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March 21, 2022

Get to know Michael Capone MMA fighter

Get to know Michael Capone MMA fighter
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Chingasos Combat Crew

In this episode the guys talk to MMA fighter Michael Capone as he prepares for his next fight for FURY Fighting on April 10th. From the mats in Winchester, Virginia and making his way to Houston, Texas, listen to this jiu-jiteiros journey. If your a fan of hard work, and humble beginnings, you will be a fan of Michael Capone.

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:20.679 This is the motivation, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Digital's coast to 2 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:25.280 coast the pocket looks about what's important on and off the mets' Frank I'm joined 3 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:29.519 by the my man, my cousin, Antonio Martinez, and we're both pumped 4 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:34.000 for today's show. Cuz, please introduce our special guests today for everyone. 5 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:39.759 All right. Well, I have a good friend of mine. You know, 6 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:44.439 somebody who are trained with for a little big but man his level and 7 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:48.320 where he's at was way too, way too much for for our little gym 8 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:51.960 man, and so he went on to bigger and better things and now he's 9 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.600 out in in the Houston Texas area. And my boy, Mike Mi Capone 10 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.840 man all things MMA, Jujutsu, kicking, ask, taekwondo, everything. 11 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:07.120 This guy is all around hat. He's ready to go. How are you 12 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:10.079 doing, Mike? I'm good, guys, thanks for having me on here. 13 00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:12.799 I'm excited to do this. Nice, Nice, hell, yeah, 14 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:17.640 hell, yeah, yeah. So, Mike, why don't you introduce yourself 15 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:19.760 a little? Tell us, tell her, tell the audience out there, 16 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:23.000 everyone listening. Where do you started from? Because now they they missed a 17 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.159 little bit of the conversation. We were having before this hand, before this. 18 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.680 You just told us you're you relocated to Houston, but originally, where 19 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:36.799 were you from? Yeah, so originally I was out of Virginia. I 20 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:42.120 trained under a Joe Baserman. Honestly, we stayed out. We start out 21 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:47.200 about two separate gyms. He started out at a one gym, Winchester Jiu 22 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:51.920 Jitsu, but that really wasn't good fit. So he had to go his 23 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:56.159 own route, and I mean him being just such an amazing coach. So 24 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:01.040 many people follow them, me included. Started his own thing with winchester boxing 25 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:08.199 under Mike Dolman. Mike Dolman welcome Joe into his gym with open arms and 26 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:14.599 Joe and a few other people got shark pit Jiu jitsu started. And who 27 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:20.639 man that? That is definitely the foundation of my Jiu Jitsu. And let 28 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:23.639 me tell you, for everybody still in shark pit, that that carried a 29 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:29.960 lot of a lot of people weren't ready for what I was bringing here directly 30 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:36.560 from shark pit into the gym. That way Joe would teach just the concepts 31 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:40.560 he would preach and really, and still on you, it carries over the 32 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:49.000 training style he would preach and whatnot. Would definitely help you make better training 33 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.560 partners. It makes their training partners better as well. Like you, more 34 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.639 people want to train with you and they get better as a consequence of training 35 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:04.800 with you. Out of the way, Joe Bolzerman would teach. But after 36 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:09.960 I had trained a shark pit for about a year, maybe two years out 37 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:14.400 and then I decided it was time to time to move. I needed to 38 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:19.840 be in a gym where we had we had everything, not that that gym 39 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:24.439 didn't. We were just missing a solid MMA program and I was too, 40 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:30.800 too early in my career in order to get that started myself, though, 41 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:35.360 me and another fighter, Anthony Wilson, who's still fighting out of their still 42 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.479 kicking ass is. We gave it a try to get going. Just really 43 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:44.759 weren't having any luck getting anything going. So I had to do what was 44 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:51.360 best for me and find where I was going to really blossom at. So 45 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.759 I decided to move out to Houston and now I'm training at Main Street boxing 46 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:03.319 and might tie and they are affiliates with Hanzo Hans O Gracie Jiu Jitsu and 47 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:09.599 let me tell you, that is some fun, Fun Jiujitsu. It's fun 48 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:13.479 striking, all of it it's just a blast. There's so much high level 49 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:17.160 out here. There's so much wide range of skills, so much, so 50 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:24.560 many different body types. In Virginia it's just not as popular. So you 51 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:28.279 don't only sometimes being on one hundred and twenty five pound fighter, I'd be 52 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:32.199 training with a hundred and eighty five pound fighters two thousand and five hours and 53 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:38.480 everywhere in between. Here I have a lot more luxury to pick and choose 54 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:43.399 who I want to train without. If you're over one, see hundred and 55 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.199 eighty, I'm probably not going to be training with you here, just out 56 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:48.240 of the luxury of having that option. I don't have to. I got 57 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:54.199 little guys around, so I really get to run with that. I love 58 00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:58.360 it. Oh Man, that's what's up. So how did YOU END UP 59 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:03.759 IN HOUSTON? Man? So, honestly, the I would say it was 60 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:12.360 a blessing from the pandemic. I initially wanted to move out to Arizona and 61 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:17.839 just the pandemic kid everything locked down. Arizona wasn't open. I really was 62 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:21.160 looking into what was open because I wanted to have a good quality of life 63 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:25.319 to you know, if I'm moving out somewhere, I want to make sure 64 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:30.319 that that state is going to let me train, let me do what I'm 65 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:33.399 move in there to do. I didn't want to just move in, move 66 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:38.879 out to a different state where I don't know anybody and just be locked in 67 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.759 my house. That's a terrible tradeoff in my opinion. So it really became 68 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.639 locked down to between Texas and Florida because at that time those were the only 69 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.639 states that were open, they were the only people doing it, and I 70 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:55.600 had initially what's he going to go with Florida, but after making some phone 71 00:05:55.639 --> 00:06:00.600 calls and stuff, the gym I wanted to train at, I had talked 72 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.839 them on the phone and they said, look, we're only allowing certain criteria 73 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:09.279 of pro to train here. If you want, you can train at an 74 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:15.839 affiliate gym of ours and will you can cross train here and whatnot, and 75 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.839 that just sounded like a terrible deal to me. I've been in situations where 76 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:26.040 I was training with good gyms through affiliations, and the good drums don't really 77 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:30.560 take care of you, in my experience when it's that situation. They they 78 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.920 care about their inhouse fighters, the people they see day today. When you're 79 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:39.360 not somebody they see day today, they just look at you more so as 80 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:43.160 a body, and I been there before. That's not what I was looking 81 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:46.839 for. I know, I wanted to move out somewhere and develop a personal 82 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:51.000 relationship with my coaches. I wanted them to be invested in me as I'm 83 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:57.480 invested into them. And at the end of the day, it went to 84 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:01.519 Houston. I looked up some gyms. I found main street boxing and Moytai. 85 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:08.160 They've got high, high level boxer's, high high level MOYTA fighters, 86 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:13.120 high level MMA fighters. I mean, all I remember is his name is 87 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:18.160 Haifael. Haifael just got a knockout in the UFC a few, like a 88 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:23.800 month and a half ago. He knocked out a high level dude in like 89 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:28.959 the first two minutes of the fight. Just destroyed this dude, and I 90 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:32.279 mean I get to see this. Honestly, he's a freaking nature. See 91 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:40.800 this freaking nature train every day, go hard every day, dominate, throw 92 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:44.519 people around twice his size. He's a one hundred and fifty five and I'm 93 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:46.639 seeing him throw around two thousand and five or is like it's nothing. This 94 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:54.600 Brazilian is on another level and man, I me being the person I am, 95 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.720 I don't like people to be better than me. If I see somebody 96 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:00.839 better than me, that's just fuel on the fire. I'm like, oh, 97 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.759 that's so, that's what I need to be doing, that's that's what 98 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:07.160 I need to push myself to be better than, because I'm going to be 99 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.680 better than him. I just need to see that it's possible, and seeing 100 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:16.000 what he's doing when allows me to know like Oh, you can ramp your 101 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:20.040 body up to that, those rpms, you can make your body performed at 102 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:22.000 that level. Okay, now I know. Now I'm going to do it. 103 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.199 And that's just been what it's been since I got out here. So 104 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:31.919 much progression. My game is developed in such a crazy way, so excited 105 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.440 showcase it. No, man, that's fantastic. So it's times like totally 106 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.600 worked out for you and better than I could have hoped. Yeah, that 107 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.120 man, that's super cool. You know. Yeah, might who he's. 108 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:50.200 You know, I remembered. I Remember Your your training n regiment. Man, 109 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:52.679 it was. It was no jokes. So if you're seeing that, 110 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:58.120 this guy is even, you know, above that and doing more. I 111 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.279 mean you're doing, you know, swim. Mean you're doing Jujitsu, and 112 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.440 he would be ready from Jujitsu to Mouti, you know, back into botching, 113 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.039 then right back into you know, no, Youjjitsu, and they going 114 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:13.279 back to the gym. And I mean you were just constantly training, constantly 115 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:16.200 working. So I can only imagine if that was where you were at. 116 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.399 And now you're seeing there you're in a higher level, much, so much 117 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.759 higher, because I mean, yeah, I was doing all that and that's 118 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:30.919 awesome, that's fine that that comes with its own set of benefits, don't 119 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.120 get me wrong. But now it's one thing when you're doing it, just 120 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:37.639 do you maybe one other person in the gym's keeping up with you, but 121 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:46.159 now there's five to ten other people doing what I'm doing. So I see 122 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.159 other people doing that and then when there's a moment of weakness creeps into my 123 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:54.759 mind or I feel I've done enough, I see other people going and I'm 124 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:56.080 like, you know what, I got more in the tank. Let's do 125 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:03.399 more, and just having that right there in my face just keeps me driven. 126 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.600 Now that's what's up and that's awesome. So you're pushing each other every 127 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:09.039 day in the gym and that's awesome. Day. Oh yeah, I mean 128 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:13.399 will be there. There is a group of people I'm training with now will 129 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.240 finish hard and an hour a hard mma work and then classes over. Coaches, 130 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.840 coaches leave were they're good, and we all decide, hey, let's 131 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:26.639 stay, let's let's get an hour of metwork. And Hey, it sucks 132 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:28.679 doing cage work, let's get an hour of that. And what? What 133 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:33.879 do you suck at? Let's spend an hour a day working at let's get 134 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.519 great at it. What's what do we see people struggling with in their fights? 135 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:43.000 Let's put ourselves there. Let's make each other struggle. Even though we 136 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:48.360 just did that hour of hard, intense work. We're dripping sweat. Let's 137 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:52.559 do more. Our opponents aren't doing what we're doing, and that's where we're 138 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:56.399 going to drown the Mat. Now that's fantastic, man, that's great. 139 00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:01.039 Hard work always pays off, man. You can never do enough rounds, 140 00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.240 you know. I mean, if you got the facilities to use, you 141 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.000 got the budes around you, why not take advantage of it? Man, 142 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.919 that's a great hard work ethic to display right there, mike man, that 143 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:13.440 sounds killer. I mean, I was reading one of your interviews earlier that 144 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:18.039 you did, but I want to say this was before you left Virginia. 145 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:20.320 And you were talking about like the sacrifices that you had to make. You 146 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:24.080 know, like it's it sound like you said. You you, you know, 147 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.799 stop hanging out with some friends. You stopped going out, you stop 148 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:30.600 going out to eat. You know, you, you decided that you're going 149 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.840 to invest in yourself and not go on these vacations or not do these certain 150 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:37.320 things out that a lot of people just do on the Daytoday, because you're 151 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:41.440 that dedicated to this craft. Why don't you talk to talk to us about 152 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:46.120 those sacrifices, man? Well, I mean Shit, I moved out to 153 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.519 Houston. I don't know nobody here, I don't have any family out here. 154 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:52.480 I didn't have any connections before I came out here. I left my 155 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:58.440 family behind and I did all this because I knew this is what I wanted. 156 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:01.000 I know this is what it's going to take to be great. You 157 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:05.639 hear it from all types of all types of people with all different types of 158 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:11.480 backgrounds who are great and their own fields. They all tell you it's going 159 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:15.399 to be lonely at the top. So it's like, if you're lonely and 160 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:18.240 you don't have a bunch of people around you, that's not a sign to 161 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:24.440 feel sorry for yourself. It's, I. signed to pull back and surround 162 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:28.159 yourself with friends and stuff. It's a sign that, hey, you're you're 163 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:33.519 doing what you're supposed to be doing like these these type of lifestyle. It 164 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:41.679 demands sacrifice, it demands dedication, like even now. I mean I moved 165 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:43.879 out here, I used to do a bunch of factory work and stuff, 166 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:48.759 and I was finding out like hey, I can't train like I went because 167 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:52.639 I trained six, seven days a week, even still, and most of 168 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:54.360 my trainings in the morning. So all the jobs I could find, that 169 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:58.639 we're factory jobs, were trying to have me do like twelve hour shifts and 170 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:03.120 stuff where I wasn't able to sleep, get any sleep. I'd have to 171 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:07.320 just work, train, go, get like five six hours of sleep and 172 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:11.519 then do it all again. And I'm like, well, I can't do 173 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:16.480 this, like my brain is taken too much damage in training and not having 174 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.720 enough time to recover, and it's sleep. I don't have enough sleep. 175 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.080 So I need to I need to acclimate, I need to figure out what 176 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:26.320 needs to change and change it. So I ended up switching jobs to where 177 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:31.759 I'm just like a regular server now, and boy, that benefited so well. 178 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:35.559 I ended up making more money. I'm working like I went from working 179 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:39.559 like twelve hour days, I work like six hour days now and I get 180 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:43.200 to train as much as I want. My Body's not beat up. But 181 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:48.159 I mean, it's all a gamble, like you don't know these these this 182 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.639 roll of the dice. You just don't know if it's going to work out. 183 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:56.639 You just know you got to make it and trust yourself to roll with 184 00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:58.720 whatever struggles life throws at you, because, I mean, it's going to 185 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:03.879 throw some curveballs at you. There's no way around that. But you just 186 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:09.080 gotta Trust Yourself, trust in your own instincts, trust your own Iq, 187 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.000 trust all of it to be able to roll with life. And I mean 188 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:20.000 Shit, there's times where I want to break away. I want to stay 189 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:24.440 up late watch TV, I want to go get the new video a new 190 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:28.320 video game that just came out. I don't because I know if I stay 191 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:31.080 up late so I'm going to be dragging ass and training. I'm not going 192 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.399 to get the full effort if I go get that video game. Well, 193 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.120 that's time I'm going to be spending playing the video game and not getting the 194 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:43.519 work I need to get if I start talking to a girl or something and 195 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:46.960 she she's going to want to hang out. She's not only going to want 196 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.559 a tax. Well, boom, if I hang out, that's going to 197 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.639 be time I'm not I'm either a going to be getting to bed later so 198 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:58.120 I'm a mess up my training in the morning, or be we're going to 199 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:01.799 go out, go get food that's not going to be good food heart. 200 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:03.600 I mean I don't know if you know about Texas is food, but man 201 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:11.279 texts like to eat and when it say all of it's the most beneficial for 202 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:18.399 high performing athlete. And so I just I keep to myself. I try 203 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:20.080 not to go out on the weekends. I try not to be a hermit, 204 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.399 because I mean that that's not good for your mental health. So every 205 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:28.039 whenever there's a big fight on, me and some friends from the gym will 206 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.279 get together. We'll go out and we'll we'll have a drink, have have 207 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:35.879 a little bit of food, but that's like once, maybe twice aone. 208 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:39.960 Aside from those little little get togethers, it's all about the training, and 209 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:46.840 I mean that's a sacrifice I'm happy to make. I'm not interested in making 210 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:52.120 this my glory time in my life. I know when I get old I'm 211 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:58.799 gonna have like good stories to tell and they're not they're going to be built 212 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:03.559 off of these sacrifices. It's not going to be the training that's going to 213 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.120 get sacrifice. I'm going to have the good stories from what the training presented, 214 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.519 what the training built up to, not just like, Oh yeah, 215 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:12.960 so I went on this date with this one girl and we had a great 216 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:18.720 time, or Oh yeah, so I went out and did this amazing height 217 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:21.480 and it was all that. I didn't do anything but that. Like, 218 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:25.440 Naw, that's not what I'm after. I'm after the greatness I'm going to 219 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:29.519 get from my sport. Nah, that's what's so and that's that's about message 220 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.360 right there. Man, you see, you're you're just all in you. 221 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:37.679 You sacrificed everything, you put one hundred percent trust in yourself and you'd like 222 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:41.879 you sound confident as hell and you know you're going to make it, and 223 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:45.679 then you're proven that with all that hard work going. I mean you went 224 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.720 from a little town, you know what I mean. I'm sure you were 225 00:16:48.759 --> 00:16:52.080 having a lot of success at your gym over there and you came over here 226 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:57.279 and you had such great coaching and the hard work ethic. You know, 227 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:02.840 sound like you have a really strong foundation to set you up for great success 228 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:07.359 over in Houston. And now you're adding all these other tools, all these 229 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:10.680 other coaches, all these other training partners, that are only going to give 230 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.599 you more weapons. Man, sounds like you're just going to become a complete 231 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:18.519 badass pretty soon. So congratulations to that. Thank yeah, man, good 232 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:22.039 for you, man. Yeah, it's definitely. Yeah, do the name 233 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.039 to make a move. This is the stuff that they make movies about, 234 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:27.440 Mike. I mean, we'll see, we'll see you one day. Yeah, 235 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:32.200 I just keep working at it. It's all all about that goal. 236 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.640 I'm enjoying the journey, don't get me real yeah, but that goal, 237 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:38.039 man, that goal is it's all I see. I got that. I 238 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:45.279 got one thing online four seven, a tunnel vision for it. I don't 239 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:48.680 know how else, how else to even think at this point. I'll leave 240 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:53.880 training and I just play it back for the next however long, till I'm 241 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:57.039 back in the gym, and then everything I played back, I try to 242 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:03.000 run it through get better again. Now that's what sounds they so at Mike. 243 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:07.839 Before we get you to where you are Gonea go, not the future 244 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.559 where you know you're going in mme and you you're kind of your road there. 245 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:14.400 I want to ask you, like, how did you get into it? 246 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:15.839 How did you first start? How did you get into, you know, 247 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.799 mixmotional art, combat sports, you know how we where was your beginning? 248 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:25.200 That what made you decide to go this room? Um, well, 249 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:30.599 so, I grew up in a household where it fighting wasn't allowed. Like, 250 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:34.359 I wasn't allowed to be a violent kid whatsoever. I wasn't like me. 251 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:38.680 Even being like a playfully aggressive kid was looked it down upon. I 252 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:44.160 was not allowed to be aggressive and any manner. But I had a lot 253 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:47.799 of energy. So when I was really young, my mom this had been 254 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:51.759 talking to some of her friends and she's just like this kid's got so much 255 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:53.759 energy, I don't know what to do with them, like, I don't 256 00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:57.799 know in my when a her friends suggested we'll get them into wrestling, and 257 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:02.920 I mean that was the start of it. I started wrestling since I was 258 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:08.920 six and program called Willie Walters, and I mean, I'm not gonna lie, 259 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:12.759 wasn't a good wrestler when I started. I wasn't a good wrestler until 260 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:18.839 I was like a junior in high school. I just didn't I was doing 261 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.920 it because I was there, not because I liked it. It was hard. 262 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:25.039 Wrestling's hard work, tell you what. And when you're a kid and 263 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:33.240 you don't understand why something's hard, it's not fun. But when I got 264 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:37.279 got up into high school, I started to do good, I started to 265 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:42.279 dominate and I started to enjoy what I was doing and I started to pay 266 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:48.599 attention, started to actually learn how to time moves together, what moves like, 267 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:52.599 what the purpose of what I was doing was, what kind of body 268 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:59.720 mechanics made my moves better. And I mean honestly. Even still, even 269 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:04.680 through high school, I never really shine as a wrestler. Like if I 270 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:11.920 wrestled myself in high school, if the wrestler now wrestled the wrestler, then 271 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:15.480 I would destroy that wrestler then, even if same weight, same strength, 272 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:19.519 everything's the same, except who I am now versus who I was then, 273 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:26.759 I would destroy that kid just because so much teaching, so many great instructors 274 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:33.279 have really been able to explain things to me in ways that just make it 275 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:38.799 click to the point now where, like I'll do things. I'm a good 276 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:44.440 Jiu jitsu person. I'm a good grappler all around. I can go right 277 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:48.119 from wrestling, oh, like folk style wrestling with the rules, and all 278 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:53.319 right into Jiu Jitsu. I play whatever game is presented to me, and 279 00:20:53.400 --> 00:21:00.519 it's just that wrestling has really developed me into who I am completely. All 280 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.960 right, all right, so when did like to after the whole wrestling when 281 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:08.440 did you get into would you start moving on into like eneme? Did see 282 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:15.200 something like that? Well, after wrestling, I went after I graduated high 283 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.559 school, I really wanted to go into the military. I wanted to be 284 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:22.599 a seal. That was something I had wanted to be since, honestly, 285 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.200 before I could even remember. That all stems from my parents on honestly, 286 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:33.200 thinking about sending me a way to military school and just kind of keeping that, 287 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:36.160 putting that in my brain, and it kind of was like Oh that, 288 00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:38.920 honestly, would it be a bad idea, just because I had developed 289 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:45.480 good worth ethic from wrestling? and honestly, wrestling taught me to love grinding. 290 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:48.480 I love grinding, if if it's a hard grind. I'm a happy 291 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:56.200 guy like I I embrace a struggle and after I kind of got some wits 292 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:02.240 about me before I graduated completely from high school. I thought to myself, 293 00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:06.240 Hey, I've seen a lot of people who leave the military and don't know 294 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:08.079 what to do with their lives. They don't know how to acclimate back into 295 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:14.039 civilian life. So I thought to myself, Hey, you know, would 296 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:17.480 be a good idea. Let's not join the military when we're eighteen. Let's 297 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:22.240 wait till we're twenty. That way we have time to learn what the real 298 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:26.640 world is, outside of school, outside of the military and the boy let 299 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:29.799 me tell you, before I even got out of high school, I got 300 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:36.440 a reckless driving ticket and it cost me. You can't have a reckless driving 301 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:40.680 ticket and go into the SEAL program. They're super strict. So because of 302 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:45.920 that, that kind of threw all my hopes and dreams right out the window 303 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.680 and I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life. 304 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:53.759 I got into party and really hard. I started going to Baltimore, I 305 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:00.240 started going to DC for Raves and concerts and I ended up partying with this 306 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:04.200 one kid who was a little smaller than me and he told me he fought 307 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:08.960 and I had never even thought of doing that kind of stuff in my life, 308 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.839 just because, like I had said earlier, that wasn't something that was 309 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:18.960 practical in my household. My family weren't people that watched fights at even get 310 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:25.039 into boxing. They told me that Shit's fake. Wrestling's the only real thing, 311 00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:27.000 like that's not, not what you do. You're not allowed to do 312 00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:32.319 that. If you if you try to fight people, they'll just bring guns. 313 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:33.839 You're not allowed to do it. So I was just it was never 314 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.920 something that I thought of. So when this kid little smaller than me was 315 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:42.000 telling me, Oh, he had a similar background than me as me and 316 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:47.119 he fights, it got me interested. And then he ended up telling me 317 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:52.880 he had a fight in winchester, where the city I was living at the 318 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.599 time, and I was like, oh, that's super cool, I come 319 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.720 watching support, and I did. He ended up fighting Tyler Bar Seeano, 320 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:04.799 one of my training partners for a while, out in Virginia, and Tyler 321 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:11.119 wrecked his shit, just beat his ass, and watching it I was like, 322 00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:15.079 Oh my God, dude, this nothing here is happening. That super 323 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:19.359 impressive. Like I had been in a bunch of little street fights growing up. 324 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.079 I mean I was a small kid, I got bullied, I was 325 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:29.200 bully's not even the right word for I'm from a from a small town where 326 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:34.200 everybody gave everybody a hard time. Like the there was no person that got 327 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:38.440 picked on all the time. It part somebody picked on you, you picked 328 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.160 on somebody else. You picked on the person picking on you. The person 329 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:48.319 you picked on picks on somebody else. That person they picked on picked on 330 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:52.319 them back. It was just that's just how people communicated. It's you gave 331 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.480 your friends a hard time, your friends gave you a hard time, and 332 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:00.920 it was just how you'd fight a kid and then two hours later you all 333 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:04.519 be best friends. It just didn't it was just something that happened in them 334 00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:11.200 small towns. And because I had had so many fights, my wrestling had 335 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:15.079 always pulled me through, I was like man, I could do this. 336 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:19.119 I'm not scared to get hit. That's something that's just I'm used to that. 337 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:25.200 That's nothing, and she's that's bring you Mike from the rest of us. 338 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:30.079 Bro Shit, not. I swear, it's nothing. It's it. 339 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.039 It's one of those things your brain makes you freak out thinking you're getting hurt, 340 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:36.960 but in reality, like it's not going to kill you, so you 341 00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:41.000 better like focus on what's the real problem. Is The real problem you getting 342 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.960 touched once or the real problem what standing in front of you? And I 343 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:49.599 mean so I found out tyler, the do that beat up my friend, 344 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:55.160 was training in winchester, so I found his gym and started training with him, 345 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:59.000 and then that's what got the whole ball rolling. Wow, that's where 346 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:02.680 I'm at. Joe Ballserman, and I mean man who I don't know if 347 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:07.559 how to stuck with him and me without Joe, I mean just he was 348 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:11.480 a good coach. Yeah, a Greek, cool, great, great guy 349 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.279 whole round. Yes, sir, great guy all around, for sure. 350 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:22.119 Definitely, when I moved out to Houston, I used him as the bar 351 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:26.480 for my coaches, for the people I was training around as I was testing 352 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:30.559 different gems. I was looking for somebody that had similar characteristics to Joe and 353 00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:36.200 that was what was going to determine where I was gonna start training at. 354 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:40.680 That's what's up, man, that's what's up. Hey to not to get 355 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:44.599 away from fighting, but all interviews, I'm not sure if you're you probably 356 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:48.160 not familiar with our with our show, since you're always training, kicking people's 357 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:51.519 asses and whatnot, but we always like to start off our interviews with a 358 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:56.480 little light haarded conversation and we always ask everybody growing up or even right now. 359 00:26:56.519 --> 00:26:57.519 You know what I mean. Maybe there's a movie that kind of sticks 360 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:03.160 out, but is there a martial arts movie that kind of hits home to 361 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:06.759 you, that you know, maybe it motivates you, maybe it pumps you 362 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:11.480 up, maybe just got you kind of down this combat fight row? You 363 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:14.359 know, like me and cousin I, when we were kids, we freaking 364 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:21.519 love watching any Kunkfu theater movie, anything with Roddy, anything with Ninja's, 365 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:25.359 anything with fighting but sport. You know it was on. Is there any 366 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:27.079 movie like that that kind of sticks out to your mind, that you kind 367 00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:32.400 of that just resonates with you? Um Hmm, okay, so I would 368 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:37.359 say definitely what made me want to be the person I am is fighting in 369 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:41.400 all all of it, being a good guy, all of it, I 370 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:47.680 would really say, stems from anime and comics. I definitely liked vision quest 371 00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:52.160 growing up because it was so similar to wrestling. You didn't have a lot 372 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:57.000 of movies about wrestlers and vision quest was about a high school wrestler drop who 373 00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:03.640 was a dominant who was a force himself, dropping down weight to wrestle like 374 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.799 a state champ who was dominant, somebody he didn't have to go against, 375 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:14.039 somebody he wanted to go against for the challenge. If Mark Martial art movie, 376 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:18.240 It'd be that. But I'd be lying to say like anime, the 377 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:23.799 characters from that, characters from comic books and stuff, aren't what drives me. 378 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:29.440 I like, I want to I want to be a super superhero, 379 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.200 like I want to be able to be the person that, like, makes 380 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:37.960 people safe. I want to be able to always keep myself safe and make 381 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:44.359 sure everything's equal for other people. I don't like it when I see like 382 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:51.160 one person benefiting from another person struggle. Like, even if I'm the benefit, 383 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:53.960 even if I'm the person that's benefiting, I'm gonna be like, oh 384 00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:57.440 well, I'll give up a little of what I got and give it to 385 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:03.119 this person, because that's equal. That that's what puts us on equal footing. 386 00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:07.359 And if they're doing everything I'm doing, it should be equally. Shouldn't 387 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:11.799 it be? Like we're doing the same stuff and I'm getting all the reward, 388 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:15.799 you're getting none of it because the way the system set up. I 389 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:18.839 don't like that kind of stuff and I got that all kind of from anime. 390 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:25.240 From comics, seeing how, like you, just you train hard, 391 00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:30.079 you work hard, you be a good person and stuff stuff goes your way. 392 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:34.359 And I mean my life is to testament to that. I work hard, 393 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:42.039 I train hard, I don't really get derailed by little things, and 394 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:48.200 I know it sounds Dorky and stuff, but that really stems from like watching 395 00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:53.440 anime characters, watching these anime series that are like that, go go across 396 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:59.319 the course of like ten years, and it's just like watching that character development 397 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:03.359 and stuff, watching them learn how to train hard to work to a new 398 00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:08.079 move and then training hard to work to another move and tying it all together. 399 00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:12.039 That stuff that really just kind of clicks with me. That sounds cool, 400 00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:15.640 man. You know, that's kind of sounds like a common theme that 401 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:19.559 that reoccurs a lot in martial arts, you know what I mean, where 402 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:25.640 there's a certain nobility, there's a certain Ah, there's a certain type of 403 00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:30.480 character that we look up to and admire and all these facets of martial arts, 404 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:33.400 whether it be anime or a movie or in real life, you know 405 00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:36.839 what I mean. Like think about Hicks and Gracie or or Bruce Kee or 406 00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:40.559 Chuck Norris, like everyone looks up to these people, because not only can 407 00:30:40.599 --> 00:30:42.799 they kick ass, but they're a hero. You know what I mean? 408 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:47.400 They stood up for people, you know, you know, and and Mohammad 409 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:51.559 and regardless. People say, yeah, exactly, you know, and and 410 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:55.160 that's something that's I mean, if you read any comic, that's the whole 411 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:59.920 theme. That's what a superhero is. They embody back there are superhero seven, 412 00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:02.640 three hundred and sixty five, whether they're on the mat or whether they 413 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:06.640 got that costume on or not. You know fact. So welcome to the 414 00:31:06.680 --> 00:31:11.359 Jiujitdal neighborhood. Brother that you you few fit and what what a true Jiujit 415 00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:14.759 thatal what a true martial artist is. You know what I mean. You're 416 00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:17.880 always for the greater good, for the greater cause, you know. So 417 00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:19.960 that, dude, I was getting chill just listen to you say that. 418 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:26.359 Man. Yeah, I mean, I mean it's just people ask, are 419 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:29.759 you a wrestler or you a striker? Dude, I'm a martial artist. 420 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:34.440 I love it all. I want it all to progress and grow. It 421 00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:38.559 just I want it it all to be good. I don't want to be 422 00:31:38.599 --> 00:31:42.279 in the gym where people are bullying their training partners. That shit's not cool. 423 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:47.079 I want to make my I want to make the people around me better 424 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:52.759 and that, in contrast, that will make me better. Definitely for sure. 425 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:56.839 All right, because you want to get that next question. Yeah, 426 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:02.240 yeah, so, all right, like so hot. Being said, what 427 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:05.839 about like the first time you're actually the keys? You know, I am 428 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:07.759 usually with you, like you Jiujitsu and stuff like that, and watching and 429 00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:13.240 training in getting prepared for fines and stuff, but what about the first time 430 00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:16.319 you're actually in the key? Like, what was that feeling like? Who? 431 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:22.319 Man, honestly, I remember it very well. I remember that whole 432 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:28.759 fight in that's honestly thanks to Joe Balsaman again, because he had told me. 433 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:30.920 He's like look, man, I mean that's all. It's going to 434 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.640 happen quick. Everything's going to seem like a blur. It's going to happen 435 00:32:34.839 --> 00:32:37.400 very fast. You probably won't even remember it. And because he had told 436 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:40.920 me that, my brain, being me, being the person I am, 437 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.759 if I'm told something can't be done, I'm like, let's make it happen. 438 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:49.160 And because he told me you're not going to remember it, it's all 439 00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:52.799 gonna Happen Quick, my brain is like, okay, let's be as conscious 440 00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:57.920 as we can do in this and it's so really when I was in there, 441 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:00.359 I remember it all and let me tell you, I've was stupid confident, 442 00:33:00.759 --> 00:33:07.880 like I I just went in there thinking I can't be be I am 443 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:12.720 Michael Capone and he does not get beat. I'm not going to get beat 444 00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:15.200 in front of my family, I'm not going to get beat in front of 445 00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:20.279 my teammates. I'M gonna come out here and I'm going to put in work. 446 00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:23.960 And a lot of people don't know. This my first fight my own. 447 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:30.960 My main cou one of my main coaches day even show up like he's 448 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:37.960 got uses. Yeah, he he had some sort of, what's the word, 449 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:42.880 some sort of dispute with the promoter and whatnot, so he just decided 450 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:45.680 not to come. He told us he was going to come. Oh, 451 00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:50.400 he just he wanted to do his own thing. decided not to show. 452 00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:54.240 We ended up having my girlfriend at the time, Kelsey Gilmore, step in, 453 00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:58.319 which was really cool, or her, but I mean she's never cornered 454 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:00.559 or anything. She was just mostly there for moral support. Really it was 455 00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:05.759 all all Joe Man. Joe Is in there telling me what to do, 456 00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:10.360 and I mean you've you've trained with Joe. You know he he is a 457 00:34:10.360 --> 00:34:17.480 person that will make you feel like the situation is under control. HM, 458 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:22.519 he's not a type of guy that's going to make you feel like you need 459 00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:25.639 to freak out or anything. He's going to be nice and calm with you, 460 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:30.239 and I mean he just had in him there. Having my girlfriend at 461 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:35.679 the time in my corner, I just felt like I could not be beat, 462 00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:38.199 and I mean I went out there, got the got to finish from 463 00:34:38.199 --> 00:34:44.280 a rear naked choke and I'm pretty sure it was two minutes flat. Dang, 464 00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:49.360 quick work. Yeah, me, quick work of them. I was 465 00:34:50.599 --> 00:34:53.079 it was a good fight. It was a good night. Wow. Well, 466 00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:58.119 now that it's over. And then Joe prepped you, saying it was 467 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:00.880 going to happen in the flash. You weren't going to remember, remember, 468 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:05.000 remember anything, and then you went ahead and we're trying to soak up as 469 00:35:05.079 --> 00:35:07.760 much of it from that night as you could. What stands out the most? 470 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:12.599 What do you remember the most from that all night? Well, the 471 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:15.400 fight went, it went out there started. I remember I kept it loose 472 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:20.519 going in. The cage fell rang, we went out, we touch gloves 473 00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:23.760 and I go for a one too right out the gate because I don't realize 474 00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:29.280 I have no striking. I'm thinking I'm a I can fight. How To 475 00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:35.119 do this? I don't. I'm no striking. It's terrible. Miss my 476 00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:38.920 job completely, and then I throw everything into my too, everything into that 477 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:45.920 crow. Totally miss that too. Dude's directly under blast. Doubles me over, 478 00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:50.320 which is good because he just dove into my realm. This is a 479 00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:53.360 Jiu Jitsu guy. He just dove in my room. I wrestled my whole 480 00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:59.519 life. There was a slight panic and then right when my back hit the 481 00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:01.159 Mat, I'm like, Oh, I've been here before, this is nothing 482 00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:08.039 new, and I kind of wrapped around his ankle in this just to kind 483 00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:14.079 of like keep grip on him so I could maneuver myself on the ground. 484 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:17.880 And I'm throwing an up kick or two Adam, and he's punching down at 485 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:22.320 me and I end up punching up at him once and I connected, and 486 00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:25.559 I think that kind of made them mad to he started connecting a little more 487 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:31.119 to me and my brain goes hey, we can't be here like you're fighting 488 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:35.800 him and gravity at this point, because he's standing above you. Throw it 489 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:40.280 heat down. I'm only punching up. It's mechanics wise. That's a terrible 490 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:46.599 idea. Mechanics wise. I'm so I decided. I was like, Oh, 491 00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:50.519 I need to I need to get up. I'll take a hit, 492 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:52.719 I'll take two hits, I don't care. I need to get up. 493 00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:58.519 And I ended up getting up and I turned into a takedown. I got 494 00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:01.039 up wrapped around his legs, as I was trying to keep as close to 495 00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:05.679 him as I can, because he's not going to let me get space to 496 00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:07.920 get up without getting hit. So if I can't, I'm not going to 497 00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:12.280 be in that middle ground where he can blasp me Joe Bosham and teach his 498 00:37:12.360 --> 00:37:15.280 hey, you either be really closer you be really far. You don't play 499 00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:19.400 around in that middle ground. So I was really close wrapped up. I 500 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:23.559 ended up standing up with him with a double leg and I picked him up, 501 00:37:23.719 --> 00:37:28.320 like all the way up on my shoulder. He mayn boy was high 502 00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:31.920 and I slam them right down to the ground and then we started going again, 503 00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:36.760 start having a little flurries. I felt he had a little something, 504 00:37:36.840 --> 00:37:38.880 so I let him up off the ground. I didn't want to play around 505 00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:43.480 there, and then I hit him with a push kick knocked him right back 506 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:47.920 down and then swept in for a double took his back, took him down. 507 00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:52.519 I remember he I was behind him when the rear naked choke and I'm 508 00:37:52.519 --> 00:37:55.639 thinking, all right, yeah, you're stuck in the reft goes or you 509 00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:00.239 good. And the dude thumbed up to the REF and man, that made 510 00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:06.800 me so mad. Oh so like this. You're not taking this serious. 511 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:10.960 You think you're just okay with me on your back, under your Chin choking 512 00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:14.679 their shit out of you. Oh okay, so I'll start hitting you then 513 00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:17.800 too, like you're gonna know you're in a serious you're gonna know you're compromise 514 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:22.440 right now and I'm going to make you know it. And then, right 515 00:38:22.519 --> 00:38:27.559 as I let go of my rear naked choke grip, I kept the arm 516 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.079 under the Chin because, I mean, you're grappler, you know you got 517 00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:32.400 something under the Chin, you're not going to let it go. I just 518 00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:37.360 cut this shoulder to keep my arm in place and with my left arm I 519 00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:42.880 just started whopping them in the face and like right before the first punch hit 520 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:46.880 him in the face, he started tapping out and I'll landed like three more 521 00:38:46.920 --> 00:38:52.000 after that and I remember the ref being really mad at me, being like 522 00:38:52.599 --> 00:38:54.840 dude, why were you hitting him after he tapped out? And I looked 523 00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:58.280 the reft and I'm like look, man, I'm sorry. All I remember 524 00:38:58.360 --> 00:39:00.960 was seeing him do a thumbs up fight feel this guy tap out, like, 525 00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:05.320 in my mind, why would you go from thumbs up to tap out 526 00:39:05.400 --> 00:39:07.400 immediately? Yeah, I mean, and that's your job. Your job is 527 00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:12.960 to stop it and let us know exactly. You know exactly I mean? 528 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:15.119 I didn't know as I saw him. I saw him thumbs up. My 529 00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:20.079 mind, he's a happy guy and I got to change that. And I 530 00:39:20.119 --> 00:39:24.000 mean I ended up doing putting in the work. I remember Joe Coming in, 531 00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:29.239 my girl Kelsey coming in. It was such a happy moment. Who 532 00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:32.199 It was a high. That just got me hooked. Wow, man, 533 00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:37.079 that's awesome. That is so awesome. I mean, other than like, 534 00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:39.679 you know, he's a little you know things that you you learn in your 535 00:39:39.719 --> 00:39:44.320 in your first cage fight. I mean what other have you had any other 536 00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:50.760 hurdles along the way? Yeah, I'm really I would say my main hurdle 537 00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:57.519 was finding a good coach after that, because, I mean after after that 538 00:39:57.559 --> 00:40:04.079 fight happened the gym, we were at currently had done some coaching. Coach 539 00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:09.800 shifting around. Joe Wasn't the MMA coach anymore. They brought in they affiliated 540 00:40:09.880 --> 00:40:15.480 themselves with a different gym that was like an hour away. They that Jim 541 00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:22.159 brought in their own coach and I don't know, there were times I thought 542 00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:25.599 me in that coach reviving, and then there were other times where the coach 543 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:32.159 wasn't liking me at all and they're like there were just a lot of weird 544 00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:37.360 things that I wasn't understanding. I later learned like the fight game got politics 545 00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:44.119 and that's never been something that has been my strong suit. I've always been 546 00:40:44.199 --> 00:40:46.920 a type of person like you either like me or you don't. If you 547 00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:51.039 don't like me in the MMA game, you're going to because you're going to 548 00:40:51.119 --> 00:40:57.000 see my skill eventually. And it was just one of those like that. 549 00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:00.679 This new coach didn't like me. He he would be playing honestly, he 550 00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:06.360 be playing mind games. He'd tell me like, Oh, the head coach 551 00:41:06.360 --> 00:41:08.639 at our other jet at the gym were affiliates with. Yeah, you don't 552 00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:15.920 want to trust him because he has set people up with bad fights before because 553 00:41:15.960 --> 00:41:19.840 they started and come too big. They their name became bigger than the JIM's 554 00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:22.360 name, so he had to get them chopped down. And like he would 555 00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:28.639 just plant those seeds in my mind like don't trust him, don't trust this. 556 00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:32.840 He'd be telling me that this coach was trying to get me in my 557 00:41:32.960 --> 00:41:37.239 girl broken up because he didn't like people dating that were at the gym. 558 00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:45.000 He set me up with fights that were just bad fights, like just really 559 00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:47.960 bad fight. When it tell me anything about my opponent. Would have me 560 00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:54.440 jump weights around and just it was weird and I was a fighter, so 561 00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:59.519 I'm like, Hey, I don't I don't understand what's going on, but 562 00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:01.159 you've been in this game longer than me. I'm going to trust you, 563 00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:05.239 and that trust just got me cut the shit beat out of me a couple 564 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:08.800 of time. I'm going to tell you need is hell, Mike. I'm 565 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:13.639 sorry about that, man me. It's all part of the game. You 566 00:42:13.800 --> 00:42:15.199 learn, you living, you learn. I mean, it just is what 567 00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:21.920 it is. That that's a great album. Yeah, exactly. I mean 568 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.880 now I know like they were. They were the type of coaches that were 569 00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:29.039 like hey, don't, you're not allowed to cross train because it makes me 570 00:42:29.079 --> 00:42:30.920 look bad. If you're going to other gyms to learn something. It makes 571 00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:35.800 me look like I don't know that something, so you got to go somewhere 572 00:42:35.800 --> 00:42:39.639 else to learn it. And that kind of stuff has really locked into me, 573 00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:44.000 like Oh, if you're a coach that doesn't like me cross training, 574 00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:50.199 I don't trust you. If you don't understand that you don't know everything, 575 00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:54.840 I don't trust you because nobody in this game knows everything. One thing Joe 576 00:42:54.880 --> 00:43:00.119 Basman will tell you. Some more he learns about Jiu Jitsu, the less 577 00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:05.360 he knows. He realizes he knows about Jiu Jitsu. Yeah, that and 578 00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:10.400 if you can't be a coach with that kind of mindset, I've learned from 579 00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:16.400 my past experience tells me I don't want to trust you. I don't. 580 00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:22.440 You got too much ego in the game and the fighters supposed to have the 581 00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:27.079 EGO. The coach is supposed to be the level head of one, and 582 00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:31.000 I got enough ego for me and my coach. I can't have he he 583 00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:35.400 got too much. We're going to be in some bad fights, and that's 584 00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:42.000 exactly what happened. I got put in bad fights bat and din it wasn't 585 00:43:42.039 --> 00:43:45.800 always able to walk away with the Duh. I'm a tough, tough kids. 586 00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:49.199 So I definitely was able to sometime. I was able to win some 587 00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:53.199 short notice fights, but because I wasn't able to win them all, it 588 00:43:53.320 --> 00:43:59.559 definitely hurt my career. Like even now I'm trying to dig myself out of 589 00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:04.280 a hole. I'm three and five and I'm digging myself out of a Hole 590 00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:07.920 I got. I wanted to go pro this year. I gotta get on 591 00:44:07.960 --> 00:44:10.440 the ball get three more amateur fights in before I can even go pro. 592 00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:15.039 Just I gotta get on get a winning street going because of that, and 593 00:44:15.119 --> 00:44:20.800 that's going to happen. That's gonna Happen. Like I'm I'm training with pro 594 00:44:20.920 --> 00:44:23.239 one hundred and twenty five is now, and I'm doing good work with them. 595 00:44:23.239 --> 00:44:28.719 One of the DUDES I get to train with is Jay boy, Jonathan 596 00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:34.880 Davis. He's a pro. He's got like he's had like sixty amateur fights, 597 00:44:34.920 --> 00:44:38.039 whether the MMA like all that, and I mean me and him go, 598 00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:42.079 me and him go at it and I do well with him. And 599 00:44:42.079 --> 00:44:45.159 if I can do well with this pro who's right on the verge of getting 600 00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:52.360 into UFC, I'm gonna I'm fine. I have no sweat whatsoever about these 601 00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:57.199 a me one and twenty fives in my area. I'M gonna blast through it. 602 00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:00.440 It's just because of me not knowing the game, name me not knowing 603 00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:05.800 the politics. Me Trusted in too many people who haven't earned the trust. 604 00:45:05.800 --> 00:45:08.760 People coming in just being like Hey, your Jim brought me in as a 605 00:45:08.760 --> 00:45:13.000 coach. It's your you're the fighter, your job to trust me, and 606 00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:15.880 it's where I should have been like Nah, man, I mean we're both 607 00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:21.239 men. Show me why I should trust you, not just I should trust 608 00:45:21.320 --> 00:45:27.039 you, and that's just a lesson learned. Oh Man, yeah, well, 609 00:45:27.159 --> 00:45:29.639 well, speaking of getting on the right track, you got to fight 610 00:45:29.719 --> 00:45:31.920 coming up Mike One. You just a little bit about that fight? What's 611 00:45:31.960 --> 00:45:36.960 the organization named? What weight class are you going to be fighting under and 612 00:45:37.039 --> 00:45:40.039 how can we watch? So this is going to be a one of the 613 00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:45.679 fury card. Very exciting for that. Curi's a big fight promotion, not 614 00:45:45.719 --> 00:45:50.280 just in Texas, really all around, and I'm going to be fighting on 615 00:45:50.320 --> 00:45:53.840 there. My opponents still a little green. I think it's going to be 616 00:45:53.880 --> 00:45:58.320 a tough fight. There's no way around it. No fights easy anymore, 617 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:04.360 especially not out in Texas. But I definitely think I should be the winner. 618 00:46:04.440 --> 00:46:07.039 The kids only one and one. The kids like twenty, one thousand 619 00:46:07.119 --> 00:46:10.599 nine hundred and twenty. He's been training about I want to say two three 620 00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:15.360 years now. I've got a solid six years. He's a white belt, 621 00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:20.440 I'm a purple belt. This kick, this kids tending to chose to fight. 622 00:46:20.440 --> 00:46:22.880 He should have. His coaches should have been like Nah, we'll do 623 00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:28.480 the next one. They looked at my record and where they obviously only looked 624 00:46:28.480 --> 00:46:30.639 at the numbers because if you look at our record it's three and five. 625 00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:36.320 But look at the people I've lost to. I've lost people with like eight 626 00:46:36.400 --> 00:46:39.599 and one records. I've lost two people with like nine and seven records. 627 00:46:39.639 --> 00:46:45.519 Like I lose two people who are dogs and I've beaten people who are dogs. 628 00:46:45.559 --> 00:46:50.519 My last win was against dude from American top team who was nine in 629 00:46:50.599 --> 00:46:54.840 one and I beat him by you Nancy decision. I only lost to the 630 00:46:54.920 --> 00:47:00.119 number one ranked guy in all of Virginia by a split decision one that was 631 00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:06.840 very controversial, but it is what it is. Guy. You gotta beat 632 00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:09.960 the champ to take the belt. I didn't. I did enough to win 633 00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:13.559 a regular fight, not enough to win a belt. So it is what 634 00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:17.199 it is, but this kid, this kid's coaches should have looked into a 635 00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:22.880 little bit more, because he who? He? He signed up for a 636 00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:27.360 bad day. Like I ain't got no problems against kid. I'm gonna hurt 637 00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:30.400 them like I'm gonna hurt them. He's not making it out of the first 638 00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:35.880 round and luckily this card's going to be an all AMMI card, so I'm 639 00:47:35.880 --> 00:47:40.440 want to say pretty sure it's going to have free streaming on Youtube and once 640 00:47:40.480 --> 00:47:45.159 I get right, yeah, once I get all of that, I'm going 641 00:47:45.199 --> 00:47:51.400 to make some post on my social media's on Instagram at Michael Capone's MMA, 642 00:47:51.559 --> 00:47:55.400 or just on facebook at Michael Capone. I'm going to post some links, 643 00:47:55.519 --> 00:47:59.519 get it all out there and make sure all my family and Virginia you get 644 00:47:59.559 --> 00:48:05.239 to see it, because it I'm going to showcase some things. I'm excited. 645 00:48:05.320 --> 00:48:08.920 I'm going to put this kid out in a memorable way. We'll just 646 00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:15.599 about what your strategy for for this coming up fight. I mean, you 647 00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:22.599 know I'm an information yeah, I mean Shit in it. He can know 648 00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:24.000 what I'm going to do to the tea. He Ain't going to stop it. 649 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:29.320 There's just no way. People, everybody in my gym knows what I'm 650 00:48:29.440 --> 00:48:31.239 what I like to do, and they don't they can't stop it. So 651 00:48:31.320 --> 00:48:35.880 this dude ain't gonna be nothing different. I tell him right before the fight, 652 00:48:35.920 --> 00:48:37.719 if he wants to know, like hey, Bro, this is how 653 00:48:37.719 --> 00:48:39.440 it's going to go. I'm going to strike with you the first minute and 654 00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:44.039 a half and then I'm and then after that minute and a half, I'm 655 00:48:44.039 --> 00:48:45.360 going to take you down. I'm going to sub you because my coaches want 656 00:48:45.400 --> 00:48:49.800 to know if I'm who I think, who I say I am, and 657 00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:52.960 you're just the unfortunate motherfucker who gets to be the proof, because I just 658 00:48:53.480 --> 00:48:57.920 I said something and people need to know if I say it, that's what's 659 00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:00.920 going to happen, it's gonna Happen. So this he going to get subbed. 660 00:49:01.400 --> 00:49:05.000 If he does, if he can make it through that first minute and 661 00:49:05.039 --> 00:49:07.360 a half of me striking, which he should, he should. I'm not 662 00:49:07.400 --> 00:49:12.079 the most phenomenal striker in the world. been working hard at it. Don't 663 00:49:12.079 --> 00:49:15.199 want to take away from my skills, but from what I understand, this 664 00:49:15.280 --> 00:49:17.719 kid's a striker. He's a little taller than me, so if I have 665 00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:22.719 all the range, he should be able to survive that first minute and a 666 00:49:22.760 --> 00:49:27.880 half where I'm just getting comfortable with my hands. But after that, good 667 00:49:27.960 --> 00:49:34.079 luck, good luck stopping that hat down, good luck stopping me from splitting 668 00:49:34.119 --> 00:49:37.920 you in half, because I'm going to. I'm go break it. I'm 669 00:49:37.960 --> 00:49:42.079 not going for a joke, I'm going to snap a join you. Yeah, 670 00:49:42.159 --> 00:49:45.280 man, we'll get a yeah, definitely. We want to share that 671 00:49:45.320 --> 00:49:47.639 with all the listeners out there so that way we can all support. We 672 00:49:47.639 --> 00:49:51.400 all want to support man, but most importantly, we want to watch that 673 00:49:51.440 --> 00:49:54.320 because we know mikey Musamichi ain't going to snap anything with Geo. So you're 674 00:49:54.360 --> 00:50:00.079 going to have to satisfy our unsatiable desire to hear bone snap. So please, 675 00:50:00.159 --> 00:50:02.920 Mike, make it happen. You don't get it, I'm not going 676 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:07.719 to play around. If I get I'm ripping that Shit. Ha. We 677 00:50:07.800 --> 00:50:15.800 better. I'm talking about quick reft. Well, hopefully it ain't herb dean 678 00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:20.199 or any of those other guys. They sometimes they lag a little little bit. 679 00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:22.239 I mean, ain't gonna hurt me if he's faster slow, but for 680 00:50:22.360 --> 00:50:27.960 my opponent's sake that that reff better be right there ready to stop me, 681 00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:31.079 because I'm not stop until the REF touches me, it's do. Can Tap 682 00:50:31.119 --> 00:50:35.079 on my leg, he can tap on my chest, tap on my arm, 683 00:50:35.079 --> 00:50:37.400 all he wants. Until that ref touches me is shit. Ain't stop 684 00:50:37.559 --> 00:50:43.320 him. There you go, there you go, all right, Mike. 685 00:50:43.320 --> 00:50:45.480 Well, you just talked about what your goals are, or the how you 686 00:50:45.599 --> 00:50:50.000 envision that fight going. What's going to go down? What about goals for 687 00:50:50.039 --> 00:50:52.880 this sport? where, if you're writing your story right now? Well, 688 00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:58.480 how does this story end? WHAT'S THE END game? where? What organization 689 00:50:58.519 --> 00:51:01.280 would you like to see yourself that and is there anybody out in fighting that 690 00:51:01.280 --> 00:51:07.440 you would love to fight? Honestly, I just want game opponents. I 691 00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:13.719 want game opponents come fighting. I want that. I want to the big 692 00:51:13.920 --> 00:51:17.519 better the name, the better the prestige that's going to be draped on to 693 00:51:17.639 --> 00:51:22.599 me when I destroy them, by the promotion I want to go to. 694 00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:25.639 Obviously, the UFC. It may not pay it, it might not be 695 00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:30.679 the best payday in that route, but you're going to get the most recognition, 696 00:51:30.760 --> 00:51:36.719 you're going to get the higher level opponents, and that's what I want. 697 00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:38.760 I want to be known as a great, one of the greats, 698 00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:42.880 and I'm going to be known as one of the greats. I'M gonna go 699 00:51:42.960 --> 00:51:47.400 in there in the next I see myself in the UFC. In the next 700 00:51:47.440 --> 00:51:52.079 three years I see myself holding one belt, and the next five years I 701 00:51:52.079 --> 00:51:57.000 see myself holding that one hundred and thirty five belt. In the next seven 702 00:51:57.079 --> 00:52:01.840 years I'm going to get I'm after the both people aren't great with just one 703 00:52:01.880 --> 00:52:06.960 belt anymore. Everybody's got one belt. That, that two belts, is 704 00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:09.360 what makes it happen. Here you go, man. So you got you 705 00:52:09.400 --> 00:52:14.159 got current, you got like the short term goal, a medium term going 706 00:52:14.199 --> 00:52:15.920 them long term goals. That's what's up, man, because it sounds like 707 00:52:15.960 --> 00:52:21.679 you're just constantly thinking about this sport and it's just consuming you, man, 708 00:52:21.760 --> 00:52:23.159 and and I mean it's in a good way, you know what I mean, 709 00:52:23.199 --> 00:52:27.559 like it's it's as healthy. Sounds like you're still hanging out with your 710 00:52:27.559 --> 00:52:30.360 friends, you still you got a good hit on your shoulders. You know 711 00:52:30.440 --> 00:52:31.920 what you want to do. You're looking out for you for not only for 712 00:52:32.039 --> 00:52:36.239 you yourself, put you're looking out for your training partners as well. So 713 00:52:36.800 --> 00:52:39.760 that speaks a lot about your character, Mike. Yeah, I mean, 714 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.599 honestly, what it all boils down to is I'm an addict. I'm an 715 00:52:44.639 --> 00:52:51.039 adding. I'm an addict that almost had his addiction go into the drug route 716 00:52:51.559 --> 00:52:55.760 when he was young, and then it got turned onto this martial arts and 717 00:52:55.840 --> 00:53:00.599 I just became an addict. I don't have if I want something, I 718 00:53:00.679 --> 00:53:06.199 go after it, and that addict mentality has really pushed me above and beyond 719 00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:09.679 to seek out that greatness. Cool, cool, man, that's awesome. 720 00:53:09.840 --> 00:53:15.119 Yeah, get into the UFC, man, that's like the motherland. You 721 00:53:15.199 --> 00:53:16.320 know I mean that that's where the best of the best are. So if 722 00:53:16.360 --> 00:53:20.000 you want to test yourself against the best, obviously that's where you want to 723 00:53:20.079 --> 00:53:23.960 end up. So we started quick and yeah, Hey, yeah, just 724 00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:28.119 like that Guy in vision quest, and I want to say I remember one 725 00:53:28.159 --> 00:53:31.760 of our previous guests also mentioned vision quest as one of their favorite martial arts 726 00:53:31.800 --> 00:53:35.719 movies. You know I mean it's just an awesome, motivate movie that just 727 00:53:35.760 --> 00:53:38.400 gets you super pumped up. And just like that guy, you know what 728 00:53:38.440 --> 00:53:42.320 I mean, he took on a challenge that he didn't need to, and 729 00:53:42.320 --> 00:53:45.039 that's what you're talking about right now. So gractually, you man. I 730 00:53:45.039 --> 00:53:47.920 mean, we could all do those day to day, and I could do 731 00:53:47.960 --> 00:53:52.079 that nine to five. I could be at home with my family, I 732 00:53:52.119 --> 00:53:58.239 could be with her in a deep relationship, I could be surrounded by whatever 733 00:53:58.360 --> 00:54:00.440 I choose to be surrounded. I don't have to struggle, but I want 734 00:54:00.559 --> 00:54:04.880 to. I want to because I know what it brings at the end of 735 00:54:04.880 --> 00:54:08.920 the day and that is what I'm after. I don't want that temporary satisfaction. 736 00:54:09.119 --> 00:54:14.239 I don't want to be old to I don't want to be in my 737 00:54:15.360 --> 00:54:17.920 s, in my s, being like man that if I would have just 738 00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:22.119 done this, I could have been that. Believe you me, I could 739 00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:27.199 have done it. Now I'm a prove it. Yeah, get it. 740 00:54:27.280 --> 00:54:30.760 So, I mean we we all we talked about you know, Mike, 741 00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:35.320 what advice would you give for, you know, our listeners out there that 742 00:54:35.320 --> 00:54:37.280 are looking to do the same thing? There in the same boat, maybe 743 00:54:37.320 --> 00:54:40.719 when you started off, or maybe they're at where you're at right now. 744 00:54:40.760 --> 00:54:44.239 You know, like, what advice would you do you got out there, 745 00:54:44.280 --> 00:54:47.760 for our listeners? Man, I would say hard work, hard, hard, 746 00:54:47.800 --> 00:54:53.800 hard work. Don't went when you get hurt. Show up to training 747 00:54:53.800 --> 00:55:00.159 when you are sort. Show up to training when you know it's going to 748 00:55:00.840 --> 00:55:05.920 if you know what you want to do now is going to make your make 749 00:55:05.960 --> 00:55:10.960 it harder to fulfill your requirements to reach your goal tomorrow, don't do it. 750 00:55:10.960 --> 00:55:16.679 It's that simple. If I know, having a going out and getting 751 00:55:16.760 --> 00:55:21.679 drunk tonight, trying to get pussy, it's going to make going to training 752 00:55:21.679 --> 00:55:25.280 in the morning tomorrow harder, I'm not going to do it because getting Pussy's 753 00:55:25.280 --> 00:55:30.320 not my ultimate goal. Getting that belt is. Training art is, getting 754 00:55:30.679 --> 00:55:37.000 to be a more complete martial artist is my goal, and staying up late 755 00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:40.280 adding poison to my body. That's not how I'm going to do it. 756 00:55:40.320 --> 00:55:45.519 And you can tell yourself all I's just once in a blue moon all, 757 00:55:45.280 --> 00:55:51.039 I don't do it all the time. Out I'm entitled to do I'm entitled 758 00:55:51.079 --> 00:55:54.079 to my breaks. I'm entitled to enjoy my life. I'm entitled to this. 759 00:55:54.119 --> 00:55:59.639 You are entitled. You write, you right, but nothing comes free, 760 00:55:59.679 --> 00:56:05.119 nothing, nothing doesn't come with a price tag, and you if you 761 00:56:05.159 --> 00:56:10.480 want what I want. The Price Tag is getting to enjoy certain things now, 762 00:56:10.559 --> 00:56:16.039 like my price tag is going out, getting with girls, having a 763 00:56:16.039 --> 00:56:21.320 bunch of money in my bank account, having these things like not I if 764 00:56:21.360 --> 00:56:24.599 I got extra money, boom, like I just got off the phone today 765 00:56:24.679 --> 00:56:29.039 with a nutritionist that I'm about to have to be. I'm about to start 766 00:56:29.079 --> 00:56:32.719 paying in order to make my weight cut easier and so I perform better. 767 00:56:32.800 --> 00:56:37.760 I had a little extra spare money. I'm starting to save and I know 768 00:56:37.440 --> 00:56:42.239 as a responsible adult, I should be putting that money away. That beans 769 00:56:42.280 --> 00:56:46.639 a smart move, but I'm not. I'm gambling on my success in what 770 00:56:46.719 --> 00:56:53.559 I'm doing and by gambling that, I'm also doing the smart thing to provide 771 00:56:54.039 --> 00:57:00.159 that gamble with the best chance of success. And that comes with not always 772 00:57:00.199 --> 00:57:06.840 doing what seems like the smart move in the moment. I'm gonna do what 773 00:57:06.960 --> 00:57:09.039 I know is going to play out in the long game. You got to 774 00:57:09.079 --> 00:57:15.239 focus on that long game with even the small decisions that you make. That 775 00:57:15.320 --> 00:57:19.719 long game is what it's going to bring you home, going to bring your 776 00:57:19.760 --> 00:57:25.679 goals into fluition. You things you want now, you can want after you 777 00:57:25.679 --> 00:57:30.599 reach your goal. You can get things you want now after you reach your 778 00:57:30.639 --> 00:57:34.639 goal. If you get the things you want now, you don't have the 779 00:57:34.679 --> 00:57:37.159 discipline to wait. If you get the things you want now, well, 780 00:57:37.199 --> 00:57:42.320 that might come at the cost of your goal and you need to realize that. 781 00:57:42.480 --> 00:57:49.119 You need to realize that that short term satisfaction will has the very, 782 00:57:49.239 --> 00:57:54.519 very real possibility of costing you long term happiness. Holy Shit, my are 783 00:57:54.519 --> 00:57:59.159 you talking to Connor McGregor right now? It sounds like you're totally calling out 784 00:57:59.239 --> 00:58:05.000 connor right now. Shit, man, he I'm not, Oh man, 785 00:58:05.039 --> 00:58:08.400 but he'd still sleep me. Yeah, he's a monster, man, he's 786 00:58:08.400 --> 00:58:10.960 a monster. Yeah, I just heard him calling. He said. I 787 00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:15.199 heard him say that his next he's I in his next match and he thinks 788 00:58:15.239 --> 00:58:20.480 it should be against Kamaro Usman, that's all that you talking about. I'll 789 00:58:20.559 --> 00:58:22.960 want to chat like unneeded challenges like that, dude, is like, man, 790 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:25.519 I'm tired of one hundred and fifty five. I need a real challenge. 791 00:58:25.559 --> 00:58:29.119 Even my dogs upset. He's like, Connor, you're a monster. 792 00:58:29.719 --> 00:58:34.119 For I I'm going to and I'm watch, but man, you better be 793 00:58:34.159 --> 00:58:37.760 working hard for that challenge, because I hope it's also thinking the way I 794 00:58:37.760 --> 00:58:44.199 think, and I'm you know, whoever's putting in the word sacrifices, for 795 00:58:44.320 --> 00:58:45.280 sure. For sure, man, and just like you said, you know 796 00:58:45.280 --> 00:58:47.880 what I mean. It always comes down to WHO's putting in the more, 797 00:58:49.000 --> 00:58:51.519 who's putting in the most work. And just because you're putting in. You 798 00:58:51.519 --> 00:58:54.000 got to be putting in the right amount of work too, exactly rob be 799 00:58:54.039 --> 00:59:00.119 doing it the right way. That's right, that's right. Well, Mike, 800 00:59:00.199 --> 00:59:01.679 that was our last question. Man, I don't have any other questions, 801 00:59:01.760 --> 00:59:07.440 unless Cuz has any questions. Is there anyone you'd like to mention or 802 00:59:07.480 --> 00:59:10.199 think before we wrap this bad boy up? Oh, man, I'd like 803 00:59:10.280 --> 00:59:17.000 to thank Main Street boxing and might tie. I'd like to think Bob Perez, 804 00:59:17.119 --> 00:59:21.840 my striking coach. I'd like to thank Joe Murphy, my Jiu Jitsu 805 00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:28.079 coach, man who tell you what I've really I don't know what it is 806 00:59:28.079 --> 00:59:31.679 about Jiu Jitsu coaches. I grow a special attachment to them, and maybe 807 00:59:31.679 --> 00:59:35.440 it's just the name Joe, I don't know, but Joe Murphy, man, 808 00:59:35.480 --> 00:59:38.880 he is one hell of a coach and he he likes my style I 809 00:59:39.079 --> 00:59:45.360 bring to the table and he's starting to acclimate moves to improve my game and 810 00:59:45.400 --> 00:59:49.119 it really it hits home. He doesn't come out and say it in practice, 811 00:59:49.199 --> 00:59:52.199 but I'm he'll show a move and I'm like, Damn, that fits, 812 00:59:52.239 --> 00:59:54.960 that's like super similar to what I do and whatnot, and I'll pull 813 00:59:55.039 --> 00:59:59.199 him aside and he's like yeah, well, we're doing it to either a 814 00:59:59.360 --> 01:00:02.320 stop you from getting it, to on all your training partners or be help 815 01:00:02.440 --> 01:00:07.440 you get this that you almost get now. You'll be able to complete it. 816 01:00:07.480 --> 01:00:12.719 And I mean just that kind of thought process. He does helps make 817 01:00:12.760 --> 01:00:15.800 everybody in the gym better, helps make me better. Love it. I 818 01:00:15.800 --> 01:00:20.639 definitely want to thank them. I want to wish my friend J boy, 819 01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:24.280 Jonathan Davis, who is about to be fighting, I want to say, 820 01:00:24.519 --> 01:00:30.800 next Sunday on the fury pro card, good lucky. Are Pretty sure if 821 01:00:30.800 --> 01:00:32.960 he wins this fight he should be getting a phone call from UFC here soon. 822 01:00:34.119 --> 01:00:38.440 So very excited, very excited, excited for all of them. I 823 01:00:38.519 --> 01:00:43.119 wish all them the best. And then they have definitely helped in. There's 824 01:00:43.119 --> 01:00:45.719 so many other people, so many other people I training with around here, 825 01:00:45.760 --> 01:00:51.719 that are just great Houston, and shout out to all of Houston. Answer 826 01:00:51.760 --> 01:00:53.960 it's up, man. That's what's up, and we're like bro Listeners out 827 01:00:54.000 --> 01:00:58.760 there. You know. I know you know, Mike. I've known you 828 01:00:58.800 --> 01:01:02.199 for a while. I know that this this episode was a lot about you. 829 01:01:02.199 --> 01:01:05.679 Know, you know your history, what you do, kind of like 830 01:01:05.719 --> 01:01:08.039 your thought process and everything. But one thing is that I want to make 831 01:01:08.079 --> 01:01:14.400 sure that our listeners know isn't you know? My capone is that guy when 832 01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:19.920 you get to the gym. My capone is that guy who is is so 833 01:01:20.039 --> 01:01:22.079 humble. Yeah, he's computing what he's doing, but he's humble at the 834 01:01:22.119 --> 01:01:27.039 same time. He welcomes everybody, works with everybody. I mean he's a 835 01:01:27.199 --> 01:01:30.400 friendly face. When you go to the gym, you want to be working. 836 01:01:30.519 --> 01:01:32.360 He's gonna put you to work, he's gonna make you sweat. You 837 01:01:32.400 --> 01:01:36.199 know, he's gonna, you know, put it to you wait. You 838 01:01:36.239 --> 01:01:37.880 know, I he just has a personality about him. So I don't want 839 01:01:37.920 --> 01:01:40.559 to get I don't want that to get lost in you know. You know 840 01:01:40.599 --> 01:01:45.400 all the things my components, you know, talked about today. You know, 841 01:01:45.559 --> 01:01:47.679 my great guy. You know, I appreciate you coming on and take 842 01:01:47.719 --> 01:01:51.320 you some time out of your training dad. You know. You know talk 843 01:01:51.440 --> 01:01:53.679 with us and listeners talk to you, man. So I really appreciate it. 844 01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:59.079 You appreciate you all happen to fight again. Yeah, definitely, definitely. 845 01:01:59.079 --> 01:02:01.280 I really appreciate you all getting to talk with you all. Mean Shit, 846 01:02:01.320 --> 01:02:05.559 missed miss you, man. Definitely can't wait till we get to train 847 01:02:05.599 --> 01:02:07.360 again together. That it's fun stuff. I got a lot, a lot 848 01:02:07.360 --> 01:02:12.719 of love to show you. Looking forward to a brother, looking forward to 849 01:02:12.760 --> 01:02:15.280 it. Yeah, we're definitely have the planet trip out there. Oh, 850 01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:19.360 yes, yes, yes, please do Houston. We're on our way. 851 01:02:19.840 --> 01:02:22.039 Good Luck, Mike. Look forward to watching your match and watching you break 852 01:02:22.119 --> 01:02:28.960 limbs, ha ha. Thank you, thank you. Can't wait. April 853 01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:30.760 ten. Right, if there April ten, it's going to be on a 854 01:02:30.800 --> 01:02:36.400 Sunday. I'll be the second fight on the card. All right, all 855 01:02:36.519 --> 01:02:38.079 right, and you just let's know when you're going to be on. Give 856 01:02:38.119 --> 01:02:42.320 us an information, man. Yes, sir, we'll definitely, will definitely 857 01:02:42.360 --> 01:02:45.079 be there. Yes, sir, thank you. All right. Well, 858 01:02:47.679 --> 01:02:51.599 out with our out year. You want to go ahead and take all our 859 01:02:52.039 --> 01:02:54.639 fiddles out there. This is our show. Wrapping up today. I want 860 01:02:54.639 --> 01:02:58.360 to give a big thank you to Mike Again, you know, for joining 861 01:02:58.440 --> 01:03:01.159 us today, giving us a little inside onto the biking. You know he's 862 01:03:01.199 --> 01:03:05.719 background and everything. You know that's all about where he's going and what he's 863 01:03:05.760 --> 01:03:08.880 doing. So good luck April ten. We look forward to hearing from you 864 01:03:09.559 --> 01:03:15.159 soon and take care of man. Until next time, keep rolling, keep 865 01:03:15.199 --> 01:03:20.960 training, and we're here. It's easier to this is the motivation.