People Don't Understand How Good I Am

Ringkasan

Combat Confidential #023 - S3E8 - Aleksander Yankov People Don't Understand How Good I Am This week, I sit down with Pro MMA Fighter Aleksander Yankov as he shares his journey moving to Ireland as a teenager to finding combat sports and eventually deciding to become a…

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it's the weirdest gift everywhere it's from my Ms it was extremely heavy and she brought it and I was like what is in this box you know what is sweat okay um okay all right we're back into it all right everyone welcome back today I have this is a just a short uh what do you want to call it uh short brief of this individual he's a Jiu-Jitsu Brown Bell professional featherweight uh he fight out of or fights out of compound martial arts you fought on with Clan Wars cage conflict most recently the I your Fighting Championship um oh and at the release of this video um tomorrow yeah tomorrow um will be uh he's got his uh professional debut with Premier MMA I believe indeed yeah yeah uh so everyone welcome my friend Mr Alexander yankov good to be here how's it going very good how about yourself very good so this is our second attempt at a at a meeting here yeah no uh had a bit of a mixup last time but uh look I'm happy to have you here so you know thank you very much um for making the Journey here of course I'm happy to be a part of the podcast and here to answer as many questions as possible all right yeah so look um I kind of got a few uh you know icebergs just to you know help me get to know you a little bit better and everyone else um these are generally pretty fun not fight related but uh you know just said the quick answer first first thing off the top of your head uh coffee or tea coffee coffee yeah always or like you always been a coffee guy never drank tea never sick only only for sick I'm the same way I got have like an herbal every now and then but uh yeah uh favorite TV show or movie bcom me in the middle really yeah yeah yeah I love what what what about that show just I grew up with it uh when I was uh young and I find it hilarious it's a very very fun show it it is funny uh looking back on it like I think it's uh uh it's a little underrated very and I feel it was um like underappreciated and so ahead of its time I think if people watch it now they'll enjoy it now as it's like like the office the office was huge at the time but the office now it's even bigger because of all the streaming platforms it's on like it's everywhere now um but yeah no I I I agree that's it's an underrated show and I think at the time um like it did well but I think it was underrated at the time as well I think it was like the Golden Era of episodes of TV shows so there was so much going on it kind of slipped under the r when was that it was like the early 2000s early 2000s yeah right on um do you have any hidden talents um I draw I like to draw graffiti yeah oh very good yeah uh like like any specific kind or uh I don't know I just on a piece of paper okay like uh you like words or do you like do pictures usually words I'm a big doodler especially in school I used to kind of go in my own head especially if the teacher is not um interesting and just draw that's pretty cool no I have a Graffiti Tattoo on my on my arm yeah got it years ago it's all faded now but uh yeah what is it off just in case I forget it's my last name yeah stupid I should have got something it's okay yeah we all when young we always talk think the ideas are great at the time I do remember um I thought it was going be I thought it was going be so cool I mean it is it's all right but like yeah know the the guy the artist who did it he was a graffiti artist as well um and like he drew it up and it looked so cool and then like he did it it's like it's on the back of my arm so I can't even see it um in case someone else forgets your name yeah um are you a spender or a saver saver yeah yeah really yeah I'm like the complete opposite like I hate having money because I just spend it yeah I'm I don't know you saving for anything in particular or uh mortgage or possible Investments for the future right it's smart it's clever how old are you year I'm uh GNA be 30 this year oh really okay that's that's a good mindset to have that's only something uh I've really kind of gotten re um excuse me it's something I've really like kind of recently got into like investing in you know at Le or having your money kind of do something for you rather than just sit there um so yeah that's clever and smart so instilled by my parents um have always given me money like to do whatever I want but they've always told me like if you save up you're going to be able to have something better in the future so with that I kind of saved up and then I got to a point where I got so into it I used to skip like riding the bus and I would walk to school just to say a bit more yeah I when I when I get into something I really get into something yeah so um it's it's still up to today obviously with few young ages I spent some of my savings but uh other than that I'm a I'm a saver and always always have been and hopefully always will be that's good um you know my parents are the complete opposite um yeah like my I I get my spending habits from my dad he's very much just know makes it rain on things well no if he's has a or if we have an interest in a topic or something like that you know we like to go all in on it you know so yeah um where we at what is the best gift you have ever received best gift oh that's the interesting one a best gift would be possibly actually it's the weirdest gift everywhere is from my Ms from My Girl One time I told her that I like um ass salt lamp I just said it randomly you know I mean it's early in the relationship so she took that and be like this guy needs a salt lamp so she got me a salt lamp for my birthday H it was extremely heavy and she brought it and I was like what is in this box you know what like I was at this stage wondering and I just open it was the South ball I still use it to this day that's funny yeah I got very strange in my opinion but funny in that same regard I got a fork once for my for my wife there we go what fourk what was the no it was uh I think it was Christmas it's just we're both bad at kind of like planning and we kind of forget you know about like the holiday we forget about each other on like these holidays stuff like that and she kind of asked me you know what do you want for Christmas and I do all the cooking or most of it I don't do all of it but I do most of the cooking I'm like just give me a fork because I wanted like a carving fork and then I got a fork nice and then but all I got was a fork ask and you shall receive I suppose but it's funny it's it's like a running joke with us now but um yeah no like I still use it by the way I can confirm guys he's cooking right now and it smells good I don't know if if it's the weight Kut or actually the food but smells delicious um oh this is my favorite one um what is your favorite childhood memory childhood memory spending my Summers with my grandparents oh yeah yeah um they live not far away from Sophia I'm originally from Bulgaria and that's the capital and and uh they have a little house just beside the C like the capital outside City and that was just unbelievable I couldn't wait to um leave school so I can spend three months of cycling running around swimming in lakes and um like as weird as it sounds like helping them out in uh in their like mini Farm I I love doing that because I just found it so fascinating to be able to um grow some and then after that eat it and yeah I love that yeah right on that's awesome uh all right there a couple Woody rathers here these are fun uh would you rather have unlimited free travel or never pay for food never pay for food I'm going be foty yeah yeah right on me too I love food but I I think it and I don't know for me I think I do the travel honestly cuz I could I could rack up a travel bill yeah but the food know the food makes sense too because you know eat nice absolutely everywhere maybe go to a place where uh the the food is cheap enough but good like Asia or something like that yeah I didn't think about that I could have you could there's a couple U Mich star restaurants here eat there every day yeah yeah I love I'm a fan of steak and steak can get quite expensive quite fast you know who has uh good steaks tell me this isn't a plug but it should be uh like little has really good steak little yeah I love I love the steak coming out of there like the ri RI is my favorite cut and yeah I think they're great so I always recommend them to people um again it like it sounds odd you coming you know like little but like it's great I I I like you know better than dun's better than a butcher or whatever I always find him to be consistently good I think we're fortunate enough to live in Ireland where obviously most of the production of meat C is local it's Rel it's local yeah it's from the country from the country go outside Dublin see how the cow are living there having the time of their life you know it's they're live running free eating the grass um so we are very fortunate so uh to to have that Stakes consistent everywhere at affordable prices when bought from the store yeah it's pretty reasonable yeah I know in the I was just in the states and um like meat there is really expensive I've heard yeah I've heard to eat T it's extremely expensive but just like to buy meat like have family a cousin in particular like they basically hunt or uh grow their own chickens oh wow and like that's you know that's like the best and easiest way to get you know good quality meat at least you know it's com coming from yeah exactly um I would love I know it sounds weird and it's not for the pride of killing but I would love to actually kill the food that I'm am uh I'm going to eat not for the again not for the part of killing just for the part of knowing where it came from yeah no for for sure like I think there's a huge disconnect in uh you know kind of modern society with our food you know we don't really know where it comes from you know and uh and we love um like meat yeah but we are against killing it which makes zero sense you know it's very contradictory yeah I'm not I me too kill all them I love them um but no like I think a lot the the bad reputation that a lot of like meat farming gets comes from like these large industrial Farms cuz those are terrible and then you see the conditions of like the animals in there it's never nice it's never Pleasant to see those videos um you know I think those are the those are the issues that uh or those are the places that kind of cause a lot of the the bad press for meat in general where like it's a you can have sustainable meat you know and it won't cost you a ton more um like it is possible so I think it's a capitalist mindset of like massive production massive production and profit to ratio profit to ratio I know like and don't quote me on this anyone um like like I know the EU like it's EU wise EU wide like I know there's it's becoming more and more difficult for small farms to even stay around you know and those are the Farms that generally look after the animals connection yeah they have like kind of a personal connection with you know all the an you know you know they still might have a few H hundred Haden of you know whatever um uh livestock they but you know like they probably know each every you know in each individual you know um that's not uncommon I know that back in that you know back home some of the farmers I've um you know uh I don't want to say worked with uh uh you yeah you know mingled with or whatever you know like they they know all of like they they know all their cows you know like they don't give them names for obvious reasons but you know like they have a number and like they know all of them you know and a lot of them they birth them on the farm you know like they would have been there through the whole process yeah you know and and like they they truly do care about them um you know but when when you get to these large you know corporate Farms things get a lot different that is different I know a friend as well actually he's from Ireland and uh his family is um owning a farm where the dad is the main farmer the his mom is um zoologist so like she's yeah she's um looking after the animals he's helping up with the dad and as you said yeah like they they're very connected they give them from bird they like every Seasons they have a specific farm with like specific greens just to make sure the Lambs are as healthy as possible and the cows are as health as possible absolutely so when you hear him talk about it you can see that they're like putting a lot of effort in order to make sure everything is provided and it's like the perfect environment for that animal to live is is there for them absolutely yeah like it it's I think people don't realize that like it's um um it's beneficial for the you know the product the meat product to have a quote unquote happy life yeah relaxed you relaxed and you know like comfortable like it's better for the the end product in reality because like you know you can get down to God we're going we're getting real deep on meat right now but like just over like overall like large corporate Farms like very terrible they're bad for the environment too um and unfortunately like that they are the ones who can afford to pay lobbyists and you know EU Parliament and stuff like that and greas their right hands yeah and unfortunately it's pushing a lot of small farmers out U so anyway what were we talking how do we get start yeah food like little your meat yeah it's really good keep it up don't screw it up um yeah all right all right next one this is a good another good one um would you rather have your browsing history leaked or your text messages uh go with the text mess I'm same on that one you yeah exactly I go deep in Reddit so sure yeah me too yeah I don't need that I don't need that going out there um all right would you rather have the endurance of a marathon runner or the strength of a strong man I think the strength of a strong man because I've seen there they they have a lot of endurance and it's muscular endurance and I believe that's is superior um to a you know cardiovascular endurance um I don't know if you watched that fight with Eddie Hall and two random people for him to fling a normalized human being in the third round like he was nothing yeah for that guy just to get up and get p face I just couldn't picked up slammed and then boom yeah I had a conversation with a close friend of mine uh that loves MMA as well and we were just talking talking about like how do you defend that or how do you prepare for that like someone flinging you like that and like definitely probably scrambles your brain you don't know exactly where you are to then just get up and get knocked out viciously uh so I would 100% she was a strong man muscle endurance and and those two guys defense like they were shooting pretty well like they they they uh I mean but you know Eddie's huge like that's stupid to begin with um either go high and try and take him down you know increases uh gravity and try to bring him down but don't shoot like he's going to get on top of you or in his case he just picked him up and threw him yeah I think the best idea was probably to look to strike but again that you could tell like they were like they didn't have the wingspan for there were bit as as well it's one thing to prepare a plan like that and then to be in the cage with that guy I have a feeling you go um yeah let me get as close as possible to him and hope for the best and then and then after that one guy was knocked out they took him out and it the two of them that was sad like just called it there like yeah are these guys brothers because they they I have no idea they were like YouTubers or something like that would they or uh influenc or something but um something like that highly influenced not to that kind of stuff I don't ever want to make any H yeah exactly um all right uh last one here would you rather have the Striking skills of Anderson Silva or the grappling skills of khabib N manov I have to go with Anderson really yeah I have to go with Anderson that's was one one of my favorite Fighters when I was coming up that was when he like when I was coming into training and enjoying MMA that was like the main guy that was the guy you know the pound-for-pound most most defenses so what he was doing as well and how he was defending was um like just spectacular you know he only had one or two doer fights where everyone was booing him and stuff like that I couldn't care less you know he did what he had to do in that specific fights um but all the other ones were very high intelligence High fight IQ precision based performances which builded a lot like a lot of moments for the UFC wow khabib has ex something similar you know he did create some big moments for the UFC he just I believe he got out at the wrong time he could have solidified himself a little bit more where they would have been undeniable like yeah this is the guy I think the fact how he you know just defended only three or four times got out would always question like his superiority and who was the best guy how many fights did he have he like 20 30 yeah yeah 30 30 yeah that's right um I don't know man okay so when he who was he fighting last um was last was gaii I believe no it wasn't G porier or gaii one of one of these his last fight um I remember looking at his record because I didn't I didn't know what T about him I knew he was undefeated UFC and that was about it that dude's undefeated everywhere everywhere yeah everywhere I didn't know that going into and I just like oh Jesus Christ man like this guy is he's an animal like he like so that for me I don't know if I wouldn't just you know for the reason you said about Silva you know like it it's so difficult but that 30 and0 is a big deal something 30 like that 30 fights is a lot of fights you know and then on top of that you you add his wrestling record to you know gold and everything well yeah like gold and everything like is a difficult sport as well because for the people that don't know the way it goes is usually you go Regional City you're the best there then you go to competition for the city like then you're the best there then you go for that region where the city is then you're the best there then you go for the whole country Russia is a big place so if you are being able to get to that level over there I'm not sure where he has stopped his sble but for him to be having success it's a big ladder to climb it's a big ladder to climb with a lot of people in his shoes trying to do the same so anywhere he stopped it's kind of like D1 wrestling yeah like you you know you probably have a career in MMA straight away if you're competitively good D1 wrestler I think yeah like as a DC he's a he was a D1 wrestler he um there's a story he tells about sending the kids that he trains oh to over yeah I don't know if you heard that before but long story short uh kids come back and they talk talk in DC and they're like uh you know coach with you uh what' he say coach with you we practice over there we train yeah you know like Jesus yeah uh like just all the stories you hear about you know his school that he uh that runs like it's ridiculous and certainly a testament to you know how great he is um all right he's a great coach as well I believe he's undefeated in the UFC as a coach yeah I think uh I think you're right yeah listen if he made B Muhammad have a great performance and actually a stoppage imagine what he can do to anyone yeah no um you're absolutely right um he's up there as well with the up or with the greatest coaches as well which that's crazy because you're like you're dominating both areas you know um because often times you you might be a great fighter but might be difficult to that does not transcend to coaching yeah to teaching others and you know same with you know coaching it doesn't always uh transition into fighting you know um like two great examples of that uh John Kavanaugh and John Daner you know they're fantastic coaches fighting wi didn't really work out for them I think the way they had anticipated but amazing coaches um all right cool look we're we'll get into a little more fun stuff here um like I said so I want to know more about you mhm actually no hold on um before we even do that uh you have a fight coming up indeed uh Premier MMA yeah uh Bal Keef yeah B Keef Amphitheater um tomorrow um uh how have you have you been to that Amphitheater before no I have not and only now I'm starting to set like the the idea is settling in that this is not going to be a normal show in like a hotel or in a hall area this is going to be an unbelievable show an outdoor events which is I think the second one in the Hall of Ireland and Northern Ireland that has ever happened the first one was because of Co this one is not because of Co it's just because this venue is so unbelievably good I think the experience is going to be like out of this world you know of like many many other people I'm a big socker for the Roman Empire the Coliseum although they're calling this Coliseum it's an Amphitheater you know well it's it looks like it's carved out of a rock I was there about a month ago oh you've been there yeah well I was I was there doing some stuff in Nile and um it looks like it's carved out of a rock the whole place like uh cuz you have this huge 150 behind roughly 200 foot tall you know rock cliff face and it looks like it's carved out of that M it's going to be an awesome show yeah it's um so do you have a like a stream link uh yes it'll be linked below check it out um so if you don't have tickets get the stream uh I think the stream is going to be even it's going to be just as good um you know and the cool thing about the summer here in Ireland uh it's daylight until you know like 10:00 so um you're going to be even on the stream you're going to be able to see it and then it's going to be a awesome so I'm I'm super looking forward to and I can't wait to get down there um and just start feeling the energy of the place um you know just briefly like you know how are you going into this okay so I'm going in with a clear mindset that I need to um make sure people know who I am all right I think for a long time I've had some losses I've had some wins where people don't understand how good I am all right so I want to prove to them mainly to myself as well because I know how good I could be I know how dominant I could be in this port and uh unfortunately the some of my results have not showed up I'm not going to give excuses or um I'm not going to go into detail of why and what not most important thing is that now I'm going in with a clear objective and that is to be a very very dominant very exciting fighter someone that will please the crowd out and gets his hands raised and look for the next step okay because at this stage I'm hitting 30 I only have maybe five to six or seven years of this fighting thing I'm going to go balls to the wall and and and and go out there and produce as many memorable uh fights as I possibly could heck yeah know I know uh whenever I talked to n about you like he he's a huge supporter of you so um and you know I've watched back a few of your fights as well and I'm looking forward to you know excuse me I'm looking forward to seeing this as well and um you know I think it could be a big night for you know really anyone who's on the card there yeah so yeah uh I think a show like that with the venue like that with a production and the effort that no is putting in is just a guaranteed success that if you show up as a fighter on that night you will have uh people are going to hear about you exactly exactly so I'm very excited to have that opportunity because I'm ready to take it and I'm um ready to like take as much advantage of it as I possibly could okay all right uh let's get into of this then let's gool did you grow up in Bulgaria I did you did when did you move to Ireland I moved in 2009 when I was 13 or 14 years old what was it that inspired to move like your parents I yeah my parents have uh a job where they get sent to live in different countries and work there for specific amount of times uh so yeah Ireland was that country at that time um their contract finished exactly when I was turning 18 and finished school and at that time I've lived in you know two different city two different countries moved I think eight or nine schools so I just decided to have a bit of peace and settle in here do my college here and ever since then I'm here I'm still here very good uh what did what did you study in I studied officially originally I studied business and then shortly after like literally after first semester realized I'm never going to be able to sit in a chair uh it's just not my character so um I took few years off where I was working full-time and training full-time and then when I realized Sports is really my passion I was doing Leisure management um in a different college right on uh what was it like to you know you were a teenager so like what was it like to move you know to Ireland you know at that age um I've always been a fan of the unknown and outdo was nerve-wracking of I believe I have like uh much better adjustments than other people uh so I was looking forward to it and you know it I I looked at it as an adventure that like well in first in foremost I came in thinking at least I'm going to learn the language and then after that obviously a lot of other things were learned did you do not speak English at all no no no no the English uh that I spoke was mainly from video games and show so Grand yeah very very poor okay poor English uh with a lot of swear words sure that was good going into school oh it was great yeah I made a lot of quick friends and a lot of enemies with the teachers uh did you pick up BOS quickly or yeah I I feel you probably kind of have to I have to yeah I'm very bad at languages when I have to learn them but when I'm forced in order to communicate with them I pick them quite fast because I'm a very chatty very um outgoing person so I could not be there sitting in a classroom not having conversation side conversation not yeah exactly or not burning the ears off so what other languages do you speak I speak Bulgarian fluently and Russian fluently yeah yeah that's cool would there be similar similarities Sim yeah they Slavic languages with the same alphabet okay uh is just I would say Russian has a lot more difficulties to learn uh it's a it's a more in-depth language but Bulgarian is very difficult to learn um compared to English in my opinion as well um not just saying that because I'm Bulgarian it's just because I've seen how many how how many people struggle with the pronunciation of our words or the understanding of like our um you know language um how would say rule sets stuff like that yeah know I've been attempting to learn Spanish the last 15 years's not going for you I'm still learning no for me it it's you know I think it'd be very helpful to be immersed you know what I mean like uh forced into having to learn you said it yourself that you and your dad and the family once you get into to something you want to get immersed maybe maybe that will be the the like final break of how you're going to learn Spanish if you actually go to Spain yeah no my my grandmother um she speak Spanish and when I was younger she would always speak Spanish to me and then for whatever reason I grew up and she stopped um she still does every now like I was back home and like my Spanish has gotten better like I can read it better than I can speak it okay um but you we were tiny conversations with her so it was it was kind of nice cuz never really had that with her before um was okay so you uh you moved to soorry you turned 18 did your parents go back to yeah they came back and they gave me an option you know they they told me they're more than happy to um if I stay you know uh because the colleges in irelands are like on a much better Global level than bulgarians are Bulgarian um colleges are and also like the family runs in such an order where they believe like especially if you're a guy if you're turning 18 they've provided me enough life skills you know the like the chores that I needed to do the summer jobs that they asked me to do like you know I I couldn't just pass a summer or I'm doing nothing uh kind of equip me with enough skill sets to start to be uh self looking after myself selfreliance yeah self reliant and it turned out actually that is the case that's cool I know like Irish culture is very different yeah you know it's it wouldn't be uncommon to uh be a seasoned adult and you know like still kind of I don't say living off your parent but you know but do you think this is because of like the crisis where it's very very difficult now to own home or to actually just even rent out alone or is it a part of the culture itself yes and no like in America for instance like you know unless you're going to col like unless you're going to college like you know you leave you know um like you you maybe stay till you know 1920 or you know something like that but then like you are kind of expected to leave the house you know like uh um I think for girls was probably a little more you know lenient um but you know like you're definitely kind of expected to you know leave um like I I joined the military when I was young so I left like immediately as turned 18 yeah like first of all I couldn't get out of my house quick enough you know um and I was I was ready to you know get out of my town everything um but you know like for a lot of people like it's you know that's what you do like you just leave and so I don't I think here like there's a a mix of the uh housing crisis and you know the fact that mortgages are very difficult to get um and then I think culturally um at least with like the men in this country and their mothers um like you know there's kind of that uh coddling that happens um and it's not an uncommon thing for me to hear about um not saying it's you know a terrible thing you know I think it's B houses pluses and minuses uh I'm not sure how your experience is but as I'm getting older it like almost I don't want to go back to live with my parents but I want to almost come and um show the lessons I've learned because I've definitely made some mistakes that could have been maybe avoided if they were around but I definitely would not have the confidence and abilities that I've been able to cultivate by just knowing that only I can help myself yeah for sure and I know like um it can be beneficial to sounds bad but like to to struggle to find a place to live yeah like you know like there's there can be a benefit to that you know and obviously like if you're a single person it's a lot different than like you know you have kids or something um but like if you're a single adult and you know to kind of have a you know I this sounds bad but you have to have that like struggle to do something yeah like it's I think it can be good for you like don't get me wrong like it can probably be really bad um especially if you can't sort it out um but like I think the idea when you sort it out that's when you actually realize like your abilities yeah so the idea is to do something on your own you know um and I don't know I guess culturally in this country I think it's you know given the the the current system I think it's just accepted now that you just stay at home until you know you're old enough to get a mortgage and in some ways you never know maybe that way um you can kind of get the mortgage faster yeah maybe could be uh but I do agree with you where like you don't like you don't learn there's life lessons you're missing out on exactly especially like the taking care of yourself yeah like cuz I've been on my own since I was 18 you know and I don't think there's many people I don't think I've Irish folks I don't think there's many that I've met that have been like that as well you know and I've got like I'm an old way child anyway so I was always very independent but like my Independence is you know only increased you know because figure things out you know and yeah fortunately the first four years of my independent I didn't have to worry about housing um but uh yeah I I don't know it's it's a it's an interesting situation that's going on over here and I hope I hope it uh you know somehow is able to be alleviated that being said I have two little girls and I don't ever want them to leave yeah so I think it's completely different it's it flips on the opposite side when you have a girl uh or two girls in in the space like that you're saying like I would you want to look after them and you want to make sure you know they're picked if they if they obviously when they're old enough if they decide to move out like i' be I'd be happy for them i' support their decision but like come on I don't feel I don't feel yeah I don't feel a girl should uh struggle as much as a guy does I think a guy strength lies in realizing that like that he can overcome things while a girl maybe I sound very traditional and stuff like that but the ghost is um making sure that you know she's well-kept and in good hands at all times and yeah that's that's my twopiece yeah no I I I think i' kind of tend to agree um I don't think there's anything wrong with that view people might uh say otherwise but uh no yeah I I would I I agree I kind of agree with you there um also at the same time I think we should certainly be teaching our women our girls how to be independent which is you know one re and yeah uh sorry which is one reason why I love you know martial arts combat Sports in general I think more women should be involved yeah um because it would help breed that uh independent Independence and confidence that everyone should have you know um all right we'll start up the next one here um what was it initially that got you kind of interested in MMA um I was always been like really really enjoying Sports not watching them participating in sports so when I was turning around 15 16 I've done all the sports uh all the team sports I've done football I've done volleyball I've tried basketball some with great results some with not so great results but I've always been very very competitive and uh I was getting sick of team sports because there like this like at that time I believe even though I had good social skills I just didn't have the time uh and to understand how to like work with people I've always been extremely independent I've always wanted the best and I felt like maybe when you're working in a team sometimes not everyone wants that so when I found about MMA and realized like oh like if I win that's my win and then if I lose that's my lost like I really like that really attracted me to the sport and you know obviously I was 15 16 people around school on their phones showing highlights of you know Pride FC and stuff like that and you see that as a boy just sparked my interest um and then in that makx like a youth center close to my school in city center of Dublin uh was doing like a once a week MMA class and you know I enrolled in that and I absolutely loved it then went back in summer to Bulgaria and one of my friends was doing boxing at the time so he was like oh I'll just show you what we're learning in in class and for good good for him he did not beat the [ __ ] out of me but he was like playfully sparing with me teaching me how to do stuff and that picked my interest as well and I was doing Judo at the time in in Bulgaria Judo Ando is massive same with wrestling and um he was doing samboy that's cool but he was like oh there's a Children's Program in Judo I was like yeah I'll do that even though I was like I was 16 and everyone else there was 10 12 you know it's kind of like leave your kid for 2 hours and forget about them and I was just there I was I was intrigued um to learn martial arts and uh then after that summer I believe uh it was where I came um back for my college year and in the college that I was originally studying was um called the cuu and that's where you had the MMA society and I was like oh perfect exactly yeah that's cool yeah uh what did your parents think when you kind oh at course they were so against it I mean they were they they did use absolutely every trick under the like in the book to try to convince me not to do it try to like you know how dangerous it is how um like I have so much potential in different stuff uh and like I'm I've always been academically good so there were obviously like well you're stopping college and but you're not stopping you know training they were very against that they thought like maybe because I'm having a full-time job with like at the time good pay for a 18-year-old they're like oh is that why you just tasted money for the first time and you think this is it make make sure you stay in college so that way you can gain more don't burn your Bridges yet uh but then after that they saw my commitment they saw how um you know how much I'm putting in consistently and how much it's going inside and outside of training uh with commitment wise and and yeah that they become support they be Believers I think it's every with everything when you say you're going to do something first and foremost I think you shouldn't I think you should just do it but when people are asking you why you like why are you wasting your time and you say it of course you haven't show the results of course they will be like ah you know you haven't you haven't been able to put the proper amount of time in you exactly so obviously they will be skeptical they parents they they need no matter how how they've equipped you with how much wealth and health and whatnot they will still worry for you they still want like the safe option for you is your responsibility to show them that you're capable like in in their eyes I'm probably still a boy you know but in the end of the day I am turning 30 and uh it's my responsibility to show them the man I am absolutely like uh was there was there anyone in particular that you know either you know family or that you met or trained with they kind of like inspired you to really kind of go with it I would say a big inspiration is my my coach actually or cave because how long have you been with him since since I started he was he was the guy that started the MMA Society in this you exactly he studed there so obviously he's obsessed and fanatic about MMA the same way I am H just like that first interaction he was very welcoming obviously you know the clubs in society day you should be uh and it's just the amount of passion he has for it is just is um contagious yeah uh I think that's awesome to have someone that you've been with for so long yeah uh you know that you can you know learn from and like it's been there from day one with you so that that I think it's very uh can be very helpful indeed um I've seen the process of him being a great coach to being even a better Coach to like his competitive days to leaving the competitive days to be like fully immers himself themselves in the gym so that progression is you know when you see it firsthand and when you analyze it like what other motivation do you need from that you know it's someone that you spend a lot of time obviously since um that's why I laugh at my girlfriend she always says that you spend more time with Ocean than with me it is the truth you know I SP she can come down too come train us she she actually tried it and she really likes it is her schedule is M busy at the moment but her next uh topic is she's doing boxing at the moment okay uh but her next big project is actually to immerse herself in jiujitsu that's cool yeah yeah um so after your family kind of settled down sorry do you have brothers or sisters I have a brother and a sister were they kind of feeling the same or there my brother is uh 11 years younger than me and he's a massive support you know he he's always there he's always you know looking up to me and that is motivation in myself to show him the way that's cool yeah um so after like your family kind of came to terms with your decision to pursue this um what was it like when you told them that you wanted to go pro um there were all up for it yeah they they I think they I I prove them with my actions um of the seriousness how like on every holiday I'm going on runs I'm waking up at 7: a.m. to like do my training uh and then enjoy the the the holidays with them like they never said it but I think that showed them like your dedication dedication yeah it's like that not just it's not just a hobby sorry I don't mean to interrupt it's just like it's not just a hobby like it is it's your life now exactly yeah it's it's it's different if um you don't know and you don't see it but it happens but when you see it firsthand and you see the person getting prepared solely for something and they then they go out and they do the stuff that they have to do I believe that maybe get got them a bit easier with the idea of their song going into a cage and fighting some random guy in front of people yeah do they uh have they seen your fights in person they they only watch on paper they actually live in a different country uh now as my as I said my parents move around so they they watch them live and we always talk after the fight win or loss and they always give me few ideas and yeah so they they they support from afar I don't know that that's that's cool um I know for a lot of Fighters that you know it's it's critical to have kind of those Family Ties that are yeah that are you know that are very supportive of um you know what they do I've met other Fighters where their their parents like they're not for it or against it you know what I mean and they kind of just don't get hurt and if you get hurt please don't let me see it you know what I mean and okay that's how their parents are dealing with it but like you know as a we all humans so so people uh no matter what the age emotionally that doesn't mean they're going to be as intelligent so maybe that's how they deal with it yeah um but yeah having the support of of the family and just knowing that they're rooting for you and they've immersed themselves into even like watch like my dad sends me random videos of you be like oh do you see how he escaped that arar or that Kimura I'm like and he like you should learn from that I'm like that means he out of his day he he figures out a way to to in like that that to me is basically him showing the care he doesn't have to tell me absolutely but he does it by action that that's cool I'm certainly happy to hear that um what do you think the uh most important quality like a fighter should have discipline discipline discipline yeah no I don't think you'll be able to go anywhere without it I've seen obviously now in 10 years people come and people go um I tend to say to myself I'm I I was talented when I started but but I also had that obsessive drive and I knew that like I can't skip training if I if I say to myself I really enjoy something I can't why would I when I not feel like it or when I'm tired why would I skip it then when it's a bit difficult and I've seen a lot of people that are much more competent than I was and their light burned really really fast and now they're not doing the sport that they could have been great at again maybe it's not their calling maybe it's not it's just at the time it looked like it was it looked like they loved it uh so yeah discipline discipline and figuring out a way of how to make things how how to get things done you know that's a skill in itself it's very very easy to be like okay I went for it didn't work out it's how you adjust from the positives or how do you adjust from the negatives that is the biggest um skill that someone should have yeah like discipline is a trying to think it's a goggin's quote talks about discipline you know D yeah um carry the boat um I can't remember it um scratch that edit this part out that's right no um no dedication you know for sure like someone who's talented but lacks dedication you know like then just becomes luck in my you know in my opinion um dedication excuse me uh uh discipline you know mixed with you know a tiny bit of talent that creates you know like actual or actual like results that can be continued over and over and over it's uh uh becomes like scientific you know you get repeatable results yeah exactly like a habit it becomes a habit to be disciplined and then once you've disciplined now you don't have to I don't have to push myself and be like I need to do this and I I'm already there so now I can focus not on like fighting myself where should I be or should I be training today or not I'm focusing on the like the technique in itself and then you immers yourself in that and yeah yeah the the crazy thing or the thing about uh discipline is like like it is hard but the thing about like if it was easy then yeah you know everyone would be disciplined you know you wouldn't have hear all these stories about people struggling with you know being disciplined and whatever it is that they're doing uh you know so like that in itself I have a quote for you um let me see if I can remember it fully it's um when you're um doing like disciplined actions you like people perceive that as your prison but that is actually your freedom because when you're disciplined only then you can be fully free right otherwise you're always always a prisoner of Temptation always a prisoner of your emotions always a prisoner of regret a regret exactly in that ways yeah what is that quote oin actually quotes it as well all the time when someone is coming in and I don't know if I should do it he goes you know um discipline uh weighs at like ounces but regret weighs tons yeah oh that's good I like that discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons exactly because you don't want to be that guy at 70 or 80 oh I was there but my my knee or uh I had a kid everyone is going through a struggle they just found find a way to do it and it doesn't have to be fight related it could be like your favorite like your your dream job or that dream house you're looking for abs yeah that uh that that's right on the morning there like that that's the the thing I love about this sport in general is um it it I feel like it gives people a you know uh a confidence or wherewithal to you know you know you do this difficult thing and then it it gives you and in return for doing that difficult thing it gives you you know a confidence to you know be able to take on you know a challenge in your day regardless of how you know difficult difficulty is relative term for everyone's something is more difficult than for someone else so as you said it is irrelevant what it is but if I perceive it to be difficult but then I do it anyway then you're doing the difficult things in your life and comment Sports in general like I think it is a force multiplier in getting people to you know kind of do these difficult things and like I said this difficult challenge doesn't have to be you know something monumental it can be as something as simple you know for some people maybe getting out of bed you know or you know going you know going for that run or being positive to absolutely everyone you meet on the on on on the street or in your interactions yeah or you know trying to find a new job or you know that kind of thing like it I can't recommend it enough to anybody you know me too me too like I feel like you because of how uncomfortable gra like striking or grappling could be just teaches you that you can actually deal with the issue and then once you can deal with that issue all of a sudden maybe applying for 50 jobs it's not that big of a deal if you at 50 jobs or if you got submitted 50 times I'm just giving analogy uh so absolutely it's making you realize that the only way to improve where you are is true action right on all right look um I really appreciate you coming in um I had a you know great chat with you um I know your fight tomorrow um I'm looking forward to seeing itk um it's going to regardless of you know anything that happen I mean just regardless of like outcomes of you know everyone on the night I think everyone that's going to be there's going to have you know a great time uh it's going to be a great event um you know like said I'm in particular looking forward to uh watching your fight and um I'm glad I I hope at the end there we get to talk again um and um you know not every like I said every time I talk to Nile he's always talking about you so he's he's uh really got your back and um you know and I'm really looking forward to you know seeing what uh you have to show us me too me too um yeah if there's anything you want to put out there um I just want to say thank you again for inviting me thank you for um Premier FC for picking me as a main event in this unbelievable unbelievable Amphitheater even though they call it Coliseum it's an Amphitheater I'm too much of a Roman history geek to to let that slide and yeah and just very excited it's a it's a great life I'm living and uh yeah I'll I'll have another memorable night on June 29th all right awesome um like I said if um you don't have tickets already there's going to be a link below for the uh the stream and that will directly help Alex here so please check it out and I don't it's not that expensive I think it's like1 15 something like that so it's very reasonable uh check it out uh more than likely they'll have it on playback as well so even if you can't watch it live uh you can watch it uh before it gets released on YouTube which I'm assuming that will happen I don't actually know so it might not this might actually be your only chance to see it it will be no I'm joking I think it will be yeah yeah almost guarantee it but um check it out uh check it out live um I'm looking forward to being there looking forward to uh seeing what the night has and definitely look forward to uh to watching your perform so um again thank you very much of course my pleasure thank you nah