Today's guest brings us to New Zealand, and we're happy to be here. He is a fighter, a kickboxer, a artist. It's fascinating to watch him experience the world. He's a damn human van Gogh of some type of sorts. He's had one of the greatest runs as a UFC champion. I'm just grateful to spend time with him today. Mr. Israel Adesanian.

Shine that light on me. I'll sit and tell you my stories. Shine I know me, and I will find a song I've been singing.

I love that.

Yeah, brother.

Chish, got to look. Yeah, that's about it. Healthy 8. I'm an 8. I mean, they don't have a lot of like, Well, let's still fucking go down that road, man. I can't call another fighter handsome.

Yeah, you can. Good-looking. I like the hair. If I could mullet, I'd definitely do it for a season. Really? Yeah. Fuck, yeah.

Well, they need someone, and I don't want to say who, but someone of certain culture would be You need to see the Jerry Curl, really.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I used to have Jerry Curls when I was younger. It was a thing maybe in the late '90s, early 2000s, but then it's not good for your scalp. Really? No, all the chemicals in there. Also, the last time I did it, I burnt my scalp. Oh, damn, really? I left it on too long, so then I was like, Right, we're done with that. But also, it's not good for your scalp, for your hair, because my hair is meant to be, as you say, nappy, like texturized. Having to burn it out to straighten it and then perm and all that stuff is not-Oh, you got to do that.

So it's like you got to straighten it and then perm it.

So the relaxer straightens it, and then you can put the Jerry curl in there and then makes it curly. But yeah, I never had it long. I had it short, but still. I mean, a mother would be nice, though. I think it'll be a cool fight. I mean, who? Miguel Torres.

Ricky Simone.

Ricky Simone. Yeah, he's got a nice one. A lot of guys at the gym.

Who else? Ortega has. Did he have one?

Brian Ortega? He just had locks. Like, nice.

Arnold Allen. Did he have?

I'm trying to think. A lot of Kiwi guys, my guy, toes him up. A lot of the guys in the gym.

A lot of damn women in this country have it.

You're not wrong, dude. To be honest, bro.

You'll see a grandma with a hatchet in this hat. Like, this is real.

It's standard.

But it would be awesome on some of the highlight videos just to see the fucking whip.

When you hit someone, bang. Or ever getting hit. That's one thing I'm grateful for because I know it looks worse sometimes when you have long hair and you get hit. And maybe even if you roll with the shot, the crowd goes, oh. And then you're like, Fuck, they thought that... Bro, that whiz past me. But it looked like you got hit because of the...

Dude, that's what's interesting about you. You're that intricate to detail That you want to even man it. You want to have a say so in how you even get hit, if that makes any sense. How does that look to people? You're such an entertainer. It's like, I even want to make that look as perfect as I can. It's possible, yeah.

I try not to get hit, but if I'm going to get hit, I'm being hit by the best, a lot of them. And they're always iconic moments, but still, the game is hit and don't get hit, so I can preserve my noggin. Yeah. My brain want to keep this intact so I can keep doing this, and I don't have to call it. You don't want that.

It is crazy. Reporters will totally look over that a guy can't even speak just to be like, Hey, how do you feel about this next fight?

I mean, that's why Joe, shout out to him. He stopped interviewing guys after they've been knocked out because-Oh, really? Yeah, he said that. I think it was after one of the overream. After the Overing fight, and Overing is a famous meme or saying, he says, I clearly felt a tap because he had Steepay in a guillotine, and he thought he tapped. But again, he just got rocked. So your brain's not really all there. I've been knocked out before cold once. Shout out to Pereira.

Pereira, is that how you say it? Yeah.

Perreira. Alex Pouatan Perreira.

Oh, he's really... I feel like you probably admire him.

I'll return the favor. Yeah, of course. Look, people think I'm not a hater, man. I'm a guy who we're all in this game together, right? We're all trying to better our lives for our family and generations and all that. And he's achieved it. In the beginning, when he first came to the UFC, Grant said he didn't have the run that I had. He got to the spot he got because he already beat me in kickboxing. I don't want to hop on too much about this, but I want to give you the history. For those who don't know, I'll give it for you because I'm sure new people will be watching this, so they got to understand. It was literally three nil. No, two and no. Technically, the first fight, I thought I won. Anyone who watched it, he edged that out, and then they gave it to him. I was like, What? Okay, cool. Second fight, we go to Brazil. I think São Paulo.Beautiful.Yeah. And I was there on Condeval.Oh, man.I was cutting weight, so I couldn't be outside. But I tell you what, I'll never forget this. I go downstairs from the hotel when I get to São Paulo because you have to get a plug that works, a converter.

And then my phone was on 1%, so I left it in my room. I go downstairs and I'll never forget it. I see this guy and two girls, and then one of them looked back to see what was behind her and smile and just had the most beautiful racial ass to tits I've ever seen in my life. And I remember thinking like, Fuck, I wish I could capture this point, but I just right there. I just right there. But I think they were hookers, though, because he was getting... It was probably 2 AM. We landed or something, so he was getting some to go. Yeah, yeah.

I got to get something to go.

But yeah, that was beautiful. Just right there. Anyway, back to the fight. So I fight Alex, and Especially, you're getting eaten in a couple of days. Oh, man, you know what I'm saying? I'm hungry. Hungry. But, yeah, I get to the fight doing work, beating them, and then it catches me because I rocked him in the second round. And then third round, he just came back, rallied up and just caught me, flatlined me. That's the only time I've ever been knocked out.

And was that the kickboxing?

Yeah, kickboxing. Okay. And then, yeah, when I came, I came, too, and I remember they were rushing me, trying to put oxygen mask on me. I was like, I don't need that. Hold up. And they tried to take me out on the stretcher as well. And I was like, chill, champ.

It's not that deep.

But then I walked to the back, and I remember me and you just walked silently to the back to this white space, and just like, huh? I was like, What do you hit me with? He goes, Left hook. He straight away just told me, Left hook. It's like, your hand didn't come back fast enough. I was like, But again, in that time from being knocked out to that moment, having a mic in my face and then, So how do you feel about this fight? That wouldn't be ideal. So I'm glad Joe stopped doing that just so the guys don't have to embarrass themselves or say something that they might regret later on. Yeah.

I didn't even think about how crazy that is that they even do that. It's almost like when you have to do that Dizy back game, where you spin your head.

In my gym, we have this drill that we haven't done in a while, actually, but the Dizy back game, and then you do it 10 times, then you get up and you have to hit the pads. Just in case. You never know in a fight where you might get rocked, and then you have to keep your composure. So yeah, Dizy Back game. Most times, it's like you have to run straight. But this one, you have to write there, one, two, one, two, three. But again, that's what it's like when you get rocked sometimes. You're just like, oh, shit, you have to keep your composure. Oh, that's interesting. It's an old-school drill that the Liga boys, Balmoral Liga boys I'm more legal boys hat, so Eugene has done it a few times, but I might bring it back for some fun. Actually, I might do it for some content. That'd be a good idea.

I feel like it'd be fascinating. I've never seen that. You ever trained? Yeah, I've trained, but I'm just a one-stripe white belt.

I see. Nice.

But there's still some possibility.

Oh, you can still These levels.

Yeah, these levels.

You can still. Three stripes, imagine that. Fuck, you'll be a badass.

I'll fuck somebody up outside of a Jimmy Jones. You can be three stripes. Dude, I watched the documentary, man. It was really cool.

Thank you.

It was really interesting for you to just share about. It felt like what it's like to not only to have some of your history, but then also to the pressures of how things How does that change once you achieve your dreams and your goals, and then how some of that feels like it doesn't really fulfill maybe what you thought it was going to do. Yeah. I could relate to that a ton, man.

I'm sure. Wait, when did you blow up? What age would you say?

I would say five years ago. I think work started getting busier for me, probably.

About five years ago, you would have been. I'm glad I didn't find Fame at a young age. I say 25-year-old Izzy with everything that I have now, bad idea. Hey, Theo, bad idea. That's a story for later on. But I'm glad I found Fame later on, but still, they say, be careful what you wish for. I don't regret anything. I'm ready. I prepared for this life, but it's still surprising. Yeah, there's levels. There's all these variables you don't expect. I've set myself up now to the point where, okay, I've expressed enough. Like, how I've... An example, what's one? After the UFC 243 in Melbourne, I defended my belt. Against Whittaker. Against Whittaker. So I defended my belt the first time, I like to put it. And then going to the airport, I remember just thinking in the car like, Fuck, because I was just... It was so much stimulus because I just did what I did. And still to this date, the highest attendance in UFC history was 57,127 people. And all these everywhere I went, it was just crazy. Even the fight week, I went down the strip, just walked alone just because I was like, Let me enjoy this while I can, because I didn't know how long I would have that for.

I can still do it now, but because I have boundaries now, I didn't have that for a long time. But what I did on the way to the airport, going back to Enzit, I just put out a thing on my story or a tweet just saying, Look, if you see me at the airport, just approach me cautiously. You don't have to come yelling. Because for me, I was like, Oh, my God.

I'm sure you've had this. Yeah, it's crazy. It's very scary. Sometimes you think you're on fire.

Remember the bit in the movie where I didn't even plan it and they just drove by and I'm like, What the fuck? Oh, yeah. They raised my adrenaline up and then they came to my door. That's why I moved houses because people would just come to my door and Oh, my God. This is like 9:00 PM at night. I'm like, Yo. Let me borrow some quiche.

A guy tried to sell me a watch once. That's perfect.

Hold up. I went upstairs, came back down. I was like, I already got this It was a G-shot, like a black and gold one. Classic. But then for me, I just... Boundaries. I had to learn boundaries for myself.

Yeah, because you burn out. Yeah, it burns you.

After I do any media stuff or anything with fans, my people just know. My friend, my security, they just know, okay, I just go to my room and I just regroup or replenish my social battery, if you will. I'm sure you've had to deal with this as well.

Yeah, I didn't know that I had to do that. About two and a half years ago, things were going well. I was like, Being able to sell tickets and stuff, and just like, you work so hard for it. And I didn't know. I would go meet every fan after. I didn't know. I felt like I could never do enough to make people think that I was enough.

No, there's more. There's never enough because you give them an inch, they'll take them out. I haven't stopped signing these guys who just come camp at the fighter hotel. I don't even stay at the fighter hotel anymore. I always get my own space now just because I remember like, Can you sign this, please? And then they have a stack of shit. Totally. And then I didn't want to be the bad guy, so I'd sign everything. But it got to a point where I'm like, Hang on, that's not just for you. You're selling that. And just be honest. But again, don't take the piss and have 20 fucking gloves for me to sign.

I'm like, Yo, no, no, no. You sign this for my daughter. You sign this for my grandson.Oh.

My God.When they use their kids...He's six months old. I don't like it when they use their kids as a Trojan horse. They come with a kid, I'm like, I I'm like, Do you want to take a picture? Because sometimes the kid will be like, The fuck's this guy? I'm like, Do you want to take a picture? Or does your dad want to take a picture? Because if he just said, Oh, bro, I'm a big fan. Can't take a picture. That's cool. But again, it's just boundaries. Boundaries and respect. I just came back from the gym. I actually go to a public gym once in a while now because after the last lockdown, again, I come out into the world and people are all locked down. They're excited. The energy was always just... And I just didn't know how to deal with it because, again, I'm human, and I'd get really anxious and sometimes a little bit short with my fuse.

Oh, me too, for sure.

Bro, what the fuck? Yeah, let's take a photo, but chill. And then I realized, No, I got to fix this. So I went to a public gym just because I was like, immerse myself in people. And again, I'd have to tell people, No, not right now. I'm working. So that was my way of learning the reps of saying no. You have to learn how to say no, because if you don't say no, they'll just take. They'll take. They'll hold you hostage with the conversation as well. Yeah, I don't like that.

Oh, they're We FaceTime, my stepmother's dying. We FaceTime. They're like, Dude, look. She don't want to see me?

What am I going to do? Tell her some jokes.

Then I get on there and she's like, Who is it? The lady is like, What the fuck?

She doesn't give a fuck.

She doesn't give a fuck.

She has bigger problems.

She's trying to die.

She's trying.

Yeah, she's trying to hide whatever bad stuff is left in her home before God comes and gets her. Now she has to pretend that we can talk. But no, I just found it to be fascinating because I thought that once I got to a certain part of success, maybe, or if enough people knew me, I thought everything inside of me would be cool. When it wasn't, I It knocked me out because I was like, If this doesn't fix whatever is going on inside of me, then I don't know what else could fix it.

It's never external. It's always here, internal. I had to learn that from watching other people. Like, example, But Rashaad Evans, when he won the belt, UFC 92, he said he thought it would be different, but it didn't feel any different. He just felt meh. Okay, I've done it. And I felt the same way. So when I won the belt, I was like, Did it feel different? I still feel the same because I always felt like I was the best. I always said, This is just a fancy tiara. It comes with me. Just keep winning. So I never chased a belt, ever. I've never chased the belt. I've never even identified myself on my bio or to people as... Unless for promo, I say, UFC middleweight champion. But apart from that, no, I know who I am. The belt doesn't make me. I make the belt. I'm still me. Look how many people are calling me out, and I'm not even the champion currently. I'm Israel Adesong. I feel like my name has transcended the belt itself. I don't need the belt to show I'm a champion because how you carry yourself is what makes you a champion.

But I'm still learning, though, constantly, every day.

That's what I got from the documentary, too. It was cool, man. It was inspiring. It was inspiring. I appreciate that. It really was, man. Because a lot of that I could relate to, too. I remember when I was growing up, I just wanted to be seen. I remember you saying that at one point. It was like, for some reason, I'm going to make people see me, and I don't even know what it meant or anything. It was like a lighthouse that was inside of me. Did you get bullied? I just got like- Were you a bully? I wasn't a bully. I just didn't get any attention. Now, this haircut might have bullied. This haircut might have.

You're the same size.

Give me your orange wing. Look, I was feared in a lot of softball circles because of my haircut.

They're like, This guy's dangerous.

Yeah, this guy. This fella. But no, I think I just did. I think I just felt like I didn't want anything to define me except for me. That was like, and I don't even know where it came from, but it was like, I didn't want to attach I could attach myself to anything. I wanted to walk to school and not take the bus. I didn't want anybody determining. The only way you were going to learn about me was through me. That was it. There was nobody else you could add. It was all, especially in my voice, it was the only thing that I had that was mine. It was like, I'm going to use this.

Are you an only child?

No, I got three siblings, but I think I felt like an only human, probably. Oh, wow. I felt like an only human.

A lot of solitude growing up.

Yeah, just a lot of lack of connection with family. Just felt like I was in my own... World. Yeah, just working freelance. It felt like- Were you the oldest? No, I got an older brother.

Older brother. So you're middle?

Yeah, middle. But we had a lot of just addiction and people. It just wasn't like no connection. So I felt like I'm sentenced into this family, but There's no real family here.

You guys didn't have dinner at the table? None of that?

No, we just had fights. It was always fighting and a lot of violence. It just didn't feel like anything. So it felt like I'm never going to let anything define me again. Yeah. God got me one time with where I'm born. He got me there. But after this- Where's this from? Where are you from?

I'm from Louisiana. I was going to say same as DC.

Yeah, Cormier.

Cormier and Justin Poirier.

Poirier. Who else is from there? Alan Joban is from down there now. I know Alan Joban. He's real Cajun. He's a handsome fighter. God.

He is good-looking. He's a model, actually. He's a model for Calvin Klein.

Dude, if you- Everybody. Then he's modeling against Calvin Qatar. It's like, you got to fight. Bro, pick a hat. It's like, if I were that good looking, I don't think I would have got in the rank.

What did Ali say? It's a pretty one you got to watch out for because you try... I used to do Fashion Week when I was younger, but I think it's just because I'm one of the only Black guys out here, so it was just token.

Yeah, I thought there would be... Because there's Mori people here. Mori, yeah. Mori. Yeah, you got it. And there's- The islanders as well, like the Samuans and Tongans.

They're the big fellows.

Oh, yeah. There's some people. You'll see some of them. You can't get around them. You got to... Yeah, I had to go around the block, get around one guy. Get in the orbit.

No, but there was...

Who else? Yeah, there's not a lot of, I guess, what most of the universe would probably consider Black folks here. Is that true?

Yeah, facts. Wow. Even when I first moved to New Zealand, I was in a little town called Rotorua. One of the only Black families there. You would have seen in the documentary. Yeah, I saw it. Definitely. Even when I went back to the creek I used to play at, those kids were like-Oh, yes, all those kids, they were amped up. I'm like, Yeah, bro, I used to play on this creek because my house was literally right there. I'm surprised it's still there. It was beautiful. But again, one of the only Black kids, so people didn't understand, so they'd pick on me. But my way of getting around that was dancing. Dance was where I got my street cred.

Yeah. It was incredible, man. Watching the documentary was cool because one thing I learned a lot is that you're such an... You like to be an entertainer, huh? Yeah. You You just love it. I love it.

It's fun. Yeah, because I think for me early on, it was just to get people to like me. Back in Nigeria or when I lived in Ghana for a brief, it was just my way of expressing myself. But when I moved to this country and I realized I dance better than everybody in my school, I was like, Okay, that's my thing. So then I kept on. And I tried to make people like me just so I could fit in. But again, not everyone's going to like you. I didn't understand how to deal with that when I was 13, 14, 12. It's a nightmare.

Especially if nobody's telling you how to deal with it.

I'm trying to do that now with the young guys. That's so important, bro. The young guys around me, I try and tell them because I try and be honest with them. This is where I'm at in my career. This is when I was your age, I was here, and I give it to them raw. Let them know the truth without sugar coating it. And then they appreciate that because then they can take from... They'll make their own mistakes. They can take from my mistakes and try not to make the same mistakes or dumb mistakes that I made.

I think when I was a kid, I wish somebody just would have given me a little more information about what was going on. I was making up all my own rules in my head, and so then I created this own universe and checks and balances. Yeah, that's how it lived. This episode is sponsored by Prizepicks. Do you love Firing on sports? Well, Prizepicks is the best daily fantasy sports app for you. You can fire on all your favorite sports like the NBA, NHL, UFC, and more. Instead of choosing teams, you choose individual players. This is what I really love about prize picks. Each player has a set projection, and you either choose more or less than that set projection. For example, if you believe that Connor McDavid is going to score more than half a goal, and Duncan Robinson is going to score less than 21 points, then those can be your choices. If you're smart with sports and you know what players are going to perform on what night, prize picks is the app for you. Download the app and use code Theo. Prizepicks will match your deposit up to $100. You want more from delivery?

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Yeah, that's how I lived.

What was it like in Nigeria? Do you have any memories of it?

Heaps. Yeah. Nigeria, I grew up, I was born and raised in Lagos City, and my family was quite well off. When I say this, people normally think like, Oh, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I was. But I still had to do chores. This is why sometimes people try and help me iron my clothes. I'm like, No, I got it, because my dad would be like, Bola G, come on, iron my eye on my shirt for work, all that stuff. I did the dishes. I swept the compounds, clean up the kennel, the dog kennel. Just because my parents were rich doesn't mean I didn't have to work. I had to earn my keep. I learned hard work from them as well. Even Moving to New Zealand, when my mom became a nurse, or she was in nursing school, my dad would let her sleep in her cleaning job. Me and him will go to the bank and clean around 04:00 AM. This is in Rotarua, the town I was talking about. Around 04:00 AM, go and help her clean just so she can get enough sleep to go to school the next day.

That's nice. That sounds like a thoughtful guy, huh?

Yeah. My dad's the best. My dad is a real G. He's one of the coolest gangsters I know. I'm not talking street gangster. He's just a mathematical word contract type business gangster. I've said this before. Look, rest in peace to Habib's dad. He was in his corner in fighting. Michael Jordan has his dad on the court. So is Steph Curry, a lot of other dads as well in football. But my dad helps me off the court. And I said this again, and I'll say it again and again, the UFC knows what I got paid or what I get paid, but they don't know what I'm worth. And that's thanks to my dad. Oh, yeah. Because my dad is a chartered accountant by by trade, and he just knew how to flip my money for me. Because every time I came back from China, I think I came back when I lived there, I came back with six figures or five figures, high five figures. And then he tried to help me invest in. I was like, I don't want to have a house. He has Too much responsibility because I was young and dumb, and I went broke again.

So I realized every time I don't listen to this guy, I go broke. I should start listening to him. So as soon as I got in the UFC, I was like, Right, what do I do? First thing we did, buy my first house. And then now it's going crazy. But again, that's thanks to my dad. But who else would you rather have in your corner that has the best interest? Without him, I would have been ripped off so many times, man. Because people, it's just in their nature. They take advantage. They see like, oh, this guy's not really He didn't pay attention. Or, he just signed that contract. He didn't even... Shit. So I don't sign shit without my pups looking at it and then giving me the green light. Like, Yeah, it's cool. Boom. Because he'll send it back with highlighted bits, amend that. That's what? Perpetuity. No, we can't have that. Amen, that.

Yeah, it's interesting because sometimes you'll feel like you trust somebody else more than you would trust your own kin or family. Been there. It's weird. I don't know why that is. I don't know if it's because- Because you grew up with them.

We're familiar with them.

Yeah, you want to branch out. You're like, I can do this myself. Yeah, that's probably it.

Silly.

Was there traditions that you missed about Nigeria? Because to somebody, it sounds fascinating to a lot of people.

Yeah, there's a lot of... See, Even now, Afrobeats has taken over the globe with our sound. I think we created Afrobeats, and that's mainstream now. Dances that we do, the way that we dress. But again, I love my people. I love my culture. It's just the government, the greedy motherfuckers, the old ancient dudes that are still running the country, still finding ways to just rip people off, embezel money, all that stuff. It happens worldwide, but it happens really bad in Nigeria. And then they're just selling the country to different entities and whatnot. But in time, the young generation, the guys now who have grown up with the Internet, they're the ones who are seeing the bullshit and changing it.

Yeah. Ufc was saying that they might do their first start a fight center in Africa. That has to be... Does that feel cool to you? Do you feel any connection to that? A hundred %.

I feel humbly.

Bro, that's crazy.

Humbly, I feel like Guys like myself, Kamaru and Francis. Even before, Sokoju paved the way for them to do that. And now, Drikus Dupleixi, he's an African champion. I would never, ever take that away from him, even though he tried to do that from us. But yeah, so we're paving the way for the next generation. And I think, I don't even think I know, said this, once we grasp this MMA shit, once we grasp it, because I've seen the talent out there. Look at me. I'm scrawny. I keep saying I'm the runt of my people. You look at guys like Kamaru and Francis. There's so many of them just walking around, just rocking their face, brick laying, mechanics. And you see them, they just brawl like as fuck.

Working at a pet shop.

Yeah, honestly.

Imagine, fucking, tomorrow, selling you a bunny.

You're like, Man, you missed out, bro. You should be a fighter. But there's so many of them over there, and they don't even have the best nutrition. Sometimes, they don't have the best of what we have.

Oh, it's going to change the game.

And now that they can see that's happened, now there's four African champions that have come from the country or the continent of Africa, sorry. It's crazy.

Yeah, exactly. Because the level of inspiration of some kid laying and he sees the fight, he gets off of his brother's phone, he's watching or something, and then he lays in his bed and the electricity in his body.

I get the messages all the time.

Fucking like, This could happen to me. Something could happen to me.

They see that we've done it. It's like the four-minute mile. We've unlocked that in your brain. It's possible. Even For me, when I told my parents I wanted to fight, they were like, What the fuck? No.

We just left a country because we were fighting.

Yeah. So it was like, Why do you want to fight? No, no, no. Because my parents thought it was beneath me. They wanted me to do something that was more prestigious, like my dad is an accountant or a lawyer or a doctor, but my grades weren't... They weren't shit.

He had fighters grades. Yeah, he had fighters grades.

I was that guy, so I was not cut out for that. That's like Poirier, man.

Yeah. He's like, I got eighth grade. He's like, Actually, I did I did form three twice, though. So I was like, Well, I guess that counts.

I did form three twice. Well, some classes I had to repeat. But again, I wasn't cut out for it. My brain was always just wired differently. Whenever I might be dyslexic. I don't know. I've never really looked into diagnosing myself or anything because I feel... I don't want it to limit me. But I know the way I read words sometimes. Even when I read a book, sometimes I won't get the whole thing, so I have to go back and read. That's why I love audiobooks and podcasts, so I can just listen and do other stuff. But reading is a little bit weird to me. But I lost my train of thought.

We were just talking about the inspiration for the kids. I mean, just the fact that some kid could like...

They wanted me to be something prestigious, but no. I'm a dreamer. I'm a daydreamer. I could sit there and I still do emotes as a 34-year-old. I'll just be in the gym and you'll see me emoting, but my head is somewhere else.

Oh, yeah. Same, man. I think sometimes, yeah, I got late to the emo game, I think somehow, and a lot of the shit is still dropping off sometimes.

I just make my own ones up. I'm a creative person, and I feel like that's just how you express yourself. This game of life, it's a game of life. It's a dangerous game of life if you make it, but I feel like you can play the game how you want to play the game. This is your avatar. This is your character. You can customize this however you want, regardless of what anyone else thinks. As long not hurting anyone unless they sign on the contract. But just doing you, that's the best way.

New Zealand's interesting like that, I think. There's a lot of interesting characters here. Oh, yeah.

I'll take you down K Road. It's just up the street somewhere.

Is it Kedamine Road? Yes.

It could be.

Because there's some street over here. We've seen some people, you got a guy just going up like this. You can't tell if he's on like, meth or yoga.

It's crazy on K Road. It's not Too bad. In the daytime, you get some crazies. Yeah, you get some crazy. I've almost been... What was one? A guy tried to stab me with a stapler. This is outside the sky tower. I finished, this is probably like six, seven years ago, and he was getting cheeky or something. He wanted you to stay here. Yeah.

He might leave.

Yeah. He tried to stay with me. I was like, the fuck? First of all, you're homeless. Where did you get a stapler from? What was he going to do? Hit me with a stapler. People are crazy, though. Yeah. Drugs will make you do weird things.

Yeah, I feel lucky. I went down that road, but I'm not down it anymore. That's good. What's interesting, too, I think for Africa is, say if you start to get organized fighting in a place, and it's real organized. It almost takes the value off of the bullshit fighting people are doing for no reason. You know what I'm saying? The streets. Right. It starts to be like, if you're a street fighter, you almost feel like, I'm dumb I'm out here because that's where at least it starts to change where the focus of it is. So I could see that being super helpful to just curb a lot of that type of violence and stuff that they have.

I think even me, it's been a long time since anyone has tried me in the streets because now I'm known. But before that, when I was only known in Auckland, you get people who just, they're drunk. I'm drunk on a night out. They think, Oh, this guy. Oh, yeah, you're a tough guy. You're that kickboxer guy. But I'm just like, Bro, I'm I'm not going to whip your ass for free. I get paid for this shit. I'm not even working for free. Yeah, I'm not. No. Why would I whip your ass for free? Even now, my knockouts in the UFC, you get a bonus 50K, and I get paid crazy money to fight. But why would I do that for free? Also, if I hurt someone, it's assault with a deadly weapon because I'm a trained professional. I don't want to put... That's why I have... People think I have security for me? No. It's for people. It's for the public, because sometimes Sometimes people will try and get a reaction out of you. I'm a very patient guy, as I've said, and sometimes no. Oh, yeah. So I'm glad I have them to be like, Right, let's change the situation so that way I don't get in trouble for it.

Yeah, I've had a couple of instances where it's like I needed a security person because my perspective wasn't good. No. People that have come up and to start filming you, they're fucking with you, though, and they're trying to get a reaction, right? Yeah. One time, I don't even want to talk about it too much because then people are going to start doing it more. But yeah, I'm just glad it just ended because it could have got bad because then you get heated and the next thing you know.

You're a human being. You're a man. You got testosterone. If someone tries to punk you, you're like, Who the fuck are you? Allegedly, it might have slapped a couple of people. Yeah. Allegedly. Because, okay, example, I hate when they do this, man. I'm walking through a crowd and a guy just, let's go, champ. Out of nowhere, just slaps me on the back four times. What the fuck? I was like, Bro, it's like when Will Smith did... He did it to, what's it called? Chris Rock. Not like that, but he did it to this reporter one time where he backhanted him because the guy tried to... He was messing with him, trying to kiss him. He was like, What the fuck, man?

Something is a reaction. What are you going to do?

Well, I mean, they say, What? Hit first. Or if you get... What do you call it? Wait till you get hit. Or if they're I'm not going to fuck with you, but I'm like, No, I'm not. Like, chill something. I can't let you get close. I can't let... Once you break that barrier, that range, and you seem like a threat, I have to defend myself.

Yeah, and your instincts are so tuned to that shit that you got to trust your instincts as well.

My friends don't scare me anymore. It was funny at first, but they don't scare me anymore.

Jump scares because I don't like them. Oh, you're jumping out from behind the shit?

No, when they're trying to scare me, I'm very quick. Oh, yeah? Yeah. But luckily, I'm controlled with what I do, but I can just turn around and pop. Some kung fu shit. I know. Yeah. Yeah.

Watching you, it feels like you're watching a fucking violent drawing or something.

Damn, I like that. That's a good address. Interesting. Good address, dude. Violent drawing. You were at, I think, my first fight you ever saw was me versus Gastelum.

Yeah, it was amazing. I got to meet your brother. You guys walked by in the hallway. Yeah, that's right. And I got to meet David, man.

It was-Was that when my face was all lumpy? Like a potato.

Bro, that was an insane fight. Classic.

One of the best fights in history of mankind. It was unbelievable.

Yeah, that fight, I think was... And then that was also Poirier and Hollowey were on that card.

They fucking set it up for the core main event. Then for us to have to do that at the main event.

So cool. Yeah. If there's a fight in Africa, like the first card, is that something that you...

Come on. Yes, definitely. 100%. It should have happened a long a time ago, but again, so many red tapes to get over.

Dude, it would be like the Thrilla in Manila. Remember that? Bro, I mean, it's going to be-We're going to Africa.

Yeah. People are going to be outside. I've seen it. I've seen this. I've said this many times, but the shower is the most honest place in the planet. I feel. I'm in my birthday suit, and I have the element of water running over me. So it helps me just create all this white space. And I could just go in my head and just create. I've seen, I've predicted, I've manifested, I've made things happen in there that come to fruition. And I've seen it so many times when I get to South Africa or Morocco or Nigeria, wherever it is the event is, when I get there and my people see me, it It's mob city. It's like that last time I went to Nigeria at the airport. It was just... It was insane. The police officers, the street thugs, the area boys who were doing 419. They all just... Everybody.

Yeah, they fuck with me. Even the people in In the comas or fucking- The dead bodies on the road.

It was like, Oh, shit. I just want to...

They'll die tomorrow. Yeah.

No, but I love the love I get out there, man. I love the love I get out there.

Well, the energy of that would be crazy. Would that probably be versus DDP for the belt, you think?

Drickus, yeah, definitely. There's some things that were meant to happen. They summoned me. They summoned me. I'm sure this is out there now. Eugene said some stuff. But they summoned me. They summoned me for 300. And I was like, Yeah, let's roll. But their side didn't want it. So I was like, Well, fuck it. I'm just going to keep-Who?

Ddp side?

Yeah, they didn't want it. But they just fought strictly. So maybe he had a little bit niggly injuries and stuff. But we all got niggles and whatnot. But I've fought injured for the last how many fights. So that's why I took time off, just to let my body heal. And it has healed. I'm sure there'll be more injuries. It just happens through training. What we do for work- I can't even imagine. It just constantly. It's always something, your finger, your toe, your back, your legs, whatever it might be, your ankle.

Yeah, I hurt my neck the other day just looking for something.

Out here?

Yeah, I was just looking like that, and I was like, Oh, fuck. Something got me.

Be like that, man. You're 43. I forget.

Yeah, it's crazy, man.

Do you train at all? What do you do?

Yep, I do yoga.

Nice. Are you flexible?

I'm about 12 miles a week. Yeah, I'm doing pretty good, man. Nice. Because on stage, I want to be able to show as much as I You're very animated. It's really important because I like to move. Also, when you move, sometimes a new thought can come into your head because you hit a motion, and that's what keeps me inspired.

That's all dancing. That's what happens. That's how you freestyle. Next movement. It just leads to the next movement, and it can create a new thought. That's beautiful the way you put that. I didn't realize it was like that for you as well.

Yeah, sometimes I'll be like, Oh, man, if I just hit that, and then it's almost like if you use your instrument, it will use you in a way. Sometimes I feel that. Like a sword. Yeah. What about... Demetrius Johnson was talking about to beat DDP, you would need to brush up on your ground game.

For me? Yeah. Yeah, I got some. I got a little some.

Do you prefer to fight guys where it's more like... Because some people like to fight up top, like Poria is like that. He likes to... And it's fun to watch him there. Some of the fights where it's on the ground, honestly, respect 100%, but they can be a little less exciting.

Yeah, especially for the fans because they've been there since five hours, six hours drinking, and they're just like, God, I'm standing in my ref. I enjoy grappling. I enjoy it. I love it. But no one's been able to keep me in that position. That's the thing in how many UFC fights. People think, Oh, he's about to get exposed in this fight. Actually, the only person was no, Yon, but he didn't do anything. He just used his weight. He didn't try and finish me. He didn't really try and beat me up to last eight seconds. But yeah, he just wanted to win the round, so he kept me there and used his weight, and I wasn't really used to that at the time.

That's a good point. Yeah, Costa couldn't catch... Yeah, a lot of the guys, they can't catch you. So you can't say, Hey, this guy doesn't like to go to the ground. It's like, well, if you can't get him to the ground, he shouldn't lay down there and meet a guy down there. What am I going to do?

Butt scoop? Be like, Come on, buddy. I'm not going to get you. No, I'm great on the feet, so I like to keep the fight standing, but I do enjoy the clench. I enjoy the clench. I enjoy the ground as well. But in the gym, it's different than in a fight, and I'm getting more comfortable on the ground than the gym, which makes me even better in a fight. But yeah, just no one's been able to take me and keep me there to see anything.

Yeah, that shouldn't be like, That's not a fault of yours. It's interesting because sometimes you'll just hear a lead. You'll hear a lead and you'll be like, Yeah, that's right.

Yeah. I mean, fake news. It happens all the time. They just throw something out there, hope it sticks, and everyone latches on to it, and then that can just be clicks, views, attention. That turns to money for them.

Is that the same in New Zealand, you feel like?

Yeah, everywhere, worldwide. Now everyone got these, so everyone just thinks people just run up on you. Start filming I'm like, So I'm trying to get a... Randomly, what was I doing? I was about to go fishing, so I was filling up the skis. And then a guy waiting me and watching me. I was like, You want to take a pic? Okay, let's step away from the gas pump because it says no phone. We took a pic, and he goes, Hold on, hold on. No. So I was like, What are you doing? I'm not like a random pop-up interview. You think you're a TMZ?

I wonder what may... In our society, I guess we just see that more because you see younger people do it without even thinking that it's weird.

Entitlement. It's entitlement. It's entitlement. And I've had people even say, Oh, but you're famous. I'm like, Fuck, no. I'm a human being. No. Just because... Look, I've always said this, Fuck Fame, but I like the perks. If I had known what Fame would have brought, I would have just rather being rich. I only wanted to get famous so I could be rich, so I can have money, so I can do whatever I wanted to whenever I wanted to, the life I live right now. But the Fame was not what I expected, and I'm grateful I was waiting for it. But at the same time, I had to learn how to adapt to the newfound Fame when it came.

Oh, it's heartbreaking, some of it. People don't want to hear that. I know it's like people don't want to hear that. A part of you disappears that you didn't even realize was about to leave, and I didn't even get write everything down that I knew about that guy. And that's the shit that Sinaz makes me... I don't know. I'm not trying to sound like self-pity or anything. No, be honest. Be vulnerable. Yeah, there's a cost to everything. And there's a part of me, it's like, Man, I don't I even... I wish I remembered a little bit more what I was like because I really liked myself then, and then now it's like a different self. You always have to learn about a new self.

Yeah, you have to make peace with your new life.

Yes, that's the thing.

Yeah, make peace with your new This is it now. This is my life now. I think I did that about two years ago because, okay, I used to love grocery shopping. I'd have my headphones in, and I'd just be blah, blah, just listen to a podcast on music.Mackle more, maybe.Mackle more, maybe. Yeah, sliding around on the cart. That was fun. I don't do that anymore because the grocery store, you just get every step. Can I get a photo? And then it becomes a meet and greet, and I'm like, no, boundaries. I've had that before where people were just around me and my boy Matt was like, Bro, you're just a toy that pass around. Because people were just like, Oh, my turn, my turn, my turn. And some of them wouldn't even know anything about fighting. That's the worst. And then they just want to-Who are you?

My husband said something.

Oh, my God. The worst is when, especially when bitch is trying like, Who are you? I'm like, It's all good. Don't worry about it. No, but like, who are you? And I'm like, Baby, who are you? I don't know who you are either. It's mutual. They do it on purpose to blow you. They think it does, but I'm like, Bitch, I don't give a fuck. It's like, Who are you? I'm like, Well, who are you? I actually enjoy meeting people for the first time because it's rare for me these days. So when I meet someone and they're like, Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know you. I'm like, No, it's okay. I'm Israel. What's your name? Oh, nice to meet you. I can actually meet them without them having a preconceived notion of who they think I am from TV or YouTube or my promos or anything like that, they can actually meet me from me face value. I enjoy that, but people think because of how they would be if they were in my position, they think I'm going to be like, Everybody knows me. No matter where I go, I still introduce myself because it's just rude if you don't.

It's weird when people don't. But no, I agree. One of the things that I miss, I used to love meeting people. It was one of my favorite things to do because it was almost like a brand new show. You got a new chance to feel a certain way with somebody. You could brighten their day. You could have anything. The world was... All the options were there. Then the fact that that's not the case sometimes now It's a blessing. I'm not saying that, but it is a bummer sometimes because I miss that thing like, Oh, here's a new space I get to play in. You could make things up. It was just fun.

I love that. Like I said, new people, new countries whenever I go there. I was just in Switzerland, and I met a couple of new people, but I was there for some work. And yeah, new culture, new food. Even the weather was muggy, but I loved it. I was like, I'm experiencing what it's like to be in Switzerland when it's cold. And I saw the sun. Out of three days, I saw the sun once. The guy who even brought me there was like, Yeah, last time I saw the sun was like two weeks ago. It's different out there, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the vibe and just meeting new people. This world's too big, man. We can't all just be in our own little bubble.

Yeah, it's so important to get out, man. Even coming here was interesting, coming to New Zealand. First time? Yeah. Seeing what it's like. I had no idea what it was going to be like. People are like, We don't have We don't have any snakes.

Yeah, we don't.

Nothing dangerous.

Not these kinds, but there's some snakes in the streets.

You don't have a fucking ozone layer either.

Bro, my guy, I'm telling you.

When you got here, how black were you?

I was black. Were you really?

Yeah, I swear. Because I've been here. I think I have skin.

Maybe light skin now, semi-light skin.

In two days, people are going to start calling me Nelly around here, I think.

No, but for me, I went fishing the other day. No, this That's one the other week. I thought, you know what? I'm black. I'm protected by melanin. By God. Yeah, by God. Amen. Ordained. But for me, I don't need sunblock. But I put on my tattoo just to protect them. But then my skin started peeling the next day. My shoulder because the life jacket was on me, so my shoulders were peeling, my neck, my face. I was like, what the fuck is this? Then someone told me, Oh, your sunburn. I was like, what? I was like, Oh, that's right, because in Nigeria, in the continent of Africa, we have an ozone layer. They don't have that here. When I get It's not by the sun here, it's-It's like God's not even wearing a condom out here. Act just raw. My God. Raw dogging you, the sun is.

It's unbelievable. It's really crazy.

Have you been to any beaches here yet?

We're going tomorrow to maybe O'ahu.

O'ahu. O'ahu Island. O'hickey Island. Okay, you enjoy it there. There's some nice beaches there.

Yeah, people are like- You're the black sand ones. People are like, You got to get out. We just got here. People are like, You got to leave. You got to get out. You need to go to here. It's just like everybody wants you to leave. It's like, We You just got here.

There's some fun stuff in Oakland. Oakland's fun. I like the city because-Yeah, what makes you stay here?

My gym.

Really? Definitely. My gym, 100%. I would have been fucked off by now. Like, gone. I'm just gipsy and traveling around. But my gym keeps me here because They're my people, and they're the ones that got me to where I'm at. So that's loyalty.

That's huge. You got great guys over there. Dan Hooker's there. I love Dan. Is he a cool guy?

He's the best.

Bro, he seems so entertaining.

He's an asshole, but he's the best. I love him.

Cara, France. There's so many guys I'm sure that I don't know.

I don't know a lot of the fighters. There's new ones coming up as well. Carlos is now in the UFC. Kevin is in the UFC. Even Tyson Pedro is training with us now. Tyson will be coming tonight to see the show. Oh, sweet, man. Yeah. So I can't wait for that. How was last night? How was the show? It was good.

Yeah? Yeah, I thought it was good. It was scary because you don't know what you can say. You'll be telling a story, you're like, Oh, shit. They don't have this business. I'm not about to reference.

Does it relate?

Yeah. Now you've gone six minutes into a story. You just have to give up. You're like a senior citizen or something.

I get the reference to sometimes when I... Maybe even Eddie Murphy, Delarious. There was a few references I didn't understand when I watched it the first time because I was like, I didn't live in America, so I didn't know what he was talking about. But you get older, so you understand. That's that. That's that shit he was talking about.

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If not, I would have been gone. I would have been gipsying around. But also my family's here. I got siblings in Australia as well. They're gipsying around. But I think the gym keeps me here. I like the fact that New Zealand is not too grandiose in a sense. Auckland is not so big where it's going to take me, unless it's traffic, it's going to take me hour and something to get across town. I don't like that. In Sydney or certain Australian territories, it takes you an hour and a half to go from here to here. I'm like, That's a no from me.

Yeah. No, I think it's a super unique place. I'll say this, it's one of the most unique places that I've been. I wish I was going to get to travel around the country more. I'm going to come back and do it again.

South Island next time.

That's what everybody says. You're like, Shit, I wish I would have asked anybody.

Yeah, South Island.

But it's great, though. Everybody's been super nice. It's interesting what people think of what life means here. It's interesting, I find.

It's a bit more compared to maybe where you're from. Laidback, you'd say?

Yeah, they don't take themselves as serious. I think it allows for a lot more peace, probably in their own world. A lot of individuality here. That's one thing I could see because you were a hyper It's like an individual, it seems like. I could see it be like, Oh, this makes sense. This is a very-It cultivated me in a sense because I was trying to fit in, but I wasn't meant to fit in.

I don't even sound like I'm from here because I was influenced by TV and all That stuff. But individuality here or individualism, you still get that crabs in the bucket mentality. People will try and do that.

People don't want you being fancy here. They don't want you getting braces here.

No, man.

It's like, Hey, bro, are you going to be the fucking mayor?

They want you to be... They'll try to support you. I think it's worldwide, but it's a weird thing with Australia and New Zealand. I can't remember what the history is, but you downplaying your achievement Yeah.

A lot of humility.

That's not real humility, though. That's bullshit. That's like saying you don't want to seem bigger than yourself. If I know I'm the man, I'm going to say I'm the fucking man. I know who I am because I'm treated wherever I go, but they don't like you saying that outwardly here because it's not humble. But I'm like, no, that's being fake because I'm not really expressing how I feel. Like, example, one the national teams will win something crazy, like the World Cup or whatever. They get on the mic and it's like, Oh, yeah, no, we did all right. Yeah, we just want to thank the Lord Jesus for... I'm like, Bro, say how you feel. Say it with your chest. Fucking did it. Yeah. I want people to express. And I've said this already. There was a viral video that went when I won this Sportsman of the Year New Zealand Award, and I gave the speech and it went viral for a while, but it wasn't going to change the culture. But I'm just stating the fact. I was like, Being humble is when Dan Hooker punches me in the face. That's real humility, right?

Because then I have to address, Okay, how do I deal with that? When Carlos kicks me in the leg, that's real humility. But me trying to be confident. Yeah, but me trying to, say, be subservient to make other people feel better about themselves. Put it this way, even recently- It's interesting.

It's like you don't want to be subservient to your own spirit. Yeah. Because I'm doing myself a disservice.

For me, Even recently, I realized... How do I put this without seeing it seem pompous? I realized I've lived the peasant life, if you put it this way. My last job was September fourth, 2013. Next day, I moved to China. I planned for months to make that happen. I failed three times before it actually happened. I've lived that life. I've lived for the weekend, all that stuff. But then the bigger I got, I still fell into that trap where I didn't want to seem like I was too cool.

Oh, yeah. I get afraid a lot of times of being proud. It's a weird thing of almost being proud of yourself in a way. You should be. You don't want people to know you're proud of yourself.

Yeah, but I didn't want to seem like I'm too cool. So I still try and relate to the commoners, if you will. When I'm out, I'm talking about a bar outside. You want to seem normal. Yeah, and I am normal. And you are. But I can still walk around the street, but I just know. I know I'm the shit, but I know I ain't shit. That's a good balance It's always fluctuating. I know I'm the shit, and sometimes I ain't shit. It's a good balance to have.

I think it's a good balance for anybody. It is. Yeah, you're right. I think the society here, maybe they have a different approach to some of that. Maybe some of that needs to evolve. But yeah, I think it's okay to... You're just learning about your own spirit and how do I navigate this.

No one gave me a book of being like, This is how you... Now you're famous. Here's what you do. No. Even me, sometimes I might not be in the mood. I might be having a shit day. The day my cat died, I was having a really shit day. The guy at the gas station again was like, Oh, my God. Bro, bro, hold up. Bro, Adesanya, bro, can you talk to my cousin? I'm like, Bro, my cat just died this morning. I don't really... And he's like, Oh, not all good, G. I'm like... Now you feel bad. I felt bad. I was like, Give me the phone. And then I grabbed the phone and I was talking to him. I was like, Wait, hang on. Nigger, I'm pumping gas. Fuck, go away. I was like, Bro. And then I'm a bad guy forever. And then that's the That's the story they have about me. But again, I'm comfortable with that now. When people have a bad story about me, I'm like, They probably deserved it. Because when people bring manners and respect, I reflect that back, and they get more out of me. I'll stick around with them.

Even if I'm in a rush. I still try and make people feel seen. I still want to make them feel like we connected. Even for a brief moment, I'm not doing photos right now. I'm in a rush, but I love you. I love you, and I just move. But again, I'll try and connect with them and let them I really appreciate you.

I think it's the best that you can do, man. I really do.

I'm human. Yeah. I'm human.

It's a crazy thing that you don't learn how to be. There's so many nice parts about it, but there's parts about it that are Especially nowadays with the viralness of things, you can't ever go back. Anyway, we're going to start to sound like a couple of cyberbats. If we keep talking about it.

But it's interesting. The thing is, it's relatable. To you and me, it's relatable because you live this life as well. I don't get to talk about this with most people. That's a good point, man. My friends, they can understand because they see it, but most people don't get it. They'll never get it because they're not in this position.

I've been afraid sometimes to get... I have a nice home. I've been afraid to even go look sometimes at a real fancy home or something, or maybe they had a little bit more space or a garage where I could put two cars or something.

You can only put one in your garage now? Yeah. Really?

Because Because I think there's a big part of me that- You want to be humble. Well, it's like, I don't know who would I be. I don't know who I am if I'm in this. If you have an extra space for the car. Yeah. Now, I think- It's like I know. So much of my life, I've been able to manage what's going on. It's gotten a little bit tougher for sure over the past few years. But I'm like, if I had another element, then will I even know? Am I going to get further You're away from myself, I guess.

No, you'll be fine. Knowing who you are, you'll be fine. You'll be able to handle having a nicer house. It's just things are easier. But money would have changed me. If it was going to change me, it would have changed me years ago, probably about four years ago, it would have changed me if money was going to change me. You get to a certain point when you make so many M's and you just like, it doesn't really matter because you're already... As long as I can put a full tank of gas in, I don't even check the price of gas. I just put a full tank in. That's when I know I'm good. Because I remember the days when I'd be like, Can I get $10 on number five, please? Thank you. I remember those days. I did that. I was me. Even $5. Just $5 on number five, please. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. But now I could just go, Phil, boom. I didn't even got to go inside. I used my card. Bang. That's when I know I'm comfortable. And as long as I can do that, I'm good. Anything else is just bonuses.

It's just bonuses. Like I said, I would rather be rich than famous, but I I do appreciate the fame because it brought me this life, so I'm grateful.

When you're a good entertainer, and that's one of the interesting things to see, too, it's a blessing. It's like one of the cool things about being a good entertainer is sometimes God will even Move this entertainer along so more people can see him. It's like I was interviewing this guy, Billy Strings, a couple of weeks ago, this guitarist, and he grew up in Michigan, just like drug and big drug culture, people all around him dying, opioids, everything. He has a tough time with people coming to see him and paying tickets to see and stuff. I was like, But, dude, you don't know the guy who's cleaning up after your show, he might be listening to your music that's keeping his fucking date. It's like sometimes God uses all of us as candles, I feel like at certain moments.

We're all vessels. We can all be used at any moment, any given moment. You need another water? I'm good for now. Okay. Now, you're great on the mic, so you've It's definitely been a vessel at times. I think how I actually became a fan of you wasn't just your comedy. It was one clip. If you probably scroll up to our first conversation, I would have sent it to you. It was something of you being vulnerable on the Like, and I think you even got Thierry, and I was just, I related to what you said, and I was just like, and that's when I DMed you, and I was like, Oh, this guy follows me. So I followed you back and then talk like, Bro, I really appreciate you being this vulnerable. I can't remember what it was, but I felt that. I felt that. I think I remember when Bert Christ, the same thing, he was talking to Tom and talking about his daughters and something and how he feels like he's not doing enough and whatnot. And I was just like, That shit hits me, bro. I'm a softy, man. I'm a softy. I'm hard as fuck because look what I do for a job.

But I'm a softy. My heart's strange. Sometimes something will just hit me and I'm just like...

I see two people hug at an airport and I just start fucking.

Oh, you know. Yeah.

When somebody waiting for flowers for somebody to come, I'm like, Oh.

Yeah, dude. Those moments, man, yeah.

I'm crying in the handicaps. All people are like, What's going on? No, it's interesting, man. Well, I don't think I started to evolve. I got into recovery from drugs and alcohol probably six years ago, and that's when I started for the first time in my life. Before that, I'd been a-Was it bad, bad? It wasn't crazy bad, but it was getting a little bit-You were an adult.

You were just living your life.

Yeah, but it was like, I didn't. I wanted to have some cocaine sometimes. So I got afraid to have a beer because I was worried I would have cocaine.

One leads to the other. Yeah.

And I never had a drinking problem, but I was just, If I do have a beer, then if somebody has cocaine, I'm done.

Even me right now, I lost my license because of this DUI. Oh, you got a DUI? Yeah, I know. First one. But it was a silly mistake. I had dinner, two cocktails. It's out now. But then there were some reports. I couldn't speak about it then because it was still an ongoing court case. But then there was reports coming out saying he was two times over the legal limit and all It's no excuse. If I'm going to go out, I have people to drive for me. But this was just dinner and two cocktails. So I was 0.07 over the legal limit. And everyone else that they've had this and they've had their license seat, they I was like, How come you weren't in court? All I got was a fine, and they did... And I'm like, Yeah, but you're not me. This New Zealand media finally got me, so they wanted to guard him. They got them, they wanted to parade him, but I handled it well. And shout out to the judge for being kind and thoughtful and could see this is just a silly mistake that this guy can learn from. He's done more good than...

And this doesn't take away from that. So I'm grateful for that. But even me at the moment, I haven't drank since, fuck, last year. Oh, really? Yeah. Look, I had this procedure done with stem cells last year, and then I was like, You know what? I want my body to heal properly. So I just stained.

You keep all the negative toxins Exactly.

I have one of my boys who's a chef for 13 years. He works for me now. Every day I eat is a culinary experience. One of the best investments I've made in the last four years. Really? I love it. Oh, my God. Fuck buying all that shit. Like, get a chef. It's the best. If you love food and you can afford it, get a chef. Holy shit. It's the best.

Every day is- And then the quesadillas and everything?

His phrase, I can cook anything. Oh, my God. He can cook anything.

For me- I would have something. I would have probably fish at night.

I think we're going to have horse maybe sometime in two weeks. I want to try some horse tacos.

Bro, they got a rain deer in damn Sweden. Yeah. I was at a restaurant. They pull up with the fucking R deer, bro.

I lived in China. I didn't question too many things I ate there, but I ate some things. I know I've eaten donkey. I don't know if dog or cat. I can't remember. I've eaten pigeons, eating alligator. Oh, yeah.

My buddy just got a read on some Penguin meat.

Damn, Penguin. Well, What would that be like? Because it's fluffy feathers and then it's, I guess, insulation and then meat. Would it be lean? No, they're fat. They're fat. They're blubber. They'd be a little bit of marbling.

Yeah, they're quite nice. Kind of a marbled chicken.

It's a bird. Yeah, it might be a marbled chicken, like a steak chicken. Yeah. Or do you have to cook it medium rare or do you have to cook it all the way through?

I don't know. I hope it's headless, though. The head looks too cute. That's the thing. I think their PR is so cute. You're like, Happy feet. Yeah, you're like, Damn, people. You got Sorry.

Happy feet.

Yeah, they're the damn French Bulldogs of the north.

Yeah, they look like them without the face.

Yeah. Maybe, I don't know, but I got to email them back. When you do look at... You've had some time off and stuff. Did you want to recalibrate what you… Because you've gotten to achieve your dreams, right?

And there's something- Over and over and over again.

Yeah. It's unprecedented. You mastered what you set out to do. Then it's interesting because now you're a master who's already achieved everything you can achieve.

In the game. But there's still more that I want to do for myself.

I guess I'm wondering, how does that… How do you start to separate It's one of those, too. And what is that even?

I haven't mastered the game yet. I'm still learning every day. Even right now, we're working again on my jab because I'm changing it up now because there's so much footage on me. People can watch the smart coaches and they can game plan. My question mark kick was fucking everyone up early on. Got to maybe after the Robert Whittaker fight, maybe the Romero fight. No, Costa fight. Actually, Costa avoided it, but he fell for a different kick. So from that fight, people know the question mark is coming, so they're all scared of it. My jab was vicious. It still is, but I'm just bringing it back. I'm tuning it up again. It's constant evolution, constant learning every time. In my grappling as well, I want to show it off. I do want to show it off in the cage. I I did a little bit in my fight with Alex in New York, a little bit, but- You want to more.

Yeah, I want to. So you still have things you want to do. Fuck, yeah. Oh, wow.

Fuck the belt and all that. It's more about highlights. Yeah. For me, I'm a highlight guy.

Yeah, I know. That's what's interesting That's what I was wondering. I was like, does he miss some of the trash talking and just the fucking- When it's raw, when it's honest, yeah.

Me and Costa, it was good because I didn't like the guy. He didn't like me.

Barraccino, is that his name?

Barraccina. I didn't know. Barraccino. Whatever.

Yeah.

So again, he's a guy that when I fought him, and again, I had a lackluster performance against Romero because he didn't want to engage. So people were like, Oh, fuck him. And it was, I have the most exciting title fight in history and the most boring title fight in history. I do it all. But after that fight, people were talking shit like, Oh, this and that. He's a boring fighter. And it's weird. I see it now. They just forget. They forget. And I'm like, Bro, I gave you so much classics.

So quick people forget, man.

Yeah, but then for me, when that fight came about, I didn't like him, and he reminded me of every jock I had.

Oh, yeah.

I remember him saying that in the dark. He was very good-looking, just very muscular. Conditioner. Yeah. Oh, bro, the guy. He was talking so much to everyone. And then the streets was like, he went three rounds of Romero. He went three rounds of Romero. I'm like, yeah, I went five rounds of Romero. He was like, well, you didn't do shit. Fuck you. I was like, I can't watch this. Watch this. So when I fought him, I remember I I was dialed in, bro.

I was dialed in. I remember watching that. After the show, we went to a bar. I think we were in Indiana somewhere.

We were in the apex at the time. Oh, not the apex, the fight Island. That was the fight Island. And yeah, I took him out. I took him for a ride. I took it. I took his virginity as well. He couldn't catch him. No, he didn't touch me once apart from in the legs. He took his virginity as well. I did. Seeing that. Yeah, and he just approved 100%.

Well, it's also in some cultures, it's more-It's dominance. It's more appropriate, too.

Yeah, but for me, I just felt it That was the most dominant thing I could do to him because he was in that position.

Yeah, in Brazil, being gay is just two guys dancing. Yeah, or just dancing. High five. Yeah. Oh, so they'll have some high fives that'll last a long time.

Look at the technique. Look at the squat on the man. That's crazy, bro. You still did. Raw dog, then. It was good. It was a good time. I enjoyed it.

No regrets. What did you think of his fight with Whitaker? It was a good fight.

I liked it. I liked his jab in that fight. I was like, Okay, he came back. But man, that earned him the first round when When you rocked him with the wheel kick, yeah, did not expect that. Then again, at the end of the round, so he got saved by the bell, came back, and Whitaker just outguts him. He just outguts him. I thought it was close. I thought maybe Costa might have won. I I thought he might have won, but then when they gave it to Whittaker, I was like, Okay, well, it wasn't a robbery, but I thought Costa probably had it. But yeah, he was good. He looked good in that fight. He wasn't the same after this. Everyone keeps telling me that. You ruined that, man.

Really?

You think I don't think after that fight, he wasn't the same. He was on a run. I'll tell you this, you look at the fight, you look at the first round, the way he looked at me, and they look at the second round when he's like, You see his face, the demeanor changed. I love those moments. You take this solo where you just know this guy knows he doesn't want to be locked in the air with me.

It's like you're in a video game, but their controller is gone.

Yeah, bad dream for him. Bad dream for him. So it's like, yeah, I like that moment. But I like the guy. He's funny. I think he's an entertainer. I agree, he's entertaining. He's got a secret juice, secret juice and all that.

It's fun. There's so many... That's one thing I was wondering, do you miss sometimes just in the past year, being off or so. Do you miss some of the entertain? Because there's been a lot of great... The trash talk and everything is that... Strickland is so ridiculous. Him and Mgk are arguing. That shit is... Why? It's hilarious, though. Do you laugh at some of it?

I didn't really pay attention to it. I was like, Oh, Strickland. I mean, Strickland, you put them in public, it's a different story.

Yeah, he's always got something to say, man. Is that a fight that you feel like you want to go? Oh, 100%.

Yeah. 100%. Come on, man.

I don't know. I don't know if guys get like... That's it. They're like, I care about going and revisiting that. Not because of the fight, but just because you care or not care.

For me, when Pereira beat me, he He beat me the first time. I went to Brazil. He beat me, knocked me out, and I didn't chase it. I was like, You know what? I'm done with kickboxing. And then he said he got motivated because he saw me talking about him and then decided, I'm going to go MMA and chase this guy. And he did. And then got to the UFC. They fast-tracked him. He got to me. They did fast-track him. Yeah, it is what it is. I don't blame them. It was a fuck. Look at what we have now. We have classics. He beat me, and it's In a similar fashion in the way I was beating his ass. And then in the last round, he just had that spirit and just something behind him, some shit he got me. He just came and just beat me. And I was just like, Fuck, again? How is this guy? And then I let it go. And then I just knew this is the last one. After this, I'm done with this guy, but I have to get him now. I have to get him now. And in that moment, when I got it done, it took me six years.

And then I went after his kids, too. I was like, Yeah, where are you at? Because I'm a petty motherfucker.

Sometimes you want to just let the lineage know what's up.

Of course not.

Because you don't want their kid fighting your kid at school or something.

Yeah, it won't even go to the same school. But the fact is I have to teach these kids a lesson because of what they did prior. And this took me, what, six years to accomplish. With Strickland, it wouldn't take me that long. Let me just get through DDP first. Let me handle. I look to the next fight. I look ahead like a little peak at the future, but I don't try and focus on it. I just know the Strickland fight will come back around, and I'm in a good place now, health-wise, mentally, and I know exactly what happened in that fight that just wasn't for me. He's a great fighter. He's also a good champion. What a reign. I mean, he did what he did. He was Strickland? Yeah. But I mean, he did what he did.

Everybody can beat me if I was going to laugh at him.

No, but I mean, he did what he did. Look, even the way he beat me, it was spectacular. It was his moment. It was his moment. Sometimes, Dave Chappelle said something in this dreamer special. He said, Oh, how did he put it? Hold up. I have it saved here. I'm not able to find it. No, I have it saved here. Give me two seconds. I'll play it right now in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And that's the trick to life. You have to be wise enough to know when you were living in your dream, and you have to be humble enough to accept when you were in someone else's. They said that in this new special, I think dreamer, and I felt that. I was like, Yeah, because look, life is a game. I always use this moniker of player one, and Even people sometimes think, Oh, he's so narcissistic. He thinks he's player one. I'm like, Don't you? Are you a bot? Everyone can grab the controller and play the fucking game, but most people don't. I'm sure you see it. Most people just go through life just on the programming. They just go with the flow, whatever.

It's good to go with the flow, but whose flow are you going with? Oh, yeah. So for me, I had to pause and question everything. And I realized that was his night. That was his night. He just fought the perfect fight. No matter what, I made no excuses. I gave it to him. But again, like I say, I'm a patient motherfucker. I take my time, I reassess, and I go for what I want. Yeah.

But you still feel a real fire for it?

Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, even the way... Look, I had bars ready, but the way he reacted when DDP mentioned some of his stuff, his trauma, I was like, Oh, yeah. That That let me know something. Again, even look, that moment you guys had was beautiful. I'll say that. That was beautiful because I never seen him like that. After the fight, he's crying because he's so... What the fuck? I just... I clocked it. And I was like, It was a joke. I was like, Hey, you're crying like a bitch. He laughed. I was like, Come here, whatever. But then when he was talking with you and then you guys got really vulnerable, I was like, Man, no catch. You have to go through that. Yeah, it's heartbreaking. Yeah, it was heartbreaking to even see that. But again, look, I'm a human being, and I can connect with people on a human level. But it doesn't mean I'm not going to get you. Look, I even said this about Silva. Look, just because I'm a fan doesn't mean you can't catch these hands. Silva was my Michael Jordan of this fucking game. And I was just like, I thought I would never fight him.

And then the opportunity presented itself, and I had this trip planned for Amsterdam, France, all this stuff. And then the opportunity came and I was just thinking, I got to do it. I have to do it. And I did it. And it was a beautiful fight, beautiful way to... I wish he stopped after that. I wish maybe he moved to boxing after that because even he said to me in the case, I passed the baton I'm like, I'm going to go to you. And just blessed me all these words, and I'm there like, just crying. For me, because that was never meant to happen. Fuck, it was never meant to happen, but it happened. And I even have it framed in my house, we're fighting on this chest piece, like a chess board, because that's what the fight was. And I hit him with that Rock Lee stance from Naruto, and he's standing there like Gaara. It just looked so cool. That fight was electric. It was beautiful. Just to master, It's just a masterful way to play the game from two Tai Jutsu masters, if you will.

Yeah, there's a composer element to you that I think is really interesting because it's like... And that's why I wonder about, yeah, does he still love? What does he want to do with fighting? Just because There's a lot of options in life. Sometimes, creativity can flow and just you can decide, what else do I want to be an actor? Do I want to...

I'll act. I've already turned down a few roles, a few high-profile roles, because I wanted to make sure I focus on fighting. That's the one thing I wanted to focus on was fighting. I don't ever want to get sidetracked and look at something else.

Yeah, that's too much.

Yeah, because I know what I can focus on. And then if I do, then things can get squirly, so I'd rather not. Yeah, dude, if you were a fighter pilot or something, that would be so sick.

Or if you were in a war, like in a war movie.

Yeah, but I wouldn't say it. I wouldn't say it. I'll say it after this. But yeah, I'm definitely going to have... I already got ties in Hollywood. People want to work with me, which is cool. And I do my own stunts. I mean, save money.Save money? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? See, I like what you're thinking. Yeah, save money. I do my own stunts. You know I have to get a stunt double. But also I'll have my own production company, and I will maybe make some characters, like some anime or just have weird ideas, bro. Sometimes I don't know how to write a screenplay, but I'll get someone I can just vomit words at them, and they can just put it in a way that's digestible for TV or Netflix or a crunchy roll or whatever.

Stylebender Studios. Stylebender is such a great... It's the greatest moniker, honestly, in a lot of ways, because there's just so many... You don't even know what it is, but you know what it is.

Even they just dropped the live-action, the Avatar series, The Last Airbender, just dropped yesterday in New Zealand. Oh, yeah, I saw. I'm going to watch it tonight. But for me, For me, when I was watching that, I love that show. I grew up on that show. So for me, I got the name because I felt in this realm, I want to master all the elements of martial arts and realize my destiny as the avatar. And I felt like I was the one. So I have, and I'm still doing it. And now the middleweight division needs me again. It's all about the story you're telling yourself. The bad signal. Yeah, exactly. What story are you telling yourself? This is the life we live, and most people don't. They just go with the flow, whatever.

You're so true because that shapes your perspective. That's the huge ingredient that I think so many people have that I didn't realize for years is that perspective.

Because even me now, six months without driving, I'm like, Oh, well, I'm saving gas for six months. And then while I'm not driving, I'm busy doing other shit, making shit happen. I just flip it around in my head so that way it's more tolerable.

When you got to walk out with Furie, what was that fight you guys walked out with?

In Ghana, yeah.

What was that like? It was like three kings back together.

That was beautiful. That was a moment. I'll tell you one thing, I'm very laid back, contrary to popular belief, I'm very laid back. But for me, I wish I dressed a little nicer for that walkout. It still looked good. We still had our moment, but I wore... It's chic, low-key. It was too low-key for the moment, the look. There's other outfits I've worn that I'm like, I got to still wear my slides and have that moment. It was beautiful, three kings. But regardless, we just looked epic walking together. Francis, just the Adonis that he is, just his story itself is bananas. If you know his history, you've listened to it on JRE and whatnot, the way he's come up now, and now he's doing this when people said he wouldn't do this. Making crazy money, crazy money. So I'm happy for him. Even Mike Tyson right there. It was a moment, bro. It was a moment just for history. I love that. These are moments for life. I would never forget these moments, man.

Yeah, it's crazy. It's almost like you could never even understand what's going on. Yeah, that's so cool, man.

See, Kamara was dressed with that. I had a similar outfit that I was in mind, but then I was No, it's his moment, Francis. I wanted to chill. I think that was fair.

You pay homage to him. You're like, I'm going to dress down. This is about looking at him.

Yeah, but then I still think for moments like that next time, Israel, don't be so... Again, another moment where I shied away from shining. But again, regardless if I was dressed with a fucking headdress or whatever, he would have shined in that moment because it's his moment. I just wanted to make it about him.

That's why, yeah. When you see stuff like this, fights like this, do you get tempted when you see these guys fighting like Jake Paul's mom and and stuff like that, fighting like Kid Leroy or whatever? There's always this shit on the lot.

Leroy, no. You mean like the boxers that everyone wants to box now?

Yeah, there's always a care bear fighting like Sneaker or something. Every week, there's somebody He's fighting a drawing of somebody's grandparents.

It's good for the sport. I think it's good for boxing because look what it's done for. But also, shout out to his ex-nancy, Turquy, the guy that organized all this. He has lit a fire in the combat sports world in a sense, bro. To step it up. Bro, they've been sitting on how much money of oil money? Just crazy amounts. Just disposable income. Even the ad, there was an ad for, I don't know something, I don't know, Fury and Yusik, and they had all these mainstream Hollywood actors and actresses in it.

Because they just have the money, huh?

Just hair. But that's good for the game because now they forced Vegas, everywhere else, to raise the bar. So it's good. Composition is good. Yeah, this ad, insane. Look at the production. And this is an ad for a boxing fight. Wow. Yeah, and they pulled out, but the fight will still happen later in the year. I think they've rescheduled. But yeah, this is-Is that Clint Eastwood?

Yeah.

That's what I'm saying.

Jesus.

For an advert. And he's not cheap.

No.

Not for acting, but...

Oh, wow. So you're saying that they have all this money at It's just like they're doing with Live Golf where they're like-Yeah, so they bought that as well.

So for me, I've been invited now three times to Saudi Arabia, and each time I went back, it just felt like it was more. They were doing more. Within the next seven years, eight years, it's going to be bigger than Dubai, I think, or the UAE or match them for tourism, because now they just even lifted the alcohol ban. I think it was in the last year or this year, they lifted the alcohol ban. You can drink there now. I haven't been back since you can, but apparently you can.

That's going to change everything.

It will. It will invite more people through. Then there's more buildings going up every time I go over there.

Are you impressed by it over there?

Then it sounds like- I am very impressed. Also, one thing, the culture. I like the culture over there. They've preserved their culture still, even as the landscape moves into the 21st century, a little bit more, and vice the world into the... Even in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, you see the culture is heavily present there, and I respect that. I love seeing that when you go to a place, so it's not too, I guess, westernize. I agree. Mcdonald's or whatever, all that stuff. You still see essences of their culture everywhere, which is good. I feel like over there, they've done that heavily. Saudi Arabia will allow first alcohol sales in 17 years, dividing opinion.

Can you zoom in on it a little bit? The news that Saudi Arabia will allow... Go down a little. The news that Saudi Arabia will allow its first Shop has citizens and foreigners alike mulling one question, is this a minor policy tweak or a major upheaval? Source is familiar with the preparations for the store. It is closed. Details of the plan on Wednesday. Located in the capital's diplomatic quarter, the store. It looks like one store will be accessible only to non-Muslim diplomats. What's a diplomat?

I don't know. I'm not really political enough to know what that is. But all it takes is one. That's a Trojan horse. I mean, medical marijuana. That was the gateway.

Now, Now it's going to be a bunch of people doing fireball on camels.

I love Fireballs.

A bunch of people on camels doing Fireball? What's your drink of choice when you drink? When I drink, I like beer, I think. Sometimes It's like sometimes a ding, like a piña colada, or sometimes like a Captain Morgan and Coke.

I'm a sweet tooth guy, but my standard is bourbon and Coke. But I like a sweet cocktail. I love a sweet cocktail. Look, Bear, my dad used to distribute Guinness all over West Africa when I was a kid.

What do you mean he would distribute? He was part of a group that would... So he helped-Trucks.

Trucks all over West Africa. Yeah, cargos. And we had so much in the house. And one time I was like, maybe six or seven. I was like, Can I taste that? He was like, Yeah, sure. I had to taste it. I was like, What? And I did not touch alcohol from that point till one time. I think I was 18, maybe a little bit heartbroken, and then hanging out with my boys. I found Woodstock Brebon and Coke. And I found Wood barbe and Coke. Then when I first got drunk, it was at this park with my boys, I realized this is why that girl outside the party is crying. This is why that guy wants to fight everyone. This is why that guy wants to... Because it opened my eyes to understand what being drunk was like.

It's so interesting, man, because one thing that's interesting, I think about you, man, and this is a judgment, but you are yourself, but you also are able to watch yourself be yourself. And some people, it's It's something that we all need more of.

Self-awareness.

We have to find ways to get it because I think it used to be the crux of a human being. You had a relationship with yourself that was evolving constantly. A lot of the greats, like Marcus Aurelius and stuff, not only would they learn something, but then they would sit there with what they learned and develop a relationship with it. What have I learned here? What does this mean to me?

What am I getting from this? What is this serving me? Do I need to let go of this? I'm constantly questioning, even things that I've been told. Where does that come from?

That's interesting, bro.

No, I think just living life. Okay, example, when I was young, Sunday school, I remember you learned about God made the world in seven days and this and that, right? Yeah, Paul. Adam and Eve. For me, I remember asking the question to my Sunday school teacher was, If God made the world, who made God? And then no answer. Just like, What? Then I asked my parents, asked the housemates, my aunties. Then eventually, one of my aunties was like, If you keep asking that question, you'll go mad. Then I thought like, I don't think they understand. I don't think these motherfuckers understand what's really going on. It made me question what they tell me. Over time through life, I've had moments when I've done stuff and I'm just like, Why did I do that? Why did I feel that way? Then, again, I call it, you identify the monster that you can kill it. Once I identify the feeling of maybe envy or anger or sadness, I'm like, Why am I feeling this way? I can backwards engineer it or something.

Go into that a little bit because I think that's important, because I think a lot of people deal with that. Say if somebody's going through that, what process are you talking about?Okay.

So example.If you can explain it.Okay. So example, say, okay, it takes a skill to be happy for someone. I've noticed this because when I was younger and growing up in Nz, the culture caught me a little bit where if someone's doing well, it might look like... Because I noticed myself, one of my friends, old friend, I noticed myself distancing myself away from him because he was doing so well. And then I realized, I was like, Wait, hang on. Because I was like, This is my boy. I was like, Why am I feeling this way? Why am I feeling like I'm jealous of him when he's not doing anything to me? And I've seen people do it to me as well. The bigger I got, it kept on getting people will start, Oh, it must be nice type shit. Then you see them start to treat me differently. For me, I noticed myself starting to treat him differently and distance myself from him. I pulled the brakes, sat with it for a few weeks Probably, and just identified why I should be happy for him. And it takes a skill to learn that, and then becomes your second nature over time once you become like, reps, reps, reps, reps, reps.

Because to learn to be a hater was just natural in the environment I was in. So I had to learn. No, that's not the way I want to be. So you can unlear behaviors as well. Even as I get older, even women, I have to unlear certain behaviors in me. Okay, yeah. You have to know this is maybe approaching it, being more honest or being more communicative and all that stuff. You have to unlearnt, unlearnt, and constantly learn new ways of being.

When you look at the UFC today, who really excites you? Are there guys, you're like, Oh, this is fun. I like this storyline. Are you able to get a different look at it, being away from it a little bit? Do you have-Yeah.

The thing is, before the UFC, I watched everything. I would watch all the embeddits, all the countdowns, all the shows they have on the UFC websites. I would watch everything. But then, even when I was in it, I was watching everything. But then over time, I'm starting to understand sometimes the way maybe Nate and nick Diaz feel because you've done so much for this game, you've put so much in this game, and then you still feel sometimes disrespected. And then you're just like, Man, fuck this shit. Fuck this game. Because I don't remember the last time I watched the countdown. I don't remember the last time I watched. I don't even watch the Embedded anymore. It's played out to me in a way. But I was watching it when I was coming up, and that helped me a lot because when I got to the UFC, I just knew what to expect. I was like, Oh, yeah. I I've seen this before.

Oh, I see. Because at that point, you're also surveying the stage. So you know, I know where the camera is here. I know where to look up right there.

This is why I have these moments, man. These people think it's all like-Not a chance. No, I have these moments because, again, the shower. I operate there and I just know. Like, example, the speech I gave after I knocked out Alex, I remember being in the shower, visualizing, winning in Miami and just like... Because I put myself, I immersed myself because of my imagination in that moment. And I remember feeling so happy. And in that moment, I was just like, I just want everyone to feel how happy I am. And that's all I wanted to say. And then the rest came vessel. I was just like, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I just said what I said. And people fuck with it. And it became this moment. And I'm glad it became that moment because people still to this day, they're like, Man, you made me feel so happy. I remember that speech and this and that. And when I speak from the heart, I feel it hits people because I'm trying to connect with all human beings, no matter what. When you speak from the heart, I can touch people, man. My mom says it's a gift, but my mom's supposed to say that.

That's so funny. She's I'm not going to say that.

No, you're right. It's tough to even trust our own mom.

But I think from doing it over time now with reps, even one of my boys, I was a groom at this wedding. I didn't write shit for the speech. I just spoke from the I was like, Man, I killed that shit. It's a skill in a way, but at the same time, it might be a gift, but who knows? We're all gifted. We just have to tap into it.

You get more practice with it. You've gotten practice over the years after fights, after fights in China. People have I'm not going to speak English.

I just said whatever I wanted.

You got 40 reps over there. Nobody even watched it.

I'm going to go back, man. That's the thing, because people actually... They make a joke of it, not my time in China, but I'm grateful for those times, man. China, man, adventures. Really?

Like unicycles and stuff?

What are you talking about? Talking like adventures. Fuck, I don't... This is a worldwide internet thing. But adventures, say, just after five... Okay, so me and one of my teammates, Blood Diamond, we had each other's back in China. He's a Zimbabwean guy. We'd be living... At one point, we were in Hainan province, Jinjo, and we were just outside the city at this camp. That was our base. After a fight, we'll come back to the camp wherever we are. I traveled so many places in China, some places I can't even pronounce. I don't even know. I forgot. I'd go straight from the hotel, fight, fight, hotel, airport. But then we'll get back to our base, and then we take a weekend away just to go to the city, which is like 40, 30 minutes drive. Boom. Get a hotel, go out there. And they like foreigners in their clubs because it looks like the club is more popping. So we just get given free boost, Black Johnny Walker, sit down and have a time. Some things I can never say on the camera, but we had some good fun in China. The hotels over there, the massages, all that.

It was a good time. But again, I was there for maybe 10 months. I fought about 24, 25 times. One of those months, I fought every weekend because I have four fights that I had two knockouts. But I was fighting constantly, and it just elevated me because it's reps. I'm fighting. I'm training with these guys, and they spot hard over there. The Chinese, you ever heard of them? They spot hard. Well, back then, they were still in the mindset, like to train your chin, you have to... So it did stand in. Yeah, which is not really the smartest thing.

Well, the Russians do... What's that clip? Do you have that clip with the Russians? Have you seen this stuff? Yeah, the Russians. It's like... Sambo? Yeah, it's like instead of fiber, they use this thing. Oh, no, he's going to hurt himself.

No. Oh, what the fuck? What in the Kama sutra? What the fuck is that? Is that punishment? That's got to be punishment. That's torture.

Now, this is training, bro. For what? It makes him stronger.

They're trying to separate the man from himself. Jesus. It looks fun, but at the same time- It looks like he doesn't have a shadow anymore. He's going to rip a solar pot. What is that training for? I need to know.

The Russian fitness training method, Pravilo, is still used in many boxing gyms today to increase strength and punching power. Can you look it up, too?

Okay, I'm trying to even see what the physics is. How would you... So do you have to restrain yourself? I don't understand.

Well, I guess if you let yourself sag, if you have to pull on all the ropes and hold your core.

Yeah, like Samson, just... Maybe that's something? Yeah. I have to ask my strength coach because even that's why I have someone who's smarter than me.

I wouldn't ask anybody about that because I don't think I want to see.

That looks like some torture. He might be like, That's a good idea. Let's add that to your regimen.

I don't want to see Jean setting that up for you.

Is that your coach, Jean? No, Eugene, yeah. He's my-And he goes by Eugene.

Yeah, Eugene, yeah.

Yeah, sorry. No, he's good. I just call him... A lot of names. We call each other a lot of names.

Well, you guys have had a long relationship. For a below machine build strength, mobility, the old fashioned way stretching out. Yeah, let me see a little bit more of that.

I'm intrigued. Because you could just tie... There was a torture method back in the medieval times where you can tie a guy to this horse and this upper body to this horse, and then they just hit the horse and then they separate. So maybe that could be an old-school version, but that was a way to kill people, torture them.

It works to stretch and strengthen the internal framework of joints, tendons, and ligaments, as well as improve mental clarity and ability to work under stress by stretching all the connective tissues and removing knots and blockages. The fascia. Packages.

Okay.

Pravilo practice increases blood flow to the entire body.

I bet it's definitely-Yeah. I mean, the Russians are pretty good at sport. So yeah.

And what do you do? It looks like your wife's mad at you. I thought it was about to get 10 lashes or something.

Next minute. Damn. It looks fun. A Teddy. I'm crazy. So I like crazy shit. So while I wasn't fighting, I took up other things. Okay, September.

I feel like when you're not I feel like you're in Zeldabreath of the Wild. That's what it's like, I think, from a fan's perspective. Honestly, man. I'm not playing the game, literally.

I know, but you're in the... I can do anything. I've got money, I've got a passport. I can't fucking go anywhere. But for me, I took up things like golf. Golf is my new favorite pastime in a way because I like it because it's soft. It's a bit more slow-paced. People say, Oh, what about tennis? Or something I'm like, Mm-mm. Something soft, something that's chill because my life is chaos when I'm in the gym, murder is trying to kill me all the time, working out cardio strength. Then when I'm on the golf course, I'm not trying to even flex, but I got pretty good in like-No, I want to see it. I can't believe it. I got pretty good in about how many months. Let me say I got pretty good. I'll send you guys this clip as well. I got pretty good in about five months. So this is me now. My It's not bad. Look at the hips on them.

It's clean, bro.

Yeah. Wow. We're having the last one. This is my final one. I was like, You know what?

There's a lot of great golfers from your country.

Yeah, from Nigeria. Oh, no, from all. New Zealand. Oh, New Zealand, sorry. See, I sent that shit to the moon. I sent that shit to the moon. I was like, yeah. See, I sent that shit to the moon. I sent that shit to the moon. I was like, Yeah. And look, again, emotes. This is how I live my life. I sent it. Because when you're a kid, you be doing shit like this. When you get to be in a... Yeah, you do, huh? Bro, I'm Power Ranger when I was a kid. I was a Ninja turtle. I was Action Man. You can be anyone you want.

I was a bus boy for Halloween. I was like, shit. I was like, yeah. A bus boy. I was hopeful. We had a lot of low hopes in our area.

I didn't really have the costume, but in my mind, I was legit a Power Ranger. I was always the Black Ranger. Either him or the Red Ranger. That's fair. But yeah.

What was I saying before?

Before I got on this tender of golf? Yeah, so I like golf just because it's something And who do you play with?Golf?Yeah.

You just go by yourself?

My homies all go to the driving range. But last time was Slava, Joe Hopkins, and my boy Matt, and this other guy, Jackson, I believe.Oh.

Some local guys?

Yeah, my friends.Oh, nice. Slava and Joe are fighters as well. Joe still fights. Slava is just a big-time businessman now, but he just likes to hit the golf sticks once in a while. It's fun. Yeah. You golf?

Yeah, I like to golf. I'm not good at it, but I do like to do it. Yeah.

I would say I'm coachable. I'm very, very coachable because I'm the guy like the details. Because at first, I used to do this. I was this guy. I would like, yeah. And then I would strike it down. And then it wasn't until This guy, I was his name? Darryl, I believe, out South Oakland at the airport. There's a golf, a driving range over there. He told me, I've watched your videos, mate. See the way when you set up your kicks, and he explained to me and showed me my hip feint and said, That's the way. And then from then, I got to this where it's like, my bad. And from there, I can get that in there. So once he told me that, you can fix the frame. Sorry. Once he told me that, then I was like, bing. And that's the day I started sending it. I was like, oh, I'm getting this shit now. But now it's about learning what face of the club I want to hit with so I can determine which way the ball goes. If I wanted to go a bit to the right or to the left because right now it goes to the right at least 60, 65% of the time.

Oh, yeah, that's what I'm doing.

Yeah, I'm constantly, and I'm like, Okay, maybe change the club face. So the details of it intrigues me. And again, it's slow pace, and it just gets in my brain. I suck my teeth into that. Last year, I went skydiving. First time? First time. Did it in Abu Dhabi, and that was dope. It was fucking sick.

No way. Who'd you go with other fighters or no?

No. Devon Haynie was there, actually. You did it right after me. Yeah, the boxer. Then, yeah.

Dude, that's crazy.

It's fun. I can't believe you've never been. No. And you only have to do it seven more times. I can go by myself. So there's a place-That's a bad idea. No, I'm going to do it. You are?

Yeah.

Bro. Okay, bro, this is me. I'm already even... I've got a motorcycle riding lesson on Saturday. And again, my mom's a nurse, so she's already told me, No, because she's seen the worst.

Yeah, a lot of the organ donors come from motorcyclists. That's what I've heard. You could do pink slips with Strickland if you guys.

Oh, it does ride in cycles.

That would be quick. But somebody would get it.

I ride a fight him. I ride a fight him, yeah. Do what we do. The man dance. I want to do a man dance. But for me, skydiving Riding, motorcycle riding. I might get into that unless I get talked out of it. But yeah, something that just gets me going. That's why for me, I know when I'm done with this game, at least every few months, I need to do something that will make me feel like I'm about to die. Something scary, something that makes me go, Fuck, this is happening. This is legit. This is real shit. I could die in this.

Why is that so important, you think, to people?

I think for me, I'm an adrenaline junkie. Really? Yeah, I'm an adrenaline junkie. I've accepted that about myself. I think even Alex spoke about it after his Islam fight where he said, just sitting around, you do something You need to do something. And I felt that. A lot of fighters felt that. So for me, that's why I say, giving me free time with what I have now can be a bad idea, but I'm glad that I'm older now, a lot wiser. A lot wiser now. I'm surprised I don't have any babies out there. Well, did I know of? Maybe in China. But we'll wait another. We'll see. But I've lived a life, Theo. I've made some dumb decisions. I've been places. I've been places. Some scary Some scary stories, some good times, and some bad ones. But no regrets because it all led me to these moments and the lessons I've learned from them, priceless. And stories, I'm sure you got some stories as well.

Oh, yeah. Something I got to keep to myself.

That's what I'm saying. For me, because I've never really expressed this, maybe after I'm done fighting, I'll make another doco or docuseries, and then I'll go deeper.

Or a memoir, even.

A book, yeah. I mean, get someone to fucking write that. Write that with me. Because even while I was in the UFC, man, I went through my own ups and downs, but I'm glad they weren't caught by the media. Because then one thing is sometimes if someone goes through something, you want to go through it alone without the world watching you because there's already a magnifying glass on your life. Everyone's watching you, waiting for you to fail or something like that.

They have people take their own lives because they can't handle what the media does. The media has no accountability. A lot of people living our lives, they would have definitely unalived themselves, unsubscribed from life because it's a lot.

I've been there before where I'm just like, Fuck, this is too much. I find myself going in my shell. I'll just become a crap, and I just... And then I just... I wouldn't really want to...

You don't trust the world then.

I don't trust the world. No, I feel like I got to protect myself, so I become a turtle, a Ninja turtle. But then...

A little less Ninja, a little more turtle.

Yeah, more turtle. Yeah, less Ninja, more turtle. Inner Ninja, yeah. Oh, bro, man. For me, it's just about learning how to come out of that. That's where you've seen in the docker talking to Janet, who's my... She doesn't like to call herself a therapist. She calls herself a possibility manager.

Bro, she's impressive. I was actually going to ask you for her information. She's here.

I think she might be... She retired and just travels the country now in a caravan seeing her grandkids. Wow. That's her life. She's already set herself up. She's left that life behind of the nine to five or whatnot. She just lives her life like a gypsey.

She asked the best questions it felt like.

Yeah, that's what it is. People think therapy is this thing where this motherfucker don't know shit about me, but they don't need to. That's why you talk. It's like dating in the sense. You got to try different people.

100%. So many times people go see the first therapist and they stay with them for years. It's like, Are you changing? Are you evolving? It's nobody's fault if you're not, but you got to put yourself into some boiling water because you want to see what the fuck flavors are in you, bro. You got to figure it out.

If you get the wrong person, they can see. A therapist can sit there and be like, Oh, this check with blue hair, and then just keep them for two years and just keep making money off them. A great I'm not a therapist or someone who- Keep asking you about Billy Eilish all the time when you come in. But a great one is one that would... Kind of like a doctor. A doctor shouldn't keep you sick constantly. She's trying to help you. Okay, Jenna, last time I saw her would have been over a year now. I talked to her maybe about two months ago, briefly through text, when things were getting rocky. But the thing is, she's given me so many tools that I can use that when things get a little... Because I'm human and life be lifeing, so then I have the tools I can use to help me. But then someone who just keeps you in that suffering phase and they can milk off you is not someone you want to be with. Shop around, find the right person that can want the best for you. Then you see, Am I getting something out of this?

Once you're not getting anything out of it, pull back. I'm sure there's something that's going to happen. Life is always lifeing. Something's going to happen that will rock my world. Then boom, Janet, are you free? Can I talk to you? Boom. That's it. But at the moment, I haven't seen her because I've been awesome. I've just been living my life, and I've had my ups and downs. But again, she's given me the tools to use that could help me bring myself back to balance. And that's what you want.

No, bro. I think it's just so important because you don't hear that part about therapy. You just hear, go see a therapist. People are like, this didn't work. I'm not doing it anymore.It's bullshit. It's bullshit. It's like, there's somebody- No one gets me. Yeah, there's somebody that works. You talked in a documentary about, and we'll get out of here in a minute, man. You talked in a documentary about doing-How long has it been?

See, time flies me in having fun. Wait.

Probably a couple of hours. 82 hours. 1 hour, 50.

No way. Fuck off. We barely even got... Man, you wait till I retire. We'll do this again. We'll talk about some shit.

One thing I like is your perspective on things.

You just... The clips, fucking. I think even the Instagram page, Theovon clips that we send to our group chat a lot. And now I just crack up like, You just said the most out-the-gate shit. How How do you even think of that? Yeah, I don't know. No, it's you. It's your perspective. And that's the beautiful thing of it. You're able to express it so people can follow the way your mind works. You know what I mean? It's cool to see.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I like to... I don't know. I was just always like, I just wanted to find a way to be myself, whatever that even means. It was just like, man-Authentically be yourself. Yeah, and who even am I? I just had no idea. I didn't know what... I built this thing. I didn't even know what I was doing for so long.Life's.

Crazy, bro.It is, especially the life we live. I'm grateful, but it is crazy.

All of it's fucking unbelievable that we're just loud animals. What if you were in the woods and you saw a bear on his computer, something, you'd be like, This bear is... Yogi? Yeah, you're like, This bear is mentally unwell. But it's just weird being in society. But what about ayahuasca? Did you ever try it? You talked about it.

That's on the list. It's definitely on the... I like the segue. It's like, whoops.

You got to get it, man. It's so fascinating. Have you been? Yeah. Damn. I just went a couple of weeks ago.

Did you go to the jungle or you found a guy that can actually do it properly? Because for me, I've heard because of the popularity now, there's a lot of Shamans who aren't really Shamans that they just, Oh, come sit down in a circle with us, Kumbaya, and then give you the drug or the plant medicine. You might get the trip, but you don't really get the benefits from the Shaman to guide you through that, the purging and all that stuff. But it's been on my list. But the reason I haven't done it yet, and I told even Mike Tyson this was because You probably haven't watched Avatar, but that's the best way I can explain it.

I've seen it. It's about the Airman. The Blues or whatever.

The Blues, yeah. No, no, no, wrong one. No, no. Avatar, the last Airman, the series, not the-Like the Tuskegee Indians or whatever?

Yeah, something like that. The Tuskegee Airman?

No, no, no, no. You're thinking James Cameron's avatar. I'm thinking the cartoon. Okay, I got to watch this. Yeah, the cartoon. Oh, there we go. You are showing a lot. This avatar, yeah, the show. I'm a big fan. That's one of my favorite animes. But it gets to a point where this guy doesn't know how to firebend anymore because he became friends with this little kid, Ang. So for me, I felt like if I go to the jungle and then I realize a lot of my It's a shit.

Oh, yeah.

I actualize myself and I come out of clarity, and I'm just like, Will it affect my fighting? That's the thing, because I fight. I mean, you've seen this in the doco. I got chips in the dick. I have something to prove. I got to prove something. So for me, it's not always to other people, it's to myself, to my younger self, because I used to get fucked with a lot. So it was a weird... I became strong so no one could fuck with me. I'm fortified in myself, and I'm like, Yeah, you can't fuck with me. And that's why I'm able to be vulnerable now about all this stuff, because I'm like, You can't beat my ass.

It's all good. Right. I'm safe enough now. You know what? That's interesting, man. I can relate to that. It was like, once I got, I always just felt like people judge me so much because I was poor, where I lived, how I got to school, what we drove, how we were. I was just like, I just want to be able to be in control. And that younger kid, now, that kid that was all bummed out, now I can still notice when he's upset about something.It comes up.Right. But as an adult, I can be It's cool. Right. I got you. Because if I sit here and cry with him, then I'm making him suffer two times.

Exactly. Oh, that's so good, the way you put that, the kid inside. Because sometimes someone will do something. Okay, I'll say this. I was in Switzerland, right? And then we're in this thing, the setting, classroom setting. I went to get a coffee, came back, and This lady had moved my stuff. They put me in the front of the class. She moved my stuff. And I was like, What are you doing? She's like, Oh, I just... She made me think. She's like, I wanted some girl time with her. And I was like, Oh, that's cool. I prefer the back of the class anyway. But then I sat there, and for the first 15, 10 minutes of the lecture, I remember just feeling rage. I'm like, Who the fuck is this bitch? If you want to sit with her, get her to move. Or you have to move my stuff. And again, it's this older white lady, and then move my stuff. And it just felt like it just took me back to that moment, just a young Izzy, and I could feel myself boiling. So I just calm him down. It's okay. It's all right. You're fine.

You're safe. And then focus on what was doing. But then that was just recent. That was two weeks ago. And again, people can do something that triggers you. Triggered.

But you got to notice where that trigger is because it's not a task. I'll get so angry. And then afterwards I'll be like, Oh, my. What was I so... That wasn't even... Whatever happened had nothing. It's old shit. I know.

It's old shit that we've just I got to- He talked to rip press to put down.

And that's what I was. That shit turns that shit into a champagne, bro. Yeah, champagne. It's bubbling up, bro.

You're like, Damn, it is a party, dude. I've been to some trips. Like, example, before the Miami Pareda fire, I was microdosing, and I microdosed a little bit on psilocybin, and I went on some journeys within myself, and I just sitting on my couch, watch the lights, and just listen to this low-fi music and just question everything even deeper. Who am I? Why am This? Why do I feel this way? And then speak to my younger self. But tapping into that is key because if you can make him feel safe, you're able to go through life easier because you'll be surprised how many moments that just erres it. Like I said, my people-pleasing thing. I know how to identify it when it comes up now, and I just dead it. I dead it straight away. Even me, people... I told you, I don't live like the commoners anymore because I realized I've lived that life. Because when I'd be at a bar, I'm like, Hey, can I get 30 fireballs shots? Why? And then people start to hang around me because they know I'll be shouting drinks and whatnot. And then I get to the point where I'm just like, the next day I wake up, I'm like, Why did I ever let those guys around me?

I didn't like those people. But then boundaries. When I'm drunk, I'm like a labrador. I just think everyone's my friend. I'm the opposite of some people drink bourbon and they think like, they call it fighting beer. I'm like, Hell no. That's the last thing I want to do. I want to hug people. I want to high five. I'm super nice, super flirty.

Catch a frisbee in your mouth.

Yeah, why not? Yeah, it's like a golden retriever. You turn into a handle. I am. No, but a golden retriever is just friendly with everyone. So that's what I become when I'm drunk. But yeah, for me, I just realized, you know what? Boundaries. For me, boundaries. So that way I don't have to be liked. I don't need to prove to that I'm down, that I'm just another dude. Because sometimes I feel like I have to do that to people. But I'm like, If you can't handle who I am, fuck, bounce. I don't have to prove to you that I'm cool. No, I can relate to you. I was like, No, I've lived your life. You've never lived That's what I'm saying.

I don't have to constantly adjust- Reassure you. Yes. I don't have to constantly adjust every moment of my life to reassure every single person that I come in contact with that I'm the same as them.

That's what that humble shit is. Yeah, that's what that humble shit is when they talk about in New Zealand, where it's like, Oh, he's humble. It's like, oh, I'm not. Some people, I see them. I'm like, not that they're not humble. I just know that they're different off camera or they're different when other people are around. But when they're in the public, they want to be relatable. And that's cool. But I'm like, nah, bro, you're not... They relate to you because of your story. They relate to you because of what you've done in your field. And they fuck with it on some level. So you don't have to constantly bring yourself down to their level. Just stay where you are and connect with them. That's one thing I learned as well. Don't have to raise me. Because when people come yelling at me now, back in the day, I'd have to like, Hey, what's up, man? Even if I'm going to feel... But now I just-Let's watch wrestling or whatever on my phone or something. Talk to my dead aunt. But for me, it's like, no. If I'm at a three and you come at me at a seven or a 10, I'm going to keep it a three.

Hey, what's up, man? How are you doing? Or even it's I'm like, Chill, bro. What's up? How are you doing, man? Are you good? I can bring them back to my level of, oh, my God, I'm such a big fan. I'm like, That's cool. Come here, give me a hug. Give me a hug. I love those moments, man, when people are really genuine. It fills my heart.

I know, Because you want to be genuine, too. It's tough because people don't know where you're at sometimes because it's been a unique experience. I think it's a learning curve. It's a learning curve for both people. Yeah, life's such a learning curve, man. And I'm glad it is because it would get fucking boring.

We keep learning. I'm still learning. Even to this day, like I said, two weeks ago, that happened in Switzerland, and I had to... Okay, calm down, young Izzy. Calm down. It's okay. But then there's going to be something else that comes through. Something else that comes through. Great, shit, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, smiles and frowns, whatever it is, I'm going through it all. Right now, I'm just taking my time. That's all I can... I'm taking my time with everything because I don't know if you feel this way. Sometimes if I try and think because you got too many things to deal with, it can get overwhelming.

Yeah.

So I'm like, Okay, that's too much. And I just have to like, Right, let me think. What can I handle? I can handle this right now and just prioritize what I do. Still learning, though. Adulting.

Yeah, it's interesting. I'm glad that God or the gods that are out there let us adult, that they let us experience and evolve and learn. It's pretty masterful. What has been created out of life is pretty… It's unbelievable. It's definitely one of the best Zeldas, probably.

Yeah, Zeldas. I've only played one of it. I never clocked it, not even close, but I Link. That's the main character, right? Yeah. Did you play it a lot when you were a kid?

Yeah, I played it when I was a kid, and then breath of the wild came out, and I played that on Switch.

On DS Switch? Yeah. That's the one I have, breath of the wild.

It's good. They just came out with a new one. Oh, yeah. It's cool, too. But breath of the wild is still cool, so you could stick with that one, too.

No, I still got that one. But right now, I just started playing Helldivers. It's a great game. Helldivers. Holy shit. And what's it? Like a Burmese or whatever? It's like Halo. Helldivers, too. It's like halo, and I never even played Halo. I played Call of Duty. But it's just so you go liberate these planets or these worlds from these robots or these aliens. But it's just the way the gameplay, you play with your friends online. It's keeping me out of trouble, put it that It's important, dude, knowing when to get in trouble or not. I like a little bit of trouble once in a while, but at the same time, I'd rather not because it always finds me somehow. It's a challenge. It's a way that, like you said, God would just put this problem in front of you so that way, Oh, this is what I have to learn from this situation. If I don't learn it, guess what? It comes back again. It always does. It'll come back again. I'm like, Fuck, I thought I learned last time.

A decade, you'll be doing the same thing. It's I always gifrap, too. Trouble is not like, fucking, Hey, I'm trouble. Trouble looks cool.

I'm trouble with a nice ass. Yeah, trouble. Got that rumperdump. You're like, Oh, shit.

Here we go. Trouble got the.

Yeah, but I I learned, though. That's the thing. Even younger guys now, I try and teach them. Just don't think with your dick. You got to use this. Many, many, many mistakes have been made, but many great connections have been made as well. I thank God for it all, but I still try and tell the young guys that watch me. I just teach them, just don't do this.

Because there is some, you're like, Fuck, I learned such the hard way. I have got to tell somebody. Oh, yeah. Sometimes it's not even like you're preaching to people. You're just like, For the love of God, if I don't let somebody know, then that's not good.

Even another one is like, because I'm not married, but I don't even know if I want to. I didn't really want to, but I don't know. It'll just happen, maybe.

Yeah, one day you'll do it. It'll be the next adventure. Are you married? Anything? I'm not married, but I would like to be married. But I have a tough time with doing commitment. Yeah.

I'm in my selfish era right now. I feel like these next few years, I'm definitely on the back end of my career. And I said I was the most active champion, me and Volkanovski, the most active champions. It's crazy. I'm going to give you that. Bro, most people get the belt. Right now, Dricker's got the belt. He wants to chill. They want to hold the belt for a little bit, look nice. You know what I'm saying? I was like, Who am I fighting next? Cool. Put that guy on. Who am I fighting next? Because you risk it every fucking time. Every fucking time. That's how I have so many defenses because I'll be like, Who am I fighting next? Boom. Let's go. But for me, everything I have to do right now is going towards this. Bro, I only just started having breakfast. Oh, but context. I used to wake up and just go straight to the gym, work out two workouts back to back, and then have breakfast around one. I'm 34 now, almost 35. I know my body's different. I have to put the right fuels in my body. I was living off Uber Eats, bro.

Really? Yeah, man.

Training for fights off Uber Eats.

Yeah, because of skills. I was so...

Off of damn Takeda?

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, Carl's Jr, Indian food, anything. Chinese.

You were defeating other men on...

Fuel by Carl's Jr? Yeah, anything. Burger King. Mcdonald's the only one I'm drunk because Because I didn't really like the quality. Yeah, it's gone.

It's like paper.

It's really-Oh, man. I ate a Big Mac one time. It did not sit well with me, and I was like, Yeah. So only when I'm drunk, I'd have McDonald's.

Yeah, if a brother can't have a burger in this, it's insane. What are you doing?

I've had over 100 fights, so I didn't really think the way I ate would affect my skills. But again, it does at a certain point because when I was younger, bro, when I was 26, 25, I'd be out. I'd be getting home around, say, 4, trying to get some pussy. From there, you sleep around 6:00, 6:30. Then you have to wake up at 10:00 to go spot 11:00, get punched in the head, hungover. It's like I could do it and just kick ass. But then the older you get-You can't do it. Your body doesn't metabolize alcohol the same. That's what I'm saying. Now I'm like, How did I do that? That was fucking wild. How did I do that? No. So then now it's about, like I said, putting the right fuel in my Like I said, I've got my boy Matt, who cooks for me now. Every day is a fucking cuisine. Oh, yeah. And I feel better as well. My body, I can feel my skin.

How about the lamb, too? You all ever had that?

Lamb. We got more sheep than people in New Zealand. Really? Yeah, I think five to one. Well, a lot of people are sheep.

Yeah, there's some people I've definitely sheep. See some furry hind in in the area.

You can see them. They got mulets in the back as well. Same, same.

If the world ends, what's your strategy? What's your plan?

Well, right now I'm building Also having a bunker in there, allegedly, maybe. I shouldn't have said that. Fuck, it's all right. But yeah, I just feel... I mean, you saw the movie, Leave the World Behind? Yeah, that's possible. Very possible. What if the internet shuts down? Who knows?

Yeah, you wake up and the phone doesn't work.

They've shut down all New Zealand's connection to the world.

Or you have two calls left. What do you do and where do you go?

I call my dad. First person, call my dad. I I'd probably go, yeah, drive down to Waganui. But the thing is, funny enough, during lockdown, people were doing that. When they made the call or you get the alert, lockdown starts at midnight's night, some fucking purge type shit. People were getting out of Auckland. People were going down to their batches if they could. People were trying to see with their family. And some people, these guys got caught going to Hamilton, which is about 45 minutes away from Auckland, or maybe an hour away. They went over through some farm roads just to get KFC in Hamilton. Yeah, just to get KFC in Hamilton and bring it back. I think they were gang members as well. I swear to God. Yeah. Yeah. Look this up. Gangs love that. They were looking for KFC during lockdown in New Zealand.

Yeah, look at Kiwi, MS13.

I can't remember which gangs it was, but we don't have no Sorreños out here. Oh, really? No, no, no. No Mexican gangs. But they're prevalent.

Kiwi, Hamilton, KFC. Lockdown. Lockdown journey.

I just want to see the start. Yeah, right there. It'll be there. Men caught. Yeah, there it is. Look at that.

I love how the police confiscated it.

Yeah, man, we got that. That's their lunch right there for the next three days.

At least there's no crime in this country. If this is a bad deal.

This is like, Oh, we got you now.

If a couple of wings in a breast. New Zealand police have made a bizarre arrest after a pair of alleged gang associates were caught trying to enter Auckland with a boot full of KFC chicken.

Sell that shit on the low.

Are you not allowed to bring it in?

No, you couldn't leave the Auckland district. So they left to go get KFC and bring it back.

A couple of stormhunters.

Actual. So everything was shut down. The lockdown was bizarre, man. Where were you living during the lockdown?

I moved to Tennessee during the lockdown, and it was wide open.

You could dance. That's why everyone moved to Texas as well. Texas changed everything. That's where the comedy scene moved over there once. Joe and the mothership and the main players.

There's a good energy there now of possibility and new and people are excited there, man.

It's a hotspot. I love watching Kill Tony because-Dude, it's so good. I used to watch it back in the day. I was just talking about this. Actually, I used to watch it. No, I used to listen to it at my old job. I used to listen to it and roast battle. Then when I saw Tony in Texas one time, he's like, Yeah, man, we've... Yeah. Super gay, not gay. He's like, Yeah, man. And he was telling me how it's going up. And I was like, I bet I'll have a look. So now I watch it on YouTube, and I got my flatmate hooked, and now we've just been watching it. The whole Hans Kim, Rick Diaz thing just took it to a new level. Rick Diaz has got some fucking cojones on him, man. Out of nowhere, the guy just like, Stop protecting him. I want his spot. And I saw it about two weeks ago where the light cut out and he came out and then was flipping him off. I've never seen that clip. Yeah. Rick Diaz appeared after the New Year's show. The next week, the lights cut out and then came back on.

Then Hans Kim is doing a set on stage, and then Rick Dias is right there just flipping them off.

It's like a soap opera now.

It is. Yeah, it's got a storyline. It's got a storyline I'm into it now.

It's so amazing, bro, to go there and watch.

I'm going to go one day. I know Sean O'Malley went in the heat of the New Year's show, but then at some point, I will go to Austin, Texas, and I'll go to Kill Tony. I just want to sit there. I don't even got to talk. I'll just sit there, answer questions, and just I watched the chaos ensue just live in front of me.

It's so crazy. They got the blind guy.

You're like, What is he doing? Oh, yeah. What's his name?

And he's playing... Is it Bones? No, I don't know.

The blind guy that hates gays. What's his name? I can't remember his name now. Oh, my God. Fuck. I know his name. It's going to come to me.

They got Chris Rodgers, the painter there, painting the whole time. The crazy part is you get one minute, which is impossible. It would almost be like, Hey, be the best UFC fighter in one minute.

You got to be throwing hope. But then they roast the guy or woman. If they suck and if they are obnoxious, then you can see Tony's like, Oh, I got a live one. You can just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop Live, they had 81,000 people watching. Damn, live. That's worldwide, bro.Unbelievable.Yeah. The concept itself is wild. Now to do it in an arena, and then they've had these main characters now, like the regulars, like Hans Kim and David Lucas. Now, Cam Newton. Oh, Cam Patterson. Fuck. Racist. Not Cam Patterson. But even he's funny.

He's hilarious, dude. I want to have him come on here sometime soon.

Where are you based right now.

I'm based in Tennessee and Los Angeles.In.

Tennessee?in LA. Yeah. I see. You go back. How often do you spend between both?

I tour probably six months, and the rest, I do four months in Tennessee.Tour.

Life, road dog.

Two months in LA.

Where's next after this? You're going to Australia, We're going to Australia.

And then we got Atlanta, New Orleans.

New Orleans.

We're going to put a show up at Iowa sometime soon. So a lot of great places still to go perform, man. It's been awesome, man.

The world's a big place, man. I know.

We want to go to South Africa. We want to go perform there.

Wait till the UFC goes there. Yeah, that's a good idea. The UFC is definitely going to go there. And when it does, I'll be right there, too. Well, I'll watch you perform tonight. I think it'll be my first time seeing you live. Oh, yeah, then.

Well, we better go get ready, too.

I've only seen you on Netflix, but yeah, I can't wait.

Oh, this will hopefully be better, I think.

My brother enjoyed it last night.He did?Yeah, fuck you. That's fair. That was dope. Yeah, so I can't wait. I'll bring some of the gang. Yeah, let's get it.

It'll be live. Easy. Izzy, thanks so much, man. I don't think there's anything else to say right now.

Wait till I retire, then we'll talk. All right. We'll get deep.

Deal, bro. I appreciate it, man.Thank.

You so much for having me.Thank.

You for your time, man. And thanks for the documentary, too.

Thanks for being vulnerable. I really respect that, especially when people in opposition don't have to the funk. You can just be honest about what's really going on. So I appreciate that. And that's good for everyone else to see we're human.

Yeah, we're trying our best today.

That's for sure, man. I'm adulting. I don't even know. Sometimes I'm like, How did we get here? How do I... I know. I'm like, Am I meant to? I have houses now.

I know. That's crazy.

I'm like, I'm doing all right.

I know. Even Rogan told me one time. He's like, Sometimes it's scary because I'll pull in in my house in the garage, and I'll feel like somebody's going to come in right after me and just take it all the way.

Damn.

He said, Sometimes I have this thought.

That's what keeps you hungry, though.

It's a thing that just happens to people. But Israel, thank you so much.Thank.

You, Theo.Yeah.

Brother.gang, gang. Gang, baby, we'll see you in Africa, baby. Praise, baby.

Throw it up. Now, I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be cornerstone. Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found. I can feel it in my bones. But it's going to take.