The 3% Mindset: The Hidden UFC Secret That Makes You Impossible To Defeat with Miesha Tate

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<v SPEAKER_06>You fought in a fight with a broken arm and you kept going.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I actually have the longest duration of any female in Strike Force.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Entered near the beginning and stayed with it all the way until it was absorbed by the UFC.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And then that's when I fought Rhonda.

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<v SPEAKER_03>It was funny because at that time Dana White, the president of the UFC, had been getting asked a lot, what are you gonna bring women into the UFC?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Dana was like, there's too many mismatches, just not enough debt, there's not enough talent.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, Well, you know, you haven't seen me fight.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So Dana was this he saying that women will never fight the UFC.

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<v SPEAKER_00>I was like, well, somebody is gonna watch me fight.

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<v SPEAKER_00>With 20 professional MMA wins to her name, Misha Tate is known for her iconic wars with Rhonda Rousey, where fans admired her grit, class, and refusal to quit.

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<v SPEAKER_00>She's been a guest on the Joe Rogan experience and served as vice president of one of the largest martial arts organizations in the world, proving her influence reaches far beyond the octagon.

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<v SPEAKER_00>Misha is loved by fans and considered one of the toughest and most respected women in MMA history.

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<v SPEAKER_00>Now, she's pulling back the curtain to expose the raw mindset of a fighter who would literally break before ever giving up.

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<v SPEAKER_06>How you see that same thing serving you again and again and again.

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<v SPEAKER_06>You know what UFC is?

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, yeah, this is where the guys in the octagon.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I said guys in the octagon fight.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, well, my next guest, she's not a got, and she fights in the octagon, and she's a UFC champion.

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<v SPEAKER_06>But wait till you hear her story.

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<v SPEAKER_06>She has so much to teach us.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I'm telling you, she's a true champion and more than just the octagon.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So I welcome you, Misha Tate.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Welcome.

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<v SPEAKER_02>Thank you, Dr.

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<v SPEAKER_02>Bob.

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<v SPEAKER_02>It's a pleasure to be here and look forward to sitting down and just giant with you for the nice hour.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Well, look, I I said this to you, I met you a couple of times, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>And I think I what I know I watched one of your fights.

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<v SPEAKER_06>It was the first female fight I'd have ever watched.

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<v SPEAKER_06>And my immediate thought was like, what would make a girl want to do this?

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<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, get your head bashed in, I mean, your nose had broken.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I think that was your first bite.

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<v SPEAKER_06>But I mean, I couldn't imagine like this girl, like, what is she like?

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<v SPEAKER_06>And then I met Goo and I was taken back.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, we're beautiful, you have sex appeal, you're absolutely not what I expected.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay.

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<v SPEAKER_06>And so from that day forth, I was intrigued about you.

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<v SPEAKER_06>As a matter of fact, when I first thank you, I I wanted to talk to you more about it.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Like, I was being pulled one way, you were being pulled another, and I'm like, I just I want to know more about her, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>It's like because like she's absolutely not what I expected.

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<v SPEAKER_06>You blew me away, and then I got to meet you again, and it was a similar situation.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So here we are, fire, and you are gonna enjoy the conversation because you do, you have so much to offer.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, from mindset stuff, which blows me away.

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<v SPEAKER_06>You are not average, you are not normal, and I say that in all complimentary ways.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Um, you have so much to offer because you just broke through what most people don't break through.

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<v SPEAKER_06>You don't quit when most people quit.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Uh, I mean, when I say that, how many men can say being punched in the head, you fought in a fight with a broken arm and you kept going?

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<v SPEAKER_06>How many people would do that?

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<v SPEAKER_06>I wouldn't.

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<v SPEAKER_06>And I would say I have pretty toughness in me as a wrestler myself.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I think I'd have been like, Yeah, I'm done.

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<v SPEAKER_01>And a little little sprinkle of crazy.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, well, okay.

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<v SPEAKER_06>But you know what?

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, the crazy I don't see, but there must be some just pretty much I reserve it for the oction.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Because it's like that's that's my space where I can get wild and fiery, and you know, the rest of the time I think um, as you mentioned, I'm a pretty mellow person, I'm pretty calm.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I know, I could tell.

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<v SPEAKER_03>You wouldn't probably uh pick me as someone who enjoys doing a sport that is you know requires the things that I think fighting does, and but um there are elements to fighting that that do resalcine.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And it's like if you think about it, it's like playing chess, it's very strategic.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, it's just physical.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I'm gonna physical.

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<v SPEAKER_06>No, I think that he's a wrestler.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, it's very strategic, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>But I'm a guy, I have aggression, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>Like you come across like there's no aggression.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Now, one of the gals you fought, Rhonda Rousey, is that I get like she absolutely is what I would expect, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>I remember an interview, like she flipped you off, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>You sat there calmly.

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<v SPEAKER_06>She you know, I think you gained more followers from that than actually she did because you were like so cool as a kind of roll and just loved you and fell in love with you, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, but let's go back.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I uh I think like let's dig it here because I want to know why you got into this, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>But it started as a wrestler, all boys, they had no girls.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, I mean, what in your childhood, you go back as far as you want, as far as you can remember, led you to wanting to wrestle boys.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So for the longest time I looked back and I was like, I just don't think there's really something that was very clear to me that, you know, said in my childhood that I was gonna be a fighter, and uh and maybe still not, but there's a couple instances where I think I like to fight my Barbies as much as I liked to dress them up.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So I would always ask my mom to like fight with me with the Barbies until one of their heads popped off, and that's like so after this is what I don't know.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Were you the only child?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Oldest by seven years, so my my sibling, my brother didn't oldest by seven years kind of makes you an old a a single child.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Almost.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And all then my sister was like 15 years younger.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Okay.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So yeah, and that's a big age gap.

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<v SPEAKER_03>You know, my brother and I didn't play it in the way that you would you know expect, you know, siblings that are one, two or three years.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So your brother was seven years young.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Well go, so you probably he's probably tough as nails because you started just tossing them around a bit.

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<v SPEAKER_01>It's pretty tough.

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<v SPEAKER_01>Yeah.

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<v SPEAKER_01>But he still says I'm tougher.

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<v SPEAKER_06>I would say that too.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Oh, okay.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So nothing in your childhood really led to that.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So something intuitive.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Lizzie, let me say, when I went out for wrestling, I think the reason that I loved it so much is because it woke up a part of me that I felt like I needed and was missing a little bit.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So if I dive back into my childhood, I think I had a bit of abandonment issues from nail fingers in my life.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Um and when I look at it and I say, okay, so my biological father, I didn't know about him until I was five.

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<v SPEAKER_03>He's sent Christmas.

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<v SPEAKER_06>You're telling my wife's story.

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<v SPEAKER_06>She was abandoned in less than one from her father, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>She has abandonment issues, but she's a girly girl.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Well, I think I am too, but it's just I just stumbled into wrestling, and I think it's just a way of destiny seeking me out.

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<v SPEAKER_03>It's not like I went looking for it.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I wasn't violent by nature, I wasn't out fighting people.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I was the first one to walk away from a conflict that had nothing to prove.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Um, mellow and kind, you know, my mom always taught me to be kind.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I still remember like going to playgrounds, and I would just play like all the other kids, and my mom would be like, You should care.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So, do you see that little kid over there in the wheelchair?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Or do you see that little kid over there that has the mental disability?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Or see that little kid over there that nobody's playing with?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Like, why don't you go and talk to them?

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<v SPEAKER_03>And why don't you invite them to play?

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<v SPEAKER_03>And so that always just taught me at a young age to, you know, be inclusive and be considerate of the other people that are either in the room or that are on the playground and and just uh look for those opportunities to share the kindness.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So I, you know, again wasn't somebody who was out there, you know, this troubled team.

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<v SPEAKER_03>You know, I think a lot of times you think like, oh, getting into sports, but it's troubled child story, but it wasn't mine.

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<v SPEAKER_03>You grew up in normal childhood audience, like Yeah, then just you know, having a little little shake-up there at the beginning with, you know, my dad.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And so my stepdad, who had used my dad, had bats who raised me um since I was three years on old and on.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Um, but we had a big falling out when I was like 13.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I was just becoming this young woman and we just didn't know how to see eye to eye.

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<v SPEAKER_03>You know, he had a very, you know, staunch, you know, heavy upbringing, and he was military and he just didn't know how to like deal with the emotions of a young girl, right?

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<v SPEAKER_03>So we didn't even speak for barely almost three years.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Like that's a crazy thing.

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<v SPEAKER_03>But I remember walking to the house and we'd have a bit of a narrow hallway, and we would pass each other and we would like turn so that we could like just get by each other without like looking at each other, and it was just you know, we just didn't see eye to eye.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And so again, I think I felt like I was abandoned.

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<v SPEAKER_03>But at that time, I didn't know what he was going through.

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<v SPEAKER_03>You know, he was going through a lot of hard things too, you know.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And um, so look, I mean, those things when you are by nature a strong woman, when you don't have the strength of masculinity, I feel like you will become what you don't have.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And that's my path.

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<v SPEAKER_03>That's what happened for me.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And I discovered it only because of wrestling.

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<v SPEAKER_03>By chance, I just decided to go out for wrestling and it's like ignited a fire.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So that wrestling kind of woke up that inboard that strength didn't have that you felt like um you know you needed maybe as a child.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Because abandonment issues create a lot of different behaviors, a lot of different feelings, a lot of different things, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>It could be Avren Ferger, like I said, my wife, completely different, but you know, she had issues from you know the abandonment issues.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And uh and who knows, maybe if her best friend had been like, hey, we got over wrestling here, she might have been like, Well, let's go try.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And you never know what would have come of that either.

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<v SPEAKER_03>But just for me, that's how it worked out.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I didn't think I was ever gonna go out for wrestling, but and it wasn't even my idea.

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<v SPEAKER_03>It was my friend Sharon.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Um, we were sitting in uh honors English, by the way, and we she was like, Do you want to go out for wrestling?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Basketball season's around.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I don't play basketball, she doesn't play basketball.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And the only other sport was wrestling.

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<v SPEAKER_03>We we just want to do a sport.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So it was like, I guess there's nothing better for us.

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<v SPEAKER_03>No other sport offered for women besides basketball when you're not gonna do that.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So we're wrestling.

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<v SPEAKER_06>And maybe there's a lot of girls watching this who you know completely relate to like wanting to do it, maybe never gone to do it.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Let's talk about that.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So you're gonna enter the sport, you enter wrestling, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>Um did you suck at first?

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<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, so these boys were throwing you around.

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<v SPEAKER_06>It was a were they how did they treat you?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Like we didn't belong.

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<v SPEAKER_03>It was like get they didn't get the memo, serve it to them real quick, and uh get them out of here.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Not for you know, this and I don't think they've meant bad.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I actually think that they just really thought that's the way it is, that's the way it was.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And girls just couldn't couldn't possibly hang.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So let's just throw it.

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<v SPEAKER_06>Opposite of what's happening now, right, in today's society, uh, where you have men entering girls' sports, which I completely disagree.

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<v SPEAKER_06>How do you feel about that?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Oh no, I don't agree.

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<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I mean, yeah, no, I mean I train too much with men, you know the difference.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And it doesn't it it's apples and oranges.

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<v SPEAKER_06>We don't need to lend absolutely but a girl entering a man's sport, I'm like, yeah, knock yourself out, you can do it.

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<v SPEAKER_06>It's like totally different because you're coming in with a massive disadvantage just from a hormonal standpoint, right?

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<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, all kinds of disadvantages.

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<v SPEAKER_06>So yeah, if you want to do that, go ahead.

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<v SPEAKER_03>I'll tell you what.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So my first two years, my friend Sharon and I mostly stuck with each other whenever we get partnered up, we'd be the last two anyway.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So I mean it wasn't like we really very rarely once we got accepted, once we realized like we weren't gonna be uh ostracized from the team, like we were gonna show up no matter what, then we would just always pair together.

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<v SPEAKER_03>But she was a lot smaller than I was, and it wasn't till my junior year when she didn't go out for wrestling, and I thought it was gonna be the worst time ever because I was like, and I still don't know how these guys are gonna feel about me actually being in their groups and you know wrestling with them.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So I did that, it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I I started to really distinctly every day understand the physical differences, and I tried to start to narrow that gap.

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<v SPEAKER_03>So I say, like, what is it that makes them better than me?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Oh, when they shoot, it feels like they're blow through my hips, right?

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<v SPEAKER_03>Like, oh, that's different than how Sharon shoots on me.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And that's different how these other girls, like, they're not hitting you because they would carry you two up all the time, all the time, and so you know, I would compete against guys, but I was mostly mostly trained with her in the room, at least those first two years.

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<v SPEAKER_03>And then that junior year was the only girl, and I was like, wow.

00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.480
<v SPEAKER_06>So you have to learn that aggression, yes, testosterone just naturally didn't get a lack of right.

00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.080
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, but you won, right?

00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:28.799
<v SPEAKER_06>Because you're right.

00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:31.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Like when you know, I was a wrestler, right?

00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.360
<v SPEAKER_06>Shooting, it's speed.

00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:55.360
<v SPEAKER_03>There's a there's a force that you have by that, and you know, again, you can learn yes, yes, just then you can learn it exactly, but it just didn't come naturally because I think my hormones just you know, natural doing what felt right to me, but then when I was a wrestling with these guys every day, Dan doing the drills, I think that was the the biggest part because in competition things move so fast, it's you don't really learn in competition.

00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:01.519
<v SPEAKER_03>You mostly learn once you go and you're drilling, you learn how these guys move and why they're so great at what they do.

00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:12.720
<v SPEAKER_03>And so um, I started to dissect it and I started to really blean into um being as athletic as I could be and see what differences were between and then did you start to win eventually?

00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:18.559
<v SPEAKER_06>Like when talk about what the first time you actually beat a guy, and I feel badly for that guy.

00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:23.440
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, yeah, oh man, it was Fred Right Cheese and you got beat by a girl.

00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:28.799
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, the the first time that I beat a guy, um the rumor had it that he quit the teeth.

00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.320
<v SPEAKER_03>Like he didn't wrestle anymore after that.

00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:31.519
<v SPEAKER_05>Yes, I don't know, man.

00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:40.399
<v SPEAKER_03>You know, it's it's uh it's one of those things that's like it's a it's a lose-lose for a guy to step out there on the mat, and for me it was a way-win.

00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:49.919
<v SPEAKER_03>On those occasions when that does happen, you know, it's uh Well, I'll tell you what, my my senior year, I actually ended up wrestling primarily varsity, not because I was that great.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:56.559
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm not trying to cheat my own horn home uh horn, but we had two wrestlers at 145 and none at 152.

00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:59.919
<v SPEAKER_03>Team Captain was at 145, and so was I.

00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.360
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, didn't know how to cut weight or anything, so I what I walked at.

00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:13.600
<v SPEAKER_03>And um they would weigh us both in, and then they would decide the matchups of like what's the more favorable matchup for him to be able to win because he would he had a chance of winning on varsity.

00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:15.200
<v SPEAKER_03>I didn't, realistically.

00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:19.519
<v SPEAKER_03>So sometimes I was weighing at 145 and wrestling varsity 152 points.

00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:24.879
<v SPEAKER_06>Oh, that that diff, by the way, people remember what did that's like see you always weight classes divide back.

00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:32.559
<v SPEAKER_06>And that's why we count weighed because given that lower weight class, it's a matter of winning or losing, like a lot.

00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:39.679
<v SPEAKER_03>So you know, but it's okay because then my goal just became about um not giving up six points and only giving up five.

00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:40.720
<v SPEAKER_03>Like, just don't get pins.

00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:42.639
<v SPEAKER_03>That was kind of my goal, and I got really good at that.

00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.039
<v SPEAKER_06>We'll be wrestled the same weight class, 140 bucks.

00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:45.279
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:46.639
<v SPEAKER_06>I started at 127.

00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:49.440
<v SPEAKER_06>I I remember like that was like I started at 130.

00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:49.759
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.320
<v SPEAKER_04>130, 135, or 40 even 45.

00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:53.279
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, that's funny.

00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:54.000
<v SPEAKER_06>What you say?

00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.240
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I could have wrestled her, that'll do fun.

00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:57.840
<v SPEAKER_06>All right, uh, maybe not.

00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.960
<v SPEAKER_06>But anyway, so okay, so you you had victories.

00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:01.679
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, right.

00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:06.720
<v SPEAKER_03>And I beat all the girls that I ever wrestled except for my very, very first match error.

00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:08.240
<v SPEAKER_03>I lost to that girl.

00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.480
<v SPEAKER_03>It's the first match I've ever had in my whole life.

00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:15.919
<v SPEAKER_03>And there were so there were a few strigoes throughout Washington State, which is where I'm from, that were also doing the same thing.

00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:28.320
<v SPEAKER_03>And so what they would try to do when they would get us together to tournaments is at all uh if at all possible, even giving more weight differences, you would still try to pair the girls together.

00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:33.519
<v SPEAKER_03>They were like giving 10 pounds or what it's still more fair than typically wrestling.

00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:36.480
<v SPEAKER_06>So you're kind of undefeated, at least against girls.

00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:38.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, my except for that first one.

00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:42.159
<v SPEAKER_03>I had to start off that that's been pretty much the story of my career now that I didn't look at it.

00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:47.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I pretty much never got to start off with an undefeated record, not an MMA, not as an amateur, and not as probably.

00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:51.120
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, so fast forward MMA, you actually lost your first fight.

00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:52.799
<v SPEAKER_06>That so that was what, 2005?

00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:54.000
<v SPEAKER_03>Yep, 2005.

00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:02.320
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, so um fast forward to 2005, what possibly would make you want to get punched in the head?

00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:21.759
<v SPEAKER_03>You know, I couldn't figure that out for the life of me either, because um, I'll tell you, when I went to my first MMA class, which I was also not excited to do, but my friend kept pestering me and pestering me to go, and I was like, all right, fight, I will go and I will humor you.

00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And on my first day I learned how to choke people and that was in it.

00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:27.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, yeah, this is great.

00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:28.960
<v SPEAKER_03>What is jujitsu?

00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:34.080
<v SPEAKER_03>But I didn't know um anything about striking, and nor did I want to learn anything about striking.

00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:35.759
<v SPEAKER_03>So this was just a casual club sport.

00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:40.960
<v SPEAKER_03>I was going to Central Washington University, it was two days a week, and it was run by fellow students.

00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:43.440
<v SPEAKER_06>So I have to say this because choking, right?

00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:44.320
<v SPEAKER_06>You said that, right?

00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:50.000
<v SPEAKER_06>So people, a lot of my viewers have no idea what happens in UFC MMA, right?

00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:55.200
<v SPEAKER_06>Choking someone out is how how you win oftentimes, right?

00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:58.240
<v SPEAKER_06>It's not just punching something, then submission, although that happens.

00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:05.440
<v SPEAKER_06>But you know, literally a chokehold is a legit thing where someone taps out, and so you learn how to choke someone out.

00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:10.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, it's like it's a submission, and you know, someone submits, okay, tap out, tap out.

00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.119
<v SPEAKER_06>And once you did that, that excited you about the sport.

00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.599
<v SPEAKER_03>So I learned that on my first day, and I said, This is great.

00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.519
<v SPEAKER_03>And they said, Do you have any interest in learning to strike?

00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.000
<v SPEAKER_03>I said, No, no, no, I don't want to learn how to punch, I don't see the point in that.

00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:25.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I don't want to hit anybody, my God forbid, don't want to be hit.

00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.599
<v SPEAKER_03>So I, you know, funny how little you know about yourself sometimes, right?

00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:31.599
<v SPEAKER_03>And you really think and I was very sure.

00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, no way, it's like I would never want to do that.

00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:42.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and then it was just a matter of like weeks later, I was at my first amateur event, and they watched live fights.

00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:44.720
<v SPEAKER_06>I was like, oh Nizia men fighting men.

00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:45.599
<v SPEAKER_03>Men fighting men.

00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.039
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, there were no women on a car.

00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.240
<v SPEAKER_03>And I said, that was incredible.

00:17:50.319 --> 00:18:00.160
<v SPEAKER_03>And I actually started to see the art and it and the beauty and the sport, not this preconceived notion, which was very common across most uh people.

00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:13.119
<v SPEAKER_03>If you were to say to survey, most people at that time probably would be like, it's very barbaric, it's for brawlers, it's for uneducated people, it is for, you know, there's this human cop fighting, you know, big corporate sponsors wouldn't touch it.

00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:17.839
<v SPEAKER_03>And if the UFC was around, then, but it's still clamoring to get any kind of traction.

00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:20.799
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, I I had said this um before we came on air.

00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:25.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Uh, I watched UFC when Hoist Gracie was the guy.

00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:37.279
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, this guy was uh maybe 150 pounds grappler, which is like wrestling with um how would you describe grappling a different technique of wrestling, you know, hochold things.

00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.920
<v SPEAKER_03>You may have to arm hyperextend any joint, basically, if you can uh yeah, absolutely.

00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:46.640
<v SPEAKER_05>You're tapping up.

00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:50.000
<v SPEAKER_03>People like me are slightly more stubborn and we'll just let it break.

00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:57.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Talk about that because that ties you burber off, but like uh yeah, like if you put my arm on them, I'm like, yeah, I'm tapping, it's gonna break out.

00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:57.920
<v SPEAKER_06>Not this girl.

00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:08.880
<v SPEAKER_06>We're gonna that that psychology we're gonna dig into because I want some or but um yeah, so Hoy's Gracie, this guy 150 pounds is beating guys 200 plus pounds.

00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:11.920
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, they come in big fighters, boxers.

00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:28.480
<v SPEAKER_06>This guy would fight in a ghee, like a robe, if you will, and they would grab it oftentimes, and that's what he wanted, but he would fight from the ground, oftentimes from his back, and you'd think he was getting pummeled when he's gonna lose because they're punching him on the ground, and all of a sudden the fight's over.

00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Just waiting for arm to get exactly that throw his hips behind an elbow.

00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:34.480
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, and that fascinated me.

00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:36.160
<v SPEAKER_06>Because I'm like, What do you the fight's over?

00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:37.440
<v SPEAKER_06>This guy was butt kicked.

00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Oh no, he was just waiting for the right chokehole, right?

00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:48.799
<v SPEAKER_06>His legs would come up, and you know, all of a sudden it's like he has the guy like uh a little leg lock at his head, and the guy's tapping out, or like, what?

00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:54.799
<v SPEAKER_06>So could wait for the next fight in the next fight, but so that was like the birth of UFC as far as I was concerned.

00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:57.839
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, and then it kind of evolved more into punching, right?

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.640
<v SPEAKER_06>So when did you come in to the sport from there?

00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:06.799
<v SPEAKER_03>Well, I had my very first fight as an amateur, nowhere near UFC caliber in 2005.

00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:09.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, and that's the first fight you had, which you lost.

00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:10.720
<v SPEAKER_06>You described that fight.

00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:20.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh, in 2008, I I fought for Strike Force and then I got signed, and then it was 2013 when women actually were actually allowed to come into the UFC.

00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:37.759
<v SPEAKER_03>So in 2005, uh, mind you, when I attended that event, going back to the first amateur event, I had this visceral reaction to what I had just seen, and I just felt very live, and I was already thinking in my mind, well, if they could do that, I could do that.

00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:39.599
<v SPEAKER_03>And I don't know why I had a thought like that.

00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:48.720
<v SPEAKER_06>But wrestling gave you some form of identity, it gives the something of power that you lost being an advantage, right?

00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.400
<v SPEAKER_06>So it empowered you something, and you saw another level of empowerment.

00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:53.920
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, that's my psychology takeaway.

00:20:54.559 --> 00:21:03.039
<v SPEAKER_03>Two big takeaways that I took from wrestling as a young woman that really d developed my character moving into my the rest of my life.

00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:05.839
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, one is that hard work is worth it.

00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:08.079
<v SPEAKER_03>When you work hard, it pays off.

00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:11.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and that perception can be changed.

00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.920
<v SPEAKER_03>The way that somebody needs you isn't the way that they have to remember you.

00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.960
<v SPEAKER_03>So you can always work to change that.

00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:22.559
<v SPEAKER_03>And it's kind of how my nickname is this cupcake?

00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:23.119
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes.

00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.319
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, well, yeah, I was gonna ask you like how did you get that in a cupcake?

00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.279
<v SPEAKER_06>You're all right.

00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:34.160
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, so so the nickname, you know, that's you know, there was a girl that was just like, you know, I she used a cupcake.

00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:36.079
<v SPEAKER_03>I want to I'll fight her.

00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:36.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Easy.

00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:38.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Because they look at you the way I look at you right now.

00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:50.720
<v SPEAKER_03>No way, you know, because at that time there still was you know, it it was still not out there for the masses, and not very many women were doing this.

00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:58.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And for whatever reason, the the type of character or women that usually would find themselves in there had this a little bit more of a masculine feel.

00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:01.519
<v SPEAKER_03>And I did it.

00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.559
<v SPEAKER_03>So I was different.

00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:07.359
<v SPEAKER_03>And I kind of stood out in this different way.

00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:09.920
<v SPEAKER_03>And they singled me out as like soft and sweet.

00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:10.640
<v SPEAKER_02>Cupcake.

00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:11.279
<v SPEAKER_03>The cupcake.

00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:13.440
<v SPEAKER_03>But she will be that'll be an easy fight.

00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:16.000
<v SPEAKER_03>Like, give me that, give me that girl, chew her up and spit her out.

00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, okay, well, lock me in the cage and let's see how sweet I am.

00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:19.680
<v SPEAKER_01>Yeah.

00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.319
<v SPEAKER_03>And that's really where the chip on my shoulder came from.

00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:23.599
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, okay, you know what?

00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.160
<v SPEAKER_03>It used to piss me off, and now I'm just gonna embrace it.

00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:26.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Oh well.

00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:31.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, so enter your first professional fight.

00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:32.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh, amateur fight.

00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, but this was also before they protected the amateurs like they do now.

00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:42.720
<v SPEAKER_03>So there still was the regulations, no knee pads, no elbow pads, no bigger gloves, no headgear, nothing.

00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:48.799
<v SPEAKER_03>I mean, it was a pro fight by all regulation, but it just wasn't paid.

00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:50.319
<v SPEAKER_03>So it's the only difference.

00:22:51.119 --> 00:23:01.759
<v SPEAKER_03>So I went out there and I fought this lady named Liz Posner, who her and her husband owned a Muay Thai Kickboxing Academy in BC, Canada.

00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.200
<v SPEAKER_03>And so that's all I knew that she was a striker.

00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.759
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm like, okay, well, I had like three weeks of striking training.

00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, punch it, punch her.

00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:10.079
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm just telling you.

00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:16.400
<v SPEAKER_03>And I go out there and I take her down very easy in the first round.

00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:21.200
<v SPEAKER_03>And I'm still pretty much just a wrestler, very limited on the ground.

00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.640
<v SPEAKER_03>I knew what an armor is, I knew what a triangle choke is, I know a couple basic experiences.

00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:27.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, so without knowing that it's hard to get someone to submit.

00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:29.839
<v SPEAKER_06>You can't just wrestle someone to submission.

00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:30.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Exactly.

00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:38.480
<v SPEAKER_03>But the problem was is that I wasn't well versed in I could I could hold her there, but I didn't know how to get her out of there.

00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:40.319
<v SPEAKER_03>Because I still was such a novice.

00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:46.160
<v SPEAKER_03>Even punching on the ground was a challenge for me because I was so used to using every limb that I had to pin someone.

00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:48.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, pull out a limb to punch, you're a loser.

00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:49.759
<v SPEAKER_03>Exactly.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.000
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, so I didn't really know how to do that.

00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And I I may not have even punched in the first round, I don't know.

00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:56.480
<v SPEAKER_03>On the grounds are very, very little.

00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:02.079
<v SPEAKER_03>And then in the second round, she put me in a moy thai clinch, which is basically kind of like a headlock.

00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:13.279
<v SPEAKER_03>So I'm sure you know, but for people listening, so if you take your hands, you you're standing in front of somebody and you wrap your hands around the back of their head, and your forearms come over the collarbone and you kind of pinch your elbows together.

00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:16.000
<v SPEAKER_03>So you have your the head stuck in this pocket.

00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:21.680
<v SPEAKER_03>And so she was holding you there, and she's like driving my head down, and she begins to knee me in the face.

00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:26.000
<v SPEAKER_03>And I didn't even know what this was, much less how to get out of it.

00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:27.519
<v SPEAKER_03>And then crap.

00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:28.240
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, yeah.

00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:30.960
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm holding my nose right up, but I know what that's yeah.

00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:32.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, you know what's happening.

00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.480
<v SPEAKER_03>So one of one of those knees just clean on, just smashed my nose.

00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.440
<v SPEAKER_03>I heard it just crunch, crack, break.

00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.799
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and I'm trying to figure out how to get out of this.

00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:44.960
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm just diving forward, trying to get her legs.

00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.119
<v SPEAKER_05>It's lust with this point.

00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:47.599
<v SPEAKER_05>Yeah.

00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.160
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh yeah.

00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:54.559
<v SPEAKER_03>And I get to her hair, her ankles, I think, and uh she spins around, she gets on my back, and it's like a very visceral moment.

00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:58.240
<v SPEAKER_03>I see the blood just pulling out of my nose.

00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:00.319
<v SPEAKER_03>And I lost my temper.

00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.359
<v SPEAKER_03>And I remember I bucked her off down to the ground.

00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:09.440
<v SPEAKER_03>You're like when you, you know, you hulu someone down, we're wrestling, and you keel the hook off, and you kind of kick them down underneath you.

00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:15.440
<v SPEAKER_03>And I did that, and um I just started beating the daylights out of here at that point.

00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:23.039
<v SPEAKER_03>Stood up, I was raining down punches from the ceiling to the floor, and there was just it was bloody mess.

00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:26.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And I go back to my corner, and it was like ghosts.

00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.960
<v SPEAKER_03>My corner didn't know what to do because this was not this was a new phenomenon.

00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:32.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Women even fighting was so rare.

00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.599
<v SPEAKER_06>That's the in their minds.

00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:40.319
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh, should we stop a 15-year-old girl who has n you know no clue what she was really getting herself into?

00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:42.000
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm sure it was tough.

00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:48.079
<v SPEAKER_03>You know, and these are like macho men, but like very protective of men.

00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:50.960
<v SPEAKER_03>And so they actually threw the towel in for me.

00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:52.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Never about that third round.

00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:53.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:58.319
<v SPEAKER_06>I think I would have too just because I'm like, oh my gosh, look at her, you know, yeah, feeling defensive of you.

00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.720
<v SPEAKER_06>I can't put her out there looking like this.

00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:05.200
<v SPEAKER_03>And in hindsight, it was the right decision, but I can never in my heart feel like it was the right decision.

00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:09.680
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, because you were out you came out actually winning if you had the moment of fight where I was born.

00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:10.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I'm fair.

00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:18.960
<v SPEAKER_03>It was that moment when I was down and now I've been bloody and I had a broken nose, and I found a way to come back from it and be in a winning position.

00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:27.759
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh so I never had that third ground, but I think it was good for me because it lit a fire for me to go out into something in your inner being.

00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:41.359
<v SPEAKER_06>Yes, it's in a lot of us in different ways, and most people don't know it's there, but you were put into a situation, fight or flight, if you will, you fought, and you tapped into something that you then perhaps had a desire to keep tapping into.

00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:42.720
<v SPEAKER_06>Is that maybe why you went on?

00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:43.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Exactly.

00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:45.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Okay, you hit the head with that one.

00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:54.160
<v SPEAKER_03>So I had to go home, it was Christmas break, but face my my grandparents who were visiting from out of town, my dad, everybody was just mortified and had all the things to say.

00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:55.279
<v SPEAKER_06>I was gonna ask you this.

00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:56.240
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, oh yeah.

00:26:56.559 --> 00:26:58.319
<v SPEAKER_03>They had all the things to say, you know.

00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.160
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh, well, thank God she learned her lesson.

00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:01.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Thank God it wasn't worse.

00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.799
<v SPEAKER_03>Thank God she'll never do that again, and why was she ever even doing that?

00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:06.000
<v SPEAKER_03>And this is just insane.

00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:08.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Because you're sitting there with the nose still, right?

00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:18.960
<v SPEAKER_03>But yeah, these two giant black eyes, oh you're and my nose was so swollen that there really wasn't a distinction from like my cheekbones to then my nose, it was just all kind of flat.

00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.759
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, so you're they were just for fi from this whole thing.

00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:26.400
<v SPEAKER_06>But in their mind, thank God, because as a girl, she'll never do this again.

00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.519
<v SPEAKER_06>And meanwhile, in your spirit, you're like, I can't wait.

00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:31.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I wanted to prepare better.

00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:33.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I just knew that it was in preparation.

00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:36.160
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, if you want to be good at anything, you don't do it in three weeks.

00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.480
<v SPEAKER_03>You've got to really prepare and dedicate yourself.

00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:41.519
<v SPEAKER_03>And I didn't know that I wanted to necessarily make a career.

00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:47.039
<v SPEAKER_03>Well, I didn't because the UFC was not available for women, strike force wasn't even around.

00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:57.599
<v SPEAKER_03>There was no career to make, but I just knew I wanted to at least fight again and prove to myself that I could do better than I did that time, that I could win a fight.

00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:58.960
<v SPEAKER_03>But then you win, of course.

00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:04.480
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I mean, so part of it was the high of what you experienced even standing up for yourself, empowerment.

00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:11.359
<v SPEAKER_06>And then the other part of it was something I enjoyed in sports, you know, cycling is the train.

00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:12.559
<v SPEAKER_06>Said that, right?

00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:18.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Like, you know, you wanted to get better, and that gave such break purpose.

00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:29.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I wanted to get better desperately, so I showed up and you know, rolled with guys and trained, and I and I cried and I was frustrated because I was so flat-footed.

00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:32.400
<v SPEAKER_03>I was a wrestler, and I just feel like I was getting beat up by these men.

00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:38.400
<v SPEAKER_03>You know, it's different, it's one thing wrestling men, it's another thing getting literally punched and beat down by men.

00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:44.160
<v SPEAKER_03>So it was that was a whole challenge for me emotionally, but I love that it made me dig deep.

00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:52.240
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I mean, if you think about this past Olympics, the guy out there, I mean, hits the girl a couple times.

00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:53.279
<v SPEAKER_06>You just see.

00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.559
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, that's when you're like, come on, you know, it's like that.

00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:57.759
<v SPEAKER_06>This has to be stopped.

00:28:58.400 --> 00:28:58.640
<v SPEAKER_06>Right?

00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:00.240
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, so you experience that.

00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:01.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I experienced it.

00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:02.319
<v SPEAKER_06>What did you see?

00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:04.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Like when you saw that, I'm sure you saw clips on television.

00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:07.039
<v SPEAKER_06>What were your what was in your mind?

00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:12.240
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh man, it's just such a it's a I mean I Israels didn't sign up for that.

00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.200
<v SPEAKER_06>You know what I'm saying?

00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:15.680
<v SPEAKER_06>Like you sign up to be a narrow guy, it's no big deal.

00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:16.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Exactly.

00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.880
<v SPEAKER_03>And that's the thing, is like we need just fair play.

00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:23.200
<v SPEAKER_03>Sports are not meant to be inclusive, very much synchronous by design.

00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:24.640
<v SPEAKER_03>No, they're not inclusive.

00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:24.960
<v SPEAKER_03>No.

00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:28.480
<v SPEAKER_03>So I mean they're even have cuts on teams, and that that's it.

00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:38.000
<v SPEAKER_03>The only sports that really don't do that, I feel like, is like wrestling and and and grappling in those sports because they always need more bodies, but but you can still, it's very much sink or swim.

00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:41.839
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, there's nobody that it's not a team sport, not gonna carry you.

00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:45.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Um so by design, that's just how it's supposed to be.

00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:48.559
<v SPEAKER_03>That's why it's so rewarding when you work hard and you do well.

00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:51.920
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, because if it was easy, if everybody got a trophy.

00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:54.079
<v SPEAKER_06>That's kind of the new mindset.

00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:56.799
<v SPEAKER_06>Like I just buy everyone gets a trophy.

00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:02.960
<v SPEAKER_06>No, the whole point of it is to train to be the best, and when you're not, keep being the best, right?

00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:03.839
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, oh gosh.

00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:05.200
<v SPEAKER_03>Or how about this?

00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:09.440
<v SPEAKER_03>What if we're confusing our children about distinguishing what they're actually good at?

00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:24.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Because if they think they're just as good at at uh baseball as wrestling, as guitar, as this, as that, how do they really know where they may want to go based on like, wow, this like I am actually I'm better at this than most people.

00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:25.519
<v SPEAKER_06>No, I mean it's okay.

00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:33.440
<v SPEAKER_06>Like I remember saying to my kids, you know, you yeah, actually, you suck at that, but that's okay because you know, there's something you're brilliant at, be great at.

00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:34.319
<v SPEAKER_06>It's okay.

00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:35.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Right?

00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:37.680
<v SPEAKER_06>It's like, you know, good, you learn, yeah, you're not great at that.

00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:39.039
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm not good at a lot of things, too.

00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:40.799
<v SPEAKER_06>It's okay to suck at certain things.

00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:45.839
<v SPEAKER_03>And it's okay when you eat that you suck at it and want to get better, and it's also okay to recognize that this isn't for you.

00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:48.640
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, it's it's part of learning who you really are.

00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:52.720
<v SPEAKER_06>Because you know, we create false identities in our children oftentimes, right?

00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:54.880
<v SPEAKER_06>It poorly, like, you know, what are you stupid?

00:30:54.960 --> 00:31:00.079
<v SPEAKER_06>You have false identity, but keeping them in a sport that they suck at and telling them they're good.

00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:02.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Just as good as it's yeah, it's just the first place.

00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:04.400
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like that doesn't make any sense.

00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:05.599
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, it's it doesn't.

00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.599
<v SPEAKER_06>Wor the world needs to toughen up.

00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:11.920
<v SPEAKER_06>Tell me you know, it's like tell you did they suck and move on to the thing they're great at.

00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:13.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Let's find the greatness, right?

00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:16.240
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, so let's uh f fast forward then.

00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:16.799
<v SPEAKER_06>Here you are.

00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:23.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Uh, when was your first fight in the uh well, Strike Force, I guess, was your entry into a legit.

00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:24.160
<v SPEAKER_03>It was.

00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:27.359
<v SPEAKER_03>So Strike Force, uh there's Bo Dobbin Hook and Shoe.

00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:30.079
<v SPEAKER_03>That's when I turned pro and I had two fights in one night.

00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:35.599
<v SPEAKER_03>I won my first one, I lost my second one, um, and then I was done with the tournament of that.

00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:42.559
<v SPEAKER_03>And then my next fight was in Strike Force, and it was against Elena Beef Maxwell, if that tells you anything.

00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:44.640
<v SPEAKER_03>She was it so it was up awake last night.

00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:46.000
<v SPEAKER_03>It was definitely brought in to lose.

00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.240
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, I had just lost actually to a kickboxer.

00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:49.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I've been knocked out.

00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:51.359
<v SPEAKER_06>So you put the cupcake against the beef.

00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:51.680
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes.

00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:53.039
<v SPEAKER_06>That didn't go well.

00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:54.000
<v SPEAKER_03>No, I didn't.

00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:56.799
<v SPEAKER_04>You know, I ended up uh putting the ice in on the steak.

00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.240
<v SPEAKER_04>Yeah, it's excited.

00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:05.279
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I think again to fight a level up is just it's uh the recipe for disaster for males, doesn't matter to you.

00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:08.079
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, a weight class, it's a big it's a it was a big job.

00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:09.440
<v SPEAKER_03>But I know the job done.

00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:14.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh one a decision, then I got a contract to strike force and yeah, so you won that fight.

00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:16.799
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, so I won that one I wasn't supposed to.

00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:18.640
<v SPEAKER_03>It was her hometown and all that stuff.

00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:20.880
<v SPEAKER_03>But um, I did, and they signed me.

00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:26.319
<v SPEAKER_03>I was actually had the longest duration of any female in Strike Force.

00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:31.359
<v SPEAKER_03>Entered near the beginning and stayed with it all the way until it was absorbed by the UFC.

00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:37.599
<v SPEAKER_03>And then that's when I fought Ronda, so I was the champion during the days and now we're like 2012 or 12.

00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:38.319
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, 2012.

00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:39.279
<v SPEAKER_03>2012.

00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:39.759
<v SPEAKER_03>Yep.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And I had fought Marleys Kunin.

00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:49.440
<v SPEAKER_03>I won in uh, I think a fourth round arm triangle choke, and then I fought Rhonda.

00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:59.279
<v SPEAKER_03>And it was funny because at that time Dana White, the president of the UFC, had been getting asked a lot, what are you gonna bring women into the UFC?

00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:08.799
<v SPEAKER_03>Because Gina Carano and Cyborg headlined uh an event for strike force, and their numbers were crazy, it was insane.

00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:17.119
<v SPEAKER_03>Then Gina left and cyborg kept fighting, but here Dana was like, There's too many mismatches, there's not enough debt, there's not enough talent.

00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.519
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, Well, you know, you haven't seen me fight in it.

00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:36.640
<v SPEAKER_03>And I remember thinking that, and I was like, gosh, it's it seems so arrogant to say that, but it really wasn't coming from a place of arrogance, it was coming from that 15-year-old girl that learned from the beginning of one season to the end, and then by the end of my career as a wrestler in high school, I won the coaches award.

00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:37.440
<v SPEAKER_03>Right?

00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:43.759
<v SPEAKER_03>So this team was just like didn't think I belonged, didn't want recognizing me as like the one wrestler on the team that embodies me.

00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:51.759
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, If you you learn to start from the bottom, you know, you learn to fight on when you weren't supposed to be there.

00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:53.920
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, you learn toughness.

00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:54.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:57.359
<v SPEAKER_03>So Dana was this he's saying that women will never find the OFC.

00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:01.359
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, well, somebody is gonna watch me fight, and I'll cheat just mind.

00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:02.960
<v SPEAKER_03>You just had that.

00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:04.319
<v SPEAKER_03>I put it out there.

00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:06.960
<v SPEAKER_03>And then lo and behold, it was the fight with Rhonda.

00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:11.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh he was sitting there, and Lorenzo was sitting there, and they watched the fight.

00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:14.559
<v SPEAKER_03>And it was a good It was a good fight.

00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:17.360
<v SPEAKER_03>It was a great fight, and there was a there was a story to it.

00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:19.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I think that's what women's boxing has been missing.

00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:21.920
<v SPEAKER_03>I think the the good old boys in boxing.

00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:23.199
<v SPEAKER_02>Tell the story.

00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:24.480
<v SPEAKER_03>The chance, you know.

00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:27.440
<v SPEAKER_03>So so Rob and I just had this huge rivalry.

00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:30.000
<v SPEAKER_03>We just didn't we couldn't stand each other from the get.

00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:30.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:31.760
<v SPEAKER_03>Very different people.

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:32.239
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:34.960
<v SPEAKER_06>What why do you think she hated you so much?

00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:41.840
<v SPEAKER_03>I think she hated a lot of people, but I was just I was just uh the one to say something about it.

00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:43.920
<v SPEAKER_06>She's the one that flipped her off.

00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:49.119
<v SPEAKER_03>No, I didn't like the maltreatment and I didn't like her arrogance in this in the score.

00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:51.920
<v SPEAKER_03>I even thought, great, you can be great.

00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:54.800
<v SPEAKER_03>You won't have to be an ass.

00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:56.960
<v SPEAKER_03>That's that's not a pro a requirement.

00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:12.000
<v SPEAKER_03>But you know, in hindsight, I'm I'm grateful that I had somebody who was there like her to oppose me, to not only elevate me and my entire career and make me better as a fighter and as a woman, but to elevate the entire score.

00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:21.760
<v SPEAKER_06>No, and you went on to lose that fight against her and you know, tell that's the one where she fro you broke your arm.

00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:26.400
<v SPEAKER_06>You wouldn't tap out, you wouldn't sell ahead of it, but you fought the fight.

00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:32.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, so Rana's uh um Olympic medalist, bronze medalist in judo.

00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:36.239
<v SPEAKER_03>So she was, you know, very talented and very slip with her takedowns.

00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:42.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and I was a takedown specialist as well, but just you know, coming from high school wrestling, it didn't have the level she did.

00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:46.719
<v SPEAKER_03>So I go out there, you know, I'm hitting her and I crack her a few good times.

00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:53.599
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and then she throws me, she tries to get an armor, I get out, we get back to our feet.

00:35:53.679 --> 00:36:05.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh I'm hit, I'm hitting her again, and she throws me down again, and you know, she she's you know moving through these different positions, and I'm fighting my way out, I'm getting out, and then eventually she gets the armor.

00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:07.119
<v SPEAKER_03>It's been do both.

00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:10.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Literally that your arm.

00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:11.519
<v SPEAKER_03>You want to know what it feels like?

00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:21.760
<v SPEAKER_03>If you're your pointer finger, you put your other pointer finger on the tip of it, just bend it back as far as you can, and so that middle joint feels like it's going to work snap.

00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:23.360
<v SPEAKER_06>And you feel ligaments tearing.

00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:25.280
<v SPEAKER_06>I that is exactly as a great example.

00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:30.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes, that's what I'm so anybody can, you know, test that a little bit, and that's not a good feeling.

00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:33.519
<v SPEAKER_03>But um I just refuse to tap.

00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:40.320
<v SPEAKER_03>And she had the armbar dead to rights, and all of a sudden I hear Well, it was at the joint.

00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.280
<v SPEAKER_03>The bone didn't break, unfortunately, just the joint.

00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:45.599
<v SPEAKER_03>So I so I hyperextended the joint.

00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:47.840
<v SPEAKER_03>I tore Yeah, that's worse.

00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:50.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, it is a longer recovery, actually.

00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:52.079
<v SPEAKER_03>The bone intake heals faster.

00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:54.239
<v SPEAKER_03>So but the soft tissue damage was worse.

00:36:54.320 --> 00:37:05.599
<v SPEAKER_03>But the I grade two and three teras to the bicep and tricep, and then I tore actually what I was told is that the uh is it tendons that connect the ligament like the bone?

00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:09.199
<v SPEAKER_06>The things that yeah, like ligaments connect bone to bone, tendons, muscle.

00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:14.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Okay, so I avulged the tendons from the bone.

00:37:14.639 --> 00:37:20.079
<v SPEAKER_03>Like I actually they took a chunk of bone with them, which is actually that's an abolition fracture.

00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:20.559
<v SPEAKER_03>There you go.

00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:21.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes, that's what they said.

00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:23.280
<v SPEAKER_03>The you evol abulged.

00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:33.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, it yeah, and um see I'm not a doctor, but um, they were like, but the good news is is that since the bone is actually um in a chunk and hanging on to the end of them, then it'll grow back.

00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:36.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, so then that's an easier way to actually connect it.

00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:36.639
<v SPEAKER_03>Exactly.

00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:41.440
<v SPEAKER_03>So my body was actually able to put those back into place as opposed to having surgery.

00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:47.760
<v SPEAKER_03>So lucky at the clean-off, even though it sounds more disgusting, it actually healed up pretty well.

00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:49.599
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, as long as it heals clear.

00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:50.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:52.159
<v SPEAKER_03>So that was that.

00:37:52.320 --> 00:38:00.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, so I mean, what's going through your mind when your arms is beast bent and you're not like so why weren't you tapping salt?

00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:01.440
<v SPEAKER_03>Didn't want to give up.

00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:02.079
<v SPEAKER_03>I wasn't prepared.

00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:05.519
<v SPEAKER_06>It was it a lot because of the hatred between you two?

00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:07.519
<v SPEAKER_06>And you were not gonna let this girl beat you.

00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:08.719
<v SPEAKER_03>I just didn't want to lose.

00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:09.760
<v SPEAKER_03>I didn't want to give up.

00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:11.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I didn't want to give up, I didn't want to lose.

00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:16.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And so it went backwards like 90 degrees the wrong way.

00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:23.199
<v SPEAKER_06>And what how did uh Dana White uh was Jill Robin in the audience in that one?

00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:24.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, yeah, I know.

00:38:24.559 --> 00:38:26.719
<v SPEAKER_06>So I you know I But how did he describe that?

00:38:28.079 --> 00:38:30.000
<v SPEAKER_03>He was just like, she is just tough as nails.

00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:33.920
<v SPEAKER_03>I heard Dana say, you know, like she was meant, she was born to be a fighter.

00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:49.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, you know, she was born to be and so Yeah, we get when you meet her, it's it's an onument on my radar that like yeah, you are, but that Dana he called me maybe two weeks after, and I was, you know, kind of mourning this injury.

00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:52.639
<v SPEAKER_03>And I was like, Dan and White's.

00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:54.480
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna save his number.

00:38:54.559 --> 00:38:59.519
<v SPEAKER_03>I think one of his assistants had reached out and said, Hey, Dan is gonna call you this time, and I was like, I was so nervous, you know.

00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:00.800
<v SPEAKER_03>I didn't know what Dane was gonna say.

00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:09.519
<v SPEAKER_03>He gave me a$50,000 bonus, and then he told me that women were like you did good, and with like women were gonna come to New Psy.

00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:11.920
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, and that there and there started.

00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:18.239
<v SPEAKER_06>When you were when you were like um when you first turned professional, uh, what were you getting paid?

00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:19.679
<v SPEAKER_06>Like what were the fighters getting paid?

00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:22.239
<v SPEAKER_06>500 bucks.

00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:24.480
<v SPEAKER_03>That was on CB was just like winning a lot.

00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:26.159
<v SPEAKER_06>What did you get paid for that fight?

00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:27.760
<v SPEAKER_03>I met about like ten.

00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:28.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay.

00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:32.239
<v SPEAKER_06>So to get that fifty thousand, that's like that's the world right there.

00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.800
<v SPEAKER_03>My first professional fight was five hundred bucks.

00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:42.239
<v SPEAKER_03>Um when I went to strike force, I think I got a thousand to show and five hundred to win.

00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:52.320
<v SPEAKER_03>And then when I got my first contract, it was something like two thousand to show, a thousand to win, and kind of like bop up at 500 or a thousand increments, something like that.

00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:54.960
<v SPEAKER_03>So it was that much.

00:39:55.280 --> 00:40:11.920
<v SPEAKER_03>Considering you'd spent all this, you know, you'd well, I lived in a 22-foot RV for a couple years because I couldn't afford the luxury of living life if I wanted to dedicate myself fully to this sport.

00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:27.119
<v SPEAKER_03>And I'll be honest, I was on food stamps, I had I did work, I just fought, and I I cooked every day out of that RV, and I was on the property that is all this property at Victoria Athletic Cinemas, just a glorified barn with padded balls.

00:40:27.199 --> 00:40:27.360
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:28.639
<v SPEAKER_06>All you were doing is training.

00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:32.800
<v SPEAKER_03>All I was doing is training, just like a mabo and day and night all the time, every day.

00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:36.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Were you learning about the importance of nutrition for recovery?

00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:39.760
<v SPEAKER_06>Was that part of this learning yet, or did that come later?

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:50.960
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I mean I thought I kind of knew, you know, you but I realize how little I know, you know, you think you eat broccoli and piss, and like, you know, you think that that's healthy, but yeah, still.

00:40:51.119 --> 00:40:52.880
<v SPEAKER_03>If it comes to Rob Box, it's that healthy.

00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:53.679
<v SPEAKER_03>That's my opinion now.

00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:54.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, no, it's good.

00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:56.639
<v SPEAKER_06>You cut we've come all come along.

00:40:56.960 --> 00:40:59.440
<v SPEAKER_06>Very, very we'll talk about okay.

00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:03.199
<v SPEAKER_06>So then uh you end up with a rematch uh a year later or so.

00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:04.159
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh gosh, yeah.

00:41:04.239 --> 00:41:07.119
<v SPEAKER_03>We did when do we do our rematches in the 2013 point?

00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:08.880
<v SPEAKER_03>It might have been fifty?

00:41:09.280 --> 00:41:10.559
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, yeah, two years.

00:41:10.719 --> 00:41:13.679
<v SPEAKER_06>I don't know why I was thinking it was like 13 or something.

00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:17.039
<v SPEAKER_04>Yeah, me had oh thirteen, fourteen.

00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:19.119
<v SPEAKER_04>Yeah, it was sort of around 14.

00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:21.440
<v SPEAKER_04>Okay, 14, 15, 14, probably.

00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:25.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, and so what transpired in between that?

00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:30.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Here you're facing her again, because in between that was a lot of animosity still, right?

00:41:30.960 --> 00:41:32.000
<v SPEAKER_06>Was that in your honey?

00:41:32.239 --> 00:41:33.440
<v SPEAKER_06>In between there somewhere?

00:41:33.679 --> 00:41:34.079
<v SPEAKER_01>Which one?

00:41:34.239 --> 00:41:37.920
<v SPEAKER_06>But I don't know, the one where she flipped you off and oh stuff, yeah.

00:41:38.079 --> 00:41:42.639
<v SPEAKER_03>We actually coached the ultimate fighter against each other, and that was in 2013.

00:41:43.199 --> 00:41:44.480
<v SPEAKER_06>What does that mean coach still?

00:41:45.039 --> 00:41:59.599
<v SPEAKER_03>The ultimate fighter was a reality show that they would do, and they would put 16 fighters in a house and put them all together, and we were the coaches though, so we didn't have to live but we had our teams fighting each other, and so we would see each other daily.

00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:05.519
<v SPEAKER_06>So they chose you guys for that because of the you know Yeah, and the animosity.

00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:06.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Oh, okay, got it.

00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:09.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Alright, so then here's the rematch.

00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:10.480
<v SPEAKER_06>What's going through your mind?

00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:12.800
<v SPEAKER_06>Are you like, you know, nervous?

00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:15.920
<v SPEAKER_06>Like, tell me your thinking and what you did for that.

00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:26.800
<v SPEAKER_03>So I was trying to evolve but didn't really have the tools of just like the blind lady and the blind, and my first match with her, what I realized is I was so emotional.

00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:41.840
<v SPEAKER_03>I was so emotional that I thought it was to my detriment that it went out there so fierce and fiery that I just wasn't minding my peace and cues, and I put myself in a you know bad situations and I and I lost.

00:42:42.400 --> 00:42:49.039
<v SPEAKER_03>So I thought the second time around to try to swing the pedal onto the other side.

00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:50.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Let's not be emotional at all.

00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:56.079
<v SPEAKER_03>Let's be very low-headed and chill and let everything that she says and do just like roll it off your back.

00:42:56.159 --> 00:42:57.440
<v SPEAKER_03>It's not gonna bother you.

00:42:57.679 --> 00:43:01.599
<v SPEAKER_03>Um but then I felt kind of flat, if you will.

00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:03.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I don't feel like I had the same fire.

00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:09.519
<v SPEAKER_03>So I think there was a yeah, you know, somewhere in the middle that probably would have been the best grounds for me.

00:43:09.840 --> 00:43:12.239
<v SPEAKER_03>But you only get one shot to figure it out.

00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:17.199
<v SPEAKER_03>I'll get 15 minutes or 25 minutes if it's a title fight, but that's it.

00:43:17.360 --> 00:43:20.559
<v SPEAKER_03>All the rest of the time you're just hoping because you got it right.

00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:26.639
<v SPEAKER_06>You choose uh these are probab use your words that you know become better, not better through the situation.

00:43:26.960 --> 00:43:27.280
<v SPEAKER_06>Right?

00:43:27.440 --> 00:43:30.800
<v SPEAKER_06>Um, after that, where did it lead you?

00:43:30.960 --> 00:43:33.119
<v SPEAKER_06>And then you ended up being UFC champion.

00:43:33.199 --> 00:43:36.239
<v SPEAKER_06>So kind of take, you know, after that loss.

00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:38.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Because after that loss, I'd have probably quit.

00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:41.840
<v SPEAKER_06>I'd have been like gamda.

00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:42.559
<v SPEAKER_06>You know what I mean?

00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:45.280
<v SPEAKER_06>I I took my best stab at it, I'm done.

00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:49.840
<v SPEAKER_06>You didn't and that was smart because you ended up champion.

00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:56.320
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I I I, you know, part of me wanted to just crawl under a rocket die.

00:43:56.559 --> 00:43:59.840
<v SPEAKER_03>Like I was just so disappointed.

00:44:01.599 --> 00:44:12.159
<v SPEAKER_03>But i again, every time that I've learned about hitting that rock bottom, that there's always like more that you can gain from that.

00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:16.639
<v SPEAKER_03>So even though it sucks, it's necessary part of evolution.

00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:19.440
<v SPEAKER_03>And I kind of think I knew that deep down.

00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:33.039
<v SPEAKER_03>So even though it was really difficult and I hated everything about it in that time, I also began to work through it and become stronger for you to be like I'm gonna persevere and I'm still gonna I'm not gonna give up.

00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:37.199
<v SPEAKER_03>And you know, and then Holly beat Rhonda, you know, in of Australia.

00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:37.440
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:39.519
<v SPEAKER_02>And I was like, beat Holly.

00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:41.360
<v SPEAKER_03>And even how there's Michael.

00:44:41.519 --> 00:44:43.519
<v SPEAKER_03>That's that's a perfect style matchup for me.

00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:46.719
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I struggled with Rhonda because I was a takedown specialist.

00:44:46.800 --> 00:44:51.119
<v SPEAKER_03>So I would connect to her and she would get the better of that exchange.

00:44:51.360 --> 00:44:59.599
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh it might be at that time, there was very difficult to find anybody that was that high level in judo that was also doing MMA that was my size.

00:45:00.159 --> 00:45:01.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Good luck with them being a female.

00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:02.079
<v SPEAKER_07>Yeah.

00:45:02.559 --> 00:45:05.599
<v SPEAKER_03>Just really wasn't uh was hard to get trained partners.

00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:13.199
<v SPEAKER_03>So you get like these wrestlers that would try hip toss you, but they're not doing bad with the skill set that an Olympic medalist has.

00:45:13.519 --> 00:45:22.880
<v SPEAKER_06>That that mental attitude thing that made you not quit, that made you fight on.

00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:29.440
<v SPEAKER_06>How do you see that same thing serving you again and again and again post MMA?

00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:30.320
<v SPEAKER_03>Absolutely.

00:45:32.320 --> 00:45:34.400
<v SPEAKER_06>I I studied three percenters.

00:45:34.639 --> 00:45:37.039
<v SPEAKER_06>These are the people who you're a three percenter, yeah.

00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:39.599
<v SPEAKER_06>People who change the world, people are just they just do it.

00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:44.400
<v SPEAKER_06>And it comes down to them making a choice, saying, you know what, I'm not gonna die, I'm gonna live long.

00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:45.199
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm gonna do this.

00:45:46.079 --> 00:45:47.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Was it just a choice?

00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:50.239
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, I you know, how but sometimes those choices are hard to make.

00:45:50.639 --> 00:45:52.000
<v SPEAKER_06>How do you make the choice?

00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:57.599
<v SPEAKER_03>You know, I think part of it is uh not getting yourself another choice.

00:45:57.840 --> 00:45:59.679
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like that is the only choice.

00:46:00.159 --> 00:46:02.960
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like there is no other option, there is no other choice.

00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:06.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Even though you know that there is, in your mind there's not.

00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:08.800
<v SPEAKER_03>There's only one choice and it's up and on.

00:46:08.960 --> 00:46:10.000
<v SPEAKER_06>It was fight off.

00:46:10.079 --> 00:46:13.119
<v SPEAKER_06>So then when was when did you fight Holly for the championship?

00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:16.159
<v SPEAKER_06>How many what what was the date on the that was in 2016?

00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:19.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, and then you won.

00:46:19.280 --> 00:46:20.960
<v SPEAKER_06>How would you describe that fight?

00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:25.039
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh it was well, the whole fight was kind of symbolic of my career here.

00:46:25.199 --> 00:46:32.960
<v SPEAKER_03>Like I had uh I lost the first round, I had a 10-8 second round, really dominant, so that means like very dominant for Bell to Bell.

00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:34.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Normally, it's a 10-point must system.

00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:38.320
<v SPEAKER_03>One person gets 10 for the round, the other person gets a nine for the round.

00:46:38.559 --> 00:46:40.880
<v SPEAKER_03>I got a 10, she got eight.

00:46:40.960 --> 00:46:46.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Like that's how you dominate that round was, and that's huge because they don't give 10-8 very often.

00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:50.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Um then she won again the second round.

00:46:51.039 --> 00:46:54.960
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm sorry, the third round and the fourth round narrowly, like, but she edged me.

00:46:55.039 --> 00:46:59.039
<v SPEAKER_03>She kind of like outpointed me in the striking, she'd stay away, I wasn't able to close distance.

00:46:59.440 --> 00:47:05.760
<v SPEAKER_03>In the fifth round, I remember just thinking I have to throw out caution to the wind, and I have to risk getting knocked out.

00:47:06.079 --> 00:47:12.480
<v SPEAKER_03>I have to risk just running right into the head cake, but I gotta get a hold of this woman, I have to get her to be grabbed.

00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:25.360
<v SPEAKER_03>And my coach, Robert Follis, told me that if you get her down, you put that kind of pressure on her that you can, she's either going to fold under your pressure, or she's gonna make a mistake getting up.

00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:27.360
<v SPEAKER_03>And she made a mistake getting up.

00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:30.400
<v SPEAKER_03>She tried to fight through it and get up and on too.

00:47:30.559 --> 00:47:32.079
<v SPEAKER_03>She has that similar mentality.

00:47:32.320 --> 00:47:35.039
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like, I'm not gonna stay down here, I'm gonna get up.

00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:49.280
<v SPEAKER_03>And I was able to blatch onto her neck, and I got that choking, and I was like a dog on a bone, and she tried to throw me over the top of her, and I just hung on to her, so we both ended up flipping, kind of but I hung up.

00:47:49.360 --> 00:47:52.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, then six seconds later she was unconscious.

00:47:53.760 --> 00:47:56.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, so she didn't have chances you had such a grip on it.

00:47:57.039 --> 00:47:57.519
<v SPEAKER_03>Oh yeah.

00:47:57.599 --> 00:47:58.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, exactly.

00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:01.119
<v SPEAKER_06>And I'm sure the blood takes you cut off the correct.

00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:22.960
<v SPEAKER_03>Mulk was interesting because I had convinced myself that success equaled happiness.

00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:23.679
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:48:23.840 --> 00:48:25.039
<v SPEAKER_06>I went beginning here.

00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:28.559
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I just got goosebumps because a solid happer, man.

00:48:29.039 --> 00:48:34.639
<v SPEAKER_03>And I think this is all too common when we don't really prepare people that it's not what you do.

00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:37.440
<v SPEAKER_03>It's the work that you do on yourself.

00:48:37.599 --> 00:48:39.840
<v SPEAKER_03>You have to bring yourself along in this journey.

00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:43.039
<v SPEAKER_03>You can't forget it to to listen and be connected with yourself.

00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:46.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Because once I saw behind the curtain, I mean at first it was great.

00:48:46.880 --> 00:48:48.719
<v SPEAKER_03>It was probably great for maybe like two weeks.

00:48:49.440 --> 00:49:08.880
<v SPEAKER_03>And then boom, the the all of it kind of just wears off, and you're like, wait a minute, I I still feel really heavy, and I'm still really sad, and I'm still in the exact same position that I really convinced myself that it wouldn't be the case if I was just a word champion.

00:49:09.039 --> 00:49:19.920
<v SPEAKER_06>And by the way, people do this with um financial success, uh, whatever it is they're chasing, and one day they have to stalk and realize, hold on a second, yeah.

00:49:20.079 --> 00:49:25.039
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm chasing something that's not going to give me the happiest fulfill.

00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:26.880
<v SPEAKER_06>So what did?

00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:33.920
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, well, I still hadn't connected the dots on that one, so I thought, why just need to fight again?

00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:37.119
<v SPEAKER_03>Because every time I fight, it fixes it, right?

00:49:37.280 --> 00:49:37.679
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes.

00:49:37.920 --> 00:49:40.800
<v SPEAKER_03>Well, it was like fixing the symptoms, but not the root cause.

00:49:40.960 --> 00:49:41.119
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes.

00:49:41.280 --> 00:49:42.639
<v SPEAKER_03>Like potter medicine today.

00:49:42.800 --> 00:49:43.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:46.480
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, you know, you'd say it's the same with drugs, alcohol, right?

00:49:46.559 --> 00:49:48.320
<v SPEAKER_06>It's just healthier, I guess, right?

00:49:48.400 --> 00:49:50.960
<v SPEAKER_06>It's you know, you weren't giving out, but really it's the same thing.

00:49:51.119 --> 00:49:53.280
<v SPEAKER_06>What chasing somebody that temporarily helps you?

00:49:53.519 --> 00:49:55.760
<v SPEAKER_03>It was you know, it was a sick addiction in a way.

00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:56.320
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I know.

00:49:57.039 --> 00:50:01.199
<v SPEAKER_03>And and and sport can be great in a lot of ways, but it can also be just as detrimental.

00:50:01.360 --> 00:50:05.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Uh listen, I friends, uh, they're addicted to a neural sports.

00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:08.239
<v SPEAKER_06>The next thing, the next time that it's you know, seven continents.

00:50:08.320 --> 00:50:09.840
<v SPEAKER_06>It's bum bum bum ba bum bum bum.

00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:11.760
<v SPEAKER_06>It's like, I see where it's gonna head.

00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:13.360
<v SPEAKER_06>It's gonna head to emptiness.

00:50:13.519 --> 00:50:18.800
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, lack of not real true identity, it's not really good God created you to be, type thing.

00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:19.679
<v SPEAKER_06>So you're in that.

00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:20.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Lacking purpose.

00:50:21.199 --> 00:50:25.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Well, I mean, your purpose was training, your purpose was this, your purpose was that.

00:50:25.599 --> 00:50:28.559
<v SPEAKER_06>But when you when it becomes purpose-less, that's when you're in trouble.

00:50:28.880 --> 00:50:30.719
<v SPEAKER_03>And there wasn't really real depth in that.

00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:35.280
<v SPEAKER_03>I think that you know, per you find the most meaningful purpose in connection.

00:50:35.679 --> 00:50:39.119
<v SPEAKER_03>The connection with self, connection with spirit, connection with others.

00:50:39.360 --> 00:50:45.679
<v SPEAKER_03>When you had that, you feel pretty purposeful and you have an opportunity to make a difference in other people's lives, which is very fulfilling.

00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:55.760
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and what when you're on this journey of like, I've just got to do this for for my security, uh, you know, whether it's financial or whatnot, you just you can lose yourself so easily in that.

00:50:55.840 --> 00:51:00.079
<v SPEAKER_03>And that's what I had done, I began identifying as a fighter and as a wear and a loser.

00:51:00.239 --> 00:51:04.639
<v SPEAKER_03>And it's really hard to base all of your worth on a single nice outcome.

00:51:04.800 --> 00:51:06.320
<v SPEAKER_03>And that's what I basically had done.

00:51:06.480 --> 00:51:10.559
<v SPEAKER_06>And so you would say that that wasn't really your true identity after all.

00:51:10.800 --> 00:51:11.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:12.800
<v SPEAKER_06>It was something you became good at.

00:51:13.119 --> 00:51:14.079
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, absolutely.

00:51:14.239 --> 00:51:21.039
<v SPEAKER_03>And I I lost a lot of things that I gained from it, but I I potentially at that point lost so much more than I had realized.

00:51:21.119 --> 00:51:28.559
<v SPEAKER_03>And once I saw behind the curtain, just like in the Wizard of Oz, like, it's all like I was like, this is all this is not fixing anything.

00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:29.599
<v SPEAKER_03>This is not real.

00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:31.119
<v SPEAKER_03>This is an illusion.

00:51:31.840 --> 00:51:36.719
<v SPEAKER_03>And I thought, well, but if I just fight again, I'm sure I'll be happy.

00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:39.280
<v SPEAKER_03>Maybe I just need to defend the belt once, right?

00:51:39.599 --> 00:51:40.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Well, I didn't.

00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:42.559
<v SPEAKER_03>I lost the belt, and then I lost again.

00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:44.320
<v SPEAKER_03>So I lost two times in a row.

00:51:44.480 --> 00:51:49.679
<v SPEAKER_03>And by the time we're in moving into 2017.

00:51:50.719 --> 00:51:57.440
<v SPEAKER_03>And by the time I lost that second fight, I didn't I was a show of a person.

00:51:58.480 --> 00:52:04.639
<v SPEAKER_06>I lost that fight, and I thought Because you were going through this, you probably weren't even fighting with the same figure.

00:52:04.960 --> 00:52:05.280
<v SPEAKER_03>No.

00:52:05.599 --> 00:52:07.039
<v SPEAKER_03>It was like an out-of-body experience.

00:52:07.119 --> 00:52:08.400
<v SPEAKER_03>I don't even remember the fight.

00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:09.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I was not present.

00:52:09.760 --> 00:52:22.079
<v SPEAKER_03>And that was a skill set that I had, I think I had developed to keep myself uh able to do what I was doing was being like a robot, very disconnected from how I feel, because that didn't matter to me.

00:52:22.320 --> 00:52:22.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Objective.

00:52:23.039 --> 00:52:24.480
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like being a soldier or something.

00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:29.440
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, it's like, well, here's the objective, and how you feel about it doesn't matter, so tuck it down deep.

00:52:29.760 --> 00:52:32.960
<v SPEAKER_03>Don't address it, don't deal with it, just shove it down.

00:52:33.199 --> 00:52:37.199
<v SPEAKER_03>It but eventually it's as exhausting as trying to keep a beach ball under the water.

00:52:37.280 --> 00:52:48.480
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, so eventually that all came kind of spilling out on me, and when that happens, it's just like being on thin ice and the weather's getting warmer, it's like you're you're going down, you're going down hard.

00:52:48.800 --> 00:52:55.280
<v SPEAKER_03>And I remember contemplating whether I should continue even living.

00:52:56.079 --> 00:52:58.719
<v SPEAKER_06>Or whether that's when you really hit deep depression.

00:52:58.960 --> 00:53:02.239
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I mean, I had been in a cloud, I had been in a depression for a while.

00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:09.519
<v SPEAKER_03>It's just that I had found that when I win, it was like this temporary high and fix and the stop of me.

00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:10.639
<v SPEAKER_03>So it was chasing that.

00:53:10.719 --> 00:53:10.960
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:53:11.119 --> 00:53:13.119
<v SPEAKER_03>Just the same as like a drug added toward you.

00:53:13.440 --> 00:53:13.840
<v SPEAKER_03>Same thing.

00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:14.480
<v SPEAKER_01>Yeah.

00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:17.679
<v SPEAKER_03>And it was fixing nothing because I hadn't done the work myself.

00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:21.920
<v SPEAKER_03>I had left that little girl, the the core of who I am in the dust somewhere.

00:53:22.639 --> 00:53:25.039
<v SPEAKER_03>I said, what you think and fill doesn't matter.

00:53:25.599 --> 00:53:30.480
<v SPEAKER_03>And so I had to retire because I said, you know, I'm gonna have to change everything if I want something to try.

00:53:30.800 --> 00:53:30.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Right?

00:53:31.039 --> 00:53:34.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Wasn't the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it over a result.

00:53:35.039 --> 00:53:37.679
<v SPEAKER_03>So as hard as that was, you know, I left the toxic relationship.

00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:42.639
<v SPEAKER_03>I actually left the relationship before my last bite while he was still there and made things very difficult.

00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:43.599
<v SPEAKER_03>And a last bite.

00:53:43.760 --> 00:53:45.679
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, okay, that's not going to work.

00:53:45.760 --> 00:53:50.000
<v SPEAKER_03>I need to leave everything behind, pack up my car, and I just left.

00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:54.079
<v SPEAKER_06>So starting to you left a relationship, you left fighting, all of it.

00:53:54.239 --> 00:53:55.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Left it all behind.

00:53:55.280 --> 00:53:56.159
<v SPEAKER_03>I was scared to death.

00:53:56.320 --> 00:53:56.800
<v SPEAKER_06>To what?

00:53:57.360 --> 00:53:58.320
<v SPEAKER_03>That was the question.

00:53:58.480 --> 00:53:58.800
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah.

00:53:59.039 --> 00:53:59.519
<v SPEAKER_03>To what?

00:53:59.599 --> 00:54:00.800
<v SPEAKER_03>And I was like, I've been no idea.

00:54:00.880 --> 00:54:03.360
<v SPEAKER_06>I don't even drove off to what?

00:54:03.440 --> 00:54:04.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Like, where were you going?

00:54:04.559 --> 00:54:07.199
<v SPEAKER_03>I just I was in Vegas and I said I'm just gonna head west.

00:54:07.519 --> 00:54:17.360
<v SPEAKER_03>For some reason, the ocean sounded like calling to me, and that's what I was trying to do was like figure out what other things make me feel good, alive, speak to me.

00:54:17.599 --> 00:54:19.119
<v SPEAKER_06>So you were on a search trying to be honest.

00:54:19.760 --> 00:54:21.440
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, I was on a soul searching journey.

00:54:21.519 --> 00:54:34.000
<v SPEAKER_03>So it took my little Chihuahua scooter with me, and he was my buddy, and we just went and I slept on the beach and I drove up the coast, and I just started to try to connect with all the people that I had isolated myself from, all the family.

00:54:34.159 --> 00:54:42.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Because when you're in sport, one thing that's that's different is like you miss weddings, yeah, birthdays, yeah, of course, you miss holidays, it was all a thing.

00:54:42.559 --> 00:54:45.599
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, it's a very selfish life that you have to live, really.

00:54:47.360 --> 00:54:48.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, especially for females.

00:54:48.880 --> 00:54:58.000
<v SPEAKER_03>So it's just like I just hadn't found that other purpose yet of connecting with people, and so it was like having a little tiny pinhole in a pitch black barrel.

00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:06.320
<v SPEAKER_03>It's just you don't know what's over there, but it's all you've got, and you're just gonna head towards that light and hope that it gets bigger, and that's really where I was at.

00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:10.800
<v SPEAKER_03>I was just trying to figure out how to get through such a dark time.

00:55:11.119 --> 00:55:12.239
<v SPEAKER_06>So, how did you get through it?

00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:17.199
<v SPEAKER_03>I think connecting to God and myself, which had this interesting philosophy.

00:55:17.519 --> 00:55:26.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, as you mentioned, connections is where you find purpose and fulfillment, and that's the connecting to God truly is the ultimate connection of finding how very true identity really is.

00:55:26.960 --> 00:55:28.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Because it's three of us.

00:55:28.400 --> 00:55:30.320
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and I I'm exploring this still.

00:55:30.400 --> 00:55:46.880
<v SPEAKER_03>I don't think I've hit a finalized idea of what this concept uh is, the relationship with God, but I don't exactly see it the way the most organized religion would have views, or it's like, you know, God is here, very superior, and there's a lot of times fear-mongering, there's tithing, there's these things.

00:55:46.960 --> 00:55:58.800
<v SPEAKER_03>And I feel like God is here always, and the everything that I am and do is is a is a direct representation of God.

00:55:58.880 --> 00:56:06.639
<v SPEAKER_03>So it's like we are more like working synergistically, as opposed to me working to like get back or to go there in the afterlife.

00:56:06.800 --> 00:56:29.519
<v SPEAKER_03>And I also feel like the degrees of separation between me and you, or you know, someone's children and my children is like so small that degree of separation because we're all working on the same energy, circuitry, as as like that that is God to me, as like that energy that works through all of us is God in total, and it's uh it's a work in progress for me to try to understand.

00:56:29.760 --> 00:56:32.239
<v SPEAKER_06>Have you um dug into the scriptures?

00:56:32.480 --> 00:56:43.280
<v SPEAKER_03>I've dug it a little bit, but I'm not I I'm certainly not well versed, but I began reading the Bible and I'll open it and and I I can still go to church and invest in just always I I kinda agree at all.

00:56:43.440 --> 00:56:54.639
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean I was uh raised Catholic and I became agnostic because I saw the do's and don'ts and people like looking at people around me going, Man I don't want nothing to do with that, right?

00:56:55.199 --> 00:57:20.159
<v SPEAKER_06>And then I literally got into a debate that wasn't an argument because it lasted a couple weeks about religion, and I'll say the details on all that, but I literally he in the debate, this was going on because we worked together, and he said, you know, you really you hadn't read it, you know, so you make arguments you really don't know a lot about, and I did take debate in college on on that if you would have won the debate.

00:57:20.239 --> 00:57:23.920
<v SPEAKER_06>So out of my own arrogance, I started limitally reading the scriptures.

00:57:24.079 --> 00:57:26.159
<v SPEAKER_06>I asked somebody, like, where would I start?

00:57:26.239 --> 00:57:27.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Because I was clueless, right?

00:57:27.679 --> 00:57:30.800
<v SPEAKER_06>And they told me, start in John and just read through the New Testament, right?

00:57:30.880 --> 00:57:32.239
<v SPEAKER_06>So that's what I started doing, right?

00:57:32.480 --> 00:57:34.480
<v SPEAKER_06>And something miraculous happened.

00:57:34.559 --> 00:57:38.239
<v SPEAKER_06>I I literally was like, No one told me this.

00:57:38.400 --> 00:57:40.880
<v SPEAKER_06>It had nothing to do with about being good enough.

00:57:40.960 --> 00:57:43.280
<v SPEAKER_06>It was about Jesus dying for me, right?

00:57:43.440 --> 00:57:48.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Because I can never be good enough, and then his spirit comes in you, right?

00:57:48.559 --> 00:57:50.559
<v SPEAKER_06>And then that's he changes you.

00:57:50.639 --> 00:57:52.320
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm not trying to change myself anymore.

00:57:52.480 --> 00:58:00.159
<v SPEAKER_06>My whole world changed all because of my own arrogance of trying to win an argument, and he's watching this transition happen.

00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:04.000
<v SPEAKER_06>Long story said, God saved my butt, the sinner like in it.

00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:06.639
<v SPEAKER_03>The thing is, like God meets you where you are.

00:58:07.760 --> 00:58:17.519
<v SPEAKER_03>And if you ever walk into a church and they expect you know you to be something different or more, I d I I just would question it as I'm probably not the right place.

00:58:17.599 --> 00:58:24.000
<v SPEAKER_03>I feel like you should be able to walk in as you are, imperfect, lost, and broken, and God will meet you where you are.

00:58:24.239 --> 00:58:29.920
<v SPEAKER_06>Well, look, I the fact is, is we're all sinners, and the fact is, is we will all fail, and that's why Christ came, right?

00:58:30.159 --> 00:58:40.079
<v SPEAKER_06>So I mean uh it transformed me because again, if it was about do's and does and trying to be good enough, like you know, most every religion in the world, I'm out.

00:58:40.480 --> 00:58:41.039
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm done.

00:58:41.280 --> 00:58:54.079
<v SPEAKER_03>I know we didn't start this to get into religious, but I have one question for you because like you're pretty, you know, educated on the topic is um do you believe at all that God could have or be evil in any way?

00:58:54.239 --> 00:59:00.079
<v SPEAKER_03>And the reason I say that is because this is like it makes my heart almost race to even question it, right?

00:59:00.159 --> 00:59:01.119
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like it makes me nervous.

00:59:01.199 --> 00:59:07.519
<v SPEAKER_03>But I no, no, but I and it already questions that it's valid because God created everything.

00:59:07.679 --> 00:59:10.079
<v SPEAKER_03>It all stemmed from him, it all came from him.

00:59:10.320 --> 00:59:16.880
<v SPEAKER_03>And even in the Bible, there are some things that God does it's like, ooh, that was merciless, like that was that was mean.

00:59:17.039 --> 00:59:19.119
<v SPEAKER_03>Like, is that like we're not allowed to do that?

00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:20.800
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, that would be a sin.

00:59:20.960 --> 00:59:22.400
<v SPEAKER_03>You can't just murk people.

00:59:22.639 --> 00:59:38.320
<v SPEAKER_03>Uh you know, but like but but like if you think about it, if comprehensively everything that ever exists on this entire planet comes from God, then God must also have and be in part evil.

00:59:38.880 --> 00:59:40.480
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I would say no.

00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:50.480
<v SPEAKER_06>Um but he created his creations with um enough free will that that was a potential, right?

00:59:50.639 --> 00:59:54.480
<v SPEAKER_06>Of course, long before humans there was the angels and the fallen angels, right?

00:59:54.559 --> 00:59:56.480
<v SPEAKER_06>And out of that came Satan, etc.

00:59:56.880 --> 01:00:02.320
<v SPEAKER_06>Uh, you know, he's so divine and purposeful that we'll probably never truly understand.

01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:04.320
<v SPEAKER_06>That's why this is such a good question.

01:00:04.559 --> 01:00:10.559
<v SPEAKER_06>But his nature cannot be, but he could create something that absolutely could, right?

01:00:10.800 --> 01:00:14.880
<v SPEAKER_06>And you know, the fact is, is again, I we're we're born into sin.

01:00:15.039 --> 01:00:16.400
<v SPEAKER_06>This is part of his plan.

01:00:16.639 --> 01:00:18.320
<v SPEAKER_03>And like, what about like the flood?

01:00:18.400 --> 01:00:19.840
<v SPEAKER_06>Like Yeah, but think about it.

01:00:20.079 --> 01:00:21.760
<v SPEAKER_06>He he here's what I'm gonna say.

01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:25.519
<v SPEAKER_06>This will this will absolutely not sit well, trained Pete.

01:00:25.760 --> 01:00:26.079
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay.

01:00:27.199 --> 01:00:28.800
<v SPEAKER_06>We were born into sin.

01:00:29.039 --> 01:00:38.559
<v SPEAKER_06>So therefore, as is our creator, he has the right to say, you know, I'm gonna do away with all that I create, because look what it was evolved into.

01:00:38.639 --> 01:00:42.719
<v SPEAKER_06>Because I allowed them with the ability to choose right and wrong, look what they chose.

01:00:43.199 --> 01:00:46.639
<v SPEAKER_06>So the point is, is the flood was that of starting over, but you thank God.

01:00:46.880 --> 01:00:47.440
<v SPEAKER_06>Here's the thing.

01:00:47.599 --> 01:00:51.679
<v SPEAKER_06>But thank God he chose some to carry on a plan, right?

01:00:51.760 --> 01:00:58.639
<v SPEAKER_06>So he chose this group to carry on something that's still but that ability to choose right and wrong, right?

01:00:58.800 --> 01:01:08.000
<v SPEAKER_06>But he had an ultimate plan because because we can't be good enough, because we're now born into sin, now he had a plan to give his son as a sacrifice.

01:01:08.320 --> 01:01:10.239
<v SPEAKER_06>So that is the ultimate state.

01:01:10.400 --> 01:01:12.159
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, it's like, and that's the thing.

01:01:12.320 --> 01:01:15.920
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, we deserve death, but thank God he's given life.

01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:19.199
<v SPEAKER_06>Paul, who wrote three-quarters of the New Testament, right?

01:01:19.440 --> 01:01:24.719
<v SPEAKER_06>Chapter Romans chapter seven, eight, nine, he struggled in his own sin.

01:01:25.039 --> 01:01:31.119
<v SPEAKER_06>This guy was the Pharisee of all Pharisees, meaning he would say that I was more righteous than A.

01:01:31.599 --> 01:01:39.599
<v SPEAKER_06>I had the ability in my discipline to be more righteous, follow all the laws of Moses, and he was he was that, he was known for that.

01:01:39.760 --> 01:01:43.360
<v SPEAKER_06>And now here he is, knocked on his butt, and now he's a Christian, right?

01:01:43.599 --> 01:01:46.000
<v SPEAKER_06>He's still struggling in his deep sin.

01:01:46.239 --> 01:01:50.960
<v SPEAKER_06>He's still struggling, the fact that he like struggles in these sins, right?

01:01:51.199 --> 01:01:57.039
<v SPEAKER_06>So in his mind, you know, he's even worked sinner of all sinners, he would say about himself.

01:01:57.199 --> 01:02:01.440
<v SPEAKER_06>And then he ends with, Thank God there's no combination for those joy Christ Jesus.

01:02:01.599 --> 01:02:05.039
<v SPEAKER_06>Meaning, you know, thank God he saved my butt, right?

01:02:05.119 --> 01:02:10.320
<v SPEAKER_06>But yeah, he also in that Romans 9, he talked about God and his sovereignty.

01:02:10.559 --> 01:02:14.559
<v SPEAKER_06>You created some for his destruction and and some for his glory.

01:02:14.639 --> 01:02:16.800
<v SPEAKER_06>Thank God he chose some for his glory.

01:02:16.960 --> 01:02:22.320
<v SPEAKER_06>Otherwise, he he in his divineness, he could wipe out Eriminus, start absolutely, yeah.

01:02:22.480 --> 01:02:23.920
<v SPEAKER_06>But he chose some for his glory.

01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:25.199
<v SPEAKER_06>It's a little about us.

01:02:25.440 --> 01:02:26.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, that's fascinating.

01:02:26.960 --> 01:02:30.719
<v SPEAKER_03>I mean, and it's so interesting to really dive into this up and again interesting, you know.

01:02:30.800 --> 01:02:39.599
<v SPEAKER_03>And I definitely I dig digress a little because it's I know that maybe he's not, but he created enough free will to where the choice was absolutely theirs.

01:02:39.840 --> 01:02:40.320
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, yeah.

01:02:40.480 --> 01:02:44.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, he created just enough free will, he gave innocent just enough free will, you know.

01:02:44.480 --> 01:02:51.119
<v SPEAKER_06>But here's the thing we have free will, we can go out, and it's never I've stepped away from his will.

01:02:51.280 --> 01:02:53.760
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, again, I'm a center set by grace, right?

01:02:53.920 --> 01:03:03.760
<v SPEAKER_06>And you get out here, this promise is he'll work all things for good for those who love according to his purpose, and he brings us lovingly back.

01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:07.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Mean bad things happen, discipline happens, just like a good parent.

01:03:07.599 --> 01:03:10.960
<v SPEAKER_06>I'm gonna discipline my kids when they're out here because I'm gonna teach them.

01:03:11.119 --> 01:03:17.440
<v SPEAKER_06>And it's a cup us coming out and then disciplining us, allowing the bad things to come because we do the bad thing.

01:03:17.599 --> 01:03:24.800
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, we come back to his will, and we come out again, we come back to his will, and hopefully, you know, we just we keep getting less and less out.

01:03:25.039 --> 01:03:28.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, I can tell you in my old age, older age, that that's been the case.

01:03:29.119 --> 01:03:31.519
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, it's like you learn to walk with it.

01:03:31.840 --> 01:03:33.119
<v SPEAKER_06>It's called sanctification.

01:03:33.199 --> 01:03:46.320
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, we're justified with the blood of Christ, meaning we're we're made, you know, sinless in his eyes, and then we're sanctified, meaning he makes us more like Christ, he makes us better as time goes on.

01:03:46.480 --> 01:03:51.599
<v SPEAKER_06>And that's I it's I could claim of nothing of my own effort, he just changes you.

01:03:51.840 --> 01:03:59.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I have this beautiful um saying in my bathroom that I it's like the one thing I was like, I asked my mom, guess gonna have that.

01:03:59.199 --> 01:04:00.000
<v SPEAKER_03>I always loved it.

01:04:00.079 --> 01:04:04.000
<v SPEAKER_03>And paraphrasing it, it basically is it's called footprints in the sand.

01:04:04.559 --> 01:04:12.159
<v SPEAKER_03>Okay, yeah, so it's like there's you know, one set of footprints, and you know the the child of God is basically like, you know, where were you?

01:04:12.239 --> 01:04:15.679
<v SPEAKER_03>There's only ever there's one foot, one set of footprints, like where'd you pill?

01:04:15.760 --> 01:04:18.400
<v SPEAKER_03>He's like, My child, I've been carrying you.

01:04:19.599 --> 01:04:22.719
<v SPEAKER_06>Both of us have had a lot of knockouts, you're more physically.

01:04:22.960 --> 01:04:23.199
<v SPEAKER_02>Right.

01:04:23.360 --> 01:04:23.519
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

01:04:23.679 --> 01:04:28.559
<v SPEAKER_06>I've had some hard things in my life, you know, that looking back, he was always there.

01:04:28.960 --> 01:04:30.960
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, he was he was always there.

01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:37.280
<v SPEAKER_06>Taught me in it, they brought me this far, and I can claim no nothing of my undoing.

01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:42.559
<v SPEAKER_06>Every religion in the world you is making you strive to be something or something.

01:04:43.519 --> 01:04:44.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Uh no way.

01:04:44.559 --> 01:04:47.039
<v SPEAKER_06>If it's all him, it was all good.

01:04:47.199 --> 01:04:47.840
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, yeah.

01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:48.400
<v SPEAKER_06>So good.

01:04:48.639 --> 01:04:54.800
<v SPEAKER_06>That gives hope for everybody because you know it's so hard for people to look at the son of Sam.

01:04:55.039 --> 01:05:00.800
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, he was a guy who murdered all these people, and then jail he comes to Christ and realizes, yeah.

01:05:01.599 --> 01:05:03.440
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, that's hard for people.

01:05:04.000 --> 01:05:07.679
<v SPEAKER_06>But remember the murder on the cross next to, you know, there's two, right?

01:05:07.920 --> 01:05:15.599
<v SPEAKER_06>One that was still stuck, you know, in his anger, and the other one was like, don't forget about me, and today you'll be with me, right?

01:05:15.920 --> 01:05:17.519
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, he was a murderer, too.

01:05:17.679 --> 01:05:22.400
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, it's like it there's hope for everybody, and that's the good thing.

01:05:22.480 --> 01:05:29.119
<v SPEAKER_06>It doesn't matter how bad our life was, yeah, how many people you did this to, murdered that, and there is live like hope for everyone in Christ.

01:05:29.280 --> 01:05:32.400
<v SPEAKER_06>It was not about us being good enough, it's about what he did for you.

01:05:32.639 --> 01:05:34.000
<v SPEAKER_01>He's already thinking that's it.

01:05:34.159 --> 01:05:35.119
<v SPEAKER_06>That's the hope, man.

01:05:35.440 --> 01:05:36.480
<v SPEAKER_01>I love it.

01:05:36.639 --> 01:05:40.400
<v SPEAKER_06>So here you are, um, you know, at your life changed two kids now.

01:05:40.559 --> 01:05:42.159
<v SPEAKER_06>So when did that happen?

01:05:42.400 --> 01:05:46.400
<v SPEAKER_06>Because you actually started, I think you had kids in between that.

01:05:46.480 --> 01:05:48.559
<v SPEAKER_06>Like, so coming out of depression.

01:05:48.800 --> 01:05:54.320
<v SPEAKER_03>So so God gave me uh breath again and the connection of the self and the connection with others.

01:05:54.480 --> 01:06:01.199
<v SPEAKER_03>Okay, and then I you know met my fiance, Johnny, amazing man, and I never thought That I wanted kids.

01:06:01.840 --> 01:06:03.360
<v SPEAKER_03>So when I met him, I was like, I knew.

01:06:03.440 --> 01:06:05.199
<v SPEAKER_03>I was like, I definitely want kids.

01:06:05.280 --> 01:06:07.119
<v SPEAKER_03>And so I have two and him on seven and five.

01:06:07.599 --> 01:06:12.400
<v SPEAKER_03>And yeah, and they're there's just beautiful, amazing little lights of my life.

01:06:12.559 --> 01:06:15.280
<v SPEAKER_03>Um and I found purpose again.

01:06:15.360 --> 01:06:17.199
<v SPEAKER_03>In in that, I found another purpose.

01:06:17.280 --> 01:06:24.639
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm like these little beings, these little they're they're just like they they're pending on me for yeah, everything.

01:06:25.360 --> 01:06:27.119
<v SPEAKER_03>It's amazing, the beautiful process.

01:06:27.199 --> 01:06:28.480
<v SPEAKER_03>So they help me elevate it.

01:06:28.559 --> 01:06:32.559
<v SPEAKER_03>Because I really believe that my ceiling is there for putting them up on that.

01:06:32.639 --> 01:06:36.480
<v SPEAKER_03>You know, and someday when I leave this world, I want to know that I put my ceiling as high as possible.

01:06:36.559 --> 01:06:39.119
<v SPEAKER_03>So it's like, damn, that best start in life.

01:06:39.440 --> 01:06:42.880
<v SPEAKER_03>So they've motivated me to be the best that I can be in the world.

01:06:42.960 --> 01:06:49.360
<v SPEAKER_03>And that's you know why I've gotten into wellness and why I've gotten into the longevity and why we bet at a biohacking conference.

01:06:49.440 --> 01:06:55.039
<v SPEAKER_03>I mean, in large part is a dedication to my family and kids to be the best that I can for the longest as I can.

01:06:55.199 --> 01:06:56.960
<v SPEAKER_03>So, yes, I retired for four years.

01:06:57.039 --> 01:07:04.800
<v SPEAKER_03>I moved to Singapore, I left there for a year and a half, was nine months pregnant, and I said, I'm gonna fight again because I'm 21 though.

01:07:05.039 --> 01:07:06.880
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, yeah, 2001.

01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:08.719
<v SPEAKER_06>You you can't fight again.

01:07:08.880 --> 01:07:08.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

01:07:09.440 --> 01:07:12.159
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, so let what what do you think that was?

01:07:12.320 --> 01:07:14.239
<v SPEAKER_06>Meaning you found purpose in children.

01:07:14.400 --> 01:07:15.280
<v SPEAKER_06>Here you had a child.

01:07:15.599 --> 01:07:18.239
<v SPEAKER_06>Was it the was it almost like this?

01:07:19.440 --> 01:07:20.400
<v SPEAKER_03>Byproduct of healing.

01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:21.519
<v SPEAKER_03>That's a lot of us.

01:07:21.679 --> 01:07:22.800
<v SPEAKER_03>It's a byproduct of healing.

01:07:23.199 --> 01:07:29.119
<v SPEAKER_03>And I thought, my god, my god, my my whole career, I've just done this in spite of.

01:07:29.760 --> 01:07:36.239
<v SPEAKER_03>I I did it in, you know, the the the most toxic situations possible.

01:07:36.400 --> 01:07:40.960
<v SPEAKER_03>And it was always, you know, in in spite of the adversity, and like because of, and that was gonna be better.

01:07:41.039 --> 01:07:43.039
<v SPEAKER_03>And I thought, because the harder that it was, the better.

01:07:43.199 --> 01:07:48.480
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like I'm actually healing from this, and I feel like a better person.

01:07:49.039 --> 01:07:50.960
<v SPEAKER_03>I want to see what I can do with that.

01:07:51.360 --> 01:08:01.440
<v SPEAKER_03>And you know, I got the opportunity in December of 2023 to to shake the hand at the woman who is the best version of me inside the Optical.

01:08:02.000 --> 01:08:03.360
<v SPEAKER_03>And that that's me, you know.

01:08:03.599 --> 01:08:05.679
<v SPEAKER_06>Now yeah, you yeah, that's our right up there.

01:08:06.159 --> 01:08:08.000
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, she's the best that you know.

01:08:08.079 --> 01:08:15.360
<v SPEAKER_03>I realized that I'll probably ever be was that that that moment of time when it all came together and it was synergistic and it was beautiful.

01:08:15.679 --> 01:08:16.560
<v SPEAKER_06>But who was that?

01:08:16.720 --> 01:08:19.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Meaning describe that yourself.

01:08:19.439 --> 01:08:31.039
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes, that woman, but you know, it someone who had found balance in life, someone who had spiritual connection, self-connection, value, a purpose outside of I was no longer more you're true.

01:08:31.119 --> 01:08:32.319
<v SPEAKER_03>I exactly.

01:08:32.640 --> 01:08:35.520
<v SPEAKER_03>I was no longer outcome-based.

01:08:35.680 --> 01:08:36.800
<v SPEAKER_03>I was effort-based.

01:08:37.279 --> 01:08:40.319
<v SPEAKER_03>How much am I gonna put into this and that determines my value?

01:08:40.479 --> 01:08:43.199
<v SPEAKER_03>Not the still night outcome.

01:08:43.359 --> 01:08:45.520
<v SPEAKER_03>That's either here nor there.

01:08:45.840 --> 01:08:48.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Just wanna I just wanna know how great I can be.

01:08:49.119 --> 01:08:54.239
<v SPEAKER_03>Because for so long I limited myself from being my best because I was so afraid of losing.

01:08:54.560 --> 01:08:58.640
<v SPEAKER_03>That's that's so right about losing that I handicapped myself.

01:08:58.720 --> 01:09:06.720
<v SPEAKER_03>I'd rather play it safe and barely win than go out there and beat the greatest and put it all in the line and maybe lose in a big way.

01:09:07.279 --> 01:09:15.600
<v SPEAKER_03>And it wasn't until I moved through that and I unpacked it, I said, Okay, we're gonna let go of the outcome because that no longer defides you.

01:09:15.760 --> 01:09:30.800
<v SPEAKER_03>You have purpose in this area, mother, you're a wife, you're a doctor, like you have connection, purpose, and it's spirituality about you that doesn't matter if you lose, nothing changes, nothing changes the next day about the core of who I am.

01:09:30.960 --> 01:09:33.920
<v SPEAKER_03>Where you know, before that was just the complete opposite.

01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:36.880
<v SPEAKER_03>It was like, and my whole world would be upside down if I lost a fight.

01:09:37.439 --> 01:09:43.920
<v SPEAKER_03>And um just realizing that took this weight off my shoulders, and I said, uh, I I got to I got to do that.

01:09:44.000 --> 01:09:47.840
<v SPEAKER_03>But in that fight, I tore two of them as 90 zoo scar.

01:09:49.359 --> 01:09:52.720
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, so but I think maybe that you won the fight.

01:09:52.960 --> 01:09:53.199
<v SPEAKER_03>I did.

01:09:53.359 --> 01:09:53.439
<v SPEAKER_03>Okay.

01:09:53.680 --> 01:09:57.920
<v SPEAKER_03>I won, yeah, it was 10 two, 10-8 rounds, and then the third round going back into 10-8.

01:09:58.239 --> 01:10:01.439
<v SPEAKER_03>Is it worth oh yeah, yeah, it was worth it, absolutely.

01:10:01.520 --> 01:10:05.199
<v SPEAKER_03>I would I wouldn't change that, but um, I battled really hard to get back from this.

01:10:05.359 --> 01:10:10.800
<v SPEAKER_03>It spent about 14 months off the mat, and then I took a fight right away as soon as I was clear, and it was a great fight.

01:10:11.039 --> 01:10:14.159
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, I went out there with the intention of like just don't let it be a slow fight.

01:10:14.319 --> 01:10:22.960
<v SPEAKER_03>It's been even off the mat for a long time, but but physically just past the you know, with an injury like this, past the prime, the knee is never gonna be the same.

01:10:23.119 --> 01:10:28.960
<v SPEAKER_03>And I just have to kind of face that, and that's okay because sometimes they feel like these things happen.

01:10:29.039 --> 01:10:36.319
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like that was probably honestly like the spirit way of telling me this that was it.

01:10:36.640 --> 01:10:37.279
<v SPEAKER_03>You've done it.

01:10:37.439 --> 01:10:39.600
<v SPEAKER_06>And you know, and left you with a remembrance.

01:10:39.760 --> 01:10:40.159
<v SPEAKER_06>It did.

01:10:40.239 --> 01:10:42.000
<v SPEAKER_06>So that came out beautiful.

01:10:42.159 --> 01:10:42.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, yeah.

01:10:42.800 --> 01:10:44.960
<v SPEAKER_03>You make them look at this with a refrain, you know.

01:10:45.039 --> 01:10:51.680
<v SPEAKER_03>It's like, okay, well, it doesn't serve me in the sport moving forward, but it gave me a clear indication, and I got to do what I came here to do.

01:10:51.920 --> 01:10:54.079
<v SPEAKER_03>Now let's start pouring myself into the next chapter.

01:10:54.640 --> 01:10:54.960
<v SPEAKER_06>Exactly.

01:10:55.039 --> 01:10:56.720
<v SPEAKER_06>So that what's the next chapter look like?

01:10:56.800 --> 01:11:01.039
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, you're able to take everything you've learned and impact obviously yourself.

01:11:01.279 --> 01:11:06.319
<v SPEAKER_06>That obviously now you have an opportunity um to impact many others, and you are.

01:11:06.479 --> 01:11:09.359
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean, on different shows and things of that sort.

01:11:09.439 --> 01:11:10.319
<v SPEAKER_06>So, what does it look like?

01:11:10.399 --> 01:11:11.119
<v SPEAKER_06>What's the new thing?

01:11:11.359 --> 01:11:13.600
<v SPEAKER_03>Well, I had a podcast, it's called Boat for Growth.

01:11:13.680 --> 01:11:15.199
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, and how did they hit?

01:11:15.359 --> 01:11:17.680
<v SPEAKER_03>You can yeah, all the business is just Book for Growth.

01:11:17.840 --> 01:11:20.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, you can also find my website, initiatake.com.

01:11:21.199 --> 01:11:21.920
<v SPEAKER_03>The newsletter there.

01:11:22.000 --> 01:11:23.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I don't spam you, I promise.

01:11:23.199 --> 01:11:25.119
<v SPEAKER_03>And I write it myself or where it comes to my heart.

01:11:25.199 --> 01:11:26.399
<v SPEAKER_03>That's why it's sporadic.

01:11:26.479 --> 01:11:28.159
<v SPEAKER_03>You won't get it every week or every two weeks.

01:11:28.239 --> 01:11:36.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Sometimes I aim for every two, but sometimes it's less because I need to feel something impactful to want to share that uh by any fake accounts or thing in Instagram and all those good things.

01:11:36.960 --> 01:11:39.359
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, but that podcast is near and dear to my heart.

01:11:39.439 --> 01:11:41.119
<v SPEAKER_03>It is a passion project for me.

01:11:41.199 --> 01:11:46.960
<v SPEAKER_03>And my coach I mentioned earlier, Robert Follis, he took his own life, he passed away you know, from suicide.

01:11:47.199 --> 01:11:54.000
<v SPEAKER_03>And he always said that change is inevitable, growth is optional.

01:11:54.560 --> 01:11:59.279
<v SPEAKER_03>And he said, Wow, that's something that's always stuck with me because for a long time I love it.

01:11:59.439 --> 01:12:02.159
<v SPEAKER_06>Change is inevitable, but growth you have to choose.

01:12:02.399 --> 01:12:04.000
<v SPEAKER_03>Yes, you have to choose it.

01:12:04.159 --> 01:12:06.560
<v SPEAKER_03>And that is why I call the podcast Bill for Growth.

01:12:06.720 --> 01:12:09.119
<v SPEAKER_03>You'll see what you know, somebody I know for you to be a guest on it.

01:12:09.279 --> 01:12:15.600
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, love to have this little teddy bear, and uh it's with every podcast, and it is made from his planel.

01:12:16.239 --> 01:12:24.800
<v SPEAKER_03>And it's just symbolic of his energy being there carrying me forward into this podcast and uh choosing growth because it's powerful.

01:12:24.960 --> 01:12:30.720
<v SPEAKER_06>And do you have any r regrets that now we know with what you know now that we could have helped in war?

01:12:30.880 --> 01:12:32.399
<v SPEAKER_06>I mean of course, yeah.

01:12:32.560 --> 01:12:33.520
<v SPEAKER_03>Yeah, absolutely.

01:12:33.840 --> 01:12:39.920
<v SPEAKER_03>But but again, I know that this wasn't something that he didn't think through very thoroughly.

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:59.920
<v SPEAKER_03>He was a very intelligent man, and of course, I can never ever condone suicide, but I can find peace in knowing that that is the decision that he wanted and he made, and I miss him terribly, but he also I had to take that and make what I can positive at it.

01:13:00.560 --> 01:13:00.880
<v SPEAKER_03>Right?

01:13:00.960 --> 01:13:10.399
<v SPEAKER_03>I'll take it and and carry on his legacy the best that I can, and so he motivated me, yeah, um, to to grow and evolve and be the best version myself.

01:13:10.640 --> 01:13:18.479
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, God's going to take everything you've been through, if he already is, and use it to impact so many people, and now you have a platform that.

01:13:18.960 --> 01:13:21.039
<v SPEAKER_06>And that's the you know, that's the woman I saw.

01:13:21.279 --> 01:13:26.479
<v SPEAKER_03>So it's a big says I'm opening up the next health in Las Vegas, so that'll be Ray Well Death Center.

01:13:26.640 --> 01:13:28.079
<v SPEAKER_03>That's gonna be Q1 in 2026.

01:13:28.239 --> 01:13:29.520
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm partnering it.

01:13:29.840 --> 01:13:35.279
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, and I've got a certification in behavior change, change psychology.

01:13:35.439 --> 01:13:38.159
<v SPEAKER_03>Um, you know, I don't usually like work up people one-on-one.

01:13:38.319 --> 01:13:47.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I like to impact the masses, but if you listen to the podcast you here, and I, you know, endeared my social media more towards like how do we make lasting shape?

01:13:47.359 --> 01:13:51.439
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, now you've done it, and that's why you know you become the expert in it.

01:13:51.680 --> 01:13:55.680
<v SPEAKER_06>I wish we'd had more time to talk about some of the biohacks that you do.

01:13:55.840 --> 01:13:57.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Do you still get cold baths?

01:13:57.199 --> 01:13:57.680
<v SPEAKER_06>What do you do?

01:13:57.760 --> 01:13:59.439
<v SPEAKER_03>You still Oh, you know what, Dr.

01:13:59.520 --> 01:14:01.680
<v SPEAKER_03>Bomba, cold baths are the one that I struggle with.

01:14:01.760 --> 01:14:03.840
<v SPEAKER_03>If I had a kryptonine, it would have to be that one.

01:14:03.920 --> 01:14:05.119
<v SPEAKER_03>I'm I'm I'm an advocate.

01:14:05.199 --> 01:14:06.640
<v SPEAKER_03>I love the way that I feel afterwards.

01:14:06.800 --> 01:14:08.319
<v SPEAKER_03>It's the hardest thing for me to do.

01:14:08.640 --> 01:14:14.239
<v SPEAKER_06>I actually am probably I don't think it's as good for women as people.

01:14:14.720 --> 01:14:17.119
<v SPEAKER_06>I love the fact that not spelling style.

01:14:17.359 --> 01:14:19.359
<v SPEAKER_04>Yes, don't love it when then research comes out.

01:14:19.439 --> 01:14:20.079
<v SPEAKER_04>I'm like seeing it.

01:14:20.399 --> 01:14:22.479
<v SPEAKER_06>The fact that you hate it's probably for a reason, right?

01:14:23.119 --> 01:14:24.319
<v SPEAKER_06>No one likes getting it a call.

01:14:24.640 --> 01:14:26.319
<v SPEAKER_06>And see, it only works if you adapt.

01:14:26.479 --> 01:14:28.000
<v SPEAKER_06>Everybody feels good coming out.

01:14:28.159 --> 01:14:31.199
<v SPEAKER_06>Okay, yeah, but question is is do you adapt?

01:14:31.439 --> 01:14:36.960
<v SPEAKER_03>If I am going to do it, I will only do it certain times in my cycle, and usually I do it or more.

01:14:37.359 --> 01:14:46.800
<v SPEAKER_06>I don't do it that See, if everyone were that smart, because you see, then if you're doing it more or certain times your cycle, you're considering the fact that it only works if you adapt.

01:14:46.880 --> 01:14:49.039
<v SPEAKER_06>So you're increasing your ability to adapt.

01:14:49.279 --> 01:14:50.479
<v SPEAKER_06>I hope everyone just heard that.

01:14:50.560 --> 01:14:50.720
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah.

01:14:50.960 --> 01:14:52.479
<v SPEAKER_03>So I don't do it the week before my cycle.

01:14:52.640 --> 01:14:59.039
<v SPEAKER_03>The progesterone is there, but then I feel like more like a hey start things like, yeah, cool, I'll I'll hop in a cold shower.

01:14:59.279 --> 01:15:00.720
<v SPEAKER_06>Jeez, that was a great thing.

01:15:00.800 --> 01:15:03.359
<v SPEAKER_06>That's exact I agree with everything you just said there.

01:15:03.439 --> 01:15:07.199
<v SPEAKER_06>So and obviously you're now you're in more into nutrition.

01:15:07.279 --> 01:15:10.560
<v SPEAKER_06>Uh, you know, probably because yeah, you've been hit in the head a few times.

01:15:10.800 --> 01:15:11.840
<v SPEAKER_06>Kind of have to, you know.

01:15:12.079 --> 01:15:13.920
<v SPEAKER_03>Actually, I gotta make up for it on the back ends.

01:15:14.159 --> 01:15:17.920
<v SPEAKER_06>Here we get we talked, we'll we'll talk more about that on the next show.

01:15:18.239 --> 01:15:20.399
<v SPEAKER_06>You know, but what what a what a blessing.

01:15:20.560 --> 01:15:21.600
<v SPEAKER_06>I thank you for being here.

01:15:21.680 --> 01:15:23.119
<v SPEAKER_06>Everyone needs to follow this rose.

01:15:23.359 --> 01:15:37.279
<v SPEAKER_06>Check out her podcast and everything she does on social media because uh look, you don't go through what she went through and not be someone that is going to take you're taking people over here, and that's why people need to follow you.

01:15:37.600 --> 01:15:38.640
<v SPEAKER_03>Case I appreciate that.

01:15:39.279 --> 01:15:40.079
<v SPEAKER_03>That is the mission.

01:15:40.239 --> 01:15:41.279
<v SPEAKER_06>Yeah, you're doing it.

01:15:41.600 --> 01:15:43.760
<v SPEAKER_06>So another great episode on Dr.

01:15:43.920 --> 01:15:50.640
<v SPEAKER_06>Papa podcast from pain to purpose, and her purpose is great, but it came out of a lot of pain that she chose often.

01:15:52.159 --> 01:15:53.520
<v SPEAKER_02>I'm a glad for punishment.

01:15:53.840 --> 01:15:56.399
<v SPEAKER_06>Anyways, always share a light the episodes.

01:15:56.479 --> 01:15:59.760
<v SPEAKER_06>We're taking a message to the world, and so are you, Keisha.

01:15:59.920 --> 01:16:00.560
<v SPEAKER_06>Thank you.