Themba Gorimbo: From blood diamond fields of Zimbabwe to the UFC to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson changing his life, Themba emotionally shares impact of his UFC 310 Loss to Vincente Luque and his struggles

"I lost the fight, I didn't lose the journey." Themba Gorimbo UFC Fighter As we wrap up 2024, we have a conversation with a young athlete who has defied the odds in every aspect of life, endured unimaginable challenges and is now sharing his extraordinary journey with Ryan, Channing and Fred on this episode of The Pivot Podcast. Themba Gorimbo, is coming off a devastating loss in UFC 310 to Vincente Luque and shares how the past couple weeks he hasn't wanted to wake up and details the moments he remembers after his 52 second defeat in Las Vegas at T Mobile Arena, how his country turned on him and how the negative words and reception from fans across the world has crippled him mentally and emotionally. But despite the pain he feels, Themba is reminded of how lucky he is to be alive today after a life of danger, trauma and instability. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Themba's path to the UFC was anything but conventional. Hearing his story, the guys react as if it's a movie playing out as Themba details his childhood of dealing blood diamonds, being held hostage, running for his life, his family dying in front of him and escaping the unthinkable to make it to the land of opportunity. And then like any Hollywood film, a hero comes along to save him except this isn't Hollywood, this is Themba's true reality. Themba tells Ryan, Channing and Fred how his will to survive led him to the octagon, seeking a career in Mixed Martial Arts as he shares how on the morning of his first real fight, he only had $7.49 to his name and posted about it to show how he was down and could come back up. His message caught more attention than he could hope for, when Dwayne The Rock Johnson saw it and stepped in to help change Themba's life forever... The Rock may be Themba's real life saver but the true hero is Themba himself as his story is a powerful testament to resilience, determination, and the relentless pursuit of a dream. Coming off a heartbreaking loss brought on tears of embarrassment and hurt pride, but he is showing signs of strength again by opening up and trying to rise again. From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of professional fighting, his unwavering work ethic, sacrifices made along the way and the pivotal moments that shaped the man he is today, this conversation goes beyond the cage and into the heart of what it means to pivot when life throws the hardest punches. Episode is streaming now and full video conversation on YouTube and don't forget to hit the subscribe button as we turn the page to a new year and new chapter ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Channing Crowder?

  Know that shit. That man can't hear a dress. Clean, clean shit. Had to go to the car. What's up, brother? How you doing?

• 0:36Speaker 02

  I'm good.

• 0:37Channing Crowder?

  Thank you so much.

• 0:38Speaker 02

  What's up, brother, man? How are you? Yes, sir. Thank you, guys, for having me. It's an honor. I'm saying, I see the A.

• 0:43Ryan Clark?

  Man, we should have brought KK, man.

• 0:47Speaker 02

  Definitely should have brought KK.

• 0:49Ryan Clark?

  We should have brought KK.

• 0:51Speaker 02

  I'm so happy to be here.

• 0:52Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you, brother.

• 0:53Speaker 02

  And I thank you, guys, for having me, man. And, you know, it's a blessing to be here. And especially coming off a loss and you invite me to be on the show. It's rare, and it means a lot to me.

• 1:03Ryan Clark?

  Well, I think the biggest thing about our show, it's not about wins and losses, it's about the journey. And just you coming from where you came from in Zimbabwe, to have an opportunity to fight in the UFC is a journey. To also have wins in the UFC, to be able to step up on late notice. And so, because I'm such a huge fan of the organization, I know those things, but we want to share those things with our people, with our subscribers, with our Pivot fam.

• 1:49Ryan Clark?

  This is Channing Crowder. This is Fred Taylor. I'm Ryan Clark.

• 1:52Speaker 02

  Thank you. Nice to have you, guys. It's a blessing to be here.

• 1:54Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to the Pivot. We're here with Imba Goringbo. The answer, by the way. We tried to get another answer on recently, but he ain't answer.

• 2:03Ryan Clark?

  So, what I want to do though is set the stage. You already talked about the loss to Vicente and we'll get to that in a moment. But I want to take it back to Zimbabwe, to being a teenager, to some of the scars we've seen on your body on Fight Night. Tell me what happened that night in the diamond fields, in the night that truly could have changed your life.

• 2:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, so you know, where I come from, it's like, it's a rural area in Zimbabwe, it's Burkita. And like thirty or forty minutes away from there, that's where the diamond fields were. Were discovered back in 2007, eight. And I was in high school and I had just finished my high school and I had passed my high school and I was supposed to go to another grade. But like, things weren't fine, you know, because I lost my parents when I was very young and my cousin had promised me because I had passed so good and I thought I was gonna go to a better school and my cousin promised me to go to a better school, but financially he was unable to send me to that better school.

• 3:10Speaker 02

  And I just thought to myself, you know, I don't want to continue being at school. I would rather go to the diamond fields. I was sixteen and I went to the diamond fields to dig illegal diamonds. And when I was there, I was luckily lucky and I was always getting the diamonds. And one night, you know, it was unfortunate that I got too complacent and I thought, I was with this policeman that, you know, in the diamond fields you have to work with the policeman if you want to get to the good areas. So I was working with this policeman and I got complacent and, you know, I was underneath in the, on the ground and me and my cousin were busy digging and the bosses of this policeman came and he had run away.

• 3:55Speaker 02

  It was in the middle of the night and there's like thousands of people digging diamonds and they ran away and me and my cousin were left underneath and there were people, we could hear people getting beaten by the dogs upstairs. Then I was further out and my cousin was the one to be seen first, you know. And they called him up and he, "You snitched on me." It's like, "No, there's another guy underneath then," you know. I mean... There was a, it was a situation where it's either he's eaten alone or, you know, both of us at the same time and he's in the army and, you know, we end up getting bitten by the dogs together and almost died, man. I lost a lot, a lot of blood. Um, yeah, I,

• 4:39Speaker 02

  yeah, that day, it was, it was, it was not a good day, but it was also a blessing in disguise if we look at it because it taught me a lot of lessons, you know, that firstly, never to be complacent in any situation, whether it's good or bad, you know. And secondly, the other lesson is that, you know, the life we have can be taken in any point of time in life and we have to appreciate it when we have it because I remember waking up on the fire guard. Cause I ran after getting bitten by the dogs, like literally they stripped me naked. So it was like four German shepherds biting me and, you know, it was not very nice. I had a lot of blood loss and I ran after that. You have to still

• 5:23Speaker 02

  run. I ran after that and I woke up the following morning because I passed out from loss of blood. Woke up the following morning and yeah, man, life was different.

• 5:36Ryan Clark?

  To hear about the diamond fields or blood diamonds and all of those different things, it seems so far off when you grow up here in America. I mean, honestly, it became most popular when Kanye West made a song about it. And to actually hear you saying you were digging diamonds and for someone to say, okay, I'm not just by myself, there's someone else down there. To be bitten by German shepherds, lose that, that amount of blood, it's almost unfathomable for me, Chan, to have someone sitting in front of me that's actually going through that.

• 6:11Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, man, and this, as you're telling the story, man, it's blowing my mind. What, what's the process of it?

• 6:17Ryan Clark?

  This is, this is, I've seen the movie too. So it's Kanye in the movie is all we know about this process. But when they say you're a blood diamond smuggler, I was like, he was a what?

• 6:28Speaker 02

  It's, I, I think, I've seen the movies too. I think the movie side of it and the reality is a little bit different, you know? The movie side of it, they have to tell a story differently. And the reality is a little bit different, and I live the reality. And it's, it's, it's, it's not as, as nice as it's may seem on movies. And the reality is, everybody that goes to the diamond fields, whether you are young, old women or girls even, they were there, you know? Everybody's out there to hunt something. And they might hunt you down, you know? You do not trust anybody when you're at the diamond fields.

• 7:06Speaker 02

  And you must know that the person next to you can and can kill you for the diamonds if you happen to get a good diamond. So it's, it's, it's something that, that you learn at a, I learned personally at a very young age. I mean, sometimes I'm naive and I forget these type of things that, you know, never to trust a lot of people. And I learned this at a very young age because I would see you, you have syndicates. Luckily, it was on, my syndicate was only two people, me and my cousin. But like in other syndicates, there's like five people. And people get greedy digging the diamonds. And if it's, let's say four of us, and we get the diamond, and one of us pick up the diamond, sometimes they'll throw it in the mouth.

• 7:49Speaker 02

  And they, they, they will swallow it and, and you know, sometimes want to hide it from the syndicate because they're greedy. And sometimes the syndicate would have to kill that individual. His instincts to get that diamond, man, it has happened and.

• 8:06Ryan Clark?

  Wait, Tom, wait. So what you're saying is, so I need you to explain it for real, is that people would get the diamonds, swallow them to hide them from their syndicate? And you're saying they'd be killed and?

• 8:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, if you do that, the people will not wait for you to go to pool so that they can get the diamond back. And they would kill you if they have to.

• 8:30Ryan Clark?

  And bro, how old were you?

• 8:32Speaker 02

  Oh, sixteen, yeah. It was normal, but luckily for me, I had my syndicate that was my cousin and we had a good relationship. If it's a big syndicate, normally that's what would happen because people get greedy because someone will pick up a small diamond, maybe it's small and then it counts, okay, four people, then if we'd sell this, we would not get enough money. Um, maybe it's best I take it alone. And it has happened that people get killed like that and sometimes if they say me and my cousin, we're very young, I was older than him. He, I think he was like fourteen and or sixteen and if I, if I get the diamonds, me and him, and the older guy see that we have a diamond and we try to sell this diamond and sometimes

• 9:14Speaker 02

  the buyers will also be part of this mafia type of gangsters, they would delay your, the sale, they would send you one buyer to another buyer so that the guys come and if you are young, you don't have protection, you know, and they might come and try to kill you for that diamond to take it. Or you sell it and then, like the biggest diamond I got was a twelve carat diamond. Luckily, unfortunately, it was a little bit dark on the side, so we didn't get a lot of money on it. Uh, but when we saw that diamond, straight away, we had a tail on us, you know, we had to run for a long period of time, running away from these guys that we thought were on our side, but like they wanted to take the money from us, you know, and yeah.

• 9:59Fred Taylor?

  That's a whole lot of backstabbing, but you were a good student. You understood the risks associated with going into mines. You gotta deal with your snitching cousin, uh, dogs.

• 10:12Speaker 02

  He wasn't that, I wouldn't put, I wouldn't put, I wouldn't put it that way because, you know, I mean, he's so rest in peace now, you know, it's, it's a sad thing that he passed away. Um, uh, yeah, but like he was not, I don't, I don't wanna say he was a snitch, but yeah, he snitched on me on that one.

• 10:28Ryan Clark?

  I said, I said it jokingly. Freddie T said, I don't wanna say he was a snitch, but yeah, he snitched on me.

• 10:35Speaker 02

  On that one, I wouldn't blame him. I, I, I think if I was in his position, uh, I would not want to be beaten by the dogs alone. I, I don't know.

• 10:45Fred Taylor?

  So he tried to split the bites in half.

• 10:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:48Ryan Clark?

  Hey, he said, hey. Timber, come out, they got us. Hey, we right here. I got in there too with some people. I'm in the woods, they got caught. They talking about, they caught us. I said, no, they caught you. Leave me in the woods.

• 11:03Fred Taylor?

  You've been going through all of those different things. And then after being bitten by the dogs, fainting, that whole ordeal. How did it affect you mentally at such a young age?

• 11:13Speaker 02

  It didn't affect me mentally like in a negative way. Because guess what? I think a week or so later, I was back there limping, trying to get more diamonds. And on the diamond fields. But it was also because of like the. I had faced the worst when I, when that happened. Like, I could go back again and, you know, be smarter. From that, I learned to be smarter going back the following time. But unfortunately, when I went back, that's where they had the big operation on the diamond fields, where the government brought in the army now. And there were helicopters, soldiers. And they had this big operation where they didn't want people to ever go there.

• 11:55Speaker 02

  So that was the most hectic part where you'd run, let's say for five kilometers, running, being chased by the soldiers. And by the time you think you're taking a rest, and they knew, group of soldiers start chasing you. And yeah, that was the toughest one. I think that was the biggest and the toughest test because, you know, you don't, you don't look at them. You just hear the guns shooting. And sometimes you don't know if it's real bullets or if they're shooting towards you or whatsoever. You have to keep running. And the hard thing is running away from something you can't see. And you just keep on running, running, running, running for kilometers and kilometers. And I think that was the, I mean, that was the biggest lesson from it.

• 12:40Fred Taylor?

  For, for understanding that life and death is involved. Like, how much could those diamonds fetch? Or what was the most you've ever gotten from a diamond?

• 12:52Speaker 02

  So when we saw that Karakara dam, we got.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  I think it was like around $6,000 and 21,000 runs. The buyers would buy in dollars and runs and then there were Biara checks. The Biara checks is the local Zimbabwean money. So I think, I can't really remember, but it was, back then, we had the currency that was billions. So yeah, I have been once a billionaire in Zimbabwe dollars.

• 13:23Ryan Clark?

  So let's talk about, we're talking about money then. You get here, you're broke as hell, you're in the UFC. Tell me how a post about having a little bit over $7 to your name allowed you to meet maybe the biggest mega star in the world who at one point only had $7 to his name as well.

• 13:48Speaker 02

  After I lost my UFC debut, I can only put it this way. I had nothing because I'm an overachiever and I tried to do whatever it takes for me to win. And part of that was when I was back in Africa and leading up to my UFC debut, I had incurred a lot of debt in terms of like money. I didn't have money because I had a gym back in South Africa where I had these boys that I was looking after in my gym. They were staying in my gym, I think it was like seven boys or so. They were staying in my gym, sleeping in the gym as well. And one day, the landlord found out that they were staying in the gym

• 14:31Speaker 02

  and he gave me a notice that if you don't get these guys out, you might as well pack your stuff and go. And I had to look for an apartment for them to stay because I knew that if they go and stay in these locations, and it's called locations, like a township, it might be dangerous for them. And I was the one that gave them hope that, hey, you can come to South Africa. Some of them were not from South Africa. You can come to South Africa and stay here and I'll help you to get to that level that you want. So I rented this apartment, so I borrowed money for me to do that because it was all of a sudden thing for me to do that. So I incurred a lot of debt leading up to my UFC debut and... I was paying for these guys accommodation, paying for their food.

• 15:15Speaker 02

  Sometimes I would be generous if I have extra money, buy clothes for them and stuff like that. And when I got to my UFC debut, I wanted to make sure that I would succeed by any means necessary. So I flew in with a week before and I booked a hotel. And I was with them, when you're starting, they fly you and your corner man. So I wanted to fly with three of my coaches, my wrestling coach, my boxing coach and my jiu-jitsu coach. So I paid for that stuff as well, in terms of like the UFC paid for that stuff, but they would deduct the money away from that as well. And I lost my UFC debut and when you arrive at the UFC, unfortunately.

• 15:58Ryan Clark?

  How much was your first cheque for that fight?

• 16:01Speaker 02

  I don't think we are allowed to disclose that, but like when, but it was a lot of, like if you live in Africa, when on your UFC debut, and I believe in earning your way in life. And when you arrive in the UFC, it's normal, you are on a 10 to 10 contract or 12 to 12, right? Just depending on who you are, sometimes guys who have got bigger name, they arrive with a bigger cheque. And you lose your debut, you get taxed 30%.

• 16:32Speaker 02

  And then you have to pay your manager, you know, a percentage from that.

• 16:38Ryan Clark?

  So you pay.

• 16:38Speaker 02

  From the, yeah, so like 30% straight away from the government of United States, whatever. And then straight away you have to pay your manager the percentage of that. And let's say you earn 10,000, 30%, you are left with 7,000. Then 7,000, you pay your manager, you'll be left with some money. And then I heard deductions again from the.

• 17:02Speaker 02

  The whole, what you call it, from the flights and the extra accommodation that I had incurred. So I was left with nothing. I think the money I was left with from my debut, I'll be honest with you. I think it was one thousand two hundred after paying all the things. And I was still in debt for the people that had borrowed me money back home, you know.

• 17:20Ryan Clark?

  How do you get from that point where you have that to showing the world you only have like seven dollars? And The Rock now comes into play.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  So I went back home and my manager wanted me to stay here. But I knew that I had no, but he was said, offered me to stay at his house in Las Vegas, you know. And I said to him, I'll go and figure this out. Because I knew if I stayed here, I still had a gym in South Africa that I was running. And I still have these boys that I was trying to look after. And I said, let me go and figure it out, you know. I went home and paid with the money that I was left with, paid the rent for the gym and paid the accommodation that I was still paying for these boys in my own place where I was staying and everything, you know. And I spoke to one of my clients and they put money together for me. They did like a small fundraiser and they raised money for me. I was supposed to go to Germany to train because I was like, if I train here, I'll fail.

• 18:17Speaker 02

  I have to go and train somewhere else where I can train with high caliber guys that have my weight and with coaches. And I wanted to go and train in Germany because I had, I thought I could get the European visa quicker. And I was denied the visa for Europe. Then the next thing that was available for me was, it was twenty thousand runs that they raised for me. And the next thing available for me was to come to America because I already had the American visa. But I didn't want to come here because I knew it was more expensive for me to come here. And I paid seventeen thousand runs to, for the flight to come here. And I went to Miami and I was training here, staying in the gym. I messaged the coaches here in Miami and I said to them, can I come in there and train? And you can take a percentage from my next flight pass, you know. And they said, agreed, you know, we, we had an agreement that, okay, cool.

• 19:00Speaker 02

  But they said to me, there's no accommodation currently for, for you. I said, I can stay on the meds, I can sleep on the meds. I just want to come and change my life and train in a better environment and just go after this, you know. They said to me, "Okay, cool, come stay and you can stay on the couch, whatever." Then I stayed on the couch and I trained and trained and, you know, I didn't have money while I was training here. Friends that would send me small money here and there to help me to get to the fight. And when I got to the day where I had the seven dollars, it was the day of the fight. And I still remember it very well.

• 19:32Ryan Clark?

  A seven-dollar day of a fight?

• 19:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, what happened is, Ryan, I had eighty-seven dollars forty-nine. What happened is, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. on the day of the fight, sick with flu. My nose was blocked, everything was like, "Damn, what now? Must I pull out of the fight? I can't. If I pull out of the fight, I'm going back home with the same situation that I came here with." Secondly, if I pull out of this fight, I'm coming off a loss. And the UFC has already invested to fly me here, to be here, and I said, "I'll fight." And if I, you never know, you might be cut. You have to still go in and fight, no matter what. And I didn't want to tell my manager to say to him, "I'm sick," because I knew it might worry him. I didn't want to tell my coaches that I'm sick.

• 20:19Speaker 02

  I knew it was gonna worry everybody and drop their confidence on me. And I ordered this medicine online with, and out of panic, and it was 3:00 a.m., I pressed, I don't know how many times, and the medicine went all the way to eighty dollars, and I was left with seven dollars forty-nine.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  When the medicine came, it was like a big package. And like, it was crazy that it got to that point. And I was like, "Damn, I can't get the refund, I can't get anything." And I took the loss and I was like, "Okay, cool, I'll screenshot this." Because you know what? I'm gonna go out there and win, and when I win, I'm gonna get a bonus. And I wanna post today that, "Look at me this morning, I was in this situation of seven dollars forty-nine."

• 21:12Speaker 02

  I have just won a bonus. You know, like, I wanted to put it as an inspiration for people. Like, I think I live for more inspiring people than anything. And I want to put it as an inspiration for people that, hey, you can be down, but if you believe in yourself. I was days broke and I got sick and I look at me now, I have a performance bonus. This is how my third party went. And even I didn't have money for breakfast that day of the fight. My friend, who I was with and my teammate, bought for me the breakfast for me to eat that morning, you know. I hid away everything from my coaches, but they figured out that I was sick because my voice was gone. But, you know, you're broke, you don't have anything to go back to.

• 21:54Channing Crowder?

  You running from German shepherds, you getting shot at by armies. When the hell did you start fighting? Like, I think we skipped a big ass window in this story. Because why are you fighting? You was climbing through mines and now you in the UFC. What was the mid-ground of that part?

• 22:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, so like after the diamonds, when they did the operation, I had the next available option that was for me to either go back to school or tell my cousin I want to go to South Africa. And I crossed the border illegally to go to South Africa instead of going back to school. I was like, I cannot go back to school because I had been making money with the diamonds and it was... And sometimes I would make money more than the teachers. So like, it was an ego thing of saying, I have made money more than these teachers, I can't go back to school. I want to go and keep on making money and do something with my life. And I chose to do that and I went illegally to South Africa when I was like seventeen. And then I was there, got deported to in South Africa.

• 22:59Speaker 02

  I literally, the first day arriving in South Africa, we got caught by the police, got deported. And the day I got deported, I went back to South Africa straight away after that. They literally dropped me at the border and say, go back home. That night... I went back to South Africa. And the second time I succeeded. And I had these guys that held me hostage. In the, like, the guys that helped me to go back to South Africa the second time. Because I had to pay them something. And unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to pay them. They held me hostage in a room for two weeks, waiting for my cousins to pay. For me to, for them to release me to go to Cape Town where my cousins were. And unfortunately, my cousin didn't pay. And these guys held me to a point where they were like,

• 23:43Speaker 02

  "You are costing us more money to be here, feeding you every day than the money that's..." "So you can go." So they literally dropped me and I went to Cape Town. And then two years later, I started MMA. I started MMA when I was 19. I watched a movie called Never Back Down.

• 23:57Channing Crowder?

  But you just wasn't starting to whoop it ass like that? How you, hey, how you get kidnapped and they give you back though?

• 24:03Speaker 02

  No, no, it's not kidnapped. No, you, it's, it's, it's, they, like, they call them Malachi. So Malachi is a guy, is those people that, you know, help people to travel from Zimbabwe to South Africa sometimes illegally. And they had the car and everything. So I had promised them that my cousins would pay. And the extra money that they had asked for. I had paid them something, but I had promised, the fee was more. And I said my cousins would pay. Then they trusted me and they helped me to get into South Africa, to Johannesburg. And they kept me at their house in Rodeport for two weeks. And my cousin wouldn't pay, you know, like, they, they thought maybe the money that I had paid was enough. Or whatever they thought, man.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  It was not nice.

• 24:49Channing Crowder?

  Can I ask you a question?

• 24:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:51Channing Crowder?

  Was this the same cousin that snitched?

• 24:53Speaker 02

  No, no, no, these were my older cousins. But like, they were trying to put money together as cousins to get me from these guys so that I can move on to go to Cape Town. Because my journey was to go to Cape Town. But, I mean, also, I cannot blame them because they are, they were all working low-paying jobs, you know? They have to wait for a month and all that. So it was life.

• 25:17Ryan Clark?

  Fellas, we're approaching the end of the regular season. And we got some true holiday heroes. Just dudes who show up and show out every single time their team needs them to.

• 25:26Channing Crowder?

  Talking about holiday heroes, I know y'all love touchdowns. I know you love touchdowns all day. You offensive players, defensive players step up. Defense wins championships. I gotta bring up my man Chris Jones with KC. I gotta bring up Derwin James, friend of the program. But you know what? Damn, I hate to make RC happy. That TJ Watt's about to go crazy this time of year. Defensive Player of the Year, he's my holiday hero.

• 25:51Fred Taylor?

  Hey, Chan, you talk about touchdown, man. I gotta tip my hat to Saquon. But y'all knew I was gonna do that anyway. To go from the Giants to their rival in Philly, the Eagles. Look, he's been their hero. He's been my hero. He's also been MVP candidate for most of us.

• 26:06Ryan Clark?

  I mean, you know, for me, think about teams like Detroit. Guys like Amon Ra St. Brown, who show up and do the dirty work, right? The L.A. Chargers, Derwin James, changing positions, basically, being all, everything on defensive side of the football for the Chargers team. You look at all of these different players, Jaden Daniels in the Commanders. He's totally changed everything that happens with that organization. And truly, I wanna give a shout out to Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons, who people have said could be sort of an individual, could be all about himself, has truly shown this entire year that he's about team.

• 26:39Channing Crowder?

  You know who the unsung hero is? NFL Sunday Ticket. From the fantasy view, all the way to the key plays they have, and y'all know the multi-view, four games at a time, NFL Sunday Ticket is changing it right now, making me enjoy watching football more.

• 26:54Fred Taylor?

  That's right. You're in luck this holiday season. You can get NFL Sunday Ticket for the rest of the regular season for just $49 a month, just in time for the playoffs. That's right, $49. That's easy.

• 27:06Ryan Clark?

  And you could sign up at youtube.tv/pivotpot. Terms and embargoes applied, no cancellations.

• 27:13Fred Taylor?

  You mentioned your journey, which I think should be in the movie. Alicia, we should get the rights to this story because it's a hell of a pivot. But in your journey, how does it? How did it feel to you that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recognized this journey and befriended you and sort of came along for the ride?

• 27:33Speaker 02

  So, yeah, with the whole thing, when I made the post and everything, with the $7.49 thing, I then was doing this thing that I had in my heart that, you know what? I wanna give back to where I come from because after the loss of my debut, I also went to a doctor and they told me that I had biazia. I knew when I got the biazia, I was like 13. And for me to get the biazia, it is through the dirty water. And I said to myself, you know what? My iron levels were very low, according to the doctor, and he did all the testing and found out that I had bohazia. So I said to myself, you know what? I know this happened because of water that was dirty.

• 28:15Speaker 02

  I wanna do something where I come from so that people can have clean water. It was something just out of my heart. And I auctioned my fight kit that I had fought with on that night. And I got money to go and build a boho in Zimbabwe. And when they did the whole project and stuff like that. And the day that I literally finished doing this project, that's the day that Dwayne Johnson got in conduct. For some reason, I don't know. But that day, when I was about to go to bed, I, like I was, I was going to take a shower, whatever. I was in my friend's house in Zimbabwe. And literally, I went to my Twitter. And my money, one of the guys from the management told me, "Hey, check your Twitter." And I went to Twitter, and my Twitter was like blowing up, you know? And I realized it was Dwayne Johnson who had messaged me, you know,

• 29:01Speaker 02

  and posted about me, and it was crazy. I, I think, if I have to be honest, man, I think this was all God, man. Because what are the chances of me waking up with the flu on the day of my fight? Having to press, I'm a stingy guy. I like to keep my money safe, you know? For me to press so much, I was in panic. And to be left with seven dollars forty-nine in my bank account. For me to, to post about it, for it to reach ESP and for it to reach Dwayne Johnson, for it to be just a coincidence that on the day I finished this project of trying to help others, I get this from Dwayne Johnson. For me to have this house I have here in Miami

• 29:45Speaker 02

  from him helping me to go after my dreams full on without no worry or anything. I think it's God, bro. If you look at it like, you, you can connect the dots. I, I believe in God. And I feel like it's just God. And what are the chances of him to be in a position of being, having seven dollars in his life too? You know, like, don't you think that this story was pre-written by God? I think it was pre-written like you have seven dollars and then one day 20 years later you meet this guy from Zimbabwe that has seven dollars, you have to help him and maybe one day me I'll meet someone again in the future who have the same story as me and I might have to help them, you know? I don't know, I just feel like the the life I live, that's why even with this loss,

• 30:28Speaker 02

  that's why I'm so grateful to be here, Ryan. Even with this loss, bro. I know there's greater things to come, like I I lost the fight, I didn't lose the journey. There's so many things that were revealed straight after the loss, you know? Me and The Rock, the relationship that we have, I think along the line after that, there were so many other not so real things that happened after that according to me and within my life. Maybe people started wanting to, I started, okay, cool, this guy, if I'm close to this guy, maybe I can be close to him. And then when you lose, then you realize the real colors of the people, man. And I think it was also that, that you know why God wanted me to lose this fight

• 31:10Speaker 02

  before I go on to become what I want to be, so that I can have this revelation where I can see life for what it is, not to be naive and think that everybody's on this road with me forever. And I'm so grateful, even with this loss, because you know what? It's a blessing, it's a blessing and like, that's why I say, man, I'm so grateful. I I don't know why you needed me here.

• 31:34Speaker 05

  I wanna, I wanna see, can I play something, I think?

• 31:38Speaker 05

  He's one of these guys, I think, that, you know, the universe and God just touches, you know, to do good human being things, whether or not he's ever gonna become UFC champion or not, which he he is, he's declared it and he's got a real shot. So I I think it'd be a great interview for you guys, so I would advocate for that. And also, I just found this out, he was orphaned at 13 and by 16, he was an illegal black diamond trader in Africa. And he almost died when the police dogs caught him.

• 32:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, like I get emotional every time I hear things like this from him. I try not to, even the video of the whole thing, I try not to watch it, because I get very emotional and it's it's tough, like, it's a, I mean, yeah.

• 32:31Ryan Clark?

  I just wanna, that's, I think it was August 5th, 2023.

• 32:38Ryan Clark?

  Is it was the day that things were posted, I believe, and I could be wrong about the day. The thing he posted that he met up with you inside the cage. And I commented on it. And if you know anything about him, he actually doesn't type. He just leaves you voice memos all the time.

• 32:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, he does not.

• 32:55Ryan Clark?

  And that day, he pitched you, or he told me that we should have you on the show.

• 33:03Speaker 02

  Really?

• 33:04Ryan Clark?

  That's what, that's what, that was Dwayne telling me why we should have you on the show. Cause we had already had him on our show.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 33:11Ryan Clark?

  And that was him telling me why you would be an impressive guest. When you have somebody that not only advocates for you publicly, because obviously when someone helps you get housing, it's not only a story about you, it could be a story about them and the goodness and kindness of their heart. But that right there, if you're not sitting in front of me, you never know. So Dwayne Johnson was advocating for you even when you weren't around. What does that say about the way that you've lived life?

• 33:44Speaker 02

  Like you said, man, he believes in God and I believe in God. It's just a story of life, bro. It's something that I don't have control of, you know? I can try to try and control many things and stuff like that, but like you, like you said, man, I just believe I have to keep faith. I'm like on my down moments now. In the past few days, I didn't want to leave the house. I wake up, I don't want to wake up, you know? I'll be honest, I, I ask anyone, my wife, man, she goes through a lot because you know, like when I lose like this, she get to see me on my lowest and on my not so nice side where I just wake up and I'm a very active person. I like to work hard, I like to train, but like in the past few days, it's not been easy, bro.

• 34:30Speaker 02

  I've been waking up and I want to wake up. I, I don't want to face the reality of losing, you know? It's, it's, it's, it's good. I lost, like I said to you, it's a blessing, but like in the past few days, it has been tough. I'll be honest with you. I think this is the most I've been out today, like in the past, from the loss to now. I just have not been able to want to wake up and. Not that I don't wanna say to you I wish to die, no. I have two kids at home, I have two girls that need me to do well in life, but I just don't feel like sometimes waking up.

• 35:08Ryan Clark?

  But Timbo, how do you get to this point about a loss in the octagon? When you've lost parents, you've lost family members, you were mining diamonds and being chased by dogs, you had bullets flying by you. Why would a loss to Vincente Luque put you in a mindset of, "I don't wanna leave the house now, I don't wanna wake up"?

• 35:37Speaker 02

  Because, Ryan, I had high hopes for myself.

• 35:45Speaker 02

  Waking up, bro, like if you look at my phone, like my profile picture, my wallpaper, this is my wallpaper, Ryan. This is Luque, that's me. Like, it's sad, but you see, that's my wallpaper. I literally had to put this, like I put this on my phone. Why? Because never again in my heart, I don't want to ever be like this again. I had said, waking up and having to have the referee tell me, "The fight is over," and not knowing where I was, and then to realize that I was in T-Mobile and I had just lost my fight.

• 36:29Speaker 02

  That's the more, it's more of the embarrassment. It's more of the embarrassment that makes me not want to wake up. And I had not fought in front of a big crowd in the UFC leading up to this fight. This was my first time fighting in a big crowd. I had been fighting at the Apex. In my heart, I would want, I don't know if, what's the plans for UFC, what they want me to do next, where they want me to fight next. In my heart, I wanna go back and fight in the same place that I had this embarrassment in my next fight. I don't know if that will work out, but like that will be the ideal situation for me because the embarrassment I had that day,

• 37:07Speaker 02

  I remember walking backstage crying about this. And not crying because I lost, I felt embarrassed. I felt naked. I felt like...

• 37:20Speaker 02

  The world crushed on me. And then to go on as well, like, I read comments. I'm a human being. I'm an emotional person and I'm a human being. And I make, I mess up in life and I try to not mess up a lot. And I go online and then you see people saying stuff about me that I, in my heart, know that that's not me.

• 37:41Channing Crowder?

  What kind of stuff?

• 37:42Speaker 02

  Like, bad stuff, like they'll say, oh, this guy is arrogant, this guy is, this, that. And like, let's say, let's say, Ryan, I come to America. I'm from a village in Zimbabwe. I would share stuff, let's say, if I go to Disney World with my kids, I'll post about it. I'm happy with my kids, right? Uh, and I'm not posting so that you can think that I'm bragging. I'm posting maybe to show inspiration or maybe just to show my happiness. And one thing about me, Ryan, like, a lot of people don't know, like, I don't have a lot of friends. I don't have, because all I do is train. And sometimes I feel like my happiness comes from the internet, if I have to be honest. Like, when I post and then people are messaging me and commenting, I feel happy, maybe that way, you know, sometimes.

• 38:24Speaker 02

  And then I share my story all the time, I share what I, and sometimes you have these people saying all nasty things about me. And I read all these comments and I feel very, very, very, like, wow, okay. If I didn't know me, I would believe that. And that's why, like, maybe sometimes I wake up and I don't want to wake up because I feel like the world just crush on me. But it's the reality of where I'm living right now, where it is right now, like, it's, it's okay. Because you know what? Maybe my story is gonna be one of the greatest stories in combat sports history. Maybe this was the best thing ever, because you know what? After this, maybe I'm gonna take off all the way to become a champion.

• 39:04Channing Crowder?

  Gee, to hell with them. I knew he was gonna say it. What does it matter what them damn sorry ass people online are saying about you? You know, you are a great husband, you are a great father.

• 39:17Speaker 02

  You question yourself when people start saying this.

• 39:19Channing Crowder?

  You don't know them goddamn people, them people don't know you.

• 39:22Speaker 02

  No, but, but like, bro.

• 39:24Channing Crowder?

  It's a man in his basement with, with, with, with no air conditioning, sitting there naked. Telling you how you need to think about your goddamn self. No, man, to hell with them.

• 39:34Speaker 02

  So you guys, you guys are former athletes, most of you, right? Like, you understand their life that is an athlete, like, when you're coming from a poor background with the families. You also have like, family problems, right? Family dramas and stuff like that. Let's say for me, I have family dramas too. Like, let's say before the, after the, my last fight, leading up to this fight. I had a lot of online family problems and stuff like that. Some of my family members going to my sponsors, trying to pitch them, say, hey, don't sponsor this guy, like this, like. And then you have those fights and then you wanna defend yourself and you go and fight back on, you know, like, online and you fight back. And some of those things bring negativity to you as well. Like, for me, I feel like, that's, that's the other stuff.

• 40:11Speaker 02

  And like, when I go online, like, one of my cousins, I can't speak his name, but like, he messaged me that the day after I lost this last fight. Some of my cousins were celebrating my loss. They were all celebrating my loss. And he sent me a video of them in a place where we were 15 years ago. This small circle in Danone, where, it's a slam, like, when you call it, it's like a slam. Where I first arrived when I went in South Africa, I was living in this place called Danone. And these cousins of mine were celebrating my loss. And you know how much that eats you? Because all I try to do is better for everybody. And I might not directly help you, but like, maybe I wanna, I build a well for the community.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  And then one person gets angry, like, why did you build the well with clothes? This guy's house, not that person's house. And then this guy start creating all these type of problems and then people start feeling entitled that like, some, someone, someone will message and say, can you give me 5,000? Where will I get? People think that I'm in the UFC, I'm a millionaire. I'm not. Maybe one day I will be. But like, it's the reality that I'm not and I cannot afford to do that. And imagine if you have 20 people coming to you and saying the same stuff. You know, like, it's not nice. And then when you have your own family members celebrating your loss,

• 41:29Speaker 02

  that's tough, bro.

• 41:30Channing Crowder?

  You gotta figure out who on your side and who ain't though, to be honest.

• 41:32Fred Taylor?

  But I mean, the truth is, really, welcome to our world. Like, that's pretty much what a lot of NBA players, NFL players go through, where you have, you know, friends, family members, one thinking, simply because you're in professional sports, that you got it. Everybody doesn't have it. And then there are also people that, you know, they root for you on this side, but then behind your back, they're talking about you. And it happens to all of us. I think what you have to do is learn how to disconnect and understand that those people aren't necessarily good for you. Or they're not good for your mental, obviously, because you keep peeking back in it. And that's not productive. It's gonna be very counterproductive.

• 42:17Fred Taylor?

  And it'll take you that much longer to get to your goal.

• 42:20Ryan Clark?

  Well, fellas, that's about a wrap on old 2024. 2025 is fast approaching. And you know what that means? It's time for New Year's resolutions.

• 42:29Fred Taylor?

  I need to make some New Year's resolutions. So I'm gonna ask our Pivot fam to make something with us.

• 42:34Channing Crowder?

  Man, y'all know I like to argue. I'm gonna try to change that. And one thing I argue about is which games you're gonna watch on Sunday with NFL Sunday Ticket. You ain't gotta argue no more. The multi-view, four games at one time? Nah, I gotta do less arguing.

• 42:47Ryan Clark?

  Honestly, bro, I live by that. But for me, it's about watching the out-of-market games, right? I wanna see Freddie Tees Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida as well. They trying to battle to win the NFC South. And what about teams like the Rams, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Arizona Cardinals? All of those teams fighting out West to represent them in the NFC playoffs.

• 43:08Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, I'm definitely gonna need NFL Sunday Ticket to watch my Jaguars. But if you're like me, you're heading into fantasy football playoffs. So you get to watch fantasy live, where you can watch your teams every Sunday and track your fantasy squad. It's that simple.

• 43:22Ryan Clark?

  And to help you guys get started, NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV has a deal for you. For just $49, you can catch the rest of the regular season. Do not wait. You cannot miss this opportunity.

• 43:35Channing Crowder?

  Y'all go sign up right now at youtube.com/pivotpod.

• 43:40Ryan Clark?

  Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games. Excludes digital only games. Terms and embargoes apply.

• 43:47Fred Taylor?

  I saw an interview where you said, after this last fight, a fighter's wish is that wish they can go back a day. Right? And do it all over again. Right? And that was inspiring for me. But if you go further back, as RC was saying, as Chen was saying, running from dogs, knowing it was life or death situation. But you've made those sacrifices. You just gotta go back in your head and say, I'm built for this. This is why I'm here. I've journeyed all the way through there to here to be in this position. A lot of your cousins want to be in your position.

• 44:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:23Fred Taylor?

  They want to be in your position.

• 44:25Speaker 02

  You know what's funny? When I was on my way here, I was on a call with one of my old friends that, me and him, when I started this, like, he, we were sharing a bed, sharing a room. And he saw me on my lowest, when I, on my, on my professional debut, I went and won that fight, but I dislocated my shoulder. And I went home, slept, we were sleeping. At 3 a.m. I had to wake up and say to him, hey, bro, my shoulder is out. Can you put my shoulder back in? And he put my shoulder back in his, he was saying to me this morning, when I was speaking to him, he's in London now. And he was speaking to me like Timber. Your cousins that are laughing at you, these ones that are laughing at you right now, they wish, their biggest goal is to even go to, to stay in Parklands,

• 45:10Speaker 02

  which is like a next available suburb that is near there. And you are in Miami, you are in America, brother. You have, even if you stop fighting and you don't make it anymore, like this is what he said to me. You have already surpassed what people thought you would be. He said, he's where he used to work, he used to work as a gardener at another school there in South Africa. He said to me, when he was moving to London now, because his wife is a caregiver and he luckily got a caregiver thing where he can go and live with his wife in London. Then his boss said to him, you must be so happy because your dream came true to go to stay in London. Then he said to his boss, this is what he said to me, he said to his boss, "My dream was not to go to London. I had not even, my dream was to go to Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.

• 45:55Speaker 02

  And it was not even part of my dream to be, even in South Africa. It was not, and which is the truth of the matter, like for me, growing up, I didn't know that, I, I, I didn't know that I would ever be here. Like honestly, I, I didn't even, yeah, like you, the first dream is to just go to Harare, which is the capital city of Zimbabwe. I mean, that's, that's all we dream about. We grow up in the village, you make it and you go and make it and you get to Harare. I think that was the biggest dream and sometimes overlook my blessings because of this, all this negativity and stuff like that. But I think it's, it all shall come to pass and it all shall lead to a great story,

• 46:39Speaker 02

  I think in combat sports history.

• 46:41Ryan Clark?

  I got a question, but in the same line of what you were saying, and I'm not gonna ask a question. But in the same line of what you were saying, listening to you, and he does this extremely well. Listening to you though, you was like, you know, sometimes I get my happiness from sharing things with people and having them comment to me, right? So if you ride those highs, right? If you ride the adrenaline of people saying nice things about you and to you, it's gonna have the inverse effect if the words are negative. Because what you've done is you've let them in on your life so much and you've given them so much control that they now have control of your emotions. Like you're basically saying, "Hey, make me happy, make me happy."

• 47:25Ryan Clark?

  And then when they make you happy, you feel that. And when it's not that, you have that exact same reaction to the negativity. What I would think is, bro, like, look at your life. You know what I'm saying? Like, bruh, you are, your parents passed by the time you 13 years old. Like, you're literally being chased by dogs, shot at. You go to South Africa, or you, and they send, they send your tail back, and you just go right back. You getting held frickin' hostage. Like, Freddie T talking about this on movie? If we went to Hollywood and we was like, "Hey, we wanna give you this real-life script of this man's life," they would say it's unrealistic.

• 48:10Ryan Clark?

  They would say, "Nobody would believe that this dude got to the UFC." So, though I fight with people all the time on social media, I gotta go with Channing on this one. What in the hell can that man or that woman say to you that makes your life any less of a miracle than what it is?

• 48:28Speaker 02

  You know what caused that, Ryan? I would be honest.

• 48:34Speaker 02

  I don't know, I, I like, I know this video is gonna be online, people watch it and all that stuff, like that, but like, what may cause that for me to do that? There's other things behind the scenes that you might not know about me. Growing up, I was growing, when my father passed away, I was in a family where I was taught I was not part of the family, growing up. So, I always have been left out.

• 48:57Ryan Clark?

  You say, but you were, you went to another family?

• 48:59Speaker 02

  No. So like, there's a thing they call move Vandiri point in Zimbabwe, like, when I grew up, when my father passed around, just because my father had a house in town, and... Like, you know, when someone dies that has got a little bit of money, everybody wants that person who has died stuff. And the best way that they could eliminate me from the puzzle of wanting of being part of the house. Uh, because I was the only one that was older, I was thirteen and I according to the Zimbabwe law, thirteen year old can sign on behalf of their parents' property if they died. And people were trying to eliminate me from that puzzle. Of you are there, you're not there, then they will tell me. My father is not like, when I grew up, my father used to beat me a lot though.

• 49:43Speaker 02

  Like he used to beat me with fists as well, like it was hard. And then when you, when your father dies and then you have some of the family members coming to you and tell you, your mother came in here pregnant with you and you're not part of this family. You know what that does to you? It hurts you and you feel left out all the time. And sometimes I go online to seek, seek these things, to seek family. Because I, I constantly get reminded the like, I can't, I like, I, I go back, memorial line in life and think, yeah, you know, maybe I'm not part of the family, you know? So like, it's a very, very sad journey that I have been on personally. And I have had to overcome all these things to get here.

• 50:26Speaker 02

  And sometimes I seek validation from the world. I seek happiness from the world. Why? Because maybe I grew up not happy. I was not in a happy place when I was growing up. I love to say this, I'm not a fighter. I'm a competitor. I love winning. That's what I do. I love winning. I don't love fighting. Nah, I'll be lying to you. I love winning and fighting is the only sport that I know I'm good at and that I can win it and become whatever I want. And that's why I do fighting. And maybe the reason why I fight is my outlet for all these things that have happened to me leading up to this point in my life. Do you get what I'm saying?

• 51:01Ryan Clark?

  In the history of the UFC, and I think this could be part of the embarrassment, fifty-two seconds is the quickest amount of time to a win by anaconda choke.

• 51:12Ryan Clark?

  But you didn't tap, though. I would have to think they teach you when you're supposed to tap. Why did you know, even though you feel, I know you can feel that you're about to go out, why wouldn't you tap to save yourself that pain or to save yourself having to be awakened and told that the fight was over so you could just fight another day?

• 51:38Speaker 02

  Maybe I had no option. Maybe I didn't want to be embarrassed to tap, it's more embar-

• 51:45Speaker 02

  Like, um, like you had, you have no option, you are like, uh...

• 51:53Speaker 02

  Do you think I was gonna forgive myself if I tapped?

• 51:56Ryan Clark?

  I can ask you that.

• 51:57Speaker 02

  If I'm hard on myself-

• 51:58Ryan Clark?

  Would you have forgiven yourself if you tapped?

• 52:02Speaker 02

  No, like, check. If I am so hard on myself that I went to sleep, right? Will you think that if I tapped, I was gonna forgive myself? No, I'm a biggest critic. I criticize myself even when I win. Maybe this also is part of it, is part of it that I must be appreciative of my wins, even when I win, like, in a boring fight, I get to criticize myself, like, I don't, you know? Maybe God is humbling me and telling me, "You should be grateful for anything that I give you. It's a blessing to be here." Like, that's why I, I, I, maybe I didn't want to tap, maybe I had no option than to just try and get out because I was gonna criticize myself if I, if I, I, I tapped.

• 52:44Speaker 02

  And, you know, I also, that morning, I told my daughter that, you know what, I want to, I'll show you how to be a champion, and I'm gonna show you what a champion is like when I was going to the fight. And guess what? I went to sleep, man. And my wife, my daughter, and my kids were watching, and it was sad, but it's life, brother.

• 53:04Channing Crowder?

  Man, this year, we got some underdogs, fellas. The ultimate holiday underdog, I gotta go, y'all see, I got my Bucks hat on. With NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, I get to watch my man Baker Mayfield. You know what I'm saying? Nobody believed in him. He didn't jump from team to team to team. And now he's down with the Bucks. They give him the big contract. And I think the Bucks are competitive right now in the NFC. We know, you know, we know the top dogs, but the Buccaneers are coming out. You know, Big Randy played for the Bucks. So I've been a, I've been a fan since I was a kid, but those underdogs, man, they always come up. They always say it's some top teams in the league that are going to be good and then bad. And there's some bottom teams that are going to jump. I think the Bucks are a team that's jumping as an underdog.

• 53:42Ryan Clark?

  You know what? To me, I want to look at the Arizona Cardinals. And it's hard to say somebody like Kyler Murray is an underdog because you get drafted number one overall. You become a Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma. But this is a 5'10" quarterback. You know, you're not used to seeing those type of players at that size become what he's become in the league. And so when he has those years where he isn't exactly what the number one pick is supposed to be, everybody points to that. See, we told you he was too short. We told you he was too small. And to have his team on top of the NFC West right now, I believe Jonathan Gannon and the Arizona Cardinals are an underdog as well. I mean, to me, you don't have to look any further than their running back and their starting free safety.

• 54:27Ryan Clark?

  James Connor, someone that had to battle through cancer at the University of Pittsburgh. He's picked by the hometown team. Now you're with the Arizona Cardinals, the physical run game that he plays with. And then Buddha Baker on the other side of the ball. The way that he plays this game, the sort of tenacity that he plays with being an undersized safety, but also being one of the best in the league. I believe that entire team symbolizes what an underdog is. And the way that they're playing right now is amazing. But if I don't have NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, I don't get to see Arizona. If I'm at home in Louisiana, if I'm in South Bend, visiting Jordan, or if I'm traveling to wherever the Monday night football game is. And so it's been really cool to watch their journey throughout this season.

• 55:12Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, I think for me, man, I can think of two teams when we talk about underdogs. You got the L.A. Chargers rookie head coach. He's coming in, done an amazing job, I think. But the other team for me that's led by a young quarterback is the Commanders. First-year coach, young quarterback, Heisman winner. But when we talk about underdog, you might not think he is one because of the potential. You expect him to come in and do well. But here's a team that had the number two pick a year ago. They went out, they took a chance on him. He has them balling. I like what they're doing, and I think in terms of underdogs as a whole, that's been the most surprising team for me this year.

• 55:49Channing Crowder?

  I don't know if they're underdogs, but they play like underdogs. Guys that we played with, D'Amico Ryan and Dan Campbell, they have an underdog mentality as the top dog. So I can't watch, they're my friends, they are friends. With NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, I get to watch my friends coach these teams with the Detroit Lions might be the favorite to win the Super Bowl right now.

• 56:10Ryan Clark?

  We also can't forget Minnesota. And not that Minnesota was a bad football team in previous years, but they played without a quarterback last year. You draft J.J. McCarthy expecting him to start, and he gets hurt. And now Sam Donald, who's had a below-average NFL career. People were making fun of him at one time. Is now playing like a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback. They're at the top of the NFC North. It just says what Kevin O'Connell is doing as a head coach. And so I think when you talk about underdogs and some of these markets, right? The Arizonas are not on TV every Sunday, the main game, the big game. So you need YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket.

• 56:52Ryan Clark?

  Minnesota wasn't supposed to be in primetime in the big game every week. So you need NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. Sign up right now and get it for $49 at youtube.com/pivotpod.

• 57:06Channing Crowder?

  Do you enjoy anything? You got hobbies?

• 57:10Fred Taylor?

  It seem like you put so much damn pressure on yourself for I win or I ain't do shit right. I lose or I ain't do nothing right. Like, do you go fishing?

• 57:18Speaker 02

  I don't do anything, bro, except like training and sleeping. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's all I do. Like, and my hobby is taking my, my daughter to tennis and...

• 57:29Fred Taylor?

  Your daughter, your family, your daughter, your wife, that's your, that's your joy.

• 57:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, I take her to tennis and I'm hard on her too. I want her to do well at tennis, so I have a private coach for her to do tennis. I think that's my hobby personally. Right now, it's my hobby. Like, I drive all the way from Miami Lakes to Boca, return for her to have this best training, training for tennis, private, you know, sometimes. So it's, it's, I think that's my hobby.

• 57:55Fred Taylor?

  In all of this, really, you just gotta find perspective. And, and looking for solace online, that ain't the place.

• 58:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:03Fred Taylor?

  Your hobby, your heart is at home. You train, you back home. You, you take your daughter, you're back home. You sleep, you're home. Like, that's where you should look, your wife and your kids. I think that, that'll be the quickest way to get back on the road to trying to win a championship. You gotta learn to disconnect, that's it. Like, our mantra here is accept, adjust, and move forward. That's what we say at The Pivot, and that's the message that we always try to give back to people that watch the show. And that would be my message or thoughts to you. You got to accept what happened. You decided to go out the way you wanted to go out. You didn't, you didn't tap, because you got a heart of a lion, a heart of a...

• 58:45Speaker 02

  I don't think I had an option. I didn't...

• 58:47Fred Taylor?

  I mean, but you did have options, but you were trained for it. You had options. This is the way you wanted it. But now, you, you accept it, you adjust. What do you do going forward? Right?

• 58:59Speaker 02

  What card?

• 59:00Fred Taylor?

  You have to figure that part out, but you gotta find perspective and say, "This is what I'm content with, and I gotta get back on this road." That, that's the only way. We lost a lot of games. He lost the Super Bowl and had to go back and do it again. You know, we, we just losers. We never got a chance to play in the Super Bowl. But we just keep going. No, I'm just messing around, but you gotta find a way to keep going.

• 59:24Channing Crowder?

  No, but to the point that RC made, I was trying to think about who said it. It was Coach Prime, Deion Sanders. He said, "If your praise can get me this high, your criticism can get me this low." Why would I worry about either side of that? Let me just be happy with myself and doing what I self. I don't need to be online because you gonna tell me, oh, you're great. And now I get all excited. But then if you tell me, oh, you ain't worth a damn. I can't get down here because of you. And that's the thing too, talking to him, that's was right along with what I think about. Man, I look online. I don't give a damn what them people think. Man, meet me at Walmart.

• 1:00:00Channing Crowder?

  I didn't invite him to Walmart. Oh, you ain't worth a damn.

• 1:00:02Ryan Clark?

  He probably think you talking about go shopping.

• 1:00:04Channing Crowder?

  Oh, no, no, no, no. I tell him, meet me in the parking lot of Walmart. If you wanna call me names, you need to call me names in my face. Guess how many times people met me at Walmart? Zero. Because they wanna sit online and talk bad to you, but they don't really want that. They don't want you, they don't wanna be around you, but they wanna sit and talk nasty to you because they got their little, they lay little hand, da, da, da, da, da. Yeah, meet me at the Walmart, see what happen. Nobody's ever showed up.

• 1:00:25Ryan Clark?

  Did you really watch Never Back Down?

• 1:00:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, I watched the movie. Yes, yes.

• 1:00:30Ryan Clark?

  That's a terrible movie.

• 1:00:31Speaker 02

  Why?

• 1:00:34Ryan Clark?

  You think that movie's good?

• 1:00:35Speaker 02

  It got me into MMA and it got a lot of people into MMA.

• 1:00:38Ryan Clark?

  What was his name, Jake?

• 1:00:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, Digimon too, the guy from Senegal.

• 1:00:43Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I like him.

• 1:00:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:45Ryan Clark?

  He said, give us free. Like, I like him.

• 1:00:47Speaker 02

  No, it, it, it was a good movie.

• 1:00:50Ryan Clark?

  I didn't Never Back Down get you into fighting?

• 1:00:53Speaker 02

  Uh, because I watched the movie and I didn't know fighting was actually a sport. Uh, like that you could actually have a sport called fighting. And then I, I realized that, okay, this is a sport. And then I found out about MMA and I started doing MMA from that, you know? It was, um, yeah, it was a blessing to have watched that movie because you know what? Like, if I didn't watch that movie, I probably not be here. Probably still be doing gardening in South Africa, working as a security guard, a painter. You know, that's what my jobs and. Man, it's a blessing that I watched that movie.

• 1:01:31Ryan Clark?

  What has been your biggest pivot? What's the moment in life for you that if it doesn't happen, you aren't sitting here with us getting an opportunity to tell everyone your story?

• 1:01:44Speaker 02

  If I didn't get on that plane, uh, you know, that's you from Louisiana.

• 1:01:49Ryan Clark?

  Are you?

• 1:01:50Speaker 02

  If I didn't get on that plane, paid for my own flight tickets to go and fight in Fury FC in Louisiana, I would not be in the UFC.

• 1:01:57Ryan Clark?

  Wow.

• 1:01:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, I paid for my own flights to go and fight for me and my coach to go and fight in Louisiana, and I got paid $4,300 and I spent like nearly $9,000 to get here. And luckily, those days, I had a friend that we're doing some work with and I had that type of money to go and train and to go and fight in Louisiana. If I didn't get on that plane to go and fight in Louisiana, I would not have been in the UFC because you know what happened? I won that fight.

• 1:02:28Speaker 02

  Then I flew from there to go watch UFC, uh, 278 at the San Diego Conde Natale. And that fight night, that's when I got signed to the UFC at the after party. I got signed to the UFC at the after party because I went to the fight and then at the after party, I met the matchmaker.

• 1:02:48Ryan Clark?

  Shawn Shelby?

• 1:02:49Speaker 02

  Shawn Shelby. And funny enough, he was sitting there with my manager and everybody and he got too drunk. He's my boss. Sorry, but I'm gonna tell this story like it is, you know? He got too drunk. I think people left him by himself with him and his girlfriend, wife, whatever. And I looked down, I looked up and I said to myself, Temba, if you don't go right now and talk to Shawn Shelby, you will regret this for the rest of your life or you're gonna mess it up. And I chose to go and talk to him and I went to him and I say, hey, Shawn, how are you? I'm Temba. And he knew already, like, oh, you are Temba, right? Because they, they, they were already pre-requests for me to get signed to the UFC when I was still in Africa and all that. Then I asked him, he's like, do you live in Vegas now? And I say, no, no, no, I came here to watch the fight.

• 1:03:34Speaker 02

  Corey Sanhagen gave me a ticket and I came here to just watch the fights. And he's like, oh, and I was fighting in Louisiana. And he said, oh, how did you fight, God? And I say, I won. He's like, okay, cool. Can you fight next month? And I said, Shawn, I can fight next week. If it's UFC, I'll fight next week. Then I said to him, yes, Shawn. He's like, okay, cool. Go home and when your manager brings you the contract, I want you to act surprised. Then I say, are you gonna put me in the UFC? No, no, I'll put you on Contender Series. You have still, you know, then, but you know, I wanted you. Then I thought it was Contender Series. Then four, five weeks later, my manager calls me, which I was already in like, you know, I don't know what's gonna happen because they have not done my visa to go and fight on Contender Series.

• 1:04:17Speaker 02

  Contender Series show is already moving and it's already almost finished. And I didn't know if this was gonna happen or not, you know? And I was already like on a downside mentally where I'm like, I don't know if this promise was, is ever gonna happen. And then my manager called me at 4 a.m. And he told me that our show has not put me on Contender Series, which was one second later, he told me that because he's gonna put you straight in the UFC. And that was a breakthrough moment for me. But if I had not flown to New Orleans, Louisiana, to go and fight there and then fly from there to Denver and go to Vegas to watch that UFC, I would not be in the UFC right now.

• 1:04:58Ryan Clark?

  Well, we're grateful that you flew to Louisiana. We're grateful that you went to International Fight Week to watch Izzy, who was also a friend of the show. And man, and we're grateful that you shared your story with us. I believe it'll inspire a lot of people.

• 1:05:13Speaker 02

  I hope so. I hope this can inspire people. I try to just share my highs and lows the way I can. Yeah, man, and I've learned to just be here, you know? I've learned what he said, I've learned what you say about like these things online. If the highs can get you this high, the lows can get you this low. I should not care about those things, you know? I'm human. It's easier said than done. I'll go and try to be perfect, which I will never be.

• 1:05:41Ryan Clark?

  Can't be perfect, bro. Thank you, man. We appreciate you, man. That was excellent, dawg.

• 1:05:44Speaker 02

  It's a blessing, man.

• 1:05:45Ryan Clark?

  Thank you, man.

• 1:05:46Speaker 02

  Thank you. It's a blessing to have you. I have something for you guys. I got some Zoa for you.

• 1:05:50Ryan Clark?

  Chan, my dog could dodge a bullet, but you can't dodge a comment.

• 1:05:56Speaker 02

  I got some Zoa for you, yeah. Yeah.

• 1:05:59Ryan Clark?

  Hey, you fight at 150, 470?

• 1:06:02Speaker 02

  170. Yeah, this is for you.

• 1:06:04Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate it, okay. Okay.

• 1:06:06Speaker 02

  This is the Rock's energy drink. Right.

• 1:06:10Fred Taylor?

  This'll be good right now.

• 1:06:11Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:37Speaker 06

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 1:06:47Speaker 07

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