Denis Frimpong

Summary

Denis Frimpong is a professional MMA fighter representing Manchester Top Team, coming off a loss Denis wants to right his wrongs, he speaks about how good this camp is leading up to the fight and his mentality going in

Transcript (youtube_captions)

Go. Okay, so I have Mr. Dennis Frimpong. He's going to be competing on the 7th of November. He's going to be looking for uh to get back on track, to get back on winning ways, and and to head towards that lightweight title. Thank you very much for joining me. Thank you very much for your time. How are you today? How are you feeling? How's camp going so far? >> Yeah, thank you as always for having me, Dave. Um yeah, camp's going really well. Um I know everyone always says this about every camp. I've probably said it about every camp, but I'll do the best camp I've had in a long time. Um just obviously the outside influences of life, uh obviously having a baby and stuff. Probably in the last four camps, I'd say. As much as I thought that they were that they went really well, they probably didn't go as well as they could have gone, if that makes sense. Just obviously when I am at home, the the baby and you know, you know yourself, you've got kids. So. Yeah, obviously that that affected, I think, how my weight come down and stuff like that, cuz I've not changed anything about my diet and my calories and all that and my training. But this time, the weight's just been really smooth, where the last few times, obviously the weight just didn't shift off me and I I think it might have had to do a bit with broken sleeps and like obviously that affects your hormones and how your body breaks down fat and breaks down weight and all that kind of stuff. So. Yeah, it's been it's been the best camp in a long time, I would say. >> Yeah, that's good. And I I think it's well like that when you when you have a a new child and there's something introduced new into your life as well. There's going to be stresses and there's going to be worries and there's going to be things that you've never kind of done before and even though you might think they might not affect you fully like your subconscious there's things that there's there's sleep, there's different things to worry about, the child. Uh and these things and all have effect like on your stress, which then then in turn like you said will will affect your weight but but >> Yeah and like I said it in the in the moment it I didn't feel like it did but you know hindsight's 20/20 and it's only when you look back and especially now cuz like he's a bit older now so he tends to sleep through the night a bit more so I am getting better sleeps and stuff and I feel it in myself. Cuz MMA fighters will just like most of us will just sort of power through and go yeah I'm good I'm good I'm good. Um but it's only when you look back now with the better sleeps that I'm getting that I'm going oh maybe I wasn't so good you know what I mean maybe maybe it was affecting my performance maybe it was affecting my weight and all that a bit but yeah. >> Yeah no yeah so obviously the weight's coming out well and and were you thinking at any stage cuz you were saying the weight wasn't shifting and and like you're looking at now and saying okay these might have been the issues were you thinking that maybe you might have to go to a different weight class cuz I seen you saying about welterweight then I actually seen you on your story the other day saying no that the weight is shifting you might not need to do welterweight again. Was that was that something you were potentially looking at if this continued to happen going forward that the weight wasn't shifting that you might have moved up to welter? >> Yeah I mean I I made statements straight after my last fight after a knockout loss and probably the wrong time to make a decision on that if that makes sense directly after a loss you know in the hours and couple days afterwards. Um and again that's something that with hindsight you can look back and go maybe I wasn't in the right state of mind to be making that decision. Um I should have maybe come back recalibrated sort out my things out. I don't think I actually need to go to welterweight. I do still think that it's on the cards at some point um just because having spoken to a few different people and having looked at like some of the stuff obviously I had a I had a bit of time off after the knockout. Um and I'm still obsessed with the game so even though I couldn't train, I did a lot of research into like into concussions and into weight cutting and into what benefit does it actually serve to cut that much weight and be be a big lightweight. And really, I mean, my game plan in most fights is to put a pace on people and strike with them. Having a massive weight advantage doesn't really give you a massive boost unless you're a wrestler that's looking to get on top of people where the weight will really matter. So, I think it might be something on the cards down the line where I do go up to welterweight and then be a bit more fully fueled in camp and be able to eat and not be in a calorie deficit for like most of the year, be a bit happier, um be a bit faster than a lot of these welterweights cuz a lot of them are like stiff, stuck in the mud. They hit harder but, you know, at that point like if I'm not cutting the weight as much, I can probably take a shot better as well. And they're slower and stiffer so they're probably not even going to land those shots. So, um it's something that down the line maybe I'll look at but at the moment there is still some very interesting fights at lightweight. There's some new blood in the division. There's two men ranked ahead of me that I feel like I still have the beating of that beat me. And I'm a petty [ __ ] and I I I want to get my revenge. Um so, I I have unfinished business as it were at lightweight. I would like to get that lightweight belt first and then transition up afterwards and either go straight for the belt or maybe a title contender fight at welterweight and then straight into the the belt then. >> Yeah, no, that that would be a good plan cuz I remember I actually spoke to you and Will together. I don't know if you remember. I think it was last year sometime. And I think you were saying one of your plans, I think cuz Brian Manning had just had just entered that you were looking obviously Will went on and he got the uh heavy the light heavyweight and heavyweight belt and you were talking about potentially going getting the the lightweight mid welterweight and Brian then go for the middleweight. Is that something that he still think is is achievable for the three? I know obviously Will Will got the belts. He's lost one. Albeit, I think it was an early stoppage, but hopefully they'll run that back. But you think that's still attainable for the three of you to to get that? You grab two belts, Will get his two belts back, and then Brian get one, and then hopefully it'll come back to Dublin. >> 100% I think. I think that the Irish still have, even though there's a small number of us in the Octagon roster, I still think that we have the potential to really take over and like even Richie Smullen at featherweight, I still think, you know, he's had a couple of rough losses, but he'll be back strong from them and I know his skill level. I know I know what he can do. And I do believe that you we could still see him go and make a run at the featherweight belt. He's only two or three fights away from fighting for the belt, I think. Um so yeah, that's something that's still on the cards. Uh I definitely definitely want to bring the Octagon circus to Dublin, you know. Um that's something that it it's been a big goal of mine since I come to Octagon when they were doing the Octagon UK and Ireland and they did three UK shows and then [ __ ] it off. And I was like I I kept having them listen like you need to maybe you guys can [ __ ] the UK off, but you guys not you guys have not done a show in Ireland and it's different. It's not the same country. You guys are lumping them in as the same thing, but they're not the same thing. Um but yeah, I do I do think that that's still something very much on the cards. I look at the top, you know, the top 10 in Octagon at lightweight, I'm ranked number eight. You know, I'm looking at some of the guys there and like I have the beating of all them. Do you know what I mean? I I can beat everyone in that in that top 10. Um on my day I I can beat any of them. Um so no doubt about it in my mind and yeah, I mean there's some new there's some new guys that have just signed up to go on in the lightweight division. Obviously you've got Marat Gafurov. Um you've got that Hussein Kadumaev. Um and they'll they'll probably be in the top 10 soon as well, which will mix things up a little bit. But yeah, I think I finish Ousmane in 3 weeks time. He's ranked number five and then I'm I'm right there in the mix, you know, I'm and we'll see where we go from there, you know. But I'm sure that Octagon have a plan. I have a plan and then obviously God has his own plan, so let's see how everything pans out. >> Yeah. Now now hopefully you come back [clears throat] with a finish and then like I said that will get you a a step closer to the belt again. And then like I said you think you've got the beating of them, but welterweight and lightweight, there's such a discrepancy I feel in there because like that I think with your length and and height and everything I think you would you'd be okay going from like a lightweight to a welterweight. Like you'd be able to bulk up. You're the right frame. But think there should be divisions in between cuz there is Keith Lee is a prime example. He was a little bit too small for what he looked a little bit when he went to the UFC. He looked a little bit too small for for welterweight, but he was way too big at lightweight. Do you think that there should be looked at to open up divisions or do you think divisions are fine as they are? I I think that there should be 10 lb gaps all the way up. Obviously the the class system that we have was taken from wrestling. It's a different sport. Do you know what I mean? Like it it the weight classes are from a sport where there's no strikes involved. Range isn't as much of a a thing. You know, it's a connection sport. And you're doing on-the-day weigh-ins. So, I think having a 15-lb gap and then what, another another 15-lb gap and then the 20-lb gap is a bit mad. But I think it should be From from me, I I I I think I would be perfectly suited at 73 kilos. That would be like my weight class where that extra 2 kilos, I'm not I'm not cutting like a massive amount of weight, but I'm not like I'm not well undersized. In saying that, even going up to welterweight for me, I I think like it would just be a matter of spending a few months maybe out and like you said, eating loads, bulking up, getting to a stage where I'm like 87, 88 kilo of solid muscle mass rather than when I'm 88 now, it tends to be that I'm like out shape, a little bit fat. Um you know, directly after a fight, full of carbs and salt cuz I've been eating loads and my body's holding loads of water. So, it's not my true weight, but if I could get up to 87 kilo, which is doable for me on like you know, maybe 10% body fat, 11% body fat. I think that would be that would be ideal for welterweight. And like I said, I think I would retain a lot of the speed and have better even better cardio, a better chin, and I'd hit harder. Um so. >> Yeah, no. I I I I I think there should be I think there should be 10 lbs everywhere. I I think it's just it strays away. It just kind of kills us off and goes that way. But in in terms of your opponent, obviously you're going to look at Who comes up with the game plan? Is it yourself and your coaches together? Do your Do your coaches come like do you all work on it together? Do you all look at your opponent separately and come together or what way does research for Lee Hammond go if you can talk about that? >> [snorts] >> Yeah, I mean I I I I'm a bit of like uh like I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to watching and breaking down my opponent's fights. I usually watch my last my the my opponent's last three fights once a week at least, you know? So like on a Monday probably or like maybe on a Monday afternoon or evening. I'll sit down, I'll watch their last three fights. And then the week after that, I'll watch their last three fights again but with a different sort of intention. I'll be looking for different gaps different things that maybe I've worked on the week before in training from the last Monday till that Monday and I'll go okay, I've been working on this, this, and this. How does this fit into his game plan and what he does? And then what can I do on Tuesday sparring to sort of emulate that and pick those things out? Um Prince he tends to not be as obsessed with it. He tends to maybe watch once or twice and then he's he sort of go okay, I have a basic outline but you're going to work on what you're going to do if that makes sense, which I mean I agree with. I'm I am a lot of time just working on what I'm going to do rather than focusing too much on them. But uh I do like to have like the shots that I'm going to but but it's weird cuz I have like the shots that I'm going to land and then a lot of the time it ends up being completely different stuff. But it's still adding tools to the arsenal that maybe I that will come out in those fights or that will even come out in two, three fights down the line, who knows, you know? >> Yeah, I know. I I I like that I the way you're [clears throat] at it with different with a different perspective each time that you're looking saying there's a gap here. And especially the fact that the stuff that you're working on in training and going okay, this is what I've been doing. How can I fit this in? I actually I do like that. I do cuz but I also do like what you said what Princi said. It's cuz I always ask amateur fighters. I think especially at amateur when they go in, I think to kind of establish your style and what you want to be as a fighter, I think that's good. But I think as you go up through the levels when titles are on the line as professionals sometimes that you do I think the fighters do get a little bit more obsessed. Did you find it Sorry, go ahead. >> No, I think I think that's just at amateur. I would always like I'd I'd obviously watch the fights, but I wouldn't I'd watch them once maybe at the start. Because I'm like in my head, it's more looking at is this guy a grappler or is he a striker? Other than that at amateur, I don't think it matters because you watch someone and then from a fight 3 months ago, they come out and they're a completely different guy. They're they've improved a lot in those gaps where at the level I'm at now where like my opponent's had what? 17 pro fights. You know, plus amateur fights like he's not he's established his style. He's established what he does. He's established his patterns. He's not really going to stray too far from that and that's why you tend to see it the last three fights. He'll do all the same things like he'll do he'll do the same things. And those are the patterns that I'm looking for. Um not necessarily what he does well as much as what he does badly. Um in his defense, in his offense, what his timings are, when he goes, does he have any tells? But again, like I I said this in we had like a little sit down after training a couple weeks ago with Princi and and in top team after our training session. And Princey does this good thing where he like asks questions of everyone like what are you thinking before the fight where ta-ta, what are you thinking when you go into a fight? Like what's the first thing you think when when but right before the ref says go. And I always say this like it's very different watching someone from a third-person perspective and watching their tails from a third-person perspective, which is the camera mounted on the top of the cage, compared to when you're standing in front of them. There's little subtle things that you will not see on the camera like how their eyes move. Like what like what their posture is in front of you and things like that. And I think like a lot of people that's where I think I have the advantage. A lot of people watching my tape and seem to think that it's one thing and then when they're stood in front of me and they feel the range cuz it's a feeling, it's a very different thing. And and your game plan can kind of go out the window, which is why like I don't tend to focus is too much on what they're doing. I'm more focused on how can I fit what I'm working on into their style and and encourage them to do certain things. Like if I go left, what do they do? If I dip my head, what do they do? Um and how can I exploit that then? >> Yeah, no and I get you cuz like that it's the same like when you take a picture it doesn't do it justice or you take a video of something that looks beautiful and you send it to someone you're like that doesn't show like what I'm actually seeing with my eyes and and like you said you can get that feeling you can get that nervous energy you can see they might like their left hand might be stiff or something. So it it's good that you can pick stuff up like that. And it's good as well that he's asking you about the mental side of kind of things before going into a fight and stuff like that. Because I don't I think sometimes it can be overlooked by people. Do you think it's something that could be overlooked by people and coaches? Is the mental side cuz I think everything in life is hugely mental, whether it's fighting, anything you do. But you think it may be overlooked by fighters or do you think it's that? Because I see it coming in a bit more now. >> Yeah, [snorts] I mean I I I I've never been one that struggled mentally with fighting. Like it's never really been that big of a thing for me. It's not like something that Like I I think if you put your whole identity based around I'm an MMA fighter, this is me, like then it becomes is very much a pressure thing. Like I I know that I'm more than just an MMA fighter. Like I've I've had a whole sequence of life before I ever started fighting. So I I found myself as a person before I started fighting. Um so it's I've never struggled with that side of things and Listen, like the people can say it's it's mental over physical and all this, but like at the end of the day, you know, I could have the best mentality ever going into that last fight. And I got clipped with a shot and I got put unconscious. My mentality does not change me getting knocked out. Do you know what I mean? Like if you're knocked out, you're knocked out. Like, you know, I I in in my head, "Oh, I'm willing to die in there." Well, I did [ __ ] die. Do you know what I mean? Essentially, I did die. I [ __ ] woke up in the back like, "W- why am I in the back? Like what Why are my gloves off?" Do you know what I mean? I teleported. So whether I had like this tough mentality of like, "Nah, I'm going to stay in here." or not, like that doesn't change like I just teleported. Do you know what I mean? Like mentality wouldn't change anything about that. I do think when it gets into those deep rounds, like the third round and stuff like that, then it matters, but like everyone's always seen my third rounds are always strong. Probably my strongest round is my third round. I think mentally I am stronger than all these guys. I think I can break all of them. If If I can survive that initial storm, which that's a big part of what I've been working on. It's surviving the initial storm and not getting clipped and not getting like lazy or as complacent in the first round, which is where I've been stopped in the past. And I will break everyone. And no no one going into that like step sitting up getting up off that stool after the second round, no one's going into a round against me with a bad mentality. I'm looking at them like they are my praying now. I've gotten to this point. I'm tired, but I'm going to make sure I bring it up to that next level and break them. >> And how do you Is that like a way you're preserving your client like I know you're saying it's a mentality you are tired, but to be able to get like to to to turn around like you're going to have to have great stamina and you have to have all these other attributes. Is that something that you have to like do you plan on going the full or do you you do you train for the full three rounds every time? >> I I train for five rounds. Like at the end of the day the top the top of the top competition is main event or title fight five round fight. So that's what I train for every camp. Regardless of whether I'm doing a five round fight, I know I can go five rounds if I had to. Um you know, [ __ ] hell. What what you don't know what's going to happen. Maybe you know, it goes the third round and you know, it's it's a close decision and then his corner team try and jump you after the fight. I've got to be ready to be on my [ __ ] bike and and be ready to bang after the fight. Do you know what I mean? So Um yeah, it's partly that and it's also I think that's where the mental side of things come in where I know I've done the work physically so that mentally I'm ready to go to that place. You know, um there's sprint sessions I do that are so dark like push you to the absolute brink. And you're lying in a heap on the floor afterwards in just pain and all that does, even if it doesn't have a physical benefit, you know, cuz some people say oh that doesn't some people don't do sprints and fair enough, but I think mentally what that does for me is that like I get in the fight and I'm in the third round, halfway through the third round I'm tired and I'm like there's no way I did all them sprints all camp to [ __ ] quit now cuz I was in way more pain then. So I'm going to I'm going to push through it. So I think I just have that extra gear. I just have that extra gear in that third round and um regardless of what pace they want to push in the first and second. If it gets to the third round, I know I'm I'm beating anyone in the world. I don't care. >> Yeah, no. I I like your mentality and your view on things as always cuz you always say that's why I like speaking to you. You always have a unique and different You don't When I ask a question, you don't answer the standard yet and then you kind of give your thoughts and especially with the last one when you spoke about the loss >> [snorts] >> and how you handle it. I got loads of really good feedback about that and about how you handle Did you get any feedback yourself? Did anyone ever text you? I had tens of people text me saying they really liked your outlook on on on how you dealt with the loss. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, I mean I had a few people message me about it and that like And listen, like let's let's just pull it back to that because I I'm not under any circumstances saying that I I felt good about the loss. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? Losing Losing is ass, man. Like in Losing anything If I If I [ __ ] If I lose a game of chess, I'm fuming. Do you know what I mean? Like like but losing the thing that I put >> [snorts] >> all my time into, I've spent time away from me family in order to prepare for, I've missed out on birthdays, weddings, [ __ ] food all these things to come out then and then get knocked out in the first minute. It It's tough, man. It is tough, you know. But, it's not the biggest thing in the world is is what I'm saying, you know. It could be worse. I could be I could be living in Gaza, you know, and and me [ __ ] whole street got blown up, all me mates got killed, me me daughter got blown. You know what I mean? Like I could I could be in a way It does worse things out there. Um and I also think that God's planning is is up and down. It's never like a straight path. You might think something bad happened to you. But in the long term, it might be something good. Like I What I've taken from that loss could end up leading to me becoming champion in a few fights. Maybe if I'd have won that fight I might not have worked on the things that I needed and maybe I would have fallen at the hurdle of the title fight, if that makes sense. >> Yeah. >> Cuz maybe I get to the title fight then and I've not worked on the thing that I needed to work on, that I didn't even know I needed to work on. But now I've worked on it because I've had that loss. Um so, yeah, it's I Yeah, I I didn't get loads of messages about it, but I'm sure like I'm I'm glad to see that, you know, people obviously if people have messaged you about it and stuff about it, like hopefully that's changed someone's perspective on a loss for them, you know, like and that's that in itself would be great for me to hear. If they've if someone else has had a loss maybe and been dealing with it not in as positive a way. If that's helped them get back to training or get back on the horse, you know what I mean? Then that that that's that would make me feel great then, you know. >> Yeah, no. It It is good cuz it's not something you go out to Obviously, you want to go out and you want to be a champion and you want to win and stuff. But like see that you I've seen that you've so many fans. You pick up fans to every country that you go, cuz especially it It's weird because usually you're fighting the person from that country and then you take a slice of their fans. Um, what's it like having that international audience? And then going to the likes of Germany and them kind of adopting you in for the fight, and that must be a cool feeling like obviously when you go to fight and you're representing Ireland, uh, everyone from Ireland is going to support you. No matter the sort of way. Whereas, what's it like to have that fan fare, uh, on an international stage? >> It's a bit of a mad one, you know, cuz I I I feel like now, obviously Germany is a much bigger country and there's bigger cities. I fight there all the time. So, I almost feel like I probably have more German fans now than I have Irish fans. But, obviously I still represent Ireland, you know, it's still the place that raised me. It's the place I'm cultured the most. I suppose connected to. My family's still there. It's where I started martial arts. Um, so yeah, it it's it's great to be adopted and like almost accepted by the country where I'm fighting so much. And it just so happens that like I don't know. I want to say me last eight fights have all been in in Germany, you know, so this is why I want to fight in Dublin, you know, like I I feel like I've had enough fighting in Germany now. I've paid enough taxes to the German government. Um, and I think it's time now to win a couple more fights and bring that show back to Ireland and and give the other Irish fighters, you know, like there there's a lot of up and coming Irish pros as well, like that deserve to have a platform like this. Uh, I think like at the moment a lot of Irish pros they end up going on Cage Warriors, which like no disrespect to that. Obviously, that's that's the route to get to the UFC historically as has been seen. Um, but I would like to see Irish fighters get the opportunity to to enjoy what me, Brian, and Will are enjoying, which is like big big arena shows. You know, getting paid probably better than you are on Cage Warriors. Um enjoying an international audience, like you say, getting to do the trips abroad where you're gaining that international experience of going to a hotel on like fight week, cutting weight in the hotel, having to do media after the weight cut, um having to do a press conference. All of these things that come into play that you're gaining experience when it comes to that in the long run, you know? Um where I think it's very comfortable if you're fighting in Cage Warriors Dublin to cut weight in your house, go do your weigh-ins, you know, go back, have have mommy's dinner ready or [ __ ] whatever, you know, your your family dinner back at your your comfortable setting in your city, go to the RDS, which you've probably gone to gigs, you've been there before. Like I'm going to a new place every time. Like it's like [ __ ] hell, this is a new thing, this is a new place, this is there's you know, [ __ ] you're in the hotel and there's little things come up, like, "Oh, we haven't got enough towels for you to cut weight with." So, now you've got to [ __ ] go and scramble to find towels while you're dehydrating. Those little things are like you don't know, it's all experience, you know what I mean? And it's all like, yeah. And like you say, then you get to go over there and and grab a slice of their fans and silence the crowd sometimes when they're not on your side, but I think a lot of the time now the German fans are on my side, to be fair. >> I I I think they have adopted you in and and I agree with everything you say there cuz I I talked [clears throat] to amateurs and I say to them when they get to kind of the the higher level the the kind of end of the amateur, I say if you're getting offers to go to England, Spain, take them. Because like that, you know, amateur is a place for learning, it's a place for making mistakes. And it's good cuz like I said, the first time you don't want to be 10 and 0 or 11 and 0 going into the UFC or after and your first time traveling for a fight is going to be then. And then you, like you said, cutting weight, you're not going to have the normal comforts at home. It's just on and on. It might be broken. You might not have a stove. Like you know the sort of things. There's a lot of logistics that you have to deal with it. And look, I think Cage Warriors is is a really good organization. Like I said, it is the route to the It's been the traditional route to the UFC, but I think especially you, uh, Will and Brian have really caused a storm there. And one thing as well, I know Will is around a while, but you and Brian and a lot of people, I always talk about this, would have said you were kind of notoriously la- late at starters than anyone else. Like you started in your mid to late 20s. >> Will Will Will was a slight starter himself, as far as I'm aware. He didn't start MMA till his 20s as well. >> And he's 27 now, I think. >> Yeah, so he's been He's been around a while, but he's like sort of where I feel like Ardi or Brian will be in in a in a couple years, a few years, you know what I mean? Like and but he's been He has been around a while, you know? But yeah, like late starters, but we've made a quick impact, as it were. >> And what would you I obviously with you and Brian and obviously I was kind of frustrated for Will for a lot of years, cuz Will was like 12 and 1 and he wasn't he wasn't really pushed and you didn't really see Irish fighters at that weight with that record. And you were just like, how come no one's behind this guy? But obviously with you and Brian, I think it's cuz Brian his entrances were something that caught everything and then you done a lot of talking. There was a lot of back and forth as well. But also the skill is going with it. Like did you think that you could get your career as as fast as as you've actually got it? Do you think Did you expect to be in the place you were or higher by now or or what were your expectations? You just go in, have a fight and just take it fight by fight and see what happens. >> I'll be honest. When I I fought on Cage Conflict in 2021 on my amateur debut, I would not have said that in whatever four or five years that I'd be fighting in Hanover, that I'd be top 10 ranked in Oktagon. At the moment at that time, I didn't even know about Oktagon, to be quite honest with you. Um Yeah, I Like I said, I had my own plans. [ __ ] went well, [ __ ] went bad, you know, obviously my pro debut I lost it. That threw a bit of a spanner in the works as far as my long-term career. The Oktagon Challenge opportunity came up. Um and then that sort of like diverted my course a little bit. But uh I always think about it is like it was it was it it diverted it in a good way, do you know what I mean? Cuz look where I'm now. I've built up a fan base, I've built up momentum, I've built up my record, I've been able to get consistent fights. I've not been stuck in a promotion that like I'm I'm getting one or two fights a year or like I'm having to fight on one promotion one one time and then another promotion and these regional promotions where you're going back and forth and back and forth and Yeah, you know what I mean? It It's one of them and and like MMA's growing. There's more opportunities coming up globally all the time, you know, with the MVP PFL merger, the Scott Coker's new promotion that he's starting next year, Key MMA I think it is. Um and like the Contender Series becoming a bigger bigger thing. So yeah, there's a lot of opportunities around. >> [clears throat] >> Um there's a lot of other promotions that are growing as well and I think that's only going to push the promotions that already exist to do even better by the fighters, by the fans and just putting on better shows. >> Yeah, no, 100% and I like way you kind of like you don't know where it's going to go, but at least you do it optimally. As I said, you've got the Yeah, I'm assuming it's a it's better paid. You've got the security. And And like that, when you're with other promotions, cuz you see it sometimes with the likes of Octagon, they let someone fight reasonably, and you can go. And then, imagine you get starched in in the GAA hall. And then, what happens? Do Octagon go, "Do you know what? Do you know so >> [laughter] >> you got starched down in the GAA hall, maybe we don't want you back for your next fight." But look, I I I I I like what you you've done, and especially Brian, and and especially Will. Like even though Will is fighting, he's your contemporary at the minute. Like, do you still look at him and go, "Look what he's done in here in the amount of time he's here." We like Would he be like in in I don't want to say inspiration, but would he be someone you look at and go, "Look what he's doing." >> No, 100% he's an inspiration. 100% he is. Like, um he's coming and he's become the double champ. Obviously, when I signed Octagon, I was like 0 and 1, wasn't I? So, um or like 1 and 1. So, when I first started on Octagon, I was never going to like come in and then win two fights and get a title shot. So, I had to build my way up. He came in, I think like you said he was 12 and 1 or 12 and 2 or something like that. So, he he only had to win a couple fights, and then he was in the mix for a title. Um but yeah, everyone has a different path, right? Um so, yeah, I I I've had to build in Octagon. He's gotten to come into Octagon already having fought elsewhere and gained the wealth of experience. He'd already been in the game for a long time, like you said. Uh but yeah, 100% he's a big inspiration. Like, he's come in, talked the big talk, said what he was going to do, done it. Um obviously got unlucky in the last fight. But it's you know, it is what it is. I feel like a lot of there was a bit of tomfoolery as far as like the original opponent and then his teammate jumping in a week no ass and then the early stoppage and you know, he's been a bit hard done by I would say but he's coming he's doing what he's doing. He's getting well paid and yeah, he's still he's still the champ. Do you know what I mean like regardless of whether he had one belt taken off him. He's still the heavyweight champ. So at the moment he is the baddest man on octagon regardless of what anyone says. >> You know Jose and if well does watch that and I said it you know I just wanted to know from fighters to fighters like are people still fighting do you look as to them as inspiration and obviously you you answered that question for me. >> I I I I even look at some of the amateurs in the gym as inspiration you know what I mean like the people that I train around every day. Some of the kids that like miss out on opportunities when they're like 16 17 you know it's it's it's a lot harder to do that when you're that age cuz you're almost trying to get the lay of the land as a person and build relationships with your friends get girlfriends all that kind of stuff and they're all missing out on those things to be in there and chase the dream. So I I I even look at some of them as as inspiration in that way you know. >> Hey I seem to have lost my my my camera for some strange reason. Well I got to ask you one more question I got to let you go see you in here anyways. What Dennis Freepon can we expect to see on the 7th of November? >> A fresh vicious and heavily motivated Dennis Freepon that's all I'll say cuz yeah I've lost fights in my career I've never lost two in a row and I don't plan to start this time so I'm going to come out and I'm going to I'm going to put an absolute beating on Aslaner I'm going to call my next fight and then we're going to get our way back to that title. >> Perfect perfect thank you very much sorry I don't know what's happened to my camera here. It's probably better for the people at home that you can't see me anyways. Um but thank you so much for your time. I'll be looking forward to your fight as as always. As always, I love I love the way they promote the fights. I love just the just the production value and stuff that they have along watching it is really really good. But for now, I'm going to say goodbye and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you so much. >> No problem. Enjoy your Sunday later. >> Yeah, we'll see.