Latest / Caught on the Mike... / "Experience is Everything" with UFC Welterweight Neil Magny

Transcript

"Experience is Everything" with UFC Welterweight Neil Magny · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Warning due to some language and subject matter.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's a famous quote by T.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: S.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Lewis that says, integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And my next guest has built a solid reputation based on this characteristic and his sense of humility.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: After spending seven years in the Army, including a deployment to the Middle East, he has found himself in the top 10 of the UFC's welterweight division.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: With a record of 25 wins and eight losses, elevation fight team captain Neil Magney joins me on the show today.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about his journey and how all of his life experiences have tailor-made him to be El Capitan.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mickey.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: How the heck are you?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is round two for us, isn't it?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, here we go, round two.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great, dude.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure talking to you again.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said the other night, you are one of my favorite people.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: The more and more the stories creep out about the team captain of elevation fight team, the bigger fan I become.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, how's your week been?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: The weather seems to be warmer in Denver than it is here in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, it's amazing.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're like 65 degrees today.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're out riding bikes and motorcycles, like literally enjoying the day.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's crazy to be a week out from Thanksgiving and then like have the weather be this warm.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is amazing.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is with this year.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it never felt fully like fall season here.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was always like hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Halloween, it was cold as hell.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in my garage, fire pit going, you know.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I remember that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like Halloween, I tried to see my son trigger treating.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we just brought out the wagon so you can like throw his stuff in there, and like uh in case he got tired, we can like have like pull him around or whatever.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: But like after going about four or five doors, he just like sat in the in the wagon with the blanket and just refused to get out.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was like eating candy in a blanket.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm just like, Well, that's so much for tricky treating this year.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're just gonna eat candy in a wagon and get pulled uh door to door.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that ended pretty quick.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: How old is your son?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he'll be two in January.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Your son's name is Liam, isn't he?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Liam, yeah.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: I have a son named Liam.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny because I had a friend of mine has a son as well.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna be two uh in February.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Liam, and my jiu-jitsu coach from Chicago, my jujitsu coach, uh he just had a son which is uh about three months younger than my son, and his name is Liam as well.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's weird that like Liam is the most popular name uh the last couple days.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: But they're the coolest kids, right?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, cool kids gotta have a cool name, right?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, without any further ado, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us your origin story?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, long story short, uh, Neil Magney, uh UFC Waltz Way currently.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh been with the UFC going on geez, telling my age here, uh 10 years now uh since being under UFC batter.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Start with the ultimate fighter.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um now I'm almost 25 in five fights in under UFC.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I've kind of been here for a while.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm turning into uh a bet in the game, so to speak.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh fortunate to be here.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think I saw you share a picture where somebody called you an OG and you're like, what?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that I said it creeps up on you.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: When I first moved to Colorado, I remember being one of the uh younger guys on the team, and here I am being one of the older guys on the team.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I guess it's a good and bad thing.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you can be the old guy in a young man sports, the good thing.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it's not all like downhill, I guess, being the older guy.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you were on 2012 season, the ultimate fighter, Roy Nelson versus Shane Carwin.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you share a little bit about how that came about?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that was like uh a crazy process getting to the uh the ultimate fighter.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, like most guys get to go out there, uh, your manager makes a call.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, UFC kind of knows uh who to expect uh to go out there, and the list is kind of already made for going there.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or you can do the open casting and just kind of like take a chance.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: You go out there, you'll hit pads, you'll uh you'll grapple for a bit and do an interview with uh with the matchmakers and Dana White, and they kind of uh um select you that way.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I actually tried out for the ultimate fighter four times before I finally made the cut.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um the first time I tried out, I was just I think I was three and oh at the time, so they um told me I didn't have enough fights.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I went back at uh six and oh, um, still didn't have enough fights or experience.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um went back the third time and they they were doing the uh um uh they were doing the uh uh what are called the live season that time, and they were gonna do walter weights and lightweights.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then last minute they decided to cut the waltz weights and just do lightweights.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, the fourth time I went out there to try it out.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, dude, I don't know what else to do at this point.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is my fourth time coming out here.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: You told me I needed XYZ.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I went out there and did just that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what else do I possibly have to do to get to the ultimate fighter?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just remember Dana White and uh um at the time the matchmaker was Joe Silver kind of looking at each other, looking at me, and just like, I don't know, man.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's it.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're in.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And at first I started talking in disbelief.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, really?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: That seems kind of simple.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to that's all it's up.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that was my my chance to get in for the uh for the ultimate fighter.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't hadn't you just finished like a BA in criminal justice and you were about to go through like the police academy program, and then you got that call at the 11th hour, something along those lines?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I so I was going to school to Southern Illinois University, which is over uh down by St.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and after graduating, I moved back up north to uh Chicago.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I just kind of was this is getting life rolling.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, cool, let me I got my bachelor's degree, I got everything else going, let me go ahead and start applying for the police academy and just like keep life going as I'm pursuing this dream of being uh an ultimate fighter slash UFC guy uh or whatever.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'm just kind of just going out there making all this stuff happen.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I remember that summer uh when I got called out for the ultimate fighter, well, the same summer I got accepted to the Chicago Police Academy.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um back then the Chicago Police Academy was real um difficult to get into.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like they literally had like a lottery drawing at one point.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: There were so many applicants from all over the place that like you literally were assigned a number.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then like you from that number they allowed you to go take a test.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then from that test, they picked the highest ranked applicants.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then from that pool of guys, they went ahead and selected like uh a lottery number again to see who would qualify to go to the police academy at that point.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I went through all that, made all the cuts for that, and I finally got to the end of it.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, you got to send to the Chicago Police Academy.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is your start date.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we need you to go ahead and um submit for polygraph tests, all this other stuff.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And in the same week, I got called through the Australian fighter.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, well, crap, dude.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is like both of these opportunities are life-changing.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't have to be like this broke regional fighter um uh chasing his dreams to UFC.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: I can actually like have a career, have a job that's gonna allow me to train and that kind of thing, or I can just like go to the Ultimate Fighter route and see how that pans out.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, fortunately, I chose the Australian fighter route route and it's been paying off ever since.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely it has.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, have you been doing mixed martial arts your whole life, or when did you get your start?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I started in high school.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: My junior year goes to my senior of high school is when I started mixed martial arts.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um at the time I was just playing football.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was running trike and I was doing wrestling.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and in one summer, a football coach got us connected to uh goes to like a local gym just to like lift weights and that kind of thing.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and at the time, the girl tours was renting studio space out of the back of the gym to run this martial arts program.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I remember just kind of looking over and was like, man, it looks kind of interesting.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's guys over there kicking stuff and they're driving.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like wrestling, but it's not wrestling.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it kind of piqued my interest early on.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just kind of like, honestly, intimidated person.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, it looks really, really fun, but I don't want to get beat up because I don't know what they're doing, kind of thing.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, I just like worked up enough courage to kind of like go over, introduce myself, ask what they were doing, and and uh um talk to Miguel Torres about like trying out classes, and literally from that moment I was kind of hooked to it.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I remember uh my very first experience going to the gym, a girl's like, yeah, um, throw these gloves on and we'll start moving around.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I had no mouth guard, no cop, nothing, dude.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, sure, I'll throw these gloves on to see what I can do.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he just like throws the jab right in the mouth and actually it chipped my tube.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I still had the chip too.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like we zoom in and see it.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, my tube uh the very first time, like sparring quote unquote when we go towards back then.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was and it wasn't like him trying to like hurt me or pro anything like that.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's kind of like trying to show me the ropes, like, all right, this is what we do here.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is um pig bossing, this is what it entails, this is what uh comes with the kind of thing.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and like after that first hit, I was kind of like, man, it kind of stings a bit.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: I just broke my tooth, but I think I like it.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think we should come back and try this out.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I kind of been pursuing it ever since.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um I I stayed through wrestling my senior high school, uh still training mixed martial arts, that kind of thing.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, right after high school, I went off to the military uh and started training in uh hand-to-hand combat, that kind of thing.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um I graduated high school in 2006.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 2007, I got done with uh basic training AIT, that kind of thing.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and opportunity to deploy with the army.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I went ahead and deployed uh in 2007 to about 2008.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and during that time, it was still the same kind of thing.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like finding whoever I can train with to like train martial arts.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was like like I found a kickboxer that was in Marines, I found a jiu-jitsu guy that was like this old Green Beret dude, and like whoever I can find to like train with, I was just kind of like making the best with it.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and like at times we didn't even have like actual training masks.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: We were like using those old like puzzle masks or just like just training in the sand, literally, just dropping in the sand with our like uh army uniforms on and that kind of thing.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, like we didn't have ghiz, we didn't have like the the no-gee gear.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: We literally had like our army uniforms and like whatever we can order or get our um family to send us through care packages, what we use to train.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, man.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't imagine like sparring in the sand in your BDUs in the middle of the Middle East, man.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: That had to be hot and miserable.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh dude, like it, but like the cool thing is like something we look forward to.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you like, you're doing you're working all day, you're doing missions all day, that kind of thing.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, it's like, man, I need to like relax.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you're trying to find uh something to relax doing.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily for me was martial arts.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to uh go out there and train with these different guys and kind of like uh ease the stress or anything doing that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I think I heard a story one time about you doing a marathon while you were in the Middle East without training or preparing for it.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is that true?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, to be young and dumb again, I guess.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I got my command to approve me to run a marathon in Kuwait, uh, because there was a girl that I was interested in seeing down there.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was like, in my mind, I was like, I wanted to go down there so I can like see this girl, but I was like, all right, the way I can do it is by running this marathon.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I convinced them to let me go down there and do the marathon.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I remember like just this running, literally took me like three and a half hours almost to run these 26 miles, and I didn't train for it, I had nothing leading up, so I just kind of like just went for it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and at the end of it, I was like, all right, cool.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I ran my 26 miles, I'm gonna shower off and go see this girl.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And literally at the finish line, my sergeant at the time is just waiting for him, he's like, hey, good job, fucker.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, wait a run that marathon, but grab a gear, we have mission, let's go.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, wait, wait, what?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean let's go?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I came down here to like see this girl.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just ran 26 miles so I can see her.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just like get an hour, 30 minutes, anything to see this girl?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, nope, we gotta go, dude.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So need to say, that kind of killed my romantic side, I guess.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I started doing less and less for love, I guess.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: But you ended up in a good place after all, right?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it didn't work out with her anyway, but unfortunate to be uh married now and have kids and that kind of thing.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it kind of worked out in the in uh in the long run, I guess.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: At 19, I didn't think it was working out for me, but uh at 34, looking back on it, it definitely worked out.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: As a professional fighter, somebody that's got military experience, somebody that trained in the law enforcement field, um, you've had a lot of interests.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: You also have been all over the place.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: You um moved from Brooklyn to Chicago, now you're in Denver.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of work ethic does it require to be fighting at your level and to be?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know if you can actually answer this, but to maintain that sense of humility that you have.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think that's one of the things that everybody admires about you.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, life has a strange way of keeping me humble.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I look back at my career, I look back at things of my life in general, um, there's always like this moment of like me being super prideful before something happens that forces me to be a little bit more humble.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, whether it's like uh me taking family for and friends for granted, and then like something happened where I'm not able to see them as often as I would like to, or uh whether it's me taking an opponent for lightly or uh taking my success, uh, or let my success gets in my head, or it's like, oh great.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like um, for example, when I fought Damien Maya, um at the time I was 27 years old, I was on a seven-fight win streak.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was like all these crazy things I had behind me.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and going into the Dami Maya fight, my mindset was like, oh, dude, I'm 27 years old.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm fighting this 37-year-old guy.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go in there and beat this old guy.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's this it's no problem at all for me.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go in there and beat him up.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: This it's gonna be that easy.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I went in there and I got schooled.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like he literally humbled me um with that beating.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And uh uh someone so like a week after losing it, or about two weeks or so after losing to Damian Maya, he and I happened to be in Vegas at the same time, and he was doing a seminar in Vegas, and I was like, dude, this guy just beat me two weeks ago.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing a seminar in Vegas.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let me go learn to this guy.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let me put my pride aside uh and go understand how this guy was able to beat me.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that he uh that he trains?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: How is it that he trains?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like pick his brain on how to become a better fighter.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than looking at this old guy that I had an opportunity to beat, let me look at this guy who's uh uh a lot more experienced than I am and has a lot of knowledge they can pass on uh and go learn from him.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um, like that that beating that stuff from David might end up being a humbling experience, uh, but that humbling experience allowed me to go out there and actually become a better fighter by uh picking his brain and learning from him and that kind of thing.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I don't know, the life is like the biggest equalizer.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It'll definitely uh throw things at you to keep you humble and keep you in your place, so to speak.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny you brought that up because you know, as a fight fan myself, it's something I do every Saturday night.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like my my kids and I will sit and and eat hot wings and watch fights every week, week after week after week.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing that I always notice is there's always a lot of tension wrap ramping up to a fight, but the minute the fight is over, there's like this overwhelming sense of kumbaya and the octagon.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: What is the psychology behind that?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for me, like uh like I know some guys they need that like um anxiety or need that tension to go into a fight.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: They need to like almost feel like that guy's coming in to like like take something from them, so to speak.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um and and the more I dive into like sports psychology and that kind of thing, you start understanding like what is it, you what is your purpose for competing in martial arts and what is your purpose in in doing this thing uh and what drives you to do it?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Some guys enjoy the competition, but they need to get themselves in that place mentally where they feel like they're literally fighting for their life, so to speak.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for me, that's not the case.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I'm going out there to like um see what level I can take myself to.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know I can like um like how exhausted can I get myself?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Can I execute a particular technique?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: How can I uh uh how well can I stick to the game plan?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: How well can I adapt to uh whatever the fight throws my way?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the kind of thing that excites me going to the fight.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh being a guy who's still in the military and actually like uh been through combat and that kind of thing.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't necessarily hear like, oh, I'm going to war in the cage.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, I'm getting I'm getting the opportunity to go do something that I love in a very safe controlled environment.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not, I don't need to like put myself up in this idea of like, oh yeah, I'm going to war.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's this motion thing that I do.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, I'm I'm getting I'm getting the opportunity to go out there and do something that I love, and I'm so grateful for that, and I'll go out there and make the best of it.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, that's my personal mindset going into the fight.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: So um once the fight is over, I can accept it for what it is.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, whether I win or lose, I can accept, like, hey, thank you for opportunity for keeping competing against me.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this loss is gonna allow me to go back to the drawing board and get better.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a win, it's like, hey, thank you for the opportunity for for allowing me to compete against you.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: This win is still gonna force me to go back to where I can get better as well.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so like there's never uh a moment where I feel like I need to have like this like built-up tension or aggression in order for me to go out there and succeed because I take that pressure and I put on myself um and make it about uh me and less about my opponent.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, because I I tell you, there's something that I've noticed, like watching across all sports, how athletes act outside of their their chosen sport or profession.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's a sense of calm that fighters have that I don't think other pro athletes have.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: It always intrigues me the fighter's journey, the fighters' story outside of the ring.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can can the theatrics for a couple of minutes and you just get down to the brass tacks of the fighter himself.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I tell you, it's it's funny.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: The most violent sport produces some of the best people I have ever met in my life.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it forces you to be accountable.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no one else to blame uh for you to win or lose a fight.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, you have your coaches, yes, you have your training partners, and their job is to like help prepare you as bear as best possible for that fight.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes down to it, like you have no one else to blame for a win or loss except for yourself.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and you have the opportunity to learn and grow from it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I hate that fight when fighters say is like, oh, I got caught, oh, I got lucky, oh, I got this.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, like there's you got beat, like, you know, you like it's and that's the way I like it at a loss.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I got beat.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: This guy beat me.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, with that loss, what can I do differently?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Go into the next uh uh competition or whatever, and that allows you to grow.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one of the things that, like you're like saying, that separates um MA fighters from other sports is because in other sports you can kind of like shift that blame towards someone else.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can say, like, oh, the coach made the wrong call, the quarterback threw the ball a little bit too far, um, the receiver just was a hair out of line and uh and dropped the ball or wherever else may be.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's easy to point the finger at someone else when it comes down to um winning or losing a game.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you look back at that, I can't remember, I think it was Carrie Orving and LeBron James.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that play where uh the one player grabs the rebound and he starts running the opposite direction, and LeBron James is standing like, no, go this way, go this way.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it also ends up costing him that game or whatever.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like in MMA, we don't have those moments.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have someone else to blame when it uh when it's all said and done.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, my goal is to go out there and win.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I did not win, I lost, um, or whatever.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: But in coming up short, what can I do different to ensure that that doesn't happen again or try my best so that it doesn't happen again?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that level of accountability is what brings out the best in a fighter, I believe.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's exactly what I was hoping you'd say.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's the cadence of accountability and it's a repeat sense of accountability because if that win happens, that's on you.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: If that loss happens, that's on you too.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And like one of the things that carry over from the military, like um in the in the army would call it uh an AAR, an after action review.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you're going on a mission and a mission will go well, um, you would still come back to basing, like, hey, uh, what was the mission?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: What went well, what didn't go well, what can we improve on?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and if it if it's the mission goes completely south, there's a term mission, you still come back and do the same exact thing.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So um in life, in fighting and whatever I do, I still kind of have that approach where it's like, all right, cool, let me go ahead and have a uh I don't necessarily have to like vocalize it or write it out in a chart like we do in the army, but I can still in my mind like walk myself through an after action review and see what happened.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, even if something is as simple as to fight my wife, like if we had a disagreement or something didn't plan out that way, as much as I want to say, like, oh, it was all her fault, she this, she did that.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: When tension calm and and I'm in a in a in a cooler headspace, I'll sit down for myself or think of myself like, man, that was rough.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: What happened today?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how did I go left?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: How did I go right?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do different next time around?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that allows me to actually grow from that experience or whatever.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just kind of carry that with me no matter where I go.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I kind of pass it on to whatever younger that that chooses to be around us.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's great because Jocko Willink talks about that in his book and how he applies that to business as well, like doing the AARs to everything in business and just all avenues of life.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Just, you know, yeah, evaluate constant self-evaluation.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I was saying it's easy, it's funny because you brought the business aspect, like in uh in addition to mixed martial arts, like I started getting uh more into like real estate and that kind of thing, and it's the same kind of idea.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I if on paper I can lick this property and say, like, oh, it's worth X amount of dollars after repair value be worth X amount of dollars, but I need to keep my budget under 50k in order to make uh 100k of this property.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if I tend to go over that budget and I kind of miss my profit margin, it's the same kind of thing.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can apply that principle to that and kind of see, like, all right, cool.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, next property that I choose to purchase and rehab, whatever else can I do?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how can I make sure I stick to that budget as close.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: As possible to maximize my uh proper earnings at the end of it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, I mean that that AR mindset can like be applied across the board, where there's a relationship with sports aspect, the military aspect, or even in business, like you said, uh just it's just constantly there.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's a quote that I heard from you about becoming a better fighter to become better at life, and this kind of falls in line with that, right?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: 100%, dude.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would always say, like, uh uh my life made me better at fighting, fighting makes me better at life.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, I've been through some of the worst things someone can possibly imagine uh throughout my life, but um that allows me to like be a better fighter.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's nothing I'm gonna face in a cage that's gonna be harder than what life has thrown at me already.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and in in doing that, the lesson I learned in a cage from a loss, from a win, or whatever it may be, I can apply that to life.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, whether it's me um taking a step back and be a little more humble with my approach when I'm dealing with my uh wife, business partner, coach, or whoever else may be, um, that humility can actually help me become a better uh person in that uh atmosphere or whatever.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: How the hell did you get into real estate investing?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's funny.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like my it's something that my grandmother kind of started early on.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like my grandmother was uh uh first generation uh moving from Haiti to America.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and she just kind of like for her, it was it was a huge struggle.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like she tried her hardest to like provide for her children and that kind of thing when it came through uh through the States.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And even though she didn't work like a high corporate office or anything like that, she was able to uh leverage whatever she earned and uh reinvest into real estate and provide us a better life, better opportunity.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh my father passed away when I was six years old.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so my mother was forced to raise six kids on her own uh in New York City.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and to help ease that that stress that she took on, my grandmother um gave her an opportunity through real estate where she's like, hey, I can't provide you with everything, but I can give you a place to stay with your kids and allow you to actually uh focus and become a better mom and demographic out of life or whatever.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um she was able to do that through real estate.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um the older I've gotten, the more I've realized like, hey, you know what?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not gonna be able to fight forever.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: As much as I enjoy it, as much as I love it, it's just I just don't see many 50-year-old fighters fighting and doing well.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and to make it worse, I've yet to see an MA fighter who retired and didn't have to do anything afterwards.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: So um between what I see my grandmother do in real estate and just kind of like um after career goes myself that I want to put in place, uh, real estate just seemed to be like right up the alley for that.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I enjoy doing um the process, I enjoy being able to like um own a problem where like if I choose to give someone a break because I I feel like it's the right thing to do, I can do that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can give, I can show someone grace through something that I enjoy.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if I have a tenant that I should say this on air, but like if I have a tenant who's going through a hard time and I say, Hey, you know what?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: This Christmas, don't worry about rent.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: You it's covered.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I can choose to do that and bless someone else's life in in that in that in that manner, whatever.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I enjoy that aspect of it as well.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: But um, the biggest thing is just like finding uh a hobby that I enjoy and something I could I can do long after fighting, and something that's provided for me long after fighting is over as well.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So are you flipping houses as well as um so yeah, so I have one that I uh recently flipped and I'm holding on property as well for for the long term.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I'd rather go that I set for myself is me to have X amount of income uh coming through rental properties when I retire from fighting.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so a lot of the properties that I have, I'm kind of uh and it's it's real hard when it's um uh a seller's market, so to speak, in order to uh buy property low, we can actually like build the equity into it right away.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so for me, a lot of those properties I have to buy where there's like pretty rough condition and I can fix them up and then uh and get it to a higher author repair value where I can refinance and put money out if I need to or that kind of thing to uh leverage for more properties or um just whatever I need to do to like be able to keep this thing going.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: But uh the ultimate goal is to be to have a set amount of uh residual income being produced through real estate when fighting's over.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't have to like drastically change my lifestyle when I'm done fighting because I'm not getting uh dosage paid anymore or or whatever it may be.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: So is the market starting to level out?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the last I'll nerd out about this, but uh no, not really.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's getting harder and harder to find uh good deals in Colorado.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um there are literally properties that are selling Colorado sight unseen above asking price, and it's not like five, six grand above asking price.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's sometimes it's like 40 grand above asking price.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's uh it's uh it's definitely not slowing down anytime soon, but um, you do run into those deals from time to time that like uh um house is just in rough condition, it's just not appealing to the eye, and someone just needs to get rid of it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, I don't have the means or time to repair this house.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to like call my losses and get rid of it, and that's where I can be like, oh sweet, I'll take it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, it's the same thing here in Nebraska, like just as soon as like stuff is barely hitting the market, it's sold before it's even listed half the time.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy, crazy stuff.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you have this big picture view on life, um, because you know, you you look at boxing and fighting, you know, pre-MMA.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of guys fought way past their prime.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it did long-term damage to to a lot of them.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I love the fact that you have basically set up not only, I wouldn't even call it a backup plan, you just have a plan.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh common common phrase I like to use with people that I mentor is is if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
• 27:30
  unknown: Right?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and it's kind of tough because like when it comes to fighting, like I can't have a plan B.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I fighting is my plan A.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I you know what I mean, but like having risk it as a hobby is something that I enjoy doing.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, some people enjoy Call of Duty, I just happen to enjoy swinging a hammer and using my drill.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I like in it, it's a cool process.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are days that I'm like, man, I'm gonna go build something today.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, like, I one of the things I noticed it forced me to do is like I'll set my phone down for hours because I'm so focused on getting this particular task done.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Where if I'm not doing something, it's easy for me to like flip through the phone and see, like, oh, so-and-so is doing this, so-and-so is doing that.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I start running through this cycle in my mind, like, oh man, what am I not doing?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do differently?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like getting anxious or worried about what I sure shouldn't be doing rather than like being present, appreciating the moment or whatever.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so as much as I enjoy it for the future plan, it does allow me to like it's kind of disconnect from the day-to-day and focus on something else.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, as far as the fighting world goes, what are the big picture plans for Neil Magney?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: UFC Rothway Champion.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: That is the big picture go.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, whatever it takes to get there, I'm gonna make it happen.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, like I was saying before, it's just I just have to be honest with who I am and assess my goals.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, am I gonna be a John Jones, uh, the youngest ever uh UFC champion?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's already past me.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but is my goal of being UFC champion over?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not by a long shot.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: I still have opportunity to do that and make it happen.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you look at a guy like uh uh Glover Sashari and even the guy to go out from and uh um uh Black Blackovich, like you think of his career.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like these weren't guys who were like early on were were very not, I don't want to say promising because Glover did look promising his entire career, but um it didn't pan, they didn't have like this uh like fairy tale route where we're just like hey, you're gonna have a little struggling beginning, you're mixed in the UFC, and now we're straight to the top.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: These guys kind of like rode a wave.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there were some very low points in their careers, um, and they also got to very high point and being able to retire, saying that they were uh UFC world champion.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, those are the guys that gave me motivation, those are the guys that said, like, nah, this this journal for me is not over just yet.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can still accomplish this goal, be becoming UFC welterweight champion.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm definitely gonna do whatever it takes to get to that point.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you have your next fight on the books yet?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: I did, and then it slipped through my fingers because of injury.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: I got in this weird position, like where um if the number 10 guy gets a fight against the number four guy, why should he mess around and fight the number eight guy?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I were him, I'd skip the line as well.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if I'm the number four guy and I'm and I'm realizing I have to fight back, do I fight the guy who's I don't want to even say that I'm more dangerous than the other guy, so like who knows, whatever can happen.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: But there are definitely some guys in the Western division that may have some more hype behind their names right now than I do.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm ranked in the top five and I need to fight someone, I'm gonna take the guy with the most hype rather than the guy who's just gonna be uh a dangerous fighter team in a hard time.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um I just catch myself being this rare position where it's like, man, it's frustrating being a fighter who's willing to fight and ready to fight and not have a fight lined up.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: But in the reality of it, I can understand why things are playing out the way they are and why I don't particularly have an opponent ready to go right now.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, speaking specifically to that, a couple of weeks ago I uh saw a few news items, maybe heard you on another podcast where you mentioned uh a certain Chemayev.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I I love the fact that you're you're ready and willing to run head on into that guy.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd be like that.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's one other thing I have to face it for what it is.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um and this is like when I first started doing like mean I'm 15 years, 16 years into this game now.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: When I first started completing martial arts and uh in MMA, like it we didn't have uh we didn't have Kyle McGregor's, we didn't have these superstars that were able to like um sell themselves like um like this image or whatever where a guy was like, Oh yeah, I want to see that guy fight for the Tiger X.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: We had gritty guys that just went out there and fought their butts off.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Miguel Torres was like 49 and one at one point.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know how much they have to fight between 49 and one?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of fights.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're averaging six, seven, eight fights a year at that point to get to that point.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, guys like Matt Hughes, like Matt Hughes wasn't a guy who was out there like um talking a lot.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was just a fierce competitor and went out there, got the job done, and people loved his attitude.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but over the last five, six, seven years or so, um, there was a shift in mixed martial arts where these stars starting emerging based off not just how they performed in a cage, but um like the uh persona they were able to sell as well.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's something that I haven't invested much time into.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and at this point in my career, I don't see myself doing it either.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm still in that old school mentality.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, whoever had to fight in order to get to where I'm trying to go, line them up.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to fight that person.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: If it means fighting uh Chamaya for whomever, whomever else, like go ahead and down a bookman.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to fight those guys now.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want to wait any longer than I have to to fight.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I will honestly say that a lot of the characters um bring people to the show, but it's guys like you that keep us there.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I I I almost and maybe I'm wrong in thinking this, but there's almost been like a second renaissance of MMA, I would say, in the last probably four years or so, where people kind of started paying more attention because of the Connor McGregors in the world.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: But it's but it's been the athleticism, I think, has leveled up in ways in such a fast pace.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like it hasn't what it would take in other sports like generations, like five, ten years.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's been like six months.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Every six months, there's something big that happens in MMA that almost reinvent reinvents or reinvigorates the sport.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Am I off base there?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're 100% right.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and there's different things for different folks.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like you watch, you lose use basketball, for example.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Some people tune into basketball to see Steph Curry shoot a three.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: They want to see how many threes can set Steph Curry shoot today.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: All the guys tune in to see, like, man, I want to see some dogs.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see someone just drive through a hole, jump on the fall line, and just get that, get that in there.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Other people watch it to see the tenacity of some players.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: They want to see freaking LeBron and Katie go at it neck and neck, like all this like back and forth battle.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, everyone has different things they tune in for.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's just it's just falling in and realizing what it is that you bring to the table.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't look at a guy like Steph Curry who's gonna shoot from the outside all day, and it's like, and be a guy who's like whose main thing is to drive through the hole and dunk and be like, oh, you know what?
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: People like Steph Curry.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna switch my game and become Steph Curry now.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, that's not me.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not what I do at all.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I can't look at some of these other guys who are uh similar to what I bring to the table and try to top that.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh one of the things the most recently got me going is looking at Max Holloway.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, it was cool because someone mentioned me in the same conversation, Max Holloway, as far as like the no more significant strikes landed in the fight.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And like Max Holloway holds the top five at this point.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was cool to be number four on that list of five guys with Max Holloway, but like now he owns all type top five of those things.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for me, it's like, you know what?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: I have a gas tank, I have the ability.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm gonna go out there and like try to start chipping away some of these records that Max Holloway set.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: He set a new bar for um high output fighters and volume fighters.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if I I mean honest with myself, that's what I am.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a high output guy, I'm a high volume guy.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I look to try to break my opponents using that volume.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um it wouldn't be wise for me to like think at 34 years old and become like this crazy power puncher of a sudden.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, it's I'm gonna use that volume to get this uh to get the success.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use that high output uh to get that success.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: So uh being able to look at a guy like Nice Holloway, being motivated by that, like, all right, cool, that that's the bar.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna land 400 shots uh this fight.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's my goal.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: If my opponent happens to fall at 300, great, but my goal is to go out there and land 400 shots, right?
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's funny because I I heard that.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: I heard that on commentary when I was watching the fights this last weekend.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm talking to Neil next week.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is great.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Were you in Vegas last week?
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I actually flew out to Vegas.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: There was uh a jiu-jitsu event through uh high rollers where they're like honoring veterans, so like an all-veteran card of uh of jiu-jitsu matches, and uh I was able to fly out for that and do some commentating for uh high rollers, and it was actually a pretty cool opportunity to be out there.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I didn't realize that the fight card would be so early, otherwise, I would have like booked my flight earlier in the day that way to get to the AUC event and the the uh the high rollers event, but that was just uh bad playing on my part, I guess.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie, I I already knew you were in Vegas.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: I saw a picture on uh Anthony Smith's Instagram of you and him rocking the plaid.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And Anthony's done my show, and he's a Nebraska guy too.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I love that guy, so that's awesome.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, what is your advice for somebody that wants to get into mixed martial arts, jujitsu, or any form of martial arts in general?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the biggest thing is just finding the gym that best suits you.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, when it comes down to it, like uh like anyone can go out there and teach you how to do an arm bar, but no one's gonna embrace you and like give you that family vibe.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you're not gonna connect with everybody else.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: But uh be successful in this journey and enjoy this journey, um, you're gonna have to have a good group of people around you.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so like it's almost like you have the date to find the right coach and find the right jujitsu or kickboxing gym.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like, some like like every style is not gonna suit every individual.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's some guys who like that militant style trend, like, hey, get in there, a thousand push-up, let's go.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's other guys that like that warm embrace, like, hey, how are you doing?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: How was work?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: How's the family?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right, cool, let's go trade some jujitsu.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so depending on what kind of individual you are, this would be a different academy or different coach that's gonna um kind of meet your needs as an individual.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's gonna kind of determine whether you love the sport or whether you just do it as something that like you're doing to stay stay in shape.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, if you just want to stay in shape, don't do jujitsu, don't do cake bosses, it's gonna run a treadmill.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're looking at something to like actually challenge you and help you grow, um, go ahead and try some of these academies out.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I use the term dating because it's like you're just gonna bounce around and see what suits you, but like go to try these places out.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Try to get that uh that warm embrace for people that make you feel uh welcome.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: People are gonna challenge you, people are gonna tell you how it is.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um, I had a wrestling coach in Lisa Bowling who never let me get away with like uh doing things um half-assed or not to the standard.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can remember uh going to sparty with certain days and like not necessarily looking the best, and he'll come up to me afterwards and ask, like, hey man, what's going on?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: You look so good today.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh oh no, he would say that.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, uh, what's going on?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, whatever, it's a little fatigued.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And like, oh, cool.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you look like crap today.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you get some rest at home uh and do whatever it takes to not look like that come Monday.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, all right, thank you, coach.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I would take that regret and sound, do have to do a little better uh next training session.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: But that reproach may not write work for somebody, right?
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody may need someone like, hey, you don't look so good today.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: You need some water, you need a hug.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like we really need like there's something out there for everybody.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and don't be afraid to go out there and and kind of find that place that's gonna uh challenge you and bring out the best version of yourself because ultimately uh I think jujitsu kickboxing martial arts is a great way to bring out the the best in anyone, uh, but it has to come from the right place and the right environment.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's words of wisdom from Neil Magney the fighter.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now the OG the OG So what about Neil Magney?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: What are your words of wisdom with life?
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I mean, and it kind of goes the same way.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you just have that group of some friends that are around you are gonna support you either way.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh the guys of my life, they don't tell me what I want to hear, they tell me what I need to hear.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like Austin Hubbard is the guy who I I truly value my life uh at all times.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like I remember at one point uh I was kind of like two mile or more to be better, like, man, I won every fight I wasn't supposed to win.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every time a young guy, I come on, I shine, I just like broke my opponent out of the water.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: And without even without even missing a beat, Austin Hubbard replies, like, yeah, but you lose every fight you're supposed to win.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, oh my god, dude, that hurts.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: But like it, I I sat back for a second, like, man, he's absolutely right.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like every time I I set the bar pretty high for myself, I fell short.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: It really forced me to go back and look at the drawing board and and uh approach, like, what am I doing that like I'm able to go to these like three-fight win streaks, four-fight win streaks, seven-fight win streaks, uh, and just kind of drop the ball when it matters most.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it made me really start looking at it internally and think, like, what's really going on here?
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting beat by opponents that that's much better?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it something that I'm doing in training or mentally to allow me to slack off when it matters the most?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that was one of the most like impactful, insightful things like that someone could have said to me at that time.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I definitely appreciated it.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh whether it's uh a hobbyist looking for uh something new to do, jujitsu, kid bossing, mixed martial arts, whatever it may be, or someone who's a seasoned vet.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, having a uh a circle of people around you you can trust and lean on uh is to be super important, I think.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, great words, my friend.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Neil Magney, you are in the top 10 of the welterweight division.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: You are in the top five of great people I have ever talked to.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, seriously, man.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I've I've through thoroughly enjoyed this.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm excited for whatever's coming next for you, whether it be in the UFC or if it's a home improvement reality show on the Discovery Channel.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping it's maybe also the latter.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but hey, thanks for doing the show, man.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: The world's a better place with you and it.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, thank you.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it so much.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know who I need to talk to.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: Chip, Joanna Gaines, Discovery Channel, whoever, learning channel.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see Neil Magney have his own home improvement show.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: But seriously, I had a fantastic time talking to a great guy, an excellent fighter.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: And coincidentally enough, he was sparring with Austin Hubbard before he jumped on the podcast and I messaged Austin that hopefully we can make a future episode with both of them at the same time happen.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not already following him, follow Neil Magney on Instagram, Neil underscore Magney170.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: That is his username, give him a like and follow.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: And while you're following people, please follow me on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and wherever your favorite social media exists.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: Also, I'm always asking for that five-star review on Apple Podcasts.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Visit me at www.comonthemic.com.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: All episodes are available there.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: This is then Come on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Till next time, thank you.