Ever wondered what's going on inside a fighter's mind leading up to a match? Offering an introspective look into the emotional and mental struggles fighters face, our conversation with UFC star Vicente Luque does just that. We unravel Luque's recent UFC 294 victory and how high expectations can have profound emotional impacts. We also delve into the reactions of other fighters like Kamaru Usman and the ripple effect of Alexander Volkanovski's comments about needing a fight.
Navigating through losses in the ring requires an immense amount of self-belief and resilience. Luque shares his journey of personal growth and how his move to Florida to train with top-level fighters has been a game-changer. We discuss the significance of confidence, the influences of other fighters on his career, and how he is gearing up for his upcoming bout with Ian Garry. This episode also takes a peek at the evolution of techniques in MMA, discussing the dynamics of training and the decision-making process involved in fighting a teammate.
Life outside the ring is equally vital; it's not just about setting high goals, but also appreciating the smaller wins in life. Luque talks about the importance of having a respectful and positive attitude even in the face of adversity, and how setting limitless goals can sometimes be a recipe for unhappiness. We explore how family support and faith can provide a strong foundation. So, for an episode packed with inspiration, wisdom, and some MMA insights, buckle up and join our enlightening chat with Vicente Luque.
Ever wondered what's going on inside a fighter's mind leading up to a match? Offering an introspective look into the emotional and mental struggles fighters face, our conversation with UFC star Vicente Luque does just that. We unravel Luque's recent UFC 294 victory and how high expectations can have profound emotional impacts. We also delve into the reactions of other fighters like Kamaru Usman and the ripple effect of Alexander Volkanovski's comments about needing a fight.
Navigating through losses in the ring requires an immense amount of self-belief and resilience. Luque shares his journey of personal growth and how his move to Florida to train with top-level fighters has been a game-changer. We discuss the significance of confidence, the influences of other fighters on his career, and how he is gearing up for his upcoming bout with Ian Garry. This episode also takes a peek at the evolution of techniques in MMA, discussing the dynamics of training and the decision-making process involved in fighting a teammate.
Life outside the ring is equally vital; it's not just about setting high goals, but also appreciating the smaller wins in life. Luque talks about the importance of having a respectful and positive attitude even in the face of adversity, and how setting limitless goals can sometimes be a recipe for unhappiness. We explore how family support and faith can provide a strong foundation. So, for an episode packed with inspiration, wisdom, and some MMA insights, buckle up and join our enlightening chat with Vicente Luque.
Oh, very exciting news, very special edition of FITS Nation. Look who I ran into. What's up? What's up Vicente Lucches here? Yes, and FITS Nation has a coastline, as it turns out, we're in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There we go and I was coming down here for a UFC assignment and obviously there's like a hundred fighters that live down in this area and I said let me do a podcast. And we call up Vicente Lucche and say, want to go for a walk on the beach? And you said yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's always a good time, you know, having a talk with you, being able to just share more of you know myself with all the guys that are fans and that appreciate our work. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Vicente's off a huge win the day after my birthday, actually August 12th beat RDA. Just let's talk about UFC 294. We're just talking about Camaro just a little bit. And Camaro Ustman was like emotional and kind of down on himself after the fight. Like what did you think of that, knowing that you're pretty well versed with Camaro and you trained with him a lot and you've known him for a long time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think that always, like I've trained so many years with Camaro, since the days of the tough 21 season where we live together representing the Black Sillions you know we always expect a lot from him, just because we know how much. You know how much talent he's got, how tough he is, and I feel like he expects even more of himself. That's why, like when you have a loss, it's hard, it's hard for you to deal with that. But then again, when I watched the fight he fought, a guy that was training, had a full camp, you know, is a dangerous guy, has moved up to the real weight class he should be, fighting.
Speaker 2:All of this was really new for Camaro 10 days, short notice, really training. But he wasn't training for a fight, he was just training once in a while, getting making sure that he wasn't shaped, making sure he was developing, but not thinking of a fight, and in a new weight class, new weight division. So at the end of the day, I think he did really good. I think he's really, as everybody knows, you know, a tough fighter, a dangerous guy, and I would like to see more of him, maybe at 185 against other guys with a full training camp Right.
Speaker 1:And then Volkanovsky made a lot of headlines for how he was emotional after the fight. Can you speak to? Because he said you know, I've got a beautiful family at home, but I was doing my head in is how he phrased it, which is an Australian phrase, for like I was going a little crazy because I wasn't in camp. He's a busy fighter. He already fought twice this year and you know he's got a fight theoretically coming up in February or January to defend his featherweight belt. How did you take that news as somebody who has, you know, wife and son, you have a good life going about, you know from from outer things. But what did you make of his comments? Like he just needed a fight, he needed to stay busy.
Speaker 2:I think it's like as fighters, you know, we're really I don't know how to say like it's our passion. We do this. You know there is the money, there is like taking care of our family, there is all that, yeah, but but that's not enough for us sometimes. You know we really we love going out there, performing and and showing the world that we can be the best at this, and obviously he's one of those guys that that is really competitive, really wants to, to, you know, make a statement and and just show everyone that he might be one of the best of all times, and maybe that's hard to deal with. You know you have your family, you have everything going well for you, but you still get addicted to that Like I want to be. You know the guy that is shining, that is doing the headlines, and then you know always in there and putting in the work and showing how good I am, and if you cannot balance that out, you can get lost in, you know, in that. So I don't know, maybe, maybe that's something that you know.
Speaker 2:I believe a lot of the things happen for a reason, you know, and then I think God always puts us in the in the right spot. So he was talking about that, you know. Oh, I thought it was like destiny, I was going to come here and become a champion. Yeah, I think it was destiny, maybe to show him hey, appreciate more what you've got and and just keep on doing what you, what you got to do. You know he is a great champion. He's still going to. You know, I believe he's going to come defend his belt and keep on on building his legacy, but you don't need to rush. You know he has accomplished so many things. Why, why rush? Why go crazy about it?
Speaker 1:You know you've been a busy fighter in the past, like you've fought. Have you fought five times in a?
Speaker 2:year I fought five times in 13 months. Yeah, so almost a year.
Speaker 1:Did that resonate with you Him being emotional, just saying like I needed to, like I was, something was wrong mentally and I needed to figure it out, or do you think you've kind of figured it out at this point in your career?
Speaker 2:I mean, I think it. It does like kind of right after I came, I had the two losses against Bilal and then Jeff Neal. I started looking at my career and looking at myself in general, like how I approached fighting, and realized that what I was doing is like I was putting my worth, like what I see in myself, in my wins or in my losses. So if I won, I felt good. I felt like, yeah, I'm hard working and I'm deserving of all the blessings I have. But if I lost, I felt the opposite and that's a very dangerous thing to do. Why? Because that has nothing to do with you.
Speaker 2:If you lose or win, your family is there. Everybody that loves you is still there. That's not going to change. So when you're able to really kind of take, appreciate yourself for what you are and that just frees you up from being able to perform and being able to be the best athlete you got to be, you don't got to prove anything to anyone. You got to just go out there and do what you want to do. That is be the best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and people will react to emotions at a press conference because normally guys like you will be able to hold it back in public, but behind closed doors there's tons of emotions all the time. I just know it from the back of the arena and knowing the fighters. What I've seen when you see behind the scenes stuff that's so just like gut wrenching for fans that really love watching you guys and appreciate the talent and the ability, and even in defeat like the show. But what we'll see is a lot of fighters that are like holding back tears with their coaches and their families and saying I'm sorry, you ever done that. Can you describe that feeling of apologizing because you feel like you let them down when they're there to support you? No matter what, there's nothing to be sorry about.
Speaker 2:For sure. I think that fighting is a very different, sport is a very different profession. Let's say, to choose and it goes a lot to have that mentality, to be able to go out there and do what we got to do, because at the end of the day we're competing against another competitor that is there to try to knock us out, try to submit us and try to just be better than us at a combat, at something that we're going in there to really try to hurt each other and that brings different mentalities and a lot of it is also kind of, in certain moments we just got to kind of hide. I wouldn't say hide, but kind of try to hide in a way, air emotions try to hide, even from ourself, to make us tough to make us.
Speaker 2:You know, okay, we can go through this, we can go through anything. I have no fear. And it is good to get that when you're going to compete against your opponent, when you're going to face off and you're going to show him that you're ready. But after so many fights like I have more than 30 fights it's hard because that kind of starts becoming who you are and nobody is like that. You know, everybody has feelings. Everybody has ups and downs. Everybody has, you know, these different.
Speaker 2:If I'm always the way that I am as a fighter, that's going to be hard for me with my family, for me raising my son. Because I got to be loving to my son, loving to my wife, I got to be able to just relax and show a little bit of my emotions as well. So, yeah, I think that's something that fighters do struggle with. But you know, more and more I think like when fighters like myself and others can start sharing and opening up, we can just relax and be like, okay, hey, I'm a fighter, but I don't got to be always tough. You know, when I step in there and when I'm doing business, I'll be that guy. I'll be the guy that you know nobody can break, but out here I'm just chill, just relaxed. I love my family and just enjoy this much more.
Speaker 1:What was it like for you to lose those two in a row? You had never lost two in a row no, not in the UFC. Yeah, yeah, we talked about that the last time you were on the show. It was like you're such a winner now because you took all those challenges before you were ready for them. Right? Yes, really part of your career, yes, so one of the things that Kamaru, I think, was really struggling with is you go back like when's the last time he won? I mean, it's been three fights in a row. For a guy that was undefeated in the UFC to leave the arena feeling bad and not being able to say he won. The fight is really challenging, and for you, I would imagine that was a challenging part, especially of a two in a row type of thing, where it was what happened. How did you like deal with that?
Speaker 2:I think he said it well right in the interview after the fight, like when he was backstage. It brings a lot of doubts on yourself and I think that's something that we, as fighters, we don't really like to see. It's hard. The biggest thing that we have to do to fight well is to trust ourselves completely, trust our abilities, be confident that we can go in there, step in that octagon and do what we got to do and overcome the challenge. And when you have one loss, that's kind of like okay, let me just improve, see my mistakes, go out there and get another win, and that brings back the confidence. When you have two losses, that kind of like it breaks a little bit that confidence. That is okay, I wasn't able to correct my mistakes or I did correct it and it wasn't enough. And now you start looking into other things you know, like am I the same fighter? Is my mentality the same? Am I still as tough as I used to be? Am I getting old? And all these different kind of things that go through our mind. And I think that that's something that it did help me a lot to have lost in the past. Before the UFC, I've had two losses in a row and that kind of like just helped me realize that, yeah, I mean, there are several reasons why we lose. We make mistakes, sometimes we're not doing the right choices outside of fighting. You know our day-to-day life. We're having issues and that can be a problem. Sometimes we are, we aren't in the best physical shape, sometimes we are actually getting old. Maybe, you know, some guys are getting old.
Speaker 2:But what I think that, like the biggest thing is, it doesn't really matter, you got to win. The way you are, you got to win. You always look to improve and go in there and focus on winning. Be that guy that, like how did Kamaru become so dominant? Just by being confident and trusting in what he does, and that's what he has to do now. Forget about the losses, forget about all that. You know the oh yeah. You got kicked in one fight and in the other fight you weren't able to really get your movement, your flow, and now you know it was a short notice fight. My first round was a tough round because he got taken down and couldn't get up.
Speaker 2:All that, yeah, you can correct it. You can look at it objectively, like towards, like I'm going to correct the mistakes, but the confidence has to be there. You know it doesn't matter what happened. That's in the past, Just like the wins are in the past too. The wins aren't gonna make me tougher. I have to be every single fight. The toughest guy can be that day, that night, and I think that's what any guy that is coming off losses has to realize. Hey, every fight is a new fight. Every day is a new day. Gotta go and face it, you know, as hard as I can.
Speaker 1:So you've been coming to train here at San well, various places in Florida, but you've been coming to Florida for several years, but you always lived in Brazil, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I lived here.
Speaker 1:And so 2023, february, you move here to Florida and then you kinda full time here and train at Sanford, or kill Cliff, yeah, kill Cliff. What has this year shown you so far in terms of making that big change and where you're at right now, as you have a big fight with Ian Gary coming up in a couple months?
Speaker 2:So I think that the move here was something that I kind of. It took me a while to really see that I needed this, but I think I've needed it for a while because it's just, it's a different environment. Brazil was always great. I always had a great gym to train over there. It was the gym I started training in since I started my career, and it grew up. It grew the physical part of it. We had better facility with all the things we needed. We had a lot of new fighters. But Was that? Serato MMA, serato, mma? Yeah, bonfim Brothers, bonfim Brothers. I've trained with the Bonfim Brothers since the older one was 18 and the younger one was 16. So I've seen them develop and become the beast that they are. We have Vivian Araujo.
Speaker 1:That just won as well.
Speaker 2:And a lot of other guys, but I always felt like I was maybe not maybe I was for sure the guy that was. They had the biggest career in the UFC and I was the guy. Let's say you were the best guy in the room. Exactly, you were the best guy in the room. I was the best guy and that's what everybody was trying to get to, you know. And so, yeah, it was great to be able to be there to train, to develop, but at the same time, I felt like I needed guys to push me up, you know, guys to challenge me Not that the Bonfim Brothers didn't challenge me, they did but it was always like looking up to me. You know they wanna beat me because I'm the guy that wants that is up there. Now I have guys all the time that I look up to that I wanna beat that. I wanna. You know, I train with Kamaru, I train with Michael Chandler when he's there, and all these tough guys Gilbert Burns, shavcott so many guys that are, you know, at the same level as I am, and that really is something I needed a lot. So, yeah, overall, I think that several, several different reasons I had to come here and once I did.
Speaker 2:What I realized is that much before the fight with RDA. So just, I came here I didn't have a fight yet. I came in February and training, like maybe a month and a half later I really could see in training like how I've been developing so many different just the way you know, just the approach of fighting, not really all. Now I'm a new fighter because I have so many skills. No, I just know how to use my skills better. I started realizing the skills that I already had developed but I didn't use sometimes because I didn't have people, like in training, that required that from me. You know, that didn't put me in this spot where I didn't need to use that skill. Yeah, so yeah. And then came the fight with RDA and that was just like, okay, hey, you did the right things, you did the right choices and now, yeah, like you're on the right path, let's keep on working our way up to the title.
Speaker 1:I think, as, like a more mature person, you're probably able to put it in perspective a little bit better instead of beating yourself up of oh, I should have done this a long time ago. It's almost like, no, this was the perfect time, because I needed to go through whatever lessons that got me to there.
Speaker 2:That's for sure. Yeah, and now it's like kind of full speed ahead, exactly. And I think that, like, even when I look that like all my life, I thought that I was late. Like, imagine, like when I was I got to the UFC, I was 23 and I wanted to get to UFC younger. You know my goal when I started.
Speaker 2:I started MMA professionally at 17. And my goal was to be the youngest champion, and the youngest champion is Victor Belfort at 19, because he won the Grand Prix, right, and for me, that was it. So when I became 19, I was like damn, I didn't do this. And so I got to the UFC. In my mind it was late already, right, but now I get to this and I'm gonna turn 32 next month and I'm like this is the perfect timing and everything.
Speaker 2:You know I got so early in the UFC. I have eight years in the UFC and I'm just 32. I have over 30 fights. I mean it's so crazy. When I look at it, you know I'm like no, there's nothing I can't complain about. You know, all I can be is grateful and really like, really for me it's like it's fulfilling my destiny, it's fulfilling what God has planned for me and little by little I started understanding what he planned, because it's really not in my control. I can try to control everything, but life comes in and throws whatever it wants to have me. So better, kind of see, try to find a path and just walk through that path.
Speaker 1:It's funny to. I mean, you're in your 30s, I'm 41 now to just want everything right away. When you think you're turning 24, you're like I'm in my mid-20s, I gotta get to it. And then you look back and you go 23,. You thought you were old in the UFC at 23. And now you look and you just go.
Speaker 1:Anybody who makes the UFC before 25, I'm like this is a young prospect. I hope they're ready for it. Yes, and I see some people too that are 21, 22, 23, and just go man. Some of them fizzle, some of them lose a few fights. Maybe they fall out of love with the sport. They're not. Maybe looked at as a prospect would be at 26, 27 because they had losses on the big stage. And I just go. How much better would their careers have gone if they joined the UFC at 26 and had another eight fights before the UFC? So, speaking of young, you got Ian Gary on the other side and there's going to be a lot of fight talk with Ian Gary in the coming months, but trains at Tiltcliffe. How extensively have you trained with him before saying yes to fighting him?
Speaker 2:So I've trained a lot with him and I met him in 2021 at MSG. He was gonna. That was his first UFC fight and I was kind of like the alternate for Kamaru and Kobe. Okay, so that's what I met him. We cut weight together and I've always found him like a really nice guy. He's super. What could I say? Like he's that kind of like that person that you imagine, like the Irish guy that is just chill, just relaxed. He talks, he's mind. Sometimes that's good, sometimes people don't like it, but he is really like he is himself. He is what people see and I always had a great time around him.
Speaker 2:I trained a lot, to say like not a lot for many years, but whenever I was in a kill clip and he was there, we would train a lot, we would grapple, wrestle, spar, you know, always looking to really get the most out of each other. Because, like, he saw me as a guy that, okay, this guy, you know, is a real tough welterweight. Let me learn from him. And I saw him as a young kid that is a prospect, that is a kid that really, really skilled and can be, you know, one of the best in the world. So I wanna take what I can from him. You know. Take all that competitiveness, take all that the skill like striking. I've always seen him as one of the guys that most real, like raw talent in striking. He has a lot of great timing, great ability. So I wanted to learn that from him as well. So we always had a good relationship. We always, you know, had a good time training and when the fight was offered I had no trouble like untaking it for myself, but I needed to talk to the coaches. So I talked to Henry just to make sure you know I don't wanna. Being part of a team for me is very important. I've always, back in Brazil, when I was at Serato, it was always like a team decision because I wanted it to be good for everyone. And now it's not any different here. At Kill Cliff I talked to Henry, all the guys, and Henry was cool, he was for him.
Speaker 2:It's tough because he's been, you know, part of a lot of Ian's career and he in his mind it was like if you guys wanna fight, go ahead and do it. I'm gonna stay out, I'll let you guys fight it off and I don't wanna be a part of it, like he's not gonna corner me or him and just gonna kinda stay out of it. And I was like I respect that for sure. You know let's go out there. But if you're good with it, you know I do wanna fight because I think it's a great fight when you look to it in paper. It's an amazing fight. You know the fans are gonna go crazy. Ian, you know, is so much skill, so much aggressiveness Me as well. It's a fight that has to happen. You know the guy that has been there for a while. You know the veteran that is already kind of established in the division, looking to become a champion, and the young and coming, you know prospect, that wants to go and prove everybody wrong. So I think there's no better setup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who is going to be in your corner then?
Speaker 2:So I don't have a final decision, like Gilbert's going to be in your.
Speaker 1:Like, Gilbert probably wants to sit it out too right.
Speaker 2:Gilbert cornered him, that's what I mean.
Speaker 1:Gilbert just cornered him, I know.
Speaker 2:And it's tough, you know. It's even something funny, like Josh is Gilbert's younger son, Okay, and he as a birthday gift he got, like he went to the two Ian's fight in Boston.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think Ian gave that to him as a birthday gift. So he's really, you know, friends with me and friends with Ian, and so it's kind of it's a tough spot to be when you're not the fighters. You know, for us it's easy. We're just going to go out there and fight and everybody around, and then it's they got to get like okay, what do we do? Right In my mind is just do whatever you want to do. I'm not in my set, I'm not going to be mad. Yeah, you know, I just want to go out there, fight and show that, show my skills and and whatever happens, whatever happens.
Speaker 1:So you just said it's easy for you as the fighter, like you, have no problem with it.
Speaker 2:I mean, all I got to do is train and go out there and do what I love.
Speaker 1:It's kind of doing what you guys do in the gym a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, yeah, just you know. Yeah, we've done that just for training, right? Why aren't we going to do it like in the biggest stage possible? Yeah?
Speaker 1:It's an interesting dynamic. It's just one of those sports where you know you just had the Kelsey brothers in the Super Bowl opposite each other. You talk about playing for high stakes, yeah, but you know they're both on offense. They were never on the field at the same time, type of thing. It's different when, okay, let's just compete against each other. This is what we do in practice but somebody might be knocked out cold.
Speaker 2:It's like a different kind of sport. You know, it's also like something new because the sport is so new, yeah, but I think in the future we're going to see much more of this, because Jim's like ATT.
Speaker 1:I mean look at Kill Clip.
Speaker 2:Gilbert Shavcot, ian, you, kamara, all in one room you know, and that's something that clearly it works Right. Right, it's not an accident that we're all there is because training with each other is making us better. So that's going to be the future. We're going to have big gyms that have a whole bunch of tough guys training with each other. Eventually, they have to fight. Yeah so now we're starting to get into this, but I think it's just the beginning. Later, like maybe five, 10 years from now, it's just going to be a normal thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what would you say? Because you know, like you mentioned 30 fights. You've been in the UFC a long time, but you always want to evolve and grow, like even the champions. Will say it, the Hall of Famers will say it, right up until their last fight. What are you trying to incorporate into your routine? That's new, so a?
Speaker 2:few things. One thing that I started trying to do since my since, when I fought Jeff Neil, so I've always been a 170 fighter, but my weight, like as I grew older became, I became much heavier and that's something that I was struggling back not to make weight I did make weight.
Speaker 1:What are you weight right now?
Speaker 2:So right now I'm keeping myself like a 196. Okay, so I used to at this point like maybe right before Jeff Neil fight, I would be like 203. Okay, so I was getting too heavy, yeah, and that kind of like I could make weight. It wasn't an issue. But what I felt is I became a little bit slower right in the striking, which is what I most use and my most dangerous weapon. So I just felt like I needed to keep myself a little bit lighter.
Speaker 2:That's an adjustment I did with my nutritionist and we just kind of changed some, some routines and some just the way overall of eating and the habits I had. You know, sometimes I wanted to I don't know go like when, after I fought, I relaxed and just ate whatever. And now I realize, okay, at this age, and like I am, if I want to keep at 170, I cannot. Just you know, okay, now I eat whatever. When I was 22, 23, yeah, it was easy, but now it's not. So that's an adjustment Also, just kind of like really being able to. So something I do now I take the heart monitor to training and kind of track my sessions. Why? Because now I feel like it's really important for me to know what's going on physically in the training so that later I can know what I really need for my recovery Right. So at 20, 22, it was easy to recover. So it didn't matter how I train. You know, I could train hard and maybe even harder than I should have, but I would still recover. Right Now I got to like I'm a guy that I love training, so if I just train whatever I want to, training is the problem I might over train. I'll be sparring three times a week and that's not healthy, you know. So it's kind of like different things that we're adjusting and realizing with age that that change.
Speaker 2:Like sparring, I don't spar like I used to. So for this fight I'm only going to start sparring like really, really hard, like for specifically for the fight, six weeks out, so in two weeks. So, and when I don't have a fight, I don't spar, I grapple, I do wrestling, I do extra of other things that I can develop my skill and and that. How did I get to that? I kind of top. You know, look back, I probably have over, let's say I don't know 100,000 hours of sparring.
Speaker 2:Right, I started fighting at 17. So imagine 17 to 31,. How many hours of sparring a half. I don't need that experience anymore. So if I do that only close to the fight, it's enough to, you know, get my timing down, get the distance, the techniques, and I don't got to be like crazy thinking, okay, I got a spar and before I thought that I needed to win sparring, what am I going to win in training? You know, I'm not going to pay for that, Right, so I don't really got to go out there. All I got to do now is go out there with somebody that is kind of the same built as my opponent, that is going to do the same things that my opponent is going to try to do, and make sure that I have all the techniques down and that is flowing, that I'm feeling like I can execute it well. Yeah, and the rest of it, I got the experience.
Speaker 1:When you're on your way up. You want to win every day, every session, and now you just know I need to be as the best version of me for those 15 minutes, whatever long they last. Everything else is kind of like it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even if it's all anybody's going to talk about it, yeah, and even sometimes like, put yourself in bad situations, so like drill, starting in a place where you don't want to be in the fight, right? Why? Because that's going to happen. That's what your opponent is trying to do. So, if you're always winning, if you're always like training to dominate, you're going to be that lion that is great at hunting, but he doesn't know what to do when he's being hunted, right? You know, so you got to be able to fight in both situations.
Speaker 1:What do you do when you get into a rut? Because I think what a lot of people can identify with, whether they're athletes or not. It's like sometimes, a career that you love, you go through a few weeks or a month where you just you don't love it and you like you laugh because that's probably happened.
Speaker 2:It happened maybe during four years straight. Really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you didn't like it for four years. I mean didn't like it kind of in your head.
Speaker 2:I like. I thought that.
Speaker 1:What years were they?
Speaker 2:The last year was right before I lost to Jeff Neal. Yeah, so what happened? Like in my mind, I mean, that's half your UFC career. Yeah, in my mind it was like there was a point where I was training and, like you said, oh, I fought a lot. Yeah, I fought a lot because I wanted to get to where I wanted to.
Speaker 2:What is that Be a champion? And in my mind I was like, ok, I'll become a champion and then it's done, like I did what I set out to do and then I can do whatever. You know, I can relax and I can enjoy. Where was the mistake? I can enjoy right now. I can take my time, I can enjoy my family, I can travel with my family, I can do the things that I love.
Speaker 2:But in my mind and that happens I think a lot because we look outside for approval and we look like, oh, I got to do whatever other people are doing and so I would not go. Let's say, I love cars and I would not go racing and I would not go to car shows and stuff. Why? Because I thought, no, I got to train, I got to rest, I got to stay here ready because, I don't know, maybe they're going to call me to fight in two weeks and I better be ready. But I'm missing out on so many things. That is part of life. And am I only going to live once? I'm a champion and then I retire and then I can live my life? That makes no sense, and that's what I spent four years of my life being, and in my mind it was like no, but every job is boring, so this one just became boring as well. But I'm really disciplined. That's why for many years, I still got the wins, I still moved up the rankings, because I did everything I needed to do. Like I went to training, I would wake up, but the attitude was different and in the long term it cost me those two losses. Why? Because one thing is when you do something that you love and you appreciate it, so you work hard, but it makes sense. Something else is when you're working hard and putting in the work, doing everything you got to do, but you don't see sense in it. You just want it to end and that's what it was.
Speaker 2:So at that point, when I step in there, I guess I got like Balau, I guess I got like Jeff, which are guys that are extremely tough. If I don't have appreciation for what I do, I'm not going to perform the best I can, I'm just going to go out there. Ok, it's another day, I've got to do what I do and that's it. And then I'm going to get punched in the face and knocked out Because if it's just another day, I don't really care about it. So it's kind of what I realized to myself I had to get out. That's why it was great to like people say man, it was terrible what happened to you after the fight with Jeff. It was terrible, like in the sense of it was hard and it's something that put my career at risk. But it was great because I was able to really just take time to reset my mind, to realize OK, I've been walking through a path that is not going to take me anywhere.
Speaker 2:Let me go back to that guy that got to the UFC at 23. Because I got there because I loved what I did and it was much harder than it is now Because I got paid nothing to fight in Brazil. We got paid less than $1,000 per fight and if I break a tooth I wouldn't pay my tooth. So we got paid nothing and I lived with my mom and so many things that were much harder and I had so much appreciation. That's why I fought so well and I started realizing this.
Speaker 2:Ok, let me start appreciating what I have. And then I started seeing my family not only seeing them, but looking at this family I have. I have a son, I have a wife, a wife that has always been next to me, having my back and helping me with everything. I have a whole my mom and my dad that always supported me, and I don't know. I just started realizing all of this, started appreciating it, and I was still training.
Speaker 2:But training wasn't the biggest focus. And once I got back to training here I was like I improved, even though I'm not training as hard as I thought I was, but I'm training much smarter Because I get fresh, I get excited to train, and this has been all the months I've been here, since February to now. Every single day I wake up to train and I wake up as tired as I used to, or more tired sometimes, but I'm happy, I'm excited, I'm like, ok, I can't wait to get to training and do this again. And before no, those four years I talked to you about I woke up and I had to talk myself into going Because I had all the excuses in my mind. But I'm good at beating excuses, but that's just going to take me to one starting point, is not going to take me all the way up and really he's not going to make me appreciate all that I've built, all that I've worked for.
Speaker 1:Right. Probably the most important concept that I've learned this year and it might be the most important concept of my adult life is what you just said. A lot of times we want to chase, checking off a box and then thinking once we're done with that, we'll be happy and then we can unfold the rest of our lives, knowing that we hit the goal and that we're good now. For a lot of fighters, it's a championship. For me, it's like once I have this job or my podcast grows to this amount, then I can really enjoy life because everything can line up the way I want it to. What we forget to realize is like that's what we've been saying all along and I was saying once I get to ESPN, I can die happy and that's it.
Speaker 2:I've been on ESPN for almost nine years now and you still don't want to die.
Speaker 1:And I'm still just like that doesn't count because XYZ. So I'm glad that you figured that out, because you're only coming up on 32, so you beat me by like a 10 years in that concept, so good for you. Life does not begin after you check a box, because it's not a check box, it's an opening of a door to just a big new hallway. That's really long, dc said. I'll wrap it up on this. Remember I was like in an Uber with DC one time and you know he was a champion. And then when you hold the belt for a long time, he was like you know, you think you need that for fans to like you. And then when he lost it or I mean I guess you know he was like once you get to a certain point, people just like you for you, they don't need a championship belt. You need to have that, obviously, and that's a healthy thing to chase. If you're an athlete, you obviously want a championship, but to attach your happiness to it is a recipe for unhappiness.
Speaker 2:Exactly, sometimes, over the stretch of four years, yes, yeah that's wild, it's crazy, it's crazy, and yeah, I think that you know, just being able to, what I see, in myself at least, is that I could never imagine my true potential. So if I set any goal as okay, this is what I got to do and that's what I got to strive for, I'm going to limit myself because maybe I can't much more. That's like I believe in God and it's something that has, you know, throughout my career, just shown me so many things and that is really where I am able to, just I let him take care of what the goals are, you know, and what my potential is going to be. What I got to do is work, enjoy every day of my life and, you know, just realize all the blessings I have. And I don't have these blessings. It's not a mistake that these things are happening. There's a reason.
Speaker 2:So, hey, let me keep on building, let me keep on improving, let me let me be the best fighter I can be, which is something that I don't know. I cannot tell you what that is now, because I'll see it when I am, but if I, if I try to make it to something like, oh, I'll be the best fighter when I'm a well to weigh champion, I'll limit myself, because maybe I can be a well to weigh champion and then a middleweight champion and then something else. So it's just like I've learned to. There are some things that we got to surrender, and just let you know, for me it's God, just let God take care of it, and I do. You know the what, what my part is to work hard, to show up and to be the best that I can be.
Speaker 1:Another good example that's timely is like Volkanosky look at how how much the fans like him, love him and how dominant he's been at featherweight. And yesterday he's fighting back tears, saying mentally I was not all there because I needed to fight and it's like dude, you are as dominant a champion as we've ever seen in the UFC and he still is like chasing something. So enjoy the chase. That's what life is all about, because if you can't enjoy the chase, then you can't enjoy life. Alright, vicente, thanks for coming for a walk with me, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:A couple quick things your hair. Yes, Are we going to keep?
Speaker 1:the hair going long.
Speaker 2:No, I'm going to cut it soon, me too.
Speaker 1:I haven't gotten a while and it's just, it's a little too nuts. The beard too. And then also, do you expect Ian Gary to like trash talk? You guys talked about that just real quick.
Speaker 2:I mean, I sent him a message and then he messaged me back. That's kind of what we posted on social media and it was just like. I mean, for me that's what it is, it's going to be. You know, all business, I respect him. I actually like I have a lot of fun. You know, I think he's a great guy, so if he wants to trash, talk man, it'll be what it is.
Speaker 1:He turned Neil Magney into a mountain of an enemy, and I'm just like man, if he did that to Neil Magney, he's going to do that to everybody so I don't think it's worth it.
Speaker 2:Whatever he needs to do, do it. You know I'm not going to take it personal and I'm just going to try to be. You know the example that I am of a chill guy, and that's what I want to put out there. I've always wanted to show that, hey, we're tough, we're fighters, we go out there, we punch each other in the face, but we don't got to be mean and I'm not a mean guy, I cannot even try to be one, so that's what I'll be.
Speaker 1:I want to throw up with my friend, vicente Luque, at the beach, and look at us, vicente, at the beach. Yes, let's get some palm trees, maybe. There you go. Thanks, buddy, thank you.