#620 - Keith Peterson

Speaker 1 From the Netflix series, D.Upshaws.

Speaker 2 Get ready for Mike Apps.

Speaker 1 You gotta keep on reminding your girl how sexy she is. Because if you don't, her work husband's gonna tell her.
That's why you gotta pop up on your girl's job sometimes. Yeah, uh-huh.
Where's she at?

Speaker 1 You looking for that work husband. That's the first dude that you say to say, You looking for Cheryl? Like, no, I'm looking for you.

Speaker 2 Saturday, November 8th. Yamify Theater at Yamify Resorting Casino at San Manuel.

Speaker 1 Tickets on sale now at Yamifytheater.com or Casino Box Office.

Speaker 2 Today's guest is a true Renaissance man. He's a father, he's a MMA referee, he's a musician, and he's a mechanic.
And he absolutely hates nonsense. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.

Speaker 2 No Nonsense Keith Peterson.

Speaker 2 I'm sitting here with

Speaker 2 the man no nonsense Keith Peterson.

Speaker 2 Thanks for joining me, man.

Speaker 1 No problem.

Speaker 2 I got to ask you straight up, dude. Is there

Speaker 2 how much nonsense is allowed?

Speaker 1 And what? In fighting or life?

Speaker 2 What are your thoughts on nonsense? Because you got the name no nonsense, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 There's a time and place, I guess, right?

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I think it like the no nonsense thing is just, you know, my approach towards things. And, you know, John Anick

Speaker 1 gave me that nickname and it kind of just stuck. And I think it fits, you know, but, you know, there's nonsense.

Speaker 2 I think you'll you'll allow a little.

Speaker 2 Okay, depends. During the holidays.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess.

Speaker 2 Okay, okay. Maybe on your birthday weekend, there's a little bit of nonsense allowed.

Speaker 1 Usually most of the things I do, I do very straightforward and, you know,

Speaker 1 no nonsense, I guess.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I've been involved in too much nonsense, and it gets a little hairy, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 Yeah, John Danik gave you that new name. When was that?

Speaker 1 Yeah, a few years ago.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we had a few conversations, and then I think on air, he said it. And it just seemed to take off and fit.
Yeah. And I think it does fit.
Yeah. You know,

Speaker 1 nicknames are weird, but I've had a few.

Speaker 2 Yeah. What are some other ones you've had?

Speaker 1 When I was little, my nickname was Froggy. From like the little rascals, the voice.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 The little guy with the voice. I've always had this voice.
So

Speaker 1 yeah, that was my nickname pretty much till I got older. It kind of grew up.
Some people still call me that, though.

Speaker 1 Yeah, there's this girl who moved in across the street and she came over because she wanted to play.

Speaker 1 Sounds like

Speaker 1 that fits, man.

Speaker 2 That fits. You're from New York.

Speaker 1 Long Island, yeah. Long Island, New York.
And I originally lived in like East Meadow, Nassau County area. And now I

Speaker 1 live in Icelett, New York.

Speaker 2 Icelet.

Speaker 2 And how did you get in a referee and how'd that start for you?

Speaker 1 Well, I fought amateurs for a while and

Speaker 1 for about three years,

Speaker 1 all different fights, amateur level, MMA fights, Muay Thai fights, kickboxing. And then

Speaker 1 we had a lot going on. So it was getting harder and harder to put the time in.
And

Speaker 1 someone just

Speaker 1 was like, oh, why don't you

Speaker 1 judge or be an inspector at fights, at amateur fights or stuff like that. And I was like, okay, that sounds cool.
I'll be still be at the fights.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 I went, took this course and I was in New Jersey. And

Speaker 1 there was this old referee uh Donny Caroline he reffed a bunch of my kickboxing MMA fights and stuff Donnie Caroline yeah he's um he passed away a few years ago and um he he was uh like you you'd be really good at reffing you'd be really good at reffing so I got my chance to ref a few amateur fights and it kind of just took off from there and he was pretty supportive during the amateur part of it were some of those early bouts tough or was it tougher to referee then like is it something that gets easier over time what yeah i would always i i compare it to and i don't know if it's a good comparison but it would be like being a brain surgeon like you're not going to be as good as you're going to be 10 years but no one could die yeah

Speaker 1 right pretty simple right and uh so you learn lots and lots of little things and so you're saying so you you're not going to be as good as you're going to be later but as long as you don't let somebody die yeah you got to you know stop the fight when it's supposed to be stopped and you know and and then the rules it all comes in as you go take me on like an early experience that was kind of like a lot for a referee yeah so for me my first like couple

Speaker 1 like um i remember my first or second time ref and the fight was really even his amateurs and really even and then the kid was like you know losing pretty bad and i was like wow this kid's losing pretty bad you know this fight should be stopped and i was like oh no that's me and and i stopped it and then uh and then kind of from there you're like, yeah, you're the one in there, you know, because

Speaker 1 you're up close. And like,

Speaker 1 you know, you have to adapt into a referee. Like,

Speaker 1 at first, you know, I came out from fighting.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 my mentality was like a fighter. Like, as a fighter, I didn't always agree with the referee.
Like, you know.

Speaker 2 Oh, it's a good point. Cause as a fighter, you have a whole,

Speaker 1 you're just doing your thing. And, you know,

Speaker 1 especially, you know, at the high level, like, this is, you know, it's their health, their lives, their livelihood, you know, and all the dedication in the world, you know, that it takes.

Speaker 1 So, you know, they're on a different journey that day than I am, you know, for sure.

Speaker 2 And are there fighters that will tell you, they'll come up to you before about and say, like, this is like, do not do this or do this.

Speaker 1 You'll get, you know, do not. And then I just let them talk talk.
And then I, you know, do my, you know, whatever my criteria is. I don't change it.
You can't. No, you can't.

Speaker 2 You don't change it. Is there one fighter that's like, do not for anything? Like, is there somebody that's just like, let me go to the end of the road every time? Like, somebody that stands out?

Speaker 2 Because it's kind of...

Speaker 1 No, like, there's been, like, not to name any, but a lot, a lot of times when they say, don't stop this, they usually end up stopping it. It's weird.
Or they'll like tap or something.

Speaker 1 They'll like, you know, be like, well, you know especially when they say you know oh i'm willing to die or whatever but some guys are just quiet and just you know that they're there to get the job done and you know and as far as you know it's like as i said a criteria you know

Speaker 1 let's say you you've watched a lot of fights like and when i'm reffing i'll say like you have to move and if they fit that criteria if they're defending and they can move you know

Speaker 1 it's a fight my main thing as I said, this, you know, they're putting their health on the line.

Speaker 1 My main thing is to

Speaker 1 have them fairly fight and, you know,

Speaker 1 health, like them leaving and being able to fight again or whatever they want to do again, right?

Speaker 1 You know, be a family person. Like there's a lot.
Like, besides me being a parent myself, it's the most important thing I'll ever do.

Speaker 1 It's very important. And, you know, on the outside, it's just a fight, but a lot can happen, you know.

Speaker 2 And so, um, you're kind of like a safeguard, yeah.

Speaker 1 And you know, and it's like you're in there. And as I said, emotions from everywhere, right? Fighters, corners,

Speaker 1 people who are there to watch the fight. From, you know, you get a different vibe from the people in the front row, from the people in the back row, right? So it's a very emotional.

Speaker 1 So, really, I try to keep my emotions aside and

Speaker 1 you know, just have the set thing of what I do each time. And, you know,

Speaker 1 everyone makes mistakes. You know, I don't, that doesn't make them acceptable either.
Like, you know, oh, everyone makes, and they do, and I do.

Speaker 1 But, you know, make a mistake, admit it, and learn from it and move on.

Speaker 2 Is there a fight that you've had to like, you were like, yeah, maybe that was a little early or that was, or I didn't read it correctly?

Speaker 1 I try not to read it totally into the early ones. I don't have many where I'm like, oh, that, that was late.
Like,

Speaker 1 I'm lucky

Speaker 1 that I don't really have one where I'm like, wow, that's not what I'm here to do.

Speaker 1 So that, that I'm lucky. But,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 to know, as you get more experience, you know. Like, you'll know when even like sometimes someone be like, I think that was a little early.

Speaker 1 And you'll know right in your head, it wasn't a little early. Like, because you're there right next to them.
So, you know, you hear all the sounds.

Speaker 1 That's a good point, actually.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you're right there. I mean, you're connected.
You're right there. You're the closest person to it.
You can feel a different energy than we can. Yes.

Speaker 1 And even cameras, I've done, you know, because I look at my work when I'm done with it and I've watched five different angles. And like, usually the only angle.

Speaker 1 like there's one angle that i'm like oh that's what i saw yeah and the other angles are kind of maybe a little bit and then there's one like closest to where my eyes are and they are where you're like oh that's what i saw you ever go back and uh

Speaker 2 like with your lady make love to if i had a watch one or something like that like that you know i'm saying watch a like watch your work type of thing like a thing you know people will like watch their oh like watch it you know just to say wow i did great yeah no i don't look at the ones i think i did good yeah

Speaker 2 yeah what uh tell me a little bit about your life outside of work i know you're in a band i remember you telling me about it one time.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 I was in two bands.

Speaker 1 My first band, we started in 1998.

Speaker 1 And then my other one, we've been around a pretty long time, too.

Speaker 1 What's that band called? The first one was called GFY.

Speaker 1 And the second one's Loser Sometimes Win.

Speaker 1 And then like New York hardcore bands. Hardcore.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 Nice. And what do you kind of model them? What is GFY for?

Speaker 1 Go fuck yourself. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I was younger than.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, that shit was fun, huh?

Speaker 2 Dude, where did you guys play? How did you guys get started?

Speaker 1 Long Island guys.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 we

Speaker 1 met, you know, like a music scene. Yeah.
And

Speaker 1 we met.

Speaker 1 I was like, oh, we'll start something. And then we just started it.

Speaker 2 And were you singing? Were you playing an instrument?

Speaker 1 I sing. You did?

Speaker 2 So that voice, as part of it, was that one of the reasons you even got into singing? Just because your voice was kind of different?

Speaker 1 it just happens to be that my voice kind of fit the hardcore thing, but I liked hardcore way before that. But

Speaker 1 kind of like

Speaker 1 started listening to hardcore punk rock music when I was really young. But yeah, I was just into that, I got into heavy metal and like Black Sabbath and all that.

Speaker 1 And then when I started hitting my early teens, I wanted to find something that kind of like fit more of where I was and more like a working man, like street music and stuff.

Speaker 1 So that's, I found hardcore and just fell in in love with it from then. And, you know, I'm still, still, that's what I listen to.

Speaker 1 I listen to every, you know, not everything, actually. I don't like people who say they listen to everything, but I listen to a lot of types of music.

Speaker 2 Let's, let's take a gander at some of it. Let's take an ear gander here at a little bit of it.
Play that second one, actually. I like till I die.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 yeah.

Speaker 2 Did you come in on this?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think right after the intro.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's me.

Speaker 1 There's two singers in this band.

Speaker 1 Yeah, bro. I like it.

Speaker 2 That vibe is a pure vibe, dude. That was like, that's like one type of culture, that whole energy.

Speaker 1 And it's like silly, too. Like the

Speaker 1 intro of that is the death march right and

Speaker 1 it was like halloween and i pressed this thing and that's what it was like

Speaker 1 so i went to my guys i'm like yo play the death march yeah and there you go what are the ladies like that would come to the that come to those shows like that's how i met my wife really yeah yeah oh it's pretty good yeah yeah yeah yeah that's it so from

Speaker 1 right before the band started or whatever i met her and then where did you meet her at like take me through that at the band Hate Breed. At a Hate Breed show.
Hate Breed?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Bring them up. They're famous.

Speaker 2 And are they out of New York?

Speaker 1 No, Connecticut. They're famous now.

Speaker 1 They play

Speaker 1 huge shows.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think I've heard their name before.

Speaker 2 And so were you guys just, like, were you at the concession stand or were you just like kind of like just in the

Speaker 1 concession stand, but

Speaker 2 it's just tongue piercings and vodka at it?

Speaker 2 Yeah, where'd you meet her at?

Speaker 1 At the show and

Speaker 1 just, you know, whatever, the dancing, what did you call it, the mosh pit? Yeah. And yeah, and we just met and that was that.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Dude, those pits are fun. Kind of, if you can coordinate the pits, do you ever do that when you're on stage? Where you like, all right, everybody to this side and this side, and then you make a merge.

Speaker 2 Like, I was at a Suicide Boys show not long ago.

Speaker 1 There's probably a lot more people at that show than my shows.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 But they'll do this thing where it's like this kind of controlled thing. But Mosh Pits used to be pretty sick.

Speaker 1 The wall of death. Yeah.

Speaker 1 yeah yeah

Speaker 1 when there's a big crowd those are cool looking yeah it's just dope dude yeah

Speaker 1 hunker man that does that really good with sus is sick of it all they do a good wall of death sick of it all yeah

Speaker 2 yeah i'm not familiar with them i think i'm not familiar with as much of that genre of music when i was growing up like we had like a brother's friend like like my brother's friends they had a band that was like that and so like being the younger brother we'd go lit you know just try to get involved and stuff um but there was always this kind of like like uh

Speaker 1 i think in our area it was kind of fringe a little bit just because they wouldn't have as many people that listen to that type of music yeah in new york it's you know even though it has its ups and downs but like at one point you had like cbgb's was like the home you know and and stuff like that and you had lots of clubs and

Speaker 1 so it's would you go there when you were growing up cbgb yeah that's where i went mostly and then and then i ended up playing there in both bands a few times yeah bring it up CBGB.

Speaker 2 CBGB was a legendary New York City music club in the Bowery district founded by Hilly Cristal.

Speaker 2 In 1973, that became a crucial incubator for the American punk and new wave rock movements.

Speaker 2 Though it was initially intended for country bluegrass and blues music, which the CBGB, oh, I didn't even realize that, name stands for country blueback. Country bluegrass blues.

Speaker 2 The unglamorous gritty venue hosted influential bands like the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Patty Smith group before closing in 2006.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 2 So do you remember who'd you go see there?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Like New York bands like Sick of It All, Gnostic Front.

Speaker 1 Pretty much, like, once you kind of get into that, then it's all friends bands. They get to play, they play there.
You go, like, we played there a few times.

Speaker 1 It was like Sundays, you know, you'd go to, that's where you go, take the train and go to to a show. And then there's, at the time, it was like a bunch of clubs and, you know, great clubs there.
And,

Speaker 1 you know, being young, you just go, you know, at one point, you can go three or four shows a week. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, and uh, so that became like main focus for a pretty long time.

Speaker 2 Did you have like a routine before you got on stage with your band? Did you have any

Speaker 1 yeah

Speaker 1 You know like uh, I would just stand, like, we sell them shirts, so stand behind the distro and kind of get ready and just get on and go. Um, it's not much, you know, not much.

Speaker 1 Like,

Speaker 1 I don't even, you know, I think it's good, but like, anyone could do it. Well, what I was doing, just get on and if you love it, you just start screaming, I guess.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but yeah, I like the raw energy of it all is really what I still love. And I don't get to go to shows as much anymore, but my son's really involved.
My son's in three bands, right? Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 So he's really involved in that.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I still love the whole culture.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it almost seems like there's some correlation there between the intensity, right? Of that and

Speaker 1 MMA. Yeah, there is.
Definitely.

Speaker 2 Definitely. Yeah, it's like it's almost like when the pedal is pressed all the way down in a car and you're going at that.
Yeah. Like there's that.

Speaker 1 I was actually really surprised when I started referencing you know um events that were on tv that how many guys the hardcore scene were into mma and

Speaker 1 and you know knew like you know the events and and stuff a lot there is a connection you know with uh jiu-jitsu and and hardcore teams a lot of guys roll but uh but with you know with the ufc with all that stuff like you know oh they knew everything about it i was pretty surprised but it makes sense yeah it does

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Speaker 2 Where'd you take your wife on Yalikal's first date? Do you remember?

Speaker 1 I think we went to the diner. Yeah.
Something like that. Yeah.
Cheese fries or something.

Speaker 2 That's what I'm talking about. I don't think it's about some of those fancy dates.
I'm about to cheese fry a woman and see what happens.

Speaker 1 I need a white. With the brown gravy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the ticket.

Speaker 2 Was she in a band or was she?

Speaker 1 She wasn't in a band. Just, you know, like,

Speaker 1 she liked ska music. Oh, yeah.
And back then, like Long Island, they would have, you know, bands would play, hardcore bands and ska bands would play on the same bill.

Speaker 1 And then she just ended up being a big fan of hardcore music, too.

Speaker 2 What differentiates ska?

Speaker 1 Ska has got

Speaker 1 the definition, but

Speaker 1 it's got a lot saxophones and stuff and the horn section.

Speaker 1 Usually.

Speaker 2 I never really thought about that. I've always wondered.
Ska music is a lively genre originated in Jamaica in the 1950s, blending elements of Caribbean, calypso, American jazz, and rhythm and blues.

Speaker 2 A walking bass line with strong accents on the offbeat played by guitar piano known as the skank. Fast tempos and energetic melodies.

Speaker 1 Let me see.

Speaker 2 In Jamaica, ska was popular among working-class rude boys. Rude boy? While in the UK, skinheads adopted the genre during the two-tone era as a form of working-class solidarity.

Speaker 1 Ah, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 How long have you guys been married now? Is it your...

Speaker 1 23 years.

Speaker 2 What's been the key to a long marriage, do you feel like? Like, how's that been? How's that road been?

Speaker 1 Oh, awesome. The whole, that part is amazing.

Speaker 1 Marriage, kids, I love it. That's

Speaker 1 my number one thing. And it's been good.

Speaker 1 I would

Speaker 1 lie say easy, but good, good, real good.

Speaker 2 You think you chose a good partner?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. No, definitely.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 What makes her pretty great, do you feel like?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 I guess a smart answer would be everything.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 But she's Italian?

Speaker 1 She's Algentinian and Italian.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, boy. Keep you on your toes.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. She definitely is.
And yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, as far as like us parenting together and stuff like that, it's just perfectly like very good. Works out really good.

Speaker 1 You know, like

Speaker 1 certain things I'm good at help her. Certain things she's good at helps me.
Mostly what she's good at helps me.

Speaker 1 She keeps it definitely going.

Speaker 2 She's the the one that keeps it going, yeah.

Speaker 1 By a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 For sure, man.

Speaker 2 What was it like when you guys decided to have kids? Was that like a scary choice or was it something you guys were just both excited about? Was it scary for you kind of to become a dad?

Speaker 2 Like, what was your relationship with your dad like?

Speaker 1 Mine was good. Both of my parents, good.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 yeah,

Speaker 1 I don't think I was nervous. I do know, like, when our first son was born, I kind of looked and it was like, real deal now, right? You're like holding him.

Speaker 1 You're like, all right, like, this guy depends on me for everything,

Speaker 1 like everything, you know? So you're like, all right, I got to get it together. I got to make sure, you know, and I had it together, but I got to make sure that I do this right, you know?

Speaker 1 And, you know, obviously, it's just like we said before, you make mistakes with things. But like, my goal is to, you know, raise, I have three kids and, you know, raise them to be.

Speaker 1 good people without having to try if that makes any sense you know how like guys like us be like oh we're trying to do the right thing i want my kids to just be able to do the right thing without having to try which probably impossible but if you shoot for that goal you know

Speaker 2 it's good and it's a good thing yeah so yeah i i don't i don't have any experience parenting but i think it's something that i start to look forward to more and more and i do think it's something that like kind of gets you into a new phase of life, right?

Speaker 1 Like, oh, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 I feel like I've been in this same phase of life sometimes for a while, kind of like, but I don't have another phase yet. You know, it's like I don't have a wife or family yet, you know?

Speaker 2 Sometimes people will be like, dude, you got to grow up. And I'm like, to what do what, like, what? What do you want me to just go sit in a like rock and chair something?

Speaker 2 Like, what do you want me to do?

Speaker 1 You know, definitely not.

Speaker 2 I want to enjoy my life.

Speaker 1 Even with my kids, it's been different. Like, my 23-year-old is like really into the hardcore scene because when he was born, I was still very into that.

Speaker 1 Still played shows, still, you know, did, you know, went to shows my friends would come over that's all we would play in the backyard for barbecues so like he's really into that and then you know my daughter it's wrestling wrestling wrestling oh she loves it yeah and because by the time you know she was getting older she's 19 and she was getting older that's what my older guy was doing we were into the wrestling thing so and then that you know my 14 year old just wrestling wrestling and skateboarding he's into skateboarding so you know it's pretty good but um oh there's your children right there yeah that's that's them.

Speaker 2 Let's go, Keith.

Speaker 1 That's awesome. That's my son with the rancid shirt on.
And that's his girlfriend. That's my youngest one.
And my daughter's at the end.

Speaker 2 Dude, congratulations, bro. That's so cool, man.

Speaker 1 That's cool.

Speaker 2 That's so cool. Yeah.
Yeah, there's something just special about that, about seeing a man and his family, you know.

Speaker 2 You look like you've lost weight since then, huh?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I've lost a good amount of weight. Have you?

Speaker 2 Are you taking the peptides?

Speaker 1 No, I just stopped eating horribly and uh i'm running every day and just you know like i wasn't eating well i i don't think so uh what were you eating everything

Speaker 1 so

Speaker 1 everything so you have one snack like at night what was that snack that got you at night like what three gallons of ice cream or something like i was eating a lot really like i guess it was gradual so people didn't realize but i'm not the biggest guy in the world and i weigh like 186 pounds it's a lot, and uh, so I slowly, you know, even though since I've been losing the weight, uh, people, oh, he's sick, or he lost too much weight, or whatever.

Speaker 1 But you can never make it people happy. You're fat, you're skinny, you know, you're short, which I can't make myself taller, so I don't understand that comment.
Yeah, get taller, you fat, or whatever.

Speaker 1 You're like,

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's like, What do you mean?

Speaker 2 Then even here, I'm closer to the fight.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you have a big head, all right.

Speaker 1 And I didn't choose to have a big head, so yeah, let me get this nail file.

Speaker 1 So like things, but I feel good. I love that I've lost the weight.

Speaker 1 You know, I'm trying to put some muscle on.

Speaker 2 Did you have a health scare or anything like that?

Speaker 1 No, I wanted to be healthy.

Speaker 1 You know, a few things were going and not so much with me, but around me. And I was like, you know, I want to make sure I'm healthier.

Speaker 2 What do you mean, like a few things were going?

Speaker 1 Like a few people passed away.

Speaker 2 Oh, you saw people having the effects of not being healthy. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And just, you know, even, you know, some of them healthy, but just, I guess, not lucky. So I'm like, got to give yourself the best chance, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah. Sometimes you got to meet God halfway, you know.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And it's never going to be perfect, but, you know, like I saw this barbecue place.
I don't know where I am.

Speaker 1 I'm eating some fried alligator later for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 For sure. Hell yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, they got some good stuff around here, man. The food scene's been getting better here in Nashville as the city's been growing, too.

Speaker 1 What about like, uh did you ever did you struggle over the years with any addiction stuff or you did you drink no i well i i drank but i i wasn't necessarily like struggle with addiction i can't remember if you told me that one time i don't i don't drink anymore really um but uh i never never really even tried drugs it was never kind of a i i wrestled all the way through oh that'll keep you clean and and you know so um I wasn't the greatest ever, but I was really into it.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, kind of kept me whatever. i was i was wild enough without drugs but you're a drug yeah yeah yeah

Speaker 1 something already in there you know what i mean

Speaker 1 yeah you already got a half a gram of something yeah stuck in the bat yeah never was never attracted wow

Speaker 2 that's wild because i think people would look at you and probably think something like that yeah probably i would guess and people i mean me too yeah

Speaker 1 in the music scene that i'm in a lot of guys just you know

Speaker 1 uh probably you would think oh that guy's on drugs, but they're just on whatever. That's

Speaker 1 who they are. So,

Speaker 1 but I guess that, you know, even these days, the tattoos and stuff, you would think, oh, that guy's, but no.

Speaker 2 Are you fully tattooed? What do you?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I have sleeves, you know, sleeves, and my back's almost done and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 Wow. I have whatever, for some reason, I got my hands in my neck like real fast.
I was young, though, like 22.

Speaker 2 Oh, okay. So these have been there for a while.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 I like, I don't dislike them or anything.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 No, it's cool. It's definitely an energy.
I mean, you seem like, you know, like, yeah, you're like, you're, you're the no-nonsense guy.

Speaker 2 So it's like, you know, you've, I think you kind of look a little bit like there's not a lot of nonsense allowed here.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I guess.

Speaker 2 You know, so it's kind of wild that you almost grew into that. Yeah.
You know what I'm saying? You kind of met, you kind of lived your life and then met that name right at the end.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's kind of, yeah. That's just like, you know, I kind of mind my own business.
I always have, you know, I'm always, you know, and it's just like,

Speaker 1 you know, I treat people the way that I want to be treated, which most of the time is left alone. Right.

Speaker 1 I'm nice to, you know, I'm nice to kids, old people, and animals.

Speaker 1 Keep moving on.

Speaker 2 Yeah, what else can you ask out of a citizen?

Speaker 1 That's it, right?

Speaker 1 That's fair, dude. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I think that's fair. Yeah, I'd love to see you working at a petting zoo or something like that, dude, being like the operator or something.

Speaker 2 I could have seen you working at like whenever like the carnival would come to town town when I was a kid.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I would definitely probably be a good carnie, right? Yeah, dude.

Speaker 2 But only on the like the ride, it was the Gravatron where they had the dude in the middle.

Speaker 1 So, I love it. I love the music.
Yes, I love that ride. So, I had

Speaker 1 something right. They would spin that head.
I didn't know some Gravatron story. It was a, it was actually, I know the date.
It was April 19th, 1985. This place

Speaker 1 local near me, uh, it's called um

Speaker 1 Adventure Land, and they had Gravitron. And the Van Hallen album 5150 just came out and they played that song Why Can't This Be Love like a hundred times.

Speaker 1 Me and my brother went on it like 80 times in a row and we just kept going. And then like I would find

Speaker 1 I was um yeah, it was a it was my ninth birthday, I think. And um

Speaker 1 it was for my birthday. That's why I remember the date.
And uh the uh

Speaker 1 like you'd go and then have the rules right of every single thing and like every single one, I'd break one of them. My brother would be, stop, stop, stop.

Speaker 1 Like kick off my shoe and it'd come back at you, you know? Yeah. I remember that.
That's crazy. The Gravitron was like my favorite.
Fuck yeah, dude.

Speaker 2 And that was like where, because that's, dude, at that time period, like.

Speaker 2 When we would go, yeah, I was like 11, 12 or something like that. And you get in there and the dude who ran it would be like this kind of like rock.

Speaker 1 He'd be like a guy that shouldn't be running. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Like, dude, somebody who dropped this guy into here.

Speaker 1 Somebody hired him.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And it almost looked like this thing came from like outer space.

Speaker 1 And you get in. And they built it around him.

Speaker 2 Yes. And the ramp would close up and it would be this dude who kind of looked like slash from Guns N' Roses.

Speaker 2 And then, and it would, you'd slide up against that wall and you couldn't even like, you could barely even move.

Speaker 2 But every now and then you could like get your arm out and like just put it on your face.

Speaker 1 The more you went on it, the more your body got like used to it. You'd hear it go upside down and it's, you know, and stuff like that.
Oh, damn.

Speaker 2 I didn't know people got used to it.

Speaker 1 Sideways. oh

Speaker 1 look at yeah yeah like standing there yeah that's pretty brave there see i'm the other one see the one where the guy's facing the yeah facing the wall

Speaker 2 yeah the dude who would try to turn over and he just didn't have enough energy to get back over that would be me just humping the edge of the gravitron body's like split dude that was cool though There was just something.

Speaker 1 Oh, that guy looks like a normal guy there. Amazing.
The guy running it there.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that guy's an op, dude. That guy's not real dude that guy's a narc probably

Speaker 1 but but dude that was so the whole idea of they're not spinning and you're spinning always like got me like i would always like ask for explanation like he looks like he's spinning too yeah he's not

Speaker 2 dude did you have who influenced that music in you when you were a kid because i remember like my brother would listen to like uh dio lock up the wolves yeah he would listen to some like like skinny puppy maybe i think was a band as well

Speaker 2 like nothing too crazy but like kind of a little bit of mainstream edge yeah skinny puppies yeah um good uh

Speaker 1 the

Speaker 1 you know the metal stuff like i kind of like just grab it you know like sore it and i was like i thought the guys would like the cut off sleeves and the long hair even though i've never had long hair i was like i ever

Speaker 2 damn some in the front like uh in the mid 90s i had like that skater haired thing but somebody make us a couple of uh put together a few memes of um somebody out there who knows how to do it uh

Speaker 1 of

Speaker 2 No Nonsense with some long hair. Just so we have them for the future.

Speaker 2 We'll throw a couple of them in.

Speaker 2 Or we'll put this clip online and put a couple of them in. I'd love to just see that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, dude, I can't believe you didn't even try it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no. And then just that whole, whatever.
And then, like, my brother, as he was going, he started listening to

Speaker 1 like the different metal, but like Van Halen and, you know, stuff like that. So we kind of got Martley Crew.

Speaker 1 like my uh my first ever concert was poison i went with my brother he was a few years older so i went and then my second one was motley crew

Speaker 1 dude that's so sick bro on the dr feelgood tour he's oh my god

Speaker 1 yeah we've had tiny lee on here awesome yeah that's crazy that's crazy dude so that that tour he played like up on the ceiling and he just like did like even i think it was like ec dz like hover songs and just like went across the ceiling it's pretty cool And your brother took you to that?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 So you guys were pretty close.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we were. Yeah, yeah.
Nice.

Speaker 2 Does he play music?

Speaker 1 Nah, he actually passed away like a year and a half ago. Oh, man.
So, yeah. Young at like 50.
Oh. So, yeah.
But

Speaker 2 what was he? Was he suffering from something? No.

Speaker 1 He had

Speaker 1 tumors, but

Speaker 1 he didn't know or didn't.

Speaker 1 take care of I'm not sure which one but um he uh so he went to the hospital on a Tuesday he died on a Friday So it was real fast real fast So did you get to see him in between

Speaker 1 you were

Speaker 1 oh man, yeah, so yeah, what was that like? Uh, I mean, I hate to ask good Yeah, sorry, so no, it's

Speaker 2 it's not the most thoughtful question.

Speaker 1 No, I'm sorry that happened man. Yeah, but uh so

Speaker 2 I bet he was super proud of you, huh?

Speaker 1 Yeah, so how yeah So how things work is like this stuff's gonna happen to all of us, unfortunately. Yeah.
Bad stuff right

Speaker 1 so

Speaker 1 the way i feel is how you're gonna handle those moments so i believe at that moment and it was handled as perfect as it possibly could um

Speaker 1 what makes you say that well you know in a room of people

Speaker 1 uh the room was full of people he loved and they loved him you know he uh he wasn't married he didn't have kids so my kids were like his kids

Speaker 1 and uh so they're surrounded you know surrounded by by his parents and just as good as that could happen. You know what I mean? And so,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 I don't know. Like, my brother was the nervous guy.
He didn't seem nervous at that point. So I don't know.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 That's, yeah,

Speaker 1 much is weird.

Speaker 1 That's kind of interesting. I'll probably be crying like a baby.
But yeah, he had to look.

Speaker 1 you know the world is kind of nerve-wracking you know it is think about it yeah so that's how like he was always nervous and I never was nervous about anything when we were kids.

Speaker 1 Even crossing the street, I'd run and he'd be screaming. Yeah, yeah.
So we were really, really, really close. It was like me and him.
My, my, um, my mom worked most of the time, two jobs and stuff.

Speaker 1 So it was me and him, and, and uh, we were total opposite.

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 like even growing up, like I got into like the metal music first. He would listen to like Cultural Club and like Tears for Fears, just different.
Then he got into the rock and roll stuff.

Speaker 1 and um, but um, you know, he, he, he was a comedian. He was uh in school, he was in the drama club and stuff, and I was in sports, so we were totally different, but like the same, I guess.

Speaker 2 Did you kind of feel like his protector sometimes in some ways?

Speaker 1 Uh, well, he was older than me, but yeah, I was definitely, and and you know, uh, sometimes you got that gritty brother who's the fucking, you know, no, I was definitely that, yeah.

Speaker 1 But, um,

Speaker 1 it was weird how we balanced it. Like, he, as I said, he was nervous and had major anxiety, but like

Speaker 1 we were so different. It just, but it fit like

Speaker 1 perfect. Like, like our relationship was like good.
Like really good. Yeah.
Yeah. What was his name? Rob.
Rob. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Nice, man. Rob Peterson? Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 2 hello, Rob. Nice to meet you through your brother.

Speaker 2 And hope you guys are having a good time out there, wherever you are.

Speaker 1 Whatever you're doing. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 Did he get to come see you, referee?

Speaker 1 He never saw me, referee.

Speaker 1 Actually, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So, but I guess a lot of times you don't go watch somebody work.

Speaker 1 Yeah. But he came to see me fight.
I actually have a pretty funny.

Speaker 1 So I was fighting for a title, amateur title in Atlantic City.

Speaker 2 And him and his band. Was this one of your biggest fights?

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was like my, I think it was my first amateur title fight. So it was a big deal.
And it was actually, no, I was actually

Speaker 1 defending it. I took a fight on short notice.

Speaker 1 I bumped up a weight and I lost. So now I was fighting the same kid, but at our weight for the title.
He was going to take my title, whatever. So

Speaker 1 my brother and his buddies come, and I guess they're doing their thing pretty early. And they're going, you know,

Speaker 1 Atlantic City and having fun. And then I come, and as I say, he's a really nervous guy.
And

Speaker 1 he's standing in like the out of the hall, but the cage is right there. And he's like staring at the cage.
And he looks like he's sweating.

Speaker 1 And I said to him, I'm like, yo, what's up, Robbie? And I'm right behind him. And he's like, oh, my God, you know, fighting.
And, you know, you're getting older. You have kids and whatever.

Speaker 1 And the ring girls walk by. And I go, hey, Robbie, you see the ring girls? He goes, he goes, I'm not that nervous.
Of course, I've seen the ring girls. It was pretty funny.
So I go on buying.

Speaker 1 It it was pretty funny and then i i won the fight we went out it was a really good uh great night too oh i i remember it being really really awesome so you had an amateur belt uh a few yeah a few i i um i won that one did you have a nickname when you were a fighter then shortly the the spartan

Speaker 1 yeah so like we were watching 300 or something and someone said something like because he he you know he was just fighting hanging out with his wife and and playing with his kids and they're like oh that's kind of like you i was like oh go with that, Spartan.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I saw where you fought one guy three times.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Jose Villanueva. Yeah.
What was that? Was that? Because that was like a trilogy, I guess.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 What did that feel like? Was that part of that same thing?

Speaker 1 Yeah, that was part of it. Oh, it was.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 So you guys were 1-1?

Speaker 1 He ended up winning

Speaker 1 two. He ended up winning two.

Speaker 1 We went back up.

Speaker 1 And he won two.

Speaker 2 Did you feel like you could go back up? You're like, I got him here. I can go back up there and get him.
Or what was that like?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 I i can't remember i i'm trying to think like i think back then did you have something against the guy oh no but i think back then you know it was still kind of the amateur seam is just kind of growing and with mma and yeah and he he was good and and and i was good and it was competitive so we went you know probably you know i was trying to fight some other guys in between so i was kickboxing and fighting more tie fights too but uh no nothing nothing against them i actually refed him a bunch of times after.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's pretty cool, man.

Speaker 2 Oh, this is part of that bout?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think this is the one. So, this is the one I bumped up and I fought on Three Days Notice.

Speaker 1 I lose this one, yeah.

Speaker 2 Keith, that's dope, bro.

Speaker 1 You're in there. It's weird that the ones I went on on here, but and that's the guy, Donny Carli.
That's him. That's the referee.
Yeah, that's the guy who got me into refing.

Speaker 2 Wow, that's cool.

Speaker 1 My first, yeah, my first.

Speaker 2 That's good defense right there, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I know how to wrestle a little bit, but my first, I think he does take me down, but I pop up and basically what happens is, oh, look at that, bro.

Speaker 2 Go back. Let's see a little bit of that freaking.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You were loving that shit, huh? What happens is I miss a back fist, but I think if I hit it, he'd probably still be asleep, but I miss it and kind of get slammed on my head and move on from there.

Speaker 1 He submits me. That's cool, man.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Those fights were good. They were fun.
And he was a good guy. And as I said, I reffed him after,

Speaker 1 even in his pro career.

Speaker 2 That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, it's cool that you reffed him after and that the referee is the guy that got you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 There's a lot of connections.

Speaker 2 It's so amazing, man, about life if you're able to stay kind of, as you're saying, healthy enough, right?

Speaker 2 If you're able to take care of yourself mentally enough to stay, you don't even have to stay in the center lane. You can veer off a little bit.

Speaker 2 But if you're able to stay, so many of the pieces of our past kind of really connect and

Speaker 1 make the future make sense for sure that definitely i have had in the last couple of years i've had so many moments like that it's it's crazy yeah yeah yeah so anyone that stands out uh well so my first uh couple of years in in high school i didn't do so well and i ended up doing pretty well uh like what do you mean didn't do so well like in school in school yeah so did you not like it um

Speaker 1 Yeah, I guess.

Speaker 1 In like ninth grade, I didn't really do very well.

Speaker 2 People were like, were like, were you like like fighting with other kids?

Speaker 1 Not so much.

Speaker 1 You know, back then kids fought more often than they do now for sure. But I just didn't, you know, I guess the whole punk rock feel, like not listening to authority.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, something like that. But so I didn't do so well.
And I went to East Medal High School, didn't do so well there. And then,

Speaker 1 you know, I ended up going to a few different high schools. We moved a bunch of times.
And so it didn't end well. And then...

Speaker 1 Did you graduate? No, I graduated. Oh, yeah, I graduated high school.
I went to college for a year, and then I started. I'm a diesel mechanic for what town I live in.
I've been there 28 years.

Speaker 1 Are you still a diesel mechanic? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 Are you in the union? Yeah. Oh, wow.
What union are you in?

Speaker 1 Now we're USP. We change a lot.
But when I first started there, we were Teamsters. That was pretty cool.
I thought the idea of being a Teamster was cool.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we channeled Brian in. He worked with the Teamsters.
He was Teamster's president. I'm not sure if he still is.

Speaker 2 But so we've learned a little bit about unions over the years. I didn't know anything about him until we had him in, you know?

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's the whole union job is awesome.

Speaker 1 I'm able to do what I do and stuff that I want to do and branch out.

Speaker 2 Wow. So you've been a diesel mechanic this whole time.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 How'd you get into that?

Speaker 1 I decided college wasn't for me. My dad's like, well, working is get a good job.
So

Speaker 1 got a job like back then when you left college, you were off your parents' benefits right after that. It wasn't like now where it's to 26.

Speaker 1 So I needed a job. I was roofing and I think I broke a rib or something and I, you know, my dad was like, you need a job with insurance.
And if you get hurt, you know, you get paid. And so

Speaker 1 I found this town job and I started a highway for a little while, like nine months. And then I got into the mechanic shop and that was that.

Speaker 2 You started working on the highway?

Speaker 1 Yeah. So like, you know, mowing the lawns and stuff on the highway.
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 You ever find anything cool out there? No. Damn.

Speaker 1 Garbage that you have to pick up. That's it.

Speaker 2 I always want to find a body out there.

Speaker 1 So like a dead body. Milong Island has a bunch of them on the highways, but yeah.

Speaker 2 Or semi-living. I'll find, you know, I'm saying I hope they're alive, but yeah.

Speaker 1 I could totally be fine with not finding a dead body. Yeah.
Definitely. I'm good.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Tomato, tomato, a body part or something, maybe.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Foot.

Speaker 2 Just a thumbs up. Thumbs up.

Speaker 1 That'd be kind of cool.

Speaker 2 It sounds like you're finding an emoji.

Speaker 1 Just like that. That'd be cool.

Speaker 2 Sean O'Brien is still the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as of October 2025. um

Speaker 1 did you uh did you have a mentor that taught you how to be a diesel mechanic or how to do it no kind of like on the job learning i did have you know there were older guys i had that were really good and uh kind of like if you know if i you know if i can't fix it i could break it even more you know just keep going and then from there you know and did you teach your kids any of those kind of skills or yeah a little bit you know what like the normal skills like you know like i actually you know there's kids that don't know how to change a flat tire these days.

Speaker 1 I've had a few that my kids know how to change flat tires, and my daughter knows how to change flat tire, yeah, you know, stuff like that.

Speaker 1 And my younger guy is the one that seems to be the one that's going to be working with his hands. My older guy's a chef, but uh, so he works with his hands just differently.

Speaker 1 Um, but I hope his hands aren't dirty when he's working. But uh,

Speaker 1 yeah, my younger guy seems to be, you know, maybe do some uh mechanic program moving forward.

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Speaker 2 o

Speaker 2 so take us on the journey of how you get into working with the ufc

Speaker 1 um so i started raffing and um

Speaker 1 so each one you know his commissions

Speaker 1 And I started reffing first in New Jersey. And then Pennsylvania got sanctioned.
And it's a really big state. So I got a lot of work there.
And I was working,

Speaker 1 putting in a lot of time there. And I think a few months into being sanctioned, they had a show,

Speaker 1 UFC 101, in Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 And you went to the fight?

Speaker 1 And no, I worked. I refed that one.
That's my first one was 101.

Speaker 2 Bring that up. Bring that card up.

Speaker 1 I ref the first two fights. Wow.

Speaker 2 What was that like that first day? I mean, did you have your own like kind of green room? Was it a little bit different? What was that like?

Speaker 1 Just normal.

Speaker 2 But you had to be so excited.

Speaker 1 But how did you get in? I was actually so excited. I didn't even know how to get in.
So

Speaker 1 I've never gone to

Speaker 1 a venue without a ticket. Right.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 I didn't ask them. I didn't ask what I needed.
And I got there and realized how do I get in? So

Speaker 1 now I know you have to have your credential, obviously. So, you know, and I ended up getting it, but now I know how that works.

Speaker 2 But you just try to come into the ticket way.

Speaker 1 No, I just got there and I was in the parking lot and was like, how am I getting in? I don't have a ticket. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, yeah. So that was, you know, 2009.
So.

Speaker 2 Who were the other referees? Do you remember on the card?

Speaker 2 Maybe the same guys as now?

Speaker 1 There's some, I think, some, but still now.

Speaker 2 Maybe Mark Goddard.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yes.
Actually, I believe that was Mark Goddard's first time reffing in the States, I believe. Or UFC in the States or something like that.
Wow. So, yes, he was on that card.

Speaker 2 BJ Penn. Wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 1 Dude.

Speaker 2 That's Forrest Griffin.

Speaker 1 Yep. It was Anderson Silver versus Forrest Griffin.
So it was a while now, I guess, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Was there a fighter that you reffed for early before he got to the UFC that you saw like in amateurs and stuff?

Speaker 1 Yeah, a bunch of them, like Paul Felder.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Paul's the best.

Speaker 1 Yeah. He's fearless.
He's awesome.

Speaker 2 Could you tell them when you were seeing Paul then?

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's different level. Alo Quinta,

Speaker 1 different level, tough.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 there's been a good amount over the years that you see in the local stuff and you ref and then

Speaker 1 you ref for them in the UFC.

Speaker 2 which is pretty cool. That's pretty cool

Speaker 1 for them and for me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 Like for them that they're there. Not that I'm there.

Speaker 1 I don't think they really care about that. But yeah, for me, it's like, wow.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm a part of something. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Like we're all on this journey. We're all on the same journey in a way.

Speaker 1 Yeah. As I said, you know, it's like, besides, you know, my family stuff, it's the most important thing that I'm going to end up doing.

Speaker 1 You know, and to see, you know, you think about it, you ref them in the, you know, the local scene and they're healthy enough to get there, right?

Speaker 1 And, you know, you think, you know, you have something to do with that.

Speaker 2 You know, that's a good point. You know, so.

Speaker 2 Was there ever a fighter that you remember that stood out that something happened in amateurs and they didn't make it like someone that really stood out over the years?

Speaker 1 Well, there's a lot of ones that you would say, oh, this guy is going to be, and they don't, you know, it's a tough sport, right?

Speaker 1 So, and anyone that comes to mind that kind of like that you not particularly nameless, but uh, there, there's been guys where you go, oh, wow, you know, sky's the limit.

Speaker 1 and then they just, you know, for whatever injury, or it's hard, you know, like we were saying, you talk about having kids and stuff.

Speaker 1 I think, you know, once you start having kids and stuff, the guys that have these families and they train like that,

Speaker 1 you know how much dedication that takes and sacrifice, like a lot. And women, you know, who do the same, like the men and women who do that, it takes a lot,

Speaker 1 a lot

Speaker 1 to do. So, you know, at that level, yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, when you see a guy going away like

Speaker 2 to a camp for six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks to get ready. And a lot of times they're going to be away from their family.

Speaker 2 Maybe their family will come and visit on the weekends and stuff because, you know,

Speaker 2 there's only a few places in America where it's like kind of premier training.

Speaker 2 And then you could go into the bout and lose in the first round. Or, you know, it's like it could end in 30 seconds.

Speaker 1 Yeah. That's like training for the Olympics, you know, taking last, right? You cannot train at at all, take last.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Training for what, your whole life, you know, so that's what makes it, you know, cool in a way, too.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's the, that's why, like, when I go to the fights and, you know, I like to go early. I just, because I'm like, this is like,

Speaker 2 this is their life, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I noticed that.

Speaker 2 You're getting to witness a piece of somebody's life. Like, they, they, they mean this.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 90, if they're at that, that level, they mean this so much

Speaker 2 that to even be in the presence of something like that, I think gives me energy. It's like I'm showing up to watch an eclipse almost, something so rare, you know.

Speaker 2 Are there fighters when they come in the ring? Like, you know, Alex Pereira has that energy.

Speaker 2 When you're in there, when he comes in, like when I'm in there as a fan, and he, there is a unique energy, like that pentameter of the.

Speaker 1 I would say, yeah, there's definitely fighters with energy that you feel the energy. Are there some?

Speaker 2 Like, what are some that you would even name? Like, are there some that?

Speaker 2 Yeah, Poirier, people are excited.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the people energy, his own energy yeah you just can feel it um that's interesting and uh like a clay gleader always win or lose the energy is just so good yeah you see him you just get excited yeah yeah yeah that's the energy and it's coming off of him you can feel it and that he wants to be there you know like wow you know but um

Speaker 1 yeah there's a lot of fighters that you just get that really that energy from and then when you get it from both at the same time that's where you really it's firing off right yeah

Speaker 2 is it is it tougher to referee some of the

Speaker 2 The bigger fighters what is it because of their body shape like when they're like is there is there a weight class that's a little bit tougher or different that you have to adjust How you do or where you place yourself?

Speaker 1 I don't know about tougher or different like the smaller guys are faster the bigger guys are stronger, right?

Speaker 1 I just right

Speaker 1 physics, I guess. Um, so you just you know, make sure you're fast enough for the faster guys and you're in the right position for the bigger guys.

Speaker 1 I don't like have a preference.

Speaker 1 I can ref whatever.

Speaker 1 You want to be in the right position and, you know, they'll listen to your commands. And, you know, because people do ask, like, oh, how would you stop them? And same way you'd stop, you know.

Speaker 1 small or small guy or you know so and they always all honor the referee for the most part for the most part yeah you know because that's part of the code of yeah you give respect you get respect right So, you know.

Speaker 2 Yeah, the level of respect that's in that ring is pretty amazing too.

Speaker 1 I feel like yeah, I think people would be surprised, definitely, um, how like,

Speaker 1 you know, respectful fighters are

Speaker 1 to to me.

Speaker 1 I put, you know, I can't really speak for anyone, but but to me, and um, you know, obviously you're not gonna always agree, but for the most part, uh, for the very, very most part, um, they're very respectful.

Speaker 2 Have you ever been at a fight where uh someone passed away in the ring or there there was something that tragic that happened? No, I haven't.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 2 That's amazing, Dan.

Speaker 2 That's a blessing. That's a lot of fights.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Because you've refereed thousands of fights.

Speaker 1 Yeah, probably. Yeah, definitely.
Definitely a lot of them. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Is there anything different about refereeing a male fight to a female fight?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 I've been lucky to get some of the best female fights ever. And

Speaker 1 there's really no difference.

Speaker 1 You know, it's, you know, pretty amazing the level that they've grown so quickly.

Speaker 2 For sure. And

Speaker 1 female sports in general. If we would, you know, talk about, you know, women's wrestling.
Last year I went to the

Speaker 1 NAIA Women's Nationals. And your daughter was in it? Yeah.
Oh, she was. Yeah.
She'd won the regional last year. Let's go.

Speaker 1 And.

Speaker 1 The level of competition was insane. Really? You know, she fell short her first year last year.
So we'll see how this year goes.

Speaker 1 But the level and these, you know, they're like, they're not girls. They're 26-year-old women in college.

Speaker 1 25-year-old points. There's some real tough women out there.
So

Speaker 1 it was amazing.

Speaker 1 Although I wish she had won a few matches. Me and her sitting there watching that level together was two days.
It was in Kansas.

Speaker 1 I was kind of, at the end, I'm kind of happy she didn't do that well because we were able to go out to lunch and dinner and hang out. yeah so but um

Speaker 1 oh that's nice this year is a new year and we'll see how she does

Speaker 1 and she really loves it huh yeah yeah yeah all my kids really loved wrestling and uh there's such a great value in that there's such a great sense of like you can take care of yourself that you can handle yourself i bet there is it's just uh there's more like wrestling's the best sport uh you know that you could do in in high school level and well youth level to college level um oh wrestlers will always be the craziest, too.

Speaker 2 You'd like, you'd just be driving one day and you'd see your buddy wrapped in trash bags, right? It's like 90 degrees out in Louisiana.

Speaker 2 My buddy Paul Corso would be like, and I think it's his birthday actually today or tomorrow, but wrapped in trash bags, just running down the highway.

Speaker 1 He's like, I got a fight in two hours. You're like, who are you fighting?

Speaker 2 You're fighting off Satan, brother.

Speaker 1 That's wild. Yeah.
But same as what we were talking about, that commitment dedication, that commitment, right? And then it carries on to almost anything. And also, like, um

Speaker 1 you know

Speaker 1 uh like

Speaker 1 when you're wrestling and you feel defeat right like you're learning life lessons on a wrestling mat instead of having to learn it outside world where where the you know the cost sometimes is a little more so you're learning it just by you know you know training and stepping on a wrestling mat there's nothing you know it's nothing better than that When I was going to MMA classes, I remember there would be like days where like, even after like, I'd sit there at the end of the day and sometimes I would just like ball, like just emotions would come out of me.

Speaker 2 But it was stuff that got unlocked that had been in my muscles or in my fascia in me. And it was like

Speaker 2 the ability to be able to be.

Speaker 2 like beaten by somebody that also cares that you're going to be okay at the same time. There's something really fascinating about that.
And I don't think you can find it any other place, right?

Speaker 2 Like you know your competitor also, they want to beat you, but they also, some of them want to teach you, especially if you're new.

Speaker 2 It's just like there's, it's unprecedented different levels of um well-being and competition and uh

Speaker 1 ferociousness and defeat that are all wrapped up in there yeah and and bonds can be made that way like oh we i saw you learn who all the cops are because all of them are off duty yeah you know they're all in there and i saw a few guys that i used to train with

Speaker 1 and uh mostly in the stand-up stuff and um you know buckets of blood we would really go hard but a lot of people would come and be like what the hell right It was my early training and

Speaker 1 I just got bonds with those guys forever. You know, seeing them is great.
And we laugh about that because, I don't know, we spot pretty hard. Yeah.
So it was good. It was good.

Speaker 2 Do you ever think that a fighter threw a fight or had given up but kept fighting? What is that kind of energy like? How do you manage something like that?

Speaker 2 And how do you decide if it's just you interjecting some of your own thoughts into what's going on? Can you take me on even just some journeys about some of that?

Speaker 1 So like, you know, what, like, if a guy is giving up or...

Speaker 2 Yeah, like, do you ever think a guy doesn't want to be in there, but he's staying in there? Like, do you ever get some of that energy? Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's, it's kind of the sport where if you don't want to be in there, most likely you're not going to be for very long, right?

Speaker 1 So like, I have seen guys that it's not going very well, and you can tell they definitely want to be there, right? That's a little easier to see.

Speaker 1 I think, definitely. But

Speaker 2 yeah, I guess it's a good point, huh?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Usually, if you don't want to be there, at some point, you're not going to be there pretty quick.
And you can see, you know,

Speaker 1 guys get surprised or, you know, overwhelmed. And for that moment, you know, live to fight another day and whatever.

Speaker 1 But you usually, like, if a guy, you know, they, you know, you're stopping them. They're not stopping themselves for the most part.

Speaker 2 Have you ever had a guy stop himself or their corner stop him? What's some of that?

Speaker 1 I have like amateur stuff. Like I had a kid walk out of the cage and leave the other day.

Speaker 2 Wasn't for him. Good choice.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
Wasn't wasn't for him and then he was amateur so like good decision yeah

Speaker 2 yeah go get a smoothie hunt yeah

Speaker 1 i was like no all right i waved it off and they're like what i'm like yeah once you leave it's over yeah yeah yeah yeah that'd be crazy he comes back in back his mom's like walking back in with him or something or his buddies one time um

Speaker 1 uh it was my buddy and he knocked this guy out and and somehow his mom got in and you thought she was gonna kneel down and to see tend to her son, but the doctors were there.

Speaker 1 He was being taken care of. She stepped over and gave him the finger, gave my buddy the finger.
It was crazy.

Speaker 1 I remember it was many years ago, but I remember because ACDC Thunderstruck was being played, and the mom's giving the kid the finger. It was pretty awesome.
Oh, it's epic, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, have there been some other instances that have happened at the end of the match where what's that like? Because that's a lot of energy. People are coming into the ring.

Speaker 2 You still have fighters that are down sometimes.

Speaker 1 Obviously, that was was years and years ago. And so now it's, you know,

Speaker 1 only the right personnel

Speaker 1 coming in. But this, you know, actually, I was, I fought on that card, that woman.
So that was a long time ago. But,

Speaker 1 you know, it could be pretty crazy, you know, especially like

Speaker 1 the higher, you know, the event and

Speaker 1 loud and stuff. And then when the fight ends, sometimes it's just like that.
It is. Yeah.
It's just like,

Speaker 1 you know, so that's crazy. And the more over the years, the more you work, the more the sounds kind of, some you hear, some you don't.
Um,

Speaker 1 like I can pinpoint someone's voice, and then other, you know, there's thousands of people screaming.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's crazy that it can be dead quiet in there with so many people in there sometimes.

Speaker 2 And sometimes there'll be certain cheers going on, but it's still, there's this real silence that's right up there by the cage. Like

Speaker 2 it's almost eerie in a way. It can be.
Or mysterious. Yeah.
Or unique. It's

Speaker 2 powerful. Yeah.
You know, because there can be like this insane moment,

Speaker 2 20,000 people are watching.

Speaker 1 And it's quiet. Yeah.
And then other times it's loud and then cheering and you're like, what are they saying? Sometimes you can't understand what they're saying and stuff like that. And so it's like.

Speaker 1 up and down, you know, it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 2 Yes, like life, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, up and down. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Did you ever suspect that a fighter threw a fight?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Like, no.

Speaker 1 Like, some guys aren't, you know,

Speaker 1 obviously I ref all different levels. So some guys are coming in and they get punched and they're done.
But that's just, you know, they're not throwing it.

Speaker 1 They just don't have the talent to, uh, but I've never suspected anything like that.

Speaker 2 What was it like when Connor would come in the ring? Did you do any of his fights?

Speaker 1 I didn't, no, I didn't do any of his fights, but it was crazy. I've uh i've been you know i've worked cards where he was on and like uh

Speaker 1 madison square garden when he fought the first madison square garden it was crazy yeah then even after you went outside and there was uh

Speaker 2 you know irish people cheering everywhere yeah oh yeah they show up yeah yeah they really do

Speaker 2 So could you even tell us who you thought the best fighter is that you've seen?

Speaker 1 I don't know if I so

Speaker 1 I stopped looking at fights like a fan, a pretty long.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I kind of don't see him that way. I wouldn't even be able to like to pick a favorite fighter or say who's the best fighter

Speaker 1 or anything like that. But, you know, obviously there's fights where you're like, wow, that was really exciting or something like that.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, but yeah, I kind of just very looked at it at the referee standpoint these days mostly.

Speaker 2 Is there

Speaker 2 a fighter that you feel like plays by the rules the most?

Speaker 1 Oh, there's a bunch of polite guys who are just polite, but

Speaker 1 for the most part,

Speaker 1 everyone really plays by the rules. That's a good point.

Speaker 1 I think

Speaker 1 a lot of the fouls that are accidental,

Speaker 1 you do. Yeah, I do.

Speaker 1 Some of it couldn't even if you wanted to do it the way, you know, it's such a fast.

Speaker 2 That's a good point. Like, you know, it'd be hard to strategize something like that.

Speaker 1 But then you have some guys that are real grindy, and when they're in the cage, they're going to do what they have to do. And it is a fight.
And you got to try to control it.

Speaker 2 Did you get to refining Khabib's fights?

Speaker 1 Nope. So him and Connor, but mostly everyone else.

Speaker 2 Is there a reason why you think?

Speaker 1 No, there's no, I don't believe there's a reason why.

Speaker 2 How do you guys determine which fights you'll referee?

Speaker 1 Do you draw out of a hat? No, the commission just gives you, you know, you'll go and you'll get your assignments. So I never really asked exactly what they use.

Speaker 1 So you and herb dean aren't back there like this then no okay okay no so you come and they give you a sheet and you already have your assignments there oh

Speaker 2 and is it almost like opening up like a christmas wish list like in some ways like are there some you're excited about like are there some actually you're happy you don't have to use you can sit and watch it

Speaker 2 um or do you even think of it like that that's like a fan thing

Speaker 1 yeah i do sometimes and and this sounds maybe crazy but like if i'm like oh wow that fight would be hard i kind of hope i get it to see if i you know if i'm if i can do it you know and and uh and what would determine if a fight would be kind of hard like what even in your head makes you think of that uh or what makes some fights harder than others yeah well some matchups and and you know things are like oh this guy is really uh

Speaker 1 has one knockout power and this guy is really great on the ground but you know it's not very good at taking them down so then you know you you're right so you don't know what you're gonna get right and i think that's what would make it harder or or not complicated but interesting would be So let's get rid of the word harder, but interesting.

Speaker 2 For sure. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I think it's so interesting how so many fighters have different reasons why they fight. You know, like some is to test themselves.
Some don't even know.

Speaker 2 Some is to get rid of anger, you know, to challenge.

Speaker 2 Some just love the violence. You know, I just think it's, it's pretty fascinating to see how many why guys do it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, different, you know, from different roads, right? Yeah. And everyone,

Speaker 1 yeah.

Speaker 2 You coach.

Speaker 2 and we can wrap up in a few minutes. Thank you so much, man.
This has been cool. I appreciate it.
You know, it's like I get to go sometimes to the fights and get to see you guys there. And it's like,

Speaker 2 you know, it's almost like you, I mean, you guys are kind of like celebrities in that fighting world. I mean, that, that world is built so big that, I mean, the referees are celebrities.

Speaker 1 I don't, that sometimes is like, oh, you know, but you have to have people that are excited to see you. There is, but, you know, it's crazy.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it is because it's definitely not about, you know, me.

Speaker 2 Of course, but

Speaker 2 there's not a lot of other sports. I don't think

Speaker 2 what's that been like? What's it like being

Speaker 2 a part of something that's changed? Like, have you noticed the changes over time? Have you noticed a different energy in the space?

Speaker 2 Have you noticed that fighters change?

Speaker 2 What have you noticed?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 obviously it's still a young sport, right? And

Speaker 1 it's growing and growing.

Speaker 1 Not only like, so I think, was it 2009? Was my first?

Speaker 1 So not only has that all changed, but people have changed since 2009. So,

Speaker 1 yeah, fighters are different because people are different.

Speaker 1 And, you know, and

Speaker 1 we have like, oh, the internet's even bigger and all that stuff. And, you know, so yeah, a lot of things have changed, but the.

Speaker 1 The concept is there, right? Put two people in there and they fight. And so that's the same.

Speaker 1 Fighters

Speaker 1 end up the same.

Speaker 1 Like, you know, even though times are different, like eventually, like, you'll, you'll, even me talking to one, you know, they're there for one goal and, and, and, you know, to be competitive.

Speaker 2 And that's always stayed the same. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Um, was there ever like a fighter that retired in the ring? Because, you know, a lot of times they'll lay their gloves down. Was there any moment, one of those that kind of stood out to you?

Speaker 1 Or I'm trying to think.

Speaker 2 Or just one that that even caught your own feelings.

Speaker 1 I believe

Speaker 1 I might be wrong, but

Speaker 1 I believe Quake Rita retired the last time I refed him, I think. So that would be pretty significant because I've refed him a few times

Speaker 1 and he's awesome.

Speaker 1 So I believe, and there's probably been others too that have retired

Speaker 1 after I've refed him. But those are always like,

Speaker 1 I know some of them you can feel coming right and then some you can't it happens in wrestling too they'll take off their shoes and they leave it in the center and and and sometimes you're like oh yeah it makes sense and other times like hey you know you got more to give and more to go but as you said you know the amount of time that stuff takes yeah

Speaker 1 you spend time now coaching your daughters yeah so is that my daughter yeah so i my daughter and i is this her school um this was her high school so i coached for the the...

Speaker 1 Well, she went, this is the team she wrestled for. So we have in our area.
So we have one school, which is Bayshore, that has the girls' wrestling team.

Speaker 1 And then the other schools, which she went to Icelet, all go there. So I coach the Bay Shore.
I'm the assistant coach at the Bay Shore girls team.

Speaker 1 And then me and my daughter run a club together called Empire Girls Wrestling together.

Speaker 1 So, and right now that's growing. Like the whole sport's growing.
It's amazing. It's great that girls get the opportunity to be in what I believe is the best sport.
And

Speaker 1 it's awesome. Yeah.
It's awesome. And then coaching with my daughter right now is really, she's very good.

Speaker 1 She actually coached at,

Speaker 1 which is a big thing for us, at the national team, New York national team at Fargo this year. It was her first year coaching there.
Wow. And she did really well.

Speaker 1 And she's going to be an awesome coach.

Speaker 2 She's Dynamite, huh? Yeah.

Speaker 1 What's her name? Maura.

Speaker 2 Maura.

Speaker 2 Oh, it's a pretty name, man. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 2 That's cool, man. Oh, there you go.
Look at that.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So this was really cool.

Speaker 2 How much nonsense does Mora allow?

Speaker 1 Not much either. Yeah, there's not much going on.
Not much nonsense.

Speaker 1 This was

Speaker 1 August, the end of August. It was the New York State Fair.
And they invited us. And we brought a girls' team and a boys' team.

Speaker 1 The boys and the girls stay in like the 4-H dorms. So they get the state fair for free.
The kids get to walk around and do all that. It was really cool.

Speaker 2 And then they wrestled us for the people.

Speaker 1 Yeah, watching it. And then, yeah, so all those people were just walking by the state fair watching the dual meets.
Dude, that's great entertainment.

Speaker 2 Why not put something like that in a place where people are already at and looking for entertainment? Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 Because so often, sometimes you'll put it in a gym or something, and people don't even know, you know, especially a lot of times in high school or even outside, like in college, people, you just don't know.

Speaker 2 But if you're at a fair, you're looking for entertainment.

Speaker 1 And there it is. It was really cool.
It was our first year doing it. My wife planned it and we got invited.
And it was really cool. We'll do it again for sure.
It was really cool.

Speaker 1 Wow. Mora.
More. Mora.
Mora. M-O-R-A.

Speaker 2 M-O-R-A. Beautiful young lady.
That's awesome, dude. Congratulations.
Thanks.

Speaker 1 I didn't see anything.

Speaker 2 Well, you showed up.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's for sure.
You know? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, that's a lot of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you kept going. Yeah, yeah.
You know, we're talking about it today.

Speaker 2 It's like, as, yeah, like life, there's a lot of little off-ramps that you can get on.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, you got, as we were just talking earlier about things that, you know, you don't think are ever going to happen, happens.

Speaker 1 And you just gotta keep going forward. And then, you know,

Speaker 1 you know, eye on the prize, I guess. Yeah.
So, yeah. So I'm lucky.
You know, I got all these good things going.

Speaker 2 Yeah. It seems like you stay really busy.
What is your daily routine like, kind of?

Speaker 1 So I start work at the town at 7.30 to 4.

Speaker 2 At the diesel mechanics? Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 our practices, well, right now, our practice is just empire practices. They're from 7 to 9 o'clock

Speaker 1 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and Sundays.

Speaker 1 And then now we're starting the high school season, so we have open mats for that, too. Wow.

Speaker 2 Keeping busy. Yeah, that keeps you busy.
You like staying busy, huh?

Speaker 1 Yeah, very. I like to stay busy.
I like to

Speaker 1 keep moving. Yeah.
Yeah, that's me. I don't sit around much.
I've never been much of a sit around type of guy.

Speaker 1 But, you know, I.

Speaker 2 Well, too much nonsense can happen.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but you can still have fun. Yes, true.
But you can like, I'm a pretty serious guy, but I'm like, things I'm good at. I'm good at making fun of myself.
I'm good at laughing.

Speaker 1 I know, you know, like I came to see your show. That was funny.
Yeah. And I was surprised.
My cousins were there. They're huge fans.
They had a good time. Yeah, yeah.
You know,

Speaker 1 when they told me they were going to be, I was like, oh, I'm going. And so they're huge fans.
And it was good. It was good.
Thanks. It was funny.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I'll accept that. I appreciate that.
Hey, you're a referee. You would know, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, I don't know about it if I had no comedy, but.

Speaker 2 I'll take it, though. Yeah.
It's good enough.

Speaker 1 Fair enough. Fair enough.
I've laughed a few times. Hey, that's funny.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 That's all we can ask from a guy who doesn't accept nonsense. That's the most we can ask.

Speaker 2 Is there any other,

Speaker 2 oh, are referees allowed to, is there like an alcohol rule with referees? Like, I know with pilots, can you look it up for me? How soon before a flight can a pilot have alcohol?

Speaker 2 Is there a rule with referees

Speaker 2 that you can or can't drink before a fight?

Speaker 1 Well, you can't drink before a fight.

Speaker 1 I would think it would be like 24 hours or something like that. I've never, you know.

Speaker 2 But they never, it's never like, they don't, they're not breathalizing breaths or anything like that. Yeah.
But it would be hard to do.

Speaker 1 So what?

Speaker 2 Referee a fight if somebody's been drinking?

Speaker 1 It would probably be, well, it would be impossible. Like

Speaker 1 to actually do the actual thing. It would be impossible.
But then, you know, you spend, so you're, you're in there, you're, you're with doctors, commissions, and whatever.

Speaker 1 And I wouldn't think they'd let you

Speaker 1 catch on. Yeah, someone would catch on.

Speaker 2 Let me, let me see what this says. Many airlines have stricter internal policies, with some requiring pilots to abstain for at least 12 hours before flying to allow sufficient time for metabolization.

Speaker 2 Dude,

Speaker 1 I don't think 12 hours is long enough, to be honest.

Speaker 1 12 hours seems, you know. That's not that much.

Speaker 1 You want to hear something crazy. So I have a CDL, so it has to be zeros.

Speaker 1 When they do drug tests, they do a blow. You're allowed to blow a percentage.

Speaker 2 In summary, pilots must avoid alcohol for at least eight hours before a flight, maintain BAC below 0.04.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 That's drunk in some states, I think.

Speaker 1 Damn.

Speaker 2 And not fly while hungover or impaired.

Speaker 1 Wow. Yeah.
So, no, yeah. So I guess.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, bro. They should have to blow it in the front of the plane and show the number of the rest of the plane.

Speaker 1 That's pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 1 we don't do breathless or anything, but

Speaker 1 you wouldn't.

Speaker 2 It's never been an issue.

Speaker 1 No, I no.

Speaker 2 Yeah, have you never heard any you've never heard of anybody having an issue?

Speaker 1 No, a real one. No.

Speaker 2 What's it like when you get there from when you do you when you leave? Take me through a UFC fight as a referee.

Speaker 1 So you get there.

Speaker 2 How early? Like how early do you get there?

Speaker 1 It's usually, it could be two hours,

Speaker 2 hour and a half i think usually like and who's there when you get there like is megan ol levy in there yet or no

Speaker 1 i i guess i don't know um do you have a meeting with the commission yeah like just take me through like so i straight go in and walk in find the commission room um you know obviously if i've been there before but if i haven't been i'm working a place i've never been walk in find the commission room get my assignments When the fighters come, I do my one-on-one rules meeting.

Speaker 1 And then each fighter. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Wow. Every fighter on the card.

Speaker 1 every fighter i have on the card yep so usually what we'll go with the average is three fights on a card right i've had more no less if a cancellation whatever but

Speaker 1 go over the rules ask them if you know they have any questions

Speaker 1 then you know uh depending what state mostly now you do also you do ro like the a review official and what does that mean so it's like the instant replay how we we have instant replay now and then um and then the fight before yours you usually do, you know, the gate when they walk in, the check.

Speaker 1 And so you're busy

Speaker 1 pretty much the whole time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And will you have, like, what, do you eat before? Do you have an energy drink?

Speaker 1 What do you do? I don't have an energy drink, but some places I eat before. Sometimes I don't eat before.
It all depends. Like, when I refer to New Jersey, there's a few restaurants.

Speaker 1 I'll have something.

Speaker 1 Madison Square Garden, I always go to the same place and I eat there. What is it?

Speaker 1 And it's a Molly Wee pub, and they have like um irish beefs too and i don't know yeah and i get what you like yeah i like uh quesadillas that have with almond flour tortillas we like what we like yeah yeah yeah so i get that and then you know so and that like like give you an idea like msg i do the same thing every time so there's a guy I wish I could remember the name of his company, but I can't right now.

Speaker 1 But he sells shirts and stuff outside. I go out and say hello to him every single time, right? He's always out there, no matter how cold, no matter what.
The guy's out there. He's awesome.

Speaker 1 He's right on eighth eighth avenue he's on the corner and then uh i say hello to him then i go down and get ready to go after and then i go to the mallet then i i eat usually the beef stew and then and then get going and so yeah

Speaker 1 yeah i'm kind of a creature of habit in some ways yeah you know yep yeah oh i am very much you know like

Speaker 1 same and i use the word criteria and whatever but uh you know this is how i do it and with almost everything i'm like that really hey discipline equals freedom, man.

Speaker 2 That's what Jocko Willink always says. Yeah, that's pretty.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 And I think that's kind of true. It's like if you get up and get the things you don't want to do done out of the day, your day is so different.
Yeah. You know?

Speaker 1 Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 Have you ever been unable to do a referee a fight and for what reason?

Speaker 1 Before you go, yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, I have a story of

Speaker 1 like I reffed, but I had

Speaker 1 when I was reffing, i had uh two kidney stones and and um staples like in my stomach i ended up so it's crazy story i had uh my appendix out when i was like 20 and then um

Speaker 1 a few years ago i had it out again so they took out the appendix but they left in they left in like a stub So I actually had my appendix out twice. It's pretty interesting.

Speaker 1 Or you got scammed.

Speaker 1 Either way. It's the same hospital.
So, but who forgot a little? I don't know. And it was bad.
So they had to like. Dude, that's nonsense.
Yeah. That's real nonsense.
And the fact that when I asked,

Speaker 1 you know, I'm like, hey, is this, does this happen? They're like,

Speaker 1 it does. I'm like, oh.
So

Speaker 1 I also, at the same time, had kidney stones.

Speaker 1 So I did a recovery. And

Speaker 1 so everything was kind of miserable. And I had

Speaker 1 a big show, an event coming up. And it was an important one for me.
Oh, but yeah.

Speaker 1 And it was just

Speaker 1 had a little meaning to me. It was

Speaker 1 local. And I had the main event.
It was just

Speaker 1 so

Speaker 1 I decided in my head I was going to do it. So I ended up getting the

Speaker 1 doctor that I was going to see every two days for the recovery to say you could do it.

Speaker 1 And she was like, you can do it. I said, great.
So, but the staples were getting really tight. So I took a few of them out from from the top.
And then by yourself?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then it was easy, though. They were coming out already.
Yeah. And then, yeah.

Speaker 2 And then... Yeah, it's a Build-A-Bear.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
Just put it together. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
You know. And then,

Speaker 1 so then,

Speaker 1 but the kidney stone started kicking in really bad. It was just a weird time.
And so

Speaker 1 the night before, I'm like,

Speaker 1 really panic button. I'm about to say

Speaker 1 I can't do it. And, but

Speaker 1 I hung in there. So next day I get there and then the pain's kind of starting to go away a little bit.
So I get to the event.

Speaker 1 I get the fights in the main event like I was hoping. And

Speaker 1 awesome place that I've always wanted to work. And

Speaker 1 so

Speaker 1 the bathroom is like attached, like the fans. and us were using the same bathroom.
So I walk by and they're like, oh, Keith, you're the man.

Speaker 1 So I walk into the bathroom and now I'm feeling pain real bad. So from the kidney stones.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 So boom, I pass it. It goes, ta-ting.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. It hits the thing.
All good for that. Like, well, the pain was still there, but it felt so much better.
Yeah. And I was walking out.
And you'll shoot your eye.

Speaker 1 And the kids, like, the kids are like, oh, you're a legend. And all I can think of is you should have saw what just happened in there, dude.
Like in crazy. And then the event went great.

Speaker 1 And then, um, and then I passed the other one because I had two on the way to Seattle the next week in the plane.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, you got to save one for when you travel.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just miserable.
But, but, uh, yeah, it's kind of a funny story.

Speaker 1 And then the appendix out to it's pretty funny because uh, even it was actually almost ended up being bad because

Speaker 1 I was telling people what was wrong with me because I was

Speaker 2 infection. They thought it was already done.

Speaker 1 They thought that was already done. So they kept skipping over that.
And

Speaker 1 yeah, so it was a week or so, and I was pretty in infection by then, you know, caught in, but it was fine, and everything worked out great.

Speaker 2 Dude, that's wild. That just to know, if people want to know if some of these referees are tough or not, this guy's passing kidney stones between fights in the bathroom.
That's pretty unprecedented.

Speaker 2 Keith Peterson, man, thank you so much, one, for always making me feel welcome when I'm at the fights. It's such an honor to get to see you guys, man.

Speaker 2 That it's, will you agree with this that it's one of the most

Speaker 2 the people that make that

Speaker 2 are part of that company that put that event on, it's pretty spectacular.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It is. Like, yeah.
Like some of the T-Mobiles.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's just all so special.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. And you see the same people over and over again, and it really does feel like a family area.

Speaker 1 It is.

Speaker 2 Does it feel like that to you?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. You know, it's, you know, as we figure it out, I kind of keep to myself.
But

Speaker 1 there's some people I see every time that I really great people and, you know, I speak to them briefly. And it's a really cool, you know,

Speaker 2 thank you so much for all your efforts, man. Thanks for continuing to just support wrestling.

Speaker 2 And I think that it's just, you know, you being out there just inspires other young people to get into it and just having like

Speaker 2 so much history yourself in it. And yeah, thank you for letting us talk about your family and stuff today, man.
And

Speaker 2 yeah, cheers to many more years of

Speaker 2 being on the journey, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, for sure. Thank you.

Speaker 2 Amen. You bet.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 Now I'm just falling on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be

Speaker 1 cornerstone.

Speaker 1 Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this piece of mind I found. I can feel it

Speaker 1 in my bones.

Speaker 1 But it's gonna take

Speaker 1 a little bit.

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