# Eating Chinese food, covered in a strangers blood: Brando 'The Balkan Bear' Peričić Pt. 2

An episode of [I Catch Killers with Gary Jubelin](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1506667049), 20 Jul 2026, 58 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/5bc8c2ed-b718-4f44-beb3-ac2a005246cc/a64ff9a0-8ab5-4d79-a8c9-b48a0053ac4f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=786928c3-10c1-4cef-a7bf-ac2a005246d0

UFC heavyweight Brando Peričić returns for part two on I Catch Killers, opening up about the darkness he carries into the cage, witnessing a horrific car crash where he performed CPR on a dying man, living out of his car by choice even as his career takes off, and the role his faith plays in controlling his ego. Brando and Gary get candid about depression, imposter syndrome, his complicated relationship with his father, and Brando's relentless pursuit of becoming the first Australian UFC heavyweight champion. Subscribe to our new Youtube channel. Follow I Catch Killers: Instagram: @icatchkillers Tiktok: @icatchkillerspodcast Facebook: @icatchkillers See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The public has had a long held fascination with detectives.
[0:05] Speaker 1: Detective see aside of life. The average person is never
[0:08] Speaker 1: exposed her I spent thirty four years as a cop.
[0:11] Speaker 1: For twenty five of those years I was catching killers.
[0:14] Speaker 1: That's what I did for a living. I was a
[0:16] Speaker 1: homicide detective. I'm no longer just interviewing bad guys. Instead,
[0:20] Speaker 1: I'm taking the public into the world in which I operated.
[0:23] Speaker 1: The guests I talk to each week have amazing stories
[0:26] Speaker 1: from all sides of the law. The interviews are raw
[0:28] Speaker 1: and honest, just like the people I talk to. Some
[0:31] Speaker 1: of the content and language might be confronting. That's because
[0:34] Speaker 1: no one who comes into contact with crime is left unchanged.
[0:38] Speaker 1: Join me now as I take you into this world.
[0:46] Speaker 1: In part two of my chat with Brando the Balkan
[0:49] Speaker 1: Bear Perachage, we discuss the darkness brand Ai carries into
[0:53] Speaker 1: the cage and the monk like sacrifices he makes living
[0:56] Speaker 1: out of the van, the faith that keeps him grounded
[1:00] Speaker 1: when everything else threatens to pull him apart. Branda talks
[1:03] Speaker 1: about the difference between being a nice man and a
[1:06] Speaker 1: good one, why comfort is the enemy of greatness, and
[1:10] Speaker 1: what it felt like to perform CPR on a dying
[1:13] Speaker 1: stranger on the side of a New Zealand highway covered
[1:16] Speaker 1: in blood, alone, doing everything he could. Whether you follow
[1:20] Speaker 1: the UFC or not, I reckon you should have a
[1:22] Speaker 1: listen because we could be actually talking to the future
[1:24] Speaker 1: World heavyweight UFC champion. Branda. Welcome back to part two
[1:30] Speaker 1: of I Catchkillers. Thanks for having me again. So the
[1:34] Speaker 1: UFC fascinating and I want to delve back into it
[1:37] Speaker 1: because I just what you guys go through and the
[1:40] Speaker 1: mentality of when you step into that cage. But I
[1:43] Speaker 1: just want to Our conversations sort of flowed between fighting
[1:47] Speaker 1: and philosophy on life and what you hope to achieve
[1:50] Speaker 1: on life, and I thank you for the depth of
[1:52] Speaker 1: the conversation that we're having.
[1:53] Speaker 2: It.
[1:54] Speaker 1: You're telling us a lot of personal stuff I've heard.
[1:57] Speaker 1: I've heard you say, I choose to be a good person.
[1:59] Speaker 1: But the darkness, okay, tell us about that? What are
[2:03] Speaker 1: we dealing with that?
[2:04] Speaker 3: I mean, I think every human is capable of bad things.
[2:09] Speaker 2: I truly do.
[2:10] Speaker 3: I've seen it, and a lot of times the nice
[2:14] Speaker 3: guy is the most dangerous and then the weakest. I
[2:19] Speaker 3: choose to be a kind man. I don't like to
[2:21] Speaker 3: be cold and nice guy. I choose to be a
[2:25] Speaker 3: good person. But I know if you push me in
[2:27] Speaker 3: a corner and you try to hurt me, I would
[2:29] Speaker 3: hurt you back ten times worse. So it's like we're human.
[2:34] Speaker 3: We've always gone to wars, we've always fought, and yeah,
[2:38] Speaker 3: I just I'm.
[2:39] Speaker 2: Just glad that.
[2:42] Speaker 3: I know how to handle myself now, you know, because
[2:44] Speaker 3: there's been times in the past when I was a kid,
[2:47] Speaker 3: like you know, place to wake up and want to
[2:50] Speaker 3: kill myself. So like, when I fight somebody, what do
[2:54] Speaker 3: you think I'm going to do to him? When he's
[2:55] Speaker 3: standing across the cage from me. You've got that, I've
[2:59] Speaker 3: got that darkness and to me, you know, And you
[3:01] Speaker 3: have to because if you're emotional in the fight, if
[3:04] Speaker 3: you're angry, you're going to get tired. If you're scared,
[3:08] Speaker 3: you're going to get tired. So there has to be
[3:10] Speaker 3: no emotion. So, like I said it to you, when
[3:13] Speaker 3: the camera is off, when I fight, I say to myself, like,
[3:17] Speaker 3: you know, be cold, be like a serial killer. There's
[3:19] Speaker 3: no there's like, you know, I try to put myself
[3:22] Speaker 3: in this sort of stoic mindset, this coldness is darkness
[3:26] Speaker 3: where it's like I don't care if the guy hurts me.
[3:29] Speaker 2: I don't care if I hurt him. I'm just here
[3:31] Speaker 2: to win. I'm a winner.
[3:32] Speaker 3: But you know, there's a lot of times when that
[3:34] Speaker 3: goes out the window. I'm just having fun, you.
[3:36] Speaker 2: Know what I mean.
[3:37] Speaker 3: It's like it's just look, I'm just a normal dude.
[3:40] Speaker 3: I'm trying to work it out as I go. That
[3:42] Speaker 3: works for me. Sometimes sometimes I try to be you know,
[3:47] Speaker 3: enjoy it, like embrace it, because you don't you only
[3:49] Speaker 3: have a hand.
[3:49] Speaker 2: Like I don't know how many UOC fights.
[3:51] Speaker 3: Let's say, if I've twenty in my career, man, I've
[3:54] Speaker 3: got like seventeen left or whatever. I want to enjoy it.
[3:56] Speaker 3: I want to enjoy it as well. So the nerves
[3:58] Speaker 3: are slowly going. I'm getting comfortable. I'm enjoying it more.
[4:02] Speaker 1: And that's the experience. When you learn to deal with
[4:04] Speaker 1: those nerves, is it to be able to get okay.
[4:06] Speaker 1: I know, I know I'm scared, but I'm not going
[4:08] Speaker 1: to show it. I know I'm feeling all those emotions,
[4:11] Speaker 1: but I can control this. And that's and in policing,
[4:16] Speaker 1: like tactical policing, sometimes when you're about to make the
[4:20] Speaker 1: move or go into go into a building, or jump
[4:23] Speaker 1: out of a vent, you just had that clarity of thought.
[4:26] Speaker 1: All of a sudden, everything's cleared. You're not distracted by anything. Okay,
[4:29] Speaker 1: I know what I'm going to do when I'm about
[4:30] Speaker 1: to do it, and you're going there with that clear mind.
[4:33] Speaker 3: Well, someone attacks you in the police right, Yeah, you're
[4:35] Speaker 3: not going to roll over and just die. You know,
[4:37] Speaker 3: you're going to fight for your life. You're going to
[4:40] Speaker 3: you know, that's what humans do. You fight for our life.
[4:42] Speaker 3: Every day is a fight, and life is a fight,
[4:45] Speaker 3: isn't it. You know, so whether it's inside the cage
[4:49] Speaker 3: or outside the cage, like I fight with myself, it's
[4:52] Speaker 3: me versus me every day. Yeah, you know, it's that
[4:54] Speaker 3: the little voice on your head, on your shoulder speaking
[4:57] Speaker 3: is like, you can't do this.
[4:59] Speaker 2: Your ship, you're or that's a fight.
[5:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, you challenge challenge yourself, challenge yourself. You mentioned you
[5:06] Speaker 1: don't want to be a nice guy, you want to
[5:08] Speaker 1: be a good guy. And that reminds me of a
[5:09] Speaker 1: quote I heard Matthew McConochie say. I don't know if
[5:12] Speaker 1: you've heard it, but he talks about the difference between
[5:15] Speaker 1: being a nice man and a good good man. A
[5:18] Speaker 1: nice man everyone likes.
[5:20] Speaker 2: You.
[5:20] Speaker 1: Just go with the flow, don't don't upset anyone, and
[5:25] Speaker 1: they'll go through life and people go, hey, Brando is
[5:27] Speaker 1: a nice man. But a good man is one that
[5:31] Speaker 1: when he needs to take a stand, takes a stand,
[5:33] Speaker 1: is capable of taking a stand, and will take a stand.
[5:37] Speaker 1: When I heard that, and I think it was in
[5:38] Speaker 1: his book green Lights, I was reading it, and I've
[5:41] Speaker 1: heard him say it on social media, I think that's
[5:44] Speaker 1: a good description because I get pissed off with people
[5:47] Speaker 1: that go through Oh, yeah, he's a good fellaw and
[5:49] Speaker 1: I saw it sometimes in Police. Yeah he's a good person.
[5:53] Speaker 1: Never took a stand on anything. I could be popular
[5:56] Speaker 1: if I never took a stand on things. So I
[5:58] Speaker 1: think there is a difference between nice and good. A
[6:01] Speaker 1: good person does the right thing for the right reason.
[6:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent agree with that. And I don't
[6:07] Speaker 3: care about being liked. Yeah, I really couldn't give a fuck. Yeah,
[6:11] Speaker 3: I want to look at myself in the mirror at
[6:13] Speaker 3: the end of the day and said I did the
[6:14] Speaker 3: right thing, you know, And I've lost a lot of
[6:16] Speaker 3: family friends because of that, you know, because I have
[6:18] Speaker 3: my morals and my standards, and you know what, I'm
[6:21] Speaker 3: not perfect. So sometimes I'm in the wrong and I
[6:24] Speaker 3: admit that. But you know, a friend to everyone is
[6:28] Speaker 3: an enemy to himself. And I used to be a
[6:30] Speaker 3: people pleaser when I was younger, and I still I
[6:33] Speaker 3: catch myself being a people pleaser.
[6:34] Speaker 1: And it's an easier path, isn't it.
[6:37] Speaker 2: Like it's an easier path.
[6:38] Speaker 3: But also now being in a limelight, I get a
[6:41] Speaker 3: lot of attention, and like we said before, people have
[6:44] Speaker 3: different perspectives. So there's a lot of people that come
[6:46] Speaker 3: up to me, and you know, majority of them are
[6:49] Speaker 3: very good people who actually are fans. They always get
[6:53] Speaker 3: those few who aren't and they fuck it up for
[6:56] Speaker 3: everybody else. Because I will have a guy I come
[6:58] Speaker 3: up to me saying, you know, you represent Jesus, but
[7:02] Speaker 3: you swear take the cross down, or you're people call
[7:06] Speaker 3: me all kinds of stuff because you know, my grandfather's Bosnian.
[7:10] Speaker 3: He's like, you're not a true Croatian. You know, you're
[7:12] Speaker 3: a Yugoslav, You're this, you're that, take your flag down,
[7:16] Speaker 3: you're you know, so like that that ship doesn't really
[7:19] Speaker 3: affect it normally, but maybe it does. And then someone
[7:22] Speaker 3: comes up to me for a photo and I'm like, yeah, okay, bro,
[7:25] Speaker 3: and I'm sure and sharp with him because you're carrying
[7:28] Speaker 3: because I'm carrying stuff from other people, and it's it's
[7:30] Speaker 3: never it's never a personal attack. I didn't expect to
[7:34] Speaker 3: be stopped in the street. I want to be a fighter.
[7:38] Speaker 3: I want to be a world champion. I didn't like,
[7:41] Speaker 3: I want to be liked and fucking put on a pedestal.
[7:45] Speaker 3: And you know, that's just come that comes of it.
[7:47] Speaker 3: So I'm still trying to work navigate it. And I'm
[7:50] Speaker 3: thankful that I had you know, Israel, I was around
[7:53] Speaker 3: him long enough to see how he deals.
[7:55] Speaker 1: Well, he's level where he's he needs.
[7:58] Speaker 2: He needs security in the streets, you know. I mean
[8:00] Speaker 2: so like he couldn't go to a cafe restaurant and
[8:03] Speaker 2: just relax.
[8:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, I could imagine he's at that that other level,
[8:08] Speaker 1: isn't it with his recognition and worldwide recognition for sure?
[8:11] Speaker 3: Yeah, even me now like doesn't know where I go,
[8:14] Speaker 3: I get recognized, And.
[8:15] Speaker 1: It's sort of does that does that freak you out?
[8:18] Speaker 3: Freaks my camera guy out? I'm sort of used to
[8:22] Speaker 3: it now, but yeah, at the start it did. But
[8:24] Speaker 3: it's a blessing man, and I have great conversations with
[8:27] Speaker 3: people from all different cultures religions, and yeah.
[8:30] Speaker 1: It's it's well if you look at it, and yeah
[8:33] Speaker 1: there's different levels, but if you look at it as
[8:35] Speaker 1: a positive that people are coming up and saying good day,
[8:38] Speaker 1: you might make their day by getting a photo with
[8:41] Speaker 1: them or just having having the talk talk with them.
[8:43] Speaker 2: I see myself as a joy giver.
[8:45] Speaker 3: I believe God's given me an opportunity and a platform,
[8:49] Speaker 3: and you know, I'm a joy giver like even my family.
[8:51] Speaker 3: Every time I win, my life gets better, they get proud,
[8:55] Speaker 3: they get more proud of me, and then I can
[8:57] Speaker 3: like someone's message replied to them Instagram, take a photo
[9:01] Speaker 3: of someone and it makes their day. Yeah, like that's
[9:03] Speaker 3: a that's a true blessing. So I always do as
[9:07] Speaker 3: much as I can for people. You know, last night
[9:09] Speaker 3: we took probably twenty photos. I just went for dinner. Yeah,
[9:12] Speaker 3: took twenty photos, if not more, and different conversations and
[9:16] Speaker 3: is draining, but it's a blessing man.
[9:18] Speaker 1: So it is training. But you list and I'm glad
[9:22] Speaker 1: you see as a blessing because you know, step away
[9:25] Speaker 1: from it and you if you didn't get that attention,
[9:27] Speaker 1: people would be going, where's it gone? So enjoy it?
[9:32] Speaker 1: Why it's Sarah. And if you can bring joy to
[9:33] Speaker 1: people's life. I think that's an important thing. Hey, I
[9:37] Speaker 1: wanted to now that we're talking about different things, the
[9:41] Speaker 1: difference between a good and a nice person. A good
[9:44] Speaker 1: man is not simply a harmless man, but rather a
[9:47] Speaker 1: dangerous man who has aggression and the capacity of violence
[9:51] Speaker 1: under strict That's the point I tried to get across
[9:54] Speaker 1: to people when I say, well, you know, we could
[9:56] Speaker 1: reduce crime or steer people away from crime by teaching
[9:59] Speaker 1: them how to fight, because yes, they have the capacity
[10:02] Speaker 1: to fight, but they choose not to. That's that's the
[10:06] Speaker 1: secret of it.
[10:07] Speaker 2: I think being.
[10:08] Speaker 3: Calm under pressure is massive. So I work with a coach.
[10:11] Speaker 3: His name's Dave Wood and he's also a mental coach,
[10:15] Speaker 3: a breathing coach, just a life coach.
[10:18] Speaker 2: Really.
[10:18] Speaker 3: He's a great guy and he has taught me how
[10:22] Speaker 3: to control my emotions, my fight or flight response, my breath.
[10:27] Speaker 3: And this has helped me not only in fighting, but
[10:30] Speaker 3: outside of fighting. When I first came to New Zealand.
[10:34] Speaker 3: I've actually been on trade sites at workplaces where a
[10:39] Speaker 3: lot of people have passed away, have been killed.
[10:42] Speaker 2: I'm only three for resuscitation, so you.
[10:45] Speaker 3: Know you've actually yeah, yeah, three times I have, and
[10:50] Speaker 3: they've died right in front of me. So the last
[10:53] Speaker 3: one was the I would say the most impactful for me.
[10:58] Speaker 3: So when I first came to New Zealand and I
[11:00] Speaker 3: bought a van and I went to the South Island,
[11:02] Speaker 3: and I always wanted to go to twice or go
[11:06] Speaker 3: trout fishing and stuff, and I did that. On the
[11:08] Speaker 3: way home, there was a family in front of me
[11:11] Speaker 3: towing a boat and I was right behind them and
[11:16] Speaker 3: I just pulled over into the gas station got some
[11:18] Speaker 3: ice for the fish I caught. I was probably a
[11:20] Speaker 3: minute and I come around the corner driving. It was
[11:23] Speaker 3: one hundred and ten zone. They got into a head
[11:26] Speaker 3: on collision with a Jaguar who was on the opposite
[11:29] Speaker 3: side of the road, drunk driver.
[11:31] Speaker 2: Man.
[11:32] Speaker 3: I was the first on the scene and I pulled up,
[11:36] Speaker 3: rip the handbrake up, jump out the car.
[11:38] Speaker 2: I was running there.
[11:39] Speaker 3: I was like, no, no, come down, calm down, and don't like,
[11:42] Speaker 3: you know, just breathe.
[11:44] Speaker 2: I get there.
[11:45] Speaker 3: I hear screaming, crying. I look in the front of
[11:48] Speaker 3: the full driver I was towing the boat. There was
[11:51] Speaker 3: a young girl there, broken legs. Father I assume was
[11:55] Speaker 3: their broken legs. Boat was launched off the trailer into
[11:59] Speaker 3: the back of you. And then I see this old
[12:02] Speaker 3: man in his eighties just hunched over in the back seat.
[12:06] Speaker 3: Didn't even look in the Jaguar. Just the first the
[12:08] Speaker 3: first people I've seen. So they're alive.
[12:11] Speaker 2: Great. The guy in the front.
[12:13] Speaker 3: So the guy in the back seat that the granddad,
[12:16] Speaker 3: he wasn't so I ripped him out of the car,
[12:19] Speaker 3: started doing CPR and him and I was there for
[12:23] Speaker 3: probably ten minutes doing CPR. I didn't even have time
[12:25] Speaker 3: to call paramedics. The next car that rocked up was
[12:30] Speaker 3: the rest of his family, so it was a grandma
[12:32] Speaker 3: and all the grandkids. Fuck mate, So they're screaming. I'm doing,
[12:38] Speaker 3: you know, resuscitation. He's getting a bit of color back
[12:41] Speaker 3: and you know, the wife is the grandma screaming. The
[12:45] Speaker 3: grandson's actually holding his head off the ground. That was
[12:49] Speaker 3: really impactful. And yeah, eventually an army guy comes and yeah,
[12:55] Speaker 3: he's helping with the situation as well. Paramats come maybe
[12:58] Speaker 3: half an hour into this ordeal, give him an injection,
[13:02] Speaker 3: get the DEFIB on him, nothing his diet. So that
[13:07] Speaker 3: was no emotion at the time. You know, I was
[13:12] Speaker 3: sort of probably in a bit of shock, and I
[13:14] Speaker 3: was just telling myself breathe control, like, you know, don't
[13:17] Speaker 3: show panic and you know, and man, like, the paramedics.
[13:22] Speaker 2: Were great, the fire brogade was great.
[13:24] Speaker 3: I got up, did the questioning that the two people
[13:27] Speaker 3: in the front got airlifted to hospital. And then you know,
[13:31] Speaker 3: I go to the front of the Jaguar and the
[13:33] Speaker 3: guys just crushed, guts everywhere, bloods everywhere.
[13:37] Speaker 2: And I looked at him and I'm like fuck.
[13:39] Speaker 3: And yeah, I remember speaking to the to the fire
[13:43] Speaker 3: brigade and you're like, yeah, I'm right, mate, Like how
[13:46] Speaker 3: do you deal with this? You know, because they didn't
[13:49] Speaker 3: look FaZe at all. You know, He's like, oh man,
[13:51] Speaker 3: we've seen it so many times. I was like fuck. Anyway,
[13:54] Speaker 3: after the ordeal, there's a guy there, the grandson. He
[13:58] Speaker 3: actually he said, hey, brand though I'm a big fan,
[14:02] Speaker 3: and I was like I was sort of like what
[14:03] Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, like I've seen the City kickboxing
[14:06] Speaker 3: sticker in your car, and I think he was a
[14:08] Speaker 3: bit of shock. I'm like, yeah, thanks, bro, like, give
[14:11] Speaker 3: me a number if you ever want to talk, we
[14:12] Speaker 3: can catch up and stuff. And yeah, and then I
[14:16] Speaker 3: go to the fairy and then I was a bit hungry,
[14:19] Speaker 3: so I had some Chinese food. Sitting down, I have
[14:22] Speaker 3: some Chinese food, thinking about everything that happened. Everyone's looking
[14:25] Speaker 3: at me, like, what're looking at me for? Covered in blood?
[14:28] Speaker 3: I didn't realize I was covered in blood. And yeah,
[14:32] Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I'm in a bit of shock now,
[14:34] Speaker 3: you know. So then, yeah, like that was really hard
[14:36] Speaker 3: to deal with. But the stuff, the training that I
[14:40] Speaker 3: deal with with Dave because he was a paramedic as well,
[14:42] Speaker 3: has really really helped me in those top of situations.
[14:45] Speaker 2: I did the best I could.
[14:46] Speaker 3: Unfortunately, the man that passed away, Graham, like, I couldn't
[14:50] Speaker 3: help him. But I did the best that I could.
[14:52] Speaker 3: And then eventually I caught up with the grandson and
[14:55] Speaker 3: the family was very happy I was there and I
[14:58] Speaker 3: did everything I could.
[14:58] Speaker 2: So I'll talk a bit of guilt from there as well.
[15:00] Speaker 2: Could have none better.
[15:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, but hard on yourself, but a natural reaction.
[15:06] Speaker 3: But yeah, so all the breathing stuff like helped me
[15:09] Speaker 3: outside of you know, the cage as well. And there's
[15:13] Speaker 3: been many situations in life where I wouldn't have responded
[15:16] Speaker 3: as well as I did to.
[15:17] Speaker 2: That, you know.
[15:18] Speaker 1: So the cage, Yeah, it's testing yourself to the extreme,
[15:24] Speaker 1: putting yourself in a cage. You've got the combat situation,
[15:29] Speaker 1: you've got the audience to the players on it. As
[15:31] Speaker 1: soon as you're fighting with no one watching them, fighting
[15:33] Speaker 1: with half the world watching it.
[15:35] Speaker 2: Was like bumping to someone on the street.
[15:36] Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, a fre But when you've got ten
[15:39] Speaker 3: weeks to prepare, it's a long time to think about stuff.
[15:43] Speaker 1: Long time, long time to think about But by testing yourself,
[15:46] Speaker 1: and we're talking fighting because that's your your stick, but
[15:50] Speaker 1: testing yourself in some way, you learn so much about yourself,
[15:54] Speaker 1: don't you Like putting yourself under pressure, you learn something
[15:57] Speaker 1: about yourself. Like, yeah, as a homicide, the pressure is
[16:00] Speaker 1: going in the witness box. But I learned something about
[16:03] Speaker 1: myself going in the witness box when you've got barristers
[16:05] Speaker 1: trying to beat you up and yeah, humiliate you on
[16:09] Speaker 1: the matter. There's different ways of testing yourself. So I
[16:12] Speaker 1: think with what you're found in fighting this it seems
[16:17] Speaker 1: to have shaped your life.
[16:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred and I'm so grateful for everything in life,
[16:24] Speaker 3: and who knows what's the next chapter of life, but
[16:26] Speaker 3: right now, like, I try not to focus in the past,
[16:29] Speaker 3: because I used to do that and that's where my
[16:31] Speaker 3: depressure actually came from. I believe was focusing on yesterday
[16:35] Speaker 3: from last year, ten years ago. So I focused even
[16:39] Speaker 3: not in the future, Like, yeah, I have my goals
[16:41] Speaker 3: in my head and I try to manifest things, and
[16:44] Speaker 3: you have to think about the future, but I don't
[16:47] Speaker 3: live in the future. I am present now, you know.
[16:51] Speaker 3: I'm thinking about what's happening right now, and that's how
[16:53] Speaker 3: I try to live my whole life. It's very hard
[16:55] Speaker 3: because you get pulled in either direction, but I really
[16:58] Speaker 3: try to be present. I try to be thankful because
[17:00] Speaker 3: tomorrow is not guaranteed. I'm on the wake up tomorrow
[17:04] Speaker 3: and a lot of my mates have passed away.
[17:06] Speaker 2: They were young, and I just I thought i'd see
[17:09] Speaker 2: them again, but I didn't.
[17:10] Speaker 3: So I really just try to enjoy today, and I
[17:13] Speaker 3: enjoy you know, sunsets, and I enjoyed rain and getting
[17:17] Speaker 3: out in the forest or go fishing and walking on
[17:19] Speaker 3: the beach. It sounds a bit weird, you know, but
[17:22] Speaker 3: it's for me to be alive is such a blessing
[17:25] Speaker 3: and I want to enjoy every single day I have.
[17:27] Speaker 1: So well, it's stepping into that mindfulness, Isn't it like
[17:31] Speaker 1: being present of what you're doing at the time and
[17:35] Speaker 1: enjoying that. You like the type of commitment that you've got,
[17:39] Speaker 1: I said, I made it in the notes. It's like
[17:41] Speaker 1: a zen, like a monk like commitment to achieving your goal.
[17:46] Speaker 1: You're living in a car. Tell us about that, because
[17:48] Speaker 1: I would imagine there might have been a stage when
[17:50] Speaker 1: you first went over there that you had to live
[17:52] Speaker 1: in your car because of finances. But I would imagine
[17:55] Speaker 1: there's other options available to you now, but you're still
[17:57] Speaker 1: choosing to live in your car. The talkers for that.
[18:00] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it is a choice and it's not comfortable.
[18:08] Speaker 3: It's not easy because it's cold in New Zealand. We
[18:11] Speaker 3: don't have a kitchen. It's hard to cook, you know.
[18:14] Speaker 3: I use the gym showers and I lived in the
[18:16] Speaker 3: gym for two years there. But yeah, I think it's
[18:20] Speaker 3: it gets the best out of me. Because I did
[18:22] Speaker 3: have an apartment on one stage because I was sick
[18:24] Speaker 3: of living.
[18:25] Speaker 2: In the gym.
[18:26] Speaker 3: Black and mold everywhere, cockroaches and fucking rats coming in
[18:29] Speaker 3: your room. But I've got too comfortable, and I think
[18:32] Speaker 3: comfort is a death zone for your dreams. It's like
[18:37] Speaker 3: it's for me. I've had such a in my experience.
[18:41] Speaker 3: Everyone's had their own experience in life, and I never
[18:44] Speaker 3: say like, oh, my life has been harder, but in
[18:47] Speaker 3: my in my eyes, my life has been hard. And
[18:49] Speaker 3: when life is good, I get comfortable because.
[18:54] Speaker 2: I've been through so much in the past.
[18:55] Speaker 3: So like I can be happy with very little things
[18:58] Speaker 3: as long as no one's passed away, as long as
[19:01] Speaker 3: I get to wake up, do I love every day
[19:03] Speaker 3: I can get comfortable. I don't want to be comfortable.
[19:05] Speaker 3: I want to be I want to I want to
[19:08] Speaker 3: push my limits and push myself. And I really have
[19:11] Speaker 3: a different desire. When I'm sleeping in the car, I
[19:15] Speaker 3: get up, I train, you know, I'm doing stuff all day,
[19:18] Speaker 3: and then I.
[19:18] Speaker 2: Just go back to sleep. So like I look like
[19:21] Speaker 2: I said before I flew here on a jet.
[19:23] Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been staying in nice hotels and everything the
[19:26] Speaker 3: last couple of weeks, and I don't care like I don't.
[19:28] Speaker 3: I don't even like it that much any truth, it's
[19:31] Speaker 3: it's a distraction.
[19:33] Speaker 1: So and like living in your car, like stripping away
[19:36] Speaker 1: all the luxuries of life, is that help you focus
[19:40] Speaker 1: on what you what you're trying to achieve.
[19:42] Speaker 3: Yeah, because I think we get a lot of distractions
[19:45] Speaker 3: in life where it's friends, family, or maybe material things
[19:48] Speaker 3: and like the silk things. I think Marvin Hagler says
[19:52] Speaker 3: it silk sheets. Oh yeah, it's very true. And you know,
[19:56] Speaker 3: some people can handle it. But I never had money
[19:59] Speaker 3: growing up, you know, I mean, so to have a
[20:00] Speaker 3: bit of money, now I find myself just giving it
[20:04] Speaker 3: away to tell the truth, or enjoying making memories. So like,
[20:09] Speaker 3: right now I'm injured, I can't train how I was
[20:13] Speaker 3: training before. I was training like six hours a day,
[20:15] Speaker 3: So now I can only train a couple hours a day,
[20:17] Speaker 3: you know, do some weights, just some running, bit of
[20:19] Speaker 3: shadow boxing. So I'm like, you know what, touch wood.
[20:23] Speaker 3: I don't have another injury in my career. I won't
[20:25] Speaker 3: have this time off again. So let's go around Australia.
[20:28] Speaker 3: Let's meet some cool people, talk to some cool people.
[20:30] Speaker 3: Let's go to Croatia and Europe and do the same thing,
[20:34] Speaker 3: have a six week holiday, I guess you could say.
[20:37] Speaker 3: And then by the time I go back to New Zealand,
[20:39] Speaker 3: this cast comes off. I'm ready to start my rehab,
[20:41] Speaker 3: strengthen my hands, and we're going to go again.
[20:44] Speaker 1: And how intense is that? When you get back in
[20:47] Speaker 1: the training lead up to a fight, what do you
[20:49] Speaker 1: three months, twelve weeks? What sort of timeframe do you
[20:53] Speaker 1: look for getting yourself ready for a fight.
[20:55] Speaker 3: I'm in an I've been in a constant fight camp
[20:57] Speaker 3: for four years. So before I've been training straight for
[21:00] Speaker 3: ten years. You know, I probably wasn't training the hardest
[21:03] Speaker 3: when I first started, or even though I thought I did.
[21:05] Speaker 3: And now it's like four years I was trying to well,
[21:08] Speaker 3: three years, I was trying to get in the ULLC.
[21:10] Speaker 3: I've been in the New USC for one year now
[21:12] Speaker 3: and it's just every day, all day, six seven days
[21:16] Speaker 3: a week. So I need I needed. This injury is
[21:20] Speaker 3: a blessing and I needed an actual break.
[21:23] Speaker 1: Give us a sense of a week's training for you,
[21:26] Speaker 1: or a day's day's training when you're in a fight camp.
[21:29] Speaker 3: So every day starts the same, wake up at eight am,
[21:33] Speaker 3: do the morning class, So before morning class. At nine am,
[21:37] Speaker 3: I'll do half an hour bag or bike just to
[21:40] Speaker 3: get blood flowing, you know, switch the brain on.
[21:42] Speaker 2: We'll do an hour and a half in the morning.
[21:45] Speaker 3: It could be either MMA, maybe some drilling, some wall drilling,
[21:49] Speaker 3: some wrestling, some striking, depends what phase we're in training,
[21:54] Speaker 3: so that's like a general class. After that, I normally
[21:57] Speaker 3: do a pad session for an hour. That's three days
[22:01] Speaker 3: a week. The other two days a week it's bag
[22:04] Speaker 3: work or I'm on the bike, have a break, eat,
[22:09] Speaker 3: maybe have a nap. Afternoon twelve o'clock or one o'clock,
[22:12] Speaker 3: depending on the day, it's going to be SNC so
[22:15] Speaker 3: strength and conditioning, so that's three days a week. The
[22:19] Speaker 3: other two days it's a rest. Depending on the day,
[22:22] Speaker 3: four pm or four thirty, we've got a wrestling class,
[22:25] Speaker 3: a jiu jitsu class, or a VO two class. So
[22:29] Speaker 3: we have different blocks in camps, so we have like
[22:32] Speaker 3: you know, eight weeks out, four weeks out, and then
[22:36] Speaker 3: we've got like yeah, different phases.
[22:38] Speaker 2: So different energy systems.
[22:39] Speaker 3: And then depending on what night it is, we've got
[22:42] Speaker 3: a sparring session in the evening or maybe a striking session.
[22:46] Speaker 3: So it's three to four trainings a day, and then
[22:48] Speaker 3: in between the trainings, you're arresting, recovering, you're doing your physio,
[22:53] Speaker 3: you're trying to develop skills, maybe watch tape. If you've
[22:56] Speaker 3: got a fight coming up, you're focusing on the game plan.
[22:59] Speaker 3: And then also there's a business side of things, so
[23:02] Speaker 3: I have my appointments in between, I'm catching up with
[23:04] Speaker 3: people making phone calls. Like I do everything myself. It's
[23:09] Speaker 3: you know, like I've got management who do my UFC
[23:12] Speaker 3: contract side of things, which help. I got my coaches
[23:15] Speaker 3: who help with fights, you know, like they study my
[23:18] Speaker 3: opponent and they watched me train and they see, okay,
[23:22] Speaker 3: Brando is doing this or that, let's change this. So
[23:25] Speaker 3: it is a team sport, but there's a lot of
[23:26] Speaker 3: things I do myself as well.
[23:28] Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a science behind it too, isn't it. Like
[23:30] Speaker 1: the way they structure the training, and I would imagine
[23:33] Speaker 1: your nutrition and diet is another big thing that factors
[23:36] Speaker 1: into it for sure.
[23:37] Speaker 3: My last camp was the first camp I actually stuck
[23:41] Speaker 3: to a nutrition schedule from the PI where we get it.
[23:46] Speaker 2: I didn't have a kitchen, so it was very hard
[23:47] Speaker 2: to stick to it.
[23:48] Speaker 3: So you're like, I have five thousand calories a day
[23:52] Speaker 3: and it's very hard to eat five thousand calories. It's
[23:54] Speaker 3: very hard to go to a supermarket when you're getting stopped,
[23:58] Speaker 3: you know, from everyone, you're saying hello to everyone. You
[24:01] Speaker 3: grab your staff and you got to cook it. It's
[24:03] Speaker 3: hours in the week.
[24:04] Speaker 2: You're losing.
[24:05] Speaker 3: So then my last camp, I paid the money and
[24:08] Speaker 3: I offloaded it to somebody else. They made me my
[24:12] Speaker 3: food to the tea, delivered it to me and just
[24:15] Speaker 3: made my life so much easier.
[24:17] Speaker 1: There's a lot that goes into it, isn't it.
[24:19] Speaker 2: Well, it is.
[24:20] Speaker 3: It's not like other professional sports where they have an
[24:23] Speaker 3: organization who takes care of everything for you. Fighting is
[24:27] Speaker 3: a very difficult thing to do, and it's more difficult.
[24:31] Speaker 2: When you haven't got people to help you.
[24:33] Speaker 3: So I'm thankful I've got good friends and family and
[24:37] Speaker 3: they do help with certain things. But at the same time,
[24:40] Speaker 3: it's all on me. I'll do the work in and
[24:42] Speaker 3: outside the gym.
[24:43] Speaker 1: You you were a good rugby player, an informant told me,
[24:48] Speaker 1: Andrew was right. What's the difference between team sport and
[24:54] Speaker 1: the individual fighting.
[24:56] Speaker 2: Look, I got sent off a few times for fo rugby.
[25:02] Speaker 1: They seems to be consistent.
[25:04] Speaker 3: My last game of rugby, I charged the whole other
[25:08] Speaker 3: team after they beat us and I just started fighting
[25:11] Speaker 3: with them because they were playing really dirty and I
[25:14] Speaker 3: just lost it and it wasn't good. Okay, So that
[25:17] Speaker 3: was my last rugby game and apologies to put out
[25:20] Speaker 3: a rugby club.
[25:22] Speaker 2: They still talk about that to this day. Yeah.
[25:25] Speaker 1: Now, we always thought he might be a fighter. But
[25:29] Speaker 1: the difference team sports a lot colder because you can share.
[25:33] Speaker 1: You share the pressure, you're in the change room before
[25:35] Speaker 1: you go out to share the pressure, share the joy.
[25:38] Speaker 1: Then there's fighting, and it's you have a team around you,
[25:41] Speaker 1: and the higher up you get, the more important that
[25:43] Speaker 1: that team, I would imagine. But it is a very
[25:46] Speaker 1: individual thing because it is a lonely place. When you
[25:49] Speaker 1: step in the ring and there's no one else in
[25:51] Speaker 1: there other than the blake that wants to take your
[25:53] Speaker 1: head off.
[25:53] Speaker 2: You got no one else to blame but yourself. So
[25:55] Speaker 2: you So.
[25:58] Speaker 3: The one thing I didn't like aboutugby when I was playing,
[26:01] Speaker 3: or even AFL was the culture. So in Adelaide, I
[26:05] Speaker 3: don't know what it was like here or anywhere else
[26:08] Speaker 3: around Australia. The culture in the club sports scene wasn't good.
[26:12] Speaker 3: There was a lot of drinking, maybe drugs, parties. Like
[26:15] Speaker 3: they're just normal people, you know, working nine to five.
[26:20] Speaker 3: They didn't maybe have aspirations too, and that's where they
[26:22] Speaker 3: cut loose, and that's where they cut loose, and that
[26:24] Speaker 3: could be bad influences. Not all of them, but some
[26:27] Speaker 3: of them. So I would literally rock uper training. I
[26:29] Speaker 3: will train and I'll leave. I didn't have friends, you know,
[26:33] Speaker 3: I would go to the game, I'll play, I'll leave,
[26:35] Speaker 3: so I wouldn't get caught up in all the bullshit culture.
[26:38] Speaker 3: I met a lot of good men in rugby, especially
[26:41] Speaker 3: like would have a rugby club. I still got some
[26:43] Speaker 3: really good friends there. But he like, I learned a lot,
[26:47] Speaker 3: and for me, it just wasn't for me. I thought
[26:50] Speaker 3: I would be a great rugby player, and even my
[26:53] Speaker 3: coach said, like, you're one in a million, you know
[26:55] Speaker 3: what I mean, if you put your head down this,
[26:56] Speaker 3: you're gonna be a superstar. But I always liked fighting
[26:59] Speaker 3: and always had that thing aside of me and said
[27:01] Speaker 3: that you will be a usc heavyweight champion or even
[27:04] Speaker 3: a boxing heavyweight champion.
[27:06] Speaker 1: So well, you've got got the build, you've got a
[27:08] Speaker 1: bit of speed, to keep giving up this informant Andrew Carpenter, Sorry,
[27:12] Speaker 1: we'll put that out. Did you did you have a
[27:17] Speaker 1: sprint against Alex Velosky?
[27:19] Speaker 2: Yeah?
[27:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well tell me there because he was he
[27:24] Speaker 1: was a rugby player, a rugby league player, smaller than
[27:28] Speaker 1: smaller than you. What happened with the sprint?
[27:31] Speaker 2: Yeah?
[27:31] Speaker 3: Look, I've been him, Like obviously I'm a lot bigger
[27:34] Speaker 3: than him, but he's you know, he's a great athlete himself.
[27:38] Speaker 1: He looks like he could kick along.
[27:40] Speaker 3: And to tell you the truth, like I won't to
[27:41] Speaker 3: drop names, but I've actually raised a lot of people
[27:44] Speaker 3: that are professional athletes in rugby and I beat them.
[27:48] Speaker 3: I've got a bit of speed to me, and I've
[27:49] Speaker 3: taken a lot of money for people. So I've always
[27:52] Speaker 3: put my money where my mouth is. And I've only
[27:54] Speaker 3: lost one race and he was a national sprinter.
[27:57] Speaker 2: So yeah, okay. And how much you weigh at the
[28:00] Speaker 2: moment at the moment, about one thirty?
[28:04] Speaker 1: Yes? Do you what do you strip down to for
[28:07] Speaker 1: your fights?
[28:08] Speaker 2: About one eighteen one twenty?
[28:10] Speaker 1: And is it tough for you or is it training?
[28:12] Speaker 2: Just just stop eating so much carbs and cakes.
[28:15] Speaker 3: I've got a little sweet too, So yeah, Yeah.
[28:18] Speaker 1: It's brutal, isn't I see some of the fighters that
[28:21] Speaker 1: have got to strip the weight in the lower lower
[28:24] Speaker 1: weight levels. It's brutal, isn't it what they've got to
[28:26] Speaker 1: put themselves through. Yeah. I take my hat off to them.
[28:30] Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's not just the mental side of things,
[28:33] Speaker 3: the training side and the injury prevention. Then they got
[28:37] Speaker 3: to go through a crazy physiological preparation like you're basically
[28:43] Speaker 3: almost on your death bed some of them.
[28:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, I like, yeah, I don't know how
[28:48] Speaker 2: they do it.
[28:49] Speaker 1: I I helping the mate out that had a title
[28:52] Speaker 1: fight and was sharing the sauna with him, just to
[28:56] Speaker 1: share share the paint and not drinking, and the amount
[28:59] Speaker 1: of weight he had to lose, it was just quite frightening,
[29:02] Speaker 1: and I watched his personality change. Like we'd go in
[29:05] Speaker 1: the sauna for twenty minutes, put oil on your skin,
[29:09] Speaker 1: it blocks your paws and then then the sweat just
[29:12] Speaker 1: starts pouring out. But had a doctor there, wigh and
[29:14] Speaker 1: each time it got out, and so did about six
[29:17] Speaker 1: twenty minute lots to get him get him down the way,
[29:20] Speaker 1: no drinking in between. But it was just brutal, and
[29:23] Speaker 1: we do twenty minutes in and he wasn't even losing
[29:26] Speaker 1: any by the time, you know, just his body was
[29:28] Speaker 1: just exhausted. Then go to the way and and then
[29:31] Speaker 1: rehydrate on that. But I just can't imagine fighting when
[29:35] Speaker 1: you put yourself through through that.
[29:38] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you're speaking to the wrong guy about
[29:40] Speaker 3: way it cuts because if I speak on behalf of people,
[29:43] Speaker 3: they're going to give me shit. I don't have to
[29:46] Speaker 3: cut much weight five Ki, you know, you.
[29:48] Speaker 1: Don't have to have to worry about it. Next steps
[29:51] Speaker 1: for you with UFC, When do we think we'll see
[29:54] Speaker 1: you back in the back in the octagon?
[29:56] Speaker 3: I would say in November December. Yeah, I have to
[29:59] Speaker 3: get one more fight in this year. So that's what
[30:01] Speaker 3: I'm going for. I'm going to have this little holiday.
[30:03] Speaker 3: I'm still training and I'm getting better, but once I
[30:07] Speaker 3: get back to New Zealand, it's, you know, head down
[30:10] Speaker 3: and go, go go.
[30:11] Speaker 1: Another thing I heard about that you'd like to spend
[30:15] Speaker 1: time on your own is that you still find peace
[30:18] Speaker 1: just getting away from everything.
[30:20] Speaker 2: I love my own company.
[30:21] Speaker 3: It's actually hard for me to be around people now
[30:24] Speaker 3: because there's so much drama and stress in the world,
[30:28] Speaker 3: and people tend to, you know, I've always been the
[30:30] Speaker 3: one people come and talk to, which is like a
[30:33] Speaker 3: privilege on its own.
[30:35] Speaker 2: But at the same time, like man.
[30:36] Speaker 3: Your dramas on my drama, like it's like I'm there
[30:40] Speaker 3: for my mates and family always. There's a lot of
[30:43] Speaker 3: unnecessary conversations and end of the day, like my you know,
[30:48] Speaker 3: Israel says that you've got to fortify your mind, You've
[30:50] Speaker 3: got to protect your peace, and that's so true. So
[30:53] Speaker 3: in fighting, I need to be thinking about fighting getting better,
[30:56] Speaker 3: you know, and I want to enjoy this journey, you know.
[30:59] Speaker 3: So in life in general is hard enough as it is.
[31:03] Speaker 3: Don't dump your shit on me, mate, like you unless
[31:05] Speaker 3: unless it's it's like you need me, and it's like
[31:08] Speaker 3: you're like a good friend of mine and I can
[31:10] Speaker 3: help you step up. By some of the messages I
[31:12] Speaker 3: get bro just ridiculous. So you know, I really try.
[31:17] Speaker 3: I really do enjoy my lone time.
[31:19] Speaker 1: That don't protect your peace. I understand that to a
[31:22] Speaker 1: degree that people reach out to me on a lot
[31:26] Speaker 1: of different things. And there's a limited capacity to what
[31:30] Speaker 1: you can do sometimes like in helping people, and yeah,
[31:35] Speaker 1: sometimes and as I get older, I get wiser and
[31:38] Speaker 1: start to get a sense of what brings your happiness.
[31:41] Speaker 1: And sometimes you have got to shut yourself out to
[31:43] Speaker 1: the out to the world to.
[31:45] Speaker 2: Enjoy the sunset.
[31:46] Speaker 3: Mate, Yeah, go for a swim, go for a walk,
[31:48] Speaker 3: enjoy the nature. Know, if you've got a dog, walk
[31:50] Speaker 3: your dog. I don't have the answers. Yeah, I'm not
[31:53] Speaker 3: a scholar. I'm just a normal dude. And I can
[31:56] Speaker 3: listen to people and have a safe space for them.
[31:59] Speaker 3: But Mate, some of the stuff that happens to other people,
[32:03] Speaker 3: like I can't I can't help, you know. And all
[32:07] Speaker 3: I can do is listen and try to be a
[32:08] Speaker 3: good friend.
[32:09] Speaker 1: And you know, but that's a responsibility. The ability you're
[32:13] Speaker 1: going to carry now as a role model too, Like
[32:15] Speaker 1: it's going to happen more and more, I would imagine
[32:17] Speaker 1: if you keep rising in the in the UFC.
[32:21] Speaker 3: It's hard to even say like a role model because like,
[32:24] Speaker 3: like it's for me, It's like, I'm not a role model.
[32:27] Speaker 2: You know.
[32:28] Speaker 3: I've done a lot of bad things when I was younger,
[32:30] Speaker 3: and you know, I still have a bit of imposter
[32:32] Speaker 3: syndrome for being in this position, and it's like I'm
[32:36] Speaker 3: just trying to do my best and if you can
[32:39] Speaker 3: take something from my life and maybe inspires you, that's great.
[32:44] Speaker 3: But I am not here to be a role model
[32:46] Speaker 3: for people. And I'm just I'm just living.
[32:49] Speaker 1: Well. I understand what you're saying. I just don't know
[32:52] Speaker 1: if it's going to be achievable. And you're saying imposter syndrome,
[32:56] Speaker 1: like people will look up to you. That's that's the
[32:58] Speaker 1: nature of the chosen field filled you're in, and if
[33:02] Speaker 1: you get where you're confident you're going to get, that's
[33:05] Speaker 1: going to be on another level. Yeah, that's yeah. I
[33:09] Speaker 1: won't jinx you by saying, hey, you prepare yourself for it.
[33:11] Speaker 1: But I suppose the steps that you're taking now, each step,
[33:15] Speaker 1: even that you know you said with your injuries, you're
[33:17] Speaker 1: getting out about and doing some of the things like this,
[33:20] Speaker 1: getting out and talking, I suppose it provides you the
[33:24] Speaker 1: background and the skills to be able to adapt to it.
[33:27] Speaker 1: And having people like Israel offering you advice must be
[33:31] Speaker 1: must be good.
[33:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent agree. Even just doing this podcast. Yeah,
[33:36] Speaker 3: you know, like getting reps in the podcast because one
[33:38] Speaker 3: day I'll be on Joe Rogan.
[33:40] Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's that's where I'm talking that that you're
[33:43] Speaker 1: at that different level. And yeah, you're not going to
[33:47] Speaker 1: just be walking around here recognized anywhere you go, You're
[33:49] Speaker 1: going to be recognized.
[33:50] Speaker 3: Yeah, so's it's it's just repetition, I guess. And I
[33:54] Speaker 3: want to be better. You want to get better, And
[33:56] Speaker 3: as uncomfortable as these conversations can be for me, I
[34:00] Speaker 3: have to do it. I feel the responsibility and I
[34:03] Speaker 3: don't want to hide. Like you know, where there's fear,
[34:08] Speaker 3: that's where the path lives.
[34:11] Speaker 2: You know, I'm pretty sure that's cu young.
[34:14] Speaker 3: So whatever scares me, I always attack it, always do
[34:17] Speaker 3: it because I know on the other side of that fear,
[34:19] Speaker 3: that's whether the success is, that's where the level up is.
[34:22] Speaker 3: So this scares me sitting in front of like I
[34:26] Speaker 3: don't how many people have watched this, but it's.
[34:28] Speaker 2: In the back of my head, you know.
[34:30] Speaker 3: And I'm just a kid from Adelaide who was dyslexic,
[34:33] Speaker 3: had a you know, a starter, didn't have many friends
[34:36] Speaker 3: growing up. And now people come up to me and
[34:38] Speaker 3: stop me in the streets and I'm speaking in front
[34:39] Speaker 3: of schools, I'm speaking on podcasts. You know, it's a
[34:44] Speaker 3: lot for me to push pass, but I do it.
[34:46] Speaker 3: Because I'm a man and I want to be better.
[34:49] Speaker 1: And yeah, those challenges you say, the fear that does
[34:54] Speaker 1: help you grow, Like you got to you gotta challenge
[34:56] Speaker 1: yourself every day if you can in some way or
[35:00] Speaker 1: do something that scares you, and that's where you grow from.
[35:02] Speaker 1: And the pressure the failures that will make you a
[35:07] Speaker 1: better person.
[35:09] Speaker 3: Well, if you don't fail, you haven't tried. Yeah, well
[35:11] Speaker 3: I can't imagine living a life where you didn't try.
[35:14] Speaker 3: You got to your deathbed and you're just like, I
[35:17] Speaker 3: should have done this, should and that. Like I know
[35:19] Speaker 3: when I die one day, I'm going to be laying
[35:21] Speaker 3: on my deathbed, God willing, I'm to be smiling and be.
[35:24] Speaker 2: Like, what a fucking life.
[35:25] Speaker 1: Brother, Well, that's what you want to aim for, isn't
[35:27] Speaker 1: it that? That's definitely what you want to aim for.
[35:31] Speaker 1: The Other stuff that you're doing. I know you you've
[35:34] Speaker 1: been doing some charity work as well. That can that
[35:38] Speaker 1: can help with the stuff that you're doing balancing out. Yeah,
[35:41] Speaker 1: you talk about an imposter syndrome. Well you're not saying
[35:44] Speaker 1: you're perfect, but if you're helping some other people in
[35:46] Speaker 1: different ways, that's a good thing.
[35:49] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[35:49] Speaker 3: I've always I've always enjoyed helping people, always enjoy like
[35:52] Speaker 3: I'm a joy giver, but I also love just helping
[35:55] Speaker 3: whoever I can. I've done it for around my whole career.
[35:57] Speaker 3: I've done a lot of charity work for in a
[36:00] Speaker 3: local scene. And when I started fighting for me. Maybe
[36:04] Speaker 3: it was a bit of guilt at the start, you know,
[36:06] Speaker 3: like I did a lot of bad things when I
[36:07] Speaker 3: was younger. Maybe it was a bit of shame and
[36:10] Speaker 3: Gil just wanted to give back. But I really do
[36:12] Speaker 3: enjoy helping people. And that meet and Green in Adelaide,
[36:16] Speaker 3: that was scary.
[36:17] Speaker 2: I had nine days to prepare for.
[36:20] Speaker 3: A meet and Greek. I didn't think anyone's going to
[36:22] Speaker 3: rock up. We did one in Queensland on twenty four
[36:24] Speaker 3: hours notice. Eight people rocked up, right and I was
[36:27] Speaker 3: impressed with that. Whoa eight people come crazy?
[36:31] Speaker 1: What did you do down in Adelaide? It was the
[36:35] Speaker 1: What's at the Cubra Hotel? It was at Akaba Aquaba,
[36:39] Speaker 1: So I've spoken down there and it's really yeah.
[36:43] Speaker 2: Great venue, yeah, good venue. Yeah.
[36:45] Speaker 3: And Jackie Jackie, like you know, we messaged a lot
[36:47] Speaker 3: of pubs used to workout. None of them wanted to
[36:50] Speaker 3: take us on Jackie's like, mates, we've got nine days
[36:53] Speaker 3: to prepare for this eight by time we did advertising,
[36:56] Speaker 3: but let's fucking do it. So she was amazing. She
[37:01] Speaker 3: you know her Andy, they did a lot of work
[37:04] Speaker 3: for me and like for maybe thirty people, we had
[37:08] Speaker 3: over two hundred and twenty people.
[37:10] Speaker 1: And charity.
[37:11] Speaker 3: It was for a charity, Little Heroes Foundation, which is
[37:13] Speaker 3: a charity that. Look, I find it hard to donate
[37:17] Speaker 3: to charities because I know a lot of it doesn't
[37:19] Speaker 3: go to the actual people. So I've always when I've
[37:22] Speaker 3: done charity work, like I raised money for this little
[37:26] Speaker 3: girl named Ella a few years back, you know, a
[37:28] Speaker 3: single mom and then her daughter, Ella had leakemia. So
[37:33] Speaker 3: I rocked up to a house of a lump summer
[37:36] Speaker 3: money and I gifted it to her and she was shocked.
[37:39] Speaker 3: So that direct donation that would help, you know, giving
[37:43] Speaker 3: that money to a charity, I don't know how much
[37:46] Speaker 3: of that would have gone to. So I like doing
[37:48] Speaker 3: things like that. But I spoke to Andy and like, hey, bro,
[37:51] Speaker 3: I really want to donate to a charity.
[37:53] Speaker 2: Who do you have? Who do you recommend?
[37:55] Speaker 3: He was like, hands down, Little Heroes Foundation. So you know,
[37:58] Speaker 3: we raised over sixteen thousand, and it was incredible, over
[38:02] Speaker 3: two hundred and twenty people there.
[38:04] Speaker 2: When I walked out, I didn't recognize.
[38:06] Speaker 3: Hardly anybody, Like all these people came for me on
[38:09] Speaker 3: nine days notice. So I was like, it was. It
[38:12] Speaker 3: was a pretty thrilled moment. I actually had some tears
[38:14] Speaker 3: of my eyes, and yeah, it was. It was a
[38:16] Speaker 3: really good night, really good night.
[38:18] Speaker 1: Well that's that type of thing. And you were back
[38:21] Speaker 1: talking at your school as well, so my schools another another.
[38:26] Speaker 1: But these are the type of things that you can
[38:28] Speaker 1: give back because you are it's a role model that
[38:31] Speaker 1: people will look up to you. With your relationship with
[38:36] Speaker 1: your father, how's that now? We touched on it in
[38:39] Speaker 1: part one that you're still staying in touch with him or.
[38:42] Speaker 3: I just saw him in Queensland a couple of weeks ago,
[38:46] Speaker 3: so that was the first time of five years I
[38:48] Speaker 3: saw him. And we stayed in contact here and there,
[38:51] Speaker 3: messaging phone calls. But yeah, that's that's probably the last
[38:56] Speaker 3: time I seen my dad, I would say, right, and
[38:58] Speaker 3: that's just not coming from any hate or anything like that,
[39:05] Speaker 3: but it's a long time between drinks. I really try
[39:08] Speaker 3: to make an effort and I feel like it's a
[39:11] Speaker 3: one way street, and yeah, I just had to sort
[39:15] Speaker 3: of make a decision and I shook his hand, told
[39:19] Speaker 3: him I love him, I thank him, and he's not
[39:21] Speaker 3: a horrible person.
[39:22] Speaker 2: He made mistakes when he was younger.
[39:24] Speaker 3: Everyone does, everyone does, and he chose like another woman
[39:29] Speaker 3: over you know, my mother and his kids. He made
[39:33] Speaker 3: his bedy as a lander. Now, So yeah, I shook
[39:37] Speaker 3: his hands, gave my heart, going to kiss, and we're
[39:40] Speaker 3: just going to go our separate ways and maybe one
[39:43] Speaker 3: day we rekindle.
[39:45] Speaker 2: But at this moment in time, I.
[39:47] Speaker 3: Just need to focus in my life, my career, and yeah,
[39:52] Speaker 3: I've learned a lot from him. And I know one
[39:54] Speaker 3: day when I have kids, like, I'm not going to
[39:56] Speaker 3: run away from my family.
[39:57] Speaker 1: You hope to settle down. Have you want to do
[40:01] Speaker 1: the whole whole thing.
[40:02] Speaker 3: I think that's what we're here for, you know, as men, Like,
[40:07] Speaker 3: what a waste of my life to to just you know,
[40:09] Speaker 3: your ancestors survived wars and everything to bring you here.
[40:15] Speaker 3: You know, my my parents, my grandparents sacrifice their lives
[40:18] Speaker 3: for me. Yeah, I've got to carry the name on,
[40:20] Speaker 3: you know. So I really do look forward to having
[40:23] Speaker 3: kids one day now it's.
[40:25] Speaker 2: A lot of time.
[40:26] Speaker 3: Now it's I'm a very selfish person and I don't
[40:29] Speaker 3: have time for.
[40:30] Speaker 1: That any time for romance. It's just you're living like
[40:34] Speaker 1: a monk.
[40:34] Speaker 3: What are you laughing at? Yeah, look it's it's yeah.
[40:40] Speaker 3: I didn't leave my family to go to Auckland and
[40:44] Speaker 3: be distracted. So you know, I I love Australia, I
[40:48] Speaker 3: love New Zealand. I don't know where I'm going to
[40:50] Speaker 3: settle after my career, but I've got another eight ten
[40:53] Speaker 3: years in me, like God willing in the UFC, and
[40:57] Speaker 3: I just want to be the best I can be.
[40:59] Speaker 3: I want to be the greatest you'll see heavyweight champion ever.
[41:01] Speaker 3: That's that's my goal, and the first Australian you'll see
[41:04] Speaker 3: heavyweight champ.
[41:05] Speaker 1: I can't even comprehend how huge it would be if
[41:08] Speaker 1: you get there. And when you get there, I'll correct myself.
[41:12] Speaker 1: So look you gave me on the face. I'm sorry
[41:15] Speaker 1: when you get there. But yeah, it's it's a big,
[41:19] Speaker 1: big thing that you're aiming for. But you see seem
[41:22] Speaker 1: committed on every level.
[41:23] Speaker 2: This is my life. This is my life is dedicated
[41:25] Speaker 2: to this.
[41:27] Speaker 1: What what took you to Auckland? Was the reputation of
[41:31] Speaker 1: the gym over there that.
[41:32] Speaker 3: It's Israel, it's the gym, it's the people, Like the
[41:36] Speaker 3: gym doesn't make the gym. It's the people in the gym.
[41:39] Speaker 3: It's the it's the fighters. It's the training partners. Like
[41:43] Speaker 3: once training partners, I mean just the regular quality the
[41:46] Speaker 3: mom and dad who come for a training session, Like
[41:49] Speaker 3: we've got some of some of my hardest training sessions.
[41:53] Speaker 3: Training partners are actually just dad's.
[41:55] Speaker 1: Coming off the street, coming off the street.
[41:58] Speaker 3: It's like, yeah, they give you different books and maybe
[42:00] Speaker 3: that had a bit of experience of jiu jitsu or
[42:03] Speaker 3: maybe that a few fights back in the day. Like
[42:05] Speaker 3: they're my most valuable training partners as well. So there's
[42:09] Speaker 3: really the people in the gym, and obviously.
[42:10] Speaker 2: Got the coaches.
[42:11] Speaker 3: You've got the experience, like you know, we have I
[42:15] Speaker 3: would say six or seven coaches and a wide range
[42:18] Speaker 3: of skill sets and fighting experience. Everyone's played a role
[42:24] Speaker 3: in my career, even my old coaches and Adelaide. So
[42:27] Speaker 3: man if I sit down and name all of them,
[42:31] Speaker 3: will take.
[42:31] Speaker 2: Me half an hour. Right, everybody is a combined thing.
[42:35] Speaker 1: The nature of Yeah, that's the elite kickboxing gym in
[42:39] Speaker 1: Auckland and that, but they still let the community train
[42:42] Speaker 1: there and there's a business, you know, and so that's
[42:45] Speaker 1: I think that's good for everyone. Like it's good for
[42:48] Speaker 1: the people that are coming along just for their fitness
[42:50] Speaker 1: and get a kick, and then they're training with watching
[42:54] Speaker 1: people like you train and it keeps you grounded.
[42:57] Speaker 2: Well, I was one of those people.
[42:58] Speaker 3: I was nobody came into the gym and I was
[43:01] Speaker 3: looking up to all the USC fighters and now am
[43:04] Speaker 3: I somebody when I just feel normal?
[43:06] Speaker 1: When was the first time you've thought you're really tested?
[43:09] Speaker 1: When they're looking because they walk in and I know
[43:11] Speaker 1: if someone walks into a gym, they watch how they
[43:13] Speaker 1: throw their hands and watch how they move. When did
[43:16] Speaker 1: you first really get tested, tested and you made an
[43:20] Speaker 1: impression on them? Well, I knew they were watching me
[43:23] Speaker 1: straight away. So as soon as Israel invited me to
[43:26] Speaker 1: the gym after I lost that fight, they set up
[43:29] Speaker 1: a camera and they recorded me. I was hitting some
[43:31] Speaker 1: pads of a good friend of mine double. So I
[43:35] Speaker 1: knew from then like they're watching me. They're going to
[43:38] Speaker 1: watch that tape and then if they want me back,
[43:40] Speaker 1: they they will invite me. And they did so, but
[43:42] Speaker 1: I chose to go to City keep Boxing. I could
[43:45] Speaker 1: have gone to any gym in the world and I
[43:47] Speaker 1: would have been welcome open arms. And I still believe
[43:50] Speaker 1: to day, I'm thankful for my management in my in
[43:53] Speaker 1: my gym.
[43:54] Speaker 3: City keep Boxing for getting me in the ULLC. But mate,
[43:57] Speaker 3: I would have got a new us C anywhere else. Well,
[44:00] Speaker 3: So like it's it's my coach Richie and Adelaide. He
[44:04] Speaker 3: said this to me. He's like, Brando, you know you're
[44:08] Speaker 3: a born fighter. You're either born or you're not. I
[44:12] Speaker 3: can teach you how to stick your hand up for
[44:14] Speaker 3: a job, for a hook. By the end of the day,
[44:17] Speaker 3: you're the one in there fighting. I just hold the
[44:19] Speaker 3: bucket and I tell you to breathe and relax, and
[44:22] Speaker 3: that's it. So yeah, Like I'm a great athlete. I've
[44:26] Speaker 3: done a lot of different sports and did a lot
[44:29] Speaker 3: of different training over the years which have helped.
[44:31] Speaker 2: But it's I think it's something that you're born with.
[44:33] Speaker 2: You either have it or you don't. I know I
[44:35] Speaker 2: have it.
[44:36] Speaker 1: So yeah, And when the reaction when you win, are
[44:40] Speaker 1: you what sort of feeling do you have when you win?
[44:44] Speaker 1: What I'm trying to say, are you always looking for improvement.
[44:47] Speaker 1: Do you enjoy do you enjoy the success of having
[44:50] Speaker 1: having a victory or are you straight away where's my
[44:52] Speaker 1: next fight? Like I'm just trying to get it. I'm
[44:55] Speaker 1: always fascinated and I've had a few people here that
[44:57] Speaker 1: will world champions. In the podcast, I'm always fast knowed
[45:00] Speaker 1: by someone that says I can be the best in
[45:02] Speaker 1: the world of this and the mentality that makes them go, Okay,
[45:07] Speaker 1: that was good. I won the first round, but I
[45:08] Speaker 1: can do better. What sort of mentality do you come
[45:11] Speaker 1: out of the ring with?
[45:13] Speaker 3: So the first I would say, my whole career, I've
[45:15] Speaker 3: never been happy with my performance.
[45:17] Speaker 1: Ever, always hard critique on you.
[45:19] Speaker 3: Oh, I used to be depressed, but I first started fighting.
[45:22] Speaker 3: I used to get depressed after my fight. I would
[45:23] Speaker 3: knock someone out in fourteen seconds. I used to get
[45:25] Speaker 3: depressed because it wasn't good enough. I was very hard
[45:28] Speaker 3: on myself and people would praise me, and you know,
[45:32] Speaker 3: you know, like some fighters they say, no one believed
[45:35] Speaker 3: in me. May everyone believed in me from the start, right,
[45:39] Speaker 3: And it was a really weird thing for me. And
[45:41] Speaker 3: I'll put a lot of pressure on myself, you know what.
[45:43] Speaker 3: I mean and even in the UFC, the first two
[45:46] Speaker 3: fights I had, I wasn't happy with it. I could
[45:49] Speaker 3: do better. I could do better. But my last fight,
[45:52] Speaker 3: I actually enjoyed it. I said to myself, I looked
[45:54] Speaker 3: at myself in the mirror. I said, you're the fucking man.
[45:57] Speaker 3: That was a good fight. Yeah, you know, I taped
[45:59] Speaker 3: myself shoulder. Good job, brand though. That was the first
[46:02] Speaker 3: time in my life ever did that. Good fucking job.
[46:05] Speaker 3: So yeah. But again after two days I wanted to
[46:09] Speaker 3: fight again, you know, but I had to go get surgery.
[46:12] Speaker 3: And then you get like a load, like now I'm
[46:14] Speaker 3: ready for it, Like after a big fight, big preparation,
[46:17] Speaker 3: you get a victory. I was very happy. You get
[46:20] Speaker 3: that crash, so I was prepared for it obviously. Then
[46:23] Speaker 3: your operation and you know, so it's just a highs
[46:25] Speaker 3: and lows and you just deal with it.
[46:28] Speaker 1: Your depression. Is that all in the past.
[46:30] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I would say, so it's now. I'm aware.
[46:34] Speaker 3: I didn't know what it was. I'm aware of what
[46:36] Speaker 3: it is now. So now, like even just being day
[46:40] Speaker 3: to day, I don't try to get too happy about
[46:43] Speaker 3: things or too sad. I'm just I'm pretty neutral. I'm
[46:45] Speaker 3: pretty neutral. I'm just grateful to be alive. I'm grateful
[46:48] Speaker 3: to be here doing what I love, traveling. I've got
[46:51] Speaker 3: beautiful friends of family.
[46:54] Speaker 2: Man.
[46:54] Speaker 3: The last time I was depressed was like quite quite
[46:57] Speaker 3: a while ago. So it's and it's I think depression
[47:01] Speaker 3: as well is sort of that. It's got the stigma.
[47:05] Speaker 3: Everyone's doesn't want to say that's the depressed or whatever.
[47:08] Speaker 3: But most of the time, like I thought, I was
[47:10] Speaker 3: really depressed, it was just my body or maybe God
[47:14] Speaker 3: telling me, hey, you're on the wrong path. Get back
[47:16] Speaker 3: to where he's supposed to be. Find your purpose, you know,
[47:19] Speaker 3: stick to that. It's to me when I look at
[47:21] Speaker 3: my life now, I was going down the wrong path
[47:25] Speaker 3: or doing the wrong things, or not living up to
[47:27] Speaker 3: my potential. And that's why I was feeling sad. That's
[47:30] Speaker 3: why I was feeling depressed. But it brought me back,
[47:34] Speaker 3: It made me take action. Train train training is always
[47:37] Speaker 3: answered for me, you know, you know, stop being lazy, Like,
[47:40] Speaker 3: do the right thing, do the hard thing. The easy
[47:42] Speaker 3: thing isn't isn't the good thing. Do the hard thing
[47:44] Speaker 3: in life. You're going to feel proud, You're going to
[47:47] Speaker 3: get a.
[47:47] Speaker 2: Reward from it. Even if it's difficult.
[47:49] Speaker 3: I'd rather always do the hard thing then take the
[47:52] Speaker 3: easy route, you know what I mean. I've always done
[47:54] Speaker 3: that in my life, and sometimes I made my life harder,
[47:58] Speaker 3: but it gave me character, it gave me a lesson,
[48:00] Speaker 3: and I'm here today.
[48:01] Speaker 1: So well, I think that type of thing is a
[48:04] Speaker 1: good role model. You know, you say I've done this,
[48:07] Speaker 1: I've done that. You know I'm not perfect, but just
[48:10] Speaker 1: the fact that you can apply that dedication. And yeah,
[48:13] Speaker 1: when we talk mental health, I'm by no means a
[48:15] Speaker 1: mental health expert, but I know the benefits. I know
[48:18] Speaker 1: the benefits training gives to me each day. And I
[48:23] Speaker 1: feel myself get depressed or just out of sorts if
[48:27] Speaker 1: I haven't trained during the day, and it's a release
[48:30] Speaker 1: that helps. And it sounds like you'll found the perfect
[48:35] Speaker 1: perfect mix. You've got to train, you've got to be disciplined,
[48:38] Speaker 1: and you're doing something you love a bit.
[48:40] Speaker 3: Of structure and line, a bit of discipline, and you know,
[48:43] Speaker 3: you have to get to know yourself, you know, like
[48:46] Speaker 3: a journal A lot that helps me.
[48:48] Speaker 1: What's that give you? By doing that.
[48:50] Speaker 2: Gives me clarity?
[48:52] Speaker 3: I sit in silence, I might go to the beach,
[48:54] Speaker 3: I might be in the van and I won't be
[48:57] Speaker 3: listening to music because these are distractions. When when do
[49:01] Speaker 3: we actually sit in silence and actually think to ourselves
[49:04] Speaker 3: talk to ourselves?
[49:05] Speaker 2: You know?
[49:06] Speaker 3: To me, that's when I feel most connected to God.
[49:09] Speaker 3: When I sit down, maybe I read the Bible for
[49:11] Speaker 3: a bit, and then I'll just sit down in peace
[49:13] Speaker 3: and I'll just start writing and be like, you know,
[49:15] Speaker 3: I'll start talking about my day, you know, my goals,
[49:18] Speaker 3: and then maybe I'll work out a plan how to
[49:20] Speaker 3: get to those goals, take actions, take steps, or maybe
[49:24] Speaker 3: you know, I'll go back to a few pages and like, okay,
[49:27] Speaker 3: I felt this here, Why did I feel that?
[49:29] Speaker 2: And I'll see what I wrote down?
[49:31] Speaker 3: Okay, I can relate this to now, So I'll just
[49:33] Speaker 3: it's literally just you know, we like, I overthink a lot.
[49:39] Speaker 3: Sometimes that's not a good thing. You know, thinking doesn't
[49:42] Speaker 3: do anything. Taking action does. So even just writing something
[49:45] Speaker 3: out is taking action. So I really try not to overthink.
[49:50] Speaker 2: Now.
[49:50] Speaker 3: I try to dumb myself down a little bit. You know,
[49:54] Speaker 3: who used to call me dumb? But I think like
[49:57] Speaker 3: I am intelligent with some things, and I think maybe
[50:00] Speaker 3: I just I didn't know how to deal with certain things.
[50:03] Speaker 3: So now I just write things out sort of talk
[50:06] Speaker 3: to myself. I guess it's a bit of a meditation,
[50:08] Speaker 3: a bit of a therapy, and I have some great
[50:10] Speaker 3: ideas that come up.
[50:12] Speaker 2: And that's why I'm here.
[50:13] Speaker 1: Like it's funny, well not funny when you think, you say,
[50:19] Speaker 1: sometimes I think I'm dumb or dumb it down or whatever.
[50:22] Speaker 1: Intelligence and it comes in many different forms, doesn't it.
[50:26] Speaker 1: I can sit here with some what you and I
[50:30] Speaker 1: would look at and go, Jesus, this smart. They've got
[50:32] Speaker 1: all these qualifications or this or that, but they might
[50:36] Speaker 1: have the intelligence. So yeah, Like intelligence is not based
[50:40] Speaker 1: on one thing, whether you can read them right, and
[50:43] Speaker 1: it's your understanding life. I think the type of discussions
[50:47] Speaker 1: we're having now you're giving an in depth sight into
[50:51] Speaker 1: the way lives can be lived. And so I wouldn't
[50:54] Speaker 1: be writing yourself off as dumb or I wouldn't sit
[50:57] Speaker 1: here and call you dumb because it might smack me
[50:59] Speaker 1: in the head.
[51:01] Speaker 3: Well, I try not to say that about myself, you know,
[51:03] Speaker 3: Like I am smart, and I have emotional intelligence, which
[51:07] Speaker 3: I think is.
[51:08] Speaker 1: That carries that carries you better than other book intelligence.
[51:12] Speaker 1: How does your religion and you're fighting. Do they sit together?
[51:17] Speaker 1: You're comfortable with that?
[51:19] Speaker 2: For sure?
[51:19] Speaker 1: Yep, for sure. Talk us through that because some people
[51:22] Speaker 1: might say, but it's a brutal sport. What's what's your
[51:24] Speaker 1: How do you process that?
[51:26] Speaker 2: That's a good question. I don't know.
[51:29] Speaker 3: I mean, we've always had wars, men have always thought,
[51:34] Speaker 3: and I think it's a natural thing for us. I
[51:36] Speaker 3: think it's one of the most masculine things to mastery
[51:39] Speaker 3: a body in your mind and to take control of
[51:41] Speaker 3: your emotions. And then you take that into a sport,
[51:45] Speaker 3: a profession. You can make it a life, from a career,
[51:48] Speaker 3: a legacy. So for me, I couldn't do it without
[51:52] Speaker 3: God because God has always been my center.
[51:54] Speaker 2: God has been my rock.
[51:56] Speaker 3: One of my favorites Bible verses is Psalms one for
[52:00] Speaker 3: praise be to the Lord, my Rock, who strengthens my
[52:03] Speaker 3: hands for war, my fingers for battle. So every fight,
[52:08] Speaker 3: you know, I would say that to myself with us
[52:10] Speaker 3: through training and I really just live a simple life
[52:14] Speaker 3: and I devote myself to God. I devote myself to
[52:18] Speaker 3: being the best example I can be, the best human
[52:20] Speaker 3: I can be.
[52:21] Speaker 2: Maybe you know.
[52:23] Speaker 3: God like even though that's not what you should say.
[52:26] Speaker 3: But like I try to walk in the image of
[52:28] Speaker 3: God Jesus Christ. So you know, sometimes I catch myself
[52:33] Speaker 3: being too proud, too much ego, maybe thinking I'm better
[52:38] Speaker 3: than other people.
[52:38] Speaker 2: I'm not better than nobody, you know what I mean.
[52:41] Speaker 3: I've hit rock bottom many many times, and I truly
[52:44] Speaker 3: believe if I'm not humble, I'm not a good person.
[52:47] Speaker 2: God can punish me for that.
[52:49] Speaker 3: God, can you take everything away from me, give me
[52:52] Speaker 3: a sickness of illness? So for me, man, I give
[52:57] Speaker 3: my life to Jesus. I love Jesus. I have a
[53:01] Speaker 3: relationship with Jesus. And it's hard for me to sit
[53:04] Speaker 3: here and even talk about it because a lot of
[53:05] Speaker 3: people is it fucking idiot, you know what I mean?
[53:08] Speaker 3: But I don't care what people think. That's just what's
[53:10] Speaker 3: in my heart. That's what's kept me alive and Godden
[53:13] Speaker 3: me through the hardest points in my life. Was actually
[53:16] Speaker 3: believing in a God, praying to God. And every time
[53:19] Speaker 3: I drifted away from what I believed in, my life
[53:23] Speaker 3: got really bad and I got lost. But every time,
[53:27] Speaker 3: you know, I stuck to my faith and I didn't
[53:30] Speaker 3: let people, you know, change my opinion, like my life.
[53:34] Speaker 3: My life got better and we're fighting for me. I'm
[53:38] Speaker 3: not scared of any man.
[53:40] Speaker 2: You know. I used to go swimming with great white sharks,
[53:42] Speaker 2: be fishing.
[53:43] Speaker 3: So so if I'm not scared of a shark, wan
[53:46] Speaker 3: whisca of a man. But I am scared of God.
[53:49] Speaker 3: And I have a fear for God and I don't
[53:52] Speaker 3: want to disappoint him. You know, when I when I
[53:54] Speaker 3: die one day and say, if you go to these
[53:57] Speaker 3: pearly white gates, I don't want him to ask me
[54:00] Speaker 3: what did you do on life? Brandow who did you help?
[54:03] Speaker 3: And say, you know, I was selfish. I did everything
[54:06] Speaker 3: for myself. I didn't do nothing, you know what I mean?
[54:08] Speaker 3: So for me, Like, I'm just trying to be a
[54:10] Speaker 3: good person and do the best I can. And I'm
[54:14] Speaker 3: trying to you know, I'm still a kid. I'm thirty
[54:17] Speaker 3: one years old. Yeah, I don't know at all. I
[54:20] Speaker 3: don't know what the fuck I'm doing in life. I'm
[54:22] Speaker 3: just working as I.
[54:22] Speaker 1: Go, best way to stay like always always learning. Look
[54:26] Speaker 1: religion if it, if it works for you. I've sat
[54:30] Speaker 1: oppos a lot of people that religion has been their salvation.
[54:34] Speaker 1: I can't call myself a religious person. I think I've
[54:37] Speaker 1: got a little bit of spirituality in me, but I
[54:39] Speaker 1: don't follow a religion. But if it works, yeah, let's
[54:44] Speaker 1: stick with it. I don't see any harm with it.
[54:48] Speaker 1: You touched on the ego and you said that religion
[54:52] Speaker 1: helps you keeping keeping check ego. That would be a
[54:56] Speaker 1: thing that you have to have to look out for
[54:58] Speaker 1: in this game because you need You need the swagger
[55:02] Speaker 1: and the confidence too. You don't tell israel I said
[55:06] Speaker 1: he was arrogant. Your confidence is the right thing.
[55:08] Speaker 2: You'll probably listen to this.
[55:12] Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. I'm hiding from that. But you need that
[55:16] Speaker 1: swagger and you need the confidence to going there. And yeah,
[55:19] Speaker 1: I don't care who I'm in the ring with. I'm
[55:20] Speaker 1: going to come out on top. You win, you get
[55:23] Speaker 1: everyone patting you on the back, you get people selfie
[55:26] Speaker 1: that type of stuff. You need to keep your ego
[55:29] Speaker 1: in check because you could lose your way with it,
[55:31] Speaker 1: couldn't you one.
[55:34] Speaker 3: I've lost my way a few times. Yeah, I thought
[55:36] Speaker 3: I was top ship when I first started fighting. I
[55:38] Speaker 3: was like, I'm the man.
[55:40] Speaker 2: No, you're not.
[55:41] Speaker 3: You know, we're all equal, mate, And if you think
[55:43] Speaker 3: you're better than other people, you're wrong. And that's why
[55:46] Speaker 3: I shake everyone's hands and I treat everyone equal, Like
[55:49] Speaker 3: I don't care if you're a billionaire or if you're
[55:52] Speaker 3: some homeless guy on the street. I treat you the same, mate,
[55:55] Speaker 3: because you know other perspective as well, Like, you know,
[55:58] Speaker 3: I could I could have the homeless guy in the street,
[56:01] Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And I've been homeless many times.
[56:04] Speaker 3: So you just treat people how you want to be treated.
[56:07] Speaker 3: I think that's what I always put in my head.
[56:10] Speaker 1: It's a good thing to live by. Yeah, it's a
[56:13] Speaker 1: simple philosophy, but it's a good philosophy.
[56:15] Speaker 3: Yeah, you have to have boundaries. If you don't set
[56:17] Speaker 3: boundaries in life, you're going to get used. You're going
[56:19] Speaker 3: to get walked all over. I'm not here to get
[56:22] Speaker 3: walked over, So yeah.
[56:24] Speaker 1: Well something makes me think, sitting here opposite, you're not
[56:28] Speaker 1: going to get walked over. And I am genuinely excited
[56:33] Speaker 1: about watching your career. And the funny thing is, I
[56:37] Speaker 1: think you're going to leave an impression on this world
[56:39] Speaker 1: more so than just your fighting career. I think, yeah,
[56:43] Speaker 1: you're set up for all sorts of things. But Jesus
[56:46] Speaker 1: has been a fascinating conversation they have with you. I've
[56:51] Speaker 1: really enjoyed it, and I think people that, yeah, because
[56:55] Speaker 1: I'm a fan of the combat sports, I'm a fan
[56:57] Speaker 1: of it, I understand the depth that goes into it.
[57:00] Speaker 1: I think a lot of people just write off fighters
[57:03] Speaker 1: as one dimensional that, yeah, they go and they get
[57:06] Speaker 1: paid for paid to fight people. What type of person
[57:09] Speaker 1: could they be? I think you've given a good insight
[57:11] Speaker 1: into the depth of the quality of the humanity that
[57:15] Speaker 1: goes into a person that fights for a living.
[57:18] Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
[57:19] Speaker 3: I'm just doing my best and it's a pleasure to
[57:21] Speaker 3: be here talking to a man like yourself. And I've
[57:23] Speaker 3: learned a few things off you as well, So thank
[57:26] Speaker 3: you for this opportunity.
[57:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, well great, great chat. And I'm glad I got
[57:29] Speaker 1: you on before Joe Rogan because it would be hard
[57:31] Speaker 1: trying to get you after you've.
[57:32] Speaker 2: Gone on, Joe Ray, I'll still come back and chat.
[57:34] Speaker 1: Not good, I might hold you.
[57:35] Speaker 2: I've got to be humble, you know, You've got to.
[57:37] Speaker 1: That's why we finished with humility. Don't forget where you started.
[57:42] Speaker 1: Catch up with you.
[57:42] Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate it.

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