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Transcript

"In This Corner" with boxer Elli Grapp · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Warning due to some language and subject matter, listener discretion is advised.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, phrases like, you fight like a girl or you hit like a girl were intended as an insult.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: But as history has proven time and time again, strong women really rule the world.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a wave coming over a once male-dominated sport or several sports, redefining that phrase, you fight like a girl.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, a lot of the best fighters I know are women.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm lucky enough to have one join me on the podcast today.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: She's an amateur boxer with a four-and-one record, and hopefully, after this weekend, her record will be five and one.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me on the podcast today is boxer Ellie Grapp.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's so weird that the Zoom thing is recording in progress now.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's a new feature.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm sure there's a lot of people that have been caught on video saying things that are probably a little bit more unsavory.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Ellie Grapp, how the hell are you?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty pretty effing good.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty effing good.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's G-rated.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: On your podcast, are we allowed to swear?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I almost said pretty fucking good, but then I I reined it back and I I gave you the effing.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm good.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty fucking good.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Fucks and shits are my punctuation marks.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Just a little slice for the language, you know.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's fight week.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: How the hell are you holding up right now?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, I like I told you before, I mean, I'm kind of getting in a rhythm right now.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've been fighting a good amount the past couple of months, so uh I'm just I'm ready.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm staying ready and you know, got a few days left, so it just means train another couple days pretty hard and then taper off a little bit and then we just do our thing.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm excited.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a year for you because I think whenever I first started talking to you, it was back in February, and you only had two fights under your belt, and now you've got five fights under your belt.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it just kind of popped off this summer.
• 2:36
  unknown: Yeah.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's pretty abnormal, especially if we're women, it's hard to you know get fights back to back like that.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So uh totally, you know, shout out to my coach Jose Campos because he he takes care of us women fighters for sure.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we've traveled a little bit and I got I got a few more fights under my belt.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so by this weekend I'll have six, six fights total.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So how is your mindset different now?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Six fights in, or about to be six fights in versus like back in February where you were only two fights in.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think back in February, you know, you kind of are in this mindset of like, okay, like the more you fight, like the more you get used to it, and so it's just trying to get more experience and all of that.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and now you're kind of like, huh, no, I think you're just always gonna feel like this before fights, and and like, you know, every fight kind of feels different.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, experience definitely helps, but I don't think it does a ton to your nerves before fights or anything.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're still just gonna feel like the weight of it during fight week, and it just is always gonna be kind of that adrenaline rush, I think.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So for the uninitiated, tell everybody a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and how you landed in this mess.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, I I just call it a mess for fun.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it feels like a mess.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, if you hear things crash, my cat is uh busy over here, so that's what's happening.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so yeah, my name's Ellie.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I'm uh amateur boxer here out of Omaha, Nebraska.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been kind of in boxing, around boxing for about four years now.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um during that four years, though, I had a kid, so I was out of out of the game for about a year and a half, and and before that, like I, you know, had like a fight lined up and a fell through, a fight lined up and a fell through.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I just I have a lot of experience training and sparring, and it just never really happened for me.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So by the time I had a kid, I was just kind of like, eh, you know, maybe maybe I just kind of let this thing go.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've kind of had my run at it and and uh I'll just kind of let it slide.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: But moved up to Omaha, had my kid.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he's almost two now.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And probably about six months after I had him, though, I was just kind of like, man, I like I miss it.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, maybe I can just get back into it for fitness or just kind of get back in shape and see how I feel about it again.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's about the time I met Houston Alexander out of here uh in Omaha.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: He just kind of lit that fire under my butt again, like was that person that believed in me when I needed somebody too.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, so I started training again and um landed a couple fights pretty quick, and then you know, it's just kind of been history since that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: But originally I got into it just to try to get back in shape, you know, like I I had gained the college weight, and I was like, okay, I need to do something about this.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So this was out when I was living in Washington, DC, and uh um trained out of a gym out there that they had a boxing coach, and I was just like, eh, sounds fun.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'll try it.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And for anybody that's in combat sports, I feel like you you just get addicted to it.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: It just something about it just keeps you coming back and wanting more.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think that that falls on both sides of the fence for both fans and fighters or people that are fitness enthusiasts in general.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right, definitely.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's a different endorphin rush to a certain degree.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: It really is, yeah.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: It it kind of like pushes you to to your limits and then gives you a little shove uh past your limits.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And once you're on the other side of that and you figured out you survived it, you want to figure out exactly how far you can go, and I think that's kind of the addicting thing for me.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, where was your entry level into boxing and fighting in general?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Fit 360 DC.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shoutouts to Brian McKee out there, who's the owner of that gym in uh Washington, DC.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a guy out there that he was more into Muay Thai side, and so I always actually had people kind of wanting me to get into more MMA side of things, but I had a knee injury at the time, and I was just like, eh, that sounds not fun.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so I just started training and and only really ever wanted to do the boxing side of it, um, and kind of found people just as I moved through this journey of like figuring out my boxing career, like have found people along the way that have just helped propel me forward into that.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: What do you do for a day job and how does that tie into the whole boxing career?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so my job right now, I work for the YMCA of Greater Omaha.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh no, I've always kind of been around the nonprofit side of things.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I just I really love like working with the community and and getting to be close to the people in my community right now.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I do more HR stuff, so I kind of work with our staff with leadership development and um training and um onboarding and all that type of uh stuff.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I really enjoy that like I get to be around an organization that prioritizes strengthening community because that's what I'm really passionate about.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um and that's why I think I also really love the fighting sport because you do have just such a tight-knit community.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the why has been awesome.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like they uh my boss um and our CEO have like come to my fights before and and supported me that way.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: So they they love, you know, kind of getting to follow my uh fighting journey too.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I've really been grateful for that support.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna ask you.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is you know, yeah, some some employers might not be uh be as cool or accommodating.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we'll see how they feel if I ever come come back to work after like having a black eye or something.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see how that goes.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: But so far my face has been pretty much undamaged.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: What has been the biggest challenge as far as learning how to fight?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, so this is what I'll say.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think right now in the fitness world, everybody is an expert in uh, you know, martial arts of whatever variety.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody supposedly knows how to hold pads and teach you how to box.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the biggest challenge getting it to a solid foundation in um in fighting in general is where you started.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I've trained with a lot of people that were more in the fitness side of things and and moving through then there that meant that there was a lot of stuff that I needed to go back and fix.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And kind of once you've developed any kind of bad habits, you know, it's like 10 times harder to um remove those and then replace them with how you're actually supposed to be um doing those techniques.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say that's probably been the hardest part is unlearning some bad habits that I had and and um replacing it with some strong foundational techniques.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: So is that something you're kind of learning in real time through each fight?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is there something new that you're adding to the toolbox after each match you have?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, fighting, so you know, obviously you get to spar like twice a week, and um that reveals a lot about your game, but there's something about fighting that you can't learn about your game until you're in a a fight and and somebody's really trying to take your head off, and and that reveals a lot about um, you know, where you're at as a fighter.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So getting to go back after fights and watch your tape and see, okay, wow, like that actually is coming through, or oh god, like I need to go back to the to the drawing board on this because that looks horrible.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I always hate watching my tape after a fight because you see all the stuff that you wanted to do better and and all of that, but it's starting to get fun where now I go back and watch my more recent fights, and I'm like, wow, like I've come a really long way since my first fight.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like looking back at that first fight, like it's not pretty.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've I've pulled off what I needed to pull off, but yeah, let's talk about what you pulled off on your first fight because I think I think you're underselling it a little bit.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's a smidge.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So tell our listeners a little bit about how your first fight went down.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, my first fight um was here in Omaha, and I I fought another girl who also had zero fights under her belt.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you just really have no idea what you're going up against.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, some people go to their first fight having a couple months of training under their belts, and some people have been like me, like waiting for a long time for their first fight.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so went in there not really knowing what to expect, but I had been waiting a really long time and and was just absolutely like pumped.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I felt good, like I felt ready to do my thing.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so first fight, uh I didn't get through the first round.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it ended at about 30 some seconds.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: I 32?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: That sounded about right.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's about right.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh knocked the girl out.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she she had some other stuff going on and stuff.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but uh it it was a it was a quick fight.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it was over before I knew it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Your record isn't terribly deep yet, but it's getting there and it's getting there fast.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: But four and one is nothing to shake a stick at in a six-month period of time.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Do you attribute that to you being really well prepared or a lot of your opponents being underprepared?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what my opponents, how my opponents have trained, so I can't really speak to, you know, like their uh whether they were over or under preparing or what.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know what I do, and I know um I know into certain fights I felt like dread because I was like, I feel like maybe I could have done a little bit more to get ready for this.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: But my my last three fights, I felt like I went into those having done absolutely everything I possibly could to get ready for it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like I had had like I have very solid coaching right now, and um I trust in that a lot.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that makes really all the difference for how you feel going into it.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're never gonna get rid of the nerves and stuff, but um being able to get in the ring feeling like there's nothing else that you could have done to get ready for this, uh, it's a good feeling, you know?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes you proud, even no matter what the results of the fight are, that this is a learning experience.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I could not have come to this having learned anymore at this particular point, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's been good.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's really encouraging to hear you say that, because that's a certain level of humility that I don't think enough people have built into them.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because you have to be coexisting with two different mindsets, almost like a split personality disorder, because you have to be like super uber confident.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm gonna kick somebody's fucking ass.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's the other side of it where it's like I have to be a constant student of the art.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think there are, at least at this point, I feel like there are two different types in general of fighters.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's that killer type that's like feel like they're gonna go in there and fuck anybody and anything up that comes across them.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's I think the artist type that's more like they're they they want to learn technique, they want to, you know, um, kind of I think there's a little bit more respect for what they don't know on that side, but you do you really do have to have both of those sides in you to some degree.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to be able to tap into that like absurd kind of confidence, like I I'm gonna go in here and mess this girl up, even if that's not like really like at your heart of heart what what you believe, like you have to be able to kind of tap into that, I think, into that confidence and and just fake it till you make it.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: What are your feelings about the state of combat sports right now?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think everybody's got their opinions, right?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll I'll share mine.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, I will say I don't think it matters.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like combat sports have always been, at least the ones that people attend and watch, you know, it's all about entertainment.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna pick the fights and and make the matches and do whatever that people are gonna pay for.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so at the end of the day, it's it's uh it's for the fans, and you have to be an entertaining fighter, you have to be a performer, and that's what people people want to see.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, like bare knuckle fighting, I hate to see it, I don't like it, you know.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is what it is though.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and if people are gonna pay to watch it, it's gonna happen.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then the the you know, like the exhibition matches that are going on where they've got the YouTubers fighting and doing all this stuff, again, that's what people want to see, I guess.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and that I think is up to people that are really passionate about like boxing or or the you know, kind of respect for the different martial arts, the people on the promotion side of that, that's their responsibility to fix that.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think there are like amazingly talented fighters that don't get half the attention that they that they deserve because they're not being promoted and they're not maybe necessarily even like promoting themselves to in the way that needs to happen for them to get the respect that they deserve.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can put in all the training that you that you possibly can, but if nobody knows about you, nobody's gonna pay to see you.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm constantly talking with friends that kind of view it as fringe sports.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like to me, combat sports are the NBA, the MLB, the NFL to me.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been a football, basketball, baseball guy, maybe maybe a little bit with basketball, but I've always loved combat sports.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they had a stigma, especially when MMA was coming into prominence.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: It had a stigma to it for a long time.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it seems like all combat sports are starting to break through those stigmas to a certain extent.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a push-pull thing because uh so much progress goes one way, and then you do have the things like the exhibitions and the YouTubers fighting, which kind of sets it back a little bit.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just my personal opinion.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to like blast it because I think those are necessary too, right?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, and it's combat sports are kind of tricky just because it is that sport where anybody off the street can come in and watch it and and be entertained because it's fighting, you know, and people want to see kind of the crazy knockouts, and and there's you don't have to understand the like really minute details of the sport to have a good time watching it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's that's great because you can introduce new people to the sport, but then there's also like all of these people that want to see YouTubers fight, and you know, so you you just get both sides of it, and I I don't know, I think it pissed me off at first more um to see all that stuff happening, but now I've kind of just come to that understanding like it's entertainment, and you know, you you gotta we gotta put it in our work um on our end as people that really are like students of the sport to make it entertaining for people to make people want to watch the did stuff too, you know.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly where I was gonna go with it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that's like the sugar on top of the candy.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's it it might draw you in, but what's gonna hook you is the meat and potatoes, the really good fights and the good fighters, and and and and I've noticed that in particularly the past two, three years with the UFC, you know, how the pandemic in a weird sense might have been a blessing in disguise for the UFC, simultaneously going with the ESPN deal.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how did the pandemic affect the boxing world?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I mean, I think it gave everybody kind of that that time to renew their focus on training, first of all, and and I think it gave the sport a second to kind of like pause and and figure out what direction that they wanted to head with it.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and so you, you know, there was a lot of issues kind of in the boxing world with like, okay, well, I'm not gonna fight unless it's this much money.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas there were like those green people coming out of it, and this is an MMA too, but that were like, I'll fight for whatever, like just put me on the card.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think it was kind of a blessing for some of those newer people that could get their faces out there, where the more experienced people were like, we're not fighting for this, you know, chump change.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and they held out for you know the the money to kind of come through, but but I think it did, it gave some people a chance to get their faces out there.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it almost leveled the playing field to a certain extent.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not fully, but to a certain extent.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, it was entertaining for sure.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Your mom, how do you maintain that balance?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, figuring it out day by day, yeah.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, it it's I love it.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think I had some guilt to start with with it because it it's a super time consuming sport, and you know, I I have to be training like five or six times a week, and uh that's time that you could, you know, take your kid to the park or do, you know, whatever, whatever with your kid.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: But um I think where I've kind of made peace with it is my kid gets to see me excel at something, my kid gets to to watch me be powerful and and uh successful and and doing what I love to do, um, most importantly.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think that that at the end of the end of the day will be such an inspiration to him.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I hope it will.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and and I think that's just what it is.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to do what you feel your purpose is in life, and that that is going to trickle down and and around to the people around you um and will empower them to do what they're meant to do as well.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I I bring my kid with me to the gym and he gets to hang around with me and and all the other fighters, and and uh he gets to mess around with them, he goes and slaps the bags around, and you know, we're working on making sure he knows that that's supposed to happen at the gym and not at daycare, but it's all a fun experience.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I can relate to that so well.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I played in bands and I played in the music industry for a long period of time, and when my kids were little, little, that's when I was doing my best with it.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and yeah, it was it, and that's something to this day that I still tell people is like, yep, I might have missed out on this or I might have missed out on that, but I've given my kids a wealth of experience through my eyes, and so you're doing the same thing.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, and I think it makes you so intentional about where you're spending your time and and your why behind everything has to be so much stronger.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think it's like you said, it's made me better at what I'm doing, and and I think it'll only make him more successful in the future with whatever he decides to do as well.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure it's trickled your focus in other areas of your life.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if I'm gonna dedicate time to this, I have to dedicate double the amount of time to this.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Everything has to balance somehow.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you just have to figure out what your where your priorities are and and act accordingly.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Your friends uh Houston and uh Ron, they they sure like to bust your balls about shit, don't they?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god, I give it back to them, but yeah, I feel like I feel like those are the bullies of of the relationship area.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I hate I'm I'm actually pulling.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Up and I I was gonna do this at the start.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm pulling up this text chain that I had with you guys.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: I laughed for two days straight on this.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: So so what's the what's the whole coffee thing?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's the story.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes! Here's the coffee story, and I'm glad that I get to share this, that I get my version out there to the world.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when we originally planned this, I was gonna have all three of you on, and Houston might have shared his version of the story too.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: So he wouldn't let me share mine now.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so one early morning, Houston called me and Ron and said, Hey, you guys, you know, get over here, whatever.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're training at like six in the morning.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I get there, Ron's already there with training with Houston out in his front yard.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I come up, I've got my coffee, I made coffee because I'm going to work right after this.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I've I've got my coffee with me, you know, it's for after.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Bring it up with all my stuff.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Houston asks me, uh, where's our coffee?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I literally just like stumbled out of bed, made coffee, and and got here, okay?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wasn't thinking through everything, okay?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ron gets on the gets on me too about it.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Where's my coffee?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Houston takes my coffee, my giant 20-ounce thermos of coffee, unscrews the lid, and pours it out into the yard.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that was the end of me bringing coffee to to to training with them.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: So they they have since called me coffee uh to make fun of me not thinking of bringing coffee for them.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess, you know, it so goes the leader, goes the team, right?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And for our listeners, we're talking about Houston Alexander and Ron Coleman.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you how'd you hook up with those guys?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, so I'm at Houston Alexander.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I work at the Y.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Houston um is connected with the Y.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he was DJing an event that I went to.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that was right around that time where I was starting to be like, ah, maybe I should start thinking about getting back into boxing.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, just kind of leaving it alone.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so some of my coworkers knew that I was thinking about it and were like, hey, you should talk to Houston Alexander, he's a fighter.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I go up to him and I'm uh, you know, hey, I heard you're a fighter.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like know of any good gyms around here I should check out, whatever?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's when he gave me the I'm not a fighter, I'm an ice skater joke.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I didn't follow MMA to any degree at the time, so I I was like, uh I don't know.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody literally just pointed at you and told me you're a fighter, so here I am.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how I met Houston, and Houston and Ron go way back.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Ron used to, you know, help him get ready for fights and stuff with when he was in the UFC.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, Ron's an amazing wrestler and now starting his MMA career.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, I just kind of by chance hooked up with the two of them.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: That is awesome.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Have you found that like Omaha, the Midwest in general is kind of becoming this weird hub for for fighting and combat sports in general?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I never would have guessed that.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't move to Omaha for you know any reason associated with that.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I you know, I knew that Terrence Crawford's gym was here, and and that's about all that I knew about it.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then Houston and and there's a really strong MMA community here, and and the boxing scene is pretty deep too.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I know Crawford's gym has brought in a lot of pros, but um there's a ton of amateur talent all over the city.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been fun.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Tons of good sparring to be had in the in Omaha.
• 25:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So who's the most dynamic character that you've met in your journey so far?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a hard one.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it probably has to be Houston Alexander.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: He's a hard one to avoid.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big personality to to encounter.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I but honestly, like my uh the gyms that I'm at now, like it's just a everybody's a big family, and and you really get to like that mix of personalities and and everything, and everybody kind of going through a ton of stuff together.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just it's an amazing family to have uh in Omaha.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I I can't say enough about the people that I trained with.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I just I was cruising your Instagram and I saw pictures with you in Dober and like a few other people.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, dude, like it's it it's crazy.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, it's deep here.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really deep.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about the phrase you fight like a girl?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: I feel good about it, you know.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Fight me.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Fight me then.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: May have heard through the grapevine that you got a pretty mean punch.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like you've been told that you punch like a dude.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, that was actually after one of my after one of my fights, what the ref, I think it was after my first fight, the the ref was literally in there and he's like, she hits like a dude.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, uh whatever that means.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just I just hit as hard as I can hit, and I guess you you know what you should have done.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: You should have punched the ref and said, No, I'm redefining how women hit.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that would have gone over very well.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not, probably not.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think uh they would favor me in in the face.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta be nice to the refs.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: So who are you fighting this weekend?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um fighting uh some chick out of Hastings, Nebraska.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a hometown girl there, and we're we're gonna go fight her in her hometown, and uh I'm gonna do do as much damage as I can do.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Good, good, good.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you gotta do when you're going to somebody else's uh you know hometown, you gotta show out.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you gotta embarrass them in their home city.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you really have to do do much more than you can't do 51%, it's gotta be like 70 at least.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Do you listen?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Have you listened to David Goggin's book at all?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I'll text you this after after we're done with the podcast, but um, he has what's called the 40% rule.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's whenever you feel like you have maxed yourself out that you've only reached 40% of your actual potential.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: You really do, especially in a fight, because you know, as we're training, like we train like two for two hours at least, and we're our cardio is up there, you know, like we're in shape, and still, I mean, you might have a for women, you're either fighting one or two minute rounds generally, and three rounds.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: So max, I'm fighting six minutes, and you feel absolutely gassed.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, by the time you get into the third round, you're like, I am so tired.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you just have to remind yourself, right, that like my body is way ready for this.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: I I do, I spar more than this all the time.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and you just have to kind of like know that all the tired is just in your head and and somehow push through, push through the mental tired because your body is is fine.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: You you can handle it, you know.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that I totally uh agree with that.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you think you're at your limit, you've got a lot of gas left in the tank.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: I hate to ask in the terms of advice you would give other female fighters, I would say what type of advice do you have for other fighters in general?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody that wants to get into the sport.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I think something that I had to learn that I would share with any fighter is that a lot of people in this sport, I think, uh talk like they're not scared, talk like um they were built for this, like they came out of the womb ready to fight or something.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think that's just not real.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like everybody works through their own version of nerves or or fear or whatever it is.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's part of what makes you a really strong person is is when you get to that point of feeling fear or feeling nerves, being able to push past that.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think a lot of people are steered away because they they think that people that fight are somehow born without that, and it's just not true, you know.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just you train and and you do stuff while you're scared.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Who said there's a quote out there somewhere that's like, do it, do it afraid, or something like that.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what you just have to do until that's a muscle that you're used to exercising is pushing through um your own self-doubt, your own fear, your own nerves, whatever it is.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: The reason I phrase the question like that is uh as I said a little bit ago, you know, combat sports are my thing.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: A regular Saturday night for me is like I'll smoke some ribs, and my son and I will sit down and we'll watch fights no matter what it is, if it's boxing, if it's MMA, whatever.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And women are starting to really show up.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really think that we're getting to a point, a really exciting point, where we just kind of need to shed this whole girl boxer, women boxer type thing, and just say, You're a boxer.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're fighters, yeah.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're you're showing out just as much as some of these, if not more than some of these dudes.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like some of the best fights I've seen in the past year have been women just owning it.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I think as women in this sport, I think we feel like we have a lot to prove because because of all of the stereotypes and fight like a girl and all of that stuff, that we feel like we have to prove the world wrong about how tough we are, how skilled we are, how you know, uh how willing we are to to show up in this sport.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that's why you see a lot of women fights that are just absolutely intense.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, excuse the obviously not balls to the wall, but balls to the wall, right?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like we go out there and we we throw just just as uh hard as the dudes.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: One song on your workout playlist that people would be surprised is on it.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: I listen to a lot of soul while I work out, honestly.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot like Stevie Wonder is probably my most played artist.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: I could not tell you what song, because it's just it's really all of them, but maybe like as I really like that one.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I listen to a lot of soul, a lot of old stuff.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um will will would be the stuff that maybe would surprise people, I guess.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it would me too, because that shit makes me smile.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't want to make me like make people bleed or anything.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I mean like I love DMX and stuff just as much as the next people, but like that's a lot of uh that's a lot to to be listened to all the time.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just be angry all the time while you're trading.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you gotta kind of like feel good and feel loose and uh and yeah, soul and and and that kind of stuff does it for me.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm literally envisioning in my head you shadow boxing the Sir Duke and an almost it's oh shit, that's awesome.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: That is fantastic.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Ellie, I'm not gonna hold you up anymore because I know you gotta go train tonight, right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: I do, yep, in an hour.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I did want to say on a final note, you don't need to prove anything to anybody because you're already doing it, you're just doing the damn thing, and I appreciate you doing the podcast and I appreciate you being you.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I love getting to talk about uh this thing that I love, and um, you know, shouts out to to you, to everybody I train with, to everybody that makes what I do possible.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I I'm so grateful for everybody.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a certain level of grace and humility that not everybody has, and Ellie seems to have it in spades.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: I am looking forward to what her future is going to bring, and I have a feeling it's going to be big, big, big things for the fight world.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're not following her already, follow Ellie Grapp on all social media platforms that you can find her on, but most importantly, look for when she's fighting next and show up to support her.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: And since we're talking about social media, make sure you give a like and follow on all social media platforms to the Caught on the Mic podcast pages.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: I would really appreciate it.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: You can also visit me at www.caughton the mic.com, and you can hear all recent episodes from that website, and you can submit your contact info in case you want to be a guest on the show.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: I would be remiss not to mention the elusive five star rating that I'm looking for on the Apple podcasting platform.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Michael Clark.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, thank you.