From Homelessness to UFC: A Fighter’s Rise & Fall | Uriah Hall DSH #1202

remember they're going, ah man, I used to train with Sean.

I don't want to fight Sean.

Not right now, he's ranked 13.

At least give me top five.

I'm eight.

Something, something, something.

You got to do it.

You or she doesn't like when you say no.

And I'm like,

all right, I'll do it.

And it's right there.

I checked out.

Because I didn't want to do it.

Hey, there he is.

We got your eye haul here today, fresh off a training session.

That's right.

Let's go, man.

What are you training for?

For life, bro.

Yeah.

Bad after I retired a little bit, you know.

It's one of those cases where I see a lot of people let themselves go.

A bunch of my friends, I'm not going to say who, but I didn't want to fall into that category.

And it's so easy to just go down that sparrow.

You know, you follow a routine.

And I'm good with structure.

So out here in Vegas, I decided to just go to PI.

My friend just invited me, which is weird because I'm the guest.

I used to bring the guest.

Now I'm the guest.

Yeah, times have changed.

Yeah, I saw you say on another show you were 230 pounds.

You had to lose 30 pounds in, what, three weeks for that last boxing match you had.

Oh, yeah, for what's this?

Julio, Julio.

Yeah.

Julio Caesar Savage.

That's nuts.

Yeah.

I mean, you know what?

I got off the couch.

The fight

coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Of course, the boxer is always going to talk smack.

But.

I look at it this way.

For getting off the couch, fighting a world, former world champ, I didn't have anything to lose and in my mind i'm like oh he's mexican i'm gonna fight like a mexican what mexicans do they walk at you but this fool was running and hitting i'm like all right it's a tactic man because i think he was trying to fight jake paul he's just trying to secure the wind so i was just like i'm just gonna walk at him and just do what i do i had some injuries of course i was standing upright so i couldn't really utilize my frame as much as i could but it was a good learning experience yeah i take nothing away i saw you say about the fight you felt like boxing's pretty rigged overall Fuck yes, Rigged, dude.

I mean, come on, man.

There's so many politics.

Even with MMA, man, it's so many politics.

It's gone away from the art.

There's no more art anymore.

It's just, let's get an influencer in there.

I get it.

It's like generating money because our attention span is so short.

You know, you look at clips now.

It's like seven seconds.

Yeah.

You know, I saw a dude slamming a lady the other day.

And they were like, oh my God, that dude is.

I'm like, well, what the bitch do?

I'm just going to pick somebody and slam them.

Yeah.

You know, where's where's the whole video and our attention span is just so small so money talks of course yeah let's get an influencer in there who has no style but it draws attention it's just dumb to me so

i agree though you see people get arrested on on social media but you don't see what leads up to that arrest nothing but that's how i i personally feel we're just dumbing down if we're not careful And god forbid, you speak the truth.

Oh, shut up.

Oh, you're not with us.

Like, bro, it's called freedom of speech.

Like, this is America, man.

This shit is built built on that you can't even be yourself anymore so i try to separate myself and just step away from all

did you feel pretty censored when you were fighting professionally of what you could say publicly um not too much but um i knew that a lot of fighters get certain type of treatments you know before i left the ufc i was trying to fight this guy named darren till yeah and they were protecting the out of him man like

I mean, he was in Abu Dhabi training.

I'm trying to get the fight.

He was ranked six.

I was ranked eight.

He lost four in a row.

I won four in a row.

I'm like, how the fuck is he ahead of me?

Don't get me started on the ranking system.

I don't even know who's in charge of that, but I'm trying to fight him.

You know, he has a big name, big following in Britain or whatever.

And I'm like, I can take him out because I'm trying to get the title contingency.

You know, I was trying to fight Alex, not to take anything away from him, but I'm a kickboxer, man.

I left kickboxing for MMA because for me at the time, it felt too easy.

But it's like, you can't say that.

Like, but I'm a fighter.

I'm not supposed to be confident.

Like, these people are so fucking dumb, man.

But there's a lot of politics.

And sometimes you got to play the game.

You look at a guy like Colby Covington.

He's the nicest dude on earth, but he's got to talk some shit.

Fucking sucks.

Yeah.

So it's like video games.

It's like, we want this character, Sean O'Malley, a Connor, you know, and nobody cares anymore.

So it's like, where's the art?

It's not martial arts.

It's just fighting.

Yeah.

Which is cool, but I don't know.

I stand for something else.

It's like entertainment at this point, right?

Yeah, because you don't have any control on who you fight at once you're rising right no and then you know some people are just hand-picking so so there's building blocks some fighters are like all right this guy got potential let's give him some easy fights when connor was coming up man they gave him all short dudes like come on bro jab all day so not to take anything away from that but the sport just picks people because if they favor you if you have a certain way of talking can you be yourself and then you have some of these fans who are kind of idiots just like oh my god he's so honest let me live vicariously through him.

It's just, it makes me not want to do it, but my competitive nature, my competitive side is like, I'm not done.

You know, I still didn't fulfill what I really, really, really wanted to do.

Yeah.

So you felt like you left something on the table.

Oh, hell yeah.

I mean, I didn't want to retire.

I was fucking 39.

I had a lot in the tank.

39?

What?

39?

I'm 40 now.

Yeah.

But, you know, I have a lot in the tech.

I mean, look at Anderson.

He's 10 years my senior and this motherfucker moved like he's 25.

That's true.

And the last thing he said to me when we fought was like, you know, train your your mind.

You know, don't just focus on your body.

Train your mind.

Getting older.

So that's one of the things that

you have to preserve.

Your mind.

Your mind is the greatest thing on your body.

This is really what you own only.

And we all in our own fucking reality.

So I know I have more in the tank.

Is it my ego talking?

Maybe, but I know if my ego is in front of me, it's leading me.

I have that guy behind me.

But for me, I just know I have more to kind of go out there and say, if I walk away from this completely,

am I good?

Can I leave and say, I'm good?

Because the worst thing you want to live with is regret, man.

Absolutely.

Could have, shoulda, would have.

Yeah.

With all the advancements in health, yeah, there's athletes going to their 40s now, like LeBron.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

And I was so depressed after retiring, dude.

Contemplated suicide.

I mean,

I didn't want to leave my house.

When I said, I sat on the couch for a week.

fat, it was bearded up, gut, and then going outside.

I didn't want to see anybody.

And then you look at you differently.

Oh, you you know you used to be you know oh you used to be famous or

you know it's uriah just uriah now you're not uriah the fighter and that that fucks with you if you don't have the right people around you to be like oh dude don't even worry about that and of course people aren't saying the right thing like hey do you need anything hey are you okay it was more of like how much money you got man like or what are you gonna do So that part sucked.

But as, you know, Steve Jobs says, you look back, all the dots are connected.

So looking back, it's like, all right, who are my confidants?

Who are my constituents?

Who was there to see me at my worst and then kind of be there as my friends?

And one of my mentors always told me, you got to stop calling people friends, man.

Like, don't just throw that word out so easily.

You know, a friend is someone you can call a five in the morning like, hey man, I'm stuck in Brazil.

Okay, let me get on the next plane.

People that you don't have to explain yourself to.

So I really saw that.

towards the end of my career in the UFC of who was really there to kind of pick me up because I was alone and I didn't know what to do.

And when I say thinking about not being here anymore, it sucked.

And of course that small voice was like, don't be a bitch, don't do it.

You know, and I had to listen to that voice, but it was hard.

That voice was fading.

And, you know, if I die, if I had died, it still would have been trafficked on the 405.

Life goes on.

So I just, I, I know I just couldn't go out like that.

Man, that's deep.

Yeah.

Cause in your prime, you probably thought you had a ton of friends, right?

Oh, yeah, dude.

They're scattered, man.

Scattered like cockroaches.

But it's a good thing because then you know who was there for you and i learned a lot stepping away from fighting even though i did boxing just stepping away from the limelight because i'm very real and honest and it's it's dimmed down upon right now oh you can't be too honest you can't be yourself oh you don't like this

you're not a part of this if i say oh i like oranges so what you're saying is mangoes and tomatoes are bad say that like people are so stupid bro you can't even talk to anybody yeah so no one's listening to understand basically Everyone's just listening to reply.

If these fucking dumbass politicians would just listen to understand, which is what this fucking country is made on, our differences to just understand to move forward would be great.

Like that whole make America great again, which when was this shit great again?

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, yeah, that's that was a movement.

Um, you see what's going on in Cali right now?

Holy crap!

Oh, yeah, I just left.

Oh, you were there?

Yeah, I was there.

Damn, in Cali, but a lot of houses are burning down.

Uh, I mean, there's a lot of wildfires, right?

It's like if it snows in New York, every winter

we get prepared for the ice yeah

we're not you're not prepared for this like

we're not prepared for fire like if you know this is coming we got to be prepared where the is all that money going

shows you how much these politicians gives a going to people's i feel terrible man because these people you know this is your home a lot of people live there their whole live and it's like

you know so let's see how great this fucking place is going to be to help people at the very minimum there should have been water in the fire hydrants.

What the fuck was that all about?

How do you not have water in a fire hydrant?

Yeah, that's crazy.

It makes no sense.

Yeah.

It also seems weird to me how there's so many fires at the same time.

And people are starting fire.

So now we got these idiots like, hey, maybe I can count in on this.

Yeah.

I'm sure God is up there like, Jesus, you die for these motherfuckers.

Really?

LA, man.

A lot of mismanagement going on in Cali.

It's a shame.

But there's some good in the world, though, man.

As much as, you know, the negative affirmation, the negativity is there one of my good friends always told me you always you got to focus on the good and like my mom said listen don't let the world change you you be that change you got to be that light and it's hard challenging because you're always going to have people in traffic just getting mad at you and all that we're all going through our own man but if we just take the time to be a little bit considerate i speak for myself as well we can move forward yeah yeah it's good to have that mindset i know you had humble beginnings right in jamaica absolutely man i grew up poor man i grew up literally one pair of shoes did you know that at the time that you were poor though no that's the thing until i came to america

you know i didn't even know what racism was till i came here what do you mean i'm black you know i had no idea what the racism was and of course in new york city of all places

did this to me you know and friends and

uh you know i how i dressed you know you know how kids are just mean yeah I never got picked on in school.

In fact, in Jamaica, I think the kid that picked on me, my dad came there and whooped his ass.

Really?

which is normal.

Not here, though.

You know, you go to jail.

Yeah.

But back there, my dad came like, fuck with my son again.

See what happens.

You know, there's repercussions.

Motherfucker never picked on me again.

But America kind of opened my eyes.

Obviously, it gave me a lot of opportunities.

It made me where I am today.

I'm not going to take anything from that.

But at the time, not having that father figure coming in at a young age, which is 13, which is a crucial age, New York City was just a tough place to just kind of, you know, embark me on just

no guidelines.

And then school will get picked on.

I didn't understand it.

I'm like, this is a new culture, a new language.

Like, what is this bullying?

And I fell into it deep because I didn't know how to respond to it.

Never got bullied in Jamaica.

So it got me to lose confidence in myself.

And then martial arts made me rediscover that.

And 20 years later, I'm hurting people for a living.

I love it.

So your father stayed back when you came to New York?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't talk talk to him as much,

but he's still down there.

It's, it's, it's changed, man.

All my friends are literally dead.

Whoa.

I'm pretty sure if I was there, I'd be dead too.

In Jamaica, they're dead?

In Jamaica.

Wow.

Almost everybody I grew up with, you know, the culture is a little different.

Again, it's home.

I can't sit here and be like, fuck, I can't, you know, it's my home.

It's my heritage, but

it's changed so much.

You know, guys like me going down there, I don't see myself playing a hero of perspective, you know, because it's such a high-level poverty.

It's not everywhere, of course, because there's some rich areas, not just wealthy in money, but just wealthy in a cultural perspective.

It's just changed.

And I left when I was 13, so I don't remember shit.

Damn.

So

she goes there all the time.

She's a badass.

She's the sweetest lady in the world.

She's like, I don't give a fuck.

I'm going down there.

I think women have it a little easier, right?

Yeah, but

I don't know, man.

Media, bro.

You know, you see some things

from a different perspective at least here to have rights yeah where you can't just you know be doing me too stuff

you know i've never done any stuff like that so yeah but i just know stuff like that happened i've had friends that talk to me and say they've been harassed i'm like what

and

it sucks you know to be violated and not being able to have the courage to speak up you know it it sucks yeah i know if something like that happened to my mom my sister i'm going to jail it's not even a a conversation.

Like, who did it?

Okay, I'm going to jail.

But it sucks.

A lot of women can't even speak about stuff like that.

They got to kind of live with it and do this.

Yeah, there's always going to be that human abuse of power, right?

Yeah.

With certain positions.

We're dangerous, man.

Men are dangerous.

But I encourage a lot of people

to learn how to defend themselves.

You know, I used to teach.

I think it's so empowering to not defend.

It's like having a drive license.

You know, you're driving.

You have a license because you you qualified.

You know, so if you learn to defend yourself, it builds your confidence.

Oh, yeah.

And I trained some of these women,

like two of them are my doctors.

One of the coolest things when my doctor said to me, she was like, listen, I went from clenching my purse to I wish a motherfucker would.

And it builds your confidence just to know how to defend yourself.

100%.

And confidence is so important.

I was pretty athletic growing up, but the one thing I lacked was confidence.

My father left the house when I was fourth grade.

So I was like 10 years old.

But I was just never confident in my abilities.

How did you feel like you regained that?

Through success.

Yeah.

I think that comes with just success, whether it's financial or like physical.

Oh, absolutely.

You know, that's what happened with you, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

It was just, again, looking back, it's like everything, there were times where I was homeless.

I remember eating out of garbage can.

I did.

I remember going out with my friends and I ate the ketchup packets because, you know, they were like, why are you eating ketchup?

Like, oh, I want sugar right now.

And I had to lie.

And looking back, it's like, shit, I forgot I went through all that.

And no one knows this shit.

Not a lot of people do, but we're all going through our own shit.

I'm not going to say my life was worse than yours.

But if I don't learn something to make my life a better version, so I can become a better version myself, then I'm wasting it.

Yeah.

Shit happens, man.

But my mom always said, life is happening.

You just got to pay attention.

Damn.

You were homeless in New York City?

Man, it was like maybe

I had a big fright in my brother.

I think I left the house around maybe 17.

Wow.

And

yeah, and I was in the martial arts school and I slept at the gym and I was cleaning it.

And I just remember they didn't even have hot water.

And I was taking cold showers in the winter.

Jeez.

I'm talking like, and in New York, when it's cold, it's cold, bro.

And we're talking cold shower.

I slept in my office.

And, you know, when everyone went home, especially on holidays.

go out.

It was some harsh times.

But there was a moment that I remember sitting down.

I just looked down at the floor and I said, I don't want to do this anymore.

You know, and

at some point in all our lives, we're going to have that moment.

We're like, you know what?

I'm sick and tired of this character.

And that was it for me.

And I think there's different phases because before I did the Ultimate Fighter, I got fired from my job and I had nothing.

I remember having 200 bucks.

And I asked for 400 from my sister.

And I bought a one-way ticket to the Ultimate Fighter show,

tried out.

And over 800 people had the same idea.

but i had no way to come home and i said i'm gonna beg on the street that's how important this was to me so looking back at that show i did well yeah i was at a place where i was hungry did i lose that hunger a little bit after leaving ultimate fighter maybe but i know one thing for sure that i was surrounded by a lot of fucking idiots a lot of people that weren't there for me and there was no guidelines people hey don't go here But I do remember Dana saying this to me when I, when the show was coming out, he said, hey, man, people are going to come after you.

You got to be careful.

I didn't know what that meant because I'm from New York, bro.

What's up?

But that just meant people coming after me, using me and stuff like that.

And I didn't have that guideline.

And,

you know, shit happened and made friends, lost friends.

And now I'm here.

But

I just, I don't know.

I'm curious because I'm like a sponge and I always try to learn.

I'm always like, what is this teaching me?

Even the worst circumstance, situation.

And my mom taught me this.

You got to pay attention.

What is this teaching you?

And sometimes you're just an idiot.

It doesn't mean it's teaching you something.

You're just a fucking idiot.

But just pay attention because life is happening, man.

Because if I walk out here right now, I could die like this.

And life is going on.

But I think we just forget as human beings to just appreciate.

We hear it.

We're like, yeah, that's cool.

But if something traumatic happens, like this fire stuff, no, pray for this.

Pray for the...

Now we pray.

Because it's happening.

I don't know, man.

I think if we had to line up a bunch of planets, we'd be at the bottom

yeah there's lessons in everything man oh yeah people don't take time to actually think about why it's happening to them they forget about simple things yeah yeah that big to mindset's dangerous oh dude it's easy to make excuses it is but i don't know i think as i'm getting older uh

i still have that competitive nature it's still there I mean, I go over the 20-year-olds.

I always spar them because I'm like, they're hungry.

Right.

They're going to be honest with me.

They're coming after me to kill me.

So i'm like my ego's over here let's go bro i don't get mad at them i don't try to i use that fuel to better myself because when i'm in there with someone my age i'm like okay you know makes you better yeah and some people are like oh yeah you're old i'm like i don't even know what that means bro in my mind i'm 28.

i still move the same i'm still fast those twitch muscles still there Obviously, I can't do this forever.

I've seen some people struggle with that head trauma.

You know, I don't want to take punches at 45, but I just know I still have more in the tank.

Yeah, yeah, that head trauma is no joke.

Oh, no.

Especially with boxers, man.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, I mean, it's different for everybody.

You know, like a guy like Mayweather, I mean, he's still doing it.

He was 57, whatever.

He never got knocked out, though.

Right.

Again, it's how you fight.

Those brawlers that go out there.

I'm a sniper.

I'm like, all right, let's wait for the kill.

We're done.

Let's leave.

So everyone's different, though.

But as a warrior, I can sit here and tell you that as much as someone go out there and say,

you know, I'm just going to,

you know, be barbaric and just, that's their style, man.

It's entertaining, but that's their style.

I'm not here to cramp your style.

That's who you are as a warrior, as a whatever.

You know, I'm a different type of warrior.

And if I can explain it like guns, there's sniper guns, there's bazooka, there's rocket launchers, like the heavyweights are like rocket launchers.

Yeah.

I'm like that one-shot kill.

John Jones, right?

Yeah, you know, a guy like that.

So

Teresh Jaron.

Yeah.

Jones is thinking about retirement right now.

Oh, he is?

Yeah.

I thought that was a fluke.

Nah, Dana just said it yesterday.

Oh, shit.

I mean, I get it.

I get it.

Who's that?

Tom?

Tom Aspinall.

Aspinall.

He's calling him out, right?

I mean,

here's my thought on that.

I don't know.

I feel like that dude's a dork.

I just feel like the way he's doing it.

I get it, but it's like, bro, who the fuck did you fight?

You know, and it's like, not that I'm on Team Jones or anything, which I am, but it's just,

I don't know.

I think if he was a little bit more respectful, I think Jones would have gave it to him.

But Jones was like, motherfucker, who the fuck are you?

You come in here to demand shit.

And of course, all those fucking Brits, yes, you motherfuckers are all on his side talking about you're scared.

Ain't no fighter scared, bro.

Like,

that baffles me when someone tells a fighter that they're scared.

Like, you're stepping in there in your tights, putting your brain cells on the fucking line.

there's nothing that i'm scared of you crazy yeah i think scared is the wrong word i think maybe like nerves a little nervousness

i don't even think so either i think a lot of it is business i mean the guy is john jones the greatest of all time yeah

you down here bro at least get to here i see jones fighting um francis that makes sense

but it's like Let's say he lose.

It's like, all right, what do I gain?

I gain nothing from this.

I gain nothing from this.

And he he even said, I want to fight big fights.

Bro, you're little to me.

And you see how the UFC is.

They're trying to push that shit.

Oh, it's your time, bro.

That's what they're doing, bro.

They push the people that will bring in the money.

And then, you know, Britain, they have all those crazy ass fans.

Yes, I said it.

You know, it's like...

Yeah, every time they fight there, man, it's nuts over there.

Yeah.

It's because they don't have as many.

Like, the U.S.

has so many fighters.

So, you know, we get kind of numbed to it, right?

Yeah, any

fighter outside of us oh my god they got fans yeah pakistani

jesus christ yeah mcgregor kareem zombie yeah dude it's like what country is this you know yeah so you never had like you never got in your head before a fight like because you fought some of the top guys in the world you never got a little nervous i've gotten oh yeah i've gotten nervous for every fight just to walk alone is the scariest thing for me at least because when i'm walking from point a to point b in the ring i'm like what the am i doing here i could be home playing video games But, you know, walking there, I'm going to potentially get killed or kill someone.

And, you know, there's a stigma of, oh, Uriah, what did they say?

After that Ultimate Fighter kick, I wasn't the same.

Which, if you do the math, this is how dumb people are.

The kick happened the first fight, right?

And then I beat three people effortlessly after that.

So if that was the case,

wouldn't that be backwards?

Yeah.

Because I knocked him out first.

I beat everybody else.

Yeah, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't make sense, but that's how dumb people are.

We're always trying to find, we create our own scenario of the problem.

Like, this has to be it.

This is the problem.

Did you talk to me?

What's wrong with you?

Why didn't you fight the way you used to fight?

Well, I was in a different environment.

First of all, I don't want you an explanation, but I was in a different environment.

You know, I was in a house with 16 people.

Let's just create the scenario.

16 people.

You're in a house.

You can't really go anywhere, but just outside.

The only transportation is from the gym to the house.

You get unlimited food.

There's a closet full of alcohol.

This camera is literally everywhere.

Bro, it took me forever to take a shit because the fucking camera is in the bathroom.

I'm like, yo, can y'all move that camera?

Oh, don't worry about it.

It's only for if two people go in the bathroom.

The bathroom.

And now I have people that I live with that I have to fight.

And after that kick, you know what happened after that kick?

My own team was looking at me like oh

we might have to fight this guy so my own team was kind of against me and then the other team was kind of against me so i was an outsider you know and then i was like wait this is called the ultimate fighter not the ultimate friends so it just changed my mindset and i was like i'm gonna kill all you

but i was in a desperate place in my life i had literally nothing So when I went in there, I went in there with my skill set and my ambition to just kill.

Now, leaving the show, I might have got a little comfortable because I was like, oh, okay, I got a little money now, I can breathe.

And I might have let go of that a little bit.

But what I'm going to not blame is my mentality.

I have a strong mentality.

I broke my hand in a fight and I kept going.

I broke my fucking toe in a fight and I kept going.

Damn.

My mentality is not something to question.

The days that I don't show up to fight, and this is how I figure out who I was.

Fights that don't intrigue me, that pose a challenge to me, I shut down.

I didn't know that.

It's like Goku from Dragon Ball Z.

If I didn't feel that, uh,

then I psychologically psyched myself out for some reason.

Right.

You fought down to their level.

Yeah.

I'm like, and then it doesn't intrigue me anymore.

And then I don't show up.

So now it's like, oh, you're right.

It has a mental problem.

Now you can say, well, that is a mental.

No, it's not, motherfucker.

Do you fight?

Do you see other fighters saying that?

No other fighters say that.

It's just dumb idiots that don't fight fight, say that.

Or jiu-jitsu dorks.

But it's,

you know, those fights that I didn't want to take, I lost.

You know,

you argue with the matchmaker.

I don't want to do this fight, man.

This makes no sense.

Because in my mind, I'm like, I'm trying to get to the title contingency.

Oh, we got to give you this grappler.

But he's going to try to hold me.

I'm not scared of him, but I know their game.

Ain't no grappler going to fight me.

They're going to try to hug me and shit.

It's a boring fight to watch.

It's a boring fight.

It's a fight, but it's a come on, bro.

We're here to fight.

We're going to hug.

And nothing against jiu-jitsu because you know, I have a jujitsu coach, but I just know that style.

It's not there to fight.

It's there to win.

Yeah.

And

right before the last two fights in the UFC, that's when I was trying to get Darren Till.

And they were protecting him.

They didn't want to give him him.

And I was ranked eight.

And I knew, I knew if I beat him, I would get, I would be top, I would be five.

And if you're top five, that's automatic title contingency.

You can either fight one, two, three, four.

And, you know, to me, that's like right there.

Yeah.

So I'm trying to just do it from a business standpoint.

Didn't want to get me in.

And that's when they gave me Sean Strickland.

And I remember going, ah, man, I used to train with Sean.

I don't really want to fight Sean.

Right now, he's ranked 13.

At least give me top five.

I'm eight.

Something, something, something.

You got to do it.

UFC doesn't like when you say no.

And I'm like, like,

all right, I'll do it.

And it's right there.

I checked out because I didn't want to do it.

Now, the worst thing that happened that night was I was in the hospital because I had a bad weight cut, which we kept on the wraps.

Because you don't want to lose the money.

Yeah, because if you don't fight, you don't get paid.

So I was an ICU.

I did a salt bath the week before.

And if you know salt bath, you pull out the water.

Yeah.

And, you know, my coach helped me realize this.

He was was like, yeah, you shouldn't have done that because if you're going to cut the weight that week, you did this before, you took out more water than you should have.

But I was doing it for recovery.

And

fight week, I'm cutting the weight.

And around 1878, I was like, oh man, I'm feeling so well.

I got to be 185.

And I'm like, shit, I know this feeling.

But I toughed it out.

You don't fight.

And after the weigh-ins, I mean, I remember looking at Sean going, oh, shit, man, I'm about to collapse.

But I'm not showing it.

Wow, you were that weak?

I was so weak.

I was faking it.

I mean, I was faking it.

I deserve an Oscar for that.

I was faking it.

And then we got back to the hotel and my coach was like, you know, just take a nap.

I'm like, Coach, I don't feel good.

He's like, just take a sleep, blah, blah, blah.

I'm like, nah, man, I know this feeling.

I don't feel good.

He's like, all right, let me check back with you in 10, 20 minutes.

Came back.

I was like, oh, I don't feel well.

There's a knot here.

I'm just cramping.

We kept on the wraps and went to the hospital,

put me on a bag, a couple.

But before that, some guy came in.

This doctor came in and was like, hey man, your levels are way too low.

Point something.

I don't know the term, but he's like, your levels are so low, you cannot fight.

You can die.

And this other doctor came in,

not going to say who said, let's keep him overnight.

Let's put him on some more IV.

Let's leave him longer on IV.

So I was on IV more.

And then

I got out of the hospital at 2 2 a.m.

Fight day, exactly.

You know?

So I feel good.

I go back to the hotel.

I got there maybe three.

I mean, fight was like later that even anyway.

So I had time to rest.

But in the back of my mind, I'm like, did I fully recover?

You know, that fucked with me a little bit.

Yeah, because you need good sleep.

Yeah.

So whatever, felt good.

Went in there.

Literally three, four punches in.

The first round, my fucking orbital breaks by Sean, because he has an awkward way of throwing punches.

Now, you can't freak out.

I'm not letting the doctors, the ref sees it because they can stop the fight.

And I'm like, oh, shit, are you serious?

My fucking orbital?

You need your vision to see.

You need your eyes to see in the fight.

So Sean, he's a killer.

And I'm like, oh, shit.

And I'm just trying my best to maneuver.

There was a moment where I looked at my coach.

He kind of saw what's happening.

And he just gave me that.

And I'm like, don't, don't quit, man.

And I'm like, are you serious?

The night before I had that.

And now this, this makes no sense.

So I'm not going to take anything away from Sean.

He's, he's a stud.

He's a champ.

You know, it was just not my night.

And talk about stuff like that.

It's like, it's excuses.

Well, it was my excuse, I guess.

Cause,

you know, I didn't cut the way properly.

I blame myself, sure.

I get my arbitrary broken.

Not much I can do for that.

But I might have lost that fight, but I felt I won the war with myself.

Because I didn't quit.

And I don't know how to quit.

That's what people don't understand.

I don't know how to quit.

Like, people say,

I actually don't know how to quit.

It's something I was taught at a young age.

Like, you finish it.

You either do it well or don't do it.

I don't have a gray.

Like, I either don't do it or I do it the best possible.

So, not having the right people around me to do this.

And a lot of these fighters, that's what they have, man.

Yeah.

They have the right coaching, the right this, the right that.

When you have all that support system, of course, you're going to go up.

But you also got to have that hunger for it too.

You know, and I kind of lost that because

the sport was changing, man.

It was

the martial arts was no more art to me.

And it was just like, you got to play a character.

I remember one time saying some stuff, and some fan was like, bro, that's not you.

What am I doing?

So, yeah, you got to talk smack in the press conferences.

It's not me, man.

And the press guys, they know, like, oh, shit, is you're right.

Cause I'm honest.

I'm like, yo, don't ask me any stupid question.

What the fuck do you mean?

How do I feel?

What do you think?

Yeah.

I have to wake up.

What do you mean?

How do I feel?

I feel great.

so yeah it was difficult to work with that's what they say it's like yeah because i'm honest i ask questions i say why someone's gonna tell you jump off this cliff why just do it yeah but what

that's made me difficult because i asked questions so you were like the kyrie irving of the ufc yeah is that what he does yeah you know kyrie

basketball player yeah he's on the the dallas yeah he's on the mavericks now but the media always hated him Really?

Yeah, because he would just give honest answers.

Yeah, honesty is not good these days.

It's a bad thing to be honest.

Like, what the fuck?

he was the first like nba player maybe even pro athlete to be anti-vaccine and really yeah they they like suspended him and everything i didn't want to do that man i had to leave the country and i did it's the dumbest i ever oh they made you do it leave the country bro oh for abu dhabi right no no no i had to go to the netherlands or something oh you just can't leave the country damn but i got the cheapest one So I'm hoping it fades out.

Damn, man.

Well, Sean went on to be the champ.

So at least it was.

He did.

He did.

He did.

It was a good run for him.

Made you look better, probably.

I mean, you sean of my coaches say you know sean you're the only one that sean tried to take down right you don't try to take anybody else and i'm like listen i'm not trying to take anything away from him we used to train back in the day though yeah and uh you know i was always getting with spinning kicks and uh when we trained at extreme couture he was like hey man don't do any spinning kicks on me bro and he would just bum bush me and take me down so i never had like a bad relationship with sean it was always like this mutual respect from a combative sense you know i i can't say anything about him obviously he's out there doing his weird shit but that's his character That's who he is.

At least he's himself.

He's himself.

And how many people are themselves?

Not many.

I'm rooting for him, man.

You know, he does his thing.

Which fight do you think about the most, win or loss?

It probably that fight.

Sean Strickland.

Yeah, because I was myself.

And I just knew I had a great and amazing camp.

And that one little era of...

The salt bath.

So if you didn't take the salt bath, it would have been a different.

No, not just that.

It was just like, you know, my orbital broke and I couldn't really see him the whole fight.

And I'm just like fighting on instinct.

And at one point, I was doing physics, bro.

I was measuring my jabs.

That's crazy.

But yeah, because that fight, I was really ready, even though all the bullshit happened to me.

And

that eye thing happened where it broke my orbital.

I just remember seeing black.

I just remember going, geez, I could only see black off this eye.

So this eye is gone completely.

And I just remember blinking like, what the fuck?

And then, of course, he punched me a couple of times.

And then this, this eye was like kind of fady.

So I had half an eye comically, you know?

And for 25 minutes, I, you know, I fought him with no vision.

So it's like,

it sucked.

I can't say nothing.

I can't take anything away from it.

It happened.

He's a stud.

But that's one fight I think about.

Like, what if I was at my best?

I feel that.

Yeah, because that would have prolonged your career if you won that one, right?

You would have been top five.

Yeah.

And then they gave me some dork name, and Munez, something, some jujitsu guy.

Yeah.

it was right then i was like all right i'm done i'm out i'm done i actually wanted to

get cut or fired or whatever and my coach kind of pleaded with me like no just retire i'm like oh no i'm not i'm i'm

that makes me a bitch

he's like no man just

i did on a good note yeah and i'm like they don't give a yeah you're everybody's expendable they're gonna give a if i you know my brings me sad news to tell you guys they don't give a

again i can't take anything away they made my my career into what it is today but

i remember getting in my career seeing a lot of guys complaining and stuff i'm like what's wrong with these guys now i have one of them like oh i get it now when you get to a certain part in your career and you're a vet and you might get an x amount of money it's like do we need this motherfucker or do we use him to make him a gatekeeper that's what i felt was happening I was a gatekeeper and I was like, oh, that's not what I'm here for.

I'm here for this.

Yeah.

Yeah, but we felt that you belong here.

And all right.

also now you know my values okay it's going to be interesting to see how the ufc pivots with a lot of guys in your era retiring now

it is what it is man it took me a long time to really understand it but it's it's a chapter and your life is just a story and i think the moment you realize that it has no power over you and for a long time i was ruled by that because when you're in the world like a lot of UFC athletes like oh this is it no it's not

it's a part of your story i'm not going to bash them.

There are great people that I still talk to in UFC.

I just understand how it works.

It's a business.

If you don't look at it like a business, if you try to bring that compassion, all that bullshit, it's not about that anymore.

Maybe back in the 90s and all that, but now it's just straight business.

How much money can we get?

Can you bring money in?

What's good about you that make people want to watch you?

It's it.

It's it.

Yeah, your expectations will be like down.

But I tell you what, they do treat when it comes to like everything organized wise, that's what they're really good at because other promotions

night and day bro yeah just to like do stuff behind the scenes or interviews and all that they're very orchestrated when it comes to stuff like that that's why i love they put on great events oh they do but just like lining everything up to making sure you get everything that you need as an athlete

but other promotions like what the am i doing yeah because you're fighting at other ones now right yeah well yeah you know i did the boxing thing but there might be some opportunities coming up i can't really say too much i'm sure sure it's going to come out soon.

I mean, the boxing money is crazy.

I could see why McGregor's boxing now instead of fighting because the money is nuts.

It is.

He's getting 250 million on the next fight.

Oh, he is?

Did you see that with Logan Paul?

Oh, he's actually doing that?

I don't know if it's confirmed yet, but I'm seeing rumors that they're.

How's he fighting Logan Paul?

$250 million.

You wouldn't fight him?

Yeah, that makes sense.

But that's exactly what I'm saying.

Everybody's just going away from the art.

It's like, how much money can I make?

Which I cannot completely understand.

It's money talks now, bro.

I mean, look at the world's going.

We're going to shit.

Yeah.

Money talks.

And I'll get comfortable.

Why risk your body?

You know, McGregor's had some nasty injuries.

I don't think he'll ever be the same.

I don't want to do boxing for too long, though, man.

You don't think so?

I mean, that back and forth head trauma to me, besides football.

Again, I'm not knocking it.

It's for the sport that it is, but I just don't want to take that much damage getting old in my career.

I haven't had a kid yet.

Yeah.

So I just don't want to be, what, 50B and

I just don't want to do that.

You want kids?

I do.

I think kids are cool.

You know, I see some of my friends with the kids and I'm just like, I'm from a different culture, bro.

Like, to me, if I have a kid, I'm God.

Like, bro, you ain't getting away with shit.

Yeah.

You're going to be a hard ass.

I'm not going to be a hard ass, but I'll be like, you wait till you have a daughter.

Like, okay, bro.

I'm from Jamaica, dude.

I have a job when I was five.

Like, what are you talking about?

There's discipline and then there's just being an asshole.

If you beat your kid, you're a piece of shit.

But if I'm with my kid and my wife, and my kid talks back to his mom, my wife, a couple of times, hey, man, what you doing, bro?

This is your mother.

You know what she had to go through to get you here?

That's not really nice.

Just talking to your kid.

I completely understand that.

But if my kid take a fucking weapon and try to hit my wife, I'm fucking up.

Yeah.

I'm going to fuck you.

Do that shit again, see what happens.

That's, to me, discipline.

Now, some people say it's abuse.

I got my ass whooped as a kid.

Now I suffer from this psychological defect called respect for others.

So respect is important.

A lot lot of people, man.

If you hang out with these fucking kids, these Gen Z, bro, what the fuck is going on?

No mannerism.

Try ordering Starbucks.

These fucking motherfuckers are in their own fucking world, bro.

It's like they're the main character and I'm just there as one of the fucking,

what do you call it?

Characters or some shit.

It's weird.

No mannerism, bro.

What do you want?

And it's always the extra feminine dudes.

That's what I always get.

I always get the extra feminine dudes that are giving me attitude because I'm masculine and I'm never trying to over masculine anything i'm just like yeah let me get um you know dirty chai and they'll give me attitude i'm just like bro come on it's seven in the morning bro what are you doing yeah do you think technology plays a part in that hell yeah wait till there's no more fucking doctors and you know farmers and shit and that should run out what are you gonna do everyone's on this tick tock shit

it's easy to talk shit online man Easy.

Super easy.

Easy to talk shit online.

I've only met one fan that I was really,

I was telling my friend this the other day.

Some fan called my mom a derogatory name.

Yeah.

And I seeked him out.

I'm like, oh, you don't know my mom, dude.

She went to a lot of shit.

And I met up with him.

It was International Fight Week in Vegas at the MGM Grand.

You're probably watching this, bitch.

And it was some fat Bulgarian dude.

And I was like,

what's up?

I was so ready to lose my career.

I mean, this dude, call my mom a gorilla.

I was like, what?

Wow.

You don't know my mom?

What?

I forgot who I was fighting.

And they had a lot of fans.

And that was one of them.

And I was like, all right, I'll be at Vegas, that's such and such.

And I seeked him out and he showed up.

This fucker, this fat fuck showed up.

And luckily, a UFC staff kind of saw what's happening and pulled me aside.

When I say I was ready to lose my, I was ready.

just to defend my mother's honor.

I wouldn't do it now

in that sense.

But, you know, at 29,

someone calling my mom that name, knowing the struggles my mother went through and you're going to be racist?

Oh, man.

I love handling racist people, bro.

They get scared of me when I confront them.

Oh, you looking for a nigga?

Nigga here.

What's up?

Yeah.

But I deal with it all the time, bro.

Just the other day I dealt with it.

Really?

Yeah, bro.

Like, it's 2025.

In California, I was a gas station.

I mean,

I don't even want to talk about it, man.

But it's just, I get it.

I get it it's like

you know you you look at certain cultures when they do certain things you're like oh you could generalize it yeah you generalize it like i'll always just be a black man i'll never be a successful this this like oh no he's a black man

but i'm not gonna sit here and run around and ask for you to please accept me please i'm this i'm not really this i'm this i'm not gonna do that bro i'm not gonna beg for that i'm always gonna be myself but You know, living in Texas kind of really reopened my eyes that racism is still there.

Because I'm from New York.

We We don't have time to be racist.

We got shit to do.

Motherfuckers in Texas got no time, bro.

Some of these folks haven't left the state.

They is just Texas.

They're like 10th generation, too.

Yeah.

Now, Texas is, you know, I got some good stuff, but it's like, bro, have you left the state?

You don't get that much, do you?

And, you know, I deal with some racist stuff.

There's a place called Holland Park, which is five minutes away from me.

I can't walk around that neighborhood.

It's not bad.

I mean, you just feel it.

If I, I mean, it's very white.

But if I walk around that neighborhood, bro,

they'd be like, all right, this dude's up to something.

Damn.

I got to dress a certain way.

It's so fucked up.

I went for a run one time and I had to change my outfit just to look like an alpha, an athlete.

Yeah, because it was around the time somebody got killed.

This gentleman that was jogging and he got killed by this dad and son.

And I had to rethink that.

It's just some people just so

again, I understand, but it's like, bro, what fucking century do you live in?

Yeah.

To think you're the only thing that matters.

How big this fucking planet is, bro?

I just don't understand racism.

That's nuts.

I know how to deal with them, though, because I fuck them up.

It's just, it's sad to me.

Yeah, that's crazy.

I'm a grown man.

I'm still dealing with racism.

So that's why I say, yeah, I always just be a black man.

Yeah, that's crazy.

Even on the plane, bro.

I was on first class and this motherfucker was treating me.

And I was just like, I don't want to get on that no-fi list.

Yeah, you need to be flying around, but I notice when people don't travel, they're usually closed-minded when they don't leave their city ever.

They're like in their own world.

I have some great friends out there too.

I'm not going to knock it, but it's just like for the majority of them.

When I go back home to Texas now, and let's just get it straight.

I'm only there for the tax break.

I couldn't give a fuck.

But when I go back there, it's like,

it's such a different from when I go to New York.

People are just busy doing shit.

Go to Cali.

Cali is a little more chill.

You know, I'm in the high Hollywood Hills, so I'm fine.

texas is like we got time for racism oh my god

damn those southern states are no joke you know but there's money yes sir what are you doing next for money man what's next for you i'm chilling man one of the coolest things i've been doing is being um civilian it's boring but i'm being a civilian um i want to compete again um

you know we're just talking about some stuff and uh just figuring that out but i haven't slowed down as much Cause when you're in that world, it's just this.

And I get it.

You know, you have a short window.

You got to do as much as you can.

But I'm just observing now.

It's like I have time to look at the world differently.

Oh my God, this world.

But as far as that, you know, I was small with money.

I didn't, when I retired, I traveled a bunch.

And I saved enough to just do nothing.

And, you know, I have some clients that I teach, but for me, it's more of just the hobby because I was a sensei and I went to school for seven years learning how to teach, which is baffles me that people didn't go to school to learn how to teach.

You can just go get a fucking diploma online.

I went to school for seven fucking years.

So I can teach children.

We're talking three-year-olds, four, five, six.

I can teach those guys.

I can teach bigger kids and adults.

So I have that in my back pocket.

You know, if I don't open a gym, that's fine.

It's just, I know I'm not done competing.

And I'm getting into acting too.

I've done a couple of things with that.

So I'm just kind of exploring.

Let's go.

You might have to start streaming some video games or something, too.

Yeah.

I talk too much shit, bragging.

I'm a little racist when I play video games and driving.

Yeah.

I mean, that's part of gaming, man.

One of the things with Call of Duty is they don't let you talk shit anymore.

I didn't even know how racist I was.

I was like, I don't like this person I'm becoming.

But I'm a gamer, man.

I grew up on Tekken.

Tekken taught me how to fight.

Really?

Yeah, that's the game.

Wow.

I used to put the VHS in, if you remember that shit, and I moved the furniture and I practiced the moves.

And that's when I was getting bullied.

So when the bully got out of hand and I went to karate, I was excelling.

And they were just like, where did you learn all this shit?

Hence my name, Primetime.

And then I just excelled so fast, got my black belt, spoke about it in Sweden.

Wow.

Because someone asked that question.

That answer went to Reddits, Radditz.

Reddit.

The owners of the game found it, invited me to Comic-Con, spoke in front of nerds.

No way.

I was like, put me in the game.

But they put me in some dumbass UFC game,

which you get no residuals, by the way.

Damn.

And yeah, but Tekken taught me how to fight.

I learned every move from this character named Jin, Heiachi, and Kazuya and Orang, my kicks.

So I learned how to fight from a fucking video game.

That's nuts.

Yeah, Tekken's a classic.

It's still around, I think.

Oh, yeah, we're up to eight, bro.

Oh, they're on eight now?

Yeah, and I started at three.

Wow.

You still play the new ones?

Yeah, yeah, but man,

these new kids, man, they just be doing 30 combos in the air and shit.

I'm like, what the fuck?

Yeah.

But I do it.

You know, it's my between playing video game and watching Family Guy, that's my escape.

Good old Family Guy.

That's a classic.

I love Family Guy.

Yeah.

I love how just open they are.

They're not scared of getting canceled.

And they make, yeah, bro.

And they make fun of everything.

Everything.

Bring back the good old days, you know?

A little light humor.

I love it, man.

Well, where can people keep up with you?

Where can people find you?

Man, I don't want them to find me.

I don't.

I like to be invisible.

I'm like Jesus, man.

Well, I'm not.

You know how Jesus, I said that wrong.

I think Jesus invented Instagram because motherfuckers have walked around with him.

They followed him.

So I don't ask people to follow me.

I think it's weird.

I'd be like, hey, follow me.

Bro, you can follow me if you want.

It's your own choosing.

What I have a problem with is people follow me and talk shit.

Then don't follow me, bro.

That makes no sense You know imagine you walking down the street and someone's behind you following you and talking shit.

Why are you following me?

It makes no sense.

You know how you are you fucking dorks just follow someone here you piece of shit.

By the way big fan.

That makes no sense to me.

So you don't have to follow me, bro.

Just get Jesus in your life.

Pray help some starving kids.

Go be somebody.

Forget following me, bro.

Don't don't.

Go be yourself.

More than that, Dan.

We'll land it there, man.

Thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me.

Yes, sir.

See you guys.