UFC Fighter Chris Weidman

That's right. How are you you? F C former UFC middleweight champion ranked number fifte Have you dropped down any Are you still fifteen? Sleep don't even know the bank. I'm guessing I'm fifteen, So that's code for he hope down. But if I if I dropped down any more than that, you don't see your name there anymore. So I hope I didn't drop down all the way. But honestly, I don't really care to be honest, I never cared about rankings ever. Ever. We'll explore that a little bit later.

Middleweight Mixed Martial Arts signed to the UFC, and you are, uh, you have a wife and three kids, and for some odd reason you decided to move down to South Carolina. South Carolina. Welcome to the cut to a podcast, so you'll care, Lenny. And now two years bro, He's like you claimed, not two years Carolina yet, not two years yet? I am you know, Long Island is in my heart. I'll always uh you know, I love Long Island, but I am I love it out here. This is this is,

this is home. Now. That sounds like he loved him. Prices way different and that's for me right now. Southern hospitality extends all the way into your into your pockets to Yeah, he's gonna be some random questions. Lets nothing to do with anything, but just the randomness to kind of let you settle down. You seem Michael, you seem a little nervous, very uptight' very nervous. Why are you up type next to Steve Smith, you know in his podcast room. I don't know what to do right now. Yeah,

someone waked me up. Look you say that's all the podcasts they call that Patroniz's patronized, right podcast, You're the only one. Just be tutoy. This is my first podcast, being honest. If your house was burning down, unfortunately and you can only save one item, what would it be and why? I mean, at the top of my head, I'm gonna go with my my math book. I got my math book. You know it's got my messages on their uh you know, all my photos and videos. You know.

I think that would have been That's probably what I would do. Just no right answer. What about you might be on something that you gotta grab. That computer's got everything on there, your payment information even even if you you can't there's some websites you can't go into, like if you have to change identification, order new stuff. All my crypto stuff is on there. That's what I'm saying. You can't do it for me access to your phone to some degree your card to say you don't here

he got what about you? Backstage? Though? Probably my kids and my wife. But I thought that, I thought that I'm gonna get you're trying to get Brownie trying You're trying to I or it's the opposite. You're trying to itemize your family like we assuming they already out. Yeah, can I have a take to? Like this is the dumb button? You don't get a take to? Okay, Hey Joe, you got a little bit on your mustache A little bit. I gave it to him after being next question, Please,

what's the craziest thing you've ever done? Chris Um? This is a family friendly show. You don't include me? Say this doesn't include Joe's mustache? I mean this family feud. Next you can pass come back, come back to me? All right? Like that? See fighter, you didn't have an answer right one of the minute times somebody as I was gonna say, somebody out he got. That's my issues with like adrenaline stuff, because it doesn't get crazier than fighting.

You're going to a pge with another like like legit weapon and you know what could possibly happen to you every time? I'm the weapon too, But there's another weapon in there. You know someone's gonna go down and it could be pretty bad, that really bad. What does that have to do with, bro, what's the craziest thing you ever did? Like walking into how about saying just it's a little crazy? Okay, are you finished? I mean that's

a good going south quickly? I mean, goodness, gracious, he's so like on his podcast he was ready to go. He got my mom's if you want to vocabulary exam right now, spelling, Look, I already know I can't, so I guarantee you can't. All right? For all right, for a high motor guy like yourself, what do you do to slow down the world around you? Uh? Man, I just I don't know. I go, I go chilled. My family, you know. My wife kind of puts me to my place when I got home, tells me what to do.

I do the honting to do list. Play video games. I'm just you know, Madden. Madden is probably my favorite. Yeah. I've been playing with the same group of guys since high school, since since like oh one. That's kind of how we stay in touch. Who are you run with? Who are you playing with right now? Right now? Right now? The Cowboys, Cowboys, Chiefs. You know you're not in the playoffs though, right not the playoffs. I'm a quick play mode, all right? How you being man? Highest things been going

for you? I'm doing good, man, life is good. Just focused on rehab, working out. I'm talking about Are you talking about rehab physical rehab from other rehab? No, just just physical rehab. I do have a mental coach, though you do. I do have a mental coach. Is good. I just I just had my my pop guest why do you have a mental coach? Because we always do say of of it is mental, temper cent is physical.

I feel like a lot of athletes say that. But how much time do you actually put into the mental world. There's a lot of there's a lot of effort that you should be putting into that that I think we kind of skip over, and uh, we see it as a weakness to have someone help get our head in order, you know, But I think that's the most important part, is to have a good mindset and to have your your crapping over. How long have you had that coach? Right before this last fight I got I have my

bachelor's degree in psychology. I always just kind of felt like I was good mental wise, and I feel like, why, what's up? Just because you said you have your back. You have your bachelor's in psychology, So you know what they say when you go you know what they say when I got my masters in uh, you know, from education. I got my doctorate in the medical field of some sort.

I'll play it AFTERR on television. Do you really know so you've been doing it and so you've been just doing this recently, then yeah, can you tell a difference already. It's just you know what. It's not like I'm telling him my you know, my inner secrets. It's not like a therapy session, which I kind of expected it to

be that way. It's more it's more just like kind of getting your life in order, like having you organize your goals the right way, like if you if there were certain things that you want to do in the morning, making sure you're on top top of it, on task um, and just having your y on why you're doing it. You know, oh, thirty seven, this may come across the wrong way, but at thirty seven years old, you're just discovering your why in such a dominant player in the

UFC or or sportsman. And then you have you've been to school. You didn't go like, you didn't go to a school where education was not up there, very high end school, hosh University, School of Greatness, and I agree it is one of those places where it's not known to really be about sports. It's more about academic. Sports is his secondary well, and it depends on the sport. At the time when I was there, we were top ten Division one, so I went there primarily for sport wrestling.

The wrestling team no, but you went there for sport. But you have to have pretty good grades. I went to a community college first, I went to junior college. I yes, I went to Scenic Route. I stepped it up and then I was Then I got into a school that I wouldn't have been able to get to UH without, you know, in out of coming out of high school, man, I stepped it up. Well, what I was saying is thirty seven years old. You know whether the ranking is true. I'll if you're off by four,

off or add on too. You're pretty ranked high in the UFC, and yet you're just figuring out to some degree in a better capacity of what's your why. No, that's you got a little wrong. So see, that's why I was double checking A part of what my wire, A part of dealing with a mental coach is to figure out your why, to talk about it, and to write it down. All this stuff. I've always had a good idea of what my wires. I'm just saying, I'm

always looking to learn. As a champion, you never a close minded slight flesh multiple time world champions, you never you never are done learning. You're never done learning from you know, I'm not a champion, but I'm not. I mean, I've had but I've had time. I've been thinking sometimes. So I'm just always open to learning and uh and and anybody who could teach me something. I'm always over. What kind of movies do you there? What kind of movies do I like? I like? I kind of like whatever.

I'm not a big movie TV show guy. I watched yellow Stone. I like yellow Stone, Dude that I haven't watched. I like that. What is yellow Stone? Yellow Stone is basically the mafia of cowboys, but the cowboys aren't from

back in the day. It is right now. And you don't realize that living where we live, that there's legitimately like ranches and there's families and it's been generations and generations of like this dynasty that they created where they only these ranches and there's other people nearby their own different ranches, and there's these like family battles basically that go down, and uh, it's pretty cool to find out that this is going on right now, and it's it's

just basically like the mafia, the way they play power and everything and start taking over and people getting killed. You know, dirty things are happening. So it's fun. Where are you from in a place you call your hometown, It's called it's a town called Baldwin, Long Island, New York. Okay,

how far is that from? What? What? I'm not in New York City, so I'm like, it's a it's a thirty five minute train ride, which I was like right next to the train to get into Manhattan to Penn Station to get to Queens is like, you know, ten minutes, so you're right there? Any yes, sir, yeah, right there, all right? What was your child? Uh? It was good? Had an older brother, you know he was he was a really good athlete. Whoa what do you consider a

good athlete? We're gonna get into that later. Um he was. He was, you know, fast and strong. Whatever he did was what do you consider strong and fast? I'm gonna get pretty granuly. He I just well, we've had some dialogue, so I just want to see. It's kind of setting up for some other questions. I think at his peak, he was you know, he was mentioning to because he

was doing football. He did five times linebacker, so six to oh yeah, he's not snot out of yeah, he was not just I mean, wait a minute, it's pretty good. I've only went seventy many times. You do one time, probably that's pretty good. But what you said, that's like, yeah, so that's why that's why I asked. Yeah, no, he was. He was bigger, stronger, and fast, more athletic than me for sure. So I was just kind of living in the shadows, working hard. Okay, yeah when he rose. Did

you have growing up? Who alize you talking about your brother? But whose did you adolize? You know, my dad? I would say my dad was my idol. I didn't really like have any you know, people on sports teams or anything like that that I was super into. Maybe some wrestlers as I got older. There was some college wrestlers, some guys who wrestling the baby what about what about like wrestling wrestling prest progress. Maybe when I was a

little little I was into it. But like woically he tossed that aside, broking about rddy ddy pipers like that, it's fake. Don't crush my dreams, bro, do not do that. Yeah, yeah, you go to those wrestling events. There's a lot of people that you don't want to crush your dreams. Yeah, don't don't be in a dream crush. It's real, all right, so condescending all right? So do you believe you rep New York the right way? Because you know how you meet people like Geez from Geez from North Carolina, he's

from Alection to my man will rep. He will tell a about Lexington. I love he won't He want to ask stuff about Lexton. I'm like, oh, I don't know about that one, but I'm using as an example of like, you know, I love l A. I always always wrap l A. So I just wonder going backwards living here now in in in Charlotte, do you believe you rep in New York? Yeah? Always? You know what I mean? Why well born raised there, never left until a year and a half ago. Um, you know, I mean, I

just what do I I think? New York people are tough people, They're resilient. It's it's a very competitive atmosphere because there's so many damn people and there's only so much there's out there, so like, in order to survive in New York is very difficult, and only the strong survive. Yeah, man, I try my best. I try my best for sure. What do you miss about it? I mean, it's all the stuff that's not that good for me, like the pizza bagels. That's the one thing in covid bro. That's

the one thing about traveling. I missed like we had a New York Thursday night game and we did it from the house, got off at like there was no piece of slices waiting for me when I got off just I do like j though, but nothing is better than like uh for me, a Sicilian slice of pizza late at night, that's good, that is good. Yeah, I'm if I had to do I usually when I would eat like crazy bad, I would have one regular slice because that's how you kind of tell how good the

pizzaree is, and that's to be legit. Then you got I got two specialty slices. Usually it'll be a ZD slice slice. So it's basically like penny. You know, penny, you said, Penny Abraham or Hardaway. That's only two pennies I know. Um yeah, yeah, so yeah, I would eat. I would I would eat half of the z D off one side of the slice, and then you then you then you can fold it in a half past on the pizza pasta samaranara. Yeah, oh so good. Yeah, yea chicken rolls. Do you ever have a chicken roll?

Do I look like I eat a chicken roll? I can't judge. Nobody said roll right, Joe me here talking. Joe wanted to say something might come off, is not gonna come off? Well, that's awesome. Chris was like, I don't know what these guys are doing. It's kind of stereotypical. I like chicken, but I never had a chicken roll.

Chicken roll, it's fried chicken inside of bread that's that's fried with so basically pizza dough that's wrapped the chickens wrapped inside of with mozzarella and marinarrow, cheese, marinara and cheese. Or no, it's not agg rolls, not an egg roll. No, that's not Chinese food. It's real pizza, real pizza. No, man, we gotta take a break in a minute. I love cut to It, and I love it even more when you download us and subscribe and you can follow us

on social media to Smithie, where where at? That's at? Cut to it on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith sing what about online? And you can all Louisa cut to It Podcast dot com where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Um yeah, I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for. A brother cut to a podcast dot com, How the hell

did you get into UFC? So, like I was saying before, my brother, like he would have me fight his friends all the time. It was you know my parents. Yeah, my parents weren't around that much. So you know, parents were working, so my my my brother would be physical. You just threw your parents New York streets. But they let us kind of figure out a lot of stuff on our own. So that old school, old school parenting, Yeah, pretty much. Well they was actually working as well too,

they were working. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um yeah, So I just fought a lot as a kid. And so next thing, I know when I started wrestling, which kind of put me on the straight and arrow, and I started being able to focus on something that goal. And then after I was done wrestling, I was training for Olympics in two thousand and eight, got injured right before Olympic trials,

So I was kind of at a crossroads. What I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and fighting I saw it was a big thing and then so I just always felt like I always even if I lost someone in wrestling match, I was like, I know I could definitely you know, beat him in a fight, but uh and then ufuly start coming around. I was like, man,

this is my opportunity. And the people that like knew me as from when I was a kid, and people that knew me from the wrestling world, They're like, you know, you're literally like the perfect fit for fit for fighting because of how you grew up and then with the wrestling background and all these wrestlers are killing it in there, like they just you know. I was like, you know what, I think you're right. And that was it. I started my my my road to uh into mixed martial arts.

So when you get into the wrestling, because I know you wrestled in college, when you can do the wrestling as a youth, I wrestled in second and third grade and then stopped until yeah, yeah, elementary wrestling. Oh yeah. I got my kids in wrestling. I recommend everybody get their kids in wrestling. I don't think there's I don't think there's a better sport, you know, you get into it like middle school down here, Well you can't, yeah, my kids. Yeah, there's there's plenty of clubs out here.

You got dark Horse Wrestling in Charlotte Club Wrestling dark Horse it's once terrible. So yeah, you've got a couple of clubs around here. Yeah, you have plenty of options. But wrestling is wrestling. Wrestling is one of those sports is a one on one competition, you know, and you get to go against someone your own size and your own age when it's all on you. Yeah, it's all

based on weight class. So when you're getting thrown around as a young kid in front of your dad, you have no excuse other than to look at yourself and to learn how to lose, learn how to win. You have no excuse. Man, Listen, I remember in in middle school and when you're losing basketball or football, you could blame it on your teammate. There's way more one on one. This is all on you, you know, and it's embarrassing. And when you get thrown anybody get thrown around. I'm

getting man handled as as a man as more. It's amistading and getting thrown around in a small tidy whitey. Yeah, exactly in front of your family. In middle school, people are already cutting to make weight, people wearing trash bags. It's like, yeah, not that that was good. That's it was bad. Like a lot of the educational weight cutting has got way better. But uh yeah, I know I feel you. I wasn't one of those kids, but I've seen it. Yeah, do you believe that the just random? Now?

You think the weight cutting all that stuff kind of has a you know, maybe least possibly eating disorders or or or body shame into some degree. No, not body, I would say the only I'm just asking just because I just think, as you're saying that, I'm going and what could it look like a ten year old kid who's just naturally big, who has to cut weight to be able to participate in the sport that he only figures out, Hey, I can participate in this. I'm good. Wait,

you know my size is not a deterrent anymore. But being not being the deterrent, that's still that little gray area where you know, five pounds too much or two pounds too much for a kid and ten years old, man, that's a lot. Yeah, I don't think any kids should be cutting weight um, even in high school. I would say the more of the issue with weight cutting has

been happening in high school a few years. Little kids, I hope no little kids are cutting weight like you know, but there are some parents that you know, for whatever reasons, they want this kid to be successful and then lived curiously. It's crazy to watch, but yeah, for them to have their kid cut way to win, you know, some little elementary school tournament. But you no matter how big they think it is, I think it's ridiculous. Yeah, but if you just said it, you know, you get thrown around.

There's one on one right, you get the wrong parents take it the wrong way. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I was. I mean, like this is this is late nineties when I was in middle school. But I can only imagine it's it's probably gotten worse. I would imagine the ain't got better. I think the education on weight cutting has been better, like getting passed you know, down by professionals to the coaches, now to the athletes.

I think the education has got better to where it it's definitely think it's definitely better than when I was in high school. What do you think about how hard is it to move up? And down in the different weight divisions. I mean, it's it kind of depends. I mean, are you're talking about like specifically in the UFC or just just well just in the UFC. I mean I don't. I know it is in Pop Warner weight, but I'm

just talking about where it's is. Wight is is weight limits, but not not the moving up and down moving up in UFC or boxing or wrestling. Yeah, I'm just I'm just wondering because that's your that's that's your deal. Just wondering, you know, the different ship moving up. Have you ever moved up in weight? I moved up in weight and I lost. I lost explained that to us, Like what what's the process and going and moving up in weight?

So if you're gonna do it the right way, you would have to put a muscle and take your time and go on up. I I kind of just did it out of nowhere. I was like, let me just go up and wait and see how I feel because I won't have to cut any weight. But the difference is like, so if I'm walking around about two fifteen, yeah, and you fight at five, that's about normal. You fight what you you you make the weight at one five and then about thirty hours later you're gonna be fighting

at like two oh five to like to ten. It's most middleweights. How do you do? It's so it's like you that d pizza. No, So the way you cut weight is uh, I want to know howcave to to fifty in thirty hours? I mean up? So I remember it's so hard. I mean no, it's not hard to put it back on. Um, it's hard to make the weight. Put it back on. It is the best thing ever because it goes, it feels good. You could you how

do you? So? You're so you're telling me you're gonna make weight thirty six hours, thirty hours, thirty five hours before you and then you're gonna fight in thirty six hours. And what is gonna be your weight? I mean there's anywhere between two oh four And how do you go? How do you go after adding that much weight? How do you go and move? Because? Bro, I mean normally that's like going to a super Bowl party and then

going to fight. Yeah, like that item, that's like basically what you're saying is you know, I'm gonna lose weight to make weight, then I'm gonna go eat Thanksgiving meal and then after thanks given a lunch, I'm gonna go fight that night. How is that possible? So it's it's

just water manipulation and like sodium manipulation. So you so in a training camp is about eight weeks when you get ready for a fight, and uh so I'm I'm naturally around like two fifteen ish when I'm eating healthy, and when I start training super hard and I bring the portion control a little bit and you know, be very strict, my weight will drop to like two or five is and then to get down it's a it's really a sodium manipulation where you have tons of salt

leading up about two or three weeks with your meals, and then the week of the of when you're cutting the weight, you just take out sodium completely. So you still have you still have your meals, they might be a little bit smaller in portion, but the fact that you have no sodium and you're drinking gowns and gallons, So you drink on a week before the fight, I'll drink two gallons and the you know, the day after,

it's three gallons and three gowns. Again the next day and then you drop it to a gallon and then twenty four hours before the winds you have no water at all. And just from doing that, I'll be like two or four to oh five and and dropped like and then from one five you just have to do like, you know, get your sweat, you get sweat out, so you do so onta work, you do, rubber suits, whatever people do, makeup removers, whatever you gotta do, open up

your pores, so makeup removers. It's like they have things called sweet sweat. Now used to be albumating you get from CBS. But sweet sweat it opens up your poor so you sweat easier. So when you're so deep, sweet sweat, you said, makeup remove. Makeup removers is one of active in grease. Sweet sweat is a new Sweet sweat is a new name. It's a brand. But basically basically what's what sweet sweat can do is do it make is be a makeup remover, so opens up your pores, gets

rid of the makeup I guess in the face. And before sweet Sweat came out, you would have to get makeup removers. Now that sounds dangerous, yea. So then to you gotta you know, you got doctors with you and it's really quick. You know, it's you're really dehydrated for about three hours. You want to try to cut the weight as close to the weight, as as close to the way in as possible. About three hours you cut that weight out and you have no water. You're dehydrated.

It's terrible. And then you're able to replenish. And when you replenish, ela sodium and everything that you start having just sticks to you. So that's why you can put the weight on so easy and you can have like a super insolent spite right afterday. Oh yeah, well you

gotta Now. Nowadays, the UFC has some really good nutritionist and they have it all planned out where there's a certain amount of liquid you're allowed to drink throughout the you know, every like fifteen minutes you have another ship and so you don't chuck it and have a messed up stomach and all that. So what does that do? Another on the spot question, what does that due to your kidneys? Uh? With that much fluid and processing and

then sodium and then and then taken away. Yeah, I mean there's have you thought about it until you're trying to be funny, I'm just I get it. No, man, because you know that no people are that kidney failure from overdoing it. So it is something that you have to you have to get your weight down. The way I'm explaining to you is doing it the right way and doctors that's like the safe way of doing it. I know it sounds extreme. There's way more extreme ways

to doing it without dieting properly. Yeah, that that's how you really shut down your kidneys and then you just go punch somebody lights out and then you gotta be in you know, the best shape of your life. You know, uh, you know, every fight is always the biggest fight of your life and you have to perform. But you know what it's like the whole fight week you kind of

like it. It's so relaxing. By the time you fight, you feel is not relaxing right now, So I am chilling, like I mean, other than you're suffering with the wake up, but as far as the amount of workouts that you have to do, the fight week is so chill compared to every other week in a training camp. Wow. So we have something in common. We have Well, we used to you you're training with a jail you, sir, and so we used to train with. Why Jan was I didn't know Ja was training guys like you. You know,

what is that? How does a guy who trained me and you trained me and football follose years and now he trains you? What? What are so many things that you guys are doing to help you? Uh? I don't even know if the word is a child? But like, what what do you got? A better athlete? Is just kind of making me strong? Whoa, whoa? Whoa? Rewind that?

What did you just a better athlete? Okay, I appreciate you. Yeah, I think just kind of it's cross training, you know, so when you fight and when you're training for fighting, it breaks down your body so much. And I think the most important thing for strength training and why I think a lot of guys should be doing it and now they are, is that they're when you wait lift, it strengthens your joints and all the muscles intends around it, so less chance of injury and just helps you, you know,

stay on the grind without falling apart. But jet Jet does a lot of stuff where like the serratus muscle, which is this muscle back here, which is your punching muscle, which I didn't know until Jed told me that. But like, so working specifically on that, working on lake strength where your power comes from, working on your core, where your power comes from. So, um, you know he helps. He works with the old at plus he makes it very hard. Uh and and and just like without a break and

in a in a fight there's really no breaks. You know, it's just NonStop. The pace is hard to control. Um, so he helps with just cardio. What makes you stand out in the UFC? Like, you know you have martial arts. The average fan or the or a person that watches it here and there looks at it's just it's fist fighting, right, What what do you bring to the table that's different than maybe saying kind of McGregor. Well, first I'll answer, like, so martial arts uh m m A is mixed martial arts.

So it's pretty much every single martial art that's ever been around, you know, uh, some of the traditional stuff. So what are some of the traditional because I have jiu jitsu, taekwondo, you know, kempo wrestling, Brazilian jiu jitsu, regular jiu jitsu, boxing, kickboxing, mutai, all those would be

considered martial arts. There was a time in the beginning of the UFC, where everyone if you were a wrestler, or you were a boxer, or you were you know, a jiu jitsu guy, you felt like your art was the best and only one that needed to be done. If you did karate, you could kick everybody's ast. You don't need to worry about wrestling because you nee, that guy in his mouth is someone I had taken down.

What mixed martial arts did through the years is evolved at the point where you realize that every single one of those martial arts have has this place in some degree. You gotta find which parts of that martial art is actually usable in a true fight. And so that's what mixed martial arts has have evolved to now. Now it's the point where like I started with a base of wrestling. I did karate and stuff when I was a kid,

but basically my base was wrestling. In order for me to evolve as a martial arts I had to learn every single other martial art in order for me to be able to use it and utilize and like what, you know what all the train Yeah, so Brazilian jiu jitsu and black bell and Brazilian jiu jitsu slight flex other Henzel Gracie, Matt Sarah and John Danaher Well, it's more flexiing to them, like they're unbelievable. Oh, Henzel Gracie,

you know the grayceis ever bring a bell? Yeah that does okay, So as he's as he's telling us to jump in. So the Graces are a family that are known for training in a certain style of martial arts, so Brazilian jiu jitsu. So what happened is when the UFC first started, it was you know, the Brazilian jiu jitsu people, which was the Graces versus you know, the wrestler versus a boxer versus a kick boxer. And it was a contest to see which art was truly the best,

and the Hoyce Gracie was the one. He was the one that was chosen by the Gracie family to represent Brazilian jiu jitsu against these other fighters that thought their art was the best, and they picked the smallest in their family, this guy named Hoyce Gracie. He was small, nothing to look at and he was gonna be fighting guy. As I think one of the guys was like were

close to five hundred pounds. Is it on YouTube? I think you can find all this on YouTube, thank you, Yeah you can get it or probably UFC Fight pass Actually, to be honest, so passed memberships like that. Let me jump going on the free stop. I don't I don't want to glance over what he just said. Yeah, that family took their so called air quotes weakest dude in their family and put him in there five tens. Like he's small, he's like a hundred seventy five pounds, five ten,

and he's finding some monsters. And what happened he finished everybody sleep though he broke Well, so what it is is the art. It's like a jet. It's considered a gentle art, and so it's gentle knot very kind of mildly. Well, there's no knockouts. That's the That's the crazy thing about president jujitsu is it's you're not knocking the guy out. You're using like it's actually meant for smaller people to

beat up bigger people. It's it's all the submission. So it's like arm bars and stuff that you've seen that's you know, it's putting one half of your body on one side of his arm, one half on the one half of your body on the other side of the arm, and now you're you're pulling that arm and you're gonna break it. There's not there's nobody who's big enough for strong enough to curl in that situation. So even a girl, if she learns correctly, will break someone's arm who doesn't

know how to defend it. Oh wow, yeah, which is crazy. So that's what Brazilian just you brought to the table and the way it's evolved over the years. At first, when that came out, like no matter who was going against this guy, you know, Hoyce Grazer, one of the gracis, they were dominating and submitting them, choking people out, breaking people's arms, and nobody knew how to defend it. They started like realizing, no, I need to learn this stuff.

Night night. Yeah. Yeah, but you did start to go down the path of you said, wrestling with your base and then you evolve, you learn, you have you now been able to evolve your fighting style now being um, you know, multi time champion in the UFC, How how did that fight style evolve when you as you're coming up the ranking systems as just a wrestler with some boxing. With some jiu jitsu, you could get by with taking

guys down. But as as the sport progresses and you start going with higher talent, you have to start knowing everything. So would you would you say that that's as you get older, that's what's kind of you know, not to put you on the spot by him. Is that what has really slowed down kind of McGregor a little bit because I don't really see him really, he doesn't. He's not known for having the martial arts background, I mean not to my untrained ID, but he seems like more

he doesn't really he doesn't really wrestle much. He's just more of a punching he's so he's more of a he started he started from a boxing base and karate, so he's more of a stand up guy. He does obviously train jiu jitsu and wrestling everything like that, because the guy sees fighting, are you know, topnox world class dudes, So he asked to, you know, but not to not to not proficient and mastering is two different things things. Yeah, I don't. He's not He's not going to dominate a

world class guy on the floor with jiu jitsu. He's not going to dominate a world class guy in wrestling and boxing. He can, you know, And so I think that now if he could get his takedown defense to the point where he could stop takedowns and finished keep guys standing, that's kind of like how it how you evolved. He's a martial artist, but he's primarily more of a

boxer inside the occagon. But now if he was fighting a better boxer than him, he would definitely have the tools to take the guy down and let kick him or whatever. It is. Good, good, good, let's getting down to good. Hey Gerard, why didn't you get that T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh yes, I got it from cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise shout out to our guys at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy you a T shirt,

subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. So what is martial arts done done for you personally? I mean, shoot, I'm I guess uh. You know, it gave me a goal, you know, of becoming a world champion and something um and you know taught me, you know, told me a lot, told me you know, discipline and hard work and respect and you know, being humble, A lot of that, A lot of that, A lot of those, um, those attributes kind of stem for martial arts. How do you balance?

Because you see guys that martial arts or m M a UFC, they're so I don't even know the right word, but they just kind of they're just quiet storms, right, you see him and you see you'll see videos here and there sometimes where someone at the bar is trying the wrong guy who ends up being a martial arts guy and just gets let me unfold this one for you. Yeah, and you seem like one of those guys, Like even and I met you, you're just kind of like just nonchalant.

But yet you know, watching some of your stuff like get in that switch, right that switch and even just me joking around with you, it's like you're joking but then you're going like, hey, is this guy trying me? And it's just that that balance, you know, that balance? Right? How do you? How do you? How how does your mind and your body decipher between that um, that calmness and then that that that rage is in there? Um because you have more days that you're not in the

octagon then you are in the octagon. Yeah, I think I you know, I used to get to the point if I felt like someone disrespect me, just just because you know, that's the way I was raised. If someone disrespects me, like I had to put them in their place. And then as I got older and as I got more confident in my self, as like, you know what I could do to them and is it worth it? Uh? But also find the interest because as you got older, you acquired more steals. Yeah, but not to use them

on people like you know you want to. It's you're being a bully at that point. So you know, it's not like I'm gonna get anything out of unless I'm protecting my family. You know, I'm not gonna put my hands on anybody that that would be my goal? Even what was that? What was I just saying? What we're just saying basically basically is how do you how do you basically manage that switch from where you are a naturally you're a naturally some calm guy, but then when

you go into the octagon. I got to check somebody even and even practice. Yeah, that's a great question, I know, and I'm sorry I forgot. Um, it's just just one of those like you know, I met you you know, I met you and we've had some conversations even talking on the phone. You're great then, you know obviously mean you're a person even coming on here, I can see, even me joking around with you, I could see a little bit of like he he like all right now,

just a little bit. But it's and and and that's part of just as being athletes are like, hey, you know, what's the angle of this person? You know? And I because we do get I believe sometimes as athletes, when we come on stuff, sometimes people uh misrepresent themselves, right, they misrepresent the authenticity of the concept of whatever the

interview is. They say some things that you're like, come on, man, like we talked about this and and so that's why I was asked because I saw a little bit because I've been in that same position, like I'm waiting for it. Wait, I'm waiting for the nonsense. And so I just picked that up from you just because you're still in it and I'm not in it anymore, and I don't have anything that to some degree that's actually I feel like, but it's not the truth of any value to that person.

But when you're doing sports and you been part of that sport, especially now as retired players are almost coming across like let me just feel the beans on everything now, right, And so man, I mean every every now, every time you turn on a former players talking about what they experienced and how they experienced it with this team, and let me tell you know how fraudulent this this coach was or with this team or this organization. So that's why I mean it just comes into now, is uh.

I mean clickbait. It's not anymore of authenticity of the individuals, more of what is the individual? What can the individual give me that people go oh, absolutely yeah, trying to think what I said in this entity that's going to be really good clu. It's it's it's it's authentic, it's you, you know. Like I asked about McGregor, just in regards of comparing he's not the he's he. First of all,

he's not nobody. He's someone that's big enough sport. However, there are other guys who seem to have a more wide range and just handle on the martial arts just by how they conduct themselves. Some people may be better grapplers, some people standing up, but but more I could you can tell some of the guys how they conduct themselves on and off off the field, and how they you know, what they do and how they do it. It's just different. Absolutely. And when you say that, do you do you remember

could be before? Could be? Did you watch that fight? Kind of? I can? I can not my head, but I know he's a very disciplined, humble dude. He's from Dagastan, it's the outskirts of Russia. Yes, ye, Muslim country. He's very disciplined. He doesn't drink, he's not he's not short. Yeah, he's looked like he has woken up looking for as as they say, you know, it's actually in our culture black holds. You're like, man, I'm look. I hope somebody trying me to do I wish him would you my seat?

I don't hope, I wish you know, you're walking. I hope someone on my seat. Yeah, he's not the dude you walk up in the bar like when you see him, Man, I don't getting near that. Yeah, you're like, is that my seat? There's videos of him wrestling a bear at like seven years old. That a brother. So now you you're you're veteran, your thirty seven you mentioned how do you approach fights now being a more veteran fighter, what's your approach now you know, as you're as you as

you send it into UFC ranks. Yeah, um, just work hard, you know, there was there's just a lot of learning I've had throughout my whole career, you know, through the ups and downs of knowing what worked for me and what didn't, and then just trying to be on the on a consistent page of doing the things that have worked for me, which is doing more and not less. You know, when I was a champion for a while there, Um, after my second title defense, I started again to the

point where, um, I started doing less. You know, I was worried about getting injured. You know, so I figured less training, less chance of getting injured, because there was a couple of fights I had back out of due to an injury. So there's a lot of criticism, always injury prone and he's not gonna you know, he's not defending his title enough, blah blah blah. So then you get to the point where you want to, uh, maybe

I was doing less. I you know, I had, I had money, I had you know, going out to nice dinners. You know, for the first time, all the time, you know, and I just I was loving that life. And so it got to the point of I started doing less, not more, and then I had my and then I had a victory won, and I want a title defense.

Do like kind of having those habits and gave me a positive reinforcement on that, and that's where I think led to me starting to lose and having my first loss, and um, and then since then it's got to a point where like I had to be honest with myself and acknowledge that and then get to the point where I change that kind of go back to the old ways, not obviously killing myself, not as young as I used to be. I'm not training you know, you know, nine hours a day, but doing in a smart way, working

on my techniques. Um. It's interesting with fighting and you know, right now there's you know, two guys over thirty five of that are champion. There's one guy's forty two as a champion. And you don't really see that in any other sports, including boxing. And it's because mixed martial arts there's so many martial arts involved that experience is so important. It's not like you could be you know that young

athlete that comes in. He's you know, super athletic, and you know he has a good grasp of martial arts and he's gonna do really good. But uh, that guy is not. It's gonna be really hard and it's very rare for that guy to become a champion, you know,

early on, because of because the lack of experience. Experience is really so important how to deal with the nerves, um and uh, and also all the different techniques that you've gotta learn in order to be a martial arts so almost like the the mental advantage, mental advantage, and then when it and then when it comes to me. Um, you know, I broke my leg in last April, you know, so I'm just I'm recovering and just trying to get myself back to where I need to be for this

next fight. How did you break your leg? I mean, I know how you broke it, but like walking through Yeah, I'm not gonna walk you through it. I can't walk. Thanks. We have a Matt set up after this. He's gonna work on in my contract. But you can take that one all you want. It's a gentle art. I got this thing after gentle. It's gentle bro, I got a medical condition, you got picks, I got tags? Oh man, uh, what was the question? I didn't ask one here? What

do you think about CT? Like sometimes when I lose stuff, I like is this CT? Oh yeah? But then I'm like, no, it's miss So I mean, what do you think? What? What do you think? What do you personally think about a sport where I mean it's pretty head contact is it is pretty not as bad as of course, but yeah, yeah, it is brutal. It is a brutal sport. And I've seen guys who definitely have C T e UM and it's sad. It's sad to see it. I'm sure you've

seen in football and you guys players. Now, I don't know, I don't I don't really think right now where I'm at, I don't really know if I would bump up against the guy who has CT. Most men, and I would say women to playing professional sports at even college high level, Well, there's some folks they just off in general. Yeah, I was gonna, how how do you know? Because they're like,

think about it. There's there's movies where we all like when we laugh in joke, there's always that one family member that is the black sheep or somebody that does some things that just go man, cousin ge you know, or cousin Ricky or you know, there's always that one person who didn't play sports. It didn't play sports. So I'm just wondering, you know. And I know in college there was always one or two guys that were on the team in college that you were like, like, not

that the brother got hit or anything. He didn't even play, but there was reasons why they didn't go to class or they didn't play. They were always in the way of themselves. And so I'll just you know, I can't really say that that individual the elevator didn't go up to the top the way before he strapped on a helmet and shoulder pass, that they just something was different

and unique about them before they play sports. Now, sports maybe gave them my identity, but I wouldn't necessarily say, oh, that was CT or that that was a head condition. Sometimes people are just uh, you know, unique and different and odd, and you know, there's I mean, there's some people in the housing industry that me and G used to work with that brother didn't play no sports, right, and it just just something was missing in their life,

and I don't want to. I don't and I don't like using like said, oh CT or this or you know, that'd be like somebody you know, just like when somebody doesn't, I can't pay attention to oh that that a d D person without knowing if they have a diagnosis or not exactly. So that's why that's why I asked. Because

of you know, head injuries. Like I was talking to a doctor one time and they said, a concussion technically is when you see that little you know, when you hit your head, that little flicker, know how many times like you didn't hit your head that technically that's considered a concussion, right, or you leave the cabin open and bunk right technically that you know, So you don't know how many times one is has had a brain has had a what they call a brain injury, or you know,

some sort of trauma, so something some sort type of trauma, right, thinking how many kids have fallen right learning to walk? Kids who have fallen out of chairs or falling off a chair or uh, you know, falling down the steps or whatever the case may be. You're making a good

point now, is what do you think though? Do you think that there, you're just saying it's hard to diagnose who really has CT and who doesn't Like this, we don't They don't think they have a method right now until you until someone and they test the brain afterwards, and that's when you get But you also don't you also don't know how many times, Like think about it, if a kid has played football his senior year in high school, but his play soccer from four years old too,

from four years all the way to his you know, middle school days, and there's an excellent forward who's who's had a thirty two goals, aheader does everything bicycle kicks, and then he goes and it becomes a pretty good football player. We don't know how many times those those headers have impacted the brain. I agree with that, Well, yeah, it's hard to get really like a good uh understanding of what happened to anybody individually throughout their whole life.

At the end of the day, I think we know that when you put yourself in situations that you get hit in the head often it's probably not the best thing for you. But I agree to diagnose it's not you know, to diagnose it is like you know, it is hard. I have seen guys that have changed though, like you know, to the years for sure, like not that many, not a lot at all. Just repeated trauma that's gonna affect you. Yeah, just a little bit different,

you know. But I will say I could probably kind of argument myself on almost every point though, because I also seen them, you know, going out party and doing certain drugs. But no one's gonna check their brain, so we'll never know. What. Would you want your kids to follow your footsteps? Man? Not really? Why not? I live I've lived a very crazy, tough life, you know. You know, I came out to the other side and it's good.

But I just wouldn't want my kids don't need to do what I you know, what I put myself through. And I've had twenty five surgeries, you know. I mean I've been like my body is not the way I came out of my mom, you know, like it's it's it's changed. Yeah, I've been through a lot, So I mean I was like, just a lot, a few because my wife has them. But give it a shot, all right. I got ten knee surgeries, surgeries, m C l p C l old lateral meniscus. I'm bone on bone on

my right knee for sure. It's tin on both our tin on not so eight on one two on the other around old lateral, old lateral meniscus. I got him repaired twice and then got the got old scopes. Just cleaning out, just cleaning out, non stop scope scopes. You can no more. It blows up now, huh. You know what like my I have, I have my knee. My right knee is freaking shot. I got osteo fights that

came up behind the knee. Osteo fights. So basically when you have information for a while, when you get information for a while in the area, it'll start calcifying and it'll turn the bone. So I have some of those that started coming behind my knee joint years and years ago. I'm talking about college. So for since then, I haven't been able to go like full flesh and where you bring your heel to your ass. So that's that's that's the ass. Alrighty T knee, three hands. So I got

my hip bone and here my hip bone. So your hip bonus connect to your thumbone exactly like it. So your hip so it took out your hip and put in your thumb. Because that's why my thumb just does this. I can't move this part that's fused. That's fused with bone infusible plate right there, and that's my hip bone in the sand too. That That was my second and third metacar bulls um that just kind of exploded in

the bow start. Bone started fusing, um started fraying on top, and they had a shave roll away and fused this. It was all over time and it wasn't like it just happened this, This was over. This was the first year of me fighting. Actually, I would throw my right hand like a madman all the time, and your bone, your hands aren't meant to be punching, you know, like it's not designed for that. So eventually my bones started kind of coming up like this, and then they started

man I started that started. No, it didn't come to the skin, but it was coming up. It was coming up. I had surgery before it came through the skin. This one was a one time shot. It was in my fight against Kelvin Gasolin, first first round through a left hook as she was coming in and we don't boxing gloves anything, so your thumb was exposed and so I hate him. It's not like keeping your thumb in with the boxing globe, and yeah, pop popped that. It popped

the bone off the tendon. And then you had to keep fighting. Yeah did you you did you puncture that? Yeah? Yeah, I punished. I won that fight. I didn't even feel, to be honest, in the fight, you know, like was going. I felt it afterwards and I thought I was all right, but then I wasn't. I had to get I got the X ray and the m R and all that stuff, and then I got a surgery the next day. Then I had to get another surgery um a few months

later because the bone didn't take. When they put the hip bone in, UM there was so it was such a concussive blow. They said that the bones alre deteriorating, so there was no blood supply left in the bone in my hand. So they had a white more bone out and put more hip bone in there too to heal that hand up. M I think it's more stiff hips and it's thumb and take. He said, I need something. I got a lighthead. I got one little lighthead, all right,

So you got hands? What else? Uh? Two neck surgeries does? So? I did uh one artificial disreplacement and I did one. Uh like a scope C five C six C six C seven C four C four. You had surgery. Uh no, I had natural heal burst fracture. Naturally, Oh bait birth fracture, burst fracture, explode it that much left in college? Oh jeez. So I had to harness, not drilled in my head, but harness. But I have no natural bend damn. So kind of you're saying, kind of fused. I didn't get

a fused at that time. I did in ninety ninety nine, so they didn't do fusing. I was considered if you got a fuse at that time, I considered knock you out of being able to play. So it did natural hilly. So I was like that for November, December, January, February, March, April, so six months in that and then I couldn't do I couldn't do any off season um hitting. And so basically we find out in August September if I can play. Yeah, now, and after that idea shrugs. Still doing shrugs to protect

my shoulder. So that's all. I will probably be eighty years old and I'll still have traps like a mother. I won't have anything else that I just had traps. Here's a secret. I never told anybody for a long time, probably for about three years after. When I would turn side to side too quick, I would get a sharp pain going up my neck. And he's like, but you know you getting paid all that money? You don't that is something. So I just did shrugs. That's all I did.

They said, just got shrugs. So, yeah, that is crazy in the NFL, you guys kind of I did in college though, which is crazy because you have But so they knew about your neck injury, and so that's that took me off some boards, some folks boards St. Louis Rams. They got Tommy Polly linebacker instead of me and Travis Fisher. I love that you remember that. So with all these injuries, you got, Chris, like, do you know not all bro? The twenty five injures, with all at ease? Do you do?

You do you worry about any of them? As you get older? Like, what's what's your take now? Is you as you are older, as you as you think beyond I'm screwed in terms of be honest, bro, Like, don't don't tell me, Like, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day. I'm yeah, from wrestling my whole if you know, playing every other sport I played into fighting. You know, as long as I've been fighting, the damage in my body is not going anywhere, you know what

I mean. Unless they come up with some stem cells that cures the whole body and you get a new one. I'll be feeling pain, but I don't mind it. I don't mind. I don't you know. I deal with pain all the time, and me and pain are cool. Do you believe USC is the greatest sport in the world? Uh? You know. To me, it is, you know, but everybody has their opinion. Now who am I to push my opinion on anybody? I like this. You know why I think it is because no matter where, it's a worldwide

sport and I like it. No, no, no disrespect. But there's no matter where you are in the world, whether the richest country to the poorest country, everybody knows what the fight is. Everybody circles around that fight and wants to watch. So you get every single martial art that's ever been around in the history of man. You get to bring in with you inside of a cage against

other people that are doing the same thing. The most world class athletes you could, you could, you could line coming to come into a cage and see who who could do it? Who could outsmart Who who could out tough? Who who's the toughest, who's the baddest. All The closest thing to the real, closest thing to a real fight you could possibly get is the UFC And to to put yourself and challenge yourself in that way. I don't think there's anything greater, you know, I don't think there's

any sport like it. I think every every sport, most sports, and most athletes, most athletes, I'll say, have that in them, Like I think you have it in you. All athletes are not. The majority of top athletes have that in them, that that in a desire to show that they're the best. And what is better than showing that you are the toughest motherfucker in the whole on the whole damn planet.

And everybody knows the rules. No matter what socio economic background you come from, you have the same opportunities everybody understands, and you get to put it on the line and there's no excuses. You don't get if you win, it's on you. If you lose this on you. You don't get to blame one of the person. And with that, my friends, Chris, thanks for being on the Cut to A podcast. Thank you. I appreciate it. Guess you are a unique person. You are well worth it, you are

competent and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith, Singer, I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC, Baltol Creative Media,

The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows from Cut to It, Executive producer Steve Smith, singr co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John and show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Balta Chevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek,

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