Michael Chandler

Now y'all really affed up, because now I got even more confidence stepping into that, Like, I will knock out Dustin Poortier, I will knock out Justin Gaegee, Charles Olivera, I will knock out Charles. I will knock out any of these guys in the first or second round. And I will capture UFC Gold probably either my next fight or the fight after Dide.

She's like, she needle cop everything. What happened up the coffee?

Yeah, don't come on the bus without coffees?

You got yours? Did you see it right? You got yours? That tape, No, this is yours.

He just dropped his dry to do it for the brand for under the Hood.

I said the coffee on top of yours. I was like, I literally said, if I lose one, I put I put yours on top of mine. And I was like, because if I lose one. While trying to record the boy, so I switched. I was like, it's got a bigger base on the bony. So I sat, mon, that would be good. I'm trying to come in the doors open and I was like, and I'm like moving and I'm just.

Like I saw.

It really is like like this, and then jagre Gart's photo of us holding the hand.

Why is your hand up so small? I don't know.

Oh, dude, you can have this.

This is five shots in it. That's that's that's the crazy thing.

Like serious, I've been doing decat jet like serious, dude, five shots shots.

I got six this morning.

But I uh, I woke up at two twenty seven every night the last two nights.

Well, I guess it's only two nights every night, two nights, but and I just can't really fall back. I'm like laying there and freaking just that would get hit the dome a bunch. It's gotta be like a whole well funny rough hit very much. It hit zero. That's first, one of the first times in my career. Really, this is the best. It was the best case scenario I have.

This.

I have the same where I run ray up it during the week because I have a podcast by knee and stuff.

I spent six hours of damn just on my knee. Yeah.

So during during the weekends, it's like I'm with my kids, I'm not doing nothing.

So I was in bed at that night, like at nine o'clock.

I woke up to Will's tweet about you, I saw everything, dude, so happy for you.

So you're calling out people.

I have a zoom I have a zoom call that gift ahead it was from when he just won.

I was like, oh, they already got the gift roll. Yeah, I got a zoom.

Call with Rick Flair later. Do you really congratulate me? That's let's go legend. Are you gonna wear a Rolex? Rolex wearing is a decaf? Yeah, oh, I decaf Americano. I thought that's what you're on. It's not in the morning, Will, that's but I thought that's.

What you're on. Ship changes if it's sucking tune the afternoon. I had a decaf in mind too. What's it? I said, I had a deca min Hey, I'll switch you. You're gonna have this one? No, no, no no, I'm just like you want you and the other one. Will I like to be than anything. He gets off to it. I don't know what it is. It's part of the growth we both. I think we both have a nice little feel for it. For sure.

Will likes taking it. I like giving it. It's a great relationship. No, no pause, no pause, I'll take it.

Hey, I was on we should probably be careful though. We've been talking about Dick and we have have We've.

Had some questionable ship we have people are really start. We've been pumping out, were pumping out pots.

You wear those you know where I like.

To wear it sometimes just because I like the Uh you think you're more like the sound if you guys like.

Him put them off like the I was on Artist's podcast, yes, and he never played musical headsets to hang on.

Hang on minute. This podcast is brought to you by Barstool Sports. Oh yeah, there we go. Now we're get no again. That's it. Yeah, that's it. That's unbelievable. I got the I got the boys shirt on. But a freaking look at that. Yeah, I don't know, Like he's taking a photo of that right now. That's wild, dude, what you were hearing?

Now? He was ago maybe twenty. I was on the phone with him when he pulled in.

Listen, chan never later, right, that's a rule in our household, and I knew that.

That is why I called you. I was like, I know he's probably sitting on the bus right now.

Yeah, the ones are never on time. That's that's not spoken rule in the family for sure.

That's crazy.

This yes, dude, whatever you want to just take like it really doesn't matter to me.

I kind of like the fight that will share it. Okay, you do it.

Hey, yeah, this is I I first off being a guest before, but also being a friend watching you go through the experience.

You damn being able to watch the vologs on YouTube.

You your situation coming over from Bellator like they and then you seek to throw this kids you sink at you if you come from somebody else, somewhere else. They're basically saying, fuck this guy. Let's see if you can sink or swim. Yeah, a lot of swimming. A lot of swimming happened on Saturday.

A lot of swim I mean, yeah, there was. It was a perfect storm. I think, uh because because I asked for it as well. I mean, I know, man, I'm not I'm no spring chicken.

I know, I know.

I I mean, I still got five years left if I want to, and I didn't want to putts around the top fifteen. Honestly, it's just like any It's just like any day, like you got your teams off, you somehow lose to a horrible team, right, you can go out there slip on a banana peel, Top fifteen, top twenty guy, I might as well go out there and fight the top five guy and right away and put yourself in the mix, which I did, which is what it did.

So that's why I wandered right away. So yeah, dude, I'm so hype man. Like I texted you this too. I was like, I hadn't been that nervous since watching Cody wrestle. Yeah, you know when you're watching those one on ones and you're watching like your brother, your boy, and they put in a lot of work and you're just sitting there.

I was like, I looked at Charle and I was like, I was like, yo, I'm nervous about this.

That's the That's the most beautiful thing about this, is like because I'm the same way when I watch my friends fight, I'm nervous as heck. But with me, I was just like that this was a different experience completely. This This was the most confident, most not worried about anything of my entire twelve really, I don't know.

It was the biggest stage of all time.

Co main event on Economer Gregor pay per view, my first fight in the UFC fighting a killer and Dan Hooker. I don't know, honestly, I just say, like I said in the post fight interview, like all roads have led to this. I just feel like it was. It was God's timing. It was it was the ups and the downs, it was the battle tested, battle hardened veteran, Like I mean, I've been doing this forever, and I also had nothing

So felt confident. Yeah, and it worked. The humility is unbelievable. You sit here and say you got rid of everything to take it, take a leap of faith. That's a that's a very impressive thing.

Take me through. Like, uh, just I want to we obviously.

Go to go through all of it, but like getting the call, what what what was a factor for you to change to go over because it wasn't just like well fuck this, I want to go yeah UFC, Like like what transition and what made the transition happen?

Well, I'll tell you just from a philosophical standpoint, like I realized. I mean, I've had a great career, loved it in Beltur, made a great living, But I truly I think about that like forty.

Year old Michael. Think about that forty year old me.

Will I be able to sleep at night knowing that I never tested myself in the UFC. Will that freaking pillow I'm lay my head on feel like a forty pound rough sandpaper cinder block for the rest of my life.

That's a long time.

Yeah, Oh, you know, it's a long time to stew in the regret of maybe I didn't make the right decision. Now if I go to the if I went to the UFC fell flaut of my face, that would be better.

Than never going and always wondering, you know.

So I just always thought about that and then decided to take a chance fight out my contract, which was probably the most stressful scary scenario of my entire life because it was a during a worldwide pandemic.

So I wasn't sure if I was ever going to test positive for COVID.

Get talking about when you fought Henderson, Yeah, when I fought Henderson on the last fight of a belatar contract belt, Yeah, and Belatore was sitting on their hands. They didn't throw a fight for five months, while the UFC only took five weeks off, And so I I knew that too.

I was just like, man, the UFC is doing it right.

The UFC is is taking over and going and that was that was known worldwide Anywayvan.

Yeah, a lot of sports that happened. If UFC didn't do what they did.

When you see it and bought bought an island and did that ship, It's like you look at the NFL, we were we were worried about playing.

It's like, oh, we've got to play, like I think even the NFL, the NBA figures it out, and it's like we have to figure out.

If the UFC didn't figure it out that fast, I'm not sure we have the sports we had this year for sure, Like and the UFC had the best year of their entire existence this year because every single sports eyeball was on the UFC on set of times and the.

Only thing going on.

But also this is the situation if you do the guy went out and got like he basically bought an arena, but the arena.

Is an eye built. They built the arena. Isn't that just wild?

It was like in no time, I've been building a house for eighteen months.

Yeah.

Not to mention the millions of dollars that they pumped into. I mean, you're there, like people are wearing hazmat suits, non like face masks, all the staff everything, It's.

Exactly what it looks like.

They spent all that money doing that, the testing, the bubble, they basically rented out. They basically rented out this hotel in Vegas for all of us to quarantine before we fly. They rented out the w Abu Dhabi on Yas Island, so that's just a ton of expenses. So all of that was going on, and I decided to you know, obviously fight out the contract, which was crazy, scary, get the first round knockout, which is perfect. Within two minutes,

So I was a restricted free agent in your guys' world right then, And as soon as my time was up, I went.

I flew to Vegas. Man.

I flew to Vegas without even having a meeting scheduled. I willed it into existence. That's awesome. I flew there and just because my manager lives out there, and I said, screw this, man, I can't sit here anymore on my hands. As if this, as if this is just going to take care of itself, I'm rolling out there, hopped on a plane, flew out there, no meeting scheduled, ended up getting a meeting scheduled the next day.

So you finished, you finished this fight?

How long between finishing that that knockout and jumping on a plane to Vegas?

August sixth? August sixth, I got the knockout.

There was this fifteen day exclusive negotiation period, So now you're into the first week of September. Literally the day after my negotiation period was over, I flew to Vegas. Wow, because it like it was nothing else going on with the Uxcy No, nothing, hadn't even talked.

You just knew that they were excited to talk probably in a couple of weeks. Dana wasn't even Dana wasn't even in town, I don't think. So I sit with Hunter Campbell, who's like the number one in command after after Dana, have a great meeting with him. Five minutes after the meeting, he texts me and said, Hey, Dane, want's talking you.

What's your number? Dana calls me. This episode is brought to you by Bow's Headphones. Listen.

When I was growing up and I wanted to get a hard little workout and I want to go for it was always the jog that was the hardest, right when we used to have the chords growing up, I'd run and I'd hit the thing and I'd fly everywhere, and that's flopping and I'm still kind of trying to run, but I'm chripping over the chords now putting in the back of my head, and if I'm getting a good work at it, we're talking an hour and a half, two hour workout.

Eventually my ears would start her.

I don't know if anybody else has that, but that's kind of a thing that I had going on, was I would put.

In my ears and it would be like just a little OUCHI, little Auchi bro. You know what I'm saying.

With Bow's headphones, specifically the Bow's Sport earbuds.

You don't have any of those issues anymore. Right, It's amazing.

Audio cancels everything out and has the acoustics you think you're in the studio with the boys getting things done. But you literally are just doing going for your jog, your run, your height, your bar lifting, any of that, any of that type of stuff. You got them in there. They're feeling great for hours on end. I put him in Now. Personally, I'm jogging, I'm feeling good. I'm getting

It's a comfortable fit. I know, I know.

Patrick Mahomes is the dude with Bows and Patrick Mahomes is my dude, all right.

I love the guy to death, and he's in the super Bowl this week.

So not only should you go to bows dot com and it gets you get yourself some earbugs b like Patrick Mahomes. I'm gonna give you a little inside on what's going to happen in the game. I love Tom Brady, He's a goat of all goats. I'm going Chiefs in this one. I'm gonna go with the Chiefs, and I think the first touchdown of this game is gonna be Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelsey. Now you can bet that if you want, I don't bet. I can't bet all right, someday I will bet, but right now I don't bet.

That's what we're doing right. Music is screept.

We can bop and weave in the in the house all we want. Let's go chase some dreams and let's do together with Bose. Have that great conversation that you and I kind of talked about.

Yeah on the pod that you that you was a boost. Yeah, and it was just like a fight.

No for good reason, for good reason, you know, and uh and we just have this great conversation and uh.

Well you me in the group chat.

In the group chat, I was giving him a certain clip or anything you want to like. Boosy's like, you know, we had a couple of conversations. I don't necessarily know if I want everybody the hear. Yeah, I was like Ibary should have said that, But anyways, I had to throw his stones on the table basically, and before his win. I'm sure you talk about it now, but before you're probably like, you know, I don't want to stick my head out far to.

Me, and you're like, I'm arrogant. No, Now we're in a better spot. Yeah, I had this great conversation.

He ends up hanging up on literally pretty much hanging up on me, calling Hunter saying, give this guy whatever the f we got to give him so that no one else matches, and the rest is history. Who signed that He He announced it on Sports Center in September nineteenth or something, and then had the October fight where I didn't really fight, I just waited in and then the rest is history.

Dude, I'm just so I'm so excited for you, Like, do you feel like that the UFC even calls or if you lose to Henderson, do you feel like you even get a call from the UFC now, or do you feel like you're kind of in more of a you know, not downward spiral.

But I gotta win the next fighter. I could be done hundred percent.

I mean even that that was also kind of the deciding factor too, where he's like, man, if this is supposed to happen, it's supposed to happen. If I go out there and lose to Benson Henderson, maybe I'm just not UFC caliber, right, or even if I have a hard fight against Duston or Benson Henderson, it's it's still the UFC.

Is not calling like that and wanting to, you know, sign me that bad.

But getting the first round knockout, Okay, this guy still got it power in his hands.

And you know, dude, a lot of.

A lot of respect to you too, just because just sitting back and watching and you know, Taylor was alluding to it earlier. The humility you have with it and enough confidence in yourself to constantly post, not that social media and all that stuff like plays such a huge factor into looking into it from a pality standpoint.

It definitely does, though.

It's like putting yourself out there and constantly showing and and building this so called persona to where the fight you do have even myself personally, You're you're wanting to know if he's were if like is he gonna put his money or money where.

His mouth is? It's the most you're ready to see you.

Yeah, you want to see you show up, Like is he really about what he's always constantly putting out there? Not that you're putting anything out there in arrogance, but I'm I'm thinking of it from from my own perspective. Now, granted we play a team sport, we're part of something

Just look at McGregor, what happened to him the way he was living his life, I mean four or five years ago.

I mean, I'm a huge McGregor fan.

I love the cockiness, the arrogance, but like from a sustainable way to approach your career, that's a high peak and valley situation.

Yeah, it's with the way you do it is a high throw to fall from.

But if he were to keep that same intensity the whole time, maybe not branch off and do the lique, he might have as much money. But like, I'm sure he could have lasted a lot longer than it seems

You're out there, you put the work in.

You could see it physically, you could see it emotionally and spiritually, but like you show it so often.

It's like how do you not how do you not root for a guy?

Right? Especially when especially because it differs with like your style and like a McGregor sall, you're not like a trash talk You're you're showing the grind. You're showing like the like you were saying on the last pot, like the bringing the like.

A good guy perspective to it all.

I don't know, I'm just I just get fired up about I appreciate it, and I think, uh, I mean yeah, I mean not to talk about me too much, but like, well.

This is a podcast. I guess.

We want Actually we'll go back to you know when I have my mindset coach here on the bus with me Jim Hensel, and it's all about reverse engineering and deconstructing who is Michael Chandler mentally, physically, spiritually.

Who am I? And why am I the way I am? How do I tick right?

And and we what we came up with was that me being able to live on both ends of the spectrum, being extremely joyful and happy and encouraging and loving and just that guy, but then on the other side being a ridiculously nasty, tenacious individual. And somewhere in between is that happy medium that I guess is what people are drawn.

To, or what my wife was drawn to, or what my.

Friends were drawn to, right, And it's like that's why I came up with this kind of moniker of like stay dangerous, because if you want to get anything in life, you can be nice and full of character, full of integrity and happy and joyful, but you got to live with a little bit of danger.

You got to be a little bit dangerous. You know.

You look at it from the Christian perspective, and people are like, well, you you probably shouldn't fight people because it didn't Jesus. Turn the other cheek. I'm like, yeah, but Jesus was also a very dangerous person.

Jesus might have k not he was.

But like I mean Gandhi, I mean Gandhi Mohammad, like any of these different like deities or like people that are looked up to, like they they may live with this extreme humility or or wisdom, right, but there was also also this this aspect of dangerousness, you know, just pursuits there's a scary amount of confidence slash dangerousness about them, you know. So I've just always kind of been like that. I was a you know, freaking just a mental midget

With that and beyond that superficial like that shallowness that you probably see the world. That's because when you're like a small town or I mean, we all come from small places anyway, wherever you start, and when you start getting into those bigger waters a lot of different perspectives, you're learning a lot of new things. You get a little bit more insecure because you're not sure how to take it on.

And exactly that's self.

Awareness, like sometimes your integrity is challenged. Should I act like this? Should act like that? It's understanding to.

Your true self right, and then realizing like in the grand scheme of things, like it doesn't really matter as much as you're thinking it matters, just like letting go and being able to show that tenacious, enjoyful, encouraging person and being able to put it into one and not caring all the opinions that come with it.

And I turned a corner two when when I just started thinking about the word authenticity, you know, and that's what I worked a lot with Jim on too, is the amount of times that we are inauthentic in a day, if if we aren't true to ourselves. And it's not and it's not in a in a in a nefarious kind of way. You're not being you're not being a liar or or trying to deceive people. You just like in a conversation, I act inauthentic because of my insecurities or because of the way that I see myself, for

So just trying to be more authentic as well.

Yeah, I love I love the phrase stay dangerous, And you're referring to guys like Gandhi and Jesus and stuff like that, because when you tell somebody stay dangerous, their first thought is like, I gotta fight.

I gotta be a fighter, especially me, Like.

Yeah, yes, people know what's staying staying dangerous is like confidence is dangerous, Calm is dangerous.

Calm is chaos.

And if you see somebody and if you're the most calm person in the room and someone's coming at you over and over and over again, you know, violently with words or something, and you're calm, that's a dangerous phrase because you know you're centered to yourself and that's something that like as a kid or you know, growing up and seeing guys UFC and then the whole thing kind of coming about you just think of, like and even watching NFL football players or any sort of athletes that

To press you and back and forth. The same thing for playing off its lin.

You you think, okay, I have to beat the shit out of sky very single time. But the better you get at football, the more you realize it doesn't have to be running my head through a fullback every single time.

Right.

It could be long arming a dude. It could be where's my hand placement?

And once you get once you get that placement, that's when you can take over and make it look as violent as you need to be.

There's a time and a place always for violence, exactly.

There's always going to be that spot that you need you to have that kind of scratch in your life. But having the ability to be a neutral thinker and being emotional but not chaotic is something that has a

Oh, but dangerous is Rosa Parks. Yeah, like that was dangerous, but it wasn't an act of violence. You know, dangerous is MLK, Like you know, it's like anybody who who has this and it's so hard to explain, but it's but it's so powerful exactly like what you just said, like neutral in mind, you know, like that was.

Solid, like that was that was appreciate that?

Yeah you so, but yeah, man, just building it brick by born brick. And it takes a long long time too. It's not you're You're never an overnight.

It takes a long time.

And and it's mostly like your programming as an individual, right like you, me, Will, everybody in here has a software update that's happened to our entire lives. He said, small guy from small town talk to small things, right, you wouldn't you know? I didn't have the best household growing up. Will had his adversities growing up, And it's like you grew up with these adversities and different things

You start to really like, why, yeah, why it's.

Comfortable doing that because it's easier to go and get drunk and do that instead of going to work on that thing you want to. It's easier to you know, talk about doing X, Y and Z talking about doing a podcast and.

Not actually doing it, but how cool would it be to do that?

Right?

Fun to talk about. Then we run the first ones and we're just like we kind of sit there and we and Will are calling each other like, fud, You're nervous that.

Yeah, putting yourself out there like, but you go and you know, the minute you start peeling back layers, there's an enlightenment you feel about yourself that translate to what happens in your world. So, going from my second year to third year, when I started with my wife and she started peeling back layers, it was an emotional, chaotic, crazy thing. But you know, my career went the way I went after that because of that. Not necessarily because

Well, especially when you talk about a career, whether it's football, whether it's fighting, whether it's business, no matter what location. Talent or the hard work, those are usually givens honestly at the highest level, Like does most people work hard in the NFL, or if they don't work that hard, they have so much talent it does.

It doesn't matter. Yeah, and it catches up and it catches up.

But it's the mindset, or it's the self belief, it's the self awareness, it's it's those things you think, you know, you just watched this last card you FC two fifty seven. The difference in skill between Connor and Dustin is very, very very slim.

But the fight went how it went. The difference between me and Dan Hooker was very very different. Like these top guys at the top level of mixed martial arts inside of an octagon on a football field. It's that degree of separations, not very much in a lot of ways, but it's what did you do to get there? Mentally and spiritually? You know, that's a physical partakes care of that.

I've always been so like curious and like obsessed with why people are are successful while they stay successful, and it's like the crazy thing that you guys have been alluded to. And the wild part is it never stops, Like you never you never figure it out to where you're just just successful. Like you're constantly battling your mind. You're constantly battling all these things, staying grounded, staying in your shoes, being where your feet are.

The minute you try to stay comfortable, it checks you right because.

You realise you're getting in a different You're getting in the habits that you know you had to check in the first place. And that's the thing with like, like people who end up getting and becoming successful and whatever avenue, they're always figuring out how to get uncomfortable and getting behind that wall of learning about yourself. Who Taylor wan is like, you do all these things, but when you started to peel back layers like figuring out which different

Your your mind works different than his.

Motivate you start to sound like a schizophrenical I don't want to be here, but I also to stay ground where I'm at and then there and it's like, cause you your mind going a little crazy because the easiest thing to do is just kind of chill.

The easiest thing to do is that.

But you're not going to be like I'm not stimulated if I don't go do this podcast or I don't go get the workouts and or don't go to hand my kids, and the level of guilt is uh with children that you've said it, dude, it's crazy. I was literally yesterday I feel like I told my I feel like I'm spiraling right now because I'm doing so much here and with my knee and all that that I don't think you have a lot of time my kids.

You know what I'm saying.

Well, there's no game, there's no playbook. Like you guys work your whole your whole lives about playbooks. Right, coach on a playbook, it's pretty darn easy. You follow the play. Success happens like similar to me with my coaches. But well, hey, let's not make it sound like it's that easy to play football. Yeah, you do the play it's gonna work. You're gonna do just like just push them farther like a tag coach. Like you know, I listened to my coach.

It's just and everyone makes a playbook, but they're what they experience and did they have different minds that there?

Oh yeah, you could sit down with ten different people with ten different ten different uh advice structures, and none of.

Them could be correct. It's just the most beautiful yet most challenging.

Thing is extremely It's extremely and sometimes too with people who are very like driven and wanting to you know, chase the next thing and do all this stuff, and they don't find time to just sit at where they're at and look at where the're at. You can put so much pressure on yourself that that you lose perspective. So it's always good to see like where you've came

A time hitting on the kids, saying there's gonna be a time where you say, Okay, it's not about my goals anymore about their goals.

Yeah, you guys are talking about a world that I haven't got.

That a whole new humility for me, because it's always been me, you know what I'm saying. As weird as it is, like you're playing this movie in your head of your life and you've dealt with it since you could remember anything, especially in our career, and you're gonna be, you know, in your thirties. I'm gonna be my thirties and my kids and be like I wanted to go

Right?

Well, maybe not the best thing for me, but what's the best thing for them? And that's gonna be That'll be a difficult thing for me because I'm very in a lot of ways selfishly driven, like I've always been like everybody, how do.

I get on?

How do I get to where I need to go? You know what I'm saying, because at the end of the day, it's like no one else's life but mine, you know, And that's that's the scary thing.

Well, if you have to deal with that someday, especially.

In our line of work, well you're like for being like a I mean not diminishing any other lines of work. I'm just talking about all this stuff that you feel like you have to do stuffish it, like.

For your knee, body work, you know what I mean. Working out.

Hey, you know I got to work out today because you know, I play professional sports type of thing.

Yeah, well, that's you can't really take a day off, right, And it sounds crazy because you see some people that are, you know, traveling all over the place, going and partying and shit like that, and I'm like, I just can't. All the old linemen went on a private jet to Miami this past week.

I can't be.

My knee. I'm not going to risk But it's like I sit there and you bet FOMO is hitting hard the entire weekend. I'm like, dude, but I'm going to bed early. I'm getting up with my kids and I'm trying to check those boxes. And those are the things I hope I can. I can sit back on and rely on to keep that future programming. I keep hitting programming. But it really is like you're buying your minds, you're putting and you're putting money. You're putting money in the bank too.

It's like maybe maybe it will maybe you'll never think about that sacrifice that you just made again. But eventually, when when the going gets tough in the fourth quarter, when the team needs you, your your performance is going to soar because of the money in the bank that you put in, the discipline, the missing out, the FOMO, all of that turns into athletic achievement. And it's also like trying to trying to figure it out, compartmentalize and

Right now, Yeah, because that that life's sooner rather than later.

For sure, we're gonna have a whole lot, whole nother life to live, which is similar parallel into our careers is eventually I'm gonna wke up and be able to play fooball.

You're gonna wake up and be able to fight like he used too.

And it's like what I didn't have been wrapped up, And that is that is the pendulum we always sit on of pros and cons of ways of what's what do I have to do right now?

You know it's funny too, and I think this, I think this is important. Number one.

Visualization is extremely important at sport. But I think and you guys, i'd like to hear your guys perspective. I think, and I can. I can visualize this guy perfectly. I know exactly kind of what it's going to look like, what it's going to feel like, but I visualize. I can close my eyes and visualize my last fight. Whether

I'm much closer to that.

So now it just helps you live life with a little bit more gratitude, realizing that this is a fleeting thing. This is a fleeting thing that will eventually and.

Chase you after something that's faster than you.

Yeah, father time, father time is undefeated.

You know.

It's like you, you will always lose that battle eventually. So it's it's what can you do today to maximize your potential to.

Feel empty at the end, to be like I left it all out there.

What you said, too, is the answer is going to be an obvious yes, yeah, I mean there's I don't think anybody has ever had a question of effort in this, in this these three mins, like out there.

But in this bus US three, US three. You know, I'm just kidding, but.

Like there is a level of you know, I've always said you can say what you want about like I was always say what you want about my family and my dog, but over questioned my effort, you know, I said, joke like that all time, But like that with my careers and the way you talk, the way you talk, the way you fight, the way you act. The easy answer in that visualization you had is yes, you've obviously

Went to that first. I went to that fight to D and I see him.

You know, he's the guy that does great, I feels good, coasts a little bit, and then has to lose.

To get back up.

And you've kept this it win or lose, you stay on that same same trajectory. And those are the types of things that it makes it easier to say I gave everything I had because there was no valley, only the consistency of going.

And so I think you're gonna be I.

Feel huge, very happy with the way way you lay your head on that pillow for sure.

Well, and that's yeah, and it's then it's just really building it brick by boring brick, like you said, I mean, that's kind of been the thing too. I've never never tried to do anything outside of myself or outside of my character or outside of anything. Just stay in my lane and focus on building this thing brick by boring brick, because I that's all I really could do, especially fighting

Being a part of the UFC is a huge, huge thing.

I just won my first fight in the UFC, and now I just now feel like I finally actually won a fight in the eight even though.

You've been a time belt or champ.

Yeah, like as well, I win one fight on this card and I have five five times the amount of time messages or Instagram lovel like all the other stuff. That stuff that doesn't really necessarily matter, like the support compared to winning a world title.

Over in another way, that stuff doesn't matter necessarily to you as far as growth as a human, but you see the the level of it on the outside, how crazy that is ten times bigger while.

At least you know and it makes sense. I always knew that.

So that was what they always always the hardest part about making the decision to continue to sign with belts or over and over again until now and then then people say old, Now you're too old.

It's too late. You're gonna get your freaking head knocked off, and then you're you know, it's just like so there was a lot of uh.

I mean, there's there's every opinion in doubt out there for you in this fight. You know, it's made it more entertaining, you know, I mean, I do I do want to ask do you do you look and see didn't read about that doubt.

Let's tick at the break from this beautiful episode with Michael Chandler to talk about another thing.

Vehicles.

All right, we either want them or we got them. And if you have a truck, you know you can trust that guy. But do you have a dependable, hard working.

Truck.

You're thinking to yourself, it's a Chevy Silverado, right, it's advanced, dependable. I've used those words before, but it keeps coming in my head every time I say Chevy Silverado. I'm building a house right now. When I go on there and there's a concrctor that I'm dealing with, and I drive into that parking lot to have a meeting with the guy, and it says Chevy Silverado on his vehicle, and no, I'm probably in good hands because they're good people.

You know what I'm saying.

Guy who has a truck, I got a truck. I got a Chevy right now. I drive everywhere people, Hey, can he help me move? The answer is either yesterda no, depending on how well I know you. But you know I can help you out in a pinch if you really need it. Those are the things that we love to do of being truck people helping helping people. That's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Tailgating, hauling any of those types of stuff and moving down. I'm gonna need help soon.

I do.

And so you're telling me you were never nervous going into this fight. You were that you felt that supremely confident, where you don't. You're like, at the end of the day, you're able to lower those voices walking into the ring.

But I'm I'm just I'm wondering if.

You do to have that curiosity to see all the doubta out there, to kind of see fire.

So I will say, yeah, so I the walk, like you said, calling the voices when I'm on the walk, the walk zero zero tunnel vision zero fear, yeah, zero fear zero insecurity zero. Uh, you know, fear of anything bad happening.

Leading up to that. I mean I had nightmares. I always have nightmares.

There's always usually one night about two weeks before the fight where I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because I just got knocked out, choked out or broken by my opponent. And broken is usually probably the scariest one. Anybody can get knocked outnyone can get choked out, but just broken.

Broken as what like you make you wave the white flag, or broken like broken bones no, no broke.

Now, I'm not scared of broken bones. It's more like breaking my will. Yeah, so tired, so out of it, so whatever. Getting swarmed the guy is just too good, he's big. I break and it's just white flag dream You is really weak too, Like you can't throw a punch, dude, exactly.

It'll treat you like everything come out. Always have one of those, right. But and I think this has been an interesting new experience.

The day that I signed with the UFC, you know, everything started getting bigger and bigger and bigger, growing, And that comes with a lot of negativity too, because then you hear the doubters talk.

A lot of new.

Opinions come into your life that have no clue, who haven't followed your journey, who don't know how actually humble and how hard you've worked.

They're just new coming in and ready to ready to troll. And truthfully, I'm I. I don't usually read the negative ones. I'll try to read more of the positive ones. But I do watch a lot of interviews. I've watched all of my interviews back just to remind myself of what I said listen to other people, because I think it was is it Colin Cowhard or one of those those guys.

You have to.

And I think that's the reason why Connor McGregor is a global superstar is I think he is interested. I think he sits at home, he researches, or his team around him researches. He knows what his next move is going to be from a marketing standpoint on social media, every word that he says, how it's going to play out. He knows a lot about his opponents mentally and outside

You know.

He is a researched, very meticulous, meticulous and intelligent individual.

So I just want to be more like that because I think overall it will play it will bode well in my career. So with that social media and all that kind of stuff, the age of social media, it is that whole world for me has grown, So I want to I want to be interested in what's going on.

Maybe here a little bit of doubt, but learning how to utilize it.

Learning how to use is really just like, oh, this guy's a loser, he's be leagues and he's gonna get knocked out.

Like that's those are the three things.

So it's like, Okay, it's just regurgitated the same stuff, just kind of base level doubt. That's cool whatever, there's no there's no validity to it. But hearing other people talk, like hearing the Daniel Cormier's, the Ariel Hawane's.

The respected people, people that have credibility.

Kind of media or people who study the sport listening to that kind of stuff are usually good as well.

So yeah, because it was a huge I mean, the way everyone seemed to have spoke about it, who's had credibility, like you know, like you said, the Cormier's, uh shobs, those kind of guys. It seemed like you were in as much of a mismatch as you could have been in out of the choice of fighters, that you were lying on the last guy on the because he was

So I had to.

I mean, that was a fight where I mean you talk about names like like right now, the the rankings or before this, the rankings were Justin Gaechee, Dustin Poorrier, Connor McGregor, Charles Oliver, Tony Ferguson.

All those guys are much easier matchups than the guy that I just thought.

I believe even I think everyone else believed that to with Shaw, and he was like anybody inside the top five, I would have felt better of him, anybody inside the top five versus Dan hook.

Everybody said non Hooker was the only guy that said you was no chance.

He said they threw him in. They threw him into a fire. That's what it is, what you're saying. It works out.

The one person you don't want to fight other people you'd rather fight, said no, I'll tell you.

What now, honestly, and this is no knock against the other guys, but and I could very well lose to any of those guys, I get it.

You know, no insurance here, no exactly.

Well, we heard hang, I was gonna say, keep the same energy you had on the mic post fight.

If you can't.

Was I was prefacing it because I was saying, I feel like I already beat the guy who was the toughest matchup for me. So now I have even Now y'all really affed up, because now I got even more confidence stepping into that, like I will knock out Dustin Pourtier, I will knock out Justin Gaigie I, Charles Olivera, I will knock out Charles. I will knock out any of

That's what we're doing, dude. I love what about knockause that's out who Kabiba. I don't know if Kabib's ever coming back, but yes, I do think so.

You know, I thought he was coming back. I thought recently he's talked about coming back.

He did, and he said if he saw something spectacular, but he didn't see something spectacular enough.

I guess, well, that sounds like a bit of a cop out, because it's like it's in your it's in your.

Like you can. He's playing.

He's playing against the hardest fighter you had to fight, and that was particular to him.

Could be being interested, he's playing the game. He's setting up his next movie.

I mean the thing about could be he's tactical too. He's that calm that you look at when he was fighting. He's the Russian type ship. Yeah, he's the Russian type ship. But he's that's like Calomus chaos, right.

You can see he's there.

And he when he speaks the words way more because he fucking like he doesn't talk very often.

Because he chirped McGregor after his fight up but everyone him after saying, you treat you changed your you change all these people, You change your environment.

An adjustment around him.

Yeah, I hate that though, man like, because I mean, obviously I'm just a little bit just set up with the Kabib thing at this point. It's like, you know, bounce out if you want to bounce out, but don't don't be kind of lukewarm. Don't be don't be I might come back, I might not, but I will say, well, he knows he's the champ. He knows he's undefeated, for sure. But in his defense, I think Dana also wanted to keep that dream alive, you know, which rightfully so he should.

But well, Danna cares about the dollar signs for sure. Dan, he's he's the he's the guy. Oh yeah, he's a huge draw. He's what it is. You are becoming that draw. You became that draw, the mint you had that. Yeah, you win another one.

You go do what you just said here and knock one of those guys out you.

Just said and the bella is actually on the bus. Yeah, yeah, now you're that guy. Yeah, well belts on the bus or not. You do what you have to do for you. Yeah, it's over. Like, well, you you run your plate, you start saying yes and no to fights.

Yeah, and I think, uh, I mean the good thing is the good thing is now that it was kind of like what the problem before I signed, Like I said in September, I've known all of this stuff. I knew I was gonna go out there and win. I knew I was going to get a great opportunity. I knew I didn't know at this level how big this thing was going to blow up and just overnight me becoming overnight success, like really a wave of success. Twelve years.

New It's okay.

But so I knew all that, but I couldn't really say it because I didn't have a number next to my name. Now I'm ranked number four in the world, so it's like, so you're four, Now number four, So it's so now, but now it's now one of the guys, right, yeah, now one of the guys. Now it's like, okay, there's only there's only four guys here. Who should be fighting for the title. Who's it going to be? You know,

So I apologize for being dumb, like who who does have the title? So Kabiev still has the title, but essentially it will just be vacated. I believe.

I always hate that man because then they make a what an interim championship or something like that or something. Well, so if but then if kid could be come back, it's like, oh, belt versus belt.

No, they won't do it. It'll be him fighting. It'll be an uncrowned. Like everyone knows, kuld Be was undefeated and still the champion. He relinquished the belt and retired. He didn't lose the belt, so kind of like George. Yeah, so they'll relink, he'll relinquish it, and they will have a title fight. And I wish they would have just made the McGregor versus Pooria a title fight, because if they would have done that, it would have been easy for me to say, Okay, hey, I'm the only guy.

Yeah.

Maybe, Dana said in the post fight conference it was me and Pooria for the title next.

That awesome. That's good. And he loves being on the phone with you.

I heard his little comment, talking like, you get it on the phone two minutes with this guy, you love him?

Yeah, I mean that's got to make you.

I got a good relationship is a seller, bro, I.

Got I mean he is.

That's why this thing is what it is like that I got a good I got a good relationship with him. I mean, it's it's pretty darn easy, though, man, Like I just I see these guys. I see the way they operate. I see the entitlement in which they they they operate in. They don't understand what they have and they and they and they don't understand what they have because they're spoiled me fighting outside of the UFC for so long, me coming in now, I'm like a kid

You can't do that anywhere else. What are the big glaring differences between Beltour and UFC. Like you say, I've been on the outside. Belltour is the biggest competitor to UFC. What makes UFC so much different? Just it has that much more of a raw that was more marketing, that was that's that much more money.

Yeah.

So what I would say without I mean, and it just for a in a completely subjective stance, is Bellatour. Bellator, I think is just content doing what they're doing being the number two, never ever growing or taking ground from the UFC, whereas the UFC Dana White stays up at night trying to figure out how he makes this thing bigger than the NFL, bigger than F one, bigger than freaking cricket, bigger than all these other sports, bigger than WWE pre soccer, Premiere Premier soccer. I believe that he

Than the UFC.

I think he is a freaking shark. I think he wants. He wants to build this thing into the biggest sports franchise in the entire world, and that, to me is exciting because I operate similar to that, much more similar to that than I do.

Status quo. I'm okay true.

Yeah, Like you know, Bellator Man, I would my last six fights in Bellator I got. I had a camera on me one time. I was like one of the faces of Belacher. I almost feel like I do. I did my own promotion like I spend. I spend a lot of money per year on my own video stuff, my own content. Creating my own content, running ads, different marketing things for.

Me to build. What I had to build, I was my own to get in front of everybody.

Yes, I was my own media company, when really it should be it should have been Bellator building me so that they could build a star, so they could make money off the star. They don't want to. They didn't want to spend the money. The UFC has probably spent more money on me right now in my first four months than Bellatour has in the last four years. And that's nothing against them. It's just that's the way that they operate their.

Bi Some people are happy being where they're at.

I got to the point where they, I think they looked at me and said, well, Chandler's big enough, so let's go build you know, Pico and Page and this guy and Kimbo's lices, Son and this and this, and let's go build these other people, which is completely.

Because you're bringing military up a little more because of who where you got to.

So I but I've always just thought differently. I've always looked at it like a business much more than just a sport.

I you know.

So that's how I always operated it, and I always said social media is what is going to be the measuring stick for how well you do and how much money you make.

I talked, I talked to my managers about it, like eight years ago. They thought I was crazy.

Was talking to other people who are like, no, it's always just going to be like Facebook where you got friends and you got this, And I'm like, no, I'm telling you right now, that is your resume, that is your worth, That is your look at the followers, that

So some of the young athletes out there listening, what is uh, could you give us a ballpark? How much you spend per year on your own you're on social stuff?

Thirty thousand? Probably? What about your body, which isn't a ton? Yeah? No, what about your body? You probably, oh god, way more than that. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean when it comes to supplementation, body work, all the other stuff, like the freaking yeah, Like whether it be Pilate's, whether it be Yoga, whether it be I mean I the company that I am sponsored by now to so right, like obviously all of their products I get for free now, but man, before I was buying all of those products using the time, the energy, and the money spent on just making sure this body lasts.

As long as possible.

Yeah, because even like right now or yesterday, I was driving in the car with my wife and it's just like, you don't quite you don't, you can't quite put a number or dollars sign on it. But me getting the Comain Events slot on the Conomcgregor pay per view, knocking that guy on the first round, doing the backflip, doing the Rick Flair promo, doing all this crazy stuff. But the greatest thing about it was I didn't take one

Could you turn around and fight a lot sooner or is there way more of a process that goes into that as far as like you gotta watch film on a dude, you got to do your homework, or if you're like.

Hey, we need you to fight in six weeks, you can go fight.

No, I definitely could do. I want to absolutely not. I mean I was actually freaking talking to my wife about this morning. I was like, well, what if Dana called right now is like, hey, you and whoever for the title in March. She's like, well, I would kill you, but I would love you and I would love another paycheck and I love for you to to you get to get that title to get you know, So could

Just like you guys probably need you take time off, and you need the time. You need the time off.

You know it's gonna suck when you come back and you're a little bit slower here, You're a little bit slower there.

Things don't feel shape.

And then then it takes you a couple of weeks to come back. But you know that you needed that time off. Your body needed to you know, maybe whatever, whether it gain a little bit of weight, swell it, because like, especially for me, making weight, I put my body into starvation mode and like the body does not operate well there for for long periods of time. So you need I need to you know, we had pizza. We had taco night last night at the Chandler household.

String. You know, it's left the body.

Injury. There's a reason why you're the area gets inflamed, is that the body's protecting itself. And let's take the pain away a little bit.

I see what you you know, so like let the body, let the body just you know, go back to a normal person for a little bit, you know, and then then go back right back into it. But physically, I would, you know, as an athlete, if if I didn't have wife and son that I wanted to like serve and be with right now, as an athlete, going right back into a training camp and fighting in four weeks would probably be best case scenario.

So best case scenario with all obviously with the family and all that, right now, if Danna called you, what's the best time for you to fight?

Right now? April May?

Yeah, late April May. L that puts me in training camp. I got a couple of trips.

Uh.

My wife planning four trips in the next like six week, which is great. We're going to Florida this weekend, and we go to Scottsdale. Then we go to uh Park City, shoutout Scottsdale, scot shoutouts Gottsdale, azy baby, uh and then uh and then we're gonna go to go to Cabo.

Okay, first off, two of those fuck hard when you when are you? When are you going to Cabo? I don't know I could do without Florida, But I think March, the first week of March.

We're going to.

We'll be there. We'll be there eleventh to the fifteen.

That'd be awesome. Scott we go to Scotstale for we just love Scottsdale. We're probably gonna get a house out there too.

Really, Yeah, go from Nashville Scottsdale.

Yeah, so we we're so we are our best friends, the Randolph's. Uh they have a little daughter and about my son's age. So we we rented a house.

We've rented a.

House in scotts Stale twice now in the last two years. I forget. I'm really actually not good because we literally rent the house. We stay at the house. It's the last time we got a six bedroom compound because we have my family and stuff. Come out pool freaking volleyball court. So we literally did not leave the place. Yeah, we went and grabbed food one day, like a mile away. But so I don't really know Scottsdale that well. I

Yeah, it's tough.

I always thought like Arizona California would be my my ending spot. And I'm a huge I'm a huge scenery guy told me if I'm in California, i gotta be in the ocean because it doesn't matter, Like if you're not on the ocean, all the other bullshit doesn't really. It's kind of a in the ass like sh It's like, you know, there's obviously a pandemic, but and stuff shutting down all the time, you can't really do what you need to do. You go down an area, you right

Do you grew up in Scottsdale. Not in Scottsdale, grew up in Cave Creek.

It's just about forty five minutes north, much more western Vibeka. It's a it's a place you'll find, uh, if you go to a bar there, you'll find a horse, an old truck, and a ferrari all part in the same park.

It's it's got to a little.

Bit of a variety, but small town just north of Scottsdale. I went my senior year of school. I went to Scottsdale, and you know, very lot of money obviously, but it's a really nice area and it's it's just it's just nice.

Everything's nice. It is nice. And mountains around mountains. I love, like even just being in Vegas because we landed back in Vegas. I do. I love being around the mountains. Yeah, I love it, like it's such a cool vibe. It is cool.

But the funny we love Nashville too, like we love we love this city now. I mean it was it was a rough transition. We came from San Diego. You know, we have some friends, you're really tough. Yeah, we had some friends here, but not a ton of friends. And then we adopted my son literally two months into being here. And then I went right into training camp, came back for two weeks, came right went but went right back into another training camp.

Uh.

So we just had a really rough go at it, like the whole first year we were here, you know. And now building a community, building a friend group, building you know, is uh, sinking our teeth into this city is is awesome as well.

So it's thinking me like seven eight years to really sink into this community.

Especial business and when you're as busy as you are, and then not to mention all the people that you would be friends with are busy as well.

Yeah, well I'm busy, then I leave, I'm busy, then I leave, I go the whole season here and I'm busy, busy, busy, And then the soon a season ends, I'm like, well, let me go someone and hang out for a little bit.

And then it ends up saying being from like January to April.

Well, not to mention the fact that if you do have a little bit of you do have a little bit of downtime, Like if you do have a little bit of downtime, you're now you're done with season or you're or you're done with this or that. It's like, okay, well maybe I actually want to spend time with the family as well, because I have given them half of myself for the last season, training camp, whatever it may be.

So it's uh, it ain't easy.

But so April, if going back to I Love this show, on to skot Sale and hopefully you go to Cobble shout Out Shoutouts Sale, if you go to Cobbo in Marks where we definitely got to get together because it's just a fun time, no question.

We have favorite trips. Yeah.

But so if then a college you said, hey, we're fighting April, what is the process like to get.

Back to all the way out to? Yeah? How long?

How long?

How long do you usually take a training camp?

So if I knew this far in advance, right now, I would I would do a twelve week block. I would do a four week, four week pre camp where I just start doing strength and conditioning, mobility and cardio here in town.

Then I would go to Florida for eight straight weeks. And in Florida's where you do all.

This is where I do all myself. So yeah, so I'm now I'm finally doing it right. I'm buying a bout a Ton town home. It'll be finished construction in May. So technically I wouldn't have it for this training camp. But from now on, so I take my car, I throw everything in it, drive down twelve hours, thirteen hours straight down.

Yeah. I have my fun. Yeah, I have my fun. Fun.

I had my son with me. I had my son with me, I had my fun son with me. We had fun for four weeks this last training camp. He was there, so we brought our nanny down, got her house in kind of like the same neighborhood, had my son down there for like four weeks of the eight weeks, which was actually really nice, you know, but Breeze here. She she works full time and loves her job and loves what she does, so she does that. And then we've been long distance for eight years, so it works

Such opinion, dude, and I'm like, what am I doing? Well, truthfully, it was because the gym that I train at moved like four times in the last five years.

Also, so now that we're in Deerfield Beach, which is right near del Rey Boca area, we're there and we get there on a three year lease, probably going to sign for another five, Like, we're not moving now.

I bought a place two miles from the gym, got.

Enough space, got a two car garage, got everything. I'll probably buy another vehicle to leave down there. Just make it as seamless as possible. Buy one plane ticket, pack one bag of stuff, go down there, be in training camp.

Nice.

So best case scenario for you is you'd like to probably fight in April if you were in control of the situation.

I mean, really, I don't. I wouldn't mind a little bit more time off because I mean, if if I'm not fighting right away, I might as well I wouldn't be.

It also depends to get back a new group anyway.

Yeah, it also depends on like the reason we want the reason we fought January twenty third was it was.

The co main event of a counter Oh absolutely pay per view.

It always it's always trying to figure out, like if this is a title fight, will be the main event or the coming event if there's another title fight on the card, because it's all about eyeballs and it exposure as well, you know, so.

You can take the you could take the the.

Choice of being a main event on like an ESPN Fight Night or you could wait an extra month and be the co main event on another big pay per.

View, you know, become that new little shiny toy. Yeah, exactly.

So for me, like I said, I want the maximum amount of exposure, exposure to make the maximum amount of impact in the shortest amount of time. So I would wait till July if it meant being on the co main event or the main event of another counter card or whatever it may be.

M they're on the Pat McAfee show yesterday, shut out Pat McAfee.

A big fan of his stuff, and you were you were talking about your style, you're not a big kicker and stuff like that. When you go down and train in Florida and stuff, is this something where you start implementing new skills or you work on what you're great at or how how do you how does your mind shift from fight to fight?

For me, honestly, I I realize and you know, I have the best kickboxing coach in the entire world, I believe, in my opinion. His name is Henry hooft Uh. He's a Dutch She's a guy from Holland. He's a Dutch kickboxing guy. He has has trained, trained with and beaten a lot of some of the best Dutch kickboxers, a kickboxers in the entire world. But he's also six foot six and or six foot four and I'm you know, pushing five eight and a half five nine max, so

Gotcha what I can exploit? I got you. That's impressive. Yeah, this has been what as UFC. I know, I know you got to go soon. Well, but that's what I was trying to do with happens right now?

No, we're good, we got fourteen minutes, okay, will I know you got to go well, I was just thinking like, I had nothing in my brain to follow up. I was like drawn in the listening to him, and I was like, what, maybe I'll wait a second see if Taylor heads soon followed, then I was like, oh, well, this was I.

Want to know about.

I want to by flying that, all that flying, the jet lag and everything, and as the UFC, have you heard any memories about maybe them, you know, if this stuff slows down going back to a regular setup in Vegas and you know they used to travel and stuff like that.

Do you think that'll happen in July?

Do you think we're headed towards that or is that going to be kind of the stationary spot.

For a while. I think so.

I don't have any like really information on that necessarily, but I will say, I mean, you guys know, Canelo Alvarez fought with fifteen thousand people at the Alamo Dome like a month or two ago.

Really, yeah, fifteen thousand people. So I'm assuming that's in Texas.

Yeah. Yeah, Texas run different.

Yeah, but if they do well, there's a reason why for a while, Yeah, everyone's moving to Texas.

Joe Rogan moved to Texas, Tesla and moved to Texas like that's where people Texas get on that Joe.

Well, for sure that's where Okay, yeah, for sure that's where. But that's where the UFC started when they came back from the pandemic. They they used a Jacksonville, Florida venue, the Something Star Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, because Florida was so lax with it. But yeah, I mean, I don't I really don't know why we keep going back to Abu Dabi aside from the fact that it's they need

Situation like it's gonna be after the twenty well after now now it is you have to like have a test to get back in the country.

See that that kind of stuff, like yeah, which which will will always work out fine for the UFC because we we got tested like nine times and eleven or twelve.

They chartered they charted those flights to the Vegas like to is it all just UFC people that plane?

So it's at the at the Hide Airways and yeah, we had like a very full flat on the way back. But yeah, just a huge plane and we left out a left out a Vegas to get there, and then obviously they're back.

We landed at three am.

You can talk about the jet lag, like, yeah, I woke up this morning at two twenty seven to twenty seven am.

Woke up at two twenty seven am the night before that for some reason. Yeah, I don't know what's up at two twenty seven. Wrote those numbers down. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, And uh so it's been Yeah.

I get really tired at like six pm, you know, And I tried to stay up last night.

I didn't.

I was in bed by like seven forty five, which I probably should. I need to stay up later so I hopefully sleep longer. But I was like, forget it.

That's probably when you texted and you were starting to drift. Yeah, so I was like, hey, man, shut it down soon us. Yeah, I look at the chair. I was tired.

I was time just fun, man, that's wild. What do you what do you go ahead? No, that's fucking for it. I was gonna ask about McGregor. Are you get a little sick of McGregor's talk?

Uh, what do you mean? You like? It's it's been McGregor's show since twenty fifteen. No, I was gonna ask what he thinks next for McGregor. Well, yeah, no, I want to know that's going down. I know it. He's warranted. Man, the guy is. He's a superstar. He's a superstar, and and good for him.

Like I would never like just because I think I would beat him, or just because i think I'm better than him, just like I've said, I've said these things. But that's not a knock on him. What he has done is nothing short of amazing what he has built. I mean, the guy was literally, truthfully on welfare just six seven years.

Ago or whatever.

Right, he's like a plumber, right, he was a plumber. He was on welfare, he was collecting that kind of check or the government subsidy, whatever you call it. And uh, then he became a global superstar and now he's a hundred millionaire. And I will say it was, uh, it was very interesting being around him, you know, because you always want to size people up, like what do they look like? I mean, he's he's much smaller in real life than he is on on the internet and on TV and whatnot.

He's not a small person, but he's smaller.

Than I am, you know, I really, I mean, you so him just like everybody else did behind the camera and the lens, and you're like, oh, I'm about to be in person with.

And he's listed at five to nine.

I don't quite know if he's five five eight maybe maybe pushing. Yeah, he's five he's five eight, you know, but he's but he's a more of a slender build. But that's the thing about you look at my body type and his body type. He automatically looks taller because he's a slimmer as me. I'm just thicker and I and yeah, going back to my my, my coach. It's it's so funny, man, because my coach, like I said, is six four, So I'm hitting past with everybody's like, god,

Hold review. The guy's got the whole country on his back.

He he is, He's I truly think I've gone up and down with it. But it's kind of like what we said, Man, you got to respect the guy. He's got more pressure on him than anybody else. You know, he doesn't have to fight either, Like why is he fighting? We got to ask ourselves that why is it fighting? He's got hundreds of millions in the bed blood exactly. He's got this Opper twelve whiskey that he's selling cases

Connor goes back and gets it.

But so so right now, Connor's got a trilogy fight with with Dustin Poorie, which may happen, but it's not gonna be for the title, I don't think so. Yeah, Poorier has to choose do I get the money fight trilogy with Connor or do I fight for the title next.

He's got to make that decision.

And then Connor's also got the trilogy with DZ, which everybody wants to see. Di has is a star. Diz is not a not a hard fight. He has is an easy fight. Quite frankly, for Connor, I think, why.

Do you think that?

I just think the iron chint did he takes so many shots. He takes a he he doesn't take every fight. Yeah, guy talks like he's had cerebral.

And he doesn't.

He don't give a fight.

And but we're two or three years removed from that last fight now, you know, so he's gotten you know, with every year. It's kind of like you talked about, like taking care of your body. I don't know how well the guy takes care of his body either, Like you know, I think he's probably he's.

Probably declining a lot more than than other people are.

He's pushing thirty seven, I think at this point thirty six thirty seven, which still isn't old in the sport if you've taken care of yourself. But so, I think the easiest and best path to victory for Connor is get that trilogy fight with Z and then come back and then get a title fight after that. And everybody will say he doesn't deserve it, but it doesn't matter. It's Connor McGregor. If it makes money, it makes sense.

You don't think they don't think there's a way he goes Diaz from the pooer.

Yeah, he could. I said that, right, Poy, And then do you or is that us to.

No, I think he could, but because I think that the space in between those two trips probably like that happened is, yeah, you Connors and then some call outs, all the fun happens, and then you guys are set up at the end of your and Connors is a lost.

Yeah, that would be great. And make sure that thing in February so May and Will can go.

That would be But I think I think just on the camera, like the boy the boys are in the the boys are in Vegas. Yeah, we just we do the little, the little cool thing that everybody does. Just throw a fist up and look at the camera.

Yeah, give him the two fists like these, and we just do the handhold just like.

Right.

No, I drink all of yours.

But I think I think those those two trilogies are a big fights that the fans want to see, big fights that the UFC would like to make. And then they're also not easy but winnable fights for for Connor. Not that Connor could be anybody in the division, I believe, but besides me, but just not as easy.

I think it's easier, easier path to.

Victor for like a DS fighting DZ and even I mean he was doing well against Pourier.

I think, you know, I'd love to see you McGregor due because you both command the center of the ring. Yeah, you both you both kind of pressure and keep the guys on the outside.

Yeah, that's and I like that.

I like that clash of okay instead of like, I mean, you saw my last fight the way Hooker was evading me, and I loove man shout out to Daniel Cormier because like that dude's you know, shut up a couple of people, because everybody's like, oh, well, hooker didn't look the same.

Hooker looked timid. Hooker looks scared hooker. Hooker had a bad night.

And it's like, well, it's all fun and games until you got a guy walking you down in your face, throwing leather at you and putting pressure on you.

Of course you're gonna run away, you know, Like did you have that chest too?

Yeah, I'm not just gonna go right into that. You want to back up, you want to feel it out.

Especially he was able to.

He was always he thought he was gonna be able to keep me at bay for all night, and he could have very well done.

It, you know, but he was.

N't able to utilize that because you're freaking but he could, but he did and didn't.

Thank God. The boys are in the building. Shout out to the boys.

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We looked so dumb if we did that, but I'll tell you if it. Yeah, dude, absolutely no, that's awesome. That'd be I I love for that to go down. Connor beat Diaz.

I mean, dude, I.

Likedeas because he's just such a he's such a grinder, like he's just like you tell he just doesn't give a ship.

Like, man, this guy looks like and you know what he's done. He's just on in the car whatever. He's smoking a vape. No, he's smoking. I think they just changed it. I gotta I gotta go read the use side of guidelines whatever. But I'm pretty sure you can smoke marijuana now in competition. And it's either the metabolite slash threshold either went way way way up where it's almost like you would literally have to smoke a huge joint right before.

At least that's what someone said. And I have no idea.

I don't even know if that gets to you. Because ours race too, really, yeah, ours race too, And yeah, I think they're.

Starting to realize, like, hey, man, like why are we doing this it's not a it's not a PE, it's not a performance enhancer. So yeah, why don't why don't we just let them let everybody see.

As a PEDS it, I mean it can't. I mean it helps with information, helps with anxiety stress. A lot of guys might take that around. I mean, it doesn't take away stress for anxiety, but it curves it for sure. You're all worried instead of having that mental coach that could calm me down before fight, better sleep. You know your reaction. I mean that's a big domino effect. I just said, it's a big ing too, because it's you

That's illegal, right because it's not like a chemical that's made to directly try.

And the minute, the minute you say you can't have something, you know, half of everybody's like, well why not?

Yeah?

Yeah, but why not? What's this about?

That's how I wasn't in middle school. You told me I couldn't do something just to find out what it's all about.

So did you have anything else on there? Alex?

I saw the the Jake Paul stuff asking I don't even I'm gonna be honest, I'm even want to talk about it. Ben.

Yeah, Ben's your guy. That's why I had it on there.

Oh yeah Missouri boy. Yeah bro yeah, yeah, yeah that's true. Sorry, no disrespect the missoo dude brothers.

They do a great job. Just like mcgreg that's much smaller level right now.

But yeah, well not necessarily much small I know, truthfully, they might be bigger than McGregor when it comes to that YouTube following, but on a much more illegitimate level when it comes to competition or actual sport, like is an actual world class athlete. These guys are YouTube stars.

You think they they They look good you look at it. Decent they're doing. They look like athletes decent. I mean they'rey're decently athletic.

Yeah, you know, but I mean the fights that they have won thus far have been other YouTube fights, other YouTube fights.

Or Nate was a Nate Robinson the best face planted like dude, he was a man. Yeah, I mean find out say it sounds good asses beat to throw a punch.

It's great though, because he picked the right guy. And kudos to Ben Man. I love that Ben got that fight. I hope Ben's getting paid a grip. I hope it's it is tune in. I actually talked to him. I was like, dude, let me know how I can get to that fight. I'll be your cowboy, I'll be your water boy.

Whatever. Awesome. I uh, you think Ben beats his ass though, I do.

I mean I was where I was going with it was he made the right decision when it came to if you were going to fight a mixed martial artist. Ben is known as a ground fighter, so Ben never one fights boxing anybody, but I think Ben is one of those mentally tough and one of the just I think there's an aspect of boxing that is that is a little bit of like upper upper body grappling as well, because you can you know, you can grab, you can grab the head a little bit under hook, and you

A couple of months ago to just loves a lot better.

It's not like I mean, it's not like it's this is like Golden Boy promotions or or in Vegas or whatever. I actually don't know. I think he said it was going to be. I don't know where it's at, but I don't know what the promotion is or what it is. But so it could be a little bit lax, which could be a bad thing for Ben. They might really pull them away and make sure they really put Paul Jake Paul in a in a position to win. But I think Ben wins the fight for sure. Yeah, one

I mean, people are still going to buy their fights, but that takes amount of any legitimacy of.

Right the moment.

The ship talking like saying, hey, Connor, I'm only offering you ten thousand dollars.

Now, it's like, yeah, that was messed up.

But then again, I guess if you if you really think about it, from the casual stand sorry, from the casual stand fans standpoint, people are only going to see mixed martial Arts world champion and UFC fighter Ben Askron beats Jake Paul, well, of course he lost to that guy. Look, he was a world champion, not realizing that Ben, they were fighting in a boxing match, and Ben's worst attribute of his career, of his of his arsenal is boxing. So it's almost kind of a win win situation for

That's why he has nothing to lose insurance.

But if he wins, if he wins, he beat an mm A world champion, you know, and he's still trending this way.

Yeah, exactly. So they're I mean, they're they're smart, man. They know how about this title?

Dude getting paid more money than he's ever been paid before.

That's awesome. They build that platform making a bunch of money. I'll see if I can get some inside scoop for you guys. Ben doesn't because Ben doesn't care. He shut on Missoo, shut on Mizoo for you. He didn't get Cody to commit there, but I was able to pull them Nebraska.

I know, bro.

Then when they were at UH, they were all Americans at Miszoo and my brother was a stud wrestler coming out of high school. I know Cody was down to Missoo in Nebraska and he always came to the camps. Yeah, he always came to the camps. And however, you as he wrestler, you guys are different breeds. Man, You guys are different breeds.

Showed me if you ever get in a fight, if you fight anybody you want, just don't fight a wrestling dude.

I would tell guys.

So football players in my roommates and full players would be at a wrestler's party, and you know, at a wrestler party, it's it's the whole wrestling team.

It's all dudes.

They're wearing bandanas, their their shirts are off, and they're going to go wrestling ship out in the front yard. Like that's like how it is the football players and you know it's true too. The fullball players are always curious, like, oh, let's go wrestle. And I would try and tell I would try and tell my boys. I'd be like, listen, I know he only wrestles one twenty five or something and he's small, but I promise you he's going to

I'm just saying, hey, come get in there, and no, man got it. Listen.

And I was not this kind of guy, like because I I was not this kind of guy. But so you weren't the wrestler style partier.

No, but but what there was but there was one time very relevant right now because next week when this thing comes out, there will be a player who is playing in the Super Bowl. They got picked up and slammed on his back flat at a missoo at a bazoo wrestling party.

Did you really was it you? Let's go. The story is Blaine Gabbard. Sol Blaine came down the one time.

Bro.

I know, man, so shout out to Blaine Gabbert. It wasn't it was. It was a very playful thing.

You guys know, there ain't no playing when you were actually getting known the football player.

The football player is trying no playing.

Oh he was joking around, We were joking, but he was, uh you know the name Gissinger, John Gissinger.

I don't think so at the same time you did.

But he was.

He was a kid from San Diego. His dad played in the NFL.

But we were at a party at his house and he was like it might have been Blaine Gabbert's recruiting trip actually, so he was like eighteen eighteen years old, so like, but we start like just like guess was like trying to, like, hey, wrestle with this guy because I'm one hundred fifty seven pounder and Blaine's like two hundred pounds.

Yeah, but it was like one of those things.

Where I I grabbed a single leg and like lifted him up and didn't mean to make anything happen, but what happened.

But you know how top heavy he was. But he was top heavy.

So it wasn't like I, I don't want to make it sound like I beat up Blaine gaber or anything like that, but it was more like's the boy, dude, he's the man, dude, and dude, it's just awesome to see like the success obviously, and now he's freaking playing in.

The now he's going for a Super Bowl, backing up Brady.

Dude.

He Blaine.

Always when Blaine was playing for the Titans, he goes, hey, Lavan, give me your best ten and steal as many as you can. That was all give me your best ten years.

And he steals.

He's a beautysting pictures of him and Brady walking out and gangsters moving silent.

Super bowls next to you. Blank compoun dude, I love it was awesome when he was here too.

He come into games and we always I got a good laugh at this because like Marcus should go out or something like that and blame I'm being all right, boys, watch Daddy spin it. Yeah, So he goes we're playing the Colts one time, he goes, all right, boys, comes in and watch Daddy spin this ship.

This is the middle of the game. Middle of the game.

Marcus goes down we're playing the Colts at Indianapolis, walks in and it was like we're like five players, and I'm like, got a little breath on me, and he's.

Like, boys watched Daddy spin it.

And me and like ben Jos looking at each other like all right, dude, call like a quick three step pass, like we have to go cut, so I go cut.

Totally missed my cut. So I'm like laying all my stuff on my on my butt, looking at it.

Blaine like you're gonna get that ball out before I give up A sat. Yeah, he rips the ball right into the chest of Darius Leonard.

The first play back there, and we're laughing.

Dude.

After wins, we would put up like these posters of like, you know, picture of the game. I like Will had one against Detroit when he him and Bates are getting hype.

Well, Blaine had one.

He has like two fingers out calling it at the line, and we put like a little air bowl.

Watch Daddy spin they had to walk past ship.

He did that again.

We played the Colts again and we're losing. It was like four it was to go to the playoffs.

Whoever won that playing again, I remember that it was the season and uh, Blaine comes in and goes, hey, you boys, hold up, I'm gonna dice the ship out of him.

Four plays in duty.

I love the confidence brot daddy. I love like me as an outsider, like watching a game. I can't believe that those things are actually said inside of a game, inside of a huddle, inside of the game where professional football players are playing.

Watch daddy and come in and the guys you're just like, okay, dude, he is funny. He's good, dude.

YEA go spin that same and and I had, like, here we go, I n T. You're jogging back to the side, Like, so, daddy.

Was shut up? Man happened daddy? Really? Hey, Blaine's legend though. He was a good teammate, really good teammate. But oh he's a he's a beauty man.

People doing that stuff is so funny. Yeah, a lot of stuff happens between players, a lot of talking.

Can't like. Yeah, for sure, it's like it's super fast paced, but you can get a lot of words in. You have some fun words, and it's a good time out there. I like the good chirps.

I want to say, like when I was on the Redskins and it was your rookie year, you remember how we had some exchange about like being white or something like that.

Did you guys know each other? No, we didn't know. We didn't know each other.

But I played against him and Nebraska and Tompting is a name you don't forget. I'm the back of a white guy, you know what I saw, And I like bumped into him, and you know, Will and I are playing the tough guy act, right, and I'm like, I think we put a good against each other Nebraska.

And like, yeah, we did, and that that was our exchange. That might have been in the exchange that we're like Boone he was on the Vikings. That's his name, right, Alex Boone.

Yeah, Alex Boom. He come up. He'said, hey, I see you out here, white boy. Yeah.

Yeah, there's only a few of us out here. Now, there's only a few a few of us out here. Will When Will played for the Raiders, we got I know you gotta go.

Yeah, I got it. Well, we'll play for the Raiders. Well, we like, so we will have to call each other during the week.

We're excited to play each other, and then like before the game, Will swarming up.

I'm warming up, like Will, we could have easily gone and talk to each other words. I don't know why either. I'm literally hugging everyone else. Yeah, but the boy, we're facetiming like every day, excited.

And then we see it on the field and like it's like we're in it now, like you're back into and so it's like we fu that guy.

So I go to jog Off he like.

And the way the Raiders had their stadium setup is there's one way in, one way out. So the Raiders go to the right to go. They're walking room and going through the same tunnel. So Will and I could have been walking like this and just kind of went off in our distance. And during the game, I wanted to block Will the entire game, and I only got the block Will once, and it was like it was

Like I won the block, but he stayed in his But I'm thinking that I was doing my thing. Yeah, but I still Will thebout a hit behind me and I just go one for one and I John's I want to said that bitch ass By was like, oh that bitch ass by you And that was the only time we talked the whole game. It was like, it's funny how you kind of just get into it again, like me and Will talk every day.

Oh yeah, yeah, that is that is funny. I like the morning of the game, like can't really see it. Yeah, yeah, I do have to believe here, I'll fight you. You gotta gotta go. But hey, so when Will was playing for the Raiders, Yeah.

You guys can still talk talk as much as you, man, I'll see what boys. Hey, you want to go frothy monkey, Yeah, twelve thirty. Yeah, I'll be there. Hey, put it, put it in the group chat. Yeah, I'll make it. Yeah, I'll make sure it text back this time.

Godler, I think, I mean, we're pretty much done, but I'll tell you, but just got all weird ned walk out. Well, we'll will vacated. The podcast is great to have you on, dude. Honestly, we're rooting for you. Hopefully everything you just said we'll be spoken into existence because I would love to see you at the end of the year fighting McGregor and win in that day.

That'd be awesome either either way.

Hopefully it's just a title fight this year, you know everything happening, and get a belt around you.

Bring the belt back to the bus. That'd be awesome.

We'll get a we'll get an extra replica too. We can't cover up the Budwiser. We'll find, we'll find, we'll find. Well, I'll tell you, I think I think we'll make a place for it. Put it around the steering wheel or something like that. I appreciate you, man.

Thank you. Big shout out to you guys.

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