¶ The Importance of Respectful Filming
It's one of the topics of diets . Topics of diets Well , you're going through it now , this week , yeah , and you just called your sponsor to make sure that they had the food prepped and ready to go , and we were talking about how beneficial it is to have the food side of things taken care of for you , because it's exhausting to have to prep everything .
I mean , it's a whole other job that you have to do and you already got a job , you don't need another job , yeah , yeah . So what sponsor are you working with for your food ?
So I'm with Healthy Meals Direct . They actually sponsored me since my second pro fight , so it was like they've been helping me out since the beginning , before I had sponsors . So being able to have that food , just take it to work , eat it up and that's it , it's good to go . It helps out so much because I remember , and it tastes good .
It's the best part . It's when you have a sponsor that actually has a product that you enjoy . That makes it all the difference .
I'm eating like a barbecue chicken flatbread for lunch . That's healthy Somehow some way , and it clearly is , because I'll get down and wait and stuff like that . So , yeah , it helps out . It tastes good , it's easy Just an every aspect . This week , though , I can't really eat it . I'm picking it up to have it .
I'm just going to freeze it because I got to take out sodium stuff like that go into this whole weight cutting ordeal .
So we are in fight week from my man , Alex Vargas . For y'all that don't know him , this is my man . We've known each other since I got introduced to you at Profit . That's how long ago it was .
Yeah , it was like two years ago now .
Yeah , dude , you guys had the spot over there for a little bit and you had the ring . You were just doing your thing .
Yeah .
Alex was like hey , can you get some clips of the fighter over ? Here I said yeah , sure , and we got some stuff and it was cool , man , it was nice to link up on that . And then obviously , we've known each other through the grapevine of just social media staying up to date . I see you doing your thing , I saw you graduate the academy .
Yeah , it was awesome .
And then you had me come out and film the last fight , which I was fucking flattered that you asked for that , and we had a great time right over here at the Paramount . I saw you beat buddy up , so that was great . That was a good night .
It's always great when someone hires me to go and film something and they win Because if they lose , you're like , oh , fuck , yeah , what am I going to do with the footage ? What am I going to do with this ?
Make a kind of a hype video , you know what I mean . And on that there was a football team . I used to work with New York City Corrections a lot , I used to do a lot of stuff with them and awesome bunch of guys and savages on the football field really athletic dudes , cool dudes . We had a great time .
But I felt like almost every game I came out to they lost . The games I wasn't at they won .
I was like , oh God , I just I'm like what , all right , so we're just making montages , I guess , because you know I don't want to , I don't want to , I'm not doing a documentary , I'm not trying to film a whole season and oh yeah , this is the loss , this is the win .
This is the loss .
It's like okay , if I keep coming out and we have four games that I came in film , then three of them were losses . You're just kind of like yeah .
Okay , it's stressful on both ends , like that's why I was like this fight . I'm like I'm just going to keep it simple , like whoever they had back there before the fight in the dressing room . It is what it is . But I was like I want to be super focused . You know , not many cameras in the back kind of thing , Because it's a big one for me .
You know , sometimes so many different cameras and stuff in your face can get you off focus , you know . So I'm like this one is keep it simple . Whoever's in the back obviously don't want to lose , like if someone's coming making a highlight video for you . Yeah , of course , you know so .
It's tough , even on my side , because there's a point that you have to be respectful to the athlete and the people that are the subject of the video . There's a point where the camera doesn't need to be jammed in their face anymore . So when I was working with Flex Lewis , he was getting ready for the Olympia and I was with him down in Florida .
We documented his final week leading up to going out to Vegas and then we were getting each workout out in Vegas and I was flattered and honored because I just started my video career . So it was pretty cool to be able to film Flex Lewis , one of the best 212 , if not the best 212 competitor of all time in bodybuilding .
But I would say to him , like after everybody would leave and you know the room , his coach would leave and this and that , and he's just trying to sit there and decompress and eat a meal I go hey , just let me know when you want me to leave and put the camera away , because I know you know , looking back you may say , oh , I wish we captured more , or I
wish we captured this and that , but I also don't . You don't need a camera in your face 24 , seven .
So like , and I want to be respectful of , like , if you start talking about things that can't be captured on camera , I don't want you to think that I'm just sitting here rolling , rolling , rolling and I have a bunch of footage of things that you didn't want .
So it's with stuff like that I can definitely understand , because there's a moment , there's a moment when you're backstage and I want you to go . I really want you to go into , like that psyche and that thought process of like hitting it in the back . You're getting amped up before a fight .
You know , I wanted to talk about the emotions coming into the arena and then , obviously , staring the opponent down in the ring . There's a lot of emotion , man .
So to have somebody that you either don't fully feel comfortable with putting a fucking camera in your face and they don't have that rapport with you where they could be like , hey , dude , let me , you know , let me know if you want me to bounce . I mean , even at your last spot I asked you a few times .
I said just let me know when you want me to leave you and pops . You know you guys want some alone time to focus at the task at hand . I'll be , I'll be ringside , I'll be waiting for you out there or out , and then I'll come back when it's time to walk you out and we'll get . We'll get a quick walk out thing .
Yeah , that's where you were good Cause I remember you said like , hey , you want to say a few words right now ? I was like , yeah , we'll do it now before . And then like I felt like you weren't even there . But you were there , you know what I mean , cause it's tight back there . We have our own room but you have the whole team back there .
You have the inspectors back there from the commission , you know doctors coming in and it . You know , in that room it gets crowded and you have like two bulky cameras .
So like , yeah , you need it does make a difference for an athlete with the camera guy there , because if someone's just in your face bumping into you constantly , it's not going to work out , it's going to throw you off . So , yeah , having you there was big time , I agree .
And that , and you know what . To be honest with you , that's not like to give me my flowers , that's to let other people know that do videos that are listening to this , that try to capture content , whether you're a news outlet , whether you're uh , you know , hired by the athlete , anything like that .
You have to have some respect and it's not that you're not being respectful . You just have to have some mental thought of just going . This doesn't need to be in their press against their fucking eyelid the entire time .
So just let them do their thing , because , although this , this may be a big moment for you to document and capture a win , a knockout , some great accolade that the team is going to , you know , perform or achieve , yeah , that might be great for you to capture , because you're thinking , oh , it's going to go viral on social .
I'm going to you know you just thinking about all the cool things you're going to do with it , with the footage , but like they have to get into that moment , they have to get into the zone . They got to really focus on that shit .
So , to get there , although you may think that you're amping them up and helping them out and this , and that sometimes they just need some alone time . Sometimes they need to stay that lock in period that has gotten because you're 15 and no 13 13 , I thought 15 . Okay , my bad , so 13 and . I like that . So 13 and no .
So you're 13 and no , and you know I was only there for one fight . Yeah , so that was 12 other fights that you've gotten yourself to that point of mental victory before the physical victory , exactly so it's . I'm an addition at this point , so I have to let you do your process and get into that mode . You had the DJ role too .
Remember how you played the music . Yes , I was like I need , I want to get off the mess and , with my phone and changing songs , you were like I got it .
Yeah .
And all the reggaeton . That was it , and I had the playlist going .
I heard what you were playing and I said you know what , Me and my boy T , we were rocking the summer reggaeton playlist for a while we just collaborating on the things that we loved and the songs that we liked . I said that's it .
I'm going to let you roll . I didn't have to worry about the songs , it's just blowing . I'm like all right , we got that going too . That's awesome .
So let me , let me get into real quick , let's get into fight week media , because we were talking about that . Before the cameras cut , let me just make sure everything's good Looks good , no Shit . Wasn't going Everybody . Well , it's going to be the wide cut , though , for the , for the black point . Yeah , it's going to be the wide cut until that time .
That thing always turns off and I got to get a new camera done . All right , but we have this rolling , so we're good . So we were talking before the camera cut on
¶ Dealing With Media and Pre-Fight Stress
. Obviously we were talking about before the camera cut on media week and be stressful for an athlete . We stress because I don't know how many publications hit you up because they all want exclusive interviews . They all want you to talk about camp or they want you to talk about prepping for the fight .
They want to talk , they want to talk to you about you know what's your thought process going into the fight and what's your thought process of like your opponent , and you know they really want to stir things up and get these captivating titles . From what I see , I mean you know you could tell me because you obviously are on the actual end of it .
Yeah , you know they want to get these captivating titles to either stir some stuff up or may everybody really excited for the fight and it's just like it has to be more relaxed . In my opinion , has to be more like this . Like you said , this is fun for you , and that's what I always want this show to be . I always want this to be a good time .
I want to be able to enjoy my time with my guests and have them feel relaxed . Crack a . I was just thinking that crack a rain , Crack it baby .
It's coming , yeah , it's coming . I was like , let me hold up , crack it , man , I want to crack it . I got my black coffee there .
You know , I got a couple notes in front of me just to like jog my memory of what I wanted to touch on and that's it . I needed that , that's it , but that's it . This is what I'm talking about . This is like the good vibes that I always want to be .
Can you touch on like what it's like dealing with , you know , the press and dealing with the media , leading into a fight ?
Yeah , but it works a lot . It's fun . You have to make it fun . You have to make it fun . Yeah , put it in your mind that it's enjoyed every moment because , as much as it sucks , you know doing everything you do like the media . It's gotten more and more over the years . This is that first term , bro , like now . Yeah , you know new stations right To me .
I want , you know , interviews the week of the fight and I don't want to do this stuff the week of the fight . I really don't . It comes with the job , but you know your cut weight is a lot of stress , a lot of pressure , and you know you just want to focus on the fight .
All of these other things are tough to deal with , so and they're not fun for the most part .
Yeah . So what's the best way that you ? You just kind of bite the bullet , you just kind of go into them thinking this way you know , I got to get it done . I got to do it Like you said .
It's part of the job , it's part of it , I get it done . It's same thing usually . How's your opponent , how are you feeling ? Yeah , how is training camp ? This and that same things you know . So it's repetition . It gets old . You know constantly doing it .
But like , if it's something that's fun , like this helps me enjoy fight week , you know , just talking flow in , not the usual , just oh you know your opponent this that the same things , like it's all the same , weight cut sucks . So being able to have fun and do stuff fun , it's just . I just think it's more flow .
Like you said , like we're doing , we're just talking .
Just having a conversation , that's all it needs to be .
It's not right off the bat , like you , know who's your opponent , what do you do about your opponent ?
Yeah , what do you think ?
Like it's the same thing you know . So we're just flowing . That's what makes fun .
It takes your mind off to fight , which is a good thing , so that's that's what it is Now you take , and you take off this week for work as well , because it's a grueling week and you need to just focus all in on this process .
Yeah , I had to take off for work . Um , obviously being a police officer is stressful itself , Um and while weight cutting not the safest thing to do . So fortunately I do have a great job that , you know , supports what I do with fighting and they back me and I get to take off and I'm able to focus on on training and fight , so that's one less worry .
So , thankfully for Suffolk County Police Department , I get to do that and that's it . We're just locked in now .
Well , there's a lot , of a lot of Suffolk County cops that were supporting you for the fight last time . They were all amped up , routed up . It was great man , yeah , but that's and it's cool because it shows that side of like the the job , where everyone's there to support each other outside of just wearing the badge .
Yeah , y'all are there for each other on your own act , on your own intramural and accolades and , and you know , coming up to to try to be a pro fighter and do like your real big , big , big shows . Right , are you pro right now ? I'm pro , yeah .
You're pro Okay , so look at me like a jerk off , yeah .
Be a pro fighter . You are pro , I just didn't know . So you said that last time and I wanted to ask you this too . Yeah , you said last time that this next fight gets you the ability to do bigger fights . Is that what this is ?
Yeah , this is a big one . This is for the WBA Continental title . Okay , so it's vacant . Right now you get one of the WBO , wbc , wba titles and it's just shooting you up in the rankings , you know . So I , I win this fight . Now I have the belt and now I could challenge those top 10 guys in the weight class .
I could challenge all of them and all of those guys I know I can fight with because I'm in the ring weekend and week out with you know , world champions , guys like that . I'm just more under the radar , which I like , so I win this title , and that's where I mean tons of doors open , tons of doors open .
So even though , unfortunately , my opponent pulled out my original opponent , which I was upset about , he was 22 and three , from Pittsburgh and we were excited to go into the fight and then , you know , two weeks ago we get to know this stat oh , he fractured his elbow and pulled out .
I honestly don't believe it , the fractured elbow part , because I've seen things on social media that you things you can't do with a fracture double , let's put it that way . So it's part of the sport , whatever the case was , whatever reason he pulled out , it is what it is .
But so it's been stressful trying to get a new opponent because I knew it was such a big big thing . The belt was on the line . Now it's like , is this belt still going to be on the line or is it just going to be another fight ? So we went through different opponents One guy , 30 and five , 13 , 12 and one all turned it down .
So we're getting nervous that there might not even be a fight or a show . You know , so , fortunately , that my new opponent , uh , julio Rosa , he's eight and three , you know he's not 22 and three but still fit about he took the fight , so I've got to respect him . He saved the whole show and , um , he's a tough guy .
So when this fight WBA continental title , and then they said tons of doors open where it could , really my career could take off .
¶ Choosing Opponents and Preparing for Fights
So now , what's the ? What's the thought process in going , uh , having to line up new opponents . Do you feel like a guy that's 30 and five or a guy that's eight and three is right , that's the current record yeah . Are there any emotions on which one would be a better fight for you ?
I mean , because obviously you start , you start looking at win records and you start looking at loss records and you go okay , well , maybe this guy , but this dude's still fresh out and he has a couple of wins and a couple of losses versus 30 and five . But even the 30 and five you said turned it down .
Yeah , because .
I'm listen , I'm new to the fight game . Yeah , I'm not . I you know , just besides Sarah and you and my buddy Jamal who coaches big baby Miller like that's my extent of fight knowledge . So I'm sorry if I sound like a rookie to some of y'all , but I just want to . I just want to learn .
And people that come from the fitness side , specifically like bodybuilding and the cross training and stuff like that , that listen to this podcast , they're going to learn too . So that's why my thought process on that I want to know what do you prefer ? I mean because obviously you want a hard fight .
You want , you know , you want to go in there and prove your merit . You don't want to do that , just going to go belly up and you know , take the day , take a knock down , knock out whatever You're like , okay , great , you know , I know that you're a driven individual . You want to prove that you got this shit .
Yeah , that's why I was upset , like my last opponent was like 40 and seven and I'm at that point in my career where you take these step ups now and you fight these tougher guys to see you know , kind of grow , groom you into the bigger fighter .
So , like I said , my last opponent was like 40 and six or something like that had fought world champions and went the distance with them . So you know stopping him was a big statement . A lot of people were like it was an 18 month layoff that I didn't fight , and they were like don't come back and fight this guy .
Right off the bat I was like , no , I want to do that fight better when I step up . So yeah , the kid that was 22 and three is a better look on paper , to put it that way , but this I think they're like the same fighter , like this . This guy's eight and three , but he only lost to undefeated prospects .
And , like I tell everyone , anyone in the fight game can win on any given day . Eight ounce gloves , no head gear , and all it takes is you can have an off night . You know you could be on point all training camp and they have one off night and you lose a fight . Or you get clipped with a bad shot , you lose a fight .
That's the thing about the thing .
You see it all the time . You see somebody just get it the wrong way and they're just like . They get stunned up and the other person takes advantage of that stun up and they go right in on you and they could be winning the entire fight , you could be up nine rounds and there's 10 rounds of fight , you get clipped in the last thing .
So everyone's dangerous . That's why I don't . It just would have looked better on paper for me , but either way , we were fortunate to get the belt to be on the line still , so that's it just and now , when you're getting ready in fight camp , which I want to talk about camps , we're going to go back , by the way , to the history .
Okay , we'll got you into this and stuff like that , Cause I'm generally interested when you are preparing for another opponent how many weeks was your prep before you know ? You said he pulled out two weeks prior . So how how many weeks were you preparing for this fight ? And looking at this , I'm sure you watched footage of him .
You're you're seeing what his his strengths are and his weaknesses are , and you're preparing for that . To now pivot to another fighter , it becomes tough .
Yeah , it's tough . I mean , we knew , I think , august and the August we had the contract signed to fight my original opponent . So , yeah , we're prepping for him , watching tape and , you know , working on little things that we could do against him , to now , all of a sudden , brand new opponent . You know different . I mean he comes forward , but they're different .
You know disappoint , his longer arms , stuff like that . So we had to change it up , which , like I said , it's part of part of the fight game , and my dad always taught me fight different styles , don't . Don't fight one way and fight one way , and you know , my opponent's in the same shoes .
now , though , because he took a fight last second and he has to prepare for me and I'm a lefty and you know that's tough to prepare for , but he's , he's got nothing to lose . You know he gets offered this , it's you know , fight the main event in the sold out venue for the WBA title . He's gonna take it . He's gonna come and fight as hard as he can .
But you know , I just think that I'm too prepared for this guy either way , Like whether I had more enough time to train for him or not , like we just had a really good training camp .
So You've had eyes of the prize man .
You've been ready , you've been ready to roll .
Yeah , I just , I just don't . You don't care who's standing in front of you , you just wanna go right after it .
I've always won that title , I've always . You know , I was a pro and I just , I just don't see myself losing , I just don't . You know , when you want something so bad , you go and get it done . You can fucking taste it .
It's not even something you need to eat , you just taste it . You're like God damn , I just I know what it's gonna taste like .
Yeah , that's it . I just can't wait to hold that belt , have that belt , you know , and , like I said , I've wanted it since I was a kid . So that's it . I just don't see myself losing .
I think that's the perfect segue into childhood , and you know you getting into this . So at what age did you actually start realizing ? Now your father is the main guy in your corner .
Yeah .
So pops shout to pops . So you know your father . How long has he been in the fight game ? And then did that just transfer down to you . Did you watch him working with clients or fighting himself ? Did you like ? What was the ? What was the waterfall effect that brought you into boxing ?
Yeah , he was in and out of the gym . He was a more streets guy as a younger guy so but he'd be in and out of the gym because of it . So he never like fought , never had a actual competition in boxing , but he would always watch it .
¶ Growing Up With Boxing
So Mike Tyson fights in the basement , he'd be watching . I'd be down there as a kid at six years old watching with him . Naturally , from watching it and Tyson just being Tyson , I was like who is this guy ?
You mentioned Tyson earlier . I'm like who ?
is this guy ? That guy's a complete monster and it made me wanna fight .
Yeah .
So we'd be in the basement , put the gloves on and fight for a fake title , you know , against each other . My dad'd be on his knees , you know , punching me in the face , you know , get me all frustrated . I'd be teeing off on him . And then we just did that until I was old enough to go to the gym .
I think it was like I was like nine years old when I was a lad and I had my first amateur fight at nine . So it kind of it's just been since I was born . I guess , just seeing it , you know .
Yeah well , you're a product of your environment . That's really what comes down to , you know , and that happens in a lot of different instances for a lot of different people . You know you're around something , you see it , you embody it and it becomes part of you , and so I love that . Your love of the sport came from dad , though .
That's awesome , oh it did .
It's great 100% . And we've been brutal . You know , since the beginning , the ups and downs of people telling me that my dad doesn't know enough to get me to where I am . My dad doesn't have the experience to get me to where I am and I'd say we've done pretty well , you know .
I know guys Pretty sure he's done pretty good so far yeah .
I know guys that were supposed to do more than we were and now we're here headlining , selling out shows , fighting for a title you know , so we did it .
Yeah , and you're still doing it , you're still doing it .
You're still doing it .
I was gonna say , man , you're just warming up , that's it .
You're just getting the shoulders loose , you're just getting right in , just warming up .
And now , at what point so you said six years old you start to take an interest , you start to develop this passion , for you know , hitting the pads , hanging out , stuff like that At what point did you go to a gym and start getting more competitive with it ? I was nine .
I think I was nine , so I went , had my first amateur fight , lost pride .
Did you ? So you went , did you ? Were you already at a gym at that point ? Were you training regularly or did you just decide to sign up for something ?
I was at the gym . I was training a little bit and then the Junior Olympics came around tournament and we were like , let's sign up . You know just lost my first fight and you know , just kept going from there . But it was just , I was never consistent with boxing , like I'd take time off so I'd fight , then I'd play soccer , baseball , step away .
And that was my entire career . All the way high school , college . I never stayed consistent with it , which I think is good . I think it was good to play different sports , not just wearing your body since a little kid . So I never stayed consistent until I turned pro when I was 22 . But I always knew that was what I wanted to do .
Were you ever any ? Were you ever just as passionate about any of the other sports that you played versus boxing , or was it was boxing always kind of just in the back of your head , even though you were taking time off ?
Boxing was always in the back of my head . I take time off , I love football , stuff like that , but , like I said , like the golden gloves , I was like I remember going to MSG watching that with my dad when I was 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 . Msg finals , watching it and always saying I want to win that .
So it was always in the back of my mind because I turned 17 and I was eligible to do it and I quit wrestling . I went right to the golden gloves and won that you know and break that down .
What is golden gloves ? What is the prestige in it ? What does it mean to win that ?
So the golden gloves when it was around the oldest boxing tournament besides the Olympics , guys like Mike Tyson won it . Just great , all time greats . You know this chain right here . That's where you get and I saw them all wearing it . So , knowing how big the tournament was , and all these great fighters and future pro champions that went in and won it .
And you fight at MSG . Oh , that's cool MSG . I fought the first year at the Barclay Center that they had it there , but it was just a history , regardless .
I mean you walk in and you see the open arena that you watch on TV with all these pro athletes . I mean you're just like wow those flabbergasted years . Where am I right now ?
Yeah , it was amazing and I was in high school and having school buses leave to high school to go to the Barclay Center to watch me fight was pretty cool to be that young and win it , because I think it's like 17 years old , up to 35 or 38 , you can do it and , like I said , dream of mine .
So it was always in the back of my mind whenever that opportunity came , I left it , whatever I was doing , to do that . So boxing has definitely been just the passion , like I said , I've had- .
How long was the Golden Gloves tournament ? How many opponents did you have to fight ?
I think I had five fights .
So what .
I had 68 opponents in my weight class . I think that's a lot and it started oh yeah , it started in January , I think went all the way to April , so you were fighting- .
So you had to keep going back to the Barclay Center , is that ?
what it was . No , so that's just the final .
¶ Navigating the Boxing Federation System
That's the final . Okay , so where were you fighting prior ? To ?
that the prelims changed up everywhere . You could be in the middle of the Bronx , you could be in Brooklyn , it would be all of the place . You could be fighting in a warehouse , you know , just to- .
That's kinda cool , though , man yeah cause .
You know you're fighting all these spots , different spots , and you know you're in bad areas and , like I said , a warehouse you're literally fighting at to get to that main prize and that's the Golden Gloves that's at MSG Barclays . That's what you want . So it's such a build up . You know it's one fight , you win . Next fight you win , you lose , you're out .
That's it . You get one shot . So it was such a fun ride . It's a elimination style old school , no , fighting again and fighting in the loser's bracket to get back . It was like you lose , you're done .
That's it . And now is it age based , where you wouldn't be able to redo it if you wanted to . It was just by weight class . What was it by weight class ? It was just all by weight class .
Yeah , and then you get thrown in there and you know I think they have the brackets . But then once you get to a quarter final , you're in the room with all the other fighters and they're pulling from hat . So one fights two , three fights four , and you know it was all ages . So I was fighting . I was 17, . I fought a 30 year old at one point .
I fought like I was fighting girl men , you know .
I was like get out of my way .
Oh my God , huge , huge , like man strength . That's when I realized man strength . And it was good , though , man , because you got to witness all of that experience , all of that I was like , oh you know , I'm fighting someone that's 19 today , I'm fighting someone that's 30 .
That might have been . That must have felt like you were a gladiator in the Coliseum days . That's what it must have felt like . Oh yeah , it was Marcus , you're up . It's like , oh Jesus .
That's exactly how it was . They pulled from the hat and it's like you know , you're in a circle and it's like oh one , I pull one and he pulls two , and we're looking at each other Like they're like , all right , you two are fighting , get ready . That's it . It was real .
It's looking at each other . I just like all right , that's how it was . See you out there .
We're just in the room , we look at each other and just like , all right , fair play . That's stressful , man . It is . That's what I love about it , though there's no in the fight game . It's you , that's it . You lose , it's on you . You can't blame anyone . It's not . You know football . You lose a game , you can still make the playoffs .
You know golden gloves . You lose , you're out , and you can't blame anybody . It's you . You put the work in and it's gonna show . Even if you do put the work in , you have a bad night . It's on you . You can't blame it on your teammate next to you . You can't blame it on your coach . It's you .
So that's why I loved about it , cause , like I look at my opponent and it's just us . Yeah , like who's gonna be the better man ? Putting the team on your back and the team is you , that's it . That's it I mean .
Granted , having a great team around you helps leading up to it and get you prepared , but come fight night , but yeah , in the ring center stage , that's it , it's you . You know you can't shut down anything and that's why I love about it , cause it's on me .
Yeah , and now , after Golden Gloves , you went to Cortland . I went to Suffolk for two years , did Suffolk and then you went to Cortland yeah , smart way to do it , man , that's what I did . Two years of community . And then I went to Quinnipiac , still paying those loans . Yeah , I could redo it , I wouldn't do it .
Suffolk was a smart way to go , but then I did go to Cortland .
I didn't like school yeah me either .
You know I went to get my degree . You know did get it , but I didn't like school , man . But it was a good experience . You know you leave your own , there's no mommy and daddy around . You know you're up in upstate freezing . You know he's not working , you got to fix it , kind of thing . So that it was a good experience .
I just I just did not like school . School is not for me . But my parents always said , you know cause I wanted to turn pro after I won the Golden Gloves . That's when , you know , I had the opportunities to turn pro and they were like no , like you got to go to school , you're not just going to be a fighter .
Smart though ? Yeah , smart , they want you to continue just the education , just finalize things . I get it . Listen , I'm not against school , I just I didn't ever enjoy it either . I hated it . And then , if I could redo it again , I should have just done a SUNY school and called it a fucking day .
Instead , I did Quinnipiac and there was a private school and expensive . They hit me up . The alumni association hits you all the time . I'm the fucker .
Yeah , yeah , Like fuck alone . Yeah , I'm still paying my loans off . Leave me alone . It's insane . It's insane .
But to be honest with you , I don't have money for you . I have only have money for me and my dog right now . I'm not , I'm not .
I'm sorry I'm not putting towards the alumni association . I'm not doing it .
You got enough coming in , I can give you like 50 bucks , you can put a plaque up . You can put Nikki Rizzles , you can put that up on a wall .
Nikki Rizzles no , maybe , then maybe , yeah . If not , then you're not getting 50 bucks .
So now you graduate , you do your thing , and what are the opportunities to turn pro ? Like , are there ? Because once again , I'm a greenhorn when it comes to boxing and the federations and stuff like that . So now are there multiple federations ? What is the gold standard federation ? Is there one ? How does it work ?
So when I hear pro boxers , I think of , like you know , obviously I mean Tyson at the time , but you think of , like , deontay Wilder , you think of all these big names and all this fury , like , what is the actual organization ? Is it a single one that they all fight under , or do they just pull from different places ? So it's , it's not complicated .
I'm not crazy , right , it's complicated . No , it's not complicated .
It's like UFC , it's like one banner .
That's what I thought .
You know UFC and you guys are all fighting under for one title . You know Boxing is different organizations . Like I said , the WBA , wba , those are all different titles . Okay , so I'm gonna make sure I wasn't crazy . Yeah , no , no , it's very confusing . So those are just you know .
So if I went in a WB , I forgot what you want me in playing for WBA , I think .
See it's on sign . Yeah , exactly .
But I'll get ranked in that one . And then you know some of these guys you know , like you know , tf , female on them they've had WBO , wbc , so it changes .
¶ Boxing Promoters and Fighter Safety
But the main thing is then there's different promoters .
So I'm signed to Starbucks and you have top rank where you know Tyson Fury is signed to and PBC is another one , and then their job is to like , promote you and get you bumped up in the rankings and work their magic and get you a title belt and get you these opportunities and get you the money and this and that . So it's extremely complicated .
But you have to get signed to a promoter who you're comfortable with , because a lot of these guys are free agent . If you're a free agent , you're just , you have no backing . So the hard part is getting signed to a promoter who's gonna back you and basically dictate your career .
So now the promoter is the one that will get you the fights .
what does a manager do , then Partially , my manager will negotiate everything the contracts . So you know promoter will get the fight . Hold offer so and so .
Now what if the promoter's getting you a fight that's in a different federation than what they're promoting ?
The promoters work with each other . So the promoters will talk , do their own thing , and then it gets back to my manager and then that's where they start going back and forth , because you'll know what the promoters are doing and you know they're doing whatever's best for them to make the most money between them .
And then now it gets down to managers and it's like this is the total sum and you'll get this percentage and they're like whoa , whoa . I wanna see the total , the real total , of what you guys spoke about , because no one knows that . So it's such a mess to be- . You know , the promoters are docking each other .
That's right . I said they're docking .
Yeah , you're in investment to them . That's all you are . They call us like your resource .
Wow , we gotta formalize this shit . This actually may be Nick's new passion project of just formalizing one . I may be the new Dana White of boxing . This is gonna be crazy . It needs to be a little bit more just streamlined , because that's insane . That's too many hands .
Too many people doing fighters dirty . Oh , I'm sure I mean fighters getting the short end of the stick big time .
Oh , I could imagine .
You know , from the top top to . You know the top top , the very few big guys in the sport . They manage and promote themselves because they got so big they're making that much money .
But those are the foreign few between you know A lot of these fighters that make 200K for a fight could really be making a million but no one really knows because they can't get , because it all comes down down to them . It's like trickling down the food . Yeah , you trickle it down . After everything , the main thing has been discussed . You know so .
It's so complicated . It's so complicated and messed up like people say it all the time that you know these fighters are going in there risking their lives and literally , Bro , it's scary .
Let me just speak from a standpoint of just outside the ring and being a spectator of UFC . Being a spectator of boxing and you know just understanding it for what it is , but not understanding the backlog of what it .
You know the business side of things , but if anybody should be getting paid the most , it's the guys that are going in there risking concussions , brain damage , injuries . I've seen videos of dudes getting hit in the back of the head just the right way and then they're fucking paralyzed . It's like that is some scary fucking shit . It really is .
And when it really hit home was when one of my sparring partners actually passed away in a fight Patrick Day from Freeport , you know , educated , well-spoken , awesome dude , and I'm watching the fight on TV and he went down , you know , and you're like , all right , this is a little different than usual .
But then he ended up passing away and you're like , wow , like , because it was close home , like you heard about it happening , but the fact that we shared the ring we'd just sparred all the time shook hands . I was like man , it's really hit home , like it's scary .
How did you ? Did you just get hit the wrong way ? What was it ?
I mean , is there a right way to ?
get hit , you know I mean , I think it's just .
I think the thing with boxing is the constant punishment of you know , like UFC is like , yeah , you're gonna get your arms broken . You know your head kicked in . But it's not just constant punching , you know , to the body and head , it's for 36 minutes . So usually when guys pass , it's from just a swelling like a buildup of just getting hit . It's too much .
Yeah , it's too much . So your brain swells up and some of these guys walk out of there and they're like you know , I feel a little off , which you usually do , and then they're going to the hospital . Now you know , you got the brain bleed , something like that .
So and what do you have to do for that ? You just gotta wait it out , and just , I mean , that's when the doctors try , and you know they relieve the pressure .
They try to put a hole in to like take some pressure out of it . So I believe that was the case with him . I'm not sure , I just remember . You know , like I said , when I was close home I was like this is , that's tough . It was tough and I fought two weeks after that . You know , like they , so that was tough .
It was . It almost feels like not you , but the promoters and the show runners . It's just like , well , the show goes on . Yeah , that's nice .
That's life .
That's just everything you know you see football players get injured and they get card . Get his ass off the field and it's like , okay , let's get back to it . You know it's a tough thing to kind of stomach .
It's tough . It's tough For me being a fighter . You know it was just tough seeing that , but I had to go in there and fight . It was more tough on my family , you know . My mom was just like . You know she doesn't watch me fight , she goes when I get in the ring . She steps outside . But it was stressing her out like big time , like once that happened .
You know my dad as well , but he had to hide it . He's my trainer .
The whole box . He's your guy man . He's gotta get in there , he's gotta help you out and he's the shoulder that you need sometimes .
So it's dangerous , it is scary , you know .
I mean listen . At the same time , you know you could also say that there's a lot of things that are dangerous . You know could walk down the fucking street , get shot you never know .
it's like there's a lot of A front driver , something like that hit you .
Hitting the fucking house on my block . What's up with that dude ?
Lying right through that . They gotta fix that house .
They gotta do something about yeah , can they airlift it out ? That's what I think they need to do . At least put a barricade because that's happened numerous times . Yeah there's a house that I mean . Y'all probably don't have any idea what we're talking about .
There's a house at the end of my block that comes as you come into Huntington Village and it's just , it gets mobbed , just like cars just be smashing into it , drunk drivers just be hitting it all the time . I'm telling you , I just I watched the people move in there and I looked at the apartment from the outside .
I went , oh , it looks fucking nice , man , they really did this shit up . And then all of a sudden I see police tape and I was like yo . A car drove through that shit .
The next day , like a week later , I heard the guy or whoever was in the house was actually sitting at his table like a freaking movie , sitting there and just boom table gets wiped out and he's like he's going in for that last scoop of pie .
Yeah , and the whole thing just goes away . He's like fuck my pie .
Imagine that Cars just take the old and you're just like whoa , that's wily coyote . Shit bro , no shot , that's nuts man .
No , I can't do it . So , yeah , I like my spot , my spot's cool , I'm like up on the , I'm up .
Anybody hits anything . They hit in the porch . We're good , no one's flying through your house . You're not downhill right at an intersection like that .
But they do be blown . That stop sign by me all the time . It's exhausting and I gotta listen to the drunks walk around .
That's probably the worst part .
Yeah , that's the worst part , people ask me what's the worst part about living in Hunton Village . Honestly , it's like every now and then , every Saturday night or something like that , you all of a sudden you'll just hear hey man , what are you ? Looking at and I'm just like , and Kenji wakes up , he'll lift his head up .
I'll look at him , I'll be like he's fucking people Go to sleep man . Just shut up , go home , take an Uber and leave . It's too late , man . It's too late . Get out , just do anything but be . I actually walked outside a couple of times . I walked outside with Kenji off leash .
I had him just the collar on his neck and I have the military collar , so he's got the hand grip on it . So I walked out with Kenji and he just looks so angry when people wake us up in the middle of the night that I walked outside . He's just sitting there with his face just staring at the people in it just letting out little like little grunts .
I don't blame Kenji and they turn around and look at me and I go . Yo , y'all can go anywhere else in the village , anywhere else on Long Island , except right here . You're exactly outside my bedroom and you're loud as fuck . Go away . Oh , oh , our bed . Yo , it's 4 am Sunday morning . Please go away . Just go away . I'm not mad . He's more mad than I am .
Please go away .
At least they're like for the most part they're like all my beds . Yeah these guys could probably . You know they're drinking and they who you talking to , kind of thing . Yeah , it's like here we go .
Yeah , honestly it's the dog , it's the dog , it's the dog , it's the mysteriousness .
Kenji's saving the day .
Yeah , Kenji , just looking mean as fuck and just like angry . I'll tell you the biggest problem that I have , the biggest problem I have with kids nowadays and then we're gonna get back to boxing . The biggest problem that I have with kids nowadays is the lack of respect , and you deal with that as an officer on a constant basis in the village .
I know you do , and I'm sure there's a million and one stories , but what I constantly see that absolutely drives me bananas is broken bottles everywhere . Dude , when I used to go out and I used to drink and I used to hang out , there was never a point in my life where I went .
This bottle looks like it should be smashed on this corner right now , Like no , no , no . I would just always look for a garbage and I'd throw my junk out . There's no reason to be smashing
¶ Soft Parenting and Social Media's Impact
. I don't know if it's the soft parenting , because I'm gonna be throwing elbows at my kids if they're gonna act like that . You have to hold yourself above what societal standards are , because societal standards have gradually been decreasing . I don't know how much lower they can go , to be honest with you , but they seem to continually be going lower and lower .
Society now is insane . Yeah , I think it's a ton of things . I think it's parenting these will get calls from like 13 year olds basically because they'll call 911 and their parents are disciplining them .
The kids are calling 911 because the parents are disciplining the kids .
Yes , I'm getting abused , this and that I want .
And then , of course , you have to take it seriously . Yeah , and I'm also like no , no , I mean , you guys have to take the call seriously .
We have to take it seriously . You go over there and you go over there and you go there . You're like what's going on , ends it being nothing ? It's like I remember it . I did something . My parents would discipline me , and hard , and I'm not calling the cops . I did call the cops it would end up worse for me if I did .
Oh yeah , it'd be over for us .
I said fuck you to my mom once because we were fighting , just not getting along this and that I said fuck you once and I went to go pick up the phone to call my grandfather or my dad , whatever it was , and she grabbed that Italian dish cloth that's hanging over the sink at all times in our household and she twirled that bitch up and right across my face
. Drop the phone , drop to my knees . That was it . She's like I am not standing for that shit . That was it , man . I was like never said that again .
If I ever did anything towards my parents , especially my mom , if I disrespect my mom , she would handle it herself , but then I knew dad's coming home .
Yeah , dad just comes home and he just throws the gloves in your lap and he goes . Remember when I was doing it on my knees .
He's like , yeah , no , we're standing up now . There's no , and that's how it should be , I think . I mean , I just think the soft parent thing , I think social media has ruined a lot .
I mean it's just I don't know , like you said , you wouldn't go out and just hey , this is cool , and let me slam this bottle on the floor and let me put it on TikTok and you have glass all over the floor and- . And then I walk the dog Walking on it . Walking on it , I walk the dog .
Every day . I walk the dog multiple times around Huntington Village and it's like I gotta watch out for the glass and he licks everything . He drives me nuts . I was telling you that drives me nuts with the licking .
He licks everything .
So it's like I don't want him licking shit like substances or whatever off the ground that y'all just been dickheads and throwing around . There was a group of like six dudes that were on my corner one day and I watched one of the dudes smash the bottle on my corner .
It took every ounce of just restraint to not go outside because that would have been a problem .
That .
I know six dudes . They're feeling cool with their friends . Some dude comes out saying shit to it's like okay , now they're gonna get wild , and now I have to get wild back and it's just it's not worth the time . So it's like whatever , but I just don't . It has a lot to do with the parenting . It has a lot to do with the social media .
I don't know if you've seen these YouTubers getting checked now . Oh man , I gotta show you some of these videos . Man , there was a YouTube dude . You have all these pranksters , these dudes trying to do pranks and shit . There's a YouTuber , I think he was in Texas . There was one in Texas and there was another one somewhere else .
I don't remember the locations , but the dude in Texas , he was like getting in dude's faces in the food court , like just hey , hey , hey , like that . And the dude was like yo , get away from me , bro . Like what are you doing ? Get away from me . And he said it multiple times , multiple times , wouldn't leave . He walks away .
And now the YouTuber's following the guy . He pulls a gun out and just shoots him right in the stomach . He's like get the fuck away from me .
It's different over there .
Yo and everybody rallied around . I'm with the dude with . Shot him , bro . Don't harass people . What's wrong with you ?
Well , that's the thing . These are the things you do now and you can make a living become famous . You can be a jerk off being an idiot , like they're just going up to people , doing these horrible things to people , I mean just disrespecting people , and then , but hey , I'm gonna be famous .
I'm gonna go viral .
Everyone loves it . I'm gonna start making money off of it and it's like that's what the world's come to like . This is what we're gonna make money off of .
Well , that's how you want your fame . That's how you want your fame .
That's another thing .
You don't wanna be famous and you don't wanna be well known by just doing nice things or being I don't know . I'm not gonna say podcaster , but being somebody that , let's say , interviews people . Or , let's say , giving back to charity but not filming yourself every time you give a dollar to somebody to try to get sympathy and likes and whatnot .
They don't care , they just want . It doesn't matter how , when harass people in the asshole . Yeah , it doesn't matter how they want fame and it doesn't matter how they do it . It's whatever it is for the fame .
I find that they don't find the people that are the fuck around find outs . They don't find them often enough because people are too nervous about the repercussions of doing stuff like that , especially nowadays .
imagine if someone's in your face barking at you like that and you punch him in the face .
Oh yeah , well then You're gonna get in trouble , yeah , which is the craziest part , but actually I think to do that shot of him . I think he's got off .
That's .
Texas . I think he got out . That's Texas .
I think he's doing New York , you're screwed , he's getting locked up and they're throwing the fucking keel .
And then that kid's gonna get even more views now and more followers and a billion dollars in a lawsuit .
Yeah , so it's crazy man , it's just , I don't know .
Yeah , I told you about the dude that I talked about with Nick on the podcast . That was ripping my fucking last nerve with Kenji in front of the Paramount .
Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . He's like yeah , one in my face .
I'm just like oh man , dude , let me just tell you , bro , you're so lucky that I'm so restrained , because if I just didn't care , I would just I'd literally beat the shit out of you and then call you . I'd be like hey , alex , come arrest me .
I'd be like come arrest me . You have to be restrained and you just don't know who you're messing with . My partner that I work with says it all the time . He's like you just don't know who you're messing with . You don't know whether they have a gun . You don't know if they're a trained fighter .
It's just no need for entertaining any of it , unless you really have to .
Yeah , which I tried my entire life .
I've always been able to avoid things like that , always , even in bad situations , I've always been able to either talk my way out of it or just like avoid it completely , ignore it , like look at them , go whatever , bro , like just leave it alone , it's not that serious , and then walk away and almost talk sense into certain situations and it's hard .
It's hard Because the caveman brain in me wants to let loose , because I know I could do some shit . I'm like , oh man , I mean I've only been doing Jiu-Jitsu since May I'm gonna wipe out one stripe . I grapple at the mixed class . I do shit like that .
It's fun , I love doing it , but it's you become way more aware of how much more control I have over people that have no idea how to grapple . Oh yeah , oh yeah . I'm not good at Jiu-Jitsu . I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing .
But when you go against guys that are their first time rolling and they don't really know , you slip one arm around their neck , they start going like , they're just like , oh my and you just see the panic . And there's no panic in terms of , like , how to get out of it . It's panic of like they just sink in deeper into like the worst move ever .
It's just like here we go , so to be able to like learn how to wrestle and throw people in control bodies . I mean you as a boxer , that's a whole nother . Striking is like really , yeah , I keep your fucking hands up and shit like that . Me , I'm just going to be shooting for legs .
Hey , it works . And , like I said , if they don't know , I mean you see videos on YouTube of like these 70 year olds getting , you know , picked on by some teenager and then they were fighting and they just sleep them . It's so sad , oh so satisfying .
So satisfying it's throwing with a cross .
Yeah , and they look so good and you can tell as a 70 year old man that like , oh , this is great .
He's tight with it , like old school .
Yeah , but you know people , just I don't know . Everything nowadays I feel like is out of control . Man .
Yeah , yeah , it really is . It's such an interesting world that we live in . But , like you said , I think the biggest takeaway for that is just like keep your cool , because you really don't know who you're fucking with . You really don't , and that goes on both sides .
Even if you are a trained fighter , even if you are someone that knows Jiu Jitsu , you could have a blade , you could have a gun .
And that was another thing . That's even more so nowadays .
And that was another thing . You know , I always kept . I always kept like I always had like a little work knife on me , stuff like that . You know , I would always think about it . In that aspect too , it's like , okay , great , I have this piece of hardware that I can defend myself with , but I'm not a fucking knife fighter .
So like what if they're really good with knives ? Now , they take that from me . And now I basically just gave them a weapon . Now they know how to use it and I'm fucked . I'm getting stabbed with my own knife . They're sitting there hitting me with it .
I'm just like yeah , that's my knife . That's crazy , that's nuts .
It's my knife against me but hey , all right , let's see . I wanted to know if there were any boxers that influenced you . Obviously , you said Tyson . Were there any other boxers that influenced you or inspired you at an earlier stage ?
Tyson was the initial , just to get into boxing . I did have people that I looked up to as an amateur , and they were the amateurs in the gym .
Did you ? Did you find that the guys that you actually got to train in the same room with were more Inspiring to you than seeing people on TV ?
Yeah , definitely so . Some of the guys in the gym that were , you know , much older and they were doing that . They won the Golden Gloves , this and that Turn pro . I looked up to to them , some of them but the funny thing is a , a lot of those guys that I looked up to as a little kid are my biggest haters now , really . Yes , oh , the weirdest thing ?
Well , because you are doing better than them .
Yes , I just don't , I just Don't understand it .
Well , they love to see , they love to see you just doing well , just not better than them . That's though . That's the line .
I guess so , because I'm like I remember I was like man this is sad like I remember looking up to him and now like he's talking down on me , so it's , I don't know . It just came to mind when you you brought that up . I was like man . The guys that I looked up to are , like you know , not for me now .
Unfortunately , that's very common . Yeah , like I said , like I just said , that quote is Certain quotes that you hear , it's like they resonate and they stick around for a long time .
¶ The Experience of Rising Above Peers
Yeah because , like you know , everyone tries to be like the next Shakespeare . Yeah , they make banger quotes and they sound cooler than they actually are , but then you hear things that actually resonate and you go . That's why I've heard , that's why that's been around for so long , and it actually means something .
You know , generally your peers like to see you do well . They want to see you succeed and get wins and do this , but now there's that fine line where you start to actually do better than them . Yeah you're not . You're maybe making more money . You're getting more fight chances and opportunities .
You're winning more , and they start looking at you not as a peer anymore , but as an opponent and as somebody that they don't want to do better than them because you're gonna continually rise up .
Yeah , yeah , it's weird . Like you know , I Fortunate to have , you know , a good amount of supporters . You know we sell out the power amount now and do like 30,000 ticket sales , but the least amount of tickets I sell are from my hometown . Hmm , which is like another crazy thing to me .
Like all these other supporters from other towns Like they're buying , buying impacts , coming out to support me , but then , like I and I do have hometown supporters and I'm appreciative for them , but I I Like the least amount of tickets . I sell it to people from my hometown .
I would say the least amount of downloads from my podcast are from , like , my tight , tight group of friends , not like Tyler or Gabe all my buddy but like the , the friends that you think would be the first ones to start posting the podcast or posting episodes or shouting . You ask like that . They don't , yeah , so I don't .
I don't get offended , I just I know the law , I know I notice it , it's an eye opener .
I notice it , that's all I do . Yeah , notice it , so like when , when , and it's not that it's not so much of an eye for an eye . I'm not , yeah , I'm not looking for revenge , I'm not looking to like get back at people . But it's like when y'all want the support , it's not gonna be there . I'm just not gonna be there in full force .
Yeah and yeah , and it's not in like a petty way , no , it's just like I hope I hope you understand .
Yeah , just I know . I know you get it , yeah . I know you get as you guys say . I know you get it , but that's it . You know we were you for the last 10 fights for me . Yeah , I , you know , I heard some stuff from news outlets . I heard some stuff from people .
I heard some stuff and maybe I'm maybe it's wrong , maybe it's correct , but that you actually did say these things or think these things . But you know , that was my , that was my takeaway from what I was and , like you said , it's nothing like , it's just something .
You know this . Yeah , I have the people that .
Yeah , it's hard when you say things like that , it's hard for people . You know people automatically think that you're just trying to be petty and you're just trying to , like , match the energy . But actually that's actually what I'm doing . I'm matching the energy . Yeah , you're trying to get . I meant to say get back at , get back at them .
Yeah , it's not matching the energy .
That's all it is , yeah , me man . It's just something like you know this , and it's like , oh wow , like I've had my people that have shown up since , haven't missed since , like my last Amateur fight . Yeah , and I have new people coming , but it's just like I said , like you know this , that From that one area the least are coming .
Yeah , I want to come . I want to come through Saturday . I do , I know I fucked up with the tickets already , but maybe I could have a male slip in the side door .
Yeah .
I'll slip in , I'll hit star up , I'll be like , yeah , I'll give you guys everything they love that .
Come on in now . We'll get you in . We'll get you right here .
Oh , I'll walk over , I give you a night . I mean you're gonna , you're not gonna be until late again anyway , so I'm hoping not that late .
Last time seemed a bit dragged out Rough bit .
Well you , but past eight o'clock . I'll give the dog is pill and I'll walk over yeah that's it yeah . All right . So I got a couple more questions that I wanted to touch on . Got them right here . We already went over the intro and just your youth and everything like that . Just a couple talking points that I had .
And here's a question for me what does a camp look like for you ? What is it ? What do you find effective , because every fighter is different , yeah , what do you find to be the way that you train , getting ready and prepared for a fight , the best ? Um , is it a lot of bag work ? It's a lot of sparring ? Is it just a mixture of everything ?
Because I'm sure there's , you know , is a cardio like what ? What it ? What goes into it ? For you , it's all well-rounded fighter .
It's all of that . It's cardio Sparring with high-level competition . Do you find ?
sparring better people than you helps you , or because in Jiu Jitsu John Danahar he's , he was GSP's coach and he coaches Gordon Ryan and a lot of really good Jiu Jitsu practitioners . He talks about getting ready for big tournaments and big fights , fighting lower belts , a sparring against lower belts , because it actually helps your game , oh yeah .
Yeah , so .
I don't . I don't know if that's something that you , that you find effective or not .
No , with me it's sparring the top competition . Like you know , I sport with a few world champions for for this fight and exciting , oh yeah , and that's why I'm like I know I'm getting there because I've been doing it for years with these guys . Now , you know , and they all had their route , I had have my route and They've got me better throughout the years .
So I support a few like Richard Colmey , world champion Curtis Stevens , a ton of guys that I just feel like it gets me sharper .
And what is each one ? Looks we , I was gonna say what . What does each one bring the guys that you fought so far ? What ? What have you noticed ? From each one to the next , is it heavier hitting , is it ?
different style . Yeah , different styles . I mean , they're all different styles . Like Colmey is probably one of the hardest punchers I've ever spart and his record shows he's like 28 and three with like 26 knockouts like sleeping pills for hands . And then you've got other guys that I've
¶ Peer Pressure's Impact on Personal Choices
sparred . That are , you know , trying to think we're sparring this camp . That are , you know , boxers . But we wanted more pressure guys , because the guy I'm fighting is probably gonna pressure . Okay , but all of that , the cardio , we do a ton of cardio .
Um , I'm never worried about cardio because if anything I do too much of it , they got tell me a pullback . But I think the main thing for a training camp is my mental .
You know , having the right people around me and that's really what helps me , you know , because if I have the wrong people around me it really screws me up and and I've stopped talking to people there in training camps I've done a ton , because that that's my main thing is my mental .
And you know , if I have the wrong people , I Keep a tight circle and then I notice , like people that Are around me that are affecting me negatively , you know , like I'm my close friends that know , hey , alex is training , you know , and well , that's all I do is chill out .
But then you have people that , even even if the thing is this , is you around , having the right people around me , because I Always stay in shape as a fighter , always staying shape . I'm not just falling off and putting on 50 pounds and this and that .
So my core friends know like , hey , you know , or still gonna be training this and that , but then I have other people that I've brought in around me and it's like they try and change everything about me . Okay , tell me like , tell me the to enjoy my life , live my life .
But the way I enjoy my life and live my life isn't the way you do , you know , and some people just don't understand that . So if I'm as a fighter , you guys stay ready , you know . And these people are trying to tell me .
Some people , for example , trying to tell me to you know , go out every weekend and Come out and drink and , like I said , I'm not against any of that , but I'm not doing that every weekend . That's not living . Life to me is going out and blacking out every weekend .
I haven't had drinks this March . Yeah , and that's the thing . People look at you .
People look at you like you're crazy . If you , you don't want to do that , like , no , I'll go out and I'll stay . I want to go home at 10 . I gotta get up , do my run . Oh , you're too much on your routine , you're too much this , too much that ? No , that's just what you can say . I'm not telling you not to . I'm gonna go home , chill out .
I don't want to take shots tonight . No , this that that you , why not ? You know , enjoy yourself . That's not enjoy myself . I just don't want to take shots .
You know another quote misery loves company .
Yes , so Unfortunately is societal standards Dictate a lot of what kids are a to do , and you're younger than me , yeah , but there's a lot of people in my age bracket , at 32 years old , that are stuck in that early 20 Mentality still , yeah , because they either don't want to grow up or they're just so afraid of just having to Accept that they're getting older
and that these things don't serve them anymore . Yeah , now I I was never a drinker when I was younger . I really wasn't . I listen , I go out , get fucked up . I you hang out and have fun trip , but it wasn't something that I like when I was away at college . I needed to do this , I had to do this .
Everybody was just like so pent up and they just they felt like they had to go to the parties , they had to go to the frat houses , they had to do this , they had to . That wasn't like that .
Yeah , unfortunately , though , when you surround yourself with people that are like that , they want you to do the same things as them , mm-hmm , which is another reason why , you know . The one of the other sayings is you , you know , you are a reflection of the five closest people around you . Yeah , you know what are they Doing in their free time ?
Are they partying ? Yeah , are they Using drugs ? Are they drinking a ton ? And , as you mentioned , I mean , maybe there's something wrong with it , but yeah , if that's what they want to do , I can't sit here and judge you on that . That's on you .
This is your choice , your life path , but you can't Come over and look at me and pressure me to do it and then be irritated when I don't want to do it . Yeah , you know , I have friends , I , and I want to .
You know , get your take on what I , you know what we were just covering , but I've had friends that They'll hit me up and they'll say , oh , come out for a bit , just come out . Come out and does that . It's like no .
I'm good .
Yeah , I don't want to it's not because I , it's not because I I don't want to socialize , I'm just so okay with just chilling . Yes and and and staying on my game , because I do a lot in a day . Yeah , taking care of the dog , it's like I have a special needs kid . It really is crazy . It's like taking care of the dog . He needs all of his pills .
You're constantly monitoring him , his food sitting , like that .
That's a stress all on its own , but it also you know , you just got to watch it it's a part of life for me that Working out every single morning , doing my , doing my workouts at the hit class and stuff like that , and then jujitsu , yeah , and that's what I that's what I'm in and that used to be bodybuilding . Yeah , used to be bodybuilding .
It's not bodybuilding . Yeah , bodybuilding does not make me happy . Bodybuilding actually makes me sad , makes me sad and I'm good on it . So I've switched things up and I've reorganized my life to be as accommodating and Easy on me as possible . Yeah , moving the office To my block ? Yeah , I mean it . It couldn't be easier .
It really couldn't , but that's what I want to do , because I want to be able To do a podcast whenever the fuck I want . Yeah , I don't want to have to drive somewhere and do it , and this is the closest thing to then having a studio in my home .
Yeah , so while others choose to Work out all week but then abuse their bodies on the weekend and Regress and not realize that they're regressing , they don't realize , they don't want to , they don't want to realize , they don't want to realize . They probably realize that . They look in the mirror , they see themselves , they feel it .
Yeah , there's so many people that I know that I look at them and I'm like yo , you guys go so ham in the gym and you are so dedicated with your training and then you're out of rave Every fucking Friday night . Yeah , you're at a fucking club every Saturday night . You know , you got the bottle service , you got this , you got that . Really , I don't know .
Do you really feel like you need to do this shit ? Yeah , maybe , maybe this is your enjoyment and and I and I try , I really do . You know we're trying to stay neutral .
It's when I'm judging , was trying to see if we wanted . Yeah , it's just not what I want to do . Pressure me , I'm not pressuring you to hey , get out of the club . Yeah , don't go . So let me . Let me be like you said .
It's the standard , because that's what people are doing and it's it , you don't do it , it's a little bit weird alcohol is the most widely pushed drug and y'all can judge me on saying this , but it is the most widely pushed Socially acceptable drug in the world . Yeah , it's insane to me .
I find that it makes people do even worse shit than some of the milder drugs that I've seen . Yeah , like pot yeah and I'm not even four pot . I really not . I smoke it . I've smoked a couple of times here and there and I fucking hated it every single time when I was younger , I'm like I'm good on this shit , yeah , I just .
It doesn't serve me , it doesn't make me feel good . Oh no , you gotta try it again . No , I don't . I don't want to do it yeah you know people try to get me to eat . We gotta try it . No , I don't want to try edible man , I'm regular , we , I saw I hate it , so I do that shit . So it's like for me , exactly what , exactly what you were saying .
It's like I have the things that I like to do , you have the things you like to do . We can Meet in the middle and hang out , exactly .
But if , if you know , if we're gonna constantly be button heads on things that you want me to do and tell me what I should or shouldn't be , or my life would be so much better if I just relaxed yeah , I mean people when I was about dying for bodybuilding .
Yeah , oh bro , just go get a cheap meal . It's cool , I just just just why ? Just just like and I'll get it .
Just relax , just eat , just eat whatever you want man , it's like okay , yeah , fuck it , right . Yeah , I've just been dying for 22 weeks for this bodybuilding show . Yeah , fuck it . I'll just go get a cheap meal now they just don't get it , and I don't know if it's a , if it's a drive thing and and I don't know if it's a misery loves company thing .
I think it's a mixture of a little bit of everything . Nobody likes to , nobody likes to self-sabotage alone . You have to watch that , yeah , but then that's also the people that you can't have in your circle .
Yeah , so it's like a catch-to-catch 22 . Catch 21 yeah , whatever they call it that , but that that's like how much that can affect you mentally clearly , like how we spoke about what we were just talking about . That's why I keep those people , or I give them the boot when I'm in training camp , you know , because I've got a fight to worry about .
You know I'm locked in Even if I don't have a fight scheduled . You know I don't need that in my life , that's it , because then you get , if you stay around it , you'll start kind of catching yourself . Oh yeah , going into it . Oh , you'll trip before you'll trip up .
I've been around the wrong people and I've started , you know , going out more and this and that , and I'm like , what am I doing ? Like I wake up , what am I doing ? Like I feel terrible , like this isn't what got me here as a fighter , you know , from Doing this and that , because other people want me to do it .
So it's just like I said , the main thing I always know I'll be in shape , but the main thing is my mental and that that I've learned . That's the biggest thing in camp .
What percentage would you say is mental for the fight game ?
Most of it . I mean I'm gonna say , let's say , 80% , because I know I'm in shape and everything , but it's the mental aspect . You're gonna have the doubts kicking in . You know you have to kick that out of your mind .
Like this week , you start can't wait , you start getting a little bit loony , you know , and a little crazy , and you have your doubts setting in just because your mind's not , you're not feeling good , you can't wait , your mind's not on point . So you've got to know the focus that or learn to Keep a strong mentality .
So I think I think that's the main thing , because in the fight You're gonna get tired is how do you react when you do get tired , or how do you react when you do get hit ? You know you prepared for it . It's just how , how you can take it mentally .
Yeah , mindset has been a big topic just for life lately and it's quite an interesting thing because for a long time I was able to master the physical side of my body and deal with the ever-changing hills of weight gain , loss and rolling hills of that . And then I kind of I said it on the last episode , I haven't posted the Marine episode .
I'm probably gonna post that tomorrow morning , like I told you , and this will come out on Thursday . This is recording this on Monday , so you'll be deep into the weight cut at that point Very deep , I'll be in there .
But the mindset thing , it's like I've had some trials lately and now I feel great , to be honest with you , I'm very happy , I feel very good compared to what I felt like a month ago and two months ago and it was almost like the world challenging me to get your mindset right , to stop scrolling on social media mindlessly , to be a producer , not a consumer ,
of a lot of social content and to stop comparing yourself things to other situations and to just be happy with where you are and the trajectory that you're on , because it's super important , and every episode that I've done since . I mean I did one with Lindsay , I think that was in September did one with Lindsay .
Even Dre , like Andre , when I did some episodes with him . Every single episode has had a little segment about mindset and it's just proving to be such an important thing that we're all realizing . I don't know if it's because we're getting older , but at the same time I feel like our parents' generations they really didn't think mindset at all .
I think with the introduction of a lot of stressors and constant stimuli from all of these electronic devices and people trying to be famous and trying to do things and just not being themselves , and the aggravation of the world , I think it has become super important to protect your space and that is part of why I like to stay at home , why I don't invite .
Listen , this isn't a brag . I can invite girls over all day . I don't want to . I don't want to . I like just me and Kenji chilling
¶ Importance of Stress-Free and Personal Space
out . I like no stress , I like just chilling man , because then I gotta fucking entertain . I don't wanna deal with it man , unless it's somebody that I really am feeling for , like specialized . It's like that's another side .
Oh , my boys not all my boys I can't throw them all into the bus , but some of them will be like oh man , you got this dope apartment . You're this and that . You be having girls here every couple of days , Nah man , nah , I wanna podcast . I wanna play a little Xbox . I wanna read , I wanna meditate .
I wanna chill , I gotta protect my space .
I've worked too fucking hard to allow somebody to come in and stress me out . They gotta be the right one if they're gonna be like yeah , dude , I just and listen , everyone's gonna stress you out , but that's what I'm saying . You gotta pick . Like what am I gonna be ? What's acceptable for my levels of stressors ?
Because we're constantly safeguarding this and we have to keep the walls up . You could experience new things , new people , new opportunities , but you have to keep the walls up in certain aspects and safeguard that mindset , because it is once you get it , you don't wanna let it go . You feel clean , good , like everything's going well for you .
The second something start coming in and start intruding on the thoughts and shit . Like that you go . No , please get me back to where .
I was Huge .
Yeah , fight camp . I can only imagine man . Yeah , you can only imagine you're about to go into the ring and do battle and you're just like . I do not wanna have to have any extra bullshit with anything .
Like you said simple .
Yeah .
I just I wanna get done with training . I watch a movie , that's it Play around . I don't need to entertain someone or have a stressor unless , like you said they are , they're the right one .
Yeah , the right one , right one . And guess what , none of my boys are the right one .
Stay the fuck out of it , yeah yeah , Guys stay home .
My boy Joe . I don't know if Joe listens to the podcast . My boy Joe hit me off . He hit me off yesterday . He goes what are you doing today ? I said I'm going to OG , I'm gonna go train . He goes okay , cool , like Joe , do you wanna come up ? We're Patriot fans . Yeah , okay , it's been brutal .
It's been brutal . They won yesterday . Wow shocker . Had no idea that was coming .
I was prepared for one and six Right . Is that what we were gonna be ?
one and six .
Yeah , now we're two and five I think , whatever I'm gonna get it together guys , but he's like yo . Do you wanna come over and watch the Patriots game ?
I said no , he's like .
What do you mean ? I said I don't feel like it . So what happened ? I went home after OG , walked Kenji , I laid down , opened up all the windows in the house All the windows are open Getting this beautiful fall breeze . Oh man , I went yo , it was great . I went .
I put the game , whatever game was on , because I only bought Red Zone , because fuck you NFL , for how much you charge for what is it ? Nfl Sunday ticket , yeah , criminal . Anyway , I got this big blanket and it was freezing in the apartment and I had to blanket was keep me warm . I had my feet , I was getting all comfy .
I just went man , I want this to last forever . This is the best feeling ever . My phone's not going off , everything's quiet . I'm watching TV . I took a nap , woke up , got a little snack it was perfect .
That's like me . I'm like the basic white girl , like if I wasn't training . I would have finished my run yesterday . I went home watched football . I would have like a pumpkin spice latte .
It's like that's it . That's all I need . That's it . Watch football chill . The fat boy of me keeps telling me to go get the pumpkin cold brew foam on top at Starbucks , isn't that thing like ?
like , even like 20 donuts , isn't that one . No , no , no , no no no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no . I was gonna say there's no way you haven't known .
No , it's just , it's the cold brew , but with foam on top and they do pumpkin , they do pumpkin , pumpkin , like cream foam on top . It's delicious , it's not that caloric , but it's just like when you start .
No yeah , because I've had this .
When you're tracking everything and you start looking , you're just like oh my God , 30 grams of sugar just for this fucking thing . Yeah , I didn't know it was that much either .
Yeah , and it's just foam . That's what was on top . That's why I thought it was like whipped cream . I was like , oh , it's nothing . Then I looked I'm like , oh , shoot , because I was training , like I can't have this .
I'm gonna ruin Starbucks for a lot of people real quick . Let me see if I can pull this article up While we're on the topic . Does Starbucks coffee have mold ? The truth revealed Mold , yeah .
I'm gonna play .
The safety of Starbucks coffee and its myso toxins .
Doesn't sound good .
Yeah , I don't have the article prepared , but I'm gonna click this and we can run with it . It's been a household name when it comes to coffee , with over 30,000 locations worldwide . Oh my God . Mold can grow in coffee in a variety of ways . One way is through the beans themselves .
If the beans are not properly dried and stored , they can become moist and create a breeding ground for mold . Sorry for anybody who doesn't like the word moist , but get over it , your adults . Another way mold can grow in coffee is through the brewing equipment . If the equipment is not clean properly , mold can start to grow inside .
And then there's been a couple of studies . Starbucks quality control measures takes the safety and quality of its products seriously . The company has a rigorous process for sourcing , roasting its coffee , as well as testing and quality control procedures to ensure that its products are safe for consumption . But there's controversies and claims .
In 2017 , a California woman filed a lawsuit against Starbucks , claiming that the company's coffee contained mold and that she had suffered from respiratory problems . The judge later dismissed the case , who ruled that a woman had failed to provide evidence that Starbucks coffee contained the mold . Starbucks responds but can mold grow in the coffee ?
And it says yes , mold can grow in coffee if it's not properly dried , stored or handled . Coffee is in a moist environment , which makes it prime breeding ground for mold . So since reading this type of stuff , I go more for like small roasters , like Soul Brew .
Yeah , I was gonna try that .
I find that they're probably using less . I don't know if I don't know . Once again , I don't know if it's true Starbucks .
Please don't sue me , I don't have the money to fight you in court . I was gonna say you got Starbucks walking distance from here . You're definitely not going to ?
I definitely go . I mean , but this is store bought coffee La Columbia , but it's the good stuff .
It's the good stuff . It's like race fuel . Fucking tonala , I'm Colombian man . That's the good stuff .
Yeah , it's like race fuel , but I try to stick to like more small batch stuff now because I find that , if that is the case , I'm just trying to keep my shit clean . Man , I just like and .
I could , I'll call Fee Fiend too , so I could understand why it might have more mold than it , because it's so largely processed and distributed around the world that you know they probably don't catch it . All Makes sense and if you look up videos , I'm gonna allow y'all to do this research on your own because I'm gonna get back to Alex with Fight Stuff .
But if you look up the ice machines and how disgusting ice machines are a lot of times people think they got food poisoning from a restaurant , from the food . It's actually from the ice machine , from the drinking the water . Makes sense , the ice machines are disgusting .
Yeah , now that I think about it , because I worked obviously in the restaurant .
And how often did they clean ? You don't have to tell me what restaurant . How often did they clean that ice machine ?
I don't remember seeing it get cleaned Exactly . Oh no , I don't know . That just made me really realize I'm like man place , I've worked , I don't remember .
Yeah , so that's why you get a cold brew , you get a cold iced coffee , whatever , and they're using that ice in there too , so I'm sure that's not the cleanest shit in the world either . And listen , they're probably using tap water too , yeah , so now you have all the shit that's in the tap line from wherever you're from .
Nah , I'm good on it , it's too much .
It's too much .
That's a lot . All right , let me see my next question for you , my brother . All right , this is actually a question because I was very curious . Do you get butterflies in your stomach leading up to the fight ? Do you ever get that anxious or excited feeling ? What does it feel like ? I guess I should word the question a little bit better .
I was just jotting things down . My brain was all over the place , it's a weird feeling .
Like I said , fight week in itself is a roller coaster .
Can you go into depth of what you feel ?
Yeah . So it's just very up and down . Like you know , it's gonna be a long week . It's Monday , we're starting the wake-up . We really start feeling it today and when you start wake-up in your mind it gets a little crazy . So you just think about everything .
You think about every possibility in the fight , every interview you have to do , and it's just it's up and down . Like some days are good , some moments in the day are good and I feel good , I feel great . And then some moments in the day you're like , oh man , am I ready ?
It's just naturally You're mind again playing tricks on you and is there a technique that you use ?
I'm sorry to interject , but is there a technique or some type of training that you've done for yourself after 13 fights ? And now I know , by the way , why I thought 15 and 0 . Because I wrote 13 and 0 , five knockouts .
That's why I thought 13 and 0 .
¶ Fighter's Experience Before Match
Is there something that you do to keep that mindset in check ? Besides just staying more isolated . And to yourself , Is there a ? Do you meditate ? Do you do anything like that ? I don't meditate .
I just tell myself like , hey , this is natural , every fighter goes through it , every fighter has that . I remember hearing George St Pierre say hey , I'll think , what if I lose ? What if this happens ? And then I just have to tell myself , no , it's natural . Not that I'm prepared , that's not going to happen , it's just all natural stuff .
And then , like I said , having the right people around you , that instilling in your mind that you are ready , you've trained , you've done this , you've done that , so they reinforce that feeling .
And then , as far as the fight , it's a lot of pressure , a lot , and as each fight goes , it comes with the sport , the territory , especially when it's just you and the ring . It's a lot of pressure .
Now , an entire police department knows I'm fighting , I'm representing them , don't want to let them down , don't want to let myself down , my family , and it's just a very eerie feeling . I'll put it that way Because I guess it's a weird combination of everything . It's very eerie , like before walking out .
It's just a very eerie feeling , quiet , dark , like your focus . You're like in , like a zen , you know calm , but at the same time you know your heart's going .
You hear the crowd , this you were in the back with me like it's intense , so it's such a weird Other fighters , other fighters that had just finished their fights and whether they got the , you know the decision or the knockout that they thought they were gonna get , or they got knocked out or whatever it is , and you know they're walking around , they're irritated ,
they're talking to like the officiating staff .
It was one last time outside of my locker room . I'm like Please close the door .
I was like , yeah , we gotta get this guy out of here . Please close the door . You gotta leave , bro , yeah , he just lost the fight . I'm like you know it's just very energy , yeah , get it out .
Get all that bad energy out . That's what it is , man , but it's just a undescribable feeling , very like I said , because you're excited but you're trying to keep it calm so you don't mess up the game plan , and you're sticking to the game plan , trying to stay focused , and then there are nerves and that pressure and , like I said , there's an after party .
You don't wanna ruin that . I mean , there's still gonna be an after party , but is it gonna be the same ? So it's just a ton of emotions .
It's a roller coaster , yeah , roller coaster and I can definitely understand that I can- .
And I snap , like , I snap on people like once I get to tomorrow and I start cutting more weight , my mom , they all know this .
It's too short . You feel short ? Yeah , very short , but they definitely get it and they understand , because it's just a temporary thing .
It's funny though , because my mom really like pays attention to it , like I'll be sitting at the dinner table just like man , you know suffering , you know I wanna eat and stuff , and she's sitting there suffering with me . She's not eating and she can . I don't expect her not to , but she won't .
She'll sit right there with me , talk to me if she thinks I wanna talk . If not , she'll just sit there with me .
As mom man , she knew you was just day one .
And I go downstairs and then she eats my dad I think he's so like stressed out with the fight too and everything he does getting done . He won't realize I'll be sitting at the dinner table and they'll come with a piece of pizza . Like man , this is so good . He's not realizing I'm like I wanna kill this guy . He just won't realize .
Like man , it's so good , smells good . I'm like you gotta be kidding me .
That just he doesn't realize . That's like me with the trunks outside my house . Dad , just go anywhere but here yeah just anywhere , but here that's it .
go watch football over there . Don't just sit right next to me and tell me how good this pizza is If you bring a wing over here , I'm gonna lose it . Oh my God , and that's how it goes , but my mom really holds it down really .
That should be the baby man . That's it . That's how my mom would be too , yeah she's awesome .
That's how my mom would be . She really . She keeps everyone . Cause everyone's stressed fight week , she keeps everyone calm cause everyone starts getting snappy with each other and stressed out , and she keeps everyone calm .
Then , after Wayans , everything kinda calms down , like I get to eat and now it's just like all right , now we just gotta go out there and handle business but and you're still home now , you still live at the crib with my dad .
I am .
Yes , I'm leaving after the fight and I know you said you were getting , so I'm leaving after the fight .
You think that fights like pre-week fights will be easier or worse now that you be out of the house , that you don't have them there as a support ? Do you think it'll be less stressful in certain situations , in certain situations .
I think you know , naturally family around , like you're gonna start button heads constantly just asking things . You know , Even if it's simple , like my dad asking about my weight every day , every second , like dad , it's not gonna change in two hours .
You know , like I wake up later each day , we'll see how it gets closer , but those things you start button heads , stuff like that , naturally . So being out of the house in that sense will help cause you won't have that .
But I do need them around because once I start going into the bath or the sauna and start cutting weight , you know I need them around , I need them to , you know , help me up sometimes like I'm a little weak . I need them to . Mom , can you cook me my you know my fish please , because I just can't right now .
So it's a give and take pros and cons of yeah , I think I'd rather be home , especially since I've done it , since I was pro every single time and I'm kind of superstitious where I like doing the same thing . So I'd rather be home .
Like I go to porters afterwains , eat dinner , I go to toast with my sister in the morning to eat breakfast and everything is the same .
Yeah , systematically it just works .
So if I change something I don't want it to mess me up , you know , or just change that mental aspect . So I think it'll help being out at certain points in training . Maybe you know , being out for like a week from home and getting away , but for the most part fight week and stuff I'd rather be home . Yeah , you shuttle back .
Yeah , that's it shuttle right back .
That's the way to do it . I kind of I have you touch on this again , but I asked you about the butterflies leading into the fight and then what's going through your mind when you enter the venue and prepare for battle three hours from then . So I know you touched on it a little bit .
Is there anything else you wanted to add to that when you walk into the venue and you see how it is , or like the actual venue , yeah , you walk into the town , you get chills .
You get chills like cause , that's when you know it's real and I'll walk out to see the venue and watch , like the beginning of the fight , just to hear the sounds , the crowd . It's a different environment , but it's just chills , man , very eerie . And then once you get you start getting wrapped up , that's when you really lock in because there's no turning back .
Now you get those hand wraps put on and now you can start warming up and it's fight time . So once you get to that point , that's when everything you're still gonna have the nerves and everything but you really lock in . But , like I said , being a fighter , it's such a weird feeling . I wish I could describe it . You know , it's just weird all around .
¶ MMA Fight Preparation and Weight Cutting
Weight cutting and then preparing for the fight in the final week . What does a weight cut look like for you ? You don't have to give like specific details , but just what do you incorporate ? Sauna , is it ? You know ? I know I was gonna ask you because I saw the UFC put out a video with Volkanowski . Did you see him cutting weight ? I didn't see that one .
I have to show you when we're done . I saw pretty crazy the cyborg . Okay , that one was rough .
Yeah , man , even McGregor .
Yep .
Back in the day .
I mean , listen , it's tough . Any division , any sport , if you're cutting weight for something wrestling stuff like that it's brutal on the body . Oh , it's horrible , Especially to drop weight and depending on how much you need to drop and get to the certain point and hit it on the fucking right on the dial . Yeah , it's tough on the body .
Yeah , like I drop a decent amount but we all people don't get why we do it , but for that advantage in the ring .
I was gonna say so what is the main reason ? Is it so this way you come in and then you can build back up and be heavier ? Yeah .
So I'm bigger from my weight in that aspect . I get down to it and then fight night . I want to disclose what I come into the ring at . But I put on a decent amount and that helps . You know , if you have extra weight on someone , you know you feel punches more . You feel there's less weight wears on you .
So if you have a couple of pounds on them , it's gonna wear on them . You try and walk them down and I can be able to push you around as much . So that's why fighters do it . They bulk up fight night . If you can get down , bulk up fight night .
As long as you've rehydrate the right way and you don't overdo it , you'll be good Like it's a science to it . It's a science . Like my first pro fight . I didn't know what the heck I was doing . I just ate and ate , and ate and ate and I was like sick , it's heavy , it was horrible . So you got to do it the right way .
If not , it's not going to help you in any way . But if you get down the right way which is never fun , cut weight , if you get down the right way and then you rehydrate the right way , it's an advantage .
All right , let me ask you this what's the go to meal after you make weight ? Cause you said you're systematic . So when he said you go to porters . Yeah , so yeah . So , right after , what do you order I ?
need to know . So first , right after Wain's , I'll just I have to chill Like I'll get my PDL light , have like a banana and a protein bar and eat it slow , like my team has to tell me , hey , stop chugging the PDL light , not your , throw it up from cutting weight .
So I'll just snack throughout until I go to dinner , to porters , get my body used to eating again , zooming fluids and whatnot .
Then I'll get a nice steak , sweet potato fries , nice , just Are we getting any dessert , or are we just leaving it right there ?
No , that's it . Okay , just finish it . I just do a nice steak , not too big . Last time I did I forgot what it was , but it was too much cause .
I didn't want to stop , I mean . I mean I got the tomahawk .
I got the huge steak and I was like .
He was like let me get the one with that bone in it .
Yeah , and I kept . You know you're full and it's like I'll take another bite . Take another bite . So I think I'm just going to get the little the little like fillet fillet some sweet potato fries , snack on little appetizers here and there . Nothing crazy , and that's it .
And then what's breakfast looking like ?
Go to toast and patch up . I never know what the heck I'm going to get there .
Oh , you just eat it Because they have the .
French toast with different flavors , the pancakes with different flavors , Like it's crazy .
But keeping it in my big key Are you counting calories at this point or no ? You're just- .
No , just packing on the carbs Main thing carbs , Packing on the carbs and just not overdoing it . That's it Big thing of pancakes , whatever chocolate chip , whatever the heck it is cookie dough . I'm eating them , but once I'm full , I'm full , okay , I'm stopping . But that's it , man . I can't wait .
I can't wait now to eat that stuff All right , so let me finish on this , ready . So stepping into the ring , looking into the eyes of another man ready to do battle , could be stressful . How do you stay centered and focused with the task at hand ?
It's a good one .
Take your time , it's a good one .
It's a good one . Read that again read that again .
Yeah , I got you . Stepping into the ring and looking into the eyes of another man ready to do battle can be stressful . How do you get centered and stay focused on the task at hand ?
First thing that came to mind was just I'm not letting this man beat me , that's it . I feel like everything else comes with that . You say I'm not letting this guy beat me , he's not gonna beat you because you're gonna follow , stick to the game plan . You're gonna stay mentally strong . You prepared for eight to 10 weeks for the fight . Everything's there Now .
It's just not letting this man beat me or beat you , because you've done everything right to get ready for that moment that no other man's gonna be .
It's perfect . So we got five days until fight night . We got five days till fight night . We've got a grueling next couple of days .
Nothing that you're not prepared for , Nothing that you're not gonna be able to get through coast right in and then get ready to do battle on Saturday night at the Paramount in Huntington sold out venue , ready for this next fucking step , and you're gonna go in there and you're gonna be the warrior that you know you are .
That's it become the new WBA Continental Champion . That's it .
Dude , I'm excited . I'm excited for you , I'm excited for the team , for the journey that you've been on .
I appreciate you for giving me some insight into not only your life but what it's like being a fighter and being in your position , and I know that other people that are maybe thinking about getting into the fight game or thinking about taking that next step to be more competitive instead of just training and hitting pads every week to stay in shape .
You know you've given a lot of insight into what it feels like and what goes through your mind and what you have to do to protect yourself , your energy and your mentality , leading up to a high stress event that you harness and make yours . So I'm excited , bro . Is there anything else you wanna tell people ?
Any sponsors you wanna shout out , anything like that ? You know the platform is yours to talk to whoever you want , or whatever you wanna say yeah , just real basic .
Just all of my sponsors . They know who they are , all of my .
Yeah , you got a lot you got a lot on that shirt . Man , I do . Fortunately , you got a lot on that shirt . Yeah , that's an amazing thing .
I'm very grateful for them , my family , for all they do during these training camps and my close friends that really hold it down , keep me on track mentally . And that's it , man . Thank you for having me . Oh , dude , it was a pleasure .
¶ Future Plans and Appreciation
We're gonna have more . We're gonna have more . We're gonna have more . We'll do it again . We're gonna have more . We'll chop it up . Maybe , you know , when I get a screen up there or I get the ability to record screens , I'll get something where we can , like , watch some crazy fight compilations and you can comment on it .
We'll just have a post-fight one , hopefully have the belt right here . I would love that , and that's it , man .
I'm envisioning it right now . I'm seeing it sitting right next to you .
This podcast got me ready to go . It's about that way . I'm getting jacked up in this podcast . It's gonna come out .
Thursday so you can listen to it . You could just chill , we'll get some clips out . It's gonna be a good man . So I appreciate you and your time and I appreciate everybody else for listening to us . And if you're new here , I always say , if you could share , subscribe , show my man Alex some love .
I'll put his social handles down below so y'all can follow him , follow the journey of him just doing his damn thing and just being a beast in and out of the ring . And this is episode 68 with Alex Vargas , my man . And once again , thanks for fucking with us and hanging out on that note , peace .