(Ep 12) From Fat to Fighter: Khaldon Roukie's MMA Journey

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Welcome back to Fighters Drinking Coffee with Mike and Scott.

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Today we have Khal Doon Ruki, the son of a butcher, MMA fighter,

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coach, lover boy, out of District Martial Arts in Arlington, Virginia.

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Thanks for having me on, Sensor. Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome.

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Let's see, where should we start? Khal Doon, you started training in 2018 with us?

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Yeah, I think it was March, February, March 2018.

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Okay. I got to look at the system. Yeah. It's a little short.

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We have a, there's a before and after picture that my business partner,

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Sam, was really excited about posting when Caldeon first showed up.

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He's a little pudgy, a little overweight. Not like, I don't want to say overweight. No, I was fat. Okay.

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Let's go with that. I was fat, man. He was kind of, he was a little fat.

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And maybe was it last year or like recently there was like a picture of

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him after like he started working with like a nutritionist who

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and you know he'd been training for like six or

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seven years at this point too so it's like consistent full-time dedicated training

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plus clean diet and caldoon's like abs are all jacked and so like sam was all

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fired i was like we're posting this side by side like wait fat caldoon to athlete

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caldoon it was like it's been a journey yeah it has been it was like,

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I think from then to that picture, it was like 75 pounds or something. Damn, was it really?

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Yeah, it was like that. I mean, I don't actually weigh 155, but I know. Well, yeah, I get it.

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But that picture, you were 75 pounds down from 30. So it's like 35 to 40.

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Total since joining DMA, I think I lost at least 40 pounds. 45 maybe. Dang. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Look at you now, man. You're just pure beef. Come to DMA for your lost needs. Yeah, definitely.

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Triple A wag here. We'll have to snag that picture you threw.

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That's actually a good idea.

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We'll get a cool action shot. That'll be a good promo shot. He's got a lot of

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good action shots. We'll grab all of them.

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Hal Doon's a dandy in front of the camera. He likes the glitz and glamour of

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it. To everyone's disdain.

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Everyone's disgust. To the haters. To the haters. The camera's on me.

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I get excited. I don't know. Would you say you're more fueled by the haters? You like being a heel.

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I like being a heel. I like getting booed.

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Hell yeah. My dream is, like, hopefully one day, Chalma, get to the UFC.

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I want to get, like, booed in New Jersey or something.

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Like, get booed somewhere where they, like, they got a tough crowd.

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That's the goal. Oh, yeah.

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No, I don't hate that goal. That's a good goal. You certainly could do that.

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We could get you booed right now. We could get you booed right now.

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Boo me right now. We could get you booed.

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Yeah, all right. I like that. Well,

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maybe tomorrow we'll get the whole tournament. We'll work up the crowd.

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Actually it makes me fight better and then because like the the local promotions

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like i don't know if it's just me i don't think it's just me i've seen people

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get booed other fighters um i feel like i don't get that much hate really like

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at the shows i think one fight,

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because the dude that i was fighting a lot of his friends and family were there,

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um so i i recall them distinctly like booing me as i was walking out,

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But most of the time, I feel like I'm always getting cheers and support.

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They love you. They booed you?

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My third fight. My third fight. I remember getting booed. And I liked it.

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I was like, well, this is awesome. This is so cool. You're like, oh, these people care.

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I really got to them. It's kind of like you're fighting everybody.

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Yeah. So it makes you, I don't know, when you win, it just feels like so much

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more of an accomplishment.

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Sure. Yeah, you get to throw that middle finger on people booing you.

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I get it. so you thrive on hate i thrive on it i don't mind it yeah yeah i take

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hate and success over being loved while being successful any day of the week

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okay but yeah hate plus success as long as yeah i don't want to i mean i don't

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want to lose and get hated.

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Okay okay all right so

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give give people your background background fighting

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background back just yeah give a little

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bit who's khal doon where does he come from what is he man i'm

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khal doon's a lebanese guy who grew up in canada

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scott always laughs at that because he knows i grew up in canada i just like

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the way he did that he goes khal doon's a lebanese guy no because i said khal

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doon i'm not and then people are gonna be like look he's changing calvin calvin

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calhoun i call him calhoun sometimes depends how american i want to be that

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day i got my cowboy hat on it's Calhoun, sorry.

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I got him a cowboy hat. Sometimes you got to blend in. When he got his citizenship,

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I got him a cowboy hat. I've never seen him wear it.

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No, we have a bunch of great pictures together. Sure, that's okay.

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One time. Yeah, that's true.

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All right, fact. Events where it's appropriate for me. That's fine.

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But yeah, I mean, I grew up in Canada. I spent my whole life there in a small,

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like medium-sized city. And...

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Lived there, studied there, my family, uh, and their, their family business is out there.

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Um, shout it out. Yeah. Lizzie's meets right now.

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My brothers are all running it. They're doing a great job taking it over, uh, uh, from my dad.

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So, uh, you know, they're running the shop and in the same community that we grew up in.

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So it's kind of a community staple and I worked there growing

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up uh up until i was about 20 21

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maybe um finished undergrad

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moved out to the united states

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for grad school and then uh started working

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here i found dma and i kind of just picked it up as

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a hobby initially like i was like oh i want to learn how to

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box and then i got more into mma and i

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was like well let me try out a gym and so i saw dma and i

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came in actually scott was like the first person i really met

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i don't we've talked about this i don't know if you remember i yes um

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like the moment i actually remember it still and i

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was like whoa these guys are like really cool because i was expecting to walk into like

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a gym where it's just going to be like a killer yeah exactly like what are you

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doing here what do you want you know um but no they were really welcoming and

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um i was like well maybe i'll try a little bit of muay thai that evolved into

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maybe i'll do a smoker to maybe i'll take one or two fights and here we are

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here we are no it's addicting yeah it

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kind of snowballed in its own way. It's, uh, it's really interesting.

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So I had a great time training and learning.

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And then I loved coaching and from that got into fighting and now fighting has

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become kind of an obsession.

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So that's what led me here. Uh, so I'm going to fight amateur and hopefully

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by the end of this year, uh, pro career will start.

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Awesome. So that was kind of like, uh, you, you came down here for school,

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you know, I was like initially, but then you, it just kind of,

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this was a thing that kind of showed up and now it's become a big part of your

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life. like martial arts and all of that.

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So that's, that's awesome. Yeah, it was a total accident, right?

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Like my family and friends back home, Scott and I talk about this all the time.

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People just don't get it.

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It's such, maybe it's not just my community where I grew up,

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but it's such an unorthodox thing considering where I was.

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Like I studied political, I got two master's degrees, political science and Islamic studies.

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So, and then I wanted to work in Middle East policy.

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I ended up getting a job for the government or multiple jobs.

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It's like I worked for different contractors for years.

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Um, and then to pivot into like full-time athlete, coach, fighter,

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it's such a strange, completely unrelated pivot.

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It's like people were surprised by it, but they weren't at the same time because

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they're like, okay, well, you've always had a couple of screws loose anyways.

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So, you know, of course you ended up picking like the most violent thing possible.

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Yeah. It's, uh, it was like, uh, it was a good accident, you know,

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definitely made my life a lot more difficult in some ways, but a lot better in most other ways.

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Yeah i totally get that so it's

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awesome um so you say

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you're coaching at dma's specific uh program

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you know this but uh like is there a specific program

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that you are like spearheading and kind

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of that's like becoming your baby right now or

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yeah i mean right now shane and i are running the

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mma program together so just we we came

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together and we sort of wanted to revamp how people

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learn MMA because you know it's cool a lot

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of gyms you go to even like when we were

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first starting you have like a general idea of different things

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that you want to learn but if you don't have skills and at least a little bit

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of skill in each discipline it's tough to bridge it all together right so right

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now our main focus on the MMA program at DMA is to really teach people who are

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starting to learn all those different disciplines because people come in and

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that's what they want to do, right?

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They want to try a little bit of jujitsu and Muay Thai and then they want to

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know how to put it together.

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We're there to kind of take all their fundamental knowledge and help them bridge

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it together and help them put it together, whether it's striking to grappling

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or grappling back to stand-up.

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So that's something that him and I are taking a lot of time to really improve

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on and build up at the gym.

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What he's talking about, he and Shane teach a lot of the classes for MMA on

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the competition side with Charles. Yeah.

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Charles' leadership for like the competitors because I think to his point,

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um, the difference between.

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This is maybe kind of like gym culture stuff, I guess, if you want to think of it that way.

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Maybe a little gym business too. Most people who come in, I mean, we've met a few people.

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Even when you showed up, you want to immediately give me a fight.

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You definitely are like that now.

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But that kind of grew organically as you got comfortable and more competitive

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and more skilled, right?

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But we'll occasionally have some dudes come in who are like,

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I'm ready to fight right now.

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It's so funny. But for the most part, 99% of people will show up.

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They just want to train. yeah they're like i can call

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them civilians if you want to think of it that way they want to train they don't

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want to get blasted in the head um there are

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exceptions uh but then there's the other side of

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it too that he's also super involved in like that's what i was alluding to with with

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you shane other dudes on the team charles overseeing

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it on the competitor side too yeah which like

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that is well i mean you can speak for yourself and i feel

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like that's also where you're pretty intimately involved yeah i

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mean you know i i'm definitely a lot more involved especially under

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you know charles's leadership when it comes to the mma stuff i

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mean him scott tone for

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example these are guys that i've had in my in my corner forever um and so uh

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you know helping out i kind of play more of a support role when it comes to

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that stuff uh like scott said most of the people who come into the gym even

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where i started myself are like hobbyists or people who want to learn.

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A technique specifically or maybe they

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just want to learn self-defense or just be in shape or they're big fans of

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the ufc whatever it is um so you

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know for the classes that we offer that's a good way to introduce people into

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it um and then we help each other sort

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of facilitate and build up towards competition

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um it's not for everybody we've had guys who and

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this is no dig at anyone specifically um we've

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had people who tried it and were like yeah i'm good

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it was one and done and it's just too much work because of

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all the other things that are involved with fighting that people just aren't

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aware about right um and then

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we've had people who are like they walk in on their first day and

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they're like i want to be your new champion we're like oh brother how about slow

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it down let's teach you how to i don't show up to like three classes

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a week for three months let's hit pads yeah let's

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make sure that you actually know what you're doing teach you what a job is or

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something well like look dude but to your point it's a commitment

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yeah and it's not for everybody long term yeah you know

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like it's i mean you know this yeah different to respect like

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it requires a lot of dedication not

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everyone's gonna do that and like you said some people like there'll be

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dudes kind of come and go in these communities it's normal um people's lives

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change priorities change you'll have people who fight for a while they feel

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like they've checked that box they maybe want to keep training or sometimes

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they don't want to train at all and just they migrate out and then the dudes

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who are kind of like lifers you know.

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I mean, to be honest with you, I couldn't do it myself.

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Like I couldn't not fight until my body literally gets up on me, but I kind of get it.

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It's so grueling and it's just such a cruel sport.

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Aside from just the physical side of things, that's not even the worst part,

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like getting punched in the face or beat up or, you know what I mean?

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I'll cut up. That's whatever you get hit. You go to the hospital,

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you come home, whatever, you're fine.

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You'll recover after some time. it's the like the you

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know the weight cutting the mental game people on

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your case i wish we talk about this all the time right like

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you have people who are so close to you maybe their

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intention is good maybe it's not you know and they

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they start to tear you down while you're you know preparing

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to literally fight someone like a gladiator you know

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um and so all of

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that just putting it together you know the the psychological aspect

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of it the physical changes that your body goes through the stress

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and um you know on top of the pain

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that's probably going to be inflicted on you uh it's

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tough man it's tough to commit to uh it's fun as a sport you know you could

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be like killing it for a year and then boom your shoulder pops out you know

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now you have to learn how to manage your life with that while still pursuing

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the hobby and so but i think that when i say part of my life has gotten better from that,

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I think learning how to overcome those obstacles and challenges,

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that's something that people don't see.

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They see like MMA fighter, oh, he's aggressive, he's this, he's that,

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maybe he's a meathead, whatever.

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But you really overcome a lot of spiritual and mental blocks that.

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You otherwise wouldn't have been able to because the conditions are

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so extreme yeah you're tested yeah you're tested

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i mean i i always used to look at the when

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back when i was still fighting like i always used to look at

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that as the fight was like the fun reward at the end

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of all the other shit right um so i

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totally get that yeah like a lot of people don't understand like

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how grueling like the training the camp the

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weight cut like all those things on top of each other

00:14:03.697 --> 00:14:06.537
really are and like also outside of

00:14:06.537 --> 00:14:09.557
just that what that the effect that has on like your personal life

00:14:09.557 --> 00:14:12.537
and so i there's it's definitely not

00:14:12.537 --> 00:14:15.477
for the the weak the weak heart too like

00:14:15.477 --> 00:14:18.217
i don't blame anyone who like tries it out it's

00:14:18.217 --> 00:14:20.997
like nah man this isn't for me at all like or people

00:14:20.997 --> 00:14:24.157
who don't want to do it once they get into it like i get it yeah um

00:14:24.157 --> 00:14:26.837
so all right i want to

00:14:26.837 --> 00:14:29.657
make sure i'm understanding when you're talking about the uh kind of

00:14:29.657 --> 00:14:32.337
back to like the mma program so do

00:14:32.337 --> 00:14:35.497
you have kind of like the competitor side and then you also have

00:14:35.497 --> 00:14:38.197
like a the civilian side like we were saying like the

00:14:38.197 --> 00:14:41.197
the non-competitive sides you have like mma classes

00:14:41.197 --> 00:14:44.077
that someone can just walk in and start taking like

00:14:44.077 --> 00:14:49.017
part of the regular curriculum yeah we're a bit picky on it now shane and i

00:14:49.017 --> 00:14:53.177
um pickier than we used to be and that's primarily because we want people to

00:14:53.177 --> 00:14:57.017
actually learn right so we're really encouraging people to go learn the other

00:14:57.017 --> 00:15:02.637
disciplines like my jiu-jitsu in mma can't get better unless I practice my jujitsu separately.

00:15:02.637 --> 00:15:06.897
Same thing with my boxing, my Muay Thai, wrestling, you name it, right?

00:15:07.177 --> 00:15:10.737
At least to no fundamental things so you can defend or attack with them.

00:15:11.617 --> 00:15:15.537
So we have those regular classes. You can come to the gym, you train.

00:15:16.757 --> 00:15:20.557
You just take the classes in each session. And now we have a curriculum that we've built,

00:15:21.349 --> 00:15:25.569
So we have a schedule and different topics that we're going to be teaching every day.

00:15:25.589 --> 00:15:29.629
So they get exposed to all aspects of MMA, whether that's grappling, wrestling, striking.

00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:34.929
Are you guys syncing up on that too? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have like a full monthly

00:15:34.929 --> 00:15:36.049
curriculum that we follow.

00:15:36.209 --> 00:15:39.969
We don't go into like the specific things that we're going to be working with.

00:15:39.989 --> 00:15:42.109
Yeah, like a theme or something. Yeah, but there's a theme of the day.

00:15:42.149 --> 00:15:43.589
Or a theme of the day, sorry.

00:15:44.989 --> 00:15:47.969
If we find that some people are struggling with certain things,

00:15:48.109 --> 00:15:50.889
we'll put more emphasis and time on that. We need to kind of adapt it.

00:15:51.349 --> 00:15:57.149
We've seen a much better increase in people's ability to apply these things

00:15:57.149 --> 00:15:58.789
because we specifically focus on it.

00:15:58.929 --> 00:16:04.789
So maybe like Monday is a striking day and we're working the 1-1-2 into the shots, right?

00:16:05.249 --> 00:16:10.029
Or there's another striking day maybe, you know, five weeks later and we're

00:16:10.029 --> 00:16:12.549
teaching people how to strike to defend against takedowns.

00:16:13.289 --> 00:16:17.129
So that's kind of how it is. And then when it comes to the fight team stuff,

00:16:17.769 --> 00:16:22.669
that's, uh, you know, Charles is kind of the, he oversees it.

00:16:22.749 --> 00:16:24.509
He's the overseer of that whole fight team.

00:16:24.629 --> 00:16:29.229
Right. So, you know, we all support each other. So I might, I have been helping

00:16:29.229 --> 00:16:31.369
people with their weight cuts cause I'm really good at weight cutting.

00:16:31.569 --> 00:16:36.569
So, uh, you know, I take a lot more responsibility when it comes to that stuff,

00:16:36.689 --> 00:16:40.429
supporting the weight cut, keeping an eye on them, helping them with their, uh, protocol.

00:16:40.909 --> 00:16:43.949
Um, just spending a lot of time learning how to

00:16:43.949 --> 00:16:48.829
do it for different weight classes and different um categories but

00:16:48.829 --> 00:16:51.609
um you know the the fight team

00:16:51.609 --> 00:16:55.389
is kind of its own separate thing because it also encompasses muay

00:16:55.389 --> 00:17:01.609
thai uh amateur boxers um people who are going to be competing in super fights

00:17:01.609 --> 00:17:06.169
so we have like different sides to that and then the way i look at it is like

00:17:06.169 --> 00:17:09.489
you have different pillars of the gym right so like scott head jiu-jitsu coach

00:17:09.489 --> 00:17:13.189
all the competitors for jiu-jitsu kind of go under that track right and then

00:17:13.189 --> 00:17:14.949
you have mma's one track.

00:17:15.149 --> 00:17:18.229
And Muay Thai is kind of within the fight team track, but it's separate.

00:17:18.229 --> 00:17:23.689
So the preparation is entirely different than how I would prepare for a fight as an MMA fight.

00:17:24.617 --> 00:17:28.637
But basically what he's saying is like, if people are throwing punches, fight team.

00:17:29.017 --> 00:17:32.877
And they train together. Yeah. They have a group of guys that are consistently

00:17:32.877 --> 00:17:37.037
getting together to help each other prepare for various, and it's a pretty active team. Yeah.

00:17:37.577 --> 00:17:44.217
We've had dudes in the last couple of years. It was MMA almost exclusively for a couple of years.

00:17:44.237 --> 00:17:48.277
And now we have some dudes doing boxing and kickboxing fights.

00:17:48.397 --> 00:17:50.377
So it's cool to see that side expand.

00:17:51.257 --> 00:17:54.237
Now, let me ask you this, dudes. You've been doing a lot of jiu-jitsu. like people who

00:17:54.237 --> 00:17:57.197
don't know people don't know people who don't know khaledun competes

00:17:57.197 --> 00:18:00.717
a lot in jiu-jitsu too brother brother he's competing

00:18:00.717 --> 00:18:03.797
tomorrow i tell people i'm not a jiu-jitsu guy but he is i

00:18:03.797 --> 00:18:06.877
am a jiu-jitsu guy it was like an identity crisis thing i greets there

00:18:06.877 --> 00:18:10.017
was like i remember me and charles and um probably

00:18:10.017 --> 00:18:12.957
some of the like maybe even mark some like the other guy like on the wrestling side

00:18:12.957 --> 00:18:17.077
like just the grappling coaches talking about him before

00:18:17.077 --> 00:18:20.177
or after whatever one of the fights we were like yo man this guy needs to start

00:18:20.177 --> 00:18:24.197
like you're a grappler yeah because he wasn't in his head for a long time yeah

00:18:24.197 --> 00:18:28.077
you said you start you came to do muay thai and boxing he was a boxer like you'd

00:18:28.077 --> 00:18:33.437
box before you came to us so the thing is is you have to understand dma's,

00:18:34.237 --> 00:18:38.437
wrestlers are so good always since i've started i was always the worst in the

00:18:38.437 --> 00:18:42.557
room when i came to grappling and i had no experience like you have what yeah

00:18:42.557 --> 00:18:49.177
like shane wrestled his whole life um mark mark no you know no uh you know charles

00:18:49.177 --> 00:18:52.157
wait not the school of jones but still he wrestles and And then you,

00:18:52.217 --> 00:18:53.817
you're a black belt in jujitsu.

00:18:53.977 --> 00:18:56.757
So like everyone had wrestling over me, so I was just getting my.

00:18:58.285 --> 00:19:01.445
I'm talking like for years, just smashed constantly.

00:19:02.285 --> 00:19:06.425
And, uh, you know, coach Perdomo takes over with my training when it comes to

00:19:06.425 --> 00:19:08.545
the grappling side of things and we're working independently.

00:19:08.545 --> 00:19:14.125
And then he like revamped my skillset, but in my head, even though I'm winning

00:19:14.125 --> 00:19:18.265
tournaments, I'm getting gold medals, um, competing like basically,

00:19:18.545 --> 00:19:19.705
yeah. In between each fight.

00:19:19.865 --> 00:19:23.925
So if I fight three, four times a year, whatever it is, I'm competing in jujitsu

00:19:23.925 --> 00:19:26.405
tournaments between each fight. That's at least three.

00:19:26.785 --> 00:19:29.865
It's about the same. maybe more sometimes maybe more sometimes yeah two

00:19:29.865 --> 00:19:32.705
two to four maybe sometimes more jiu-jitsu tournaments

00:19:32.705 --> 00:19:37.185
a year um in my head in the fights it just wasn't there and then every time

00:19:37.185 --> 00:19:40.465
i have grappled though or just said like screw it this person's a better wrestler

00:19:40.465 --> 00:19:43.285
than me i'm gonna wrestle or i'm gonna grapple anyways i've always done better

00:19:43.285 --> 00:19:50.565
so uh yeah i mean i am competing tomorrow copa virginia uh this is my first

00:19:50.565 --> 00:19:52.085
time competing in the advanced division.

00:19:52.685 --> 00:19:55.685
You're going for that 500 bucks i'm gonna go for the 500 bucks yeah

00:19:55.685 --> 00:19:58.625
i'm buying everyone dinner hopefully when this releases

00:19:58.625 --> 00:20:01.765
we'll be able to tell people that you won 500 yeah fingers crossed

00:20:01.765 --> 00:20:04.825
we'll take our cut it was not a big cut i

00:20:04.825 --> 00:20:07.765
saw the bracket uh and we're joking around because we

00:20:07.765 --> 00:20:11.065
uh you know i know someone in in one of my brackets um i

00:20:11.065 --> 00:20:13.985
always do multiple divisions so i've always done that i

00:20:13.985 --> 00:20:16.625
like to push my gas tank i like the challenge so i'll be

00:20:16.625 --> 00:20:19.565
doing my weight class in the absolute division which at this

00:20:19.565 --> 00:20:22.845
level I know is gonna be tough right because I could be one up against black

00:20:22.845 --> 00:20:28.045
belts or brown belts but there are black boats and there are so they're there

00:20:28.045 --> 00:20:31.805
but I just get excited by that honestly the more I feel like the odds are against

00:20:31.805 --> 00:20:35.625
me the more I'm like pumped to get in there it's raining me and that's the problem

00:20:35.625 --> 00:20:38.785
yeah but it's manageable.

00:20:39.579 --> 00:20:43.199
Yeah, and you know, it's, it'll be good. It'll be fun. Yeah.

00:20:43.259 --> 00:20:44.799
Enjoy it. Not a lot, but always. Yeah.

00:20:45.199 --> 00:20:47.679
He's going to do good. Oh, yeah. He's going to be very good.

00:20:47.859 --> 00:20:49.959
Well, and you're cutting weight for that right now too, right?

00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.639
Yeah, I got a few pounds. Just a little bit. Yeah. I mean, compared to,

00:20:52.719 --> 00:20:53.879
my weight cuts are always big.

00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:00.399
So compared to the usual, this is like. Nothing. Nah. It's just a nap,

00:21:00.619 --> 00:21:01.719
right? Yeah. Sleep it off.

00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:05.219
And maybe one hot bath. There you go. A lot of crying.

00:21:06.719 --> 00:21:11.719
That'll get somewhat. Brother, I'll cry. off two pounds no problem just go listen

00:21:11.719 --> 00:21:16.199
to the booze a little bit yeah i get some tears out i have a playlist it's my

00:21:16.199 --> 00:21:20.339
secret my secret oh yeah i'll listen i want to know what this is,

00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.039
i feel like a lot of people who know him listening want to know what that list

00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:30.359
is too i know post a spotify playlist well probably not that's for him do a

00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:40.179
caldean uh curated spotify cry list yeah ladies old lady lady yeah no no no no no no the softer side.

00:21:41.719 --> 00:21:44.819
We can leave that for another conversation another another episode

00:21:44.819 --> 00:21:47.859
that'll be a bonus that'll be bonus content that could be exclusive uh

00:21:47.859 --> 00:21:51.339
patreon content there you go um that's cool

00:21:51.339 --> 00:21:54.259
man um so you're competing do you have other any

00:21:54.259 --> 00:21:57.619
other jiu-jitsu tournaments you're eyeing right now just

00:21:57.619 --> 00:22:00.759
to stay on that top i mean i'm looking around i'm

00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:03.619
i'm really like when it comes down to it we're we

00:22:03.619 --> 00:22:07.099
have a structure right i gotta get permission from the guys so

00:22:07.099 --> 00:22:09.999
from scott in this case right to get uh into these

00:22:09.999 --> 00:22:12.819
other tournaments like i want to do ibjjf i really want to do that this

00:22:12.819 --> 00:22:19.919
year um i would like to do some type of adcc tournament um i've never done naga

00:22:19.919 --> 00:22:23.719
i've never done other ones but i'd like to do like different types of jiu-jitsu

00:22:23.719 --> 00:22:29.199
tournaments because i do ibjjf rules mostly and i've done like double or single

00:22:29.199 --> 00:22:32.259
elimination copa i mean dimitri's always taking care of me, yeah.

00:22:33.539 --> 00:22:36.299
I do them the most just because they're the closest and if I could get my reps

00:22:36.299 --> 00:22:40.159
in. But this year, I really want to get into those other tournaments.

00:22:40.339 --> 00:22:41.419
I'd also like to do a super fight.

00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:44.619
I'm like begging for a super fight. We're going to, we'll work something out.

00:22:44.959 --> 00:22:49.539
We'll work something out. I feel like it's that. You, you, I'll say this.

00:22:49.659 --> 00:22:51.239
I feel like you would do good in super fights.

00:22:51.779 --> 00:22:55.759
You, you are. Yeah. You're made for super fights. I fought in front of crowds before, right?

00:22:55.859 --> 00:22:59.039
But jiu-jitsu is a little bit more daunting to me because I've,

00:22:59.159 --> 00:23:00.519
maybe it's just because I've never done it.

00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:03.139
But the idea of all eyes on you with like a

00:23:03.139 --> 00:23:05.839
limited discipline that you're working with you have to

00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.679
be like on top of it perfect skill set

00:23:08.679 --> 00:23:11.719
um in mma like i don't have to worry about somebody pulling

00:23:11.719 --> 00:23:14.499
a leg attack on me you know from a

00:23:14.499 --> 00:23:18.099
guard position punch him yeah like it's

00:23:18.099 --> 00:23:21.059
as you should it could happen but i don't know you know most of

00:23:21.059 --> 00:23:24.179
the time they're the second you're on your back you're like oh yeah there's

00:23:24.179 --> 00:23:26.839
more answers to it because you don't only that's not the

00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:29.859
only thing that they have to worry about right yeah so but

00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:33.059
with jujitsu you gotta like specialist or you know somebody who's

00:23:33.059 --> 00:23:35.759
like a guard specialist or you know you got so

00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.979
many other factors that are like so niche that you have to worry about that's

00:23:38.979 --> 00:23:41.239
the type of stuff that i'm like that's a big challenge for me because we're

00:23:41.239 --> 00:23:44.759
so top like we have a lot of good top pressure we have guys who have all types

00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.359
of skill sets and disciplines um but when you're training with the same dudes

00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:53.139
over and over again i learned from my coaches so my style is like an amalgamation

00:23:53.139 --> 00:23:55.099
of everything that they've built up with me, right?

00:23:57.665 --> 00:24:00.965
Seeing those different looks is so fun how do you feel coaching

00:24:00.965 --> 00:24:04.185
versus competing jiu-jitsu or well either

00:24:04.185 --> 00:24:07.405
because i know we've talked about like you you've begun recently coaching

00:24:07.405 --> 00:24:11.045
a lot of the fights brother coaching and

00:24:11.045 --> 00:24:13.825
i've said this to you and you always you know you're like it's not

00:24:13.825 --> 00:24:16.705
as big deal as you make it in your head coaching is way more

00:24:16.705 --> 00:24:19.625
stressful to me than fighting especially when you have an invest

00:24:19.625 --> 00:24:23.025
like a vested interest in the person that you're cornering

00:24:23.025 --> 00:24:26.645
or coaching um like i don't

00:24:26.645 --> 00:24:30.045
get nervous when i fight ever i mean nerves relatively

00:24:30.045 --> 00:24:33.245
speaking but i don't worry about anything you know

00:24:33.245 --> 00:24:36.565
i see my coaches they're with me they tell me what to do i shut my brain off

00:24:36.565 --> 00:24:41.185
i go out there i fight whatever happens happens um but when you're coaching

00:24:41.185 --> 00:24:46.245
it's like you're not in control anymore yeah all you can do is just you know

00:24:46.245 --> 00:24:49.945
make calls advise and And you guys always do a good job with that.

00:24:50.025 --> 00:24:52.125
So I try to copy that when I coach.

00:24:52.665 --> 00:24:55.245
But I do always get a little bit more nervous because it's like,

00:24:55.325 --> 00:24:56.725
if I'm fighting, I can do this.

00:24:57.725 --> 00:25:01.265
Do you find it a little frustrating when you say something and they don't do it?

00:25:02.105 --> 00:25:06.765
Like I do. You don't even look at it? I do. And there's only so much you can

00:25:06.765 --> 00:25:07.885
control when it comes down to it.

00:25:07.965 --> 00:25:12.805
Even me, my coaches have told me to do stuff and I haven't done it in my fights.

00:25:13.685 --> 00:25:17.165
Or in my tournaments. Scott's cornered me for, I don't even know how many.

00:25:17.165 --> 00:25:19.885
I have like 50 jujitsu matches or something, right?

00:25:20.045 --> 00:25:22.845
So like Scott's basically quartered me for almost every single one.

00:25:23.925 --> 00:25:27.485
And I'm sure there are tons of times where you were, I actually remember specific

00:25:27.485 --> 00:25:29.505
times where you've told me to do stuff and I didn't do it.

00:25:29.625 --> 00:25:34.785
So it's frustrating for sure being on that side of things because you just want

00:25:34.785 --> 00:25:36.825
to like jump in there yourself and do it.

00:25:37.225 --> 00:25:43.045
But it's a different skill set that I realized and actually has helped my confidence

00:25:43.045 --> 00:25:45.905
and my mindset as a fighter and as a competitor,

00:25:46.425 --> 00:25:49.525
because you're kind of on both sides of it uh yeah i

00:25:49.525 --> 00:25:52.805
was gonna ask you about that so i'm glad you bring that up like do you

00:25:52.805 --> 00:25:57.245
what is there something specific do you think it changed about like the way

00:25:57.245 --> 00:26:01.025
that you compete now that you've been on the like from being on the coaching

00:26:01.025 --> 00:26:04.805
side of it like the way that you coach and then seeing kind of how the reaction

00:26:04.805 --> 00:26:08.645
is there's something that you do on your end now that you're competing uh a

00:26:08.645 --> 00:26:11.225
little bit differently because you know but from that coaching side?

00:26:11.465 --> 00:26:18.285
Yeah, I mean, so the one thing I've noticed, I'll never forget my first walkout.

00:26:20.065 --> 00:26:23.025
Shout out to Rocket Combat Sports, my favorite promotion in there.

00:26:23.545 --> 00:26:26.885
These guys always take care of me, so they're awesome.

00:26:27.105 --> 00:26:31.925
They gave me my debut at AMI and I did my walkout.

00:26:32.005 --> 00:26:38.625
We must have like 100 people from DMA there and maybe 200 people in this high school gym, whatever.

00:26:39.624 --> 00:26:43.684
And dude, I thought I was like into Apex or something.

00:26:43.864 --> 00:26:47.364
I thought there were thousands of people and I'm hearing my name get chanted.

00:26:47.364 --> 00:26:50.504
And I'm like, I can't hear a word these guys are telling me,

00:26:50.564 --> 00:26:53.544
by the way, for the first round, like I didn't hear anything.

00:26:54.604 --> 00:26:58.524
And that got a little bit better, but I distinctly remember my first three fights,

00:26:58.604 --> 00:26:59.964
because that was before I started coaching.

00:27:00.264 --> 00:27:04.984
I didn't really hear them as clearly as I, like I do now.

00:27:05.084 --> 00:27:07.604
Now I hear everything these guys say to me. And I'm pretty sure it has to do

00:27:07.604 --> 00:27:08.904
with the fact that I've been on both sides.

00:27:09.624 --> 00:27:12.504
So I can, I kind of block out the crowd. I don't even know what's there,

00:27:12.604 --> 00:27:16.504
man. Like, I do showboat and stuff because I know people are watching.

00:27:16.704 --> 00:27:20.604
Like, I try to, you know, play the role. Some of that's good, man.

00:27:20.904 --> 00:27:23.424
People, like, that's why, I think that's why, like, K-Zilla,

00:27:23.584 --> 00:27:25.104
that's why Rocket likes you, dude. Maybe.

00:27:25.424 --> 00:27:28.164
They do. I like to make a little bit of a show. Yeah, dude. These guys don't

00:27:28.164 --> 00:27:32.264
like it when I'm not ahead. I'm not ahead. I'm sorry. Well, yeah, we want you to win.

00:27:33.164 --> 00:27:36.544
First and foremost, it's a balancing act. Yeah. Calhoun.

00:27:37.044 --> 00:27:39.924
Yeah, it's a balancing act. You're right. i like i like to

00:27:39.924 --> 00:27:42.724
i like sometimes i'm not uh i never

00:27:42.724 --> 00:27:45.984
had an older brother because i'm the oldest in my family but with these

00:27:45.984 --> 00:27:49.104
guys are kind of like my older brothers yeah i feel that that

00:27:49.104 --> 00:27:51.804
itch to like to troll i don't

00:27:51.804 --> 00:27:54.864
know but when i showbo it kind of gives me the the

00:27:54.864 --> 00:27:57.604
the that delusional confidence that i think

00:27:57.604 --> 00:28:00.844
it really goes the extra mile it's just knowing when it's

00:28:00.844 --> 00:28:03.784
like the time and place to do it right oh i totally get that

00:28:03.784 --> 00:28:07.844
dude well dude we talked about this in your one of our episodes recently about

00:28:07.844 --> 00:28:12.184
uh copa elite where mike was talking about how he was like i gotta put on a

00:28:12.184 --> 00:28:17.244
show too yeah sometimes you gotta put on a show yeah sometimes you feel like

00:28:17.244 --> 00:28:21.524
it's starting you can feel like a little bit of that like the crowd losing interest

00:28:21.524 --> 00:28:22.704
like there's definitely,

00:28:23.384 --> 00:28:27.244
you can feel like kind of that turn like you want to win the crowd he's a fan

00:28:27.244 --> 00:28:30.904
favorites you invited back he's a fan favorite when we go to the uh when i go to the,

00:28:31.460 --> 00:28:34.880
I guess mostly Rocket, but also maybe Cage's, like, the staff.

00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:38.760
Everyone loves Cal down there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The crowd. He's got fans in the crowd.

00:28:39.060 --> 00:28:43.640
If you put on a show, like, win or lose, they want you back on the card for the next one.

00:28:43.720 --> 00:28:46.660
I think it's a little bit of a sex appeal he puts out there.

00:28:46.780 --> 00:28:48.620
He starts flexing on the camera. Brother.

00:28:49.320 --> 00:28:52.840
Calvin over here. We start flirting with ring girl. Calvin. Yeah,

00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:55.060
I mean, maybe there's a little bit of ring girl flirting going on.

00:28:55.100 --> 00:28:58.040
The son of a butcher. No, brother. Me?

00:28:59.060 --> 00:29:02.480
Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Just like having fun.

00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.820
You know, having fun's good. We're just having some fun. I'm making sure everyone

00:29:05.820 --> 00:29:08.580
gets attention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's important. You got to pay attention

00:29:08.580 --> 00:29:10.440
to everyone. All I'm saying is they remember him. Yeah.

00:29:11.120 --> 00:29:13.840
The promotions always take care of me in the area too. Like win or lose.

00:29:14.820 --> 00:29:19.020
The promoters are always good to me. They've always been very professional.

00:29:21.260 --> 00:29:25.140
They definitely, like, you can tell the difference when a promoter is like trying

00:29:25.140 --> 00:29:29.020
to take care of you or showing you respect versus when they just don't care. You know?

00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:32.480
Yeah. Um, as long as you show up, you make weight. I've never missed weight.

00:29:32.520 --> 00:29:34.260
I show up. I try to put on a show.

00:29:34.940 --> 00:29:37.800
Um, you know, regardless of what's going on in my personal life,

00:29:37.860 --> 00:29:43.360
I try to make that a priority and, uh, you know, it ends up helping build those relationships.

00:29:43.560 --> 00:29:46.900
It's, uh, it makes it makes the whole experience a little bit more fun when

00:29:46.900 --> 00:29:52.140
you just aren't like stiff and rigid and quiet, you know, some people are fine

00:29:52.140 --> 00:29:53.840
like that. It's just not how I am.

00:29:54.260 --> 00:29:56.900
Well, I think that's kind of been like, there's a little bit of a

00:29:56.900 --> 00:29:59.980
recurring theme when we talked about this kind of stuff on the show

00:29:59.980 --> 00:30:02.960
and like professionalism doing right

00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:05.720
by the promotion they tend to do right by you after that so like

00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:13.040
it definitely rings true so I mean that comes up a lot uh-huh um so I know you're

00:30:13.040 --> 00:30:17.640
running up on some on time here do you have anything but let's go over aspirations

00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:21.420
for the year like what's some things like goals that you have for the end of

00:30:21.520 --> 00:30:23.600
year or kind of, you know,

00:30:24.040 --> 00:30:27.640
coming up, it could be early next year, whatever, but, um, you know,

00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:30.000
what's, what's next for the son of a butchering?

00:30:30.360 --> 00:30:34.020
Well, you know, I'm coming off of a loss right now.

00:30:34.420 --> 00:30:39.100
Uh, so I'm going to be spending the next, the short-term goal is to build on

00:30:39.100 --> 00:30:43.160
these, um, deficiencies in my game or skill sets that I need to expand on.

00:30:43.280 --> 00:30:45.000
Right. So I'm in the training arc right now.

00:30:45.560 --> 00:30:49.780
Um, but really by the end of the year, wrap up my amateur career,

00:30:49.800 --> 00:30:51.080
I'd like to get maybe two more.

00:30:51.360 --> 00:30:53.760
I've got eight fights now. I want to make it about ten.

00:30:55.380 --> 00:30:59.260
And I'll continue to compete locally.

00:30:59.940 --> 00:31:06.980
But I think by 2026, that's where I'd like to get at least an IBJJF tournament in.

00:31:07.600 --> 00:31:11.000
So something a little bit more high-level. And I,

00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:16.660
begin my pro career around that same time. So debut as a pro fighter and.

00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:19.540
You know, work towards that UFC dream.

00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:24.020
Oh yeah. Build up the skills, work on some jujitsu, get some competitions.

00:31:24.420 --> 00:31:27.040
Yeah. We're going to schedule out some MMA later in the year.

00:31:27.300 --> 00:31:28.740
Yeah. We've talked about it with Charles.

00:31:29.080 --> 00:31:33.920
Yeah. We had a plan. We had a plan. We got a plan. Work on the skills a lot. That's for all of us.

00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:37.920
What, what did you add in since, since the loss?

00:31:38.060 --> 00:31:41.260
Like what things are you like adding in, focusing

00:31:41.260 --> 00:31:43.980
on are there any like new things that you've added

00:31:43.980 --> 00:31:46.780
to your kind of your training to get to the

00:31:46.780 --> 00:31:49.740
next like to try to i don't know build up and

00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:52.700
fill in some of those gaps yeah you know honestly for

00:31:52.700 --> 00:31:57.820
me you know if i can speak freely on this it's really just my mental state as

00:31:57.820 --> 00:32:01.040
a competitor right um for the longest time i was the most junior guy in the

00:32:01.040 --> 00:32:07.000
room right and i'm not anymore um but i think my mindset has always had that

00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:10.720
kind of doubt that comes with being the most junior guy in the room,

00:32:10.860 --> 00:32:12.280
but I've got tons of experience.

00:32:12.420 --> 00:32:16.180
I've got, uh, you know, more experience than most in the area now.

00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:21.640
And I think it's really developing the mindset that comes with competition that,

00:32:21.780 --> 00:32:23.780
you know, I have these skills, I just have to implement them.

00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:27.120
I know what the right decisions are to do. I just have to believe in the training that I.

00:32:27.967 --> 00:32:32.627
And really do that. And that's more reps with my strong points,

00:32:32.747 --> 00:32:35.347
with the places that I'm weak in.

00:32:35.927 --> 00:32:39.047
So it's going to be a lot more grappling, a lot more focus on what I'm good

00:32:39.047 --> 00:32:40.807
at, which is, you know, my jiu-jitsu.

00:32:41.427 --> 00:32:45.427
And your wrestling. My wrestling, being more aggressive and offensive with it.

00:32:45.547 --> 00:32:49.627
And then when it comes to my striking, you know, just improving my defense,

00:32:49.827 --> 00:32:54.287
keeping my hands up, throwing, being more calculated, and then bridging it all together.

00:32:54.287 --> 00:32:57.487
I think that's going to be the big thing because I could do these things,

00:32:57.487 --> 00:33:00.247
but uh you know i have to believe in my ability to

00:33:00.247 --> 00:33:03.307
put it all together he's got a strength conditioning coach he's got

00:33:03.307 --> 00:33:06.247
a very good strength conditioning coach now asim yeah so

00:33:06.247 --> 00:33:09.287
he's putting a lot of extra inputs new data

00:33:09.287 --> 00:33:12.707
new new new skill sets are being exercised yeah

00:33:12.707 --> 00:33:17.707
that's a good point because awesome he's um he's helping me in an area that

00:33:17.707 --> 00:33:21.227
i was really deficient in which i just didn't you know lifting was always more

00:33:21.227 --> 00:33:26.327
of a chore for me but he's made it in a way that it's cater towards an mma fight

00:33:26.327 --> 00:33:30.987
right and so you know with that building up that side of things and

00:33:31.287 --> 00:33:34.267
using you know that coaching and applying

00:33:34.267 --> 00:33:37.567
it into my my routine and my schedule you know

00:33:37.567 --> 00:33:41.387
my goals that's awesome man any i had

00:33:41.387 --> 00:33:44.147
a weird question for you but i know he'll have something to say you got

00:33:44.147 --> 00:33:47.207
any recommendations for the youth what about the youth yeah

00:33:47.207 --> 00:33:50.627
i said look at his face look at his body language i knew he was like i got this

00:33:50.627 --> 00:33:55.587
thing oh i got some words for the coming brother as a community icon and the

00:33:55.587 --> 00:34:00.787
youth being in charge of the youth and and many facets of life uh no i volunteer

00:34:00.787 --> 00:34:06.227
with some youth and i yeah i got a lot of young guys he's coach.

00:34:07.247 --> 00:34:12.807
I think for young people you know they all when you're young you have zero sense

00:34:12.807 --> 00:34:16.647
of responsibility or, you know, zero sense of caution in your head, right?

00:34:16.887 --> 00:34:22.247
So if I were to talk to myself as a teenager, you know, and tell myself to get

00:34:22.247 --> 00:34:26.327
into this stuff, I would just tell them to take their time.

00:34:27.616 --> 00:34:31.816
Don't look for crazy fights when you're 16. Like, develop your skills.

00:34:33.436 --> 00:34:36.796
Spend a lot of time with wrestling. I think that's a big thing in America because

00:34:36.796 --> 00:34:41.256
I grew up in Canada where wrestling is not that big or it's not as big as it is here.

00:34:41.676 --> 00:34:46.536
Spend a lot of time in your younger years wrestling, doing jiu-jitsu,

00:34:46.876 --> 00:34:50.096
protecting your head, and, you know, concussions will come later.

00:34:50.216 --> 00:34:51.536
We're all going to get CTE eventually.

00:34:53.496 --> 00:34:57.656
But, you know, I think spending time there and then building into all the striking

00:34:57.656 --> 00:35:02.536
sports and the competitions when you're entering into your 20s.

00:35:03.356 --> 00:35:07.136
Yeah. All right. At sonofabutcher on Instagram.

00:35:07.436 --> 00:35:10.356
At sonofabutcher. We'll add it in the show notes. Throw in the show notes.

00:35:10.636 --> 00:35:14.916
Yeah. Thank you guys again for listening to Fighters Drinking Coffee.

00:35:16.676 --> 00:35:22.276
Our usual housekeeping. Follow us on Instagram. Get on that Discord.

00:35:22.636 --> 00:35:25.376
This will all be in the show notes. You'll be able to click that link. it'll take you

00:35:25.376 --> 00:35:27.996
straight there more people we have in there more likely it's going

00:35:27.996 --> 00:35:31.516
to become um and then as always rate

00:35:31.516 --> 00:35:34.476
follow review um doing that helps

00:35:34.476 --> 00:35:37.356
us out that helps get this show in front of more people

00:35:37.356 --> 00:35:40.256
um which means more people like you listen

00:35:40.256 --> 00:35:46.236
to the show um and we are still working on some cool new things to hopefully

00:35:46.236 --> 00:35:50.276
add some stuff that you guys can take advantage of um coming in the near future

00:35:50.276 --> 00:35:54.896
so um keep an eye out for that we'll keep you guys posted as that develops um

00:35:54.896 --> 00:35:57.736
so thank you boom shakalaka bye.