Zion Clark

Count money, man.

Money, man.

Stacked riches.

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

What's up, gang?

Welcome back to another episode of The Grindcast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

Special, super special guest.

You ain't.

You've heard podcasts, but you ain't never seen anything like this before in your life.

Okay?

Trust me on this one.

We have an exceptional guest on The Grindcast today.

Please help me welcome Mr. Zion Clark.

A world-class athlete.

Real speaker, professional MMA fighter, wrestler, wheelchair racer.

I don't know what he don't do.

He was born with no legs, raised him foster care.

Talk about no excuses.

Zion has overcame so much adversity that it would have broke most people.

I watch people break over, you know, basic and small things.

And so, you know, I want to just get in straight into the upbringing because even as much

time as we've spent, I got questions, you know, to make me have really gotten through

with you.

So, you know, how did that work out?

From time you were born to foster care, to you have someone that you call mom, right?

Yeah.

So I just, can you walk me through all that?

Yeah, man.

So, you know, I was born in the foster care system.

I was born in a...

Born in it.

Yeah, born into it.

Yeah.

My mother was pregnant while she was in...

My birth mother was pregnant while she was in Columbus State Penitentiary at the time.

And so, I was like, I'm like a jail baby, pretty much.

But with that being said, I went straight into the foster care system for about 16 years.

I just went from home to home, different types of people, stuff like that.

I don't want to get all into the details.

Yeah.

I have a book you can read, so I'm gonna match if you want to check that out.

We got to make sure they check that out.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, 16 years, you were in foster care.

Yeah.

Okay.

Bouncing around a different...

Yeah, 16 years, 12 different homes.

Okay.

12 different homes.

Yeah.

What happened after the 16 years?

I got picked up and it was either I get picked up or I was homeless.

It was one of the lives.

What did we got picked up?

So, I got put in my last home.

Okay.

But so, here's the deal about the foster care.

How worked you in?

I was 16.

Okay.

So, when I turned 16, they were like, we exhausted all our options.

And they were like, either he goes to a group home or whatever happens to him happens.

You know what I'm saying?

There's not really a plan for most foster kids out here in this country.

Everybody can say there's a plan.

There's not that much of a plan.

So, my mom ended up taking me in and just helped me get my life together and stuff like

that.

You know, I saw this story a million times, so I'm not...

Did you go to Maslan?

I went to Maslan, Washington High School.

So, but she got you at 16.

So, 16 is like sophomore year?

Sophomore year.

Okay.

So, where did you go your freshman year?

I'm still in Maslan.

Yeah, I've been in Maslan most of my time.

Hold time was Maslan.

Yeah, most of my entire life.

Okay.

Got you.

So, then she...

You moved in with...

Is that who you call your mom?

That's my mom.

That's your mom.

Okay.

Was there any other siblings in the house or anybody else?

Yeah, I have a lot of siblings.

So, I don't like talking about my family too much on any of this.

I just want to let you know, because that's my private life.

Yeah.

If that makes sense.

Two of my sisters are adopted to rest or biological.

You know what I'm saying?

Yep.

And, anyway, all of a sudden...

When did you start wrestling?

I started wrestling when I was five.

I got a flyer in my art class, Gildon and Hugh Gildon.

Not Gildon, Hugh Greg Donahue gave me.

That's Gild's identical twin brother.

And Gild and Greg were the ones that taught me how to wrestle.

So, shout out to you guys if you guys end up seeing this.

Those guys are everything to me.

But, you know, I was in the fifth...

I was in second grade and...

So, I was like, I was like, six.

I was a young kid in school.

Okay.

You feel me?

So, I'm in second grade.

And he gives me a flyer in art class.

Was he a teacher?

Yeah, he's a teacher.

Okay, a teacher.

He gave me a flyer in art class.

He was also the head wrestling coach.

And he just kind of told me that he thought I'd be...

For the elementary school?

Yeah.

Okay.

He told me I should go to the practice and I do things I would be good at.

Or that I wasn't obviously, you know, my story.

I'd lost over 200 times.

But, he gave me that initial flyer.

And to get me started.

And then him and his brother worked with me all the way up through the time I was a senior

in high school to the point where I did start beating.

I had the same coaches.

The whole time.

The whole time.

So, they moved up.

Yeah, they pretty much moved up.

From there, they went to high school.

Yeah.

And coach in high school wrestling and art after he was rolling with him the whole time.

Yeah.

Wow.

That's powerful.

You had 200...

Was it 200?

That's a big problem.

I can't remember.

It was roughly around 215 or 215.

Okay.

So, let's call it 200 times.

You know, when you roll you know you cap 200, you start...

You start keeping count because you don't care.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

I'm going to be honest.

Yeah.

So, what do you remember when the flip...

The Switch Flip?

I was in West Virginia at the Wheeling Park Dools.

I'll never forget it as my junior year of high school.

I'm at the Wheeling Park Dools and R113 pounder got hurt the match before.

I'm not even a varsity yet.

But coach is like, hey Zee, do you want to wrestle?

I want 13 varsity right now.

And I was like, you know what?

Let's go do it.

You know what I'm saying?

And so, I ended up winning it over time.

I went...

I think I won like 6 to 4.

What year?

This is 2016.

So, what...

No, 2015.

What's your...

Junior, junior.

Okay, junior year.

So, like...

Alright, bet.

See, one year first.

I won the first one.

I exhausted every ounce of strength that I had to win.

Out of weight class, I wasn't even mine.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And, you know what?

I threw up everywhere in the trash can.

Partially on myself.

My arms wouldn't work.

Like, I'm telling you, like, I exhausted.

I was the first time I really exhausted myself.

To the bring.

Yeah.

I left it all out there.

You know what I'm saying?

Yup.

And, you know, there's...

I have these photographs of my teammates from back then,

from that first picket me up off the mat.

Beautiful.

And then there's other photos of them holding me over the trash can.

If I'm the honest with you.

And it's like, that was that...

Those pictures are so important to me because that was that first moment,

where like, I got my hand raised for something that I actually worked for myself.

And then...

You still got pictures of them?

I do, but they're not my phone.

They're not...

I'm talking about like old pictures.

Yeah.

From 10 years ago, people were still using cameras from the Delps part.

You know what I'm saying?

So, no, but it's like...

It was just after that, I trained or going into my senior year.

It was, I trained seven days a week, three times a day, for three months straight.

After that, you know.

Seven days a week.

Seven days a week, three times a day.

Three times a day.

Like, for three months straight.

Oh, you feel me?

Yeah.

And I just...

I came back in my senior year and I almost lost the first match.

You know what I'm saying?

Because I was too excited.

But then, I hunkered down.

I won that one, then I won another one.

And then I won a tournament, that following weekend.

And then I won another tournament, the following weekend.

Another one at that point, I'm like 18 and 0.

We rolling.

You know what I'm saying?

You know what I'm saying?

At that point, I'm really just like crashing through everybody.

Like it's nobody's business.

And your coaches had to be five.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

I went from a nobody to being ranked on the top five wrestlers in the state of Ohio.

Unbelievable.

Being one of the top 20 in the United States here.

You know what I'm saying?

So like, doing that after being an absolutely nobody.

Like, I wasn't in the rankings.

I beat a second rate.

I beat a second rate versus a second rate varsity guy from West Virginia.

No offense.

You look at the states.

Yeah.

Wrestling wrestling, PA Ohio Jersey California.

Yes.

We got the best wrestling.

Right.

I shouldn't have been that tired going against that guy.

Right.

So after that, like I said, I did all that training.

I was always going to be the guy that outlast you.

And I was always going to be the one that was standing.

And like the one that had my head up at by the time I was done.

After that.

Now I already knew what it felt like to lose.

Now I got that taste of like that.

WNWs.

Yeah.

Now those Ws can be intoxicated and intoxicated.

But like what I did with it was I just be like, I want to wear the next one.

Next, next, next, next, next, next, next, next, next, next.

That's how I feel.

Because like, I couldn't have cared.

Worked away.

To be in gray.

You were from.

I don't care.

I'm winning right now.

I just wanted to match before.

I don't want to lose this next one.

I don't even know who you are, bro.

Let's go, though.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

So that's mentality I built through all those losses.

So at any point, be a young.

Like, now you 28, you're a little bit, you know, you're mature.

Yeah.

So your mind starts functioning differently.

Do you remember a part, you know, of life or you're ever asking like, why me?

Why am I in this situation?

I mean, of course, who doesn't?

It would stop you from becoming like bitter.

Like, how did you overcome that?

I had stopped myself becoming bitter because I couldn't feel nothing at all.

If I don't be honest with you.

Even to this day, I had bad with my emotions.

Terrible.

You know what I'm saying?

But like, I acknowledge it.

And I know that.

But coming up, I didn't get love or I didn't get to have food or water.

I didn't get to have regular, like regular soap.

You know what I'm saying?

I didn't get to have these normal things that people had growing up that would probably

made to turn out like nicer.

My thing was, I'm stealing from stores.

I'm trapping.

I'm selling drugs, bro.

I'm doing all this crap.

I put a plate on the table for myself because they are literally hiding the food for me in these places I was at.

Just so they could eat and I would starve as punishment for some stupid shit that I did.

You know what I mean?

Oh yeah.

I was so like, I had to do it.

You get it.

How you living, bro?

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Doggy dog.

Doggy dog.

It's a doggy dog.

And can't in my son or high.

I ain't no place for little dogs.

You know what I'm saying?

Straight up.

And so, you know, what do you think?

Was there a moment where you look back and you're like, man, I'm most grateful for what was painful at the time.

Has molded me into a certain mindset.

Oh no, man.

I'm so grateful for all those nights I was starting because I know what it's like to be hungry.

And I'm hungry for a lot.

You know what I'm saying?

So, I'm grateful.

You know what I mean?

I look back.

Who made a difference?

Like, would you think of a couple people?

And obviously it's probably a lot of people.

I'm not going to be real for that transition.

For when I went from being a nobody to doing better with my life and school and with everything.

It wasn't, I didn't have role models.

Where I'm from, I didn't have people being like, you shouldn't go do this or you shouldn't go do that.

I'm getting arrested all the time.

Who made the biggest difference?

My mom by giving me a roof over my head and putting food in my stomach.

Oh.

Yup.

Because I was still doing hood rat shit.

You know what I'm going to be on and switch you.

Yup.

And.

But I was going back to a house instead of sleeping next to a trash can or knocking on the homie's door.

You know what I'm saying?

No doubt.

And so like, with that being said, I am so grateful for these moments and everything.

My teacher is the moment that I had to go through.

I didn't have a role model.

I don't have role models.

I look at people like John Jones, they are amazing.

I didn't do a single thing in my life because I saw you.

And that's just the reality of it.

You know what I'm saying?

No doubt.

I didn't have somebody to teach me the ropes.

I taught myself the ropes by falling off of them.

You know what I'm saying?

Yup.

So you say, you don't need legs to leave a footprint.

Where did that come from?

I just thought about it one day.

If I'm going to be honest with you, I have no other answer for you besides that.

Yeah.

It just thought about it.

And I was like, in my head I was like, ooh, that's gas.

What do you think you learned the most from wrestling that applies to life?

Nothing don't mean shit.

You know what I'm saying?

When you go out there in a wrestle and you go to do something that you're striving for,

nothing fucking matters at that point.

Besides, how much you've prepped to get to that moment.

You know what I'm saying?

Wrestling has taught me that everything else doesn't matter.

Focus on what you're doing.

What do you mean everything else doesn't matter?

Everything doesn't matter.

Like, I'm telling you right now if you're going to be...

Obsessed.

Yeah, if you're going to be obsessed with something.

Right?

And you're going to be...

Lays are focused on something.

You got to like sometimes tell everybody else just to back up.

Back, back up.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And you got to say, forget about everything.

You got to sacrifice and go all the way with the same thing.

And I'm not saying permanently forever, but like...

Yeah.

Mentarily, I got to sacrifice my family, my friends, my pastimes, my luxuries.

I got to just put those on the back mirror real quick.

You know what I mean?

It go to work.

Yeah.

And sometimes that back burner might be for a year and you got to deal with it.

Woo!

That's the truth.

Yeah.

That's the truth.

That applies to a lot right there.

Everybody talks about motivation.

You know how much more important do you think it is to just have discipline?

Discipline is motivation.

Motivate yourself by giving yourself discipline.

I hate when people ask me, why do I motivate people?

I'm going to be real.

I wasn't trying to.

I'm going to be honest.

Like 110% honest.

I never was trying to motivate nobody.

I wasn't going into this being like, I'm going to be a huge inspiration.

I like to fight my guy.

I like to be asked.

And I'm fucking good at it.

And I just kept doing it.

In turn, the better you get at something, you will start being somebody's inspiration.

And now I embraced it.

But don't ever want everyone to think that I stepped into this saying that's what I'm going to do.

And when it comes to inspiring people, I have changed lives.

You know what I'm saying?

I have gone and put my efforts in not in just our country, but all countries around the world.

All 50 states for kids, for people that are less fortunate.

And yeah, that's inspirational stuff.

But it's not about inspiration.

It's about me, your moral values, and like just doing the right thing.

Being a good person.

No doubt.

And that's what I think on that.

So, but in having success, do you think you need more motivation or more discipline?

Discipline.

Neither are both discipline and fun.

Excuse my French word.

Motivation is nothing without discipline.

You know what I'm saying?

I want you to describe discipline.

Discipline.

Discipline.

Motivation.

You can be motivated to do something and still not do it.

You don't have to be motivated to have a discipline in something.

Facts.

You know what I'm saying?

Facts.

So how would you describe discipline?

Discipline.

Discipline.

Discipline.

Discipline.

I wasn't motivated to go wrestle because I just absolutely loved getting my ass kicked day and day out.

I was disciplined in it.

And I just kept coming back.

You know why?

Because with that discipline, you tell yourself that you have to come back.

There's no option.

Whether you want to or not, whether you feel like it's the greatest thing or not, you're disciplined.

And you go do it well.

Show up.

Yeah, you show up.

Right.

And so what does your typical daily routine look like?

Now, typical.

You know, you fall in and out of that.

You have to do travel.

What does a daily routine look like?

Pure chaos.

Walk me through the chaos.

It's how.

For me, like, I get up around like 5 a.m.

Usually I walk my dog.

Then I go right back down, sit down, take part of a little extra curricular before the sun comes up.

And then I go eat breakfast.

And then I hop on the phone for a good three hours.

Depending on where I'm at.

If I'm in LA, I hop on the phone at 5 a.m.

If I'm in over here, I hop on the phone at like 8.9 a.m.

Depending on where I'm at.

Because the work day starts roughly 8.9 a.m. on this side.

Okay.

So, like, I'm like, my schedule, like I said, is chaotic.

Work stuff, when you say on the phone, work, business, work, deals, women, friends, everything.

Everything.

I'm like, I'm rolling at 8 o'clock.

Yeah, basically.

Yeah, 5 a.m. over there.

8 a.m. over there.

I'm over there.

I'm really up at like 3.34 o'clock in the morning over there.

Okay.

You know what I'm saying?

What time do you go to bed?

10 to 12.

Somewhere between 10 and 12.

Yeah.

So sometimes you're getting six hours.

Sometimes you're getting four hours.

Yeah.

And I'm okay with that.

Yeah, you're in your 20s.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're good right now.

So, how many times a day are you training?

Training usually two times a day.

If God forbid, I can keep the consistency.

I have discipline.

What I'm working on is consistency.

And that's something that I know that I need to work on.

I'm not always consistent.

But when I am, I'm a problem.

And I know that.

Uh-huh.

And lately, I have been consistent.

Like, I got my whole six pack back.

That means I can pick you up and take you off your feet.

Relatively easy.

My thing is the more muscle that shows on my body, that means I'm...

That means that, like, that's the old me.

So me and me, my, my, my, my, that's like, in here in about two or three weeks,

right before I get to, I go to leave.

Come link up with me and you will see how I look.

I look smaller than I do right now.

Link, but I am.

Doubt it.

I'm a fucking problem.

Doubt it.

You feel me?

Yeah.

And so, like, would that be more so because of the nutrition or more so because of the fitness?

That's because of me.

I'm going and they're scrapping, fuck lifting.

Put in the work, eat, fuck nutrition.

I eat healthy by nature because I will just get sick.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I'll just get sick if I eat McDonald's.

So it's just putting the work in the gym.

It's more so putting a ton of work in here.

Yeah.

That's why I get upset when I can't get it right to practice or something like that.

Because I have a discipline.

You know what I'm saying?

Uh-huh.

But I'm not consistent.

This is why I get upset.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

What stops you from being consistent if you're disciplined?

Life, the real world, like in this case, we were talking about it.

They don't have to know our business.

But what we were talking about.

Yeah.

That's one example.

That's one example.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Another example would be like, you know, say that you were going to your job every day.

Just because your car breaks down, you need to find a way to get there on time.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Same same different.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yep.

Exactly.

That type of stuff.

How do you, what do you do to get yourself to keep going when your mind is exhausted or

your body's exhausted?

I start thinking about what I'm going to eat.

I don't really know if you, when I'm exhausted, I literally start thinking about dinner.

You know.

I don't know why I'm a wrestler.

Yep.

So maybe by nature.

Speaking of which, you got a match coming up August 21st.

21st, yeah.

21st?

What weight?

125.

You got to be 125?

Yeah.

What you doing?

I'm not going to say that.

They don't even know.

We ain't there yet, though.

No, we're not there yet.

All right.

And so what do you think?

What separates people that overcome adversity from those that don't overcome adversity?

Do you think in your experience?

I mean, what's the difference between somebody playing in a minor league and somebody playing

in the major leagues?

Same answer for both of those questions.

You know what I'm saying?

We talked about it this morning.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Let me hear it.

It's the word professionalism.

You know, professionalism, you got to focus on just that one thing.

Be obsessed with that one thing.

Yeah, the reason why I am so upset with inconsistency, even though I am already fully committed

is because I have the drive.

You feel me?

It's the consistency of said thing.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yep.

Facts.

Yep.

I got you.

So you think the people that would separate people from those that get through adversity and those that don't get through adversity?

Are you able to be consistent?

Are you able to be obsessed?

Be consistent and drop whatever you need to drop.

Whatever it takes.

Right?

You drop whatever it takes.

I got women, people on my line every single day from all hours of the night because I've been all around the world.

You know what I'm saying?

I still got to be consistent.

Because I'm a professional athlete.

They could talk to me at the end of my camp and if you're still there, everybody in my camp.

After I'm fight, oh yeah, let's go get drunk.

Let's go to the club.

You know what I'm saying?

But not until I'm done.

So then, you want to come kick it.

You can come kick it.

You know what I'm saying?

But you can't, I can't just put my focus on shit right now besides this.

That one thing.

What do you think, if any at all, any daily habits that you think has had the biggest impact on your success?

Daily habits of not intaking greasy foods.

Okay.

And you feel the difference in that?

And you can literally feel it.

I can feel it when I grapple when I fight.

I get tired twice.

If I were to eat a big mac and then go to practice, and then I were going to eat a grass-fed burger.

You feel me that I made outside on my fire pit.

Yeah.

Because I will do that.

And then I go wrestle.

I will see the craziest different output and energy from what you put in.

People are like, do you do pre-workout?

Do you take, create teen?

Do you do any uppers or anything like that?

It's like, bro, I take no drugs.

I don't drink coffee.

I don't drink energy drinks.

I have this energy because I will it.

So, you feel me?

I don't need any crunches.

You know what I'm saying?

And I'm like, you got to just be, you got to want to do something.

Yeah.

The will.

The will.

The will power.

I could be dead tired and I walk into the restroom and immediately all the lights come on.

And even if you come up from behind me, I want to turn into you and I want to beat your ass.

Just because I'm there for that reason.

The hard part was getting there.

The rest of it, you're just acting.

Yeah.

Showing up.

Yeah.

What is, you know, you got, I saw the tattooed on you.

No excuses.

Yeah.

Right.

What does that actually mean, you know, to you?

Has your definition changed, you know, over the years?

The definition has not changed one bit.

On up to your actions, whether they're good or bad.

If you're going to do something, do it.

If you're not going to do something, don't do it.

You know what I'm saying?

But don't bullshit me.

I'm not going to bullshit you.

I'm not going to waste your time.

Don't waste mine.

My thing is, whether it's good, no excuses.

If it's bad, no excuses.

You know what I'm saying?

You never saw no villain be a half-ass villain.

He's the, he is the villain.

Never seen no hero just be a half-ass hero.

They're the hero.

You know what I'm saying?

Why no excuses?

So either it be the best version or be the worst version.

Choose one.

Run with it.

And I hate that people are like, some people try to be like,

oh, that's the negative way to look at it.

I'm like, no, that's just genuinely speaking.

This is the real world and this is the world we live in.

Own up to your actions.

And, you know, you talked about being around the country

and other places helping to inspire people, you know,

other kids, you know, stuff like that.

I don't think it sounds like it wasn't something that was planned,

you know, for you to do it just kinda naturally ended up happening that way,

because you put it in the work.

It wasn't planned at all.

You know, I'm wrestling a Kent.

You know, I'm literally, I'm gonna be honest with you.

I was wrestling and going to class and getting wasted on weekends.

I don't know weekends.

Being a speaker wasn't not in my plans,

or doing any of that shit.

I was having the time of my life when I was in college.

Catching dubs, college.

In college.

Oh, you know what I'm saying?

So, what really switching around,

these, so a lot of steering with the word and cereal

when it was hitting its mat, hitting its height,

well, they sent a lot of these families

were getting blown up out of their own homes

and stuff like that.

So they sent a lot of their kids United States

so there was a little refugee camp

sent all over the US, some of them were in Akron,

I'm not getting state right now.

These kids saw me on Netflix.

You know what I'm saying?

I'm sitting in class with a hangover.

You know what I'm saying?

And about 500 Syrian refugees wrote me.

Like, all these kids had to have been nothing,

no more than four to 10.

And they were just writing to me about

how they watched my movie

and how they're inspired

and how they're not gonna give up

and they're gonna go back and see their parents.

You know what I mean?

It's just like, it honestly broke me, I don't be honest,

cause I was like, this is crazy.

Stop me dead in my tracks.

I forgot all about the drinking,

the women, the women, party and sex drugs.

I forgot about everything for a second.

I forgot about wrestling for a second.

You know what I'm saying?

Cause it was the real estate.

I think that anybody ever put in my hands.

And so I looked at the athletic director.

I was like, yo bro, I was like, we gotta go do something.

I was like, we gotta do something.

And he was like, well, the school got started

and I was like, I can't do shit, I'm broke.

You know what I mean?

I'm in college, I'm broke.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

No.

So I'm like, what can we do?

And so next thing you know,

I popped up in actor and at the school.

Okay.

And just one girl, just one little girl,

she drew a sign that said be a Zion

in the Kent State colors.

That's fine.

Yeah.

So I put it on a shirt and gave the whole school shirts.

You feel me?

Yeah.

That's dope.

Yeah.

And she showed up and I talked to him for like 10 minutes.

That was my first speech.

So that's where it started.

Yeah.

That's where it started.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's where all that started.

It was just just off of a whim.

You know what I mean?

I had no idea how the crap was going on.

That was going on.

I'm thinking about the chick that I was in my bed.

Like two nights ago.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

You're a college.

Yeah.

Like I want to be honest with you.

Like, but something like that,

makes you just stop and forget everything.

You know.

So speaking of, you know, you talked about,

they saw your Netflix, right?

That's what made them, they wrote you, right?

Yeah.

And so while you're in college, you got that going on.

Yeah.

And that come about and then like, how did that feel?

Or to have your life come again?

I filmed it.

I have filmed that documentary right before I left for college.

And it's open out.

And it didn't come out till like my sophomore year.

Okay.

You know what I'm saying?

So I filmed it, went to college, whole freshman year, nothing.

Halfway through sophomore year, they're like, hey, we got submitted into the Sundance

Film Festival.

And I was like, I don't even know what that is, but here I come.

Right.

Next thing you know, I won every film festival plan at wide.

Number one short, best short film across the planet earth.

At every single film festival globally.

You know what I'm saying?

And then Netflix picked it up.

And so what was that like?

Once they picked it up, watching that all the time.

I was in college.

I was in college.

I was in college.

What do you think happened?

You had a lot of fun.

Yeah, a lot of fun.

That's what happened.

I got some great memories, my G.

I was like, I'm going to tell you.

But no, the one that happened in life, my life was already blowing up at that point anyways.

Because I was in, I didn't write, I didn't get famous off of Netflix.

I'm already one of the best athletes in our country at this point.

And I'm beasting at the moment.

You know what I'm saying?

Just add that to it.

You know what I mean?

All through not quitting.

Right.

So this is discipline.

This is no excuses.

Because it ain't like you was just walking out 200 to no.

This is only 200 than I made myself one of the best athletes.

Yeah.

And I'm one about 100 matches after that.

You know what I'm saying?

I live for that.

You know what I'm saying?

I live for now that I live for it now at the point where like, if you think that you

can beat my ass and you are sure about yourself, oh my god, I get excited.

Because not that I want to lose, but the thought that I possibly could makes me want to go

that much more.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, no doubt.

And the last dude that grappled me to a draw.

You know how hard it is to grapple to a draw?

It's really hard to grapple to a draw.

Like somebody's going to lose.

Nobody lost in that point.

How many rounds?

How many minutes?

Three rounds?

Three, four minutes?

Three, three, four minutes.

Okay.

I grappled for 12 minutes straight and nobody won.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

No doubt.

And like, you feel any pressure, you know, like extra pressure because now you got this

popularity, you know, and stuff like that when you're fighting the wrestling?

No, because no.

No.

No.

Okay, how?

Because I've been in certain places where fans have had stuff to say.

Like, when I tell you that I really don't give a damn about anything, like, as much as

I'm here for your entertainment, have respect because my hands still work.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, and I don't, I just do my thing and I show love to the system.

But at the same time, there's always that one ignorant person.

If I had soap put in my mouth for saying something bad, what do you think I'm going to do to

you?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Shit, just falls down the line.

My mom puts soap in my mouth.

I put my fist in yours and it's like, so all that leads to no pressure.

Least no pressure.

And I'm like, I'm good either way.

I'm good either way, don't lose.

It's not a loss or is no pressure.

Yeah.

Why is it not a loss?

Because no excuses.

I knew I was doing something bad.

I told you that.

No excuses.

I knew I'm doing something good.

Right.

People think that I don't, and it's not black and white.

There are shades of gray.

There are shades of the whole fucking rainbow.

Pause.

But like, you know, it's like, why should I care about any of that?

Why should you care about, care about any of that?

You're on the world stage for business, you know?

And somebody has something to say when you're at a event.

Unless it's something that is so earth shatteringly crazy, it don't matter.

In fact, you know what I'm saying?

Truth.

Truth.

So, what legacy do you hope to leave behind?

You know, like to do today at breakfast, what's talking about, you know, the obituary,

more than, you know, your introduction, I'm more worried about thinking about what are

people going to say at my funeral?

You know, what would somebody say about me in the event that I passed away?

How am I impacting people's lives?

So let's put it like this.

I have generations of wrestlers under me that started because they saw me a decade ago.

You know what I'm saying?

That's my legacy right there.

You know what I'm saying?

There are kids that I have taught certain moves that I've watched them use the moves that

I taught them to win state titles, national titles.

That's my legacy right there.

And that's not for what you to know.

I knew that I did that.

That kid knows that I left that.

He knows that.

Nobody else knows.

He knows that I just beat this guy for the state championships.

Zion Clark taught me that.

You know what I'm saying?

Yup.

Because I did.

And so, that's my legacy I want to leave.

On top of like kids and stuff, we're not going to talk about none of that.

But like I want to have legacy of children and I want all my kids are going to know how

to fight out the right out the womb.

I'm just, that's just how it's going to be.

You know what I'm saying?

Whether they do it or not.

That's going to be my legacy.

They'll know how.

They won't know how to.

Yeah.

And when it comes to leaving the legacy for the general public, I owe the public fucking

nothing.

I owe the world nothing.

We owe the world nothing.

Why?

Why legacy?

I need to leave for the rest of y'all that I didn't leave for myself and the people closest

to me.

You know, answer that question and then I'll tell you what legacy I would leave and I'd

still have nothing.

Because I leave a legacy for the people that are willing to continue what I push out.

You know what I'm saying?

I don't intend to waste my breath anytime soon.

What habits do you think are important for someone to develop?

Like is there any habits you're like, man, I think everybody should develop this type

to habit and impact their life getting up early?

Not as early as I get up, but like don't sleep till 10, 30 every day.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

No doubt.

In fact, get up like if you get up at seven or eight and you get a lot of, you can get a

lot of stuff done before the rest of the world gets moving in and you actually find

that you have more time to your day.

Truth.

I believe heavily in that one.

Yeah.

We usually, yeah.

I'm up at five or up at 4.30 and by the time that it's 8 a.m. I've done at least 14 things.

You know what I'm saying?

And I'm sitting there watching TV and sounds coming up, kick back already.

You know, don't go, I do nothing until I want to tell you how I put my gear on it, my gear

on it, and go train.

No doubt.

If somebody, you know, is listening out there and they feel like, man, I've been dealt

a rough hand.

I've been dealt a terrible hand in life.

What do you think is the first step that they should take today?

Forward.

Forward.

You said what's the first step that they should take?

Forward.

Forward, sorry, I was really blunt.

But, you know, I was dealt a bad hand.

I know people that were dealt worse hands than me that are still that are doing better

than me.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I'm being real.

Like, there's some people that didn't even die or just born and like put onto the street

immediately.

They didn't go through foster care.

They grew up on the street.

You know what I'm saying?

I was in and out the street.

There's a difference to that.

Right.

You know what I'm saying?

Right.

But it's like, the things, the first thing you got to do is just, you know, you know,

it's just realize that it's not going to get better tomorrow.

And if it wasn't good yesterday, don't expect to be good today, but expect yourself to

be better tomorrow.

Make progress.

Any type of wins or win.

Any type of win.

You know what I mean?

For me, I had confidence issues all the way up until the point where I took the hottest

girl from a different school at home coming.

You feel me?

Like, and I made a point from a different school.

You feel me?

Went out my way, made it happen.

Now, I'm not the weird guy I know where.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, if you're in your life's crap, especially in this country, we're in one place in the

whole world that no matter your social status, you can make it somewhere.

As long as you're born on US oil, to play your cards right, you can still be the president.

You know what I mean?

For facts.

So like other countries, you can't do that.

Canada, you can't even do that.

Mexico, you definitely can't do that.

Russia, nope.

China, nope.

Like, you're not anywhere around the world.

That's what makes the US special.

So if you're listening to it and you're in the US, you feel me?

God bless the USA.

Yeah, no excuses.

Go up and go get something done.

I know people that hire homeless people off the street and give them jobs in a place to

stay.

You know what I'm saying?

If life is that bad, they're still places to go.

There's still things to do.

Right.

So here's what I'm hearing.

I'm hearing an attitude of, it can always be worse.

Yeah.

That's what I'm telling this person of, there's people out there that got a way worse.

No matter which one of them was dealt that you think was bad.

There's somebody out there.

Timmy got it worse over here.

They got it way worse.

Right.

And then from that, it's an example.

An attitude of the next best step is forward.

Right.

No matter what, it might not get better overnight.

You know, situation exactly might not get better, but you can get better, you say.

Right.

And take the next step forward.

And if you get better, then eventually things are going to get better.

And then that attitude of, there's just no excuses.

Right.

Because there's other people making it happen and you were born in the United States.

Be grateful that there's an opportunity in the company that we have, you know, spends

you met them.

We, you know, we were with, we were in LA, I think, and we met the old CEO, you know,

of our corporate company.

And he was, he never graduated high school.

GED.

From GED to the CEO of one of the largest life insurance companies on the planet.

And that can happen here, you know, in America.

And so, man, I would tell you, you know, I've really enjoyed being around you spending

time with you to, you know, the few days that we've been having an opportunity to hang

and roll and train and all that stuff, man.

I think there's a lot of value that you can add and I keep telling you all the time.

Like whatever, wherever you're at right now, to me, you ain't even scratched the surface

and was getting ready to happen.

I mean, I feel like this moment right now is nothing compared to what I've been doing.

I've been in this game for 10 years.

10 years.

That's the door has been open for 10 years for me to do whatever I possibly can.

I feel old.

I don't be honest with you.

I feel way older than I'm wearing what I am.

Uh huh.

What do you know I'm saying?

You lived a lot of life in 28 years.

Yeah.

So, what, you know, you know, how would somebody follow, you know, you, I know on Instagram

was just Zion Clark, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Zion Clark, if they want to get the book, how do they get the book?

If you guys want to find me, go to Instagram, you can find me, just click the link in my

bio.

You'll have everything that you could possibly want to get from me, find my books, everything.

Just type in Zion Clark, Z I O N C L A R K.

But then, if you do want to find my book, you can go on Amazon, you can go into Target,

you can go into Barnes and Noble, uh, and buy a work with what you got.

It's a memoir by me.

Uh, but what, what you got?

Yeah.

Uh huh.

Yeah.

Go ahead, check that book out.

I'm going to be dropping another child's book here by end of the fall and, uh, just be

on a lookout for that.

Fire.

Let's make it a best seller again.

Fire.

And then you got a, you got a match coming up on the 21st.

How was somebody follow that?

How, how can they check out?

Uh, just check out Epic fighting.

Epic.

Yeah.

Epic.

Epic.

Epic.

Epic.

Okay.

Epic fighting.

And if, uh, if you have one last thing to leave the people with, you know, off the cuff,

freestyle, what's on your heart?

Give, give somebody any moment, a minute of gas, what you got?

Uh, I ain't got nothing that I already told us talked about.

Let me tell you that.

But, uh, yeah, I really do got nothing besides y'all know what it is, man.

Like we see how the world's changing.

We see how everything's changing.

See all this, all these advancements and AI and technology and seeing all these advancements

and stuff to skip steps and human evolution and all that stuff.

My thing is, stay grounded.

Keep your toes in the dirt for now.

You know what I'm saying?

Until we are sure about how the world's going to work and what's going to work for you.

Keep that in mind.

The world might work for itself, but it doesn't work for you.

You, you make it work for you.

No doubt, no excuses.

Yeah.

We appreciate you, man.

Absolutely.

Appreciate your time.

Appreciate everything that you're doing.

Super excited for you, man.

I'm proud of you.

Glad to be a part of your, of your journey and looking forward to your journey in the future

because I think you ain't, you ain't even scratched the surface of it.

Absolutely.

So, I hope you guys got as much value out of this as I have with, uh, with Zion.

I think this is something you need to go back and listen to, again, listen to it twice

so you can pull out some nuggets that might be hiding in there.

But, uh, as always, man, we're grateful for you.

We appreciate, uh, everybody that joined us on, on another episode of the Grandcast.

Get ready as a new day.