If You Want To Be Good At Something, You Got To Learn From Everybody

Summary

Combat Confidential #014 - S2E6 - Leroy Ortega In this gripping episode, we sit down with a true legend in the world of combat sports, Leroy Ortega. Leroy's journey is a testament to the enduring spirit of a fighter. From his beginnings to coaching and then returning to the…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] all right so everyone check it out uh we're back in a new interesting location um we're in my hometown Lancing Michigan and uh today I have a what I consider to be a very interesting guest um he's not just my uncle u but he's also a pro fighter a term Pro fighter in his 50s so it it goes to show that it's never too late never too late never too late um anyway uh so without uh any further delay uh this is my uncle Leroy Ortega Leroy the old man or take a the old man yeah all right so look um like we start things off simple like I said um first question I got for you is how has how's Combat Sports MMA martial arts anything how how has that uh changed your life uh it's changed my life a lot actually um it definitely showed me to be more patient with people and uh you know it showed me you know to respect people a lot yeah you know that's for sure you know cuz I used to be a little bit of a hote head when I was younger no and now it's like you know just learn to respect people and people respect you right back absolutely so so how old were you when you first started what all right hold on what was your first discipline and how old were you when you started my first discipline was my dad but uh I started doing martial arts when I was nine okay okay my dad started showing me stuff that he knew uh from the service cuz my dad was in the service okay was it in the army or Mar or Army oh awesome you know that so uh yeah so he started teaching me stuff like that and of course he started showing me um he introduced me to Bruce Lee movies yeah and of course it went from there you know and never stopped loving it and been doing it ever since and uh yeah you know just fighting at the schools and stuff like that you know then uh started um we get together with the other schools other martial arts schools and go and challenge their guys and they will come to art school and you know old school you know so what what was your I I guess what was your first um martial art that you started uh I started doing Kung Fu first yeah yes is that here in Lan no that was in Texas oh in Texas okay yes yeah so I started doing that in Texas in Herford Texas I met a friend of mine over there and um he I didn't know that he knew it then he started you know he threw me around a couple of times and I was like oh I just like okay and I felt more in love with it so so when when was this so you were about how old again uh 9 years old 9 years old so this puts back in what late 70s yeah yeah yeah it's a different world back then yeah dinosaurs and stuff uh no that that that's that's fantastic so when you first started like okay sorry you had your first introduction with the friend years you said he kind of just threw you around a bit did that make you you know kind of feel like hey I want to you know learn that as well or I want to learn how to defend myself or what what was what was that like how did that yeah it it was pretty much both you know because um I was sort of bullied at the same time okay you know and then because I was really really skinny you know so I was bullied and then that's how my that's why my dad you know started showing us and stuff and then um when he did that I was like I just fell in love with it yeah yeah and I was like ah I just got to learn this you know to you know defend myself and just to learn something new you know you know I know you know you're young and it's like oh you know kids don't do that well I did you know I loved it and I still do so did um okay so obviously your your dad showed you kind of introduced you how did your mom feel about that uh uh well my mom loved it really yeah okay yeah my mom my mom's a old school gangster you know so yeah yeah yeah so you know she was more like you better defend yourself you know you know I I at this point I still didn't don't know who was tougher my mom or my dad you know because they were they were both pretty tough so it's like that in a lot of households I think yeah I think my mom win now um okay so so all right you did kung fu like how how long did you do it like uh what where did it take you um it uh I did it for like maybe a year or so okay you know and then until he moved away so that's pretty much how that happened yeah heard that before and then um came over here and we moved back over here to laning and then um we just I met other people in the school and they knew martial arts and just uh taekwan do and I took a little bit of taekwan do and took a little bit of uh shakan karate and um I learned how to do weapons stuff like that and uh yeah then uh so you have a bit of a kind of a mixed bag of martial arts you like you uh you'd have a good understanding of several so like I guess give us like a quick rundown of your your resume you know I I know you give it to me before and it is lengthy so well I I do the grappling of course I do the uh Jiu-Jitsu I do uh boxing I do uh Shan I do um savat of course I do some some uh um some Kung Fu and I still do it a little bit even through the art that I was that I know now yeah cuz I do uh I got my black belt through gondo through loros cross trainers which is is a cousin of mine yeah and um yeah so I do all that the TA of course uh do the wrestling um yeah I could yeah do a lot of stuff who weapons and stuff and everything so who uh what weap what weapon I I know growing up you always had the um uh the swords the the wooden swords and then you had the nun shocks and then uh what you always had something floating around that we that we would beat that me and my cousin would beat each other with um yeah I did the toas also did the you know I I do a lot you know I do a lot of the art you know and I just mix it up with everything pretty much you know the of course the nunchucks you know you know you can never ever not ever do that you just got to do it you got to learn it you know that's got to be part of your resume yeah so what um okay so sorry going back as a kid uh so you moved to Lancing and you know was there a specific thing that kind of kept you involved uh yeah fighting yeah like like like fighting it as in uh just like you enjoy doing it or like the the neighborhood or combination it was a combination of everything okay you know growing here was pretty tough yeah you know it's whether you knew how to fight or you didn't you know and of course back in the day everybody just loved doing karate and stuff like that so just knowing how to do it and um being able to say oh yeah I do know how to fight you know and people coming up to you and hey hey can you protect me whatever be like you know yeah sure you know you know back in the day you know so but it's you know it's a lot of things you know that that we used to do that just kept me interested and interested and interested in it yeah yeah so what I guess who would you say would kind of be you know like a key influence for you growing up in martial arts I outside of you know like Bruce Lee you know like it's people you would know who who do you think who would that be uh my cousin Julian to be honest with you yeah you know he he taught me a lot okay taught me a whole lot and uh it's actually because of him as well that I do and still fight because of to him and he's younger than me yeah yeah you know but he's really good at what he does and the things that he showed me it's like it's just incredible you know he showed me how to be fast showed me how to how to um make sure take my time don't have to hurt somebody to prove that I'm the best or whatever you know so all that stuff you know and it it all this has helped me to be uh a better dad a better grandfather you know an uncle you know a brother you know a son you know trying to be there you know all that has influenced me to to be who I am now yeah you know great you know a coach you know a fighter everything excellent so on top of fighting uh you're also a coach yes like how how do you help how do you help improve your Fighters what do you uh what's your coaching method my coach my coaching method is um I'm a very tough coach yeah yeah but you expect a lot yes and no okay you know if you've been with me for a minute already yeah I expect you to do a lot you know expect you to be an example you know a good example not somebody just to you know I can beat you up because I'm here longer yeah you know but um yeah my methods are are crazy a lot of people cannot you know I'm not going to name any names you know but you know but uh a lot of Pros that come to me to to work out they're like man you know what I'll be back later let me get a little bit better first and I'll be back and I'm like okay whatever you know but yeah I mean I my methods are uh little bit extreme what give us an example uh you know running up a mountain you know up a hill everybody's like oh you know we could do it this way oh anybody can run up the hill okay well we're going to add this we're going to add this and we're going to add this okay and they're like all right and then when they do it and I was like oh okay is that good yeah okay good now we're going to add this this and this and this and they're like oh my God they're like by the time they get done you know they're like so you're compounding exercises into kind of simple exercises yeah yeah pretty much yeah you know that is tough I've train I've trained with you couple times before and you know it certainly tough yeah I I you know I I try to be different you know what I mean so that ways people have a good workout you know so a lot of people that you teach them the easy workout and they're like H they lose interest so I try to give them something different okay you know you know and they come back you know so that's good did you ever compete um kind of growing up or what was that like well I I went to um I went to I like I said I used to I used to uh go to the other schools yeah you know and fight other guys there you know they would come over here and then um well I was doing I was doing tie boxing you know and uh I went to Michigan State okay to do a point karate thing yeah and I said all right that's when I first started doing the karate also and uh while I went to Michigan State next thing you know I end up doing a flying elbow knocked somebody out and then disqualified me and I was like what like thought you guys supposed to do this like no you a't supposed to do that so I said okay so oops that's about as far as they started with that competition thing yeah um all right so you have a quite a unique perspective in that you know when you started doing this like it was the 70s like it it was like in terms of martial arts it was still kind of like the wild west you know like you you everyone I think was still kind of a uh like a purist of their own martial art whereas you didn't necessarily kind of adopt that you seem to kind of move in between all of them did did you ever kind of receive any you know kind of push back from uh from like what do you call like the gym owners or the uh what are they called um yeah like the like the coaches and everything from you know moving from one discipline to another and not just kind of sticking with one thing yeah some of the coaches would would tell me you got to stay here this is better than that one yeah you know that kind of thing but to me my dad my dad always said you know if you want to be good at something you got to learn from everybody yeah you know and I stuck with that and it's always been with me you know and I teach my my my students the same thing yes I'm teaching you and they're like hey you know I like to do go learn and I like go go learn it just don't forget your home that's what I that's a that's a good uh kind of ideology to have you know that uh there's something to learned from there's something to be learned from from everybody yeah you know it's not one coach or one school isn't the only way to do it right yeah the I always tell I always say the best fighters are the ones that go out and learn from everybody yeah you know and uh like I said dut don't forget your home you know where you you know your main home but go learn from everybody that is the best fighter there is because he that knowledge that you get they this person may show you something then this person may show you the same thing but add a little bit more to it maybe you like that better yeah it's it's like seeing it's like seeing a picture from you know a different angle yeah you know Bruce he was big on uh you know mixing and adapting uh martial arts to kind of create this one super martial art and then I think he he helped developed the it jinen do yeah and um could that could almost be considered like a predecessor to like modern day MMA would you say yeah yeah so like what what aspects of jeno would be uh I guess useful in MMA um well you know in jond do you do everything you know what I mean that's what it's about so you do the grappling you do the jits you do everything you know so all that all that except for like weapons and stuff like that you can't use in a cage but you know you do a lot you can do a lot and from what I from what I do and from what I teach you can use a lot of the J do in there you know what I mean it just depends on the person pretty much much you know how they how they're going to how they use it you know a lot of guys try to get fancy like you can't do this you can't do that I I do it all the time yeah you know so you know it's just all on the person how they're going to use it um are there any kind of like modern day practitioners of jino in professional lay that you know no no is it so like the I guess it's these days it's it's pretty much like you know kickboxing and uh Jiu-Jitsu and then depending on what world you're from it's yeah um  big here or popular around here you know you know no do that KRA mcra and you know I was like okay I don't know anything about I don't know much about that one I just like okay we let it go yeah all right so cir going back again you're a coach um you know you you teach you've taught your own kids yeah um you T grand kids and your grand yeah and your grandkids um you teach professionals amateurs you know what what is it if there's kind of like one point you could get across to all of them um you know like what what do you think that would be um I guess you know I try to teach him to stay fit you know what I mean and uh and always be ready and the one way to be ready is to learn how to fight yeah you know anything happens cuz Anything Can Happen anywhere yeah that's true you know so I always when they leave I always tell them all the time hey be careful watch your surroundings always you know anything can happen doesn't mean you're going to win but it doesn't mean you're going to lose either okay yeah see at least you have a Fighting Chance yeah see often times in like a real world situation you know most I call them Predators uh you know they're looking for an easy score so as soon as uh soon as they realize you're going to put up a fight they more often than not they they might just you know kind of you know give her it up right yeah and then it definitely it's it's certainly good to know a thing or two um you know in case they decide not to uh in case they decide that they they want to you know continue with their score um you know speaking on that have you experienced anything you know like that in in in your life yeah you know I've gotten against uh fought against a bunch of people that uh they just come up to you and just you know try to bully you it doesn't matter if you're younger whatever but you know you think that people will already be growing up or enough to say you know what Just Let It Go nope they just want to keep going you know and I just tell them go over there I don't want to fight you I'd rather walk away to get in trouble you know and uh sometimes you just they just don't get it have you ever had anyone try to like test your reputation all the time really all the time they always want to make sure hey what about this hey come on you know that kind of St you know yeah I just like go over there not all the time don't get me wrong you know I always tell them you know I don't care what you say MH if you touch me that that that's that's that's a threat yeah absolutely and you know then I ain't got no choice yeah for sure but other than that I just I'd rather walk away yeah it's smart there's like there's a lot of uh there's a lot of trained people who just you know sorry that's one of the things about uh learning a martial art is that like you kind of you get that discipline that you don't necessarily need to test yourself right you know you kind of I you kind of already know um you know and you have that confidence about you to where you don't have to prove yourself so to speak you know and uh if someone were to try and come and you know test you one way or another you can you know back away and then you know these days God for you know you hit someone and you know they could have had a underlying ition you know and hit their head and now they're it's you know now they're gone or something like that and that then you know a simple situation went from you know something easy where you could have just walked away to now you know maybe that person seriously injured and I think a lot of people it might be tough for them to you know just leave that situation and walk away yeah um but I think it definitely shows the type of character someone has to be able to to do that yeah I mean because I get I get people that um they see something happening and they look at me like hey aren't you going to go help them I'm like no aren't you going to go help them you have a phone just call the police yeah I ain't trying to get in trouble you know what I mean so I was like Oh I thought you knew all this stuff I do that doesn't mean I have to I'm not a superhero yeah like d you know that a lot of people do that I just just call the police man yeah it's better to walk away you know so yeah for sure and then sometimes even maybe by you getting involved that might just you know kind of accidentally escalate the situation right you know and you know especially when that situations you know just requireed just the opposite yeah you know in these days everybody carries a gun so especially around here yeah I mean I can fight but I can't pretty sure I can't beat a bullet yeah you're not bulletproof right that we know of right right maybe you are I don't know I I'm let's not test it yeah let's not test that you had your first pro fight yeah how long ago is that now you were 54 54 your first pro fight yeah um how did that come about uh well I came out of retirement from fighting at the age of 50 okay and uh they asked me to do an amateur fight at the age of 50 and I like yeah sure why not you know so we did um my friend uh Ron Delon he went ahead and uh he asked me to do a fight another coach okay so I said sure why not you know so then did that and uh it was a big success everybody came out you know everybody came out yeah that yeah I was there for that one yeah so the laning center at the L yeah first time ever sold out it was cool so I did that and um yeah I won I won the coach's Challenge and everything and then uh the other promoter four years later the other promoter had asked me if I wanted to fight Pete he asked me to fight at TWC what's that one uh total combat Warriors so I did that total combat what what was yeah so then uh he asked he said hey you know I want you to come and fight for me but I want you to turn pro and I'm like sure you know why not I've always wanted to go pro anyways yeah by the way so I just thought well maybe I should maybe I shouldn't you know that kind of thing but I took the opportunity and say yeah you know so did that follow a younger guy beat him uh how much younger uh dang let me see I think he said he was 27 damn or something like that that's got feel that's got to feel real good because You' be fighting someone who arguably is you know maybe they're not quite at their Peak yet but peak of their Prime but they are you know they're nearing it and you know no offense but you know I mean you're kind of coming down you know I don't maybe not know 50 is the new 30 these these days you know so um um that's got to be a huge ego boost you know to to be able to not even go to a decision but to uh you know a TKO uh someone significantly younger than you yeah it it's um yeah it feels great every time somebody wants to fight me I'm like you know what I don't care you know what I mean I have nothing to lose and everything to gain yeah if if I win you're one's going to be embarrassed if you win you just beat up an over you're supposed to yeah like you just you know you just beat an old man I may not look like my age I may not be look my age but yeah you know everybody just like oh you know what it's whatever it's like yeah okay it's whatever they went you know I would my last opponent I told him uh cuz when we got done fighting he just looked at me and I go so she was pretty good get beat up by 54 year old huh he he goes what do you mean you're 54 it's like yeah he goes no way he's like you what can do it yeah like dang it yeah his coaches all got mad at him but but it was fun though it was fun so uh in the leadup to your amateur fight um you know so you were asked to kind of come out of retirement what what what did you kind of do different cuz um up to that you would have been coaching yeah uh you know like how did how did you change things to go from coaching to preparing for a fight well when I when I'm coaching I spot a lot with the guys anyways okay you know um I'm not that coach that's going to sit back and tell you what to do you know what I mean so you're in you're doing it with them I'm doing it with them okay you know put your gear on let's go you know I do it the big guys the little guys whatever you know because I always tell everybody the best coaches are the ones that go and do hands on yeah you know not the ones that are just going to kick back and give you instructions you know even though that's not a bad thing you know if it works great yeah if it works for you great but I but this is the way that I do it yeah so I felt like I was in really good shape and everything so I went ahead and did that you know the uh when I I was 50 the guy was 33 years old and um came out really good you know cuz I was I was in shape anyways yeah you know at least I felt that I was always in shape and and that was that pretty much and up winning so so you kind of so because of your kind of coaching style you didn't really have to change a lot because you're still like you were in it already you know you're you're basically training for the fight you didn't know you were training for yeah I guess you could say that yeah yeah right on so you have your first pro fight that's you know pretty wild success I think uh would be fair to say yeah um it's been been a couple years now and now you have uh your second one yeah four years later yeah I'm 58 so uh they asked me to fight again from out of retirement and I was like okay and I say well let's see how much money we talk about first yeah so that they gave me a good amount and I said all right right you know just do it so oh yeah so uh where are we fighting at this time it's there's a c cosway Bay yep cosway Bay in Southside um and your opponent what what have you done to kind of prepare yourself uh um uh let me see since I'm 58 years old I took that under consideration and started working out a little harder harder you're going harder now yeah I uh some people do two days I do three days yeah yeah so I I wake up uh cuz I work midnights yeah then the work that I do at over there is one of my workouts okay yeah so I do that and uh throw heavy boxes of meat and stuff like that throw that around and then um I come home sleep for a little bit get up work out again after that at night I work out again and right before I go to sleep I run five miles after that then I go to sleep for a couple hours do it all over again so that's pretty much how it is that's hardcore yeah I I you know I when when I work out I try to lead an example let people see that as much as it sounds um like a story book or whatever you know I always tell my grandkids and my kids let nobody tell you you can't do it so I want people to see that uh you can do it don't matter what age you are you know you really can't do it you know and what better way to do it is to be by be an example absolutely yeah so that's what I do that that yeah that that's that's awesome um and I guess never really thought of it like that um you know you you certainly would be an inspiration especially to your grandkids to you know kind of to show them that you can do anything yeah you know and it doesn't matter how old you are either you can if you want to do it you can do it do you have any predictions for this weekend this next weekend I'm going to win yeah yeah I've been doing this for too long to to come out losing yeah you know and I have a lot is it's not being cocky everybody's like man you got you being a little cocky like no I'm not it's not being cocky it's it's just that believe in myself and I have a lot of confidence in what I do you know I've been doing this forever and I'm just I'm not going to let anybody beat me I'm not and if it happens to be that they beat me like I said I'm not losing anything you know what I mean it's a great experience I like it some people think it's too dangerous I don't I just think it's fun you know all I got all right two questions real quick one um who or so actually I'll start with this um my aunt how did she feel about you uh in your your first amateur fight what was she like uh well I'm looking to be alive yeah and then uh well she didn't like it at first and then then you know I talked to her about it whatever then she was like well okay yeah yeah that was the first one so the second one she didn't really know about it until I think uh maybe a month before really after yeah cuz he end up posting it on Facebook okay and uh yeah she think you got were you just going to go away for the weekend or something like that or I should have yeah so she found out about it and uh I was I was like well I was going to tell you but obviously you seen Facebook and she's like yeah obviously so she didn't like it too much at all really but but yeah but she know but it's not that she didn't believe in me it's just that it's it had to do a little bit with the age yeah for sure yeah I don't want you to get hurt kind of thing and I was like hey you want to ruin that pretty face either yeah the money maker yeah only she can love it yeah but I was like hey you know I do I've been doing this forever you know and it's part of the game yeah you know and she said okay you know so accepted it pretty much because I I already signed the contract so yeah so I mean obviously like uh her support I'm sure has been you know pretty integral to your overall success yeah she's you know what uh I play around about it and everything but my wife is is um my biggest supporter she really is you know she sometimes she may not like it but she'll be like you know what if you're G to do it do it right you know what I'm saying she'll wake me up hey go run hey you got to do this hey it's time for you to go work out yeah earlier this week when uh we were together we were all eating pizza and I saw you over there like trying to get a trying to get some sniffs in and she's like uh-uh have you done your run yet yeah yeah no that's awesome there there really is because like especially if you're in any kind of relationship and doing this it's not just you that you have to think about you know especially like I mean you I mean your kids my cousins we're all yeah we're all adults you know so you don't NE have to worry about that anymore but um you know like it's tough you know imagine you know especially coming from my aunt's point of view something happened to you you know it would be yeah you know uh wouldn't be easy for sure and then to what I'm trying to say um if something happened you know and then to kind of think that maybe you know you could have stopped it or whatever you know that that's a lot to to play with um but yeah to know that she has your back on it like that that's it's got to be super super helpful especially in training every doing these three days yeah I you know when I took this last fight um she you know she was a little bit iffy about it yeah you know understandable yeah so you know and I I wasn't going to take it at first and then uh cuz I didn't I wanted her to be right here you know what I mean we're even we're together you know you agree then I'll do it and I was going to call it off or whatever then she's like well go go ahead you know I you know cuz I told her said this is this is what I do yeah you know this is my passion I love doing this and she understood she understood that and everything and we talked she said well you know your aunt go ahead you know just go ahead and do it you know so I said all right as long as you're all right with it and I got your blessing I'm good she said that and it's like I was like it's go time you know so you know she's she she supports me a lot a lot so yeah know that's that's certainly critical to have someone that influential to kind of have your back yeah uh So speaking of someone of influence um you're always the coach but who's coaching you now you know what the the people what better to have people to coach you than your own students yeah you know and the reason I say that is because um my students I put them through hell sorry excuse the French but say whatever you want yeah but I put them through hell you know in training why because I want them to be the best you know everyone wins everyone loses I get it you know but if I'm going to if you're going to do the cage fighting and stuff like that I want you to go out there and be 100% yeah and more so they train me you know um one of my first one of my first guys that went to that went pro for me uh one of my students is Jack hoe yeah and uh I trust this guy with everything you know I trust all all my students you know but Jacko was my first pro fighter and uh even though he's retired he still comes in here hey you need help with with co uh getting ready say yeah of course you know then he just comes in puts me through more hell than I put him through payback almost and that's pretty much how it is too that's why I'd rather have my own students you know uh put me to the conditioning put me through through the sparring put me through everything you know and he's done an excellent job I feel great you know I feel better than before yeah yeah and uh even though I'm 58 years old you know I go I just go you know I got great speed you know and he's like hey do this do this do this okay and uh you know I just do everything pretty much what he tells me you know and then I got Robert uh gon he he also helps me out he's also my Pro fighter as well and uh I get with him and does the same thing are they going to be your Corners then y they're going to be in my corner um I got everybody want to be in my corner corner so it's crazy yeah yeah so that's a pretty trusted almost kind of sacred position uh to have yeah for a yeah for a fighter yeah and then uh of course I got my cousin Julian he's the one that uh you know that I got my black belt through and everything put me you know taught me a whole lot as well so yeah so he's he's going to be there to help me out as well so n like I said everybody um everybody wants to be on the team you know what I'm saying they want to be in the corner you know and I'm like hey you know if you help me you know I don't care you can be in the corner even though they have so many corners only yeah you know but you know I I I try to share whatever it is I'm doing with everybody you know so but it's pretty cool I got a lot it's I got a lot of people that are going you know and I'm excited about it I'm looking forward to watching it uh unfortunately you know I won't won't be there but uh I will be watching um and maybe you'll hear me yeah I'll hear you yeah um that fight is will be tomorrow tomorrow yeah so it'll be fun H yeah um so before we you kind of head out um what I I got one last question um what is it about MMA or comat Sports anything in general if if you had to kind of just tell someone off the street anyone if you had to get one point across to someone um who maybe was mildly interested um you know what would it be well I told everybody if you want to be a winner not just in life itself be a winner and stay in shape be ready for anything and come and have some fun it's all about having fun yeah if you're not having fun doing it don't do it you know that's all it is H yeah all right man look I appreciate your time I'm looking forward uh to this fight um you know we're going to have to get you out Dublin I would love to go I would love to go train there um you're welcome to St in my house you know that oh yeah um I'll stay in the gym if you want to we we'll go every day um um yeah I really i' love I'd love to get you out there um maybe I'll talk to some people and see if we can get you in on a on a promotion there they might be interesting hey I'll I'll throw it out there you know yeah you say I go I'll I'll throw it out there um yeah look here like I said uh you know thanks for this I appreciate your time yeah anything um want to do this again and hopefully we can do it again in Dublin oh that would be great yeah that would definitely be great thank you all right man thank you very much I appreciate it you're welcome nephew you know I love [Music] you