Michael Chandler

This guy is crazy good. He is such a competitor, he is so great, obviously a world champion, and he's so positive. We talk all about how he stays motivated the importance of self talk, positive self talk, and just the power of believing in yourself. He is such an inspirational person. I told him he needs to be an inspirational speaker in his next life, because this guy is the most positive, inspiring person you'll ever meet. Y'all get

excited Michael Chandler. Okay, I'm so stoked. Michael Chandler is in the house, and oh my gosh, I feel a little bit overwhelmed because you're a world champion. You are a two time world champion of the lightweight division for M m m A fighting and oh, we just tell me, how did you get into this sport to begin with? And it's so layered because people are confused, like someone like me, is it boxing? Is a UFC? Is it

m m A? Is it? What's belatour? There's so many layers, there's so many How did you get involved with this sport? And now you are sitting at the top of your game. So for me, it started out with just wrestling. I wrestled in high school, wrestled in college. UM was in love with the sport of wrestling. Well, I think for me, I wasn't. I wasn't a big guy. Was I wasn't gonna I wasn't going to excel at football because I wasn't. I wasn't big and tall and whatever. I wasn't gonna

excel at basketball. Um, wrestling was that perfect kind of blue collar work hard and good things are going to happen. And it really is the toughest sport in the entire world. Everything I think, Yeah, I mean, I think if if you talk to anybody who's ever who has wrestled or knows wrestlers that they will agree that it's it's that grind and it's so hard and it's tough, and it's and it's weight cutting, and when you're not weight cutting,

your training extremely hard. And then you couple them both together and it's and it's constant ups and downs, an emotional roller coaster. And it's maybe the man that I am and the husband I am and the father I will be, what did I teach? I mean, I think it's just the constant stick to itedness and the constant just honestly getting beat down and then build build back

up and beat down and built back up. And it's just that constant faith in that constant grounded nous of knowing that if I show up every single day and I laced my you know, I put my mouth piece in, I lace my shoes up, and I go as hard as I can I get outside of my carben zone, good things are going to happen. And even when bad things do happen, it's only a matter of time before I'm back on top again or I win again. And seeing that proven over and over again through this career

that you've chosen. Yeah, So so I think there's no way that I would be sitting here as a multiple time world champion without the sport of wrestling, you know. So it's it was great, and I wrestled at wrestling in high school and then college wrestled at miszoo. Wrestling is obviously different than m m A. Wrestling is not quite as intensive m m A. Right, Well, to me,

it's actually a harder sport. I think. I think if you if you watch the wrestling match and you watched the m m A fight, you're gonna see, you know, punches, kicks, knees, elbows, cuts, bruising, stitches in a m m A fight, knockout submissions. Um. But the sport of the sport of wrestling, the amount of dedication that it takes to make it to that top one per cent, is so much more than than

the sport of mixed martial arts. But when you talk about intensity, when you talk about entertainment and blood and guts and and crazy craziness and literally the volatility inside of a competition, mixed martial arts is one of the most exciting sports in the entire world. So you think it's one of the more dangerous sports. Are you ever worried about your health, Um, a little bit. I think it's I think it's ignorance is bliss type of situation where yeah, you know, and I just think I wouldn't

have been called to this sport. God would not have called me to this sport. If you have great things were going to happen or or harm was going to be done. And I've had numerous sets of stitches. I've had eyes swollen shut and lips turned inside out, and injuries and losses and tears, and and I've been on top of the world and I've been down in the dumps, and it's been it's been such a crazy, crazy sport.

But it's you know, I just I truly believe that I was I was put on this on this earth to be a world champion and and reach people on my platform. So I try not to think about it, you know. But your calling, Yeah, absolutely, because I am very big on callings to I think we all have a calling, and I think it's so important to take the time to figure out what it is. But you found yours fairly quickly right away in high school with wrestling, with wrestling and that, so you just fell in love

with wrestling, and then you became the best at wrestling. Yes, well not as not as good as I wanted to be, you know, I think, you know, I think I fell short in wrestling, and that's what really propelled me to having a very successful mm A career. And I was extremely extremely blessed. I was. I was the oldest of three boys, you know, So I was I was the I never had a big brother. But when I came into college, I immediately started taking my lumps and getting

beat up by the upper classmans. And and um, you know, there's two guys right now who are world champions in other organizations. So I fight for Bellator. There's the welterweight champion of the UFC, Tyron Woodley, and there's the welter weight champion of one FC, Ben Askerin who I wrestled with both of them in college. Wow, So y'all kind of rose And so you were telling me earlier Bellator. It's like UFC Belotour, breakdown what those are for people

who might be confused on how it's all divided up. Yeah. So the sport is mixed martial arts. The sport is m m A. We fight under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. And then yeah, so underneath the sport of mixed martial arts there are different organizations and the organizations. The first one was the UFC. They came in, came around and basically started the sport in nine, I believe,

and then Belletre came around in two thousand and eight. Um, there was Strike Forest, there's one FC, there's World Series of Fighting. We're all the different organizations, and then under those organizations are contracted fighters. So I'm I'm a ten ninety nine employee to Bellaturers. So yeah, so I'm I'm contracted in Bellotour and there's the guys in the UFC and there's the guys in Belletour and NFC. We don't

cross promote, you know. And whenever my contract is up, I either choose to resign a deal with Bellotour and continue my services with them, or I sup around, I become a free agent. Just like football, just like baseball, just like basketball. Okay, there's a lot. It's just it's such a powerful platform that you're on because you are literally using your body as your instrument to have your platform, to have your calling. And so the training, mental physical,

How do you mentally? Because I feel like so much of it has to be mental. So when you're transferring from wrestling and getting into m m A, are you deciding in your mind then I'm going to be the best. How what goes on in the process of you evolving

into this world ship champion? Well? I think that The funny thing about the evolution of my careers is I think there's been ups, and there's been downs, and there's been There's been times where I have believed to myself, and then there's been times where either I got complacent with my self belief or I wasn't seeking that self belief in that motivation and that and that positive self talk that I should have been. And I find myself positive self talk crucial. Oh my gosh, it's it's it

literally is everything I think. I mean in my career, I came into the sport Sky High thinking, Okay, Michael, you've you were an All American. I was an All American and wrestling, which is which is a very small percentage of people who can become All Americans at the Division one wrestler as at the Division one wrestling UM ranks in college. And so when I came into the sport, I told myself, Okay, Michael, you've worked harder than all

these guys. You might not be as skilled, you might not be as good on paper, you might not be ranked a high, but you can go out there and beat him. And literally a year and a half after I stepped into the cage, I became world champion and ranked the top five in the world. So within twenty two months or something, I was world champion right out of college. So I found success really quickly. Do you think it's because you wanted it? Maybe more because obviously

you're at this point you all have talent. What separates the world champions from the people who are all talented. I think it's toughness. I think it's I think it's consistency, consistent belief and confident in expectancy of really truly believing what you deserve, you know. And I think I think in college, I would tell the reporters, or I would tell my coach, or I would tell teammates, I want to be a national champion. I want to be a national champion. And if you watch the way I trained,

I would train harder than everybody every single day. Yes, but mentally, I didn't truly believe that I was going to be a national champion. I didn't truly believe that. Yeah, well I wasn't as much back then. I would tell other people, but when it when it was just me alone in my thoughts, it was the fear of being successful or um I would you know. I can remember numerous times where I was winning a match and all of a sudden I would find a way to lose,

you know, so we would find way to lose. I would sabotage, not on purpose, but I think it's it's it's that cognitive dissonance and and it's this is that what I've come So let me let me become a psychologist really quickly. Uh no, but cognitive dissonance is basically what I think, what is happening not truly lining up with your beliefs. So so I was about to be say a guy named Cepias Later who was ranked top three in the country at the time, and I was

just a freshman sophomore. I wasn't supposed to beat him, but I was up by like five or six points. So what was happening in real life? I didn't line up with my self belief. My self belief was you'll never be able to beat later, You're not as good as him. You didn't feel like you were ready yet or something. Yeah, or you just fear of fear of being fear of being great because you're not sure what is on the other side of greatness, what what that

entails were, you know? So it's what is happening not lining up with what you truly believe, you know. So I didn't truly believe it that I could beat him, so I would find a way, and I ended up finding a way to lose. I got taken down and then I got you let me go, and I got taken down again, and it's a point system and I lost. And after the match, it was kind of like, what the heck just happened? How did you lose that match? That you had that match? So it's so how do

you process it? How do you realize that you were self sabotaging a little bit? I think I didn't really realize it till I didn't really realize that till after college and I started fighting, and then I kind of changed.

I think it's I think, really taking ownership of self belief, taking ownership of self talk, taking ownership of of realizing that, I mean a couple of generations ago, our parents are grandparents, they didn't have YouTube, they didn't have podcasts, they didn't have do you realize, I mean yourself, for our listeners at home, how easy it is to pick up your

phone and listen to so much positive stuff. So like zig Ziggler was from like the nineteen eighties and nineteen seventies, and and all of his stuff is still has turned in the podcast and into all of these things. And you can listen to your favorite sermon you say, your favorite pastor, your favorite motivational speaker, YouTube videos. I mean, it's it's so easy to stay built up in the

year and our generation, you know. So I think it was taking ownership of realizing that, Okay, I work harder than anybody else at the gym, but what's going to happen the other twenty hours of the day? You know, what are you going to do? What are you gonna exactly? What are you gonna read? What are you gonna say? What are you gonna believe? What are you going to watch? What are you going to what are you gonna what are you going to decide to kind of to really

dwell on. So you have made it your because you Okay, you're like so you are someone who actually has to walk the walk and talk to talk because if you don't have your mental game in check, you can have your physical body at the top of your game, but if your mental game is not there, that is just

as important, so much more important. And a lot of people don't have to work on their mental game as much as someone like you does because we can skate through life and we don't have to really like you know, our careers don't depend on the state of our mental being. But you have to be tuned up all the time in your mind, absolutely, and because it's it's all and and really I always say this, I'm not actually going out there and getting locked into a cage fighting against

another man. I'm really fighting against myself, you know. Am I going to let myself go out there and perform the way that I know I can let yourself? You know? And that's what I always say. And I asked myself this all the time, Michael. Somebody, at the end of the day, somebody has to be the best. Why shouldn't it be you know, why shouldn't it you have to

tell yourself that you do deserve that always. And because everything I do in the gym live my life right, you know what I put into my body, how often I sleep, Like every single thing adds up to becoming the best fighter of all time. But on the mental aspect of it, that's that's the only way that that doesn't happen, you know, But that's so important. And visualization and and really realizing that that visualizing things the brain.

I've done a lot of reading or a lot of a lot of research realizing that the brain doesn't really truly know the difference between you know, me picking up a pen or me closing my eyes and watching myself pick up that pen and pick up that pen, and that your brain doesn't quite know the difference between something actually happening and something visual like you actually visualizing something happened.

And I'm not going to say I can you know, I can sit here and and you know, say, visualize something and it's going to happen like this kind of people planned that that can happen if you really focus,

and it really isn't. And now as I get older in my career, I've closed my eyes and I've visualized stepping into the cage and the smell of the cage and they here, and the sounds of the crowd and the lights, and then seeing my opponent in front of me and all these things, and then all of a sudden, I step into the cage and I feel like I'm at home. I feel like I've been there. And I used to not do that. I used to step into the cage and just bite dow the mouthpiece and go

run and just and it was a crazy fight. And now things have slowed down so much more because I've visualized. So you go through the fight ahead time, what is your morm So say, okay, you just had. Let's get to your big fight that you just had, because this was huge. You've already won two time world champion lightweight of the World for the Bellator division. And so now this summer you're you're gearing up again, You're going back for three and you're playing at Madison. You're not playing,

You're fighting at Madison Square Garden. That was That was my last fight. That was yeah, that was my last one at Madison Square Garden. Yes, So tell me about that, and tell me about your process getting ready for it and then getting in the fight, and then how dealing when dealing with things when they don't go as you have visualized. Yeah, so it was the biggest fight of my I mean, it's the biggest platform. And I think when Madison Square Garden pay per view, I mean people

are betting probably millions of dollars on this fight. Yeah. So so when you when you get pressure or do you not worry about that? No, I try not to. I mean, in the in the unfortunate thing about fighting at Madison Square Garden is you don't really truly get to experience it or enjoy it because you don't want to think about Madison Square Garden. You don't want to think about warming up in the same locker room as Mike Tyson or walk in the same holes as as

as George Foreman or Muhammad Ali. You don't want to think about those things because with that comes out of pressure. Added pressure comes higher heart rate, Yeah, higher heart rate, and and and a less less mental stability, you know. So so you just kind of focus on the task at hand. But it's it was, it was awesome, and it was crazy, and it was the biggest platform of my career and and uh and it is just it's just such a crazy It's another testament to how crazy

this sport is. That I was better than than my opponent on paper, was better than my opponent, and and stats was better than my opponent and everything. And then all of a sudden, thirty seconds into the fight, I rolled my ankle, jammed up and pinched a nerve in my ankle. My whole ankle went limp like basically for then it looks it looks so bad. It was. It was basically just I had no control over it, you know. So my brain was telling myself to take a step

forward and it wasn't working, and what are you thinking? Yeah, you know, I think it was just uh, it was just stay calm, you know. And I kept telling myself,

you're fine, you're gonna get the distance. You're gonna knock him out on one foot, and you're just gonna do it with one I was, and and I ended up the only real punch that landed and landed in the entire fight was me on one leg, and I knocked him down, and then I over zealously went and chased him and my ankle rolled like three other times, and then the ref fleg stopped the fight, you know. So

it was. And then the doctors came in and they were feeling around on my ankle and one doctor was looking at the other doctor said, I think his ankles broken. I think it's to be a fractor and this that the other thing that I'm just bleeding with the doctors, Please don't stop the fight. I promise it's just an ankle cramp. It's it's something. Just let me go back

out there. I promise you'mnna win this fight. And I kind of looked over my opponent and gave him the old you better hope that these guys stop the fight right now, you know, just kind of playing those those mind games and that mental game, and you know it's and it's but with that comes this huge letdown. You know this, you you I spent nine weeks away from my wife. I trained down in Florida. We saw each other four days and nine weeks, which you you know

how that is. We're having a traveling musicians as a husband. But it's it's so it's not like with traveling musicians, you know, at least like it's not it's not the wake up, go to bed, all you eat, sleep and breathe is this because when you're preparing for like that, you're probably so focused. Yeah, and it's and yeah, it consumes you. And my wife is a saint for for for dealing with it. Yeah. But but the dieting and the sleep schedule, and then you have to weigh a

certain thing you have to eat. I have to lose about thirty pounds right now. I gotta get done. So how do you lose weight like that? Diet, exercise and then the last ten pounds or so it's just water weight. But it's so, do you have a training How long is training period? Training camp is eight weeks usually eight nine weeks and it's uh so it's about two months and U I usually do a twelve week block training camp, but the first four weeks, the first four weeks is

kind of pre camp. And I don't I'm not crazy with my diet and I'm not crazy with my sleep schedule, not crazy with all that kind of stuff. But um, that eight weeks out is go time. So is there a fight season? There's not a fight season, so we we fight twelve months a year. Um, it just depends on each promotion. They they do their schedule for each six months probably, and they say, well, hey, like right now, I I'm expecting to fight in December, but it's not

set in stone yet. I'm trying to get the guy who has my belt to fight me in December. But so you have to get the guy who holding the beat. So basically, what if they're too scared to fight you because they don't want to give their belt. Do they have the ability to say no? They don't have the ability to say no person. I mean they do, but it's it's in their best it's in their best interest to fight. I mean, he we fought in June, so this is the Medison Square Garden fight. So you're saying rematch.

If he doesn't give you a rematch, yeah, well, I mean he has to. If he doesn't, he's going to get Basically, the promotion is just going to either number one stripping with a belt or number two just say okay, well we don't like you anymore. Therefore we're going to go ahead and go in a different direction, and you can just go ahead and sit there and we're going

to do whatever you want to do. We have to give you a rematch because we're all at the world is wanting a match because it wasn't you know, you didn't get your fair shot. No, yeah, so it was. So it's interesting, it's and it's he'll he'll give me that, He'll give me the rematch. I'm hoping it's in December. But it was just it was such an unfortunate, weird

set of circumstances. But it's but once again, it's another it's another opportunity to let the world see how you react to something you know, And it's even though it was a bad thing that happened, when I get the belt back, and whenever people see the comeback, and then whenever they see how the setback set me up for the comeback and the way that I the way that I reacted to that loss, and that that the biggest stage in my life and the biggest opportunity of my

life that was pretty much taken away from me because of a quick, little injury that was completely out of my control. The people see that, and they remember how you made them feel, and they remember the things that you said, and they remember how you carry themselves. And and then if it just takes one or two young kids who say I want to be like that someday or you know, that's that's what we get to do as fighters, or as athletes, or as as anybody who's

in the public eye. So it's it's good and I'm excited to get the get the belt back. Do you love being a comeback kid? I do, But you know, unfortunately to be being a comeback kid means you had to come back from something. But but it's it's yeah, it is, and I I mean I've had I mean I was. I burst onto the scene, like I said, and I won. I won the world title within two years, a year and a half two years, defended the belt numerous times, and I lost three fights in a row.

So I was twelve and oh to start my career.

Then I lost three fights in a row. I went six days head oh yeah, yeah, so six eight eight days without winning a fight, you know, And that's where I really grew the most and realized that the stuff that I was telling about the visualization and all that kind of stuff, how important it is, because you know, it's you find yourself making jokes about it, and me and my wife would be hanging out and be like, well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose three in a row,

and you make like these you make, like these dumb little jokes and you laugh about them because you're a positive person and you're you can make a light light of a bad situation. But we don't realize is that you really are teaching yourself bad habits and bad self talk, and your can tenueing to lower your standards or lower your lower your view of yourself by even entertaining those kind of jokes. So what have you change? So how do you change that self talk? What are the first

steps you do? Well? I think number one, realizing that every single person that you look up to, every single person that I look up to, every single person that anybody has looked up to, has been a failure at one point or another. But realizing that failure is an event,

not a person, is so huge. And realizing that, I mean that you could google celebrities are successful people that failed and there's a hundred thousand examples, right, And it's but for some reason, whenever you fail, you think, oh my gosh, I'm the biggest failure ever exactly talking about it exactly when when really, if you realize that failure is a prerequisite to success, and you know that would right, but it really it really is, because I think, and

that's exactly what I did, was Michael, you've got to be perfect, Michael, your world champion. Michael. People are looking at you, in your top three in the world, and you're expected to perform like this, this, this, and this. And it wasn't just my fights. It became my workouts.

And if I got taken down or I got submitted, or I I lost a sparring cession, or I lost this or I lost that, or I I couldn't lift this weight like I thought I could, and it's a low and now it's another loss, and it's another loss, and it's another loss, when really it's not a loss.

These are these things are just that. These things are just the chain of events that that happened in a in a fight camp, or in a career and so many every like I said, every single person that we've looked up to you, we look at him, we think, man, I wish I could be like that. I wish I could be like that. But what you don't realize is that layer of failures and and shortcomings and setbacks that

they've had. And I think realizing and it comes with maturity, and it comes with it comes with being around the block. And you know, but if I if I was sitting here and talking to an eighteen year old guy who's so excited to fight and become the best fighter in the world, he's gonna think I'm a little bit crazy, you know, talking about failing and and becoming successful. Um, because we think we just have to be successful all

the time. But you're going to fail. But it's an event and it's not a person, and it's that's really what it is. And it's I am living proof of that, and so I am. I have been the comeback kid numerous times. But you know, I think it's just like I said, take an extreme ownership, realizing that my brain, in my mind, and myself, my self esteem and myself image.

You could you could sit there and give me all the compliments in the world, but if I don't receive them, and if I don't truly believe them, if I don't truly give them to myself and and and continue to grow on my own, in my own head, in my own body, of my own spirit, that growth doesn't actually happen, you know. So it's really taking ownership of your own your own mental um, your own mental warfare, honestly, you know. So so tell me what is your motivation? Why do

you do it? Why do you press on? You know? I think motivation continues to change, you know. Um I think now it's it's realizing that that I am not just a fighter, but I'm a husband and I'm gonna be a future father. And we don't have children yet,

but I know I already see their faces. I already already yeah, I'm excited and and it's them, but it's also me being a great father or trying to become a great father, or doing the things that I want to do that that adds up to being a great father and a great leader and a and a great servant to them and my wife. But um, so that is part of it now. Um but I think I think in the very beginning and it has stayed the same.

What has stayed the same as realizing that I've been given such a great opportunity to be sitting here on two capable legs and have two capable arms, to literally be able to go out and do something that points zero zero zero zero one percent of the world gets to do, you know, and to be able to even

on the days that it's horrible. Even on the days that it's painful, even on the days that I want to cry, even on the days that i'm ice in this or I'm take an eye a profile for that, or you know, and you get beat down, even on those bad days, there's so many people that would love to be in my position, and I have such a great opportunity that I've been given in such a platform that I have to be able to inspire so many people. And so I think it's it's that, and it's not.

And it's not that I feel that there's an obligation or I have to do this because of other people. There's still that inner drive and that inner knowing that got put me in the sport for a reason. But it is realizing that so many people have done so much more with what they have. So I've been given these gifts, and I'll be darned if I'm gonna squandron,

you know. So I have been given so many amazing gifts, and hopefully I can continue to fight for a really long time, but probably just another a couple of years, and then we'll sail off into the sunset and figure

out what the next adventure is. I love, though that you take such take your talent so seriously, because I feel that if we all could dig into our soul and really latch onto our talent and treat it like the gift that it is, like how you have done with the ears, I feel like the world would be such a happier place because people would be fulfilling the reason why they're on this earth. And that's and I

don't know where I read it. I'm not gonna say it's my quote, but I think, um, but I read something that that um kind of disregarding or not fully living out that um that purpose in your life is a slow as a slow suicide. You get you you get so far along and you realize, why didn't I take this chance or why didn't I, you know, stop this or stop that, or decide to do this or decide to do that. You know, and and honestly, for me,

it's it's easy. And and that's when you know, that's when you know it's you're doing what you're called to do when it's easy. I was gonna say, how do you know when you're on the right path. I think it's I don't wake up every morning and like gosh, I gotta go to work out again, or gosh, I gotta go to this thing again, or gosh, I gotta go you know, eat right again. Here is my eggs and avocado and spinach. And I just did it for

the last you know, six months. Blah blah blah. You know it's and it's you know, it's You're not mad about it, No, no, no, not at all, because I realized that it's the means to the end. It's it's a means to an end, which, in the end is the end. Goal is winning a fight. And each time you win a fight, it's a bigger platform. And each each bigger platform is more and more people, and more and more eyeballs and more and more, um people that can hear your name or or hear the words that

you speak. You know, so um it's it is. It's easy, you know. That's when you know you're doing what you're called to do. Is when it becomes the routine is easy for you, and it's not you. There's no there's nothing holding your back, and you just continue to move forward in something and the goals get bigger and the goals get scarier, but you're not afraid because you know you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, so okay, and ask you a few like little kind of rapid

fire questions. They're kind of going to go a little deeper because I know you have blessed, which I think is awesome that you tapped that on your chest. So when you're in the ring, the first thing people are seeing, obviously you're gonna go straight to your tattoo is blessed. And why is that so important for you to have

that as your statement piece? I think what I think it goes back to realizing how truly blessed I am, you know, And and it's not it's not a proclamation that hey, look at me, look how blessed I am. It's it's me when I look in the mirror and I realized that I am so blessed. And I did have parents that poured into me and and I had a phenomenal childhood, and they did everything they possibly could

to put me to where I am. And then I worked extremely hard, and I had extremely great people in my path, and God has put so many perfect people in my path for the perfect season that I was in to get me to that next level, to get me to that that next breakthrough, and then meeting my wife, and then and then now we have the next fifties sixty seventy years to continue to move forward and meet

more people. And it's just been I've been so truly blessed that it's a concert reminder from me that to give anything less than my best every single day really is to sacrifice those blessings. And I do it sometimes and then but it's a kick in the butt to realize, hey, why are you being lazi or hey, why why are you not doing what you said you were going to

do to do? Why are you not giving hunter? Because there's gonna be days that are like that, you know, but do you realize you know, you just kind of acknowledge the time that was that was lost, or you acknowledge the day that you were lazy, or you acknowledge the bad decision that you made, and you realize that the sun really will come up tomorrow morning and yesterday really did in last night, and then continue to move forward. So that's kind of my that's kind of where the

blessed tattoo came from, I believe. Okay, so I'm gonna ask you if you're rapid questions, fire questions. What is faith? If you just you don't have to give a long answer, you one word. You can give whatever you feel called to you. But what is faith? What does faith? Faith is is I think blindly moving forward with something that you truly, truly believe, and the conviction that you know you know the truth? You know you know? Um, yeah,

I guess, just the truth. You know like you you know, you know what it is, even though you're not sure of everything, but you know what it is. That makes sense, Yes, totally. What is the point of this life? The point of this life I think is um. For me, it's it's helping and inspiring as many people as possible, whether it be through direct contact or whether it be someone you've never even met. Um and truly fully living up to

your potential. Because if you do truly live up to that potential, more and more people are going to be impacted. What is the one thing that causes people to get in their own way? I think it's the lack of self belief. You know, and it's and it's and it is so hard. Sorry. I might go a little bit longer than than rapid. I might might be a little

less rapid. But I think I think it's I think it's that self, that lack of self belief, and a lot of times it's because us we are afraid of being cocky, or afraid of being overconfident, or afraid of being looked at like better than people. And I think I did that and might don't want to act above no. And it's and it's so hard because because in order to be successful, if you in order to be up here, that means there has to be people below you, right,

you know. So it's there's this weird there's this weird being becoming the best at something, whether it's sports or this or that or the other thing, there has to be people that are still working to try to get towards you, and they maybe think that you are better than them, but you can't. It's so hard. It's hard to me for me to describe. But it's it's that it's a cognitive dissonance. It's another cognitive dissonance because I

saw it. Yeah, and it's and it's and it's trying to do your best but doing it in a way that people know that you just got there with hard work and humility, you know. So it's hard to be humble and show humility while also being best, But it can be done, you know, and there's so many examples of it out there. Is that one of your missions is to show that, to expose your humility and hard work while being the best. Yeah, because I think, you know, I mean, we we see it all over the world.

We see it in the movies. It's like, you know, the nice guy finishes last, right or um, you know, or the the bad guy doesn't care about anything and he rubbs so many people the wrong way and he does so many the wrong things, but he becomes the best because the good people were afraid to achieve that because they were good people and they were just plowed

through exactly. You know. So it's it's so hard, and that's but I think this generation, I think our generation was called to show that you can be a great person and show humility but also be wildly successful and wildly whatever whatever it is for you to mean successful doesn't necessarily mean money or doesn't necessarily mean fame, but it could mean money, and it could be fame, you could.

You know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being wildly successful and making a ton of and and having a ton of people following you and have a huge following and sell books and do this and do that. Whatever success is for you, there's nothing wrong with being extremely extremely successful, because that if you live the lot, if you live a life that still shows humility. Do you think God prepares people for success by putting them through trials and

suffering and pain before. Do you think that's part of the process to become great? Do you think it's necessary and do you think you can avoid that? I think I think it's absolutely necessary. It is hard to I mean, as as a Christian, it's hard to say. It's hard to say that God would have, you know, wanted you know, because it's the age old question, Why does God? If God is such a loving and forgiving and amazing God, why does he let bad things happen to you? Right now?

Host the food? Why does it happen? And it's and I think that's one of those questions that's so deep and so layered and so hard to answer. Um so along that same vein, I think what we describe or what what our definition of bad is might be wrong sometimes, you know. So so maybe God did let us go down a path that led to a dead end or led to a loss, or led to a setback or heartbreak, and it was such a bad thing. But if but if that bad thing turns into something good, was that

really a bad thing? You know? So that perception of what bad is. I mean, I've had a lot of bad things happen in my life, but I can look back and say, well, that wasn't so bad. And yeah it was bad at the time, but shoot, if this happened because of that, I guess it wasn't really a bad thing. So it's our perception every single day, and it's and it's really is just believing that that believing in God's will, you know. I mean the older I get, the less I pray for things and I pray and

I pray that God's will be done right, you know. Yeah, I mean I think it's you know, because I think, like like we said, you know, if something bad happens, that means maybe I was praying for something to happen and then all of a sudden a bad thing happened. Or maybe maybe the bad thing was that not happening

or that not coming to fruition. But that might just be a closed door that's going to lead to another open door, right you now, So it's you know, the older you get, the more the more you realize that you're just trying to make it in this world. You're just you're just we're just flying by the seat of

our pants. And I think I think that's something that that if people live live by that as well, that realizing that you might look at this person and that person realized they got it all, they have it all together, think they have it all together, but they're just trying to make it in this world where they're just they're just flying by the seat of their pants too, And you're just living on a women a prayer and and just hoping that hoping that good things happen, you know.

And that's the older I get, the more I kind of have that, I guess, carefree kind of mentality. So what has marriage taught you? Oh my gosh, Oh man, it's it's been the most amazing thing ever. You have an incredible life. I have an incredible but I feel like y'all have done marriage right. You have the right perspective for marriage. Yeah, I think it's it's been tough. I mean not tough, it's it's with my career. I mean, I long story short, I chased her for like seven years,

and she didn't. I didn't really chase her, like I had an idea of her for about seven years when I was in child. She didn't really even know her. I knew, I knew her dad, and I knew his reputation. Oh gosh, yeah, well yeah, A long story, long story, like, well was it about her? You love? Well? I I just knew there was this idea of what I had of her. And then the day that we met, it could have been a huge letdown, you know, it could have been like, well, shoot, guy, like glad. I wasted

all that time drinking up thinking about this Bree Willett girl. Um, but I went and I got this tooth knocked out in college wrestling, and then the University Missouri sent me to her dad. He's a dentist, and then here you go. See. Um, So he was sitting there and I was looking at all these pictures and his family photos, and I'm like, gosh, dagn that's a cute. Little little brunette is cute, and what if that's his daughter? And then I you know exactly,

I will never and it's still there. It's I've had twenty fights now and this tooth is still sticking in. There's still still because some good glue. Um. But and then anyways, in a roundabout way, my Bible study leader was in a Bible study that he led, and then I was in another Bible study that all of her friends we're in, and it was just act. I kept hearing these little stories about this girl, bree Will, and

I'm like, that's that girl, man, that's that girl. And then, of course, in our and our in our industry, in our in our day and age, in our generation, it's so easy to hop on Facebook dot com and then you know, type in their name and it's like, wow, okay, cute, cute, cute, really really cute. Oh while she likes this well, you know. So, so I had this vision of for some reason, I had this crush on her, and eventually we finally I finally asked her to coffee, and there we are. Fi've

almost are. We've been married three years now, but it's been a little over four years. But the secret to marriage is is, I don't know. I think it's just constant service, you know, I think it's for us. It's I mean, if we're not kind of doing something for the other person, not out of not out of um, not out of necessity, but just out of love or

out of just to constantly. That's that's how I show her how how much I love her, is is doing things for her or reminding her how much I love her through you know, there's the love languages and and we and we we practice those as much as possible. And I think it's just constant service and it's constant humility. I mean, that's that's really what it is. Is you never really have to be um. I don't know just that that raw like here I am, this is this is this is me from head to toe. This is

who I am, you know. And these are my insecurities, and these are my fears, and these are my these are my goals, and these are my doubts and these are my everything. And and she's been with me when I was the world champion, right you know, top three in the world, and then all the way down to the dumps, losing three fights in a row. Um, and we've gone through this together and it's been it's made our marriage stronger, and it's and we will be the parents that we are going to be because of the

losses and the time away from each other. You know, She's been so awesome through my travel and my training camps and my wins and my losses. So I think that the secret to marriages is waking up every morning and realizing how truly busted you are to have that person and that constant service of the humility of I'll do anything in the world for you, you know. So

it's kind of what what we do. I love that to Nashville, and we just moved to Nashville, and so is it you guys are going to be planning routs here and planning roots. Yes, yea. We we got a house here, yes, and I'm opening up a gym, okay, so we can all come to your gym. What's um It is not open yet. It's gonna be a Paramount Fitness and it's right across the river in East Nashville, the East Side Para Paramount Fitness. Yeah, we're going. We're

gonna be on Davidson Street right there. We expecting the gym. So the gym is going to be UM. Obviously, since I'm a fighter, we're gonna My goal is to put Nashville on the map as a Mixed Martial Arts city. You know what we've We've got a couple of m m A gyms here, but no real true blue pro fighters that live here. We had two guys that are in the UFC right now, Dustin Ortiz and Luke Sanders, who are from Nashville or from Franklin that had to go to Arizona or California to go get their training

because there's not a training hub here. So you want to that's what I want to build. I mean, this is it's such a big city. It's such a not it's not a huge city anymore, but it's a growing city. But it's a big enough city that we should have a phenomenal fight team. You're right now, you know, so no doubt that you're going to make this happen. So it'll be we'll have a pro fight team, but but

it would be open to the general public. And if we're going to have a fitness group classes and one on one training as well as UM adults and children's Brazilian jiu jitsu, adult and children's m m A kickboxing classes and all that kind of stuff, plus a wrestling club, and so we'll have to have a ton of programs and hopefully change a bunch of people's lives, get him in shape. Yes. Okay, So before we wrap up my last question, I like to ask all my guests, well one,

I really want to know this from you. What is some advice you would tell your younger self. Um, I think just don't put so much pressure on yourself and there's nothing wrong with being successful, Absolutely nothing wrong with being successful. This kind of goes hand in hand with my last question, which is leave your light, which is leaves some inspiration. How have you been inspired? What is it that you want your legacy to be in your inspiration to be or how have you been so inspired? Yeah?

So I think it's it continues to go back to realizing and counting your blessings and realizing that, um, you've been put in a position to be able to do to do something great, and every single day that you don't give your best is is squandering those gifts that you've been given. And constantly remembering that it's not that people don't do the right things, is that people don't do the right things for long enough? You know that's good, that's been you know well, and you're you're just constant

work in progress. We all are gosh, I'm gonna I'm going to fail again, and I'm going to fail again. Um, but through all that, I'm going to become a successful person. And it's and if you can and if you can continue to move forward and continue to fight literally or or figuratively for long enough, eventually you're going to continue to find success. So it's not that people don't do the right things. We can all do the right things

for a day or a week or a month. But it's just that people don't do the right things for long enough. And so many of us have have given up on a dream or given up um on anything or any endeavor just moments before they were about to have that breakthrough or moments before they were finally gonna shake that one hand that got them to the next level. And you know, I think Nashville is a city of that, you know, and it's and it's all about who you know and constantly grinding and trying to make it and

scrape to the top, you know. And that's that's really what it is. It's not that people don't do the right things and that they don't do them for long enough. Heck, yes, Michael Chandler, you know what your second half career is. Motivationally, you have to walk up. Michael Janser, thank you for joining me on my show. You're amazing. Thank you You're the best. How inspiring was that episode? I mean, Michael

Chandler has to be the most inspirational person on the planet. Him, Joel Ostein, and Tony Robbins, them together are the most inspiring people. He is so uplifting. I feel like I just went to church or went to school or learned so much by just being around him and hearing what he had to say. I know you love that episode. Get excited. Next week. I have Jesse Alexander in the house. She is one of the most incredible songwriters in Nashville. She wrote The Climb for Miley Cyrus. She wrote I

Drive Your Truck for Lee Bryce. She's written so many songs. Her story is so inspirational. I mean there's a theme here. I like inspirational people. So get fired up Jesse Alexander next week. Se y'all soon