Episode 189: Zion Clark – Motivational Speaker, Author, and Athlete

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Pressure.

Today on the podcast, we have Zion Clark.

Zion is an extraordinary man.

He was born without legs, but that did not stop him from becoming a Guinness World Record holder for walking on his hands and becoming a successful wrestler winning national championships.

If you you want to hear somebody that doesn't take any excuse or use any excuse to hold you back, this is the guy for you to listen to.

He's inspirational, he's motivational, he does motivational speaking across the country.

His story is extraordinary.

Like I said, he was born without legs, bullied, he was unfed, and with every single obstacle, he was able to persevere.

And I really love this conversation.

I really believe that you will as well.

Enjoy.

We have today one of the, I think you're just like a crazy inspiration to like everybody.

Zion Clark, if you guys don't know who Zion is, Zion, am I pronouncing your name even?

Yeah.

Correctly?

I mean, you are wearing sunglasses.

I mean, did you have a hard night last night?

Is why you're wearing those sunglasses?

That's just your look.

I got good sleep last night.

Slept in this morning, actually.

Oh, really?

Took a shower and came here.

Oh, okay.

So you just like, it's more of a look then, right?

Yeah.

I like, I like to dress like swag.

Yeah, you are.

You dress really swag and you're really fit.

How do I tell, like, what do I, how do you describe yourself?

You're a motivational speaker.

You are someone who's like a pro wrestler.

But like, in your, if I, if you were to say your bio yourself, what would you say it is?

Just to sum it up, I would say I'm an entertainer and a motivator.

Okay, that sounds good, actually.

That's much better than what I have written down over here.

So

that's amazing.

So,

what I think is amazing about you, and that's why I was so desperately wanting to have you on, is that I think you're so inspirational to everybody because no matter what, you basically are the definition of someone who doesn't play victim, doesn't let things that of adversity stop you from

going after something.

I mean, you obviously, I mean, you don't have any legs,

but your arms make up for it and, you know,

and times a million.

Can you just kind of talk about like just the origin of like who you are, what your life was like, you know, the beginnings of you basically before you became you?

And you being

a super athlete, you know?

Yeah.

I'm from Madison, Ohio, originally born in Columbus, and I spent the first 17 years of my life in the foster care system, and I was living in the streets, like in the ghetto.

So, you know, life was was really rough with all the gang violence and on top of that going through the system, jumping from different homes throughout the area.

In turn,

a lot of things happened that really tested the temperament of my mentality and

it just, I had to grow up and probably grew up a lot earlier.

I started thinking more maturely by the time I was like 15, 16 to the point where by the time I got to college, I was living by myself, paying my own rent, really just working a job, laying brick.

You know, it was like, it was like a thing I had to get, like, work towards from my experiences of growing up, rough.

And it kind of built, either you're going to, it's going to fold or it's going to, you're going to fold or it's going to consume you, or

you're going to take it and build off of it.

And that's what I ultimately ended up doing.

And somewhere in there, I started wrestling.

Somewhere around there.

Okay.

So even before that, so like you, you were born without legs, right?

What is it called?

Like, can you talk about like that?

Like where your mom or your dad or biological parents?

Oh, yeah.

So I don't know my biological parents, but I was born with

it's called caudal regression syndrome.

It's a very rare disease

or syndrome, I guess, disease.

I don't get the terminology completely.

That's okay.

But

in short, it's like a lot of, if you're born with it, a lot of kids, if they are, they can have different things

wrong with their body as they come out, depending if they're missing a, it could be, you could be missing a finger, or you could be like me and be missing both legs.

I mean, so

what causes that?

A lot of drug abuse.

Is that really what causes that abuse?

It could be at random or it could be caused by drug abuse.

And was your mom on drugs?

Yep.

Yeah, my, so when I was born, I was born with every party drug that was available back in the the 90s.

Every party drug being like cocaine, I guess.

Yep.

I had cocaine, Molly,

meth,

perks, zans, all in my system.

And I had that, what's that alcohol deficiency called?

Oh.

You know what I mean?

When a mother drinks, what's that called?

Yeah,

I have a little brother, and he was born with it, too.

So

we made life really hard.

So

you're born, and sometimes you're born early, which is my case.

I was born two and a half months early.

So then I was really underdeveloped already.

So then I had to like,

I don't know, I was just really, really small.

First of all, like, this is a very good thing.

And

people thought I was slow, too.

Because

I was developing at a little bit of a slower rate.

I was like really behind the rest of the kids to the point where they were going to put me in like those special classes they had.

Really?

Yeah.

And then I did not want to go there.

In my head, I knew

I wasn't like that, but like I just had that block where I couldn't.

I even had like an assistant, like a helper following me around.

And it was, I never liked it because I was that kid that always liked to do things on my own.

But at the time, I was still a little too weak to do anything.

So, how old are you?

I'm talking about like five, six years old.

And you remember like in your head, oh yeah,

this is like first grade, and it was just terrible because like i really had i had such a problem learning

you remember

even learning how to walk on my hands was like a struggle i didn't start walking until i was about four

it just i used to i used to just drag myself around four or five and i finally got enough strength to stand up

do they put you through some type of program for the fetal the for the fetal alcohol syndrome or to get rid of the

for drug

me i don't remember too much of that part because I also had two surgeries right off rip when I was born.

I have a giant scar on my stomach and a giant one going up my back.

Why?

What kind of surgery?

One to remove one of my rib bones that was like impeding into my like intestines.

And then one to correct my spine on my back.

I have these two tiny little pins in my back.

So you've been a fighter literally from like day one in every way, shape, and form.

Like

you've always something like that.

Something like that.

I mean, still breathing.

Well, yeah, you're kidding.

I mean, you don't let anything stop you.

Like, it doesn't matter what, whatever,

like, any type of like negative thing that comes your way.

It seems like you've like fought through

all of it, even from such a young age.

So,

well, I mean, even with the, so how did you get rid of the, how do they get rid of the fetal alcohol syndrome?

Is it just I don't really know the details of it.

Um, I talked to my little brother as he was like growing growing up.

His name's Sam, by the way.

Are you guys close?

Yes.

We play Call of Duty all the time, every day.

And did you guys stay together?

Yeah, he well, no.

I got in contact with him when I was a little kid, and then I lost contact until I was like a senior in high school.

And then

I've been in contact every day since.

Since for him, I think he just texted me just now because I saw a little PlayStation icon pop up.

That's how he texted me.

He's still in school.

He's a sophomore in high school.

Really?

Yeah.

He's a wrestler like me.

So how did you even find him?

Say mom?

Yeah, no, same mom.

I just looked.

I went to the agency because I was like, I need to find my little brother.

And you never found her.

Nah, I know where she's at.

She's in prison.

But my little brother,

it's like, it was, I was like, I'm his only brother.

You know what I mean?

So I had to go.

Totally.

I had to make sure I really established that connection.

And I have.

He always be bragging to his friends and shit about like, oh, dude, look at my bigger brother.

This is my big brother.

Because

his mom be telling me, his foster mom be telling me.

So

it's good.

It's like, it's like having an impact on somebody like that, especially my little man.

I really like want to spread that to everywhere else.

That's amazing.

So you have a relationship with your brother.

Yeah.

And so how did you go from

when you say you're living on the streets, though, like, how was that?

So did you leave the foster care and be like, screw this?

I want to go to the middle of the moment.

No, no, no.

Some families would just lock me out of the house and then I would just have to figure shit out.

So then I made friends.

So how did you find this wonderful woman that

I was at that point, I was fighting all the time and I was in a really shitty foster home.

And when you say shitty, what happened?

Like shitty, like everybody, every other foster boy

in that house was out for my head.

And I was low-key out for theirs, too.

What do you mean?

Like, what does that mean?

Like, if I caught you slipping, I'm going to punch you in the back of the head.

Or if they catch me slipping, they're going to punch me in the back of the head.

Like, it gets so bad.

Like, I'd be in my sleep.

And and then I wake up to somebody punch me in the face.

But what's the purpose?

Like, why?

Because we hated each other, but why?

I don't know.

You guys are all in the same situation.

I know, and I never understood that.

I remember, I remember being in there, and I recognized that I already didn't like these guys because, like, in school, we weren't the greatest friends.

Oh, right.

But, like, I was, I've always been the type of dude that's just like, I'm just gonna mind my own business.

Yeah, and go do whatever I do.

And somehow,

they always ended up in my face about some stupid thing.

And then the

the last time we fought, somebody got hurt and a chair got stuck in the ceiling.

In the ceiling?

Yeah.

Come on, okay.

And

for some reason, it all got blamed on me.

So then I got thrown out and I was about to get shipped to Cincinnati to a group home.

And if the group home didn't take me, then that was it.

I'd be homeless at 16, 17.

So that's what was happening.

And then they asked my mom, because like I said, they didn't have any options.

So they asked my mom, and she was only fostering girls at the time.

And they asked her if she could do like an emergency placement.

And she said, yeah.

And then, boom.

Wow.

Things actually worked out and have been constantly working out ever since.

And you're close with, you're close with?

Yeah, that's my mom.

Like, I saw in an interview with you guys back when, I think it was on Ellen, maybe.

I don't remember.

She seemed like a really lovely, nice woman.

Oh, yeah.

My mom's from the streets, too.

Shit.

If my mom grew up rough, that's why she is the way she is today.

Right.

You know, growing up a harder life, you can still come out really kind on the other end.

There are a lot of people I know that have like the craziest backstories and they're the nicest people.

Isn't that always the way it is?

It's like either it's one way or the other, right?

Yeah.

It's never like in the middle.

Which I find interesting is that like all these other foster homes, even yours or otherwise, like, why are they even taking kids if they're such like if they're so brutal with them?

Like, I don't even know what they're saying.

Because they they get paid.

But

I mean, it's, yeah, but like.

No, like,

you can make good money having five to ten foster kids in a house.

It doesn't mean you have to take care of it.

Doesn't mean that money is getting put back into the kids.

Right, but isn't there,

I guess my question is, isn't there supervision around it?

Like, isn't someone overseeing it?

Not really.

And if the kid says something, most parents, you know, they're adults, they're not allowed.

That's so terrible to hear.

And yet, so this woman, when this woman took over and you became a family how did it change your life like how did it start to change your life fun we butted heads so many times really uh yeah i had a bad attitude at that point i i didn't say i'd given up on life but i definitely hated everything and everybody and i just minded my business messed with my music and kept to my sport and my few friends i hadn't i had and that was it

Like aside from that, if you stepped to me wrong, something was going down.

And that's just how it was.

Because like, yeah, I think going through, you experienced almost seven about 17 years of just pure shit from the moment you open your eyes for the first time yeah

you know what I mean so like when you experience that like it like for in my if at least for me I had I was I just give like not giving up but like I just lost hope for any type of peace so I was always ready for action all the time

and my mom kind of toned me down and then the rest of my family they toned me down because like my family i'm in now they're like we have musicians we have rappers we have we have gang bangers i'm not mentioning their names but like you know what i mean they like we got my family like we're we're yours uh i would say your

your average african-american family

you know what i mean like right now i know you mean everything food good family good but like when it's time to step up and step for real we all step together and i i didn't have that type of sense my thing was if if you're going to step, I'm just going to step because you're stepping.

Right.

You know, and I saw, and my whole mentality changed.

Now, the only time I actually do step is when it's about people I actually care about, people

that

have meaning and value in my life.

So then, did you, were you ever into drugs at that young age, or because of what happened to you when you were born, you stayed away from them?

I kind of actually stayed away except for smoking weed, honestly.

And that's the only thing?

Do you do that still?

Or is that still?

absolutely but everything else you don't do no okay is that why you're wearing the sunglasses are you high right now it's okay to be honest

i smoke but i'm not high you're not you are so i could tell your eyes look a little like happy right now what they do and that's why you're wearing those sunglasses don't lie to me it's okay i don't care you're not it doesn't affect me in any way but no um

yeah no like i grew up around like weed and like uh cocaine and all these like hard yeah like hard drugs like where i was at like when I, when I get locked out of a house, guess whose house I'm going to?

Yeah, been homie down the street that got the trap house because he has next room.

Yeah, what kind of house?

A trap house.

A trap house.

What's the trap house?

A drug house.

Oh, it's called a trap house?

Yeah.

You're going to teach me some stuff now.

Okay.

And so you went to the trap house

and then and then you did the drugs at the trap house.

Yeah, and I like I started that like 13.

Like it was, it was just

crazy.

But can I ask you a question?

And like, okay, so let me ask you this.

Like, how are you going to be living on the street?

Like, you know, you don't have legs.

Like, it sounds like you're so tough, even at a young age.

I was taught how to fight.

Even at a small age.

I was taught how to street fight when I was young.

And then I learned how to fight for real.

With no legs, even?

Yeah.

Like, you were, we were.

I used to hair.

I used to, when I was 16, I would hit somebody in the chest and I'd knock the air out of them.

But your arm was a lot of fun.

Like, I would, they didn't.

That's the thing.

I'm stronger now.

But, like, I hit somebody.

It's like I was already, I was forever been to like doing damage.

No kidding.

Yeah.

And it was,

I don't know, they messed with me because of that.

It's like, oh, this strong ass dude.

Yeah.

But you were never scared?

Like, were you ever fearful of your life?

Or did you ever, did you ever feel scared because that, because the fact that you didn't have legs and this one did have legs or you couldn't run?

Nah, because like at that, like growing up, I had been, I had been punched in the face so many times and just had the crap beaten out of me to the point where I was like, shoot, they hit me, I'm gonna still hit them back.

I'm used to this, let's go, you know.

So

it was, it wasn't that, but until, like, unless somebody like pulled a like, pulled a gun or something.

And that's happened a couple times too.

Coming up, I remember the first time I was 15, dude.

I thought we were taking, like, we, like, we jipped him on like a pack of weed.

We're like, like, we're high school, freshman in high school.

And he pulls out a little, a little pocket rocket and points it right in my dome and said, I'm going to give him more weed.

And I was like, no.

Like, you know what I mean?

I was like, you need to just chill out.

I said, if you want me to go wait, I'll go wait.

Like, it was like a really one of those real situations where, you know, you don't want to upset nobody or

say the wrong thing because one wrong word could mean

you're in a hearse, you know, so.

It was like those real moments really taught me how to stay calm in really tense situations.

Right.

Like I've been in some tense situations, like the tense situations I get in now,

I won't even sweat.

You know, so like I'm just sitting there chilling.

Even my fighting, like I, I'll get put in a choke or something and I don't get choked out because I'm calm.

And I'm still dinging your shit up.

And I'm still getting out of your move, countering it to get to what I want because I'm calm.

Being calm is like a key important thing for me.

Because when I'm not calm, I mean, it can be good, but like most times it's not.

I think it's with everybody, right?

Like when someone like loses their cool or shit, like that's when real problems happen, right?

Because the only time I think that's okay, like and I, it's happened like it's during competition.

Like during competition, if I accidentally break something or like mess you up really bad, I'm still scoring points.

So it's okay.

So like

you know what I mean?

So

like if it's not that situation, then I stay away.

Okay, so so how did you get serious about wrestling?

And what is the type?

What's the title called that you hold or what you have?

What's the in wrestling?

Like, what's the

oh, I'm an all-American.

All-American, like, in, is it what category is it just 125 pounds

overall?

Like, what's the, what other, give me the other categories.

Like the weight classes, or yeah, yeah.

So the 125, 133 pounds, 141,

uh, 147, 157.

So you're just in the you're the you're the

i'm the smallest weight class but you're the but you are the champion in that weight class no i actually wasn't a champ i was among the top 10.

oh is this what i saw on the netflix special like you lost it by something oh that was no that was high school oh that was high school so high school i never even made it to the state championships college i made it to the national championships so are you fighting people uh with legs yeah all the time yeah every day but you have like i mean, don't, don't they, isn't that like a disadvantage?

If you know I have a six, I have a six-five arm span, like I can still punch you in the mouth if you're standing straight up.

Oh my god, and if you go to kick me, I can still just grab your leg and get you to the ground and still punch you in the face while you're hitting the ground.

You know, so it's like there's a, there's like, it's just how like wrestling is what really gave me the groundwork for all of this because I had to figure out how my body works, not how yours works and cooleration in my note, how mine works to dominate you.

So, like, I'm able to go select punches, select picks.

Like, sometimes when somebody goes to kick, I will get out the way of the kick, and as I'm pulling their leg back, catch the ankle, grab their wrist,

and it just

wow.

So, how did where did you start to take this

more?

So, by the way, can I ask you a question?

So, you don't have legs.

Where does it stop and start with you?

Like, oh, I just don't have legs.

Can you go to the bathroom?

Yeah.

Like, do you go to the bathroom like, like, not like me, because I'm a girl, but like any other guy goes to the bathroom?

Yeah.

So, you have like all your parts.

Yeah.

Everybody always gets that mistake, and it's been, it's been so hilarious.

I remember,

I remember a while ago.

Hey, you remember that Manscape thing I did?

Tell me, tell me, tell me.

I want to know.

I had Manscape offered to pay me for just like a a little promotion thing.

So I did it and I like everybody lost their shit because everybody's just been constantly asking.

So they're like,

yeah.

That's what I want to know too.

But no, like, I pretty much shut the internet up on that one.

Well, that's a good thing.

Nobody's really said it since.

So wait, so Manscape paid you like a sponsorship thing to do, like, to do advertise their fucking razor.

Right.

And you should, wait, did you show your part?

I fucking just shaved my chest.

I fucking shaved about this long thing of chest hair.

And that's what they paid you for?

Yeah.

Okay.

So they didn't pay you to shave anything else or do anything else?

So you have all of your parts intact.

Yeah.

And so when you go to the bathroom, what do you do?

Use the toilet just like anybody else does.

Like anybody, like both

peeing and pooping and everything?

Yeah, everybody completely always gets that misconception about me.

My thing is, if I can eat and drink,

that's true.

And you're not wearing a cosmic bag.

And I don't, yeah, and I don't have a colossum bag.

Yeah.

Where is it going?

Well, that's what I was curious.

I wanted to know.

I wanted to know that.

And so, is it like normal?

Like, when I say normal, that's not the right word.

Normal being like how I would do it, or your Craig would do it, or Will, or whoever.

Yeah.

And so, can you have sex?

Yeah.

Do you have sex?

Yes.

Like on the regular?

When I'm not working.

Do Wait, do you have a girlfriend?

I do not.

Okay, do you have lots of girlfriends?

Do you meet girls once in a while?

Every day.

And like, are girls like sometimes fascinated by you?

And like...

Yeah, I mean,

I don't know what it is.

Ever since I was like young, it's been kind of like...

So girls are not a problem?

No.

Never been a problem?

Like getting girls or...

I remember, I might have been the most liked person at my school but i was always pulled up with the sexiest chick at like homecoming and prom

really everybody would want my girl every time really yeah so i was that dude okay but i didn't like nobody so nobody liked me only had a couple friends so that was okay are you serious yeah so what's your type like what kind of girl do you like

I'm waiting.

I want to know.

Craig's not even paying attention.

Don't look at Craig.

He's on his phone.

Craig is his manager who's sitting here.

Craig's not even paying attention.

He's probably texting some girl right now also.

He's not even listening to your sit stories with girls.

Well, there you go.

But no, I was mine.

I like

honestly,

I like white women, Brazilian chicks, Puerto Rican chicks.

Okay.

Do you like young, old, fit, voluptuous?

I want to know the details, Ian.

I'm not here to fuck around.

I don't want to hear about all the wet wrestling without hearing this.

You're real.

You're real.

I am real.

I don't want to talk about the other, you know, the weather.

Yeah, all right.

So

I like a nice butt.

But okay, that's okay.

That's like, that's not.

Why are you so shy about that?

That's like everybody.

Oh, no, no.

It was just that was like a doesn't everybody like a nice butt?

I thought that was like kind of a known thing, right?

Yeah, I like, I like, um, I like fit girls, though.

Fit girls, I would imagine, because you're fit.

I don't like lazy people.

Yeah, well, exactly.

Join the club.

So you like that.

And then, so when was the last time you had a girl?

Have you had a girlfriend?

Because you're young.

You're 24.

Yeah, like

two months ago.

Two months?

Oh, so for a long time or for just for a little bit.

Then I kicked her out.

Like, told her to go kick rocks.

Go kick crocs?

Go kick rocks.

Oh, go hit kick rocks.

Okay.

But so you have no problem meeting girls and going out with girls.

It was one I don't like last weekend.

That's amazing.

I love it.

I love it.

And it's you who's the one who's like, well, I'm not so crazy about this one or that one or the other.

I mean, I'll pull up to the drawing.

You're good?

I'm the band.

I pull up.

Anytime I pull up, people get excited.

Well, of course.

Yeah.

Because you're different.

Yeah.

Right.

But you drive also.

I saw, like I saw in one of these videos, so you just drive with your arms, right?

Yeah, that's my car to drive with.

So what's interesting is like there's nothing really, you've like worked your life out.

We're going to get to this whole part part soon but like it feels like everything that someone would do with legs as uh as a everyday person you figured out and managed a way to do it also and yet do other and excel at so many things as well yeah you know it's not even like excelling but if i want to drive a car i have to figure it out or i'm not going to drive a car if i want to ride a bike i have to figure it out because no one's going to be able to teach me how to ride a bike but i can ride a bike i have to got to figure it out the things are you riding a bike yeah i can ride a bike i have have a bmx bike back in ohio how are you riding a bike it's easy i just post the bike up put one put my arm in the handlebar kick the bike up

like i said i got long arms pedal with one arm steer the other one so you're using your arm to pedal the bike and i have like really insane balance so it's like you need to really focus yeah you've never seen the video of me doing it you i have a would you ride my bike afterwards no i like my bike and only my bike that's why you don't see me ride bikes why is it because you figured out your bike?

Because I have the handlebars twisted to a certain angle and shit so I can rest my arm across.

And then my pedals, like, I sanded them down so they're soft.

So, like, they don't have that grip on them.

So I don't destroy my fingers.

That is amazing.

Yeah.

That's an amazing.

And Craig, you didn't know this?

Yeah, dude.

Dude, you should ask, ask, bro, next time I'm on the phone with my mom, bro.

Be like,

designs bike in the garage?

You're going to be like, yeah, he used to ride that thing everywhere, every day.

Bro, I would ride my bike two miles down the street to my boy Kyle's house just to hit dabs.

What, yeah,

and you can't ride my bike, though, but then he had to take me back home because it was all back uphill.

So, like, why can't you ride mine, though?

Is it because you haven't configured it?

Well, no, because like I'd have to like break your bike down just to fix it, right?

Yeah, to my specific thing, like size and all that stuff, yeah.

Because I did see like my bike, it's not like a big bike, it's like probably about

phone my bike is not a big bike

it's like a like i said it looks like a beat it's a bmax mic yeah but still it's a bike for crying out loud like you're using your arms to pedal i mean explain explain to how you use how you play the drums

we're not there yet don't ruin it don't ruin it's the climax of everything we haven't gotten to that yet i don't know if you're going to get of course we're going to get there craig

we're going to talk about all of this this is like this is just like it's like a that's a crescendo right?

Like, we need to get to all the other stuff, like the sex and the, and the parts of the body.

And then we get to that stuff.

You're jumping ahead, Craig.

Please.

This is my little brother, by the way.

He's big as big as hell.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, he's a big kid.

Really, a really big kid.

He is a big kid.

Are you going to show me to be a mex?

That's what I'm doing.

Oh, my God.

He's a big kid, actually.

Yeah, he's almost six feet tall.

He's like 16.

Wow.

I don't know.

And like, you gotta think, he's probably not gonna stop growing for a few years.

He might be 6'6.

He might be.

Maybe you would have been 6'6.

Oh, yeah.

Because you know what?

I'm looking at your arms, right?

Like,

if the way they are in terms of the proportion to your body,

I mean, they are pretty long.

Yeah, I'm gonna.

My phone's being slopped.

Okay, you don't want to show it to me right now?

So then, okay, so let's get into the rest.

Let's just talk first about like, how did you become serious

with the wrestling?

And how did you start to like build?

Did you already have, like, you already had like the, the,

the adversity down where you knew you were never playing a victim, you were always kind of like, you were always kind of uh playing defense.

So, what happened then with the wrestling?

Like, at what point were you like, you know what?

I want to try doing this more seriously, and I want to become more.

Like, what did you do?

Oh, it was never that I was like, I'm trying more seriously.

I just, I was still learning, you know, right going up to the sport.

I was getting my ass kicked because I was still progressively learning.

And each match, even though I would lose, first match, like, I was saying, like, first match, get blown out.

Second match, don't get blown out as much.

Third match, like, but why wrestling?

What made you even think of wrestling?

I don't know.

My friends are doing it.

Oh, okay.

Okay, that's easy.

No, no, that's

like honestly.

Yeah, sometimes it's that easy.

Like, my friends were doing it.

My coach get my coach at the time gave me a flyer because he's my art teacher.

It was just literally just things worked out.

That's why.

So then you just kind of practice and practice to become better and better at it.

Yeah, that's right.

Like 10 years.

That's a lot.

I mean, how much were you practicing?

I was wrestling every day, every season.

So when you moved in with your mom at 16, what was your schedule like for wrestling?

Were you just hours a day?

I mean, I'm still going to high school at the time, and practice would be like from 2.45 to 5.30.

And that would be that.

And then we go do the same thing the next day.

And then on Saturdays, we'd have a double practice.

On Sundays, we'd have a practice if you weren't at church at the time we had practice.

You had to be at the wrestling room.

So,

yeah, we were just always getting it in.

Then, me and my best friend, Jake, who's my coach's son, one of my best friends, this dude

would always invite me, be like, hey, if you want to come wrestle, my dad will come pick you up and drive us there.

And I was like, yeah, I'd always be like, yeah, dude, like, you want to, like, if you can pick me up yeah that'd be awesome every time so then me and my boy we like and his um coach his name is coach donna he he would take me and jake to these tournaments and stuff as we were like all through the uh uh elementary school middle school and

just had a good time and like we were building experience jake was obviously the complete superior wrestler to me growing up but then as time got old time went on and i got older i've definitely closed the gap and now we're on the same level doing both doing really extreme big stuff at a very high level.

And so that went into then after

high school, you

did what?

Like you kind of, did you go to college?

Yeah, I went to Kenned State University for two and a half years and I dropped out.

Oh, why did you drop out?

Because I thought it was bullshit.

Why?

I mean, here you are.

Were you on a scholarship?

Yeah.

And you still dropped out?

Yeah.

Not to be like your mother, but why did you do that?

Oh, my mom was mad.

Oh, I'm sure.

I'm mad.

And I'm not

She's mad as.

Oh, I never.

I remember I told her that within 30 minutes.

The college is like 50 minutes away.

Why was my mom there in 30 minutes?

Like God, like pounded on my door, telling me like, I'm not.

And I, and I, Loki had already done it, like, filled out the stuff to, like, not go back.

Why?

Because I was taking a gamble.

But.

You did take a gamble.

Yeah, but.

Did you just not like it at all?

No, I mean, it was cool.

No offense to Kent State, but I didn't really like some of my teammates.

And

I was one of the captains on the team.

And

I just, I had enough.

And there was so much opportunity presenting itself in California at the time.

And all through me going to college,

I was a college athlete.

And then

at the same time, I'm like at the beginning of my professional track and field, like my offensive track, my professional track and field career.

So I'm like always flying to California, always flying to Phoenix always going to Colorado like always going like to all these different parts of the country right and I'm missing out on school and then professors get mad but I'm like I'm a pro athlete fuck you want me to do right but like just how like Olympic athletes when they get to when they got to go race yeah what was the difference for me doing that and Kenned State had a little thing about it because I was the only pro athlete that was actually going to the school could you could you do it online or no because if I did it online I'd just cheat and then I wouldn't learn nothing I'd just just be paying to waste my time so uh they should have had a nice i know at least you're being honest i appreciate that but like at least you would have had a piece of paper i guess right like they were paying for it anyway yeah but you can tell how much i was studying business management i was studying business management and

why like i still don't have a degree but i'm working with a lot of these companies like helping with like development and ideas alongside Craig

like to the point where like, at some point, we're going to be part owners of a lot of these different companies.

Why?

And without a fucking degree.

Well, yeah, well, wait a minute.

And it drives me crazy because my mom was always telling me, she was like, well, don't get by the way, my mom,

she understands that now.

It's like, she understands what I'm doing now because I took that chance and actually made some.

And you're actually doing something with it.

Yeah, I get it.

I get it.

But like that, at that moment, making that decision, I have $50 in my pocket.

So who is paying for you to go back and forth to school?

And like, and all these events and all these events.

So, Team USA was doing it.

So, wait, so, okay, that's just because I want to make sure people understand this all.

So, basically, you do the wrestling,

you're at Kent State, you're doing, you're like a college athlete doing that.

Where are these opportunities?

Like, were people starting to get to know who you were?

Like, how did you start getting all these?

Like, what did that part happen when you started to kind of become like more well-known?

Like, to get to college?

In general, like, I mean, like, no, it was just.

No, no, I mean, I mean, actually, in college, when you were going, you said, all these opportunities in California.

Because in college, my Netflix thing dropped.

Oh, that dropped while you were in college.

So it was 2018, right?

Yeah, that was.

So, what happened?

Did Netflix come to you?

Like, what was the...

No, I worked with these producers from New York City and they submitted this thing we filmed for about a week to the Sundance Film Festival.

Ended up winning best document short documentary at Sundance in almost every

film festival across the planet.

And it was absolutely just blew everything out the water and Netflix wanted their hands on it.

And for the last five years, it's currently been on Netflix, have the one of the longest-running short documentaries on Netflix up to date.

So that's how it happened.

So these producers did a thing with you, and it went to Sundance and went to everywhere else.

Yeah, but like,

that wasn't even it.

Oh, no, I don't even want to talk about all that.

I got,

I drew the short stick in that deal because I was an idiot kid.

Well, if you went to school and finished your degree, maybe you would have been able to like negotiate.

But

there was a time to finish the degree when

you're a sophomore in college and you're at Sundance and you're in the middle of fucking Salt Lake,

outside Salt Lake City in a car and you're signing a piece of paper without having a parent or a mom or an agent or a lawyer.

So you had nobody representing you for that?

Nah, I didn't know what I was doing.

And so you never made a dollar off of that.

So now what?

Like it's on Netflix and you're just not getting anything from it.

I definitely took the opportunity from that to build my own thing.

And now I'm making money doing other things because I have that notoriety bill.

But even without Netflix, shit was starting to blow up anyways.

Like what?

Because like, like I said, I'm a two-time all-American.

Right.

And like, I was one of like when it came to, when you heard like the top guys in the country, my name was one of the ones that popped up every time.

I'm on ESPN.

I'm on Sports Center.

Moss and Katz.

Just it called?

Moss and Kats?

Oh, that means just beating them up.

Oh, okay, okay.

You gotta like give me the English version of that.

I don't know what that means, but okay, okay.

But like, you know, it's like, I was doing so well for myself.

Like, just like going against Ohio State, going against Michigan, going against all these different schools.

Right.

And that you were all over ESPN anyway and all these places.

But that's even more why it's weird that you never had an agent or someone, a lawyer, to even look at a contract.

Yeah, you can't because in college at the time under NCAA rules, you weren't allowed to get paid nothing from anything.

Not for the, but Netflix is separate.

I know it's separate, but like

most things, like the colleges, they didn't really support all that other stuff.

Right.

Because they wanted you to be.

I think I wanted to

100%.

Right?

Like, that's what happens, you know, unless you have a lot of people.

Yeah, so no, we had a little dispute with, I'm not going to say his name, but we had a little dispute with old bumpy ass.

And now what, like, I guess, can you so basically leverage that opportunity?

Oh, no, we had to get the we had to like fight for the rights back to my own name and likeness on a film.

Oh my gosh,

are you able to do, or have you ever thought of doing your own like documentary, like docu series?

That's already that's already something that's uh potentially in the works.

I don't know how much I can talk about it, but

uh, I'm really excited.

Uh, and this time,

like I said, Bumpy ass ink is getting his hands on it because

just short because I really don't like this dude.

Oh, okay.

Apparently not.

He tried to say he made me famous.

Let's just say that.

Oh, and I don't even care about that, but you're trying to say you made me, bro.

Right.

You know what's interesting about you?

You hung out with me for a week.

You didn't make shit.

See, this is what's good about you, Matt.

I bet your best quality is also probably

your worst qualities because how you were raised and growing up, you had to be like, have like a chip, not a chip on your shoulder, but like have like some kind of like toughness built into you, right?

Yeah, where you're not afraid of anything.

I'm not afraid of anything or to say anything.

Sometimes it could really be bad.

It could like, but it can bite you in the butt sometimes.

I was on TMZ with Debo Samuel.

With who?

He's a really big, really good football player.

Okay, what's his name?

Debo?

Debo Samuel.

Oh, Debo.

Okay, okay, yep.

And yeah, every other word was like bleeped out.

That you couldn't understand what I was saying the whole time.

But because I was actually really excited.

You know what I mean?

I was like, oh, shit, you're fucking Debo.

Yes.

Remember, by the way, we're going to edit this part out too, Will.

It's kidding.

But like, for real, like, it's like, you got to learn when

the right and wrong places are to say certain things.

Well, especially if you want to be like, you do a lot of motivational speaking.

Who are you speaking to?

All ages.

You know, if I speak to kids, obviously I'm going to speak differently than I'm speaking to you right now.

Well, yeah,

and then if I'm speaking to high schoolers, I'm going to speak a little bit different from those kids.

College students, I'm going to say whatever the fuck I want.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Are you doing a lot of the

processes and stuff?

I'll be more professional, huh?

Yeah.

No, do you do a lot of the circuits for kids?

Like for everything I do for kids is for free.

Like colleges and no, colleges pay me.

Colleges pay me.

Yeah, they got money.

A lot of them do.

But when you go into like,

like when you do high schools and

high schools

depending on what kind of high school it is would be depending on how i go about it but to me the high school is their kids yeah i agree yeah uh so if it comes down to it like my old high school i want to go back and speak there for free i just want them to give me the time you know right right so like they like stuff like that it's not about the aspect of going somewhere speaking making profit no it's actually about going somewhere making an impact and sharing your story to inspire somebody else to do something great.

Right.

So you do, so how often are you doing?

Do you do a lot of corporate?

No, I mean, I've been get, I've been definitely building up my speaking.

You know, I went from,

I've definitely like built it over the last couple of years.

COVID really put it on the back burner.

Yeah, with everybody, right?

Because

I started off with a bang speaking at the F-45 World Convention.

And I was going around to all these different colleges, flying.

I'd be in Arizona one day and then I'd be in Rhode Island one day.

And then next day, I'm in Los Angeles.

It was going crazy.

And then COVID happened.

So I went back to Ohio and played Call of Duty for like six months straight.

Wow, are you kidding?

There's really nothing to do.

No.

Yeah, there was very much nothing to do.

Yeah, so I was like, if I can't do, if I really can't do anything, I'm going to get really good at this video game.

Did you get good at it?

Yeah, now I'm in the video game.

You're in the video game?

Yeah, I'm in Call of Duty.

What do you mean?

I'm in the game.

How did you become the person or how did you get in the game?

So I help with the zombie animations and some of the

so they're gonna be releasing a wild animal.

I'm not gonna say which, but like it's supposed to.

I hope with like this animal ripping people apart and stuff.

Are you serious?

Yeah, I worked with Activision Studios.

Like,

some right, yeah.

That's cool.

That's a big game to be in.

I know, right?

Wow, your brother must be super impressed with you.

Oh, he plays it all the time.

Yeah.

That's all he plays.

Every time I say his name, his username is G-L-G.

It'll be like, G-L-G is playing Call of Duty.

G-L-G is playing Call of Duty.

Like, if I look at the last 10 notifications of him just on the game, it's Call of Duty.

Or Fortnite.

He's

a kid.

Kids like Fortnite.

So you play a lot of videos.

So wait, so then when you got after, so when COVID kind of started to open up a little bit more, is that when you came back to Los Angeles?

You came back to LA and yeah, I came to L.A.

I moved to San Diego and I just recently moved back up to L.A.

Oh, you moved to San Diego?

Yeah.

I was down.

I don't know.

It's quiet.

I liked it.

It is quiet.

Beautiful women.

More beautiful in San Diego than in L.A.?

LA, you got to be careful.

Some of them are super fake.

They have ratchet, nasty ass attitudes.

A lot of them do.

Yeah.

That's true.

And not so much in San Diego?

No.

So why did you move back?

Because I don't care about that.

I came, I got work to do.

So what, so what kind of work?

Okay, that's good.

What kind of work are you doing now?

Like, what have you spent?

Like, give me a day in the life of you.

Like, what time do you wake up?

What's your, give me exactly what you do.

I wake up at 6 a.m.

Every day.

Every day.

Okay.

I'll smoke a joint.

Every day.

Every day.

I swear, like either 6 or the time that I wake up, it's sometime early morning.

Okay, 6 a.m.

And then I'll go take my dog outside.

I have a little blue-nosed pit bull named Kanna.

So I take her outside.

She's like, she's six months old, so she's still a baby.

Oh, really?

Small.

So, yeah, I take her out for a walk.

I'll sit there, let her do her business for like 20 minutes or so.

And then I take her back up,

and then I'll either, I will now me and Craig stay at the same spot, but I would call Craig

earliest fuck in the morning and be like, Craig, what do I got to do today?

You guys live together now?

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, he's my homie.

Okay, but I'll be like, Craig, fuck, we gotta do today, and he'd be like,

he'll be telling me, he'll be like, uh, I'd be like, what time?

And this is what time you're calling Craig at?

Sometimes early, early.

Okay.

Depends on what time I get started.

Okay.

And

I know how to bypass it.

So I'll just call him anyways.

Be like, Craig, look your ass up.

I need to know what I got to do.

I love it.

Okay.

But then, like, for example, the other day, I woke up pretty early, did the same thing I just told you as the start.

And then hung out.

I went to watch Mike Tyson and Bobby Smyrda smoke a joint, hit a joint with Bobby Smyrda.

At what time now are we talking?

This is like 10.

Okay.

Yeah.

And then so far, all you've done so far is.

This is like probably a little earlier than 10.

It's like 9.

Okay.

So.

Yeah.

But it's real good connections.

Like Bobby's, like, you know what Bobby Smerda is, right?

Yes, I do.

Yeah.

And I know who the Bobby Tyson is.

Yeah.

I know who this is.

And Mike Tyson, who's like, I think, that would be, yeah, I wanted him to be on the podcast, actually.

Go on.

But

Uncle Mike is dope, super dope.

He actually gave me this.

And the days, like the day before that, he got three, four days, five days ago, he gave me this.

I saw that that's cool yeah uh it's a tyson necklace for those of you just listening okay go on but um

then we went to some of like some event like this instagram thing we got invited to because uh we're working directly with meta oh you are okay i want to hear about this

oh yeah i forgot to say oh wow okay we're okay so i'm gonna write that down we're gonna get back so finish your day in the life and then we're gonna get to all that stuff but uh i went to this uh instagram event held by meta because we got invited uh uh i got uh me and craig got invited to it and then we just um what did we do after that

smoke another joint we did actually

yeah yeah i swear i'm listening i i might be in california i'm from the hood yeah northeastern ohio what i like at least you're honest and you're real right there's no like i do like i do them but like

And on top of that, sometimes if I don't have something to do in that morning, I'm training under my coaches.

Oh, okay.

So, wait, so

wait, so you finished the, okay, you did the joint, blah, blah, blah, another joint, another joint, and then the vent, whatever.

And then do you have, do you go to bed at a certain time?

I go to bed.

I like to party, but like, I go to bed when I'm tired.

So it doesn't matter to you because you're like still 24.

You're a young guy.

So,

so when are you, okay, so can you train and smoke joints at this like at the same time?

Because don't you get tired?

Like, yeah.

Well, I don't get tired, but I move slow and my sweat feels thick.

Yeah.

And then, but like, you can, like, you can feel it when you finally sweat it all out but

it's like you can't I just can't do it you can't do it so that's basically your day so you know prior like if you have if you're in a training like how often are you training a week I train usually at 10 30 every single day Monday through Thursday and then between Friday and Friday Saturday and Sunday are your days off yeah for the most part and I'm able to get a lot of work done or like I'll get extra training in if I go to like craft boxing or if I go down San Diego go to the arena or go somewhere, like you know, somewhere where I can get extra training, or me and Craig will go to dog pound too.

And I like using the sauna and conditioning my body and stuff while I'm there too, just to get that extra boost for every week as we lead up to competition.

So, and then, so, okay, so then basically

that's kind of like a day.

How about how do you eat?

What's your and what kind of training do you like the best?

And what's your, like, what do you like to eat?

Do you care?

I love rice, rice, yeah, okay,

um, like white rice or rice rice.

Yeah, I like white rice with a little bit of sugar, and I like um

any

Chinese, Japanese, or Korean food.

Okay, so you're not it's actually pretty healthy, too.

Like, I like getting ramen and all this other stuff, but you eat it occasionally.

McDonald's and Wendy's, okay,

yeah, we're gonna

poor Will.

I hope you're making notes here.

No, it's good.

Um, so basically, then you are uh, you're not a vegan or a vegetarian.

You just cheat meat.

You saw what happened to what's his face?

Which one?

The boxer that lost the fight because he went vegan for his whole great cut.

Remember who just lost out

something?

You know the boxer from Cuba, the Mexican dude?

Is that why he lost?

Mexican dude from Cuba.

I know.

No, I thought it was Cuba, but then I was like, no, he's Mexican.

He's high.

That's why he's wearing second class.

No,

I'm really thinking I'm hot.

I know.

I'm hot too.

It's very hot in here.

Very hot in here.

Canelo.

Canelo Alvarez lost.

Because he switched his diet and his weight cut to a vegan diet.

When you're a fighter, don't switch to vegan, bro.

You need that energy.

Did you ever watch game changers on Netflix?

First of all, they picked a couple of athletes who were doing well.

I mean, for every athlete who's a vegan, I can give you a thousand athletes that are not, right?

Like, I know

a hundred percent.

I'm a big boy, I agree.

Uh, so then let's talk about meta.

Then, what who are your deals with?

Give me some like, let's talk business now.

Now that we know that you, um,

you can have sex like a, like a, like a beast, and you train like a beast when you're not high, let's talk about meta and all the other, uh, like how you do you conduct business stuff.

So, Meta did a deal with you.

Yeah, okay, what kind of deal is that?

I'm currently the face of FitXR on the Oculus Rift.

Okay, why not?

It's a virtual app you can get on, so you put the headset on, and then there's me walking you through a martial art class, like a boxing class.

Oh, okay.

And then I just released a cool down, a cooldown session class where like you can help you stretch, help you recover.

Right.

Because like these things, there's levels to them.

There's beginner, there's intermediate, and then there's hard, you know?

Yeah.

So,

you know, you can, you're able to virtually like get a workout.

And it's all for me, it's a lot about inclusion to where

anybody can put the headset on, anybody can get a workout in.

All you got to do is just give yourself a little bit of space and you can move around.

And all the movements that

I've helped, me and FedXR together, have put into this program.

It's all about

movements that you wouldn't, you don't necessarily need weights for that you can still activate your sweat glands and get your brain.

Like no gym required.

Yeah.

And then how did that come about?

Did Meta contact you?

Shoot, I forgot, Craig.

How was that?

I feel you forgetting how these people reach out.

You know how many people I meet and talk to?

I mean, probably a lot.

Do you get a lot of like incoming requests or do you do a lot of outreach?

Like, how aggressive are you?

I don't, I don't like to go.

I don't like to go ask people for stuff unless it's something I really want.

And if it's something I really want, I tell Craig.

And then he does it.

Yeah.

So how long have you been?

Most people, we've been rocking like five years, four years?

Like, oh, wow.

wow, that's a long time.

Yeah, but like, for real, like, if like we do things that are best circulated, that's best circulated towards what my mission is and what I want to do with my life and how I want to live and how we're going to live most comfortably and live the most successful and still give back the most we can and be as motivating and inspirational as we can.

And part of that is like the way we do things, we're not, we're not going to jump on a bandwagon just because somebody said to jump.

Right.

What is your mission?

Uh, Become one of the world's most decorated athletes,

which I'm on my way there.

You already won a Guinness World.

Didn't you win like the Guinness World Cup?

Yeah, I'm the world's fastest man on two hands.

I said it like 9.4 miles per hour.

Currently, I'm running like 13 miles per hour.

So, wow, it's been a really fun time.

What was the speed before you broke the speed?

Shit, I don't know.

I don't think there was one.

I think I said it, and then I'm going to reset it.

Oh, at that, okay.

Yep.

But I'm the first one to ever move that fast.

It's not recorded in history, which is awesome.

Wow, that is super fast.

What other sports do you do basketball to?

A little bit.

I'm terrible.

I was just shooting for fun.

I'm a fighter.

Yeah.

Like, if you really, if you really want to be, if I want to be honest, I'm terrible.

At the basketball?

Yeah, I can beat somebody up and I can knock somebody out or choke them out or like drop them on their head because I'm a rustic.

That's because I've strictly done those things for almost 20 years.

I can see this now.

Now that I met you, I understand why you'd be a good fighter, though, because you're a fighter.

Literally, like it's like perfectly like,

it's exactly why you should be a good fighter.

And so

what other,

is there any other sports that you do play that you like?

I'm a Paralympic track and field.

I just took this past year off.

I'm getting ready to, after I'm getting all situated up here in LA,

I'm

getting ready to start hit my training full swing again.

And I'm going to try to make it to the world championships this year.

And then next year, the year will when you say track and field, what do you mean?

Is it like Paralympic track and field?

I race in a racing chair.

Yeah.

Back in high school, I'm a two-time state champ, two-time state champ, four-time placer, three-time national champ,

one-time world trials runner-up, one-time team USA member.

Yeah, done a lot of stuff.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then do you have any other spawn?

Like, what other companies besides Meta?

How long is the deal with Meta?

For a year or is it just ongoing?

A year?

Meta?

Yeah, they're two separate partnerships, but

FedXR.

Yeah, but FayXR lives on

Meta, but they're their own separate entities.

They're separate entities.

Okay.

What other companies are you working closely with?

Legends, what I'm wearing right now.

Oh, you're doing Legends.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Actually, we're about to start, we're about to release some really cool stuff coming out here soon.

So I'm excited to do that.

And there's a lot of cool things with Legends that you should just be on the lookout for.

Honestly, because I don't know what I can technically say because I didn't really talk to Craig or Scott.

So, Legends is another partner of yours.

Oh, they're a huge partner.

Okay.

They have some of my favorite people I grew up listening to and watching on TV.

That's great.

That I get to work closely with and do cool things with.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Other ones that you are working with as well?

What is the

working on partnerships with these different boxing companies?

Yeah, I would say.

I'm just figuring out

what my types of gloves are that best suit me.

Companies like Sanibul or what was that other one, Craig?

Hayabusa.

Hayabusa.

Really, like really good, good gloves and stuff.

But

there's a lot.

I know I'm probably missing a lot.

A ton of them.

Yeah, because my thing is, if you're with me, let's roll and run this shit.

That's the guy that asks those questions.

Right.

So basically, Craig is like the business brain behind that.

Yeah, and I'm the guy that goes and physically.

I'll go beat somebody up and I'll go speak and do whatever.

Yeah, exactly.

How has social media like played a role in your success or your overall life?

I don't give a damn about social media.

You don't?

I really don't.

How often?

Because that's really surprising.

I mean, that's not me.

That's Craig.

Oh, it's Craig doing all that stuff.

Good.

So you're too big.

Like, that's interesting.

So you're basically, you don't care one way or the other.

You're not on there.

You're not addicted to social media.

nah not at all if i i might message somebody and not talk to them for three weeks and be like oh hey sorry i was busy because you're just not like so we had to fix that

yeah well actually though that's that's refreshing to hear that you're not

i did fix that that was actually a really bad issue i had was like responding to people well do you get a lot is there yeah i wouldn't go back is there a lot of incoming stuff yeah all the time

everything

because i would because you do such amazing fitness stuff on there i'm like i would think fitness people would be contacting you a lot.

Fitness, fashion, athletic,

women,

trainers,

everybody.

Women, trainers.

I love that you're saying, I love that.

I'm just being honest.

We get a multitude of everything going through.

Like, even artists, painters, musicians.

Oh, you're saying Craig was saying that you could play drums really well.

Yeah, I can play drums, piano, trumpet, guitar bass guitar six string guitar oh you can play more than just drums yeah so how i'm good i'm really good with my hands yeah apparently you can do a lot with those hands it sounds like i mean how did you learn how to play every single instrument is it i taught myself since i was a little kid i i remember my first thing was a keyboard and i would hear something on the radio And I just had, I've always had that

ear where I can hear it.

You can hear it and just do it.

I find the bass notes I find the I find the relating chords and I would boom got the whole song down and then I would start mixing it up so you you have like a just you're like just musically very talented something like that so I'm sorry why didn't you lean further into that because I like to fight yeah we know that

I can't I can't even deny that about like like yeah like though every time when I'm like out and injured like right now like I had an open wound so I can't uh

can't train or nothing right now uh but like when it comes to times like these and I'm sitting there I'm just watching my teammates go at it or watch them compete pisses me off really

yeah like that bad like you're that like passionate

I feel like when I'm when I get to fight and stuff I'm no longer me you know like it's like and I'm I feel like I'm a nice person I try to be at least but

When I'm like on the mat, especially if it's a sparring day where we're allowed to cut loose because we're like practically fighting for real,

I feel like my eyes gloss over.

I don't hear anybody.

I hear, like, I listen for one person's voice, and that's whoever said that they're going to be in that corner.

And my body just moves.

Because, like, in

like the sport of MMA or wrestling,

you got to be in a state of fluidity.

You got to, or we call it like the flow state, which is almost like, I don't know if you ever heard of Dragon Ball, but ultra instinct or whatever.

You know how Goku has the ultra instinct?

That's practically what the flow state is when you're a fighter.

When you can, like, just like how Anderson Silva used to do it, he leaned his face and

just move his head to the left, move his head to the right.

Nobody can hit him.

Yeah, his hands still down.

Why can't you hit him?

Because he's in the flow state.

Yeah, so like, wow.

But then he would be like, down here, get out the way, get out the way, get out the way, get out the way.

Boom, crack you in your shit.

Yeah, this is so.

This really is like your

this was supposed to.

This basically was your passion and what you were meant to do, it sounds like.

So the music thing was just something that you're just naturally good at.

I did music first.

Right, but you were not as passionate about that.

Oh, yeah, I was.

Oh, you were?

I was the head drummer at my church.

I was the head drummer for the jazz orchestra.

I was a

head drummer for the

choir performance group and all this other crap.

I would play at clubs and stuff.

I would play either my trumpet at a club or I get on the piano or I get on the guitar.

You know, like it was like, I was like, like sometimes when you're doing, when you're doing music, it's not like you gotta, it's not like, like, you can't just stick in school for it.

And in school, they only let you choose one.

Right.

I could play six.

And you taught yourself everything?

Yeah, except for trumpet.

I went to school for that one.

Really?

Yeah, I learned it in school.

I don't think I got it.

I just borrowed one from the school.

You borrowed the trumpet or the

piano, the keyboard that I had coming up.

I had it since I was a little kid.

Who gave it to me?

I got my first drum set from this one family.

It's like the third family I was ever at.

And I took it all the way with me to my mom's up in

back in Ohio.

And that's why I always had drumsticks.

I would always break drumsticks.

You go to my mom's house and you walk upstairs in my old room and you open a closet, there's a mountain of drumsticks.

Really?

I've broken over 200 pairs of drumsticks.

But you took that drum set from when you were a little kid.

Yeah,

I just kept replacing the heads.

Wow.

You know, like,

drum heads, all you need is just a little corkscrew thing, and

you just unloosen it all the way,

take the covering off, put a new one on, tie it back up, test it, tune it.

You got to flick the side of the drum on the wood because whatever sound that resonates from it is the sound that the toms, what the heads that you hit are supposed to sound like.

So it's a process, but like if you're able to do that, you get a perfect sounding set consistently.

And you taught, okay, so you taught yourself the drums, the guitar,

everything except the trumpet.

Yeah, but then where did you fight?

Like, did you pay someone for lessons?

Like, how do you do it?

No, I learned it in school with everybody else in band.

Oh, that's what you meant by

school.

But everything else was, everything else was like me doing it on the outside.

On the outside.

Oh, I see.

Because so the trumpet was the one instrument that you did in school.

Yeah.

And you just have to pick one.

Yeah, but like by the time I started playing trumpet, I already knew how to read music because I taught myself how to read music.

So do you think like when you're older or later in life, like after fighting has kind of gone and kind of been there when you're when you're older do you think that you're gonna maybe take music again much more seriously i'm taking it much more seriously right now oh you are yeah what are you doing with it i can't i'm not gonna tell you oh my gosh why have i told me everything else now now you're now this is it this is the the the breaking point

my music my music my music is like

the line is dropping what i'm like trying to build right now i don't want to like tell everybody about it because like you know people do steal ideas That's very true, okay?

But you are doing something, yeah, I'm doing something, I'm working on stuff right now, okay.

And you like, how good are you in the music world?

Like, uh, like, like, surprisingly good.

I have, um,

do you know King Joel is Nigerian rapper in Atlanta?

Uh, him and uh, uh, was that Craig?

Was that album him and Big Crit?

Bricket's involved in it.

Him and Big Crit produced an album, and he had me come out and I drummed for him, acted for him, like, did a whole bunch of stuff.

Like got a legit drum set for me to go ham on to be part of the video.

Oh, we got it.

Okay, you're doing a music video?

Oh, yeah, I already did it.

Oh, okay.

I thought you're going to, I thought, thank you.

Listen,

this video is something else.

No, no, no, something different.

Okay.

I wish Craig, man.

Craig, you left that one scene, bro, at the dinner table, bro.

You know, you remember me telling you about that, right?

He's talking to you, Craig, in this podcast.

He talks to you a lot.

I'm sorry.

You should have brought Craig on.

I was going to say, Craig Craig is right here.

He experiences most of these things I do.

I was going to say, do you guys spend all the time together?

Yeah.

Speak all the time over podcasts.

Like, when it comes to

working and travel, because he's my agent.

So, like, when it comes to the working stuff and all that, cool.

Like, don't be wrong.

I have my own life.

I do my own thing.

Are you sure?

Do you guys spend 24 hours together?

You remember?

Nah, because I'll disappear for like 10 hours with a whole bunch of women.

10 hours?

I've done it multiple times.

A whole 10 hours without Craig.

Oh my God.

What are you going to do?

The other times we're like working.

You know what I mean?

Like, because mostly when I'm with Craig, we're working on something and we're trying to get stuff done.

Yes.

But you rely on Craig.

It looks like you have a very nice rapport with Craig.

You like him very much.

I don't mean like that.

I mean, like, you love him.

You're a go-getter.

So, how did you, how did you get Craig to be part of your pot, like, not like, like, your, your, your partner in crime?

Like, how did this whole relationship even transpire?

I gave him some quarters.

quarters

craig how did you get involved with this this cat that this like uh cat over here we met like five years ago in the back my best friend met him backstage with the ellen degenera show yeah he my friend was working with jason mamoa at the time they recorded the episode the same day we saw him a week before on social media and um

We we owned a supplement company, me and my best friend, we're like, Man, Sky is a freak.

Like, our supplement company was all about promoting authenticity and being yourself.

And if there's a world, you know, be yourself.

It was community driven.

We're like, we'd love to get a part of the community.

And then next one of my friends calling me like, dude, Zion's here.

And then Zion freaks out because Aquaman's there.

So it was super cool how it happened.

And

that just progressed into like a friendship over the years.

And I saw the potential and started working with him part-time.

And then a little over a year ago, I was like, you know, let's do things full-time.

Mentally was like, let's do things full-time.

In my head, I was like, I'm going to help him level up.

I understood from running a startup what it takes to build a brand.

Essentially, when you're working with talent, it's building a brand.

Same concepts, same structure, same nuts and bolts.

And then I figured that out through running a startup that failed and was like, All right, let's you know, level up and use that experience to then build the next brand, which is Zion's brand.

That was really great for people to give context of what we're talking about, right?

Um, but I'm sure we can that will work.

Um, is there anything else, Zion, that you want to talk about besides um, not talking about the project you have coming up with the music?

Like, where do people find you?

You can find me at BigZ97 on Instagram.

And TikTok?

Yeah, and TikTok.

And then you can find me as...

big underscore Z 1997 on Snapchat.

Look up Zion Clark on YouTube.

But don't expect him to respond because he doesn't go on Instagram.

Just kidding.

Yeah,

expect me not to respond.

Right.

Someone will get back to you.

Somebody will get back to you now.

I'm a lot better.

Just not him.

It's a lot better.

Sometimes it is me.

Sometimes it is me.

Sometimes it actually is me.

Okay.

Especially if it's like somebody I really want to work with or talk to.

But how do you know?

Because you're not on there to even check.

Because I still get the notifications.

I just don't answer my phone on person.

So you look at the notifications.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Just make.

I don't know.

Unless it, like, to me, unless like Craig tells me, like, oh, this is actually really important.

I don't spend, I don't spend time on the phone.

I walk on my hands.

Yeah.

That's just.

And my hands for everything.

I don't like to get on my phone.

Like, especially when I'm out, I might not talk to somebody for 10 hours,

but I'm actually active doing stuff.

You're walking on my hands.

And I'm on my skateboard and I'm lit.

You're good for you.

Listen, I am so happy that you came over and did this podcast.

I feel honored that you did it.

I know you said you didn't want to do many more podcasts.

So this is.

This was a fun one.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Some of your questions threw me for a loop.

That's good.

Then I'm keeping you on your toes or your

fingertips.

I'm keeping you on your fingertips, but close enough.

Whoops.

But

no, but I really love this podcast.

You're like, I think that you're awesome.

And I think what you're doing is great.

And your attitude and spirit are just infectious.

And so if anyone deserves success, quite frankly, it is you.

in my opinion, and I'm sure in a lot of other people's opinion.

I appreciate that.

No, it's the truth.

And Craig, who I feel like I know very well now, just because every time anything happens, I hear I see a head going.

Craig, what do you think of this?

Because, like, you were asking me them business questions.

I like to stay out of that.

You know, that this is a business podcast, right?

Yeah, well,

I'm here for inspiration, not business.

You are.

And by the way, you gave inspiration.

And sometimes it's not so much business, it's actually about leveling up your life

and habits and how to have a healthy, successful mindset, and actually don't let limitations stop you and how actually at the end of the day it's about resilience and you my friend are the you know poster child for resilience seriously thank you it's the truth you really are

optimal performance in anything you do that's business back to you craika next time you're coming on the podcast yeah no go for it okay so that's what you that's how you find zion he also has a book coming up but not for a year and check out his documentary and i currently have a book out right now called Zion Unmatched.

It's currently still an editor's pick on Amazon.

So, if you want to go look up Zion Unmatched, I'd love the love and support.

Thanks.

There you go.

Perfect.

All right.

And we're out.

Thank you.

Habits and hustle.

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