UFC Champ, Cody Garbrandt

Count money, man.

Money, man.

Stacked riches.

I'm trying to told him I'm a beast, but...

What's up gang?

Welcome back to another episode of The Grandcast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

And we got my man Cody.

No love.

What a cool nickname.

No love.

What a cool fight name.

Garb Brandt.

From OHIO.

From Ohio.

My brother.

Former UFC.

Bannemweight Champion.

The UFC debut was 2015.

Pro MMA 2012.

Current record, 13 and 5.

And won the world title at a young age.

How old were you Cody when you won the world title?

I was 25, 25 years old.

25 years old bro.

Yeah.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Sick, ridiculous.

You know, I'm...

I have friends of mine and people that I train with,

that are...

That are beasts.

I see what they have to go through.

How much they sacrifice.

How much time they put into the game.

And they're 30 years old, upper 20s.

And fighting it on a high level.

But they in the world, they made it to be in a world champion yet.

So not only...

Not only is it something that...

Fraction of America, you know, whenever achieved.

You know, there's...

And I know you were an athlete.

You know, wrestler and sports and all that coming up.

And in Yerksville, right?

Yes.

Yerksville, Dennis and Dover, New Philadelphia is in the house.

That whole area I loved down there when I was...

When I was in...

Just starting in the life insurance business, bro.

They put me on road trips down there in the country.

And I tell you...

You know, crazy people, you know, like you.

I can see why you're so crazy.

Because I grew up in Youngstown, as you know.

And, you know, fraction of what they call per capita, murder, capital.

At some point of America, per people that lived there and all that.

And, you know, there's jokes about, you know, how dangerous it is and all that stuff.

It depends on where you go.

But I'm pretty comfortable and confident anywhere in Youngstown.

And I got down there.

And it was...

It looked like a place where you could definitely disappear.

You know what I mean?

Like if a couple people in the country out there don't like you.

They may never find your body.

And I was so nervous.

You know, I didn't tell anybody.

Now I'm 40, I tell you.

But I was so nervous.

I was more nervous down there than I was in Youngstown in my first week.

And after my first week down there, the people embraced me.

And I fell in love with the area down there to where I started to stay in hotels.

And I lived down there for a couple of months because I just loved the...

I loved the culture of the people down there.

So, briefly, you know,

can you tell us about your upbringing?

It's been a while since we had you on the podcast.

And...

And...

Give me your upbringing.

Yeah, upbringing was good, you know what I mean?

Like we had...

We didn't have most, but we hadn't, you know, made what we did.

You know, I had a great mother that always put us...

Our needs, our wants, our desires, our passion...

Above Rome, you know what I mean?

Above Rome, you know what I mean?

And she's the definition of the mother, you know, shall we?

You know, make sure we had everything we needed to get the best start that we could.

You know what I mean?

Like obviously, you know, she had asked Youngstown, she had asked us as a teenager, you know, me and my brother Zach were 10 months apart.

You know, the Lord had mercy on that.

Start off to Zach. I love Zach.

Yeah, I had faith time today, I told him that we were doing the cast...

The podcast today, he was, you know, he was on that bobcat on the pipelines down in Dayton, you know, working, you know, doing this thing.

So yeah, shout out the big old Zach.

You know, so I don't really, you know what I mean?

At that age, you don't really know if you're...

When you're young, you don't know if you're poor, what I mean?

I was just trying to live life.

You're so young and undemesticated at that time, you know, what to do.

How was your mom when she had you?

I'm gonna say that I had been like 19.

I think she's 18 when she had Zach, yes, 19ish.

Yeah, she's still like 10, she's got me and Zach, you know, like still were 10 months apart.

So, you know, my father...

How did you learn from your mom?

What do you think you look at yourself today and you're still young, bro, how old are you?

32.

Yeah, I mean...

I mean, 32.

I think I was just having my first kid.

I was just getting married to that.

I mean, I was 32.

Good to see you.

You accomplished so much young.

You accomplished so much.

It don't seem like it's like it's young, man.

But 32 is a man.

So I'm just getting 30.

32 is I am at 40.

What did you grab?

What do you think now at 32?

You look back and say, all right, these are some things

that I definitely know I got from my mom that have benefited me, whether it's in your career or in life.

There's so many things I have learned to grab from my mother growing up and whether she raised us, you know what I mean?

She had to be the mother and the father.

So, she showed us tough love, which I mean, I'm very thankful for that, you know, growing up in the society that we have now.

You know, like, young kids are just...

They don't get it.

You know, they don't understand their...

They feel entitled to this and that and they should, you know, things should be handed to them, given to them.

You know, so the hard work, you know, I think her put us in wrestling on a young age really showed us like, I love this for the wrestling.

You know, to fast forward it to now.

My son's five years in wrestling here at the in Las Vegas at the Gold Rush Academy.

And watching him train in wrestling, it's a brutal, three-five years old.

He's getting dumped on his head. He's got to get back up.

Sam and the other kid on his head.

And it's an hour, you know, they're doing...

How the sittings are doing push-ups, they're doing seal walks.

And I can just tell on his face, you know, it's at that age, it's a grind, you know.

And last week he came after practice.

He was all pumped to get him a singlet.

He had 300, 300 in the movie, 300, so out of the warriors in the blood, he was pumped.

Dude, he's like, Dad, can I go put this on in the bathroom?

I said, yeah, let's go put the singlet on.

So, little things like that.

I remember as a child too, getting excited for a pair of wrestling shoes or a singlet.

Got you in the wrestler.

My mother, my, her brother, some of my uncle Rob wrestled.

So, when we grew up, we were always at the wrestling matches, football games, you know, we wanted to be like our uncle.

I mean, we thought that was the coolest thing.

Our grandfather would come out and have that big old video camera.

I'm filming everything, but the wrestling match should be over here.

I mean, you get dizzy just watching those old tapes, VHS tapes, but he was in control of the camera.

So, my mom got us in the wrestling and that's what I'm saying.

The support that Watthex gives me, dedication, sacrifice, you know, you can't go out and you gotta make way growing up.

As a young kid, you can't go out and after school, you can't go out ride your bike or skateboard.

You gotta do your homework and you gotta wrestling practice, you know.

And then also too, like when the go on guy tough, she never let us quit any sport.

That's one thing that I'm so thankful.

I'm like, thank you for not letting us quit.

Never let us quit.

You know, we were getting an ass kicked in football, you know, and our coach was in the best coach.

And his son started because it was a son.

And our mom was like, you know what?

Like you set out to, that you're going out this season, he goes, if you don't want to come out next season,

but you're finishing the season, whatever we did, we were never allowed to quit in season.

No matter what, like, you know, that's one of the things you said to me, you don't want to go out next year.

You don't have to go out next year, but you're finishing.

You made the obligation to yourself, to your family, to your team, to your coaches that you're gonna show up no matter what.

And if you're not starting over, you don't like the coach or, you know, all these other things that you're doing.

Just that for your life, right? Teaching you to not quit when things get tough.

Not quit? Yeah, exactly.

I'm so, that's probably the biggest thing not knowing as, you know, more getting, we're on eight, you know, in the P.W. football and getting beat by, you know, all these guys, you know, these kids that we go to school with, you know, I'm like,

man, this is, this is how you know, we want, how you're in your mind, you want to not, don't want to go back, you know, like that sucks, but you never let us quit.

And I think that we had that in us, you know, me and Zach are pretty gritty dudes that we grew up and we were competitive, we were very competitive.

So we wanted to, all right, this week's a new week to, you know, to win the game or, you know, when this wrestling tournament or, you know, things like that.

So I would say the never, never quit, never let us quit because, you know, a lot of kids grew up and they were quit for a good reason.

The wrestling is brutal and tough man and I could just tell you, you know, I'm still, you know, I'm still on the mats and not saying I'm a, you know, a pro fighter, you know, like you, but I'm pushing it more than most people in my situation.

And I go to wrestling practice and what I say is he says the hardest thing is to get the folks that are even in that are in MMA to want to come to wrestling.

They don't even want to come to wrestling because wrestling practice is so damn hard and so bad.

They'd rather, they'd rather do anything else.

All the other stuff than the wrestle because it's nonstop, you know, I think it's tough for kids or adults.

It's just wrestling is a grind and I had to humble myself in admit and I'm a football lover.

I grew up playing football. I didn't start grappling to my late 20s and man, I and I thought football was tough and bred a tough person and it does.

It does for sure.

I think wrestling definitely trumps what you what gets built inside of somebody that that wrestles long enough.

Trump's even in football. That's how tough. That's how tough that sport is.

And then the non quitting thing.

I think is it's funny because you know, we got a lot of similarities.

You know, my mom had me at 19, you know, similar situation.

My mom had the same rule. No quitting. It's crazy. Same stuff.

I wasn't allowed to quit a sport. Same thing you said. I didn't have to play to follow in year if I don't want to play.

But if I started that season, it was a wrap. There was no not quitting.

And I've tried to bring that into the business because I think that stops so many people even in business from having the success that they should have.

In their first year, in their first three months, you know, I watch people with talent sometimes give up and it's not for everybody.

But but I watch people that could make it, that should make it tap out in the first couple months where I know if like, man, if they just made it 12 months or if they just made it through the season, they would have had a ton, a ton more of success.

Even myself, when I started, I wanted to quit. And my mother again, you know, if people listen to my business story journey.

And it's about you, not about me, but I'm just giving the conversation with you of what I get from what you're saying that the listeners could could understand. It's not only about the fight game.

It's anything you could apply this to your marriage, you know, whatever. My mom, when I wanted to quit in this business, she did it to me again.

I was about to quit like three months in and my mom told me, is there anybody else doing it? And I told her, yeah, and she said, cream always rises to the top.

And you'll find a way. And you got the rest of your life, you know, to do whatever you got to, you got to finish, you got to go at least the whole year.

And that was the whole, and that was the whole season. And you know, speaking of season and toughness, so you also, you went from wrestling.

And I mean, what a great combo to set you up for a mixed martial arts career. So you go from the wrestling to boxing. And I think you started out your amateur boxing with 32 wins, 32 and 0.

What, what, what, what was that like? What would you attribute the success to that people could could get value from that's like they see 32 and 0.

They see I want a world title at 25. What things made that happen that people don't see.

I think this goes back to never giving up, you know, and just believe it myself when, you know, the cards were stacked against me. I mean, I'm a small town kid from, you know, Yerick, so high all that's we didn't have training, gems, you know, we didn't, we just, we were just, we just had, you know, passion and, and that, um,

mindset of almost being in psycho to believe that you can do this, you know, when everyone's telling me to do this and know for your eggs on the bass, and I had two full rides wrestling.

And you know, when I was there, it's time I just didn't feel like myself. I felt like I was listening to everybody. I never did that. I always, you know, had my own way of doing things. Maybe it wasn't the right way, but I always found the way. And it was my way.

And, you know, I listened to my coaches and my mentors and people that, you know, truly, you know, kept me online, you know, or kept me like focusing driven, you know, I listened to them, but I think the day man, like, well, it gets me up and gets me going is, you know, the people that doubt me, you know, I mean, it's not just approved the dollars wrong. It's the, you know, if everyone wants to know you got this, you're doing this, you're amazing. You can do it. What would be that, you know,

as satisfying. And for me, it's not no, like I had so many, even my teachers growing up, I started boxing and wrestling at a very young age. And they would, you know, pull me to the side after class. Like, what are you doing? You're getting all these tattoos and you're getting, you know, fighting, like, you think you can, you know, I'm going to make a good money out of this. And for me, it was never about money. So I'm, I never, you know, I really didn't grasp the concept of money until you actually, you know, I'm not going to be able to do that.

So you actually had money, you know, yeah, you got some, then you're like, all right, well, okay, now I understand like that, but for me, that was never my, my, my driving force. It was to say that I'm the best in the world at something that I loved. And I was fighting, you know, that's what God blessed me with.

First of all, the dream, game in that dream, you know, and then the courage to chase it, you know, so many people have these dreams and these ambitions, and then they let fear and maybe having a little bit of failure or setbacks stop them from the dream chasing them. But for me, I always kept that dream near and dear to my heart, no matter what I was going through.

The light I think the tunnel was.

having that UFC belt around my waist because I knew, you know, what that was going to do,

that's something I set out to do. And I looked back and I was, you know, on the rise of it.

You know, I started my first in a Maze fight with 2009. And I didn't win the title into,

you know, the B.O. World Champion to 2016. So a lot of people say, you know, like,

oh, it was a fast rise, you know, because I was in the UFC under two years

and won the UFC title. You know, I don't think too many people have done that in their life or in the UFC career.

But for me, I was like, I've been, I've been at this. I've been at this, you know, for quite some time.

You know, 2009, I started, you know, my first in a Maze fight boxing and wrestling long before that.

So it was, it was something I always did to do. When made you switch to MMA from boxing?

I mean, I just think that I love boxing. You know, obviously, I fought a lot in Youngstown, you know,

on Jack Lowes, Cars, Kelly Padwix. The boxing was great. But for me, I think that the MMA,

you can be the most primal you can be, you know, I mean, in MMA, you can just be, there's more violence.

There's a way to finish fights. You can be awesome, more creative as a martial artist. You can do, you know,

spin and shake, you can do flying. I mean, just, I just, I feel more, more, more, more, more, more,

more, more, more real, just to the creativity of, all right, I can, you know, do a flying knee into a double, you know,

just train that stuff together. And that's how I kind of always wrestle. I kind of never had a plan of, I'm going to go out here and, you know,

set this take down up. I just kind of just slowed with it. And that's kind of how that I, you know, fighting for me was a lot of to express myself.

And, and just go in there and not have anything in my mind, but to do what I needed to do to get the win.

So for me, I kind of just felt at home in the octagon or in the cage when I first got on there, I just felt something that cage door lock in that silence area of

you prepare for it, but you still don't know the outcome. You know what I mean? Like you prepare, you believe you trust in yourself, you know,

you're confident, but until that fight's actually over and your hands raised, then it's like, wow, you know, I mean, that's what the whole adrenaline rush from, you know,

the camp to the fight day, walking in the cage to after the fight, you know, sometimes, man, after a fight, it's hard for me to sleep for a week just because I'm so naturally high off of the adrenaline.

And for me, it's setting those, you know, that's the date of my fight. That's what I got to set. This is what I'm doing for eight to 10 weeks, it's what I'm focused on.

You know, this is what I'm asking my little gift to myself, usually, you know, I have that night of I can relax. And then, you know, next day, it's a riot once the next fight.

Again, what what what things other, so, you know, the vision you had, but what other things other than art, I got a vision of winning, winning the title, you know, the bell, whatever, but you're young and you're coming up.

What what things other than the vision and the not, you know, but in the believing in yourself, what things were you doing that other people weren't doing that you think set you apart from a,

from a, I'm asking your standpoint, sacrifice standpoint, mental standpoint, what, what things stick out to you?

Things to stick out to me, even before I even knew like a law of attraction, I was doing that, I was a track thing, I was manifesting, seeing, you know, the end of way put the belt around my waist,

Bruce Buffer comment out here that replay in my mind and vision, I would be trying to fall off the sleep to get ready to go and have another day of, you know, work training, the drive, you know, travel to the gym.

So I think that for me, a lot of it was a manifestation, you know, and believe in an end day dream, driving your car to the gym, or, you know, you're at work, I'm, I'm pouring concrete, I'm doing this stuff.

Like, I know this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life, just what I got to do right now, you know, so I think a lot of that sacrifice.

It is the vision. So it sounds like always, it's just the big thing is always keeping the vision, always believing in the vision, always keeping that vision.

If you don't have no vision, you don't have no direction, you don't have any vision, you have no direction, you have no vision, where are you going?

You're just aimlessly wandering through this life of whatever, and it has to have to be sports related or fitness related, you know, career, like you said marriage, family, all that stuff.

Like, you have no vision of like the future, and you're just living in limbo and you're just, you know, and I get it like some people don't all like the, you know, I live in the moment, I live in the present, but you have to also prepare for things and visualize things that were you see yourself.

And I think that's the biggest thing that I always, that I always did was envision myself being a world champion, and that's something that got me through those hard training days or long, long travel days, you know, the injuries, the little setbacks coming up to, you know, not knowing when you're next to the city's did you go through on the come up?

Oh man, there's been so many, I mean, also the term pro during my last amateur fight and I'm getting knocked out in Cleveland, you know, it was one of those things I was like that kind of really set me set me back and was like, man, what am I doing? Like is this, and I remember sitting down with my mom in MMA and MMA.

Yes, in MMA my last year was supposed to term pro, and it was your last amateur fight.

That's a pretty good one, assuming that's a title fight.

No, it was not title fight, it was just a fight and in the regular amateur fight, you know, it just it was just I woke up that day of that fight.

I just felt, I just knew it wasn't, it wasn't my day, you know, I had that made my mind, you know, I felt, I felt it, you know, I just felt drained, the weight cut was pretty rough.

In amateur, we had to do the same day weighing, so I had to weigh in 135 and faster to fight and up to 45, I had to work a weight cut.

I couldn't even get the IV in my main, you know, so I went out there, you know, I was good to fight and I'm getting stopped in the third, you catch me in the third.

But mentally I was not in that fight either, you know, I just was looking past that fight, you know, I mean, it's been a term pro after that.

No, I didn't, I remember sitting down with mom, like, what am I going to do? Like, you know, here I am at how, how was I 19, 20, 20 years, 19 years old, anything?

And, you know, like, you know, she, we sat down and it's had a conversation and I said, listen, you know, I went and got a cool mind certificate.

I was going to go to the coal mines, you know, like, this house is going to settle for a job. And I was like, man, I had never sat down.

I got the call from a council energy to kind of get the interview to get hired on. And I was just like, man, I don't want to go.

And this is not what I want to do. I click on, I'm steadily just, you know, go get a job and I said to my passion, I'm looking, you know, down, down, am I going to be happy with this decision I'm going to make.

So I'm going to sit down with my mom at our table and I said, listen, I just, now I really want to do, you know, still beat up from the loss and kind of figuring out what I was one do.

You know, I said, mom, I truly believe that I can do this. And she says, you know, code anything you put your mind to and you do with who hardly and then just with passion and fire and, you know, you're overcoming you always, you always, you know, reach your goals.

I truly believe that you can do this. And I said, mom, give me Tom 25 trust me, give me Tom 25. I'll make it. I know I will like, you know, I was nice.

I was nice. I had time coming off a loss and she's like, you just got to get back on. I should help you. You know, I have a stepfather mark amazing, amazing man as well.

You said, you know, we'll help you with whatever you need, you know, and we're here for you. This is truly what I'm going to do. You have to just, you know, like you've always done it's act of ice and just bleeding yourself.

So right there, that was just a little bit of motivation and then, you know, some of that truly believed in me from, you know, birth, you know, she was my biggest fan, you know, my biggest supporter.

So you didn't, you didn't go pro after that. You took a lot of amateur fight. I took an amateur fight for a title. I went up a weight class at 145 and knocking out Clint Muscleman. And then after that last amateur fight.

I went pro and for what was that pinnacle fighting championship over Pittsburgh, maybe, you know, so I started my professional career in Pittsburgh. That was awesome.

You know, like the fans over there are they're amazing. We had a great, we had great, you know, calm over there in March, Jericho, Justin Steve, all those guys, you know, on the car they were training together, you know, trace ministry.

You know, I had my pro debut in 2012 and in a fighting for $500, you know, in a break in my hand and half and having to have an emergency, certain emergency, but surgery, the few days later, because I figured out was broken.

I went to the Brown Steelers game after my pro debut in my hand. I couldn't move forward in the Brown Steelers game.

But you know, I wore my Brown Steelers over there. Let's go.

Yeah, in the feelers, you know, at their home and it was snowing at time. I remember like some people were trying to throw snowballs. And I was like, man, I'm like, dude, we might have to, you know, mess some people up.

You know, I'm like, then I'm thinking, I'm not handing like and that's what that's what kind of I realized like my hand was was jacked up the next morning. I was like, man, it's kind of weird. Like I was like, am I mind like, you know, some of those, you know, throw balls out.

I'm like, I'm not going to, you know, you know, you know, after I was like, trying to make a fist, I couldn't make a fist. And I thought I was just so cold that I couldn't make a fist.

And then days later, I was like, man, I was like, to turn like door knobs are like little things like, I mean, I don't feel.

So I went to a surgeon and got x-rays and they came back in and doctors, like, yeah, you snap, you snap your bones straight and half. Like, so I had to go, how long were you out?

That one was like two, three months. I think I was. I got back right away. Like I have surgery. I started doing like rehab and the doctor said the best thing for me to do is it's bring that scar tissue up. So I put the boxing.

There's mental battles right there that you overcame of. I went from a loss to a win.

To a win. Now I'm set back again. I'm out two, three months broke my hand. That's where a lot of people start changing their vision.

Oh, man, I lost in a broken hand. That's taken a lot of people out of the game right there.

Well, I finally pro. I was like, let's run it. Let's get these lens. Let's get to the UFC. You know, that's my goal.

And I came back from the hand and I started training. I started getting really dizzy. Like real bad. Like we're trying to figure it out for weeks.

I was getting ready to fight. I'm trying to go come back to fight from the hand. Like we're trying to get on that medical cart. And then I had to go on the UPMC with Dr. Mickey Collins.

You know, it was a concussion protocol out there in Pittsburgh. And I had such a bad. I had a symptom of BPV, which is a vertical.

And like the crystals were out of my ears. I went there for about three months of rehab and got all everything back in line, feeling good.

So that was almost 11 months out from my pro debut to my second fight. And then I finally sat there and I was like, you know what?

Like I got to see how good I am. Like I got to stack my talents up against the best in the world. And that's why I went out to team Alfa man.

I was one of them coming off 11 months lay up from hand injury to a concussion protocol rehab went out there. And I said, this is it.

You know, I got to use my shot to see how good I am of stacking up against the liking of the so Danic is the Ochan Mendez T.J. Dillas.

Joe Benavida Lance Palmer Chris Holdsworth Andre Feeley. You ride a favor. All those guys are out there. They have the top guys in my weight class and fly away featherweight lightweight. That was the gym. That was the gym best gym in the world to go out at that time.

So I wanted to go out there and you know and test myself and I wanted to know really didn't know, you know, they didn't know who I was. You know, Mary having a talk of favor on the last thing that I was there. And he's like, Hey, what do you want to do? And I said, man, I'm going to be a world champion.

You see world champion kind of like looked at me like all right, you know, he's looking me up and down tattoo and a covering tattoo is totally not the alpha male clean cut type that had on the team, you know, and he's a great man. And he's got to ask him questions like, you know, where you from?

From a wild, you know, Lance, Lance Palmer was out there. That's why I actually wanted to go out there. He was telling me for years to come out, but financially, you know, it wasn't a viable for me at the time. So finally, without there and.

Let me ask him, you know, just rest on the guy I was holding, he said, how'd you do? I'm like, well, you know, I want to stay as a freshman and like his eyes lit up, you know, he's a wrestler. So so he was like, oh, really? Stay as freshman. I'm like, can you guys really good striking a boxing.

I was like, he's like, when can you come back out? And I was like, man, I got I'm actually flying out later today. I was even going to come this practice, but I figured I get one more in before I flew out.

Because he wasn't there. It was his last day that he came in ran practice. So I was, you know, kind of touch base with them. So you know, I could come.

Possibly joined the team. How that all worked? And you just you flew out there?

Yeah, flew out there. You have been in the flow out there.

How did you have the so you said financially you couldn't do it. Then you could do it. What changed?

I mean, I had a help from Nick Marl. Actually, he was the owner of the fight fight club at work forum at the fight club. I was a man instructor at five for his

pinnacle fighting championships organization. And, you know, we spent a lot of time together. You know, he was believed in you.

He didn't. I remember, man, he, I always thought that, you know, he was a little crazy, which he was, you know, I mean, I remember going to after breaking my hand.

He took me to his barber in Pittsburgh because I needed a barber. He took me to the barber. And every time he introduced me, he's like, oh, you know, this is this is a code of

carbony works for me fights for me. He's like, he's going to be world champion. And he thought he's going to be world champion. I was, you know, you know, everyone's, you know, he always, you know, he always believed in me too, you know.

And something that we always talked about, you know, like he had a great gym, great training partners, but I feel like I needed more.

And I need to believe so you so you wanted to level up. So that's that you're like, man, I'm going to test myself against the best in the world. And you so you

force yourself into leveling up and getting into that environment.

You fly all the way out there just to try to get it set up and see if they would take

you and if it would be a fit.

And the vision is back at, you know, back with that vision.

You have that big thinking vision.

The whole time the vision is what was what was carrying you.

So people on the journey of life trying to, you know, to take the journey of greatness,

and I'm grabbing from this is broken hand, loss, small town, whole time, I never let

go of this vision.

Even when things got, even when things got low, I just kept having and then another thing

was testing yourself, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you know, Ohio, Pittsburgh,

all the way out of my comfort zone, small town to all the way in this, you know, area of

California, completely out of my, my zone with, you know, high level, high profile people.

What, what things did you see?

What things did you do that you think separated you from one to no to win in a world title

that you, you know, you probably were around other fighters, other good fighters, amateur

fighters, pro fighters.

What separated the good from the great to you?

Other than skill, other than skill.

Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm blessed with, you know, with skill, you know, and talent, but talent

doesn't always equal to success.

And I feel like what equals, you know, make success is a combination of things, consistency,

believing, you know, self belief, you know, because there's going to be so many people

who are even close to you that's going to doubt you and try to tear you down because they

don't believe in themselves.

So for me about self belief and once I got out of the alpha male, you know, team alpha male,

I talked to you, Ryan, he gave me a number to get to.

I said, all right, he said, when I said that, tell me something, you know, you see world

champion kind of looked at me.

He's probably thousands of people that came from all over the world, just had the same thing.

Tons of people say that.

Tons of people, especially to him, you know, I mean, like he has a gym, he has an end with

the matchmakers, he's in the UFC, he, he, he grooms these fighters and get them to

the UFC.

And when he's like, all right, he's like, I was one and a lot at the time, he almost a

year lay off.

And he said, uh, or wink, and he's like, so he's like, um, when can you come back and say,

hey, let me go home and take care of things.

I'll be back in a week.

And I'm like, shit, man, I gave my word.

Like, I better be back in a week.

I'm like, I'm going to a nice this, you know, like, let's go.

Um, so he gave me a, he's like, I know management, I know nothing.

He's like, we'll look after you.

You know, he's like, you get the five and all.

We'll get you in the UFC.

So right there, lights went off.

There's the division.

There's the number that I need to get to.

That's what I'm focused on.

I have no get to the UFC, you know, we flew home, talked to Mick, you know, he ran the

organization.

And I was like, hey, man, like, let's get a fight.

So I booked the fight.

I think there was a fight car like three weeks later.

So I went back out the alpha for two weeks and then, uh, had the fight and knocking the

guy out got the money.

I had ticket sales.

I think I got a thousand bucks that fight 500 500 or something along those lines within

them selling ticket sales.

A lot of fans and support people.

You know, we get percentage of that on the, you know, local stage or real estate.

So what's the most amount of money that you've made or at any point, if you want to give

anything as far as a fight, I would say, um, today obviously was the, um, was the TG

dealership fight and mass and square guard.

And not too sure.

I think it was like 2.5, uh, for one of the fights.

So what people see is they see 2.5.

Everybody's down to fight.

You can get a lot of people to fight for 2.5.

But, but nobody wants to make five.

So, so people see five people see 2.5.

But and here's another parallel to life is before you make 2.5, it's, it's, you got

to make 500.

You got to make a thousand.

You got to be willing to do the same things to make a thousand that you do to make 2.5.

And that's, that's what people uneducated on it are as they say, well, man, he made

2.5 million for, you know, 10 minutes of fighting or for 15 minutes of, of, of fighting.

That ain't 15 minutes of fighting.

That's, that's 10 years of, of, of fighting.

That's 20 years of, of fighting for not only, not only for a thousand, but it probably

cost you money when you make a thousand based off miles and, and gear and trips and

sacrifices, paying to coach your training partners, food, PT, medical expenses like we don't,

you know, you'll see we have to pay for all that.

We have to pay for, you know, we have to pay for that injury, you know, all that stuff,

you know, it's, it's pretty crazy thing.

But, you know, for like six years, I was fighting for free as an amateur.

You just fight for free.

You know, I mean, you just get to experience.

56 years to be an overnight success.

You don't, it's, it don't happen.

Sometimes you gotta be willing to give up in the beginning to go up to the next, to the

next level.

And then you mentioned also people around you.

This is common in anybody that does anything big.

Anybody that does anything big, you have people, I have people laughing at me, you know, coming

into the insurance business, family, friends, you know, what are you doing?

You know, you did all that.

You graduated college.

Nobody even graduates from college from over here.

You're going to work for an insurance company, you know, for straight commission.

I mean, you ain't getting a 401k.

You ain't got no guarantees.

You know, what people all joking with me laughing at me, you know, all of that stuff.

So I think it's common, you know, to, for people that do something big or do something

out of the normal, you know, if you're doing normal, everything's fine.

As soon as you get off to the, off the path to doing something abnormal to greatness, you

know, a lot of the people that achieve greatness or the people that build greatness, people

think they're weird, you know, whether it's people that build Facebook or the do from Tesla,

you know, all that Elon Musk, people that change the world a lot of times people think that

they're weird.

How did you, how did you block out the noise?

How did you handle the people around you that were, that were kind of putting your dream

down?

Just visions, get my vision alive, you know, like a vision.

Blinders on like, I knew that my whole life, there was people that was doubting me, you

know, I mean, you know, like Neon Sanders says, he came out the world, people were building

him, you know, and me like, that's how it is, you know, and my mom worked too hard in

the beginning to give us a start that she didn't get to have, but her children.

And that's how it should be, you want better for you, do you want your children to be better

than you?

And you're sure not have better opportunities in you.

And you know, for me, we go back to like what set separated me from one to know, to

world champion, to the adversity to step to to gain that, you know, you know, success

was that I wasn't taking no for an answer.

And I got out to Alpha male.

And I saw the people that were on the team for X amount of years and are still doing the

kind of the local shows and wasn't really, you know, progressing in their career because

they had distractions.

They didn't have vision.

We go back to the and have vision of like, all right, they were just, you know, there,

kind of going through the motions for me.

I looked at a few people.

There's a handful of people that everyone works extremely hard.

And there was a smaller percentage of people that did every single thing right.

And when I went out there and there was this kid, Chris Holtworth was his name.

I'm telling you what, that dude was the baddest motherfucker in the gym.

I mean, he was everything striking wrestling, grappling, conditioning, nutrition, sleep.

This dude saw me like, all right, when I went out, I saw he was doing, and this is right

before he had the ultimate fighter finale, he ended up winning the finale.

I didn't really know too much about him before this season on the show, you know, and he was

getting ready for the finale.

And I was like, man, I was like, you know, I see how you train and what you're doing.

I like to, you know, either either pay you or come with you on these.

Like, you know, let's, I want to see how you train.

I see you are different than 99% of the people on that team.

And so I, I buddyed up with him.

You know, we came real good friends.

You know, I just went and trained with him.

This dude was training four times a day sometimes, even more.

He was, you know, he was an out party and he was an out chasing women.

He was, you know, up in the morning, you know, making his food his coffee going into the

gym, getting reps and training, you know, eating shower and going back to the gym.

He's at the gym all day.

You know, I mean, he'd camp out.

So I was with him, you know, for, you know, four or five weeks.

And kind of just, I didn't grow up in a dojo.

I didn't grow up ballin and, you know, things like that.

Crotty, jiu-jitsu.

I grew up boxing, wrestling, fighting in the streets.

You know, grew up, you know, pretty tough.

I didn't have the, per se, the martial arts background like that.

Like, we would show up to the gym and we would fight.

That was it.

We didn't have any like anything like that.

But he grew up groomed into a martial arts.

He's a blackout at 18 undergracy.

So he just kind of followed his leave and what he did.

And I'm forever grateful for him and allowing me to, you know, tag along with him and

really, and that's what really separated me from being just going to be an okay fire

to be a world champion.

Because I saw what the work needed to be done to achieve those goals.

You know, like, this is this kid from, you know, SoCal, who came up here and he has a crazy

story himself, you know, and the way that he worked.

And he just got immersed in the training and believe him that he was going to be a

the best.

You know, he had what he was 18, you know, all finishes, you know, like just crushing it.

You know, so that's, I think this was really separated me and that and being around it

like my individual is that, you know, believe it, they're going to be the best in the world.

We're going to the same way class as well.

Unfortunately, his career got cut short due to concussions.

He's very successful.

He has own just to academy and Sacramento, California.

Very high for him.

But I think that's what really happened.

And then obviously being around the those guys team off my, those guys were that's what

they want to do.

So, so let me pause you for a minute.

So just the power of, of, you know, not only team alpha male and in the influence, but

just like what you're describing and how much being around the right people can make

or break your life being around one person.

But then you being wise enough and humble enough to say, I want to just follow you and

do whatever you do.

Anything I could do if I got to pay you, I got to follow you, whatever I got to do, I want

to be around you and do what you do.

So you saw somebody that had what you wanted.

And then you're like, I want to follow that person around and learn what it takes, what

they do.

And then what you found out was his level of preparation and discipline is what separated

him.

And he went out for a footer.

So I was searching, looking, I was like, all right, this guy, you know, seeing what,

what everyone was doing.

Some people do this, some people do that.

I'm different.

I was, I didn't grow up, like setting and growing a martial arts.

I got out there.

I didn't know how to drill.

I didn't know.

We just fought.

We hit pads.

We came in.

We lifted.

We came in good shape and we fought.

We sparked these guys had systematic practices.

We're having wrestling practice on Tuesday.

Thursday is Jiu-Jitsu practice on Monday and Fridays.

Sparings on Wednesday.

I mean, I had this every day in practice, what we were drilling, you know, punches they

take down the workout, like, I didn't do any of that.

So I was like, wow, like the learning curve and just everything.

I just was gifted naturally and very skilled and put my things together as a fighter.

And then I really hone my skill and like things I really like to do, learn how to kick out

there.

And I mean, I kicked in my fight, but nothing like this, you know, and then Jiu-Jitsu,

too, like we didn't have Jiu-Jitsu coach.

We kind of just all grappled each other and wrestled boxed.

So like, learning Jiu-Jitsu, I mean, it was just such.

I think getting out there was already so good.

And then I learned how to be a martial artist as far as training and technique and also

living martial arts lifestyle.

Like, Uriah Favourite always say, like, you know, it's a martial arts lifestyle.

He's like, you know, you have to, you know, one more than the person beside you.

You know, you have to sacrifice so much and he have come from that wrestling background

to lifestyle.

When you say the lifestyle, what's the lifestyle?

Oh, lifestyle.

I mean, you can't be going out partying.

You can't, you know, you can't, you have to sacrifice.

You can't go out, you know, if you want to go out and snowboard and do all this fun stuff

and I never snowboard and never done that.

So there you go.

So it sounds extreme of like, oh, man, I do all this work.

I can't go out and snowboard.

I do all this work and I can't enjoy it a little bit.

You know, I work this hard.

I can't go out every weekend a little bit.

I'm working hard Monday through Friday.

I can't go out every weekend.

That's the thing, same thing in life and business, you know, of, okay, we try to explain to people,

young people, especially of, all right, you got this much momentum.

You got this, you want to be great.

Now the separation from amateur to pro or, or good to Hall of Famer or good to win in

the title is it's a lifestyle.

This is not a job.

This is not a Monday through Friday.

This is not a eight hour day.

This is not one practice.

It's what you do between practice all week.

What you eat, how you sleep, what you do, what you give up.

You can't chase women or men, you know, all weekend long.

If you're a girl, you know, you can't chase people all week.

You can't eat what you want to eat.

You can't party all night long all the time.

You got to give up all those things even though you're young, 23, 24, 22 years old.

And I'm sure there's a lot of things in you that want to do all those things at that

time.

That that that is, I think, critical to success level and explains a lot about what's

speaking of which, you know, being so young when you won the world title, you know, you

receive a certain level of success at 25 years old that nobody gets.

And and and then how do you handle that?

How what do you think you did to handle that?

Well, and what do you think that you did that you look back and I say, oh, shit, I

could have done this better.

What do you think that would be?

Well, you know, I always saw my toughest crick cycle go somewhere things I didn't do.

Um, well, I didn't do well after I won the world title.

So I fixed it on that goal for so long.

What was next?

I didn't have that vision vision of, okay, I'm going to defend the title.

I'm going to do that.

You're whole life that vision.

Then you got it.

Yep.

And I got it.

I kind of felt like it wasn't.

It wasn't what it was cracked up to be like a lot of people around me.

It was like, well, wow, this is amazing and the things and opportunities I was able to do.

But for me, I just wanted to fight.

And I ended getting injured, tearing the back was out.

Another thing, almost a whole year, but it was different.

It was a whole opposite.

It never had book deals, movie deals, all kinds of things that was just.

I was focused by trying to fight because I was so injured.

So I had a whole year off and I was just focusing on that whole year off.

I was getting healthy, getting better, but I didn't focus on getting healthy,

getting better, setting fights, you know, X, Y and Z.

I was focused on the recovery rehab, you know, and then once, once I was.

Maybe 60, 70% recovered.

They landed me a fight.

They booked me a fight with TJ.

And that was like, I wasn't prepared mentally for the fight camp, things to happen.

You know, in the fight camp, I just, I just, I didn't feel myself, you know,

so I said I didn't have that vision, vision of getting in there in the

octagon, put myself in those compromised positions, tough, tough situations.

You know, I trained as much as I could.

And my body allowed me to with, you know, what was going on with the injury.

I just wasn't fully myself.

And I wasn't able to visualize, you know, I always plan things out,

visualize, I might not have a strategy or a game plan in the fight, but I visualize.

The fight a thousand times before I even step in there.

You know, I mean, I could be, you know, getting beat up nine or nine times,

but at one time, you know, victorious in that, but I'm preparing myself for the worst,

preparing myself for the best, you know.

So I didn't have that, you know, almost went to the octagon, just kind of numb, kind of like,

it was so fast.

I'm feeling it was my first sight again.

You know, I'm excited and have those focus points.

And, you know, not fast forwarding to present day last year and a half.

I've been out in Las Vegas and work with a sports therapist on how to, you know,

stay grounded, how to be engaged.

You know, when you start drifting away, say and training or in the fight,

coming right back to where you need to, you know, stay focused on your.

How much of it, how much of it do you think is mental percentage wise?

How much of it is physical?

They always say, you know, the people say 80, 20, but for me, I feel like it's a tall man.

You know, I'm always training, I'm always in shape.

You know, it's time we grew up, the way we grew up.

You know, someone walks down the street and you're holding, you know, you're walking with your girlfriend,

you gotta turn around and stop your girl and ask, you're gonna fight right then and there.

It's not a physical thing, it's a mental thing.

You know, it means mentally preparing for these fights for a lot because you have a lot riding, you know,

money, you know, take care of your family, you know, just all that.

What if you learn from this, whoever you said you were working with to stay focused and mentally?

For me, his name is Micah.

I'm going to butcher his last name, great guy, play the MLB, helped out so much.

I've learned a lot from him, you know, just about being engaged, you know, for me, like,

what do you mean being engaged?

Like being engaged.

So for me being engaged, like, just for say, I'm in the fight, I'm in the fight.

I'm in the fight.

I'm fighting on my starts to wander like, all right, what am I going to do after this fight?

What's going to, you know, what's, what are you, you know, it's staying right here.

Like, it doesn't matter what's going on after the fight.

Stay in focus.

Stay in focus.

So you know, like, you're right there, your senses are all gone.

And we have this balloon thing where, you know, where the balloon starts to drift away.

It's in the raptors.

How quickly can you realize that you lost your balloon?

It's up there and put it back into a place to where, you know, you need to be that's

going to keep you engaged in that moment, you know.

So just that right there, those mental reps, you know, being mindful.

And also, one thing he always tells me is giving, you know, being the word is, like, peace,

giving yourself, you know, having peace with it all, you know, having fun, you know,

nonjudgmental.

Any tips on peace?

Any tips on having fun and peace with all the pressure?

Yeah, man, just nonjudgmental, you know, like if I'm in the training, I said, not having

the best day, I'm, you know, I'm not landing in this combo or not, like, nonjudgmental

reps just for life too.

Like, I'm not judging.

All right, well, okay, like I must have, like, I got the body shot, it came back with the

body, like something was little off, you know, we'll fix it, nonjudgmental reps just

like in life, like, all right, well, I might not be doing everything I need to do.

Don't be judgmental on you're trying, you're doing like I set out to read.

I've been reading pretty heavily.

Just finished a few books, jumped onto another book.

So try to get up and read, do my cold plunge, start my day off like that, you know, fill

my day with, you know, some sort of gratitude, you know, for something, be thankful for something

that was given in my life.

I have my life to this day.

I'm working towards, so that and then, you know, it's being mindful, being mindful of, you

know, there's clean thoughts and there's dirty thoughts, like there's clean clothes and

there's dirty clothes.

So if you have a dirty thought or not a clean thought, how do you handle the pressure,

man, you know, building up to the, you know, building up to a fight in general, but especially

going back to like handling the, the first time you won the title, you know, you build

up to this, my whole life, I'm building up to this, I'm working to this, this is my

vision.

How did you handle the nerves, the walk out, the pressure, the night before, like all

of that stuff?

You know, for me, it was just about understanding that you only get a fight once for your

first world title, you know what I mean?

And just back to my, when I started going real fast, I was doing these interviews.

I was pushing the paper view, it was me and Cruz that was, you know, that's full of that

paper view.

And I mean, I knew I was going to do any media, didn't do anything.

So we were pushing, I had to do, man, I have to show you this picture.

I had to send it posted on my story a couple months ago.

I've got a reporter sent it to me and say, it's crazy, you know, this is 2016 and the

pop that you got at the media day.

And there was about 40 microphones and there was me sitting there like, you know, I mean,

I walk into some of those things like holy shit, like, well, this is crazy, you know,

to me, but sometimes when I started getting like that or I started feeling anxious, I understand

what anxious is with me.

Like a lot of times I feel like, all that, I'm just anxiety, I'm having anxious, it's

excitement, excitement, but we're always told that those feelings are anxiety.

We got, you know, we want to push, you know, depression pills or some kind of pill or

some kind of medicine unique, that's anxiety that you're having, that's excitement, you

know, for me and, and distinguishing anxiety and excitement for me was a lot.

I was like, man, I'm having anxiety, heart racing is that?

No, it's excitement, it's excitement for, you know, before a fight, like having this

heart pounding, I'm like, you know, getting, getting all stoked out, like, I think a lot of

times I was anxiety, but it was excitement for what I'm about to do.

Are you trying to get yourself fired up or calm down before a fight?

Honestly, man, I, I'm, I'm very calm, you know, until it gets into that, into the cage,

you know, and that's when it kind of all that's.

So staying calm, so, so working and staying calm.

We're going to stay calm.

You know, I'm pretty, where my heart might sleep type of person.

So yeah, so what have you done to be able to keep yourself calm, any tricks and tips?

For me, I usually do a lot of like box breathing, breath work, you know, things that I have

also have like little dot stickers that I go and I place all over my house, my car, things

that I see, and those are focus points, you know, like, all right, like, I'm going out

of the door, getting in my car, I see the red dot on the wall, my son always says it,

too, like make sure you look at the red dot, and I tell him like his red dot is, you know,

being, you know, nice to everybody in his class, doing his homework, being played to,

you know, being kind, you know, things like that.

And then look at your focus point, what you focus on today, what you're doing, you know,

you know what I mean?

And so my, also my focus point is, all right, I'm going to go look at this focus point,

it reminds you, like, all right, what are you set not to do today?

I'm going to today's Monday.

So I got, you know, strength and conditioning, and I got PT, and I go pick my son up, give

him something, and we go to wrestling, and I go back to the gym.

So, arriving me to, you know, have gratitude and dance, busy days, and as practice, you

know, just a little focus points that reminds you of, you know, what you need to do, what

you're setting out to do.

How are you doing spiritually?

You still on the spiritual journey?

I'll be.

Yeah, I mean, I have a really great pastor out here, Hyde and Ratner, walk church.

So we go there, my son loves going, you know, he's got a nice, little youth ministry

there.

So yeah, man, it's good.

I'm always, you know, always devote myself to the Lord and, you know, some, some type

of way, a little bit of my day, you know, always in my mind.

So yeah, spiritually, I feel good.

You know, after all, life's good.

I'm looking to book a fight real soon.

So I just got some opponents texted to me yesterday.

So hopefully next few days we'll have the opponent and then we'll find the day.

I think the body ended a year.

You think you got some body ended a year?

I want to fight.

December is what I spoke to Shelby about Sean Shelby as the matchmaker, you know, talk

about my management, my team.

So yeah, December would be great.

We'll see, though.

There's a few cards in Vegas that would be awesome to fight on here back in Vegas.

So that's what we're looking forward to.

Beautiful.

You know, I think looking at the inside of you, you know, a little bit, your boy that

Maddox Maple is now a senior in high school.

Your relationship with him, I think, has been inspiring, you know, to people.

How did you initially meet that young man and make that, you know, that, you know,

bond?

Yeah, actually, it was from Zach.

I was living in Cleveland at the time, but my brother Zach, like, you know, he was diagnosed

with a clean, you know, five years old.

And Zach's a pain man.

You're fighting.

You should have like, do like a benefit from when you're fights, make some t-shirts, you

know, for him or wear a t-shirt out.

Because he had this Maddox Maddox t-shirt, you know, and you know, reach out to Mick, which

is Maddox's father on Facebook.

So now I would like to, you know, do this for you guys.

You know, get a town, you know, as Yerick's old, Finisins, real small Nick and Muindy.

So, like, you know, kind of get a town around, just have to fight alone.

I like to meet you guys.

And, you know, Mick was, you know, very welcoming.

He said, you know, we're in the hospital.

Once we get released, you know, we're love to have you over to meet and kind of hear

a Maddox story.

You know, once he was released, I was able to, you know, have visitors at his house to

meet, messing me back and invited me over and, you know, went over there and just met Maddox.

And I see this kid that's five years old just, you know, didn't say much, you know, and

he was really freaked out.

Not really freaked out, but he was staring at my tattoos, never saw a song in price, so

heavily tattooed, you know, and just to see the look of life and fight that he had inside

of him, you know, really wanting me to, you know, push forward and do whatever I was going

on through.

I really want to help this kid and give people the support and, you know, show he doesn't

have to fight alone.

And again, what was the, what was the ex?

What is he, what was his issue?

The hopskin low chema, uh, mom hopskins, what was it?

Yeah, looking, yeah.

So yeah, he had that and it's managed to story like was just was, you know, taking back

from it and just, you know, for a five year old now is a dad.

You probably could look back, you know, your son's almost at age.

Can you imagine, you know, what that's like as a parent?

Oh, man, I couldn't imagine.

I mean, cannot imagine.

I was hit for that five years old, you know, so I was put on her cell, you know, like, if

someone was in the town that was could do that or help out, like, I would want that for

my sister, you know, I mean, so kind of, I called him now after that being a father.

I just, man, couldn't imagine it.

But, you know, here he is being a senior about through all that beat leukemia, um, senior

in high school.

He plays in the drama.

He likes drama.

The drama school plays and stuff.

We went back a few last Christmas or, yeah, I think it was last Christmas.

We went back and was able to catch a play of him.

It's pretty cool.

Place tennis, man, he's just a, he's a great kid.

He's a great kid to see him grow and just flourish and see all the success he's had.

And select, he gets to live, you know, you know, people look at you from the outside and,

you know, I think you've, you know, the, you're, uh, name, you know, the nickname, the

fight name, no love.

And then, and then you got all these tattoos, you know, you look, you look like you got released

from prison twice.

And, and, and, and, and, you know, you, you, you got that quick temper, you know, persona.

And, but I think aside that people that don't know you, you know, may not understand

is, is even though the shirt says no love that you got so much love, uh, in your heart,

man, you got such a good, uh, good heart.

You know, remember you coming here and, and, uh, you know, we all wore the shirts for

one of the, uh, guys, dad that died, you know, a couple of years back.

And then you, you know, taking time out of your schedule, you know, and I know what it's

like not to even, you know, I don't know what it's like to win a world title, but I know

what it's like to be home for only a week.

And everybody pulling me in a million directions and everybody wants me to do something.

And I haven't even won a world title, you know, I'm a, I'm a local known face, you know,

not an international, you know, known face.

And so you come home and, and, uh, you got, you know, I'm sure a bunch of things you

need to do.

And you take time out to drive to Youngstown, Ohio, to spend time with our kids in the

youth program, you know, when inspire minds and, you know, just, I've gotten a chance to

see your heart, you know, so much man and, and what people maybe don't know about you

if you're looking for somebody to root for, you know, as, as a person, as a,

fighter, but you want some might have followed that you could

believe in the inside of them. I'm not perfect. You're not

perfect. None of us is perfect. No one listening is perfect. None

of the people speaking are perfect. But the heart that you

have is something that I that I think people need to need to know

about, man. And I'm super excited for your comeback. You

know, you're so young, you know, you got a couple losses. You

know, you I love the spirit in you to just keep to keep coming.

So you you moved a few times between Ben and weight fly weight,

you know, divisions is there a major shift in your focus

between those, you know, things other than cutting weight.

Ben, not really. I mean, I feel like 25 was easier for me to

make weight than the last last time. Just a little bit more

cardio, you know, less less less red meat and more fish. That's

only a thing that really changed and the diet. How much cardio?

I'm out of it. And I was adding three extra days of just pure

cardio, where I would go 45 minutes to an hour and a lower heart rate,

you know, just to burn the fat. So I was trying to rock in them

tight spandex with that bike, you know, that helmet and stuff.

Or rather, I haven't bike since I moved out. I still got the

bike, but we used to go hard in Sacramento. It was nice that

the bike trail out here in Vegas is a little different. I got

one for me. This is a personal one that I wanted to ask you.

And obviously the first thing is you don't be 40, but you know,

you talk about training three, four times a day and you know,

and all of that stuff.

How does somebody train that much and still recover and find

their body, you know, keep their body healthy?

Oh, man, I think that is the toughest part about this career is

the recovery, you know, not over training, I'm not training. It's

that it's every fight's different because you've got a different

opponent. He might be a rapper. You have to grapple heavy or it

might be a striker. He might have to strike a spar a little bit

more. So every fight camp's different. For me, it just be

all being consistent, you know, not let myself get too far out of

shape at all. Like for me, I, I enjoy training, you know, it's

something that I like to consistency, you know, I might not be

in the MA gym all the time, you know, I mean, but I'm hitting

pads and grab I'm hitting the wrestling I'm hitting the things

I need to do. And outside of them doing, you know,

kettlebell classes, hot yoga, like testing myself differently,

because when I jump into fight camp, it's, you know, train,

eat, sleep, train all the time. So I would definitely say the

recovery is the hardest because we can't be on any, you know,

recovery age, you know, can be on steroids or nothing. I mean,

there should be a level to where we need to have, you guys can't

go over this test, you know, like some people have, you know,

two, three hundred tests in your fight, and it's like, well,

you're training, there's no time to recover. You know, so there

should be a level of test that you can have at a certain age or you

can have, you know, and it's your option. Hey, if you want to

take some stuff to, you know, level the playing field of your

tests, then you can't believe it. Obviously, that's more higher

scientists than than I can even get into. But there has to be

some kind of thing like as we get older, like our recovery or

everything goes down and you see the entries. And so I see, I mean,

I fought four times one year at 25, you know, mean, like that's,

you know, I would do that, but I came out of the cost event,

25 for my back to my knee had these injuries, you know, setbacks

and now it's like, you know, I would love to fight, you know, I

think since then I fought twice the one here, you know, I mean,

so two or three times a year is good for me, but I had, you know,

since moving on to Vegas, I had five fight, I can't do like five

one time. So that's five fight, I have some my body, you know,

to the fight, five fight, yeah, it's a really one one fight.

Yeah, it's so many different opponents, you know, y'all,

twice, you know, pulled out, then I had another replacement. And

then Holy R.C. in up Taren, his knee and our fights, I ended up

having Jones and then this last fight, I was, you know, nonstop,

I had to pull out because my back was in twilight, back in hip

again. So, you know, since fight Mario, it's just it sucks. I was

you know, I was just been training, training, training, basically

a fight camp the whole time.

I had to get setbacks, adversity, adversity, adversity,

a setbacks, man. Here we are now. I just want to mean a

Del Rey and got some epidural injections two weeks ago, feeling

good. So hopefully, you know, we'll, we'll, we could deal.

We got it coming up at the body end of the year, right? Next

on, you'll get something on the schedule. Hopefully body

end of the end of the year. I know one, you know, last thing

that you know, I got for you is, you know, I remember hearing a

story about a guy that won a Super Bowl with the Patriots and

it ain't Brady. But one of the guys that played with the Patriots

and him telling a mentor of mine, you know, that he was close to

that he had the same feeling you had. And he said, man, I was, I

was, I was, I was my whole life. I built up what it was going to be

like to win the Super Bowl. And you know, we win the Super Bowl.

And, you know, that whole thing passes and I, and I, I waiting

for this feeling, this overwhelming, you know, feeling of, of joy,

you know, that carries me. And he's like, man, I, I didn't

have it. He was like, it was nothing. So then he's like, man, I,

I felt like maybe it was, it was only because of the one time

it was a one off, you know, I'm thinking, man, if I ever get back

there again, I'm going to sit back in the back and watch the

confetti more and sit down and take it in more. So they want

again, he said, I did it again, I sat in the back and I watched,

you know, the confetti and I took it all in, nothing again, twice.

So he's like, that, that's when I learned in, in, he learned that

I had to, he had to turn his life over more to, to the Lord and

that he understood that there was no, no sense of accomplishment,

just himself that was going to ultimately fulfill him internally,

other than having his relationship right in the fulfillment that comes

with his spiritual journey and his, in his spiritual walk. So this

is, I'm not saying that you, I'm just giving my unsolicited advice to,

you know, to anybody listening that, and maybe this don't relate to

some people, maybe some people can need to hear this, but for whoever

does need to hear this, I think that is a, a key thing that I've

seen with a lot of super successful people in and out of business,

in and out of the cage is when you build up a moment of something

that you shoot for and then you get it and then it's gone, feeling like

that's going to be the thing that makes you happy, you know,

forever, that's going to change, you know, in your heart and your soul

and your spirit is, is not that you, it won't be happy for a moment,

not that it won't, that it shouldn't happen, not that it shouldn't be a

goal that you shouldn't sacrifice for it, but ultimately the,

the only thing that's going to persevere for life over the long haul and

bring you joy and peace and what you really want in fulfillment is

seeking things other than what you're after and a lot of the times.

And at least for me, it's been my relationship with the Lord.

You know, I came from not having to having, you know, I stood in welfare

lines. You know, I ain't saying I had it, just like you, I ain't

saying I had it the worst. A lot of people had it worse than me.

I was blessed to have grandparents and my grandfather was a steel

worker, my grandmother cut hair. My stepbath was in the United

Auto Workers Union. You know, my mom worked at the mall, started out

minimum wage. Everybody pitched in and gave me some opportunities

that otherwise people around me didn't have. So I know I was blessed in

that way. And a lot of people had it worse. But I do do know that our

car would stall out. I do remember having a paper bag, you know, in

the window trash bag in the window, because our window wouldn't roll

up in the rain and and and having beat up chavettes, you know, for

$1,000, you know, we would buy with the club on it and cars getting

stolen out of the driveway to drive in a rose voice and selling the

house for $11,000 to to selling a house to move into a different place

that that we sold the house for over a million dollars. And I could

tell you none of that has brought me the joy in the peace and in

the true fulfillment like being a father and like like having a

relationship with the Lord trying to impact other people with the

influence that I've been given in the platform that I've been

given. And you know, I just I just want to tell you that I'm

I'm proud of you, man. And I'm grateful that you would take time

out of your day and of your schedule to be on here with us and

inspire other people, rooting for you. And and I don't want to say I

don't care because I do care that's your life, that's your job. But

I don't really care other than the fact that you care about what

you're doing in in in the fight game. I love who you are, man. And

I know what you came from and what that symbolizes. You know, at

some point, we're both going to be over 50. And at some point, we're

both going to be over 60, Laura willing. And you can only do what

you do for so long. And so you're more than a fighter, you know,

the what you've what you've done from where you come from. And

the story that can be learned and the wisdom that can be shared

with people in the lives that can be impacted from your journey

of perseverance, man. I'm so proud of you. And I know you're

selling the myths of writing that story. I know you've already

written a book, the pact. But I know that you're still in the

process of writing your life story, man. And we support you. I'm

excited for you. Is there anything? You know, those you

looking to follow Cody, if you're looking for somebody to follow,

man, let's let's get behind Cody. Cody, your your IG is it

your IG at Cody? No love.

Cody underscore no love. Yes. Cody underscore no love, who does

have a lot of heart, a lot of love in his heart. Check out his new

no love shirt collection in partnership with full violence. If

you haven't already picked up his book, I mentioned the pact.

Cody, anything else that we could for people that want to

connect with you would know how to find you or anything else you

got going on that can help people.

Yeah, just find me on Instagram or you know, I got the Facebook

page Twitter. And hopefully the grab something from this,

you know, podcast. I know I do. I love to an interior, the

grandcast, you know, you've always been a great mentor to me,

always, you know, shoot those random texts about, you know,

life and, you know, I am about career, nothing. You know, it's

about, you know, some some some some scriptures. And so I

really appreciate who you are as a human, how giving you are,

you know, you say, thanks for taking the time, but thanks for

taking the time to have me on after the fight. You know, I'll

love to come in and do one in the studio. So that'll be a

that'll be a good one. You know, so

already Josh is coming to coming to the studio. Let's

let's do I gotta bring my best food out though. I can't be

looking like a chum beside you and that. I want to I want to I

want to get some time with you to work out or hit the match

too. We got we got a cold tub getting into the house on a

steam room. All right. All of that stuff. So let's get this,

let's get this win. And then let's let's let's link up in the

next couple months. Keep me posted. We'll do man. Thanks for having

you for joining us on another episode of the Grandcast Cody

no love get ready. It's a new day.