In The Corner: Ode Osbourne on Injuries, UFC Life & Building His Brand

What's up guys?

This is In the Corner with Destiny McCoin.

I'm Doug Vasquez, and today we are joined by a very good friend of mine, UFC flyweight O'Day Osborne, AKA the Jamaican sensation.

What is up, Oday?

What's going on?

Thanks for coming in.

Of course, of course, we're doing good.

You know, it's another beautiful day here in Las Vegas.

You know, I'll take it.

I'll take, I'll take 2 months of really hot weather and 10 months of.

Awesome weather.

Yeah, exactly.

Rather than you get used to the heat though, yeah, yeah, honestly, this summer was actually very mild, mild.

It was a mild summer.

Last year was, I don't think we had 115 days.

Last year.

Last year was brutal.

We've actually had more humidity this year, yeah, yeah, because it rained rained the last couple of days.

Yeah.

Where are you from again?

Jamaica.

Oh, she's talking about like, hey, where did you grow?

Oh, OK, so originally I immigrated to New York and my mom was like, this is too cold.

We're going to Florida.

I grew up in Florida, went to college in Wisconsin, wrestled there, and then , uh, came here.

So you know the cold weather.

Sorry.

Oh, I do.

How much time did you spend in New York?

About 3-4 years I was it Flatbush, Brooklyn?

Yeah.

How'd you, oh, you, how'd you, I do my research, man.

Come on, come on, man.

Yeah, and then we moved to Long Island, and then I spent like, I think 2 years in Long Island, so like 2 years in Brooklyn and 2 years in Long Island.

Nice.

I'm from New England, so I grew up with really cold winters , yeah, yeah, I grew up in Utah and uh, yeah.

I won't do it again.

I can't do it again.

I don't think it was as bad as your guys and what you guys are used to, but, well, New England is New, New England can get real, real brutal.

It's like Wisconsin, right?

So how is everything?

You are killing it.

I feel like, obviously in the UFC, but you're also killing it, you know, social media-wise.

I feel like you've really taken, taken on to that almost like making it a career.

Well, it is a career in a lot of ways because I don't want to be.

Another statistic fighter who gets done and then they get depressed, and then they're looking for boxing fights because they can't do anything else.

You know what I'm saying?

I wanna, I wanna be the person that says, you know what, I think I'm done fighting .

I don't want fighting to retire me, you know.

There's, you know that saying, retire before the game retires you, and I wanna retire before the game retires me.

I'm not ready to retire yet though, you know, not even close.

Yeah, not even close.

UFC, if you're watching this, look , Mick, I'm not ready to retire yet.

No, I'm so glad that you said that because I say this all the time and I, and like I don't ever mean like shade by it by any sense, but I, I really do wish a lot of people sometimes would be able to recognize when it's time to kind of be done, you know.

Some people, I think, you know, push it, and it's like it's that weird line of where like you can't, you don't wanna tell somebody stop chasing their dreams or stop doing what they love, but at the same time it's like.

Yep, like, uh, Henry, so you don't have to say it, but I'll say the names.

Henry Cejudo.

Henry, you should have stayed retired, man.

I love Henry, so I can say it.

Henry, you should have stayed retired, you know, he let the game retire him, you know.

And now he's doing RAF.

Yeah, now he's doing RAF.

He's got his own podcast, but he, but he don't really count because he, he slid, you know, he, he had a lot of different business ventures, you know, whereas a lot of other fighters, they don't have nothing to do.

So they're like, now what?

Now they're picking up fights in different organizations, boxing.

Different MMA leagues and try to make ends meet and then they're starting their career or uh late where I don't wanna do that.

I'd rather just do it as I'm being a UFC fighter because this is an entertainment business.

To be a UFC fighter, you have to not only be a decorated trainer.

Like when I say a decorated trainer, I mean like.

Be religious about your training, but also be a content creator, an editor, a videographer, be good on camera, be personable, you know, not be an asshole like a lot of these people are.

Yeah, it's crazy cause like, yeah, that really all is a part of the job now and it's like, again, I always talk about it, but the evolution.

Of the game, it wasn't like that before.

It wasn't like that back in the day.

You just were a fighter, you know, that's it.

But they were also broke.

I like, you know, they were, they, they were, they were making pennies for fighting, and then they weren't making anything else other than that.

But at least, you know, now that these other doors have opened, you guys have ways to bring in money in other, in other ways, right?

Yeah, the Forrest Griffin era.

Yeah, exactly.

When did it click for you that you like could make something out of social media?

When did you get really interested in the whole content creation process?

I think this has always been me, you know what I'm saying?

Um, I don't think it really clicked.

I think this has always been me.

It's easy for me because I just had to be myself, you know what I mean, um.

Ever since high school, so I was a Um, I did television production in high school, and I was a sports anchor in high school, you know, I used to edit all my sports reels and, but that's not just on the, you know, so here's what I would do.

I would get on the desk, break down sports, and then I would make skits about sports.

I would, you know, get my friends out of class, and then we do a skit, and people loved it because it wasn't.

The typical news anchor stuff, it would be like, all right, after we get done talking about the football team because our football team was like one of the best in the nation, you know, shout out to Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals.

He's our quarterback, former New England Patriot, former New England Patriots.

I think the Patriots drafted him.

Oh man, look at you.

OK, so yeah, man, um, I've always been passionate about.

Like videographer and uh uh writing skits.

That's all I do now is just write skits.

Like I'm writing so many different skits for different companies, different products, you know, uh, I take a product like this secret juice, shout out to Paulo Costa, uh, secret juice, and then I'll write a skit around secret juice.

So that's pretty much.

What I do for fun and I'll make money with it, you know, and you're very good at it, writing skits.

Like I remember we did some together.

Like, how long does it take you to, you know, to write them out, come up with it, like put it, you put it on paper, but how long until it all gets together, really?

Yeah, about an hour, um, so creative.

It takes me longer to.

Film and edit, you know what I'm saying?

That takes a lot longer time, but it takes me about an hour to write because I, I'll, I'll just, I'll do like.

Few different scenes of the same skit.

So in case one doesn't sound, you know what I mean, because to me it may sound nice, but then I, I present it to you and you're like, uh, but then I'm like, all right, what about these five?

And you're like, oh, I like that one.

So yeah.

Speaking of that, like, kind of, you know, making more a couple and, you know, picking which one you like, do you work with trial reels?

Have you been like work, uh, experimenting with trial reels on Instagram?

I used to a lot.

I haven't in like, OK, I will say the last 4 months I haven't done it, but I used to religiously be on doing trial reels a lot.

But you get so sidetracked because there's so much to do, and now it's like, oh man, I gotta add in.

Trial reels into my schedule.

Yeah, I gotta start doing that again.

I really do.

I really, truly do.

It, it's, it really, all of it's a job.

It's all all such a job.

Oh, have you ever thought about hiring someone to help you with all that?

Do you have some people helping you?

Or see, I'm a one-man army, but I have friends that help me that when I need, you know, I have this guy.

Um, I've never met him.

He just reached out to me once.

One of my fans reached out.

Shout out to Flamingo Vision.

He reached out.

Oh, you know, Flamingo, yeah, he reached a little bit.

He's, he's amazing.

Flamingo's dope, and people like that, uh, you know, after my fight, I'll hook him up with, with some, you know what I mean, give him a, uh, a little, a percentage, and, um, but he, he's so dope, and he knows us fighters are broke.

So, yeah, I've thought about hiring somebody, but I'm not.

Where I want to be financially yet because you know I just bought a house.

I can't say that anymore.

Just it's been a year now.

September will be a year .

Congratulations.

Yeah, so I appreciate that, man.

Took all my money and put it into a house .

spot.

They tell you, everyone tells you to do it, but then you do it and you're like, Well, I haven't fought yet.

I need, I need to, we're punished well the house yeah.

So yeah man, um, when I have a consistent steady income stream where I can pay somebody to do that, it'll be good, but right now I have too many things I have to take care of financially to, you know, and hiring someone would just be another thing I have to pay for.

Yeah, yeah, lots of bells, yeah.

Um, so let's talk UFC.

I mean, obviously you were recently supposed to fight.

You were scheduled for Connor versus Gregor Max, right?

Yes.

Oh, that was gonna be such a good card to be on too.

What did you think about Connor's performance against Max?

I mean, I mean, I, blue balls, yeah, yeah, it was just such a letdown, especially after the pad, all the energy in the arena after the Patty finish, and I mean.

Yeah , it was, it, it looked like Connor to me.

It looked like Connor didn't wanna be there once he made the walk for sure.

Were you there?

I wasn't there.

Uh, we did an after we, sorry, we did a watch party with Aljo.

Oh nice, yeah.

Uh, we were talking about movies before, earlier, um, off camera, and it's kind of like movies, right?

If you have a good movie with a lot of random people that no one knows, no one's gonna see that movie.

It's like, it's like that's how the UFC is.

If you have a really good fight, people are gonna be like, uh, I don't really know them, so it's, uh, that card is mid.

But if you have a Conor McGregor on the card.

Come on y'all, what did we think was gonna happen, you know what I'm saying?

He hasn't fought in 6 years.

Of course this was gonna happen, and he's fighting a guy like Max Holloway, right?

But we all were like, Oh, it's Conor McGregor.

We're gonna watch it, you know what I'm saying?

It's like this isn't Marvel and the Avengers.

If you don't fight for 6 years, you don't just, you don't just hit a button one day and be like, you know what, I wanna be good again.

It's not how this works.

You can't just train for a year and be good again.

You lose everything you have.

I'm sorry.

He is human.

He is human.

And if you want, I think if he wants to get back to where he was, he can't.

He has to after his surgery just.

Become a martial artist again, you know what I mean?

Forget about.

The business side of things because obviously all of his businesses are going to go up if he takes a fight, you know what I'm saying?

He's a smart businessman.

He's probably one of the smartest businessmen in the fight game, one of the smartest.

All of his businesses just by saying yes to a UFC contract is gonna boom.

That's just the logistics of it.

But do you think he ever really can come back?

I mean, he's 38 now, 39, I think, actually, and it's like, so it's like , OK, you recover, you decide to be a martial artist again.

I don't, I don't know if he's ever gonna be able to come back again in full to full form.

Anything is possible because here's the thing, it's not.

Your mentality has to be there, and Connor has the mentality that can be there, you know what I'm saying?

His greatest asset wasn't his skill.

He was a very skillful fighter, yes, but that wasn't his greatest asset.

His greatest asset was his mentality, his mentality about fighting, his mentality about, you know, in the game of like how confident he was that he could do anything.

He believed that if he landed that left hand, it was gonna knock anybody out, and it did.

And that was it.

So if he can get his confidence back, maybe, because his body is not the same anymore.

When you're smaller and more nimble, everything is like a, you know, like a slingshot, bam, you know, it just snaps.

But because he's put on so much muscle.

It's going to be difficult.

I don't know if he'll ever be the notorious Conor McGregor that we once knew, but it's possible.

For him to be.

A good fighter at what what weight class was that 70 at 70, you know what I'm saying, because 170 is not that deep, you know what I mean it's deep, deep at the top, yes, exactly, it's deep at the top, but it's not that deep, you know what I'm saying now 55, that's deep.

And he's, I mean, at this point, he's not gonna cut to 55 again, but did you feel in the bill because you said like returning to martial artists, because I did feel a little bit of that and Destiny and I, I, I were around like all media week.

It seemed like he did have, like he got back to that.

He gave up the booze, he found God again and He seemed focused and then it all just kind of fizzled when he entered the cage and now I heard, I think he's back, he said he's back drinking again, yeah, yeah, because, uh, who was the actor was it who was the actor that started drinking and it was, uh, what, um, why can't I, oh, was it Brad Pitt.

Maybe it was, it was Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt, yes, yes, Brad Pitt started, um, he became, he was sober and then he's back to 10 years, yeah, and then he like did one of Conor McGregor's beer.

And so Connor's like, Well, Brad Pitt did it, so I'm gonna do it, which is a slippery slope.

Trust me, I know for somebody, you know, he obviously likes to do other things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, alcohol is not the problem.

It's, it's the things that alcohol brings that's the problem.

Uh, I do wanna circle back to, you know, you have seen stuff, but let's talk about it since we're on the subject.

Um, you did just start your own sober, sober journey, is that right?

I did.

OK.

What made this, uh, decision come about?

You're a fun drunk as far as I've always encountered, and that's the problem.

I was too fun of a drunk person, you know what I'm saying?

I am one of those people like, like you're the saying, if you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly.

I am a grizzly through and through.

You know, and you know, it's just a lot of stuff that's happened in my life over and over again.

It's like, man , I've, I've gone down this road before, and I truly don't like the taste of alcohol.

I've always just drank because everyone else is doing it, and I feel like I have, I get FOMO because everyone looks like they're having so much fun, and I'm like, oh, I wanna have fun.

Like everyone else is having fun, but I really don't need to.

I'm, I'm always energetic, I'm fine without it, but I wanna do it because everyone else is doing it.

But every time I drink I'm like, oh this is gross.

Like, you know, I don't like the taste of shots.

I don't want the taste of mixed drinks.

I don't like alcohol.

I just, like I said, I, I like the feeling, the confidence, everything.

But the problem is where it leads me and the person I become when I drink, you know what I'm saying?

Like I have no filter.

Like you're like, let's get on the dance floor on the DJ booth and you know, start just.

Dancing on top of the DJ booth, I'm up on that DJ booth going crazy, you know what I mean?

And, uh, yeah, life of the party, but too much, yeah, too much.

And you know, when, when you start to realize the person that you become when you drink and the things that you do, and then you, you wake up the next day and you're like, oh man, what did I do?

And, and you're just like, you know, thinking about everything else when that happens, when it's a reoccurring thing.

That's when you know you should not drink, you know, for me, that's when I'm like, OK, you know what, this is, it's a slippery slope.

Every time I'm like, OK, I need to just drink a little bit, so I, I'm not that crazy, you know what I'm saying.

I can't drink just a little bit.

I'm like, let's go.

That's the hardest part, right?

I, it is, I, I'm always like people like go out for like, let's go have a couple of drinks.

I'm like, what is a couple drinks thing.

And then we see like, you know, some recent events like Dustin, not, not to call Dustin out, but he had, he's been outspoken.

He found his relationship with alcohol was unhealthy.

So you're, you're kind of addressing the issue while you're still fighting.

Kind of took him retiring and having an unfortunate incident to for him to realize that, yeah, and fortunately for me, I was never the aggressive drunk type to do anything crazy and aggressive like that.

I'm just like fun crazy like I'm like, what are we doing?

Like, you know what I mean, like you're like, oh, let's take your clothes off and go skinny dip in the lake.

I'm like, let's go.

So is this a forever commitment?

It's a forever commitment.

Yeah, it's a forever commitment, I think, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm like, I'm 34 now, and you know, it's like if I drink on Saturday, then I have to take Sunday off and, and Monday.

Well, I don't have, I don't take Monday off, but then I'm going into my training on Monday because I'm still feeling the Saturday, and it's like I'm playing catch up every single week, I get that every single week.

Not just that, but I feel like, you know , a lot of times too, I end up letting people down, you know what I'm saying?

And in this life, you're not allowed to make mistakes.

What I mean by that is The moment you make a mistake that you can't take back.

And someone looks at you different, you, you can't even apologize for the thing that you did.

You have to own that, and you have to live with it for the rest of your life, you know, so, um, it, it, it makes you.

Like, it's, you either go two directions.

You either say, you know what, enough is enough, or you're like, ah, I don't care.

And I'm like, nah, that's not really me because that's not who I am, because, you know , sometimes I feel also, I feel like a hypocrite because I'm someone who believes so deeply in God.

Like I am God-fearing through and through, you know what I'm saying?

Super God-fearing, you know, and sometimes I feel like a hypocrite because here I am like.

I go to church every Sunday.

I read the Bible.

I, I write things down, daily devotionals, and you know, I'm drinking and being crazy, and I'm like I'm not living like the life that God wants me to live .

And so it makes it, you know, the, the, the, the guilt and the darkness.

It's, it's, it's really, man, it's a dark, it's heavy.

It's heavy, and these last couple of months for me.

Were probably some of the darkest that I've been through, man.

Some of the darkest, darkest, just heavy, heavy, heavy, and when you're for me, when I'm, when I'm close to God , it's heavy.

Everything is heavy for me, you know what I'm saying?

But when I'm not.

Close to God and I'm doing whatever I wanna do and I don't care.

Nothing fake, nothing bothers me.

I feel like I'm, I'm fake happy, meaning like it bothers me but I don't care, you see what I'm saying?

Sometimes I'll even self-sabotage just because I want to, you know what I'm saying.

But now when I'm like really in line with my spirituality and I'm in line with where I wanna be in life, then everything is just heavy.

That's when the temptations are even worse, you know what I mean?

You go out and everybody wants to give you drinks, you, you know what I'm saying?

The temptations are so, uh, it's tough.

It's tough.

But I'm here now and I'm so happy, you know, I have so many, uh, awesome people in my life that helps me with, um, just.

Everything that goes on in my life, you know, and, and I'm, I'm, I'm grateful because God has been gracious, you know, because I've seen.

People don't make it out to the other side, and man, if my past ever comes back to haunt me one day and comes out into the light, I'm gonna be like oh.

Well, good, Ode.

I'm so happy for you that you found this, you know, found this new like chapter and, you know, journey to go on.

I appreciate that, you know, and I was like, you know, I was, I was like maybe I'm not gonna say anything about it.

But then I was like, you know what, I'm definitely gonna say something because you hold yourself then I hold myself accountable.

Exactly, yeah, and you're also, you, you never know who's gonna hear it and needs to hear it and will be helped by it.

Yeah, no, this is true, very true.

This is true, but I, I'm glad though, like I said.

I've never liked the taste of alcohol, so quitting for me is easy, you know what I'm saying.

The hard part is when everyone, when I see everyone else, I'm like, Oh, they're all doing it.

There they go, doing it again.

But I've, I've been good these, you know, these past couple of weeks.

So I'm like, uh, um, and I'm good when I fight, when I'm, when I have a fight scheduled, um, I don't, I'm that, yeah, so much easier, so much easier when you have something to look forward to.

But, uh, when you don't have something to look forward to and you're just there for funsies.

And we live in a town where yeah in city, man, I can find it wherever you want.

This town, I've always said it's not for the weak and it can eat you up and spit you out if you let it.

Yeah.

You ever see those homeless people with like a Gucci bag and they're super homeless and they're like, you know, they're strung out.

That's how you know they came here maybe wealthy or something.

And then Vegas got to them.

Like they're homeless with, with like with with some Jordans on.

You're like, damn, Vegas got you.

I've been here for 9 years and I've seen it, you know, and been in the industry.

I've, I've definitely watched it, uh, eat some people up or, or people leave, you know, they can't, they can't handle it.

They end up moving away, so it's, it's definitely not.

This town is not for the week.

No, it's not, but It's a great place to build a career if you, it's a hustler's town have discipline.

Yes, it is a hustler's town 100%.

It's a hustler's town and it's, it's, it's also a town where it's hard to find quality people though, you know, because it's so transient.

Everyone is like, hey, if you do this for me, I'll do this for you instead of just being like, hey, you know, let's just.

Well, everybody comes here on a mission, you know.

They're not coming here to settle down.

They're not coming here, you know, necessarily to make friends.

Settle down.

How long have you lived here?

I've been here 2 years, so I'm from the East Coast, but you didn't know.

You barely settled down.

You came here to find a place to put your things and travel.

Fair enough, fair enough, but I, I feel like I'm finally settled razor NASA.

I'm dead.

Love that, man.

You've been here for 9 years.

I didn't know that 9.5 years.

I moved here, yeah, in 2017 to for fighting, yeah, to fight and train out here.

Crazy because I met you in like 22, I think, yeah, yep, yeah, it was, was it at my fight or before my fight when you came to my boxing fight?

It was before, before, yeah, uh, it was before through, um, oh, she knew him Vince and, uh, she's from Sweden.

What's her name.

Oh Penny Penny Penny, why am I, I'm sorry, Penny, shout out to Penny.

Yes, that was the first time we ever really hung out with was like Penny, Chino, and you know what I mean, that one, yeah, that was in like 2022.

Yeah, that's when, yeah, I'm fine shit.

Today was at my, my one of my last fights.

Yeah, it was, it was, yeah, speaking of fights, OK, so you were supposed to fight Cody Durden.

That was gonna be a really fun match, obviously didn't happen, um, in.

Is that a fight you wanna maybe try to rebook, or is that just off the line because that was gonna be a good, a good, really good fight for you, you know, and I thought so too, you know, I was super excited for that fight.

It was gonna be on obviously Conor McGregor versus Max Holloway was a big card, and it really hurt me that I couldn't fight on that card, man.

It hurt so bad.

Because I already, I made my debut on Connor versus Cowboy, you know what I'm saying, so I'm, I'm telling everybody like, yeah, this is gonna be my 2nd time on the card , you know, it'll be my not only my 2nd time on the card, but that date would have made 7 years in the UFC, you know, and, and it would have been like such a great milestone, and, uh .

Yeah, I couldn't fight, and I, I messages Cody Durden too.

He's a little bitch.

Cody.

I message Cody too.

Yeah, he, Cody's a little bitch.

No, for real, no, no.

Here's why Cody's a little bitch because I mess with him, like, you know, heartfelt mess.

I was like, dude, you know, I, I, I can't, I can't fight.

And I have to pull out, which You know how it is.

You have bills to pay.

You got people to support.

You got, you know what I'm saying, like, yeah, it's not easy for anybody.

Yeah, man.

My camera guy, Eric, I, you know what I mean, I got so many people to pay, things like that, and it was, it was very hurtful, uh, you know, like UFC telling me like, yeah, sorry, we can't, you know what I mean, we, we can't extend X, Y, and Z.

You gotta pull out, you know what I mean?

And so I messaged Cody and I was like, yeah man, like I'm sorry.

I gotta, I have to, I'm letting you know.

As you know what I'm saying, up front now because you're gonna get a message about it here pretty soon and which is not like you don't even have to do that, right ?

That's really cool that you do that and he was like, oh no worries, you know, like, and I was like, oh, you're gonna get a short notice fight, which, you know what I'm saying, it's a short notice, so that's a layup for you.

And he was like cool about it.

And then he went on Twitter and was just like, Oh, they're scared.

He's scared of me.

I'm like, You're a little bitch, bro.

Like, coming off a loss too.

Yeah, that's why he said that, because he came off a loss, and he, he, you know, probably was salty in his feelings.

Like I would have did him way worse than I hit the phone and did him.

I would have did him way worse, really good show.

I I did him way worse.

Like, like, it's so funny because first of all, he's got shitty wrestling.

I've done nothing but wrestle.

I've, I fought nothing but wrestlers, so I've been in the gym wrestling with Aljo.

Now I'm training with Mikey Musumeci, um, Panato Canuto.

My wrestling has been like my wrestling defense, my submissions, everything has been on point.

That's great.

So you were wanting to kind of level up.

I did, I did, and I, I spoke to you about that.

So I had a couple of surprises for him, you know what I'm saying?

I was hoping that I would get to display my wrestling, but you know, like I said.

He's a little, he's a little hoe because, uh, he went on Twitter and was like, yeah man, like he, he , O'Day wasn't even hurt.

He was, you know, he's just scared all this stuff.

I'm like, bro, why would he do that though like just because he, he probably his ego got hurt and he lost the fight and he probably felt like so he did this after he lost the replacement fight.

Oh, OK.

And even even before, I think he did that even before he said something before.

You know, and I'm like I was cool with Cody, you know what I'm saying, but after that I'm like, I can't even be cool with you no more.

Like that's a bitch move.

Like, bro, that's a bitch ass move .

Ting, yeah man, I will, I will slap his ass now.

And I hope we get that, I hope we get that fight because at first, it was just fun and games, you know what I'm saying?

But I hate that, you know what I'm saying?

Only, uh, only, only because I was in such a low point in my life where I had to pull out of this fight.

And being at such a low point in my life, and I know Cody's been there where he's been in a low point we've all have, so you should have understood.

You should have understood me coming at you as a man.

You should have understood and you, you, you went on Twitter and, and, and, yeah, yeah, man, not to get into specifics or anything.

Thing, but you said you're at a low point.

Was that what put you in your low point, or were you kind of dealing with other stuff?

No, it was beforehand.

Yeah, it was a lot of other stuff beforehand.

You know, it was a lot of other stuff beforehand, and then, you know, it, it, it made UFC had to pull me.

It's like when it rains it pours.

Yes, and then, you know, I'm not gonna lie, man, I cried so much, and I was crying because.

I mean, it's your livelihood.

Yeah, it's my livelihood and, you know, more so because For me, it's like, I had so many aspirations to, you know, um, Uh, achieve certain things, and when you don't hit your mark, you know, it's so, it's like I'm, I'm very competitive with myself, and when I don't hit my mark, I'm like , oh man.

And then, and then, you know, that night, that was the night that I, I decided that I wasn't gonna drink anymore because after everything happened, I went out for the counter card and I was just like a grizzly man.

I was a complete grizzly destruction, and I was just drinking because every fan I met, they're like, oh, why aren't you fighting tonight?

What happened?

Why did, why did you pull out?

And uh, you know, every time I, every, I was like, I just took a drink every time somebody came to, whoa, what happened?

Why didn't you, why aren't you fighting, you know, I was just drinking my problems away and , uh, yeah, man, I was just a grizzly like, oh, you, you know, and after that I was like, I'm done.

I don't, I don't need this in my life anymore.

So it was a bad thing like it loses losing that fight and stuff, but might have ended up being a good thing.

Exactly God's plan, right?

God's plan.

And not only that, but I, I connected with Mikey and I was like, wow, if I ended up fighting Cody, I wouldn't have been working with Mikey Musumeci now because I was still going, I was, I would just go to the PI and just Rolled around, you know, because I had nothing, nothing else to do, and I was just, I would just go and then I saw Mikey in a class one day and I asked him, Hey, can I jump in your class?

And he was running the class or he was in a class.

He was running it.

Yeah, it was just him, Andrew Tackett, William Tackett, Caleb Tackett, a bunch of other guys.

Shout out to those guys, high, high-level grapplers, and I was like, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna get the best of this.

And so I got in there and then Mikey just started helping me.

He, I like didn't ask him nothing.

Mikey saw me.

Struggling with the technique, and he came over and he just put so much effort into me and one of my friends, um, his name is Jay, he took some, some photography shots of Mikey.

Helping me and you can see the intention and the passion in Mikey's face while he's helping me and I was just like wow, you know, and I, and I just kept coming back, kept coming back, kept coming back and I, I was like Mikey, dude , thank you so much man and so I was like, you know what.

I'll help you with your MMA journey with striking, you know, because, yeah, because, yeah, he is embarking on this new MMA journey, He is, he is, so I told him I'll help him with his MMA journey, and, uh, he's just a really awesome dude, and I can, I kind of feel for him sometimes because he's such a good dude, but he's an easy target because he's such a good dude, and like when he does like, you know, he did that one jiu-jitsu video with that girl, yeah.

Yeah, he's getting a lot of shit for that.

Yeah, he was getting the jiu-jitsu community is so sensitive, man.

It was so damn sensitive.

Like if Sean Strickland says something, they're like, Oh, they praise Sean, right?

If all these other guys do these, you know, sexualized content with these girls, it's fine.

But because Mikey is, is a, a, a, a super like.

Um, PG dude, now all of a sudden when he does something, everyone blows it up in the spotlight and makes it like this one guy did a content.

And he did a post about it and he said like, oh yeah, this is sexual assault.

I'm like, if you go to this girl's page online, if you go to this girl's page, that's what she does.

She makes content with fighters and makes it more sexualized.

That's what she, that's the part, you know, that's, that's her niche.

And so I feel for him because he feels so much guilt, you know, like I have conversations with him, and he's like, he feels so guilty.

He Like he even took the post down.

I'm like, you should have kept it up, you know what I mean?

He took it down and he feels like he's like, man, like I, he lets, you know, he's like, I let everybody down and all this stuff.

But, but they're just, man, the, the, the, not everyone in the, in the jiu-jitsu community is like this, but a lot of the jiu-jitsu communities are sensitive little bitches, man.

It really is a weird community.

It's so weird, man.

But a lot of these guys who are Talking about all this stuff.

At the same time, you, you check the search history.

You know what I mean?

So I don't even care, man.

It's like, like I said before, in this life, there's, it's life and people make it hard for you to make mistakes because the minute you make a mistake, mistake.

Everyone judges you like they've never made mistakes in their life , you know what I'm saying?

Like they've never done way worse things in their life, and they use you for clout.

Like they, they'll use Mikey for clout, and they'll make a video off of it to get, you know, the clicks, and those guys are, yeah, we live in an era.

You just can't, can't get away with anything.

You can't get away with nothing because everyone is perfect.

We live in a perfect, perfect era, apparently social media makes it easy.

Easy for people to like portray that their life is, is this perfect and it's the same thing with Dustin Poirier when that happened, you know, at first people were giving him a hard time.

Yo, he, he got drunk on Father's Day.

Oh, are you kidding me?

I feel like he didn't get like, I don't know, he got, he ended up creating a brand.

Yeah, he became a brand and it became a, an acronym.

I use it.

I, I, I, I have a dustin, uh, emoji like this.

I got an emoji, you know, I said, you know what I'm saying.

So that became cool that I'm glad, you know what I'm saying that uh I think the MMA community is much better than the jiu-jitsu community.

If it was grappling, then they all would have been like super sensitive about it, he drank beer.

Seriously, yeah man, uh, do you have any idea when you're gonna maybe try to get back in there?

Is it gonna be a little while?

Yeah, um, I have no idea yet.

We're just patiently waiting, yeah, but you're able to train right now and all that.

Yeah.

I'm training right now.

I'm, you know, doing my dust drills with Timmy and Dewey Cooper and training a little bit with Mikey and William and Andrew and all those guys and.

The, uh, at the PI, because it's easy for me to go to the PI.

It's 15 minutes from my house, so, um, it's, it's super easy to get all the grappling sessions in.

And when Al Joe comes back from his world tour, then I'm gonna get back in with Aljoe and get some good drills in and some grappling, and, uh, he's also another, another one that, you know, uh.

I will go to Aljoe for a lot because he is um one of the most rational people.

He'll never afraid, he's never afraid to tell me the honest truth about something.

And I love that because most people want to give you.

Everything with, with the sugar on top, he's like that with the media too, which I really appreciate.

Al Joe is very blunt, you know what I'm saying?

I, I go to him.

I went to Al Joe when I was about to buy my house in, in Centennial, and he's like, Why would you buy a house in Centennial?

That's stupid.

Like you, you train at the PI, I agree, you know what I mean?

That's dumb.

He's like, Yeah, you're gonna get it for like $100,000 cheaper, a lot more bedrooms, but what, what does that serve you?

And I was like.

Oh, it hurt my feelings because I really wanted that house.

But then I went back to the drawing board, and I have a much better location, and I was like, yeah, OK , Al Joe, thank you.

Same thing when I was, when I was about to buy a car.

For all this money, he's like, why are you gonna put all this money down on the car?

He's like, that's dumb.

Just buy if you can buy a car for like $1,000,000 and you know what I'm saying, and I ended up, uh, my girl and her brother ended up selling me his FJ Cruiser for like, you know, pennies on the dollar pretty much.

And, uh, so yeah, I go to Aljo for a lot because he's gonna be blunt, and I, I, I love that aspect, you know what I'm saying?

I love that aspect, and, uh.

Uh, when I was out for the Conor McGregor fight, we went to Zuke, and, like I said, I was trying to drink my problems away, and like Aljoe pulled me to the side, uh, and he had a conversation with me, and he was like, dude, we just gotta like chill a little bit, and you know, wake me up the next day, that kind of hit me deep, you know what I mean?

I'm like, I never want Aljoe to pull me to the side ever again and like have a conversation with me, you know what I'm saying, because, um.

I, I have a lot to lose and a lot to live for.

Absolutely you definitely do and it's, it's always, man, like we talked about earlier, that feeling when you that next day, right?

Yeah, the next day, um, but it's also awesome that you have a friend to pull you aside and be like, yo, you know, instead of just letting, letting letting it loose, letting you let it loose, you know, and it, and it also makes me a better person because, you know, it's like.

It's like I don't, I don't want my friends having to do that, you know what I'm saying?

Like I, I wanna, you know what I mean, uh, set a, a, a good example for everyone else around me.

Like I, I, I was a teacher.

I used to work with kids.

I still go into school and work with kids, you know what I'm saying?

I, I work a lot with Las Vegas Metro after school drives.

I work a lot with kids, a lot with kids, and God forbid if I did something super crazy and it came out like, you know what I mean, like.

I'm like, yo, like what are you doing?

like chill out, you know what I mean?

Why are you knocking over drinks and the picture is way bigger?

Yeah, yes, I get it.

I go, so don't be too hard on yourself all day.

We've all been there, yeah, yeah.

I, I did, the, and you recognize that you, yeah, so you're already, you're already a step ahead, you know what I mean, sure, and I've been recognized it though.

That's the problem, you know what I'm saying?

We all, we all know it, but then we just like, you know, we're like, all right, maybe just a little bit, you know what I mean.

Maybe just a little, you know what I'm saying, so true, so true.

Oh man, all of a sudden you're butt naked on the lawn.

Uh, it never happened to me, but, uh, not too far off.

Let's talk about your career though, cause obviously you're training now, obviously, the fight fell through, but I, going through like your record, I feel like you've been a little bit snakebitten too.

Like, when you fought Monell Capp, like he missed weight and then whatever, and then.

Saw him in a week's notice during COVID when I, you know what I mean, he, he was supposed to have, I'm sorry, no, no, no, no, this is where I go, go, like notice.

So and he missed weight, yeah, he missed weight by 3 pounds, so he was supposed to have another opponent, and it was COVID.

I was an assistant teacher.

I was broke .

I need the money.

I'm like, yeah.

You know what I'm saying.

Fought him a week's notice.

He misses weight, not to take anything away from his, his technicality, but you know, I think I was winning the fight before the knee, obviously.

But if you look at my record, right , I really should be 4-0 in my last 4 fights, right?

So let's go back, lazy boy at the sphere.

If it wasn't UFC Noche, I win that fight.

I'm sorry, but I do.

Steve Irsa, I dropped him in round one.

I wobbled him in round two.

If it wasn't the fact that I was a short notice replacement and he was Steve Irsa, I win that fight.

My last opponent pops for PEDs, right?

That's what I wanted to ask you about specifically, you know.

So I really should be 4 and 0, and it, but, but that is, that is God humbling me and telling me that I'm not ready yet and my time will come, you know what I'm saying?

My time will come because If everything had happened and I had won all those fights, maybe I wouldn't decide to quit alcohol.

You know what I mean, man.

I'm like, maybe you've been rallying.

Yeah, when you're on top, when you're on top of the world, you don't care about nothing, you know, it's when you're at your lowest, that's when you make the right decisions.

When you got the call, or I just, I guess, do they call you when that happens when somebody gets popped like an opponent of yours?

You just call, um, shout out to Jeff and Donna, the UFC, um, Donna, yeah, they called me and they were like, yeah, so, uh.

Your opponent tested positive for, you know, banned substance.

And Um, I was like, well, damn, you know what I mean?

I could have went online and been like, well, that's the reason why I lost the fight, which is, you know what I'm saying.

It, it obviously plays an effect when, when your opponent just has insane cardio and just taking you down over and over again, you know what I'm saying.

But also at this, I'm like, you know what, whatever, I gotta work more on my wrestling, that's all, you know.

I could have blamed Herb Dean even though Herb Dean wasn't my ref.

Just blame Herb Dean, man.

I'm over here.

Hey, I got pulled over the other day and, uh, the officer was like, do you, do you know why I pulled you over?

And you know what I mean?

I was like, I'm not sure.

And he's like, you were speeding.

And I was like, well, it's Herb Dean's fault.

I was the opposite.

The reason I was speeding, it was, you know, it was Herb Dean's fault why I was speeding.

The reason why, you know, I, I, I drink too much is because of Herb Dean.

You know, the reason why I, I, I miss weight is because of Herb Dean, you know, he, I mean, I don't know, if Herb Dean, poor Herb, he's just an easy target now, and he got the booze in, uh, at in the slam.

Car he in Philadelphia.

Oh man, he, he, the Hannik and Rogan kept saying, oh, here we go again.

Herb Dean getting booed.

You know what I love about the UFC?

UFC is so smart because they know all the, whether, whether it's negative or positive clouts, all the clout is on Herb Dean right now.

So who do they put in the title fights?

Herb Dean.

They're freaking good.

Put a Herb Dean, as they could have, you know what I'm saying?

They are smart, man.

They are.

That's something I paid attention to.

I was like, wait, is Herb Dean the, the referee for this title fight?

OK, I don't care what nobody says.

I, I like Herb Dean, man.

I mean, he was, he was the old saying it's a tough job, and you can't be perfect all the time.

Obviously he's made some mistakes, but still, you can't blame the referee for your losses.

Come on, man.

I'm sorry, Peloton lost because Peloton was outskilled.

Peloton didn't lose because of Herb Dean.

He was out on his feet before all that.

He's out.

Sorry, very good point.

Um, it's the fight game, and we can't keep blaming the referees for our losses.

We have to take accountability about the drug testing just real quick on that.

Obviously the UFC, they had Usada, and now Jeff and Don are managing the drug-free sport, drug-free sport.

So your opponent got popped, right?

How many times in your, how rampant do you think it is where, because obviously, especially overseas in Europe and Russia, there's these scientists trying to get ahead of the drug testing.

Do you think it, do you think it happens more often than we hear about like guys are, guys are taking liberties with that stuff?

Oh yeah, yeah, of course, man.

It's really heavy in Russia.

Sorry, Sally, but also in Brazil.

I'm sorry, you know, I'm sorry, Sully, but also in Brazil it's really heavy too, you know, um, but in Russia it's even more common because who wants to go over to, to Russia to test these guys, you know what I mean?

It's a long flight.

You're not gonna deal with that, going to the mountains or whatever you wanna go in, in Kazakhstan to, to drug test these guys, right?

No, so yeah, you know, a lot of these guys definitely are doing it behind and getting away with it, huh?

Get away with it 100%.

Um, but I don't think you're ever gonna stop it.

It's never gonna stop.

People are gonna get popped constantly, you know, but I don't think they're ever gonna stop doing it because they're they're, they're scientists are always gonna find ways to mask these uh.

PEDs, right, do you think sometimes you're getting popped for something that doesn't need to be popped for though, or not you, but like they're getting people are getting popped for something that doesn't even really need to be something they're being popped for?

Well, for sure, so my opponent got popped for um.

A masking agent that helps you cut weight, but what it does, it flushes your system of everything, you know what I'm saying?

Like you don't need help cutting weight, you know what I mean, because he, he's a little guy making 125 .

I struggle making 125.

So, and there's other things that you can use if you wanna flush your system.

That is legal.

That, more natural.

So why are you gonna take the one thing that flushes your system of steroids out of all the things you could have taken that doesn't flush your system of steroids but also helps you make weight?

Why, why would you take that one?

So yes, the answer is yes.

People get popped for things that isn't a PED, but also they are masking agents and they know you shouldn't take it.

So why are you taking it when you know you shouldn't take it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Last one on that.

What happens when he gets popped?

Like, obviously it's over, it's overturned to a no contest.

Do you get some of his purse then?

Like, are you, I don't get some of his purse.

I wish I there was no fight.

So no.

Oh wait, no, I'm sorry.

You're right.

We fought.

Yeah, I didn't.

I wish I got some of his purse.

So there's no, so it's just like contest.

I did get a no contest, right, but that's the only concession you get as a fighter.

Yeah, it is, it is, yeah, yeah, it is because like, but like that I lose half my purse, right?

UFC should show you some money.

Well, it's like when you, when a guy misses weight, you get a portion of his purse if you still take the fight.

I think that's it's late on it is too late because they already paid him but now it's, what are they gonna do?

Yeah, give you hey you owe owe that you owe owe that's 50,000.

Give me your routing information now.

Good point.

But they like deduct the check back.

You know what I think UFC should do though?

I think if you win a fight, they should pay you your show money and they shouldn't pay you your win money until after the drug testing comes back, you see what I'm saying?

Now if the drug test comes back dirty, now you don't get your win money.

You get your, your opponent gets your win money.

Actually just came up on, on Rogan's show where he kind of shit on the UFC's pay structure where the win show stuff and he's like, just pay the, just agree to one price.

It, it shouldn't matter whether he wins or loses if he shows up, steps in the cage.

What do you think of the win show kind of pay structure?

so.

I have mixed feelings because, for example, They could pay you 200,000 flat.

Or they could pay you 150, 150.

I want to gamble on myself.

I'd rather take 150, 150 than 200,000 flats because I'm confident in my abilities, you know what I'm saying?

So I'd rather gamble on myself any day of the week.

I don't want flat.

Give me, give me this and this, unless, unless it's like, you know, they're gonna bump.

Unless it's a short notice fight and they're like, hey, we'll guarantee you this much.

I'm like, alright, fine, but I'd rather, I, I want to gamble on myself, you know.

Do you feel like it motivates you in a way at most?

It does, of course it motivates you to, you know what I'm saying, but I do love the fact that they're giving out, uh, finish bonuses now.

Doesn't matter how you finish.

It's 250, right?

25,000, yeah, and then 100,000 for performance and performance is PFL a flat rate?

Because I know I had, um, not an opponent.

I had a teammate that just got went and got signed, um, Darryl Walker.

I don't know if you remember Darryl, he went and got signed and they gave, and it was 25 flat, but I'm not sure if it's short notice actually, you know what I do think, I don't think it's win show in the PFL because there was just some controversy in one of their cards way of.

A few cards back where like the champion made a million but the guy who fought him made like 100,000 or less like 65,000 or something and there was anyway yeah I think I don't think it's one shot.

I do wanna circle back to uh UFC Philly.

uh, what do you think about the card coming event main events.

I thought the card was good and we'll, we'll put a note in, uh, to talk about Dean Thomas.

That's what we're getting to.

That's exactly what we're getting to.

Me and Dean, me and Dean go way back, so in a good way or a bad way, in a good way, and I talked to him, I gotta, I give him shit, you know, like we're so close that I messaged him like, like you've seen the movie Friday.

Like I, I messaged him like, how you gonna get fired on your day off.

You know what I mean, you know, so you know what I mean, let's jump into that.

What the hell?

You know, that was not cool, and I'm sorry, but I, I, you know, I don't.

I res I respected him, you know, especially as a coach and things he's done in the sport, but that at least he apologized the next day.

But the rest, the apology sucked.

The apology sucked.

He made it about himself, and it wasn't about the timing that you did it.

It was about the fact with what you.

Said like she's gone as far as she can like that's no regardless of the timing that shouldn't have been said at all on air for sure and I've talked to Dean personally like we, we trade text messages and I know, you know, like he's like, dude, I, you know, I, I, I should have never said that like I, I, you know, and I get it because I have fought.

And my last fight, right where my opponent just like he wasn't doing anything like I, I thought I won because I was doing all the damage and he would take me down and just hold me and then I get back up, get away, do some damage.

He'd take me down, hold me, I get back up, get away, do some damage, and so, you know, I wanted to go online and say some crazy stuff like, man, these gay ass wrestlers, you know.

You know what I mean, they don't do shit, but, but dick ride your legs and, and, and dry hump you, but I didn't say that.

I wanted to, but I've, you know, I've, I've been emotional where after a fight, you know, I'm just going, going off, so I, I understand it.

To a T on that level, but Yes, he shouldn't have said it.

He shouldn't have said it at all, and he, he should have kept it off air, and he should have had the conversations privately.

Yes, I wanna do a little recap, especially for our fans watching just in case some, some people that aren't, you know, as into invested as we are.

So basically we had the co-main event for the strawweight title fight, uh, UFC Philly, and, um, you know , uh, Gillian Robinson, she lost pretty undeniably.

Um, her coach Dean Thomas went on the broadcast shortly after the fight and just basically said like, I'm done cornering fighters.

I'm retiring from cornering fighters, and I think that Jillian has gone as far as she can go.

So yeah, just very, you know, very irresponsible and not cool.

So yeah, everybody's thought of, yeah, I, I thought, you know what I mean, um, he should never, especially I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw out some, some, especially when you are a black man coaching a.

A white girl.

Oh, when Eric Nixi said a thing about Sean after Sean lost to Sean lose to?

It doesn't matter.

DDP, uh, Eric was like, it was, you know, it was, he did say, I remember that, yeah, yeah.

See, you don't even know exactly what Eric, Eric said like, basically he didn't like call Sean shit.

He was just like, sometimes your fighters don't listen to you or, or something to that effect.

And then, well, he, uh, he also said it, it, you know, the fight was lackluster.

It didn't feel like it was like, uh, he didn't, you know what I mean, he, it wasn't, it wasn't a good.

fight and like he was just shitting on Sean, shitting on him, and I'm like, you know, he should have had those conversations like after uh private privately and he had a day to think about it so it happened on the next day on Ariel on Ariel, yeah, even worse, he wasn't, you can't blame it on emotions.

See, you didn't even see it and, uh, you know, in my opinion, I thought , you know, for me like I like Eric.

I'm cool with Eric, but at the same time.

You know, it's not about Eric, it's about Sean that, that it's about Sean and when coaches make it about them instead of the fighters, like who cares how you feel?

How do you think the fighter going in there loses feels?

So when, when, when Eric said it, I was like, oh.

But it blew, it blew over like nothing.

But when, uh, when a, when a, when a black man, Dean Thomas, talking about a white girl, I'm like, Dean, I messaged him immediately.

I was like, Yo, what were you thinking?

Oh my gosh.

I was like, What were you thinking, you know?

And then Gillian just came back kind of with her response and basically just kind of turned down the apology and said, you know, I have nothing to say to him, and I don't blame her, and I don't blame her.

For sure, I, uh, I know a friend, a friend of mine actually seen her traveling the next day, and she was just really beat up traveling alone.

It was really sad, you know.

It's, uh, I've, I've known Gillian Robinson for a while.

I've, I've had the pleasure of training with her, you know, and so shout out to her and all my love to her, you know, for real, and I feel for Jillian, you know what I'm saying?

And I'm, I'm sure Dean also feels for Jillian because he's coached her since he was 15, since she was 15.

So, so the emotions.

Are deeper, you know what I'm saying, so, uh, the perspective for people to look at as well, yeah, and it, it for Jillian, it's gonna hurt even worse because Somebody you've coached for Jillian it's like you've coached me since I was 15, and this is what you had to say about me after I lost the biggest fight of my life.

So she looks, you know what I'm saying, so she's taking a dagger like, yeah, I feel like we all like, and then not, but, but not only that, not only that, the entire internet is, is telling her like, yo, yo, fuck him.

Everybody is against him, so it's making it even worse.

I'm sure her mom , her dad, her, her uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins was like, get rid of that guy.

Well, speaking of was like, sorry to interrupt, but even Dern was like, No, like that's messed up.

Well, speaking of, did you see Sean Strickland and Tyrone Woodley?

You're going at it now, Sean, because Sean Strickland called out Dean Thomas and then Tyrone DM'd him and now Sean's posting the DMs and yeah, I've seen it, man.

I, you know what's crazy though?

Oh my goodness, I, I think we talked about, you know, all the circus, but here's the thing, we talked about all the The The humbleness, I'll say that has happened to us.

I've been humbled by life so many times that I no longer have the ability.

Oh, I do have the ability, but I no longer try to judge people based off of things like, I could have easily.

Did like a a a A video recording of myself shitting on Dean Thomas, but Dean has Offered me trading sessions at, in his garage when I was coming up.

He has, you know, given, mentored me on after my losses, has messaged me.

He's been there, you know what I mean?

When, when no one else has and, you know, behind the scenes.

So, Um, I'm gonna hold Dean accountable in private.

I'm not gonna go on air if I'm friends with him.

If you're not friends with him, shit on him.

Fuck you, Dean.

Shit on him.

No, I'm just kidding, but I'm cool with Dean, so I could never go on air and air, you know, and air Dean out like that because Dean's always been there for me.

So I can't, you know, I'm, I'm not one to turn, I, I'm not, I can never do that, you know what I mean.

Because you see John Anick, you know, and they're, and they've been on the desk together.

I'm like, John, you've been on the desk with Dean and you're going, yeah, I know.

And even John said like, I, I, I just, I decided to be OK with it being awkward when I see you in person, and I'm gonna say what I gotta say.

I'm like, Oh, and I love John, so I'm like.

Go John.

That's John through and through though.

You, you've seen when you walk into a cage, he's like, yeah, and, uh, that guy was in prison for beating his wife.

He's in a custody dispute with his ex-wife.

He, he research, researches too deep and just says what he writes down it's some cocaine right before this fight.

Oh my goodness, yeah man, Ron's cool like that.

That's gotta have people like that, um, things like Dominic Cruz.

A lot of people, a lot of people give Dominick Cruz a lot of shit, but I love his blunt honesty.

Me too.

I love and his analysis say yeah, he's a great analysis, and here's what I, I, I've, I've learned.

People hate to be held accountable.

I love it when you can hold me accountable, you know what I'm saying?

Like, my, uh, Dewey Cooper, the reason why he, him and I click so well, and he, he'll always be my, my head coach forever because he holds me accountable.

All the Aljoe holds me accountable, you know, all the people in my life who hold me accountable, they're, they're my close ones.

But people want to be lifted up and they want to be told stories.

Lies about themselves.

Like, why, why people hate to be held accountable.

Dominic Cruz, after my fight, you know, I'll go back and watch, and Dom will be like, Yeah man, he needs to work on his wrestling.

He, he's doing this, that, and the, and the third wrong.

And so I'll, I'll message him or text him or I'll see him at the PI, and I'll be like, Hey man, thank you for pointing out, you know, all the things I'm doing bad in my fight.

And, and I go to the gym the next day and I work on them because Dom is pointing them out.

You know, so I love, I love it when I'm held accountable.

Absolutely.

Um, we are in the new season of Contender series, which is something a part of your journey, right?

Yes, you want some water?

No, I'm good.

I'm good.

Yeah, um, something part of your journey.

What, what year were you on or what season?

I was on season 3, so season 3, which I'm biased, but my season was the greatest, produced the greatest UFC fighters.

My season, I believe, had Brendan Allen, Sean O'Malley.

Oh wow, I think, I think Brian Battle.

OK, then you might not be wrong.

That's, that's solid right there, yeah, Jamal Hill became a champion, you know, um.

Plenty more.

My season had tons.

I think they're on season 1010, yeah, 10.

Yeah, I was on season.

Were you in the warehouse or were you in the apex?

Apex.

You were in the apex, yeah, I was in the, I was, I think the first, the first or second season where they were still, yeah, yeah.

What is that like coming out and fighting?

Obviously it's the biggest job interview of your life.

No music, yeah, no music, like no really, and back then nobody even really was there, right, especially during.

No, it was, was it during COVID?

No, it was right before COVID.

I'm sorry, but even still, you only got to bring 4 people, 4 people, 44 people in your, did they cheer in the, yeah , 4 of your corner.

That's it.

No one cheered.

No one cheers, clapped.

You could hear a pin drop.

So you're now it's like shots, right?

So now it's different.

Everyone's like, you know, more rowdy, and they're cheering.

They're clap, you know what I mean.

But before it, it was like silence, like a, like you said, a job interview, silence, and you're walking out to no music.

You could literally hear your, your footsteps.

I like to walk out without shoes, you know, uh, I, I'm, I'm a caveman.

I like to be barefoot, so I remember just coming out and be like, Man, forget this.

And I came out, you know, I'm Jamaican, so I was like, Feel the rhythm, feel the rise.

Let's get on up.

It's bobsled time, and everybody like was just dying, you know what I mean?

That's how I came out.

What was it like?

I always wanna know, like, what is it like pushing through those doors?

Is that like intense?

Like it's like, OK, here we go.

Like that's the moment, you know.

So at that point.

Also a low point in my life, I had just come out of a long 4.5 year relationship, and, you know, I felt like This is it.

I, I immigrated from Jamaica.

I I have given so much sacrifice.

I've done so much for this moment.

I, I cannot walk out of here with nothing less than a perfect performance, and that was my mindset.

I didn't care about the people.

I didn't care about the fighter.

I just cared about what I was gonna do in there because.

I remember being barefoot, walking in Jamaica, you know what I'm saying?

Looking up, I tell the story all the time, looking up at the airplanes, like being like, man, someday I'm gonna go to America and I'm gonna be on one of those airplanes.

I was 7 years old, you know what I mean?

I remember those moments, um, not having much to my name, you know what I mean?

Being in a small village called Bull Bay, roaming, you know, roaming around, you know, going off into the woods and just not, not having much.

To everything that my mom and I, my mom has always given me everything that I have needed in life.

You know what I mean?

Not everything I wanted, but everything I needed in life.

And so she was always um such a uh an amazing um.

Provider, mother, confidant, you name it.

And so, I'm like, I, I, my mom has sacrificed too much.

I have sacrificed too much, you know, and, and like I said, I just came off of a long four-year relationship and I felt like On like unwanted and now, you know what I mean, it was a low point in my life and I was just like I got nothing else to lose, you know, what whatever.

Um, Gave the best performance ever, you know what I mean?

And uh not only did I Show out on my feet, but I show out on the ground, you know, banged them up on the feet, and I was facing a wrestler too, and this guy was like a heavy pressure wrestler, and I was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this dude, and he was not going away.

Like I even kicked him up, kicked him to the face, boom, knocked his mouthpiece out, and he still wouldn't go down.

I'm cracking this dude with everything, everything under the sun, and he finally gets me to the ground.

And I'm like, all right, well, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna bust out the submissions here.

And so, boom, I slipped, you know, I slipped into an armbar from the bottom of my back, you know, boom.

He had, it was so tight that he had to verbally tap.

And so Dana got to see me up against the cage, he got to see me throw hands, he got to see me doing my submission game, and uh, so yeah, man, it could not have been a more perfect storm.

Amazing.

Good for you, all day, seriously.

Uh, one of the questions I had, and I was at when we're at, I, I also asked a lot of the fighters at the, uh, Meta Apex, um, unveiling, the ones that have competed as well , but do you think, because now it's obviously bigger, the venue is bigger, and now they're selling tickets, so do you think these fighters are gonna experience something a little different than you experienced, because I think that played a big part in contender series, right?

Of course they have now they have fans who are making noises, yelling.

You know what I mean, a little bit more entertainment, um, music, probably.

I don't, I'm not sure if they're having it or not.

No, there's music, yeah, it's like, well, no, no, no walkout songs, but they play, but they play music, yeah, whereas like us, man, it's a different lively right now, right?

Like, yeah, we were like gladiators walking out to a colosseum.

Well, we just talked to Peyton Talbot, and he said he, he talked about when he Walked out and he's like everybody's face is just stoic and he's like they looked at me like I was getting ready to go to the slaughterhouse, yeah, yeah, see, and like yeah I got the chills because I think like that was a big thing that made contender series contender series.

It was a really cool part in it, although I think it's awesome that the apex is, you know, is growing and things like that and that, you know, now fans get to go and see these fighters compete on this show.

But yeah, I think, I think what you.

Through makes you a little bit more of a dog.

You can, you can get it all in for like 40 bucks.

That's gotta be the best deal in town Tuesday night.

Yeah, yeah, that's like tickets are 25 bucks with all the fees and stuff.

It's 40 bucks.

Oh, that is amazing.

And then obviously I think this season, I'm not sure who all is gonna be on it, but I won.

I am very excited.

Uh, to see Bella, Bella next week, next week, next week we will be there for that.

That will bring with her at High Bridge Upisu.

Shout out to High Bridge Jiu-jitsu, Hanato, and Raquel.

They're amazing people, you know.

I'm, I'm gonna go there on Saturdays.

I've been going there on Saturdays and grappling, and Bella is like, Yo, she a dog.

She's the truth, huh?

She is, uh, yeah, yeah, and she ain't no poodle.

She a German shepherd, and I just love her mindset, and I love the relationship that her and Dana have.

As well, you know, he speaks so highly of her, but yeah, I really love her mindset.

Like he said in an interview, you know, she wants to be an Olympian, a UFC champion, and a Zufa boxer, Zufa boxing champion, and he said, I'm gonna allow it, and she can because the saying the world is your oyster is true for him.

The world is her oyster, you know, if I like at her age, having opportunities.

That she can, she can choose from, you know, rightfully so too.

Her dad was a champion, so he can, he can coach her mentally and, and, and not just, um, in the cage but outside of the cage and manage her, you know, for her.

Yeah, it's so awesome, and that's what I wanna do for, for my kids some days pave the way for them, but I don't want my kids to fight.

I don't know how Frank does it, man, because Frank knows he knows all of the pressure, all the anxiety, everything that comes with UFC.

So as a as a father, I commend Frank because I know how hard it is watching your daughter in there, you know what I mean?

Yeah, once, once she finally gets her hand raised and finally gets to finish, Frank's probably like, oh thank God, but it's never gonna get easy.

It's never gonna get easy, you know.

So the fact that, um, he's, he, he.

Has built such a, a, a legacy and paved the way and allowed her to walk down the path he has paved.

I'm, man, I'm barricading the shit out of the path that I'm paving for my kid.

Obviously if they, if they wanna fight, so be it, God.

If they want to fight, so be it God.

But I'm gonna introduce them to like, here's, here's, here's a.

Tennis rackets.

Here's a golf club.

Here's a law book, you know what I mean?

I'm, I'm gonna , I'm gonna hide all my fighting memorabilia and, uh, because, man, it is not for the faint of hearts.

Fighting.

We talked about this on your last, uh, podcast.

Fighting hurts, not physically but mentally because no one prepares you for.

All of your traumas that you're about to face, you know.

That's so true.

No one prepares you for that.

Oh my gosh, that's so true.

It's heartbreaking.

It's a heart.

It's heartbreaking.

It's a very, it's, uh, it's like the, I, we just had Vince on not too long ago, and you know we talked a lot about the highs and the lows, and yeah, it's high of highs and low of lows, not for the faint of hearts.

So maybe no fighting for your kids, but is there anything that might be a non-negotiable for them as far as training goes?

Yeah, I want them to do grappling.

I would love for my kids to learn jiu-jitsu, and, uh, I think it's important.

Yeah, I want them to wrestle as a young, young age, but I don't wanna be one of those wrestling dads or those jiu-jitsu dads, you know, that's on the side of the mat yelling at their kid.

Like, I'm gonna be like, you know, I wanna be someone who's so just.

Calm, collected, motivating.

If you wanna play, if you wanna be a garbage man, go ahead, but just make sure you're the best damn garbage man.

I kind of feel like that's how Frank Muir is with Bella because he's just kind of the giant, the gentle giant in the corner.

He's not expressive and that, yeah, yo, I'm gonna cut, man.

We're getting some great clips out of this podcast.

Oh, we are, we definitely are.

I know.

Uh, but no, I agree with that you say that, um, and like you said, you know, like I don't know how he does it sometimes though.

I think like he just knows how good she is.

Maybe he doesn't panic as much because she just really is that good, you know.

It's like I'm sure when he gets to, because we all know she's getting a contract, you know, when she, when she makes that walk for the, the contender series, but, um, I think when she gets to those higher level, you know, fights, um, that's when he'll probably start feeling, you know, these feelings for sure, and, and here's the thing.

What weight class is she competing at?

I believe it's, uh, 125, 25, yeah.

And here's the thing with her, how dominant she is as a wrestler.

No one, no one is messing with her and her grappling, yo, she like Raquel and Hanato hybrid, yo, her grappling and, uh, shout out to Dom as well.

Her grappling has come up.

Because I've been, I've grappled with her several times, and it's, it's coming along so nice.

Nobody on her level anyway, it's gonna take like getting to like, you know, girls such as like Tatiana Suarez like to actually like show her some trouble on the ground.

But by the time, because how old is Tatiana now, um, how did anyone know?

Maybe my age 34, 3534 yeah by the time that she gets to that level where she's like on the way to go, you know, to a Tatiana Suarez, maybe, maybe we , I, me and Tatiana in that, in that realm of people won't be there anymore, you know, it's crazy you say that because it's, yeah, because Bellemir is gonna enter and like we actually are entering a new generation like they just signed.

Gigi Canuto, you know, Anna Miciano.

Now they're, you know, Bellamy is probably gonna get a contract.

These are all, you know, similar weight classes, but it's like crazy to see like this is the new generation and new evolution, yeah, yeah, new wave of fighters that are like coming in, like you said, like Tatiana's level and era is kind of gonna be on the way out soon, and these girls are gonna be making their new wave.

But yo, shout out to Angela Hill.

Yo, she is the last of the, of the Mohicans.

Yeah, she's the last.

She was on the very first ever strawweight, uh, Ultimate Fighter, and she's still kicking and fucking.

I mean you got funny, man, and she's hilarious real, man.

Shout out to Angela.

She is the last of them, you know what I'm saying, like, yo, yeah, but sure.

That is so funny.

Yeah, I loved, I loved that season of The Ultimate Fighter, and like I'm obviously, I'm always a me too.

That was like the when I was coming up.

00 my God, like my favorite season of the females, and then like the men's era was like the Forrest Griffin and the Rampage Jackson era, you know what I mean, yeah, you gotta go watch it back because I, I like, I watched a couple episodes of that of the strawweight season, and it's so funny now to watch.

Watch it because of what we're used to seeing.

So it's so, so bad.

I'm sorry.

Also, Rose Nama Yuna, shout out to Rose Nama Yunice because she was on the same season as Angela Hill.

Shout out to Rose Nama Juice.

Rose, yeah, dog Rose, man.

Look, Milwaukee.

She, I came from Milwaukee as well.

So, uh, yeah, man, Rose is also the last of the Mohicans.

Yes, yes, awesome.

Well.

Well, um, I've had so much fun and before I let you go, I do want you to talk to me a little bit about your new app that you just launched.

Oh yes, what is it?

Pix DB PixDB.

We just launched this new app.

Uh, DB stands for database because we have database over 500 million data on all these sports, you know what I mean, UFC, NFL.

MLB, we even have the WNBA on there, you know what I mean, uh, NHL, all that stuff, uh, and before anyone asks, it is not a betting app because people are like, Aren't you gonna get in trouble with the UFC because of bet?

No, it's not a betting app.

You can't.

I don't make money.

If fighters or games win or lose, we, uh, so how it works is, it's a social media platform.

So think.

Twitter and Instagram, but Um, It's almost like its own realm for sports, right?

It's a social media platform for sports, so you can go on there, you have a profile, you can make a status, you can comment on people's posts, things like that, and you can make picks, right?

So you make picks on your on on fights or games.

And then what you do is everyone has a percentage next to their name.

So you know, uh, you ever heard of like handicapping.

So it's like people that do that, they have like websites that you can go to to pay for people's picks, right?

So you can come on here and choose picks and Your picks will now reflect with your accuracy.

So the percentage if you win or lose, will reflect.

So you can, people can go and say, oh, OK, uh, Oda Osborne is 50% in his UFC picks.

Let's see his picks, and you'll be able to see all of my NFL, UFC, all the picks that I have made on sports, and you can go, you can either use my picks to go bets on a different platform, you know what I'm saying.

Um, which is what the, the goal is, right?

So the higher your percentage, the more attractive you are to the consumer that wants to pick, yes, and that's how you kind of turn that into money, yes.

And so what we do is we have subscription tiers, right?

So there's like, so for example, um, Free picks.

Mine are all my UFC is always gonna be free because there's too many great areas of me being a fighter.

It's always gonna be free picks, um, but there's, uh, what was the question?

I'm sorry.

That's how you turn it into money.

Yes, different tiers, yeah, so you could do like, you know.

Weekly picks for 499, monthly picks for for 999, yearly picks, or lifetime, or you can do tier one, tier two, tier three, whereas tier one, you're you're only gonna give a certain amount of picks for a certain amount of uh NFL games, tier two, tier three, and the more credible you are.

The, the more people will sign up for your tiers and if you know, if you don't wanna ever make picks on anything, if you just wanna go on there as an observer, as an observer and be in my group chat, I have a, I have a UFC group chat on there.

All these fans come in and they kind of like a Discord too, where it's like a Patreon, Discord, kind of like that.

So I have a, a UFC group chat that I started with, uh.

On TikTok, so during the fights they go on there and we just talk about the fights and things like that, and you can monetize your group chats.

You can make it so you can say like on TikTok, you said no, no, no, it's in my app.

It's in PixDB.

I brought the people from TikTok to the app, OK, OK.

So I can be on that, yeah, and I can, yeah, it's free, but people can monetize it.

I could say everyone has to pay me $5 if you wanna join the group chat, and we could talk, you know what I'm saying, and you, you could do that, for example.

Uh, if you are doing, um, podcast, and you want people, so say you're gonna cover.

Like you covered the Connor card and the Netflix card, right, and you want fans to get like a behind the scenes of what's going on with the Netflix card and what's going on with the Connor card.

You could say, well, if you want the behind the scenes of my interaction with Conor McGregor, you know, go on P DB.

I have a group chat.

I'm charging $5 a person or $10 a person or $20 a person, and people can pay you, you know, they'll pay you on there.

You sign up through Stripe.

Everyone's familiar with Stripe.

Sign up through Stripe, and It pays you to your bank account right off, right off the rip, but it's more than that.

We want to create a community, a sports community like Twitter is like a wasteland, you know what I'm saying?

Um, no, there, there's no other platform.

That has a sports community where you can go on and just talk about like the, the sports, you know what I mean, it's just gonna show the sports you can do polls on sports, um, it's, it's super dope like I said, it's, it's social media for sports and I.

Vision and call me crazy, but I envision this being a billion dollar app someday, you know, um, if you look at, if you go on there and look at the interface, you'll, we're looking at it when we had lunch, yeah, yeah, the interface, it's, it's, it's very seamless.

It runs smoothly, um, it, it sells itself, you see, you notice I'm wearing the hat cash cow.

That's what PixDB is.

It is a cash cow.

It sells itself, yeah, no, absolutely, um, you know, shout out to.

Uh, Ron Kruk from, from, uh, LFA, he's the announcer from LFA.

He's on board as well.

Um, shout out to Austin, you know what I'm saying, our developer, he codes, he codes everything, so we don't have to pay people to code.

He's been coding forever and he's amazing at it, and, uh.

You know, we, we have these like meetings all the time and, uh, uh, you know, I, I love it because we all have different personalities in our, in our, uh, our team.

My team has different personalities, you know what I mean?

Like Ron is more like desk professional anchor, you know.

I'm more like skits, you know what I mean, creativity, and, you know, Austin is like, you know, um, super.

Nitpicky with everything, which is good .

Like he's into details.

Austin is like very detail oriented, which I'm the opposite.

Like I, I'm like a macro.

I always tell Austin I'm a macro person.

I don't care that much about the little details.

I focus on like the big, the big things, you know what I mean?

But the little details matter.

They matter the most, and that's why we need, like, that's why I need Austin, and you know what I'm saying, and, uh.

Everyone to have different personalities.

It's like going to war.

You don't want anyone, everyone at, at war to have snipers.

You want some, you know, some close range weapons, some mid-range weapons, some grenades, you know.

Everybody's gotta have their own flavor, yeah, yeah.

So I like that we do updates probably every week where like we make, we do an update and then we get the people to come on the app and then we go and code new things when they tell us like, OK, we didn't like this feature, we like that feature, so we'll, you know, Austin will code everything and You know, um, it's, it's awesome, man.

It's great, and I think this is gonna be a great community.

I really, truly believe awesome.

Well, I'm definitely gonna be, um, you know, playing around with it, and if you ever need any help, me, um, you know, you're my boy, I've got one post about it because I've always wondered as a, as a fighter, what, because you're making picks, and that's part of like you make the picks for every card, yeah.

Anybody ever give you shit for picking against them?

Uh, why did you, like, why the fuck you pick against me in this fight?

No, but it's always awkward when you see them in person.

Like how it's gonna be when John and Dean't meet.

Yeah, it's always gonna be awkward, but, um, right now it's just , you know, I'm doing all this for the beta, of course, for, for testing purposes, but I'm, I'm not gonna make picks on fights, you know, I'm just not gonna do it because.

Again, there's gray too, too much gray area, you know what I'm saying?

And I'm not trying to get a phone call from UFC Legal.

I have to explain myself.

Like, I don't, I'm doing nothing wrong .

I'm not making, I'm not making money off of any of this, I mean?

Like how we make money is people subscribing to us.

They subscribe to Pix DB.

You don't have to subscribe either, um, but that's how we make our money is through subscription-based.

We're like the only fans of sports.

There you go.

I love it.

The OnlyFans of sports XDB.

It's in the, um, Apple Store and Android.

Android is coming, I think, this week.

So you know, for, for those of you guys that are betting blindly and just putting your money out there.

See what, see what people are, are picking and predicting.

NFL season is starting.

See what people are saying about the NFL and what teams they're picking before you're throwing your money out there.

So we are trying to create a safety net for people who are betting blindly.

Come on our app, see what, what fights and games people are choosing.

Then go bet, you know what I'm saying, mitigate your risk.

Mhm.

Yes, awesome.

Well, make sure you guys check it out.

That's picks DB OJ.

It's been so awesome having you on.

Yeah, good stuff.

Lots of good, lots of good clips.

I can't wait.

I already knew it was going to be, and I was like, honestly, like we'll have a little bullet points, but we'll just, we always, man, every time I do podcasts with Destiny, we always just get on there and we, we just be just go, we go forever.

It's the worst when you do a podcast and you have to like, like look at your notes to come up with something new to talk about or in your brain, OK, what can I say, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, dead air.

No, there was no dead air here.

I hate dead air so bad.

It's like a horse.

What is, what's that, that trend my, my three horror stories?

Definitely dead air is one of them.

Oh, man, thank you.

And I love, you know, your guys' journey.

This is great.

I would love to, once, you know, um, I iron out some things with Getting a fight Um, Getting the app where we need to and um doing a Getting to the next level, I would love to come back here.

Oh yeah , we'd love to have you whenever, especially living here in Vegas.

Yeah, sure, man.

And and Destiny knows like it's like getting a hold of me to get in here is so difficult because I'm like, oh man, I, I know.

I think we penciled this in like 3 weeks ago, 4 weeks ago, and every time like something happens I'm like, Oh man, sorry, Destiny, like this just came up.

So yeah man, once I get everything where I want it, where I want it, I would definitely love to come back and um.

You know, and we're looking to do some more fun content too.

So when you get that fight booked, maybe Destiny can come and watch you work out, or I actually , I wanna start this new thing.

I think I kind of the, the food and food fights.

So and I guess like soft, soft launch, um, right here, but I wanna do where we take, you know, fighters, so you know, you obviously, and like we go to like a nice restaurant or something or whatever, a restaurant, and we, we're obviously gonna.

Eat kind of like mukbang review style but also interview so we're like, you know, like I, I really wanna do that.

So I , I, it's new.

So I would like to do it with somebody I'm close with to, you know, get there any good Jamaican restaurant because we want it to be like any good Jamaican restaurants in Vegas out here it's called House of Dutch Pot.

OK, well, maybe we can do that.

Yes, we definitely do that.

Another one, Tasty Island, who's pretty decent too.

OK, um, let's go.

All right, make sure you guys watch out for that.

Food Fights with Destiny.

Um, and I do wanna, this is an invitation as well as a promo.

We are going to do our UFC watch party for Paris or UFC Paris watch party.

Dan Hooker and Saladin Parnass making his UFC debut in Paris.

Yeah, so we're gonna do a making a debut and he's fighting Dan Hooker, but he's like the best, he must be.

I haven't fought on that Netflix card.

Did he?

He fought Kenny Cross.

I don't know if he's, oh, that dude.

Well, they say he's like the best, you know, out.

Outside of the UFC, and I guess it took a lot of negotiation to actually get him into the UFC.

Dan, Dan, see, it's so funny, I think I'm not gonna be.

I think he might win.

Pardon us.

I mean, he's gonna be a big favorite against Dan Hooker, yeah, man.

And, and Dan, Dan right now is, he's another one, man.

I got, I got questions for Dan Hooker when I, when I see him, you know, Dan, we used to train together at Syndicate, so he's a wild one.

I got some, we got, I got some questions, Mr.

Hooker.

Or should I say Mr.

Hooker?

Oh, OK.

Well, yes, you guys, live watch party here in the studio for Sports Illustrated UFC Paris.

Would love to have you there all day if you can be here.

That's September 5th, so make sure you guys tune in.

You got anything else?

Oh, I'm good.

This was awesome.

All right, awesome.

And this podcast, what is the name of this one ?

This is in the corner still.

Oh, still in the corner, still in the corner, but shout out to in the corner, man, right now.

Oh they have seen it grow.

Yeah, I've seen it grow from, from here to here, and I, I love the, the dedication and, you know, the, the camaraderie you guys have.

You guys are such good partners.

Oh, thank you for real.

We've heard that a lot lately.

Yeah, it's like, it's like watching a, a game of ping pong.

Oh thank you.

Oh, I love that.

Thank you.

Yes, no, I was very lucky to find Destiny and her podcast and join forces with SI, so we're very, very lucky.

Yes, I am, I'm blessed.

We are blessed and having the people that we get to bring on in the corner is, we're just blessed.

So thank you guys so much for tuning in.

This is in the corner with Destiny McCuben.

I'm Doug Vasquez.

See you next round.

Real fighters, real stories, real talk.

We'll see you next round.

I'm gonna keep that in there anyway.

That's fine.

I don't care.