Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
7x Mr. Olympia 212 Champion Flex Lewis presents Straight Outta The Lair, the podcast that aims to bring you vital information for your life's ambitions, providing valuable insight from interviews of the many many different faces that walk through our doors at The Dragon's Lair Las Vegas and a few from the man himself.
Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
Inside the UFC | Megan Olivi | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast
Ever wondered how an internship can change the course of your life? Megan Olivi joins us to share her incredible journey from studying political science to becoming one of the most esteemed voices in UFC journalism. Through her candid reflections, Megan reveals the hurdles she overcame as a young female journalist breaking into the male-dominated world of MMA. She credits her success to relentless preparation, a deep love for sports reporting, and the invaluable support from female colleagues. Tune in to hear about Megan’s rise to prominence and the pivotal role figures like Ronda Rousey played in changing the landscape for women in MMA.
Get a front-row seat to the emotional rollercoaster that is UFC journalism. Megan discusses the delicate art of interviewing fighters in high-stakes situations, including the challenges of drawing out genuine responses without overstepping boundaries. She opens up about the complexities of working while her partner, Joseph, was actively fighting, and how she balanced her professional duties with personal emotions. Megan’s insights into making fighters comfortable in front of the camera and her strategies for handling high-pressure assignments provide a compelling look behind the scenes of live UFC events.
The camaraderie within the UFC broadcast team is nothing short of inspiring, and Megan gives us an intimate glimpse into these friendships. From sharing personal anecdotes about memorable moments on Fight Island to discussing the excitement around Conor McGregor’s potential return to the octagon, the episode captures the essence of being part of the UFC community. We also touch on Dana White’s innovative promotional strategies and the heartwarming stories of his generosity. Rounding off with a reflection on the transformative power of persistence and resilience, Megan’s stories underscore the profound impact of dedication and hard work in the world of combat sports.
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----- Content -----
00:00:00 - Intro
00:09:07 - Navigating Emotions in UFC Journalism
00:13:21 - Journalist's High-Pressure UFC Assignments
00:21:45 - UFC Broadcast Team Friendship and Growth
00:30:39 - UFC Broadcasters Discuss Conor McGregor
00:42:25 - Cross-Discipline Influencer Marketing in Combat Sports
00:49:04 - Fighters' Career Paths and Potential
00:52:21 - Lessons From Fighters' Humble Beginnings
00:59:09 - The Delicate Art of Retirement
01:08:11 - Photographer's Impact on Athlete's Career
You know, rock, this week has been crazy. I am literally running on zero Talking, of which zero sugar. Monster Watermelon, it's my favorite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you know, I'm not the kind of guy who's going to bow down to corporate sponsorships, but this Monster Delicious.
Speaker 1:Listen, J-Rock. We all know you love Monster, but we gotta stay focused, Just like the focus that Monster Energy gives me.
Speaker 2:All these podcasters these days bow down to corporate sponsorships. Flex.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll never do that. These guys are living in a fantasy, unlike this ultra-fantasy Ruby Red. It's delicious, mmm. Today we have a very special guest joining us. She's a powerhouse in the world of sports journalism, known for her insightful interviews and unparalleled coverage of the UFC, from backstage at fight nights to hosting shows and bringing us closer to our favorite fighters. Ladies and gentlemen, megan Olivi, tell me I got that right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pretty close.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, pretty close. She said Now, I've been trying to get your name right before the show and I got it wrong again, didn't I?
Speaker 3:No, no, you're good. Olivi, yeah, olivi, yeah, olivi, it's easy, just let it roll off the tongue.
Speaker 1:It's you that was messing up with me. You got to let it roll off the tongue, Olivi.
Speaker 3:Hey, thanks for having me A real honor.
Speaker 1:It's a pleasure, thank you. I've been watching you for my gosh double figures now. I think the first time and this is the truth, the first time I seen you was maybe WEC days, when you were interviewing Joe, your husband.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:And of course, listen, you've come so far from there, but were you into journalism back then, or or is that was a natural progression? How do you get into it actually?
Speaker 3:well. So it's kind of by accident, I went to college for political science and I had an internship. I went to school right outside new york city and I was interning in new york and I would come to work every day and talk to the guys about, like the yankees and the new york giants, the football team and you know. Finally they were like, listen, why don't you do something with this for a living? Like you're doing something totally random, but you're talking to us about sports every day. Um, and I never really put two and two together. I grew up in a sports household, I grew up playing sports and I never realized that that could be a job and I kind of had like a very, um, negative, preconceived notion about what it meant to be a female on TV or female in sports. And then when I started looking into it, I was, you know, a junior in college. I'm like, why don't, why don't I at least try? And so, yeah, I kind of pivoted. I got my master's at Fordham University, which is in the Bronx, and I wanted to make sure that I had a degree to back up what I wanted to do, because lots of people want to do it, and just tried to start at the very bottom. I mean, I was getting people coffee for my internships and printing scripts and just tried to learn every step of the way. And so, yeah, I knew that I wanted to work in sports.
Speaker 3:But the whole MMA experience was completely at random. I got offered a job to come to Vegas. My brother was a very accomplished wrestler. I grew up in kind of like a wrestling hotbed for the country and so I knew a lot of people already and they were like, why don't you come, move to Vegas and cover MMA? And I was like, well, I'm super poor in New York City and so this is like a little more money and it's way less expensive to live in Vegas. So I gave myself a year to try and then I've never moved back.
Speaker 1:Wow, well, tell us about them first, opportunities you had and breaking through as a female journalist into, you know, a fight world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think you know, in the beginning it was like a little difficult.
Speaker 3:Here I am, I'm 23 years old and I haven't proven myself, and so I think for me it was like you better know more than everyone else and you better be more prepared, and, yes, you have these six interviews to do today, but you better be ready to interview every person on the card and all of their coaches and their training partners and whoever it is. So for me it was about making sure that no one could ever say I didn't deserve to be there. But I had, like, some really great female advocates in the space that were already there Evelyn Rodriguez she she's from Brazil but she does amazing coverage Karen Bryant. So we kind of held spaces for one another and then very quickly, when people saw both my work ethic and like the quality of content I was trying to bring to things kind of those maybe negative emotions that were surrounding my appearance quickly went away. So I can't really say that there was too much negativity upon my arrival after a couple of shows.
Speaker 2:Well we have. I was just going to say it must have been a bit harder, right, because even on the female side the sport really hadn't taken off yet, right, like? I mean, we didn't see that until Ronda Rousey, really kind of came in and then we saw this explosion on the female side. So it was like you were kind of growing along with the sport at the same time. So it must have been difficult in that sense for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%. And like Ronda, I think, was in tough enough a few years after I had sort of started this career. And so there was, you know, yes, there were women in Strikeforce, but they were not women in the WC, they were not women in the UFC, and so that was like the status quo for us. But it just kind of felt like well, if you keep chipping away at things like who knows what's going to happen. And then with Rhonda, I mean, not only did she open the gates for a whole world of women and what they want to do, literally a world of women and what their aspirations could change to, but she also opened the doors for women like me, because she liked doing interviews with me. So I got more opportunities to work with this giant star, because I did quality work and I think she was somebody who wanted to support women in the space who had worked their way up, and so I feel super fortunate to have worked in the Ronda era for sure as well.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:With Ronda. You mentioned her. Any other female inspirations you've had through working with UFC fighters?
Speaker 3:Yeah, literally every single athlete that comes across our way is inspirational to me, because I always say, like you, don't get into fighting because everything in your life was normal. There's very few people who are fighters that are like, oh, they had this like beautiful upbringing and a very easy life and a great household just like Marty Bliss so so I think that there's something to be learned from everybody.
Speaker 3:But I mean Tat, mean Tatiana Suarez, who is a cancer survivor. She was about to make an Olympic team and found out she had thyroid cancer. She's had all these injuries. I mean she's just listening to her speak about her journey when she's diagnosed at such a young age. People like Ioana Janjacek I remember she didn't even barely spoke English the first time we did an interview and here she is this like international superstar.
Speaker 3:Yes, going into the hall of fame at the end of the month. And so Amanda Nunes, like you know, who defeated people when everybody counted her out, like there's just, there's no end to the inspiration that you can find, and whether it's the first fight on the card with somebody making their debut and to somebody that we all know and love like, like a Ioana or an Amanda, um, to me it's like I I feel so fortunate because I get something every time I speak to one of our athletes.
Speaker 1:I know you have obviously relationships with a lot of these athletes, personal ones, outside of of work. How hard is it for you to watch somebody that you truly love and care for take a loss?
Speaker 3:it's so hard.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I always say like it doesn't matter to me the outcome of any fight, unless you know Joseph Benavides was in there and that's when I cared. Um, because you, you, for me, I try to always be like as center for everything as I can, but in general, whether I know the person really well or I don't know them at all and you might hear like a really tragic story or something, it's so hard because, number one, there's nothing you can do to control it. Oftentimes they could just have an off night, or you know they're dealing with something or you know it has nothing to do with actual skill level, it just wasn't their time, um, but after they do not get their hand raised, there's nothing you can do to fix that heartbreak. You can't give them medicine, you can't tell them to go to PT, you can't like fix it, and oftentimes the fights they don't win, that stays with them forever. They could have the most monumental victories in the world and historic moments and have accomplished so many things, but it's the ones that got away.
Speaker 1:That almost seems to define them within their own brain, and that's what I try to really change, whether it's in the personal interactions I have, or the professional ones yeah, I've seen a lot of guys backstage, whether they won or lost break down with you just goes to show your rapport with these guys and and what you've built off camera. You know there's there seems that you you truly get like the version of them, even in the worst of times.
Speaker 3:Thanks, yeah, for me. I've always tried to approach it as if that's Joe standing across from me. What would I want people to know about him? What sort of platform would I want to give him to answer or say what he wants to say? For instance, dustin Poirier I just interviewed. I've known Dustin forever. I know his wife, I know his daughter, we have been friends with them since the WEC days so well over a decade and of course you know my heart broke for him that he was unable to accomplish that goal.
Speaker 3:But my job in that moment is to not speak for him. It's to allow him to say any of the things that he is thinking or feeling and wants to get off of his chest. So if they feel like it's a safe space where I'm not trying to play a game of like I got you, we're stirring the pot, or even just remind them of how bad it might be, like well, you never. How are you going to get over this? You didn't accomplish your goal? Like that's not the time for it and that's somebody else's job, my job is to just give these athletes a place where they feel comfortable to speak from the heart, and sometimes they choose not to do those interviews and I will never push it, because if they don't, if they don't want to speak after the most heartbreaking moment of their life, who am I to tell them? They have to like? We all cope with things in different ways, but that's why my admiration for everyone who does come talk to me after those is just through the roof.
Speaker 2:Now does the UFC tell them that they have to?
Speaker 3:I mean they ask them, but you know, I think we probably could push if we want to. And sometimes you know, we have to say like you know they really want to hear from you, but if they they don't want to. And also sometimes there's nothing to say, right, like how can you sum it all up when you're injured or you're dealing with heartbreak or you're still crying and you can't pull it together, like, if they don't want to talk, in those moments, that's totally understandable. Now, when they get their hand raised, that's very different.
Speaker 1:Like got to come give us a chat. You know what I mean. So yeah, it's a different vibe. Has there been any times where you've gone and interviewed somebody and they're just?
Speaker 2:you just. You can't get anything from them, even though they were voluntary there yeah and you know, let's get into some, let's get into some juice here.
Speaker 3:I mean, who are the dickheads?
Speaker 3:yeah, there's no one I'm trying to ease into this, no one but no, I mean, there's definitely, I think, sometimes people who are relatively new to the sport or to the media aspect of it. Maybe they had a lot of local shows. Sometimes that can be really difficult too, so for Maybe they had a lot of local shows. Sometimes that can be really difficult too. So for me, that's where a lot of like reading the situation comes into play.
Speaker 3:Yes, I have a job and I have two and a half minutes usually to get as much information as I can, and whether it's the lead up or the aftermath.
Speaker 3:But if I know that they are not comfortable or used to a million cameras and a dozen people in the room and or or more, and depending on on the setup I will oftentimes like give them a very easy first question that has nothing to do with fighting or the fight itself, and just try and make them feel comfortable and get them talking, and then we go into the things that I need to ask, and so it's all about like reading the scenario. No one one's a dick and I think that, like they're aware of what my actual job is. I work for the promoter and so my job is to promote them and make them, you know, look good and have people interested in both their story and their fight and their fighting style, and so, yeah, sometimes it's just more about like newbies or people who aren't necessarily like comfortable with the cameras or um, and more than anything else yeah, right, you mentioned joseph earlier.
Speaker 1:Have you ever worked an event whilst you were on the journalist team and he fought, and if so, how were you able to separate your emotions?
Speaker 3:more often than not, I worked his fights oh yeah that's tough
Speaker 3:oh my god so when we, we were dating back in the WC days and obviously you can tell when you watch the interviews but, like you know, it wasn't really that known. And then we made sure that, like Lorenzo, frank and Dana were well aware I didn't want to, you know, rock any boats there, um, and they were super supportive and great. But yeah, I worked almost all of his fights, yeah, um, and it was easier in the beginning days than it was in the later days, just for me to deal with, like, the anxiety, because I also didn't like people watching me watch him.
Speaker 2:Like every time he gets hit hard, they're like, oh, yeah. And I'm like, are you OK? Yeah, yeah, and no.
Speaker 1:I'm not OK.
Speaker 3:So I would. It reminds me of a show we had in Brooklyn which was the first ESPN show ever. Um, it was like Joseph and Cowboy Cerrone and uh, there were a ton of great fights on that card and I was interviewing I want to say it was Paige Van Zandt and uh, the crowd, joe was fighting and I heard the crowd go nuts and my I was. I just froze and everyone around looked at me and they all gave me a big thumbs up so I was like okay, he's doing great so this is fine.
Speaker 3:And then I think they brought cowboy over to me and cowboy was like, isn't your man fighting? I was like yeah, and he's like we're not doing this. And so because I've known cowboy also forever in wc days, and so he like he thankfully like put a pause on it. And then then I don't, I didn't watch probably Joe's like last 10 fights. I would set a timer on my phone and I would go pray and then, um, they would just tell me when it was over or I would hear whatever it might be, and so, yeah, then I would continue the interviews. But it's the most anxiety inducing thing because again, I can't do anything and I love him, him so much and I would give up everything in the world for him to have whatever success he wanted. So it was very, very challenging but more often than not he was victorious and so it would be fun and a great night of work. But yeah, it was definitely. I don't know how I survived those moments truly.
Speaker 2:And did you have to interview the guys that he was fighting? Yeah, I was going to ask the guys that he was fighting. Yeah, I was going to ask, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I had to interview them. You're a jerk, yeah, no, but you know what? I have got to commend all of his opponents that I had interviewed before they fought or in the lead up to a fight with Joe. Even once he had like big rivalries with like a Henry Cejudo, like they were all very respectful to me. Um, in that in those scenarios and I think it's because, you know, joe was always like a consummate professional, he's kind of like beloved in the sport um with his, through his colleagues, that they knew like I wasn't ever gonna treat them disrespectfully or not give them a fair shake either, because when Joe beat them I wanted people to be like, oh yeah, well, that was a really good guy and she still did a great job, you you know. So, yeah, I have to commend all of them, but it still wasn't like the most comfortable thing, right?
Speaker 2:It doesn't seem like it yeah.
Speaker 1:I know that's got to be tough. I don't know if I might want my wife to be able to do that. Well, no, she'd be like going some. Yeah, she'd very lucky.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly and one thing I've really I've been enjoying is your coverage of the walkouts. I know that's relatively new.
Speaker 1:Yeah, first of all, what uh pressure? Because you have one shot? Yeah, you have the crowd around you people already see trying to get you distracted, distracted and everything else. And then you've got the fighters literally walking past you as you're, you know, talking about their accolades and bringing them into the to the octagon. Is that something you enjoy?
Speaker 3:It is so fun, I think, because it's like a high wire act. We so I have to give all the credit in the world to our producers, zach Candido, and our team, michael LaPlante, who they once the ESPN deal started. They had these ideas of things they wanted to start implementing into broadcast and it was kind of like, hey, we're going to try this, but if you mess up, we're not going to do it again.
Speaker 3:So I would try not to mess up, and so I think it was the first pay-per-view um with the ESPN deal in Australia. It was um. It ended up being Stylebender versus Anderson Silva, where we started doing a couple of reports and a couple of things here and there and then we built upon it and built upon it and now it's, I feel, so fortunate, it's become like a staple of shows.
Speaker 3:And and um. So basically, how it happens is we, we do a rehearsal, I'll write, you know, I'll talk to the athlete, I'll write what I think is the most interesting story I can fit into 36 seconds or less and then, um, rehearse it, and sometimes I'll have to, like, cut things. Sometimes I'll I'll work on the verbiage that I use because I'm like, oh, I can fit this better into this time frame, and then it's just, we have one rehearsal and then it's, it's go time later in the night. And, yes, it is. It is uh, very high pressure. It's the people, it's the lights, it's the I do six of them in a night, you know. So they're all memorized. People think I have a teleprompter. There are no teleprompters.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was one of them people no, no, we have no teleprompters at all in our live broadcast. So, um, when john annick does his pay-per-view stand up? All of the reports that I do, they are all written by us, memorized by us and then recited by us. So there's no, there's no assistance there so that seems tough.
Speaker 2:That seems tough for like getting the right fight stats right, like remembering the fight stats specifically is tough yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:For 300, I had like a report where I did a ton of stats, and then for 302, I did like the history of New Jersey and it was all about like a different number of fights in different parts of Jersey and percentages of what I think like 53% were finishes or whatever it might be. And so yeah it is. It is difficult and it memory plays so like such a huge role into what I do, because if I can't memorize those things and recite them off the top of my head, then we've got an issue.
Speaker 1:When I can't like do my job, yeah.
Speaker 3:And then when you add in the people walking by, that's another layer. And you know it's. I just got ran over at 302 at the end of one of them and thankfully it was by the time I was off camera. But you just keep going, you know it's live.
Speaker 1:TV. Tell me some tips on that. Actually this is an interest to me because trying to memorize stuff without a teleprompter it's not my forte.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's very hard.
Speaker 1:What kind of tips have you had from early journalism days to now? Yeah, that you've done to get to where you're at.
Speaker 3:It's a great question. I would say I do have a huge benefit that I'm memorizing things I wrote myself. So I do think when you're trying to memorize something somebody else created for you, it can be a little more challenging. But you know, I started very rocky with this part of my job. I would try and memorize it word for word and if I could get it out without messing it up, it didn't sound natural at all. It sounded like I memorized something and that's what I was then reciting. So now I've realized, like number one, you always have to be factual, so everything has to remain correct. But people don't know how you wrote it. So you know if you forgot a line and then you kind of you remember, like that's really interesting, I want to put that back in, like fit it in, it's fine.
Speaker 3:And so for me it's about making sure like I'm not so tied to exactly how I wrote it, but it's the idea of it, making sure the facts stay correct, but it's it's the key points that you need to hit that are in there and then you fill it with your personality and different things exactly because if you get so nervous and so tied to this particular way things are written, it's not going to work out. And that was like a pretty hard lesson I. It took me years to learn and I feel like just now, in the past couple of years, I'm starting to realize, okay, it's more about like the vibe of what I wrote than, okay, every single thing. And so, for memorization, my number one tip is like no one at home knows what you're going to say.
Speaker 3:Now, oftentimes the order I do stuff has to be particular. We have graphics made, we have footage that's going to air, so I can't mess that up. But if I don't say a word that I really liked in my script and I'm like, oh darn it, that would have been a better description, all right, well, it happens. You know what I mean. So it's just not putting too much pressure on yourself and not being married to the exact words, but being more married to the idea.
Speaker 2:Flex likes to picture everyone naked when he's doing his interviews.
Speaker 1:I hope you're not doing that right now. Definitely not. Jay Rock got a haircut and now he's like. Everyone's picturing me naked first of all, or maybe him. Her husband is watching and he's a fucking badass, so nobody's being pictured anything naked exactly. We're sorry but have you had any like cringe moments where you've done something live and you're like literally every show.
Speaker 2:No every time she talks to Sean Strickland she's probably like oh no, I love Sean, we love Sean too.
Speaker 3:I think if you would ask any of us like myself, john Inek, daniel Cormier there is not a show that goes by where there's not a moment where we're like, oh, I want to take that back. It just happens, and so you know they describe it perfectly. We have yet to be perfect on a broadcast and we probably never will be. Every single show I have, I say or do something where I'm just like well, how do I even have a job?
Speaker 1:There's no way.
Speaker 2:It does seem. It does seem that you have a great like. All of you guys have this kind of great relationship. John DC and all of you are like have this good, positive energy type of a thing happening and I feel like you guys feed off of each other very well.
Speaker 3:We are so lucky, specifically the pay-per-view team. You know Anik DC Rogan and I, and you know Buffer Dean Thomas, like we're actual friends. And so we are involved in each other's lives. We talk outside of work, you know, and so it is like a family for us, like if somebody needs to run to the bathroom, we know the other person can cover a walkout, or if Daniel's getting snacks, he's going to save some for me, because he knows I'm always hungry, you know.
Speaker 3:And so I feel so lucky because oftentimes people do say that to us Like, wow, you're fun to listen to, because it seems like you're you all get along, and we genuinely get along and like would do anything for each other, and I think that that helps so much. Um, because none of that has to be faked and because we're often talking about these fights not on camera and not at work, so it's it's very easy to then, when the camera turns on, keep the conversation rolling. That's great.
Speaker 1:That's how we do. Yeah, listen, the friendships are. You know again whether it's been years or whatever. Chemistry is chemistry, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And many of the guys you mentioned. I have personal relationships with good guys. Many have been to the gym here as well, but again to the gym here as well, but again when we watch the broadcast team and all the small little jokes and stuff that go along and it's so authentic and and organic. You really have such a great team from the outside in and I know from just hearing that now too is uh, it's great yeah, no, thank you, and it's.
Speaker 3:It's not. A day goes by, not a broadcast goes by, where I don't like literally thank the lord that I have the opportunity to do it, because I know it's a job that a lot of people want, but I also know the working environment with those colleagues that I share the broadcast air with. I know that that's not the norm, and so to be able to have that and to have a safe space when I go to work every time with John DC and Rogan, there's nothing better than that.
Speaker 2:It's also amazing what you know, the, the transition of what the UFC has done. I mean it's just fastest growing sport in the world, right, maybe pickleball now, I don't know, right, that's popping up everywhere. But truly is the UFC from the time of the WEC to where it is today and being a part of something like that and growing that, right, because you're a part of that, your face, your, you know, you've been there throughout this entire thing, that's really special. You know football's been around a long time. A lot of these other sports but like UFC kind of came in and just really, you know they started moving and they never they've never stopped and you can just see the continual growth. So it's it's, it's gotta be really cool just to be a part of that too.
Speaker 3:It is so cool. It's so cool because the growth has been exponential and it's worldwide, right Like we go around the world and everyone still knows everybody, and they understand that we could not speak a similar language at all and not have a similar way of life, but they completely understand what our jobs are and you know what the athletes are doing, and so that is like a phenomenon to just go anywhere in the world and have the octagon and what happens around it and in it so embraced right but what I think like was crazy for us was the whole covid period.
Speaker 3:I meet so many people on a daily basis who are like I started watching in 2020 and now I don't miss a single one. It's like, well, we've been around way longer than that.
Speaker 3:But okay, yeah, really smart, so smart Fight Island like literally changed so much for so many people, for both viewers and for those you know who work inside of the organization. But it the growth is crazy. But from you know the beginning to where you know where we were in those in the early 2000s, to where we are now, and specifically with the COVID fans who got a taste and then never looked away. It's wild man.
Speaker 2:Genius on Dana's part 100%. Super smart.
Speaker 1:You're talking about the new fans that are coming in. Myself and my wife, when we go together, first of all, I mean I'm a massive fan, that is my sport. I've got to say outside of rugby, otherwise I'll get killed if I went back to this.
Speaker 2:What about weightlifting, bro? I'm pretty sure you. That's my favorite sport to follow.
Speaker 1:Many may argue that bodybuilding might be a sport. So you know I've got a lot of gray area there. But my wife started watching it. Oh my gosh, we've been together 12, 12 years, 13 years. So I was watching it breakfast time. She's like, babe, turn that off. And now, because we lived in South Florida, she got to know the guys personally.
Speaker 1:Rumble Johnson was one of my best friends RIP Total sweetheart and he was in my house, you know, a couple of times a week. Then I'd see him. Wouldn't see him for a couple of weeks, then I'd be back every day in my house. But we never talked about MMA, we were just true friends. And then, as many others Henry Hoof's guys, all at Kill Cliff now yes. And my brother was a strength and conditioning guy at ATT when the wars were going on.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, so I remember when it was, you know, Jack Gore and ATT, Obviously all the guys are all kind of you know, put it to bed now, but she came into this sport and what really helped her was the embedded, all the stuff that you could truly get to understand and empathize with a fighter, things that weren't taught and told Outside. You've seen two guys getting locked in a cage and they're going to kick the crap out of each other. That's the perception when you put a storyline and empathy to something. People love that and that's how the UFC have done an incredible job of putting these guys and girls storylines out there so you can truly fall in love with a fighter and the fight in a secondary yeah, that is 100.
Speaker 3:The goal of what I do every day is to try to give people a reason to care, aside from someone's fighting style or if they're tuning in for the very first time, like, oh, I like that guy's shorts or I like his haircut. You know what I mean, because sometimes people will be at a bar and it'll be the first time they ever see a fight. I want to give people a reason to care and a reason to understand the journey, what fight week looks like, what going home will look like. So if I can give people a reason to care about the human being, then I have done my job well. Yes, I could talk about their fighting style.
Speaker 3:I am married to a fighter. I grew up in a wrestling household. I'm very well versed in all of that, but that's not my job and that's not my goal. My goal is to make every single fighter feel like they have had a platform to share their story, share their ups, share their downs, share their journey to this point and what their journey might look like after, but also give all those viewers at home a better insight into who these people really are outside of competitors.
Speaker 2:And it's really important because, like you know, for me, you know, I remember the 24 seven. Thing.
Speaker 3:Floyd Mayweather.
Speaker 1:I love that too.
Speaker 2:Love that and, honestly, those buildups for me are just as good as the fight 100.
Speaker 1:You know it's like sometimes it's almost better sometimes I want to see them training.
Speaker 2:I want to see the, the trials and tribulations, and I've, you know, obviously, through those shows and programs I've, you guys have put me on to new fighters. That's where I found conor mcgregor, right, it was like on one of these and I'm watching, I'm like I love this guy, like I haven't even seen him fight yet, I've heard about him, and then it's like that buildup when I'm finally seeing him fight and then go and I become a massive fan, right. So those interest pieces I think are so important. I think you guys have gotten it to a place where it's done better than anyone else, like better than anyone else. Boxing may have kind of started down some of those roads, but like you guys have taken it to another level.
Speaker 2:The Ultimate Fighter even right, the Ultimate Fighter was like a peek behind the curtain on with these guys. Obviously they're all stuck in a house, so it's a little different, right, but there's those moments where they're talking to their family and they're about to go into a fight and they're talking to their kids and they're crying, right, and you're seeing that these are real people and look how many guys have come through that the, the shawn o'malley's, etc. Etc. Right, yeah, and people forget, like you know, the. The fight is the easiest part, right? I mean the training up to the fight and the injuries and the and all the sparring rounds and all these kind of things. Like people think they just show up and fight.
Speaker 3:Nah, like that, that training camp beforehand is where you're really most likely to get injured, right and so like showing that struggle just to get into that ring, and a lot of times these guys are walking in 100%.
Speaker 3:They call that the fight before the fight, the fight with the scale, because they have to weigh a certain amount and that's often what preoccupies their time. You know, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, until they get into the scale, and then they've got a whole fight to think about. And you're right, no one ever walks into a fight healthy, no one. They might feel better than they felt other fights, but and they're not going to make excuses they're still going to walk in there and going to walk in there. And whether the injury is physical or whether it's something they're carrying emotionally or mentally, you're right, the challenges exist and giving people a peek behind the curtain doesn't just help the brand. It helps so much the individuals, because then it gives you a reason to care. And these guys who have allowed the cameras in or have allowed the storytelling in, they're some of our biggest stars today because of it.
Speaker 1:Right, well, megan, he mentioned Conor McGregor. What's going on with 303? Come on, give us some news. Come on, is he fighting or not? I have no idea, but I'm like praying that he is he has to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because we've been waiting for this fight for so long. There's nothing like a Conor McGregor fight Right and you know it brings so many eyeballs to our broadcast so other athletes get a huge shine because they fought the same night as Conor. It brings so much to Las Vegas. Our city gets so much consumerism and people with tourism who are coming in. People want to spend money.
Speaker 3:It's always a fun weekend when you get a Conor, fight it is, it is, and personally working with Conor McGregor, he's our superstar, and so to be able to work with somebody like that, you know it is a huge highlight as well, and so I am praying. I have literally no idea. So the last I heard is yes, everything's on, and hopefully I'm interviewing him sometime between before 303 or before fight week begins, but that's all I know well, we all hope it's gonna happen, because I'm there's no bigger fan in this room than me yeah, I got paintings back there in a corner.
Speaker 1:I just didn't put them out he gets mistaken for conor mcgregor.
Speaker 2:All the time.
Speaker 1:You won't believe it, and then and then, and when I tell them it's not me and they are this accent, they're like yeah, okay, no, I know it doesn't help if I go all places and I'm with my friends at all, a lot taller than me and bigger than me, yeah, and I'm kind of like in the front walking like you know. They're like, oh, is that? And all the guys? Yeah, it is, wait. And even if the guys watching him and I'd be sponsored by the same supplement company and we're two passing ships, we both know of each other sure but uh, we've never. We've never met. I know hunter combo was trying to put something together but, interesting.
Speaker 2:How is he? How is he on a personal side? I mean, obviously he's got to keep up with his public persona right at times. But, like when you have those personal conversations, how is connor?
Speaker 3:honestly, I can't say a bad word about him. He, from day one, which was the very beginning of his ufc career, he has been nothing but kind, caring and truly compassionate. When it came to like joseph's times to fight, he would message both of us. He would message me like wishing him good luck and like giving genuine, you know, advice or um courtesies and things that he cared about, and just he didn't need to do that. You know advice or um courtesies and things that he cared about, and just he didn't need to do that.
Speaker 3:He, you know why would he even know that Joe was fighting? You know he's, he's off on a yacht somewhere, but he, I can't I literally cannot say a bad thing about him. He always asked about you know, me and and Joseph and and things going on in life and he sees things that happen, like when I got the, the, when I started doing the NFL, he knew and congratulated me about it the first time I saw him afterwards and that was huge to me because, again, why you don't need to know that, but the fact that you do and you remembered it and you wanted to say it to me, that matters. I I can't say a bad word about my interactions with him in in any capacity, personally or professionally. He's he's great to me.
Speaker 2:It's great to hear. Yeah, you know, because he's such a big, he's such a big part of the ufc and yeah I can't wait to see him fight. I hope he does well. I love michael chandler um, but I want to see a great fight there. You know him fighting. I think it's just good for the sport in general I agree, I agree and chandler.
Speaker 1:We actually sponsor at arsenal strength, so I have to stay neutral there's a neutral, there's a neutral thing happening.
Speaker 2:It happens a lot like that.
Speaker 3:Well, listen, nobody wants this fight to happen more than Michael Chandler right. Two years, yes, exactly. So I hope for both of them, for the sport, for everything, that this comes together, and I also hope that it comes together without an asterisk. You know like that there's not something wrong on either end, or there's not going to be something we find out later. I hope it just comes together. Everybody's healthy, everybody is willing and ready to compete and we get a great fight out of it.
Speaker 2:It's a great point to make, because what I'm hoping for is that Connor, in his last few fights, you know he's able to, you know, really shine or you know like the fights are going in a way that he doesn't end up like where Mike Tyson started getting into these weird fights biting people, or like the fight would get stopped because there's a low blow. You know, like it wasn't like his way out, didn't his way out of the sport. I felt like could have gone a little better for him, right, and I'm hoping that, conor, you know, obviously he looks like he's training hard and he just needs to put a good performance in for himself, which I think he will. But the knee or the leg injury, you know it's always a factor as well, right, when these guys come off these crazy injuries, to tighten your shin, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, cut it out. I don't want to jump in your no, jump in, jump in, jump in. I know you got that fucking pretty haircut.
Speaker 3:I was only going to say oh, there's your compliment there. You go.
Speaker 2:I was only going to say and, as you, as you mentioned the NFL right, like now, you know, you didn't grow up in an NFL house, right? You grew up more in a fighting house and wrestling, so now you got to jump into a new sport, right, and now you got to learn about all these different things within the NFL too, which I feel like that's a giant task, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I watched football every single weekend of my life. So, like we, like, my family participated in combat sports. I played softball my whole life and then we watched football and baseball every day. So I had a great understanding of the game and big stars. I grew up a New York Giants fan and so that was. It was easy in terms of that.
Speaker 3:But the world of NFL broadcasting is so different than what I do with the UFC, and even just the rules of where you can stand on the field, where you can go, what you can do, what you can't do Most of that is audio. You know you're hearing the reporter's voice. You're not necessarily seeing them a lot during the game. So there was a lot of adjustment, things I'm still honestly adjusting to, and every season I'm like, oh yeah, okay, we got to get back in the swing of it. But it is unlike anything else. Football is America's sport. When I work a Fox NFL Sunday, it could be the worst game of the week. It's still an NFL game and there's millions of people who still very much passionately care, and so it is such a fun balance between the world of UFC and what we do for our, you know, eight hour broadcast and an NFL game where I'm not even at the venue for eight hours.
Speaker 1:Right. With all these new feathers you add into your heart, how do you balance personal life?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I prioritize that.
Speaker 3:Like nothing comes before my marriage and so if Joe can come with me, if I have extra time, whatever it is like, I'm devoting that to my personal life, my household, um, and you know, I, my job is very time consuming, but it's something we do together. We watch all of the games together, we watch fights together. Um, I'll run a lot of things by him in terms of, like my notes, or hey, I'm going to, I'm going to interview him and I, I want to say something like this you know, and so we'll. It's, it's very collaborative sometimes, yeah, um, but I don't have a ton of personal time, but I try to make the most of it.
Speaker 3:My family and friends are all in the East coast. I try to do everything I can to see them as much of the year as I can. I call them every day, I text all my friends all the time and, um, but nothing. I don't prioritize anything Like Joseph comes first, my household comes first, my family comes first, and then after that I get to do all these amazing professional things, and for me, that's like the perfect balance.
Speaker 1:So you guys travel together.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he comes with me all the time. If I have, like an NFL game in a cool city, I'll be like, hey, I have to go to Chicago or Miami or whatever it is you want to come, it's not like.
Speaker 2:you. Don't have a cool job Right exactly I have to, man.
Speaker 1:And then he'll go play pickleball in whatever city we're in, for like five hours a day and then maybe go to a museum and we'll have dinner together.
Speaker 3:So it's not like you know, there are days where I can't really spend a ton of hours with him, but we start the day together and we end the day together more, far more often than not and that is like what's most important to me Can we have coffee together in the morning and can we have dinner together at night.
Speaker 2:I love that, you know, cause I think it's such an important balance and you know, finding that, like I tell Flex all the time, he's a great dad, you know, and that's that's admirable for me. You know, I don't have any kids yet, only only the dogs. But, like I appreciate, you know, people who can push themselves to the max but also make sure that they're they're they're doing these things in their life, that they need to to have real fulfillment, because I've been around a lot of guys who've been very successful and they they left all those other things in the past and now they're trying to go back and figure those things out Right. So it is a balance that has to be carried and you know, obviously you're carrying it very well thanks, I try.
Speaker 3:To me it's like I don't, and I mean, I know I could devote like more time to social media or all these extra things, and it's something that people I work with or you know my representation or whatever, will be like oh, you could do a little more.
Speaker 3:That's going to take more time away from the things that are important to me like I I'm sure my pocketbook would like it if I did a little bit more, but like that's not what's fulfilling me everyday and I'd rather make the sacrifices on those ends than like do a poor job at work or do a poor job within my household.
Speaker 2:I agree completely that's what's going to fulfill you.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask your relationship with Dana. I have a fantastic relationship with Dana. He in fact, when I moved here, when I was building this gym out, he found out him and Hunter Campbell found out that I was here in Vegas and I was watching the fights at the Apex during COVID.
Speaker 3:I love it.
Speaker 1:So I seen you, but you were running around.
Speaker 3:I was going to say running around like a psycho. I'm sorry, and we had to keep, you know, no-transcript. You know, within the building there was not a reason to give me even a chance. There really wasn't. And he gave me a chance. He gave me enough rope, you know, to hang myself with if I was going to, but I didn't, and you know he allowed.
Speaker 3:He believes in his people and he also believes in young people, which I think is not usually the norm with a business of that size and of that profitability. You know, our staff is very young and the leaders of certain departments or certain projects are often very young and it's not frowned upon. Now there are people who have been with the company for a very long time, and rightfully so. But you know, I came in there in my early 20s and was given a chance and I, you know, as long as I didn't squander it, then it would be fine. But that's not necessarily the same opportunity I would have been given with the NFL or with, you know, tennis coverage or whatever it might be. They're going to wait for a more seasoned veteran.
Speaker 3:But he's very much about building, you know, within and getting somebody in there and being able to shape them and help them learn while they're there. But oftentimes some of the best ideas come from our youngest staff members, and for me, I think that's always been huge, because I've worked officially at the UFC for over 10 years now, been an employee for over 10 years, and not only am I so blessed to have that longevity there and fortunate that they've kept me that long, but also, you know, I started young, and everybody else pretty much did too, and we're able to grow and adapt with the company and the changing times, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for that too. For for not like placing an age requirement on people who are a prejudice of like well, they're 24, what could they know? Well, actually, like with tiktok.
Speaker 3:They know a lot and they're gonna grow. You know what I mean. So, yeah it, it is, uh, it's really cool and I a lot of the very like neat ideas that you see come especially on social media or YouTube or whatever it might be that is oftentimes the foundation of that is built with sort of a younger generation in the building.
Speaker 1:We can all see what he's done with Power, slap right and the people that are in the crowd there a very younger generation and how that's been able to propel itself through a different view and thinking point of having influencers, athletes in the earlier power slaps, you know, not open to the public just to promote it. Everybody's got a phone right. Every scene is connecting culture right the way I see it, he's got.
Speaker 2:he's got entertainers, he's got athletes, got UFC fighters, and it's really like he's he's blasting a wide demographic of people to show these people like, hey, blasting a wide demographic of people to show these people like, hey, check out my new thing and it is different right, like power slaps, really different right. And some people, you know, it's like it's like they love it and some people hate it. But whether they hate it, they're still watching the clips, right, but he's done a great job getting that in front of the people yeah, absolutely, he's super creative with all of that any cool stories you want to say about Dana, or am I putting you on the spot?
Speaker 1:I?
Speaker 3:wish I could. I mean, he paid for my rehearsal dinner, my wedding. He showed up, he was to be clear. None of them were invited because I didn't want to invite Lorenzo, and obviously Lorenzo's not going to come to my wedding, but I didn't want him to feel like I invited him to get a gift. Do you know what I mean? So I cause I, I, I just hate any of that. I'm not here to ask for favors, I'm not here to like try and get something out of you. So they were all like so supportive and so wonderful.
Speaker 3:But my rehearsal dinner was at Red Rock and halfway through Dana walks in with one of his kids to sit down and have dinner. And I don't think it was a coincidence, I think that he knew. And then I was told, hey, your bill's covered. And then he had paid the bill. So yeah, unbelievably generous. Um, in no way, shape or form would I have ever expected that. And it was so kind and and he didn't. He didn't have to do that. You know what I mean. He didn't have to, but he chose to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so many stories like that in this town with dana's just come in and you know, uh, on one circumstance that you heard that dana was in the right place right time and somebody's getting married and you give him five thousand dollars, just for you know.
Speaker 2:good luck yeah, there's a lot of those. I mean just literally this week. You know I have a good friend of mine who's a veteran combat veteran that connected with dana early on. He was like a guy in the crowd that had a sign like I want to come to the UFC, I want to meet Dana, and Dana saw him in the crowd and picked him out and they built this relationship.
Speaker 2:And you know this guy we just did a veteran charity event recently and he's been having some struggles ran into Dana you know the VA check hadn't come and he was just explaining some of these things to Dana. And next thing, you knew, dana took care of all the bills, you know, took care of him at Red Rock and and set the family up and, like you know, there's no cameras around for that right, it's, it's, it's a real thing that he wants to help people and and like for me, I like to align myself with humans like that right, even the way the company, the direction's moving. I know sometimes there can be a little political stuff that kind of gets involved as well and I try to stay away from politics and business, but there is times you got to stand up for the things that you believe in, and Dana is that guy, you know, and he does what he feels is right and whether people like it or they don't like it, you know he pushes forward.
Speaker 2:Unapologetic, yeah. Yeah, I think that's really set the tone for the company too, Like getting through fight Island, getting through some of these other things you know, and forging ahead. So it's like you know you have a company that is also, you know, pushing forward, no matter what political. We got a lot of different things happening in the country, and it seems as though Dana is on the right side of those things in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a wild journey, man yeah, uh, I know, obviously with the inclusion of wwe. Are you guys, you get involved with anything with the w?
Speaker 2:I am not personally and I don't think that the two are mixing too much but there is a little bit of crossover, I think, like marketing and sponsorship, I think a little bit of production is gonna cross over yeah I just went to that event the other day the apex right yes, and honestly, the girls, the females, the wrestlers, like they, they were impressive, like they did this chair or a ladder, a ladder thing, and like I'm just like, look, I know that like this, they're rehearsing these things and but they're still like yo, you could break your arm right there. And like the girl got thrown off a thing onto a, onto a, a table, and I'm like that table is still a real table. Yeah, I didn't you know.
Speaker 3:And I'm like, no, that yeah I went to a wwe event a few years ago at at team mobile, and I think cm punk was in it. Because, because, we're really fortunate to have a great relationship with him and his wife. I adore them as human beings, um. But we went and I was like, oh, okay, and then the match started. I'm like, wait, is that a real? Is that real? Is that metal? Right and then I started getting so scared for them. I'm like what are we doing?
Speaker 3:yeah, you know what I mean. And I realized like, oh, all of this is real, they're. And then I would ask, um, you know punk and his wife about like how well, how do you do this? And like, will you flex your back like this to try to like take the hit different you're still taking, taking the hit though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're still taking it.
Speaker 3:I had no concept of that. I did not grow up watching WWE so I didn't know that. Like everyone says, that's fake right.
Speaker 2:I cried when I heard it was fake. I know you probably did too. It ain't fake.
Speaker 3:But they're right, because they're still very much hurting themselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100% they are.
Speaker 3:And so yeah, that makes me very nervous.
Speaker 2:It's still a lot of skill involved.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I imagine they must practice so much just to get, because there's so many times like their heads come in this close. No, I can't handle it To getting hit here or this and it's like it is impressive because that was actually the first time I've ever actually gone to one in person who do you think would be a great wrestler from coming out of the UFC.
Speaker 1:Good question, so many of our guys. Well, yeah, conor would be great, chael would be good.
Speaker 3:Chael would be amazing. I think so many of our roster would be great because so many of them are actually like very funny, very witty, very smart. You kind of like have to be to be in a gym full of bros right and fight each other every day, and so I do think that there could be so many great crossover stars. I wish I knew the WWE roster well enough to know, like, who could come from that world potentially into ours, um, but I think that that would be really fun to see. I just don't want it to blur the lines of people misunderstanding, like ours are very much not predetermined.
Speaker 2:I want to see these guys start crossing over into power.
Speaker 1:Slap like I want to see so she's like no, I like these guys too much.
Speaker 2:She says I think the crossover stuff is interesting right like what do you feel like with these ufc boxing thing? That's kind of happening yeah, jake paul, right like he's, he's been doing this thing like do you like that? Do you think it's good for the sport?
Speaker 3:I mean, I don't particularly watch jake paul fights, but I have nothing against them. Like, if people are getting paid and they want to be doing the thing they're getting paid for, no one's forcing them, it's. It's a fun adventure for them. More power to you. Make your money. You know what I mean. The the lifespan to uh create a a large, you know, bounty of wealth in this particular form of work is not huge. You can't do it forever and never. So if you have these opportunities that excite you and you want to do it and you're getting paid, well, like, go for it. Why?
Speaker 2:Why not? I agree. I feel like he's opened up. You know, a lot of people don't like him, you know whatever, but when people don't like you, they still watch.
Speaker 3:Right, sure, I mean people 50, 50 were with Floyd Mayweather Right.
Speaker 1:Exactly, but they watch or they're watching for you to win right, and they're still in the comments too. Spiking the algorithm.
Speaker 2:But like now it's opened up this lane and we're seeing maybe a Ryan Garcia who's like in his prime now coming into the UFC, because we've seen a lot of boxers in the past come who were past their prime and you know some things like that. But it would be interesting to see guys at the top of their game. Sugar Sean is talking about fighting a boxing match, right. So like, those are interesting to me, you know, but like I don't know if, like in your community, it's like eh, we don't like it.
Speaker 3:I think there's a lot of differing opinions with that and I, you know, I think it all depends, right, Like, if Sean goes over there, does that impact how he comes back for a fight, his health, all of those things? I think that's it can muddy the waters a little bit, but in terms of like the actual just idea of it, if Sean can do it, he's allowed to do it and can get paid and it's something he wants to do. But come back because he wants to do that too.
Speaker 2:Sounds entertaining as shit, right. Like to see Sean and Ryan Garcia box sounds entertaining. You know even Jake and Nate Diaz and I know it's BFL, but like them fighting in MMA matches interesting, you know it's entertainment, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but to be fair, I don't think we need it. I think we have got like plenty of very interesting matchups, storylines, things to unfold. I mean, we just had a flyweight world title, pantoja versus Steve Erseg, and I think people were like, who's Steve Erseg? And they were kind of like not really into it because they're like there's no more flyweight contenders right now. Um, and then it was like an incredibly close fight that was so entertaining and he learned so much about steve ursic through that performance, where it's like, even if you think that there's not something necessarily to be made, that's like very interesting, there's always something to be made that's very interesting is there any fighter that you've interviewed in the early stages?
Speaker 3:that has blown all expectations I mean all of them, uh, off the top of my head.
Speaker 3:I mean I think, like sean o'malley is a great example of that, because oftentimes people do tell me, um, their hopes and dreams, and they do talk about when I'm champion or when I'm on the top, and that is such a small percentage that it ever comes to fruition, for, but sean's a guy that, like he always could get there. You know what I mean. So he, off the top of my head you know Islam always kind of thing, knew he was going to be champion. And now not only is he champion but he's like a massive star and he, for me, is such a fun interview. If I can get Islam to laugh or to crack a smile, I'm like, yes, I've done my job. But yeah, even guys like Leon Edwards I interviewed him back in the day and he has such such an interesting story and so now to see him become champion and get like the recognition that you know he so rightfully deserves and has earned, has been really cool as well can I jump in with a question for you?
Speaker 1:let's have voice.
Speaker 4:I know so when, I started producing these podcasts for Flex, I ran into a lot of bodybuilders that I was never expecting to meet, and one of the things that I took away from it was this immediate recognition for how reps changed their life, whether that was business or working out or whatnot. And the people that you surround yourself really change who you are. And I'm curious if you have any particular lessons that you've seen by hanging out with some of these massive freaks of all freaks, these fighters. What's like the lessons that might pertain to other people's lives that you've learned from them?
Speaker 3:I mean just the fact that the background so many of them have come from and where they have never gotten distraught or given up and they've just pressed forward, and where they are now and a lot of people who have found levels of success that a lot of our fighters have found could rest on their laurels. But they don't. I mean my own husband. I very much like find inspiration from every day, from the way he he grew up to. You know he should have never even made it, let alone, you know, creating a weight class in the UFC to where he is today, and and every day he gets up and he is motivated to do things for our family and for himself.
Speaker 3:And so I think like surrounding yourself with people who make no excuses and who don't let their circumstances define who they are, whether those circumstances are terrible or whether they're unbelievably great. That is something that I've really learned. Like you have got to earn your job every single day, and so that's like what I try to do with every single broadcast I am a part of, but it's also just how I try to live my life, because I've watched it work for so many people, but I've also watched it maybe not work for people and they still don't give up and they're still great human beings, and so that's like that's what I've learned from the people that I'm around a lot Is that part of your narrative Cause you came from like humble beginnings.
Speaker 4:You wanted to be a gymnast and then, like you know, those beginnings didn't necessarily go in the gymnastics route and I think part of that was resources.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no, we couldn't afford to gymnastics. It's super expensive. Um, yeah, and I was very. Yeah, I was very good. Uh, because I'm not large, as you pointed out.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, Wow, I was the last one in the seat. No, I love that. I love that. Just for the viewers to know, tyus called Megan short when she jumped on, was she short or small?
Speaker 4:I think I said she's the smallest person that's sat on the chair. Also compliment I appreciate it.
Speaker 3:I will take it, but anybody else who's sat in?
Speaker 1:that chair. That's the worst word they can use. No, give it to me, the smallest person to be here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no. So I think resources are a huge thing, and oftentimes I think that's what draws people to combat sports, because you don't really need a lot right Like. You can learn to box without even boxing gloves. You can learn on you know just shadow boxing. Or you can learn by somebody else. You can learn to wrestle without really anything. Maybe you get a pair of wrestling shoes and you're good, and so I think that is what draws people to certain sports, even things like soccer. You don't need much to be able to accomplish it, and so I think watching all those journeys or watching people being drawn to certain things and finding success in them, regardless of their circumstances, to me is inspiring every day day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pushing past pain and just overcoming obstacles right and using, you know, your, your pastor's trauma to get you through a lot of stuff I think, that that's a a transcending thing that we see in bodybuilding, in strongman, which we've had the privilege of interviewing the best, the best in that that exec chair, jelly Roll, was one of them. Guys too, you know, sticking to his vision, his morals. And again, it's been the long road and I knew him way, way back 15 years ago To see him go from rap to country and find his voice. Everybody's got a story right and if you want to control the narrative, just put your heart back to front and work yourself out of any situation so you can be a success story to tell anybody else and tell everybody else on a podcast or friends around you to motivate them. And the UFC are full of them stories and the majority of them, if not 99%, they're all humble beginnings and not coming from any silver spoon and wanting to change their life.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent and still kind of like sticking to those thoughts that got them to where they are. So they might have all the success in the world now and they might have their own families, but they're still very much that person from 20 years ago and that's instilled in them as as they move forward.
Speaker 1:And that's what I love about Connor, because he still has the same circle of friends that he had from his very early days.
Speaker 2:And also he doesn't need to fight anymore.
Speaker 1:That's what I was getting at. He doesn't need to fight anymore.
Speaker 2:He can go be on his yacht, right, but there's something inside him. He's a fighter at heart. That's who he is and he might have got away from that a little bit shooting movies. He beat the game, but he's coming back to fight, doesn't have to. He wants to prove something and I respect that, like that's who he really is at heart. He's he's. He's helped his family but it's still in him and I love that about him. And all those guys are like that right, it's like they're pushing through pain. You know they just love fighting right After the careers are over. They're missing that crowd, they're missing some of those things you know. And so you, like you said you only have so much time that you can.
Speaker 1:You can capitalize and make money in the sport yeah, in wrapping up, this, tie us while we have a time. We're at an hour. Oh we go. Cool, you kind of landed in this ship. You can have one more question one more.
Speaker 1:Okay, I have I have a good one, okay, and I go. One more too is I have two, one from the fans, oh my God. And then, and and this is personal, is there anybody that you've seen that you thought, oh man, I wish you stayed retired. I wish you retired a long time ago. Or am I putting you on the spot?
Speaker 3:No, I think, Put her on the spot. No, no, no, I. I think that more often than not, if someone starts speaking about retirement, it's probably time to retire. There are so many athletes and I just want to say athletes, because it's not just about fighters it can be football players, baseball players, whoever it is, who will be able to compete with the best, or with most of the best, for a really long time, with most of the best for a really long time, and I think that is always appealing to athletes to be like well, I can still hit this many home runs, or I can still get this many sacks, or I can still beat this many guys in my division.
Speaker 3:I think that will be there. I mean, they could be 50 years old and probably find some level of success if they want to. But I think that to not make the sport retire you and to choose to retire is such a beautiful thing, because not generations before this haven't really had that pleasure of being able to retire before. The sport does it for them, and so for me, I always feel like if they are thinking about retirement, if they're grappling between the decision of retirement or not, I hope that they have the real conversation with their family and choose the path that's right for them. And I think when people retire, it's probably in their best interest to always stay retired. I think that there's success to be found, of course, in these opportunities that may come out. Hey, come out of retirement for one more fight.
Speaker 3:Joseph retired and literally within three hours had a very big boxing offer in our, in his inbox and I'm like hey, I love you, but like you came out in one piece, you might not come out in one piece after a training camp and another fight, and that's where I feel like we were so lucky he got to choose when he retired, he made the right financial decisions while he was fighting to be able to retire and we could have a conversation together.
Speaker 3:I know that's not the case for many athletes. I think it is a lot more moving forward, but you know, previously I don't think that was huge, so the temptation could be there. But it's like what are you sacrificing potentially to come out of retirement, as opposed to what the benefits are for what you could get? So I do think retirement is a very, very delicate topic. I think it is a struggle for all athletes. They probably need a lot more resources in terms of mental and emotional help for that transition of life, because you go your whole life being an athlete to not you can't just turn it off.
Speaker 3:Right and crowds and what's my purpose now and what am I good at now? And I would love like genuinely love to try and figure out a way I could put together resources and even workshops and stuff for athletes to figure out, like what their next paths are, and preparing people for retirement, which Joe does now in his post-retirement life. He helps guys figure out how to invest in properties and how to have income while they're still fighting and then how to build equity, because that's what allowed him to retire. But I think retirement is such a sensitive topic that they need more abilities and tools to cope and make that transition easier so they don't have to come out.
Speaker 1:There's nothing worse than seeing an athlete that retires in my eyes and goes out in style. Everybody makes a big fuss and then he's coming back. It's like oh.
Speaker 3:Remember we did that whole thing for you for seven minutes in the broadcast.
Speaker 1:Dana was like you're not getting it. Somebody put their gloves down, we won't have to mention the input. Somebody's like we're not doing that all over again. I feel like dustin is at that crossroads where he's spoken about it briefly and and I can only attest because I went through so many injuries for so many of them titles. Not once did I think about retirement, but to your point, the moment it popped in my head. It was a hard fight for me to to put at bay and I tried. I thought it was a test from god and I kept fighting and fighting, and fighting, months and months and months, and then in the end it was like now maybe this is the sign for me to exit.
Speaker 2:And it was and it's also tough. I mean, you were seven time Mr Olympia, you know, so you had already gotten to the top of the mountain. You know, I just really wanted to win that title. I'm still in. Dustin is a great example. He's still competing at the highest level and he almost beat Islam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, so it's tough to like walk away. I feel like at that point and some of the guys who just never made it to their, to that, to that moment that they've always wanted it's hard to walk away from that. Right, and maybe financially they didn't build themselves during that period of time as well, right, so Financially they didn't build themselves.
Speaker 3:You know during that period of time as well. Right, so that becomes a factor in life. Yeah, what are you fighting for? You know, and you have to really have those honest conversations with yourselves and your loved ones to figure that out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's tough. Well, I was actually just going to bring up a point because you know I've been a fight fan a long time and Joseph right, scrap pack. We have a suit for you with Stitch, and I don't know if that's something that he still has going on.
Speaker 3:Oh, Dapper Scrappers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dapper Scrappers right, Dapper Scrappers.
Speaker 3:I messed it up. No Scrap Pack is like Gilbert Melendez and the Diaz Brothers. Okay, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2:So the Dapper Scrappers and I remember this from back in the day because I've been with Stitch now it's 11, 12 years, right, and so the Dapper Scrappers was a thing that was around early on and I've always paid attention and I know Joseph was the guy who started that whole thing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he created it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm just wondering if he's still stylish, if he's still doing all that stuff.
Speaker 3:I first of all, best question. I love this because, no, I'm from J-Rock best guy.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:I love this. So Dapper Scrappers. It was amazing the way the athletes would be like Megan, is Joe coming, is Dapper Scrappers here. I got the best outfit and it was so cool because they fight in a uniform or they fight, you know, guys are just wearing these little shorts. They don't get to show who they are, even on their walkout clothes and it's not like really the NFL, where you know, when they come in for game day we're displaying, displaying their outfits and you know, or and the nba this, their pre-game fit, um, and so the way the athletes embraced it was so awesome and joe has just always loved fashion.
Speaker 3:He's always um expressed himself that way. That's what I do on broadcast. We are very much like clothes hogs, um, but he loved it. So the reason it kind of slowed down or stopped was during covid. They couldn't come and get access. You know that everything was closed off media days where people were just wearing their provided fight kits to stuff because there was nobody able to really be there. It's funny that you bring that up because somebody just asked him to kind of revive it and want to do all this stuff.
Speaker 3:So maybe Stitched and Dapper Scrappers can figure a plan out because the way the athletes embraced it was so beautiful that it's like that that was their platform for it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I was just a fan and it stood out to me, obviously, I was in fashion too, and I was like, oh, I love this, you know, and I always kind of wanted to understand, you know, if that was still going, something he's still passionate, oh yeah, no, still loves it I mean he, he owns the website and the instagram and the, the trademark and all that.
Speaker 3:It's still like super important to him. I think it was just about like the access and then he retired and it was like figuring out his life before we went back to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah right yeah, we got one question from the fans and I kind of fall in jayrock's best question. Anyways, it's not as good as his question, but nonetheless, do you have any hidden talents or skills that people might be surprised to learn about you?
Speaker 3:Oh, I mean, I'm a good cook.
Speaker 1:I've seen you cooking, yeah.
Speaker 3:Italian. Yes, yes, I'm a good cook.
Speaker 2:What's your dish?
Speaker 3:Well, I make all my pasta from scratch.
Speaker 2:She does.
Speaker 1:She posts it on Instagram.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I pretty much make. Every meal is pretty much from scratch in my household and I usually make three meals a day. So yeah, no, I'm like a big cook, I'm an alright baker, I'm pretty good. I have this weird okay, this is a weird hidden talent. I wish Joe was here to at least attest for me. But when people sample a song in their I'll know right away like oh, that's this old song, joe will be like how do you do that? But my brain just kind of operates that way.
Speaker 2:I get it because I'm a dude, that I have a lot of handshakes. People are always like how do you remember that handshake?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you guys have the craziest handshake.
Speaker 1:It's evolving too.
Speaker 2:I wish I was good at math, but handshakes, I'll take it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know where, how many times and where we've been, but people will come up to him that he's known for all these years. Sometimes he hasn't seen her for a long time. And it's this guy and I'm like what the heck is? It's so impressive.
Speaker 3:You guys threw. I had no clue that was coming. When you gave each other the handshake today, I was like what is happening? I feel like I shouldn't be here.
Speaker 2:Ty is the voice from God over here. He gets nervous every time I put my hand out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm just afraid to bring it. I don't want to embarrass you.
Speaker 1:Before we break. I was actually intended to do this at the beginning of the show, but big day.
Speaker 2:This is coming off, there we go.
Speaker 1:Take it off. I can't believe it. It's about time. Look at that. I had the clearance yesterday.
Speaker 2:It's been messing with our PPP time.
Speaker 1:It's been messing with our training session. So I have this incredible gym, but we still end up training in the garage in the house.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, believe it or not.
Speaker 2:Believe it or not, does it?
Speaker 3:feel free. I mean it's 105 degrees, so alone that has to feel great to have off.
Speaker 1:To be honest, that thing is a pain in the ass. It's not meant for anybody with oversized forearms and biceps, so this thing would go up and down and up and down and up. It served a purpose in public, so nobody would come and manhandle me, right? I got a lot of wild fans that again lose all inhibitions when they see me, so that kind of gives them the stand back. And the doctor basically said to me me, you can start taking it off now, but I got to wear it around the gym, so I put it on for us to walk around. I forgot I had it on, but nonetheless it's a. It's a brand new day looks freeing looks very freeing good for you.
Speaker 3:I can't believe I got to witness it yes, yes, it was all for you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, even though you have the best question, uh, but nonetheless, uh, it's, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you guys for you guys, thank you for your time. And before I go, I have to say we have somebody who's very near and dear to me, okay, and a mutual friend, ryan Loco.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, I love Ryan Loco and I have known him since before I even worked in the. Mma space. I met him at a party, which is essentially how it ended up taking the steps that I worked in MMA and moved to Las Vegas, and Ryan has always been Ryan. He is the best guy in the whole world, he's the most genuine human being ever and I just I absolutely adore him and I love that you guys have that in common.
Speaker 1:So we met South Florida through again. What is that the Jackal? When did he went to whatever he went to before Kill Cliff, all the other things, whatever it was, when, oh my God, glenn owned Jacko?
Speaker 3:And then he went somewhere else.
Speaker 1:So I met him there because I loved his photos, because he was taking high impact photos. So I said to him and I don't like to follow the sheep. So I said, hey, can I hire you? At the time I had a private facility which ended up morphing into what you see now, and me and Ryan met. We drove again, we met in a mutual area and it was at that way. Actually, we're gonna have dinner, that's right. So I pull up. I meet Ryan for the first time. We've spoken on Instagram and text and I went to buy food. I left my freaking wallet.
Speaker 3:No, so the first time I know, I know.
Speaker 1:The first time we meet, I didn't have my wallet to buy him dinner. And then I'm like, I promise you if this relationship is not a piece of shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah but myself and ryan um have a fantastic relationship and it, you know, grew into something really much more than that, obviously. Now we met holly and everything else, um and we. I would say this ryan was the only photographer I around I allowed to be around me in my olympia prep, because everybody else had an mo. Ryan would come in and I honestly this guy is so talented, bro you tick and then he'd be on his phone tweeting and that would drive me nuts. But it was Ryan local, but he knew when to pick up the camera and when not.
Speaker 1:And Ryan came out of retirement to shoot video for me. He said I'm not doing this for anybody, don't fucking tell anybody, but I'm doing it just for you. So he came out of retirement to shoot something, going into the Mr Olympia for me. So Ryan has captured some of my best black and white photos in the moment unstaged. And again, you've been to South Florida many times and Ryan tried to connect all of us at one point in time. Obviously, it never happened. I had to wait another six or eight years to meet you in the flesh, but nonetheless, he is a gent and I know that you have a great relationship with Ryan too, so shout out to.
Speaker 3:Ryan yes, he deserves all the best things in life.
Speaker 1:I love him, yeah well, I think, uh in, uh, in closing this episode, my producer just stepped out the door. Here he is, he's back, he is back, he is back, he is back. And and we are at the door uh, I know, anyway, I'll ask that question later but I hope that's a beautiful suit out there. Or they've come to the gym.
Speaker 2:They have come to the gym.
Speaker 1:I think that was the knock, actually, wasn't it? All right, Okay. Well, on that note, while you have something arriving for you outside the door, again, just to pick up what I said pleasure, Looking forward to seeing you in much more UFCs. Know that you recognize as Conor.
Speaker 3:McGregor from Wish yes, I'll see you, hopefully at 303.
Speaker 2:Good 303. As long as Conor's there, we'll be there.
Speaker 1:I haven't cashed our favoritism with Hunter until you know, but I'm going to message them and say Megan told me to hit you up and say oh, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:Oh no, we were good. I don't know. Megan said we're good. She said press passes. I don't know what she's talking about. She's got no, you're like, why isn't Megan on the 303?
Speaker 1:broadcast. Well, she did a podcast. Well, exactly, exactly. Well, on that note from myself, j-rock and Megan, we are out.
