What is up, guys? It's Andy for selling. This is the show for the realest. Say goodbye to the lies, to fakeness and delusions, the Modern Society. And welcome to motherfucking Reality. Guys, today, instead of our normal Cruise the Internet episode, we have a special guest. I'm going to get right into it.Let's do it.Yeah. Michael Chandler. What's up, bro?

My man. What's up, bro? Dude, living the dream, dude. I just got the tour of the HQ here. Absolutely ridiculous. So I'm pumped up to be here, man.Thanks, bro.

It's so good to see you, man.You.

Too, man.Yeah.It's awesome.

So a lot of you guys may or may not know, but Michael and I grew up 10 minutes from each other, and we've been trying to connect for years. And dude, It's really cool to finally have you here, especially after the big announcement this weekend. Crazy.

48 hours ago, dude. Yeah. I texted you right after. I was like, Hey, Monday is about to be lit. Yeah.

What was the big announcement?

There's this fight. It was This is a little thing.

Don't worry, we'll get into it later.

We'll gloss over it.

So, dude, how are you feeling about everything?

Dude, honestly, I've made the joke. I really have been in a very unique position Mission. It's been about 16 months, really. Got done with my last fight in November of 2022. January, I get a phone call, Hey, you want to do the ultimate fighter against Conor McGregor? We fight it right after the season. My answer, of course, is absolutely. We do the ultimate fighter. And then since the show wrapped up in August, we've just been gone back and forth. So I feel like I call it MMA purgatory. I've waited too long to not stay on the train of fighting Conor. I've had enough behind the scenes indications that the fight's definitely happening, even though media, even though the fans, even though everybody's like, This fight's never happening, it's never coming back. So honestly, it's a huge weight lifted off my shoulders that we can finally talk about it. I've known for months that the fight was going to be June 29th, but wasn't exactly public about it. And now we can talk about it. Now the cat is out the bag, and we got 75 hard days between right now.

We were talking about this this morning, so he sends me a text at 6:00 AM, and he's like, Bro, I was going to tell you later, but do you know how many days it is until my fight? And I'm like, No. And he's like, 75 days. And I'm like, Holy shit, man.

The fact that I'm sitting right here with the godfather of 75 hard, and now we're about to go into this training. I mean, I've already started, but the fact that it got announced, and this is the first Monday after it gets announced, 75 days, man. Just a dream come true.

It's going to be exciting. I told you, bro, I'm going to go as hard as I I can. I'm already on day 30 on 75 right now, but I'm just going to finish that out and do phase one so I can be done on the same day you're done. So I'll be done on fight day. Dude, let's go, man. Yeah, so I'll be doing it with you. Not the same stuff, obviously.

Well, I mean, close.

I might have DJ punch me in the face. There you go.

You got a couple of smart sessions. You got a full basketball quarter over there. You got the gyms. I heard there were some mats, but you had to clear them out for some events.

Yeah, they're usually right there next to the court. The guys train jiu-jitsu there every, I don't know. Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, seven. Dude, so crazy, man. Yeah, man. Dude, how did the fight... I mean, was there a lot of negotiation, or was it pretty much like, Okay, we could do this?

I already had my stuff set up because I had the foresight to negotiate with the UFC. Hey, here's my contract. But if I fight Connor, here's my contract. And we came to an agreement. So it's already been set, and I'm very happy with it. And lo and behold, obviously, that fight It happened. The UFC knew about my contract. They were completely okay with it all happening. And UFC is awesome, man. They have been absolute dream to work with behind the scenes, even though there's been so much craziness going on. Just A quick timeline of people who haven't really followed at all. There was the big drug testing thing because Connor was outside of USADA, the drug testing pool, and that was a big hang up. Then he got into the USADA testing pool. Then they switched drug testing agencies. Now he's going to be in the new drug testing agency for six months.

So it's just been-How do they test you for that?

Is it consistently? Completely random. So I got my location on my phone. So my location, they know where my location is. Technically, they could call me right now. And I have basically two hours as a time limit if you don't show up to where they are or them to you in a two-hour time frame, you get a whereabouts failure. You do get three. It's not like a one and done, you get suspended. But if you do three whereabouts failures, you get suspended for the minimum two years. So it's completely random. We're still under WADA, so it's the same thing the NCAA, NFL, NHL, MLB uses, I believe. It's completely random, and here we are.

Dude, now it's been cool to watch you come up and do your thing, especially being a fellow St. Louis right? Missouri. Missouri. Every time we talk, it's always a conversation about two freaking red net Missouri dudes putting it together, man.

Dudes that weren't supposed to be here, and so here we are. I guess we'll keep going.

It's been It's really cool, bro, to follow your career and see you come up and see you do what you've been doing and what you're going to do. When you think back and you think like, growing up in House Springs and High Ridge, which isn't exactly for people that don't know. It's not poor. It's regular America.

Regular America, middle class, lower middle class.

Midwest It's a different place. To be where you are right now, it's fucking awesome, dude. When you think back to all... I think this might be a silly question, but I just got to ask it. Did you ever think this is where you wanted to end up, or how did this all play out for you?

No, I mean, honestly, I didn't even know. For me to be a professional athlete, never really thought about it. I don't really think I ever First of all, I was 4'11, 100 pounds in high school, going into high school. I wasn't going to be the star quarterback. I wasn't going to be playing basketball. So I knew I had to wrestle, wrestled 103 pounds. So I never really thought about being a professional athlete, man. So the fact that I've been a professional athlete now for 16 years and had the success I've had is just crazy. And then in the sport of wrestling, there's really no path after. I mean, you can maybe go to the Olympics in that, but that's not... It's professional athletics. It's professional athletics, but it's not a big glory thing. It's training for the Olympics, and I was never going to be able to do that. But yeah, I wrestled Northwest High School was never a state champ. And truth be told, nobody really wanted me at the Division One level. I had some scholarship offers from some local schools, Lynwood, Central Missouri State, Missouri Baptist. But for some reason, something in me said, Hey, if I'm going to wrestle, I'm going to try to wrestle at the highest level.

And I took a chance and I walked on to Mizzou. And coach didn't know my name. Coach Brian Smith is still there. He didn't really look at me for the first year. Ended up after my first year, I got a starting spot. But I went to the University of Missouri, completely okay with riding the bench for five years if I had to, going through all the workouts, never reaching the pinnacle, which would be becoming an All-American, the Division One level. So I took that chance on myself, walked on, and ended up becoming an All-American captain of the team, four-year Four-year starter, four-year national qualifier for Mizzou. And then friends of ours, Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren, wrestled with both of those guys. They were like my big brothers. I'm the oldest of three boys, so I didn't have older guys to look up to a lot. Those were the first big brothers I had. They started fighting and ended up graduating in May of 2009, fought my first fight at Lake of the Ozarks at some holiday in ball room, got to Lake of the Ozarks. I got paid 500 bucks. After we paid I win.

After we paid for a hotel, after we paid for travel and gas and food, I think I lost 38 bucks. So I was negative, but that's how you get going. And then, man, then through Bellator, and now in the UFC, and now fighting the biggest combat sports athlete of all time, Connor. Dude, that's crazy. Seventy-five days.

So how many fights did it take you to go from fighting in the bars? Because, dude, we all know what that's like, because that's a big thing around here, man. We all love to go watch.

The local tickets, and they're fun. You watch them. They're fun. And you're We're seeing people fighting at that level where it's like, dude, I just want to get somewhere, and I got to fight my tail off.

They're fighting more than just the opponent.

Yeah, dude, for sure.

I love the local level fight.

Yeah. No, they're always fun, man. Fun and character-filled, and the crowd. It's the epitome of just beer drinking parties with your buddies, and a fight breaks out, and you're like, Let's go, man.

Yeah. So, dude, how long did it take you to go from that to Bellator.

Man, I got to say, I have a very, very fortunate path when it came to that. I only had one local show, really. One local show, Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. It's still on YouTube. I fought a guy named Kyle Swadley, who wrestled at Lindamood. I I think he was one and a half at the time. It was first blood promotion. And then, as you know, because you've probably seen some of the strike force fights that come to town or Bellator, they partner with a local promoter, and the local promoter finds local talent because how do you sell tickets? You get a guy like me who's got 200 something people from high-rise, Missouri, and I can sell tickets to them. And that's how you put butts in seats and sell out the arenas. So I fought Strike Force undercard, Strike Force undercard, one in Kansas City, one in St. Louis. And then I had a moment where they said I had a Strike Force offer, and I had a Bellator offer. But to me, Strike Force was just a big wide open net of, Hey, you're signing with the organization, and then you're going to get some fights, and then eventually, maybe fight for the title if you get good enough or you are good enough.

But Bellator had a clear path, because back then they used to do a tournament. So I fought two fights in two or three months, and then I got the go ahead to say, If you win these first two fights, you'll be in the tournament. Then I got in the tournament, I fought March, April, May. So I fought three fights in three months. And then I fought Eddie Alvarez, who was the number three guy in the world at the time. So I somehow go from May of 2009 to November 2011, and I'm fighting for a world title against the number three guy in the world. So it was just a crazy, crazy, meteoric rise, really. And I had finished most of my opponents. I think I had finished eight of my nine fights and seven of those in the first round. And then I had a knock-down, drag-out War with Eddie, ended up beating him. So it was very, very quick, honestly, which is awesome. It's a huge blessing. But there were some growing pains that I had to go through because I hadn't... Sometimes it's the right path, but it's a little bit too quick, right?

Sometimes you're the right guy You're just not the right guy yet. And I think I used the training that I had all those years through fighting, and I looked across the cage against Eddie Alvarez, who had like 30 fights at the time or 20 something fights. And I'm like, dude, I'm going to beat this guy. I know I'm going to beat him. And I go out there and I beat him. And then later on, I had a couple of losses, and it's been a little ups and downs here, but it's constantly continued to grow. So it was a very cool path. And being outside the UFC for so long, coming over to the UFC, and then getting a title shot in my second fight in the promotion was part of that build-up that led me to where we are today.

Did you have to handle the crowd pressure during that time? That fast track, did you ever have any self-doubt of, Do I belong here? Or were you able to block out the noise?

I'll tell you what it was. Because I stand firm on knowing that I live a champion lifestyle more than anybody else I have ever met in the sport of mixed martial arts. And that's nothing against anybody else. There's other guys who do it right. I just truly believe I do it better, and I do it different in more attention to detail. But I was building up this body. I was doing all the physical things, but I wasn't really taking care of the mindset part of things. I wasn't really winning the battle between the ears. And you do start to feel the pressure. You do start to hear the doubt, or you do start to drink your own Kool-Aid of, Hey, he's the next big thing. Because I beat Eddie Alvarez, and then immediately, that's cool. He beat Eddie Alvarez. He's a top five guy in the world. But we want to see him fight Anthony Pettus in the UFC. We want to see him fight Benson Henderson, who were the champions at the time. And you start to feel this pressure. And I started to get this so much pressure put on myself to be perfect, because you win the world title.

In your mind, you know you earned it, but you don't really know if you deserved it, maybe it was too quick. So then I had my first loss to Eddie, coincidentally, lost the rematch, and then I lost three fights in a row, 688 days. I went without winning a fight. And for those that do follow the sport or don't follow the sport, that's like a career death sentence for a fighter losing three fights in a row. So I did. I started to feel that pressure. Because once you win a world title and everyone's looking at you, now it's not just, Hey, I'm going to go in. I'm going to have fun today. Me and you are going, I could beat you for four minutes and 50 seconds of a round. But if I lose 10 seconds of a round, to me, that was a failure. So I failed every single day. And when you feel like you're failing every single day, when you're really not, it's all about perspective. I It felt like I was failing every single day. Every single day wasn't a day to get better and have fun and enjoy this beautiful life that I get to live.

It was either, Hey, I'm perfect or I'm a loser. I'm a perfect, I'm going to dominate everybody or I'm a failure. And so I fell into that trap. And Right now, back then, I was sad, I was depressed, I was upset, I was mad, I was all the emotions. But now I look back at that and think, Man, I had to go through that. I had to be forged in that fire. Yeah, I had to, man. And now it's made me a better fighter. It's propelled me to where I am. I'm a better husband because of it, a better father because of it, a better businessman, just a better man because of it.

People don't stop to think, when you're pushing to be great or pushing to be the best at what you do, it feels like you're losing. It feels like you're struggling, right? Because you're pushing the boundaries, and the boundary to push it, you have all these setbacks and all these doubts. When you lose three fights in a row, bro, that's a mental battle. You know what I'm saying? People sometimes think that winning and moving forward feels good, but it doesn't ever feel good. It always feels like a major struggle. I think of the times when I've elevated in my life, dude, and they've been the hardest times of my life, no doubt. But like you said, dude, it's what teaches you everything you need to know.

When you have a setback or a loss, I talk about these There were three big mistakes that I made, too, right away. It was partly because you start to hear all the chatter and hear all the noise. But until something bad happens and you're like, Oh, I knew it. There it is. I knew what they said, there it is. They were all right. When really they weren't. But it was my perception of it. Immediately, I wanted to hide from everybody. I got offered to come out and present an award at the World MMA Awards for Fight of the Year and all the different stuff. It wasn't the answer on my phone. I wanted to hide from it. Now, man, I wear my losses on my sleeve. I'm almost proud of them. I'm almost just proud to be the man in the arena, right? And not almost. I am proud to be that man in the arena because it doesn't matter if I fall flat on my face, my next 10 fights, I'm going to pick myself up, and you're still going to see the blueprint for how a man continues to operate through the series of vicissitudes and the ups and the downs of what we call life.

Mine is just in a cage, right? And then I forgot how good I was. When you have that first loss, you're like, Well, I'm just not good anymore, right? No, dude, I was just as fast, just as strong, just as powerful. When I walked into that cage, when I walked out of that cage, it was just my perception in my mind. And then you fall into that comfort jail cell of self-pity. You start pointing the fingers. All these different mistakes that I needed to make that really were immature. And I'm glad we all have to go through those immature moments. We all have those immature moments, but they make you into the mature man that you are today. And even thinking about the old story about the man pushing the rock. God comes to him in a vision, says he pushed the rock right by the hill, and he's pushing the rock, and he's pushing the rock, and he can't move it. He can't budget. Maybe it moves an inch, and it comes back two inches. His shoulders are jacked up. His hands are bleeding. And finally, he's just like, God, why would you send me on this journey if you knew I wasn't going to be able to push this rock up the hill?

And he's like, Dude, I didn't tell you to push the rock up the hill. I just told you to push the rock. Just push the rock. So it's the obedience in moving forward. And like you said, that visual I love thinking about the hardest, some of the hardest times in your life is when you are winning, right? Because you're always pushing and you're always forgetting about what people are saying and continuing to move forward. It doesn't always feel good. That's why people follow you and watch you. And we don't follow you because of the virtual certainty of your success, but because of your failures. That's what we love as human beings.

Yeah, because we can all relate. We fail eight times out of 10, nine times out of 10. That's the reality of pursuing anything worthy. Do you ever stop And you often think how fortunate you are to have had those lessons at such a young age in life? Because a lot of people, they spend their whole lives and they never learn what you're talking about. And because of the circumstances of your life, You were able to learn these lessons as a young man, not as an old man.

You just think about that? No, I do, because especially in a sport like mixed martial arts, that obviously I am so truly blessed to be in the sport, man. It's made me who I am. It's made me a beautiful A beautiful life, a beautiful fortune, a beautiful living. And the platform that I have, everything goes back to mixed martial arts. And I've seen so many guys who maybe had more talent than me or maybe were even bigger than me at one point. And I've continued to gain ground and continued to pass them up and continue to grow bigger. But it was only because of the lessons that I had to go through. And doing it with as much humility as I possibly could. And it really does have so much to do with how I was raised. My mom and dad went through things their entire life. They were working two and three jobs nonstop. My dad was up every single morning, putting his Carpenter work boots on every single day at five in the morning. And watching the way that they operated, watching the way that they lived their lives, watching the way that they always just tried their best and tried to be a better person today than they were yesterday.

It's got me so grounded, and I'm so fortunate to have that. And there was times where I would look back and be mad at the way that I was raised the way that things that happened in my young man brain as I was growing. But it's all kept me so... It's kept my perspective so crystal clear and knowing that I was created for great things. But But I ain't greater than anybody else. And it's such a beautiful thing. I really do feel for people who have somehow fallen victim to the entitlements and the, oh, holier than thous and the bigger than thou, and I deserve this and I deserve that, when I'm like, Man, I don't deserve anything. I know I work hard enough to deserve it more than this guy, but I'm going to work harder than him in order to force my deservedness and continue to force more and more accomplishment through the deservedness, through the work that I do.

There's nobody working harder than you, bro.

I try not to.

I know you may not say that, but it's the truth. There's nobody working harder than you.

Yeah. My biggest thing is taking pride in the small little hardware, the things that nobody ever sees, the little disciplines where it's just me and my supplements, or it's just me and my shopping cart at the grocery store, or it's just me and that piece of litter right there, or it's me and this little decision I can make to be like, Okay, this is how 90% of people would do it, but I'm going to go ahead and go the extra mile to do this right now. Because we act as though these little acts and these little thoughts that they happen in a vacuum and they happen in private. And maybe they It do happen in private, and people, they don't see them, but they do eventually manifest themselves into your circumstances. That's the way I was raised, and that's the way I operate. It doesn't matter. It didn't matter. Here's one thing, too. Being trusted in the small things. If you can be trusted in the small things, then and only then can you be trusted in the big things, right? So this training camp that I'm about to put on starting today and moving forward to fight the biggest combat sports superstar on the planet will be no more disciplined, no more hard, no more extra than when I was fighting Kyle Swadley, my first fight ever, or fighting David Rickles, a guy who maybe you guys have never heard about, or Derek Campos, one of these guys.

I was training and doing the small things right, whether I was fighting the number 150 guy in the world or I'm fighting the biggest name on the entire planet in the history of mixed martial arts. So if I could be trusted with those small things, that's how you end in this spot. And it even feels uncomfortable to say because it's not really me. It's just-It's the things you're doing. I'm a product of my environment and how I was raised.

What if it were watching you go? It is you because it's a choice that we all get to make. We all get to make a choice about how disciplined we're going to be. We all get to make a choice about how serious we're going to take our lives. We don't always start at the same spot, but we do have a choice with what we make of that. When I look at you, I look at a regular guy who comes from what I know very well, just a very regular place. St. Louis is St. Louis. I love it. Everybody here loves it, but it's a different place, man. It's very blue collar. It's very hard working. It's not LA, it's not Miami. I'm thankful for that. People are often like, Why do you still live there? I'm like, Bro, because it's not that. But when I look at you, dude, I see someone who represents those Midwestern values, who represents, and not just in your work ethic, in your life as a man, as a family man. I had a very cool experience that I think you'll enjoy. This weekend, I was working out in the gym, and this guy comes walking into the gym holding a football, and I'm like, I can't see him all the way across the gym.

I'm like, Who is that? Why has he got a football? And he's walking right towards me, and he gets closer. I'm like, Who is that? Who's here? And then he gets like, From me to your way. And I'm like, Holy shit, dude. That's Jerry Rice. That's Jerry Rice. And he's got a football in his hand. What's that football for? And he hands it to me. I'm working out. He hands it to me. And it says, To Andy, hold the standard. And a little message and sign Jerry Rice. And he says, Hey, I'm here with Ben Newman. Thank you so much for allowing me to come out. This place is amazing. He's amazing. I'm like, And I don't get star struck. But, dude, that's Jerry Rice. You know what I'm saying?

You don't get star struck, but that's Jerry Rice.

When we talk about the greatest ever at what they did, you've met a lot of great people. I've met a lot of great people, people who were at the top of the game. But when you say Jerry Rice, dude, it's undeniable he is the greatest NFL wide receiver ever in history, and he's standing in front of me. And so I'm like halfway through my workout, and I'm like, All right, well, I'll skip the workout for this. You want to play catch? Yeah. So we started talking, and we hit it off immediately. And I got to talk to him for about two hours, just me and him, because they were running an event. So I went in the locker room and I got to sit down and we had a conversation. And dude, this guy, you remind me a ton of him. Exactly the same thing. Normal guy, comes from normal place, has figured out the very It's the same thing that you're talking about. It's about the discipline, execution on a day-by-day basis. It's not some big play. It's not get lucky. It's not talent. It's win the day. And when you win the day, you win tomorrow.

And when you win tomorrow, you win the next day. And dude, it was so cool hearing him tell me this because I thought, yes, you can win the day and you can become very good. But when you see He's someone who ran a 4'7, 40 in the NFL, because let's be real, that's not fast for a wide receiver. There's guys that run 4'7s on every single high school team in the state, who became the greatest receiver ever. And you hear him talk about how hard he worked and what he did on a daily basis and how he became who he was. It just inspired me so much because I thought, yes, you could become very successful winning the day. But in reality, when I look at you and I look at him and I look at guys like that, there's actually no upper ceiling when it comes to that. It's not talent, it's not skill. It really is how long do you want to execute and at what level do you want to execute? And dude, it was one of the coolest conversations I've ever had. And bro, you remind me a lot of them.

It's really cool, too, because I feel sometimes things have to get, I don't know, worse Of course, before they get better, right? Or you have to go the sensational route. I feel like we become very sensationalized as a society, right? We see all of these crazy successes. And of course, there's lightning striking in a bottle or whatever you call it. Yeah, it does happen. Or a flash in the pan. There's these things that happen, dude. But as a whole, the people that are at the top, the people that get to those lofty places, it really is just normal everyday people doing normal everyday things as disciplined as possible and not being afraid to take the long road, take the hard road. Brick by boring brick, we do it every single day. And then eventually, you You walk around, you're like, How did I get here? And you knew you were on your way, but it was enjoying the journey and enjoying and taking pride in the small things. Because once again, he who can be trusted with the small things, then you can be trusted in the big things, right? When he ends up in the Hall of Fame, he wanted to get there, but he's not going to get to the Hall of Fame unless you can be trusted in the small things.

Whether you believe in God, the universe, serendipity, whatever it is, it's going to work out like that. It's the small... It's how do you eat an elephant? You eat a big old elephant one tiny little bite at a time, but taking pride in every single one of those little bitty bites, every single one of those boring bricks that you're laying.

Doing it perfectly. Yeah, that's what nick Saban talks about. He talks about, We're not going to run the play until we get it right. We're going run the play until we can't get it wrong. And that's what it comes down to. I think what's important to point out by what we're talking about is that most people who have big dreams, who have big goals, who have aspirations, and you young guys who listen, you need to really listen to this, okay? You guys have to understand. You may not be LeBron James. You may not run a 4-2-40. You might not have this exceptional talent. But what Michael has done and what guys like Jerry Rice have done is they've taken very Average upbrings and skill sets. I mean, you are 103. Is that fair to say?

103 pounds, yeah.

I mean, is it fair to say average, right?

Yeah, very average.

Well, most people would deem average. Yes. Most people-Normal circumstance. Everybody out here starts at a place like that. And they say, because they're not that gifted guy on the wrestling team, or they're not that gifted guy on the football field, or they're not that gifted guy with business who happened to start something, and in two years, he was worth $50 million or whatever, or $10 million or a million. We tend to sell ourselves short, and we say, Well, dude, I don't have that. I don't have those parents that lended me the money to start my business. I wasn't born with 4, 5, 40 speed. I don't have good genetics. We tell ourselves all these stories, and we fail to realize that there is a way, and the way is what we're talking about with Michael and Jerry Rice. These guys, and by the way, that's been true for me, too. I don't have special talent. I don't have special skillset. But what I do have is I have grit and fortitude, and I'm willing to get up every day and do everything I can do to get there.

Yes, and I appreciate I appreciate the sentiment that you have thrown in my direction right now, but let me just talk about you for a second. Now, for those of you guys listening, I'm here at the HQ. I was going to ask you if you even have a cleaning crew here, but I did see someone come around. I saw no Do less than 10 people wash their hands, and then they're cleaning down and wiping down the countertops. In the gym, every single weight is lined up perfectly. Every single dumbbell is lined up perfectly. The place is spick and span, and it's a we mentality, and you leading from the front. I don't even have to know you to walk into your establishment to see your team and see the way that these people operate. And it is the physical manifestation of the way that you do one thing is the way that you do everything. And it is the little things. Burstorm is not going to become one of the biggest companies on the world because your weights are perfectly sat right. It's really not. Maybe it doesn't matter at all, but it's a standard that is set.

And that's what people can really see. I wish people could see and really see it because it is inspiring. And this place is people here, but just the building itself. If I was walking into this building, it's itself, just the bricks and the mortars and the pieces of equipment in the walls and that stuff, this is perfection personified, right? It's absolutely... But it's a standard that you set, and you're leading from the front, too, right? It's not, Hey, You guys all do this, but really, whenever you put the weights, you got your Butler behind you putting them all. Yeah, I know. It only works if you live it. Yeah, man. But it's those little bitty things done with enthusiasm and done as if it's not even There is no question. It's going to get done, and it's going to be done.

Well, we're very blessed to have... Because of how authentic and open I am about my feelings about the world and my standards on the podcast, we are very blessed to have high drive, high standard individuals want to come to work here. Very rarely do we get someone that's not like that. I'll tell you a little secret about that, that a lot of you guys, we have a big entrepreneurship listenership here on the show. If you want your team to do that, this is probably my most asked question, how do you get your team to do that stuff? What do you do? Do you find them? No, dude. Look, it's very simple, and I think you'll agree with this. You already said it. Those little things that we do, they add up into the big things, how we do the big things. So when you're a leader and you're trying to get your team to execute at a high level, it's not, Hey, do this. This is how it is. Hey, man, look, when we straighten those weights, you're making an investment in your discipline, in your attention to detail, in your ability to recognize something that needs to be fixed and fixing it.

And every time you do that, you're making a deposit into your own skillset, which will translate into how you execute in your career, in your life. And here, your goal is to make money and build a career. So if you can build that skillset better, you're going to do better as a career. And And so when we teach our team that, they're already exceptional human beings. They're already high drive. They're hungry to get better. They buy into that immediately because they're like, Yeah, dude, I'm looking to get better. Yeah.

Like you said, it's not the actual weight itself. It's the act of the weight, but it's what it does to deserve it. That one little penny in the bank, the deservedness to be... We were all created with greatness inside of us, but not everyone deserves to get to that if they don't make the requisite sacrifices or have the requisite discipline. And obviously, my life has been fitness, and fighting, and wrestling, and all these different things. And business now? And now business, yeah. But every single little practice, you don't see the results. I'm putting dollars in the bank, in the discipline bank today that I won't see until June 29th. I'll start to get a little bit more shredded, or start to get a little bit more fast, or start to get a little bit more X, Y, and Z. But it's doing things today and maybe not seeing results for two months, but that is That's exactly what you're talking about, too. These little things that add up to the thing when you stand at your greatest moment of opportunity or your darkest hour, you have to be able to answer that question. Did I do enough?

Am I enough? And you are enough if you've done the little things leading up to it.

And that's the thing, dude. The path does not get easier. No. So we have to build ourselves into these people that can endure the path. Because you just said that hour of darkness, that's coming for all of us. And it It looks different in different ways. And by the way, it doesn't just come for us once. It comes over and over and over again. It comes in the form of losing a job, or it comes in the form of getting a divorce, or it comes in the form of getting an illness or a death in the family. And there's all these things that come at us for our whole lives. And if we don't build ourselves into someone of determination, grit, resilience, discipline, we're in a situation where we can handle these things. And dude, our families, our friends, our significant others, they look up to us for these things. And if we're not there to handle it, that's a life failure. That is a life failure. And people don't realize how much these little things actually create the character skill set because I call it a skillset, right? Because we're developing it. It's not a trait.

People aren't naturally highly disciplined. I mean, maybe some people are, but really, it's something that we build, and we can all build it. And you mentioned the thing, right? That's a big deal for me. I will walk freaking half a mile out of my way if I see a bag going because I'm like, Dude, I can't let it go. I can't let it go. I'll remember that. When we little things like that, people just don't think about. And then you think about, if everybody did think about those things, how much different would the world be? How much different would the world look if everybody said, Hey, I cannot let that go. I've got to fix that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Dude, we live in a completely different society in general, society of excellence, high standards, treating people with respect. That's one of the things I love about you most, bro, is as good of a fighter as you are, you're a better dude. You're a better man, and a better husband, and a better father, and it's very, very admirable, dude. I really appreciate the standard that you set as a man, not just as a fighter.

It's really special, Thank you.

I know. It was actually funny because I was just with my wife, and we've been having these conversations because you also... Well, one thing, going back to what you just said, too, you can be a absolute optimist and love life and full of joy and all those things and still admit that you're going to suffer hardship. You're going to get kicked in the mouth. There's going to be bad things that happen. You're going to get things that you don't deserve to happen to you, but they're going to happen. So you have to be built up and ready for those things. And even right now, having the foresight to realize what's about to happen in my life, right? And it's what I asked for. I prayed for this moment. I asked for this moment. And even talked to my wife this past weekend. It was just like, Continue to pray for humility. Pray for wisdom, man, because the enemy is going to attack, and this is going to be big, and this is going to be an out-of-body experience. And the temptation for my eye to be taken off of the ball is going to be so immense, right?

So you have to know that you got a big battle ahead of you, and you got some things that are going to happen to you. But you can still be optimistic and know that you're the man for the job, know that you have earned it, know that you're right where you're supposed to be, because the next season for me is going to be... I can't even really I'm going to put into words what's going to happen. All I can do is ask for wisdom and know and hope and pray that I'm able to operate, right? And that's what you got to do every single day because life is going to continue to get thrown at you.

Let me ask you this. So You mentioned your mom, your dad, your upbringing. What was the support like when you decided to get into fighting? Was mom like, No, my baby? Did you have any of that?

No, my mom's pretty rough around the edges, man. She's a sweetheart, sweet little Betty, little bitty Italian lady, and she's an amazing soul. But she's a little rough around the edges, right? When it comes to... She loved wrestling, man. She was getting arguments and fights in the stands, wrestling The wrestling community is like- Bro, that's Midwest Mom's.

Exactly. Yeah, I love it.

But obviously for me, too, I had my big brothers, Tyron and Ben, who we looked up to, and my mom idolized them as well. She's like, Well, Tyron and Ben think you'll be all right, so I think it'll be good. The way that I wrest anyway, it wasn't real slick and fast or whatever. It was basically a fight every single time I stepped on the wrestling mat anyway, except I wasn't allowed to punch legally or kick and that stuff. It was aggressive. But it was aggressive, man, because it really was... Because I started wrestling as a freshman in high school. I wrest a couple of years when I was younger, but five years old, when you're basically running around the mats and just playing games, playing tag. And then I started really taking it serious and dedicated my life to the sport when I was 14 years old and I've been doing hand-to-hand combat since. So I wasn't going to be able to out-slick you, out-technique you, out-wrestle you, but I could freaking out-fight you. I could out-cardio you. I could push you off the mat, run back to the center, and headbutt you, and and get my hands on you.

Make it very uncomfortable. Listen, you might beat me. You might be better than me, but you don't want to wrestle me again. That was the mentality I had. And then as I got more and more skilled, I've been able to dial that back a little bit. You see a lot in my fight style. It's the way I've been since I was 14.

Bro, you're fucking Bulldog, man. Yeah. Dude, I told you that remember after the Poirier fight, remember me texting you? And I said, Bro, even though you lost, I said that was the greatest fucking fight I've ever seen in my life. And it was because of how tough you fought that fight, bro. I don't know how you feel about that.

No, it's one of those... That was a loss. That was a win. And that's what you realized, too, man. It was a loss on paper. Absolutely. When I retire, you're going to look at it, no, that was a loss on his record. But, dude, I won. Look at the fight I have now. Every single time I've lost, it's been another win. It feels like a demotion, but it's a promotion. If you've done the right things, you get rewarded.

Yeah. Fuck, dude. Does anything change? Because you typically fight at lightweight, right? But this is a welterweight fight. So that's 170.

I think, no, nothing's really going to change. I'll be able to eat a little bit more and eat a a bit more carbs. A lot of people-I fucking love carbs. Yeah, well, they bring up Michael Phelps, right? Because everyone's heard the story like, dude, are you just pounding the calories with how much you're training? And you'd be flabbergasted to know. I'm usually eating between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day and training twice a day, five days a week, once on Saturday. And then two of those five days in between, I'm hitting a third cardio session, a third workout on 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, shrinking my body down, losing a little bit of muscle, getting rid of all the fat, and then dehydrating myself at the end. But so for 170, I'm like 185-ish right now because I've already been training for the last four weeks. So I'll probably eat enough to keep myself, get like, shred down a little bit, lose a little bit of body fat, get myself right where I need to be, which is going to be like that 177 mark, and then just a nice little easy water cut at the end.

It's going to be the best camp of my life, man. I can't wait to fight 170.

That's awesome. What's the difference between What's your normal fight weight?

155.

Okay. Unfortunately. Do you think that there's a difference in the cardio aspect at those two weights? Like, fighting at 155 versus fighting that 170? Yeah.

In general, the two weight classes? Yeah. I think there's a...

Listen, man, I don't know a ton about MMA. I'm a fan, but I'm a casual fan.

Yeah, but generally, the more you get up in weight class, the lower the pace, the slower the pace. So yeah, 155, there's better cardio than at 170. But for me, I feel like I'm going to be just weighing in at 170 instead of dehydrating myself to 155. And once again, I'm going to do the exact same training camp. Just eat a little bit more, maybe. Thank God. Drink a couple more protein shakes.

What diet do you follow?

Man, so since I basically have to shrink my body down, I'm eating basically no carbs, starchy carbs at all. I'm basically doing protein and veggies, two meals a day with a snack in between, and a protein shake once a day, mainly. So it's really just meat and veggies. Protein and low carbs. Eight weeks. So this time I'll be able to have... Yeah, this time I'll have a little bit of sweet potato daily. Yeah. Thank God.

Well, dude, listen, man. I think it's really cool to hear you talk about the work ethic aspect. Out of all the guys Who's the guy that you fought and trained with, who do you respect the most for their work ethic? Who's a guy that you look at and you're like, damn, dude, he gets it.

I think Eddie Alvarez. I say that, too, because I have inside scoop, because I train with my coaches, Henry Hooft, who was Eddie's coach, I think, for four or five years. Henry, who is my head coach right now, cornered against me whenever he coached Eddie against me when I lost my first fight. In the rematch? Yeah. Yeah. So it's funny how it all came full circle, but it's numerous times he's been like, You remind me of Eddie, because I'm always 30 minutes early to practice. I'll already be rolling out by the time a coach comes in or other guys are coming in, because I want to get there a little bit early. I want to be stretched. I want to be warmed up. I want to be ready, because when it's time to go, I don't want to take me 30 minutes to get the juice. You want to get good work in. Yeah, I want to get the good work in. I already want to be ready. He's always said that. And I'm like, yeah. And the funny thing between me and Eddie is, dude, you cannot try to kill somebody for almost 50 minutes.

He and I had two of the best fights in MMA history. You cannot do that with somebody for that many minutes inside of a cage and not have a ton of respect for each So we have a ton of respect for each other. Those were fun fights. And it's always good when you know a guy lives that life, too. He lives a champion lifestyle. He does things right. He's a good dude. He's a family man. It's the guys that you're like, Dude, you deserve it. I deserve it. I believe I deserve it a little bit more. I want to beat you. But dude, this is about to be a good one.

That's awesome, man. I was over here thinking, too, man, because when you had mentioned even that you went three three fights, losses back to back. How many days you said? Like 688?

688, man.

To go that long, work all that time for this big climax of an event, to have that, even just that, and then to deal with that one time. How did you bounce back off of that.

Well, so there is a little bit of a lesson in there, and it was the way that I was conditioned, right? Because the sport of wrestling, the greatest thing about it is you're going to get 30 or 40 opportunities to wrestle per year, right? If I lost a tough match on Wednesday, I'm down on myself. Wednesday night, I get back to practice Thursday. Saturday, I get the opportunity to write that wrong, to go from the loss column to the win column. Very quick, you get another opportunity. But in mixed martial arts, it's like, dude, I haven't I've bought since November 2022, and most of the time we're fighting, when you get to the upper echelon and the higher levels, you're fighting twice a year, maybe three times a year, but probably usually twice a year. So you got to sit on that loss for five months, six months, right? So the biggest thing for me is getting Coming back... And the mistake that I made was, right away, I wanted to hide from it. I didn't want to... You lose that motivation to train a little bit.

Was it like an embarrassment?

Big time embarrassment, man. But now, not anymore.

No, I get it.

I'm glad I had to go through that to realize it. And anybody who is listening right now, and if you have that, it really is ego, right? People don't care that much. We think people care more about us, so much more about us than we do, right? That's facts. Almost Just like I said, sometimes it's supposed to be a part of the journey. It's supposed to be a part of your journey. I was supposed to lose those fights, or I was supposed to have this shortcoming, because if a bad thing happens, but a good thing comes from it, was it really a bad thing? And how many times have you had that play out in your life? And you'd ask, you're like, well, a good thing came from it. So that thing that I thought was a bad thing, I can't really call it a bad thing anymore because it turned into a really good thing. And God had me in the palm of his hand the entire time. And then it led to this, and it led to that. But yeah, the problem was losing that fight and then dealing with uncharded territory, because I hadn't lost a competition since two or three years prior in wrestling.

And at that point, it didn't really matter because I had just become an All-American, and I got to where I wanted to go anyway. So I dealt with it in a great way, not in a very mature way. And then I didn't get the opportunity to write that wrong for months and months and months. It was probably six months that I had to sit out and go through a training camp, figure out who's next, who am I fighting next? I deal with losses so much better now. Isn't it awesome, though, too? I was thinking about that today. Just the older you get, you just don't care as much anymore when it comes to... Dude, I used to care so much about what people thought. I'm so solidly standing on my own two feet now. If you thought 15-year-old Michael saw the 38-year-old Michael, he would be like, How did you get there, dude? Because I don't see how we get from here to there because we're on another planet. But it was just the constant every single day. Great things in my life, and some of the tough things, getting kicked right in the teeth.

And this sport wants to keep you down as long as you will let it. And it's up to you to pick yourself back up. And been able to do it now for 16, 17 years.

That's the key, dude. A lot of people, they will get in those dark times, and they don't understand that that time is meant to build a new skillset, to give you a new perspective. And the only way that you can discover that is by continuing down the path. There's so many people that have the hardship happen, and then they stop. They get embarrassed. Because, dude, I'm going to tell you this. As much as you guys think it's embarrassing to start and be bad at something, it's a million times more embarrassing to be great at something and to have everybody in the world see you fucking fall in your face. That's way worse. And it is ego. And I do agree with you. As you get older, you start to realize it's not as big of a deal. But I also think that that comes from us firmly understanding the work that needs to be done to get past that. I think, at least when I was younger and I felt setbacks, I didn't have enough confidence in the work that needed to be done to understand that I could pull myself out of it. And ignorantly, but also thankfully, I just got up the next day and kept going, dude.

I didn't know what else to do. So I would get up and I would go. And think, dude, I can't... I mean, most of my business life, I live within weeks of being out of business. People don't think that about entrepreneurs, dude. You're living on the edge all the time. Until you get to where we're at now, it's not that anymore. But most of your life as an entrepreneur, the first 10 plus years, it's scary, and you're going to take hits. Sometimes those hits are nearly ending of your journey. But when you don't know what else to do? You wake up the next day and you just keep doing what you've been doing. Because people don't do that, and they get embarrassed, and they get humiliated in their own mind, I can relate to that, bro. I can relate to the hiding and the shame and the embarrassment and the feeling of letting people down. If you guys just push through those times and you continue down the path, what you'll figure out is what Michael is talking about, which is, dude, this is here to serve you. This is here to build you. This is here to give you a new perspective and a new skillset, which will eventually lead to a place, like you were saying, where you're standing on your own two feet and you have total real confidence in yourself.

Not fake confidence, not bravado, beating my chest, not running my mouth, but knowing that if something negative comes around or I get a setback, that it's not a total devastating loss. It's exactly that. It's a bump in the road. It's a setback.

What I started doing, too, and I forced myself to do this, when I take a loss, I'm making sure I get on as big of a platform as I possibly can, ASAP, and talk about it. Because ego would say, Well, let's just hide, because if you get on the microphone, all those people who doubted you, and they're going to point their fingers, now you're on a microphone, you're talking about this loss. You're reliving this loss in real-time on a microphone. And I have forced myself to do that. Busting with the boys, I don't know if you know those guys.

Yeah, dude, Will Compton is my first guy.

Yeah, that's right. He's a St.

Louis guy.

That's right. Those guys are in Nashville, too. So I like to make it a habit. It was hilarious. Yeah, win, lose, or draw. I'm going to try to go on the bus on Monday, and I've done it with black eyes and still stitches. My nose is all jacked up from the fight before the 48 hours prior because I want to do that. And it's not for the Will and Taylor. It's not for you. I honestly love my fans and supporters, but it's not for anybody. It's for me. So I can get on there and I can sit right here and say, Yeah, you know what? Look at me. Look at my scars. But this reminds you that I'm still here. Look at the black eyes. Look what I've gone through. And if I can get on here and talk right now after I just had the whole world laughing at me in my mind, and I can brave that and hop on this microphone, it wells something up inside of And then once you've done it a couple of times, you're like, Man, I got so much positive feedback from that because people want to see that.

Because they expect you to not go into hiding, not going to hiding necessarily, but hey, let's let them take some time off. It's like, No, I'm doing this for me, and I want to get on here. It's like riding the wrong that we just talked about. It's like, I'm riding the wrong. I'm taking the power away from it. Until you talk about it, until you wear it like a badge of honor. You own it. Yeah. You're giving it all the power until you take that power back and say, Okay, here it is. It's right here. You want to talk about it?

You want to laugh at me?

And it's okay. And it's okay. Because this is what it is. This is what it is, and this is how it is supposed to happen. And those areas of us will be broken. The weakest areas of us, where we need to get better, where we're falling short, where we've got some ego, where we've got all these shortcomings, those little areas will break, and then scar tissue will be laid over top of it, and then you will be stronger in those areas where we were weak. It's Is life revealing to you where you need to get better?

Let's talk about the technical aspect of improving from your losses. Do you watch film? I was just about to ask that. I was like, for a film study?

Yeah. I don't watch a ton of film. I obviously got to go back and watch my fights back. Win, lose, or draw. Obviously, I love to watch the wins better than I love to watch the losses. But that's another part of the healing process, too. It's like, Hey, sit down here right now and watch it. Don't watch it too many times. You don't want to sit there and have a negative mental highlight reel in my head.

No, just to learn. I could have done this better. Is that what you do? Yeah.

And even just watching yourself, whether it be technical, whether it be spiritual, because you can see those moments where you had a momentary lapse of judgment or where you lost a little bit of focus, or maybe you got a little bit tired, or maybe you made a silly decision Did you see that on the film? Yeah, and you can see it because you start to have flashbacks a little bit. And it's not necessarily because it's a fight and you're getting punched in the head that you don't really remember a lot of stuff. You're really in that fight or flight mode. You're tied onto a tornado, so you don't remember a ton of it. So you need to go back. And then as you're watching it, you're starting to feel and see mental glimpses of what you remember in your mind. Just going back and seeing different areas. And then it's also a place of gratitude. Win, lose, or draw, you just go back, and then you can hear the announcement talking. You hear John Anick and Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, whoever it might be, and you're watching it, and you're just like, Man, I'm watching this movie happen, and I'm the main character, whether I win or lose.

It's another cool way A to remind yourself, man, you're doing what you were called to do. Win, lose, or draw, you're not defined by your wins and losses. You're defined by how you carry yourself. And take some notes, talk to the coaches, take a little bit of time off, stay in shape, and stay built up and start the recovery process of the mind and the heart after a loss, especially. And continuing to be out in the public and not be afraid to wear it like a badge of honor.

Let me ask you this because you obviously... The people love you, right? You have a shit ton of support. The people absolutely love you. The NFL has armchair quarterbacks. What's the UFC guy? What do you guys call it? How do you address those people? You know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, no, for sure.

I see red, bro. I was in that ring.

I don't know. All he had to do was hit him with the overhand right. He'll hold my bear. I'll show you what I want to do. Yeah, exactly. No, we got a lot of them, man.

Do you guys have a special name for?

No, I don't really think so. I'm sure the chat might have him later on, what they call him. But yeah, dude, I actually just was talking to some guy today, and I sent him a message and just said, Hey, I hate to hear about the passing of your thread of videos that you made 10 video is talking about how I'm an idiot, and I'm waiting for Connor, and Connor's never going to come back, and fight me, and fight's never going to get booked, and all that stuff. So we had a little banter back and forth, and it's all fun and games because I heard it from a million people. But yeah, you hear those people, and it is just It's really funny. Sometimes you agree with them. You're like, yeah, dude, if you go back and watch this in slow motion, you reverse it and watch it five times, you're like, yeah, that was a dumb decision. Why did I do that? Or why didn't I do that? But what they don't realize is they are criticizing and critiquing something that was happening in real-time, making split-second decisions with the information that you have, part muscle memory, part instinct, part training, and you just hope that you zig when you should have zagged or vice versa or whatever, and you're just in there.

You're in there responding and reacting. So it is really funny because, yeah, especially mixed martial arts, right? Because there's so many dudes who talk trash who would never in a million years say anything to me, to my face. And that's what I realized moving over to the UFC. I went from Bellator. I was the biggest name in Bellator, had the largest social media following in Bellator, the biggest name there. And everybody saw the writing on the I was going to test free agency. The day that I signed with the UFC, I got 600,000 followers in 24 hours, just on Instagram. And that doesn't mean I'm any cooler than anybody else, but it was just-That's pretty It was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. How quickly it happened, right? And then I was like, oh, shoot, man. Most of the time, people were just talking to me because they liked me. Now it's like people just want to talk to me because they want to hate on me. And it went to a way different level, which was so It was good for me because I needed it. I really am. I got into this sport wanting everybody to love me.

And I'm like, Man, if I just do the right things, and I fight hard, and I entertain them, and I say what I believe, and I do it, people are going to love me, man. Everyone's going to love me. Nobody's going to dislike me. So I had to get over that, and it was really good. It was a very immature thing. Even hearing you speak and the way that you operate, and you've unlocked things He's in me because it really is a blessing to be in a position where people are hating on you because it means you're doing something, right? Yeah. But I wasn't ready for it. And now with the whole Connor thing, now it's about to go to the moon, so I'm going to have to continue to add layers to my skin for these next 75 days.

When you're authentic, when you are an authentic human being, people are going to hate you, dude. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you- It's just for that. Bro, exactly. They're going to hate the The way that you show up, that you shine, bro, it's not even about being successful. It's just about being authentic. People do not like people with authentic opinions. They are very used to seeing people pander. They are very used to seeing people go with the flow or tiptoe around. And when you show up, like we do every day, and we're like, This is what I think, regardless of what you think, people don't like that. You know what I'm saying? And it doesn't matter if you are are curing cancer, or if you're solving world hunger, or you're creating world peace, people are still going to be pissed off about it, man. And so many people hide behind trying to avoid that criticism When in reality, if you are doing something of any significance at all, the fact that people are giving you that attention is a really good sign. And what's really cool is that, at least in my case, and I know this is your case, too, because I've seen it, a lot of people start off hating.

They're like, God, dude, I can't stand that guy. All he ever does is talk shit. I could beat his ass. And then after six months, they're like this, Man, you know what? I used to not like you, dude, but I really like you.

That is my favorite thing. You know who's a good example of that right now is a guy named Bo Nickel.

Bo Nickel is the first for him.

There There you go. So Bo is exactly like me in a lot of ways. He got booed. He got booed at the way ends, or he got a little bit of boo in the crowd for no reason. Just the fact that he's getting this love from the UFC, and he's getting pushed, and he's being promoted. And it was the same thing with me. I came into the UFC, and everybody's like, Who's this Bellator punk getting this and getting that? I got a title shot on my second fight. And I'm like, Guys, first of all, I didn't choose this. It wasn't like I came in, and all of a sudden, I'm in charge of Dana, and Dana making his decision. It's like, This is how they're doing it, and don't be mad at me, right? And a year in, and I talked to Bo about this, too, man, because they're going to hate on you because they see it, and maybe their favorite fighter is this guy, and you're getting more shine than that guy. Everybody's got their reasons why they don't like you, right? But then eventually, you're just like, man. And I think Bo said that in his post-fight press conference or in his post-fight speech, he was just like, Hey, just give it time.

I promise you're going to like me. And that's what I said. I'm like, Dude, there's no reason why you shouldn't dislike me. Just give it time. And My favorite interactions are those ones where it's like, dude, I didn't like you when you came into the UFC because of this, because of that, or whatever it might have been. But dude, I've come around. I'm like, dude, me winning you over is actually so much better than me.

You're liking me from the get.

Yes, it like me from the get-go, because all you can do is just be authentically yourself. And I think it is unbecoming to so many people because they're living a life of knowing that they're not being their authentic self. And when When I see somebody operating in authenticity, it feels weird to them. And I think I was somewhat like that when I was younger, right? Yeah, bro. And as I've grown-We all try to be what we think the success part of it looks like.

And what we don't realize, brother, is that it looks like us. It looks like who we are. And we live in social media where it's all marketing and it's all look at me and it's all clicks and likes and shares. When you're an authentic person, especially when you're a person who doesn't buy into the debauchery of society, it makes people feel weird. That makes people feel like you're being too good or you're standing on a pedestal, which, dude, I know this in your case, that is not the case at all.

Yeah. I think that's the toughest ones for me is where people are like, I don't know, there's just something about him. I don't think it's authentic. I don't think that's really who he is. And I'm just like, I don't know, man, whatever.

Yeah, those people- He saved everybody, man.

It is what it is. I got so many skeletons in my closet, and I was like, I don't know, dude, whatever. I'm not perfect. Don't tell me that much. Show me yours first. Sorry if you don't like me.

Well, I think that's where people get in trouble, too, is they pretend to be perfect. They're like, Oh, yeah, I'm a perfect guy. I've never made any mistakes. Fuck, dude. I fucked it all up. All the shit.

You know what I'm saying? Well, you know what was funny for me, too, was going on to the ultimate fighter. I had this real conversation with my wife. I was just like, Hey, babe, I got to be honest with you. I'm really nervous nervous because we're on ESPN, and it's like you're miced up, and something's going to happen. I'm going to end up mother effing Connor saying whatever. And it ended up happening. It really ended up happening. And I'm worried about my father-in-law, who I respect them so much. My parents and my sons, it lives on the internet forever. My sons will hear me say the F word on ESPN, and they bleeped it out to Connor when we got our little pushing match. But my wife, who I... Obviously, She's my favorite human being on the planet, the one that I confide in, the one that I love the most out of anybody. And she just looked at me, she's like, Hey, you're not perfect. Don't try to be perfect. If you try to be perfectly, it's not real. You're not perfect. I love you that you're not perfect. I love you through your imperfection.

Interactions. And if you swear, you cuss, or you do this, or you do that, or you come off any way you come off, it doesn't matter. I love you, and everybody who really loves you, loves you. And I'm like, Absolutely. Dang, dude. I'm about to cry. She's like, Yeah. And then it gave me that permission because it really is a scary It's the only thing because I don't want to come off differently than I want to be. I just want to be myself and do it. And if something bad happens or I say something I wish I would have said, I might have to apologize, or maybe I don't need to apologize.

Well, bro, I think that the fact that how I see that, I see that from a little bit different perspective. I see that as a testament to how hard you put the effort in to not be that way. If you're just how you are, where you don't really and you're very composed, and you have a good disposition, and you're polite and respectful, sometimes when that gets out of whack a little bit, it actually just is a testament to how hard someone works to keep that in check. And so that's how I see those things.

Yeah, no, I like that because it definitely came out. I'm like, Whatever.

Well, let's be real, dude. In a fight situation, there are no rules.

Yeah, exactly. And the funny thing was that my father-in-law was visiting that day to Vegas whenever that whole fight thing happened, and I just got done, Mother effing Connor, whatever. But it was funny, too, because now that it's happened, I'm like, that actually wasn't that bad. But once again, it's weird how as a 38 years old, I'm dealing with this, and I'm still learning the uncharded territory of that. And to people who are out there like, well, Michael Chandler looks like he's got all figured out. I'm like, dude, I'm trying to get this thing figured out every single day.

Yeah, bro. Dude, can we talk a little bit about your faith? Yeah. Yeah, man. I love that. Yeah, dude. So was this something that you grew up with or something that you came around?

High Ridge, Missouri. On High Ridge Boulevard, there was a little Catholic church up there. I was raised Catholic. We did our first Holy Communion, and we did PSR, which is public school religion on Mondays. We would go there for an hour or two on Mondays. First Holy Communion, got confirmation, and then we stopped going to church for a little while. Three boys, baseball, getting very, very busy family. And then I got invited by another guy from St. Louis who was on my wrestling team. His name is Kenny Bowen to Twin Rivers Church on on Lime Ferry, Tesson Ferry, one of the two. And he's like, Hey, man, we got this youth group that we got on Wednesday nights. We're going to go after practice. I'm like, Sure, dude. I don't have a car, but if you want to pick me up, let's go. So that was the first time that I started going to a spirit-filled, non-denominational church. And then after I started going, then my brother started going, then my mom and dad started going. So that was our first introduction to a spirit-filled church, if you will. And that's where I really got saved.

I was 14, 15 years old, and it was an invitation. Started with an invitation from a guy who I looked up to who's a year older than me, Kenny Bowen. All the girls loved him. He was cute, he was handsome, he was an athlete. He was the guy, right? But he was also a really, really great dude.

So Isn't that always the best? Yeah, dude. Isn't that the best when you meet someone who's got all the skill, all the talent, got all the stuff, and you find out that they're even a better dude?

Yeah, dude, that's the best. And that's the guys that I always gravitated towards and then wanted to be, obviously, Obviously. That's really when I got saved. It's been my guiding light since then, and it definitely ain't all sunshine and rainbows. And just because you got Jesus in your heart and you've accepted him, then all of a sudden, Things are going to work out for you. Your faith is tested every single day. But it's been the one thing, obviously, that I've been able to look back on and be like, Man, once again, looking at this whole big picture, the bad things that have happened to me that ended up being good and how God's had me in the palm of his hand the entire time, whether it be through the right person, through the wrong person, through the ups, through the downs, through everything. It's just been... And then now to have a platform platform where I can... I don't talk a ton about my faith, but it's my favorite-It shines through, bro. It shines through. And my two favorite philosophies about faith for me, and this is how I do it, is live your life with so much joy and zeal and happiness that uptight Christians question your salvation.

That's number one. Number two, preach the gospel at all times, but only use words when necessary. You are a living testimony. The way that you operate, the way that you live your life, the way that you love people, the way that you compete, the way that you just live life is your testimony and your expression of your faith. I don't have to sit here and talk to you about my favorite scriptures or try to get every single person that I talk to saved because it's not the right time for the right... Or it might be the right person, but at the wrong time, and everybody's going through their different things. If I can be a light in that way, and that's what feels authentic to me, and that's how I share faith as much as possible.

Bro, I'll be honest with you. Just knowing you and observing that part of you has inspired me in that way, just so you know.Thank you, man.Yeah. It's really cool, and I recognize that you live it, and It's one of the things I admire most about you, bro, because you've been at the top of the world. You're one of the most famous guys in the world, in the most famous sport in the world, and you've never let that change who you are. You've always continued to live that message and be a good dude. You are that dude. You know what I'm saying? You're that guy that I'm talking about when you meet this guy who's got this and this and this and this, and then you find out, dude, this guy's even a better human. It's my favorite thing about you, bro.Thank.

You, man.It's cool.I appreciate it, man. Because I do hear it a lot where people are, Man, I really thank you for talking about your faith. To me, I don't really feel like I talk about it that much, I think in a very formal way, if you will. Because you think, what does it sound like to talk about your faith? Do we have to talk scripture? Do we have to talk about God's perspective on every single thing? Do we have to operate as Jesus would? How do you do it? I think the biggest thing is if the Holy spirit is inside of you and you try to do your best and you're just operating in that way, he doesn't necessarily want you to be talking about him all the time. He just wants you to be a shining light.

To live it.

To just live it. That's really preaching the gospel at all times, but only using words when necessary, only quoting scripture when necessary. I love that, dude. People can tell by how you live your life most of the time, where your faith is at.

That's a lot more effective than, like you said, the up tight Christians. I like that one. Yeah, make them feel uncomfortable. I like that one. Well, we see this in society right now, right? Because things have gotten so far out of control that people are-Out of morality. People are finding Jesus again, which is awesome. But what I'm seeing and observing is people are going so far to where they're standing on their little pedestal and they're preaching at you, trying to say this. Then really, when you look at them, you're like, Well, bro, are you actually living that? Or You're just good at quoting the numbers and the passages and this and that. I personally believe, and by no means am I an expert, but I personally believe that leading the way in that and how you live, how you treat people, how kind you are, how graceful you are. That doesn't mean that sometimes you don't have to stand for yourself or Jesus flipped some tables over once in a while. You know what I mean? He wasn't a pacifist. But I think that's far more important and far more impactful someone who just preaches all the time.

Yeah, no, 1,000%.

I think it's damaging a lot of times. I think a lot of people are so preachy that people who are on their way to finding it are like, Oh, man.

We all feel it. We all feel that whenever you're around somebody who you're just like, Dude, you are unattainable. Nobody wants somebody. Nobody wants to really be around. Would you really want to be a Christian if it seems like the level at which you need to be to be a good little boy and a good little Christian? I think It's unbecoming, and it makes me feel uncomfortable, right? Like you're not good enough. Yeah. That is the biggest problem. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. He is qualifying you every single day, whether Whether you, like you said, know every single chapter and verse, or you're absolutely perfect, or you have screwed every single thing up, but you've had a change of heart, and you're trying to work your way back into being a man of faith and walking in a a certain direction. And a lot of times, man, it's those who have gone through the craziest things, the most embarrassing things, the most painful, sinful, down in the dumps, down in the valley things that God uses the most, man. And those are the people who I can look at him and say, Yeah, but look where he came from, and look what God did with his life, and look at the testimony that he has.

You can't have a testimony without a few scars, man, because it is. It's unattainable. And then there's people who... A guy like Tim Tebo. Every single thing that he talks about is faith-driven, right? And that's what feels authentically to him, and that's his calling, right?

It feels authentic from him.

From him? Yeah. From him. And he's got a calling on his life, man. For sure. And he's that guy. But if you were like, Hey, man, I need you to be a little bit more like Tebo. I'd be like, Hey, dude.

It's not you.

I don't know if that's my thing. Does that mean when we We stand at the Pearlly gates, we're not both walking waltzing right in? No. No, we both are. But my testimony is different. I actually did a podcast with Brian Tome, who's a pastor, and we were talking back and forth, and We were talking about... Because I've spoken at churches before. I've spoken at men's conferences. I've spoken at the pulpit, right? And you'd be so surprised at how many people you would think would be like, Well, Well, dude, how can this guy be a fighter and a Christian? It's like, well, fighting is just the shiny object, right? We've all got these talents and these gifts and these shiny objects that get people to look, both the followers and the non followers and the people who have not come to Christ yet. We've all got that shiny thing that we can say, Hey, this is going to get you to look. Now peel back the layers, and now let me make you feel something right now through our interaction. Mine just happens to be fighting in a cage, and it's no more better or worse than anybody else's calling on their life.

Because in this pastor said this, Brian said, he's like, Man, you are reaching people that I would never in a million years be able to reach, right? That's right. If you look at it just straight from a faith standpoint, and you say, Well, this guy fights in a cage, and he can win this many. Or this guy's a preacher, and he can win this many. It's not crazy to think that I have a greater crowd of witnesses, and I have some impact that I can make that leads maybe not that person to me to then give their life to Christ, but that person to the next rung, to the next rung. But I was one of the catalysts that started that, right? That's the way that I look at it. And the way that I operate is just authentically to myself and speaking about it when I want to, or me to or or what I'm asked about it or what I feel led to. But that's one of the biggest things. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called, and he will well something up inside of you. And at different times, different seasons, right?

Once again, the fighter that I am today needed to go through that lost streak or needed to go through this self-doubt, needed to go through that, needed to have this upbringing. That's the faith journey in a nutshell. As long as it eventually leads to this one spot, you're going to go through these different seasons, and it might be the right path, and you might be the right person, but it just might not be time yet. It might not be the right time. I love that. I love it.

What's after fighting?

Man, Man. Now I know this, but I want people to hear and support you. After Fighting Man, I'm involved in a couple of different companies, both through investment and then leadership roles. I have a fitness app that I work on, and we're building a community. I mean, obviously, fitness is always going to be a part of my life, and it's changed my life. It's made me a living. It's made me a platform. It's made me everything. If I hadn't found the sport or fought a wrestling, and then it turned me into the man that I today, I just owe a debt of gratitude to fitness and making people find the best versions of themselves. So continuing to work on my businesses, build that. I want to speak on stages. I want to write. I want to just impact as many people as possible, both in front of the camera, behind the camera, on the microphone, behind the microphone, and just leave my mark on this planet. When I get done fighting, and it's really great, too, hearing we have a lot of the same friends who have always said the same thing, man. The fortune you're going to make and the impact that you're going to make and the platform that you're going to make is going to be tenfold after you lay the gloves down.

I'm like, Hold on, dude. I don't know. You get into that mode. You're like, really, dude? Well, okay. Well, if you see that, man, I'm going to keep on working, and I'm going to keep on talking, and I'm going to keep on getting after it. I just see myself in a position to be able to use the lessons that I've learned through the last last 23 years, 24 years of hand-to-hand combat and its similarities to the fights that all of us are going through in every single aspect of our life, and turning it into a masterpiece that's going to be able to reach the masses.

Yeah, and you're close to some of the best entrepreneurs in the world. I know you're really good with Ed. You're close to Ed. You're close to Dana. People see Dana on the UFC, but they fail to realize how intelligent and how small How smart he is as a businessman.

So smart, man. Bro. And it was really revealed this weekend, and I'm really happy that it happened. But you saw there was $300,000 bonuses this weekend. So Max Hollow won $600,000 in bonuses. So there's four bonuses, one bonus each for the two guys in the fight of the night, and then one performance of the night, and one knockout of the night. Normally, they're $50,000 bonuses, which isn't a bad night at the office for a bonus. One of the reporters asked, Hey, UFC 300, you should up into 300. 1,000. And about one second later, he goes, Done. And he just- That is badass. It was very badass, and I almost tweeted it. And I talked to Dana a little bit after the fights via voice notes and stuff. But when I was negotiating with Dana, It was he and I, and he made me an offer, and I asked for, I think it was like 30 % more. I was like, Dana, what's holding you back from 30 % more? He's like, You know what, kid? Fuck it. Done. And I was just like... And That's how Dana talks, right? Yeah. So hearing the word done, it made me remember, if you bring enough to the table, the problem is don't outpunt your coverage.

The problem is don't take all the meat off the bone, man.

Make it a win for them and you. Yeah.

Make it a win-win, man. Make it so that if you win, they're like, Dang, we got a great investment. If you lose, they're like, Dang, man, well, at least he didn't come and swing for the fence. So it was really cool. And what's really funny about Dana and the UFC is I just don't understand. Obviously, he gets a ton of flak for not paying the fighters enough, fighter pay, and this and that, man. But he's taking care of guys so much better than I think a lot of people even realize.

Well, also, too, nobody sees the... Dude, people think that you get a bottle of protein here and it costs you 50 cents, and you're selling it for 60 bucks. When they look at the UFC, they don't think about all the expense, all the operating costs, all the things that it takes to run a business. Nobody thinks about those things. They just think. They do the math, how many people watched. How much was the ticket? How much was the ticket? How much are the ad revenue? They don't even think about the sponsorship because they don't think that far ahead. And then they say, Okay, well, everybody should be making $100 million.

Every fighter should have $100 million. Now see, the superpower that I have and why I think why I have such a great relationship with the UFC and why I will always love the UFC is I have the unique perspective of the other organizations. Bellator was the number two organization in the world. And I would watch how the UFC would promote their fights. And I don't think it's crazy to say that the UFC spends more money promoting one fight than Bellator spent the an entire year on promotion. The UFC was continuing to elevate the game of mixed martial arts, the whole sport of mixed martial arts. And Bellator, PFL, One Championship, all these other organizations were just rising with the tide that the UFC was raising. And I said that to Dana, and he actually just talked to me yesterday about this, sent me the voice notes. We were like... Because I basically thanked him, Hey, man, it's been a long journey. Glad we got this thing done. Can't wait to go out there. And put on a crazy show on June 29th. And he was reminiscing about my first phone call with Dana. Basically, he was on the tarmac in Las Vegas, about to head out to somewhere.

We're talking for five minutes. We're having a great back and forth conversation. I said this, and it's 100% true. It was just as true then as it is now and even five years prior. I said, Dana, number one, I don't know if I would have been the man that you needed me to be a couple of years ago when I had these other opportunities These other opportunities to come over to the UFC, so I'm really happy it's happening right now. And you have not paid me $1. You have not signed your name on one of my checks over the last 12 years. But indirectly, your name has been on every single one of my checks because you have built and quarterback and champion to this entire sport. And then Dana is like, Oh, my God, I love it. He basically hangs up on me, calls Hunter, calls me back, and he said, Hey, dude, I know we got some sticking points, but dude, I don't know what you've been saying to my people, but they absolutely love you. I I love you. I've always known we've loved you. You're awesome. You're every single thing that we need, and we want you to come over.

We're going to get you whatever we need to get you to come over to the UFC. And that's how the conversation went. That's badass. But it wasn't a negotiation tactic. It wasn't a ploy. No, it was genuine. It was so genuine, and it is true, man. It's like... And they take so much flack, but of course they do, because the tallest nail is always going to get hammered, and they're going to continue to get hammered, and they're going to continue to keep looking down While everybody else is trying to grab their ankles and pull them down instead of trying to just reach up to the next rung, instead of them reaching themselves up and trying to get themselves to the next rung, they're trying to reach up and pull the UFC down. And that's just never a recipe for success, man. And the way that he operates, man, it's special, man. And it's a blessing to be a part of it.

I think he's such a great example for a lot of business owners who are afraid to stand for what they believe in and speak for what they believe in. Now, you don't have to agree. I happen to agree. I love Danemore. I think we all agree in this. I got this little note in my phone because, dude, I catch a lot of shit, right? You don't say what we say and not catch stuff. You get a little something. A couple of armchair coordinates. Hey, Listen, the best part about it is I become immune to it. It does not affect me. I think the best part about it is- But I had this note. What? The people came back, came back, and they come with that. You were right. Yeah, exactly. No, not me. We. But I had this note on my phone. This was like, I don't know, five years ago. And it says for when the heat would come, it just says very simply, what would Dana White do? What would he say? And you know what? I just follow that blueprint print. I'm like, You know what? Hey, fuck you. This is what I do.

If you don't like it, turn a channel.

And once again, it's very hard for people to see that because they're like, Dude, I don't like that guy because he is so confident in himself. I don't like it because he really does not care. I don't like him because all the things that I have to deal with, all my doubts and fears and insecurities- That bother me. All the stuff that bothers me, I don't like him because he doesn't have to deal with what I have to deal with. And it really is tough. Taufer in 2024 than it was in 2024 because of social media and the world that we live in now and keeping up with the Joneses and all of this stuff. I will admit and I will concede that it is tougher to live in the world that we live in from that standpoint, from the criticism standpoint. It's easier to make money.

You didn't have to see it back then.

Yeah, it's easier to make money. It's easier to be successful. It's easier to do all those things because of the Internet and all these different things. But it is very challenging from that perspective. So when we see somebody like that or a guy like yourself, you're like, damn, dude, I don't like them. It's like, well, do you not like them? Why don't you like them? You just don't like them because you wish you were more like that. I mean, I want to be more like that. Everybody wants to be more like that. That is freedom. And that really is, you get this short window of opportunity to live on this Earth, right? And if you can operate the way that he's operating, man.

Well, you got to stand in the fire, dude. That's the thing people don't understand. When you don't stand in the fire, when you don't let the heat come and you just censor yourself. First of all, you're degrading your own sense of worth. You're saying, I'm not being authentic. I'm not being who I am for fear of judgment, for fear of criticism. And that will drive your self-esteem, your self-worth, your trust in yourself into the basement because you know you're not presenting what you truly believe. Believe. And if you would just stand out in the heat a little bit, it's like getting out in the sun, bro. The first day, you get burnt. You're like, Oh, man, I should have put some sunblock on, right? Not really because it caused cancer. I don't need it. I don't need it. I don't know. I don't know. Bro, I get darker than you. I actually got burned the other day, actually. But dude, we're in a situation- You get immune to it like you're saying. Yeah, that you get conditioned to it. It's like a cold plunge. The first time you're in the cold plunge, you're like, Oh, dude, this is horrible.

And then you get in it more and more and more and more. And before you know it, you're in there for eight minutes at 35 degrees, and you're like, Bro, this is the best part of my day. And dude, so when you get in that situation, if people would just step out and just allow themselves to feel it, eventually you become conditioned to it, and it doesn't bother you. It's just like anything else. It's like when you start to go out and train. The first day, it's hard, second day, it's hard. And then it gets really hard for a minute, and then all of a sudden, you acclimate, and it gets easy. And because people can't stand out there and take it the first time or the second time or the third time, they don't realize that if you would just stand there and stand on your own two feet, this stuff would stop killing you, man.

Yeah. And I think you might have been the first person to ever really hear drill it into this idea of being able to trust yourself, this idea of self-image. How do you have a high self-image if you can't trust yourself. We've talked about it 20 different ways about doing the small things and setting a certain standard because you know that's another part of it. When you cut corners, are you lazy, or you leave your shopping cart sitting over there, or you litter, whatever. You know, whether you thought about it or not, or you felt entitled enough to leave your hotel room a mess because your cleaning lady is going to take care of it, you're losing a little bit of trust with yourself to get the job done. So whether it's fighting in a cage or whether it's running a business, or whether it's running a household, or whether it's being a parent, how are you going to be able to trust yourself in those moments if you know you can't get small little things done? And that's something that I think you just spoke about, but people probably just heard it and they glossed over it.

You really are breaking a promise to yourself every single time you don't stand up for what you believe in. That's right. Every single time that you water yourself down, every single time that you... I actually had a mindset Which is named Jim Hensel. He called it moving the truth, right? It's like omitting the truth, but you're moving the truth. It's not really the truth, but you're moving the truth. To accommodate others. Yeah. You make up a story, or you say sorry for this when really you're not sorry because you're doing what was authentically yourself. You're breaking the trust and promise that you have with yourself, and you do it long enough before you know it. You're a shell of the man that you were called to be. I owe it to my family. I owe it to my wife. I owe it to my God, my creator. I owe it to society. And I'm 100 % honest. Even you, you seem like you're... And maybe even Dana, every now and then, there might be those moments where-Oh, for sure. You're like, okay, I probably should have just said what I wanted to say there. For sure.

But that unlocks things, too, where you're like, okay, Dana's impenetrable. He always says what's on his mind. I'm sure he's got those moments. But when they become more and more far and few between, you're not 100,000% trustworthy, but it's 99.9%. And 99.9% is a heck of a place to be.

Yeah, dude, I get criticized a lot for my positions on things in the world, obviously. But first of all, I don't expect everybody to agree with me. That's not the purpose of me sharing them. The purpose of me sharing them is to give my take on it. I feel like I have a skill set, a knowledge base. I have enough life experience to give a reasonable take that should be considered. People will say to me, they will say, Why don't you just take it easy on this? Or why Why don't you just... Because, dude, if I don't say what I believe to be true, if I do not say exactly what I believe to be true, I am lowering all of the qualities that I need to operate as a human being. And if we would just look at it instead of saying, Oh, just let people do whatever they want. Dude, there's limits to that. There's limits to this, because eventually, when we're pacifying other people and moving the truth to your point, We lose our confidence. We lose our swagger. We lose our belief in self that we need to be us. You can't walk out in the middle of a ring in front of 100 million people on television or whatever it is, right?

And not think you're the man, bro. It has to be real. It has to be real, dude. And that requires being authentic to self as a baseline foundation I think if people would consider what not being authentic does to their character and does to their belief in themselves, they would be a lot more likely to do so.

I think it's what I said earlier, because I was just thinking about it, how the older you get, you just start caring less and less. And is it that you care less and less, or is it that you know what it feels like to move the truth and not be authentically yourself, that eventually you just start to be like, no, wait, why have I done that for so long? And then obviously, usually the older you get, there's more success, or the older you get now, maybe you've got a wife and kids, or your company has now tripled, quadrupled 10X in size, right? So it doesn't matter. You've just got more and more life experience, and you care less also because you know you used to care, and you used to move the truth, and you used to pander, and you used to water yourself down, and it really was just so inauthentic.

Yeah, and it bothered me. Any time I've ever done that in my life, dude, I'll remember it forever, for like, years. I'm like, Fuck. I can't wait till I see that guy again because I'm going to tell them the truth this time.

That's what I think. That's what I think when I get the maddest, man. It's really hard for somebody else to steal my joy and make me mad at them. And it's funny, too, because me and my wife are very similar, right? And that's how it is. When she gets her most upset, it's never at anybody else because it's like, dude, someone can't do that. Someone can't do enough to you to make you as mad as you probably get at yourself when you know you've made a mistake or pandered or, Man, this is not who I am. Why did I do this? Why did I just tell him this is what I want, this is how I want it to be, this is how it should be, and I deserve it. Not in a cocky, entitled way, but this is what we got to do. And that's when you get really mad at yourself. That's when I get, and I will remember it. But also, sometimes you need to go through that also, too, to finally- To put you back in line. Yeah, to put you back in line. But also, I feel I feel like sometimes that's a little bit of an inadvertent.

You probably shouldn't let it happen, but each time it does happen, you're getting closer and closer to that person who just doesn't give a heck. You're like, I don't give a rip, dude. It helps you. It doesn't mean you're going to take advantage of people, be a bad person, not a person of integrity. Do bad things. You're doing really good things, but I'm just not going to sacrifice who I am and how I do things. That's right.

I want to ask you this, man. Give me a straight fucking answer. The first time that Bruce announced you, how was that?

Dude, my first experience of fighting in the UFC was... I've had some really, really, really great moments in my entire career, but that one was extra, extra special. So I mean, yeah, I get- That's good. Getting chills thinking about it because it's one of those deals where I've watched the UFC from afar from so long, and I've got to be honest with you. I've done interviews where I'm like, yeah, I deserve to be in the UFC, but I didn't really truly believe it when I was a little bit younger. And then I needed to get to the point where I finally believed it and I deserved it, and I knew... I almost forced the door to open about four or five years ago because I went through three different contract renewals or four different contract renewals with the UFC with Bellator. Each time, I was going to have the opportunity to become a free agent, take a chance, and go to the UFC. Each time, it just never felt like the right time until it felt like the exact right time, which was 2020 when it happened. I was I was taking a chance on myself.

I was leaving relative security. Bellator loved me. They were paying me very well. I was going to come over to the UFC. I thought I was going to take a pay cut. Turns out I did not take a pay cut, and I was very pleasantly surprised. But I was still taking a chance. There's a lot of people who were like, and even my wife, for years, it's like, Well, we got a great thing going, but I want you to do what you want to do. And I was like, Yeah, babe, but if I go there, if I go to a barbecue, it's over. I'm getting cut. She's like, Is that what you want to do? I'm like, Yeah, that's what I want to do. Because I wasn't going to be able to lay my... I pictured the 40-year-old me, the 42-year-old me, retired, laying in bed at night, and I just cannot get comfortable because my head is laying on this 40-pound cinder block of Why did you not go test yourself against the best guys, the biggest, the baddest, the best guys in the world? Why did you not take a chance on yourself?

You walked on to Mizzou. Nobody knew who you were. Everyone from high Ridge, Missouri was like, Hey, dude, why don't you just go to Missouri Baptist, or why don't you just go to CMSU? They're offering scholarship. You did it back then. How could 18-year-old Michael make that choice? But 34-year-old Michael can't make that choice after all of God's faithfulness, after all the things that you've done, right? But that moment when I was walking out there to that first fight in the UFC, man, you can just see the joy. I knew I was right where I was supposed to be. I had zero doubts whatsoever, which most of the time I do, luckily walking into the cage. But it was a special, special night. Dan Hooker is number five in the world. Knock him out in the first two and a half minutes. He had just went 25 minutes with Dustin Poirier, the number two guy in the world at that point. Bruce announcing the name and finally, watching the UFC from afar, hearing Bruce Buffer from afar all those years, And now he's saying, Iron Michael Chandler, man. It was pretty crazy.

Dude, we're going to wrap it up because we got some other stuff to do, too. Yeah, we got some other stuff. Yeah. But... Smoors party. We got a Listen to this guy. So, dude, before we go, I'd like to close with just one thing. What's your message to Connor? I'm just kidding. No. Let's go.

I would actually like to clear something up. So I got to ask this a little while back before the fight was announced, and I'm like, what's the message to Connor? Ed and I have been talking about this a lot, and he's like, The thing we're going to hammer home, Michael, is that you have earned this. You really, really have. And I know there's got to be a tiny little part of you, that little guy from that little town who was taught to do little things that I always talk about. He's still in there, and there's a part of you that's like, Hey, man, yeah, you're here, but you haven't earned it. You don't deserve it, right? And I'm like, Yeah, no, there's always that little inkling in all of us, right? He's like, But we got to hammer home that you earned this, right? You have. Yeah. And I answered this question a couple of weeks ago, and I was getting a little bit of hate for it because it came off like, Hey, Connor hasn't earned it, and They have earned it. We must be very clear, Conor McGregor was the best thing for mixed martial arts ever in the history of the sport.

He has built the sport. I'm making more money because of him. The next fighter is making more money because of him. More people know us because of him. He's elevated the sport. The UFC has done a lot of that as well. Conor McGregor has earned every single thing that he's ever gotten. He's probably earned more. He probably could have made more had there not been some other things, decisions that he has made. He has done every single thing that he He needs to do to be exactly where he is at. But when it comes to the last couple of years, when it comes to who's going to put more work in, who has been putting more work in, who has been more steadfast, more immovable, more disciplined, I'm the guy who has earned it, right? That's facts. I'm the guy who, stepping into that cage, when I do finish him and his eyes roll back in the back of his head, I'm not going to feel anything, but I am very, very blessed, man, and I earned this and I deserve this, and I think I him in the second round.

Let's go. All right, one thing. This is what I was really going to ask. Sorry.

I love it. I just hijacked you.

No, I loved it. But what I really want to ask, because I think it's important, because we have a lot of young, hungry, ambitious people that listen to the show. If you could go back from where you are now, and you said earlier, you couldn't see that 15-year-old connecting the dots to be where you are now. What would What would your message be to the young men and the young women and that 15-year-old Michael Chandler who is filled with uncertainty and uncertain about the path and really can't connect the dots. They know they want to get somewhere, but they're not sure how to do it. What would that message be?

Man, I think the message is going to be, it's all going to work out and never, ever, ever grow weary and doing good. People are going to try to put you into a box. People are going to tell you that you have to live your life this way. You have to talk like this. You have to walk like this. You have to do this. You have to act like this. These are the things. This is what society says that you have to do. This is This is what we say you need to do. This is what your parents say you need to do. This is what your friends say you need to do. There's going to be all of these conflicting things, and then you're going to get into your path, and then there's going to be even more people talking and the road to every way you're going to go. And there's going to be so much uncertainty because you're not quite sure how to build it. If you step on that square right there, is it a foothold? Is it going to fall out underneath you, or is it going to take you to the next step?

You're not quite sure. All you can do is boil it all the way back down, distill it all the way back down to just operating with integrity and doing the best, becoming the best version of yourself, brick by boring brick, and doing the small little things. Because when I was younger, Sure. If you would have told me that I was going to be sitting here on the cusp of 75 days away from the pinnacle of what mixed martial arts is, I would have thought you were absolutely crazy. I would have told you right there, Don't you bring that energy toward me right now because I feel like you're lying to me. There is no way that that is going to happen. And then eventually, you get to the point where you look back at that 15-year-old boy and you think, Man, I'm so proud of you for never giving up, and I'm proud of you for making those decisions. I'm proud of you for walking on. I'm proud of you in the face of adversity, you pulled yourself back up. I'm proud of you for the way that you've operated, and I'm proud of you for never You're ever wavering because it's going to be the things that kept you small, the things that suppressed you.

It's going to be the things that held you down that will eventually springboard you into something that is so much bigger than you ever thought could ever, ever be possible. You're going to get the opportunities for the big, big things because of the things that kept you small, because of the things that held you down, because of the things that you hated your sofa, and the way that you did operate, and how you were afraid, and the fear, and the doubt, and all of that. All of that stuff is the reason you're going to get this opportunity. So just stay steadfast in that. And as long as you're doing what you can do, as long as you're doing the best that you can do, it might not be tomorrow, it might not be next week, but eventually the hard work will pay off, but you still have to be standing there to receive it when it does.

Bro, I love that, man. Dude, thank you so much, man. This has been an awesome conversation. This has been an amazing show. It's one of my favorite conversations we've ever had.Thank you.75 days, bro.75 days, dude. I give you my word. I'm going to go as hard as I can go for the next 75 days just to support. That's going to be my way to support, all right? I know there's going to be a lot of people listening that will do the same. We're going to get behind you in this fight. I would say good luck, but I don't think you need it. I know you're going to show up every day, and I know you're going to do the work. Brother, I'm proud to be your friend. I'm proud to have you as part of First Form. I'm proud of who you are as a man, and you're a great example for everybody listening, including myself, bro. I just appreciate you, man. Thank you, bro.

It's an honor to be here. Thank you for this, and I'm proud to be part of First Form and what you have created here because I am extremely, extremely proud of it.

Well, it's day one, bro.

Day one, baby. That's right. Day one.

All right, guys, that's the show. I appreciate you guys. That's the show. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys, and don't be a hoe for the show.