Latest / The Joe Rogan Recap / Khalil Rountree Jr. (2025) - Mindset, Training and Life Vision

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Khalil Rountree Jr. (2025) - Mindset, Training and Life Vision · The Joe Rogan Recap

• 0:00
  Welcome to the deep dive. OK, picture this.
• 0:04
  You've just poured everything, I mean everything into a brutal,
• 0:07
  high stakes fight. What's next?
• 0:09
  Recovery, right? Maybe somewhere familiar?
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  Yeah, you'd think so. A quiet beach.
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  Maybe exactly. But for one top fighter, the
• 0:16
  answer was totally unexpected. A trip to a city he'd barely
• 0:21
  heard of. And then he gets sick right
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  before the next big challenge. Right all before putting on this
• 0:26
  absolutely dominant performance against a world champion.
• 0:29
  It's quite a story. It really is, and today our deep
• 0:31
  dive is basically your shortcut to getting inside that story.
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  We're pulling out the best bits, the key insights from a recent
• 0:38
  conversation with Khalil Roundtree Junior.
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  He's such a unique guy for. Sure, our mission here is to
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  unpack not just the, you know, the obvious physical grind of
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  MMA, but the mental game, the strategy, the mindset, and how
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  these, like, global experiences actually shape a fighter's
• 0:55
  journey. Yeah, and the source?
• 0:56
  It's this really rich conversation Khalil had, talking
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  about his travels, how he thinks in the cage, his plans for the
• 1:01
  future. Some really surprising stuff
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  came out. OK, let's dive in then.
• 1:06
  Where do we start the unexpected trip?
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  Let's start there. Baku, Azerbaijan.
• 1:12
  After his last fight, that's where he went for a quote UN
• 1:14
  quote vacation. Azerbaijan.
• 1:17
  OK, not the first place I'd think of.
• 1:18
  Right, He kind of admitted he thought it might be like Saudi
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  Arabia, you know, maybe desert like.
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  But Nope, he said. He was absolutely blown away.
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  Blown away how? What was it?
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  Well, First off, the welcome he talked about amazing treatment
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  from the Baku City Circuit team. You know the Formula One guys.
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  OK, so they rolled out the red carpet.
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  Totally. And the fans, he said.
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  They were incredible. Even people who weren't hardcore
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  fight fans were just genuinely pumped to have the UFC there.
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  That kind of energy, he felt really mattered.
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  It fed into his preparation. That's interesting.
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  So it wasn't just a sightseeing trip, it actually connected to
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  the fight. Seems like it.
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  And he really soaked it in. He talked about the Old Town and
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  Baku like 4000 people still live there.
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  History everywhere, cool little hotels.
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  And then the flame towers, these huge modern skyscrapers that
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  light up at night, often with projections of fire.
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  It's a nod to Baku being this big oil city historically.
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  Wow. Sounds like a city of contrasts,
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  old and new. Exactly.
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  And get this the Carpet Museum. A carpet museum.
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  Yeah, and apparently it's built to look like a giant rolled up
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  carpet. Inside you've got these handmade
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  carpets, centuries old, telling stories, family histories.
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  He was really moved by it. That's actually really cool.
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  So he went from expecting desert to finding this deep cultural
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  connection. Totally.
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  He was so affected. He said he's already booked
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  family trips back, wants to keep going back for the rest of his
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  life. That's amazing.
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  It just shows, right? Go in with an open mind.
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  You find these incredible things, and maybe that positive
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  environment even boosts performance.
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  It really makes you think that openness, shedding those
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  preconceived ideas. It wasn't just about Baku, it
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  was maybe about unlocking something in himself, you know,
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  especially heading into something as demanding as fight
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  week. Yeah, which brings us to the
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  flip side, because even with all that Baku positivity, fight week
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  is, well, that's fight week. Brutal.
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  Oh yeah, and he hit some serious snags like the jet lag, 16 hour
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  flight, even arriving two weeks early.
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  He said it took about a week to fully adjust a whole.
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  Week. That's huge when you're trying
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  to peek. Physically huge.
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  Then it got worse. First day of actual fight week
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  he gets violently I'll throwing up the whole deal.
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  Oh man, food poisoning. He thought maybe.
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  But here's the weird part. He was the only one in his camp
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  who got sick. No way.
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  So you're heading into this massive fight.
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  The pressure's insane and you're just sick as a dog.
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  Yeah. How do you even cope with that
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  mentally? That's the.
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  Core of it, isn't it? He talked about this internal
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  battle. He fell awful, knew the
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  pressure's on, but he made a conscious decision.
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  He chose to be better, to be bigger, to be happy.
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  He. Just decided to be happy while
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  throwing up. Well, maybe not while throwing
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  up, but he decided the sickness wasn't going to define the
• 4:02
  experience. He said there was nothing that
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  was going to take away my shine or my joy.
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  Even felt it on fight day still but pushed through.
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  That's some serious mental gymnastics.
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  Incredible fortitude. Not ignoring it, but just
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  choosing how to react. Exactly and his whole approach
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  seems really calculated, even the weight cut it wasn't
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  typical. How so?
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  Well he walks around maybe 200 and 28230 lbs in camp he keeps
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  it closer like two O 5 to 225. But the last two weeks, no
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  drastic diet changes. Really, most guys are suffering
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  hard then. Right he focuses more on like
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  water loading proteins, fats, then uses a sauna blanket, hits
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  mitts and apparently makes weight in under 2 hours.
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  Says he feels not depleted at. All under 2 hours.
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  That's efficient. Very different from the horror
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  stories you usually hear. Very.
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  Different. It's all meticulous.
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  Man, it just paints a picture of this immense resilience mentally
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  and physically taking these huge obstacles, sickness, weight cuts
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  and just managing them systematically.
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  Part of the job, not a disaster. Yeah, seeing them as part of the
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  journey. So how did all this translate
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  into his fights, his evolution? The fight against Alex Pereira
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  seems key. He lost, right?
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  But he says it changed everything, showed him his true
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  self. Finding your true self in a loss
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  that's deep. It is, and he said something
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  fascinating. After that loss, he got
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  recognized in like more than six countries, which shocked him.
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  He felt people saw who I am beyond just winning or losing.
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  Wow, so the loss actually increased his visibility in a
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  way. Seems like it, but it was also
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  really critical of himself in that fight.
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  Said it was his first five rounder and he made a tactical
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  error. What was?
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  The error his coach told him 10 more minutes before round 4.
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  Khalil took that as go all out now, like go to war.
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  But he thinks he should have conserved energy for rounds 4
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  and five. He believes that mistake lost
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  him the fight. Misinterpreting the corner
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  advice in the heat of the moment that happens.
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  But here's the kicker. That loss, that mistake, he says
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  it gave him 100% more confidence.
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  More confidence after a loss he blames on himself.
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  How does that work? Because for him, it wasn't
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  failure. It was data.
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  It meant more work to do. It triggered this deep, deep
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  internal digging to figure out what he was really capable of,
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  what needed fixing. OK, I get that it's about
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  reframing it. Exactly.
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  And that led to what he called 1000% adjustments for his next
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  big fight against Jamal Hill. Who?
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  Was a former champ, highly respected and Khalil looked
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  incredible in that fight. A strategic master class.
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  Truly, he said. He dominated a world champion.
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  It was all about picking his shots, when to engage and when
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  not to engage, using his speed, moving in and out.
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  Those leg kicks were brutal. You could see Hill feeling him.
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  Definitely. And then he threw in those
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  creative standing hammer fists. Downward strikes from standing.
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  That's bold against a champ, he called it, showing the artist in
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  mixed martial arts. Yeah, it wasn't just brawling,
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  it was calculated and kind of stylish.
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  And think about the context. Hill was talking trash at the
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  way ends right saying you're going to bleed.
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  Right, I remember that. But Khalil, with his quiet
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  confidence from all that prep and self reflection, he just
• 7:13
  knew it wasn't going to happen. And he really doesn't like that
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  stuff, does he? The trash talk.
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  Hates it, calls it unnecessary, toxic, especially for, as he put
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  it, grown men on a large platform.
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  He feels champions have a responsibility to be better
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  examples. Prefers to back it up in the
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  cage. It really shows how you can turn
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  setbacks into fuel, doesn't it? That Pereira loss became the
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  blueprint for the Hill win. Confidence built from the inside
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  out, not from shouting. Owning your journey.
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  Absolutely, and looking ahead, his vision is just as clear and
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  ambitious beyond just winning fights.
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  Yeah, what's next for him? He's got Yuri Perchoska coming
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  up. Right in Vegas, his hometown.
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  He sounded really excited about that, fighting there for the
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  first time since, what, 2017? Big motivator.
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  And Perchoska is famously awkward too, so that's a
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  fascinating style matchup. OK, so when against Yuri then
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  what? Then the plan is clear, get a
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  rematch with Pereira for the belt, win the belt, start a
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  family, then finish out his current UFC contract which he
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  thinks is about 6 or 7 more fights.
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  Wow, that's specific, not just I want to be champ.
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  It's like a life road map. Totally mapped out and his
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  retirement plans even more interesting, I think very global
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  perspective. Where is he thinking?
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  Asia, He mentioned Thailand, Hong Kong or maybe South Korea.
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  Thailand makes sense for fighters, right?
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  Training. Cost of living.
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  Yeah, he said. Thailand feels like home.
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  Language is manageable, good community, less expensive to
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  quote, live the American dream, better quality of life for the
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  money basically. In Hong Kong, that seems
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  different, very urban. He likes the structure, the
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  walkability, liked the idea of hiking with his kid right near
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  home, plus safety, cleanliness, and he mentioned affordable live
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  in help like $1000 a month. OK.
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  And he brought up a specific concern, didn't he, about
• 9:01
  safety? Yeah, he did.
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  Said he wants his child not to be worried about certain things,
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  like getting shot at school. That's a pretty heavy candid
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  reason driving his choice. Wow.
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  Yeah, that puts a different perspective on it and South
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  Korea. Values the culture, the as a
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  society for raising a family. These aren't just random places,
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  they're deeply thought out choices based on specific values
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  for his future family life. It really ties back to his whole
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  philosophy, doesn't it? The responsibility he feels not
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  just in fighting, but in life. Like his stance against trash
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  talk. Exactly, it's all connected.
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  That idea of being a positive example, backing it up with
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  actions. He even brought up that Khabib
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  quote. The best addiction is
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  discipline. That's the one.
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  For Khalil, discipline isn't a burden, it's the engine.
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  And he looks up to Muhammad Ali, not just the boxer, but the
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  humanitarian. Ali gives him something to kind
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  of aim at. So he's trying to be authentic,
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  show people going through tough times that your life's not over.
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  Using his platform for mental health community.
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  And martial arts itself is an outlet.
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  It's a really refreshing take on success.
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  Not just belt and money, but vision, meaning, positive
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  impact. A blueprint for a disciplined,
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  meaningful life. Let's shift gears slightly then
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  to the business side, because he touched on some interesting
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  stuff there too, like fighter pay.
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  Right. He acknowledged it's getting
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  better in MMA. Fighters can get rich now, which
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  is true. But he also pointed out the gap
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  with boxing, mentioned Usyk making what, $132 million for
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  one fight? Yeah.
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  That's a different stratosphere. Still a ways to go for MMA
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  clearly, but he did give the UFC credit for creating post
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  retirement opportunities. Commentary analysis Desk.
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  And he'd be interested in that. Said he'd love to work for the
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  UFC, but maybe not commentary. He threw out the idea of like,
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  testing new gloves. OK, which is funny because he
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  had a lot to say about gloves. Didn't.
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  He Oh yeah, apparently the whole world of MMA gloves is kind of
• 10:56
  stuck. Remember those new gloves they
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  tried recently? Vaguely.
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  They didn't stick around long. Why not?
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  Was it about fewer knockouts or something?
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  Nope. That was the rumor.
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  But he said the real reason was simpler.
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  The logos kept peeling off. Seriously.
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  Logos. Yeah, he said.
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  It was a hazard if bits got in fighters eyes and it just looked
• 11:14
  unprofessional. So back to the old design.
• 11:17
  That's kind of anticlimactic, and his solution for the current
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  gloves is just to wear bigger ones.
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  Pretty much. He sizes up like from XL to XXL,
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  says they all weigh the same, but the bigger size lets him
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  wrap his hands properly without cutting off circulation.
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  Clever workaround. But he thinks the design itself
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  needs work. Definitely praise Trevor
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  Whitman's gloves, you know, the ones designed for a natural hand
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  curl, better padding. He feels the standard glove
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  design has been stagnant and innovation.
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  And the eye pokes connects that to the glove.
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  Directly says the exposed fingers are the main culprit.
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  Thinks getting rid of those could eliminate maybe 8090% of
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  all eye pokes. That's a huge number.
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  Wow, yeah, they would change things.
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  OK, what about training? He trains at Syndicate MMA.
• 12:02
  Right, yeah, John Woods gym in Vegas.
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  He spoke really highly of it, said it has a great vibe, very
• 12:07
  collaborative egos checked at the door.
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  Sounds like a good environment. He mentioned Merab devela
• 12:11
  Shivili too. Oh man, yeah, painted this
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  picture of Merab's crazy dedication that addiction to
• 12:17
  discipline again. Said Merab was training like
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  doing live rounds on carpet on the day of Khalil's fight.
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  That's nuts. Just relentless.
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  The definition of relentless, it embodies that spirit of constant
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  improvement you see in top guys. And he finished with that
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  thought about champions, right? How winning a title changes
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  them. Yeah, that winning a belt can
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  make a fighter 1030% better. Not necessarily physically, but
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  mentally. They fully adopt that belief.
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  I am the thing best in the world.
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  He mentioned Pantoja as an example.
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  That champions aura, it's real it.
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  Seems to be it all pulls back the curtain, doesn't it?
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  The money, the gear, the mindset, the discipline, all
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  these little big things that shape a fighter's path.
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  So wrapping up this deep dive, we've really covered Cleo
• 13:02
  Roundtree Junior's journey from that unexpected sickness in
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  Baku, the travel challenges, right through to dominating a
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  champ, all driven by self reflection and the Super clear
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  vision. It's an amazing story of turning
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  adversity into like a deeper source of confidence.
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  Really powerful stuff. Definitely.
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  So maybe the thought to leave you with today is this in your
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  own life? What are the unnecessary
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  distractions? Maybe those toxic habits that
• 13:29
  you might be holding onto? What's holding you back?
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  And flipping that, what kind of deep internal digging is waiting
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  for you? What could unlock your next
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  level of confidence and help you build your own boldest future
• 13:40
  vision?