Latest / The MM-EH Show / Xi Lau To Lead Canadian Contingent of Mixed Martial Artists at CUFF 19 in Trinidad and Tobago

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Xi Lau To Lead Canadian Contingent of Mixed Martial Artists at CUFF 19 in Trinidad and Tobago · The MM-EH Show

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  hello there fight friends we are with C
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  Lao who is uh speaking with us from
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  Toronto where he is getting ready for
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  his fight this upcoming weekend in
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  Trinidad and Tobago C thank you for
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  joining us thank you Andy glad to be
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  here that's good I'm glad you're glad
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  we're all glad glad is good glad is glad
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  is is happen happy is good so uh for the
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  people who might be watching us who
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  don't know you just take a second and
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  talk about yourself your name and where
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  you're from and what your training
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  background is with fighting
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  my name is C laoo uh I'm a mixed martial
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  arts competitor um I started um with
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  sand if you're not familiar with sand
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  it's a form of Chinese kickboxing just
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  looks it really looks like MMA but
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  without the groundwork so as soon as
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  there's a takedown the ref will stop the
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  match stand both Fighters up and then
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  they'll continue on the feet um not a
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  lot of uh Sanda here in Canada um it's
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  pretty popular in China in Russia in the
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  Middle East but in Canada it's uh still
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  hasn't really picked up yet so while I
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  was training I know I was looking for
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  Avenues to compete and I ended up
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  competing in mixed martial
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  arts um how old were you when you
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  started trading
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  Sanda uh I would say
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  um 19 181 19 yeah how old are you now
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  kind of late I am now I'm 34 now turn 34
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  this year so it started kind of late I
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  guess it depends who you ask but um I uh
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  kind of got into Combat Sports a little
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  later in life uh or some people might
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  say it's uh it's your Prime right 1819
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  and I started competing mix martial arts
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  uh I believe uh
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  2022 I had my first amateur fight well
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  I'd say a lot of people say that uh your
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  Prime in mixed martial arts your Prime
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  as as a peak physic for an adult male is
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  probably not till at least you're 30 so
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  31 32 so you're probably doing okay
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  right now aren't you how do you feel uh
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  yeah it depends you know it depends on
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  everybody's a little bit different you
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  know their chronological age might not
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  be um you know their their physical age
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  you know some people age a little bit
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  slower and um I think I like to believe
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  that I'm one of those people um but I'd
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  be lying if I if I said that I didn't
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  feel my age you know I I definitely feel
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  it catching up to me recovery is a
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  little bit more difficult and me being
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  uh fighting and competing in the lighter
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  weight classes H it is a little bit
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  different right you can see you'll see
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  heavy weights competing into their 40s
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  whereas um at flyweight the weight I'm
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  competing at next weekend um it's it's a
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  little more rare to see older fly
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  weights do you think it's just because
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  in the lighter weight classes it's known
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  as being
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  faster yeah I think so I think uh your
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  reflexes matter a lot and when that
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  starts to go sometimes hard to keep up
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  um and uh you know it's it's a little
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  bit more difficult to slow us little
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  guys
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  down well regardless you have signed a
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  contract and you are fighting this
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  weekend so when I saw this fight card I
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  was kind of caught by surprise because
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  it's not something I'm uh that
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  accustomed to fighting in Trinidad
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  Tobago there's actually I think like
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  five Canadians fighting on that on that
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  card tell me a little bit about how you
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  got signed on to that and how you became
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  exposed to that organiz ation which is
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  uh I think Caribbean ultimate fist
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  fighting cuff correct cuff yeah so um
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  big shout out to uh my friend boyan from
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  dick booy Fight Club he's the one who um
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  introduced me to the promoter and uh you
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  know without without him this fight
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  never would have would have happened so
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  he he's competed there before a few
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  years ago he's the cuff flyweight
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  Champion um and you know he fought there
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  and had good experiences there and he's
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  a good good friend of mine good training
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  partner of mine and he introduced me to
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  the idea and then uh decided to sponsor
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  myself to uh to go down there and and
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  compete against the against what was
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  supposed to be the best in the car
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  Caribbeans but fortunately he got
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  injured and he pulled out so now I'm
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  fighting a
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  Venezuelan so the first opponent was
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  cadan and yeah I think a lot of people
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  were looking forward to that fight too
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  CU he's got a he's got a good reputation
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  and your new opponent's name is uh let's
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  see guo Salazar so tell us what you know
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  about
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  him um I know he's uh 0 and one just
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  like myself um two uh professional
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  losers competing uh uh and somebody's
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  O's got to go you know hopefully it's
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  mine yeah yeah imagine you somebody's 's
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  got to go imagine if it's a draw imagine
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  don't say that don't say
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  that now people who hear you say that
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  might think that you're just a a one
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  fight fighter so far but that's not
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  exactly true because you have quite an
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  extensive amateur record too where you
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  saw a lot of success so the fact that
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  you were fighting for essentially a
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  decade already before you went
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  professional do you think that gives you
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  any kind of benefit especially in
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  experience when it comes to becoming a
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  professional yeah I think I think it
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  definitely helps but at the same time if
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  you look at my amateur record a lot of
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  the matches ended up finishing the first
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  round so I have like 12 fights I think
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  amateur
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  um but uh you know a handful of them
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  finish in the first round and with those
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  with those kind of fights you you don't
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  really learn as much as you would in
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  like a three round with a three round
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  decision yeah so um yeah I think it
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  definitely does help but um you know I I
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  uh went pro uh earlier this year was
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  supposed to go pro in 2018 but a whole
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  bunch of stuff happened so um here we
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  are now and we're just going to try to
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  make make the best of it you know well
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  Co didn't help with a lot of people I
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  mean that put a big uh you know Big Mess
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  into everybody's plans yeah so you
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  fought kind of killed my career do you
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  think it killed your career um it killed
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  what it what it could have been but um
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  you know some things you there are
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  things you can't control right so yeah
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  we just uh do our best from
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  here now you have fought uh quite often
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  in the United States you fought in
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  Canada you fought now you're going to be
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  fighting in the Caribbean after this
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  weekend um what's the thought process
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  for you when you're getting ready for a
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  fight in your backyard in Canada as
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  opposed to essentially going into en
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  territory um I kind of prefer competing
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  abroad I I feel like there's less
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  pressure you know I'm compete I always
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  compete against a local guys uh and you
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  know all the all the cards are are
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  stacked against me and I kind of like
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  that challenge and um going to fight a
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  guy who's supposed to beat me and I
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  think I thrive in that kind of
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  environment
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  tell us about your fighting style what
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  do you like as a as a mix Marshal
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  artist um I think I'm pretty
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  well-rounded um I used to be a striker
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  you know competing on in the states um
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  competing against a lot of wrestlers um
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  and they were just looking to take me
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  down so I kind
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  of kind of had built built my skills as
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  a striker um looking to uh keep the
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  fight on the feet but um now I'm as I'm
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  starting to get older I feel like like
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  it's always safer to take the fight to
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  the ground and uh control where the
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  fight goes so I I think I I think I'm
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  pretty well-rounded um but uh you know a
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  lot of my fights as as an amateur I was
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  like kind of like the striker uh the
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  wrestler would take me down and a lot of
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  times I would submit them off my back um
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  but yeah I think I'm pretty well-rounded
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  I like to believe that anywhere the
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  fight goes I can hold my own there nice
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  um at what point did you realize that
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  you wanted to become a professional and
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  you said it was kind of delayed because
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  of things including covid so what was it
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  about 2018 and then later on now that
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  prompted you to switch from the amateur
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  ranks to
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  professional yeah so when I started
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  competing as an amateur I kind of just
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  was doing it for fun um and wanting to
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  test myself um I kind of built a decent
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  amateur record competing against really
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  good guys like I said before guys I was
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  supposed to to lose to ended up ranked
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  number one in the the US
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  Northeast and um you know like it just
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  it was an natural progression um
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  competing in New York uh there wasn't a
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  lot of professional fights at the time
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  even now very little professional fights
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  in New York you know it was illegal to
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  fight professionally in New York for a
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  long time uh so a lot of uh like fans
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  and and people were paying like Pro
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  level money for for amateur fights right
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  and we had had the small 4 o gloves um
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  no Shing guards no head protection
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  basically competing professional rules
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  aside from it being three minute rounds
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  um so it was just a natural progression
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  for me I wanted to go pro in 2018 uh had
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  a contract to fight for BTC
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  unfortunately I had to pull out from my
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  fight because uh my appendex burst and I
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  had to go to uh emergency
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  surgery so I once I had that fixed up I
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  was sitting in in the hospital bed
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  depressed not sure what to do because
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  you know I couldn't fight professionally
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  I couldn't follow through with that
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  contract I ended up taking an amateur
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  fight that was like um maybe two weeks
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  after I got out of the hospital ended up
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  losing that fight um that was 2019 and
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  then um and then and then you know uh
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  covid happened and that that kind of
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  delayed everything fought again amateur
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  after covid lost and
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  you know uh on a two-fight skid decided
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  to go pro anyways um because you know
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  competing at as an amateur with my
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  record I'm probably going to be fighting
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  better guys than I would be fighting Pro
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  so sure I decided to go pro um had four
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  fights fall through all of them like the
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  week before the week of and then
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  competing compe in my first uh Pro fight
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  this year in March yeah so yeah that's
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  my sad story
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  it's not a sad story it's life man
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  things happen to to all of us to
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  everybody in all walks of life and just
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  you know it's it all depends on how you
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  roll with it how you how you keep on
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  carrying on so you're still carrying on
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  you're still fighting uh do you feel
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  like you have something to prove with
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  with with with a a two- fight skit as
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  you put it as an amateur and then your
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  your first pro fight as a loss as
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  well um do I have something to prove
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  maybe but you know I kind of uh stop
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  fighting for other people long time ago
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  I'm just doing this for myself yeah um
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  and maybe something to prove to myself I
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  don't think so I think I you know I
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  could retire now and be happy I did some
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  some pretty cool things um so not really
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  I'm not I'm not looking to prove anybody
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  wrong I'm just trying to compete test
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  myself and uh experience everything that
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  uh that life has to to give me yeah for
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  sure now the thing is records can be
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  deceiving right like I say this all the
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  time sometimes records can tell you some
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  information about a fighter sometimes it
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  it can't really tell you the whole story
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  so your your one pro fight in BTC it was
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  by no means a blowout either it was a
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  fantastic fight you just happen to be on
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  the losing end but you still impressive
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  skill still looking really good so I
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  mean for me there's no reason why you
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  would stop I mean I'm I'm happy you're
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  still you're sticking with it and you're
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  fighting again because you know there's
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  a good chance you're going to get some
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  success yeah I hope so I I feel like my
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  skills are there I fought a undefeated
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  guy um and I feel like I I was I was in
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  there with him the whole fight until um
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  you know he he uh slapped on that
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  triangle um so yeah I think I would like
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  to I would like to keep going keep
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  competing and see see where it takes
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  me where do you train see yeah I'm here
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  at my gym at uh in Scaro Ontario um we
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  recently rebranded to uh Trillium mix
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  martial arts formerly known as ASD MMA
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  got a great stable of fighter
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  um a lot of a lot of pro level guys and
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  a lot of great amateurs that are that
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  are up and coming a lot of undefeated
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  guys that are that are you know now
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  looking to to make their their Pro uh
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  Pro
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  debut tell us uh some more names of some
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  of the people you train with especially
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  your main training Partners you said
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  buan was was a big training partner for
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  you yeah I train with buan he he's not
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  uh here around here at trillum as much I
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  normally uh travel and uh go abroad at
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  two other gyms to train with him because
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  he's across the city he's in the in the
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  bron bron area right so but I'm working
• 13:06
  here with my guys here I got like a top
• 13:09
  prospect Diego de Jesus he's a really
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  good uh amateur seven and 0 um looking
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  to make his jump to professional uh
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  salak
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  badenov um let me think a bunch of other
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  guys bloi Muhammad um got a lot of amers
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  that here that are that are that are
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  really high level
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  guys how important is it to have young
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  upom cut that part I was going to say
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  maybe cut that part I'm forgetting a
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  bunch of people I don't want them to be
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  pissed off at me and beat me up and
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  sparing you know no you know what I'm
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  going to do you a favor and let them
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  beat you up because you know it's it's
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  important to stay humble and that was
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  leading on to my next question I was
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  leading on to my next question how
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  important is it to have some young studs
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  you know nipping at your heels and you
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  know I'm 55 years old too and I don't
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  train all that often but when I do it's
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  really humbling that doesn't matter M
• 13:59
  what my skill level is you know some
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  20-year-old kid can like smash me
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  sometimes so you know how does that
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  feel uh it sucks first of all um but you
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  kind of have to um you have to be smart
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  about it too right because these these
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  young guys they come up and they're
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  hungry and they're looking to prove
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  something um but uh being an older guy
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  you know you have to be careful not to
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  get injured you got to train smart it's
• 14:24
  good to have these guys um to compete
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  with these guys when the time is right
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  and then it you got to know when to back
• 14:32
  off as well and to use your
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  experience for sure so best case
• 14:38
  scenario after this weekend in Trinidad
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  and Tobago your o is going to go and
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  you'll be a a one-onone pro fighter do
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  you have any long-term plans for the
• 14:47
  sport or do you just really gonna wait
• 14:49
  and see how it goes after this
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  weekend yeah I think I'm just going to
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  take it one fight at a time but
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  ultimately my goal is to compete
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  uh gain experience and help the fighters
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  that we have here help them train help
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  them as a coach I think I'm a a lot
• 15:08
  better Coach uh than a fighter so um
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  really I'm doing this so that I can you
• 15:13
  know bring these guys up and I'll be
• 15:16
  able to tell them to to do things that
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  I've done
• 15:19
  myself is there any part of it that you
• 15:22
  to to be a good coach you have to have
• 15:24
  the experience that you have to sort of
• 15:26
  let your students know that hey I know
• 15:28
  what I'm talking about this is what I've
• 15:29
  gone through and you you should learn
• 15:31
  from my experience yeah I mean uh I
• 15:33
  don't think it's mandatory because you
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  know there have been um world champion
• 15:40
  swimming coaches that have never gotten
• 15:42
  wet before and for whatever reason
• 15:44
  they're just able to um train uh
• 15:47
  worldclass athletes um but I I do think
• 15:50
  it is uh valuable to have that
• 15:52
  experience not only um for the athletes
• 15:56
  looking at the coach but also to know
• 15:59
  without a doubt that I have experienced
• 16:01
  it before and know what what it feels
• 16:03
  like you know and that that will that
• 16:05
  experience is invaluable to to be able
• 16:07
  to coach someone knowing that you've
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  been there
• 16:10
  before for
• 16:13
  sure okay see uh I really appreciate you
• 16:15
  taking the time to speak with us it's
• 16:17
  pretty awesome I'm really excited that
• 16:18
  you're actually going to represent uh
• 16:20
  your jym and in Ontario and Canada in
• 16:22
  the Caribbean so we wish you the best of
• 16:24
  luck and any final words anything you'd
• 16:25
  like to say before we go I'd like to
• 16:28
  give a big Shout shout out to all my
• 16:29
  sponsors um uh thick boy especially
• 16:33
  who's uh you know helping me out a lot
• 16:35
  this Camp to uh head over to Trinidad um
• 16:38
  I have a bunch of other other sponsors
• 16:40
  that support me um thank you so much to
• 16:44
  you uh MMA Andy make sure you guys
• 16:46
  follow subscribe to his channel he does
• 16:49
  a lot for Canadian mixed martial arts
• 16:51
  and uh if you're interested in my fight
• 16:54
  uh I hope to see you guys there and
• 16:57
  again hopefully my will we'll leave
• 16:59
  after this
• 17:00
  fight all right see best of luck from
• 17:02
  everyone here thank you Andy have a good
• 17:06
  day I'll see you soon you too safe
• 17:08
  travels