, it's oh I got

1099
00:55:49,719 --> 00:55:51,960
Speaker 1: it right, you know. And I think it was back

1100
00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:54,280
Speaker 1: in the day, whether it's Sugar Ray or maybe Haglow

1101
00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:58,239
Speaker 1: and they said that it's things is different when you

1102
00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:01,799
Speaker 1: start sleeping on silk sheets, Barbara had because yeah, so

1103
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:03,640
Speaker 1: when you when you're sleeping on that knowledge, you know,

1104
00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:10,319
Speaker 1: the hustle is not the same. And now sleeping on

1105
00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:14,319
Speaker 1: silk sheets, I have to say, uh, I still want

1106
00:56:14,320 --> 00:56:16,360
Speaker 1: to I still have that hustle, right, I still I

1107
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,280
Speaker 1: still want to get up and go get it right.

1108
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:22,040
Speaker 1: So I think it's it's on the individual. So with him,

1109
00:56:22,080 --> 00:56:25,120
Speaker 1: I don't know why he's not that successful. You know,

1110
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:27,279
Speaker 1: maybe maybe he got a lot of different things going on.

1111
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:29,680
Speaker 1: He's got his demons that he's battling. You know. I'm

1112
00:56:29,719 --> 00:56:33,200
Speaker 1: not here to condish, Yeah I'm not. I'm not here

1113
00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:34,680
Speaker 1: to kick him. Man, while he got down, but that's

1114
00:56:34,719 --> 00:56:36,680
Speaker 1: the best time to kick him. Man, better time to

1115
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,560
Speaker 1: kick him. And he right, easiest, easiest to get him.

1116
00:56:40,920 --> 00:56:43,879
Speaker 1: But he wasn't trick. He never evolved. The same thing

1117
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:46,880
Speaker 1: happen to Ronda Rousing. She didn't evolved. He didn't evolve.

1118
00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:49,359
Speaker 1: He's striking. Take him to the ground, he never gets up.

1119
00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:51,319
Speaker 1: He spent. If you take him down to the map

1120
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,080
Speaker 1: thirty to the round, he died the rest of the round.

1121
00:56:54,719 --> 00:56:57,520
Speaker 1: You'll see that. They take him out the deep water

1122
00:56:57,760 --> 00:56:59,560
Speaker 1: and they drowned him because told him what he was

1123
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:01,440
Speaker 1: gonna do. Ya, i'mnna drag it to d and I'm

1124
00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:05,439
Speaker 1: gonna drown you. Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, that's

1125
00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:07,080
Speaker 1: the thing about the sport is you have to be

1126
00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:10,280
Speaker 1: honest with yourself. You have to be able to understand

1127
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:13,680
Speaker 1: that I'm weaking these areas. I need to make sure

1128
00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:16,000
Speaker 1: that I'm bringing those up to parts so by the

1129
00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:19,480
Speaker 1: time I step out there, like That's what people don't realize.

1130
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:22,360
Speaker 1: It's not just all I won this fight. Is I

1131
00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:26,000
Speaker 1: want to be the best mixed martial artists in the planet,

1132
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:29,000
Speaker 1: right and and that's being able to mix it all

1133
00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:31,160
Speaker 1: up together. You gotta be good at everything when you

1134
00:57:31,200 --> 00:57:32,960
Speaker 1: step in there. And that's what I think I do

1135
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 1: better than everybody right now. Right Would you fight Connor?

1136
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:40,200
Speaker 1: Would you fight? Could be? I would not fight could be?

1137
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:42,600
Speaker 1: You know, could be is like my brother, Okay, you know,

1138
00:57:42,600 --> 00:57:45,439
Speaker 1: I'll see no interest in that. Connor, absolutely, I gave

1139
00:57:45,480 --> 00:57:47,800
Speaker 1: him a chance. He got scared. He I gave him

1140
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:49,919
Speaker 1: a chance. He was, he was barking. He was because

1141
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,040
Speaker 1: that's what he do. Now. He tweeted a lot. Yeah,

1142
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:54,800
Speaker 1: we call twitter fingers now. He tweeting a lot. And

1143
00:57:54,840 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 1: so he one time before I fought Master Dollar, he was,

1144
00:58:00,560 --> 00:58:02,160
Speaker 1: he was, he was tweeting a lot, and I said,

1145
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:05,200
Speaker 1: here's your chance. If you picked up the phone right now.

1146
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:06,920
Speaker 1: I called the UFC. They're not gonna say no to

1147
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:10,480
Speaker 1: you to challenge for the best. And he was quiet.

1148
00:58:10,560 --> 00:58:12,520
Speaker 1: And then the next week he started calling out at

1149
00:58:12,520 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: his silver or retire fighters and things like that. So

1150
00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:18,280
Speaker 1: would I fight Connor? The offer is there, but you

1151
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:20,040
Speaker 1: know the fight you don't make no s the fight

1152
00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:22,400
Speaker 1: people want to see. They want to see you step

1153
00:58:22,480 --> 00:58:24,920
Speaker 1: up and see him step down. I are you interested

1154
00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:30,360
Speaker 1: in that? Of course they like to see that. No,

1155
00:58:30,400 --> 00:58:33,960
Speaker 1: I've said it before. I'm not interested in that because

1156
00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:36,120
Speaker 1: right now I'm a part of something that's bigger than

1157
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:41,040
Speaker 1: me and at some at some at certain points, you

1158
00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:43,800
Speaker 1: kind of have to you know, you have to stand

1159
00:58:43,840 --> 00:58:48,000
Speaker 1: your ground on certain things. Now you know they want

1160
00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:49,760
Speaker 1: to offer us a hundred million dollars. Me, is he

1161
00:58:49,840 --> 00:58:51,040
Speaker 1: gonna have to go in the back room and talk

1162
00:58:51,040 --> 00:58:54,040
Speaker 1: about this. We want we want to do it a

1163
00:58:54,120 --> 00:58:56,120
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars. You know, you got mom and dad

1164
00:58:56,160 --> 00:58:58,520
Speaker 1: now they they living up there in the upper room

1165
00:58:58,560 --> 00:59:01,440
Speaker 1: and they living somewhere nice now, you know. So you

1166
00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:03,080
Speaker 1: know that's the conversation me him would have to have.

1167
00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:05,600
Speaker 1: But right now, it don't make no sense for me

1168
00:59:05,680 --> 00:59:09,400
Speaker 1: because and I've said it before, two Nigerians having belts,

1169
00:59:09,720 --> 00:59:13,120
Speaker 1: it is more important than me. Two three Africans, all

1170
00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:14,960
Speaker 1: three of us havening belt. Right, It's more important to

1171
00:59:15,040 --> 00:59:18,000
Speaker 1: me than one African with all belts. John Jones, Francis

1172
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:23,480
Speaker 1: and Galu. That's I'm gonna tell you right now. Where

1173
00:59:23,520 --> 00:59:25,720
Speaker 1: am i? I'm over here. I'm gonna tell you right now,

1174
00:59:26,600 --> 00:59:32,160
Speaker 1: Francis and Galus is a tall full glass of milk

1175
00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:35,080
Speaker 1: for anybody to drink. Now, you know, John, when they

1176
00:59:35,080 --> 00:59:37,040
Speaker 1: come out with the rankings, you know who the greatest

1177
00:59:37,040 --> 00:59:39,520
Speaker 1: they say, the number one ranking, the number one UFC

1178
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:42,720
Speaker 1: fight up all time, It always is JJ. Oh yeah,

1179
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it to John Jones. You look at

1180
00:59:45,520 --> 00:59:48,280
Speaker 1: what John Jones has done in his career and the

1181
00:59:48,280 --> 00:59:52,000
Speaker 1: way he's done it. I put him up there, of

1182
00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:56,520
Speaker 1: course I put him up there. But times have changed, okay,

1183
00:59:56,800 --> 00:59:59,320
Speaker 1: and it's always like, come on, now we know how

1184
00:59:59,360 --> 01:00:02,000
Speaker 1: this goes. You can't be the best for ever. Okay,

1185
01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:07,240
Speaker 1: what about what about John? Is it? That's a tough one.

1186
01:00:08,040 --> 01:00:10,520
Speaker 1: I want to see that one. I want to see that.

1187
01:00:10,560 --> 01:00:14,320
Speaker 1: I want to see that one. I mean they want

1188
01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:17,080
Speaker 1: to fight each other out for that. But John moved

1189
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:19,800
Speaker 1: up now the heavyweight. So but that's the fight that

1190
01:00:19,840 --> 01:00:22,160
Speaker 1: I was really intrigued by. You know, I think it

1191
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:25,200
Speaker 1: is he is a is a ninja, right, he's a sniper.

1192
01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:28,680
Speaker 1: But John, I mean mixing it up. John has proven

1193
01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:31,240
Speaker 1: that he's been the best for a long long time.

1194
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,160
Speaker 1: So that was the fight that I was very intrigued about.

1195
01:00:34,520 --> 01:00:37,440
Speaker 1: And that's one thing about MMA is there's no math

1196
01:00:37,560 --> 01:00:41,160
Speaker 1: about this, right. It's not okay, Floyd fighting Mike Donna,

1197
01:00:41,240 --> 01:00:44,520
Speaker 1: you know who don't win, right, There's no there's anything

1198
01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:47,880
Speaker 1: could happen. But when you fight, for instance, and Ghanu,

1199
01:00:47,920 --> 01:00:50,920
Speaker 1: though I don't want to see it, I want to

1200
01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:54,000
Speaker 1: see it, of course. I want to see it. July, Dana,

1201
01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:57,400
Speaker 1: let's make it happen. International thing. Ask you about the hand.

1202
01:00:57,400 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 1: But I see you got the hand bandage. I saw

1203
01:00:59,040 --> 01:01:01,280
Speaker 1: it on Daniel's page. You have throw on the hand.

1204
01:01:01,600 --> 01:01:04,880
Speaker 1: You're looking for a fight in mid July. July, you're

1205
01:01:04,920 --> 01:01:07,200
Speaker 1: gonna be ready. Who you wanna fight, you don't matter.

1206
01:01:07,240 --> 01:01:09,800
Speaker 1: Throw him in there, it don't matter. You gonna find

1207
01:01:09,840 --> 01:01:11,320
Speaker 1: him and you throw him in there. I'm just in

1208
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:13,440
Speaker 1: a place now to where I'm having fun with this. Okay,

1209
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:15,600
Speaker 1: I'm having fun. Like I said it was, we was,

1210
01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:17,640
Speaker 1: we was run your race early on. You know, I

1211
01:01:17,680 --> 01:01:19,720
Speaker 1: don't pass them all up. Now I'm coming back around

1212
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:21,960
Speaker 1: and now like like like you saying both, I'm looking

1213
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:24,280
Speaker 1: back and I'm smiling. So it don't matter who you're

1214
01:01:24,280 --> 01:01:26,360
Speaker 1: throwing and throw them all in there. Thank you for

1215
01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:29,200
Speaker 1: your time, brother, Thank you my brother tomorrow. Who's my lady?

1216
01:01:29,240 --> 01:01:34,040
Speaker 1: To Jim? All my life? The grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle,

1217
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:37,480
Speaker 1: bed Price, want a slice? Got the broller dice to

1218
01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:40,080
Speaker 1: swad all my life. I've been grinding in all my life,

1219
01:01:40,720 --> 01:01:44,720
Speaker 1: all my life. Then grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle,

1220
01:01:44,760 --> 01:01:48,000
Speaker 1: bad price, want a slice? Not the brother, the dice

1221
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:50,320
Speaker 1: to swad all my life. I've been grinding in all

1222
01:01:50,320 --> 01:01:52,920
Speaker 1: my life,