(Ep 41) How Wrestling’s Spectacle Can Supercharge Jiu-Jitsu w/ Raf Esparza of The Grappling Hour

WEBVTT

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Welcome back to Fighters Drinking Coffee.

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Today, we have a special guest with us.

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We have Raph Esparza of the Grappling Hour podcast, as well as the Bullpen News.

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And a bunch of other stuff that he also commentates or produces for.

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Raph, go ahead and tell us about what else you've been into.

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You were just in San Diego, right?

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For Subversive, is that correct?

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Not Subversive. This is my weekend off. We just did Subversive a week ago.

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So I usually try to plan hard work and then fun.

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So my fun this weekend was going down to San Diego for the WWE Survivor Series,

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aka the original Quintet.

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So I went to go enjoy myself, go get drunk with some friends,

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And then I actually went to go train at my buddy Bobby Winther's new gym called Teams MMA.

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And Bobby Winther is a top 16 athlete in ADCC trials. I think he did it twice.

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Beat up AJ Aghazarm. So happy about that.

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And then I also went to Kenan and Miha's Legion Jiu-Jitsu for their open mat

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on Sundays. And that was a fun open mat.

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But I'm on vacation mode.

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And it is wild when you're on vacation mode and it is another Sunday to these

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people and they are not on vacation mode.

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So nobody was being a dicker, but it was just like, oh, right.

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Pace. We should go a little bit faster. Okay. Got it. They're on warm mode.

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You were, you were showing up chilling. You'd been watching a survivor series

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the night before, I assume.

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So you, I imagine that was a vastly different pace than the people that were

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showing up to work basically.

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You know, the other thing is this, it's not without its own character study.

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I saw their transitions.

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They're not bad. A lot of these guys are starting to train now.

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So you see a lot of these pro wrestlers dabbling in a little bit of jujitsu or they've

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been martial artists and they kind of use transitions that are very jiu-jitsu

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based so i always like pointing it out to my friends and i went with one civilian

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meaning one person who doesn't train jiu-jitsu and my other buddy who is a pretty

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solid mma fighter named brady,

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and you know we're all shooting the shit and we love telling the civilian like

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oh my god that's de la riva you don't even know what that is it's so dope they're doing this.

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Uh what was uh who was

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the winner of survivor series this

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year who uh who came out on top i didn't watch it so we're gonna spoil this

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for everyone else yeah no it's okay yeah and i have a big belief that for pro

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wrestling because it's every single week in the world there is no such thing

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as a spoiler you you watched it or you didn't um the big joke that happened is i'm from L.A.

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And I wear that very proudly. So I was wearing a Dodgers hat as I was going to Petco Park.

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And for those of you who are not baseball folks, um,

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Maybe a dick move. Maybe not. I don't know.

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I'm just a fan happening to wear a hat that might be the world champions. No big deal.

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And they made a joke. Don Mysterio, who is the son of Rey Mysterio,

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has become this incredible heel.

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And there's always been this kind of joke because they did a custody of Don

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Mysterio match between him and Eddie Guerrero.

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Eddie guerrero was the true father of

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dominic mysterio and they run

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within domisterio has really embraced this eddie guerrero thing but he beat

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john cena in one of his last two matches so john cena's on his exit tour and

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the joke that was written was

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domisterio was the first person to win a championship inside petco park,

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And that's a pretty devastatingly sad joke for the Padres who have never won a championship.

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And I laughed pretty hard at it.

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Especially while wearing your Dodgers hat.

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I went to several pro Padres bars proudly warning it.

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And I was like, I have no issues here. I am a true heel at heart.

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So I play a babyface host when I need to. But yeah, it was a lot of fun, man.

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That's great man um do you

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have any questions on survivor series scott i do

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not have any questions survivor series although

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i i'm i i've taken

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like a 15 year hiatus from pro wrestling and

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uh i think i'm about to get back into it

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after the attitude era dx sean

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michaels all those dudes when that sort of ended that

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was when i trailed off um you know

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i grew up on those dudes and to me

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that was like the golden age of wrestling ref you tell me what i've missed in

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the last 50 years but i have cousins and friends who never quit the game they're

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still diehards and they're constantly talking to me about it and it's still,

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it still looks like the most fun thing ever.

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So I think it's time that I get back into it.

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You know, man, here's the news. You can jump back in and it's not a problem.

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The thing I want to make sure I say on my side is this.

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You might have left wrestling, but wrestling didn't leave you. And here's why.

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Everything is wrestling. The president of the United States is a WWE Hall of

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Famer who is in a major angle.

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Politics is wrestling now. It's just people cutting promos.

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They don't fix anything. which is like hey I'm gonna see

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you at November 4th this year

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at the ballot box it's like okay and then

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from my perspective one of the reasons why I go aside from wanting to go drink

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and have fun I'm taking notes the whole time and I'm always watching to see

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what the production does and so what I really like about the WWE is that they

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are usually trying out new stuff,

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production wise that makes me go oh

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that's kind of cool so like for subversive one of

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the things that i found out was at wrestlemania they have

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this like fan experience where

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you pay like two three hundred bucks to go and a

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lot of it's signings you go meet people that stuff doesn't really interest me

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but there were so many people who were showing me videos of their kids who paid

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to make a wwe walkout now that to me was like wait if i was 10 years old and you could pay for me.

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To go make a walkout i would have eaten

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that up and i realized that subversive we

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were this past year at a church that had

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a giant big screen v so what

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i said was i was like you know people pay for this elsewhere we should use this

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as an upcharge and teach people how to make pro wrestling-esque entrances or

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at the very least how to hold a mark because most people when they have a super

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fight they just get nervous and they just run on out there they don't connect with the audience,

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There was another person who I was talking to over the weekend,

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an MMA fighter who goes, oh, that's kind of cute that you're going to like WWE. And I was like, mm-hmm.

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And he goes, why are you saying like that? I was like, you do know how many

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people are going to be there. And he's like, no. And I go, 46,000 people.

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And he's like, oh, that's cool. And I was like, cool. You do recognize that

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no matter how good you get at MMA, 46,000 people will not watch you fight.

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What did he say? He was like, oh, damn. And I told him, I'm like,

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it's the real truth of it.

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You're fighting for real but this staged

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or choreographed thing or predetermined thing

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has more people and a real smart person should be asking themselves well why

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and he was like i mean i like it it's just wild and i told him i'm like dude

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the only stadiums that have really happened for mma are i want to say australia

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at the marvel uh where i think izzy fought a couple.

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And that's about it everything is mostly arenas

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and they charge really well for these prices for UFC

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that make money but we're

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talking stadiums with upwards I

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want to say at Wrestlemania when I went it was like 60,000 per day

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for two days so if you're

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smart and you're looking at it as a sports fan

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or as a business guy you have to acknowledge wow

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that's impressive and two if you

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really want to do something bigger for the sport you have to say

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like how are they getting people there and what are they doing so from get-go

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start to finish what's the fan experience like what are the seats like what

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is the event pacing like how many commercials do they have what's the lighting

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like what's the staging like so literally when i go my friend's.

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Probably get annoyed at me just being like that drone looks

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so cool look at it oh that shot's so

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good so like i nerd out on all that stuff you're studying the

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craft trying to man i do it everywhere

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that i go so even like if my wife takes me

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to a comedy show or we go to the theater

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all i'm ever thinking about is how can

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we do it on a budget because you know jiu-jitsu don't

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got money like but I'm always

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thinking like how do we elevate this because you guys and

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I know the way that people dedicate themselves in

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this sport they're killing themselves and we're not making nowhere near the

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money that other sports do so you can do one of two things about it you can

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bitch about it which I do plenty but I subversive has been the area where I

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can say how do I leave a better imprint for it?

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Or how do I help in my small way to say, all right, presentation.

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I don't have the money of ADCC, but I can teach these guys how to have a better interview.

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I can nudge them a certain way. I can roast them. I know how to be funny with people.

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Like there are small little things that you can do and that I see a lot of small

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organizations do, but it's like, dude, if you look at the way that our athletes

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kill themselves versus and no disrespect to other sports,

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but like a golfer.

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I mean, it's cool. I don't respect to those people who do golf and who are good at it.

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I don't think it's a better sport than what we do.

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I'd agree with that. And I think you have a really good, um.

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You're really touching on something there with like the fan experience, um,

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with how the, the fan experience, the spectacle,

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all of that is such a big part of why people

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enjoy and go to uh go

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to wwe and other pro wrestling events

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um i'm not as familiar with the other ones but i know aw's

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been you know kind of climbing up and stuff like that um but

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the spectacle the and like you're talking about the crowd interaction

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and you saw you've

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seen people do this in the ufc right

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we've seen uh honor mcgregor

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like that was a very similar thing and that's what really helped

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him grow as a brand as like a as a fighter uh

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colby covington was a big one he did like a very

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like textbook heel turn right when he uh

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did that big like he went he turned

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on trump mode and like that kind of created this

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character this like larger than life

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character that wasn't really well he says

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like that's not who colby comington is but he knew that

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and he's talked about this where like creating this

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this heel is what saved his career and probably the whole reason he still got

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title fights recently in recent uh like the last year or two um and like i think

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that's that's something big that a lot of guys don't.

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I think there's don't do in this sport, jujitsu or MMA, but in jujitsu,

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a lot of guys think that just winning is enough.

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They think if they win that thing that they're going to end up being,

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um, if they win that next big thing, they're going to just magically become famous.

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When in reality, like that's not exactly how it's going to work, right?

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You have to create a following or connect with people.

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And um or like

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we didn't i just did an event two weeks ago and we

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made sure that hey we're gonna do

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a walkout and have fun and like create these characters because

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that's what gets people excited about the event and dude it works like it makes

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a big deal people get excited like we did a whole like we didn't pop promos

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before but like we shot photo did like pictures and all that to make sure We

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started like building our,

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the characters we were going to be portraying at this like trios event.

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And like, it, it makes a big difference. Um, so I think that's a pretty big

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thing that you're touching on there.

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I think we're all trying in our own ways. A lot of it's going to be, well, does this work?

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And as somebody who is a huge pro wrestling fan, I see a lot of athletes who

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probably didn't have time for it before, now all mysteriously attending these events.

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I get people who are like, oh, I don't like that. And I go, okay,

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that's fine. Do whatever you want, man.

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And then all of a sudden they're at the event like, Raph, oh,

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I didn't know you were coming.

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I'm like, first of all, I go to the mall. second of all like

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what are you doing here and then they'll

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tell you like i got into it and i go i think you saw

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what you can do and i have this thing first of all super happy that you guys

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are doing that with people because it is part of my life's work when i'm doing

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interviews with people is how do i make you interesting like what's your hook

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what makes you different and i like to think I have an ear for it.

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But I can also steer an athlete when I'm giving them intel or feedback that's

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kind of like, yeah, that's not working, dude.

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No, like this promo does not work. I was a speech and debate coach.

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So performance is very important to me. And if it rings true to you as a character or you as a person.

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So like Gordon can be kind of a heel because that's kind of how he reacts.

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So he's just turned up his personality and he wins, which is currency for heels.

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If you don't win, you can't really be a heel for too long.

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Otherwise, like you look at Conor McGregor now, you don't think he's a threat that he was in 2016.

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So that is part currency. But I do love when athletes are telling me,

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they're like, I think I'm going to make a heel turn.

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I was like, you're the biggest baby face there is. You cannot be a bad guy.

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And I'll even challenge them right up front. I'll be like, cut a heel promo on me. Do it.

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And if you've ever done comedy or you just have a good sense of what your brand and what you are.

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Is they're not going to say anything that's ever going to

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insult me that like they're not capable of beating me up in that way they're

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capable of beating me up in a jiu-jitsu sense but when it come nick at its self-esteem

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from their interpretation it's not going to happen so So we do a segment on

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my Patreon called Roast Raph, where,

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you know, I roast the guys when we do interviews,

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but I'll let them watch my footage of my competitions, especially the ones where I do something dumb.

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And I'm intrigued. I don't want to learn. I don't want to become better from

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them. It's not like inciting them to do a free private for me.

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It's just like, hey, make fun of this.

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And it's a good reversal. And sometimes I'm leading them to the joke and they don't even know it.

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And then they'll be like, wow, Raph, you're like this. And I go, mm-hmm, yep.

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And it's just it's fun it's you don't take it seriously

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it's just i know that sweep looked

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terrible and that i ended up in a bad position

00:16:45.827 --> 00:16:52.707
but i like the hunt of hearing them describe it in their way or i was just telling

00:16:52.707 --> 00:16:57.167
them like miha over at legion did one where he was roasting me and he's like

00:16:57.167 --> 00:17:01.707
dude um he's like raf you know i feel bad if i were to make fun of you is that

00:17:01.707 --> 00:17:04.047
okay And I'm like, dude, I don't care. Do it.

00:17:04.547 --> 00:17:10.387
And he was trying to find the most polite way to be a dick. And I actually found that endearing.

00:17:11.007 --> 00:17:16.587
So I always tell the guys, I'm like, whoever you are, find a way to connect.

00:17:16.587 --> 00:17:19.467
So one good example of that is keith

00:17:19.467 --> 00:17:23.207
kikorian being the face of ufc bjj he

00:17:23.207 --> 00:17:26.427
found a joke he's been running with it and it's

00:17:26.427 --> 00:17:31.167
the perfect way of his goofball personality being turned up for the attention

00:17:31.167 --> 00:17:35.927
they're doing great on numbers and he's having fun because i feel like at the

00:17:35.927 --> 00:17:41.587
end of the day like dude we're pajama wrestling if you take yourself so seriously

00:17:41.587 --> 00:17:45.107
this world will sniff you out and make fun of you.

00:17:45.627 --> 00:17:50.647
Well, to that point, I feel like the type of person that's attracted to jujitsu,

00:17:51.067 --> 00:17:54.327
and obviously there's a ton of people that fall into that umbrella,

00:17:54.567 --> 00:17:58.547
but particularly the ones who become good competitors, they tend to be,

00:17:59.087 --> 00:18:02.467
well, in my experience, a lot of them tend to be introverted.

00:18:03.187 --> 00:18:09.047
Kind of nerdy, really dedicated to the craft, which means like you have to nerd

00:18:09.047 --> 00:18:11.267
out on this stuff. You have to watch tutorials.

00:18:11.467 --> 00:18:17.087
You have to be on the mat nonstop, which generally I feel like people with personalities

00:18:17.087 --> 00:18:20.967
don't commit that much to what we all do.

00:18:21.167 --> 00:18:24.167
Of course, there's different types of people out there, but it seems like,

00:18:24.347 --> 00:18:28.027
and Raph, you tell me, we're on the East Coast, so maybe we're looking at different people.

00:18:28.847 --> 00:18:34.447
But this archetype of human being might struggle to do what you're describing.

00:18:35.618 --> 00:18:43.258
Yes um can it be coached rap oh absolutely and you know what one of these days i'm just gonna,

00:18:44.338 --> 00:18:50.018
tank the podcast and just open up a firm on helping people do this um yeah i

00:18:50.018 --> 00:18:55.078
mean back to my speech and debate days dude because speech and debate i could

00:18:55.078 --> 00:19:00.338
take anybody and make them a pretty decent performer even if they didn't have

00:19:00.338 --> 00:19:02.958
inherent skills there are things you can teach of them.

00:19:03.498 --> 00:19:08.798
Now, obviously your amazing talent is always just going to shine through and

00:19:08.798 --> 00:19:11.358
they don't have to do as much work, but it's the same thing like lifting.

00:19:11.678 --> 00:19:15.278
Sometimes you're just genetically gifted and you go, dude, how does that guy

00:19:15.278 --> 00:19:17.818
lift that? I can't get anywhere near that.

00:19:18.138 --> 00:19:22.898
It's just sometimes genetic, sometimes talent as genes, but everything's coachable.

00:19:23.578 --> 00:19:29.118
I do feel like the East coasters have a pretty good sense of busting balls.

00:19:29.118 --> 00:19:36.878
So that inherently leads to good shit talk which if you have a match against somebody.

00:19:37.638 --> 00:19:41.418
Maybe makes you want to watch that match a little bit more uh

00:19:41.418 --> 00:19:45.098
in la i think or west coast we're a

00:19:45.098 --> 00:19:48.378
mix between a little too lax and also

00:19:48.378 --> 00:19:51.938
i love the fact that at la i think

00:19:51.938 --> 00:19:54.718
i do fit that mold it is hard to get under a

00:19:54.718 --> 00:19:57.718
skin because it's going to be like oh you think

00:19:57.718 --> 00:20:00.838
i'm trash well i'm going gonna go to the beach bro and i'm

00:20:00.838 --> 00:20:04.098
gonna have a pretty good day so enjoy your

00:20:04.098 --> 00:20:10.498
snow and terrible weather seasonally of course uh and i'll talk to you later

00:20:10.498 --> 00:20:14.958
bud he just roasted us mike that was a mini roast i liked it it was it was a

00:20:14.958 --> 00:20:18.978
subtle roast gentleman it was it was testing the waters you have to make sure

00:20:18.978 --> 00:20:22.058
that i'm not coming in and being a we accept it.

00:20:23.096 --> 00:20:27.236
But yeah, I mean, I, I also feel like the Australians from Craig,

00:20:27.456 --> 00:20:31.656
they, you know, Craig explains that he's like, he's nothing special because

00:20:31.656 --> 00:20:34.336
that's what you do. You, you take the piss out of each other.

00:20:35.236 --> 00:20:42.556
And that's been fascinatingly funny to me to have guests who I have a policy

00:20:42.556 --> 00:20:47.316
if I can do it, where I'd like to train with the guests before we do a podcast.

00:20:47.816 --> 00:20:53.216
And the reason is, is that it bypasses everything. It gets you to a brotherhood.

00:20:53.396 --> 00:20:55.616
It gets you to having a commonality.

00:20:56.316 --> 00:21:00.996
But the real emphasis is if they trust me on the microphone,

00:21:00.996 --> 00:21:05.316
like I trust them on the mats, I think it's going to make for a good conversation.

00:21:06.036 --> 00:21:10.016
And it puts us in a way that we can kind of better know one another.

00:21:10.596 --> 00:21:15.136
And it really makes it so that I can start doing jokes and that they don't get

00:21:15.136 --> 00:21:19.156
offended and that they feel like they're part of the gym.

00:21:19.296 --> 00:21:23.836
And I've had a couple of guys when they come to visit our gym when we roll and

00:21:23.836 --> 00:21:27.716
then they meet some of my guys are like, Hey man, I like the culture you have here.

00:21:27.836 --> 00:21:31.696
And I go, Hey, basically, I think what they were saying is I saw you making

00:21:31.696 --> 00:21:34.076
fun of your white belts and it was pretty funny.

00:21:35.256 --> 00:21:39.376
And it's mostly just cause I'm like, yeah, that's what I would be doing if you were here or not.

00:21:39.516 --> 00:21:43.636
It's not for show. It's just that white belt was trying to M and R roll into

00:21:43.636 --> 00:21:46.616
nothing and it looks stupid. So we should make fun of him.

00:21:48.727 --> 00:21:51.527
Yeah we uh we do a similar thing over

00:21:51.527 --> 00:21:54.347
here well when we can you know when we're not uh don't

00:21:54.347 --> 00:21:58.127
have the entire country between us um we

00:21:58.127 --> 00:22:01.307
we try to get on the mats with our guests before

00:22:01.307 --> 00:22:06.467
um and we find that it it does make a big difference it breaks definitely break

00:22:06.467 --> 00:22:12.027
some barriers down and um it makes it a lot easier to talk to somebody because

00:22:12.027 --> 00:22:17.087
yeah just like you're saying you have that commonality and it is easier to make

00:22:17.087 --> 00:22:19.507
fun of people when you've rolled with them.

00:22:19.887 --> 00:22:24.427
Um, there's no doubt about that. So you get to get a little more,

00:22:24.587 --> 00:22:27.707
uh, a little more loose, I guess is a better way to put it.

00:22:27.867 --> 00:22:30.227
Um, which we're doing a good job of.

00:22:31.727 --> 00:22:36.807
Yeah, no, I mean, I love, you know, I've, I've heard you guys and I love the

00:22:36.807 --> 00:22:40.427
fact that we have a mutual friend and a seam and I'm sure probably other people

00:22:40.427 --> 00:22:41.567
in the jiu-jitsu community,

00:22:42.107 --> 00:22:47.407
but a lot of this works best if we just don't take ourselves too seriously.

00:22:47.847 --> 00:22:53.207
And I've always approached the craft because I do have a very serious looking face at times.

00:22:53.207 --> 00:22:57.827
So I think sometimes people are surprised

00:22:57.827 --> 00:23:00.767
that I'll be so light or

00:23:00.767 --> 00:23:03.687
sarcastic or silly or funny or goofy depending on

00:23:03.687 --> 00:23:11.827
who's around and i think that i my approach has always been i take the work

00:23:11.827 --> 00:23:15.867
very seriously but not myself when it comes to producing an event like subversive

00:23:15.867 --> 00:23:21.187
i do get very deathly serious because the guys might all be goofing around and joking,

00:23:21.907 --> 00:23:26.627
and i think there's a time and place for it but if i have a show that's going on in two hours,

00:23:27.167 --> 00:23:30.287
you know i might put a moratorium on jokes

00:23:30.287 --> 00:23:36.387
i'm like hey no fun i hate everything i want this show to work and if you guys

00:23:36.387 --> 00:23:40.847
are spending more time doing the setup to a joke than telling me how we're fixing

00:23:40.847 --> 00:23:46.907
something i will murder you so make sure we go very quickly um but yeah after

00:23:46.907 --> 00:23:50.107
then it's like all right you can goof around now guys it's all good.

00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:56.220
I get that. Um, I would agree. I think there's, well, I don't know if this is

00:23:56.220 --> 00:23:59.560
an agreement thing, but, um, I've been, um,

00:24:00.428 --> 00:24:03.588
toying with this conversation with actually some of my guys at the gym,

00:24:03.628 --> 00:24:08.208
um, about does jujitsu take itself too seriously?

00:24:08.588 --> 00:24:10.768
Uh, so that just made me think about it.

00:24:11.168 --> 00:24:17.028
Um, and like, I don't, I don't have a exact answer, but, uh,

00:24:17.868 --> 00:24:23.728
one guy is kind of comes from like traditional martial arts and he's like,

00:24:23.788 --> 00:24:25.848
well, it's just an inherent thing with martial arts.

00:24:25.948 --> 00:24:29.068
I'm like, but does it have to be? can't we just like right

00:24:29.068 --> 00:24:32.348
we do something that's kind of like kind of silly it's

00:24:32.348 --> 00:24:35.588
a little silly um you know it's it's fun

00:24:35.588 --> 00:24:38.668
like why why why do we need to take

00:24:38.668 --> 00:24:41.628
it serious all the time i mean yeah obviously there's

00:24:41.628 --> 00:24:45.008
things that are serious that you need to whatever but um

00:24:45.008 --> 00:24:47.688
but you know like what what are your

00:24:47.688 --> 00:24:51.628
thoughts on that like do you think that as uh obviously

00:24:51.628 --> 00:24:54.988
there's people who don't you got the craig joneses keith krikorian like you

00:24:54.988 --> 00:24:59.968
have guys that don't take it too seriously they're having fun with it and you

00:24:59.968 --> 00:25:04.328
know but also being successful and you know they're doing the right things but

00:25:04.328 --> 00:25:09.108
do you think that there's an issue with jujitsu taking itself too seriously.

00:25:10.728 --> 00:25:19.288
Yes but it's so much better now because when we first started and i i mean we

00:25:19.288 --> 00:25:23.708
meaning myself and I had a co-host by the name of Kevin Phillips that was the

00:25:23.708 --> 00:25:28.028
original moniker that most people were introduced to us with, with Verbal Tap.

00:25:28.888 --> 00:25:35.708
And dude, our basis was to be the late night comedy of MMA.

00:25:36.028 --> 00:25:40.248
And at the time there weren't a ton of MMA, especially not jujitsu podcasts,

00:25:40.908 --> 00:25:45.948
but we found our niche because I worked at a late night show and I would approach

00:25:45.948 --> 00:25:51.268
writing jokes about these athletes in that way, where it's not offensive,

00:25:51.268 --> 00:25:54.228
but we wanted to make sure we were having a good time.

00:25:55.225 --> 00:25:57.985
And it's not like we were ever really faced with resistance,

00:25:57.985 --> 00:26:03.045
but there were people who were very raise eyebrow at us kind of demeanor.

00:26:03.785 --> 00:26:08.785
And I realized at the time I was like, yo, you guys can have fun.

00:26:09.005 --> 00:26:14.025
Like it doesn't have to be this way. I felt like Rodney Dangerfield and Caddyshack

00:26:14.025 --> 00:26:19.045
showing up and being like, it's golf. It's silly.

00:26:19.645 --> 00:26:25.385
Let's goof around. And then you start seeing these other athletes take the charge and take the lead.

00:26:25.605 --> 00:26:29.585
And dude, I was thinking about this the other day when I saw all these guys who do TikTok now.

00:26:29.845 --> 00:26:34.065
And when you see these TikToks, you see everybody at a gym going,

00:26:34.245 --> 00:26:35.885
oh, hey, I'm filming a skit now.

00:26:36.565 --> 00:26:39.185
Hey, hey, can you film this? I want to do something kind of funny.

00:26:40.005 --> 00:26:42.665
And dude, sometimes when we would do that at the very beginning,

00:26:42.965 --> 00:26:46.565
I would tell people and I'd explain the concept and they'd be like,

00:26:47.420 --> 00:26:50.380
so you're making fun of this? And I'd go, yes.

00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:56.780
And I always put the emphasis on trying to make myself look silly or dumb or

00:26:56.780 --> 00:27:00.980
so inadvertently wink, wink, nudge, nudge, like we're having fun.

00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:05.160
And now there's a whole bunch of young kids who, dude, they,

00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:07.940
I don't even know that I have that creativity.

00:27:08.280 --> 00:27:10.480
I, I, they do it on a daily basis.

00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:14.020
The amount of times I want to make a TikTok like that is

00:27:14.020 --> 00:27:16.920
very minuscule but every year

00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:20.020
we do something again the pro wrestling stuff we created

00:27:20.020 --> 00:27:23.880
this whole concept called wwbjj and it

00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.940
was to put pro wrestling in jiu-jitsu settings so that you could inherently

00:27:27.940 --> 00:27:31.440
be a heel you weren't pretending to be a heel like if you wanted to be an asshole

00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:36.440
in competition we would ask people to submit videos of them trying to do that

00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:39.820
and that stemmed from me when i'm rolling with people i'll hit a boston crab

00:27:39.820 --> 00:27:41.020
on people i'll hit a figure four,

00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:47.140
and i like to hit them on people who are pro wrestling fans because it's better

00:27:47.140 --> 00:27:51.480
i don't try to hit it on civilians if they're not fans but the worst thing you

00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:56.020
could ever tell me is you can't land that move on me and i'm like well i'm not

00:27:56.020 --> 00:27:58.260
great at jujitsu but i know that stuff.

00:27:59.060 --> 00:28:02.000
And without fail they'll always laugh when

00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.000
we get it on there so that whole skit that

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:07.860
we would do with it we had people sending us notes

00:28:07.860 --> 00:28:11.340
like why are you doing this and i'm like because it's funny like oh you think

00:28:11.340 --> 00:28:15.380
this is funny and I'm like yeah now I see people putting videos of them doing

00:28:15.380 --> 00:28:20.140
full on like gimmick things and I go oh thank god everybody's so much nicer

00:28:20.140 --> 00:28:23.780
and fun about it it just doesn't mean it's eliminated because you'll always

00:28:23.780 --> 00:28:26.220
have a traditional space that will feel like.

00:28:27.049 --> 00:28:32.309
This is not jokes guys. This is life or death. And in some situations, it can be very helpful.

00:28:33.029 --> 00:28:38.969
But if you think about a reason why you want to show up every day to come train, there has to be a hook.

00:28:39.089 --> 00:28:41.829
And for some people, they don't want to talk. They just want to drill.

00:28:42.349 --> 00:28:46.669
That's fine. That has a place. But I think there's a happy medium of,

00:28:46.949 --> 00:28:50.949
hey man, so we're doing single legs again. Cool.

00:28:51.769 --> 00:28:54.449
Okay. That sounds fun. Like, how do you

00:28:54.449 --> 00:28:57.229
find a way to make it fun we do like um even at

00:28:57.229 --> 00:29:00.609
my gym uh in my shoot jobs

00:29:00.609 --> 00:29:04.129
meaning the stuff that i do outside of jiu-jitsu i help

00:29:04.129 --> 00:29:07.609
produce and write for some game shows so a

00:29:07.609 --> 00:29:11.009
lot of times since a lot of guys are compulsive gamblers i'll

00:29:11.009 --> 00:29:13.969
come up with silly games so literally i

00:29:13.969 --> 00:29:16.709
had the guys do a quintet and these dudes look like they

00:29:16.709 --> 00:29:21.749
wanted to tear each other's face off and i was like hey guys this is a scrimmage

00:29:21.749 --> 00:29:27.169
against your own teammates and you're literally you pulled off your shirt and

00:29:27.169 --> 00:29:32.429
screamed at the camera like what are you doing this is the stupidest thing in

00:29:32.429 --> 00:29:36.669
the world and yet i don't know i kind of like seeing people just have fun with it,

00:29:37.788 --> 00:29:40.088
Raph, I got a two-part question for you because you got me thinking.

00:29:42.628 --> 00:29:46.668
Your awareness and inside of the professionalism of like, let's call it the

00:29:46.668 --> 00:29:53.068
entertainment value of these types of sports, this world of combat sports plus wrestling.

00:29:54.068 --> 00:30:02.448
Two-part question. First, do you ever think our sport, we'll say jiu-jitsu,

00:30:02.808 --> 00:30:07.648
pro grappling, will, oh my God, can you guys still hear me?

00:30:07.788 --> 00:30:10.688
Yeah, my phone started spasming.

00:30:12.088 --> 00:30:15.568
What your phone does won't affect you. Your phone's fine. Anyways,

00:30:15.568 --> 00:30:23.468
do you ever see this sport growing to a level on par with UFC or WWE?

00:30:23.908 --> 00:30:27.088
And then part two, because I feel like you'll have some fun with this.

00:30:27.248 --> 00:30:30.628
If you could build an event from scratch, you had unlimited budget,

00:30:30.908 --> 00:30:33.488
you could just make this the most entertainment thing possible,

00:30:33.808 --> 00:30:36.168
entertaining thing possible, how would you do it?

00:30:37.688 --> 00:30:41.688
I hate the first one I love the second one oh man I think I know where you're

00:30:41.688 --> 00:30:47.528
going the first one has a very sad reality of I don't know but we're trying

00:30:47.528 --> 00:30:53.388
man and you know what credit to Craig I've gotten behind Craig Jones Invitational,

00:30:54.048 --> 00:31:00.608
as I think our premier showcase I think UFC BJJ can have some positives for

00:31:00.608 --> 00:31:03.688
the event but by and large kind of boring,

00:31:04.570 --> 00:31:09.170
great talent, kind of weird to do it the way that they're doing it.

00:31:09.310 --> 00:31:13.270
I like the taco bowl of it. If you would, it's a pit, but really they're like,

00:31:13.330 --> 00:31:14.690
it's the bowl. And I go, sure.

00:31:15.750 --> 00:31:23.650
Uh, but as big as UFC is a big stretch because what you're looking at right

00:31:23.650 --> 00:31:29.090
now with them is I don't know that they have the best people in the world yet.

00:31:29.110 --> 00:31:34.670
I think they're building slowly, but surely. And I've seen some well-structured

00:31:34.670 --> 00:31:38.510
defense from some of the stars being like, but that's how the UFC started.

00:31:38.510 --> 00:31:41.090
And it was always small and it got bigger.

00:31:41.270 --> 00:31:45.350
And it's like, right, but you have a distinct advantage now with the UFC.

00:31:45.630 --> 00:31:48.110
You have a budget where you can get some of the big stars.

00:31:48.450 --> 00:31:55.090
And if you really do the rabbit hole, these stars are not as expensive as you think they are.

00:31:55.090 --> 00:31:57.730
So where's all that

00:31:57.730 --> 00:32:01.110
money going probably for promotions probably

00:32:01.110 --> 00:32:04.070
for hooking people probably to

00:32:04.070 --> 00:32:06.910
to get more people to tune in

00:32:06.910 --> 00:32:09.650
with the marketing and the education that has to

00:32:09.650 --> 00:32:12.870
go with it so i'm cautiously

00:32:12.870 --> 00:32:15.910
optimistic for them to do better things but cred

00:32:15.910 --> 00:32:19.790
jones invitational feels like the show that has

00:32:19.790 --> 00:32:23.210
the most potential to bring in civilians people

00:32:23.210 --> 00:32:26.010
who don't normally watch us and god

00:32:26.010 --> 00:32:28.850
bless craig him versus cabby gabby does

00:32:28.850 --> 00:32:31.650
nothing for me but it might do something for somebody

00:32:31.650 --> 00:32:34.590
else and yet what they're doing

00:32:34.590 --> 00:32:37.590
with that is saying hey right before

00:32:37.590 --> 00:32:41.690
the main event we're going to try and get as many eyeballs for these amazing

00:32:41.690 --> 00:32:48.550
practitioners so that they grab your attention and not this year this was kind

00:32:48.550 --> 00:32:54.730
of a little boring um day two was better but day one was kind of rough last

00:32:54.730 --> 00:32:56.990
year you had Tackett and Rotolo.

00:32:58.251 --> 00:33:04.071
That has now become the modern version of, if you need to show grappling is

00:33:04.071 --> 00:33:05.351
exciting, show them that.

00:33:05.511 --> 00:33:09.471
And before that, I used to say it was Gary Tonin versus Rusevall Paul Harris.

00:33:09.791 --> 00:33:14.011
And I said, if you watch this, this is undeniably good. You don't have to be

00:33:14.011 --> 00:33:16.171
a fan of it. You can appreciate this.

00:33:16.431 --> 00:33:19.051
I feel like they took that and they ran with it.

00:33:19.471 --> 00:33:21.911
Now, if you're asking me, what would I do? All right.

00:33:22.818 --> 00:33:25.098
I kind of have an event, so I don't want to give away too much,

00:33:25.238 --> 00:33:29.738
but I'll give you the unlimited budget version, because I certainly don't have that with subversive.

00:33:30.218 --> 00:33:34.618
All right, I'm doing a super fight between some celebrities.

00:33:34.738 --> 00:33:39.178
I'm doing my best to knock down on Tom Hardy's door and be like,

00:33:39.258 --> 00:33:42.558
bro, I see you compete at the IBJJF.

00:33:42.878 --> 00:33:44.938
What's it going to take? It's not money.

00:33:45.538 --> 00:33:50.118
I will do the Bane voice 24 hours at your step every single day,

00:33:50.138 --> 00:33:53.958
because that dude competes and I like how he competes.

00:33:55.458 --> 00:33:59.898
Now, listen, yes, a lot of people are trying to get on this Moneyberg train.

00:34:00.958 --> 00:34:04.698
I don't think you have to do Moneyberg. I don't think you have to go that way.

00:34:04.838 --> 00:34:09.398
I think it's been fun. I think Craig was even offering to like lose a match

00:34:09.398 --> 00:34:13.478
to Moneyberg and Moneyberg tried to show it as like, look at the lack of credibility

00:34:13.478 --> 00:34:16.398
he has offering to throw a match for me. And I was like.

00:34:18.738 --> 00:34:23.458
That doesn't ruin anything for Craig. Craig literally beat up Chelson in twice

00:34:23.458 --> 00:34:27.318
in two minutes and there was no reason he had to have a second match with him.

00:34:27.558 --> 00:34:29.298
We're here for the spectacle my guy.

00:34:30.138 --> 00:34:36.038
I would get big LED walls. I would not do as big of a venue as ADCC did for

00:34:36.038 --> 00:34:37.918
T-Mobile. I think that was a mistake.

00:34:38.458 --> 00:34:41.418
Two million dollars in this era for a venue.

00:34:41.818 --> 00:34:46.298
I don't care what sport you are. Nobody goes bigger. They go smaller and if

00:34:46.298 --> 00:34:47.558
they can afford it they do something else.

00:34:47.758 --> 00:34:50.078
I do pyro. I like pyro for that.

00:34:50.758 --> 00:34:57.018
Big LED wall, and I do a 10-card match series.

00:34:57.718 --> 00:35:02.358
So I think tournaments can be fun, but I think we do like a supercard format

00:35:02.358 --> 00:35:03.958
with maybe a four-man tournament.

00:35:04.418 --> 00:35:08.098
And if you get a four-man tournament, you go in one of the lighter divisions.

00:35:08.598 --> 00:35:13.078
And I think what you do is you have to put up a sizable amount of money to make them do it.

00:35:13.598 --> 00:35:18.218
And if you do that, you could showcase some stuff. I'm partial to this.

00:35:18.378 --> 00:35:19.838
We at Combat Jiu-Jitsu do...

00:35:20.991 --> 00:35:25.231
We do combat jujitsu and I didn't love it at first, but I found a place for

00:35:25.231 --> 00:35:27.631
it. Sometimes that gets the people going. You can throw that in there.

00:35:28.111 --> 00:35:33.891
But I really do think you make a mix of showing the true spectacle of everything

00:35:33.891 --> 00:35:36.731
we've got and grudge matches for days.

00:35:37.071 --> 00:35:41.991
Literally, I think the real American freestyle, Michael Chandler's an interesting

00:35:41.991 --> 00:35:43.351
talent. That's where he shines.

00:35:43.631 --> 00:35:47.371
I think that's a great venue for him. So I'm not even opposed to a wrestling

00:35:47.371 --> 00:35:51.031
exhibition match as we start to get some of these guys in here. Thank you.

00:35:51.635 --> 00:35:55.695
Just spitballing. I like it. Do you do any buildup with those grudge matches?

00:35:55.935 --> 00:35:58.415
What's like the pre-production look like?

00:35:58.735 --> 00:36:00.775
Man, okay. First of all, I do press conferences. I know you got some answers

00:36:00.775 --> 00:36:05.675
for that. Yeah, I do press conferences for all the stuff that we do. I like that.

00:36:06.135 --> 00:36:08.995
But I think we also have to do like a media day.

00:36:09.375 --> 00:36:14.555
So I think for that media day, you get them both there. You start doing these grudge matches.

00:36:14.955 --> 00:36:19.835
And you know what's great about this sport that I don't see enough of is,

00:36:19.835 --> 00:36:23.715
and it kind of harkens back to a little bit of metamorous there's

00:36:23.715 --> 00:36:26.535
this emphasis on you versus this other guy but

00:36:26.535 --> 00:36:30.855
in actuality there's a whole history of your team versus their team why are

00:36:30.855 --> 00:36:34.675
you not playing upon that even more i used to love when the metamorous teams

00:36:34.675 --> 00:36:41.995
would get behind the athlete like build that rivalry there are deep deep-seated

00:36:41.995 --> 00:36:44.095
rivalries that people don't get into.

00:36:44.495 --> 00:36:51.995
And I think educating the public on the rich history of that is really cool because yeah, sure.

00:36:52.235 --> 00:36:56.395
This person might be facing this person, but did you know their coach took on

00:36:56.395 --> 00:37:01.195
their coach or that their history was that they were a coach against this guy in MMA?

00:37:01.415 --> 00:37:05.975
I think there's so much, there's so much drama and dirt in that,

00:37:06.175 --> 00:37:08.435
that really could be enriched.

00:37:08.435 --> 00:37:11.295
And then I think really what you have to do is you try to

00:37:11.295 --> 00:37:14.235
have to you got to get the audience

00:37:14.235 --> 00:37:16.935
educated on these athletes that I think

00:37:16.935 --> 00:37:23.795
is the biggest key to building people is the educational aspect because most

00:37:23.795 --> 00:37:27.135
of the time if you don't have a dog in the fight or you don't know who these

00:37:27.135 --> 00:37:32.915
guys are you're like sounds good Joe Blow over here what does he do okay cool

00:37:32.915 --> 00:37:36.595
I think the UFC he has put a lot of money into Mikey Musumichi.

00:37:37.115 --> 00:37:40.035
And for better or worse, you always know what he's up to.

00:37:41.415 --> 00:37:45.215
So, I think they've gone all in on him, which is fascinating because they have

00:37:45.215 --> 00:37:49.735
a rule set that says you can't pull guard, which is why you get him Karate Kid hopping for no reason.

00:37:50.855 --> 00:37:53.515
So, I'd love to see them change that rule for...

00:37:55.181 --> 00:38:00.501
Yeah, so we need like a Real Housewives of Jiu-Jitsu constant type of series

00:38:00.501 --> 00:38:03.841
for people just to get involved in the politics and the history. You can do that.

00:38:04.321 --> 00:38:10.641
I have to say, man, I always was pro let's get our version of the ultimate fighter.

00:38:11.781 --> 00:38:15.021
And we would always say this on verbal taps. So like 10 years ago,

00:38:15.061 --> 00:38:18.181
I was saying, we need to get the ultimate fighter. We need to get like the ultimate grappler.

00:38:18.601 --> 00:38:22.041
And then Flo did one with who's next.

00:38:22.641 --> 00:38:25.761
And it was a little too produced it

00:38:25.761 --> 00:38:28.441
didn't didn't hit the way i wanted it to hit but

00:38:28.441 --> 00:38:31.581
i was happy they did it and then of course ufc bjj

00:38:31.581 --> 00:38:34.721
did theirs and i was like actually that looks it's not

00:38:34.721 --> 00:38:38.421
that good uh the right talent filmed in

00:38:38.421 --> 00:38:41.101
like two weeks but there was a moment where they

00:38:41.101 --> 00:38:45.421
went bowling and normally they do those like coaches challenges and

00:38:45.421 --> 00:38:48.181
you know dana white was on uh press conference be like

00:38:48.181 --> 00:38:51.221
we're gonna spend eight to twelve million dollars on uh

00:38:51.221 --> 00:38:54.201
ufc bjj it's gonna be a thing and they

00:38:54.201 --> 00:38:57.261
go to the bowling alley and as they do what would normally be

00:38:57.261 --> 00:39:01.141
the challenge matches between coaches mikey's like

00:39:01.141 --> 00:39:04.161
yeah we're gonna go ahead and um we're gonna bet twenty dollars

00:39:04.161 --> 00:39:06.781
for who can get a strike or who will do better and i

00:39:06.781 --> 00:39:10.061
was like 20 bucks bro bro some

00:39:10.061 --> 00:39:12.981
of my white belts will pay 20 bucks if they pass guard

00:39:12.981 --> 00:39:15.721
not even ufc base like what

00:39:15.721 --> 00:39:18.721
are we doing here man like that bet is so low

00:39:18.721 --> 00:39:21.441
i felt where is that

00:39:21.441 --> 00:39:24.921
eight million dollars going so yeah

00:39:24.921 --> 00:39:31.441
i i think there are ways now in modern uh storytelling i actually think you're

00:39:31.441 --> 00:39:35.601
gonna see more and more people do their best storytelling on like tiktok and

00:39:35.601 --> 00:39:41.481
on instagram reels i think that sells more interest than even doing a 30-minute

00:39:41.481 --> 00:39:42.801
educational program at times.

00:39:43.821 --> 00:39:48.601
Well, I think a big thing too that made the ultimate fighter work and why the

00:39:48.601 --> 00:39:53.561
UFC BJJ like ultimate grappler thing doesn't is because one,

00:39:53.801 --> 00:39:57.101
those dudes were off the rocker.

00:39:57.441 --> 00:40:01.521
Most of them, you know, these were like, he's got, and they also locked them

00:40:01.521 --> 00:40:02.921
in a house full of alcohol.

00:40:03.181 --> 00:40:07.581
That was a big part of it too. They had unlimited liquor cabinet,

00:40:07.581 --> 00:40:10.981
a bunch of dudes who were just training and

00:40:10.981 --> 00:40:13.861
pent up all day and then they let them loose

00:40:13.861 --> 00:40:17.041
in the mansion and just leave

00:40:17.041 --> 00:40:19.741
them there with the camera on um so you

00:40:19.741 --> 00:40:22.741
had like that mix of like big brother but and then

00:40:22.741 --> 00:40:27.161
you know so these guys are all at each other's throats but then also it i think

00:40:27.161 --> 00:40:32.921
there's also just a difference in that grapplers are just like too nice and

00:40:32.921 --> 00:40:37.641
too buddy buddy like it's just the way that that the that works like Like that

00:40:37.641 --> 00:40:42.361
drama doesn't like self propagate like it does with that.

00:40:42.381 --> 00:40:46.461
Like it did with ultimate fighter, at least not the same way. Like not as quickly.

00:40:46.981 --> 00:40:50.961
Um, sorry. I think that's what the issue was. A good point.

00:40:51.321 --> 00:40:55.741
This is something that I, I, I think I was alluding to, but I didn't explain properly.

00:40:56.881 --> 00:41:00.301
So, okay. Answer me this question.

00:41:00.481 --> 00:41:04.041
When the ultimate fighter was really hitting and you were watching and it was

00:41:04.041 --> 00:41:06.921
on by TV, or you were just getting into it.

00:41:07.081 --> 00:41:17.921
Did you feel on that show, those were the best current amateur and early pro prospects in the sport?

00:41:18.858 --> 00:41:21.458
I mean, they definitely did a pretty good job of selling that,

00:41:21.718 --> 00:41:26.718
but not necessarily, but they did a good job of like pushing that.

00:41:26.878 --> 00:41:30.178
Yeah, that was part of maybe the narrative they were pushing,

00:41:30.358 --> 00:41:33.138
which is we're scouting for the best people possible.

00:41:34.258 --> 00:41:38.118
But if you're an intro audience, you're not judging it yet.

00:41:38.118 --> 00:41:41.318
You may not know as much, but as we've gotten older, we're like,

00:41:41.458 --> 00:41:44.138
yeah, maybe they weren't like the best guys in the world, but they were great

00:41:44.138 --> 00:41:47.818
characters in UFC for UFC BJJ.

00:41:47.818 --> 00:41:51.238
They casted for the best athlete

00:41:51.238 --> 00:41:55.058
so a lot of those guys have great credentials Andy Varela

00:41:55.058 --> 00:41:58.998
Tackett Keith Kikorian like all

00:41:58.998 --> 00:42:02.098
of those guys are studs amazing at what

00:42:02.098 --> 00:42:05.338
they do the one guy who was kind of cast as

00:42:05.338 --> 00:42:07.998
being a heel is Elijah Carlton and on

00:42:07.998 --> 00:42:10.958
that show they nerfed him from being an like an actual

00:42:10.958 --> 00:42:14.458
bad guy the worst thing he was saying was like I don't know if he's gonna do

00:42:14.458 --> 00:42:18.838
it maybe he won't pass my guard and i was like dude elijah carlton has said

00:42:18.838 --> 00:42:26.718
some raunchy crazy stuff and yet what it told me was jiu-jitsu has a problem

00:42:26.718 --> 00:42:30.918
in that we expect the best people to be booked.

00:42:32.028 --> 00:42:36.788
We want to see it. If we're going to treat it successfully, we want to see the best versus the best.

00:42:37.128 --> 00:42:41.768
But the casting process for MMA doesn't require you to see the absolute best

00:42:41.768 --> 00:42:44.588
athletes, maybe the best characters you can get behind.

00:42:44.808 --> 00:42:47.588
In jiu-jitsu, we have not developed the best characters yet.

00:42:47.748 --> 00:42:54.408
And I think that will change, but it's a big, big difference in the casting that we're looking at.

00:42:54.528 --> 00:42:58.248
And I think that's why when you see things like,

00:42:58.388 --> 00:43:01.368
man, I really want to get behind the show and then you see it and you go something's not

00:43:01.368 --> 00:43:04.008
right all the beats are there it's a

00:43:04.008 --> 00:43:06.808
30 minute window there's not a ton of

00:43:06.808 --> 00:43:10.108
get to know them story time but everybody's background

00:43:10.108 --> 00:43:15.728
story was i train hard and i love my girlfriend not a rare occasion here's my

00:43:15.728 --> 00:43:20.788
dog do you think that has anything to do with the fact that most of the people

00:43:20.788 --> 00:43:24.928
watching jiu-jitsu are practicing jiu-jitsu and they want to look up to these

00:43:24.928 --> 00:43:28.648
stars who they can like whereas like you said the ultimate fighter,

00:43:29.908 --> 00:43:35.448
the vast majority of people watching it are not going to train and they're definitely

00:43:35.448 --> 00:43:40.268
not going to compete in mma so to them they're just people they can study so

00:43:40.268 --> 00:43:42.088
they want that maniac meathead.

00:43:43.508 --> 00:43:48.828
Versus we're all watching ufc bj we're watching craig jones invitational so

00:43:48.828 --> 00:43:53.908
on and so forth and we all do this day in day out so it's like a different type of market.

00:43:54.948 --> 00:44:04.188
Hmm. It's a good question. I feel that for jujitsu, there's also the big risk

00:44:04.188 --> 00:44:07.788
of a lot of these guys not wanting to kill their brand entirely.

00:44:07.788 --> 00:44:13.468
And what I mean is they want to be able to go back to their gyms on Monday and

00:44:13.468 --> 00:44:17.168
still book privates with kids and make their money and their living because

00:44:17.168 --> 00:44:19.488
there's not enough money in the sport yet.

00:44:19.488 --> 00:44:23.968
So I think that's part of the reason why certain people are afraid to have a

00:44:23.968 --> 00:44:27.068
personality or certain people are afraid to do X or Y or Z.

00:44:27.348 --> 00:44:30.728
And you know, what's wild is as big as the UFC is,

00:44:30.888 --> 00:44:36.408
they still haven't figured it out because one of their fighters out here in

00:44:36.408 --> 00:44:39.828
California who took like a last minute fight,

00:44:39.828 --> 00:44:44.368
they show what's supposed to be this feel good moment of him going back to work

00:44:44.368 --> 00:44:46.448
on Monday with his construction company.

00:44:47.486 --> 00:44:50.646
And then I was thinking about it, and somebody in the comment section was right

00:44:50.646 --> 00:44:55.186
on the money when they go, we're the only professional sport where they have

00:44:55.186 --> 00:44:57.226
to go to their other job on Monday.

00:44:57.586 --> 00:45:02.086
And when they have to go to their other job on Monday, they're celebrated,

00:45:02.346 --> 00:45:08.326
and they put out this piece that basically is like, isn't this amazing? He went back to his job.

00:45:08.786 --> 00:45:12.786
If you had asked anybody in the NFL, not even a starter, but somebody on the

00:45:12.786 --> 00:45:17.046
bench, they're not going to another job. That is their job.

00:45:18.806 --> 00:45:24.906
So that's what the model we have looking forward to is it's still not perfect.

00:45:24.906 --> 00:45:29.586
And then for UFC BJJ and all this sort of stuff, they're getting paid more,

00:45:29.846 --> 00:45:32.826
which is incrementally better. And that is good.

00:45:33.286 --> 00:45:41.046
So I'm a big fan of that. But if you're looking at modeling BJJ after MMA, it has some holes.

00:45:41.206 --> 00:45:43.466
And I think that's why people are a little more guarded on.

00:45:43.626 --> 00:45:46.606
I don't want to be full heel. I want to be a TV heel.

00:45:46.606 --> 00:45:49.326
Well guess what editors don't care what kind

00:45:49.326 --> 00:45:52.206
of heel you want to be they're going to cut you a certain way

00:45:52.206 --> 00:45:57.266
to tell the best story so i think that's why they're so guarded and you see

00:45:57.266 --> 00:46:01.446
instead of even somebody being like oh my god on tv if you know you're being

00:46:01.446 --> 00:46:08.926
filmed you might get real heavy in the oh my gosh take an extra beat to have

00:46:08.926 --> 00:46:11.526
a reaction that you wouldn't normally have in real life.

00:46:12.046 --> 00:46:17.106
So those are small little things that I kind of observe and I don't really blame

00:46:17.106 --> 00:46:18.586
them for doing what they need to do.

00:46:18.986 --> 00:46:25.466
I just don't see as much incentive for them to go off too much script or be somebody else.

00:46:25.726 --> 00:46:31.266
It makes sense. I mean, $20,000 to compete is not enough to sacrifice your kid's

00:46:31.266 --> 00:46:34.146
class on Monday because you said some crazy shit on TV.

00:46:36.134 --> 00:46:41.234
When we were talking about the UFC BJJ TV show, and given what we just discussed,

00:46:41.354 --> 00:46:42.134
I don't think this is going to work.

00:46:42.314 --> 00:46:46.414
But if you guys have ever seen the movie The Recruit, you ever seen that?

00:46:46.654 --> 00:46:48.454
Colin Farrell? He's in the CIA?

00:46:49.274 --> 00:46:54.994
Yeah. Part of the recruitment or onboarding process, and there's a scene where

00:46:54.994 --> 00:47:01.154
Al Pacino takes the young folks to a bar in Virginia and says,

00:47:01.274 --> 00:47:02.534
you have to leave with a girl.

00:47:02.714 --> 00:47:05.134
You have to get drunk and you have to go take a girl home.

00:47:05.594 --> 00:47:09.834
And I was like, now, what if we did that with these UFC BJ nerds,

00:47:10.054 --> 00:47:13.354
put them out there and just really pull them out of their comfort zone?

00:47:15.294 --> 00:47:18.654
It would take days. Can I make a specific request? It would take days.

00:47:21.254 --> 00:47:27.094
My main requirement here is that it would still have to be older Al Pacino doing

00:47:27.094 --> 00:47:33.134
it because I am actually listening to the Al Pacino audio book.

00:47:34.055 --> 00:47:37.355
And I don't remember why I bought it, but I revere him, De Niro,

00:47:37.555 --> 00:47:40.435
all these guys are idols when we grew up.

00:47:40.535 --> 00:47:43.815
And it's like, they're in heat. They're in The Godfathers. They're amazing.

00:47:44.555 --> 00:47:49.815
But the current Al Pacino, it felt like they actually did it the reverse way

00:47:49.815 --> 00:47:50.895
you're supposed to write a book.

00:47:51.055 --> 00:47:56.155
It felt like he just talked out his life and then they wrote the book afterwards.

00:47:57.835 --> 00:48:02.335
So the way he's telling stories on there, he's got the gravel in his voice and

00:48:02.335 --> 00:48:03.335
it's just him being like,

00:48:03.335 --> 00:48:06.135
oh yeah that was a good story when we

00:48:06.135 --> 00:48:12.655
uh we filmed uh down the street for the godfather and then you know she was

00:48:12.655 --> 00:48:17.595
really young and we did this and i go oh my god this is kind of a train wreck

00:48:17.595 --> 00:48:24.155
and it's 12 more hours of this and yet because he's an elder i respect i have to listen to it all,

00:48:24.955 --> 00:48:29.575
and i'm just waiting for him to get to certain stories for certain movies but

00:48:29.575 --> 00:48:32.755
you when you said Al Pacino's doing this, the thought of him going up to Keith

00:48:32.755 --> 00:48:33.555
Kikorian and being like,

00:48:33.915 --> 00:48:37.675
hey Keith you gotta go up to her, okay she's got a great ass,

00:48:37.815 --> 00:48:41.655
and then Keith being like, oh I don't really want to Mr. Pacino I'm already in a relationship.

00:48:45.235 --> 00:48:48.975
Yeah, you know, I'm just trying to inject a little drama on personality total

00:48:48.975 --> 00:48:51.815
plot twist I also like the idea You're not wrong,

00:48:52.878 --> 00:48:59.678
I would say I also like the concept of Mikey being the one that is telling them

00:48:59.678 --> 00:49:02.218
to do this. Sorry, I was cutting you off a little bit there.

00:49:02.398 --> 00:49:07.678
But I was just thinking of Mikey telling these guys to go and hit on girls at

00:49:07.678 --> 00:49:09.458
a bar. I think that would be pretty funny, too.

00:49:11.638 --> 00:49:16.998
Yes, Mikey having to do a talking head about spitting game would probably be

00:49:16.998 --> 00:49:19.178
the missing element that would get us over the hump.

00:49:19.938 --> 00:49:25.058
I can tell you this, dude. I like putting civilians in outside situations,

00:49:25.058 --> 00:49:31.958
but I also love jujitsu people where you don't always expect them.

00:49:32.338 --> 00:49:36.918
So one of the segments we do for grappling hour is I actually try to,

00:49:37.118 --> 00:49:42.078
if somebody does drink and I don't force people to drink, I'm a big person that's

00:49:42.078 --> 00:49:44.718
like, Hey, if you don't drink, that's cool. That's fine. I don't care.

00:49:45.398 --> 00:49:48.218
I didn't drink till i was like 25 so i

00:49:48.218 --> 00:49:51.098
don't push it but if i know somebody does enjoy like an ipa or

00:49:51.098 --> 00:49:53.878
goes to bars i will take them

00:49:53.878 --> 00:49:56.778
to a bar to get them out of the setting

00:49:56.778 --> 00:50:00.278
of okay you expect to see them in a gym and we

00:50:00.278 --> 00:50:03.258
do a segment where they interview me

00:50:03.258 --> 00:50:06.098
back so we write questions in a glass and they

00:50:06.098 --> 00:50:08.938
can ask me whatever they want and i ask them whatever they want that's

00:50:08.938 --> 00:50:12.338
outside of the scope of like training and other stuff and

00:50:12.338 --> 00:50:15.178
we've had guys who one of them put in there they're like

00:50:15.178 --> 00:50:19.158
are you a pancakes or a waffles guy and

00:50:19.158 --> 00:50:26.858
we got into it because we both firmly believed what we believed and hearing

00:50:26.858 --> 00:50:33.498
him profess his love for pancakes enraged me so much I was like dude clearly

00:50:33.498 --> 00:50:37.098
it's waffles and we couldn't get past that and I thought that's a much better

00:50:37.098 --> 00:50:38.938
segment than being like, tell me about your jab.

00:50:40.018 --> 00:50:44.158
I'm team waffles too, by the way. There's the, uh. Thank God. Oh my. Yes.

00:50:44.498 --> 00:50:49.998
You know, that long pause in between fucking had me concerned, sir. Yeah.

00:50:51.771 --> 00:50:55.291
It's the grooves, right? You get like a pocket of syrup and everything.

00:50:55.451 --> 00:51:00.331
Well, and the crunch factor, you have more surface area of crunchy bits,

00:51:00.531 --> 00:51:03.631
but you still have the soft center. It's just way better.

00:51:03.951 --> 00:51:08.811
It's just way better. And it's less messy. Educated people on the other side of this show.

00:51:09.091 --> 00:51:12.611
Educated people here, people. It's not just people getting coffee.

00:51:12.811 --> 00:51:17.431
They are well-rounded in their habits for both morning and brunch.

00:51:17.431 --> 00:51:23.151
I was trying to find out who this pancake non-believer was, or just the episode number is fine, too.

00:51:23.551 --> 00:51:28.111
We could direct people to it. I can put a link in the description for you guys.

00:51:28.171 --> 00:51:30.431
Put a link, man. Let's talk about the grappling hour, too.

00:51:30.571 --> 00:51:33.711
Yeah. You've been riffing on everything else. Yeah, absolutely.

00:51:34.791 --> 00:51:41.211
This was actually one of my homies, and he fought for a local kickboxing organization,

00:51:42.151 --> 00:51:47.831
and Savage. This is a big boy, too, by the way. like my boy is like 260, six, four.

00:51:48.471 --> 00:51:51.071
So we're not even sized up the right way.

00:51:51.931 --> 00:51:55.771
And it's just me and him sitting down. And he was telling me,

00:51:55.851 --> 00:51:58.371
he's like, how do you like waffles better than pancakes?

00:51:58.731 --> 00:52:04.431
And I just told him, I'm like, pockets, as you mentioned, you can break it up easier.

00:52:04.671 --> 00:52:08.151
I was like, wow, like pancakes, you just, it's like dry.

00:52:08.791 --> 00:52:12.811
If it's dry, it sucks. You don't have the right distribution of syrup.

00:52:12.871 --> 00:52:15.711
I always feel like I have to put more and more syrup. It's just a waste.

00:52:16.431 --> 00:52:18.851
And then he was trying to like, tell me something. And I was like,

00:52:18.971 --> 00:52:22.491
bro, have you ever told somebody that you have waffles and not seen a smile?

00:52:23.432 --> 00:52:27.672
He's like, well, and I was like, have you ever had somebody offer you pancakes

00:52:27.672 --> 00:52:32.132
and you said, I'm not interested because I say that it has to be a certain kind

00:52:32.132 --> 00:52:35.832
of pancake to register the amount of calories I'm going to ingest.

00:52:36.412 --> 00:52:40.632
And yeah, we were, we were very heated. And to this day, he's always contrarian

00:52:40.632 --> 00:52:42.032
about every single thing.

00:52:42.232 --> 00:52:46.992
So, you know, when Drake versus Kendrick was going on, all of us out in LA are

00:52:46.992 --> 00:52:48.892
like, oh man, Kendrick's killing it.

00:52:48.972 --> 00:52:53.032
And he's like, team Drake, he's got bars. And I was like, he's losing.

00:52:53.432 --> 00:52:57.212
How are you thinking he's winning? So he's that guy always.

00:52:58.550 --> 00:53:02.710
That's funny, man. Um, how about, uh, just in case, I don't,

00:53:02.870 --> 00:53:05.290
just in case we don't have crossover, um,

00:53:06.430 --> 00:53:10.570
give a little rundown of the grappling hour, just kind of the different things

00:53:10.570 --> 00:53:14.810
that you do on there, the different segments, um, you know, what,

00:53:14.930 --> 00:53:18.150
uh, the kind of guests, and then, you know, maybe some of the other projects

00:53:18.150 --> 00:53:19.830
that you've worked on in the past, um.

00:53:20.610 --> 00:53:24.770
You know, get, get people, get people somewhere to look for you a little bit more.

00:53:25.430 --> 00:53:28.370
Appreciate that, man. Thank you guys. grappling hour started

00:53:28.370 --> 00:53:31.870
off as a spinoff from verbal tap verbal tap

00:53:31.870 --> 00:53:36.090
i always said with the magic was me and kevin and i

00:53:36.090 --> 00:53:39.410
noticed i was doing a lot more coverage on my own because we

00:53:39.410 --> 00:53:42.130
were in different states kevin at the time

00:53:42.130 --> 00:53:46.210
was in denver i was in la and i

00:53:46.210 --> 00:53:49.250
just recognized with all the stuff that was happening in la for jiu-jitsu

00:53:49.250 --> 00:53:52.690
like ebis or um you

00:53:52.690 --> 00:53:56.130
know for a while even like was it five grappling

00:53:56.130 --> 00:53:59.670
and other big organizations ibjjf stuff

00:53:59.670 --> 00:54:03.590
all the time i would go out there and cover it myself and

00:54:03.590 --> 00:54:06.370
i just remembered saying like hey are you cool with me

00:54:06.370 --> 00:54:09.370
doing that as its own thing because we

00:54:09.370 --> 00:54:12.630
started getting so many guests in grappling

00:54:12.630 --> 00:54:17.810
that i said it's too much show for verbal tap and he's like absolutely so go

00:54:17.810 --> 00:54:23.330
do your thing so verbal tap gave way to grappling hour and grappling hour was

00:54:23.330 --> 00:54:27.390
just my way of trying to do something where similar to what Ariel Helwani does

00:54:27.390 --> 00:54:29.590
is that if there's a big event,

00:54:29.830 --> 00:54:33.750
you should see them on my show probably within the next week.

00:54:33.910 --> 00:54:35.710
And we were doing it live all the time.

00:54:36.350 --> 00:54:40.630
And when COVID hit, we could book people, but there were less events.

00:54:41.210 --> 00:54:46.050
And what I realized is we're trying to train the athletes with media training.

00:54:46.210 --> 00:54:49.570
Like, hey, if you win, get used to being interviewed the next week.

00:54:49.570 --> 00:54:54.770
Like if Ariel Hawane called you right now would you tell him no.

00:54:55.742 --> 00:54:59.782
And it works in certain ways, but I get a lot of like, oh, yeah,

00:54:59.942 --> 00:55:03.502
dude, I planned a trip. I can't be on a phone for 30 minutes.

00:55:04.062 --> 00:55:06.262
And you're like, okay, that's no problem. When are you free?

00:55:06.482 --> 00:55:10.562
In two months. And I go, bro, people are going to forget you won something in two months.

00:55:11.722 --> 00:55:15.982
So we've now adjusted it where we do different experiences.

00:55:16.182 --> 00:55:20.262
So the usual one is one hour interviews with your favorite stars.

00:55:20.462 --> 00:55:23.542
So there are people you should know and people you may not know.

00:55:23.662 --> 00:55:29.182
And I try to do one for one. So one big guest, you know, your Gary Tonins,

00:55:29.742 --> 00:55:35.762
your Craig Jones, they are supplemented the next week by somebody maybe you don't know.

00:55:35.902 --> 00:55:39.402
Sometimes local guys who really are on the come up, who I really think are going

00:55:39.402 --> 00:55:43.842
to be good and who oddly do find their way into the UFC or UFC BJJ.

00:55:44.442 --> 00:55:49.502
So that's one experience. Those are interviews that also has spun off to the

00:55:49.502 --> 00:55:52.182
bullpen, which is our weekly topical news show.

00:55:52.182 --> 00:55:56.242
And it's collaboration between myself and a guy named tim freeman who's the

00:55:56.242 --> 00:56:01.202
other resident old guy in jiu-jitsu tim has been doing jiu-jitsu podcasts as

00:56:01.202 --> 00:56:05.582
long as i have and i think we're the longest tenured hosts so,

00:56:06.437 --> 00:56:10.057
I would dare somebody to go look up something different, but I think people

00:56:10.057 --> 00:56:12.217
have better things to do with their time. So just trust me.

00:56:13.157 --> 00:56:18.357
Yeah, Tim's great. We basically do a part in the interruption style format,

00:56:18.717 --> 00:56:20.117
eight topics every week.

00:56:20.317 --> 00:56:24.977
We go through them. We talk about the big news and we also do the pre and post

00:56:24.977 --> 00:56:28.537
show for the PGF. We've done it for subversive.

00:56:28.797 --> 00:56:31.137
Yeah, I was interested, but I don't know what the money.

00:56:32.557 --> 00:56:36.397
Yeah, so we're trying to advance that as much as we can in that way.

00:56:36.777 --> 00:56:41.377
And then the other segments we do like roast Raph, people roast by competition footage.

00:56:41.797 --> 00:56:45.577
We do a segment called tape study where we just watch tape footage with the

00:56:45.577 --> 00:56:50.797
athletes and ask them questions about how they won, whether it's in fighting, kickboxing, MMA.

00:56:51.097 --> 00:56:54.797
We just try to really get to know what they do better.

00:56:55.197 --> 00:56:58.777
And then just a lot of random stuff that we come up with.

00:56:58.957 --> 00:57:01.957
There's also a segment we do called the Grapping Hour Challenge where we give

00:57:01.957 --> 00:57:05.697
somebody a submission with, uh, on a card.

00:57:05.757 --> 00:57:11.397
So they pick it out like a deck of cards and they have two minutes to hit that submission on me.

00:57:12.077 --> 00:57:16.337
And the conceit is I get to make fun of them. So one of the last big people

00:57:16.337 --> 00:57:19.537
we had doing that was Chris Wojcik and, uh,

00:57:20.516 --> 00:57:24.296
I got to make fun of Chris Wojcik and he was too busy trying to get a submission

00:57:24.296 --> 00:57:27.156
on me. So it really does work where he can't even think about it.

00:57:27.556 --> 00:57:30.376
I think I was even asking him, I was like, Hey man, how's your book going?

00:57:30.876 --> 00:57:34.236
And he's like, it's pretty good as he's like trying to go to Mount and finish

00:57:34.236 --> 00:57:35.696
like an arm bar or something.

00:57:36.836 --> 00:57:41.036
And I was like, actually, um, I hear Joseph Chen's about to hear a seminar at

00:57:41.036 --> 00:57:44.676
the same academy. He's like, that's awesome. I was like, it'll probably be better than yours.

00:57:45.156 --> 00:57:48.076
And he doesn't take the bait and he just goes, I bet it would be.

00:57:48.076 --> 00:57:50.756
And then meanwhile he lost the position while trying to

00:57:50.756 --> 00:57:54.676
respond to me and i was like ha ha sucker so wojik

00:57:54.676 --> 00:57:57.496
is a good time i really like him but yeah those

00:57:57.496 --> 00:58:00.396
are like a taste of it and then we do like fight companions where we

00:58:00.396 --> 00:58:03.316
watch it live we did one for adcc and

00:58:03.316 --> 00:58:06.156
really what it looks like is like i'm hosting a

00:58:06.156 --> 00:58:09.056
telethon for far too many hours

00:58:09.056 --> 00:58:11.996
but we do it kind of like red zone coverage

00:58:11.996 --> 00:58:14.776
where we'll tell people what mats they need to stay on top

00:58:14.776 --> 00:58:17.556
of because if you ever watch adcc trials you

00:58:17.556 --> 00:58:20.356
might have one of your homies on that and may have

00:58:20.356 --> 00:58:23.096
no clue when they go up but we are trying to

00:58:23.096 --> 00:58:26.696
tell people like hey matt one this person's going on right now matt three this

00:58:26.696 --> 00:58:30.916
person's going on oh shit that's a great match you want to skip on over to matt

00:58:30.916 --> 00:58:35.576
eight because there's a kimura that's going to happen there so that's like a

00:58:35.576 --> 00:58:41.196
little bit of a scope of the different types of shows and content that we produce.

00:58:42.401 --> 00:58:47.741
Yeah, that sounds, I mean, that's a lot. It is, it is. But you know what it is, dude?

00:58:47.901 --> 00:58:51.901
I want to do this more as my gig forever.

00:58:52.241 --> 00:58:58.261
And as the sport grows, every year or two, I always see something new that we want to do.

00:58:58.481 --> 00:59:02.081
Because I say, oh, somebody doesn't do that. Or, oh yeah, everybody does an

00:59:02.081 --> 00:59:06.221
interview now. Or like, dude, the Simple Man guys have a podcast.

00:59:07.101 --> 00:59:09.341
Okay. And at first I was like, what

00:59:09.341 --> 00:59:13.021
are they going to do? And I see them platforming and interviewing guys.

00:59:13.261 --> 00:59:19.001
And I say, yeah, they're the big guys, but I think in time they'll be platforming newer people.

00:59:19.341 --> 00:59:23.501
And that's really important to me. I think anybody can interview a big name.

00:59:23.841 --> 00:59:27.401
The real key is how do you get to know somebody entirely new?

00:59:28.601 --> 00:59:35.361
And a lot of athletes, I think, don't always take the time to properly make

00:59:35.361 --> 00:59:36.881
the interview about the other person.

00:59:37.361 --> 00:59:40.301
And so what I've seen with them is they've made goofy fun.

00:59:40.421 --> 00:59:45.121
And I think that has helped a lot, but I'm always looking at the shows that

00:59:45.121 --> 00:59:47.281
platform new people like constantly.

00:59:48.141 --> 00:59:51.701
So I think there are a handful, I mean, way more now than were back then,

00:59:51.721 --> 00:59:53.821
but it is so refreshing to see

00:59:53.821 --> 00:59:58.001
names that I always tell people I'm usually the first person to book a,

00:59:58.641 --> 01:00:03.301
certain person like i'm usually their first interview so i i don't i can't prove

01:00:03.301 --> 01:00:06.921
i'm gordon's first interview but it was definitely there when he was stumbling

01:00:06.921 --> 01:00:12.521
a lot more and didn't know how to use his words too well still doesn't but at

01:00:12.521 --> 01:00:16.581
least he's louder now yeah i was gonna uh,

01:00:17.241 --> 01:00:20.281
we'll we'll let you have that one i i'm not gonna we're

01:00:20.281 --> 01:00:23.041
not gonna challenge you on it you can be gordon's first interview i think that

01:00:23.041 --> 01:00:26.181
works for me um i'm not

01:00:26.181 --> 01:00:29.301
gonna look it up i guess is what I'm saying um nor should

01:00:29.301 --> 01:00:33.401
anybody um yeah thank you that's

01:00:33.401 --> 01:00:38.381
awesome man uh yeah um but

01:00:38.381 --> 01:00:42.821
I think we're kind of coming up on time do you have anything else before we

01:00:42.821 --> 01:00:47.041
but we can keep we can keep rolling for a little bit longer but otherwise um

01:00:47.041 --> 01:00:54.641
where can people find you sir how can they uh follow you follow your show check

01:00:54.641 --> 01:00:57.441
out what you have coming up or going on and.

01:00:58.308 --> 01:01:02.388
Absolutely. You guys can follow me at grappling hour on all major platforms.

01:01:02.428 --> 01:01:06.748
You can find me at patreon.com backslash grappling hour on there.

01:01:06.888 --> 01:01:09.828
Specifically, you can see my interviews 30 days before everybody else.

01:01:09.948 --> 01:01:15.088
And there's also extra bonus content that doesn't go out to everybody else.

01:01:15.348 --> 01:01:18.608
And what I like to tell people about this is, listen,

01:01:18.828 --> 01:01:21.848
I try to give away a lot of stuff for free there's

01:01:21.848 --> 01:01:26.148
a lot of content that we do for free but a

01:01:26.148 --> 01:01:29.568
big thing for us is I always

01:01:29.568 --> 01:01:32.388
hope that people will support the shows that are trying to

01:01:32.388 --> 01:01:35.268
give shine to other people because if you

01:01:35.268 --> 01:01:39.168
think it's hard to be an athlete in this sport imagine

01:01:39.168 --> 01:01:43.888
what it's like to be a person covering those athletes so every time an athlete

01:01:43.888 --> 01:01:48.328
tries to bitch at me and they're like man this doesn't pay and I was like and

01:01:48.328 --> 01:01:53.648
you think this does and they're always like no no i mean he's different i don't

01:01:53.648 --> 01:01:59.088
know we're in the same boat together guy so maybe don't preach to the choir.

01:02:00.217 --> 01:02:05.377
And if we work together i think there are stronger possibilities for us to always,

01:02:05.917 --> 01:02:08.877
expand expand expand so that's why

01:02:08.877 --> 01:02:11.617
i think creativity is key it's always like anytime you feel like there's

01:02:11.617 --> 01:02:14.917
a roadblock in this industry or this sport you just

01:02:14.917 --> 01:02:17.917
gotta come up with a better hook you gotta come up with a better creative vision

01:02:17.917 --> 01:02:21.897
and we've always been pretty lucky

01:02:21.897 --> 01:02:24.637
that a lot of the guys want to play and so

01:02:24.637 --> 01:02:27.437
if i always have like a comedy bit you know

01:02:27.437 --> 01:02:30.137
before it took a while to explain it to somebody like all right

01:02:30.137 --> 01:02:33.177
we want to do this and this now we have a lot more people

01:02:33.177 --> 01:02:36.037
who want to play like if i say hey make fun of me they're like

01:02:36.037 --> 01:02:38.957
okay done easy bet fam so

01:02:38.957 --> 01:02:41.857
we've been lucky on that so patreon.com backslash grappling

01:02:41.857 --> 01:02:44.677
hour get some grappling hour merch support the show

01:02:44.677 --> 01:02:47.837
it buys all my fancy equipment y'all these like what

01:02:47.837 --> 01:02:50.817
microphones and as you guys know all

01:02:50.817 --> 01:02:53.657
the stuff that you're paying for don't pay for itself so if

01:02:53.657 --> 01:02:56.337
you're looking at a nice roadcaster pro to make

01:02:56.337 --> 01:02:59.757
the sound pretty you better uh you better

01:02:59.757 --> 01:03:02.657
get some people who want believe in the vision and support that and

01:03:02.657 --> 01:03:06.197
you guys can do that rapesparza.com backslash merch but yeah

01:03:06.197 --> 01:03:09.217
every social media platform at grappling hour on everything

01:03:09.217 --> 01:03:11.937
we try to make it fun and hopefully you meet some new

01:03:11.937 --> 01:03:14.597
voices and and make some new friends or at least.

01:03:14.597 --> 01:03:17.957
Get interested to see their fights or their matches and one

01:03:17.957 --> 01:03:20.797
thing that we like to do too we're keeping notes and tabs

01:03:20.797 --> 01:03:25.097
on all these guys who have new organizations or new

01:03:25.097 --> 01:03:32.557
uh promotions we just talked to this group called uh thug trials and i noticed

01:03:32.557 --> 01:03:36.957
them because i like their promos i like the way that they were doing their uh

01:03:36.957 --> 01:03:41.677
fight announcements it felt like little quentin tarantino movies real lo-fi

01:03:41.677 --> 01:03:43.477
and i said hey let's talk um.

01:03:43.977 --> 01:03:49.957
And I liked giving them some shine because I want the sport to succeed and I

01:03:49.957 --> 01:03:56.637
want to always like share thoughts and notes with one another.

01:03:57.637 --> 01:04:01.177
So a lot of times people will get a note from me unsolicited that just as a

01:04:01.177 --> 01:04:02.797
producer says, hey, have you thought about this?

01:04:02.957 --> 01:04:06.217
Or this is kind of cheap, but you can do it for the same price for this.

01:04:06.737 --> 01:04:11.217
And I like to think that's part of the brotherhood, which is if we all lift this up,

01:04:11.437 --> 01:04:15.057
then we will get closer to seeing it on actual television

01:04:15.057 --> 01:04:18.057
as opposed to hey guys stream this

01:04:18.057 --> 01:04:20.957
on this app that you will

01:04:20.957 --> 01:04:28.777
never use you're here for that um so definitely guys go out and support the

01:04:28.777 --> 01:04:34.477
grappling hour go and drop drop some money in his patreon bucket and uh you

01:04:34.477 --> 01:04:39.357
know follow him along on all of his social media and listen to the show,

01:04:39.537 --> 01:04:42.957
especially in other ways you can support shows.

01:04:43.077 --> 01:04:47.817
Um, including ours is also rating and reviewing the show.

01:04:47.997 --> 01:04:51.177
I know that makes a big deal, makes a big difference as well.

01:04:51.397 --> 01:04:54.697
Um, gets the shows in front of more people. So do that with his show.

01:04:55.017 --> 01:04:58.537
Also do with ours five stars for both of them. Um,

01:04:59.117 --> 01:05:05.297
five stars all around every episode, every platform do that so um but yeah thank

01:05:05.297 --> 01:05:09.157
you again raf for coming on the show that's rap esparza of the grappling hour

01:05:09.157 --> 01:05:14.337
and uh thank you guys for listening bye.