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MMA Fighter "Copper" Mike Theisen · Caught on the Mike...

• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is caught on the mic.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a week off without a guest, but I have a good one.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's an amateur fighter with a 3-0 record based out of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's normally a bantamweight.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's stepping down to flyweight for this next fight.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Copper Mike Tyson.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: How are you, man?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good, Mike.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for having me on, man.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, thanks for doing the show.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how many times do people mess up your name because of the spelling?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: My whole life.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my uh had uh at wrestling tournaments when I was a kid, my little sister, man, she was probably like six years old, would go run to the tables, the announcing tables, and go correct them all the time.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's all right, man.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's all right.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, irony or coincidence, however you define it, uh to be a fighter with the name Mike Tyson, that's gotta be something too.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of fun, man.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I can play around with a lot of different things with it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so, how long have you been involved with martial arts in general?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I started wrestling when I was about five years old, and then um I uh got into like Muay Thai jujitsu, things like that when I was like 16 years old at Mid-America martial arts, and then um graduated from high school, stepped off the mat for a little while, and then got back into it about two years ago.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been at Mix for the last two years.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I love it there.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a a lot of good fighters that come from our area, isn't there?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: There is, there's a and there, like there's been so many talented wrestlers, and you know, one coming up, Jacoby Jones, he's a I think a two-time state champ out of uh Omaha North.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's fighting with LFA.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: That guy's animal, and I'm trying to bring as much wrestlers as I can into the gym and kind of take it over a little bit.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's so funny because oh, a couple years ago, I think it was right in the onset or right before COVID, my assistant manager at my day job at the time showed me a clip of one of Jacoby's knockouts that he had in Lincoln, and that was insane.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was absolutely insane.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's uh he's he's an awesome dude, super awesome dude.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: How long have you been training at McDoyle's?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been at Mix for like two years now, and I absolutely love it.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: There, the the environment's incredible.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: I've got I've got great training partners there, great kickboxers to help me develop uh my striking, you know.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um I'm I'm glad I got back into it.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I always wanted to fight my whole life, said it my whole life, and uh I'm happy I finally did it.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So let's take a deeper dive into your origin story.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of you you said you started off as a wrestler.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming you wrestled all through high school and what have you.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you introduce yourself and kind of talk about the origins of everything that you do?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm Mike Tyson.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: I uh started wrestling at a very young age and I got really into uh WWE.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: I got a lot of siblings, and so you know, I my brothers and I would we were wrestled around our whole lives.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: We still do.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: I try my one of my little brothers, Jordan, he trains with me.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but uh my older brothers came over with UFC Undisputed 2010, the video game, and uh then I started seeing UFC on Spike and started watching it at a young age and didn't really get in the gym at all, but I you know I'd watch the fights, you know, try stuff on my little brothers, and uh then I find I I got old enough to drive, put myself in the gym, started training, and and and here we are now.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So video games and WWE being the gateway drug into MMA for you.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Who are some of your favorite wrestlers, like WWE wrestlers growing up?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite were the Hardy brothers, Jeff and Matt Hardy.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yes! Yeah, I love those guys, man.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: They don't they're not huge buff dudes, and you know, and then just she made it look like anybody else can do it too.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, did you ever try laying the Swanton bomb on any of your siblings?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: At the beginning of every of every uh you know show it says don't try this at home, and in between commercial rounds, we were beating each other up.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's kind of funny how WWE and just pro wrestling in general goes through several metamorphosis over time.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like in the time that I grew up was during the Monday Night Wars, the legendary Monday Night Wars between WCW and WWE or WWF at the time.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's it carries over.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like it seems like every five years I kind of gain a little bit of interest in it again.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's still a lot of fun to watch.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's my little brothers and I will get together every once in a while for like a summer slam or something and make some food and stuff and hang out and watch it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Or play it on the Xbox playing and we'll do like get everybody in for a Royal Rumble or something and talk a bunch of smack.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So do you do the same thing with UFC events or MMA events?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have the parties and such?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: The gatherings?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've I I have a pretty good group of friends I hang out with.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: They've been supporting me through wrestling all the way to now, and we try to get together when we can.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: We don't do it for every event, but like like uh I've been training for this fight, you know, so I'm in the gym a little bit more than I would be if I was, you know, taking a little bit of a break.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um we try to get together and it's it's hard to watch the events when I'm training myself.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I can watch a Soho event, but I you know I watch the replays on it.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Who are some of the fighters, current fighters, either in UFC, Bellator, LFA, any of the PFL, any of those organizations, who are who are some current fighters that inspire you?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um I really like Bo Nickel.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I watched him while wrestling.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a huge Penn State fan, so I was watching him while he was wrestling at Penn State.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: John Jones, Anderson Silva.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I really I like the really um funky, kind of unpredictable guys that are fun to watch.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Alex Pereira is a newer one.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've been watching a bunch.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: That guy's an animal.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So was cruising your social media, and I knew about this whenever it happened, but Johnny Walker came to Omaha and trained at your gym at McDoyle's gym not too long ago.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: You got to experience a little one-on-one time with him.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got I did I gotta do one clinch round, I think it was with him, but he you know, he's so much I'm a 125er, he's so much bigger than I was.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, there's not really a whole lot you can do.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then he did uh he ran one of our jujitsu classes and uh he's a pro or uh my bad, he's a brown belt in jujitsu and showed us some cool things from you know sweeps and things like that.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: That was really the whole extent of it.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: He um he was in there a lot when other people weren't at the gym.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: See, when I saw his posts, and I think I saw a few posts from Mick himself, it really got the cogs running through my brain.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, why is Johnny Walker coming to Omaha, Nebraska to train the home of his opponent?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Was that a psychological play?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it could be.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I don't I don't really know.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty much the extent of all that that I know.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Super nice guy.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Super, super nice guy.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was he was fun to have around in the gym.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the energy is different too.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you get somebody like that in there, everybody wants to train a little bit harder and gets in there a little bit more.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's awesome having things like that and and that like that in the gym.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he seems like he's a pretty upbeat guy.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And Omaha has, you know, their own fair share of well-established fighters that have come from the area.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Houston Alexander, Drew Dober, Anthony Lionhart Smith, and then in the boxing realms, you got Terrence Crawford.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is it about our area that draws people in and then produces such high-level fighters?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that um I think in the broad, like in the Midwest, really, there um everybody here has pretty hard, hard work ethic, you know, and when they're gonna do something, they do it.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of those guys you named were wrestlers prior to MMA and um man, that's a that's a grind, you know, as a kid.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's that corn, man.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're putting something in it.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been fighting in the amateur circuit for two years now, not quite two years.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh about a year and a half, maybe, maybe a little less.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So what are your goals with it long term?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I was I want to do the best I can with Mitch Martial Arts, you know, um go as far as I can with it, and I I hope to uh hope to maybe coach in the future and still be in the sport.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I I was an electrician for the last six years after high school, you know, and I did it long enough to know I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great field, but I I I like to compete and I like to push people to compete.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um it's uh it's my life now, man.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I changed my whole my whole schedule to it, and it's it's all I it's all I think about, all I talk about, all I all I like to do is Yeah, and that's the thing, man.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's if you can make your hobby your occupation, then you know you're doing something right with it.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: You're never working a day in your life.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So exactly, exactly.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's ever you know, everybody's like, you know, you work a job, you you do your nine to five, you go home, and that's it.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't I don't think life's gotta be that way, you know.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think you can chase your dreams and you can, you know, be somebody from Fort Calhoun, a small town and and make it.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So what's your family's reaction to you fighting?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh a lot of people didn't think I was gonna be aggressive in my first fight, you know, they didn't think I was gonna be aggressive enough to they didn't think I had it in me.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like the the have that dog in me, you know.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh now they love it.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my my whole family's been so supportive.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a huge family.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my great grandma had 17 kids, and they've all had kids, and so it's there's a lot of people.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: So and um they all come out of my aunts, my uncles.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: My grandma was even at my last fight.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: She doesn't ever she hardly even she meant to win maybe one wrestling tournament or so.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And uh she was at my last fight.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's cool to everybody likes to come together for it.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my whole family likes to see each other for it, and it's a good time.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: How many siblings do you have?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I am I have uh eight siblings.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, and where are you at in the pecking order?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Smack dab in the middle.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got older siblings and younger siblings, and you said your younger brother trains with you?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Jordan.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh his he they my my parents named Jordan.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: You go down line, he's uh 13 months younger than me.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You go down the line of kids, he goes Michael Jordan.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: So uh he's been training, he's been up at Mix for close to a year now, I think.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And he's he's been he was a wrestler too.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was a tough wrestler, and do we call him tough?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he's been he's been killing it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: There he's getting better every day.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's where he's at right now.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: So does he have ambitions to go into the world of MMA as well?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we we don't know when exactly he's going to fight, but he does plan to fight.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: He did a jiu-jitsu tournament um back in April.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: The grappling industry, so he got double gold there, so for Ginogi at his weight.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So how have you adapted jujitsu into your wrestling with both of them being ground game and both of them being so intense?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: I was a very heavy uh mat wrestler.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I like I was like I was on top, I get the legs in, the boots in, you know, ride people out, tire them out, and turn them to their back.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and you can break people that way too, mentally.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: You you know, you push somebody down and they can't move, and so um the jujitsu transitioned pretty well.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I had to get used to the positioning and things like that and getting comfortable with being on my back.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: But aside from all that, it my wrestling to jujitsu trans, and I was a funky wrestler, I had a very funky style.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So starting off with a 3-0 record, bro, like that doesn't just come easily.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And two of those three wins were were finishes.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: It only one went to decision, so yeah, and it was a unanimous decision too.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you drop that in there.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's amazing.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: So how about the community of Fort Calhoun?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Are you still living in Fort Calhoun?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I live um Fort Calhoun is just like 20 minutes north of Omaha.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I I live probably 25 minutes away from there.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the town is awesome.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: That you know, they're they're the kind of place where um they back their people up, you know, and they the community is awesome.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I like to I go there when I like quit getting closer to the fight, I go there to run.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I like to go run the same routes I used to run when I was wrestling, you know, in preseason, kind of it's the nostalgic and kind of puts me where I where I need to be mentally.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was gonna ask you that next is what kind of things that inspire you to get in the headspace when you're preparing for a fight.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I put my headphones on, man.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: I go for a run and I I get lost in the run.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: I I bump some you it's it's always something different.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: If anywhere from biggie to uh earth, wind and fire, you know.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I and I I run and I just I I play things back in my head, my you know, past wrestling matches matches, you know, things that I've done wrong that I can do better as you know as far as martial arts goes.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um so and I I just I tell myself I'm the best and I keep running.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So what kind of things overall inspire you to be better tomorrow than you were today?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my my uh my family, man, they they uh there's nothing better than than to see my siblings, you know.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're all grown up and moved out, and you know, thankfully they're all in Omaha, so I can still kind of see them when I can, but we've got all different schedules, so but um yeah, I'm I I uh my uh four older siblings are the coolest people my whole life, you know, and I they they still are.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I yeah, I just wanted to be as cool as they were, so so I spent a little bit of time on YouTube.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I watched some of your fights for some reason.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And correct me if I'm wrong, maybe it's big family, but you seem to get the loudest crowd pop of anybody in the building.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: What's your secret, bro?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I uh a lot of it's family.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've got an incredible group of friends I've been hanging out with since since high school, and they they've been a lot of them wrestlers.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's only a couple of them that that weren't wrestlers, but fight days it's a good day, man.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: All my friends come over to the apartment, we all hang out and get psyched up for the fight, and then we literally hang out until I go to the arena.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Then uh I go to the arena and um my family will get there a little early and I go, you know, say shake shake hands, give hugs, and thank everybody for for the sport coming out to watch.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's uh it's a good time.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a very good time.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love that, man.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you're fighting 10 pounds down from your normal weight.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: How's that weight cut going?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's a lot whenever you get down to the lower weight classes.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's not too bad.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was I'm like 10 pounds overweight today, I think I was.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was actually the that's 126 is what I wrestled in high school.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and it's pretty similar cut.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't have to maintain the weight for the three-month season, you know.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: So the weight cut's not so bad when I only got to do it once.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I get it 24 hours after weigh ends, you know.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: We in wrestling tournament, you step on the scale and then you're wrestling two hours later.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a little bit a little bit different.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I run a lot too, so so it's getting the getting the way time is not too too big of a problem.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're not afraid of the process of cardio then or anything like those kinds.
• 16:36
  unknown: No, no.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So have you ever tried anything unconventional like the ice baths, the sauna, or any of that other stuff for like recovery and uh manage your weight?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'll do I'll do ice baths when I'm when I'm really, really sore.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't I stay away from saunas.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard too many terrible stories, you know.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I I stay away from those.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I do it the old fashioned way.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I put some sweats on, then I get on the treadmill and I run, check weight, and and then you know, you're probably you're usually like a couple pounds over, so you gotta put all the sweaty clothes back on and get back on the treadmill and back to running.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's something that people would be surprised to learn about you?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I could ride a unicycle.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: I know how to ride a unicycle.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me about that.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: How did you figure that shit out?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: My uh my my uncle got it for me for as a birthday gift, as a joke, because I didn't know how to ride one, you know.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I took that thing and I got on it and fell on it until I figured it out, and then I laughed at uh, you know, I was like, hey, I I can do this thing jokes on you.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: So how did you get aligned with Dynasty Combat Sports?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, really all my uh coaches have been taking care of all of that.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: They um they get in contact with Josh Craichy or Cody Land, both great fighters, great coaches, and uh and they kind of do the matchup and then they talk with me afterwards and we we come to an agreement.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were to lay it out one year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, where would you be?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: One year from now, I don't I'm not really too in a rush to go pro.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna continue to learn and um I want to do some more jujitsu stuff, maybe a little more Muay Thai stuff.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been I've done a couple Muay Thai tournaments and one jujitsu tournament, I but I really want to get back in the gig again.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Five years from now, definitely pro.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully with the LFA, that'd be cool.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to fight with the LFA.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I I love what they do, man.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Ten years still grinding, I'd be I'd be 20 or 35, 10 years.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe maybe still fighting a little bit, and if not, coaching.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: So ultimately, your ultimate goal is to be a coach, and I think that's a natural attrition for anybody.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm friends with a lot of fighters, I'm friends with a lot of a lot of coaches.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have that certain work ethic.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you've spent some time as an electrician, right?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I know there's no direct correlation between one career and another, but there's a correlation between career pathing.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: How does that path look for you in a similar sense to you going from like school to becoming an electrician?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: How does that path look from you going from an amateur fighter to a coach?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I was actually coaching while I was doing electrical, and um, I was coaching a middle school in Fort Calhoun.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: I did that for about three years, and I would um would help out with uh some wrestling.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'd go up to I could I wrestled for Millard South for two years.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was a state runner up for them.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I'd go up there and work out with them, would wrestle with those kids when I had when I had the chance, or um Nebraska Wrestling Academy when I could get over there, I'd go wrestle with them.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't been there in a while, but I need to get over there.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I was wrestling with these these, you know, they're high school kids, but they're incredible athletes, you know.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like and I was like, man, I can still I can still do this, I can still compete, I still got it.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I was still doing electrical kinda, and then was like in the gym training myself, and so I got out of coaching and was started training again.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um I just kinda always had one foot in, and then you know I was like, Mike, if you're gonna do this, you gotta get two feet in and be in it or or be out.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I took the dive, I quit being an electrician.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: I work at uh Patty's sports bar in Grill now, and um and I just and I train a bunch.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So what's something that you wish you would have known before you started this that you know now?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I wish that I would have just started it earlier, man.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: I I I I uh I didn't win state my senior year of high school, and I was pretty disappointed in myself, upset with myself, and um I was like, man, I'll never touch a mat again, you know, I'm never gonna compete again.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I had wrestled in college, you know.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's another one of my regrets is not wrestling in college.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I had a few people looking at me and I should have taken one.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then um I think ultimately the path would have eventually leaded to where I'm at right now.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can I can sympathize with that, you know.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um very similar story, you know.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I had a lot of scholarships in front of me in high school, and so and actually I I was a musician, and I chose, man, I'm I'm gonna just go try and be a rock star instead of taking up all these scholarships.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a part of me that regrets not taking that path, but there's another part of me that says I wouldn't have had the awesome life that I had if I had taken that path.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's hard to it's hard to regret it because I've uh along the path I've been on right now, I've met a lot of cool people.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and I wouldn't I wouldn't change that for the world.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: But um I I just think I think that I could be at a different level now than I, you know, than I am right now.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but the thing I would the unsolicited advice that I'm gonna offer you right now is constantly look at the world through a windshield, not through a rear view mirror.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what's next, not what happened before.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: All we can do is we can live and we learn, man.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely right.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I that's what I do, man.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: So given everything that you've learned in the past year of competing and getting to compete on such a high-level promotion as Dynasty Combat Sports, um what's some advice that you would give, and this is a very unconventional question, for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I think people should step out of their comfort zone, you know, and we can be in a better place if people got out of their comfort zone and were quit um being you know intimidated by things and just try things new.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um I I I tell everybody to try jujitsu.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: I tell everybody to get into it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm uh hey, it's not what you think it's gonna be, and you might you might love it.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't care if it's like knitting or or whatever it may be.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know that world.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: I just I know the world that I that I'm in, you know.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: So so I uh I promote that a lot.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I promote wrestling, I promote promote a lot of jujitsu, you know.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um any more really, man.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's um it uh it'll humble you, it'll it changes your mindset on things, you know.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, at the end of the day, we're all you know, we s we still wake up in the morning, we gotta be, you know, people need to be more kind too.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's not enough kind people in the world.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, I agree, I agree.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's not enough kind people in the world.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: I agree, I agree.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one thing that I've noticed, and one thing that I'm a huge advocate about because I have people from all walks of life on my show.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing that I find constantly that I think shocks people is the level of humility that fighters have and how cool headed fighters actually are, and how kind most fighters actually are.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something to that?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something to getting aggression out in the competitive space that kind of helps you live a more peaceful everyday life?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean a lot of people, since I've been doing it, a lot of people are like, oh, you you must have been in a lot of street fights, you know, growing up.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, I never actually.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I just I stay away, I turn the other cheek, you know, walk away.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not that deep.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's you know, they they my opponent they go through, they train hard too, you know.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: I know exactly what they're going through.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing it myself, and you know, there's no reason to hate each other.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're doing it to compete and test ourselves, challenge ourselves, and and um I don't know.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's a crazy life, man.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's a crazy lifestyle.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Dynasty Combat Sports Summer Kickoff 2023 is June 9th at Liberty First Credit Union Arena, formerly known as Ralston Arena.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can get your tickets online at nitrotickets.com.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Check it out.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: I am glad that we've had the opportunity to have this conversation today, Mike.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you, man.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's been it's been fun to chat with you.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just a just a couple of mics hanging out on a Tuesday afternoon.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Caught on the mic in Nebraska, you know, it's all good.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Man, Mike Tyson, thank you very much for doing the show.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: The world is a better place with you and it, my friend.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, thank you.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a couple uh quick shout-outs, really quick.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to thank my my coaches at Mick Doyle's, Mick, himself, Willie, um, Josh Crachie, Emeka, and um Cody Land, dude, they've been awesome.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: My family, my friends for supporting me.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't do it without any of them.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh my sponsors, doing the things Abe's trash and Deki Schmecky photography, and that's all I got, man.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you guys, all you people that just got shouted out here, make sure you share this episode with everybody you know.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would totally appreciate that.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll make sure they do.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'll make sure they do thanks, Mike.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, I'd like to thank Copper Mike Tyson for being on the podcast today.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give a shout out to my friend Henry from Dynasty Combat Sports for hooking this up.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can follow Mike on social media, search him out on Instagram.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: He is tagged in the episode descripted in the Cock on the Mic Instagram page.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're giving me a follow on all forms of social media on Instagram, on Twitter, on TikTok, and Facebook and visit me at www.cotonthemic.com.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: There are promotional opportunities for your visitors to get in right now.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: To be a sponsor on Caught on the Mic.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Choose me an email, cot on the mic at gmail.com.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to talk to you about reading an ad for you on the show.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mic with Michael Clark.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Smark.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, thank you.