The Zach and Pat Show
59. Why So Serious? (feat. Colin Parr)
(upbeat music) What is up guys, welcome back to the Zach and Pat show. I'm Zach. - I'm Pat. - This is the show about manhood, fatherhood, entrepreneurship and the mentality it takes to be successful at those things. And we'll probably sprinkle in some helpful real estate advice too, 'cause that's what Pat and I do. You know guys, life can be tough. We can go through some things and struggle at times, but this is the show to let you know that you're not alone. So if you're someone out there going through any of these things, this is the show for you. Shout out to our friends at Neurogum for keeping us energized and focused. Neurogum is a chewing gum and they've got mints as well. It helps with energy and focus. It's got a little bit of caffeine, L-theanine, vitamins B6 and 12 helps. Like I said with energy and focus, I really chew it all the time. Really when I'm driving around, showing houses, working. Whenever I need a quick little pick me up, I'll chew it while I'm drilling in jujitsu or during a CrossFit workout. It just kind of helps keep me going, especially toward later in the afternoons or whenever I don't want to grab another coffee or an energy drink 'cause I don't want to be up all night. I'll just grab a piece of Neurogum and chew it and usually kind of gets me where I need to go. So get out there and try some Neurogum. - Also, it is my great pleasure for the first time ever to announce the sponsoring of the second Pat Show with my company and Gabe's company, Captain Beard Co. We are a men's grooming company. We have beard oils, we have face washes, we have balms, we have butters, we have body washes, and we have apparel on the way. Our goal here at Captain Beard Co. is to offer you products that not only we use ourselves, but as well, they are products that you can understand what's on the label, minimal ingredients made by hand right here in St. Louis, Missouri. If you're going to buy a product for your beard or for your facial hair, whatever the case may be, I don't know about you, but I hate looking at a label and not being able to understand or pronounce 90% of what is on it. You will not get that with us. We have amazing scents, we have an amazing brand, and we hope you'll give us a chance. So, thank you, Captain Beard Co. for sponsoring the podcast. This shit smells amazing. And the fact that I get to walk around smelling like a back wood Russian cream, my hood rat ass really appreciates it. Really good, how's that for an ad read? - That was perfect, bro. - That was pretty good. - Perfect, I love it, first one. - There you go. - Yeah, exactly. Well, it's stuff that we all use and really enjoy, so. But now, let's introduce our awesome guest today. He's a friend of mine, training partner of mine, one of my coaches. - Our coaches. - Well, one of all of our coaches, yeah, I'm sorry. He's a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, an MMA fighter, Mr. Kalanoscopy, great and powerful. Kalanpar. - Gotta give Kyle props for that nickname, it's stuck. - Or Mr., we're calling you down with a thickness for a while. - Down with a fix it, also fix and Gracie. - Fix and grace. - That was one, that was a good one, I believe that was Engelbart. - Well, 'cause you, I mean, I guess that that kind of came when you basically like, kind of, not like, I don't wanna say blew up, like, 'cause you got really fat, but you, like, put on like-- - No, I blew up, dude. I mean, in a good way. - No, you, like, 'cause you basically went from lightweight to welterweight, right? It's kinda like toward the end of your MMA career. - Yeah, 'cause I started, well, it was just you, the weight cut, 'cause of my weight, walking around weight has like, always been around like, you know, 187, and then cutting to 155, but it was like, yeah, it was awful. So then it was like, I was trying to put on weight, 'cause like, I need to go up to 170. And I got up to like, you know, I was walking around like, a little bit, like 191, 192. So I just made 170 way easier, but even with that, the people were just bigger, 'cause they were cutting it. - From like, from like, 210. - Yeah, they were just big, big boys. So, yeah, I was like, you always hear about MMA fires talking about that 165, like weight class, everybody wants that, it would've been perfect for me. 'Cause it was like, either I kill myself and make 155. - But then you're depleted, and-- - Depleted. - And drained, and-- - Yeah, and I've had some bad weight cuts. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I think the most intense one was, I went to Tulsa to fight for XFN. - Okay. - And it was on three week notice. So I had to cut 32 pounds in three weeks. - Holy shit. - Holy shit. - I did it, I made weight, but it was awful. It was really bad. - Oh God. - How, how do you do that, how-- - So as soon as you get that, the first thing was, I immediately am cutting my calories in like 1,200 a day. - Gross. - And it's just chicken breast, broccoli, just no carbs. No carbs. - Really fat. - When it's fat too, 'cause you're trying to get in the, like a really huge, like caloric deficit. But then the bulk of it, I think I cut 21 pounds. - Water cut. - In two days with water, just by water loading and doing all that. But the day before weigh ins I didn't sleep, because I was just so-- - Can't, 'cause you're so thirsty, like you're-- - Yeah, yeah, and it was, man, this was so embarrassing too. I'll go ahead and tell you. 'Cause I had to make the weight, right? I had to, I've never missed weight in my life. I never will. I hate it when people do that. So for this one, I was still like kind of overweight. And I was like, dude, I gotta do something. I can't, I was in the sauna, wasn't losing any weight. I just wasn't sweating anymore. Do you guys ever heard of magnesium citrate? - Yes. - Oh yeah. - Yeah. - All right. - I drank a whole bottle of it. - Oh my gosh. - Oh. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - And then it didn't do anything. Well, I thought it didn't do anything, 'cause time passed and I couldn't sleep. - It turned out to do something. - So I was like, dude, I can't, I have to get some sleep. So I took some like, you know, some Ben and Driller, some sleeping pills. I fell asleep. I shit myself. (laughing) I'm using that for a piece of music. I woke up, like, it was like, it was really gross. I woke up in my feces and I was disgusted. I was disgusted for a second and then I was happy, 'cause I was like, oh, I'm definitely on weight. I can't believe this is your first podcast. - Yeah, I gotta get some laundry, but boy did I make way. - Boy, am I okay. - I was so happy I hit weight, I shit myself. (laughing) - Dude, it was, I would never, yeah, it was bad. I would never recommend that. I was so depleted. I had to have my buddy, Dan, I was surprised. He had to drive me to Tulsa, 'cause I just kept passing out and then I started like an hour before the wanes, dude. And my kidneys were killed. - That's bad. - I guess it's not that bad. - Yeah, I made weight and then I refueled and felt even worse the next day and then fought in a cage for 15 minutes, though, yeah. - You win that fight? - No, I lost a split decision. - Oh, I lost a split decision. - Yeah, what a shitty way to end things. - I know, it was like, Dan, all that, no well. - I mean, shout out to you, though, 'cause I mean, I think most people would probably consign themselves just like missing weight, but cool, we could just get out of it, but like, not you. - No, not on the table. - You literally shit the bad guy. - I literally shit the bad. I was like, "Mr. Colin Oscar people." - There we go. (all laughing) - Hey, there's legitimately good origin minded, too. - Good origin to it. - Does Kyle though that? Is that why he gave you that big name or is it, no? - No, oddly enough, no, no, Kyle was just being Kyle. He's like, "Oh, Colin Oscar people, I'll tear you a new one." Good one, right? And I was like, "Sure, if only you knew." - If only you knew. (all laughing) - Well, I do kind of want to get, obviously you're a lifelong martial artist, I'd love to kind of like start at the beginning, like tell us kind of how'd you get into, how'd you get into, I guess MMA is one thing, but how'd you get into martial arts in general? And like, obviously that's kind of developed your life, you know, like, so let's kind of start at the beginning. - Yeah, so it was super tough, 'cause I'm from an incredibly small town, right? Pocahontas, Illinois, come on, like 650 people, right? So clearly there's no gyms in the area at all. So high school, there was nothing except like a YMCA karate I went to for two years. And dude, even with me having no experience, I was like, "I don't think this is gonna work." My mom took me to that when I was like six and we kind of like ripped it a new one. - Yeah, this doesn't look like the UFC. - No, this isn't what the Power Rangers are doing. - This is way cooler. God, I've watched a lot of Dragon Ball Z, I don't see this. (laughing) - Where's Master Roshi? Teach me to come in and make a wave, come on, bro. - Yeah. - So it was like, yeah, years of doing that, but I did like the karate tournaments when I was like-- - Oh, you did? - Hell yeah. - So how old were you when you started that? - Dude, I was a junior in high school. - Okay, oh well, yeah. - So you started like later in life. I feel like a lot of people do, like I did karate and like, haikwondo, and like as like a little bit of game. - Six, seven, eight, you're old. - I have no shame. - Yeah. - Yeah. - No shame, I was like, whatever. - They had adult class, it was fine, but it was just so funny 'cause it was like, yeah, the tournaments were just, they had point fighting, but then they also had-- - Content. - Well, it was like, gotcha, you know, that sort of thing. - Like tag. - Exactly, but then they also had a ground fighting portion. - A karate? - Yeah, for the tournament. - Well, the karate was kimpo jujitsu, so it's basically kimpo karate, shitty judo, shitty jujitsu, basically what it was. - Okay. - When I mean shitty jujitsu, I remember the instructors showing a triangle, and this was with me with just seeing it, and UFC being like, it's not right, it's not right. His arm's not across, like that's not gonna work. - Right. - So I would win, I won all the tournaments just by being more athletic, just whatever, but I kind of, you know, you're younger, you can sometimes get a big head, especially at that age. So, remember when I went to college, I started going to Andrew Saban's gym. - Okay. - With Dan Esenprice 'cause he went to Carbondale as well. - I don't know that, okay. - Yeah, me and Dan have been-- - Okay, you guys got way back. - Way back, we went to high school together, we went to college together. - Dan's got a mean guillotine. - The best guillotine, that's why I like to say, I cannot be guillotine now. Probably the same reason why you can't be darst. - Right, Nick, Nick's-- - Nick stars me a million times. - Yeah, it's good. - Well, there you go, we got the ears to prove it. - Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing. - Yeah, but no, yeah, I remember going there and just doing like the trial class, and dude, like this 115 pound, like a four strike white belt, like he Zeke healed me like five times in like a three minute round and I was like, oh shit. - Yeah, I don't have to do this, yeah. Yeah, so then that's just how I got into Jiu-Jitsu and then luckily Andy is amazing. So he also does Muay Thai and like JKD. So it was like, I would go there and do three hours every day. - Now how far is Carbondale from Pocahontas? Where you like drive to the David? - I was going to college at this time. - Okay, so you're in college. - Yeah, I was in college. - Got it. - I was like, I was like two hours. - I was like, you doing that? - I was like, just go to San Luis. - Yeah, I mean, go to Carbondale, that's great, yeah. - So you went to college in Carbondale and that's so you started training Andy's gym and then, you know, eventually like you obviously got into MMA and all that like, so tell us like how did you transition and how did that kind of come about? - Yeah, so the transition was all just from, I've always been in competition my entire life. So I wasn't even doing MMA. I was just doing Muay Thai, jujitsu, JK, and then I was only doing jujitsu tournaments at the time. Like a bunch of white belt and blue belt. I was just doing tons of tournaments. But then I was like, damn, I really want to like use some Muay Thai too. - Yeah. - And I was like, I'm going to try MMA. So I did it just to first because one, I wanted to make sure I could actually defend myself 'cause that's the whole reason was I've always been, I guess in like high school you could say even before that I was really scared of like confrontation or like conflict, I just would get super anxious and scared, you know what I mean? So I just kind of wanted to test myself and make sure like what I'm doing actually works. So like I don't want to be doing all this and then something happens and then I get my ass kicked and I'm like, oh, this is for nothing. So took the MMA fight and I just completely steamrolled. Yeah, like right away. Yeah. - I just went. - Rear naked choke. - Yeah, I just kept basically going late kick, late kick. And then I would just get double under hooks, take them down, ground a pound, did that for a whole round. And the next round he just gave me his back and I choked and I was like, Dan, this works. That's crazy. And I was like, I don't keep doing it. That's pretty good. - And how long does this for? How old are you? - It's from your college though? - Yeah. Well, I think I just graduated, I think it was 21. Yeah. So this would have been 2014. - Yeah. - So for those who are not as familiar in the martial arts world, JKD is Jeet Kune Do, correct? - Jeet Kune Do, yeah. - Which is Rusely's art. - That's correct. - All right. So I think for a lot of people, especially in contemporary times, they look at things like Muay Thai, Jujitsu, maybe a little bit of Judo, Western boxing, kickboxing. And they're like, okay, this is all you need. But, you know, five finger death punch from the Grandmaster. Could you talk a little bit like what the JKD experience was like for you? - Dude, JKD was so much fun. - Was it? - Yeah, it was so much fun. There's all like different levels and different kind of things you think about with like hand trapping, utilizing the Thai clench. They got takedowns, Huba drills, a lot of really good stuff. Now, is that stuff I really used in my fights? - No. - No, but it doesn't have to be. It's super fun. And it's just good reflexes too, good hand speed drills. Right? I don't know. Yeah, so I loved it. I would love to do it again too, but it was around here just 'cause all the like, the drills you can do, the repeating drills, it's just so fun. And like for the time to, 'cause you got to remember JKD was way back before. - Right before me. - Yeah, but it's like kind of like, I don't know Rogan's talked about it as like the first MMX. It was like the first, 'cause it's, you know, when before the UFC, everybody like, it was very frowned upon to train other, if you were a Thai condo guy, you'd only train Thai condo, the crowdy guys, only train crowdy. They never like- - No, it's like cheating on your wife. - Right. - It's like another way. - No, my martial art is the case, you know? And until the UFC came around in '93 and then they're like, oh, okay. 'Cause that's originally how the UFC started. It was like wrestler versus a boxer. And this guy- - Yeah, which is the best martial art. - Exactly. And then now it's evolved into mixed martial arts, but like Jikundo, firstly, it was kind of the first one to like really like mix them all together. I mean, they kind of say that was like the first version of MMA. - It was, yeah, you know, it was. Now does that mean it's as good as MMA? - No, fuck no. You know, we obviously know it's a good mixture of, you know, wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, you know, kickboxing, boxing, like you kind of need a little bit. You need, especially at the highest level, you need to have a good base in everything. - If a wrestler was to be met with a Jikundo guy on the street, my money would probably be on the wrestler, yes? - Wrestler. - Wrestler for sure. - Yeah, everybody have a good base of wrestling no matter what you do. - Oh, yeah. I mean, 'cause you can dictate where the fight goes. - Yeah. - You want it to be on the feet. You're on the feet. - But if you want to have fun hand trapping me with your back against the ground dog. - Right. Yeah, the only issue with that would be a really good, boy Thai guy who learned how to sprawl. - Right, yeah. - That's for you. - You know, yeah. - I'm just saying, man, I'm just saying that. - Oh, I clearly look at like elbows and knees, distance, 'cause I've done a lot of like different, like I've helped really good wrestlers get ready for a fight, or like they want to fight, so they started doing MMA. It's a, it can be eye opening for sure, 'cause you can be really, really good at wrestling and really good at grappling when you're engaging and you're not worrying about uppercuts or people hitting quarter turns. - Dropping, throwing, throwing at your head kicks, 'cause that changes everything. I've seen a lot of really good wrestlers turn into bad wrestlers once they start doing it, so. - Yeah, that's something is someone who's not really ever trained anything but grappling. I mean, I trained Muay Thai at Watson's for a brief, you know, probably about a year, and then I hurt one of my hands and I was like, eh, they're just gonna just do Jiu-Jitsu. I'd rather just get really good at one thing instead of like, I've only got so many hours to be in this gym a week. - I'm just gonna say that, you only have so much time. - Right, I'd rather just get good at Jiu-Jitsu, but like I'm just knowing that it's way harder to, you know, put all that stuff together, you know, especially like defending a takedown when you're worried about someone kicking your legs or punching the face, it's a completely different thing. - It's so much. - And I was gonna say, the difference between Muay Thai and like kickboxing. - Meas and elbows and clenches. - Meas and elbows, clench. - Attitude, big thing, what'd you say? - Attitude. - Attitude, I mean, I have to say though, 'cause like I definitely agree with Zach's point, like if you don't have so many hours that you can put towards it, you should do it at the thing you're gonna be best at. And I mean, I love doing Jiu-Jitsu, but if it weren't for instructors like you and Jason and Jimmy, I probably wouldn't do Muay Thai, the small amount that I do. And I do gotta say like, there is a little bit of like that attitude of like, okay, knowing like how to effectively use your shins, use your elbows, get someone in the clench. Like there's that purple belt who like is great at judo at Watson's and I was in a Muay Thai class and we were in the clench and it hit me with an Uchi mod. I'm like, there's a lot of ways to tie this shit together. And I just gotta say dude, like taking your classes specifically, like you have really great instruction and I appreciate it. - I appreciate it. I literally have just basically, yeah, kind of stolen Kyle's style of teaching and applied that to Jiu-Jitsu, or I'm sorry, to Muay Thai where I go through like series. - Attitude, it makes, yeah, it's the way Kyle teaches and I've talked about it on here multiple times, but just the way he teaches everything in a system, it was so different from anywhere else I trained. And I trained one other place before and had two different coaches there and then came to Kyle's in 2020 and it's just completely, completely different. And it really opened my eyes like, oh, this is way better. There's a way better way to do this. - Yeah, he's a man. - He's a wizard. - Yeah, he literally has called me into his office before to like show me when he's got planned, pull up his Excel sheet and it's like the Wizard of Oz when they take the curtain and move it. And I'm like, oh my God, you have the entire year planned? Like what are you? - Dude, it's awesome because like, I mean, he's just really, I mean, like right now I love the end goal method that we're doing, you know, like all this mountain stuff we're doing, it's fucking awesome. - So good. - Dude, it's so good. Just control, like the risk control, I mean, all that stuff. It's been, it's been like, I've just been loving to get getting to Mount like whenever I'm sparring just to like work on it and just try to get better at it. 'Cause it's, I mean, it all rolls into the last series where we worked on getting to the back and it's just like everything just meshes together. So good and he's so good at doing that. Yeah, it rewards consistency. - Oh, for sure. And I mean, just the level of training partners there. I mean, man, we've got it really good. - We have it really good. I was just talking to actually Blake before I came up here at OpenMatte. And I was like, dude, you got like, not just the black belts, but think about like, like all of our brown belts too with like the only one in the next two years. We're gonna have how many black, I mean, how many brown belts do we have now that they're now that are gonna be black belts in the next two years? - It's like seven. - Yeah, I mean, we're gonna have double digit black belts. I mean, in classes. - Yeah, you know, like just like. - Yeah, I'm so excited. - Well, even when I first started, I mean, you know, and I haven't been doing it that long, but like, I mean, you know, here in the Midwest, it was, you know, you didn't really see that many black belts. You know, like, I mean, there was one, there was two at Finney's where I started, you know, or no, no, just one. It was as, and then, you know, Chad was a, you know, brown belt and he eventually got his black belt. But yeah, I mean, that was it. And then, you know, coming to Kyle's, he was, you know, his mic and, well, and Josh. Josh wasn't really around like training in classes, but now it's like, we go there and it's, it's normal to see a black belt as a student, you know, which is like super like foreign concept to me when I first started, 'cause it was like, you know, a black belt's the instructor, 'cause there's only gonna be like one of them. - Yeah, not to mention the show out for like, tag team and like, competitions too. - Yeah, fuck yeah, dude. - I remember tag team day and like, just all the different schools over there. And some of the people we've got to know, even through the show, like Adam, for example, and Josh and Josh is dead. But it was just like seeing how big this movement is and like you and I were talking a little bit calm for, like the show began. It's really important to me at this point in life to see like St. Louis martial arts do well. And just, I think you're a great example of that, man. Personally. - Thanks, I appreciate it. - Yeah, dude. - Yeah, I just love it. It's like the one thing. Sounds really bad, I don't wanna say that. But I definitely, in terms of a profession, it's the only thing I care about. Like, there's literally nothing else. Like, I've only ever had like remedial jobs. And like, it was just, yeah. It was just kind of bullshit. - Well, yeah, that's definitely a good transition. 'Cause like, you know, you made a kind of a big decision. How long, you know, probably what about a year ago now? - Yeah, yeah, a little over. - Yeah, I think it's been a year and like four or five months. - Right, and you basically made this big transition from working, you know, I don't wanna say corporate, maybe corporate job is the right word, but. I mean, it was, I worked at an office as like, I don't even know what my position was. Like an assistant, I guess. That was so bad. That was so bad, I just like sat on Reddit and then the boss would come around and pull up the excel. She'd be like, it's crazy, right? (all laughing) It was like a DME company. So they sold like medical equipment and there was like a store attached to it. That sold like orthotics, kind of that sort of thing. And like, they were like, oh, we want you to be an orthotic fitter. So I had to take this like, literally it's, you just fit old people and people that are hurt with braces. So they're like, you need to take this like exam to do it. And I did this exam, it took like a week long. And then I got to the end of it and they were like, oh, you have to do a thousand hours of fittings before we give you your. - Certification. - Certification. And the owner was like, just don't. (all laughing) - Okay. So I was sitting there and like, it was, it was, yeah, it wasn't good. Like old ladies would come in and they want to get fit for like, braces and I was like, hi, not your guy. This is how it was not. (all laughing) Yeah, it wasn't a good experience. I was like super agitated most of the time. I remember I would come into the gym and just being a bad mood. Yeah, so. - Yeah, but you basically, you made that switch, you left that and basically now you're just full-time, full-time coach, and you coach it. How many different gyms now? And you get a big, crazy busy schedule and you're telling us just about the, the shit you've already done today. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it though, because I mean, it doesn't even feel like work to me. 'Cause you gotta remember when I was working full-time, what would I do? I would work eight hours and then I would go to Kyle's until like nine p.m. and then I'd be up and just do that. - Because you're working nights, right? - Yeah. Well, the office job I was working just in normal, like nine to five. But yeah, seven years before that, I was working night shift. 11 p.m. to seven a.m. So I would sleep all day, get up, go to the gym, shower at the gym, go to the job, rinse and repeat, groundhog day, every day. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah, you just remember you were like, you just woke up and we were all getting to training at five. You know, this is your breakfast. - Yeah, I'm just getting a sweet out of my eyes. I'm like, yeah, it was very rough and not, yeah, not, it was not great for performance, that's for sure. - Well, I'm sure you've gotten so much better from coaching just 'cause I know how high I was when I would give pitching lessons and stuff in the off season, how much better I got just like, oh, teaching kids something like, oh, why I need to be doing that. - Yeah. - Yeah, it just reinforces the material in your mind, just do like mental loops. I definitely noticed an increase like in my jujitsu, just from coaching as much as I do. Yeah, for this series. - Oh, for sure. - So it's great. - Oh, dude, I, you know, I coach the class upstairs for a couple of years for Kyle. And I mean, just even those, the basics class, the fundamentals, like it's just like, there's all these things that I just do now without even thinking about it that, you know, I've taught, you know, the class 10 times, I know exactly, you know, all right, I just have these, these things just kind of baked in. I'm in a half guard, I'm going for this. And then, you know, escape them out. I'm doing that, you know, all these things that just kind of ironed in there. - Yeah, it's a rewarding response, right? - Yeah, I mean, I think about it, you just do it, just like tying your shoes. - Yeah, yeah, no, it's been, yeah, amazing. - Yeah, so. - Now, out of all the mixed martial arts that you do is Brazilian as jujitsu, your favorite, or? (clears throat) - I would say now that I'm getting older, I'm definitely leaning more towards that because all the sparring for like Muay Thai and like, even when I was doing like boxing, all that, it's tons of fun, but there is something to be said about that cumulative damage you take over time. And the reason I don't, not just 'cause I'm scared anymore, but I have noticed that like in my partner's notice as well, it's like my memory is bad. Like I have to write everything down, like I forget things. And part of me is I wonder, I'm like, oh, is that just, is that always been like that? Or is this something that's been kind of progressing through just all the years of fighting and taking that damage like over time where now I'm starting to notice it? So that's kind of scared me away from like sparring. - Yeah, unless it's not worth it. - Yeah, it's a good point to bring up though, but like, yeah, you don't hear about it much with MMA, like you do with football, but CTE. - We're boxing. - We're boxing, yeah. I mean, it's just like, I've got to imagine that there's some of that and make martial arts. - There is, it's a silly, you hear people say that where it's like talking about like, oh, but with the small gloves, you don't take as much. It's like, yeah, but when you're training, you're training with the big gloves on. - Right. - You don't want to be talking about that one day. - Right, one day. - Like that's silly. - No, it's cumulative over time stuff, yeah. - What's the, you know, how much you're training. I mean, you're training every day. - Yeah. - And I was sparring a lot. I was sparring three to four days a week. - Yeah. - Yeah. 'Cause I was like, man, I know the technique, I have to get my timing down. - Well, it's so fun. - I have to get-- - I have to get-- - I have to get-- - And like you said, it's so fun. - It's fun, too, so it's like, it's rewarding. You get better, it's fun. - Build confidence. - Yeah. So I was like, let me just get this in, yeah. - Yeah, well, I mean, you know, I think there's, like, I mean, I know that a number of boxers die per year, you know, due to head injuries and stuff like that. And you don't really see that as much as an MMA, but I think that's because of, you know, with boxing, like, you'll get knocked down, and then you got 10 seconds to get back up, you know, whereas-- - Yeah, the worst thing. - For sure. And it's like, you just took a big concussion, and now you're, you know, you gotta stand back up and keep fighting, whereas in MMA, you get knocked down, you just, you know, if the fight's not getting called there, the dude's following up with a couple hammer fists, and then it's over, you know, it's just like, you're not resetting and basically starting to fight for the feet again, it's just, it's over right then and there, instead of going another four rounds, and then, you know, getting knocked down again and again, and just keeps happening, so, I mean, it makes sense. - Well, that, and with the rise of Jiu-Jitsu, and how that's becoming bigger and bigger and bigger, I mean, you're not taking too much head damage, you're rolling on the ground, like you are standing up taking punches and kicks. - Oh, yeah, that's the beauty of grappling. It's like, we can go and, we can go on spar every single day, and I'd spar every time I train, and it's, you know, I mean, if you're getting hit in the head, it's an accident. You know, I've definitely taken, I've definitely eaten some knees and some elbows and some... - But that kicked me in the eye one day. - And it just happens, it's just part of it, no, it's never intentional, it's just part of the thing, but like, it's not intentional, whereas, you know, if we're kickboxing sparring, I'm trying to punch you in the face, you're trying to punch me in the face. Like, it's, I'm trying to hit you, you know, whereas in Jiu-Jitsu, it's like, we can... - Accidental. - Yeah, we can, we can spar every day, and I mean, generally not get hurt, I mean, don't get me wrong, there's injuries happen, and that's just part of this. - Yeah. - But, you know, I always say injuries happen in every sport, you know, I can name three of my friends that tore their ACL, playing coed college basketball, you know, coed basketball in college, you know, it's like, people can get hurt doing fucking... - I know people in first form who just doing team workouts if I had to get like ACL, meniscus, MCL, or like, all kinds of surgeries, and I'm just like, dude, I'm almost like grateful I didn't play sports growing up sometimes, 'cause I didn't have to deal with any of that shit, I've never broken a bone, I've never had to get like a tooth fix to repair it or anything, and I'm like, I'm glad I do Jiu-Jitsu, I didn't need to use a fucking mouth guard though. - Mouth guards are like, "You don't wear one of you." - Did you wear one you fought? - Oh yeah, I came in man, yeah. - You have to wear one there, yeah. - I never even wore a cup, remember I was sparring. - Okay. - Yeah, I was like, "Roll the dice." (laughing) "Roll the dice." - You're gonna be on your trauma stuff. - You're gonna come up. - No. (laughing) - "Roll the dice man." - You look, you still have your dice. - I'll be okay. - Couple of times I came up snake eyes, I never wore a cup, I played baseball. I wanna protect my notes. - I mean, I don't wear a cup when I train a Jiu-Jitsu or anything, but there's a lot of guys that do. - Yeah, I'm not giving advice. I'm just saying I don't wear a mouth guard and wear a cup. - Just get out there. - What is going on at the level? - Just you and God have a room. - As you're looking at like my chip tooth. (laughing) - Well, speaking of injuries, what's though, have you had some crazy injuries in your career? - Honestly dude, I've been pretty lucky. I've never had surgery, which is awesome. Now clearly, you've seen my hands. They're like the guy from Scary Movie 2. - That is my strong hand. - Yeah, it's literally that. I've just torn tendons and broken fingers. - When you have the nut sack on your elbow, right? - That's still, yeah, that's still annoying. I've been having to deal with that. I'm still rolling, which I probably shouldn't be. I've just been calling it beta Jiu-Jitsu, where I'm just literally sitting on my butt and like, I'm not framing or pushing. - Jiu-Jitsu light. - Yeah, Jiu-Jitsu light. And then I'm just trying to go with people and then it's fine when I'm going to get to like, I guess you would say lower level people. And then when I go with people who are like good, I'm just getting smashed. And I'm like, I kind of knew that was coming. If I can't use my right arm, but-- - Yeah, well, yeah, it's like you've got to switch your whole game up, too, if you wanted to like play half guard on the other side and stuff, which that's stuff I've done with injuries and it just never works out so good. - No, I'm just trying to use this as like a time to be like, okay, let me work guard retention and bottom and stuff I don't really ever do, so. - Dude, I know. I made that decision. I've been working on it really since September last year when I had that, you know, you just competed on that. - Yeah. - I competed on the one before that and I just felt like I was not comp, the whole match was just me and him basically trying to take each other down and nothing happened. It was just like a takedown. That's just basically locking up and color ties and breaking apart and I was like, man, if I would have just like had some more confidence, maybe I would have pulled guard and just been more confident on my back. And so I was like, well, this is definitely, I saw it like as a weak point in my game. So I was like, all right, the next several months, I'm just gonna work on working on bottom, you know, like working on my half guard, working on sweeping and just working on my guard game. That's definitely where I suck most, where I definitely feel the least confident. So, and that's something I've been working on over the last six months or so and I've definitely seen some improvements for sure, but that was a work in progress. - No, it is. And that's good too. 'Cause it's also trying to implement that around your game, right? So if you're working bottom, maybe you don't have to just start hunting triangles and arm bars and all these submissions. Maybe you can prioritize clearly sweet, right? But also getting up. - Yeah. - Working back up to your feet. - Yeah. - You know, I mean, little stuff like that, I feel like sometimes gets kind of lost in the sauce 'cause people are like, "No, we're doing jujitsu." And it's like, "Well, you can still stand up." - Yeah. - That's still jujitsu. - You learn a butterfly guard. - Yeah. - Just extend them away. - Yeah, just push them away and stand up. 'Cause I mean, if he can't keep you down, I mean, like, I think he's been working on that, like, where you have to keep the guy, you know, the guy, Trevor was doing that the other day. He's like, "You know, bottom guy, you win if you can get up." You know, it's a whole different thing if the top guy has to keep you down versus the guy on bottom, just being okay with playing bottom. - Yeah. - Complete a different game. It's way harder. It's like more like wrestling. - Yeah, I mean, yeah, it is. So it's just, yeah, it's good to get used to that. It's also too just, do you have a separate kind of focus or game plan whenever you're going in for like open mass and training? You do okay. - Yes, I try to. You know, I, it's like, okay, today, like, you know, I mean, lately we've been working in this mount stuff and I really like the head and arm chokes. So I'm like, all right, if I can get the head and arm as many times as I can today, I'm gonna, like, anytime I'm on top, I'm gonna try to get to mount and hit a head and arm. You know, like I do shit like that or sorry. I went through a period where I was like, all right, I'm only working commores. You see, you know, shit that you can kind of get from everywhere. - Yeah. - It's like, I'm, you know, if I get on top, I'm going for the, I'm going for the commora or I'm going for this or if I'm passing, I'm specifically working in this pass or, you know, it's like, I'm always trying to find something that I'm trying to get better at. And yeah. - It's good. It's important, just curious. - No, it's, I definitely think that that's, I think stuff like Josh's podcast, I've heard him talk a lot about stuff like that. That's helped me, you know, kind of reiterate that into my own game. - Yeah, for sure. Like following that and then just like overall concepts, right. You always hear him talk about like chest over chest, like that sort of thing. That's really helpful too. - If someone was thinking about, or if someone, maybe it just like, sort of jujitsu, what do you personally think like the foundational like, what was the word of this concept? What do you think the foundational concepts they should know them and are, or should be aware of? Because I know for me, when I first started, we had a great instructor at first, you know, Marcel was an amazing instructor. But like when I think of the instruction that like you and Kyle and even junior at some points has given me, like it just speaks my language because it was like conceptual in a lot of different ways. What do you think those biggest concepts are? So much to keep in mind for this first, I don't know. - So I don't know. I mean, I kind of struggle with, I think concepts work really well. Once you already have an abundance of like techniques, kind of in your arsenal, I would say with newer people, I don't, I don't know if I would have you really focused too much on concepts. You can be aware of them, that sort of thing. But I think the main thing is just consistency going over the class material. Whenever we're going over in class, that's what you're focused on. That's what you're trying to do. Just trust the process, trust the coaching. And then once you start to get like better and better and like get the like purple belt level, right? That's when I think that you should start venturing into those concepts. Because you already kind of have a wealth of knowledge. - Yeah. - Yeah. - That's where I'm at. I mean, I feel like I'm drinking out of a fire hose right now. And every time I go, I'm just trying to. - Oh, I get it. Oh, remember the me, my post on my store the other day? - There's a picture of Joe Biden from the debate. It's like where my BGK starts giving us instructions on the movie. - I'm just, uh, uh, I mean, but like Justin Bricker, for example, he gave me two little concepts I used to say goes, you take anything from this. It's this number one, learn your frames. It's like, if they can get chest to chest, your back's against ground, not good. Also, number two, especially if you're playing guard, don't want to touch your face. If they can touch your face, they're too close. Those are just two little things. - Yeah, that's good. It's good. Yeah, I would say if you're on top trying to pass north and east. Where you go north of knees, north of knees, whether you're using your hands, whether you're going to the side, whenever you're doing ground, be north of their knees. That's how you hit your pass. Yeah. Anytime you're not, that's where they're going to get frames, butterfly hooks, that sort of thing. - Yeah. No, that's great. Now another bad piece of advice I would say for that I see a lot of new people struggle with is not as being on your toes versus being underneath. Cause if you're on your, on your knees, your weight's not on them. - Yeah. - You know, you need, you need to be on your toes. So you're, that all your weight is on that person on the bottom. - Kyle really highlights that a lot. - Yeah, cause you see a lot of people that like, they try to pass, you know, like walking on their knees. It's like, do you have no weight on the person? - Yeah, it's like hike up. - Right. - Yeah. - Pressure. - For sure. - That pressure is so key. But, uh, so let's get into your, uh, your kind of, so how many, how many MMA fights did you have? How did, how far, like what, what, how did that look? - Um, well, let me do it nine. - 17. - 17. - 17. - 17 MMA fights and then. - You had a couple, you went pro, right? - Yeah. - Mm-hmm. - Mm-hmm. - I had six pro fights and 11 any fights. And then, um, kickboxing, I had four, four kickboxing fights. - Okay. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. - Over the course of how many years is that? - 2014 to 2022. - Yeah, I think I was at your last fight. - I think it was 2022. - Yeah. - Oh, and you're not, you're, you're done fighting now. Yeah. - I don't know, past it where it did so over it. I've gotten a lot of offers where I just leave that shit on red. Like, yeah. Yeah, once, and that was something I was worried about. It was like being done and then being like. - Yeah, well, there's so many fights. I feel like it's so common with fighters because they like, you know, kind of put all their, you know, their identity into it, you know, it's like, man, I'm a fighter. This is what I do. - Oh, I mean, we talked about that with Adam. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. I never did that. My identity was fighting. Yeah, I always was just like, no, it's just fun. I like doing this. I can test myself. I want to see how far I can get. I love it, but it was never like, I don't know. It was just never who I am. So I think that kind of made it easier. Cause once I was done, I was like, oh, I'm fine. - Was the weight cuts a big piece of that decision making? - Yeah, the weight cuts. And then two, man, you just hit this level to where it's like. The competition, right? Cause starting off amateur, like I just kind of steamrolled everybody. And then I went pro and I started like just steam rolling everybody pro as well. Like when I was starting, but then I got to like that level of like LFA, right? - Yeah, dude, I strolled. That was a problem. - Yeah. - Did you only have that one fight in all of this? - Yeah. - Yeah. - We were all there. - Yeah, that was so good. - Legacy, what legacy fighting alliance? - Yeah. - Yeah. So it's like a, I would say that's a lot of guys get pulled from there to go to the UFC. - Yeah. - Like it's kind of like, you know, it's just like a G league. - Yeah, the minor league, minor league. - Yeah. - It was a, that was a tough one to see. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Tough one to be in. It was also one of those where it wasn't like, oh, man, if only I was like, oh, no, this guy is just quicker. He's got better reaction timing. He's stronger. He's faster. Bravo. Yeah. Well, dude, because I remember like throwing some jabs in the fight and he was just like, like right away, I was like, oh, shit. - This guy actually knows some defense. He was like, this is, yeah, and then like, he threw one, like, right hand, I blocked it and it turned my entire body and made me like, step. And I was like, oof, this is less than ideals. Yeah. - That was a, didn't like. - Yeah. So that was, but honestly, dude, it's probably for the player. - Well, I think, especially with the advent of the UFC and streaming culture, there are a lot of young men, especially who, even someone like me, who you've never had any inclination of sports, they, they have the idea that like, okay, I just were hard enough. I can become a professional combat sports athlete, maybe words of advice, whether they're affirmative or deterrence. Where would you, what would you tell that man? Honestly objective. He's just like, I can do this. So that depends entirely from person to person, right? Some people just don't have it. Yeah. Just flat out. You can train as much as you want. You can train as hard as you want. If you don't have it, you don't have it. You can do it as a hobby. You can do it for fun. You can, you know, compete, maybe like amateur, but this, this cannot be your focus. Your main focus needs to be something else in life, something with more growth, something you can get more out of later on, right? If the person though has that factor and they're really good, it's like, man, you need to make sure one, you have that, but do you have everything else? So you have the discipline. Do you have the right environment? Are you doing everything in your control to be as good as you can be? And that's going to be also giving things up. If you're not willing to do those things and you have the factor, go do something else that's not for you. I think only when all four of those things align, should you go for it before Conor McGregor was Conor McGregor. He was like him and his wife were living in a shed back in Ireland and he wasn't a superstar or a phenom or the guy who was the champ champ. It was like he was destitute. Yeah. But that's the thing. It's like for every one, Conor McGregor who made it, there's thousands of people who are still living in that shack working at Lowe's. Right. Let's, let's pump the brakes. I get it. He's great. These stories are awesome to do, but you also need to realize they're famous because they're an outlier. Yeah. So I'm just very iffy about like, I don't know, telling certain people like, yeah, man, go for it. You can do it because it's like you might not be able to. Well, and especially something where you're, where you're really putting your health at risk and you're like future brain, like function and all these things. Like, I mean, you're putting your body at risk every time you step in that cage. You know, that guy wants to fucking hurt you. Yeah. You know, like, yeah, and you might, yeah, and you might be tough. You might be all these things. But again, if you're just missing one of those four, like, yeah, I don't know. Probably do something else. Now, well, speaking of your fighting, is there any besides shooting yourself? Is there another memorable? Damn. That was the zinger. No, shit. Yeah, that was the weirdest one. Let me think anything else. Another memorable moment. Like a favorite favorite fight. Dude, oh, highlight. Like, I think you just remember, like, damn, that was one of the four things I did. Gary's fight I ever had was not that guy for LFA opposite. It was how I was fighting a guy who was a last minute replacement. And he was here, like one in 18 or something, because I was like, oh, no, if I lose this, yeah, I got to change my name and move out of the country. Like, this is a problem. Yeah. So that one, this guy just catches a lucky shot. Just catches a lucky shot. That's the thing, dude, with MMA. Like, dude, just thinks one one fucking, you know, not paying attention. One time he clips you on the chin. You're like, you know, like my Tyson lost a buster Douglas. Yeah. Most people don't even know that is this dude had to get away in with jeans on and quarters in this pocket to make weight underweight. I'm not kidding. Dude, I'm not kidding. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This was a, um, this was my, this was a 170. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So wait, they do. So probably 55 or maybe or, dude, if he has had to weigh in. I mean, I have a lot of 55ers. I feel like we're walking around like 70, 80, right? Yeah, 170, 180. Yeah. He was, he was probably little, little and God, who Kyle made me even more nervous for that fight. Cause I came to me and just make sure you got your hands up, man. Just, you know, crazy stuff. Get back to it. That's not encouraging. I feel like I could do that. He could like try to fuck with you. Like, hey, don't worry. But like, if you lose, you're going to totally be like shamed. I'm not talking about your time. Welcome to the gym. The guys, probably the guy that loves taking last minute fights and just. Yeah, loves, loves it. And then yeah, he had it worked out for him once. Yeah. One of the times that worked out, luckily, that was not me, but yeah. I remember his mom and dad in this corner too. Wait, what? He has mom and dad in this corner. Oh boy. Yeah. There's probably nothing worse than losing in front of your parents like that. Well, they're probably the ones picking these fights for him. Yeah, they're trying to be his dumb king. What's that? Well, is it fighter with Christian Bale, where he's the drug addict? Yeah, Mickey and Dickey Ward. Yeah. Great movie. Right. And the parents are the ones picking the fights that are not really the best. His mom is like a really terrible manager. And they're like the definition of like Massachusetts white trash, like. Lower mass, very hot, Boston accent. Oh, you don't you don't run away from family. And like all their sisters are just nasty, fat white trash bitches. It's a fucking amazing movie. I think it's on Netflix right now. Good movie. Dude. So that was that was your, your craziest, like one. Do you just remember that one? Because you don't want to let you know. I just remember that was I don't want to lose as far as that. I mean, a lot of them just kind of blend together. You know, I mean, my first kickboxing fight was probably really cool. Cause I just won by just late kicking the guy. Really? Yeah. I got TKO by late kicks just because I threw two kicks and I was like, oh, he doesn't know how to check. Oh, he don't like that. Yeah. So just kept doing it the whole time. Yeah. That's brutal. Yeah. But yeah, a lot of them just kind of blend together. So I know personally, this is a question I guess not long ago, but especially with jujitsu, I think one of the things I've heard a lot is like on the wage there, like Purple Bell is a real trying time, like a valley for a lot of people who practice has ever been like a period on the way to like black belt or throughout your journey, whether you considered it a black belt any or not, um, that like for you was like really tough and like taught you the most about your game. Yeah. I think you got it right on the, I think you got it perfect. I think Purple Bell is that because I think like I was saying before, I think white belt and blue belt is very much like show up consistency, do the course material, trust the process, focus on this, not that that doesn't apply, but once you start to get to like a higher level, like high purple belt, brown belt, black belt, it's like, oh, now you have to start kind of thinking for yourself and start focusing on your game and things you're good at. And I think some people can kind of miss that, which it makes sense because it's like, and if you're, you know what I mean, you're working a full time job. You got kids, you got going on and say, what? Well, I got to spend more time thinking about this. Like, but that is kind of what you have to do. Well, but like you said, you've said it multiple times that you just love the shit and I think, you know, we all do too. That's why it's a hobby. I look at, you know, the going to the gym is like my time to escape. I mean, it's like really the, you know, the one time a day where this thing and whenever we're podcasting, I guess this thing isn't like running my life, you know. So it's, it's nice that I, you know, I go there and kind of shut the rest of the world off. And then, you know, it's the best, you know, not just that, but like, you're doing something fucking hard now. And if you can get through that and do that, like the rest of your fucking day is easy. Yeah. It's like do hard things. So you can do, you can be better at the other things in your life. I mean, like CrossFit and this. I mean, I've, it's not so much I do CrossFit to get shaping it stronger. I do it because of the mental side of it. Same thing with Jiu Jitsu. It's tough. It's tough. It's hard. I mean, it's not fun going in there Monday mornings and get my ass kicked by all you guys. But you know, it's, I'm learning and I love it. And it's, it is like, I know that if I can go in there and I can get I get my ass kicked in the morning that the rest of my day and anything else that I have come up is going to be piece of cake to handle. Yeah. I remember what was, was Adam who like, he was having his conversation with Connor. He was like, baby, I just need to like use more technique. It's stopping so explosive and athletic. And he's like, no, no way. But is it because like at that point, like junior and Nick and I don't know. Adam doesn't teach there. Does he? Is he? Marburg? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. So like her and they're like, hey, you just need to focus on like really pinpointing what it is this week in your game. But it was like one of your first weaknesses that you remember, like you really. Honestly, it was something I didn't think was a weakness in my game until I started going to Kyle's, but it was the pressure passing. Yeah, I wasn't distributing my weight right. I wasn't like, I'm only, I wasn't cross facing effectively. Yeah. Because that it's a game changer because like I said, a lot of with Andrew Saban's, it was amazing like guard work and that sort of thing. So it's kind of like going to Kyle's with the opposite with smashing. And then as great as a gym as like, I spent like a year and a half that Chicago fights. Right. Amazing MMA gym. Good wrestling. I did jiu-jitsu wasn't good. Really? Yeah, I was trying to think of a better way to put that. Yeah. It wasn't good. I mean, no, you got to be honest about your experience. Yeah. And I mean, me, I've tried to train in a few different gyms, but like the time of Kyle's, it's really shown like, you know, I've tapped just off pressure passes. Yeah. It's changing a lot of things about how I see the game. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's, you know, and I think that kind of boils down to, you know, always, it's always, you know, it sucks to train with people that are better than you, that beat you and beat, you know, beat you up a little bit. But boy, you really, you really learn from that. Like we were talking about before the show, like rolling with Trevor, for instance, like I roll with him all the time and it's I feel his pressure. I feel the way he does things. And I'm like, it makes you want to, like, obviously, like whatever I'm doing, whatever I'm in that position, I don't think it feels like the way he does it. So it's like, all right, I need to figure out, I need to see, figure out the way he's doing it and implemented into my game. Yeah. You know, and it's, I mean, I think that's so crucial is just just rolling with, you know, spending time under people that are better than you. Yeah. No, for sure. Because it's going to help you analyze. Yeah. Pressure makes time. And things you can, yeah, things you can change in your game. Yeah. So, you see, you spent a year and a half in Chicago. How long ago was that? 20, I don't know, 2016, probably, 2017 or 18, before, maybe 2015. Anyways, within that timeframe, the year and a half, it was very interesting time. So what, I guess you literally just moved to Chicago to train. Yeah. No, you had a job up there. Ex-girlfriend. Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. That did not go over well. Okay. It was, uh, yeah. Dude, it was wild because it was, um, it was that same company where I'm like, working at like the, uh, different high-rise apartments. Okay. Right. So I make, dude, I'm making like 14 bucks an hour. I moved to Chicago living, like trying to live in Chicago with 14 bucks an hour. Dude. I got this studio apartment for $500 a month. And it was in the South Austin district, which is one of the worst areas in Chicago. So it was bad. Yeah. Oh, dude. It was, I hit my, yeah, my car got broken into multiple times. There were three or four shootings, like right outside my, uh, department I lived in. Um, it was really bad. And I was working night shift, right? So I had to walk to my car, like in the dark. Yeah. It was, it was really bad. Um, I was sleeping on a bed and I ended up getting bed bugs, which is like the worst thing ever. Right. It was a bat. So I got rid of the bed and now I'm sleeping on an air mattress in this shitty studio apartment with one TV. And then like there were like, yeah, it was bad. It was like, you turn the lights on. You can see like the roaches like scatter. Yeah. Yeah. So I spent like seven months there and I just broke my lease and moved in with one of my buddies from college. And we got an also shitty apartment, but not as shitty. And like a bad area, but not as bad. So it was, so it was like living there. And it was, it was rough because yeah, it was just a really, really tough time. Cause I was also like, broke, right? Doing that, trying to pay for all the gym fees and everything else. I'm making no money. Yeah. And I got like a side gig where I might have been working for someone doing something very illegal. I don't know. Cause it was like one of the guys that the buildings I worked at. And he was like, he would always come down and talk and he was super nice. And then one day he was like, hey man, you want to do like a side gig like on the weekends. And I was like, yeah, sure. Like once the pay and he was just told me it wasn't much. It was like whenever like 18 bucks an hour, but he was like, all you got to do is you go to this factory and you're just going to hang out there and just kind of do like security all night. I was like, okay. And I was like, yeah, he was like, just text me when you're there. I was like, okay. So I went there and the doors were locked. And I was like, Hey man, the door was like, oh yeah, I don't have keys yet. He was like, just just stay in your car. I was like, all right. So I was just sitting in my car in this like a part or this factory like parking lot like all night. And then eventually you got a key. And I was like, okay. So I unlocked it. And there's like bullet holes and graffiti all over the wall. And I was like, dude, oh my God. So I started just hanging out there because it was just going there. And I was there for 12 hours, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Holy shit. Yeah. And I just started getting real comfortable and taking my laptop and watching movies, bringing snacks, doing all that. And then I got real ballsy. I started bringing my air mattress with me and all my stuff. And I started like below the air mattress up. And I would go in one of the office areas and just, dude, I would just take Benadryl and just pass out for 12 hours and then just get up. So like no one else is in this thing? No, it was just me. And I was like, this is crazy. So one time I went in and I like already took the Benadryl because I was already ready to sleep. I walked in and this is during the winter and there's no heating in here. So I do, I look, I literally have on like six layers of clothes and I walk in. And now there's people there working in the factory like on the floor. And I was like, God, damn it. I already took my Benadryl. I'm tired. So I'm just sitting there sweating and then after like two hours, everyone leaves. I'm like, it's time. When I go to my car, I pop the chunk. I grab all my stuff. I go into the office. I blow up the air mattress. I have like three blankets on because it's cold as shit. And I turn the lights off and I'm sleeping, right? And then all of a sudden I just wake up and I just hear like people walking. I was like, oh no. And I because there's like a window. The right because it's like a little office area. So it's like a window and I look and I can see like flashlights. Feds. Dude, I didn't know what it was. I was just going to stay in that office space. And I heard one of them goes, yeah, I don't know. I know I saw them earlier. I don't know where he is. I think they're talking about me. I was like, dude, I'm just chilling in here. And I'm just like in the corner now, like. And I see the white flashing and starts coming in the window. And then it goes on my air mattress and it just stays there. And I'm like, oh shit, they know. So I just like popped the door and I was like, hey, what's up, guys? And they thought I was a homeless guy who got in because they were like, hey, man, I'm really sorry. I know it's cold, but like you can't stay here. And I just went with it. I was like, okay. Yeah, my bad. And I went and I started grabbing like, I grabbed my shoes. And next to the shoes was the keys to the building and I grabbed it. And they were like, you can come back in the morning and get your stuff. And I was like, all right, that's fine. And I'm walking. And as I'm leaving, I walk right past my car. Because I'm like, I don't want to get in my car. Right. There's another thing I'm homeless. Yeah, yeah. So I just walk past my car and it's like 4 a.m. And I just go to the left and I go behind a dumpster. And I'm just like looking over the dumpster waiting for him. And then they finally leave and I like run back in. I unlock it, grab all my stuff and I just go home. But the last time you were there? That was the last time I was there. It was the last time I was there. I was like, nope. That was the same sense. Yeah, I was like, nope. Yeah. Wow. And Chicago was pretty wild. Pretty different up there. Yeah. It was good though too, man. It was fun. We're trying some big names up there. Like Blal and a couple of people, right? Yeah. Blame Mohammed, Lewis Taylor, who is freak of freaks. He was a PFL champ. He won that million dollar tournament. Yep. Yeah. He was really good. Haracio was also in the UFC. Marco Beltran, he was in the UFC. It was just a good roster of just really talented fighters. But not a lot of Jiu-Jitsu is more. No. Very, very heavy MMA-based wrestling-based. And then the Jiu-Jitsu just, it was like a guy they brought in. And it was like an armbars, 10 kamoras, 10 triangles. All right. And then like one time he would just like sit on his phone. So yeah, it was pretty lame. And then it was like sometimes when he didn't even want to do anything, he would like ask people like what's your favorite technique? Okay. Show that. Like do that kind of thing for the class. Oh boy. Yeah. So the Jiu-Jitsu was not good at all. Yeah. I probably regressed while I was there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what was the, I mean, you know, because you didn't really, like when did you kind of get it? Because you're got a really good wrestling base now. Like where did you develop that? I wish I would fight him. Really? Have really good wrestling. Yeah. I mean, Lewis Taylor wrestled at Eastern University. And clearly he seemed to laugh. Yeah. He's never been taken down. Right. Yeah. His wrestling's phenomenal. So wrestling rounds with him. Who, and there's a guy there named Nesasio who doesn't fight, but he's like UFC. Well, he's really good. Really? Yeah. So I just got Molly Watched for a long time. And then it just got pretty good at like defense and getting back up. Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'll shit. You're really good at now still. Yeah. Yeah. So that kind of forced me into it. So, yeah. Well, you, you competed at the St. Louis Invitational the other, you know, a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. Tell us about that. Yeah. I honestly do. It was so much fun. We had, we were all standing right there. We all thought you won. But, you know. I get it. I understand. Like we talked to Adam when he was here, you know what I mean? Okay. We get it. Yeah. There's just, so I understand the rules set. Now, now we know. Like it's all right. We know. Just got to start. My only issue with it is it's, if I am in half guard, right, one or my actual submission attempts from there. There's not a whole lot. And if I'm having trouble passing your guard, or if I'm in like, where he had like the butterfly, what are my submission attempts? Right. Right. You see what I'm getting at? So if I can take down and dictate on top and try and pass and do all that, but I don't have any attempts at submissions, but the person on bottom can kind of throw up oma plottos, triangles, like, whatever, even if it's not close, then they won. So, I don't know. I just feel like there could be a little bit room for improvement there, where maybe you score both, right? Maybe you do score the submission attempts, but we should also be scoring the takedowns, the positioning, the pat, like all those should also factor. And because if not, then why don't I just pull guard and start to throw on my submission? Right. I just, I'm just going for like locks. Yeah. We're for that one kid, but scooter. Yeah. Well, you know, we had Adam in here last week. And, you know, we talked about these, like, that's one thing I need to improve on is something I need to kind of get a good get the rules more, like, balanced, you know, a little bit, which I think is good. And, but, dude, I'm loved. I love it. That's the third one. I've been to all three of them. And it's been, you know, I got to compete on one of them. And it's just so cool. And it's like, man, I just would love this to keep being a thing. Yeah. He's like, yeah, he wants to do it two times a year. So it's just like, such a, just a cool thing to get this jujitsu community of, you know, in St. Louis, just like all together. And, I mean, you know, because it's a small tight-knit crew. Yeah. There's not a, you know, there's not a lot of guys in, I mean, in all of the St. Louis area that train, you know, I mean, if you look at it and it's probably, you know, a couple thousand, you know, it's not, not a ton of people out there. It's not a huge community, but the people that are there, it's like pretty tight-knit. The St. Louis is the first name community in the first place. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And so it's just cool. And I know we talk recently, you're going to start doing more competition in jujitsu now that you're done, done with MMA. So it's sweet. Yeah. Got to get my fix somewhere. Yeah. It is. I got to do something. Yeah. So I'll definitely be doing that. St. Louis Open. Yeah, the St. Louis Open. And then I don't know yet about that July 13th one. Oh, yeah. That one's in like two weeks. I know. That's why I'm like, yeah. My elbow is not even two weeks. Like that's, which one is that? Ten days. So the St. Louis, the CXBJ. I got to turn it off. I just need one day of the tournament. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, they're doing a tournament. The tournament and the professional. Oh, it's just, just the tournament. It's just like a standard kind of tournament where you sign up and get a couple matches and get a medal kind of thing. So yeah, it's my, it's my, me and my wife's anniversary. So I won't be there. If I did, I'd be in trouble. One side. Yeah. Well, I mean, I probably would. I don't know. I would have competed in it right now, especially with all the other stuff. We got going off into a brand new baby and everything. Yeah, it's fine. But I'm planning on doing the St. Louis Open as well. You know, I'm planning on doing it. I think everybody, I'm sure most people of the gym are probably going to. I mean, a lot of people, the gym are going to be doing it. I think so. Yeah. It's getting, yeah. Which kind of are. We won. And we won the last one. We got to defend the title, you know. Yeah. Yeah. We got guys that we will attack them as well. So it's. Especially all the guys that revive. I feel like they're, they're gym super competition heavy, so. Yes. Yes. Revive is like very, yeah, it's funny. It's very different. They always joke by that too, where it's like revive is like the meat head gym. No one likes those people who don't care. Doctor gym. Yeah. And then you got McKinney, who is just like the Granite City pontoon beach. I care. Yeah. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. Three pretty different demographics. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. I have one question before we sign on. Yeah, what's up? Like I said earlier, I think it was really at Watson's, where I've kind of found a stride, so to speak, because it's the instruction. I think it's because. Instructors like you and Kyle are able to keep things so light-hearted. There's a lot of levity. There's a lot of, you know, fun loving to it. And it is combat sports. In terms of how you've been able to keep your energy and your sense of self so positive, I think a lot of people try to get really gritty and really tough and take themselves a little too seriously. How have you been able to maintain that positive attitude about everything? I think, I clearly, I love jujitsu. I love training. It's my love. It is like my job, but it's also, it's not my life. It's purpose. It's, yeah, it's that. It's purpose. I don't know. I just think sometimes people can put too much into it, and then they put too much pressure. And then it's not fun anymore. Right? You should, I don't know. You should, I do it because I love it. It doesn't feel like work to me. I look forward to it, but at the same time, I make sure I don't make that my identity because that's not my identity. I'm not just a fighter. I'm not just a jujitsu guy. Like I, yeah, I don't know. I have a lot more. I think than that. So I don't know. That's how I do it personally because that way it's like, I can still get really excited for my wins, but then it's like my losses as well. That's not going to be devastating to me where it's like I want to quit and do all this. Like I still have a lot more in my life. Oh, I appreciate it. Because me and yours and Kyle's classes, especially has just done a lot for me in terms of not only making things click, but making things fun. And not to say like when I trained with Marcel, things weren't fun. But like if I, if I have to get there at 7 a.m. I'm only training with the same five guys on this fucking medat. Damien who's wrestled for 14 years. It was just like, it's a very competitive atmosphere, but it was like, but it should be fun. Oftentimes, I would like walk away like beating myself up. And that's not a testament to them. It's a testament to me, but the right instruction, the right training partners, it matters. Yeah. I think, yeah, leaving any situation where you're kind of beating yourself up mentally, unless you have a really good reason for doing that, I don't think that's healthy. Because I think that's going to really stifle any sort of like longevity in your training. Because then it's like you start looking for reasons to not go, because you're associating those training sessions with feeling poorly afterwards. I did. Yeah, well, I've said this before where I look at this like, just like any other sport, man. I know I have a lot of buddies that golf and they golf all the time. It's like I know that there's days that they go out there, and they're slicing it into the woods and they're having a bad day. The same shit happens in Jiu Jitsu. You go in and man, I'm having a bad day. That guy, I normally can tune that guy up. But today he passed me up, he passed my guard, submitted me. It's fine. It's okay. It's not that deep, bro. It's not the end of the world. I can come back tomorrow and get him back. It's like you have good days and bad days and everything. There's some days where you're the hammer and some days you're the nail. Yeah, you can't get hung up doing that and kind of compare yourself. Because yeah, it's literally you should only be focused on yourself and just having fun. That's the two main things. I think that's a good spot. Got one last question. We do this with all of our guests called the Tombstone game. All right. So, okay. You're going to live. Don't worry. I'm going to hang over here. I hear your lies, Colin. What's it say on your tombstone? Don't shit yourself. What's it say on my tombstone? Yeah. How you'd be remembered? How it just arrived at the end? Yep. Take a second thing if I didn't get that. What would it say on my tombstone? Live life to the fullest. Don't take it too seriously. Everyone dies. It's okay. Perfect. There we go. Hello. That's great. That's not that deep. Well, Colin, thanks a lot for coming on, man. We love you. You're a great training partner. Happy to, happy you came on. But thanks to everybody that watched the episode. Make sure you comment down below what you thought. Hit that subscribe button. Hit that like button. And we will see you next time. [Music]