In The Corner: MMA Coach of the Year John Wood on What It Takes to Build World Champions

What's up guys?

This is In the Corner with Destiny McCuben.

I am Doug Vasquez, and today we are joined by a name that you all know, somebody very credible in the combat sports world and just won Coach of the Year, John Wood.

What's up?

Hello, thanks for having me on.

Yes, thank you for coming.

I know you are probably the busiest man in this room.

A lot of moving parts, so thanks for being here.

In the corner, yeah, there, there is a lot of moving parts, but it's, uh, I prefer it that way than any other way.

Yeah, I mean, you, you definitely handle it, and I just want to dive into everything because you've got so much going on.

The gym is obviously growing syndicate MMA, um, but it did not obviously begin where you have it at right now.

So how long have you been doing, been a coach, had syndicate MMA?

I think this would be 2026.

I think this is the 20 going into the 23rd year.

Of owning this gym.

Um, and obviously, I've, I've said it many times before, it's started as, as kind of just an investment deal I got.

Um, I, I was young and I got into a car accident and I got a, a small settlement and didn't know what to do with the money, but I kind of knew MMA was gonna.

Turn into what it has, and at least I'd hoped and back in the day, all of the, the, The gyms were in less than.

Nice places of town and hard to get to and, and usually places where people didn't want to bring their kids and families and stuff.

So, um, I went to my coach and, and said, hey, you know, can I invest this?

Can maybe we open another location?

And at that point in time, I knew that like MMA was what I wanted to do.

It was going to be my life.

It was where I wanted to be.

Um, And, uh, we opened up a small gym and at the time it was Las Vegas Combat Club.

It was the original gym of Ricardo Perez and Frank Muir came out of that gym and all those guys back in the day.

So, uh , we opened a small location up in, um, Southwest, I think it was like around Durango and DI, uh, 2000 square feet or even smaller, and then it just kind of evolved from there.

Forrest Griffin was, was living with me at the time.

Um, he had just come off the Ultimate Fighter, yeah, and so we, you know, through that gym, um, ended up.

Having the, the, the kid, uh, the son of the owner of Zion, which was a massive sponsor for the UFC at that time, that was their number one sponsor.

And so we ended up partnering with them and turning it into Zion Training Center.

Um, and then, you know, I realized really quick that just opening a gym.

It, it doesn't run itself.

It doesn't do its own thing.

So immediately within, you know, a few months, uh, my partners had bailed, the coaches had bailed , and I was kind of on my own to figure this out.

And so I did thank God and had some help from, from people and ended up finding the right people.

And like I said, we went from Z, and then, you know, that fell through and that guy had some trouble with the law and all kinds of different things.

And then, We went to, I, I had become friends with, um, there was a popular brand, Warrior, back in the day, um, you know, and he ended up sponsoring the gym and it became Warrior Training Center.

And then that kind of turned into something else and then Throwdown was another gym in another brand, a big brand that I partnered with them.

And so basically, I was just kind of jumping around and whoever would, whoever would, Give me money to keep the doors open and put the name on and give me some free stuff.

That, that was , that was the goal and eventually.

About 10 years ago, around that time, we, uh, maybe a little bit longer, you know, I decided to didn't, you know, ditch the sponsors and go with my own thing, which was syndicate.

And, um, you know, it's been all uphill since and it's been, it's been a crazy struggle, you know, I've survived a lot of, uh, you know, economic crisis, uh, you know, we had the, the COVID thing.

It's just been, it's been one thing after another and, and you just find a way, you know, if, if you love something.

Enough, you know, you'll make it work.

And that's always been my thing is to make sure that I have a never say die attitude and, and we flourished, you know, we've ended up having a great last couple of years and, um, since, since COVID, it's been, you know, it's been just booming.

And now, you know, looking to expand again and, and do some more things.

Yeah, so leading up prior to 10 years ago when you decided to go out on your own, it sounds like maybe not necessarily failures, but things didn't work out the way that you planned.

How did that kind of where you're like, not giving up, I'm gonna make this work no matter what, what jumping from sponsor to sponsor.

I had, you know, you, you find partners and people that come in and, and, and MMA is one of those things and being a gym owner across the board, if you don't love.

This sport, if you don't love MMA, if you don't love being in, in the sport of MMA and doing any, any gym, there's so much bullshit you have to deal with every day.

You're in the people business and people bring all kinds of issues and things.

So you have to love it.

And so when you get partners and people involved that don't love it like you do , they're, they're quick to jump ship, you know, they don't see the same vision and don't see the same, you know, thing.

I, I, I guarantee you I have some partners that Um, you know, in the past that wish they were still part of it today, you know, I always knew I was going to do, you got to kill me to get me out of this, you know, that's, that's basically the way I look at it.

Um, if you fail at one thing, and I've failed plenty of times, right, I shouldn't even say I've failed because I'm here, I, you, you make mistakes and you learn from them and you move on and you get better from them.

And that's, you know, what I've done and , and it, it's been a lot of, a lot of those things, and we're still, you know, me and Joe, my wife Joanne.

Helps me run the gym and we're still every day talking, we're like, what?

Where did that come from?

What did, you know, what, what issue, where, where did that have to pop up out of nowhere?

It's always something and you just have to deal with that and you got to figure that out that every day you wake up.

It ain't if, it's just when, when.

is the first thing pop off today, and it's usually by 78 a.m. I'm already getting like on the way to the gym.

I'm already getting hammered by like, holy shit, can you guys at least let me finish my first coffee?

But that's what it is, and you, and you love it.

And when you put yourself in that position of leadership or you put yourself in that position of, you know, being the one that's running things, that's what you got to deal with.

And if you don't love it, it's gonna, it's gonna drag you down and beat you up and, and you're gonna feel like shit.

But I, I , I say this to everybody, and it's true.

I haven't worked in 25 years, you know, I've done something I've loved to do for 25 years.

There's times that I've You know, wish things have gone different.

There's times it's made me cry.

There's times I've pulled out my hair.

There's times, you know, it's been really rough, but I wouldn't change a single thing because, you know, sitting in a good spot, which is crazy to hear you say, I haven't, it doesn't feel like I've worked a day in 25 years because I, somebody who is just grinding nonstop, you're working with, you, you work so closely with every fighter, you know, you, you, you really care.

Go when you travel, you do these things and you have this gym that's, you know, obviously survived, you know, the evolution of MMA and gym culture.

Uh, we've had to change the culture a few times, but that's what I wanna ask like how, what is, because like, obviously syndicate is probably one you hear all the time, you know, it has the reputation of having such a great gym culture, and you've built that to what it was, but it probably wasn't always like that.

I think you probably went through the same stuff.

How is that something you evolved through and kind of, was it just kind of you growing up, you, you grow your own growth?

Yeah, you know, I've grown up inside of my gym and grown up and figured out, you know, I, I, no one gave me the blueprint how to do this.

I'm still figuring shit out.

I still try to talk to you guys and say, hey, what do you want more of?

What do you want less of?

You know, there's people that come and go all the time.

You, you can make, you know, you make 100 people happy, there's always going to be 3 or 4 that are like, I fucking hate this, you know, and, and, and it's like, and if you go and try to make those guys happy, you can talk to them and figure it out.

Then you make up the other 100 miserable again.

So it's always a balance of like, you try to do the best you can, and you only figure this out through trial and error.

There is no blueprint for MMA.

There is no blueprint on how to work with every single fighter.

Everybody's so different.

And we do a little bit different in the, in the, in the Vegas space, we actually have a team and we try to build that team, and there's a lot of people that don't have that team mentality in this town, and that's OK.

Your culture can be whatever you want it to be, and that kind of people shy away of, of, you know, they always come to us last because they're like, well, I don't want to be.

You know, controlled.

It's like, you don't got to be controlled.

This is, this is what we do and this is how we do it.

And if, if it works for you, great.

If it doesn't, feel free to walk out the door.

There's 10,000 little gyms in this town now that will take you.

You know, it's no big deal, but you try to, you try to do the best you can and figure out what's best for the group as a whole.

And, you know, not everybody's going to love it, and you make mistakes, and sometimes you make big mistakes, you know, like I said, I've had to reset the culture a few times.

I've had to deal with some fighters and people where I was like, uh, and I've left them in the gym longer than I should have and had some things go where I was like, man, this does not feel good to me.

And I've learned from that where if something bothers me when I walk in the gym, if there's somebody I don't want to see there or I feel, uh, you know, immediately, I've learned to deal with that immediately.

The harder the conversation feels to have, the quicker you need to have it.

That's the number one thing I, I, I, I tell people is like, don't sit on that shit and don't let it fester.

And that's what really kills the culture.

That's what really kills the gossiping behind people's back.

You don't like motherfucker, go talk to them or tell them that, you know, don't pretend like you do.

And that's kind of a knock on me sometimes.

I'm very bad at like bullshitting when I don't.

Like, I'll be, I'm, I'm never rude to people, but I'm not very like, hey, how are you doing, you know, if I don't think you're, you know, a good person or if I don't, if, if we don't vibe, I'm cool with being polite and being whatever, but like this town's full of a lot of the sport in general, you know, combat sports in general, a lot of people just full of shit, you know, and I, I, I just don't do well with that, but I'm trying to even learn how to be better in my older age of like, hey, play the game a little bit more, you know, and that's something that my guys.

And people around me and managers have told me you gotta play the game a little bit more.

So I've done it and it does work.

And so I am still, like I said, to this day, every day learning more how to be a better person, how to be a better coach, how to be a better husband, how to be a better father, you know, that's what I think if you stop evolving, you start de-evolving or regressing.

I don't know if de-evolving is a word, but it sounded good.

unevolving.

I don't know, but yeah, that was a question I did have , um.

Like I wanna talk about is, uh, you know, obviously you've been here, you've been doing this, and then you have people come up and open gyms, you know, like, what do you, what do you say to that, that they think it's just, you know, so easy.

Like, obviously you, you said you've gone through these things that you've gone through, um, so what are your opinions, especially when these new gyms open, you know, and they look maybe like the shiny new toy or something, and people think that the grass is greener, maybe, and maybe it is.

Here, here's the thing I've learned is that.

There's always going to be something new.

There's always going to be a, a, a new thing, a new person, a new gym, that's just life.

And if you're, I used to take offense to it, and be like, fuck those guys, you know, or whatever, like, I'm gonna cry, but listen, if that would have been me back in the day, then I wouldn't have had my shot if somebody was like that and always trying to put me down.

I, it's a, it's an open space.

Everybody's welcome to come try it.

My only knock on people is, are you doing it for the right reason?

If you're doing it because you want to be famous or you want to be around guys or act like you're cool or you're this, you know, big dog and, and try to be, everybody wants to be around fighters because fighters are freaking cool, you know, we're the sport that, that, that athletes love.

You know, we're the people that people want to be around, you know, my guys.

It's, it's one of those things where everybody wants to be a part of it because it's the most macho testosterone show, you know, it's just, it's just, It's, it's cool, man.

It's people have been fighting since the dawn of time.

Everybody wishes they could fight or wants to fight, or hell, most people to this day think they can fight.

But it's, it's, um, it's one of those things where there's a space for everybody.

If you're really doing it and you're making it and you're giving an outlet for fighters to be better and you're providing that stuff for them, then great.

You know, there's a lot of people that, you know, I, I don't think that are in it for the right reasons.

There's a lot of gyms that are just, you know, Doing this, that and the other, buying their way into things and, and that's fine.

If it works, great, more power to you.

I do not care .

You know, there's, there's, I, I think currently right now I have the longest standing gym in this, in this town.

And, you know, Cures has been around forever and I think we're always going to be the staple between us and them.

And, and, and if other people pop up, great, you know, it's fine.

It doesn't.

It doesn't bother me.

It doesn't keep me up at night.

And, and you're always, I've been, fighters come and go, and they've come and go for a long time.

It's just part of the sport.

It, it hurts.

I'll never say it doesn't hurt when a fighter leaves or someone goes, you know.

Sometimes it's nice.

Sometimes it's like , yeah, go ahead, go ahead, please.

But it is what it is, you know, and that takes such growth because I, I've, you know, I see, I've seen it.

I've seen people come and go, and it.

It bothers me, you know, because I, you know, I know that you, you put so much time in, into these, you know, your fighters, um, so it kind of leads me to my next question is like, I think, like we said, some people, like you said, it looks like the fun thing to do, to open a gym, to be that cool, the cool spot, the cool person or whatever on the block, but, uh, I don't think they really understand what goes into it as far as being a coach.

Like you're facilitating to so many different people, you're pulled so many different ways.

So my question is, how do you do that?

Like how do you give all these different people so much attention?

I don't know.

I know, the one thing is there is not enough time in the day, I can tell you that, but it literally is, thankfully, thank God has blessed me with an amazing wife, an amazing kid that understand and grew up.

In this, Joanne, you know, fought her whole life and, and so she has been part of it.

She's my number one supporter when it comes to, yeah, go, you know, we get calls, you just saw it this week, sitting around on a Thursday, getting ready to, you know, it was chill weekend.

I'm gonna drink some beer.

I'm gonna do that.

Nope, I'm jumping on a plane at 6 a.m. and heading out to wherever I want, Orlando, yeah, you know, so you just never know.

My son understands it and understand that that MMA.

Has given us every good thing in our life.

MMA has, has supplied me with every single thing that I have in my life right now.

Most of my friends, my family, my wife, my kid, all these things have come from this sport.

I am able to have a very nice life, have a nice home and things for, and be able to send my, my kid to school and do these things.

So, I will do whatever it takes and give back in any which way I can to, to, to, to make sure that those things keep happening.

I'm so thankful and grateful for the sport of MMA and it's, it's blessed me with all that, like I said, these amazing things.

You just do what you have to do.

It, there is no, there, there is no set blueprint.

It's crazy, you know, my schedule is set.

Like Emily, you know, our assistant, she just, yeah, she's awesome, amazing.

Thank you, Emily.

There's your shout out.

She, you know, sets up my schedule.

My wife takes care of the rest of my life schedule, you know, like between those two, every day I look at my, I'm like, oh my God, where was that?

Like how did that, that wasn't there 10 minutes ago, and it's just packed, you know, and And, and you just do what you have to do.

And the one thing that I don't sacrifice is that obviously, if I'm in town, My son and my family comes first.

Like, I make sure I go to all of his hockey games.

I make sure I, I'm at all of his school events.

I've, I've missed tons of birthdays and I've missed tons of things, and there is a, and it's probably still going to happen, but I put my family first.

I put my son first, my wife, and make sure that they're taken care of, but they're also with that, they also understand and see and know that we have a really good life because of what we do.

And we get to do a lot of it together, you know, it's been an awesome.

Yeah, my son has grown up around world champions and, and been in the gym since he could walk and, you know, it, it's been amazing.

He got to go, you know, on stage for, for, for Jojo's retirement fight, you know, for the weigh-ins and, and do the whole thing.

It's been a, it's been an awesome ride.

So everybody, when you have a support system, it makes it so much better and the rest you just figure it out, man.

Like I just, I just wake up and I go, a lot of coffee, a lot of coffee.

You need a coffee sponsor, yeah, and if there's any coffee sponsors out there, I'm in, and, um.

Actually, I don't think I can do that with Monster.

They, they gotta handle that and everybody got the caffeine.

Monster's it, but flavor they make coffee drinks.

Uh, my fridge is full of them.

So, but, um.

Yeah, you know, it's just a village the, uh, the body, my body definitely feels it.

That was, I was, I did wanna ask you that, yeah, I was gonna ask that too because it's not like other sports, right, because like you're a football coach, they're standing on the sidelines calling plays.

I've been in the gym watching Marab throw vicious blows at you that you're taking.

So not, you're not only taking.

Giving him advice, but yeah, so it's like a threefold, I'm sure mentally, physically, emotionally.

You're playing, you're, you're as a coach, if you're a real coach, you're playing the role of, you know, you're a dad when you need to be a dad, you're a teacher when you need to be a teacher , you're a shoulder to cry on, you're, you're, you're, you're a psychologist when you need to be a psychologist.

There's lots of crazy facets that take to this when you're doing everything that, that we do.

And I mean, I've been, Like, I've been very good in my career.

I've got good hand-eye coordination, so I dodge a lot of stuff, but it's like, I got blasted in the face, you know, I was working pads with, uh, Muhammad Ali, who's, who's fighting in the, uh , the tough finale, uh, coming up.

Shout out Muhammad.

You know, he smacked, we were doing light pads and he blasted me in the face the other day with, with little gloves on.

In the chin and then I mean we, we fought for a solid round.

The pads became, you know, gloves and we were like, coach, coach, are you angry?

I'm like, No, not at all.

No, no, you're good.

So it, it happens all the time, you know, you're literally, if you're training these guys, and I want to do it while I still can, you know, the body is definitely getting beat up.

I've had surgeries.

I've had.

Sepsis, I've had this, I've had that.

I've had all kinds of crazy shit, but I'm still in it.

I still love it.

I still enjoy it.

I, you know, you'll see me.

I try to do jiu-jitsu a few times a week.

I, I still spar with the guys on Saturdays.

The shit, I'll tell you this, like my body is, my mind's great.

It's still there.

I'm like, all right, let's get this going today.

And then you're like, my body's like, no, we don't want to do that.

We don't want to throw that combination, you know, but it's, um, it, it's, it's definitely, again, it goes back to, I absolutely love what I do.

So even when it's like, oh God.

It's still great, yeah, um, so what, how do you, what do you do for like to, to, you know, take care of your own body, you know, do you, are you doing a lot of recovery, things like that?

I do want to talk about the, the injury.

I know you had a really bad injury too because of all this, right?

Yeah, I, I've had some crazy shit the last couple of years.

I, I, I was sparring with somebody to start it all, and, uh, one of the kids at the gym kept keeping me in the body, and I've always never got hurt by body shots, but he was, he was ripping these kicks, and after we got done.

I looked down and I felt something and I was like, my belly button's not there anymore.

I blown out my belly button, you know, so like, he like kicked the hole in my belly button, ripped it in a hernia.

So I started with a hernia surgery last year and then I spent 3 years, um, and, and I used to do nothing for myself.

I wouldn't stretch.

I wouldn't do any of the things that I'm doing now, but 3 years with a fully blown out shoulder, torn, like my rotator cuff couldn't have gotten any better.

There's nothing attached anymore, but you just can't find.

6 months to really sit the time to sit it out, you know, you got guys is when Rob was going on that run and Khalil and all these guys, and it's like, I can't holding pads for these guys when almost 3 years with a complete blown out, but I was, I was doing stem cells and I was hoping it was regrowing things.

It wasn't.

It was, it regrew all the cartilage.

Thank God I had great cartilage, but I was sparring with somebody and I, and I, I threw a punch and I popped off my bicep tendon.

So then I was like, you, you can't, you know, you have to put that back on in a couple of weeks or you lose it, and I am not willing to sacrifice the guns.

So, you know, I, uh, I went in and had a double surgery where I had them put this back on and redo everything.

I've got 12, um, anchors in my shoulder holding it together.

Um, it was like a 9-hour surgery.

It was terrible, but, um, got it done and then, you know, after that, I was doing stem cells on this one because I had torn my labrum.

And, um, I was doing stem cells to to get this one healthy and I was having some shoulder pain.

It was funny.

I, I went in, and I had ordered some stem cells and didn't go and they were sitting at the doctor's for a few, few months.

And then all of a sudden my shoulder, I thought it'd healed up.

My shoulder was starting to hurt again.

I went in, got an injection.

The next day, my arm, like I, I couldn't lift my arm, killing me.

Dying.

Well, I had 2 fights that week and I had to fly.

The next day I had to fly to.

Texas, I think for fury went out, had a fight.

By the time I got there, my arm was like completely dead and I'm holding pads and it's starting to swell up and I'm calling the doctor.

I was like, is this normal?

She's like, well, no, that's not normal.

And I've, I've had this, that's not normal.

It started swelling up and then by the time I had flown from Texas to Kansas City for, uh, Invicta for Shannon Young's fight, I showed up.

I had like 103, 104 fever.

My arm was like, you know, whatever.

I had started taking antibiotics.

The doctor called me an antibiotics, so I thought.

I'm good.

It's gonna pass.

I was already past the point.

So we end up, I ended up cornering her.

I had my arm in a sling.

They're watching me like slowly die in the hotel room.

Oh yeah, I don't remember it.

Like I had 104, like 104 fever, 105 fever.

So I fly back and I didn't want to go.

I went to the, the, um, 20, the 24 hour care, the urgent care, and they're like, you need to go to the emergency room.

But I kind of felt like if I went they were gonna.

Take me in and not let me go.

So I was like, I'm gonna make it back to Vegas.

So basically, I get off the plane, Dom was there with me, he's carrying my shit off the plane.

I get straight to the, straight to UMC and Doctor Davidson from the UFC, you know, runs that and called it in and I go right in and he's like, dude, you gotta go, like, red streaks going up my neck and into my chest.

And they, they tested like you have a massive sepsis going on.

You have a, you know, you're like, you're like, so straight emergency surgery right then and there.

They clean it out and it comes back.

I had a staph infection I didn't know about and I shot stem cells into a staph infection and basically blew my arm off.

So my arm was dead for 6 months.

I couldn't even lift it.

I had a PICC line in my heart for 2 months, antibiotics every day straight to the heart.

It was crazy.

I was still in the gym.

I was still in the, I was still in the gym, and I did some for your doctor love that.

She's a they were UFC doctors.

They understand.

They actually wanted to keep me in the hospital for a few weeks, but because I had good care and they knew Jojo and, and these other doctors were gonna take care of me, they let me out, but it was bad.

I was like I was a day away from losing my arm or dying, so I have like permanent crazy damage for that.

It's, it's just insane.

Oh yeah, is it like a nerve damage my good shoulder is now my bad shoulder, you know, so it's nerve.

Damage.

It's crunchy.

Yeah, it's just been, it's all kinds of things.

I tore both my hamstrings almost, you know, off the bone a couple of months ago.

It's, it's all kinds of fun stuff.

So not even the fighter, and you are going through all of this.

You're going through more than the fighters go through.

So now, well, if you think about it, the fighters, you're training yourself.

I'm training I guess 60 other people, you know, all the time, every day, 4 or 5 people a day, every day.

Um, and then still trying to be active myself, still trying to lift, but I, I've spent much more.

In recovery and it's something I wish I would have done a long time ago.

I just started stretching more.

I go to the stretch place and have people stretch me.

I'm too lazy to stretch myself.

They strap me to a table, they'll stretch me.

I go to Dynamic Sport and Spine.

Uh, it's right down the street from, from the gym and, um, Doctor Joe, amazing place.

Those guys, like they've, they've started working with a lot of the fighters and backtraction and a lot of the, a lot of the things.

It's kind of like a mini PI and they've been really helping me out because A few months ago, because after the hamstring thing, my, my, I all of a sudden I had sciatic.

I've never had that.

I couldn't walk, couldn't get up.

And so like, because my hamstrings and back, everything tightened up, they're really helping me do this stuff.

So I spend almost every day.

Um, you know, like this morning I go to, uh, advanced orthopedics, their PT place.

I've been going to physical therapy for the shoulders for years now, but I, every day I try to set to where I do something positive for my body.

So you have to work on yourself every day to go up, to go and be.

I'm not, I'm still like, I'm at like 100, but I'm working up.

I was a -1000, but I'm trying to get back to 0 and I'll be OK.

Who's the one guy you dread holding the pads for the most?

Well, Ali, now that, now that he's Muhammad Ali, now that he's been attacking me, but now, um.

You know, I really enjoy holding pads.

Like it is rough on the body.

Marab is always, he, it's a straight-up fight with, with Rob.

It's a straight-up fight.

Mar Rob is like, you're going in for 5 rounds, and, and we're gonna fight for 5 rounds.

Um, that one's tough , but fun.

Khalil Rowntree is always, you know, he, he's a, he's a, he's a killer on the pads, but I really, we've, we've worked together for so long that we can almost do it with our eyes closed.

Like I trust him.

I don't think he's ever hit me or kicked me, you know, like we have a good flow, um.

You know, anybody who's that, that, that 6th or 7th, uh, session of the day, that's who I hate working with.

That's the way I'm like, oh my God, you know, whatever, who's the who's the last on the list, that's who I don't like.

Everybody else is good.

Khalil's one of your longtime athletes, right?

How long have you guys been working together now?

I think we're going on 1413, 14 years, something like that.

What does that mean to you?

Like, have somebody that you've been working with that long, see them at the level that they're at now, such as Khalil.

Oh, it's awesome.

You know, it's awesome.

Like that's what you hope for is that, um, you know, you're able to get these guys.

You'd like to be able to go from A to Z with them, and, you know, along the way, it's so hard to keep fighters their whole careers.

Um, you, you do it sometimes.

I have a few that I've had for quite some time and a few that have retired, you know, but, um, He's one that I had close to the beginning and it's great to see where he's at, you know, it's great to see again that MMA we talked years ago about what he wanted and his goals and Um, to see him achieve it and to see where he's finally, you know, getting a life.

He's, he's, he's actually living in Newport now.

He has a nice house out there and he's, he's got, you know, twins on the way, twins on the way, and, you know, and it's able, it's a career that's been , it's able to support all of that, you know, so it's really cool when you see.

Those people be able to to succeed and fulfill those dreams and you you had a part in it and a guy like Khalil like trust you with his career and pretty much his life because he just had to pull out of his last fight and he said that you were the one that made that call.

Yeah, I did, um, you know, with him.

It was, he's never pulled out of a fight before, but I just knew it just wasn't, it was such a hurried fight, such a big fight overseas, he had to go out early to try to get acclimated, and injury that he'd been dealing with had become more prevalent, and it was just where he couldn't train, and it was, it was just a bad spot.

And I've never heard him, you know, he's never won, he'll never pull out of a fight.

He's like, uh, you know, but talking to him.

I get a sense that, you know, it just wasn't, it wasn't a good thing.

And I've tried to be better about this, and I've learned from these mistakes where it's like, you got to have a bigger voice when you think.

We shouldn't do something.

I, I force myself now to have those opinions.

I've done it a couple of things, a couple of times, even recently with Cody Steele, just injuries and injuries and injuries was like, dude, I just, I, I don't think we should do this.

And it's a hard thing to do for me.

It's a hard thing to do for, for these guys, you know, and, and they don't want to pull out because it's, you know, one, it's a blow to the ego.

It's a blow to the, the, the, the, the bank, to the paycheck, you know, all these things.

It's, it's tough all the way around.

So I always talk to my guys, listen, Do you need this fight to survive?

Do you need this paycheck to pay your, like, are you OK?

Like what are we, what do we fight for at this point in time?

Because if you don't, and we're injured, you know, there's a lot more at stake these days.

Yeah, like you said, what being a coach wearing all those hats, you have to, you have to be that person that, that saved them from them in a sense, right?

Yeah, and it's been, it's tough because again, I've been a fighter before and I've been in those positions and I don't want to pull out guys and they don't want to pull out, you know, it's not nature to be like, no, we're not gonna do this, but I have, that's something in the last, just even in the last year I've really tried to be better about and making sure I'm voicing my opinion to these guys like, hey, uh, uh, I think that's good.

I think that's important because it's just, you know, longevity, yeah, for sure, keeping them going and, and the, the curve in the UFC is so steep, man.

One or two losses and you can be done.

And so they don't give a shit if you lose because you were injured, especially if you didn't say anything, you know, they'll just be like, well why didn't you pull out, you know, well, I had to fight money because I don't get paid enough money to, to, to survive, you know, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

That's a part of the problem with the fighters is like there isn't enough security to almost not fight.

Like you almost, you're forced to.

Um, talking about, you know, like we're saying earlier, it takes a village.

I do wanna talk about, you know, the, the culture or the, the team that you have at Syndicate because you have, you have a lot of great, you know, knowledgeable, credible coaches in the gym.

So talk about me a little bit about that.

You've got the, the Brennan's in there for jiu-jitsu.

Too, uh, you recently brought in, you know, um , Macio Fullin, who's from the Mexicans, you know, the Mexican team, Brandon Moreno and all them.

How's that been going, man?

Masso's been awesome.

Um, you know, he was a guy we, we just, he's been coming in even when he was fighting for years, training, sparring, and then obviously he's kind of starting to take a, uh, you know, more of a coach role, and, um, and with that being said, since I, since I hired him on, I expect him to be like, hey, I'm gonna start fighting again.

And like I'm gonna do better.

No, just please just coach.

But, um, he seems to be doing really well in the coach role.

Yeah, he really is, and people have taken really well to him, you know, um, he's got a great attitude, uh, a great style.

He's a grinder.

He gets in there.

He works, um, you know, he's been around a great team for a long time with Moreno and all those guys.

Uh, he's fought a million times, you know, he's got all the experience, but You know, we were talking a few months back and he was just like , yeah, you know, I need to make some money, and I know he was, he was looking at.

Maybe doing something with the Mexico, uh, the, uh, PI in Mexico and that didn't happen.

And so I just said, hey, man, you know, I know he's, he's training to be a, you know, firefighter right now.

I think that's what, you know, he's looking at doing in the near future.

And I just said, hey, dude, if you're looking for a place, you know, I, I, I'd love to bring you on and see how it goes and he's come in and it's just been a great fit, you know, it's been a great fit with everybody and Same thing with the Brennans have been amazing, you know, those guys, it's a high-level jiu-jitsu, and they just add to the room so much, you know, absolutely, it's cool to have, you know, Macio because he's got that Mexican style boxing, which we, that's the only thing we were lacking is a boxing style, you know, so it's kind of, it's kind of cool for sure to have that in there, um, you have a lot of coaches on the mat.

Can you talk about that, you know, like the importance of that and why you have that?

Yeah, you know, I try to make sure that we have a good amount of, of coaches floating and, and being there because.

It's, it's hard to have eyes on everybody, especially when you have a bigger team.

And that's something that I'm trying to also Kind of change and go back to a little bit more of the quality over quantity, you know.

We got 70+ pros on the team and, you know, when you have that number, there's 30 or 40 are always showing up consistently, you know, on the mat.

You always have a good number and we've got another 50, 60 amateurs, but really just really focusing in on the quality of what we're doing and then making sure that we have the coaching staff to, to, To be there, I can't do everything, and there was a point in time before I used to try to do that, and it just, that doesn't work, you know.

Is it hard for you to lose, give up some of that control?

It is.

I'm learning and it is, and I see people doing shit, and I'm like, I wanna do that with me, you know, it's just human nature , and I've learned to like become.

Aware of that side, it all comes to ego, you know.

But even like, for example, watching Massos, he's been in for the last month or two and he's ripping pads with guys and I was like, oh shit, you know what?

I need to get back to doing that more.

I'm gonna do that.

I like that, you know.

So instead of before where I'd be like, How dare you do that, you know, uh, it's one of those things where I'm, I'm trying to learn and evolve and be like, it's motivated me like, hey, shit, I need to get back to this guy's, that's awesome.

Yeah, you know, so things like that, watching, I try to learn from all the coaches.

I've learned so much from fighters too, you know, Davy Grant is a guy who, I, I just don't think the asshole is ever going to retire.

I mean that in the sweetest way.

I love the guy to death, but I brought him in to start coaching and he's, he's running the striking program.

He's working with the kids.

He's such an amazing dude.

He just brings such a, he brings the level of just everything, you know, the level of the environment, uh, uh, the talent, everything.

He just brings it up.

Come into the room, he's a guy, I just love him to death, um.

And, and I can't wait for him, you know, I, I, I'm so happy he's still fighting and winning, and, and I'll never, as much as I want him to retire and, and coach, he's gonna be an amazing coach.

He already is.

I want him to keep going out there and doing what he loves to do, and he's, yeah, he's fighting in November.

Yeah, and I think Kenny Cross says he's the hardest hitter in the gym, right, dude.

Oh, Vince said that.

He, he really is.

He, he, he's like Wolverine.

He doesn't have regular bones.

He's got like that just steel bones.

Everything that skinny little dude does, he hits you.

It just hurts.

It hurts on pads.

He's probably one of my least favorite guys to hold.

He's my least favorite because I love working with him, but everything hurts.

It's just, he hits you and he pound for pound, that guy's just built different.

And when he fights, he's built different because he's one of those guys who's like, I'm gonna kick you in your bone as hard as you can and I'm gonna make that, that's gonna hurt you worse than it's gonna hurt me.

That's how he fights.

That's his mentality.

But, but having him in there, he's been amazing and watching him and it's so cool to see.

You know, other fighters gravitate towards him and be like, man, can you teach me , you know, he's got so much knowledge.

It's, it's a really good crew, man.

Definitely, absolutely, um, talking about, you know, some of the guys that you brought up for the longest time and like you said, you just got that short notice call.

Let's talk about Brandon Jenkins going out there and getting that done, beating the king of violence.

So you've.

With Brennan for a while, right?

Quite, I don't like 67, maybe longer years, years now , and he's obviously a dog.

He's, I think he's like going towards his 100th pro fight.

Like he's close.

I think he might already have.

I don't know.

I don't know, not as pro, but I know total all over.

I think he's there.

So he gets the call to go out there.

What, what, what was going through your mind.

You know, it's funny, a joke like he retired, semi-retired like a year ago, and since then, you know, he's done nothing but win and make more money than he's ever made in his whole career, you know, it's like, dude, I told him the other day I was like, you should have retired a couple of years ago, bro, and you'd, you'd be, you'd be rich, you know, so he, um, He got the MVP thing.

We got him on that cart, short notice for that too.

Stepped up, fought, uh, Nate Diaz's training partner, uh, Chris Avila, you know, had a great fight there, won that, um, so sitting on that, and he's been entertaining calls, and I always tell him like there's a certain number.

If it's over that number, take the fight, you know, take the fight.

If it's under that number, there's no point, you know, um, but then.

You know, they were trying to book him with Dylan Dannis.

He got booked with Dylan Dannis that fell through because of war, because of whatever, or because of Dylan Daniel Danis being Dylan Dannis, you know, um, so they, he tried to get that fight and, and he was gonna get a good payday for that.

That fell through.

And then The, the Mike Perry thing came up and Somehow, basically through the process, you know, Dylan Dennis has a pretty good, uh, record for pulling out of fights.

They, they told Brandon, you know, a few weeks into it that, hey, well, if anything happens, we'll slide you in or something like that.

That was the word.

And so, you know, it was, it was a few days ago, a few days before the fight.

He's like, man, you know.

They told me, I'm, I'm the guy if something happens, and I was like, dude, it ain't gonna happen if, and if they were gonna put you, if they, they'd already have you, have you flown you out there .

I think this is like Wednesday.

Like, bro, they would have already flown you out there if it was gonna go.

So Thursday is the same thing.

He's like, I don't know, you know, and I'm like, stop it, just knock it off.

And then Thursday afternoon or evening, I get a text and it, it's from Brandon.

He goes, it's happened.

You know, and I'm like, bullshit, you're messing with me.

And then I see his manager, Lance, uh, starts calling me.

I missed a couple of missed calls from him.

I was like, holy shit, this did happen.

So I, I picked up the phone from Lance and he's like, Are you free this weekend?

And I said, I, I guess I am now, you know.

So they fly out Thursday.

Um, weigh-in Friday.

I flew out there Saturday morning.

I, I jumped on a like an overnight, uh, 5 a.m. flight.

Didn't sleep Friday.

Go out there Saturday morning, get there, and, and there we go.

Jeez, um, what was going through your mind, you know, obviously if Jenkins is the man for the job, you know, his style.

How'd you feel going into the fight?

I felt great.

I, I loved Jenkins for that fight.

I think, I think Mike Perry is a fantastic matchup for him.

I told Lance, I told everybody I was like, dude, I think, I think he's gonna get this done.

Even right before the fight started, I told Lance, I said, dude, I got a feeling he's, he's doing this tonight.

And, you know, it's, uh, it's kind of crazy how it happened, but like, and, and people were.

Saying, oh, he was piecing him up.

He wasn't piecing him up.

He hit him like 2 times before that, and Brandon was blocking the most of it.

Brandon, Brandon was leaning the landing the cleanerly thought Brandon was ahead.

Yeah, he was landing the cleaner shots.

He was hitting them bigger.

He just was reacting a little bit different.

It's hard when a guy's standing there throwing everything as hard and you're trying to get away, but Brandon called a shot too, even in the back.

He's like, I'm gonna do two same side, rip him to the body.

I'm gonna finish him with body kicks tonight.

And you know, um, credit to him.

Sometimes he doesn't look like he's in, in the fittest shape, but that dude is in the gym.

He does, yeah, I was gonna say he's a doughboy.

He looked like he was the shape of a, he was in the shape of a pear, you know, he was very pear shaped, but he, uh, you know, basically.

He was in a couple of days before.

He sparred 6 rounds, 6 5-minute rounds the day before, you know, no problem.

He's that guy.

He gets on the mat.

The Saturday before me and him got into a fistfight on the mat, essentially, you know, he was trying to kill me and so I tried to kill him back and You know, we had a good ground.

You know, he's always in there grinding it out, so I just knew that he could get it done.

And then in the fight, you know, it's great.

I actually like that there was a little bit of controversy to it, so that hopefully we get a rematch, take it, do it over again, run it back, you know, take it like, let's, let's go.

Exactly.

And anybody I'd like to state that anybody watches slow motion.

Perry was hauling off trying to do everything he could and then they got blasted with a big old elbow and that's what his shoulder out.

Absolutely, I completely agree.

That was a strike that ended the fight.

He caused the damage.

Sorry, I agree.

Mention controversy.

Can it just real quick.

There was some pretty disgusting stuff going on in that arena.

Did you, did you pay attention to any of that, or like, how, how do you kind of like, I guess, obviously you're gonna take the fight.

It's a big payday for Brandon, but Like, how do you kind of conflate the two beat with all the disgusting stuff that was going on?

Listen, I had no idea this was an influencer deal.

I did not know, never heard of the show, never heard of nothing.

Just knew it was a big show.

Showed up and all of a sudden it's a, it's a circus.

You know, these are the things, unfortunately that are going on in the sport right now where you make the most money.

These guys are fighting influencer fights and, and they're getting the most money.

This is a thing, and I'm OK with that.

Like I'm OK, whatever is gonna get my guys paid and get these fighters paid.

It's unfortunate that we have to do these things.

It's unfortunate that he just got paid or these guys are, these, these nobodies, you know, these guys that aren't fighters are getting paid 10 times the amount.

Of an actual real fighter in the UFC, you know, so it's kind of a, it's a sad state of where we're at sometimes and things, but hopefully someday it changes.

But the shit that I saw in that arena , like, I, I, I, I was jaw-dropping.

I got there in the first fight and I, I didn't see any of the car or the weigh-ins.

I just showed up, like I said, I hadn't slept.

I slept an hour, I went to the fight, go, go, get there, we check in and the first fight I see is like, Some homeless dude fighting a midget and I was like, I shouldn't say midget little person sorry, whatever it is.

I don't midget I think that's the correct term after what I saw at that show, I think midget is the, the, the, the, the least, least offensive thing you could say.

It was, I did not know that that there was like a whole Nazi thing going on.

There was a whole like.

It was crazy.

There's, there's, there's swastika flags being flown in the, in the arena.

Like what world?

Like, I don't care.

You want to be racist, be racist.

You wanna, but where did this come back?

Like, and, and that guy's an influencer.

He's a big influencer apparently.

Like I went down the rabbit hole.

I went down.

I was like, what is all this shit?

I went down the, the, the.

Rabbit hole on this thing.

I mind blown I did not.

I was not ready for all that.

I did not know that that was a thing.

They, they, they're walking in the back listening to like, you know, Hitler's marching song and shit.

It was crazy.

Like Phil Rowe got involved in a confrontation with someone there , got involved with the guy in the, in the, uh, in the press conference, and I don't know how.

I didn't know how it didn't happen a lot more.

This was insane to me, but like I said, the fact that it's an influencer and people are, are OK with it because it gets views is insane to me.

To each his own.

I don't care.

People can hate, love, do whatever you want to do, but there's certain things where I'm just like, come on, this is a little, this is a little much, a lot of much.

And so, like I said, when you're, you're flying a, a, a, a Nazi flag in the, in the arena.

It's, it's pretty crazy shit, you know, and like I said, to each his own, do whatever you want.

I, I have my own opinions and, and values and of course, and I don't force that on anybody.

But it was a, it was a shit show, you know, yeah, even just like, like, yeah, the watching it, you see the flags, you see like just weird shit too, like you said, a circus, like there's like a big old SpongeBob in the background, SpongeBob beating the shit out of somebody.

People were like, Did you see the SpongeBob fight?

I'm like, Who's SpongeBob?

What is that somebody's nickname?

No, it's SpongeBob.

Like a real piss down and some dude in the cage.

I'm like, All right, it was weird.

It was the by far I've been doing this for, for.

Almost 30 years.

I have never seen anything like that.

Like that was a, that was a magician fought a juggler.

I did.

That was, yeah, that was I, I like, and it, it was clearly a real magician and a juggler because they, they were terrible .

It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life, and I, I was just, I was, I was blown away.

But, but we have a new king of islands.

Yeah, but with that being said, please have us back.

You know, loved your show.

It was great.

I'm all for it.

I know, but, and like I said, that's the crazy part of MMA.

You just never know what you're gonna get.

You never know who's gonna win.

You never know what you're gonna see.

You never know what's gonna be in the crowd, apparently.

And so.

Um, yeah, Brandon Jenkins did his job and, and, yeah, dude, he's, and anybody like if you don't know, go, go watch the guy, like go watch some of his highlights, you'll see why he gets brought in.

There's never a boring fight with that guy , he's, yeah.

That was obviously short notice, but you have a lot of fights that you guys are preparing for that you are, you know, ready, getting ready, um, you've got, like I said, the Mexican, you got Brandon Moreno's team, all the Mexicans on the Mets.

You got a couple of them getting ready for UFC Noche, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So Moreno obviously heads out next week, and then, um.

Can we talk, can we talk about Brandon real quick, because I, I got a chance to talk to him earlier today actually, and we talked about you and how he's training at Syndicate, and I think it kind of goes back to what you were saying, like these guys, like in the fight game when he's on a two-fight losing streak, um, and you talk about like the new shiny gyms in town, but now you have a former champion who's trusting you, who's on a two-fight losing streak, we back against the wall, and he's like, hey, I wanna go to syndicate and be with John Wood, and he said you told him bring his coaches.

Can you talk about like what that means to you, where he's entrusting you with his back against the wall kind of?

Sure, sure, sure, sure, um, you know, he's been coming to the gym for years on and off, sparring and doing some things and, and.

You know, I never kind of, never questioned, I never questioned anybody whether you, why you stay or you join the team or you don't join the team, but I've had multiple guys that have done that over the years.

And if it's somebody I like who I really like and respect, Brandon, and he's an amazing fighter and just the nicest guy on and off.

Like he's a guy you want in the room.

So even when, when he was coming in and coming out, it's like, no, man, this is, please feel free, you know, and, and so he started coming more.

Started coming more and started, you know, showing and then basically.

Um, he got this fight booked and we kind of had a talk, and he's like, hey, I'd like to use the gym.

I have my, I have my coaches.

I have people I've been working with for years.

We had a good talk about it.

I said, no problem, dude.

You know, and they're all super respectful guys.

I don't have a problem working with any of their coaches when they come in and they're respectful, or they at least fucking greet you.

I've had guys walk into my gym, not say a word, get on the mat, and be like, and, and start acting like they, they own, like, don't even say hello.

It's like it's Vegas is crazy.

It happens all the time.

We're like, dude, take a hike.

Like, sorry, you know, it's just about a respect level of people.

And so those guys are really good.

And, you know, like I said, uh, being respectful towards them , they're using the space and I just started kind of giving some tips and helping out where I could.

And then they asked me, hey, can you watch some sparring?

and started doing a little bit of coaching and sparring and, you know, and just helping them out.

And basically , My job right now or or with him is, it's just like, my goal, I shouldn't say job, was just to remind him and, and let him know like, bro, you're still that guy.

I see what you're doing here.

Give him a couple of little tips, give a couple of little tips to the team, give some ideas on sparring and how to do some things maybe a little bit differently that would help him.

And, and, and that was it and let them take it and run with it and, and just be there .

I worked with him this morning.

Some privates and just sharpening some things up, just a couple of things I'll watch when I spar and say, hey, OK, look, like, here's an idea.

If you like it, you like it.

If you don't, you don't.

But I watched him, amazing camp.

Like he looks like he looks phenomenal.

You know, I, I'm expecting big things from him.

It's been, it's been great to work with him and his whole entire team, and I hope to, To keep them, you know, and, and have them and, and, and grow and do more camps with them and keep, you know, eventually have them there.

That'd be the goal.

Like you, you want somebody that caliber and somebody of that quality of person in the gym.

So it's been really, really cool to work with them and again, just kind of grow with those guys and, and get better.

Will he just have his, his team in the corner for UFC.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, that, that was already set when, when this fight was there, you know, when he said, hey, we're coming here, that was already set.

I'd love to corner him someday, but that's up to him, and, you know, that's the thing where I'm not a cherry picker.

I don't try to, to, to, to force my way in those situations.

If he ever decides that that's a great thing and the team does, great, you know , I'm, I'm all in.

But if not, like I said, a guy.

Who is of his caliber and of his quality of just a human being.

I love having him in the gym, you know, so it's just great, great addition to the team.

Yeah, it's amazing.

Love him.

Um, there's a couple of other ones that are going to be on the card as well.

You've got Edgar Charez that's been in the gym.

He's facing Tim Elliott.

That's a, that's a, that's a.

That's a, you know, that's a fight.

Yeah, it's a scrap crap, and Charis is good.

So yeah, I expect a really fun fight.

Um, are you, have you been working with him at all?

Just, just having him on the mat, just giving him some pointers here and there, but nothing, you know, again, he kind of came with those guys, and so I've just, if they ask me questions, I'm in.

If you want my help, I'm in, you know, I'll, if I see something, I'll interject and say, hey, you know, but past that, just kind of we're in the .

Feeling out process of all these things, you know, and so that's just, we'll see where it goes from there.

Cool.

Do you have anybody that you're gonna be going down for UFC OJ for personally?

I don't.

We had Lazy Boy in the gym for a while and he ended up going back to Mexico and, and, and so, you know.

Just guys that we've helped and, and worked with and you know people that I'm gonna be rooting for for sure, yeah, definitely, uh, and then you just had, you were just there last night cornering at the Dana White contender series, um, Hunter Smith unfortunately came up up short a little bit.

How did you guys feel about the, the call on that one?

I felt like, I felt like it was obviously really close, could have gone either way, but I felt like Hunter did do just enough.

Listen, for me personally, I, I would have given it to Hunter.

Unbiasedly, maybe a little biasedly, but I know why they gave it to the other guy, you know, I, I, I do.

And I told Hunter going into that, I said, into the 3rd round, I said, listen, I don't know.

How they judged that second round.

Like, I don't know, we lost the first.

I don't know how that 2nd round got judged.

It was close, so I'm going to give it to the other guy.

I said, you go out there and you try to finish this guy.

You got to go out there and look for a big, big.

You gotta have a big round, bro.

And, and, and so, you know, and he did, and he basically had that guy on the back foot for 15 minutes running back, and he was the one setting the pace.

There was a couple of things I just didn't have enough time with Hunter to kind of, Like what was happening last night is something that we work on a lot, but it just didn't have time in a full camp to really get those things of how to cut the guy off.

He was doing some good stuff, but it was just the other guy had some big moments, flashy moments that were sounded good, even though he's, he's throwing spinning shit and, and Hunter blocked all of it except for the first one.

And that was the first one that kind of caught him off guard, but after that, it blocked all of it, but it looks big and it looks good.

You know, and that guy was screaming to Dana and he's screaming to the, and he's pumped up, you know, and, um, optics, I, I say this word a lot, you have to have optics.

The punch count was dead even.

So I think that for me, if you have a guy that's going forward, pushing the pace.

Physically trying to engage the fight and doing the pressure and controlling the cage.

When it's a close fight, that is supposed to be something that, that is, is added up in the judges.

And a lot of times it is.

But it just, it just wasn't last night.

And like I said, there was moments and things where I saw where , where his opponent was like, OK, you know, do I think it was a deadass robbery?

No.

You know , a lot of people do, but I thought, you know, it was a close fight.

I would have given it to us on, on pressure and composure and moving and, and, you know, pressing the fight and again, landing just as many shots and having those exchanges, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Yeah, I agree.

On a side note, that the kid who won had the worst callout in contender series history after calling out King Green, who's on a four-fight win streak, and then did it multiple times like he thought it was reality.

So a little bit of delusion cut.

What was it Livingston or was it.

And not even that like, uh, put me on the MSG card.

Open the main card like, bro, relax.

Honestly, I didn't even think you played at the apex a couple times.

I didn't even think you should have got a contract.

But if you, if you go out and you starch someone, like if he had knocked Hunter out cold, make that call.

And, but, but again, this is a sport unfortunately that we're, we're forced.

To have to sometimes do cringy things we're forced to have to make those calls.

You're forced to have to have people, we're sitting here talking about him right now, you know, good or bad, we're talking about it.

So it's one of those things where you shoot your shot.

So I don't fault him for that, you know, is it gonna happen?

Fuck no.

But, but, you know, but good for him, man.

He's in the UFC now.

He fought a great fight.

He fought a tough kid.

Um, and, and, you know, hope to see him do well, but it's, it, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's reality of the things that those things aren't happening.

You did, you know, you did, you were on your back foot the entire time, and he had some good moments, but, you know, again, is that gonna get you to, to MSG?

No, not yet.

Um, and then going into Marab we were officially in kind of like the 8 week fight camp, you know, time frame as far as, uh, him versus Peter Jan .

Uh, how do you feel about that?

And yeah, what, what's it like?

Obviously you've gone, you've done 4 championship camps with him, so, and now you've got 8-week camp.

Like that's not a championship fight.

Yeah, yeah, it's, um, he, he looks great, great shape.

We've got a lot of the injuries that were, man.

He kind of limped into that last fight and, you know, he'll never say it and people won't whatever, but that, that was a fight that probably didn't need to happen.

Should I ask you about that?

Did you ever try to talk him out of that ?

Listen, there's, there is no talking him out of those things.

There, there's subtle hints of like, yeah, maybe we should wait, you know, but he was dead set on breaking that record.

He was dead set on trying.

He shot for greatness, you know.

And when you, when you, when you're trying and striving to be great, sometimes you come up a little bit short, but it hasn't stopped him, and now right back in the mix, you know.

So there, there was no.

There was going to be no talking him out of it, especially after what I saw him do in the Umar fight.

I, I've said this time and time again.

He was, he was half dead when he fought Umar.

Uh, that was, he was so banged up, so beat up, so sick, so hurt.

That was the fight.

I was praying kind of that they didn't clear him.

And now I was like, thank God they did because that dude showed up and that's where he proved to me, he's like, he is just otherworldly.

When it's game day and, and show up, like he did amazing things that night.

So that kind of set my mind, hey, it's Marab.

Rob's gonna do Marab things and that's just how he is.

So when this came around and there were some injuries and lingering things and just time, the grind that he put in that year, the, the weight cuts, all that stuff, you could see it.

It was, it was wearing, but he can.

In sparring in practice, it was different, but he still looked so good.

It was different.

And, and I really wish I would have maybe, this was kind of one of those things where I wish I would have maybe had a, a more stronger talk with him.

Again, I don't think it would have mattered, but I really, I probably would have done it a little bit different.

But again, I've watched Marab do Marab things and those are some crazy things.

So coming off this, he's had plenty of time.

He's healed up.

It was, it was a rough go.

It was a rough go there and he was just super banged up.

Everything just caught up to him.

And not only just being a champion with the, what your body goes through, but the mental state, all the more that you have to do 10 times the amount of things that you're required to do when you're not.

And so watching him go through all that.

He's happy.

He's healthy.

He's in there.

He looks like the Marab of the old, you know, Marab back to a good mental state.

His sparring is great.

He just, you know, he's brought some new people in he's working with, and, and, um, it's, it's, I think it's, it's, it looks good.

Do you think he regrets, has any regret taking that fight, that 4th fight, or do you, has he expressed regret, or do you think he has any?

I mean, he hasn't expressed, expressed, and regrets, uh.

Maybe not regret, but like maybe second guessing himself a little bit.

That would be, he's never voiced any of that and I don't think he ever would, you know, so I can't say what's in his mind.

Um, I know for me, I, I, you know, I, I wish we wouldn't have obviously the result, um, but it's one of those things where Your hindsight's twenty-twenty.

You just don't know.

And, and those are the kind of things when you have somebody with like Rob who's so driven, he's gonna try to do all that shit.

He's gonna, and he'll probably get that title back and he'll try to do it again.

Like I can do it this time, you know.

And again, I joked and told people if he won that fight, he'd probably try to do a fit fight.

That's the way , that's just the way that man's built, you know.

So it's, it's one of those things where I don't think he regrets it.

I think there's a little bit of like.

You know, damn it, probably wasn't the smartest decision, but I don't know.

I, but like you said, he, he was chasing greatness and he fell, fell a little bit short.

So, um, but, and he's still great.

I still think he's the best weight of all time, not that he fell short of greatness, um, what, so, I mean, you know, so many fights, so many weight cuts.

What's a Marab weight cut like?

He, the old school way.

It's special.

It's a fun time.

Um, I wouldn't know.

He doesn't let anybody into the actual when it comes time.

So that I've heard that that, yeah, Vato Vato's been the guy that's running.

I think this time he's actually gonna do it a little bit different.

He's, he's been working with Charles from the PI and, and, and I think age is starting to go be mature where he's like, I'd like to do this a little easier way, you know, there is definitely an easier way than the Marra way, um.

He very old school, very old school, you know, stop eating, stop drinking, suffer because it's just, I think in the mentality of him is if you're not suffering, it's not working, you know.

And, and again, as a coach, I've watched it and I was just like, but it worked so many times where it's like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

There's better ways.

I don't know how he does what he does and was able to perform how he did.

But again, that's what makes the guy so special.

He just does what I would say rob things.

And the weight cut, brutal, you know, like he, he just very old school, but I do believe he's, he's implementing some more diet this time and he's, he's doing some more things and working, you know, with some people and, and brought some people in and he is interested, at least as of right now of hearing things.

I tried to do it a little bit different one time and, you know, do the bath thing and, you know, not do some, some crazy things he was doing before and You know, he's like, uh, no, I'm done.

I'm doing it my way, you know, and so that's just the way it goes, you know.

He just, he has a way and it works, but I hopefully we'll see how this one goes.

Supposedly he's gonna try some new stuff, but we'll see.

Weight cutting is kind of a polarizing topic in the sport in general.

Where, where do you stand on it?

Do you think that they need to change it?

Do you think they need to add weight?

What, what, where do you stand on the whole issue?

I, I think the older I've got, gotten.

Weight cutting is the dumbest shit that I could possibly think of doing before going out and doing the craziest, most athletic, gnarliest thing for your brain.

It's the dumbest thing I could ever, I, I, I just, uh, like I said, the older I get, I'm like, what, why, why are you doing?

We've done it for so long.

It's been around wrestling, boxing, every sport.

It's been those things where I don't think it's going anywhere because there's always gonna be somebody that tries to cheat the system.

If you have day of weigh-in, somebody's gonna do a day of, and you're gonna cause somebody to die, you know, like, it's all these crazy things.

People are always going to find a way to cheat the system.

Adding more weight classes, I, I think is a great idea for there's a lot of in-betweeners.

I think you need that.

Just do every 10 pounds, 65, 75, you know, like I think it makes sense.

Dana seems pretty dead set against it.

Dana's dead set.

They're, they're very old school.

They don't like to change things.

Their, their, their mentality is this is the way it is.

And until it makes sense to them, and one day it might make sense, then it's like, oh yeah, I love this idea.

It was great.

And they're very good at what they do.

The UFC is the best at what they do.

They're the gold standard.

But there we're definitely living in some, you know, some archaic.

Designs of how the sport was set up before, you know, with.

I, I just, there's no sport in the world other than like combat sports that, that does, hey, kill yourself.

Literally try to kill yourself right before you go and fight another man almost to the death.

Well, that, you know, I talked to Al Joe, uh, months ago, and he made the point, and I mean, it's pretty obvious when you think about it.

It's like it would be beneficial for the UFC if they did that because the fights would be more competitive because the guys are in better shape and better.

And what you'll have though is then you'll have, you say you start at 165 position or you know, you do these in-betweeners.

There's a lot of in-betweeners that are too big or too small to make that weight and so.

There's, you're just gonna have guys cutting weight to make that weight too, you know, like you can add it, but there's always gonna be those people because you're gonna have one guy that comes in, that's just a monster, you know, and if you start a 165 division, he's gonna come in at 195, you know, anyway, and people are like, well, fuck, I gotta do that, you know, or you're gonna see a guy at 85 go, well, I can make that weight, and then they're gonna be guys cutting down to try to, it's just, I don't know, it's a problem.

I, I, I don't know how we solve it at this point in time.

You know, the, the rehydration clause, um.

It is a way, but you'd have to enforce it like California does.

California is like they don't let you come up a certain amount of percentage of your weight or you get fined or suspended, you know, if you went across the board or weighing in the day of or weighing in before the fight, you have to be these things or day of.

And the reason that doesn't happen is because A lot of fights will start dropping out.

That's a matchmaker's nightmare.

That's the number one thing is like, well, he didn't make weight, boom, fight falls off.

It's a matchmaker's nightmare.

It's, it's like no one wants to deal with that shit.

So it's something's got to give at some point in time for it to get better.

I'm not sure what that is at this point in time because one thing sets off the next thing.

And like I said, if you got a bunch of fights dropping off and people, you know, doing this and doing that, then.

It's, you know, it becomes a problem that they don't want to deal with.

So much that goes into it, right, then just, yeah, they don't even understand, um, obviously you've got this brand that you've built and now you've just started your own brand, so I wanna talk about that a little bit.

Just fight, um, where did that come from?

What does it mean?

What do you want it to be, you know, I, I, I've been in the apparel space for a long time.

I've been making apparel for with, you know, for syndicate for, for years.

In fact, syndicate actually was my It was an apparel brand.

Started as an apparel brand for me before I changed it and I was like, I just got into it.

I was like, man, um, it's gonna be the gym.

Why not?

And so then the gym got too big where it's like, you know, I wanted to separate a brand from my gym.

And so, you know, just Fight was one of those things where it's like I say it all the time.

We always, dude, just go fight, just fight.

Just get in there and just fight, you know, like, it just was one of those things and, and I had the Raiders thing for a while where I was like, just win baby.

I was just fight, baby.

Come on , let's just, just fight.

Let's go just fight.

It's gonna because you're a Raiders fan.

Yeah, yeah, it's on the shirt.

Just fight baby right there.

It's like, you know, that's the thing is like just, just fight, dude, you know, or you, you're, you're talking, you see people bullshitting in the street all the time, like, dude, come on, just fight already, you know, get it over with.

Like stop talking shit.

Go just fight.

Let's go, you know, and then it's turned into something more where, you know, the, the concept is, is that, yes, it's, it's a brand for fighting and it's a brand for this, but If you look at it, every single person in life has something to fight for, you know, and that's the kind of where I want to go with it is superseding just MMA, but it's like, what are you fighting for?

Just fight for it, you know, like if it means something to you, just fight for it.

If it's important enough for you , you'll just fight for it, you know, like, that's the concept.

The concept is like everybody's got something to fight for.

What's your fight?

Are you fighting, you know, illness?

Are you fighting depression?

Are you fighting, you know, your kids?

Are you, are you fighting, you know, are you fighting your cancer, whatever it is, like just fight.

Like there is no, nothing beyond that of like, if it's, if it's, everybody's got to fight, if it's important, just fight for it, you know, and that's kind of where I think the brand is, is gonna head is, is, is, yeah, it's a cool, you know, MMA thing and stuff, but That the goal is to branch out to, to a whole, you know, whole different community also and the brand is sick.

I mean, take a look at it and then go, we can find it at justfight.

co, I believe, right?

Justfight.

com.

Justfight.

com, check it out.

I have a couple of topics I wanna clean up if we're winding down or whatever, um, um, I'm not done yet, but yeah, um, as a we talk about being a coach and like I guess.

It's twofold is the question like how do you separate being the coach and being like the guy in charge when you become friendly with these guys and then also your thoughts just because it's still kind of top of mind on the Dean Thomas Gillian Robertson thing that happened and his comments and how that played out, especially coming from a coach however you, whatever you feel comfortable talking about that situation.

Oh yeah, I'm good with all of it, um, OK, so first one.

When you're in.

A, a gym and a team, you know, and there's a lot of people become part of this because it does, it is a family.

You, anytime you spend an amount of time with a group of people, and that's, by the way, what syndicate means, you know, is, is a group of people all working for the, the same goal.

And, and so, you know, When you spend that, it becomes family.

It's hard not to develop these relationships.

It's Something I used to be very, really not so good at is becoming too close with people and becoming too friendly.

And I, I, I, and, and I am, I, I love my guys.

Like, if you're on the team, I love you.

There's guys I'd love to hang out with, there's guys I love, you know, drinking beer with.

And there, and there are people that I do, that I have built different relationships with that are a little, you know, even though we're professional, we, you know, I, I've separated it, but You can't, you cannot, it's really tough to play that line if you're trying to be the friend.

There's a time when you do need to be friends to guys, but it's hard to do both if you're hanging out, getting fucked up, drinking, doing drugs with these guys.

And I know plenty of coaches that have done this over the years and still do these things.

I, you won't find me going out on fight night, like when it, when it's, when it's, when it's, Uh, fight week, you won't find me out partying and getting drunk and getting fucked up and not showing up to the things I need to show up to.

You won't find me doing those things.

We do have team outings and it's something I'm trying to, just for the unity of the team, you pick a day, we can all go out and blow steam, have people come over, we play pickleball, do whatever, watch fights.

Um, we used to do a lot more of it, almost too much of it where that line does get blurred, you know, you do have to have that, that, that.

That line of, I am your coach, and I will be there for you if you need, but like, we, you know, you've got to keep that respect level and you've got to keep that.

That command of the room because if you do become too buddy buddy and you are doing too much shit with the guys that does skew, and I, and I've been at fault with it before and I've separated and maybe almost separated too much where I'm trying to like, hey, let's add some back in and do some things.

But, you know, um, you can't let the fighters be with the fighters and, and those, you know, let them have the camaraderie and, and obviously, like I said, there's guys I love hanging out with, there's guys I love shooting the shit with.

And, you know, obviously we have a good coaching staff that, that, that, you know, Brandon Jenkins is a guy that I'm actually trying to get to retire and become a coach.

You know, I love that guy.

Vince Morales, same thing.

I love that guy.

Like there's guys that I, you know, bring into the staff that, that I do like to hang out with and do be and the, and the coaching staff is pretty, is pretty tight, but you do have to have a separation or that does, that does skew and that does.

It can, it can create a lot of problems and lead into a lot of shit where you , I've, I've done it before and I've just, I don't take a hard line on it, but I definitely have taken a line that I cognizant for sure, for sure.

And then Dean Thomas and Jillian.

So Dean Thomas and that Jillian situation, um.

Right off the bat, should that have been done and said right there?

Absolutely not.

There's one thing you just do not come out and you don't say this shit in, in, in public.

Those are conversations that you need to have with the fighter behind closed doors.

And if it's all good and you want to talk about it afterwards, the fighter's OK talking about it and those kind of things, sure, if we're all on the same page of like, hey, but again, it, it came off so piss poor and the fact that you're shitting and everybody took it that way, whether it was or whether it's not.

I like Dean.

And he's been in the sport forever.

I, I respect him, um, but that was just, and he knows it, that, that was just a shitty time to, to get that out there, and it came out very badly, and, and you obviously upset the fighter, and you obviously, you know.

Who knows what's going on behind the scenes.

There's always way more, uh, than, trust me, way more that gets said and done, and the coaches sometimes, trust me, there's been plenty of times where I'd like, fuck that guy.

He's terrible.

I didn't tell him to do any of that, but you don't do it.

That's not your job.

Your job is to say, my fault, sorry.

I, I, I should have been a better coach.

I should have.

Told her or him to do this, that, that's my fault.

And you take that for the fighter, whether it's rightfully so, rightfully not, like you have to take that .

That is a position you were in.

You're never there, right, wrong, or indifferent to shit on a fighter, especially.

In a public forum, like it doesn't matter.

Like, trust me, there's plenty of times where I was like, hm, that's, I, I don't, it doesn't matter.

It does not matter.

It's your job, you take it.

It doesn't matter, right, wrong, and different.

That's your fault.

You've got to figure out.

I tell my coaching staff, every win, every loss, figure out what you could have done better.

Think about what you could have done better.

And if you can't think of anything.

Then you're, you're sitting in the wrong mindset.

Somebody loses, I have to go back.

Even if it's not, there's always something.

Well, shit, what did I do two months ago?

Is there something I did leading up to this?

I could have done better.

Should I have been more communicative?

Should I do this?

Did I not teach him the right technique?

There's always something.

You have to always be in the wins and losses, be able to find something that you can do better.

And with him, Again, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes.

I'm sure there's a lot.

My guess is there's a lot there.

When you spend years and time with somebody and you get to that spot, there's a lot of emotions, but wrong time, wrong place, and it's pretty funny.

Being Dean, now Dean's never shit on me in a broadcast or in the corner.

Please don't, Dean.

This isn't shots fired, but he's very outspoken, you know, and so, and he would, if somebody else would have said this, he, he would have his word with it too.

So I just think he, he made the right, you know, wrong time, wrong place, stupid emotional comment.

We're all victim to it at some point in time.

That's all it was, you know, and again, who knows, there could be.

A lot behind the scenes there that we don't know about and that's that, but definitely not the right time to say that.

I think the one thing he said was this is as far as I can take her.

I'm sure you have, you've had, have you had to have those conversations behind closed doors with fighters where you're like, hey, you know, I think.

This is as far as we, we're gonna go together.

Yes, and you don't have to mention names.

No, no, I won't.

And, and there, there's definitely, you, you, there's, there's fighters, a lot of fighters, you don't even get to have that conversation, you know, if something, somebody loses or somebody gets butt hurt, they just leave.

There is no like, hey, I, it's been, you know, I'm, I'm, it's a, it's a breakup, and, and for the coach, you never get the, But hey, I, I love you, you know, like, don't leave me.

You know, you never get that, your, your side usually.

That, that doesn't happen.

That's happened, that's happened one time.

In the last 10 years, I can think of a fighter, of a, of a high-level fighter coming to me and saying, hey, man, I, I, I really respect you and I'm just gonna, but I'm gonna do my own thing.

And, and, and that got the most respect out of me and then, and anybody and, and I would always let that guy come back to the gym if he wanted to come in and train.

He's come in and worked with some guys and people.

I, I, I think that's great, but that doesn't happen a lot.

And again, a lot of people don't like to have hard conversations.

And so, you know, that I've had conversations where it's like, hey dude, I'm just not a good fit for you.

You're not a good fit for me anymore.

Let's, let's, you know, a different, yeah, for sure, it's happened, you know, but most of the time we don't get a say in it.

Most of the time it's just like, hey, this is happening.

And that's the thing with fighters and, and people is like you think the coach or you, you own a gym, you run a gym, you're the coach, that we're the boss.

We're not the boss.

Those guys are hiring me.

To be the boss of them, to help them do some things, but a lot of times some of those guys don't really want a boss.

They're just like, no, no, no, I want you to do it how I want you to do this.

Do it, do it the way I like to do it, and then we're gonna get along just fine.

I really don't work well in that, that suit.

Like if, if we're gonna win or lose together, I need to have a hand in that and a voice in it.

I can't do the puppet thing.

I can't be a, a cheerleader in the crowd anymore.

I've done that where I've sat in corners and high-level corners just to be, just to be there.

And, you know, you know, you have no, no value and if, if the win or the loss, and it just sucks.

It's empty, so.

You want fighters.

That's why I always tell fighters when they come to the gym , hey, try it out for a few weeks.

Hey, let's get a session or two.

Let's make sure we vibe or vibe with one of the other coaches, you know, make sure this fits good for you, and then we'll figure it out from there.

Well, I'm sure now with the name because you've made a name, you win all the awards at the MMA gym, you, I'm sure you got guys that wanna come by and just be associated with the syndicate name now and maybe don't really wanna be there, right?

For sure, yeah, for sure.

I've, I've let You know, obviously with popularity comes growth and, and, and you get in swell of fighters that just want to show up and be in a room and, and, and again, I've had to kind of go back to the, I think I want quality, and here, here is the, here is our format and here is our way.

And there's some looseness and some things that you can obviously do what you need to do inside of that.

But if you don't fit the format, you probably shouldn't be here.

Because it, it, it, it sours the culture, you know, and so just picking people and, and making sure that it's right for them and it's right for you, then you get a good flowing culture, and that's something I'm really trying to stay with again , trying to build, yeah, uh, I have a question.

Have you ever had to tell a fighter it's time to retire like This is where you gotta hang it up.

Yeah, Brandon Jenkins.

Yeah.

I told him that.

Me and his manager Lance, uh, we, we had this conversation.

We were wrong.

We were wrong.

So now I'm never gonna do it again.

Um, yeah, yeah, there's been a few, you know, there's been a few where it's like, hey, but it's, it's never when.

It's always kind of too little too late where you see the writing on the wall and they're always chasing that last win.

You start losing, you start doing that thing and you're like, I don't know if it's gonna come back.

Not many people get to retire on their terms.

Jojo was a perfect example.

My wife, she knew.

She's done this.

She's been doing this shit for 20 some years, you know, she's been in the UFC for 10 years.

All the highs, the lows, she's just over it, you know, she could still fight.

In fact, I told her they offered her, you know, another contract.

The number they were looking.

I was like, babe, fight a few more times.

Like, you know, I like, win or lose, that's, I don't care.

Just go out, throw it, just go.

Just, I don't give a shit.

Don't even train.

Just go fight.

You get 3 good ones.

What yeah, just fight, you know, and so.

Um, she called her own shot.

She went out, won a couple of fights, and, you know, and, and she's on a two-fight win streak when she retired.

And, you know, back in the rankings, and they were just like, because she pulled herself out of the rankings.

She said, I don't want to be ranked anymore.

I'm not, you know, like she was, she was number 5, but we were just injuries were stacking time, things just, she's like, I don't want, I just want to fight for fun now.

I want to enjoy it.

I'm not chasing the title anymore.

I just want to fight my contract out, do whatever.

And I, I really did think she was gonna come back and do it again, you know, and she's like, no, I'm done with that shit.

I am done.

She's moved on.

She's running the gym.

But like very few people get to call their shot like that, you know, it's tough.

It's, it's hard.

You lose and you're like, I want one more.

I'll, I'll get this boom.

I know, I can't end on that, dude.

OK, I can't end on 3, you know, I can't, you know, it's like, oh shit, how many times are we gonna do this?

What should Justin Gate you do speaking of calling your own shot?

He can ride.

You know, Justin is probably, obviously you can see visibly, you know, age and time and things start to slow down and change.

You had a fantastic performance and Justin Gagey is the fucking man, you know, for going out and doing what he did, um.

It's like , now it always comes to, is he secure in his life?

Has he made enough money to retire and be comfortable for his family, you know, has he done it all?

Because now once you get the title, that's where all like these things start to happen.

So it's like you, you have to have that conversation with the people and the know, you know, it's like, hey, are we good or do I do this a couple more times?

Do I get paid?

And also, is it health?

Is it, is he, is he healthy enough to do the things like, Obviously if the dude that obviously the dude can still fight, you know, I think he's still gonna beat a lot of guys, but the fact of the matter is fighters keep getting younger and younger and better and better.

There is no way around it, you know, so eventually he's gonna run into what we all kind of thought after the Max Holloway thing.

Yeah.

Again, this dude is, he's the man.

You know, there is no, there is no other way to say it.

And so, If he's set and he's good in life, I wouldn't mind seeing him retire on top.

You know, that being the cherry on top, boom, no one can take that away because eventually, you know, maybe if you, you're rolling the dice every time you fight on any level, but as a champion, you're rolling the dice, those dice are a little bit heavier, you know, and shit.

So I'd love to see him retire as champ.

He's, no one, I don't think there's, no one deserves it more than him, has earned it more than him, but also too.

You know, it depends on how financial and these things, you know, 1 or 2 more fights probably sets them up, but it comes down to Are we gonna be brain dead and not be able to enjoy that part of life?

So those are big questions that him and his team have to have.

I have a feeling he's gonna do one more.

I don't think he's done.

I just talked to him last week, and I don't, I don't get the sense that he's done.

And when you're a fighter like he's a fighter, it's hard to hang that shit up.

It's hard, you know, that's a real fighter right there.

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, it's in him.

Well, I'm gonna get ready to wrap this up, but I did wanna, you know, we've talked about where Syndicate was, where it is, and obviously I wanna talk about where it is heading.

You just, you, you're expanding.

You bought the building.

Um, what are the, what are the plans for that?

Yeah, so, you know, we, we purchased the whole building that we've been in for the last 78 years.

Um, thankfully it was something that we were able to do.

And, uh, you know, we've got a couple of tenants in there and we're working on some deals to, to, to, to potentially buy out the leases and do some things and take the rest of the building.

So, my whole goal now is to expand and put everything that we've ever needed because, you know, we've pieced this thing together.

I, I, I love that location.

We , we came from a, a 17,000 square foot warehouse.

It was blazing hot and too cold in the winters and too hot in the summers and sucked, uh, you know, it was a big space and then we downsized when I found this location, it was only 8000 square feet, I think, or 10,000.

And, and so when I took it, my idea and my vision, I always bet on myself and Literally, I'm like, we're gonna end up.

Assimilating all this, we moved in and like the first week we moved in there, COVID happened.

So blessing and a curse.

I was like, well, shit, we're out of business, so never mind.

But it did take out the other businesses in and we were able to expand.

So like, you know, it was an unfortunate positive circumstance, and we started expanding and so able to like piece together this, piece together this, and now again we bought the building.

So now.

It's kind of chunked together in the building.

I love it, but it's awkward, you know, set up.

I want to go in and gut the whole thing.

We just redo it perfect how we want.

I want recovery.

I want to do a private side.

We're gonna do a private space for fighters to come back, you know, at night with another cage and have an area that's blocked off for them, you know, at nighttime to separate from the stuff, expand the weight room a little bit more.

Like I said, sauna, cold plunge, all those things, uh, a bigger, you know, fight store, a bigger, you know, a bigger pro shop, all those things, uh, a coffee shop, you know, Emily's talking about I want to do.

Coffee shop, protein bar, smoothie bar, all those little stupid things, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you know, better, you know, no, but, but no, the PI is great.

They're good at what they do.

But, um, you know, just have it set up to where the fighters are, it, it's all encompassing because we are, we are kind of a different gym, you know, we're one of the, I think, probably one if not the only gyms in the world that operates on such a high level of MMA, but also.

We've got 1100 members, regular members and families, regular people that come in, you know, that come in daily to, to train and, and, and, you know, we're filtering some of those into the Emmys and into the pros, you know, we have a, we have a, we have a, a pipeline of, of people that we're constantly, you know, we've got a great jiu-jitsu program now with the Brennan's and they're running top-level jiu-jitsu and competing.

And just really, really doing it well everywhere.

Davy Grant took the striking, you know, we, we got people competing now, whereas before, like under the old, you know, some of the old things that just weren't pushing people, and now people are getting pushed to compete.

People, yeah, yeah.

And so now it's just like top to bottom, have everything, but with that, you know, I also still want to keep it a legit fight gym and have everything they need, right?

So being able to separate the two, so the best of both worlds, but you know, get it done.

Jiu-jitsu, a couple more before we let you go.

No worries I'm in no hurry.

We can't talk about jiu-jitsu and not talk about Mikey Mussumechi's training at syndicate, training in MMA.

We talked to Vince, um, talk to me about what it's like.

He's obviously just such a great guy and so positive to be around, the best in the world at jiu-jitsu, maybe the best of all time, but now he's learning how to throw some hands too.

How's that?

Uh, it's interesting.

Mikey is the best.

I absolutely love Mikey.

He's become one of my favorite people very quickly.

Um, I, I'm on the phone with him.

I think I've got like 14 missed calls from him right now.

I can't be, I can't be, uh , you know, uh, indisposed without Mikey now.

I get 100 videos a day of, hey, look what I did, you know, and, and we train every day.

Great dude.

I absolutely love him to death.

Freak of nature.

He, he is just something.

That you know when he that when that dude grabs a hold of you, you're just like, what's stop whatever you're doing, stop.

I don't even know what you're doing stop.

It's, it's, it's different.

He is like an alien.

He's just solid brick muscle.

He is so ridiculously strong, flexible.

He's got hands for feet, you know, like everything.

It's, it's crazy what he does.

And you know he came in and he's a goofy dude.

I, you know, like he's just like came in and I'm like, you sure you wanna fight, dude?

Like, you know, like, but day one after week one, I was like, holy shit, this kid's gonna be able to fight.

He, I've never seen, there's very few people, um, you know, Rob is up there on one of them, and, and, and you the high-level guys be able to learn at this, the, the, the pace.

That he does to be able to input information.

Like even when he's not training, he's training in his head.

That's how this guy figures things out so crazy.

He's like, he'll come back the next day and everybody like, hey, so I thought about this and now I mastered it.

Like, you know, like, OK, you know, but it's, he's got such a great attitude about it.

He's so motivated for it.

He's an athlete, you know, and, and I, I, I love the fact that he looks the way he looks and acts the way he was.

He's, he's a great, you know, person.

But like that dude, he's gonna, he's gonna shock the world a little bit , man.

He, he is gonna be something special.

I know you're biased and you're his coach, but what's his ceiling?

Is it UFC?

Is he, can he fight in the UFC someday?

Listen, all this, all this comes down to.

These are, from seeing what I've seen and coached people over the years, he has all of the makings and potential for sure to be not only in the UFC but to be, A ranked UFC, a ranked UFC fighter and potentially fighting for a belt.

He has that kind of potential.

Now there's so many things that go into that.

There, that, that, that I use that very loosely.

I'm not gonna say, oh, you could be a champion.

You have potential.

You have potential in pieces of those things together because one, Mike can go out in his first fight, boom.

Oh shit, Mikey can't take a punch, you know, like.

That that's over, you know, you know, like, you don't know.

So that, that's gonna be the question is of, of those kind of things.

You also, I don't know that many people are going to be able to hit him in those things.

You, you've never seen, you've seen the Ryan Halls, you've seen these guys, freak of nature, jiujitsu.

Two guys that come out.

Mikey is, is taking his MMA training so way more serious than I thought he was going to.

Legit every day, 3 times a day, crazy things like just fanatical about it.

And, and he is dead set on.

Having that goal, I believe being a champion, and I believe there is potential for that to achieve.

Again, a lot of luck of the draw, a lot of right time, right place, right opponents, these things going on, you know, everything falling into place.

The moon and the stars align and Venus and, you know, Mars are at the right time.

That's what MMA is .

But this kid, he is the real deal, and he, and he can do it.

And he, you know, I, I, I believe he will.

But, uh, yeah, it's, it's been, it's been, it's been such a fun time.

Do we have any set plans yet like potential um promotions or dates, so if you can talk about it, this is probably what he's calling me about right now, um, or texting me about.

In fact, it is.

Uh, we can break news right there if you want to give him a call.

I'm on a podcast right now.

I'll call you right back.

So, yes, so it looks like, uh, there is some dates.

Oh shit, there is some dates and.

There is some things in the, in, in the mix for sure.

It just shifted from, from one event to another event, but yes, there is some things, and it'll be in the near future.

It will be this year, um, as far as I know.

Well, that's what he, he said at the beginning of this year that he would before that he guaranteed there, there is, yeah, there was something said, I think that I literally I think it just got changed and, and so, um.

For sure you'll see him fight this year.

Two more.

Big Raiders fan.

Max Crosby fight in the UFC because Dana has said that he could 100%, 100%.

If Max, again, another, we're talking about another freak of nature.

You're talking about people that are just special human beings at what they do.

Max Crosby, I believe if he trained MMA.

For a year would come in.

Run through a heavyweight division and within 2 to 3 years, he could be competing for a heavyweight title in the UFC.

He, he's a freak and he loves the shit and he's, he's down.

He's, he's down to get down.

He's been in the gym before, yeah, he's come in.

I've watched him and I've seen him, you know, he was sending me videos back in the day of him training and things and stuff, but I, I absolutely truly believe that, that, you know, and that's not just because I'm a Raiders fan and I love Max, but I truly believe that he could fight and I believe that he would do very well at it.

He's a monster.

He's a freak of nature.

He really is, yeah, and he loves it too, yeah.

Wiz Khalifa, what is his fighting ceiling, dude?

I was really surprised by that guy.

Yeah, I, I, I was, um, he's legit .

He's legit, and he's He's 8 ft tall.

Yeah, like I was like, uh , OK.

So with him, you know, I think you, you get him in with an actual proper training camp and coach.

He, he trains a lot of places and, and he's gone all over.

I've seen him, you know, training everywhere.

If you had somebody actually develop him in a system.

And he spent some time, um, learning his length and reach, but everything he does is legit.

He, he can punch.

He can kick.

He can move.

He's, he's athletic, you know.

He, he'll piece you up like if you got, you know, if you need to get, if he needs to get in the street fighting, he'll piece you up for sure.

But I was, I was actually really surprised because I've worked with plenty of people like that where like, yeah, you're great, you know, good work.

But, uh, yeah, he's, he's, he's for real.

It's awesome.

Well, that's about all I have.

This has been great.

Um, you are doing amazing things, and I can't wait to see everything that happens with syndicates and all of the fighters that you got going on.

Is there anything else you wanna end it with, John?

Uh, shout out to, you know, Monster for, you know, always having my back.

Man, Hans at Monster has sponsored me for years and great dude, doesn't get enough credit.

Shout out Hans, uh, you know, Just Fight, go check it out, justfight.

com.

Uh, Jackson, Jackson, beautiful watch here.

Santos, you know, Jackson, Santos, all those guys over there, great guys.

Um, but yeah, man, just, Support the team syndicate, you know, we expect to have another great, we're, we're looking at a really big run at the end of the year here, and I expect great things.

Let's go.

Well, thank you so much for being here in the corner.

It is always an honor.

And you guys, there we have it.

That is John Wood, Coach of the Year, owner of Gym of the Year, Syndicate MMA.

Thank you guys so much for tuning in.

This is in the Corner with Destiny McCubbben.

I'm Doug V.

Real fighters, real stories, real talk.

We'll see you next round.