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The King Dems Podcast - Ep. 2 with Raufeon Stots · King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights

0:01
Welcome to the Kingdom's Podcast, sharing the stories of
0:05
ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
0:33
Hello wonderful people, you will once again welcome to the
0:36
Kingdoms Podcast. Today I have with me a guest who
0:40
is a mixed martial artist. He is the former interim
0:45
Bantamweight Champion of the world with Bellator MMA.
0:49
But before we head right into talking about this man and his
0:54
journey, I'm excited to announce to you that the Augment Business
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It is on our Instagram handle. You can get access to that.
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This is a brand that actually resonates with my values.
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It is a brand that I connect strongly connect with and that
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Life. By the end of that phone call,
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Called my manager John, and I said I might have just killed
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This is a lifetime lesson, so start now.
3:47
OK? Ladies and gentlemen, this is
3:50
the moment you all have been waiting for.
3:54
Five on the Kingdom's podcast. Each of you said a mixed martial
4:00
artist with a professional record.
4:05
So I had the two wins and two losses fighting out of the
4:11
United States of America, Russia and the Super Store.
4:19
Ohh ohh starts. How are you doing today?
4:25
How are? You, man.
4:25
I'm doing pretty good, man. I cannot complain.
4:28
I'm doing pretty good and of course, congratulations on your
4:31
recent win over Danny Sabatello and how are you celebrating this
4:35
big win? You know, I just DM everybody
4:39
that been DM him from his camp. Just naughty things and FUS and
4:46
middle fingers and laughy faces. No, I've been chilling there.
4:50
I've been you. You constantly being an Internet
4:53
troll. Troll Wow.
4:57
Roll to the trolls that trolled me.
4:59
No interest. Other than besides that, you
5:03
know, because that's probably my pastime.
5:05
Besides, I just been chilling out with the family.
5:08
We are. I'm in Omaha, NE with my my
5:11
wife's family and we're just hanging out.
5:14
Wow, fantastic, fantastic. But then do you think that
5:17
rivalry is closed, or do you think you were gonna say trilogy
5:20
sometimes in the future? I mean, as far as me, you know,
5:23
the rivalry could be closed, obviously.
5:26
You know, I won two times. He hasn't won any, you know,
5:29
fights, so it it can be closed. But on the other hand, I'm not
5:34
opposed to like if he wants to fight again, you know, or if
5:37
somebody wants to pay me to fight him again.
5:39
If somebody gives me a contract with his name on it, I'm going
5:43
to take it every time. I'm going to beat him up every.
5:46
Single time, because I do not like that kid and every time I
5:50
get to make him bleed, that's probably uh, it just adds
5:55
happiness to my life. So I'm more happy the more I get
5:59
to beat him up. So it's all quite sounds quite
6:03
personal for you because I saw that pussy interview post fight
6:07
interview with Big John, Mark Clarkey, right.
6:10
And then you're like anybody who pays you to beat them up, you
6:13
are going to do that? Yeah.
6:15
Why is it personal though? You know, it started like, um.
6:21
Before we were gonna fight, I seen him just calling out
6:24
everybody, you know, pretty much everybody that didn't have any
6:28
wrestling. So I see him as like a bully,
6:31
like he's going to bully people that he, you know, he feels like
6:35
he can bully because he's a good wrestler.
6:37
And you know, for me, when I see a bully, I see a coward.
6:42
You know, somebody who's good at being a tough guy but not good
6:46
at, not so good at, you know, taking it, taking it back, you
6:51
know, so. Um.
6:53
And I don't like that. I don't like.
6:55
I don't like that mentality. I don't like, you know, even
6:58
his. Yeah, I don't like his face
7:00
sound like his hair. I don't like.
7:02
No, I just don't like, you know how he carries himself, how he
7:05
talks to people that he feels like he can beat up and.
7:11
Yeah, So I I just don't like him.
7:13
I don't. I don't like his, uh the
7:15
character traits he's shown. I just, I don't like so.
7:19
So as a fighter, right? Would you say the motivation is
7:23
different when you're fighting or another athlete that you
7:27
personally dislike? Would you say the motivation
7:31
during that fight is different like I would say?
7:36
For me, I would say it's different and I would say it's
7:40
better for. It's better for me to prepare or
7:43
it's easier. I should say it's easier for me
7:46
to prepare for somebody that I don't like.
7:49
As opposed to like somebody that I have respect for, you know, I
7:53
want to see do great things. It's harder for me.
7:56
It's it's harder for me to prepare for somebody who like I
8:00
respect, you know, it's easy. I mean, I I wake up in the
8:03
morning and, you know, imagining.
8:06
You know, punch and Danny is is pretty motivating to me, so.
8:11
And you know, come with or what comes with that is like this
8:17
part, the after part, you know, where I could talk as much as I
8:20
could talk, talk, and you can't say nothing like that.
8:24
That part is like also very motivated because like right now
8:29
I know he's at home, just like punching the air, freaking
8:33
throwing darts at my face on the wall.
8:36
I know he's upset, you know, I know he's really mad and I would
8:39
hate to be in that position, especially after talking so
8:43
much. Um, So yeah, I, I, I, it's super
8:47
easy to be motivated against somebody I don't like.
8:51
Yeah, you fighters get to talk smack a lot, you know, a lot of
8:54
trash talking, right? Yeah.
8:56
But would you say even when you don't like that person sharing
9:00
time with that person in the cage in the Octagon, right.
9:04
Would you say that actually brings out some respect
9:08
regardless of whether you like that person or not?
9:10
Does that make you respect the person after doing the?
9:16
I definitely respect him as a fighter.
9:19
I respect him more as a fighter. After this last fight, you know,
9:22
he actually came out there and he put all his chips on the line
9:26
and he came out there and he, he tried to fight, you know, to the
9:28
best of his ability. Of course, I feel like his
9:32
ability is trash. He sucks, but he put, he put
9:36
himself out there. So I have to respect that, you
9:39
know, I feel like I gained more respect for him the second fight
9:42
than I did the first fight, but it don't really change like how.
9:48
How I feel about how he carries himself, you know, like I
9:51
respect him as a fighter. And yeah, and and it's hard for
9:58
me to say that just because I don't, I don't like them.
10:00
But. But yeah I and he's also he's
10:04
he's been in there in a in eight rounds with me.
10:07
So I have to respect like I I'm kind of forced to respect him as
10:13
a fighter just because he's, he took some of my best shots, you
10:17
know, and I'm trying to hurt him.
10:19
I'm trying to like. I'm trying to, you know, get him
10:22
out of there. So.
10:24
So I gotta respect him in that that regard.
10:27
OK, speak. Speaking of respect, I do
10:30
respect you personally. And I've actually followed your
10:33
journey since 2021. You'll collect.
10:37
I reached out to you after your fight with Magomed Magomedov,
10:40
right. And then to congratulate you, I
10:43
saw, I saw a fellow Nigerian brother.
10:46
You know, I'm always very big on Nigerian succeeding at anything
10:51
in life, you know. And then I love our mixed
10:53
martial arts a lot, you know, looking at yourself, looking at
10:57
the wonderful things yourself. Kamara, come on my boy, easy
11:01
doing, you know, other global stage.
11:03
It's really wonderful to see Nigerians are succeeding and you
11:07
know, kudos to you for for flying the flag, you know, and
11:12
making us proud. So basically the podcast is
11:17
about sharing the stories of ordinary people doing
11:19
extraordinary things right. And who better than an ordinary
11:23
person like yourself doing extraordinary things to have on
11:26
the port? It's really wonderful to have
11:28
you. So basically we are going to
11:31
like straight into talking about your journey, your story as a as
11:34
a person, right? So how would you describe
11:37
yourself in a nutshell? I would describe myself, man, in
11:45
a nutshell. I think it's just a funny, you
11:48
know, funny, fun loving athlete. I guess a funny, fun loving
11:55
fighter. I would say like in a nutshell,
11:58
that's probably probably encompasses a lot of who I am.
12:03
OK, how how about outside of sports?
12:05
What would you describe? Yourself, as I would describe
12:08
myself as a. A family man.
12:13
A family man and a. What?
12:16
Yeah, like a. Kind of team player teammate.
12:22
Freaking like I like to family member, you know I like to like
12:27
uplift people outside of outside of here you know.
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So whatever I can do, you know, to kind of help my family and
12:35
help my teammates, help people around me.
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That's kind of me, you know. Ohh my and I also, I mean I'll
12:44
talk shit to all my family and all my my teammates and stuff
12:48
too. So.
12:50
Uh, yeah. I don't know.
12:52
OK Speaking of family right that actually to that's quite
12:57
connected to the next question that.
13:00
So the next question basically is how was Chad Hood and bring
13:04
up like for you? How was UH what your childhood?
13:08
Ohh my child when you were a child?
13:10
Yes. And how was growing up like for
13:12
you? Yeah, so I grew up my.
13:18
So I grew up, My dad is Nigerian, My dad moved here for
13:22
college to America, and then my mom is from America.
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They they kind of, they split up when they were young, you know,
13:33
or when I was young. I should say they were young
13:36
too. And so I live with my mom for a
13:41
lot of time and I would, like, frequent with my dad, you know,
13:45
when I, when my mom would let me kind of go over there.
13:48
And yeah, so my mom was a single mom, kind of three.
13:54
She had three kids, you know, So she was somebody who was like,
13:59
kind of scratching and clawing. To get out of.
14:03
Activity and stuff like that. But she was she, she just kept
14:07
taking like steps in the right direction like getting better
14:09
jobs further her education like all on her own.
14:13
And you know, so we kind of we moved, but we moved kind of the
14:18
better places. We started in like Section 8
14:20
housing and then we moved to like a better apartment then to
14:24
another better apartment to you know, a house.
14:27
Then she like, was able to, like, purchase a house.
14:32
So I watched my mom like literally claw herself out of
14:37
poverty. So I feel like that really like
14:40
helped kind of build a a a hard working trait in me.
14:47
And also, yeah, I have two younger brothers, so I was an
14:49
older brother. So a lot of the times, I was the
14:52
one who was. Who they were like looking up
14:57
to, Who are they? So you're the first born, right?
15:00
First born? Yeah.
15:00
Why? And that means we share.
15:02
We share a lot in common, like you.
15:09
Looking up to, you know, and yeah, it's it's quite a tough
15:12
spot to be in the top position. You know.
15:15
Yeah. Being that person that they look
15:17
up to you, you have to always, you know, show that good
15:20
example, even when it's not comfortable for you.
15:23
Right, exactly. And you know, and you are, you
15:27
know you always got like eyes on you whether you whether you
15:30
notice or not or whether they tell you or not, you know
15:33
they're they're watching you, you know.
15:36
So yeah. So that that was kind of my, my
15:40
upbringing. I said I I can see your moment
15:43
was a very strong you know, um influence in your early life
15:47
building in terms of building your character.
15:49
Right. But then who would you say were
15:51
the other early life influences? Who did you look up to?
15:56
Who were those models or mentors you know while growing up that
16:01
helped shape who you are today? My dad was definitely, like, he
16:06
would definitely give me like good advice and, you know,
16:09
always tell me to believe in God and and and and do the right
16:13
thing and stuff like that. Um, as far as like like people
16:18
who I thought were like cool when I was like little, I
16:20
thought my grandpa was pretty cool.
16:22
He was a he used to break horses and he was a cowboy.
16:27
I used to listen to country music and and we would spend a
16:32
lot of time with him too. So he was something that or
16:36
somebody and he he just had like a personality that was just like
16:39
bigger than life, you know, He was so loud everywhere he went,
16:43
you know, he was somebody that I I really thought.
16:46
It was really cool when I was younger.
16:49
Is that your grandpa from your dad's side or your your mom
16:52
side? That's, that's my grandpa from
16:53
my dad's side. From my mom's side, OK, OK, now
16:58
he's. He was also a Rolling Stone, so
17:01
I've heard some stories about him all over the city with
17:05
different women and all. He was a cowboy in the truest
17:10
sense of the word. OK, so how did you get into
17:14
wrestling? I know you go into wrestling
17:16
from Peter Young age, but how? How did that happen to you, to
17:20
any other sports? So I did.
17:22
I was doing football. I did pole ball.
17:25
I was just kind of trying sports.
17:27
I did karate or Taekwondo for a little bit and then I was a
17:32
junior in high school where when I found wrestler or it was
17:35
actually the summer of my sophomore year.
17:39
But yeah, I found wrestling just because I was doing a I had
17:44
science class and my teacher or my science teacher was also the
17:48
wrestling coach and he was giving out free quiz points for
17:51
any dude that wanted to sign up for wrestling.
17:54
So he was giving me, he gave me a free quiz points.
17:57
I came out and tried it and then I liked it, you know, I was
18:01
like, naturally good at it. And yeah, I've got kind of tried
18:05
it went to a couple of tournaments and then that next
18:11
year I did it like a full time. Ohh wow.
18:14
So can you talk us through the highs and lows of your wrestling
18:18
career? I know you were an NCAA
18:20
champion, division two champion at some point, but then you
18:23
know, the wins, the losses, how did you?
18:27
You definitely need a lot of dedication, a lot of
18:30
consistency, a lot of passion. To be able to skill through
18:33
wrestling requires a lot of discipline.
18:35
Like, how did you scale through that wrestling part of your
18:39
life? But when I started wrestling it
18:41
was I started as a junior in high school, so I was probably
18:45
about 17. Um, which is kind of late to,
18:48
uh, like compared to like everybody else who had went to
18:52
college and was like wrestling at a high level.
18:56
Ohh, the beginning of my wrestling.
18:59
I was just well actually, but the the beginning, even with my
19:03
college, my college years, I was kind of like learning the sport.
19:07
I was still learning the sport. So I was a I was learning a
19:10
sport as I was going, but I was like athletically gifted and I
19:14
was fast and strong. So I was just like naturally
19:19
good and had good sense of body awareness which like help me,
19:24
but I was like so green when it came to like the techniques.
19:28
And the the moves and things like that.
19:32
So I had to do like a kind of a lot more.
19:37
Like learning a lot more learning.
19:38
So I was like learning a lot throughout my career and I found
19:42
that actually like helped me, you know, to like perform better
19:46
because I wasn't focusing on things like.
19:50
Um, like I I wasn't focusing on like cutting the weight or like
19:57
being in a crazy shape or I was like fuck learning how to be
20:03
good at wrestling, how to to do the techniques.
20:05
And I also I didn't like have a bunch of bad techniques that I
20:10
was like carrying over to to to college because I was so green.
20:16
I was like learning all the techniques from the for the
20:19
first time. So it was like it was.
20:21
Difficult just because I was like I was kind of behind the
20:25
curve on learning, but it was like fun and it was exciting to
20:30
like learn all the new techniques which made it like
20:33
easier for me to like have fun wrestling, you know?
20:37
So I had like fun wrestling throughout my wrestling career
20:40
because I was always, it was always new.
20:42
It was always something. I was like, ohh, OK that makes
20:45
sense, man. That's different, you know?
20:48
And so I was like, I guess my junior year when I first
20:52
started, I made it to state right.
20:55
I made it, which is like the big tournament at the end of the
20:58
year. I made it to state, I qualify
21:02
for state. But then I like I felt that.
21:05
Way you came fourth, you said. Was that What was that when you
21:08
you placed fourth place. No, no, no.
21:11
So that was the that was in in in college.
21:14
So in high school. High school I made it to state
21:17
but then I I I failed to progress reporter for a report
21:22
card or something. So I wasn't who go to state and
21:26
high in high school and then that next year I was able to go
21:30
to state and then I placed in state.
21:33
But that was like one of the lows of my life.
21:37
Or when you talk about like how the lows of wrestling.
21:39
Because yeah. Talk, talk, talk us through how
21:41
you felt. How did you feel at that point
21:43
in time? Did you feel like giving up?
21:44
Did you feel like, you know, it's just the end of the sort of
21:49
premise that I asked. My mom had passed away, my mom
21:52
had passed away that that I had started wrestling.
21:56
So I was really getting it. Or what really got me into
21:59
wrestling was like I got to hurt people and I got to like, I got
22:04
to like release that anger that I was like feeling over the my
22:08
mom passing. And so I was like, solely
22:11
focused on wrestling. I had given up on not giving up
22:15
on school, but I was like schools in the background.
22:17
I was just there, you know? I wasn't.
22:20
I yeah. I didn't really see the point of
22:23
it. I was like, like, I mean, we're
22:25
all gonna die anyways. Like, what's the point of doing
22:27
any of this? You know, Like, I'm gonna just
22:29
go to this wrestling class and I'm gonna exert all my energy,
22:33
spend all my energy and try to hurt these, these people in
22:38
competition. And yeah, in order to wrestle.
22:46
So then, yeah, I figured that out.
22:48
And so then I placed that my senior in high school and then
22:56
my my my freshman year in college, I redshirted so I could
23:02
like, continue to learn and, you know, kind of catch up learning
23:06
wise with the other kids. And then my sophomore year, I
23:11
placed fourth. I placed fourth at A and a
23:16
junior college national tournament at the end of the
23:20
year and that was like pretty big for me because that was my
23:22
first time All American. And that was like, you know, the
23:26
top. You know, the top without top
23:29
four in that weight class in that and in junior college.
23:33
So that was like huge for me, All American and and then that
23:36
next year I had a tour of my meniscus.
23:40
So I wasn't able to wrestle to my potential just because I was
23:45
dealing with like that injury. I couldn't like I couldn't bend
23:48
my leg, you know, majority of the season.
23:51
And I just wasn't, you know, wrestling at top form.
23:55
It's really crazy having to to to to deal with injuries.
23:58
Like as an athlete, do you get depressed?
24:02
Once you you're injured and you know you can't you know move
24:06
your body the way you typically would.
24:09
Yeah. You you'd be surprised like how
24:11
I feel like like healing or recovering or resting is like
24:17
the hardest thing for athletes to do because it's like you feel
24:22
like you're doing nothing. It's also like you have so much
24:25
like energy pent up that you're used to like using.
24:29
You know that when like even my wife says, like if I if I sit at
24:33
home for too long, you know, then I get like antsy and then I
24:37
get like, you know, like I'll, I'll start messing with them or
24:40
start creating, creating, you know, drama problems and death,
24:46
you know, So I like it's it's therapeutic and it's, it's if it
24:52
feels good to like, yeah, get your body moving.
24:54
So when you can't, it's frustrating.
24:56
It's it's super frustrating. You know, you don't feel like
24:58
you're progressing. You feel like you just you
25:00
wasting space. And yeah, it's hard.
25:04
So injuries are, they're hard. They're a lot harder mentally
25:07
than people would think. Like, ohh, all you got to do is
25:09
rest now, like that's way harder to do for some reason, you know?
25:13
Yeah. But some people try to kill your
25:15
body energy. Yeah, it's hard.
25:20
Like, it's hard, yeah. Like how you feeling that energy
25:23
that positive way? I mean, we gotta find a positive
25:27
way to tell it, you know? Yeah, it it it's, which, I don't
25:32
know, like physically moving. Physically moving is something
25:37
like if you can't physically move, like, OK, I can say I can
25:42
channel my energy into like playing video games or channels
25:45
with my energy into building something or, you know.
25:49
But it's like if if I don't sweat doing it or if I don't
25:53
like, move enough to like, yeah, like sweat or get tired.
25:58
It doesn't. I feel like I don't release that
26:02
energy like I like I want to. Yeah, but.
26:05
But then, have you ever worked with a a sports psychologist or
26:08
or therapist at such period of time?
26:21
Yeah, I I was asking you if you've ever worked with a sports
26:24
psychologist or a therapist. You know, any time, then the
26:28
point in time when you're injured?
26:31
No. I've never worked with a sports
26:33
therapist. No.
26:34
I I think that's a recommendation for me to you,
26:37
you know, that could actually help, you know, to channel
26:41
energy positively because I do remember myself, you know, there
26:44
was a timing 2021 as well when I just started talking to you.
26:48
I was involved in a life threatening accident, you know,
26:52
my Mercedes-Benz, you know? It's some assorted, I think,
26:57
some assorted about four times and ohh wow, like I nearly lost
27:02
my life and you know, scoping with like some spinal cord
27:07
injury, you know, back injury basically.
27:11
And I couldn't go to work for for for a couple of months,
27:14
right? But then I had, I had to speak
27:17
with a therapist at that point in time and they kind of helped
27:21
me to channel my energy in a positive way.
27:26
So what does that mean? So I was reading self
27:31
development books, you know, because for me, I'm not an
27:36
athlete, I'm a finance professional writer.
27:38
I'm used to that routine of waking up, you know, going to
27:41
work, being on your computer, you know, crunching numbers.
27:46
But then that routine was gone and I felt like my life was
27:49
practically like useless, right then.
27:53
They they kind of helped me to channel that brilliant energy
27:57
towards something different. So I was reading a lot of self
28:00
development books, you know. Trying to learn new things, uh,
28:04
develop new interests. So at that point in time, you
28:06
know I I signed up on UFC Fight Pass, so I was watching a lot of
28:12
the old fights as well. So it sort of helped me to
28:16
develop my, my, my knowledge, you know in MMA.
28:20
Because I remember when I started following them in 2019
28:24
and then a lot of the guys from the US always like, ohh, you
28:27
casual, you casual. Yeah, they.
28:30
Love, man. Yeah, But then, you know, during
28:34
that period of my life I worked a lot of fighters able to
28:38
analyse these things, right? And by the time I was out of
28:42
that phase of my life, nobody could decode their casual right.
28:48
Like this I know. Yes, this is so basically you
28:52
know sometimes if you speak with a therapist they they have these
28:56
ways of helping you channel that energy towards, you know,
28:58
something different. If you develop a new passion or
29:02
learn something new, you just discovered that eats helps with
29:08
your mental health basically because physical strength is
29:13
good. But then mental strength
29:14
actually takes one arm further in life.
29:19
That's where like the injuries, talking about the injuries,
29:22
that's where it's like hard. Mentally it's hard.
29:25
It's hard to, yeah, cope with not being able to like, do.
29:31
Anything it's it's a very bad feeling.
29:33
It's a, you know, you get into really dark spaces, yeah, but
29:37
then many people would might not experience that in in their
29:41
lifetimes. You know, that's that's very the
29:45
lowest of lows to those very dark spaces.
29:48
But then if you go for something in your life.
29:51
If you if you push for something in your life, you know it's.
29:55
Has the way of saving you and helping you even impact the
29:59
lives of other people. Yeah.
30:01
So yeah, sometimes you just develop new patterns.
30:04
And he, he can actually, you know, be an expert or something
30:08
else in life. OK, so interesting.
30:13
So Speaking of the news, you know, Speaking of the lows and
30:16
your wrestling career as well, with the highs and the wrestling
30:19
career, how would they like me winning UH Nationals for the
30:26
first time, the first time I was a national champion?
30:29
Just because it was kind of the first time I felt like, you
30:34
know, I could pretty, I could do anything that I put my mind to,
30:39
you know, that was that was the first time that I, you know, or
30:43
I had, I had seen it in real time.
30:45
You know, like I put my mind to doing this and I I did it, You
30:48
know, I'm capable of great things.
30:52
And is very powerful. It is, yeah.
30:54
And then once, yeah, once. Once I did it.
30:56
Once I feel like I opened the door to being like, you know,
31:00
whatever I put my mind to, I can do like I can literally, I can
31:03
wake up every day and choose to do it, you know.
31:06
So yeah, that was the definitely the high of my wrestling career.
31:11
OK. Would you like to talk us
31:13
through the transition into MMA, from wrestling into MMA?
31:17
You know, a lot of wrestling guys, I think people like DC,
31:22
right? Say that wrestling is, you know?
31:24
The best bees to transition into MB.
31:27
So yeah. Ohh.
31:28
Did you share that sentiment? Yeah, I agree.
31:33
And the reason I agree is because so many aspects of the
31:37
wrestling just equate well with MMA.
31:41
You know the one-on-one competition, all of the
31:44
competition that you have, the body control that it takes to
31:49
learn wrestling, the being able to control somebody else body
31:53
and be able to like a temper or gauges or feel.
31:58
You know how how a person is going to react or make person
32:02
react. There's just so many intangible
32:04
things that wrestling provides that I don't feel like any all
32:08
the other sports provide. And then also mental toughness.
32:12
You know, wrestling is probably one of the myths.
32:14
You got to be the most mentally tough to go through the
32:17
practises that we have. So yeah, I definitely agree with
32:22
that sentiment. Speaking about my my transition
32:26
to MMA. So I had I had one nationals for
32:30
the second time and then after I had one nationals I was thinking
32:34
about doing like going through the Olympics and wrestling for
32:37
the World Team. But I I had a couple of credits
32:43
to get at the college I was at. So I decided to to coach part
32:48
time and then finish the credits that I have for the college.
32:53
So I assistant coached while I finished my my degree and I was
33:01
asked I actually called Kamaru Usman and because because he was
33:05
at the Olympic training centre at the time and I just wanted to
33:08
know kind of what like you know what I needed to do like was it
33:15
a good idea to do it like how much it cost to be there.
33:19
You know, I just want to know all those things and and when I
33:22
was talking to Marty, you know or not when I was talking to
33:25
Kamara, no. It's Covington's gonna be happy
33:30
with that. It's funny.
33:32
It's funny too, because it's. Really funny nickname.
33:37
I don't feel like he tripped. He tripped about that name
33:39
because that's, I mean that's what people was calling me.
33:41
It wasn't like he, he named himself people was like calling
33:45
him that. And yeah, his name, Ben Camaro.
33:48
But yeah, yeah. So when I was talking into
33:51
tomorrow, I think it's funny too, because it's like, it's
33:55
like when somebody grows up and they like, hey, no, you call me
33:58
by my name, don't call me by my nickname.
34:00
You know what I mean? You know, you just forget but.
34:05
Then it's crazy when your nickname gets twisted, you know,
34:08
by somebody gets twisted. Like you created it.
34:11
Yeah. Like, no, I don't.
34:12
I don't think that. But yeah, it's, it's funny.
34:15
But anyways, when I was talking to Kamaru, he was just like
34:19
telling me, you know, just telling me everything that I
34:25
need to be done. You know, the politics involved,
34:28
you know, how to succeed and stuff.
34:31
And I was like, I was like, man, it just sound like super hard
34:36
when he was like explaining to me.
34:37
But at that the same point, you know, Kamara wanted, he was
34:42
looking out for me. He wanted me to know, you know,
34:44
what I was getting myself into, you know, before I got into it.
34:48
He just wanted me to know, you know, and that's why I asked him
34:50
for. But at the end of the call, I
34:53
was like, man, that was man, how the hell am I ever going to make
34:56
it in wrestling, you know? And so, but I was like still
35:00
thinking about it. And while I was also doing that
35:05
just Pulver, they he was like the first MMA or the first light
35:10
heavyweight champion. He he uh he was starting a gym
35:18
in the in the at the town that my school was.
35:22
My school was that. So he was starting the gym and
35:26
they had asked me to help and come or come help do the
35:30
wrestling programme, just help the fighters learn how to
35:33
wrestle. At this point I didn't even know
35:35
what MMA was. I did.
35:37
I hadn't you know even I wasn't even watching MMA.
35:41
You know, this was in like 2000 and 13.
35:48
Um, yeah. So I didn't know what it was.
35:50
But he asked me to come into. Yeah, help them learn wrestling.
35:55
So I was like, OK, yeah. And so eventually, you know, I
35:57
started doing, helping them wrestle.
36:00
And then I started doing some of the Brazilian jujitsu classes
36:04
that they offered just to, like kind of learn what I needed to
36:07
help them with. And then I also did some of the
36:09
boxing classes. And then Gentle was like, hey,
36:12
man, you you came to all these classes, you might as well
36:15
fight. And I was like, oh, well, I
36:18
guess I will fight. You know, I'll, I'll try it out.
36:20
I have a fight, you know, and I had my first fight, just power
36:24
was in my corner and I choked this like 6-1 dude out
36:28
unconscious. And I was like, I'm the baddest
36:31
dude in the world and this is what I want to do, yeah.
36:35
You know, I I tell people, you know there's a point in life
36:37
where you heat to realisation that you are good at something
36:42
and you should go for it. Would you say that was a point
36:45
you realised that you're good at this thing and you would you
36:48
would go for it. OK, so who who would you say we
36:53
are strong influences in your life at that point in time when
36:58
you were transitioning into MMA? Like who were those people that
37:02
encouraged you? You know you called Kamaris,
37:04
man. You know about the Olympic
37:06
wrestling. I mean so the Camaro also, you
37:09
know provide that moral support to you And who were the other
37:13
guys who were in your corner. Yeah.
37:16
Kumar always felt like he was my Big Brother feels like you know
37:21
he's all, you know he's somebody that always is like even when I
37:25
when I was going to because he he was my he was my team Texas
37:29
coach for high school. So I've known him since I was in
37:33
high school. And yeah, he's always just been
37:38
like even when I was coming to college, like we had a
37:41
conversation where he was, he was like, hey man, hey, it's
37:45
different. It's like you moving up from D2
37:48
or moving up from Duke code for D2.
37:51
The seasons longer, you need to be prepared for that or you know
37:55
you're going to be wrestling a lot of tough competition like
37:57
stuff like that. And it's like, bro, I know, you
38:00
know, you know you got that older dude, you.
38:02
Like, brother, like brothers, like I got this, you know.
38:05
So no, but it's it's it's it's always been out of love, you
38:09
know. I understand that, you know, But
38:12
yeah, so Uben was definitely, you know, an influence on me.
38:16
And then Jens Pulver. Obviously Jens Pulver had taken
38:20
an interest in me early, You know, he was like hands on with
38:23
me early. He was even like still
38:25
commentating and doing stuff in his career.
38:27
But he was like helping me, you know, develop.
38:33
Or I was like looking, looking up to them.
38:36
Looking to them for advice. Yeah, man, that's, yeah, that
38:43
was pretty much my circle, my circle of people that was like
38:47
help me as far as like Ma, you know, And those guys, you know,
38:51
they helped me out a lot, you know, but yeah.
38:54
What would you say, uh for Kamaru?
38:56
Usman, right? Would you say the fact that you
38:59
are also of Nigerian descent was an influence in him taking to
39:05
you and giving you that love? Yeah, it was actually I think
39:09
his he had told me that his mom had found out that I was a
39:13
Nigerian and it was another Nigerian coming to the team.
39:17
And even before, you know, when I was on team Texas, she had she
39:22
because when I had seen him or whatever, when I had came up on
39:27
my recruiting, he was like, hey, man, you good or whatever?
39:31
And I was like, yeah, I'm good. He like my mom.
39:34
I mean, you got food like you got everything you need and
39:36
stuff like that, you know, Like my mom wanted to make sure you
39:39
good, man, You good. I'm like, yeah, I'm good, you
39:43
know. So yeah, he definitely took an
39:45
interest in me. I think his mom, you know, took
39:49
interest and, you know, wanted to make sure, you know, a fellow
39:52
Nigerian was like doing well and, you know, OK.
39:56
So yeah, that was definitely part of it.
40:00
It is always good to have that love, you know, shown to you by
40:03
your fellow Nigerians. Yeah.
40:06
So speaking Speaking of MMA, right, what was your amateur
40:10
career like and progressing into a professional MMA, right.
40:17
Why did you choose Bellator over the other promotions?
40:21
Because you are. I I think I'm biassed, right?
40:25
But then I would still say it in my head and in my personal
40:29
opinion, right? And my personal opinion is
40:32
actually an expert opinion. Yeah, exactly.
40:35
You are one of the top five bantamweights in the world and
40:40
that is facts, right? So I think you can make it into
40:44
any, any promotion you wish to, to fight in.
40:47
But then why Bellator over the others?
40:50
Yeah, so my amateur career was, I went like 6 in one, but I was
40:56
like, I was probably fighting like every other month or every
40:59
month and I was just trying to like find the toughest
41:03
competition. Define before going pro because
41:07
I had originally thought that I was just gonna go out and GoPro
41:10
off at the gate. Then I had a fight and then
41:13
realised you know the stuff I want to work on and stuff I
41:15
wanna you know show before I go pro.
41:17
You know. So I like I had, I had seven
41:20
fights like back-to-back to back and then I turned pro and the
41:25
reason I chose Bellator is because you know they kind of
41:28
they chose me. You know they they they shown an
41:33
interest. They showed interest and they.
41:36
Yeah, they they. Yeah, they so interested in me,
41:39
you know, as opposed to or like. So I had offers from like the
41:45
UFC, but the offers from the UFC was, it wasn't like, it was like
41:51
I was one. I was an option out of, you
41:54
know, a sea of options and. The the the way it was looking,
41:59
it was looking like. I was just explaining, so I was
42:03
uh. The UFC had told me that I was
42:06
on the short list, then they. It's also like a fight with fall
42:11
out, you know, like how somebody has a fight and then one of the
42:15
fight notice replacements, exactly a sword notice.
42:18
They will give me short notice opportunities, right?
42:21
But so the short notice opportunities, the guy that had
42:25
the fight, they they would give him like like 3, three to four
42:31
names and I would be like one of the names, you know.
42:35
And it's like, I'm never going to be, if I'm like top five in
42:38
the world, I'm never going to be the first guy, you know.
42:41
That you gonna choose to fight. Like that's just not realistic.
42:44
Nobody's gonna, nobody's gonna pick me to fight when it's like
42:49
they're UFC, you know, it's a it's a UFC fight.
42:52
They're making a tonne of money. You know, they're not going to
42:54
pick me. Like I'm not that fight that
42:56
people want to, you know, take because there's like no easy way
42:59
to beat. Like, you can't just say, oh,
43:01
I'm going here, I'm gonna just beat them this way, you know?
43:05
So yeah, so I that the short notice opportunity have happened
43:09
to me probably like four or five times.
43:12
And so I was like, I was like, man, like this is getting old.
43:16
Like this is getting annoying. You know, I have, I have kids.
43:20
I have family. I'm like I'm, I need to start
43:23
like making money. This is just yeah, it's just not
43:27
it's not working for me. And I didn't even think about
43:32
Bellator until I had went to a show.
43:35
I went to a show. Because I was cornering Emmanuel
43:38
Sanchez and the tournament. And a Grand Prix tournament
43:41
actually. And.
43:43
And then I went and I seen how, you know how well, because I had
43:46
been to UFC's, I had cornered there too.
43:48
And I seen how well of an organisation they were and how
43:53
well they treated the fighters and you know, how good the
43:56
production was and and where the company was heading.
44:00
And I was like, man, go to it's pretty cool or whatever.
44:03
And I was talking like John McCarthy and I was like, I was
44:07
like, or no, he was like, hey man, I seen you do your
44:11
grappling match. Like when when you gonna come to
44:16
when you gonna come to Bellator or whatever.
44:17
And I was like, I mean whenever y'all call me, you know, but I
44:21
thought it was just like small talk, just bullcrap, you know, I
44:24
was just playing around or whatever and he was like, yeah,
44:28
I was like whenever y'all have your people call my people,
44:31
whatever. And and so that Monday the we
44:35
got back, I asked my manager and I was like, hey man, it's Delta
44:40
an option for me. Like do I?
44:43
Do you think I have a chance to go to Bellator?
44:45
And he was like, hey, let me ask, I'll call him or whatever.
44:48
And then, so he called me, he called him and I went to
44:50
practise and probably like 2 hours later a Bellator replied
44:55
with like an offer that was like bigger than I would have got for
44:58
the year C So that tells me like they like I wasn't just and it
45:04
was also they were going to give me a camp, you know, I didn't
45:08
have to like hop in on short notice opportunity.
45:11
Like they believed in my success or they believed in my
45:14
potential, At least so. So yeah, that's why I choose.
45:19
I chose them. I chose them because they chose
45:20
me. You know, they they've been
45:23
nothing but great to me. They've been a great platform
45:25
and I wouldn't have it any other way.
45:27
Now, you know, I'm I feel like I'm much better off.
45:32
Financially you know just in life because the Bellator OK uh
45:40
there's sample office say in the professional world go to where
45:44
you are appreciated now where you're tolerated exactly
45:47
exactly. But then you know, for me, I
45:51
think when I look into the world of MBA, I think the UFC actually
45:57
was the one that introduced me to MMA, right?
46:01
Yeah. And then I definitely love to
46:04
see, you know, people that I love in the UFC.
46:08
Do you see, do you do you think there's that possibility of, you
46:11
know, you are following the pathway of persons like Michael
46:15
Chandler maybe sometime in the future fighting in the UFC?
46:19
Is that a possibility? Yeah, I don't.
46:21
I don't think it's like outlandish to think that I could
46:25
end up in the UFC at this point, you know?
46:28
But I always say so. And that's the other way I look
46:31
at the I look at the UFC like, yes, it's a great company.
46:35
It's the top MMA company out there, but.
46:41
Like, as far As for me, like, I don't feel like we're at that
46:44
time. You know, now times are
46:46
different. Like I have a different name.
46:47
I have a different value. People kind of have been able to
46:50
see my potential big brand. Yeah, I have a bigger, I have a
46:55
bigger brand now, you know, Whereas before they didn't.
46:58
They didn't know, you know, like, yeah, I have potential,
47:00
but they didn't know, you know, how good I could be.
47:03
Now it's kind of out there that I'm good, you know what I mean?
47:07
So it's easier for them to invest in me now, you know what
47:11
I mean? So I don't.
47:13
I don't. I don't feel like it's like
47:14
outlandish. The other thing is like, I'm
47:18
gonna go to whoever gonna like, take care of me, you know what I
47:21
mean? Like, because because I can't.
47:24
Like, yeah, the UFC is great, you know, it has more eyes.
47:28
It has all these things. But if I can't tangibly take all
47:33
those things and feed my family with it, don't.
47:36
For me, it don't necessarily matter.
47:38
It don't necessarily matter that like in the public eye, I'm the
47:42
best. That really don't technically
47:44
matter to me. Like what?
47:45
That to me, are the people around me.
47:48
You know, what I can do for the people around me.
47:50
And you know how I feel inside. So yeah, I'm, I'm down.
47:56
I'm down to fight anywhere. Everybody you know, wherever.
48:03
But yeah, we'll see. We'll see with this watching
48:07
your family, man, You are truly a family.
48:09
Man, yeah, you hear him in the background.
48:11
Yeah, put putting your family first, you know?
48:14
But don't worry, I. As a fighter, like, that's what
48:19
matters to me. You know what I mean, Umm, I am
48:22
going to give you. The right to call.
48:24
I'm not out here chasing girls. I'm not.
48:25
I heard tasting likes. Well, I don't.
48:29
I don't care about that. That stuff don't really matter.
48:32
It doesn't. It?
48:33
Yeah, it don't matter to me. I don't think it matters.
48:36
So yeah, that's where I'm at interested.
48:39
I will. I will give them dinner while
48:41
the call and you know, I hope you know, they come up with an
48:44
offer that you would like. Yeah.
48:48
Don't forget you. I'm down.
48:51
Entertainment OK that that that's fantastic.
48:54
But I was going to talk about the the highs and lows of your
48:57
Bellator or career right. So I know there are two losses.
49:02
That is to Merab to Valev and that guy is the UFC right now
49:07
and patchy mix. Like quickly, like how how did
49:11
you feel? Like how did those losses
49:14
influence you? Like what's the those you know
49:17
losses due to you because you know it's it's interesting when
49:21
you keep winning, right? But then you know when when you
49:24
lose as a person, it makes you realise that you're still a
49:27
human being. You're vulnerable, right?
49:28
It's like a reminder that you are human after all, right?
49:32
Even though you're super starts right, Superstars is still a
49:36
human being. Yeah.
49:39
So how did he feel? Yeah.
49:41
So both of those, I feel like they're kind of similar or
49:45
similar just because I don't feel like I was able to like
49:49
really fight or you know, let the fight develop.
49:52
I didn't have time. They kind of like caught me
49:55
early, you know, caught me slipping early and.
49:59
Yeah, So. So it's like hard for me to.
50:02
It's hard for me to take a lot of.
50:05
Things to get better on, you know, because ultimately the
50:09
loss is like, that's what I'm trying to do.
50:11
I'm trying to learn, you know, how I can be a better martial
50:14
artist for the next time, how it can be harder to kill for the
50:16
next time. But it's hard to do that when
50:18
the the fights don't last that long and you don't get to see a
50:21
lot. And it's also two instances
50:24
where these guys aren't like I wasn't prepared and and this is
50:31
this is, well, that's something I can get better on.
50:33
I need to be, you know, a cognizant of the fact that.
50:37
Like, uh, no matter the their skill set, everybody is
50:41
dangerous. You know, everybody's dangerous
50:43
if I'm not prepared. And so I didn't think neither
50:46
one of these guys could strike or, you know, bust a grape.
50:50
But you know, they were able to catch me clean with some shots I
50:54
didn't see and it was able to put me out.
50:56
So yeah, I'm human. And it tells me that, you know,
51:00
I just need to take everybody. Every part of everybody's games,
51:05
serious and extremely seriously. Yeah, it's.
51:09
Extremely seriously, Yeah. And yeah, it's just a reminder
51:13
of that, you know, It's things that I know.
51:15
But yeah, I got to take. I got to take them very
51:18
seriously, you know. And then ohh, as far as like
51:22
getting like my 2 is pretty much I either get, I get knocked out
51:26
or I win. So I gotta stay away from, you
51:30
know, those early, early exchanges that I'm not ready
51:34
for. And then.
51:38
Yeah, just just, you know get better at what I can get better
51:42
at. Focus on what I can get better
51:44
at, which is usually which I found the two times that I've
51:48
I've, I've kind of got knocked out.
51:50
I've had bad weight cuts, you know, I had bad weight cuts and
51:53
bad you know, which was like a bad training, you know what I
51:57
mean? And most of it was due to
51:59
nutrition. But that's things That's
52:02
something that I can I look at it like OK, that's something I
52:05
can, I can get better. I can change.
52:06
I can. I can change for the better, you
52:09
know. And I just kind of, I kind of
52:11
look at it like that. So like the lows of my career,
52:14
you know, have been to two of the best, you know, like in the
52:18
world, you know, so I can't hang, hang my head about that.
52:23
It's also kind of like fluke wins, like they're not wins that
52:27
these guys can duplicate on me. So, like, I take kind of it's
52:32
like bittersweet, you know? Like if the fight went longer, I
52:36
feel like I beat those guys and that's not something that these
52:40
guys are used to creating. You know, these are not finishes
52:45
these they're used to creating. So.
52:48
So it's like flukes in in that sense.
52:51
Um, But yeah, you know, it's also a part of the game, You
52:55
know what I mean? I kind of try to take it in
52:57
stride. I try to take it for what it is.
53:00
Anthony Pettis once told me, you know, never, never believe how
53:04
great people say you are and never believe how bad people say
53:07
you are. You know what I mean?
53:09
Because I had just won the belt like a fight before.
53:12
And you know, I'm going, I'm the best ever and then I lose a
53:15
fight, you know? 9080 seconds of a bad decision
53:20
and now some people say I'm the worst, so I I just don't let
53:25
that self kind of face me. And it's crazy.
53:30
Other people's memory. Yeah, you're good at your last
53:33
fight. Yeah, exactly.
53:35
Exactly. It's it's it's it's really
53:37
crazy. Speaking of Anthony Pettis, you
53:40
were actually meant to fight his younger brother Sergio Pettis,
53:42
right? Yeah.
53:43
So how how's that gonna go like? Man, that was the toughest for
53:48
me. That was like the toughest fight
53:50
to prepare for it. Because again, I like Sergio and
53:54
I was his teammate for like 7 years, like he was like one of
53:58
my main training partners for like 7 years.
54:00
So, and I know him. I know his girl.
54:02
I know his dogs. I know his.
54:04
You know what I mean? I like, I respect him, you know,
54:07
a great deal. So that was like the hardest
54:10
mentally. That was the hardest thing for
54:12
me to prepare for. And I'm glad it didn't happen.
54:15
You know, Hopefully it don't happen.
54:19
I'm glad myself. Yeah.
54:21
Yes. Speaking of losses and wins,
54:24
right. I think, yeah.
54:25
There's this book that is titled Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You
54:29
Learn, Right. So would you say you've learned
54:32
from those losses? Like would you say you learned
54:35
from those losses? Yeah, I definitely, definitely.
54:37
I definitely feel like because it's obvious.
54:38
I mean, if you lose, you know, there's something that you could
54:41
have done better. There's something, you know,
54:43
sometimes it's harder to find than other times.
54:47
But yeah, I definitely, I've. I've definitely learned.
54:51
From each one of my losses and it's the reason I'm as good as I
54:54
am right now, OK. Uh, so Speaking of Bellator,
54:58
right? Yeah, recently they got acquired
55:01
by the PFL. Yeah, right.
55:03
So, So what, what are the great things you think we should
55:07
expect from this recent merger slash acquisition?
55:12
Like what? Would happen.
55:13
I don't know for sure, but just me speculating, I think you know
55:20
it's going to be fun because the the owner said something about
55:23
like maybe you can do the tournament, maybe some people
55:25
can do one offs. I also like the fact that
55:29
there's, you know. Potential different matchups you
55:35
know different people added into the mix.
55:37
You know we have we're on ESPN or or they're on ESPN we can
55:43
cross promote with them. You know I like the Champions
55:46
versus champions. It's it's a lot of fun, fun
55:50
things that could happen, you know, with this PFL.
55:55
What do you call it? Not a merger, but them assuming
56:00
Bellator. So yes, a bunch of fun things,
56:04
You know, I'm excited. I'm excited to see what like
56:07
what? Because I have no idea what's
56:09
going to happen still. So I'm excited to see it's, uh,
56:14
Speaking of crossovers, right? Uh, recently we saw Francis Ganu
56:19
in that crossover boxing of battle with Tyson Fury.
56:25
So what do you think about? What do you think about that?
56:28
What do you think about Francis Lugano?
56:30
He's a fellow African brother. Yeah, I love Man is the man,
56:34
bro. Francis Nagano is the baddest
56:36
man on the planet. Nobody could tell me any
56:39
different, you know? He went in there, never bought
56:41
or he boxed once. Yeah, that was his first boxing.
56:47
Fight first boxing fight? Yeah.
56:49
Festival. OK, well, yeah, Never boxed ever
56:51
before in a professional boxing fight.
56:54
Arguably the greatest heavyweight boxer.
56:57
You know, So. Tyson Fury is the man, you know,
57:01
he's the baddest man on the planet.
57:03
And yeah, I'm I'm excited to see what happens for him next.
57:07
I think that was a great showing of, you know, the people think
57:12
you know, just just because we do a lot of disciplines, we're
57:15
not elite at any of them, you know.
57:18
And when I say I'm talking about MMA guys, but yeah, we can
57:22
compete with everybody and anything.
57:24
So it it it made me proud as an African, made me proud as a not
57:29
or a. MMA fighter Ohh Yeah, no, that
57:34
was super cool. Looking at the MMA community,
57:37
right? The M community, definitely, you
57:39
know. We needed that one.
57:41
We needed that. We needed that one right.
57:45
Controversy. The controversy.
57:47
The controversy, right Who do you think won that fight?
57:51
Who do you think? Harry won the fight, man.
57:53
He was the closest to ending the fight, you know, I agree.
57:58
No, no, no, no. And I feel my bad.
58:02
Then gonna got dog. Why I say cheerio Francis.
58:04
That's what I meant. Francis.
58:06
I think Francis won the fight. He was the closest to finish in
58:10
the fight. He got a he got a knock down.
58:13
He obviously, you know. Yeah, I think very one.
58:19
Or Francis want to fight My bad, Francis Francis MacDonald.
58:24
It was really crazy, you know, because it was a big night for
58:27
for Africa that night. Because I remember I was at
58:29
Boxpark in East Croydon in London, and I think just about
58:35
30 minutes before the fight, South Africa had just won the
58:39
Rugby World Cup. And when you can, yeah, we're
58:44
looking forward to the Tyson Fury and Ghana fight.
58:47
And a lot of people have counted him out.
58:51
Yeah, a lot of people counted him out.
58:53
And apparently I live in England.
58:56
You know, a lot of people support tax injury here.
58:58
Yeah, yeah. And you know, the, the crowd,
59:02
you know, were yelling, expecting, you know, attacking
59:05
Fury to to make a mockery of Francis and Gander.
59:08
And with that, No. I think the knockout was in
59:11
round three, right? And we've got coming through
59:14
like I was in a dream. It felt surreal, you know?
59:18
It felt surreal because I think that day I was wearing, I was
59:21
wearing a UFC swear punts and those South Africa and jersey,
59:29
so my UFC jersey was underneath and my South Africa jersey was
59:34
on top. So after, after the after the
59:37
South Africa match, the rugby match, I think I removed that
59:41
and had the UFC. Had you know just they supported
59:48
Uganda you know I first at the beginning of the fight I was
59:51
looking quite stupid that ohh you you're you're so bold to
59:55
support in Ghana right. And then you know it it was
59:58
making sense in the third round. Yeah yeah I think they had to
1:00:03
save the face of boxing right. Yeah, for me, I think on Ghana
1:00:08
won the won the hearts for taxing, won the fight.
1:00:14
Tyson won the decision, but we gonna win the fight, let's put
1:00:17
it that way. But I don't.
1:00:20
Yes, yes it it, it was a big up for the MMA community, right?
1:00:26
So next question on my lips, you know are what would you say are
1:00:32
the accomplishments that you're most proud of in your entire
1:00:36
sporting career and in your personal life?
1:00:39
What? What what accomplishments would
1:00:41
you say you're you're proud of the most?
1:00:45
I would say I mean. My my kids are pretty, pretty
1:00:49
amazing. I love my kids and I'm like.
1:00:54
I guess, like, surprised by them every day, you know, like how
1:00:58
much, yeah, how much personality and stuff they got, you know?
1:01:03
So that would probably be my biggest accomplishment outside
1:01:07
of that, I would say. Probably I when when I won the
1:01:17
the Beltway belt in Hawaii, that was like that was pretty cool as
1:01:22
far as my athletic career. That was like, that's probably
1:01:26
the biggest moment of my athletic career.
1:01:29
Ohh, wow. Interesting.
1:01:31
So how do you balance sports, business and family?
1:01:34
How? How do you juggle those 3?
1:01:36
Points I have a you know, I got priorities, you know, So my
1:01:41
family, you know, always comes first, you know, a family and
1:01:46
then family. Emergencies, you know.
1:01:47
So I give up a lot for this sport, I guess.
1:01:53
As far as like recreation, you know or or fun, you know, with
1:01:58
my family and stuff, but. Uh, yeah.
1:02:03
So if it if it falls under family emergency, you know,
1:02:07
that's always going to come first.
1:02:09
And then my career is like pretty encamp, encamp.
1:02:15
My career comes first a lot of times when it comes to like fun
1:02:21
things and then my family, you know?
1:02:23
But it's easy. It's easy to prioritise, you
1:02:26
know. Or or juggling when you like.
1:02:30
Prioritise it like that. You know, like what's important
1:02:34
in the long run? OK, uh, so in mixed martial
1:02:38
arts, right? Like like the name implies, it's
1:02:41
mixed martial arts. You have to be good at, you know
1:02:45
a combination of or martial arts right?
1:02:48
So for for me personally, I feel the top three, the top 3 martial
1:02:53
arts that are applicable for you to be successful in mixed
1:02:56
martial arts are wrestling or beat boxing and jujitsu.
1:03:02
So for you, what, what would you say are the top three?
1:03:07
Yeah, I would say wrestling. Say I would say Muay Thai over
1:03:12
kickboxing and I would say. Adjudicator, yeah.
1:03:20
Yeah, I would say those. So how about if you were to do a
1:03:24
top five? Who?
1:03:25
Who are the two other honourable mentions?
1:03:28
Top five, I would do boxing and hmm, that's a tough #5.
1:03:46
Tough #5, because I feel like you need almost like, I don't
1:03:52
know if like cage wrestling is like a sport you know that's not
1:03:56
a sport, you know? Yeah, I would.
1:04:06
Let's do like Sambo or something.
1:04:08
Ohh wow. Combat Sambo.
1:04:13
What do you think about those Russians you know?
1:04:15
Yeah, have? Become real.
1:04:18
Part of it is the the the mentality of the the Sambo
1:04:21
athletes or the Russian athletes.
1:04:24
Yeah, like, I like the mentality that they have going into fights
1:04:27
or going into life, you know, where they just like so cold.
1:04:31
You know that nothing really is like a significant.
1:04:35
Whether they hurt or they're tired or they're feeling great,
1:04:37
they got the same face. So yeah, but then you you you've
1:04:44
got a big win over one of their own.
1:04:46
That's Magomed. Yeah, sure.
1:04:48
How did you feel? You know, being the killer of
1:04:51
the killers. Yeah, you know that was that was
1:04:54
pretty cool because I was I felt like I was the, I mean I I'm
1:04:57
sure other people have too but you know I beat one of the
1:05:01
Dagestani, you know one of the Dagestani boys, you know, so.
1:05:05
Um, that was like, that was a huge accomplishment too.
1:05:08
Like in the MMA, just because it opened everybody's eyes to how
1:05:12
good I am, you know, because he's a he's an amazing athlete,
1:05:16
he's an amazing fighter and he comes from an amazing camp, you
1:05:19
know, or an amazing, I guess, place in Dagestan.
1:05:24
So it was like, it was cool for, like a lot of people because I
1:05:28
believed in myself and I know how good I am.
1:05:30
But the general public, you know, sometimes it's hard for
1:05:33
them to see, you know, who's really good.
1:05:35
So that was like. Cool for people to recognise.
1:05:40
You know how good I am, OK as as a fighter, right?
1:05:46
I I want you to give me like an expose into the the mind of the
1:05:50
fighter, right? Have you ever had any fights
1:05:53
where you you might be talking smack about you, You feel some
1:05:58
sort of fear factor for the open end because of the kind of skill
1:06:02
sets, because of the kind of, you know, strengths that that
1:06:06
they have, you know, does does that ever happen?
1:06:11
Yeah, I I'm, I feel like when it don't happen, that's when I get
1:06:15
caught, you know, so. I I so when I look at a fighter
1:06:21
you know and when I'm going I'm I'm I signed a contract to fight
1:06:24
a fighter fighter. I'm looking at everything that
1:06:27
he does good you know and I'm making sure that I'm aware of
1:06:33
everything that he likes to do and the things that he likes to
1:06:35
do good. And then I look at what he does.
1:06:39
What I feel like he doesn't do good and then I look at, you
1:06:42
know where those scare skills compared to mine, you know?
1:06:46
And then I I figure out. Where I want to direct the fight
1:06:50
according to that, you know. So how I'm gonna make him fight
1:06:54
my fight? So yeah, that's that's kind of
1:06:57
how I look at it. So yeah, I'm I'm a lot of people
1:07:01
are like good in a lot of places that I'm that I have to be kind
1:07:05
of scared of or aware of. Um, but yeah, so, So who are the
1:07:11
top three opponents that you had so far in terms?
1:07:15
Of I would say to top three, I would get pushed.
1:07:21
You push the best out of you. Uh, I mean I would say like.
1:07:27
Like Patsy and Mariah, but I feel like I wasn't able to
1:07:29
fight. I didn't get to fight those
1:07:31
fights. So I would love to.
1:07:35
I would love to fight those fights again.
1:07:37
Hopefully I get this one back. Yeah, I'll get that one back.
1:07:41
And then there was a fighter on original scene.
1:07:45
I fought Levi Miles and it was a tough fight because like in the
1:07:52
fight I had, like it wasn't a fight where I was just.
1:07:56
Kind of dominant. It was a fight where I had
1:07:59
success and then he had great success, you know, I had.
1:08:04
So I took him down one round and then he like, put me in a heel
1:08:08
hook. To where I didn't, I didn't
1:08:12
know. Where I I didn't know what to
1:08:13
do. I didn't know.
1:08:16
I didn't know how to get out of it or what to do.
1:08:19
So it kind of like put my head in a point where I was like, oh
1:08:22
man, I can't take this dude down because I don't know where to go
1:08:25
if he gets me in that leg lock again.
1:08:27
And then and then he dropped me. So I was like, OK, I'll just
1:08:31
keep it on my feet, you know, keep on my feet with this guy.
1:08:34
And then he like, well, he didn't drop me.
1:08:36
He like, like, flashed, knocked me.
1:08:38
And I had to like battle through that.
1:08:40
Like flash knocked me twice or whatever.
1:08:42
So I had like, battle through that, you know, come back, rally
1:08:45
back. And I feel like that.
1:08:47
Taught me a lot about myself, you know?
1:08:50
And I had to like navigate that throughout the fights or through
1:08:54
a fight. So that was like a a that was a
1:08:58
tough fight and a a good fight for me developmentally.
1:09:02
Ohh wow speak. Speaking of flash knocks, you
1:09:04
know, I, I think of you, Prohaska, right?
1:09:10
He said, He said, I'm Dominic Reyes practically knocked him
1:09:13
out. Meat fight, right.
1:09:15
But then he came back to to to dominate that fight and, you
1:09:19
know, achieved A knockout. So what what?
1:09:23
What was going through your head at that point in time?
1:09:26
You know, you said it made you learn something about yourself.
1:09:29
You know, that mental resilience, that mental
1:09:32
toughness, Yeah, you can come back from really dark corners,
1:09:36
right? Which a lot of people will never
1:09:39
experience in their lifetime. Yeah, So we, we draw the fight,
1:09:43
would you say, tucking into really dark places that you came
1:09:46
back from? And you're really proud of
1:09:48
yourself. Yeah, that was one, you know,
1:09:51
And I also I figured out that, you know, people kind of have
1:09:56
like 2 responses when like stuff goes wrong.
1:10:00
You know, they either try like run from it or they just kind of
1:10:05
like nut up and it's like I think I think the three
1:10:10
responses, 3 responses, brother, that's flight freeze or fights.
1:10:15
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
1:10:19
Yeah, so that's what I meant. Like it like it showed me, you
1:10:24
know, kind of who I am, you know?
1:10:26
So I chose to fight in those instances.
1:10:28
I didn't like run away, you know, I just.
1:10:32
Like in those instances I chose to fight.
1:10:34
So I I pretty much I stood and I I banged with him some more and
1:10:40
I once exchanges and then I took him down, you know.
1:10:43
So I'm not one to shy from adversity or shy from the fight
1:10:47
once things go bad for me. So that taught me, you know, you
1:10:51
know about kind of who I am. You know when when she get real
1:10:56
interesting? Uh, Speaking of yourself, what
1:10:58
would you say? Are your hobbies and your
1:11:00
interests? Like what?
1:11:02
Personal. My hobbies.
1:11:05
I like to build things. Like to play video games?
1:11:13
And what else I like to do? I don't know.
1:11:15
Just hang out with family, man. I'm pretty pretty lucky testing.
1:11:21
So what skills or competences or abilities do you have?
1:11:26
Uh, that you're proud of what people do not know about?
1:11:31
Most people don't know that I used to break horses when I was
1:11:34
little. What else?
1:11:38
What else? I am very interested in actually
1:11:44
financial or finances. You know, I do a lot of studying
1:11:49
of. Um, uh, financial literacy and?
1:11:55
Yeah, just kind of stay planning and and and things like that.
1:11:59
Like, that stuff interests me. So interested.
1:12:02
Interesting. Maybe that's why we get along,
1:12:03
you know? Yeah, I'm a finance
1:12:06
professional. Yeah.
1:12:09
Questions. Yeah, OK.
1:12:12
Charge you. I won't charge you, you manager
1:12:14
brother. Appreciate it.
1:12:18
Ohh yeah I found that stuff interesting.
1:12:23
Yeah, here late. Yeah, actually.
1:12:25
Like during, during COVID. During COVID, I started like
1:12:29
reading some books. What?
1:12:31
What was it? Was it Rich Dad, Poor Dad or
1:12:37
Robert? His hockey.
1:12:39
Ohh no no it wasn't that one. Which one?
1:12:42
Which one is it? What was that book I read for
1:12:47
Dave Ramsey? That's what I read.
1:12:49
I read Dave and then so that got me like started on the path.
1:12:53
You know, I don't agree with everything he says, but.
1:12:57
But yeah, but yeah, that started my play path to financial
1:13:00
literacy. So, yeah, Interesting.
1:13:03
So it's interesting to see that you, you, you study, you know,
1:13:06
you, you read books, right? Have you read this book by
1:13:09
Napoleon Hill? That is our Think and Grow,
1:13:12
Rich. No, uh, I I think.
1:13:16
I think you should be. That one thing my father gave me
1:13:18
very yeah, he, my father gave me that book very early in life,
1:13:22
and I think it's sort of shipped my life for good.
1:13:25
Thinking very. Then there's this other one, the
1:13:28
Jewish phenomenon. No, I haven't read that one
1:13:31
either. That's.
1:13:32
That I read a lot of books. Yeah.
1:13:34
It's really I read. Yeah, but what, what, what,
1:13:38
what? What books?
1:13:38
What, what would you say are the top books that have, you know,
1:13:41
shipped to you or influenced you in life?
1:13:44
Yeah, that. The Dave Ramsey one was one that
1:13:48
got me started. And then I've done the rich Dad.
1:13:53
Poor Dad. I did a What was?
1:14:00
It was. 1000 I forget the name of the book, but it was about.
1:14:09
Great. Like how it was about how all
1:14:13
the people at the elite level of anything have practised, they
1:14:19
just have spent more time or the 10,000 hour.
1:14:22
Rule 10,000 hour rule. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:14:25
That's that's a great one. That's a great one.
1:14:28
That's a great one. OK, interesting.
1:14:32
So, So what advice do you have for upcoming athletes and young
1:14:36
people in general? What what what life advice would
1:14:41
you give them as a Big Brother? Yeah, Big Brother, I was saying,
1:14:45
you know as a as an athlete, you know your time is short, you
1:14:49
know, so go after your goals, you know, attack them full
1:14:52
force. And I feel like consistency is
1:14:56
key so. Um, yeah.
1:15:00
Be consistent. Chase your goal every day.
1:15:03
You know, do something to chase your goal every day Doesn't mean
1:15:05
you have to. Physically beach itself down
1:15:09
every day, but make steps in the right direction.
1:15:13
That could be recovery. That could be mentally studying.
1:15:16
Yeah, take steps in the right direction every day.
1:15:19
And to accomplish your goals, be consistent.
1:15:22
Ohh wow that that sounds really nice.
1:15:25
And it sounds like I'm advice that I give to one of my
1:15:28
friends. His name is David lately, you
1:15:31
know, I tell him baby steps, you know.
1:15:32
Yeah. Always achieve something
1:15:35
everyday chipped a block. You know.
1:15:37
Exactly. If you if you're trying to break
1:15:39
down a mountain, if you keep cheating, it's, you know, little
1:15:42
blocks, little breaks every day. You'll discover over time you,
1:15:46
you achieve a lot, right. But a lot of people want to
1:15:50
just, you know, achieve a lot in one day.
1:15:52
And they say Rome was not built in a day.
1:15:54
You know, Yeah, just keep pushing for your dreams, right.
1:15:58
If you don't go for something in life, right, you never know.
1:16:02
The joy, the ecstasy of victory over cheating.
1:16:06
Yes. And you know, when you achieve
1:16:08
something that might means a lot to you and life, it makes you
1:16:13
more confident about yourself. And it's a big step towards self
1:16:18
actualization. Yeah, great.
1:16:24
Maybe someday I'll be a pastor in the future.
1:16:26
So you don't know. OK, ohh motivational speaker are
1:16:30
interested Uh. I think I'll send you my name on
1:16:34
the Internet recently and I saw that we're back in.
1:16:36
Was it 20? I don't know.
1:16:38
Like so many years ago, like, I saw myself in a suit skidding
1:16:42
me, you know, posting something about being a motivational
1:16:45
speaker. Like, oh wow, yeah, you know,
1:16:49
having that dream you don't offer.
1:16:50
For me, I've always wanted to have positive impact, you know,
1:16:53
on people around the world, especially young people,
1:16:57
because, you know, a lot of young people have a lot of
1:17:01
questions. I have a lot of challenges, do
1:17:03
not know the right things to do right.
1:17:06
But then when you have people point them in the right
1:17:08
direction, it actually saves lives and it has it, it has a
1:17:13
multiplier effect on other people.
1:17:16
Because you know, once you influence one person, that one
1:17:20
person goes out to influence other people around them, right?
1:17:24
And you know it's it's really fantastic to see role models
1:17:27
like yourself, myself, you know, at least give back to to the
1:17:32
society that has given us a lot to be able to be on, on a good
1:17:37
path right towards achieving success in life.
1:17:42
So we have a tradition on the port, right.
1:17:46
So the previous guest leaves a question for the next guest,
1:17:50
right. So do you want to know the
1:17:53
question that was left for you? Yeah, OK, it says.
1:17:57
If you are given the power to lead, how would you change the
1:18:02
world around you? I think.
1:18:07
If I was given a pilot, Lee, I know that changes.
1:18:11
Like you said, changes start small, you know, So I would try
1:18:15
to if I was given to the. The power to lead anything I
1:18:22
would start at, you know try to change the individuals you know
1:18:27
so. Like if it was like if I was in
1:18:31
charge of like the country, I guess I would like start with
1:18:35
trying to impact like the families, like the core, like,
1:18:39
yeah, households, you know, and I think that would, you know,
1:18:45
trickle out to you know, communities and then regionally
1:18:50
nationally and then the country, you know.
1:18:53
But if I was trying, yeah. If I was trying to change, I was
1:18:58
kind of, I know that I would I have to like.
1:19:02
Kind of changed the smallest part.
1:19:03
I can't it's there's no such thing as like big changes, you
1:19:07
know. But.
1:19:09
Relax. Start, start small and then get
1:19:12
big. I guess whatever I'm doing, ohh
1:19:16
interesting I that reminds me of backing Jeannie, taking courses
1:19:21
in sociology. They say the family is the
1:19:23
primary social institution, right?
1:19:26
And when the family gets it right, the the entire society
1:19:31
would, you know, likely get it right.
1:19:33
You know, I think they try to. Charity begins at home, right?
1:19:39
Exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
1:19:42
OK. So finally, what?
1:19:44
What question would you like to leave for the next guest to
1:19:47
answer? Ohh man OK.
1:19:53
I would like to ask. What?
1:20:00
What? What would you want Your What do
1:20:02
you want your legacy to be? What do you want your legacy to
1:20:05
be? What would you love your legacy
1:20:08
to be? Wow.
1:20:10
Thank you very much. Yeah.
1:20:13
So family man. Thank you very much, my Niger
1:20:17
brother. I really appreciate your time
1:20:19
today. God bless you.
1:20:21
Hi. Well, you've got really cute
1:20:26
kids. Thanks.
1:20:31
Thank you very much brother, your your time is really really
1:20:34
appreciated. I can end the problem.