UFC Tales and Global Travels: An Interview with Gilbert Burns from Singapore

On this episode, I catch up with Gilbert Burns across the world in Singapore!

This was my first trip overseas with the UFC in 3 years after a lot of heavy foreign travel pre-pandemic.  We had a legendary main event with Max Holloway scoring a huge KO win and The Korean Zombie dropping the gloves in retirement.

I caught up with top welterweight contenders Gilbert Burns before heading to the arena on Saturday to talk about what's next for him, what he's learned about world travels and what he's focused on right now.

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Transcript

Fitz
Host
00:00
Good morning from Las Vegas. Time to go to Singapore Made it, as opposed to calling UFC fights in a major metropolis and an arena full of screaming fans. It more feels like I'm here in Singapore to host a show in the genre of nature guru David Attenborough you know the guy. While tourists hover about some nearby hotels, monkeys jump from tree branch to tree branch and a new day on Singapore has dawned. Anyways, that's the beauty of this podcast is that I can bring my camera and my equipment wherever I go in the world with the UFC and deliver interesting things to you. 

00:57
Before we get to our first interview, I want to share a little piece of knowledge that I kind of stuck in my head on the plane ride over. You know I had been looking forward to this trip for months, ever since it was scheduled, because people on our crew rave about Singapore, how great it is, and I've never been here before. And if you ask me, other than the broadcasting, other than the calling of fights, what's your favorite part of the job with the UFC, I would tell you traveling the world is probably high up on that list, and the favorite thing I love to do when traveling the world is to go for a walk and see things. Safe to say, I have never gone for walks through rain for us because, generally speaking, we're in a city and we are. Singapore is right on the other side of these trees, but it's also a place where you can disappear into the jungle, at least where we're staying on the island of Sentosa. So the thing that struck me is the tragedy of what it means to be human. We are so capable our brains that for months I had been looking forward to this trip. 

02:02
And then, on the plane ride over 16 and a half hours from San Francisco to Singapore, I watched a star is born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, and I've been meaning to watch it for years, but I hadn't got around to it until the plane ride. And of course, it's this beautiful love story and it made me immediately miss my wife and my family. And I spend so much time with my wife and my family. I love it, the nature of the job that I get to do, and so immediately I'm thinking on the plane. I miss them so much already. I can't wait to get back and I'll never take for granted the time that I have with my family. 

02:35
And those are all good thoughts, but then this morning. I think you've been looking forward to this trip for months. Enjoy going for walks, being out with the crew, calling incredible fights in an incredible atmosphere, and you'll see them on Sunday. Let's get to our first interview. One of the best things about my job is that I'm sitting here in Singapore with a guy from Brazil. We now we've become kind of buddies. Gilbert Burns, thanks for taking a few minutes man. 

03:06
What do you think about the world travel? One of the coolest things that I find about this job is that we get to travel the world and do what we do. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
03:13
I'm super fortunate Since Jiu Jitsu I was traveling all over Then with them, especially with my main army. I had to. I fought in Uruguay, I fought in Denmark, I corner Vicente in Chile, I corner Michael Johnson here in Singapore. So yeah, a couple of places. Jiu Jitsu is even crazy because I compete in Portugal. I teach in Samaritan, switzerland, poland, everywhere, bulgaria. I even forget a couple of places Abu Dhabi, indonesia, japan, singapore, china. I learned all over because of martial arts, so especially now more MMA. But since the Jiu Jitsu I was very fortunate to travel all over. 

Fitz
Host
03:59
What do you think is something that you've learned by traveling the world and seeing all these different places? 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
04:06
I think you give you even more open mind of, because sometimes, especially in Brazil, people are like that. They're very, they're very city. You know they love that place, that only restaurant. They go to the same place in nowhere, in noven, and we kind of get a little knowing. We kind of know everybody in the neighborhood and sometimes you're cool and that's enough. And whenever you travel so much, that world is so big, you have a different experience, different restaurant, you meet new people, you just so much more to learn, so much more to see, so much more to live different cultures. I love to travel, you know, and I think I met a lot of new people in the whole experience with the seminars. I met so much people like I have open doors in any other place. If I gotta go to freaking Hong Kong and they're getting danger, I know I'm gonna call a guy, they can help me out there. Greece all over. So it's good to get to know a lot of different places and met a lot of new people in different culture. I like it a lot. 

Fitz
Host
05:13
Yeah, when you stay in your same kind of lane, there's value in staying in the same lane, there is. But when you start spreading your wings like that, I feel good about my career because I know that if I got fired tomorrow or laid off tomorrow, I know so many different people across the world or different things and it's like expanding your network is pretty good and like for you. If you couldn't fight tomorrow for whatever reason, you'd be all set. You'd have so many opportunities to do a bunch of different things. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
05:45
Yeah, if anything goes wrong, I can teach a lot of seminars. I can travel all over. I make a big name in Brazil. I make a big name with Jiu Jitsu. Like you said, I have friends in the UK, in the whole Europe, in Asia. I can go back to Jiu-Jitsu compete. It's another possibility. But even still loving my job, I don't want to stop fighting. But that's more possibility. You know more. Yeah, I got it same. 

Fitz
Host
06:16
Yeah. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
06:16
And if it happened, I know I can make some phone calls and people treat me super well. 

Fitz
Host
06:21
Yeah. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
06:21
Are you in a corner tonight? No, first time. I was last week in Boston. 

Fitz
Host
06:26
Yeah. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
06:26
I have two teammates fighting. 

Fitz
Host
06:29
Right Kenoshta. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
06:30
Yeah, yusoka and Gary Amfield. A couple more friends fighting Giga. I like Max Holloway a lot. Yeah, a couple friends, but yeah, I'm going to sit down, just one. 

Fitz
Host
06:40
Just enjoy the fight. 

06:41
Enjoy the fight, but you do a lot of cornering, and something that I think is pretty refreshing is the fact that Ian Gary is on his way up right. Yes, and you were in his corner and you're in the same division and you're ranked higher than him, and it theoretically won't be too long until people are going to want to see you fight. Ian Gary, what have you learned about being in the corner, despite being a top contender? A lot of guys will keep it close to the vest and they don't want to necessarily share their knowledge. They don't want to help boost somebody else because their time's not over. But you're not like that. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
07:16
Yeah, I'm not and I think the way I see is different. I see that I was a blast with the gift and I worked so hard to develop that gift. But whenever my time is done I don't want to take everything away with me. I think as much as I share, especially the World of World Divisions look at your sense. It's a buddy of mine. I like Ian Gary a lot. I fuck him up with Shavkats over there there's all teammates. I train a lot with these guys and we know we're going to fight each other. You just got to be for number one spot. We kind of all agree that you got to be a number one contender or you got to be for the title. 

Fitz
Host
08:01
You've come to an agreement that there's got to be the right amount of stakes to fight each other, yeah 100. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
08:07
And why now? We make each other better, why not? And even if we get to a point that we got to fight, he make me better, making him better, shit, we put all in the table and see who's the best fighter that night. And yeah, I just don't want to. I was over. 

08:26
I was reflecting a lot on the travel here. What I'm going to do is Susan fighting. I do believe she got three, maybe four more years fighting on the highest level. But when I'm done I never want to open up a gene. You know I say, ah, that's not a good business. I'm going to do stock marketing. But I start thinking and I started to make it. But I learned so much, like I competed so much Since 16, I got addicted not even with training with the competition. So I compete all over. Every other weekend I was competing. Sometimes I was, I remember, sometimes I was competing Saturday at one place, like example, like I was in Miami fighting on Saturday and suddenly they had a competition in Orlando and I was taking that two-hour trip to go there and compete again on different tournaments. So I compete so much that I don't want to leave the world without sharing all of that. 

09:16
So, I might get to open the gene, the same mentality with the guys Ian, gary Shavkac, mauro Luque. If I can help, I will help, and whenever we have to fight, it's going to be a high-level fighting, because whenever I need to help from all these guys, they give to me too. So why not Making each other better? If you end up fighting, we're going to fight. 

Fitz
Host
09:37
It is what it is. What's your status right now? What do you mean Injury-wise? 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
09:42
next fight-wise, I will say my status. I'm a little tired. Yeah, injury is almost done, almost recovery. I'm going to see the doctor on Monday when I'm back in Florida, I think. I'm like I think I'm five weeks away. To get clear, yeah 100% clear. So, with that being said, I see him on Monday. We probably should put another steam cell on that week, on the next week, and then I want my way to get clear. 

Fitz
Host
10:12
Can you fight in December, you think, or is that too early Next year? 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
10:16
I don't know, it was a little bit early. I don't want to hurry right now. That was my mistake and I fought Magni January, then April with Mazvidal, then May with Balam Muhammad. I think that hurry, try to gather the title shot quick. I think that was what caused the injury Pressure back now, which is too much. 

10:37
So now I want to take my time to do everything right. Like I said, I'm 37. Still feeling pretty young, I don't have surgeries on my body, I'm all clean. So I think I'm going to have maybe three to four more years on the highest level on this division. But I don't want to miss time, I don't want to make mistakes. So I think I'm going to have to do everything right. Five weeks, I might be clear. So that's September, end of September. I need like one or two months to get in real good shape, go back to sparring, feeling good. They'll leave me put in November and then a good camp will be six to seven weeks. So realistically, we could push. 

Fitz
Host
11:14
I could push for December, but January, february will be perfect for me, you've been asked about, like, which fights you really want to have, and you seem to lean on the rematches. Yes, like you'd rather have the rematches with Bilal and Kamaru instead of the fresh matchups against some other really big names, and calms out, right. That's the other one. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
11:37
Yeah, I love those rematches. Still, like I swallow. It take a little time. I accept I learned so much from those mistakes. But yeah, if I can't pick, if they, if, if I'm uncontrolled, they say you pick, yeah, we'll be Bilal Mohammed for sure, 100%. And then Kamazai and Kamaru. Those are the fights that I really want back and I think you'll be a freaking great fight. I don't think when I, when I see about about a matchup, I don't see only my side, I see my opponent side and I see, you know, the fans and all those three fights. I think the fans gonna love those fights. You're gonna make sense for Kamaru. You'll make sense for Bilal, will make sense for for Hamzai, yeah, I think, and the division is super stalling way there. 

12:24
So I gotta fight up, I don't want to fight down yeah, yeah, when I did with Wonder Boy, when I do Hamzai, when I did with Bilal, with all these guys that I'm fighting back. So I would love to fight forward this time, and I'll open a little bit if Dustin Paul here comes up. 

12:40
There's another one that I really like because the guys are former champ being a top five for everyone the lightweight division. They'll be another one if he moves up because he's sad it, but I don't know if he will do another. If he is will make sense to fight a top five or no out the way, not in regards to fighting, but in regards to either life or mindset. 

Fitz
Host
13:01
What is something that you are actively working on right now, that you are spending time thinking about right now? 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
13:09
as a good question. Mentally, I don't like to get too comfortable. You know, it's one thing that I always do if I'm too comfortable, it doesn't sit right, no, it doesn't feel right. So then I gotta I gotta do all the things or start cycling just to get to the mindset that I think you start thinking about quitting. Then I gotta pass that. So running today was freaking hard and that that's one thing that I always try to to don't get too relaxed, don't accept for sure. Get a vacation decent that I got a down time, I do, but I don't want to get on that mode for too long mm-hmm that's one thing that I always thinking. 

13:52
Lately I've been thinking a lot shit, I'm not competing, those guys are fighting, I gotta do some fuck. I cannot train yet, but I can't do those cardio. Yeah, kill myself and get back to the past. That that's really what I'm doing. Yeah, life I'm. I'm trying to be very smart with my money, like investing a lot of make sure, do right investments. I learned I get three good mentors that be helping me so much with the money, whether I put my money, whether I invest. And another thing that I'm doing spend time with my kids. You know, yeah, because I'm very I'm locked in a lot when I have something, when I put on my goals. I'm gonna train for sure, still talk to the kids, but not not so much because I'm too focused on fighting and get ready or make weight and these and that in recovery. So right now that I'm not doing that, I'm trying to spend a lot more time with the kids. 

14:46
Be more present and you know, listen more talk. We're having a conversation, sleep together, be present on the on. They both doing football. We don't want to do a soccer and flag football. My oldest one is doing tackle, so I've been present in the games, in the training session, helping a lot like talking about nutrition. You guys gonna train, you got in there need a lot of. You guys had to need to have a lot of nutrients before training, after trance, a hydrate. So those type of conversation I love to have my kids always these yeah always tricking my mindset. 

15:20
Make sure don't lay it up too much. 

Fitz
Host
15:21
I don't relax so much, thinking a lot about my investments and spend time with the family you know what I've figured out this summer and it's kind of at odds with what we were talking about earlier, about how knowing a lot of people and opening ourselves up to new experiences can lead to opportunities, and it's really good to kind of spread your wings. But the opposite of that, which is something I realized this summer is like when it this all goes away. Like when we're old, fast forward 30 years, we probably won't be in touch anymore, but your kids will be there, like your family, the people that are around you. They're gonna be there through the decades and so you can't let those relationships get even like a little bit weak. You know what I mean. I mean life happens and stuff, but to keep in mind who's gonna be with you until the end and put your time there first and then kind of spread the rest out. But it's tough right, because it's like they're at odds with one another. They just got to figure out the balance. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
16:13
I agree. That's why I tried to spend extra time with the kids, with the family. So whenever I fight people, I don't bring my kids to the fight, I bring yeah, I wanted to see the experience. 

16:23
I wanted to see me winning. I hope I was only winning, but gonna see me losing, true, and getting hurt, and he's okay. You know those guys are why you bring yourself to the fights and you lost, yeah, they got to see all that. You know so, and he's a lot of learning. I gotta be there and I think that one of the greatest things that that fight helped me is making the right decision. 

16:49
Of freaking chaos, when you heard you're really freaking loud. You hear your opponent's corner here, corner. Look at your opponent. He's coming at you and still gonna make the right decision. That calmness, when we take that from fighting put two different ways. It helped me a lot even to deal with my kids, with family. Any situations are freaking. I get in, tackle and look at him and his mom is freaking out, say let me talk. And hey, come here, relax, come now, you're good. Nothing happened like even those are good. So that's why the thing that you said, that's why I want to expand more and more time, if I got it. Just Singapore was too far to bring the kids in school. They have a football season, but in Boston I bring at least one in. In Vegas. I try to bring everybody, so I do both. I still do in my network, I still doing my work, but I'm spending time with the family on the same time. It's hard to do, but I try to do as much as I can well, gilbert, I called that fight in Uruguay. 

Fitz
Host
17:53
That was when you moved up to welterweight, I think right around that yeah and your career path. How you've continued to rise and really become a fan favorite is one of my favorite things about your story. Because yesterday bring on stage. The fans love you here, which is proof that you're doing the right things and that they love you all over the world. 

Gilbert Burns
Guest
18:11
Thanks for spending a few minutes buddy always love always love seeing you yeah, my pleasure, I love to see you, yeah time for some Q&A. 

Fitz
Host
18:19
I got a couple of questions from listeners and viewers out there and, as promised, if you send me in a question to my email BrendonFittsTV at gmailcom I'll read it on the air, I'll answer it and I'll send you a little something so I might send you you know, maybe this UFC Loves Hawaii limited edition t-shirt that I got yesterday and this weekend and we'll see what other goodies I hand out to you for listening, participating in the show and keeping the conversation going Again. Brendonfittstv at gmailcom. First question comes from Damien. It's not really a question, but he says hello, brendon, just wanted to thank you for your content. Just watched Fitz Nation episode 143. I enjoy your work, especially when paired with Bisping, as weird as it sounds. I genuinely hope you guys have a good relationship off the camera as well. Take care, damien. Damien, thanks for your comment. Not really a question, but I will clarify this. Yes, we get along off camera. 

19:24
Bisping is exactly who he is on camera. Off camera, his star power is something that I think I underestimated a little bit. I think he himself underestimates a little bit, but he's gotten used to it. Case in point Like we're in Singapore this weekend, we're out at dinner at a Greek restaurant somewhere in Singapore and people come over to the table and they just want to say hi to him, they ask him for a photo and he's just this next level global kind of fighting star and I think it surprised himself. I asked him a few years ago. I was just like so do people stop you in the grocery store, like in Southern California where you live? And he's like, yeah, it happens a good bit. And a producer of ours was telling a funny story. Daniel Cormier doesn't realize the star that he is when he's in a restaurant he'll be telling some crazy story, right, that maybe you should keep just to your inner circle. And he doesn't realize that tables around him really know who he is and big fans will be right around him and they'll just kind of be looking at him and can't believe that Daniel Cormier is sitting at the next table. So yes, I definitely get along with Bisping. He's been very nice to me from day one because I am not on the level of star in mixed martial arts and will never be as on Michael Bisping. 

20:42
A Daniel Cormier, a dominant cruise and those really like legends of the sport have always been great to me in terms of being colleagues and partners on the air. They've given me the respect for what I do as a broadcaster and I, in turn, give it right back to them for what they've done as athletes and then how they've transitioned to being really, really good broadcasters. I mean, bisping has obviously spread his wings into acting, into owning businesses. He's doing a lot right. His YouTube channel is great too, in case you already don't know. So yeah, bisping's become a good friend, and trips like this where we're not at the apex, where we get to go have dinner two, three times, they boost the relationship a lot and I'm grateful to be able to travel the world with guys like that. 

21:29
I just got back from heading into Singapore with Paul Felder. We went to a Muay Thai shop because he wanted to get some gloves so that he could hit some pads, and it's just those little interactions, man. Like I said on the last episode, something I'm working on these days is just being more present in the moment, not trying to get my phone out. Capture everything. It's like, yes, there's a time and a place to get your phone out, take a picture, grab some video so that I can do a show like this, but I'm trying to not make it as ubiquitous or as overwhelming, like grab everything on camera so that I can edit it together and put it together. So I've had some real good interactions and just like time spent on a plane at a restaurant with people behind the camera Paul Felder, michael Bisping Good to touch base with John Gooden this week. 

22:21
I have a good John Gooden story. I'll get it to you in just a moment, damien. Thank you, I will reach out to you and send you something. Make it worth your while to participate in the show. Ok, next question, and this is a real one hey, brendan, love the show. Thanks for all you do. Really appreciate you being so active to the fans on Reddit too. 

22:41
I'm at Brendan Fitz TV on Reddit. I do kind of jump in there a bit. My question is which MMA moment from the last 12 months means the most to you, and why? Big fan of the UFC Panini cards. So if my question gets picked, I'll happily take those off your hands, ben from the UK. Ben, I've got some Panini cards. They're coming your way. Thanks for the question. So which MMA moment from the last 12 months means the most to you and why? Hmm, so this is actually like, yeah, it's a little over 12 months ago because it was early August and here we are on August 26. 

23:23
I was in San Diego, ufc San Diego last year, main event Dominic Cruz, chito Vera. The reason why I picked that one is because from August of last year until March of this year about six months or so I had not done a show in a big arena. I had been exclusively at the Apex late last year and early this year. Now I don't wanna get into it, but obviously it's quite a different circumstance calling a show in the Apex in front of a few hundred people as opposed to getting out on the road spending time with the crew and also being in front of thousands of fans, tens of thousands of fans if it's at a big NBA arena. It's just a much, much different thing and you could just really feel the energy. It's good for the soul, like it's just good to be out in that environment, and now I get to do it pretty rarely. So from the last 12 months I'll say the UFC San Diego event for the energy that it brought both in the headliner, chito getting the big knockout and I hate that for Dom Cruise, but it was a great main event fight. It felt big. It was Dominic Cruz returning. It was on ESPN in his home city. Like the walkouts were loud, the crowd was into it. 

24:45
The lesser known fights still delivered like major action. San Diego was a barn burner of a place and something else that was like people won't think about. We're usually in the state of the art arenas, like in Boston or you know, pick the place. Most of the buildings where we're housing events now they're pretty modern. Outside of Brazil has old arenas, but in San Diego they don't have an NBA team, they don't have an NHL team. Their arena was like this old barn. It was like a minor league hockey barn. It was like something you find out of like Will Ferrell movie semi-pro where it was built in the 70s. It wasn't that air conditioned, it was a little dingy, but it felt right Like. It felt like a fight club vibe. 

25:31
And the other thing is that weekend I turned 40 years old and I've never been afraid of aging and, oh my goodness, I'm getting too old. I like to think I'm still learning and growing and getting better with age. So almost like it was like a real celebration of turning 40. I'm like, yes, like I've made it Like I feel like I'm ready to thrive until 50 and beyond, but obviously 40 is a milestone birthday, so had a great dinner at a great restaurant with some producers that I hadn't seen in a while. Turned 40. San Diego, beautiful city, and then also the impact of being at such a kind of high amplitude live event. Because, let's be honest, ufc San Antonio earlier this year, which was my next event on the road, didn't really deliver in terms of major action. Corey Sandhagen just kind of dominated Cheeto over five rounds. Then Kansas City had some good moments, but Max Holloway really picked apart Arnold Allen. So the last big fight, feel in front of a big crowd that I've been a part of was last August. 

26:36
I'll answer your part in two questions. I'll also say MMA moment most impactful on the broader spectrum of sports, regardless of my you know, role in it. Obviously the easy answer is Sean O'Malley. I think time will tell how big the Sean O'Malley Algerman Sterling win is, because obviously it's going to depend on how many times he defends the belt and like, if he defends the belt another two, three times, like he has Connor McGregor potential in terms of his ability to become a worldwide superstar. Be on the tonight show. Get big fights, but be this next level household name. Time will tell on that. So we could look back and say, of course, the most impactful event of 2023 was when Sean O'Malley became a champion. 

27:27
But I'll say this Israel Adesanya knocking out Alex Pareda in Miami in April that to me is the most impactful because we only have so many like legitimate MMA superstars. It's one of those things. It's a numbers game. We're putting on events every week. Not everybody can be this standout kind of lightning rod star and we're building new stars. Sean O'Malley broke through. Ian Gary is really starting to get there, but Israel Adesanya was that and he was knocked down a peg by Alex Padeira, who was the boogie man who had beaten him, had had his number. And if Israel Adesanya like loses that fight, gets knocked out like it was getting hairy there in the seconds before he lands the big shot and knocks him out, you know that would have taken Israel Adesanya down off this perch even more and when things start snowballing you wonder if they can ever fully get it back. But in front of such a big spotlight, I think today, I think Israel Adesanya and Alex Padeira in Miami is the most sold pay-per-view in the UFC so far in 2023. Never mind, it's John Jones, but number two is Israel Adesanya and Alex Padeira, john Jones, cyril Gahn and, you know, john Jones in Madison Square Garden will probably even set that number higher. But right, there is Israel Adesanya in terms of his star power, in terms of his ability to sell pay-per-views, and if he loses that fight, he loses that ability even more. And so to me, as an impact moment in mixed martial arts, israel Adesanya getting that belt back and then being right back on track, it's gonna be a huge favorite, obviously against Sean Strickland and Sydney in a few weeks. Everybody expects him to keep that belt and it just keeps Israel Adesanya as that big star at middleweight and I think that does have a major impact. So those are the two moments that I'll give you. 

29:32
Again, ben from the UK, thanks for the question. You're getting some Panini cards. I'll reach out to you. Alright, I want to tell a quick John Gooden story that was pretty funny from this morning and it also dovetails with something I'm working on. Like in my last episode, I thought valuable to say what are you working on, brendon? Like, what are you trying to figure out right now? And I said, you know the intersection of social media and trying to stay relevant, but also trying to be great at your thing. 

29:58
I'm reading this book and I recommend it. It's called 4000 Weeks Time Management for Mortals, and so this book is, you know, on the surface okay, another time management book, a productivity book, but it turns it on its head and it acknowledges, like I'm not just gonna tell you how to get more stuff done, and the premise of the book can kind of be summarized in this little sentence the technologies we use to try to get on top of everything always fail us in the end because they increase the size of the everything of which we're trying to get on top of. And it's just a great book in terms of how we look at our time and how we spend our time, and so the something that I'm working on is again I'll sum it up in this sentence take it from a work from home writer a couple of brief interactions with another human can make all the difference in a day, and he's talking about how you know, don't just hit, go on the app to get your delivery food all the time. Don't just take the Uber, like you know, there's there's different ways to do things, and it's not a boycott all technology book, but something that I'm working on is I'll put earphones in all the time to listen to a podcast, to listen to a book, to listen to music. When I'm going to Costco, I'm going grocery shopping, I'm going out to run the everyday errands. I used to always have earphones in and it was like, okay, two birds, one stone. I'm getting some errands done. I'm gonna listen to another hour in my audiobook. But you know, what brings real joy is like when you check out and you have a conversation with people who are ringing your food up. You know, when you have a real conversation with somebody, like while you're pumping your car with gas and organic interactions with other human beings is something that is going away, but it really is a valuable part of life, and so, whereas before a lot of people keep their head down, they don't say hi, they don't look each other in the eye, all the time they're in their own world with their headphones on, I am doing more of take the headphones out, live in the moment, hear the sounds, talk to the people, somebody that you might not say something about, but maybe you like their shirt, go up and say I like your shirt, right, it might spark this fun conversation and it will make you feel better and so that's what I'm working on. 

32:17
But the funny John Gooden story is so this book 4000 weeks, time management for mortals and it's like you see on the cover, if you're watching, like it's kind of blocked out, it's kind of set. So he's like what book are you reading? Sees me at breakfast. I'm sitting there with Felder, what book you're reading? And he looks over it for like 10 seconds. He's kind of looking at the cover and he's like, oh, and he just goes, he goes. I have a great time management book for you, great book. It's called 4000 weeks and I and I'm like I look at Felder and I'm just like, is? I was like you see, joking right now, like what's? And I just like gave goodness, look like, is this, where's the punchline? Like what's going on? And I was just like that's the book. I'm really like you just looked at this book cover for 10 seconds and he looked at it and he's just like it's like I'm sorry, mate, I have the totally different cover version of it or whatever. My cover looks so different. It's just kind of a weird thing. But John Gooden likes the book, I like the book, so maybe it's for UFC play-by-play announcers. But anyways, 4000 weeks time management for mortals. Double thumbs up for the recommendation. 

33:19
Okay, I sit here in my Singapore hotel room. Thank you for the questions, Ben from the UK and Damian, I'll get you something special from my UFC stash of things. I have to go over to Singapore indoor stadium to call these fights in about an hour, and so maybe I'll do a little recap after the event and wrap this episode up. That was quite an event, wasn't it? I'm in the dressing room here inside of a Singapore indoor stadium, felder and Bisk being our up doing the post-show. 

33:53
But I just wanted to wrap this episode up by saying I had a wonderful week in Singapore and, as I mentioned earlier, there is a different energy, with crowds and an arena full of fans, obviously, but it doesn't mean you get big emotional moments like we got tonight and shout out to the Korean zombie for all that he's done, for all of MMA. But as it relates to me, I called his fight against Hanato Moicano in South Carolina one of my favorite fight calls that I've ever had. From a broadcasting standpoint, I called his fight in Korea against Frankie Edgar the only time he fought as a UFC fighter in Korea and I thought I called his retirement fight against Max Holloway, and what a moment it was. In Asia, I hear Bisk being in Felder, coming down the hall. Let's see if they have anything to say no, I'm just getting Bisk being, bisk being. 

34:43
Say goodbye to my podcast audience. Why would you listen to his podcast? 

00:45 / 34:58