From UFC Champ to Podcast King: Henry Cejudo's Media Empire | Henry Cejudo DSH #1085

Has he ever flipped the switch on you?

Like, he has,

but they may have it on video.

It was me, him, and then Chi Chi Chong.

That was one time we're all smoking.

It's like, all right, man, like, everybody kind of, like, they're telling me to like wrap it up.

I'm like, all right, man.

Well, well, thank you guys for coming.

Why does it have to be over?

You don't cut off bikes.

That's a legendary moment smoking with those guys.

All right, guys.

Henry Cejudo is back.

Hopefully, we don't lose the audio this time, man.

No, for sure, man, for sure.

What you been up to?

I'm just, you know, I've been at FanFest for the last couple of days, speaking today with Chuck Liddell and AB.

And it's going to be fun, man.

And then obviously just, you know, just getting ready for the season.

Yep.

Getting ready for this new year, a potential fight coming up in either February or March.

So looking at those dates.

Hell yeah.

Have you always been outspoken on politics?

Because I know with sport, balancing that with sports is tricky, right?

Yeah, you know what?

Not really, dude.

Not really.

I think once I started having kids, I knew that, I knew that I had to be different.

I knew that, you know, the sake of the future of my kids was something that,

I mean, something that you don't, you don't, you know, selfishly, you just like, ah, whatever, dude, politics, politics, but it's not until they actually bring it to the schools.

And then, yeah, I mean, it's a big deal.

Absolutely.

And I know you had a rough childhood.

We talked about it the first time.

Did that make you want to become a better father?

Of course, of course.

I wouldn't say, say, you said bad childhood.

There's just a lot of things missing in

my life, I guess, sort of say.

grew up very humble poor but uh you were sharing a bed with your siblings yeah yeah but the whole nine i mean you know i was a kid that probably went to went to bed hungry at times but it's also it's also what's made us you know saying i've been able to really i mean think about a guy like lebron jamie and then and then bronnie we're talking about it yesterday what is the difference between both of those guys like whoa one grew up in the ghetto and the other one has maybe has the same ability if not even more because he has his dad and his mom who seems like an athlete yeah and he just can't make it because there's there's he doesn't have that grit i mean even with mcgregor in his later years once he got the bag he was never the same it's hard man it's hard you start to taste freedom yeah it's happened to me too man like it's uh he's just starts to get comfortable yeah yeah because you were unstoppable your first years right yeah you take a break you do the whole nine and all of a sudden like just people just catch up you got to respect the game a little bit yeah because if not i mean it's going to show it's going to show when you fight that's why someone like john jones is so impressive because he's won for 20 years now.

Yeah, that's crazy.

I haven't seen that in your sport ever.

Have you had John on?

I want to get him on one day.

I think I could possibly make that happen, dude.

That'd be dope, dude.

Johnny Bones.

I know you're crushing it with your show, too.

Yeah, man.

Paprapow, Kamaro, dude.

We've been killing it too, man.

We've had Canelo Alvarez, Shaq.

Terrence Crawford, some of the biggest GSP.

We're going to have Tom Brady in the beginning of the year.

So we're going,

going to start off the year with the bang.

You're pulling serious numbers, bro.

It's impressive.

Because just because you have a following doesn't mean your podcast is going to do well.

It still takes some skill.

Right, right.

No, 100%.

And we enjoy it, man.

We enjoy the conversations with people and

trying to get deep, dude.

Yeah.

You know, and see what they can share with the world.

Yeah, because a lot of those guys, they're not fans of traditional media, traditional reporters.

They're not sharing much with them.

Yeah, it's just

simple answers.

But even you, I mean, how do you, why did you kind of start this whole thing?

I didn't know it at the time, but I was looking for purpose and meaning in my life.

That's what I've realized two years into this, just talking with people, getting their perspectives.

It's really helped me find myself and be comfortable in my own skin.

Yeah.

At first, I was doing it just like on the side for like fun and maybe some money.

But now this thing is, it's a lot of purpose-driven.

And you're from where?

I'm from Jersey.

Oh, you're Jersey?

But both my parents are immigrants.

Okay.

So I got that hustle from them.

My mom came here with 20 bucks.

Didn't speak English.

And from where?

From China.

No way.

So you're, and then your dad?

Dad came from the UK, but he's Irish.

So he had the farmland.

He grew up on a farm.

Oh, wow.

So I guess it's crazy work ethic.

Right, right, right.

No, I noticed that, but I just saw your list.

How many people are you interviewing?

20 today, 20 yesterday, 10 the day before.

Shit.

50 in three days, man.

What are you doing?

Cobby, what are you doing, man?

All natural.

Really?

Yeah, no drugs or anything.

I do like psychedelics.

Sometimes I'll microdose.

Yeah.

I like mushrooms.

Yeah.

You ever done the toad?

No, we were talking about this the first time.

You did some toads.

Toad, toads.

I was just talking.

I was just talking to my friends about that and

how the toad is just like, it's like the monster of the monstrous.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

It's not like,

what is that?

The peyote?

What's the other one?

Ayahuasca.

Yeah, ayahuasca.

You tripping for like 50 or 15 hours or however how long that is.

This is like a 15-minute launch off that really kind of just shit.

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shows you your biggest insecurities.

Yeah.

So I had a chance to do that with Mike

with freaking with Tyson, right?

Yeah, with Tyson.

Was that your first ego death?

Man, I already know if it's

man,

yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, it's, it's beautiful, oh, dude.

It's beautiful because you're so you're so alive that you're dead.

You're so dead that you're alive.

As crazy as that sounds, you know, you're able to kind of see all the emotions that happens, sadness, happiness and you notice that they're all good and they're all bad it's it's such a trip dudes but i think for everybody it's it's different and then now the second time that i did it it kind of the second time i did it kind of i kind of had a just i wasn't doing too well like you know fighting with the wive the whole nine and i just i wanted to do it one last time and yeah dude they fucking scared the shit out of me i haven't i haven't done it since

it just took me in a spiral it's like i think that one showed me like the size of my ego and how is it that you think you know everything but you're but it's also spinning you in a cycle, like it's like you're in a washing machine, like you're coming up and you're going down, yeah.

So, you're coming up and you're going down.

Oh, it was fucking horrible.

I'm always aware of ego, it's something I battle with.

Podcastings actually help me keep my ego in check, yeah, because you don't say that because you don't want to interrupt the guests, so you got to keep your ego realize the important part of the show is the guests, right?

So, you got to put the guests before you, and um, yeah, it was tough at first, yeah, for me.

Cause I, I, I was hosting uh hot boxing with Mike Tasha for a couple of years.

So we did about 40 episodes.

And when I did do the podcast with him, it was a little bit different.

It's almost like even though we had a guest, I always had to make it about Mike.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

It's like, all right, man, Sonso's coming in.

But remember, it's always about Mike because people are watching because of Mike.

You know what I'm saying?

So it was a different strategy.

So when me and Kamaru started our podcast, like I was like still in that same frame.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

so i was like but anyways now it's not it's different though that makes sense what do you think of the fight do you think he should hang up the gloves mike tyson um he's making money man like people think mike tyson is worth a hundred million bro like even if he was he's you know he's gonna spend it the way he wants to spend it right so i don't think uh

i i personally think that jake paul did him a favor man you know yeah but i will say this like mike tyson like you can tell like he was already getting pissed off dude and then once it once he stepped on his toes it was all over dude yeah like that's the real mike like mike just ah i'm gonna let this guy kind of be the bad guy but then you know that mike still has that switch so whenever it is that they stepped on his toes he just that was real has he ever flipped the switch on you like he has dude yeah no he has but i think

because and it was one time and i don't think i they may have it on video and i was just trying to like cut off the like i was with it was it was me him and then chi chi chong yeah uh that was one time where we're all smoking it's like all right man like everybody kind of like they're telling me, like, wrap it up.

I'm like, all right, man.

Well, thank you guys for coming.

Why does it have to be over?

You don't cut off mic.

And then nobody, even these guys are like, fuck me.

Like, we smoked enough.

Like, we talked well.

The mic still wanted to talk to me.

We just kept talking to you.

So nobody wants to tell him anything.

Yeah.

You know, I had to be the bad guy.

That's a legendary moment smoking with those guys.

I watched that movie in high school and it was a classic.

Oh, yeah.

Cheech and Chong.

Yeah.

No, it was cool, man.

I can't handle weed these days.

My anxiety, dude.

Really?

I can't do it.

Really?

I get so anxious.

Yeah.

No way.

I had a near-death experience while I was high once.

So ever since then, I just have this massive trauma.

And when I get high, I get like PTSD.

Really?

Yeah.

That really woke me up, dude.

What about,

you don't do edibles or anything like that?

Edibles will mess me up, bro.

Yeah.

Mess me up.

You eat edibles?

Yeah.

I have edibles, bro.

I mean, for you, it makes sense with all the pain you have and inflammation from fighting.

Yeah.

You need shit like that.

I'm with this company right now now called vire bro like like they have like different different strands of like edibles or whatnot and there's some there's like i had one for like my daughter's birthday party because dude sometimes like running running after kids like dude it's like stressful i need something that's just to relax me i'm not trying to drink dude that like i put in uh i just couldn't function as soon as we as soon as you know we sang happy birthday went straight to my room and i was just under the covers oh man that's me when i eat an edible i got to get under my blankets and get away from everyone but they're following me.

Oh, man.

Yeah.

I used to love edibles.

I used to buy them in high school from people in class.

So tell me about you, Sean.

Are you in the political ribbon?

I mean, what's

your parents?

I did not vote,

but I lean to the right.

Yeah.

You know, I think it's hard to be on the left these days.

Okay, let me ask you a question.

What about your parents?

Your parents being immigrants?

Grew up liberal in Jersey, pretty liberal state.

So my mom voted for Obama and yeah, all the left people on the left, same with my dad.

But I think she just voted for Obama.

I mean, Trump disliked her.

She finally turned.

What about yours?

Yeah, same thing.

So, well,

not really, we've never really necessarily followed politics like that.

But my mom, you know, we, according to the television or whatnot, like, and you start watching a lot of stuff, like, like, Mexicans, they're very conservative people.

But through television, you're able to kind of get brainwashed.

Yeah.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, a lot of those valids that people don't stand by, but, you know, they try to portray Trump as a racist and, and, you know, and X, Y, and Z.

And I just felt like it was,

you know,

I think, I think with the whole thing, there's so, there's so many things that happened that, that played in the favor for Trump, like even the whole Diddy thing.

Like people don't keep the, you know, like a lot of you celebrities lost a lot of that juice because everybody was ever tagged to Diddy that's going to freaking over there and represent, you know what I'm saying?

Even like a J-Lo or even like, uh, or even like a guy like LeBron James, like, dude, you don't, you don't carry weight.

You may carry weight on the court but not in the political realm they don't carry the same weight they used to no before celebrity endorsements used to work but now they had taylor swift lebron jay-z didn't even matter jay-z too huh i don't know actually sorry i might have misspoken but yeah but i also know yeah it's a trip dude but either way dude i think uh i think things are coming together man i think uh

I feel like there's going to be a lot more unity.

And

I feel like Trump has done a great job to change politics like forever, dude.

Yeah.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, like businessmen now are running for politics i got a good friend anthony constantino he's the founder and the ceo of sticker meal and he's running for you know he was about to get arrested for uh you know challenging the first amendment like putting this a vote for trump side in amsterdam new york in a very liberal state

5 000 people he he put the event together in three days called me i brought uh him calvin gestellum i'm sorry it was me kelvin gestellum and tracy and we all flew out we did the whole event and uh it was crazy man it was cool that's wild yeah being mexican what's your whole take on the border situation build the wall

you're a fan of it um yeah but it's it's not just a mexican thing it's just it's a security thing you know whether you're chinese whether you're whatever you're you're from like you just don't know who's coming in even though my my mom came here and maybe not the most political way yeah like you know what i'm saying yeah like there's good people and there's bad people and people don't know this about my story like my mom both my parents came to this country illegally wow but my mom did the right thing i mean she obviously she was a kid she was 15 years old when she came to america um you know there's no wall like it's just like hey dude a fucking i live in a war zone like you know what i'm saying like oh and you're shown all this freaking candy like let me go check it out like she she it pretty much went over just said as an adventure and then they realized that dude there's a whole new world out there and then my dad on the second on on the on the on on the other hand came to this country you know broke the law committed crimes and finally he got deported wow and he was on the three strikes and you're out damn so yeah man so i'm fair bro this is what i'm trying to say you got both sides i got both sides bro don't tell me like no i'm what i'm saying is protect our borders protect our damn country right i know people on the on the innocent side as well that have been here for 10 20 years but what does that tell you what am i what does my story tell you there's a 50 chance that right it's dude i'm i'm a living proof of that i i'd say more than 50 are good people that come illegally probably you know probably i think the the bad ones get painted and put all over the spotlight, but there's a lot of good people.

Yeah, but you don't have kids yet, though.

I want kids.

Okay.

I'm excited, man.

Get married next year.

No way.

Congrats.

We're at.

Jersey.

We met in Jersey.

Oh, okay.

So she's a Jersey girl, too.

Yes, sir.

You like Jersey girls?

East Coasters are different.

East Coast mentality.

People in general, I gravitate towards East Coast people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

East Coast is cool, man.

A lot of my friends, like one of my producers is, he's from New York.

So I did, I'm fucking, I just like good people that are corny just like me.

Yeah.

They're just straight up people, man.

Yeah.

It's, it's faster paced.

People in Cali are more lax, more chill.

Right.

They chase after the followers.

Yeah.

I'm not a fan of that, dude.

How do you, how do you keep good people around you?

You probably, especially with fighters, you know, a lot of yes men get around you guys.

um yeah yeah a lot of those but i i don't i don't pay attention to it you know what i'm saying and if i feel like once you start to feel like how I got that intuition, then I got to cut, you got to cut people out, dude.

I remember one time I had a friend who was a videographer, and he just started becoming fucking weird.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, it was like, like, he was watching all my stores and anyone else was home.

And, you know, he wanted to bring gifts and shit like that.

And finally, dude, I had a, you know, finally, I had to fucking kick him out of my house to be like, hey, oh, he was living with you?

No, he wasn't living with me, but he was just too much.

Yeah.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

It's like, dude, I don't want you to film.

Like, this is, dude, like, I I need my fucking personal space.

Yeah.

Like, that's just real.

And it's just, you know, people just fanboy.

I would not say that he was a crazy guy.

Just, you know, people fucking just will overstimulate you.

You got to be careful with it.

Yeah.

So I'm proud of myself because I'm not the guy that was just like, I'll tell you what I'm feeling, bro.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, if I don't want to do something, I'm not going to do it.

You know, or if I got to tell you, hey, that's it.

Like, that's it.

Absolutely.

You know what I'm saying?

Or I just leave.

Intuition is important these days, man.

AI is getting really advanced.

So that's going to be what separates people in the future.

What do you mean by that?

Well, there's going to be deep fake videos, there's going to be all sorts of artificial intelligence pretending to be you, pretending to be me.

Our voices are already getting copied right now as we speak.

Yeah, so you're going to need good intuition to identify what videos are real.

And it's going to be uh scary times, dude.

Yeah, I saw that too, man.

Like, I saw there are some ads with Joe Rogan on it.

I saw those, you know what I'm saying?

On TikTok, right?

Yeah, they run texts.

I was like, nah, Joe Rogan wouldn't fucking endorse that.

He wouldn't endorse

Condom Depot.

Yeah, you've been on that show.

What's your big takeaway?

What did you learn from Rogan?

He's,

well, I think my whole mentality is

anytime you come into an interview, like, you got to do your best to make yourself, you almost got to kind of throw the softball out too.

So

I think for Joey, he's knowledgeable in the fight game, but I necessarily didn't see

Like there's not a stance with Rogan.

You know what I'm saying?

A stance?

Like a stance in a way where, okay,

I don't know, bro.

Like, that's a trick question.

Yeah.

Like, I've met a lot of smart people.

And Joe Rogan is smart, but I'm not also like, oh, shit.

You are super impressed.

No, no, no.

I was impressed.

I mean,

I don't want this to come out the wrong way.

He's got a unique style.

Yeah, it's just different.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, you, and I had friends to tell me, hey, man, I wasn't with Rogan.

I was like, hey, bro, you got to come up with these storylines.

Like, you got to, you got to, you got to make sure that the pattern of the actual story, if you if you're gonna be on for an hour and a half yeah like you gotta go out there and actually do it well that's actually because he doesn't ask many questions he treats it more like a conversation yeah so you can't go into a conversation with like joe road and just expect him to fucking you know what i'm saying if not he's just like all right guys all right man well thank you for coming in yeah no i see what you're saying though he won't he won't carry the show

exactly exactly so maybe and maybe that's what i'm trying to say is like you got to help carry that show for rogan right and bring up the topics and then you also hear from him like you know what I'm saying?

No, but he's a sharp dude, man.

He's been around the game for

a very long time.

In the pod game for like 15 years.

Yeah, and he's, he's, he's, he's the original, bro.

Yeah.

And when you talk about like pod, like the podcast, like who, who started, like, if you look at his, like, the, the podcast he used to do, like, when he first started, it was like 800 views.

I used to watch those with fleshlight in the background.

But he came up, dude.

And I think that's one thing that I will say about Joe Rogan is that he stuck with it.

One, he was a first, he stuck with it.

And, you know, he's a great analyst.

I mean, that happened to you when you were fighting.

The money wasn't that good back then.

Yeah.

You know, you stuck with it.

And now people are making a living.

Exactly.

Exactly.

I think,

you know, I think the future generation for like UFC fighters, I think they're going to be making crazy money.

I mean, you saw Jones demand 30 and he's getting it.

Is that what he demands?

30 mil.

Yeah.

I just saw a report that he's getting this.

So good for him, man.

Fuck.

I didn't know.

You're breaking news to me right now, Sean.

I mean, it's his last fight.

You got to go out with a bang.

Yeah, you know what?

He deserves it, bro.

He deserves it, but he's also going.

But I wonder,

Alex Pereira just got out of an interview, or he just met with the UFC.

And I think they're going to, I don't know, bro.

I think they're probably going to make the Jones Paneda first.

Really?

Yeah, I think so, bro.

You might have two more then.

And I think, and I think, I think, I think maybe the 30.

I think they're probably doing 15 and 15, but you're only able to get the 30 if you're able to.

that makes sense yeah because 30 that that sounds well i from what i heard i think i think they had offered kabib 40.

holy crap yeah so he might get 30 then i'm sure mcgregor's cleared 30 to fight mcgregor again i i think oh right now no no no uh right before he like he retired i think there was like a thing that they offered him 40 million damn to strap or whether it was for bieber or mayweather i think he got offered like 100 and he's like nah i'm good that's crazy dude yeah how much longer do you want to keep fighting you think

i I'm playing to fight by fight, dude, but I'm towards the end of my career, dude.

Yeah.

You know, with kids, it's just different, dude.

I got to,

you know, I do it for them.

I love that.

I do it for me, but it's just, you'll know when you have kids, your mentality will ship the shit that you used to do for free.

No more.

No more.

Or the time that you used to do, that you used to just get for free.

You're like, nah, man, these 20 minutes are valuable to me.

I love my kids this much.

You cherish your time way more now.

You have to, man.

I love that too.

Where can people keep up with you?

Watch the podcast and everything.

Yeah, you guys, pound for pound.

We have pound for pound.

I also have a Spanish podcast too.

It's called Cinguantes.

Obviously, my IG.

You know, you guys just Google Henry Cejudo.

Boom.

Check him out, guys.

Peace.