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Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!

March 17, 2022 / 01:28:19

This episode features Israel Adesanya, discussing his journey as a UFC champion, personal struggles, and the importance of mental health. Topics include overcoming childhood trauma, the pressure of fame, and the impact of cultural identity.

Israel shares his experiences of moving from Nigeria to New Zealand, highlighting the challenges of fitting in and the realization of his unique identity. He reflects on his early years, dealing with bullying, and how those experiences shaped his mindset.

The conversation touches on mental health, with Israel discussing his battles with impostor syndrome and the significance of therapy in his life. He emphasizes the importance of self-talk and maintaining boundaries in the face of fame.

Israel also talks about his aspirations for legacy, wanting to be remembered for more than just his fighting career. He expresses the desire to inspire others and the role of philanthropy in his life.

Throughout the episode, Israel's candidness about his vulnerabilities and triumphs provides a deeper understanding of the pressures faced by athletes in the spotlight.

TLDR

Israel Adesanya discusses his journey, mental health, and the pressures of fame while emphasizing the importance of authenticity and legacy.

Episode

1:28:19

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could you do me a quick favor if you're listening to this please hit the follow

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or subscribe button it helps more than you know and we invite subscribers in every month to watch the show in person

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presenting the inter UFC middleweight champion is oh [ __ ] I know when it's all said and

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done when I'm dead my name will be remembered in history why does that matter guys like us we're not meant to

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fit in we're meant to stand out but I've felt it it's addicting I need to do

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something that's going to just tame the Beast if not it's going to seep in other

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ways I wouldn't want it to in my life are you happy I think 2013 was my Great

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Depression I wasn't able to fight and then I just felt like I don't deserve it

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this world one thing I've seen they'll build you up and then tear you down

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people naturally just want to see you fail I had to take a hard look at myself and I put that pressure on myself like

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watch this I don't feel like I have anything to hide I put things out there that I probably shouldn't sometimes but

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that's my way of being vulnerable when I'm just like this is me so without further Ado I'm Steven

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Bartlett and this is the D of CEO I hope nobody's listening but if you are then

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please keep this to yourself Israel yes thank you for being here massive inspiration for me in so

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many ways and I've watched your your rise over the years with with ins inspiration and um admiration for so

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many reasons reason number one we have a I guess a shared Heritage in the fact that we're both from I'm Nigerian you're

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Nigerian as well and sir and your story as I read it it sounded so bizarrely like my story in so many ways and then

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the other I mean I could there's an exhaustive list of reasons why you've

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inspired me personally but then seeing what you've done with yourself as a brand as a marketeer again inspired me

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in a completely different way and I'll never forget and I played it for my girlfriend last night entrance against

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Robert Whitaker the first time the first time and I'm like this guy is breaking

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the rules yeah the entrance um for me that was uh I felt like that was my way of staying away from the fight in a

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way cuz I know that night Robert was just like stewing over the fight yeah he was sleeping he wouldn't no not he

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wasn't sleeping I'm sure he was just worried about the fight thinking about

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the fight just thinking about but for me I was literally I fell asleep with my phone in my hand watching my rehearsals

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for that entrance like this is going to look sick replay probably replayed it like 60 times the night before and I

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fell asleep with my phone in my hand watching that just the rehearsals so it's was like there was no paralysis

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over analysis I was just like focused on how sick that was going to look and it was fun for me it was my way of

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authentically expressing myself with my roots and dancing and just being creative so when it was time to show out

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you know I showed out you know and it was my show this time like you know um when Robert and Kelvin gum's fight fell

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out the morning of the fight before 2 34 um that was in that was in Melbourne yeah R La arena in Melbourne as well I

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wanted to do an entrance and and Dana was like uhuh no allow no can't have it

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this and that so when it was 243 I was like look this is my show I'm doing this

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entrance I don't give a [ __ ] what you think and yeah I made sure I did that

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and look how it turned out it was iconic and you realize though because when I I

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remember must have been 3:00 a.m. here when I was watching that I'm thinking

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this guy's put more pressure on himself that he didn't need to put on himself he

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has to win now exactly I love that I like to gamble but I like to gamble at the highest level I like to gamble with

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like the biggest Stakes you know cuz I feel like whenever I get that win over that and I it just it just feels that

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much better and I feel like I don't know you just there a feeling I I don't know how to describe

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it but it's just cuz you know people are watching that just like [ __ ] like

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especially those who don't like me like [ __ ] hope this [ __ ] gets dropped I

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hope this guy gets knocked the [ __ ] out you know it thinks he's the man walking

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out dancing all that [ __ ] so you know people naturally just want to see you fail they're like this guy thinks he's

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that good on a like that was 57,135 people in attendance and I put that pressure on myself like watch this and

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yeah for me there's something special about just overcoming that that just gives me that that

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Rush speaking of entrances then you were born in Nigeria um as I said I'm half

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Nigerian and then you moved to New Zealand what what was the reason why your parents decided to take you out of

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Nigeria and move you to another country I think it was um initially better recognized tesy education cuz you know I

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mean when I'm in New Zealand I sometimes I'll be you know talking to a cab driver

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and you find out that he was a medical doctor back in Sri Lanka or back in India and then moved over to you know NZ

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or the Western World for quote unquote better life and their their qualifications aren't recognized in the

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Western World you know but they're a surgeon or something crazy back home so

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then they have they're forced to take these um I guess milal jobs or start up a new business and yeah they

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wanted us to have better recognized test education yeah worked out all right for

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me but you were really smart anyway in in Nigeria when you got when you got to New Zealand you were smarter than the

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class remember you saying that they thought you were yeah but I was like the I was in form one I remember like it was

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um we're doing two times table and I was just like yeah I knew the song in my

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head finished I remember when I everyone was like who like and I I'm I'm the runt of

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our people trust me like I'm not the smartest you know kid in the class back

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in Nigeria so when that happened I was just like what's up with these kids like this

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is easy this is light work I did four one actually three times so I did it first time when I was 10 years old in

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Nigeria Bell's boarding school and then when I moved to Ghana for about a year

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and a bit I had to do no about yeah a year and a bit I had to do primary six and then form one again and then when I

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moved to New Zealand I had to do form one again then I SKT form two and then went straight to form three cuz it was I

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just kept they were like oh he's too young you know he can't in each country

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was like oh he's too young to be in form one so yeah uh but I wasn't like I

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wasn't the most academically gifted kid I'm smart but I'm smart in different

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ways yeah when um when I was reading about your story The the other part that really resonated with me was we we came

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from Botswana and we moved to a place called Plymouth in Dev and KL which is like a Farmland it's like if you go yeah

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4 hours into the the end of the country that way where it's all cows and Fields

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and all white people yeah that's where we moved and we're the only black family

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my mom's Nigerian yeah and um that process of trying to figure out why I was different to my CL classmates and

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why we were poorer and all these I always said I was I never realized I was black till I left Nigeria yeah and it's

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not that I didn't know my skin tone it's just like I never knew like it was a

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problem you know I never knew like people would you know I guess discriminate against me because of my

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skin tone and it was weird for me it was really weird for me to kind of like almost like another type of culture

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shock like uh the one I used was an example was this kid who kept on riding by my house in the weekend from school

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and we just like Hur insult s you know at me at my house in my house in the weekend he took time out of his [ __ ]

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day on a Saturday like go back to your country black and and then drive by again say oh you black this you blah

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blah blah I was like I liter I was just like did I do something to this kid I know his name even I remember his name

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not his last name but I was just like what the [ __ ] like what did I do to this

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kid to like did I did I do something and then that Monday was it the Monday or Tuesday the following week he pulls up

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to me he like what a black boy and I was having a bad day already and this is after like lunchtime when it was about

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to end and he pushed me and I remember just wailing on him just threw him to his C block beat his ass through his B

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Block beat his ass and I just I was crying the whole time just beating him up and I wasn't a fighter back then but

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I was just fed up and pissed off like who the [ __ ] is this kid like first of all you harass me all weekend and then

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at school you're harassing me yeah he never did that again after that yeah what was your relationship like with

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your race at that point cuz I I got to be honest started like relaxing my hair and I started I did and I was trying to

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I was trying to be white I was trying to be fit in like there was a point even like I start to try and talk like the

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Kiwi kids I try to like use the same slang I still do but like just cuz I'm part of the culture but like I really

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try to like fit in fit in and I don't what you mean about relax I was relaxing

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my hair cuz I thought it was cool you know it wasn't because I was trying to

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fit in but there was bits and pieces well I was just like man cuz everyone just wants to belong you know especially

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as kids you know you just want to be part of a tribe or fit in but then yeah when it took me a while to realize that

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I wasn't meant to fit in like guys like us we're not meant to fit in we meant to

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stand out So eventually I had to kind of stand it took me a while to kind of learn how to stand 10 toes deep in my

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own light but yeah I was there at one point you know trying to fit in and trying to make sure

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almost like even during lunchtime if I wanted to go to the TU shop right I would take the long way I would like a

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rat or Mouse I would Scurry along the edges of the school so I don't get a [ __ ] with and it would take longer twice

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as long three times as long but at least I didn't have to just walk through and

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get [ __ ] with you know on the way to the Talk Shop or something cuz I spent most of my time in the library during

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lunchtimes um I think in form three yeah just cuz safe in the library what do you

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mean by getting [ __ ] with what would happen if you walk directly to the Tuck Shop I know some I just throw an Apple

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at you or you know something stupid like someone might run up behind you in town

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down trap you you know uh or trip you or just chase you try to beat you up for fun and I know kids are stupid you know

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you I was in a boy school as well so you know it's all these boys with I know like just pent up emotions

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and unresolve Trauma and don't know what to do with the new found hormones and

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it's just like like little chimps and yeah see that's s i I know yeah definitely so

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it's like yeah uh we didn't know I for me as just yeah as an adult now I I look

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at it I'm just like man we didn't know what the [ __ ] we were doing like who who

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led us like who let us outside you know but um it's all part of the learning experience I feel it's all

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part of growing pains like I know when I have kids I know exactly what I'm going

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to tell them uh how to handle themselves if if you know what I mean what are you

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gonna tell them well one of the ones is hit hard hit first to be honest like I don't care like this whole thing I

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remember like you know oh don't don't hit them first you you know like if they

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touch you then you I'm like nah [ __ ] all that cuz the first punch matters the

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first punch matters so if someone like you know is talking to me and pushing me around pushing me around smack them like

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they'll learn first like firsthand like okay don't [ __ ] with that kid even if

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you might win at least he's not going to be a like make it not easy for them to

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[ __ ] with you you know what I mean so that's one thing I'm I'm definitely

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going to teach my kids it's like to just make sure you're [ __ ] unfuckable with

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yeah when I look back at my early years and you know having studied a bit of childhood psychology I realized how like

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formative and important those ear years are and we we're basically as adults

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like living out the stories we told ourselves about ourselves as kids and seeking validation from all the things

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that childood traas and yeah what so what what was left behind as you became an ad lot a lot one thing okay I want to

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go deep definitely being a kid that moved from Niger to New Zealand right and trying to

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fit in I ended up being a people pleaser as a kid I didn't realize that because

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I'm trying to fit in I'm trying to please everyone and then you don't

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realize how that follows you into adult life so there was times and it's still

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once in a while You' be surprised it rares its ugly head but I'm able to

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identify that monster now and I'm just like right I know what that is boom and

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I kill it straight away so I've learned that over years though but then that

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people please are still still a part of me you know cuz it was a way of surviving you know I'll just make sure

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these guys all cool don't [ __ ] with me I you know and I just kind of appease them

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yeah that's one thing definitely that that was the result of just I guess trying to fit in it's just people

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pleasing and it's not it's not the best way to live it's not the best way to

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live because you can't make everyone happy and someone's always going to find

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something wrong with what you're doing or how you're living or whatever so yeah

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I it took me a long time but eventually I got to the point where I just don't I

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really don't care what anyone else thinks apart from those who I give a [ __ ] about I care what they think but

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anyone else who is's not really I guess I don't have any emotional attachment to

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[ __ ] them like Bernie ma said [ __ ] them yeah and when you say people pleasing to

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be to be to be specific in the examples of you being a people pleaser do you mean on social media or like to the

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publicated or you mean no no before social media this is when I was a kid like in high school people pleas IE in

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the sense of like you know um son ask you to do something you might not want to do it but you'll do it just cuz you

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just just sure you want to fit in cuz that guy you know he you know I guess he's one of the first 15 jocks who play

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rugby or whatever and you just like oh you know I I I'll do what he says just

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cuz you want to get that it's almost like clout or social currency you know what I mean so yeah things like that but

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um yeah it took me a long time like I said to learn and realize those things this is a lot of self-reflection years

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of self-reflection and realizing because a lot of people don't even realize they're running on

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old you know childhood trauma like a lot of everyone is so you have to find a way

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to sit down and just access that with yourself through therapy is one of the best ways and then you just work it's

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like reverse engineering like where does that come from you know why why am I like that why am I why do I have that

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attitude why do I think like that and then yeah you and your therapist kind of work that back and realize you know

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where that comes from as I was reading through your story and you know you sit here as this unbelievable UFC champion

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and then as I read through your story there's all these little subtle hints of

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what almost sounds a bit like impostor syndrome at certain times like this guy not believing that he's deserving of

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what he's achieved and it's it really sits in contradiction to the guy that

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did that back flip coming out against Rob wh so I'm like where did that come

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from tell me about that um I think some of just same thing trauma childhood trauma some of that

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stuff um I've dealt with it very well now to the point where it's like there

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was time s um I Ed an example when uh I think who I I was speaking the Forbes not long ago and we we dived into this a

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little bit so when I when I beat Rob right I wanted my gifts to myself I bought myself a McLaren 720s nice

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and I um the first day I got it I remember I drove to the gym um this is at Peak you know time at the gym maybe

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six 5:30 p.m. or whatever and I didn't park it at the front of the gym I parked

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it at the back of the gym and I show my teammates like my close close actual teammates not the people that go to the

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gym cuz sometimes a lot of people like to be like I'm M Ro teammate it's like

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no you just go to the same gym as me doesn't mean we're teammates so I parked

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it at the back of the gym and then after my teammates finished working I was like

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yo come check this out and I showed them and I was like like [ __ ] look at this

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[ __ ] like cuz they know how the work I put in I work hard but then I'm like man

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I'm not the I'm not the best student in the gym so imagine if I can do this

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imagine what they can do so I kind of just just to share the share my joy and then you

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know unfortunately especially in New Zealand there's this tall puppy syndrome

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and is that green ey monster and I've been that kid so it's easy for me to

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recognize it on other people when you've when you've had it with yourself um so

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someone said something you know I must be nice and I started to hear Rumblings of I know it happens uh you for me it

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was the same thing I was just like man I didn't expect that from someone that I

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cared about to to have that kind of rhetoric like uh and then I heard like you know maybe you

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know like other people they're more deserving people what I know yeah and they kind of just piss having people

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yeah at the gym because they work harder than me right right right and like I said I didn't if I wanted to flex I

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would have parked it in the front of the gym like you know look at my new Whip and just to like Flex and just show off

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or whatever but no I parked in the back of the gym where only like seven people saw it and the seven people that I

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really give a [ __ ] about and I wanted them to see like look look at this [ __ ]

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like [ __ ] if I can do this imagine what you can do so when I heard that I didn't

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drive it for a week I just I just felt [ __ ] driving it I remember driving at home and I just felt like [ __ ] I just

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poed it in the garage and I just left it there for a week I didn't drive it because I felt like I I let those words

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from that person I gave a [ __ ] about seep into me and then it sat with me and then I just felt like oh yeah mean I

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don't deserve it you know you know other people work harder than me at the gym

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this and that r r ra but then it took like I said about a week over that week cuz I mean was a [ __ ] sick car I

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literally didn't drive for a week and got to the point that I realized during

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that week that towards the end like well that's subjective if they don't think I

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deserve it that's their own opinion that's subjective that's what they

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believe I don't have to believe that and like you said that is that that impostor

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syndrome things start to creep in I was like you know maybe they don't think I

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deserve it but one thing no one can ever take away from me is that I earned it every [ __ ] thing I have I earned it

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and I earned this [ __ ] Whip and I have a right to drive this thing and flex and once I got over that hurdle in

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my head boom I was in that [ __ ] and I was whipping it around but yeah it's

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like that in aposta syndrome thing creep crept in when I heard that from and it was through the grapevine as well but

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then I was from someone I really like I I was like man why would he say that I just I just and then people learn this

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is over now it's a long time ago you know this is wh it could fight but it's

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something it said more about them than it does about me you know what I mean it it says more about them than it does

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about me so I shouldn't have let that affect me at all but I did because I give a [ __ ] what that person thought

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because they a close person to me and unfortunately sometimes it's the ones close to you that will hurt you with

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that yeah there's something really remarkably sort of liberating and amazing to hear a

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UFC champion talking about imposter syndrome because it really does feel like it feels like there's no and this

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is I know this is an obvious misconception it really doesn't feel like someone with your swag and

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confidence could feel those things um you talked there about therapy as well and when you spoke to to Joe Rogan about

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therapy and about after your UFC debut yeah that swell you went through I wrote about this in my book because I I got

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really compelled by the this really bizarre thing that happened in my life when my company joined the stock market

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and I'm sat in my room in Manchester and it it's wor 300 million and I'm figuring

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out how much money that means I've got and it feeling like the worst day of my

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life and then when I you know heard you talking a little bit about how you felt after your UFC fight hiding in the

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toilet when people are pestering you to ask you questions and that annoying dude

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sitting down next to you when you tried to yeah after my UFC debut uh the Afterparty it was after the fight it's

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always like I said I get pulled in so many different directions and it's just

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like it was my first time in the UFC so I I was my first time experiencing all that

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and it's like coffee it's a stimulant coffee is a stimulant so after your UFC

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debut and you sh like the way I did you know I I I stole the show I came in there and I stole the show and it was

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just like cameras this oh we need you to interview this oh come talk to this person talk to

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this person and then I didn't get time to myself till I got back home and when I was back home

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and I was in my own house and finally away from all the noise and it's just like and then I remember it's like

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coffee you drink coffee you're you got the coffee high and then you crash so

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it's literally that like just lack of the stimulant and I just crashed I was

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like why am I sad I found myself being really sad and I remember it's probably

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on my old phone me documenting my recovery cuz I was just like like video diaries that is I was like why am I sad

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like I made six figures in my UFC debut that's including the bonus as well yeah

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and I'm just like there's no need to be sad I [ __ ] kill that [ __ ] and that's

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when I started to kind of like take therapy seriously because I like okay this is not I'm not going to be one of

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these bad statistics you know that you hear about in the in in entertainment so yeah I um

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I had to I guess take take a take a hard look at myself but then therapy help with that because then you find the

00:21:03

right person who can kind of help you I guess figure you out and all they do is just ask you the right questions

00:21:09

and then show you I guess yourself yeah can you because I heard you say that you

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picked up tools from therapy that helped you sort of navigate all of that attention in this new position you were

00:21:19

in what were the tools oh so um it wasn't until I fought brunon that I was able to go back home and just kind of

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like um I keep saying it's like I came back from prison uh what do you call it

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like weave back into society regular life normally you know it was until that was my fourth UFC fight but then each

00:21:38

fight after that same thing I go back home and I just like have this crash and I had to realize okay this this is

00:21:45

something that I can't have happen constantly CU it's not healthy a tool I

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can say that helped me um one of the ones that helped was charlamagne's book at the time shook

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once anxiety playing tricks on me I read that during the I finished reading that

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actually during the um Brunson fight that fight week I finished reading that and that I I I got a lot of gems from

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that book but from therapy one from therapy from my own experience is talking to myself the selft talk because

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you have we all have negative selft talk but looking in the mirror and talking to

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yourself you know speaking to yourself like you would to someone you're giving

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advice to because when you look in the mirr you humanize yourself and I start to like you know just have a

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conversation with myself even like like G myself up if I want to Big myself up things like that so that's a tool that I

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feel like is really underrated it looks crazy you know standing in front of the mirror and talking to yourself but it's

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a really powerful tool if you know how to use it right Fighters don't talk much

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about their mental health I think Whitaker did the other day and you you kind of thanked him and applauded him

00:22:46

for doing that for being yeah I mean I put him in a dark place after that first fight and I understand because guess

00:22:53

what he was trying to do the same thing to me um my guy respect is um Tyson Fury

00:22:57

because he's he's about that you know to ends like and how dark he went he went to like the depths

00:23:04

of Hell in his own head and then he's risen above it and he says like he battles with every day I feel like look

00:23:11

there's your spectrum of physical health is super healthy super ill if you do not

00:23:17

look after yourself and your physical health you're going to get physically ill same way if you don't look after

00:23:23

your mental health you're going to get mentally ill so I feel like if you're

00:23:28

it's like someone saying like you know oh I don't go to therapy [ __ ] all that

00:23:31

[ __ ] no it's like well do you take vitamins do you go to the hospital it's

00:23:37

not something to be you know sh like H whatever from it's I feel like you should look after your mental health the

00:23:43

same way you look after your physical health so once I learned how powerful that was I'm always on top of it I slip

00:23:49

up obviously because I'm human and I get ill but yeah I always make sure I'm I'm

00:23:54

on point though was that your hardest moment with your mental health after that UFC debut in your

00:24:03

recollection not my hardest I think 2013 was my Great Depression there was a time

00:24:08

in 2013 that life was just [Music] like that's spiraling bad it's early 2013 I remember at the time my girl left

00:24:20

me the business I was working with was failing work was [ __ ] um I had my jaob broken in 2012 and I wasn't able to

00:24:29

fight so I really had no like not purpose but like something that I was looking forward to you know there

00:24:37

was a time during that 2013 there was a time where I was walking mly home one time and I remember this is when I was

00:24:43

really broke and I remember just looking in this dairy or like this corner store

00:24:47

and I was just like I wish I could just go in there and be like look just give me the money you

00:24:53

have I don't want to hurt you but just give me and I remember just like it was

00:24:57

a fleeting thought and I was like man and that made me empathize with people I was like this is why some of them do it

00:25:03

they just have no other choice obviously I'm not going to do it because I'm I'm

00:25:07

not an idiot but I realized like this is why some people do what they do because

00:25:11

they have no choice they just want to eat I was lucky enough that no matter how bad it got I always have my parents

00:25:17

supporting me if I hit my dad dad can you please just loow me a 100 bucks can you just give me 200 books d d they

00:25:23

would always support me and I never went to them often but whenever I need to they were always there for me so I never

00:25:30

had to go to that point where I was and I would have never anyway cuz I'm not

00:25:34

stupid you you refer to that moment as your your Great Depression yeah 2013 what got you out of that Great

00:25:40

Depression to be honest once I had my fight so then I fought in June I believe that year finally after six or seven

00:25:47

months cuz I had to take time off after the surgery fighting and then I realized

00:25:53

my purpose again like okay I know what I want to do so I didn't fight for a long

00:25:57

time cuz it was yeah it was just really it was dark times not you know something

00:26:04

you're passionate about something you I what I moved to Oakland to do and it got

00:26:06

taken away from me so then I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do and then once

00:26:10

I got it back it just kind of reated to myself like I know who I am I know who the [ __ ] I am so yeah there's something

00:26:18

really sort of telling about that that your lowest moment was when you lost so much you lost connection in terms of

00:26:24

your girlfriend and you lost orientation and purpose and something to a for in your life yeah and you see that in young

00:26:30

men I mean the the the single biggest killer of men in this country under 45 is themselves yeah it's mad and it's

00:26:36

like how do we get young men to have a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives in the modern world how do we get

00:26:41

that back into them and it's funnily enough I go to the gym around the corner

00:26:44

I could go to some Posh gym I go to the gym like down there in the in the ends it's like 15 pounds a month and it's all

00:26:51

black and Asian young men and when I'm in the gym I'm looking around and I'm

00:26:54

sat there thinking like cuz now I'm on the Dragon's Den they they come up to me

00:26:58

sometimes but before that I was thinking like the probably the best thing I could

00:27:01

do to help um with suicide rates in this country other than having these kind of

00:27:05

conversations is like put loads of [ __ ] gemms in this country yeah oh yeah you know what I mean 100% I feel

00:27:10

like what we were talking about earlier about young men kids especially when they become adolescents and they don't

00:27:16

know what to do with all this new hormones they're just filling up their bodies and stuff like that they need an

00:27:22

outlet even for me I've said after this game's done after I'm done with this

00:27:25

fighting [ __ ] when I have a family at least a couple of times a year I need to

00:27:31

do something that's going to feel like I'm about to die I feel like I just need

00:27:35

to do something that's just going to just I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie

00:27:38

so I need to do something that's going to just like tame the Beast if not I just feel like it's going to seep in

00:27:44

other ways I I wouldn't want it to in my life you know so I need to find a way to

00:27:48

tame the Beast and I feel like this does martial arts what there a quote make Savage of the body and civilize the Mind

00:27:56

something like that you know what I mean especially as young men honestly like they want to like you know sometimes

00:28:02

people want to kind of like discredit um athleticism or you know working out or you're just a jock or this and that I

00:28:11

hate jocks I was never a jock in school so I have a really really special place in my heart for them but um yeah for me

00:28:18

I just feel like just being able to own your masculinity in a way that's not not

00:28:24

toxic I'm not talking toxic masculinity but just being able to just like work

00:28:28

work out and a place where you can be a man and just like throw weights around or I like I love rolling with my boys

00:28:34

like there's some I I love lifting even during lockdown I was lifting on lot but

00:28:38

there's something to be said when I have a guy like my teammate Brad Rell or

00:28:42

caros or blood diamond you know on my back trying to choke me out and then you know 3 two 1 go and I have to fight the

00:28:49

choke something Primal about that that just activates this part of my brain that I'm just like [ __ ] it just yeah it

00:28:56

gets me going quick one as the seasons have begun to change so has my diet and um right now I'm just going to be

00:29:03

completely honest with you I'm starting to think a lot about slimming down a

00:29:07

little bit because over the last couple of probably the last four or five months

00:29:11

my diet has been pretty bad um and it started to show a little bit really over the last two months I go to the gym

00:29:16

about 80% of the time so I track it with 10 of my friends in a WhatsApp group in

00:29:20

this tracker online that we all use together we call it Fitness blockchain and I'm currently at

00:29:26

81% um so 8 1% of the days I've done a workout in the last 150 days right so

00:29:33

I'm going to the gym about six times a week that's been a little bit impacted

00:29:37

by the DI of a live tour but I'm trying to stick to it and so one of the things

00:29:41

I'm doing now to reduce my calorie intake and trying to get back to being nutritionally complete in all I eat is

00:29:46

I'm having the hu protein shake thank you hu for making a product that I actually like The Salted Caramel is my

00:29:53

favorite I've got the banana one here which is the one my girlfriend likes but

00:29:56

for me salted caramel is the one do you do you worry about that when when all is said and done like

00:30:03

you're you're going to have these crazy moments of having like 60,000 people in

00:30:07

this Arena and coming out doing these like I'm ready for it yeah and then ready for it the high of that the

00:30:12

adrenaline high of that when that's all when you're you know when you're done

00:30:15

with this game you said you know when you lose the Love of the Game or whatever it is did you do you P do you

00:30:21

Ponder what that moment would be like for you a little bit but I I'm I'm ready

00:30:25

for it in the sense that I'm not attached to this I've already I know I'm

00:30:28

more than fighting fighting there's more to life than fighting so I'm not like

00:30:32

one of these guys who is attached like you know I don't even know where my belt

00:30:35

is right now to be honest I really don't know I'm not attached to it I know I'm

00:30:40

the [ __ ] Champ I know who I am I know who I am and I'm a champ without the

00:30:43

belt it's just a fancy TI I've said that from the jump but I'm not attached to it to the sense

00:30:49

that it's my identity that this is all I am so when it's all said and done and

00:30:53

I'm you know I'm not the UFC middlewood champ anymore I'm retired I'm not going

00:30:57

to be like who who am I I know who I am without the belt so that's the that's

00:31:03

the blessing in that but a lot of people don't a lot of people like you see them

00:31:06

walk around with the belt constantly and they just they attached to that like that's who they are so when it's gone

00:31:11

and it's said and done that's why a lot of people who are supposed to be retired

00:31:15

still end up talking to the media and finding their way to get their um name in the in this

00:31:22

you know in the spotlight because they they're addicted to that it's addicting

00:31:26

trust me I've been there I've felt it it's addicting attention that's that's a

00:31:31

social currency now attention even at the highest level Fame clout this is all these are these are tangible things I've

00:31:37

seen it I've seen it one it do to people man funny story I saw this um when I was

00:31:42

in New York I fought Brunson right that week I saw this YouTube video of a guy in Times Square in New York he was there

00:31:49

regular easy didn't you know just walking around didn't get bothered and

00:31:53

then he went there at night time hide Entourage hide camera people dressed apart that clip people are like stting

00:32:01

to like who's this guy fake famous dude exactly fake famous guy and they're like

00:32:05

oh and then the camera guy ask him so how do you know uh David and someone be like U I heard his last album it was

00:32:12

pretty good I heard a single on the radio or I saw him in spider people just lie through their teeth you know and

00:32:18

just say whatever they think he is and it's like you know you obviously don't

00:32:22

know the guy you can just say oh I don't know who he is you know and I've had

00:32:26

that so when that day that that that week in in New York I was doing a shoot for my brand engage in Times Square I

00:32:33

had Jeff and like three other cameras on me so there's like four cameras on me he

00:32:37

sees people starting to gather around like oh who's this guy and then some people recognize me they start taking

00:32:43

pictures and then before I knew it I started finding people who didn't even know me yeah and they're just like I

00:32:47

just want to take a picture have you ever had someone come up to you had this when we went to the podcast Awards Y and

00:32:51

they go hi um who are you and I go oh um dragon from Dragon then they go brao okay

00:32:58

oh man the worst one I remember was um I've used this story a few times but uh I was

00:33:04

at this bar in Auckland and there was a a table of like four Dudes and two chicks and I could tell one of the chick

00:33:11

was like the center of attention so when I came in the guys were just like no [ __ ] way stop in what the [ __ ] they

00:33:18

were just showing me love and all that and I could see I could feel her energy and I could see her from the corner of

00:33:22

my eye just like and then she came up she's like excuse me but who you I just like H

00:33:29

don't worry baby it's all good I was talking to one of the guys taking photos

00:33:32

and I then she came back again trying to talk to me I was just like and then she

00:33:35

came forc me this time he like excuse me why is everyone giving a [ __ ] who are

00:33:39

you I don't know who you are and I was like baby I don't know who you are I

00:33:43

just F her off I was like I don't care you don't know who I am you know but

00:33:47

like the fact that she wanted to let me know that she didn't know who I was like

00:33:51

it was going to hurt my feelings I was and I was just like baby I don't know

00:33:55

who you are and I remember her face Ji she's not used to being treated like that exactly so I'm like I don't care I

00:34:02

I forget who I am all the time you know but the fact that she thought like it would actually hurt my feelings for her

00:34:08

not know who I'm like who the [ __ ] are you you know how how how have you made

00:34:11

sense with all this this noise when you you walk through places [ __ ] the noise

00:34:16

but the the fame like what's your relationship relationship with it I was thinking about this the other night and

00:34:20

I was talking to one of my friends and I was thinking for me it's kind of just

00:34:23

this thing that's happening outside of me and I'm observing it like a spectator

00:34:27

I like that perspective there's no book on this [ __ ] so I've always said like [ __ ] the fame

00:34:32

but I love the perks I love the perks of Fame but I just I don't like being famous you know what I mean have you

00:34:40

seen free Britney yeah yeah yeah yeah brother there was a bit in that that was one of my like I was getting anxiety

00:34:45

watching the first half of that there was a bit she was driving and then she ran through these red lights and the

00:34:50

guys were like look at her she's crazy I'm like yeah cuz you're [ __ ] chasing

00:34:55

her you're chasing her she's trying to get the [ __ ] away from you and you're

00:34:58

calling her crazy man that whole thing just the way she when she was trying to buy gas and

00:35:04

everyone was just on her H I even cringe thinking about it because I'm just like I would hate I

00:35:11

would have I would have hate to be in that position especially like to be with your family like your family doing that

00:35:17

to you that's crazy but yeah um Fame it's not it's not no one's supposed to

00:35:23

be famous it's not a thing especially with all these gadgets now we're not

00:35:28

supposed to have these we're not supposed to have um people who don't do

00:35:33

[ __ ] with their lives have such a loud voice and droves being able to tell us because back in the day I saw this quote

00:35:39

on Instagram um yes uh maybe last week or this week about like you know back in the day before social media you only

00:35:48

heard from doers you heard from people who are actually doing [ __ ] you rarely heard from complainers but now

00:35:54

complainers are the ones you hear from the most because they finally have a voice and they they can be anonymous and

00:35:59

hide behind their their anonymity so yeah they're the ones who have the big the big voice now and the doers are just

00:36:07

doing so people start to eventually believe the complainers it's a weird Paradox shift now in this day and AG so

00:36:15

like I said you have to be able to sift through the noise and I have my ways of doing that and I guess you'd also only

00:36:21

hear if you go back even further from people in your tribe exactly we only was that we're only supposed to have like

00:36:27

certain amount of people we associate with as as the human animal but then like social media and the connectivity

00:36:33

we have now has just made us connected to the whole world made the world a small place that you can just even

00:36:39

confirmation bias that's another thing we have to be careful about like and I I

00:36:42

make sure cuz I follow certain people on Instagram that I don't necessarily agree

00:36:46

with but I follow them just to like hear the other side I want to know amen just

00:36:52

to like cuz I don't want to be surrounded by Yes Men or people like oh I only follow you know cuz this tells me

00:36:58

what I need to know what I want to hear exactly so now I I follow certain people

00:37:03

just cuz I'm like uh they make me feel a certain way but I'm like they're not

00:37:07

wrong though you know and it's just different ideas it's not wrong or right

00:37:10

so different ideologies but I'm just like you know what I'll tap into that

00:37:14

just so I can at least be aware of the other side what they're thinking yeah

00:37:18

and that kind of brings me to what I heard you say about Rogan when you defended him because Rogan's one of

00:37:23

those people for me as well like I can listen to his shows and his his his podcast and stuff and I don't have to

00:37:28

agree with everything but there's a I don't have to agree with his guest what

00:37:32

it means but there's a diversity of opinion so I can and I feel like people these days as we've all observed they

00:37:39

don't want to hear anything outside of their own it's it's either left or right

00:37:43

and it's the other side is wrong and if and there's nothing in the middle and if

00:37:47

you say one thing that represents the other side like they in a box away but that's the thing I'm I'm like the this

00:37:55

whole [ __ ] situation we have with over now and what we're doing in society

00:38:00

it's strange times man cuz people adj just the human animal is weird it's a

00:38:06

weird [ __ ] Spees cuz individually we can be smart but when we in droves just just just dummies just a bunch of

00:38:14

dummies and droves sometimes I'm like how can a smart person have this idea about this when you know what's really

00:38:21

happening you really it's like if you if you really step away from it like you

00:38:25

said just remove yourself from situation look at it from a third person as some Observer just watch it and just be like

00:38:32

I know what that is but then somehow the smartest people I know sometimes just have the weirdest way of looking at the

00:38:39

world and I try not to hold it against them because I'm like I know you you're

00:38:42

a smart person but maybe the way you were brought up or your own childhood trauma again can kind of skew the way

00:38:49

you look at the world so I never hold it against them I just kind of like it's not personal it's not about me

00:38:55

it's about them so just observe but yeah it's weird man very weird very strange

00:39:01

and they're just I guess trying to fit in too they're trying to be part of a

00:39:03

tribe exactly tribe yeah so it's like more mentality even with um I remember

00:39:08

when Andrew Schultz said recently he's like on one of his podcasts he said he

00:39:12

regrets getting the vaccine and yeah he said he wishes he never did what like people I find this really strange that

00:39:22

people like people don't want to get duped people don't want to get duped

00:39:26

people hate feeling like they go had M and if people if someone felt like oh you know they they got duped they kind

00:39:31

of want to get people into their tribe so can they can you know we've got you

00:39:35

on our side I'm I don't care what side you're on I literally don't care whether

00:39:39

you want to do this or you do that all I care about is how you treat people how you treat the people around you the

00:39:45

people you interact with but nah this damn age like I find people asking me the strangest questions like and then

00:39:51

they'll base their how they treat you based on that response like are you vaccinated that was one of the weirdest

00:39:56

one I was like why do you care yeah what does that do for you well we need to decide who you are one decision we want

00:40:03

to know what box to put you in I'm just like why so I like to [ __ ] with people

00:40:07

and just like ah maybe am maybe I'm not we'll find out but then they just like

00:40:11

no but we need to know but you're yeah we need yeah who side are you on exactly

00:40:15

I'm like why do you care yeah and this is the thing with division as well I've

00:40:19

said like divide and conquer that's the easiest way to break a you know a nation

00:40:27

or a group of people just divide them and separate them make them think that one is on the other side and this and

00:40:32

that and make them fight amongst each other this how they've done it for years

00:40:35

for centuries the oligarchs or the Illuminati or whatever you want to call it they divide and conquer this is how

00:40:40

they get it done so why do you think like they're not doing that right now in

00:40:44

so many different ways so many different ways I I consider myself to be someone that sits in the middle so like

00:40:50

sometimes I agree I don't I don't [ __ ] with politics at all I don't so you know

00:40:53

Nigerian parents my dad used to have CNN or BBC on the Telly all the [ __ ] time

00:40:59

constantly just on repeat but I just don't watch the news I I literally don't

00:41:03

listen to it um you know in New Zealand we used to have um like an update with this whole Co [ __ ] on Mondays I believe

00:41:11

around 5:00 p.m I never once was like on a Monday like o when oh [ __ ] okay but everyone else is

00:41:19

just like oh has have they made the announcement yeah I'm just like I get the I get it new secondhand

00:41:24

I'm like what do they say oh cool are we allowed to cuz I just the rules didn't

00:41:28

apply to me that's how I feel I just I really and I it's my ego talking I'm not

00:41:33

talking the rules of the law I'm just talking like no matter what they say I

00:41:38

can do or I can't do like example we were locked down for three months last year in

00:41:45

August during that time there was things we weren't allowed to do like train I

00:41:53

trained allegedly yeah but I found ways like I just felt like the rules didn't apply to

00:41:59

me cuz I mean in the beginning of the pandemic trust me I was scared I was I didn't know what this [ __ ] [ __ ] would

00:42:05

it felt like The Purge but then eventually after all the [ __ ] after a year and two years I kind of like okay

00:42:11

like everyone else we we just knew what was going on there's some kind of other I guess agenda behind it that we

00:42:19

have no [ __ ] idea about I'm not going to act like I [ __ ] know but I just

00:42:22

know this doesn't make sense to me it does not make sense to me that I don't

00:42:27

want to get too deep into all that [ __ ] but like it literally didn't make sense

00:42:30

to me the common sense was just not commoning it was not common enough so I was just like okay this is there's

00:42:35

something going on here that I'm not [ __ ] with but I'm going to live my

00:42:38

life the best way I know how in the lines of what I can allegedly I hear you when you said at

00:42:46

the start about the cartwheel you said you know you just wanted to be authentically yourself and this kind of

00:42:50

links to what we're saying now when I when I was I joined BBC 1 as a dragon I

00:42:54

started thinking about how I defend myself from the ability been canceled either for the people that I speak to

00:43:00

here yeah and one of the ways that I kind of concluded with my team was well if I'm always myself and I don't ever

00:43:06

try and convince the press that I'm a good guy bro this is where this is the this

00:43:12

is the Trap that a guy like John joose fell into cuz he was always like the pastor's son he was always like you know

00:43:19

um after a fight I want to thank Jesus you know I want to be sponsored by Nike and you know all kids you know I want to

00:43:26

be SE kids look up I want to be a good role model ra [ __ ] them kids [ __ ] all that [ __ ] you

00:43:34

know what I mean I'm like bro people trying to say that oh you know my kid looks up to you I'm like raise your own

00:43:37

damn kids raise your own damn kids you know like one thing after my UFC debut some gu so at my Afterparty I had this

00:43:44

shirt right said good [ __ ] from engage classic sold still big seller and some guy oh straight up it was the beautiful

00:43:52

shirt like and also was like a a play on a famous designer brand GC like yeah so we we sld those we still sell

00:43:59

them heaps but um this guy came up to me and he was interviewing me at my own after party and I could see he was

00:44:06

trying to set me up so then he's like oh so what do you yeah so what do you think

00:44:11

a t-shirt like that sends what kind of messages it send I'm like what do you

00:44:13

mean and he he thought he [ __ ] with the he [ __ ] with the wrong one this son so he's like what do you think that

00:44:18

kind of shirt sends as a message to say for example a young a young kid who looks up to you and I was just like oh

00:44:25

really oh so what does that kid look look up to me for he's like well for being in your position as a what a

00:44:32

fighter right yes so that kid just saw what I did about a few hours ago when I beat the [ __ ] out of that guy and he saw

00:44:39

where I was take him he's like no no no I was like stay there and I can see him

00:44:42

trying to find a way out so that kid just watched me beat this [ __ ] guy to a pulp in his own blood as he spat blood

00:44:49

at me and I beat him in his own blood till the referee dragged me off him yeah oh really so what do you think is doing

00:44:57

more damage to the kid is is is me doing that and as and the kid looking up to me

00:45:03

for that or me wear in the Shir that just says good [ __ ] it's this whole [ __ ] culture of like stupid language

00:45:10

games you can say that word and that's a bad word and this and that so and then I

00:45:14

I can't remember how I flamed him but I flamed him there was a bit of an audience as well I flamed him badly he

00:45:19

never released the the interview obviously because he had like the S but he thought he had me but he didn't

00:45:24

realize he [ __ ] with the wrong one and I just turn him I was like I think me doing my

00:45:30

job it does more damage to the kid for watching than me wearing a shirt that says good [ __ ] you know what I mean and

00:45:38

I hate that the fact that we're playing these because even when I do I don't do

00:45:41

New Zealand media anymore cuz they're too [ __ ] stupid for me and too like I

00:45:46

did this morning show one time and I was talking I said something ask oh that's a

00:45:50

swear swear JW swi I'm like what the [ __ ] do this high school I'm like I'm an

00:45:53

adult I know you I've seen you at [ __ ] Pon Social Club drunk up your face I know what you do in the bathroom

00:45:59

you know what I mean so I'm just like don't try and act like you're holier

00:46:02

than th now and like oh you put that in the sweat J it's like this wh what what

00:46:07

what game are we playing you're playing this stupid game it's like oh we can say

00:46:11

these words but we can't say these words like you're an adult when the cameras go

00:46:14

off I know how the [ __ ] you speak I know how you talk you know and it's like why

00:46:19

we pretending we don't speak the way we do because of what because we're on TV

00:46:23

it's just it Buggles me sometimes and I start to like what are we playing it's

00:46:28

like it's it's it's so stupid as adults we're adults like we we we talk this is

00:46:32

how this is language we curse we swear but then when the TV comes oh you want to be proper and you know you must you

00:46:39

be you know prestigious and speak I'm like nah [ __ ] all that [ __ ] man like

00:46:44

let's let's speak the way we normally speak and be authentically ourselves so

00:46:47

that's like Charlamagne say something he says Speak Your Truth so no one can no

00:46:50

one can use your truth against you amen amen bro like trust me like I I'm able

00:46:55

to get away with a lot of things I get away with because I never said I'm a saint I know myself I am a [ __ ] demon

00:47:02

sometimes trust there's no good people there's no bad people people are just

00:47:07

capable of great good and great evil you know what I mean but I just try to do more good than bad but I have done some

00:47:13

bad things in my time cuz I'm a human being you know what I mean so when people try and I guess put you in a box

00:47:20

like oh he's a good guy or he's this I'm like there's no good people there's no

00:47:24

bad people we're just people and we're capable of great good and great evil

00:47:28

that's it amen yeah I I in my head when you were saying that and you looked me

00:47:32

in the eyes and went I'm I've been a demon sometimes I just had this image of

00:47:35

Nigerian so that side is yeah yeah no but that's the thing so when I started

00:47:40

this podcast I know I was going to be on BBC 1 at 9:00 p.m. on this very prig a show I was like by the way I used to

00:47:45

shoplift pizzas to feed myself when I was broke I did this I did this I did this and you can there exactly right and

00:47:51

you could almost in my head when you said that I could I was imagining the Press here just packing up their

00:47:55

suitcases and [ __ ] off and being like we've got we can't use him bro TR we

00:47:58

can't use this guy because he's not tried to he's not tried to tell us that

00:48:01

he's he's not built this big hill of moral perfection so we got to go find

00:48:05

you know we got go find they can't [ __ ] with me cuz you know why if like there's

00:48:08

a reason I've stayed off TMZ I've never been on TMZ KN and wood never will for

00:48:12

the wrong reasons but I mean one day if something happens I just happen to be on TMZ for the wrong

00:48:20

reason i' be like whoopsie my bad I made a mistake but guess what I never told

00:48:25

you I was perfect exactly normal I'm human being and so I'm just like that

00:48:30

that that's my power is being vulnerable with my faults you know I'm not going to

00:48:33

say I've done this I've done that buty I just know I'm not I'm not perfect I'm a

00:48:37

human being I make mistakes and it's okay to make mistakes the difference between me and some people is that I

00:48:44

actually learn from my mistakes and I don't make the same mistakes over and over and over again in the public eye

00:48:50

like some people dungs that's one that's a classic example obviously the same

00:48:56

[ __ ] mistake we had a guest come on this podcast in December and um she said that she was making the point about

00:49:02

everyone having the same 24 hours in the day this was kind of the quote she used

00:49:05

and it became the number one story in this country for three days it trended number one on Twitter it was on hundreds

00:49:11

of newspaper articles written about it because I think maybe her brand is one that is trying to be a role model so so

00:49:19

she was a it was the number one trending topic in our country for three days the

00:49:24

story that she said everyone has the same hours in the day oh right exactly so I came out and said by the way loads

00:49:30

of my guests say that all the time why are you attacking that and then my next press event right I I wore a shirt that

00:49:36

said 24 hours on it everyone clapped I didn't get canceled and I said am I canceled I wore a shirt and all the PS

00:49:43

are there I said 20 24 hours in the shirt and this is what I'm this is my that was my attempt again to say by the

00:49:49

way I'm not perfect and if you want to cancel me please do it now so I can get

00:49:53

with my life yeah I'm still waiting they've tried they've tried me they they

00:49:57

keep trying me I'm just like look it's hard to cancel someone when they actually don't give a

00:50:03

[ __ ] I'm like I fight people for money that's what I do for a job I beat people

00:50:10

up for a shitload of money if you really want to take my political views or my moral views into consideration and say

00:50:19

this and that that's on you I'm like this is I'm not I never said I'm a saint

00:50:24

I'm not a [ __ ] politician I don't everyone I don't feel like I have

00:50:29

anything to hide like I said I put everything not everything but like I put things out there that I probably

00:50:33

shouldn't sometimes but that's my way of being vulnerable to the point where I'm

00:50:36

just like this is me take it or leave it but I feel like me doing that attracts the people who can re relate who can

00:50:42

resonate and I feel like they gravitate towards me you don't talk about your

00:50:46

relationships your romantic relationships never I keep that away nah is it because protecting the person or

00:50:52

prot or look this world one thing I've seen is they'll build you up right

00:50:56

they'll build you up and then tear you down like free Britney um Miley Cyrus

00:51:02

Justin Bieber all these people I've seen it happen so many times so and also this

00:51:08

world just takes they just take take when I have kids you'll never know the world would never know their face I

00:51:14

don't I'm even contemplating if I still give them my last name because I don't

00:51:17

want to put that pressure on them because uh even my my siblings sometimes they hate it as well

00:51:23

where it's like you know oh oh this is um this is d this is Israel's brother or

00:51:27

El is um it's Deborah this is Israel's sister or Stalin the sister and they're

00:51:31

like oh my name's Deborah you know like I don't want to put that on them same

00:51:35

thing on my relationships that's certain things I protect cuz I value them so I

00:51:40

keep them safe because the world do just try and take take take and that's one

00:51:45

that's one thing everyone wants to like know what's he doing who's he with

00:51:48

apparently I'm gay as well because of my nails and my pearl necklaces and all

00:51:51

that stuff so I'm just like let him talk it's fun but have you found it difficult

00:51:58

because of the success and the meteoric rise and the money and the increased attention to to navigate being good in

00:52:07

that department and also your obsession with becoming the man you are today which did feel like an obsession when I

00:52:12

was reading about your story sleeping in the gym yeah like how does one do that and also balance out having personal

00:52:18

life that's regular I'm I'm a human being and I have feelings you know so

00:52:23

I'm an empath as well I'm yeah I'm born on the cusp so I'm like I say I'm a

00:52:29

cancer Leo I'm hard and soft like a semi chub you know introvert extrovert exactly my guy so a lot of people don't

00:52:35

realize that about myself like when it's time to like go in my in my in my crab

00:52:39

hole I just find my way I'm like right Leave Me This I love my friends because

00:52:44

my close friends I can we can do this for hours and just yawn and talk [ __ ] and make fun of each other and just show

00:52:50

each other love but then we can spend the next three hours just sitting in the same room being on my phone or watching

00:52:55

TV or listen to a podcast and not say a damn word and just enjoy each other's

00:52:59

space I love that I love that feeling but um yeah I'm a person who who feels a

00:53:06

lot so I like to protect that I like to keep that really guarded cuz like I said the

00:53:13

world will take that away from you man and I feel like people ruin things people especially like this this this is

00:53:20

not supposed to happen the world I'm being under a microscope and everyone watching what I'm doing so certain I

00:53:26

just I feel like I just have to really protect cuz I don't want the world to

00:53:30

take that away from me cuz they just take take my cat died um maybe two years ago the morning she died right I was I

00:53:40

think I was feeling gas up in the afternoon and some guy came up while I'm feeling gas and goes brother bro can you

00:53:46

talk to my cousin real quick he's a big fan I'm just like man bro my cat just

00:53:50

died this morning man I'm not kny the mood and I remember the look on his face

00:53:53

it's like oh all good all good whatever and I was like give me the phone I was

00:53:58

said hello and this is as I'm filling gas actively and I was like what the f

00:54:02

hold up bro no phones like what what if I spontaneously C but they don't care

00:54:08

they just want to have their moment they want to take they want to take they want

00:54:11

to take so that's why if I'm having dinner with my family if I'm on a date

00:54:16

if I'm in the intimate moment people start to like bro I don't want to be

00:54:20

that guy but I'm like but you're being that guy you're being that guy you say

00:54:23

you don't want to be that guy but you're being that guy that's people say I'm not

00:54:27

a racist I got oh yeah bro man I hate to be that guy but can I I'm like but you're being that guy you hate to be

00:54:34

that guy boy you're doing it right now and it's like I'll be having lunch with

00:54:38

you and within 10 minutes we'll get Stu probably like six times with you I'm

00:54:43

probably if we if we at lunch in London we probably not even have a chance to talk but they don't care they just want

00:54:47

to get their picture and put on their [ __ ] social media with [ __ ] 20 followers like look champ like whatever

00:54:54

I'm just like no let me have my moment I'm I'm and I've learned this I okay my

00:55:01

experience with this and I always bring this up whenever I see him on on on TV or here is raps most deaf I see most

00:55:08

deaf in common in Auckland Airport and they're having a conversation by the by

00:55:12

the back Carousel and I I want to fight in Adela and I'm coming back home I have

00:55:16

my trophy and I was like yo I want to get a picture and I pull up to him I'm

00:55:20

like hey what's up most big fan he's like hey brother just no photos today

00:55:25

man I was like yeah oh good no wor it's easy now remember I was a bit sad but I

00:55:31

understood I understood cuz they were in a bidd in the middle of a conversation actively talking I should have had the

00:55:38

etiquette to realize like just they talking leave them alone but this is the thing no one I feel like it's learned

00:55:45

behavior as well this one thing because everyone thinks that you're a biggest

00:55:49

fan it's the same rhetoric I I know the lines they're going to say each time but

00:55:54

like it's a learn beh havior I don't know I think it's maybe from TV or

00:55:59

Disney or whatever people feel like when when you meet someone you really you're

00:56:03

a fan of you yell at them to let them know how much of a fan you are and you show them by just shaking and I honestly

00:56:12

think it's learn Behavior because I'm sometimes I'm I'm like there's no need

00:56:17

for all this I'll be at like a three I'm chilling at a two or three at a park and

00:56:21

so no [ __ ] way oh my God ah I'm just like okay like after the Whitaker fight

00:56:32

the first one I remember after that whole the fight after the Afterparty on the way back to the uh back to New

00:56:39

Zealand I remember at the airport I put out a story just saying like look if you

00:56:43

see me at the airport or traveling just approach me lightly cuz if you come at me with all this energy I'll walk away I

00:56:51

put that on my story just cuz I was like I'll walk away cuz my capacity to deal

00:56:56

with with high energy right now was just how are you feeling I was just drained I was drained so I was just I

00:57:03

just want to go home and chill so I remember at the airport I just I was before at the hotel I put at before I

00:57:08

went to the airport I just put that out there on the store just to be like look don't come at me with all this [ __ ] CU

00:57:13

it's too much for me to deal with right now so if you come at me just like hey

00:57:16

what's up bro big fan can I take a photo that's cool and I remember that fight

00:57:20

week the week before the fight week I realized and I had an epiphany I realized I don't have to match

00:57:25

everyone's energy because that was a problem I used to like if you're a fan you meet me I feel

00:57:30

hey even if I met like I said my cat just died then I'd have to like raise my

00:57:34

level up hey what's up bro hey do the whole song and dance and all that [ __ ]

00:57:39

but I'm like N I don't have to match everyone's energy cuz guess what hard

00:57:43

pill to swallow I'm not excited to meet you as much as you are to meet me it's

00:57:49

just a hard pill to swallow and it's just my everyday life I'm not excited to

00:57:52

meet you as you are to meet me and that's okay because this is my life this is how I deal with things so once I once

00:58:00

I kind of like go over that hump I was like I don't have to match everyone's

00:58:03

energy so if someone comes at me at a 10 I don't have to raise my level up I

00:58:07

could I'm just chilling I'm listening to a podcast I can just pause and be like

00:58:10

hey what's up man how you doing and if they feel like that's a [ __ ] interaction cool that's their

00:58:16

prerogative I don't care but if I'm if you met me last night like [ __ ] I'm

00:58:21

in the streets in London last night I'm showing love to everyone I'm dancing I'm

00:58:24

talking to people I'm I'm Mr you know Mr area boy but that's a time and place I'm

00:58:30

taking pictures and you know all that kind of stuff there's a time and place

00:58:32

if you catch me at the right time and place [ __ ] yeah I'll show you love but I

00:58:35

hate when people get entitled and think they just I want to take I want to take so that's why I keep yeah quick one as

00:58:43

you might know crafted are one of the sponsors of this podcast and they make really meaningful pieces of jewelry this

00:58:49

lion piece they've made I wear all the time along with the little time piece

00:58:53

the sandtimer that I wear often and the line piece you might have seen Conor McGregor has a similar piece which was

00:58:58

custom made for him for me it represents courage and if you walk through my house

00:59:04

the house that I'm in right now if you walk six feet in that direction you'll

00:59:08

see a huge lion portrait if you go upstairs you'll see a lion portrait if you look behind me on the Shelf near the

00:59:14

top there you'll see a lion as well the reason my house and my life is surrounded by lions is because they

00:59:19

represent courage calmness and that tenacity that I've applied to my business success to my professional life

00:59:25

and everything in between for me the lion has always been an animal that can be almost a bit of a contradiction they

00:59:31

are so loving and so caring of their own and can be powerful and courageous when

00:59:36

necessary in order to achieve what they want to achieve so if you like me are a big fan of Courage bravery ambition

00:59:43

while also being calm and composed check out this line piece and let me know if you get it and you keep your boys and

00:59:48

your the people you came up with close right tell me about the import how how much you realized the importance of that

00:59:53

as you've risen to this place you know to keep the day ones around you and stuff like that I mean you you'll know

00:59:59

this it's Lonely at the Top you know but it's not if you bring the right people

01:00:03

with you the people that came up with you the people that you know love you for you you know the people that know

01:00:10

you from before you had money before you were famous you know so um I like to have them around to keep me grounded to

01:00:18

keep me grounded and just make sure I'm I'm solid cuz they knew me before any of

01:00:21

this [ __ ] happens and you know it's hard cuz sometimes you I've I have fallen

01:00:26

into the Trap of having people who just agree with me yes man you know and even my boy chance I'm glad like I have him

01:00:34

around cuz sometimes I'm crazy I don't always have the best ideas and I'll have

01:00:39

an idea he'll be like nah like okay cool I just needed someone to tell me no but

01:00:45

I'll put it out there boy if he's like nah we're not doing that I'm okay cool

01:00:48

cuz then it just helps me but if I have people around me who was like okay sure then eventually it just makes me more

01:00:55

powerful I just to think like oh yeah you know I'm the [ __ ] I can say whatever

01:00:58

I want and that's not that's not healthy man I don't think that's healthy for the

01:01:02

ego you know yeah well I just like having people like that around me because I feel like yeah

01:01:09

they keep me grinding and just remind me where I come from you know they're and

01:01:13

there's so many stories man each of my friends in my group chat I've known each

01:01:17

of them over 10 years but well over 10 years man then we all have stories we can kind of share from back in the day

01:01:24

that just just remind me where I come from from yeah and the other thing that happens is when you reach what the

01:01:30

heights you've reached in your profession is we talked about it then you have this other um this other

01:01:37

attention which is from women that might want you for the wrong reasons yeah my mom always warns me about this have a

01:01:41

baby bu my mom's trying to tell me like you know when are you going to settle down

01:01:47

when are you going to find a nice [ __ ] just settle yeah she wants me to be with

01:01:51

a Nigerian woman she doesn't like I Don't Settle yeah I don't settle so for

01:01:58

me that that's something I guess you just you just have to take it by case-by

01:02:01

casee basis yeah Case by case bases cuz you do find people who just some people play the long game put it that way I've

01:02:09

had people play the long game with me even recently it's just like yeah you know they there's love there and all

01:02:14

that kind of stuff but they play a long game because they see the value and it's

01:02:18

not just what you it's just what you bring to the table and they get entitled

01:02:24

you know and I feel like that's that's not the way you want to be when you have

01:02:27

someone you know that's that you're romantically in love with or involved

01:02:30

with it's like you don't want to be competing with them or have them feel

01:02:34

entitled to what you have I'm like yo you just got here I beam made it the [ __ ] you talking about what do you bring

01:02:41

to the table I bought the [ __ ] table what values are you looking for do you look for in in that kind of person kind

01:02:46

I just like someone who's caring who gives a [ __ ] who really cares like and

01:02:51

who wants nothing from me that's the thing it's hard to find but someone who

01:02:55

needs nothing I even for me I don't even celebrate my birthday and I'm hard to

01:02:58

buy gifts for cuz I'm not really a material I love material things obviously but nice watch yeah thank you

01:03:04

I'm sure you know we work yeah now but yeah like I'm not a material person but I do like material

01:03:11

things but it's hard to buy gifts for me because I found this as well with my

01:03:16

rich friends when I was coming up it was hard to buy gifts for them when someone

01:03:19

you they able to buy whatever they want so but in that in that I just look for someone who's who's who's caring someone

01:03:26

who really gives a [ __ ] that's the main thing do you give a [ __ ] about me yeah

01:03:31

and you're going to have a family one day of course no that's my that's

01:03:34

definitely one of my main goals after this I don't want to be that Dad that's

01:03:38

like you know I wake up see my kids for like 30 minutes before I go to work and then when I finish work I see them like

01:03:45

for hour hour and a half maybe while I'm tired no I'm going to make sure I'm

01:03:51

there from the ages of zero to five or six I'm going to be like what do you want to do today

01:03:56

like literally what do you want to and I feel honestly [ __ ] school I don't know

01:04:01

why we still even have this whole [ __ ] this this outdated concept of school to just build workers cuz we know

01:04:09

what the [ __ ] school was made for why we pretending we know school was created to

01:04:13

create workers do you still know I don't what the [ __ ] is X no [ __ ] idea bro

01:04:17

I'm still waiting still I I'm like when have I in my life as an adult known what

01:04:22

the [ __ ] X is no [ __ ] idea a lot of useless information gonna passed on to me in school and I sucked at school

01:04:30

because I was [ __ ] at memorizing same I didn't really learn anything dropouts as

01:04:34

we do cheers drop out my man school doesn't teach you much honestly teaches you the basics I

01:04:42

understand maths yes english comprehension all that kind of stuff but when you come to like social studies and

01:04:47

algebra and calculus I'm like are you going to use those in the real world so

01:04:51

FK School my plan is right when I have kids I'm I'm going to have a tutor

01:04:57

that's going to teach them from the age at home from the from the time like say

01:05:01

maybe 900 a.m. to midday or 100 p.m. and they'll have an hour of homework and the

01:05:09

rest of the day we'll just go on adventures doing [ __ ] but then they're

01:05:13

going to do gymnastics compulsory because I want to make sure they know their body the foundation of athleticism

01:05:19

gymnastics and Jiu-Jitsu so that way they're involved with other kids and not

01:05:24

socially awkward you don't want toise some [ __ ] bum kids who you know don't

01:05:29

have any social skills but yeah you I want to make sure that they have those kind of skills by interacting with other

01:05:35

kids through gymnastics or through Jiu-Jitsu or other like activities and they'll do that every day or every

01:05:41

whatever day of days of the week it is but school going there clocking in sitting down watching a teacher write

01:05:48

some [ __ ] on the board and write no one's teaching they just literally some

01:05:51

of these people just there to catch a paycheck and I've seen it I was in school you just see them they oh they

01:05:56

write the [ __ ] on the board whatever copy this copy exactly copy this I didn't even know what cuz we were doing

01:06:01

these when I was in in high school NCA credits and I I remember just like towards the end of the year what's all

01:06:05

this credits credits credits not to repeat the whole year well I didn't know

01:06:09

what it I was like credit well NCA credits what's all this credit [ __ ] Credit Credit Credit Credit I did not

01:06:14

care I didn't understand I just didn't fathom it but then eventually when I go

01:06:17

to Grass I was like oh this sucks it's a [ __ ] system and then they'll give you

01:06:22

the D and then you'll feel like you're a d as a human you identify one of the worst ones I remember was in

01:06:29

in boarding school in Nigeria I was I was bottom three in the class and of course they have to announce it the

01:06:35

bottom three and you have to stand in front of the school they announce it just like these are the bottom three

01:06:43

of stand with your head down yep that's us that's yeah we we the ones I was the

01:06:49

lowest yes thank you okay now go on take your seats okay yes thank you oh the worst man and it's just ating but it's

01:06:56

like it's I don't know if it's meant to motivate you or what but it didn't do

01:06:58

[ __ ] and like I said you a lot of people start like if I see that now even like

01:07:03

young people they have to tie the selfworth I have a friend in med school who literally like when it gets crunch

01:07:09

time they just like I need to get these grades I need they get the grades up and

01:07:13

they just identify themselves if I don't get this I'm useless this is it I failed

01:07:16

I'm like you're 23 calm the [ __ ] down it's not that deep it is obviously it's

01:07:21

your career but I'm like there's more to life there's way more to life this than

01:07:26

than just this idea of who you think you are cuz when I was [ __ ] 18 I thought I was going to be married and have kids

01:07:33

at 23 boy was I wrong damn I'm like I the [ __ ] who who let me buy a house now I'm

01:07:39

like why I don't know who let me do that I shouldn't should have never given

01:07:43

these [ __ ] money first of all I didn't think they gave it to you you I took all

01:07:48

that I'm a bankr yeah like yeah I don't know what I was thinking back then I thought like this I

01:07:55

thought I knew what I wanted so when I was 18 I was like I'm going to have kids

01:07:59

when I'm 23 24 [ __ ] hell jeez Anda what when you look forward at your your you I mean youve reached the top of

01:08:09

your game um how do you how do you keep yourself you know what is the thing that's driving you now what is the thing

01:08:16

you're aiming for now what's that North Star that's getting you out of

01:08:19

bed is it legac out people talk about Legacy and Legacy yeah big thing Legacy is for me definitely the Legacy I want

01:08:26

to live why does that matter I think I want to be immortal I don't know if it's

01:08:31

my ego or I'm selfish or what it is but I I just know look I did the prefix I is

01:08:37

royalty where we're from you know I from the from the EUR tribe you know that's

01:08:42

that has some Royal Blood tied to it Adis but now worldwide the name Adis is sonon for greatness forever synonymous

01:08:51

with greatness and I'm going to make sure that is I'm going to make sure if

01:08:54

you have that name I this you're proud to be like yep I'm tied to that bloodline I understand

01:09:01

because I don't know I don't know what it is is it my ego why is it that

01:09:06

[ __ ] King King Tut wanted to be buried in his tomb with all his gold even though he's not going to be there

01:09:11

to exact to enjoy it I don't know I don't know but I know when it's all said

01:09:15

and done when I'm dead my name will be remembered in history was that Troy line and that's

01:09:23

why no one will remember your name or whatever it was but like I want to make sure that my name will be remembered and

01:09:28

revered throughout history as one of the one of the best in this game but also just as a person I just just just a

01:09:35

GC just a good [ __ ] just a happy dude who was who was enjoying life and just I

01:09:40

don't know making [ __ ] happened but it's more about the feeling though I want

01:09:43

people to remember my name and just remember the feeling I gave them you know what I mean like those who were

01:09:48

alive to or not alive or around to watch Jordan's um reign in the NBA I mean I'm

01:09:54

sure when they hear Jordan they can just I remember that time I was at that game

01:09:57

or I remember that time I watched that that game live and they remember the feeling I want those like when they

01:10:03

remember my name to be like I was there 243 I remember how I was in the in the arena when he won that feeling I want I

01:10:10

want people forget what you say or what you do but they never forget how you make them feel so it's the feeling I

01:10:15

want to make sure they remember yeah when people reach the top of their game they start becoming philanthropists we

01:10:20

see this when people get billions they fig because they they can't seem to get

01:10:23

the buzz or the feeling anymore from um from business or success or money or L begins your y so they start like

01:10:29

helping other people right I'm getting there you're getting to the point where

01:10:32

you're starting to feel that the greatest service you can do is like for others cuz when you're talking about

01:10:36

your legacy there it's actually sounds like the feeling that's feel philanthropy it's like I want to leave

01:10:42

this feeling with other people so that they feel you know inspired or whatever yeah um I'm doing the same thing as well

01:10:48

I'm setting my people of the people in my circle I'm not handing anything out

01:10:51

to them but just with opportunities you know and also experiencing I'm giving

01:10:55

them experiences to inspire them um but yeah there's things that I do behind the

01:11:02

scenes that I don't necessarily I don't know like I'm not one of these guys I

01:11:06

don't do it for the likes I do it for love and I feel like there's a bar from

01:11:10

Jay-Z the best form of giving is anonymous to Anonymous so there's ways I just I drop gems like Shaq I love the

01:11:17

way Shaq does it but he does it quite over atly like you want a bike yeah huh ask your mom if you have a bike you got

01:11:24

these shoes how many you want you know like he does that just drop Gams everywhere he makes people happy cuz if

01:11:29

it feels good to make people feel good even though that is selfish in a sense because I'm getting I'm getting

01:11:34

something I'm getting good feels out of it but still I'm making someone feel

01:11:37

good I'd rather that but I'm not doing it to be like yeah hey man you know I know you're

01:11:43

hungry and I just bought you this meal cuz I really want to show love to you man you know yeah exactly and upload it

01:11:50

to the gram and then [ __ ] yeah I don't do that like I there's things I've done

01:11:53

even Tim will tell you after this I mean even for this fight there was someone that I

01:12:00

I think last year he went through some stuff that I heard about on on on the media and I was just like [ __ ] I went

01:12:05

through that [ __ ] as well and then this fight I brought him out and I I showed

01:12:09

him a good time yeah he and his mom and I I I put them up got them tickets and just made sure they um yeah they were

01:12:16

looked after I met him backstage and just gave him a few words of encouragement and I don't need to bring

01:12:22

it up because yeah yeah I yeah it's fine I [ __ ] yeah but Tim will tell you about

01:12:26

it when you walked in the song playing do you remember the song playing hold up oh Victory oh no that was a nipy yeah um

01:12:32

which one was it was from Victory lap though yeah yeah yeah double up double up yeah oh every time that song gets me

01:12:39

every time when it gets the course I live behind when you let me oh it gets me man every single time I don't know

01:12:46

why about something about that track it just gets me in my field I didn't even

01:12:50

thinking about I get goosebumps yeah double UPS the track man when I saw you pre fight playing that song in the hotel

01:12:59

room crying yeah and then I saw you in the stands another time crying yeah I guess that was the evidence that you are

01:13:06

a bit of an empath you do feel the last one was that was when I watched my boy Blood Diamond jump on the scale to weigh

01:13:12

in um and I get really emotional fight week's like my wedding week I feel this

01:13:17

is why I I dread getting married cuz I don't the guest list I'm just like I

01:13:21

don't even [ __ ] know who I want to like invite cuz people going to be like

01:13:24

oh you did invite me ready I I don't that's why I don't celebrate my birthday

01:13:31

cuz it's like a few times a year there's a whole week that everything's about me

01:13:37

so I don't need another special day that it's about me so that's why I'm most ad

01:13:40

dreading like I said my wedding day or my birthday forced fun exactly so I I really don't celebrate my birthday to be

01:13:46

honest like every day is my birthday I can do whatever [ __ ] I want you know I don't even sell I don't I don't buy

01:13:52

gifts from people on their birthday I just buy them if I see something I oh I think she'll like that or I think he'll

01:13:57

value that I'll just buy it just because I'm like or give them the experience

01:14:01

just because I feel like they'll value that but um I know you're not missing

01:14:04

Valentine's Day though oh no Valentine's Day I have a special tradition on

01:14:09

Valentine's Day I used to do but I kind I don't really play around with it

01:14:13

anymore I just used to like just mad memes on my page and just just it's funny I was just awake first time I did

01:14:19

it was in 2014 yes I believe 2014 Valentine's Day I was fighting and throughout the day I

01:14:25

was waiting for the fight I was just bored this before stories on Instagram so I just put up like 80 posts that day

01:14:32

just like yeah I know people go mad at me people were really entertained but I didn't care I was just I was just in

01:14:37

that fight mode so I was just like [ __ ] putting a post about van just memes and just making just making fun of

01:14:43

Valentine's Day but [ __ ] good times good good times before I was uh I guess Super

01:14:50

Famous one of our guests you said you're going up to Manchester on um on the

01:14:54

weekend one of our guests Patrice ever is Manchester United football legend he's a do you know the guy no I see I

01:14:59

don't football the bug didn't catch me yeah he didn't catch me as a sports

01:15:03

didn't really catch me as a kid CU I was unathletic funny enough yeah I know I

01:15:08

was never really athletic kid yeah Matt I mean patri when Patrice came here he he's from his family from Africa

01:15:14

originally moved to France played for the French football team he became this Legend maybe the greatest Manchester

01:15:19

United Wing back in our history um he wrote a question in the diary um we always get our guests to write questions

01:15:27

in the diary right yes I heard about this this is all I knew about this podcast I was like okay apparently

01:15:32

there's a question yeah yeah there's a question at the end but in fact I'm

01:15:36

going to read you the question that's been left for you by I don't actually

01:15:38

read it until I look at it but um Patrice asked a question which I thought was really profound because I remember

01:15:42

being asked this question one day and it really puzzled me and it's such a simple

01:15:44

question so I'm going to ask you the question okay are you happy right now yes yes I'm very happy why' you say

01:15:54

right now cuz it's not lasting it's fleeting that's one thing I've also

01:15:58

learned as well is well you can't enjoy the sunshine without a little rain and

01:16:04

everything is temporary everything everything's forever changing so even right now I'm happy I'm enjoying life I

01:16:11

love where I'm at I love who I'm around I love who I'm with you know I I know

01:16:18

it's not it's not lasting cuz guess what something's going to happen that's going

01:16:21

to shake that up cuz back in the day whenever this has happening I'm just like it's been a few good

01:16:28

days things is to nice where's the thing that's going to [ __ ] me up but now now I'm just like

01:16:36

this is nice and I'll just sit in it and I'll just enjoy it I enjoy the happiness

01:16:40

and I enjoy what I'm doing to enjoy where I'm at and then when the bad thing

01:16:44

comes I'm like ah there it is it's okay this is going to pass as well this too

01:16:47

shall pass so when I say yeah I'm happy right now I'm happy very happy are you

01:16:53

good at defending that happiness because because the amount of you even described

01:16:56

it when you came off after your debut the amount of people that are going to want to talk to you and do an interview

01:17:01

in Israel Israel are you good at saying no better I'm better at it now I never

01:17:05

used to be this is where I was talking about the people pleaser thing back in the day and this is why this year one of

01:17:11

my things is I don't get [ __ ] up around people I don't like or I don't

01:17:14

know cuz I realize when I get drunk I'm too nice I'm a friendly drunk I'm like a

01:17:19

[ __ ] golden retriever when I'm drunk or black labrador I'm just like hey and

01:17:25

not everyone's your friend not everyone wants the best for you but they'll just

01:17:29

take advantage and try and like you know I just let my boundaries get crossed too many times you know and I

01:17:35

let people get too close maybe like too then the next day I'm just like why the

01:17:40

[ __ ] did I let that person you know ah [ __ ] I wish I'd said no to that you know

01:17:45

then I start to like they'll eat at me for the next few days so yeah um I I'm

01:17:51

getting and it's practice it's constantly evolving but I know how to say no now I just say and I don't have

01:17:57

to explain myself I literally just say no because when you're explaining yourself you're losing I learned that

01:18:02

from chill suon remember when I used to listen to his podcast he said something really profound like when you're

01:18:07

explaining yourself you're losing so I don't explain myself I just say no if

01:18:11

that's like if someone like can I get a photo can I I'm like I'm busy oh please

01:18:15

I'm like no because it's like first of all you see I'm having I'm on a date right now

01:18:19

and I said no or I'm walking with someone right now having an intimate moment and you're disturbing my peace so

01:18:24

I say no and if you try and like push push okay no and some oh [ __ ] you know they'll say something stupid oh well

01:18:32

[ __ ] Rubble Smasher anyway or whoever your next opponent is I was like huh okay then I just let them you know this

01:18:39

is why I didn't take a photo with you boy if they sometimes at a restaurant like if I say no to someone cuz I'm

01:18:44

having lunch or I'm on a date or whatever and then they come up to me and like I'm busy right now man all if they

01:18:51

leave me alone on my way out if I see that person I and and they were and they were nice and respectful I'd be like yo

01:18:57

you have your phone on you then we'll take a photo cuz I'm like thanks for

01:19:00

being respectful cuz sometimes I can understand people's judgment goes out the way when they see a celebrity

01:19:05

apparently and I felt this way like I said you just don't realize your etiquette it's just so when when that

01:19:12

happens I don't hold it against them I'm like it's learn Behavior like I said so

01:19:16

then I'll yeah I'll take my time out of my out of my day and just say what's up

01:19:21

afterwards but if they like you know oh please please I'm like bro you're not respecting my

01:19:27

boundaries you didn't respect my no I need my no to be respected I said no why

01:19:31

because I [ __ ] said so that's it I don't need to explain myself to you who

01:19:34

the [ __ ] are you I don't know you from a bar soap and again you're more excited

01:19:39

to meet me than I am to meet you in in the core of your being do you realize that you're a star yeah I always knew so

01:19:45

I I knew I wasn't going to be regular I I just knew like I was going to be great

01:19:50

at something I didn't know what it was but I knew I was going to be great at

01:19:55

something I just knew even when I was working my my last job I just I I'm grateful for it cuz it showed me what I

01:20:01

didn't want in life I just knew this isn't for me and what is that is that

01:20:05

self-belief that gets you there or is that so is it is it you believing that you're going to be great that got you

01:20:12

there or is it because you were innately destined to be great I'm trying to figure out if it's something that one

01:20:17

what came first a chicken or the egg yeah there's levels there's people like

01:20:21

us we we're crazy in the sense that we believe to be it's almost delusional sometimes

01:20:27

you like what's the one I've heard this quote on the JRE before it's like

01:20:31

greatness and Madness and next door neighbors and they just borrow each other sugar once in a while you know

01:20:37

what I mean so there's a point like I've used a story of me when I used to drive

01:20:41

this beat up Honda and I'd shift the the gear stick and I just do this you do

01:20:47

this I literally it was Madness I was me preparing for having a sports car paddle

01:20:52

shifts so I shifted you know three boom gear four boom and when I dropped down you know same thing just like I was

01:21:00

getting ready I was I was this is I bro I can manifest like a [ __ ] do you believe in it in in

01:21:07

the metaphysical like sense you% 100% everything comes from the imagination everything comes from like before this

01:21:16

microphone was a microphone someone somehow thought about it now how can I speak into something that would

01:21:24

amplify my voice and blah blah blah BL blah and then this came out of it and it's evolved over the years but

01:21:29

everything comes from the imagination so the power of the Mind people don't understand we still don't understand I

01:21:34

still don't understand how powerful it is I'm still learning but I know one

01:21:37

thing is I can make things happen I can go to levels I just can't tell the world but

01:21:44

like there levels that like I've manifested things that I'm just like I still shock myself like how the [ __ ] did

01:21:49

I make that happen and this is not even to do with fighting this is to do with my personal life and I'm like I made

01:21:55

that happen and this is through this like manifesting subconsciously as well just years of something just manifesting

01:22:01

manifesting and Bo it's right there I'm just like [ __ ] I really made that happen

01:22:06

it's scary man it's scary for me to even think about I reflect on that and almost

01:22:11

view it like getting in your car in the morning when you get in the car in the morning you set the

01:22:15

saav but then you've also got to drive you've also got to go to training yeah

01:22:20

if you just set the saav where you going to be sitting in the car sitting in the

01:22:23

[ __ ] car you sit there and make all these dreams a manifest but you have to work and what happens if you just drive

01:22:28

work if you drive and with no satav you don't know where you're going you're

01:22:32

lost you know what I mean you have no Direction so for me I feel like both of them together when you when you really

01:22:38

when you have the vision and you're able to manifest but then you also put the

01:22:41

work in Magic happens man magic that's where the magic is but a lot of people

01:22:47

never get there unfortunately a lot of people we're blessed that we can dream

01:22:52

amen we're blessed that we can dream that's one thing I've realized a lot of

01:22:55

people even from the impoverished parts of London will be will be lucky to have my old job you know from where I'm from

01:23:02

from Nigeria a lot of people will be blessed to have my old job and they'll be like yo this is I have a great job I

01:23:08

can send money back home this and that but yeah I just had bigger dreams I just knew what I wanted so I feel like I'm

01:23:15

spoiled that I can I Can Dream the way I I do and I can manifest the way I do so

01:23:21

I never take it for granted and I realize the position I'm in I'm privileged I'm very privileged I read a

01:23:26

quote about about immigrants specifically from Nigeria and it said our parents role was to try and figure

01:23:30

out survival and we're here sat blessed with the task of self-actualization which is like figuring out meaning and

01:23:37

they said what a beautiful thing that is yeah they're just trying to survive of

01:23:40

find a way the next way to thrive see like what's meaning and purpose and happiness and that's why I feel like

01:23:48

even today the way the world is like the problems of that we have especially with

01:23:52

all this devices and what not I'm like you guys don't really have any real

01:23:56

problems like when people in New Zealand start to complain about some stuff I'm

01:24:00

like you guys are really worried about this it's like cuz there's no real

01:24:03

problem the police aren't trying to kill the people constantly you know the government isn't well they are [ __ ]

01:24:08

the people over but not the same way as you know Nigerians have being [ __ ] with by their government for so long so

01:24:14

it's like you really have any real problems it's like they find things to

01:24:18

to fight about now like now we're arguing about genders you know this kind of stuff and it's like cuz there's no

01:24:23

really they're looking for problems they're creating problems look if there

01:24:26

was some real [ __ ] going on like there's there was like another War World War III

01:24:30

apparently is coming soon stay tuned stay tuned yeah if that was happening or aliens invaded do you think anyone will

01:24:37

give a [ __ ] about any of that [ __ ] [ __ ] no no way we're worried about some real

01:24:42

[ __ ] happening you know so yeah I feel like people just start to create problems because we don't we need we

01:24:47

need struggle we need struggle in our lives that's the thing Mo out there he

01:24:51

was the head of Google and he changed my life for something he said about that he

01:24:54

said um um unhappiness is when your expectations of how life is supposed to be going go unmet so it explains why a

01:25:00

billionaire when his State comes and it's not perfectly cooked he will be [ __ ] furious because his expectation

01:25:07

was here and if it goes unmet the Delta is unhappiness and if you go to where I was from in Botswana getting a bowl of

01:25:14

rice expectation is I'm not going to eat today bowl of rice the Delta is happiness and it's the same thing you're

01:25:19

talking about with people you know their problems are relative to their expectations of life right facts last

01:25:24

question this one was written for you in the diary by our previous guest what question do you believe based on the

01:25:33

subject matter of the conversation we've had today would have been interesting to

01:25:37

ask you that people don't usually ask you I mean you touched on a few things

01:25:43

that normally don't even talk about like relationships and kids a little bit

01:25:50

that's stuff that I really hold guarded but uh have some funny ones in my head

01:25:54

bro I'm not going to talk about those go for those ones let me see um I think diving into my my personal

01:26:06

life a little bit anything that has to do with like family relationships or you know like I said yeah family that I'm

01:26:14

going to have uh I'm glad people don't though cuz like I said I like to just keep those things

01:26:20

guarded but yeah and I think people kind of get my love life is not for sale my family's not for sale those kind of

01:26:26

things like I said I I won't I won't sell for the consumption of people to

01:26:31

watch I'm not the Kardashians you know I ain't Kanye West I ain't putting all my

01:26:35

business out there yeah so for me yeah I keep those things guarded so I think people kind of respect that understand

01:26:42

that so they don't push too much you get like a little bit here every now and

01:26:46

then but not nothing too much yeah I hear you thank you for your time today it's want toly tremendous man like

01:26:53

you're a killer in so many ways but we didn't even get to talk about the

01:26:55

marketing and The Branding side of things levels there's ways I I mean I did computer graphic design in in

01:27:01

college and I felt like some of the stuffs I learned there really helped me with my social media when it comes to

01:27:08

making my own highlights when I was coming up you know posting all the anime stuff as well but that's just me being a

01:27:15

big authentic self as well exactly authentic expression of self if you put it out there those who appreciate will

01:27:21

gravitate [ __ ] I like that as a bar t-shirt yeah that's a bar those who appreciate will gravitate I'm going to

01:27:28

keep that that's dope you add to your T-shirt collection tell them more but listen thank you so much for your time

01:27:33

for your grace your humility and your openness as well means a lot meate likewise my man and I'm going to look

01:27:38

into you a little bit more you because this the thing whenever I like to meet new people and learn about them so

01:27:43

hearing your story I'm just like man that's still I'm like 700 million at 27

01:27:48

I didn't get all of it but yeah respect thank you appreciate that you [Music]

Badges

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Episode Highlights

The Pressure to Perform
The speaker discusses the immense pressure they place on themselves to succeed, especially in high-stakes situations. 'I put that pressure on myself like, 'Watch this.''
“I put that pressure on myself like, 'Watch this.'”
@ 00m 55s
March 17, 2022
Overcoming Self-Doubt
The speaker shares their journey of dealing with feelings of unworthiness despite their success. 'I didn't expect that from someone I cared about.'
“I didn't expect that from someone I cared about.”
@ 16m 28s
March 17, 2022
Imposter Syndrome and Success
A UFC champion opens up about battling imposter syndrome despite his achievements.
“No one can ever take away from me is that I earned it.”
@ 17m 53s
March 17, 2022
Mental Health Awareness in Fighting
Discussing the importance of mental health and therapy in the world of fighting.
“Fighters don’t talk much about their mental health.”
@ 22m 42s
March 17, 2022
The Great Depression
Reflecting on a dark period in life and the journey back to purpose through fighting.
“2013 was my Great Depression.”
@ 24m 07s
March 17, 2022
Navigating Fame and Personal Life
The struggle of balancing fame with personal relationships and self-identity.
“I’m a human being and I have feelings, you know.”
@ 52m 16s
March 17, 2022
The Importance of True Friends
Keeping genuine friends around to stay grounded amidst success.
“It’s lonely at the top, you know.”
@ 01h 00m 02s
March 17, 2022
Reevaluating Education
A critique of traditional schooling and its relevance in real life.
“School doesn’t teach you much, honestly.”
@ 01h 04m 40s
March 17, 2022
The Quest for Legacy
A deep dive into the desire for immortality and how one wants to be remembered.
“I want to make sure my name will be remembered and revered throughout history.”
@ 01h 09m 19s
March 17, 2022
The Power of Feelings
Exploring the impact of emotions and memories tied to personal legacy.
“People forget what you say or do, but never forget how you make them feel.”
@ 01h 10m 10s
March 17, 2022
Self-Actualization and Privilege
Discussing the journey from survival to finding meaning in life.
“Our parents' role was to try and figure out survival; we're here to find meaning.”
@ 01h 23m 30s
March 17, 2022
The Nature of Unhappiness
Exploring how unmet expectations lead to unhappiness, illustrated by contrasting life experiences.
“Unhappiness is when your expectations go unmet.”
@ 01h 24m 54s
March 17, 2022

Episode Quotes

I put that pressure on myself like, 'Watch this.'.
Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!
One thing no one can ever take away from me is that I earned it.
Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!
It’s addicting attention, that’s social currency now.
Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!
I don’t want to put that pressure on them.
Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!
I want to make sure my name will be remembered and revered throughout history.
Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!
Everything comes from the imagination.
Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!

Key Moments

Imposter Syndrome17:47
Therapy Tools21:14
Protecting Loved Ones51:16
Feeling Under Pressure53:14
Lessons on Fame1:00:02
Expectations and Unhappiness1:24:54
Private Life1:26:22
Authenticity1:27:24

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown