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Transcript

"The Heart That Matters" with MMA's Pauline "Pita" Macias · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Warning due to some language and subject matter, listener discretion is advised.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Back in my band days, I wrote a song called In the Heart of Matters.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a line where I sang, In the Heart of Matters, it's the heart that matters most.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And in the heart of an athlete, it is very similar to a servant's art, to where a person strives better today than they were yesterday.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: My next guest is a world-class judoka gymnast, cheerleader, and now MMA fighter who made that transition at the nudge of a well-known friend.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I had a blast talking to my new friend, Pauline Pita Messias, and I'm really excited to see where her career goes next.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think after listening to this episode, you will be too.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, it is not very often when I make a new friend and I start off right away by calling them a pain in the ass.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yet here we are, Pauline Pita Messias.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm great.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, fantastic.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: What's the weather like in Las Vegas right now?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I imagine hot.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's hot.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, today wasn't as hot as it's been, but for the most part, it's been really hot.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you've lived in California, Las Vegas, and Colorado.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And Tennessee.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tennessee.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So where's it the most comfortable?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: I I feel like I'm most comfortable like at home in Los Angeles, just because I it's my home.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm not gonna lie, I love Vegas.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: I never in a million years would have thought because you know, I grew up coming to Vegas all the time.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Los Angeles, so you just grow up going to Vegas all the time.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I never in a million years did I think I would love living here as much as I do.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So without any further ado, why don't you introduce yourself and let's talk a little bit about your origin story?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my name is Pauline Pita Messias.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: PETA standing for a pain in the ass.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've had that nickname since before I was born.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So and we can get into that too.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: But um basically I started when I was at like Brown, I mean, I did sports my entire life, but judo, cheerleading, and gymnastics were my three main sports growing up my whole life.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Those ones I did consistently.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: It just turned out I was really good at judo.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I was great at all the sports, but I like judo as I got older, I just loved it more and more and more.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it was taking me all around the world.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: You meet amazing people, and you gotta travel the world and do what you love.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, not many people can say they get to do that, right?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I don't even know how many years over 20, well over 20-year judo career.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And right out so once I graduated high school, um, the Olympic Training Center moved me to Colorado Springs so I can train at the Olympic Training Center full time for judo.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that was awesome.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: That facility is incredible.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if many people have been to it, but they do free tours.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: You should definitely go check it out.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I actually spend a lot of time in Colorado Springs.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I try and go like twice a year.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So really, and it's funny because I drive, I see the the marker signs when I'm driving by, and I'm like, man, I gotta check out the Olympic Training Center.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I always psych myself up too when I go there because we usually stay in Woodland Park, which right outside of Manitou Springs, and I always psych myself up.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, I'm gonna do the Manitou incline, and I never do it.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: You never do it?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm assuming you have.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I used to do it like a couple times a week sometimes.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, wow, yeah.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Bud Crawford, Terrence Bud Crawford, who's from uh Omaha, he he goes out there and I heard that he does that climb every Sunday and he runs it.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I could do it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's like I believe it.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a lot.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely not, you know.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: I know I know a lot of people every year, a ton of people like come to visit and like just thinking they can go and walk it.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: But if you don't train for that, like it can be really dangerous.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Word, word.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: If I heard and read correctly, you started judo about age seven, and your younger brother started before you.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was four when he started.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about that a little bit, because that's a pretty young age for anybody to start martial arts.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and at the time I was already like heavily into gymnastics, you know, because by the time you're seven, you're already trying to train like for the Olympics practically, you know.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I was so strong and like so flexible, and I just really had a really good air sense.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like I had to be able to flip upside down and know exactly where I was in the air, and that like really transferred over to judo immensely because I would get these people and I throw them, and in my mind, I could feel where they were in the air and whatnot.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how like the throws really they just came really natural to me.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: It all made it was like one sport that really made sense to me.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh yeah, and I was like so, I was like this little ripped kid.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I still have abs, but I mean I was like ripped with abs just like that as a kid.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: But um, and my brother, yeah, my brother had started it when he was four, so about I think like a year before me.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And my original judo coach, his name is Steve Bell, he's from England, and he was just trying to build up the judo club, and he was like, Oh, he's like, Oh, you should do it, do judo, do judo.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And my parents were like, you know what?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: It'd be good for her to learn something to like defend herself, you know.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I when I was in, I don't remember how old, but it was uh younger than seven, some kids like at school, like I don't know, push me down or what, but they start remember when steel toe boots were really in in the 90s, and these kids like they like kicked me and kicked me and kicked me in my ribs, and I came home with like bruised ribs.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: My parents are like, why did you do anything about it?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Well, because if I fight, I'm gonna get in trouble.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like in my mind, I just didn't want to get in trouble, so I let them like kick me, like and like bruise my ribs and all this stuff, and so and they weren't even like I don't think they were, I don't know.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: I have no, I don't I've I've it's weird.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I kinda I like barely remember that, but it was something I think that kind of sticks with you, you know.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so my parents were like, Well, you know, it'd be good for her to do something and like that she can defend herself.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And judo was created for a smaller person to beat a bigger person.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I've never been the biggest uh person in the world.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I try, man.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still working out my hype, but you know, but uh yeah, and so it was awesome.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then my my sister, my younger sister did it for a while too.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: We all had some my dad even did it for a little while, even my baby sister who's only nine now, but she even did it for a short bit.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like I don't know, we all just did judo, just it was it's just a very great sport to know, yeah, you know, and um yeah, and then but then like the competitor side, man, I just fell in love with it.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: I loved going to tournaments and beating these girls, and I was like, this is awesome.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: We go to like junior Olympics.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I remember one year we flew to Chicago for the junior Olympics.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because in judo, if you go grab the like if you grab the person and throw them flat on their back, that's what the score called a pwn.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: They put their hand like straight up like a pwn.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the equivalent of like a knockout and MMA, like the fight's over.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I would like one my very first junior Olympics.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was like eight years old.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: I like ran out there, grabbed the girl, boom, throw on the back, won that fight.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Second fight, go out there.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Boom.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like three or four fights in a row.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I must have fought maybe a total of like 30 seconds up to 45 seconds out of all these fights, and I won the junior Olympics.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, this is insane.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: My parents are like, We fall in Chicago for you to fight for like 40 seconds.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like obviously they were happy because I won, but still like you've won several state championships, national championships, collegiate national championships, junior Olympics.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, junior Olympics, US Open, Senior National.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you name it.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've probably and I've traveled around this world, you know, I placed fifth at the Belgium Open, like just a lot of.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've been all over the place.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So you had an undefeated streak there for a while too, as well.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: In judo, yeah, when I was a kid, I mean, I think I went like 10, I don't know if it was 10 years, but I went like so many years, like years without losing.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was and I didn't actually I thought it's crazy because at the time I didn't realize it, you know, because you're just you're so young, you're a kid, you just think, okay, we just you know, you go to turns.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, it must have been several years in a row that I just like first place, first place, first place, first place.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we compete so often, you know, like there are judo turns all year long.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, yeah, there's not a season in judo.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's literally it's like UFC or MMA, and it's it's all all the time.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: What sense of discipline did you gain from martial arts?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're not only doing judo, you were also doing gymnastics and cheerleading.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: You had to be able to compartmentalize those things separately from each other, but I'm sure there were parts of each you would find in the other, right?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously, like there's so much gymnastics and cheerleading.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, but you know, the one thing I think I took from because I was on very competitive cheer squads, you know, which they're most of us were all ex-gymnasts too, you know what I mean?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think one thing the discipline I learned from gymnastics, you know, I it's gymnastics is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's uh it's a very tough store.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it they train you to be just so mentally strong.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you're not like, oh, I'm gonna do a flip on this four-inch beam on one leg and I have to land back on two legs.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, ready to go.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, there's there's just like a different, or I'm gonna swing on this bar, I have to let go, flip a few times and land on the ground and stick it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's uh there's a lot that goes into it, and the the training, the muscles you have to have.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the strength you have to have is just it's unreal.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I really truly believe that I got this like core strength from the gymnastics training at such a young age, and then doing all three of them together, I it's just a different level.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's something you can't like gain as an adult, you know what I mean?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's right, yeah.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: I can't.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I used to climb rows like up and down, up and down without legs, like perfect.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: We'd have my legs like perfectly in a straddle, not moving, go up and up and down.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: I could do, I mean, our warm-up was like a hundred perfect pull-ups, like you couldn't even like have a little swing.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was like perfect chin above the bar and then slow down, and then V ups, like you just hang from the bar and bring your feet like toes to the bar.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, you had to be perfect, every single one had to be perfect.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think that perfection of gymnastics really carried over to all my sports.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes, you know, and in fighting, you can't, it's not impossible to be perfect because you never know what's gonna happen to fight in a fight.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that will and drive to strive to be perfect, I think has helped me technically, and just it's really helped me all all around, definitely.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you're preaching to me at such a timely moment right now.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: My my 15-year-old, she's about to turn 16, stepdaughter, she just finished her freshman year of high school.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: She uh just made the varsity cheer squad in her high school, and so she is constantly in our backyard on the trampoline or in the grass, practicing her tumbling, practicing her flips, because she's a flyer, so she's doing she's both doing both uh cheer for sports and she's also doing competitive cheer.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's amazing to watch her evolve, and it's not even like a month-to-month thing, it is a day-to-day thing.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's so much that goes into cheerleading.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like people have no idea.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's you said it was her high school varsity team she made.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: She just made varsity.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: She did JV her freshman year.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: So oh, nice.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: So she's probably gonna go to a summer camp for cheerleading, I'm sure.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: So those summer camps, I actually used to coach.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no kidding.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So when I uh when I first moved to the Olympic Training Center, yeah, I I got hired by NCA, the National Cheerleading Association.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I they worked great.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like basically, you know, you kind of you can kind of say when you're available.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: So when I didn't have judo tournaments, I'd be I would go only during the summer, I'd go and coach cheer camps around the country too.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean it was a good job.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was fun.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So how how many interviews have you ever done whenever in the context of talking about fighting, the interview says, Hey man, let's talk about cheer.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not too many.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the people are like, Wow, cheerleading, huh?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: But really, cheerleading is my life, man.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I started cheering when I was a a year and a half, or I think I think I was 13 months old, if I'm not if I'm not mistaken, when I started cheerleading.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because my parents, my grandparents, like I just come from a very football cheerleading family.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and my my grandparents actually started like a youth football program in Los Angeles County.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so, I mean, and my dad had me like carrying me in diapers coaching football on the field, and my grandpa was there, and my grandma was like the cheer director, you know, and my mom coach, cheerleaded cheerleader, my aunt coach, everybody.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was just that was our thing, man.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love I I love cheerleading and I love to see how it's evolved so much today.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love, I um, I haven't in a while, but I used to judge a lot of cheer competitions too, which I love.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I'm glad I I haven't really done much with it since like MMA, but you know, I I love it still.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: I do, and I love, yeah, and I've coached, you know, I've also coached gymnastics for so long too.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's just fun.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, it's uh it's really fun to get like people to do things that they never thought they were were capable of, you know, and it's like I can explain how to do a flip so easily and put them through the air and spot them accordingly because I've done there, I've been there, done that, I know how to do it, and it's just it's super rewarding.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: See, I'm I bet you see your daughter, your stepdaughter, like when she gets something new, it's probably like oh, it's like so amazing.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen her get into so many things in the many years that I've been in her life, but I've never seen a spark to fire like I've seen with her in cheerleading in the past year, and it's it's been amazing.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: So my hat's off to you because I know how much work is involved.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's it's totally awe-inspiring.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's fantastic.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about your transition into MMA because I know the international judo rules changed not too long ago, and that was about the same time you stopped competing in judo, correct?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was still competing, and they changed basically like you couldn't grab the legs anymore.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And my original coach was from England, like I said, and he uh everything used to be like really bent over, a lot of leg grabbing, firemen's carries, stuff like that.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then like it's like, hey, you can't touch the legs anymore, and you're like, come again.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, doing something from the time you were seven, you know what I mean?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh and you're like in your 20s, and they're like, Oh, okay, now you're not gonna like grab the legs.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was tough, but you know, I really, really worked hard to like kind of get that.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, use my style with the new rules of judo and all that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I do believe those last few years that I was doing judo to not grab the legs actually helped me a lot technically for judo, as well as with the sport, this the throws that I didn't always do, you know what I mean?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, and and then I can I can be honest, like I was traveling the world and I just remember I was in, I think I was in Argentina um or Uruguay.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was one of those two places, and I just remember like I was cutting weights so hard, and it was just like I don't know.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: I just realized that I got on the mat.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I even did great, but I just remember being like, man, I don't love this anymore.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's so much, I mean, it's your life, and and you can't do that like if you don't love it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Fortunately, like, you know, with Judo, like I grew up with Rhonda Rousey.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, her, I think I met her when I was probably like nine or ten years old, somewhere around there.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and you know, I mean, we were just great friends as kids and all that.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: She would come like sleep over at my house and like, you know, but then like when I was, I think this was around the same time that Rhonda was really starting to get, I don't think she was in the UFC yet, but she was starting to like, you know, get that momentum and this and that.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, wow, I was like, look, you can do judo and grab the legs if you do MMA, like, you know, and it just um, I don't know, really.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: I it I was talking, I was just texting her and talking to her, and my coach, my coach Ed Liddy from the Olympic Training Center, he was like, Well, I know you're like, I know you don't really know what you want like right now.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he could just tell, he knew, he could tell that what like my heart was like hurting, you know.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And he'd let me go home to Los Angeles for a whole month.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: I had not been home for a month in since I moved there.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, no way was were we ever allowed to go home that long, you know, and so uh I was like, up month?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are you sure?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, right.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I went home to LA and then I went and I actually stayed with Rhonda for a little bit and just hung out with her, saw her new lifestyle.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's like also when I met like Nick Diaz and like all these other people, you know, and it was just like, I don't know, Rhonda, she's very persuasive, man.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: She was uh she she was just telling me, she's like, you know, you're traveling the world, you're fighting.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, you might as well get paid for it.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yeah, you're right.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: All Judo would does is like drain your account, you know.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'd rather be putting money in there.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um that had to be a really sensitive time, too, because to go home for a month when you're in a transitional period in your life, it probably could have been really easy for you to get complacent and go the other way.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I really didn't know what I wanna, I think I I really just didn't know what I wanted at that time.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and it's at that at that moment I hadn't chosen to do MMA yet.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: I actually went back to Colorado Springs, did a few more judo tournaments, did well, and I just remember being like, I'm done, like I'm done.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I called Rhonda and she's like, all right, well, you can get to LA, call me.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you where the gym's at, you know, and I said, Okay, let's go.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that was it.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, in your transition into MMA, what kind of pointers did Rhonda give you as you started to grow as an MMA fighter?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously you had to implement some other tools into the toolbox, right?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, well, one of the things she actually told me when I one of the first days I was on the mats, she was like, All right, you're gonna stand with your right foot in front.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, looking at her like all sorts of confused.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, uh, yeah, all right.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, Yeah, you're gonna be a Southpaw.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, All right.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I I guess I just didn't understand, I didn't get it at the time.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, all right, in judo, I fight only with my right foot forward.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: So even though I'm right-handed, in judo, if you're right-handed, you fight with your right foot forward.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like Rhonda's left-handed, and she fought MMA with her left foot forward.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, so and I was like, All right, let's do it.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, that was actually one of the best things she ever told me.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: I like I feel so comfortable as a salapaw, I don't think.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then I get comfortable too if I switch sides.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still comfortable because my power hand is still there.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I like I you know, like think one of my second pro fight, I think I knocked a girl out with a right hook, like a lead hook, but that was or not knocked her, I broke her jaw with a lead hook, but that was like that's because I'm right-handed.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's a powerful arm up there, you know.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you guys have not, and I'm talking to my listeners right now, if you guys have not uh do a little YouTube search of Pita Messias, and I think it was in in LFA whenever you did that, right?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: That was fantastic.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: I did not expect that, that's for sure.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: That girl was tough, man.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I will say that girl was tough.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing I loved about that girl is she just always came forward, and I loved that.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Was it like she wanted to fight, you know?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I fight girls that don't want to, they like don't want to get thrown, so they like run away, and it's like, but man, that girl didn't care.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: She came to bang, and I loved it.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's funny, and I probably shouldn't say this on the pod, but I'm going to anyways.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was messaging, I was messaging back and forth with Zach Pounga uh over the weekend because I got caught up on this current season of Ultimate Fighter.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, okay, I'm loving this.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: I go, but I feel like everybody's fighting so cautiously, with the exception of your initial fight.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a hunger thing more than anything else.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I haven't, I okay, I honestly haven't watched the ultimate fighter this season yet.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um do it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I will.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get to it on a second.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know, I I you know, I used to train with Zach a little bit, you know, with Cody Donovan and whatnot.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he he just he always had that athlete mentality.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: He was easy to be around because he had that mentality, you know.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he has a family he has to provide for.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: He's going for it.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh and this is just my opinion, but when it comes to the cautiousness, you can just tell.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, it's the ultimate fighter, these girls, like girls and guys, you know, one wrong mistake and you're done.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and so I could see why people would be cautious, but in my mind, I'm like, look, you get one, you get one shot.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Go out there.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, go for broke, you know.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you lose, you lose.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you win, you win.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 21:51
  unknown: Yeah.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I haven't like, you know, I've I've lost a couple of fights, but I guarantee you every single fight was still like exciting.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: I still threw the crap out of girls, you know, it just You just got to you have to go for it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Why be scared?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I I remember being in judo and I was so concerned about making the Olympics that I remember fighting almost like a little scared, and it really hindered my career, I believe.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um I'm so grateful now that I already like, you know, I already went through all that, I already had an athletic career.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And this is my second or another one, you know what I mean?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I have that.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I have this.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I know this is just so much more important than anything.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's almost like you have to have that catalyst to uh push you in the next direction or push you to the next level.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that that leads me to ask, what is currently driving you in the state of your career right now?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I would say the most one thing, and I even think this is kind of recent, you know, but uh right now what's driving me more than anything is myself.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: I've never wanted to do something for myself, like ever.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't think, you know, obviously, you know, uh I mean, there's just so much in life.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, I want like my partner and us to have a great life and all that.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want my family to be proud of me and this, but I've been through so much as an athlete.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've only been an athlete my entire life, you know.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I went to college, I graduated, I did all that.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I applied for the FBI at one point.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've lived life.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I just this is what I love doing.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I love fighting, and I I never I never thought I would love something more like when I was retiring from judo.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: I never would have thought I'd love something more than judo.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I started doing MMA and it was like it was oh my gosh, it was just like it like brought this new like fire in out of me, you know, because judo, I mean, I did the same sport for decades, you know.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm in like this new sport and I can use the stuff that I still love, you know, in judo, but now there's just so many more components.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like adding more pieces in the chess game.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just it brings out my creative juices.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like I truly believe that's that's why we are martial artists.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: We are artists, yes, we are athletes, but we are artists.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I go out there and like I some I remember Rhonda and I would sometimes mess around after practice and just be like, well, if I do this and they could do this, we could do this, and this person go here, but you know, and you know, but and then it would be like, or if they go here, you can use the case, you know, and it was just all of our creative juices just coming out, and I I I think that's beautiful and it keeps me um, you know, everybody needs something.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, some people, you know, they have their like hobbies and stuff, and you know, that gets their creative juices out.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: And this for me, this is it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I get to get paid for it and do it.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, it's not an easy life, but I'm saying it's an easy life.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough, it's really tough.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's probably the hardest life you can pick, you know.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: Every day you have to go out there and get hit in the head and like take falls and like watch your weight, eat healthy, you know.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: I it's just there's a lot that goes into it.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: And but man, I love it.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: I really I really do love it.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I never and though it's funny though, I don't like hurting people.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have like it's not my thing, but here's my thing when we get in the cage, we both have signed a contract, so I'm okay with it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, all right, it and it's a different person, you know.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: When I go out to fight, it's a flip that switches.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not always like that, I'm not always that insane, like I'm not always that crazy.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like to fight for real, but I love MMA, like I love the sport, and I love I just I love it, man.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and and that's why I really realized that more recently, not just how much I love it, but how much I want to do is for me to prove to myself.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've been an athlete my entire life.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for me to prove to myself that I can make like make it big, if that makes sense.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, that that makes perfect sense, which leads me to my uh another couple of questions here.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Are you currently under contract with anybody?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I am with LFA.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, perfect.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have one more fight on that contract.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I actually I don't have like I can't give too many details yet, but they did call and offer me a date.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have an opponent yet or anything, so very soon you'll be hearing about it.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm so excited.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a big one.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a gonna be a big one for me, and I'm really, really excited.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for you.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you do to unwind?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, at the end of the day, you're done training, all this other stuff is going like you have to do something to decompress.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Lynn, like my partner and I, we like we're really good about like when we need to rest our minds, we rest our minds.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, most of the time I come home and we like get our dogs, we take them on walks, you know, we do make really good food, you know, and then we like to watch a lot of TV shows.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, of course, I'm like every other person that loves all the like murder mysteries and all that, like true crime, I'm on it.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's awesome.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, there's just uh that I would say that's one thing, but uh once now that we move to Vegas, uh sometimes if I have like even if I just have like like an overnight available, we'll like finish training, we'll drive to LA and go or actually Lancaster to my parents live, and we'll go stay for the night and just get to be with my family.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my my little sister is nine, so it's kind of nice to be around her all the time.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, more often because I was gone, you know, I've been gone for I didn't I mean I moved out of home and I I was I had just turned 18 and then I moved to the Olympic training or yeah, to Colorado Springs.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, after that, I mean I was just gone.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: I came back to LA for a couple years when I started MMA, but then I was gone again.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like wow.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's your advice for making the world a better place right now?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Kindness.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there there are some really I hate hearing like all this crazy stuff going on in the world, and kids, man, kids are mean.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: So when I was a kid, I like really had a hard time getting along with other kids because I'm like, well, why don't you want to be the best in the world?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, right why don't you want to be the greatest athlete that ever lived?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: I literally remember being seven years old, and the only thing I ever wanted was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived, and I couldn't understand other kids.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: And these kids were mean, kids were mean to like people because that kid is fat because that kid had was a dork or whatever.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I was the kid that would like defend all of them because I I don't understand being mean, like why I truly believe it.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: People just take a step back and be like, just be nice.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why do you have to be a mean person, you know?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like you were the bullies' bully.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was kind of, even though I was like tiny, I was always like the shortest in class, but nobody ever messed with me because I was like ripped and like that's amazing.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Where can my listeners find you online on Instagram?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: My Instagram is Pauline PitaMessias, all one word.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: My Facebook, I believe, says Pauline PitaMassias as well.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then okay, so I have to check Twitter because somebody hacked into my Twitter and I had to like make another one.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's PitaMassias Mma, but I'll have to check that.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then my TikTok too.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: I had to redo it.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: I actually don't know what my TikTok name is either, but for sure, Instagram.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on Instagram a lot, so perfect Pauline Pita Messias, come follow me, ask me questions.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm always I'm always here.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Some people I've heard recently, people were like, Oh, I just thought you were a bitch.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh, I was like, okay, I know that, but it's no, I'm I'm really not like I hate being lean.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: I I will say my experience with you over the past half hour or so is quite the opposite.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think the world is a better place with you in it.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: You and Lynn ever find yourself in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a seat at my table.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, thank you.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much for doing the show.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: You have to hit us up.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes! There we go.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: I I need a so I gotta make a point to get out to Vegas.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta make a point to get to Colorado again here soon.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, you'll have to come to the gym and watch the sparring or something fun.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, PETA, thank you for doing the show.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a pleasure talking with you.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this was fun.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: This one was easy, this was great.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, I want to thank my new friend Pauline Pita Messias for doing the show today.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of fun, she's a lot of fun.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I plan on having her on the show sometime again in the near future, hopefully after her next fight with LFA.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Please search her out on social media and look up some of her work on YouTube.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's all there.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is awesome.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in the mood for checking out online content, please give me a follow on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever you search out your favorite social media and give me that five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and you can even give me a review on Facebook.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take it.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can also check out my website at www.caughton the mic.com.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Clark.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, thank you.