The John Wayne Sweep

Summary

Combat Confidential #015 - S2E7- Aidan Fegan This week, we delve story of Aidan Fegan, a rising star in MMA & BJJ. Join us as we explore his origins, talk about his first MMA fight, and the relentless dedication that led him to live in the gym and train every day. You'll get to…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] feels like we're in like a like an inside a box or something yeah yeah all right um check it out everyone welcome back episode five I don't know episode X it's coming out um cool um check it out I have today A friend of mine a coach trainer uh he's a man of many Talent I'll say um Mr Aiden Fagan F yeah I always [ __ ] up names that's right Aiden Fagan yeah I always I always [ __ ] up names um anyway so look we're going to we're going kick this off pretty pretty simply I think um so first question I golf for is um you know like how has how's Combat Sports how's that you know improve your your life um like I think um probably before I started doing martial arts it was probably when I started doing martial arts was like the first time I'd had like something that I actually really liked doing or kind of really wanted to do you know like um like I was pretty like book smart in school and stuff and kind of did well on exams and always kind of thought I'd probably just like do some conventional kind of path I suppose yeah uh so but I never really like like I wasn't I didn't care that much about like exams and stuff kind of just you know you sort of uh just sort of told that it's a good idea to do well on your exams and that's like a good thing so you know I would like study and do well on exams and stuff and um but whenever I started training it was the first time I was kind of like oh [ __ ] I actually I'm really genuinely motivated myself to kind of train and kind of you're interested in it you genuinely kind of yeah exactly like it was like I could apply that kind of like work ethic and stuff but it was like something I actually wanted to to kind of do you know um so so yeah it was probably like like the artist giving me kind of something to kind of pursue that I actually uh naturally kind of enjoy and feel like a kind of intrinsic sort of motivation to actually pursue it you know so um that will be one way I guess that's improve my life um that that's uh it's inter think that you say that you know like you said you're were a book smart but you were just kind of doing it maybe because you felt like you had to or you should yeah I guess I don't know it's kind of just like what your parents and your teachers and [ __ ] the people around you sort of say is like good you know be a good boy and do well in school sort of things it's kind of all right well I guess it came natural to me so like I would I would try to do well I guess but but yeah it wasn't really something like um I didn't dislike like I was really good at maths um and like I didn't dislike it really I just it was kind of neutral was like I don't mind freaking sometimes kind of satisfying solving an equation or some [ __ ] but I wasn't like uh wasn't like [ __ ] yeah really excited to do some mods you knowth yeah where she Jitsu was kind of like oh [ __ ] that's actually really [ __ ] fun and I really actually want to do this every day you know yeah yeah no I I I understand that um how old were you when you first started uh 18 okay so what you're 25 26 26 yeah that was close um okay so I mean fairly new fairly Fresh then um you know um when did you get your so you're a purple belt and you got how long you been a prop Bel now coming up on what 2 3 years uh coming up on 2 years in November I think yeah that's pretty good timing or that's a pretty good progression then so clearly it shows your your your interest and you know kind of motivation to to stay into it how was it that you came about jitu let me see I think first was the um the UFC game on Xbox okay um I think we had like a a demo of it or or something uh so don't know if I think it was a demo like you could just like have a have a match but you couldn't really do any of the special stuff career mode or any of the kind of cool stuff but used to uh play that with my brother and with my kind of friend across the street that was like initially and around that time I started to watch like not much like once or twice I would kind of look up and watch like some Anderson Silva cuz I like playing with him in the game he was like the best one in the game and I watched a couple of his fights but like uh was never still wasn't really massively into it um then what really got me into it was uh was Connor obviously um I think a did I saw someone share uh the notorious documentary yeah so this was when he was kind of just getting started in the UFC and I think I watched it and I was I I just thought he seemed like it was like uh interesting character the way he was kind of he seemed like when he was on the streets and people were approaching him he seemed like oh he actually he's like you know kind of a ruthless fighter and stuff in the cage but he actually seems like a genuine nice guy and stuff in in real life and he just he seemed kind of like a cool guy um and really really confident I guess I was probably kind of drawn to that I suppose and then uh I think I saw like an interview of him when the first porier fight he was like trash talking him and it was it was pretty funny he's a great trash talker he's a great trash talker so uh I started to get into Conor McGregor and then I started to watch all the stuff about kind of about his training and about the human movement and all this kind of stuff and like at the time I was kind of I would go to the gym I used to kind of do like powerlifting not like really seriously but kind of like I would go to the gym four or five days a week and I would do weights and stuff and um but I just thought thought what he was kind of talking about and his training and stuff just seemed a lot cooler like kind of working on you know being more flexible and having good balance and like doing these cool kicks and you know learning martial arts and stuff and just seemed sort of cool um so for a while I'd kind of been interested and thought like um it would be really cool to to do that um so uh so then I think it was after he fought MZ right that time I think it was like I was going back to school that was so I was 18 I was just kind of get back to school after summer and one of my friends started uh training at the the kind of local gym and I was like [ __ ] well I can't let him star and get good at it and me not be doing it so uh I think that partly kind of motivated me to go and I also had like my cousin's husband uh was a purple belt and he trained at that gym as well so it was kind of like what gym is this this was team Torres so yeah uh so that was where I started and so I think he maybe said like you know should come down and train sometime or something or you know my cousin had maybe said to me like uh you know you should go with Steven my my uh not his wife but her brother her brother oh sorry was saying to me you know you should go with Steven with NE you should go down to jit I think or you know something like that he suggested it and so i' always wanted to try it so one week I just decided I'll go freaking try it you know so I just went myself uh there was like a kickboxing gym downstairs there was the team Tores was upstairs so went one week and did kickboxing went the next week and then tried the Jiu-Jitsu and uh I think I prefer the Jiu-Jitsu and so and they also they were jiujitsu but they also did striking as well so well I think I'd prefer to do bit of everything so just started training then and uh and you know started off like a couple days a week doing the beginner classes and then after like two months or something it was pretty much like I was just training every day that's awesome that was pretty much like since then pretty much been doing it every day what what uh what motivated you to move down here um cuz now you're trading training at SPG yes the the notorious gy so you went from you know playing him on the video game to uh you know kind of watching the docu series about him uh to training at his gym uhhuh um well I shouldn't say his gym but the gym that he trains in yeah yeah um so after I finished school uh probably partly from starting jiu jitsu really liking and thinking I think I sort of thought in the back of my mind like uh I'd kind of like to freaking pursue this but it sort of seemed a bit wacky like it only doing for a few months and like uh but I just didn't really feel uh like I was I was never so sure that I wanted to go to university even though it always seemed like you know the obvious kind of path or whatever but I started to kind of question that a bit and uh so I decided instead to uh kind of travel a bit so uh I ended up going to Vancouver me and my brother went to Vancouver lived there for nearly 2 years oh nice and I was still training there obviously and kind of started competing Jitsu uh a decent bit and uh um then I moved from there to Australia and everyone goes to Australia yeah yeah um so around uh like whenever I was in Vancouver and I always kind of still had this question like I want you know kind of what I want to do with my life and maybe I should still go like go down the more conventional Road and go to university and do something like I always thought I would probably do and it was like something I was trying to figure out for a long time and then uh just before I went to Australia I was considering like going back to University and I had applied for some universities one of them was Trinity and yeah um I was so I applied for something different than I thought I would ever do before so I applied for psychology and uh when uh when I was in Australia that was where I had my first MMA fight really yeah yeah that was cool yeah yeah um so that was cool that was a cool experience and around that time I actually decided you know I don't think I want to go to university um I think I want to kind of pursue the the martial arts thing you know um so sorry how long were we in Australia for uh nine eight or nine months something I think eight months month back pack and traveling around well sort of uh I ended up saying mostly in Byron Bay don't know if you know it no idea it's like a little little beach time East or West Coast uh east east coast yeah yeah um so it's cool place cool place kind of hippie Vibes a little bit you know uh but I kind of liked it it was was good time and uh so I decided then that I didn't want to go to university right so I still had the application made and stuff but I kind of decided that I don't think I want to do that I think I've kind of made up my mind that I want to kind of pursue martial arts I guess as a kind of career I suppose so um so then I was planning to stay in Australia and do another year there I moved to Melbourne where it's kind of Lo and Giles gym Craig Jones old gym and um absolute MMA in Australia so I was planning to move to Melbourne and um so to get my second year on my Visa uh I had to uh I had to you have to work on a farm for 3 months really yeah it's like a government thing to get more people to do farm work I guess like so if you want to get a second year on your work in holiday Visa you need to do three months of farm work or you can do some St like construction and stuff but generally most people do farm work so I was trying to kind of get that sorted and uh I told this I don't know if you saw that last uh podcast I did with that uh I kind of told this story it's a funny story like about the farmwork um so I went to my first kind of farm job and I uh I got fired after one week um for not being fast enough what you have to do uh it was in it was a was wasn't actually a farm like it was in the middle of a farm but it was a big shed and it was an avocado shed okay so we were packing avocados in the boxes so it was basically a production line of avocados you had to [ __ ] grab them and toss them in boxes as fast as you could and kind of check to make sure they're not bad if they're bad you need to [ __ ] toss them or whatever and you need to [ __ ] uh it was there was [ __ ] cardboard boxes you need to go run upstairs and throw them down [ __ ] and there was a big cardboard box machine and it was uh it was uh there a funny story about the Box machine um um like it was just kind of this ridiculous extremely fast moving difficult to keep going machine and the first day I moved there he it was like it was my first day and he I basically like uh found out the day before that they had a job for me and basically he said like you know can you [ __ ] basically move here to Wu young some place in Australia no one's [ __ ] heard of the middle of nowhere yeah uh so I packed up all my [ __ ] and moved there cuz I kind of wanted the farm job and I went there and I spent 8 hours on this box machine and then at the end of it he was like oh by the way you know we haven't really got your room set up so uh you need to come back on Monday I was like all right great so I've just packed up all my [ __ ] and [ __ ] moved here and I need to [ __ ] leave and go back and um and then after a week uh basically told me you know I was pretty anxious that I was not going to um not going to I was anxious about losing my job yeah because I sort of sense the guy wasn't happy with me from like day one um and that made me anxious cuz I was like [ __ ] if I don't get this or if I don't keep this job I don't know what the [ __ ] I'm going to do cuz like my plan of staying in Australia sort of rests on this and so then I was like more anxious and I probably didn't help either like and it was kind of exhausting trying to [ __ ] pack these avocados and try not to get fired and I ended up getting fired far Farm works hard you just kind of whatever position you're doing unless you are the guy who owns the place I don't know that's probably not true either he probably works amongst the hardest um yeah know like those kind of labor intensive jobs are very difficult to do it was pretty tough yeah and it's in high demand cuz obviously everyone needs their farm work so it's he basically said from I said like if you're not if you're not good enough for the job you're fired you something like that in the States you did no hell no I didn't do that um so they should do something like that in the states maybe I know it's a lot of farms in the states are struggling for like you know for labor um and like the what do you want to say the like the illegal market for illegal labor um is quite High and a lot of farms use it because you know that like like they still pay them well you know like they pay them what they would pay anyone else and it's just those are the guys and girls um who actually would come back day after day and do the job and do it efficiently and well yeah it's tough work man my grandma did it uh my dad did it for a while um a lot of my family have done like you know grew up traveling around uh you know traveling to crop crops basically it's [ __ ] tough work so anyone who's done that um you know good on you yeah so sorry you got fired from that job and then what happened what happened after that were you able to pick something up right away or um so then I went to work at another farm and that one was less pressure because you were just paid by what you pick you didn't have a salary so if you don't go fast enough well [ __ ] one you don't make money but guess I'm pretty slow at doing farm work but I was like the money was [ __ ] terrible really the one that was paid per hour you would make uh $25 an hour or something like that and then this one I was making like $5 no cuz they start you off on like the the shittest crops you know tomatoes and zucchinis and that's where you make the least money for it and so uh you're just [ __ ] out there getting stung by [ __ ] plants and stuff and picking tomatoes for like eight hours and then you jack all money I wasn't uh yeah it was it was nice enough at times um I decided to leave I kind of appreciated this is actually kind of nice but uh I wasn't going to be able to save any money like I was I was working every day and just covering rent like [ __ ] picking vegetables Lars today and I wasn't going to save anything and I was kind of like well [ __ ] this doesn't seem like such a I'm not sure this is kind of worth me spending three months doing this like also taking three months away from [ __ ] training and life and stuff so cuz you're in the middle of [ __ ] nowhere you can't really property train or anything so sorry so yeah uh so get back to your first fight you had in Australia yes um so obviously sorry you obviously didn't stay for the you didn't get the extension or you didn't stay the whole time yeah because you wanted to train we can go back to the first fight I'll just finish the story just because it's a stupid long story I don't know how I always get end up talking about farmwork um but then so whenever that didn't work out I got my offer for University in Dublin and I was like well you know f SS all right uh I'll go to Dublin I can try out University get a student loan and I can go train at SBG and so went to train at SBG liked it SBG dropped out of University came back to SBG so that was that was kind of how I end up at SBG um where were you training in in Australia to get that fight oh [ __ ] um it's called The Academy the academy martial arts it was uh it was in Byron Bay where I was staying um it was kind of just like a like uh gy mostly like cists wasn't that many competitors or anything it was a nice enough gym decent uh was it was it someone you was it someone else in that gym that you fought or no no it was uh it was someone from a different gym um uh yeah it was it was a proper fight like it was legit it was eternal MMA it's a good promotion like the guys at end of the show were kind of like you know some of the guys from that show being signed to the UFC and stuff like it was like a good promotion it was like it was four on gloves it was like a nearly like a pro fight so I was already on in the show obviously but so it was a legit it was legit so when when you when did you start training MMA was it around the same time you started like Jiu-Jitsu or kind of like I started doing wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu and then I started doing boxing and kickboxing so uh and then Fridays at Team Tores they would do kind of MMA Spar okay that was always like the most fun for me it was kind of my favorite um and then I kind of when I moved to Canada I was doing Jiu-Jitsu I was also doing uh kickboxing and stuff so I was always training everything never not too much actual MMA in in Canada at least and then kind of towards the end of that was when I started to think like I think I'd like to to uh try an MMA fight you know I think I'd like to to fight an MMA um and so around uh around the end of my time in Canada I kind of started to think towards that that's also kind of a uh a long there I could get into that more but uh so around that time and then kind of when I moved to Australia and that was kind of when I started more training for MMA say training to compete in MMA I guess anyway you know yeah all right so shoot over to when you're you're an SPG now so what I what was it like uh for your family when you kind of told them that you were you were dropping out a trinity to to go fight guys in your underwear um I mean were they were they supportive or do they kind of like yeah maybe you should stay in college or try and do both or how did that go yeah it was pretty like intense to be honest like uh I can I can imagine for sure yeah no it didn't go down super uh super smooth um so yeah that was a bit of a uh process to get like to end up dropping out of University what about your siblings were they supportive at least or um I sort of felt like everyone thought I was insane or like they were kind of talking to me as if I was insane a little bit and it was kind of like it was a little bit frustrating cuz I I didn't like University and I was kind of like you know I was pretty confident that I actually wanted to do this yeah but I was scared obviously cuz it was like a you know it's it's a scary thing to kind of go and do something unorthodox and less secure and all of that um but I was pretty confident I wanted to do it but uh and I was pretty confident in my reasons and stuff but everyone would kind of act as if like it was a little bit of a [ __ ] you know a in this Insanity that we need to kind of talk him out of a little bit joining a cult yeah exactly so which I guess is understandable to some degree if you don't understand fully it can probably can seeme from the outside to be uh like a insane thing to do I guess but um so yeah it was like not the smoothest I guess with my kind of parents and siblings and stuff um but yeah got there in the end I suppose they've come around now I suppose yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah definitely like a lot more than before like we have a much better kind of uh understanding of each other I guess and can talk about it and like they're more much more kind of supportive of it and stuff still don't think like they love uh me kind of getting in a cage and someone trying to [ __ ] uh smash knock my head off uh obviously they don't like that uh it's just understandable um but they don't like we don't have fights about it or anything or like um sometimes we'll have discussions about it or whatever but it's not like a big it's not like a big issue anymore you know so that's that's good that's cool I'm happy to hear that yeah all right talking what what's it like to train uh at SBG what you like to to live at SBG you know explain that U because I I think a lot of people out there don't understand that like SBG and I don't know perhaps other gyms do this um but I guess the first I've ever seen of it like you have folks who literally live at the gym and like they're full-time they're committed um a lot of them are Pros not I don't think not all them are well I you're not a pro yet um you know and like that they're fully committed to this lifestyle fully committed to training every single day um and you know to to make a career out of you know fighting or Combat Sports in general like what's that what's that like um to live in the gym yeah just environment and stuff yeah and then just amongst the like the kind of the talent that's there that's coming in and out of there yeah um yeah like it has its good and bad points you know H it's like like you said but kind of the amongst The Talented there and stuff like uh sorry that was me um I've had good opportunities like to meet a lot of cool people and stuff like uh like like Cedric dbe for example like he just had a big one at the weekends uh you know sharing the room with guys like that and like uh you know love him with a lot of uh with some you know cool people depends sometimes it changes a lot like who's there and people come come and go and stuff um it's a bit uh it's not the most like it's not a very rful environment you know like it would be nice you know once train to like okay now I can leave the gym and be like in my own [ __ ] space and just like uh you don't don't really have that you know um so it's like there always the background of like weights dropping or someone kicking a bag or yeah and [ __ ] music sh and stuff and like uh you [ __ ] go down to get some water and then you see [ __ ] 10 people and are you training tonight uh no I'm just chilling it's like you know sometimes it' be nice to just have a bit of [ __ ] privacy and be able to like leave that environment you know um so so there is that but it is uh it's definitely convenient for training like uh don't need to [ __ ] travel or don't need to pack a training bag and saves a lot of time it's you know I'm coaching 6:30 in the morning so um it's definitely pretty handy for that I can just rock her to bed at 6 [ __ ] 10 or whatever and start coaching um so so it has it has its good and and bad point you know it's good for training it's good to stay to stay focused on training like um yeah just to speak on that like what is it how do you how do you stay motivated like what is it that keeps you kind of motivated uh you know to get better to train others uh or to get ready for a fight or something like that what is what is that um like you know a lot of it is just kind of routine like I have a [ __ ] training schedule or you know pretty much a a training routine I guess that it's just you know it's I've been following you know it's not like I have this set exact routine but you know mostly I I train the same near enough sessions every week I train roughly at the same times and it's kind of just like what I do I don't really question it like too much okay um maybe every night again I might take a day and train you know I might skip the morning class and do some drill in the evening or something or I might you know take a day off or something but most of the time it's kind of a routine that you know I don't quite I don't it's not really a question of am I going to train tomorrow it's kind of just I'm going to train most days uh and so like that's part of it but I guess like some people some people are kind of like you know I need to have a have a fight book before I'm motivated to train or whatever um and I I can't say you know I can see how you know I'm probably more a little bit more focused and stuff whenever I have a fight book but like I'm not really I don't really feel like I'm somebody who's like I'm only motivated to train have a fight like I I just like training it's like it's it's you're fully in the lifestyle like it's just kind of second nature every day you know some people you know get up go to their office for work whereas you you know you're you get up you go train kind and I guess like um I watch a lot of I watch a lot of instructionals like uh and that actually I feel like that motivates me because I've always got something I'm kind of working on or trying to kind of trying to implement or whatever so it's kind of like in the morning I wake up and I coach and also instructional stuff I often coach stuff that I'm that I'm learning or that I have you know so I'll wake up in the morning I'll coach I'll have breakfast I'll watch instructionals for half an hour or whatever uh before training and then I'm kind of like kind of gets me in the mood to train then I'm like okay cool that's some cool stuff maybe I'll try some of that today and then I'll go and I'll train and so um I guess that kind of is a motivation in some sense to have things I'm kind of working on and stuff but I kind of just I like training you know I actually just enjoy it um so it's not it's not usually something I need to really put too much effort into to motivate myself to do you know obviously there's some times or some aspects of training where maybe I need to do that a little bit but most of the time it's pretty uh it's not doesn't feel like a big effort or like it requires that much motivation for me to be honest I get that uh I know for me it's I need to have something booked like a competition like G competition or something like that like I need to have a book cuz then like like I mean I enjoy going in and you know same thing with you like I look I like looking at instructionals and then um you know obviously you get the you see all those sweet moves on Instagram you know and you always want to uh to attempt them um you know that kind of helps my motivation a bit but for me it definitely is uh uh you know have something Bo some sort of competition but also like I don't you know I don't train every day you know it's not my it's not my lifestyle it unfortunately it's not um it's uh for me it still has to be a hobby but I enjoy it so much um what are you looking to do long term I think I'd like to open a gym one day like and have that as kind of my career I guess like to to um you know to be able to just freaking do what do what I enjoy as as a kind of way to make 11 I guess it would be pretty cool and I think like um I think it can be a good thing for like you know I feel like for me when I was kind of a teenager and stuff to to have a good kind of uh to have something to to kind of aspire towards and something that you enjoy and that's a kind of like a positive thing in your life and can you know I think it martial arts can kind of make you more confident stuff and for for like younger people it's a good thing and for like younger kind of uh teenagers and stuff like I think it's like a positive thing to put your energy into like something that will actually like what I was saying before where it's kind of like oh this is something I actually want to do you know where it's something like a positive thing that you know it's good for your health you become stronger you're learning how to use your body and become more confident and and all this stuff um like uh that could be like a positive thing for kind of for people and I guess also there's a thing for kind of like it's probably good for like women to know how to defend themselves this sort of thing like so I think there's a lot of kind of positive benefits from martial arts and it would be nice if I could kind of uh do what I what I enjoy I guess as kind of a way to to make a living and um so yeah that guess that's kind of long term you know I do like to I like I like competing you know I do like the kind of uh I guess the growth and the kind of that sort of forces it's exciting to compete you know especially to to get in there and you know be oneon-one on in a cage with another with another guy and I I mean it's a real test to you know everything that you have learned and are teaching others you know and yeah yeah so I I totally understand that so yeah no go ahead goe oh S I was going to say that I like competing but I feel like in the long term like you can only do that for so long I'm only probably going to want to do that for so long so yeah eventually I'll probably could see myself at least that's kind of what I would what's my goal I guess I would like to one day be able to kind of open a nice gym and kind of be able to make enough money that I can have a good life for myself kind of doing something that that I enjoy I guess so yeah you going to do that down here or taking it back home um well gon's really expensive um so I'm not sure if I would do it like in Dublin also there's there's so many gems here like I don't has the same kind of it be I would probably like to do it somewhere where I could afford to or you know somewhere it's not as expensive and I could probably have afford to have like a nice uh space and be able to have like you know be aford to have a freaking house and like all that kind of stuff I don't know where probably like to live somewhere freaking sunnier than irand but I don't I don't really know to be honest um i't really thought too much about like I feel like that's maybe a further yeah yeah I I don't really see myself kind of I feel like that's more of a future down line long term kind of it's good to have those goals so something to I towards yeah yeah exactly but no so like you teach what what uh what's like teaching um cuz I know you teach in the morning do you teach wrestling as well yes you week what what's it like teaching cuz I mean that that's certainly got to be you know you know rewarding um to you know kind of watch your students kind of you know progress and do better and compete and see them um you know achieve things as well especially things that you're uh you've taught them yeah for sure for sure um yeah I really like really like uh I really like teaching um it's nice like you know it's it's cool whenever it's something that I'm guess have a passion for or they're kind of genuinely interested and want to like if it's a you know most of the things it's something like that I've learned that I've you know used myself and kind of actually believe in and actually want to teach people people and whenever you get like students who are kind of they're eager to learn themselves and they're kind of listen to what you say and stuff like I really I really like that really I like having the having the chance to to do that and have a kind of like group of students that are kind of consistent you know like guys that train pretty much mostly with me um it's nice to I really like to have that kind of group of students that are coming to train and to have that um uh it's yeah like like you said it's reward and it's definitely nice when you can see guys improving yeah you know and seeing guys like get a bit more confidence in themselves and stuff like there's definitely some guys like they come in or you know when they first started they're kind of really shy and stuff and you know as they start to gain a bit of confidence in themselves and like or even like you see them when they start rolling they're a little bit tentative they don't really believe in themselves they're kind of let themselves get run over by you know guys who a bit more aggressive and then they get a better of technique and skill and they start to actually get the better people and stuff I really I really like to see that um so so yeah I really like really like the coach and for me I'm like when I feel like I've given like a good class and everyone's enjoyed it and got something from it I'm like ah that feels nice but and whenever also whenever I feel like ah I didn't give a great class eror you know wasn't my best coach and I'm kind of like sometimes feel like I wouldn't like to do better you know but um it's definitely an enjoyable kind of and rewarding sort of thing yeah for sure that's cool uh do you have like a like a particular move or technique that you like to teach um let me see uh I like to teach the half guard um it's kind of something I know pretty well and like it's it's nice to drill uh you know there's some techniques it's kind of like I can do this pretty well in training but almost when I go to teach it as like as like a drill sometimes it's like it feels a bit clunky or awkward or something whereas um I like teaching the half guard cuz it's kind of smooth drill and it's kind of something that I know well sorry a buch of interference the aliens Elon Musk and Starling I don't know what that is oh can't hear anything now come that's really annoying can you you can can you still hear stopping a little bit but now I can't really hear myself oh you know what it is your batter's dying on those headphones oh is it yeah here we can rip these off for a minute okay sh you don't need them for okay yeah um that's [Applause] annoying um all right sorry yep mov U all right favorite move um you said you like to teach from half guard yes a different uh technique submissions from hcard uh like what's my favorite move from just in general uh my favorite move I would have to say the the knee lever or some people call it the John Wayne sweep or the freak John calls it the the giggler what um it's in half guard where you kind of it's the easiest move ever most people seem to not know it surprisingly effect it works against like even really good people even in you know Elite competition people people do it it's so [ __ ] simple it's just where you put your two feet on the outside someone's knee uh in half guard and just basically whip your knees to the side and you just basically get a full reversal and end up a top half guard so easy it's like my most used move I like to teach it I haven't really uh had anyone fully kind of I've taught I've taught it quite a lot I was just teaching it this morning um I haven't quite had someone fully get it yet where they start hitting it on everyone but I feel like it will happen at some stage um but yeah that's that's one of my favorite moves to teach is cuz it's so easy and it's so kind of effective I guess my favorite move that I like to do and I show others um you actually taught me it's lock down I was going to say love doing that and then I I just learned something recently they can do you can do a lock down to a calf slicer okay so basically got your legs like so and then [ __ ] I can't remember I haven't actually tried to perform it at anyone yet um but the cool thing is it's all with your legs so it's just um you have their you have their legs out and then some [ __ ] any I can't remember like I haven't tried it um but um I'm I'm next time I'm in the gym I'm and I'm rolling with any I'm going to try and give it a go and watch a backfire on me but no that that's my favorite that's my favorite move and I I credit you uh to teaching me that because I I remember um I remember when I first tried it in a competition like it worked I was like oh was amazing um and like it was one of those things where like I kind of forgot about it until I needed it and then ever since then it's like it's my go-to I use it all I try to use it all the time and it's so helpful uh I find it very helpful you know to for bigger people like when they're on top of you just to get them off your chest you know and just kind of uh you know put them a bit more on your hips where you can kind of roll them or sweep them if you can or just anything just gets them off your chest you know and um yeah that's that's my favorite nice I love that and thank you for teaching me that you're welcome you're welcome nice Yeah we actually we did I taught that this morning as well cuz I was working from that yeah and uh it's funny I was saying to can um you know I taught like three moves and that was the last one I taught and I think everyone just remembered once we go into the rounds everyone just remembers the last one cuz I looked around and everyone was trying the lock down then this is funny but yeah it's good move good move the one thing I find difficult is um um picking them up underneath the arms and then if you raise them ra or Jesus if you raise their your arms up and then bring your knees and your feet up together you can kind of you know uh pick them up and throw them to one side that part I find a bit difficult but um if you can kind of lock one arm in and then you can Pendle them their leg and he can roll to the the side of their arm anyway like said just that's my favorite thing and you know you taught me that and honestly every time I do it I'm like [ __ ] yeah Aiden thanks nice nice there's a fight in December that you were looking to try to get on um so I guess what we'll end with you know like what um what what is it that you're are you doing anything different to kind of prepare for this um well I didn't fully say that I'm trying to get on it I I'm considering whether I want to uh whether I want to fight in maybe December no this's a show there Premier I've SE that have fought on a few times before um I'm just kind of deciding if I want to put myself forward to try and get on and I guess see if I can get match for that I guess for your next fight in general be it you know PFC December or you know next year or whatever like is there anything that maybe like you want to work on to try and uh improve or anything like that well I do feel like when I watched my last fight back I was like disappointed at how [ __ ] my striking looked I don't want to trash myself I I when I watch back now I'm kind of like you know it wasn't too bad but still like uh I think uh the last guy I fought he was pretty good uh Striker to be honest um and sometimes you know you go against somebody good makes you look kind of [ __ ] but at the same time I would like to improve my striking a bit um and I I mean well I want to buy I've been watching some of his YouTube videos now I think I'm going to buy the instructional from uh you know Cory sound taken do you know Cory sound taken the name sounds familiar but I don't know if I saw the face maybe he's bam way in UFC he's cool guy uh kind of interesting guy I feel like I have a similar maybe personality a little bit and he's come up with some new kind of instruction and striking um and it seems like kind of uh I've I've sort of struggled in the past to find like striking training that really sort of resonates with me that I enjoy in the same way as I do like Jiu-Jitsu okay and kind of where it feels like a lot of the time it almost just feels like right you just need to [ __ ] drill this 500 times so it's super sharp and I'm kind of like yeah I feel like i' want I'm more inclin to something a little bit like deeper you need to kind of to you know more it's about more conceptual understanding and stuff than just like drilling something [ __ ] 500 times cuz I'm kind of like not as motivated to do that I guess that's like we're talking about the motivation that I'm not super motivated to do but I like his stuff because it's quite uh kind of it's conceptual and it's simple to understand I'm been watching some of his kind of YouTube videos and stuff so I think I'm going to get as instructional and I want to kind of uh I would like to clean up my striking a little bit and actually get a bit more kind of confidence in my in my striking um still I feel like I'm going to be grappling people but I just you know it's easier to Grapple people whenever you can make them respect your striking a little bit you know unless them it was almost like I was just uh by the end of the fight I'm kind of it's very obvious I'm going to [ __ ] [ __ ] and he's knows this role so it gets a little bit more difficult to actually land takedowns um so uh no it it's tough to you can't go into it with kind of like with one aspect of training in mind you know and I made that mistake on my my last one where I thought I relied way too heavily on my crackling and toju and to be fair um now okay preface this forever not there it was like an alra amateur novice it was one of the the the the Ulta train ala fights um they had asked me to they needed someone of my weight um to you know to fill in for someone um and I was feeling overconfident um because that gentleman had exceptional striking um and he he was a big dude and I I couldn't I I kept shooting and he kept stuffing the takedowns and I think he knew going into it that uh same thing um this guy's going try and take it to the ground so just stand on your feet yeah yeah yeah and yeah that's it like um it's not that hard actually if the guy you know if you have some skills at defend and take dance um if the guy can't make you respect is striking then it's kind of easy you see all the shots coming you can just [ __ ] spra so you know that's probably a little bit of a problem in the last one was that I didn't really land anything too significant in the Striking um to make it easier to get taked down whereas you see some people here are really good striking and they've got okay grappling but they can just take you down when they want because you're so worried about the Striking they make you freaking Flinch and cover up and then it's easy to get a take down so um so yeah it'd be good to like you say you don't want to just have one approach I guess and it's too predictable it's against really good people it's probably not going to be uh as effective so yeah yeah sure well here look man like I'm you know whenever it is you fight next I'm looking forward to to checking it out and anyone's interested in uh small little highlight reel of the last fight which personally like I didn't think it was a it looked good um you know so uh anyway little highlight reel we have one of them uh I'll link that below or tag it somewhere on the screen here um but yeah we'll check it out so look Aiden I really appreciate you coming over um I enjoyed talking to you I always like I always like seeing you um you're always you're always SM like you always look like you're enjoying yourself so you know it makes me uh uh makes me happy to see that um and then to see you happy smiling or whatever whenever I come at the gym kind of you know helps give me a boost too so I appreciate that and uh look I'm looking forward to training with you again if I can ever um get myself out of bed that early it's tough these days especially when I have like a 30 second commute to my office um but uh but yeah look like I said I appreciate you coming um I love talking to you I love hanging out with you and uh uh till next time till next time yeah thanks thanks I appreciate it thanks for thanks for me on good to see you again all right uh [Music] just