Latest / Caught on the Mike... / “Working for More” with PFL Lightweight Arut Pogosjan

Transcript

“Working for More” with PFL Lightweight Arut Pogosjan · Caught on the Mike...

• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking with my friend Arut Primetime for Gojin.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: How are you, my friend?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Doing good.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Doing good.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Getting back to training.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh getting it's uh always exciting for me to rebuild after a loss, you know, like rearranging my schedule and getting everything uh uh I hate losing, don't get me wrong.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't want to come off like um, I haven't lost in years and uh uh the feeling sucks, but it drives me like it's a different kind of fire.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm always fired up to do the to be the best that I can be, but after a loss, there's uh even more to prove, you know?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, you kind of you go back to the drawing board, you you take a look at your schedule, you take a look at a look at what you can improve.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, I've been doing a pretty good job, I feel like, with arranging my schedule and uh all of that stuff.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: So there's there's like not gonna be big changes, but a couple of small changes that are gonna make a big difference, you know, like it's when you you have a ship on course and you move it one degree or two degrees, and then like in an hour, it's like way different trajectory, right?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing with this.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm excited for you know to make these small changes, they're gonna make the big difference.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna ask you about that.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: About how do you press the reset button after something like that?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because some people, it's a certain level of mental tenacity where one loss can totally destroy a person, but another person might look at it as, you know, today's a new day, this is a fresh start, this is my reset button.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was just gonna ask you that question.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, for me, uh, I'm not gonna lie, it's depressing, you know.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like for the for about a month or so, I was pretty depressed.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: I was I like to be stalk, I don't like to show my feelings to other people, but like inside I know what I'm feeling, and it's not good.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like you know I was just eating my feelings away, honestly, just trying to get joy out of food is pretty much uh but at the same time I know that that feeling is temporary.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: I know that feeling is necessary for it's like the fire that uh burns the phoenix so it can rise from the ashes, right?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I know I have to go through that process of the downward so that I can rise again.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: The the harder the fall, the sweeter the rise.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh yeah, I think that that's the key for me is like just I always remember that, yeah, yeah, I'm feeling depressed right now, but I'm not my feelings, you know, like this will pass.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: And what can I do about it?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I could sit here and cry about it, but or I could do something about it, you know, like take the input from my coaches.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: I could take the input uh from the commentators, Randy Kutur, Kenny Florian, they great, they gave great input watching the fight.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: So, and uh it's exciting to apply the input that my coaches and these great commentators give to make me the better fighter, you know.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's uh fight long enough, you're gonna lose.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just you know, we're all human, nothing's gonna be perfect.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's about how you come back from that, and it's about uh being the best that you can be.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's about not making the same mistakes again.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Without any further ado, why don't you introduce yourself to my audience and let's kind of let's kind of talk your backstory a little bit on how you got into fighting and uh what landed you in Colorado?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, I think my father got me into fighting when I was a kid instead of like you know, I remember my earliest memories is five years old.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Instead of uh Disney movies, my dad would bring uh Jean-Claude Van Damme movies on VHS, you know, kickboxer.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: I would just play it on repeat over and over again.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like all day long, that movie was playing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I would have nightmares about Tom Poe.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, my dad, my dad told me as a kid, like uh, you don't have to worry about anything.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: I could beat up anybody in the world.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm the strongest.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: As my dad would tell me that I believed him.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: But when it came to Tom Poe, I was like, man, I don't know if I don't know if you can take Tom Poe.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Tom Poe and Determinator, those two.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so I I kind of and I I think uh I grew up watching, you know, like violent movies.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: I just I mean I wouldn't call them violent, but you know, action movies, and uh and I was naturally drawn to that.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: I was uh uh I think my temperament was like that to begin with, you know.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and in our cult in Armenian culture, fighting is probably the most important sport, you know.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: There's not too many Armenians out there, you know, there's probably like three million in Armenia and uh two or three more million scattered throughout the world.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: And out of let's say combined five or six million, we have countless world champions in kickboxing, boxing, MMA, judo, uh all the combat sports.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: And combat sports, wrestling, weightlifting, that that's it.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like what we're built for.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I was naturally drawn to that.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, my dad took me to Taekwondo when I was five, but they called it Taekwondo, but it was kickboxing because I remember they gave us boxing gloves, not even shin guards, and and we just went at it.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: I remember going I had a really good friend, his name was Uraji, and uh, you know, as a kid, five, six years old, yeah, I like fighting, but I didn't, you know, I I would hit my friend and he would cry.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I remember feeling bad, and then he would hit me and I didn't like the pain either.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: What kid likes pain?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like it's not and then I remember telling my dad, I was like, he was watching our practice, and he I was like, I don't I don't want to hit him, and I kind of I don't like it when I get hit and he just looked at me, he's like, What do you mean?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like this is this is what you want to do, this is what you're doing.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I felt embarrassed for him to say that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: And we went back at it with tears in our eyes, we were just hitting each other.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: But uh looking back at it, you know, to somebody it might, especially today, you know, I feel like we live in a snowflake generation, but you know, it might seem like a traumatizing experience for somebody, but I think that's those type of experiences is character building, you know, like it's very uh analogous to life, you know.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Life uh sometimes hits you and you it sucks, it's painful.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: And what are you gonna do?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Sit there and cry about it?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: No, you gotta cry about it, but you gotta do something about it.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that was the message that he tried he relayed he relayed to me early on, you know.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: I can draw a parallel to your dad.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I have a son that's in Taekwondo, actually, my son and my daughter, 13-year-old, he's a big kid, and uh he always is intimidated by kids that are smaller than him, or when he fights, or when he fights a girl.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, dude, they're doing the same thing that you're doing.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to be such a gentleman, and it's just like don't worry about it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are doing the same thing.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's killer be killed, man.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Killer be killed.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Top for your son, though.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: I I I kick your ass, but that's expected.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: And um, if they even do remotely good against you, that just makes you look bad.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, absolutely.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think he knows that he's got the he's got the cognitive spirit where he kind of gets that.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Where my daughter, she's 15, and she she's tall and lanky, so I'm always like, just output, output, output, output, because she's got long arms and long feet, so she can maintain distance.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you're gonna get your points that way, but she's like, Dad, I could care less about this shit.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, makes sense.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Most girls don't care about it.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: There's some though.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: There's some.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've seen some like born fighters, like they're girls, you know.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's yeah, it's rare, but it happens.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: You usually the temperament's not like that.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, absolutely.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, how'd you land in Denver?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I have a c I have a cousin uh who lived here and we visited and we loved it here, and then I found out uh about team elevation out here, and uh one thing led to another, and we just made the move here.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I was living in New York before that, but I was, you know, I I didn't really like living in New York.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I lived there for I lived in upstate New York for about 10 years, and I lived in Queens and Jersey City for another year or so.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was like New York City's cooler, you know, like there's a lot of energy and uh it's really cool.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of great memories at Hanzo.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I have great memories in upstate New York too, you know, but but I knew that you know there's better places out, better fitting places for me out there, like climber-wise and uh training wise.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I was thinking of where can I move that would be a better fit for me.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: So my choices were LA, uh Denver and Florida.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, we we decided that Denver was the best spot, climber-wise and uh elevation-wise.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's a huge advantage having having elevation on your side.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a reason Olympic training center is here.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how I made the move, and then I joined Team Elevation and I've been with them since for it's been eight years now, over eight years.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: So did you train up in upstate New York?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um I uh you know, back back when I started uh um there was the amateur scene in uh MMA was non-existent.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well the MMA scene in uh in upstate New York was non-existent, you know, there was kind of guys training some jiu-jitsu, guys training some striking and kind of putting it together, fighting outside of New York in Massachusetts and uh uh you know, Jersey states nearby.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: And for a while, like honestly, there was like a couple of handful of us just fighters in upstate New York, at least not downstate.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Downstate there's more, of course.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: But uh and me and my uh buddy Roger, uh, we were Matt Hamill's main training partners for like the longest time.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: We helped him get ready for so many fights.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it was bizarre because you know he had like 50 pounds on me, and uh, I'd have to give myself pep talks before sparring him.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: But like I, you know, I didn't want to admit to myself even that how scared I was, considering he broke in my ribs uh in the sparring sessions, you know, like he was just he was big and he had one speed, you know.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: And but I didn't want to admit that I was scared, and I didn't want to admit to myself and to others, and I wanted to prove to myself that it didn't matter.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: So for years we were his main training partners.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think is involved with the structure that makes team elevation successful in churning out such high-level fighters such as yourself and some of the other other guys on the team and girls?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think uh number one probably the culture, you know.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Cody, uh Christian, and all the co great coaches we have uh uh have set a culture of growth.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's about growth.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think that's mate to become one percent better each day.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then we appro I think there's a uh besides growth, there's a cerebral approach to it too.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like you know, I've changed a lot of places, and I think uh we put it together better than most, you know, like we really bring all the arts together into one, into mixed martial art.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, there's a and that attracts a lot of talent.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many talented guys on the team.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: Can you can't really find an easy round, you know?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: So and there's a clutter of coaches too, you know.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: So uh there's been some changes happening now and a couple of transitions happening, but but overall we have a lot of great athletes coming together working as a unit to create the product that is team elevation.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's an iron sharpens iron environment, from what I can see from afar.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I talk to a lot of the fighters on a regular basis, and I've talked to Cody and I've talked to Vinny.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm never short of impressed when I talk to any of you guys.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's always very enlightening.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of my favorite parts of having you and your teammates and your coaches on the show is there's a certain moral characteristics that you all share, kind of like these core values uh of integrity and respect that I I absolutely love that goes beyond the fighting world.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, I kind of I kind of sense that too.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that uh uh I think the you know coaches lead by example, and uh it's just kind of it's not like anybody's out there teaching us these things.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's just kind of the the energy, the vibe is there like that, you know.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the vibe we have, you know.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: So and and then the the bad apples, I guess, maybe get weeded out eventually, you know.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, no place, no team, no organization is perfect.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: There's always um imperfections out there, but uh overall I think you're right.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: There is this core values uh that integrity, core and core integrity in uh uh most of the team that I I see too.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so your last fight was part of the PFL Challenger series, right?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: So are you currently under contract with any specific organization or are you pursuing a contract?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Under contract with PFL.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: So, but you know, the the details are kind of unclear still, like what's what's next with them.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: But uh I did sign a one to three year contract with them, you know, and how that plays out is still kind of a little bit up in the air.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: But uh I really love fighting for them, uh, you know, despite the loss.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: And there is an organization that would like to make my home.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I you know, yeah, this was a setback and everything, but my goal hasn't changed.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: I want to win that million-dollar tournament.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: I know I'm capable of winning that million dollar tournament is uh just a bump in the road, it happens, and uh hopefully we get uh some fighting news in the near future, you know.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be ready to fight in about three months.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I have a little laboring care uh nursing and nursing a little injury right now, but uh uh not nothing serious.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh three months I'll be ready to uh address the mistakes I've made and uh um show uh upgraded version of myself.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you do in your downtime when you're not training for a fight or you're not actively pursuing?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of your interests outside of the octagon?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: I like to listen to audiobooks, but but that's not during downtime.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's like when I'm cooking or something.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: I I love listening to audiobooks and I'm I'm not the only one.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of fighters do that or or podcasts, and you know, just constantly trying to be the best that we can be.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um I like uh hiking, of course, in the in Colorado.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh paddle boarding is uh a hobby of mine.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: I I was just I just got done kicking uh kicking ass in chess right now.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Me and my roommate Caleb, uh we we just go to war and chess and we talk so much shit while we play.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's the most satisfying feeling beating him.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, and uh besides that, probably play uh UFC.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: We we live brief fighting.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if I showed you my house right now, as soon as you enter the gym, like it's uh it's a whole matted area, the walls are matted, the floor is matted.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: When the pandemic hit, we were I built it, rebuilt it so that we can train because the gyms were like closed open.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was a disaster.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: So and I have uh we have a outside training area too for strength conditioning, bag work, all of that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, God forbid there was another pandemic.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: We still this house we call it champ house.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: We live, breathe, fighting.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: When we're not when we're not fighting, we're fighting.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you so you sit get on the Xbox or PS5 and you fire up the UFC 4.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming you're playing in Kumite mode just because of the John Claude Van Dam fandom.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: We have, yeah, Kumite a lot, but I love the T-Mobile is my favorite.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's T Mobile is my favorite.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh, yeah, it's and it's it's so bizarre.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think about it.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: I've done uh a bunch of training camps with Alistair.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: We lived together, uh, and he he hated it.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like the UFC game.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: He never played it, but like he's like, man, I'm training.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to think of UFC outside of training.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I've met a lot of guys like that, they don't they don't play it.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: But with us, we we don't get tired of it.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, there we surely there's gotta be a point where you get sick of it, but we don't get sick of it.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's our we I like a kid, I'd like I get joy out of kicking ass and whether it's UFC or it's just winning, winning, winning, winning.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh yeah, I think so.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we do.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime I have somebody new, I'm not a gamer, but that is the only game I will play.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is UFC 3 or UFC 4?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't play much much else either.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Rapha Fata once in a while, but I've got an upright Mortal Kombat arcade machine in my my basement, so I got I play that.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: If I ever make it out there, we'll definitely have a battle.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, dude, that's amazing.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so what's the last book that really struck you and really stuck with you?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: I was the last one I was listening to was uh uh Andrew Agassiz uh Open.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh yeah, it's about tennis, you know, like it's kind of tennis, parts of it were funny.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, come on, bro.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's you know, you guys are so dramatic.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's maybe we're fighters, we're jaded about like with toughness and all that stuff, but like when they make the analogies to tennis to boxing and stuff like to I'm like, you're ridiculous.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: But but uh when it talks about how difficult it was, like the the love and hate relationship he had with tennis and and then hating it but still doing it, but then loving it, and just the mix, all the mixed emotions you feel before competition and all the all those things.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: You that is uh that transcends one sport that is common in all sports, and uh yeah, I really I I relate it to that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Not a lot of people realize how cerebral of a sport tennis is and how sharp it keeps your mental acuity.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thinking about that and the fact that you just kill it in chess.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find that you're more of a cerebral fighter whenever you're strategizing how a fight is gonna play out or how it's happening in real time?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh chess, honestly, chess is kind of a recent hobby, and I've I I um I've always been more of an instinctual fighter than a cerebral fighter, I would say.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: But over the years, I think I've shifted uh to being a little more cerebral.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like I catch myself um uh being uh more cerebral in jiu-jitsu now, like especially when I'm when I'm rolling in uh when I'm rolling with people that I'm clearly better than.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, all right, this is I I start to make the analogies of chess, you know, like you know, I have this position and this is kind of like a checkpoint here, and these are my options.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Before it wasn't like that, like before it was just I was just going, I was just doing things and and having great success doing that, and you know, and uh with my just because of physical ability and stuff, but now I'm kind of slowing things down and and uh and it is from playing chess, I think is and the same thing with uh striking too, you know, like uh with the the big analogy.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: chest and striking is in chess you take over the middle of the board.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: I like to take over the middle of the board.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's like taking over the top of the hill.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: And same thing with uh cage.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you take over the center of the cage and it's so it's a it's a tactical uh decision, right?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: You where you put yourself and then you're fighting from uphill.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: So there's there's many an analogies like that that translate from chess to fighting to to grappling.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh I think uh overall it makes you uh one helps the other and uh and it's the the shifts in momentum are interesting too you know like you lose a queen or something but it's not over till it's over you know like how do you if you sit there and dwell on losing a piece right or and fighting would be like if you get rocked or something right and you sit there and you dwell on that uh short night for you but if you move on right away and you're like okay what do I gotta do to win this moment right now like forget what just happened what I how do I deal with this right now and then not getting sucked into the momentum the all the emotions that come with ups and downs of the competition is I think it's cool and it translates.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah absolutely it does so I asked this question frequently of a lot of the guests on my show because it's no secret how podcasting is taken off uh post-pandemic world but fighting is really blown up i it's one sport that just kept going when the rest of the world shut down and you know gyms shut down but people were still training there were you know UFC was still having events I think PFL did have their million dollar tournament in 2020 um Bellator was running what's your advice in a post-pandemic world with everything that's going on what's your advice for making the world a better place right now I never thought I'd be asked that question um like the furthest person you want to ask how to make the world a better place but in relation to post pandemic um man live your life I think you know like there's uh gonna be I think my biggest frustration with the pandemic was the mass hysteria and and like how everything got put on hold and uh people just became lazy and um it was not good.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think I think the fact that the fighting sports continued to go on represents the fighting spirit.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know I think life is gonna throw circumstances at you that are shitty and uh you know you could always the the easy route the easy choice is always gonna be there to roll over and die or whatever you know kind of just cry about it.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: But the best thing you could do is take action.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know what whatever circumstance you're in never perfect right like you know moving to America was a very difficult uh experience for me you know for we're undocumented for 10 years uh and you know living in Europe where I had a very good life and then coming to America you know being undocumented I see my father work 16 hour days 18 hour days and running off four or five hours of sleep and just off the other we're living in the ghetto and getting those jobs even that was difficult for him.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I saw a prime example of what no excuse mentality is you know like and so to me life is never gonna be perfect and there's always gonna be shitty circumstances and you just gotta do the best you can with what you have there.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: And sitting there and crying about it's not helpful you know I mean maybe you could cry about it as long as you're taking action but if you're not taking action and crying about it I don't want to hear it.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah right I ask that question of fighters on purpose because you have a very tactical mindset just a as a fighter in general you have a very tactical mindset.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know what your mission is you know what the end result that you want to be is so whenever you're kind of thrown into a complex situation like that or you know and thrown an oddball quite like that on top of it it it really makes you think and it and what you're describing in a lot of ways is the fighter's journey um it's something now this isn't a MMA podcast so to speak it's it's uh we I cover everything on my show but I focus on a lot of fighters above any other athletes out there for that reason like the fighter's journey is the most interesting and the mindset that you guys have is always inspiring.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah it's the eyes on the prize mindset right like the mission what what is my mission you know it's the let's keep it simple and let's accomplish the mission.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I think you know whether you're fighting whether you're in school whether you're uh providing for your family I think that it's all universal like you gotta have a mission uh and accomplish your mission you know or come close to come as close that you could possibly can come to accomplishing your mission.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know it's uh and like to me that like I've thought about people have asked me like what is the meaning of life and uh I've thought about this question for a long time and I think the meaning is to be the best that you can be.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: And to be the best that you can be means to uh to accomplish as many of your goals as as possible you know so you know and and if you give it your all you can live with any outcome knowing that you're given it all but only you know if you're given it all.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: The mirror doesn't lie when you look in the mirror you'll know when you've given your all and you know when you haven't you know so right so to sleep easy at night you've got to give it your all so one book I gotta ask if you've ever listened to because I'm I'm hearing bits and pieces of it have you ever listened to David Goggin's book Can't Hurt Mear the Mirror analogy yes the accountability mirror I heard it right there I'm like I know that one I've listened to that four times yeah I've listened to it a couple of times myself that book that book got me through some fights I'll tell you what like that book he's crazy that David David got him is crazy you know he says yeah he was born with a congenital heart disease no you gave yourself heart disease by pushing yourself to the brink of what you did but but that all that being said you know it that book really taps into the uh the mind's potential and like getting you through what you think is impossible.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know I think um yeah it's a great book I yeah yeah absolutely recommend it me too me too and the the only reason I said the uh the Agassi the open book I have way more uh other books that uh that I like way more that would recommend the books but uh it was just uh the most recent one that came to mind that's why I said that but uh that Goggins book man that that is uh the governor right the right talks about the essential governor yeah to prevent you like that prevents you from giving your 100 yeah yeah it's the 40% rule yeah I don't know if it's actually 40% or if it's 80% but right I I I do think we're not reaching our full potential.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think there are consequences to uh uh to disabling the governor you know like you're gonna be burning the candle from both ends you know so so it should be taken with a little bit of grain of soul you should choose where you disable the governor oh my gosh I am so glad to hear somebody else say that I so I've got this text group of buddies and we're kind of like we're pushing each other get out to the gym every day get you know get our get our health in check and I'm like listen none of us are gonna be David Goggins so let's not talk to each other like we think we are because you're right man I I have tried that lifestyle it is not sustainable for me and I feel like I'm a relatively ambitious guy.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well I'll tell you what like uh I I'm uh educated guy uh I've I have a degree in biology I have a degree in health science I study I was in PA school I finished a didactic year so I know quite a bit about health and uh and the human body I understand very well like one the one of the pillars of health is sleep you know and if you're gonna compromise sleep to go get a workout uh like I mean yeah if you slept six seven hours you can get away with workout you know it's not ideal but like working out still can have some benefit for you but if you sleep in five hours and you're gonna go work out you're gonna have a congenital heart disease like Dave Gaga.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know that that's what that leads to so so that's why I say take it with a grain of salt and I think you understand that too.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes yes I do.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you slept five hours maybe that day go take a walk like or go sit in the sauna or something you know active recovery that day don't don't go pushing it on the treadmill or whatever it is especially as you get older older that's how yeah that's how you ruin your heart and you only get one engine you know like your your engine is very important.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah that's my take on that.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well sir it's been a pleasure chatting with you I hope uh I hope we can run into each other in the real world I likewise I said it a couple of times I'm planning on coming out to Colorado before too long I think maybe later this summer but uh yeah I plan I hopefully I can run into all you guys and give you high fives and maybe see you in action.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey that'd be awesome uh uh when you're here I uh I challenge you to uh UFC four write off yeah so we could have a tournament at my at the champ house so you're welcome to come through just let me know when you're here and uh we'll have a full on tournament yeah I'm down brother I am down hey man thank you so much for doing the podcast the world's a better place with you and it sir thanks for having me man appreciate it I want to once again thank Prime Time for doing the show today make sure you give him a follow on all forms of social media give a follow to elevated fighting out all of one media