Dominick Cruz - Knocking Out Your Weaknesses

Join Ed Mylett this week as he interviews four time UFC Champion and Fox Sports Analyst Dominick Cruz. There is nothing like getting into the mind of a disciplined champion like Dominick to help you take your personal performance to the next level. Dominick grew up with a single mother, living in a trailer park and was working as a customer service representative at Lowe's when he became a full-time fighter. His story is full of struggle, perseverance and triumph. Listen, learn and get motivated to #MaxOut YOUR life!!! 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.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 P.M. And my third day, 6:00 P.M. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time, too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

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• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

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  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

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  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and the Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

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  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent. This is the Ed Mylett Show. Compete, lead, and win.

• 1:37Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out with Ed Mylett. I am fired up today. We have a great conversation to show you today. I'm with four-time UFC champion, Fox Sports analyst, UFC color commentator, all-around stud and champion Dominic Cruz. Dominic, thank you for being here, brother. Good to be here. Yeah, it's great to have you. Got him in my wine room in the house. Of course he does. Of course we do. We've been having great conversations off camera. And most of you probably know Dominic. You've seen him probably in the cage and seen him dominate over and over. 22-2 lifetime record. And this is one of the great fighters of the last decade in the UFC and so it's great to have you here, man.

• 2:12Speaker 04

  It's good to be here, man, in your beautiful wine room, checking things out.

• 2:16Ed Mylett?

  Not so bad. Just keep your hands off.

• 2:17Speaker 04

  Can I have this?

• 2:18Ed Mylett?

  No.

• 2:18Speaker 04

  I just want this.

• 2:19Ed Mylett?

  You cannot have that. No. No, you can't have that. We'll pour some Monster in that shot glass for you. He's sponsored by Monsters.

• 2:25Speaker 04

  I seriously can't have that?

• 2:26Ed Mylett?

  You seriously cannot have that. No, no.

• 2:27Speaker 04

  I just do it.

• 2:28Ed Mylett?

  Unless you fight me for it, then I might give it to you.

• 2:30Speaker 04

  It is cool, though.

• 2:31Ed Mylett?

  Anyway, we, yeah, nice try, though. We are, um, we're gonna talk some specific stuff today. We're gonna get into the kind of the mindset of a champion, because I have one here right in front of me and I don't wanna waste the time of not getting inside your brain a little bit, so. Everybody knows about you being super successful in the ring and they've seen you win and you're about to come back from another injury, but I, you gotta tell everybody, people's journey in life is always interesting to me. And you didn't like, oh, grow up thinking you were gonna be a UFC champion or even in MMA in any way, shape or form, right?

• 3:02Speaker 04

  No.

• 3:02Ed Mylett?

  Tell them a little bit about, like, a little bit how you grew up, but then how the heck, the story of how you end up even getting in this sport in the first place.

• 3:09Speaker 04

  I wouldn't say I grew up poor, cuz I've, I, nowadays, you see what poor is in a lot of different places all over the world. So, I would say I didn't grow up with a lot of money with my mom. My mom was a single mom, raised me and my brother. So, you know, I grew up not making a lot of money, not getting new stuff when you went to school, being mad about it, not getting new school stuff. You know, just the little things, being on the free lunch.

• 3:33Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, at school.

• 3:33Speaker 04

  Things like that, uh, where you just kinda get made fun of.

• 3:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 3:36Speaker 04

  That normal life that a lot of people could relate to. I grew up like that, so. Um, then I graduate high school and I feel like junior high, high school, I was like in a shell. And I was just on a, learning how to work, learning how to, learning what I could be.

• 3:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 3:58Speaker 04

  And it was, it really started in junior high. I think that when we say that kids are kids at that age, I think that's actually when they're adults, because that is the primer that sets for the paint when you become an adult. And I feel like I learned how to be an adult, young, because of certain choices I made.

• 4:16Ed Mylett?

  Like what? What do you mean?

• 4:17Speaker 04

  Well... I was kinda put in that by my dad when I was when I was five, he left. Told me I was the man of the house and I just remember that really distinctly. Him saying bye, you know. You're the man of the house and he's just take care of your mom, take care of your brother and me just being really proud about that at that specific age.

• 4:36Ed Mylett?

  Seriously.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was weird. I remember being like, yeah, my dad put me here for that.

• 4:40Ed Mylett?

  I could see it on your face right now.

• 4:41Speaker 04

  And then he left though.

• 4:43Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 4:43Speaker 04

  And then that obviously sucked.

• 4:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 4:45Speaker 04

  As it does for everybody.

• 4:46Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 4:47Speaker 04

  But he chose drugs over. Me at the time in my head then. Now, I'm an adult and you understand that. Your parents. Choose what they choose because of how they were brought up and it's not really. Anybody's fault, it's just the way things are chopped up, right?

• 5:01Ed Mylett?

  So you've attached a different meaning to the same event now?

• 5:03Speaker 04

  You learn over time that all it does is make you angry, piss you off and bring negativity to you. If you hold anything else to it. He didn't wanna do that, but there's great things that came out of him doing that stuff to me.

• 5:16Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:16Speaker 04

  And so there's a reason this happens.

• 5:18Ed Mylett?

  That's right.

• 5:18Speaker 04

  There is, there always is. But um.

• 5:21Ed Mylett?

  So you're eighteen. And this happened for you, not to you, your dad leaving like we're talking about off camera, but.

• 5:26Speaker 04

  Can't explain that enough.

• 5:27Ed Mylett?

  Did you know what you were gonna do at eighteen? Did you have like a plan like I'm gonna do this?

• 5:30Speaker 04

  I was going to school to be a EMT firefighter and then I decided.

• 5:33Ed Mylett?

  So no plans at all to be a fighter?

• 5:34Speaker 04

  No, hadn't even started.

• 5:36Ed Mylett?

  At eighteen?

• 5:36Speaker 04

  Never thrown a punch in my life.

• 5:38Ed Mylett?

  That's amazing, man.

• 5:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 5:39Ed Mylett?

  Are most guys in your sport training young though, right? Like if you're fighting?

• 5:43Speaker 04

  Now, this is the new era. And now the new era has every facet in the world, every martial art in the world at their hands.

• 5:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:49Speaker 04

  Every gym in the world, every team in the world, every pad holder in the world.

• 5:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:53Speaker 04

  They're all there.

• 5:54Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 5:54Speaker 04

  Whereas when I, I was somewhat the building blocks of that and my building blocks were Don Fry, Drew Fickett. Joe Diesel Riggs, um, Rich Franklin. Uh, you know, BJ Penn.

• 6:07Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, Shamrock.

• 6:07Speaker 04

  Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Shamrock.

• 6:09Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 6:10Speaker 04

  These are the guys that I watched that I go. Oh my gosh, they're freaks.

• 6:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:15Speaker 04

  You know, the mutants, what's wrong with these guys? They're crazy.

• 6:17Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:18Speaker 04

  I could never do that.

• 6:19Ed Mylett?

  Seriously.

• 6:20Speaker 04

  In school, wrestling, going to wrestling.

• 6:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:23Speaker 04

  Thinking I'm deathly afraid to go to this wrestling. This wrestling match, like I'm about to walk on this mat and wrestle this guy and he's yoked. And how is he only twelve years old? He's got a mustache, that's not fair. And like, I don't think I have armpit hair, you know what I mean? I'm like, this isn't right. I'm looking at his stash and I'm like.

• 6:40Speaker 04

  And that, I remember this stuff growing up, that, so I was a late bloomer, you know? Okay. I didn't grow into my body till I graduated and that's when I started fighting, so it actually worked perfect. Wow. I could have hit my, well, I was wrestling and then I graduated high school, didn't get my scholarship, so I started paying for my own school, working three jobs. You're gonna go be an EMT. Doing the new thing, yeah, I'm going to live that life, you know? Okay. And one of the students that I was coaching in wrestling, I'm 19 years old coaching at a high school. Okay. So they're my age, these guys are my age. Yeah, you're a year older. But I just switched schools and wrestled with them live. Okay. And, um, he's like, you know, you gotta try this place out, man, you can punch and kick buddy, kick people. He's like, I just fought some guy on his lunch break the other day and it was amazing, like. And you'd never punch anybody?

• 7:24Speaker 04

  What? Like, I don't really, I mean, I got in the street fights, cause we're dumb. But competitively. Dumb kids, you know, like, ready to go all the time. Yeah. But never competitively, no way. And so I joined this gym, I go into the gym with him, he's like, I can bring somebody for free, you gotta come with me next time. So I'm like, alright, I'll try it out. I go in there, they put gloves on me, they wrap my hands, they give me the whole experience, right? Yeah. Do the class, it's an hour long, I leave and I'm just like. I can wrestle so well already, if I learn how to use my hands and my legs, like, I'll kill people in the streets. It's like, nobody's gonna touch me. In the streets, you're thinking, still. Yeah. You're thinking in the streets. Like, I'm not getting jumped anymore, I'm gonna knock people out. Wow. Cause I've been getting jumped all the time. Okay. You just get jumped and you get tired of it, you hit a point where you're like, I'm gonna learn how to these people up, you know? A lot of people can relate to that, listening to this.

• 8:09Speaker 04

  Right, so I was like, I need to learn how to do this stuff. You're still thinking about the street, though. Yeah, I'm just playing, I'm 18, 19. There's no money to be made in this yet, in my eyes, the sport's not that big. Yeah. And like, me being a professional, they call it NHB or cage fighting at this point. Yeah. This is 15 years ago. Yeah. So it's like, me? No way, you know? I barely had cauliflower ear, my ears were fresh, my face was fresh, no cuts. Your face's still pretty fresh. You know what I mean? But it was nice, like, I was still good. This is beat down now, you know? But, my point is. I was just getting into it and I didn't know it because this guy puts me in there and he's like, yeah, try it. I tried. I fell in love with it.

• 8:49Speaker 04

  I stay going to the gym, but I didn't have money to pay for it. I'm working so much going to school. So I asked him if I can just clean the gym. And that would pay for the the membership because I just I needed that. And so I would clean the gym and then I started. I slowly get into selling memberships, teaching classes because I get really good. And that pays for my membership. So I'm never paying. I'm just teaching and training. And then one guy, one day a guy comes in and he's like four, five and out.

• 9:18Speaker 04

  And he goes, uh, he asked the owner of the gym, like, we need a sparring partner. He fights in a couple of weeks. He needs sparring. Do you have any guys that wrestled? Or kickboxer guys? And he's like, well, we got this kid. He wrestled in high school, but he just takes the classes and spars on Sparde. Which Sparde is like people from, you know, this guy has is in a computer at work all day. This guy does. You know, sell steaks. This guy like is a plumber. This guy's a, you know, and we all, I'm twenty, I'm twenty, eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old with these. Thirty-five year old men that just trying to get their sweat going or it'd be like you. It'd mean you, I could have showed up nineteen and me, you could have been busting me up. You know what I mean? Because that's what the gym was. Well, I'm since I'm young, hungry and I could do it. They're like.

• 10:01Speaker 04

  Throw Dominic at him. You know what I mean? Let those guys just go at it. I end up. Doing really well with this guy, beating him up pretty bad, breaking his nose. And he fought like a couple of weeks. And she's like, what are you doing? He fights in two weeks. And he's like, well, I'm not fighting anymore. Like my nose is broken. He's like. But you should think about this. Have you had any fights? And I was like, no, I wrestled in high school. And then I've been doing these boxing classes for about six months now by the time he came in. He's like, you're really good. You should try it out. They know the promoters. They know the owner of the organization. I don't want to give them a shout. Um, cause they're jerks, they pay me anything. Um, they don't pay anybody anything.

• 10:40Ed Mylett?

  But we don't know who they are.

• 10:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, we don't know who they are, but I, I jumped in there, get going. They did get it started because at least they gave me a fight. So give them that. I got a $50 check. I paid $350 for medicals. So you do the math, you know?

• 10:52Ed Mylett?

  No bueno.

• 10:52Speaker 04

  Cause they gotta make, at least they're making sure our blood's clean.

• 10:54Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 10:55Speaker 04

  And I'm happy about that. So I'm like, here's 350. Here's my blood test. Here's my eye test. Thanks for doing this. Now I don't gotta worry about getting hepatitis from somebody in this octagon, you know?

• 11:04Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 11:05Speaker 04

  And so I go fight them. I fall in love with it right then. I barely win that fight.

• 11:09Ed Mylett?

  You barely win.

• 11:10Speaker 04

  Barely win. All my friends come to watch. I just was missing so many things. I had no coaching.

• 11:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 11:14Speaker 04

  I coached myself for it. I, I don't have any pad holders, cause nobody wants to hold pads for somebody who doesn't already have money to pay you. And nobody wants to hold pads for somebody if they don't think that they're a specimen. And I didn't have some kinda

• 11:28Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 11:29Speaker 04

  specimen look to me.

• 11:30Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm, right.

• 11:31Speaker 04

  So I'm just Dom. Like, no, I'm not holding pads for you for 45 minutes for nothing. So you gotta work your own way, right? That's how my style got built, because I kinda had to train myself a lot.

• 11:42Ed Mylett?

  Is that why your style's sort of eclectic, is what you call it?

• 11:44Speaker 04

  There's that. And then I fought two weight classes above my natural weight.

• 11:48Ed Mylett?

  Why? Why'd you that?

• 11:49Speaker 04

  Cause there, the weight class didn't exist.

• 11:50Ed Mylett?

  That's what it was.

• 11:51Speaker 04

  I was the first champion of my weight class.

• 11:53Ed Mylett?

  So you end up becoming a multiple time champion, tripping into this almost, cleaning the gym up after high school.

• 12:01Speaker 04

  Well, no. The, the kid that I wrest, that I coached in wrestling, introduced me to the gym.

• 12:07Ed Mylett?

  That's unbelievable.

• 12:08Speaker 04

  And he goes, try it out. You like it. You're, you're just feisty, basically.

• 12:12Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 12:13Speaker 04

  You, I think you'll like it.

• 12:14Ed Mylett?

  When did you know? At what point did you, or was there a point where you went, oh my gosh?

• 12:17Speaker 04

  When I fought that guy, I realized, alright, I'll try it. They took me to an event and I fell in love with it after my first fight, but.

• 12:23Ed Mylett?

  When did you think you could be a champion?

• 12:25Speaker 04

  Excuse me. I took a fight in San Diego against a guy named Davis Gerto, on two days' notice. With no cornerman.

• 12:34Ed Mylett?

  No cornerman.

• 12:34Speaker 04

  And I just showed up by myself, fought and beat a hometown favorite as a co-main event.

• 12:39Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 12:40Speaker 04

  In California.

• 12:40Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 12:41Speaker 04

  And I was like, and I made like the biggest paycheck I'd ever made.

• 12:44Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 12:45Speaker 04

  Seventeen hundred dollars.

• 12:46Ed Mylett?

  That was huge.

• 12:47Speaker 04

  And I was like, alright, I'm making some money and I'm undefeated. I just found a guy who said he could be my coach and he could find me a manager. Now my career's starting. Now I'm doing what I want to do. So let's see where this goes. And so I just ran with it.

• 13:00Ed Mylett?

  I want people to hear that because I don't care what you do, right? Sometimes you just gotta run with it. You know, sometimes there isn't a perfect plan. Like this, most people think, like they see the after this, you know, multiple time champion or myself and there's probably like a perfect track. It all laid out or you knew exactly what you were doing. The fact is you just kind of fight your way along, don't you, as these experiences.

• 13:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, I feel like you fight your way along, but there's also, I was in a boom of the sport.

• 13:24Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 13:25Speaker 04

  And I think that everybody in life has this particular moment they can remember where they go. There was a time where I had a shot and I either just put all in or I didn't.

• 13:33Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 13:34Speaker 04

  I feel like for me, this was that time because I look at the sport and I, you just analyze the situation. There's only been one ultimate fighter. It hit record numbers on pay-per-view with Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and the numbers that they were doing selling pay-per-views and TV was just going nuts for mixed martial arts. Now, the sport was still considered human cockfighting at this point.

• 13:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 13:55Speaker 04

  So it was a risk.

• 13:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 13:57Speaker 04

  Which actually elevated the facts that less people are gonna do it and it makes it more of a chance for me to seep through the cracks.

• 14:04Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 14:04Speaker 04

  Because less people.

• 14:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 14:06Speaker 04

  Are gonna be willing to jump on board with a dirty sport.

• 14:08Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 14:09Speaker 04

  That they consider dirty that I know isn't dirty.

• 14:11Ed Mylett?

  You know it's not.

• 14:12Speaker 04

  So I said, if I broke down and analyzed it,

• 14:16Speaker 04

  everybody's not pouring in yet. Now's the time to get in and learn about it and start getting the facets of this thing.

• 14:22Ed Mylett?

  So you capitalized on timing too.

• 14:24Speaker 04

  I do believe that.

• 14:25Ed Mylett?

  I love what you said there too, because there is, there's a time where you gotta jump, man.

• 14:29Speaker 04

  There is. It wasn't just, like right now, when I see guys. I met a kid the other day, I was in the gym and, you know, I've been doing this for 15 years now, fighting. I've been fighting for 12, I've been, if you count wrestling, 20 years, you know?

• 14:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 14:42Speaker 04

  And this kid's eighteen and he's like, yeah, you know, he's wrapping his hands and he's happy to be in there. And I look at him and he has, he has one pro fight.

• 14:50Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 14:51Speaker 04

  And I go, oh my gosh. I look at him, I'm like, I was you.

• 14:55Ed Mylett?

  Isn't that amazing?

• 14:56Speaker 04

  I was eighteen, just starting.

• 14:58Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 14:59Speaker 04

  And I remember how I felt and what I thought and where I was.

• 15:01Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 15:02Speaker 04

  And, man, I just pray for eighteen year olds now.

• 15:06Ed Mylett?

  You do.

• 15:10Speaker 04

  You got a long road. I hope you're tough.

• 15:12Ed Mylett?

  Exactly. I think the same thing when I meet people like in my business, when I'm coaching, whether young athletes.

• 15:16Speaker 04

  You still don't know what you're actually gonna go through. If I knew what I was gonna go through, I don't know if I could have done it.

• 15:20Ed Mylett?

  Same here, right? But the thing is, you put your head down, you did the work, like we were talking about earlier. So, so let's flash forward a little bit. This is, I'm gonna ask you some stuff, because I think everybody wants to know this, right?

• 15:28Speaker 04

  Alright.

• 15:29Ed Mylett?

  Training. Now you're at an elite level. You're a world-class fighter, right? What, how important, talk, talk a little bit about prepping for a fight, but like, inside that, like, what are you doing mentally and physically when you're prepping for a fight? What are the things, are you, are you focused on sacrifices? Are you focused on your diet, your training, all of the above? Like, what happens to train for a fight? A lot of people know.

• 15:51Speaker 04

  There's a lot of little things, but I, I'll tell you what makes the biggest gains to me.

• 15:55Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 15:56Speaker 04

  It's the tiny little battles that you have that make the biggest gains for me as a champion. The tiny ones, like, the ones at the very, very end of your workout, always. That's where I get the most gains.

• 16:08Ed Mylett?

  Like what?

• 16:09Speaker 04

  So like, let's say, uh, like for instance, yesterday, I'm kind of, you know, I'm rehabbing an arm injury.

• 16:17Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 16:17Speaker 04

  I broke my arm.

• 16:18Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 16:19Speaker 04

  But I can run as much as I want.

• 16:20Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:21Speaker 04

  And so, like, normally, it's like, oh, I did two yesterday, so I'll just do one today, but it's like, the little battles. So it's like, okay, just do this, get the run done. I start to run, I do three miles, but when I come back. Alright, I need to do the sprints. I need to do them. And there's a big hill up by my house. And it's like, alright, yeah, you could do sprints, no big deal. Do five. No, you got these guys with you, they're all getting ready for a fight. And this is what you'd be doing if you were getting ready for a fight, you can run as much as you want. So as the little battles, I did 10 instead of 5.

• 16:53Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 16:53Speaker 04

  And then when you hit 6, you hit a wall.

• 16:55Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:55Speaker 04

  And when you hit a wall, your body says stop. And in my workouts, I always hit a wall. And when you hit that wall, that's where you make gains.

• 17:04Ed Mylett?

  That's right. That's the 6 to 10 is the max out part of your workout. That's what you and I were talking about off-camera. That's the difference between a good workout, or even a great workout, and a maxed-out workout, right? And you stack those up. So, you've trained.

• 17:16Speaker 04

  So that extra 4.

• 17:18Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 17:18Speaker 04

  When you really think about it, is only maybe 2 and 1/2 minutes extra work, but it's the most painful 2 and 1/2 minutes of the entire day.

• 17:26Ed Mylett?

  Yep, and it's where all the gains are made.

• 17:27Speaker 04

  Because that's where all the gains are made.

• 17:29Ed Mylett?

  I love that. So, sports, business, that's where the extra 3 phone calls are made, the extra 2 appointments, the extra 1 hour, the extra, extra, extra, right?

• 17:36Speaker 04

  Just inches, but the inches add up.

• 17:38Ed Mylett?

  Oh, I love that.

• 17:39Speaker 04

  It's weird.

• 17:39Ed Mylett?

  No, it's true, right? Like, we both know this is true. And you told me, talk about this, it's not just the inches. You were telling me that how important self-confidence is, or confidence is, when you go into a fight. What is your confidence rooted in? Where do you get it from, your confidence?

• 17:55Speaker 04

  It's a good question. There's a couple things. One, I have a higher power. So my higher power is a huge comfort for me. I don't think anybody, I don't think that everybody has to have a higher power. And if you do have one, it doesn't need to be the same. My higher power could be this corner. I don't care. It doesn't matter. Whatever your higher power needs to be. If you have one, I think these people have an advantage over somebody who does not.

• 18:19Ed Mylett?

  100% agree with you.

• 18:20Speaker 04

  And it doesn't need to be one certain thing. It's just what it is.

• 18:23Ed Mylett?

  I love the word you used, comfort, because that's what it is for me, too.

• 18:26Speaker 04

  It is, because it's something that you can just release and say, it's in the hands of this.

• 18:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 18:30Speaker 04

  And when you can do that, it's called faith. And faith can only um be refined through fire. And the antidote to fear is trust and faith.

• 18:42Ed Mylett?

  It's awesome.

• 18:42Speaker 04

  So those things being said, if you really put all those things together. Faith is actually why the higher power is so important. Because when I walk into a fight, I have to have faith that I put all the work in.

• 18:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 18:53Speaker 04

  I have to have faith that. Things are gonna be go the way I want. I don't have any control over them whatsoever. None. Zero. So my faith actually goes deeper than it is. But if you don't have a higher power that you can't touch. And learn that you have to have faith in something that you can't touch or grab or that's not physical. You've never trained faith. You have to be able to train faith somehow. And I feel like that's what a higher power does for somebody who has it. They're training faith every day.

• 19:19Ed Mylett?

  I love that.

• 19:19Speaker 04

  And if you train faith. You're hard to beat because you learn to let go of the things you can't control.

• 19:25Ed Mylett?

  Mmm.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  You know?

• 19:27Ed Mylett?

  Really good.

• 19:27Speaker 04

  And for me, that's um that was a huge learning.

• 19:31Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 19:31Speaker 04

  For me.

• 19:32Ed Mylett?

  Anything else? Is your preparation part of your confidence? Any of that?

• 19:35Speaker 04

  Um, well, the preparation to me was an intangible because everybody does that. So I don't count it.

• 19:41Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 19:42Speaker 04

  Because it's like I'm at the highest level. Everybody's in shape. Everybody's strong. Everybody's fast. Everybody hits hard. Everybody trains every aspect. Everybody's well rounded. Everybody's pissed. Everybody can get knocked out and stand back up. Everybody can take a choke and get out. Everybody can get put to sleep, wait back up and flip you off.

• 20:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 20:01Speaker 04

  It's a different level.

• 20:02Ed Mylett?

  So the difference for you is your faith?

• 20:04Speaker 04

  The difference for me is that, but also. Letting go of the things I can't control so that I don't freak out.

• 20:12Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 20:12Speaker 04

  But then one of the biggest intangibles for me, I think, is just. Um, attacking my weaknesses, like not not running from them.

• 20:20Ed Mylett?

  You mean in your preparation?

• 20:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, and in my mind, in my heart, my spirit, like all things. So it's not just the physical. It has to be your weaknesses and the mental.

• 20:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 20:29Speaker 04

  Outside of the octagon. Because what I realized is most of the reasons why I fought in the octagon were were uh. Spiritual and emotional weaknesses outside of the octagon.

• 20:42Ed Mylett?

  Wow, you think maybe part, not, you go a little deeper on that, you think part, your dad's gone, that type of thing?

• 20:46Speaker 04

  Just there's so, yeah, just life turns you into that, which was actually my gift and my curse. It was my gift to fighting, but it was my curse outside of life where certain things, I'd be really good at fighting, but everything outside of that was just like jumbled mess. My relationships weren't doing well, maybe I'm snappy on people, maybe I'm punking people too much and I shouldn't be because I'm used to being in a fight world and this isn't the fight world anymore, Dom, you can't just be walking around trying to punk people.

• 21:14Ed Mylett?

  Got you.

• 21:14Speaker 04

  And then, there has to be balance, right?

• 21:16Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 21:17Speaker 04

  And I wasn't balanced, I was all in on the physical and not enough in on the

• 21:21Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 21:22Speaker 04

  The spiritual emotional, and then when you start mingling them together, it sounds crazy, but it just, it helps your physical.

• 21:28Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 21:29Speaker 04

  And that's the, that's been the difference for me, is like, I'm not just focused on being in shape, being strong, being fast.

• 21:34Ed Mylett?

  Cause everyone's got that at your level.

• 21:35Speaker 04

  Cause everyone's got that, what are people not doing? They're not dealing with their weaknesses outside of what fighting makes them not think about.

• 21:43Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 21:43Speaker 04

  Right? So like, fighting turns off my brain.

• 21:46Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 21:47Speaker 04

  That's why I love it.

• 21:48Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 21:48Speaker 04

  It just shuts off everything, why am I always trying to shut my brain off?

• 21:51Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 21:52Speaker 04

  You know, what's the point of that?

• 21:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 21:54Speaker 04

  What if I start working on the things outside that I'm trying to shut my brain for, so I don't have to shut my brain off anymore?

• 21:59Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 21:59Speaker 04

  Now I'm reaching, in my opinion, I haven't done it yet, I'm still trying to figure it out.

• 22:03Ed Mylett?

  We all are.

• 22:04Speaker 04

  But, if I can do that, now I'm at peace, when I start training, how much more out of training when I can get when I'm actually not using it to shut my brain off.

• 22:12Ed Mylett?

  Wow, this is awesome, man.

• 22:13Speaker 04

  Is that, am I crazy?

• 22:14Ed Mylett?

  No, not a hundred percent, you're talking about getting to the ultimate version, your ultimate fighting, your ultimate life, your ultimate everything.

• 22:19Speaker 04

  But I don't, I don't, I haven't done it, but it's a theory.

• 22:22Ed Mylett?

  Cause if you, well, in my opinion, you know, I talk about this, you guys talk about this off camera, that's a chase, that's a pursuit, right? Like, I think, I think, by the way, isn't it cool to be in the head and heart of a world-class champion, right? Like, this is what they think about. And, I think guys like you, like, I interviewed this guy named Tim Grover, who was Jordan and Kobe's mental and physical coach, right? And he talks about there's coolers, closers, and cleaners, cleaners are world champions, like what you are. Okay, throw everything aside, they're gonna win anyway, right? And he says cleaners never think they're cleaners. The greatest never think they're cleaners. In other words, you never really arrive at that point, it's the pursuit of it, right? It's like, clearly you're, you were talking off camera, like you're way further along on the pursuit of what you just said than you were five years ago.

• 23:03Speaker 04

  Oh yeah, the knee, the injuries did that for me.

• 23:06Ed Mylett?

  Injuries did that for you.

• 23:06Speaker 04

  It forced me to get away from the physical because I couldn't use my body anymore. I literally, my body broke on me so much, so that God forced me to deal with the mental, emotional, physical, spirit, or in the spiritual.

• 23:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 23:18Speaker 04

  Mental, emotional, and spiritual.

• 23:19Ed Mylett?

  And you literally said to me off camera, that happened for you, not to you. I couldn't believe when you said that because I so believe that that's true. It's like, there's a version of you coming in.

• 23:26Speaker 04

  There was a time where I would have never said that.

• 23:28Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 23:29Speaker 04

  I would have said this is a bunch of, I'm doomed.

• 23:31Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I know, I know.

• 23:33Speaker 04

  Trust me.

• 23:33Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 23:33Speaker 04

  I'm not always that optimistic.

• 23:35Ed Mylett?

  No, it's great that you, well, it's perspective, it's wisdom, it's age, it's maturity, it's uh,

• 23:39Speaker 04

  Takes time.

• 23:39Ed Mylett?

  It's all those things. So, I'm loving this by the way, just so you know, like I'm pumped as hell.

• 23:45Speaker 04

  I see that. I mean, we might need to get you some new sleeves in a second.

• 23:50Ed Mylett?

  So, you get afraid. When you're going, I think people want to know this, you're, you're walking into that cage. You're gonna stand there and get the intro, right? Buffer's gonna say something, or let's get it on, or whatever he says, right? And so,

• 24:05Speaker 04

  So at that time, you're talking?

• 24:07Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 24:07Speaker 04

  At that time, am I afraid?

• 24:09Ed Mylett?

  Oh, at any point, are you afraid? Is there a,

• 24:11Speaker 04

  I'm definitely afraid at a point.

• 24:12Ed Mylett?

  You're back getting wrapped in the back, what are you thinking?

• 24:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm probably still pretty nervous there. I wouldn't say afraid though.

• 24:18Ed Mylett?

  What are you?

• 24:18Speaker 04

  Cause like, well, I'm, I've let go.

• 24:21Ed Mylett?

  You've let go. Now you have, but you always do that?

• 24:26Speaker 04

  I learned how to do that with my first championship.

• 24:29Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so you're getting wrapped, you've let go, you're nervous, you got anxiety, but you're not fearful.

• 24:34Speaker 04

  Right, cause the antidote to fear is trust and faith. That's like so powerful for me because, I told, I've had to obviously break this down, that's why I was able to explain it in my own head, like, alright, why is the antidote to fear, trust and faith? Why?

• 24:46Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 24:47Speaker 04

  Well, why do I have trust, what do I have trust and faith in? Well. God, I have trust and faith in God. Why do I have trust and faith that God exists if I can't touch him? I can't see him. I can't. Why is he there? Why do I believe it? Well, I can feel it. Somehow, right? Like it's, I don't know. I just have a feeling. Well, it's the same thing like. I have a feeling I'm the best in the world. It's there, but also I have trust and faith because I know what I did in my camp. I never skipped one workout. I did those last four sprints every single time and I know I did.

• 25:18Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 25:18Speaker 04

  For exactly 12 weeks. I was perfect. That's all it takes and I know that in the system. I wrote it down and I've done it and I've won championships with this system that in this system. As long as I stick to that 12 weeks and I do it this way and do every four sprints and. The system says I will be a world champion. Do I have trust and faith that this system works? Well, I've done it for six one time. How many times have I done it? Have I done it? That's why winning one title is so important. You see a light bulb go on in a champion's head when they win their first one. It's a light bulb. Oh, I'm here. I belong here. I am this good. You know why? Because they have a system.

• 25:57Ed Mylett?

  They have a system.

• 25:58Speaker 04

  That's what they know. They have a system now that won them the title. Now that you got that system, you just.

• 26:04Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 26:04Speaker 04

  You repeat, wash, repeat, wash, repeat.

• 26:06Ed Mylett?

  So let me tell you what's unique about you.

• 26:08Speaker 04

  You evolve it.

• 26:09Ed Mylett?

  Let me tell you what's unique about you. Okay. Because you know that I work with lots of athletes in different sports. That's, that is unique what you just said. A lot of guys get to that championship level. And they don't think they belong there and they don't repeat their system and they don't train exactly the same or they. Or they evolve things too much. That's why you've been able to repeat as a champion, in my opinion. And that's same true in business. Like you take, you said that champions do that. Repeat champions do that. You do that. But dudes you've beaten didn't do that. And there are guys that get to certain places and they don't think they belong there or they do alter their system or they don't trust it. Business people do it. Athletes in different sports do it. So it is unique to you. I want to acknowledge, just so you know. That is one of the great advantages for you, brother, is that you do think you belong there. You do refine your system. You do repeat the process.

• 26:54Ed Mylett?

  And your faith. It's true. Trust me because I work with guys and most of the time they don't think they belong there. They, maybe even they got there a little bit prematurely. It's even like guys that you've beat, that beat you before when you came back and beat the next time.

• 27:06Speaker 04

  I think that the thing that I have that maybe some of these athletes don't from my experience as an athlete.

• 27:14Speaker 04

  Is there's a lot of people that passed me up very early in in with their athletic gifts. Their gifts were just maxed out on me. They're just they're stronger. They were faster. They were all these things.

• 27:25Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 27:26Speaker 04

  But that actually ended up being their crutch towards the end. And I didn't have that crutch early.

• 27:32Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 27:32Speaker 04

  I never have had it my whole life.

• 27:34Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 27:34Speaker 04

  And so.

• 27:37Speaker 04

  I believe I belong there because I know I suffered to get there. I was never. It was too too hard.

• 27:43Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 27:44Speaker 04

  To not belong for me to not belong there at this point. It was just too difficult. I could look back at what I did and know. Go ahead and try.

• 27:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 27:54Speaker 04

  Do it. I wanna see you.

• 27:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 27:56Speaker 04

  You ain't doing it.

• 27:56Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 27:57Speaker 04

  You're not. I can look back at what I've done and know. There's like a smidgen of people on earth that will do that.

• 28:04Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 28:05Speaker 04

  Because it's too hard. I know what I did.

• 28:07Ed Mylett?

  You know what you did.

• 28:07Speaker 04

  Hard. It's lonely. It's grueling. It's worth it.

• 28:13Ed Mylett?

  Worth it. I was hoping you were gonna say that. I was literally just took the words out. I was gonna tell you it's worth it, right? And the the greats usually aren't the mega talented ones, man. Like Brady's not the most talented quarterback in the history of NFL, but I think the same thing is applies with him too. And I think he thinks he belongs there. And I think he repeats his process.

• 28:29Speaker 04

  Looks like.

• 28:29Ed Mylett?

  I think he's addicted to the process. So you're not. So you're going into the ring. You're. By the way, like gold, like unbelievable gold, like some of my favorite things ever said on my show is what you just said, which is why I told you off camera, you should speak for a living.

• 28:41Speaker 04

  Well, glad we think think a lot of like share some of the same views.

• 28:45Ed Mylett?

  Well, you're also teaching me stuff too. So hey, I learn from everybody.

• 28:47Speaker 04

  I'm learning too, man. I'm learning how how much it costs to put a. Wine system in with different.

• 28:54Speaker 04

  Ranges of temperatures.

• 28:55Ed Mylett?

  I tell you, man.

• 28:56Speaker 04

  In fact, I like my wine at seventy three degrees, please.

• 29:01Ed Mylett?

  That's some warm wine. I'm gonna work on you, man. I'm gonna work on you.

• 29:04Speaker 04

  Well, that's not a good temperature.

• 29:05Ed Mylett?

  No, you want a cooler. Well, we'll work on that. I'll help you. There are things I can.

• 29:08Speaker 04

  I'm here to learn.

• 29:08Ed Mylett?

  There are things I can help you. All day I'm helping you. So let's go through a couple more things. I'm fascinated. So you're going in. You've got some anxiety, nerves, butterflies, energy, anticipation, all that stuff.

• 29:20Ed Mylett?

  Have you, you're in a fight, are you now in some zone where you're just reacting? You've done your preparation, you've got your plan, you know this guy's strengths, weaknesses, you know yours, etc. Are you just now reacting?

• 29:31Speaker 04

  I have a joke that I tell my friend, I'm in the Larden zone. I read a book.

• 29:35Ed Mylett?

  What is it?

• 29:35Speaker 04

  The Larden Zone.

• 29:36Ed Mylett?

  Okay, what's the Larden?

• 29:37Speaker 04

  It's a book that I read from a doctor that I talk to occasionally, he's another like power person in my life.

• 29:43Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 29:44Speaker 04

  Dr. Larden, he wrote a book and he talks about how to get in the zone. And the zone is perceived is basically that, that like space between what's happening and what's not, and where everything freezes and moves slow.

• 29:57Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 29:58Speaker 04

  And it's getting in the zone. And when you're fighting, that turns on. But I researched more into that and why it's so powerful. And the reason it's powerful is everything shuts off. Like everything, you're just there in the present.

• 30:11Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 30:12Speaker 04

  So that's powerful to me because the present is 100% where all our power is. Like all of it, we have no power without the present, none. If you're folk, like that's when I realized it. Cause when I'm doing that, I'm not thinking, oh man, I should wipe my feet before I got in the cage. While he's punching me like.

• 30:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 30:30Speaker 04

  I'm just thinking, don't get hit.

• 30:32Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 30:32Speaker 04

  Counter, oh, this is a good read. I'm so in the now that there is no anxiety, there is no stress, there is no, there's only slow and peace.

• 30:42Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 30:43Speaker 04

  So if we could, imagine if I could grasp that for life.

• 30:46Ed Mylett?

  Yes, I was gonna tell you, imagine if you can grasp that outside of the ring. Someday when you have kids being that present, right?

• 30:50Speaker 04

  That's what I mean, it's hard though. But when I see it like a 80-year-old guy, you see him and they're just always chilling. They're in the present, they just know, they've already lived their whole life.

• 31:01Ed Mylett?

  That's right.

• 31:01Speaker 04

  In the past, in the future and.

• 31:03Ed Mylett?

  And so the rub is, can you continue to be driven? I say that blissful dissatisfaction, right? The rub is, can you continue just to be super driven, but yet being peaceful, present and in the zone at the same time?

• 31:13Speaker 04

  And there's where I lie now, I've hit that road now where I'm at a fork. And I'm trying to figure out, I've found out a lot of answers to a lot of the things that have tormented me to make me fight. And the more I uncover them and the more I understand them and the more I get to the root issues of. What causes, what keeps me from having peace?

• 31:30Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 31:31Speaker 04

  The more peace I uncover.

• 31:32Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 31:33Speaker 04

  You start to worry, well, am I taking away the one gift I have to be the good fighter?

• 31:36Ed Mylett?

  Everybody worries about that, right? They do worry about that. And actually, what you're gonna do is you're gonna unleash a power within you you've not had before. Everybody thinks that. They think that in every area.

• 31:45Speaker 04

  That's what I've heard, what you're saying.

• 31:46Ed Mylett?

  It's a fact.

• 31:47Speaker 04

  A guy named Wayne Dyer, I've listened to a lot too, and he talks about.

• 31:50Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 31:51Speaker 04

  That there's another, that there's another, when you get to where I'm looking.

• 31:55Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 31:55Speaker 04

  I haven't quite had the faith in it yet, because I haven't seen it.

• 31:58Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 31:59Speaker 04

  What he's talking about, but.

• 32:00Ed Mylett?

  It's a fact.

• 32:00Speaker 04

  You get to where you no longer need the fear and the anxiety and the.

• 32:05Ed Mylett?

  Great.

• 32:05Speaker 04

  You just need, the more peace, when you can just have peace, like you work on another frequency.

• 32:10Ed Mylett?

  They are. Those are low-level drivers that got you to where you are.

• 32:13Speaker 04

  Right, that's the word, that's better.

• 32:14Ed Mylett?

  To sustain excellence, those things actually become your kryptonite. And so the more you remove those things, you get stronger. It's removing little pieces of kryptonite from your heart and your soul, and you get stronger. It's, there's a will and a strength.

• 32:25Speaker 04

  So I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who's heard this.

• 32:26Ed Mylett?

  No, absolutely not. You're 100% right on that.

• 32:28Speaker 04

  So I'm trying to get to that higher frequency.

• 32:29Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 32:30Speaker 04

  And at the higher frequency, there's peace outside here.

• 32:32Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 32:33Speaker 04

  Inside here.

• 32:34Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 32:35Speaker 04

  There's peace everywhere. I've dealt with the demons. I've looked at myself in the mirror and said, oh, you're a piece of crap here, here, and here. This is why, and how have you dealt with that? I'm not running from it, saying, making up excuses and telling you why I'm not, why I'm the strongest person ever.

• 32:49Ed Mylett?

  Yes. There's a lot of people watching this who are thinking, I can't believe that Mylett and a UFC guy are talking about these things, right? Because this is, like, this is ultimately, like, unbelievable life advice that you're giving people. I'm telling you, and the most people look in the mirror and say this.

• 33:03Speaker 04

  I'm not giving advice, I'm just talking. He asked me questions.

• 33:05Ed Mylett?

  No, you know what I'm saying. Well, it's counsel. It, it, it, people take it as advice. I know what you're saying. You're like me. Neither one of us think we have any of this stuff figured out. But yet, when you share your own experience like this, brother, and that's what I was telling you, it's like, honestly, you don't know the difference this is making. Already the emails are coming in, already the direct messages are coming in, saying, I can't believe he said this. That's exactly how I feel. I'm so glad to hear that a world champion thinks and has thought like I do. It gives people hope, man, because people see you like. You're infallible, you're a warrior, and you've come across, by the way, you know this, when you go in the ring, you've talked a little bit, you've come, and so this is a side of you most people don't know, right? They don't know this side of you.

• 33:43Speaker 04

  I've made it a plan, and this, I think, is the other reason why I was able to beat a lot of the top athletes that athleticized me and surpassed me in sports is my vulnerability. I really believe that that is actually probably my biggest strength in fighting.

• 34:01Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 34:02Speaker 04

  I do.

• 34:02Ed Mylett?

  What do you mean by your vulnerability? What do you mean by that?

• 34:05Speaker 04

  If you talk to a lot of, yeah, and if you talk to a lot of fighters, they'll never, ever explain their weak times.

• 34:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 34:10Speaker 04

  Ever.

• 34:11Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, they never let you look behind.

• 34:12Speaker 04

  Never let, never say, "Oh, yeah, he rocked me a little."

• 34:15Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 34:16Speaker 04

  And never say, "Oh, yeah, I had an off night," and it's always, "I had an off night, but..."

• 34:22Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 34:22Speaker 04

  Da-da-da-da-da, it's never, "He was better than me that night, he was a little sharper, he came planned," it's never that.

• 34:28Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, it's never that.

• 34:29Speaker 04

  I got so tired of hearing the excuses after I beat 20-plus people.

• 34:34Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 34:34Speaker 04

  And hearing them say the same hog of shit.

• 34:37Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and you're like, "Look, I beat you, dude."

• 34:39Speaker 04

  Over and over.

• 34:39Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 34:40Speaker 04

  Like, you can't even lose like a man.

• 34:41Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 34:41Speaker 04

  It's pathetic.

• 34:42Ed Mylett?

  Well, that's what you just said, so I think that's a man. I think the most masculine thing a dude can be is vulnerable and honest. Like, most men think masculinity is like, "There's this wall, there's nothing, I'm perfect, I'm strong." And every masculine dude I put on this program, people think it's gonna be this clash of two masculine dudes. Somehow, when we get together, guys even become more vulnerable. It's happened with every single dude that's on the show. I, I, not acknowledge is the right word for it, but like, I really respect that, because I think it's a higher level of confidence to say, "Look, man, I'm not perfect, this is what I think, I'm so confident, I'm willing to tell you this crap about me."

• 35:14Speaker 04

  That's how I see it.

• 35:14Ed Mylett?

  It's what it is.

• 35:15Speaker 04

  I don't see it as...

• 35:15Ed Mylett?

  And that's, that's, that's the kryptonite.

• 35:17Speaker 04

  A problem.

• 35:17Ed Mylett?

  That's the kryptonite falling off you. I'm telling you, you're gonna be stronger. So, curious, just a couple more things in the ring. I, like, this is gold, like, someone's gonna transcribe this, man. So, you're in the ring, have you ever, God bless you, have you ever been in the ring, and I'm just curious, you're in the middle of a fight, and you're like, "I'm in trouble," or, or, up until any point in every fight you've been in, did you think, "I'm still gonna win this fight?" Or has that occurred to you? Is there a point where there's, in other words, what I wanna know is, does doubt set in ever mid-fight, and you have to fight that doubt creeping in? Does that work? Because people deal with doubt in business and life.

• 35:47Speaker 04

  Okay, no, I have an answer for that.

• 35:48Ed Mylett?

  You get doubt?

• 35:49Speaker 04

  It has never happened to me in a fight.

• 35:51Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 35:52Speaker 04

  Because I've already dealt with it by that point.

• 35:54Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 35:54Speaker 04

  Yes, it happens.

• 35:56Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 35:56Speaker 04

  Every day, but that's what a 12-week camp is.

• 35:59Ed Mylett?

  So you have the doubt during camp?

• 36:00Speaker 04

  It wa- you know, you wash that shit out.

• 36:02Ed Mylett?

  During the camp?

• 36:03Speaker 04

  Yes, that shit gets.

• 36:06Speaker 04

  And it, it fills up. You, you, you wring it out one day and then it fills back up because you take an ass-whupping on a Friday sparring.

• 36:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 36:14Speaker 04

  And then you come back in on Monday and you choke somebody out twice and it gets a little tighter. And then you come in on Tuesday and you get 16 takedowns, you do pads in the middle of it and you don't get tired, so it wrings out a little bit more. And then Wednesday comes and you do judo and you throw somebody on their head. And then Thursday comes and then, you know, you keep wringing it out. And then Friday comes and you get your ass beat again and it fills back up.

• 36:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 36:36Speaker 04

  Shit, man, the doubt's back.

• 36:37Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 36:38Speaker 04

  And then you gotta wring it out again. You can onl- you're only gonna have to wring it out for so long before it stops filling up. There's no more liquid in the bowl. And then you're just strong and ready to kill somebody and you know it and you have trust and faith that you've wrung it out so many times that there's nothing left. You've already wrung it out.

• 36:56Ed Mylett?

  You don't.

• 36:58Speaker 04

  Gone.

• 36:58Ed Mylett?

  You don't know how good this is, brother. You, this is so good. It's so good. Okay, so.

• 37:03Speaker 04

  It's a monster.

• 37:04Ed Mylett?

  Let's talk about the monster kick in it.

• 37:06Speaker 04

  Why?

• 37:06Ed Mylett?

  Let's talk a little bit about, so you're what? You're 32?

• 37:09Speaker 04

  I am.

• 37:10Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so you're gonna fight again?

• 37:12Speaker 04

  I am.

• 37:12Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you don't know when?

• 37:15Speaker 04

  Well, I have an idea.

• 37:16Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 37:17Speaker 04

  But I kinda don't like the cards, the way things are moving.

• 37:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 37:20Speaker 04

  I'm still healing, doctor has not cleared me, so and to- you know, I obviously am a thinker, so I've had some plans, but.

• 37:26Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 37:28Speaker 04

  It will happen and it will be good.

• 37:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, um, do you wanna fight for the championship again?

• 37:32Speaker 04

  Of course. I think that should be my next fight, but.

• 37:37Speaker 04

  They play weird games where they wanna give TJ Dillashaw a little bit of an easier fight, cuz he doesn't wanna fight somebody hard right after he won the title. He wants an easy fight.

• 37:46Ed Mylett?

  And you fought him.

• 37:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 37:48Ed Mylett?

  Right, and you beat him.

• 37:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 37:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 37:50Speaker 04

  And so he wants to fight somebody that he knows he can keep the belt a little longer before he gets a really hard fight, you know?

• 37:55Ed Mylett?

  Gotcha.

• 37:55Speaker 04

  Whereas, you know, I go TJ Dillashaw, Uriah Faber, Cody Garbrandt, and then I lose the belt.

• 38:01Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 38:02Speaker 04

  Let's go TJ, like, fuck, I beat you, don't you wanna get that back? Stop going down and looking for little baby boys at 125.

• 38:11Speaker 04

  Silly dilly.

• 38:12Ed Mylett?

  Silly dilly. So you'd like to fight him next, that'd be the ultimate thing.

• 38:14Speaker 04

  That's the fight that matters. Everybody wants to see if he can beat me and everybody wants to know, everybody knows I can beat him. Why wouldn't we see that again?

• 38:23Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I'd love to see that again.

• 38:24Speaker 04

  I just don't understand why I wouldn't, why I would go any other way.

• 38:27Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so you gotta get, you gotta get the arm a little bit healthy again, start training again.

• 38:30Speaker 04

  That's, that's the one thing that they're, that they're, that they're, that would turn it off is, does TJ want to fight when my arm heals? Timing.

• 38:38Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 38:38Speaker 04

  My arm's pretty good. I have, I don't know, limited amount of time the doctor clears me to punch. I'm already cleared to exercise. I'm already exercising. I just can't punch with it yet.

• 38:49Ed Mylett?

  Hmm. So when you talk about this guy, your face changed a little bit, like.

• 38:53Speaker 04

  Did it? Good. It's a good thing.

• 38:55Ed Mylett?

  Do you do that with everybody? Like in other words, do you get to the point, I don't know, hate's the right word, but I mean.

• 38:59Speaker 04

  No, I definitely don't hate TJ Dill Shaw or any of these guys.

• 39:02Ed Mylett?

  A guy like this, like your face changed, like you went to like a business, I don't know, creepy face.

• 39:07Speaker 04

  Silly.

• 39:07Ed Mylett?

  What is that though? No, it's good. What is it?

• 39:09Speaker 04

  No, it's silly to me, the game. It's like, you know that, like if I lost to somebody and I was the champion, I'd want that fight right away, especially if.

• 39:18Ed Mylett?

  It's a blemish.

• 39:18Speaker 04

  I know what, not just that, yeah.

• 39:20Ed Mylett?

  You did that with favor, twice.

• 39:21Speaker 04

  I had to have that back.

• 39:23Ed Mylett?

  You wanted it.

• 39:23Speaker 04

  And I want to get it back. I want to get my loss back from Cody too, but he lost. So what's, I want the guy that's the champion.

• 39:29Ed Mylett?

  So you beat TJ, then fight Cody if he wins the next fight?

• 39:31Speaker 04

  Of course. I get the belt back from beating TJ and then I give Cody a shot.

• 39:35Ed Mylett?

  You would. You're saying that right now?

• 39:37Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 39:37Ed Mylett?

  That's awesome, yeah.

• 39:38Speaker 04

  Cause that's what it is.

• 39:39Ed Mylett?

  That's news, just so you know.

• 39:40Speaker 04

  You know, that's what it is. That's the way it should be. Because I lost to Cody, so why wouldn't, alright, let's see if I made the adjustments.

• 39:47Ed Mylett?

  Yep. So you want that reciprocated with TJ?

• 39:50Speaker 04

  But you can't expect people to think the way I think, cause that's unfair and I can't control that.

• 39:54Ed Mylett?

  This look of disdain, is your disdain for the process, or are you just like?

• 39:56Speaker 04

  I'm sad for him.

• 39:58Ed Mylett?

  In what regard? What do you mean?

• 39:59Speaker 04

  He's not challenging himself, doesn't get it, doesn't see the big picture. There's only a few people that generate interest in this division.

• 40:06Ed Mylett?

  That's right.

• 40:07Speaker 04

  I'm one of them. There's no way of fans or butts about it.

• 40:09Ed Mylett?

  That's right, yeah.

• 40:10Speaker 04

  So where are you going? That's the fight people want to see.

• 40:13Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 40:14Speaker 04

  There's only certain fights that create interest in this thing and he's running all over the place anywhere but where the interest is. And it blows my mind because how do you sell pay-per-views? How do you get people to tune in if you're dodging the people that generate the most of that? You're gonna just, because you want safety.

• 40:32Ed Mylett?

  Is there, is there another dude in between the two or three of you that most people would want to go see?

• 40:38Speaker 04

  Not really.

• 40:39Ed Mylett?

  No.

• 40:39Speaker 04

  I mean, the thing is, there's a top five and anybody in the top five.

• 40:42Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 40:43Speaker 04

  I truly believe has to anybody in, in the UFC that's in the top five.

• 40:47Ed Mylett?

  But you're the only guy in the top five that he's lost to.

• 40:49Speaker 04

  I think so.

• 40:50Ed Mylett?

  You, you are.

• 40:51Speaker 04

  Okay. Well, I think anybody in the top five, that's my point.

• 40:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 40:55Speaker 04

  Um, has the potential of being a champion. You have, if you're top five, that means you have all the tools. You're just missing a couple of little things and we'll see if you got it.

• 41:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. I'm fired up to see that fight. I think you all are too. Like, I'll be at that fight. But I'm really fired up to see if some of this stuff you've discovered outside the ring even gives you greater strength inside the ring because that's my belief. That's what I think.

• 41:17Speaker 04

  It has so far. It did for Mizuka that started when I fought, when I come back from all the, from the double ACL reconstruction.

• 41:23Ed Mylett?

  This guy's come back from injury after injury, adversity after adversity.

• 41:26Speaker 04

  I've already felt how it's done for me in my fight game and it won me my third, my, uh, my fourth title. It won it for me.

• 41:33Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 41:33Speaker 04

  That, the, the stuff that I've learned. I came with a whole different mindset towards that. Last title versus Dill Shaw that I had ever had in my whole career.

• 41:40Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 41:41Speaker 04

  And it was the strongest I'd ever been mentally, so.

• 41:44Ed Mylett?

  Awesome, man.

• 41:45Speaker 04

  I'm confident in, uh, making the right steps, meeting people like you, Chris Patterson. You gotta put strong people in your life that you know have succeeded in a lot of the ways that you want to. And as long as I can keep in touch with these people and make sure I'm not going off the beaten path, then I'm confident, very confident, that I'm doing the right moves in my guts.

• 42:04Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. I gotta tell you, you're doing that role for millions of people who are listening to this. They can't get with you one-on-one in a room, but I can promise you, your words are ringing in their ears. They'll play this over and over again. They just heard a world champion, repetitive world champion, one of the elite fighters and athletes in the world, take you inside his brain, deep in there and inside his heart, so.

• 42:22Speaker 04

  It's not easy. He, he had, he said he had a hard time doing it because you, he had a hard time being out there for people.

• 42:28Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 42:28Speaker 04

  And I have the same way, but being vulnerable.

• 42:32Ed Mylett?

  I'm proud of you, man.

• 42:33Speaker 04

  It's hard to do, but if you do it-

• 42:34Ed Mylett?

  I got more respect for you and I think you're stronger.

• 42:36Speaker 04

  I hope so, I just gotta keep trying.

• 42:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I'm really impressed with you, bro.

• 42:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, let's hang out.

• 42:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, we're gonna hang out.

• 42:42Speaker 04

  Let's have some fun.

• 42:42Ed Mylett?

  We're gonna hang out today, too. Hey, everybody, I hope you enjoyed this time with Dominic. If you did, thank you, by the way.

• 42:47Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 42:48Ed Mylett?

  So much, man.

• 42:48Speaker 04

  Awesome.

• 42:49Ed Mylett?

  If you did enjoy this, make sure you go out there and review the podcast on all the different platforms that it's listened to. And certainly follow Dominic on social media, on Instagram. What's your Instagram handle?

• 42:58Speaker 04

  Dominic Cruz.

• 42:58Ed Mylett?

  Wow, that'll be easy to remember. So you go, go follow Dominic, follow me if you're not following me as well. Max out, everybody, God bless you.