Brewsers #390- John Gooden

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Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze, and Bruisers.
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I'm your host, Rody John, and today we talk to
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John Gooden. We talk about how he got into MMA,
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broadcasting for the UFC, and so much more. You have
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heard John Gooden multiple times over the years, and I
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can't wait to hear from him again. Unfortunately, we won't
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hear from him this Saturday, but we will definitely be
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hearing from him again soon. I love everything he does
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with commentary, and you're going to love his stories as well.
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So you don't want to hear from me, you don't
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want to hear from him. So without further ado, here
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is John Gooden. I would like to welcome a show
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with John Gooden. How are you doing today, sir?
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Doing good. Thank you very much.
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Well, thank you for being here.
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Yeah, well, thanks for inviting me. It's always good to
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chat to other people in our community, share some stories
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and all that good stuff.
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Exactly. Well, for those listening, kind of paint us a
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word picture. Where are you at and what's going on
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around you?
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Right now I'm at home. It's a very wet home. Sadly,
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we were on vacation. That wasn't the sad bit. But
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whilst we were there, we sprung a pretty significant leak.
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So I've had to turn off the dehumidifiers and the
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fans because you'd hear what sounds like a jet engine
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running through the house. So yeah, we've lost a few, well,
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probably nearly half the house. So yeah, that's not so good.
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And it means that I'm very much not up to
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date with the current goings on in the LMA world
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because I've been trying to fix the home and get
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myself back to get the family back on its feet
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so that we can live here. It looked like we
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were going to have to evacuate at one point, but
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it looks like we're going to be okay.
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Yeah, I had an issue in my guest bathroom where
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I had the same situation where they redid the whole
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house before I bought it and they were putting the
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baseboards down and they were shooting the nails and one
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went right in the pipe. Little did I know that
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that actually happened because it didn't start separating until years later.
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since I'd been in there.
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Oh no.
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Who knows how long it's been trickling. And so they
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had to read data. I mean, they're still working.
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Yeah.
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So they had the two of those huge things and yes,
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they are very loud. Luckily it was in the bathroom,
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but what's ironic is I've had friends now recently this
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past week had the same situation with her dishwasher. So
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what was your leak situation?
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In the attic and it was a joint and yeah,
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so it came all the way down through. So we're
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in a, we're in a renovation project anyway, it's a
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do or upper, but even so it was already in
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a bad way for just, it doesn't look very good
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whilst you're mid projects, but this is, this has set
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us back significantly. So we've got to do the whole
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insurance thing. It's a real stress, but there you go.
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I have a busy summer, busy rest of the summer.
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I'm off to Shanghai on the weekend, then straight over
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to Paris and, Going to Vegas in September. So, yeah,
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we've got a lot going on. But, you know, it's life.
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I've been through it before. And what doesn't beat me
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makes me stronger and all that.
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There you go. It's too bad you're a licensed electrician,
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not a plumber now.
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Yeah, it's funny because there have been times over the
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last year where I've thought, oh, you know, I'll turn
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my hand to this plumbing stuff. It can't be that
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far removed from the toolkit and knowledge that I've got, well,
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how wrong one can be. I managed to fix a
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couple of toilets to be fair. I got, I switched
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over some systems, but they're the metrics of the, of
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the thing, all the little fitments and stuff. It's crazy.
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It's they still, they're still using a blend of millimeters
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and inches, which blows my mind.
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Right.
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It's like be one or the other. Well, why do
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you have both? But yeah.
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As someone who lives in America, and we have a
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much different measuring system over here as well, so I
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completely understand.
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Well, no, that's fair, but I reckon you're probably consistently inches, right? Yes.
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Whereas over here, we're meant to be in millimeters, largely
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millimeters every now and then, the centimeters will come into it.
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But to throw in quarter inch, half inch. Right, right.
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I'm like, well, I thought, anyway, yes. So that scrambled
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my tiny brain a little bit. Yeah, I've been trying
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to turn my hand to most things, but they're, you know,
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gas and plumbing is beyond my reach. Yes.
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Yeah, and gas can be very dangerous. So definitely do
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not mess with that.
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If you do not know what you're doing. Exactly.
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Well, normally I ask people in the MMA space, what
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is your earliest memory of martial arts? But you seem
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to just wanted to be in the television and production
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world from a young age, right?
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Or.
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When did that kind of, which one came for you first?
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Martial arts.
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Okay.
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Yeah. 40 years ago now. It's been a long journey.
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I started with judo. And interestingly, I've got a young daughter. And, well,
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this is even more wild. My wife had never seen
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Karate Kid. And we had movie night the other night.
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So we actually, we went back and watched Karate Kid.
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And it was so nostalgic. That was such a big
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movie for me. So yes, I did judo. And then
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obviously the whole striking bit was missing. So I ended
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up doing karate with a good friend of mine back
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at school. And my uncle, funnily enough, who's like a
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fourth or fifth degree black belt in Shotokan karate now.
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He's still training, bless him. He's well into his 60s
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and he's in good shape. And after that, I went
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to some more hardcore stuff. I then did like the
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amateur novice ABAs boxing. And then there was a big gap.
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None of my friends have ever really been into the
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martial arts scene or combat sports that's always been something
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I've done by myself and you know how you want
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to connect keep connected with certain people so I went
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back to football for my early 20s and then in
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my late 20s I wanted to get back involved in
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in martial arts and combat sports and that's when I
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found Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Muay Thai and then started putting it
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together for MLA and these days I just largely stick
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to the grappling although I I just done a shoot
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with um Saladin Parnas who's headlining in in Paris that's
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right and just just watching this guy work the bag
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and his striking stuff I do miss it the body
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can't move the way that it used to even if
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I wanted it to so I never I'll never look
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as good as as he does but It's made me think,
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should I get the gloves back on and start doing
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a bit? Because I've been so focused on the grappling.
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There's so much to learn with grappling. Striking as well.
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I don't want to take away from that. But yeah,
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I get encouraged by watching these young athletes do their
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thing and forget my age and restrictions sometimes.
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I think that's the beautiful thing about sports in general,
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because I think people of any age can be, especially
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when it comes to football, people are seeing the guys
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on the pitch and be like, I could still do that.
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And you get out there, you're like, no, I can't.
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Yeah.
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Even cartwheels, people are like, I could do that. And
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I'm like, no, go ahead, try it.
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Well, I have a flex here. So part of our
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warm-up routine, yes, we're one of those gyms. We go
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through a whole bunch of stuff. And Sam Patterson, UFC
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fighter we trained together, he introduced the cartwheel into the warm-up.
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And I'm one of few. that can actually cartwheel both sides.
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I have my grand old age, but it is funny
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when we look at the rest of the class and
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you've got these, these young fellows that are, you know,
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really a real handful inspiring, but they can't do a cartwheel.
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Come on guys. What are they teaching you at school now?
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I mean, we've all got to be able to do
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a cartwheel. My daughter can cartwheel.
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Yeah.
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Let's figure this out. So yes, that's about all I
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can do though. Everything else pretty terrible, but I've got,
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I've got a deadly cartwheel.
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Hey, there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you
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got that.
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We got something, right?
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Well, when did you actually start, I mean, as I
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was curious, when did you actually start really getting into
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what was it about the TV world or the broadcasting
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world in general that kind of grabbed you?
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Yeah, it's a funny one. I actually have a pretty
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terrible memory, but there are little things that come to
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mind that made me think that it was something that I'd,
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Probably not fully understood, but enjoyed certain aspects. So I
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do remember creating my own radio shows with a friend
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of mine, Ben, when I used to go and visit
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my grandmother. We would always do that. And, you know,
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it was old tapes at the time. So that's probably
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my earliest memory. I would say I was not even
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10 years of age when we were doing things like that.
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Then after I graduated, I stayed at home. I was
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in love at the time, so I didn't want to
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go too far. And then I worked in the city
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of London and my confidence really grew. And I wasn't
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so keen on the work that I was doing in
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the financial markets. And I was watching TV and seeing
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these guys with this really interesting job presenting shows. And
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they were on the road a little bit going to
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interesting places. So I actually threw the towel in on
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financial markets and joined the BBC and was working for free.
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It's a pretty typical route. You become a runner, junior researcher,
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then somehow someone says you've got a little something and
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they put you on the TV at some point. But
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it didn't kind of work like that for me. There
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was a point of difference where I was probably just
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a little bit older than the other folk that were
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trying to run that path. And I was still quite
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serious about life. I wanted to be established and.
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Get on the.
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Property ladder and start looking towards family and all of
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those 2.4 kids type deal. But yeah, I gave it
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a go and it didn't kind of work out. The
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money was terrible. These cool jobs that are out there,
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they don't pay very well unless you get to the very,
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very top. And I was being pushed into the stuff
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behind the camera, which at the time I wasn't really
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interested in. I wanted this interesting, cool job where I'd
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be going out and doing reports and presenting these shows.
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And as a young single man at the time, I
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also saw the upside of how that might help out
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with other things. Of course. It's a pretty decent job
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title to band around. And it was way before the
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age of social media. In actual fact, the department at
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the BBC that I worked in was next door to
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something called Points of View. So if you ever had
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a real issue with a particular host, presenter, program on TV,
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you would pen a letter which would go to this
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department and then some poor buggers would have to sit there,
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read through them and send them up the chain if
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they were particularly serious. So that was... you know, when
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you think about it, you've got to really dislike something
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or someone to sit down and write a letter. Well,
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it's not like that these days, let me tell you.
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So yeah, that was just, it was pretty interesting when
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I think back to those times. So I actually ducked
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out of it. In my mind, I said, I gave
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it a go. It wasn't meant to be. I screen
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tested for a couple of things, but it was never
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really the kind of work that I wanted to do.
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And yeah, I went back to college actually and retrained
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as an electrician. That was my father's line of work.
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He But he's only just retired, actually. He had a
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fairly successful, modestly successful electrical contracting business. So I went back,
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learned the practical skills, then kind of helped him run
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the business through, I don't know if it was like 10,
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15 years. But all the while, I was practicing sports.
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MMA became a big thing for me. And the thing
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about where I am now, it really has been quite
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an organic thing. journey in that I found this sport,
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very passionate about this sport. Everything that I do, I'm
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pretty much two feet in. I didn't like the way
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it was misrepresented or didn't like the way it was
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represented and how misrepresented it was in the press. And
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then there were other little things where I'm looking up
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to these coaches and thinking that they're these most extraordinary
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athletic specimens, also pretty deadly as well, but no one
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on the high street would have a clue who they were.
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My coach, David Lee, he fought a couple of times
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in the UFC. He's got like three black belts in
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different disciplines, you know, whole bunch of skills. He's forgotten
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more than I'll ever learn, but he's not really, he's,
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he's not a man of any significant wealth. Not saying
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that's necessarily his, his aim, by the way, but it,
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it just blew my mind that more people didn't know
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who he was and respect him. And he wasn't side
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by side with perhaps some other mainstream sports stars. And
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we're not even there yet, but it became my mission
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to kind of tell the story a little bit more.
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And I didn't see it in any other way that
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it would be cool to write a few reports and
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there weren't many people doing it. So you're giving your
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time for free just in the hope that it's going
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to help the sport grow. And then I got involved
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in some safety initiatives and, And then coach put on
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his own show in Watford. And eventually, to cut a
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long story short, I ended up taking the mic, which
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was a dictaphone at the time, just me by myself,
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doing largely amateur, a couple of pros on the fight card.
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And I'll be running around getting people's stories, getting some
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notes for the workouts. I'd call the action. And that
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developed into gym visits, training with the guys, learning more
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about their stories, bringing that to commentary, being noticed for
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what I felt was like a pretty normal and enjoyable
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research process. But no one else was doing it, apparently.
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So Cage Warriors picked me up. And as an extension
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of that, after I was with Cage Warriors for a
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few years, the UFC were coming back. to town looking
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to expand things out. And there weren't that many. The
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talent pool was shallow, John. So I managed to get
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a crack at things. And I was so in tune
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with what the UFC wanted. And I think the other
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people that they were screen testing were established broadcasters that
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really wanted to put their mark and stamp on the product.
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And I don't think Mr. Dana White really cares for
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this radio journalists, you know, style of however he thinks
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the show should be presented. And I just slotted in
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and yeah, here we are like year 12. So who'd
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have thunked it? That's it's crazy when I think about that. Yeah.
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And it's wild to think that, yes, obviously MMA was
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happening in England and the UK and in Europe in general, obviously,
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but it wasn't nearly what it is today. And so
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when you were finding these coaches and like you said,
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nobody else is really talking to them. Like, I still
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kind of feel that way a little bit now. Like, yes,
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a lot of these coaches have way more of a
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platform now. A lot of them have their own podcast
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or whatever they do, but I still don't think a
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lot of people are taking the time to really talk
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to them because they're kind of, I mean, literally that's
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what their job is, is to be the coach and
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to be the playmaker. Whether the fighter actually listens to
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them is a whole nother story, but they are the
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ones who helping like break down who they're facing and
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break down the fighter that they're coaching and be like,
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this is where you're a better avenue for this situation,
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as opposed to you doing this, which you normally do.
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And it's just like, you know, kind of molding them
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to where hopefully they can go into battle, which is,
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you know, go into that cage and come out of victory.
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It's interesting that you identified that because it's something that
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I've been banging the drum about for some time now.
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I did a series called coach dad actually, where, You
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had a coach who was also the father of said fighter.
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And we've actually got a few here in the UK.
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And of course, you've got Wonderboy and his dad. And
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it's such a unique dynamic. You know, as a parent,
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you're supposed to be protecting your child. But these guys
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find themselves walking their kids into battle. Some of them,
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it's very normal. Andy Aspinall. um, and wonder boys, dad. Yeah.
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00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:40.000
That's what they've done in that tiny closet of a
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gym room that they would use is unreal, right?
322
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Unreal. But then you'll talk to, uh, Richard Shaw, who
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was Jack Shaw's coach and, um, Nathaniel Woods, dad. And
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those guys are nearly throwing up and they have a
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real battle, psychological battle, walking their, their sons to, to
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the cage, to the octagon. I find it fascinating, but
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also I, Some of my work's out there now. I
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spoke with a number of coaches when I've gone to
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gym visits. I went to the Fighting Nerds. I went
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to Marquez MMA. I've spoken with Eric Nixick and John
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Kavanagh as well, because it really struck me, particularly with Connor.
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I've been around through Cage Warriors. I was around those
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guys quite frequently, particularly John, because he had multiple athletes involved.
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competing on cage warriors events. And you'd hear certain lines
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that he would use. You'd hear certain, just certain theories
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and concepts. And then you'd put it, you'd give Connor
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a microphone and all of a sudden Connor's packages it.
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He says it within a, in a broader package. And
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you're like, Oh, I've heard that somewhere before. I've heard
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that from John Kavanagh. So, so sometimes I like to
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go to the roots and learn for myself selfishly. but
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also try and understand things. And these guys and gals
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who are leading teams, they're more than just coaches, especially
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in our sport, because it's such a small sport and
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we don't have like lots of layers and like a
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hierarchy that you would do it with like Premier League soccer,
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for example, football. You become a dad, you become a psychologist,
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a counsellor. And often that weighs heavy on you some
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of these coaches and we've been very, it's been very
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sad in our sport that we've now I've now experienced probably,
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probably five coaches have taken their own lives because that
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it's the most alpha sport in the world. And you've
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got to be the alpha of all of these alphas
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and you've got to shoulder a whole bunch of stuff. And,
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you know, it's, yeah, it's, it's crazy. So I'm fascinated
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by the, you know, interacting with coaches, listening to what
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they've got to say and the way that they do
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things because they're with the most unique bunch of extraordinary
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individuals and athletes. So yes, I think you're onto something there.
360
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We do need to shine the light on them a
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little bit more and give them more support.
362
00:19:10.269 --> 00:19:14.069
Exactly. I mean, I imagine there's a equivalent of Phil
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Jackson over in obviously Premier League and football and everything.
364
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But over here in America, I think just like, Phil
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Jackson is just one of those like Zen masters as
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they call him, but it's just one of those things
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where you're trying to get your point across, but there
368
00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:35.759
are so many different like personalities and you don't know
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what they just like, maybe they had bad morning whenever
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their spouse or whatever, or kids or traffic or who
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knows what the hell's going on. Or they're, they're even
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their managers. You got to deal with those guys too.
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And it's like, this is what you do is out.
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of the cage. I'm dealing with the cage, but again,
375
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you have to deal with all these different personalities just
376
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to make sure that one fight actually goes all the
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way through. And obviously you come back with a victory.
378
00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:06.190
Yeah. And we've got, Scenarios like American Top Team, where
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we're more frequently seeing American Top Team versus American Top Team.
380
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And then you've got guys like Mike Brown, who not
381
00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.000
only have you got that situation, but you talk about personalities.
382
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.609
They have got a dozen top UFC fighters under their
383
00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:25.789
roof that are all pining for your attention, that are
384
00:20:25.809 --> 00:20:28.609
on probably a similar schedule in terms of when they're
385
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going to be fighting. I don't know how they manage that.
386
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because I come from a smaller gym where we, yes,
387
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we have and have had a small number of pros,
388
00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:41.019
but right now Sam Patterson is the guy and he
389
00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.880
gets a lot of the attention because he's the only
390
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.269
one that's, that's in the UFC. If you were to
391
00:20:47.109 --> 00:20:50.369
take that away from him and split that two, three ways,
392
00:20:50.390 --> 00:20:53.650
it would be really interesting to see reactions always round.
393
00:20:53.769 --> 00:20:57.519
So fascinating and very individual because you're dealing with people.
394
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Oh, without a doubt.
395
00:20:58.740 --> 00:20:58.819
Yeah.
396
00:20:58.859 --> 00:21:00.839
You gotta wear so many hats and, take them off,
397
00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:04.200
but different ones on and obviously different personalities. And yeah,
398
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.250
it's wild. And I think my hat's off to them
399
00:21:07.289 --> 00:21:09.210
who do it and continue to do it on a
400
00:21:09.210 --> 00:21:09.809
successful level.
401
00:21:10.470 --> 00:21:11.210
Yeah, 100%.
402
00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:15.150
Well, when it came to the research of obviously going
403
00:21:15.170 --> 00:21:17.329
to the gyms, talking to the coaches and talking to
404
00:21:17.349 --> 00:21:20.240
everybody in there, how much of your research are you
405
00:21:20.380 --> 00:21:23.359
doing when it comes to the fights alone? Because you've
406
00:21:23.380 --> 00:21:26.640
got at least 10 fights, which means you've got 20
407
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:29.869
people to research. You've got all these different fights either
408
00:21:29.910 --> 00:21:32.009
go through and watch all of their fights, which if
409
00:21:32.029 --> 00:21:34.049
you can find some of them, good luck. And then
410
00:21:34.170 --> 00:21:37.799
obviously then try to say, break them down as almost
411
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.279
as like you're a coach themselves, but you're just commentating
412
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on the situation.
413
00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.099
Yeah. It's, I have to say it has evolved and
414
00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.619
changed and it shifts. I've got road to UFC coming
415
00:21:48.660 --> 00:21:52.859
up next week. I will typically watch more tape for
416
00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:58.599
road to UFC fighters than I will do for UFC fighters. One,
417
00:21:58.660 --> 00:22:03.640
because I've probably seen the UFC fighter fight before and
418
00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:08.000
that recall does come into play. Sometimes there'll be something
419
00:22:08.019 --> 00:22:11.670
that happens and it will just trigger a memory. Whereas
420
00:22:13.230 --> 00:22:15.269
if I'm doing a new fighter to the UFC or
421
00:22:15.309 --> 00:22:18.049
this Rhodes UFC tournament, there's not a lot of reference
422
00:22:18.130 --> 00:22:21.809
points there. They're from obscure teams. And I mean that
423
00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:25.029
with respect. They're just in the Asia region that I've
424
00:22:25.289 --> 00:22:27.869
not heard of before. And I don't know any of
425
00:22:27.910 --> 00:22:29.690
their teammates and I don't know the coach and I
426
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:34.140
can't build that web of research where if you say
427
00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:36.619
it's American top team and he's under Mike Brown and
428
00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:38.839
I know that that's a teammate and he's got this
429
00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:44.180
many sparring partners in the UFC at 155 pounds. I
430
00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.930
might not even need to watch a fight and I
431
00:22:46.970 --> 00:22:50.529
could probably deal with the walkout. make something interesting enough
432
00:22:50.569 --> 00:22:53.930
there i never would do that but when you've got
433
00:22:54.289 --> 00:22:57.599
total fresh people then my only resource really especially with
434
00:22:57.619 --> 00:22:59.900
the language barrier is like what does this guy look
435
00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:02.220
like when he or girl look like when they're fighting
436
00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:05.160
so that's that's where i tend to do a bit
437
00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:09.660
more but i will always try to watch the last
438
00:23:09.740 --> 00:23:13.480
three fights of everyone on a fight card And then
439
00:23:13.579 --> 00:23:16.920
hope my memory serves me for the rest. If it's,
440
00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:20.380
if it's relevant, but my, my job is slightly different.
441
00:23:20.460 --> 00:23:26.460
I enjoy the tape, the tape research. However, I, I,
442
00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:30.079
my job is to tell the story and that story
443
00:23:30.140 --> 00:23:33.289
is not always about the fight. It might be, it
444
00:23:33.329 --> 00:23:35.710
might be about rankings, but I'm not really doing the
445
00:23:35.730 --> 00:23:38.890
championship fight. So it's people that are on their journey
446
00:23:38.930 --> 00:23:42.549
to get there and, this may be their first time
447
00:23:42.589 --> 00:23:45.029
as a main event athlete and there's a story in
448
00:23:45.069 --> 00:23:49.369
that but I like the human side a lot and
449
00:23:49.529 --> 00:23:53.130
the colour commentators that I'm sat next to probably won't
450
00:23:53.549 --> 00:23:57.079
be diving in to that detail unless we're all in
451
00:23:57.099 --> 00:23:59.740
the same room having the fighter meetings that we do
452
00:23:59.779 --> 00:24:03.740
but historically they'll be watching the tape because they love
453
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:05.440
doing that and that's what they're used to doing and
454
00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:08.059
they can interpret it better than I can but they
455
00:24:08.099 --> 00:24:13.289
might not be having the softer conversations and uncovering all
456
00:24:13.309 --> 00:24:16.569
of the, you know, the dirty laundry or the clean laundry,
457
00:24:16.609 --> 00:24:20.349
which is an appropriate term. But really just diving in
458
00:24:20.450 --> 00:24:24.170
to see what makes up this athlete so that we
459
00:24:24.210 --> 00:24:28.250
can help them build their fan base or, help them
460
00:24:28.670 --> 00:24:33.109
create division. Like your Sean Strickland's, you know, whatever it is,
461
00:24:33.289 --> 00:24:34.630
love them or hate them, you want to watch them
462
00:24:34.690 --> 00:24:38.069
type deal. But yeah, it's important for me to be
463
00:24:38.410 --> 00:24:41.309
the conduit of the fighter. Like, help me tell your
464
00:24:41.369 --> 00:24:44.710
story in the shortest way I can. I've only got
465
00:24:44.730 --> 00:24:47.490
a walkout and some fight action. It's pretty difficult to do.
466
00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:50.359
But if I can weave something in there to help
467
00:24:50.410 --> 00:24:54.079
us understand what this man or woman represents or, you know,
468
00:24:54.099 --> 00:24:58.160
where they're from and what makes them, then... That's my
469
00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:00.880
job done. And I really enjoy that side of things.
470
00:25:01.660 --> 00:25:04.579
Yeah, the actual human aspect of it all. Obviously, we
471
00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:06.900
watch because they're fantastic athletes and we love seeing what
472
00:25:06.920 --> 00:25:10.500
they're doing inside the cage. But the human aspect of it, again,
473
00:25:10.539 --> 00:25:13.980
for me, is one of the most important things because, again,
474
00:25:14.029 --> 00:25:17.490
we don't know what they're going through going into this,
475
00:25:17.609 --> 00:25:19.750
whether that's going to bring them down or it's actually
476
00:25:19.769 --> 00:25:22.069
going to inspire them and push them even further up.
477
00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:26.400
Yeah. And we are getting more and more fights now.
478
00:25:26.579 --> 00:25:30.420
So it is. Yeah. And it's so you've got to
479
00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:33.480
try and stick out. And it's my job to help
480
00:25:33.539 --> 00:25:34.500
you stick out.
481
00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:35.319
Yeah.
482
00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:39.069
It's on me to find the story. That's I put
483
00:25:39.109 --> 00:25:43.230
it on me. It's a pressure. But, you know, just
484
00:25:43.289 --> 00:25:46.329
because they don't speak English doesn't mean it's I shouldn't
485
00:25:46.410 --> 00:25:49.769
work twice as hard to try and find out. And
486
00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:52.990
it's getting easier now. Some of the tools, even on Instagram,
487
00:25:53.009 --> 00:25:56.819
they've got the translation stuff and you've got auto-dubbing. Honestly,
488
00:25:56.900 --> 00:25:59.359
my job, when I think about what it used to
489
00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:00.960
be to what it is now, I don't know how
490
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:04.000
I haven't cut my time in half. I'm obviously just
491
00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:08.180
not as efficient. But yeah, it is easier now to
492
00:26:08.259 --> 00:26:11.039
reach out to people with these translation tools to just
493
00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:14.420
find out what's going on. Culturally, though, I will say this,
494
00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:21.160
certain old USSR... region yeah they're just they're not sharing
495
00:26:21.180 --> 00:26:23.660
they don't share and why why would they like who
496
00:26:23.740 --> 00:26:25.660
the hell is this guy john gooden all right he
497
00:26:25.819 --> 00:26:27.299
works for the ufc but why have i got to
498
00:26:27.339 --> 00:26:30.359
tell him all of my most personal stuff so it's
499
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.349
harder sometimes to get across what we're trying to achieve
500
00:26:33.369 --> 00:26:35.910
with the broadcast and get them to open up but
501
00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:37.789
you got at least got to try you got to
502
00:26:37.869 --> 00:26:41.470
find these notes because otherwise it's it's x versus y
503
00:26:41.829 --> 00:26:45.539
and that's sometimes entertaining and beautiful enough for you and I,
504
00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:47.700
but if we really want to grow this sport, if
505
00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:49.500
those individuals want to kick on, then we've got to
506
00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:51.180
give them a hand and they've got to help us
507
00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:53.609
help them by sharing their story. Yeah.
508
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:57.390
I was watching Izzy's reaction video to this past weekend's UFC.
509
00:26:57.750 --> 00:26:59.589
And he was even saying, it was like, Oh, what
510
00:26:59.609 --> 00:27:02.170
do you got like 400 guys at least under contract now,
511
00:27:02.210 --> 00:27:04.829
like fighting. And it's like, you have to stand out.
512
00:27:04.910 --> 00:27:07.009
Like no matter what it is, you've got to find it,
513
00:27:07.009 --> 00:27:09.470
whether it be your look or the way you hopefully
514
00:27:09.490 --> 00:27:13.009
finish fights or even the, you know, you know, I'm
515
00:27:13.029 --> 00:27:15.329
not exactly the biggest fan of what John Hokig, what
516
00:27:15.369 --> 00:27:17.809
he's been saying after the, the, but Hey, he's got
517
00:27:17.829 --> 00:27:20.009
a gimmick and it's working and people are wanting to
518
00:27:20.269 --> 00:27:21.710
watch him fight. He fought at the white house.
519
00:27:21.869 --> 00:27:25.450
So it's that that's kind of, that's just a, I
520
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.079
think a sign of the time, sadly, I'm a little
521
00:27:28.119 --> 00:27:31.980
bit longer in the tooth. So I just, I, it's
522
00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:36.099
unfortunate that the negative is what drives a lot of
523
00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:39.160
the narratives these days. I really wish it really wish
524
00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:41.640
it wasn't as someone that's always trying to be a
525
00:27:41.700 --> 00:27:45.619
cheerleader and, promote promote promote whatever it is as long
526
00:27:45.650 --> 00:27:48.440
as it's you know innocent and in the right context
527
00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:50.900
then that's the way to go but yes you are
528
00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:53.039
right you you have to set yourself apart and we've
529
00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:57.119
seen people reinvent themselves Jorge Masvidal he got it late
530
00:27:57.160 --> 00:28:00.849
in his career and all of a sudden became a superstar.
531
00:28:00.750 --> 00:28:03.329
Um Colby Covington did the same thing yeah.
532
00:28:03.190 --> 00:28:06.809
Yeah he did but he's to the same in the
533
00:28:06.849 --> 00:28:09.930
same vein as Josh Hokett, right? That's the way that
534
00:28:09.970 --> 00:28:12.490
they've gone down. But yeah, there's others as well that
535
00:28:12.509 --> 00:28:16.190
have really, you know, cottoned on and thought, yeah, this
536
00:28:16.230 --> 00:28:17.779
is something that I should be doing, sharing in a
537
00:28:17.819 --> 00:28:21.819
certain way and letting us in. And yeah, we enjoy,
538
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:26.400
you know, following these athletes around and seeing what they're
539
00:28:26.420 --> 00:28:29.240
truly about. And that's, yeah, that's how we're going to
540
00:28:29.259 --> 00:28:29.940
grow as a sport.
541
00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:33.119
There you go. Well, you touched on about your passion
542
00:28:33.670 --> 00:28:36.329
Your broadcast partners, I mean, I think right now for me,
543
00:28:36.470 --> 00:28:42.190
the dream booth is you, Laura Senko, and Paul Felder.
544
00:28:42.950 --> 00:28:44.990
That's very kind of you to say. Thank you very much.
545
00:28:45.230 --> 00:28:47.230
I love John Anik. I think he's great. But I
546
00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:51.569
think he's better when it comes to handling the DC
547
00:28:52.150 --> 00:28:55.430
train that there is. And then Joe Rogan's just Joe Rogan. So,
548
00:28:55.630 --> 00:28:59.029
you know, he's good. But, you know, there are certain
549
00:28:59.069 --> 00:29:01.130
drinking games out there that you could be hammered by
550
00:29:01.170 --> 00:29:03.130
the time the whole card's over if you want to.
551
00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:07.250
But I'm not asking who your favorite people to work
552
00:29:07.289 --> 00:29:09.650
with inside the booth is, but what do you think
553
00:29:09.670 --> 00:29:11.809
that each one of your broadcast partners kind of bring
554
00:29:11.849 --> 00:29:14.369
to the table when it comes to actually coming to
555
00:29:14.390 --> 00:29:15.309
the booth and commentating?
556
00:29:15.910 --> 00:29:19.230
Yeah, I think that's the question, actually, because it's my
557
00:29:19.289 --> 00:29:22.529
job to find that and lean into it, bring that
558
00:29:22.630 --> 00:29:26.210
out of them. So I know that Laura, she loves
559
00:29:26.230 --> 00:29:31.630
her jiu-jitsu. She's a real wordsmith. She studies hard. So...
560
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:36.490
I know that if it comes to grappling, the nuances
561
00:29:36.529 --> 00:29:40.519
of grappling, particularly the jiu-jitsu stuff that's the direction that
562
00:29:40.859 --> 00:29:44.519
I'll go in and if like we know that I
563
00:29:44.539 --> 00:29:46.240
mean this is going to really sound like it I'm
564
00:29:46.299 --> 00:29:49.200
demeaning him almost but Felder loves elbows for example and
565
00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:52.960
spinning shit like if that's there I'm going to pull
566
00:29:53.019 --> 00:29:55.700
for it I also get on really well with Paul
567
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:58.240
I get on well with a bunch of the guys
568
00:29:58.259 --> 00:30:00.569
well hopefully everyone but I know that Paul has a
569
00:30:00.589 --> 00:30:03.190
really good sense of humor and he understands me. Laura
570
00:30:03.230 --> 00:30:05.710
the same. So I know that I can have fun
571
00:30:05.750 --> 00:30:09.210
with them and be lighthearted and we can we can
572
00:30:09.250 --> 00:30:12.099
play ball a little bit. We can keep that going.
573
00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:18.880
Whereas Dom is hysterical off camera and he's a lot
574
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.079
more loose. But when you come into the broadcast, he's
575
00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:22.559
very serious about his martial arts.
576
00:30:22.579 --> 00:30:24.920
You can tell, yeah. He's very smart, but yes, he
577
00:30:24.980 --> 00:30:26.000
is very serious about it.
578
00:30:26.089 --> 00:30:29.369
He's very dialed in. So sometimes I've tried to do
579
00:30:29.410 --> 00:30:32.710
that lighthearted stuff and it's just, it's like throwing something
580
00:30:32.730 --> 00:30:34.470
at a brick wall and it's just gone flat. So
581
00:30:34.490 --> 00:30:37.029
I'm like, okay, well, this isn't the place. This isn't
582
00:30:37.049 --> 00:30:39.109
the time. So what I do need to do is
583
00:30:39.170 --> 00:30:42.130
play to his strengths. He's a, some of the stuff
584
00:30:42.150 --> 00:30:45.529
that he's been through as well, even down to like injuries,
585
00:30:45.769 --> 00:30:48.759
you know, that's and how you get back. And he's
586
00:30:48.819 --> 00:30:51.299
very black and white. So you know that you can
587
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.799
go to Dom for a very definitive line and you'll
588
00:30:54.819 --> 00:30:59.000
get it from him. DC with wrestling, lighthearted, you can
589
00:30:59.019 --> 00:31:02.890
be playful with him too. So yeah, I mean, I've
590
00:31:02.910 --> 00:31:04.809
just heard that Michael Chiesa is going to be making
591
00:31:04.930 --> 00:31:09.130
his fight night appearance in Shanghai. I was calling fights
592
00:31:09.170 --> 00:31:12.089
with him. I've done it on UFC BJJ actually. I've
593
00:31:12.130 --> 00:31:14.380
also worked with him on Road to UFC. And he
594
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:19.089
brings high energy. He, again, loves wrestling. been on The
595
00:31:19.170 --> 00:31:22.990
Ultimate Fighter, would definitely talk to him about tournament-based stuff.
596
00:31:23.349 --> 00:31:26.809
So it's just looking at the resumes of those individuals
597
00:31:27.450 --> 00:31:31.450
and also their personalities and the quirks of those things
598
00:31:31.509 --> 00:31:34.099
so that you can, you've got to be a little
599
00:31:34.119 --> 00:31:37.160
lighthearted on these broadcasts. They're so long. If we were
600
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:40.779
like really dry, really serious the whole time, then I
601
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:43.980
think it's a bit of a hard listen. So yes,
602
00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:47.420
I just feel more comfortable playing certain games with others,
603
00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:52.450
but at the same time, because we have a three-man-woman booth,
604
00:31:53.049 --> 00:31:56.289
then we can vary up those things. But my job
605
00:31:56.650 --> 00:31:58.109
is to get the best out of those that I
606
00:31:58.130 --> 00:32:00.630
sit next to. They're the ones that have trodden the boards.
607
00:32:00.730 --> 00:32:04.619
They're the hall of famers and champions sometimes. So it's
608
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:08.480
make them sound good, get the best out of them
609
00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:13.900
to help us educate, entertain, and also bring out the lines,
610
00:32:13.980 --> 00:32:18.109
which can really lay a broadcast and I know that
611
00:32:18.150 --> 00:32:22.930
the athletes that we are commentating on appreciate certain tones
612
00:32:23.009 --> 00:32:26.690
of feedback and those celebratory lines as well. So it's
613
00:32:26.779 --> 00:32:28.680
just trying to get all of that out there in
614
00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:35.700
a broadcast in the most effective way, pulling on the
615
00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:39.069
right chords for those individuals.
616
00:32:40.069 --> 00:32:41.930
Yeah, I remember there was a time, I think it
617
00:32:41.970 --> 00:32:44.970
was Michael Bisping and Dom, and I thought, just because
618
00:32:44.990 --> 00:32:47.910
my business is also very, uh, lighthearted and he'll, he'll,
619
00:32:48.269 --> 00:32:50.230
he'll banter with you. I thought they were going to
620
00:32:50.250 --> 00:32:51.970
get in a fight just because he was trying to
621
00:32:52.009 --> 00:32:53.910
be funny. And Dom was like, no, this is, this
622
00:32:53.950 --> 00:32:54.849
is not the time to be funny.
623
00:32:55.349 --> 00:32:59.789
Yeah. Yeah. And it's, so it's like read the room, right. It's, uh, it's,
624
00:32:59.910 --> 00:33:03.900
but it's just, it's unfortunate when that happens. Cause I,
625
00:33:04.140 --> 00:33:06.500
I mean, I, I don't mind talking about it, but
626
00:33:06.660 --> 00:33:09.940
I obviously had a bit of a, prickly situation on
627
00:33:10.059 --> 00:33:12.490
air with bisping uh i think it was coming up
628
00:33:12.509 --> 00:33:14.829
to this time last year it was around november and
629
00:33:15.210 --> 00:33:19.589
in brazil we some cross wires around like a refereeing
630
00:33:20.130 --> 00:33:24.180
issue and yeah what i learned from that is no
631
00:33:24.299 --> 00:33:27.279
no one wants to hear conflict yeah like we and
632
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:29.680
going back to you know we were talking about the
633
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.390
colby covington josh hoker my mind is as someone that's
634
00:33:34.420 --> 00:33:38.329
very I'm very aware of things probably too aware and
635
00:33:38.349 --> 00:33:41.630
probably a little sensitive and sometimes I think that people
636
00:33:41.670 --> 00:33:44.589
just want to see car crashes oh no no wrong
637
00:33:44.869 --> 00:33:48.029
and all of that stuff but what that situation taught
638
00:33:48.049 --> 00:33:52.750
me was Michael and I had this this bad few
639
00:33:52.809 --> 00:33:57.509
minutes together and and if I may say so it's
640
00:33:57.650 --> 00:34:00.990
like two of their favorite uncles can i say that
641
00:34:01.130 --> 00:34:03.750
yeah two of their favorite uncles having a having a
642
00:34:03.809 --> 00:34:06.950
dispute around the dinner table it's like no one wants
643
00:34:06.990 --> 00:34:09.530
this yeah we just we all want to get along
644
00:34:10.010 --> 00:34:13.300
i've worked a hard week here right crack open these
645
00:34:13.380 --> 00:34:17.280
beers sit back be entertained by you guys and now
646
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.260
now you guys can't even get your shit together yeah
647
00:34:20.300 --> 00:34:22.400
can you please just you know stick to the script
648
00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:25.590
and that was actually as bad as it was to
649
00:34:25.619 --> 00:34:28.559
have a moment like that on air um it was
650
00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:33.539
good to understand that people didn't sit there going, I'm
651
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:36.539
piling in on the fact that, you know, there, there
652
00:34:36.579 --> 00:34:38.760
was some sort of dispute going on and they just
653
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:41.460
wanted it to end. And, uh, yeah, that's just a,
654
00:34:41.940 --> 00:34:45.039
I'm pinning back the curtain to my mind a little bit. My,
655
00:34:45.099 --> 00:34:46.500
my frailties, if you will.
656
00:34:46.900 --> 00:34:49.719
No, no, I can't please understand it happens in youth in,
657
00:34:49.900 --> 00:34:52.059
in your head, it might even last longer than it
658
00:34:52.099 --> 00:34:55.280
actually does, but it, for you be living in it
659
00:34:55.320 --> 00:34:56.880
because you were a part of it. And you're like,
660
00:34:56.960 --> 00:34:58.719
Oh crap. Am I going to hear about this when
661
00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:01.559
I get done? Is this going to pass the note?
662
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:04.860
Is this my last fight? Like, are we going to,
663
00:35:04.900 --> 00:35:05.619
this is over.
664
00:35:05.719 --> 00:35:08.940
Exactly. All of that. And it is a very, it's
665
00:35:08.980 --> 00:35:11.920
a very exposed place.
666
00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:12.639
Right.
667
00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:15.480
When you're sat there in the commentary booth, they are
668
00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:19.159
live microphones right here. You can't turn them off. Well,
669
00:35:19.179 --> 00:35:20.920
you can turn off the coffee and stuff, but you
670
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:24.320
can't disappear for long. You can't just check out. that
671
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:29.000
you are on that broadcast. We're normally in and around
672
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:32.880
from 3 p.m. And then we're off at 11, 12.
673
00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:36.920
It's a hell of a shift. And it's, again, going
674
00:35:36.940 --> 00:35:39.539
back to what I said, not only do I want
675
00:35:39.980 --> 00:35:42.199
to bring the best out of those that I'm sitting
676
00:35:42.219 --> 00:35:44.179
next to, I want everyone to have fun. Because if
677
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:47.800
we're having fun, then those that are listening and watching
678
00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:50.880
are hopefully enjoying it as well. And by the way,
679
00:35:51.849 --> 00:35:53.969
we only really come into play when the fights are
680
00:35:53.989 --> 00:35:56.889
a little slower. Normally the fights do the work for you.
681
00:35:56.909 --> 00:35:59.230
It doesn't really matter what I say. If the fights
682
00:35:59.269 --> 00:36:02.360
are great, everyone's happy, but sometimes there are those slower
683
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:04.380
nights where we need to layer things a little bit
684
00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:07.300
more and, and build for the next week and the
685
00:36:07.340 --> 00:36:10.260
week after that. And so we are engaged with you
686
00:36:10.300 --> 00:36:13.659
guys a little bit more than perhaps people might want.
687
00:36:14.530 --> 00:36:16.449
So it's important that we all have a good time
688
00:36:16.510 --> 00:36:17.809
doing it. Exactly.
689
00:36:19.110 --> 00:36:21.590
What is maybe one of the wildest things you've heard
690
00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:25.280
in your ear during a broadcast that probably had nothing
691
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:26.860
to do with you, but it was on? Because I
692
00:36:26.900 --> 00:36:29.340
imagine there's a lot going on in your headset because
693
00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:31.300
you've got to be the traffic controller when it comes
694
00:36:31.380 --> 00:36:34.840
to the sponsorships. You've got to make sure that, again,
695
00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:37.210
you've got a three-man booth or a three-person booth. So
696
00:36:37.230 --> 00:36:39.190
you've got to make sure everybody's getting their time right.
697
00:36:39.210 --> 00:36:40.889
And then also you're not trying to step over anything
698
00:36:40.909 --> 00:36:43.269
that's happening inside the cage. But again, there's so much
699
00:36:43.289 --> 00:36:46.739
going on inside your headset that most people were never
700
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:49.139
going to hear. So what is maybe the wildest thing
701
00:36:49.179 --> 00:36:50.500
that has come through your headset?
702
00:36:52.500 --> 00:36:54.460
I think, well, going back to, it was a time
703
00:36:54.480 --> 00:36:57.760
at Cage Warriors, actually. We were in the Middle East,
704
00:36:58.139 --> 00:37:02.840
and they had opened the communication line for all of
705
00:37:02.900 --> 00:37:07.840
the camera operators and crew around the arena. So we
706
00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:11.030
had all of that chatter just fed into our ears
707
00:37:11.110 --> 00:37:13.929
while we're trying to call the fights. Now, it's not
708
00:37:14.010 --> 00:37:17.030
quite as... It's not anywhere near the level of broadcast
709
00:37:17.070 --> 00:37:18.929
of the UFC. But even so, I was a lot
710
00:37:18.969 --> 00:37:21.650
younger and less experienced and hadn't had to deal with
711
00:37:21.690 --> 00:37:25.650
those things. So that was pretty unnerving. I haven't really
712
00:37:25.690 --> 00:37:28.699
had too much wild stuff go on. I've had a
713
00:37:28.739 --> 00:37:32.019
few producers and directors that haven't agreed with me or
714
00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:34.519
if I've missed a cue or they've questioned something. I
715
00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:40.360
think one of the more unnerving experiences I had was
716
00:37:41.139 --> 00:37:46.139
when an old producer of mine was the truck gets
717
00:37:46.179 --> 00:37:53.510
pretty wild. Especially with US broadcasts. You guys are very passionate.
718
00:37:54.210 --> 00:38:00.150
And the UFC broadcast is high energy, right? So just naturally,
719
00:38:00.210 --> 00:38:03.449
everything's ramped up. By virtue of the fact that we're
720
00:38:03.469 --> 00:38:06.010
all going crazy for these fights as well. So you're
721
00:38:06.030 --> 00:38:08.510
trying to match those levels. It's no good if my
722
00:38:08.550 --> 00:38:10.610
producer's down here and we're trying to be up here.
723
00:38:10.769 --> 00:38:13.699
They have to match it so that we're all vibrating
724
00:38:13.739 --> 00:38:16.980
the same way. Uh, anyway, we, we had a producer
725
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:20.840
that was, they're having fun in a truck too. And they've, they're,
726
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:25.300
they're spitballing themselves about what they think about the fights
727
00:38:25.420 --> 00:38:28.239
and individuals and what they may look like and all
728
00:38:28.260 --> 00:38:31.599
of these sorts of things. And they were feeding the,
729
00:38:32.360 --> 00:38:35.949
what was being said in a truck to Canada. They
730
00:38:35.989 --> 00:38:38.489
could hear all of that. And let's just say the
731
00:38:38.530 --> 00:38:40.570
guys in the truck, I mean, you know how it
732
00:38:40.650 --> 00:38:43.619
is like, guys get together in a bar they're not
733
00:38:43.659 --> 00:38:46.719
always complimenting so they were they were saying some pretty
734
00:38:46.940 --> 00:38:50.010
some pretty interesting stuff and then i think someone caught
735
00:38:50.050 --> 00:38:51.659
hold of it and they were putting a script out
736
00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:57.929
on reddit and you just think that is the worst
737
00:38:58.369 --> 00:39:01.949
the worst thing like you think you're you know you're
738
00:39:01.969 --> 00:39:04.889
having a private moment and so your your tongue is
739
00:39:04.969 --> 00:39:08.710
loose and then it's being broadcast to a whole nation
740
00:39:09.030 --> 00:39:12.090
yeah so that's that scared the bejesus out of me
741
00:39:12.409 --> 00:39:14.800
because i thought you got it there is always a
742
00:39:14.820 --> 00:39:17.219
hot mic there is always a hot mic gotta be
743
00:39:17.320 --> 00:39:20.500
so careful of who's listening who you're talking to is
744
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:23.199
the is the mic live and yeah it gives you
745
00:39:23.239 --> 00:39:27.449
an awareness yeah probably an unhealthy awareness sometimes where that
746
00:39:27.489 --> 00:39:30.659
paranoia comes in but yeah the that was, that was
747
00:39:30.699 --> 00:39:33.860
pretty wild. And it was a serious error on someone's
748
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:36.570
part as well to have those guys in and put
749
00:39:36.610 --> 00:39:38.070
those out there. Yeah. Yeah.
750
00:39:38.369 --> 00:39:39.969
Well, so, I mean, you kind of mentioned it that
751
00:39:40.090 --> 00:39:42.929
obviously as people know who watched the, I mean, I'm
752
00:39:42.969 --> 00:39:44.809
one of those that tries to watch the first fight
753
00:39:44.829 --> 00:39:47.130
all the way to the end, depending on what's going on. But,
754
00:39:47.949 --> 00:39:50.570
they're long days and you got to be there. I
755
00:39:50.590 --> 00:39:52.469
don't know how many hours ahead of time call time.
756
00:39:52.510 --> 00:39:54.090
I imagine as much earlier, cause you got to make
757
00:39:54.110 --> 00:39:56.010
sure again, everything is going right. You're in the right
758
00:39:56.030 --> 00:39:59.170
spot and everything like that. What are kind of some
759
00:39:59.210 --> 00:40:00.809
standards for you that are in your bag on a
760
00:40:00.829 --> 00:40:01.380
regular basis?
761
00:40:02.469 --> 00:40:06.719
Oh, the bag. Okay. Yeah. I actually have a commentators kit.
762
00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:07.659
Okay.
763
00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:12.099
I like to have a couple of different colors of highlighter.
764
00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:15.360
So I should, I should say this. I have, my
765
00:40:15.389 --> 00:40:18.400
scripts for the program for all the elements that will
766
00:40:18.440 --> 00:40:22.039
get me through a UFC broadcast. They are printed onto cards.
767
00:40:22.760 --> 00:40:26.000
Then I have fighter bio pages. I'm just looking around
768
00:40:26.019 --> 00:40:28.920
and see if I've got something I can show you.
769
00:40:28.940 --> 00:40:31.719
I can show you bear with me, bear with me. Yeah.
770
00:40:31.739 --> 00:40:34.960
Cause cause Bruce just showed us on Instagram the other day,
771
00:40:35.019 --> 00:40:36.889
how he kind of splits up his card. And so,
772
00:40:36.929 --> 00:40:38.869
which I don't think he's, he's put on there before,
773
00:40:38.909 --> 00:40:39.170
but yeah.
774
00:40:39.929 --> 00:40:44.429
Yeah. So. Oh, wow. Okay. so that's a, you probably
775
00:40:44.449 --> 00:40:46.849
can't see all the stuff it's blurring out, but I've got,
776
00:40:46.969 --> 00:40:50.670
so I've got like blue corner, red corner, and I've
777
00:40:50.710 --> 00:40:53.050
got a whole, all of my research for those individual
778
00:40:53.110 --> 00:40:56.530
athletes for that fights will be on there. And as
779
00:40:56.590 --> 00:41:00.389
I'm going through, like on the walkout, I'll kind of
780
00:41:00.429 --> 00:41:04.239
prepare as the fights coming around, we have a little
781
00:41:04.300 --> 00:41:06.039
sizzle that happens. I'll be looking at my notes going,
782
00:41:06.099 --> 00:41:08.099
Oh God, right. So how should I, how should I
783
00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:10.599
kick off this walkout? And I'll start highlighting in one
784
00:41:10.679 --> 00:41:13.949
color and then, I'll go, no, no, no, this is
785
00:41:13.969 --> 00:41:16.690
for fight action. So I'll switch to highlighter and go, right,
786
00:41:16.710 --> 00:41:18.809
that's a really good point. I can bring it in.
787
00:41:18.849 --> 00:41:21.630
And as the guys are talking, there might be something else.
788
00:41:21.650 --> 00:41:24.070
So then I'll get a marker pen. So I've got
789
00:41:24.090 --> 00:41:26.260
a whole bunch of Sharpies. So yeah, I have a
790
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:28.960
writing pen. I have a Sharpie. I have a couple
791
00:41:28.980 --> 00:41:34.380
of different highlighters. I also have a stress ball. Because
792
00:41:34.739 --> 00:41:37.780
when I take a pen, I'm terrible at clicking it
793
00:41:38.360 --> 00:41:41.050
or tapping it. So I need to have something in
794
00:41:41.090 --> 00:41:44.710
my hands. Otherwise I'm probably going to like rub or
795
00:41:44.869 --> 00:41:48.269
pull the bloody cloth off of something. So I used
796
00:41:48.289 --> 00:41:52.219
to take, but here's a, here's a little story. So
797
00:41:52.239 --> 00:41:55.820
we were, I do a lot of producing during fight
798
00:41:55.860 --> 00:41:57.960
week as well. So the interviews that you see with
799
00:41:58.019 --> 00:42:00.420
the orange globes around the fighter, where they do their
800
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:04.139
fight hype pieces, um, in Europe and Middle East, maybe,
801
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:06.039
or pretty much any show I'm working, I get to
802
00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:10.409
produce those as well. And we had Shara Bullets come down,
803
00:42:10.489 --> 00:42:14.690
so this is Azerbaijan. He brought his two girls with
804
00:42:14.730 --> 00:42:17.570
him this time, which was lovely to see, because you
805
00:42:17.590 --> 00:42:21.550
don't often see fighters like that, especially guys like Shara.
806
00:42:21.789 --> 00:42:24.510
From that part of the world, they don't share their
807
00:42:24.550 --> 00:42:29.409
families as often, in my experience, from what I've come across.
808
00:42:29.449 --> 00:42:31.599
So Now we've got his two girls in the room
809
00:42:31.780 --> 00:42:33.679
and his younger girl, you know, I don't know if
810
00:42:33.719 --> 00:42:36.440
it's a common thing, but the second kid is almost
811
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:39.280
twice as confident as the oldest kid. I don't know
812
00:42:39.300 --> 00:42:42.309
why it is, but she was, she was going crazy
813
00:42:42.889 --> 00:42:44.710
and she was getting involved in all sorts of things,
814
00:42:44.769 --> 00:42:49.090
but his eldest was a little bit more shy. And
815
00:42:49.110 --> 00:42:52.030
I know that my daughter likes like, like the fidget
816
00:42:52.050 --> 00:42:54.530
toys and stuff. So I've actually given her, I had
817
00:42:54.570 --> 00:42:57.000
a stress ball going into that and I gave it
818
00:42:57.039 --> 00:42:59.309
to her. so that she could just, she was just
819
00:42:59.369 --> 00:43:02.309
playing with it while we were doing our thing. But
820
00:43:02.389 --> 00:43:04.489
she left the room with it, which is absolutely fine.
821
00:43:04.949 --> 00:43:07.130
I've had it for a long time. So I lost
822
00:43:07.210 --> 00:43:09.389
my stress ball. So I had to, recently I had
823
00:43:09.429 --> 00:43:13.090
to replace it. But sometimes these things are supposed to
824
00:43:13.110 --> 00:43:15.199
be passed on around the world. And now mine is
825
00:43:15.300 --> 00:43:18.719
perhaps in Russia, somewhere in the Middle East with Shara
826
00:43:18.739 --> 00:43:24.219
Bullitt's daughter. But I'll do that. I also like to,
827
00:43:24.420 --> 00:43:28.940
my wife's into homeopathy. So I've got some stuff to
828
00:43:28.980 --> 00:43:32.340
calm me down and some stuff to energize me. So
829
00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:34.789
I take a couple of those things. I'll always take
830
00:43:34.829 --> 00:43:38.329
a little medical kit. So you never want to be
831
00:43:38.369 --> 00:43:40.150
caught short if you need to toilet a whole bunch.
832
00:43:40.190 --> 00:43:45.909
So there might be some stuff for that. I will, fishermen, friends,
833
00:43:46.010 --> 00:43:51.699
things for like eucalyptus stuff. Yeah, those bits. And I
834
00:43:52.050 --> 00:43:55.619
will typically always have like a little inhaler stick Love that.
835
00:43:55.820 --> 00:43:59.500
And lip seal, just especially in Vegas and some of
836
00:43:59.519 --> 00:44:03.449
the drier places. You've got to keep the the apparatus
837
00:44:04.710 --> 00:44:09.929
well lubricated. That's something to clip up. Yeah. So I
838
00:44:09.949 --> 00:44:12.409
think that's probably about it. I have a bag with
839
00:44:12.489 --> 00:44:14.730
with all of that stuff. I have custom in ears,
840
00:44:14.809 --> 00:44:17.429
which are a real game changer. You know that you
841
00:44:17.469 --> 00:44:19.949
can some of the places that I work, I'm lucky
842
00:44:19.989 --> 00:44:23.400
to be on the international team. rotor and we have
843
00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:27.159
some wild crowds internationally and it gets loud so to
844
00:44:27.199 --> 00:44:29.980
be able to block that out is good otherwise that's
845
00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:32.039
that's it a couple of little things that my daughter
846
00:44:32.440 --> 00:44:34.719
has written or made for me I take that into
847
00:44:34.739 --> 00:44:39.480
the booth and yeah otherwise it's just it's just the
848
00:44:39.539 --> 00:44:42.500
pipes and and the notes.
849
00:44:43.070 --> 00:44:45.349
Yeah I'm always curious because again they're they're long days
850
00:44:45.369 --> 00:44:48.170
and also Obviously, you want to have something to drink,
851
00:44:48.210 --> 00:44:50.230
but you're not drinking too much because, again, like you said,
852
00:44:50.250 --> 00:44:51.730
you got to go to the bathroom on a regular
853
00:44:51.750 --> 00:44:53.889
basis and you don't.
854
00:44:54.849 --> 00:44:58.079
I've never managed that particularly well. I've always been conscious
855
00:44:58.119 --> 00:45:00.380
of the voice that conscious of the fact that I
856
00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:04.260
don't have a particularly powerful voice. And I followed Mike Goldberg,
857
00:45:04.300 --> 00:45:08.659
for example, who has an extraordinarily powerful voice. Yeah. So
858
00:45:08.739 --> 00:45:13.210
I've always thought of using like intonation, cadence, et cetera.
859
00:45:13.289 --> 00:45:17.139
But you can't get past the high energy voice. necessity
860
00:45:17.199 --> 00:45:19.960
of a UFC broadcast so I have to shout a
861
00:45:19.980 --> 00:45:24.440
lot which means I then have to drink a whole
862
00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:27.460
bunch which means I'm going to the toilet a lot
863
00:45:27.559 --> 00:45:29.719
so I've if ever you've been to a live event
864
00:45:29.780 --> 00:45:32.039
you sat near the front you definitely would have seen
865
00:45:32.059 --> 00:45:35.400
me sprint at least two maybe three times to the
866
00:45:35.420 --> 00:45:37.940
bathroom during broadcast oh and there's something else is a
867
00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:40.400
little bit a little inside tip for the vocal performers
868
00:45:40.760 --> 00:45:44.800
there's a tea called throat coat it's a herbal herbal
869
00:45:45.219 --> 00:45:48.159
tea that's Yeah, I don't know what's in it, but
870
00:45:48.199 --> 00:45:51.760
it sort of protects the lining of the throat and
871
00:45:51.780 --> 00:45:55.219
the larynx, maybe. Can you protect the larynx? I'm not sure.
872
00:45:55.260 --> 00:45:58.320
But whatever it does, it works. And I will always
873
00:45:58.389 --> 00:46:01.150
start the night with one of those. I don't caffeinate
874
00:46:01.190 --> 00:46:03.949
too much because it sends me over the edge. The
875
00:46:03.989 --> 00:46:07.989
fights are enough to get me going. And if I
876
00:46:08.409 --> 00:46:11.170
overdo it with the caffeine, I actually feel quite unwell
877
00:46:11.590 --> 00:46:15.760
and on the edge of, like, freaking out so yeah
878
00:46:15.820 --> 00:46:17.880
i try to back off from that unless it's really
879
00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:21.380
desperate and yeah it's just water and bananas to keep
880
00:46:21.420 --> 00:46:22.000
me going.
881
00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:25.150
Throat coat okay i'm a ring announcer for a wrestling
882
00:46:25.190 --> 00:46:27.449
company here in america so i gotta start check it
883
00:46:27.530 --> 00:46:29.010
out yeah.
884
00:46:28.510 --> 00:46:30.269
Yeah check it out it's on amazon yeah.
885
00:46:31.130 --> 00:46:35.429
Um you said something that that sparked something uh but
886
00:46:35.449 --> 00:46:38.110
then it went away so i don't know i don't
887
00:46:38.130 --> 00:46:39.949
know where my next one is gonna be Well, so
888
00:46:39.989 --> 00:46:42.070
you've been with the UFC for 12 years now. You
889
00:46:42.170 --> 00:46:44.449
just signed a contract, what, last year for three more years,
890
00:46:44.590 --> 00:46:44.840
was it?
891
00:46:45.550 --> 00:46:47.429
I don't know if we're midway through. I think I
892
00:46:47.469 --> 00:46:50.130
might be on a second year out of maybe a
893
00:46:50.230 --> 00:46:53.889
four-year deal. I can't remember if it's three, four, but yeah.
894
00:46:53.909 --> 00:46:56.739
Well, what are some of your favorite memories of just,
895
00:46:56.920 --> 00:46:59.260
whether it be fights or just personally when it comes
896
00:46:59.300 --> 00:47:02.489
to your time here in the UFC so far?
897
00:47:02.500 --> 00:47:07.039
Oh, I mean, the first... the first few months leading
898
00:47:07.159 --> 00:47:11.579
into the first broadcast, I do have some, some pretty
899
00:47:11.800 --> 00:47:14.510
big memories about that. Like going to out to Vegas
900
00:47:14.550 --> 00:47:16.769
to work for the first time, just, just going to
901
00:47:16.989 --> 00:47:20.190
HQ and meeting everyone for the first time, learning how
902
00:47:20.250 --> 00:47:25.489
things are done the UFC way and work, you know,
903
00:47:25.570 --> 00:47:29.679
building a, a broadcast partnership with Dan Hardy.
904
00:47:30.420 --> 00:47:33.340
And then I miss him so much on commentary.
905
00:47:34.809 --> 00:47:37.769
Yeah, we did some stuff together that, you know, I
906
00:47:37.769 --> 00:47:41.380
will always be very proud of the Inside the Octagon show.
907
00:47:42.010 --> 00:47:43.579
We did a couple of other bits as well. But
908
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:45.940
I think that's that's the one that was very regular
909
00:47:45.960 --> 00:47:48.880
that the fans seem to really have an appetite for.
910
00:47:49.159 --> 00:47:51.260
So I miss I miss doing that. I learned a
911
00:47:51.300 --> 00:47:55.480
lot doing that. And I maintain hopefully I've maintained some
912
00:47:55.519 --> 00:47:58.380
of those learning lessons and brought them into commentary now.
913
00:47:59.289 --> 00:48:01.110
So that was good. I think the first time I
914
00:48:01.170 --> 00:48:04.280
ever got to work stateside in a commentary position is
915
00:48:04.300 --> 00:48:07.500
a big deal for a guy from a small town
916
00:48:07.579 --> 00:48:11.000
village in near Watford in England. And then I'm on,
917
00:48:11.079 --> 00:48:15.920
I'm being flown across the world to like the sin
918
00:48:15.940 --> 00:48:18.639
city fight capital of the world. You know, I was
919
00:48:18.679 --> 00:48:22.719
a boxing fan before an MMA fan. So to then, Yeah,
920
00:48:23.260 --> 00:48:26.199
I pinch myself every time when I come into land
921
00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:30.340
in Las Vegas and I see the bright lights. I'm like,
922
00:48:30.460 --> 00:48:33.489
how have I been selected to do this? But yeah,
923
00:48:33.510 --> 00:48:36.789
that's pretty cool. The Fight Island experience, although it wasn't,
924
00:48:37.889 --> 00:48:40.909
I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, looking back
925
00:48:40.929 --> 00:48:45.630
now on how we were in a very privileged position
926
00:48:45.670 --> 00:48:47.469
in many ways. I think we were taking some risks,
927
00:48:47.550 --> 00:48:50.380
but they're probably not as bad a risk as we
928
00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:51.619
probably thought at the time.
929
00:48:51.909 --> 00:48:53.949
Well, from what I heard, there's a ton of testing.
930
00:48:54.010 --> 00:48:57.590
So it wasn't like if you left the hotel and
931
00:48:57.639 --> 00:48:59.440
came back, I think you had to get retested or something,
932
00:48:59.460 --> 00:48:59.739
wasn't it?
933
00:49:00.420 --> 00:49:03.059
Yeah, we had a quarantine zone. If you went out
934
00:49:03.079 --> 00:49:05.179
of the quarantine zone, yeah, you weren't allowed back in.
935
00:49:05.300 --> 00:49:07.920
So it's very strict. And we had and even if
936
00:49:07.940 --> 00:49:09.679
you were in the quarantine zone, I think it was
937
00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:13.630
every every three days or something like midweek. You'd get
938
00:49:13.690 --> 00:49:15.489
another test just to make sure you were good. Then
939
00:49:15.809 --> 00:49:21.019
just before the fights. Yeah, it was an incredible legit. nightmare.
940
00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:26.400
But there's a bunch of the guys that worked for
941
00:49:26.420 --> 00:49:29.750
the UFC that got like Fight Island tattoos because it
942
00:49:29.809 --> 00:49:34.550
was such a unique experience for them that they kind of, yeah,
943
00:49:34.570 --> 00:49:36.849
just wanted to remember it. And I hadn't really thought
944
00:49:36.869 --> 00:49:38.989
of it the way that they had. So I think
945
00:49:39.030 --> 00:49:43.170
it was, conversations after the fact because i was yeah
946
00:49:43.190 --> 00:49:45.070
it was a really like financially it was a real
947
00:49:45.250 --> 00:49:47.179
really tough year for us we were i thought we're
948
00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:48.699
going to lose our house at one point so i
949
00:49:48.719 --> 00:49:51.920
couldn't make the payment so yeah we got through it
950
00:49:52.179 --> 00:49:54.760
so now i can look back with uh with it
951
00:49:54.800 --> 00:49:57.800
with a little bit of a you know a more
952
00:49:57.820 --> 00:50:02.260
nostalgic view in a positive way um yeah i just
953
00:50:02.699 --> 00:50:06.159
overall it they Yeah, there are some individual fights. There
954
00:50:06.179 --> 00:50:08.440
are fighters that you can't help but get a little
955
00:50:08.480 --> 00:50:11.179
bit closer to and you see them rise. You sometimes
956
00:50:11.219 --> 00:50:15.489
see them fall as well. And those moments are pretty
957
00:50:15.590 --> 00:50:19.389
special or raw. I get to travel out with my
958
00:50:19.429 --> 00:50:21.849
producing work for the UFC. I get to visit people
959
00:50:21.889 --> 00:50:25.340
in camp. I mentioned Saladin Parnas. I was with him
960
00:50:25.900 --> 00:50:29.239
last week. And in the past, that's how I've gotten
961
00:50:29.280 --> 00:50:32.539
closer to guys like Tom Aspinall and Darren Till and
962
00:50:32.679 --> 00:50:37.340
Alexander Gustafsson, Jimmy Manuel, for example, Joanna Jomrzejczyk. You know,
963
00:50:37.360 --> 00:50:40.280
I've met their families, you know. I mean, again, what
964
00:50:40.300 --> 00:50:44.360
a privilege. So I have a lot of really special memories.
965
00:50:44.460 --> 00:50:48.420
And I'm hoping they continue because I've still got energy.
966
00:50:48.500 --> 00:50:51.340
I still feel like I can add value. So as
967
00:50:51.380 --> 00:50:53.280
long as they'll have me, I'll keep going.
968
00:50:53.800 --> 00:50:55.860
Well, I hope they keep you around for a very
969
00:50:55.889 --> 00:50:56.199
long time.
970
00:50:56.960 --> 00:50:58.840
Oh, thank you very much.
971
00:50:59.860 --> 00:51:02.539
Not trying to get too personal, but do we, how,
972
00:51:02.840 --> 00:51:04.820
how is Tom Aspinall doing? Do you, do you speak
973
00:51:04.840 --> 00:51:05.679
to him on a regular basis?
974
00:51:06.539 --> 00:51:10.559
He's been, I mean, he's, so I, I reached out
975
00:51:10.599 --> 00:51:14.119
to him and, you know, I'm very aware that with athletes, they,
976
00:51:14.139 --> 00:51:16.679
they need something to focus on. They need a goal,
977
00:51:16.840 --> 00:51:20.420
a target. And so, and it also, if they're completely,
978
00:51:21.389 --> 00:51:24.250
within a rehabilitation schedule and they can't get close to
979
00:51:24.269 --> 00:51:26.769
the sorts of outputs from before they can get to
980
00:51:26.789 --> 00:51:27.949
some pretty dark places.
981
00:51:28.230 --> 00:51:30.289
Yeah. So I have crazy if you're not taking care
982
00:51:30.309 --> 00:51:30.469
of it.
983
00:51:31.530 --> 00:51:33.469
Yeah. So I've reached out to Tom a few times,
984
00:51:33.550 --> 00:51:39.219
but I mean, I can't see why he would like, um,
985
00:51:40.139 --> 00:51:44.960
just play it all down. Right. He's, he's been fine. Okay.
986
00:51:44.980 --> 00:51:47.960
You know, he's, he's got a, he's got a family.
987
00:51:49.170 --> 00:51:51.070
And when I said like an immediate family, kids of
988
00:51:51.110 --> 00:51:54.210
his own wife, his dad is obviously a big part
989
00:51:54.230 --> 00:51:56.570
of his journey is he's close with his brother. So
990
00:51:56.909 --> 00:52:00.980
he's got good people around him and the UFC heavyweight
991
00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:04.019
championship belt. And even the status he had before has
992
00:52:04.059 --> 00:52:09.280
afforded him some opportunities where he's now running his own podcast.
993
00:52:09.820 --> 00:52:12.659
Like he's got some, he's got his own gym. There's
994
00:52:12.699 --> 00:52:15.840
this stuff going on. That's keeping his mind busy. So yeah,
995
00:52:16.789 --> 00:52:20.929
it sounds like he's doing pretty good, but a lot
996
00:52:20.969 --> 00:52:23.230
of it, it does all hang off of you F
997
00:52:23.570 --> 00:52:28.130
and C and particularly champion. So there's only a certain
998
00:52:28.170 --> 00:52:31.320
amount of time before those things, you know, have to
999
00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:34.539
take a different direction, but hopefully, hopefully we'll see him.
1000
00:52:34.940 --> 00:52:38.059
It's looking like more and more like the MSG, right?
1001
00:52:38.460 --> 00:52:44.619
So that, well, well, the last, the previous one to that. Yeah.
1002
00:52:44.659 --> 00:52:49.130
We've got Volkanovski. in uh in abu dhabi right so
1003
00:52:49.469 --> 00:52:51.590
if he's not headlining there the one that's after that
1004
00:52:52.250 --> 00:52:54.969
is msg otherwise we're looking for december that that could
1005
00:52:54.989 --> 00:52:58.250
still be on the cards but a heavyweight championship fighter
1006
00:52:58.389 --> 00:53:01.659
msg just sounds right doesn't it and it will sell
1007
00:53:01.699 --> 00:53:02.610
big so.
1008
00:53:02.989 --> 00:53:04.420
Also i mean if you look back that's kind of
1009
00:53:04.460 --> 00:53:06.820
what they've been always doing now is like msg has
1010
00:53:06.960 --> 00:53:09.079
always kind of been whatever that big fight is and
1011
00:53:09.119 --> 00:53:12.699
it has luckily been the heavyweight one you know yeah
1012
00:53:13.219 --> 00:53:15.659
I don't want to talk about the champion or lack
1013
00:53:15.699 --> 00:53:18.980
thereof before Tom, but I think Tom has been, to me,
1014
00:53:19.059 --> 00:53:23.440
the number one heavyweight champion since he won the quote-unquote
1015
00:53:23.460 --> 00:53:23.940
interim title.
1016
00:53:24.679 --> 00:53:25.280
Yeah, yeah.
1017
00:53:25.820 --> 00:53:28.710
And unfortunately, it's very unfortunate what happened in his first defense,
1018
00:53:29.090 --> 00:53:32.690
and it's kind of ironic that the guy who poked
1019
00:53:32.710 --> 00:53:34.409
him in the eye actually got the interim title, so
1020
00:53:34.469 --> 00:53:36.090
now they get to actually have that immediate rematch.
1021
00:53:36.869 --> 00:53:41.900
Yeah, yeah. It's fascinating, isn't it? And when that gets announced,
1022
00:53:42.059 --> 00:53:44.619
the lead up is going to be very interesting indeed.
1023
00:53:44.739 --> 00:53:47.090
But I just, you know, of all of that, I
1024
00:53:47.130 --> 00:53:48.969
just want to see those guys and when all of
1025
00:53:49.010 --> 00:53:51.530
the other BS, I mean, it plays into it, but
1026
00:53:51.929 --> 00:53:56.170
come the night, like just hopefully there's just no issues
1027
00:53:56.750 --> 00:54:00.250
and we just get to see incredible, beautiful violence between
1028
00:54:00.329 --> 00:54:05.079
two very well-skilled athletes, like real new breed heavyweights, right?
1029
00:54:05.420 --> 00:54:08.960
Because it could be a, it could be an absolute blockbuster.
1030
00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:11.829
I think they could challenge, each other in ways that
1031
00:54:11.849 --> 00:54:14.610
they haven't been challenged before. So let's hope for that
1032
00:54:15.250 --> 00:54:16.170
and see where we land.
1033
00:54:16.750 --> 00:54:18.530
Well, yeah, I just hope Aspinall's in a good place
1034
00:54:18.570 --> 00:54:20.880
mentally right now. Cause that's what I was always curious about.
1035
00:54:20.889 --> 00:54:24.000
Cause like you said, athletes need something to actually focus on.
1036
00:54:24.039 --> 00:54:26.639
If he's can't do what he normally does on a
1037
00:54:26.639 --> 00:54:30.219
regular basis, I'm curious where he's mind goes mentally because
1038
00:54:30.579 --> 00:54:33.880
there's so many different athletes across any sport that once
1039
00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:36.329
they do have that injury, it can be a while
1040
00:54:36.369 --> 00:54:38.670
until they actually get back and then they're not exactly
1041
00:54:38.710 --> 00:54:40.690
the same until they start finding that groove. And then,
1042
00:54:41.110 --> 00:54:43.369
you know, but again, mentally, I really hope that he's fine.
1043
00:54:44.150 --> 00:54:47.070
Yeah. He's missed a lot of years through injuries and
1044
00:54:47.369 --> 00:54:51.369
inactivity because people wouldn't fight him. So I've, I'm aware
1045
00:54:51.409 --> 00:54:53.550
that it's been a challenge, but, but then does that
1046
00:54:53.610 --> 00:54:55.579
mean that he's a little bit more used to it?
1047
00:54:55.769 --> 00:54:59.030
It's not his first time around suffering. I don't know.
1048
00:54:59.050 --> 00:55:02.650
I'm guessing here, but. Now he's in a much better
1049
00:55:02.690 --> 00:55:05.389
place where he's not sitting there with a bank account
1050
00:55:05.449 --> 00:55:09.949
that's dwindling so rapidly that he can't support his family, right?
1051
00:55:09.969 --> 00:55:11.809
It looks like all of those things are taken care of.
1052
00:55:11.889 --> 00:55:14.010
So at least that's one less thing to worry about.
1053
00:55:15.190 --> 00:55:17.840
But let's see. Let's hope he comes back as good
1054
00:55:17.880 --> 00:55:20.579
as he went away, if you will. And, you know,
1055
00:55:20.599 --> 00:55:22.960
we see the best Tom Aspinall, the best Cyril Gann,
1056
00:55:24.179 --> 00:55:27.079
because that could be something special. Exactly. Exactly.
1057
00:55:28.139 --> 00:55:31.000
I mean, speaking of that fight, I think it should
1058
00:55:31.059 --> 00:55:33.920
happen in Europe, mainly obviously because both of them are
1059
00:55:34.079 --> 00:55:38.039
gigantic European fighters, not just size-wise, but popularity-wise. And I
1060
00:55:38.119 --> 00:55:42.880
know that Dana is not the biggest fan of stadiums. However,
1061
00:55:42.900 --> 00:55:48.260
I do think European fans would show up. Like, maybe
1062
00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:50.699
a Wembley, or I don't know what Paris is. I
1063
00:55:51.539 --> 00:55:54.559
don't even know what a middle ground would be. It
1064
00:55:54.579 --> 00:55:55.199
wouldn't be Scotland.
1065
00:55:55.219 --> 00:55:59.449
I think they have. Paris, because I was just there.
1066
00:55:59.489 --> 00:56:01.630
I'm pretty sure one of the guys I worked with
1067
00:56:01.670 --> 00:56:04.420
said they had a closed roof on one of it.
1068
00:56:04.469 --> 00:56:06.250
I'm not sure if it's the Stade de France or
1069
00:56:06.289 --> 00:56:09.530
if it's one of the others. I don't think it's
1070
00:56:09.550 --> 00:56:12.030
necessarily filling it with numbers. I think it's the atmosphere
1071
00:56:12.269 --> 00:56:18.780
that Dana has a slight issue with. It just gets lost.
1072
00:56:20.469 --> 00:56:22.920
He's run it a few times and you've got to
1073
00:56:22.960 --> 00:56:26.800
be a brave person to to go against Dana's thoughts
1074
00:56:26.880 --> 00:56:30.860
on something. And I mean that because he's run things,
1075
00:56:31.239 --> 00:56:35.699
he's tested things, he's tried things, and he is obsessed
1076
00:56:35.780 --> 00:56:40.280
with the in-house experience and the broadcast. So he really
1077
00:56:40.320 --> 00:56:43.280
does know his products inside out where it does and
1078
00:56:43.320 --> 00:56:46.070
doesn't work. So I kind of trust him for that.
1079
00:56:46.170 --> 00:56:51.480
Although it would be cool especially when it's people that
1080
00:56:51.500 --> 00:56:55.480
you know, right? The Connor, the Ilya, the Tom Aspinall,
1081
00:56:55.500 --> 00:56:58.480
they all are paddy, you know, and some of these
1082
00:56:58.960 --> 00:57:02.099
stadiums and grounds that they're talking about are places that
1083
00:57:02.179 --> 00:57:05.639
I've visited or would love to visit. So then you
1084
00:57:05.929 --> 00:57:08.030
secretly deep down, you're like, oh, that would just be
1085
00:57:08.050 --> 00:57:11.050
a dream for many people to have that happen. But
1086
00:57:11.570 --> 00:57:14.849
it's got to work, right? And we shall see how
1087
00:57:14.889 --> 00:57:19.090
that all goes. But first and foremost, let's get them healthy, fit,
1088
00:57:19.460 --> 00:57:21.760
Of course, yeah. And into the place. But yeah, if
1089
00:57:21.800 --> 00:57:23.820
we could have it in Europe, that'd be great. That's
1090
00:57:23.960 --> 00:57:25.719
a few less time zones that I would have to
1091
00:57:25.780 --> 00:57:28.360
travel if I'm any part of the broadcast. They're too
1092
00:57:28.400 --> 00:57:31.610
big for me. They've outgrown the John Gooden experience. But
1093
00:57:32.179 --> 00:57:35.409
hopefully I'll be able to have my fingerprints on some
1094
00:57:35.429 --> 00:57:37.650
of that broadcast in some way, shape or form.
1095
00:57:38.389 --> 00:57:41.900
I love that. what is it like for you? What
1096
00:57:41.960 --> 00:57:43.940
is it after a show look like for you? Cause
1097
00:57:44.019 --> 00:57:46.800
obviously we talked about, you don't, you're not too caffeinated
1098
00:57:46.840 --> 00:57:48.780
because you're already ramped up from the fights and the
1099
00:57:49.090 --> 00:57:52.170
atmosphere and the crowd. What is coming down look like
1100
00:57:52.190 --> 00:57:53.889
for you? What is kind of like the wind down
1101
00:57:53.929 --> 00:57:54.510
period for you?
1102
00:57:54.730 --> 00:57:57.250
Boozy. It's very boozy.
1103
00:57:57.449 --> 00:57:58.349
What's your drink of choice?
1104
00:57:59.530 --> 00:58:02.889
I'm a, so I'm a vodka tonic guy. And that
1105
00:58:02.969 --> 00:58:05.489
sounds like it's a really, Oh, look at this healthy guys.
1106
00:58:05.769 --> 00:58:08.130
I'm actually, you're a triathlete as well.
1107
00:58:08.190 --> 00:58:11.429
So you have, well, Well, I have an allergy to yeast.
1108
00:58:12.230 --> 00:58:14.409
And I only found this out in the last sort
1109
00:58:14.429 --> 00:58:17.289
of 10, 15 years. And there's a reason why I
1110
00:58:17.309 --> 00:58:20.769
had the most brutal hangovers, where I'd be projectile vomiting
1111
00:58:20.909 --> 00:58:23.730
for the best part of the day. And it turns
1112
00:58:23.829 --> 00:58:27.010
out it's probably because I'm allergic and poisoning myself. So
1113
00:58:27.610 --> 00:58:29.429
it tends to be a little bit easier for me
1114
00:58:29.610 --> 00:58:32.469
to stick to the vodkas. I get on really well
1115
00:58:32.579 --> 00:58:36.679
with the producers and other members of the crew. So
1116
00:58:36.739 --> 00:58:41.130
it's a good opportunity after... these shows done to just
1117
00:58:41.170 --> 00:58:44.389
kick back and you know start laughing about some other
1118
00:58:44.429 --> 00:58:47.860
stuff uh maybe it's maybe we we sort of go
1119
00:58:47.900 --> 00:58:50.320
over some of the fight stuff and the broadcast but
1120
00:58:50.340 --> 00:58:53.579
then we get into other silliness and have a little
1121
00:58:53.639 --> 00:58:56.000
fun we might visit you know sometimes we go to
1122
00:58:56.019 --> 00:58:59.519
the bars in or out of uh of the hotel
1123
00:58:59.539 --> 00:59:03.880
resort if you will and yeah just kind of quality
1124
00:59:03.920 --> 00:59:08.699
time with the team and yeah Sometimes, if you ask
1125
00:59:08.719 --> 00:59:11.900
Paul Felder, we like to wrestle. in the hallways of
1126
00:59:11.940 --> 00:59:15.639
a hotel and let things get a little out of hand, maybe.
1127
00:59:15.840 --> 00:59:20.219
But yeah, I don't think he's had a drink since then, actually.
1128
00:59:20.239 --> 00:59:24.119
Bless him. Yeah, so that's typically what it looks like.
1129
00:59:24.159 --> 00:59:28.139
Don't go to bed often. And we all have flights sometimes.
1130
00:59:28.409 --> 00:59:30.889
to get out of these places sometimes they're scheduled at
1131
00:59:30.969 --> 00:59:34.510
like 7 a.m they want us at the airport ridiculous
1132
00:59:34.530 --> 00:59:37.750
like three hours before not two so then we're picked
1133
00:59:37.869 --> 00:59:40.869
up normally an hour before that time so then it's
1134
00:59:41.150 --> 00:59:42.829
no point going to bed because by the time you
1135
00:59:42.849 --> 00:59:45.530
get back to the hotel it's midnight 1 a.m so
1136
00:59:45.550 --> 00:59:48.969
like okay straight through yeah and then then you jump
1137
00:59:49.030 --> 00:59:51.269
on the jump on the jet to get home not
1138
00:59:51.309 --> 00:59:54.650
the private jet just the jet engine plane well some
1139
00:59:54.670 --> 00:59:57.639
might but uh yeah Yeah, that's how it looks. They're
1140
00:59:57.659 --> 01:00:00.550
good times. I look forward to those, those bits post
1141
01:00:00.659 --> 01:00:01.750
fight as well. Yeah.
1142
01:00:01.789 --> 01:00:03.510
I'm always curious about that. Cause I always think after
1143
01:00:03.530 --> 01:00:05.349
a show is one of my favorite things. Like obviously
1144
01:00:05.369 --> 01:00:09.159
the show is fantastic. We all love working through it,
1145
01:00:09.190 --> 01:00:11.530
but it's usually afterwards. We kind of like, like you said,
1146
01:00:11.550 --> 01:00:13.070
we kind of nitpick it or be like, Hey, what'd
1147
01:00:13.090 --> 01:00:15.460
you think? Or, Hey, what could we have done here?
1148
01:00:15.840 --> 01:00:17.820
Or maybe next time we can do this or something
1149
01:00:17.840 --> 01:00:18.099
like that.
1150
01:00:18.119 --> 01:00:22.679
I also glossed over seeing the athletes as well. Something
1151
01:00:22.699 --> 01:00:25.619
that I've, I'm, I think I'm getting better at it.
1152
01:00:25.800 --> 01:00:29.840
Maybe I'm, desensitizing, but I just did. I never knew
1153
01:00:29.880 --> 01:00:32.019
what to say to an athlete that had lost. And
1154
01:00:32.099 --> 01:00:35.070
I think it's because I'm still very much involved in
1155
01:00:35.769 --> 01:00:38.849
our fight team and, and I train, I'm around it.
1156
01:00:38.989 --> 01:00:41.849
I see how hard everyone works to only get this
1157
01:00:41.889 --> 01:00:45.929
opportunity once, twice, three times a year, if you're lucky
1158
01:00:46.610 --> 01:00:49.429
and for it to go away and something to happen,
1159
01:00:49.449 --> 01:00:51.849
or if it's a close decision, it's like, oh man,
1160
01:00:51.869 --> 01:00:56.380
that is just brutal. So yeah, you end up, It's
1161
01:00:57.000 --> 01:01:00.110
a sensitive time there, but then there's a lot of
1162
01:01:00.139 --> 01:01:03.949
people celebrating. And often you'll see the athletes coming together
1163
01:01:04.030 --> 01:01:07.550
after a fight all battered and bruised and sharing a
1164
01:01:07.610 --> 01:01:10.610
drink or a laugh or hanging out with one another's
1165
01:01:10.670 --> 01:01:14.500
families and teams. And that's what makes our sport so special,
1166
01:01:14.539 --> 01:01:18.780
I think. So, yeah, those bits are pretty cool as well.
1167
01:01:18.800 --> 01:01:19.800
I love that.
1168
01:01:20.579 --> 01:01:22.940
Well, you mentioned how you are allergic to yeast, and
1169
01:01:22.960 --> 01:01:24.780
I read that you are also a vegan as well.
1170
01:01:25.199 --> 01:01:27.159
Did any of that kind of tie in or what
1171
01:01:27.199 --> 01:01:29.159
was your changing point for you for about being turned
1172
01:01:29.199 --> 01:01:29.500
in vegan?
1173
01:01:30.199 --> 01:01:33.500
Yeah, I haven't been vegan for probably about three years now.
1174
01:01:33.539 --> 01:01:34.159
Oh, OK.
1175
01:01:34.460 --> 01:01:38.179
Yeah, it just wasn't working with the travel, some health
1176
01:01:38.239 --> 01:01:39.099
stuff as well.
1177
01:01:39.360 --> 01:01:39.980
Not easy.
1178
01:01:40.039 --> 01:01:45.159
I need to say it just wasn't easy. And the yeah. So, yeah,
1179
01:01:45.199 --> 01:01:50.710
very much kind of eating everything. yeah dairy and dairy
1180
01:01:50.769 --> 01:01:53.670
and yeast are my uh of my body's enemies so
1181
01:01:53.690 --> 01:01:56.409
I have to stay away from those things but yeah
1182
01:01:56.849 --> 01:01:59.110
I one of the reasons why I never fought pro
1183
01:01:59.150 --> 01:02:01.809
was I blew my back out pretty bad I was
1184
01:02:01.849 --> 01:02:04.230
out for years and I couldn't just couldn't get it
1185
01:02:04.269 --> 01:02:08.289
straight so wanted to perform surgery but I resisted and
1186
01:02:09.070 --> 01:02:11.719
um one of the only things that I could control
1187
01:02:11.739 --> 01:02:13.280
was what was going into my body and then the
1188
01:02:13.300 --> 01:02:16.019
whole kind of alkaline diet and all of those sorts
1189
01:02:16.059 --> 01:02:18.800
of things. It took me down some paths, which eventually
1190
01:02:18.860 --> 01:02:22.139
led me to like a plant-based lifestyle. And I did,
1191
01:02:22.179 --> 01:02:26.639
I went, I went fully in on that and yes, we,
1192
01:02:26.840 --> 01:02:30.079
I was very mindful of what I was consuming. And
1193
01:02:30.119 --> 01:02:33.539
then I eventually got back on my feet and then did, yeah,
1194
01:02:33.559 --> 01:02:35.460
did a, you mentioned earlier, I did a whole season
1195
01:02:35.480 --> 01:02:40.239
of triathlon and, but now my, my efforts are, very
1196
01:02:40.300 --> 01:02:45.039
much on martial arts again and particularly grappling I'd I'm
1197
01:02:46.099 --> 01:02:47.480
really want to get a black belt in one of
1198
01:02:47.539 --> 01:02:50.940
these martial arts I've not stuck at them for long
1199
01:02:50.980 --> 01:02:55.679
enough before but I'm I'm close now with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
1200
01:02:55.719 --> 01:02:57.199
so I want to get my black belt there who
1201
01:02:57.239 --> 01:02:59.880
knows maybe I'll go back to Judo that sounds like
1202
01:03:00.599 --> 01:03:04.690
a pretty um obvious transition but I picked up a
1203
01:03:04.710 --> 01:03:06.550
lot of injuries when I was doing judo as a kid,
1204
01:03:06.570 --> 01:03:08.210
a whole bunch of stuff. I spent a lot of
1205
01:03:08.250 --> 01:03:12.110
time in the hospital waiting room doing judo. But yeah,
1206
01:03:12.139 --> 01:03:16.760
I've tried and made a pretty healthy lifestyle, and hopefully
1207
01:03:16.780 --> 01:03:21.340
there's some older men that are encouraged by my continued
1208
01:03:21.400 --> 01:03:24.300
efforts to hang with these young lions.
1209
01:03:25.280 --> 01:03:28.659
I just think it's important in general for people to
1210
01:03:28.780 --> 01:03:31.550
obviously– care about what's going in your body. Cause I mean, now,
1211
01:03:31.590 --> 01:03:33.730
especially I've talked to so many people in the alcohol
1212
01:03:33.769 --> 01:03:37.050
industry that we're now starting to see the nutrition and
1213
01:03:37.090 --> 01:03:39.869
the ingredients of a lot of these alcohols that are
1214
01:03:39.989 --> 01:03:42.159
actually people want to know what's going in their body.
1215
01:03:42.489 --> 01:03:44.480
And that's the thing. But a lot of these big
1216
01:03:44.519 --> 01:03:46.519
companies still aren't going to do it because they're not
1217
01:03:46.539 --> 01:03:49.019
going to tell you what's going, what's going inside there. So,
1218
01:03:49.539 --> 01:03:51.719
but I, I think it's just, people need to take
1219
01:03:51.780 --> 01:03:54.820
care of their body. Obviously keep yourself moving, whether it
1220
01:03:54.920 --> 01:03:58.119
just be walking or grappling or going to the gym
1221
01:03:58.159 --> 01:04:00.329
and doing whatever, like, No, you don't have to look
1222
01:04:00.469 --> 01:04:02.369
as fantastic as a lot of these athletes that are
1223
01:04:02.429 --> 01:04:06.050
entering the cage, but just get yourself moving. Like, it's
1224
01:04:06.070 --> 01:04:09.489
just like, it's not that hard. You all have time
1225
01:04:09.650 --> 01:04:11.650
to be on your phone, go with, go on your
1226
01:04:11.670 --> 01:04:13.789
phone right now, figure out what your screen time is,
1227
01:04:14.250 --> 01:04:16.929
and then maybe try to cut that in half or something. Exactly. See,
1228
01:04:17.050 --> 01:04:19.869
cringe on your face, but you still make time to
1229
01:04:19.929 --> 01:04:23.030
make yourself movement or mobile and doing stuff. And I
1230
01:04:23.070 --> 01:04:24.889
think a lot of people just don't, it's just, it's
1231
01:04:24.929 --> 01:04:28.139
obviously so much easier to doom scroll and binge or whatever, but,
1232
01:04:28.780 --> 01:04:30.179
do something while you're doing that as well.
1233
01:04:31.119 --> 01:04:33.920
Yeah. I'm still doing a lot of manual labor stuff. So,
1234
01:04:34.659 --> 01:04:37.360
you know, we're renovating the home at the moment. So
1235
01:04:37.400 --> 01:04:41.639
that's constant movement and, you know, lifting, carrying, getting into
1236
01:04:42.099 --> 01:04:44.139
like certain positions, but one, it stops you from being
1237
01:04:44.159 --> 01:04:46.519
on the phone until you are, you are contorting the
1238
01:04:46.539 --> 01:04:48.780
body in a way. Yeah. You got to keep it going,
1239
01:04:49.239 --> 01:04:52.750
getting to an age now where I'm unfortunately seeing people
1240
01:04:52.829 --> 01:04:58.230
pick up, you know, little diseases here and there and, and, and,
1241
01:04:58.869 --> 01:05:02.789
you know, seeing people lose their lives and like their
1242
01:05:02.829 --> 01:05:05.869
hearts are giving up and they're having strokes and things.
1243
01:05:05.969 --> 01:05:09.260
And man, it's frightening. I don't know how I've gotten
1244
01:05:09.300 --> 01:05:11.019
to this age. I don't know where it came from.
1245
01:05:11.099 --> 01:05:13.599
I still feel like I'm, you know, just about to
1246
01:05:13.659 --> 01:05:16.400
turn 30 and that was a long time ago. So
1247
01:05:16.460 --> 01:05:18.239
it creeps up fast. So we've got to do the
1248
01:05:18.280 --> 01:05:19.500
best that we can while we can.
1249
01:05:19.980 --> 01:05:22.150
Yeah. I just turned 43 a couple of weeks ago.
1250
01:05:22.190 --> 01:05:23.969
And I feel like you said, you're like, I just
1251
01:05:23.989 --> 01:05:25.869
turned 30. I don't feel 43 whatsoever.
1252
01:05:26.630 --> 01:05:29.050
And, and this, this is another thing about my lack
1253
01:05:29.110 --> 01:05:32.760
of competition. Like when I, a few things happen, which
1254
01:05:32.800 --> 01:05:36.199
don't mean from competing professionally, but I perhaps might have
1255
01:05:36.239 --> 01:05:38.000
been able to do so if I, if I wasn't
1256
01:05:38.039 --> 01:05:40.980
considering it so much, there, there are some, some things
1257
01:05:41.039 --> 01:05:43.440
at play. If I did have a semi-pro fight, which
1258
01:05:43.500 --> 01:05:46.719
fell through, but then you wait too long and then
1259
01:05:46.920 --> 01:05:49.550
something happens like the back injury or your, someone blows
1260
01:05:49.590 --> 01:05:53.019
a knee out. And, All of a sudden, you know,
1261
01:05:53.239 --> 01:05:55.400
years and years go by and maybe you walk away
1262
01:05:55.460 --> 01:05:58.199
from something and you kind of don't, it's that whole,
1263
01:05:58.239 --> 01:06:01.300
you live with the regret. So while you can definitely
1264
01:06:01.389 --> 01:06:04.010
do it, I think that's something to apply to lots
1265
01:06:04.070 --> 01:06:06.429
of aspects of life, not just like movement and stuff,
1266
01:06:06.489 --> 01:06:10.079
but just give things a go because. You never know.
1267
01:06:10.539 --> 01:06:13.880
And sometimes, you know, if it was a business idea
1268
01:06:13.920 --> 01:06:16.019
and then you have your first child or something, you
1269
01:06:16.039 --> 01:06:18.260
haven't got time to launch that business idea. And you
1270
01:06:18.300 --> 01:06:20.380
might be stuck in that nine to five for another
1271
01:06:20.619 --> 01:06:23.480
five years before child goes to school and your time's
1272
01:06:23.539 --> 01:06:26.489
freed up. So there's while you can just give it
1273
01:06:26.530 --> 01:06:28.079
a go. Get out there and do it.
1274
01:06:28.550 --> 01:06:29.670
Yeah. Tomorrow's not promised.
1275
01:06:30.530 --> 01:06:31.130
Exactly that.
1276
01:06:32.289 --> 01:06:33.570
Well, I have a segment on the show. I call
1277
01:06:33.590 --> 01:06:35.369
it the five count. It's just five random questions.
1278
01:06:36.329 --> 01:06:36.750
Go for it.
1279
01:06:37.239 --> 01:06:40.219
Number one, what for dinner guests dead or alive would
1280
01:06:40.239 --> 01:06:40.570
you have?
1281
01:06:40.590 --> 01:06:49.530
For dinner guests? Oh, that's an interesting one. What am I?
1282
01:06:49.550 --> 01:06:54.619
What do I really like? I think Winston Churchill. I
1283
01:06:54.639 --> 01:07:01.090
would like to speak with Winston Churchill. Sporting. I've. Who
1284
01:07:01.110 --> 01:07:03.050
do I really like? Who do I really like? I
1285
01:07:03.250 --> 01:07:06.570
think Jean-Claude Van Damme would be, there'd be an interesting conversation.
1286
01:07:06.590 --> 01:07:12.420
Very interesting. Yeah, I've always enjoyed his movies. Guy Ritchie.
1287
01:07:12.679 --> 01:07:14.199
I'm a big fan of Guy Ritchie right now. I
1288
01:07:14.199 --> 01:07:22.260
think he'd make an interesting conversation. And who else? God,
1289
01:07:22.280 --> 01:07:27.750
that's a tricky one. Who else? I'm struggling. I'm struggling.
1290
01:07:28.530 --> 01:07:31.800
What else do I really enjoy? I would, I would
1291
01:07:31.940 --> 01:07:34.239
like to have, I'll say Ian Wright.
1292
01:07:34.539 --> 01:07:35.239
I love him.
1293
01:07:35.539 --> 01:07:38.519
He's an Arsenal footballer. He's a real legend. He's a
1294
01:07:38.960 --> 01:07:41.059
very talented broadcaster these days, but he's one of the
1295
01:07:41.079 --> 01:07:44.489
most positive guys. So he'd light up the room. So yeah,
1296
01:07:44.570 --> 01:07:45.150
let's go with those.
1297
01:07:45.550 --> 01:07:50.250
There we go. Number two, if you owned a liquor company, brewery, winery,
1298
01:07:50.329 --> 01:07:52.650
coffee shop, or dispensary, which one would you own and
1299
01:07:52.670 --> 01:07:53.389
what would the name be?
1300
01:07:54.159 --> 01:07:56.480
Well, it would be a coffee shop, I think. I
1301
01:07:57.159 --> 01:08:00.510
do enjoy the coffee. I really do. What would I
1302
01:08:00.670 --> 01:08:03.429
call it? Well, I'd be giving it away now because
1303
01:08:03.469 --> 01:08:04.809
if I was to come out of it, then it's
1304
01:08:04.909 --> 01:08:09.360
obviously going to be an absolute blockbuster. And, you know,
1305
01:08:09.579 --> 01:08:14.320
being a creative that I am, I don't know, I
1306
01:08:14.360 --> 01:08:19.560
would probably put some kind of spin from the MMA
1307
01:08:19.840 --> 01:08:22.640
martial arts influence into that, that I would find a
1308
01:08:22.659 --> 01:08:25.359
way to tie those two together or maybe bow ties together.
1309
01:08:25.890 --> 01:08:29.550
That stuck with me, hasn't it? Didn't necessarily want to,
1310
01:08:29.590 --> 01:08:33.050
but it has definitely tied itself around my neck in
1311
01:08:33.090 --> 01:08:36.979
a more tightly manner over these years. But yeah, coffee,
1312
01:08:37.039 --> 01:08:39.720
I think, would be the one that I would try first.
1313
01:08:40.140 --> 01:08:42.279
I thought you would have played with the Gooden in
1314
01:08:42.319 --> 01:08:43.020
your name.
1315
01:08:44.319 --> 01:08:45.359
Too obvious, though, isn't it?
1316
01:08:45.760 --> 01:08:47.640
Is it, though? I mean, depending on what the name is, though.
1317
01:08:48.119 --> 01:08:49.600
It would be, but there's only a couple of ways
1318
01:08:49.619 --> 01:08:53.270
you can go with it. You know, Jobs of Gooden.
1319
01:08:53.529 --> 01:08:54.210
Gooden Every Cup?
1320
01:08:55.159 --> 01:08:55.939
Oh, yeah. Good.
1321
01:08:56.300 --> 01:08:57.239
All right.
1322
01:08:57.260 --> 01:08:58.090
Well, yeah. All right.
1323
01:08:58.210 --> 01:09:02.430
You're welcome i wasn't gonna ask i was gonna ask
1324
01:09:02.449 --> 01:09:05.409
about the bow ties earlier but you you've yes you've
1325
01:09:05.430 --> 01:09:07.649
kept them but you also have not had bow ties
1326
01:09:07.689 --> 01:09:10.260
before so i didn't want to i wasn't sure if
1327
01:09:10.270 --> 01:09:11.939
that was going to be your signature look or not.
1328
01:09:11.899 --> 01:09:14.300
Do you know what it was just to just to
1329
01:09:14.350 --> 01:09:16.220
clear it up the one of the reasons one of
1330
01:09:16.239 --> 01:09:19.380
the main reasons why was because of how poorly represented
1331
01:09:19.420 --> 01:09:20.960
the sport was over here. And the guys that I
1332
01:09:21.000 --> 01:09:23.819
saw doing it before were kind of tap out t-shirts
1333
01:09:23.840 --> 01:09:28.319
and ripped jeans. And when I was boxing, it was
1334
01:09:28.359 --> 01:09:30.699
typically at a black tie event. So there would be
1335
01:09:30.760 --> 01:09:33.800
charity based events and everyone in attendance would be wearing
1336
01:09:33.979 --> 01:09:36.899
essentially a dinner jacket. So I took a little bit
1337
01:09:36.939 --> 01:09:39.800
of that influence and was like, yeah, well, why shouldn't
1338
01:09:39.819 --> 01:09:43.239
we be wearing at least a suit around these athletes?
1339
01:09:43.279 --> 01:09:45.500
They deserve to have our respect in the way that
1340
01:09:45.560 --> 01:09:49.430
we're presenting ourselves and So, yeah, I started doing that.
1341
01:09:49.510 --> 01:09:51.510
But then I wasn't wearing a dinner jacket because it
1342
01:09:51.649 --> 01:09:55.170
didn't always feel appropriate. But, you know, getting these kind
1343
01:09:55.210 --> 01:10:01.920
of funky-ish, fashion-ish sort of bow ties, they used to
1344
01:10:01.960 --> 01:10:04.340
be way more out there than what they are now.
1345
01:10:04.439 --> 01:10:06.859
It's a little bit more refined. Maybe that's age. Maybe
1346
01:10:06.880 --> 01:10:10.779
that's because I see how utterly ridiculous I used to look. So, yeah,
1347
01:10:10.840 --> 01:10:14.500
they've kind of just stuck around. But I actually find
1348
01:10:14.539 --> 01:10:16.460
it quite a breath of fresh air when I can
1349
01:10:16.500 --> 01:10:19.300
put on a typical necktie. Right. Yeah.
1350
01:10:21.600 --> 01:10:24.159
Okay. Number three, what emoji do you use most?
1351
01:10:26.920 --> 01:10:31.550
It would probably be prayer hands or the salute.
1352
01:10:32.239 --> 01:10:35.590
Okay. Interesting. Number four, who or what inspires you?
1353
01:10:36.109 --> 01:10:42.710
Who inspires me? There's no one individual. I think it's important.
1354
01:10:43.270 --> 01:10:46.289
to have a white belt mentality in pretty much everything
1355
01:10:46.310 --> 01:10:49.220
that we do and to take inspiration from as many
1356
01:10:49.260 --> 01:10:52.739
different places. And I really enjoy doing that, particularly for
1357
01:10:52.779 --> 01:10:54.920
my work as a broadcaster, because it might mean that
1358
01:10:54.979 --> 01:10:58.600
I find a different packaging for a way that we're
1359
01:10:58.640 --> 01:11:03.750
trying to explain something that's quite nuanced. So, yes, I
1360
01:11:05.189 --> 01:11:08.529
take many influences. I'm like a magpie. I will steal
1361
01:11:08.569 --> 01:11:11.489
anything shiny from anywhere. Yeah.
1362
01:11:12.850 --> 01:11:14.239
People don't know what a magpie is. Look it up.
1363
01:11:14.270 --> 01:11:14.710
They're amazing.
1364
01:11:16.029 --> 01:11:17.789
Oh, is that, is that not, does that not translate?
1365
01:11:17.829 --> 01:11:18.210
Here you go.
1366
01:11:18.210 --> 01:11:23.989
There's my colloquialisms. Yes. Apparently on British TV, they, the
1367
01:11:24.029 --> 01:11:27.739
police put out a commercial where they would say, lock
1368
01:11:27.859 --> 01:11:31.079
up your, your doors and windows. And the example that
1369
01:11:31.119 --> 01:11:35.060
they showed was obviously this, this magpie everyone knows about,
1370
01:11:35.420 --> 01:11:37.039
and it would come in and it would steal jewelry,
1371
01:11:37.560 --> 01:11:40.340
anything shiny, see shiny objects and it, and it takes
1372
01:11:40.380 --> 01:11:44.939
them away. So that's, Sorry. Yeah. I love this. Finding
1373
01:11:45.020 --> 01:11:47.020
out the kind of English Americanisms.
1374
01:11:47.279 --> 01:11:51.130
Well, I know about them mainly because I'll out myself
1375
01:11:51.189 --> 01:11:53.590
on this. I'm a fan of Bravo shows. So Ladies
1376
01:11:53.649 --> 01:11:56.510
of London was one recently. And one of the ladies
1377
01:11:56.569 --> 01:11:58.829
actually had a magpie inside her cottage. Like they just
1378
01:11:58.850 --> 01:12:01.090
flew around.
1379
01:12:01.680 --> 01:12:04.680
There's a superstition around magpies as well. So if you
1380
01:12:04.720 --> 01:12:07.159
see one magpie, it's meant to be bad luck because
1381
01:12:07.239 --> 01:12:11.539
they go around in pairs. So you have to salute
1382
01:12:11.920 --> 01:12:14.000
if you see one magpie. But if you see two,
1383
01:12:14.199 --> 01:12:16.689
it's good luck. So if you go out in the
1384
01:12:16.710 --> 01:12:18.310
morning and you're having a rough day already and you
1385
01:12:18.350 --> 01:12:21.170
see one magpie, if you're superstitious, you might go, oh, great.
1386
01:12:21.810 --> 01:12:23.090
Double magpie now.
1387
01:12:23.510 --> 01:12:26.710
However, if you were going out that same morning and
1388
01:12:26.729 --> 01:12:29.300
you saw two magpies, it might uplift you if you
1389
01:12:29.340 --> 01:12:30.100
were superstitious.
1390
01:12:30.140 --> 01:12:30.699
Interesting.
1391
01:12:31.100 --> 01:12:33.119
Yeah. And then number five, what would you tell your
1392
01:12:33.140 --> 01:12:42.149
17-year-old self? don't worry about it. It will all be okay.
1393
01:12:42.689 --> 01:12:45.310
Love that. Again, something you tell yourself in any age.
1394
01:12:46.109 --> 01:12:49.300
Yeah. This too shall pass, I think was the more
1395
01:12:49.380 --> 01:12:50.529
formal way of saying it.
1396
01:12:52.420 --> 01:12:54.000
Well, if anybody wanted to find out more about you,
1397
01:12:54.060 --> 01:12:56.359
follow you online, help support you in any way, how
1398
01:12:56.380 --> 01:12:57.279
can they do all that?
1399
01:12:57.939 --> 01:13:03.630
Yeah, I guess the socials. I keep talking about things
1400
01:13:03.670 --> 01:13:05.770
that are coming up and I delay in getting them
1401
01:13:05.850 --> 01:13:10.430
out there, but I'm definitely on Instagram. I would appreciate
1402
01:13:10.470 --> 01:13:15.380
people checking out my YouTube because my UFC Fight Pass
1403
01:13:15.399 --> 01:13:18.039
deal didn't get renewed this year. So I haven't really
1404
01:13:18.079 --> 01:13:21.439
had an outlet to put things out creatively. And because
1405
01:13:21.479 --> 01:13:23.779
I don't have a great big following because I haven't
1406
01:13:24.020 --> 01:13:27.130
sort of needed to because someone's always kind of funded
1407
01:13:27.210 --> 01:13:31.899
my content. I now I now can't monetize anything. So
1408
01:13:32.199 --> 01:13:35.479
I probably need to pay attention to building out my YouTube.
1409
01:13:35.859 --> 01:13:39.100
And I'm also starting a newsletter. I've actually started writing
1410
01:13:39.119 --> 01:13:40.640
in the background. I want to get a whole bunch
1411
01:13:40.659 --> 01:13:43.319
of stuff out there so that it's regular because I
1412
01:13:43.779 --> 01:13:47.779
have over my career done things for Fight Pass. I've
1413
01:13:47.800 --> 01:13:49.890
done a bit for the UFC, might have done a
1414
01:13:49.899 --> 01:13:52.869
bit over here. And I don't know if everyone kind
1415
01:13:52.890 --> 01:13:54.350
of knows where to find it. So I want to
1416
01:13:54.390 --> 01:13:57.850
bring it all together and share some of my insights
1417
01:13:57.970 --> 01:14:01.359
and stories from on the road just like going out
1418
01:14:01.399 --> 01:14:04.149
to see this guy in Paris and what I thought
1419
01:14:04.189 --> 01:14:07.930
about him what I saw that was different and one
1420
01:14:07.949 --> 01:14:10.109
of the first things I'm writing about is I got
1421
01:14:10.229 --> 01:14:12.970
promoted to brown belt recently in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and
1422
01:14:13.010 --> 01:14:17.439
that that promotion was I had an unhealthy obsession around
1423
01:14:17.529 --> 01:14:21.199
it for probably about a year and it's it's quite
1424
01:14:21.319 --> 01:14:24.300
fascinating when I step back and look at how I
1425
01:14:24.340 --> 01:14:27.689
was behaving around the whole thing as a 40 something
1426
01:14:27.729 --> 01:14:31.609
year old man, when, when as an MMA athlete, I
1427
01:14:31.689 --> 01:14:34.850
couldn't give a hoot about belts and stripes, but now
1428
01:14:34.909 --> 01:14:39.340
it's all I have. So actually it was, it's yeah,
1429
01:14:39.350 --> 01:14:42.380
it's like an awareness for maybe for coaches of how,
1430
01:14:42.479 --> 01:14:44.899
even when you get a little older, there are people
1431
01:14:44.939 --> 01:14:48.220
that care about those things. So yeah, just sharing some,
1432
01:14:48.380 --> 01:14:52.079
some views from, you know, my life and, and cage
1433
01:14:52.100 --> 01:14:52.729
side as well.
1434
01:14:53.279 --> 01:14:53.829
Well, there we go.
1435
01:14:53.850 --> 01:14:53.970
Yeah.
1436
01:14:54.010 --> 01:14:56.569
I look forward to reading this newsletter and then, I
1437
01:14:56.619 --> 01:14:58.899
love what you're doing behind the booth. And anytime you're
1438
01:14:58.939 --> 01:15:01.619
on the mic, I get excited. So thank you so
1439
01:15:01.640 --> 01:15:03.689
much for this time. And I hope we can do
1440
01:15:03.729 --> 01:15:04.069
this again.
1441
01:15:05.130 --> 01:15:07.810
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you very much. I enjoyed this. Cheers.
1442
01:15:18.979 --> 01:15:20.680
Thanks so much, John, for being on the show. Again,
1443
01:15:20.819 --> 01:15:24.090
if you are not listening and enjoying John Gooden's commentary
1444
01:15:24.109 --> 01:15:27.029
when it comes to UFC, you are missing out. And
1445
01:15:27.210 --> 01:15:30.449
it is interesting timing that this interview did come out
1446
01:15:30.609 --> 01:15:34.720
around the same time that Tom Aspinall unfortunately has relinquished
1447
01:15:34.729 --> 01:15:38.239
the heavyweight title. So best luck to Tom. I do
1448
01:15:38.300 --> 01:15:42.079
hope a quick and speedy recovery. But I want him
1449
01:15:42.100 --> 01:15:43.819
to be safe first, like I said in the interview,
1450
01:15:44.039 --> 01:15:47.260
and mentally and physically. So I can't wait for Tom
1451
01:15:47.270 --> 01:15:49.500
to be back in the cage, but I also can't
1452
01:15:49.520 --> 01:15:52.039
wait to hear John Gooden on commentary as well. So
1453
01:15:52.479 --> 01:15:54.600
while you're following him on social media, definitely go make
1454
01:15:54.619 --> 01:15:57.180
sure to go follow us on social media. It is BruisersPod,
1455
01:15:57.199 --> 01:16:02.159
that is B-R-E-W-S-E-R-S-P-O-D, on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
1456
01:16:02.600 --> 01:16:03.699
If you want to send us an email, it is
1457
01:16:03.739 --> 01:16:06.380
BruisersPod at gmail.com. If you want to follow me directly,
1458
01:16:06.460 --> 01:16:10.479
it is RodyJohn, that is R-O-D-I-E-J-O-N. RodyJohn is the name
1459
01:16:10.659 --> 01:16:12.460
on the Twitter and on Untappd. In case you want
1460
01:16:12.479 --> 01:16:13.770
to find out what I'm drinking, maybe we can have
1461
01:16:13.810 --> 01:16:15.250
a beer together. If you want to follow me on
1462
01:16:15.270 --> 01:16:17.890
the threads or the Instagram, it is officialroadyjohn. So until
1463
01:16:17.930 --> 01:16:20.310
next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink local, and cheers.